Authors Posts by Phil Corso

Phil Corso

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Phil Corso is TBR’s managing editor. When he’s not plugging away at stories, he finds joy in the finer things in life, like playing drums, watching hockey and discussing the latest Taco Bell items.

From left, Judith Greiman, vice president for government and community relations at Stony Brook University, with Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro, Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley, State Sen. John Flanagan and Assemblyman Steve Englebright. Photo from Dan Losquadro

The state and town have teamed up and come up big for traffic safety in Stony Brook.

More than $1 million will make its way to the North Shore with help from its elected officials to fund a traffic safety improvement project on Stony Brook Road, officials announced this week. The money, which came largely through state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) and state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), will examine a contentious stretch from Oxhead Road to Development Drive in Stony Brook, to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety as well as accessibility to public transportation.

The community surrounding Stony Brook University has been a longtime talking point for North Shore natives as an area in desperate need of improvement.

“I am proud to have worked with Stony Brook University and the Town of Brookhaven to advance this important project that will improve safety for students and residents alike,” said Flanagan, who secured $1 million for the project. “Creating more walkable communities is a move toward the future and I am happy to have contributed to such a worthwhile project.”

Once completed, the undertaking should herald the construction of a continuous sidewalk along Stony Brook Road; the extension of existing bicycle lanes and the installation of new left turn lanes at the existing signalized intersections; installation of a new traffic signal at Development Drive; and pedestrian signal upgrades, ornamental pedestrian-scale lighting, landscaping and ADA-compliant handicap ramps.

Flanagan’s $1 million, coupled with an additional $75,000 in grant funding that Englebright helped acquire, will hopefully reduce the presence of motorized forms of transportation and create a more united community surrounding the university.

“I applaud the ongoing efforts of Superintendent Losquadro and President Stanley to improve safety on Stony Brook Road and am heartened to see this project coming closer to fruition,” Englebright said. “The state funding secured by Senator Flanagan and myself will make a safer road for walkers and bicyclists by providing sidewalks, bicycle lanes, street lighting and a new traffic signal with pedestrian upgrades.”

Samuel L. Stanley, president of Stony Brook University, said pedestrian safety has been a longtime priority for the 25,000-student campus.

Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R) said the project was a pivotal step in the transformation of the community surrounding Stony Brook University.

“The addition of sidewalks and bicycle lanes will provide an alternative, safe means of transportation for students and residents traveling to and from Stony Brook University,” he said. “As a graduate of Stony Brook University, I take a lot of personal pride in moving this project forward.” 

The estimated total cost of this project is $1.6 million, officials said. In addition to the $1 million in state funding — which comes from the New York State Dormitory Authority, through its State and Municipal Facilities Capital Program — and the $75,000 secured through the state multi-modal program, the Town of Brookhaven Highway Department is covering the remaining costs.

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) has been working with the town board to usher in a greater corridor study of Route 25A, which passes through Stony Brook, and said the traffic study project would also help propel the town toward a safer space for foot traffic.

“Safer roads are a great way to promote pedestrian traffic around Stony Brook University,” Romaine said. “This is a perfect example to prove how different levels of government can work together to get things done. I thank Senator Flanagan and Assemblyman Englebright for securing the funding and their commitment to improving the quality of life in Brookhaven town.”

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone pitches the proposal. Photo from Steve Bellone

Voters in Suffolk County could soon be faced with deciding whether or not they’d like to pay more for their water to improve its quality.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) brought a big crew of environmentalists and lawmakers with him on Monday to announce his plan to address nitrogen pollution in drinking and surface water across the region by charging an additional $1 per 1,000 gallons of water. If it receives the state’s blessing, the plan could go before Suffolk County residents in a referendum vote in November.

The proposal would establish what Bellone called a water quality protection fee, which would fund the conversion of homes from outdated septic systems to active treatment systems, the county executive said. He estimated the $1 surcharge would generate roughly $75 million in revenue each year to be solely dedicated to reducing nitrogen pollution — and still keep Suffolk County’s water rates nearly 40 percent lower than the national average.

“What we have seen over the decades is a decimation of our surface waters and the latest numbers showing disturbing trends in the groundwater,” Bellone said. “Clearly, the overwhelming source of that nitrogen pollution is from us. We have 360,000 homes on old septic and cesspool systems.”

Bellone said the proposal would supplement similar efforts from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who established a $383 million investment in expanding sewers in Suffolk County. The governor launched the Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University and provided funding for the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan over the past several years to help create recurring revenue for clean water infrastructure.

Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, endorsed the county proposal as Suffolk County rising to the occasion. He referred to nitrogen as the chief culprit behind the county’s water pollution, coming mostly from wastewater.

“If we don’t take this step, we are putting our collective future at serious risk.”

“Two-thirds of it in Suffolk County is coming from 360,000 homes with 5,000-year-old technology,” he said Monday. “We know what to do about it. We’ve studied it. The public is satisfied that … investment had to be made in studying it. Now it’s time for action.”

Roughly 90 percent of the population in Nassau County operates under an active wastewater treatment system through connections to sewage plants. But in Suffolk County, there are more than 360,000 individual cesspools and septic systems — representing more unsewered homes than in the entire state of New Jersey — that are more likely to release nitrogen into the ground and surface water.

Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association, said the initiative was necessary for the future of the environment.

“It is about building a wastewater treatment system that ensures the environmental integrity of our county, the underlying foundation of our economy and the value of our homes,” he said. “The Long Island Contractors’ Association supports this proposal because if we don’t take this step, we are putting our collective future at serious risk. It is as simple, and crucial, as that.”

The state must authorize the proposal in order for it to be placed on a ballot in November.

State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) — a known environmental activist — said the measure would do wonders for the state’s water supply.

“We’re really looking at an opportunity to correct some deficiencies that could, if left uncorrected, unhinge our economy, which is based upon people bathing and recreating in our coastal waters, fishing and otherwise enjoying our waters,” he said. “For the first time, we are pulling a program together that integrates both our fresh water and saltwater in one protection initiative, and that is very significant.”

The Town of Brookhaven held a public hearing last Thursday night before adopting a low-nitrogen zone for various properties 500 feet from major water bodies, like Setauket and Port Jefferson harbors, requiring all new development or expansions to install low-nitrogen septic systems rather than standard cesspools. Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) endorsed the county plan as well for not only increasing the momentum away from nitrogen pollution, but also for providing voters with the choice.

“I applaud County Executive Bellone for his leadership in advancing this plan to restore water quality across this county and, more importantly, for proposing that the people of Suffolk decide whether the plan should be implemented,” he said. “Though some may disagree with it, no other elected official has offered a plan to reverse nitrogen pollution on this scale.”

Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn is among the lawmakers hoping to use the #MeToo moment not only to change culture, but to change laws. File photo

One North Shore lawmaker is cleaning up the language of Suffolk County’s dry cleaners.

Dry cleaning businesses will no longer be allowed to advertise their services as organic when describing the solvents or methods used in production, thanks to recently approved legislation from Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket). And if they get caught, business owners could face fines of $500 on the first offense to $1,000 on the second, the legislator said.

“A consumer chooses an ‘organic’ cleaning method with the belief that this option is better for his or her health and our environment,” Hahn said in a statement. “Without a universally accepted definition of what constitutes organic services, consumers go through the wringer when making their decisions based upon subjective standards that, in some cases, can be completely contrary to their intentions.”

Under Majority Leader Hahn’s bill, no professional garment cleaning establishment operating in the county will be allowed to describe its services as “organic” in advertising or signage. In a statement, Hahn said the term organic is found in many industries, including dry cleaning, and has come under increased public scrutiny as regulators have not established clear criteria governing the word’s usage in consumer goods and services.

“It is very important that customers understand terms used in dry cleaning advertisements,” said Beth Fiteni, owner of Green Inside and Out Consulting, an advocacy organization committed to empowering the public to find healthier alternatives to common toxins, also in a recent statement. “Organic in this context is a technical term, and does not mean chemical-free. This legislation in Suffolk County helps address possible confusion.”

In her legislation, Hahn said one of the most harmful chemicals used in the dry cleaning industry, perchloroethylene — also known as perc — contains carbon molecules. Carbon is a naturally occurring element and perc is sometimes advertised as being organic, despite its detriment to the environment.

“In some instances there is a significant disconnect between the term organic that has become part of the vernacular and the scientific definition used by industry,” Hahn said. “I want to ensure that Suffolk consumers are making decisions based on intention rather than semantics.”

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has already approved several alternatives to perc for use in non-vented, closed-loop dry cleaning machines that are equipped with a refrigerated condenser, conform to local fire codes and meet the additional specifications required by the alternative solvent manufacturer.

Suffolk’s bill would be nullified should a standard be adopted by state or federal regulatory agencies.

The only thing preventing the bill from becoming official is the absence of a signature from County Executive Steve Bellone (D). Once signed, cleaners would have approximately 60 days to come into compliance.

The Long Island Museum. Photo by Phil Corso

Two landmark Three Village institutions have received a landmark gift.

The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook and the Setauket Presbyterian Church were named beneficiaries of a $100 million charitable trust through the Kingsley Gillespie Charitable Trust, giving both groups a financial boost from a family that loved its community. The gift carried on the philanthropic contributions that both the Kingsley and Kenyon Gillespie families have made, keeping the arts, community service and faith strong.

The charitable trust came as a result of Kenyon Gillespie’s death in March 2015, which built upon the success of his father Kingsley Gillespie and mother Doris Kenyon, who both died in the 1980s. Every year, the beneficiaries will receive slices of the income earned by the $100 million trust, bringing in millions of dollars in gift money.

Neil Watson, executive director of the Long Island Museum, said the gift came at an exciting time as it approaches 80 years since the museum’s inception.

“This is a very significant gift for us — one of the biggest in our history,” he said. “It allows us to chart our own future.”

Watson said the charitable gift would allow the Long Island Museum to better maintain its 14 buildings, balance its $2.4 million budget and provide better programming for the North Shore community. Looking ahead, he said the museum would be working on launching new programs to attract new visitors, reopening the facility’s gift shop at its headquarters and investing in capital improvements to its carriage museum, which houses a 125-person meeting room dedicated to the Gillespie name.

“The board of trustees and the museum’s staff are overwhelmed by the Gillespies’ generosity,” Watson said in a statement. “This tremendous gift strengthens the LIM’s existing endowments and solidifies the museum’s financial foundation. We are forever indebted to the Gillespie family for their foresight and their belief in the important of the LIM and its place as a cultural leader in our community.”

The Setauket Presbyterian Church, founded in 1660, will also benefit considerably through the charitable trust. The institution, located on the village green at Caroline Avenue in Setauket, has been a longtime home for more than 500 people of faith.

Doris Kenyon was born in 1900 in Brooklyn, but spent summers as a child in Old Field before moving there in the 1930. She had a lifelong affection for the Three Village community, the Long Island Museum said in a press release. She was married to Kingsley Gillespie, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the two built their family in the Three Village area before retiring to Florida.

Other beneficiaries of the charitable trust include MIT and various Stamford, Conn., institutions.

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, standing, visits with James and Noreen Saladino after the couple shared how adult day health care has helped them face service-related health issues in 2016. File photo by Phil Corso

The fight to expand veterans health services made a pit stop in Stony Brook before hitting Washington, D.C.

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) took to the Long Island State Veterans Home last Thursday and stood before a room filled with veterans standing to benefit from a piece of legislation he said would expand disabled veterans’ access to adult day health care. He garnered widespread support from the local level before taking the fight to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which scheduled a hearing on his bill for April 20.

“It must always be a top priority of Congress to ensure that all veterans receive the proper treatment and care they deserve after fighting for our country,” Zeldin said. “My bill, which has strong bipartisan support in Congress, with over 45 co-sponsors including the entire Long Island Congressional Delegation, is just one more way that we can expand care for veterans.”

H.R. 2460 was written to enhance care for service members who are 70 percent or more disabled from a service-connected injury, which Zeldin said often required hands-on assistance in order to complete everyday tasks. In Stony Brook, the Long Island State Veterans Home is only one of three facilities nationwide to offer a program called adult day health care, which delivers an alternative to nursing home care for disabled veterans and their families. But the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does not cover such an expense at state veterans homes, putting a greater burden on service members’ wallets.

If passed, Zeldin said, the legislation would help expand this program, which could be offered at any of the 153 state veterans homes across the country.

Fred Sganga, director of the Long Island State Veterans Home, said the legislation would fix a harrowing disparity that disabled vets face on a daily basis.

“Since the original legislation to provide no-cost skilled nursing care to our veterans who are 70 percent or more service connected disabled was passed into law in 2006, those veterans who could possibly be served by an alternative like medical model adult day health care have been shortchanged of this wonderful opportunity,” he said. “Congressman Zeldin had the resolve to recognize this issue and bring an appropriate fix not only for the Long Island State Veterans Home, but for the other 152 state veterans homes across the country.”

Noreen Saladino, whose husband James receives adult day health care to help combat the effects of being exposed to Agent Orange while serving during the Vietnam War, said the program has given her a new life.

“My personal life changed when James entered adult day health care,” she said. “It keeps him safe and comfortable.

Dr. Kenneth Kushansky, dean at the School of Medicine and senior vice president of Health Sciences at Stony Brook University, said the congressman’s bill advocated for a critical piece of veterans health care exercised at both Stony Brook Hospital and the 350-bed Long Island State Veterans Home.

“Stony Brook Medicine wants to acknowledge Congressman Zeldin for submitting this legislation on behalf of veterans and their families,” he said. “Providing funding for a long-term care alternative, like medical model adult day health care, will give our veterans and their families much deserved choice. Stony Brook Medicine serves as a model for the rest of the nation as it relates to long-term care for our nation’s heroes, and we are proud to be a part of this initiative.”

Minnie the cow. File photo

An East Setauket farm’s way of life has been under attack, and its owners are fighting back.

An online petition with more than 2,000 digital signatures spurred protestors to take to Benner’s Farm in East Setauket this week with hopes of convincing its ownership to save 2-year-old Minnie the cow from slaughter to feed the Benner family, which has lived there for 40 years. But Bob Benner said the outcry was misled and not in-step with the sentiments of those actually living in the Three Village community.

“There have been literally thousands of people who have supported us and a majority of them live right here in the community,” he said. “The people that are trying to impose their values on us do not live here. We’re talking about a national group of people who have a direction — they’re trying to tell us how to live.”

The group Benner mentioned included names from all over the United States that made up the online petition calling for Benner’s to keep Minnie as a pet. A private Facebook page, “Save Minnie from Slaughter,” was also launched and collected more than 700 followers within days.

The entire debate started on April 2, when Jean Benner was taking a birthday party group on a common educational tour around Benner’s Farm, answering questions about what it is like to live on a farm. One mother, Kimberly Sherriton of Commack, asked about the fate of the cow, and was told it would be used to feed the Benner family. Sherriton offered to help Minnie find sanctuary where she can live out her life.

“Jean tried to explain the difference between an animal on a farm and a pet, explaining that our farm was a homestead where we raise animals for meat, as it has been since 1751,” Bob Benner said. “We grow and produce food for our family on our property.”

The next day, Sherriton and Bob Benner continued the conversation via telephone, ending in disagreement, the farmer said. Since then, the Benner family has been “inundated and harassed with phone calls, Facebook posts, bad reviews and threats all aiming to change our mind,” Bob Benner said.

“She is used as the face of the farm for all their educational programs, birthday parties and festivals…the events are too numerous to name,” the Change.org petition said. “She is quite personable and has been a wonderful animal ambassador for the ‘farm.’ The public was led to believe that this was a resident cow.”

Protestors with signs setup at the farm over the weekend, drawing attention to the East Setauket spot more commonly known for its peaceful landscape. But the Benner family said that while it was saddened by the public outcry, it was also touched by the support coming from Three Village natives.

“They understand that we care for the animals we raise, and also understand that some of them are being raised for meat,” Bob Benner said. “In part because of our farm, the families who spend time with us are able to have this connection to where food comes from. We are sympathetic that many people today do not have a direct connection to their food source. We get it. There is a disconnect for people, and that is hard. But we are farmers, and we do have that connection to our food.”

Suffolk County's Public Works Committee will vote Aug. 29 to decide the future of red-light camera program. TBR News Media file photo

When it comes to Suffolk County’s red light camera program, Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) said he’s seen enough.

Trotta took to the intersection of Indian Head Road and Jericho Turnpike in Commack on Monday to call on the county to pull the emergency brake on its red light camera initiative and reevaluate, citing an increase in traffic crashes with injuries at that location.

The legislator picked the Indian Head Road red light camera location because the county’s 2014 Red Light Safety Program report showed crashes with injuries had gone up more than 100 percent there, making it a prime spot to prove Trotta’s point. The annual report said the yearly average of reported crashes with injury went from 8.7 before the camera’s installation to 19.3 after. The camera at that intersection was installed in January 2014, giving the 2014 report 11 months of traffic data to work with while comparing it to traffic patterns recorded over three years between 2007 and 2009.

Back in October, Trotta joined with other Republican lawmakers from Suffolk County to solicit input from the public about the red light camera program. At the time, he said residents alerted him about an increase in rear-end crashes since people were stopping abruptly at yellow lights to avoid being ticketed. The 2014 annual report on the red light program proved that notion.

According to the report, rear-end crashes increased by 42 percent since the cameras were installed.

“Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has turned the residents of Smithtown into crash test dummies,” Trotta said on Monday. “This is just another example of [the Bellone administration’s] attempt to raise revenues through ‘taxation by citation.’”

However, the county’s Red Light Safety Program was enacted in 2009 — years before Bellone assumed the county executive position in 2012.

The annual report said the county collected $27.5 million in citation payments in 2014 and paid $9.5 million to the vendor to operate the program. The net proceeds were credited to the county’s general fund.

Backing up Trotta was Lawrence Zacarese, assistant chief of police and director of the Office of Emergency Management at Stony Brook University. In his remarks, speaking as a paramedic who has served Suffolk for decades, Zacarese said the Indian Head Road and Jericho Turnpike intersection was a dangerous spot in Commack and red light cameras only made it worse by forcing drivers to jam on their brakes at yellow lights in order to avoid tickets.

“People are confused,” he said. “The data shows that clearly.”

Paul Margiotta, executive director of the county’s Traffic and Parking Violations Agency, defended the county’s program while citing the report’s evidence of decreasing crash figures coupled with increasing trends of distracted drivers.

“The Suffolk County red light camera program has reduced crashes involving injuries at intersections with cameras and dramatically reduced right-angle crashes, which have the highest potential for serious injuries or even fatalities, by more than 20 percent,” he said. “Intersections with red light cameras on average are safer than intersections without cameras. Unfortunately, crashes throughout all of Suffolk County have increased, primarily because of distracted driving which has more than doubled since just 2012. It is clear that Suffolk County needs to do more, not less, to address traffic safety.”

At intersections where cameras were installed, overall crashes decreased by 3 percent, right-angle crashes went down by 21 percent and crashes involving injury decreased 4 percent, according to the county report.

Trotta’s pleas came on the same day repeat offender Stephen Ruth, of Centereach, was arrested for allegedly tampering with 19 of the cameras throughout the county.

Ruth was first cuffed in August for allegedly using a pole to reach several red light cameras in Ronkonkoma and turn their lenses away from the road and toward the sky. He was charged with criminal tampering and obstructing governmental administration.

Police said Ruth “cut wires and manipulated equipment” on 18 of those cameras between April 9 and 10. The 19th camera incident in question dates back to Jan. 18, police said, when Ruth allegedly cut down a camera pole at the intersection of County Road 83 and Old Town Road in Coram.

According to a police estimate, the incidents caused at least $25,000 of damage.

Ruth, 43, has been charged with two felony counts of second-degree criminal mischief. Hauppauge-based attorneys William J. Keahon and Craig Fleischer are representing him on those charges but are not commenting on the case, according to their law office.

Ruth’s arrest comes about a week after another man was arrested for allegedly tampering with red light cameras. Bryan Valentine, of St. James, has been charged with two counts of second-degree criminal tampering after police said the 26-year-old placed plastic bags over red light cameras at the signal in the Main Street and Landing Avenue intersection in Smithtown.

Attorney information for Valentine was not available.

In interviews Ruth — whom his supporters have dubbed the “Red Light Robin Hood” — has stood behind his actions. He has received praise from people who oppose the county’s red light camera program and say it is simply a money grab, as the county receives much revenue from the tickets generated.

P.J. Gelinas Junior High School. File photo

The Three Village School District is leaning on its counseling staff this week as it mourns a seventh-grader who collapsed in school last week and died, officials said.

Schools Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich took to the district’s website this week to commemorate student Gabriella Beals-Reid, who died at P..J. Gelinas Junior High School last Monday afternoon. Suffolk County police said they responded to calls from the school around 2 p.m. about a student in need of medical assistance.

Beals-Reid was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital soon after, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

In a statement, Pedisich said the district immediately implemented its crisis intervention plan and grief counselors to assist students and staff throughout the Three Village schools community.

“We are extremely saddened by this heartbreaking news,” she said. “A young person’s death is always tragic and a sudden loss like this can have a profound effect on the entire school community.”

In a letter penned to parents, students and staff throughout the Gelinas community, Pedisich and Principal William Bernhard described the seventh-grader as an aspiring writer and musician who exemplified hard work and dedication.

“Gabriella was a talented and avid creative writer, whose passion for the craft was inspiring to her classmates and teachers,” the letter said. “She was also a gifted musician who played the French horn with style and talent. A well-rounded young adult, Gabriella was respected among students and staff members alike and will be greatly missed.”

Upon Beals-Reid’s family’s approval, Bernhard said the district would keep the community updated with funeral arrangements and memorial services.

File photo from Margo Arceri

Story last updated 4.11.2016, 1:30 p.m.

Police have identified the body found near a beach off Setauket Harbor on Monday morning, linking him back to an emergency crash-landing that happened nearby in February, Suffolk County cops said.

Gerson Salmon-Negron, 23, was last seen shortly after 11 p.m. on Feb. 20 when the Piper Archer four-seated airplane he was in went down in the waters of Setauket Harbor with three others on board. His body was finally found on Monday morning after a 911 call told dispatchers about a body spotted on the beach near Brewster Lane in Setauket around 9:10 a.m., the Suffolk County Police Department said.

The three other men, student pilot Austricio Ramirez, 25, Nelson Gomez, 36, and Wady Perez, 25, were rescued by nearby neighbors and officers soon after the crash. The small plane had taken off from Fitchburg, Mass., en route to Republic Airport in Farmingale, but went down near the vicinity of 108 Van Brunt Manor Road in Poquott. The incident spurred residents living on the Strongs Neck side of the water to jump into action as soon as they noticed emergency vehicles making their way into the small North Shore community.

Related: Small plane crash-lands in Setauket Harbor

As the incident unfolded, residents living along the shoreline started offering up their personal kayaks for rescuers to use to lift the survivors out to safety.

“Where this occurred, there are only a few homes, but instantly, the neighbors pulled together,” resident Margo Arceri said in a previous interview after the crash occurred. “They say, ‘it takes a village,’ and these neighbors showed a real sense of community. We all pulled together immediately. I just wish it had a happier ending.”

In a report released in March, the National Transportation Safety Board said that aircraft reported low amounts of fuel and had been operated for about five hours since its tank was last filled. The report said the plane’s engine “sputtered” as it approached the Port Jefferson area, spurring the flight instructor to turn on the electric fuel pump and instructing his student pilot to switch the fuel selector to the plane’s left fuel tank as it flew at around 2,000 feet. The sputtering stopped, but started up again about three minutes later, the NTSB said, and then lost power.

That was when the pilot instructor took control of the plane and tried heading to the shoreline, where he believed the plane could safely land, the NTSB report said. But the pilot was unable to see the shoreline due to the darkness and could only guess where the shoreline began by the lights inside of nearby houses, the report said.

He held the plane off of the water for as long as he could before touching down and instructing everyone to grab a life vest and exit the plane, the NTSB said. Neither the student pilot nor the passengers, however, were wearing life vests when they exited the plane, the report said. Emergency personnel were on the scene within minutes and rescued three of the four men.

The airplane floated in the water for about five minutes before sinking nose-first to the bottom of the harbor, the NTSB said.

Divers with the Suffolk County Police Department pursue the aircraft as the missing person search continues. Photo from Margo Arceri
Divers with the Suffolk County Police Department search for Gerson Salmon-Negron’s body shortly after the plane crash-landed. File photo from Margo Arceri

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A Zippia.com survey ranked Setauket and East Setauket as the fourth happiest spot in New York State, beating out all other Long Island communities on the list. File photo

The pursuit of happiness is alive and well in Setauket.

Zippia.com gathered data for 341 different places in New York with more than 2,000 people and ranked them based on overall happiness, placing Setauket and East Setauket as the fourth happiest place in New York State, beating out all other Long Island communities in the top-10, including North Wantagh in fifth, North Merrick in ninth and Cold Spring Harbor, ranked 10th overall. The career research website considered various topics, like education, employment, commute times and home ownership in its search for the state’s biggest smiles, and Setauket natives stood in support of the findings.

“I like Setauket’s sense of place,” said George Hoffman, a Setauket mover and shaker who heads the region’s environmental watchdog, the Setauket Harbor Task Force. “[I enjoy] its authentic architecture and revolutionary war roots, the beauty of its coastal waters and its links to the shipbuilding and seafaring days.”

The North Shore native said he enjoyed interacting with Setauket’s “highly educated and close community of interesting and engaging residents” and compared it to the kind of small town found in areas like New England.

“Nothing is perfect, but living in Setauket is pretty darn close,” he said.

Beverly Tyler, the Three Village historian, said the Setauket area is one of beauty, variety and history that is backed up by its array of historic structures, schools, public buildings, parks, trails and green spaces.

“The residents here have, over the years, formed groups and organizations that have not only preserved our history and our culture, but have expanded our understanding and concern for each other,” Tyler said. “From the first English settlers who came here 361 years ago and accepted Quakers and other religious settlers looking for safety and community, to the European immigrants who came here in large numbers in the 19th century and initially faced uncertain and conditional acceptance, we have often led the way to an understanding that our differences make us stronger and help vitalize our community.”

Ted Gutmann, director of Setauket’s own Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, said his front-row seat to the greater Setauket and East Setauket community has proven to him how unique the area is. After years at the helm of the community’s library, Gutmann said his patrons often share stories of visitors from afar loving Setauket’s character and pride.

“There are other nice towns on Long Island. There are other historic towns on Long Island. But I think what sets Setauket (and all of the Three Villages) apart is the true sense of community here,” he said. “Having worked at the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in different positions for virtually my entire career, I have experienced firsthand the sense of pride and neighborliness that exists here.”

Lisa DeVerna, who works in the library’s community outreach and special projects department, echoed her director’s sentiments.

“I think Setauket has such a rich history, from the Spy Ring during the American Revolution to people like William Sidney Mount, who grew up here,” she said. “Combine this with the excellent Three Village school district and our proximity to major roads, which makes it easy for people to get to work and travel, it’s no wonder Setauket is such a great place to live.”

Also making the list were Niskayuna in first, Westvale in second, Harris Hill in third, North Hills in sixth, Tappan in seventh and West Hills in eighth.