Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 19

Photo by Penny Ann Dolin Preparation for a Holy Day Slug To Remain In Skull By Jim Mulvaney Patchogue A neurosurgeon said yesterday that he has no plans to remove a 38-cal slug from the skull of Nancy Lombino the 22-month-old girl who was wounded when her police revolver discharged Friday at their home But Dr William Bloom said there is a "two-thirds that the child will suffer no more than minor pogjbly undiscernable intellectual damage Bloom said tests show that the bullet will not impair the motor and sensory skills Meanwhile Suffolk County District Attorney Patrick Henry said that he believed the shooting was an accident and that he would not press charges against the father Nassau County Police Officer Anthony Lombino "It appear that this could be anything but an accident My heart goes out to the family it was a freak one-in-a-billion Henry said According to Lt John Drew commander of Suffolk Fifth Detective Squad Lombino 37 said the gun discharged as he was putting it in his holster Friday morning The bullet went through the floor of his bedroom in the second floor of his home at 1121 Sycamore Ave Bohemia and struck the child who was walking in a first floor room in the top of the head and lodged in her skull She was listed in critical condition yesterday in Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Bloom who operated on the girl Friday said he removed dead brain tissue and bone fragments from the skull He said he decided not to remove the bullet which traveled through the left and right frontal lobes and lodged about six inches below the skull because "it was just too He said that "there are a lot of people running around with shrapnel and bullets in their bodies This the slug will be of little or no "She out of the woods Bloom said "There is the possiblility of infection But she could be out of the hospital in two He said the child lost "about one to one-and-one-half ounces of brain when the bullet entered her head But because of the there is a good chance that other parts of the brain will compensate for the loss Bloom explained that the frontal lobes are the "primary intellectual centers for abstract thought But the whole brain acts as an intellectual center There is a chance there will be no demonstrable loss of intellect know better in a couple of The Rev James Boesel blesses palms for distribution at today's Palm Sunday masses Boesel is the pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Hicksville The rite of blessing and distributing palms recalls Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem when palms were strewn at his feet five days before his death on the cross on Good Friday No Glues in Killing By John McDonald Bay Shore Police continued to grope for leads in the case of a 20-year-old woman found murdered here after an attempt yesterday to retrace a trip she made from New York City uncovered no new information About a dozen Suffolk County homicide detectives worked late Friday night and early yesterday in search of clues about the death of Eve Wilkowitz who was found strangled to death Tuesday in an empty lot about a block from her home at 150 Fifth Ave Several detectives rode a 12:29 AM train from Pennsylvania Station which police believe she rode before being abducted early March 22 a Saturday They think she was killed a few days later Almost all of the passengers aboard the train were shown a photograph of Miss Wilkowitz and some said they recognized her but none said they saw her March 22 A rider with police found that there were few regulars on the train most of the passengers were returning from an occasional night-out in Manhattan Police also combed four bars near the Bay Shore train station and spoke to persons on the route between the station and her home where police believe she may have been waylaid but failed to turn up new information Robert Grogan 21 who had been living with Miss Wilkowitz for two years has said that she complained several times about men following her during the 10-minute walk home Police have traced Miss movements March 21 from her job as a secretary at the Macmillan Publishing Co in Manhattan to a Manhattan restaurant where she dined with a friend and eventually to Penn Station where she boarded the 12:29 AM train "This is one of the biggest mystery murders ever one veteran homicide detective said Police said they believe Miss Wilkowitz was wearing a suede or brushed cotton jacket on the train and was carrying an umbrella and brown woolen mittens Detectives are asking that anyone who might have seen Miss Wilkowitz on the train or elsewhere over last weekend call 979-9700 ext 315 Robins Island: Battleground of the East End By Rick Brand Martha Paul can look out of her living room picture window and see Robins Island a tiny piece of wilderness across the water from her Nassau Point home "When you sail near the island you can see the deer looking at you from the she said The idyllic 460-acre island a nesting place for ospreys and home to pheasant and deer sits in the middle of Peconic Bay a seemingly untouchable time capsule of presuburban Long Island However the peaceful appearance is deceiving Robins Island is a battleground in an escalating war involving state and federal agencies town and Suffolk County officials and residents "It is a classic conflict between those concerned with short-run economic interests of development and those concerned with the long-term interest of the entire county by Suffolk Planning Commissioner Lee Koppelman said The issue is far more complicated than that though and the fate is muddied by political cross-currents including the proposed Peconic County a move by the five East End towns to secede from Suffolk County and establish their own county fear of "Big government and economics Suffolk County Executive Peter Cohalan called for the immediate acquisition of Robins Island in his new open-space policy because of the imminent threat of the development and the floundering of a Suffolk County Legis Gregory Blass (R-James-port) said a town board resolution supporting acquisition is needed before the county legislature would even consider action Supervisor William Pell said the town board will decide at its April 14 meeting whether to support county take-over of the island Even if the town supports acquisition action by the county legislature is far from assured Presiding Officer Tony Noto (RC-Babylon) said no further capital projects should be approved for the East End until the question of Peconic County is settled "We want to encumber the East End with a huge cost which will make it impossible for them to afford their own said Noto He has called for a meeting with East End officials April 24 or 25 to determine which projects if any the county should proceed with Meanwhile the only other means of preserving Robins Island as part of an estuarine sanctuary is in limbo James Morton of the New York Department of State said his agency is reviewing whether to proceed with a feasibility study of the sanctuary in light of local opposition Three of five East End towns have opposed the study contending that a sanctuary could dilute home rule and restrict fishing boating and building on the bay Despite the odds Mrs Paul said the island will be kept from development because people will recognize its uniqueness "Many of the people who signed petitions have never stepped foot on the is-land but it for state proposal to acquire it through a federal estuarine sanctuary program Southold Development Corp which bought the island in the summer for $135 million has subdivi-son plans pending before the Southold town planning board to build 28 luxury homes costing at least $200000 apiece on lots ranging in size from six to nine acres Although the zoning would allow several hundred homes the owners say they will not seek additional building on the island and will keep about half the island as open space William Esseks the attorney said the development will generate about $273000 in property taxes annually Anthony Taormina director of the marine resources devision of the State Department of Environmental Conservation said the development plans "are the best seen anywhere on Long He said the limited development plans would preserve the wetlands and wildlife habitat on the island without costing the taxpayers a cent and would keep land on the tax rolls a plus for he said But not everyone agrees "Robins Island has been a part of my life since coming ht re in said Mrs Paul who wants to preserve the island "If the island were ever developed it wo eld destroy a part of She has spearheaded a petition drive to obtain he names of more than 1500 local residents asking the Southold Town Board to support county acquisiton of thq Island.