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Yearly Archives: 2016

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Dr. Shetal Shah gives Assemblyman Steve Englebright a shot at the press conference announcing that the Neonatal Infant Pertussis Act was signed into law in 2012. Photo from Maria Hoffman

A young state law is already breathing new life into the number of newborns burdened with whooping cough.

It has been three years since state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) saw his Neonatal Infant Pertussis Act signed into law, and last week, members of the Pediatric Academic Societies said it’s already paying off, by reducing infections 50 percent. Both Englebright and Dr. Shetal Shah, who worked alongside the lawmaker in 2012 as a member of the neonatal intensive care unit at Stony Brook University, heralded the legislation as an effective measure to keep newborns healthy across New York State.

Englebright wrote the NPPA with Shah’s help, requiring Tdap, a vaccine against whooping cough, be offered to parents and caregivers in contact with a newborn during birth hospitalization as a way to promote “cocoon” immunity for the infant, according to Shah. Five months later the legislation was signed into law by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), codifying Shah’s common sense idea into law.

“That year, the New York Department of Health had already reported a three-fold increase in whooping cough since the previous year,” Englebright said. “It is gratifying to learn that this law is working and that children are being protected from whooping cough.”

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, starts with “cold-like” symptoms such as fever, sneezing or a runny nose.  It may then morph into a mild cough, which becomes more severe in the first or second week.

The NPPA fight started in 2012 when Shah reached out to Englebright’s office with an idea that he said could prevent whooping cough in newborns. In a statement, Shah said newborns are typically the most at risk of serious illness or death if infected. But with help from Englebright’s legislation, vaccinations have been effective in combatting the infection for newborns.

Using the New York Communicable Disease Electronic Surveillance System, Heather L. Brumberg from Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital and her colleagues obtained data from 2010 to 2015 on pertussis cases and hospitalizations for 57 New York counties outside of the city. In addition, they used state population rates in 2011 and 2013 to determine the incidence per 100,000.

During the study period, 6,086 cases of pertussis were detected, 68.8 percent of which occurred before the law passed and 31.2 percent of which occurred after. Overall, the pertussis incidence rate decreased from 37.3 per 100,000 children before the law to 16.9 per 100,000 after.

For children aged younger than 1 year old, pertussis incidence decreased from 304 per 100,000 children to 165 per 100,000 and pertussis hospitalization decreased from 104 per 100,000 children to 63 per 100,000 children. The NPPA was associated with these reductions, especially for those at high-risk, the researchers wrote.

“The data shows that passage of the Neonatal Infant Pertussis Act [NPPA] was associated with a reduced incidence of disease in children in each age group studied,” said Shah, who now works at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network. “This is associative, as we were unable to track actual parental and caregiver Tdap immunization rates.”

Whooping cough vaccine is a five-shot series that is recommended for children at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15 to 18 months, and again at 4 to 6 years of age.

The pertussis vaccine is short-lived and can wear off within a decade, so some people who were immunized as children are no longer protected in adolescence or adulthood unless they get another booster shot.

“This should provide some degree of scientific impetus to other states and counties to consider this measure as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce whooping cough,” Shah said.

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Legislators not letting Bellone off hook

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. File photo by Alex Petroski

A high stakes political finger pointing battle is ramping up in Suffolk County.

Top Suffolk County officials have been left to answer for the promotion of former Chief of Police James Burke, who in February pleaded guilty to charges of a civil rights violation and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which occurred following the arrest of Smithtown man Christopher Loeb in 2012.

On Tuesday Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) held a press conference at the Suffolk County Legislature in Riverhead where he and fellow legislators, including Tom Cilmi (R-Bay Shore) and Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), called for both County Executive Steve Bellone and District Attorney Tom Spota to resign from their positions.

On Thursday, Bellone joined the list of people including the legislators and Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco calling for Spota to resign.

“For refusing to cooperate and work with federal law enforcement to prosecute crime in this county, for refusing and blocking federal law enforcement who were working on the Gilgo Beach serial murder case, for allowing violent criminals to go free to protect political friends, for lying about Jim Burke and conspiring to conceal his past…” Bellone said Thursday afternoon on the steps of Spota’s Hauppauge office. “Tom Spota, you must resign from this office so that we can begin the process of reforming this place governmentally and politically in a way that we can ensure this doesn’t happen again. If you fail to do so, I will call on the governor to exercise his authority under the constitution to remove you from this office.”

Trotta arrived while Bellone addressed the media, and interjected that reporters were speaking with a “co-conspirator.” Trotta reiterated his stance on Thursday that Bellone is as much a part of the political corruption problem in the county as Spota for his role in promoting Burke, and standing by him despite evidence of Burke’s troubled past.

“I have never said that I have never made mistakes in my public career,” Bellone said. “I’ve made many mistakes. But they have never, ever been with ill intent and I’ve learned from my mistakes and I don’t repeat them. When I promoted Jim Burke I consulted District Attorney Tom Spota. When I fired Jim Burke I did not consult Tom Spota.”

Bellone said he promoted Burke not because of recommendations from Spota or others, but because he was a “charismatic” and “impressive” person who made a memorable presentation.

Bellone handed a letter calling for Spota’s resignation to one of his employees inside the office, and Spota later met the media to respond Thursday.

“It’s a very, very difficult day for me,” Spota said in a video of that press conference. “He has delivered to me a letter asking for my resignation. I have absolutely no reason why I should resign, or should I be removed from office.”

Spota fired back at Bellone, suggesting his motivation was a “personal vendetta” against Spota for investigating and prosecuting people Bellone was close to.

On Tuesday, Bellone responded to Trotta, Cilmi and McCaffrey’s calls for his resignation through an email from a spokeswoman.

“Rob Trotta and Tom Cilmi are partisan politicians who just don’t get it,” the statement said. “This is not a partisan issue, this is about sweeping out a culture of abuse and corruption in the district attorney’s office.  I regret that I trusted the word of the district attorney regarding Jim Burke, and I have learned from that error in judgment.”

Trotta made it clear following Bellone’s comments that the county executive should not be let off the hook.

“It was an Academy Award winning performance,” Trotta said of Bellone’s press conference. “Forty-eight hours ago we were partisan, and we were political hacks. Now all of the sudden he responds to a Newsday article, he sees what’s going on and he tries to jump in front of it. It’s ridiculously absurd…He’s a total, unadulterated liar.”

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Lt. Thomas Verbeeck is a pilot serving with Wing 11 of the U.S. Navy. Photo from the U.S. Navy

A 2007 Shoreham-Wading River graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, the largest base in the Southeast Region and third largest in the nation.

Lt. Thomas Verbeeck is a pilot serving with Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11. As a pilot, Verbeeck is responsible for the safe flight of aircraft, navigation and organizing flight plans and missions.

“What I enjoy most about my job is working with proficient and motivated sailors,” Verbeeck said.

Beginning in the 1960s, the P-3C Orion, a land-based, long-range anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft, replaced the P-2V Neptune fleet. After 50 years of faithful service, the P-3C Orion is being phased out, according to Navy officials.

The P-8A is a modified Boeing airframe featuring a fully connected, state-of-the-art open architecture mission system designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

According to Navy officials, Wing 11’s history and reputation remain unparalleled since being commissioned on August 15, 1942. Throughout the decades, Wing 11 has continued to fly combat missions in direct support of the troops on the ground and delivered traditional maritime capabilities, real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

“The U.S. Navy sometimes asks the impossible of our people. It is sailors that make the impossible possible,” said Capt. Anthony Corapi, CPRW-11. “Lt. Verbeeck is one example of a selfless servant of our nation. These heroes ask for very little recognition and perform their daily job with pride and professionalism, defending freedom and our way of life around the world.”

Verbeeck is part of a crew that is preparing for deployment in the future.

“This command has a tight-knit family atmosphere,” Verbeeck said. “I enjoy the camaraderie I have among my fellow crew. Serving in the Navy, I’ve learned that patience is a virtue and it’s important to trust those below you as well as above you. Given time, people will surprise you with the results of their hard work.”

— Navy Office of Community Outreach Public Affairs

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Eric Powers holds a great horned owl. Photo from Carole Paquette
Eric Powers holds a great horned owl. Photo from Carole Paquette
Eric Powers holds a great horned owl. Photo from Carole Paquette

Biologist and outdoorsman Eric Powers will conduct a birding walk at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve on Jericho Turnpike in Smithtown on Saturday, May 14, from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Preregistration is required as space is limited. Call 631-265-1054.

The free event is part of the 2016 Lecture Series sponsored by the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve, and will involve walking about two miles. Walkers are urged to wear sensible footwear and bring binoculars and a camera with a telephoto lens, if they are able.

Having extensively explored the historic Caleb Smith park, “Ranger Eric” — as students know him — will lead attendees to some of his favorite locations to see birds and other wildlife, as well as highlighting plants and freshwater springs, the lifeblood of the park. Ranger Eric suggests bringing any bird feather you would like to share with the group.

See more of Ranger Eric on his new television show “Off the Trail” at www.myNHTV.com. For more information, visit his website at www.YC2N.com.

For more information about Friends activities and events, visit www.friendsofcalebsmith.org.

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File photo by Bob Savage

Residents and visitors can rent stand-up paddle boards at the Port Jefferson Village Center until October.

The village board of trustees recently approved East Main Street business Sunpaddle to provide rentals of the watersport boards at the harborfront park next to the community center off East Broadway this summer, after a trial period last year.

Sunpaddle is located on East Main Street. File photo
Sunpaddle is located on East Main Street. File photo

According to the board, the rentals will be available seven days a week, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., from May 28 to Sept. 5.

From that point through Oct. 1, the rentals would be on weekends only, but during the same business hours.

In an interview during last year’s trial period, village recreation director Renee Lemmerman had called it another way of “providing services for our residents to really use their harborfront” and a good way for families to exercise at the beach.

The system will benefit the village as well as Sunpaddle — according to the board, the village will receive 40 percent of the revenue from the rentals.

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Bank of Suffolk County, built 1911, photo 1915. Photo from Beverly Tyler

By Beverly C. Tyler

When Ward Melville began his plan to construct, in Stony Brook, a compact Federal-style shopping center, there were stores and shops spread out along Main Street, Shore Road, now Dock Road, and Christian Avenue. Main Street in Stony Brook during the 19th and early part of the 20th century was an active commercial area with a variety of shops. South of Grist Mill Road and the mill pond there were a number of small homesteads and farms, a harness maker’s shop and a blacksmith shop, and a schoolhouse. The business area really began at the Grist Mill and pond, and except for Jacinsky’s Saloon and a bakery opposite Grist Mill Road, all the stores were on the west side of the road between the pond and the harbor. Shops included an ice cream parlor, drug store, hardware store, tea room, secondhand clothing store, Chinese laundry, a tailor shop and harness maker’s shop that became a butcher shop and grocery store about 1900, a barber shop, livery stable, shoemaker’s shop, post office and at least two general stores.

The butcher in Stony Brook at the turn of the century was Orlando G. Smith. His brother, Charles E. Smith, ran a butcher shop and general store in East Setauket. Orlando took over the butcher business from Bennie Wells who died in 1875. In 1898, Orlando built a new shop on the site of an earlier butcher shop run by George Hawkins. According to Percy Smith, in his booklet A Century of Progress, “In the mid-90s — 1890s — farmers around Stony Brook began decreasing the sales of their livestock, and Orlando Smith was forced to find another source of supply. The closest place was Bridgeport, about 15 miles across sound, but Smith encountered many difficulties obtaining meat from even so short a distance. His order had to go to Bridgeport by mail. The meat was then hauled to the Bridgeport docks and shipped by boat to Port Jefferson. There it was loaded into a wagon and brought to Stony Brook. During this time, Orlando bought what meat he could, but this had dwindled mostly to calves, lambs and pigs.

Orlando Smith’s butcher shop was located south of where the Reboli Center, formerly the Bank of Suffolk County, Extebank and others, is now. In 1913, Percy Smith took over the butcher business after it had been owned for less than a year by Captain Robert F. Wells and then by Percy’s father, W.H. Smith. In 1922, Percy moved to a new location in the old post office building, which was located a few lots north of the present Reboli Center, on the site of Gould’s General Store.

The Bank of Suffolk County began its operation in 1907 in a building at the south corner of the old business triangle, which is now part of the village green. The building, featuring a shingled, mansard roof, was owned by the Odd Fellows and contained a drug store and soda fountain, a library, lodge and dance hall. The bank moved to its present location in 1912 and its original building was torn down as part of the rehabilitation of the Stony Brook Shopping Center in 1941.

When the bank moved, it occupied a location, which was formerly owned by Dan Sherry, who ran a livery stable before the turn of the century. Just north of Sherry’s was the home and general store of J.N. Gould. Gould’s home later became the home of Doctor Squires. North of Gould’s home was the general store and the home of Edward Oaks. Oaks, in 1873, was a “dealer in dry goods, groceries and other supplies.” According to Percy Smith, Oaks’ general store (later Topping’s general store) was the “better” general store in town.

“It had everything,” commented Percy, “bales of hay, kerosene, hardware, patent medicine, food and clothing.”

Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian and author of books available from the Three Village Historical Society.

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Stock photo

By Ellen Barcel

Recently on the television I heard a newscaster announce that the 17-year cicadas are due to emerge. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? What effect will this have? Will they damage your plants? Well, not really.

Stock photo
Stock photo

First of all, there are 15 different broods of the 17-year periodic cicadas. They live in the ground for 17 years, each brood emerging during a different year. Brood V is due out this year, Brood VI in 2017, Brood VII in 2018, etc. That means that there is a brood emerging almost every year, but not in the same place. This year’s brood, Brood V, is emerging mainly in Ohio and West Virginia with a small pocket of them on eastern Long Island, around the Wildwood State Park area.

Interestingly, the only place that these 17-year locusts (as they are sometimes known) are found is in the eastern United Sates, nowhere else in the world.

Cicadas live most of their lives, 17 years generally, underground feeding on the roots of plants. Then come spring, usually May, they dig their way to the surface, shed their skin and look for a mate. The males have a high-pitched whine that attracts the females. About a week to 10 days later the females lay lots of eggs. About six to seven weeks later the eggs hatch, the nymphs fall to the ground where they burrow into the soil and feed on plant roots, waiting for 17 years before emerging briefly to mate.

In general, the emerged cicadas don’t do a lot of damage to plants, so there really isn’t a problem, just a lot of noise and a bunch of dead insects when they die off. Mature cicadas are about an inch and a half long, so between the noise and the size you really notice them, that and the strange life cycle. Most of Long Island is home to Brood 10 which is due to emerge in 2021.

A really cool website, Cicada Mania (www.cicadamania.com) has detailed information about not only the 17-year locusts but the 13-year ones as well. Penn State Extension (https://extension.psu.edu) also has detailed scientific information, noting that the 17-year cicadas can do damage to fruit trees, causing slits in the bark when the female lays eggs and taking nutrients away from the fruit trees when the nymphs feed on the roots. If you have weak trees, they could suffer some damage. But, cicadas do not chew on leaves the way other insects do.

Personally, I would be more concerned about aphids on roses and slugs attacking my hostas. Tent caterpillars are sometimes in the area, but, while unsightly, unless the same tree is attacked year after year, the tree usually survives quite nicely. Remember, keep your plants healthy and that keeping the balance in nature is very effective in controlling most pests. Birds in the garden, for example, eat a lot of insects. Praying mantises, while large and scary looking, eat lots of insects as well.

The rule of thumb is that unless more than 10 percent of a plant is affected, you can probably leave the pest alone. Don’t freak out if your hosta leaves have a few small holes in them, but do keep checking to make sure the situation doesn’t get out of control. If it does, use the least offensive way of controlling it. Only if the milder controls don’t work, then use the heavy-duty ones, chemicals. This is known as integrated pest management. For slugs, I find that just hand picking them off the plants at night works quite nicely.

Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.

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Lorian Prince, Marie D’Elia and Camille Pabon stand outside the storefront. Photo by Desirée Keegan

When Camille Pabon and Lorian Prince aren’t working, they’re still together, whether it be just hanging out or coming back to Del Fiore Italian Market, the business the two sisters own, to make dinner for the family.

“Even on our days off, we still hang out,” Prince said. “But the store is like home base. After work we call each other. People would think, ‘Haven’t I had enough of you yet?’”

The bond the two have makes for a thriving business, both because of the home-style, handmade, all-natural products they put out and because of the atmosphere they create.

“My dad remembers everybody’s name and I always marveled at that,” Prince said of Salvatore D’Elia, who opened the first Del Fiore Italian Pork Store in Patchogue with his brother Felice D’Elia and brother-in-law Carmine Galeotafiore in 1971. “He always has some sort of story to go along with each customer, and even today when he comes in, people love the little information that he throws at them from way back when.”

Fresh cold cuts and products like ravioli, meatballs and sausage line the glass cases inside the market and Italian novelties hang above the counter. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Fresh cold cuts and products like ravioli, meatballs and sausage line the glass cases inside the market and Italian novelties hang above the counter. Photo by Desirée Keegan

The sisters have tried to do the same.

“I’m not good with names. I’m really good with faces, and then I feel guilty because I don’t remember their names, but they’re really good with that,” said Heather Crane, a longtime friend of Pabon’s who’s worked on and off with the family for 20 years. “They’re like a second family here. They get along so well and I envy their relationship. I admire it. My family works together and I don’t want to be there with all that chaos, but they’re really cute together.”

The Del Fiore store in Patchogue, which has since moved up the block from its original location, is still owned by the Galeotafiore family, and Felice D’Elia has since moved to Florida and opened up a similar deli there.

Salvatore D’Elia opened up the Rocky Point shop in March 1973 with his wife Marie, who said she used to take time on her lunch breaks from her job at Slomin’s, which was next door to one of the company’s several locations in Massapequa, to stock shelves with her husband.

“It was a first time for me to run a business and first time for him to run a business, and we did well,” she said.

Pabon and Prince started in the Rocky Point store at a young age.

“I wanted to do everything and I started serving customers as soon as I could see over the counter,” Pabon said. “Maybe not very well, but I thought I was doing something.”

Seeing the company pass onto the next generation is something that warms their mother’s heart.

“He and I are very, very proud of them taking over and doing a wonderful job,” she said. “Better than us, actually.”

Camille Pabon and Lorian Prince, who said her mind was blown when she found out other foods besides Italian existed, took over Del Fiore Italian Market 10 years ago. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Camille Pabon and Lorian Prince, who said her mind was blown when she found out other foods besides Italian existed, took over Del Fiore Italian Market 10 years ago. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Modestly, the sisters laugh about doing a better job than their parents. Although Del Fiore closed its doors in several locations like Massapequa, Selden, College Point and Ronkonkoma, business remains in Rocky Point.

“In the summertime, we do a lot of catering, providing some of the wineries with sandwiches — a man does a wine tour and puts out hot food from us every weekend — so we dread the weekends in the summer,” Pabon said, laughing. “We don’t look forward to them at all.”

The sisters make fresh mozzarella, ravioli, fried eggplant, sopressata and meatballs, among other Italian products, at the shop they renamed Del Fiore Italian Market when they took over the company 10 years ago. Their food contains no additives or preservatives, making it one of the only places the family, and even their coworkers, will purchase food from. Italian novelties also hang above the counter, and other shelves are lined with hard-to-find products, like coffee presses, that you may not find at a local supermarket.

Although the business model has changed a bit, as the sisters make more premade foods for those who are too busy to make dishes themselves, the sisters have learned to adapt to the changing culture.

“We were used to people that cooked,” Marie D’Elia said. “They came in and bought the raw supplies and they cooked it. Now, they come in and they want already fried chicken or premade meatballs, croquettes and rice balls. But the girls have brought in new ideas.”

For both sisters, the decision to work at the store after graduating college was an easy one, and said they’re lucky they have the opportunity to work together.

“I tried it,” Prince said. “I worked in a doctor’s office, and then I thought, why work for someone else when you can work for family?”

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The Career Couture Boutique carries shoes, handbags, accessories and clothing for men and women embarking on job interviews. Photo from June Kirby

By Alex Petroski

They say you should dress for the job you want, not the job you have. For those who are unemployed, that can be a difficult proposition. Like anything else, business wear is not getting any less expensive. In Suffolk County, residents have a valuable resource at their disposal if they’re seeking a job but don’t have the means to buy a suit, dress or other professional attire.

Two years ago, led by County Executive Steve Bellone (D) and the Department of Labor, the Career Couture Boutique was born. Located in the One-Stop Employment Center at the William J. Lindsay County Complex in Hauppauge, the boutique is full of donated, lightly worn business attire for both men and women.

A fairy godmother at the helm
June Kirby, a 20-year county employee, was hand picked to run the boutique two years ago. She said it was just an empty room back then, but after building shelves and stocking the donated items, the boutique now resembles an upscale shopping experience.

Clients re-entering the workforce are given a complete makeover at the Career Couture Boutique. Photo from June Kirby
Clients re-entering the workforce are given a complete makeover at the Career Couture Boutique. Photo from June Kirby

Kirby estimated she has fitted somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 people in the boutique’s two-year existence, and though there isn’t an official notification process when customers of the boutique find jobs, she said about 50 percent have gotten back to her with news they’ve been hired.

“It’s very rewarding,” Kirby said in a phone interview last Tuesday. “You see the difference of a person’s self-esteem. They finally are getting the interviews. This is basically the last step before they go on to the interviews.”

From the kindness of others
The boutique gets customers based on referrals from veterans shelters, family service organizations, other nonprofits and walk-ins. Everything is donated to the boutique, and, when job-seekers are fitted, they are given the clothing, free of charge and without the need to return it.

Clients re-entering the workforce are given a complete makeover at the Career Couture Boutique. Photo from June Kirby
Clients re-entering the workforce are given a complete makeover at the Career Couture Boutique. Photo from June Kirby

Sport Clips, Long Island Beauty School and other local salons donate coupons for haircuts and manicures to complete the job interview preparation process. Most of the items come from dry cleaners and private donors.

“I receive a lot of donations,” Kirby said. “It’s in the thousands. Whatever I do not utilize, I donate.”

Nonprofit organization EAC Network, whose mission is to empower, assist and care for people in need, partnered with the boutique to assist in donation collections. Kirby said the organization has been a valuable resource to keep the boutique running smoothly.

The One-Stop Employment Center also offers residents assistance with resumes, job searches, practice questions with mock interviews and more.

“We are proud to be able to add this service to what we offer those residents looking for work or new careers,” Bellone said in a press release when the boutique opened in 2014.

Noted Kirby, “To me it’s very important that people look their best because when they look their best, they feel their best.”

The Career Couture Boutique, located in the One-Stop Employment Center at 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge, is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information or to make a donation, call 631-853-6769.

 

Library Job Fair
Port Jefferson Free Library, 100 Thompson St., Port Jefferson, will host a Job Fair on Tuesday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet representatives from over 35 companies including Comfort Keepers, East West Industries, Express Employment Pros, Home Depot, Little Flower, Pier One Imports, Sears, U.S. Postal Service, Verizon Wireless, Bob’s Discount Furniture and Coldwell Banker. Bring copies of your resume and dress to impress! Free and open to all. Call 631-473-0022 for more information.

Healthcare Job Fair
On Thursday, May 19, the One-Stop Employment Center, 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge, will host its fourth annual Healthcare Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Recruiters from health care companies will be in attendance including The Arbors Assisted Living, Gurwin Homecare, Access Healthcare Staffing, Blessed Healthcare Staffing Agency, Sunrise Laboratories, The Bristal Assisted Living, CVS and US Medical Staffing. No registration required. Questions? Call 631-853-6600.

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From left to right, Dean Balsamo, Michael Russo, and Antoinette Russo, who were all arrested yesterday by Northport police. Photos from Northport Police Department

A trio of Patchogue residents, including a mother and son, were arrested by the Northport Police Department on May 11 following a stakeout at the CVS Pharmacy in the village.

According to the department, detective Peter Hayes identified 20-year-old Michael Russo and 46-year-old Antoinette Russo, two of three suspects, at about 7 p.m. on May 11 entering the CVS on Fort Salonga Road. They were stopped as they exited the store, and allegedly found with nearly $900 worth of items in their possession. The police said the store was unaware of a theft.

The 46-year-old woman was charged with two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny and petit larceny and one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Her bail was set at $129,000.

Her son was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and two counts of petit larceny, and his bail has not yet been set.

Dean Balsamo, 36, was also arrested on the scene, after police said they discovered he was driving the mother and son’s getaway vehicle. He was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny, and his bail was set at $23,000.

Attorney information for the three defendants was not immediately available on Thursday afternoon.

The department said on Thursday that the trio has stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise from other drug stores in the area.

On April 26, the suspects allegedly stole $1,300 worth of merchandise from the same CVS, and two days later took $2,816 worth of goods from the Rite Aid on Fort Salonga Road.

On May 7 they allegedly struck both stores again, netting $2,0176 from CVS and $585 from Rite Aid.

According to police, the Russos would enter the stores with a small, previously stolen item hidden on their person and intentionally set off the anti-theft alarm. The store staff would allow them to enter thinking the alarm went off in error. The suspects would then fill bags they were carrying with items from the store, go to the counter and pay for one small item, usually a beverage, and proceed to exit. When the anti-theft alarm would go off again, the store staff would let them leave thinking it went off in error once more.

The three are suspected in similar crimes in other locations throughout Suffolk County, police said.

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