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Authors Posts by Victoria Espinoza

Victoria Espinoza

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Victoria Espinoza is the editor of the Times of Huntington & Northport. She once broke her elbow trying to eat a cookie.
https://www.victoria-espinoza.com/

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File photo

Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad Detectives are investigating a crash that killed a pedestrian in Nesconset Sept. 13.

Police said Nesconset resident James Zullo was crossing east on Route 347 from the center median when he was struck by a 2002 Subaru, driven by Andrea Ingrassia, a Mount Sinai resident, in the right lane at approximately 4:25 p.m.

Ingrassia, 61, stayed at the scene and was not injured. Zullo, 54, was transported by Centereach Rescue to Stony Brook University Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The vehicle was impounded for a safety check. The investigation is ongoing.

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Raynard Dashiell was arrested for hitting a bicyclist with his car and fleeing the scene. Photo from SCPD

A Dix Hills man was arrested this past weekend after police said he hit a bicyclist while driving and then fled the scene.

Raynard Dashiell was driving a 2011 Honda Ridgeline west on Express Drive North in Dix Hills on Saturday, Sept. 10, when his vehicle hit a male bicyclist at 9:12 a.m. The bicyclist, 58, of Muttontown, was transported by Dix Hills Rescue to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore for treatment of serious injuries.

Dashiell, 54, fled the scene and his vehicle became disabled approximately a quarter mile west of the crash location where he was located by 2nd Precinct officers.

Second Squad detectives charged Dashiell, with leaving the scene of an accident with serious injury. He was held overnight at the 2nd Precinct and is scheduled to appear back at First District Court in Central Islip Sept. 16. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

The vehicle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing.

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Jonathan Berlin, second from left, smiles with other participants at a recent Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners’ Association meeting. Photo from Allison Gayne

Water commissions and cybersecurity threats may not sound like they have much in common, but to one Smithtown resident the two are intertwined.

Jonathan Berlin recently spoke to water commissioners from districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties about measures that should be applied to the water supply industry and Long Island suppliers.

“There has been a growing concern of cybersecurity threats in the last few years,” Berlin said in a phone interview.

The Smithtown resident works as an information technology consultant for Total Technology Solutions, a computer service firm based on the North Shore. He said his goal is to bring a better sense of awareness to organizations of threats they face and help them limit their risk.

“[Water commissions] are a target, and I do a lot of work with local governments,” Berlin said. He also said clients he has worked with have seen threats from Russia, China and more.

“Some [hackers] just want to see what they can get through to,” he said. But other security breaches can access emails, contact lists, spread computer viruses and more.

“Our critical infrastructure continues to be at risk from threats in cyberspace, and our economy is harmed by the theft of our intellectual property.”
— Barack Obama

Cybersecurity is not just a local issue. According to news reports, a county in Nevada came under attack this past March for a breach, and in 2011, a city in Texas suffered as well.

“Now that we see this is a risk, we need to put a plan into place,” Berlin said.

President Barack Obama (D) announced a Cybersecurity National Action Plan in February to take a series of short-term and long-term actions to improve our nation’s cybersecurity posture.

“America’s economic prosperity, national security, and our individual liberties depend on our commitment to securing cyberspace and maintaining an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet,” Obama said in a White House press statement. “Our critical infrastructure continues to be at risk from threats in cyberspace, and our economy is harmed by the theft of our intellectual property. I believe if we address [threats] effectively, we can ensure that the internet remains an engine for economic growth and a platform for the free exchange of ideas.”

The commission is made up of 12 individuals from the business and educational fields, and they are expected to make a presentation in December with recommendations to the nation for actions that can be taken over the next decade to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sector.

Berlin said he and his company try to penetrate their client’s websites when they are working to improve their cybersecurity and test how vulnerable the municipality is.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, internet users should always be wary of clicking on links and opening attachments in emails. To keep a system safe, anti-virus software should always be up to date as well.

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Greenlawn Park was taped off Saturday morning after a dead body with lacerations was discovered at the end of August. File photo by Gabriella Espinoza

Earlier this summer, Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) announced the decision to increase patrol in Huntington with park rangers, who would monitor town parks and improve security, and this past weekend these rangers finished their training.

Starting last Thursday night, Sept. 1, five of the eventual six rangers went through orientation and preparation procedures, and experienced their first nights out on the job.

Huntington Station resident Jim McGoldrick was not able to get a glance of the rangers in work during the weekend, but praised the idea.

“I think it’s a great move on the town,” he said in a phone interview. “Every little bit helps. It’s coming together, and is helping the community.”

A.J. Carter, town spokesperson, said the weekend was a success, in a phone interview: “People were very happy to see them. They were given information from the community; people responded very positively.”

Although their jurisdiction is in town parks, the park rangers can intervene if they see activity on the roads or other areas outside the parks.

The officers are meant to function as peace officers do. According to New York State criminal procedure law, peace officers can make warrantless arrests; use physical force to make an arrest or prevent an escape; carry out warrantless searches with probable cause; and issue appearance tickets. They can also carry firearms and take away weapons from people who do not have the proper licenses to carry.

Carter said all rangers are certified with a firearm, know how to use a defibrillator, administer Narcan and everything else required of a peace officer.

The town spokesperson also said the exact shift times and locations have not yet been decided, as they want the rangers themselves to be able to give input once they have more experience on when and where the best use of their roles would be. Each ranger works part time, and is paid $23.53 an hour. There are expected to be two rangers on patrol per shift — one overseeing the west side of town, and the other the east. Their shifts run from Thursday to Sunday.

The park rangers operate under the supervision of the town’s public safety department.

Joe Rose, director of public safety, also said the community received the rangers very well in the opening weekend.

“Multiple people stopped them throughout their shifts to bring [up] their concerns,” Rose said in a phone interview. “It was rewarding to see the response from the public.”

Rose said an added benefit of park rangers is that it cuts down on time with handling a crime in action. Park rangers are able to act without having to call the Suffolk County Police Department first, and can issue tickets and make arrests on their own.

Huntington has experienced violent crimes in some parks.

On Aug. 20, an 18-year-old’s body was found with lacerations in Greenlawn Park. A man was walking through the town early that morning and discovered the body. In 2013, the body of a young woman was found in the Froehlich Farm Nature Preserve, which borders Huntington Station.

Many other towns on Long Island use systems like this, including Smithtown, which has a park ranger division comprised of “law enforcement personnel” who “enforce town codes, parks rules and regulations, as well as state and federal laws,” according to the Town of Smithtown website.

Carter said the final details of this program will be locked down in the coming weeks.

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Ivan Ceron was arrested for driving drunk the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway. Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Police arrested a 23-year-old man after receiving multiple reports of a 2010 Nissan driving on the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway in Commack early Tuesday morning, Sept. 6.

Ivan Ceron was charged with driving while intoxicated after officers said he was driving east in the westbound lane on the LIE near Exit 52. Canine Section Officer Ralph Fuellbier located the wrong-way vehicle, and worked with the Highway Patrol Bureau to pull over Ceron.

The Bellrose resident was also issued summonses for driving the wrong way, driving an unregistered vehicle and operating a motor vehicle below the minimum posted speed limit.

Ceron, is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip today, and no attorney information was immediately available.

 

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Supervisor Frank Petrone says staying within cap will force town to cut art and youth programs

Supervisor Frank Petrone receives the 2016 budget last year. File photo by Rohma Abbas

Huntington residents have the chance to weigh in on possible tax increases for the coming year, as Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) set a public hearing on a proposal authorizing the board to adopt a 2017 budget that would pierce the state tax cap if passed.

This year’s tax levy cap is set at 0.68 percent, and according to town spokesperson A.J. Carter, town employees’ health care costs alone would pierce that tax cap.

The state cap limits the amount a municipality can increase its tax levy, which is the total amount collected in taxes, from budget to budget. While commonly referred to as a “two percent tax cap,” it actually limits levy increases to 2 percent or the rate of inflation — whichever is lower — before certain excluded spending, like on capital projects and pension payments.

Carter said staying within the tax cap would require the town to cut arts and youth programs.

Petrone said when he began the 2017 budget process this summer, he realized how much the town would have to cut to stay within the cap, and started to draft a second budget that Carter said would cost residents approximately $18 to $30 more per household.

At the town board meeting on Aug. 16, Petrone and the board scheduled a public hearing at the Sept. 27 town board meeting to get a feel for how community members would receive the potential increase.

“What we want is a clear direction from the public,” Carter said in a phone interview. “Does the public want us to preserve our existing programs or not?”

Carter said the board will decide at the September meeting if the town will go ahead with either the budget that stays within the tax cap, or the one that pierces it, depending on feedback from the public.

Councilman Gene Cook (R) has disagreed in the past with how Petrone handles the town’s budget, and said he wants to hear how the public feels about a proposed budget that pierces the tax levy cap.

“I am definitely not for it,” Cook said in a phone interview. “I would like to do anything to avoid tax increases. But I am willing to listen to what the public thinks.”

Last year the board passed a roughly $188.7 million budget, which was a 1.3 percent increase in the town’s tax levy, and about a $29 increase for the average homeowner. Overall spending decreased by 0.2 percent.

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From left to right, school board trustees Dan Tew and Kevin Johnston, Superintendent Timothy Eagen, board vice president Diane Nally, school board trustee Joe Bianco, and transportation supervisor Steve Lee smile with one of the new buses. Photo from Timothy Eagen

Kings Park Central School District is continuing its commitment to the environment by introducing more propane buses to the school’s fleet.

Last year, the district joined a handful of Long Island school districts in going green for transportation in the form of propane-fueled school buses.

Thanks to the support of the community, Kings Park expanded its fleet of propane buses from four to eight for the start of the new school year.

Supervisor Timothy Eagen said the additional buses will help the district cut costs and contribute positively to the environment.

“For the second year in a row, the community overwhelmingly supported the purchase,” he said in a statement. “This choice is yet another way that the school district is looking to save taxpayers money. The transition to propane has gone very well for us, and I look forward to continuing this initiative.”

The purchase of the buses was a separate voting proposition in this past May’s budget vote.

The old diesel buses, originally purchased 15 to 20 years ago, were traded in for $2,500 each. The district owns a fleet of about 60 buses, and it is necessary to purchase buses on an annual basis to maintain the fleet.

Propane is seen as a positive alternative fuel for school buses because it is widely available and costs significantly less than diesel or gasoline. The newest propane engine technology is considerably more cost efficient, quieter, requires less maintenance and is more ecofriendly than either diesel or gas.

In cold weather, diesel engines need to idol for 30 minutes or longer to achieve the proper engine temperature prior to operation. This means wasting gas and paying workers overtime to warm up the bus fleet on cold days. This is not necessary with propane engines.

Moving forward, the administration said it intends to continue to slowly replace its fleet with propane buses.

Eagen said the district will always need a few diesel buses however, for longer sports and extracurricular trips.

“Propane is a fuel that is currently not readily available at gas stations,” he said.

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Smithtown Fire Department got a mother and her two children out of their house safely after it caught on fire last week. Photo from Smithtown

By Victoria Espinoza

Smithtown Fire Department responded to a smoke detector alarm coming from a residence in the early hours last Tuesday, Aug. 24.

The department got to a home on Sterling Lane at 3:11 a.m. Smithtown Third Assistant Chief Patrick Diecidue observed heavy smoke coming from the residence and quickly upgraded the call to a working structure fire.

With the possibility of residents in the home, Diecidue, along with the first responders on the scene, took out the front door and immediately proceeded to search the house. They were able to quickly remove a three-year-old girl from a bedroom and brought the child out for medical attention.

Additional arriving units continued the search and found a mother and her 3-month-old infant son on the bathroom floor. They were removed from the residence, and the department said they had inhaled a considerable amount of smoke and were in cardiac arrest.

While firefighters said the smoke was heavy, the fire was limited and quickly brought under control.

Members of the Hauppauge, Kings Park, St. James, and Nesconset fire departments responded to the scene to help, as well as the Central Islip-Hauppauge Volunteer Ambulance Corp.

The victims were treated on the scene and then transported by ambulance. The mother was initially taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown while the children were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital. The mother was later transferred to SBUH for additional care.

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A 76-year-old veteran committed suicide on the Northport VA campus last week. File photo

By Victoria Espinoza

A 76-year-old veteran from Islip committed suicide Sunday, Aug. 21, in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, according to news sources.

Peter A. Kaisen was pronounced dead at the scene, and according to Northport VA Director Philip Moschitta, in a letter to U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), the body was found next to his car in parking lot I on the campus. Moschitta said an employee of the VA found the body lying on the pavement, and the Northport Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department and FBI responded to the scene.

Moschitta also said there is no record of Kaisen entering the emergency room that day, and that during the 12 minutes he spent at the VA, he didn’t appear to leave the parking lot, as shown on video surveillance.

Multiple news sources have reported that Kaisen was denied service, but Veterans Affairs denies the veteran sought medical attention, although they said the investigation is ongoing.

“Our staff of medical professionals would never turn away an individual who required any level of health care,” Moschitta said in the letter. “We have not found any evidence that the veteran sought assistance from any of our staff, including visiting the emergency room that day. It appears the details of the tragic incident may have been misrepresented in the media coverage.”

Zeldin, a veteran himself, said the loss is heartbreaking.

“The loss of even a single veteran in America due to suicide is one too much,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, throughout our country, every day 22 veterans take their own life. It is so important to have the best possible understanding as to why these suicides keep happening. For me personally, I have lost more people I know due to suicide than in combat. Our veterans are returning home feeling isolated and alone and feeling like their family, friends and colleagues at work don’t understand what it is that they are going through. What is especially tragic, especially here in Suffolk County, is that a veteran will feel isolated and alone even though there are literally thousands of others throughout our county who would move heaven and Earth to shower a veteran in need with love, appreciation and support.”

Zeldin said that it’s important to note that even though Kaisen’s death was a result of suicide, there are many incidents of veterans whose deaths are incorrectly labeled suicide.

“PFC Joseph Dwyer’s last words when he passed away in 2008 were ‘I don’t want to die.’ He was looking for temporary relief to escape his pain, but he wasn’t looking to leave behind a young widow and 2-year-old daughter.”

Dwyer is known around the country for a famous photo of him carrying a young ailing Iraqi boy during combat. Dwyer’s legacy led to the creation the PFC Joseph Dwyer Veterans Peer Support Program, which provides a safe, confidential and educational platform where all veterans are welcome to meet with other veterans in support of each other’s successful transition to postservice life.

“This program should be in every county in the United States,” Zeldin said. “Losing one veteran as a result of suicide is unacceptable. As investigations into this suicide continue, I will continue to aggressively stay on top of this situation. What is so incredibly important to me and for others is to identify any specific ways at all that this veteran was underserved, so that it can be immediately and completely corrected in order for something very positive to result from this very tragic event. Every time a veteran takes his or her own life, the system has failed.”

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File photo

A shooting in Huntington Station Aug. 27 left one man dead and another injured.

Antoine Butts-Miller, 18, was standing outside a residence on 5th Ave. with a large group of people when police said he and another man were shot at approximately 3:30 a.m.

Butts-Miller, 18, of Huntington Station, was taken by Huntington Community First Aid Squad to Huntington Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The other victim, a 31-year-old man, was also taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released.

The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information on the shooting to contact the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6394 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

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