The Town of Smithtown hosted its annual Tree Lighting Ceremony at Town Hall on the evening of Dec.1.
The holiday event included choruses and kickline teams from local schools, a visit from Santa, snacks and more before elected town officials started the countdown to light Smithtown’s Christmas tree.
A former school district superintendent is ready to take a seat at Huntington’s Town Board table.
Former South Huntington school district superintendent David Bennardo was elected as councilman in November. Bennardo, who ran on the Republican ticket, and running mate Sal Ferro, will take the places of current councilmen Ed Smyth (R), who won his bid for town supervisor, and Mark Cuthbertson (D), who ran for Suffolk County legislator and lost. The newly elected councilmen and supervisor will be sworn into office in January.
Bennardo said during campaigning, people would tell him he had a good chance of winning but he didn’t believe it himself.
“I was raised to kind of always believe that you’re an underdog and you hope for the best, so it was a beautiful surprise, and I just am humbled by it,” he said.
The councilman-elect said he and Ferro have been in touch with their Democratic opponents Jennifer Hebert and Joseph Schramm. One of the goals of Bennardo and Ferro during campaigning, as well as Hebert and Schramm, was for a less divisive race, government and town. Bennardo said they have received some good ideas from the two Democrats, and are “trying to keep the relationship alive so we can benefit from each other’s point of view.” Conversations across party lines are something that he believes sharpens and morphs views.
Bennardo said he is looking forward to attending town events and getting out in the community to meet more residents and familiarize himself with their concerns.
“I want to immerse myself in the community — between events and meetings at town halls and anytime I can to meet the constituents — and find out more of the things that are important to them,” Bennardo said.
He added while campaigning he found many wanted “to return to civil conversations and mature government.”
“The first step is to build those relationships across the aisle,” Bennardo said.
He said Ferro agrees with him, and they believe in compromising and listening. Bennardo said he is looking forward to serving Huntington residents along with Ferro. Their goal, he said, is to create a bipartisan team in town government that endures.
Bennardo said he would also like to see a personal touch brought back to Town Hall for the community and that will involve getting to know the staff members.
He said he believes his skill set as a former school superintendent will transfer to town councilman as he always made it a point to get to know those in his school district.
“Your responsibility is to get out there and get to know the people you serve,” he said.
Bennardo added while serving as superintendent of the South Huntington school district and principal at Harborfields High School for nine years, he knew responsiveness was essential, especially in the days of social media where it’s easier for people to communicate with each other.
“There is no place more responsive than school district leadership, because you have to be,” he said. “Your constituents are on your doorstep 45 seconds later, and they always know where to find you. I want to take that same mentality to the town.”
On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, Three Village community members and athletes from surrounding areas came together to remember a former Ward Melville High School athlete and raise funds for his namesake scholarship.
The inaugural JoJo Strong Jamboree took place Nov. 27 on three of the WMHS fields with more than 230 lacrosse players from 12 teams competing, some from areas outside of the Three Village community such as Smithtown and Adelphi alumni.
The inaugural champions, the Ward Melville women’s team comprised of Team Hannah/Team Madison, beat the Adelphi women’s team, 7-6, in an incredible come from behind victory, including a last second save by Samantha Tarpey. The Adelphi men’s team beat the Ward Melville 2015/16 team.
The event was held in memory of Joseph “JoJo” LaRosa who graduated from WMHS in 2017 and was part of the state champion lacrosse team that same year. This past August, LaRosa passed away during surgery. He went in for a procedure that would have involved a full abdominal transplant due to complications caused by radiation treatment he had received during his battle with the cancer desmoplastic small round cell tumor sarcoma. The Stony Brook resident had beaten the cancer that started soon after he graduated from WMHS.
David Ratner, one of the event organizers, said while a count has not yet been finalized, thousands of dollars were raised for the Joseph “JoJo” LaRosa Memorial Scholarship Foundation at the first annual event. The goal of the jamboree and scholarship is to assist scholar-athletes for years to come, according to Ratner.
The Nov. 27 event included clinics for young athletes, Ward Melville alumni competing against teams from Adelphi University and Smithtown, an Old Skool men’s tournament and fastest shot competition. After the games on Nov. 27, an awards ceremony was held at The Bench Bar & Grill in Stony Brook.
The hope is for the lacrosse jamboree to become an annual event and next year’s is scheduled for Nov. 26, according to Ratner.
LaRosa’s mother Gina Mastrantoni described the event as “spectacular.”
“It was an amazing show of love, and it was humbling,” the mother said. “It was bittersweet. I didn’t really have much of a dry eye.”
She added her son is her hero and was a warrior.
“He had the highest level of determination, grit, perseverance,” the mother said.
Mastrantoni attended the event with her daughter Emily, who played on traveling lacrosse teams, husband Bruce Latham, sister Rose Mastrantoni, best friend Dawn Gibbons, who was a jamboree organizer, as well as other friends and family members.
Throughout the day, she saw friends of LaRosa’s that he made during his semester at Adelphi studying and playing lacrosse, and those he had been friends with since his early days in the Three Village school district. Mastrantoni said a group of about a dozen-and-a-half kids from the neighborhood was called the Sluggers.
Among those Sluggers was Dylan Maggio, who played lacrosse for a few years. While Maggio stopped playing in ninth grade, he said on Saturday he played with the 2017 team and even scored a goal.
Maggio described the day as well organized with everyone excited to play. He was impressed with the number of people who attended and said they made the day a rewarding experience.
“We were just surprised with how many people have come to know JoJo where they wouldn’t have before, and how many people he has inspired just by persevering through the things that he was forced to confront,” he said.
LaRosa’s father Joseph LaRosa attended with his wife Gianna and their 12-year-old son James. The younger LaRosa was excited to play with members of the 2017 WMHS team who played with his brother. During the jamboree, Emily LaRosa also played as well as some of JoJo LaRosa’s cousins.
“It was great to see everybody come out and see how many people JoJo touched through his journey and what he has been through,” Joseph LaRosa said.
The father said the organizers “put their hearts and souls into planning this jamboree.”
Dave Purdy, one of the organizers who coached JoJo LaRosa in youth lacrosse for a few years, was on hand Nov. 27 and played in the Old Skool game. He described the lacrosse community as a close-knit one. He added that while the Ward Melville alum only played at Adelphi for a semester due to cancer, the team and coaches always made him feel as if he was a part of them by having him sit on the sidelines with the team during games and fundraising so he can join them on a trip to Tampa, Florida. So, it was no surprise to organizers that former lacrosse players from Adelphi took part in the jamboree.
“It was just a great day to remember JoJo for the game that he loved so much, and see it all come together,” Purdy said.
He added, “Just seeing old friends down there, community members who used to go to travel tournaments together and maybe had not kept in as close contact, they get to see each other down there at Ward Melville High School and The Bench afterward.”
At The Bench at the end of the day, Maggio’s band SWIM played for the attendees. LaRosa’s friend sang the song “Everybody” by rapper Mac Miller. The song is a remake of Love’s “Everybody’s Gotta Live.” LaRosa told Maggio he liked the song during a trip to Vermont with friends. It was just the two of them in the car at the time.
“It just reminds me of that drive with him,” Maggio said. “It just reminds me of hanging out with him one-on-one. I really cherished those times.”
On Sunday, Nov. 28, members of the Village Chabad kicked off the Festival of Lights with a joyous celebration.
Rabbi Motti Grossbaum said more than 250 attendees attended the menorah lighting on the first night of Hanukkah at the Village Chabad’s center in East Setauket. In addition to lighting the first candle of the 20-foot menorah with help from landscaping company Clovis Outdoor Service’s bucket truck, there was a juggling show by Jester Jim, a chocolate gelt drop as well as latkes, doughnuts and hot chocolate being served.
Village Chabad has erected public menorahs in the Three Village community for 35 years, including at the Smith Haven Mall and on the lawn of Stony Brookside Bed & Bike Inn, as well as setting up menorahs in local supermarkets and additional public intersections in the area, according to Grossbaum.
At the event, the rabbi encouraged everyone to go home and light their own menorah.
“We should put our menorahs by the window, and if people ask you, say, ‘Yes, I am Jewish, and tonight we are celebrating Hanukkah. I would love to tell you more about it. I would love to give you a latke or a doughnut, and Hanukkah is so much fun,’” he said. “So, tonight is about our rededication. It’s about our education and our commitment to our Jewish pride tonight, for the next eight nights and throughout the year.”
Last year the Chabad was unable to hold a formal gathering due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“It was incredibly encouraging and inspiring to come together safely as a community, young and old, after the challenging time we’ve all been through,” Grossbaum said after the event. “It is clear that the message of Hanukkah is alive today as it ever was … that light, goodness, kindness, unity and hope will always prevail.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY3) announce he will run for New York State governor in 2022.
The announcement came during a virtual press conference Nov. 29.
Suozzi at the beginning of November said he was seriously considering running in the Democrat primaries in June of 2022 and wanted to meet with political consultants before making his final decision.
Stony Brook University workers held their Rally for Respect and Fair Wages Nov. 17 in front of the school’s Administration Building.
The state employees belong to four campus union chapters, CSEA Local 614, GSEU-RAU-CWA Local 1104, United University Professions and UUP Health Sciences Center, that make up SUNY Stony Brook Labor Council.
Andrew Solar-Greco, UUP Stony Brook chapter president, said in a phone interview that the Nov. 17 rally had a turnout of nearly 200 people. SBLC represents 10,000 members. The union chapters were joined by the Long Island Federation of Labor and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk. Members from the two latter labor unions have been standing outside on Nicolls Road the last few weeks.
Solar-Greco said the SBLC and trade unions decided to show solidarity.
“Our goal was to essentially bring attention to many of the labor issues happening on campus,” Solar-Greco said. The union president presided over the rally.
In addition to calling for a living wage, he said attendees have issues on their minds such as the Civil Service Employees Association working without a contract and fighting for hazard pay. UUP HSC is also fighting for hazard pay for all of its members in health care at the hospital.
Solar-Greco said university center campus members are currently dealing with staffing shortages as well as more students than average in classes due to increased enrollments. He said members feel that the shortage of faculty and increase in class sizes affect the quality of education the students receive.
“We want to be there for our students,” Solar-Greco said. “We want to set them up for success. We want to propel this institution forward, but we need more staff — we’re understaffed.”
He added that adjunct and graduate students, which make up most of the instructional labor, are paid wages that are below Suffolk County’s poverty level, and also depending on how many credits they teach may not get health insurance.
In an email statement after the rally, SBU officials said contracts are negotiated with the state, and that the university works “every day to foster a positive work environment where all employees are valued and respected.”
The statement also said officials supported the union members’ right to rally.
“At Stony Brook, we value the skilled work of every member of our staff. We support the unions’ right to express themselves, as they did at Wednesday’s rally. Contracts are negotiated between the state and the respective bargaining units rather than at the campus level.”
SBU officials added, “Where we have the opportunity to add to our graduate student employee stipends we do.” The university recently has done so, according to a message from SBU President Maurie McInnis that was emailed to the university’s community and posted to its website Nov. 15.
Graduate students and teacher assistants, who made less than $22,500 and have an academic year obligation, or make less than $27,875 with an annual obligation, were brought up to the dollar amount, retroactive Oct. 1. Those who made those amounts or more will receive an additional $500 for an academic year or $619 more for an annual obligation.
“Every graduate student employee will receive some measure of a stipend increase, proportionate to their appointment,” McInnis said in the email. “The approximate total cost for funding this additional raise for these part-time appointments is $1.3 million.”
Solar-Greco said representatives of UUP meet once a semester with McInnis, and find she is open to discussions and hearing members’ concerns.
After keeping the university going through the pandemic, Solar-Greco added that the workers should be commended for a job well done.
“Through all the trials and tribulations and still being there for our students, we feel we deserve respect and fair wages and dignity in the workplace and movement on the issues that we have,” he said.
A former supervisor was honored by the Town of Huntington last week. Flags in the town were flown at half-staff from Monday, Nov. 15, to Friday, Nov. 19, to remember Kenneth Butterfield, who first served as supervisor in 1975. Butterfield died Nov. 14 at age 87.
“The town mourns the loss of former Supervisor Kenneth Butterfield, who invested in notable infrastructure projects, such as the HART Bus system and the Huntington Station commuter parking facility, while advocating for our environment and expanding senior services,” said Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) in a press release.
Butterfield began his career in town government in 1973 when he became Huntington’s first full-time town attorney, according to the press release from the town. Two years later he was appointed to the supervisor position to fill a vacancy. He won his first election in 1977 and was reelected in 1979 and 1981 for two-year terms.
Former town clerk Jo-Ann Raia (R) remembered Butterfield. Her first two years as town clerk overlapped with Butterfield’s last two years as supervisor.
“Ken and I were both inaugurated on Jan. 1, 1982, at Huntington High School,” Raia said in an email. “Ken was very gracious to me since he knew how nervous I was. When I got up to give my remarks, I said I had ‘Butterfields in my stomach’ and everyone started laughing. I was embarrassed, and after I finished Ken came over to shake
my hand.”
She added Butterfield approved funding that was essential to a project in the town clerk’s office.
“He also approved capital budget funding which was the first leg of building my records center,” she said. “He was a no-nonsense supervisor with a big smile and soft voice. He made his mark on Huntington.”
According to Butterfield’s obituary on the Nolan Funeral Home website, he was born in Flushing on Oct. 20, 1934. In addition to his career in politics, he was a musician who played trumpet in the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point while he served in the military. Later in life, he played trumpet with his Dixieland jazz band, the Isotope Stompers, and he oversaw the construction of the Harry Chapin Rainbow Stage at Heckscher Park, Huntington. He was the first to play on it once the stage was completed.
He graduated college and law school within five years and specialized in maritime law during the early years of his law career. Butterfield returned to private practice after he left Town Hall. He was a partner of Armstrong and Butterfield and then Butterfield and Butterfield. He also served on the Northport Village Zoning Board
of Appeals.
He is survived by his wife, Deirdre Butterfield, his daughter Caroline Butterfield Colgan (Bernie), his son Thomas Butterfield and his daughter Li Ann Butterfield Watson (Matthew). He is also survived by his grandson Matthew Butterfield.
A near hurricane couldn’t keep T. Bayles Minuse Mill Pond Park from being a focal point of Stony Brook village.
After Tropical Storm Isaias ripped through Long Island in August of 2020, the park, which runs adjacent to Avalon Nature Preserve, needed several repairs. The storm knocked down more than a dozen trees and destroyed the park’s braille engraved handrails, the borders maintaining the park’s gardens, the walkways along the pond and more.
At a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 18, The Ward Melville Heritage Organization presented the first phase of rehabilitation, which included new pathways and memorial stones. The second phase will include the repairing of the braille handrails and sensory gardens on the north side of the 1-acre park by Harbor Road.
At the dedication, Richard Rugen, WMHO chairman and a retired chiropractor, remembered Minuse who was one of his first patients. Minuse was the right-hand man of philanthropist Ward Melville when the village was being built and in the early days of Stony Brook Community Fund, which is now known as WMHO. Rugen described Minuse as “a straight-arrow guy.”
He also remembered Minuse’s wife, Elinore, who he described as having perfect posture and with a crown of white hair. He added she was a lady who was equally comfortable arguing a bill with the local garbage carter and could have high tea with the queen.
He said he believed the Minuses would be pleased with the renovated park: “In my heart, I know if they had the capacity to look down on us today, they would both be happy and proud to see the rededication of the T. Bayles Minuse Mill Pond Park in his honor.”
Rugen added that WMHO was grateful for the residents and businesses that contributed to the fundraiser to restore the park, which was originally dedicated to Minuse Dec. 6, 1981.
Gloria Rocchio, WMHO president, said soon after she and her husband moved to Stony Brook, more than 40 years ago, Minuse announced he was retiring, and she interviewed for his job. She was one out of six or seven interviewees. Rocchio added that the board voted unanimously to hire her. Minuse stayed on as a consultant for a year and to help guide Rocchio through the various responsibilities of running the organization.
“I’ll never forget that man,” she said.
Rocchio added that recently WMHO staff began scanning documents, which will soon be on the organization’s website, and have learned more about Minuse.
Joining the WMHO trustees for the ribbon-cutting ceremony were state Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James), state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine (R), Head of the Harbor Mayor Douglas Dahlgard and Cynthia Ann Murphy, the Minuses’ daughter, and her family.
A CEO of a company known for remodeling homes is ready to make some improvements in the Town of Huntington.
“I focused on my accomplishments. I focused on my track record and focused on what I wanted to do rather than pulling people down.”
— Sal Ferro
This campaign season Sal Ferro, CEO of Alure Home Improvements, ran for office for the first time on the Republican and Conservative lines. Two seats were up on the Huntington Town Board when current councilmen Ed Smyth (R) and Mark Cuthbertson (D) decided to run for other offices, town supervisor and county legislator, respectively. Smyth was successful, Cuthbertson was not.
Ferro said he thought about running for office before this year.
“I thought about it in the past, and I always guessed the timing wasn’t right,” he said. “And, I think everything fell into place this time, that this was my time to do so.”
The businessman ran on the same lines along with running mate David Bennardo. Ferro said the two want the same things for the town. Bennardo also happens to be his two older children’s former principal.
On election night, Ferro gathered with other area Republicans at the American Legion Huntington Post 360 in Halesite to hear the voting results. He said after all the hard work of campaigning it was a satisfying night.
“It was especially gratifying for me, because I ran my race and didn’t do some traditional things that have been done in the past in campaigning,” the councilman-elect said. “I ran a very clean race. I focused on my accomplishments. I focused on my track record and focused on what I wanted to do rather than pulling people down.”
Ferro said he and Bennardo were proud that the race was a civil one. During a debate at the TBR News Media offices, Ferro and Bennardo along with their opponents, Democrats Jennifer Hebert and Joseph Schramm, demonstrated that civility. Ferro said the first call to congratulate him was from Schramm and later Hebert also called him.
“That just kind of shows you the tone of the race, which was ‘we’re all going to work hard, and we’re all going to do the best we can to win the race, because we all feel that we’re the best candidate, but we’re going to do so on our own accomplishments,’” he said.
Ferro said when he takes office in January he would like to start working on making things more efficient in the town’s building department.
“That’s something that I made a campaign promise, that I would work on the building department,” he said. “I know that’s something that’s not going to happen overnight, but I’d like to bring some ideas to the building department, and I’d like to bring some efficiency to the department.”
“It’s one of those things where you have to balance, put in time in both jobs, and it requires a lot of work. It’s something I knew going in.”
— Sal Ferro
As for the particulars, Ferro said he’ll know that once he gets into office and meets the people involved in the department. Besides drawing from his personal business experience, the councilman-elect said he will look at other towns that have had success.
“One thing I said was I like to use some best practices from other towns,” he added. “We don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel. There are things that are working elsewhere, that have happened elsewhere and didn’t take a long time to turn some other towns around quickly.”
The businessman, who also heads up the nonprofit Ferro Foundation which helps Long Islanders in need, plans on continuing as CEO of Allure, he said, and will be able to balance his work responsibilities due to his company’s “excellent team.” He added that he has never been one to sit on the sidelines.
“It’s one of those things where you have to balance, put in time in both jobs, and it requires a lot of work,” he said. “It’s something I knew going in.”
The memory of a young man from Stony Brook has inspired a lacrosse jamboree that will raise money for scholarships for Ward Melville High School student-athletes.
Joseph “JoJo” LaRosa graduated from WMHS in 2017 and left behind an impressive sports legacy, and in the few years after high school, he taught the community about courage.
This past August, LaRosa died after a battle with the cancer desmoplastic small round cell tumor sarcoma. The form of cancer started soon after he graduated from WMHS. While he had beaten DSRCT, before his passing, LaRosa went in to have surgery that would have involved a full abdominal transplant due to complications caused by radiation treatment he had received. He didn’t survive the surgery.
David Ratner, whose son Dylan has been friends with LaRosa since early elementary school, is part of a five-person committee that is organizing the JoJo Strong Jamboree that will take place Saturday, Nov. 27, at the high school. The proceeds from the benefit lacrosse tournament will go toward the Joseph “JoJo” LaRosa Memorial Scholarship Foundation at WMHS. The goal is to assist scholar-athletes for years to come, according to Ratner.
Lacrosse was chosen for the benefit as LaRosa was part of the 2017 state champion lacrosse team at WMHS. The day will include a tournament and clinic for young athletes as well as Ward Melville alumni competing against teams from Adelphi University and Smithtown. The day also will include an “Old Skool” men’s tournament and fastest shot competition.
Ratner said the relationship that he, his wife Julie and son had with LaRosa and has with his mom Gina Mastrantoni could be described as unbreakable ever since the two moved around the corner from the family.
“He basically lived in my house for the last 17 years, so he was almost like my adopted son,” Ratner said.
For a while, Ratner’s son played lacrosse with LaRosa, until Dylan Ratner switched to tennis. The boys used to play lacrosse on the family’s driveway and street, too.
“The neighborhood was a field of dreams for these kids,” the father said. “They would run around and play in the dark, and it was like the old times.”
In addition to lacrosse, LaRosa was a kicker for Patriots football after playing soccer for years. Ratner described LaRosa as a great sportsman.
“It was really a great role for him, and it really showed his leadership character,” Ratner said. “You can win or lose a game based upon your one kick and nothing got him down — nothing would faze him.”
Mastrantoni said her son’s first word was “ball.”
“He tried every single sport there was to try,” the mother said, adding in addition to lacrosse, football and soccer there was swimming and wrestling.
She said after he started treatment he took up golf, and it became his passion.
“You name the sport he tried it,” she said. “This kid was all about sports and competing, and as much as he’d love to win, he was a good sportsman as well. He was very kind and respectful. The best kind of kid and a very good son, very caring.”
After graduating from Ward Melville in 2017, LaRosa headed to Adelphi University on a scholarship. Ratner said during Christmas break that year, the college student felt stomach pain and went to Stony Brook University Hospital. It was determined he had some type of cancer, even though it couldn’t be ascertained what type at the time. After various tests between the Mayo Clinic and Memorial Sloan Kettering in Manhattan, he was diagnosed with the deadly cancer.
Ratner said LaRosa always stayed positive and talked about future plans, including one day getting married and having a family.
“He was ready to get back to his life,” Ratner said.
“He did not entertain sadness because he thought of it as negativity.”
— Gina Mastrantoni
His mother said he also considered going into health care and contemplated becoming a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner.
“He did not entertain sadness because he thought of it as negativity,” she said.
The mother added that he had hoped to go to Adelphi for another semester and then go to James Madison to be part of its football team as a kicker.
This will be the first lacrosse tournament that the committee hopes to make an annual event to help students, according to Ratner. He said fundraisers were held in the past to support LaRosa and his family during his battle, and the support from the community as well as all over Long Island was tremendous.
Mastrantoni said the tournament is exciting, and she plans to attend. She has been touched by the support of family and friends as well as the community.
“It’s amazing how many people he touched in the last 22 years,” the mother said.
From being on the traveling lacrosse team, LaRosa’s life also touched many in rival school districts, including Smithtown, and former members of the town’s traveling team will be at the tournament to play.
“They’re coming out to show solidarity,” Ratner said.
He added members of the Three Village school district and board of ed have been helpful in making the event happen. Kevin Finnerty, school district executive director of health, physical education, recreation and athletics, said his heart broke for the former student-athlete’s family and friends when he heard of LaRosa’s passing a few months ago. The decision to have the event at the school, he said, was an easy one.
“JoJo was an amazing student-athlete with a heart of gold and a great perspective on life,” Finnerty said. “As his family would say, he was the bravest warrior. During JoJo’s battle with cancer, he inspired so many of his peers, family members and the community with his strength, resiliency and positive attitude.”
Finnerty said the organizers have been putting a lot of work and effort into the event.
“I know it will be a great success and a great way to rally our community to remember and honor JoJo,” he said.
After the games on Nov. 27, an awards ceremony will be held at The Bench in
Stony Brook.
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