Long Island briefs for Thursday, Jan. 21

LONG BEACH

LIRR service to be suspended

this weekend for repairs

There will be no service on the Long Island Rail Road's Long Beach branch this weekend and next as the LIRR installs two new bridges along the line.

Service on the branch will be suspended Saturday and Sunday, as well as on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31. Buses will replace trains between Valley Stream and Long Beach during those periods, LIRR officials said.

The $24.5-million project, funded through the MTA Capital Program and Federal Transit Administration grants, also will require the suspension of service on four other weekends in March and May.

The LIRR is replacing two wooden and steel bridges built in the 1920s. The Powell Creek Bridge is located between the LIRR's East Rockaway and Oceanside stations, and the Hog Island Channel Bridge is located between the Oceanside and Island Park stations. Both are being replaced with precast concrete structures.

The Powell Creek Bridge, which sometimes flooded and forced service to be suspended, is being elevated by 1 foot. LIRR officials said the project, which began in November, has created 47 full-time jobs.

- ALFONSO A. CASTILLO

HUNTINGTON TOWN

Fire Departments to 'Fill

the Boot' for Haiti relief

The Huntington Community First Aid Squad, and Huntington and Huntington Manor fire departments will take to the streets of Huntington Sunday to raise money to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

The event is called "Fill the Boot," said Andrea Golinsky, spokeswoman for Huntington Community First Aid Squad. Volunteers will be asking motorists and pedestrians to stop and make cash donations into a fireman's boot. Donations will be contributed to Doctors Without Borders.

From 11 a.m. and until 3 p.m., volunteers will be at three locations: Route 110 and Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station; the Wolf Hill Road-Old Country Road-Pidgeon Hill Road intersection near St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington; and the intersection of New York Avenue and Main Street in Huntington Village, according to Golinsky.

She said three community first aid squad members have family in Port-au-Prince.

"We're in the EMS business and the business of helping injured people," Golinsky said, "so it seemed like the natural thing to do."

- DEBORAH S. MORRIS