This year was quite a busy one here in the Five Towns. It was a year full of both triumph and tragedy, happiness and sorrow, and world-wide events that effected us locally. It was also a year of new beginnings and tragic endings. But nonetheless, 2005 was a year to remember.

January saw many Five Towners assisting the victims of the tragic south Asia tsunami that killed more than 150,000 people. Although it occurred on the other side of the planet, it touched our hearts here, and we did all we could to help. From Hewlett High School, which held a fund-raiser, to the Five Towns Jewish Council, which organized a community-wide gathering, to HAFTR, which sold “Shabbat Packages” to raise money for those who needed it, Five Towns residents did so much to help.

In January there was also tragedy, when James Gottlieb, an assistant bank manager in Cedarhurst, was killed by a man posing as a cop. Gottlieb, a father of three, was pulled over on Jan. 5 on Semton Boulevard by what he thought at first was a police vehicle. After becoming suspicious of the man who approached him, however, Gottlieb asked for identification, and he and his assailant struggled until Gottlieb was shot and killed. The event shocked the Five Towns, and a $27,000 reward was offered for the killer’s arrest. Reginald Gouse was eventually arrested and charged with Gottlieb’s murder.

February began with some good news. Crime in the Five Towns decreased by 9 percent, led by drops in sexual assault, robbery and theft. According to officials at the 4th Precinct, the number of serious crimes declined from 238 in 2003 to 217 in 2004, with sexual assault falling 89 percent.

That good news was quickly dimmed by the arrest of two former Lawrence High School students for placing video cameras in a girls’ bathroom. Jamie Jones, 18, and Manuel Ulloa, 19, were spotted by an assistant dean during midterm exams, arrested and charged with third-degree burglary and unlawful surveillance.

In March, Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman announced plans to begin auditing some of the more than 400 special tax districts throughout the county, in an effort to reduce residents’ taxes for services like garbage pickup. Weitzman said that his plans included the potential consolidation of some districts, including Sanitary District 1, which serves the Five Towns.

March also saw a melee erupt at an Inwood house party, which led to the arrest of three brothers and the hospitalization of a man who was badly beaten. On March 4 at around 11:30 p.m., brothers Bruce, Randy and David Gotterup were involved in an argument that quickly led to fisticuffs. The three brothers were eventually arrested and arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead.

The rash of home invasions that plagued the Five Towns and the rest of the county this year began in April, when gunmen stormed into homes in North Woodmere and Cedarhurst, demanding money and valuables. Despite effort of the police to capture the criminals, the home invasions continued for most of the year.

In April, the last catholic school in the Five Towns, St. Joachim in Cedarhurst, announced that it planned to shut its doors in June due to a 53 percent decrease in enrollment over the past decade. Inwood, meanwhile, was given approval for the area’s first yeshiva on April 5 by the Hempstead Town Council.

Both the Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence school budgets were shot down in May. Each topped $80 million, and their rejection forced schools in both districts to cut spending and make reductions in staff and programs. Also in May, the battle over the driveway at the Peninsula Public Library continued, as a community activist, in a column for the Herald, unveiled a proposal for a new library in Zion Park. Ron Goldman, president of the library’s Community Action Committee and the author of “Unreserved Judgment” in the Herald, said the new building would provide more space and more parking for library patrons. The idea has not yet been considered by the school board.

In June, more than $2.5 million was slashed from the second proposed budget for the Hewlett-Woodmere school district, which passed overwhelmingly on June 21. In the long-awaited audit of the Lawrence school district, it was determined that there had been no illegal activity on the part of school officials. And Woodmere firefighter Peter Lund died on June 14 while battling a house fire.

July began with the expiration of the five-year contract between the Lawrence School District and its teachers, igniting a battle for a new contract that is still being negotiated. There was a changing of the guard at the 4th Precinct, when Inspector Richard McGuire was transferred to the 6th Precinct in Manhasset and Inspector Richard McCarrick took over the squad. July also marked the end of an era, when the last remaining Waldbaum’s in the Five Towns announced plans to close its doors.

The Herald reported in August that for the first six months of 2005, crime had jumped 32 percent, due mostly to the rash of home invasions. Robberies alone jumped 114 percent, from 14 in the first six months of 2004 to 30 from January to June of 2005. Crime continued that month, when Lawrence Fleissig of Oceanside robbed a bank in Atlantic Beach and then led police on a high-speed chase before plunging his car into the East Rockaway inlet.

In September, the Lawrence School District was recognized by Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services for narrowing the gaps in achievement for minority and disadvantaged students. Schools remained the topic of the month as residents who were attending Tulane University in New Orleans were forced to return home due to the devastating floods that crippled the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. All returned safely, and helped Five Towners aid the victims of the tragedy.

In October, the Green Garden restaurant in Inwood had a delivery man robbed for the second time in 11 months. According to detectives, when an order of food was delivered, four men confronted the delivery man, threatened him with a knife and took his cell phone, car and cash. October also saw some of the heaviest, steadiest rain to ever fall on the Five Towns, causing flooding, evacuations and property damage. Eventually, with the help of county officials and the Red Cross, residents who were forced to leave their homes were able to return to them and begin the clean-up process.

A battle began in November to reduce the noise of train horns in Cedarhurst. A group of local activists planned to do whatever it could to establish a quiet zone in the area. (In December, the group met with the president of the Long Island Rail Road, who said the commuter trains would lower the volumes of their horns and gave the group information on establishing a quiet zone.)

Also in November, the village of Lawrence received a $1,164,496 grant to improve the water pollution control plant on Doughty Boulevard, the charter school plan for Atlantic Beach was nixed, and the easement for the new Peninsula Public Library approved. Former President Bill Clinton visit Hofstra, and voters welcome a new district attorney, Kathleen Rice, though most incumbents recaptured their offices on Election Day.

In December, three Far Rockaway teens were arrested for an Inwood assault in which a man was severely beaten by a gang of some 20 youths. A Sephardic synagogue was approved for Cedarhurst, a Woodmere resident made the White House kitchen kosher for the first time in history, and the Five Towns, along with the rest of the metropolitan area, scrambled to find rides to work during the first New York City transit strike in 25 years.

We have no doubt that in communities as diverse as the Five Towns, 2006 will be just as busy as the year now ending. Let’s hope that, next year, the positive stories will outweigh the negative ones.

In the meantime, enjoy our Year in Review coverage.