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‘Urinetown The Musical ’ comes full circle at the SCPA

by Heidi Sutton - October 18, 2016

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By Heidi Sutton

The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts closes out its 14th season with the award-winning satirical comedy, “Urinetown The Musical,” which opened last weekend. With superb direction by Ken Washington, the 16-member seasoned cast guides the audience through two and a half wonderful hours of greed, love, corruption, regret, rebellion, fear, justice and long lines to the bathroom! Oh and it is very funny!

Officer Lockstock (Michael Bertolini) and street urchin Little Sally (Courtney Braun) in a scene from ‘Urinetown’, Photo courtesy of SCPA

The incredible Michael Bertolini returns as Officer Lockstock, a role he played 10 years ago in the same theater, and serves as narrator to set the scene. The town is experiencing a 20-year drought, he explains, which has caused a severe water shortage, causing the government to ban all private toilets. Everyone must use public bathrooms in order to “take care of their private business.” However, all the urinals are controlled by corporate giant Urine Good Company run by the greedy Caldwell B. Cladwell (Michael Newman). In other words, everyone must “pay to pee.” Anyone who doesn’t pay is arrested and sent to Urinetown, “a mystical place, a bad place, filled with symbolism,” never to be seen again. “Whaaat!”

The cast

Michael Bertolini

Courtney Braun

Mark Cahill

Samantha Carroll

Erich Grathwohl

Ronnie Green

Jeremy Hudson

Amanda-Camille Isaac

M.E. Junge

Mary Ellin Kurtz

Kaylyn Lewis

Eddie Martinez

Michael Newman

Ryan Nolin

Dondi Rollins Jr.

Jim Sluder

When Cladwell’s daughter Hope (Samantha Carroll) returns from college to work at UGC, she meets Bobby Strong (Jeremy Hudson), an assistant janitor at one of the cheapest toilets in town, run by Miss Pennywise (Mary Ellin Kurtz). Bob and Hope fall in love and she encourages him to follow his heart. His heart tells him to form a rebellion and the fight to pee for free is on. Will good win over evil or will Bobby be sent to Urinetown?

Musical director Melissa Coyle, on keyboards, leads a powerful ensemble with Alexandria DeVries on reeds, Ken Mahoney on trombone, Michael Molloy on bass and Jim Waddell on drums. The musical numbers, choreographed by M.E. Junge, are all top notch. Carroll and Hudson’s duet, “Follow Your Heart,” is very sweet (there’s clearly some chemistry there), while Michael Newman is hilarious as he hops around the stage singing “Don’t Be the Bunny.” Other stand-out numbers include “Cop Song,” which incorporates flashlights and batons into the choreography and the gospel number, “Run, Freedom, Run!” and the cast shines in “Snuff That Girl” and “What Is Urinetown?” both clearly inspired by “West Side Story” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

As Little Sally says to Officer Lockstock at the end, “This isn’t a happy musical but the music is happy …. and the title is awful!” True, but you should still go see it!

The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East Main St., Smithtown will present “Urinetown The Musical” through Nov. 6. Tickets range from $20 to $35. To order, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org.

Smithtown East remains perfect with sweep of Riverhead

by TBR Staff - October 18, 2016

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smithtown-east-volleyball-felicity-hoffert-kate-chong-101716-landon-wjl_2180w — Felicity Hoffert and Kate Chong leap up for the block. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Smithtown East continues to dominate the volleyball court.

The girls’ team improved to 8-0 and remain atop the League III leaderboard with a three-set win over Riverhead Oct. 17, 25-11, 25-11 and 25-10.

Melissa Oliveri sends the ball over. Photo by Bill Landon.

Smithtown East head coach George Alamia did not start several of his starters in an effort to keep the score close and enhance his younger players, but it didn’t matter.

“They’re great team leaders — they make everyone around them better and as you can see we don’t have a huge drop off when they don’t play,” Alamia said. “Today we had good ball control against [Riverhead] and our back up setter Marissa Oliveri has great hands and she moved the ball around really well today.”

The Bulls started out slow in the first set, but retook the lead 8-7 and showed their dominance, rattling off point after point to put the set away, stringing together 11 unanswered points along the way.

Sophomore right side hitter Grace Faulhaber said her teams’ strength was its ability to rally back even after falling behind.

“I loved the way even when we lost the point, we found a way to get it back,” she said. “We dig deep, we’ll get that pass and then [we can] get that hit.”

The second set was much like the first, and Alamia continued to go deeper into his bench.

“As a team, we all work together — we never get down on each other and we always find a way to push through points to stay in the game,” junior outside hitter Alex Colon said. “We motivate each other and it’s [how we] bond together. That’s the most important part of the game.”

Grace Faulhaber serves. Photo by Bill Landon

Senior outside hitter Haley Anderson, an All-State and All-Long Island player the last two years, along with senior libero Jill Pesce, junior outside hitter Steph Berdon and junior setter Brooke Berroyer all watched the action from the sidelines.

Alamia said the quartet provides the ingredients that are enabling his team to compete for a 10th consecutive League III title, adding that the players bring the consistency and a championship attitude every day to practice.

With the balance of the roster seeing action in the third set though, you wouldn’t know the power foursome wasn’t in the mix.

Alamia said he will continue to focus on strengthening his secondary going down the stretch in preparation for the postseason.

“When we go around and Haley’s in the back row, we need to grow in some areas offensively,” the head coach said. “We’ve made progress — we’ve gotten better — and I think we’ll be at our strongest come playoff time.”

Senior middle Kate Chong said her team’s defense continues to make the difference.

“We picked up a lot of balls — even the ones that were close,” Chong said. “We just push ourselves so hard, and we’ve been playing together since sixth grade, so we have a strong bond.”

Ward Melville nabs fifth straight win with sweep

by Desirée Keegan - October 18, 2016

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The top ranked League I girls’ volleyball team had a chance at revenge, and they made it count.

No. 1 Ward Melville fell to No. 2 Commack in five sets back in September for the Patriots first loss of the season. Since then, the girls’ volleyball team had its eyes on avenging its only League I defeat.

“It was a tough loss, but we definitely used it as fire to power ourselves to keep working,” senior libero Ellen Li said. “It’s something we looked at and we worked on and it made us work harder each day. We wanted nothing more than to come back.”

The Patriots fought back to sweep Commack in three sets on senior night Oct. 17, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-23.

Despite winning the match in straight sets, the affair was a constant battle.

“Last time we knew what we did wrong, and we turned a corner and fixed everything that went wrong in that game, in the games we played leading up to this game,” senior outside hitter Olivia Hynes said. “We can get into these holes, but we talk to each other and we get out of it right away.”

“We came through with strong defense and the serve receives when the score was tight. If we made an error we were able to push through it.”

— Lara Atalay

A short serve put Ward Melville ahead 10-5 midway through the first set, but the Cougars battled back to tie 13-13. After scoring the next point, Ward Melville head coach Charlie Fernandes was forced to call timeout.

“They keep getting in their own way, but they also battle their way out of it, so it’s pretty exciting,” he said. “We’re setting the ball well, we play nice defense and our middles are a big surprise to everybody — they’re really doing a great job. Everyone knew we had two good outsides, but to add the two middles and the right side, we have a very complete volleyball team.”

Commack went on a tare of its own to pull ahead 19-16 in the set, but junior middle blocker Schuyler Tasman came through with a block and a send over on volley that Commack could not recover, to tie the score 19-19. The two teams traded tallies over the next four points, but an out of bounds Commack hit and Tasman serve led Ward Melville to the first-set win.

“I’m happy that we won,” Fernandes said. “I think it puts us in a good position to hopefully win the league and that should seed us well for the playoffs. We’re still making too many unforced errors for my liking, but we still have a few weeks to get ready, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Ward Melville had an easier time taking the second set. The teams continued to trade points until a missed kill opportunity pulled Commack within one point, 19-18.

“We were strong getting out of tough situations,” Li said. “It’s perseverance and resilience — we’re always thinking about each other — even when we’re in tough situations we talk through it.”

“It’s perseverance and resilience — we’re always thinking about each other — even when we’re in tough situations we talk through it.”

—Ellen Li

Communication and chemistry helped the Patriots take the final six points for the 2-0 lead in the match.

The Patriots are comfortable in five-set matches, having won three so far this year, but they didn’t want to see that happen again against Commack. In the third set, down 23-21, a timeout helped the team regroup. An out of bounds Commack serve closed the gap to 23-22, and a botched dig evened the score. Ward Melville forced two more errors to sweep the game.

“We came through with strong defense and the serve receives when the score was tight,” senior outside hitter Lara Atalay said. “If we made an error, we were able to push through it and come through with a pass. It says a lot about our team. I trust my team and have a lot of confidence. We’ve had the ability to come through in any tight situation all season, and being able to come through in that tight ending was a great feeling.”

Hynes said she was happy to see her team enter the game with confidence and use that to its advantage, but she’d like to see that every time the team steps onto the court.

“This game we started off really strong and started off with a win, which set the tempo and created a different mindset for the whole game, so I want us to work on coming in strong every single game,” she said. “I wanted to look back to a great senior game we played here, so to be able to have that memory is irreplaceable.”

LI Cars Fall Harvest Car Show gets a green light

by Victoria Espinoza - October 17, 2016

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The Long Island Cars Fall Harvest Car Show brought hundreds to St. James Sunday, Oct. 16, where dozens of vintage rides spanning from 1910 to the newest models were on display.

TBR’s Kids Halloween Coloring Contest winners announced

by Heidi Sutton - October 14, 2016

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halloween-coloring-contest-winners-2016 — Photo by Heidi Sutton

From left, sisters Caroline and Alexa D’Andrea of Shoreham are the winners of our Halloween Coloring Contest and receive four tickets to the children’s show, ‘Pumpkin Patch Magic,’ courtesy of Theatre Three in Port Jefferson. Congratulations!

Governor approves standards for lead levels in schools

by TBR Staff - October 14, 2016

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babydrinkingwaterhosew — New standards will require school districts in New York state to test for lead in water. File photo

By Rebecca Anzel

Drinking water in public schools across the state will soon conclude testing for lead contamination. Legislation signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in September makes New York the first state to mandate such testing.

The law established a level of lead allowed in drinking water, initial and future testing requirements for schools and deadlines for notifying parents and staff of results.

“These rigorous new protections for New York’s children include the toughest lead contamination testing standards in the nation and provide clear guidance to schools on when and how they should test their water,” Cuomo said in a press release.

Schools are more likely to have raised lead levels because intermittent use of water causes extended water contact with plumbing fixtures. Those installed before 1986, when federal laws were passed to restrict the amount of lead allowed in materials, might have a higher amount of lead.

“We know how harmful lead can be to the health and well-being of young children, and that’s why the Senate insisted on testing school water for lead,” state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport) said in a statement. “As a result, New York becomes the first state in the nation to perform this testing and protect millions of its students from potential health risks.”

Lead consumption by children is especially harmful because behavioral and physical effects, such as brain damage and reduced IQ, happen at lower levels of exposure, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Even low levels of lead exposure can cause hearing loss, nervous system damage and learning disabilities.

“We know how harmful lead can be to the health and well-being of young children, and that’s why the Senate insisted on testing school water for lead.”

—John Flanagan

In adults, lead can cause damage to the reproductive system, kidneys and cardiovascular system.

The new law required schools teaching children in prekindergarten through fifth grade to test drinking water by Sept. 30 and schools with children from grades six through 12 to complete testing by the end of October.

This affects in excess of 700 school districts and 37 BOCES locations in the state, consisting of more than 5,000 school buildings, according to the state. Private schools are exempt from this testing.

Any lead level exceeding 15 micrograms per liter must be reported by the school to the local health department within one business day. Schools are also mandated to share the test results with parents and staff in writing and to publish a list of lead-free buildings on their websites.

Glenn Neuschwender, president of Enviroscience Consultants, a Ronkonkoma-based environmental consulting firm, said to a certain extent, these deadlines are a challenge, especially those pertaining to the test results.

“I’ve been speaking to the county health department — they’re currently not prepared to receive that data,” Neuschwender said in a phone interview. “The same would go for the state Department of Health. They’re not currently prepared to start receiving data yet, but they’ve told me that they will be within the coming weeks.”

The cost of a lead analysis ranges from $20 to $75 per sample and must be conducted by a laboratory approved by the Environmental Laboratory Approval Program. Long Island Analytical Laboratories in Holbrook and Pace Analytical Services in Melville are two approved labs, according to the state Department of Health.

If the level of lead in a sample exceeds what the law allows, the school is required to prohibit the use of that faucet until further testing shows the issue is rectified. The law also requires schools to conduct testing every five years.

“The law is certainly, I would say, a work in progress,” Neuschwender said. “The law is very short in discussing remediation — it’s more specific to sampling and action-level objectives — so we expect to see some clarification on the remediation side of things as the law is revised.”

Port Jefferson school district conducted voluntary testing of fixtures throughout the district this summer before Cuomo signed the law, and found small amounts of lead in nine locations. All nine fixtures have been replaced, according to Fred Koelbel, district plant facilities administrator.

Changes to Common Core met with mixed reviews

by Victoria Espinoza - October 14, 2016

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By Victoria Espinoza

The New York State Education Department wants teachers and parents to weigh in on changes to Common Core State Standards, and voices are already criticizing the proposals.

The department released a draft of new learning standards for public comment at the end of last month, which included recommendations to change 60 percent of the English language arts standards and 55 percent of the math standards for New York state.

“The overriding opinion is that it’s more of the same. They didn’t really make any substantive changes. These are more revised phrasing and language. They’re attached at the hip to the original standards.”

—Joe Rella

The recommendations came from two committees comprised of more than 130 parents and teachers and included creating a new early learning task force and a glossary of math verbs and English terms.

Middle Country Central School District Superintendent Roberta A. Gerold said teachers in the district will be reviewing the changes and submitting their commentary made throughout the month of October.

“I think that it’s good that state education is asking for teacher’s perspectives and comments on whether or not the revisions are appropriate,” Gerold said. “It says to me that they’re not finished with their revisions, because there are still adjustments that need to be made. Some of them were simple language changes, but I think there’s still more solid work that needs to be done.”

The NYS Allies for Public Education applauded the committee’s efforts but said due to the confining nature of the state education department the results are not substantive content changes.

“The result of their efforts is essentially just a rebranding of the Common Core,” the group said in a statement.

Comsewogue school district Superintendent Joe Rella echoed those sentiments.

“The overriding opinion is that it’s more of the same,” he said in a phone interview. “They didn’t really make any substantive changes. These are more revised phrasing and language. They’re attached at the hip to the original standards.”

He also said the department should have looked at the use of standards themselves.

“It was not meant to do anything but review the current standards,” Rella said. “They never got into the bigger picture, which is the appropriateness of the standards.” The superintendent said he is not anticipating anything different this school year because of the proposed modifications.

Jim Polansky, superintendent at Huntington school district, also questioned how effective these changes would be to districts.

“The truth is that the large majority of those changes are immaterial,” he said in an email. “There is still a chance that additional modifications to the new draft standards will be made following the comment period; however, I don’t anticipate that any further changes will be particularly significant either. I do not necessarily believe that the new set will be drastically different from the current Common Core.”

NYS Education Department Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said committee members spent a year listening to public comment before drafting new standards.

“Dedicated teachers, parents and educators from across the state put in countless hours to develop these new draft standards,” Elia said in a statement. “Teachers will be able to use these standards as a basis for developing their curricula and lesson plans to meet the needs of students in their classrooms. These changes reflect what I have heard from parents, teachers and administrators over the past year in my travels across the state.”

For the ELA changes, five subcommittee groups based on grade levels reviewed the original standards to see if they met the criteria for what a student should know and be able to perform at their grade level, and recommended new areas to improve standards.

Specific changes include more focus on students in prekindergarten to second grade, with an early learning task force that discusses issues for younger learners, teaching from a wider variety of texts, and developing clear communication with parents so they understand the curriculum and assignments their children are given.

Math changes include creating a glossary of verbs associated with mathematics, maintaining the rigor of standards so students are aware of what is expected of them at every grade level and providing more time for students to understand mathematics content.

Smithtown Superintendent James Grossane said his district intends to give a thorough response to the state on the changes.

“Some of the new standards reflect changes that we had already made in our local curriculum and instruction based on our own teacher and administrator input,” he said in an email. “We are providing detailed feedback to the NY State Education Department on the revised standards and will await final adoption before making any additional local changes.”

Gerold also said the reactions from the public are an important part of the process.

“I know that there’s some debate going around the state whether the changes were deep enough or developmentally appropriate,” she said. “I think all of that information will be more valid once the feedback is received from all of the stakeholders.”

To review the new English standards in more detail visit the website www.nysed.gov/draft-standards-english-language-arts, and for math standards see www.nysed.gov/draft-standards-mathematics. The public can also comment on the changes by completing a grade-level specific survey.

The public comment period ends Nov. 4.

The right to be offended

by TBR Staff - October 13, 2016

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trumpw-2 — President Donald Trump suspended entry from seven countries last week. File photo

As an editorial staff, we have an opinion. …

The first half of that sentence isn’t necessary in order to reveal what we think. And that is the exact problem we have had with this past weekend’s news cycle.

Political leader after political leader came out this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday to condemn Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s leaked comments, bragging about being able to commit sexual assault against women.

One of the common themes from legislators who pulled their endorsements was “As a father of daughters” or “As a brother with sisters — or a mother,” they were offended.

Two problems here: You don’t need to be a “someone” in order to be offended, you can simply be offended. And why is it that women are repeatedly being referred to as a sister, a daughter or a mother?

A presidential candidate talked about how he can sexually assault women because he is a star. A woman doesn’t need to be anything to be offended, threatened or violated by that sentiment. A man is also not disqualified from finding Trump’s comments reprehensible simply because he is a man.

Women don’t need to give birth or have a brother before they can be victimized by Trump’s words. Men don’t need to be married to condemn sexual assault. It should not matter your role, your background or your stature — no one should need to back up or justify why they are against sexual assault. They just should be.

Smithtown library budget approved, incumbents and newcomer voted in

by Victoria Espinoza - October 12, 2016

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Smithtown-Library3-120813-Shapirow — The Smithtown Library. File photo by Rachel Shapiro

Smithtown Library’s $14.3 million budget was overwhelmingly approved Tuesday Oct. 11, with 1,018 yes votes to 307 no votes. The budget is a 1.13 percent increase and will cost homeowners about $12.85 more than last year’s budget.

Salary and employee benefits make up the majority of the budget, coming in at about $10.5 million, and then about $1 million for a debt service-expansion referendum.

Library Trustees Gerard Cairns and Joseph Vallone were both elected to another term, and newcomer Anita Dowd-Neufeld won a seat on the board as well.

Cairns, who received 1,008 votes, said he wanted to focus in updating technology and ensuring the library is a useful community resource.

“Technology is rapidly changing and the library must continue to strategically develop new ways to deliver services in partnership with our communities,” he said in a statement. “This would include, of course, book lending, research, a wide variety of course offerings for all ages, DVD lending, individual and small group consultations with librarians, access for community groups needing a venue, availability of computers and other media, showcase art and other member achievements and concerts.”

Vallone, who received 1,067 votes agreed about the importance of technology use in the library.

“I want to help the Library stay on the cusp of technological trends and continue to address patron interests,” he said in a statement. “I will also continue to explore avenues for grants through governmental agencies and private foundations.”

Dowd-Neufeld, who received 1,052 votes, said she would work to make sure the library continues to offer programs to the residents.

“My goals would be to assist the trustees and the staff in continuing to promote these programs to the communities we are part of,” she said in a statement. “This would include increased outreach to undeserved populations, such as the disabled and other special need minority groups. I would also assist staff and trustees in coordinating and executing fundraising events and submitting grant proposals for funding special projects and initiatives.”

There were 25 write-in ballots, according to the library.

Smithtown proposes $103.2 million budget for 2017

by TBR Staff - October 12, 2016

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smithtown_town_hall6_shapirow — Smithtown Town Hall. File photo

By Sara Ging

Smithtown released a $103.2 million budget at a town board meeting Oct. 4, which stays within the 0.68 percent tax levy cap, includes no layoffs and is an overall increase of about $2 million from last year’s budget.

Supervisor Patrick Vecchio (R) proposed the use of surplus funds to establish two capital reserves: $2 million in open space preservation, and $2 million to establish a sewer fund.

“Both of those will go a long way to improve Smithtown’s quality of life,” Vecchio said at the meeting.

The reserve for open space preservation would provide funds for the purchase of sensitive land or land that can be sanitized. The supervisor said there is a need for more open space in the town, and this reserve helps keep money aside when space becomes available. There are no specifics for the sewer system yet, which Vecchio called a “rainy day fund,” also saying that if the money is not used, it will be absorbed in next year’s budget.

Unlike the nearby Town of Huntington, Smithtown’s proposed budget would not pierce the state property tax cap — residents would actually experience a small tax reduction under this plan as compared to last year. According to the town, the budget increase between 2016 and 2017 is partially offset by an increase in last year’s revenue from mortgage taxes, both from new home sales and from refinancing.

The funding of most departments is “status quo,” according to Vecchio. Policies to lower maintenance and energy costs, such as the use of LED lighting, are also credited with financial savings in the past year.

The highway department received $5.5 million in paving funds, which allow for the paving of 30 miles of roads in 2017. In addition, $750,000 is included for sidewalks.

Proposed salaries for town board members include about $111,000 for the supervisor, and almost $66,000 for each of the four town council members.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Eugene A. Cannataro Senior Citizen Center on Middle Country Road in Smithtown.

Additional reporting by Victoria Espinoza

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