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New York State public administrators present on the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act. Above, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. Photo courtesy NYSDEC

New York State officials capped off a statewide listening tour on Thursday, Aug. 24, at Suffolk County Community College to inform the public on expenditures related to the $4.2 billion New York State Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, passed last year.

Voters statewide passed the Environmental Bond Act via public referendum by 68-32%. Suffolk County residents had upvoted the ballot measure 64-36%.

Community members and public officials from the state to the local levels attended Thursday’s event as senior NYS administrators outlined their plans for dispersing the funds.

Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, offered recent historical context surrounding the bond act money.

The listening tour concludes “amid one of the most impactful summers ever when it comes to climate change,” he said. “I’m old enough in this job to remember when we had an incident or two a season. Now we’re seeing incredible impacts.”

From Canadian wildfire smoke impairing local air quality to rising temperatures to heightened and more intense precipitation events, Seggos maintained the pressing need to use bond act funding to remediate these challenges.

New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid. Photo courtesy NYSDEC

The bond act funds will focus on four primary categories: climate change mitigation, restoration and fund risk, open space preservation and water quality improvement.

While state agencies are still refining eligibility guidelines, Seggos said the state government aims to direct at least 35%, with a goal of 40% of the funds, to disadvantaged communities.

However, “every community in New York state is eligible” for bond act subsidization, he added.

Suzanna Randall, chief resilience officer at NYSDEC, noted that a significant portion of the bond act funds would support restoration and flood risk, marsh restoration, municipal stormwater infrastructure and other related water infrastructure improvements.

New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid outlined how bond act funding would help support and promote Long Island’s parkland and open space. Funding areas include open space conservation, farmland protection and easements, fish hatcheries and other projects.

‘Please, please, please use the survey to give us your ideas, to give us your thoughts on how these dollars should be appropriated.’

— Suzanna Randall

Public feedback needed

Throughout the event, Randall stressed the need for public input on projects that may qualify for bond act funds. “Please, please, please use the survey to give us your ideas, to give us your thoughts on how these dollars should be appropriated,” she said.

Kulleseid also emphasized the importance of public feedback, noting the limited timeframe to gather public comment as the survey expires on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

“We have an online survey tool that will allow you to share ideas and information about projects you may have or the types of projects that we should fund in general,” the NYS park commissioner said. “It’s not an application or a request for proposal but a way to help us learn about the universal projects local governments, community organizations and the public” may require.

To complete the survey of initial project ideas, scan the QR code below. To learn more about the Environmental Bond Act, please visit www.ny.gov/bondact.

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Courtesy of DC Comics

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

How come we never see superheroes in regular moments? To that end, I wanted to share a host of images that I hope might brighten your day (if you need it).

Superman picking his nose. Okay, let’s just get this one out of the way first. Sure, he leaps tall buildings in a single bound, fights crime everywhere, and stands for truth, justice and the American way, but what about the urge to clean out the dried super boogers in his nose? And, if he did, what would happen to them? Would they decay the way ours presumably do, or would they be like rocks trickling through our plumbing or remaining forever on the floor, impenetrable even to a speeding bullet?

Okay, backing off from the incredibly crude, let’s go to Superman’s fingernails. I’m guessing he can’t clip them with an average clipper. When he does trim then, are they so strong that it’d hurt to step on them?

How about Batman? Is there room in that suit for hiccups? What happens when he’s driving his super fast car or flying bat mobile and he gets the hiccups? I know my hiccups, which are loud enough to cause Superman’s super fingernails to bend, are so distracting that it’d be tough to fight crime, or even navigate at incredible speeds, when my diaphragm is spasming.

And then there’s Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter, if you’re old enough, and Gal Gadot, for the more modern fan, are both incredible fighters who save the day, rescuing mere mortals like Steve Trevor. But do they have the kind of arguments with their mothers that I’ve seen other women (no one in my family, of course) have with their mothers? Are they tempted to take out their truth lasso and demand that their mother say what she really thinks or share what she really did? Can you imagine Wonder Woman in a shouting match with her mother, reaching a point where she wraps the rope around her mom’s wrist and demands to know, “What do you really think of my new boyfriend” or even “you mean to tell me you never acted out against your own parents?”

How about Aquaman? Not to be too obsessed about the nose here, but does he ever get water up his nose, the way the rest of us do when we’re diving or doing awkward flips into the pool? Given the speed at which he swims, I would imagine such water in his nose might cause even more agony for him than it does for the rest of us, who find the dense medium of water difficult to traverse rapidly.

What about the Flash?

I haven’t seen the recent multiverse movie with him, but I would imagine his shoes, which withstand the incredible force of him tearing around town, are a vital piece of equipment that could be enormously problematic if they tear or have holes.And, unlike me, as I sit here with the tongue of my right sneaker hanging off, I would imagine he couldn’t wait any length of time to replace the shoes that glide over the ground at speeds that, if my interpretation of the recent movie trailers suggest, exceed the speed of light and can, to borrow from the singing superhero Cher, “turn back time.”

Sorry if you’ve now got that song ricocheting around your head. Come up with a better song and you’ll be fine or maybe just count backwards from 20 in French or any foreign language, if you know how to do that.

And what about Spider-Man? Does he ever eat something that totally disagrees with his system, making it impossible to leave the house until he’s taken a super dose of an antacid? Sure, super heroes inspire us with their incredible deeds, but I’d like to know how they manage through the kinds of everyday issues, challenges, and regular stuff in our lives.

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By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

A book whose subject caught my eye this week is, “Young and Restless, The Girls Who Sparked America’s Revolutions,” by Mattie Kahn. The story appeared in the New York Times Book Review this past weekend, and I read of these female exploits, marveling at the young ages of the subjects.They were indeed girls, most in their teens or younger, not yet women by today’s standards. Now my mother, who was born in 1906, was only 11 when she began her work life, a graduate of 8th grade with a further degree from a bookkeeping school. While I have long been amazed at that, these stories begin with the Lowell mills girls in 1836 and Harriet Hanson, 11, who led a “turn-out” of 1500 young women refusing to work.

I was not familiar with the Lowell mills history. It seems Francis Cabot Lowell was impressed by the textile factories he saw in England and returned to Massachusetts to build similar workplaces and participate in the Industrial Revolution. For the most part, the workers were girls and young women. The early mills were a kind of “philanthropic manufacturing college,” to which such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allan Poe came to lecture. These were the first places where girls, who were not the daughters of rich men, and hence not at finishing schools, could gather and learn as they worked. It was here, at a factory in Lowell, Massachusetts, where the first all-female-staffed magazine in American history was started.

When the girls were informed that their pay was to be cut, they went on strike. Hanson organized the walkout with what she later called “childish bravado.”

The book tells stories of many more such young women—girls really—protesting in different circumstances. “There’s Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who led 17,000 people up New York City’s Fifth Avenue on horseback in the 1912 march for women’s suffrage.” Anna Elizabeth Dickenson was an abolitionist orator in her teens and became the first woman to address the House of Representatives. Heather Tobis (Booth) at 19, “founded the legendary abortion referral service Jane out of her dorm room. Clyde Marie Perry, 17, and Emma Jean Wilson, 14, integrated their Granada, Mississippi schools in 1966 and then successfully sued to stop expulsions of pregnant students like themselves.”

Perhaps the girl who interested me most because she overlapped with my life was Alice de Rivera, dubbed by the New York City media as the “crusader in mini-skirts.” She was 13, had scored on a citywide test in the 99th percentile in math, but was denied the right to take the entrance exam to Stuyvesant High School in 1969 because she was female. She and her parents, Joseph, a psychology professor, and Margaret, an educational therapist, lived in Brooklyn at the time, and the high school she was supposed to attend did not have appropriate classes for her further education. Stuyvesant, one of the best high schools in New York City, did.

Now I am familiar with Stuyvesant. I went to the all-girls Hunter College High School in the 1950s, and we would periodically have “socials” with the Stuyvesant boys. They were more like milk-and-cookie gatherings, but nonetheless at one of them I was asked out on my first date.

Alice de Rivera met with the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, where she was introduced to Eleanor Jackson Piel, who took her case pro bono. Fighting educational sexual segregation was a radical idea at the time. Most specialized schools and even the Ivies were all-male. But on the grounds that it violated Alice’s 14th Amendment of equal protection, they filed a lawsuit on January 20, 1969 against the state’s Board of Education. She received a lot of publicity, and by May, the Board voluntarily repealed Stuyvesant’s sex restriction. It was a cultural precedent that broke barriers.

What happened to De Rivera? She and her family moved out of New York City, so she didn’t go to Stuyvesant. Today she is a physician, living on a farm in Maine with her husband, a retired math professor, and working at a clinic she started, helping Lewiston’s large population of Somali refugees. She also works at another facility that serves people who can’t pay for their medical care.

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BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND: Called everything from ‘hillbilly-Pink Floyd’ to ‘folk-pop’ to ‘surreal Americana,’ the Slambovian Circus of Dreams returns to this year's festival. Photo by Tom Moore

By Julianne Mosher

If you have a love for folk music, head over to Benner’s Farm in East Setauket on Sunday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the 11th annual Fiddle and Folk Festival. Just in time for fall, the event will have a little something for everyone.

Held on the grounds of the historic farm, that has been owned by Bob Benner and his family since 1977, festival-goers can always expect the best in traditional and contemporary folk music plus other fun-filled farm activities suitable for all ages. 

Singer-songwriter Cassandra House

“Bob Benner has been instrumental in the Fiddle and Folk Festival for years,” said Amy Tuttle, program director for the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council.

Tuttle added that the festival was held for many years at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. Unfortunately, it stopped for a bit, until Benner “resurrected it.” 

“It’s always on the first Sunday after Labor Day,” said Tuttle, who said that the GPJAC has been involved every year at Benner’s since — except for one year which was during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have an eclectic variety of music, so there’s something for everybody.”

This year’s performers include The Slambovian Circus of Dreams (back by popular demand), Cassandra House, Barbecue  Bruce and the Brisket Brothers, and last year’s “Pick of the Crop,” Stephen Robinson and Hank Stone. Bob Westcott will emcee and entertain between sets with stories and song.

With the exception of The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, who are popular regulars on the folk festival scene, the rest of the performers are all Long Island locals; Cassandra House is from the South Shore and Barbecue  Bruce and the Brisket Brothers (Bruce MacDonald, Dan Skabeikis and John Brisotti) hail from the North Fork.

Tuttle also mentioned the “Pick of the Crop,” a new contest that was implemented last year. The idea is for performers to virtually audition online before the festival with finalists performing in-person the day of the festival in front of a group of judges. Those judges then decide which of the finalists will perform on the main stage at next year’s festival. 

Right now, there is an online submission page where musicians, singers and songwriters can submit their work. The first round of judges will then choose from those submissions who made it to the next round, performing on the Shady Grove Stage. 

“It’s a really nice festival,” Tuttle said. “Everyone always has a great time.”

If the main stage and contest stages weren’t enough, there’s more. This year, an open mic stage will be presented on the back of Bob Benner’s old ’24 Model T Truck.

Benner said that other than the music and food that will be available to enjoy, there will be other fun things to do — especially for the little ones. 

“We’ll have a kid’s corner and caricatures,” he said, adding Long Island’s largest swing will be available to play on. Visitors will also be available to visit with the farm’s many animals including sheep, goats and chickens.

“The Fiddle and Folk Festival is a perfect way to ease out of all the fun things we have been doing over the summer and head into the fall,” Tuttle said. “It’s relaxed and a great way to unwind before the start of the school year.”

Presented by Homestead Arts, the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council and Benner’s Farm, the music festival will be held rain or shine.

Benner’s Farm is located at 56 Gnarled Hollow Road in East Setauket. Advance sale tickets for the Fiddle & Folk Festival are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $10 for children. Tickets on the day of the event are  $23 adults, $20 seniors and $10 for children.

Audience members are encouraged to bring their own seating. A full schedule of performances and events along with applications for the “Pick of the Crop” contest are available at www.fiddleandfolk.com. For more information, call 631-689-8172.

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Million dollar bleachers?

Is the Port Jefferson School District spending unnecessarily, yet again?

The Board of Education on July 11 learned that bids to replace present high school bleachers and press booths came in much higher than the $561,000 allocated in the 2022-23 budget. According to the superintendent of schools [Jessica Schmettan] the bids indicated a cost of “just under a million dollars” for bleachers, with significantly fewer seats than the present ones. The present bleachers seat 1,000 but the replacements will seat less than 600. Doing the math, this works out to spending over $1,600 per person on a bleacher bench.

The superintendent confirmed in an email that the present bleachers are structurally safe, evident also by the fact that they remain in use. They are not, however, compliant with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) code.

Given this huge price tag for a total bleacher replacement, consideration should be given to modifying our present bleachers to make them ADA-compliant. Only the first row would need modification. According to posted information, describing how other school districts faced with this issue addressed it, with the addition of some ramps, guard rails and removal of enough bench area to accommodate 10 wheelchairs in just the first row, we can meet ADA standards, retain the present 1,000-person seating capacity and likely stay well below the initially budgeted amount — and certainly way below the million dollar expense for all new bleachers. Extra handrails could also be installed as an option on upper rows of bleachers for additional safety. The press booth can simply remain as is and need not be enhanced.

The Board of Education will be discussing the bleachers at their Aug. 29 meeting. Surely there are more important priorities in our school buildings than spending a million dollars on all new bleachers if the present ones just need some modifications to meet ADA code. Installing a new HVAC system in the high school could be one of them.

Port Jefferson residents are very generous in supporting their schools. Hopefully the school board will in turn show respect for the taxpayers by avoiding more unnecessary or excessive spending.

Gail Sternberg

Port Jefferson

Context for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A firestorm cloud hangs above the Japanese city of Hiroshima following detonation of an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945. Public domain photo

I felt some discomfort after reading Myrna Gordon’s letter [“Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Aug. 10] regarding the North Country Peace Group’s vigil around the anniversaries of the dropping of the atomic bombs. 

I think it is clear to all that war is a terrible thing, and I certainly understand the mourning of those killed in wars. My discomfort comes from the selectivity and moral attitude taken by most people I have known, or heard from, regarding these attacks. I apologize if these factors may not apply to the members of the Peace Group.

To start, the letter seems to imply that these bombings were the most devastating ever. Reports note anywhere from 129,000 to 226,000 killed from the combined attacks. Yet, prior to these attacks, the firebombing of Tokyo killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people immediately in one night alone and does not get similar attention.

My bigger concern is the general perception of such mourners that these attacks were a moral atrocity. They fail to look at the overall picture. If the war had not ended this way, we were looking at an invasion of Japan. The estimates are/were that an invasion would have resulted in the loss of over 1 million people. 

While this number alone is large, it fails to note all the descendants that would never be born because of these deaths. I take this very personally because my father likely would have been killed in that invasion and I would never have been born. Millions of people are alive today for that reason. It should also be remembered that this action was our means of ending a war that we did not start. 

Lastly, as I was thinking about this topic during the past week and deciding whether to respond, a new thought came to me. While there has been some reasonable concern about the potential use of nuclear  weapons over the last several decades, one could make a case that their existence has saved many lives and prevented major wars. Once Russia, and later China, had nuclear weapons, we have not had a direct conflict between world superpowers. 

I think this might be because of the mutually assured destruction theory that the superpowers would not launch nuclear preemptive strikes on each other because of the understanding that it would result in both countries destroying each other. Yet another unappreciated benefit.

Joseph Levine

Stony Brook

WRITE TO US … AND KEEP IT LOCAL 

We welcome your letters, especially those responding to our local coverage, replying to other letter writers’ comments and speaking mainly to local themes. Letters should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited for length, libel, style, good taste and uncivil language. They will also be published on our website. We do not publish anonymous letters. Please include an address and phone number for confirmation. Email letters to [email protected] or mail them to TBR News Media, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733.

 

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A satellite image of the Brookhaven Town landfill, located on Horseblock Road in Yaphank. Photo from Google Maps
By Nasrin Zahed

Several years after discovering “forever chemicals” leaking into Long Island’s groundwater near the Town of Brookhaven Landfill, located on Horseblock Road in Yaphank, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation calls for “corrective action.”

A plume of highly lethal PFAS, PFOS, and 1,4-dioxane contamination has been uncovered in downgradient wells within the town landfill. The contaminants, commonly called “forever chemicals,” cannot be broken down by the human body or the environment.

According to a statement from the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group, or BLARG, exposure to these chemicals “has been linked to some cancers, immune, fertility, thyroid and other health conditions.”

NYSDEC is requiring Brookhaven to begin assessing the current damage and determining a course of immediate action. The town is set to issue a notice to the public detailing the extent of the situation, its effect on local wildlife and communities and the next step in removing and properly disposing of the chemicals. Brookhaven will also hold a public forum to gather community feedback.

BLARG’s statement considered NYSDEC’s action “a day late and a dollar short.”

Kerim Odekon, a BLARG member, stated, “The only news is now DEC acknowledges the problem, which community members have raised to NYS and the town for years.”

Although NYSDEC determined the PFAS levels present “no new threats to drinking water,” community members are still concerned about the long-term effects on private water sources and wildlife.

Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) said he believes the fault should not be placed on the town exclusively, maintaining that “there is no question that the state has to step in as well,” he said.

Kornreich also noted the role of individual consumers and community members in remediating the issue. 

“We have to figure out our role in the larger question — that most of us dispose of large amounts of garbage every day,” he said, adding that consumers should consider how they as individuals contribute to the root problems.

The landfill is set to cease collection of certain trash and demolition debris by December 2024. Once the landfill reaches its capacity, the next step is to transfer out ash, potentially adding years to the timeline for full-scale closure.

BLARG continued to urge that the Brookhaven Landfill be shut down sooner rather than later, suggesting that the plume has gone too far.

“The first step is to set a closure date for the Brookhaven Landfill,” the BLARG statement reads, adding, “DEC must step in to set a date for the closure of the landfill.”

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METRO photo

When we shop, we often bring our valuables, which total hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars, with us.

Cell phones, wallets, purses and credit cards represent valuable commodities. They can be stolen to score sweet profits. And throughout our community, that is happening right now.

On Aug. 8, Suffolk County Police Department 4th Precinct Inspector David Regina informed the Smithtown Town Board of a pernicious crime happening across Suffolk County retail spaces.

“Criminals and thieves take the opportunity when someone is shopping at Costco or any of these other stores, and they walk by an unsuspecting victim’s shopping cart,” he said. “What they’ll do is they’ll just take out the credit cards or the wallet.”

A criminal can be out the door with our credit cards in the few seconds we may step away from our shopping carts.

At first, victims of this kind of theft do not know they have been victimized. In the time it can take for victims to discover they were robbed and cancel their accounts, the damage has already been done. For law enforcement, Regina noted, this kind of theft is “a very hard crime to target.”

Fortunately, we can all take some simple steps to protect our possessions. We should always keep our valuables in sight and within reach when we shop.

We also encourage our readers to shop lightly, leaving their possessions inside their locked vehicles or — even better — leaving their valuables at home.

If one shops with a handbag or purse, ensure these bags have secure closures. For purse thieves, an open handbag in a public space invites theft.

At TBR News Media, we helped to pioneer the Neighborhood Watch program in Suffolk County. We now advocate for a similar crime watch program for retail centers. As the adage goes, “If you see something, say something.”

Tell a store manager or similar authority about the nefarious activities you witness. Failure to report these incidents of purse theft signals to criminals our tacit approval of these behaviors, incentivizing recidivism. If we wish to see larcenies begin to drop, we must do our part.

Aware of the risks, we can and should shop without fear. Please take care to ensure that shopping can be a safe experience.

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Pete and Mary Hoban. Photo courtesy Bill Hoban

Dr. Pierce “Pete” Francis Hoban (1930‒2023), educator, age 93. Resided in Vicar’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Blessed with a wonderful quality of life to his last day on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, when the doctors at Mayo Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, said “his heart just gave out.”   

Pete was truly a self-made man. He was born into a loving but humble family in New York City during the Depression on June 19, 1930. He served honorably after high school in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War. He always said, if not for the benefits he received for his military service as part of the GI Bill, he never would have earned his undergraduate degree from Fordham University, his master’s degree from New York University or his doctorate in education from Columbia University.

Working as a high school math teacher while earning his doctorate, his talents and people skills were quickly recognized as he moved up the ranks of education, becoming a superintendent of schools at the age of 30. 

He spent the next 35 years serving as a superintendent of schools in increasingly larger and more complex school systems, including the Three Village School District on Long Island and the Skokie School District in the suburbs of Chicago. He was driven in his career by his deep passion for helping others succeed by achieving their educational goals. In this regard, he was lucky enough to have touched and impacted in a positive way too many students, teachers and other support staff to count. 

Although Pete loved helping others, by far the most important thing in his life was his family. He married Mary Connolly on June 19, 1956, in Corona, New York. They raised four boys, Tim, Mike, Pete and Bill. To no surprise, the values he instilled in his sons allowed them to achieve successful careers after earning college and postgraduate degrees. 

During their 64-year marriage, their home was always a bee hive of activity between family, friends and sporting events. During those early years raising his family, Pete loved traveling on family vacations in their Winnebago recreational vehicle. Whether traveling to national parks across the country, going on skiing or golfing vacations, he always viewed these trips as some of the best times of his life.

After retiring in 1994, Pete and Mary started a new chapter in their lives, moving from the Chicago area to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. An avid golfer and member of the Sawgrass Country Club, he spent decades trying to perfect his golf swing. Always with his self-deprecating humor, he would quip he did a much better job at helping others as superintendent of schools than he ever did trying to perfect his golf swing. 

Thankfully, Pete loved retirement and all the friends they made along the way. He and Mary kept active and traveled extensively to Europe and throughout the United States. They moved to Vicar’s Landing in 2014 and were regulars at dinner theaters and other activities. He was not shy about showing off his acting skills in plays and even winning a bocce ball tournament. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was hard on everyone, including Pete. In June 2020, he lost the love of his life Mary to cancer. Her loss was particularly hard as he was reduced to visiting her at Vicar’s Skilled Nursing Facility by looking in her window from outside the building and calling her on the phone due to strict COVID rules. Despite losing Mary, he never lost his zest for life. Instead, he adopted the motto “Keep active and enjoy life.” To that end, after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, he traveled with his sons on numerous adventures including trips to South Korea to visit his grandson serving in the U.S. Army (he even peeked into North Korea along the DMZ), boat rides in Los Angeles, Christmas in Lake Tahoe (with too much snow), New York City sightseeing trips, driving five days along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Seattle, a train ride from Chicago to San Francisco through the Rocky Mountains and even a hot air balloon ride. 

In the last two months of his life, he especially enjoyed his 93rd birthday bash on Long Island with 70+ relatives and friends attending as well as a seven-day Caribbean cruise. Lastly, he was scheduled to go with his sons on a trip to Switzerland in September but unfortunately God had other plans for him.

A life well lived. Pete is survived by his sons, Tim, Mike, Pete and Bill and six grandchildren.  

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 1, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. A military honor guard ceremony will take place immediately following the funeral service outside the Columbarium followed by interment. A reception will be held at 1 p.m. in the Parlor Room at Vicar’s Landing. All are welcome at the reception.

In lieu of flowers please consider giving to the Andrew Connolly SJ Scholarship Fund, which provides educational scholarships to needy students at Xavier High School in Truk, Micronesia (located in the South Pacific by Guam, where Mary’s brother served for 40+ years as a Jesuit priest). Donations can be made via their website: www.sjnen.org/donate-now-xavier-high-school-chuuk.

Indicate in the comments section of the website that your donation is for the Andrew Connolly Scholarship Fund. 

Donations can also be made by mail by sending a check to: USA East Province of the Society of Jesuits, 39 East 83rd St., New York, NY 10028 (make check out to: “USA East Province” and in the memo section indicate for “Andrew Connolly Scholarship Fund at Xavier HS in Micronesia”).

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A scene from this year's Chicken Hill Picnic. Photo by Rob Mulligan
Attendees to this year's Chicken Hill Picnic. Photo by Bob Sullivan

By Sofia Levorchick

The 8th annual Chicken Hill Country Picnic and Barbecue, hosted by the Three Village Community Trust on Saturday, Aug. 19, gathered over 100 people on the grounds of the Bruce House at 148 Main St. in Setauket to celebrate the history of Chicken Hill and support TVCT.

Attendees enjoyed live music and the spread of barbecued food catered by Bagel Express, with opportunities to participate in raffles and learn about Chicken Hill’s history through TVCT’s videos.

The event began around 4 p.m., with TVCT president Herb Mones delivering a speech of gratitude, thanking the community members for their continual support. He awarded The Mr. and Mrs. De Zafra Scholarship and Dr. Watson Scholarship to two devoted teen volunteers: 15-year-old Lily Rosengard and 17-year-old Eve Rosengard, respectively.

“The organization has a large impact on our community, and I am beyond grateful to play a part in their events and help out my community,” Eve Rosengard said of this honor.

Eve and her sister Lily assisted in setting up this year’s Chicken Hill event as volunteers and the daughters of the trust’s artistic director, Michael Rosengard. Michael Rosengard featured prominently in organizing the event, enhancing the grounds with antiques, paintings, handmade decorations and photographs. 

Motivated by his ownership of two of the factory homes on his street and his membership in the TVCT, Michael Rosengard took it upon himself to research the historical background of the factory homes. He further coordinated that with articles that state when the houses were built, solidifying their origins.

“This event is aimed toward commemorating the history of Chicken Hill,” Michael Rosengard said. “Without that recognition of our history, people wouldn’t realize the importance of where they live.”

As Mones concluded his speech, he shifted his focus to commemorating the history of the Chicken Hill area, which was home to factory tenements that accommodated immigrants who worked at a five-story factory that was previously situated across from the Bruce House. 

That factory produced shoes, belts, baskets and hoses until it burnt down in the early 20th century. Chicken Hill was deemed its name as those who lived in the area began raising chickens that were often let out to run awry and came back home at night to be fed. 

Mones connected this history to the present-day community. “The three houses behind me were those provided to the immigrants by the factory, and they have been preserved by the Trust,” he said. “I think what’s important is that we come and celebrate Chicken Hill. We look back, but we also recognize with gratitude where we are today.”

Among the attendees present were numerous community leaders, including New York State Assemblyman Ed Flood (R-Port Jefferson), Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Setauket), former state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) — who is running against Anthony Figliola for the Suffolk County Legislature’s 5th District — and business leader Dave Calone, a Democrat running against Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) for Suffolk County executive.

Kornreich has been involved in this event for years, this time strumming the guitar and singing some tunes in the live band. He said the event has progressed significantly each year, particularly noting its emphasis on celebrating the land on which it is held. 

“I admire the opportunity to get together with the people who are the original inhabitants who grew up here, like Helen Sells,” president of the Setalcott Native American Council, Kornreich said. “It’s important to honor them and respect their continued residency in this area.”

Calone had attended the event in the past and said he had enjoyed it every time. “I think what’s great about the event is that it brings people of all different ages from all around this community to understand the history we have in our area,” he said. “It helps us remember where we came from as a community.”

While in office, Englebright helped secure funds to preserve the historical houses on Chicken Hill. Englebright’s successor Flood said he plans to continue this work, preserving the Chicken Hill houses and maintaining their historical significance within the Three Village community. 

“This area is rich in history, dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War,” Flood noted. “It’s highly important to maintain the history so that the future generations can continue to learn about the history of their neighborhoods.”

Sells, also known as Morning Star, took part in this event. She was raised on the lands of Chicken Hill, describing a sense of deep connection to the area.

“This is home,” the Setalcott leader said. “It will always be home. There are so many memories here,” adding, “I love it here. This event means a lot to me.”

Volunteers and trust members said the event has made notable progress over the past eight years. While raising money for the trust, the event has also fostered awareness about the value of the Three Village community’s local history.

“Throughout the years I’ve attended and volunteered, the event has grown and expanded,” Eve Rosengard said. “I’m ecstatic to see that growth, and I can’t wait for what next year has to bring.”

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Kornreich clashes with Good Energy reps during Town Board meeting

Brookhaven Town Hall. File photo from the town’s website
By Samantha Rutt

Members of the Manhattan-based energy firm Good Energy LLC, the Town of Brookhaven’s Community Choice Aggregation administrator, were recently met with questions and criticism from within the Town Board.

The CCA program was designed to help Brookhaven consumers save money on energy by pooling the bulk buying power of Brookhaven residents and businesses.

The CCA’s fixed rate, however, is $0.695 per therm, more than double the August rate offered by National Grid, which is $0.339 per therm.

During a TOB meeting Thursday, Aug. 17, Good Energy’s managing partner Javier Barrios and senior business development manager Edward Carey described the program as a “state initiative that allows municipalities to be empowered.” 

The program’s primary aim, Barrios said, is to provide residents with greater control over their energy sources and present a more cost-effective alternative to default utility rates from National Grid, which fluctuate monthly. 

Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) scrutinized these appeals, suggesting a lack of public outreach regarding the CCA.

“I have never met anybody who understood what it meant that we were starting a CCA,” Kornreich told Barrios.

The town handled preliminary outreach and education efforts before the program’s launch, according to Barrios, who added that there was a mandatory subsidy outreach and education initiative undertaken to ensure a clear understanding of the CCA program.

“I’ll just say that from where I’m sitting, it was not effective at all,” Kornreich responded. “I think that there’s been a lot of confusion.”

After the initial enrollment of all residents who use natual gas, the program makes residents responsible for opting in or out of the program. For Kornreich, residents must understand how the program works compared to the default energy supply.

“I think that to the extent that people understand it, [the residents] understand that, at the moment, they are overpaying for natural gas,” he added.

Barrios said the weather significantly affects the domestic natural gas market. In the temperate climate of the shoulder months, when the demand for natural gas is lower, Brookhaven residents should unenroll from the CCA’s program, paying only for their independent household’s usage at the market rate.

Kornreich also centered around resident complaints regarding issues with the program’s opt-out feature. Complaints were consistent with long delays, confusion with billing and the feature “simply not working,” he stated during the discourse.

“I would just like to urge [Good Energy] here in this public setting to honor those requests as quickly as possible,” Kornreich continued.

Since the rollout of the CCA in May, all Brookhaven residents have been automatically enrolled in this program. It still remains up to their discretion whether to opt in or out. 

“I do support this initiative because I think that having this choice for consumers is going to, at some point, give us the ability to save money,” Kornreich concluded. “But our residents have to be educated, and we’re all trying to figure out how to do a better job.”

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