Half Hollow Hills Newspaper - April 11, 2013

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HALF HOLLOW HILLS Copyright © 2013 Long Islander Newspapers, LLC

Online at www.LongIslanderNews.com VOLUME SIXTEEN, ISSUE 5

N E W S P A P E R 24 PAGES

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013

DIX HILLS

Lawyer Crowned Mrs. Corporate America Dix Hills resident, 48, wows judges with nunchuck demonstration By Jacqueline Birzon jbirzon@longislandernews.com

After she was crowned Mrs. Corporate America on March 2, Lidia Szczepanowski-Goldsmith, a practicing attorney, mother and martial arts black belt, believes she has shown that women can have it all. Szczepanowski-Goldsmith, 48, of Dix Hills, participated in a national business and beauty pageant in Orlando, Fla. where she competed against 20 women from across the country for the Mrs. Corporate America title. Contestants were judged based on an interview section, formal wear, fitness wear, and their response to an on-stage question. Szczepanowski-Goldsmith won the best of three, claiming her use of nunchucks during the fitness portion is what won the judges over. “This to me is the epitome of having it all, being the universal, modern-day Renaissance woman,” she said. “I celebrate and embrace my femininity.” To compete, contestants must be either business owners or work in the corporate America environment, where women are typically outnumbered or underpaid relative to their male counterparts. According to a 2009 “Women in the Workforce” report by the U.S. Census Bureau, men still earn over $10,000 more annually than women. In addition, firms with 76-90 percent male employ-

ees paid wages that, on average, were 40 percent higher than similar firms whose workforce was almost entirely female. From a young age, SzczepanowskiGoldsmith decided she was going to “check her ordinary at the door” and aspired to be an independent, successful woman. After she was a victim of sexual assault at the age of 13, Szczepanowski-Goldsmith said she realized the importance of being able to take care of herself. “I didn’t realize it back then but that probably changed me… I said to myself that if I don’t want to be a victim of any kind, financially and physically, I’d have to take care of myself, and that led me on that path,” she said. The Walt Whitman High School graduate earned her undergraduate degree in International Business from Hofstra University and received her law degree from St. John’s University in 1990. She founded the Szczepanowski Law Firm P.C., in Melville. In addition to having worked as a radio talk show host and producer, Szczepanowski-Goldsmith in 2007 founded the National Organization for Women’s Safety Awareness, a nonprofit safety an advocacy effort to educate young women and teens on safety issues. Szczepanowski-Goldsmith said she uses practical scenarios where women can protect themselves using basic accessories, such as the “handbag (Continued on page A17)

Dix Hills’ Lidia Szczepanowski-Goldsmith, an attorney in Melville, was crowned Mrs. Corporate America at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Fla, last month.

HALF HOLLOW HILLS

DOT Closes Part Of Pinelawn Road State shuts northbound lanes until fall to repair bridge over LIE By Mike Koehler mkoehler@longislandernews.com

Part of Pinelawn Road is completely closed to northbound traffic until the fall, beginning this week. The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) closed those lanes on the Pinelawn Bridge over the Long Island Expressway on Monday as construction begins. The closures are part of a $5.5-million state project to renovate the aging bridge. Built in 1962, the bridge was deteriorating.

Although nobody was ever hurt, DOT officials decided it was time to improve the structural safety, DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters said. Plans call for construction crews to rip up all of the pavement and the concrete deck underneath. They will then repair the steel below that, before pouring new concrete and blacktop. “This will bring it into good condition,” Peters said. The southbound lanes are significantly busier, she said, and cannot be closed without significantly impeding traffic.

Instead, northbound traffic will be detoured along the Long Island Expressway to the Half Hollow Road Bridge and back to Pinelawn via the LIE. Route 110 also offers a close detour. The west side lanes will be repaired first, with southbound traffic eventually moving to the east side lanes. The two southbound lanes will remain open most of the day, but may be limited to just one lane between 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on weekdays. Workers may also close off either the HOV or right lane of the expressway between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The main

line of the LIE will be closed in both directions for a week in mid-April and a week in June while demolition of the bridge deck occurs. The Pinelawn bridge project was one of six projects Governor Andrew Cuomo awarded a contract for design-build work on Long Island last year. At Belmont Road over Bethpage Turnpike and Robert Moses Parkway over Ocean Parkway, parts of construction began as the design stage continued. Those two projects will be finished this week, seven months after they began.

IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION

Dix Hills Welcomes ’60s With ‘Hairspray’ A9

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