The 10-day island-wide celebration of suds kicks off with a series of happy-hour events Friday at participating bars, restaurants and beer distributers across Nassau and Suffolk counties. It runs through Sunday, May 19.

“As Long Island’s first and largest craft brewery, we’re proud to celebrate the growth of the industry and the rise in craft beer aficionados,” said Curt Potter, spokesman for Patchogue-based Blue Point Brewing Co. “We enjoy Long Island Craft Beer Week as it’s a real celebration of community and the growing craft beer movement.”

The number of craft breweries has tripled from five in 2008 to 15 now with four more in the works to open by the end of this year, according to figures Newsday reported last week. Mustache Brewing Co. in Riverhead, Barrage Brewing Co. in Farmingdale and Oyster Bay Brewing Co. are among the latest local upstarts getting ready to open their doors.

Beer Here: Tapping Into Long Island’s Craft Beer Explosion

Among the events celebrating local microbreweries are as beer pong contests, “meet the brewer” nights, home brewing classes, a beer festival dubbed “Bay Fest” at Great South Bay Brewery in Bay Shore, craft beer trivia nights and the Golden Tap Awards Gala—the Oscars of local beer.

Participating local bars include T.J. Finley’s, The Tap Room, The Lark Pub & Grub, Croxley’s and The Good Life. Many events include special beer pairing dinners that feature Q&A sessions with the brewers. Prizes and giveaways will also be offered for some of the events, which includes some tastings celebrating off-island brewers.

For more information on Long Island Craft Beer Week, a full list of events, visit www.longislandcraftbeerweek.com

The events range from fundraisers for Superstorm Sandy survivors and family events for the kids to local bars and restaurants offering specials on burritos, margaritas and Coronas—so break out that souvenir sombrero from Cancun.

But, before leaving the house in a poncho, here’s a quick North American history refresher lesson:  Cinco de Mayo is not—like some people mistakenly believe—Mexican Independence Day, which is Sept.16.

The holiday commemorates the Battle of Puebla, when Mexican forces turned back invading French troops in 1862—a symbol of resiliency for the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking nation.

And for those who still remember their high school Spanish 101, here’s a potentially useful bonus factoid—a Mexican saying that may come in handy on the Long Island Rail Road this weekend: “A boca de borracho, oídos de cantinero.”

It translates to “the mouth of drunk, ears of barman.” It basically means ignore the loud drunks.

Saturday
10 a.m.-5 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Dive Meet, Nassau County Aquatic Center, Eisenhower Park, East Meadow, 516-572-0501.

2-4 p.m., Cinco de Mayo at the Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Ave., Garden City, 516-224-5800.

Cinco de Mayo Kickoff Party, Napper Tandy’s Irish Pub, 275 Rte 25A, Miller Place, 631-331-5454. $4 Coronas and margaritas.

May 4-5: Cinco de Mayo Weekend at The Nutty Irishman. 323 Main St. Farmingdale. 516-293-9700. $4 Coronas, 8-10 p.m.

Sunday
11 a.m.-2 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Festival at the Garden of Eve Organic Farm & Market. 4558 Sound Ave, Aquebogue, 631-523-6608

11 a.m.-2 p.m., Cinco de Mayo at the Long Island Game Farm Wildlife Park. 638 Chapman Blvd, Manorville, 631-878-6644. www.longislandgamefarm.com

12-2:30 p.m. or 3-5:30 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Kid’s Fun Skate. United Skates of America, 1276 Hicksville Rd. Seaford, 516-795-5474.

2 p.m., Cinco de Mayo: Serenata Mexicana. The Suffolk Theater, 118 E. Main St. Riverhead, 631- 727-4343. $35.

2-3 p.m., Latin Music. Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages, 1200 Route 25A  Stony Brook, 631-751-0066

2-5 p.m., Mambo Loco at Martha Clara Vineyards. 6025 Sound Ave. Riverhead, 631-298-0075

3-8 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Party, Sandy survivor fundraiser, Knights of Columbus, 2333 Bellmore Ave., Bellmore, 516-785-9407. $40.

3-9 p.m., Cinco de Mayo at Pefecto Mundo Latin Bistro. 1141-1 Jericho Turnpike, Commack, 631-864-2777.

10 p.m.-12 a.m., Cinco de Mayo at Lily Flanagan’s Pub. 345 Deer Park Ave., Babylon, 631-539-0816

Cinco de Mayo Party at Dublin Deck. 325 River Ave, Patchogue, 631-207-0370.

Cinco de Moe’s at Moe’s Southwest Grill, multiple locations. Homewrecker burrito, chips and salsa for $5 and bobblehead Cinco de Moe’s collector’s cups.

Margaritas and Fajitas at Cozymel’s Mexican Grill, 1177 Corporate Dr., Westbury.11 a.m.-12 a.m.

Buy two tacos get one free at Chico’s Tex-Mex Restaurant, 18 Berryhill Rd., Syosset, 516-802-3500. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

$2 tacos, $5 nacho platters, $3 beers and $4 margaritas and sangrias at Swell Taco, 135 Deer Park Ave., Babylon, 631-482-1299. 12-4 p.m.

$5 margaritas, $3 beers, free giveaways, Don Juan’s, multiple locations.

-Compiled by Danny Mounce

Thomas Herman will be arraigned Friday on that and 23 other charges at Suffolk County court. The 46-year-old Patchogue man is currently being held without bail.

“Our retrieval and analysis of the data from the black box in Herman’s SUV has established his 2008 Chevy Trailblazer was traveling at 87 miles per hour at the point of impact with the victim’s Hyundai Elantra,” Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota said.

Prosecutors said Herman was high on PCP, Morphine and various prescription medications while speeding on Montauk Highway during the hit-and-run crashes in the early evening hours of Sunday, Jan. 13.

The last of those crashes was head-on, leaving Sam Longo of West Islip dead and his passenger, 79-year old Agnes Gilbert of Oakdale, suffering from a fractured hip, pelvis, leg and several broken ribs.

Spota said a store surveillance camera captured Herman swipe a car alongside him, shearing off the car’s outside mirror in front of a Suffolk County police officer, who started pursuing the suspect 10 seconds before the deadly collision.

Sandra Bernhard

Some might call Sandra Bernhard the Siren of Snark, the Snide and the Snarl, but the celebrity comedian is so much nicer and kinder and sweeter than anyone would ever suspect when she’s not on stage. And that’s her secret.

When she’s on, channeling the moment, she can be so sharp that a laser would be a blunt instrument in another’s hands. Yet the truth is, at this point in her multi-faceted career, she’s actually mellowed, dare we say—her word—matured. Gone are the shows when she’d grab a flashlight and stab a cowering audience member with its probing beam and skewer him or her with her steely wit.

“You kind of get a little more sophisticated as the years go by,” she told the Press recently on the phone from her apartment in Chelsea. “You do things differently. I’m certainly not going to talk about…dating!”

Long Islanders who didn’t make her critically acclaimed run at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan over the winter holidays will get their chance to catch Bernhard on Saturday, April 13, at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, which, she made clear, better not be a comedy club or “I’ll be calling my agents when I hang up and firing them!”

Despite her years in the business as a very funny performer—and an award-winning actor for her role as a stalker in Martin Scorsese’s dark classic, The King of Comedy, Bernhard says, “I never played comedy clubs on Long Island!” Those clubs are too small to encompass everything she does.

“I like to reveal more of myself, it’s more personal, it’s more global,” she says. “It kind of covers the whole landscape of culture that we all go through every day.”

She says she knows the Island—her uncle was a doctor in Merrick—and could find her way from Hauppauge to Patchogue “if I had to!” She’ll be performing her act, “I Love Being Me, Don’t You,” which has a little bit of everything, including her band, the Flawless Zircons.

As she put it, “It’s a big, fabulous, fun show that covers all the different bases of entertainment, from burlesque to cabaret to rock ‘n’ roll to comedy. It’s old school and post-modern, all put-together!”

In her show, she tells stories and sings, drawing “little bits and pieces” from Barbara Streisand, Carol Burnett, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and even Joni Mitchell and melding them “into my own musical, comedic sensibilities.”

Her albums include “I’m Your Woman,” “Excuses for Bad Behavior” and “Whatever It Takes.” She’s also performed with Chrissie Hinds, Cyndi Lauper and the Scissor Sisters.  On “Roseanne” she played Nancy Bartlett, the first openly gay character on a network sitcom. Recently she did another ground-breaking series, DTLA (short for Downtown Los Angeles), on the Logo cable network, and completed a stint on ABC’s “Neighbors.” But by all accounts, she first made her mark when she starred with Jerry Lewis and Robert Di Nero in “The King of Comedy,” which is getting a much welcome makeover in time for its 30th anniversary as it closes this year’s Tribeca Film Festival on April 27.

Working with Jerry Lewis, she told us, was “not easy but fabulous, you know…to observe him and get to be around his madness and brilliance.”

Not too long ago Andy Cohen, the dapper host of Bravo’s “Watch What Happens,” happily dubbed Bernhard the “Margaret Mead of Pop Culture,” and she didn’t contradict him. She was sitting next to Jane Fonda deconstructing the “Real Housewives” phenomenon. Although Fonda has done 28 workout-related videos and she’s done none, Bernhard doesn’t mind. “Do I look like somebody who would do a workout tape?” she smirks.

She will work up a sweat, though, when she plays Patchogue.

“I like new things and I like old things,” she says. “I like smart people and I like people who have trail-blazed and taken chances. Those are all my influences! And I try to bring that all together in a really compelling, entertaining night that people will walk away from going, ‘Wow! She took me someplace! She didn’t leave me in the lurch.’ That’s really what I attempt to do every time I step on stage.”

Suffolk County police said Sophan Korur was crossing William Floyd Parkway when he was hit by a southbound Toyota Camry south of Montauk Highway at 7:17 p.m.

The victim was taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue where he died shortly later.

The driver, 26-year-oldAngela Gonzalez of Patchogue, was not injured in the crash.

Seventh Squad detectives are continuing the investigation and ask anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact them at 631-852-8752.

Salvatore Distefano

A Suffolk County police officer helping investigate a fatal car crash was injured when an alleged drunken driver rear-ended his patrol car in Patchogue on Sunday evening, authorities said.

The highway patrolman was at the scene of a crash that killed a 22-year-old driver on Sunrise Highway earlier the same day when Salvatore Distefano crashed his Chrysler into the cop car at 7:12 p.m., police said.

Police Officer Brian Smales had parked his car, with emergency lights activated, on the right shoulder of the express portion of the road in an attempt to make the scene safe for the search, police said.

Smales was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital where he was treated for head, neck, back and leg injuries.

Distefano was taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue where he was treated for facial lacerations.

The 29-year-old Central Islip man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, assault and violating New York State’s “Move Over Law” that requires drivers slow down and change lanes to safely pass an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the road.

He will be arraigned Monday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Smales was at the scene of the crash that claimed the life of Colin Garrett of Patchogue and injured two of his passengers at 1:32 a.m. Sunday, police said.

Vehicular Crimes Unit detectives ask anyone with information regarding this crash involving Distefano to call them at 631-852-6295.

Colin Garrett was driving a Chevrolet Malibu westbound on the Sunrise Highway north service road when he lost control of the car, which struck a fence and grass median before it overturned onto the express portion of the roadway just east of Waverly Avenue at 1:32 a.m., police said.

Garrett was ejected from the car and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two passengers, 22-year-old Colleen Malia of Oakdale and 20-year-old Nicole Wilk of Bohemia, were taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Fifth Squad detectives are continuing the the investigation and ask anyone with information about the crash to contact them at 631-854-8552.

Mehmet Yaylacicegi

A Patchogue man has been arrested for scamming a Long Island pet cemetery out of more than $26,000 over a two-year-period, Suffolk County police said.

Mehmet Yaylacicegi, an attendant at BP Gas on Middle Country Road in Middle Island, made more than 330 fraudulent purchases using an in-station credit card belonging to Regency Forest Pet Memorial Park, police said.

The victims became aware of the theft during an internal audit and called police. The 55-year-old man was charged Monday with grand larceny and identity theft.

Identity Theft Unit detectives ask any businesses with similar in-station credit card accounts to check for discrepancies and report them to the squad at 631-852-6821.

The roof collapsed at a vacant Nappa Auto Parts store at the corner of Main Street and Rider Avenue in Patchogue on Tuesday morning, according to Suffolk County police and Patchogue village officials.

The ceiling also collapsed at 30 Minute Photo on Fort Salonga Road in East Northport due to water leakage, taking down wires in the process, according to police.

Firefighters responded to the scene in both cases. There were no reported injuries in either collapse.

The incidents come after Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove was forced to close at 4 p.m. Monday because water leaked into several stores. All but six stores reopened Tuesday afternoon.

A mall spokeswoman said reports that the mall’s roof partially collapsed are untrue. The Fire Marshall has been inspecting the mall.

Smithtown Bowl also suffered a partial roof collapse over the weekend.

Harry Fleischmann Jr.

A Patchogue parolee is accused of ransacking and burning down the home of an Air National Guard reservist serving overseas, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said Tuesday.

Harry Fleischmann Jr., 33, will be arraigned Tuesday on charges of burglarizing and burning down the home of Air National Guard Reservist Eric Carver on Dec. 27.

Carver, who is also a New York State Trooper, is currently on active duty serving in Africa, officials said.

Fleischmann, a convicted burglar on parole, “ransacked the victim’s house in the Swan Lake development in East Patchogue and stole Trooper Carver’s SUV, off-duty handgun, holster, some ammunition and a generator that Fleischmann found in a backyard shed,” Spota said, adding that his criminal history dates back to 1996.

“He also found gasoline in the shed and poured the gas on a stairway leading from the rear door of the house to the main floor, tossing a match into the doorway,” he added.

The blaze destroyed Carver’s rear door, melted the siding and destroyed his living room and kitchen, the district attorney said.

The Suffolk County Police Pattern Crimes Unit arrested Fleischmann on Jan. 16, authorities said. Detectives also linked him to several commercial burglaries dating back to last year at gas stations in East Patchogue, Brookhaven, Islandia, and Rocky Point, and burglaries of a Medford car wash and a Bayport liquor store, officials said.

“The thought that somebody came in here and did that was very scary,” said Debbie Roach of Swan Lake Civic Association whose group raised more than $20,000 to help Carver get back on his feet when he returns.

The fundraiser was the brainchild of her 10-year-old son who gathered his Christmas money and bought bracelets that the civic association later sold for the fundraiser.

When Roach first heard that someone was indicted for setting the blaze she felt “joy” and “relief,” she said.

“It was a very scary thing,” Roach said of the break-in and fire, “we didn’t know if it was anyone” from the community.