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Monthly Archives: August 2015

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State appellate court sides with municipalities in rulings

Northport power plant. File photo

Huntington Town and Northport-East Northport school district’s fight to knock the lights out of a Long Island Power Authority lawsuit that looks to drastically decrease how much the utility pays in taxes on the Northport power plant recently got a big boost.

Last week, a New York State appellate court ruled in favor of the municipalities, clearing the way for both to go to trial against the utility and engage in pretrial depositions and discovery. In 2010, LIPA filed a tax certiorari lawsuit against the town, claiming the town greatly over-assessed the Northport power plant and that it should be paying millions less in taxes.

Northport-East Northport schools, along with Huntington Town, filed companion lawsuits in May 2011 that claimed LIPA didn’t have the right to file to reduce its taxes and that it breached a 1997 contract promising it wouldn’t. In 2013, a New York State Supreme Court justice upheld the district and town’s rights to sue LIPA and National Grid, and last week’s court ruling upheld that lower court ruling.

LIPA sought to have the school district tossed out of the suit, but the district claimed it was a legal third-party beneficiary of a 1997 power supply agreement between LIPA and the Long Island Lighting Company. Last week’s court ruling upheld that claim. It cites a 1997 letter from LIPA to the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, to which Northport-East Northport belongs, that upon the issuance of a 1997 power supply agreement, “LIPA will immediately drop all tax certiorari cases against all municipalities and school districts,” and that “neither LIPA nor LILCO will initiate any further tax certiorari cases on any of their respective properties at any time in the future unless a municipality abusively increases its assessment rate,” as “spelled out in the [PSA].”

Stuart Besen, the town’s attorney on the case, said he believes the letter from Richard Kessel, former chairman of LIPA, was integral in swaying the judges to rule in favor of the municipalities.

“I just think that Supervisor [Frank] Petrone really deserves a lot of credit for having the foresight for one, making sure the clause was in the [power supply agreement], and two, demanding that Richard Kessel reiterate that position in a letter.”

If successful in the suit, the town wouldn’t have to pay approximately $180 million in taxes the utility claims it overpaid in a three-year period, Besen said. LIPA pays roughly $70 million in taxes on the Northport power plant, town officials have said.

The utility contends the plant is worth less than 11 percent of the value reflected by its current assessment. If LIPA was successful in lowering its assessment and thus the amount it pays in taxes, town residents could be hit with tax increases of up to 10 percent. Those who live in the Northport-East Northport school and library districts could get a whopping 50 percent increase in their taxes.

John Gross, senior managing partner at Ingerman Smith, who represents the school district in the case, said the next step is to move forward with discovery and a motion for summary judgment in favor of the district.

“And if we win that, that means the claims they made to reduce the value of the plant are thrown out,” Gross said in an interview on Tuesday.

The town and the school district are partners in the lawsuit, Gross said.

Asked what town taxpayers should take away from the development, Besen said “that the town is fighting.”

“The town is fighting a big entity, both National Grid and LIPA. But we feel we’re right. We feel that those three years we don’t have to pay, that LIPA and National Grid made a promise to the people of Huntington and the town is going to do everything possible legally to uphold that promise.”

Sid Nathan, a spokesman for LIPA, said the authority couldn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

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Centerport and West Islip firefighters assist in bringing the Hovercraft to shore following the rescue. Photo by Steve Silverman

A hovercraft vessel came to the rescue of two kayakers stuck in mud in a Centerport pond on Tuesday night, according to Steve Silverman, a spokesman for the Town of Huntington Fire Chiefs Council.

The Centerport Fire Department received a call around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night of a man and a woman stuck in a kayak approximately 100 yards off the shore of Mill Pond. 

Once rescuers arrived, they realized they were not able to reach the kayak due to thick mud that was restricting boat access. Centerport Fire Chief Brian Mark then made the call to the West Islip Fire Department for assistance.

West Islip’s hovercraft was the only vessel that could reach the couple, since it is able to float on air and travel over mud, ice and swampy areas a conventional boat can’t traverse.

The Suffolk Police Aviation unit assisted as well, providing a helicopter that gave light to the rescue scene.

Firefighters launched the hovercraft from an access point on Centershore Road, and were able to reach the kayak in several minutes. The Centerport Rescue Squad checked the uninjured couple. The pair was covered in dark mud.

Forty firefighters and emergency medical personnel in total participated in the rescue, which was successfully completed in slightly more than an hour with no injuries.

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Franzone to be sentenced to 3.5 years in state prison

Nicholas Franzone photo from Suffolk County DA’s office

A Northport man accused of helping his uncle in carjacking a Commack woman after the uncle ran down two Suffolk County cops in Huntington last year pleaded guilty to charges relating to the crimes in court on Tuesday.

Nicholas Franzone, 23, pleaded guilty in Central Islip at a court conference to robbery, criminal possession of stolen property, unauthorized use of a vehicle, petty larceny and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, according to Bob Clifford, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota’s office.

Franzone’s crimes were for stealing gas and participating in stealing a Commack woman’s car and her credit cards as he and his uncle, Chad Moriszan, 35,were trying to dodge capture after striking officers Nicholas Guerrero and Heriberto Lugo.

They fled fleeing the scene of the hit-and-run, leaving Guerrero seriously injured. Guerrero had to be hospitalized for more than three weeks with a severe head injury. He underwent surgery and a regimen of physical therapy during his recovery.

Both Northport men were eventually arrested hours later in a Central Islip Target store on Carleton Avenue when they tried to use a stolen credit card to buy a television.

On July 23, Moriszan was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault in the first degree, assault on a police officer, leaving the scene, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, robbery in the second degree and forgery.

Franzone will be sentenced by State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho to three and one-half years in state prison on Sept. 9.

Ian Fitzgerald, a Central Islip-based attorney who represented Franzone, said he felt the sentence term was a fair one. “He had the chance to do the right thing and he didn’t take it so he got himself in this situation,” he said.

He also said the DA dropped prior felony assaults charge against Franzone.

“Our position from the beginning was that he really had nothing to do with Mr. Moriszan running over the officer,” Fitzgerald said.

The attorney said his client didn’t even see the officers struck, and wasn’t even aware that there was a second officer on the scene. The pair of officers pulled over Moriszan and Franzone during a traffic stop.

“He’s glad that it wasn’t worse,” he said. “He’s glad that officer Guerrero survived.”

Franzone has cleaned up his act since the incident, Fitzgerald said. The attorney said his client was on drugs — prescription pills — and since being incarcerated he’s gotten clean.

“[He] seems to be a pretty intelligent young man who unfortunately got wrapped up in some bad stuff.”

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It was a night to remember. The thunder cracked so loudly in the middle of the night above our house that I lost my hearing for a few seconds. I jumped out of bed, worried about the dog and his heavy weather anxieties. Sure enough, he was in great need of reassurance and affection. Once I had my hands on him, I was further stunned by the rain—or was it hail?—thudding against the windows. The power went out decisively, without any warning. It was surely a wild night out there, I decided, before falling back to sleep.

Little did I know how wild, until I started out my front door to an early morning meeting. Branches, twigs and leaves were strewn everywhere on the driveway and front lawn. Getting to work took five times as long as usual and involved strategic detours around downed trees and power lines. Traffic lights were out, and once again I marveled at the graciousness of local drivers, who allowed each other a turn at the intersections.

The sight at the newspaper building was worse than anything thrown at us by Hurricane Sandy. We were deeply grateful to have gotten off relatively lightly in terms of damage then. But Nature made up for it this time.

The parking lot was filled with the corpse of what had been a stately, leafy tree. In falling, it had ripped off part of the roof and the pipeline of electrical lines that normally go up the side of the building. The lines were everywhere, entwined in the limbs, and one side of the road leading to the building was entirely blocked by another giant fallen tree.

My first thought as I stood looking at the chaos was that it was Tuesday. Now might not mean much to the average resident, but Tuesdays and Wednesdays are our two busiest, most time-pressured days for preparing the newspapers for publication.

So what was the first thing I did? I got a cup a coffee from a shop that was still open. After that, in rapid succession, was getting a team together with electric saws, collaring an electrician to assure us that it was it safe to walk among the electrical lines on the ground, assessing the electrical damage to the building, finding a generator to put us back in production, getting the word out to our staff, first to stay away, and then to hurry in when the generator arrived.

They all came through the clogged roads, as you can see from the physical evidence of the newspaper you hold in your hands — unless you are reading this on our website. So here we are, with the office open for business as usual, as if nothing extraordinary had happened. To me, it’s a small miracle that we have timely editions this week. But then again, it’s something of a wee miracle every Thursday when a new paper comes out, the work of so many minds
and hands.

Heartfelt thanks to all who made the miracle happen. You are all champs.

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President Obama (D) announced this past Monday the final version of the Clean Power Plan, which is designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 32 percent by 2030 to combat climate change compared with 2005 levels.

Environmental experts hailed it as an important step, giving the president a chance to lead by example at a global climate conference in Paris starting Nov. 30.

“This is the biggest emission reduction of greenhouse gases that any president has ever achieved,” said Judi Greenwald, deputy director for Climate, Environment, and Energy Efficiency at the Department of Energy.

Environmental and health groups have lifted their green thumbs in approval.

According to the American Lung Association, the plan will prevent up to 3,600 premature deaths, 90,000 asthma attacks and 300,000 missed days of work and school by 2030.

“This is a president who said the time to act is now and he’s followed through,” said Lyndsay Moseley Alexander, director of the healthy air campaign at the ALA. She said she was pleased to see the target increased from the level in the draft form last year, which was 30 percent.

“We don’t often see the rules strengthened when they’re finalized,” she said.

The states have considerable control: They now have until 2022, two more years than in the draft proposal, to begin complying; and they have until 2018 to create their own plans. If they do nothing, the federal government can create plans for them.

Given that the states can comply with the plan in their own way, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided a rough estimate of 415 million less short tons of carbon dioxide in the air in 2030 with the plan than without it.

Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is a funded primarily by the DOE, has a team of scientists dedicated to energy security, which conducts just the type of renewable energy research outlined in the plan.

“This clean power plan will spur the adoption of cleaner technologies that are being developed” at BNL and other national laboratories, Greenwald said. “We really are going in a direction toward much cleaner power systems. This will accelerate that and will provide a market for the technologies.”

While Congress will determine future funding, the Clean Power Plan could provide an additional boost during appropriations.

“We’ll absolutely be working with our lab champions in Congress, who obviously include lots of members, to push for the most robust funding we can get for the department and the labs so we can get a lot of these technologies out of the lab” and into the field, said Eben Burnham-Snyder, deputy communications director at the DOE.

Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have suggested the new limits would cause hardship in his state and would hurt the national economy. He has suggested he would use every means at his disposal to fight the plan.

Margot Garant, mayor of Port Jefferson, got behind the plan.

“It’s totally in line with repowering the industry,” said Garant. “This, as far as I’m concerned, gives PSEG another shot in the arm to take down these legacy plants, repower then with clean, efficient plants.”

Garant said the plan, at first blush, didn’t appear “unrealistic.”

Cheap natural gas, a tough recession, the rise of wind power and improved efficiency have already reduced power plant emissions by 15 percent from 2005 to 2013.

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Three horses reportedly found ‘emaciated and sick’

One of the horses is so sick, its ribs are visible through the skin. Photo from Suffolk SPCA

The Suffolk County SPCA has charged a Hauppauge woman with animal cruelty after her horses were found to be emaciated and sick.

Helen Malazzo. Photo from Suffolk SPCA
Helen Malazzo. Photo from Suffolk SPCA

SPCA Chief Roy Gross said that Helen Malazzo, 61, of Hauppauge, kept three horses at a boarding facility at 193 South St., Manorville, that had no running water on the property. After being examined by a veterinarian, one of the horses was found to be so sick and emaciated that he wasn’t sure it would survive without immediate veterinary care, Gross said. The other two horses were also allegedly neglected. 

Gross also said that the SPCA seized all three horses and they are now in foster care receiving the proper attention. Malazzo returns to First District Court in Central Islip on Oct. 5.

Gross asked the public to help cover the veterinary care for the three horses by making donations to the Suffolk County SPCA. All donations are tax deductible to the extend permitted by law.

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Fire district offering $1,000 reward

The Lake Grove playground that was set on fire on Sunday, July 26. Photo from Centereach Fire District

The Centereach Fire District is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for burning down a playground at Eugene Auer Elementary School.

On Sunday, July 26, Centereach firefighters responded to a call for a fire behind the Lake Grove school, according to a press release from the fire district. The plastic playground was fully engulfed, but the fire quickly put out. However, the playground was destroyed.

“This wasn’t just any playground,” Fire Commissioner Julia Wilson said. “The community pitched in, joined together and raised money to erect it.”

The Suffolk County Police Department is investigating the Sunday night incident.

The board of fire commissioners unanimously voted to offer a $1,000 reward at their meeting last week. Anyone with information related to the crime, is asked to call Suffolk County Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS (8477) or submit the information electronically at www.tipsubmit.com.

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Nikki Ortega maintains possession of the ball in USA’s semifinal game against England/ Photo from Alan Rennie/Lacrosse Magazine

Nikki Ortega has earned a spot on the US Lacrosse All-World team.

This news made for a bittersweet Saturday, as Ortega, a former Middle Country girls’ lacrosse standout and incoming freshman at the University of Notre Dame, was part of the U.S. Under-19 women’s lacrosse national team that went undefeated before falling short in the finals of the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship, 9-8, to Canada.

“The experience was awesome and to be on that team is such an honor,” Ortega said. “It’s something that I’ll always remember, and it taught me so much about myself, and it’s made me so much of a better player over this past year that I learned so much more about the game of lacrosse.”

According to Kim Simons Tortolani, the U19 women’s head coach, more than 800 girls applied to be on the team. As part of the extensive process, regional tryouts were held beginning in August of last year, and the girls were dwindled down during several tryouts until the final team of 18 girls was chosen in January. Ortega was one of seven girls from New York to make the team. 

“The competition was really good and it was something I hadn’t really seen,” Ortega said of the tryout process. “To go up against great competition, especially once we had the team solidified, every practice we got better because all of the girls are so talented. They really challenged me.”

Simons Tortolani said Ortega made an impression early on in tryouts.

“Nikki is one of those players I can remember from the beginning being very strong and stood out amongst a lot of great players,” she said. “She is a very consistent player and played at a really high level from tryouts all the way through the tournament.”

Nikki Ortega reaches her stick out in an attempt to block. Photo from Alan Rennie/Lacrosse Magazine
Nikki Ortega reaches her stick out in an attempt to block. Photo from Alan Rennie/Lacrosse Magazine

The coach said the girls were put through a rigorous mental, physical and emotional tryout process, some of the stress being intentional, to see if the girls had what it took to be a part of the team.

“Nikki was able to manage and handle all of that, and that’s why she made it through the process,” she said. “We had some athletes who maybe, at times, were a little bit flashier, but were not nearly as consistent, and the thing about Nikki was that she quietly does what she needs to do on the offensive end.”

After the roster was solidified, the girls practiced for a few weekends before heading to Scotland to compete in the tournament.

The girls went undefeated at 5-0 through pool play, making them the No. 1 seed heading into the quarterfinals. During pool play, USA outscored its opponents by a combined score of 90-19.

In the team’s third game, Ortega had her breakout performance of the competition. In a 19-6 win over Australia, the attack scored six goals and added two assists, to be named the Player of the Match.

“She really just was unstoppable every time she touched the ball,” Simons Tortolani said. “She’s smart, she reads the game well, we had enough confidence in her to ask her to help start to run the offense, calling the plays and I think that’s because she has a calm, steady effect on the offensive end.”

USA came close to shutting out New Zealand in the quarterfinals, topping its opponent 18-1, and followed with a semifinal win over England, 20-4, before taking on Canada in the finals.

“The atmosphere the entire 10 days of the tournament was really exciting,” Ortega’s mother, Sue, said. “All of the parents of team USA were wearing red, white and blue and they were very excited and supportive for the girls. It’s an unbelievable feeling to see Nikki representing her country and being a contributor, and I’m just full of pride and proud of the player and the person she’s become.”

Team USA, which was vying for its fifth consecutive gold medal, lost in a close match that involved several ties and started off being a difficult matchup because of the weather. Ortega, who scored 19 goals and 10 assists over the course of the tournament, and had at least a hat trick in four of her seven games, said the team did not play like themselves.

“I personally think we were more talented and it just didn’t go our way,” she said. “The weather when we got out there was horrible and a lot of us couldn’t even catch, but lacrosse means so much to me and I had to give up so much to get to where I am, so to know it all paid off in the end really means a lot. I never dreamed of accomplishing all of these things.”

The team had outscored Canada 15-9 in pool play, but Simons Tortolani said she thinks part of the team’s downfall was that it’s competition wasn’t as tough as Canada’s was throughout the tournament.

“I think the team did come together and certainly improved, in retrospect, it probably would’ve been better for us if we had some more challenging games during the pool play,” she said. “But it was a great experience for all of us who were involved. Getting to know these girls and coaching players like Nikki is a privilege and an honor and the girls represented our country and our sport in a way that I’m truly proud of.”

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File photo by Michael Ruiz

The Emma Clark Library, located on Main Street in Setauket, is pleased to announce new video game collections for both the Children’s and Teen departments. Games for teens are coming in August, and the children’s games will be available this fall.

Video and computer game playing, when practiced in moderation, has many benefits. While kids are gaming, they are also learning how to collaborate in a team, strategize, explore, make decisions and take risks. The games help kids prepare for today’s fast-paced digital world. Video games can be fun and motivating, and along with books and traditional games, they are another method of educating our youth in the 21st century.

The library has ordered games for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox360, and Xbox One and will include popular titles such as “Splatoon,” “Just Dance 2015,” “Little Big Planet 3,” “Lego Jurassic World” and “Batman: Arkham Asylum.” Like movies, video games will circulate for one week and may be renewed as long as no one else has reserved the game. Patrons may also recommend games for the library to purchase; the library will be accepting suggestions for games rated T or lower.

The library also holds special “Minecraft,” Xbox, and Wii U programs throughout the year for both kids and teens in the Technology Center. All programs may be found in the printed newsletter or online at www.emmaclark.org/newsletters.

If you have any questions about the new video game collections, you may contact [email protected] or [email protected].

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Wacky Chad, the stunt comedian, gets some air in the company of West Meadow Beach visitors at last Wednesday’s Jewish festival. Photo by Peter DiLauro

By Carin M. Smilk

It was a real scorcher, according to those who attended the sixth annual Jewish Summer Festival, referring to Wednesday’s, July 29, event at West Meadow Beach in East Setauket in the midst of a heat wave that marked a week of 90-degree weather.

But it also turned out to be the largest turnout yet, with more than 500 people attending of all ages, backgrounds and affiliations.

The festival was sponsored by the Chabad Jewish Center of Stony Brook, which serves the Jewish community on Suffolk’s North Shore from Smithtown to Port Jefferson, and is co-directed by Rabbi Motti and Chaya Grossbaum. On tap was live music in the form of the high-energy Jewish rock band Yellow Red Sky; family entertainment, including a moon bounce, face painting and the award-winning stunt comedian Wacky Chad; and a kosher barbecue with all the trimmings, as well as cotton candy and Italian ices for the kids and grown-ups, too.

“There was something for every generation to appreciate,” said Jodi Casciano of Port Jefferson. “It was an evening full of warmth and connectedness — very good for the soul. The kids all had a blast, and the live music was phenomenal.”

The feeling of connectivity was alive throughout the event. In fact, the band dedicated a song in tribute to the four young women who were killed last month in a tragic limousine crash in Cutchogue: Smithtown’s Brittney Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, as well as Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack.

One of the more colorful notes of the three-hour festival occurred when the beach balls were distributed as an event giveaway. They were donated by Gayle Stock of Setauket, owner of TakeStock Inc., who declared the evening “fabulous” and is already planning to return next year.

Marty Gerber, a retiree from St. James, has been involved with Chabad for about a year and went to the festival for the first time. He said he was surprised by the size of the crowd, noting that “the tent area was overflowing.”

There were rows of chairs arranged under the shade of the tent, he described, and some even brought their own to position on the beach. The food was tasty, Gerber said.

“It’s a very good place for kids to have fun, and for the parents to relax and socialize,” Gerber said.

And that was the whole point.

“The goal is simply to bring the community together in unity for an upbeat Jewish experience,” said Rabbi Grossbaum. “It was a ‘feel good’ time for everyone there. A special shout-out goes to the main corporate sponsors, without whom it would not be possible.”

They included Jefferson’s Ferry, the Suffolk Center for Speech, Fairy LiceMothers, 3 Village Wellness, Nguyen Plastic Surgery, Gourmet Glatt, Gurwin Jewish and the Times Beacon Record Newspapers.

The event ended around 8 p.m., with the seasonal sky bringing its own sort of closure: a spectacular sunset over the beach.

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