Featuring two nationally recognized groups in folk music and an open mic filled with 10 local singer-songwriters, the Northport Arts Coalition’s StarLight Concert Series ended its season with a bang on Friday.
A packed house was captivated by the intertwined harmonies of singer-songwriters Chuck E. Costa and Mira Stanley of The Sea and the Sea and the old time up-tempo music of Jan Bell and the Maybelles, a cornerstone in the Brooklyn folk and country scene.
Police are investigating the death of a Huntington woman after a car crash on Saturday afternoon.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, Tracymarie Verme, 44, was driving a 1997 Lexus west on Central Street in Huntington, west of Clinton Avenue, at about 4:30 p.m. when she hit two parked cars.
Verme was pronounced dead at Huntington Hospital, police said.
The parked cars were unoccupied at the time of the collision.
Police impounded the Lexus for a safety check. Detectives from the SCPD’s 2nd Squad are investigating the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to call the squad at 631-854-8252.
A Huntington man who admitted to huffing an aerosol cleaner before getting behind the wheel on New Year’s eve in 2013 and broadsiding a 63-year-old Commack woman’s car, killing her, was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison on Friday, according to the Suffolk County DA’s office.
State Supreme Court Justice John Collins sentenced James Murphy, 20, in Riverhead this morning after what DA spokesman Bob Clifford described in an email as an emotional courtroom scene. Family members of victim Herta Palma attended the sentencing.
Murphy pleaded guilty on Feb. 26 to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. He was remanded to the county jail following his February plea.
On the day of the fatal crash, Murphy was driving a Chevy Blazer north on Commack Road when he sideswiped one car and ran a red light at the intersection with Hauppauge Road, according to a Thursday statement from the DA’s office. Murphy’s SUV broadsided the Hyundai sedan Palma was driving. Palma died soon after at Huntington Hospital.
District Attorney Thomas Spota said Murphy told cops at the scene of the crash in 2013, “I was driving the white Blazer. I’m not going to lie to you officer. I just inhaled a can of Dust Off and threw it in the back of my truck.”
He also told officers he took Xanax and smoked hash a couple of days earlier.
Clifford said Murphy told the court today that he made “bad choices.”
Murphy’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on Friday afternoon.
According to Clifford, Palma’s son, Joe Palma Jr., spoke to the court as well, saying, “As a family we have already been given our sentence. A life sentence of pain and grief from the loss of a mother taken much too soon for no good reason.
“All of our lives have been forever altered. We will never be the same.”
Clifford said Herta Palma’s daughter-in-law, Mary, also spoke, saying that the victim had visited her Commack home that afternoon, reminding the family to be safe on New Year’s Eve. Palma was staying home on New Year’s Eve because she lost a friend years ago in a drunk-driving crash.
“We actually spoke of it, obviously not knowing as she drove away that her life was going to be taken within nine minutes of her leaving my home,” she said, according to Clifford. “As she was pulling away, she was waving with her big smile at me, blowing kisses. … I hold on to that memory every day.”
In his statement, Spota called on the New York State Legislature to include intoxicative inhalants to current statutes that make driving under the influence of a drug illegal.
“It is well-established science that people who abuse inhalants experience intoxication, muscle spasms, a loss of coordination, hallucinations and impaired judgment — and it is also a fact that for many teenagers, inhalants provide a cheap and accessible alternative to alcohol,” he said. “It is time New York State treats inhalants as intoxicating substances so prosecutors can charge offenders with driving while impaired by drugs in the first degree.”
On Tuesday, April 21, voters in the Huntington Public Library district will be asked to approve an $8.9 million budget to fund operations at the Huntington and Huntington Station branches.
The budget is an increase over this year’s spending plan of about $113,000 and will not exceed a state cap on property tax levy increases. The money will go toward library programs, services, materials and increasing Sunday and Friday evening hours to align closely with the school year, the library’s website said.
It will also go toward replacing the heating and cooling units at the Main Street branch in Huntington and installing LED lighting and interior space renovations there, library Director Joanne Adam said.
“I feel pretty good because I feel like we definitely were able to stay within the tax cap,” she said of her first budget with the branch. “I feel like we’re still offering a lot of good programs and services to our patrons while being able to do that.”
Residents will also be asked to vote for library board trustees next week. Three candidates are running for two seats on the board. Incumbent Harriet Spitzer is up for reelection and is running for another term, according to the library’s website. Candidates Yvette K. Stone and Pat McKenna-Bausch are also running for the seat.
The vote will take place on Tuesday, April 21, between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m., at the main building
By Susan Risoli
The United Teachers of Northport union has reached a tentative employment contract settlement with the Northport-East Northport school district.
School board counsel John Gross, of the Hauppauge firm Ingerman Smith LLP, said in a phone interview Monday that a memorandum of agreement containing details of the settlement had been delivered to Sean Callahan, the NYSUT labor relations specialist, that day.
Callahan will have the opportunity to make changes or comments on the agreement, he said. After that, Smith said, he expects it will take “another week or so before it’s signed.”
After signature by the negotiating team, Smith said, the agreement will go to UTN members for ratification, then to the Northport-East Northport school board for approval “and then it becomes public.”
The union’s previous contract expired June 30, 2014.
Union President Antoinette Blanck said in a phone interview Tuesday night that the union had received a draft of the memorandum of agreement and “we’re in the middle of reviewing it.”
She sent an email to union members Tuesday to update them on the contract’s progress, she said. A meeting was set for Wednesday with Callahan, she said, to review the agreement. Callahan’s office is in the same building as Ingerman Smith, she added, which she hoped would hasten the process if there are further discussions about the agreement.
After the memorandum is signed, each of the union’s 720 members will get a hard copy to read. There will be a ratification meeting, Blanck said, at which the settlement agreement will be explained. Then there will be a ratification vote “by secret ballot, in each building” no less than five days and no more than 10 days after the meeting, she said.
Although she said she couldn’t yet speak publicly about details of the new contract, Blanck said she felt positively about the settlement.
“We would have been still at the [negotiating] table if we felt this wasn’t an appropriate settlement to bring back to our members,” she said. “We’re hopeful that the rank-and-file members agree that this is an agreement that is respectful of the membership and respectful of the community of taxpayers.”
Blanck said the settlement was a long time coming “but certainly we’ve been very happy with the process” of negotiations.
The union represents the district’s teachers, teaching assistants, nurses, librarians, psychologists and counselors.
Suffolk County Police arrested two men and charged them with aggravated animal cruelty after retrieving a pair of badly injured dogs from a Huntington yard in “squalid” condition last Thursday, police said.
The men, Errol James, 55, of Denmark Court in Huntington and Derrick Simon, 54, of Nostrand Avenue in Central Islip, were arrested and charged with torturing and injuring animals. Police said the two dogs were kept at James’ home in “squalid and unsanitary conditions with no food or water,” and in a kennel “contaminated with feces and debris.”
When Huntington Town Animal Shelter Director Jerry Mosca got to the scene, he said he observed the two dogs, a female German shepherd and a male black and white pit bull, “killing each other in the backyard.” Shelter officials took the dogs to an animal hospital in Northport.
“I don’t know how you can come home, no matter who you are as a human being, to see the shape these dogs are in and actually live with yourself,” Mosca said. “I just don’t. I don’t get it.”
The pit bull’s ear was torn off, and an eye was punctured, and it had lacerations all over its face and body, Mosca said. The German shepherd had puncture wounds all over its legs and torso, severe ear infections and was “bleeding profusely,” he said.
“Just both of them were in very poor shape, dirty, feces on them.” Mosca said.
As of Wednesday, the dogs were back in the shelter and were doing much better and are showing signs of being friendly with humans, he said.
“They’re healing up great. They’re really showing signs of being healthy.”
The two men were arraigned on Friday. Larry Flowers, a Huntington attorney representing James, had no comment. Attorney information for Simon was not available.
Prickly
A Hastings Drive woman called police to report an incident of criminal mischief at her Stony Brook home — an unknown person cut branches from the front of her shrub sometime between April 11 at 8 p.m. and April 12 at 10 a.m.
Boozy banter
A man reported to police an incident of harassment on April 12. He told police that at about 8:20 p.m. in the wooded area on the west side of Waldbaums on Nesconset Highway in Setauket-East Setauket, he and another individual who may have been intoxicated made a verbal threat to him.
A leg up
A 36-year-old man from West Hempstead was arrested on Nicolls Road in Stony Brook on April 8 and charged with third-degree criminal mischief of property greater than $250 in value. Police said he kicked a female victim’s passenger door of a 2008 Honda Civic, causing damage, on Church Street in Lake Ronkonkoma on April 4. He was arrested days later in Stony Brook at 3:30 p.m.
Drugged driving
Police said a 21-year-old woman from Setauket was arrested on Old Town Road in Setauket-East Setauket on April 12 and charged with first-degree operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana. Police said she was driving a 2006 Nissan southbound on Old Town Road when she was pulled over at about 6:40 p.m.
Reckless
A 22-year-old man from Centereach was arrested in Setauket-East Setauket on April 11 at about 5 a.m. and charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and first-degree burglary. Police said the man fired a shotgun on Ringneck Lane in Setauket. Police also tacked on a burglary charge at the precinct — they said on March 29, at about 3 a.m., the man went into a home on Old Town Road and struck a man in the head.
Shoplifter caught
Police said a 32-year-old man from Southampton was arrested in Setauket-East Setauket on April 10 and charged with petit larceny. Police said he was arrested at the corner of Chester and Belle Meade Road for stealing assorted items from Walmart in South Setauket at about 10:20 p.m.
Busted with heroin
Police said a 28-year-old old man was arrested in Stony Brook on April 7 and charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, with the intent to sell. Police said that at about 12:45 p.m. on Route 347 on April 7 he was in possession of heroin in a 2014 Chevy Camaro.
Sweater snatcher
Someone stuffed a sweater into a purse and walked out of Target in South Setauket on Pond Path on April 7 at 2:05 p.m. without paying for it.
Taxi!
A cab was waiting outside of a Port Jefferson Main Street bar on April 12 when shortly after 3 a.m. a man walked up to the vehicle and kicked the side view mirror.
Punched
An argument on Main Street in Port Jefferson got physical on April 11 when one of the people punched the other in the face.
What a tool
Two unknown people entered a storage facility property on Jamaica Avenue in Port Jefferson on April 10, just before midnight, and removed a toolbox from a pickup truck.
Undeserved tip
A male entered a counter service restaurant on Main Street in Port Jefferson on April 9 and removed the tip jar. Two others accompanied the man, who then took the money and disposed of the jar.
Need a lift
Police reported an unknown person, or persons, shattered a 2014 Jeep’s liftgate on April 7 on Main Street in Port Jefferson.
Do not disturb
A resident of Henearly Drive in Miller Place reported receiving a dozen harassing phone calls from an unknown caller from April 7 to April 8.
Pocketed
A 2005 Honda Odyssey owner reported that a pocketbook containing credit cards and cash was stolen from the vehicle while it was parked on Miller Place Road in Miller Place on April 6.
Tracked
A resident of Halesite Drive in Sound Beach reported that an unknown person put a tracking device on his Jeep Cherokee. The incident was reported on April 9.
Through the basement window
Between 10:30 a.m. and 11: 30 p.m. on April 11, an unknown person broke a home’s basement window on Begonia Road in Rocky Point. Police said no items were taken from the home, and it doesn’t appear anyone entered the residence.
Call the coppers
A home on Hallock Landing Road in Rocky Point was ransacked at some point between April 8 and April 12. According to police, copper piping and various electronics were stolen from the residence.
Parking wars
Police responded to a confrontation at the Walmart parking lot in Centereach on April 11. Police said a woman reported that after opening her door and accidently hitting another person’s car, the individual became angry and started yelling. They then keyed the side of her vehicle.
Re-routed to jail
A 24-year-old Centereach woman was arrested in Centereach on April 7 for petit larceny after she stole routers, cables and merchandise from a Centereach store on March 24.
Slashed
A complainant on Elmwood Avenue in Selden reported his 2005 Ford’s tires were slashed on April 10.
Burglar caught
Police arrested a 22-year-old Centereach man on April 11 in connection with a March 29 burglary in which he and another person entered an East Setauket dwelling, threatened its inhabitant with a handgun and then struck the victim on the head. The man was charged with first-degree burglary with a dangerous instrument.
Put a ring on it
A 20-year-old Ronkonkoma man was arrested in Selden on April 10 for fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Police said the man sold a stolen ring at a pawnshop.
Getting physical
A 24-year-old woman from Lake Ronkonkoma was arrested in Smithtown on April 12 and charged with third-degree assault, with intent to cause physical injury. Police said that on April 11 at 1:35 a.m. on Church Street in Lake Ronkonkoma she punched a female victim in the head, and the victim required medical attention. The woman was arrested at the precinct in Smithtown.
Joyride
Three individuals were arrested after midnight in Smithtown on April 11 after police conducted a traffic stop on Jericho Turnpike and found drugs on passengers seated in a 2003 Chrysler. A 21-year-old man from Ridge and a 22-year-old man from Centereach were both arrested and charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance — heroin. A 21-year-old from Bellport was also arrested and charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana.
Shoplifter busted
Police said a 23-year-old man from Commack was arrested in Smithtown on April 11 and charged with petit larceny. The man took assorted items from a Walmart on Veterans Highway in Smithtown at about 11 a.m. without paying for them. He was arrested at that location.
Pills, CD player, taken
Someone reported to police that a CD player and prescription drugs were stolen from a location on Bishops Road in Smithtown sometime between 8 p.m. on April 1 and 3 a.m. on April 11. There are no arrests.
Screen damaged
Someone cut the screen window of a residence on Lisa Court in Nesconset at 3 p.m. on April 3, though nothing was stolen from the location. There are no arrests.
Spending spree
A Clover Lane resident of Kings Park reported to police that his or her identity was stolen last week. An unknown person attempted to make purchases using a Citibank credit card. The attempted purchases didn’t go through, police said. The person tried to buy groceries from a supermarket in Astoria, items from an Armani Exchange in Staten Island and items from a Macy’s in Staten Island.
Angry customer
Police said they received a report of a disorderly customer at a West Jericho Turnpike location in Smithtown on April 8 at about 2:30 p.m. Police said the customer picked something up from off the counter and threw it against the wall, damaging the item to the tune of $50.
Time-less
A complainant told police that her watch went missing from her home on Hunter Place in Smithtown, sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. on April 3.
Windshield damaged
Someone reported to police that the windshield of a 2015 Kia Soul parked in the driveway of a Belinda Court home in Nesconset was cracked sometime between 7 p.m. on April 10 and 8 a.m. on April 11.
Items jacked
Someone cleaned out a 2014 Volkswagen Passat parked on Landing Road in Kings Park. A complainant reported that several items were stolen from within the car: tools, clothing, money, a driver’s license, paperwork and other items. The incident occurred at 9:48 p.m. on April 9, according to video surveillance.
Pizza with a side of punch
A 37-year-old man from Greenlawn was arrested in Huntington on April 12 and charged with disorderly conduct, fighting and violent behavior. Police said he punched a man in the nose in front of Little Vincent’s Pizzeria on New York Avenue in Huntington at about 2:15 a.m.
Hulk smash!
A 28-year-old man from Huntington was arrested in Huntington on April 10 and charged with criminal mischief, with intent to damage property. Police said that at 3:15 p.m. on March 30 he kicked the bumper and ripped off the passenger side mirror of a 2010 Honda Accord on Park Avenue. He also threatened a male victim with a hammer.
Female struck
Police said a 27-year-old man from Huntington was arrested in Huntington on April 12 and charged with third-degree assault, with intention to cause physical injury. The man struck a female victim in the face at about 2 a.m. in East Northport at 2nd Avenue and 4th Street. He was later arrested on Route 25 and Round Swamp Road in Huntington.
Cop kicked, spat on
A 16-year-old female from Huntington Station was arrested in Huntington on April 11 and charged with second-degree harassment. Police said she kicked a uniformed officer in his legs at 11:50 p.m. on Tuthill Street. She also later spit on the police officer at the precinct.
Shoplifter caught
An 18-year-old East Northport woman was arrested in Huntington on April 7 and charged with petit larceny. Police said she stole assorted items from Walgreens on Larkfield Road in Commack on April 4 at 9:40 a.m.
Wallet, phone taken
Someone removed a female’s wallet and phone from Finley’s of Green Street in Huntington at 1 a.m. on April 12. Police said the complainant reported that a wallet containing credit card, her iPhone, cash, driver’s license were stolen.
Woman struck
A female bartender at The Dublin Jack in East Northport on Larkfield Road reported a male suspect struck her across the face at 3:20 a.m. on April 11. There were no injuries.
Jewelry lifted
An unknown person stole assorted jewelry from a home on New York Avenue in Huntington sometime between April 6 at 9 p.m. and April 10 at 7 p.m. There are no arrests.
Scammed
A White Hill Road resident in Lloyd Harbor reported to police on April 7 that he or she was the subject of a scam. Someone called the home claiming they were from the IRS.
Northport-East Northport Public Library district voters overwhelmingly approved a nearly $10 million budget to fund both Northport and East Northport libraries’ operations in 2015-16.
The voters also elected two trustees —incumbent Georganne White and newcomer Jacqueline Elsas, according to library Director James Olney in a phone interview on Wednesday. Longtime trustee Robert Little, who had sat on the board for 13 years and sought reelection, did not win another term.
In total, 530 people voted in favor of the budget, while 68 people voted “No,” Olney said. “I’m actually very pleased with the figures,” he said. “The 530 is not only great, but we tend to have about 100 ‘No’s each year and I’m happy to see those numbers decline.”
As far as trustees go, White was the top vote getter, amassing 415 votes. She was elected to a five-year term. Elsas received 358 votes and was elected to serve a four-year term, filling the seat of former trustee Patricia Flynn who stepped down early to become a district court judge. Little received 285 votes.
The library’s spending plan translates to an approximately $6.80 increase in taxes for an average library district resident with a home assessed at $4,000. And the proposed budget stays within a New York State-mandated cap on tax levy increases.
Some of the highlights of next year’s budget include increased funding for adult, teen and children programming, $140,000 in capital and technological improvements at both buildings; an uptick in professional fees and a decrease in projected revenues. The tax levy will increase from $9.5 million to $9.6 million, or about 1.46 percent.
Olney said he is happy with the results and the library is now looking ahead to May, when library staff will be hosting a celebration marking 75 years of public library service in East Northport. That celebration, which is open to the public, will take place on Saturday, May 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the East Northport Public Library on Larkfield Road. It will feature games for children, crafts, a pickle booth, historical artifacts and more.
“It will be a nice time,” Olney said.
Spending plan includes funding for 25 positions
The Huntington school board voted to adopt a $120.3 million proposed 2015-16 budget that funds nearly 25 additional positions, including a new high school assistant principal, as well as two additional soccer teams at J. Taylor Finley Middle School.
Board members adopted the spending plan at a meeting on Monday night, but not without lengthy discussion on one last-minute budget amendment to add girls and boys soccer teams to Finley. A majority of board members were in favor of including about $38,000 in funding for the two teams, something for which some parents have been clamoring. However, board President Emily Rogan and Vice President Jennifer Hebert were against the move. The pair said they felt the money could better benefit students in other ways, like funding a full-time primary school librarian, an additional psychologist at the high school or putting the money toward robotics.
“While I am a big supporter of sports … I don’t necessarily think that adding another soccer team to the middle school is going to reach as many kids as some of the other things we’ve talked about,” Rogan said.
In the end, trustees Tom DiGiacomo, Bill Dwyer, Xavier Palacios and Bari Fehrs supported adding the teams. DiGiacomo said parents have long been requesting the teams.
“This is not an anomaly,” he said. “This is something that has been in the conversation for several years now.”
The 25 additional positions are a mix of instructional, noninstructional, administrative and contingency staff, Superintendent Jim Polansky said in an interview on Wednesday morning. The superintendent said 11.7 positions are instructional and six are noninstructional, the latter including some teachers’ aides. The number also includes the addition of a new high school assistant principal position, a district Science, Engineering, Technology and Math, also known as STEM, coach and five contingency positions. Contingency positions are included in the budget in case they’re needed based on enrollment or other factors.
In Monday night’s budget presentation, Polanksy unveiled the district’s state aid figures. The district will be getting an additional nearly $1.5 million in aid from the state next year, bringing the total to about $14.1 million.
The aid will allow the district to pay for five contingency positions, at a cost of $352,275, the high school assistant principal at $193,859 and the district STEM coach at $89,361. Those costs include salary and benefits, according to Polansky’s presentation.
An additional assistant principal is needed to assist with managing the 1,400-student high school and collecting data on teachers. Polansky said currently, two administrators oversee operations there, and if one student is having a bad day, an administrator could spend an entire day working on the issue, leaving the high school in the hands of one administrator.
If approved by voters on May 19, the budget would increase by 2.36 percent over this year’s spending plan, from $117.6 million to $120.3 million. The budget stays within a state-mandated cap on property tax levy increase. For the average resident with a home assessed at $3,622, taxes would increase next year by about $184.
The budget also includes a proposition asking voters to allow the district to spend just over $1 million in capital monies it already has in reserve to pay for state-approved projects.
The school board budget hearing is on May 11, and the budget vote and trustee election are on May 19.
New DNA-based marker technology to aid town residents in securing property
A new public safety pilot program in Huntington Station puts crime-fighting in the hands of residents by providing them with innovative DNA-based technology to mark up property susceptible to burglary.
Last week, Suffolk County Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport) was joined by County Executive Steve Bellone (D) and other elected officials in Huntington Station, where a new device manufactured by Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences was introduced as part of a pilot program in the town. The kit called DNANet comes with a special marker that can be used to mark up to 100 valuables and assets in a home in an effort to keep track of goods if stolen or removed from the home.
“When I was approached last year by the scientists at Applied DNA Sciences with this unique technology, it was clear that it has great potential to be an effective tool in keeping communities safer,” Spencer stated in a press release. “Increasing public safety in Huntington Station and all of Suffolk County has always been a central focus of mine. Bringing in this resource will make this great community even better.”
Suffolk County is paying for the pilot program, which will cost $25,000.
The kits will be distributed to 500 homes in Huntington Station in areas with high burglary rates. Residents will be asked to perform in the study, mark up items and register them with the company.
The mark is not visible to the naked eye. A UV lamp will be needed to see the distinctive mark.
“You can’t see it [and] you can’t scratch it off,“ Spencer said in a phone interview Monday.
When items are stolen, burglars tend to trade the goods to pawn shops for quick cash. The new device will also force shop owners to carefully record data when items are pawned.
“Now it will be harder to pawn stolen goods,” Spencer said.
Once an item with the DNA code is run through the website’s database, it will match to a particular person and address. In the past, reuniting goods with an owner has proved to be difficult because there is no proof of ownership, according to Spencer. The mark would help prove ownership, he said.
Spencer hopes this new initiative will help increase item recoveries, theft convictions and decrease low level petit theft.
“This technology is another tool our police can use against crime,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in a press release. “Our police will be able to address and solve theft of personal property with the information made available by DNAweb.”
According to Spencer, studies show the DNA mark has proven to last up to 350 years. Also if the owner sells an item, a call can be made to have the item removed from the database to prevent confusion.
The program is expected to begin in Huntington Station and Huntington shortly as officials wanted to focus in areas with high crime. The program will be evaluated after six months to see if there has been an improvement in recoveries and convictions. Residents who participate in the program can also put signs on their lawns alerting people the system is in use.
Once the evaluation is over, the Suffolk County Police Department will decide whether to recommend the program expand.
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