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Monthly Archives: February 2016

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Get out
A 47-year-old man from Laughlin, Nevada, was arrested on Feb. 21 for entering a home on Otsego Place in Commack just before midnight, police said. He was charged with criminal trespassing.

Unlicensed driver
On Feb. 20 at about 9:30 p.m., a 32-year-old man from Medford was driving a 2015 GMC on Middle Country Road in Nesconset without a license, police said. He was charged with second degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle.

Dude, where’s my car?
Between Jan. 2 and Feb. 20, a 28-year-old woman from Sound Beach drove a 2015 GMC despite being 50 days beyond the return date set by the car’s owner, police said. She also ignored notices by certified mail to return the car, according to police. She was arrested on Feb. 20 in Nesconset and charged with operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

Drugs in the park
A 22-year-old man from Bohemia had heroin and marijuana on him in the parking lot of Lakeland County Park in Islandia at about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 17, according to police. He was charged with two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Traffic stop yields pot
Just before 8 p.m. on Feb. 17, a 29-year old woman from Smithtown was stopped for a traffic violation in Smithtown, and was found to have marijuana on her, police said. She was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Egghead, cannon arm
An unknown person threw eggs at a 2016 Subaru and a 2005 Acura, both parked in the driveway of a home on New Highway in Commack, at around midnight on Feb. 21, police said. The eggs caused scratches, dents and some discoloration to the two cars, according to police.

Shades swiped
Police said an unknown person stole 17 pairs of sunglasses from Macy’s at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove at about 5 p.m. on Feb. 20.

Off-road escape
A snow blower and two all-terrain vehicles were stolen from a shed outside a home on Wood Road in Centereach around midnight on Jan. 25, police said.

Broken window
An unknown person damaged the rear window of a home on Havemeyer Lane in Commack at about 3 p.m. on Feb. 18, according to police.

Wallet walks off in the night
A wallet with cash was stolen from an unlocked 1999 Toyota that was parked in front of a home on New Highway in Commack at about 3 a.m. on Feb. 18, police said.

Subway smash and grab
At about 11 p.m. on Feb. 19, an unknown person smashed the window of Subway restaurant on Hawkins Avenue in Lake Grove and stole a cash register containing money, according to police.

Not the key to success
Police said an unknown person keyed the passenger side and hood of a 2008 Pontiac Solstice in the parking lot of New York Sports Club in Huntington on Feb. 19 at 7 a.m.

Missing looking glass
An unknown person stole a telescope from a garage on Darrow Lane in Elwood on Feb. 20 at 1:40 p.m.

High times
On Feb. 19, a 29-year-old woman from Central Islip was arrested for having marijuana and prescription pills in her possession, according to police. She was arrested on Larkfield Road in Elwood and charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of marijuana.

Not quite Accura-te
A 29-year-old man from Huntington was arrested on Feb. 20 after police said he crashed into a 1998 Acura while driving south on Route 110 in Melville in a 2004 Honda Accord. He was charged with driving while intoxicated.

Don’t take the call
A 44-year-old man from Kings Park was arrested on Feb. 19 at 7:15 a.m. on Larkfield Road in East Northport after police said he called a woman and harassed her on Dec. 22. He was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment.

Getting saked at Saks
Police said a 28-year-old man from Springfield Gardens was using fake identification to open a new credit card on Feb. 19 at Saks Fifth Avenue in Huntington. According to police, he had a fake driver’s license and credit card, which he used to apply for a Saks Fifth Avenue credit card and then buy $3,500 worth of merchandise. He was charged with second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

Catching up
Police busted a 20-year-old man from Holtsville for grand larceny, more than three months after he allegedly stole cash and credit cards from a 2000 Toyota Corolla parked near Middle Country Road in Selden on Nov. 2. Police arrested him on Feb. 20 around 7:45 p.m. at the 6th Precinct.

Formulaic thief
Between 8 and 8:40 p.m. on Feb. 15, someone stole baby formula from a store on Route 25A in Sound Beach.

You’re suspended!
A Port Jefferson Station man was arrested on Feb. 17 for unlicensed operation of a car. Police said he was driving a 2011 Ford Fusion when he was pulled over on the corner of Canal Road and Shenandoah Boulevard. Officials discovered he was driving with a suspended license and arrested him at the scene. It was not clear why the man was pulled over.

Teens in trouble
On Feb. 15, a 19-year-old Rocky Point man was arrested for driving while ability impaired in a 2002 Mercedes, after he was going west on Route 25A in Miller Place and was involved in a car crash. Police discovered the teen was intoxicated and arrested.
A 19-year-old man from West Babylon was arrested on Feb. 18 for driving while ability impaired on Route 25A in Miller Place, after an officer pulled over the teen for speeding in a 2012 Volkswagen. Police arrested him at the scene around 1:31 a.m.

Old enough to know better
On Feb. 17, police arrested a 60-year-old man from Mount Sinai for driving while ability impaired in a 2002 Hyundai on North Country Road, after he was in a car crash.

Another one?
Police arrested a Miller Place resident on Feb. 18 at 3:15 a.m. for driving while ability impaired. Authorities said the 41-year-old man was pulled over for speeding west on Route 25A in a 2005 BMW.

Why do so many drivers do this?
A 27-year-old man was arrested for allegedly driving while ability impaired on Feb. 18. Police pulled over the Mastic resident after he failed to maintain his lane while driving a 1998 Audi on Stony Brook Road in Centereach. He was arrested at the corner of Stony Brook Road and Westcliff Lane.

Prescription for handcuffs
Police arrested a 27-year-old woman from Rocky Point on Feb. 18 for criminal possession of cocaine and prescription pills without a prescription. It was not clear why officials first approached the woman, but she was arrested on Twilight Road.

Picking apart pickups
On Feb. 17, someone stole four chrome wheels from two different Dodge Ram 1500 pickups. The incidents occurred on Nesconset Highway in Port Jefferson Station.

Going postal
According to police, on Feb. 19 around 2:10 a.m., someone used an incendiary device to damage a mailbox on Jefferson Landing Circle in Port Jefferson.

Fountain of money
Someone stole a wallet with credit cards and identification from an unlocked Honda Pilot. The incident happened between 10 p.m. on Feb. 15 and 10:21 a.m. the following day, near Fountain Road in Rocky Point.

Smash and cash
An unknown person broke the front glass door of a store on Mark Tree Road in Centereach and stole the cash register. Police said the incident occurred on Feb. 17 around 10:30 p.m.

Stony broken
On Feb. 18 around 10 p.m., an unknown person broke a window on a 2015 Porsche parked at AMC Loews theater in Stony Brook. The person stole a camera, Chanel bag, backpack and a car key to a different car.

Dodge this
According to police, an unidentified individual threw an object that dented and scratched a moving 2014 Dodge Ram on Feb. 17, on Henry Avenue in Selden.

Hungry bandit
On Feb. 20 around 7: 50 p.m., someone stole a bag of food from Wild by Nature on Route 25A in East Setauket.

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Chris Crespo makes his way to the rim between a swarm of Brentwood opponents in the Bulls' 61-49 loss to the Indians in the Suffolk County Class AA semifinals. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Nick Grande scores his game-opening layup after stealing a pass in Brentwood's zone. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Greg Giordano maintains possession of the ball with a Brentwood defender on his back. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Nick Grande calls a play. Photo by Desirée Keegnan
Jake Torres crosses into Brentwood's zone as a player tries to keep him from making a move. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Chris Crespo looks for an open teammate to pass the ball to. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Greg Giordano leaps up to the rim. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Nick Grande kicks it into high gear in an attempt to break away to the basket. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Jake Torres swishes a free-throw shot. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Nick Grande reaches for the rim in an attempt to level the score. Photo by Desirée Keegan

“There’s no reason we can’t win this game,” Smithtown West senior Matt English told his team during warm-ups. “What do we have to lose? Nothing.”

So with that, the No. 4 Smithtown West boys’ basketball team battled on the boards and hung in there with a tough No. 1-seeded Brentwood team during the Suffolk County Class AA semifinals at Stony Brook University Sunday night. The team’s efforts may not have been enough, as the Bulls fell 61-49 to the Indians, but in head coach Mike Agostino’s eyes, the team did everything it needed to.

“We did everything that we usually do — we played our butts off, we executed on offense, we moved the ball, set screens, we did all of the things necessary to win the game,” he said. “In terms of what we can control and what we did, they did everything I wanted them to.”

Senior Nick Grande started the game off strong for the Bulls, stealing a pass and converting the opportunity for points with a breakaway layup just 13 seconds into the game.

Brentwood countered with two field goals of its own before senior Doug Levy tied it up with a layup of his own, and tied it up again with an offensive rebound on the Bulls’ next possession, to bring the score to 6-6.

Levy tapped in another offensive rebound and sophomore Chris Crespo added a put-in and two free-throw points, but at the end of the eight minutes, the Bulls found themselves down 20-12.

The two teams continued to trade points in the second stanza, but the Bulls’ deficit grew to 10 points, with a 29-19 halftime score.

Crespo started off the third like Grande did the first, stealing the ball and converting a layup at the 7:12 mark, and added a field goal and a 3-point play to go alone with junior Greg Giordano’s field goal early on to help Smithtown West close the gap to 35-28, but that was as close as the team would come.

English finished with a team-high 14 points, Giordano netted 11, Crespo tacked on seven and Levy and junior Kyle LaGuardia added seven points apiece.

The Bulls may have lost, but the boys kept up with the No. 1-ranked team in the county, and never stopped hustling.

“It’s nothing new; it doesn’t’ surprise me,” Agostino said of the team’s commitment to never quitting. “That’s the expectation. It doesn’t surprise me, but it fills me with a lot of pride each time I see them put forth that effort. I never felt choked up after losing a game, but I did with them. The emotion comes from how hard they tried and how much effort they put in, and that’s what makes me really happy.”

Some of the teammates took to Twitter after the game to express their gratitude and feelings on being a part of the program.

“Thanks to everyone who came out to support,” Giordano wrote. “I wouldn’t have wanted to go to battle with any other group of guys these past four years. I love all of you.”

Despite also playing baseball, and choosing to play it in college, Grande wrote about how glad he was to have had the opportunity to play for his hoops team.

“Loved this game since I first picked up a basketball,” he said. “Gonna miss it like hell, but I couldn’t have asked for a better last ride.”

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Sam Miller is one new member of the town ethics board. Photo from Miller

The Huntington Town Board of Ethics & Financial Disclosure added its final two members last week, bringing the committee back to its full size after a few years of vacant seats.

Sam Miller and Sheryl Randazzo, who are both Huntington residents, joined the Ethics Board at a Feb. 10 town board meeting, and said they are eager to contribute.

“I view it as community service,” Randazzo said in a phone interview.“I’ve been involved professionally with matters of ethics my entire adult life. I’m looking forward to it.”

Randazzo is a practicing attorney with offices in Huntington and Manhattan. She is a former president of the Suffolk County Bar Association.

Miller, on the other hand, is the vice chair of the Huntington Arts Council. He also has about 30 years of experience in public service positions related to human rights, housing and community development, including a stint on the board of commissioners of the Huntington Housing Authority.

Sheryl Randazzo is one new member of the town ethics board. Photo from Lynn Spinnato
Sheryl Randazzo is one new member of the town ethics board. Photo from Lynn Spinnato

“It’s humbling,” Miller said in a phone interview, about serving on the Ethics Board. “I love the town and citizens dearly.”

At the beginning of 2015, the Ethics Board was operating with two vacancies, following the resignations of Roger Ramme and Stanley Heller. Ramme stepped down to take on the position of town assessor and Heller resigned after writing a letter to the board saying he spends most of his time in Florida. Edward William Billia filled one of the vacancies in 2015, but a third opened up when Dean Howard Glickstein resigned. The board hasn’t had five members since 2014.

Throughout the last year, the community has voiced concerns about aspects of the Ethics Board, including how often they meet and their level of transparency with the public. Changes were made as a result of those criticisms, increasing meetings to four times a year rather than once annually and comprehensively updating the code of conduct for town employees.

“I welcome these two distinguished Huntington residents to the Ethics Board and thank them for their willingness to serve,” Huntington Town Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) said in a press release. “I look forward to their efforts in implementing the provisions of the Town’s new ethics code.”

Randazzo believes her career path has given her a perfect foundation to serve on the Ethics Board.

“Before law school, issues pertaining to ethics have always been something that I’ve focused on,” she said. “I think the fit is that it has been at the forefront of my professional career.”

Randazzo also said she does not have any specific agenda in mind heading into her new position, and she will take the issues and challenges as they come.

According to Miller, his past professional experiences should provide him with a helpful viewpoint, despite being brand new to the job.

“I’m going in, as Clyde Frazier always says, a neophyte,” Miller said laughing, giving a nod to the colorful New York Knicks television announcer.

But Miller finds his new role to be an important one.

“I think that one of the things that we’re always looking for in a civil society is civility,” he said. “Our abilities to settle differences and to bring commonalities to people would help to resolve a lot of issues.”

Miller and Randazzo join Louis C. England, Ralph W. Crafa and Edward William Billia on the board.

Miller’s term runs until Dec. 31, 2017, and Randazzo’s ends a full year later. There is no salary for the position.

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Adrienne Esposito speaks against a plan to dump dredge spoils in the Sound as county Legislators Sarah Anker, Kara Hahn and Al Krupski look on. Photo by Giselle Barkley

It’s been about six months and North Shore leaders are still fighting against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to continue dumping dredge spoils into the Long Island Sound.

Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) stood alongside fellow county Legislators Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) and Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) on Tuesday at the William H. Rogers Legislature Building in Hauppauge to voice their opposition to the plan and ask Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New York Secretary of State Cesar Perales to reject the proposal. George Hoffman of the Setauket Harbor Task Force and Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, were also among the leaders who voiced their opposition to the plan.

The Army Corps has dumped dredge spoils into waterways leading to the Sound for decades. Its final proposal, known as the Long Island Sound Dredged Material Management Plan, was completed on Jan. 11 and suggested dumping 30 to 50 million cubic yards of dredge material cleared out from Connecticut waterways over the course of another 30 years.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has supported the Army Corps’ proposal. Stephen Perkins, a member of the EPA’s dredging team, said the spoils are tested before being dumped to ensure they meet certain safety standards.

But critics say the state can reject the plan under the federal Clean Water Act.

Dredge dumping has caused toxic chemicals to be dispersed throughout the Sound over the years, affecting the ecosystem and many water-dwelling species, including fish and lobsters.

“If this was private industry doing this, I don’t think they’d go very far,” Krupski said. “They’d probably end up in jail.”

Over the past 11 years, the local government has spent $7 million to address environmental issues in the Sound, a fragile body of water, according to Anker. Some of that went toward creating a Long Island Sound study.

According to Esposito, New York State rejected a similar plan that the Army Corps proposed in 2005, and ordered that group and the EPA to slowly reduce the amount of dredge spoils being dumped into the Sound. She called for the plan to go back to the drawing board.

“We’ve committed so much resources, money, time and energy to protecting this water body,” Hahn said. “And then to just dump potential harmful and toxic waste spoils into our waters is a darn shame.”

Anker agreed, saying that the Sound creates upward of $36 billion of economic value on the Island.

Instead of dumping dredge spoils into the Long Island Sound, Esposito suggested using it to restore wetlands, rebuild beaches and cap landfills, among other methods of disposal.

“The Sound is dying and what they’re trying to do now is bury it in dredge spoil,” Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) said at the press conference.

The local leaders also criticized the EPA for supporting the Army Corps.

“On one hand, they are advancing a nitrogen-reduction plan,” Esposito said. “And on the other, they’re turning a blind eye to the disposal of the large quantities of dredge materials which cause significant nitrogen loading into the Sound.”

A public hearing on the dredging plan will be held on Tuesday, March 1, at the Port Jefferson Free Library, at the corner of Thompson and East Main streets. That event runs from 5 to 7 p.m., with registration for public speakers starting at 4:30 p.m.

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Edward McGuire first joined the Centerport Fire Department in 1976. Photo by Steve Silverman

Ex-Captain Edward McGuire of the Centerport Fire Department died on Feb. 2 at the age of 78.

McGuire first joined the department in 1976, serving first as lieutenant and then captain. He also served as an EMT and member of the Centerport Rescue Squad.

He was elected as fire commissioner in 1995 and served for five years.

The ex-captain grew up in Queens and worked summers as a lifeguard at Jones Beach. He also served in the U.S. Army at a Nike missile site in New Jersey.

After his tour ended, he attended Cooper Union, a prestigious college in New York City.

McGuire taught classes at a BOCES school but was an electrician by trade and started McGuire Electric in Centerport, which his son Edward McGuire now operates.

McGuire loved the outdoors, including activities like fishing and hunting.

He is survived by his wife, Dolores; his children, Edward, Joseph, Judy and Christopher; and his seven grandchildren.

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Harborfields High School. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Harborfields Central School District is one step closer to technological improvements thanks to its utilization of New York State’s Smart Schools Bond Act.

At a school board meeting last week, Jordan Cox, executive director of institutional services, presented a $1 million investment plan that focuses on improving the district’s Internet connectivity operations by utilizing the bond.

“We’re looking for something that’s going to be long-term,” Cox said. “Something that we can make an investment in that’s going to last 10-plus years.”

The Smart Schools Bond Act, passed in 2014, authorized the issuance of $2 billion in general obligation bonds to finance improved education technology and infrastructure. Over the last two years, Cox said district officials have been meeting to determine what the highest priorities are for bond funds.

Once they narrowed in on Internet connectivity, a plan was created to update the “aging architecture to support high-speed traffic requirements for online productivity and assessment operations,” he said.

The entire plan included two projects — one $921,000 plan focusing on upgrading infrastructure and the other $177,000 plan on centralizing all district servers.

Cox said that Harborfields was using outdated equipment and upgrading it to support high-bandwidth and wireless devices would help the district support more devices at once.

“We’re talking about the bones that you don’t see behind the walls that allow us to keep the connectivity day-to-day within schools,” Cox said of the infrastructure.

The second part of the plan Cox pitched concentrated on centralizing all servers to help reduce the amount of data center equipment required, which he said would cut costs and negate the need of system downtime.

Cox said that fewer servers and less networking gear would mean less equipment would be required, lowering monthly power and cooling costs. Cox also said that the more programs and devices added to the district, the “more critical that our Internet connectivity does not have any down time.”

In his presentation, Cox said Harborfields would receive about $1.3 million from the state through the bond. These two projects should cost about $1 million, leaving $223,656 left over, he said.

Cox also said that the money from this bond does not expire and can be carried into the next school year. So if Harborfields does not use its full amount immediately, it does not lose the surplus.

Going forward, Cox said this plan needed to be approved by the board of education before the district can submit an online application. He also said the turnaround time from the state is unknown because Harborfields is one of the first districts to complete the process.

The school district did not confirm whether the board has approved the plan.

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Late physical chemist remembered as founding member of Stony Brook University’s famed chemistry department

Francis Truesdale Bonner’s memorial service will be March 6 at the Bates House. Photo from Bonner family

Francis Truesdale Bonner died early in the morning of Monday, Feb. 15, at the age of 94.

A physical chemist, he spent most of his career as a professor at SUNY Stony Brook, before its name was changed to Stony Brook University. He was the founding chairman of Stony Brook’s distinguished Department of Chemistry.

Bonner was born in December 1921 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the youngest of seven children. His father, Walter Bonner, was head of chemistry at the University of Utah from 1914 until 1945. His mother, Grace Gaylord Bonner, had earlier been a teacher in Nebraska and maintained the household at a high cultural level, including the study of music and foreign languages.

The Bonner siblings studied at the University of Utah and went on to distinguished scientific careers at Cal Tech, Penn, UC San Diego, and other institutions.

Bonner took his undergraduate degree from Utah in 1942 and proceeded to Yale for doctoral work in chemistry, with Herbert Spencer Harned as his advisor. At that time, in the middle of the Second World War, highly trained scientists were in great demand. Accordingly, Bonner entered an accelerated program, taking a master’s in 1944 and a Ph.D. in 1945, with a dissertation on the thermodynamic properties of carbonic acid in aqueous solutions of sodium chloride.

In 1944, meanwhile, he found himself at Columbia University in the top-secret Manhattan Project, working on the development of metallic materials suitable for use as diffusion barriers for uranium hexafluoride and on the interaction of these materials with uranium hexafluoride itself and also with other corrosive gases.

Like many Manhattan Project scientists, he was generally aware of the project’s goal, but when the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, he was surprised at the way the weapon had actually taken form. In the following period, Bonner had a leading role in the Association of Manhattan Project Scientists, concerned with maintaining this dangerous discovery within political and humanitarian bounds.

During those days in New York, Bonner met Evelyn Hershkowitz, a Hunter College graduate then working for the Manhattan Project. They married in January 1946 and moved to Oak Ridge Tennessee, where they both worked at Clinton Laboratory, soon renamed Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In 1947, they moved to Long Island, where Bonner took a position with the brand-new Brookhaven National Laboratory. This environment was entirely to his liking, but problems emerged with FBI demands for security clearances. Bonner himself came under no suspicion, but several colleagues, who afterward remained lifelong friends, fell afoul of the emerging McCarthyite agenda.

As these colleagues left Brookhaven, Bonner took a position as assistant professor at Brooklyn College. In 1956 he took up a Carnegie Fellowship at Harvard, and after that a consultancy with Arthur D. Little in Cambridge. Those days also saw the publication of his textbook, co-authored with Melba Phillips, “Principles of Physical Science.”

In late 1957, Bonner received an offer to join the brand-new State University College on Long Island, located in Oyster Bay but due to transfer soon to a site in Stony Brook donated by the philanthropist Ward Melville.

He accepted the offer and became the first chair of chemistry. He took a leading role in recruiting faculty in related areas, especially physics. His main focus, however, was on building a new chemistry department, and he recruited a youthful team that gained international recognition. In those days, academic talent and academic positions were both relatively abundant, and the State of New York contributed substantially to the project.

On the ground, however, quarrels emerged over the new institution’s direction and identity. Bonner took his part in those quarrels while maintaining his priority of building his department. His many new hires included Paul Lauterbur in 1963, who was then engaged in research on nuclear magnetic resonance, which resulted afterward in the universally-used technology of magnetic resonance imaging, for which Lauterbur received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2003.

With his family, Bonner spent the academic year 1964-65 with a National Science Foundation senior postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre d’Etudes Nucleaires in Saclay, France, near Paris. He then returned to the chairmanship at Stony Brook. When he stepped down in 1970, the department had grown from a handful of faculty and staff into one of the most important and productive units in the discipline, housed in a spacious, brand-new, state-of-the-art building.

Bonner returned to the laboratory, mentoring graduate students and authoring and co-authoring articles on nitrogen chemistry, including the small, toxic molecule nitric oxide, which has a role in mammalian physiology. His co-authors included the British scientists Geoffrey Stedman and Martin N. Hughes. From 1983 to 1986, he served as dean for international programs, developing programs for teaching and research, and traveling to Europe, East Asia, and Latin America. He then returned to full-time teaching and research until his retirement at the age of 70 in 1992.

Bonner and Evelyn had three children, Michael, born in 1952, now of Michigan; Alisa, born in 1955, who died in 1974; and Rachel, born in 1957, now of Israel. Evelyn died in 1990.

As Bonner entered retirement soon afterward, he continued to do consulting work, but devoted himself mainly to nonscientific pursuits, especially music. He had played the violin since his Utah childhood, and had taken up the viola in his early 40s. He played in a variety of venues and groups, and in this way he met Jane Carlberg, a violinist from Andover, Connecticut. The two married in 1994 and remained together in the waterside house in Setauket that Bonner had owned since 1972.

Bonner enjoyed hiking and bicycling and had a deep love of nature. His many friends appreciated his sense of humor, which remained with him right to the end. He spent the last six months of his life at Sunrise Senior Living, East Setauket, and died peacefully of pneumonia at Stony Brook Hospital.

A memorial service will be held at noon on Sunday, March 6, at the Bates House in Setauket.

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David Calone file photo

The Three Village Community Trust announced it would be hosting its winter-spring 2016 “Join the Conversation” series this week with a special discussion from David Calone, former chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission.

The event is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m., inside the Setauket Neighborhood House.

In his discussion, Calone will speak about the community’s role in the comprehensive land use planning of the Three Village area, including Route 25A.

“The Long Island we inhabit today is the result of choices made by those who came before us,” Calone said. “The future shape of Suffolk County is not dictated to us. Now is the time to set our community goals and — most importantly — to then enact policies to support those priorities that are critical to our common future.”

During Calone’s tenure, the county developed and adopted the first comprehensive master plan for Suffolk County in nearly 40 years. It provides a guide for how to harness our region’s assets for growth through 2035 and includes a nationally recognized code for renewable energy use.

“I hope that these talks will prove helpful adjunct to having an informed citizenry to help mover the corridor study to truly reflect the community’s shared vision — and then that the town enacts whatever laws that will help guide development so it is consistent with that vision,” said Cynthia Barnes, president of the Three Village Community Trust board of trustees.

Barnes said that county policy decisions are likely to impact the town and local land use policy, making Thursday’s discussion even more important. Therefore, it is important, to consider what is happening in the region even as citizens endeavor to study their local community.

“The six critical issues are also relevant to the Three Village area,” Barnes said. “The Three Village 25A Corridor Study and Plan that will be prepared by the Town of Brookhaven with input from the Citizens Advisory Committee and the community at large will need to look at these same ‘critical priorities’ and can benefit from the work done by the county.”

The “Join the Conversation” series is open to all and free, or a donation of $5.

For more information, contact the Three Village Community Trust at 631-689-0225.

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‘Teddy’s Fourth of July: Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay’ © 2008, by Mort Künstler

By Elizabeth Kahn Kaplan

‘The Poseidon Adventure’ ©1972 by Mort Künstler
‘The Poseidon Adventure’ ©1972 by Mort Künstler

Chatting with artist Mort Künstler about his career retrospective opening at the Long Island Museum on Feb. 26, it’s hard to believe that this dynamic man will be 90 next year. The light-filled Oyster Bay home overlooking Long Island Sound he shares with his wife Deborah displays their collection of paintings by Norman Rockwell, Maxwell Parrish and other American illustrators. Deborah’s talent as an interior designer is reflected in the warm, jewel-toned rooms. The couple delights in telling how Mort approached her at Pratt Institute when she was a freshman and he a graduate student. Deborah has been Mort’s favorite model and is the final arbiter when Mort creates a very complicated painting.

After they married, they lived on Deborah’s income as a textile designer, then watched his career grow rapidly as a phenomenally successful illustrator of magazine covers, book jackets, advertisements and movie posters and then as a painter of significant moments in American history. One that they recall as the most thrilling of his long career — one moment that they were privileged to experience in person — was viewed on television by millions. It is captured perfectly in his dramatic painting “Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, April 12, 1981.”

‘Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, April 12, 1981’ © 1981 by Mort Künstler
‘Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, April 12, 1981’ © 1981 by Mort Künstler

Fifteen years into his successful career, he started doing work for National Geographic in Washington, D.C. “National Geographic set me on the right course to conduct thorough research and be in touch with the foremost expert on a given subject. My career as a painter of complex subjects fell into place after that.” An advertising agent brought him assignments to do historical paintings for corporate calendars and ads. “I was doing a lot of movie posters, too. They were the most exciting, highest paying art at the time. I had a lot of fun meeting movie stars, directors, and others.” His brilliantly colored, action-packed, multifigured movie poster of 1972 for “The Poseidon Adventure” is among other well-remembered posters in the exhibit.

Künstler has done a number of paintings set on Long Island, which are part of the exhibit at the Long Island Museum. Two are set during the American Revolution with the Townsend family home, which is now Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, as the backdrop. “Sally’s Valentine” portrays British Colonel John Graves Simcoe giving Sally Townsend the first known American valentine. In “The Culper Spy,” Sally’s brother, Robert Townsend, a key member of George Washington’s Setauket-based spy ring who gathered information in Manhattan, is portrayed in a candle-lit room, magnifying glass in hand reading an encrypted letter.

Mort Künstler at work in his studio. Photo by Liz Kaplan
Mort Künstler at work in his studio. Photo by Liz Kaplan

“Teddy’s Fourth of July: Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay” was commissioned by Künstler’s neighbor Roger Bahnik to honor the president, whose home was in nearby Sagamore Hill. Künstler surprised Bahnik by painting him as the driver of the president’s car and his wife and children as part of the crowd. Künstler also painted Oyster Bay residents who’d won a prize offered by him to the highest bidders at an auction to raise funds for the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay. The building in the background still stands at the corner of East Main and South Streets.

“I love the research. It’s like being a detective. What was the roof made of? How were the streets paved? What sort of hats would be correct?”

‘Sally’s Valentine’ © 2013 by Mort Künstler
‘Sally’s Valentine’ © 2013 by Mort Künstler

On the third floor of Künstler’s home is a costume room with a variety of hats, coats, gowns and accessories. Künstler designed a rotating platform for his workspace to allow his easel to be moved into the changing light streaming through a large skylight.

Another Long Islander commissioned “Washington’s Crossing.” Thomas R. Suozzi, the former Executive of Nassau County,  urged Künstler to undertake his version of that pivotal event of the American Revolution. The painting is a result of Künstler’s determination to provide a historically accurate representation of the subject of Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” “That was not the kind of boat used for officers. You could not get horses and cannons in those boats; ferries were used, and the officers traveled with their horses,” said Künstler, who nonetheless considers the 1851 painting “one of the great iconic images of all time.”

‘Respect of an Army’ © 2014 by Mort Künstler
‘Respect of an Army’ © 2014 by Mort Künstler

James I. Robertson Jr., the dean of Civil War historians, has said of Künstler’s work, “To study his paintings is to simply see history alive.” Proof of this is seen in “Respect of an Army,” painted to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.

Known for his Civil War battle scenes, for this occasion nonetheless Kunstler chose to depict that moment when peace had finally come to the divided and wounded nation. Soldiers of the victorious Union Army stand respectfully and with a certain sadness as Confederate General Robert E. Lee passes by after having surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant inside the McLean House. It is not a scene of triumph, nor is glory given to the victors. Rather, attention is paid to the leader of the losing side that had fought with courage and tenacity but, in the end, had succumbed to a greater power.

‘The Culper Spy’ © 2013 by Mort Künstler
‘The Culper Spy’ © 2013 by Mort Künstler

“The New Nation: The History of the United States in Paintings and Eyewitness Accounts” is the latest of Künstler’s 20 books of paintings, with texts by noted historians. A series of children’s books featuring Künstler’s art, titled “See American History,” will be released this spring by Abbeville Kids. The first two will be on the American Revolution and the Civil War, followed by World War II and the Wild West in the fall. 

The name “Künstler,” which means “artist” in German, seems a validation of Mort Künstler’s choice of profession. The exhibit of over 80 of his works is a major retrospective of Kunstler’s paintings starting with childhood art through to his most recent paintings. It is not to be missed.

Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure will be on view at the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook, from Feb. 26 through May 30. The community is invited to meet the artist and view the exhibit on Friday, March 18, at 5 p.m. as part of the museum’s Alive@5 series. Tickets are $15, $10 members at the door. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, visit www.longislandmuseum.org or call 631-751-0066.

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Left to right, state Assemblyman Steve Englebright, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Sen. John Flanagan discuss the plan. Photo from Cuomo’s office

Keeping the state’s drinking water clean and safe is a subject anyone can get behind, and New York lawmakers across both major parties did just that.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a series of aggressive water quality initiatives last week in the company of elected officials representing the North Shore in an attempt to better protect public health and the environment. His proposals received great praise from both Democrats and Republicans as a common-sense way to keep New York’s water clean.

“Every New Yorker has a fundamental right to clean and safe drinking water,” Cuomo said. “Water is a priceless resource that requires the highest levels of protection, and I am proud to continue this administration’s legacy of standing up for the environment. We are taking aggressive and proactive steps to ensure clean and healthy communities throughout the state — both for current residents and for generations to come.”

Joining Cuomo at a Stony Brook University discussion on the state’s newest water initiatives were Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D), state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and more. At that discussion, Cuomo pitched his statewide water quality rapid response team, which he said would work to identify and develop plans to address critical drinking water contamination concerns as well as groundwater and surface water contamination problems.

“It’s imperative that we all work together at the local, state and federal levels to protect the public health,” Bellone said. “The actions that Governor Cuomo has announced today are demonstrating unequivocally that New York is taking proactive measures to not just meet that standard, but to really raise the bar on the protection of water quality.”

Cuomo said the rapid response team would be working to develop a comprehensive action plan to immediately address water quality issues raised by municipalities and concerned citizens, taking on matters ranging from currently regulated contaminants like lead, to emerging contaminants, like perfluorooctanoic acid. It was a plan that his fellow lawmakers said was easy to get behind.

“We are blessed in New York State and on Long Island to have the availability of high-quality drinking water, but we also have a responsibility to protect it,” Flanagan said. “At the end of the day, nothing is more important to New Yorkers and their families than the air they breathe and the water they drink.”

The team will also review and incorporate the best available science and may include new review standards for currently unregulated contaminants, enhanced testing and oversight of drinking water systems, including private wells, and state-of-the-art drinking water treatment options.

“Creating an agenda to safeguard the quality of Long Island’s water source is great news — not only for the health of New Yorkers — but for the environment as well,” Englebright said. “Governor Cuomo’s work to ensure that every New Yorker has access to safe, clean drinking water is a testament to his commitment to statewide public health. The implementation of a water quality rapid response team is a proactive way to protect the environment from harmful water contamination and keep New Yorkers’ drinking water clean and safe.”

The discussion over drinking water came in the weeks following a horrific drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where officials have been scrambling to combat unsafe and potentially life-threatening water contaminations.

The governor also proposed regulations to be imposed on mulch-processing facilities to safeguard natural resources. Cuomo said the Department of Environmental Conservation would propose for public comment draft regulations for mulch facilities to increase oversight and provide enhanced safeguards. The proposed regulations would require facilities to establish water runoff management plans to protect groundwater and place restrictions on pile size and storage to reduce the risk of fires, odor and dust.

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