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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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A satellite image of the Brookhaven Town landfill, located on Horseblock Road in Yaphank. Photo from Google Maps
By Nasrin Zahed

Several years after discovering “forever chemicals” leaking into Long Island’s groundwater near the Town of Brookhaven Landfill, located on Horseblock Road in Yaphank, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation calls for “corrective action.”

A plume of highly lethal PFAS, PFOS, and 1,4-dioxane contamination has been uncovered in downgradient wells within the town landfill. The contaminants, commonly called “forever chemicals,” cannot be broken down by the human body or the environment.

According to a statement from the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group, or BLARG, exposure to these chemicals “has been linked to some cancers, immune, fertility, thyroid and other health conditions.”

NYSDEC is requiring Brookhaven to begin assessing the current damage and determining a course of immediate action. The town is set to issue a notice to the public detailing the extent of the situation, its effect on local wildlife and communities and the next step in removing and properly disposing of the chemicals. Brookhaven will also hold a public forum to gather community feedback.

BLARG’s statement considered NYSDEC’s action “a day late and a dollar short.”

Kerim Odekon, a BLARG member, stated, “The only news is now DEC acknowledges the problem, which community members have raised to NYS and the town for years.”

Although NYSDEC determined the PFAS levels present “no new threats to drinking water,” community members are still concerned about the long-term effects on private water sources and wildlife.

Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) said he believes the fault should not be placed on the town exclusively, maintaining that “there is no question that the state has to step in as well,” he said.

Kornreich also noted the role of individual consumers and community members in remediating the issue. 

“We have to figure out our role in the larger question — that most of us dispose of large amounts of garbage every day,” he said, adding that consumers should consider how they as individuals contribute to the root problems.

The landfill is set to cease collection of certain trash and demolition debris by December 2024. Once the landfill reaches its capacity, the next step is to transfer out ash, potentially adding years to the timeline for full-scale closure.

BLARG continued to urge that the Brookhaven Landfill be shut down sooner rather than later, suggesting that the plume has gone too far.

“The first step is to set a closure date for the Brookhaven Landfill,” the BLARG statement reads, adding, “DEC must step in to set a date for the closure of the landfill.”

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METRO photo

When we shop, we often bring our valuables, which total hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars, with us.

Cell phones, wallets, purses and credit cards represent valuable commodities. They can be stolen to score sweet profits. And throughout our community, that is happening right now.

On Aug. 8, Suffolk County Police Department 4th Precinct Inspector David Regina informed the Smithtown Town Board of a pernicious crime happening across Suffolk County retail spaces.

“Criminals and thieves take the opportunity when someone is shopping at Costco or any of these other stores, and they walk by an unsuspecting victim’s shopping cart,” he said. “What they’ll do is they’ll just take out the credit cards or the wallet.”

A criminal can be out the door with our credit cards in the few seconds we may step away from our shopping carts.

At first, victims of this kind of theft do not know they have been victimized. In the time it can take for victims to discover they were robbed and cancel their accounts, the damage has already been done. For law enforcement, Regina noted, this kind of theft is “a very hard crime to target.”

Fortunately, we can all take some simple steps to protect our possessions. We should always keep our valuables in sight and within reach when we shop.

We also encourage our readers to shop lightly, leaving their possessions inside their locked vehicles or — even better — leaving their valuables at home.

If one shops with a handbag or purse, ensure these bags have secure closures. For purse thieves, an open handbag in a public space invites theft.

At TBR News Media, we helped to pioneer the Neighborhood Watch program in Suffolk County. We now advocate for a similar crime watch program for retail centers. As the adage goes, “If you see something, say something.”

Tell a store manager or similar authority about the nefarious activities you witness. Failure to report these incidents of purse theft signals to criminals our tacit approval of these behaviors, incentivizing recidivism. If we wish to see larcenies begin to drop, we must do our part.

Aware of the risks, we can and should shop without fear. Please take care to ensure that shopping can be a safe experience.

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Debbie Moro and John Brown stand alongside their 2019 Polaris Slingshot. Photo by Sabrina Artusa

By Sabrina Artusa

Flowerfield Fairgrounds in St. James was transformed Sunday, Aug. 20, into a parking lot for some of the most unique cars on Long Island during the Long Island Cars Car Show and Swap Meet.

Visitors walked through lines of gleaming muscle cars, rusted antiques, military vehicles and cars of the rarest variety. Circling cars that piqued their interest, perhaps stopping to ask about a modified engine or to compliment the paint job, visitors learned about and admired vehicles from the past century. 

Tom Friday, the original owner of a 1974 Dodge Charger, has been bringing his car to shows for years. “Whenever you go, you see something different,” he said. “It’s a good day,” adding that his car is a special edition, with only eight others known to exist. 

Ted Broutzas with his 1987 Buick

Many owners became interested in cars early in their lives. Some were drawn to building up broken-down vehicles, while others preferred to “cruise and coast,” as veteran of the car industry John Stuaek put it. Others gravitate toward collecting and searching for rare cars to add to their store.

Bill Douglas is one of the former. Surrounded by pristine hot rods and muscle cars, Douglas showcased his “rat rod,” a custom car made from a motley of different parts. He bought the stripped-down 1929 Ford through Facebook Marketplace and worked on making it his own.

“I buy project cars, spend a year [and] a lot of money,” he said of the process of building a car. “I like building more than driving.”

Visitors weren’t the only ones examining the cars, however. Judges were also visiting each vehicle, analyzing its cleanliness and workmanship. The judges evaluated the wheels, engine, manuals and body exterior, among other factors. 

Douglas said he likes how “tight, helpful and nice” the community is. “Everyone’s got a story,” he said. Owners are often eager to share their car’s background.

Multitime competition winner Ted Broutzas, who owns a 1987 Buick, said the film “Star Wars” heavily inspired his all-black car. He underscored this by putting toys and mementos from the franchise in his trunk. 

The car was discontinued soon after its release, making it valuable to collectors. Broutzas said his car is like “the left side of his body,” and he doesn’t have plans to sell.

Several people complained about the negative image the community can have among those who are unfamiliar with it. “They think we are just a bunch of hot-rodders racing down the street,” said Frank Coppola, one of the show’s organizers. “But we get guys who have cars that are like part of their family.”

“Long Island Cars has done a lot” to “change the way people think about older cars,” he added.

The car community may be expensive and competitive, but the community is also a resource to its members. Coppola said he frequently connects people with others who may be selling what the other is buying. 

Parts can sometimes cost thousands of dollars. Coppola recalled an instance when a friend of his, having wrecked the fender of his 1927 Chevy convertible, bought a car just for the part necessary to fix his convertible.

“Sometimes the part is worth more than the car,” he noted.

As shown by the turnout at the show, the price is worth it for these hobbyists. “I don’t make a heck of a lot of money but have a heck of a lot of fun,” Stuaek said.

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Winners cross the finish line during the 12th annual SikaFlex Quick & Dirty Boat Building Competition in Port Jeff. Photo by Aramis Khosronejad
By Aramis Khosronejad

The 12th annual SikaFlex Quick & Dirty Boat Building Competition took place at Port Jeff’s Harborfront Park on Aug. 19 and 20, channeling the village’s local shipbuilding heritage for a fun weekend.

The Quick & Dirty competition covers a summer weekend each year, with competitors having five hours to build their boats on the first day. The day after, they decorate their vessels and then race them. The competition consists of a few awards: best design, decoration, fastest boat built and the standard top three race winners.

Len Carolan, president of Long Island Seaport and Eco Center, has been a part of the race along with the Bayles Boat Shop, a local shop that has coordinated the event since 2012. 

“I have met some wonderful people,” Carolan said. “It’s been fun meeting these people and working together to do our boat building and also organizing an event like this.” 

Inspired by the rich maritime and shipbuilding history of Port Jefferson, the idea for this competition was sparked by Charles Carter. According to the Historical Society of Greater Port Jefferson, Port Jefferson was once the most prominent ship manufacturer in Suffolk County. 

Additionally, according to the website of The Shipyard, Port Jefferson’s economy mainly ran on the ships it used to build until approximately the 1920s, when it transitioned to a tourist-based local economy. 

Carolan spoke of his desire to involve more competitors, emphasizing that the event is a carefree and fun race. He said that people should join “for the experience. It’s a fun weekend.” 

One team that has been involved in the competition since it started is Ken Callirgos and Matthew Debeau. Callirgos said he has kept coming back because he “had so much fun the first year,” and that that’s the reason he’s planning on participating in the event in the foreseeable future.

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Pete and Mary Hoban. Photo courtesy Bill Hoban

Dr. Pierce “Pete” Francis Hoban (1930‒2023), educator, age 93. Resided in Vicar’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Blessed with a wonderful quality of life to his last day on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, when the doctors at Mayo Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, said “his heart just gave out.”   

Pete was truly a self-made man. He was born into a loving but humble family in New York City during the Depression on June 19, 1930. He served honorably after high school in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War. He always said, if not for the benefits he received for his military service as part of the GI Bill, he never would have earned his undergraduate degree from Fordham University, his master’s degree from New York University or his doctorate in education from Columbia University.

Working as a high school math teacher while earning his doctorate, his talents and people skills were quickly recognized as he moved up the ranks of education, becoming a superintendent of schools at the age of 30. 

He spent the next 35 years serving as a superintendent of schools in increasingly larger and more complex school systems, including the Three Village School District on Long Island and the Skokie School District in the suburbs of Chicago. He was driven in his career by his deep passion for helping others succeed by achieving their educational goals. In this regard, he was lucky enough to have touched and impacted in a positive way too many students, teachers and other support staff to count. 

Although Pete loved helping others, by far the most important thing in his life was his family. He married Mary Connolly on June 19, 1956, in Corona, New York. They raised four boys, Tim, Mike, Pete and Bill. To no surprise, the values he instilled in his sons allowed them to achieve successful careers after earning college and postgraduate degrees. 

During their 64-year marriage, their home was always a bee hive of activity between family, friends and sporting events. During those early years raising his family, Pete loved traveling on family vacations in their Winnebago recreational vehicle. Whether traveling to national parks across the country, going on skiing or golfing vacations, he always viewed these trips as some of the best times of his life.

After retiring in 1994, Pete and Mary started a new chapter in their lives, moving from the Chicago area to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. An avid golfer and member of the Sawgrass Country Club, he spent decades trying to perfect his golf swing. Always with his self-deprecating humor, he would quip he did a much better job at helping others as superintendent of schools than he ever did trying to perfect his golf swing. 

Thankfully, Pete loved retirement and all the friends they made along the way. He and Mary kept active and traveled extensively to Europe and throughout the United States. They moved to Vicar’s Landing in 2014 and were regulars at dinner theaters and other activities. He was not shy about showing off his acting skills in plays and even winning a bocce ball tournament. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was hard on everyone, including Pete. In June 2020, he lost the love of his life Mary to cancer. Her loss was particularly hard as he was reduced to visiting her at Vicar’s Skilled Nursing Facility by looking in her window from outside the building and calling her on the phone due to strict COVID rules. Despite losing Mary, he never lost his zest for life. Instead, he adopted the motto “Keep active and enjoy life.” To that end, after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, he traveled with his sons on numerous adventures including trips to South Korea to visit his grandson serving in the U.S. Army (he even peeked into North Korea along the DMZ), boat rides in Los Angeles, Christmas in Lake Tahoe (with too much snow), New York City sightseeing trips, driving five days along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Seattle, a train ride from Chicago to San Francisco through the Rocky Mountains and even a hot air balloon ride. 

In the last two months of his life, he especially enjoyed his 93rd birthday bash on Long Island with 70+ relatives and friends attending as well as a seven-day Caribbean cruise. Lastly, he was scheduled to go with his sons on a trip to Switzerland in September but unfortunately God had other plans for him.

A life well lived. Pete is survived by his sons, Tim, Mike, Pete and Bill and six grandchildren.  

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 1, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. A military honor guard ceremony will take place immediately following the funeral service outside the Columbarium followed by interment. A reception will be held at 1 p.m. in the Parlor Room at Vicar’s Landing. All are welcome at the reception.

In lieu of flowers please consider giving to the Andrew Connolly SJ Scholarship Fund, which provides educational scholarships to needy students at Xavier High School in Truk, Micronesia (located in the South Pacific by Guam, where Mary’s brother served for 40+ years as a Jesuit priest). Donations can be made via their website: www.sjnen.org/donate-now-xavier-high-school-chuuk.

Indicate in the comments section of the website that your donation is for the Andrew Connolly Scholarship Fund. 

Donations can also be made by mail by sending a check to: USA East Province of the Society of Jesuits, 39 East 83rd St., New York, NY 10028 (make check out to: “USA East Province” and in the memo section indicate for “Andrew Connolly Scholarship Fund at Xavier HS in Micronesia”).

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A scene from this year's Chicken Hill Picnic. Photo by Rob Mulligan
Attendees to this year's Chicken Hill Picnic. Photo by Bob Sullivan

By Sofia Levorchick

The 8th annual Chicken Hill Country Picnic and Barbecue, hosted by the Three Village Community Trust on Saturday, Aug. 19, gathered over 100 people on the grounds of the Bruce House at 148 Main St. in Setauket to celebrate the history of Chicken Hill and support TVCT.

Attendees enjoyed live music and the spread of barbecued food catered by Bagel Express, with opportunities to participate in raffles and learn about Chicken Hill’s history through TVCT’s videos.

The event began around 4 p.m., with TVCT president Herb Mones delivering a speech of gratitude, thanking the community members for their continual support. He awarded The Mr. and Mrs. De Zafra Scholarship and Dr. Watson Scholarship to two devoted teen volunteers: 15-year-old Lily Rosengard and 17-year-old Eve Rosengard, respectively.

“The organization has a large impact on our community, and I am beyond grateful to play a part in their events and help out my community,” Eve Rosengard said of this honor.

Eve and her sister Lily assisted in setting up this year’s Chicken Hill event as volunteers and the daughters of the trust’s artistic director, Michael Rosengard. Michael Rosengard featured prominently in organizing the event, enhancing the grounds with antiques, paintings, handmade decorations and photographs. 

Motivated by his ownership of two of the factory homes on his street and his membership in the TVCT, Michael Rosengard took it upon himself to research the historical background of the factory homes. He further coordinated that with articles that state when the houses were built, solidifying their origins.

“This event is aimed toward commemorating the history of Chicken Hill,” Michael Rosengard said. “Without that recognition of our history, people wouldn’t realize the importance of where they live.”

As Mones concluded his speech, he shifted his focus to commemorating the history of the Chicken Hill area, which was home to factory tenements that accommodated immigrants who worked at a five-story factory that was previously situated across from the Bruce House. 

That factory produced shoes, belts, baskets and hoses until it burnt down in the early 20th century. Chicken Hill was deemed its name as those who lived in the area began raising chickens that were often let out to run awry and came back home at night to be fed. 

Mones connected this history to the present-day community. “The three houses behind me were those provided to the immigrants by the factory, and they have been preserved by the Trust,” he said. “I think what’s important is that we come and celebrate Chicken Hill. We look back, but we also recognize with gratitude where we are today.”

Among the attendees present were numerous community leaders, including New York State Assemblyman Ed Flood (R-Port Jefferson), Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Setauket), former state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) — who is running against Anthony Figliola for the Suffolk County Legislature’s 5th District — and business leader Dave Calone, a Democrat running against Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) for Suffolk County executive.

Kornreich has been involved in this event for years, this time strumming the guitar and singing some tunes in the live band. He said the event has progressed significantly each year, particularly noting its emphasis on celebrating the land on which it is held. 

“I admire the opportunity to get together with the people who are the original inhabitants who grew up here, like Helen Sells,” president of the Setalcott Native American Council, Kornreich said. “It’s important to honor them and respect their continued residency in this area.”

Calone had attended the event in the past and said he had enjoyed it every time. “I think what’s great about the event is that it brings people of all different ages from all around this community to understand the history we have in our area,” he said. “It helps us remember where we came from as a community.”

While in office, Englebright helped secure funds to preserve the historical houses on Chicken Hill. Englebright’s successor Flood said he plans to continue this work, preserving the Chicken Hill houses and maintaining their historical significance within the Three Village community. 

“This area is rich in history, dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War,” Flood noted. “It’s highly important to maintain the history so that the future generations can continue to learn about the history of their neighborhoods.”

Sells, also known as Morning Star, took part in this event. She was raised on the lands of Chicken Hill, describing a sense of deep connection to the area.

“This is home,” the Setalcott leader said. “It will always be home. There are so many memories here,” adding, “I love it here. This event means a lot to me.”

Volunteers and trust members said the event has made notable progress over the past eight years. While raising money for the trust, the event has also fostered awareness about the value of the Three Village community’s local history.

“Throughout the years I’ve attended and volunteered, the event has grown and expanded,” Eve Rosengard said. “I’m ecstatic to see that growth, and I can’t wait for what next year has to bring.”

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Kornreich clashes with Good Energy reps during Town Board meeting

Brookhaven Town Hall. File photo from the town’s website
By Samantha Rutt

Members of the Manhattan-based energy firm Good Energy LLC, the Town of Brookhaven’s Community Choice Aggregation administrator, were recently met with questions and criticism from within the Town Board.

The CCA program was designed to help Brookhaven consumers save money on energy by pooling the bulk buying power of Brookhaven residents and businesses.

The CCA’s fixed rate, however, is $0.695 per therm, more than double the August rate offered by National Grid, which is $0.339 per therm.

During a TOB meeting Thursday, Aug. 17, Good Energy’s managing partner Javier Barrios and senior business development manager Edward Carey described the program as a “state initiative that allows municipalities to be empowered.” 

The program’s primary aim, Barrios said, is to provide residents with greater control over their energy sources and present a more cost-effective alternative to default utility rates from National Grid, which fluctuate monthly. 

Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) scrutinized these appeals, suggesting a lack of public outreach regarding the CCA.

“I have never met anybody who understood what it meant that we were starting a CCA,” Kornreich told Barrios.

The town handled preliminary outreach and education efforts before the program’s launch, according to Barrios, who added that there was a mandatory subsidy outreach and education initiative undertaken to ensure a clear understanding of the CCA program.

“I’ll just say that from where I’m sitting, it was not effective at all,” Kornreich responded. “I think that there’s been a lot of confusion.”

After the initial enrollment of all residents who use natual gas, the program makes residents responsible for opting in or out of the program. For Kornreich, residents must understand how the program works compared to the default energy supply.

“I think that to the extent that people understand it, [the residents] understand that, at the moment, they are overpaying for natural gas,” he added.

Barrios said the weather significantly affects the domestic natural gas market. In the temperate climate of the shoulder months, when the demand for natural gas is lower, Brookhaven residents should unenroll from the CCA’s program, paying only for their independent household’s usage at the market rate.

Kornreich also centered around resident complaints regarding issues with the program’s opt-out feature. Complaints were consistent with long delays, confusion with billing and the feature “simply not working,” he stated during the discourse.

“I would just like to urge [Good Energy] here in this public setting to honor those requests as quickly as possible,” Kornreich continued.

Since the rollout of the CCA in May, all Brookhaven residents have been automatically enrolled in this program. It still remains up to their discretion whether to opt in or out. 

“I do support this initiative because I think that having this choice for consumers is going to, at some point, give us the ability to save money,” Kornreich concluded. “But our residents have to be educated, and we’re all trying to figure out how to do a better job.”

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Pet-A-Palooza attendee Kimberly Mockler holds shelter dog Rain. Photo by Serena Carpino
Daphne the cat. Photo by Serena Carpino
Heather Baron holds shelter dog Butterbee during the Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center’s Pet-A-Palooza event. Photos by Serena Carpino
Cats in The Cattery. Photo by Serena Carpino
A sign at Little Shelter. Photo by Serena Carpino

By Serena Carpino

For the first time since 2019, the Huntington-based Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center held its Pet-A-Palooza event on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19 and 20.

This fundraising and adoption event promotes the nonprofit organization, whose staff members and volunteers rescue and find homes for cats and dogs. The shelter was created in 1927 as the first humane animal shelter on Long Island and recently celebrated its 96th anniversary. 

One of Little Shelter’s goals is to reduce euthanasia rates. As a private, nonprofit and no-kill shelter, Little Shelter can rescue animals from government-owned facilities that may be forced to euthanize their animals. The shelter receives animals from around the country. “I’m sure we’re gonna get some [animals] from Hawaii,” because of the recent wildfires, said shelter volunteer Terry Warwick. 

Another aspect of its mission is to end overpopulation through its 100% spay/neuter program. A veterinarian on staff at Little Shelter can perform this procedure, and the shelter is also partnered with several veterinary clinics on Long Island to assist with the program. 

By holding several events throughout the year, staff and volunteers of the shelter can showcase the animals for those interested in adopting. In particular, the Pet-A-Palooza has been successful in guaranteeing adoptions. 

By Saturday morning, there were already eight dogs on hold for adoption and “usually by the end of the weekend, [we hope] to get 75 animals” adopted, said David Ceely, the executive director of Little Shelter. 

Pet-A -Palooza is not only an opportunity for many animals to be adopted. It gives people insight into the shelter’s operations. According to Ceely, “a lot of adopters that come in here and people that come in for our raffles … their word of mouth is extremely helpful because they’ll come in and say, ‘Oh look at this wonderful dog or this wonderful cat that I adopted’” and “it really helps … to get the word out about Little Shelter.”

If a dog is not adoptable for various reasons, it can be sent to the Little Shelter Sanctuary in upstate New York. “What separates us from the other shelters … is that we’ve got our sanctuary upstate, which has homelike settings,” Ceely noted. “All of the dogs have their own rooms.”

At the 110-acre sanctuary, all of the dogs also have their own televisions, couches and more. 

Little Shelter has also partnered with several groups that focus on specific types of animals. One such organization is Parker’s House, whose employees and volunteers raise awareness about the dangers of merle-to-merle breeding.

“Merle is a coat color,” Kimberly Mockley, an employee at Parker’s House, explained. There’s “blue merle, which has the gray, white and black mix. There’s also red merle, which is like copper and tan mixing,” adding that when “you breed a male and a female merle-to-merle, 25% [of their offspring] are born mostly white, deaf and blind.”

Parker’s House has held adoption events, but is currently focused on educating the public. 

Representatives from the Town of Huntington Cat Shelter, operated by Little Shelter, were also at the event to showcase many of their cats up for adoption. They are currently caring for around 300 cats. As of Saturday morning, there were already two cats up for adoption, and staff members hoped to have many more adopted by the end of the weekend.

While much of the money from the Pet-A-Palooza will go to supplies for the animals, some of it will also go toward remodeling the shelter’s buildings.

“We’re planning to do a big renovation within the next few years, and we just started to mount a capital campaign,” Ceely said. “This facility will be completely torn down and rebuilt.”

The shelter has been working out of the same buildings since 1927, and staff members want to make it more environmentally and functionally friendly. “We’ve got big plans,” Ceely said.

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File photo
By Aramis Khosronejad

An alarming larceny trend is rising in Suffolk County as thieves swipe wallets and credit cards from shopping carts at retail stores.

Between May and August 2023, Suffolk County Police Department 4th Precinct Inspector David Regina commented on the countywide increase in larcenies during the Smithtown Town Board’s meeting on Aug. 8. He attributed the spike to thefts from shopping carts.

The inspector described how offenders usually only take the victims’ wallets or even credit cards. Regina maintained that this leads to a dangerous problem and quandary for law enforcement: Victims are not immediately aware they’ve been robbed.

“What they’ll do is they’ll just take out the credit cards or the wallet,” Regina told the Town Board, “The victims will not know [because] it’s not like the whole bag is gone.”

When the victims discover they no longer have their cards or wallet, the suspect has already used their cards numerous times, racking up a substantial balance.

After using the credit cards, suspects will discard the cards, making it a “very hard crime to target,” according to Regina.

“There are many people that go for these opportunities,” he said. “This has been a significant portion of our larcenies.”

‘Overwhelmingly, they get away with it.’

— David Shapiro

As of now, SCPD is still investigating six larcenies of this variety. These thefts were reported and occurred between March and August of 2023. In addition, the department has alerted all shoppers not to leave their bags in their shopping carts unattended to avoid becoming victims of these thefts.

In a phone interview, David Shapiro, a distinguished professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, offered how the thieves identify their target victims.

“The victims are usually vulnerable,” he said, adding that victims are “usually unaccompanied” and, in most cases, “there’s no guardian there.”

Shapiro noted the ease with which these crimes are carried out, describing it as a “low-tech” offense and “a crime of opportunity.” Another incentive for the offenders to choose these kinds of scenarios is the low clearance rate, according to Shapiro.

“In other words,” he stated, “Overwhelmingly, they get away with it.”

According to the Suffolk County Police Department’s public information office, in all of the ongoing larceny investigations of this kind between March to August 2023, the perpetrators have attempted to use the victims’ credit cards.

Shapiro emphasized how profitable stolen wallets have become for thieves due to the factor of credit cards.

Shapiro commented that these crimes provide perpetrators with “some time to exploit the vulnerability of the online system, where you can spend rather quickly,” he added.

Other than the apparent financial threat of larcenies, another arguably more dangerous factor comes into play with stolen wallets and cards: identity theft.

Shapiro remarked on the possible threat of it, pointing out that in today’s time, “You have a lot of personal identifying information that is separately valuable apart from the currency,” he said, adding that all this personal information inside wallets holds a “value that may exceed the actual currency.”

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John Turner, center with participants from a previous Nighthawk Watch. Photo by Thomas Drysdale

On Aug. 27 at 5:30 p.m., the Four Harbors Audubon Society will begin its seventh “Common Nighthawk Watch” on the Stone Bridge located along the southern boundary of Frank Melville Memorial Park in Setauket. The watch will run through to Oct. 6. 

The Common Nighthawk, a bird quite adept in flight, passes through Long Island on its southbound migration in the autumn after leaving their breeding grounds across northern North America and heading to the Amazon region and beyond in South America. The nighthawks passing over the Watch are very likely birds that nested in eastern Canada and New England. 

The Audubon chapter began the Watch in 2017 in response to concerns about declining nighthawk numbers. Based on the last published NYS Breeding Bird Atlas, this species has experienced a 71% reduction in the number of birds that possibly or probably bred or were confirmed as breeders in New York State  from 1985 to 2005.  While continental figures paint a slightly better picture, the trend in nighthawk numbers is still a downward one. 

Common Nighthawk. Photo by Dennis Whittam 2021

“Anyone who witnesses the daily evening migration of Common Nighthawks at the Stone Bridge is hooked; the spectacle is no less than addicting. Yet the bigger picture is disheartening, as we know nighthawks are in steep decline, and the numbers we see are but a small percentage of their historic population levels,” notes Patrice Domeischel, a chapter board member and a co-founder of the Watch. “Hopefully in time our data collection will prove useful in determining ways to preserve this species.” 

Why so many nighthawks appear over the Stone Bridge is not fully clear but two aspects appear to contribute: the geographic position of Setauket along Long Island’s north shore is ideal for intercepting southbound nighthawks as they reach Long Island after crossing the Sound and the presence of the pond that regularly produces an insect hatch that provides a cafeteria for the birds. 

“Common Nighthawks are related to whip-poor-wills” said John Turner, Conservation co-chair of the chapter and a chapter board member, “but are distinctive with their bright white wing bars that flash as they dip and turn in pursuit of the aerial insects that form their diet.” 

The reduction in the abundance of aerial insects due to spraying and habitat loss appears to be the main driver of reduced nighthawk numbers. “These birds serve as bellwethers for the quality of the environment and their decline should be a concern to us all,” Turner added.     

The totals for the number of common nighthawks counted as they zip, bob, and weave erratically overhead for the past six years is as follows: 2,046 nighthawks in 2017, 2,018 nighthawks in 2018, 2,757 nighthawks in 2019, 2,245 nighthawks in 2020, 1,819 nighthawks in 2021, and 1,625 nighthawks in 2022. The single best day observers have had was on Sept. 8, 2017 when 573 nighthawks passed overhead. Last year the best day was the first— Aug. 27 — when 243 birds moved through. 

Many other bird species are observed at the Watch including Bald Eagles and Ospreys, Double-crested Cormorants, Barn and Tree Swallows and Chimney Swifts, several duck species including the beautiful Wood Duck, Belted Kingfisher, wading birds such as Great Egrets, and many species of songbirds. Toward dusk, several species of bats often emerge to feed over the pond and if any planets are visible in the sky a birding scope is set up to look at them (the ring of Saturn can be seen with a high powered bird scope).     

For more information, visit www.4has.org.

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