Suffolk County Police 7th Squad detectives are investigating a crash that killed a woman in Rocky Point Sept. 22.
Rachel Stalter was operating her 2014 Toyota Highlander westbound on Route 25A when she approached an intersection and collided with a 1999 Chevrolet Malibu that was turning to go northbound onto Hallock Landing Road.
The passenger in the Chevrolet, Carol Sardegna, 65, of Rocky Point, was transported to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson where she was pronounced dead. The driver of the Chevrolet, Colleen Gorman, 61, of Rocky Point, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Stalter, 47, of Port Jefferson Station, and her 12-year-old daughter were transported to Saint Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, where they were treated with non-life-threatening injuries.
Both vehicles were impounded for safety checks and the investigation is continuing. Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact 7th Squad detectives at 631-852-8752.
Theatre Three, 412 Main Street, Port Jefferson will screen the award winning documentary “Magnus” on Monday, September 26 at 7 p.m. as part of the 2016 Fall Port Jefferson Documentary series.
Through archival footage and home movies “Magnus” tells the story of 26-year-old Norwegian chess champion Magnus Carlsen’s rise to the top. A hit at several international festivals and winner of the Ray of Sunshine prize at the Norwegian International Film Festival, the documentary also gives the audience a peek inside the isolated world of the chess community. In English and Norwegian. Sponsored by the Long Island Chess Club. Guest speaker, via Skype, will be the director, Benjamin Ree.
Tickets are $7 and will be sold at the door. For more information, call 631-473-5220 or visit www.portjeffdocumentaryseries.com.
Please note the incorrect date was listed in the printed Times … and dates calendar under the photo.
Rocky Point Middle School staff members celebrate earning a 2016 Inviting Award given out to inviting schools. Photo from Rocky Point school district
By Desirée Keegan
Even if you didn’t attend Rocky Point Middle School, chances are you’d be treated like a family member upon entering, and now they have the hardware to prove it.
It was the most fulfilling day in Rocky Point Middle School Principal Scott O’Brien’s 25 plus year career in education. Nearly 60 educational leaders from around the world visited the grounds of his school and talked to personnel and pupils to determine whether or not he’s helped create an environment where students and staff could reach their full potential.
Rocky Point Middle School was one of just five middle schools and high schools in New York to be selected to receive the 2016 Inviting Award from the International Alliance for Invitational Education.
“It was so rewarding to see all of these educators from around the world intently walking round and visiting different areas of our building, talking to our teachers and especially our kids and really excitedly taking away ideas that we have in place, so they can bring it back to their respective countries,” the principal said. “It was absolutely the highlight of our last school year, and I would say, my entire career. It was a proud moment for all of us.”
Students welcome their international guests. Photo from Mark Moorland
The application process took a year and a half and included extensive training for the staff; self-evaluations of the school’s practices, policies, procedures and programs; and the large visits from international administrators and teachers.
Nicole Gabrinowitz, a seventh-grade math teacher at Rocky Point Middle School, said she knew how inviting the school was from the moment she walked through the doors seven years ago.
“I’ve taught over the last 21 years at many different schools, and when I finally started teaching at Rocky Point Middle School, right away I knew that this was the best building I had ever been in,” she said. “Dr. O’Brien and [James] Moeller, the assistant principal, are such good leaders. Teachers are free to have their own opinions, [O’Brien and Moeller’s] doors are always opened, they’re opened to ideas and the staff is very friendly.”
Gabrinowitz played an active role in the application process. She was on the committee dedicated to applying for the recognition, was at nearly every meeting, helped coordinate meetings with every visitor, wrote up proposals and essays and attended conferences on what it takes to be an inviting school.
Once she saw what the program was all about, she said she knew the school was a perfect match.
“When you walk into our school, it is not intimidating, it is friendly,” she said. “We greet you, the kids have great programs, it’s well-lit, the teachers are nice, and there’s really no negative atmosphere anywhere in the entire building.”
The visitors were impressed with a lot of what the school had to offer. There were dogs in the classrooms for children to read to if they felt intimidated or nervous reading to adults; inclusion, honors and standard classes; a variety of teaching styles; a speech therapist and a counseling center.
“I know that they were impressed,” Gabrinowitz said. “I spoke to probably every visitor that came, getting to know them and telling them about our school. They responded well, we accepted all of the guests with opened arms, and we had students also talk to the visitors, telling them how wonderful the school is and described what was going on inside the classrooms.”
Patrick Panella, a guidance counselor at the school for the past 15 years, also said the programs the school has to offer generate a lot of excitement.
“Some of the clubs we run that get student involvement lends support to other students and community members,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with the community as a whole. Our clubs have volunteer and outreach programs doing volunteer work at nursing homes, for example. Friends of Rachel does a lot of things to involve the students in helping and being kind to others, and having the positive culture that the staff has embeds that in the student body as well.”
Being a part of the program was also a great opportunity for the administration and staff to self-reflect.
“Part of our mind-set now is that we want to reevaluate the programs that we’re currently offering — thinking of other things we could offer that would benefit the students, staff and community,” Panella said. “And always looking to better what we do here, so that was a big part of being involved in the invitational education process.”
Principal Scott O’Brien was also named Administrator of the Year. Photo from Rocky Point school district
Gabrinowitz said the school has already begun that process.
Part of the application process also included a student survey. The children were happy, but one thing they asked for was a recreation room. The school’s leadership team listened. Students can now sign up to enter a brand new rec room during lunch, to play games like knock hockey and table tennis. The math teacher said the school also has a courtyard that was pretty, but wasn’t being maintained as nicely as they would like. A garden club emerged after that renovation effort, which got more students involved to beautify the space.
The hallways are also going to see some more changes.
“They’ve been very decorative all the time, but now we encourage our teachers to display more of our students’ work, even in math and science, so our hallways are full of their work all the time,” Gabrinowitz said. “And we’re rotating the work and I think that helps when the students are walking down the hallway and see their own work hanging up and can be proud of it.”
An announcement letter from the Inviting School Award Committee commended the school’s outstanding learning climate and its impact not only on students but staff, parents and the community as well.
Gabrinowitz said she hopes Rocky Point Middle School can set an example for others.
“Everything that Rocky Point has, we’re so much more inviting than so many of the other schools I’ve seen around us,” she said. “They may not even realize they’re not that inviting, and I think that part of our job is to educate other schools on being an inviting school. It was such a long process and we did so much — Rocky Point Middle School is already a great place, and it’s even better now, and will only continue to grow, because this process never ends.”
It’s official: bagging your groceries will cost you.
The Suffolk County Legislature approved a 5-cent fee per plastic grocery bag this month, which will be collected and kept by stores. The main goal of the legislation is to reduce bag waste by incentivizing shoppers to avoid the fee and bring their own bags.
“I feel relieved,” Suffolk County Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport) said in a phone interview. “But I am also concerned.”
Spencer said he is “sensitive” to struggling families with the current cost of living, and doesn’t want them to feel like this is a new fee or tax being imposed on them.
“This is nothing new, people are paying for these bags already,” he said.
“Plastic bags are a mistake of the past. Reusable bags are the solution for the future.” —Adrienne Esposito
According to the legislator, grocery stores already work the price of the plastic bags they give away into the price of products they sell.
A report conducted by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments about plastic bags stated consumers pay $37.50 per year in hidden bag costs passed on by retailers.
But some residents are not on board with the future fee. Suffolk County Legislator Sara Anker (D-Mount Sinai) said she heard many responses from senior citizens in her district that they don’t like the new bill.
“I had an overwhelming response from residents not supporting the fee,” she said in a phone interview. “To [the senior community] it’s just another expense. The 5 cents goes right back to the retailer, and it should really go to a designated environmental fund.”
The idea of the fee going to an environmental cause was first implemented in Washington D.C., the first place in the United States to impose a 5-cent fee on plastic bags, with the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act. According to the legislation, only 1 out of the 5-cent fee is collected by the store, and the rest is deposited in the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Fund.
In a 2013 study of the D.C. law, researchers found that both residents and businesses reported a significant reduction in disposable bag use and a majority of residents and businesses supported the bag fee. In addition, both residents and businesses said they saw fewer plastic bags littering the area.
Spencer said creating legislation similar to that in D.C. was discussed, with part of the fee going toward an environmental cause, however it ended up being out of his control.
“I would love to do that, but we don’t have the taxing authority,” Spencer said. He explained it would require state action for part of the fee to be divided and sent to an organization.
“I would love to see that money go towards conservation,” he said. “But it is important to move forward now and not wait for the state to act. On a county level, we’ve taken the lead.”
Spencer said he hopes eventually the state will create legislation that will supersede his own, but for now he must continue to do his job.
Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito applauded Spencer’s legislation.
“Plastic bags are a mistake of the past,” she said in a statement. “Reusable bags are the solution for the future. This legislation will reduce plastic bag use by 60 percent or more and that will make our communities and our bays cleaner and greener, and save us money. Kudos to Suffolk County Legislator Doc Spencer for his leadership and persistence in protecting our environment.”
The CCE said there is more plastic in the oceans than plankton, with 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile. Many marine animals are choked and strangled by bags, or die consuming them. The CCE said plastic pollution negatively impacts 267 species of marine life.
John Durso, president of Local 228, a retail labor union and Long Island Federation of Labor, said the bill will introduce positive change to Suffolk County. “The Suffolk County plastic bag law is truly an innovative bill that takes great steps to cut back on environmental waste, while also addressing the needs of local workers and businesses,” he said in a statement. “We were glad to work with the Suffolk County Legislature to collaborate on a landmark legislation that will protect our environment for future generations of Suffolk County’s working families.”
Danny Zihal heads the ball into the left corner for the game-winning goal. Photo by Desirée Keegan
By Desirée Keegan
A tornado has swept through Miller Place.
After getting opportunity after opportunity, the Harborfields boys’ soccer team finally put the ball in the back of the net to claim a 1-0 win over Miller Place Sept. 20, when forward Danny Zihal headed a Marco LaRocca throw-in into the left side of the net.
“It was getting late in the game and I knew somebody had to step up, so as a captain of the team, I wanted to lead my guys,” Zihal, a senior, said. “This team, they’re my brothers and I just love playing with them. The celebration was great — it just felt like winning — but then you have to get back out there and start defending.”
The team didn’t have to play much defense though, as the Tornadoes continued to fight for another goal in the final 15 minutes.
Harborfields’ Mason Mee leaps up to head the ball. Photo by Desirée Keegan
“Putting pressure on the backs and winning first touches helps you win the ball back and get more chances,” Zihal said. “We just have to put the ball in the back of the net and finish things earlier. We had a lot of chances.”
That weight Harborfields placed on Miller Place is something Harborfields head coach D.J. Greening said he’s been preaching to his players.
“We’ve been telling them all year that they have to keep pressing to finally put teams away, and we did,” he said. “They worked hard, we developed the ball well and got a lot of opportunities, it’s just tough to finish. We’ve also been especially emphasizing to move the ball quickly and change the point of attack, and I think we did that better in the second half, which made it a little more difficult for them to press and get their opportunities on transition.”
But on the same side of the field where the ball was kept most of the game, shined a young star in the making.
Miller Place’s sophomore goalkeeper Desmond Totillo, who was called up from the junior varsity level because junior Kyle Korade was out sick, made multiple stops while coming out to grab possession during plays, to maintain the 0-0 score for as long as he could.
“I was a little shaky at the beginning, but got better throughout the game,” Totillo said. “I thought we played good, but I think we didn’t get forward enough. I think we need to play more attacking, so I was trying to play hard and trying to keep us in it.”
Harborfields came close to scoring, as the ball went into the net on a falling, over-the-back scissor kick to open the second half, but the goal was reversed on a foul call. The Tornadoes picked up steam from there, but Totillo made back-to-back saves, and then a rebound off a shot that hit the far right post was saved by a defender who jumped in net as Totillo came out.
“That’s why we eventually won the game,” Greening said of his team’s willingness to not give up the ball up in the Panthers’ zone.
Jack Kelly receives a pass. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Harborfields kept Miller Place on its toes, as shots went wide and over the net. Then, the team scored with 15:23 on the clock off a LaRocca corner throw-in — one of many the senior midfielder and co-captain’s team received.
Miller Place head coach Kenny Lake said despite the outcome, he’s proud of what his young team — as he started five sophomores and an eighth-grader — was able to accomplish.
“We have a young group that stood up to a challenge,” he said. “We have a very good team that we played today, so hats off to them, but we worked hard and that’s all I could ask for.”
He thinks his team needs to work on keeping its composure, which he knows will come with maturity, but was impressed by his young keeper’s skills.
“He played awesome,” Lake said of Totillo. “He really kept us in the game. The game is fast, and I think we’re getting better with every single game. We have a very bright future with a very young varsity team, so I’m excited.”
As for the Tornadoes, they’re looking to keep a tight grip on the League V title they won last year.
The team has claimed nine points over its last six road games while the Tornadoes’ field is being renovated, earning four wins and tying once over the span. The team takes on reigning state champion Amityville next, Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m.
“If we just keep playing the way we’re playing and step it up a little bit, we’ll be a great team,” Zihal said. “I think we can do great things.”
Councilwoman Jane Bonner is getting by with a little help from a friend.
Bonner (C-Rocky Point) has aided the Town of Brookhaven to begin a long overdue jetty reconstruction project in Mount Sinai Harbor. She, along with Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) and others on the town board, helped secure $5.6 million in town funding to go toward rebuilding the east and west jetties at the mouth of the harbor. The project will increase boater safety making navigation easier and could allow dredging that will bring back the winter shell-fishing season.
The issue has been a top priority for Bonner since 2010, when her office commissioned a study along with the Army Corps of Engineers to assess the need for improvements to the jetties, she said during a press conference Sept. 19 at Mount Sinai Yacht Club.
At the time, rocks had collapsed, submerging the seaward ends of the jetties at high tide, and the elevation of the jetty stones above the water at high tide was less than four feet in some places. Bonner and Romaine saw a more pressing need to address the problem after Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy and other storms caused further damage, though they weren’t able to secure enough funding to complete the project until this year.
Councilwoman Jane Bonner thanks state Sen. Ken LaValle for helping to secure $3 million in funding to rebuild jetties in Mount Sinai Harbor. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Bonner reached out to state Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) to see if his department could kick in some additional funds to help the town reach the $10 million budget needed to complete the project.
Initially, LaValle offered Bonner $1 million.
“I was not shy, I was not embarrassed to tell him it wasn’t good enough and that we needed more money,” she said. “He actually called me at home to let me know. His first words were, ‘How’s $3 million, is that enough?’ And I said, ‘It’ll have to do Senator,’ so thank you from the bottom of my heart.’”
LaValle helped secure an extra $2 million with the help of senate majority leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport).
“From day one I’ve always had as my mantra that local control was very, very important,” LaValle said. “It is nothing but a pleasure working with Supervisor Romaine and [Councilwoman Bonner], who is always looking out for her council district, and always says, ‘Senator, I could use your help.’ It’s working with the localities to identify the problems, and make it a priority. That’s how we started with $1 million and ended up with $3 million to get this done.”
Reconstructing the jetties, according to Bonner, is critical for thousands of residents who utilize Mount Sinai Harbor for recreational and commercial reasons.
“This peninsula is not just a yacht club — we have working boatyards, we have recreational fisherman, we have fishermen and women that derive their income from this harbor,” Bonner said standing on the porch of the club. “This is truly a hub — it’s a working harbor and we are very fortunate and very blessed to be surrounded by so many people that will benefit from this project being done.”
John Howell, commodore for the Mount Sinai Yacht Club, said he has witnessed how dangerous the waters have been first hand.
“This is truly a hub — it’s a working harbor and we are very fortunate and very blessed to be surrounded by so many people that will benefit from this project being done.”
—Jane Bonner
He said he’s boated through Hell Gate, a narrow tidal straight in the East River that has the reputation of being unsafe, and said even that doesn’t compare to his harbor.
“I’ve been through Hell Gate many times through many conditions, and I can attest that our little entrance here is worse than Hell Gate,” he said.
The undertaking will help improve boater safety, as there is a large sand bar that extends deep through the middle of the channel that boats get stuck on, but according to Romaine, as part of replacing the jetties, Suffolk County has agreed to also do interface dredging at the mouth of the harbor once the jetty has been rebuilt and stabilized. As a result, winter shell fishing could resume. The harbor was closed for shell fishing for the first time last winter.
The Town of Brookhaven is hoping for added assistance from the neighboring Village of Port Jefferson, which will directly benefit from the project.
According to Romaine, the east jetty is collapsing and creating an erosion problem at Port Jefferson Village Beach. Brookhaven Town is the only municipality in charge of a jetty. The Army Corps of Engineers maintains all other jetties on Long Island but the Mount Sinai Harbor’s. While the town has always budgeted the $5.6 million, it could never get the rest of the funding needed, so now with LaValle’s contribution, Bonner said she hopes Port Jefferson Village will “step up to the plate with the difference” because the area would “benefit greatly from these two jetties.”
Port Jefferson Village Mayor Margot Garant did not respond to requests for comment.
Ralph Davenport, from Ralph’s Fishing Station & Marina in Mount Sinai, said he is excited to hear the harbor will be a safer place for recreational and commercial boaters.
“If you were a person who didn’t know this harbor and were looking for a safe place to come in, odds are that you would crash on the way in,” he said. “Big boats used to be able to come in and out of this harbor years ago, with no problem at all, and now it’s a hazard. It used to be the easiest harbor on the North Shore to navigate in, and now it’s one of the worst. So hopefully next year’s time we’ll dig the sandbar out of the way enough where the people can navigate safely again.”
How long and how much work does it take to defy conventional wisdom? Often, the prevailing belief about anything has backers who support the idea and aren’t eager to change or replace what they know with something new.
Recognizing this, Ivan Bozovic, the Oxide Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) group leader at Brookhaven National Laboratory, checked and rechecked his work, spending close to a decade for parts of it, repeating his steps and checking the accuracy of his data points to make sure his case, which flew in the face of what so many others believed, was airtight.
Engineers, researchers and corporations have known about so-called high-temperature superconductivity for over a century. Using objects called cuprates, which are oxides of copper, researchers have created substances that can conduct electricity with close to no resistance at temperatures that are well above the requirements for most superconductivity.
While the name high-temperature superconductivity might suggest materials that allow the passage of energy through them in a sauna, the reality is far from it, with the temperatures coming in closer to negative 163 degrees Fahrenheit. While cold by everyday standards, that is still well above the record critical temperature before cuprates, which stood at – 418 degrees F.
Up until Bozovic’s study, which was recently published in Nature, scientists believed superconductivity in these cuprates occurred because of the strength of electron pairing. Carefully and in great detail, Bozovic demonstrated that the key factor in leading to this important property was the density of electron pairs, which are negatively charged particles.
Other scientists suggested Bozovic’s study was an important result that flew against the prevailing explanation for a phenomenon that holds promise for basic science and, perhaps one day, for the transmission of energy in the future.
Bozovic’s study “shows that [the] standard picture fails quite astonishingly in copper oxides that show high temperature superconductivity,” Davor Pavuna, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, explained in an email. “We are only begining to grasp how dramatic” this latest discovery is.
Pavuna described how he was recently at an event in Corsica, France and that his colleagues believed “this is a clear signal that we will have to develop much more advanced theoretical framework for cooperative phenomena, like superconductivity.”
Bozovic’s work and his latest result “show that our physics understanding and models require some new physics framework,” Pavuna said.
Bozovic and his colleagues studied over 2,150 samples. He explained that cuprates are complex for standards of condensed matter physics because some of them have 20 to 50 atoms in unit cells. That means that when engineers synthesize them, cuprates can have a mixture of unwanted secondary phases that could “spoil the experiment.”
Ivan Bozovic with his granddaughter Vivien at Vivien’s first birthday party last year in California. Photo by Julie Hopkins, cameracreations.net
The number of samples necessary to demonstrate this property is a matter of personal standards, Bozovic suggested. He made sure he kept “checking and double checking and triple checking to be sure that what we had closed all the loopholes,” Bozovic said. He wanted “no possibility of an alternative explanation.”
The way Bozovic and his colleagues approached the problem was to start with a cuprate composition. They then replaced one atom at a time by another, which provided a series of samples that were almost identical, but slightly different in chemical composition. He was able to show how the critical temperature changes with electron density in small increments.
“What’s really impressive here is [Bozovic’s] ability to use a molecular beam epitaxy system — that he designed — to place single atomic layers on to a substrate, layer by layer,” James Misewich, the associate lab director for Energy & Photon Sciences at BNL explained in an email.
Bozovic’s work is “an exciting finding that could have wide-ranging impacts on how we identify, design, and build new superconducting materials,” continued Misewich.
As with other science, Bozovic said the answer to one question leads to a series of follow up questions, which include why do small pairs of electrons form in cuprates and not in anything else.
A resident of Mount Sinai, Bozovic lives with his wife Natasha, who is a mathematician. The couple has two daughters, Dolores, a professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA and Marijeta, an assistant professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale, where Bozovic is an adjunct professor of Applied Physics.
Born and raised in the former Yugoslavia, Bozovic is the son of two medical doctors. His father, Bosislav Bozovic, was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize for his work on the relation between cancer and the immune system. He was also a major general in the medical corp and the head of the Medical Division of the National Academy of Sciences.
His mother, Sasha Bozovic, wrote a best-selling memoir, devoted to a daughter she lost in World War II. His mother was also a colonel in the medical corps who worked in the army until she retired as the highest ranking woman in the army. “I had some big shoes to fill,” Bozovic acknowledges.
As a teenager, Bozovic played the lead guitar in a rock band. Nowadays, he strums nursery rhymes for his granddaughter Vivien using FaceTime.
A scientist who suggests a sense of humor is extremely important, especially in a field that can include disappointments and setbacks, Bozovic jokes that he speaks “zero” languages, a conclusion he reached after listening to an online description he gave of his recent work. In reality, he can read about four languages, although he has studied more.
As for his work, Bozovic is looking forward to discussing his recent results with theorists like Gabriel Kotliar, a Rutgers Professor of Physics and Astronomy who has a part time position at BNL. Kotliar is leading a new materials theory center at BNL.
“I hope that we’ve given them new pointers about where to look and what to calculate,” Bozovic said. “I’m pretty optimistic that there will be feedback from them.”
Sisters Denise Pianforte and Heather Richards received a new roof on their Port Jefferson Station home in February, as part of Port Jefferson Station-based A-1 Roofing & Siding's partnership with the No Roof Left Behind project. Photo from A-1 Roofing & Siding
By Rebecca Anzel
Whenever Denise Pianforte saw one of her neighbors getting a new roof installed, she hoped to soon be able to afford one as well. The Port Jefferson Station home she lived in with her sister, Heather Richards, was 60 years old.
Pianforte saw a flier on her church’s bulletin board for a program that advertised a free roof for a Suffolk County family in need. “I always pray to God to help me find a way to get the money [for a new roof],” she wrote in the online nomination form. She added that even with her and her sister each working two jobs at over 50 hours a week, it looked like the day would never come. “Seems like my only hope would be to win the lottery.”
Sisters Denise Pianforte and Heather Richards received a new roof on their Port Jefferson Station home as part of Port Jefferson Station-based A-1 Roofing & Siding’s partnership with the No Roof Left Behind project. Photo from A-1 Roofing & Siding
She did not win the lottery, but she did win the new roof. A-1 Roofing & Siding, a family owned and operated contractor in Port Jefferson Station, installed it Feb. 6.
Maria Malizia and her three brothers, who took over running the business after their father retired, became involved in the national No Roof Left Behind program last year.
No Roof Left Behind provides contractors with the necessary tools and resources to construct a free roof for a local family in need. The program was founded in 2009 by Jay and Dena Elie, the owners of a Detroit roofing firm called Ridgecon Construction.
Malizia said that they were immediately interested in the opportunity to help deserving families in Suffolk County.
“We’ve been in the community for decades and were just happy that we were finally able to give back a little,” Malizia said. “When we heard about the program, we said to ourselves, how could we not do this.”
After helping Denise Pianforte and Heather Richards, Malizia said the immediate gratification let them know they needed to continue their involvement with No Roof Left Behind.
“They were really grateful, excited and relieved that they were safe under a new roof and didn’t have to worry about any leaks in the future,” Maria Malizia said.
Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) said No Roof Left Behind is providing the community an important service.
“We are fortunate to live in an area such as Port Jefferson Station where residents and local businesses strongly believe in giving back to their community,” Cartright said. “I am sure the program will have a tremendously positive impact on the lives of the 2017 winners and I commend A1 Roofing for their sponsorship of the program.”
A-1 Roofing & Siding is a family owned and operated contractor in Port Jefferson Station. Photo from A-1 Roofing & Siding
The importance of community support is not lost on the organization.
“This is a nice way for contractors to engage the community and let them know they’re one of the good guys,” said Dena Elie, who is a member development director for the program. “No Roof Left Behind helps the community to recognize you as a shareholder there, and someone who genuinely cares and wants to support you locally.”
More than 247 roofs have been installed by 60 contractors in more than 27 states and provinces since the program’s founding.
As a participating contractor, A-1 Roofing pays an annual subscription fee to join No Roof Left Behind. That gives it access to the outreach and promotional materials Elie created, and designates the firm as the sole participating contractor in Suffolk County. It is one of two in New York — the other, Marshall Exteriors, is located in Newark.
Nominations for this year’s recipient, are open until Oct. 31 for a local family deserving of a new roof. Malizia said community members are invited to submit photos and a brief paragraph to the local No Roof Left Behind website.
Then, the roofing contractor will narrow the list down to four finalists. Malizia said A-1 considers whose roof is least able to survive the winter months. When the finalists are revealed, residents can vote from Nov. 14 to Dec. 16 for the winner, who will be announced on Dec. 23.
A-1 Roofing & Siding is a family owned and operated contractor in Port Jefferson Station. Photo from A-1 Roofing & Siding
Currently, there are four nominees — two from Sound Beach, one from Amityville and the other Nesconset.
The day the new roof is installed is usually a huge celebration, Elie said. She encourages contractors to bring members of the community to meet the winning family. A-1 has not yet set a date for the installation, but it will be using materials donated by General Aniline & Film (GAF) and delivered to the home by Allied Building Products, both national No Roof Left Behind sponsors.
“Roofing contractors are a group of big-hearted fellows,” Elie said. “They grow to care for the folks they’ve put roofs on for, and I think one of the most rewarding things to see is a sense of community develop.”
Malizia said her family is looking forward to helping more Suffolk County families.
“We all know how difficult it is to survive when you don’t have a safe roof — it’s a constant worry,” she said. “We’re going to keep participating as long as we’re able.”
Georgie and Porgie are waiting for their fur-ever homes.
11-year-old Valke is diabetic and needs some tlc
Dutchess, a 3-year-old pibble, loves other dogs.
Sav-A-Pet will be bring Miracle and Angel to the fair.
Come meet Madilynn, a tortoise shell, at the fair.
Nadia would love to find a permanent home soon.
Nana is a 3-month-old female plot hound/lab mix from Happy Tails Dog Rescue
By Ernestine Franco
Find your new best friend at the 5th annual Sound Beach Civic Association Pet Adopt-A-Thon on Saturday, Sept. 24 in the Hartlin Inn parking lot, 30 New York Ave., Sound Beach (across from the Post Office) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Eleven animal rescue groups from Suffolk County will be on hand to show off their lovable, adoptable pets including The Adoption Center, Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, Compassionate Action, Volunteers for Animal Welfare, Grateful Greyhounds, Happy Tails Dog Rescue, Last Chance Animal Rescue, Long Island Bulldog Rescue, New York State Retriever Rescue, Sav-A-Pet and the Town of Brookhaven Animal Shelter. Adoption fees will vary by group.
Saving one animal will not change the world, but for that one animal the world will change forever.
Created and run mostly by volunteers, many of these groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused or stray animals into their homes and care for them — training them, playing with them, handling medical issues and solving behavioral problems — until a suitable permanent home can be found.
“Last year twelve ‘furever’ friends found new, loving homes at this event,” Bea Ruberto, president of the Civic Association, said, “and we’re looking to do even better this year. We hope a lot of people will stop by to meet their new best friend.”
The New York State Retriever Rescue will be bringing Alice and Trixie whose owner recently died. Happy-go-lucky dogs who love other dogs but have never been around cats, they just need someone to love them again. The group will also be bringing Buck Hope, a 9-year-old lab who is described as being kind of goofy and loves to swim, and Elsa, a 10-year-old very sweet lab mix who is a big mush of a girl and loves both dogs and cats.
Happy Tails Dog Rescue will be showcasing Georgie and Porgie, two yorkie mixes, and Nana, a 3-month-old female plott hound/lab mix in hopes that they will find loving homes.
Last Chance Animal Rescue, which has participated in this event every year, is bringing Dutchess, a 3-year-old female pibble who is crate trained, house trained and loves dogs (no cats please). They will also be offering Madilynn, a tortoise shell cat, who has been with the group for six months. Her first birthday has come and gone and no forever family has picked her. She is great with other cats and dogs and people of all ages and loves to play and snuggle. What more could you ask for?
Nadia, a young gray and white shorthaired cat, will also be there, courtesy of Last Chance, and would love to find her home soon. She’s kid tested, cat tested and dog tested and ready to start a new life.
Sav-A-Pet will be featuring three cats this year — a pure white beauty named Valke, an 11-year-old diabetic female who just needs some tender loving care, and Miracle and Angel, two pastel calico kittens who had a rough start in life.
The Adopt-A-Thon will also offer information on responsible pet care, face painting for the kids, live music by Gina Mingoia and Sal Martone along with a raffle auction and 50/50 with all the proceeds going to the participating animal welfare groups.
Raffle prizes include a one-year subscription to Times Beacon Record Newspapers, brass candlesticks, Christmas baskets, Dr. Who memorabilia, electric wine opener with a bottle of wine, fall harvest baskets, granite and marble cutting boards, handbag with scarves and gloves, handmade blanket and pillow, hand-painted wine glass, home and kitchen baskets, Italian cheese-making kit with a bottle of wine, Lenox bowl, pet gift basket, Sky Zone passes, spa baskets, a framed silver record signed by Christina Aguilera, Clint Black, EVE 6, and Tyrese, Theatre Three tickets and much more.
Echo Pharmacy will provide some free give-aways, and Miller Place Animal Hospital will be offering a free exam for any newly adopted pet. So, whether you want to help the great work the animal welfare groups do or are looking to adopt your new best friend, stop by for a great family-friendly event.
Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that critically injured a pedestrian in Melville Sept. 16.
Maurice White was driving a 2012 Mercedes Benz southbound on Route 110 when his vehicle struck John Erickson, 43, of Mount Sinai, who was attempting to cross Route 110 at the intersection of Spagnoli Road at approximately 1:05 a.m.
Erickson was airlifted via Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital. White, 46, of Massapequa, was not injured.
The vehicle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information on the crash to contact the Second Squad at 631-854-8252.
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