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Monthly Archives: April 2015

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Suffolk County police car. File photo

Police say a man shot himself on Tuesday afternoon and his Coram house was intentionally set on fire.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, a passerby found the man slumped over in his vehicle at Tanglewood Park on Howe Road in Coram and called police to the scene shortly after 5 p.m. Homicide Squad detectives found the deceased man, 67, had a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Investigation revealed the victim resided at a house that had been set on fire earlier in the day, police said.

Officers had been called to a home on Hartsdale Lane around 3:30 p.m. to what was then an active house fire. The home was not occupied at the time of the incident, police said, and no one was hurt. Arson Squad detectives believe the fire was intentional.

The respective squads are investigating the two separate incidents.

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A local family came out for breakfast to support a great cause. Photo by Jenn Intravaia Photography

By Ernestine Franco

More than 160 people started their day recently at the Butterfly Breakfast for a Cure fundraiser held at Applebee’s in Miller Place.

The $4,000 raised on Saturday will benefit DEBRA for America, an organization that provides assistance and education to families with children born with epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Young people who suffer from this disease are called “butterfly children” because their skin is so fragile it blisters or tears from friction or trauma.

After the event, Donna McCauley, who organized the fundraiser, expressed her gratitude to everyone who participated in the fundraiser, “When [my daughter] Kelly asked to take on a fundraiser for DEBRA of America, we were so proud of her for taking such an interest to give back to this wonderful organization that has supported our family for so many years. Living with EB is not easy and often people ask me how I manage to be so involved in so many things. All of my servers worked out of the goodness of theirs hearts and for service hours and did a great job. In case it wasn’t obvious to all yesterday by [the number of people who came to] Applebee’s … It is because of the love and support of my fantastic family and a group of friends like all of you. I am truly humbled by the turnout.”

If you would like to donate to help find a cure, please visit www.DEBRA.org.

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Whether or not we want to live to be a centenarian, most of us want to live the healthiest life possible with the fewest chronic diseases, medications, and impediments to daily life.

While exercise is one component of lifestyle modification, diet is an essential part, as well. The most surprising result, at least to me, is that it is unclear how much sodium we should consume. But before you start putting salt on your food, know that the research agrees about too much sodium being dangerous. What that number is, however, varies. What we do know is that the average sodium intake in the U.S. is 3.4 grams (1). This is greater than recommendations from the American Heart Association, which has the strictest guideline of <1,500 mg daily for most Americans; however, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) 2015 recommends <2,400 mg per day (2). The consensus is that we consume too much sodium, period!

Did you get question 3 on the quiz correct? Well, microwaving, contrary to prevailing thought, is not necessarily the enemy. It depends on which compounds in the foods we are testing.

It is most important to realize that healthy eating is not about individual nutrients, but rather about diet as a whole. DGAC emphasizes the importance of a nutrient-rich diet with a focus on fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fish and low or nonfat dairy. In addition, it recommends minimal red meat, especially processed meats, and minimal processed sugars and refined grains (3).

Let’s look at the evidence.

IS SODIUM THE VILLIAN?
Of course not! We all need sodium. However, some in the medical community would argue that “moderate” amounts of between 3 and 6 grams a day are okay. I am specifically referencing an article written by Dr. Aaron Carroll in the New York Times, “Simple Rules for Healthy Eating.” It was one of the most popular articles recently. While he does have good suggestions, with a disclaimer that these are only his opinions, I disagree with his third point regarding salts and fats. He believes that salt can be used in “moderation”; seasoning your food with it is fine.
In the article, he references a large observational study, the PURE study. Its results suggest that a high urinary excretion of sodium, >7 grams per day, correlated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality compared to 4 to 5.99 grams per day (4). But surprisingly, those who had a urinary excretion of <3 grams per day of sodium also had an increased risk of all-cause mortality. This study had over 100,000 participants, but there were significant weaknesses. For one, the researchers estimated the 24-hour sodium urine excretion because they only had one snapshot sample. Also, there was only one urine sample taken during the study, so it is not clear whether the participants increased or decreased their sodium excretion during the study.
Finally, urinary excretion of sodium does not necessarily correlate with sodium intake (5). It is considered a standard measurement, but it is still an indirect marker.
In another article, “Behind the Dietary Guidelines, Better Science,” Dr. Carroll argues that low sodium could potentially be dangerous. Here, he uses a study with heart failure patients (6). The results show that those heart failure patients who were in the lowest sodium intake group had more hospitalizations than those in the modest sodium intake group. However, those in the lowest group also had hyponatremia (reduction in blood levels of sodium) due to significantly reduced sodium intake. This most likely is the major contributor to the hospitalizations. On the surface, it looks like a good study, but once you analyze the data, it is not.
In fact, there are studies showing that lowering sodium has significantly positive effects. In one, lowering the sodium in pre-hypertension patients reduced the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular death, by 30 percent (7).

FATS
In “Simple Rules for Healthy Eating,” Dr. Carroll also writes about fats, claiming that butter should be used as needed. However, the study he uses to substantiate this concerns replacing butter with high amounts of carbohydrates or other potentially unhealthy fats, such as omega-6 fatty acids only, not foods that contain good fats such as omega-3s (8). This is a flawed comparison since the substitutes are no better than saturated fats.

EXERCISE
Though some of us would like it to be true that exercise allows us to eat with impunity, it is a myth. In a recent editorial, the author mentions that obesity and disease are caused more by poor diet and that exercise, while substantial to overall health, cannot overcome this effect (9). The author goes on to say that the type of calorie is important; 150 calories of sugar increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by 11 times more than 150 calories of fats or protein. Even more horrifying is that 4 in 10 normal-weight individuals will be afflicted by high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Just because you are thin does not mean you’re healthy or “fit.” Poor diet has more negative effects than smoking, sedentary behavior and drinking combined. Thus, exercise alone may not be able to compensate for unhealthy diet.

MICROWAVE
The theory has been that microwaves destroy valuable nutrients. However, is that always the case for vegetable-rich, plant-based foods? According to the Harvard Health Letter of Jan. 2, 2015, cooking vegetables for a shorter amount of time with less water helps them retain their phytochemical nutrients better. Microwaving fits this parameter. In a study testing this theory with cruciferous vegetables, results showed that microwaved foods retain a significant amount of glucosinolates (nutrients), holding their own when compared to boiling and steaming (10). However, each method lost a substantial amount of vitamin C. There are a number of critics of microwaves though. Who is right? We cannot be sure, but food content is more critical than the type of cooking preparation, with some exceptions.
The bottom line is that we should focus on a vegetable-rich, plant-based diet with proportions that vary based on an individual’s goals and health status. The extremes should be avoided. We don’t want extreme exercise or extremes in different nutrients such as fats, protein and carbohydrates. In fact, low sugar is not good either; fruits contain plenty of sugars. We should not aim to eliminate a nutrient from our diet. Preparation of these foods in terms of cooking techniques is less important, except, of course, for charring animal protein and deep frying.

REFERENCES
(1) CDC.gov. (2) Heart.org; health.gov. (3) health.gov. (4) N Engl J Med 2014;371:612-623. (5) Hypertension 1980;2:695-699. (6) Clin Sci 2008;114:221-230. (7) BMJ 2007;334(7599):885. (8) Open Heart 2014;1(1):e000032. (9) Br J Sports Med online April 22, 2015. (10) J Agric Food Chem 2010;58(7),4310-4321.

Dr. Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, go to the website www.medicalcompassmd.com and/or consult your personal physician.

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Stock photo

By Elof Carlson

For the past four years I have participated with a writing group at Indiana University’s Emeriti House, where old-timers like me gather and once a month discuss what we have written. I much enjoy listening to the stories told.

A Norwegian opera singer described his youth near Oslo on an island in a fjord and how that idyllic childhood was shattered by the Nazi occupation. A linguistics professor discussed what it is like to eat with one’s hands in Kathmandu where table manners are very different than the world of knives and forks or chopsticks. A Spanish teacher described her adventure learning how to chop wood with a wedge. A journalism professor described sailing a boat alone from New England to Florida and back. Along the way we learned that some growing up experiences were frightening, especially those who were refugees during WWII in the Baltic states.

A different opportunity arose recently when my daughter Christina located the granddaughter of my Uncle Charles Vogel. I had seen him a few times as a child when my mother would visit him at his home in Brooklyn. He sold clothing door to door and he gave me about a dozen ties so I could wear them to my high school. My mother said he sold to gangsters. I never knew if this was part of my mother’s psychotic beliefs or real, but I downloaded this previously unknown relative’s manuscript called “Charlie’s story” based on a 1985 interview she had with her grandfather. It turned out he sold men’s clothes to Al Capone, Gaetano Luchese, Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia. He also survived a disastrous childhood accident in Bound Brook, New Jersey, when he was hit by a car that had him hospitalized for a year. Later he ran away to join the Barnum & Bailey Circus until his father located him. These family stories are usually oral and then forgotten after a couple of generations. But if someone types them up after an interview, they can be part of the delight of tracing our ancestors and seeing how things change over several generations.

Social history decays rapidly, and many of us have only scattered memories of our childhood. We know virtually nothing about our grandparents’ or great grandparents’ lives. If we have our DNA examined for selected genetic markers, we can identify different ethnic components (Asian or African or Middle Eastern or Native American). Each person who has a European ancestor is related to virtually every person in Europe if one goes back 2,000 years (something difficult to do for those who do not have a royal lineage).

All Native Americans in the western hemisphere are related to ancestors who lived in eastern Siberia about 15,000 years ago. The genetic crumbs of information of this past ancestry tell us little about who these people were and what they did. But what we preserve as memoirs can last for many generations delighting our descendants. Every time I open up a volume of Samuel Pepys’ diary the world of the 1660s shifts from history to eyewitness narrative.

Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.

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Comsewogue's Sarah McKoy and Seaver Lipshie double-team a Deer Park player on the way to the Warriors' 17-7 win on April 27. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Comsewogue hammered out a 17-7 victory on Monday in a girls’ lacrosse matchup against Deer Park, dominating the home team and scoring seven unanswered goals in a nine-minute span alone.

Hannah Dorney, a Comsewogue midfielder, crosses into Deer Park's zone on her way to a double hat trick and the Warriors' 17-7 win on April 27. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Hannah Dorney, a Comsewogue midfielder, crosses into Deer Park’s zone on her way to a double hat trick and the Warriors’ 17-7 win on April 27. Photo by Desirée Keegan

With the win, the Warriors improved to 9-3 overall, with an 8-3 mark in Division II.

Comsewogue midfielder Jamie Fischer, a sophomore, won the opening draw and with the game not even two minutes old, freshman midfielder Hannah Dorney fired a shot straight up the center for the first goal. Minutes later, Dorney did it again. The score 2-1 after a Deer Park goal, the Warriors regained possession off a Deer Park save and senior attack Haley Lochren’s shot hit its mark.

Dorney bounced another shot in halfway through the first for a hat trick, then made it 5-1 with an over-the-shoulder shot into the left side of the goal before Deer Park managed to get on the scoreboard again. The Falcons scored again with 10:10 left in the half to bring it to 5-3.

Comsewogue rotated midfielders at the draw and continued to win the ball, keeping it away from the competition. Dorney scored her fifth goal of the game at 9:19, blazing the trail for the team to light up the scoreboard six more times, ending with a Fischer buzzer-beater.

Jamie Fischer, a Comsewogue midfielder, collides with a Deer Park player on the first draw of a game the Warriors' won 17-7 on April 27. Fischer scored a hat trick in the match. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Jamie Fischer, a Comsewogue midfielder, collides with a Deer Park player on the first draw of a game the Warriors’ won 17-7 on April 27. Fischer scored a hat trick in the match. Photo by Desirée Keegan

“Today we definitely did great on the draw,” Fischer said. “I think that’s so important because we definitely need to keep possession.”

Lochren opened the second half with two straight goals, the first assisted by sophomore Julia Tuohy. After a Deer Park goal brought the score to 14-4, Tuohy scored a goal of her own off a play that began with Fischer winning the draw and carrying it down the field. Fischer passed to senior midfielder Seaver Lipshie at centerfield, who lobbed the ball over to Tuohy. The sophomore stuffed it into the left side of the goal.

The teams got shots past the keepers a few more times, to give the game its final 17-7 score.

Dorney finished the game with six goals and an assist; Lochren and Fischer each added a hat trick; and Tuohy tacked on two goals and four assists. The win was a team effort, with three other players adding a goal apiece and three more finishing with an assist.

Comsewogue's Julia Tuohy carries the ball into Deer Park's zone on the road to the Warriors' 17-7 win on April 27. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Comsewogue’s Julia Tuohy carries the ball into Deer Park’s zone on the road to the Warriors’ 17-7 win on April 27. Photo by Desirée Keegan

“We have a lot of strong players,” Fischer said. “It’s not just one player, two players; we’re a team and we all work well together and we’re all strong together.”

The sophomore said the girls are “becoming less selfish.”

Comsewogue head coach James Fernandes agreed his team has a nice balance on offense and defense in terms of skill sets, and with a handful of underclassmen on the roster, he’s hoping their help will put the Warriors in a good position to make the playoffs.

“We have a very coachable group — the girls have done a great job and we’re building every week,” he said. “The younger girls are like sparkplugs for us. They do everything; they’re all over the place and it’s awesome. We have a seventh-grader out there and the girls, they thrive off her. When she makes a play, they love it.”

The team has three games left. First, the Warriors will travel to Shoreham-Wading River Friday for a game at 4 p.m., then will finish up the season hosting Islip and Miller Place. Fernandes said the team needs to win two out of the three, and Fischer thinks her team has what it takes.

“Our record is so much better than last year,” she said of the team’s 4-10 overall record last season. “We hope we’ll get into playoffs and I think we will.”

While Dorney thinks the team started off the season a little shaky, the Warriors have outscored their opponents by an average of almost 10 goals in the last three games, and will use that momentum to propel them into the end of the league schedule.

“Now, we realize that we’re good enough to hang with the teams that are usually at the top,” Dorney said. “It’s a good win to come up with, and now we have a big game Friday that we have to get ready for, and I think that we’ll come together.”

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Kings Park’s Rachel Slagle looks up the field to make a play in the Kingsmens’ 12-10 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson Monday. Photo by Bill Landon
Kings Park’s Rachel Slagle looks up the field to make a play in the Kingsmens’ 12-10 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson Monday. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

At 3-6, it was a must-win game for the Kings Park girls’ lacrosse team to keep its chances of a postseason appearance alive, with four Division II games remaining before the playoffs. The Bonackers of East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson led by two, but the Kingsmen turned up the heat late in the first half to surge ahead by three and held onto that margin for most of the second half, to pull out a much needed win, 12-10, Monday afternoon.

“Coming in we thought they were a little better than us, but we knew we could beat them,” Kings Park sophomore Shannon Savage said. “We took our time, we worked together and we slowed it down on offense, and we didn’t force anything in the middle.”

The Bonackers struck first, but Kings Park junior Shannon Donovan evened the score early in the half.

Kings Park’s Shannon Savage shoots the ball play in the Kingsmens’ 12-10 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson Monday. Photo by Bill Landon
Kings Park’s Shannon Savage shoots the ball play in the Kingsmens’ 12-10 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson Monday. Photo by Bill Landon

Again trailing by one, Kings Park junior Alexa Cebulski answered the call six minutes in, to retie the game, and sophomore Jillian Winwood drove her shot home next to give the Kingsmen their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Savage scored next to double the lead, but the Bonackers responded by rattling off four unanswered goals in just over three minutes of play to jump out in front, 6-4.

Cebulski and Winwood both found the cage with 10 minutes left in the half to again tie the game.

Savage, on a penalty shot, found the back of the net to edge ahead 7-6, and from there, Kings Park never looked back.

Kings Park junior Rachel Slagle dished one off to junior Haley Mango, who split the pipes to bring the score to 8-6.

The Bonackers’ goalie looked to clear the ball from the crease after a save, but Slagle leaped in the air and snagged the pass. She drove the ball in past the startled goalkeeper to close the half ahead 9-6.

“We played better in the first half where we scored more goals,” Cebulski said. “And we played really well on both sides of the ball today.”

The Bonackers opened the second half hitting the scoreboard first to trim the deficit.

Kings Park’s Jillian Winwood passes the ball from midfield in the Kingsmens’ 12-10 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson Monday. Photo by Bill Landon
Kings Park’s Jillian Winwood passes the ball from midfield in the Kingsmens’ 12-10 win over East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson Monday. Photo by Bill Landon

Winwood struck again for her hat trick goal, this time, off an assist from Savage, to get back up by three goals. The Kings Park lead grew to four when Winwood dished one up to Mango for an 11-7 advantage.

“We did well in transition and we slowed the offense down,” Winwood said. “They came out fast, but we came out stronger and we came to play today, so I’m really proud.”

A man up, the Bonackers took advantage of the extra stick and fired another shot home to draw within three goals, and two minutes later, found the net again to trail by two, 11-9.

Kings Park junior Kristin Frizol finished the scoring for the Kingsmen with four minutes to play, and the Bonackers wouldn’t go quietly, as they scored with 30 seconds left to play, but it was too little too late.

“The second half we took control of the game and held them defensively and we stayed calm,” said Kings Park head coach Sally Ayres. ”We kept winning the draw and we kept that three-goal lead through most of the second half.”

After Winwood’s hat trick, Savage, Mango and Cebulski added two goals each, and Slagle, Donovan and Frizol rounded out the scoring with one goal apiece.

With the win, Kings Park improved to 4-6 and needs to win three out of the next four games to ensure a postseason appearance.

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Cleanup project is next step in building transformation

The New York State Armory is slated to become the James D. Conte Community Center. File photo

Huntington’s town board took the next step needed to transform the New York State Armory in Huntington Station into the James D. Conte Community Center, approving a measure at a town board meeting last week to spend $437,000 to clean up large amounts of hazardous materials inside the building.

The board also voted on a resolution approving the conditions it must meet for a $1.5 million state grant that will be used to continue the building’s transformation into the center, named after the late state Assemblyman James Conte. The site is slated to become a multipurpose venue offering programs and services for both youth and adults.

When the town took over the building located on East 5th Street in Huntington Station, officials found asbestos and other unsafe material inside, town spokesperson A.J. Carter said in a phone interview this week.

“Before anything further can be done, the hazardous material has to be removed,”  he said.

Town board members approved a resolution authorizing Unitech Service Group, a Bay Shore business, for the remediation of hazardous material and other work needed done in order to move on to the next step of the transformation. The town’s director of purchasing received sealed bids and Unitech was chosen as the lowest responsible bidder for the project.

The work will include asbestos removal, waste disposal, temporary lighting, removal and recycling of mercury wall thermostats, installation of temporary waterproofing and more.

The center will serve as a collaborative venue for not-for-profits and other agencies to interact with town initiatives and agencies, such as the Huntington Business Incubator, Huntington Opportunity Resource Center, among others, to uplift the area and improve the lives of residents, according to a previous press release from the town.

A date for the project has not been set, as the town has not drawn up any contractual agreements, according to Carter. However, it is expected to begin later this year.

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Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services Kevin Scanlon speaks at a meeting. File photo

It was just a few years ago — 2011 to be exact— when Everyday Math made its rocky debut in Three Village elementary schools.

The district was among the first to move to a Common Core-aligned math curriculum, following the state’s adoption of the standards the previous year. One problem among many, said Kevin Scanlon, assistant superintendent for educational services, was that Everyday Math was only about 80 percent aligned to the new standards.

Now the district’s elementary math review committee is recommending that Three Village adopt a replacement, the Houghton Mifflin Go Math! series. The proposal follows an evaluation that began last year with the committee’s analysis of the district’s 2012-13 New York State math assessment scores.

The group also met with the representatives of four leading math programs — Envisions by Pearson, Mc Graw Hill’s updated Everyday Math 4, Go Math! and Singapore Math — and decided to pilot Everyday Math 4 and Go Math! this year. Of the two programs, the committee determined that Go Math! was best suited to Three Village students’ needs.

Unlike Everyday Math, which was put in place before Scanlon and the current superintendent assumed their jobs, the recommendation was meant to be a collaborative effort that included feedback from teachers.

Scanlon said elementary school teachers, who were given materials from both programs, were able to “experiment under their own professional discretion.”

“When we look at any of these products, nothing is going to take the place of great teachers in the classroom using their discretion with the students in front of them,” Scanlon said.

The committee — a cross-section of educators from each grade at the district’s elementary schools, as well as secondary math chairs and administrators — designed surveys for elementary teachers to complete. The most frequent rating for Everyday Math 4 was “fairly good,” while Go Math! was most frequently rated as “very good.” The surveys indicated that there was a clear three-to-one preference for Go Math!

The committee also examined the resources each program provided for parents to help their children at home. Committee members decided that Go Math! has the best resources for teachers, students and parents, while also offering opportunities for enrichment, remediation and English as a Second Language (ESL) students.  The addition of five elementary STEM positions, as proposed in the 2015-16 budget, would also support differentiation for students at different levels.

Because of the difficult transition to Everyday Math, board members said they were concerned about the simultaneous introduction of Go Math! to all grades. Scanlon responded that the change would be less tumultuous since both teachers and students have already worked with the Go Math! material.

Many districts across Long Island, including neighboring Comsewogue and Northport, use Go Math! which, according to Scanlon, is the most sought-after math program for elementary schools.

In answer to the board’s questions about what competitive districts like Jericho and Cold Spring Harbor use, Scanlon said that he is in the process of finding out.

“Our teachers picked what was best for the students in Three Village,” he added.

Though not advocating for the Envisions math curriculum, board members did wonder whether Three Village students would be at a disadvantage if they didn’t use the textbooks written by Pearson, the company that also writes the state exams. Scanlon explained that Pearson’s textbook division is separate from its test-writing division and that legally, the company cannot structure its books to the test.

If Go Math! is adopted, teacher training will begin in May, with voluntary training continuing throughout the summer. Teachers will continue to receive more in-depth training throughout the coming school year.

Scanlon said the district would save about $100,000 since it chose to pilot the program. Three Village will sign a yearly contract over six years, rather than purchasing all material upfront. The agreement means it will be easier to receive updated material, he said.

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File photo by Rohma Abbas

Huntington Town is exploring how to stay on while the power isn’t.

The town board voted last week to apply to the New York State Energy Research and Development for a $100,000 grant that would explore the feasibility of creating a community microgrid energy system that would link up Huntington Town Hall, the Village Green senior center and the Huntington Sewer District wastewater treatment plant.

The town will spend $7,750 to hire technical consultant TRC, based in New York, to assist in preparing the grant application by the May 15 deadline. Huntington Hospital and the Huntington YMCA could also be potentially added to the microgrid, the town board resolution said.

Microgrids are essentially self-sustaining, small electric grids with their own generation resources and internal loads that may or may not be connected to the larger electric utility macrogrid, NYSERDA’s overview of the grant program said. NYSERDA, in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, said it plans to award up to $40 million under the three-stage NY Prize Community Grid Competition to support the development of community microgrids throughout the state.

“When a widespread power outage affects the town, it is important that electricity be restored to sites that provide vital emergency services,” Supervisor Frank Petrone (D), who spearheaded the measure, said in a statement. “Creating a microgrid linking Town Hall, the Village Green Senior Center, the Huntington wastewater treatment plant, Huntington Hospital and the YMCA could help to restore electric service to those locations more quickly. The concept certainly merits a feasibility study, which is why the town is applying for this grant.”

Electric power in the U.S., including generation and distribution systems, used to operate on a smaller scale, but over time, regional utilities were developed to deliver cost-effective and reliable water, heat, power, fuel and communications over broader distances, according to a summary of the program on NYSERDA’s website.

“These systems are, however, vulnerable to outages that can impact large regions and thousands of businesses and citizens, particularly as a consequence of extreme, destructive weather events,” the summary said. “Microgrids could help minimize the impact of these outages by localizing power generation, distribution, and consumption so that a fallen tree or downed wire will not interrupt critical services for miles around.”

During Hurricane Sandy, Huntington Town Hall lost power, town spokesman A.J. Carter said, but officials were able to get the building back running via a generator. Getting on a microgrid, he said, could help Huntington’s most crucial facilities get online faster during outages.

“Theoretically it would allow the utility to target this grid first because of its emergency nature,” Carter said.

Councilwoman Susan Berland (D), who seconded the resolution offered by Supervisor Frank Petrone, said the town’s response to Hurricane Sandy power outages was good, but the microgrid is still worth exploring.

“If we could explore the idea of being on our own grid that’s something we should absolutely look into,” she said. “The exploration and the alternate conversion are obviously two different things, because you’d have to see what it would entail and whether it’s doable.”

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Stock photo

The Comsewogue School District will be conducting a lottery to determine which students will be attending its half-day pre-kindergarten program this fall.

The lottery will be held at the district office on Monday, June 15, at 11 a.m.

Applications will be mailed to all district residents and are also available in the main office of each of the district’s schools and at the district office.

Completed applications are due back to the district office by 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 22.

Contact Jennifer Reph, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, at 631-474-8110, with any questions.

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