Community

Toast Coffeehouse held a ribbon cutting on Sept. 9. Photo from Town of Brookhaven

Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich and NYS Assemblyman Steve Englebright attended the grand re-opening of Toast Coffeehouse at its new location at 650 Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station on Sept. 9. 

Owners Terence and Jennifer Scarlatos opened their first restaurant in downtown Port Jefferson in 2002 and have been growing their business ever since, with additional locations in Patchogue and Bay Shore. 

“As Port Jefferson Station continues to flourish, I’m seeing more and more interest from business owners in starting up there or relocating to the area. Terry and Jennifer Scarlatos are experienced restaurateurs with a strong aesthetic vision and deep operational experience. I have every confidence they will be successful and that their new location will enhance life here in Port Jefferson Station. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and Toast is a great place to enjoy it with friends and family. The food is amazing,” said Councilmember Kornreich.

“We are humbled and full of gratitude for the warm welcome into our new home in Port Jefferson Station by our local community and die-hard fans. We look forward to many years and memories here,” said Terry Scarlatos.

Pictured front row from left, Melissa Reinheimer, Evan Castillo, Councilmember Kornreich, Chanelle McGourty, Jennifer Scarlatos, Terry Scarlatos, Assemblyman Englebright, Eleuterio Hernandez, Katelyn Gray, Madison Graupman, Nicole Short, Erick Hernandez, Alexis Zuniga-Gomez. Pictured back row, left to right are Dave March, Branden Tabbitas, David Martinez, Mario Fuentes, Lorenzo Cabrera, Aidan Johnson, Jessica Giannotti, Lewis Flores Antigua. 

Restaurant hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekends. For more information, call 631-331-6860 or visit www.ToastCoffeeHouse.com.

Pixabay photo

By Fr. Francis Pizzarelli

Father Frank PizzarelliPlain Talk:

On Sept. 25 a few hundred people gathered to dedicate and bless Our Lady of Hope Grotto and the Garden of Hope located in Mount Sinai on the grounds of Little Portion Friary, a former Anglican Franciscan Monastery.

Historically, it was the site of the first Hope House founded in 1980. For more than four decades, Hope House Ministries has reached out to the most vulnerable among us. Presently, the heart of this social outreach is providing residential and outpatient services for those among us who are battling addiction.

This nontraditional residential treatment program for addictions is located on the grounds of the former monastery. Since beginning there five years ago, more than 600 men have reclaimed and transformed their lives.

The heroin and fentanyl epidemic is crippling our nation and our larger community. The Grotto and Garden of Hope have become a safe place for people to gather who have members in their family are struggling with addiction and for those growing number of families who have lost loved ones to this god-awful affliction.

The Garden of Remembrance has more than 120 crosses honoring those who have died in our larger community. Unfortunately, requests for crosses continue to come in every week.

The heroin and fentanyl epidemic continues to spiral out of control for number of reasons. We still attach a terrible stigma to people who battle addiction. Addicts and their families continue to struggle with shame and guilt which too often paralyzes those who need help from getting help.

Support services for addiction treatment is grossly inadequate. We need more detox beds, more residential treatment beds that provide more than 11 days of care, or outpatient treatment and more trained, licensed treatment professionals to provide counseling and support.

If you are uninsured or poorly insured, you don’t have a chance at quality treatment. The insurance industry seems to hold all the power and they know little or nothing about addiction and treatment for the chronic relapser and hard-core heroin addict.

Until we take the power out of the insurance companies’ hands and put it in the hands of treatment professionals, we’re going to continue to bury people that need not die. We need to draw on the evidence-based research for treatment if you want people to recover. Our insurance dollars need to be well spent. Look at the recidivism rate across the country. It is out of control and scandalous. We clearly need to do things differently.

As I write this column, a young man that I’ve worked with for more than 20 years since he was a teenager has overdosed. He is someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s cousin, someone’s father. He was doing extremely well over an extended period of time. He developed a successful business, owns his own home and is an active member in the recovery community. It took only a moment and a poor choice; now he is on life support fighting for his life.

Hope lives on and love remains!

Father Francis Pizzarelli, SMM, LCSW-R, ACSW, DCSW, is the director of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson.

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Photo from Facebook

Union United Methodist Church, 1019 Pulaski Road, East Northport invites the community to its ‘Pumpkin Patch’ fundraiser from Oct. 1 to 31. Hours are Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays to Fridays from noon to 6 p.m. and Columbus Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Choose from pumpkins big and small, gourds and mums. The pumpkin bakery with breads, pies, muffins and more will also be open along with a pumpkin store featuring carving kits, decorations, crafts and books. For more information, call 631-261-1303.

A chef's hat and a candle are two of the items being auctioned off.
One of two Good Steer wall signs being auctioned off.

Here’s your chance to own a unique part of Long Island history. Trading Post Estate Sales is currently holding an online auction, The Good Steer: Saying Goodbye to a Legend, through Oct. 1 at 8:15 p.m. Many contents of the Lake Grove restaurant, which closed its doors in July after 65 years in business, are for sale to the highest bidder (over 170 items) and include pictures, knick-knacks, chairs, kitchen equipment, toy cars and holiday items.

Click here to view the items.

For more information, visit www.auctionninja.com.

Up next for Gallery North in Setauket is Home · Land · Nature, a selection of recent works by artist Han Qin, on view from Sept. 29 to Nov. 13. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, from 6  to 8 p.m. 

Artist Han Qin

The solo exhibition features small, medium, and large cyanotypes, woodblock prints, and drawings that explore concepts of home and the process of relocation. 

Drawing from her own experience of migration, Qin renders moments of passing through, of conflict, of getting together, and of migrating into form and image. Her artwork incorporates poignant, structural elements of Confucian philosophy, conveying the fluidity of identity and its evolution.

There is a sense of displacement, chaos, triumph, and eventual replanting in Home · Land · Nature. Qin translates social phenomena and movement — among groups and individuals — into works which incorporate traditional cyanotype, woodblock printing, 3D scanning, and digital printing methods. 

‘The Triumph of Wanderers’ by Han Qin

“One of the elements that excites me about the exhibition is that while Han’s work draws on the emotions of her own lived experience of migration, they are universal in their ability to connect with viewers. … The works silently call viewers to explore them and ask where they themselves are or have been among these images,” said curator Kate Schwarting.

In collaboration with the Three Village Community Trust (TVCT), Gallery North will also present an outdoor projection event featuring Han Qin’s multimedia work at the TVCT’s Immigrant Worker Houses, located behind the Bruce House at 148 Main Street in Setauket, on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. This projection event will highlight the important experiences of all immigrant groups throughout the history of the Three Village community.

Gallery North will also host an ArTalk with Han Qin on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 6 pm. 

Generously sponsored by Jefferson’s Ferry, bld Architecture, and Suffolk County’s Department of Economic Development and Planning, the exhibition, reception and affiliated events are free and open to the public.

Gallery North, 90 North Country Road, Setauket, is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, call 631-751-2676 or visit www.gallerynorth.org.

WALKING PATH THROUGH HISTORY Two tours of the Stony Brook Grist Mill and Stony Brook Village will be offered. Image from WMHO

Join the Ward Melville Heritage Organization (WMHO) in a new walking tour experience, Unwind & Uncork History: The Story of Wine & the Stony Brook Grist Mill on Friday, September 30 at 11 a.m. (3 p.m. tour is sold out!)

The Stony Brook Grist Mill. Photo from WMHO

In this walking tour experience, tour-goers will “uncork” the stories of the Stony Brook Grist Mill (c. 1751), the sight of Long Island’s very first vineyard. This will include a tour of the Stony Brook Grist Mill, the scandalous story of Edward Kane, his Lakeside Wine Company, and a brief lesson on wine. 

The tour will begin at Tranquility Park (also known as T. Bayles Minuse Mill Pond Park) across from the Stony Brook Grist Mill, and will end at Lake Side Emotions Wine Boutique at the Stony Brook Village Center, which gained its name from Kane’s Lakeside Wine Company.

Fee for the tour  is $25 per person and includes a bottle of authentic Catawba wine from Lake Side Emotions Wine Boutique. All participants must be 21 or older. Advance registration is required by calling 631-751-2244. For more information, visit www.wmho.org.

Audubon lecture

Join the Four Harbors Audubon Society for an autumn lecture via Zoom on Wednesday, September 28 from 8 to 9 p.m. Guest speaker and naturalist, artist, writer Julie Zickefoose will discuss her latest book, Saving Jemima: Life and Love With a Hard-luck Jay, the intimate story of how an orphaned bird can save a soul, which she wrote and illustrated after spending nearly a year healing, studying and raising a young blue jay for release.

From the press release:

Naturalist/artist/writer Julie Zickefoose thinks of herself as an unsung, minor, rather dirty superhero. Her superpower: saving small, economically worthless wildlife that would otherwise die. An orphaned jay named Jemima was one such foundling. Spending nearly a year healing, studying and raising the young blue jay for release opened the door to their world for Julie. She began writing and illustrating Saving Jemima: Life and Love With a Hard-luck Jay immediately upon becoming her foster mother. More than a wildlife rehab story, it’s the story of life, love and dealing with great loss; of finding grace and redemption in bonding with a wild bird.

Julie Zickefoose lives and works quietly on an 80-acre wildlife sanctuary in the back country of Whipple, Ohio. She is a prolific writer and painter and Advising Editor to BWD Magazine. Her heavily illustrated books include Natural Gardening for Birds, Letters from Eden, The Bluebird Effect, and Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest. Saving Jemima: Life and Love With a Hard- Luck Jay, the intimate story of how an orphaned bird can save a soul, is her newest book.

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This special event is free and open to all. Reservations required. To join this Zoom presentation, you must register in advance by clicking on the link here. Afterwards you will receive an email with link and instructions on how to join the presentation. For more information, visit www.4has.org.

Photo by Alex Petroski

Fall into Fun Carnival

Heritage Park, 633 Mount Sinai Coram Road, Mt. Sinai celebrates the season with its annual Fall into Fun Carnival from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 Enjoy three days of carnival rides, games, food vendors, and fun for the whole family! Hours are Sept. 30 from 6 to 10:30 p.m., Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Oct. 2 from 11 a.m to 6 p.m. Free admission and parking. Pay per ride or purchase a bracelet. Call 509-0882 for more information.

'Cave of Adullam' will be screened at Theatre Three on Oct. 10. Photo courtesy of PJDS
Please note: The movie line-up has been updated.
Line-up spotlights how singular stories impact society

By Tara Mae 

What responsibility to people have to each other and the planet? This question is a recurring theme examined when the award-winning Port Jefferson Documentary Series’ film festival returns this fall. The season kicks off Monday, Sept. 19 and runs on select Mondays through Nov. 21. 

“There is an underlying thread of social responsibility — stand up and do the right thing or at least recognize when things are going wrong and put a spotlight on it —  throughout the whole season. It takes a lot of guts to take such a stance,” said co-Director Lyn Boland.

Screenings will be held in person at 7 p.m. With the exception of Rebellion and Heart and Soul, which will be screened at John F. Kennedy Middle School, 200 Jayne Blvd. in Port Jefferson Station, all documentaries will be shown at Theatre Three, 412 Main Street in Port Jefferson. 

“This series offers a valuable service, We are offering an opportunity for an arts organization in our community. Many of these films are noncommercial; people would not necessarily be able to see them in movie theaters,” said Theatre Three’s Executive Artistic Director Jeffrey Sanzel. 

‘An Act of Worship’

Sponsored by the Suffolk County Film Commission, the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, Maggio Environmental, Maia Salon Spa and Wellness, and Covati and Janhsen, CPAs, the festival, which started in 2005, will present seven thought-provoking documentaries this year.

Evoking questions of personal responsibility, public activism, and corporate accountability, these documentaries explore the private motivations of public figures, community workers, and morally dubious entities who exploit areas of opaque legality for profit. 

Kaepernick & America kicks off the series, exploring the thought process of a man whose actions speak loudly; An Act of Worship amplifies the ingenuity, initiatives, and endurance of female Muslim American activists; The Cave of Adullam chronicles the steadfast dedication of a Black martial arts sensei striving to support at-risk Black youths; Heart and Soul will appeal to rock and roll fans; and Rebellion, American Pain, and The YouTube Effect detail the detrimental impact of a trifecta of concurrent crises: climate change, opioid addiction, and misinformation, respectively. 

“This festival really has something for everybody. I do think that we have some really remarkable films. Quite a number explore current events — things that are so much on everyone’s mind,” Boland added.

Following every screening, Tom Needham, host of The Sounds of Film on WUSB, will emcee a Q&A session with the director or producer of the documentary. Some guests will appear in person while others will appear via Zoom.

The documentaries are selected by the all-female film board: co-directors Lyn Boland, Wendy Feinberg, and Barbara Sverd as well as Honey Katz, Lorie Rothstein, and Lynn Rein. Collectively known as “the film ladies,” each woman nominates a documentary to be included in the series and if approved, arranges for the speaker(s) to participate in the Q&A. 

After its nomination, the board and volunteers review the film to decide whether it makes the cut. The next step can be among the most challenging: securing the rights to show the documentary. This feat is generally negotiated by contacting the film distribution company or reaching out directly to a filmmaker in person at a festival, or through email and phone. Certain documentarians, such as Alex Winter (The Youtube Effect), have previously shown other work at the Port Jefferson Documentary Series, and thus have an existing connection to it. 

Films are largely sourced from festivals like the TriBeca Film Festival and the Hamptons International Film Festival. Board members pay their own travel expenses, tickets, and industry passes.  

The Port Jefferson Documentary Series is a passion project for everyone involved. 

“My favorite parts of this endeavor are attending film festivals, previewing films on the big screen, and meeting the directors and subjects in the films in person. The satisfaction of having previewed dozens of films and finally then narrowing down to seven of the best with guest speakers for each…I love it. To me, it is entertainment,” said co-director Wendy Feinberg.

Individual tickets are $10 each online or at the door. A season pass is $58 and also available online or at the door. 

For further details about the documentaries, booking tickets, or the series in general, visit www.portjeffdocumentaryseries.com.

Film Schedule
‘Kaepernick & America’

The season begins with a screening of Kaepernick & America at Theatre Three on Sept. 19. The documentary relives the summer of 2016, an election year with unrest rumbling through America, when Colin Kaepernick took a knee and America lost its mind. Kaepernick & America examines the man and his protest, exploring the remarkable conflict stirred by such a symbolic gesture. Guest speaker will be co-director Tommy Walker.

Up next is An Act of Worship on Oct. 3 at Theatre Three. The film weaves a glorious tapestry of personal stories, verité, archival footage, and home movies together, to open a window into the world of Muslim Americans. The film follows three women activists who have come of age since 9/11 and who are part of a new generation of Muslims in America. Guest speakers will be director Nausheen Dadabhoy and producer Sofian Khan.

The award-winning film Cave of Adullam heads to Theatre Three on Oct. 10. The film focuses on martial arts sensei Jason Wilson and his efforts to help often-troubled black youths from Detroit at the Cave of Adullam Transformational Training Academy that he founded in 2008. Guest speaker will be director Laura Checkoway.

■ After a brief hiatus, the series continues with a screening of Rebellion at John F. Kennedy Middle School on Oct. 24. The film gives us an in-depth look into the global environmental movement, Extinction Rebellion (XR), established in the United Kingdom, from its beginnings in 2018. Guest spaker will be co-director Maia Kenworthy via Zoom.

■ The festival continues with a a preview screening of Heart and Soul at John F. Kennedy Middle School on Nov. 7. The first-ever Rock & Roll Show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater electrified the teenagers who waited for hours to see their new idols – Chuck Berry; the Chantels; Frankie Lymon; and a roster of some of the greatest talent of the time. Fourteen-year-old Kenny Vance sat in the balcony mesmerized by a unique style of music that still resonates for him -and many of us- half a century later. The film seeks to solve the question that may never be answered, because, like all art, it is about feelings: What was that particular magic that grabs a heart and never lets it go? Guest speaker will be director Kenny Vance with a vocal harmony performance by Vance & the Planotones.

■ Moving into November, American Pain will be screened at Theatre Three on Nov. 14. A jaw-dropping true crime documentary, the film tells the story of twin brothers and bodybuilders Chris and Jeff George, who operated a franchise of pain clinics in Florida where they handed out pain pills like candy. Director Darren Foster offers an incredibly compelling and shocking story that exposes the tower of corruption that made the George’s enterprise so massively successful. Guest speaker will be producer Carolyn Hepburn.

The Youtube Effect heads to Theatre Three on Nov. 21. The documentary takes viewers on a timely and gripping journey inside the cloistered world of YouTube and parent Google. It investigates YouTube’s rise from humble beginnings in the attic of a pizzeria to its explosion onto the world stage, becoming the largest media platform in history and sparking a cultural revolution, while creating massive controversy in the age of disinformation. The film is a startling but necessary look at a website that has become so intertwined with our daily lives. Guest speaker via Zoom will be director Alex Winter.

*Please note all films begin at 7 p.m.

 

In a League IV showdown between the Comsewogue Warriors and the Rocky Point Eagles on Saturday, Sept. 24, Eagles’ striker Emely Velazquez would be the difference maker.

The senior scored off a rebound, putting Rocky Point on the scoreboard with 11 minutes left in the opening half. Comsewogue had several scoring opportunities midway through the second half but failed to convert these into points.

Rocky Point goalie Marykate Abernethy had a busy day in net, notching eight saves on the day. The win lifts the Eagles to 3-4 while the loss drops Comsewogue 4-2-1.

Both teams retake the field Thursday, Sept. 29. Comsewogue will travel to Shoreham-Wading River, and the Eagles have a road game against East Hampton. Start times are 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

— Photos by Bill Landon