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Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society honors its roots with country fair

by Raymond Janis - October 20, 2022

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Community members enjoyed a blast to the past during the annual Country Fair hosted by the Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society Oct. 15-16.

The program was held at the historical society’s c. 1720 headquarters, located within the area’s historic district on North Country Road. Outside, live music played as the society’s volunteers educated the crowds of spectators.

In a vivid recreation of an era without running water or electricity, some prepared baked goods and stews over an open flame, offering spectators a taste of history. Others brought out toy sets, reliving the pastimes of their local forebears.

Antoinette Donato, vice president of MPMSHS, was overjoyed by the number of community members who turned out throughout the day. She described the event’s purpose and its place in honoring the region’s history.

“We share a step back in time with the community,” she said. “We have demonstrators who demonstrate old crafts from years and years ago that no longer exist. We have our barn open, which is full of historical artifacts.” She added, “We feel it’s really important to share this experience with the community. It’s an opportunity to share what early America was like.”

Mark Sternberg, a local historian who specializes in the American Revolution, was among those who joined the festivities. In an interview, Sternberg shared the unique place Miller Place occupied during the Revolutionary War.

“There were patriots here, loyalists here, but there is definitely a huge amount of Revolutionary War history here,” he said.

At this historic site in Miller Place, Sternberg described the experience of being transported through time. He emphasized the need to preserve historical artifacts and structures, and celebrate local customs — all a function of the historical society.

“It’s tough when you don’t have a touch point,” Sternberg said. “The saving of these historic structures is one key way of connecting to history, giving people an idea of imagining the event happening there.”

He added, “What’s great about this area is a lot of these houses are exactly where they were initially, so you can also position the whole landscape as tying into how you would imagine that place being throughout history.”

Donato believes that events such as these keep local history alive, making it engaging and entertaining for the next generation. She also stated that there is no substitute for the immersive experience offered through the fair.

“You can read about it in a book, look it up on Facebook and Google it, but there is nothing like coming here and seeing it in person,” she said.

— Photos by Raymond Janis

Anker, Kornreich host educational forum on substance misuse

by Raymond Janis - October 19, 2022

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murray copy — Above: Mark Murray, chief of the narcotics bureau for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Photo by Raymond Janis

Despite the pouring rain outside, dozens of locals gathered at Mount Sinai High School on Thursday, Oct. 13, for an educational forum on substance misuse prevention.

Hosted by Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai), who chairs the county’s addiction prevention and support advisory panel, the event brought together various entities. In her presentation, Anker emphasized the outsized rate of drug-related fatalities in the area.

“Right now, the town of Brookhaven has the highest number of opioid deaths in Suffolk County — one of the highest in the state — and we have to do more,” she said. The legislator added, referring to the county government, “We’re trying, but it’s really up to the community. It’s up to the parents, kids and peers to do more and get us in a better place.”

Anker highlighted the need for drug addiction and prevention workshops, stating that these provide an outlet for community members to better prepare themselves in case of an emergency. She also noted that drug education has evolved in recent years, addressing victims’ needs rather than creating stigma.

The county’s DASH [diagnostic, assessment and stabilization hub] program was cited by her as a model for responsible drug intervention. “When people overdose, they go to an emergency [room] at Stony Brook or Mather or St. Charles or one of the hospitals here in Suffolk County, but what do you do after?” Anker said. “Before, they would just go home or go somewhere. There would be no support, no direction. Now there is.” She added, “New York State is taking that example and making more throughout the state.”

Also present at this community forum was Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), chair of the town’s Drug Prevention Coalition. He considered the coalition a valuable public resource for Brookhaven residents.

“That’s a model of getting the school districts involved, of all kinds of community organizations from a grassroots level, so that we can really get down to that family level,” he said. For Kornreich, the goal of the coalition is to “be accessible and get people connected to the services they need and bring prevention programs to schools … so that we can break that cycle of use and abuse before it starts.”

Another essential component of the forum was its presentations on drug awareness. Among the speakers throughout the night was Mark Murray, chief of the narcotics bureau for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Murray delivered a detailed presentation on the dangers of fentanyl, which he said has become increasingly problematic for county communities.

“Since 2016 here in Suffolk, fentanyl has viciously made its mark,” he said. “We have easily averaged over 300 fatal overdoses a year here in Suffolk, due primarily to the presence of fentanyl.”

Murray characterized fentanyl as a highly potent substance, requiring just “a grain or two” to deliver a lethal dose. According to the narcotics chief, fentanyl is found in nearly every drug on the black market.

“Fentanyl is popular, it’s addictive — and there’s no such thing as a scrupulous drug dealer,” he said.

Given the frequency of fentanyl-related overdoses in Suffolk, Murray stressed the importance of the Good Samaritan Law. This New York State statute protects victims and witnesses of overdose events.

“It covers a witness or a victim of any medical episode — but more specifically a drug or alcohol overdose — who decides to call 911 either for themselves or that third person,” he said. “It’s not a trick. It’s statutory. It was codified by the state because they wanted to encourage people to realize the importance of the situation and to pick up the phone, call and get help.”

Following the presentations from Murray and other speakers, attendees were given training instructions in naloxone.

To learn more about the addiction resources, including emergency hotline numbers, visit the Long Island Addiction Resource Center website: longislandaddictionresourcecenter.org.

Port Jeff and the spirit of incorporation: Local control and a vision for public education

by Raymond Janis - October 17, 2022

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LIPA-stacks-Lee_Lutz — Guiding the incorporation movement, in part, was a desire to extract value from the Port Jefferson Power Station, pictured above. File photo by Lee Lutz

On a snowy day, Dec. 7, 1962, Port Jefferson residents voted 689-361 to incorporate as a village. After court challenges, the vote was made official in April 1963.

But how did this vote affect public education in the village? Through the lens of the incorporation movement, village residents can better understand the local issues of their time.

In an exclusive interview, state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) for Assembly District 4, which includes Port Jefferson, explores some of these themes.

A vision for better schools

Decades before incorporation, the educational landscape was quite different than it is today. Contrasting the great variety of school districts along the North Shore, residents once belonged to one central school district, the epicenter of which was Port Jefferson.

By the early 1930s, Port Jeff High School was accepting students as far west as Stony Brook and parts of Smithtown and as far east as Wading River and Yaphank.

But in the spirit of local control characteristic of the times, that central school district began to unravel. Fragments of the district started to break away, forming districts of their own, guaranteeing greater control.

Fearing dissolution of their school district, local residents considered incorporating to counteract the trend of declining student enrollment. “They were motivated to make sure that the school district was not further depleted by actions beyond their control,” Englebright said. “There was a good deal of emotion in that incorporation involving the school district and the concerns of parents for the well-being of their children.”

Englebright regards the desire for quality public schools as one of the principal factors driving the incorporation movement. He added that proponents of incorporating viewed education as a priority for the Port Jefferson community.

This, the assemblyman maintains, holds true even today. “The reality is the parents and the community of Port Jefferson care deeply about their school district and their children,” he said. “They don’t want to lose that brand of excellence and the well-being of that school district, which has always been a superb place for education.”

Extracting value

A power plant was located at the water’s edge of Port Jefferson Harbor. Contained within that plant, locals saw a promise for better schools, according to Englebright.

“I don’t think it was a singular motive on the part of Port Jefferson to capture the tax base of the power plant, but it certainly was seen as important to maintain the infrastructure of the schools in Port Jefferson,” the assemblyman said.

Port Jefferson has enjoyed a largely subsidized school district for over half a century thanks to the power station. But as the world comes to grips with the danger of combustible energy sources, so is the village affected and, by extension, the local school district.

“The changing technology of energy production has been very much a part of the people’s consciousness, particularly the leadership of the school board and the village board,” Englebright said.

Despite its pivotal place in the cause to incorporate, the long-term future of the Port Jefferson Power Station, which is operated by National Grid USA, is undecided. The village government is already seeing declining subsidies from Long Island Power Authority, which supervises transmission and delivery functions. Whether the plant goes dark in the coming years remains an open question.

Englebright acknowledges this uncertainty and its impact on certain public school districts on Long Island. For him, the trends in New York state and around the globe point to a phasing out of combustion energy.

“The trend is to move away from combustion as the source of energy,” he said. “I do believe that it is likely that the plant … will prove to be less used going forward. The question of when that will happen, I can’t tell, but that is certainly the trend.”

Despite a cloud of uncertainty over this tax-generating facility, Englebright sees opportunities for community adaptation. Though the power plant may someday shut down, he foresees Port Jeff emerging as a local leader in renewable energy, becoming a central hub for offshore wind.

“I have been very much involved with helping to advance offshore wind and, at the same time, to guide and nurture a relationship between a power-generating site that has been a part of our region for half a century now and more, and to the extent possible enable a sort of gas pedal and clutch transition to occur,” the assemblyman said.

Even in the face of possibly losing a significant tax base, village residents can be reassured that the transition of its energy economy is already underway.

Incorporation in context

Port Jefferson School District is nearing a public referendum scheduled for Monday, Dec. 12. This referendum, totaling approximately $25 million, may decide the future of facilities in buildings across the district, and possibly its long-term fate.

Englebright has expressed support for the facilities improvements, citing that they will be necessary to maintain a proper educational venue for future generations of students. [See story, “Capital bonds: PJSD nears historic referendum over school infrastructure.”]

Compounding an already complex issue, PJSD, like many others throughout the area, is also experiencing a decline of student enrollment. “There’s no easy answer here, not just for Port Jefferson but for many school districts,” the assemblyman said. “The incoming population of youngsters entering first grade is significantly less than what the schools they are entering were built to accommodate.”

In the face of declining student populations, some are even suggesting the remerging of Port Jefferson with the Three Village School District, which broke away from Port Jeff in 1966, four years after the vote to incorporate.

Despite these calls, Englebright feels the overriding spirit of local control remains preeminent. If the community favors keeping its school district intact, the state assemblyman recommends making the proper investment in its facilities.

“At the moment, I just don’t see [merging with another school district] as a popular idea because people within their communities identify their sense of place through a mechanism of community and neighborhood identity, which is their schools,” he said. “It behooves the well-being of the children and the quality of the school district … to make the investments to keep that infrastructure in a condition that meets or exceeds all appropriate standards.”

Revisiting the village’s incorporation, we find that the issues of today are not unique to our time. Questions surrounding school infrastructure, energy subsidies and student enrollment have puzzled generations of Port Jeff residents. While these issues may seem problematic, public dialogue and an open confrontation with local history may offer a pathway to brighter days ahead.

This story is part of a continuing series on the incorporation of Port Jefferson.

Eye on the street: The threat of nuclear devastation

by TBR Staff - October 15, 2022

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atomic-bomb-g655b90c53_1280 — Pixabay photo

By Carolyn Sackstein

Baby boomers likely remember duck and cover drills in schools, backyard bomb shelters and the crippling anxiety of the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. While many thought those fears were long behind us, the ghosts of our past haunt us today.

Today the specter of nuclear disaster seems real with intensifying conflict between Russia and Ukraine, also North Korea’s continual missile tests. This week we took to the streets to ask locals their thoughts on nuclear weapons, nuclear war and their favored response to elevated aggression abroad.

— Photos by Carolyn Sackstein

Wally Tomaszewski, Port Jefferson

“As far as Ukraine is concerned, of course, they were unjustly attacked by President Putin and Russia. The president of Ukraine has to support his people. The lives that are lost are unfathomable. Ukraine has been in existence a long, long time. They have gotten along with Russia. However, Mr. Putin has got something in his head that he wants to expand his territory and have the people of Ukraine commit to Russia. The killing and maiming of the Ukrainian people is just incredible. The Ukrainian people are fighting back. The Ukrainian military is gaining territory and beating Russians, which is incredible. The reason they are beating the Russians is that the Russian military really doesn’t have the heart to do this to a neighboring country. It is all subject to what Mr. Putin wants and they have to do what he wants. I think it is inhumane. They should stop this war immediately. The United States is supporting Ukraine with weapons. There are other countries that are supporting the Ukrainian people and rightly so.”

Andrew Drake, Stony Brook

“I think [a nuclear weapon is] the worst thing invented by mankind. We now have the ability to destroy ourselves at any time. It is a horrible thing that exists. I wish it is something we could put back in the box, but we can’t. The sad reality is as long as they exist, we need to have them. There are going to be people that are bad actors. That’s why the United States tries to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. North Korea launching a missile over Japan was obviously scary. I wish there were something else we could do about it, other than what we are doing. I don’t think there is a military solution, as much as there is a diplomatic solution. We need to incentivize people not to develop these [weapons], or give them the ability to defend themselves in a way that is not going to require mutually assured destruction.”

Paul Adago Jr., Ridge

“It’s going to affect us as a country, because we can’t have someone just bow to another. We allow that to happen in one portion of the world, then everybody’s going to think, ‘Well, we can do that too.’ We have to step up as a world, whether they’re part of NATO or not. We have to do what’s right for the people. After what we’ve been through in the world in the last two or three years, we have to humble ourselves and look at each other as people.”

Jorel Alvarez, Middle Island

“Putin using tactical nuclear weapons is not good for anyone’s sake. Once you use nukes the other person is going to use whatever weapons they have and then it is going to keep going on and the cycle is not going to stop. It is not right that he has this power. It is not right what he is doing in Ukraine.”

Wet Yang, Brooklyn

“I don’t think we can afford nuclear war. I don’t think we should be using nuclear weapons. I don’t believe in the use of nuclear weapons.”

Michael Osgood, San Francisco

“North Korea is obviously [launching missile tests] to be provocative and to remind the world that it has the technology to cause a lot of trouble. They think that is the way they can stay in power.” Regarding Mr. Putin’s threats, Osgood replied, “I can feel fear in my stomach when I think about that. I mean, could he possibly be insane enough to pull the trigger on such a thing? I hope to God he isn’t.”

On the edge: Coastal engineering experts discuss upper wall plan for village country club

by Raymond Janis - October 14, 2022

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Pending approval from the village's Board of Trustees, the East Beach bluff, pictured above, could soon undergo significant transformation. File photo by Raymond Janis

As the clubhouse facility at Port Jefferson Country Club dangles precariously upon the edge of the East Beach bluff, coastal engineers are discussing a proper course of action.

Coastal erosion has encroached dangerously near the clubhouse facility which, without intervention, could fall off the cliff within years. The Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees is working to curtail the issue in a two-phased effort. Construction of a toe wall at the bottom of the slope began in August and is ongoing [See video, below].

Now the village board is considering its upland options, deciding whether to preserve the clubhouse or retreat inland. One such option is a steel wall, estimated at $3 million, to be installed between the clubhouse and the bluff. [See story, “Port Jeff mayor estimates $3M for upper wall, trustees debate erosion mitigation strategy at village country club.”]

GEI Consultants is a Huntington Station-based consultancy firm that produced the engineering drawings for the upper wall. In a detailed email statement, Rachel Sa, GEI’s director of communications, summarized the plans for the project.

“The proposed wall at the top of the bluff will be effective at preventing further erosion and providing protection around the country club building,” Sa said. “The proposed wall consists of a new anchored steel sheet pile that is greater than 50 feet in vertical length and has been designed for an exposed height of up to 15 feet. The new steel sheet pile will be reinforced with new drilled soil anchors and a continuous wale system.” She added, “The proposed wall at the top of the bluff is, at minimum, designed to wrap around the perimeter of the country club building.”

If approved, the upper wall would be part of an integrated system, designed to work with the lower wall currently under construction at the toe. While critics have cited the limited shelf life of the upper wall, Sa contends the plan represents a long-term solution, even if the bluff erosion continues.

“The proposed Phase I and Phase II stabilization systems have been designed and are being constructed as a long-term solution to the observed erosion of the East Beach bluff,” she said. “If any further erosion does occur, the proposed wall system has the structural and geotechnical capacity to support and protect the country club building.”

But these plans are not without criticism. Ali Farhadzadeh is an assistant professor in the civil engineering department at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. He became familiar with the erosion issue near PJCC about a year ago when he and a team of colleagues met with village officials.

Over the last half decade, the East Beach bluff has lost considerable vegetation. Now coastal engineers are evaluating the village’s revegatation plans and how those plantings will work with the proposed upper wall. File photos from the Suffolk County Department of Information Technology, GIS Division

Farhadzadeh said the village is engaged in a two-front effort, with waves striking at the toe as precipitation upland generates substantial surface and internal runoff. While both forms of runoff contribute to the bluff’s erosion, his concerns center on the internal runoff, or water penetrating the soil and exiting through the bluff face.

“My engineering judgment was that [the bluff erosion at East Beach] is most likely because of the runoff water from the parking lot and the tennis court going to the bluff soil,” he said. “Based on what we see, there is a large parking lot on top, which will generate a lot of runoff. There might be some evidence of erosion from the toe, but based on the pictures of the failure, my engineering judgment tells me that this is happening from the top.”

Sa says GEI’s proposed stabilization initiative adequately addresses these runoff concerns.

“The proposed Phase II project (upper wall) also involves a significant landscaping scope,” she said, adding, “This proposed work involves removing most of the tennis courts and replacing them with soil, native grasses, wildflowers and shrubs. This will significantly reduce the amount of impermeable surface, improve site drainage, and therefore help reduce runoff over the top edge of the bluff.”

Farhadzadeh acknowledges that the revegetation work will slow the erosion of the slope. However, the internal runoff penetrating through the bluff face will likely continue, leading to continued loosening of the soil and further failure of the cliff.

“These are going to extensively improve the situation,” the SBU assistant professor said, referring to the proposed plantings. “If you do that implementation, if you take care of the surface erosion, the toe erosion and also the internal erosion, that steel structure could stabilize the soil — basically stopping the soil underneath the structure from moving naturally. But if the failure continues, then the wall itself is going to fail.”

‘The proposed steel sheet pile walls will address potentially detrimental permeability conditions at the locations where they are installed.’

— Rachel Sa

Responding to this argument, Sa believes that the vegetation work will be sufficient to prevent further erosion, citing this approach as standard industry practice.

“The proposed steel sheet pile walls will address potentially detrimental permeability conditions at the locations where they are installed,” she said. “It is common practice to use steel sheet pile structures to address these types of conditions — for example, constructing cofferdams to facilitate the dry construction of normally submerged structures/repairs. The remainder of the bluff slope will be protected against permeability conditions with the proposed vegetation and stabilization measures noted above.”

Given how close the clubhouse has come to the bluff’s edge, the village government is working with a sense of urgency. Mayor Margot Garant has stated that if the Board of Trustees favors the upper wall option, she would like to move forward quickly with a vote.

Farhadzadeh prefers a trial-and-error approach over rapid intervention. According to him, it would be wise for the village to install the vegetation and other mitigation measures, evaluate their efficacy in conjunction with the toe wall, and reassess the upper wall plans at a later time.

“From an engineering perspective, it doesn’t make sense to be rushing to the wall and building without making sure the recession [of the bluff] is reduced,” he said. “The wall is not going to stop the recession. The recession is going to be stopped by removing the water from the soil.”

On the other hand, Sa considers the upper wall a necessary measure that would act as a buffer to shield the clubhouse from further erosion. “In the event of areas of further erosion at the top of the bluff, the proposed wall will retain the soils beneath and around the country club building and protect this structure from the potential effects of this erosion,” she said.

‘The fact is you should stay away from the edge of the bluff.’ — Ali Farhadzadeh

In contrast to the upper wall plan, the village board is also contemplating whether to demolish the clubhouse and relocate the facility inland. Farhadzadeh prefers retreating away from the bluff.

“The fact is you should stay away from the edge of the bluff,” he said. “Based on what I’ve seen, it is probably too risky to maintain the existing facility.”

Sa disagrees with this assessment. Citing the village’s internal cost projections, she views the upper wall proposal as a cost-sensitive, viable alternative to managed retreat.

“The village is considering retreat/removal and replacement of the country club building at another inland location,” she said. “Rough initial estimates indicate that this may not be economically feasible. Therefore, GEI’s geotechnical engineers conducted bluff slope stability analyses and developed the double wall system as the best alternative given the site constraints.”

The village board will reconvene for a morning meeting on Monday, Oct. 17, at 9 a.m. Further discussion on the upper wall is anticipated during that meeting.

Port Jeff Fire Department, EMS join forces for intensive training

by Julianne Mosher - October 13, 2022

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Above, members of Port Jefferson Fire Department and the local EMS after their technical rescue training. Photo from Port Jefferson EMS

By Julianne Mosher

It takes a village – literally.

Located on opposite sides of Port Jefferson, the Port Jefferson Fire Department and Port Jefferson EMS recently converged outside the Village Center at Harborfront Park for a training exercise that was quite the spectacle.

A dozen volunteers from both agencies staged a scenario Sunday, Oct. 9, in which a person “fell” over the ledge of a nearly 40-foot wall, located on East Broadway, and said the “patient” could only be accessible by lowering a rescuer down to get them.

Christian Neubert, third assistant chief of the PJFD, noted a real-life example using this technique could be if someone were to fall into an open construction area with a finished basement but no stairs.

So, to train for an instance like this, the two groups strapped up individual rescuers from both the fire department and EMS, and lowered them down using a rope to the parking lot below to assess, package and retrieve the patient.

A look at the volunteers bringing their ‘patient’ to safety during the recent drill by Port Jefferson Fire Department and Port Jeff EMS. Photo from PJFD

Back above, other volunteers created a five-to-one haul system to pull both the patient and rescuer back to safety.

These specific agencies coordinate frequently on different types of calls, as many fire departments and EMS often do. But Michael Presta, deputy chief of the Port Jefferson EMS, said that the partnership between Port Jeff’s fire department and the separate EMS — which supports not only the village, but provides services to Belle Terre, Mount Sinai and Miller Place — has been ongoing for quite a few years, and this technical rescue training they practiced on Sunday is an indicator on how these two teams can work together.

“There’s a lot of fire departments that provide technical rescue services in a confined space — different kinds of specialty disciplines — but there’s not a lot of patient care centered activity that goes on in a lot of these places,” Presta said. “We had a great conversation a few years ago and said, ‘Hey, it’d be really great to work together jointly with both departments and work on getting paramedic-level care down to these patients.’”

Presta said that not every scenario is the same when it comes to an emergency. People might be trapped somewhere for an extended period of time or have a complicated injury that requires care, pain management, airway management or bleeding control in a technical rescue environment.

“We thought, ‘What better way than to get the paramedics, train them in technical rescue and get them down to those patients?’” he said.

Neubert added this type of training is not easy. “There’s a lot of knowledge and skill that has to go into it, and you need to have the type of student that is ready to learn,” he said. “It’s different than basic firefighting skills.”

And Sunday’s training created an atmosphere allowing both firefighters and paramedics to work together as a team.

“It doesn’t matter what organization you were volunteering from,” Neubert said. “When we started that drill the other day, we gave the scenario, they found the job that needed to get done and they just did it.”

And once that patient is secured by whichever volunteer is first on scene, paramedics begin to administer the care that someone would find in the hospital emergency room right on the spot.

Technical service rescues might seem niche and relatively rare, but Presta said that one could really never know.

“In this small little community here, we have a couple of hospitals, we have a power plant, train station, major transportation, the ferry. So, there are a lot of opportunities, I’d say, for people to get injured in very tricky situations,” he said. “Whether you’re down in the engine room of a ship, or in a confined space in a power plant or injured on the roof of the hospital, in this community there could be a lot of opportunities.”

Neubert added, “Something as simple as a broken leg on the bluffs out in the cove … that’s not necessarily the same as a 40-foot wall, but it still involves rope, timing concepts and technical rescue.”

After a successful 90-minutes, and a spectacle for shoppers at the local farmers market across the park, Presta and Neubert were both satisfied with the day’s events.

“This type of training will give us the ability to help other agencies,” Presta said. “Now we’re able to provide a specialty resource like this, and they have the ability to call on us if they don’t have that training or ability or equipment. We can bring it.”

Comsewogue Warriors fall 18-14 against Deer Park

by Bill Landon - October 10, 2022

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The Comsewogue Warriors battled for four quarters on Friday, Oct. 8, during a Div. III matchup against the visiting Deer Park Falcons.

Comsewogue quarterback Kaeden West put his team on the scoreboard, punching in a 2-yard run for the touchdown with four minutes left in the first half. Gavin Dandrea’s successful point-after attempt put the Warriors out front 7-6. Running back Daimler Valerio then stretched the lead late in the third quarter with a 9-yard TD run.

The Warriors were up 14-6 when the Falcons began generating offense of their own. Deer Park answered back with a 30-yard touchdown pass. After an impressive goalline stand during the two-point conversion attempt, Comsewogue held a 14-12 lead.

With nine minutes left in regulation, Deer Park’s Hunter Lovinsky broke two tackles and went the distance, clearing 75 yards for the score. Though the Falcons retook the lead 18-14, their two-point conversion attempt failed again.

Comsewogue moved the chains in its final drive, but a Deer Park sack in the last minute derailed the late-game Warrior surge. The loss drops Comsewogue to 0-5.

The team will search for that elusive first win in its homecoming game against Eastport South Manor on Saturday, Oct. 15. Kickoff is at 4 p.m.

— Photos by Bill Landon

Palumbo and Johnson face off in state Senate debate

by Raymond Janis - October 9, 2022

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palumbo copyjohnson copy — Incumbent state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), left, and Democratic Party challenger Skyler Johnson, right, during a Meet the Candidates forum at Comsewogue Public Library on Tuesday, Sept. 20. File photos by Raymond Janis

The Republican and Democratic Party nominees for New York’s 1st State Senate District took to the debate stage on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the Hampton Bays Senior Center.

Hosted by the Hampton Bays Civic Association, incumbent state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) and Democratic challenger Skyler Johnson, a Mount Sinai native, tackled various pressing issues in Albany. Questions were submitted by members of the civic, as well as some in the audience.

Abortion

Palumbo described himself as a libertarian concerning abortion law but raised objections to the practice of late-term abortions. “Women have a right to choose and should have a right to choose,” he said. “My only objection is to late-term abortion.”

On the other hand, Johnson referred to himself as pro-choice and said he supported a woman’s right to choose. He accused Palumbo of not supporting exceptions for the life of a mother. He also called objections to late-term abortions “a myth.”

“If someone is getting an abortion past six months, it is because their life is in danger,” he said. “Late-term abortions aren’t actually a thing. They are a thing that happens when someone’s life is in danger. There is no data, no statistics to indicate that people are getting abortions because they are changing their minds past the sixth month of pregnancy.”

Renewable energy

Johnson said that he would not like to see the expansion of nuclear power on Long Island. For him, the risks imposed by nuclear power plants are not worth the rewards. However, he does foresee ways to promote alternative forms of green energy.

“I do think New York has a great opportunity to invest in green energy, to invest in better transportation,” he said. “That gets more cars off the road, that keeps our air clean, and that lowers the burden on our critical infrastructure.”

Palumbo offered his support behind renewable energy, and said the transition to these novel energy sources should be done “smartly and reliably.”

“The technology is getting there, and we’re pushing,” the state senator said. He added that continued funding for environmental initiatives will be critical to Long Island’s overall health. “We’re a very different animal on Long Island, and the environment is critical. All of the renewables are certainly a part of that whole package.”

Guns in schools

Palumbo said schools should consider having school resource officers, or trained and armed police officers designated to secure schools.

“The people who should be handling guns are not teachers, but people who are trained,” Palumbo said. “Guns in schools should be with school resource officers.”

Johnson agreed that teachers should not be armed, referring to this as a “commonsense policy.”

“I want to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can to improve gun safety in New York because there’s a lot that we can mostly all agree on,” Johnson said.

This debate marks the first of several encounters between the two candidates in the coming weeks. Voters will make their picks on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Early voting begins later this month.

Brookhaven town board unanimously adopts new map, concludes redistricting process

by Raymond Janis - October 8, 2022

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screenshot_Kornreich — Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) questions the town’s mapmaker during a public hearing on Thursday, Sept. 29. Screenshot from the town website

The Town of Brookhaven’s controversial redistricting process concluded on Thursday, Sept. 29, after the Town Board voted unanimously to approve the latest proposed map.

The Town Board, which has a 6-1 Republican majority, took over the redistricting process after an appointed redistricting committee failed to find agreement on a draft proposal. Days after the committee formally disbanded, Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) presented his own map. For more on this story, see “Brookhaven officials react to latest redistricting proposal” (TBR News Media website).

Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) kicked off the public hearing with a forceful line of questioning of the town’s designated mapmaker, David Schaefer of Schenectady-based firm Skyline Consulting.

Kornreich pressed Schaefer on a range of subjects, such as his familiarity with the hamlets throughout the town. He also inquired about how Schaefer arrived at an original determination to split Port Jefferson Station and Terryville between Council Districts 1 and 2, and why he decided to move most of Ridge into CD4.

Responding, Schaefer said that he created the initial maps solely to bring the six council districts into roughly equal populations. “The first draft that I submitted is all population driven,” he said.

Following Kornreich’s line of questioning, residents pressed their representatives on the Town Board repeatedly over concerns that arose throughout the redistricting process and the alleged inequities in drawing the district lines.

Ira Costell, a resident of Port Jefferson Station, argued Schaefer’s approach was unproductive, reducing redistricting to an analytic method while ignoring its impact on communities of interest.

“There’s more than just standard deviations and numbers at play here,” Costell said. “There’s people, there’s communities, there’s interests, and there’s fairness at stake here, and I don’t see a lot of it in what the mapmaker initially did.”

‘Despite the hideously flawed process that led here, I think in the end we’ve created a map that’s got some compromises, and it’s got a little something for everyone to be unhappy about.’

— Jonathan Kornreich

Costell further railed against the committee process, saying, “The hearings were poorly advertised, they were chaotic, they were confusing, they were marked by a lack of support information from the town, which resulted in maps that just appeared out of thin air.” He continued, “What does seem transparent, however, is the majority on this board seems poised to ignore the clear will and desires of the voters who did speak out.”

Terryville resident Lou Antoniello suggested Schaefer was not being truthful during his remarks. He added that tampering with district boundaries may affect future redistricting procedures.

“While the map that this board put together is light-years better than the original map, which cut out a huge chunk [of Terryville from CD1], it’s still cutting — cracking — Council District 1,” he said. “That sets a dangerous precedent for the future.”

Members of the redistricting committee also attended the public hearing. Among them was Gail Lynch-Bailey, who had served this year and in 2012. She referred to the two initial maps which split Port Jefferson Station and Terryville as a ploy to divert the public’s attention away from alleged gerrymandering in Council District 4. This district includes the racially and ethnically diverse communities of Coram, Gordon Heights and North Bellport.

“Once the public realized the commission had had no input into them, the maps were readily recognized by many for what they were: diversions, bait-and-switch tactics, ‘pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain’ maps intended to focus attention on the northern CDs instead of what was going on for CD4,” she said. “This ruse was, and still is, unconscionable.”

Also making an appearance was Ali Nazir, the Republican co-chair on the redistricting committee. He defended the movement of mostly white Ridge into CD4, citing the hamlet’s longstanding ties to the Longwood community.

“Despite rhetoric of the contrary, Ridge has always been in Council District 4,” Nazir said. “Ridge has a long history with the Longwood community, and to arbitrarily excommunicate them from the Longwood community is quite frankly wrong.”

Port Jefferson Station and Terryville, however, remain mostly united within the boundaries of Council District 1. Kornreich, who voted with the majority, justified his vote, saying this map would not split minority communities or dilute their votes.

“We negotiated in good faith, and the supervisor fulfilled his promise to keep Gordon Heights and North Bellport together, not to dilute the minority vote, and in good faith, I will support the agreement we made,” Kornreich said. “Is it an ideal map? No. Is it a map that I were to draw? Of course not. But when you’ve got one Democrat and a row of Republicans, you tell me what level of political power you have.”

In concluding his remarks, the CD1 councilmember said the final map reflects a series of compromises. “Despite the hideously flawed process that led here, I think in the end we’ve created a map that’s got some compromises, and it’s got a little something for everyone to be unhappy about,” he said, adding, “I hope that we can get to work and solve the real problems that face our town.”

No other board member spoke during the hearing. Following the vote, a droning cry rained from some in the audience, the dissidents shouting, “Shame on you, shame on you.”

It remains unclear whether the map will face challenges in court or whether those challenges could hold up given the bipartisan outcome.

Port Jeff village board addresses PJCC, public safety, Station Street and East Beach bluff

by Raymond Janis - October 7, 2022

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Port-Jeff-Village-Hall_Suttonw-2-700x467 — File photo by Heidi Sutton/TBR News Media

The Port Jefferson Village Board met on Monday, Oct. 3, for an afternoon packed with important business.

Business meeting

For its first order of business, the board unanimously approved a bond anticipation note to finance construction for improvements at the Old Homestead/Oakwood Road recharge basin. The BAN will enable construction to begin without the village having to draw from its operating budget.

This project, according to Mayor Margot Garant, is primarily subsidized through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

“We’re still waiting for the grant to come in from FEMA, but we have to pay the bill,” Garant said. “Hopefully, that money comes in before the end of the year.”

The board approved Garant’s appointment of Shane Henry to the Architectural Review Committee. Deputy Mayor Kathianne Snaden, trustee liaison to ARC, anticipated Henry’s expected contributions to the committee.

“He’s young, enthusiastic, and he wants to get more involved,” Snaden said. “I think he will be a great addition.” Garant added that she is looking forward to drawing from Henry’s contracting and historic preservation background.

With trustee Lauren Sheprow voting “no,” the village board approved a 4-1 resolution for the 2023 rate increases for the Port Jefferson Country Club. Stan Loucks, trustee liaison to the country club, said these rate increases are based upon a unanimous recommendation from the Country Club Management Advisory Committee.

The rate increases, according to Loucks, will enable the country club to make renovations to bunkers, improvements to cart paths and cover other unforeseen expenses.

“The rates that have been presented will increase our revenue by $100,000,” Loucks said. “That is an … increase in the overall budget, which I feel — I hope — is adequate.”

Defending her vote against the resolution, Sheprow expressed uneasiness about membership rate increases. She advocated exploring and exhausting other options for raising revenue before placing added costs on members.

“When I was the chair of the CCMAC, I did not agree with raising membership rates because I felt like there was an opportunity to find new revenue … without putting the revenue on the backs of the members,” Sheprow said. “We’re playing on this product that isn’t the A-plus product that it’s been. It’s kind of a C-level product, and we’re asking our members to come back next year and pay more for something that they don’t have yet.”

General meeting

After a brief interim for an executive session, the trustees moved upstairs for the general meeting. During that time frame, there were several exchanges between the public and the village government.

Chief of code enforcement Fred Leute reminded residents to drive carefully on village streets as schools are again in session. He also reported a speeding issue on Brook Road near the high school. “Brook Road is not a road you want to go fast on,” he said. “When you go down that hill, slow down.”

A Suffolk County Police Department representative told Port Jefferson residents to remain alert to the ongoing crime trends of catalytic converter thefts and phone call scams.

During her report, Sheprow announced that she would present findings from her internal communications audit at a future meeting. She also reported that the Country Club Social/Hospitality Task Force has already met several times and is working with the restaurant management of The Waterview to “create a more welcoming, accessible and fun environment up at the country club.”

Trustee Rebecca Kassay reported that she is continuing to coordinate with Snaden on a “complete streets concept” for Port Jefferson.

“I am highly recommending that the village looks into investing into a study, which can be anywhere between $30,000 and $80,000,” Kassay said. “This would be something that benefits all residents. It would assess how to make the village more walkable and potentially more bikeable as well.”

Loucks gave an update from the parks department regarding removing vessels from village racks. “The vessels need to be removed by November 1,” he said.

Snaden announced her effort to coordinate more closely with the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and the Port Jefferson Business Improvement District.

“We’re going to have quarterly meetings moving forward just to make sure that everyone is on the same page with their activities and their events,” the deputy mayor said. “We can all collaborate and bounce ideas off each other, let each other know what we’re all doing.”

Garant gave a detailed report on several significant initiatives within the village government. There are ongoing discussions about giving a proper name to Station Street, a block in Upper Port opening later this month.

“There will be a conversation about what we should call this new street as the new gateway to Port Jefferson,” the mayor said. “We do have a ribbon-cutting on the calendar for October 26 … It will be a great new start to a total revitalization of Upper Port.”

Bids for an upper wall to stabilize the East Beach bluff are due this Friday, Oct. 7. Garant announced that once the board has the final cost estimates, it will decide whether to approve the upper wall or retreat inland. For more on this local issue, see The Port Times Record’s story, “Port Jeff mayor estimates $3M for upper wall, trustees debate erosion mitigation strategy at village country club,” Sept. 29 edition, also tbrnewsmedia.com.

During the public comment portion at the end of the meeting, village resident Michael Mart advised the board to consider the future instead of the past when deciding upon the East Beach bluff.

“Rather than put all of our efforts into saving the past, please look forward to creating the future that we might want here,” he said. “And in doing that, I think it’s important the residents have an opportunity to express their views on the final decision, and maybe even, like with the school board [proposed capital bond projects], have an opportunity to vote on the final decision.”

To watch the full video of the general meeting, visit the village’s official YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bwpxXtRxmA

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