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Monthly Archives: March 2016

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File photo

A late night house fire on Parkside Avenue in Miller Place Thursday night killed a 70-year-old man inside, Suffolk County police said Friday.

Authorities said a 911 caller reported the fire at 106 Pakrside Ave. around 11:50 p.m. Thursday night. That was when members of the Miller Place Fire Department discovered the man, whose identity was being withheld until authorities could notify his next of kin, and pulled him out of the blaze.

Police said the fire department took the man to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, where he was pronounced dead.

Detectives said they did not believe the fire was criminal in nature.

Firefighters from other departments, including Rocky Point, Sound Beach, Mount Sinai and Middle Island also responded to the fire to help extinguish the flames, the county police department said.

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Police say a man exposed his genitals to a girl while she was walking to school in Cold Spring Harbor. Sketch from SCPD

A man exposed himself to a girl who was on her way to school earlier this week.

The Suffolk County Police Department said that on Tuesday the high school student was walking on Thicket Drive in Cold Spring Harbor around 8:20 a.m. when a man drove up to her, opened his sedan’s door and exposed his genitals. At that point, police said, the suspect called her over to the car.

She ran away and told security personnel at Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School, who contacted the police.

Police described the perpetrator as a young-looking Hispanic male in his 20s, with black hair shaved on the sides but long in the center, where it was pulled in a bun. His car was a small, tan-colored sedan with four doors.

Authorities are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the man, who is wanted for public lewdness.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest. They can be reached anonymously at 800-220-TIPS.

Anyone with information can also contact detectives at 631-854-8252.

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Smithtown cross-country runner Matthew Tullo addresses the Board of Education with members of the team and community standing in solidarity. Photo by Alex Petroski

The Smithtown boys and girls cross-country team is facing the possibility of a split, following the release of Athletic Director Patrick Smith’s budget for 2016-17 which includes a recommendation to separate the one unified team to create individual high school East and West teams. Cross-country is one of four sports in the district that includes athletes from both East and West on one unified team. An online petition to keep the team together had more than 1,100 signatures at the time of this publication.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Smith said that Section XI, Suffolk County’s sports-governing body, encourages the district to split any combined teams within districts with multiple high schools that are not under budgetary, facility or participation constraints. Smith said that none of those factors are a problem for Smithtown cross-country at this time. He recommended splitting the teams as a means to create more opportunities for student athletes. Section XI recommends splitting teams when possible, though Smith said it is not a mandate.

“It’s based on the philosophy of the district,” Smith said. “We wanted to provide more opportunities for kids.”

Smith said allowing more athletes the chance to be starters and share in the spotlight if the teams were separated would only increase the community- and family-feel that the athletes have said they fear losing. Smith also said thinking behind the change was to provide chances for more athletes to earn interest, and ultimately scholarships, from colleges.

Members of the team and parents have attended the last two school board meetings, on Feb. 23 and Tuesday, to voice their opinions about the potential split. About 40 members of the team and the community stood in solidarity with the athletes who spoke during the public commentary period of the meeting Tuesday.

“We, as athletes, find this decision to be devastating to our sport,” sophomore runner Matthew Tullo said on Feb. 23. “Our sport has a sense of community we have created by being unified by the Smithtown team.”

Tullo addressed the board again Tuesday night.

“We just want to know why this is happening,” Tullo said. “We don’t understand it. We’re a family. We act as one. We’re closest as friends can be, and to split this up, it’s nonsense. We all, standing here, showing our support, it should be moving.”

Junior cross-country runner Samantha Catalano expressed a similar sentiment on Tuesday, suggesting that East and West are rivals in most sports. Cross-country, gymnastics, swimming and bowling are the only high school sports that have one team for the two high schools.

“The team is a family, yet it is also an identifying aspect of our community, and keeping it combined simply makes sense,” Catalano said.

The district’s Assistant Superintendent for Personnel, Karen Ricigliano, and Smith said the director plans to address the athlete’s concerns publicly at a board work session on Tuesday, March 15. The decision to split or keep the team unified will ultimately be decided by a school board vote.

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An illustration by artist John Rhein is part of the church’s new exhibit. Photo from Barbara Russell

By Barbara M. Russell

The Caroline Church of Brookhaven (Episcopal), One Dyke Road, Setauket, recently unveiled a new exhibit in its History Center.

Titled “Caroline Church in the 1700s,” it is the third exhibit curated by the Historical and Cultural Arts Commission. A self-guided tour takes the visitor through five areas illustrating the church and the community in the 18th century: Settler, Missionary, Clergy, Builder and Patriot/Loyalist. The narrative and artifacts presented in each area assist the viewer to understand the church’s role in a new and growing community.

A feature of the exhibit is a whimsical frog, which greets visitors at the start, and reappears, in colorful illustrations by artist John Rhein.

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts brought Anglican missionaries to Long Island and by 1723, a congregation was formed in Setauket. Five clergy are highlighted in the exhibit; those who led the congregation from its inception, to the building of the church in 1729, through the American Revolution, and into the next century. Some architectural artifacts are on display including a round-top door and early nails.

The Patriot/Loyalist section includes biographies of two parishioners, Dr. George Muirson and his son, Heathcote. Dr Muirson, a local physician, was an ardent Loyalist, and his son, a Patriot. Also featured within the Patriot/Loyalist section is local resident, Benjamin Floyd. The viewer can decide which “side” he favored.

Two permanent exhibits, a timeline of Caroline Church and the Rector’s Gallery can also be seen.

The History Center is located in the lower level of the Parish House and is open Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon. Arrangements can be made to view the exhibit at other times by calling the Parish Office at 631-941-4245.

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This 1797 map by surveyor Isaac Hulse shows ‘Drown Meadow Bay,’ which is now called Port Jefferson Harbor. Image from the Port Jefferson Village historical archive

For the last 180 years, it’s been Port Jefferson. But before that, the village had a peculiar name given that shipbuilding was its main industry.

When John Roe, an Irish shoemaker, became the first permanent European settler to make his home there in 1682, “the settlement was called Drowned Meadow because the area that now comprises most of the commercial district was a marsh that flooded every high tide.” That’s according to the book “Images of America: Port Jefferson,” written by Port Jefferson library staffers Robert Maggio and Earlene O’Hare. They said, “That flooding, and the steep hills and deep ravines that surrounded the marsh, made farming difficult, and the village grew slowly. In fact, by 1800, there were only a handful of houses.”

But the village did grow. It became home to several shipbuilding families, to the point where the name “no longer seemed to fit [the village’s] progressive image,” the book said.

It was Elisha Bayles, the head of the Bayles shipbuilding family, who got the ball rolling. According to an account by the late George Moraitis, a local cemetery historian, the Bayles patriarch came to Drowned Meadow in 1809 from Mount Sinai and “was a strong [Thomas] Jefferson Democrat.” He “urged the renaming” to Port Jefferson.

A vote on the matter took place at a schoolhouse on March 7, 1836. According to “Images of America: Port Jefferson,” the residents “voted overwhelmingly” in support of the name change.

The Long-Island Democrat newspaper published a notice of the change later that month, describing the vote as occurring “at a large and respectable meeting of the inhabitants” chaired by Daniel Tooker.

From there, the village became more and more of what residents know today. The “Images of America” book noted that the year after the renaming vote, William L. Jones, of another prominent shipbuilding family, “began filling in the ‘drowned meadow’ by building an 18-foot-wide elevated road across its center. … This was the beginning of today’s Main Street.”

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Jurek Sadowski at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Photo from BNL

When a successful chef mixes ingredients, he changes the proportions of nutmeg to cinnamon or of parsley to oregano. He’s much more likely to focus on how the final product affects the flavor than he is the way the ingredients mix.

That’s not the case for Jurek (pronounced Yoo rek) Sadowski. Although he’s not a chef, the staff scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) would like to understand how some of the smallest pieces of organic metal complexes come together when they go through a process called self-assembly.

“I’m not only interested in obtaining the recipe for making these [products], but I’m also interested in understanding how and why things happen in these conditions on a more basic level,” Sadowski said.

Working with the low-energy electron microscope, Sadowski is a part of a team at the CFN that is involved in seeing and interpreting changes that occur on an atomic scale.

Sadowski has collaborated on environmental products that can remove greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from the air. This research helps understand how these self-assembled organic compounds develop pores of different sizes that can trap greenhouse gases.

The size of the pores works like a fishing net designed to catch the equivalent of Goldilocks gases from the air. Some gases pass right through them, while others bounce off without getting trapped. Then there are those, like carbon dioxide, that fit perfectly in the small spaces between the organic pieces.

In putting these products together, Sadowski asks what he needs to do to make the process more efficient and more selective.

The CFN is a user facility, which means that scientists around the world can benefit from the high level of technical expertise Sadowski possesses. He has worked with scientists from Columbia, Yale, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and SUNY facilities as well as visitors from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Croatia and Japan.

Sadowski with his wife Adrianna Sadowska in Central Park recently. Photo from Jurek Sadowski
Sadowski with his wife Adrianna Sadowska in Central Park recently. Photo from Jurek Sadowski

Researchers who have worked with Sadowski suggested that his scientific and technical knowledge make him a particularly effective collaborator.

The low-energy electron microscope is a “very complicated instrument,” said Richard Osgood, the Higgins professor emeritus of electrical engineering and applied physics at Columbia University, who has collaborated for years with Sadowski. “You don’t just go in and turn a dial: it’s much more complicated than that. You have to tune things up.”

Working with Sadowski greatly lowers the cost of research because he can “do something in a couple of days” that might otherwise take a graduate student or other researcher a half a year or more to figure out,” Osgood said.

Sadowski said some of the products that use self-assembly include wearable electronics, such as solar cells or clothing, or wearable medical devices.

Sadowski divides his time about equally between pursuing his own research and working with others at the CFN.

Sadowski runs his own experiments mostly in a vacuum, where he varies the temperature and the density of the molecules he’s using.

Sadowski is planning to give a talk in March at the American Physical Society meeting in Baltimore about his work.

“It’s important to understand how the molecules self-assemble themselves on the surface,” he said. “We can utilize self-assembly for further advances.”

For about five years, Sadowski has helped plan the creation of a new beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II at BNL. That beamline, which will be called the electron spectro-microscopy beamline, will be completed later this year. The beamline will use a microscope that the CFN is contributing, which will help provide structural, chemical and electronic maps of surfaces with a resolution of a few nanometers.

“We will have a much more extended capability for studying chemical reactions as they happen on the surface and the electronic structure of the materials” by combining information of the surface morphology with the electronic structure and chemistry. This, he said, will provide a “comprehensive picture of the surface, or of a catalyst, or of a reaction” as it’s occurring.

One of the first experiments he might do would be to provide a chemical map of the surface of a material. He plans to determine the oxidation state of metals making up the surface.

Sadowski lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with his wife Adrianna Sadowska (whose name is slightly different to reflect her gender). The couple met in their native Poland where he was taking a class to brush up on Japanese before moving there after he earned his Ph.D. Sadowska, who is now a wine specialist at an auction house in White Plains, was preparing for a trip to Japan as well. The two expatriates lived in Japan for almost a decade. After getting married in Japan, they came to the United States.

As for his work, Sadowski said new questions regularly inspire him. “Every day, there’s a new challenge,” he said. “I really like to solve problems, one by one.”

The work done at Sadowski’s group and at the CFN can and likely will have numerous benefits, Osgood said.

This work could “form new technology that nobody dreamed about before,” said Osgood, who was an associate director at BNL and was directly involved in the creation of the CFN. “Every time I walk out there, I kick up my heels. It’s such a wonderful facility.”

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Keynote speaker Tonjanita Johnson, above. Photo from SBU

By Karen Jillian

Last year’s Stony Brook University Women’s Symposium encouraged Stony Brook faculty to increase women’s empowerment, professional development and self-improvement. It was overwhelmingly popular, so much so that this vision of organizer Patricia Aceves is being held again on March 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The testimonials given after last year’s symposium were overwhelming:

“I learned the power of the campus network . . .”

“. . . as women leaders, we can be collaborative and competitive.”

“A very worthwhile investment of my time into my professional development. Probably the best conference/symposium that I have been to in the past 5 years.”

This year’s event has an advance 350 ticket holders from all walks of life and more are expected. “We expected Stony Brook faculty [to attend] but were literally begged by everyone in entry level positions to senior administration. Everyone from payroll clerks to nurses, researchers, have a common need to develop professionally and self-improve,” said Aceves in a recent interview.

Keynote speakers this year are Jessica Bacal, director of the Wurtele Center for Work & Life and author of ‘Mistakes I Made at Work” and Tonjanita Johnson, vice president for communications and marketing of the  University of Tennessee System. These two speakers will lead the symposium in a day filled with inspiration and conversation for women looking to further their professional careers. The empowering one-day fair will consist of over 24 workshops and leaders from our very own community.

One of those leaders is Kara Hahn, majority leader of the Democratic Caucus representing Suffolk County’s 5th District and The Village Times Herald’s 2009 Civic Woman of the Year, as well as a county legislator (D-Setauket).  Hahn will lead a discussion on Branding Yourself as a Leader: “While this segment will focus primarily on communications in the realm of politics and government, the skills highlighted during the forum are transferable to all aspects of public outreach.” 

“I am thrilled to speak to students at SBU. I have spoken there numerous times before and it is rewarding to help, motivate and encourage students,” said Hahn in a recent email.

Maria Frey, president and founder of Executive Consultants of New York, will present a workshop titled Networking Through LinkedIn. “You don’t have to spend money to advertise your goods or offerings. What you have to focus on today, more than ever, is on cultivating relationships,” stated Frey in an email.

Keynote speaker Jessica Bacal, above. Photo from SBU
Keynote speaker Jessica Bacal, above. Photo from SBU

Lisa Albinowski from the Suffolk County Women’s Business Enterprise Coalition will speak on helping yourself and others to succeed, Randi Busse from Workforce Development Group will present a workshop titled Rant and Rave in the Workplace, Rhonda Klch from Equity First will speak on how success is not always about money and Rosemarie Kluepful, the New York community liaison for the Fairway Foundation and motivational speaker/writer will speak about bullying in the workplace. An anti-bullying song, written by Kluepful, will be performed by Katie Zimmer.

Brian A. Cohen, who will introduce these women at the event from the Long Island Speakers Bureau, will also deliver a presentation on Making Networking Work for You.

With the financial assistance of The Brookhaven Science Associates, ACE  Women’s Network of NY, Scott Sanders Realty and Christine Geronimo, DDS, SBU is opening its arms and welcoming the community women with their goals and development.

The second annual Stony Brook University Women’s Symposium will be held in the Student Activities Center Ballrooms A & B. Admission is $25 for Stony Brook employees, $50 for community members and alumni and will include a continental breakfast, luncheon and door prizes, breakout sessions, networking opportunities and a book signing. For more information or to register, call 631-632-2780 or visit www.you.stonybrook.edu/forward/events/.

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Northport Village trustees Jerry Maline, left, and Damon McMullen pose together. File photo

Jerry Maline and Damon McMullen won their first bids for Northport Village trustees back in 2008. They both ran unopposed in 2012.

But on Tuesday, March 15, there is a chance the pair, who have been tied together for eight years, might be split up.

Former member of the Northport-East Northport school board Joe Sabia is the third candidate vying for the two open trustee positions this year.

“It’s a very good working relationship,” Maline said in a phone interview about McMullen. “We don’t always agree on things, but we talk it out and we come to a consensus on what’s best for the village. We support each other in our individual endeavors that help the village. We have a mutual respect for each other.”

Maline, 53, has lived in Northport since 1996. In addition to being a trustee, he also serves as the village’s commissioner of information technology, parks, personnel athletic activities and planning and development. Maline works as a trial attorney for State Farm, though his legal experience includes time in the district attorney’s office in the Bronx, as well as stints as a trial attorney for narcotics and homicide cases.

Maline said he believes his legal background has helped to keep litigation costs low for the village.

“I’m just running on my merits,” Maline said. “Everything I do is intertwined with the village… I live around the corner from Main Street. I walk through the parks five to seven times a week. I walk up and down Main Street five to seven times a week. I just want what’s best for Northport Village.”

Maline mentioned improving parking in downtown Northport as one of the goals he’d like to accomplish if he were to secure another term. One of McMullen’s causes during his tenure has been to improve the water quality of Northport Harbor and Bay, which Maline said is an issue he’d like more time to deal with.

“Ideally I’d love for kids to be able to swim in the harbor again,” Maline said.

Maline and his wife Carla have two kids, an eighth-grader and an 11th-grader, in the Northport-East Northport school district.

McMullen, who could not be reached for comment, is the current village commissioner of police and wastewater treatment. He is retired from the U.S. Postal Service, and is also a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Maline said McMullen has led the charge to improve water quality, which played a part in the reopening of the Centerport shore in July 2015.

“When you run for election, you have an idea of all of the things you want to get done, but other things came up that need attention,” McMullen said in an interview after his re-election in 2012. “Right now the main issues are improving the water quality [of Northport Harbor and Bay] and upgrading the sewer treatment plant. But we want to continue to make improvements to our parks.”

His colleagues have called McMullen a tireless worker who always finds time to help others.

Sabia said in an interview he is running because votes on the Village board too often pass with a consensus. He said he’d like to shake things up. Maline declined to comment on challenger Joe Sabia.

Election day is Tuesday, March 15, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Northport Village Hall.

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Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O’Brien was named Administrator of the Year. Photo from Rocky Point school district

When Scott O’Brien read his favorite childhood book, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” to an elementary school class during college, he had no idea how important that moment would be to the future of his career.

“I remember reading the book to them and leaving and saying, ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life. This is what I’m meant to do,’” he said. “I think I always knew.”

The landscape architect major switched his field of study to education. Since then, the Rocky Point Middle School principal has been named Administrator of the Year by the Council of Administrators and Supervisors.

Albert Voorneveld, President of the Council of Administrators, presents Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O'Brien with his Administrator of the Year award. Photo from Scott O'Brien
Albert Voorneveld, President of the Council of Administrators, presents Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O’Brien with his Administrator of the Year award. Photo from Scott O’Brien

“I love every minute of being a principal,” he said. “I feel so honored to get this, and privileged to get it, but I just love my job. I love coming to work. I love what I do, and I think it’s just an added bonus to get honored by the people that you work with, that they also feel that that love of my decisions comes through and they value what I’m doing here for them, the staff, the students and everyone in the building.”

The faculty told O’Brien of the nomination in a very unconventional way.

“They had tricked me, of course,” O’Brien said, laughing.

The principal’s staff was adamant about reminding him multiple times of a department meeting in the library one afternoon. When he entered the packed library, he knew something bigger was happening. They presented O’Brien with a wrapped box. Inside, were the nominations by each teacher who wrote a supporting statement, poem or a note of congratulations.

“Before they nominated me for the award, I was well aware that I have a very special staff,” he said. “I feel extremely fortunate to work with not only dedicated and kids-first teachers and staff, but to be able to work together with them to implement change and make our building continuously better for kids. I have reflected on that moment in the library and how grateful I am to be recognized in such a meaningful manner. The work continues and the acknowledgement further signifies the importance and continuation of my role as an educational leader.”

The principal is in his eighth year at the helm of the school, but has been in the district much longer, serving as a special education teacher, assistant principal and principal at the Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School — working in that building for more than a decade. The St. James resident, who attended the John F. Kennedy Middle School in Port Jefferson Station, also worked out-of-state for four years, in Fairfax County, Virginia. O’Brien’s grandparents lived in Rocky Point, so he said he was familiar with the area when he received his first teaching job there.

Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O'Brien has created a warm and inviting atmosphere at his school for both his staff and students. Photo from Scott O'Brien
Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O’Brien has created a warm and inviting atmosphere at his school for both his staff and students. Photo from Scott O’Brien

Nicole Gabrinowitz, a seventh-grade math teacher who has been with the district for 20 years, said she came down from the high school the same time O’Brien arrived.

“He was very welcoming,” she said. “He’s also really open to new ideas. He knows his entire staff and works hard and uses a lot of techniques you’d use in a classroom at the staff meetings to keep us close.”

A core group of staff members came up with the idea to nominate O’Brien once they heard about the award. Melinda Brooks, the school’s instructional coordinator for six years, said she wrote in her letter of recommendation that “every single person who is employed in his building is inspired to be their very best each and every day. Each year we receive many requests from teachers who want to transfer to the middle school because they want to inspire too.”

Brooks recalled when she met O’Brien in 2010 and he was warm and welcoming.

“I immediately saw that he was one of the strongest leaders in the district,” she said. “He found his calling. He was born to do this.”

On spirit day, Brooks said the principal dressed up as Superman and his wife, Theresa, whom he met while working at the elementary school and now has three children with, had her class make him a quilt for winning the award, which was decorated with all things Superman-related.

“Everyone sees him as Superman and the kids took it quite literally,” she said. “He’s someone that has an open-door policy and is willing to listen and work with you to do what is needed and is best for the community, the teachers, the kids and everyone involved.”

Dawn Callahan, an eighth-grade social studies teacher who has worked at the school since it opened nearly 14 years ago, said O’Brien has been a refreshing change.

He also, according to many, created a strong family atmosphere, and according to Callahan, looks after the staff.

“Last year we had a student that had passed away,” she said. “Knowing that I had that student for over a year and had done home-teaching at her house before she had passed, he called me personally at home to tell me about it over the weekend, instead of me coming into school the next day and finding out about it. That to me makes you realize that the people you work for really consider this a family, as opposed to being just a job.”

She added that O’Brien gives the staff areas to grow in, and the strong vibes within the building trickle down from the top.

Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O’Brien, center, poses for a photo with some of his staff after earning the Administrator of the Year award. Photo from Scott O'Brien
Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O’Brien, center, poses for a photo with some of his staff after earning the Administrator of the Year award. Photo from Scott O’Brien

O’Brien works to instill this in other teachers looking to become administrators. He teaches an administrative program at St. John’s University and The College of St. Rose in his free time.

“I love inspiring teachers to be future leaders and to change the culture of buildings and teach how to do that effectively,” he said, “and teach how to get a building to be able to support powerful learning for kids, and create a building that can be the best that it should be.”

His school is in the running win the Inviting School Award, which is a national award presented by the International Exchange of Educational Practices, and is based on the atmosphere he has created.

Regardless of the accolades and success he’s had in the field, O’Brien is just thankful for the experiences.

“Making decisions in the best interest of students while supporting staff in that process was my goal each year,” he said. “The relationships I have created, supported and maintained over the years with all members of the Rocky Point School community have played a pivotal role in where I am today as a leader. I’ve had such wonderful experiences, especially in Rocky Point, and it’s been such a second home to me.”

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Drug bust

At about 4 p.m. on March. 4, in a parking lot outside of Upsky Long Island Hotel in Hauppauge, two 25-year-old men and a 20-year-old man, all from Lindenhurst, as well as a 26-year-old woman from Greenlawn, all seated in a 2005 Ford, were arrested for having heroin in the car, police said. They were charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. At the same time and place, a 26-year-old man from Patchogue and a 23-year-old woman from Rocky Point, seated in a 2012 Honda, were arrested for having heroin in their car, according to police. They were also charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. A 28-year-old woman in a 2015 Chrysler was also arrested at the same time and place. She was charged with fourth-degree criminal facilitation for enabling another person to sell narcotics.

No license, no drive

A 30-year-old man from Holbrook was arrested on March 4 after he was pulled over for driving a 2009 Hyundai on Motor Parkway in Central Islip with a dark cover over the car’s front license plate just before 2 a.m., police said. He was charged with third-degree unlicensed operation of a vehicle when it was determined he was driving without a license.

Parking lot party

On March 4, a 55-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman from Ronkonkoma were arrested while seated in a 2009 Lincoln outside of Kohl’s in Lake Ronkonkoma. Police said there was crack cocaine in plain sight in the car, and pills found on the man, which he did not have a prescription for. The man was charged with two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, and the woman was charged with one count of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

You can run, but you can’t hide

At about 10:20 p.m. on March 4, a 21-year-old man from St. James, a 19-year-old man from Brentwood and a 19-year-old man from Nissequogue were approached by Smithtown Park Rangers while parked in a 2011 Nissan Maxima at Short Beach Town Park in Nissequogue. As the Rangers got closer to the vehicle, the driver took off and eventually crashed into a utility pole and flipped the car into the woods on Short Beach Road, police said. The driver and front seat passenger were transported to Stony Brook University Hospital by St. James ambulances and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The rear seat passenger was transported via Nissequogue ambulance to the same hospital but was listed in critical condition. The driver was charged with first-degree driving while under the influence of drugs and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Headlight out, handcuffs on

On Nesconset Highway in Smithtown, at about midnight on March 3, a 24-year-old man from Medford was pulled over by police for driving a 1999 Honda with one headlight out, police said. He was later found to be driving without a license. He was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Lucky to be alive

A 35-year-old man from Dix Hills crashed a 2012 Acura at about 11 p.m. on March 3 while driving on Johnson Avenue in Ronkonkoma, police said. He was charged with driving while intoxicated with a previous conviction in the last 10 years.

Bug bombed

At about 1 a.m. on March 2, an 80-year-old man from Islip was arrested for throwing three 32-ounce cans of indoor fogger, used to kill insects, through a window of a home on Grand Boulevard in Islip, police said. He was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief with the intent to damage property.

Careful who you steal from

At LA Fitness on Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge, an unknown person stole money and credit cards from a 2014 Jeep parked there on March 5, just after noon, police said.

Put a ring on it

Police arrested a 29-year-old man from Port Jefferson Station for grand larceny, for allegedly stealing an engagement ring from a residence and pawning it on Feb. 22. Police arrested him on March 2 on Route 25A in Port Jefferson.

Axe to grind

On March 3, a homeless man allegedly held a metal axe over his head as he advanced toward another man near a home on Old Post Road in Mount Sinai. Police arrested him for menacing at the scene.

ShopWrong

Police arrested a Hampton Bays resident on March 6 around 10:16 p.m. for petit larceny, after the 36-year-old woman allegedly took assorted groceries without paying from ShopRite at College Plaza in Selden. Police arrested her at the scene.

Bracelet blunder

A 18-year-old man from Port Jefferson Station was arrested for criminal possession of stolen property, after police said the man stole a 14-karat gold bracelet from All Island Jewelry & Loan on Middle Country Road in Centereach on Feb. 29 at 11:15 a.m.

Swiper, no swiping!

A Port Jefferson Station resident was arrested on Feb. 29 for driving while ability impaired. Police said the man was driving a 2000 Toyota Camry when he sideswiped a parked car on Joline Road.

Caught off-guardrail

On March 5, a Stony Brook resident was driving a 2000 Toyota Camry on Route 25A in Setauket when she crashed her car. According to police, the 28-year-old woman struck a guardrail before hitting several trees along the road. Police arrested the woman for driving while ability impaired at the scene, around 2:08 a.m.

People, stop driving impaired!

Police charged a 45-year-old man with driving while ability impaired on March 4. The Lake Grove resident was driving a 2008 Jeep when an officer allegedly saw him speeding on Route 25A. Police pulled over the man on the corner of Route 25A and Hawkins Road in Stony Brook and arrested him at the scene.

Planted into jail cell

A 31-year-old man from Port Jefferson Station was arrested on March 2 after allegedly loitering on Garden Road in Rocky Point. According to police, authorities discovered he was in possession of cocaine and arrested him at the scene for loitering and unlawful use of controlled substances.

Breakfast of champions

On the morning of March 2, police charged a 36-year-old man from Rocky Point with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. The man was driving a black Toyota Camry on Route 25A in Port Jefferson Station when an officer pulled him over. Police allegedly discovered the man to be in possession of heroin and prescription medication, as well as hypodermic needles.

Emancipating cash

On March 3 around 8 p.m., someone broke the rear window of a residence on Lincoln Avenue in Port Jefferson Station and stole cash from inside.

No photos, please

Police said a man took photos of a female couple on March 4 at Grumpy Jack’s Sports Bar & Grill on Oakland Avenue in Port Jefferson. When the man refused to delete the photos, one of the women hit him in the head with a bottle. The couple fled and the man refused medical attention.

Crazy thief

Between March 3 and 4, according to police, someone pried open the rear door of the Crazy Beans coffee establishment on Route 25A in Miller Place and stole a safe containing money.

Stop that shopping

Police said a woman left her purse in a shopping cart after shopping at Stop & Shop on Pond Path in South Setauket on March 6 and drove off. The purse was stolen before she returned to the store. Police said several credit cards were used.

Rather safe than sorry

Between Feb. 29 and March 4, someone broke into a residence on Magnolia Drive in Selden and stole money from an unlocked safe.

A little housekeeping

Around 1:45 p.m. on March 6, someone stole two blenders and a vacuum from Walmart on Nesconset Highway in East Setauket.

Thief is on fire

Police said sometime between March 1 and March 2, someone stole a Kindle Fire and coins from a car parked on Strathmore Gate Drive in Stony Brook.

Sound Beach slasher

Someone slashed the tires of a 2014 Hyundai Elantra that was parked outside a residence on Blue Point Road in Sound Beach on the night of March 2.

I will avenge you!

Around 11 p.m. on March 2, an unknown person damaged the rear window of a 2008 Dodge Avenger parked near Route 25A in Rocky Point.

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