Republican Party candidate for 10th Assembly District talks about her experience, Huntington's issues
Above left, Janet Smitelli is the Republican candidate for the 10th state Assembly District. Photo from Janet Smitelli
Janet Smitelli says she has a reputation for getting things done. The longtime Huntington native has developed youth programs in Costa Rica; been a park ranger at the Grand Canyon; served as an assistant Scoutmaster for local Boy Scout Troops; taught Sunday school; and, for more than 30 years, fought to protect residents as a civil litigator. This April, she hopes to add to that list New York State Assemblywoman of the 10th District.
“This is kind of a leap for me, but in a way it isn’t because I’ve been progressing my whole life towards this,” Smitelli said.
She was recently chosen by the Suffolk County Republican Committee to run for the assembly seat Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) left vacant in the April 24special election.
Janet Smitelli. File photo
“I’ve become politically involved because I’m getting pretty sick of what’s going on and I know I can use my talents and experience to make some type of difference, to help and be part of the fight,” she said.
Growing up in Oceanside, Smitelli said her parents, Bernard and Maria Heller, instilled in her the importance of serving the community, especially her mother, who was heavily involved in the chamber of commerce and local politics and was known as “Miss Oceanside.”
“From seeing that as my example from a very early age, I was involved in everything from day one,” Smitelli said.
A graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh with degrees in environmental science, late American studies and Spanish, Smitelli wound up taking her altruism to Central America for six months when she was 19. A few years later, after developing an interest in law, Smitelli went to law school at night and became a trial attorney in 1987. It was around this time that she married her husband and became a Huntington resident.
As a lawyer, she has represented those filing lawsuits and those on the receiving end of them, motor vehicle collisions, slip-and-falls and, predominantly over the last 10 years, construction accidents. She spends her free time actively volunteering in the Huntington community.
“Janet’s the kind of person you can call and say ‘I need your help’ and she’s there and ready to do what needs to be done,” Huntington resident Dennis Garetano said. “She’s there for the community, she gets things done and really cares about this neighborhood. She’s who we need to get elected.”
Patricia Wingfield, a resident whose son was a Cub Scout under Smitelli’s leadership, called her a natural leader.
“She led like a trooper — went on camping trips no other parent wanted to go on and was always such an advocate for all the kids to receive their badges,” Wingfield said. “She’s fair, she’s just, she’s effective. I aspire to be her.”
Lupinacci also voiced his support for her.
“I think she’s an excellent choice to fight for us in the state Legislature,” he said. “She’s very involved in the community and has a great background in terms of public service. She has the background, the fortitude and the skills needed to represent the 10th Assembly District.”
If elected, Smitelli said she wants to tackle what she believes are the major challenges facing Huntington. This includes pledging to eliminate excessive taxation, receive funds to preserve and protect waterways and our drinking water, increase funding for K-12 extracurricular programs and veer young people away from gangs and opioids by keeping them involved in community programs.
She also said she wants to strengthen the transparency between government and residents by making it easier to access information and calling for reform.
“If you look at my background, you’ll see I’m not doing this for any other reason than I really, really want to serve,” Smitelli said. “I think my talents, my experience and my life thus far, has been a pathway to this.
Politicians, coaches, veterans, police officers, firefighters and volunteers reflect on Black History Month
Former Huntington Town Councilwoman Tracey Edwards. File photo by Rohma Abbas
By Kevin Redding
African-American figures, leaders and movers and shakers across Suffolk County reflected on their lives and accomplishments to commemorate Black History Month.
David Lewis, Smithtown volunteer firefighter/retired NYPD officer
When David Lewis and his family moved to Smithtown from Hollis, Queens, in 1977, he said they were one of just two black families in the community. He was 7 years old and said he immediately saw the effect their skin color had on residents in his new hometown. Their property was often damaged, there was name calling, and he said his parents received lots of phone calls from neighbors warning not to send their children to the school district.
“The N-word was a big part of our childhoods, we were told we didn’t belong,” Lewis said. “But I
remember my dad saying, ‘You belong here. I don’t care what they say, I’m sending you to school.’”
David Lewis
Lewis said his father’s ability to hold his ground lit a fire in him.
“In the back of my mind, I remember thinking that I’ve got to prove to everyone in Smithtown that I belong here,” he said.
Lewis, who grew up in and around the kitchen as the son of a professional chef, started a chocolate and candy business out of his house as a ninth-grader, encouraged greatly by his high school cooking teacher as well as business instructor, who loaned him $100 to buy a mini-refrigerator. He hired local kids to help out and his budding entrepreneurship made headlines in the newspapers. Around that time, Lewis also began a private mentoring program for struggling kids in the neighborhood, many of whom came from broken or single-parent homes.
After graduating from Smithtown High School West, he attended the Culinary Institute of America, became a certified chef and spent a few years working in the industry until he decided to switch gears to pursue a full-time career helping people. Already a volunteer with the Smithtown Fire Department, Lewis joined the New York Police Department, determined to bridge the gap between youth and police. During his 25-year career on the force, Lewis regularly watched over neighborhood youth, encouraging students to do their homework and steering them away from trouble while offering mentorship to youths in Smithtown, Queens and Brooklyn. He received the Commendation Medal from the NYPD in 2000 and eventually retired out of the 104th Precinct.
Outside of the police uniform, he has served as an emergency medical technician; a fire prevention instructor in local communities; a fifth-degree black belt instructor, lending his expertise at Suffolk County PAL Martial Arts; an assistant Scout Master for Cub Scout Pack 340; a volunteer at the Smithtown Guide Dog Foundation; was employed part time as a security official in the Smithtown school district; co-founder of KiDS Need MoRe foundation; and remains an active captain in the fire department.
Through it all, Lewis said the accomplishment that’s meant the most to him was when he received an award for Greatest Person of Smithtown in 2012.
“That was just tremendous to me,” Lewis said. “I thought back to being 7 years old and being told I didn’t belong in Smithtown. That’s one of the things that’s always motivated me here, and [that honor] proved that I do belong.”
Eric Brown, head baseball coach at Suffolk County Community College
For 30 years, Eric Brown has been a coach, mentor and friend to more than 1,000 student-athletes at Suffolk County Community College, where the Coram native also served as campus coordinator and warehouse and mailroom supervisor. He retired as head coach of the men’s varsity baseball team in 2017. During his leadership tenure, he guided his teams to seven National Junior College Athletic Association World Series; won 685 games; was named Region XV Coach of the Year in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2006; led Suffolk to be named a nine-time winner of the NJCAA Region Umpires Association’s annual sportsmanship award; and was elected into the JUCO Hall of Fame in 2014.
A petition was even created recently calling for the baseball field at Suffolk County Community College Selden campus to be renamed the Coach Eric Brown Field.
Eric Brown
But despite being grateful for all the recognition, Brown, a graduate of the college himself, couldn’t help but laugh about how his career played out. Throughout his years as an athlete at Longwood High School, Brown’s true passions were basketball and soccer — he even went to LIU Post on a soccer scholarship — and baseball was very much an afterthought.
“Baseball was just something I did because everybody else in the neighborhood played it,” Brown said.
He said when he returned to Suffolk, hired as a material control clerk, he was approached by his mentor at the time, who was in charge of the basketball and baseball programs, who brought Brown in as an assistant basketball coach. Through his mentor, Brown learned everything he knew about baseball and soon began coaching the sport himself.
Throughout his career, Brown has been acknowledged for his role as a “player’s coach,” and someone who makes sure the athletes on his team are well-taken care of and successful on and off the field.
“I really care about these kids,” Brown said. “The long and short of it is that they’re more important than the program itself. They are the program.”
Tracey Edwards and Doc Spencer, Huntington elected officials
Former Town of Huntington board member Tracey Edwards, who has served for many years as the Long Island regional director of the NAACP, said while she considers her hometown a great place to live, she
admitted Huntington, and all of Suffolk County, still has a lot to work on when it comes to race relations.
“I would say, as a young person, I had a wonderful experience growing up in the Town of Huntington,” Edwards said. “But as I got older, as I reached adulthood, that’s when bad experiences started to happen. We’re being naive to think there is not still gender, racial and cultural bias where we live, and where everybody else lives.”
Edwards has built a career on trying to make a difference on that front. Since elected by the town in 2014, she has strived to be an exemplary community advocate and public servant — and was especially focused on making Huntington a more inclusive place, regardless of age, race, gender or economics. She has worked to
expand affordable housing legislation for millennials and first-time homebuyers; spearheaded the creation of the Huntington Opportunity Resource Center, a program that offers assistance with résumé preparation and job searches, exploration of career options and access to job training for unemployed and underemployed
residents; and led a strong campaign for Huntington supervisor in 2017, a race she lost to now Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R).
William “Doc” Spencer
“Being a black woman, it was very difficult for her to run for that position as it was portrayed in the results,” her mother, Dolores Thompson, a lifelong civil activist, said in December. “And yet, her experience and background is far better than most, black or white.”
Edwards pointed to her parents and the way they raised her as her main source of strength and inspiration.
“I was raised to believe and to understand that everyone is equal and to treat everyone with respect,” she said.
Just the third African-American elected legislator in Suffolk County history, William “Doc” Spencer (D Centerport), who is also a beloved physician and ordained minister in his community, agreed with Edwards that the region has plenty to overcome, but also sees every day how far it’s come.
“Long Island has certainly had its struggles with division and difficult race relations but I’m optimistic, just evidenced by the fact that I’ve been chosen to lead by an overwhelmingly white population,” Spencer said. “I don’t believe people look at me as a black man, but, hopefully, as a good doctor, representative and humanitarian. As the only black official in the Town of Huntington, I’m a voice of unity, a voice of harmony and I believe it’s incredibly important that we have acceptance.”
Spencer himself grew up in West Virginia in an area still heavily segregated.
“Most blacks lived on one side of town with substantial divides throughout the area,” he said, reflecting on his upbringing. “I would be stopped by police if I was driving in a particular section. I’ve been chased and called names. I experienced all of that in the 1970s and ’80s. We have made great strides.”
Michael Jordan, president of the Visually Impaired Persons of Suffolk
In 2014, Southampton native Michael Jordan’s life became permanently dark. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former Southampton Golf Club employee began losing his eyesight a few years prior in 2011,
so when he went completely blind, he was ready for it, determined to stay active, independent and productive. That same year, he joined the Visually Impaired Persons of Suffolk, a social group designed to empower and self-advocate the blind community with ties to Deer Park and Port Jefferson. As a member, he noticed that the extent of the “social” aspect of the group was sitting together for a cup of coffee and a donut.
Michael Jordan
“I said, ‘We’ve got to start being active here,’ if you want to sit around and drink coffee, I can do that home,” Jordan said.
He took the reins as an orchestrator of outings and activities, from fishing and park trips to dinner functions, bowling nights and fundraisers. Members donated funds to five underprivileged families last year.
Jordan, who pays for a majority of the event’s raffles himself, quickly rose to a vice president position and, in 2017, he was elected president of the group.
“All I want to offer is giving, love and joy,” Jordan said. “I like to help people for a day to help them forget about their problems, and that way, they can see someone in an unfortunate situation spreading joy in life.”
Jordan said it’s important to him that his colleagues in the group recognize their importance in life, despite their disabilities.
“I want to show people of Suffolk County that we are people,” he said. “When you look at us, you should just see a resident. You don’t see that I’m blind, you don’t see that I’m in a wheelchair, you don’t see that I’ve got hearing aids, don’t see that I’m in a walker, or what have you.”
District administrators to review security plans March 13; have plans to install more cameras
Huntington High School. File photo.
With Florida’s school shooting still in recent memory, Huntington school officials are taking the tragedy as a reminder to review their own security plans.
Parents were given a thorough rundown of Huntington Union Free School District’s plans to keep its nearly 4,600 students safe and planned security upgrades at the Feb. 26 board of education meeting.
“Any district that would say they are well prepared to deal with any and all contingencies that could occur would be stating something that is not true,” Superintendent James Polansky said. “I believe in this district we are as actively thinking what can and may happen as any other district out there. You have to be as many steps ahead as any district can be.”
“Any district that would say they are well prepared to deal with any and all contingencies that could occur would be stating something that is not true.” —James Polansky
Kathleen Acker, Huntington’s assistant superintendent for finances and management services, walked parents through the district’s general safety plans, which can be found online, in addition to informing them that a districtwide plan and highly-detailed building specific plans exist and are filed with state and local law enforcement.
“The plans are very dynamic and always change in response,” Acker said. “We will be doing a review on March 13 to see how comprehensive it is, but there’s always room to add a bit more.”
School officials have used part of the district’s $1.4 million Smart Schools Bond Act funds from the state to upgrade existing security cameras at the high school and install additional ones districtwide this year, according to Acker. She said the district has also recently partnered with Intralogic Solutions, a security technology provider, to pilot a new safety system. The Alert Domain Awareness System focuses security cameras on fire alarms to provide a view of who pulled the trigger, a method which was employed by the Parkland shooting suspect, to determine if it’s a credible alarm.
The assistant superintendent said the district will spend approximately $100,000 to replace old doors at two elementary schools with doors that can be locked from the inside. It’s a process referred to as door hardening, according to Polansky, and it’s recommended classroom doors are locked at all times.
“Just a locked door serves as a deterrent,” he said. “If there’s a threat, they’ll keep moving.”
Huntington school district has hired one additional security guard, currently in training, and plans to review its deployment of guards throughout the district. The state has approved the district’s plans to construct a security vestibule at Jefferson Elementary School this summer, according to Acker. School officials are also waiting for state approval to build similar booths at Nathaniel Woodhull School and Southdown Primary School.
““If we can’t keep students and staff safe, nothing else matters.”
— James Polansky
Last year, each building had video monitors installed at every greeter station so staff members could see visitors looking to gain entrance. Visitors are required to show photo identification.
The superintendent said he believes a key piece of ensuring student safety is preventative measures which have included anti-bullying programs and adding support staff — a social worker, a psychologist and more guidance counselors.
“They are not teaching kids in the classroom, but the services are indispensable,” Polansky said.
The Huntington superintendent said he had a meeting scheduled with 10 other school administrators across Huntington and Smithtown townships Feb. 27 to discuss the best ways to communicate and share security strategies in light of the recent shooting.
“Safety is our No. 1 priority,” Polansky said. “If we can’t keep students and staff safe, nothing else matters.”
District faces larges cost increases in employee health care benefits, state Teachers' Retirement System contributions
Huntington High School. File Photo
Huntington school district administrators will be counting every penny to reduce their drafted 2018-19 budget by more than $2.64 million to come in under the state tax levy cap before May.
Huntington Superintendent James Polansky gave residents their first look at the district’s suggested $132,294,449 spending plan for next school year at the Feb.26 board of education meeting. The drafted budget represents a 4.82 percent increase from the current year’s budget, significantly more than its 3.14 percent cap.
“A budget-to-budget change of over $6 million, that is not where we are going to land,” Polansky said. “That is not going to fly.”
The main driver of the Huntington school district’s increased expenses are non-discretionary costs, according to the superintendent, which includes teacher and staff salaries, employee health benefits, pension contributions, transportation, building maintenance and utilities. In total, the district’s non-discretionary costs are anticipated to increase by 5.66 percent.
“Salaries are a part of that, but the biggest chunk is health care insurance,” Polansky said. “We do have some alternatives we can look at in the teachers’ contract and we have work to do there.”
The district will be hit by a mandated increase in its contribution to the state’s Teachers’ Retirement System. Its rate is expected to increase from 9.8 percent up to 10.63 percent of its payroll. That will cost Huntington approximately $800,000 more per year, Polansky said.
Huntington officials also estimated its transportation costs will increase by 3.35 percent, or more than $380,000, due to annual cost increases in addition to paying for more student aides and bus monitors.
“Buses are an extension of the school,” Polansky said. “If something happens there, it’s treated like something that happens in a classroom.”
The district is working with a transportation consultant to review its bus routes in the hopes of increasing efficiency, according to the superintendent. Any cost savings measures the consultant may be able to suggest for next year have not yet been factored into the district’s draft 2018-19 budget.
Under the current draft budget, the average Huntington taxpayer’s school tax rate would increase by 5.65 percent. It would also require a 60 percent supermajority approval by voters to be adopted, as is standard when budgets pierce the tax levy increase cap. Polansky repeatedly referred to the $132 million proposal for 2018-19 as a starting point.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” he said. “It is a concern at a time when we have a lot of needs to be addressed both educationally and in security.”
The district will need to reign in its discretionary spending, according to Polansky, which covers staffing, textbooks, supplies, technology, sports and co-curricular activities.
In the upcoming weeks, school administrators will give several budget presentations, including March 12 on employee benefits, debt service and capital funding; and March 26 on instruction and staffing. The district has pushed back its final review and workshop to April 9. Polansky said the decision was made to give as much time as possible for final state aid figures from Albany before adopting a proposed budget to go before voters May 15.
Former Suffolk County legislator running as Democratic candidate for 10th state Assembly district seat
Steve Stern (D). Photo by Kevin Redding.
By Kevin Redding
At 19, Steve Stern knocked on doors in the outskirts of Louisiana, urging folks not to let a former Ku Klux Klan leader become a state representative.
It was 1989. David Duke had entered the race for a Louisiana House of Representatives seat on the Republican ticket, despite party members’ denouncement of his candidacy and racist, anti-Semitic past. Stern, a junior at Tulane University in New Orleans at the time, took to the streets for the first time as a political advocate for Duke’s opponent.
“Talk about being in the deep end without a paddle,” Stern said, during an interview with TBR News Media at a Dix Hills diner Feb. 19. “I just tried to persuade the area residents to do what was right and stand up against hate and intolerance. It showed me the importance of meeting people on their doorstep, talking to them face-to-face.”
Duke won. But it didn’t dissuade Stern from later seeking political office himself.
Stern (D) has honed the art of canvassing in his 12 consecutive years as Suffolk County Legislator of the 16th District beginning in 2005, after building a career as a lawyer.
““Our local region doesn’t get our fair share from the state level of government and I know that firsthand.” — Steve Stern
In the Legislature, Stern sat on the Suffolk County Veterans and Seniors Committee. He wrote the law that created the state’s first Silver Alert system — which helps locate seniors with Alzheimer’s or cognitive diseases who have gone missing — and initiated the first ban in the nation on the use of the BPA chemical in baby bottles, sippy cups and toys. Stern said he launched the Housing Our Homeless Heroes Act, as part of a long-term effort to bring an end to veteran homelessness in
Suffolk. Now, he’s running for state office.
Touting this record and a self-proclaimed natural ability to connect with community members, no matter their party affiliations, the 49-year-old family man will run in the April 24 special election to fill Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci’s (R) vacant seat in the 10th District of the New York State Assembly. He recently won the Democratic nomination and will campaigni against Republican Party candidate and longtime Huntington resident Janet Smitelli.
“I think he’s an excellent candidate,” said Mary Collins, chairwoman of the Huntington Town Democratic Committee. “He was very attentive to constituents and he worked on many issues that were important to his district.”
Stern said he hopes to bring a “very strong, local voice” to Albany.
“Our local region doesn’t get our fair share from the state level of government and I know that firsthand,” he said. “Look at our school districts. Community leaders on our school boards have very little they can do because there are too many state mandates preventing them from making real progress.”
“[Stern] has the ability to turn a concern into an actionable item and achieve a successful healthy change.” — Karen Miller
If elected, Stern said he wants to continue local efforts but on a much larger scale, such as combating gang activity, which he has done by helping to get county funding for automatic license plate readers that target criminals. He’s also passionate about protecting the environment and the area’s water quality, having co-sponsored legislation identifying key areas of importance when it came to developing sewer infrastructure. Stern said this legislation plays a key to downtown revitalization of Huntington Station. He said he’s a strong supporter of term limits and bipartisanship.
“Because at the end of the day, I can tell you, people don’t care what the letter is after your name,” he said. “They want to know that you’re putting points up on the board for them and that you’re doing it in a way that’s going to make them proud.”
Karen Miller, founder of the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, said Stern made her proud when she presented her group’s concerns about the dangers of the BPA chemical, a meeting that ultimately led him to his 2009 ban.
“Steve was an extremely good listener, he took time with me and wrote notes on his yellow pad,” she said. “He has the ability to turn a concern into an actionable item and achieve a successful healthy change. What a coup that would be for New Yorkers to have somebody like that up in Albany.”
Read TBR News Media to learn more aboutRepublican party candidate Janet Smitelli soon.
Construction aims to improve the area's ability to withstand storms without damage
A utility pole downed during Hurricane Sandy. File Photo.
More than five years after Hurricane Sandy wiped out electricity to more than 90 percent of Long Island residents, PSEG is making improvements to its power grids in the Town of Huntington.
PSEG Long Island announced Feb. 16 it will begin a four-month circuit reliability project in East Northport and Fort Salonga to replace existing wires, install more durable utility poles and move some of the main electrical lines underground. The work is expected to begin by the month’s end.
“PSEG Long Island works hard every day to ensure that its customers have the most reliable and resilient service possible,” said John O’Connell, vice president of transmission and distribution operations for PSEG Long Island, in a press statement. “Undertaking this FEMA-funded project in East Northport and Fort Salonga ensures that even more Long Islanders are served by equipment that can withstand extreme weather and provide the kind of service that our customers deserve.”
The project will affect approximately 3.25 miles along the following streets: 10th Avenue between Athens Court and 2nd Street North; Vernon Valley Road between Crest Drive and Fort Salonga Road/Route 25A; Dickinson Avenue between Vernon Valley Road and Laurel Road; Fort Salonga Road/Route 25A between Vernon Valley Road and Deauville Court; and Middleville Road between Fort Salonga Road/Route 25A and Highwood Drive.
“Our crews will be knocking on doors; if nobody is home then a door hanger will be left.”
—Jeremy Walsh
In this area, crews will be replacing selected utility poles with new ones approximately 2 to 3 feet from current locations. The poles are approximately the same height but have a stronger base to prevent toppling during storms, according to PSEG’s public construction plans.
PSEG warned that local residents may experience traffic or temporary electrical outages as construction progresses. Notification will be given of any planned outages, said Jeremy Walsh, PSEG spokesman.
“Our crews will be knocking on doors; if nobody is home then a door hanger will be left,” he said. “As much face-to-face contact that can be done will be done.”
In addition, PSEG is also looking to move its main electrical lines underground in the following areas: 10th Avenue between Athens Court and Elwood Road; and Elwood Road between 10th Avenue and the electrical substation north of Pulaski Road.
The work is funded by more than $729 million of federal recovery funds received in a 2014 agreement between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and tropical storm Irene. A breakdown of how money will be spent in East Northport and Fort Salonga was not available from PSEG Long Island,
according to Walsh.
This is the 14th section out of more than 35 circuits in the Town of Huntington to which PSEG has planned to make grid improvements. The order in which the improvements are made largely depends on when engineering approval is received, availability of necessary materials and understanding of the impact of construction traffic, Walsh said.
“We try not to inundate any single area with too many crews at once out of consideration for our customers,” he said.
Clarification: PSEG crews will be replacing selected utility poles on the specified routes but not all, as previously indicated. Story updated Feb. 22 at 1:16 p.m.
Huntington Station luge competitor Matt Mortinson, on top, competes with teammate Jayson Terdiman in the Winterberg, Germany November 2017. Photo from USA Luge
By Daniel Dunaief
Sixth place after the first run wasn’t going to cut it. Huntington Station’s Matthew Mortensen and his partner Jayson Terdiman had flown all the way to Pyeongchang, South Korea to bring home Olympic hardware.
Mortensen, who is in the World Class Athlete Program for the United States military, has spent years preparing for this opportunity.
The tandem was ranked fifth after the World Cup season, which brings the top athletes in the sport together for competitions around the world. They knew they had the talent to compete on the world’s biggest stage, and they had an enormous time gap, at least in the high-speed world of luge, to make up to put themselves in position for a medal.
Mortensen asked Terdiman, “Hey, do you want to go for it?” Without hesitation, his teammate agreed.
Before their next run, Mortensen sacrificed control for speed, reducing the margin for error on the final race for a medal.
“I’d rather be on my face than not try to get a medal at the Olympics,” Mortensen said.
“I’d rather be on my face than not try to get a medal at the Olympics.”
— Matt Mortensen
The second ride was better than the first, until they reached turn 13. Tapping the wall was enough to set them back. They finished that race in 13th and ended the doubles competition in 10th.
Changing the sled was “risky, but they were there to compete for a medal and not just compete,” Bill Tavares, the head coach of USA Luge, said in an email.
The Olympics were not over for the luge team, however, as they had one more competition a few days later, when they joined Chris Mazdzer, who had won a silver medal in the singles competition and Summer Britcher, a singles rider for the women, in the relay.
Team USA had every reason to be optimistic, as it had finished second in a similar relay in a World Cup competition in Germany last year.
When all the teams finished, the Americans came in fourth, a mere one tenth of a second behind the Austria team, which claimed the bronze.
“Fourth place was frustrating,” Mortensen said. The team had “an opportunity to get a medal, and didn’t.”
Tavares explained the fourth-place finish was “hard for all us to take.” The team knew it not only had a chance to win a medal, but win a gold one.
Fourth place became an unfortunate pattern for the Americans in South Korea, as Team USA didn’t make it to the medal stands often as the collection of determined athletes had expected in the first week of competition.
Apart from his events, however, Mortensen has ridden some of the same emotions as his countrymen back home.
He watched with concern as teammate Emily Sweeney crashed.
Huntington Station luge competitor Matt Mortinson, on right, with teammate Jayson Terdiman. Photo from USA Luge
“For us, it was a major relief when we saw her stand up and move around,” Mortensen said.
Mortensen was also inspired by snowboarder Shaun White, who returned from an Olympic misfire at Sochi to come through with a gold medal on his final run in the half pipe competition. White was moved to tears after collecting his third gold medal.
“That type of emotion and energy embodies the Olympic spirit,” Mortensen said.
The Huntington Station athlete was also impressed by the gold medal performances of 17-year old Chloe Kim, who won her half pipe competition, and Jamie Anderson, who claimed gold in women’s slopestyle snowboarding.
This is 32-year old Mortensen’s second Olympic appearence. He came in 14th at Sochi with a different partner, Preston Griffall.
Mortensen said the overall experience is the same, with considerable positive energy at both locations.
Mortensen’s parents Jerry and Mary flew across the world to support their son and the team.
Mortensen’s coach was pleased with his effort.
“He came to compete and left nothing out there,” Tavares said.
Mortensen also has dedicated fans back home.
“We are so very proud of [Mortensen] for his incredible passion, talent and perseverance competing for many years on the world’s stage, including the Olympic games,” said Eileen Knauer, a senior vice president and chief operating officer at Huntington YMCA. Knauer has worked with Mortensen’s mother Mary at the YMCA for more than a quarter of a century.
Mortensen has six brothers and sisters.
“We are so very proud of [Mortensen] for his incredible passion, talent and perseverance competing for many years on the world’s stage, including the Olympic games.”
— Eileen Knauer
“The Mortensen family is the epitome of what the YMCA represents; youth development, healthy living and social responsibility,” Knauer said.
In the longer term, Mortensen isn’t sure what will come next in his life. His time in the world class athlete’s program ends in June and he has to decide whether to continue.
In the meantime, he and his girlfriend of the last two years, Alex Duma, who is a chiropractor in New York City, plan to vacation to Hawaii in March.
Duma, who is a former Romanian National Champion and All-American swimmer, relates to the life of a driven athlete.
“I understand him really well,” Duma said. “I understand his lifestyle, which is why this works, because I’m 100 percent on board.”
Duma said she also knows the frustration her boyfriend felt after all the years of training to compete in the Olympics.
She tries to be “as encouraging and supportive” as she can, she said. She believes time can help provide some perspective.
While the 2018 results didn’t meet Mortensen’s expectations, “it doesn’t change who he is or his character,” Duma added.
As a member of the 1156 Engineer Company in Kingston, New York, Mortensen is a “folk hero” to the members of his unit, said Lieutenant William Hayes, who is his commanding officer. “He’s one of our own,” he said. “It’s always exciting to hear his stories.”
Shoreham-Wading River's Jason Louser swims his way to a first-place Suffolk County finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Because there’s no pool at Shoreham-Wading River, junior Jason Louser commutes over an hour to his practice pool in Eisenhower Park. That level of commitment paid off Saturday where the swimmer took a photo first in the 200-yard individual medley at the county championship, stopping the clock at 1 minute, 50.63 seconds, just two seconds ahead of second-place finisher David He of Ward Melville.
Northport’s Ethan Greenfield upset Ward Melville when he finished first in the 50-yard freestyle. Photo by Bill Landon
“It’s definitely good to see that all of the hard work has paid off — it gives me more confidence and a little less stress,” said Louser, who shaved nearly six seconds off his personal best at Hauppauge High School’s pool Feb. 15. “The pool in Eisenhower Park is an hour drive from where I live, so it’s a big commitment. Trying to get to practice and all of the meets at the same time it can be a little challenging.”
An upset came in the 50 freestyle, which pitted Northport’s Ethan Greenfield against Ward Melville’s Nick Bogush, who holds the fastest time in the county at this distance. Greenfield tripped the timer at 21.89, thirteen one hundredths of a second ahead of Bogush.
Northport head coach Drew Modrov said he wasn’t expecting that kind of performance from Greenfield.
“I was surprised,” he said. “Ethan came in as the underdog, and I think he was a little surprised [knowing the time differences between them]. He just showed up on race day and won it.”
Bogush said he felt fatigued going in, but credited his challenger’s changes.
“He was very swift,” Bogush said of Greenfield. “But I’m going to come back to states and do even better. I’ll give it my best. so we’ll see what happens.”
Ward Melville’s David He helped the Patriots take gold in the 400 and 200 relays. Photo by Bill Landon
Bogush came back with a vengeance though, earning a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay with teammates Kevin Xu, David He and Cameron Kubik. The team finished 31 hundreths of a second ahead of Northport’s relay, led by Greenfield. The Patriots finished the event in 1:27.03. Northport’s quartet also consisted of Zachary Papsco, Nicholas Millkey and Dylan Karpf.
“Every day in practice, I try to race other people who are specialist in their event, against freestylers and backstrokers, it gives me better reach,” He said. “I’m a 400 individual medley competitor in club swimming, so I have to train in every event every day.”
Ward Melville’s foursome also held off Northport in the 400 freestyle relay, with a best time of 3:11.87, nearly six seconds ahead of second place. The Patriot’s 200 medley team was edged out by Half Hollow Hills by 0.14 seconds.
Hauppauge’s Trenton Burr (100 backstroke, 51.26) and Jack Casey (100 breaststroke, 55.34) also came in first. Casey’s time was an All-American automatic standard.
The swimmers will compete in the state championships at a familiar venue for Louser, at Nassau County Aquatic Center March 2-3.
Saint Anthony's High School in South Huntington. Photo from Google Maps.
A student of St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington was killed in a car crash this weekend, according to school officials.
Anthony Pagano, senior at Saint Anthony’s High School. Photo from Facebook.
Brother Gary Cregan, principal of St. Anthony’s High School, announced that senior Anthony Pagano was involved in a serious car crash this weekend. Details of the accident were not immediately made available. Pagano played on the Friars’ varsity baseball team in spring 2017.
“Death is never easy, but the death of a young person is particularly heartbreaking and difficult to accept,” Cregan wrote in his message. “As Roman Catholics, we must rely on our faith to give us strength in the face of tragedy, and to help us understand why a young man on the verge of adulthood would be taken from us far too soon.”
The principal offered his condolences to the family, noting Pagano’s brother, Joseph, is a sophomore at St. Anthony’s.
Visitation hours will be held Feb. 21, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.; and on Feb. 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at M.A. Connell Funeral Home located at 934 New York Ave. in Huntington. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Feb 23 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Elizabeth’s Church, 175 Wolf Hill Road in Melville. Interment will follow at Locust Valley Cemetery in Locust Valley.
Three-day free medical clinic to treat more than 1,000 residents in need
A doctor speaks with patients at the 2017 free medical clinic in Haiti. Photo from Ginette Rows.
It’s easy to be critical of the severe problems Haiti faces, but a group of Huntington residents are taking on the challenge of finding a solution to its health care problems.
Two Huntington residents have organized a group to fly to Haiti Feb. 16 to launch their second free mobile medical clinic to provide basic medical services to those in desperate need.
“Last year was the first time we did a clinic,” Pastor Georges Franck said. “It was so successful that we decided to do it again last year.”
Franck, leader of Huntington Station’s Church of God, is working in partnership with Yam Community Resource Inc., a Huntington Station-based nonprofit that offers quality-of-life services for the Haitian community, to assemble a team of medical professionals to run a three-day medical clinic in Aquin, a city on the southern coast of Haiti.
“We expected we will have maybe 100 people a day, and we ended up at least 300 a day,” said Ginette Rows, president of Yam Community Resource. “By the time we finished, we saw 1,079 people. This year, I expect more.”
Huntington resident Ginette Rows, far right, and Pastor Georges Franck, far leg, with volunteers at the 2017 medical clinic in Haiti. Photo from Ginette Rows.
Since Hurricane Matthew devastated the island in October 2016, Rows said it has been a struggle to rebuild as the hurricane was the first of a chain of natural disasters that has led to high unemployment rates. Word of the medical clinic is spread primarily via word of mouth, according to Rows. Locals from the surrounding villages will travel long distances — often walking for hours — in hopes of being seen by a physician.
“The people we are seeing do not have the financial means to pay for medical care,” she said. “If you have money, the priority is feeding the family, shelter and paying for school.”
Donations are collected from the approximately 120 members of the Huntington parish to purchase basic medical supplies, such as scales, and over-the-counter medication, according to its pastor. Franck said medications like Advil, which may cost $6 or $8 in the U.S., may wind up costing $12 to $13 in Haiti due to increased costs of shipping and accessibility. Each volunteer pays his or her own travel costs and expenses.
The hundreds who line up to visit the clinic each day are screened by a team of nurses, Rows said, who is a nurse herself. The nurses take their blood pressure, pulse, medical history and check blood sugar to screen for diabetes. Among the most common issues are malnutrition, maternal care, dental issues and high blood pressure.
“There are 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds that are severely underweight,” Rows said. “Last year we weren’t prepared to weigh them, so we’ve shipped down our own scales, so we can see how big of an issue it is.”
Her goal, as a Haitian immigrant whose father was among the first to come to Huntington in the 1960s, is to collect organized data on the specific medical issues treated to recruit specialists to join the team at future clinics to improve Haitians’ quality of life. She hopes to eventually build a permanent partnership with local hospitals and medical organizations to improve the standards of preventative health care for residents.
“I consider myself a member of the Haitian family,” Rows said. “Regardless of religion, I am there to assist them in some way.”
To learn more about Yam Community Resource, visit its website at www.yamcommunity.com.
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