It was a hot evening but that didn’t stop Commack High School seniors from celebrating their graduation day with family and friends on June 24.
During the ceremony, student speakers Daniel Figueroa and Robert Acebedo addressed the crowd, and senior class president Allison Spalding presented the Class of 2022 gift.
Interim Superintendent of Schools David Flatley and high school principal Carrie Lipenholtz also addressed the crowd.
— Photos by Rita J. Egan
Last Friday, June 24, Hauppauge High School seniors walked onto the field for the last time as students.
During the graduation ceremony, students and attendees were joined by Distinguished Alumni Speaker Paul Monusky from the Class of 1997, bottom left.
Monusky is an 11-time Emmy-winning senior producer/director for NFL Films. He got his start in broadcasting at the high school when he began taking TV production classes with Mr. Fran DePetris. He was also the editor-in-chief for the school newspaper during his time as a Hauppauge Eagle.
The Hamlet Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, 100 Southern Blvd., Nesconset recently unveiled their newly-renovated healing center to the community with a ribbon-cutting event that included a tour of the renovated lobby and dining areas.
The event was attended by Suffolk County Legislator Leslie Kennedy, Suffolk Comptroller John Kennedy and New York State Assemblyman Michael J. Fitzpatrick who presented proclamations.
“We are so excited to share these premier renovations with our Nesconset community,” shared Stephanie Malone, Administrator of The Hamlet Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center at Nesconset. “We are so proud to showcase The Hamlet as an all-encompassing center to not only rejuvenate and recover, but to do so in a luxurious healing environment.”
Along with their reimagined dining space and lobby, as a member of the CareRite Centers network, the Hamlet has partnered with Celebrity Chef Anne Burrell, Food Network star and host of shows such as primetime franchise Worst Cooks in America, Chef Wanted, and Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.
“When you work at The Hamlet, you truly work as a family. We find ourselves fortunate to care for our residents in such a beautiful space, supported by a team who keeps our patients and team members’ interests top of mind at all times,” added Malone.
The Hamlet Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center at Nesconset is a member of the CareRite Centers Network. CareRite Centers supports the subacute and long-term skilled nursing populations in New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Florida. For more information, call 631-361-8800 or visit www.hamletrehab.com.
People often wish they could turn back time. The U.S. Supreme Court did just that on Friday, June 24.
America has been cast back to the mid-20th century as states can now make it illegal for women to get abortions. The justices overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that granted a pregnant woman federal license to have an abortion and struck down federal and state laws that forbade the medical procedure. The recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision also overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that affirmed Roe’s central holding and cemented abortion access as judicial precedent.
Around two dozen states are now poised to criminalize abortion, a collective slap in the face to all women from the court’s conservative majority. Women of childbearing age will now have fewer options than their mothers or grandmothers. The reversal can lead to dangerous abortions, especially when one has limited access to health care.
The U.S. already has the highest maternal mortality rates among developed nations, according to the Commonwealth Fund. The actual number is bound to climb as women’s reproductive health is no longer federally protected.
How will these states deal with the repercussions? How will they pay for children whose parents can’t afford to raise them or for the therapy some women will need after delivering a child conceived during rape? Who will adopt or foster the children who are given up, because a mother knows she can’t take care of her child.
Yes, there are more ways to try to prevent unwanted pregnancies. However, birth control is not 100%, and in the case of rape, sometimes by someone who is known, people are not always given a choice regarding having sex.
What’s equally disturbing is that Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that other landmark decisions such as those regarding contraception, sodomy laws and same-sex marriage should be reconsidered.
Are the Supreme Court justices allowing religion to motivate them when making these decisions or suggesting reviews of other laws? There have been debates over when life begins, because we live in a melting pot where people come from various religious backgrounds and some don’t identify with any one religion. In the U.S., we have varying opinions on numerous subjects. There is a need to make a decision considering those varying opinions.
Most of all, women deserve body autonomy. Lawmakers can’t make Americans donate organs after death, so how can they tell women that no matter what their circumstances, one option is not available to them.
The reversal of Roe v. Wade sets a dangerous precedent. Allowing states to set their own laws regarding major issues can lead to chaos.
U.S. citizens don’t have to sit on the sidelines. Every election is a chance to voice our opinions. During the midterm elections, vote for the candidates who will protect and fight for our rights to make our own personal choices.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) each won their party’s primary election on Tuesday, June 28, setting the stage for the gubernatorial election this November.
Hochul won her race handily, winning every county in the state. She became the first female candidate to win the Democratic nomination for governor.
“I stand on the shoulders of generations of women, generations of women who constantly had to bang up against that class ceiling,” the governor said. “To the women of New York, this one’s for you.”
Hochul bested New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Long Island native Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY3). Along with his unsuccessful bid for governor, Suozzi vacated his seat in Congress, triggering a primary election to fill that seat which will be held Aug. 23.
Suozzi was not the only Long Islander in the running for governor. On the Republican side, Lee Zeldin, of Shirley, beat out three other Republican candidates, including Andrew Giuliani, carrying 43.9% of the vote statewide with over 95% reported.
In his victory speech, Zeldin said, “I commend all of the candidates in this primary for running a hard-fought race and look forward to working together to fire Kathy Hochul and save our state. This is a rescue mission to end the attacks on our safety, wallets, freedoms and kids’ education. Losing is not an option.”
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado (D) also won his race and will run alongside Hochul throughout this election cycle.
In the legislative race, two Republican candidates — Edward Flood and Thomas Wiermann — competed for their party’s nomination in the 4th Assembly District. Flood, a narrow winner unofficially by 2,491 votes to 2,375, will take on state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) this November in the general election.
At the county level, Republican Vincent Puleo, town clerk of Smithtown, defeated incumbent Suffolk County Clerk Judith Pascale, who has served in that position since 2006. Puleo received 60% of votes in the primary election.
Seniors from Smithtown High School East and Smithtown High School West filled their schools’ football fields as students for the last time on Thursday, June 23.
Smithtown East’s commencement ceremony celebrated the graduation of 401 students and featured the district’s Assistant Superintendent Kevin Simmons, who was the principal at East for 3 1/2 years before moving to the district office, as the keynote speaker.
The two student speakers were Aman Mistry, who was voted by fellow seniors as the honor speaker, and Trishaulla Kanhai, who is president of the Class Council.
At Smithtown West, 358 students received their diplomas. Superintendent Mark Secaur addressed the students. National Honor Society President Tyler Nagosky was chosen by his classmates to speak at the ceremony and co-presidents Hunter Hayes and Madison Hilman also delivered speeches.
By Daniel Dunaief
We don’t usually go to bed thinking, “what if I’m wrong?” We don’t get up asking ourselves the same question.
We develop our beliefs, stick with them and, as time goes on, we defend them or push for change based on something we think, or are fairly certain, we know.
But it’s worth considering the possibility that we might be wrong, particularly in connection with something as important as the only habitable planet we know.
If you don’t believe climate change is a threat and you think rules restricting environmental pollution are unnecessary and a federal government overreach, have you considered the consequences of being wrong?
I won’t trot out all the climate science experts who have what they consider incontrovertible proof that the climate is warming based on years of data.
You’d probably come back with the argument that the data can be interpreted in other ways or that science itself rarely has complete certainty.
You might even suggest that a warmer climate would mean we wouldn’t need to use as much heat during the winter months and that some crops might grow better during a longer, hotter growing season.
While I don’t ascribe to those thoughts —which a headline grabbing Republican recently espoused — because of the danger to so many staple crops from a warmer season that could include droughts and storms that cripple cities and destroy crops, I want those who don’t believe climate change is real to consider what might happen if they are wrong.
At the time of this writing, the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled on West Virginia vs. Environmental Protection Agency. If the conservative majority, who have been reshaping the political and legal landscape at a rapid pace, rules as expected, the EPA will have less authority to regulate power plant pollution.
That would mean power plants won’t have to comply with federal rules that limit the gases they emit into the environment and the pollutants they send into the air.
These companies may be able to make more money by continuing to operate as they had in the past. Yay for them? Right? Well, not so fast.
What’s the risk if they are wrong? We all make decisions when weighing risks, whether it’s the types of stocks we invest in, the places we go that might be dangerous at night, or the undercooked foods we eat.
So, if they’re wrong, the world continues to heat up, storms such as hurricanes move more slowly, dumping more rain on any one area, crops get destroyed, glaciers continue to melt causing sea levels to rise, and biodiversity declines, wiping out species that might have otherwise led to cures for disease or provide future food sources.
Some areas also become uninhabitable.
Our children, grandchildren and future generations can’t come back to tell us who was right. What we do or don’t do, however, will undoubtedly affect them.
Using the same logic climate change deniers use to suggest that nothing is certain, it seems critical to hedge their bets, protecting us from a future they believe is possible but unlikely.
Even if the Supreme Court acts (or acted, depending on the timing) as expected, we don’t have to be fatalistic or cynical about the next steps in the battle against our own gaseous waste.
Utilities and other companies that produce these gases have to take responsibility for their actions, regardless of what the Supreme Court says or does. Even reluctant legislators have to consider what might happen if they are wrong. Yes, leaders have numerous other problems.
We can’t ignore the Earth. If some people consider the consequences of freeing up companies to send carbon dioxide into the only air we have, they might be making a one-way mistake. They must consider what will happen if they are wrong.
By Leah S. Dunaief
Women need some good news right about now, after the Roe decision, and here it is: Women are more likely to live past 90. But there is a caveat. We have to be optimistic. Now, don’t poo poo this statement. It comes from a large study by researchers at Harvard University and was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Entitled, “Optimism, Lifestyle and Longevity in a Racially Diverse Cohort of Women,” the study deals with 26 years of data from almost 160,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79. All the participants were selected for their optimism with quantitative measures of testing. Researchers found that the top quarter of the women in the study with the most positive outlook would probably live 5.4% longer than the least optimistic 25% of participants. Further, the more optimistic women were 10% more likely to live past the age of 90 than the least optimistic cohort.
The link between optimism and longer lifespan could be seen across racial and ethnic groups. “Optimism may be an important asset to consider for promoting health and longevity in diverse populations,” states the article. Non-Hispanic White, Black, Hispanic/Latina and Asian, American Indian and Alaskan native women were in the group.
“A high proportion (53%) of the women [in the optimism group] achieved exceptional longevity,” according to the study. “Higher optimism was associated with longer lifespan and a greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity overall and across racial and ethnic groups. The contribution of lifestyle to these associations was modest. Optimism may promote health and longevity in diverse ethnic and racial groups. Future research should investigate these associations in less long-lived populations,” concludes the Journal. Francine Grodstein, ScD and Laura D. Kubzansky, PhD, were the principal researchers of the study.
Interestingly, of those tested, women with higher optimism levels were more frequently non-Hispanic White with higher education levels.
This study also suggests that optimism is “just as important as exercise when it comes to longevity.” The researchers found this to be true even when other factors like depression, chronic health conditions and racial, social and economic background were taken into account. So a positive outlook on life may be just as important as fitness—or so lazy optimists would like to believe, and based on this large study, they may be right.
Stress, on the other hand, can take a toll on mental and physical health. According to an article in this past Tuesday’s New York Times, “certain types of stress can even age your immune system.” In a study involving 5700 adults aged 50 and over, stresses like job strain, stressful life events, every day or lifetime discrimination (including sexism or ageism) and traumatic life events were cross referenced with immune cell counts from participants’ blood. Simple aging is also a stress on the immune system.
One way to prevent or minimize immune cell aging may be to minimize or do away with unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking. But all kinds of stress, we intuitively know, can effect physical health.
How do we help ourselves further reduce stress?
Taking stock of our emotions is a good place to start. Knowing and acting on what brings us joy and where we can find social support can help. “That may mean pursuing hobbies, spending time with loved ones, or unplugging from work or social media when you can,” suggests Hannah Seo, writing for the NYT. “Mindfulness practices, exercise and healthy eating habits can also help you feel good physically, which in turn can make you feel good mentally,” according to Renee Eddy, a New York City psychotherapist, quoted in the NYT.
My best defense against stress is having social support from family and friends. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson recently visited for four days, and just interacting with them was a joy. My friends call and just chatting leaves me feeling happy, not to mention more informed.
Stresses can negatively affect longevity. Joy and optimism, we are told by current research, can increase lifespan.
Within 48 hours, The Smithtown Library Board of Trustees reversed a controversial decision made at its June 21 meeting.
Initially, the trustees voted 4-2, with one member absent, to remove pride displays, which included signs and books, in the children’s sections in its Smithtown, Commack, Kings Park and Nesconset branches. Two days later, the board held an emergency meeting and reversed its decision, again 4-2, with one board member abstaining.
The reversal came after criticism from the community on social media platforms. Among the critics were Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), the New York Library Association and author Jodi Picoult, who grew up in the town and was a page at the library when she was younger. She said on her Facebook page the initial decision “disgusts me and makes me reevaluate an institution that I have praised for being formative in my life as an author.”
The books remained available in the library’s children’s collection during the temporary removal and could be checked out, according to a June 22 memo from library trustees. Pride displays in the adult and teen sections remained.
After the reversal of the decision during the board’s emergency June 23 meeting, another memo was posted to the library’s website announcing the rescinding of the decision.
“The majority of the board recognizes that our earlier decision was made without the time, care and due diligence that a decision of this type deserves and that it was the wrong decision,” the memo read.
No public comments were accepted during the June 23 meeting, which was held via Zoom.
Thomas Maher, vice president of trustees, said at this meeting he supports the LGBTQ+ community’s rights. He said during the June 21 meeting, there was a passionate discussion about the displays, and the subject was discussed for a while. It was discovered there wasn’t a library policy about internal displays. He said his initial vote to remove the displays “was intended to enable the library to continue to offer all of its existing resources to all of its patrons in a peaceful and cooperative manner during this time of transition.” On June 23, he voted for the return of the displays.
Trustee Marie Gergenti voted twice for the removal. She said during the June 23 meeting she received messages from patrons.
“They felt that little children were exposed to some images in some of those books, and they weren’t happy about it,” she said.
Theresa Grisafi, a trustee who also voted twice for the removal, added many felt the displays in the children’s rooms were not age appropriate for young library patrons.
“The concern was for the small children,” she said.
She said she tried to convey that at the initial meeting and said it had nothing to do with anyone’s personal feelings.
Trustee member Marilyn LoPresti abstained from voting on June 23 and said she would like to research the matter further.
Library board president Brianna Baker-Stines said at the June 23 meeting, “We assumed a role that was not our job.”
Baker-Stines added that it was the librarians’ jobs to set up displays and “we need to trust the staff we hired.”
In an email to TBR News Media, Baker-Stines said in order to create a policy regarding internal displays, legal counsel advised that a standing committee for policy creation would first need to be created. While the board has multiple standing committees, the previous ones were only ad hoc. Baker-Stines said during her time on the board the members have only had to amend policies and not create new ones, unless based on an immediate need such as the work-from-home policy adopted at the beginning of the pandemic. She said the members realized it would take several steps to establish a proper committee.
“We knew that this process might take several meetings, which may be why some trustees were in a rush to remove the pride display that night,” she said.
Initial news coverage reported that the books were removed from the children’s collections when they were not.
“I think the wording on the motion may have led some of the media to believe the books were removed all together,” she said.
Baker-Stines said she “was devastated by the vote to remove the pride displays” and added “the library should be a safe space for every member of the public.”
As former library page and reference clerk at Hauppauge Public Library, she said, “I have been a part of the creation of many library displays, including Pride month displays. These are materials that can be lifesaving, and also materials that are requested by patrons during this time.”
Currently, the trustees have 900 emails to go through after the community reacted to the board’s initial decision.
David Kilmnick, nonprofit LGBT Network president and CEO, said while the removal of the displays never should have happened, the community’s response “shows the power that we have as a community to do the right thing and that right thing is so simple — it is creating safe learning spaces for all of our children.”
He said the removal of the displays could have a traumatic effect on “someone seeing themselves exist one day and then erased the next and for no good reason other than hate and bias.”
Kilmnick added the community’s response showed an “outpouring of support and love.”
“There are more people on the side of equality, equity, safety and love than on the other side,” he said. “We just all have to work together and not be afraid, and it showed what we can do in a very fast, rapid, effective way when we do this together.”
The pride displays in the Smithtown Library branches will remain until July 15.
The Atelier at Flowerfield, 2 Flowerfield, Suite #15, St. James hosts a three-day Comic and Character Design studio workshop with artist Robert Rosenberg at Atelier Hall on Wednesday, July 7, Thursday, July 8 and Friday, July 9 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Robert Rosenberg is a recent graduate of SUNY Stony Brook and will begin an MFA in Illustration at FIT in September. He is an illustrator and the creator of several comics which can be viewed on his website, City Slicker Blues. In this workshop, he’ll share his love of comics and character design with The Atelier at Flowerfield.
He will outline what goes into designing good characters, as well as what comics are and what makes a comic good. He will discuss, demonstrate and teach the use of traditional comic making tools, such as dip pens, ink brushes, and technical pens; as well as some digital tools for comic creation.
Come join the fun and learn how to create your own unique characters and stories!
Cost is $135 per person. To register, call 631-250-9009 or visit www.theatelieratflowerfield.org
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