Continuing with tradition, here are the Syosset-Jericho Tribune's top stories of 2006, as selected by the editor. They are listed here in no particular order. Due to space constraints, not all information can be included in this list. We encourage residents to write or e-mail in their top stories of the year. E-mail D.Nash@antonnews.com or send comments to the Syosset-Jericho Tribune at 132 East Second Street, Mineola, NY 11501.

The Nassau County legislature finished 2005 with tension and confusion and began 2006 the same way. Legislator Roger Corbin and fellow Democrat Legislator Lisanne Altmann announced a coalition to unseat Judy Jacobs as presiding officer of the Nassau County legislature.

Then, on Jan. 3, just hours before the 19-member legislature was expected to elect Corbin to the helm, Jacobs changed her party registration from Democrat, which she has been for nearly 50 years, to unaffiliated and won an injunction from State Supreme Court Judge Roy Mahon that temporarily prevented the vote from taking place. As a result, both sides appeared before acting State Supreme Court Judge Antonio Brandveen on Jan. 4 and, at the request of Jacobs' lawyers, had the case postponed

After weeks of political ping-pong, Jacobs was elected presiding officer again after a Feb. 10 vote, where Corbin and Altmann came back to their party in support of Jacobs. Republican Peter Schmitt, who received nine votes among his party, was re-elected minority leader.

At the end of February, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi stood before a crowd of more than 1,200 supporters in front of the Glen Cove house where his grandparents had lived to announce that he is declaring his candidacy for Governor of New York State. He would face Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in a primary for the Democratic nomination in September.

In July, Nassau County Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs announced that she was endorsing Spitzer as opposed to Suozzi because she felt Suozzi was better suited to run Nassau County rather than New York State.

Spitzer beat Suozzi in the primary and went on to become the Governor of New York in November. Suozzi said that he would not seek re-election when his term as county executive is up.

November's elections did not bring much change to local government, as all local incumbents were re-elected. Voters also passed Proposition 1 by a vote of 116,176 to 34,342. The proposition, which follows a $50-million bond approved in 2004, will add approximately $16 per year to the average county property tax bill for the next 20 years.

In other political news in 2006, members of the Town of Oyster Bay board were sworn in to start off January. Over 300 people, including local residents, dignitaries, politicians and civic leaders, watched as the all-Republican town board was sworn in - the first time that it is an all-Republican board in Oyster Bay since 1976. The inductees were Councilman Chris Coschignano, Councilman Angelo Delligatti, Councilwoman Beth Faughnan, Town Clerk Steve Labriola and Town Supervisor John Venditto.

What would a year in review be without mentioning Cerro Wire?

To start off 2006, dialogue was increased between the Town of Oyster Bay and all interested parties - mainly the Taubman Company, who submitted plans to build an 860,000 square foot mall on the 39-acre Cerro Wire property in Syosset, and also with Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset, who entered the picture to try and reach a compromise that all sides agreed on.

In the meantime, a subcommittee, which is comprised of active, local civic leaders, was formed to start to investigate other viable uses for Syosset's Cerro site. The developers that made presentations to the group were made aware that the Taubman Company still owns the property. Throughout 2006, the subcommittee met with various developers and are set to announce plans in 2007.

After another year of back-and-forth between all involved parties, in November, the Michigan-based Taubman Company announced that it is seeking a final decision in the Supreme Court of the State of New York (Suffolk County) on its plan for the former Cerro Wire factory site in Syosset. The move was made to try and force the Town of Oyster Bay to allow the company to build an 860,000 square foot mall, anchored by Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and now, Barneys New York. The move by Taubman disappointed Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto as he said there was good dialogue between the town and Taubman to try and reach a compromise.

2006 ended with Venditto calling on the Taubman Company to withdraw its petition and consider another use for the site. Taubman said it is not backing down and the matter, again, remains in the hands of the court.

To be continued.... once again.

In January, it was announced that four local students were named semi-finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Competition, earning recognition among the most talented research students in the country. The students are Faith Chang and Diane Choi from Syosset and Samuel Lee and Alexis Rosenblum, from Jericho. Syosset's Chang was also named a Semi-Finalist in the 2005-2006 Siemens-Westinghouse Competition for her project, which entails new research in breast cancer research. In February, Choi was named an Intel finalist and was awarded a $5,000 college scholarship.

Also this year, Syosset Schools was named a High Performing/Gap Closing District by the New York State Education Department. Syosset is one of only 33 school districts in New York State to qualify for this distinction.

In March, Jericho High School students Harris Moore, Samantha Bloomfield, Qi Yu, Heather Kaufman, and Vikas Anand competed against 15 other teams in the New York region to win the Scallop Bowl. Each student receives a $1000 cash award and traveled to Monterey, CA, for a final national competition with their independent science research teacher Chris Hoppner. This is the first year that Jericho has participated in the competition. The Scallop Bowl is one of 25 regional competitions that lead to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB).

Former assistant principal at Jericho High School, Isben Jeudy, pleaded guilty this year to taking last spring's New York State Regents History Exam, as well as the answers, and giving them to his high school-aged son, a student in a neighboring district. During the administration of the June 2005 Regents, Jeudy, then assistant principal at Jericho High School, had exclusive responsibility for safeguarding the exam books and answers until each exam was over.

In April, the Jericho High School Alumni Hall of Fame hosted its 16th Annual Induction Ceremony. Students, faculty, administration and the members of the board of education joined family, friends and members of the community to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of 2006 Inductees Jon Carin, Celia Felsher, Bruce Friedman, Geraldine Kalfus-Gurman and Jill Seelig.

During the busy budget time in Syosset, incumbents Janet Cox, Shari Dorfman and Wendy Stapen ran unopposed for three seats on Syosset's board of education and Syosset residents approved the 2006-2007 budget. The increase was 5.94 percent, exclusive of debt service, which is one of the smallest increases the district has had in the past ten years.

Jericho also had a busy election season and saw a contested election this year with three people vying for two open seats on Jericho's school board. Mark Basile, Jeff Bernstein and Shawn Gladstone ran for the two seats with trustees Hilari Cohen and Ira Checkla not seeking re-election. Jericho residents supported the budget by a margin of two to one with 1,254 residents (66 percent) voting in favor and 656 voting against the $89,505,455 budget. Also, Mark Basile and Shawn Gladstone were elected to the school board.

The Jericho School District held a reception in June to honor outgoing board members Hilari Cohen and Ira Checkla. Cohen was first elected to Jericho's school board in 1998 and she served as president from 1999 until 2006. She represented the community while she served three consecutive terms. Checkla first moved to Jericho in August of 1996 and it didn't take him long to get involved in the school district. He was elected to the board in 2000 and is finishing his second term. Checkla lives in Jericho along with his wife Susan and children Matthew and Melanie, who both attend Jericho schools.

In June, Syosset High School graduated one of its largest classes in recent history. The 530 students together have a very impressive record of accomplishment. With 99 percent of the class planning to attend college, they have together been awarded a total of over $15 million in academic-earned scholarships.

June also marked the end of another successful year at Jericho; 264 members of Jericho's class of 2006 received their diplomas at the June 25 ceremony.

September started another year for Syosset schools and each one of the district's 10 schools had at least one new teacher or administrator this year with the high school having the most.

Jericho started the 2006-2007 school year with some new faces. Donald Gately is the new principal at Jericho Middle School. Jericho also welcomed Eric Sundberg as the new K-12 Social Studies Curriculum Associate and Daniel Salzman as the new K-12 English Language Arts Curriculum Associate.

In October it was announced that Syosset students scored between 10 and 20 points higher on the New York State English Language Assessments (ELA) than the Nassau County average in every grade from three to eight, and were among the top four highest scoring districts in each individual grade, topping the lists for both sixth and eighth grades.

Susan Menkes, an art teacher at the Cantiague Elementary School in Jericho, was honored as a member of the 2006 All-USA Teacher Team in October. Menkes is one of only 20 educators from across the nation selected for this USA Today team of outstanding teachers. As a winner in the ninth annual teacher recognition program, Menkes will share a $2,500 award with her school.

It was announced in November that Jericho High School students Adam Fields, Sharon Ji and Brienne Kugler were among 89 students named regional finalists in the prestigious Siemens science competition. Finalists are guaranteed at least $1,000 for participating in one of six regional judgings. In other student news, Jericho High School senior Qi Yu was selected as a winner in the 2006 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Achievement Awards in Writing.

As in years past, Mary Marks, the director of Public Information and Community Relations for the Jericho School District, received eight awards this year in the New York School Public Relations Association's 27th Annual Communication Contest. Marks received the most awards given to an individual school public relations professional on Long Island.

In early March, the Syosset Downtown Redevelopment and Revitalization Plan was presented during a public hearing at a Town of Oyster Bay Town Board meeting. A steering committee was appointed by the board in 2002 and is comprised of a broad spectrum of community and business leaders, government officials and other interested stakeholders and they met to discuss issues important to Syosset residents and businesses.

The main goals included in the plan are to develop a sense of place or a unifying theme, recruit new businesses, improve parking and traffic flow, make downtown Syosset more pedestrian-friendly, enhance the aesthetic character of the downtown, improve street lighting and promote community events, which would promote local shopping.

The revitalization plan is still in the beginning stages. Look for more progress in 2007.

The Syosset Chamber of Commerce had another successful year in 2006. They held their annual installation dinner in March. New officers and directors included: President Michael Biggiani; 1st Vice President Kevin Allison; 2nd Vice President Chris Coschignano; Secretar Thomas Dunn; Treasurer Danielle Delgrosso. Directors include Maria Anderson, Jack Biondo, William J. Chabina, Warren Church, Jo Costa, Sofi Kaufman, Elizabeth Madigan, Lisa Predmore, Philip Rhoads, Steven Ross, Lee Schwartz, Steve Schwimmer, Tricia Shannon, Michael Siciliano and Stephanie Sokenis. Honorary directors are Sal Biondo and Judy Jacobs.

James Tinnelly was honored for his tremendous work in helping to build the Syosset Chamber to what it is today, during his tenure as chamber president for the last three years. Other awards included the Community Service Award, which was presented to Ed Keenan Jr. for his continued work as Syosset Fire Commissioner, volunteer fireman, active PTA member, civic member, coaching youth sports and many other activities within the Syosset community. The Spirit of Syosset Award was presented to Tom Montalbano, author of a book on the history of Syosset. The Chamber Director of the Year Award was presented to William J. Chabina. The Chamber Person of the Year Award was presented to Sally Biondo, a generous person to the overall Syosset community, in spirit, heart and soul.

In addition to street fairs and other events, the annual holiday lighting event was also a success to start the holiday season and end 2006. The chamber looks forward to another successful year in 2007.

In March, the Town of Oyster Bay honored Women of Distinction, including Ava Favara, principal of the BOCES Cultural Arts Center in Syosset.

In 2006, Rob Maschio, a Syosset High School alumni, wrapped up his fifth season on the NBC hit comedy Scrubs. He plays the character known as The Todd. Rob's mom is Patricia Maschio, the vice president of the Syosset School District's Board of Education.

Local students were involved in extracurricular activities and acts of good will in 2006. Erica Paige Simon, a Jericho High School junior, raised $9,400 for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, Inc. in Smithtown. The money will be used to sponsor a guide dog puppy and to purchase two GPS units for people with sight impairments.

Some residents were also involved in activities to enhance the local school districts. Residents of the Jericho School District formed an organization called the Jericho Educational Foundation, which is an independent non-profit organization whose goal is to support and enrich the school and community by identifying, facilitating and funding projects that will enhance the standard of educational excellence in the Jericho School District. The group was very active in 2006 and will continue to be in the future.

A public meeting was held in April to announce the lowest qualified bidders for the construction of the Syosset Fire District's Station 2 firehouse along Woodbury Road in Woodbury. The project was designed by architect and Riverhead resident Martin Sendlewski and the overall cost of $5.14 million includes demolition of the existing buildings, construction of the new firehouse and utilities work, and - at the request of the Nassau County Department of Public Works - the partial reconstruction of a boxed culvert that runs alongside Woodbury Road.

On July 10, the Syosset Fire District and the Syosset Fire Department (SFD) held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Woodbury Fire Station, also known as Station No. 2. In addition to celebrating the beginning of construction of the new state-of-the art facility, the members of Woodbury Fire Co. No. 1 took a few minutes out to say a final goodbye to the old station, which had served the community for 54 years.

The Syosset Fire District also upgraded all automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) and advanced cardiac monitoring units on board all ambulances and fire apparatus used by the Syosset Fire Department (SFD) in 2006. A total of 32 new units were purchased through a grant from State Senator Carl Marcellino. The AEDs are used to deliver brief, controlled electrical shocks to help restore normal heart function in certain heart attack victims.

In June, Frank Vasile was appointed to the board of fire commissioners. Commissioner Vasile was chosen by the board to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Commissioner and previous Board Chairman Ronald Geraci, who accepted a full-time position on the district's staff. Vasile's seat on the board of commissioners was up for election in December and he defeated challenger Stuart Zucker and will sit on the board for a five year term.

The Syosset train station was the topic of controversy in 2006. After many accidents on Long Island and the surrounding area over the years due to the gaps between platforms and trains, the gap at Syosset's station was found to be one of the worst with a 15-inch gap and a curved platform. When MTA officials announced stations that were going to be fixed, Syosset was not on the list.

Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs and Senator Carl Marcellino have been at the forefront of the gap issue and will continue to fight for more to be done in Syosset.

In September, Variety Child Learning Center (VCLC) celebrated its 40th reunion celebration. More than 600 alumni families, staff, community leaders, elected officials and friends joined Judith S. Bloch, founder/CEO of VCLC, in celebrating 40 years of success working with young children with developmental disabilities and autism, along with their families. Today, VCLC is a major non-profit organization offering programs and services for thousands of young children and their families. The Center introduced the "open school" policy where parents can visit and observe all activities in the classroom. Parents collaborate in all phases of their child's education. In 2005, the Syosset Public Library began a major renovation and expansion project. The Syosset Express Library served the public during construction. In 2006, the library was closed for a short time to finish the renovations. Residents anticipate the re-opening of the library, which will take place the beginning of 2007. The Jericho Fire Department had a busy year marked by the opening of their new headquarters, located on Route 106/107. Also, Fire Commissioner David Munafo did not seek re-election after serving two terms. In December, Theodore Ketsoglou ran unopposed and was elected to replace Munafo and serve a five-year term. Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset has become a major source of information for local residents. Many projects have taken place in Syosset thanks to the effort of the civic group's volunteers. The Residents group looks forward to a successful 2007 for the residents of Syosset. 2006 was also a great year for all of the many athletic teams in Syosset and Jericho. There are so many active teams in the area and all continue to have great success and keep Syosset and Jericho competitive in the world of sports. The sports organization and those that organize everything really give Syosset and Jericho a sense of community.