Eric Tassiello

An admitted drunken driver from Bethpage who killed a 44-year-old bicyclist in a hit-and-run crash two years ago has been released from Nassau County jail after serving only one year behind bars.

Eric Tassiello had pleaded guilty in February 2012 at Nassau County court to vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while intoxicated. He was freed two months ago after completing the jail’s DART drug and alcohol treatment program.

“I have had enough time to think about my actions and I am extremely remorseful,” the 27-year-old unemployed bar back told Judge Alan Honorof on May 6, when he was sentenced to six months time served. “I can humbly say that I will never be back in front of this court for anything, especially [of] this magnitude.”

Authorities said Tassiello was driving his Kia southbound on Merritt Road in North Massapequa after leaving The Nutty Irishman in Farmingdale when he struck the victim from behind and fled the scene in the early morning hours of Jan. 11, 2011.

The victim, Juan Hernandez, later died of his injuries, which included internal bleeding.

Police caught Tassiello shortly after the crash. He was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.20 percent—more than double the legal limit of 0.08 percent—about two hours after the crash despite telling the arresting officer that he only drank one beer, according to court documents.

The blood stain on the street where the victim was hit before the driver fled.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Bushwack had recommended that Tassiello be sentenced to two to six years in prison. But, as a part of the plea deal with prosecutors and his Garden City-based attorney, Brian Griffin, Honorof promised that if Tassiello completed the DART program he would be eligible for early release.

“The court believes that it is in the interest of justice to accept the plea from this defendant,” Honorof said in court when Tassiello changed his plea.

Honorof also sentenced Tassiello to five years’ probation, a $750 fine and revoked his driver’s license for one year. He has until Aug. 19 to pay the fine.

“There has always been two systems of justice: One for those who have money, power and influence and another for the poor, no matter what their color, background or nationality,” said Allan Ramirez, the longtime advocate for Long Island’s Hispanic community who retired as pastor  of the Brookville Reformed Church and moved to Mexico City last fall. “You are in deep ‘caca’ trying to get justice if your name is Juan Hernandez.”

Honorof is the same judge that reportedly drew ire from the families of two DWI crash victims’ when he sentenced Martin Heidgen to 18 years to life, instead of the maximum 25 to life, for killing limo driver Stanley Rabinowitz and 7-year-old flower girl Katie Flynn in a 2005 wrong-way crash.

Tassiello was initially released from jail after his arrest and then posted bail after first pleading not guilty in October 2011 to the charges in a grand jury indictment. He began serving his year in jail when he changed his plea to guilty four months later.

“As we got the updates throughout the course of this case from the DART program at the jail, I am very pleased and happy,” Griffin told the court last week, noting that Tassiello has been undergoing outpatient substance abuse treatment since his release. “He met each and everything he was asked to do. He met every milestone at the jail.”

Griffin did not return a call for comment. A spokesman for Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice declined to comment. John Fowle, the acting director of the Nassau probation department, referred a reporter’s question asking why a probation officer recommended Tassiello’s light sentence to a spokeswoman for Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, who also failed to respond to the query.

Congresswoman Pelosi commemorates the LGBT victims of the Holocaust at the “Friends of the Pink Triangle” ceremony at the Twin Peaks Vista Overlook, Calif. (Courtesy of Nancy Pelosi’s office).

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, credited the nonprofit Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth with being “part of a national movement for justice” while the group honored her efforts fighting for gay rights during its 20th anniversary gala Friday evening.

She said the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, “will be left in the dustbin of history,” predicting that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn it after hearing arguments in March.

“There’s no time to waste, there’s much work to be done,” Pelosi said at Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park. “All of our caucus is very committed to the GLBT agenda.”

She also evoked the memory of Harvey Milk, a Bay Shore native who became the nation’s first openly gay politician when he was elected in San Francisco, a leading city in the modern gay rights movement where Pelosi’s district office is located.

Also honored were Edie Windsor, who brought the lawsuit challenging DOMA to the Supreme Court, and Andrew Stern, the chief operating officer of NARAL Pro-Choice NY.

“This organization matters to me,” Stern said, choking up at times. ”It matters a lot to me.”

He recalled being called names, shoved in lockers and having his sweater lit on fire at alma mater, Plainedge High School, whose gay-straight alliance also presented him with an award.

He called it the best award and most meaningful recognition he’s ever received and accepted it on behalf of his parents. “This means the world to me,” he said.

David Kilmnick, chief executive officer of LIGALY, reflected upon how far his group has come in the past two decades while announcing that it will be opening its third center, the “GLBT center of the Hamptons,” this summer.

“It was indeed a different time in 1993,” he said, recalling the fear among LI’s gay and lesbian youth then to even gather the courage to ask him where GLBT could come together when he’d visit local schools to raise awareness about LIGALY. ”Twenty years later it is certainly a different time.”

“GLBT centers save lives,” he said. “From the bottom of my heart,” he told the crowd, pausing for a moment to collect himself, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Revamped Vanderbilt planetarium. Pictured above is a state-of-the-art planetarium projector. (Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt Museum.)

The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s Planetarium has been renamed The Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium following the philanthropic Fort Salonga couple’s recent $850,000 donation—a move that some worry may cause confusion.

Suffolk lawmakers debated the issue Tuesday before they unanimously voted to approve a resolution changing the name of the Centerport facility, which saw nearly 10,000 visitors the first month since it reopened in March following a $4-million renovation. About 200 school children visit the planetarium and museum daily.

“We’ve spent a long time branding this facility, we’ve spent a lot of money on this facility…everybody knows it as the Vanderbilt planetarium,” Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk) said before the vote. “I’m a little bit concerned. I don’t want to discourage people from being philanthropic. I just hope were not hurting ourselves in the long run.”

The donation, spread out of the next decade—$80,000 for the first five years, $90,000 for the second five—is the third largest in the history of the museum since William K. Vanderbilt II bequest the mansion and a $2 million trust to the county after his death in 1944 and his daughter, Muriel Vanderbilt, donated another $6.2 million.

Revamped Vanderbilt Planetarium Educates and Illuminates

“I’ve thought of that,” Lance Reinheimer, interim executive director of the Vanderbilt, said of the name change possibly confusing the public. “It’s a valid concern.”

He added that road signs will continue to just say “planetarium” and the Reichert family name will be used mainly in correspondence and publications. It will be informally known as the Reichert Family Planetarium at the Vanderbilt Museum.

“This is a private donation, it’s not a corporate donation, and we’re naming the building in recognition of the gift,” Reinheimer said. “So it’s a little bit different than Bethpage Ballpark,” he added, referring to the Long Island Ducks’ minor-league baseball stadium in Central Islip for which the county sold the naming rights to Bethpage Federal Credit Union.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) dismissed the concerns over any potential confusion.

“In all the years that I’ve been sitting here there’s been nothing but complaints [from] this legislature about the Vanderbilt bleeding money,” Lindsay said. “Here we got some money, what are we going to do, throw it back at them?”

A satellite view of Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.

Hip hop mogul Jay-Z was among four teams of companies that pitched their visions Thursday for the aging Nassau Coliseum property to a committee that will later pick the winning proposal.

The four ideas were split in two camps: Three groups that suggested refurbishing the 40-year-old arena versus one that wants to demolish it and build anew. All the plans reduce the number of seats from the current 16,800, which Nassau County suggested in its latest request for proposals for the infamously difficult-to-redevelop prime real estate.

“Long a victim of the Long Island ‘no,’ we are encouraged that one of the proposals today holds the key,” County Executive Ed Mangano said during the presentation hosted by his Business Advisory Council, which will decide the winner this summer.

Proposing a new arena is the Blumenfeld Development Group, which made its fourth pitch for the land since the 1970s. Refurbished coliseum plans were unveiled by New York Sports & Entertainment LLC, the Madison Square Garden

Jay-Z, right, shares a laugh with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

Company and Jay-Z’s group, led by the Forest City Ratner Companies, which built the new Barclay’s Center and lured the Islanders from the coliseum.

“We need to create a new identity for Nassau—one that’s bold and new and fresh,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of the Barclay’s Center and the Brooklyn Nets. The surrounding property would feature a movie theater, restaurants, an exhibition hall and an outdoor amphitheater.

“Programming is really the fuel for this engine,” he said, pointing to plans to host upward of 300 events annually, including six Islanders games, 38 minor-league hockey games and 54 family events among the line up.

MSG, which was spun off from Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. in 2010, likewise rolled out plans that included creating an “entertainment district” surrounding a refurbished arena.

“We don’t have time to pick a plan that doesn’t work,” said RXR Reality CEO Scott Rechler, who joined the MSG pitch team. He was alluding to his prior plans to redevelop the coliseum in the ambitious Lighthouse project with Islanders’ owner Charles Wang.

Wang has also reportedly been considering moving the Islanders to Brooklyn before their lease is up on their original Uniondale home in 2015—adding even more urgency to the proposal process.

Jim Johnson, who made the presentation for Bernard Shereck, CEO of New York & Sports Entertainment LLC, emphasized their Long Island roots and joked that “the Bernie’s our biggest celebrity” compared to the competition.

“Nobody can ever dispute that Long Island is a hotbed for lacrosse,” Johnson said while touting plans to bring a lacrosse team to the arena and create more space within the existing facility for an exhibition hall.

Starting off their presentation with a video of a Nassau Coliseum lookalike being demolished was Ed Blumenfeld, whose firm joined with SMG, the current Nassau Coliseum management company.

“We think we have something that will be difference and iconic to Long Island,” he said, adding that the company would buy a minor-league hockey team if it won the bid.

Jerry Goldman, the current general manager of the coliseum, expressed his support. “Long Island deserves a brand new arena, not a refurbished arena,” he said.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano gave his fourth State of the County address at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage on Wednesday, March 6, 2013.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano proposed a new, smaller arena to replace the aging coliseum, urged Democratic critics to help him close perpetual budget gaps and ticked off a list of past initiatives in his fourth State of the County address Wednesday.

After recovering from a teleprompter glitch during his opening remarks, the first-term Republican seeking re-election this fall launched into what at times felt like a stump speech—although he also struck some downer notes while mentioning Superstorm Sandy, the loss of the New York Islanders and the recent deaths of two Nassau cops and a top Nassau GOP lawmaker.

“Nassau County had the distinction of being the highest property taxed County in the nation; that is no longer true,” Mangano told the crowd assembled at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in his hometown of Bethpage. “While we still have much work to do, we’re headed in the right direction.”

His address comes as federal Sandy recovery aid has begun trickling into the region, while The Amazing Spiderman 2—the largest film shot in New York State—is now in production at a nearby sound stage and after a federal judge recently ruled against a 2011 county employee wage freeze.

He also reminded the audience that he has frozen property taxes, cut the county workforce and privatized county services such as the bus system and inmate health care at Nassau County jail in his quest to close budget deficits. The Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state-appointed fiscal watchdog, took control of county finances a year after Mangano took office.

Legis. Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead), the leader of the county’s Democratic legislative minority, criticized Mangano for his ongoing plan to close half of the eight police precincts—one cost-saving measure the county exec didn’t mention—and for a recent credit downgrade.

“It seems as though Nassau County has hit rock bottom,” Abrahams said, although he did endorse the new arena idea. “How much are we really saving and is it really worth it?”

Tom Suozzi, the ex-Nassau County executive seeking the Democratic line for a rematch against Mangano—who unseated Suozzi in 2009—released a statement critical of Mangano before the address.

“Under Ed Mangano, Nassau County has been mired in reckless mismanagement and constant fiscal crisis,” Suozzi said. “Furthermore, Mangano has presented no vision for our future and continues to rely on borrowing to the detriment of future generations.”

Suozzi’s Democratic primary opponent, millionaire Adam Haber of Roslyn, also took a swipe at the county executive, accusing him of “speaking out of both sides of his mouth. Mangano said that taxes have not gone up, but Nassau’s middle class families know that they are being squeezed by paying more fees, while government services are getting cut.”

In his defense, Mangano repeatedly referenced a $3 billion deficit he inherited from Suozzi, half of it from funds borrowed to pay property tax challenges in a grievance system Mangano has tried to overhaul. He also called on Democrats to provide the three votes needed to approve borrowing to pay more property tax settlements—something Democrats vowed not to do in the run-up to the recent legislative redistricting.

“We have truly reinvented and are rebuilding a stronger, better and brighter Nassau County,” Mangano said. “That is why we must never return to our past practices.”

The victims were standing with a group of people on Davidson Street near the corner of Troy Avenue when they were hit by the gunfire shortly before 1 p.m.

Both men drove themselves to local hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. One of the men was shot in the arm and went to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip. The other man was shot in the shoulder and went to St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage.

First Squad detectives ask anyone with information on this shooting to call them at 631-854-8152 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.  All calls will be kept confidential.

Tom Suozzi declares his intention to run for Nassau County Executive.

Three years after Tom Suozzi narrowly lost Nassau’s top-elected position, the former county executive is aiming to get his old job back.

Suozzi, a Democrat, made the announcement Wednesday on his campaign’s official website in a letter addressed to Nassau County residents, declaring his intention to challenge Republican Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano to “restore fiscal stability to our county government and to stop the irresponsible borrowing and skyrocketing debt that shifts the responsibility to our children and grandchildren.”

The former four-term Glen Cove mayor and two-term county executive’s campaign intentions have been one of the worst-kept secrets in Nassau political circles for months. Suozzi has made no secret of his love of politics or intentions for higher office, stating during a debate against former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer during his failed bid in the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary that he’d like to be president one day.

Mangano, a veteran county legislator from Bethpage, defeated Suozzi in December 2009 by less than 400 votes following a razor-thin recount that ended in New York State Supreme Court. The following month, Suozzi was hired by one of his largest campaign contributors, Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp., as a consultant to its Local Media Group, which includes holdings Newsday, am New York and News 12. In April 2010 he was hired as a senior advisor to Manhattan-based global advisory investment bank Lazard Ltd. Most recently, Suozzi was of counsel to Harris Beach, a law firm with 13 locations throughout New York State, including Albany and Uniondale.

“Nassau County was once the ideal suburb and we can be again,” Suozzi declares in the letter, dubbing himself “a problem solver” who loved his job as county executive.

During his time away from public office, Suozzi writes, he’s seen “the county mismanaged from one man-made crisis after another” and notes its financial takeover by state watchdog Nassau Interim Finance Authority.

Former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat, conceded a razor-thin defeat to Republican Ed Mangano for the county’s top-elected position in December 2009, losing by less than 400 votes. (Christopher Twarowski/Long Island Press)

He also reflects on the continued departure of recent college grads who can’t afford a future in Nassau because “this suburb of opportunity for my parents, my grandparents, and my generation now has little to offer them.”

“I’m running to demonstrate that we’re all in this together and to stop shifting the burden to our school property taxpayers,” Suozzi continues. “I’m running to stop the deficit spending and the phony budgets.”

A Mangano spokesperson wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Nassau County Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs will be holding a press conference to discuss Suozzi’s candidacy Wednesday afternoon. Although there is already one announced Democratic candidate for the position, Rosyln School Board member/businessman Adam Haber, and another currently exploring a possible run, North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, political insiders tell the Press Suozzi is the party favorite.

“Jay [Jacobs] is in Tom’s corner, that is well-known in party circles,” says a Democratic Party source.

“I believe that everything I have done in my life has prepared me for this moment,” continues Suozzi’s letter. “My training as a certified public accountant and attorney, my years as a mayor and county executive, and my recent private-sector experiences have prepared me for this job.”

Sgt. Patrick Divers was working with his Brooklyn North Narcotics team when he complained of pain and suffered convulsions at 10:30 a.m. Friday. He was taken to nearby Woodhull Medical Center where he died.

The St. John’s University graduate made more than 1,000 arrest and earned 35 recognitions during his  25-year NYPD career. He is survived by his wife, daughter and son.

Wake services for Divers will be held at at Kenneth-Chapey & Sons funeral home in Bethpage 2 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday at Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Ozone Park before he is buried at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.

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.