Employees from Port Jefferson Station and Terryville gas stations were arrested Jan. 31 for allegedly selling alcohol to minors, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The arrests came as a result of New York State Liquor Authority inspections Jan. 31 in the Town of Brookhaven, police said. Due to numerous community complaints, 6th Precinct Crime Section officers conducted SLA inspections utilizing underage police agents, according to police. The police agents attempted to purchase alcoholic beverages from targeted businesses within the town. Employees at Sunoco gas stations located at 669 Old Town Road in Terryville and and 200 Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station allegedly sold an alcoholic beverage to an underage police agent.
Paresh Patel, 25, and Tirath Ram, 61, both of Port Jefferson Station, were charged with ABC Law 65.1 – Sale to Persons Under 21. They were issued Field Appearance Tickets and are scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip April 2, 2018.
The following businesses complied with the New York State Liquor Authority and refused to sell an alcoholic beverage to an underage police agent:
Rebecca Holt and Lucia Buscemi, above, are hosting a soup cookoff, Sunday, March 18, at The Bates House in Setauket. Photo from Lucia Buscemi
By Rita J. Egan
Two Ward Melville High School juniors are asking the Three Village community to join them in achieving their goal to build a school in the African country Malawi.
Last summer, Lucia Buscemi and Rebecca Holt, of Setauket, brainstormed ideas for a fundraiser they could spearhead. They researched the nonprofit buildOn, which helps students raise funds to build schools in impoverished countries, and the pair liked the idea of helping children in need have access to education.
“What got me most excited is that I know that education is the best way to eradicate poverty,” Holt said.
Buscemi agreed and said she believes providing children with an education can be better than donating food.
“It’s not giving someone a handout,” Buscemi said. “It’s giving somebody a lifetime supply of education, and of food practically.”
When it came time to choose a country, the teenagers solicited the help of Lucas Turner, one of buildOn’s community engagement managers. After talking to Turner, Buscemi and Holt decided Malawi was the country with the greatest need.
It’s not about a bunch of kids going down there to build a school to get community service hours. They’re making sure that it’s something sustainable and will last for generations to come.
— Lucia Buscemi
Buscemi and Holt’s goal is to raise $30,000 to fund the building of the school. Turner said if a student wants to travel to Malawi where he or she will stay with a host family and help build the school, he or she must fund their own travel. The girls said they are hoping to make the trip as well, which would take place during summer vacation.
“Rebecca and I are both very excited to learn about the culture there,” Buscemi said, adding they have only traveled within the United States and Europe. “We are anticipating a culture shock when we get there because it’s going to be so unlike every single place we’ve been to.”
Buscemi said buildOn requires help from residents to build the structure, many of whom will eventually attend the school.
“When the school opens, [villagers] are not looking at it and saying, ‘Oh, these foreigners came and gave us this school,’” Turner said. “They look at that, and they say, ‘We built that with buildOn and this is something we can be very proud of.’”
Turner said while students visit a country to help for seven to 10 days, it can take the villagers 15 to 20 weeks to complete construction.
“It’s not about a bunch of kids going down there to build a school to get community service hours,” Buscemi said. “They’re making sure that it’s something sustainable and will last for generations to come.”
Friends since they were in seventh grade at P.J. Gelinas Junior High School, Holt said this is the first time she will be heading up a fundraiser, while Buscemi has been involved with philanthropic efforts since she was in elementary school. For the past three years, she has organized an annual 30-hour famine fundraiser at Caroline Church of Brookhaven, where young adults fast for 30 hours while performing everyday tasks to simulate how it feels for the undernourished.
The pair is using social media and email to spread the word about their buildOn project and are currently planning a soup cook-off fundraiser for March 18 at The Bates House in Setauket. The high school juniors said so far their fundraising has been a valuable learning experience, and they hope to apply those lessons toward future pursuits. Buscemi said she is considering taking a gap year after she graduates from high school to work with refugees in Athens, Greece.
For now, the two are focused on their present pursuit, and said every single person who contributes to the cause, no matter how much they donate, will be making a difference.
“It doesn’t take two girls to build a school,” Holt said. “It takes a community and that’s why we need to work with Three Village in order to build this school. It takes a village to build a school. We need to pool as many resources as we have in this community in order to accomplish our goal.”
Holt and Buscemi have already raised $1,086 toward their $30,000 goal. For more information on how to donate or about the March 18 soup cook-off at The Bates House, 1 Bates Road, Setauket, visit act.buildon.org/team/136930 or email [email protected].
Cheese, milk, butter, ice cream, yogurt. You were all such good friends. I was lucky to have known you at all.
Long ago, I developed an intolerance for you. It’s not as if you’d kill me but, let’s just say, you’d incapacitate me for a prolonged and agonizing period of time if I ever decided to ignore all the earlier experiences and indulge again.
That doesn’t mean, however, that I can’t appreciate the quality time we shared together, the memories you forever embedded in my taste buds and in my satisfied stomach.
I’ll start with the unexpected. Yes, you, in the corner, looking all innocuous. Stand up custardy yogurt and let me recall the smooth, cool feel and consistent taste. My favorite was banana, even though I lost the second-grade spelling bee when I thought there had to be an extra “n” in there somewhere. Someone with as many vowels as there are in the name Dunaief should have recognized the superfluous nature of consonants, but alas I was too young.
Then there’s macaroni and cheese. The soft noodles and almost too-sweet cheese was like a warm, sweet bath for my mouth. After throwing snowballs at my brothers or coming in from the walk along Mud Road from Gelinas on a rainy day, the hot mac and cheese revived me enough to break out my homework and try to figure how to find a second derivative or identify feldspar (a rock-forming mineral).
Then there’s that tall carton of milk. How awesome were you with Oreos and chocolate chip cookies? I’d dip the cookies deep into the milk, hoping they’d break apart. At the end of that refreshing glass, I’d have a blend of cookie crumbs supersaturated in milk at the bottom. I tipped the cool glass toward my mouth and let those mushy morsels land gently on my unfolded tongue.
And then there’s ice cream. After a movie at Stony Brook Loews, I’d sit with my buddies at Friendly’s on Route 347 and wait as patiently as I could for everyone else to figure out what they wanted. I pretended to read the menu, particularly when I was on a date and was considering what to say next, but the choice was always the same: the mint chocolate chip sundae.
During cold winter days, particularly after a day of skiing with my family — who were patient enough for me to stop getting frustrated when I fell, learn from my mistakes and enjoy the ride — I looked forward to onion soup. Oh, the melted cheese on the top of that soup. As my wife would say, what’s better than that?
Busboys risked serious injuries to their fingers if they tried to take the Crock-Pot before I’d finished picking every piece of cheese off the sides. When I finally looked up from my cheese removal operation, I saw my mom flashing that same annoying grin I show our children when I see how satisfied they are in a moment.
Since we’re discussing cheese, how about a grilled cheese? Buttered bread with soft American cheese was an irresistible delight. I’d order several of these sandwiches at the old Jack in the Box at the corner of 25A and Main Street in Setauket.
When I was young, one of my late father’s favorite sandwiches was Swiss cheese on rye with lettuce, tomato and mustard. The first time I tried it, I smiled politely and gave it back to him. Before the end of the dairy road for me, I ordered it again and thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe it was an acquired taste or maybe it brought me closer to my father, who I could imagine enjoying the life and the food as much as I did. Oh, those dairy delights.
In the wake of a political battle that characterized 2017, it appears solutions for potentially improved and more affordable health care may be on the horizon.
While federal lawmakers bicker over the Affordable Care Act, three corporations are teaming up to resolve the issue for their employees. If the companies are successful in creating an effective health care system, it’s possible their idea could benefit all Americans.
Online retailer Amazon, holding company Berkshire Hathaway and bank JPMorgan Chase issued a press release Jan. 30 announcing plans to start an independent health care company. The statement provided little detail about the joint venture except that “the initial focus of the new company will be on technology solutions that will provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent health care at a reasonable cost.” The hope is that it will balance rising health care costs with enhanced patient satisfaction and outcomes. The release also mentioned a desire to transition away from a profit-based health care system.
After the announcement of the initiative, stock prices of major health insurance companies dropped, and rightfully so. If it expands in the future, the new partnership may create much-needed competition in an arena fraught with overpricing, complicated procedures and an abundance of paperwork. Competition is always a good thing. It prevents medical costs from being controlled by just a handful of insurance providers, and in an important area like one’s health, everyone should have coverage options that will ensure
receiving the highest quality of care possible.
“The ballooning costs of [health care] act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffet.
The joint venture also creates opportunities for other employers to join forces with the giants, or attempt to come up with their own answers to provide better health care options for their workers.
But this isn’t the first time a corporation has become involved in health care. In December, CVS Health bought health insurance giant Aetna for $69 billion with a similar goal — to remake the consumer health care experience and build a health care platform around individuals.
In an era where many Americans fear that one accident or illness will drastically alter their financial future — because they can’t afford health insurance to assist with potentially high medical expenses — the idea that legitimate solutions are being sought is refreshing. What’s even more uplifting is that these companies understand the importance of their employees being able to afford health insurance and, in theory, politics will be held out of the discussion.
Considering all three corporations have enjoyed immense successes in their respective fields, the potential for innovative ideas from the three giants is exciting.
We look forward to seeing if the private sector can produce what elected officials were stuck in the mud trying to accomplish all of 2017.
As I write this column, Tuesday, I am thinking of the State of the Union address that President Trump is scheduled to give to Congress and the nation in the evening. What does each of us think about the state of the union at this time? Do we know enough about what’s happening in the country to offer a credible picture in this first month of the year 2018?
We know we have problems. Big problems, if you follow the newscasts. We have a Congress that people seem to agree is “broken,” and a president without precedent. We have an economy that is the largest in the world, yet our citizens are divided into those enjoying its fruits and the rest who have been left behind. We have a remarkable health care system that is not accessible for everyone. Our schools are uneven in their teaching, especially in subjects like math and science. We have to deal with racism, bigotry, sexism, ageism and lots of other “isms,” as well as gun violence, drugs, gangs, North Korea, Russia, the Taliban, you name them. It’s enough to addle the mind.
Then I think of the other side of the story, the story of what America means to me. When my grandchildren have their children, they will be sixth generation Americans. We are deeply rooted here in our country but not so much that we have forgotten how we got here and especially why we came. My father’s family arrived in the second half of the 19th century from Riga, the capital city of Latvia set on the Baltic Sea. We don’t know much about them except they were dairy farmers, and they managed to buy property and continue with that life after they landed and settled in Connecticut and upstate New York. My dad, the middle child of nine, left the farm for the big city when he was 14, got a job at the bottom of the ladder in a hardware store, lived in a boarding house in Brooklyn near his older brother, worked hard and for long hours, saved his pennies and ultimately started several hardware stores on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was about then that I came along, the middle child of three.
We know more about my mother’s side of the family. Her uncle, her mother’s brother, left the army in the Ukraine after a perilous stint at the beginning of the 20th century. He joined his uncle in Corona, Queens, who taught him how to use a sewing machine in a clothing factory. He realized he could earn more if he owned a machine and could hire himself out to the highest bidder, then understood he could do better still if he owned the factory. His four children all graduated from college, his daughters became teachers and his son served as a judge in the District and Criminal Courts of Suffolk County.
My mother’s grandparents and parents, alarmed at the unrest in their homeland in the first decade of the 20th century, followed the family chain, established themselves financially in New York City, and saw to it that their offspring were educated so that they might further contribute to society and share in its benefits.
This is the American Dream. This is the route that countless individuals and families followed for 400 years to reach their goals amid the freedom and security of the United States, Has that dream been achieved by everyone here in America? Certainly not, and the situations where people are chained to the past or even the present are heartbreaking. The national goal is to bring the American Dream to all living within our borders.
Except for Native Americans, we all started out as immigrants, foreigners in a foreign land, and those who came voluntarily — along with those who didn’t — aspired for more. Some came with more skills and resources, some with less. Some had supportive family networks, some arrived alone.
The American siren song still exists. The formula does work. I see it realized by people locally every day. For all the cynicism and the partisanship, whatever the shortcomings and injustices, this is still America.
On the day of the State of the Union, this is what America means to me.
Three Village elementary students learn coding with Bee-Bots. Photo from Three Village Central School District
By Andrea Paldy
Whether it is a demonstration from the high school robotics team or honoring 2018 Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholars, recent school board meetings have been a venue to showcase the vast strides the Three Village School District continues to make in science, technology, engineering and math instruction and enrichment.
In recent months, the district’s teachers and information specialists have given presentations explaining how they are helping to prepare students from elementary through high school for the brave new world that’s theirs.
The spotlight is put on the elementary STEM curriculum and the district’s library services. These demonstrate the way Three Village integrates technology into the curriculum as a unit of study, while also using it as a tool for research and growth in other academic disciplines.
Three Village embarked on the first year of its elementary STEM program in the fall of 2015, just as President Barack Obama (D) was signing the STEM Education Act into law. The curriculum, which introduces elementary-aged students to concepts such as aeroponics, coding and robotics, also teaches them about engineering and design.
Speaking at a school board meeting in November, Setauket Elementary’s STEM teacher Gina Varacchi explained how design challenges are embedded into the program to teach students about the design process. Students are given a design goal along with guidelines and constraints, she said. Similar to the scientific method, students must follow certain steps as part of the process. After determining “the problem” and conducting research, they can begin to design, but most important is that students experiment with their design through old-fashioned trial and error. Varacchi said that not only do they learn problem-solving skills, they also learn persistence.
Three Village students learn coding with Bee-Bots. Photo from Three Village Central School District
Design projects range from physical construction of marble tracks and bridges to using the online program Tinkercad to design 3D sculptures and containers for 3D printing. Students also learn coding for robots — Bee-Bots for kindergarten through second grade, and Ozobots for third and fourth grade. Additional STEM units include building with littleBits circuits, as well as coding with Scratch.
The district goes further in supporting students’ technological literacy. R.C. Murphy Junior High School information specialist and district library head Betsy Knox said at January’s meeting that the library departments put an emphasis “on teaching information and inquiry skills to students and collaborating with teachers on planning appropriate lessons on research.”
To achieve this mission, the libraries offer Lightbox, a web-based system that provides supplementary lessons in English language arts, science and social studies. It also includes supporting materials such as videos, primary documents, interviews and articles, Knox said. The district has 74 different units that are also accessible to students at home.
Additionally, media specialists help to design curriculum that includes research projects with suggested resources or team-teach lessons on developing thesis statements and providing research-based evidence for support. Nicole Connelly, information specialist at P.J. Gelinas Junior High, said this helps to give students the skills they need to navigate systems to “make informed decisions and become critical thinkers.”
In addition to providing maker spaces and experiences with virtual reality, the district’s libraries, or “information centers,” teach internet safety and provide instruction in online behavior from kindergarten to 12th grade. Ward Melville’s information specialist April Hatcher said the curriculum on “digital citizenship” for grades six through 12 was recently updated and covers cyberbullying, copyrights and plagiarism, social responsibility and identity protection. Lessons on hate speech are also addressed in the high school curriculum, she said.
The district’s media specialists not only support educators with research and curriculum, but also with technology. The library service department has recently submitted grant applications for drones, digital cameras and an outdoor classroom.
But, said Allyson Konczynin information specialist at W.S. Mount Elementary School, even with growing focus on technology, emphasis is still being placed on book selection and literature appreciation.
“Nothing beats seeing a student light up with excitement when they find a book they love,” she said.
Humbled, dedicated leader immediately credits students and staff
Mount Sinai's 18-year athletic director Scott Reh hugs former girls lacrosse star Sydney Pirreca following a championship win. Photo from Scott Reh
Don’t ask Scott Reh to talk about it, but he’s been named athletic director of the year by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.
As the news spread throughout Mount Sinai school district, and when boys track and field coach Bill Dwyer and his team stopped in the middle of the hallway to clap for Reh, he simply turned around and said, “Thanks to you and your team — you helped me earn this honor.”
“Here we are recognizing him, and right away he turns it around on us,” Dwyer said, laughing. “It made him feel good, and the kids recognize he earned the distinction, but that’s just the kind of guy he is.”
Mount Sinai athletic director Scott Reh with girls lacrosse head coach Al Bertolone. Photo from Scott Reh
Reh, a natural deflector when it comes to taking any credit for the continued strength of the Mount Sinai program since he was named athletic director in 2000, added another notch to his belt, having previously been inducted into the Rocky Point, Adelphi University and Suffolk County sports halls of fame.
“It was very humbling,” said Reh, who graduated from Rocky Point in 1985 and Adelphi in 1989, and was an All-American lacrosse player at both schools. “I’m very appreciative that my peers voted for me for this award. It’s a great honor.”
Reh is the first full-time athletic director in Mount Sinai’s history, also overseeing health, nursing, security and grounds.
On his first day at school, Reh held a meeting with instructors, including head football coach Vinnie Ammirato, who has been with the program since 1996. Ammirato said Reh’s words and actions immediately struck him.
“That first day I knew we had someone in place who understood the value of athletics, and would be willing to help us however he could,” Ammirato said. “His passion for athletics and his desire to see us succeed is what impressed me the most.”
To get the Mount Sinai facilities up to snuff, Reh advocated for the gyms and weight rooms to get a face-lift and also worked to add several sports teams, like lacrosse.
“We’ve been very, very successful over the years — we’ve had national, state and county championships,” Reh said. “All of our teams are very competitive because of the time they and the coaches put in.”
The athletic director is known for putting in his own time. He’s the vice president of the Rocky Point board of education for starters, and even when visiting his twin sons to watch their lacrosse games at University at Albany, he’ll book a hotel just to crash for a few hours before hitting the road to make it back to school in time.
“Sports have always been in my life, but my goal isn’t about winning or losing, it’s about giving kids the best opportunity to succeed.”
— Scott Reh
“We tell him to take a few hours, come late, but he never listens,” said board of education member Peter Van Middelem. “He’s a professional. He cares about every student, athlete or not, and we’re fortunate to have him. He’s on top of everything.”
Van Middelem, who first met Reh in 2008 and joined the board in 2014, has seen the Rocky Point resident’s care and concern firsthand, saying it even goes beyond athletics. When he traveled with the girls lacrosse team up to the state championship game, to see his daughters Meaghan and Emma play, the athletic director ensured the hotel was booked and there were restaurant options from which to choose. After the girls won, Reh was making phone calls to the fire department and had signs made on the fly to give the Mustangs a proper welcome home. His efforts even extend past his own teams. When there was a case of bedbugs at a hotel his and other students were staying at during a state tournament, he called to get new arrangements made, also aiding West Islip in the switchover, whose athletic director wasn’t present.
Mount Sinai Booster Club president Diane Tabile has also seen the athletic director go above and beyond in generosity with his time. She said she has seen him popping in and out of games, whether late after school or on weekends. This past Saturday, he was upstate watching the wrestling squad take home the first
Division II state title.
High school principal Rob Grable, who was a varsity football assistant and middle school baseball coach when Reh was first hired, said the athletic director has been in everyone’s shoes along the way. Reh was an All-County player who was named MVP during a state championship soccer game his senior season. That year he was presented with the Ray Enners Award, given to the best lacrosse player in Suffolk County, and he finished that year with the most points in state history. He went on to become a lacrosse and soccer coach at New Hyde Park and was an assistant for Stony Brook University’s men’s lacrosse team.
Scott Reh, a longtime Rocky Point resident, is all vice president of the Rocky Point school board. Photo from Scott Reh
“He knows what programs need, he knows how to take programs to the next level and he’s always got the kids in the back of his mind when making his decisions, so you can’t go wrong with that,” Grable said. “But the biggest thing about Scott is he’s all about the kids, and everyone knows that. I don’t think anyone is omnipresent but if there is anyone that’s close to that it’s him.”
Reh’s office is known for always being open, and students and staff are frequently seen cycling through. His coaches not only consider him a mentor but also a close friend.
“I’ve taught and coached at multiple schools and Scott raises the bar high, he’s the best of the best,” said head girls lacrosse coach Al Bertolone, who has been teaching lacrosse at Mount Sinai since 2008. “When you work for somebody like that you will always go above and beyond for him, because that’s what he does for you. He’s a great, great leader, a community guy, he’s selfless and he keeps everyone in constant communication. He’s really created a tradition of excellence.”
The reason Reh doesn’t take the credit is because for him, it’s about recognition for the programs and kids, not his own. His father, George Reh, was a 30-year physical education teacher and head track and field coach at Newfield. The Mount Sinai athletic director said he learned from his dad’s example.
“Sports have always been in my life, but my goal isn’t about winning or losing, it’s about giving kids the best opportunity to succeed,” Scott Reh said. “I love seeing them grow into young men and women who are mature, responsible and dedicated. You learn a lot about a student through athletics, and I think life’s lessons are taught through athletics, so I love being a part of that.”
Valencia Tavern in Huntington. Image from Google Maps
A proposal to demolish Valencia Tavern to create a mixed-use complex is dividing Huntington residents by their generation.
The Town of Huntington has temporarily stalled a developer’s proposal to demolish the more than 100-year-old Wall Street bar in order to build a three-story building with retail storefront and apartments in Huntington Village.
Conceptual plans submitted to the town last November by the developer, 236 VT Wall Street LLC, call for 7,840-square-foot retail space with a total of 24 apartments on the second and third stories. This would require the developers to acquire more than 9,000 square feet of town land along West Shore and Creek roads in Huntington.
As an alternative, the developer also put forth a plan to redevelop without purchasing the town land for a smaller retail space, but the same number of apartments.
To move forward, the developer would need a number of variances approved for a 13-to-15 parking space deficit, mixed-use zoning, building above the two-story height restriction and possible vision obstruction.
James Margolin, a Huntington-based attorney who represents the developer, said they received a letter of denial from the planning board in January.
“We hope to acquire the surplus town land and move forward with the application,” Margolin said, saying there is no set time frame to submit plans to Huntington’s Board of Zoning Appeals.
The proposed plans have divided the community between those calling for the building’s historic preservation and those seeking affordable housing.
A copy of an online petition titled “Save the Valencia Tavern” was presented by Bob Suter to the Huntington town board Jan. 23 in an effort to save what he called one of the town’s most iconic taverns.
“Now this historic establishment, the one-time haunt of famed Long Islanders like Billy Joel, is being threatened by developers,” Suter read from the petition. “They want to tear down the Valencia and build yet another generic mixed-use property in its place. We feel that demolishing the Valencia would do irreparable harm to the fabric of the community.”
Calls to save the tavern were met by opposition from younger residents, millennials who currently work and play in Huntington hoping one day to call it home.
Dan Busci, a Huntington native, returned to the area after graduating from the University of Vermont with a degree in green building design and sustainable development looking for such apartments.
“I’ve looked at apartments around Huntington where I want to live and work,” Busci said. “The high prices have dissuaded me and made it impossible for me to move out.”
He encouraged the board to allow the developer’s plans to move forward and pushed for construction of a green, energy-efficient building in its place.
“Huntington Village has enough bars, what we really need are rental apartments,” Nicole Hoyt said.
Hoyt, a 24-year-old graphic designer, said she has an hour to hour-and-a-half commute daily to her job in Huntington after an unsuccessful hunt for an affordable apartment in town.
“I wish people opposing this new development would take a step back and consider the progression of the community as a whole,” she said. “To pass on this opportunity would be a mistake.”
Smithtown United Civic Association member Mark Mancini. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
By Sara-Megan Walsh
A conceptual plan for revitalizing downtown Smithtown has community support, but faces a number of serious challenges.
Smithtown United Civic Association debuted its proposal for western Main Street’s revitalization Jan. 25 before the Smithtown Town Board to find solid community backing. Yet, elected officials and business leaders note there are serious challenges to its implementation.
Mark Mancini, a Smithtown resident and architect, presented Smithtown United’s conceptual design for Main Street which focuses on the preservation of the Smithtown school district’s New York Avenue administrative building and its fields. Public outcry halted plans to demolish the building for a 251-unit apartment complex in 2017.
“It became pretty clear that we have to take steps first as a community to make something happen on Main Street that we all can deal with,” Mancini said. “We are going to develop no matter what you might think or what you may want. Everything changes.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) assigned $20 million from the state budget for the installation of sewer mains in Smithtown, which Mancini said brings opportunity for development that residents need to have their say.
The first step in the civic association’s plan is to preserve the New York Avenue building and its property as open green space.
“I consider it a diamond in the rough in the Smithtown downtown Main Street area,” said Bob Hughes, one of the 10 members of Smithtown United. “I would like to see it as a downtown central park, to make it a destination.”
Pasquale LaManna, president of the Smithtown Kickers Soccer Club board, said he backed the proposal as it preserves the fields for recreational use. LaManna said the Smithtown Kickers is the third largest soccer club on Long Island with more than 2,000 children who play at New York Avenue.
“It’s extremely vital for us to have the green space,” he said.
Smithtown United calls for Smithtown elected officials to purchase the New York Avenue building from the Smithtown school district and use it to consolidate all town departments and services in one location.
Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) said negotiations between the town and school district over the potential sale of the New York Avenue property had broken down in late 2017, after an appraisal determined a fair market price would be $6.8 million. The supervisor was hopeful that these negotiations could be picked up in the future.
“If the community in that area is amicable to having those discussions about developing the property, I think the school board would get back engaged,” Wehrheim said.
Other key components of the revitalization plan call for the construction of mixed-use retail stores with apartments above on the south side of Main Street with transit-oriented housing alongside the Smithtown Long Island Rail Road station.
Jack Kulka, a real estate developer and founder of Hauppauge Industrial Association, strongly supported the construction of apartments in a new “mixed imaginative zoning” code.
“If you are serious about revitalizing downtown Smithtown, you are going to have to increase the density of population in downtown Smithtown,” he said. “You need to have creativity. I think the concept, which is very important, of having residential next to the train station … has to come to Smithtown.”
Kulka stressed that Smithtown United’s plan would not work if town officials didn’t utilize the $20 million set aside by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to install sewers in Smithtown. Wehrheim agreed on the importance of sewers, stating that it is moving forward, but said he has also scheduled meetings with different developers in February.
“I have meetings set up with a couple developers, whose names I cannot divulge, to see if there are other developers that now have an interest in looking at the conceptual plan Smithtown United drew up and see if it’s feasible to embark on a project,” Wehrheim said. “That’s the first step.”
Albert G. Prodell Middle School students study abroad with Madrid 2017 classmates. Photo from Marc Dinowitz
By Kevin Redding
A total 3,521 miles separates Shoreham-Wading River and Madrid, Spain, but thanks to a long-running school program, the two regions couldn’t be closer.
Every February since 1983, a pack of eighth-graders studying Spanish at Albert G. Prodell Middle School travel to Madrid for an immersive and unforgettable exchange program. Nineteen students will embark on the 35th annual trip Feb. 9, during which they will be matched with host families, attend school at IES Santamarca and tour the expansive city for two weeks — relying on and strengthening their foreign language skills along the way. In April, following tradition, the school will welcome students from the Madrid school, who stay with their corresponding host families in Shoreham and absorb American culture through the lens of Long Island. Although the program’s locations have remained the same for nearly four decades, the itineraries of the trips are always unique — being based on the parents and students involved.
Shoreham, the only public school district in the nation with this kind of program, has held onto it against several odds. Even in 1991, in the midst of the Gulf War when people were afraid to travel, enough support for the program existed to send four students abroad.
“It’s so deeply rooted in the community — I’m so proud,” said Barbara Gaias, who started the program after being hired as a Spanish teacher at the middle school in 1981, and maintains her involvement even in retirement. “Now we have students going whose parents went when they were younger. People say they want to take Spanish instead of French because they know they have the chance to go to Spain. Their Spanish skills are just unbelievable upon returning.”
Throughout the trip, Gaias said Shoreham students are expected to make orders while in restaurants and regularly communicate with strangers.
“We try to put them in uncomfortable situations — we want them to be able to use their language ability,” she said. “When they come back, the kids are so much better, particularly in listening skills. As a result of the trip, they really serve as leaders not just in Spanish class, but in the school. They’re junior ambassadors.”
Marc Dinowitz, whose daughter Jillian went on the trip in 2014, volunteered as coordinator of the exchange program in June 2017. Together, with a band of parents, he spearheaded fundraising efforts to pay for the events that take place during the two weeks in April. This year, 20 Madrid students will be visiting Shoreham. In past years, Shoreham’s fundraising efforts have gone toward providing the visiting students with a tour of the Montauk Lighthouse and museum, a ride on a water taxi around the Statue of Liberty and tickets to a New York Yankees baseball game.
The trip to Spain is paid for by each individual participant. Dinowitz and four chaperones will be joining the Shoreham students this year.
“It’s all worth it for me to watch the kids’ transformation by the end of the program,” Dinowitz said. “And getting to see them integrate into those families and then having the other kids come back and become part of our families — these are lifelong bonds and friendships.”
Kim DiPaola, a 1993 Shoreham graduate, said she had an incredible experience when she took part in the program, and was immediately supportive when her daughter, Isabella, expressed interest in going this year.
“I hope that she more or less experiences what I did,” DiPaola said. “I learned so much about Madrid’s culture, and just got to experience such a different way of life.”
Isabella said she’s been geared up to go to Madrid for a while now, between her mother’s experience there and seeing some friends’ pictures of their trip from previous years on social media.
“I’ve been looking forward to it since I was in sixth grade,” Isabella said. “I’ve honestly never been more excited for something in my life.”
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