{ title: 'The Long-Islander. (Huntington [N.Y.]) 1839-current, April 05, 2018, Page 2, Image 2', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031119/2018-04-05/ed-1/seq-2/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031119/2018-04-05/ed-1/seq-2.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031119/2018-04-05/ed-1/seq-2/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn83031119/2018-04-05/ed-1/seq-2/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
A2 « THE LONG-ISLANDER « APRIL 5, 2018 TOWN OF HUNTINGTON LonglslanderNews com Please menlzon The Long Islander New spapers w hen dmng business with cur ady ermerr GOP Candldate For Town Board Emerges By Connor Beach c In ac h a laugh/and: rgroup com After falling 603 votes short in last November's race for a seat on the Hunt- ington Town Board, Republican Jim Leonick announced earlier this week that he'll again seek election to the board this fall. This time around there will be one seat up for grabs. That seat is currently held by Democrat Joan Cergol, who . was appointed councilwoman in De- cember after Democrat Susan Berland resigned from the board in order to take her seat in the Suffolk Legislature. Leonick said he decided to run again because he thought it was important that the public has a right \to choose who sits in that seat as opposed to someone who was appointed and gets to continue in it.\ \I think I scored fairly well with votes in the last election, and I think I have a good chance of being successful this year,\ Leonick said. Leonick began practicing law in 1989 after graduating from Touro Law Jim Leonick School in Huntington, and moved with his wife to East Northport in 1993. For the last 17 years Leonick has worked as a self-employed attorney in East Northport, a background that he said would serve him well on the town board. \'You learn a lot of things about the economy, about people and about your community,\ Leonick said. However, he added that being self- employed or an attorney is not enough to qualify a person to serve as an elected official, and stressed that community involvement is just as important. Leonick said his involvement in local community organizations, combined with professional experience teaching paralegal classes at Briarcliff College and arbitrating tax grievances on resi- dential properties for New York State, makes him well suited for the job. Leonick said he enjoyed meeting new people on the campaign trail; how- ever, one* of biggest things that he learned is that \the average person in Huntington, or any town, doesn't know enough about what is going on in the town.\ The town is partly to blame, Leonick said, and his goals if elected include increasing transparency and building a bridge between town government and civic organizations. Huntington Republican Committee Chair Toni Tepe said the committee has not yet made a formal endorsement, but she did say, \From talking to com- mittee people there is a great deal of support for him [Leonick].\ Incumbent Councilwoman Joan Cergol Plans - Campaign Announcement As for Cergol, of Hunting- ton, she previously served as the director of the town's Community Development Agency. She's expected to formally announce her cam- paign for town council during a fundraising event scheduled for April 16. Joan Cergol HUNTINGTON By Connor Beach Simulator Shows Dangers Of Dlstracte Drlvmg cheach@longislandergroup.com Suffolk Police Second Precinct officers and AT&T representatives joined Town of Huntington officials at Town Hall Tuesday afternoon to high- light the dangersof distracted drivers. Supervisor Chad Lupinacei, Councilwoman Joan Cergol and Receiver of Taxes Jillian Guthman opened the meeting room to AT&T for a virtual re- ality simulator designed to educate participants about distracted driving. Huntington was the second stop for the \It Can Wait\ simulator, which AT&T unveiled last week at the New York International Auto Show. It uses a smartphone attached to a virtual reality headset and headphones to give viewers a 360-degree ex- perience. The around five-minute experience illustrated a multitude of distractions that drivers face while be- hind the wheel, and helped viewers safely experi- ence the distance that their cars can travel while they are looking down to read a message on a phone. The simulation also featured stories told by avatars representing actual people whose lives were impacted by distracted driving. The emotional stories include that of a mother whose son was killed in a car accident while texting and driving, and a man who crashed into another car while texting behind the wheel, causing the deaths of two passengers in the other car. Brandon Ray, regional director of external af- fairs for AT&T, praised the Huntington officials for leading the way in driver safety. \Distracted drivingaccidents truly are preventa- SCPD Second Precinet Inspector Christopher Hatton; Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci; Receiver of Taxes Jillian Guthman; Councilwoman Joan Cergol; and Brandon Ray, of AT&T; stand before the \It Can Wait Simulator.\ ble,\ Ray said. \We want people to utilize our prod- ucts and our network, but we want people to utilize them responsibly.\ SCPD Second Precinct Inspector Christopher Hatton said the simulator could hopefully \get more of our young people involved and prevent another tragic accident\ on Huntington's roads. However, as Lupinacci pointed out, distracted driving is not a problem that is limited to Millenni- als and new drivers. \Right now, 660,000 drivers are attempting to use their cellphone while behind the wheel of a ar... so the seriousness of the problem can't be un- derestimated,\ Lupinacei said. \This is a lesson for drivers of all ages.\ In one striking example, the simulation shows that a car travelling at 55 miles per hour can cover over 100 yards in the time it takes to read a two-line text message. \These days we are all under so much pressure to be productive. Technology enables us to be so much more productive, but at the same time it creates this challenge,\ Guthman said. There is a way for drivers to remove the pressure to check their phones while driving, as Cergol said. \The best thing we can do for ourselves and for our fellow citizens is to leave the cellphone in the backseat of the car.\ Please
