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Monthly Archives: March 2016

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A map from the early 1960s includes proposed lots for a Port Jefferson parking district. Main Street runs down the middle. Photo from Port Jefferson Village historical archive

Woodard Square. Crystal Lake Square. If Port Jefferson residents hadn’t banded together to oppose their town, those would be the names of parking lots paved through the middle of a few downtown blocks.

In the early 1960s, Brookhaven Town officials had proposed a parking district in lower Port that would have called for several buildings to be demolished to make way for asphalt, according to the village historical archive. But Port Jefferson residents came together as a property owners association to defeat the idea.

A 1961 map depicting the proposed parking district shows a large lot called Loper-McNamara Square in the location where Port Jefferson’s biggest parking lot, referred to as the “Meadow lot,” is now; a Woodard Square lot on the south side of East Main Street, where it meets Main Street and where the post office and a few other businesses currently stand; a Davis Square lot at residential space between South and Spring streets, near High Street; a lot called Round the Block Square, where the village’s Traders Cove parking lot is now; and a Crystal Lake Square lot on the south side of Maple Place.

The plan was abandoned after homeowners, who were then living in an unincorporated village, reacted negatively to it and formed The Property Owners Association of Port Jefferson, according to the village archive.

A drawing depicts the proposed Woodard Square lot on East Main Street, with the old Baptist church pictured back center, as part of an idea for a Port Jefferson parking district. Photo from Port Jefferson Village historical archive
A drawing depicts the proposed Woodard Square lot on East Main Street, with the old Baptist church pictured back center, as part of an idea for a Port Jefferson parking district. Photo from Port Jefferson Village historical archive

The town, under the direction of former Supervisor August Stout Jr. and later Supervisor Charles R. Dominy, held public meetings at Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, warranting the property owners to publish flyers that were a proverbial call to arms for neighbors.

“Port Jeff will be sold down the river unless you attend the official public hearing on the parking district,” read one flyer, in relation to a March 21, 1962, meeting. “This is it. Everyone concerned with this problem and the future of Port Jeff must be there.”

Another flyer said the homeowners supported improvement, but said about the parking district proposal, “No, no, no.”

The property owners association that helped derail the parking plan also championed the village’s incorporation.

Later in the same year as that meeting, on a snowy Dec. 7, 1962, residents voted 689-361 to incorporate Port Jefferson.

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Deborah Bonacasa signs the deed for her new home in Sound Beach. Photo by Ron Pacchiana/JPA STUDIO

When Louis Bonacasa was to return home from his fourth deployment to Afghanistan, he told his wife he’d make it his last. He wanted to settle down, buy a home, become a dietician technician, open a business, give his 5-year-old daughter Lilianna a sibling and finally begin his life.

But Bonacasa didn’t return home.

Councilwoman Jane Bonner presents Deborah Bonacasa, who is fighting back tears, with a certificate of congratulations. Photo by Ron Pacchiana/JPA STUDIO
Councilwoman Jane Bonner presents Deborah Bonacasa, who is fighting back tears, with a certificate of congratulations. Photo by Ron Pacchiana/JPA STUDIO

To honor him and his wife Deborah, also a veteran, the Rocky Point VFW Post 6249 chose the Bonacasa family to receive one of two homes being built on Tyler Avenue in Sound Beach.

“I don’t have the words,” said Deborah Bonacasa, whose husband was one of six killed in a suicide bomb attack on Dec. 21. “It’s an honor and I’m just very happy and overwhelmed with joy for their support in fulfilling this dream, because it’s something that my husband always wanted to do for the family — to provide the home for us. So it’s quite an honor.”

VFW Post Commander Joe Cognitore held the contract signing at the Fischer/Hewins post last Wednesday, and said it was a moving moment to be a part of.

“It was one of the best days I’ve had in all my time here at the VFW,” he said. “It was very cathartic. To know that we’ve helped Deborah out, and not only was her husband a veteran but she is too, it’s that much more gratifying to be able to honor both for their service.”

This is the ninth home that Cognitore and the VFW have partnered with Mark Baisch on, of Landmark Properties in Rocky Point.

“It’s my way of giving back,” Baisch said. “The Bonacasas are fantastic. It couldn’t be a better selection.”

Landmark Properties builds the houses from the ground up, and Bonacasa was able to pick out some of the finishing touches to make the house special to her.

Lilianna Bonacasa, 5, holds up a photo of her family's new home given to them by the Rocky Point VFW Post 6249. Photo by Ron Pacchiana/JPA STUDIO
Lilianna Bonacasa, 5, holds up a photo of her family’s new home given to them by the Rocky Point VFW Post 6249. Photo by Ron Pacchiana/JPA STUDIO

“I was able to pick out cabinets, flooring, what type of granite I wanted,” she said. “I was able to personalize it and able to pick certain colors that my husband would have liked to have in the kitchen and bathroom, so that was a special time.”

Bonacasa currently lives in California and lived with her husband in Coram for nine years after leaving the U.S. Air Force in 2006, and said that being able to move into the new home in two-and-a-half months is even more special because she’ll be able to be closer to him.

“We’ll be 20 minutes away from Calverton, so we’ll be on the Island with my husband,” she said, fighting back tears. “It’s bittersweet. I wish he were here to see and experience all of these wonderful things. It’s a beautiful home.”

Through tragedy, Bonacasa has been brought closer to her husband and to the new community she will be a part of. A home next door to hers will also house a veteran family. It has not yet been determined who will receive that home.

“I just want to thank everyone involved for all the love and support that they’ve shown our family,” Bonacasa said, sobbing. “I’ll never forget my husband and the sacrifices that he made. Not only did we lose a hero, but a wonderful man.”

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From left, Olivia Santoro, Daphne Marsh, Victoria Daza, Aaron Watkins-Lopez and Blanca Villanueva, representing advocacy groups for education funding delivered a petition to Sen. John Flanagan’s Smithtown office Wednesday. Photo by Alex Petroski

A small group of people carried the voices of thousands of New Yorkers standing up for the students across the state.

Activists representing four New York State and Long Island groups in support of education funding — especially for low income districts — dropped off a petition with more than 9,000 signatures from across New York to state Sen. John Flanagan’s (R-East Northport) office in Smithtown Wednesday. Those in support of the petition pledged their support for state Assemblymen Carl Heastie’s (D-Bronx) “millionaire tax bill,” which was introduced in February and proposed an increase in taxes to those who earn upwards of $1 million annually.

The petition was also in support of a full phase-in of the money still owed to pay off the Campaign for Fiscal Equity resolution, which ensured that $5.5 billion would be committed to mostly high-need districts in 2007, and was supposed to take effect over the course of four years. This was a result of a lawsuit started in 1993, which eventually reached the New York State Court of Appeals, which ruled that high-need districts were being neglected. About $781-million of that money is still owed to Long Island schools, according to advocates of the resolution.

The groups represented at Flanagan’s office included New York Communities For Change, Jobs With Justice, Long Island Progressive Coalition and Alliance for Quality Education as well as community members from across Long Island. Flanagan was not in his office, and a legal aide who took the petition declined to comment.

“We need to address the emotional, physical, social, needs of the child and the Senate has shown that they are not caring right now with the budget they have proposed,” said Blanca Villanueva, an organizer from Alliance for Quality Education. “We need them to represent us because they represent all of Long Island and all of New York State.”

The petition was also delivered to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s New York City office, Villanueva said.

Flanagan has said in the past that he is against the millionaire tax bill. He did not respond to a request for comment regarding the petition.

“As a constituent of Sen. Flanagan’s, I am calling on him to support the millionaire’s tax,” said Olivia Santoro, a member of the Long Island Progressive Coalition. “I valued my public school education and I want the same opportunity for students growing up in his district and across Long Island. That means that we need to fully fund our schools.”

On March 21, a group of about 40 wealthy New Yorkers in conjunction with the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Responsible Wealth Project sent an open letter to Cuomo in support of Heastie’s millionaire tax bill. Those in support included Steven C. Rockefeller and Abigail Disney, among others.

Flanagan’s proposed 2016-17 budget would eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment, which has cost districts across the state millions of dollars over the past several years in an effort to close a deficit. It also included almost $600 million for education, though Villanueva said at Flanagan’s office that it was not enough.

“We’ve got this Campaign for Fiscal Equity that we’ve been working very hard to support and we hope that [Sen. Flanagan] can stand with the students in making sure that they receive a quality education and the funding that’s necessary in order to deliver that,” Melissa Figueroa of New York Communities For Change said Wednesday. “We need this support, and I hope that he gets down with us.”

Figueroa is also running for a school board seat in Hempstead School District.

Signs held by those in support of the petition read, “Stand up 4 kids, NOT billionaires,” “Sen. Flanagan, who do you represent?” and “Millionaires Tax: Raise taxes on the 1% by 1% to raise billions for public school education.” The petition was launched on ColorOfChange.org, an organization dedicated to fighting institutional racism.

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Smithtown backs off proposal to split cross-country team

Samantha Catalano, a junior runner, speaks to the board on March 8. Photo by Alex Petroski

Smithtown Schools Superintendent James Grossane announced at a board of education meeting Tuesday that he and Athletic Director Patrick Smith, upon the request of the board, would remove the proposal from Smith’s athletic budget that would split the unified East and West cross-country team. Grossane said that the team would remain together for the 2016-17 school year, and the idea of splitting would be revisited during budget season next year.

The idea to split the team, which is one of four sports in the district that has athletes from both high schools on one team, was presented by Smith as a means for more student athletes to play a key role, which would in turn get them more opportunities to earn college scholarships.

“It’s based on the philosophy of the district,” Smith said in an interview last week. “We wanted to provide more opportunities for our kids.”

Sophomore runner Matthew Tullo, who has filled the role of spokesperson for the effort to keep the team together, addressed the board again Tuesday.

“As you can tell, it really means a lot to all of us,” Tullo said, referencing the numerous boys and girls cross-country participants, who have been well represented at board of education meetings for the last month. “It’s really amazing, and I really appreciate everyone involved deciding to keep us together. On behalf of the Smithtown cross-country team, I’d like to say thank you for listening to us for the four weeks. I know we were kind of annoying. I’d like to say thank you for keeping our team—actually, keeping our family — together. It really means a lot.”

School Board President Christopher Alcure responded to Tullo’s comments.

“The board listened across the last four or so weeks,” Alcure said. The board asked Grossane and Smith to reconsider the split following a budget workshop on March 15.

“From the board I will say this: you made us very proud,” Alcure added. “You were very articulate, very respectful. We’re very proud of what the teachers do in our district in terms of not only the educational and instructional side of things, but they teach you the ways of life and how to be respectful and how to handle yourself in front of a big crowd. We’re happy to keep it together for you guys.”

Section XI, Suffolk County’s governing body for athletics, encourages districts with more than one high school to split any combined teams that are not under budgetary, facility or participation constraints. The Smithtown cross-country team has none of those issues. However, it is only encouraged. It is not a mandate. Gymnastics, swimming and bowling are the other Smithtown sports that have a unified East and West team.

“The team is a family, yet it is also an identifying aspect of our community, and keeping it combined simply makes sense,” junior runner Samantha Catalano said at a board meeting March 8. The team started an online petition that had 1,159 signatures at the time this was written.

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Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D) hosted Huntington Town’s annual Eggstravaganza event on Thursday, March 24 at Heckscher Park. Kids from all over town came to hang out with the Easter Bunny, hunt for eggs, get their faces painted, and color. The town also collected food donations from all participants for the local food pantry.

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A mom and her daughter color in a photo of the East Bunny. Photo by Alex Petroski
Organizers of the Eggstravaganza collected food donations at the entrance of the event at Heckscher Park Thursday. Photo by Alex Petroski
Kids who attended the Heckscher Park Eggstravaganza event Thursday had their faces painted by volunteers. Photo by Alex Petroski
A young girl looks for more eggs. Photo by Alex Petroski
participant collects eggs filled with candy at Heckscher Park Thursday. Photo by Alex Petroski
A young girl mimicked the Easter Bunny, hopping around on the Heckscher Park grass while waiting in line to have her face painted at the Eggstravaganza Thursday. Photo by Alex Petroski
A group of kids collect some loot at the Eggstravaganza at Heckscher Park Thursday. Photo by Alex Petroski
One the many Easter baskets filled with eggs. Photo by Alex Petroski
A young smiles as she shows off the eggs she has collected. Photo by Alex Petroski

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The John W Engeman Theater. Photo from Jessie Eppelheimer

The streets of Northport have come alive with music and laughter in the past 10 years — and that’s all thanks to the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport.

The Main Street theater first opened its doors in 2007 and has been providing Long Island residents with quality entertainment at an affordable price ever since.

When it comes to why theater lovers should chose the Engeman theater over a Broadway show, Director of Operations Michael DeCristofaro said the Northport venue offers an experience you could never get on Broadway.

“We don’t have the space Broadway has,” DeCristofaro said in an interview. “We don’t have wing space or fly space, so we really are able to slow these shows down and find the heart and the essence of the show. People come and see shows like they’ve never seen them before. We’re really able to get into the story of the characters.”

The theater during construction. Photo from Jessie Eppelheimer
The theater during construction. Photo from Jessie Eppelheimer

DeCristofaro said some shows like “West Side Story,” “The Producers” and the upcoming show “Memphis” stand out as really being able to accomplish just that.

“We were told by numerous patrons, ‘better than Broadway,’” he said. “People felt that seeing it in an intimate venue like this without all the distracting flash of pizzazz and set pieces moving in and out really helped them focus on the characters and have fun and get involved.”

Another aspect of the theater that may contribute to the more intimate setting is the distance from the seats to the stage. According to Jessie Eppelheimer, the operations administrator, the back seats are only about 75 feet from the stage, “which you could never get at a Broadway show,” she said in an interview.

But there is one crucial way in which DeCristofaro thinks his theater stands shoulder to shoulder with Broadway, and that’s in the talent.

“We have a really good amount of Broadway talent,” he said. DeCristofaro listed Eddie Mekka, a Tony-nominated actor, and Michael McGrath, a multiple Tony award-winning actor, as two actors who had lead roles in previous shows at Engeman.

“If our alumni are not on Broadway, they’re in a national touring production,” DeCristofaro said. “We get some really incredible top-notch talent and it’s great for the local community to try and see that top notch talent here in Northport for half of the price they’d paid on Broadway.”

But it wasn’t always that way.

What is now a year-round full equity theater, producing multiple shows a year, was once just a small village movie house.

Originally built in 1912, silent movies used to play at the theater for 50 cents a person. In 1913, the Northport trolley helped make night shows a possibility, and by 1930, talking films came to the village. But two years later, the theater was struck with a fire that completely destroyed the establishment, forcing it to close its doors.

The new theater opened in November 1932 with 754 seats and was positioned directly next door to where the original one had stood. “Sherlock Holmes,” starring Clive Brook and Ernest Torrence, was first to be shown.

According to Eppelheimer, many of the original aspects of the 1930 theater still stand today, including the entire lobby, walls in the theater room and some of the lighting.

“People were attached to [the original design] and they tried to keep it as familiar as possible when they reopened,” she said.

In 2007, Huntington residents Kevin O’Neill and his wife Patti, owners of the theater, welcomed audiences to see real-time plays for the first time, and residents from all over Long Island have been filling in the seats ever since. The theater was named in tribute to O’Neill’s brother, Chief Warrant Officer Four John William Engeman, who was killed in Iraq in May 2006.

The theater now holds up to 400 audience members, has a full bar and lounge and shows multiple musicals and plays annually. Eppelheimer said there are about 5,000 season ticket holders and the theater has an 80 percent retention rate.

For the 10th anniversary season, the Engeman will feature a lineup exclusively of musicals, including a repeat of the inaugural show “Jekyll and Hyde.”

“We’re paying tribute to the first season,” Eppelheimer said. Other shows in the coming year include “Mamma Mia,” “Oklahoma” and “Mary Poppins.”

Over the years the theater has expanded, offering children shows, theater-school programs and hosting charity events.

“It was always intended to not just be a theater,” DeCristafaro said. “We wanted to be able to do more for the community and get children and parents involved.”

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Jamaican me crazy, thief!
On March 19 at 5:20 p.m., police arrested a 38-year-old man from Port Jefferson Station for petit larceny. According to police, the man stole assorted tools from a store on Jamaica Avenue. He was arrested at his home.

More impaired drivers drive us crazy
A 40-year-old man was arrested on March 20 for driving while ability impaired. The Port Jefferson Station resident was driving a 2012 Mercedes when he crashed into another car on East Broadway in Port Jefferson. Police discovered the man was intoxicated and arrested him at the scene, at 1:59 a.m.
Police arrested a woman from Farmingville on March 18, for driving while ability impaired. According to police, the 24-year-old woman was driving a 2015 Jeep on Mariners Way in Port Jefferson when she ran through a stop sign. Police arrested her at 12:17 a.m.
On March 19 around 1:10 a.m., police arrested a 55-year-old man for driving while ability impaired. The Port Jefferson man was driving a 2010 Ford Explorer on Main Street in Setauket when he crashed into another car.
On March 17, police arrested a 41-year-old man for driving while ability impaired. Police said the man was driving a 2012 Volkswagen on Middle Country Road in Centereach when he failed to maintain his lane. Police pulled the man over and arrested him at the scene around 1:07 a.m.

Route to court
Police arrested a 19-year-old man from Medford for petit larceny on March 20. According to police, the man stole an iPhone from a residence near Route 25 in Selden. Police arrested him at the scene, around 12:50 a.m.

That’s not my name
A 43-year-old man from Rocky Point was arrested on March 16 for using a false instrument and intent to defraud. According to officials, the man filed for a new driver’s license while his original license was suspended. Police arrested the man at his residence around 5 p.m.

It didn’t give him wings
According to police, on March 20 around 12:48 p.m., someone stole a four-pack of Red Bull energy drink from a store on Nesconset Highway in Mount Sinai.

A cig-nature crime
On March 14 around 11 p.m., an unidentified person stole a pocketbook from a 1991 Toyota parked on Park Avenue in Centereach. Police said the thief used the victim’s credit card to buy cigarettes at a store.

You’ve been audited
Police said that on March 16 around noon, a woman on East End Road in Sound Beach received an IRS scam call. According to police, the woman gave the unidentified caller money.

Quit fencin’ around
Between midnight and 8 a.m. on March 20, someone damaged a fence at a residence on Kale Road in Rocky Point.

You don’t got mail
Between March 19 at 7:30 p.m. and March 20 around 1 p.m., someone damaged the mailbox of a residence on Dartmouth Road in East Shoreham. Police said the suspect broke the mailbox and ripped it off its wooden post.

Shop ‘til you drop
Someone stole various shirts and pants on March 15 from Bob’s Stores on College Road in Selden. Police said the incident happened around 5:15 p.m.

Gassing up
On March 15 around 4:25 a.m., an unidentified person broke a window to a gas station on Main Street in Setauket-East Setauket and stole cigarettes, cash and two cash registers.

Out of my way
According to police, two senior citizens in assisted living got into an altercation on March 19 around 8:15 a.m. Police said one citizen punched the other in the face because the individual was in their way. The incident happened on Sunrise Drive in Setauket-East Setauket. The victim didn’t press charges.

Suspended license driver stopped
A 25-year-old man from Smithtown was driving a 2000 Jeep on Amsterdam Road in Smithtown at about 5 p.m. on March 19 when he was pulled over by police. He was found to be driving with a suspended license, police said, and was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Merchandise goes missing
At Kohl’s in Lake Ronkonkoma, at about 10:30 p.m. on March 19, a 46-year-old woman from Fort Myers, Florida, stole shoes, jewelry and other items, police said. She was charged with petit larceny.

Watch out for watch thieves
On March 19 at about 8:30 p.m., a 25-year-old man from East Patchogue was arrested in Lake Grove for stealing watches from Macy’s at the Smith Haven Mall, police said. He was charged with petit larceny.

Thief thwarted
A 20-year-old man from Hauppauge was arrested on March 18 for stealing money from a home on Stengel Place in Smithtown on Sept. 25, 2015, police said. He was charged with petit larceny.

Intentional car crash
At a home on Bridge Road in Smithtown, on Nov. 18, police said a 43-year-old man from East Patchogue intentionally drove a 1994 Honda into the bumper of another car and then left the scene of the crash. He was arrested on March 18 and charged with criminal mischief with the intent to damage property and leaving the scene with property damage.

Television taken
On March 18, a 20-year-old woman from Commack was arrested for stealing a television from a home on Fisher Road in Commack on March 7, police said. While being searched during the arrest, she was found to have a hypodermic needle and a controlled substance in her possession. She was charged with petit larceny, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and possession of a hypodermic instrument.

Woman escapes police custody
A 21-year-old woman from Centereach was arrested in Smithtown on March 18, at about noon, on a bench warrant from another jurisdiction. While being transported, she escaped from the vehicle and fled to a nearby wooded area, police said. She was arrested again at about 1:30 p.m. and charged with escaping jail/custody.

Fake inspection
At the corner of Route 25 and Mayfair Terrace in Commack, at about 11 p.m. on March 18, police stopped a 20-year-old man from Central Islip driving a 2000 Honda Civic. According to police, his New York State inspection sticker was found to be fraudulent. He was arrested and charged with second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

Free beer and gift cards
On Nov. 9, 2015, a 31-year-old man from Smithtown used a debit card belonging to another person without permission on Route 25A in Kings Park to buy a gift card and beer, police said. He was arrested on March 17 and charged with fourth-degree grand larceny of a credit card.

Windshield cracked
Police said a 25-year-old man from Lake Grove intentionally broke the windshield of a 2008 Dodge on Route 25A in Shoreham at about 10:30 p.m. on March 2. On March 16, he was arrested and charged with criminal mischief with the intention of damaging property.

Excavator disappears
An unknown person stole an excavator from Grace LLC Industries on Route 347 in Smithtown at about 2:30 p.m. on March 18, police said.

Domestic items lifted
A Dyson vacuum cleaner, a blender and a quilt were stolen from Target on Veterans Memorial Highway in Commack at about 4 p.m. on March 13, police said.

Credit cards clipped from Chevy
At about 10 p.m. on March 18, an unknown person stole a wallet containing credit cards from an unlocked 2013 Chevy parked on the road outside of a home on Innis Avenue in Lake Ronkonkoma, police said.

Hit-and-run
A 51-year-old woman from Huntington Station was arrested on March 20 for leaving the scene of an accident at the corner of Woodbury Road and Route 108 in Huntington, police said. On March 6 at about 1 p.m., she rear-ended another car in her 2012 Jeep and then fled, according to police. She was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.

Almost got away
On East Pulaski Road in Huntington at about 4 a.m. on March 18, a 22-year-old man from Huntington was pulled over for speeding in a 2016 Audi, police said. During the stop, police determined that he was intoxicated. While at the 2nd Precinct, he ran about 40 feet away from an officer trying to reach a door, but he was stopped, according to police. He was charged with third-degree escape and driving while intoxicated.

Heroin arrest
On March 17 at about 5 p.m., a 34-year-old woman from Huntington Station was arrested on the corner of Walt Whitman Road and Overhill Road in Huntington for possessing heroin and a hypodermic needle, police said. She was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and possession of a hypodermic instrument.

Crooked man at Crooked Rail
Police were called to The Crooked Rail on Larkfield Road in East Northport at about 11 p.m. on March 19 to deal with a drunk and unruly customer. Emergency medical personnel were called to treat a 47-year-old man from Kings Park. The man spit at and bit officers while being moved on a gurney, then flailed and kicked an officer in the head and chest, according to police. One officer suffered a broken hand as a result of the incident. The man was charged with second-degree assault with the intent of causing injury to a police officer and second-degree obstruction of government administration.

Interlocked up
On the corner of Broadway and Pulaski Road in Greenlawn at about 8 a.m. on March 18, a 27-year-old man from Brentwood was driving a 2002 Honda when he was pulled over by police. He was found to be driving without a required interlock device and was charged with circumventing interlock operation without a device.

Law-canceling headphones
A 22-year-old man from Roosevelt and a 21-year-old man from Hempstead were arrested on March 20 at Target on Jericho Turnpike in Huntington at about 7 p.m. for stealing headphones, police said. The Roosevelt man was found to be in possession of two different stolen out-of-state license plates. He was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny. The Hempstead man lied to police about his name when he was arrested. He was charged with petit larceny and second-degree criminal impersonation.

Unlicensed driver with drugs
Police pulled over a 22-year-old man from Huntington Station driving a 2011 Lexus on the corner of 11th Street and Lennox Road in Huntington Station at about 9 p.m. on March 20. He was found to be driving with a suspended license for the second time in about a month, police said. When searched, police found prescription drugs, marijuana and heroin in his possession. He was charged with two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle.

Gas station theft
A 52-year-old man from East Northport stole items from U.S. Petroleum gas station on Larkfield Road in East Northport at about 4 p.m. on March 17, according to police. He was charged with petit larceny.

Park and ride predator
On March 19 at about 9 p.m., a 43-year-old man from Deer Park stole keys and a wallet containing credit cards and cash from a car parked on the corner of Commack Road and the Expressway’s North Service Road, police said. He was charged with third-degree robbery.

All taken vehicle
An unknown person stole an all terrain vehicle from the yard of a home on Fort Salonga Road in Centerport at about midnight on March 17, police said.

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Dmitri Kharzeev stands with Qiang Li, a physicist and head of the Advanced Energy Materials Group at BNL, Genda Gu, a senior physicist from the Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Sciences Department and Tonica Valla, a BNL physicist. Photo from BNL

More than a decade ago, Dmitri Kharzeev came up with an idea he thought he should find in nature. Many such concepts come and go, with some, like the Higgs boson particle, taking over 50 years to discover.

After working with numerous collaborators over the years, the professor of physics and astronomy at Stony Brook University and a senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory found proof.

“This was absolutely amazing,” said Kharzeev. “You think an idea in your head, but whether or not it’s realized in the real world is not at all clear. When you find it in the laboratory on a table top experiment, it’s pretty exciting.”

The discovery triggered a champagne party in Kharzeev’s Port Jefferson home, which included collaborators such as Qiang Li, a physicist and head of the Advanced Energy Materials Group at Brookhaven, and Tonica Valla, a physicist at BNL, among others. “There was a feeling that something new is about to begin,” Kharzeev said.

Kharzeev’s idea was that an imbalance in particles moving with different projections of spin on momentum generates an electric current that flows with resistance. That resistance drops in a magnetic field that the scientists hope can reach zero, which would give their material superconducting properties.

A particle’s projection of spin on momentum is its chirality. The magnetic field aligns the spins of the positive and negative particles in opposite directions. When the scientists applied an electric field, the positive particles moved with it and the negative ones moved against it. This allows the particles to move in a direction consistent with their spin, which creates an imbalance in chirality.

The chiral magnetic effect can enable ultra-fast magnetic switches, sensors, quantum electricity generators and conventional and quantum computers.

Kharzeev had expected this kind of separation for particles at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BNL, where he figured he might observe the separation for quarks in the quark-gluon plasma.

Instead, he and his colleagues, including co-author Li, discovered this phenomenon with zirconium pentatelluride, which is in a relatively new class of materials called Dirac semimetals, which were created in 2014. Their paper was published in Nature Physics earlier this year.

Dmitri Kharzeev at the control center of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BNL. Photo from BNL
Dmitri Kharzeev at the control center of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BNL. Photo from BNL

The particles had to be nearly massless to allow them to move through any obstacles in their path. Particles that collided with something else and changed their direction or chirality would create resistance, which would reduce conductivity.

Genda Gu, who is in the Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Sciences Department at BNL, grew the zirconium pentatelluride crystals in his laboratory. Gu “is one of the best crystal growers in the world and he has managed to grow the cleanest crystals of zirconium pentatelluride currently available,” said Kharzeev.

Gu said he collaborates regularly with Li. This, however, was the first time he worked with Kharzeev. He called the work “fruitful and productive” and said the crystals had “generated a number of exciting scientific results.”

The materials they worked with have a wide range of potential applications. The semimetals strongly interact with light in the terahertz frequency range, which is a useful and unique property, Kharzeev suggested. Terahertz electromagnetic radiation, which is called T-rays, can be used for nondamaging medical imaging, including the diagnosis of cancer and high-speed wireless communications.

To be sure, there are limitations to zirconium pentatelluride. For starters, it only displays this chiral magnetic effect at temperatures below 100 degrees Kelvin, or minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit, which is on par with the best high-temperature semiconductors, but still well below room temperature. Its chirality is also only approximately conserved, so the resistance does not drop all the way to zero.

Another hurdle is that scientists have to improve the technique for growing thin films of this material. While it is possible, it will take considerable research and development, Kharzeev said. He hopes to find a material that will exhibit chiral magnet effects at room temperature.

Kharzeev has received interest from companies and other researchers but said “we have a lot of work to do before we can create practical devices” based on this effect. He hopes scientists will create such products within the next five to ten years.

There are numerous potential uses for zirconium pentatelluride and other similar materials, including in space, where temperatures remain low enough for these quasi-particles.

“You could envision this on space stations to generate electricity from sunlight,” Kharzeev said. When he saw the movie “The Martian,” Kharzeev said he thought about how thermoelectrics could power a station on the Red Planet.

“If we managed to increase the temperature at which the chiral magnetic effect is present just a little, by about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, our thermoelectric would be even more efficient,” he said.

Kharzeev, who grew up in Russia and moved to Long Island in 1997, appreciates the beauty and comforts of the area.

“The combination of Stony Brook, BNL and Cold Spring Harbor Lab makes Long Island one of the best places in the world to do science,” he said. He also loves the beaches and the ocean and plays tennis at the Port Jefferson Country Club.

As for his collaborations, Kharzeev is excited by the work ahead with a material he didn’t envision demonstrating these superconducting properties when he came up with this concept in 2004.

When he learned of the work Li was doing with zirconium pentatelluride, Kharzeev “rushed” into his lab. “It appeared that even though he and his group were not thinking about the chiral magnetic effect at the time, they had already set up an experiment that was perfect for this purpose,” Kharzeev said. They “even had a preliminary result that literally made my heart jump.”

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Last week it was confirmed that Steven Romeo, the allegedly intoxicated pickup truck driver involved in the fatal Cutchogue limo crash in July, was not going to be charged with manslaughter.

We’re sure this came as a shock to many people, who had written off Romeo as guilty as soon as it was reported that he had been drinking the day he T-boned the limo in a crash that killed four young North Shore women on a wine tour and injured several others.

Referring to limo driver Carlos F. Pino’s risky U-turn that put that vehicle directly into Romeo’s path, Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota confirmed last week,  “A perfectly sober Steven Romeo could not avoid this crash. An intoxicated Steven Romeo could not avoid this crash. It was simply unavoidable from Romeo’s perspective.”

Pino will be charged with manslaughter for his dangerous maneuver.

But some damage may have already been done in Romeo’s case.

News outlets and some North Shore residents vilified the man long before the DA’s report was finalized. It’s no doubt a gut reaction for people to assume a drunk driver is at fault in a car crash, but this shows us why we should not be so quick to jump to conclusions. Sober people make mistakes or reckless maneuvers on the road every day, and this limo crash is an example of that.

The American criminal justice system is set up so that every citizen is innocent until proven guilty, and we should all keep that in mind for instances like this. No matter the mistakes or poor decisions a person has made, that person deserves fair, unbiased treatment. That goes for the courtroom as well as the public and the press.

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The Huntington-Harborfields swimmers display their league championship award. Photo from Huntington athletics

It was a championship season worth celebrating.

The combined Huntington-Harborfields boys’ swimming and diving team captured regular season and postseason championships while solidifying its roster for future campaigns.

Swimmers, divers and their parents celebrated the winter campaign during a three-hour party at the Halesite Fire Department.

The season marked Meg McConnell’s first as head coach, after she assumed leadership of the program following the retirement of Huntington’s founding swim coach, Gil Smith. McConnell had been Smith’s assistant for many years. Blue Devils alum Kaitlyn Larkin was named the new assistant coach this season.

The dinner was a festive gathering. Michael Greaves, of Harborfields, created a slideshow of season highlights.

Huntington senior and team co-captain Matthew McBride and seniors Jackson Spector and Burak Toprak were among those who spoke about the season and their teammates and coaches. Those who notched All-League, All-County and All-State honors were acknowledged.

“It was a fun, funny and a great night,” Huntington parent Patti Weber said. “They are a great group of boys who really have become one team.”

The Blue Devils finished with a 4-1 league mark and went 4-4 overall, easily winning the Suffolk County League II championships by outdistancing runners-up Northport and Connetquot, 309 and 257, while Lindenhurst (187), Central Islip (140) and North Babylon (98) trailed in the distance.

Huntington-Harborfields defeated Lindenhurst (61-39), Connetquot/East Islip (95-88), Central Islip (100-77) and North Babylon (95-54), and dropped meets to Northport (51.5-49.5), Ward Melville (93-89), Hauppauge (107.5-77.5) and Half Hollow Hills (92-86) leading up to the League II win.

In addition to McBride, Spector, Toprak and Javier Vias, the Blue Devils team included seventh-graders Kyle Kennelly and Thomas Rosselli, eighth-grader Christopher Weber, freshmen Henry Cartwright, Nathaniel Gamboa and Thomas Peer, junior Keegan Dunne and senior Ryan LaBella. Juniors Noelle Harvey and Camille Stafford were team managers.

Three Huntington swimmers were presented with special team awards at the dinner. Gamboa was named MVP, Weber earned Most Improved honors and Dunne garnered the coaches award.

Huntington’s highlights at the League II championships included Gamboa swimming the second leg on the 200-yard medley relay that placed second and capturing third place in the 100 breaststroke, Weber placing second in the 500 freestyle, Peer finishing fourth in the 200 freestyle and the first leg of the 200 freestyle relay that finished fourth, and McBride placing fourth in the 100 backstroke.

At the Suffolk County championships, Gamboa swam the second leg of the 200 yard medley relay that placed ninth, and Peer swam the fourth leg of the 200 freestyle relay that finished 13th.

With eight underclassmen returning next winter, the Blue Devils hope to put another competitive team in the pool.

— Huntington Athletics

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