Free Republic

A New York porch pirate targeted homes in broad daylight under the guise of delivering food as she canvassed residential neighborhoods for her next target, police said. Juliana Saggaram, 33, of East Elmhurst, Queens was arrested Wednesday after she used her position as a DoorDash driver to freely approach two homes and swipe packages. Saggaram conducted the scheme twice in 48 hours before she was caught in the act on Sept. 3 in Manhasset, when a 54-year-old victim reported the stolen package. The alleged thief had stopped at a nearby Chipotle for a DoorDash order to use the food order...

Yesterday more than 6,000 people turned out to watch top-ranked Duke play Army before Chaminade beat Manhasset, 11-5, in a game between two nationally-ranked teams. Matt Gibson, Matt Johnson, Bobby Lucas and Michael Pratt each scored two goals for Chaminade. Lacrosse games between the St. Anthony's and Manhasset girls, and the NYPD and FDNY followed. Proceeds went to the Lead the Way Fund, started by Regan's family, and the Indians Rock Community Foundation. Lead the Way supports the families of Army Rangers who have died, been disabled or are currently serving. "There was no fund established to support these guys,...

YOUTH MOVEMENT: Anthony Dedousis wants North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman's job. Photo: Mary McLoughlin EXCLUSIVE This kid has got a prayer. Spurred on by a Long Island politician's tirade over a priest's benediction at a public Christmas tree lighting, a 16-year-old boy has thrown his hat into the ring, seeking to oust the official. Anthony Dedousis said the reason he's planning to run against North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman "is pretty simple." "I think I can do a better job," the Manhasset HS junior said, acknowledging Kaiman's religion-neutral holiday rant was the impetus for his campaign. Dedousis will...

At a Christmas tree lighting ceremony recently in Manhasset, N.Y., a crowd of 200 gasped at the intemperate words uttered by a public official who was angry at a priest for an invocation the official considered too religious. In Huntington in nearby Suffolk County, people are still fuming about the lawsuit filed last week to remove the crèche and the menorah displayed on the village green. In Florida, rather than a complaint about too much religion, conservative Christian lawyers brought suits recently against two towns whose holiday displays on public property the lawyers considered too secular. The suits demanded that...

On the First Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me: http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_3297424 MELVILLE, N.Y. — When the Rev. Nick Zientarski uttered the name of Jesus Christ during his traditional blessing of the official Christmas tree lighting in Manhasset last week, he had no idea he had signed on as a soldier in the Christmas wars. Even as he spoke, the Roman Catholic priest said, he could hear North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is no way...

Supervisor apologizes after outcry over his angry response to prayer that invoked Jesus MELVILLE, N.Y. — When the Rev. Nick Zientarski uttered the name of Jesus Christ during his traditional blessing of the official Christmas tree lighting in Manhasset last week, he had no idea he had signed on as a soldier in the Christmas wars. Even as he spoke, the Roman Catholic priest said, he could hear North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is no way...

A LAWSUIT IS BORN: The furor over this Nativity scene....comes just days after a Christmas/holiday-tree flap in Manhasset..... Photo: Veronique Louis Mitchell Pashkin sought a court order to take down both seasonal symbols because they indicated the town was promoting religion. "This isn't an attack on Christmas. It's not about Christianity itself. This is solely about respect for the law. This is about the Bill of Rights," he said. The dispute threatened to cast a pall over last night's tree-lighting ceremony at Huntington Village Green, where officials were to switch on lights on a 50-foot tree, just above the...

The fir has been flying on Long Island over a Christmas tree-lighting celebration in the tony North Shore community of Manhasset. The North Hempstead town supervisor, who is Jewish, objected to a local Catholic priest's religious blessing at last Friday's ceremony......... What followed was a mini-holy war.....that ended with Supervisor Jon Kaiman bowing to public outrage and repeatedly apologizing to the Rev. Nick Zientarski......... In a widely circulated e-mail, "Father Nick," associate pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Manhasset, noted that when he was invited to the annual event, "I thought about what kind of blessing to give —...

When the Rev. Nick Zientarski invoked the name of Jesus Christ during his traditional blessing of the official Christmas tree lighting in Manhasset last week, he had no idea he had signed on as a soldier in the culture wars over Christmas. Even as he spoke, the Roman Catholic priest said he could hear North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony." A collective gasp came from the 200 adults and children...

A Jesuit retreat house in Manhasset is hosting a workshop about gay Catholics and the church that had been barred from diocesan property last year by Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The workshop on building bridges to gay people comes just as the Vatican is about to release a document restating its prohibition barring gay men from the priesthood. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, the organization leading the workshop, said yesterday that the program does not challenge church orthodoxy. "Our mission is simply to try to help Catholic institutions learn more about the...