25 water outlets in buildings throughout Three Village Central School District were found to have lead levels above the EPA guidelines last week. Stock photo
After 25 water outlets in buildings throughout Three Village Central School District were found to have lead levels above the EPA guidelines, school board President William Connors Jr. and Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said the district acted quickly to resolve the problem.
“As the health and safety of our students, staff and community is paramount, the district proactively initiated a thorough testing of all potable school water sources for possible elevated levels of lead,” Pedisich said in a statement on Tuesday. “Upon receipt of the results the district immediately took action and disconnected all faucets found to have lead above and near the EPA recommended levels. In addition, the district is in the process of completing the installation of filtered water bottle filling stations district-wide and will continue to conduct periodic testing of water sources in the future.”
J.C. Broderick & Associates Inc., an environmental consulting and testing agency, performed the testing on sampled water from sinks and water fountains districtwide. The testing included a two-step process: an initial water draw (immediately when the water flow begins) and a flush test (after allowing the water to flow through the system for the EPA-recommended 30 seconds). The tests were conducted in late May, with preliminary results received in late June, according to an email received from district spokesperson Marissa Gallo.
The majority of the questionable water sources were located in the elementary schools: eight at Arrowhead, one at Minnesauke, three at W.S. Mount, five at Nassakeag, and three at Setauket School. The others were in areas not accessible by students: three at Murphy Junior High, one at North Country Administration Building, and one at the building on Nicolls Road.
The district has now disconnected all water fountains throughout the schools and is installing filtered water bottle filling stations at each of the elementary schools. Filtered water bottle filling stations are already in use at the high school and both junior highs.
Congressman Lee Zeldin, joined by Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini, health professionals, community groups, parents, expresses his support for the package of bills coming to the House floor this week. File photo from Jennifer DiSiena
Major change may be coming to the North Shore, as a drug abuse bill is set to land on U.S. President Barack Obama’s (D) desk this week.
U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) is a co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016, which plans to spend $8.3 billion to help combat widespread drug addiction, especially addiction to heroin, on Long Island.
“As addiction and overdose deaths continue to climb, tearing families apart, it is essential that the President sign CARA into law to start delivering help to those suffering,”
— Lee Zeldin
CARA passed through the House of Representatives last week with a bipartisan vote of 407 to 5, and the Senate this week with a bipartisan vote 92 to 2.
Zeldin, who is a member of The Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, said he has been a proud supporter of this bill for more than a year now, and is happy to see Congress backing it.
“With both House and Senate passage of CARA, a bill that I proudly cosponsor, we are now only one step away from this bill being signed into law,” Zeldin said in a statement. “78 people [lose] their life every day as a result of an opioid or heroin overdose. Last year — on Long Island alone — 442 people died of a heroin or opiate overdose, up from 403 overdose deaths the year before. As addiction and overdose deaths continue to climb, tearing apart families and communities, it is essential that the President sign CARA into law to start delivering help to those suffering.”
The specifics of CARA include $80 million in funding to help prevent and treat addiction on a local level through community-based education, prevention, treatment and recovery programs; $160 million for the expansion of medication-assisted treatment options; and $103 million to establish a community-based competitive grant program to address and treat the problems of heroin and opioid addiction and abuse. Additional funding will help supply po lice forces and emergency medical responders with higher quantities of naloxone, known more commonly as Narcan, a medication that is proven to reverse an opioid overdose.
Another part of CARA’s funding focuses on pain management and prescription.
According to the bill, the Department of Health and Human Services is required to assemble a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force, which will review, modify, and update the best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication, and examine and identify the need for, development, and availability of medical alternatives to opioids.
The grant aspect of CARA is connected to the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. CARA is set to amend that bill to authorize the Department of Justice to award grants to state, local and tribal governments to provide opioid-abuse services, including enhancing collaboration between criminal justice and substance abuse agencies; developing, implementing and expanding programs to prevent, treat, or respond to opioid abuse; training first responders to administer opioid overdose reversal drugs; and investigating unlawful opioid distribution activities.
The North Shore is not immune to the heroin crisis. According to a New York State Opioid Poisoning, Overdose and Prevention Report from 2015, Suffolk County has the highest heroin-related overdose fatalities of any county in New York.
Zeldin has co-sponsored several other bills in the House on this issue.
“While there is not just one piece of legislation that will solve this crisis, we must always continue our fight to provide our local communities with the resources necessary to help stop and prevent drug abuse through treatment, enforcement, and education,” he said.
Michael Dublar is charged with third-degree robbery. Photo from SCPD
The online version of this story was last updated at 1:30 p.m. on July 21, 2016.
Michael Dublar is charged with third-degree robbery. Photo from SCPD
Detectives from the Suffolk County Police Major Case Unit have made an arrest in connection with one of the two robberies at TD Bank on Nesconset Highway in Port Jefferson Station which occurred in a four day span between June 30 and July 3.
Michael Dublar, 33, who is homeless, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with third-degree robbery in connection with the July 3 incident. At about 11:15 a.m., police said Dublar entered the bank and handed a teller a note demanding cash. The teller complied and Dublar fled on foot, according to police. Dublar was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and an Islip Town warrant. He was held overnight at the 6th precinct and arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Central Islip, police said.
The pattern was very similar to the incident that occurred four days earlier.
The first suspect, who police are still hoping to identify, entered the bank at about 2:15 p.m. on June 30. He is described as a white male in his 30s, is about six feet tall with a thin build, brown hair and a goatee, according to police. At the time of the incident he was wearing a long sleeve flannel shirt, blue jeans, dark colored shoes, a baseball hat and sunglasses. Police said the teller complied with the demand and the man fled southbound through the parking lot towards Broadway, east of Old Town Road.
The bank is located a few hundred feet from Christ Church United Methodist of Port Jefferson Station.
Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will remain confidential.
SCPD is asking for help from the public to identify these two men, who robbed the same Port Jeff Station bank three days apart. Photo from SCPD
An aerial view of Plum Island. Photo from U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
By Wenhao Ma
The future of Plum Island, a government-owned isle located in Southhold Town, east of Orient Point, is still unclear, but one North Shore legislator wants to ensure it remains in the government’s hands.
U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) announced on July 7 that the House of Representatives passed another one of his legislative proposals to save Plum Island from being sold to private developers. It was his second piece of legislation passed on this issue since May.
Currently, the federal government owns Plum Island, but a 2008 law required that the government sell the property to the highest bidder.
Zeldin said he think this is the wrong path for the island, which has served as the site for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center for decades.
U.S. Rep Lee Zeldin, far right, listens during his visit to Plum Island. Photo from Zeldin’s office.
“It is time for the United States Senate to act and pass my proposals, so that we can pursue a better direction for Plum Island that would allow for continued research, public access and permanent preservation of the island,” Zeldin said in a statement
Zeldin’s amendment to the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2017 prohibits any of the funding within the appropriations bill to be used to market or sell Plum Island.
Both of Zeldin’s proposals were passed with bipartisan support in the House. The May bill would reverse the 2008 federal law that mandated the public sale of Plum Island by the government to the highest bidder. Now, Zeldin is looking for support from the Senate.
“The Senate also must pass this legislation to ensure that Plum Island is not sold to the highest bidder, but rather is preserved for generations to come,” he said.
The congressman said he would work on providing alternative uses for the island, such as a transfer of ownership to another federal agency, the state or local government, a nonprofit, or a combination for the purpose of education, research and conservation.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website, Plum Island was “the nation’s premier defense against accidental or intentional introduction of transboundary animal diseases,” including foot-and-mouth disease, a viral illness most popular in children under the ages of five.
Homeland Security took over ownership of the island in 2003. Five years later, Congress passed Public Law 110-339, which allowed the General Services Administration to close the disease center and sell the island to the highest bidder in order to fund the building of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas — the replacement for the existing center, due to the age and safety levels of the old facility.
Environment groups from both Long Island and Connecticut have been strongly opposing the law, saying that handing the island to private developers could bring damage to the natural environment and resources.
“The Neck” — A view of Plum Island. Photo by Robert Lorenz
“Its location at the convergence of two major estuaries provides an essential habitat for a rich variety of resident and migrating wildlife,” said Kevin McAllister, founder and president of the Sag Harbor-based nonprofit Defend H2O, which protects and restores the environmental quality of groundwater, surface waters, wetlands and beaches on and around Long Island. “Selling the island to developers would open the gates to more water pollution. Giving it away would be a major blow to conservation efforts and be an unconscionable act by the government.”
Jason Garnett, program director of Soundkeeper, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Long Island Sound, agreed, saying that Plum Island is an important rest location for migrating birds and waterfowl.
“By preserving ecologically important, open coastal spaces such as Plum Island, we are doing the right thing for future generations of people and the creatures that depend on [the island’s] ecological services of clean air and water,” Garnett said.
Soundkeeper was among many organizations and individuals that filed a lawsuit in federal court on Long Island two weeks ago against the Department of Homeland Security and General Services Administration, that accused the department of violating federal laws and failing to protect endangered and threatened species by intending to sell Plum Island.
John Turner, spokesman for the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, is one of the plaintiffs in the suit.
“We think that the government needs to comply with the existing law,” he said.
Zeldin said he is supportive of the local groups’ efforts to prevent the sale of Plum Island.
Besides activist groups, Southold Town also took actions to save the island.
Three years ago, the town passed a zoning law that created two zoning districts on the island, making one a research district and the other a conservation district, where no housing nor any kind of development would be permitted. If the island is sold, a new buyer would have to follow those zoning laws. According to a 2016 Homeland Security report, Alternatives for Final Disposition of Plum Island, the new zoning “sets forth a limited number of allowed uses, restricting the development potential of the property.”
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell (R) said the town has been working well with local environment groups to prevent an uncertain future for the island.
Shanna Brady won two national championships with the University of Maryland
Shanna Brady has been named the new assistant coach at Hofstra University. Photo from Shanna Brady
By Desirée Keegan
A local lacrosse standout with two national championships under her belt is hoping to make a splash on the coaching side of things.
After serving as an assistant coach at Long Island University last year, Shanna Brady has joined the ranks of Hofstra University, serving as assistant coach of the Pride under six-year head coach Shannon Smith.
“Shanna was the perfect candidate,” Smith said. “She brings a lot to the table and is going to help get Hofstra to the next level. She’s very passionate about the game of lacrosse, she loves teaching the student-athletes and she has a wealth of knowledge with her playing career — winning two national championships and being a four-year starter—so that experience she can share with the players, and help develop our defense.”
Shanna Brady competes for the United Women’s Lacrosse League’s Long Island Sound. Photo from Shanna Brady
Brady, a native of Smithtown and graduate of St. Anthony’s High School, graduated from the University of Maryland in 2015. She reached championship weekend all four years of her college career and totaled 75 ground balls, 46 caused turnovers and 20 draw controls during her 92 games played. Brady also served as a coach with the Long Island Express Lacrosse Club from 2011 to 2014, and was a two-year member of Maryland’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee during her undergraduate career.
“I always knew I wanted to be coaching,” Brady said. “Lacrosse is such a huge part of my life and I’ve always wanted to be around a lacrosse atmosphere. Hofstra is an incredible university and they have a group of talented athletes and the potential.”
After graduating, she ran into an assistant coach at LIU Post that was leaving, and was able to land that job.
“She was a great person, very sincere, a true competitor, and she has tremendous knowledge of the sport,” said LIU Post head women’s lacrosse coach Meghan McNamara. “She was excited to coach. That’s what drew me to her.”
While there, Brady was also in charge of recruiting, emails and organizing events.
“She is an awesome, awesome well-known coach and I learned a lot from her in communicating with the girls,” Brady said of McNamara. “I learned a lot other than just growing as a coach on the field.”
McNamara liked what her former assistant brought to the team as well. The Pioneers compiled a 17-4 record and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
“She brought energy, a lot of knowledge on the defensive side and confidence to the team. She could relate to the girls, being closer in age,” she said. “She was a good balance for the team. I’m so excited for her and very proud of her. It’s her passion.”
Smith said she believes Brady will bring those same smarts and winning mentality to her team.
Shanna Brady coaching on the sideline at Long Island University. Photo from LIU Post
“She’s great with talking to the student-athletes, in the recruiting aspect she knows a lot of people on Long Island and she’s very confident. She’s well spoken, and I’m just excited for her next step at Hofstra,” she said. “She was a phenomenal player in college. She knows what it takes to win.”
Brady said what makes her and Smith’s connection unique, is that she looked up to Smith as a player, watching her and even playing against her in her freshman year, when Smith was still playing for Northwestern University. Now, Smith coaches Brady — who is currently playing professionally for the Long Island Sound of the United Women’s Lacrosse League.
“We really hit it off, we have similar personalities and we’re kind of cut from the same cloth,” Smith said. “Our philosophies get along with one another. Shanna brings a lot of fundamental skills. She is going to be able to adjust to what we need, whether it be something different in a season or specifically in one game, she’s quick on her feet, she’s hardworking.”
Brady is looking forward to the next step in her coaching career as well, having already had the opportunity to get to know her new team and staff, being in and out of the Hofstra office.
“[Shannon Smith] is an incredible person and a talented coach, and I’m excited to be given the opportunity to coach with her and to learn as much as I can about the game and being successful,” Brady said. “Coming from my background, you have that will and that drive that you always want to be at the top. This is an exciting opportunity because we want to get to that next level as a program.”
The news is in my blood. If you don’t believe me, check the name of the person who writes the column on the same page and who started this business 40 years ago — go Mom!
And yet there’s far too much blood in the news these days. It’s not enough that storms and natural disasters kill: People are murdering each other in stomach-churning numbers.
It’s heart-wrenching to read about the losses in our country and around the world. Far too often, headlines about senseless violence fill the news.
News organizations shouldn’t ignore these horrific acts, because we want to know what’s going on in the world, what we need to do to stay safe and what other people are doing and thinking.
It seems to me that there are things we can do. We can give blood. Why? We might save someone’s life, we might give someone a vital supply of something we can’t grow in a field, pull from a river or manufacture in a laboratory.
Recently, I met a woman who had been donating blood to her father for two years. He was sick and he needed blood on a regular basis. After he died, she continued to give blood. She said her father received blood from other people besides her during his illness, and she wanted to give back to a system that improved and extended his life.
Do we read about her? No, generally, we don’t, because it’s a small act of kindness and social awareness that doesn’t get politicians angry and doesn’t cause people to write messages to each other over the Internet. It’s not an opportunity to resort to name calling: It’s just a chance to save lives.
We can also volunteer to make our communities better places. We can be a big brother or big sister, or we can find a charitable organization that provides caring and support for families that have children with special needs. My Aunt Maxine had Down syndrome and gave so much more than she ever took.
Sure, she dominated the airwaves with her husky voice and, yes, she sometimes said and did things that made us roll our eyes, but, more often than not, she displayed the kind of unreserved love and affection that jaded and vulnerable adults find difficult to display. When Maxine laughed or did something extraordinarily funny, like sharing a malapropism, she laughed so hard that she cried. Nowadays, after she died, we find ourselves sharing tears of joy when we think of how much she contributed to our lives and to the room.
When the big things seem to be going in the wrong direction, we the people can commit random acts of kindness. Yes, we can and should pray for each other. It certainly can’t hurt, regardless of whether we’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any other religion.
We can also take the kind of actions that define who we are and that show our character. We are living in a world after the Brexit vote and after the failed coup attempt in Turkey. We may not know what to make of all that, but we can decide who we want to be.
We can’t stand on a platform, the way all the former Miss America contestants of bygone days used to, and wish for “world peace,” because that seems naive. And, yet, we can hope that small acts, committed in the name of counterbalancing all the negative news, echoed and amplified across the nation, can turn the tone.
We are fortunate enough to live in a place where we can shape the world in a way we’d like it to be, one community and one random act of kindness at a time.
This might sound peculiar since I am in the news business, but for over the past weekend I disconnected myself from all news reports. I was unplugged, you might say. Now this is a confession from an ultra news junkie. I’m normally so addicted that if I wake up in the middle of the night, I’ll switch on the bedside radio to catch up on what has happened since I went to sleep. But the past week, with the excruciating racist events and senseless killings, here and abroad, were more than I could process.
So I just turned off, or rather I didn’t turn anything on — not my radio, not the television, not the news apps on my cellphone. I didn’t even talk about the news with friends and neighbors.
What a luxury to be able to withdraw from global events for a couple of days.
I have a further antidote for all that has been happening in the world, and it’s even great fun to pursue. This Saturday is Culper Spy Day in Setauket, and it is the work of a number of local organizations committed to bringing history to life. The Culper spies, as you may know, were a small band of close friends who provided George Washington and the colonists with critically important information throughout the Revolutionary War at great risk to their lives. So engaging were their exploits, and so valuable to the eventual outcome of the war, that AMC has a cable TV drama, “Turn,” which has been drawing large audiences for three seasons to date. The series is what we call historical fiction, with the emphasis on fiction loosely — very loosely — based on real events. Those events belong to us because they are part of our local history and are a source of community pride.
This Saturday, July 23, you will be able to walk or bike or drive a designated route that offers views of key locations in the Culper story. There will be “colonists” in costume and signs along the way, helping the stories come alive. And we at Times Beacon Record have produced a multimedia map to enhance your experience. I refer to the newly released Three Village Map, complete with local roads and information from our business community. On this map is a QR code and also a link that, if you click on it with your mobile phone, will open up onto our website to seven different dramatizations of Culper stories — that we promise are historically accurate. In fact, the truth, we think, is more riveting than fiction, as we watch the dangerous exploits of these American heroes and heroines.
The actors in these episodes may be recognizable to you, and they do a fine job of conveying the gist of the story. We have used the services of a professional film crew, who shot the local scenes over the past several months. Community leaders introduce each film segment to set the scene. And in between episodes, if you are walking the route with your family, there are fun arcade-like games to play on your smartphone or laptop. The games, like the scenes, are our original creations and lots of fun. I predict your children — and you — will return to them many times to improve your score. I have.
Special thanks go to the participating organizations and their members for the vision to mount such an ambitious event and the enormous amount of time and effort that went into making history come alive. These include the Three Village Historical Society, The Ward Melville Heritage Organization and The Long Island Museum.
The Times Beacon Record has put together a special pullout within this week’s Arts & Lifestyles section with additional information about Culper Spy Day. Copies will be distributed for free in the historical society parking lot; our multimedia map is $3. Tickets for the more-than 16 attractions, including battle reenactments and colonial cooking demonstrations, are $25, with children under 12 free, from the historical society, WMHO Educational & Cultural Center in Stony Brook village and The Long Island Museum.
“The Neck” — A view of Plum Island. Photo by Robert Lorenz
One of the things that instills great pride in North Shore residents is the unparalleled natural beauty of the place we call home. We are grateful to those who came before us for their discernment and diligence in protecting and preserving that — which, once developed, is lost forever.
Conservationists and environmentalists have worked to ensure that open spaces, clean water, nature preserves and pine barrens will continue to exist for future generations to enjoy.
A controversy is roiling Long Islanders and activists nationwide, over the proposed sale of Plum Island by the federal government. In 1954, the island was the secured location of an animal research facility run by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. More recently, responsibility for the island has shifted to the Department of Homeland Security.
Today, Plum Island, an important, pristine, ecological habitat, is in danger of being sold to a developer. The island has seen little human traffic in the last 70 years, which has enabled about 80 percent of the land to revert to its natural state. It is now home to some of our most imperiled species.
As the Plum Island Animal Disease Center has become outmoded, plans are afoot to create a new center in Manhattan, Kansas. To defray the cost of the new facility, the government wants to sell the 843-acre coastal island to the highest bidder.
We applaud the efforts of Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) to block the proposed sale. The House of Representatives has passed two of his legislative proposals to date. Zeldin urges the Senate to act and pass the proposals as well, and we agree with his sentiments. We are hopeful that we can pursue a better direction for Plum Island than just private ownership, one that would allow for continued research, public access and permanent preservation.
Thomas Scully, second from left, and his family out fishing on a boat. Photo from Despina Scully
By Desirée Keegan
Thomas Scully’s life can be summed up by the lyrics of one of his favorite songs, “The Man,” by Aloe Blacc:
I played my cards and I didn’t fold. Well it ain’t that hard when you got soul (this is my world). Somewhere I heard that life is a test. I been through the worst but I still give my best. God made my mold different from the rest. Then he broke that mold so I know I’m blessed (this is my world).
Thomas, 12, of Miller Place, died on July 7 after a long battle with anaplastic ependymoma, a form of brain cancer. Although he grew increasingly sick over the last few years, Thomas was said to always have a smile on his face, a terrific sense of humor and was always concerned about others.
Thomas Scully and his cat Snowflake. Photo from Despina Scully
Thomas was so full of life that, even while battling a lung infection the day before he passed, his mother Despina said she put music on, and he was dancing in his bed.
“All the nurses and doctors came running and they were amazed that he was doing that,” she said. “They’d never seen anything like it before, and that was Thomas. He never stopped fighting. He just loved being here. He was strong, resilient and hardheaded, and wasn’t letting anything hold him back. He loved life.”
He also cared deeply for others, and even while fighting his own battles he was more concerned about how others were feeling.
“He always was advising people, talking to people, and here while he’s going through this he was making people happy, always wanting to make people laugh and cracking jokes and doing magic tricks with his friends,” his grandmother Helen Vidal said. “He’s just an incredible, incredible little boy. He was so sweet. He was always so polite, always trying to please everybody, always very in tune with people and always advising people to take care of themselves.”
In his short time, Thomas also made sure to soak in every second of life.
His aunt Joelle Manzo, of Miller Place, sister of Thomas’ father James, said that while the family was vacationing in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., they were boogie boarding prior to a storm. As the waves rolled in and everyone came out of the water, Thomas continued to drift along, taking it all in, Manzo said.
“He wasn’t going to let anything go by without taking it in,” she said. “And I think we should all live like that. We forget to. We take things for granted. We all think that we have time, but we don’t. The talks that Thomas and I had have blown my mind. He was so wise beyond his years.”
Thomas shared many hobbies with his friend Robby Fitton, who he met in 2012 in at North Country Road Middle School.
Thomas eats dinner at Wasabi, his favorite restaurant, with best friend Robby Fitton, at left. Photo from Concetta Fitton
“Back before he got very sick we played outside a lot,” Robby said. “He loved baseball. He also loved playing video games, riding around in his golf cart, playing the card game Crazy Eights and going to Wasabi, his favorite restaurant, I felt really bad for him that he had to go through that all and it was upsetting to see him like that because he’s my age and had a very serious sickness.”
But he was there for his friend, and the two continued to get together at least once or twice a week. Once Thomas found himself in the hospital, Robby visited him there, too.
“It was tough seeing him with IVs hanging out of his arms and all the treatments he had to go through, but he always stayed positive,” Robby said. “I thought of him as one of my best friends because if something happened to me he would always call or text me to check and see if I was OK. We’d always be there for each other, that was a big thing with our friendship. He was special in his own way. I miss him.”
Thomas also had a lot of strength, and his mother called his battle “one heck of a ride.”
“He kept us going,” Despina Scully said. “He was our strength. I’m so unbelievably proud and feel so unbelievably blessed to be his mother and to have gotten the time that I had with him. I feel so lucky to be his mom.”
Thomas gives a thumbs-up in his fight against childhood cancer T-shirt. Photo from Despina Scully
Those who knew Thomas described him as very humble. His mother said that if you told him you brought him a leaf because you were thinking of him, it’d mean the world to him.
He was also outspoken.
While watching other children with cancer on television, he would ask his mother, “Why can’t I also be on television?” When his mother asked, “What would you say if you were on TV?” his response was to tell everyone, “Hello, world. You need to be kind to each other, embrace and love each other.”
Scully is trying not to let that message go.
“He was never negative — he would always see the good,” she said. “That’s what I’m trying to hold onto. I’m getting caught up in being upset that he’s gone and that he’s not coming back and how things happened, and I’m trying not to do that because I can’t get him back. He’s gone. I’m just trying to hold onto all those things that he was trying to tell me while he was here and I was just too busy worry about what medicines and what treatments and where he’s going to go and how we’re going to beat his cancer, and I wasn’t there, like I should have been. I wasn’t hearing him. And now I hear him, and I don’t want to let that go.”
Thomas is survived by his parents James and Despina Scully; his brother James Jr.; his sister Jillian; his grandparents Emerson and Helen Vidal, and James Scully, husband of the late Jean Scully. Religious service was celebrated at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption in Port Jefferson. Interment followed at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Port Jefferson. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Branch Funeral Home of Miller Place.
A group of kids decked out in Pokémon attire as they search for Pokémon in town. Photo from Benjamin Harris
By Rebecca Anzel
The latest trend sweeping the nation is a throwback from the 1990s with a modern-technology twist: a augmented reality Pokémon game played on smartphones, and residents of Huntington are not immune. Hundreds of kids, teenagers and adults alike took to the streets this week to interact in this new game.
This latest offering from Pokémon evolved the franchise beyond the original cards, television show and video games. Pokémon GO allows players to create an avatar, called a trainer, and walk around their neighborhoods catching various Pokémon. Players can battle one another and get free in-game items from locations chosen by the game.
“Seeing all these people in my town is so new and great, especially when we can all bond over the same thing,”
— Gerard Anthony
The game is getting people of all ages out of their houses and into their neighborhoods. The only way to catch Pokémon is to walk around searching for them, and players have been posting on social media about how far they have traveled around their neighborhood.
One 22-year-old Greenlawn resident said she saw more than 50 kids hunting for Pokémon at parks in Northport and Huntington in one afternoon.
Megan McLafferty introduced the game to two kids she babysits because she thought, “it would be a fun activity to do outside with the kids — and they loved it.”
She said the kids really enjoyed searching different spots for Pokémon.
“I like that it gets you outside, it gets you moving, and it gets you to interact with other people,” she said in an interview. “It seemed like a lot of people were in big groups together [searching for Pokémon].”
Gerard Anthony, an 18-year-old Northport resident agreed that Pokémon GO is a great game to play in groups.
“Seeing all these people in my town is so new and great, especially when we can all bond over the same thing,” Anthony said in an interview. “I am able to go into Northport by myself and meet a new group of people each day.”
The only way to catch Pokémon is to walk around searching for them, and similarly, the only way to get a refill of free in-game item, like pokéballs is to go to Pokéstops.
One of those stops is the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in East Setauket. Director Ted Gutmann said once he discovered this, he had to try it. “I caught a few in my office,” he said. “So they’re here!”
The library is busy this time of year because of its summer reading program, but Gutmann said being a Pokéstop is attracting more visitors than usual.
A man captures a Pokemon. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
“The hope is, once they get in here, they’ll stop and read a book or attend one of our programs,” he said.
Gutman added that the library had tried its hand at augmented reality a while ago, implementing the technology in its newsletter. It abandoned the effort because it was not getting enough use at the time, but now that Pokémon GO is increasing the popularity of augmented reality, he said the library may revisit the project.
“There are lots of opportunities to use the technology beyond the game,” he said.
Port Jefferson’s Main Street is also a huge attraction for players. With a multitude of Pokéstops and gyms, the promise of Port Jefferson tempted Chris Aguilar, 23, to travel from Riverhead two days in a row.
Aguilar said there were so many people in the streets on the first night he was in the area, July 13, that mobs of trainers were crossing the streets. They did not begin to clear out until about 2:30 a.m.
“This game is bringing people together in an unprecedented way,” he said. “It’s like an age gap doesn’t exist between players,” who can speak to each other on almost an equal level about the game and trade tips.
Other local hotspots to catch Pokémon include Heritage Parkin Mount Sinai and Sylvan Ave. Park in Miller Place.
Just two days after the game’s release, players were spending an average of 43 minutes and 23 seconds per day playing Pokémon GO, a higher rate than popular apps including Instagram, Snapchat and Whatsapp.
According to SimilarWeb, an information technology company that tracks web analytics, Pokémon GO has so many daily active users that it is projected to soon have more users than Twitter.
But some people are concerned about the safety risks associated with Pokémon GO.
Pedestrians are now wandering around towns, with their eyes faced down at their smartphones. Law enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education and public transportation systems have spoken of the dangers of walking around consumed by a smartphone.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) held a press conference Tuesday to remind residents to exercise caution while playing.
“The safety and well-being of our residents, especially children, is our highest priority,” he said in a statement.
Suffolk County Police CommissionerTim Sini echoed his sentiments at the event.
“There have also been accounts of people using the application while driving,” Sini said. “We are encouraging not just parents, but all users, to practice caution to avoid injury to self and others.”
Stony Brook University also contributed to the conversation, reminding students to watch where they are walking while playing.
Mark Szkolnicki, a student of the university, said that he is always careful.
“I grew up in a bad area, so the whole mugging-for-phones thing has been something that I’ve been cautious of forever,” he said. “But I worry for the youth because it’s a cool concept and it could really grow, but those kinds of obstacles really put a downer on the whole gaming community.”
Stony Brook Office for Marine Sciences Secretary Christina Fink agreed. She said it is important to keep in mind that if players are going hunting for Pokémon at night, they should go with at least one other person.
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