A sign inside Wild by Nature in East Setauket warns customers they will no longer supply plastic bags starting March 1. The store will also collect 5 cents for paper bags used. Photo by Heidi Sutton
Beginning March 1, Long Islander shoppers will have one less option when packing their groceries, as a New York State ban on single-use plastic bags goes into effect.
The ban would prohibit retailers from giving out plastic carryout bags to customers. State lawmakers hope that this will lead to more residents deciding to bring their own reusable bags and a decrease of plastic waste.
The legislation is a step toward reducing the 23 billion plastic bags used by New Yorkers every year, reducing litter and helping the fight against climate change.
According to a Siena College Research Institute poll conducted after the bill was passed, 62 percent of New Yorkers support the ban compared to 33 percent who don’t.
“We are expecting a successful implementation.”
-Adrienne Esposito
While plastic bags will no longer be handed out at retailers, paper bags will still be available. In Suffolk County, consumers will be charged 5 cents for each paper carryout bag provided at a checkout. In areas that have the opted into the 5 cent charge, the fee does not apply for SNAP and WIC food benefit recipients.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the ban will have a positive impact in curbing plastic pollution.
“This is a significant accomplishment — Suffolk County needs to be commended for implementing the 5 cent bag fee,” she said. “The state noticed the success of it and it led to this ban.”
Some environmentalists are concerned about some final tweaks in the legislation by the DEC that would allow usage of bags which are thicker and heavier. Esposito said they aren’t concerned about it as it won’t be widely distributed as regular bags and will only be used for packaging of certain foods.
“If for some reason it needs to be tweaked further, we will be a part of those discussions,” she said.
State lawmakers are hoping the ban will increase usage in reusable bags. Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced a campaign, dubbed BYOBagNY, which has been spearheaded by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The agency has been running ads on the ban on TV, radio and social media. In addition, the DEC provided educational materials to its nine regional offices to use for outreach events and will be distributing more than 270,000 reusable bags to low- and moderate-income communities.
Stop & Shop branches throughout the county began offering free reusable bags to customers who bring in one or more carryout plastic bags for recycling.
Similarly, in the county, a plastic straw ban took effect this January, which required businesses to switch biodegradable alternatives. A Styrofoam ban was also implemented, prohibiting businesses from using items such as cups, trays and containers that are made from polystyrene.
“We are expecting a successful implementation — we as a society can learn to bring a reusable bag when we go out shopping,” Esposito said. “Most people have already made the change, some have lagged behind, but this is one thing they can do to reduce plastic waste.”
Bill Pollack of East Setauket snapped this beautiful image of a doe this past fall at the West Meadow Beach bluffs. He writes, ‘[It was] posing for a photo at sunset.
After 50 years in business, the Sears storeat the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove will close on May 6 for “economic reasons” according to a Feb. 6 notice its parent company Transform Holdco LLC filed with the state’s Department of Labor under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice Act. The decision, which includes the Sears Auto Center, will affect 77 workers. The closing will leave only two Sears on Long Island: at Westfield Sunrise Mall in Massapequa and Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream.
Celebrate the exceptional talent of Long Island artists at the Annual Invitational Exhibition at the Atelier at Flowerfield, 2 Flowerfield, Suite 15, St. James. The juried show runs from March 5 to April 30.
Exhibiting artists include Ludovico Abejar, Lucia Alberti, Ross Barbera, Marta Baumiller, Marlene Bezich, Nariman Boyle, Al Candia Kenneth Cerreta, Anthony Davis ,Paul Edelson, Dan Fusco, Shelley Holtzman, Frances Ianarella, David Jaycox, Jr Laurence Johnston, Liz Jorg Masi, Raymond McGraime, Jane McGraw-Teubner, Fred Mendelsohn, Joseph Miller, Annette Napolitano, Meriel Pitarka, Irene Ruddock, Oscar Santiago, Lori Scarlatos, Ilene Silberstein, Rosario Stine-Barry, Judy Stone, Angela Stratton, and Helena Weber.
Meet the artists at an opening reception on Thursday, March 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
For more information, call 632-250-9009 or visit www.atelierflowerfield.org.
Father Jerry Cestare and Kara LoDolce right before the kidney transplant procedure in January. Photo from Kara LoDolce
A blossoming love led to a lifesaving procedure for a local priest.
Kara LoDolce, left, with her fiancé, Scott Alu, and his children. Photo from Kara LoDolce
In January, Setauket resident Kara LoDolce donated her kidney to Father Jerry Cestare of St. James R.C. Church. When LoDolce first told him that she was going to donate her organ, he said he couldn’t believe it.
“I don’t know how many people can be that selfless,” he said.
The 55-year-old priest said his kidneys were compromised about nine years ago, and while he was careful about his health, at the beginning of last year he felt tired all the time and went for medical testing. He found out he had kidney failure and started dialysis in May, something he said is not a long-term solution for someone his age.
The priest said when doctors first told him to actively start looking for living donors, he felt hesitant because he grasped that someone was giving up something precious. While a few family members were tested, they were found not to be matches, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask others.
“How could I ask someone to do something like that just because I was sick?” he said.
Cestare said while he wasn’t afraid of dying or being incapacitated, he was afraid that he would lose what he loved to do — ministering.
The priest said the chain of events played out like a Hallmark movie.
LoDolce, 46, said she was compelled from the second she heard Cestare needed a new kidney. She and her fiancé, Scott Alu, 42, credit the priest for indirectly helping the two of them meet.
LoDolce said her soon-to-be husband met her in a gym, while he normally wouldn’t ask out a woman with tattoos, which she has, he remembered a recent conversation he had with Cestare. Alu was talking to the priest about looking for a relationship after a divorce, as well as being a father to two children. LoDolce said her fiancé was told to keep an open mind by Cestare, saying, “One thing that God does is he takes the broken pieces of your life and kind of reshapes them into something new, and you just have to be open to opportunities. You have to be open to every opportunity that God puts in front of you.”
When she met Alu, LoDolce lived in Sound Beach, but she said 2½ years ago she moved in with him in Setauket, and she’s been going to the St. James church ever since.
LoDolce said while the church didn’t make an official announcement about Cestare’s condition, she was waiting to hear back from him to discuss her upcoming wedding in May. She was surprised when he didn’t get back to her, and she asked the receptionist who filled her in on what was happening.
When she and her fiancé met with him, she asked if he was on the transplant list. He told her it would be a five-year wait due to his blood type being B+. After the meeting, she called her mother and found out she was B+ also. When she dropped off paperwork, she left Cestare a note saying she would like to be tested.
She went in for the tests and right before Christmas discovered she could donate her kidney to the priest. She bought Cestare a stuffed kidney-shaped toy and gave it to him along with a card and a letter.
“She’s about to start a whole new life, and she’s thinking of me.”
— Jerry Cestare
He said when she gave him the gift, he didn’t open it right away and brought it to his parents’ house where he was going for dinner. When he opened it, he was surprised by the beautiful card and then began reading the letter where LoDolce told him she was a match.
His father asked him to repeat what she wrote because he, “couldn’t believe it,” and the priest said he and his mother started crying.
“Kara felt from the beginning if she could undergo a few weeks of discomfort so that I could get back to work and do what I do best, she said it was worth it,” Cestare said.
The priest decided to announce the good news to the parish at Christmas Mass. Even though he didn’t want the service to be focused on him, he felt LoDolce’s act of kindness symbolized the season.
He said many faiths talk about love but LoDolce, he said, showed it through action and gave him his life, health and ministry back.
“Lots of people talk about love, this woman showed with her action what love is,” he said.
He said Kara and her fiancé received a few standing ovations from the parishioners at the Mass after he announced she was donating her kidney to him.
“She’s about to get married,” he said. “She’s about to start a whole new life, and she’s thinking of me.”
LoDolce said she never wavered from her decision.
“People tell me I did something for him, I don’t feel that way at all,” she said. “I truly feel like he did something for me and he changed my life.”
While most take three or six weeks before they can even go back to work, LoDolce said she felt great after a week, and she was walking two or three miles a day. She also credits both of their recoveries to the parishioners and friends.
“Everyone in the Three Village community has been praying for us,” she said.
LoDolce said she is now putting the finishing touches on her May wedding.
“I joke that both my kidneys will be going to the wedding,“ LoDolce said.
Cestare said he has found the story has inspired others who have heard it with many telling him that they are going to pay it forward by being a better person.
“God is using this experience not only to give me back my life but to touch the lives of others,” he said.
“People tell me I did something for him, I don’t feel that way at all. I truly feel like he did something for me and he changed my life.”
— Kara LoDolce
SBU experts explain living organ donations
Father Jerry Cestare and Kara LoDolce went to Stony Brook University Hospital for their transplant procedure. The priest said many may think they need to travel to New York City for such a procedure, but SBU has a transplantation program right on Long Island.
Dawn Francisquini, administrative director of Stony Brook Medicine’s Kidney Transplantation Services team, said the hospital has been performing the transplants since 1981. She described the program as family friendly and said the staff’s goal is to make patients feel like a person — not a number.
“They know when they come to us they’re going to receive personalized care,” she said.
The first step, she added, is to educate the patients and their family members about the entire procedure as well as what needs to be done before and after. She said it’s important for the family to be part of the conversation because there is a lot of information to be taken in. She added that a transplant is not a cure for kidney disease but a treatment.
Stephen Knapik, living donor coordinator at the medical center, said finding a living donor can save a person’s life as the waiting list for organ transplants can be several years long.
“I tell all the recipients you have to be your own living donor champion,” Knapik said.
He said he advises patients if they’re uncomfortable asking to get a friend to help spread the word. He also said sharing on social media has been successful in many cases, where after a request is posted, “The next thing you know I’m getting phone calls.”
Knapik said his role in transplants is keeping donors safe. In the case of Cestare’s transplant, he worked with LoDolce. He said donors go through multiple tests including CT scans, chest X-rays and cancer screenings such as mammograms and Pap smears for women and colonoscopies for those over 50.
“I tell all the recipients you have to be your own living donor champion.”
— Stephen Knapik
Once a donor is cleared through testing, a transplant team committee will discuss the donor.
“We want to make sure that we have dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s to keep the donor safe,” he said.
Knapik said once a donor is found the transplant team will work with the schedule as far as when the surgeries will take place. For example, he said, a teacher can wait until summer. All the costs are paid by the recipient’s insurance.
He said while LoDolce was quickly back to walking and resuming her normal routine, it’s unusual. Many donors may take weeks to recover fully and can’t drive for about two weeks or lift heavy objects for a few weeks.
“Everybody heals differently,” he said.
He added that after the procedures donors will be required to have checkups to make sure their remaining kidney is compensating and doing well.
“We can take anyone’s kidney out, but we have to make sure, 10, 20, 30 years later, that the remaining kidney is doing well,” Knapik said.
Francisquini said out of the 1,800 transplants the program has done since its inception, 1,000 patients still come to SBUH for routine follow-ups. She said anywhere from 270 to 300 patients are on the active waiting list at any given time, while another 200 can be in the evaluation process. The kidney transplant team performs 75 to 80 procedures a year.
“We have one of the fastest transplant rates in our region,” she said. “So that basically translates into if we put you on the list, we’re serious about transplanting you. We transplant you as quickly as possible.”
To learn more about Kidney Transplantation Services at Stony Brook Medicine and how to become an organ donor, visit www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/patientcare/transplant/organ_donor.
Huntington Town Clerk Andrew Raia (R)officiated over the Valentine’s Day Marriage Ceremony Marathon that took place in Huntington Town Hall Feb. 14. Photo from Town of Huntington
One Huntington official carried on a town and family tradition Valentine’s Day.
Tiffany and Luke LeGrow, above, renew their vows as their children Shane and Blakley look on. Photo from Town of Huntington
Huntington Town Clerk Andrew Raia (R)officiated over the Valentine’s Day Marriage Ceremony Marathon that took place in Huntington Town Hall Feb. 14. The event was first initiated by his mother, former Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia, in 1995. It was an event the new town clerk was pleased to continue.
“I am thrilled to be continuing on the tradition established by my predecessor, Jo-Ann Raia, of hosting multiple wedding and renewal of vows ceremonies on Valentine’s Day here in Town Hall,” he said. “This event has always been received enthusiastically by the couples that have participated, and it was a privilege and a pleasure for me to unite these couples and to share in their happiness on this very special day.”
Raia performed eight wedding ceremonies and one vow renewal during the marathon. Among the couples were Victoria Espinoza and Alex Petroski. A few years ago, the couple met while working at TBR News Media. Espinoza went on to become the editor of The Times of Huntington & Northport and The Times of Smithtown before she left the media group in 2017, and Petroski was the managing editor and editor of The Port Times Record and The Village Beacon Record before he left at the end of 2018. Jo-Ann Raia remembered Espinoza covering the event in the past.
“I am very proud of the way the new town clerk, Andrew Raia, planned his first Valentine’s Day Marriage Marathon, and I am pleased to see my tradition of 25 years continued,” Jo-Ann Raia said. “In fact, Victoria and Alex Petroski met at The Times of Huntington newspaper, and Victoria covered for the Times Beacon Record several years of my Valentine’s Day Marriage Marathon, and I’m excited they took the opportunity of getting married at Town Hall.”
Couples were able to bring family and friends along for support and 31 local merchants consisting of bakeries, restaurants, florists, supermarkets/food stores, pharmacies, gift shops, candy stores, a salon and spa donated items for this year’s celebration.
Theodore Kleppe captured this touching moment from Shore Road looking out at the harbor in his hometown of Mount Sinai on Feb. 17. He writes, ‘I caught the swan chasing another one away. I then captured him with this one. I guess it was a late Valentine.’
Employees who began at Stony Brook Medicine 40 years ago, wearing red flowers, were honored at the hospital’s celebration. Photos from Stony Brook Medicine
Stony Brook University Hospital has come a long way in its four-decade history. On Feb.14, past and current employees of SBUH gathered at the Medical and Research Translation building to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the opening of the facility.
The idea of the region’s academic medical center was an ambitious undertaking, beginning in 1973 when construction began. Five years later, the two iconic hexagonal structures were completed. From there, a yearlong mass recruitment process began in which about 800 people were hired.
Many of the hospital’s first employees didn’t know what to expect or in some cases how to get there.
“They said you take the Long Island Expressway then go north on Nicolls Road and when you get to the Star Wars set you’ll know you’re there,” said Lawrence Hurst, professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at the Renaissance School of Medicine.
Hurst came to SBU in 1979 with the intent of being the hospital’s firsthand surgeon.
An attendee looks at a time line display. Photos from Stony Brook Medicine
“It was an exciting adventure, the opportunity to become the first in a specialty was something I couldn’t pass up,” he said. “I was lucky enough to take full advantage of it.”
Extensive logistical planning began before the hospital opened the following year.
“When we came here, there were no patients, no equipment, we had a very small group of physicians in the beginning, now we have over 500,” Hurst said.
As part of the celebration, hospital officials showcased a video presentation highlighting the facility’s accomplishments throughout the years and included interviews with employees who shared their favorite memories.
Some notable accomplishments included: doctors performing the first kidney transplant surgery on Long Island in 1981; the first Suffolk County police helicopter touching down on the hospital’s helipad in 1989; and in 1990, New York State designating the hospital a Level I Trauma Center. This past year, SBU opened the Children’s Hospital and MART Building.
In addition to the presentation, a time line and exhibit were on display throughout the building showcasing the hospital’s history.
Kenneth Kaushansky, senior vice president for health sciences and dean at the Renaissance School of Medicine, spoke about the reason he left San Diego to come to Stony Brook
“I saw incredible potential when I decided to come here 10 years ago,” he said. “It had a good medical school and good health care facilities.”
“We have become one of the best hospitals in the country, a premier health center.”
– Kenneth Kaushansky
Kaushansky said the further development of the medical school and the hospital over the years has been a “powerhouse.”
“We have become one of the best hospitals in the country, a premier health center,” he said.
Going forward, the senior vice president of health sciences said that SBU will continue to strengthen the hospital network throughout the Island and continue to advance the Renaissance School of Medicine.
“As technology improves, I believe the future of health care will be more geared toward tele-help, tele-EMS and wearable devices,” he said.
Carol Gomes, CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital, said she met many lifelong friends and colleagues when she began to work in the laboratory in 1985.
“I’ve been very fortunate to meet people along the way that have become great mentors to me,” she said. “I’ve been able to connect with them on a daily basis.”
Gomes said as she has progressed in her own career the hospital has done the same.
“We have continued to flourish as a health care organization,” Gomes said. “This celebration was a very special moment for me. I just think about the connections I’ve made over the years.”
The CEO of the hospital credited the facility’s staff.
“The employees are the lifeblood of the organization, they come to work every day,” Gomes said. “Our greatest strength is our staff.”
Gomes said if it weren’t for the staff, the hospital wouldn’t have had the clinical outcomes or the reputation for which it is known.
“Everyone has the same goal … The dedication of the staff to our patients will always remain the same, it has been our one constant,” she said. “Stony Brook has been my home away from home.”
‘Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. Main St., Smithtown presents “Shrek The Musical Jr.” through March 1. In a faraway kingdom, Shrek finds his swamp invaded by banished fairy tale misfits, runaways who’ve been cast off by Lord Farquaad, a tiny terror with big ambitions. Farquaad tells Shrek he can get his swamp back if he rescues Princess Fiona from the dragon-guarded tower. But every fairy tale has its unexpected twists and turns! Performances are held on Saturdays and Sundays at various times and Feb. 17 to 21 at 1 p.m. for Presidents Week break. All seats are $18. For further information or to order tickets, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org.
Ellis Paul heads to the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on Feb. 23 for his 13th appearance in WUSB’s Sunday Street Series. The concert, held in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room, will take place at 3 p.m. The program will feature many of the songs from Ellis’ latest album, “The Storyteller’s Suitcase.” Tickets are $25 in advance at www.sundaystreet.org through Feb. 21, $30 at the door. Call 751-0066 for more information.
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