Carlos Perez-Rodas of Uniondale was hit in front of El Rodeo Restaurant and Bar by a Toyota Corolla and was then struck by a second vehicle that fled the scene at 12:43 a.m., police said.

The first driver, 23-year-old Joshua Dauphin of Farmingdale, was trying to stop southbound traffic on Broadway with the help of others when the hit-and-run driver struck.

The second vehicle was described as a late model, dark-colored Mercedes that was last seen heading southbound on Broadway.

Perez-Rodas was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip where he was pronounced dead.

Vehicular Crime Unit detectives are continuing the investigation and ask anyone with information about the crash to contact them at 631-852-6555 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 631-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

New York lawmakers have proposed legalizing medical marijuana (DEA).

A renewed push by New York State lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana has revived the debate on Long Island, with local anti-drug advocates opposed and patients suffering from serious diseases in favor.

Substance abuse treatment providers aired their concerns at the Long Island Marijuana Summit on Monday at the Seafield Center, a rehab facility in Amityville. But not everyone in attendance was against the idea.

“Isn’t it fair that I should be able to get something that’s regulated, something that’s controlled, something that’s legal?” asked 49-year-old Tracy Ofri of Valley Stream, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. She said she’s afraid of using marijuana sold by illegal drug dealers, who may lace the pot with other drugs, giving her a bad reaction.

“Who is going to decide that you have a severe debilitating condition? That is not defined in the bill,” said Dave Evans, executive director of Drug Free Schools Coalition of New York. “Legislators vote on these bills without even reading them.”

The proposed Compassionate Care Act, allowing certified patients to have up to eight ounces of medical marijuana, was introduced by State Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and Assemb. Dick Gottfried (D-Manhattan). The bill is in committee but both lawmakers hope that it passes before the state legislature goes on summer break in June.

If it were to become law, New York would join 19 states and the District of Columbia to have legalized medicinal cannabis since California became the first to do so in 1996. New York is bordered by four of those states—Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Jersey.

Although the federal government classifies marijuana as a controlled substance, the Obama administration directed the Department of Justice to not prosecute medical marijuana patients in 2009.

Colorado and Washington state voters also took the unprecedented steps of approving referendums legalizing recreational marijuana in November. It remains unclear if the feds will be as relaxed about recreational reefer in those states as they have been about medicinal marijuana.

“Any legislation in New York that helps gain access to medical marijuana for sick patients is something we support,” Troy Smit, executive director of Long Island chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told the Press. “This bill in particular this year seems to be stronger than in years passed.”

Sufffolk SPCA officers rescued this Tarantula in Amityville.

Suffolk County SPCA officers have rescued a Tarantula that was abandoned in front of a house in Amityville this week.

Amityville village police reported finding the female rose-haired Tarantula at a house on Grand Central Avenue.

Suffolk SPCA officers responded and took the Tarantula to a wildlife sanctuary out of state.

Suffolk SPCA Chief Roy Gross said in a news release that Tarantulas are not the best choice as a pet.

Although all Tarantulas are venomous, few species have been claimed to cause human fatalities. If bitten, some people may suffer a severe, potentially fatal allergic reaction, Gross said.

Before biting, Tarantulas may signal their intention to attack by rearing up into a “threat posture” by spreading and extending their fangs, and—in certain species—making a loud hissing sound, he added.

School officials called Amityville village police after finding the written note in a stairwell shortly before 9 a.m. Monday, authorities said.

Suffolk County police First Squad detectives investigated and learned the identity of the girl, who is from North Amityville. Authorities did not release her identity.

She was arrested and charged with falsely reporting an incident, a felony.  She will be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Louie Blanton had pleaded guilty at Nassau County court in January to assault upon a police officer, unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and criminal possession of a weapon.

Prosecutors said that the 24-year-old man fled when the officer tried to pull his vehicle over after a 911 caller reported the vehicle as suspicious on Broadway in North Massapequa on Nov. 21, 2011.

He sped away on the Southern State Parkway eastbound and slammed on his brakes near exit 32 in Farmingdale, forcing the officer to swerve out the way, crash into a guard rail and bounce into traffic, where her patrol car was hit by another vehicle.

The officer suffered a fractured spine, collapsed lung, fractured ribs and fractures to her sternum, collarbone, shoulder blade and nasal bone. She remains unable to work.

Blanton fled the scene but was apprehended on Feb. 29, 2012 after a lengthy investigation by police.

Virginia Miller

Talk about a bad date.

A woman went out the dinner at a local fast-food restaurant with a man to celebrate her 26th birthday and went back to a North Amityville home, where the birthday girl texted five of her friends to rob her suitor, Suffolk County police said.

The couple was sitting in the driveway of a house on Nathalie Avenue when the five robbers came outside, assaulted the man and stole his wallet, iPhone, a tablet and the chocolates he gave the woman at 10:30 p.m. Monday, police said.

The victim called police, who arrested his date, Virginia Miller of North Amiyville, and three of the five men, including 21-year-old Jamar Christian of North Amityville, 34-year-old Michael Owens of Hempstead and 33-year-old Rodney Fisher of Amityville.

All four were charged with robbery and are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Police are continuing to search for the other two men.

Homicide detectives are still investigating the circumstances around Adonis Reed’s death after he was found alone and unconscious inside the Kethcham Avenue apartment Wednesday afternoon.

Police also said that his 6-year-old sister is in the custody of Child Protective Services. Police have not identified the boy’s parents.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s performed an autopsy Thursday and determined that Reed’s death would be classified a homicide. Police originally said the autopsy would be performed Friday.

Reed was discovered after a person called 911 requesting an ambulance. When police arrived they found Reed lying unconscious on a couch in the living room. No adults were inside the apartment when police arrived.

The boy was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip where he was pronounced dead shortly before 6 p.m., police said.

Anyone with information regarding the boy’s death is asked to call homicide at 631-852-6392 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

Now that 2012 firmly in the rear view, it’s high time for a little New Year’s retrospection to see what readers love most about us.

These are the top 10 most-read Press stories from last year, as voted by readers, based on the best metric known to journalism—the number of clicks each story got on our website over the past 12 months.

Some are predictable. Others make you wonder. Add them all up and it’s a list that reveals much about our readership’s interests and offers a trip down news memory lane.

10. LI Doctors Among 98 Arrested in Drug Raid: Long Island’s deadly prescription drug abuse epidemic continued to spiral out of control last year as authorities cracked down on dealers and the physicians accused of supplying them with black market pain pills. And still they’ve just scratched the surface.

9. Septic County: Remember how Suffolk County is slowly poisoning its own drinking and surface waters through its septic systems because most of the county lacks sewers? Yea, that’s still a monumental problem.

8. 100 Sickened, 1 Arrested at Nassau Coliseum: Right before Sandy, 100 intoxicated teens were hospitalized during a rave at the coliseum. And a helicopter pilot was arrested for landing near the chaotic scene for some reason. Unconfirmed rumors of up to seven people dying are likely what made this story so popular.

7. Amityville Horror: Second Gun Found? It’s been nearly 40 years since Ronald DeFeo murdered his family, but one filmmaker is among those who believe he didn’t act alone. The new evidence? A handle of a handgun found in the canal behind the house last year.

6. 4 LI High Schools Among Top 100 in US: It seems readers like good news, too. This one came when U.S. News & World Report ranked high schools in Rockville Centre, Jericho, Commack and Locust Valley among the nation’s best.

5. Paper Tiger: Newsday, once a flagship daily, has become a shell of its former after being bought by monopolistic Cablevision, the horrific cable company everyone hates. Its staff revealed to us the depth of their despair over the changes since the takeover.

4. Suffolk Authorities Dispel Serial Killer Suspect Rumors: Armchair detectives solved the Long Island Serial Killer case and broadcast their suspect’s name on the Internet. Except it turns out they were wrong, anyone can post anything to the Internet regardless of validity and the real detectives had to take the rare move to publicly stamp out false rumors.

3. Identifying Princess Doe: Thirty years after a teenage girl believed to be from Long Island was found dead of a brutal murder in a New Jersey cemetery, investigators continue their quest for justice for the unidentified victim.

2. Ripple Effect: While Suffolk has leaching septic tanks poisoning the aquifers that our drinking water comes from, residents of Bethpage and surrounding areas have carcinogenic toxic plumes from the region’s military industrial past to thank for death from the faucets.

1. Sandy: Anyone really surprised that the storm of the century topped this list? Although the homepage for all our coverage was most-clicked, if we listed every Sandy story separately, it would have taken up most of the top 10.

This Oct. 30 aerial photo shows 126 burned-out homes in Breezy Point. (AP)

With tons of Sandy debris at Nickerson Beach shipped away, Long Island downtowns bustling again and conversations turned from hurricanes to holidays, it almost seems as if normalcy has returned two months after the superstorm.

But the side streets in the hardest-hit communities like Long Beach are still littered with debris. Stray sandbags used in futile attempts to stop the historic floodwaters continue to blot some sidewalks. Eerily darkened waterfront apartment buildings sit vacant.

Although most of the Island has cleaned up and dried off after the worst storm to hit the region since 1938, more questions than answers remain. Many are tedious, like queries listed in insurance paperwork and Federal Emergency Management Agency applications. Others are unanswerable.

“But, mommy, if we’re not home, how will Santa Claus know how to find me?” was one question Rev. Msgnr. Donald Beckmann of St. Ignatius Martyr church in Long Beach recalled hearing during Christmas Eve mass.

The hardest of all to answer may be this: how much longer will it take?

Local officials say it may be at least a year. Those still recovering from Katrina—the only hurricane to cost more than Sandy—and officials in other tropical cyclone-prone regions say a comeback could take even longer. Less certain is recovery from the incalculable emotional toll—or how many residents will permanently move off LI as a result.

In the days immediately following Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called getting hit with such devastating storms “the new normal” after tropical storms Lee and Irene caused comparatively catastrophic flooding upstate last year.

Amityville Mayor Peter Imbert is among those doubting the possibility of returning 100 percent to pre-Sandy conditions.

“Some homes just won’t be rebuilt,” he says of his village. “I think we can hope for a 99 percent recovery.”

Other local officials, like Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman, see the recovery as a chance to plan for future storms.

“We’re foolish if we look for 100 percent recovery,” he says. “We need to look for 200 percent recovery. If we build back exactly as things were before, we miss the opportunity to provide the protection and the security that our residents need and deserve.”

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, who’s requested nearly $1 billion to repair the troubled Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant that failed during the storm, characterized the superstorm as a turning point.

“There are now two eras in the history of our county: pre-Hurricane Sandy and post-Hurricane Sandy,” he said in November.

Homes surrounded by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005 in New Orleans. (AP)

WAITING GAME

When Katrina, the costliest and fifth-deadliest hurricane in national history, breached the levees in New Orleans in 2005 and government response efforts collapsed, now-retired Gen. Russel Honoré was sent in to clean up the disaster.

“Nothing will ever be exactly like it was before,” Honoré says of the Sandy recovery, noting that the Crescent City’s population is about two thirds what is was before Katrina. “Regardless of what politicians have said, they will not make this whole again. It will never be the same. Never.”

LI will likely see a similar population drop as New Orleans, says Honoré, who has been called in to help with the Sandy recovery efforts. He attributes the decline after Katrina to increased insurance and property costs. Those working toward recovery shouldn’t be too hasty, he warns.

“There’s a term we used to use in the Army called, ‘rush to failure,’” says Honoré. “In disaster recovery, you can literally rush to failure and people never recover because they made decisions too quickly.”

Long after Katrina, New Orleans continues to work with FEMA on recovery efforts, according to Cedric Grant, the city’s deputy mayor. City officials are now planning to service their subsurface water lines and finally make permanent repairs to roads that were torn apart by Katrina.

“This is just stuff that has taken that much time to get to,” Grant says. He expects all of the work to continue well into 2018—13 years after the catastrophic hurricane.

It’s unlikely that LI will be dealing with Sandy through 2025. But, even if New Orleans is more vulnerable since it’s below sea level, Grant says that the best advice he can give to municipal leaders in areas affected by Sandy, is to practice patience.

“[Recovery] is a long process,” says Grant. “I’m hoping that everyone in the country learns from us…it just takes time.”

In North Carolina’s vulnerable barrier islands—the Outer Banks—officials say they only recently recovered from the damage left by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

“We were still working on [reconstruction] after Isabel as late as 2010,” says Jessica Phillips of the Emergency Management Agency in Dare County, which includes Hatteras Island, the state’s easternmost tip. “The last problems we had to deal with were mostly mitigation projects, raising houses up out of the flood zones.”

In Florida, home to the National Hurricane Center and the country’s most hurricane strikes, some officials say it’s the mental impact, not the structural damage that lasts the longest. Hurricanes can shake residents’ faith in the area as a safe place to live, causing some to move away for good.

“I think the psychological effects last a long time afterwards,” says West Palm Beach City Administrator Ed Mitchell.

After the back-to-back hurricanes of Frances and Jeanne in 2004, he recalls, some West Palm Beach residents packed up and simply said, “We’re not living through another hurricane season, this was bad enough.”

The damage of those storms doesn’t compare to Sandy’s devastation, but the vacuum left by residents who fled can still be felt today, he says.

The remnants of the west end of the Long Beach boardwalk in December. (Joe Abate).

SINK OR SWIM

The hits LI took from Sandy likewise may be felt in more than just the destroyed homes and ruined beaches.

Carole Shepherd, a therapist practicing traumatology with an office in Long Beach, is among those trying to heal the invisible wounds residents suffered when they lost their homes, possessions, or both.

“I specifically have created group programs for this particular disaster because the need is so great,” says Shepherd. “Most importantly, the groups help to build community. A lot of people have different resources and information that other people could use, that’s happening all over already so this group is a way of consolidating that.”

Shepherd says that trauma therapy has helped her patients put the past behind them and start to create a new present and future for themselves.

“It’s inevitable that things are going to happen, the only question is, how are we going to deal with them?” says Shepherd.

Predicting a timeline for recovery is hard to do.

“There is no way to put a time frame on it,” says Gordon Tepper, a Long Beach city spokesman. “There is a lot of work left to be done. We’ve worked around the clock and will continue to work around the clock and rebuild stronger, smarter and safer. We want to get the beach and the boardwalk up and running as soon as possible.”

One thing is clear: it’s going to be very expensive.

“Money is the fuel of the engine of recovery, says Schnirman, city manager of Long Beach. “Whether it be rebuilding the boardwalk or the beach; repairing and improving our water plant and our sewer plant to protect our residents and guarding against future storms, all of that takes money.”

More than 100,000 people have registered for individual FEMA assistance in Nassau and Suffolk counties, totaling about $316 million in individual assistance. Long Beach has already received $24.3 million to help fuel their recovery, although a $9 billion request for all of LI’s municipalities was pending in Congress as of press time.

“I would expect we are going to be reimbursed,” says Steve Bellone, Suffolk County executive, “but of course that’s going to be a concern because it’s a major hit in your budget in a time where we are already facing great fiscal challenges.”

Village officials across LI were also facing the same cash crunch before the storm blew an even bigger hole in their checkbook.

“If we didn’t receive FEMA money, we would be in big trouble,” says Imbert, Amityville’s mayor. “Spending that kind of money could cripple our budget.”

Rev. Beckmann of St. Ignatius recalled that although the recovery process is still underway and uncertainties abound, there’s still plenty to be thankful for.

“I can’t count how many have said to me, after talking about all of the things that you’ve lost…but those are just things,” he says. “We have our lives. We have one another…and in light of that, the other things really aren’t important.”

—With additional reporting by Rashed Mian, Timothy Bolger and Lindsay Christ