Continuing with tradition, here are the Syosset-Jericho Tribune's top stories of this past year, as selected by the editor.

A tragedy still with no ending is the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States. It was a dark day in U.S. history - in the history of the world - and the attack was an affront to the freedom that is the heart of America.

Local heroes rushed to the scene to aid people directly affected. Americans will never forget their dedication and service and those people instantly became heroes.

To help alleviate the tragedy locally, many businesses offered their services, residents donated blood and items were collected and taken to the area that became known as "Ground Zero."

Students made and sold pins and other items and donated the money to charities to assist WTC charities. Americans united and everyone helped one another get through the tragic time.

What would a year in review story be without a mention of the Cerro Wire property in Syosset? Major strides were made this year with the Town of Oyster Bay Board voting against the Taubman Company's proposed mega-mall.

The Michigan-based Taubman Company submitted an application for a special use permit to build an 860,000 square foot, up-scale shopping center. The fashion center would feature high-end anchor stores, namely Lord and Taylor and Neiman Marcus, and would house 135 other stores located on two floors between those two anchor stores.

This battle is far from over, but local residents and civic groups felt a sense of relief after battling a big company and prevailing in the Town of Oyster Bay.

The application is now in the hands of Judge James M. Catterson in the Suffolk County Supremes Court in Riverhead. The case will be heard on Feb. 12, but regardless of Judge Catterson's decision, appeals should be expected and this application will end up in the Appellate Court in Brooklyn.

In January, Democrat Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli announced his candidacy for county executive. One week later, Democrat Glen Cove Mayor Thomas Suozzi also announced his candidacy. A Democratic primary was inevitable.

In February, Republican Bruce Bent announced that he had interest in running for county executive after Thomas Gulotta announced that he would not be seeking re-election in November. Bent, who had no political background, offered his services as Nassau County Executive for a salary of $1. He planned to take the post and straighten up the county's fiscal problems - a task he felt he was well-suited for with his financial background.

During the September Democratic primary, the shocking news hit that Tom Suozzi defeated Tom DiNapoli, who had the backing of the Democratic Party, by more than 5,000 votes.

Suozzi and Bent held debates and campaigned heavily for the November election. On Nov. 6, Suozzi easily defeated Bruce Bent by a 203,901 to 104,052 margin and was just sworn in as the first Democratic county executive in three decades.

All of the Nassau County Legislators retained their seats, meaning the Democrats still hold a 10-9 majority. For the first time, Nassau County will operate with a Democratic legislature, county executive and county comptroller.

The Town of Oyster Bay remained active and strong through a year filled with changes in the Town of Oyster Bay government.

Anthony Macagnone was elected into office in November 1999 as a Democrat. In July, Macagnone announced that he changed his party registration and is a member of the Nassau County Republican Committee. This announcement brought the total number of Republicans on the Town of Oyster Bay Board up to six against the lone Democrat Bonnie Eisler.

During the November election, incumbent Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto (R) was challenged by Jericho resident Joseph Lorintz (D) for the Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor position. After heated debates and a great deal of campaigning, Venditto was successful and elected to his third term as Supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay.

Election time brought some new players to the political scene. Democrats David O'Brien, Mary McCaffrey and Josephine Reder all ran for the three councilmember seats up for election in November. The political newcomers stormed the town with their ideas and hopes for Oyster Bay. Mary McCaffrey was successful and was voted in as a councilmember by Oyster Bay Town residents. She will join Eisler and raise the total number of Democrats on the Town Board to two.

Republican incumbent Angelo Delligatti, incumbent Leonard Symons and newcomer Chris Coschignano also ran for the three open seats. All three took their campaign trail through the various towns in the Town of Oyster Bay to alert residents to their ideas. Both Delligatti and Coschignano were successful in their political race and will be sworn in as councilmembers in January.

After sitting on the Town of Oyster Bay Board since 1989, Symons was not re-elected by voters, a situation that surprised many residents. His term ended at the end of 2001.

Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto announced the creation of the Traveling Town Hall in March and the mobile facility, that has the ability to bring information and assistance directly to residents in their home communities, began making stops at preset destinations in late April. Venditto hoped this traveling town hall would bring town government closer to residents, a goal he feels he accomplished.

As usual, the Syosset and Jericho school districts soared above the rest this past year.

The Intel Corporation named 66 students from Long Island, including two from Jericho and two from Syosset. This award, America's oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition, is often referred to as the Junior Nobel Prize.

David Yao, a 17-year-old senior at Jericho High School, was named a semifinalist for his project entitled Segregation of Long and Short Chain Polystyrene. Rakhi Garg, a resident of Old Westbury and a senior at Jericho High School, was also named an INTEL semifinalist for her research on Pregnancy in Patients with Established Malignant Glioma.

Syosset's Arpana Sood was recognized for her project, entitled Curcumin Inhibits Shiga Toxin (Stx)-induced Renal Tubular Cell Apoptosis and I-June Wang, also from Syosset, was honored for her project entitled Motility and Invasion in Oncogene Transformed Cells,

In local school sports, Jericho's Basketball team defeated Floral Park, winning the Nassau County Class B Championship.

Mary Marks, public relations consultant for Jericho Schools, received many awards this past year for going above and beyond the ordinary for the benefit of parents and students in a school district.

Many students, teachers, faculty and administration members were honored and recognized this past year and helped to make both the Syosset and Jericho School Districts the model districts that they are.

Joseph H. Lorintz resigned his position as president of the Society to Preserve Underhill to focus on his Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor campaign and he was succeeded by the Republican Deputy Mayor of Malverne, Donald Pupke. Lorintz, who has led the effort to preserve the Underhill property, an 81-acre tract of environmentally sensitive land in Jericho, for five years, said he resigned to keep politics out of the preservation effort. Environmentalists are trying to save the land from a proposed 270-unit housing project. The land sits atop one of only two state-designated Special Groundwater Protection Areas in Nassau County. SGPAs protect underground drinking water supplies from contaminants generated by development. In November, the legislature voted to make $5 million available for the joint purchase of the land. According to Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), state, county and local government officials all agreed on the importance of preserving the Underhill property and expressed a desire to join in purchasing the land before it is developed. The state, however, still has to allocate the matching funds to proceed with the purchase. There is still no agreement for the preservation of the property although reports this past year stated that was true. Lorintz explained that in order to have an agreement, first the seller must be willing to sell and then a price needs to be agreed upon and all parties need to come forward with the funding mechanisms.

In September of 1997, a group of 20 local merchants, including Urso, met with now Nassau County Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) who got the chamber back together, as it had been dormant for approximately 18 years.

Immediately, Urso took a leadership role in the newly founded Syosset Chamber of Commerce. In January 1998, the Chamber's by-laws were already in place, as members had been working on them for three months. At that first January meeting, Urso was elected president of the chamber.

After three years of service, the responsibilities became exhausting to Urso, who is a co-owner and broker at Long Island Realty, Inc. in Syosset, the President of the North Shore Realtors Association and the President of the Sons of Italy of Syosset. He did not run for re-election as the chamber's president in 2001.

Jerry S. Siegel was elected president of the Syosset Chamber of Commerce, which serves Syosset, Woodbury, Jericho, Muttontown and Oyster Bay Cove, to start 2001. Siegel, a resident of Syosset, works at JASB Management, Inc. a management and consultant firm in Syosset.

The fourth annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony took place this year and it was a huge success. The chamber was successful in uniting the community during an unnerving time after the Sept. 11 attacks. Although the holiday theme was evident, residents sang patriotic songs to remember those affected by the terrorist attacks.

The chamber meets on the second Thursday of every month from 7:30- 9 a.m. at St. Mary's Children and Family Services at 525 Convent Road in Syosset.

Alice Nayer and Isabel Goldenkoff both retired from the Syosset Library at the beginning of 2001.

Nayer was the director of Syosset's library since 1992. Replacing her was new director Judith Lockman who started the position in April.

Goldenkoff was at the library for over 22 years and was head of reference and adult services department at the Syosset Public Library for the past five years. She retired on Jan. 1, 2001.

Lockman immediately began work as the library's director and gave the library a refreshing feeling. She works closely with two women whom she refers to as her team: the library's assistant director Ellen Firer and head of children's services Karen Liebman.

Liebman has been with the Syosset Library for over 15 years. Ellen Firer was named the assistant director of the Syosset Library in July.

Also, Lisa Dettling was promoted to Young Adult Librarian at the Syosset Public Library. Dettling will not only fulfill the duties of the young adult librarian, but also will act as a liaison between the library, Syosset Schools and local teens and also be a youth advocate.

The weather in 2001 was very peculiar. The year began with perhaps the biggest snowstorm this area has seen in five years and some entered December wearing short-sleeved-shirts and driving with their windows down.

Local residents awoke in early January 2001 to find approximately a foot of snow, which left some unprepared. Emergency numbers were set up for residents to call and local television news stations broadcast emergency information to keep residents abreast on the forceful storm.

Anyone who planned ahead to next winter is now watching his or her new snowblower gather dust. The temperature this past December reached record-breaking temperatures in our area and the first signs of winter only hit a few weeks ago.