Human remains were found along the Greenway Trail in Setauket. Photo by Phil Corso
Skeletal remains were spotted in Setauket on Sunday, prompting a police investigation, officials said.
Suffolk County police were seen investigating the human remains soon after they were found, around 4 p.m. on Sunday near at a stretch of the hiking and biking Greenway Trail off of Gnarled Hollow Road, police said. The cause of death was unknown, and it was still unclear whether the remains belonged to a male or female, cops said.
The medical examiner’s office is still determining the cause of death, police said.
The Greenway Trail runs 3.5 miles between Setauket and Port Jefferson Station. It starts at Limroy Lane on the western end and goes to the state department of transportation’s Park and Ride lot near Route 112.
Locals stopped by Hurricane Grill & Wings on Route 112 In Port Jefferson Station on March 22 to go bald for a good cause.
The bold attendees shaved their heads or cut their hair short to raise money for childhood cancer research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Many of those buzzing their heads clean were children themselves.
There is another St. Baldrick’s shaving event in the area coming up, on Saturday, March 28. The event will be at Schafer’s restaurant, on West Broadway in Port Jefferson, from 6 to 9 p.m.
St. Baldrick's Foundation
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Family and friends watch 9-year-old Joseph Savage, of East Setauket, get his head shaved at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Joseph Savage, 9, of East Setauket, gets his locks lopped off at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Christopher Ribaudo, 6, of Farmingville, shares his bald-headed happiness with his dad at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Christopher Ribaudo, 6, of Farmingville, is happy to be bald at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Christopher Ribaudo, 6, of Farmingville, gets his head shaved at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Basket winners Kieran, Cormac and Brad Leiber, of Brooklyn, are all smiles at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Auction winners are announced at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
A shaved kid looks over paperwork at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
9-year-old Regan Carlson, of Tobyhanna, Penn., holds her hair after it was cut off at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Attendees take a group photo at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
10-year-old Annmarie Ong, of Tobyhanna, Penn., prepares to have her hair chopped off at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
Selden residents Joshua Skinner, 12, Zak Jackson, 12, and Jake Donovan, 7, are happy to have lost their locks at the Hurricane Grill & Wings event on March 22 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Photo by Bob Savage
If your soil has a low pH level, you need to add plants that are heavy feeders, like tomatoes, to your garden. Photo by Ellen Barcel
By Ellen Barcel
Mild weather will be here — soon, we hope — and, with it, gardening season. You’ve read up on various plants, made your plans, observed what worked and what didn’t in your and other gardens. You’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
But, wait. Before you plant that first seed, give some consideration to the soil itself. Unless you’re planting only native plants or plants that are not heavy feeders, such as periwinkle or pachysandra or for trees, oak or pine, you need to add some things to the soil if your plans include a bountiful crop of say, tomatoes or roses.
Here’s a rundown of some possible additions to your soil and why you might need them.
• Compost is decomposed organic matter. It is the ideal soil addition for almost any plant. It’s rich in all kinds of nutrients that plants need. Compost also aerates the soil (particularly useful in clay soil) and holds moisture (particularly useful in very sandy soil). Besides, it keeps a lot of organic material out of the landfills. You take all those green clippings, shredded leaves, kitchen peels, etc., put them in your compost pile, and a number of months later, take out rich, organic matter to use on your plants. You can dig it into the soil or use as a top dressing.
• Peat moss is also organic matter that can be added to the soil. It does many of the same things that compost does, such as loosen compacted soil, aerate the soil, hold moisture and add nutrients. Pete moss is in the pH range of 3.4 to 4.8, that is, it’s very acidic. If you already have very acidic soil, then this is probably not what you need. If, on the other hand, you need to lower the pH, say you have lots of rhodies or other plants that really need acidic soil and you don’t have it, then definitely consider adding peat moss. Another way of lowering the pH of the soil is by adding fertilizers such as Miracid or Holly-tone.
• Since Long Island soil is extremely acidic (with minor exceptions), plants that do well in acidic soil will grow well here naturally. These include oak and pine, rhododendron, azaleas, blueberries, etc. But many plants that are a gardener’s favorite need a sweeter, that is more alkaline, soil. Most veggies, showy flowers and lawn grass are in this category. Check out each one you plan to grow for specifics and then test your soil, but chances are you’ll need to add lime to your soil to raise the pH. Follow the manufacturer’s directions and remember, some varieties of lime can take more than one growing season to decompose enough to be able to be taken up by the plants, so read each package carefully. An added note — lime also works if you are trying to turn your hydrangeas pink.
• Since so much of Long Island’s soil is basically sand, you definitely need to put nutrients into the soil. One benefit of using compost is that you are adding these much needed nutrients with the compost. However, for heavy feeders, you might want to add additional fertilizer. This could be in the form of compost tea, some organic commercial fertilizer or some chemical fertilizer — your choice.
• Mulch helps virtually all plants. I personally prefer an organic mulch such as pine bark because as it decomposes it amends the soil. But there are any number of acceptable mulches. Mulch keeps down weeds and helps to hold moisture in the soil. Remember to keep mulch away from the trunk of trees.
• For lawns, pre-emergent weed killer may be needed. It should be applied before the weeds have actually started growing. Remember that combination products, those that contain both weed killer and fertilizer, can’t legally be used in Suffolk County until April 1 since fertilizer can’t be applied before that date. Of course with all the snow we’ve had, that may not be a problem if we still have snow on our lawns.
A final note: many new homes have property that has virtually no topsoil at all. If this is your situation, you may want to have some delivered to help start your garden. If you are growing plants in containers, get a good quality potting soil rather than just digging up garden soil.
So, as you begin the gardening season, make your list and stock up on what you need.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
Miller Place officials proposed a driver's education program for next year. Stock photo
The Miller Place school district plans to bring a driver’s education program back to the district after roughly 10 years without it.
At the Feb. 25 budget meeting, Superintendent Marianne Higuera included a summer pilot driver’s education program in the budget — at no cost to the district. She said course fees would cover the cost of the self-sustaining program.
The district decided to add the program back as there is no location in Miller Place for students to take driver’s education. Currently, they must travel to neighboring districts or schools to participate.
No details have been made regarding the program, but the district expects to have more information at the end of May.
As a high school principal for the past 17 years, I am deeply troubled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s recent decision approving the labeling of a new form of powdered alcohol called Palcohol. This substance can be easily mixed with water or any other beverage, making it a camouflaged cocktail drink that is as easy to make as lemonade or iced tea. On so many levels, I find this decision by the manufacturer, Lipsmark LLC, to market this product a truly disturbing one.
Schools across the nation are engaged in an ongoing struggle to address the rampant alcohol and substance abuse issues that plague our communities. Each year, educational leaders and support staff must be able to identify in our students the physiological symptoms caused by the latest “designer” drugs; each year, it seems some new pharmaceutical grade substance becomes popularized in mainstream teenage culture, and before you know it, you have an epidemic on your hands. Just look at the impact that misuse of opiates has had on young adults over the past few years. I know of far too many school districts that have seen current students or graduates succumb to this or other narcotics. I weary of attending more gut-wrenching funerals for children lost to this plague. Now we have the addition of a powdered alcohol mix, which can be added to any bottled beverage while hundreds of students occupy a cafeteria. There is just no level of adult supervision that could prevent the creation of such a cocktail in school. Adolescents being risk-takers by nature, one can only imagine the out-of-school “drinking game” opportunities this new substance would create as well.
For the last three years, I have served on the Board of Directors of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD). This organization provides outreach and counseling services to thousands of individuals and families facing addiction issues on Long Island and in New York City. LICADD also works with dozens of school districts to provide training, counseling and program assistance to overwhelmed support staff employees (counselors, social workers, psychologists) who are valiantly attempting to address alcohol and drug dependence issues in students as young as 12 years old. We are appalled that such a product has the potential for sale in New York State. Since Palcohol has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it is now solely in the hands of individual states to legislate this new product and keep it off the shelves of the convenience stores that no doubt would be a prime location for its marketing and sales campaign.
If there has been one constant that I have observed in my 33 years in public education, it is that our schools have always functioned as a laboratory for observing the impact of all that ails us as a society. Financial struggles, broken families, mental illness, domestic abuse, overuse and abuse of prescription medications, teenage and adult alcohol/drug dependence, the rapidly increasing use and public acceptance of marijuana — we see it all.
To be candid, the weight of these issues dwarfs our ongoing public debate regarding Common Core education and the use of standardized testing for student and professional evaluations. I have shared with parents for years that nothing, not even getting into the best colleges, is as important as the safety and well being of our children. We cannot sit by and allow the emergence of yet another product, FDA-sanctioned or not, to add to the growing list of destructive substances that are afflicting our students and their families.
Jay Matuk, a member of the LICADD Board of Directors, also serves as the principal of Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School and is an adjunct professor at the C.W. Post Graduate School of Education Department of Educational Leadership.
Jimmy Kickel looks up the field to make a play. File photo by Kevin Freiheit
With 17 seniors returning to this year’s Ward Melville boys’ lacrosse squad, the team said it is confident that it can once again achieve the state championship-like caliber it had in the 2012-13 season, when the Patriots went 21-0-1 and won the school’s first state title since 2000.
“We have a ton of senior leadership, which is important and what all of the great teams have,” senior midfielder Jake McCulloch said. “Our chemistry is something that really stands out.”
A significant amount of this season’s returning players were also on that state championship-winning team, which should be a boost even despite 13 seniors graduating at the end of last season. Despite the small hiccup last season, the Patriots still said they are ready, and hungry.
“I think we underachieved a little bit last season, quite honestly, but we also had a significant amount of injuries,” head coach Jay Negus said. “In terms of looking forward, I’m very optimistic with this group. We have a great group of senior leaders and the initiatives that this group has taken thus far, in terms of shoveling the field by themselves, the way they warm up, the way that they’re practicing; they’re all business.”
The Patriots finished last season with a 13-6 overall record and 10-4 mark in League I play, losing in the quarterfinals of the Suffolk County Class A playoffs to West Islip, 7-5.
The boys said they are using the disappointment as motivation this season, and Negus said he has taken notice.
Jake McCulloch maintains possession in a game last season. File photo by Desirée Keegan
“They look really good, they’re whipping the ball around, they’re focused and they’re really absorbing all the stuff we’re throwing at them this early on,” he said. “Right now we’re hitting the ground running and we’re very excited about the season.”
Senior attack Danny Bucaro said the team has been going over the offensive plays and positioning in practice, and working on the simple things like ground balls, endurance, catching, throwing and shooting. The team only has two weeks to prepare for the start of the season, because of the weather, which Bucaro said differs from years past, where the team normally had three weeks to practice.
“We have to work hard all the time and give 110 percent effort,” he said. “The only thing that will bring you success is working hard. The young guys have a lot of talent and it’s really nice that we click in all aspects both on and off the field.”
As a result of this, McCulloch said he thinks the offense is going to improve because of the depth, which leads to more options to score.
Negus said Bucaro and McCulloch would be leading the way on that front.
“They are the two focal points of the offense that also lead by experience and get the rest of the guys on board,” he said, also noting other strong senior returners like midfielders Jimmy Kickel, Mike Cusmano and John Burgdoerfer, who he’s hoping will also contribute on offense.
On the other side of the field, senior Tommy Reilly is returning from back surgery, according to the coach, and will join forces with senior Michael Cirrone, junior John Day and sophomore Andrew McKenna to solidify the defensive end.
John Burgdoerfer makes a pass. File photo by Desirée Keegan
“We’re really focusing on the conditioning aspect, especially early on, to get the guys ready so that they’re in shape and that the injuries don’t happen,” Negus said. “The athleticism and the speed that this group has from offense to defense is something that is really going to help us separate from the competition.”What will also distinguish the team is the stiff competition the boys will be up against. Negus said he is following his pattern from last season and scheduled nonleague games against top teams Chaminade, West Islip, Ridgefield and Yorktown.”It’ll allow it to be the sort of litmus test for us to see what our strengths and weaknesses are,” he said. “When you go against a powerhouse like Chaminade, those things stand out right from the start.”After a scrimmage against Miller Place, the team’s first test will come in the form of Chaminade, on March 21 on the Patriots’ home turf.
Negus also kept these scheduled games as a result of the league realignment, which removed games against some top teams like Suffolk County champion Smithtown East.
“We scheduled a really difficult nonleague schedule to prepare us for that playoff push against some of the teams we’re not going to see during the year,” Negus said.
McCulloch said he is excited for the challenges ahead and is looking forward to going against high caliber teams that will show the Patriots what they need to do in order to achieve their goal.
“Even if we do come out ahead, they expose our weaknesses, and it’s better to get them out against good teams like that, and then we can work on them in practice, but playing the best competition brings out the best in us,” he said. “I think just playing as a team and the friendships that we build this year will be important, but a state championship is obviously the biggest goal.”
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum has received a grant of $135,000 from The Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation to support the restoration of the museum’s extensive marine collection, the largest privately assembled collection of sea specimens from the pre-atomic era.
William Vanderbilt (1878-1944) created his Marine Museum, which he called The Hall of Fishes, in 1922. He stocked it with marine specimens collected during voyages to the Galapagos Islands and opened it to the public for a few hours a week. He added to the collection after his circumnavigations of the globe in 1928-29 and 1930-31.
Jennifer Attonito, executive director of the foundation, said, “The Vanderbilt Museum is a Long Island gem and a major anchor of local history. We are proud to help preserve this valuable collection to benefit museum visitors and to help raise awareness of Long Island’s heritage.”
The Gardiner Foundation, established in 1987 in Hampton Bays, supports the study of Long Island history, with an emphasis on Suffolk County. The foundation was inspired by Robert David Lion Gardiner’s personal passion for New York history.
Stephanie Gress, the Vanderbilt’s director of curatorial affairs, said, “The Gardiner Foundation grant will help us to restore and preserve many rare specimens in our Marine Museum that have long needed critical attention. Our marine collection is the foundation for several key Vanderbilt education programs that serve Long Island schools.”
The Vanderbilt marine collection of 13,190 specimens is housed in the Marine Museum, Habitat and Memorial Wing. Of these, she said, 919 are invertebrates in fluid (displayed in “lots” — from two to many in a single display container); 719 dry fish specimens; 1,746 wet fish specimens in lots and 9,806 dry marine invertebrates (shells and corals). Dry specimens are exhibited on the first floor of the Marine Museum, wet specimens on the second floor.
The two largest marine specimens are a 32-foot whale shark — caught in 1935 and restored in 2008 with a federal Save America’s Treasures grant — and an imposing manta ray, caught in 1916 and restored many years ago, with a 16.5-foot wingspan. William K. Vanderbilt II called it the “Sea Devil.”
Gress said cartilaginous fish, such as sharks and rays, which have spines of cartilage instead of bone, are the most difficult to preserve. Another problem is the age of the collection — many of Vanderbilt’s earliest specimens are nearly 100 years old. When preservation fluid (ethanol and distilled water) in specimen containers degrades the wax seals, comes in contact with air and evaporates, specimens can decompose, she said.
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum is located at 180 Little Neck Rd., Centerport. For more information, call 631-854-5579 or visit www.vanderbiltmuseum.org.
Residents make their way through a Culper Spy Ring tour in East Setauket. File photo
In 1954, at the age of 15, I read “The Man Who Never Was” by Ewen Montagu. I loved this 160-page book about a successful intelligence operation, called Operation Mincemeat, that used a dead body as a fictitious British Marine Officer to convince Hitler and the German generals that the invasion of southern Europe would take place in either Sardinia or Greece instead of in Sicily, where the actual amphibious landing took place in 1943.
This year, I just completed the book “Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured and Allied Victory.” Published in 2010 and written by Ben Macintyre, this 400-page book brought to life the declassified details that were still secret until very recently.
Along the way, Macintyre enumerates the many intelligence operations that were conducted during World War II. He details the German spies who were turned to work for the British and provide false information back to Germany. He also elaborates about the spies in Spain, Germany, Italy and France who worked for the Allies, as well as the spies and intelligence leaders who worked for the Axis.
As a youth, I loved the stories that came out of World War II including “Reach for the Sky” by Paul Brickhill, published in 1954, a true story about Douglas Bader, a fighter pilot who lost his legs but continued to fly with artificial legs. I also loved the “Hornblower” series, novels by C. S. Forester, the historical novels of France in the 17th and 19th centuries by Alexandre Dumas and the American novels of the period from the Revolutionary War through the War of 1812 by Kenneth Roberts, especially the novel “Rabble in Arms.”
One of the books that really got my attention was “The Spy” by James Fenimore Cooper, written in 1821. In the introduction, Cooper noted that the man in charge of a secret committee for Congress, later determined to be John Jay, employed a spy, a common man of no great wealth, “but cool, shrewd, and fearless by nature,” who penetrated the center of British military activity in America and kept a steady stream of intelligence flowing to General Washington. I always had an idealistic idea that this spy was a member of the Setauket-based Culper Spy Ring if not its leader. The novel, “The Spy,” however, transfers the location of activity to Westchester County, Cooper’s home territory and the no-man’s land between British and American lines. This was exactly where Dragoon Major Benjamin Tallmadge, who ran the operations of the Culper Spy Ring, operated for much of the war.
If you have not visited the exhibit SPIES! at the Three Village Historical Society, this might be a good time to see the exhibit and learn the true story of the Culper Spy Ring. The story will be dramatized, sometimes wildly, for the second year on the AMC cable network beginning on Monday, April 13, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The television series is called “Turn.”
Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian.
Above, a view of Northport High School's grass field. Parents have been calling for athletic upgrades at the district's facilties. File photo by Desirée Keegan
Northport-East Northport school board member Regina Pisacani has spearheaded a new committee that would advise the board on the conditions and the potential needs of the district’s fields and the athletic facilities.
The board approved creating an Athletic Facility Advisory Committee at its Monday night meeting. Pisacani said she’s currently working on attracting candidates for the positions by putting ads in the paper and reaching out to community members. The application process is underway and the due date to apply is April 30.
This committee will focus on inspection and evaluation of the present state of athletic facilities and grounds and rehabilitation versus replacing fields, equipment and facilities. It is charged with reviewing, analyzing and summarizing the state of the district’s athletic facilities in a written report to the school board and creating a list in order of safety and importance of recommended repairs and/or replacements.
Other tasks of the group include determining the costs of the recommended repairs and analyzing outside funding opportunities to help pay for upgrades.
The committee must present a five-year plan to identify priorities for the board by Dec. 14, 2015. It must also prepare a presentation for the 2016 budget meeting.
Membership will total at least 13 people, with at least six residents appointed by the school board; two parents appointed by the president of the PTA Council; one teacher appointed by the president of the United Teachers of Northport union; two support staff members selected by their peers; one school board member appointed by the board’s president; and one administrator appointed by the superintendent. Also, the superintendent of building and grounds as well as the athletic director would be present at each of the meetings as requested.
The committee would expire on June 30, 2016.
Parents have been calling for upgrades to the district’s athletic facilities at recent meetings. In January, 27 people emailed the school district on the matter, saying the current state of the facilities at the district is “embarrassing.”
“I have to say that I am disappointed in the sports facilities (with the exception of Vets Field), particularly at the high school,” Steve Kils wrote in an email at the time. “For example, lighted football/soccer/lacrosse/field hockey fields with either well-groomed grass or, preferably, artificial turf is the standard. Our children are competing with others throughout the country with these basics, and I believe strongly that we need to make these upgrades a priority for our community and school district.”
Narcan, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, can be administered either through the nose or intravenously. File photo by Rohma Abbas
Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) is hosting a free Narcan training seminar later this month, with the goal of teaching local residents how to administer the drug that reverses opioid overdoses.
At the Comsewogue Public Library on March 31, starting at 7 p.m., community members will also learn how to identify an overdose and administer the lifesaving medication.
The seminar will take place in the community room of the library, located on Terryville Road in Port Jefferson Station, and participants must be 18 years or older.
Hahn said in a press release that the training is important “because it is often the family and friends of a victim who are first on the scene when someone is overdosing.”
Those who wish to attend must pre-register by calling the legislator’s office at 631-854-1650.
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