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After a long and intensive search, Suffolk County Community College has officially welcomed its new president, Edward Bonahue. 

Now overseeing the college’s three campuses — Ammerman in Selden, Grant in Brentwood and Eastern in Riverhead — Bonahue said he’s excited to come back to Long Island after leaving for his education and career decades ago. 

Bonahue grew up in Setauket and attended Nassakeag Elementary School, Murphy Junior High and then Ward Melville High School, Class of 1983. 

“It was wonderful,” he said. “Growing up in the Three Villages was a wonderful privilege, just because it taught me about the value of education.”

Ed Bonahue graduated from Ward Melville in 1983. Photo from SCCC

As a teen, he taught swimming lessons for the Town of Brookhaven, which he cites as the reason he became so fluent in the different areas of Suffolk County. 

“I had taught swimming everywhere from Cedar Beach to Shoreham,” he said. “I taught at the Centereach pool, Holtsville pool, West Meadow — it was one way of getting a sense that we live in a bigger place.”

Bonahue said he was “one of those kids” who was involved with the arts more than sports — although he did run track during his junior and senior years. 

“Ward Melville was lucky to have a great arts program,” he said. “They have a great jazz program and I was in that generation of kids where I was in the Jazz Ensemble all three years.”

His love of arts and humanities led him to North Carolina upon graduating, where he received his B.A. in English Literature at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. 

After his undergrad, Bonahue took a job in Washington, D.C., working as an editor at the U.S. General Services Administration and then as managing editor for Shakespeare Quarterly at the Folger Shakespeare Library. 

“That convinced me: ‘Oh, yeah, I kind of like this. And I think I’m going to go back to graduate school.’” 

Bonahue enrolled at the University of North Carolina where he received his M.A.  and Ph.D. in English Literature. He then moved with his wife to Gainesville, Florida, to hold the position of visiting assistant professor of humanities at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida. 

In 2009, he was a Fulbright Scholar with the U.S. International Education Administrators Program in Germany, and in 2016-2017, he was an Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Presidential Fellow. 

And while in Florida, Bonahue eventually headed to Santa Fe College, also in Gainesville, serving as the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, along with several other roles. 

But as the years went on, he decided he wanted to head somewhere new and began looking for fresh opportunities. Through networking, he heard about a post back on Long Island – a place he knew very well. 

New appointment at SCCC

Bonahue took on his new role officially on June 28. Under his leadership, he oversees the current enrollment of more than 23,000 credit students and 7,000 continuing education students. 

“One of the one of the opportunities for Suffolk going forward is to think about how we’re serving all of Suffolk County,” he said. “It’s no secret that the number of traditional students graduating from high school is going down every year. Over time, that’s a lot of students.”

While the majority of SCCC students are on the traditional path, Bonahue said that moving forward they need to figure out ways to do better outreach to nontraditional students. 

Bonahue said one of his many goals is to converge with employers and help their workers continue their education through Suffolk or connect them with future employees while still in school. He added that in a post-COVID world where there can be gatherings, he would like high school guidance counselors to come and visit. 

“I think high school students get a lot from recommendations from their teachers and guidance counselors — especially students who are underserved because of the parents haven’t been to college, they don’t have that network of what it’s like to go to college,” Bonahue said. “So, they rely on their teachers and guidance counselors for that information.”

He added that one thing that was learned during the 2020 census is Long Island is becoming a more diverse place. 

“Many have not had the privilege of any exposure to higher education,” he said. “And that’s what community college is for —
 providing access to educational opportunity and access to economic opportunity for folks who, without it, might be stuck in some kind of dead-end, entry-level service sector job.”

Bonahue noted that SCCC as a college needs to internalize its mission is not only to serve 19-year-old students.

Photo from SCCC

“Our mission is also to serve a mom with a baby at home, someone who’s taking care of parents, someone who’s working in a family business, could be a worker who’s already been on the job and has been displaced  — those are all of our students,” he said. “I think our mission is to embrace that larger sense of community, and then on top of that there are areas of Suffolk County that have not been particularly well served, or where services are not as strong as elsewhere.”

Appointed by SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras, the SUNY Board of Trustees and the Suffolk Board of Trustees, Bonahue said that in his new role, he wants the college to be an agent of change. 

“I think they wanted someone who understands that Suffolk County is a diverse place — that it has many constituencies and that the three campuses have different personalities,” he said. “So, someone used the phrase that I checked a lot of boxes for Suffolk. My hope is that also I can present pictures of best practices that are practiced in high performing community colleges across the country, and if those best practices have not been adopted by Suffolk, then I think we have huge opportunities in terms of best practices that relate to community outreach, to academic and student support services, programming, workforce development, transfers and so forth. I think I think I can make a big contribution to Suffolk in a variety of ways.”

Bonahue said he plans on being not just on Selden’s Ammerman campus, he wants to be active on all three.

“I’m going to try to celebrate Suffolk across the whole county, including being present on all three campuses,” he said. “Each college serves a slightly different demographic, but one of the things I sense is that the college is hungry for a coherent and unified strategy.”

Coming back to Long Island was an exciting moment for Bonahue over the summer, but now it’s time for work. Since school started Sept. 2, he has been busy meeting faculty, staff and students, while focusing on his plans to better the local community college.  

“I loved growing up on Long Island,” he said. “And so, it’s been a pleasure to return here.”

Julianne Mosher is an adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College.

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Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

This time of year, my dog walks with relief and trepidation.

The relief comes from temperatures that have cooled off enough that his heavy fur doesn’t exacerbate the humidity and discomfort from stifling heat.

The trepidation arises out of the emergence of ominous additions to the neighborhood that change the world he knows.

The spiderwebs along fences and hanging on bushes and trees don’t bother him, but the ghosts planted in the ground, the green glow-in-the-dark skeletons and the hanging vampires terrify him, as he prefers to scamper toward the street and passing cars rather than walk near an inexplicable figure swaying in the wind, hovering over him like some supernatural predator.

And so it was, recently, that we took an early October walk through our neighborhood.

While these figures create anxiety for him, I was mulling the numerous global threats to the future for which we Americans and we humans are grappling. Global warming, debt limits, infrastructure bills, gun violence, the pandemic, partisanship, educational deficiencies, a destructive oil spill in California and everything else ricocheted around my head as I thought of the many looming crises.

A sight on the horizon snapped me out of my anxiety labyrinth. There, around the corner, appeared to be roadkill.

In the distance, I couldn’t recognize it, but I was sure that, once we got closer, my dog would pull desperately to inspect the flesh and innards of a former living creature.

Generally, when I try to pull away from decaying matter on the road, my dog seems eager to get as close as he can, like a forensic photographer or a police inspector from Law & Order, trying to figure out who might be at fault for the end of a life, whether the driver tried to maneuver away from the animal based on any skid marks nearby, or, perhaps, whether the animal contributed to its own untimely end.

I try to distract him, whistling, calling his name, tugging ever so slightly on his leash to redirect him away from these sites, hoping to keep far enough away that the flies feasting on rotting animal flesh don’t land on us.

Usually, such maneuvers have the same effect as making suggestions to my kids about what to do, like studying the bassoon because every band needs a bassoon player and many schools are lucky to have one or two such double-reeded wonders: they cause an equal and opposite reaction.

I’m sure Newton’s third law wasn’t referring to parenting, but it seems that when we say “here” they want to go “there,” and when we say “there,” they want to go “here.” My dog seems to have studied the same playbook in response to any such guidance or direction.

As we walked, I pulled left, trying to figure out what was on the road, which seemed broken into four parts. This could be a particularly unappealing mess, I thought, trying not to make a subconscious suggestion through the leash that he head straight for it.

I held my breath as a slight wind picked up from the other side of the detritus, hoping I wouldn’t smell something awful and that, somehow, neither would my dog.

As we got closer, I used my peripheral vision. That’s when I noticed something unusual. Amid the odd red and brown colors was a mixture of an orange and blue mess. What kind of animal’s innards are orange and blue? Was this a Halloween roadkill? 

I deciphered letters on the ground. That was definitely not blood. It was a Burger King wrapper, with obliterated fries, a flattened Whopper and a crushed cup.

Perhaps too focused on the Halloween decorations, the dog wasn’t at all interested or enticed by the fast food roadkill.

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Author Jocko Willink signs copy of his bestselling book. Photo from Andrew Harris

By Andrew Harris

It was 4:15 in the morning. As a 62-year-old teacher, I found myself begrudgingly running through the streets of New York on our way to Bryant Park. I ran alongside a student from our Comsewogue High School — an aspiring Navy SEAL, and several hundred other people all huffing and puffing our way past the bewildered eyes of cab drivers, truck deliverymen and the very early morning commuters. 

Everybody was astonished to see us as they sipped their coffee. My student was helping me keep pace to make it without collapsing. “What great teamwork,” I thought. 

Navy SEAL JP Dinnell doing some Jiu Jitsu with Andrew Harris.
Photo from Andrew Harris

Teamwork and leadership are some of the most important traits that a Navy SEAL could have and this concept would come up often over the next two days of intense training. Perhaps my student fit the mold to one day become a Navy SEAL. Their name is derived from the U.S. Navy Sea, Air and Land Teams.

It was all part of Extreme Muster, an event held by Echelon Front — a group of Navy SEALs and other elite performance professionals who were about to educate us on the leadership tactics used in combat. There were a wide variety of people such as former military operators, athletes, businesspeople and even a few other teachers. 

We were all hoping to use the skills we were about to learn and apply them in our everyday lives. It was the most powerful event I have ever attended. 

The person we met first was Jamie Lynn Cochran, chief operating officer of Echelon Front — a company started by retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. Although Cochran was not a SEAL, she was obviously well versed in many of the leadership tactics we were about to learn over the next two days. 

“Cover and move” was one of the most important principles we would come to learn. Cochran was obviously Willink’s cover and move person, handling any problems with kindness and humility — another important principle we would soon learn — along with her gentle friendliness and charm. 

Of course, this threw me off being from New York, and smack in the middle of a normally fast-paced and often rude city atmosphere. She put us at ease and fixed any logistical challenges we had to smooth out that day. I soon realized that I was the one who had made the mistake, yet immediately she took all responsibility for it. It was another principle called “extreme ownership,” and important enough for Willink to write a book about it. She even gave us some valuable gifts. 

Photo from Andrew Harris

My student was elated to get a signed copy of Willink’s book, “Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual.” I admired how the author gave him the personal one-on-one attention he needed to find out about becoming a peak performer and hopeful Navy SEAL. 

A big part of the teaching is “to put your ego aside,” and here one of the top heroes of our country was not in any way talking about himself, but intently listening to this young student. 

This was far different than any other of the popular leadership conferences I had ever attended. I noticed that Willink and the other team members would welcome any conversations and were generous with their time during breaks. 

At the events I have attended in the past, the leaders would often disappear into a back room and didn’t have conversations with the attendees. 

A few months later, I was even more impressed when I heard that none of the leaders had a chance to sleep the night before because they had to solve problems to make the whole event run smooth. I’m sure that they have pushed themselves beyond what any typical human being does on a daily basis — after all, they had seen life and death situations in real combat. Willink’s response to this type of adversity was “Good! No factor — get some,” meaning that he welcomes problems and challenges because they force you to learn, get stronger and be better.

The two days of training went fast. Surprisingly we had a lot of energy despite the ungodly hour and all the exercise we did that particular morning. Our minds were open, and we learned much valuable information.

This year, I told some of our mostly female club members at the high school about the experiences at the muster. They started asking me if they could attend in the future. When I told them that it was 90% men and they were some really rugged ex-military dudes, it seemed to make them want to prove that this was something they not only wanted to do but something they could be highly successful at.

I said it was nearly impossible since the next muster would be in Dallas March 2022 and we had no money in our club account. We were not able to fundraise for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This seemed to make their drive increase even more. First, they asked the principal, Michael Mosca, if they could start their fundraisers again. Then they started suggesting that perhaps they could work off the tuition for the event by helping out at the Dallas muster. 

“If you are willing to do the hard work during the events and do whatever it takes, I’ll go to bat for you,” I said. They agreed, and I reached out to Cochran to see if she could help in any way. The folks at Echelon Front are very kind people and I have seen them help many people in the past. In addition, this summer I met some great people from the Whalen Foundation who fund scholarships and grants for people in the special education field. As a group, we will contact them and ask for help. If there is a will, there is a way.

The students may not desire to be SEALs but are looking forward to becoming better leaders in the future. I am, too.

This week the students had their first fundraiser for their hefty travel expenses and hotel rooms. They had a pizza fundraiser and raised $38 of what they expect to be more than a $2,000 bill. Their response? “That’s OK, we will continue to fight — we have a mission.” Another important principle is to focus on the mission you want to accomplish and everything else falls into place. 

Stay tuned to see if the “mission” is accomplished.

Andrew Harris is a special needs teacher at the Comsewogue school district. Triple C stands for Comsewogue Culture Club.

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Pixabay photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

A good idea during this later stage of the pandemic is to have an at-home rapid COVID test, which indicates a result in 15 minutes. Sometimes you just don’t know whether it’s a simple cold that’s arrived and is making your throat sore, or if the situation is more dire and you need to seek help. Or perhaps you find that you have been exposed to someone who has now tested positive, and you want to check yourself accordingly. Or you are about to visit grandma and you want to be sure you are not carrying the pathogen to her. 

Besides the personal value, the tests can be an important public health tool, although for the moment demand is high and they are hard to find. I was able to locate two tests at a local drug store by calling around. They can be purchased at pharmacies for anywhere from $10 to $40 a test. The following are available without a prescription, according to The New York Times article, “At-Home COVID Tests: Valuable if Used Right,” in the issue of Oct. 5, and written by Emily Anthes: Abbott BinaxNOW, the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test (although there was some issue with this one yesterday), and the Quidel QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test. The tests “detect small viral proteins, called antigens,” and they “require rubbing a shallow nasal swab inside your nostrils, and then exposing the swab to a few drops of chemicals,” as described by the article. OraSure also makes them, among many other companies rushing their products to market.

While the manufacturers’ tests are fairly simple, their directions have to be followed carefully in order to provide a correct answer. And while their results are correct 85% of the time, the tests can give a false negative if taken too soon after exposure. Further, the tests are more sensitive to people with symptoms, especially during the first week, and when people are most infectious and can be actively transmitting the virus, according to Anthes.

The successful detection rate goes up to 98% when the tests are used repeatedly, say every three days for screening. But again, those with symptoms may test immediately, while those who have been exposed to the virus should wait 3-5 days to let the antigens accumulate in the nose, if they are there, before testing. In the event of a positive result, people should take the usual precautions: isolation, monitoring symptoms and calling for medical help if necessary. They should also get a second test to confirm the result.

Rapid COVID-19 tests are for sale in grocery stores for one euro (a bit more than a dollar) in Germany, and in Britain a pack of seven are free. Policymakers around the world realized that rapid tests were a valuable public health aide. We here in the United States must make them available and more cheaply so that we can know who is infected, who is a carrier and where the outbreaks are. President Joe Biden (D) has recognized this need and is working to make the tests accessible and more affordable. He needs to make the rapid tests official public health tools rather than medical devices. That would only take an executive order. And it would allow global manufacturers of COVID-19 tests to enter our market and immediately increase our supply.

According to a piece on the Opinion page of The New York Times in the Oct. 2 issue, written by experts Michael Mina and Steven Phillips, “Past economic analyses predicted that a major government-funded rapid testing program that reached every American could add as much as $50 billion to the gross domestic product and save tens of thousands of lives or more,”

There is, happily, bipartisan support for making all this happen. Vaccination plus rapid testing would mean no more unnecessary isolations, no more missed holidays with families, no more randomly closed schools or businesses. We would, in effect, be able to live with the bug.

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Robert Gitto of The Gitto Group cuts the ribbon with members of the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce. Photo from PJCC
Robert Gitto with son Ryan and wife Kerry. Photo from The Gitto Group
Robert Gitto with mother Meryle Gitto and son Ryan. Photo from The Gitto Group
Peter Capobianco and his wife Marlene. Photo from The Gitto Group
From left, Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, Rob Gitto, Tony Gitto, Peter Capobianco and Mayor Margot Garant. Photo from The Gitto Group
Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, Rob Gitto, Tony Gitto, Peter Capobianco and Mayor Margot Garant. Photo from The Gitto Group

The Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting for the grand opening of The Brookport on Tuesday, Sept. 28. 

Located at 52 Barnum Avenue in Port Jefferson Village, the complex features 44 apartments (100% leased) and two retail stores, one of which will be Southdown Coffee. Located at the former site of Cappy Carpets, the mixed-use project by The Gitto Group has won the Vision Long Island Smart Growth Award and features amenities including a fitness center, parking garage and furnished rooftop.

A second ribbon cutting for the community was held on Wednesday, Sept. 29 and was attended by Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant, Brookhaven Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, Rob and Tony Gitto, Peter Capobianco of Cappy’s Carpets, and members of the community.

Visit www.tbrnewsmedia.com for more photos.

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Photo by Colleen Kelly

By Jennifer Corr 

Chants like “My body, my choice” echoed through big cities like Washington, D.C., and Manhattan Saturday as part of the Rally for Abortion Justice, and that same passion made it to what is known as Resistance Corner at the junction of Route 347 and Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station. 

The national Rally for Abortion Justice movement, according to the Women’s March Network, comes after comes after the Supreme Court’s rejection of an emergency request to block the Texas Heartbeat Act. 

Coming into effect Sept. 1, the bill bans abortion at the point of the “first detectable heartbeat,” which could occur as early as six weeks into pregnancy — a point that many are just finding out they’re pregnant. At least 13 other states failed to attempt enacting similar bans after being blocked by courts. 

“I believe in a women’s right to choose,” said protester Bryan Campbell, who was pushing a stroller occupied by his infant. “I think it’s ridiculous what’s going on in Texas and I’m here to support the women in my life: my partner, my friends, my daughter. This is for their future and for everyone’s future.” 

Campbell was one of hundreds of men, women and children who gathered on the busy corner, holding signs in protest of such laws. Some even took to dressing up as characters from the “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a best-selling novel and TV series that depicts a totalitarian society that treats women as property. 

Donna Reggio was among those dressed in red robes and white bonnet. 

“It’s a dystopian fantasy that’s no longer a fantasy,” she said. “We’re going backward with women’s rights and we’re here to show that we don’t want to go there anymore.” 

Before Roe v. Wade — a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 that protected a women’s right to have an abortion without excessive government restriction — only more affluent women had access to safe and legal abortions. However, it is estimated that between the 1950s and ’60s, the number of illegal abortions, either self-induced or done through often dangerous or even deadly procedures, ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million a year.

Rally organizer Shoshana Hershkowitz, of Long Island Social Justice Action Network and Suffolk Progressives, was on Resistance Corner Saturday to make sure her daughter did not grow up with fewer rights than she was able to enjoy throughout her lifetime. 

“Our own congressman [Lee Zeldin (R-NY1)] tried to overturn Roe in the past year,” she said. “We can’t just think of this as a somewhere-else situation. It was happening right here.” 

That’s why the LISJAN and Suffolk Progressives joined with grassroot organizations like Long Island Progressive Coalition, Long Island Activists, New HOUR for Women & Children – LI, Show Up Long Island, NY02 Indivisible, Planned Parenthood, among others, to prevent impediments in a woman’s reproductive rights from happening anywhere — including here in New York. 

“We just put out the word to the different Facebook groups and [other various groups] who are invested in keeping our rights and getting women in office,” said Kat Lahey of Long Island Rising, adding that several speakers including Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) were also in attendance. “You can see that there’s a high demand to keep women’s reproductive rights.” 

But not all were in support of the movement. Along with some disapproving remarks made by drivers who were passing by, one woman stood on the other side of the highway holding a sign, with photos of babies, that read “Please love me, I love you.” 

The woman would not disclose her name, however she did share that she goes to her local Planned Parenthood every Saturday morning to pray. She said she was especially upset about New York State’s allowance of late-term abortions. 

Yet the 2019 law, passed on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, only allows late-term abortions when the mother’s health is in danger. 

When asked about the counterprotester, Hershkowitz said that she was more than welcome to cross the road and speak with herself and other organizers. “But I’m not changing my mind,” she said. 

It was not the first time that groups like New HOUR and LISJAN gathered on the corner, as they also showed up for issues ranging from gun safety to the Trump-era ban on refugees from majority-Muslim countries. 

“Our community has come quite accustomed to gathering in this space and standing up for what we believe in,” Hershkowitz said. “So really, it’s like we almost have muscle memory because of having to gather here for so many years.”

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Photo by Colleen Kelly
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Photo by Colleen Kelly
Photo by Jennifer Corr
Photo by Jennifer Corr
Photo by Jennifer Corr
Photo by Jennifer Corr
Photo by Jennifer Corr
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Photo by Julianne Mosher

Mather Hospital’s annual month-long breast cancer awareness community outreach event, Paint Port Pink, kicked off this week in Port Jefferson village. 

Pink lights were lit on Oct. 1 across the village and throughout surrounding communities to honor and raise awareness for breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

Several dozen local businesses are participating, adding the sparkling lights to their storefronts, windows and doors. 

Lamp posts along main street in Port Jefferson shine bright pink with the goal to raise awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection, encourage annual mammograms and bring the community together to help fight this disease.

One in eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, according to Mather Hospital. In 2021, an estimated 281,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 49,290 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer. 

About 2,650 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in 2021. 

As of January 2021, there were more than 3.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment. 

Oct. 15 is Wear Pink Day, and people are encouraged to dress themselves — and their pets — in pink and post their photos on social media with #paintportpink. 

Then send those photos to [email protected] they will be included in a collage on the hospital’s Facebook page.

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Suffolk County Police arrested two women who allegedly stole more than $43,000 from their employer during a nine-month period ending in August.

Elana Sofia and Sandra Bonilla, while employed at Goodwill Industries, located at 1900 Jericho Turnpike, East Northport, allegedly stole money from the company’s bank deposits from November 2020 until August 2021, according to Suffolk County Police.

Following an investigation by 2nd Squad detectives, Sofia was arrested on Oct. 4 and Bonilla was arrested on Oct. 5.

Sofia, 29, of Port Jefferson, and Bonilla, 33, of Brentwood, were charged with Grand Larceny 3rd Degree. Sofia was arraigned on Oct. 5 and Bonilla is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 6 at First District Court in Central Islip.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Updated Oct. 8 to correct the omission of “alleged” in the print version. We regret the mistake. 

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Prohibition agents examine barrels of booze found on a rumrunner seized by a Coast Guard cutter. Photo from the Library of Congress

On Saturday afternoon, Aug. 22, 1931, William Fillbach was sitting in his car, which was parked on the ferry dock at Port Jefferson, waiting to serve a warrant on a man due there at 5:30 p.m.

An investigator for the Suffolk County District Attorney, Fillbach was turning the pages of a newspaper when he caught a glimpse of a boat being hauled out of the water and on to the ways of the Port Jefferson (aka Long Island) Shipyard at the foot of Main Street.

The rumrunner Artemis was hauled out of the water and on to the ways of the Port Jefferson Shipyard shown at the foot of the village’s Main Street. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

All Fillbach could read on the vessel were the letters “Art,” but they were enough for him to identify the boat as the notorious Artemis, a rumrunner that had disappeared following her heated battle with a Coast Guard cutter.

Fillbach climbed aboard the now high and dry craft, which had been moved into a shed, and carefully observed the scene. There was no contraband on the battered booze boat, but the bullet-riddled vessel was strewn with broken glass and three planks on her port side were smashed inward.

Fillbach learned that the crippled Artemis had been towed to Port Jefferson by the swordfisher Evangeline, but workers at the Port Jefferson Shipyard claimed not to know who owned the disabled craft, which bore no registration numbers, or who gave the orders to make her seaworthy.

Fearing that the mysterious smugglers might attempt to spirit the stranded Artemis out of Port Jefferson, Fillbach and five deputy sheriffs guarded the fugitive vessel until Sunday, Aug. 23, when a Coast Guard cutter took over the watch.

Just days before, on Thursday evening, Aug. 20, CG-808 was patrolling Long Island Sound, searching for suspected rumrunners. The cutter had sighted the 53-foot Artemis about two miles east of the Cornfield Point Lightship and commanded her to stop.

Although loaded down with illicit liquor, the speedy rumrunner answered by racing off into the darkness, propelled by her powerful Liberty aircraft engines that had been converted for marine use.

The Coasties gave chase and fired hundreds of shots at the fleeing craft, many hitting the mark. During the thick of the running battle, the agile Artemis suddenly turned about and rammed the 45-foot CG-808, forcing the severely damaged cutter to stop the pursuit and limp back to the Operating Base in New London, Connecticut.

Known as a ‘Six Bitter,’ a 75-foot Coast Guard patrol boat is docked at Port Jefferson’s Bayles Landing. During Prohibition, the government’s patrol boats waged a relentless war against rumrunners operating in local waters. Photo from the Michael F. Lee Collection

The rumrunners then landed on the beach three miles west of Orient Point, where two badly wounded men were taken off the speedboat and driven to Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport while the vessel’s prized cargo was quickly unloaded by swarms of willing local residents. 

Angered by the attack on CG-808, and miffed by the escape of the Artemis, Coast Guard officials brought in a private airplane and dispatched two patrol boats to locate the infamous rumrunner. Despite their best efforts, the Artemis was secreted away, stopping briefly in Mattituck Harbor for some patchwork before moving on to Port Jefferson for major repairs.

In the aftermath of the incident, the two crewmen who were aboard the Artemis and severely injured by gunfire from CG-808 were discharged from the hospital, both refusing to talk with the authorities.

The Artemis was seized by the United States Marshal, who claimed that her owners had an outstanding debt at the Gaffga Engine Works in Greenport. After the dispute was settled, the Artemis posted bond and quietly left Port Jefferson, much to the dismay of the Coast Guard.

Over the ensuing years, the Artemis changed hands and home ports several times, but never lost her reputation as a lawbreaker. In May 1935, the Coast Guard captured the Artemis off Chesapeake Bay and brought her to New York Harbor on suspicion of rumrunning, but without any evidence of illegality, the speedboat and her crew were released by the government.

Cases of Scotch Whisky fill the hold of a rumrunner captured by the Coast Guard. Photo from the Library of Congress

With the end of prohibition, the Artemis began a new, but less exciting career, running as a ferry between Bay Shore and Fire Island.

In Port Jefferson, however, the Artemis will always be remembered for bringing the rum war directly to the village.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.     

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It’s that time of year again! Get your flu shot at Comsewogue Public Library, 170 Terryville Road, Port Jefferson Station on Tuesday, Oct. 5 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. or Tuesday, Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring a copy of your ID and your insurance card. Open to ages 18 and older. For more information, please call 928-1212, option #3.

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