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Yearly Archives: 2021
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‘All in the Family Reunited’ opens at the Port Jeff Village Center
By Tara Mae
It runs in the family! The third annual All in the Family art show opened at the Port Jefferson Village Center’s Gallery on June 2. “This particular show is for artists [who] have a family member who is also artistic to show how artistic talent runs in families. It is my most requested show; artists really look forward to it every year. Many contact me and ask when I will be having it,” said Gay Gatta, the exhibit’s organizer and curator.
A number of artists, like Marg Governale of Middle Island, have participated in the show before and appreciate the opportunity to share the experience with siblings, children, and grandchildren.
“[The] exhibit is really exciting because I get to see not only great art from artists that I know but the talents of their family members … who may not usually exhibit their art. It’s fun to see their excitement and to hear their stories of how and why they are here,” said Governale.
“It also gives me the opportunity to do something special with a family member, to bring them into my world. In the past my brother, Jeff, has participated in this exhibit. This year my sister, Susan [Carricato], also an aspiring artist, is exhibiting alongside me.”
Governale, who is primarily a landscape painter, chose to submit her landscape oil painting, Summer at Eagle Lake, to the exhibit. Carricato’s piece, A Day at the Vineyard, is an acrylic landscape painting.
In addition to landscapes, the show features portraits and more abstract works, although there is no overarching stylistic theme to the show. Its concept was developed by Gatta after discussing familial talents with artists and identifying the abilities in her own family.
“When speaking to the artists, they would mention members of their family that were very talented. I have many in my family as well and thought it would be a unique show and fun for the artists to exhibit with their families,” Gatta said.
Beyond showcasing talent, the exhibit is a way for inexperienced artists to show their work in a gallery for the first time, according to Gatta. Having it at the gallery also eliminates some of the economic barriers artists may otherwise encounter, making it easier for any interested party to participate.
“So many [artists] don’t feel their art is good enough for a gallery … This gives them the push they need to show their art and have others critique it positively, so they just might continue to exhibit their artwork. I have always had my shows in free venues … otherwise it can be very costly for an artist to exhibit,” she added.
For Terry Falquero of Sound Beach, exhibiting art with her daughter, Tabitha Grit, was a realized ambition.
Falquero’s landscape oil painting, On the Rocks, Please, is a view of the Neversink River in upstate New York. Grit’s entry into the exhibit, Honey Bee, is a mixed media portrait.
“My daughter Tabitha is also an artist, but rarely exhibits her artwork in this forum. She prefers to show online. Ever since she was a little girl coloring with crayons, I’d dream of us some day showing artwork together. Now with this exhibit, it has finally come true,” she said.
The Port Jefferson Village Center, 101-A East Broadway, Port Jefferson will present All in the Family Reunited through June 30. The second floor gallery is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and admission is free. Join the artists for a COVID-safe reception on Sunday, June 6, from 1 to 3 p.m. For more information, call 802-2160 or visit www.portjeff.com/gallery/.
Hometown Hope remembers fallen residents
On Tuesday, May 25, local nonprofit Hometown Hope gathered with members of the Port Jef-ferson Fire Department, as well as representatives from village and local government to honor three fallen heroes in honor of Memorial Day.
American flags were installed in front of Village Hall in memory of local residents David George Timothy Still, U.S. Navy; Honorary Chief Frederick J. Gumbus, U.S. Army Air; James Von Oiste, U.S. Marine and Belle Terre resident; and Victor Gronenthal, U.S. Army and the husband of a current resident.
Hometown Hope plans to add more flags each year to honor those local heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom.
WMHO connects students through virtual learning
The Ward Melville Heritage Organization has created a virtual bridge across the Long Island Sound for students on both sides of the waterway.
On Tuesday, June 1, WMHO unveiled Long Island Sound Connections, its new STEM and conservation program at the Erwin J. Ernst Marine Conservation Center on Trustees Road by West Meadow Creek. Students from Selden and Bridgeport, Connecticut, participated from their classrooms via Zoom, while WMHO trustees members and grant donors looked on from the center. Dr. Robert Park from the Fullwood Foundation, one of the donors, also joined virtually.
Students from Selden Middle School in Michelle Miller’s sixth-grade science class and Julianne Biagioli’s seventh-grade science class in the Bridgeport school district discussed their studies in the June 1 presentation. The students were able to show how urban and suburban communities have contrasting situations, where the Selden students have the 88-acre preserved wetlands of West Meadow Creek only miles away from them, and the Bridgeport students live in a city where former wetlands were developed decades ago.
The organization’s virtual, cooperative learning is led by Deborah Boudreau, WMHO’s director of education.
“It’s an opportunity for students to research their local Long Island ecosystems, and share what they learned about those ecosystems to learn how we can best preserve all the animals and plants that depend on these ecosystems,” Boudreau said.
She told the students during the June 1 class that the teachers wanted to hear from them as much as possible.
“I want to say that this program is very much about the students and your data and your research and your ideas,” she said. “You are the future of our wetlands. You are the ones that are going to carry that forward.”
During the presentation, students compared findings about the wetlands as well as species that would normally be found in waterways including lobsters and horseshoe crabs, which Bridgeport students found recently in mudflats.
Naturalist and environmentalist Patricia Paladines, from Setauket, was on hand to provide a presentation on horseshoe crabs for the students. She found one in West Meadow Creek June 1 that was injured and explained it would heal. Paladines told students, while holding the crab for them to see, that a lot of people are afraid of its long tail, but it doesn’t sting.
“A lot of people are afraid of them because they have this long tail here, which is called a telson, but it’s not to hurt you — it’s not to protect itself, it’s a rudder,” she said, adding that the tail was moving at the time because the crab wanted to turn over from its back to being right-side up.
The program will continue throughout the month with various schools participating where they will compare and contrast data such as water salinization, marine species inventory and more.
Gloria Rocchio, WMHO president, said the program was made possible by grants from the Fullwood Foundation, Investors Foundation and Teachers Federal Credit Union.
Life Lines: My place in the universe is exceedingly tiny
By Elof Axel Carlson
While watching the evening news I sat cozied with a quilt to warm my 89-year-old body while sitting on the couch in our cottage at Indiana University’s assisted living community, Meadowood. I took an envelope and calculated what fraction of the known universe I was composed of.
I began with an approximation of a teaspoon of sugar and estimated it held about 1023 atoms, using Avogadro’s number as a guide. I then calculated my body contained 1027 atoms and all of humanity 1036 atoms. All of humanity could be packed into a cubic mile so that brings it up to 1045 atoms and if we use a formula for the cubic miles of earth that exist it is now 1052 atoms. If we figured how many earths could fit in the sun this would give us 1056 atoms and if we multiplied that to the number of stars in the Milky Way this brings us to 1064 . The estimated number of galaxies in the universe would give us our final tally of 1073 atoms in the universe. I am thus one part in 1049 of the totality of the known universe contemplating itself.
Does this make me feel insignificant? No. Because I am a tiny bit of the universe capable of contemplating itself. I do so without invoking the supernatural. My contemplation is based on the use of my brain to apply my knowledge of science to make a rough calculation of how much matter I occupy where my sense of self is dependent on a functioning mammalian adult brain using the knowledge won by reason, observation, gathering facts, and using logic and mathematics to make the calculation. Most of the atoms of the universe cannot do this because they are atoms of mostly hydrogen and helium in their suns.
My estimate is both crude (I am rounding off most measurements) and indeterminate (I don’t know how many atoms per cubic mile of space there is between stars and between galaxies). I also don’t know how much “dark matter” is in the universe and some astronomers consider it to be far greater than the masses of stars and galaxies seen by visible light.
Also lacking are any supernatural components of the universe (ghosts, souls, gods, and other nonmaterial beings that cannot be seen by most of humanity other than in dreams or hallucinations). Unlike dark matter, supernatural things have no detectable mass.
I can reflect on the atoms I contain and very likely I have at least one atom of every person who has lived on this earth. That is an accomplishment most of the matter of the universe cannot do. My awareness I owe to the inventions of language, writing, printing, and all the trappings of civilization that emerged since humans first emerged as bipedal primates capable of using and making tools for their survival.
While I feel shame for all the tyrants and evil deeds done by most of the humanity within me, I am proud of those who contributed to the civilizations past and present and that allow me to sit at my computer and prepare this thought for the week.
Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.
Groundbreaking ceremony held for Fountaingate Gardens
Long Island legislators and local community members joined board members, future residents and staff of Fountaingate Gardens independent living community at a ceremonial groundbreaking event for Long Island’s newest Life Plan Community on the campus of the renowned Gurwin Healthcare System in Commack recently. The 129-unit, resort-style apartment complex, complete with indoor saltwater pool, state-of-the-art fitness gym and cultural arts center, is designed to provide a vibrant and socially active community environment for adults age 62 years and better. The promise of financial security and a unique safety net of care option for on-campus healthcare services is what sets the innovative community apart from other senior living choices on Long Island.
In addition to the ceremonial turning of dirt, Fountaingate Gardens founding depositors compiled a time capsule of memories, capturing the legacy they have been part of during the inception of the community, including photos of ZOOM meet ups and other friendship-building events. In recognition of the global health challenges faced over the past year, press clippings, a face mask and a spent vaccine vial were also included in the capsule as a means of closing the door on 2020 and looking ahead toward a bright and hopeful future with new friends and neighbors at Fountaingate Gardens.
“The addition of Fountaingate Gardens increases the breadth of Gurwin’s services for Long Islanders, creating a full continuum of care Life Plan Community on our beautiful 34-acre campus,” said Stuart B. Almer, President and CEO of the Gurwin Healthcare System. “Members of our unique community are able to truly age in place — with guaranteed accessed to other levels of healthcare, such as assisted living, short-term rehabilitation or skilled nursing care — when and if needed. We are pleased to be able to offer an innovative option to those who are seeking a vibrant lifestyle backed by a financial and healthcare safety net and 30 years of healthcare experience that only Gurwin can provide.”
Fountaingate Gardens is slated to open in the Spring of 2022.
See a slide show of the event here.
About Fountaingate Gardens: Fountaingate Gardens is a not-for-profit Life Plan Community, also known as a Continuing Care Retirement Community or CCRC, being built in Commack, Long Island, NY. The community is an extension of the renowned Gurwin Healthcare System, adding independent living to current offerings that include assisted living, skilled nursing and short-term rehabilitation, among other services. Fountaingate Gardens is a community for seniors who wish to continue their active, independent lifestyle without the burden of home ownership and with the added security of knowing a full continuum of care is available on-site when and if ever needed. For more information, please call (631) 715-2693 or visit www.fountaingateli.org.
Sound Beach Fire Department remembers the fallen
Gone, but never forgotten.
In light of Memorial Day Monday, May 31, the Sound Beach Fire Department held their annual service to remember and mourn the losses of all the men and women who died in the name of freedom.
Chief Darran Handshaw said the department also uses the day to remember their brothers and sisters who are no longer here.
“Over the years, many organizations use this day, as we do, to remember and honor their own deceased members,” he said, addressing the crowd. “So today, the members of the Sound Beach Fire Department and our families, in our own way, observe Memorial Day.”
Handshaw added that this is the department’s 91st year. They wanted to remember and pay homage the members who helped build the foundation of the department that has been around for almost a century.
During the hour-long event, a dozen people sat inside the firehouse, as they listened to members read the names of nearly 50 people who impacted the department in one way or another.
Eight-year-old Rocky Point Cub Scout Mason Ulscheimer kicked off the event with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Family members of the deceased people came up to the podium to say the names of their loved ones, and tears were shed as the department’s honor roll was recited.
“We all should reflect on the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, and on those who die for those freedoms,” said Second Assistant Chief Alex Riley. “To any families of our fallen heroes who are here today, we say, ‘Thank you.’ We owe them and their loved ones our heartfelt gratitude and so much more.”
The event ended with Handshaw, Riley and First Assistant Chief Bill Rosasco placing a wreath at the department’s 9/11 memorial.
Thanks to our local veterans on Memorial Day
“Always remember those service members that died on this day. They did not lose their lives, they gave their life to support the freedom of the American people,” John Fernandez, Shoreham resident.
These are the words of army veteran, 1996 Rocky Point High School and 2001 United States Military Academy graduate Fernandez on the meaning of this national holiday. A combat veteran that was severely wounded in Iraq, he has the constant reminders of his service to America. This local father of six children, recalls the sacrifices of his grandfathers, who both fought during World War II. The North Shore does not have to look far to understand the importance of Memorial Day through the experiences of our local citizens.
Gary Suzik, a resident of Rocky Point, served in the navy from 1963 to 1967. He has the unique experience of being stationed on naval ships that were off the coast of Vietnam, within the Mediterranean Sea, and during the Dominican Crisis in 1965.
Suzik was on the first crew to serve on the USS La Salle, where he operated the landing craft that were launched from this ship. While Suzik is a native of Michigan, the La Salle was built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and it was launched for its duty in 1964. This Vietnam and Cold War veteran’s father fought during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944, and his three uncles were in the air force, army and marine corps during World War II.
Longtime resident of Miller Place and Wading River veteran Dan Guida was an army lieutenant. This 76-year-old member of Post 6249 Rocky Point Veterans of Foreign Wars was drafted into the army in 1966. Guida had extensive training as an armor officer at Fort Knox, Kentucky and he was deployed to South Vietnam between 1967 and 1968. He was stationed 50 miles south of Da Nang near the former border between these two warring nations.
Some 54 years ago, Guida vividly identified his time with I Corps in this war, as there were no days off against an enemy that was dangerous and willing to fight at every moment. As a tank platoon leader of tanks and armored personal carriers, Guida is proud of his time in uniform and is always pleased to be with his fellow “brothers in uniform” at Post 6249.
Pat Biglin had a vastly different military job than many of his fellow comrades at this post. From 1963 to 1967, Biglin was in the air force where he was stationed in Turkey, only 60 miles away from the former Soviet Union. As a young man, he spied on this communist Super Power on a base that was located on the Black Sea, that was situated in north eastern portion of this North Atlantic Treaty Organization power.
Biglin’s position was part of the security service that was made up of 1% of all members of the air force through its ability to analyze communication and intelligence transmissions from this former enemy. This special unit tracked every plane that took off within the Soviet Union and he broke coded messages that were sent directly to the National Security Agency. Always armed with a big smile and a can-do attitude, Biglin continues to serve Post 6249 as its military chaplain.
A resident from Middle Island Glenn Ziomek was a finance administrator that was sent to Frankfurt, Germany after the end of the Vietnam War. While this was a difficult period for this country after the loss of Vietnam, Ziomek recalled that the morale was good among American soldiers at this European army base.
He enjoyed the traveling throughout Germany and Austria, the culture of these countries, and personally speaking to these people. But he vividly remembered hostile anarchy that was created by the German terrorist group Baader Meinhof Gang that caused havoc near the American military bases.
For Ziomek, Memorial Day is a moment where he likes to think of his father who served in the navy during World War II and his uncle who survived the D-Day landings, who was later shot in the arm and wounded.
Since the creation of this republic, there has always been family ties of defense of this country. You do not have to look far to notice the strength of character of patriotism that is still demonstrated today by Tom and Ray Semkow. Like many families, their parents endured many stressful times, as these two sons were involved within continuous fighting over several years in South Vietnam.
A city boy that grew up on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan, Ray entered the United States Marine Corps in 1965. After he graduated from boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina, he was sent to South Vietnam. Overseas, Ray was a mechanic and a door gunman that was attached to the I Corps out of Phu Bai, that was near the city of Hue.
Ray flew countless missions in the Quang Tri Province to pick up numerous casualties, where he helped bring them to safety for medical attention. He also conducted classified operations that saw him enter Laos to deter the enemies use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that supplied the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong with soldiers and supplies.
Before Tom was sent to Vietnam, he spent two weeks with his brother, who returned home from completing his duty in this war-torn country. In 1968, Tom was a combat medic in the army’s 5th Special Forces that was in the Mekong Delta during deadliest year of this war during the Tet Offensive.
Tom trained South Vietnamese soldiers and he identified the terrible losses amongst the civilians and the many children that were killed and wounded by booby-traps that were used by the Viet Cong.
On this Memorial Day, he thinks of the losses that were felt by his own men during the extremely dangerous days of Tet against the enemy. Both brothers still serve today through their devoted efforts of Post 6249 into making this community into a better place.
Mike Biscardi is a younger member of Post 6249 that served in the army from 2009 to 2018. He was a military police officer that was attached to the 800th Military Police out of Fort Totten, New York, and the 305th that was in Wheeling, West Virginia.
This local veteran was sent to Bagram, Afghanistan and later to Germany through “Operation of the Atlantic” to monitor the Russian invasion of the Crimea, Ukraine. Most recently, Biscardi has been deployed to Jones Beach to help the New York Department of Health to administer the COVID-19 vaccination shots. On this Memorial Day, he recalls the military service of his good friend from Shoreham who had passed away. To remember this lost service member, he participates in the annual Michael P. Murphy four-mile race around Lake Ronkonkoma to honor his good friend.
And always next to these veterans from various conflicts and times within every branch of the military is Joseph A. Cognitore. This long-time commander of Post 6249, served in Vietnam as a platoon sergeant, that fought in Cambodia, and was awarded the Bronze Star.
Ever since the first Gulf War, Cognitore’s has always presented an iron will to help the veterans of this community, state and nation. On Memorial Day, Cognitore thinks of the army soldiers that fought with him at the end of the Vietnam War, and his own son — graduate of Rocky Point High School — Joseph Jr., that is currently serving as a colonel in the army.
Like that of the Semkow brothers, this part of the North Shore has a multitude of families that have seen their loved ones enter the military. Nicholas, Kevin, Brian and Larry LoRusso were talented athletes and all attended West Point where they played lacrosse.
Three of the brothers, Kevin, Brian and Larry served as platoon leaders within the field artillery and Nicholas was an engineer that also taught military sciences at this school. Currently, Nicholas is still in the army as a major, and was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2012.
A former captain of the Army lacrosse team, Kevin served in Afghanistan in 2011. Three of the older brothers are married and they have started families of their own.
On this Memorial Day, Nicholas said, “I was able to come home, where other service members did not. On this date, I hug my kids a little tighter and give my wife an extra kiss.”
Kevin wants to remember his lost classmates and soldiers that he was deployed with overseas. He believed that these soldiers were the “true heroes” that he honors on this holiday.
A graduate of Rocky Point High School in 2013, Matthew N. Amoscato, attended the United States Maritime Academy at Kings Point, New York, graduating in 2018 with a degree in marine engineering.
Right now, Amoscato is training to become a pilot in Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas. Currently he lives in Oklahoma, where he is undergoing survival training in Coronado, California. This pilot of E-6 B Mercury Boeing 707 military aircraft would like to thank all those men and women that have “carried the torch of duty” before his time in the navy.
Craig McNabb, a current Suffolk County Corrections Officer, and the son of a veteran that fought in Iraqi Freedom, believes there is more to Memorial Day than “BBQ’s and a shopping holiday.”
A graduate of Rocky Point High School in 2014, he was trained as a Protection Service Detail that ensured the security of high-ranking officers, and American and foreign political officials at Bagram and Kabul, Afghanistan. He personally escorted former Secretary of Defense leaders of Ash Carter and James Mattis.
McNabb was stationed in this tumultuous nation during a dangerous period of when the Taliban utilized explosives to strike fear and losses into the American military and the civilian population.
Rocky Point High School Social Studies Teacher Bill Weinhold spent several years in the United States Coast Guard before entering the classroom. This teacher and coach is the youngest veteran to be serving in this school district.
Weinhold remembers Memorial Day of 2010, “as my first military holiday in the service. I had been on my ship for several months at this point and was underway on the USCGC Naushon running fisheries enforcement missions. I remember the cool, rainy Southeast Alaskan spring day handling lines for the small boat we would launch to intercept fishing vessels to ensure they were acting in compliance with Alaskan and federal regulations.”
It is not difficult to see the positive influence of the Coast Guard on the daily routines that Weinhold presents to his students through his teaching and coaching abilities.
Thank you to those veterans that continue to make this nation extremely proud of their on-going service to defend the United States. Especially those graduates from the North Shore that have fought within every branch of the military.
Rocky Point High School students Madelynn Zarzychi and Sean Hamilton helped write this article.
Rich Acritelli is a social studies teacher at Rocky Point High School and an adjunct professor of American history at Suffolk County Community College.
Comsewogue teen creates LI’s first ‘Her Drive’
The goal is to help people in need and break the stigma surrounding “that time of the month.”
Samantha Schwab, a 17-year-old junior at Comsewogue High School decided last year that she wanted to become involved with a national group that has a very specific cause — menstrual products.
Her Drive is a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides bras, menstrual care and general hygiene products to people in need in an effort to combat period and hygiene poverty.
“I love the idea around it,” she said. “We have no idea how [limited access to personal and hygiene products] impacts people in our community.”
From May 7 through June 9, people can donate products to the pink-colored box inside the Comsewogue Public Library — located at 170 Terryville Road in Port Jefferson Station.
Accepted donations include pads, tampons, individually wrapped pantyliners, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, masks, baby wipes, diapers, bras and socks.
Schwab said this is the very first local drive for the organization on all of Long Island. So far, she has received 6,000 menstrual products and 300 general hygiene products from the one location.
“I am overwhelmed by the generosity in the community,” she said. “My house is currently filled with boxes, and it makes me feel good to know that we’re helping people in need.”
She said that she will soon be dispersing the products among several local nonprofits, including Give Kids Hope Inc., in Port Jefferson Station.
People who want to donate to the local Her Drive efforts can drop off products to the library or send Schwab a package using her Amazon Wishlist here.
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