Anthony Bottan, Patch Staff

<b>Bio: </b>From the first time Anthony had one of his pieces published — albeit in his junior high school yearbook — he knew that journalism was the career for him. After earning a B.S in journalism from St. John&#39;s University in 2004, he went on to earn a master&#39;s degree in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College in Boston.

Anthony is a New York sports junkie, so when he landed a job as a production assistant at ESPN after graduate school, he thought he had found his calling. But cutting highlights and writing anchor scripts just didn&#39;t satisfy his hunger for journalism, so he left the worldwide leader in sports to work as a reporter for the Herald Community newspapers. Now at Patch, Anthony is ready to take Rockville Centre by storm.

<b>Your Beliefs</b>

<i>At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.<br></i><br><b>Politics </b><br><i>How would you describe your political beliefs?</i> I would say I&#39;m somewhere in the middle. I&#39;m not registered under one party, and feel that one needs to hear both sides before making a decision.

<b>Religion</b>

<i>How religious would you consider yourself?</i> I wouldn&#39;t consider myself a devout Catholic, but I did serve as an altar boy and attended religious school until 8th grade. I definitely pray to God and attend mass on the major Catholic holidays.

<b>Local Hot-Button Issues</b>

<i>What do you think are the most important issues facing the communit</i><i>y</i><i>? </i>It&#39;s not even a debate: high property and school taxes.<br>Where do you stand on each of these issues? It&#39;s hard to say. I&#39;m not sure if implementing an income tax over property tax will help solve this problem, but it may be a start. High taxes are driving people out of Long Island and that needs to change.