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Port Jefferson

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Gene Casey and the Lone Sharks play well into the night. Photo by Heidi Sutton

“Tonight is a very special night,” said Norman Prusslin, one of the co-founders of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. He was speaking to a large crowd numbering in the hundreds last Wednesday night who had gathered to see Gene Casey & the Lone Sharks perform in concert at the Mayor Jeanne Garant Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson. It was intermission and the sun was slowly setting over the calm waters of Port Jefferson Harbor as the boats gently swayed back and forth. The temperature was a comfortable 80 degrees. But Prusslin wasn’t referring to the concert or the tranquil setting.

He was about to present the Long Island Hall of Fame’s Long Island Sound Award to its latest recipient, the frontman of the Lone Sharks, singer/songwriter Gene Casey. The award recognizes a local musician who has made “outstanding contributions to Long Island’s musical heritage.”

“Starting in the late ’80s or so, I started to hear this buzz about this guy out east who was drawing all these crowds playing rockabilly, swing, R&B, traditional, country” he said. “For the past 27 years or so, Gene and his colleagues, The Lone Sharks, have been really serving as ambassadors to our Long Island community, … playing the music from the heart, and  … I think we are all very fortunate to be living on Long Island and to have Gene and his compatriots [entertain us] through his recordings, through his performances, through his sound track placement — clearly he is, has been and continues to be the real deal.”

Along with LIHoF member Amy Tuttle and Executive Director Joe Jankowski, Prusslin then presented Casey with the well-deserved award.

“Well here it is,” beamed Casey as he held it high above his 6’ 5” frame. “Thank you folks for such a wonderful turnout tonight. I’d rather play [music] than talk … but first I want to thank the Long Island Music Hall of Fame for the work they are doing and continue to do and I hope they find a permanent home soon. I am very proud to be considered a Long Island musician. I think any scene that has Joan Jett and Debbie Gibson and Dee Snider and Billy Joel — that’s a scene I want to be part of.”

Since their inception, Gene Casey and the Lone Sharks have played at hundreds of venues from Manhattan to Montauk and have produced five CDs of original songs with several featured on the FX Network’s TV show “Justified” and in “The Tall Man,” a feature film starring Jessica Biel.

After thanking his wife and manager Heather and his band mates, Chris Ripley, Tony Palumbo and Paul Scher, Casey said “I am going to accept this award with gratitude and appreciation on behalf of all my hardworking musician friends, many [who] are out here tonight, for keeping the faith and carrying the torch and not giving up on a dream on those very long nights driving home on Route 25, 27, [Interstate] 495. On behalf of them, I thank you folks for supporting live music, local music, and God bless you. Now let’s get back to rockin’!”

True to his word, Casey and his band went on to play well over the scheduled time, taking requests and belting out favorites from Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and performing original songs including “Don’t Leave Her Lonely,” “You Ain’t Missing Much” and “It Should Rain.” And yes, it was a very special night.

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By Stacy Santini

When people think of Port Jefferson Village and performance, phenomenal Theatre Three immediately comes to mind. What most people do not know is that down the road is an intimate venue, called The Performing Arts Studio of New York. Yes, down the road on East Main Street, this blackbox theater will ironically soon be premiering the Tony Award winning play, “Down the Road.”

The Performing Arts Studio of New York is a unique space with a seating capacity of only 70. Its patrons can view some of the best performances this side of Broadway in comfy chairs and cushy couches. Known as a box theater, its simple lines and flexible seating provide a blank slate for the productions that embrace it.

Directors Terri Morrissey and Deborah and Michael Livering’s mission is noble. Their goal is not only to train artists and promote live performances but to nurture and foster exploration into the artistic realm. Anything is possible here, and on Aug. 21, Bluebox Theatre Company will take up residence and impregnate The Performing Arts Studio of New York with its vision of Lee Blessings’ psychological esoteric drama.

“Down the Road” is the tale of serial killer Bill Reach and the married team of reporters who set out to chronicle and define his actions. Making sense out of the horrific deeds undertaken by Reach and attempting to reveal his motives is a task of tremendous magnitude, and the outcome stretches way beyond his murderous proclivity.

As the incomparable James D. Schultz, of Theatre Three fame, who plays Reach, points out, “My character is encroaching on how they view each other. The more they know about him, the less they know about themselves.” He further elaborates: “The scariest thing about Bill Reach is that there is nothing scary about him or his background.  He could be anyone; he is just doing these horrible things for no apparent reason. Just like dancers have to dance, swimmers have to swim, killers just kill people.” Schultz will also be making his debut as executive producer.

Thus, the audience will become familiar with the numerous themes inherent in the play. As David Morrissey Jr., executive director at Bluebox, explains, “The play is essentially about the responsibility of journalists and how the media portrays criminals in a certain way; how they can actually sway the public into committing more crimes. The media often makes criminals of these types into celebrities.” The media, in this case performed by Marquez and Brian Azoulay, are treasures of our local pool of talented actors.

One of the most tantalizing reasons to get excited about this production of “Down the Road” is that it is being delivered to us by Bluebox Theatre Company. It isn’t often that such an impassioned, unconventional group of individuals who think outside of the box make Long Island their home. Theatrical offbeat jewels such as Bluebox are usually found producing and performing in urban arenas.

Principally described as edgy, David Morrissey elaborates, “Our mission is to light up the world’s stages with the best storytelling. We are all about putting unconventional theater out there, and things you would not normally see on Long Island. It is about including people who are outside the line and giving them their place in theater. We want to give them a voice.”

Bluebox Theatre Company is comprised of Joe Rubino, managing director; David Morrissey Jr., executive director; Andrew Beck, artistic director; and Tom Mooylayil, actor, producer and investor.

The synergy among the team is apparent as they have known each other for years and began acting together in middle school. Rubino connects the dots for the group: “One reason I think it works so well is because we have all worked together for years. We have such a passion for it, this is true; but we also have these other talents that we bring to the table. We play any other roles in the company albeit social media, web design etc. It all just flows for us, we are not the Bluebox Theatre Company but rather the Bluebox Family.”

Future Bluebox Theatre Company productions will include: “Night of the Living Dead,” Oct. 9 to 25; “Art,” Nov. 27 to 29; “Holiday Tales from the Box,” Dec. 19; Jedi Fighting AIDS benefit on Dec. 20.

“Down the Road” premieres at The Performing Arts Studio of New York on Friday, Aug. 21, and will run through Sept. 6. Seating is limited and tickets should be purchased sooner than later.  This is an auspicious event, welcoming Bluebox to our community, being grateful they chose Port Jefferson to call home and to bear witness to one of the most intriguing plays written in years.

The Performing Arts Studio of New York is located at 11 Traders Cove, Port Jefferson. Tickets are $19 adults ($15 online), $13 students ($11 online). For more information, call 631-928-6529 or visit www.blueboxtheatrecompany.com.

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Port Jefferson High School. File photo by Elana Glowatz

Officials are finishing up a large staffing shift in the Port Jefferson schools, recently choosing a new assistant principal for grades nine through 12.

Kevin Bernier is joining the Royals from the William Floyd school district, where he was an assistant high school principal and a career and technical education administrator.

“We are certain that Mr. Bernier, who comes to us with years of administrative experience, will serve our district well and help to ensure that all of our students receive the personalized, rigorous education that our community has come to expect,” Port Jefferson Superintendent Ken Bossert said in a statement this week.

Bernier, who will start at Earl L. Vandermeulen High School on Aug. 24, has a background as a secondary English teacher and is a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and of the National Council of Teachers of English, the Port Jefferson school district said. He is a Sayville resident.

The position Bernier will hold opened up after former high school Principal Matthew Murphy announced he would not return for the 2015-16 school year. Port Jefferson officials promoted assistant principal Christine Austen to Murphy’s role, vacating her spot.

As assistant principal, Austen previously handled all grade levels in the district, but officials split that job in two — creating one assistant principal position at the high school and one for the elementary and middle schools. Bernier’s primary education counterpart is former Middle County school district employee Claudia Smith, whom the school board appointed last month to serve the Edna Louise Spear Elementary School and Port Jefferson Middle School.

Those shifts are not the only staffing changes this school year — there is also a new principal at the middle school and a new district special education director.

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A crime of fashion
Suffolk County police said a 34-year-old woman from Smithtown was arrested in Smithtown on Aug. 9 and charged with two counts of petit larceny. Police said she stole assorted cosmetics valued at $250 from a CVS in Nesconset on Smithtown Boulevard, on April 24 and 27. She was arrested at the 4th Precinct at 10:15 a.m.

Drug seller caught
A 22-year-old man from Ronkonkoma was arrested in Smithtown on Aug. 8 and charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a narcotic with intent to sell. Police said he was arrested at his home on Portion Road and was in possession of heroin.

Busted with two drugs
Police said a 49-year-old Smithtown man was arrested on Aug. 8 and charged with two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police said he was arrested on Brooksite Drive in Smithtown. The man was driving a 1996 Lincoln northbound with a flat tire. After cops stopped him, they found him in possession of two drugs — heroin and cocaine.

King of beers
A 55-year-old man from Kings Park was arrested on Aug. 9 in Kings Park and charged with petit larceny. Police said he stole three cans of Red Stripe beer and a package of toilet paper from a Smithtown Stop & Shop at 6:20 p.m. on July 31.

Door damaged
A Rite Aid pharmacy on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station reported on Aug. 5 that a rear door had been damaged.

Fat lip
A man required medical attention at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson on Aug. 9 after he was punched in the right eye and lip, causing a laceration. The incident occurred at 3:45 a.m. by Tommy’s Place on Main Street.

Rear window
A 2006 Nissan parked at a residence on Main Street in Port Jefferson was damaged on Aug. 8, between 5 and 6:30 a.m. The car’s rear window was reportedly broken.

Bang Bang
A Thompson Street resident in Port Jefferson reported on Aug. 5 that between 12:22 and 12:31 a.m., an unknown person was banging a large rock on their 1999 Oldsmobile parked in the driveway.

Back it up
A Peachtree Lane resident in Mount Sinai reported, on Aug. 6, that a person claiming to be from the IRS called their home and said they owed back taxes.

Upsetting
A woman on Tyler Avenue in Miller Place reported receiving numerous threatening phone calls from an upset man on Aug. 5.

Toyota thief
An unknown person stole items, including sunglasses and a phone charger, from a 2010 Toyota parked at a residence on Cedar Drive in Miller Place on Aug. 5.

Bottoming out
The owner of a 2003 Infiniti reported the vehicle’s undercarriage was damaged while it was parked on Tall Tree Lane in Rocky Point on Aug. 9.

Liar, liar, shoes on fire
A 57-year-old woman was arrested in Centereach on Aug. 9 and charged with fourth-degree arson. According to police, the women set fire to several boxes in front of Payless ShoeSource in Centereach and the front of the store caught fire.

Thirsty
An unknown person threw a glass Snapple bottle through a window of a Rosemary Lane home on Aug. 9, between 1:10 and 10:15 p.m.

Unholy
A 2015 Mazda parked at Grace Presbyterian Church in Selden was damaged on Aug. 9, between 7:45 and 9:20 p.m. Police said the vehicle’s front passenger side window was smashed and a purse was stolen from inside.

Zoom
A 2006 Suzuki ATV was stolen from the shed of a Wyandotte Street residence in Selden between Aug. 5 and Aug. 6.

Game over
Suffolk County police are seeking the public’s help in identifying and locating a man who allegedly robbed a store in Centereach last month.
The man entered GameStop, located at 201 Centereach Mall, on July 25, at approximately 8:30 p.m., put his hand under his shirt and demanded cash, police said. An employee complied and the man fled on foot in the shopping center.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

DWAI déjà vu
A 29-year-old woman from Centereach was arrested in Stony Brook on Aug. 7 and charged with driving while ability impaired, with a prior conviction in 10 years. The woman was arrested at Stony Brook University Hospital after she crashed her 2004 Nissan into a telephone pole while driving on Nichols Road. Police said she was on prescription pills.

Faucet tapped
Someone stole a faucet from Lowe’s home improvement store on Nesconset Highway in Stony Brook on Aug. 6 at 2:07 p.m. There have been no arrests.

Money, laptop stolen
Someone took cash, a laptop computer and a debit card from a 2014 Jeep Cherokee parked at AMC Loews Stony Brook 17 movie theater on Aug. 5 at 8:30 p.m. There have been no arrests.

Movie theater mischief
Someone took an iPhone and broke the passenger side window of a 2014 Jeep parked at AMC Loews Stony Brook 17 movie theater on Aug. 5 at 8:30 p.m. There have been no arrests.

Jeep damaged
Both side mirrors of a 2014 Jeep parked on Old Post Road in East Setauket were damaged by an unknown person on Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. There have been no arrests.

Not set in stone
Someone took a $100 stone monument from a residence on Pond Path in East Setauket on Aug. 5 at 11:30 a.m. There have been no arrests.

Botox lifted
Someone took Botox from a laboratory at on Research Way in Stony Brook on Aug. 4 at 12:30 p.m. There have been no arrests.

Devil’s in the details
Someone took a car detailing kit from Walmart on Nesconset Highway in Setauket-East Setauket on Aug. 6 at 8:40 p.m. There have been no arrests.

Jewelry, cash stolen
Jewelry and cash were stolen from a residence on Sheep Pasture Road in East Setauket on Aug. 5 at 6:30 p.m. There have been no arrests.

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After placing at nationals, Port Jefferson residents Garrett Thibodeau and Sandi Woodhead earn spots on Team USA

Sandi Woodhead with her Smith Point teammates. Photo by Steven Sobel

By Clayton Collier

Smith Point lifeguards are known as some of the nation’s best. The beach has not had a drowning within the protected area since the beach officially opened in 1959.

Now two of their squad have a chance to prove they are among the best in the world, competing in the International Surf Rescue Challenge in Australia. Lifeguards Sandi Woodhead and Garrett Thibodeau, both Port Jefferson residents, will be among the competitors representing Team USA at the games in September.

“It means everything,” Thibodeau said. “I’m so honored to be able to represent the United States and compete against the best competitors in the world.”

Garrett Thibodeau, of Port Jefferson, will compete for Team USA in the international lifeguard games. Photo by Steven Sobel
Garrett Thibodeau, of Port Jefferson, will compete for Team USA in the international lifeguard games. Photo by Steven Sobel

Both Woodhead and Thibodeau will compete in the beach sprint, taplin relay, rescue race and beach flags events. The pair qualified for the international contest after participating on Smith Point’s team in the 2015 Nautica/Brown and Brown USLA National Lifeguard Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., this past weekend.

Smith Point, an eight-time national champion, finished second at the national games for small beaches. Individually, Woodhead finished second in beach flags, while Thibodeau came in fifth. Woodhead also came in first place in the landline rescue event.

She was pleased with how she finished.

“I would have liked to have done better, because I always challenge myself,” Woodhead said. “But I am happy with how I performed and I am definitely proud of how well my team did.”

Their coach and longtime teammate, Mike Barrows, said the Port Jefferson pair both performed well but he expects an even better performance from Thibodeau in the future.

“Garrett was a bit disappointed in his performance,” he said. “However, he did not rest [before] USLA nationals and trained right through it. With proper rest, I’m
assured he could have won a national beach flags title. They will both be ready and race really well in Australia.”

Making it to nationals is no easy task. Woodhead said that out of the 98 lifeguards employed at Smith Point, about two dozen are chosen for the competition. Each morning, the lifeguards must run a 5K in soft sand and perform workouts when they are off the tower.

Sandi Woodhead, of Port Jefferson, will compete for Team USA in the international lifeguard games. Photo by Steven Sobel
Sandi Woodhead, of Port Jefferson, will compete for Team USA in the international lifeguard games. Photo by Steven Sobel

“If you show that you are excelling in these workouts, the captains and chiefs will take notice, and bring you if they believe you will do well on a national level against thousands of other ocean lifeguards,” Woodhead said.

Thibodeau, who is in his 13th year competing, said he has noticed an increase in attention to the games. The beach flags finals occurred at 8 p.m. under floodlights before a large crowd and was streamed live online. Thibodeau said the growing interest helps to pump him up before his events.

“While I always take my events seriously, knowing that there’s going to be more people watching heightens the energy level, and I feed off of that,” he said. “Imagine playing any sport in an empty stadium compared to a packed stadium with fans cheering. The level of play is going to rise.”

Open and Youth National teams coordinator Skip Prosser said the growing attention to the sport is the result of the hard work and effort of a number of people.

“Any excitement or progression in the level of popularity of the sport is surely the work of all those who have ever been involved, specifically those individuals who have worked for many years on the promotion of the sport and continue to do so, without any official USLA title,” he said. “It is with great hope that when my appointment ends, that I can look back and say that I made a difference.”

As a result of the increased interest, Thibodeau has noticed a higher level of competition at the events. As he heads off to Australia with Team USA next month, however, he said the international games have always been a monster all their own.

“You don’t have the luxury of warming up and getting into your groove,” he said. “You’re going against the best from the very first run. You need to be on point out of the gate, or you could be out.”

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Port Jefferson’s upcoming paving project is fit for a president

There are some patches of rough road in the presidential section of Port Jefferson Village. Photo by Elana Glowatz

A contractor is hitting the pavement to smooth out some Port Jefferson roads.

The village board of trustees last week approved paving projects on the presidential streets, off of Old Post Road, and at the Riviera condos in the Harbor Hills section, between Port Jefferson and Mount Sinai harbors. In total, the projects will cost just shy of $360,000, with about two-thirds of that figure financing the roads named after former U.S. presidents — Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt avenues and Wilson Drive — as well as the adjacent Rustic Road. The other third will cover Lookout Ridge Drive, Sawtooth Cove, Rockledge Path and Laurel Crescent.

Medford-based Suffolk Asphalt Corp. will handle both those neighborhood projects. More than half of the cost to Suffolk Asphalt will come out of surplus money left over from the 2014-15 village budget, village officials said.

Of all the roads in the village that needed work, Mayor Margot Garant said during the Aug. 3 board meeting, “The presidential section was in the most need of repair, so they were approved first,” followed by the Riviera section.

As for smaller side streets that need to be repaved, officials said the village’s Department of Public Works will handle them in-house, rather than hiring a contractor. Trustee Larry LaPointe gave the examples of Grant and Bleeker streets, off East Broadway, which he said are in bad shape.


Path takes Highlands road
Port Jefferson’s village board of trustees approved a contractor last week to install about 0.2 miles of sidewalk along Highlands Boulevard, between the entrance to the Highlands condominiums and Oakland Avenue.

The sidewalk has been planned for a while. During a resident push for the village-owned grassy area on Highlands Boulevard, along which the sidewalk would run, to be declared as open space or parkland, the village also tossed around the idea of putting in a walkway there.

“They don’t even have a sidewalk,” Mayor Margot Garant said about the condos residents at a previous board meeting. “They have to walk in the road to get from the Highlands … to the upper Port area.”

Nesconset-based Jadeco Construction Corp. will put in the sidewalk at a cost of $65,100 and the village will pay Welsbach Electric Corp., of Flushing, $17,000 to install lighting along the route.

Although sidewalk plans are coming together now, the village approved the parkland designation for the 6-acre parcel in March, limiting its future use or development. Officials have discussed keeping the park passive, but possibly putting in benches and walking paths.

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County: 26 samples collected last month bring total up to 46 this year

Stock photo

Twenty-six mosquito samples and one bird have tested positive for the West Nile virus in various parts of Suffolk County, Dr. James L. Tomarken, the county’s health commissioner, announced on Friday.

The bird, an American crow, was collected on July 31 from Port Jefferson. All the mosquito samples that came back positive were collected on July 29, according to the county. Five of them were from West Babylon, four were from Farmingville and three were from Lindenhurst; as well as two samples each from Northport, East Northport, Huntington Station, Nesconset and Port Jefferson; and one sample each from Greenlawn, Selden, North Babylon and West Islip.

To date this year, 46 mosquito samples and four birds have tested positive for West Nile virus.

The virus was first detected in birds and mosquitoes in Suffolk County in 1999. It is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito. No humans or horses have tested positive for West Nile virus in Suffolk this year.

While Dr. Tomarken said there’s no cause for alarm, he urged residents to take steps to reduce exposure to the virus.

Residents should eliminate stagnant water, where mosquitos breed. Popular breeding grounds include tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots, discarded tires, wading pools, wheelbarrows and birdbaths. In addition, residents can make sure their roof gutters are draining properly, clean debris from the edges of ponds and drain water from pool covers.

Minimize outdoor activities between dusk and dawn to avoid mosquito bites, make sure windows and doors have screens and wear clothing that covers you when outdoors for long periods of time, or when mosquitos are more active.

To report dead birds, which may indicate the presence of the virus, residents should call the county’s West Nile virus hotline at 631-787-2200 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Residents are encouraged to take a photograph of any bird in question.

To report mosquito problems or stagnant pools of water, call the vector control division at 631-852-4270.

For medical questions, call 631-854-0333.

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A recent mission trip to Cuba left a mark on a local student. Photo from Thomas Hull

By Thomas Hull

Cuba is one of the most intriguing islands in the Western Hemisphere. The people have almost nothing in the way of material goods, having been thoroughly oppressed by their communist regime, but they are so happy and content with their lives. I got the opportunity to witness all this during a mission trip from the U.S. to Cuba earlier this year.

There is a strong sense of community in the lives of Cubans. To provide one example, the drivers of mass transport vehicles also carry supplies, at no extra charge, that can help fellow Cubans at whatever destination they are headed. The people of Cuba work hard for what they have, and there is a unity among them because of this — even people of different professions help each other. Students who attend college are allowed access to the Internet and have email addresses, but very few others do. The students share their email addresses, sometimes as many as twenty people using one address, so that their fellow citizens can stay in touch with loved ones. I witnessed a very busy Cuban missionary from the opposite side of the island assisting a worker in mowing the lawn just because the worker seemed to be having difficulty. That is such a rare thing to see in most places, but it isn’t strange at all in Cuba.

The average person in Cuba earns the equivalent of $20 per month, which isn’t nearly enough to feed a family, even though many items are cheaper there. At the end of our mission trip, we left all our clothes and supplies to give to the Cuban people. The local church distributed the clothes to families that most needed them.

Usually only people with money or connections own cars down there. The very lucky Cuban families who own cars care for them meticulously and pass them down through generations. Most of the cars we saw in Cuba were manufactured in the United States in the 1950s and were imported before former leader Fidel Castro came into power during the revolution. It was amazing to see cars from my grandparents’ generation in such abundance.

The original intent of my mission trip had been to build a classroom for the Las Palmas Bible Institute, a church camp in Cuba. Since Cuba is a communist country, it has no official religion, but Christianity is very strong throughout the island. The wonderful parishioners shared what little food and supplies they had with our group when we arrived. But the Cuban government decided at the last minute to revoke our building license, an unfortunate but common occurrence, so we spent the two weeks doing small jobs to make the lives of the people at Las Palmas a little easier — we rewired the buildings, repaired roads, fixed the sewage system and painted.

My whole experience in Cuba was enlightening. It was an honor to be able to witness firsthand such brotherhood among people. In nearly all aspects of their lives, the people band together to survive the hardships of life under a tough regime. It will be interesting to see how this unity among the Cuban people is affected by the changes that are soon to come, with the island being opened to the western world.

Thomas Hull is a Port Jefferson resident and rising senior at The Stony Brook School.

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Debate focuses on bar fights downtown, narcotics uptown

File photo

Residents and village officials butted heads with a police lieutenant on Monday night, debating the level of coverage officers provide in Port Jefferson.

The downtown commercial district, with its numerous bars and restaurants, is busy on summer nights, particularly on the weekend. Village officials have lobbied over the years to increase Suffolk County police presence downtown during those peak times, and to have more bodies in the uptown area, which sees criminal activity such as drug sales and has a consistent homeless population.

Lt. Donato Mignone said at the village board meeting Monday that there are additional officers patrolling Port Jefferson on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, pointing out that the village gets more police coverage relative to its number of police incidents. Mignone said of the 7,800 incidents the Suffolk County Police Department’s 6th Precinct handled in July, 385 of them were in Port Jefferson.

While he agreed the village deserves more attention than it gets, the department is working with limited resources and “you want to be wise with your manpower.”

But Trustee Larry LaPointe argued, “If you’re not here, there is no incident to report. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s there to hear it, the tree didn’t fall. That’s what’s happening in this village.”

The trustee called for more police coverage.

“There’s too much violence downtown,” LaPointe said.

The lieutenant said he would pass on the village’s concerns to his superiors. He added, “I absolutely understand, I agree, I commiserate.”

Later in the meeting, after Mignone left, LaPointe said the village might take its fight to a higher level, like the county executive’s office, if things don’t change.

“It’s their job to keep our community safe,” the trustee said. “We will exhaust every possible avenue that we can think of to bring our needs and our concerns to their attention and to push our case as hard as we can.”

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The deck of the Martha E. Wallace, taken by John M. Brown. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive
Spectators fill the dock to watch the Martha E. Wallace launch, taken by John M. Brown. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive
Spectators fill the dock to watch the Martha E. Wallace launch, taken by John M. Brown. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive

It was the largest wooden sailing vessel ever built in Port Jefferson, during the village’s shipyard heyday.

The Martha E. Wallace was built at the Mather & Wood Shipyard in 1902 and topped off at more than 200 feet long and 1,108 tons, according to a history of prominent residents interred at Port Jefferson’s Cedar Hill Cemetery written by cemetery historian George Moraitis.

John Titus Mather — the very same whose name is memorialized on a Port Jefferson hospital, and one in a long line of shipbuilders — and Owen E. Wood had started the shipyard around 1879. Located on the harbor, near the current ferry terminal site, they quickly got to work building the first ship for the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, Nonowantuc, a wooden-hulled steam ferry, and later the original Park City ferry before designing the Martha E. Wallace.

The Martha E. Wallace is docked at Steamboat Landing. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive
The Martha E. Wallace is docked at Steamboat Landing. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive

The schooner Martha E. Wallace launched on Aug. 2, 1902. According to “Images of America: Port Jefferson,” written by local library staffers Robert Maggio and Earlene O’Hare, it was “the last of the great schooners built in Port Jefferson,” with four masts and 16 sails. Those sails were made at the Wilson Sail Loft, another village business situated at the harbor.

About 2,000 people witnessed the ship’s launch, Maggio and O’Hare wrote, but the majesty was short-lived — the vessel was destroyed eight years later when she ran aground off the coast of North Carolina.

The Martha E. Wallace, under construction, sits at the Mather and Wood Shipyard with the Ida C. Southard, which is getting repairs. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive
The Martha E. Wallace, under construction, sits at the Mather and Wood Shipyard with the Ida C. Southard, which is getting repairs. Photo from the Port Jefferson Village archive

That incident was early one morning in late December 1910, and records show the Martha E. Wallace got stranded near Cape Lookout in the Southern Outer Banks, while carrying cargo on a trip between Georgia and New York. The small crew was rescued as the schooner was rapidly taking on water.

The Martha E. Wallace was one of several dozens of vessels the Mather family had a hand in building. A half-hull model of the ship is on display — along with other ship models and shipbuilding tools — at the historical society’s Mather Museum on Prospect Street in downtown Port Jefferson, based at a former Mather family home.

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