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Yearly Archives: 2024

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By Nancy Marr

An Equal Rights Amendment for the United States was first drafted in 1923 by two leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman, who believed that the ERA was the next logical step following the campaign to win access to the ballot. 

While the text of the amendment has changed over the years, its focus has remained the same. Article V of the U.S. Constitution requires that a proposed amendment be passed by the Senate and the House in a two-thirds majority in two consecutive legislative sessions in order to be sent to the states for ratification by their legislatures or conventions. 

The version approved by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states with a deadline of 1979 reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Although the deadline was extended to 1982, only 37 of the required 38 states ratified the amendment. 

Opposition to it came from conservative Phyllis Schlafly, saying it would require women to serve in the military or lose protections for alimony or child custody cases. The result? Five states voted to revoke their ratifications, but these reversals were not counted as part of the result, and the count of ratifications remained at 37. The amendment was not passed.

In the absence of a national equal rights law, the constitutions of twenty-five states now do provide guarantees of equal rights on the basis of sex. The New York State Legislature, in 2022 and 2023, passed an ERA bill that has looked further. Currently, our state constitution only protects against racial and religious discrimination. 

The proposed bill would protect all those who have been discriminated against based on ethnicity, national origin, disability, age, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and a person’s reproductive autonomy or access to reproductive care. The new ERA bill explicitly includes language to clarify that discrimination based on a person’s pregnancy or pregnancy outcomes would be sex discrimination, protecting women from punishment. It will also ensure comprehensive and inclusive equal protection that will guard against attacks on our rights from the federal government or federal judges, including threats to the legal equality of LGBTQ1+ people.  

Do we need protection if the Fourteenth Amendment already guarantees equal protection of the laws? The Fourteenth Amendment, passed in 1868, added the word “male” to the Constitution but failed to include women in the right to vote. The proposed New York State ERA is not “a women’s equality amendment” but seeks to protect women as a class and men as a class against discrimination under the law for any reason. 

The Brennan Center has commented that the amendment process is an ineffective way to correct shortcomings in our United States Constitution. Given the difficulties and delays that have been faced by those who have fought for amendments, is our Constitution unamendable?  

Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is the leading constitutional scholar serving in Congress today. Reflecting on the progressive activism that “built the modern Constitution,” Raskin urges reform-minded Americans to shed their fear of advancing reform through Article V. “It’s a betrayal of our history if we don’t talk about amending the Constitution in order to create a more perfect union,” he says. “We need to be planting flags in the unfolding history of democracy. That’s what the constitutional amendment process is all about.”

Voting to amend the New York State Constitution with the New York State ERA will provide protection for New Yorkers who have faced discrimination through the years. Make a plan to turn your 2024 ballot over and vote yes on the proposed amendment.  

Nancy Marr is Vice-President of the League of Women Voters of Suffolk County, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Visit www.lwv-suffolkcounty.org or call 631-862-6860.

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Superintendent Losquadro reveals Holtsville Hal’s prognostication to the crowd at the Holtsville Ecology Site. Photo from TOB
Superintendent Losquadro reveals Holtsville Hal’s prognostication to the crowd at the Holtsville Ecology Site. Photo from TOB

Suffolk County’s most famous weatherman did not disappoint. This morning, at 7:25 a.m., before a crowd of several hundred spectators, Holtsville Hal awoke from his slumber and did not see his shadow, predicting an early spring for the Town of Brookhaven.

According to tradition, if a groundhog sees its shadow after emerging from his burrow on Groundhog Day, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; if not, spring should arrive early.

Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro read from Hal’s official prognostication: “…At sunrise, the sky was filled with more than one cloud, And so I hope your cheers will be quite loud. I did NOT see my shadow in the early morning hours, And so the wait will not be long until we see flowers. Sun and warm temperatures the next few weeks will bring, I hope everyone enjoys this year’s early Spring!”

“Thankfully, after a wet and rainy January, Hal has given us a sunny outlook for the remainder of this winter season,” Losquadro said.  “Regardless, the Brookhaven Highway Department is prepared, as always, for whatever Mother Nature sends our way.”

Holtsville Hal is just one of the more than 100 animals who reside at the Holtsville Ecology Site and Animal Preserve.  The center, which is open all year-round, includes a wildlife preserve, greenhouses, gardens, and jogging and exercise trails. For more information, visit www.brookhavenny.gov or call 631-451-5330.

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Do you recognize this woman? Photo from SCPD
Do you recognize this woman? Photo from SCPD
Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Fourth Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the woman who allegedly stole from a Lake Grove store last month.

A woman allegedly stole merchandise valued at $401 from Dicks, located at 620 Smith Haven Mall, on January 19 at approximately 3:20 p.m. She fled the store in a white pickup truck.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.

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Photo from SCPD
Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Southampton Town Police are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the person or people who damaged a sign and stole another in Flanders.

The Welcome to Flanders sign, located at the corner of Pleasure Drive and County Road 104, was damaged and the Pleasure Drive street sign was stolen. The incidents were reported to police on January 23.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips, or online at www.P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.

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Police car. Stock photo

Suffolk County Police Fifth Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that killed a man in
Ronkonkoma on Feb. 1.

Adelino Santiago was driving his 1996 Ford F-350 pickup truck traveling northbound on Smithtown Avenue when the vehicle struck the curb and flipped several times. Santiago, 56, of Bay Shore, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

Anyone with information on this crash is asked to call Fifth Squad detectives at 631-854-8552.

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Virginia A. Steinsvold

Virginia A. Steinsvold of Fort Salonga, passed on Dec. 6, at 88 years of age. Beloved wife of John A. Steinsvold and loving mother of Christopher and his wife Anna Grant, and the late Teddy and a cherished grandmother of John. Visitation was held at Nolan Funeral Home in Northport on Dec. 12. Family and friends gathered for funeral services on Dec. 13, before proceeding to Calverton National Cemetery where she was laid to rest with her son. 

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Rep. LaLota with Chris Pickerell of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.

By Samantha Rutt

In mid-January, U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY1) appeared in Washington before the Natural Resources Committee to address the importance of the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act. This bipartisan act would reauthorize the Long Island Sound Program through 2028 to ensure the protection and preservation of the Sound.

“The longevity and health of the Long Island Sound is critical for Long Island and Connecticut residents,” LaLota said before the committee. “For many, the Long Island Sound and our waterways are our way of life.”

The act was initially introduced by both LaLota and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut (D-Vernon), co-chairs of the Long Island Sound Caucus, which focuses on issues relating to and impacting the Long Island Sound, including conservation, water, fishing, transportation and energy. The LISRSA will ensure the Sound remains a valuable resource for generations to come.

“As the co-chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus, I am proud to introduce the Long Island Sound Stewardship and Restoration Act. The Long Island Sound is not just a body of water, it’s a way of life for our community,” LaLota said in a 2023 statement. “This legislation underscores the vital importance of preserving this natural treasure, not only for our environment but for the thriving fishing industry that sustains Long Island’s economy. Together, we can ensure the continued health and prosperity of Long Island Sound, a resource that defines our region and sustains our livelihoods.”

This bill amends the Clean Water Act to include studies addressing environmental impacts on the Sound watershed, planning initiatives that identify areas best suited for various activities while maintaining minimal adverse environmental impacts, as well as to facilitate compatible uses, or preserve critical ecosystem services. 

In adherence with the act, representatives must also develop and implement strategies to increase education and awareness about the ecological health and water quality of the Sound and monitor the progress made toward meeting the goals, actions and schedules of the plan.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency must coordinate the actions of all federal departments and agencies that impact the Sound’s water quality and to improve the water quality and living resources of the watershed. 

“Pollution, overdevelopment, algae, water quality and dumping are just a few of the issues we have endured over the past several decades,” LaLota said. “The deterioration of the Sound and its natural habitats have also been an issue the Long Island Sound program has addressed, ensuring that endangered and native species can thrive in this environment.” 

A federal agency that owns or occupies property, or carries out activities, within the Sound watershed are required to participate in regional and subwatershed planning, protection and restoration activities. Additionally, such agencies will be required to ensure that the property and activities are consistent with the plan to the maximum extent practicable.

Lastly, the reauthorization of the bill will further authorize the Long Island Sound Study, the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act of 2006, the Long Island Sound Grants and Long Island Sound Stewardship Grants through fiscal year 2028.

Upon his visit to the capital, LaLota also had the opportunity to question Chris Pickerell, the director of the Marine Program at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County on the importance of reauthorizing the program.

Pickerell estimated “tens of thousands” of people on Long Island to be affected by the Sound and even more so from the Connecticut approach. After questioning from LaLota regarding benefits of a healthy watershed, Pickerell mentioned the several direct and indirect ways people living near the Sound would benefit from the renewal of the LISRSA.

“Recreation, commercial fishing, recreational fishing, aesthetics, boating, swimming, all those things, transportation, of course, the ferries,” Pickerell listed as some of the direct ways in which residents use the Sound.

“If the water quality was improved, that could actually impact people’s livelihoods, their jobs — whether it’s aquaculture or wild harvest of shellfish or finfish, that could increase and bring more money to those communities and to their families to put food on the table,” Pickerell added.

LaLota then proposed a situation in which the restoration program never existed, calling upon Pickerell to speculate what the Sound may look like without it.

“We wouldn’t see the milestones reached that have been achieved so far,” Pickerell said. “There have been so many projects of all different natures that are taking place that have helped to restore habitat, fisheries, recreation, education.” 

Without the LISRSA funding, Pickerell noted, “we would go in reverse. The improvements that have happened would start to wane and we wouldn’t see any advancement.”

“I hope that it’s obvious to my colleagues here in Washington that the reauthorization of the Long Island Sound Program is vital to not only Long Islanders and Connecticut, but the environment and to the entire region,” LaLota said as his time in Washington came to a close.

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By Steven Zaitz

With three and a half minutes remaining in their game against Smithtown High School East, the Huntington varsity girls basketball team was on the precipice of not only losing their grip on a game they had once led by 17, but gone with it, would have been a chance at a spot in the playoffs.

When Smithtown East junior guard Meredith Brennan hit a corner jumper midway through the fourth quarter, it cut the Huntington lead to six. The Lady Devils, whose once-insurmountable lead now seemed very surmountable, needed a tourniquet.

After a timeout, the Bulls, whose defensive intensity in the second half of the game fueled their comeback, now had that defense dialed up to 11. The Blue Devils passed the ball around the perimeter but could not find an open shot. As the shot clock ticked down to just three seconds, the ball wound up in the hands of freshman point guard Ava McDonald, who was closely guarded by Brennan at the top of the key. After a quick dribble to her right and with no remaining recourse, she hoisted a jumper from behind the three-point arc. It was good – and just like that, Huntington had a nine-point lead with under three minutes to go. The 5’5” McDonald had delivered not only a tourniquet, but a dagger to the hearts of Smithtown East.

“I heard my coaches and the fans counting down the shot clock, so I knew I had to shoot it,” said McDonald, who led the Lady Devils in scoring with 13 points. “Our coaches put us through a lot of shooting drills at practice, so we are prepared for anything like this in game situations.”

Along with her baker’s dozen in points, McDonald had 8 assists, 4 steals, and played all 32 minutes of the game. 

“Ava came through with a big shot just when we needed it,” Huntington head coach Michael Kaplan said. “I’m not surprised because she works hard every day in practice, and she is a great leader. She is calm and poised and has developed a great I.Q. of the game.”

It was with that high I.Q. that McDonald and her teammates were stifling the East offense in the early part of the game. Starters Kayleigh Bender, Reese Rinaldi, Lauren Donaghy and Jolie Weinschreider, along with McDonald, applied an unrelenting trap on the unnerved Bulls that led to numerous turnovers and easy layups for Huntington, as they built a 11-2 led after one quarter. The Lady Devs kept their sneakers firmly on the throat of the host Bulls throughout the first half, taking a 23-6 lead into the halftime locker-room.

With both teams coming with identical conference records of 4-6 and on the playoff bubble, Smithtown East must have finally received the memo at the break.

The Lady Bulls negotiated the Blue Devil press more deftly in the third quarter and Brennan, who had all of three points in the first two quarters, roared to life. She hit two driving layups early in the period, and a jumper at the buzzer to make the score 30-20. This would-be rout was now a competitive ball game with a full quarter still to go.

“We were moving the ball faster in the second half,” said the junior Brennan, who led all scorers with 17 points. “We stayed calmer and were able to break their trap more effectively. I really thought we were going to come back.”

But Brennan would miss another corner jumper, this time well-defended by Weinschreider, with about three minutes to go. It was half-way down, but rimmed out and would have again made it a six-point game. She would pour in 14 second half points, but none after McDonald’s heroics. The red-alert for the Blue Devils was over and they would escape with a 38-28 victory.

“We pride ourselves on our defense and we are normally in the top five in Suffolk County in that category every year,” said Kaplan. “After this win, we need to win three more to make the playoffs, but we’ll take them one game at a time.”

Both Huntington and Smithtown East have five league games left on their schedules. With matchups against the top two teams in the conference in West Babylon and Hills East, and two against the bottom two, Newfield and Deer Park, Huntington’s playoff berth might very well rest upon their game against West Islip. 

The Lady Lions of West Islip are 6-5 and one game ahead of Huntington in Suffolk League III at the time of this writing. That game will be played on February 1st at West Islip. Smithtown East’s road to the postseason will be more arduous. They will need to win four out of their remaining five, and with Hills East and West Babylon, who have a combined record of 16-3, this will be a tall order.

The game between Smithtown High School East and Huntington High School was played on Jan. 26.

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File photo by Raymond Janis

Hooray for Theatre Three

As a longtime season ticket holder of Port Jefferson’s Theatre Three, I certainly appreciate the fine job Bradlee and Marci Bing did with their performance of “The Gin Game.” They still have it! To all who read this, we are blessed with live theater in our village. It is difficult these days to compete with modern technology, but on the other hand up close and personal performances are something special. This is more than a plug for Theatre Three. It is a message of do not miss these opportunities for live entertainment in your local area

Harry Faulknor

Port Jefferson

Glad for Lawrence Aviation action and looking for more 

The The tentative Metropolitan Transportation Authority deal at the former Lawrence Aviation site in Port Jefferson Station is moving forward with positive reactions from the officials on this plan. It is a partnership with federal, state, county and town officials that is making this happen: 

Proposed MTA electric line trainyard with a county bridge constructed if New York State requires it. 

A passive solar farm that is proposed in the old buildings site, which is being cleared and the metals being recycled.

The much-needed open-forested space in our hamlet as a buffer. All this is still in the planning process with the Suffolk County Landbank Corporation working on the details of which some are time critical such as the federal Environmental Protection Agency lifting the Superfund designation by the end of this year and the New York State Department of Transportation working on any Greenway rerouting. 

We in the community are glad for the positive results we see with the removal of these eyesores and are now asking our officials to move on with the paperwork. Our Port Jefferson Station has been looking for years for this progress. Let’s make it happen.

 Charlie McAteer

Port Jefferson Station

Legal immigrants justifiably fearful

If true, it is commendable that George Altemose [“Legal talented scientists are welcomed,” Jan.18, TBR News Media] and Paul Mannix [“The illegal immigration issue,” Jan. 25, TBR News Media] harbor no animosity toward legal immigrants, and only object to illegal immigration. Perhaps 40 years ago one could have reasonably argued that most conservatives felt that way. But unfortunately, they are wildly out of touch with the attitudes that now prevail in the Republican Party.

A 2019 Pew poll found 57% of Republican voters fear “losing our identity as a nation” due to immigration, a 13% increase in just two years. That phrasing gives away the game, as equating our “identity” as Americans to ethnicity or race is inherently bigoted. The leading Republican presidential candidate recently said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” If they are really a threat to our “blood” it is clearly irrelevant whether they are documented or not. He gleefully separated children from their families and is now promising internment camps and mass deportation for 11 million people peacefully living, working and paying taxes in the U.S. His followers are loving it.

Prospective foreign Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory students and employees rightly recognize that such rhetoric wouldn’t exist if the MAGA faction of the Republican Party was making nuanced distinctions between legal and undocumented immigrants. They understand that this rhetoric, and the normalization of the hatred behind it, pose a real threat to their physical safety.

Let’s be frank: U.S. business loves illegal immigration because it gives a huge pool of vulnerable workers. The farming, meatpacking, construction, landscaping, hospitality, health care and food service industries all heavily exploit cheap, undocumented labor. Republican politicians refuse to effectively punish employers — the only way to actually reduce illegal immigration — because the issue lets them exploi their voters’ racial and ethnic fears in every election. Witness their blocking the recent bipartisan Senate border security bill. MAGA voters, currently driving the Republican Party, are virulently anti-immigrant because they believe the U.S. should be a white, traditional, Christian country.

By all means let’s implement a humane, legal immigration system that actually addresses the obvious workforce needs of the country, punishes illegal hiring, while addressing impacts on infrastructure and services. Let’s pursue a more enlightened foreign policy that helps stabilize and develop Mexico and Central America — by far the largest sources of illegal migration. But let’s not pretend that most Republicans are happy to welcome nonwhite legal immigrants.

John Hover

East Setauket

Wernher von Braun is considered a great American

I would like to respond to a recent commentary letter from Professor Lester G. Paldy regarding my characterization of Wernher von Braun as a great American, as a consequence of his enormous contributions to our space program [“Hardly an example of a great American,” Jan. 25, TBR News Media]. 

It is true that von Braun was instrumental in the development and use of the German V-2 rocket during World War II. He was forced to join the Nazi party in 1937, when he was 25 years of age, and the SS in 1940, when he was 28. He showed no enthusiasm for activities other than rocket development, and advocated for work on space travel. In 1944, von Braun was suspected of having a defeatist attitude, for which he was arrested by the Gestapo and held for two weeks, before being released because his contributions were deemed essential for the German war effort. 

Following the defeat of Germany, von Braun and more than 100 of his associates were brought to the United States, where they were attached to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps for the purpose of developing advanced military rockets. This effort was enormously successful under von Braun’s leadership. They produced the Redstone and Jupiter-C missiles, leading to our entry into the space program with our first satellite in 1958, closely following the Soviet Union’s Sputnik a year earlier. This was followed by the Saturn V rocket, which took us to the moon in 1969, and is still the most powerful machine ever built by man. None of this would have been possible without von Braun, both for his technical leadership and for his popular promotion of the importance of sending people into space.

Today, von Braun remains a controversial figure, primarily as a result of the brutal use of Holocaust slave labor for the manufacture of the V-2 rockets. Research appears to show that he was aware of this situation, but was powerless to prevent it. Had he tried, he would have been immediately removed from the program, and almost certainly killed. As it turned out, he spent the first 33 years of his life in Germany, and his next — and last — 32 years as a model citizen of the United States. Was he a great American? I believe that he was.

George Altemose

Setauket

Need to reassess Hochul’s plan to decrease our school aid

As a lifelong member of the Three Village community, alumnus of Ward Melville High School and parent of a school-aged child, I am incensed by Gov. Hochul’s [D] plan to decrease our state aid by nearly $9 million. 

The recent proposal for the 2024-25 school year to cut nearly 18% of state aid to our district is quite plainly unjustifiable and contradictory to the current “hold harmless” policy. On Jan. 16, during the governor’s budget presentation, she touted “the highest level of education funding in state history,” yet she has chosen to penalize a district that was previously recognized by the State Comptroller’s Office as “susceptible to fiscal stress.” 

The decision to drastically cut aid to a high performing Long Island school district has the capacity to catastrophically fracture our incredible academic, arts, music, technology and extracurricular programs. We would also be vulnerable in areas concerning mental health and wellness, and physical safety and security at a time when these services are more essential than ever before.

Politicization of this situation would be a very easy sword to throw ourselves upon, but this is not the time to make this a “red-blue” issue. We need to stand together as it is truly incomprehensible to think that more consideration should not be given to all that would be lost by our district if these cuts were to happen. I, along with many other parents and community members, have reached out to the governor and other state officials in an attempt to urge a reassessment of the proposal. 

Our district simply cannot sustain the potential long-lasting damage that this proposed budget could cause, and our kids are worth the strength we can exude in our words and actions. 

Time is of the essence. Take a stand for our kids.

Stefanie Werner

East Setauket

Setauket Neighborhood House: a community gem

I recently attended a meeting of the Three Village Chamber of Commerce at the Setauket Neighborhood House and was intrigued on how our community came to own this wonderful place situated across from the lake leading into Frank Melville Park on Main Street.

The plaque in the house says the Neighborhood House was purchased by the 19th-century industrialist Eversley Childs and his wife Minnie and given to the Setauket community as a place for meetings and community gathering since 1918.

What a wonderful philanthropic gesture by the Childs couple to bequeath our community with a publicly-owned meeting house that in many ways is the center of community activity in the Three Villages. I know of few other places on Long Island that have such a community run and supported meeting house. 

Kudos to the members of the Setauket Neighborhood House’s board of directors and its manager for providing a special gathering place for civic, community and family events and for keeping it in such historic splendor. And a belated thank you to Eversley and Minnie Childs for their considerable community philanthropy and wisdom in providing a place for the Setauket community to meet and come together for more than 100 years.

George Hoffman

Setauket

Best person to serve as an MTA board member

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine [R] now has an opportunity to appoint a representative to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority 15-member board. Allow me to offer my services. I’ve been a regular Long Island Rail Road commuter for decades and previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions of dollars in annual grants that supported capital projects and programs for the MTA including the LIRR, NYC Transit subway, bus and Staten Island Railway, Metro-North Rail Road and MTA Bus along with 30 other transit agencies in New York and New Jersey. I also assisted the MTA in winning a number of national competitive discretionary grants. 

I possess a detailed knowledge of all MTA operating agencies including the LIRR physical assets such as equipment, stations, yards, shops and maintenance as well as management of capital projects and programs. I gave emphasis to completing federally funded projects on time, within budget with a minimum number and dollar value for contract change orders. They had to be justified as fair and reasonable. This was my motto for the MTA and LIRR. 

There is no MTA board member today who has had firsthand experience in applying for and managing federal assistance from Washington. Federal dollars play a key role in the success of MTA’s capital program. My addition to the board could be a real asset. Having no driver’s license, I have always been transit dependent. Being retired, I could represent the interests of Long Island commuters, taxpayers and transit advocates as a full-time member on the MTA board at no expense.

Larry Penner

Great Neck

Tell Hochul to keep the ‘hold harmless’ state school aid provision

I join fellow residents and school districts in shock and dismay after reviewing Gov. Hochul’s [D] proposed cuts to some local districts’ state education aid. There is no way to justify pulling the rug out from under our already strained school districts. This would only lead to hasty discussions about cuts to our children’s programming and staff, and likely increases to our already excessive property taxes. 

The proposed education aid reductions to 44% of New York state’s school districts — and increases in aid to the other 56% — result from the governor’s proposal to end the “hold harmless” provision. This provision has historically provided all districts with at least as much state education aid as they received in the previous fiscal year. 

Unfortunately, state Assemblyman Ed Flood’s [R-Port Jefferson] claim that “Hochul is dumping taxpayer dollars into New York City’s disastrous migrant crisis and leaving the priorities of New Yorkers behind” is either a misunderstanding of how the NYS budget works or a political attempt to pin our community’s upset on an unrelated issue. In the proposed budget, statewide education aid would actually increase by over 2% to a total of $35.3 billion, and our districts would lose funding only because this aid is being redistributed without the “hold harmless” provision.

Any attempt to tie this nonpartisan education policy issue to any partisan issues will weaken this urgent call to action. For the sake of our children’s quality of education and to avoid another burdensome tax hike, we must join in bipartisan opposition to this sudden abandoning of the “hold harmless” provision in the state’s foundation aid formula. We need all community leaders and residents to wholly engage in a clear message to Hochul: Reinstate the “hold harmless” provision for the 2024-25 state budget.

Rebecca Kassay

Port Jefferson

                                                               The writer has declared her candidacy for New York’s District 4 Assembly seat under the Democratic ticket.

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Craig M. Schortzmann

Craig M. Schortzmann, 76, beloved husband for 55 years to Barbara Schortzmann, of Avon, passed away Jan. 15. Born in Brooklyn, son of the late Ervin and Margaret Schortzmann, he was raised in Commack. 

He graduated from Commack High School where he met the love of his life Barbara when they were 13 years old. While at Commack High School, Craig was also a recipient of a varsity letter in gymnastics.

After high school he went on to earn his associates degree from Suffolk Community College in Business Administration and served in the 101st airborne division of the US Army. Craig spent his professional career in sales and management in the electronics field retiring from ChipTech as Vice President of Operations in 2012. 

Craig loved the beach and was an avid boater and scuba diver, including being a Grumman Dive Club instructor, for many years. He was an exceptional craftsman especially working on home improvement projects and was affectionately referred to as “Mr. MacGyver ‘’. 

In 2017, he and Barbara moved to Avon to be part of their grandchildren’s lives. Craig also joined Prince Thomas of Savoy Society where he quickly made many friends and enjoyed all the activities and volunteer opportunities PTS had to offer. Craig served on the Scholarship Committee, on cook teams, as well as the family picnic and dinner dance committees. He played bocce on the Legends Team, cards, and darts and was named the Man of the Year in 2021. He was also a communicant of the Church of Saint Ann. Most of all, he loved being a grandfather and spending time with his family. 

Besides his beloved wife Barbara, he is survived by his daughter Danielle Schortzmann Wilken, his son Craig J. Schortzmann and his wife Lisa, five grandchildren Eric and Rachel Wilken, Sloane, Vivienne, and Charlotte Schortzmann. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday, Feb. 3 at 11 AM directly at the Church of Saint Ann, 289 Arch Road, Avon. Immediately after the Mass, Craig’s family will receive friends from 1-4 PM.  For directions or condolences please visit www.carmonfuneralhome.com.

Contributions may be made to The Craig & Barbara Schortzmann Academic Scholarship at University of Bridgeport, American Cancer Society Hope Lodge Jerome L. Greene Family Center – NYC, or Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Center.

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