Daily News from New York, New York • 2010

fl it 1 tl PHONES News Bureau 718) 793-3328 Fax (718) Home Delivery 1-800-692-NEWS i off yiiAiJsfsrr For compit-te fist rs of weekend activities and shows, see W5 I II rn aft tiDixss V'l, ym 10 -block stretch in Rockaway By PETE DONOHUE Daily News Staff Writer ire JL 1 I irflilillill SSS.i If t' 1 Si itlflllfc MIKE ALBANS WATER LAPS under boardwalk between Beach 26th and Beach 36th Sts. in Rockaway, where officials will keep beaches closed this summer. nr mm By 5HARUNE CHIANG intellectuals. Eventually, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed. Entire families were slaughtered and thousands of women and children were sold as slaves.

Thousands died in desert death marches. Several residents of the Armenian Home for the Aged in Flushing, where Azadian Rudman works as project coordinator, still can remember the atrocities. Anahid Verdanian, 85, was 4 years old when Turkish soldiers tied up and shot all the men in her house. Her mother and siblings were forced to march across the desert and cross rivers on rubber rafts. "The soldiers would turn the boats and drown the people," said Verdanian.

Survivors of the nightmare fled Turkey, many settling in California and the New York City area. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, 10,020 New Yorkers claimed to be of Armenian descent, with the largest numbers 6,201 living in Queens. However, community organizers estimate that thousands more Armenians in New York City with relatives in Turkey may not have indicated their nationality on census questionnaires. Like many Armenians, Armenak Davi-dian, 95, is furious that the Turkish government continues to deny the massacres took place.

"What do you mean it didn't happen? I saw it, I heard it Truth is truth!" said Da-vidian, angry tears welling in his eyes. "I want the world to know." Special to The News "There's a famous quote that goes like this," said Katherine Azadian Rudman: one of Hitler's aides asked him, How will we get away with Hitler replied: 'Who remembers the On Sunday, hundreds of Armenian Americans from Queens and throughout the city will answer that question. A 2 p.m. rally in Times Square is scheduled to mark the 80th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. From 1915 to 1921, dictator Kemal Pasha of the Turkish Ottoman Empire ordered soldiers to round up and kill Arme-nian community leaders and A 10-block stretch of the Rockaway coast will again be closed this summer because tides and storms have ravaged the beach, a Parks Department official said yesterday.

The area, from Beach 26th St. to Beach 36th is a small segment of the popular Atlantic Ocean coastline. But it is a source of particular concern because a project to bolster much of the coast with tons of sand has been delayed by bureaucratic wrangling. The ocean now laps under the boardwalk in the 10-block section. "We're concerned that the boardwalk and other recreational facilities will be demolished," said regional Parks and Recreation manager Namshik Yoon.

"Nature, eventually, will take its toll." In addition, the Board of Education is building a school inland of the boardwalk. That project has met several delays because of flooding. This marks the third year that the 10-block stretch has been closed to summer sun worshipers. The Army Corps of Engineers plans to dump about 3 million cubic yards of sand along approximately 130 blocks of the shoreline to restore the coast and protect against the relentless tides. The project, the first phase of a larger plan, was slated to start in November 1994.

But the corps, city and state are still wrangling over the details of a cooperation pact The corps now hopes to start construction toward the end of the summer, said Joseph Vietri, the corps' regional assistant planning chief. There is good news, however, from the beachfront The beaches that remain are in excellent condition, thanks in part to scores of welfare recipients working for their checks, according to borough Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ron Cianciulli. The Rockaway allotment of such workers from the Work Experience Program jumped from about 15 to 100 since last year, Yoon said. PS FI hi 1 JsebisIo 2( irocoiT By VIVIAN HUANG his family back home at Yemen." At the unisex beauty shop across the street, where Tofak had his hair cut, owner Lisa Lynn said, "I can't believe it He was such a quiet, nice guy. He was so polite.

Beautician Charisse Hunter, 30, said: "I hope they catch them, because he was too nice to die like this." Said Lynn: "We really need more police here, especially at night. Most businesses here close late." and two children are in Yemen, was sitting on a steel bread rack drinking coffee. "One man put a gun on my head, and the other put a gun on Tofak," said Jaml. "They said, 'Get down on the "Then the third man came behind the counter and took everything from the register." One of the thugs shot Tofak as they left "I heard three shots bang! bang! bang! one after the other," said Jaml. "I came out and looked.

And I found my brother on the floor. He didn't talk, but he. was still breathing." He said Tofak had worked at the store owned by their father for three months. "It's ridiculous. He gave them money already," said To-fak's grieving father, Amod Abili, 54.

"He worked very hard, and tried to make some money for Daily News Staff Writer Tofak Abili was sitting on a display rack, sipping coffee and getting ready to start his overnight shift at a Jamaica grocery store early yesterday. Suddenly, a trio of armed holdup men burst into the store and the 24-year-old fa- ther of two took a bullet in the chest Less than an hour later, Abili was dead at Mary Immaculate Hospital, police said. Abili's 19-year-old brother Jaml, who was working with Tofak in the 24-hour Shager Supermarket Deli at Hillside Ave. and 173d said that he and his brother did not resist when the three men came into the place just after midnight. He said Tofak, whose wife 'Fatui fir acciisitsS A fast-moving fire that ripped through a Flushing house Tuesday night, killing a 4-year-old boy and injuring 14 others, was apparently caused by a child playing with matches.

Cecilia Cox, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department said fire marshals ruled that the blaze was accidental. The fire struck at 7:15 p.m. in a two-story house on Cherry near the heart of downtown Flushing. Four-year-old George Nossa died as a result of injuries he suffered in the blaze. His sister, Melanie, also was badly injured, but is recovering well, officials said.

Blanca M. Quintaniila a. Q. The Rockaway beaches will officially open with lifeguards on May 27. Yoon and Cianciulli reported on beach conditions yesterday at the Queens borough cabinet meeting in Borough Hall.

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