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Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick’s Day Parade returns March 13

by Press Release - March 10, 2022

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Friends-of-St.Patrick-parade-2017-28_Savage-scaled-e1611178036159 — File photo by Bob Savage

After a two year hiatus brought on by COVID 19 restrictions and mandates, The Friends of St. Patrick will resume a springtime tradition by hosting the 70th annual Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 13 starting at 1 p.m. sharp. This year the committee has named all former Grand Marshals to be Grand Marshals at this year’s parade.

“North Shore residents have been cooped up and socially distanced for two long years now. It is time to break free and come out and celebrate with your community in this annual rite of spring. Pipe bands, fire trucks, dancers and marchers promise to lift all our spirits,” said a press release.

In lieu of naming a Queen and her Court, the Friends of St. Patrick have begun a scholarship fund for our local high schools. This year’s winner of a $1,000 scholarship is Alexa Zichinelli from Miller Place High School. Alexa wrote an essay on Irish history and lore inspired by her great-great Grandma, Mary Margaret McArdle from County Clare.

Alexa will be studying pre-med in college and is an active athlete, musician, tutor and volunteer. She aspires to become a surgeon and be a part of Doctor Without Borders.

For further information please visit their website at www.friendsofsaintpatrick.com or call 631-473-5100.

Former Benten owner brings sushi favorites to PJ Lobster House

by Julianne Mosher - February 24, 2022

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Kenny Lee, PJ Lobster House’s new sushi chef, inside the restaurant. Photo by Julianne Mosher

It’s now the best of both worlds.

When Benten Fine Sushi and Japanese Cuisine in Miller Place permanently closed in October, members of the community were devastated.

A new opportunity came just this month for Kenny Lee, the former Benten owner, where he has found a new home inside Port Jefferson village’s PJ Lobster House.

It began when the Lobster House’s owner, James Luciano, started getting tips and requests from mutual customers about Lee.

“James had another sushi person before who left and the timing just worked out,” Lee said. “I thought it was a good opportunity.”

When the PJ Lobster House moved from Upper Port to Main Street last year, as part of the renovations came a full sushi bar that they didn’t have at their old spot.

“It’s great to add sushi to the menu, especially with the summertime coming,” Luciano recently said. “There’s no sushi in Port Jeff.”

Luciano admitted that when the previous sushi chef was at the bar, people didn’t come to sit there and indulge. But then Lee came on board and the seats have been filled every night he’s there.

“We’re getting a lot of customers where people are asking for sushi, and then ask if Ken is working,” Luciano added.

Last March, TBR News Media reported that Benten was struggling to keep their doors open due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A GoFundMe was created to help support the sushi restaurant with hundreds of people showing their support.

Unfortunately, Lee said, the closure was inevitable.

“It was hard finding people to work,” he said.

Lee and his mother owned the building at 971 Route 25A in Miller Place for nearly two decades, previously owning a place in Mount Sinai for many years before that.

Lee and his family decided it was best to close instead of dealing with the constant stress.

But the new opportunity at PJ Lobster House is special for Lee — he is a graduate of Port Jefferson high school and is happy to be back in the community.

And while it’s not a carbon copy of his menu at Benten, Lee is bringing a ton of favorites — customers who order the new PJ roll might remember it as Benten #2.

Luciano said that right now they will have sushi available Wednesday through Sunday and will offer lunch, dinner and plan to add seafood towers to the menu.

Miller Place superintendent to retire

by Julianne Mosher - February 22, 2022

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Dr.+Marianne+Cartisano — Miller Place Superintendent Marianne Cartisano. Photo from MPSD

A beloved superintendent will be retiring from Miller Place school district, effective June 2022.

Marianne Cartisano said that the retirement has been in the works for years so she can focus on the next chapter in her life.

“I’m going to sleep,” she joked. “I’ve been in administration for the entire 31 years of my career. So, it’ll be the first time probably, since I’m about 16 — even when having my children — that I will have an extended period of time just to do an appropriate decompression.”

She plans on spending time with her family, and will continue to mentor.

“I had spoken to the board a couple of years ago when we were planning a succession plan for Miller Place,” she added. “Mr. Lipshie has been my right-hand person for 10 years so that has made the transition a little bit easier.”

Deputy Superintendent Seth Lipshie will be taking on the role of superintendent of schools

“I’m super excited, I’m motivated,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for me to continue my service in Miller Place.”

Lipshie said he is in his 32nd year in the district and he’s done a bit of everything while working there. From 1990 to 2001, he was a social studies teacher and in 2001 he became assistant principal at North Country Road Middle School. From 2002 to 2010 he served as principal of Miller Place High School before being appointed as assistant superintendent in 2010 and deputy superintendent in 2014.

Deputy Superintendent Seth Lipshie. Photo from MPSD

“I’ve either hired or interviewed almost probably a good majority of the staff that now works in the workplace,” he said. “One of the things I think that I’ll bring to the table is some stability, something familiar.”

By having all this experience, Lipshie said that he has developed “some very strong ties with staff and the unions in terms of making sure that we can serve the students as best we can without any issues.”

He has also been adviser for the AV Club as well as spearheaded the Mock Trial Club. He coached soccer at both the middle school and the high school, was the varsity basketball coach for nine years and has been an umpire for high school baseball for the last 17 years.

Cartisano said that promoting Lipshie to the role of superintendent was a no-brainer — it was important to keep things consistent.

“Having been here now 10 years, that’s a long stretch of the superintendency, especially with the last two COVID years,” she said. “It’s been so rewarding, and the work is so purposeful and meaningful — it just has been a great run.”

But Cartisano said that Lipshie is not a carbon copy of her.

“It’s a marriage made by workplace, and we probably agree on 85% of the time,” she said. “The other 15% we don’t, and that has allowed this district to move forward because we don’t have one mindset, we have different perspectives. That’s the way we lead. It’s not that Seth is a mirror image of me nor me of him. That would not be good leadership.”

She added that there is nobody that could have been a better fit.

“This is an organization that has 500 staff members that show up every day and educate our children, we have 2,500 customers who get off buses every single day for us, and it’s important that the school district stays consistent,” Cartisano said. “We’re very excited.”

North Shore swim teams compete in Section XI championships

by Bill Landon - February 14, 2022

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The Section XI Boys Swimming Championships took place at Stony Brook University Feb. 12.

Team Huntington/Harborfields/Whitman won the Suffolk Championship 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute and 37.23 seconds.

Miller Place junior Liam Preston won both the 200 yard-freestyle in 1:41.79 and the 500 freestyle in 4:37.58.

Middle Country’s Hunter Emerson place second in the 200-individual medley with a 1:55.94 to qualify for the state championships at Ithaca College March 4 through 5.

Ward Melville wins the 200-freestyle relay event with Muhtar Konar, Thomas Miele, Richie Richard Hall and Vincent Vinciguerra in 1:29.47. Vinciguerra placed third in the 50-freestyle event in 21.66 and the 100-yard free in 47.22.

Comsewogue’s Noah Giunta placed first in the 100-yard butterfly event with a 50.67 and second in the 100-yard backstroke with 51.59.

Miller Place places 7th in large school cheer competition

by Bill Landon - February 9, 2022

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Heritage Trust partners with North Shore Youth Council

by Julianne Mosher - December 23, 2021

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The Heritage Center at Heritage Park. Photo by Julianne Mosher

The Heritage Center in Mount Sinai will soon have new owners, but that doesn’t mean that things are going to completely change.

As of Dec. 1, North Shore Youth Council took over the operations and activities of Heritage Trust.

Victoria Hazan, president of Heritage Trust, said that for the last two decades, the center and its grounds were run by a devoted set of board members and volunteers, but it was time for the center to have a new life.

“We were looking for it to be transferred to another nonprofit,” she said. “We loved their mission — NSYC is awesome and are community oriented like we are.”

Based primarily out of Rocky Point, NSYC has been prominent within its community since the early 1980s.

The organization was born out of concern for the high rates of substance abuse and teenage runaways on Long Island at the time.

Driven by the desire to save as many youths as they could from drugs and alcohol, these individuals spawned an innovative model for youth prevention programming that continues to this day. Eventually NSYC began to expand and offer additional services along the North Shore including summer camps, after-school programs and mentorships.

Robert Woods, NSYC’s executive director, said that the organization always had a close connection to Heritage Trust.

“This partnership will allow us to bring in more resources to the community and affords new and exciting opportunities for thousands of residents to enjoy and partake in,” he said. “With this expansion and increase of space for NSYC, we’ll be able to do more of what we love and serve youth and families in greater capacities.”

This doesn’t mean that NSYC will be closing or eliminating their Rocky Point presence, either.

“We’re expanding our services to reach families in other communities,” he said. “We are thrilled for this next chapter of our organization to expand into the heart of the North Shore communities and build upon the center’s 20-year legacy.”

Lori Baldassare, founder and a board member with the trust, said NSYC was always affiliated with the group — her late husband Jaime was president of the NSYC board for a decade.

“They share a mission that was similar to ours,” she said. “It just made sense.”

While the deal is not completely closed yet — Woods said it should be finalized within the next month — NSYC has begun hosting events and taking on the operations that Heritage is known for including the annual tree lighting and breakfast with Santa.

“It’s great for NSYC to have a brick-and-mortar space for them to host events and use that they didn’t have before,” Baldassare said.

Heritage Park, and the center inside it, began 25 years ago when the open land was slated for construction of a new Home Depot located at 633 Mount Sinai-Coram Road. Baldassare was a member of the Mount Sinai Hamlet Study for the Town of Brookhaven at the time.

“People said they didn’t have a central meeting place in the area — not just for Mount Sinai, but the whole North Shore community,” she said. “The Heritage Center and park have been able to create a sense of place.”

Not only will the center host Heritage events in the near future, but Woods said they will be able to bring more activities for residents including LGBTQ youth programs and behavioral art classes.

“It was bittersweet,” Hazan said. “But at the end of the day, it was the best thing we could’ve done for the park.”

Destination: North Pole — Letters collected for Santa during Miller Place event

by Heidi Sutton - December 12, 2021

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The Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society hosted its annual Visit with Mailman Mark event on the grounds of the historic 1720 William Miller House on Dec. 5.

Children eagerly lined up in front of the building that once served as the area’s original post office to greet Mailman Mark and give him their letter to Santa who promised that they would all receive letters back from the North Pole before Christmas.

The well-attended event also featured a vintage fire truck complete with a Dalmatian mascot named Sparky, holiday crafts, story time, raffle baskets and delicious holiday cookies.

Proceeds from the event will be used for the preservation and restoration of the William Miller House, the oldest home in Miller Place.

— All photos by Heidi Sutton

Idir drains 7 triples

by Bill Landon - December 11, 2021

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Port-Jefferson-Miller-Place-basketball-121021-Abigail-Rolfe-Landon-9997 — Port Jeff senior forward Abigail Rolfe gets mugged down low in a non-league home game against Miller Place Dec 10. Photo by Bill Landon

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Port Jefferson’s girls’ basketball squad, although short on roster depth with only seven players suited, are long on talent when the Royals made short work of Miller Place in a non-league home game with a 67-34 victory Dec. 10.

Junior point guard Lola Idir led the way for the Royals seeming to score three pointers at will, nailing seven treys a field goal and three from the free throw line for a team high of 28 points.

Senior teammates Annie Maier hit two triples and six field goals for 18 points, and Abigail Rolfe banked 9. Miller Place seniors Emma LaMountain scored 14 and Lauren Molinaro netted 13.

The win lifts the Royals to 3-1 while Miller Place searches for that elusive first win in this early season.

— All photos by Bill Landon

Rocky Point wins against Miller Place

by Bill Landon - December 3, 2021

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Miller Place senior Emma LaMountain fights for the rebound in a non-league matchup against Rocky Point Dec 2. Bill Landon photo

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The Rocky Point Eagles never trailed in their non-league road game against Miller Place Dec. 2, but the Panthers did tie the score at 27 all with 4:21 remaining in the contest.

Some late game fouls saw the Eagles cash in at the free throw line to hold the Panthers at bay, to hang on for the 36-29 victory.

Leading the way for the Eagles was senior forward Victoria Curreri with 15 points, McKenzie Moeller banked 8 with Sarah May and Leela Smith netted 6 apiece.

Kathryn Doherty the junior scored 9 points for the Panthers and senior Andrea Mott sank 8.

Rocky Point retakes the court on Dec. 6 against Mt. Sinai before opening their league season against Islip on the road Dec. 9. Game time is 5 p.m.

Miller Place has three more non-league matchups before league play begins Dec. 13. Tip-off is also at 5 o’clock.

— All photos by Bill Landon

Shoreham-Wading River Wildcats claw Panthers

by Bill Landon - November 13, 2021

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The Wildcats of Shoreham-Wading River did what they usually do, struck first in the Suffolk Division IV semi-final game at Thomas A. Cutinella Memorial Field for a 6-0 lead against Miller Place Nov 12. The Panthers answered the call with a touchdown of their own at the 5:40 minute mark in the first to tie the game, 6-6, on a 10-yard run by Scotty Seymour but that would be the last time the Panthers picked up the phone.

Senior running-back Max Barone on the Wildcats ensuing possession punched in from 12 yards and then ran it in for the two-point conversion for a 14-6 lead. From there it was all Shoreham-Wading River who led 29-6 at the half. Quarterback Dylan Zahn, a senior, found the endzone three times, as did Barone for the 43-6 final.

Zahn covered 170 yards on 29 attempts and Barone pounded out 148 yards on 22 carries. The Wildcats return to Stony Brook University Friday Nov 19 where they’ll face Mt Sinai/Bayport for the Suffolk County Division IV championship game. Kickoff is 4 p.m..

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