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Times of Smithtown

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Photo by Raymond Janis
Members of the North Country Peace Group advocate against nuclear proliferation on Saturday, Aug. 5. Photo courtesy Myrna Gordon

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The North Country Peace Group observed the 78th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at our weekly vigil in Setauket on Saturday, Aug. 5. 

This is a time for our community to gather in mourning, remembrance and in solidarity with all people affected by the destructive power of nuclear weapons at every level of their development, testing and use. It is also a time for us to amplify the call that nuclear weapons must never be used.

Myrna Gordon

North Country Peace Group

Fare hikes don’t help Port Jeff LIRR riders

Gov. Kathy Hochul [D] and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber’s boosting of the new MTA One Metro New York fare collection system does little for Port Jefferson Branch riders on the Long Island Rail Road. 

In 2017, the MTA awarded a $573 million contract to Cubic Transportation Systems to replace the Metro Card. OMNY was originally promised to be completed between 2019 and 2023. 

The cost of OMNY has grown to $645 million. The project is currently $130 million over budget. The MTA has never made public any detailed recovery schedule from the contractor. Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will not reach substantial completion until late 2025.

In 2022, the MTA lost over $600 million to fare evasion. There is no indication in 2023 that this financial loss will be significantly reduced. Neither Hochul nor Lieber is able to explain how OMNY will end routine fare evasion as it continues to flourish today.

Another critical failure that Hochul, Lieber or their predecessors never acknowledge, is the inability to come to agreement for integration of OMNY with NJ Transit, Port Authority Trans Hudson subway and NYC Economic Development Corporation Private Ferry fare collection systems.

Larry Penner

Great Nec

Sherwood-Jayne Farm animals represent our local history

The recent upheaval at the Sherwood-Jayne Farm in East Setauket has primarily been focused on the current animals and myself, but it should really be about preserving our local history. 

History isn’t something that just is, it is something that was and then becomes. The organization, Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, was founded in 1948 by many people, including Mr. Howard Sherwood. He did this to bequeath his property, the Jayne Farm, to it. 

Sherwood’s vision was to preserve a bucolic farm setting and educate the community about its history. He started a flock of sheep in 1933 and had blankets woven from their wool. 

Preservation Long Island, formerly known as SPLIA, has since kept a flock as a tribute to him. Current PLI executive director, Alexandra Wolfe, was quoted in the July 27 TBR article written by Mallie Jane Kim as saying, “The animals serve as a visual respite for people on the road, but they don’t really connect the property to what we do.” 

Historically, livestock were an integral part of life. Horses and cattle were used for plowing, poultry for eggs and meat, everyone had a family cow and sheep were kept for their wool. Our ancestors didn’t hop on their phones to order a new shirt and have it show up in two days on their doorstep. 

The sheep were shorn, the wool washed, carded, spun, woven into fabric and sewn into clothes. So how does getting rid of the resident sheep help to connect the property better to history? It doesn’t. What it does is take away from it. 

A visual respite is what people love about this farm. The animals draw their attention. So let them be drawn in, and then educate them about what life was like. Let’s build the flock back to what it was and really teach about the “sheep-to-shawl” process. 

People love farms because they show a different way of life. This farm was preserved for the community. Let’s teach the community about the place they live in and what makes it so special. Let’s allow the locals to learn the old ways of life. Let’s bring life back to the farm instead of taking it away. 

What we do in the days, weeks, months and years ahead will impact our children’s children. Please help preserve our local history. The current animals and I will thank you and all the ones to come will as well.

Susanna B. Gatz

Caretaker, Sherwood-Jayne Farm

East Setauket

 

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The Atlantic horseshoe crab. Public domain photo

From the shore, they can look like odd-shaped shadows with tails, moving in and out of the surf or approaching the shoreline.

Up close, they can have a collection of barnacles attached to their shells, particularly as they age.

Horseshoe crabs, who have been roaming the oceans for over 450 million years, have attracted the admiration of researchers and the dedication of volunteers around Long Island, who not only want to ensure they continue to survive, but also would like to know more about creatures that are more related to spiders and scorpions than to the crabs their names suggest.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is look at spawning in a more comprehensive way,” said Robert Cerrato, a professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. “We’re trying to figure out if there are specific things that [horseshoe crabs] are responding to” when they come up on the beach to lay their eggs.

A closeup of two horseshoe crabs. Photo courtesy Matthew Sclafani

Horseshoe crabs have had a steady decline in their population over the last 20 years overall. In the last three to five years, however, not much has changed in the Long Island area, scientists explained.

The population is “still very similar to where it was,” said Matthew Sclafani, senior resource educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and assistant adjunct faculty member at SBU.

Scalafani and Cerrato have worked together for well over a decade and are hoping to address a wide range of questions related to these unusual creatures that have nine eyes and blue blood.

Apart from the fascination of scientists and volunteers, the horseshoe crab provides a critical food source for shore birds like the Red Knot, which depends on these eggs during their migration.

At the same time, horseshoe crabs and their blue blood provide a key ingredient in tests of pharmaceuticals. When exposed to endotoxins, horseshoe crab blood forms clots.

The use of horseshoe crab blood to test drugs does not occur in New York, however, as companies don’t catch these creatures in the Empire State for this specific test.

Cerrato and Scalafani explained that numerous towns have also limited or banned the harvesting of horseshoe crabs to maintain their local populations.

Areas around West Meadow Beach in Old Field, for example, are closed to hand harvesting, as is Jamaica Bay and Gateway National Recreation Area.

Such policies “theoretically will allow for more eggs on the beach to hatch and for shore birds dependent on them” to find food, Sclafani said. Such closures, including some during the last two weeks in May and the first two weeks in June during the peak spawn were “significant steps for conservation,” Sclafani added.

An aerial photograph taken by a drone during a horseshoe crab survey at Pike’s Beach, Westhampton. Photo by Rory MacNish/Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County

Ongoing questions

By labeling and tracking horseshoe crabs, these researchers and a team of volunteers hope to understand whether crabs, which are capable of reproducing when they are between 8 and 10 years old, return to the same sites each year to lay their eggs.

Cerrato and Scalafani are hoping to get satellite tags they can attach to adults, so that when they come out of the water to spawn, researchers know their location.

The researchers submitted a proposal to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to do a pilot study with these satellite tags.

Juvenile horseshoe crabs also present unknowns, as they have a different diet and migrate at a much lower rate.

“We started to look at” crabs that are 3 to 10 years old, said Cerrato. Moriches Bay is an “important habitat” for them.

Volunteer passion

Volunteers who help count the horseshoe crabs count these creatures often until well after midnight.

Frank Chin has been wandering beaches, counting crabs for 15 years. When he was young, Chin wanted to be a forest ranger.

“I realized that forest rangers don’t make that much money, so I went to school for engineering, got a degree and worked as an engineer,” he said.

Chin found himself at a Friends of Flax Pond meeting, where Scalafani asked for help from the community.

“I foolishly raised my hand and they made me a coordinator,” joked Chin, who counts horseshoe crabs with his wife Phyllis.

Every year presents something new to Chin.

This year, he has run into people who fish late at night. Chin said the fishermen, who have permits, are cordial, but that he’s concerned they might be scaring crabs away from their usual spawning spots.

In addition to counting the crabs, Chin, who is the director of the lab in the Physics Department at SBU, also tags them. He once caught a crab seven years after he initially tagged it.

Chin, who will count crabs in the rain but not in thunderstorms, appreciates the dedication of his fellow volunteers, who not only count the crabs but will pick up garbage and bottles along the beach.

Chin plans to continue to “do it as long as I can walk down the beach.” Some day, he “hopes someone else will take over.”

Volunteers can sign up to join the effort at nyhorseshoecrab.org.

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As children return to school this fall, doctors in Suffolk County expect COVID-19 cases to rise. Photo by Ronny Sefria from Pixabay

People may think COVID-19 is out of sight and out of mind, but the virus, which is still around and is making people sick, doesn’t care. 

The new variant of COVID, EG.5, or “Eris,” is making people sick in the area, with hospital admissions and visits creeping up over the last few weeks.

Left, Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. Right, Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Left file photo; right file photo from Stony Brook Medicine

As of Aug. 9, 105 patients were hospitalized with COVID across the entire Northwell system, including 82 people on Long Island. That compares with 63 hospitalized patients on July 9, with 46 on Long Island exactly a month earlier.

That’s also the case for other area hospitals, doctors said.

“The numbers are definitely going up,” said Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. “That’s probably a snapshot of what we expect in the fall and the winter.”

Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, explained that COVID-19 is “no longer an emergency” but is “still with us and we continue to see new variants.”

In an email, Pigott explained that the county has seen a “slight uptick in hospitalizations” that is still low in comparison to the earlier days of the pandemic.

He urged those at high risk to take precautions that could include avoiding crowded places, wearing a mask and meeting people at outdoor venues rather than indoors.

While the numbers of people sick with COVID are substantially lower than they were during the worst of the pandemic in 2020, health care professionals suggested that the fall and winter could be challenging for families, particularly as children return to school.

“The first two weeks of school, every kid is sick,” said Nachman. “Come November-ish, that’s when we see” that increase.

Dr. Bruce Hirsch, attending physician in Infectious Disease at Northwell Health, also anticipates a rise in COVID-19 cases coming this fall and early winter.

“I think there’s a very good chance that a lot of people will be having COVID,” he said.

Hirsch added that the symptoms for those people who don’t have underlying medical conditions, such as cardiac or lung-related problems, are likely to be considerably milder than they had been in the early stages of the disease, when no one had resistance.

“The sickness will not have the severity and mortality except in those of us who are unfortunate to have weak immune systems, other health problems or who are elderly or frail,” Hirsch said.

Pigott added that Eris, which is a subvariant of omicron, is not a variant of interest or concern, according to the World Health Organization.

Vaccine options

Doctors urged people to consider getting vaccines for COVID, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus for this coming fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are expected to approve the latest booster for COVID in late September or early October.

The newest booster, which should be available from Pfizer, Novavax and Moderna, should include protection against the latest COVID strain.

“The new booster formulation is much more similar and much more protective [against] the current strains,” Hirsch said. “The booster available now is protective against a couple of strains ago.”

Pigott urged people to get the new vaccines in the fall when they become available and before the holidays.

The vaccination may not prevent infection or all symptoms, but doctors suggested it would make illnesses shorter and less severe and could make the virus less infectious.

That could be particularly helpful for those who might otherwise develop more significant symptoms as their bodies attempt to fight off the virus.

Health care professionals suggested residents could receive several vaccines at the same time, enabling their immune systems to build resistance to a host of potential health threats.

“Our immune systems can chew gum and walk at the same time,” said Hirsch. “They are miraculous at reacting to all kinds of things every day anyway. The immune system is more than up to the challenge of handling two [shots] at the same time.”

Receiving several shots at once could give people a sore arm and a short-term fever that will likely respond to Tylenol, Nachman said.

“The science has shown that if you give a bunch of vaccines, you get a great response to everything,” Nachman added.

People who would prefer to get the vaccines in separate doses should space them out over several weeks, rather than getting one after another on consecutive days, she said.

Warning to pregnant women

Apart from viral infections, doctors warned pregnant women and those who might get pregnant  this winter about the ongoing shortage of a form of penicillin to treat syphilis.

Penicillin G benzathine, or Bicillin, is expected to be in short supply through the start of the summer of 2024.

The medicine is not only the only treatment recommended for pregnant people with syphilis, but is also the only one recommended for infants.

“We are prioritizing that medicine specifically only for that vulnerable population,” said Nachman.

The dangers of syphilis in pregnant women are significant, with the CDC estimating that about 40% of babies born to women with untreated syphilis can be stillborn or die from the infection.

Other dangers from syphilis include bone damage, anemia, enlarged liver and spleen, jaundice, nerve problems causing blindness or deafness, meningitis and skin rashes.

With cases of congenital syphilis more than tripling in recent years, the demand for Bicillin has exceeded the supply.

“It has been a concern for those in our Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Diseases,” Pigott explained. “They have been in consultation with the state. We defer to the state regarding supply.”

Locally, hospitals have been exploring other options without much success.

“We are looking for alternatives” to Bicillin, said Nachman, but “we are not necessarily finding them.”

Doctors urged pregnant women who think they might have syphilis to get tested to protect themselves and their unborn children.

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The Timothy House property on North Country Road. File photo by Rita J. Egan

Residents in the Village of Head of the Harbor and the surrounding area will again be able to express their opinions Aug. 16 regarding a proposed church at 481 North Country Road.

The Russian Orthodox Monastery of the Glorious Ascension, also known as the Monastery of Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, has owned the historic Timothy House since 2018 and is proposing a plan to construct a house of worship on the property and 36-space parking lot. A special use permit is needed to proceed with any construction.

At the June 21 village meeting, Joseph Buzzell, the monastery’s Melville-based attorney, explained that the proposed church building, with a planned maximum occupancy of 282 people, would not be a parish church but a monastery church. He said while people outside of the monastery at times decided to worship with the monks, the monastery is not looking to expand its congregation. 

Currently, the monks hold services inside Timothy House. According to village code, land, buildings and major landscaping on either side of 25A, also known as North Country Road, are declared a historic area if they extend to a depth of 500 feet within the village. In addition to the village code, covenants and restrictions were placed on the deed by historian and previous owner Barbara Van Liew in 1973 and 1997.

At previous village meetings, while some residents said they had no concerns, others were worried that the construction of a church and the addition of a parking lot may degrade the historical integrity of the property and the landscape.

In a phone interview, Buzzell said the monastery is not modifying the Timothy House. He said the monks have already paid more than $340,000 in maintenance and repairs on the structure.

Buzzell said the plans for the church had been changed twice to move it from the front of the property toward the back. He said there would be no widening of the driveway and no new lighting; however, he said the entrance posts would have to be moved farther apart.

He said the monks respect the historical integrity of the home and property, but he feels those who are against construction “don’t seem to want to take into consideration what’s been done,” he said.

The lawyer said the monastery being awarded the special exception permit is important.

“This action ensures the preservation of the house,” he said, adding Van Liew wouldn’t want to see the house put at risk.

Inspections

In a July 20, 2023, letter to Mayor Douglas Dahgard from Robert O’Shea, village building inspector, posted on the village’s website, the letter writer said he met with Father Vasileios Willard, deputy abbott, at the Timothy House for a tour. 

He said Willard pointed out some trees he would like to be removed, which O’Shea wrote an arborist will be submitting a report on the condition of the trees. In the letter, the building inspector stated that the grounds were properly maintained according to village and state codes.

Inside the house, new water heaters, waterproofing of basement walls, and structural repairs in the basement, first and second floors were among the new work done, according to O’Shea. 

He wrote the structure was in “good overall condition and is well-maintained.”

The State Historic Preservation Office also reviewed the monastery’s plans and found there would be no adverse effects on the property, but many, including village historian Leighton Coleman III, said they are concerned because a representative from SHPO didn’t visit and survey the property.

Covenants and restrictions

Among those who have criticized the proposed construction to the property has been St. James-based attorney Joseph Bollhofer, chair of the village’s zoning board of appeals. In an email to TBR News Media, he said, in addition to violating the covenants and restrictions placed by Van Liew, it “would violate various provisions of the village code, having to do with a special exception permit.”

At the June 21 meeting, Buzzell said his clients were not aware of the 1973 covenants, something that Bollhofer said would be part of a title search.

When asked by TBR about the comment, Buzzell said that the 1973 covenants did not turn up in the monastery’s title search in 2018 when the property was purchased. The attorney feels that the 1997 document amended and replaced the 1973 document.

But Bollhofer said the 1997 conventants wouldn’t replace or supersede the 1973 document.

“In every case, where one document supersedes or amends another, it must specifically state that,” Bollhofer said, adding, “Both documents state that they ‘run with the land’ and are binding upon all future owners.”

Traffic analysis

In a letter dated Aug. 2, Aaron Machtay, transportation project manager with Hauppauge-based civil engineering firm VHB, presented traffic and parking recommendations to Village Counsel Philip Butler after reviewing a traffic statement by Atlantic Traffic and Design prepared for the monastery earlier this year, and a site plan from architect Mark Wittenberg that was dated Aug. 30, 2022.

According to the letter, despite prior testimony that the driveway will remain at its 18-foot width, VHB suggested that the driveway be evaluated to see if it can accommodate two-way traffic. 

The business also suggested that the previous traffic statement was a conservative estimate and “projections for the future activity should be prepared based on the observed demand and compared against thresholds established for a significant impact.”

Among other suggestions, the letter stated that parking observations need to be reconciled “to present the actual peak parking demand expected for the site,” and due to the site driveway being located across and offset from the Route 25A and Northern Boulevard intersection, an analysis for the three-year crash experience should be provided, focusing on the three-year period before the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

The Village of Head of the Harbor will hold its next meeting and the public hearing Wednesday, Aug. 16, at 7 p.m. Village Hall is located at 500 N. Country Rd, St. James.

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Above, organizers outside the planned veterans museum in Rocky Point. From left, museum curator Rich Acritelli, VFW Post 6249 Cmdr. Joe Cognitore and museum committee member Frank Lombardi. Photo by Raymond Janis

Later this year, members of the Rocky Point Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6249 will launch a museum showcasing the lives and legacies of local vets.

Each of us has been touched by a veteran. Whether they are our family members, friends or remote acquaintances, American veterans have given much of themselves so that we may enjoy our freedoms.

After completing their military service at home and abroad, many have returned to Long Island to build up and enrich our community. Their examples of duty and sacrifice can offer powerful insight for civilian life. Now, our vets aspire to continue their service by educating us on the trials of war.

At TBR News Media, we uphold the adage that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. We also regret the anti-historical narrative sweeping our contemporary culture.

If we are to strive for peace, we must learn from war. If we are to endure as a community and nation, we must confront our history forthrightly.

Veterans can teach us — especially our youth — some of life’s most important lessons: How can the veteran experience inform our understanding of mental health and trauma? What can the confrontation with death teach us about life? What is the meaning of sacrifice? 

Our service members are an untapped fountain of history and wisdom. They possess firsthand knowledge of some of our nation’s most important events. We must hear these stories. But to get there, we must first lend a hand.

The curators of the Rocky Point veterans museum are actively soliciting donations. Whether by contributing monetarily, sending military gear or books or volunteering our time to build out the facility, we can all do our part to assist in this noble endeavor.

Long Island’s veterans have served our nation courageously, and this museum will soon stand as the next iteration in their long line of service. 

Let us channel and honor their example. May we, too, answer the call by showing our appreciation and sharing the stories of our local veterans. 

To learn more or how to donate, please contact the museum’s curator, Rich Acritelli, at [email protected].

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Winning pitcher Alex Peña celebrates St. James-Smithtown Little League’s 14U championship with coach Rich Conner. Peña had two hits on the day and pitched the final 3 2/3 innings for the win. Photo by Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

In the world of Little League baseball, when players reach their 13th birthday, they are forced into retirement – barely teenagers yet too old to play. 

Those days are over. 

In just their second year of existence, the St. James-Smithtown Bulls won the 14U Half Hollow Hills Summer Little League Championship on Saturday, Aug. 5, at Otsego Park in Dix Hills. In dramatic fashion, the Bulls scored two runs in their final turn at bat to triumph with a 3-2 victory over Bay Shore.  

This team of grizzled “veterans” now join in on the summer-long celebration of softball and baseball excellence in Smithtown.

Smithtown 14U shortstop Brandon Castoro strokes a two-run double to give the Bulls a 3-2 lead over Bay Shore in the Half Hollow Hills Junior C championship game. Photo by Steven Zaitz

The improbable win capped off a 10-6 season following their inaugural season in 2022 when they stumbled to a 5-16 record. Head coach, Rich Conner, assembled this team and applied for admittance to Half Hollow Hills Junior C League because he wanted to prolong the baseball life expectancy for kids who “age out” of traditional Little Leagues when they become teenagers. 

His son Dylan, who plays second base for the 14U Bulls, wanted to keep playing without the joining the grueling and ultra-competitive travel leagues. It was out of Dylan and his friends’ desire to continue that motivated his dad to launch the team.

“Initially, we sent an email to everyone our league, I think we got three or four kids,” said the elder Conner, who played at SUNY Albany and has coached at St. Joseph’s and Hofstra universities. “Dylan reached out to some of the kids he knew and from there, with some word of mouth, we were able to put a product on the field. The first season we did this, we were a younger team and we struggled but nobody wanted to quit. One year later, look at what happened. We won the championship.”

To win it, the Bulls had to go through Bay Shore, who won 11 out of 16 in the regular season, including five in a row to end their year. The South Shore team trotted out their ace right-hander Tyler Drago to try and secure a ring. Drago was untouchable over the first four innings, striking out eight and allowing only two baserunners.

Smithtown starter Nathan LoRe, despite loads of heavy traffic, managed to keep Bay Shore off the board for three innings. He allowed the first two runners to reach and was relieved by Alex Peña, who allowed his inherited runners to score but nothing more. The only ball that was well struck in the inning was by cleanup hitter Christopher DiGiovanni, who Peña dueled for nine pitches until Giovanni knocked in the first run of the game with a single up the middle.    

“Alex plays at a very high level, and he’s a perfectionist,” Conner said. “That inning could have gotten out of hand, and Alex did a fantastic job of limiting the damage and keeping us in the game.” 

“I wasn’t happy giving up that hit,” said Peña, who missed a chunk of games in the middle of the year with an ankle injury. “We battled hard against each other, and [DiGiovanni] won that battle.”

The way Drago was throwing, it looked like Bay Shore was also going to win the war. 

“He threw pretty hard,” Peña said of Drago. “But not only that, he was locating his pitches where he wanted to, so he gave us a hard time.”

Niko Kostas steals second base for the Bulls. Photo by Steven Zaitz

But after 106 pitches, Drago was out of the game after six innings. Clinging to a 2-1 lead, Bay Shore summoned righty reliever Jake LaGrange. The Bulls got to work on him immediately. 

Left fielder D.J. Savage, who saved three runs in early in the game with a nifty, two-out, bases-loaded catch, led off the seventh with a single to left. He was sacrificed to second by Jake Scandaliato.  

Peña drove a hard single to center and Conner, who is the third base coach, elected to hold Savage at third and not risk running the Bulls out of a very promising inning. After Peña stole second, Smithtown had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for power-hitting shortstop Brandon Castoro. 

Castoro drove LaGrange’s  second offering deep into the left-center field gap and all the way to the wall – a two RBI double that turned a 2-1 Smithtown deficit into a 3-2 lead. 

Castoro pumped his fist proudly as he stood on second base. His teammates in the dugout and Bulls fans on the first base side screamed in delight. 

“I took the first pitch for a strike so Alex could steal second,” said Castoro. “After that, I was looking for something in the middle, and I put a good swing on it.”

The shortstop and his family were not even supposed to be at the game, as they had tickets to a Metallica concert in New Jersey. But after the team won their semifinal game against West Babylon three days earlier, the Castoros altered their travel arrangements. 

“I’m extremely glad I was able to play in this game,” said Castoro. “It feels great and refreshing to see all the work that we put in paying off with this championship.” 

Despite the sudden good fortune on the Smithtown side, it may have been lost on some folks that there was the matter of the bottom of the seventh. This was still a one-run game.

“I knew that there was still work to do,” Peña said. 

Named the game’s MVP for his work at the plate, on the bases and on the mound, Peña, who pitched a scoreless 3 2/3 innings to earn the win,  calmly struck out the first two batters on six pitches and got the last out on a harmless fly ball to Savage.

The game was over, and for Smithtown the rest of the day at Otsego Park was filled with bear hugs, Gatorade showers, smiling parents and photo ops with the championship trophy. 

“Over the two years that we’ve done this, the players and parents have become like a family,” Conner said. “Hopefully this will result in interest from the community and let people know that baseball is not over for a large portion of Smithtown kids at ages 13 and 14, if they don’t want it to be. Just look at what can happen.”

A championship happened — pretty good for a team that is competing in only its second year with most of its members playing at the ripe old age of 14

St. James-Smithtown Little League 2023 Accomplishments:

14U
Baseball: Half Hollow Hills Junior C Champions 12U
Baseball:
District 35 champs, Section 4E finalists

10U
Baseball:
District 35 and Section 4E champs, New York State “Elite Eight”

12U
Softball:
District 35 and Section 4E champs, New York State “Final Four”

11U
Softball:
District 35 Champs, Section 4E finalists

Host Location for 2023 New York State Softball Championship Tournament for 10U, 11U, and 12U

 

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Supervisor Ed Wehrheim responds to a resident during a Smithtown Town Board meeting Tuesday, Aug. 8. Photo by Raymond Janis

By Raymond Janis

Following a sizable protest on Saturday, Aug. 5, over the prolonged closure of the town-operated Callahan Beach in Fort Salonga, members of the Smithtown Town Board defended their policy at the Aug. 8 meeting.

During the public comment period, resident Irwin Izen suggested a lack of intergovernmental coordination between the town and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in expediting the beach’s opening and that the Callahan Beach project’s current progress is “unacceptable.”

Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) countered Izen’s criticism, noting that the project has stalled due to NYSDEC’s permitting process, which took seven months.

“The project was never delayed,” he said. “It has been worked on from day one. We’re as frustrated as anyone else that it’s taking this long, but that’s unfortunately what has to happen when you have government agencies working on a project like this.”

He added, “We would hope that [the project] would come to completion sometime in October.”

Resident William Holtz advised the board and administration to observe closer oversight of the workforce housing requirements for new developments. He cited an agreement reached for The Preserve at Smithtown, located in Nesconset and owned by the Hauppauge-based Northwind Group, which earmarks 15% of units for workforce housing.

“I would like to see some sort of follow-up, some sort of enforcement, in terms of those commitments that have been made by the developers and not simply have the current Town Board just accommodate whatever needs the developers say that they have,” Holtz said.

Responding, Wehrheim advised Holtz to contact the Planning Department and the Town Attorney’s Office. The town supervisor assured that The Preserve development would comply with the workforce housing conditions outlined under state law.

“I can assure you that they will — the developer of that property over there — will comply with New York State law about workforce housing,” he said. “No question about it.”

David Regina, inspector for Suffolk County Police Department’s 4th Precinct, delivered a comprehensive public safety report outlining various crime trends throughout the area.

Regina stated that the 4th Precinct has observed an uptick in sideshows, or drag races, on public roads. 

“These are very dangerous events,” he said. “They become unruly, and we’ve had plenty of police cars damaged. It really got out of control at certain points.”

To alleviate this problem, the 4th Precinct has collaborated with neighboring precincts, sharing information and monitoring on social media about possible organized sideshows.

Enforcement measures have “had an effect,” the inspector said, adding, “The frequency has gone down.”

Regina reported on the most recent crime statistics and noted that the area is “doing fairly well.” However, he alerted residents to a pernicious spike in larcenies, a trend common across precincts and throughout the county.

Regina warned that criminals and thieves are targeting pocketbooks and wallets in retail stores.

“They walk by an unsuspecting victim’s shopping cart, who might just be getting a box of cereal off the shelf, and they reach right in the pocketbook,” taking only the credit cards, he said. “So the victim will not know.”

Given the difficulty of targeting this crime, Regina advised residents to safeguard their bags and wallets while shopping.

To watch the entire meeting, visit smithtownny.iqm2.com/citizens/calendar.aspx. The Town Board will reconvene Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 2 p.m.

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Eric Dubin, left, of The Whiskey Crows rocks Lake Avenue Sunday night, Aug. 6, during the Celebrate St. James concert series. Photo by Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

If you were strolling down Lake Avenue in St. James this past Sunday evening, Aug. 6, you might have been compelled to check the map on your phone to see if you were magically transported to Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Springsteen’s “Rosalita” rang out from Celebrate Park in the latest of the 2023 Summer Concert Series and this time it was The Whiskey Crows who got the people on their feet. The dynamic eight-piece band is an upbeat rock ‘n’ roll, twang and soul revue in the Jersey Shore bar band tradition. The band included a three-piece horn section.

Energetic front man Eric Dubin bounced around the stage and, thanks to the technology of wireless amplifiers, was able to sing and play while mixing with the crowd.

With a mix of Elvis, Dobie Gray, Mitch Ryder, St. James-resident Dubin and the boys played for two hours and had the crowd dancing with them in front of the canopied stage.

In addition to Dubin, the band features Mike Breier (bass and vocals), Rich Dashnaw (guitar and vocals), Andrew Rubenstein (drums), Joe Ferrante (keyboards and vocals), Mike Baratelli (saxophone), Josh Seifert (trombone) and Joe Boardman (trumpet).

As part of the Celebrate St. James Summer, a lucky raffle winner won the tidy sum of $318. Second place was slightly less lucky with the prize being a Whiskey Crows T-shirt.

Celebrate St. James Past-Present-Future is a nonprofit cultural arts organization. Housed in the historic St. James Calderone Theatre and built in the early 1900s, its mission is to preserve and celebrate St. James’ rich history and inspire an appreciation and knowledge of the arts in the community. 

Founded in 2017, Celebrate St. James was born as a nonprofit cultural arts organization by Jack Ader, Arline Goldstein and Natalie Weinstein to assist in the revitalization of the Lake Avenue district.

In November 2020, Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) and the Town Board joined Celebrate St. James in a groundbreaking ceremony commemorating the construction of Celebrate Park.

Blu Bayou, featuring the music of Linda Ronstadt, will play on Aug. 13 and the final concert will be Aug. 20 with SouthBound, which is heavily influenced by the music of the Allman Brothers.  

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James Liffey

By Carolyn Sackstein

TBR News Media headed to the Port Jefferson Station Department of Motor Vehicles, located in Three Roads Plaza, on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 3, asking locals how they felt about the announced closure of that location on Aug. 25 and how it would impact their future interactions with the state DMV. 

Reactions ranged from dismay to outrage, with near-universal praise for the staff’s courtesy, efficiency and speed over the years. Not one respondent suggested that the other locations for the area, which will now be at Hauppauge, Medford, Riverhead and Dix Hills, could match the quality of service and courtesy found in Port Jeff Station.

Craig Kolasinski

Craig Kolasinski, Selden

Kolasinski expressed consternation at the DMV closure, saying, “I live right in the neighborhood, and it is just sad. It’s close by.” When asked if he uses any other locations, he said, “Sometimes 112 [in Medford], but mostly this one. Hauppauge, yes. I used to live in Smithtown. This one is a lot quicker.”

James Liffey

James Laffey, Port Jefferson

“It’s disappointing. This office has served the community for many years. It’s a big loss. It’s a busy office, and it seems needed here.” When asked if he has used any other locations, he said, “Only when my kids had to register for road tests in Medford.” TBR Media asked if he was satisfied with the service there, and he replied, “The job got done, but it is not nearly as convenient and it is a busier branch. [Medford] is not as friendly as here.”

Steve Englebright

Steve Englebright, Setauket

“It’s outrageous!” said Englebright, the former Democratic New York State assemblyman representing the area who is currently running against Anthony Figliola (R-East Setauket) for Suffolk County’s 5th Legislative District. “This location is always crowded, they have people out the door. The only way you could get in the door Monday was with a reservation. So, the idea that it’s OK to close this site is a complete outrage and complete nonsense.” He added, “This is an anchor store and an anchor business. It stabilizes a sense of place. It provides meaningful services to everyone in the community.”

 

 

Lucia Kelly
Kevin Kelly

Kevin and Livia Kelly, Port Jefferson

Kevin said, “I really wish they’d keep it open. We had to come multiple times today, not their fault. If we had to go to Hauppauge four times and wait on line, this would have taken a week. We resolved it in a day, and it was a complicated situation. They are very polite. The best DMV around.” 

When asked if they had tried Medford, Livia replied, “I am not even sure if they showed up as an option when I was looking online. I remember seeing Huntington [Dix Hills], Hauppauge and Port Jefferson as the options for what I needed.”

Selena Kocay, Port Jefferson Station

Selena Kocay

Kocay’s husband is in the military and facing deployment next month. She is likely losing her job with the DMV after this location closes. 

“I think it is ridiculous. There is no common sense behind [the closure]. We take on Hauppauge and Medford [clients] when they can’t accommodate the amount of people they have as far as appointments go and walk-ins. They come straight to us. We help them; we get them in and out quick and happy.” When asked if any other locations were closing, Kocay replied, “No, just this one. They built Dix Hills last year, and we take on more [people] than Dix Hills does. They also said they are trying to cut costs. I don’t know where that came from. We just got new equipment! We got a new system put in, and within less than a month, we found out by News 12 that we are closing.” 

When asked if there was a review of the decision taking place to keep this location, Kocay said, “No, none at all. We are just trying to tell our customers. There are a lot of them that are upset. Some of them are even crying.”

Emanuel Koutalides

Emanuel Koutalides, Port Jefferson Station

He has been using this office for 10 years. “I think it’s a bad idea,” he said. “This place services a lot of the community between here and the next location, Medford.”

Walter Molinaro

Walter Molinaro

Molinaro, who sells vehicles, campers and trailers, was eager to voice his displeasure at the closing of the PJS location. “It takes an hour to get a [customer number] at [Route] 112 [in Medford]. Here, you just walk right in and you get a ticket — in and out. And they are nice people. They should never close this place.”

Leonidas Lascano

Leonidas Lascano, Port Jefferson Station

“I am really angry now, you know. I don’t understand, because many, many neighbors [are angry], too.”

John Arini

John Arini, Mount Sinai

Arini came to register and title his car. He said he does not use any other locations because “this is the most convenient to where I live, it is in and out for the most part.”

 

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Museum organizers, standing outside the former Rocky Point train station, will soon put the stories of Long Island’s veterans on full display. From left, museum curator Rich Acritelli, VFW Post 6249 Cmdr. Joe Cognitore and museum committee member Frank Lombardi. Photos by Raymond Janis

The Rocky Point Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6249 is embarking on an ambitious quest to showcase the stories of Long Island’s veterans.

Organizers will launch a veterans museum on Dec. 7 at the site of the former Rocky Point train station, situated just across the street from the post’s headquarters at the intersection of Broadway and King Road.

‘It’s about giving back to the community and making positive impacts within the community.’

— Frank Lombardi

Joe Cognitore, commander of Post 6249, said the planned museum represents an extension of the VFW’s programs and outreach initiatives.

The idea of erecting a veterans museum in Rocky Point has been decades in the making. Cognitore said the post unsuccessfully attempted to purchase a nearby drugstore before acquiring the former train station property through a community giveback from a neighboring developer.

The museum will serve to “educate the community, with an emphasis on young adults,” Cognitore said.

Rich Acritelli, a social studies teacher at Rocky Point High School and an adjunct professor of American history at Suffolk County Community College, has been performing the historical research and archival work for this project and will serve as museum curator upon its opening.

The post seeks to cast a wide net, Acritelli said, featuring the stories of veterans throughout the Island rather than narrowly tailoring the exhibits to the immediate locale.

“This is more of a broader” undertaking, he said. “It’s not just Rocky Point or Sound Beach. It can be East Hampton, Huntington, Wyandanch,” adding, “There aren’t too many places like this [museum]” on Long Island.

Inside the planned veterans museum in Rocky Point. From left, Frank Lombardi, Rich Acritelli and Joe Cognitore.

Acritelli said he plans to cover “every inch of this museum” with military equipment, historical relics, uniforms, collectibles, books and other memorabilia. Plans for rotating exhibits are also in the works.

Cognitore suggested that, within the broader national context, younger generations are gradually losing touch with American history. He said the post aims to regain that historical connection through this museum.

“We need to know that history,” he said.

Frank Lombardi, a member of the museum committee at Post 6249, envisions local veterans offering firsthand accounts of actual historical events, comparing and contrasting their recollections to popular fiction.

“If we showed a movie like ‘Platoon,’ you can show the movie, and then you can have some of the Vietnam veterans talk and say, ‘This is what it was really like, and these are the inaccuracies in the movie,’” he said.

For the museum’s organizers, each of whom has served in the U.S. Armed Forces, this endeavor represents the next iteration in their service.

Cognitore said the project is a necessary means for processing his wartime experiences and providing greater historical understanding to those who have not witnessed the brutality of war.

This bazooka will soon be on display along with military equipment, historical relics, uniforms, collectibles, books and other memorabilia.

“Working on this helps me free myself of all the things I did see or did do and kind of makes me happy to know that positive things are happening because of where I was and what I did,” the post commander said.

Acritelli said he regretted leaving the service because of the camaraderie shared among his compatriots. He said the museum and its collaboration has inspired similar feelings from his days in the military.

He maintains that Long Island’s vets are valuable primary sources in telling the local and national history.

“There are a lot of stories,” he said. “We want to make this into a large primary source.”

Lombardi remarked that he hoped the museum could inspire greater historical awareness and understanding of the realities of war while bringing community members together.

“It’s about giving back to the community and making positive impacts within the community,” Lombardi said. “We all grew up here locally on Long Island, and it’s important to recognize those who have come before you.”

Acritelli notes the active role that community members can play in preparing the museum for its launch date at the end of the year.

“We need people to donate things,” he said. “If they have basements and garages and old boxes full of stuff, they can give that to us or put it on loan,” adding, “We’ve got to build up some inventory.” 

Potential donors should contact Acritelli by email at [email protected].

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