A baby flying squirrel. Photo from Sweetbriar Nature Center
Sweetbriar Nature Center, 62 Eckernkamp Drive, Smithtown invites the community to a Baby Shower for Wildlife on May 2 from 1 to 3 p.m. Come celebrate nature as it comes alive in the Spring with beautiful flowers, vibrant green leaves and of course, baby animals. Help the Center prepare for the busy spring baby season! Hundreds of young wild animals will rely on lifesaving care. Your gift during the Wildlife Baby Shower will ensure the smallest animals — from squirrels and bunnies to hummingbirds and ducklings — get the nourishment and medical care they need to thrive. At the event you will meet some of the ambassador animals and learn about why they are permanent residents at the center. Tickets are $5 adults, $10 children. See the wish list below. To register, visit www.sweetbriarnc.org.
Purchase a special gift today and bring it with you to the event or drive by and drop off your donation at the front door.
Wish list – BIG NEEDS AT THE MOMENT:
Sponges
White Vinegar
Kitchen Trash Bags (13 gal)
Unsalted, unroasted mixed nuts (NO PEANUTS PLEASE)
The Three Village Dads Foundation recently signed an official pledge with Stony Brook Children’s Hospital to donate $100,000 over the next 5 years to the Child Life Services program. A check in the amount of $10,000 was presented on April 21 in partnership with Jeff Hendel of Hendel Wealth Management.
Photo from TVDF
“Two years ago when our Foundation began it’s local philanthropic efforts, the Children’s Hospital was actually our very first recipient. What initially was supposed to be a small Three Village Dads group BBQ where I figured we could perhaps raise a few dollars for a great local cause, turned into something so much more. That event was wildly successful as we were able to raise $12,000 which opened our eyes to the effectiveness us Dads could have on our community,” said David Tracy, Three Village Dads Foundation President & Chairman.
“When we established that relationship with Stony Brook’s Child Life program we immediately felt as connected and dedicated to their mission as their wonderful staff do. To now be in a position where we are able to deliver so much more to this great organization truly means a lot to myself, my board members, and our amazing donors. Jeff Hendel of Hendel Wealth Management joined as a co-donor with this presentation. It is generous donors such as Mr. Hendel that have enabled us to do the good we strive to do in Three Village,” he said.
Pictured from left, Elisa Ruoff, Development Officer of Advancement at Stony Brook Hospital; Michael Attard, Child Life Specialist at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital; Vince DiCarlo, Three Village Dads Foundation board member; David Tracy, Three Village Dads Foundation President & Chairman; Jeff Hendel, Hendel Wealth Management President & CEO; and Three Village Dads Foundation board members Chris Carson and David Bitman.
The Heckscher Museum in Huntington has announced the top prizewinners for its student exhibition, Long Island’s Best: Young Artists. This edition marks 25 years of celebrating young artists across Suffolk and Nassau Counties. More than 300 student submissions, representing more than 50 schools across Long Island participated. Jurors chose 83 works of art for exhibition. The following students were awarded the top four prizes:
‘Cultivating the Mustard’ by Keren Dial
Celebrate Achievement Best in Show
Keren Dial, Valley Stream South High School, Grade 11 for Cultivating the Mustard, colored pencil.
Second Place, Judith Sposato Memorial Prize
Ashley Park, Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, Grade 10, for The 2021 Press, mixed media.
Third Place, The Hadley Prize
Aleena Abraham, Hicksville High School, Grade 12, for Storge, oil pastel.
Fourth Place, The Stan Brodsky Scholarship Award
Ariel Kim, Jericho Senior High School, Grade 12, for Personal Garden, oil pastel and colored pencil.
The exhibition’s anniversary milestone comes during a year where virtual visits and online classes were held in lieu of in-person programs. Despite challenges, art teachers and Museum educators worked together to give high school students meaningful experiences with exhibitions on view.Museum educators involved students through in-depth study and discussion about works of art. Each student then selected a work of art as their inspiration piece. They went on to create an original artwork and write an artist’s statement explaining their creative process.
‘Storge’ by Aleena Abraham
Jurors for the 2021 exhibition are Karli Wurzelbacher, Curator, and artist Melissa Misla, guest juror. Misla is a New York artist who holds an MFA from Queens College and is represented by Praxis Art Gallery, New York City.
“I was eager to see the students’ approaches to creating,” said Misla, adding, “Long Island’s Best can impact a young artist in a transformative way.”
Long Island’s Best: Young Artists will be on view at The Heckscher Museum of Art, 2 Prime Ave., Huntington and online at www.heckscher.org through May 23.
A virtual opening reception and awards ceremony will be held live on Instagram @heckschermuseum on May 1 from 7 to 8 p.m. For more information, call 631-380-3230.
Above, a humpback whale breaks the surface of the water. Photo from Eleanor Heywood/National Marine Fisheries Service permit no. 21889
By Daniel Dunaief
The waters off the South Shore of Long Island have become a magnet, attracting everything from shipping vessels, recreational boaters, fishermen and women, potential future wind farms, and humpback whales.
While the commercial component of that activity can contribute to the local economy, the whale traffic has drawn the attention of scientists and conservationists. Whales don’t abide by the nautical rules that guide ships through channels and direct traffic along the New York Bight, a region from the southern shore of New Jersey to the east end of Long Island.
Left, Julia Stepanuk with a drone controller. Photo by Kim Lato
Julia Stepanuk, a PhD student at Stony Brook University in the laboratory of Lesley Thorne, Assistant Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, is focusing her research efforts on monitoring the humpback whale’s use of this habitat.
“This can help us understand how we focus our energy for monitoring and conservation,” she explained in an email. If the whales are traveling, it helps to know where to minimize human impact.
Ultimately, the work Stepanuk, who also earned her Master’s degree at Stony Brook in 2017, does provides ecological context for how whales use the waters around New York and how old the whales are that are feeding in this area.
In her dissertation, Stepanuk is “looking at the biological and ecological drivers, the motivators of where the whales are, when they’re there, specifically, from the lens of how human activity might be putting whales at risk of injury or mortality.”
Each summer, whales typically arrive in the area around May and stay through the end of October.
When she ventures out on the water, Stepanuk uses drones to gather information about a whale’s length and width, which indicates the approximate age and health of each individual. Since 2018, she has been gathering information to monitor activity in the area to track it over time.
With the research and data collected, she hopes to help understand the ecology of these whales, which will inform future policy decisions to manage risk.
Stepanuk’s humpback whale work is part of a 10-year monitoring study funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which includes four principal investigators at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. The study looks at carbonate chemistry, physical oceanography, fish distribution, and top predator abundance, distribution and body condition, Thorne explained.
“My lab is leading the seabird and marine mammal aspect of this project,” said Thorne.
The grid over the whale demonstrates how members of Thorne’s lab measure the size of the whale from drone images. Photo by Julia Stepanuk
By documenting the ecological ranges of whales of different ages, Stepanuk may provide insight into the age groups that are most at risk. Many of the humpback whales that travel closer to shore are juveniles, measuring below about 38 feet.
Stepanuk has seen many of these whales, either directly or from the drones she flies overhead. She has also gathered information from events in which whales die after boats hit them.
Mortality events off the east coast have been increasing since 2016 as numerous whales have washed up along the coast. About half of the humpbacks in these mortality events have evidence of human interaction, either ship strike or entanglement, Stepanuk said.
“There have been many more strandings than usual of humpback whales along the east coast” in the last five years, Thorne explained.
Humpback whales likely have appeared in larger numbers in New York waterways due both to the return of menhaden in nearshore waters, which comes from changes in the management of this fish stock and from environmental management more broadly, and from an overall increase in the humpback whale population after 40 years of protection, Thorne suggested.
Ultimately, Stepanuk said she hopes to use the scientific inquiry she pursued during her PhD to help “bridge the gap between academic, policymakers, conservationists, interested parties and the public.”
A part of Stony Brook’s STRIDE program, for science training and research to inform decisions, Stepanuk received training in science communication, how to present data in a visual and accessible way, and how to provide science-based information to policymakers.
For Thorne, this study and the analysis of the vessel strikes on humpback whales could be helpful for understanding similar dynamics with other cetaceans.
Julia Stepanuk and Matt Fuirst, a previous master’s student in Lesley Thorne’s lab, release a drone. Photo by Rachel Herman
“Understanding links between large whales and vessel traffic could provide important information for other studies, and could provide methods that would be useful for studies of other species,” said Thorne.
Stepanuk offers some basic advice for people on a boat in the New York Bight and elsewhere. She suggests driving more slowly if visibility is limited, as people would in a car in foggy weather. She also urges people to pay close attention to the water. Ripples near the surface could indicate a school of fish, which might attract whales.
“Slow down if you see dolphins, big fish schools and ripples,” she said. “There’s always a chance there could be a whale.”
If people see a whale, they shouldn’t turn off their engines: they should keep the engine in neutral and not approach the whale head on or cut them off. For most species, people can’t get closer than 300 feet. For North Atlantic right whales, which are critically endangered, the distance is 1,500 feet.
She suggests people “know the cues” and remember that whales are eagerly feeding.
Stepanuk has been close enough to these marine mammals to smell their pungent, oily fish breath and, when they exhale, to receive a residue of oil around her camera lens or sunglasses. She can “loosely get an idea of what they’re feeding on in terms of how bad their breath is.”
When she was younger, Stepanuk, who saw her first whale at the age of eight, worked on a whale watching boat for six years in the Gulf of Maine. An adult female would sometimes leave her calf near the whale watching boat while she went off to hunt for food. The calf stayed near the boat for about 45 minutes. When the mother returned, she’d slap the water and the calf would race to her side.
“Experiences like that stuck with me and keep me excited about the work we do,” Stepanuk said.
Sixth grader Katelyn Murray with Ramsey.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
By Melissa Levine
Suffolk County lawmakers last week unanimously approved a proposal by Presiding Officer Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) to designate April 30 as “Pet Therapy Day” in Suffolk County.
Nationally recognized as a day to celebrate therapy animals through the efforts of Pet Partners — the nation’s leading organization registering therapy animals for animal-assisted interventions — Calarco felt it was important to mark the day on the county level to recognize the local groups working to improve the health and well-being of Suffolk residents through animal-assisted therapy and activities.
Legislators approved his resolution to designate Pet Therapy Day in Suffolk County at their April 20 general meeting.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
“Therapy animals and their human companions bring joy and healing to people of all ages in many different settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, schools and funeral parlors,” he said. “Designating April 30 as Pet Therapy Day is our way of saying thank you and recognizing all the good these animals and their handlers do to bring moments of joy to people in need in our community, especially given the difficulties of the last year.”
A furry friend joins a middle school class
Since the onset of the pandemic, Comsewogue School District’s staff and students have endured the same challenge that thousands of schools across the globe are facing recreating normalcy in a time of chaos.
Comsewogue special education teacher and student character liaison Andrew Harris is no stranger to the many benefits that come with therapy dogs.
“Normally we visit Stony Brook Hospital’s adolescent psychiatric unit on a weekly basis,” he said. “The kids get a great deal from our visits.”
Harris has been training dogs for over 20 years, so he has grown incredibly familiar with the contagious charm and health benefits that dogs like his dog, Ramsey — a licensed therapy pooch — can bring to people of all ages.
“It’s funny because the nurses and doctors are always the ones who rush in and cuddle the dog before the kids. After all, they too might be having an especially stressful day,” said Harris.
Once invited into a particular institution, the dog is able to comfort people in hospitals, nursing homes and schools.
After a few months of careful planning, Harris devised a therapy-dog-based proposition for the visits at the district’s schools. It didn’t take long to convince the administration to let Ramsey in.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Ramsey proudly wears his Comsewogue picture ID and therapy dog bandana upon entering John F. Kennedy Middle School.
Harris said he has taken much time to develop this program for school visits.
“We have several progressive and successive lessons each time we come into a class,” Harris sad. “On the first visit, it is more of a meet and greet and demonstration of what the dog is capable of.”
When Harris was tasked with getting his therapy dog certification, he had no idea how elaborate it would be. He went on to describe how certain tasks tested the dog’s ability to remain calm in stressful situations — something Ramsey is great at when demonstrating for students of different abilities.
Harris takes ample time to show the students the difference between a therapy dog (they are for you) and a service dog (they are for the owner). He also demonstrates some typical things a service dog might do by performing tasks like dropping crutches and asking the dog to pick them up and bring them to him.
The dogs are capable of accomplishing many other feats too, like assisting people up staircases when requested, or alerting someone to wake up who has sleep apnea.
“When we visit a class for the second time, I have the students do more of the work, instead of the dog and I doing it all,” Harris said. “The students can start by introducing themselves or reading aloud to the dog. Then on our final visit, we sit the dog in the back of the room and have the students do full speeches or presentations.”
Photo by Julianne Mosher
The most important thing for Harris is that the students enjoy and learn during the time they spend with Ramsey.
Melissa Levine is a senior at Comsewogue High School
The Port Jefferson Farmers Market heads outdoors to Harborfront Park, 101 E. Broadway, Port Jefferson this Sunday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Purchase local produce, honey, bread and baked goods, seafood, international specialties, plants and flower bouquets. Live music. Social distancing and masks required. The outdoor market will run through Nov. 14. Call 473-4724 for more information.
Port Jefferson EMS announced they will be scheduling in-home vaccine appointments Wednesday, after receiving 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine from New York State.
This comes after a delay due to the department not receiving what they said were promised doses from the county. Appointments will be available May 4, and can be scheduled online. Patients will then receive their second dose June 1.
“Our ability to administer vaccines in the home allows us to help the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Deputy Chief Micheal Presta. “Our paramedics are ready, willing and able to take on this new role and enhance the services we provide to the community.”
Photo from Port Jefferson EMS
To qualify, patients must be “homebound and have limited mobility,” which is defined by FEMA as “any individual that cannot get to and from vaccination sites without transportation assistance (due to physical disabilities, economic hardships, or other factors that may hinder an individual’s ability to get to and from a vaccination site without assistance).”
To receive a vaccine from the program, residents must reside in Port Jefferson, Miller Place, or Mount Sinai (11777, 11764, and 11766 zip codes).
Moderna does present logistical challenges in distribution. In following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a vial of vaccines, which generally contain 10 to 11 doses, cannot be left unrefrigerated for more than 12 hours.
Mike Siderakis discussed concerns about revised plans for The Lofts at Maple & Main. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Suffolk County legislator Democratic candidate, Mike Siderakis, is keeping his eye on development in Smithtown.
On April 27, Siderakis held a press conference in front of the site for The Lofts at Maple & Main along Main Street. Currently, the property features a variance and special exceptions sign that lists a Town of Smithtown Board of Zoning Appeals meeting April 13. The virtual meeting before the BZA was adjourned to July 13, even though the original variance sign remains on the property.
The candidate said developers, VEA 181st Realty Corp., are now asking for the proposed building to be all apartments instead of mixed use. The developer could not be reached by phone for comment.
Siderakis said after fanfare about the groundbreaking a year and a half ago, there hasn’t been much information about modifications.
“Seventy-one units wasn’t enough for them,” Siderakis said. “They want more, and they intend to get more by going to the Board of Zoning Appeals, in the dead of night. They intend to use the cover of a pandemic, with meetings on Zoom, and with the link only available to those who know how to request it, to make this major change without public input.”
Ground was broken on the former site of Nassau Suffolk Lumber & Supply Corp. in October 2019. The initial plan was to build a three-story 71-unit one- and two-bedroom apartment complex with 15,000 square feet of retail space on the lower level.
The goal of the developers was to create a transit-oriented development in Smithtown, with the building one block away from the train station. The apartments would be geared toward young people starting out or seniors looking to downsize. According to an October 2019 The Times of Smithtown article, the apartments are expected to generate $250,000 in tax revenue and result in 50 new jobs.
Siderakis said the developers, consultants and local leaders said Smithtown needed projects such as the proposed building.
“They brushed aside concerns about traffic, about who is going to pay for the influx of kids into our schools, about the costs of roads, maintenance or public safety,” he said. “They make glossy renderings of pristine buildings and tell us that these projects reduce our tax burden — our taxes, apparently, have been going up year after year after year because we haven’t built enough? And so, we swallow this tough pill. And we deal with the new construction. We tell ourselves that we need more housing for our kids, affordable housing, even though at thousands of dollars per month — $1,900 for a one-bedroom and $$2,900 for a two-bedroom — it’s anything but affordable.”
After the developer bought the site in 2008, according to an October 2019 The Times of Smithtown article, it violated a Smithtown stop-work order and in 2009 illegally demolished the building. After piles of debris and concrete were hauled away, the situation became the subject of a 2011 Suffolk County grand jury investigation alleging that an unnamed town official recommended demolishment to save taxes. No charges were filed, but Smithtown Town Board members voted in July 2014 to tear down the already demolished structure and adjacent buildings and approved the site plans for The Lofts at Maple & Main at its August 2018 meeting.
Siderakis said county Legislator Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) should be making noise about the project instead of brushing it off as a town problem.
“She should have gotten on her soapbox, like I am here today, and warned the community about this bait and switch,” he said. “But where is Leslie Kennedy? She’s not part of this fight. Actually, she isn’t part of any fight that involves sticking up for the residents — not the 200-units on Smithtown Boulevard in Nesconset, not the four-story hotel in Smithtown and certainly not the millions in county tax giveaways for unpopular projects throughout the district.”
After the press conference, TBR Newsmedia reached out to Kennedy’s office for comment. The county legislator said in an email Smithtown’s agendas are available on the Town of Smithtown’s website.
“The town chose this project for two reasons — to make temporary housing available and to add strategically located business space, contributing to a walkable downtown,” Kennedy said.
The legislator added the last she heard was the requested variance asked for an increase to 76 apartments and decrease of 800 square feet of commercial space, which she said, “may be too intense on this heavily trafficked dangerous roadway and defeats the original purpose of mixed-use development and a walkable community.”
“I am fairly certain that this is how the Zoning Board of Appeals will view this, but I always encourage community involvement in any level of governmental permitting decisions,” Kennedy added.
Spring is supposed to be a time for new beginnings. Our spring has been marred by senseless shootings across the country, further inflamed by hateful rhetoric on both sides of the aisle that does not address the real heart of our social mayhem.
The vaccine which is supposed to be used as an instrument of healing in some circles is being used as a weapon. We have elected leaders that don’t lead but rather fuel the discontent and polarization that has become so infectious across our country.
It is springtime. Let’s talk about new beginnings, renewal and another way to talk with each other that is life-giving. Words matter. They can heal and help or hurt and destroy.
We need to challenge those with hurtful and despicable rhetoric to express their strong feelings in words that are respectful — words that don’t incite but rather encourage a deeper and more productive conversation about the things that really matter and have a profound impact on our community.
At the beginning of April, a young 16-year-old female Native American and African-American sophomore in high school wrote an op-ed piece in Newsday entitled “Why I sat for the Pledge of Allegiance.” Social media ripped her apart and she was threatened and harassed.
After reading her opinion piece, I decided to have my college and graduate students take a look at her article and discuss it. I saw for the first time what our future leadership could do.
These students had a real in-depth conversation on a very delicate topic. It was impressive to see them exercise their well-developed critical thinking skills. They were genuinely sociologically mindful. They looked at every aspect of that student’s opinion. Not all agreed with her choice to be seated but they all agreed with her right to self-expression without harassment. They all condemned the despicable ad hominem attacks and rhetoric directed at her.
Ultimately, every class focused on the injustices she raised which led to a lively conversation of where do we go from here? How do we address these inequalities and hold people more accountable? It was refreshing to listen to the next generation of leaders speak passionately about human rights, social justice and express the desire to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.
On October 14, 2020, Dr. Christopher Pendergast, a dynamic teacher, motivational speaker and founder of the A.L.S. Ride for Life, died quietly at his home in Miller Place surrounded by his family. He was 71.
On April 28, Dr. Pendergast would have celebrated his 72nd birthday. Although he is no longer with us physically, his spirit lives on with Ride for Life’s mission and his endless acts of kindness and love that he did for so many while he walked among us.
Before he died he and his wife wrote a very powerful book entitled “Blink Spoken Here.” The last words of this exceptional story say “speech is freedom. Communication is the connection to the outside world. We all have a right to speak and to be heard … even if it’s only one blink at a time … Never be afraid to speak up. Your opinions matter.” Amen!
Father Francis Pizzarelli, SMM, LCSW-R, ACSW, DCSW, is the director of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson.
The marquee at Theatre Three in April 2021. Photo by Brian Hoerger
After going dark over a year ago, Theatre Three in Port Jefferson will reopen on July 9. The announcement was made in a press release on April 22.
The summer line-up will kick-off with two performances of The L.I. Comedy Festival: Friday and Saturday, July 9 and 10, at 8 p.m. Featuring stand-up comedians from the New York City and Long Island comedy scene, The L.I. Comedy Festival is the hottest place for comedy. All tickets are $35.
The Mainstage will open with the world’s longest-running musical: The Fantasticks. A boy, a girl, two fathers, and a wall … Here is a timeless tale of love and loss, of growth and acceptance. Featuring a score blending musical theatre and jazz, the show is a heartfelt celebration of moonlight and magic. The Fantasticks will run July 16 through August 15. Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $35 adults, $20 children ages 5 to 12, $28 seniors and students.
Children’s Theatre will return on July 10 with a perennial favorite, The Adventures of Peter Rabbit — an original musical based on the characters created by Beatrix Potter. Peter, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-Tail, Benjamin Bunny, the McGregors and their friends come to life in this Theatre Three tradition. The show runs on Saturdays at 11 a.m. through Aug. 14. All seats are $10.
*Tickets for all above shows go on sale Tuesday, May 4th.
Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson will follow all CDC and New York State safety protocols. Seating for summer events will be assigned based on updated CDC and New York State guidelines. Patrons must wear face covers while inside the theater.
To purchase tickets, please call the Box Office, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at (631) 928-9100.
or visit www.theatrethree.com.
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