If you haven’t yet read The Post and Courier’s “Till death do us part” series of stories on domestic violence in South Carolina, which won a Pulitzer Prize this year, you should. The opening paragraph sets the tone for the series with a shocking statistic: “More than 300 women were shot, stabbed, strangled, beaten, bludgeoned or burned to death over the past decade by men in South Carolina, dying at a rate of one every 12 days while the state does little to stem the carnage from domestic abuse.”
It goes on to say that while “state officials have long lamented the high death toll for women, lawmakers have put little money into prevention programs and have resisted efforts to toughen penalties for abusers.”
The piece is both disturbing and eye-opening, and while South Carolina is different from both New York and the smaller communities of Suffolk County, domestic violence is still a complex issue, and we commend our representatives for not just standing by.
The Suffolk County Legislature unanimously approved a pilot program on Tuesday that would provide 30 new GPS tracking devices for family court judges to assign to offenders with an order of protection against them. The program would also allow victims of domestic violence — if they so choose — to wear their own tracking devices so they may be alerted if an offender is near them.
The legislation is the latest brought forth by Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) and continues to strengthen county laws relating to domestic violence.
While some may question the use of tracking devices, giving the discretion to judges allows us to evaluate each case on an individual basis. That would hopefully limit the GPS system to the most dangerous offenders and prevent us from violating anyone’s constitutional rights. And 30 devices is a small number when looking at the bigger picture — in 2013, there were more than 1,500 violations of orders of protection in Suffolk County.
If assigned appropriately, carefully and conservatively, the devices could help give domestic violence victims a new sense of safety and freedom to live their lives.
Holly Regan bounces the ball in for a Patriots goal. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
After a slow start, the Ward Melville girls’ lacrosse team kicked it into high gear to top Sachem North, 14-6, on the Patriots’ home turf Tuesday in their final game of the regular season.
After a senior day celebration for the 13 girls graduating on the roster, Ward Melville went to work.
Kayla Purdy fires at the cage for Ward Melville. Photo by Bill Landon
Senior attack Samantha Nemirov dished one off to fellow classmate Alex Vignona, an attack and co-captain, who drove the ball home. Five minutes later, Ward Melville senior midfielder and co-captain Kayla Purdy found the back of the cage unassisted, to help her team pull out in front, 2-0.
Sachem North fired two straight shots to tie the game, but Ward Melville senior attack Katlyn Scarpinella, on a penalty play from the circle, faked a shot and flicked the ball over to Nemirov, who dumped it into the corner to help her team pull out in front, 3-2, to end the scoring in the first half.
“We came out strong early in the game. but they had a lot of good looks at the cage and they really ran our defense well,” Ward Melville head coach Kerri Kilkenny said. “We came out on fire in the second half, we sparked it on transition, we were more aggressive on the draw controls and we pushed forward.”
Ward Melville senior Catherine Smith, an attack and co-captain, got the ball rolling two minutes into the second half with a shot between the pipes, and Vignona and Nemirov connected on another play, this time, with Vignona assisting, as the team edged ahead 5-2. Nemirov returned the favor and dished one off to sophomore midfielder Kerry McKeever, whose shot found its mark with 19:30 left to play.
Ward Melville sophomore attack Kaitlin Thornton hit Nemirov, who was cutting across the front of the net, and whipped it in for her hat trick goal, and junior attack Holly Regan scored unassisted to give her team a commanding 8-2 lead.
“I think we started off a little slow early in the game,” Nemirov said, “But then we were able to put the pieces together and finish strong.”
Alex Vignona shoot for Ward Melville. Photo by Bill Landon
With 13 minutes left Sachem North notched two unanswered goals, but Ward Melville’s Thornton and Nemirov scored next to bring the score to 10-4.
“We stepped it up in the second half,” Thornton said. “We won the draw and we pushed the ball to the cage.”
Sachem North’s defense picked off a pass near the crease and with three quick passes, the team advanced the ball the length of the field and found the net to trail by five.
Plagued by penalties, Ward Melville’s opponent was down two players, and Kilkenny said she was impressed with her team’s poise against Sachem North’s aggressive style of play.
“The girls held their composure through all of their yellow cards and aggressive play, and I was pleased with their discipline,” she said.
Another yellow card left Ward Melville up three players, and the Patriots looked to cash in on the opportunity.
Regan scored on a penalty shot, Nemirov tacked on another, and Purdy also scored off a penalty shot to bring the score to 13-5 with 1:32 left in the game.
“In the second half we just went to goal more — we were smarter with our passes,” Regan said. “We were making smart looks in the middle and our shooting percentage went up.”
Sachem North wouldn’t go quietly and stretched the net once more before Vignona tacked on the final goal of the game in the closing seconds, to put it away, 14-6.
“We were very excited at the start of the game because it was senior day,” Vignona said. “In the second half we picked it up, we were hitting our passes and we hit the back of the net, so it was just awesome for our senior day to win this one.”
With the win, the Patriots improve to 10-4 in Division I. As the No. 6 seed, the Patriots will play No. 11 Half Hollow Hills West on Saturday, May 16, in the first round of the playoffs. The opening draw is scheduled for noon.
From left, Patrick Grossman, Andrew Smith, Joseph Morris, Brodie Centauro, Sean Burbige and Van Whitaker. Photo by William Sheehan
By Charles J. Morgan
Delving once again into the esoteric vocabulary of the theatah, your scribe finds the word “property.” It does not refer to real estate. It means a script. A dramatist finishes writing one, finds a good agent, then some backers, then a director and cast, and it’s on with the show! The property “The Full Monty” has fallen into the hands of the CM Performing Arts Center in Oakdale and opened last Saturday, May 9.
Now a property is quite different from the actual performance. The director, in this case, the very able Kristen Digilio, has to bring believable characterizations, and block them round the boards in a way that is consonant with the characterizations. This staves off the subtle assaults of that monster, Stasis, the spoiler of all action. Digilio effects this with undeniable skill.
Your scribe is a critic, not a press agent. Therefore, he must take under his responsibility all, repeat all, aspects of theater he sees while assigned to review one particular play. Your scribe will take on one for outstanding criticism. It’s the property and only the property. One proem however, your scribe was not the model for Augustus St. Gaudens’ statue The Pilgrim. Your scribe is not the one who is haunted by the fear that somewhere, somebody is smiling. Therefore, he is constrained to label the property filthy, auto-erotic, erotic, lascivious, puerile, skatological and concerned with one thing and one thing only: male genitals seen and unseen. The audience’s deeply pejorative reaction was force-fed to your scribe. The non-stop screaming, hooting, boisterous demands for more,the feigned laughter; all of it came from apparently mature women.
But then there was some acting. Brodie Centauro as Jerry has a smooth tenor voice, revealing an aura of pliant lyricism in the upper register. He is the idea man who recruits five co-workers to form a male stripper group along the lines of the famous Chippendales. All this because he found out that his wife and some of his friends’ wives had, on “girls night out,” gone to see the Chippendales. The plot line for the rest of the show is “will they or won’t they go the full monty?”
Sean Burbige, Joseph Morris, Andrew Smith, Van Whitaker and Patrick Grossman complete the “sex-tet.” Choreography was also by Digilio, another tribute to her talents. A cameo was offered by Linda Pentz as a smoking tough-old-broad, beautifully executed. It even reminded your scribe of Sophie Tucker. Brava Linda.
In Act I, “It’s a Woman’s World,” despite scurrilous lyrics, was rendered by Jessica Ader-Ferretti, Heather Van Velsor, Bidalia Albanese, and Emily Dowdell (who also doubled as Molly MacGregor quite efficiently). This was “balanced” by a monument to flaccid machismo by Centauro and Burbige. Their harmonizing? Great. In Act II, the finale, “Let it Go,” done with great power, told it all.
As usual, Matthew Surico led a phenomenal 12-piece outft, making good use of trombonists Chris Zatorski and Chris Parrella as well as percussionist Jared Shaw.
A bit of fairness: Aristophanes in his “Thesmophoriazusae” and “Lysistrata” was raunchy. Martial and Juvenal titillated Roman crowds. Tennessee Williams in “A Streetcar Named Desire” had Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy going at it. So?
The CM Performing Arts Center, 931 Montauk Highway, Oakdale will present “The Full Monty” through May 27. Tickets range from $20 to $29. For more information, call 631-218-2810 or visit www.cmpac.com.
Comsewogue’s Justin Virga stops the ball at home in the Warriors’ 7-4 win over Westhampton on May 11. Photo by Bill Landon
Comsewogue’s Dan Colasanto, who went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, hurls a pitch from the mound in the Warriors’ 7-4 win over Westhampton on May 11. The win helped Comsewogue claim sole possession of first place with a 16-3 mark in League VI. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The League VI title is on the line for the Comsewogue baseball team.
The Warriors took one step closer to claiming that elusive title and the first-round bye after topping Westhampton at home Monday afternoon for the team’s seventh win in a row, to break the first place tie, as both teams were tied 15-3 at the top of the standings.
Westhampton scored first, but the Warriors rallied in the bottom of the fourth inning and fended off a late comeback-effort to earn a 7-4 win.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Comsewogue’s bats came alive.
The runs started adding up when Robert Dattoma’s hit drove in Dan Colasanto to tie the game. Jordan Lisco set up the next scoring opportunity when he singled to right field, putting runners on both corners.
Ryan Szalay’s bat spoke next when he hit a line drive to right center that drove home Dattoma for a 2-1 lead, and Mike Stiles struck next when he laid down a perfect bunt and beat the throw to first.
Erik Bono stepped into the batters’ box and waited for his pitch. He smacked the ball deep to right field to bring home Lisco and Szalay, to give the Warriors a 4-1 advantage.
Comsewogue’s Erik Bono takes a cut in the Warriors’ 7-4 win over Westhampton on May 11. Photo by Bill Landon
“I knew it was going to be a tough game today — we had to come out strong after they scored first,” said Lisco, who went 3-for-4 with a run. “We came back and took the lead and we had good, solid defense, and when you can do that, you win baseball games.”
The Warriors weren’t done for the inning.
Vin Velazquez stepped to the plate and hit a fly ball that dropped into the gap to move Bono over to third, and John Braun finished the job with a shot to left field to bring Bono across the plate as the team surged ahead, 5-1.
Having given up five unanswered runs, Westhampton made a pitching change to try to stop further damage from being done, but Colasanto, back at the plate for the second time in the inning, had something to say first, when he ripped one deep for a stand-up double that scored Velazquez for a 6-1 lead.
Comsewogue’s Justin Virga makes a catch at home plate in the Warriors’ 7-4 win over Westhampton on May 11. The win helped Comsewogue claim sole possession of first place with a 16-3 mark in League VI. Photo by Bill Landon
“We have a great group of guys,” Szalay said. “Once we get a hit, we all start to hit, and the game- changer was when Dan Colasanto got that RBI-double.”
Westhampton tacked on a run in the top of the fifth, and threatened with one out and two runners in scoring position. Colasanto was able to pitch his way out of the jam though, as he got the batter to ground out to Dattoma, the short stop, who quickly flicked the ball to second and helped his team turn the double play to end the inning.
“We knew coming in we could beat these guys — we all just needed to stay loose,” said Colasanto, who went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. “I told the team that if we stayed loose, kept the chants going and have some fun, we could win it.”
Mike Stiles took over the mound at the top of the sixth, and Westhampton scored two more runs to bring the score to 6-4 before Stiles was able to work his way out of the inning with a strikeout.
“We’ve been able to play error-free baseball all year long,” Comsewogue head coach Mike Bonura said. “Our strong points are our defense and the mound. We’ve struggled with hitting, and obviously you’ve got to hit to score runs to win ball games, but today we finally put a good part of the bat on the ball.”
Comsewogue’s Mike Stiles tosses a pitch in a 1-2-3 inning that helped the Warriors claim a 7-4 win over Westhampton on May 11 and sole possession of first place in League VI. Photo by Bill Landon
In the bottom of the sixth with a man on base, Dattoma cracked one to right field for added insurance.
Comsewogue needed three outs in the top of the seventh and Stiles answered the call, putting the game away with a 1-2-3 inning.
“We knew we needed to win this,” Dattoma said. “It’s been a while since we got a title; we’re hungry. We were looking for a little revenge and we got it today. For the playoffs, we’ve got to stay mentally tough, don’t let bad at-bats get in our head, and just work on the next one.”
With one game left in the regular season, Comsewogue traveled to Harborfields Wednesday, but results were not available by press time. A win would give the Warriors the league title and first-round bye for the playoffs.
“We’re all rested and if we get a bye, that’s huge because it’s all about pitching,” Bonura said. “Anyone’s No. 1 can beat anyone. Our pitching staff is healthy, and I’ve got plenty of them.”
Late sculptor planted the love of art in the hearts of many
LT Cherokee works with art student Michael D. Kitakis, 12, at the Spirit of Huntington Art Center. Photo from Spirit of Huntington Art Center
By Rita J. Egan
When prolific sculptor and avid motorcycle rider LT Cherokee passed away last year at the age of 58 due to complications from an accident, he left behind his love of art and life. To honor this legacy, the Spirit of Huntington Art Center presents an exhibit titled Seeds starting May 15.
The center, dedicated to working with veterans and special needs children in an artistic environment, is the ideal venue to display the work of the sculptor who for the last few years of his life taught sculpting to the children at the facility. The teaching venture began when, through his uncle who owns L&L Camera in Huntington, Cherokee met Spirit of Huntington founder Erich Preis, according to the center’s director Michael Kitakis.
LT Cherokee’s last work, ‘Faces of Eve,’ in bronze, plaster and plaster recast. Photo from Spirit of Huntington Art Center
“LT was amazing. He was just so calm and connected. I guess that was why he worked so well with children with special needs. He had this calm presence, and he just let you really be free and creative. He wasn’t into the sky had to be blue and the grass green. He was let it be what you think it is, and feel and express it, and the children kind of thrived on that. They really got it,” Kitakis said.
The director said the exhibit will include 38 pieces of Cherokee’s that have been on display in galleries and private collections all over the United States and Canada. The sculptor, who first starting working with wood that he collected during his motorcycle rides, later worked with bronze castings. Kitakis is looking forward to the public viewing and interpreting the work, which the director said he himself doesn’t like to label as any one genre.
“When you see it, you just see all the energy and the abstract coming together. I mean that’s really what I think; it was more about that duality. I don’t think it was just abstract or just impressionistic. It’s kind of just both blending in together, and that gave that whole perception of what he was seeing as his human nature and as his life, and what he was seeing when he was exploring the road and life,” the director said.
Kitakis said Cherokee wasn’t the type to be locked in his studio all the time. For inspiration, he would get out in the world to explore, especially on his motorcycle. The director admired the artist not only for his artistic ability but also as a teacher who easily identified with the children with special needs at the center. “That takes a gift. You kind of have it or you don’t, and he really did have it. That was really what was so beautiful about his work, that here he is this sculptor who is getting $30,000 to $40,000 a sculpture and then coming in and hanging out with the kids,” Kitakis said.
After his passing last year, Cherokee’s mother, Tina Ambrosio, said all of those who offered their condolences, and knowing her son’s teachings positively affected his students comforted her. She said the artist, who was single and had no children of his own, “was married to his motorcycle and his art.”
His mother said that Cherokee, whose birth name was Leonard Totoro, picked his art moniker because even though he wasn’t Native American he always had an interest in Native American history. As a youngster, the future artist also would dream of becoming a forest ranger or doing missionary work. “Luxury to my son meant nothing. He was down to earth,” Ambrosio said.
‘Eve and Adam,’ in bronze by LT Cherokee. Photo from Spirit of Huntington Art Center
Eventually Cherokee’s main career influence was one of his uncles, a pharmacist who painted and sculpted on the side, according to his mother. Later as a young man, the artist would lend his artistic talents while laying and refinishing floors with his father, who was a carpenter and floor finisher. Ambrosio said whenever a customer would ask for a design to be added to the floor, her son could easily create it.
As Cherokee became more involved with sculpting, his work, with names such as “Reach,” “Contemplation,” “The Gate” and “Eye of the Storm,” began to sell. In addition to his work being displayed in galleries and private collections, larger pieces were featured at places such as John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson as well as the transportation area of the Consulate General of the United States in Montreal, Canada.
Kitakis said some of Cherokee’s students are currently working on a collaborative piece that will replicate the artist’s Consulate General sculpture and will debut at the May 15 opening of the exhibit. The original piece features various heads along a train track, and in the students’ version, each child has his or her own person to sculpt. Other works by Cherokee’s students and apprentices will also be on display at the exhibit.
Kitakis said the title of the show, Seeds, seemed appropriate because of the way Cherokee lived his life. The director said the artist always wanted to give back to people and share his art and saw it as spreading seeds.
“He always believed in spreading ‘seeds’, planting them, getting them going. He did a lot of that,” Kitakis said.
The director hopes that visitors to the exhibit will get a feel of how much Cherokee loved creating and sharing his sculptures. “I’m hoping when people walk away they feel that inspiration as well — to get a little more understanding or love of art and then it kind of spreads on,” Kitakis said.
Besides enjoying Cherokee’s work, exhibit-goers will have the opportunity to purchase many of the pieces on display where a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the center. The Spirit of Huntington Art Center is located at 2 Melville Road North in Huntington Station. The Seeds exhibit will open on May 15 with a reception at 6 p.m. and will run through July 15. For more information, call 631-470-9620 or visit www.spiritofhuntingtonartcenter.com.
From its beginnings more than a half-century ago, Stony Brook University has been characterized by innovation, energy and progress, transforming the lives of people who earn degrees, work and make groundbreaking discoveries here. Stony Brook is the largest single-site employer on Long Island, and the diversity of career opportunities available is equaled by the diversity of our employees.
New jobs are being posted daily using innovative software recently implemented on our applicant job site. These enhancements make the process of applying for jobs at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook Medicine and Long State Veterans Home quicker and easier than ever before.
Through the university’s new Talent Management System, you can create your own profile electronically on any device and then apply for multiple jobs at Stony Brook with a few quick clicks online, 24/7. At any time during the search-and-selection process, you can update your profile details, monitor your status and receive customized job alerts based on individual preferences — all while conveniently keeping track of everything in one place.
This system allows for easier access to the tremendous job diversity at Stony Brook. Long Island’s premier research university and academic medical center offers outstanding career potential in health care, research, academia, administration, public safety, food service, maintenance, construction and more. It’s an environment in which you can explore a myriad of career opportunities.
As the university expands, more opportunities for employment and career advancement are becoming available. The new Research and Development Park is home to the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology and the Small Business Development Center. The 250,000-square-foot Medical and Research Translation (MART) building, scheduled to open in 2016, will have eight floors devoted to imaging, neurosciences and cancer research. New student housing facilities and a dining center, also slated for 2016, will make Stony Brook the largest campus-housing program in SUNY.
The sheer size of the university makes it seem like a small city in itself, with countless amenities, such as on-campus banking, eateries, childcare and transportation via the LIRR and bus services. Employees are immersed in an active, vibrant campus life. You can see world-class live performances at Staller Center, cheer the Seawolves NCAA Division I athletic teams, work out at the Walter J. Hawrys Campus Recreation Center, learn from our renowned faculty or enjoy the tranquility of the Ashley Schiff Nature Preserve.
Stony Brook also offers a rich benefits package with multiple health insurance plans, including retirement health benefits; paid holidays, vacation and sick leave; retirement and college savings plans; flexible spending plans; and employee tuition assistance benefits.
To create an account and start the search for your new career at Stony Brook, visit stonybrook.edu/jobs.
Lynn Johnson is the vice president of human resource services at Stony Brook University.
Mount Sinai’s Sydney Pirreca moves the ball deep into Rocky Point’s zone with Christina Bellissimo at her hip. The Mustangs pulled away with a 10-5 win over the Eagles on May 9 to go undefeated in Division II. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The Mount Sinai girls’ lacrosse team finished an undefeated, perfect season in Division II with a 10-5 win over Rocky Point Saturday, while also squashing the Eagles’ hopes of a postseason appearance.
Rocky Point led by two early on, but the Mount Sinai Mustangs rallied and continued to answer back until the team took control of the game to earn a first-round bye with a 15-1 overall mark and 14-0 conference showing.
Rocky Point’s Madison Sanchez maintains possession of the ball at Mount Sinai’s Sydney Pirreca checks her, in the Mustangs’ 10-5 win over the Eagles May 9. Photo by Bill Landon
“We lost a nonleague game to St Anthony’s earlier [in the season], and with a playoff loss last season, we’ve only lost two games in the last three years,” Mount Sinai head coach Al Bertolone said. “Right now, there’s a culture that’s developed. They really believe in themselves, they believe in the plan and I’ve got winners in each grade level, so every year, the next group has taken over.”
The Mustangs struck first when senior co-captain Kasey Mitchell found the back of the cage 30 seconds in to get her team on the scoreboard.
Rocky Point freshman Madison Sanchez answered back three minutes later to tie the game at 1-1, and Rocky Point eighth-grader Brianna Carrasquillo scored the next two goals. First, she snagged a rebound off the pipe from a penalty attempt and buried her shot to retake the lead, and fired again five minutes later for the score with an assist from sophomore attack Christina Ferrara, to put her team out in front, 3-1.
“We really should have focused on the ground balls and the draws,” Carrasquillo said. “Our offense was good early on, but we needed to continue that in the second half.”
Mount Sinai’s Pirreca rocketed a shot between the pipes, and freshman attack Meaghan Tyrrell found the back of the cage next to retie the game, 3-3.
Mount Sinai continued to score, and this time, it was senior Jessica Demeo’s turn when she scored off an assist from Mitchell, but the lead didn’t last for long, as Rocky Point’s Brianna Lamereux sent her shot home with 7:57 left in the first to bring the score to 4-4.
Mount Sinai freshman Camryn Harloff answered the call to put her team out front 5-4, and give the team an advantage that would last for the rest of the game.
With 25 seconds left in the half, Mitchell fired a shot from the right side that hit the back of the net and game her team a 6-4 lead heading into the halftime break.
Mount Sinai’s Kasey Mitchell heads up the field around Rocky Point’s Brianna Lamereux in the Mustangs’ 10-5 win over the Eagles on May 9 that gave the team a perfect 14-0 mark in Division II. Photo by Bill Landon
“We knew they were going to play a full 50 minutes — they’re a complete team and it’s no accident that they’re number one in the league,” Rocky Point head coach Dan Spallina said. “They’ve got great leadership; just look at the talent they have up and down their roster.”
Seven minutes into the second half Demeo scored again for her second goal of the game.
According to Rocky Point’s Sanchez, in order to have a chance against a powerhouse like Mount Sinai, her team would had to contain two of the team’s top players.
“We knew about Sydney Pirreca and Kasey Mitchell, and in order to win, we had to stop them,” she said. “But we couldn’t.”
Pirreca hit the scoreboard next off an assist from Tyrrell to surge ahead 8-4 with 12 minutes left to play, and Demeo split the pipes for her hat trick goal, to put her team out front 9-4 with just under 11 minutes left.
“It’s all about team chemistry,” Demeo said. “As good as the players are that we have [individually], the only thing that matters is the team. We do so much together off the lacrosse field and that really makes us better.”
Rocky Point wouldn’t go quietly, and freshman Christina Bellissimo found the net to trim the deficit to 9-5.
Pirreca shot the ball to the back of the cage a final time for a hat trick of her own, and put the game away 10-5.
From there, Mount Sinai burned time off the clock until the game was over. As the No. 1 seed, the Mustangs will open the postseason at home on Wednesday May 20.
Pirreca said her team will continue to do what it’s done all season, which she credits as the reason why her team went undefeated.
“[We] work hard and we work as a team,” she said. “We have a very strong bond between us, our coaches are great and we take it day by day. We only focus on one game at a time, and we never look ahead.”
The opportunity for same-sex couples to legally marry has expanded to 37 states and Washington D.C. with more likely on the horizon. The social and emotional benefits of living in a legally recognized union have been widely discussed. But what does legal marriage mean for your finances when you’re a same-sex couple?
There are a number of immediate and long-term benefits.
More protection for your shared assets. With the repeal of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), certain federally mandated financial benefits previously reserved for heterosexual married couples now also apply to legally married same-sex couples. Some pertinent provisions include:
• Marital deduction for gift and estate taxes. Spouses married in a state recognizing same-sex marriages (who are also U.S. citizens) can pass property to one another without incurring gift tax while living and estate tax after death. This provision of tax law is significant because it means bypassing potential gift and estate taxes levied upon nonmarried couples who transfer property or other assets to each other.
• Social Security benefits. If you or your spouse dies, your marriage certificate and the duration of your marriage are used in determining if the surviving spouse will be the beneficiary of the deceased spouse’s Social Security benefits. In some cases, same-sex couples may need to reside in certain states that recognize the marriage. To further protect your Social Security benefits, the Social Security Administration encourages all same-sex couples to apply for benefits to preserve any claim.
• Beneficiary status. Your spouse will be recognized as your beneficiary on your insurance policies, retirement plans and items of property. This is true as long as he or she is your named beneficiary — make sure to update all of your beneficiary designation forms once you’re married. It’s also important to keep in mind that the spousal consent rules for retirement plans that require the spouse to provide written consent if the primary beneficiary named is someone other than the spouse, applies to same-sex married couples.
• Shared work benefits. Many companies provide spouse benefits that have significant value. For example, your marital status may afford you or your spouse reduced cost health and life insurance through an employer.
• Combined household efficiencies. Don’t underestimate the financial benefit of pooling your income and sharing the expense of running a household. While you can cohabit without marriage, your marital status may improve your ability to sign a lease or close on a loan (assuming you both have good credit and contribute income).
• Income tax perk or penalty? Depending on your combined income, and each spouse’s income, your legally recognized same-sex marriage may or may not improve your income tax situation. If one spouse does not work or has a low annual income, your combined income as joint filers may be taxed less than the separate incomes of two single filers. However, if you and your spouse are both high earners, together you may land in a higher tax bracket (or be subject to additional taxes or phase-outs) than you would if you each filed as single individuals, potentially resulting in a larger tax liability from filing jointly.
• Get professional advice. Merging your finances as a legally married same-sex couple can be tricky because of variations in state laws and other legal considerations. A same-sex couple’s marriage may be respected for purposes of some laws but not recognized for purposes of other laws. Your situation may be complicated if you previously utilized trust documents to “work around” inequities before marriage was a viable option.
While you may not be able to avoid a steeper income tax rate as married joint filers, you can employ other strategies to minimize your tax burden and untangle complicated trust work-arounds. Seek out professionals such as a tax advisor, lawyer and financial advisor to work through the complexities that can arise when same-sex couples merge their financial lives. Together you can explore solutions to help build a secure financial future.
Jonathan S. Kuttin, CRPC®, AAMS®, RFC®, CRPS®, CAS®, AWMA®, CMFC® is a Private Wealth Advisor with Kuttin-Metis Wealth Management, a private advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. in Melville, N.Y. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 20 years.
A scene from a previous “I Did The Grid” event in East Northport. Photo from Megan Scherer
By Julianne Cuba
This Memorial Day weekend, for the eighth year in a row, the streets of East Northport will be filled with joggers and walkers honoring the lives of fallen soldiers.
On May 23, the Cpl. Christopher G. Scherer memorial “I Did the Grid” four-mile competitive run, one-mile fun run and four-mile recreational run/walk honors the life of Chris Scherer and all men and women who gave their lives to serve the U.S. The run will begin at Pulaski Road Elementary in East Northport.
Scherer, who was a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, was born and raised in East Northport. He lost his life while serving in the province of Al Anbar in Iraq on July 21, 2007.
The late U.S. Marine Cpl. Chris Scherer. Photo from Megan Scherer
In his memory, the Scherer family started the Cpl. Christopher G. Scherer Semper Fi Fund, and on Memorial Day in 2008, held the first annual run to honor their son and all fallen warriors.
“Put your personal achievements away for the day and come to honor them [fallen soldiers] because it is Memorial Day weekend and that’s what we should be doing … take a little time to think about the men and women who have died serving our country and the families they left behind,” Scherer’s father Tim Scherer said.
Scherer said that his son was a great kid who loved life and wanted to help his fellow Marines. In their final phone call before his death, Scherer said his son asked him to send lighter boot socks that wouldn’t make him sweat as much. Just before he hung up, his son asked if he would be able to send socks for other Marines, too, because many didn’t have families.
The father said he sent out an email asking for contributions.
“It was just an email, I never thought I’d get anything, but in four days I had $2,500 to buy supplies for the troops, so we sent over 100 packages but he never got one of them … it was just heartbreaking.”
It was through his son’s own desire to help his fellow Marines that the Scherer family got the idea for the fund and run, he said.
Scherer said his son’s greatest quality was his loyalty for everything he loved — his family, his friends, his lacrosse team and the U.S. Marines.
“This is not just about Chris,” his father said. “The race is named after him but we run for over 6,800 fallen warriors … no service person is left behind. Everyone who has given their life is represented on Memorial Day, because that’s what Memorial Day is.”
Scherer said that instead of giving out awards, the run asks participants to look up the names of the four fallen soldiers on their bibs, from either Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom. The bibs are given out before the run. Upon completion, each participant will ring a bell to signify that no fallen warrior would be forgotten, he said.
Meghan Scherer, the late Cpl. Scherer’s sister, also said that each year, they alternate giving out either a coin or pint glass, which were two of her brother’s favorite things.
“Challenge coins in the military are usually given when someone does something extraordinary, so we feel that they should receive a coin, because they’re doing something amazing by remembering these men and women,” she said.
His sister said she and her other siblings — an older brother, Tim, and twin sister, Kaitlin — were all always so close.
“Nobody ever picked on my sister or me because they knew Chris would always have our backs,” she said. “Chris would pick on us but it was never anybody else. We were always protected from the start and that’s what he did, he protected us as a Marine.”
Matt Baudier, 34, from Northport, was an Eagle Scout with Scherer and was his mentor for a few years, he said.
“As his mentor, he always looked up to me, but the day that he deployed, he became my hero,” he said.
Baudier said the run is a good way to honor Scherer and all fallen soldiers.
“One of our taglines is, ‘We run for those who stood for us,’” he said.
Amanda Stein, owner of reLove in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
By Julianne Cuba
Miller Place is getting some extra love this spring with the opening of Long Island native Amanda Stein’s reLove shop and paint boutique.
The reLove shop in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
The store, located at 87 North Country Road in Miller Place, held its grand opening on April 11 and features Stein’s own refurbished and painted furniture, along with home décor and homemade jewelry from other local artists, as well as CeCe Caldwell’s Paints, an eco-friendly line of natural chalk and clay paints.
Miller Place residents may recognize Stein’s work from Facebook, as the wife and mother, started posting pictures of her original furniture and custom-painted signs on the social media site about a year ago.
Stein, who has lived in Miller Place for about a year and a half, said her love of interior design stems from her grandmother, who collected antiques, and that she began painting furniture after she moved out of her parents’ house.
After leaving her career in real estate to look after her two children — Ella, 5, and Adam Jr., 4 — Stein said she wanted to take her passion and turn it into a business.
“It was one year ago that I started reLove from my house as a stay at home mom,” she said. “I always painted furniture for years and years, and all my friends kept telling me I should sell it. So I started with a Facebook page. It was literally overnight [that] it took off.”
Stein said she started the page with just seven pieces of furniture, but that number quickly grew as she began marketing all over social media.
Inside reLove in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
Within a few months, Stein said she was getting booked with custom jobs and selling out of her furniture and signs.
“I did all of this from my two-car garage,” she added in an email.
reLove’s grand opening was jam-packed the whole weekend, Stein said. The store was supposed to close at 7 p.m., but people were still coming in until after 7:30 p.m.
“The opening was absolutely amazing,” she said.
For its opening weekend, reLove offered free paint samples to everyone who came in and a $50 dollar raffle for the store.
“A couple of people took the [paint] samples home and they immediately painted a piece of furniture with it and sent me pictures of the furniture they painted, which was very cool,” Stein said.
A piece of custom painted furniture for sale at the reLove shop in Miller Place. Photo from Amanda Stein
Dolores Spyowicz, of Country Charm in NYC, who has items for sale at the shop, said she met Stein through a painting group on Facebook and the two became good friends. She said reLove’s owner is a hard worker with a “beautiful vision.”
“I thought that being in a store in such a wonderful, beautiful neighborhood, my pieces would get more attention, and I’d be helping her out as well,” Spyowicz said. “I just thought it would be a wonderful opportunity.”
In addition to being a “one-stop-shop” for customers who paint and refurnish furniture, Stein said reLove will host several workshops — from painting basics to parent and child craft nights to bride nights out.
Stein also said reLove will maintain an eco-friendly and socially responsible business.
“It’s all eco-friendly,” she said. “The paint line that I sell, there are absolutely no chemicals in the paint.”
Stein said she’s thrilled to be following her dream as a business owner in beautiful and historic Miller Place.
“It’s been a wonderful thing because I’ve had a lot of positive feedback.”
Prev
