The North Country Peace Group stood outside the Setauket post office Aug. 12 to show support for the system. Photo from the North Country Peace Group
The North Country Peace Group, a local grassroots organization, held a vigil in front of the Setauket post office on Route 25A Aug. 12 to show support for postal workers and to express concerns that the Trump administration’s cutbacks in United States Postal Service services will undermine mail-in voting, according to a press release from the group.
About two dozen people took part in the hour-long demonstration, titled, Sound the Alarm: Attacks on the USPS Threaten Our Democracy. Several protesters went inside the post office to thank the postal workers and to deliver a message directly to the postmaster.
“Since President Donald Trump’s (R) new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy instituted cuts designed to slow down the mail, deliveries are languishing at postal hubs,” the press release read. “This year, with so many people choosing the safety of mail-in ballots due to the COVID pandemic, a delay in mail delivery could deny voters’ constitutional rights and egregiously impact the November election.”
Many drivers honked in support of the ralliers who held signs that read “Protect Mail-In Voting,” “Save the USPS — Save democracy,” and “Thank You, Postal Workers.”
Schools have been releasing their reopening plans — ranging from students attending full time to hybrid models — and many parents and teachers are buzzing with concerns.
We’re disappointed that some of our local districts did not reveal their reopening plans until the state deadline of July 31. We understand the massive undertaking it was to craft these plans and the number of people on committees involved to see it through, but many districts’ reopening data is long and convoluted. More effort can be made to present this reopening data in a digestible way.
It’s no surprise that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has not yet created a blanket school reopening plan across the state. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for our school districts during a pandemic. Each one varies in size and number of students, teachers and space available. All this, of course, with an ax hanging over schools heads with state aid potentially being cut later this year.
The same is true for within a school district. Each student’s family is different. There are those who legitimately fear catching the coronavirus to the degree that it has kept them in lockdown even after some restrictions have been lifted. And while some have the luxury of having at least one parent being able to stay home if the local district offers a hybrid model, other families will be unable to provide the supervision their child needs.
Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that schools across the country reopen as long as they put safety first. Cuomo, after reviewing the districts’ reopening plans, will be making a final decision later this week.The governor has said that as long as infection rate averages over a two-week period stay below 5 percent, schools will be able to reopen to some capacity. Suffolk County currently hovers at around 1 percent. There is no guarantee that figure won’t increase in the future, especially considering the current case with states like California, which was heading in the same promising direction as New York until cases spiked to a current total of more than 525,000.
Here is the thing we have to understand, none of us will be happy. Nobody will get everything they want from current plans. In a normal year, every kid would be learning in school, desks spaced only inches from each other and halls crowded with kids.
A parent who relies on schools to watch their children while a parent or guardian is at work may not be able to afford a different kind of day care. Families that rely on school reduced cost or free lunches won’t have that option without a kid in school. Hybrid models only help with a portion of those issues, but it’s better than nothing.
Some parents ask why the district can’t provide learning options for students who stay home 24/7 while the rest go into their full-time or hybrid schedules. Districts are already hurting financially due to the pandemic. Many are taking from their fund balances just to afford the additional staff and resources needed to have some students in the classroom. Asking them to put further resources into the extra time it takes to help students at home may not be feasible for so many districts.
We are now in a situation where each family needs to look at their school’s plan and then adjust it to their reality. Districts should do all they can to keep residents in the loop on a consistent basis. Parents, for their part, must acknowledge no plan will be perfect. It will take both parties and compromise to get the best outcome for students while keeping the virus under control.
Suffolk County Police 4th Squad detectives are investigating a single-vehicle crash that seriously injured a woman in Kings Park Aug. 8.
Vincent La Rose was driving a 2006 Ford Mustang eastbound on Fort Salonga Road near the intersection of the Sunken Meadow Parkway when he swerved to avoid another vehicle that made a U-turn in front of him. La Rose lost control of the vehicle before it rolled over several times, striking a utility pole at approximately 2:25 p.m.
Dawn La Rose, 59, of Kings Park, a passenger in the vehicle, was seriously injured and transported via Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital. Vincent La Rose, 63, of Kings Park, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with minor injuries.
The Ford was impounded for a safety check. Anyone with information is asked to call the 4th squad at 631-854-8452.
Volunteers from the Smithtown Children's Foundation deliver a produce box to a customer's car
Sujecki Farms prepares a truck for delivery
Farmer Ernie Herrington of Red Fox Organic Farms
A produce box sample from Sujecki Farms
A produce box sample from Red Fox Organic Farms
Local non-profit pivots fundraising effort and aids local farmers, community, and economy
The Smithtown Children’s Foundation has spent the last twelve years helping local residents in need. Funds are raised primarily by large gathering events. C0VID-19 has canceled all of those events for 2020. “We had to pivot just like every other business. Unfortunately, need is at an all-time high, when our funds are at an all-time low,” said Christine Fitzgerald, President, and Co-Founder of Smithtown Children’s Foundation. “We had to get creative.”
Farm to Trunk is the brainchild of SCF board member and former Nesconset Farmer’s Market Manager, Nancy Vallarella. “COVID related social media posts revealed local residents were ordering product from distributors that were sourcing produce from all over the country. With Long Island’s harvest approaching, why not organize a minimal contact delivery system that would help Long Island farmers, the local economy, and provide the consumer with the freshest, nutrient-packed produce available?” she said.
Red Fox Organic Farms, located on the property of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, was the first Long Island farm to join this fundraising program. Jim Adams, Red Fox’s Farm Coordinator remarked,” We are thrilled and so grateful to be working with SCF. It’s just the connection we needed to begin sharing our food with the Long Island community.”
Smithtown resident Dawn Mohrmann has purchased the Red Fox Organic produce box for the past four weeks. “The Farm to Trunk Smithtown Children’s Foundation program has been an easy decision. A great foundation paired with great local, organic, farm-fresh food! Healthy produce for our family is what we look forward to every week,” said Mohrmann.
SCF’s Farm to Trunk will be bringing Sujecki Farms (Calverton), back to Smithtown as an additional produce provider for the Farm to Trunk Fundraiser. “Sujecki Farms has a following here in Smithtown. They have been an anchor in Smithtown’s Farmers’ Market history for over a decade,” said Vallarella. “They are a family that has been farming on Long Island for over 100 years. We welcome their products and are excited to continue to support their farming effort.”
All orders are placed directly with each farm and are delivered to Watermill Caterers, 711 Smithtown Bypass/Rt.347, Smithtown. Smithtown Children’s Foundation volunteers deliver the produce boxes to the customer’s car trunk from the southwest corner of the Watermill’s parking lot every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. There is no on-going commitment. Consumers can order week to week.
Information on the program can be found on the Farm to Trunk — Smithtown Children’s Foundation Facebook.
Order links:
Red Fox Organic Farms — https://www.redfoxfarm.farm/product-page/red-fox-box
Falcon Sahin of East Setauket was in the right place at the right time when he spotted an osprey carrying a fish back to a nest in Cranes Neck in early July and captured this incredible shot. He writes, “This was a challenging photo. Had to wait until low tide to get close. But at the end it was worth the wait, getting wet and bitten by mosquitoes. “
Richard Anderson, a retired art teacher who now enjoys a second career as a wood sculptor, created “The Sages” from a tree stump on Old Town Road. Photo by Christine Petrone
By Kara Hahn
Kara Hahn
I was delightfully surprised as I drove along Old Town Road in Setauket last week to discover the tree sages that later graced this paper’s July 30th cover. The intricate carvings left me in awe of the artist’s talent and skill. It left me wondering who had the vision for this wooden sculpture. What were his motives? It left me wondering why anyone would ever want to grind a tree stump again? Public displays of art — whether officially sponsored or created by private citizens — enhance and refine a community’s culture, character and charm.
We are a community defined by our history, renowned for our cultural arts institutions and beloved for our strong sense of place. Creativity is central to how we identify ourselves.Our landscape is full of beauty, both natural and purposefully fashioned; from stunning waterfront vistas to architectural masterpieces reflecting colonial heritage. Living up to our cultural legacy can be more than relying solely on what has already been made. We can continue to find new ways to augment that legacy, one creative project at a time adding to what amounts to our shared collection. We gain value through public art, not only by improving our aesthetics but by inspiring our imaginations. Public art invigorates and humanizes, it shapes a unique identity that acts as a beacon, attracting new visitors and potential new neighbors.
With growing fascination over “The Sages” could interest in public art installations continue to spread?Will spaces we pass every day without a second glance now been seen in a new light? Can we continue to break up the bland and transform the same into the memorable? Art that reflects and reveals our collective heart?
For the past several years, community leaders have discussed potential new locations for place-making, transformational works of art. Let’s come together to find ways to enhance our existing beauty, inject our unique identity and add meaning where aging infrastructure is an eyesore. Adding to our public collection will undoubtedly have a tangible impact on how we define ourselves. Let’s revisit conversations about the train trestle over Nicolls Road, the medians along Stony Brook Road and other spaces of possibility. We are blessed with an abundance of art expertise in institutions like Gallery North, the Long Island Museum, Reboli Center and others. Let’s have an open dialogue with residents and experts on increasing the presence of public art and bolstering our local artists and the art community.
The artistic and cultural influences present throughout our region have been central in defining who we are. On the eve of Gallery North’s annual Wet Paint Festival, we can all witness art as it is created, learn of its inspiration and marvel at the beauty left behind. Not only can we all celebrate unique installations like the “The Sages,” but we can make a conscious commitment to expand the visual intrigue of our community through public art. We will all be wealthier for it.
Kara Hahn is Suffolk County Legislator in the 5th District. She is also the deputy presiding officer of the legislature.
John E. Coraor. Photo courtesy of Heckscher Museum
Michael W. Schantz has stepped down as Executive Director & CEO of The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, fulfilling a ten-year commitment. The Board of Trustees has announced that John E. Coraor, a former Heckscher Museum director, has been named Interim Director.
“We thank Michael for a decade of effective and thoughtful leadership that has continued to propel the Museum forward as a cultural and educational center on Long Island,” said Robin T. Hadley, Chair of the Board of Trustees. During his tenure, Schantz guided the Museum through its most recent accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, and built a qualified and dedicated staff while leading the Museum into its Centennial year.
John E. Coraor was Director of The Heckscher Museum from 1988 to 2000, and is a current Board member. Coraor begins his role as Interim Director effective immediately. He has more than four decades of professional experience in art and cultural agencies, most recently as Director of Cultural Affairs for the Town of Huntington. He holds a Ph.D. in art education from the Penn State University.
“John’s extensive experience and close ties to the Museum will make this transition seamless. The staff and Board look forward to working with him as we move ahead with the Museum’s 100th celebration,” said Hadley. The Board has formed a Transition Committee to lead the search for the next Executive Director.
This week’s featured shelter pets of the week are … kittens, kittens and more kittens!
Kitten season is in full swing and the Smithtown Animal Shelter has several adorable little ones to add to any family. Most kittens are between 10 to 16 weeks old and are spayed/neutered, tested and microchipped!Come fall in love!
If you are interested in meeting the many kittens waiting at the shelter, please fill out an adoption application online at www.townofsmithtownanimalshelter.com. The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. For more information, call 631-360-7575.
During this peak of summer, Stony Brook Harbor and its interconnected waterways are at their delightful aquatic best. Sadly, in future summer seasons the harbor’s pristine marine waters may also be at their most vulnerable due to a threat not from nature, but from intensive commercial development.
As part of a light-industrial subdivision proposal filed with the Town of Smithtown in August 2017, the Gyrodyne company wants to build a regional sewage treatment plant on its property. Some suggest grafting the entire St. James’ business district onto Gyrodyne’s proposed new sewage treatment plantWhile this may spur a building boom that could remake bucolic St. James into yet another commercial strip, there is no doubt that sewage effluent from the combined overdevelopment projects now being considered for St. James will devastate nearby Stony Brook Harbor.
A former commercial nursery turned helicopter manufacturing plant turned real estate investment trust, the property’s antiquated zoning contrasts with the historic state highway called Route 25A and the beautiful communities adjoining it, reflecting 300 years of history. Built to service the needs of the development’s planned occupants, including medical practices and assisted-living facilities, the plant would discharge upward of 180,000 gallons of lightly-treated medical and commercial effluent daily into the permeable glacial soils that drain directly into the harbor. The contaminants would travel about 8,000 feet to reach Stony Brook Harbor’s shoreline.
This groundwater-transported effluent will contain unhealthy amounts of nitrogen in liquid that is treated sewage waste. Once this reaches the harbor it will change its ecology and recreational appeal forever.
Professor Lawrence Swanson, of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, who has studied Stony Brook Harbor’s ecology for decades recently stated that the Gyrodyne sewer project is “one of the biggest menaces right now to preserving clean water in Suffolk County. Stony Brook Harbor is probably the cleanest and least disturbed harbor we have left on Long Island.”
In addition to processing human waste, the proposed plant will act as a pass-through for a significant volume of contaminants flushed out of the medical offices and assisted living facilities Gyrodyne is proposing. Unfortunately, this sewer plant is not designed to remove anything other than nitrate nitrogen. Most of the other chemicals will reach and contaminate the harbor.
The list of possible contaminants is long and worrisome. A short list includes radioactive imaging compounds; substances used in routine nuclear-medicine functions; pharmaceutically-laden human waste; and such legacy toxins as methyl bromide, lead arsenate and trichloroethylene (TCE). Some of these chemicals were commonly used by agricultural businesses such as the Flowerfield Bulb Farm in the last century. TCE, a known carcinogen, has long been used by the aerospace industry as a solvent. Because helicopter blades were assembled and tested for the military on an industrial scale at Gyrodyne, TCE almost certainly was used and allowed to escape into the ground. Unfortunately the Gyrodyne site has not been adequately sampled to definitively determine whether or not this is so. I am concerned the engineering firm which Gyrodyne hired to do a mandatory environmental report, only glosses over this threat.
Unsurprisingly, when those engineers dug wells in Flowerfield and sampled soil patches they found no evidence of contaminants. Yet local environmental advocates like Cindy Smith and her team conducted archival research and found potential evidence of legacy toxins such as methyl bromide and lead arsenate. The evidence is indisputable, in the form of price quotes printed on Dow Chemical letterhead in 1941. Lacking evidence of environmental cleanup, we can only assume these toxins may remain in the soil today and may be mobilized by the proposed construction.
Although the Gyrodyne report is hundreds of pages in length, it only superficially analyzes the environmental risk to the harbor and the historic corridor. Underestimated is the anticipated impact that vastly expanded traffic will have on ground and surface water quality.
What is needed is a truly objective report. Within this context I have called upon the town to commission a new independent study. Such a step is necessary to preserve the water chemistry of the harbor and the quality of life and character of the nearby villages and communities. As Swanson observes, “Stony Brook Harbor is a jewel and ought to be preserved, not destroyed.”
Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) chairs the New York State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation. He represents the 4th Assembly District.
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
1 of 22
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson School District hosts two separate graduation ceremonies Aug. 1. Photo by Kyle Barr
The members of the Earl L. Vandermeulen High School’s Class of 2020 received their diplomas in two separate, well-orchestrated ceremonies that signified the school’s 126th commencement exercises on Aug. 1.
The Pledge of Allegiance, led by Student Organization vice president Hana Ali, was followed by “The Star-Spangled Banner” performed by Rachel Park. Both high school principal Eric Haruthunian and Student Organization president Dylan Dugourd welcomed everyone to the two morning events.
Congratulatory remarks and words of praise and inspiration were presented by Superintendent of Schools Jessica Schmettan and parent Richard Righi, father of graduating senior Katelynne Righi. Senior Class President James Marci presented the class gift fit for the current time and to honor the community: a donation to both Mather Hospital and St. Charles Hospital, noting that many of the students who grew up in the community were born at St. Charles.
The top two students, valedictorian Christine Iasso and salutatorian Kyle Onghai also addressed their fellow classmates, sharing memories, reflections on their primary education, grateful words to teachers and family members, and words of advice for their fellow graduates.
“We all have the power to make the changes needed to create the brightest future our generation can enjoy,” said Iasso, who encouraged her peers to appreciate the planet and one another as they will have the opportunity to affect the lives of all the people they will interact with in the future. The valedictorian will major in sustainable agriculture and food systems at the University of California, Davis and Onghai will attend UCLA to major in mathematics.
Haruthunian then presented the Class of 2020 to Schmettan and Board of Education President Ellen Boehm before he called each student to the podium and, as is tradition, highlighted their high school careers and future plans. As they walked to the podium, they were handed their diplomas by Assistant Principal Kevin Bernier. The Class of 2020 then stood and tossed their caps in the air in celebration of becoming the newest graduates of the high school.
Text by the Port Jefferson School District and verified by reporter.
About two dozen people took part in the hour-long demonstration, titled, Sound the Alarm: Attacks on the USPS Threaten Our Democracy. Several protesters went inside the post office to thank the postal workers and to deliver a message directly to the postmaster.
Prev
