The house on Lower Rocky Point Road in Sound Beach, a relatively quiet, two-lane road that parallels the North Shore coastline is somehow indicative of comfortable, suburban living. The house is quaint and the front yard is loaded with lawn ornaments. Now there’s something hauntingly disturbing at the sight of it.
On April 25, the Suffolk County district attorney announced a multicount indictment of a resident of that Sound Beach house, Raymond Rodio III, for allegedly keeping over 20 women in a cycle of drugs and prostitution over several years, often using that basement for activities related to that prostitution. The parents said they didn’t know. Comments from community members online were similarly flummoxed. Nobody expected a story like that to come from such a neighborhood.
Nobody ever does.
Everyone knows about the opioid epidemic. It’s said you don’t have to stick your arm out too far before you brush against someone who has been impacted by the crisis. For years it has ravaged Long Island, and only with concerted and multiyear efforts from community activists, journalists and policymakers are we finally starting to make efforts from the ground level up. Local legislators and school districts continually host Narcan training courses to aid overdose cases, and with the New York State budget, an expanded access to medication-assisted treatment has become available in both the hospital and jail settings.
Residents have commented online there are houses they suspect are involved in drug dealing, but why would anybody expect that this case also has allegedly been involved in human trafficking?
That’s just the thing — perhaps people need to be more alert to prevent these crimes.
Rodio was allegedly operating this illicit scheme for five years or maybe even longer. He got away with it for that long only until thankfully during an unrelated traffic stop an officer recognized that the woman passenger in Rodio’s car showed signs of being in a forced prostitution situation.
Prostitution? On the North Shore? Yes, it does happen here, and it doesn’t just take place in seedy motels or in illicit massage parlor operations. It happens at reputable hotels, and online, through well-known websites like craigslist or on dating apps like Tinder. It’s likely that people as young as 15 years are involved. These sex traffickers often recruit online through social media or find young women with poor family lives or with existing drug problems.
It can happen anywhere. The case in Sound Beach more than proves it.
It’s time for parents and teachers to learn about this issue, one that has only grown with the opioid epidemic. Children need to learn the dangers beyond drugs, and adults should learn the warning signs to notice young women who might be involved in these truly horrific situations.
Many North Shore communities have continued to step up in the overwhelming face of the opioid crisis. We can take a stand against this issue as well.
Ward Melville senior Olivia Ross chips onto the green in a league match against Shoreham-Wading River April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Mackenzie Gregory with a chip shot from the fairway in a league match against Shoreham-Wading River April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville sophomore Julia Duca hits her second shot at Heatherwood Golf Club in match play against Shoreham-Wading River April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Geena Geraci chips onto the green at Heatherwood Golf Club April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Shoreham-Wading River freshman Elizabeth Holden drains a putt on the eighth green at Heatherwood Golf Club, in match play against Ward Melville April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Caroline Morgan, a three-year varsity golfer, finishes the ninth hole for Shoreham-Wading River in a League IV matchup against Ward Melville April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Caroline Morgan sinks a putt for Shoreham-Wading River in a League IV matchup against Ward Melville April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Shoreham-Wading River senior Caroline Morgan chips onto the green at Heatherwood Golf Club in match play against Ward Melville April 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Sophomore Annie Campbell sinks a put for Ward Melville in match play against Shoreham-Wading River. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The Ward Melville girls golf team had a strong showing on the links at Heatherwood Golf Club in South Setauket against the Wildcats of Shoreham-Wading River as the Patriots won the League IV match play, 9-0, April 29.
The Wildcat golf program, formed just three years ago, struggles to find its first match win of the season after six rounds. The Patriots were 2-9 in the league May 1.
Today, to my delight and hysterics I learned that I am one year younger. “Wow, you mean I am only 57, not 58,” I said to my cousin Anthea. I so believed that I was in 58 that whilst at the doctor’s office recently I actually corrected their form and crossed out the 57 and made it 58. You would think that I would have caught myself there — but no.
Now, I generally regard myself as good with numbers but this number, of all numbers, I got totally wrong. Best part — it was one year in my favor. It is not every day that you get that bonus, like extra miles added to your travel account for spending more during the month than you should have. In any case, I got to thinking about all the bonus things I would get to enjoy in this extra year of my life. I am feeling giddy, like I cheated the grim reaper out of something. OK, that might be a bit morbid.
Bottom line, I clearly don’t obsess about my age. I look in the mirror and see changes. I buy new, bigger clothes because I know I am never, ever going to fit into a size 8 again. I pay more attention to things that can increase my longevity, and that’s not necessarily my good looks. To live healthier for longer but never to mourn the loss of youth, that would be abandoning the gifts that age and maturity bestow upon me.
Kathryn Simos
I actually feel more grounded most of the time, except for the occasional call out to the universe: “What’s my purpose, what’s my calling — please show me the way.” I tap into the wisdom I have gathered, and I feel being a good mother includes sharing this with my daughter. She might not take it in at the time but, like many things, I think it will seep into her and at the right time, it will emerge out of her as a clue or intuition that will help her in her life. At least this is how it is with me and my mother. She is as knowing and wise as they come and the older I get the more I reach out to her. She has lived through so much: five kids, a marriage, losing my dad early, the loss of a granddaughter and a son, her own illness. It’s been a rich and all-encompassing life that has touched her in many ways. These experiences shaped her and continue to do so. They inform her attitude and, yes, even at 89 years of age, how she parents. It never stops, thank God.
I pay more attention to my mistakes and actions, the things I regret having done or said, my stuck and rigid patterns and emotions that keep me from moving forward. They are still there but I think I have more of the tools needed to accept myself, process them and make a change. In middle age I am trying to be bigger, go deeper and evolve. It’s so important to being satisfied with the life you’re living. I try and live more and more in the present, it is all we have — everyone knows it — but it’s a conscious choice and, like most, I can fall off the wagon sometimes. I climb back up when I am ready and look around and take stock of my life and blessings. I think that I got it, this time I won’t fall off the wagon again, but I will.
Middle age is a rich time of life, though. If you are really in it, you believe it is imperative that you move in the direction of your soul’s wholeness. Hearing and responding to the inner voice that says there is something more that you must do, do the work, stay open and God will guide you, that you don’t have to worry about the details. When we are flowing down the river toward our destiny all the boulders and obstacles will be removed. I tell myself, “Don’t worry about the details, not everything is in your control, you need only move toward that voice because it’s coming from deep inside — that place of your soul’s knowing and from God.” At least I believe this to be true.
To be honest, I haven’t always felt like this — I had my years of angst. There were the years of longing for my true love, and then I found him.
The longing for a child, until I had my daughter Anna.
There were the years of wanting to amass more stuff, until I had more than enough and started ridding myself of it all because it just clogged my life and weighed me down.
Like most middle-aged women, I started to hear this voice inside myself say, “What is it that I long for now, what are my passions, how can I contribute to the world and how big or small can I help to lessen the suffering of another person, the animals, Mother Earth?”
It is an awakening that sometimes involves heartache in order for growth to happen. Most often the hard times in life are the ones that help us grow and change. These times require us to get real, go deeper and ask the questions and pray for the answers. Those who ignore the signs and voice usually pay a price later on. It could come out as anger, depression, feeling lost of purposeless or, worse, getting sick. Change is not pretty or easy. In my own journey I have endured a separation from my husband for close to two years until we grew back together and cemented the fracture in our foundation and built a mountain for a home. When my brother Tom died, I wailed like an animal in pain over the loss of the sibling who I could never quite reach. Perhaps he was some sacred Buddha logged deep in the cave? I guess I will never know now but no matter where he is, he is still my brother and we are eternally connected. Death is not the end, and in the end it is only love that matters. I had friendships end. They just reached their conclusion because there was no more to gain. The work was done, the experiences shared, some growth occurred and that was all. In the end we said all we needed to say, and on an energetic level we moved away and on with our journeys. Another death.
All of this was part of the plan. I don’t question that, but it doesn’t mean that they weren’t deaths. It was a time in my life that caused me to turn inward and even now causes me to retreat inward often. I cocooned like a caterpillar, but I feel like I am emerging as the butterfly, my own transformation. We all can and should go through this several times during our life. How else can we evolve and change? It’s an essential aspect of being human and living “holy.” When I allowed myself that time to grieve and let go, I was then able to open up to the new garden that awaited me and still does. Imagine that butterfly emerging from the cocoon. All that incubation and transformation while being still and confined was essential to it emerging to a wondrous new life and garden.
I probably wasn’t unique when I held on to the bare essentials of my life and let go of the rest and let God, the universe, Jesus, Allah or whatever you want to call it, take over a bit. It was a benevolent force that was compassionate toward me and who loved me. But also, it was love for myself that helped me to be who I was and that was a great gift to myself. Slowly and steadily I was guided. We all can be if you just go with the flow and stop fighting it, stop struggling.
I have experienced my own life in chapters and it is good to think of it like this. Chapters are long, move the plot forward and help the story evolve. I also believe with all my heart that change is not only inevitable, but it is essential to our growth as spiritual souls having this human experience. If we are afraid of change, we risk shutting off the “what ifs” of life. I don’t want to do that, in fact, I spend a lot of my time thinking about avoiding that and I bet you do, too.
I am also certain that when we are either brave and take a risk to change or when life throws us a curveball and we are forced to change, that the result after all the pain, anxiety, tears and hurt is always a personal growth spurt. It is having faith during that time that is the hard part. I know I struggle with it and constantly remind myself to have faith, to know that I am on some sort of journey and that I am not alone. I check in with God a lot more during those times. Usually it’s several times a day, a quick prayer asking for help and guidance and always, always counting my blessings from the simple sound of the birds singing early in the morning, to the sight of fresh beautiful food on our dinner table, to the sound of music, to all the love I have from my family and good friends. These are the things that make me feel blessed, everything else is an extra benefit so to speak. The new place which hard times get you to could never have been gotten to without that life lesson or experience. It is the rainbow after the storm and as hard as it is, I try to practice having faith that it’s part of my journey and to go with the flow. It is the faith that, however slight, I will emerge a little better as a human being, mother, wife, daughter, sibling, friend, activist and citizen of the world. It makes it worthwhile I would say.
With the countless hours, energy, time and money spent to try and stop the inevitable aging process I say, “To hell with it,” or actually, “Freak it.” If we let go of the impossible and really embrace what is here and now, and which is the only thing that is real, we would be happier. As we all know, what we dread will someday, no matter what, happen. We will all move out of this plain and I have total faith that our light and energy will remain eternal. I try all the time to let go of what can’t be, and really seek out what is. The older I get, the more I understand what wiser people have been saying: Life is right now, this moment is sacred and real. Everything right now is all we should hold on to. For this moment is a golden beam of energy and it flows through you to enjoy it.
The next time someone asks you how old you are, I hope you make a mistake as I did. I hope that you say you are a year younger or older then you really are. I hope that you crack up when you think you’ve have lived so many years that you can’t keep track anymore. Most of all, I hope that whatever the number, you don’t think of yourself as that age, that you feel so full of life experiences and wisdom, full of compassion and love, interested and engaged with people and things around you that you realize that these are gifts that have been bestowed upon you and which you have earned! That these are the things that are important. That you are beautiful, imperfections and all. That you are evolving and getting better at life all the time when you just open up and stay there as much as possible.
There will never be another person like you, ever. Be your wondrous self always.
Kathryn Simos is a Shoreham resident and an event coordinator.
A man at the Huntington rally holds a sign in protest of President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
Why do we have to relearn lessons over and over, despite history telling us what works? Take immigration, the fiery topic du jour. Everyone holds a strong, increasingly entrenched, unmovable opinion about how to stem illegal immigration, protect America’s moral and historic immigrant commitment, preserve moral fiber and do right by those brought to the United States illegally as children. But what is the right answer?
The right answer is a default to common sense. Go back just over 30 years. Former Republican President Ronald Reagan and former Democrat U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill found room for agreement, in their time, on this contentious topic. The former “Gang of Eight,” including late Sen. John McCain (R), got close with a bill that passed the Senate, lost in a Republican House. So why can’t we?
America is — by definition and moral conviction — a country founded on immigration, with legal limits for various countries, practices, protocols and a complex fabric of legal obligations tied to those seeking asylum, refugee status, or wishing otherwise to enter and live in the United States, make a better life for themselves, and aspire to citizenship.
Perhaps, oddly in a time of constant recrimination, instant outrage and emotional appeals for walls and sanctuary cities, my view is that there are still compromises available. They should be patiently sought, brought to the public for buy in, feedback and persuasion, then turned into law, just the way Reagan and O’Neill got to the “80 percent solution” more than three decades ago.
The real question is not whether we should build cement or electronic barriers along parts of our southern border, whether we should return criminals to host countries, whether to protect young lives at our border and act humanely, whether to protect our sovereignty, territorial integrity, national security and the sanctity of citizenship. These are false choices.
Of course, we should uphold standing American laws, create effective deterrence to keep illegal gangs, drug and human traffickers from entering the United States, while loving children as children and trying to preserve family units. We should be humane, even to those who may later be deported, because Americans are human by nature, history and character. We should all want to protect our established communities, as well as our national security, ideals and the value of citizenship.
Oversimplifying this important discussion for political points — on either side of the aisle — is disingenuous and disserves average Americans. To fight a pitched battle, casting the other side as favoring illegality, inhumanity, lack of security or opposition to citizenship, are cheap shots.
One has to ask, in all seriousness: Would Reagan or O’Neill cast this debate as so black and white, so simple, stark and impossible to solve? History suggests that they would not do what we are doing, turning on each other and attacking for political gain. They offered a better way forward, and we ought to take it.
Here are basics on which all Americans — including those in Congress — should be able to agree: The nation’s borders are legal, real and should be protected. All lives are valuable, both American and non-American. The disparity between life in the United States and life in many countries south of the border is economically, politically and morally great. The status quo, with thousands crossing into the U.S. illegally, is unsustainable.
But here is another reality: Hardworking adults and students who arrived in the United States as children — i.e., less than one-third of 1 percent of our population — did not commit acts of immoral or illegal behavior. Accordingly, they should not be punished as if they had done so.
What does all this mean? It should be obvious. Congressional leaders and the White House should “beat swords into plowshares,” as Isaiah writes. The compromise to put this divisive issue behind us has four parts:
1. A thoughtful, well-reasoned and empirically supported set of disincentives and barriers that create credible deterrence to illegal entry on our southwest border.
2. A humane, moral and kind approach to those fleeing horrific human conditions to gain asylum or refugee status, including children and adults.
3. Accountable, targeted and effective foreign assistance programs aimed at restoring rule of law, basic stability and self-sufficiency to countries racked by the opposite across this hemisphere, Central America to Venezuela — our neglect in this area has been objectively astronomical.
4. The foresight to understand that these three elements require robust funding, in order to prevent a run on America, for the stability, safety and opportunities we enjoy that many in this hemisphere do not.
As a successful second-generation immigrant, proud American and hardworking businessman, I see opportunities in the present divide to find a new kind of interparty peace, to get to a new place in America where we all accept that compromise is better than pitched battles that lead nowhere.
More to the point, I appreciate what America has meant to me, to my family, to my neighbors. I believe we have a moral duty to find solutions, not just shout and joust, staking out patches of ground to defend, when our real purpose is to defend what it means to be good Americans.
Perry Gershon is a former Congressional candidate for New York’s 1st District and is running again for the same office. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale and a master’s in business administration from the University of California. He is also a national commentator on business, trade, policy and politics.
Cormorant and snapping turtles relax on lower mill pond at Frank Melville Memorial Park. Photo by Beverly C. Tyler
By Beverly C. Tyler
The intersection of Main Street and Old Field Road in Setauket marks the entrance to the Frank Melville Memorial Park. The horseshoe-shaped park, completed in 1937, includes extensive plantings, a simulated grist mill, a magnificent view of Conscience Bay and the cottage of the last Setauket miller Everett Hawkins. From the park, there is an entrance to the Frank Melville Memorial Foundation sanctuary grounds with its extensive nature paths.
The Setauket Millpond was a center of commerce for the community from the time it was settled in 1655 until early in the 20th century. It is easy to imagine almost any time in Setauket history while in the park.
Looking out over the mill dam, Conscience Bay reflects the 8,000 years the Native Americans lived here before the English settlers came to Setauket. The mill tells the story of the farmer grinding grain in the 1700s. The recently restored red barn was originally made from World War I barracks buildings at Camp Upton in Yaphank. The stable remembers the horse Smokey and speaks of a 19th-century horse and carriage. The stone bridge relates how an immigrant great-grandson came to Setauket and gave it an image of the countryside of rural England and Europe with a park.
Just after dawn the Setauket Millpond shimmers with morning mist and reflects the early morning sky and the trees that partly surround it. Walking along the path in Frank Melville Memorial Park, the only sounds, except for the occasional car going by, are the birds in the trees and the ducks in the pond. They contrast with the greens, browns and grays of early morning. The contemplative surroundings start the day with the beauty of God’s creation and gives perspective to the rest of the day.
Birdsong by Beverly C. Tyler
Spring, the park at morning.
Woodpeckers rat-a-tat, the whoosh of wings — Canadian geese, a soft grouse call is heard.
Bird song, first near and then far, across
the pond.
Bird song left and right.
A gentle breeze turns the pond to silver, moving patterns of dark and light.
The background sounds of water flowing over the mill dam and into the bay.
Pairs of mallards gliding slowly across
the pond.
The trumpet calls of geese announcing flight as they rise from the pond and fly across the mill dam, across the marsh and into the bay.
Trees surrounding the pond make patterns of greens of every shade.
Dark evergreens and climbing vines add vertical splendor climbing skyward.
Bright green beech and silver-green sycamore trees stand stately and strong.
Patches of white dogwood add depth
and contrast.
A heron glides effortlessly across the surface of the pond, rises and disappears into the cover of a black birch tree.
I am overwhelmed by gentle sounds and contrasting scenery, by muted colors in every shade and texture.
Beverly C. Tyler is Three Village Historical Society historian and author of books available from the society at 93 North Country Road, Setauket. For more information, call 631-751-3730 or visit www.tvhs.org.
The No. 17 Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team gave its eight seniors something to celebrate about, topping Binghamton at LaValle Stadium, 20-4, on Friday night on Senior Day. The victory marked the team’s seventh in a row and moves the Seawolves to 6-0 in America East play.
“Senior Day is an emotional day so there’s a lot of moving parts with the lineup being different and honoring your seniors and the seniors coming to the reality that it’s the last home game of the regular season and that they don’t have too much time left as far as being a college athlete,” said head coach Joe Spallina.
“We always try to funnel the emotion. I loved the way we responded to the emotion of Senior Day. We came out and were very business-like and we continued the momentum that we’ve had during our winning streak,” he added.
Stony Brook headed into the locker room with a 15-1 lead and didn’t look back en route to the 16-goal victory. Taryn Ohlmiller (Islip) led the offensive attack with seven points from four goals and three assists. Ally Kennedy (North Babylon) was once again big on the offensive attack, recording all of her five goals in the first half as well as an assist.
Kasey Mitchell (Port Jefferson Station) was a standout on her special day, recording a career-high five points from a hat trick and two helpers. All three of her scores came from the free position.
Nicole Bifulco (Huntington) also had a Senior Day to remember, scoring on both shots she took to earn a pair of goals. Keri McCarthy (Hauppauge) also got in on the scoring with her fellow seniors, putting in a highlight-worthy behind-the-back shot in the first half.
Goals also came from Siobhan Rafferty (Long Beach) (2), Rayna Sabella (Mount Sinai), Sarah Pulis (Baldwin) and Nicole Rizzo (Syosset). Goalkeeper Anna Tesoriero (Huntington) got the win in net after recording two saves. Gabrielle Cacciola (Wading River) made a save in the second half.
Kennedy has scored in all 15 games this season and Rafferty has notched at least one point in each contest. Ohlmiller has now moved up to No. 4 in program history in career points (252) and Kennedy is eighth with 189. Mackenzie Burns (West Sayville) led the team in ground balls (4) and also had five draw controls along with McCarthy and Kennedy.
Stony Brook is 16-1 all-time against Binghamton, winning its last nine matchups. The team was Penn State bound, meeting with the Nittany Lions on Tuesday. Results were not available as of press time.
Content for this page provided by Stony Brook University and printed as a service to our advertiser.
From left, Supervisor Ed Romaine, Councilman Dan Panico, honoree Cathy Cutler and Town of Brookhaven Receiver of Taxes Louis Marcoccia at the March 21 event. Photo from BNL
Cathy Cutler, director of the Medical Isotope Research & Production program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, was honored for her scientific accomplishments at Town of Brookhaven’s 33rd annual Women’s Recognition Night, held on March 21 at Town Hall in Farmingville. The Shirley resident was among 13 women honored for their contributions to a variety of fields at a public ceremony that celebrated the significant achievements of local women during Women’s History Month.
At BNL, Cutler and her team collaborate on research with radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy, and they make radioisotopes required for this research as well. These radioisotopes would otherwise not be available but are, thanks to the high-energy Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer (BLIP) that is part of the extensive particle accelerator infrastructure for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider — a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility for fundamental nuclear physics research located at Brookhaven.
Radiopharmaceuticals are vital for “noninvasive,” personalized cancer treatments that provide patients with high-impact doses to combat tumors without damaging nearby healthy cells. With more than 20 years’ experience developing and evaluating radiopharmaceuticals, Cutler is helping lead their development for “theranostics” that combine medical therapies with diagnostic medical tests.
“I am honored to receive this award from the Town of Brookhaven,” said Cutler, who acknowledged the contributions of her colleagues in the success of her research and the isotope program at BNL. “Brookhaven Lab is one of just a few facilities in the DOE complex that can produce certain critical medical isotopes. We are hopeful that this research will lead to improved treatment options for cancer patients.”
“The Town of Brookhaven is pleased to recognize Cathy Cutler for her achievements as an outstanding scientist, leader, and role model for those aspiring to careers in science, technology, and engineering,” said Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine (R).
Cutler joined BNL in 2015 after earning a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and spending nearly 17 years at the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center. She serves as a mentor to young scientists, has received numerous awards and holds several patents.
In addition to her role at the lab, Cutler has served as chair of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s committee on radiopharmaceuticals. She is a board member for the society’s Therapy Center of Excellence and Center for Molecular Imaging Innovation and Translation and an executive board member for the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences.
For more information, please visit www.science.energy.gov.
Ever since she was a young girl, L.L. Cartin has dreamed of living in a haunted, three-story Victorian house.The specificity and macabre nature of her ideal living arrangement was perhaps shaped by early family trips from West Hempstead to the North Shore for realtor-guided roams through abandoned waterfront mansions. She recalls walking down the long hallways and into empty rooms and being suddenly overcome with lingering feelings from former owners. She could feel parties and celebration, fights and anger and sadness in the child’s bedroom.
“I think it was the beginning of awakening that side of me,” recalled Cartin, a former instructor at St. Joseph’s College who is ordained in metaphysical studies and for many years has taught the subject from inside her gothic-style, 1890s-built, Victorian home in Port Jefferson. “I was always very intuitive and never really shut that part of me down.”
Her house, which she moved into in the early 2000s, is filled with paranormal entities and has been the site of a few major investigations from local professional ghost-hunting groups.
“My very first night here was a very strange and frightening experience — I ran out of this house so fast I didn’t even know my legs could move that fast,” she says with a laugh, speaking of her ghostly visitors with the calm, matter-of-fact tone one might use to talk about a leaky faucet.
But for Cartin, the supernatural energy that fills her home is not only the basis of her teachings and studies, it’s also the inspiration behind her first published book, entitled “Daphne’s Web,” a “paranormal romance” fiction from Divertir Publishing.
Tell us about the plot of the book.
A woman raises her two young children in the house, but the actual story takes place once the children grow up and move out. Once the woman is alone in this house, she is met with some kind of being, a male energy she has no control over. He can foist his will upon her and she can do nothing about it. This ghost has an agenda and he has to weave through her and more people to accomplish his agenda. The various characters center around a school, which is not too terribly far-fetched from how I use the house and how the house is haunted. So that’s the melding of the history of the house, the energy in the house, the work that I do — which is metaphysical, and my passion for writing. I’ve always loved writing, so it all came together like that.
What prompted you to want to write it?
During classes I was holding at the house we were seeing paranormal activity. It became fascinating enough to actually write about. The ultimate purpose of the book is for us to see ourselves in some of the characters’ behaviors and realize we can change. The intention was that this “Law of Attraction” information, this metaphysical information, is so powerful and so peaceful and helpful — how do we get more people to study this? So I said, let’s put it in parable. Let’s make a story.
Then we ended up getting two paranormal companies, Babylon Paranormal and Katonah Paranormal, at the house to document things. Not only were things found related to the previous people who lived here, but they were validating content that was already written in the story.
Who is the best audience for this book?
I do think it’s very good for young adults because it’s a very clean book. I think on Twitter it’s called a “clean romance.” The setting is in the 1960s so there are no cellphones, no computers … From what I read of people’s comments, young people sometimes want a break from the fast-paced, in-your-face technology world and many have even said they love the music and books of the 1950s and 1960s. If they can escape this current world, teleport for a little while, through this book, they can go back to a gentler time.
What do your metaphysics students think of the book?
They’re enjoying it and relate to the imagery in the house, and are certainly aware of the teachings. By studying metaphysical science, I have made myself a better person. And I’m so much happier and have more peace, and my desire to share that is so strong. So how do I share it? I have classes here. Anyone is welcome, but on any given night, there’s just a handful of people. I don’t advertise, it’s just word of mouth; they’ve been coming for 20 years to these classes, but I wanted to reach a bigger population. I’m hoping the book will help. I hope to start speaking and doing readings in local libraries.My goal is to bring this wisdom, the universal wisdom, outside of the four walls of my house and into a larger community.
Did you encounter any paranormal interferences during your writing process?
The previous owner was deceased from the time we purchased the house and I kept getting mail from him and kept going to the post office and telling them this person was deceased. Long deceased. But I kept getting their mail. It didn’t just come at a regular basis, it came at a random basis, and it came with strange messages on the envelope like “WATCH FOR MARCH 21st” and, lo and behold, on or around those specific dates, I would get a call from the publisher or got the book with corrections needed. We were being led to just keep going. I thought that was very paranormal. And since it was published, I haven’t gotten a thing.
In my heart of hearts, I feel that the energy in my house did have unfinished business. That’s what the book is about. The ghost began to use the live beings living in the house to finish his business, which he does complete in this book.
And I felt like the previous owner of my house must’ve had some unfinished business in some nature and that in a way I was being used to write this. I felt very inspired throughout the whole time.
‘Daphne’s Web’ by L.L. Cartin is available online at Amazon, Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Book Depository.
Marshall Irving poses with a clock that belonged to his grandfather. Photo by Susan Risoli
By Susan Risoli
You don’t reach the age of 90 without learning a thing or two about living. For Setauket resident Marshall Irving, life is a bit like his favorite pastime of fixing antique clocks: value teamwork, be willing to listen and don’t forget to apply critical thinking when difficulties arise.
“Figure out what is going on and what you can do about it to make it better,” Irving said recently in an interview at his home. “And whether it’s a mechanical issue or something to do with people, bring an open mind about the problem you’re working on.”
Marshall Irving with his wife, Arline, recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Photo by Susan Risoli
Irving is an antiquarian horologist — someone who restores and maintains antique timekeeping devices. The Ward Melville Heritage Organization relies on his skills to keep its tower clock and landmark eagle in good running order. WMHO president, Gloria Rocchio, called Irving “one of the Three Village area treasures, just like the eagle.”
Irving has always been fascinated by the carved wooden eagle, which since 1941 has flapped its 10-foot wingspan from a vantage point atop the Stony Brook post office.
“The Stony Brook eagle is the only one we know of in the world,” Irving said.
He started working on the clock and the eagle 20 years ago.
“When I first got involved, the eagle was in such bad shape, it was shaking the building,” he recalled. “I put in a chain drive and a new gearbox to drive its wings.”
Back then he would climb up four flights of stairs to get to the big bird. “Then I made it, so we could work it out of a closet in the office by pushing buttons, rather than physically going up there,” he said.
“When I first got involved, the eagle was in such bad shape, it was shaking the building.”
— Marshall Irving
Irving was trained as a steamboat engineer at the Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy. He and his wife, Arline, moved to the Three Villages when he went to work at the Dayton T. Brown company. He also served as a naval intelligence officer, which he said “was kind of fun.” The Irvings have four children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren with a third great-grandchild on the way.
The Irvings’ home is filled with clocks, each playing a soft chorus of chimes that sound at different times with different notes. Hanging on the wall is “the first clock I got serious about fixing,” an 1860s Seth Thomas clock that was in Irving’s grandfather’s office at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The Mather House Museum in Port Jefferson has an antique clock collection that Irving restores and maintains. He runs a “clock school” there, where he teaches people how to restore antique clock mechanisms and finishes, and how to make the clocks look their best for public display. Irving said he teaches his students that patience and teamwork are essential to diagnosing and treating the problems of these delicate clocks.
“We have people come into our clock school and run out screaming because it doesn’t fit their mindset,” he said. “They don’t realize it takes years to learn these things.”
He added, “I’ve been doing this for 50 years, and there are still things I’m learning, every day.”
Irving said he will continue being an antiquarian horologist for his own pleasure and to spread the word about the beauty of aging clocks.
“I enjoy talking to people about it, because the ability to do this is starting to die out,” he said. “A sad thing for me is that we don’t teach children how to tell time anymore from an analog dial on a clock.”
A Coast Guard Auxiliary boat. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard
By Herb Herman
The Port Jefferson flotilla of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has been designated flotilla of the year. This is an award presented to the flotilla by the auxiliary’s 22nd Division of the 1st Southern Region of the Auxiliary. The 22 Division includes the auxiliary’s seven flotillas on Long Island, all of which report to the Coast Guard station at Eaton’s Neck.
The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, created by an act of Congress in 1939, is an all-volunteer civilian branch of the Coast Guard, acting as a “force multiplier,” where auxiliary members, both men and women, frequently aid the Coast Guard in wide-ranging activities. At Coast Guard stations around the country, auxiliary members carry out watch standing, that is, they will engage in communication management for a Coast Guard station. Frequently, they work in the stations’ kitchens, helping in food preparation and service.
Many auxiliary members are talented craftspeople and will frequently work to support and improve Coast Guard station facilities.
Some 28,000 auxiliary members contribute more than 4.5 million hours of service each year and complete nearly 500,000 boating safety patrol missions to support the Coast Guard. Every year auxiliarists help to save some 500 lives, assist 15,000 distressed boaters, and provide boater safety instruction to more than 500,000 students, adults and children alike. In total, the Coast Guard Auxiliary saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
The Port Jefferson USCG Auxiliary Flotilla, 1st Southern District 14, Division 22, Flotilla 06, was founded in 2003 and now has 29 members. Since its founding, the flotilla has been active in boater education and in patrols within the Long Island Sound and in the Port Jefferson Harbor and Mount Sinai areas. Additionally, in this era of deep concern about terrorism, the flotilla engages in a program to inspect the marine-related facilities and the Port Jefferson Harbor infrastructure in order to discover and to report to the Coast Guard any vulnerability in the marine area. The Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry is of particular interest to the Coast Guard and to the auxiliary.
The Port Jefferson flotilla, as well as the other six flotillas in Division 22 on Long Island, is actively recruiting men and women of all ages who want to serve their community and country in this unique way. Interested parties are invited to attend meetings, which are held on the second Wednesday of each month at the Port Jefferson Yacht Club on Surf Road at Port Jefferson Harbor. Doors open at 7 p.m. and call to order is at 7:30 p.m. For more information on the activities of the Port Jefferson Flotilla visit www.cgapj.org, email [email protected] or call 631-938-1705.
Herb Herman is the flotilla staff officer for public affairs, Port Jefferson Auxiliary Flotilla 14-22-06.
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