Volunteers at a previous Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson line up for the Giant Puppet Parade. Photo by Heidi Sutton
Volunteers from last year’s Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson. Photo by Bob Savage
Here ye! Here ye! Are you looking to volunteer? Do you need community service or acting experience? The Port Jefferson Dickens Festival committee is seeking adults, teens, children and parent chaperones for street character plays and performances including “Scrooge’s Dream” and “Oliver’s Adventures” to be held at the 21st annual Charles Dickens Festival on Dec. 3 and 4. Many key roles are available including Marley’s Ghost and Tiny Tim along with student improv groups, caroling groups and Newsies.
Choose your level of time commitment. Some positions only require availability during the festival. Rehearsals for the street performances are held on either Tuesdays or Thursdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Port Jefferson Village Center, 101A E. Broadway, Port Jefferson.
For adult street character plays and Dickens regulars contact Karen at [email protected]. For students interested in performing and community service contact Carolyn at 631-741-6698 or Jill at 631-418-6699.
Remember the names of Columbus’ ships, anybody? Yes. Of course you do. Everyone in this overflowing audience knows the three names. Furthermore, you all know them in the same order. Good for you! Doesn’t matter where you went to school — from the Redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters, to the New York island, those names were taught to you and me — and in order!
Quite an achievement. Or, is it? Of what educational value are those three names? Virtually none, except maybe to a contestant on Jeopardy. But students are in real jeopardy if we continue to consume their limited school time with pointless facts, trivia, backward thinking, and low-level knowledge.
I dub it the “Nina Pinta and Santa Marianization” of our schools. Let’s sail back in time to Columbus. The big date — you know, it rhymes with “ocean blue. What was going on in the world during that era? Was there a printing press? Was there a global power? Were there wars going on? (Good guess. Seems there’s always a war going on somewhere.) Was his trip around the time of the Great Potato Famine or the Black Death? How long would the journey take and how was it estimated? What provisions did Columbus need to stock in order to survive the journey? How did the food not spoil? How much water could be used each day by each person and animal? How many men and animals should be boarded, realizing that each man and animal consumed food and water and made the living quarters tighter? What if winds were becalmed in the Horse Latitudes and the ships barely moved? Did they need weapons, and if so, why?
How many of us considered those questions in school? The teachers didn’t ask them, nor did they know the answers. Remember, teachers are a product of the schools themselves. They are primarily people who succeeded in school, liked it, and went on to do it — not change it. They are educational conservatives.
During the eight years I directed a class for teachers, I’d give them a test developed from fourth- and fifth-grade books. Not one teacher ever came close to passing. I’d tell them that they were either not very bright or that the material we’re teaching our kids is irrelevant to a functioning adult.
So, what if our educational system comes to its senses and realizes that constructive destruction of curriculum and teaching methods is necessary, and Common Core was not a common cure? What should we teach? Here’s a start:
Personal finances. Every school should create a bank where students have the option to invest by purchasing shares. The bank would issue loans to students and would require a student co-signer. Interest would be added to the loan reflecting the amount and length of loan. Credit rating would be developed. [Yes. I’ve done it and it works.]
What is fire, auto, and life insurance — and how do they work?
The art of being skeptical without being a skeptic. Time. What it is and how to manage it.
Relationships: What are they? How do they develop? And what is their value? Introductions: How to offer and receive.
Black boxes in airplanes and cars. What do they reveal? What are mortgages? Why do they exist?
Waste management. Where does garbage go? What are sewers and cesspools? [Water, water … not everywhere.]
Logic and reasoning with and without Venn diagrams. The art of questioning and the value of wrong answers.
The media. What it is, how it works, and the choices it makes. The illusions in movies and TV through editing, music, and more. PG-13: How and why things are rated. The goals and methods of advertising.
A school farm with irrigation. Students would have scheduled time working on the farm. A student and adult committee would handle the summer months. Kitchen duty with student assignments. Custodial duty with student chores.
The science of raising, preparing, and cooking food. The food we eat: Where does it come from? What is a hamburger bun?
Negotiating and compromising. Shipping and transportation. The evolution of things: the medicine bottle, the telephone, the sneaker, etc.
Dilemmas: how can Italy, the world’s biggest exporter of olive oil, also be the world’s biggest importer? Is there such a thing as too much?
Plumb lines, centers of gravity and sea level. Architecture, engineering, stacking blocks. Physics is everything. How technology affects our lives.
Language travels with us but never reaches a final destination.
Objects: magnifying glasses, prisms, levels, stethoscopes, magnets, ball bearings. The magic of perimeters. Zero-sum games.
The gift of failure, and the hardship of failure-deprived people. Thinking about what others are thinking by using game theory.
Your body: A user’s manual.
Bruce Stasiuk of Setauket continues to teach. He currently offers workshops as an instructor in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, located at Stony Brook University.
The pier at Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson needs repairs, according to a report by an engineering firm. Photo by Alex Petroski
After recent accounts of “shifting” and “swaying” of the pier in Harborfront Park, the Port Jefferson Village board of trustees commissioned a field assessment of the pier.
The Bohemia-based engineering firm P.W. Grosser Consulting Inc. conducted the assessment, made several recommendations — including instituting a maximum occupancy for the pier of 180 people — and noted several deficiencies that may need to be addressed.
The Village hosted its annual Port Jefferson Dragon Boat Race Festival Sept. 16 at Harborfront Park, which drew participants and spectators totaling in the hundreds. During the event, the pier was frequently packed with people, and according to the report, it could be felt swaying and shifting at various points throughout the day.
The assessment in part found “severe section loss” to pilings, or columns driven into the sediment that serve as a foundation for the platform, a missing washer and nut for one beam-to-piling connection, rusted connections between pieces of wood and a split in at least one cross-bracing. The report recommended that section loss to pilings and the missing washer and nut be addressed immediately, and called them “significant structural deficiencies.”
Village Mayor Margot Garant said in an email the issues will be addressed as a matter of “when” and not “if,” and the job will be put out for bid. Garant said the maximum occupancy recommendation would be increased when the improvements are completed. At a village board meeting Oct. 20, Garant estimated that, at any given point, there might have been as many as 200 people on the pier.
“We immediately asked everybody other than the boaters to get off the pier,” Garant said after accounts of swaying and shifting circulated Sept. 16. She added the assessment was ordered as an emergency. “It’s obviously showing some age and some wear and tear. … It’s something we’ll need to have addressed.”
Village Trustee Bruce D’Abramo was in favor of a proactive approach regarding the recommendations.
“They’ve called the village’s attention to a couple of issues [with the pier], I think that if we ignored it, it would not be good,” he said during the meeting on the Oct. 20.
The 337-feet long by 12-feet wide pier is made entirely of timber and was originally built in 1996. It was last modified in 2004, according to the report. The pier remains open for use, with the maximum occupancy restrictions in place.
Casey Schmitt dribbles the ball up the field. Photo by Desirée Keegan
The first round of playoffs is a hurdle the Mount Sinai girls’ soccer team hasn’t been able to jump over in some time.
The Mustangs fell to No. 3 Elwood-John Glenn 1-0 last season, and No. 1 Sayville the year prior, 3-0, and despite an 8-3-1 record, didn’t see the postseason the year before that.
Missy Carpenito receives a pass. Photo by Desirée Keegan
This time, the No. 4-seeded senior-laden squad, and more specifically, its three co-captains, had other ideas, and blanked No. 5 visiting Comsewogue 3-0 in the Class A first round Oct. 25.
“We’ve worked so hard to accomplish this goal,” senior outside midfielder Missy Carpenito said. “We finally made it.”
The co-captain was first to light up the scoreboard when she stuffed in a rebound off Comsewogue senior goalkeeper Erica Hickey’s save with just over 17 minutes left in the first half. Sophomore striker Gabby Sartori assisted on the play.
“I saw the ball coming across with the rebound from the goalie, and coach [Courtney Leonard] says to always make that rebound, so I went for it,” Carpenito said.
Leading 1-0 at half time, Mount Sinai’s head coach gave her team the reality check it needed.
“Tighten it up,” Leonard told her girls. “This is possibly the sloppiest game we played all season. They’re winning practically every 50/50 ball. Was that not our goal?”
Although the Mustangs still struggled to win possession of loose balls, senior sweeper Antonia Calamas had an opportunity to extend the lead, and made it count.
At the 22:33 mark, senior forward Leah Nonnenmann was knocked down heading to goal, and Calamas came up to take the free kick.
Emily Seiter tosses the ball into play. Photo by Desirée Keegan
“I don’t get to score a lot, so that was really exciting for me,” the co-captain said. “Most of us have been playing together since last season. A lot of us play on travel too, so we’ve been working together for so long that playing with each other just comes naturally to us.”
And with Calamas’ goal, the Mustangs were up by two.
Six minutes later, Calamas showed her strength on the defensive side of the ball. With the Warriors knowing they didn’t have much time to level the score, the team made offensive pushes that forced Mount Sinai off its game. As junior goalkeeper Caiya Schuster came out of the box after making a save, Comsewogue found itself with the ball again, and tried to capitalize on the miscue. That’s when Calamas came in to knock the ball out of bounds to preserve the shutout.
“They were playing with three strikers up top, and we’re not used to that, so I think that’s why we had a couple of breakdowns,” Calamas said. “But I wasn’t worried because I knew we could handle it. Even if it does get crazy sometimes, I stay calm.”
With less than 10 minutes left to play, senior defender Victoria Johnson made a similar play, where she blocked a shot with Schuster out of the net.
“We had some scary mishaps on defense that we were able to clear, and that saved us,” Leonard said. “We’ve been covering for each other all year and I think the girls did a great job of it today. If one man is literally down on the floor, the next one is clearing the ball out and helping them up. We played as a cohesive unit.”
Her team also finished when it needed to finish, and senior forward Casey Schmitt put the game out of reach when she scored off another Comsewogue rebound. After Carpenito raced up top and took a shot from the far post, the co-captain caught the rebounded save on the other side, and made contact to knock the ball in.
Antonia Calamas is embraced by her teammates after scoring the second goal of the game. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Mount Sinai’s head coach was proud to see her players fight through the first round, but wasn’t shy when saying her team needs to get back into form.
“It’s not our best performance so far,’’ she said. “I would’ve liked to see much more of a possession game; I would’ve liked to see us use the outsides more, but in the end, we got it done.”
She’s hoping the girls will continue to grow, and thinks that can be done when Mount Sinai goes up against No. 1 Islip Oct. 28 at 2:30 p.m.
“Islip is obviously a great team and a great program, but eventually you’re going to face a great team and a great program, so we’re looking forward to it,” Leonard said. “We’re welcoming the challenge.”
The Mustangs have already seen Islip twice this season. The first time, a 4-1 loss on Sept. 10, and the second, a 3-1 defeat on Sept. 29.
Despite the outcome, Sartori said her team will be ready to fight. She said if any team can continue to overcome obstacles, it’s this one.
“I’ve been waiting four long years for this,” she said of making the postseason. “Facing Islip is going to be hard, but I think we will rise to the challenge and make our mark.”
Clearing trees to build solar farms, like this one in Shoreham, would be illegal in Brookhaven Town if a proposed amendment passes. Photo by Nicole Geddes
By Nicole Geddes
Brookhaven Town is all for going green — but not at the expense of green.
The town board held a public hearing to discuss a resolution that would amend its solar code during a meeting Sept. 29 and would make land clearing for solar energy production illegal. If passed, solar energy production equipment could only be installed on land that was cleared prior to January 2016.
“It is a starting point and that is the best part,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) said of the amendment in a phone interview. “We will not be clearing trees to create solar farms in business and industrial zones. … While I’m a believer in solar power, we don’t want to trade one green for another green.”
Community members spoke in favor of the amendment during the public comment period of the meeting.
“We will not be clearing trees to create solar farms in business and industrial zones. … While I’m a believer in solar power, we don’t want to trade one green for another green.”
— Ed Romaine
“We need not sacrifice forests for solar,” Richard Amper, executive director of Long Island Pine Barrens Society, said in an interview. “It’s equivalent to destroying the environment to protect it. We don’t have the open space to meet the requirements of Governor Cuomo’s ‘50 by 30’ initiative, without alternative transmission lines such as offshore wind farming.”
New York Gov. Cuomo’s (D) Clean Energy Standard requires 50 percent of New York’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar by 2030.
Amper said he is in favor of alternate energy sources, and welcomed the amendment.
“We need renewable energy sources, solar is important,” he said. “We just need to be careful where it’s sited. It shouldn’t be on forested land, on farms where food is grown or in residential communities. It should be on rooftops, parking lots and previously cleared lands.”
Other members of the town board expressed their support for the amendment.
“My constituents in Council District 1 have expressed support for renewable energy and smart energy alternatives,” Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) said in a statement. “They want to ensure that government is thinking strategically about how to limit and reduce nonrenewable energy, improve air quality and diversify power sources.”
Additionally, the amendment would reduce the amount of acreage allowed for solar farming, from 10 to 5 acres in business and industrial zones.
Restrictions in the town’s solar code also require a buffer zone of 25 feet around all mechanical equipment and solar panel arrays for aesthetic reasons. Director and vice president of the East Moriches Property Owners Association, Jim Gleason, spoke in favor of the amendment during the meeting, but advocated for increasing buffer zones.
“Solar panels are ugly,” he said. “A 25-foot minimum buffer is not enough, 7-foot evergreens are not tall enough. Some panels are 20 feet.”
Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) disagreed.
“I think that shopping centers and housing developments are more unsightly than solar panels,” Bonner said. “There’s no noise, no traffic, no pollution and no long-term health risks for residents in communities where solar farming and energy production is located.”
The town board will vote on the resolution at the meeting Thursday, Oct. 27.
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
Scenes from the annual The Taste at Port Jefferson event Oct. 22 at Port Jefferson Village Center. Photo by Nicole Geddes
The Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Taste at Port Jefferson event Saturday Oct. 22 at the Village Center, where visitors sampled local foods, wines and desserts from more than 35 North Shore based vendors.
Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco signs $10,000 check presented with Legislator Sarah Anker, on right, to the North Shore Youth Council for a new family counseling initiative to combat substance abuse. Photo from sheriff's office
A strong support system is vital in a fight against drug abuse, and now North Shore families will have more options to help struggling loved ones manage their addiction.
Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) and Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco delivered a check for $10,000 to the North Shore Youth Council in Rocky Point this week, which will be designated for its new family counseling initiative to combat substance abuse. The grant, which is funded from the sheriff’s office asset forfeiture monies, will engage whole families in therapy designed to help them cope, understand the root causes of addiction and support their loved one’s recovery.
Anker proposed the pilot initiative following a conversation with Father Frank Pizzarelli from Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson.
Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker and Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco with members of the North Shore Youth Council after presenting the check for it’s new substance abuse program. Photo from sheriff’s office“Father Frank is on the frontlines in our battle against addiction in Suffolk County,” she said. “He impressed upon me the importance of the family unit in successfully treating addiction.”
When Anker approached the sheriff about the possibility of using asset forfeiture funds dedicated for this purpose, DeMarco was all in favor of the project.
“Family therapy can lower relapse rates, help parents with addicted children find effective ways to support their loved one’s recovery and even help children with addicted parents deal with their struggles,” he said. “ I am hoping this initiative will serve as a model and get more families involved in recovery.”
The North Shore Youth Council serves communities across the North Shore, including Port Jefferson, Wading River, Middle Island, Ridge and Coram. The agency helps hundreds of families each day through their school-based prevention and before and after care programs. According to the youth council’s Executive Director Janene Gentile, many people within the community can’t afford family counseling, because money is tight due to lost wages and the cost of treatment.
“Treatment is the first step, but ongoing family therapy is often essential to getting to the root of the problems that led someone to use drugs in the first place,” she said. “This grant will defer the cost of family counseling, which will eliminate the most common barrier to families engaging in therapy.
North Shore Youth Council’s Board President Laurel Sutton joined with Gentile in thanking the County sheriff and legislator for their support.
“I want to thank Sheriff DeMarco and Legislator Anker for giving us this opportunity to enhance our counseling services to struggling families impacted by the opioid [problem],” she said.
For more information about the family counseling initiative, or to schedule an appointment with a counselor, call the North Shore Youth Council at 631-744-0207.
The subject of this talk is American education; or, as I sometimes call it … artificial intelligence. Full disclosure: I admit that I don’t know much about what goes on in high school, having spent only four distracted years at that level. This presentation refers to the foundational years — the K-6 building blocks where I invested six seasons as a parochial student.
After completing the requirements at Adelphi Suffolk University, I was invited to teach a few graduate courses there. Afterwards, I spent 34 enjoyable, yet disorganized seasons as a classroom teacher, then eight more years instructing a course called Thinking Inside the Box for K-12 teachers, which gave me the opportunity to examine the species up close and personal. That comes to about 50 years in fuzzy numbers. But, who’s counting on me?
You’re urged to disagree with anything expressed here, because I make mistakes regularly, myself being a product of the American industrial-education complex. Let’s start with the premise that all knowledge is worthwhile and desirable. There is no benefit to not knowing something. Ignorance is not blissful. However, all knowledge is not of equal value. The ability to read about the inventor of the cotton gin is of more value than knowing and memorizing his name. Likewise, although there would be some usefulness in recalling every number in the Manhattan phone book, and the cognitive exercise would be an accomplishment, it would mostly be a huge waste of “edu-minutes.” Knowing how to alphabetically look up a phone number is a more valuable and transferable skill. At least until it’s made obsolete in our advancing digital world. So, can we agree that some knowledge is of lower value, some is of higher value, and some is rapidly approaching an expiring shelf life?
Since schools operate by the clock and calendar, there is a finite amount of class time for learning. There is so much to learn, but students can’t learn it all. So, choices must be made. Schools need to adopt a regular policy of knowledge triage. There’s got to be jetsam and flotsam in order to make room for the important cargo. But even if schools agreed to do it, would they flotsam the right jetsam?
Ask your local administrator what’s the last thing added to the curriculum. Then ask, what was removed to make room for it. If there’s no answer, it means the program was diluted (unless the school day or year was expanded — not a chance) or in a misguided way, the usual ballast of art and music were reduced. Like the roach motel, once something enters the schoolhouse door, it can almost never leave. Schools change very little. If you were in the fifth grade 25 years ago and you visited a class today, it would look very familiar. Computers and tablets are used like electric paper, but the substance is the same. Oh, the blackboards are now smarter … but are the kids? Old wine in new bottles.
Remember, the learning clock is ticking. Time is passing. As a child, I had a fantasy of every person, at birth, receiving a huge hourglass. Except it wasn’t designed to measure an hour. It was constructed as a lifetime-glass. The top bulb contained all the sand representing one’s life according to actuarial tables. It was inverted at birth and the sand started trickling through the narrow stem passageway. One could see the top bulb dripping sand into the bottom bulb. Even at night, opening one eye, one could visualize their lifetime with the lower heap growing while the upper kept draining smaller. I wondered if a life would be led differently with such a visual aid.
Schools have to think that way. They must sort out, rummage through, and evaluate all available knowledge and select those age-appropriate things that will help develop students into educated people with transferable skills and functional wisdom. Ideally, layer upon layer will build up until enough practical knowledge and related talents enable graduates to negotiate life in a fluid and uncertain world — a very moveable feast. A friend recently told me the experience of his dental school orientation at the University of Maryland. The dean advised the new students that 50% of what they’d learn would no longer be true by the time they graduated. Furthermore, he advised, they won’t know which 50% it was.
So what did we learn in school? Reading. Of course reading. And math. Although I never did divide 4/7 by 3/9 ever again, I remember some lessons quite well. Pilgrims wore funny hats and buckled shoes. We drew pictures of them. They were brought home and taped to refrigerators — or iceboxes —remember, this was the South Bronx in the ‘50s. “Mary’s violet eyes … ” helped us learn what was, at the time, the order of the planets. But of what practical value is there in knowing that Jupiter is nearer to the earth than Saturn? So little time … so much knowledge.
Bruce Stasiuk of Setauket continued to teach after retirement. He currently offers workshops to seniors (citizens, that is) as an instructor in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, housed on the campus of Stony Brook University.
It may look very pretty all wrapped in a red holiday bow, but for all the believers out there, the Country House is said to be haunted. File photo
By Ernestine Franco
It’s the time of the year when children and adults alike will be out en masse on the lookout for ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. During the month of October, which culminates on Halloween, the North Shore of Long Island has many places to satisfy die-hard thrill seekers. However, if you want to experience “real” haunted places on the North Shore, check out the list below:
Kings Park Psychiatric Center, located on West Fourth Street in Kings Park has been closed for many years and is not open to the public. For many years, Long Islanders have broken into this historic location to see the eerie, condemned facilities. At its height, the psychiatric center was home to over 9,000 patients. They were subjected to overcrowding and deplorable conditions as well as dramatic procedures, such as lobotomies and electroshock therapy. From inside and outside the many buildings, people have reported yells and screams of deceased patients, and some say they can see ghosts in the windows. Although you cannot go into the buildings, you can drive through the grounds for a quick peek. The grounds are monitored by the police.
Country House Restaurant is located at 1175 Country House Road in Stony Brook. This building has a prerevolutionary story behind it. It is believed to be haunted by Annette Williamson, the daughter of a former owner. She had allowed British soldiers to stay in the home and was believed to be a spy. She was hung from the second-story rafters and her spirit haunts the kitchen and stairways. Visitors say they can hear her cries and light bulbs flicker. The restaurant also has a “Ghost Bar” where you can view pictures of Annette Williamson. Genre artist William Sidney Mount was said to have attended séances there when it was known as the Thomas Hadaway House.
Lake Ronkonkoma, Lake Shore Road, Lake Ronkonkoma: One of the most frequent tales you hear about Lake Ronkonkoma is one involving a Native American princess who died at the lake in the mid-1600s. The story goes that the Native American princess fell in love with an Englishman named Hugh Birdsall. He lived across the lake, but her father would not permit her to pursue a romance with the Englishman. Legends say that the heartbroken princess killed herself because she could not be with her true love.
Folklore then goes on to say that every year since, in a desperate search for a soulmate in death, the princess takes a young male’s life. Lake Ronkonkoma is rumored to have no bottom, just an endless abyss of darkness. The lake itself is the largest lake on Long Island and it would be impossible for a human being to reach the bottom without assistance since it is 100 feet (30 m) at its southeastern side. Something that feeds into this tale is how the water level of Lake Ronkonkoma seems to rise and fall with no relation to rainfall, something that adds to the mystery. Michael R. Ebert, author of “The Curse of Lake Ronkonkoma,” delved into these allegations and found that, “One study showed that over 7 years in the early 1900s, the rainfall on Long Island was below the usual average by about 52 inches, yet the lake rose 7 feet.”
Another eerie oddity about Lake Ronkonkoma is about the bodies of people who have drowned in the lake. Bodies have been found washed up in Connecticut and out in the Long Island Sound, fueling claims that Lake Ronkonkoma has many hidden caverns, passageways and tunnels leading to different locations. Other bodies have never been found.
Centereach High School, located at 14 43rd Street, has limited access for the public. Some believe that the bleachers of Centereach High School are haunted by James Halversen, a New York City firefighter who used to run at the track every day. At 8:00 p.m. on Jan. 5, 1997, Halversen and his dog were shot. Some people can feel his presence or even a man running on the fifth lane of the track. Some say they also have seen a glowing object in the northeast corner of the track.
Katie’s of Smithtown is located at 145 West Main Street. Katie’s is a popular bar in Smithtown and home to a ghost named Charlie, who is said to have been a bartender and bootlegger during the 1920s. After committing suicide, he is said to frequently visit the bar. Many patrons have felt or seen him. Some have seen people in 19th century dress in the bar, and the figure of a woman has been seen walking up and down the bar and down the basement stairs. Women have reported toilet seats jumping open and making banging sounds when no one else is in the bathroom, and footsteps have also been heard coming from the basement when it is unoccupied. Glasses have also been known to fly off the bar and tables.
And last, but not least, the Port Jefferson Ferries are believed by many that a ghost haunts the ferries as they travel the Sound. Many riders have seen the ghost of a former captain who wears a weathered uniform.
Peter Magistrale speaks in support of the Child Victims Act at a rally in St. James. Photo by Ted Ryan
By Ted Ryan and Victoria Espinoza
Residents of the North Shore gathered at Veterans Memorial Park in St. James Oct. 15, to raise awareness of sexual abuse of children in New York state.
Democratic candidate for the state Senate race in the 2nd District, Peter Magistrale, hosted the rally. He is advocating for a change to the current statute of limitations that restricts when a child rape victim can come forward with a civil or criminal case against their abuser.
In New York, once victims turn 23 they can no longer make a case for child abuse against the predator in question.
According to research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. In addition, the National Center for Victims of Crime said 14 percent of sexual offenders commit another sexual offense after five years, and 24 percent after 15 years.
The National Sex Offender Public Website stated children usually delay telling someone if they have been sexually abused because they are either afraid of a negative reaction from their parents or of being harmed by the abuser. The website indicated kids often “delay disclosure until adulthood.”
Magistrale said he thinks the restriction is unjust and wants to turn the tide on child abusers by removing the statute of limitations through the Child Victims Act. The bill would eliminate both criminal and civil statutes of limitation for child sexual abuse, and provide a one-time, one-year window in the statute of limitations to enable victims whose claim was time-barred by the current arbitrary limitations to revive their claim.
A similar version of this bill failed to make it past the state Senate floor during the legislative session this past June.
“A kid takes on average 21 years to come forward [to admit they were abused],” Magistrale said at the rally. “The average age that a child is raped is 8 or 9. By the time they build the courage and get over their psychological scars, time is up. We have to pass the Child Victims Act to do two things: Lift the statute of limitations completely, and then give a one-year look back window for people who were abused and unable to come forward in the past to point out who did it to them so we get them [the predators] off the street as well.”
Several victims of child abuse spoke at the rally, as well as members of anti-child abuse organizations. They told their stories of the abuse and their subsequent frustration with the restrictive statute.
Among the speakers was Melanie Blow, COO of the Stop Abuse Campaign.
“It’s simply ridiculous it’s taken us 10 years to pass the most significant bill to prevent child abuse,” Blow said. “But we’ve got survivors coming together right now to get the word out, to tell parents that this is an issue, and this piece of legislation will help.”
John De Vito, Democratic candidate for the state Senate’s 3rd district, also spoke at the rally.
“So many people here who are victims of sexual violence might never have a day in court to seek justice,” De Vito said. “But if we pass the Child Victims Act, our children will be awarded that opportunity going forward.”
During an interview at TBR News Media’s office in East Setauket, state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport) said he agreed with Magistrale, who he is running against for re-election in the 2nd District, that this is an important issue but he does not support the legislation.
“There are significant protections in the law right now,” he said. “This is a one-year opener that could bring cases going back 40, 50, 60 years. We have statute of limitations for very cogent reasons and no matter how emotional a subject may be, witness availability, evidence, all those things have a salutary effect in terms of what happens.”
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