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Yearly Archives: 2019

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John Edward Damianos died unexpectedly Feb. 25 in his home. Photo from Damianos Realty Group LLC

Attorney, real estate developer and longtime Three Village resident John Damianos was laid to rest March 4.

Damianos died unexpectedly in his Old Field home Feb. 25. The 67-year-old was the principal and legal counsel of Smithtown-based Damianos Realty Group LLC and a familiar face in the town.

State Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James), who has known Damianos and his family for several years, described him as a cheerful, upbeat and sharp man. The assemblyman said he would always pick Damianos’ brain about local real estate when he saw him at events.

“He was just an all-around good guy,” Fitzpatrick said.

Christine Mazelis, owner of Niche Boutique in St. James and Mazelis Landscape Contracting Corp., met Damianos due to both of their families’ work with the Smithtown Historical Society and said he seemed to have a passion for everything, especially his cars.

“I always saw him as someone who lived his life with purpose,” Mazelis said. “Always giving back to our community.”

Priya Kapoor, executive director of the Smithtown Historical Society, said the Damianos family members are big supporters of the society’s annual Heritage Ball and Heritage Country Fair. John Damianos recently met with Kapoor to help with the landscaping of the historical society’s property, a project that he was not able to see transpire due to his passing.

“He wanted to do good for the community and wanted to beautify the property,” Kapoor said.

Rev. Demetrios Calogredes (Father Jim), pastor of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption in Port Jefferson, said Damianos was a devout Greek Orthodox Christian who served on the church’s parish council for many years.

“He would read with great care the Holy Bible every day and derive inspiration from the Holy Scriptures,” Calogredes said. “John also was a great philanthropist, helping people in need and supporting the local soup kitchens with food and contributions.”

Calogredes said Damianos was an active member of Port Jefferson American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association. The organization was formed in 1922 to help Greek immigrants assimilate into the American way of life and be successful while fighting discrimination.

“John will truly be missed by all our parishioners and friends who loved and admired him,” Calogredes said. “May his soul rest in peace and may others follow his sterling example.”

In addition to his work with the church, Damianos was involved with Middle Country Coalition for Smart Growth, Building Owners’ and Managers’ Association Long Island and the Real Estate Institute. Damianos was a recipient of the Association for a Better Long Island Developer of the Year Award in 2019 along with the Long Island Business News Redevelopment of the Year Award.

According to his family, Damianos quietly supported worthy causes and delivered food parcels to those in need on behalf of City on a Hill Community Church in Middle Island. He also loved working in his yard and on his vintage Porsche.

Damianos was born Dec. 19, 1951, in Plattsburgh to Dr. Xenophon and Virginia Damianos and was raised in Stony Brook with his five brothers and sisters. A member of the Suffolk County Bar Association since 1982, he was a graduate of The Stony Brook School and Long Island University. He earned a juris doctor from the California Western School of Law.

Damianos is survived by his two children, Elexis Zoe Damianos, Esq. and John James Damianos; his former wife and good friend Evonne Damianos; beloved brothers X. Cristofer Damianos (Helayne), Pelops Damianos (Marilyn); and sisters Bonnie Lee Rampone (Chuck), Elektra Gaebelein (Thad) and Beth Ann Damianos.

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Bryant Funeral Home of East Setauket. A funeral service was held March 4 at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption and interment followed at St. James Episcopal Church Churchyard in St. James.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Monastery of St. Dionysios at 481 N. Country Road, St. James, NY 11780; City on a Hill Community Church at 629 Middle Country Road, Middle Island, NY, 11953; or Bideawee Animal Rescue at 118 Old Country Road, Westhampton, NY 11977.

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Danya, Dean and Kevin Scott stand at the last night of the DEKS pub. Photo by Kyle Barr

It could have been like any other night at the family owned DEKS American Restaurant & Taproom Feb. 28, but of course, it wasn’t. Once the clock struck midnight March 1, the staple pub in Rocky Point that has stood for 41 years closed its doors for good.

“It’s the people, of course, it’s the people,” said Dean Scott, the pub’s owner. “It’s been nothing but accolades from people that say, ‘Look, thank you.’”

The pub and restaurant owner is moving down to Florida to enjoy a retirement that has been a long time coming. He said it was time to take a break from the hustle of running a bar as old as his.

Regulars Margaret and Vinny Labate stand with pub owner Dean Scott, center, while reminiscing about a photo taken there some 20 years ago. Photo by Kyle Barr

“It’s time,” he said. “We haven’t had any life. It’s 24/7. It’s like, ‘What are we out of? What fell down? What’s broken?’” 

Regular Margaret Labate has been coming to the pub for decades. In one of the closets toward the front entrance, the pub workers hold onto many photographs from over the years. On one of them from around 1998, Labate and her husband Vinny stand by the bar, smiling as they did the night of Feb. 28.

“This is when you had color in your hair, hon,” Margaret Labate said to her husband as she held the picture. “We’ll miss the homeliness and the comfort of this place.”

Labate had come for years, back when she and her husband had started dating. She would even eventually go by herself, saying she felt safe there.

There was a good amount of camaraderie to go around the closing night. Scott and his family, including his brother Kevin and daughter Danya, know just about everyone who walks through the doors and were able to make a quick quip about nearly every one of them as they came in from the cold night outside.

It was a night of bittersweet well wishes, but just a few days before, Feb. 24, the bar hosted its going-away party with live music. That night the space was packed shoulder to shoulder, and the parking lot across the street was lined by cars. By Feb. 28, most of the neon signs had been taken down while the Scott family sold off hundreds of beer taps, some from brands long forgotten.

Despite his love for the patrons, Scott said he has to get off his feet. He only recently underwent below-the-knee surgery due to complications from diabetes.

Scott family and friends reminisce about DEKS pub. Photo by Kyle Barr

Natalie Stiefel, president of Rocky Point Historical Society, said the building dates back to James Hallock, whose family was a well-known influence on the area in the early 19th century, and was built in 1825. Area local Charles Bloder purchased the house in 1929 and turned it into a night spot called The Rocky Point Inn.

Before Scott purchased it, the bar was originally named the Sip and Bull Tavern, he said, but it was later changed to its modern incarnation. The current pub owner can still remember a time before the bypass along Route 25A, just when the area was turning from a summer destination into a place where residents could take up roots.

Overall Scott said he is happy to see so much support for what he and his family have done.

“We were the place that always stayed open no matter what, somewhere you could get warm and get a hot meal,” Scott said. “It’s really wonderful, it’s a nice thing to know that people actually appreciate what you’ve done for the past 41 years. It’s been a long time — a lifetime.”

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The Port Jefferson, Stony Brook University Shuttle was cancelled this March, though the village hopes to start it up again next year. Photo from Kevin Wood

The Port Jeff Jitney will soon bear the Stony Brook University logo and bring SBU Seawolves directly into the heart of the village.

A new program, which offers a free mobility loop for riders between the university and the Village of Port Jefferson, will start its first pilot season March 7. The village will be repurposing the 20-seat jitney bus for this program.

“We consider Stony Brook University a true partner with the village and an economic engine,” said Port Jeff Mayor Margot Garant. “This program will bring students and faculty to the village in an efficient way with no cost to the rider, offsetting the average Uber fee of well over $13 one way. This program also greatly helps with our goals to free up our parking lots — something we constantly look at in our managed parking program.”

“We consider Stony Brook University a true partner with the village and an economic engine.”

— Margot Garant

The loop was first presented to village trustees at their Feb. 4 meeting by Kevin Wood, the village parking administrator, who said the program will be administered by the Port Jefferson Parking & Mobility Resource Center. The program will cost the village approximately $13,000, though the village is looking toward the university to pick up the
promotional costs.

The loop will start at the Port Jefferson Rail Road Station along Main Street in what’s known as Upper Port, before heading into Arden Plaza in the village, continuing up West Broadway down Route 25A, stopping at Stop & Shop in East Setauket. Once on the Stony Brook campus, it will make stops at the main circle loop, West Campus and the Chapin Apartments before coming back down Route 25A and ending at the train station. 

The pilot program will run until May 23 and have times starting on Thursdays from 3 to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wood said one does not need to show ID to enter the bus; otherwise, the program is free for students and university faculty.

The village and university are hosting a kickoff event March 7 to celebrate the first run of the bus. The event will also showcase tracking of the bus with a phone app, which Wood said should help cut down on frustration in knowing when it will arrive. The free app, Passio Go!, is currently available on both the Android Play store and the iTunes marketplace.

“It will certainly help students and faculty — there is no cost to ride. It will help free up our parking lots too.”

— Kevin Wood

The existing Port Jefferson Jitney has seen its share of riders in the past, such as the Friday and Saturday of the Sept. 15 weekend during the Dragon Boat Day Festival and the weekend of the annual Charles Dickens Festival, when the jitney had a ridership of 164 and 125, respectively, last year. On off weeks, the jitney has seen a low of 27 riders such as in the weekend of Sept. 8 and an average of approximately 70 riders in 2018.

Wood said while the idea has been around for about four years, he has been working diligently on it for the past four months. He said he expects the program might help rejuvenate the jitney’s ridership and mitigate some of the village’s parking issues.

“It’s a pilot, so we will see,” Wood said in an email. “It will certainly help students and faculty — there is no cost to ride. It will help free up our parking lots too.”

More information and a link to the bus locater app can be found on https://www.pjshuttle.com/.

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By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

When my daughter drives to a crosswalk and a pedestrian is crossing, she feels terrible if the person on foot starts to jog or sprint, pushing him or herself to move more quickly so my daughter can continue on her way.

My daughter also gets annoyed if the person suddenly slows down.

Life is full of those “just right” moments. If our hot chocolate is too hot, we risk burning the roofs of our mouths. If it’s too cold, it doesn’t have the desired effect of warming us up. 

It’s what makes the Goldilocks story so relatable. The father’s bed is too hard, the mother’s is too soft, but the baby’s bed is just right.

When my family searched for new beds, we collapsed into one mattress after another, imagining a good night’s sleep, just the right book or a good movie with perfectly balanced sound.

Most salespeople spend their careers trying to find the right fit for someone, whether it’s a shoe, bed, car, house or any of the myriad items that fill my email box overnight while I sleep.

Life involves the constant search for just right. If we won every game we played, the competition wouldn’t be strong enough and we wouldn’t push ourselves to get better. A movie with absolutely no adversity can be charming, but it can also wear thin quickly, as the lack of suspense can lead us to wonder whether a dystopian conflict is pending.

Even in the world of friendships, we search for just-right friends. We generally don’t seek friends who want to talk to us all the time, or who can barely make time for us. We also don’t want friends who agree with everything we say. A few people, public figures and otherwise, seem eager to find people who reinforce their brilliance regularly. I would prefer to find people with viewpoints that differ from my own, which force me to defend my ideas and allow me incorporate new perspectives into my thinking or behavioral patterns.

Just right for any one person can and often is different from just right for someone else, which enhances the notion that we can find someone who is a great match or complement for us.

Ideally, the non-just-right shoes, weather, girlfriends, boyfriends or jobs teach us more about ourselves. Why, we wonder, didn’t that work? Once we figure that out, we have a better chance at understanding what does.

Sometimes, like the bed that doesn’t feel comfortable at first but eventually becomes the only one that affords us a quality sleep, we grow into a role and find that the previous tasks or conversations, which had seemed so odious initially, are a much better fit than we originally thought, as a result of the changes in ourselves.

And, as Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “There’s the rub.” The pursuit of just right in any context can change as we age. Our high school tastes in music, clothing, cars, houses, jobs or any other choices can and do change with each landmark reunion, making it more difficult to know what we want or what we’re searching for.

While I share my daughter’s guilt when a pedestrian rushes across the crosswalk to let me go or prevents me from running down that person, I’m not as frustrated by someone who slows down. I try to determine, watching that person pause in the middle of the street, how this might be a “just right” moment for the pedestrian.

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Mayor Jeanne Garant Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson on March 5. Photo by Kyle Barr

By Leah Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

This is the time of mixed seasonal emotions. On the one hand, the deep cabin fever that sets in with February is still with us. Winter is upon the land, the trees are skeletons, the bushes just sticks and the lawns an anemic greenish brown. Even the evergreens, instead of being a lusty hunter green, are more like a drab olive, branches hanging dutifully but limply, to remind us that all color has not entirely disappeared from view.

That’s probably also an apt description of our souls, suffering from winter’s darkness and yearning for color and warmth. Patches of snow, remnants of the recent storm, have also lost their luster and serve only to nudge us that winter still has us in its grip. So do the ever widening potholes.

But — and this is only a tiny “but” — March is here. That means we have made it through the coldest, darkest months. This weekend, we will switch to daylight savings time, so those who work past 6 o’clock in the evening will not be stumbling out from their stores and offices into the darkness. There will still be evidence of some day left. Remember, though, to drive with extra care during the week following the change, for statistics tell us there are more car incidents after losing even one hour on one’s biological clock.

Mill Creek in Port Jefferson on March 5. Photo by Kyle Barr

With the advent of March, if we hold on three weeks, comes the official start of spring. Now we know that Mother Nature doesn’t check the calendar, and we can get wicked snowstorms after spring officially begins. But that likelihood is less and would be a grand finale rather than the beginning of a long siege. So there is the smallest whiff of hope for the return of better weather. Also if you look closely at the bushes, you can see buds. Buds! That means flowers will be coming, and leaves, the bright green leaves of early spring. If we really want to get delirious about color, we can trek to Philadelphia to drink in the world’s oldest and largest indoor flower show, now happening at the Pennsylvania Convention Center until Sunday, March 10. This year’s theme is Flower Power, celebrating the contribution of flowers to our lives.

Sometimes on a winter day when the sun is shining, the sky is cloudless and intensely blue and the air, with its low humidity, crisp and invigorating. For those who ski downhill or through the woods, snowshoe or ice skate or even take a walk on a country road, the scene is poetic, an artist’s dream. To come inside after such activity and be greeted with the scent of hearty soup or freshly baked chocolate chip cookies is a treat most keenly appreciated when the temperature is low.

As the season turns, and we think about putting away the shovels and salt — not yet though! — we can also cheer ourselves on a bit by conjuring up the benefits of winter. What are they, you ask? Well, no mosquitoes for one. And the ticks have disappeared. No lawn to mow, although we do sometimes have to shovel snow, so that’s probably only a trade-off at best. We can gain a few pounds and hide beneath our tunics and sweaters until the change in wardrobe forces us to acknowledge the slothful truth. There are no emergency calls to fix the air conditioner in winter. But the boiler is no angel either. It always seems to give way on the coldest nights. A dark and cold winter night can be cheered with a crackling fire, as we sit before the fireplace sipping a favorite beverage and exchanging deep thoughts with a loved one. Even the dog seems to enjoy the warmth and glow, curling up at our feet.

But we are willing to cast all that away for the excitement of spring, with its birdsong, flowers and warmth. The return of light, longer with each day, is a magical salve for our moods. Just for a little while longer, dear friends, hang in there.

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Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance
Mike McCormack and John Corr
The winning entry!

By David Ackerman

As a part of its continuing series of highlighting cultural holidays from around the world, the Ward Melville Heritage Organization hosted a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at its Educational & Cultural Center in Stony Brook Village March 3.

The event kicked off with a lively performance from students of the highly acclaimed Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance, which competes in regional, national and international competitions. Students have won solo medals at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, the North American Irish Dance Championships, the All-Scotland Championships, the Great Britain Championships, the British National Championships, the All-Ireland and World Irish Dance Championships. Mulvihill-Lynch dancers have also won numerous regional and national gold, silver and bronze medals in ceili and figure dancing.

Children from the audience were invited on stage after the performance to see the costumes up close and learn some dance steps.

The celebration continued with the musical storytelling of The Bard and The Busker. Mike McCormack (the Bard), a noted journalist and broadcaster and the National Historian for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and John Corr (the Busker), a member of the legendary Paddy Doyle’s Boots band, shared stories of Irish history in spoken word and in song.

The afternoon concluded with a delicious treat as the audience was invited to vote for the best tasting Irish Soda Bread in a contest that drew eight entries. Baker Priscilla Kirch of Hauppauge won first place and was rewarded with a $150 Stony Brook Village Center Gift Certificate.

To keep up with events at the WMHO Educational and Cultural Center visit www.stonybrookvillage.com/what-to-do-events/.

 

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Margaret Hamilton received the Presidential Honor of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016.

March is Women’s History Month, a time to honor the feminine icons who have left their mark on the world. However, when it comes to learning about accomplished women, in many ways, people need to educate themselves.

Hillary Clinton

A recent article from the Smithsonian Magazine cited a report from the virtual National Women’s History Museum released in 2017 titled “Where Are the Women?” The study examined the status of women’s history in state-level social studies standards seen in the K-12 curriculum and found only 178 women. This find was compared to 559 men found in the same scholastic standards.

Fortunately, while school systems catch up with including the countless impressive women in history missing in their curricula, many libraries and museums offer programs dedicated to Women’s History Month offering information about the lives of so many amazing and impactful women who may not be included in a high school textbook.

Of course, there are options to increase your knowledge, such as digging a little deeper on the library shelves or the internet to find out information beyond the frequently told stories of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, civil rights activist Rosa Parks or 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Those women are out there and are not as hidden as one may think.

We’ve come up with just a few powerful women who may not be referenced enough, or not at all, in the history books.

Elizabeth Jennings Graham in 1895

Elizabeth Jennings Graham was an African-American teacher who in 1854, when Manhattan streetcars were mostly segregated, fought for the right to ride in any car. She won her case in New York courts in 1855, and by 1865 all New York City transit systems were desegregated.

Margaret Hamilton was the lead software engineer for NASA’s Apollo program. Along with her team, she wrote the code algorithms for the spacecraft’s in-flight software. Apollo 11 went on to become the first mission to successfully land humans on the moon.

Sonia Maria Sotomayor, born in the Bronx, become the first Latina and Hispanic justice in the Supreme Court of the U.S. when President Barack Obama (D) appointed her to associate justice in 2009.

Ching Shih

Digging even further into history and across the sea, there is Ching Shih, a female pirate leader, who lived in the late 1700s to early 1800s. History has remembered Shih as a fierce warrior who commanded more than 300 Chinese sailing ships, defeating Qing dynasty Chinese officials and Portuguese and British bounty hunters. She was so successful she managed to force the Chinese government to grant her a pardon. Unlike the careers of other famous pirates in the Caribbean, she died peacefully in her bed.

Stories like these and others of women’s impact on the world and our everyday lives are out there waiting to be discovered. We encourage our readers to go out and find those stories or perhaps even make history themselves.

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Photo courtesy of PJDS

Port Jefferson Documentary Series presents:

UNDER THE WIRE

Monday, March 11

7:00 PM Charles B Wang Center
Stony Brook University, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook

Guest Speakers: Catherine Colvin, Marie Colvin’s sister; Paul Conroy, Photojournalist (via Skype)

UNDER THE WIRE is a chilling and inspiring documentary about Marie Colvin, the celebrated Sunday Times correspondent, and photojournalist Paul Conroy as they enter war-ravaged Syria in February of 2012 to cover the plight of trapped and slaughtered civilians in Homs, a city under siege by the Syrian Army. For Colvin, who constantly tested her limits in conflict zones across the globe, this was to be her last mission. Deliberately targeted by Syria’s top leaders, she was killed in a rocket attack that also gravely wounded Conroy, who eventually managed to escape. As he recounts in his memoir, Under The Wire, he reluctantly left behind many others in desperate need, but was urged to “go out and tell the world.” Using contemporaneous footage, much shot under siege and on the run, Colvin, Conroy and others recall in the film the terrors they endured, the events leading up to Colvin’s death and Conroy’s hair-raising and courageous escape. It is a powerful reminder that journalists who put themselves in harm’s way to expose the truth about war and genocide are not the enemies of the people but are their voices and champions.

Time: 95 minutes

Co-sponsored by the Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism’s Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting

Tickets are $8 per person at the door (no credit cards please). For more information, call 631-473-5200 or visit www.portjeffdocumentaryseries.com. 

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Photo from Legislature Tom Muratore's office

RIBBON CUTTING

Legislator Tom Muratore’s staff joined members of the Middle Country Chamber of Commerce, Town of Brookhaven, other county officials and the crew at Planet Fitness to celebrate the grand opening of its newest location at 321 Middle Country Road in Selden in Selden Plaza next to Pet Depot, on Feb. 19. The event included a tour of the facility and a pizza celebration.

“I welcome Planet Fitness to the community as well as the shopping center where my district office is located,” stated Muratore (R-Ronkonkoma). “I also wish them much success in the years ahead.” 

“We’re thrilled to bring our new Judgement Free fitness experience to Selden, and we encourage everyone to come check out the new club, meet our friendly staff, get a tour and see what the Judgement Free Zone is all about,” said Rich Childs, senior director of Corporate Club Operations at Planet Fitness in a statement.

Pictured in the front row, from left, Planet Fitness staff members Jose Robles and Anthony Napoli; William Maggi, aide to Muratore; Cara Pagan, senior regional operations manager, Planet Fitness; Pastor Scott Kraniak, Greater Middle Country Chamber of Commerce; Doug Smith (R-Holbrook), New York State assemblyman 5th District; Bob Martinez, chief of staff to Muratore; Jeanette Spillane, Planet Fitness club manager; Thomas Heinlein, aide to Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin LaValle (R-Selden); Ryan Gessner, assistant director, Middle Country Public Library; and Thomas Lupo, representing Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy (R).

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The Frank Brush Barn

Celebrate Irish heritage with Irish Night at the Smithtown Historical Society’s Frank Brush Barn, 211 East Main St., Smithtown on March 11 at 7 p.m. Featuring corned beef and cabbage from Faraday’s of Smithtown, dancing by the Mulvihill-Lynch Studio of Irish Dance, live traditional Irish music by John Corr, raffles and a limerick contest. Tickets are $30, $25 members. Call 631-265-6768 for more information or to RSVP.

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