Village Beacon Record

Photo by Kimberly Brown

A new all-natural dog food store called Natural Hounds is making its mark in the Port Jefferson Village scene. 

St. James resident Conor Wooley, 23, is not only the owner of Natural Hounds, but also doubles as the chef, creating new concoctions for nutritious dog food that includes meats, vegetables and grains.

He co-owns the store with his longtime friend, Rick Orlandi, who is also a St. James resident, and started their business venture back in 2018, operating out of the house of Wooley’s mother. 

Trying to make as many appearances as possible at farmers markets and fundraisers, Wooley and Orlandi were determined to establish credibility for their business and build a clientele. 

“The first year everyone was just kind of looking at us thinking, ‘Am I really going to buy dog food from 18-year-olds?’ So that was kind of a challenge, but then they kept seeing us come back year after year,” Wooley said.

The concept Wooley and Orlandi like to explain to their customers is their belief that there is no “dog food” and “people food” but more so only good food versus bad food. Their ingredients are outsourced from restaurant suppliers on Long Island and designed to be biologically appropriate for a dog to eat.

There are four wet food recipes for sale right now, namely turkey, beef, pork and lamb. The newest addition of crunchy biscuits and chicken jerky treats have been added to their menu, but Orlandi said there are more options available in store. Customers can opt for delivery for convenience as well.

“Comparing our brand to dry food brands is like comparing McDonald’s to a steakhouse. I never understood why other brands make their food so expensive. I always try to give value to the customer and will not have someone pay a ridiculous amount of money for dog food,” Orlandi said. 

Mentioning how some customers have expressed their gratitude for Natural Hounds making their pups healthy again, Wooley recalled a customer who was preparing to put her dog down due to poor health until she was introduced to the company. 

“We had a lady come in the other day and told us she was going to put her dog down, who was an old Yorkshire terrier,” Wooley said. “She gave him our original recipe and two weeks later he was much healthier and more mobile. So it’s nice to hear things like that and makes getting up at 6 a.m. to cook 500 pounds of dog food worth it.”

Wooley stressed that despite the saying “You are what you eat” is corny, it is also extremely true. When feeding animals an unhealthy diet, can change their personalities and their energy levels. 

“It’s the truth if over the course of 10 years you’re feeding your dog something bad and their body isn’t functioning optimally, then they’re going to be in a much different spot than if you were to feed them natural meals.”

The business is looking to expand to other locations and thinking about adding a cat food section. 

Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) recently visited North Shore Youth Council’s summer camp in Rocky Point to congratulate Kayla MacKay for being the Legislative District 6 recipient of the Suffolk County Youth Week Award during the inaugural Suffolk County Legislature’s “Youth Week.” 

This year’s Youth Week Award recipients were honored for going above and beyond in helping the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is my honor to recognize Kayla MacKay as the recipient of this year’s Suffolk County Youth Week Award in District 6,” Anker said. “Kayla has had a positive impact on the children and teens in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic through volunteering with North Shore Youth Council, helping out with food drives and community cleanups, and so much more. 

She provided invaluable support to her peers and helped ensure that there were still opportunities for them to connect to each other virtually while they couldn’t meet in person. Thank you to Kayla for all that she has done and continues to do for our community.”

As an active community member, Kayla MacKay is the current President of North Shore Youth Council’s Youth Advisory Committee, a peer mentor in the Big Buddy-Little Buddy mentoring program and is a Senior Counselor in the Summer Buddies program at North Shore Youth Council. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she assisted North Shore Youth Council in facilitating tutoring and recreational opportunities for teens across virtual platforms. She also regularly donated her time to local food drives and community cleanups, as well as two of North Shore Youth Council’s newest projects, the first annual safe Halloween drive-thru and the creation and distribution of holiday boxes for children in need.

“North Shore Youth Council is so pleased and honored to have one of our own, Kayla Mackay, receive the Suffolk County Youth Week Award,” said North Shore Youth Council Executive Director Robert Woods. “Kayla’s passion, uncanny intelligence, and positive spirit has been such a blessing to our organization, especially as we navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. Our entire staff agrees, working with her to help youth and families thrive has been an incredible privilege. We expect a very bright future for Kayla!”

Photo from Suffolk Federal

Suffolk Federal Credit Union presented college scholarships totaling $43,925 to six high school graduates who plan to attend Suffolk County Community College this fall.

“As a community-focused credit union, we are committed to supporting hardworking students as they pursue higher education, while also easing the financial burden for their families,” said Michele Dean, CEO & president of Suffolk Federal. “We congratulate these outstanding scholarship recipients on their accomplishments and are pleased to help them achieve their educational and career goals.”

The following four Suffolk Federal Scholarship award recipients each received a scholarship of $6,275: Alex Pinto (Deer Park), Alyssia Furchert (Blue Point), Michael Krolikiewicz (Farmingville) and Zachary Gallant (Port Jefferson Station).

In addition, Juliana Ramai (Centereach) received a $6,275 scholarship from the LT Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which was matched by Suffolk Federal for a total of $12,550. 

Daniel Paesano (Sound Beach) was awarded $6,275 by Suffolk Federal in honor of the Michael E. Reilly Foundation Memorial Scholarship for Excellence. 

Scholarship award recipients were selected based on their academic achievements, extracurricular activities, community involvement and essays. 

The scholarships are a result of an ongoing partnership between Suffolk Federal and the Suffolk Community College Foundation.

“We are deeply gratified to continue to partner with Suffolk Federal to support exemplary students with these generous scholarships,” said Sylvia A. Diaz, executive director of the Suffolk Community College Foundation. “Each of these recipients has a record of community service that reflects the values we share and the determination to succeed.”

Dr. Edward Bonahue, president of Suffolk County Community College added, “Young people are our greatest resource and best investment. Through these scholarships, Suffolk Federal demonstrates its notable commitment to helping Long Island families thrive and succeed.”

The credit union recently expanded its charter to include Nassau County as well as Suffolk County.

Ray Tierney will run for Suffolk County district attorney this November on the Republican and Conservative tickets. Photo from Tierney’s office

A former Suffolk assistant DA is ready to take over the main seat in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Ray Tierney, who will be running on the Republican and Conservative tickets Nov. 2 to challenge current DA Tim Sini (D), stopped by TBR News Media’s office last week to introduce himself and answer some questions about his campaign.

“When I talk about this contest, I say that it is a contest between the prosecutor and the politician, or when you look at my opponent’s record — what he’s done and what he’s claimed to have done, more accurately — it’s a contest between the prosecutor and the pretender,” Tierney said.

Background

Tierney resides in the Town of Brookhaven with his wife, Erica, and their four children.

The prosecutor grew up in Commack and is a graduate of St. Anthony’s High School where he played football and was a member of the school’s track team. He went on to play football for Brown University where he graduated in 1988, and after taking a short time off from his studies, he attended St. John’s University’s School of Law.

He began his law career in the Suffolk County DA’s office under DA James Catterson (R).

“At first, I had a very sort of infantile concept of what it meant to be a lawyer,” Tierney said. “I always wanted to be a prosecutor. I always wanted to be in court. Although there’s so many things you could do, that’s all I really ever wanted to do, and as I got older, more sophisticated, my focus never changed.”

He decided to leave the DA’s office in 1999 when his first two children were born and worked for a private firm. Tierney said the tragic events of 9/11 changed his life. He was at a meeting in Queens when the attacks happened, and he watched the towers fall on TV.

“I was driving back out east and all the emergency vehicles were flooding into the city, and I could see the smoke and I was, like, ‘What am I doing with my life?’” he said. “This job that I have right now is inconsequential. So, I wanted to get back into public service.”

He returned to the DA’s office in 2002 during the time of Tom Spota (D) and worked there for another six years. Tierney said he decided to leave the office when he was told they may fire him for insubordination.

“They tried to get rid of me because I wouldn’t go along with their illegal, unethical ways,” he said. “I worked in an office whose job it was to uproot political corruption. But, instead, it was the office’s leadership that was corrupt, as history has proven.”

He then went on to work in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York as an assistant attorney for more than 11 years.

He left the office in 2019 to become an executive assistant district attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s office where he was in charge of the violent criminal enterprises bureau, crime strategies unit and body worn camera unit.

In order to run for Suffolk County DA, Tierney had to leave the Brooklyn office and is currently Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s chief counsel for compliance and enforcement.

His experience

During his time in Brooklyn, among his responsibilities, Tierney oversaw violent street gang investigations and prosecutions. He came to the position with extensive experience prosecuting MS-13 cases, which he said led to the incarceration of dozens of gang members.

One of the most high-profile MS-13 cases involved gang leaders Heriberto Martinez and Carlos Ortega. The two were found guilty for commissioning five murders in 2010, including Vanessa Argueta, 19, of Central Islip, and her son Diego Torres who was only 2 years old. Martinez and Ortega are currently serving life sentences. Tierney also tried Adalberto Guzman who was found guilty of killing the 2-year-old and is also serving a life sentence.

Tierney was the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Ed Mangano, former Nassau County Executive, and Mangano’s wife as well as former Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto for corruption in 2018.

In addition to gang violence and public corruption, he also has been a prosecutor on cases involving Colombian drug cartel, racketeering and white-collar crimes.

Issues with Sini

Tierney takes issue with the press releases sent out by the DA’s office. He said he feels a high percentage of the releases are about arrests and arraignments but not about sentencing.

“What he does, because he’s in show business, he has the glitzy arraignment, and this is the biggest, baddest, greatest case, and then you never hear what happens at the time of the sentence,” the candidate said.

Tierney added he could take any of Sini’s accomplishments and dissect them and show that the current DA is “a fraud” and is “looking for that initial blast of publicity.”

“You don’t get to decide where your next case comes from, the streets tell you where the next case is,” Tierney said. “So, if you have an investigation here but the violence is settled here, you put your resources here, you put your resources there.”

He gave an example that Sini convicted several MS-13 members on charges such as acts of conspiracy instead of murder or gun charges. He said Sini then turned the gang members on each other so they would testify against one another. The result was they each pled to lower charges and got out of jail.

Tierney said he would use overarching tactics such as conspiracy, but then tie the case to the murders committed and pull the case all together to ensure the murderers would serve jail time.

His campaign

Tierney said the job is a balance between law enforcement and fairness, and that will be his goal if elected. He added he has never aligned himself to one party and has prosecuted defendants on both sides of the political aisle. He is running to bring experience, integrity and independence to the office.

He said regarding the county and the Suffolk County Police Department, it’s important to work with them but also maintain independence from each other.

“When it comes to law enforcement, I make the decisions,” he said. “No one else makes the decisions. I support the county, I support the police department. But I don’t work for them when it comes to law enforcement, and I don’t excuse bad behavior.”

Photo by Dawn Olenick
Nine beaches remain closed

Broadway Beach, Tides Beach, and Terraces on the Sound Beach, all in Rocky Point, are closed to bathing due to the findings of bacteria at levels in excess of acceptable criteria. The following beaches remain closed due to high levels of bacteria:  Tanner Park Beach in Copiague, Benjamin Beach in Bay Shore, Gold Star Battalion Park Beach in Huntington, Venetian Shores Beach in Lindenhurst, Corey Beach and Bayport Beach in Bayport, West Islip Beach, Amityville Beach, and Sayville Marina Park Beach.

According to Suffolk County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gregson Pigott, bathing in bacteria-contaminated water can result in gastrointestinal illness, as well as infections of the eyes, ears, nose, and throat.

Beaches will reopen when further testing reveals that the bacteria have subsided to acceptable levels.

For the latest information on affected beaches, call the Bathing Beach HOTLINE at 852-5822 or contact the Department’s Office of Ecology at 852-5760 during normal business hours.

Program information –

http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/HealthServices/EnvironmentalQuality/Ecology/BeachMonitoringProgram.aspx

Interactive map of beach closures/advisories- https://ny.healthinspections.us/ny_beaches/

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul poses for a portrait and headshot in her office at the state Senate. Photo from Hochul's office

Nineteen states have never had a female governor and, up until this week, neither did New York. That’s progress. 

When former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) resigned amongst nearly a dozen sexual harassment allegations, and after a thorough, months-long investigation, his lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul (D), was given the opportunity to make history. The mother of two from Buffalo has had a long career in politics and advocacy. She even sat in Congress.

New York now joins eight other states — Oregon, Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico, South Dako-ta, Iowa, Michigan and Maine — who have lady leaders as heads of their state. 

And practically minutes after she took her oath early Tuesday morning, she said during a short press conference that she wants her constituents to “believe in their government again.”

But that’s going to be hard for many New Yorkers — especially the ones who lost their faith in government throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Unfortunately for Hochul, she had barely been in office for even a full day when commenters online began to bash her for her mask-mandating policy. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, she said all school districts in the state of New York must require masks for their students, faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated or tested weekly.

People are furious, according to the online comment threads. They’re not necessarily mad about the mandate — although that’s become a debate within itself. They are mad she hasn’t addressed all the other issues that are impacting New Yorkers — homelessness, food insecurity, the nursing home deaths during COVID and high taxes. 

When reading through the comments on a story that was published by The New York Times, New York Post and locally, Newsday, readers are finding issues already with our new leader. 

Can we just give her a second to settle in? It was barely 24 hours before she even set foot in the governor’s mansion in Albany, and people were already assuming she’s failing us. 

People might be upset by the mask mandate, but we’ve been through this before. Remember, the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting its year-and-a-half mark. That means we have been wearing masks, social distancing, hand sanitizing and Zooming for almost two years. We’re used to these policies. 

No one wants to wear masks, especially if they’ve been vaccinated. But right now, with the Delta variant — and whatever other mutations are out there coming soon — we need to be safe. 

This summer, we had a taste of freedom again. We were allowed to see friends and families, weddings were back on and kids were able to attend their graduations in person — and that’s all because we wore masks for practically a year before that. When the vaccine came out, that helped us all, too.

Let’s just listen to Hochul. Let’s not complain. 

The sooner we tackle this problem, the sooner we can get back to whatever normal is the new normal. 

Don’t judge her policies just yet — she’s had a lot of experience and whoever jumped into Cuomo’s seat was in for it. 

She was handed a pile of dirt and now needs to make it beautiful. 

Trust her actions, give her a chance. Embrace the fact that someone new is in office and remember: A mother always knows best.

METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

We packed our bags full of dreams, hopes, clothing and cliches and took our son to college. We pondered the journey, which is really what’s it’s all about, and not the destination.

My wife and I were bursting with pride, thinking about the shining light that is our son.

We wondered what advice we could offer before we returned to a house that would feel so empty without him. We thought a good rule of thumb might be to avoid harebrained ideas, although we knew we could do better at preparing him for future dark and stormy nights.

As he took his first steps onto his new campus, we encouraged him to discover the world and himself at the same time.

We shared the butterflies that fluttered among our four stomachs. Like a good soldier in our family’s mission, his sister joined us for this momentous occasion, prepared to offer her version of older sibling advice and to help find whatever item he might need in a college dorm he is sharing with a stranger he’d chosen from a grab bag of potential roommates.

As we followed the move-in directions to a tee, we could feel the electricity in the air. We drove up to an official behind a desk, who was all ears listening to him spell a last name chock full of vowels.

With bated breath and sweaty palms, we waited with every fiber of our beings until she found him on the list. We breathed a sigh of relief when she found his name and handed him a key that would open his dorm room to a new world of possibilities. As a freshman, he knew he was no longer the big man on campus he had been during his pandemic-altered senior year.

Once inside his dorm, we got down to the business of unpacking. We debated where to put his shoes even as he stared out the window, considering where he might plant his feet.

Recognizing that time was of the essence, we spring to life while unpacking his room. Standing apart in a small room full of wonders, we drew strength from our collective mission.

Slowly but surely, we removed the contents of his boxes, creating order from the chaos despite a few moments when we felt like we were all thumbs. We lined all his ducks in a row, creating neat rows of pencils, pens and notebooks on his desk and boxers, shorts, tee shirts and socks in his drawers.

After we prepared his room, we wiped the sweat from our brow, reminding him that this effort was but a drop in the bucket of the work he’d need to do in college.

We assured him he could bet his bottom dollar he wouldn’t feel like a babe in the woods or a fish out of water for long.

We could almost hear the angelic chords as the sun set in the west, where it always sets because that’s the way the cookie crumbles, or, rather, the earth rotates.

Before we left him in his new home away from home, we exchanged embraces and urged him to dance to the beat of his own drum.

We also suggested he find a healthy way to blow off steam, to recognize that a rising tide lifts all boats, to swim when it was time to sink or swim, and to play his cards right.

Pixabay photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Another birthday has come and gone. It was a memorable day, first, because it began with an overflowing toilet bowl, and it ended with the imminent arrival of Hurricane Henri. The latter caused my children and grandchildren, who were happily visiting, to depart abruptly for their homes before sunset. In between, we enjoyed a terrific party, with lots of laughter, board games and food, lingering over each meal long enough to plan the next one.

We on Long Island were lucky to have escaped the worst of the storm after the dire predictions. Lots of rain fell, some of it torrentially, but the electricity stayed on and the flooding wasn’t too bad. What could have been a disaster for us made me consider more carefully an article I recently read in the Spring/Summer edition of Columbia University’s magazine. 

Titled, “How to Prepare for a ‘Megadisaster,’” by Kevin Krajick and David J. Craig, it is an interview with Columbia’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness Director Jeffrey Schlegelmilch. The center conducts research to help “prevent, prepare for and respond to natural and human-driven disasters on behalf of the United States.” Megadisasters are events that would have “society-altering potential,” like the Black Death in the Middle Ages or the Irish Potato Famine. 

In our century, we are seeing more large-scale disasters, both because of human activity and our vulnerability to them. We are polluting our atmosphere, which is thought to cause more extreme weather, and we are building in flood zones and forested areas susceptible to wildfires. We are also “encroaching into wildlife areas and coming into closer contact with animals harboring exotic pathogens” that then, as we travel, spread across the globe.

Schlegelmilch names five categories of mega risk: climate change, biological perils, infrastructure failures, cyberthreats and nuclear conflict. COVID-19 could have been a megadisaster had we not responded, albeit too slowly, to the extent that we have so far. While we lacked the medical supplies needed to handle a pandemic, we did rapidly develop vaccines, which certainly are helping to control the long-term impact. Climate change, with its prolonged droughts, can cause widespread food and water shortages and their catastrophic consequences. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the nation a C- grade on the most recent Infrastructure Report Card. Our electric grid might be the biggest problem in this category, since it is “aging, overloaded and quite susceptible to breakdown,” or to terrorist attacks. Remember that millions of people lost electricity in Texas last winter due to a couple of severe storms. More than 2,300 of our dams are structurally worrisome, as are 46,000 of our bridges.

The long-term human toll of disasters needs also to be considered and planned for, especially for children. Those whose lives are severely impacted “are much likelier to suffer anxiety and depression, to display behavioral problems and to struggle in school for years.”

So what can we do to ready our nation for disasters?

We need forward-looking strategies from governmental agencies and the many non-profit organizations to deal with these possibilities. We must demand those. Disaster response, like insurance, which we hope never to need, must be in place. Woe to those who try to catch up with a disaster after it happens. Chaos ensues even with planning. It does to a much more horrific extent without some degree of readiness.

According to Schlegelmilch, disaster preparedness really began in the US in the early 2000s, after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. He believes a lot of progress has been made since then. The strength of social bonds among neighbors and within a community makes the biggest difference in how well areas recover after a catastrophe. Also coordinating relief efforts is helped by artificial intelligence, software specifically designed for sifting through a great deal of information, then picking out the critical data for making life and death decisions. Preparedness for biothreats. however, needs attention.

Meanwhile, what can we do to prepare ourselves? 

Whatever the disaster, we will either have to stay at home for long periods or leave immediately, says Schlegelmilch. We should hope neither happens yet prepare for both.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. Photo by Julianne Mosher

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) packed up his moving trucks at the governor’s mansion, the soon-to-be state leader headed to Long Island last week for a quick appearance and chat with local reporters.

Before she became New York’s 57th and first female governor, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) made a quick stop in Hauppauge for a roundtable discussion on Friday, Aug. 20, with local labor leaders where topics included job training, green jobs and new legislative efforts to support essential workers.

Although the discussion was closed to media, Hochul stopped for a small press conference to quickly discuss her intentions during the meeting.

“One of my first priorities is continue creating good jobs,” she said. “Getting the offshore wind institute off the ground and give opportunities to just really train people in the underserved communities and the jobs of tomorrow where there will be tens of thousands of jobs in that space.”

Hochul said she and the business leaders in attendance also talked about workforce development and creating opportunities to keep young people fully employed on Long Island.

The visit wasn’t anything new, she said, mentioning that over the last seven years “coming out and seeing the people is what I do.”

“If you ask anyone, I’ve been told that Nassau and Suffolk counties are planning on taxing me as a local resident because I’m here so often,” she joked.

As chair of the Regional Economic Development Councils, she said that she is going to continue and be accessible throughout her term.

“I’m going to continue showing appreciation to the labor community, the job creators, the business community and elected officials,” she said. “I have a deep appreciation for all the various roles of government, and I want them to know that they have a governor who recognizes and appreciates that.”

Hochul officially took on her new role early Tuesday, Aug. 24, moving into the governor’s mansion in Albany.

“I haven’t thought about getting a U-Haul,” she joked to reporters on Friday. “I was just going to pack an overnight bag and see what happens. I’ll then keep our residence in Buffalo, as well. It’s going to be very fluid.”

During the event, reporters urged Hochul to announce what her plans were surrounding mask mandates. At the time she said she couldn’t release an official statement until she took office but hinted that “people should be ready.”

As expected, she said during her first press conference as governor that New York will require schools across the state to mandate mask wearing for students. Faculty and staff must be vaccinated or tested weekly, as of press time Wednesday, Aug. 25.

Gov. Kathy Hochul. File photo by Julianne Mosher

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) packed up his moving trucks at the governor’s mansion, the soon-to-be governess headed to Long Island.

With just a few days left until she becomes New York’s first female governor, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) made a quick stop in Hauppauge for a roundtable discussion with local labor leaders where topics included job training, green jobs and new legislative efforts to support essential workers.

Although the discussion was closed to media, Hochul made an appearance to quickly discuss her intentions during the meeting.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. Photo by Julianne Mosher

“One of my first priorities is continue creating good jobs,” she said. “Getting the offshore wind institute off the ground and give opportunities to just really train people in the underserved communities and the jobs of tomorrow where there will be tens of thousands of jobs in that space.”

Hochul said she and the business leaders in attendance also talked about workforce development and creating opportunities to keep young people fully employed on Long Island.

The visit wasn’t anything new, she said, mentioning that over the last seven years, “coming out and seeing the people is what I do.”

“If you ask anyone, I’ve been told that Nassau and Suffolk counties are planning on taxing me as a local resident because I’m here so often,” she joked.

As chair of the Regional Economic Development Councils, she said that she is going to continue and be accessible throughout her term.

“I’m going to continue showing appreciation to the labor community, the job creators, the business community and elected officials,” she said. “I have a deep appreciation for all the various roles of government, and I want them to know that they have a governor who recognizes and appreciates that.”

Hochul is set to take on her new role early Tuesday, Aug. 24 when she will move into the governor’s mansion.

“I haven’t thought about getting a U-Haul. I was just going to pack an overnight bag and see what happens,” Hochul joked. “I’ll then keep our residence in Buffalo as well. It’s going to be very fluid.”

When briefly asked about her policy surrounding the mask mandate, she said she will not be making an official statement until Tuesday but hinted that “people should be ready.”