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Editorial: Buy a flashlight and stay safe at night

by TBR Staff - October 9, 2021

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Gang of people advancing on viewer blue night shadows — Stock photo

With the ending of daylight saving time around the corner and the fall season officially here, it’s beginning to get dark earlier.

While cool autumn nights are a nice break from the hot and wet summer we’ve just had, what comes with the pleasant weather is also nighttime appearing closer to 6 p.m.

The worst part about the darkness creeping up is that many people still act as though the sun is still out during the late evening. It’s not, and we all need to be careful.

When the sun is shining, drivers are able to see pedestrians walking, biking, skating — but not so much anymore with the season change. Dog walkers are normally good about bringing a flashlight, and cyclists almost always have reflectors on their bikes — but a few do not, and they can get seriously hurt if both parties are not paying attention.

But it isn’t just the people outside getting their exercise and enjoying the fresh air who are at fault. Drivers need to slow down.

The combination of darkness plus speeding can cause a catastrophe. Both parties would be at fault.

And then there are the deer and the other woodland critters that live in our backyards. Unfortunately, they don’t own a flashlight, so it’s our responsibility as good humans to keep an eye out for the animals who dart into the street.

If we are driving slowly and cautiously, there’s a good chance we can avoid them and let them be on their merry way. If we don’t, not only could we kill the poor animal, but they can cause serious damage to the car and to us.

While we appreciate the lights we have on our local streets, it’s not enough. Please, don’t wear all-dark colors while out during an evening stroll. Do bring a flashlight or indicator that you are there. Be aware of your surroundings — if you want to listen to music on your earphones, keep it down so you can hear if a car is heading your way. Remember to walk against the traffic. If you’re a cyclist, go in the same direction as the vehicles.

And drivers, as we said, be mindful of our neighbors taking advantage of our beautiful North Shore. Slow down and enjoy the ride, too.

Bellone presents 2022 recommended operating budget

by Press Release - October 9, 2021

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Transit-workers-covid-memorial-Steve-Bellone-061221_ritajegan3 — Steve Bellone. Stock photo by Rita J. Egan

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone released the 2022 Recommended Operating Budget that will allow the county to recover and reemerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic, and focuses on strategic investments in water quality infrastructure, public safety, small businesses and local downtowns to foster a strong economic recovery.

Additionally, the budget freezes General Fund property taxes and complies with the New York State 2% Property Tax Cap for the tenth year in a row.

Suffolk County will once again project an operating surplus in 2022 for the third year in a row. The total 2022 Recommended Budget is $3.88 billion.

“Even as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s recommended budget focuses on a strong recovery by making large-scale investments in water quality infrastructure, public safety, main street businesses and our county workforce,” Bellone said. “The budget does all this while remaining structurally balanced, protecting taxpayers at all costs and securing the county’s financial future.”

Highlights of the County Executive’s Recommended Budget include:

Water Quality Infrastructure Investments

Bellone has made Suffolk County a recognized leader statewide in efforts to protect and improve water quality.

Scientists have identified the lack of wastewater treatment as a significant threat to Long Island’s environment and economy.

For decades, cesspools and septic systems have discharged excess nitrogen pollution into the environment, culminating in recent years in beach closures, toxic algae and fish kills.

To stop and reverse nitrogen pollution from cesspools and septic systems, Bellone launched the Reclaim Our Water initiative, which includes connection to sewers in some areas, and the installation of Innovative Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems where sewers are not a practical or cost-effective solution.

The Recommended Budget will invest $125 million in a Water Quality Infrastructure Program, funded by the American Rescue Plan.

The Main Street Recovery Program

Small and Main Street businesses were hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of them had to alter operations, invest in new technology, supplies, and tools to remain open, and some had to shutter their doors entirely. Businesses needed to be able to pivot in real-time to navigate these ongoing challenges.

Last year, to assist struggling businesses, Bellone launched the Suffolk County Business Recovery Unit, which has worked to address the concerns and questions of the business community during the pandemic.

The unit launched a number of initiatives, including but not limited to, a Small Business Grant Program, Business Recovery website with information and resources, Business Recovery call center, job board and in partnership with Stony Brook University College of Business, a technology assistance program, gift card program and Pandemic Shift workshops.

With challenges still lying ahead, this year’s Recommended Budget includes $35 million in funding for The Main Street Recovery Initiative, which will be funded by the American Rescue Plan.

The county’s Main Streets and downtowns are critical to the long-term economic success of this region. Suffolk’s economic development plan, Connect Long Island, is centered around this fact. Downtowns are the places to develop the kind of housing diversity that the region needs and that will support small businesses.

They are also the places to build a mix of uses that will ultimately reduce car trips and thus reduce traffic congestion. Downtowns are also the places to create the kind of vibrancy that is necessary to attract young people, innovators and entrepreneurs to the region.

These recovery funds will be used to invest in downtowns, invest in infrastructure and projects and in cultural arts institutions.

The Main Street Recovery Fund will help provide direct assistance to Small Businesses and rent relief to help businesses impacted by COVID-19 and to reduce vacancies in the region’s downtowns.

Public Safety

This budget makes public safety a priority. Police Academy classes, which will begin in January and September of 2022, will graduate approximately 220 new Suffolk County police officers.

The Budget also includes funding for a Deputy Sheriff’s class of approximately 30 officers, two Correction Officer classes in June and September of 2022 that will graduate approximately 110 new officers, and 20 new Probation Officers.

The budget also provides funding to implement Police Reform in the Police District and additional funding for east end police departments and other local departments. Part of that funding will pay for the implementation of Body Worn Cameras.

County Workforce

This year’s budget provides funding to staff departments to ensure superior delivery of county services and adds funding for 120 new positions, including new mechanics, nurses and public safety dispatchers. The budget also continues to fund positions that previously remained vacant due to the pandemic such as 66 various titles in the Department of Public Works.

The budget also includes funding for positions in Human Resources and Procurement to better support the county government’s most valuable resource, its workforce, and to save taxpayer dollars by centralizing operations to better coordinate and streamline purchasing processes.

Opioid Settlement Fund

Suffolk County was the first county in New York State to bring litigation against drug makers in connection with the opioid crisis. The county has since reached several multi-million dollar settlement agreements with three major opioid distributors, Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corporation, and major retail pharmacies including Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

The 2022 Operating Budget creates a separate fund for the restricted and non-restricted opioid settlement funds for use in addressing the opioid epidemic. County Executive Bellone has convened an intra-agency committee with Presiding Officer Rob Calarco, who sponsored the initial legislation to commence litigation against the companies responsible for the Opioid epidemic.

The Committee is tasked with developing priorities related to the settlement agreements the county is receiving from Opioid distributors, manufacturers and pharmacies. The Committee has engaged with key stakeholders within the substance abuse community, including non-profit service providers with expert-level experience in harm reduction, prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Protecting Taxpayers

The 2022 budget, which freezes the County Tax for the 10th year in a row, also includes a number of additional financial measures designed to protect taxpayers in Suffolk County. The proposed budget takes an intensive approach to building reserves and contingency funds to safeguard future years’ finances. The County’s Tax Stabilization Reserve Fund is funded at the highest level in its history. Additional reserve funds including the Retirement Contribution Reserve Fund, the Debt Service Reserve Fund and Insurance Reserve Fund are also funded. This budget also creates several contingent funds to further stabilize the county’s long-term fiscal position.

The Budget includes contingencies for snow and ice removal and road repair costs, accrued liability from employee benefits, and most notably a contingent fund to pay every deferred employee salary ever implemented – including those instituted by prior administrations. This budget pays off previous debt from deferrals and pension amortization and from the sale/leaseback of the H Lee Dennison Building. These fiscally responsible actions will help deliver lower interest rates and eliminate the need for short term borrowings, both of which will ultimately save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

New SCCC president has big goals in new role

by Julianne Mosher - October 8, 2021

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After a long and intensive search, Suffolk County Community College has officially welcomed its new president, Edward Bonahue.

Now overseeing the college’s three campuses — Ammerman in Selden, Grant in Brentwood and Eastern in Riverhead — Bonahue said he’s excited to come back to Long Island after leaving for his education and career decades ago.

Bonahue grew up in Setauket and attended Nassakeag Elementary School, Murphy Junior High and then Ward Melville High School, Class of 1983.

“It was wonderful,” he said. “Growing up in the Three Villages was a wonderful privilege, just because it taught me about the value of education.”

Ed Bonahue graduated from Ward Melville in 1983. Photo from SCCC

As a teen, he taught swimming lessons for the Town of Brookhaven, which he cites as the reason he became so fluent in the different areas of Suffolk County.

“I had taught swimming everywhere from Cedar Beach to Shoreham,” he said. “I taught at the Centereach pool, Holtsville pool, West Meadow — it was one way of getting a sense that we live in a bigger place.”

Bonahue said he was “one of those kids” who was involved with the arts more than sports — although he did run track during his junior and senior years.

“Ward Melville was lucky to have a great arts program,” he said. “They have a great jazz program and I was in that generation of kids where I was in the Jazz Ensemble all three years.”

His love of arts and humanities led him to North Carolina upon graduating, where he received his B.A. in English Literature at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

After his undergrad, Bonahue took a job in Washington, D.C., working as an editor at the U.S. General Services Administration and then as managing editor for Shakespeare Quarterly at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

“That convinced me: ‘Oh, yeah, I kind of like this. And I think I’m going to go back to graduate school.’”

Bonahue enrolled at the University of North Carolina where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature. He then moved with his wife to Gainesville, Florida, to hold the position of visiting assistant professor of humanities at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida.

In 2009, he was a Fulbright Scholar with the U.S. International Education Administrators Program in Germany, and in 2016-2017, he was an Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Presidential Fellow.

And while in Florida, Bonahue eventually headed to Santa Fe College, also in Gainesville, serving as the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, along with several other roles.

But as the years went on, he decided he wanted to head somewhere new and began looking for fresh opportunities. Through networking, he heard about a post back on Long Island – a place he knew very well.

New appointment at SCCC

Bonahue took on his new role officially on June 28. Under his leadership, he oversees the current enrollment of more than 23,000 credit students and 7,000 continuing education students.

“One of the one of the opportunities for Suffolk going forward is to think about how we’re serving all of Suffolk County,” he said. “It’s no secret that the number of traditional students graduating from high school is going down every year. Over time, that’s a lot of students.”

While the majority of SCCC students are on the traditional path, Bonahue said that moving forward they need to figure out ways to do better outreach to nontraditional students.

Bonahue said one of his many goals is to converge with employers and help their workers continue their education through Suffolk or connect them with future employees while still in school. He added that in a post-COVID world where there can be gatherings, he would like high school guidance counselors to come and visit.

“I think high school students get a lot from recommendations from their teachers and guidance counselors — especially students who are underserved because of the parents haven’t been to college, they don’t have that network of what it’s like to go to college,” Bonahue said. “So, they rely on their teachers and guidance counselors for that information.”

He added that one thing that was learned during the 2020 census is Long Island is becoming a more diverse place.

“Many have not had the privilege of any exposure to higher education,” he said. “And that’s what community college is for —
providing access to educational opportunity and access to economic opportunity for folks who, without it, might be stuck in some kind of dead-end, entry-level service sector job.”

Bonahue noted that SCCC as a college needs to internalize its mission is not only to serve 19-year-old students.

Photo from SCCC

“Our mission is also to serve a mom with a baby at home, someone who’s taking care of parents, someone who’s working in a family business, could be a worker who’s already been on the job and has been displaced — those are all of our students,” he said. “I think our mission is to embrace that larger sense of community, and then on top of that there are areas of Suffolk County that have not been particularly well served, or where services are not as strong as elsewhere.”

Appointed by SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras, the SUNY Board of Trustees and the Suffolk Board of Trustees, Bonahue said that in his new role, he wants the college to be an agent of change.

“I think they wanted someone who understands that Suffolk County is a diverse place — that it has many constituencies and that the three campuses have different personalities,” he said. “So, someone used the phrase that I checked a lot of boxes for Suffolk. My hope is that also I can present pictures of best practices that are practiced in high performing community colleges across the country, and if those best practices have not been adopted by Suffolk, then I think we have huge opportunities in terms of best practices that relate to community outreach, to academic and student support services, programming, workforce development, transfers and so forth. I think I think I can make a big contribution to Suffolk in a variety of ways.”

Bonahue said he plans on being not just on Selden’s Ammerman campus, he wants to be active on all three.

“I’m going to try to celebrate Suffolk across the whole county, including being present on all three campuses,” he said. “Each college serves a slightly different demographic, but one of the things I sense is that the college is hungry for a coherent and unified strategy.”

Coming back to Long Island was an exciting moment for Bonahue over the summer, but now it’s time for work. Since school started Sept. 2, he has been busy meeting faculty, staff and students, while focusing on his plans to better the local community college.

“I loved growing up on Long Island,” he said. “And so, it’s been a pleasure to return here.”

Julianne Mosher is an adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College.

Knights host 3rd annual charity car show

by Rita J. Egan - October 8, 2021

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Saturday, Oct. 2, was a beautiful day for driving and admiring classic cars.

The Mother Teresa Council of the Knights of Columbus hosted its 3rd annual charity car show at the St. James R.C. Church in Setauket. Among the 50 vehicles on display were vintage American and foreign cars and trucks, along with some muscle cars.

Attendees were able to take part in an auction, enjoy some grilled food and vote on their favorite cars. Three trophies were given out by the end of the day.

First prize went to Mike Basile for his 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback; second prize went to Ralph and Ruth Passantino for their 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible; and the third place people’s choice winner, above, was Richie Marotto’s 1955 Ford Crown Victoria.

Church apple festival returns to Stony Brook

by Rita J. Egan - October 8, 2021

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A community favorite returned after a year’s absence due to COVID-19 attendance restrictions last year.

Stony Brook Community Church held its annual Apple Festival on church grounds Oct. 2. Hundreds of attendees saw the return of the event that included live entertainment, craft and antique vendors, a bouncy house and more. Attendees also had the chance to try out an old-fashioned apple press and buy apple treats.

D. None of the Above: An unusual roadkill brings relief to an anxious dog

by Daniel Dunaief - October 7, 2021

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By Daniel Dunaief

This time of year, my dog walks with relief and trepidation.

The relief comes from temperatures that have cooled off enough that his heavy fur doesn’t exacerbate the humidity and discomfort from stifling heat.

The trepidation arises out of the emergence of ominous additions to the neighborhood that change the world he knows.

The spiderwebs along fences and hanging on bushes and trees don’t bother him, but the ghosts planted in the ground, the green glow-in-the-dark skeletons and the hanging vampires terrify him, as he prefers to scamper toward the street and passing cars rather than walk near an inexplicable figure swaying in the wind, hovering over him like some supernatural predator.

And so it was, recently, that we took an early October walk through our neighborhood.

While these figures create anxiety for him, I was mulling the numerous global threats to the future for which we Americans and we humans are grappling. Global warming, debt limits, infrastructure bills, gun violence, the pandemic, partisanship, educational deficiencies, a destructive oil spill in California and everything else ricocheted around my head as I thought of the many looming crises.

A sight on the horizon snapped me out of my anxiety labyrinth. There, around the corner, appeared to be roadkill.

In the distance, I couldn’t recognize it, but I was sure that, once we got closer, my dog would pull desperately to inspect the flesh and innards of a former living creature.

Generally, when I try to pull away from decaying matter on the road, my dog seems eager to get as close as he can, like a forensic photographer or a police inspector from Law & Order, trying to figure out who might be at fault for the end of a life, whether the driver tried to maneuver away from the animal based on any skid marks nearby, or, perhaps, whether the animal contributed to its own untimely end.

I try to distract him, whistling, calling his name, tugging ever so slightly on his leash to redirect him away from these sites, hoping to keep far enough away that the flies feasting on rotting animal flesh don’t land on us.

Usually, such maneuvers have the same effect as making suggestions to my kids about what to do, like studying the bassoon because every band needs a bassoon player and many schools are lucky to have one or two such double-reeded wonders: they cause an equal and opposite reaction.

I’m sure Newton’s third law wasn’t referring to parenting, but it seems that when we say “here” they want to go “there,” and when we say “there,” they want to go “here.” My dog seems to have studied the same playbook in response to any such guidance or direction.

As we walked, I pulled left, trying to figure out what was on the road, which seemed broken into four parts. This could be a particularly unappealing mess, I thought, trying not to make a subconscious suggestion through the leash that he head straight for it.

I held my breath as a slight wind picked up from the other side of the detritus, hoping I wouldn’t smell something awful and that, somehow, neither would my dog.

As we got closer, I used my peripheral vision. That’s when I noticed something unusual. Amid the odd red and brown colors was a mixture of an orange and blue mess. What kind of animal’s innards are orange and blue? Was this a Halloween roadkill?

I deciphered letters on the ground. That was definitely not blood. It was a Burger King wrapper, with obliterated fries, a flattened Whopper and a crushed cup.

Perhaps too focused on the Halloween decorations, the dog wasn’t at all interested or enticed by the fast food roadkill.

Between You and Me: At home rapid tests can help defeat COVID-19

by Leah Dunaief - October 7, 2021

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By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

A good idea during this later stage of the pandemic is to have an at-home rapid COVID test, which indicates a result in 15 minutes. Sometimes you just don’t know whether it’s a simple cold that’s arrived and is making your throat sore, or if the situation is more dire and you need to seek help. Or perhaps you find that you have been exposed to someone who has now tested positive, and you want to check yourself accordingly. Or you are about to visit grandma and you want to be sure you are not carrying the pathogen to her.

Besides the personal value, the tests can be an important public health tool, although for the moment demand is high and they are hard to find. I was able to locate two tests at a local drug store by calling around. They can be purchased at pharmacies for anywhere from $10 to $40 a test. The following are available without a prescription, according to The New York Times article, “At-Home COVID Tests: Valuable if Used Right,” in the issue of Oct. 5, and written by Emily Anthes: Abbott BinaxNOW, the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test (although there was some issue with this one yesterday), and the Quidel QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test. The tests “detect small viral proteins, called antigens,” and they “require rubbing a shallow nasal swab inside your nostrils, and then exposing the swab to a few drops of chemicals,” as described by the article. OraSure also makes them, among many other companies rushing their products to market.

While the manufacturers’ tests are fairly simple, their directions have to be followed carefully in order to provide a correct answer. And while their results are correct 85% of the time, the tests can give a false negative if taken too soon after exposure. Further, the tests are more sensitive to people with symptoms, especially during the first week, and when people are most infectious and can be actively transmitting the virus, according to Anthes.

The successful detection rate goes up to 98% when the tests are used repeatedly, say every three days for screening. But again, those with symptoms may test immediately, while those who have been exposed to the virus should wait 3-5 days to let the antigens accumulate in the nose, if they are there, before testing. In the event of a positive result, people should take the usual precautions: isolation, monitoring symptoms and calling for medical help if necessary. They should also get a second test to confirm the result.

Rapid COVID-19 tests are for sale in grocery stores for one euro (a bit more than a dollar) in Germany, and in Britain a pack of seven are free. Policymakers around the world realized that rapid tests were a valuable public health aide. We here in the United States must make them available and more cheaply so that we can know who is infected, who is a carrier and where the outbreaks are. President Joe Biden (D) has recognized this need and is working to make the tests accessible and more affordable. He needs to make the rapid tests official public health tools rather than medical devices. That would only take an executive order. And it would allow global manufacturers of COVID-19 tests to enter our market and immediately increase our supply.

According to a piece on the Opinion page of The New York Times in the Oct. 2 issue, written by experts Michael Mina and Steven Phillips, “Past economic analyses predicted that a major government-funded rapid testing program that reached every American could add as much as $50 billion to the gross domestic product and save tens of thousands of lives or more,”

There is, happily, bipartisan support for making all this happen. Vaccination plus rapid testing would mean no more unnecessary isolations, no more missed holidays with families, no more randomly closed schools or businesses. We would, in effect, be able to live with the bug.

Ward Melville Patriots win homecoming game

by Rita J. Egan - October 7, 2021

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The Ward Melville Patriots homecoming game ended on a high note. While the score was close, when all was said and done, the team edged out Central Islip, 13-12, in a Division 1 game. The Patriots now are 3-1 in the league while Central Islip fell to 1-3.

Ward Melville will travel to Brentwood Oct. 9. Game starts at 1:30 p.m.

Presbyterian church set to dedicate new organ

by Rita J. Egan - October 6, 2021

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20210916_131833 — The architecture of the church was taken into consideration when the new organ was designed and the instrument and its pipes were installed. Photo from Setauket Presbyterian Church

Setauket Presbyterian Church has a new addition, and the congregation is inviting community members to share in their joy.

On Oct. 16 the church will host an organ dedication. This year a new Glück Pipe Organ was installed in the sanctuary incorporating pipes from the church’s old organ, and after playing the instrument the last six months to make sure it was hitting all the right notes, it is now ready to be formally dedicated with world-renowned organist David Enlow from New York playing at the dedication event.

Jean Hrbek, a longtime church member, said while some fundraising was done most of the money came from the Gillespie Trust. The fund was established in 2016 when the church, along with five other philanthropic entities, was named a beneficiary of a $100 million charitable trust from the estates of Kingsley Gillespie and his son, Kenyon Gillespie. Setauket Presbyterian receives 10% of the annual 5% distribution required by law of such trusts every year.

Hrbek said an organ was first installed in the 1812-dated church in 1919 and was replaced in 1968. She said the new full pipe organ, with 1,200 pipes and designed by company president Sebastian M. Glück, is a beautiful addition to the church and the sound is incredible.

“It just fills the whole sanctuary,” she said. “It’s really magnificent.”

Because an organ needs to be custom-built to the place it is going to be played in, it was constructed inside the church, Hrbek said. The designer also took into consideration the church’s architecture when designing the new organ so it blends in.

Interim Pastor Kate Jones Calone said watching the building and installation process was amazing and an interesting learning experience.

“I learned a lot from seeing how they built the instrument and also thought about what was the right kind of instrument for this particular worshipping community … the technical skills that went into it was incredible. It is really fascinating to watch, and despite the fact that I’ve been hearing organs play all my life, I had never really seen this process up close.”

The church’s director of music Noby Ishida said the 1968 organ was used every day until recently. He added that as an organ gets older, listeners can notice the difference in the sound. He said a lot of parts wear out over time. Leather is one of the significant parts and as it ages it gets looser. The material can even become porous and develop holes. Ishida said while it’s customary for organ pipes to be sent out to be cleaned, over time constant repairs can lead to costly mechanical issues.

The new organ has the latest equipment, too, with an electronic device where it can be prerecorded with presets, according to Ishida.

“Everything is modernized, so that you focus on playing the organ,” he said.

The musical director said every church has its own acoustical space, including the size of the sanctuary and things such as carpeting which absorbs sounds, and the Presbyterian church has carpeting, so some extra pipes were needed. Ishida said even the pedals add to the quality as they provide the bass underpinning that he said gives the “foundation of the harmony.”

Jones Calone said that music is a meaningful part of worship life and sacred music is written for the organ. She added that music even helps many people learn scripture. The pastor sees the new instrument as an investment that will enrich worship life for current as well as future congregants.

“I think a lot of people, myself included, find that music in worship lifts us up, it strengthens us, it challenges us,” she said.

The pastor said the congregation is looking forward to the community hearing the organ on Saturday, Oct. 16, at the church. There will be two dedication events at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Setauket Presbyterian Church is located at 5 Caroline Ave.

‘My body, my choice’ on the corner of routes 347 and 112

by TBR Staff - October 6, 2021

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By Jennifer Corr

Chants like “My body, my choice” echoed through big cities like Washington, D.C., and Manhattan Saturday as part of the Rally for Abortion Justice, and that same passion made it to what is known as Resistance Corner at the junction of Route 347 and Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station.

The national Rally for Abortion Justice movement, according to the Women’s March Network, comes after comes after the Supreme Court’s rejection of an emergency request to block the Texas Heartbeat Act.

Coming into effect Sept. 1, the bill bans abortion at the point of the “first detectable heartbeat,” which could occur as early as six weeks into pregnancy — a point that many are just finding out they’re pregnant. At least 13 other states failed to attempt enacting similar bans after being blocked by courts.

“I believe in a women’s right to choose,” said protester Bryan Campbell, who was pushing a stroller occupied by his infant. “I think it’s ridiculous what’s going on in Texas and I’m here to support the women in my life: my partner, my friends, my daughter. This is for their future and for everyone’s future.”

Campbell was one of hundreds of men, women and children who gathered on the busy corner, holding signs in protest of such laws. Some even took to dressing up as characters from the “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a best-selling novel and TV series that depicts a totalitarian society that treats women as property.

Donna Reggio was among those dressed in red robes and white bonnet.

“It’s a dystopian fantasy that’s no longer a fantasy,” she said. “We’re going backward with women’s rights and we’re here to show that we don’t want to go there anymore.”

Before Roe v. Wade — a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 that protected a women’s right to have an abortion without excessive government restriction — only more affluent women had access to safe and legal abortions. However, it is estimated that between the 1950s and ’60s, the number of illegal abortions, either self-induced or done through often dangerous or even deadly procedures, ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million a year.

Rally organizer Shoshana Hershkowitz, of Long Island Social Justice Action Network and Suffolk Progressives, was on Resistance Corner Saturday to make sure her daughter did not grow up with fewer rights than she was able to enjoy throughout her lifetime.

“Our own congressman [Lee Zeldin (R-NY1)] tried to overturn Roe in the past year,” she said. “We can’t just think of this as a somewhere-else situation. It was happening right here.”

That’s why the LISJAN and Suffolk Progressives joined with grassroot organizations like Long Island Progressive Coalition, Long Island Activists, New HOUR for Women & Children – LI, Show Up Long Island, NY02 Indivisible, Planned Parenthood, among others, to prevent impediments in a woman’s reproductive rights from happening anywhere — including here in New York.

“We just put out the word to the different Facebook groups and [other various groups] who are invested in keeping our rights and getting women in office,” said Kat Lahey of Long Island Rising, adding that several speakers including Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) were also in attendance. “You can see that there’s a high demand to keep women’s reproductive rights.”

But not all were in support of the movement. Along with some disapproving remarks made by drivers who were passing by, one woman stood on the other side of the highway holding a sign, with photos of babies, that read “Please love me, I love you.”

The woman would not disclose her name, however she did share that she goes to her local Planned Parenthood every Saturday morning to pray. She said she was especially upset about New York State’s allowance of late-term abortions.

Yet the 2019 law, passed on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, only allows late-term abortions when the mother’s health is in danger.

When asked about the counterprotester, Hershkowitz said that she was more than welcome to cross the road and speak with herself and other organizers. “But I’m not changing my mind,” she said.

It was not the first time that groups like New HOUR and LISJAN gathered on the corner, as they also showed up for issues ranging from gun safety to the Trump-era ban on refugees from majority-Muslim countries.

“Our community has come quite accustomed to gathering in this space and standing up for what we believe in,” Hershkowitz said. “So really, it’s like we almost have muscle memory because of having to gather here for so many years.”

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