A young man was seriously injured on Thursday night as a car slammed into him and three others on Jayne Boulevard.
The Suffolk County Police Department said 19-year-old Jonathon Caba suffered a serious head injury in the Port Jefferson Station crash, which happened close to 9:30 p.m. Both he and 22-year-old Yaviel Calderon, who had a leg injury, were treated at Stony Brook University Hospital while the two others — Jerry Vargas, 18, and Aneudi Dilone, 20 — refused medical attention.
All four victims are from Port Jefferson Station, police said, as is the driver.
According to police, a 22-year-old man was driving north on Jayne in a 2004 Mercedes Benz close to Erie Street when he hit the four pedestrians, who were allegedly walking partially in the road.
The driver had a panic attack and was treated at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, police said.
Police impounded the Mercedes for a safety check and detectives from the SCPD’s 6th Squad are investigating the crash.
Comsewogue’s Dan Colasanto slides into third base ahead of the ball in the Warriors’ extra-inning 6-5 loss to Bayport-Blue Point on May 23, which forces a decisive game three in the Class A playoffs. Photo by Bill Landon
By Elana Glowatz
A recent Comsewogue High School graduate was seriously injured on Thursday morning when he was hit by a car on Route 25A.
Comsewogue pitcher Dan Colasanto hurls a pitch from the mound in the Warriors’ 9-4 comeback win over Sayville in 2015. Photo by Bill Landon
The Suffolk County Police Department said Dan Colasanto was in the roadway around 1 a.m., on a stretch near Westgate Drive in Mount Sinai, when an eastbound 2010 Honda hit him.
The 18-year-old pedestrian, a Port Jefferson Station resident, was treated for serious injuries at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, police said. The driver, a 48-year-old Miller Place woman, was not hurt.
Colasanto graduated from Comsewogue in 2015. During his high school days, he was a star pitcher and third baseman on the baseball team, as well as a strong hitter.
He also played for the Warriors football team.
Detectives from the SCPD’s 6th Squad are investigating the crash and have impounded the Honda for a safety check.
Anyone with information is asked to call the detectives at 631-854-8652.
A homeless man shot another in Port Jefferson Station on Saturday afternoon, following what authorities called a dispute between the two.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, 22-year-old Alain Jean shot the victim, another homeless man of the same age, multiple times shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Union Street, which is between Hallock Avenue/Route 25A and the Long Island Rail Road tracks.
The victim was treated for serious injuries at Stony Brook University Hospital.
Police arrested Jean after the June 11 shooting and charged him with first-degree assault.
His attorney, Happauge-based Donald Mates, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Monday.
The incident is the second violent one between homeless people that police have reported in the area over the last several days. On June 7, officers arrested and charged a woman for allegedly stabbing her partner to death in a parking lot.
Police said last week that 60-year-old Ada Robinson was arrested at the scene in the Home Depot parking lot on Middle Country Road in Coram, where she allegedly had fatally stabbed 55-year-old Ralph Anthony. She was charged with first-degree manslaughter.
Patrol officers had responded to a 911 call close to 7:30 p.m. that day when they found the victim, who was later pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue.
Both Robinson and Anthony were homeless, and they were “at least common-law husband and wife,” according to the Homicide Unit’s Lt. Kevin Beyrer. He said in an interview last week that the pair had been a couple for a long period of time, but he wasn’t sure if the two were legally married.
Robinson’s attorney, Ronkonkoma-based Jason Bassett, declined to comment on the case.
She has previous charges of assault with a weapon pending against her, one felony and one misdemeanor, stemming from an incident in May 2015, in which Beyrer confirmed that Anthony was also the alleged victim.
Her attorney in that case, Central Islip-based Robin Stanco, did not return a call seeking comment.
Detectives are still investigating the June 11 shooting in Port Jefferson Station. Anyone with information is asked to call the 6th Squad at 631-854-8652.
Rob Marianetti is raising money to help fund his daughter Kayla’s care. Photo by Elana Glowatz
A local church is hosting a fundraising event to benefit a little girl who is seriously impaired after almost drowning in a bathtub at 17 months old.
Rob Marianetti is raising money to help fund his daughter Kayla’s care. Above, Kayla before her bathtime accident. Photo from Rob Marianetti
Although Kayla Marianetti was found floating and unresponsive, doctors revived her. However, the Port Jefferson Station toddler was left with a brain injury. She needs multiple therapy appointments each day, including hyperbaric therapy, which involves putting her in an oxygen-rich environment; physical therapy, to move her toward sitting up, standing and walking; vision therapy, as neurological issues have made her legally blind, even though her eyes themselves are fine; and speech therapy, which is used both to teach her to communicate and to eat on her own.
The theatrical fundraiser, for ages 15 and older, at the St. James R.C. Church in Setauket will be held on June 10. In addition to the performance “The Class of Life,” which starts at 7 p.m., there will be refreshments, a Chinese auction and a raffle. The father and daughter will be present. Contact Tabitha Chabalik for reservations, at 631-671-8206 or [email protected]. Tickets are $40. People can also contribute to Kayla’s recovery on her fundraising page.
Rob Marianetti has previously said his goal is to have Kayla at least be able to walk, talk, eat and see on her own.
“I’m not leaving her like this,” Marianetti said last year. “I’m going until either she gets better or I die.”
The lunch buddies pictured (from left) are Matthew Elvington, Jenna Wade, Mia Cepeda, Hailey Petruzzi and Jackson Edwards-Remy, accepting their awards Monday at a school board meeting. Teachers (from left) Sanchez, Kathleen Masone and Rhiannon Rizzo and Rella were present to thank the students for their kindness. Students Frank Corona, Albiezy Delgado and Emelin Torres Peralta were not at the meeting but also participated in the program, school officials said. Photo by Alex Petroski
Students from Terryville Road Elementary School in the Comsewogue School District were honored at a board of education meeting Monday night for their participation in the school’s Lunch Buddy Program, which pairs special education students with students from other classrooms to have lunch once a week.
“The lunch buddies’ program is based off a research-based program called peer-to-peer, where students from a special education classroom and a general education classroom meet together … to have lunch and practice their social skills,” teacher Kylynn Sanchez said. “Also they can make connections in a more natural setting. The hope is that they’re able to go off on the playground and continue those connections.”
Terryville Principal April Victor said in an email Tuesday she is proud of all the students involved.
“Throughout the year this amazing group of students have exemplified kindness and understanding of individual differences,” she said.
Superintendent Joe Rella echoed Victor’s sentiments Monday: “I think one of the hallmarks of this community is being concerned about other people, not just being concerned about yourself.”
A Lindy's Taxi waits in the Port Jefferson Long Island Rail Road parking lot. File photo
A Lindy’s Taxi waits in the Port Jefferson Long Island Rail Road parking lot. File photo
Story last updated at 3 p.m. on June 6
By Elana Glowatz
Police said Lindy’s Taxi vehicles were involved in two crashes on Route 112 in the last few days, one of them fatal and one against a red light.
In the first incident, a walking woman was killed early on Sunday morning when a taxi hit her, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Police said the victim, Gail Oses, was walking on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station shortly after 3 a.m. — just south of Chereb Lane — when the southbound 2010 Ford Crown Victoria, a Lindy’s Taxi vehicle, struck her. She was pronounced dead at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, up the road in Port Jefferson.
The taxi driver, 64-year-old Centereach man Brendan Hurst, was not hurt, police said, and neither were his two male passengers.
On Monday morning, another cab was involved in a crash down the road in Coram that hurt a motorcyclist. Police said the 2009 Crown Victoria, which was heading east on Route 25, went through a red light and hit a motorcycle that was going north on Route 112 shortly after 7 a.m.
The motorcyclist, 49-year-old Mastic man Jack Monti, was being treated for seriously leg injuries at Stony Brook University Hospital.
According to police, 43-year-old Centereach resident Mindy Shaw was driving the taxi and was issued a summons for failing to stop at the traffic light.
There were no passengers in the cab at the time of the crash.
When reached by phone at the company’s corporate office in Islandia on Monday, a Lindy’s Taxi spokesperson said, “These two accidents are both tragic and we are cooperating with the police and doing an internal investigation on each of them to see exactly what occurred.”
Police impounded the Crown Victorias and the Honda motorcycle for a safety check.
Detectives from the SCPD’s 6th Squad are investigating the crashes. Anyone with information can call them at 631-854-8652.
Brookhaven Councilwoman Valerie Cartright, right. File photo by Elana Glowatz
Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) is continuing her Community Connect Campaign to stay in contact with residents and will hold mobile office hours in which she will meet with constituents in different locations throughout her council district so that they don’t have to travel all the way to Town Hall.
The first mobile office will be at New Village Recreation Center at 20 Wireless Road in Centereach on April 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The councilwoman will go to the Setauket Fire Department station at 394 Nicolls Road in East Setauket on May 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
From there, on June 16, she will head to Comsewogue Public Library at 170 Terryville Road in Port Jefferson Station from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Those who want to stay informed through email can sign up for both emergency alerts and updates on town-related business affecting the 1st Council District by visiting that district’s page under the “elected officials” section of the town’s website, at www.brookhaven.org, and completing the “Join Councilwoman Cartright’s Mailing List” form.
A heroin task force has just busted four people living across the street from the John F. Kennedy Middle School in Port Jefferson Station, including one who was found trying to flush drugs down the toilet, authorities said Thursday.
Terrill Simmons mugshot from SCPD
Agencies within the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Heroin Task Force executed a search warrant at the two-story Jayne Boulevard home on Monday, the DA’s office said in a press release, seizing raw heroin, 100 grams of crack cocaine, 50 grams of powdered cocaine, scales, wax packets and other supplies.
Authorities arrested one of the suspects at the scene, 38-year-old Terrill E. Simmons, charging him with criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of marijuana, criminal use of drug paraphernalia, endangering the welfare of a child and tampering with evidence, after he allegedly was found flushing heroin down the toilet as detectives entered the house.
Police have also charged a father-son pair, 48-year-old Daniel Dumas and 27-year-old Daryl Dumas, with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia. The son also faces charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal sale on or near school grounds.
Moneke Alexander mugshot from SCPD
A fourth suspect, 38-year-old Moneke Alexander, listed as a legal resident of Rhode Island, was charged with criminal possession, use of drug paraphernalia and endangering the welfare of a child.
A previous attorney for Daryl Dumas, Patchogue-based Daniel Henthorne, said he had not yet taken the defendant’s case, but “if we take the case then we’ll know more information.” Other attorney information for Dumas was not available. Alexander’s attorney, Riverhead-based Annette Totten, did not return a call seeking comment, while Simmons and the elder Dumas are both listed as representing themselves on the state court system’s online database and could not be reached for comment.
According to the DA’s office, each defendant pleaded not guilty to their respective charges in court on Wednesday.
The child endangerment charges stem from the alleged location of the drugs in the house: District Attorney Tom Spota said most of the heroin, crack and cocaine was found in boxes next to a 2-year-old’s bed — they were allegedly in the bedroom of Alexander’s son.
According to the DA’s office, Suffolk County Child Protective Services is caring for the child.
Daniel Dumas mugshot from SCPDDaryl Dumas mugshot from SCPD
“Dealing drugs across the street from a school and the storage of these dangerous narcotics within feet of a child’s bed tell you all you need to know about these defendants’ disregard for everything other than getting and selling heroin and other drugs,” Spota said in a statement. “The shutdown of this operation is good news for the community.”
The heroin task force, which is made up of investigators from the DA’s office, county sheriff’s office and police department, had been investigating heroin trafficking within Brookhaven Town for several months at the time of the bust.
Bail was set at $15,000 cash or $30,000 bond for Alexander; $35,000 cash or $70,000 bond for Daniel Dumas; $75,000 cash or $150,000 bond for Daryl Dumas; and $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond for Simmons.
Annie O’Shea jets down the World Championship track. Photo from the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
She traveled thousands of miles to the same cold, unforgiving mountains in Europe, Canada and the United States. Small mistakes on ice tracks around the world had robbed her of precious tenths and even hundredths of a second. Not this year though, and not for this new Annie O’Shea.
Annie O’Shea goofs around with friends Kendall Wesenberg, Matt Antoine and Nathan Crumpton. Photo from Annie O’Shea
The Port Jefferson Station native and standout track and field graduate from Comsewogue High School, where her mother Linda works in the district office, spent a dozen years training, racing and demanding more every year in the high speed sport of skeleton racing to get to where she is now.
This year, on the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Cup circuit, O’Shea finally turned tears of anguish into tears of jubilation — finishing no worse than sixth in each of her last six competitions and, in the process, winning precious medals.
“I’ve had some good races here and decent races there in the past, but I’ve never been able to do it more than once or keep the momentum going,” O’Shea said. The positive energy that helped her generate a breakthrough season has created a “great feeling” for O’Shea.
Her run started on her home track of Lake Placid, site of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Olympics, where she often felt pressure to do well. In the second week of January, she sprinted past a cacophony of cowbells and encouraging shouts from a supportive crowd for about five seconds, dove headfirst on her sled and earned her first World Cup gold medal. Her performance easily surpassed her ninth-place finish on the same track a year earlier.
Annie O’Shea competes at the World Championship in Igls, Austria. Photo from the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
From there, it was off to Park City, where she came in fourth, narrowly missing a medal. Undeterred, O’Shea trekked to Whistler, Canada where she collected the second silver medal of her career. She won her first silver World Cup medal four years earlier in La Plagne, France.
O’Shea ended the season in fourth place overall, a mere seven points away from third. She also finished the World Championship race in Igls, Austria, which includes four different heats, in fifth place, a personal best.
“It’s been many, many, many years coming,” O’Shea said. “This is worlds different from how last year ended. I feel like a different person in a really good way.”
She attributes much of her successful season to developments that started last summer, when she started working with a life coach.
Brett Willmott, her conditioning coach and the associate Head Track and Field Coach at the University of Vermont, said O’Shea took important steps last summer not just mentally, but physically as well.
“When she finished the season last year, she was beaten up a little bit,” he said. “Things didn’t go the way she wanted. She had a foot-down moment” where she addressed her challenges head on. By June, the “workouts were going better than they were before.”
Annie O’Shea, second from right, poses for a photo with fellow athletes and friends. Photo from Annie O’Shea
During the season, she also bought into head coach Tuffy Latour’s philosophy of believing in the process. She has also bonded with a close-knit group of teammates, including rookie Kendall Wesenberg and men’s sliders Matt Antoine and Nathan Crumpton.
“She did all the right things and put everything together at the right time,” said Latour. “I push on all the athletes to believe in one step at a time and to minimize their distractions.”
Latour said athletes are sometimes their own worst enemies, especially when they are so focused on results that they forget about all the little adjustments they need to make to succeed.
Latour suggested that O’Shea has turned a corner, and become a “real team leader.”
O’Shea said she’s stopped paying attention to the clock and concentrated on staying in the moment.
“I focus on what’s right in front of me and not what’s behind me or four corners ahead, because I didn’t get there yet,” she said.
O’Shea’s mother recalls all the times she took her daughter to practices for Empire State games. In the last dozen years, she and her husband John made the six-hour trek up to Lake Placid to watch their daughter live as she flew by overhead on the track. When O’Shea competes in Europe, her mom gets up at 3:30 in the morning to watch her.
“When she’s finished with a race, I can always tell whether she’s happy or not,” Linda O’Shea said. The time she spent supporting her daughter is time she “wouldn’t give back for anything.”
The 28-year old skeleton racer said she knows her family is always watchimg her and appreciates their support, particularly during the years when everything didn’t come together the way it did this year.
“My mom and dad and sisters all reminded me of how proud of they are of me,” O’Shea said. Hearing how happy they are with her success this year “makes me feel like [the medals are] not just for me. It’s for all of us.”
Before Terryville residents dropped off their mail in Port Jefferson Station, they had the Terryville Post Office. Pictured above, that latter post office during the early 20th century. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village historical archive
Terryville residents now get their mail service from the Port Jefferson Station post office, but they used to go to their own little outpost at the home of the postmaster.
Before Terryville residents dropped off their mail in Port Jefferson Station, they had the Terryville Post Office. Pictured above, that latter post office during the early 20th century. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village historical archive
The Port Jefferson Village historical archive puts the operation dates of the Terryville Post Office as 1888 to 1918 and from 1924 to 1958. That first stretch of years coincided with a time when the eponymous Terry family was flourishing in the area.
The four Terry brothers moved in from Farmingville to farm around Old Town Road, Jayne Boulevard and the street that would later become Terryville Road, and built homes in what was once a wooded area, according to George Moraitis.
Members of the Terry family are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery, and the late Moraitis, formerly the cemetery’s historian, included biographical information on them in his written history “Forevermore on Cedar Hill.” Moraitis noted that the third-born brother, Thomas R. Terry, helped start a local school district in 1874 and served as its first board president before offering his home on Terryville Road — by Viceroy Place, near what is now Comsewogue’s Terryville Road Elementary School — to serve as a post office. His cousin’s son, Preston Terry, was the first postmaster.
The Terryville Union Hall had been erected just a year before, in 1887.
Though the post office had that brief stint between 1918 and 1924 when it was not in operation, it stayed in the family when it reopened. According to Moraitis, Ruth Terry, the daughter-in-law of Thomas R. Terry through son Harry, was its final postmaster. She was once a teacher in the school system her father-in-law had started decades earlier and had grown up in one of the original homes on Terryville Road’s southern end.
Before Terryville residents dropped off their mail in Port Jefferson Station, they had the Terryville Post Office. Pictured above, that latter post office during the early 20th century. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village historical archive
Harry and Ruth Terry, who also served as Comsewogue School District treasurers, hosted the post office from the early 1950s until 1957, when it merged with the one in Port Jefferson Station.
According to a history of the area included in Brookhaven Town’s 2008 Comsewogue hamlet study, the couple’s residence was on the southeast corner of Terryville Road and Whitman Avenue, which would put it across the street from the post office’s original home, at Thomas R. Terry’s house.
The study history quotes neighbor Audrey Agnew, who describes someone named Mr. Jersey who lived up the street and would “transport Terryville’s mail from [the] Port Jefferson train station to Ms. Terry.”
“When the post office was eliminated, we were promised that we could keep ‘Terryville’ as our address,” Agnew said.
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