Rocky Point eighth-grader Quentin Palifka shaves his head to raise money for childhood cancer during his school’s St. Baldrick’s event, at which he’s raised $10,437 in the last two years. Photo from Alicia Palifka
By Kevin Redding
Less than 3 years old, Quentin Palifka stopped in his tracks, looked up at his grandma and asked a question that “floored” her.
“I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up,” the young boy said, according to family members.
Quentin Palifka with middle school Principal Scott O’Brien as he’s handed his 2018 Prudential Spirit of Community Certificate of Excellence award. Photo from Alicia Palifka
But it didn’t take Quentin long before he figured it out. Less than two years later, at 4, he approached his mother and told her that he was going to become president of the United States.
“It was a bit shocking at the time,” his mother Alicia Palifka said, laughing. “But that’s just who he is. He’s always been an extremely compassionate, thoughtful, responsible child with integrity.”
And nine years later, the Rocky Point middle schooler has held onto those traits, and that dream. In fact, Quentin has his future clearly mapped out.
“I have a list of things,” Quentin, 13, said of his future aspirations. “So, after high school, I want to join either the Marines or the Army. Then after that, I want to go to law school to become a lawyer. After I’m a lawyer, I want to run for Congress in New York’s 1st Congressional District. And after that, I would love to run
for president.”
The eighth-grader is certainly on track for public office by upholding a reputation as a go-getter in and out of the classroom — in the third grade, he joined the student council, where he got his first real taste of student government and community service, continuing his involvement in the club throughout elementary and middle school. For the past two years, he has served as president of the Community Service Club; he goes out of his way to greet and thank every veteran he meets; is a fifth-level junior black belt in Kempo jiu-jitsu and currently training to become a sensei at United Studios Progressive Martial Arts; has once a month volunteered his time with those at Bellhaven Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing Care in Brookhaven; and, in the last two years, has raised a total $10,437 for his school’s St. Baldrick’s event that raises money for childhood cancer research — $4,270 last year and $6,167 this year.
“There are a lot of other kids like me that do wonderful and exceptional things.”
— Quentin Palifka
He received a special medal for donating the most money during the fundraiser events, and just last month, earned the 2018 Prudential Spirit of Community Certificate of Excellence honor. The national program honors youth volunteers for outstanding volunteer service, and the certificate is recommendation-based, being presented to the top 10 percent of all applicants from the state.
“It was just a huge honor to be chosen,” Quentin said. “I’m truly humbled and, you know, there are a lot of other kids like me that do wonderful and exceptional things — I’m happy to say that I’m one of them.”
Despite their pride, those who know him well said they aren’t the least bit surprised by the recent recognition.
“Quentin is just such a genuine, sweet and very well-mannered kid with a really good set of morals,” said Michelle Anzaldi, whose son Frankie, a special needs student at Rocky Point, has looked up to Quentin since he initiated a friendship with Frankie in fifth grade. “My son was put into an inclusion class then, and he didn’t have any friends in that class, but on the first day of school, Quentin went over to him, introduced himself, and [since then has] really watched out for him,” Anzaldi said. “He accepted Frankie for who he is, and their friendship is amazing.”
Quentin’s elderly neighbor John Taranto said that, for the past two years, Quentin has taken it upon himself to shovel out his driveway when it snows and helps to mow his lawn in the summer.
Quentin Pilafka with his grandfather Todd Freund. Photo from Alicia Palifka
“He’ll do anything for neighbors,” Taranto said. “He loves to do it, and he will not take anything in return. He tells me, ‘That’s what neighbors are for.’ You don’t find many kids like that. I always say that he was born in the wrong time.”
Perhaps nobody has been as impacted by Quentin’s generosity as much as his own grandfather, Todd Freund, a Korean War veteran and former self-employed salesman. Freund said he spent more than 35 years on the road — traveling across the country — and believes he missed a large chunk of his children’s upbringing.
“Now I have Quentin, and it’s been a blessing to me,” Freund said. “We’re extremely close and definite kindred spirits. I consider myself so fortunate because he taught me patience — something I’ve never really had. He and I will talk for two hours when I come over to visit, about everything. I know I sound like I’m talking about somebody who’s 60 years old, but Quentin has always lived a self-directed life and has always had
integrity and honesty. I believe it’s nurtured by his mother. She’s quite some girl.”
As much as Alicia Palifka said she’d love to take the credit, her son’s altruism is all him, she said.
“The reason he wanted to be so involved with St. Baldrick’s is because our neighbor had a child before Quentin was born who passed away from cancer,” she said. “He’s been raising money in honor of this boy he never met. This is just who he is — he always wants to do the right thing by people.”
The new team room at Rocky Point High School is meant to give student-athletes a sense of collaboration and camaraderie. Photo from Dan Spallina
By Kevin Redding
For years, Rocky Point High School physical education teacher Dan Spallina had a blank canvas in the form of an old weight room-turned-football storage space. But this past February, with the help of volunteers and supporters — including parents, students and faculty members — he completed and unveiled a state-of-the-art sports team room in the space’s footprint to be used for video breakdowns of players’ performances, halftime meetings, team gatherings and other school events.
Parents and students help Rocky Point coach Dan Spallina, on right, turn high school storage space into a sports team room. Photo from Rocky Point school district
As head coach of the girls lacrosse program, Spallina, a Rocky Point graduate, recalled visiting the room to pick up his players’ uniforms in 2015 and envisioned something better for the school’s athletes in the cramped and underutilized area. As the student-athletes were often relegated to unused classrooms, the hallways or the athletic field for meetings and team-building exercises, Spallina thought a more suitable space could be built in the spot — a plac for “collaboration and camaraderie.”
“I just thought, what if?” Spallina said.
So, in fall 2016, after receiving approval from the board of education, he rounded up a small, determined band of parent volunteers, with the help of the district’s athletic director Charles Delargy, to help configure, spackle and paint the space. Spallina said the volunteers regularly pitched in at night, after their full-time jobs and daughters’ lacrosse games, to help bring the roughly $4,700 project to light. Even a couple of players helped with painting.
What is now the Rocky Point team room used to be storage space after it was an old weight room. Photo from Dan Spallina
“When I say dedication, I mean dedication,” Spallina said. “The volunteers just wanted to help out and be a part in it. In my eyes, it was simply amazing.”
Together, they transformed a room previously used by teams to watch gameplay videos on a small television or an old projector against a white wall into a clean, open facility equipped with a full HD 4K projector, video screen, stadium seating and strip lights on step-down levels. The new complex has also been decorated with 3-D wood objects, framed inspirational quotes and artwork of the Eagles emblem and American flag.
“To have an idea, then see it being brought to life is incredible,” said Spallina, who presented the new room during a special celebration event in late February alongside Delargy. “My hope is that every athlete that steps into the room feels the sense of pride that it took to build. This is a truly special community and togive the student-athletes a room like this can only be positive.”
The construction phase of the Rocky Point team room was made possible the the help of parents and students. Photo from Dan Spallina
Delargy said when he came to the district a year and a half ago, he and Spallina quickly saw eye to eye about the room’s potential.
“One of the first things I did was stress with the teams and coaches about how helpful video is to prepare for games and for general improvement — and the storage area was the perfect place to do something like that,” Delargy said. “It turned out to be such a nice community project and the coaches and students are all extremely happy, because now they have a place to go. And with the 4K projector — it’s night and day.”
John Bellissimo, the parent of senior lacrosse player Christina Bellissimo and one of the lead volunteers who helped design the room, also noted the importance of the new facility, stating he feels every school district should have a dedicated space like the one at Rocky Point for its student-athletes.
“Of course, our job as parents is to provide our kids with every opportunity to be the best they can be, and help bring the goodness out of them,” Bellissimo said. “So, by having this team room, it’s going to foster the team spirit, togetherness and confidence, and really push these kids to understand what it means to work as a team. The feedback from the kids is that they love it. Because it’s new, nobody else has had it — it’s theirs. This is the room they needed.”
Mount Sinai senior Damian Di Marco and Rocky Point senior Jade Pinkenburg show off certificates of congratulations from Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro after receiving $500 scholarships. Photo from Brookhaven Town
Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R) awarded two local seniors with $500 scholarships from the highway superintendents association.
Mount Sinai High School senior Damian DiMarco and Rocky Point High School senior Jade Pinkenburg were selected from dozens of applicants.
“While all of the applicants were admirable, I was extremely impressed with both Damian’s and Jade’s transcripts, including the challenging class schedules they sustain while maintaining exceptional grades,” Losquadro said. “Both possess creativity and curiosity — qualities which will be very helpful as they pursue careers in engineering.”
One Rocky Point parent trying to make a point about school safety caused a stir.
A video has gone viral following a PTA meeting in the Rocky Point school district March 14. In the video, a man is seen pulling out what looks to be a closed pocket knife while face to face with Rocky Point senior Jade Pinkenberg. The man was seemingly making a point about the fact that security is needed in rapidly escalating situations.
“If something happened, if I decided to attack you, it would take the cops three to five minutes to come here, probably 10 if the traffic is bad,” he said to Pinkenburg as he pulls what appears to be a pocket knife from his pocket. “What are you going to do now?”
Someone in the back of the room can be heard yelling “stop it” as onlookers watched what was unfolding.
“This is inappropriate,” “he should be escorted out” parents at the meeting can be heard shouting. “You can’t pull a switchblade out on a kid in a school, that’s insane.”
“During a discussion on the topic of armed security guards, a parent in attendance attempted to conduct a demonstration to reinforce his belief that all school districts should have such resources at their disposal,” Rocky Point Superintendent Michael Ring wrote in a statement on the district’s website following the incident. “While the district firmly acknowledges that the demonstration was ill-conceived and inappropriate for the venue, we believe that the act was not intended to compromise the safety of those in attendance. District personnel stopped the demonstration and members of our school security team removed the individual from the meeting. The district has contacted our dedicated Suffolk County Police Department School Resource Officer to report the incident.”
“I protested peacefully this morning and got suspended,” she said on Twitter. “A man threatened a kid with a knife at a PTA meeting and got gently escorted from the school. Show me the logic.”
Herman’s Twitter post of the video received nearly 21,000 likes and 10,000 retweets in less than 24 hours. Since then, the video has gone viral, being shared by thousands and watched by millions. Hundreds of people, from Rocky Point school district and beyond, have reacted to what they saw.
“Real quick to show their power against students, trying to show this is unacceptable, yet I don’t see a single administrator or security detail moving an inch when the knife was pulled on one of their students,” Rocky Point wrestler Ryan Callahan wrote.
Others were alarmed at how the trend of comments were made about the man’s actions being deplorable, but there was no mention of the attendee’s reactions.
“Every adult in that room should have jumped out of their seat and gotten between the student and that guy,” wrote Carmen Campos. “I would have, but what do I know — I’m a 61-year-old fourth-grade teacher.”
Some commenters asked others to try to see beyond the knife to the point the speaker was trying to make.
“The guy is presenting a scenario (albeit not in the brightest way),” wrote Cory Spence. “It’s clear to me that the kid didn’t feel threatened and the adult wasn’t being threatening. He’s holding the closed knife in a way to be clear to the kid.”
Suffolk County police arrested a man March 9 for allegedly robbing a Coram 7-Eleven in February.
A man entered 7-Eleven, located at 1671 Route 112, on Feb. 26 at approximately 1:20 a.m. and approached the counter as if he was going to purchase merchandise. When the clerk began to ring up the items, the suspect punched the victim in the face, knocking him down to the ground. The victim hit his head on shelving and then the floor, knocking him unconscious. The suspect then hopped over the counter and stole cash from the draw and other items before he fled on foot southbound on Route 112.
An investigation by 6th Squad detectives led to the arrest of Paul Mauro, 31, of Rocky Point, at approximately 1:50 p.m. at the 6th Precinct.
Mauro was charged with second-degree robbery and with an active parole warrant. Mauro was held overnight at the 6th Precinct.
Miller Place and Rocky Point will host indoor forums, Shoreham-Wading River is undecided
Mount Sinai High School. File photo by Kevin Redding
By Kevin Redding
In the aftermath of the most recent mass shooting, students across the nation are planning to rise up and walk out — a movement that is being handled very differently across local school districts.
On March 14, exactly one month after gun violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, left 17 students and faculty members dead, students plan to walk out of their schools for 17 minutes starting at 10 a.m. — both in honor of the Parkland victims and as a call for legislative action to help put an end to deadly shootings. The nationwide protest, the seeds of which have spread across social media with the hashtag #ENOUGH, was launched by the activist group Women’s March Youth EMPOWER, whose members are demanding Congress do more than “tweet thoughts and prayers in response to gun violence” and that “students and staff have the right to teach in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms,” according to the group’s website.
The movement was initiated by Parkland survivors, whose outcry against guns following the shooting has reverberated throughout each and every state. An impassioned speech given by senior Emma González Feb. 17 went viral by stating that she and her fellow classmates would change the law in the country so that her high school would be the location of America’s last mass shooting.
“I told my kids I do not want them participating. There are other ways to learn, protect and voice your opinions.”
— Keri Rooney
Across the North Shore, school districts have begun addressing how they will handle the localized version of the movement, with Miller Place and Rocky Point firmly opposed to letting their students leave the building — echoing widely shared concerns over safety. Mount Sinai is on board with letting students participate in the national movement, while Shoreham-Wading River is still weighing the situation.
Miller Place
During a board of education meeting Feb. 28, where Superintendent Marianne Cartisano outlined for parents the district’s enhanced security measures, including the newly assigned four armed guards for its four buildings, she addressed the walkout.
“We are looking to see how we’re going to manage it here to allow students to have a voice, but I can tell you right now — there is no way that I’m going to have students walk outside at 10 o’clock in the morning,” Cartisano said to applause in the room. “The reason is that if everybody knows that children are walking outside at 10 o’clock in the morning, then who are the obvious victims? And that may or may not happen in our nation — and I pray every night that it doesn’t — but what I can tell you is that’s not going to happen here.”
She explained to residents that she and other administrators want students to have a voice, but in a way that doesn’t create a health and safety issue, or turn into “a political movement.”
“Our students’ voices do have to be heard about ending school violence and returning schools to the safe havens that they once were,” the superintendent said. “We’re spending a tremendous amount of time talking about student demonstrations and how we can provide students with a voice against school violence while also recognizing those who have lost their lives.”
She said students will be able to participate in a safer alternative inside the building March 14. Senior Jake Angelo, student representative on the board, later suggested the indoor event could involve an anti-bullying sentiment and a flower sale to raise money for those in Parkland.
Students in Miller Place will host in-school reflections during the national walkout March 14. Photo by Kevin Redding
Amanda Cohen-Stein, a parent in the district, said later in a community Facebook post that while she originally supported the walkout, she changed her mind following Cartisano’s comments.
“It is best they not leave school grounds,” Cohen-Stein said.
Keri Rooney, a Sound Beach resident with ties to Miller Place, said she didn’t feel comfortable about the walkout.
“I told my kids I do not want them participating,” Rooney said. “There are other ways to learn, protect and voice your opinions. Walking out of school is not the answer and leaves them as an easy target.”
Rocky Point
Michael Ring, superintendent of the Rocky Point district, recently sent a letter to parents in which he said that organized, student-run walkouts “are not a viable option for our schools,” and that any student who chooses to participate in the movement via exiting the high school, will be “subject to administrative action.” He did not specify what the specific consequence would be.
“No Rocky Point student will be permitted to leave the premises as part of any of these upcoming events or otherwise, without appropriate permission, whether on March 14 or at any time during school hours throughout the school year,” Ring wrote. “Any student found to have left school without appropriate permission on any school day during the year will be subject to administrative action in accordance with the district’s code of conduct.”
He made it clear that this decision was based on heightened attention to school safety and security, and that, despite not being allowed to leave the grounds, students wishing to participate in the movement March 14 can do so through districtwide activities planned for the day by administration and staff.
“Many in our schools have expressed interest in engaging in activities aimed at not only honoring the lives lost in this national tragedy, but also giving voice to the hope that a similar event does not happen again,” Ring said.
“No Rocky Point student will be permitted to leave the premises.”
—Michael Ring
For high school students, these include a moment of silence and the viewing of a tribute to the 17 lives lost in Parkland; a discussion led by teachers encouraging students to participate in 17 acts of kindness during the day in order to “increase positive interactions within the school community”; and opportunities
during social studies classes to voice their opinions on ways to better enhance safety and security in the school; and write letters either to elected officials or the survivors and family members of victims in Parkland.
Although this is considered a high school initiative, Ring said that there will be similar activities, including the letter writing, in the middle school and a moment of silence and kindness-geared activities in both Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School and Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School.
Mount Sinai
After Principal Robert Grable met with 20 members of the student government last Friday to gauge student’s perspectives on the walkout, it was decided — in correspondence with Superintendent Gordon Brosdal and the board of education — that Mount Sinai students who wish to participate can do so March 14.
The students will stand outside on the high school’s athletic field for 17 minutes, school officials said, during which time the campus is expected to be shut down with tightened security by the entrances on the North Country Road and 25A sides of the property, which will be closed and locked.
Grable said in speaking with student leaders he made it clear that he wanted the walkout to be structured, safe and well supervised.
“I didn’t want to cut them off, so if there was a way to do this safely and securely, I was certainly willing to do that.”
— Rob Grable
“It’s a very hot topic right now,” Grable said. “I think everybody is emotional about it, including the student body, and I didn’t want to cut them off, so if there was a way to do this safely and securely, I was certainly willing to do that. I don’t think it will be that major of a distraction and it will accommodate both parties — the administration as well as the students who wish to demonstrate their support of this initiative.”
Student Council President Joe Kelly, a senior, said he and his peers believe the event should be focused on reflection.
“I talked to a lot of students and we think the walkout should be more for remembering the 17 lives lost with a moment of silence rather than bringing up anything political,” he said. “I talked to many people, all of whom have differing political opinions, and they all wanted it to not be political. They only wanted to do the walk if it was in respect for those in Florida.”
Available teachers, administrators, aides and the district’s school resource officer will be asked to monitor the students. While Brosdal said currently there is the potential for all 800 students to be out there, he predicts there will be many who wish not to be involved. Those students will be able to remain in their classrooms with their teachers.
The superintendent said he supports the students’ rights to take part in this national movement if they choose to.
“I guess we’re getting to the point where enough is enough, not just in terms of the horror of the shootings and the kinds of people that come in, but how unsafe schools are now,” Brosdal said. “I believe truly, in a student’s heart, if they want to experience this and reflect and commemorate this tragic event, they should be permitted to do it. I don’t anticipate misbehavior. I believe in our kids.”
Shoreham-Wading River
“The district is currently discussing this matter, and once a decision is made it will be communicated with our parents and students,” said Shoreham-Wading River Superintendent Gerard Poole in an email March 6.
“It will make the students walking targets.”
— Chris Albinski Simion
On a closed Shoreham-Wading River community Facebook page, parent opinions on the walkout ranged from adamant support to heated opposition.
“Definitely against it,” Chris Albinski Simione wrote. “It will make the students walking targets. Every wacko in the country will know when and what time these kids will be outside the schools.”
Another resident, Linda Kelly, asked, “And a walkout will accomplish what exactly? No need to do this on school time.”
But Judy Shaffer Noonan said it will, and always will, be young people who make the biggest changes in society.
“The adults failed,” she said. “Historically, the young have impacted change. The young are the future. I don’t think these kids are doing this out of a sense of entitlement … I’m very proud of the Parkland students who are standing up and demanding change.”
Tyler Holmes, a district graduate, said it will be a historic day.
“I’ll do my part to engage in any positive and well-represented protest instead of sitting home,” he said.
Mount Sinai and Miller Place also come in first, Northport and Ward Melville second
Rocky Point's cheerleading team placed first in the county for the third straight season. Photo by Jim Ferchland
Miller Place’s cheerleading team rocks the house. Photo by Jim Ferchland
By Jim Ferchland
The Eagles’ consistency and dominance is second to none when it comes to high school varsity cheerleading.
Rocky Point claimed its third cheerleading county championship in Division I medium varsity Feb. 24 at West Islip High School in front of a boisterous crowd shouting out Rocky Point’s name. The Eagles finished with 94.6 points, the highest overall score of the day.
“It feels amazing,” head coach Anna Spallina said. “There’s so much pressure on me to always compete and be on top. I think it’s just my personality. Climbing to the top is always good but once you’re up there, it’s harder to stay at the top.”
A Mount Sinai cheerleader atop a pyramid. Photo by Jim Ferchland
Before the meet on Saturday, Rocky Point was down in Orlando, Florida for nationals. After earning a pass straight to the finals, the Eagles’ performance put them in a disappointing seventh place.
“It’s a sport,” Spallina said. “Like any other sport, you’re going to have a good day and a bad day. It’s just the way it is.”
Northport finished second (81.2), Newfield third (67.3) and Kings Park fourth (65.9).
Mount Sinai was the only Division II large school in the competition. They finished with a score of 87.7. Mustangs head coach Kara Bochicchio said there still was competition — themselves.
“It was really just about going out there and trying to perform the best routine they could,” Bochicchio said. “Throughout the whole routine, there was fight. It might not have been the most perfect routine of the day, but they fought for everything tooth and nail. I’m really proud of them.”
Mount Sinai senior Charlotte Fiordalisi said there’s no way better to finalize the season with a county championship, especially after the Mustangs also finished nationals in fourth place.
Northport’s cheerleading team brings the excitement. Photo by Jim Ferchland
“I’m just really proud of my team,” Fiordalisi said. “My first ever competition six years ago was here and my last competition being here is bittersweet. It was a great way to finish the season. I’m just living in the moment.”
Miller Place finished first in Division II Medium varsity. The Panthers had 68.5 points to Hampton Bays’ 45.2. The pair are the only two teams in the division.
To wrap up the day was the Division I large school, Sachem North (88.7) earned first place over Ward Melville by one point.
“They really amaze me,” Ward Melville head coach Christine Perretta said of her team. “They never let anything defeat them. We pushed through every routine and they’ve definitely gone further than they’ve ever gone for Ward Melville. They don’t stop until the end.”
A Newfield cheerleader shouts a chant. Photo by Jim Ferchland
Ward Melville senior Kara Manuud has been with the team since her sophomore year. She said she was confident in the Patriots’ routine.
“Just being on that mat one final time, I knew nothing could go wrong,” Manuud said. “We have the skill, we’ve had all the practice we could have and it was just the matter of perfecting that and showing it on the mat.”
The Patriots took eighth place in nationals this year, and senior Courtney Cardillo said it feels good to finish her high school career on a higher note.
“After getting eighth, we worked really hard this past week,” Cardillo said. “We came in stronger than we’ve ever been. We hit a bunch of routines. We showed them what we deserved and who we are.”
Ward Melville’s cheerleading team. Photo by Jim Ferchland
The Hartlin Inn co-owner Andrew Streef was named the Friends of St. Patrick's 68th grand marshal. Photo by Kevin Redding
Andrew Streeff likes being a behind-the-scenes kind of person.
For the past 20 years, he has operated out of the kitchen in the back of The Hartlin Inn, a Sound Beach pub and restaurant and community fixture where he serves as chef and co-owner and he’d hoped to keep it that way. He has always been eager to help local school districts and clubs through fundraisers and donations, but never seeks recognition. And, in 2001, when encouraged by his business partner and mentor Richie Hartig to join the Friends of St. Patrick, Streeff was hesitant, despite his lifelong Irish pride and love for the group.
The Hartlin Inn in Sound Beach. Photo by Kevin Redding
“I told him, ‘I’ll do it as long as I don’t have to march up front,’” Streeff said, referring to the group’s annual Miller Place-Rocky Point St. Patrick’s Day parade. In his 17 years with the organization, and being involved in the parade, Streeff has run raffles, sold T-shirts and fed information to the event’s announcer.
“That’s what I really enjoy,” he said. “When the cameras and the politicians come, I’m darting out of the way.”
That all changes March 11 when Streeff leads the nearly three-mile march from the Flying Pig Cafe in Miller Place to Broadway in Rocky Point as grand marshal of the 68th annual parade. This honor is bestowed on longtime, dedicated members of the organization, or those who have proven to be pillars of the community, and Streef “fits both those bills,” according to Friends of St. Patrick president Michael Tatilian.
“He’s very active in our community, a great guy, and, whenever we’ve asked him to help us out with something, he’s always been there,” Tatilian said.
“While Richie would have loved to have led the parade, in my heart I know that he’ll be walking right alongside Andrew.”
— Linda Hartig
But Streeff said he isn’t marching for himself. Instead, he’s accepting the honor in memory of the man who pushed him to join the group in the first place — Hartig, one of the two original owners of The Hartlin Inn; a U.S. Navy veteran, a detective in the Nassau County Police Department, a commodore of the Mount Sinai Yacht Club; and a proud member of the Friends of St. Patrick until his death from a heart attack in 2004 at age 63.
Hartig died before it was his turn to be grand marshal, Streef said.
“Anyone who knew Richie knew this was right up his alley,” he said. “My biggest concern really was asking his wife how she would feel about this if I did it. It turned out she was 100 percent behind it. A lot of people are excited that I’m doing this in Richie’s name.”
Linda Hartig, who joined the restaurant full time as an accountant after her husband’s death, described Streeff as a “standup guy” who would do anything for anybody in the community. She said she was honored by his motivation to march.
“While Richie would have loved to have led the parade, in my heart I know that he’ll be walking right alongside Andrew,” she said. “I’m sure he’s looking down very happy.”
Streeff was born in Queens to a Finnish father and Irish mother, and moved to Sound Beach in 1969 when he was 7 years old. Just a year later, he marched for the first time in the parade as a Cub Scout, later joking that his mother indoctrinated him with the importance of St. Patrick’s Day from day one.
Richie Hartig is the founder of Sound Beach’s The Hartlin Inn. Photo from Linda Hartig
“I think when I was in Catholic school in Queens, with the mandatory uniform on, she made sure that, on St. Patrick’s Day, I had green on somewhere,” Streeff said. “Any time I got a new job growing up, I’d tell the boss, I can work any holiday and any weekend throughout the year except that one Sunday in March.”
Streeff has been in the restaurant business since he was 16 as a student at Miller Place High School. By the time he graduated in 1979, he had been working full time for about a year. He began at the old Nine Doors restaurant in Port Jefferson and picked up different styles of cooking, from a variety of cultures like French and German, as he moved on from one local establishment to next. He eventually found himself working seasonally in Florida’s Palm Beach County for a number of years in the 1990s, until he learned his friend, Linda Sarich, and her business partner, Hartig, bought a restaurant in Sound Beach. The name Hartlin is a combination of Hartig and Linda’s names. Streeff originally offered to help set up their kitchen and menu, but within a matter of months, he became a full partner.
“Having grown up here, it was ideal for me to get involved,” said Streeff, who, since 1997, has taken it upon himself to hire youth in the community with the aim of steering them in the right direction and keeping them out of trouble. “This is a down-home type of family restaurant in a tight-knit community where you wave to strangers. You don’t really see that anywhere else anymore.”
After 40 years in the restaurant industry, and 21 strong years at The Hartlin Inn, Streeff said, “It feels like I’m the typical hometown boy who made good.”
In 2014, Andrea Petterson was in a dark place. The Sound Beach resident had recently left her job as a landscape manager at Stony Brook University, just months after she accused her supervisor of sexual harassment and discrimination. At the time, she was in the beginning stages of filing a lawsuit against the school.
“I was at my lowest,” Petterson said, looking back. “That job was my life, my identity and everything I was. Suddenly, I felt very unsafe.”
Andrea Petterson with one of the ornaments she made and sold. Photo from Christne Cirolli
That was, she said, until she found herself inside Gentle Strength Yoga studio, after a friend suggested she try and heal herself there. Owned and operated by John T. Mather Memorial Hospital nurse Christine Cirolli, the yoga studio opened in Mount Sinai in 2013, and moved permanently to Route 25A in Rocky Point in 2016.
Aside from offering regular classes, acupunctures and massages, the studio was designed to be a community-oriented refuge where “people can band together to help each other,” according to Cirolli.
“The second I stepped in, it just felt like home,” said Petterson, who was a student for two years before graduating from Long Island Yoga School in Great Neck and eventually becoming an instructor at the studio. “Christine really gave me an opportunity here to learn more about myself. She was the one that told me that ‘helping heals’ and that has stuck with me.”
This past Christmas, Petterson raised close to $3,400 by making and selling holiday ornaments in the studio, and then donated the funds to several families in need. She routinely teaches classes at Joseph A. Edgar Immediate School in Rocky Point and within Shoreham-Wading River school district.
She also said the studio has motivated her to start an organization that helps to empower young women.
Melissa McMullan, a longtime regular at the studio and a teacher in the Comsewogue School District, said the holiday fundraiser at the studio helped provide a happy holiday for one of her students, whose family lives in poverty. She referred to the studio as “a special place.”
“Christine really gave me an opportunity here to learn more about myself.”
— Andrea Petterson
“It’s the kind of place where people can come in and talk about what’s going on physically or mentally and everybody sort of works together to help each other,” she said. “At the studio, we learn that yoga is really the beginning of a lifelong practice of being connected with, and kind to members of our community.”
Cirolli, a Queens native and Suffolk Community College graduate, said she has been practicing yoga on and off since she was in high school, and always aimed for her studio to be inclusive for everybody.
“I feel blessed that people would trust me, that they are here in a place of caring and love,” Cirolli said.
She added that Gentle Strength hosts a free 12-step recovery yoga program for those affected by alcohol addiction.
“It’s just providing people with another tool to help in their recovery,” she said of the program. “It doesn’t require anyone to sign up or register, either, so if they wanted to come here and be completely anonymous, they can. I thought that was a really nice way to try and welcome people in here who might otherwise be steered away.”
Rocky Point Middle School's Robo Eagles robotics team. Photo from Rocky Point school district
At Rocky Point Middle School, LEGO-building is serious business.
The school’s two robotics teams — Radical Robotix and Robo Eagles — will compete in the 14th annual FIRST LEGO League Long Island championship tournament in Longwood this March after taking home a total of three awards in the qualifying tournament Jan. 20.
Rocky Point Middle School’s Radical Robotic team. Photo from Rocky Point school district
“Both teams have worked very hard from the beginning of the school year and to be recognized for these efforts is outstanding,” club adviser Mark Moorman said. “I was thrilled that both teams qualified.”
During the high-stakes competition, held at Great Hollow Middle School in Nesconset, the Rocky Point students — grades 6 through 8 — squared off against 23 other robotics teams from across the region with programmable LEGO Mindstorm robots they started building in October.
Under this year’s theme of hydrodynamics, the students applied math, science and technology skills to build robots with the ability to complete water-related tasks, such as replacing water pipes and connecting water pumps, on a table-top playing field.
The teams had to present research projects identifying a problem and finding a solution related to the theme. During the tournament, judges evaluated the students based on teamwork and technical skills, as well as “gracious professionalism,” according to Moorman.
Robo Eagles:
Misha Zaslavsky
Leila Riedl
Zach Accetta
Alex Rosenberg
Marco Tanza
Felicity Monaghan
Oskar Chorzepa
As the results show, Rocky Point certainly made a splash.
The Robo Eagles received the Alliance Award for scoring the highest point total on the robot table and the Judges Award for “unique efforts, performance or dynamics.” The Radical Robotix took home a project research award for its desalination aviation life vest.
For the project, Radical Robotix determined that while each seat on an airplane is equipped with a life vest in case of emergency water landing, once a passenger is in the water, specifically seawater, he or she is left on their own to survive while waiting for rescue. The students developed a water bottle, attached to the vest, that would filter the salt and bacteria out of seawater and turn it into drinking water.
“We were so excited to win the project research award and qualify for the next tournament,” said Radical Robotix member seventh-grader Eve Hald. “It was fun getting to see our robot compete and to compete in the tasks that judges gave us.”
Radical Robotix:
Jake Bazata
C.J. McMillen
Sola Matsumoto
Eve Hald
Nick O’Shea
Maddy Knopke
Moorman said the two teams had a balanced mix of veteran robotics members and “newbies” — Radical Robotix has six members, Robo Eagles has seven. While he said members of the robotics club meet twice a week every other week and knew what to expect, it didn’t make the tournament any less chaotic.
“It seemed like when we were done with one aspect, like the Robot round, we had to move straight to another aspect, like the project presentation,” he said. “It was all happening very fast.”
Back at the middle school, Principal Scott O’Brien expressed his pride in the club’s performance.
“The students and advisers of the Rocky Point Middle School robotics teams work tirelessly throughout the year to compete in tournaments,” O’Brien said in a statement. “We are so proud of the robotics teams for qualifying for the championship tournament this March. Best of luck to both teams and their advisers.”
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