Week In Review

Happy Mother's Day and happy five-month anniversary (minus a day) to Merrick Patch.  No, we are not above congratulating ourselves.  Anyway, onto last week's Merrick news:

On Sunday, we hit the softball field, where the Lady Colts put up a fight, but couldn't keep up with the Hicksville Comets. 

On Monday, we had some good news for those worried about home burglaries as police reported the arrest of Freeport man who they say is linked to Merrick break-ins. On the new business front, Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened a location on Merrick Road in February and we stopped by for the full, delicious scoop.  The PTAs of the three elementary schools in the Merrick School District wrote a letter in support of a the proposed $41 million 2010/11 school budget.  On the lacrosse field, Calhoun was stumped in a loss to Holy Trinity.

On Tuesday, we had early morning news of the Merrick Fire Department responding to a large fire that broke out in a Baldwin pizzeria.  We profiled Matt Rossi, a young North Merrick man who decided to join AmeriCorps to gain new life experiences.  A police spokesman told Patch that the Freeport man arrested for home burglaries was likely behind the February burglary spree in Merrick that rattled the community.

Also on Tuesday, North Merokean Francine Goldstein wrote about her upcoming 22nd AIDS Walk to honor her late best friend.  Patch reporter Drew Moss spent his Sunday afternoon at the annual Oldsmobile Club "Dust-Off" and said it was a special event all around.  In sports news, the Calhoun volleyball team was all smiles after snapping a losing streak with a big win over Farmingdale.

On Wednesday, it was off to Maximus Spa and Salon for a look at the Merrick institution that has been a trendsetter in the beauty industry since 1970.  The big news of the day, however, came on the softball diamond, where the Kennedy Cougars took care of Hicksville to move into first place in the conference. In other sports action, the Calhoun baseball team topped Freeport, the Lady Colts fell to Valley Stream in softball and Kennedy baseball was edged by Carey after a controversial call at home plate.

On Thursday, we had a report on a candidates forum held for the three people running for two open seats on the Merrick School Board.  Patch columnist Claudia Borecky  argued that building a casino on the Nassau Coliseum site is not the answer to the county's financial troubles. We also had you weekly Merrick Crime Report.

In Kennedy sports news, the lacrosse team, led by Zac Shuldiner and Michael Casson, downed rival Mepham, 10-3, and the softball team stayed red-hot with a win over Uniondale. 

On Friday, we opened the day on the North Merrick school scene with a report on a question-and-answer session between residents and the four candidates for the school board. Sticking with the school theme, we sat in on a meeting of the central high school district's school board, which appointed a new assistant principal for Calhoun, while parents spoke out at the meeting about vending machine choices and school athletic fields.

In sports Friday, the Colts baseball team beat Oceanside for their fourth straight win, the Cougars clipped Freeport 10-9 in baseball and the Lady Colts got solid pitching from freshman Gianna Saladino, but lost to Herricks.

On Saturday, we had the recap of the Lady Cougars romp of Calhoun as Kennedy heads into the playoffs on a winning note. The Kennedy volleyball also had no trouble in its matchup with Hewlett, sweeping all three games.

Merrick Patch has a new Facebook page, so make sure you are still following us here.  And remember Patch is much more than an online newspaper, it's a community forum so send your photos/videos of anything going on around town to ryan@patch.com and do your part to keep Merokeans connected.