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Authors Posts by Elana Glowatz

Elana Glowatz

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Elana Glowatz is TBR's online editor and resident nerd. She very much loves her dog, Zoe the doodle.

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Jeannie Muller mugshot from SCPD

Police charged a woman with driving drunk after her car, in which a small child was a passenger, crashed into two other vehicles on Monday night.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, 34-year-old Jeannie Muller was driving a 2014 Jeep on Route 25 shortly before 10 p.m. when she reached the Boyle Road intersection and hit two other cars.

A 4-year-old girl was in Muller’s car at the time of the crash.

Police investigated at the scene and allege that Muller, a Nesconset resident, was under the influence of alcohol. She was arrested and charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated with a passenger 15 years or younger, under Leandra’s Law. She was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Muller and the little girl were treated for injuries at Stony Brook University Hospital, as was the driver of one of the two other vehicles involved in the crash.

The child was released to a family member, police said.

Police impounded the Jeep for evidence.

Attorney information for Muller was not immediately available. She was scheduled to be arraigned at a later date.

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Gerard Tegins mugshot from SCPD

Police allege a young man drove drunk, blew through a stop sign and crashed into a house early on Saturday morning, causing extensive damage.

The suspect, 20-year-old Gerard Tegins, was driving a 2002 Hyundai SUV south on Harrison Avenue in Miller Place when, at about 2:30 a.m., he passed a stop sign without stopping at the corner of Parkside Avenue, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. Tegins then lost control of the SUV, went across several lawns and crashed into the living room of a house on Parkside.

Police said no one in the home was injured, though the residence suffered extensive damage.

The driver was treated for minor injuries at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, police said. He was the only one in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Tegins, a Port Jefferson Station resident, was charged with driving while intoxicated, speeding, reckless driving, running a stop sign and failing to stay in a lane.

The defendant’s attorney, Commack-based Michael Alber, did not immediately return a call for comment.

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File photo

Port Jefferson officials want to get the word out that residents can sign up to receive local emergency information on their phones and computers.

The Code Red system lets the village send messages to users with a call or a text to a mobile phone, a call to a landline or an email.

Suffolk County has used Code Red for a handful of years, and according to a previous presentation from Florida-based Emergency Communications Network LLC, the village can share community contact information with the county to broaden its database of users — but it still cannot reach Port Jefferson residents who are not among the thousands signed up for Suffolk alerts.

The village is encouraging local residents to sign up for the free notification service, so the public service agencies in the area can reach them in the event of a weather event like a hurricane or a snowstorm, or to inform people about road closures or other emergency information.

A link to sign up for Code Red is on the village’s website, at www.portjeff.com.

According to Dave Williams, the Port Jefferson Fire Department chief and a village deputy fire marshal who is also tasked with improving the village’s response to emergencies, the alerts could target a specific group of people with its messages, such as village employees.

“I think it’s a fantastic safety feature for everyone,” Williams said during the July presentation on the Code Red system.

Other local municipalities use the system, including the Town of Huntington and the Village of Amityville.

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Port Jefferson Treasurer Don Pearce explains the 2015-16 budget at a meeting in Village Hall on Wednesday night. Photo by Elana Glowatz

A week after some Port Jefferson residents called on village officials to keep any tax increases as low as possible in next year’s budget, the board of trustees did just that when they approved a $10.2 million spending plan Wednesday night that complies with the state-imposed cap on tax levy increases.

The budget will raise taxes by $0.46 for every $100 of assessed value on a property. That number comes in just below the village’s tax levy increase cap, at 1.68 percent.

At the time of a public hearing on April 6, the village had been working with a budget draft that would have carried a 4 percent tax increase, even after the board slashed more than $300,000 in expenses during budget workshops. The hearing was on a measure that the trustees ultimately passed that night to give themselves the authority to pierce the cap if necessary — something Port Jefferson has done each year since the state cap was enacted. But some residents implored the board to better control taxes and stay within the cap this time.

Treasurer Don Pearce said at the public hearing that in order to meet the cap, the village would have to cut out more than $140,000 in expenses or add revenues to the spending plan. On Wednesday night, Pearce said the village took residents’ comments and whittled down the budget further to close that gap.

Pearce reported that the 2015-16 budget will represent an increase of about $217,000 over the current year’s budget, which means that the village’s mandated expenses — like employee retirement contributions, health care costs and payments to the local ambulance company — are increasing more than the budget itself.

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Port Jefferson Earl L. Vandermeulen High School. File photo by Elana Glowatz

Now it’s up to the voters.

Port Jefferson school board members adopted a 2015-16 budget on Tuesday night that would raise the tax rate 1.62 percent, matching the state-imposed cap on how much it can increase.

The $42.4 million budget proposal has not changed much since it was first presented to the community earlier this year. It would increase staffing levels — bringing in additional teachers for English as a second language, a groundskeeper and teaching assistants — and put $1.25 million toward constructing a new elevator at the district high school.

The elevator project is so costly because in order to build a lift that is up to code, the district will have to construct a wider elevator shaft as well as new lobbies on each floor.

Another driver of the budget increase is funding to have an ambulance present at Port Jefferson lacrosse and football games, a safety measure proposed in response to the death of a Shoreham-Wading River High School student-athlete following a football game against John Glenn High School in the fall.

But it won’t be all increases — the school district is expecting to see a 4 percent decrease in state teachers’ retirement system contributions next year.

Although the tax levy would only go up 1.62 percent, the budget-to-budget increase would top 5 percent, due to staffing and capital costs. However, Assistant Superintendent for Business Sean Leister explained during a budget presentation on Tuesday, the district would draw $1.3 million from its debt service fund to offset the increase. That fund contains leftover monies from completed bond projects.

If voters approve the budget in May, the tax rate would increase to $144.67 for every $100 of assessed value on a property.

Also on the ballot will be a proposition to create a new capital reserve fund aimed at replacing roofs at the three schools. Leister said the district would put surplus dollars leftover at the end of each school year into the new capital reserve fund to support roof replacements, which would be staggered so that those new roofs don’t eventually have to be replaced all at once.

According to Leister’s presentation, the district would need a community vote to use money from the fund, once it is established.

The district will hold a budget hearing on May 12 in the high school auditorium.

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Library members in Port Jefferson and Comsewogue approved the two districts’ proposed budgets on Tuesday. Stock photo

Comsewogue and Port Jefferson library district members approved both institutions’ 2015-16 budgets on Tuesday. The Port Jefferson Free Library budget passed with 106 votes in favor and nine against. Comsewogue Public Library’s budget passed with 104 votes in favor and 19 against.

The Port Jefferson budget, which totals $4.33 million, will increase annual taxes by about $10.80 for the average village resident. The budget includes a $107,000 transfer to the library’s capital fund for facility improvements, as the library nears the finish line on forming a strategic plan for how the institution will serve members in the future. That plan includes improving the facilities and considers possible uses for an adjacent residential property on Thompson Street that the library recently purchased.

In Comsewogue, annual taxes will increase by about $11 for the average resident under the approved $5.58 million budget.

The Comsewogue district residents also elected a new trustee, Corinne DeStefano, with 116 votes. The candidate, who ran unopposed for a five-year term, is the wife of Comsewogue school board Trustee Robert DeStefano. A lifelong resident of the district, she works in quality assurance for software corporation CA Technologies.

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File photo

First responders saved three adults who overdosed together on Monday afternoon, using an anti-overdose medication that is administered through the nose.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, 4th Precinct police officers Daniel Sable, David Vlacich and Vincent Liberato responded to a 911 call reporting multiple people had been found unconscious at a Lake Ronkonkoma home. When officers arrived at the Kirby Lane home at about 4:15 p.m., they found two women and a man unconscious in an upstairs bedroom.

The officers worked with Lake Ronkonkoma Fire Department rescue personnel to carry the trio out of the house, police said, and the LRFD members administered Narcan, a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

The three victims — a 39-year-old female, a 43-year-old female and a 46-year-old male — regained consciousness, police said. They were listed in stable condition at Stony Brook University Hospital.

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Arshad Syed Humzah mugshot from SCPD

A man allegedly exposed himself to a teenager but was caught after the girl got his license plate number and told her parents.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the suspect, Arshad Syed Humzah, was driving a 2010 Nissan north on Boyle Road in Selden, at Strauss Avenue, at about 5 p.m. on April 10 when he approached a teenager walking along the road. The man allegedly asked the girl, 15, if she wanted a ride and when she declined, he allegedly kept following her with his car. Police said he then stopped again and asked the teenager for directions.

When the girl approached him, Syed Humzah allegedly exposed his genitals to her.

Police said the teen noted his license plate number and told her parents when she got home. Her parents called the police and the suspect was arrested shortly afterward.

Syed Humzah was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Attorney information for the defendant was not immediately available. He was scheduled to be arraigned at a later date.

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Sandro Vargas mugshot from SCPD

A man who was driving with his young son in the car was arrested on Thursday afternoon and charged with driving high and criminal possession.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the defendant, 41-year-old Sandro Vargas, was driving east in a 1990 Buick on Middle Country Road in Selden, at Park Hill Drive, at about 1:30 p.m. when he attempted to go around another car and allegedly sideswiped that car’s rear. His 7-year-old son was in the Buick at the time of the incident.

Patrol officer Greg Sandbichler from the 6th Precinct found Vargas to be under the influence of drugs, police said, and arrested him.

The boy complained of pain after the crash and was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital. Police said he was later released to a family member.

No one else was hurt in the incident.

Vargas, a Coram resident, was charged with aggravated driving while impaired by drugs with a child in the car — a felony under Leandra’s Law — and with endangering the welfare of a child and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Attorney information for Vargas was not immediately available. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

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The two-part boating safety course is at the Setauket Fire Department station on Nicolls Road, on April 14-15. File photo

Suffolk County residents can take a free boater safety course next week, to meet a new New York State requirement for operating motorboats.

All people born on or after May 1, 1996, must take an approved boater education course to operate such a vessel. The course, which will be held on April 14-15, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Setauket firehouse substation on Nicolls Road, is free. However, the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation charges a $10 fee for a boating safety certificate after training is completed.

Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) is sponsoring the two-day boating safety course.

Advance registration is required for the two four-hour sessions, and participants must attend both of the sessions to receive credit.

Call Hahn’s office at 854-1650 to reserve a spot.

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