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TBR Staff

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TBR News Media covers everything happening on the North Shore of Suffolk County from Cold Spring Harbor to Wading River.

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The Huntington field hockey team will look to continue its forward momentum in the fall, but the Blue Devils have their work cut out for them after losing many of their top players to graduation.

Irina DeSimone maintains possession of the ball in a game against Comsewogue last season. File photo by Bill Landon
Irina DeSimone maintains possession of the ball in a game against Comsewogue last season. File photo by Bill Landon

Fortunately, last season’s squad boasted skilled underclassmen who will be counted on now more than ever.

Huntington is coming off a 2014 campaign that saw the Blue Devils compile an overall record of 9-8, including a sudden victory upset over Northport in the Suffolk County Division I playoffs.

Among the seniors the Blue Devils are losing are All-County players Darya DeSimone and Tara Byrnes, All-Conference athletes Cassidie Giammarino and Anna Tesoriero, All-Division mention Kacie Rubert and All-Tournament members Olivia Castillo and Ellyn Byrnes.

The Blue Devils will be hard pressed to replace the production of forward Ellyn Byrnes (nine goals and two assists) and goalkeeper Tara Byrnes (69 saves and six shutouts), as well as the other seniors the team lost to graduation.

Huntington’s offense will be led by Irina DeSimone, who earned honorable mention All-County honors last fall after notching five goals and five assists at forward link.

Emma DeGennaro returns as a speedy and powerful presence on defense, with the ability to cover a lot of field area and recover the ball. Kelly Palladino (defense), Sarah Fernandez (link-midfielder) and Elizabeth Berejka (link/defense) also played prominent roles on last year’s team and will be returning as veterans.

Meghan Plant, Michaela Carnesi, Grace Curran, Jessica-Rose Greene and goalie Cara Sorrentino are also coming back to try and strengthen the lineup.

Huntington is tentatively scheduled to scrimmage at Sachem North and Lindenhurst on Sept. 2 and 4 before traveling to Walt Whitman on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 9:30 a.m. for a nonleague game.

The Blue Devils’ league opener is set for Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 4:30 p.m. at Smithtown East. A series of home and away league games with North Babylon, Copiague, East Islip, Riverhead, Newfield and West Babylon will follow.

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Katie Reilly races between two opponents. File photo by Kevin Freiheit

Three Huntington athletes participated in the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Weekend at Towson University in Baltimore, Md. Newly minted alum Samantha Lynch played in the senior All-America game and incoming seniors Katie Reilly and Taylor Moreno were on the Long Island All-America underclassmen tournament team.

Lynch came off the bench to help the North team rally from an 8-1 deficit and nearly overtake the South, falling just short, 14-12. The South led at halftime, 10-3, but the North owned the second half, outscoring its opponent, 9-4.

Lynch took a shot and scooped up two ground balls in the game, which drew a crowd of 3,711 to Towson’s Johnny Unitas Stadium. Each of the teams was comprised of a 22-player roster, representing the finest graduating seniors in the country.

Reilly and Moreno played on a Long Island team that finished second in the tournament, winning five of six games. Long Island topped New England (17-8), South (20-6), Midwest (20-2), Philadelphia (11-6) and Washington, D.C. (9-7) before dropping a 12-6 contest to Baltimore in the championship game.

Lynch is headed to the University of Notre Dame on a lacrosse scholarship. Reilly has verbally committed to Princeton University. Moreno has given a verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Amanda Gannon and head coach LIzz Manly pose for a photo after Gannon reached 1,000 career kills. File photo

By Clayton Collier

Having completed a historic high school volleyball resume at Kings Park, graduate Amanda Gannon will look to extend that resume at the collegiate level, as she heads back to Iona College this fall.

Renee Gannon, Amanda’s mother and former volleyball coach at Bethpage High School, said her daughter’s commitment to Iona is a result of years of hard work.

“I am so happy for her,” she said. “This is something she’s honestly wanted since she was in seventh grade when she started travel volleyball. … She’s just worked so hard for this and I’m so proud of her.”

Amanda Gannon sets up the ball. File photo by Bill Landon
Amanda Gannon sets up the ball. File photo by Bill Landon

The four-time Long Island champion graduated high school in January in order to attend her first semester at Iona early, and practice with its Division I volleyball team. Amanda Gannon said she was happy with the decision to forego her final months of high school classes to get a jump-start on college, as well as acclimating herself to the Gaels’ program.

“I can’t wait to go back,” she said. “Going there in the spring was amazing and I’m so happy I decided to leave high school early. We only trained in the spring and didn’t get to play, but the girls are really nice, I love the coach and I’m looking forward to the season starting.”

Iona head coach Jon Killingbeck said the extra semester has been beneficial for all parties.

“We’re super excited to have Amanda as part of our program,” he said. “With every player we try to get to know how to reach them better and I think in the last six months I have strengthened my relationship with Amanda. For her, I think she has learned what it means to be a college athlete.”

Gannon, Kings Park’s all-time kills leader and reigning Long Island Player of the Year, verbally committed to Iona in the winter of her junior year. The outside hitter said having college already planned out helped ease her mind heading into her senior season.

“I didn’t have to go through the process of filling out a bunch of college applications; I had one,” she said. “I knew what my future was. I just had to worry about becoming better in volleyball and taking my game to the next level. I never used committing as an excuse to relax on my school work or volleyball. I always worked hard and strived to do better.”

Amanda Gannon bumps the ball in a previous contest for Kings Park. File photo by Bill Landon
Amanda Gannon bumps the ball in a previous contest for Kings Park. File photo by Bill Landon

Kingsmen head coach Lizz Manly said Gannon, her only player to have played in all four consecutive championships, only got better as the years progressed.

“She spent all year every off season training to become the player she is today, and has showed that hard work does pay off,” she said. “Her last two seasons in high school she was an all-around phenomenal player. She packed the stat sheets all around and those are the type of players that people notice.”

Gannon has not forgotten the work Manly and her husband put in to make her the player she is today.

“They have helped my volleyball technique grow and become stronger,” she said. “They always sparked the competitive drive in me. They always have believed in me and believed I could always do better pushing me to my limits, and off the court they taught me how to be respectful and how to work with others. They are really huge influential people in my life and without the Manlys I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

Manly said she’ll miss Gannon’s consistent desire to improve but takes comfort in the fact that her star athlete has left a legacy behind in Kings Park athletics that won’t soon be forgotten.

“Her impact on Kings Park volleyball is huge in that the sport has exploded in Kings Park due to her and our program’s success,” she said. “Every little girl in Kings Park wants to be a volleyball player now and it is wonderful to see such desire.”

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A typical Highlander: The breed is well adapted to the extreme Scottish weather. Photo from Beverly Tyler

By Beverly C. Tyler

Scotland is a wonderful, wild and surprising place to visit.

My wife, Barbara, and I spent three days exploring The Trossachs National Park. We stayed in the village of Balloch at a bed-and-breakfast on a farm. George was a dairy farmer who had to sell his herd due to rising costs and lower milk prices. Sheila, his wife ran the B&B, Dumbain Farm, in a beautiful converted building that was the dairy barn.

The first day we drove to Luss, a 19th-century village that used to house slate quarry workers. Recognized as one of Scotland’s loveliest villages it is filled with many original stone cottages strewn with flowers and vines of every color and texture. We took walks around the village and through the farmland and former quarries around it. The paths are beautifully laid out and a delight to walk. We discovered a number of spoil heaps from the slate quarries; these remnants of the slate mining were clearly visible. In the afternoon we took a cruise on Loch Lomond. It was cold and cloudy but the scenery was spectacular.

The only downside was the almost complete lack of commentary. All the information you need to explore the villages, walks, hikes and lochs is on the website www.visitscotland.com.

The next day, Father’s Day (June 21), we drove through the incredibly beautiful Queen Elizabeth Forest Park to Loch Katrine. What superb vistas. We had a wonderful conversation on the loch cruise with a Scottish couple who were biking back from the other end of the lake. We saw a very pretty cottage built for Queen Victoria along the loch bank; she was visiting for the opening of the water supply from Katrine to Glasgow.

Unfortunately her 21-gun salute by the firing of cannons blew out all the cottage windows so she could not stay there.

We had lunch at the restaurant at the pier and dads were free for Father’s Day. We drove to Callander as the sun came out and walked a mile-and-a-half round-trip to Bracklinn Falls.

The water flows over and around gigantic slate stones that form walls around the falls. Along the walk we saw many sheep as well as long-haired Highland cattle, which are well adapted to the harsh climate. We had dinner in the oldest registered licensed pub in Scotland, The Clachan Inn (1734), in the village of Drymen.

The next day we left Dumbain Farm and drove to Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. We enjoyed the Riverside Museum and the 245-foot barque Glenlee (1896), permanently moored alongside the museum.

The barque has a well done and interesting tour, with information on the 15-man crew and how they fared as seamen over the years on various ships. The Glenlee and thousands of other ships were built here along the River Clyde including the Queen Elizabeth 2, also known as the QE2. The decline of shipbuilding has left Glasgow with only tourism as a riverside industry, but it is now a vibrant city.

We had just time enough in the day to stop at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and viewed exhibits on Glasgow’s history, among others. The museum is housed in a most elegant Spanish Baroque building.

Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian.

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Man on village bench has worn many hats over the years

Justice Peter Graham has served Port Jefferson for more than 30 years. Photo by Talia Amorosano

By Talia Amorosano

When he entered a seminary at age 14, Port Jefferson Village Justice Peter Graham had no idea he would eventually study law, let alone hold a gavel or ever be referred to as “your honor.”

But after four years of training to become a priest, instead of the voice of God it was the voice of singer Hoagy Carmichael through his bedroom window, delivering a message about “a gal who’s mighty sweet, with big blue eyes and tiny feet,” that resonated with him. It was then that Graham decided to abandon this path in favor of one that did not necessarily encompass what he referred to as “the two Cs”: chastity and celibacy.
He traded in his cassock for textbooks, studying biology and chemistry in college and completing law school.

But instead of heading straight for the courtroom, Graham enlisted in the U.S. Army.

“When I finished law school, I felt that I owed my country two years of my life,” Graham said.

He enlisted as a private and refused to receive a commission.

“For 16 weeks they gave me infantry basic training,” he said. “I ran all day. … On the last day [of basic training], I walked 26 miles alone. I was frustrated.”

Just when things seemed low, an unexpected opportunity arrived in the form of a long plane ride to Germany and a short conversation.

“You went to law school, right?” asked a colonel, according to Graham. Before he knew it, he was declared the district attorney of his battalion. Riding on the reassuring words of the colonel — “Don’t make a mistake” — Graham worked on murder, assault and rape cases and gained real experience in the field he had previously only studied.

A particularly interesting case, the justice said, involved a woman who Graham believes murdered her husband, an Army major. Graham had jurisdiction over the case and tried to get her convicted. However, the Supreme Court eventually ruled it could not convict because the defendant was not enlisted. To this day, Graham does not know what became of her.

Despite that situation, “I learned so much [about law] from being in the Army.”

All these years later, and after spending more than 25 years on Port Jefferson Village’s bench, Graham still practices law and specializes in criminal and civil law. As a village justice, a role to which he was recently re-elected for another term of service, he remains diligent about informing himself of the latest policies and practices.

He also keeps an eye on changes in his community — he emphasized the importance of maintaining an awareness of what’s going on in the area and said doing his job helps to keep him alert to the needs of the people. But he stayed away from patting himself on the back.

“All I do is try to be fair to the people,” he said. “I want to make sure they understand what the charge is and what their alternative is.”

Graham’s ability to make people feel comfortable in the courtroom may have something to do with the friendly treatment he gets in out-of-work environments. He said what is most rewarding about being a village justice is “the respect you see on the street. … I’ve been around so long that people are saying hello to me and I don’t even know who they are.”

In addition to praising his community, Graham spoke highly of his colleagues.

About fellow Justice Jack Riley, Graham said he is on the same page about how to handle people in the courtroom. Of Village Court Clerk Christine Wood, with whom he has worked for almost 11 years, he said,

“She does phenomenal work. … I don’t think she’s ever made a mistake.”

Wood was just as complimentary in return.

“He’s awesome. I’ve actually worked for eight judges and he is one of my top,” she said. “He’s the most caring gentleman, and I don’t say that about many people. He’s got a heart of gold.”

Wood said Graham “goes above and beyond” for his village justice role.

When Graham isn’t working, he enjoys being active around Port Jefferson. Although he won’t play golf “because golf is for old men,” he defined himself as a once-avid tennis player.

“They used to call me the deli man because my shots were always slices.”

He plans to start playing more again in the future, when his elbow feels better.

In addition to the “beautiful tennis courts,” Graham appreciates Port Jefferson’s proximity to the water and its abundance of outdoor activities.

He described his experience living in Port Jefferson and serving as a village justice as “a pleasure.”

“I never ask for an increase [in pay]. Whatever it is, it is, and it’s great.”

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In threes
A group of young men were arrested in the early morning of July 16 and charged with second-degree robbery. According to police, a homeless 24-year-old, a 19-year-old from Stony Brook and an 18-year-old from Port Jefferson Station forcibly stole money from a person on Route 25A in Port Jefferson Station.

Quick cash
An unknown man pushed a woman to the ground and stole property from her by a bar in Port Jefferson Station on July 15 at around 4:15 a.m.

Failed getaway
Police arrested a 35-year-old Port Jefferson Station man in Port Jefferson on July 13 and charged him with second-degree criminal possession of a loaded firearm, third-degree possession of a narcotic with intent to sell, first-degree leaving the scene of a crash and second-degree obstructing government administration. According to police, at around 4:58 p.m. the man was instructed to shut down his vehicle when stopped at Old Town Road but instead drove north on Jayne Boulevard at a high speed. When he attempted to make a right onto Maple Avenue, he failed to stay to the right and collided with a 2013 Nissan, whose driver required medical attention. The man then fled on foot until apprehended by police. Police said the man possessed a loaded semiautomatic weapon and heroin.

Changing gears
An unknown person stole a bike right off the rack from the The Port Jeff Bike Dr. on Main Street in Port Jefferson on July 19, at around 2:10 p.m.

Can’t even
A woman assaulted another woman in the female bathroom at Portside Bar and Grill in Port Jefferson on July 18, at around 2:30 a.m. According to police, the suspect thought the victim said something negative about her, so she punched her. The victim was transported to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson to receive medical treatment. No arrests have been made.

Old-fashioned fisticuffs
A 25-year-old Rocky Point man was arrested in Port Jefferson and charged with disorderly conduct on July 18 after he engaged in a fistfight with security personnel at Billie’s 1890 Saloon on Main Street.

Friendly fire
Two co-workers at Heritage Diner in Mount Sinai were involved in a tiff on July 18. Police said one worker swung a utensil at the other, causing a laceration to the person’s face. No arrests have been made.

ATM on-the-go
An unknown person broke the front door of a CVS Pharmacy on Route 25A in Miller Place on July 16, at around 2:17 a.m., and fled with the cash register.

Lawn games
An unknown person drove across a lawn on Harrison Avenue in Miller Place on July 15 at some point between 10:45 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

Homerun
A Hawkins Road home in Centereach reported a broken window above a front door on July 16 at 11 p.m. The damage was thought to be caused by a softball.

I’mrich
A 2013 Honda parked at a Ulrich Road home in Centereach was robbed of a wallet and credit cards at some point between July 14 and July 15.

Caught
A woman was given a field appearance ticket after attempting to take property from a Bob’s Store in Selden on July 19 at around 2 p.m. Police said the culprit tried to conceal a bathing suit and blender bottle in her bag.

Coffee buzz interrupted
Police said two men from the Bronx were arrested in South Setauket on July 15 and charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglar tools. According to police, the men entered a Dunkin’ Donuts on Nesconset Highway at about 1 a.m. on July 15 and attempted to break into a safe. Police said they possessed a sledgehammer, a wedge tool and a pry bar.

Does this gift card buy drugs?
Two men were arrested on Pond Path in Setauket-East Setauket on July 15 and charged with loitering and unlawful use of a controlled substance. Police said the men, one 23 and the other 34 years old, were observed in a 2014 Honda at about 1:20 p.m. Police said the 23-year-old was observed exchanging a Home Depot gift card for heroin. The other man was seated in the passenger seat and possessed heroin.

Repeat burglar busted
An 18-year-old man from East Setauket was arrested on July 15 at 6:37 p.m. at his home and charged with two counts of second-degree burglary of a dwelling and one count of petit larceny. Police said that sometime between Feb. 1 and 28 the man stole master keys to an apartment complex on Jefferson Ferry Drive in South Setauket. Sometime between March 22 and March 31, he entered a residence using the stolen keys and stole property. He entered another Jefferson Ferry Drive residence on March 29 and stole jewelry.

Movie, popcorn, mischief
Someone broke the passenger-side front window of a 2015 Mercedes parked at AMC Loews Stony Brook 17 theater on Nesconset Highway in Stony Brook and stole Beats by Dre headphones, cash and cologne between 9:40 and 11:54 p.m. That same day, someone broke the window of a 2006 Ford F350 between 8 and 11:35 p.m. and stole tools from the same location.

Shattered window
Someone broke the rear passenger-side window of a 1994 Plymouth Voyager parked outside a home on Hollow Road in Stony Brook sometime between 8 p.m. on July 16 and 10 a.m. on July 17.

Jewelry box lifted
Someone snatched a jewelry box containing jewelry that was inside an unlocked 2006 Mercedes parked on Spring Meadow Road in Setauket-East Setauket sometime between 3:25 and 4:25 a.m. on July 19. There have been no arrests.

Car handle hulked
Someone ripped off the driver-side handle on a 2015 Ford Mustang parked on Adams Way at the Sayville Commons parking lot in Sayville. The incident happened on July 19 sometime between 12:05 and 12:50 p.m.

Phone jacked
Someone took an iPhone 4 and cash from an unlocked 2014 Honda CRV sometime between 6 p.m. on July 14 and 7 a.m. on July 15.

Bicyclist killed in Lake Ronkonkoma crash
Suffolk County police are investigating a motor vehicle crash that killed a Bohemia bicyclist in Lake Ronkonkoma on Tuesday evening.
Laura Heerbrandt, 23, of Ronkonkoma, was driving a 2014 Nissan eastbound on Portion Road when her car struck Luis Benitez, 51. According to police, Benitez swerved into her lane of traffic as he was traveling westbound on Portion Road.
Benitez was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. Heerbrandt was not injured.
The vehicle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone with information about this crash to contact the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.

Armed robber hits Hauppauge 7-Eleven
A masked man robbed a 7-Eleven in Hauppauge early Monday morning, injuring the clerk on duty.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the masked suspect, who was also wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and sunglasses, entered the convenience store on Townline Road shortly before 2 a.m., displayed what appeared to be a gun and demanded cash from the clerk. After the clerk complied, giving him cash from the drawer, the assailant fled on foot, heading west on Townline.
The clerk suffered a minor injury during the holdup, police said. He was treated at Stony Brook University Hospital and released.
Police described the robber as being about 6 feet tall and having a thin build.
Detectives from the SCPD’s 4th Squad are investigating the robbery. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 631-854-8452 or to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-220-TIPS.

Police search for man who stole $400 in clothes from Commack store
Suffolk County police and 4th Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help in identifying and locating a man who stole merchandise from a Commack store last month.
The man stole assorted men’s clothing from Kohl’s at 45 Crooked Hill Road on June 2 at about 6:15 p.m. The clothing has a value of about $400.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

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Gabrielle Georgescu and Adam Thompson star in ‘Reasons to Be Pretty.’ Photo by Origin Photos

By Charles J. Morgan

The famous and incisive theater critic Walter Kerr once remarked that every theatrical era has a vision. From the time of the medieval miracle plays to the social significance efforts of Clifford Odets and Sidney Kingsley, there was a vision of reality, of life, of faith, of love. The secular humanist culture in which we now live has its vision: a concentration on the total, inviolable, self-importance of the individual to determine all things for him or herself.

O’Neill struggled with this in his tragedies, while in his short sea plays his characters were more “normally” human and real. His “Morning Becomes Electra” was actually the Agamemnon trilogy of Aeschylus, “The Iceman Cometh” analysis of the human condition.

Our secular humanist culture has given rise to plays like “Reasons to Be Pretty” by Neil LaBute, now in production at the Bare Bones Theater Company in Northport. The script revolves around one single f-word repeated around 5,346 times. The characters spout it interminably.

But what do the four characters “spout” about? A deep life-affecting matter? An inherently flawed relationship? Life itself? No: an innocently passed remark by one of the four about the corporeal pulchritude of a female expressed politely, but causing a relationship to dissolve volcanically.

The entire scene reminded your scribe (a former teacher) of a clutch of pubescent junior high school students cackling in front of their lockers before algebra class. That’s how shallow was the script. The Anglo-Saxon participle was used as comma, colon, verb and etc. in order to keep the flow of anodyne “dialogue” moving among the four actors. Without that word the script would have disintegrated into cementlike boredom.

Adam Thompson is Greg and Gabrielle Georgescu is his girlfriend Steph. She is walking out on him for practically all of Act I. Neither one get to finish a sentence before the other tears in loudly. This banter does add a measure of realism, but when the whole thing is seen to be about a chance remark he made at a party about the good looks of a friend’s girl that causes her to explode and walk out, Thompson’s method of acting as the hurt injured party confused by it all is very effective. He could rant, cry, scream, pout to give individuality to the role.

The beautifully executed fist fight scene with his friend Kent, played to the hilt by JLawrence Kenny, is the most realistic your scribe as seen in years.

Georgescu is perfect in the role of Steph. Her screeds and interventions are masterful. She is a highly talented actress.

In the role of a security guard, Emily Ryan Reed is exceptionally outstanding. She is the only one of the four to express a range of emotions, and she does it with an intensity that was more than impressive.

Lynn Antunovich directed with a sure hand at blocking and a very skillful ability to achieve realism and believability in the actors. It was arguably she who executed the intricate and intense line cutting that, despite what your scribe said about the script, gave the show the impact it needed.

The three, or was it four, flight climb to the theater was made quite worth it due to the welcome hospitality of House Manager Maureen (“Mo”) Spirn.

The Bare Bones Company is well under way to being the ground for new playwrights. LaBute’s effort with this one, although ankle-deep in the waters of theatrical conflict, still provides material for young, aspiring actors.

Bare Bones Theater Company, 57 Main St., Northport, will present “Reasons to Be Pretty” through Aug. 1. Warning: adult language. Tickets are $25. For more information, call 631-606-0026 or visit www.barebonestheater.com.

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One of 20 Long Island business professionals gearing up for annual Long Island Fight for Charity in November

Rhonda Klch gloves up for last year’s Long Island Fight for Charity. This year, Klch will head back into the ring for the charity match, which raises money for the Long Island Community Chest. Photo from Corbett PR

By Rachel Siford

Mount Sinai’s Rhonda “Master of Financial Disaster” Klch is heading back into the ring on Nov. 23, 2015, for her second Long Island Fight for Charity match.

Klch is the founder and CEO of Equity First, LLC, a financial advising firm based in Coram. She started the company in 2004.

The charity boxing match raises money for the Long Island Community Chest, a nonprofit organization that provides short-term financial support to needy families and individuals who have suffered a crisis. Last year, Klch left her match victorious.

Klch was inspired to participate in the fight when she heard the money was going to the Community Chest. More than $850,000 has been donated to Long Island charities since its inception 12 years ago.

“Due to the fact that my firm works heavily in budget planning and helping clients that are in financial distress, I felt it was very close to what we do,” Klch said.

Rhonda Klch left the ring with a victory last year. Photo from Corbett PR
Rhonda Klch left the ring with a victory last year. Photo from Corbett PR

Preparing for the match takes time. Fight for Charity requires all participants get a physical exam. Fighters also have to check in at certified gyms to track how much they are training. Boxers typically need to complete three to four days of cardio a week, with two or more days of sparring.

Klch will have to wait until September to find out who she will be fighting on the night of the event.

“Right now, I have to train like I’m going to get my butt kicked,” Klch said smiling. “I have no idea who it is going to be yet.”

Klch and her company try to get involved with many organizations.

Equity First is also involved with The Starkey Hearing Foundation, which supplies hearing aides to those who can’t afford them, and Pink Tie, a cancer research fundraiser. Last year, the company sponsored 160 children from the Longwood community who were either homeless or in transient housing and provided them with their holiday gifts. Klch is also on the Friends of Karen, which supports critically ill children and their families, Long Island advisory board.

“We have a pretty good corporate culture here,” Klch said. “Everyone wants to chip in and help out; it’s almost a prerequisite for their employment.”

Prior to founding Equity First, Klch was a branch manager for First West Mortgage Bankers. She actually started Equity First as a side business while still working at the bank.

“I’m just very entrepreneurial by nature,” Klch said. “I feel like I am a good leader and I like having my own concepts and being able to see them through from start to finish.”

Klch said staying involved with charities helps people learn about their communities and issues they may not have realized existed.

“You just never know enough about yourself until you put yourself into an uncomfortable position,” Klch said. “You’ll never grow if you never go out of your comfort zone.”

For more information on the event go to www.lifightforcharity.org.

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A makeshift memorial is erected at the scene of the fatal Cutchogue crash. Photo by Phil Corso

Tragedy hit close to home over the weekend — countless lives were shattered when an alleged drunk driver slammed into a limousine carrying a group of eight young women, killing four who hailed from our own North Shore communities.

Saturday’s Cutchogue crash captivated communities near and far. Those who knew the women, and even those who didn’t, mourned, as the crash sent shock waves across the Island.

Brittney Schulman, Lauren Baruch, Stephanie Belli and Amy Grabina were friends, daughters, girlfriends, sisters and young women just starting their adult lives. Tragic doesn’t even begin to explain what happened on that Cutchogue road.

But the women weren’t alone, and the surviving four women, who remain hospitalized as of Monday, need our support.

At a press conference on Monday, Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota told a crowd of reporters, many of whom came from affiliate stations and out-of-town papers, to be reasonable, in light of a recent incident in which a member of the press entered the hospital in an attempt to see one of the survivors.

“We have four who survived, who certainly have suffered horrible, horrible trauma,” Spota said. “Not only bodily trauma, but certainly mentally. And we have people — reporters — who are trying to sneak in to talk to these young women. I just think that we really should — let’s all think about it and let’s be reasonable here.”

We find these actions disrespectful to the victims and survivors and their families and do not stand behind them. As journalists, we understand the responsibility news organizations have to inform the public about events such as this, but sneaking into a hospital room is excessive, and it is not right to serve a readership at a victim’s expense.

As a community newspaper, we are protective of the neighborhoods we cover because we live here. When we get word of car crashes, many of us have to wonder if a loved one was involved. What happened on Saturday could have happened to any one of us.

To the women recovering, the families affected and the communities trying to come to terms with these losses, we will still be here to listen if and whenever you are ready to speak. Our thoughts are with you.

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Participants paddle across Northport Bay in a previous Distant Memories Swim. File photo by Rohma Abbas

Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center, Inc. announced that Bryan Proctor, a Huntington resident and a physical education teacher, will lead a team of swimmers in the 12th Annual Distant Memories Swim on Tuesday, July 28, to draw attention to the disease that impacts more than 60,000 families on Long Island.

In its lifetime, the swim has raised in excess of $100,000 for those with Alzheimer’s disease and their unpaid caregivers. Opening ceremonies are expected to begin at 9 a.m. Proctor and his teammates will take to the water at 9:15 a.m.

The swim will start at Asharoken Beach and move across Northport Bay to Knollwood Beach in Huntington — a distance just under three miles. The swim will also help raise funds for Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center, Inc. The goal is to raise $20,000.

The issue is close to Proctor, as his grandfather and aunt died from the disease.

“Bryan is a champion for those with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Mary Ann Malack-Ragona, executive director and CEO of Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center, Inc. “He is a role model for the youth of our country.”

Over 5 million people in this country are currently living with Alzheimer’s.

“It is my hope that substantial funds will be raised to assist Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center,” Proctor said.

For more information about this event, visit www.memoryswim.org. For more information about ADRC, please contact Malack-Ragona  at (631) 820-8068 or visit www.adrcinc.org.

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