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Terryville

Courtesy photo

The Suffolk County Legislature has approved the purchase of 17.29 acres of open space within the Terryville Greenbelt — its vote providing county officials with authorization to complete the remaining steps of the acquisition process for these properties. 

Through a partnership, the cost of purchasing these parcels will be divided between Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven at a 75% and 25% split, respectively. Additionally, the County and Town are expected to enter into an agreement for management and oversight of this open space by Brookhaven. 

As part of the Central Suffolk Special Groundwater Protection Area and located within the heavily developed Port Jefferson Station community, the Terryville Greenbelt is situated south of Route 112, adjacent to the rear of Comsewogue High School, and is approximately 75 total acres. 

The Town of Brookhaven has already preserved approximately 40 of the greenbelt’s acres through open space acquisitions and these 60 individual parcels will add to those existing municipal open space holdings to form continuous greenery.

“Preserving the Terryville Greenbelt parcels, located within a Special Groundwater Protection Area, in perpetuity highlights the continued commitment of Suffolk County to being a strong community partner to ensure protection of the local environment and our quality of life,” said Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket).

Suffolk’s efforts to preserve the greenbelt began in 2017, when Hahn gained approval for the appraisals of the parcels, the first step in a multi-phased county acquisition process. 

That initial step commenced a complex process of contacting the 60 parcels’ owners, gauging the owners’ interest in selling to the county and appraising the sites.

According to a letter of support provided to legislators from the Port Jefferson Station Terryville Civic Association, “Given the past and present development in this hamlet this proposed acquisition is needed for both quality of life and of our drinking water. The community supports the need for this type of quality and amount of open space in our Suffolk hamlet.”

Councilman Jonathan Kornreich was also grateful for Hahn’s help.

“This is a monumental achievement for our community and I’m grateful for your passionate dedication to getting it done,” he said. “This latest addition to the 40 acres preserved by the Town of Brookhaven will further strengthen our shared efforts to protect our groundwater and provide more public access to precious green spaces.”

Drug dealers are designing and manufacturing fentanyl-laced drugs to resemble name-brand prescriptions. Stock photo

The Town of Brookhaven Council District 1 Drug Prevention Coalition and the Center for Prevention and Outreach’s SB IMPACT Coalition will be hosting a drive-thru wellness and drug takeback day. 

Partnering with the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association, on Saturday, April 24, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. people can visit the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber Train Car at the southeast corner of Route 112 and Route 347 (entrance on Rose Avenue).

Officers from the Suffolk County Police Department 6th Precinct will be there to collect expired and unused prescription drugs.

The Town of Brookhaven E-Waste Recycling will gather vaping products.

Visitors may turn in any expired, unused or unwanted pill/capsule medications, vaping devices and vaping cartridges. Liquids and needles cannot be accepted.

There will also be a food drive for local food pantries. 

Masks are required, as is social distancing

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Paul Perrone

By Joan Nickeson

You’re hot. It’s true. There is a continuous high demand and if you own a home today you’ve got nothing to lose. 

I can say this with confidence after speaking with Paul Perrone, associate broker and number one agent at Realty Connect U.S.A. He is also vice president of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce.

Curious and cautious about the real estate market during this unprecedented global health crisis, I was put at ease after speaking with Paul. His technical savvy, and friendly nature provided peace of mind. 

Folks have varying levels of concern as new information on testing and vaccinations becomes available. 

Is it also your time to tap into the hot sellers market? No buyers would ever need to step foot in your home, if that’s your wish. 

He described his success with his fully virtual Live Facebook Zoom Open House tour. With his phone in hand, in real time, he is directed by buyers as they view rooms, inspect crown moldings, storage, square footage and more. 

Simultaneously, a seller can direct him to areas that might otherwise be missed like on-demand hot water heaters, new windows or the herb garden. Paul, who I find to always be in good humor, is creative and patient.

Okay with buyers in your home? Paul provides disposable booties and gloves and takes a masked buyer and their masked ‘plus one’ adult, for a showing. No children are permitted these days. 

“There are 12 pages of  New York State Dept. of Health Safety Guidelines for Real Estate Services during the COVID-19 health crisis,” he said. “It works great for sellers and buyers.” He added that “We connect safely and responsibly.”  

It is no surprise to me that he enjoys serving as Real Estate Team Leader as well as a real estate coach, helping agents across the U.S. to maximize their careers.

Paul’s success in Real Estate might stem from his early career as an R.N attention to detail, a desire to assist and an instinct for assessing outcomes.

“It’s in my nature,” Paul said. He tells me that he enjoys helping people. “It is what drew me to join the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce.” 

Paul is also an active parent in the Comsewogue School District.

These days you’re in good company if you’re interested in the value of your home, condo or commercial property. 

You’ll be well cared for if you contact Paul at [email protected], 631.236.3699, or find him at li-mls.com.

Joan Nickeson is an active member of the PJS/Terryville community and community liaison to the PJS/T Chamber of Commerce.

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File photo

*UPDATE* Police said Grady Whidbee, of Terryville, has been located unharmed.

Suffolk County Police have issued a Silver Alert for a missing Terryville man who has dementia.

Grady Whidbee

Police said Grady Whidbee left Woodhaven Adult Home, located at 1350 Route 112, Nov. 6 at around 3:30 p.m. Whidbee is a resident of the facility.

Whidbee, 67, is Black, 5 feet 8 inches tall, approximately 220 pounds with grey hair. He was last seen wearing a blue and red coat and sneakers. He uses a walker.

Detectives are asking anyone with information on Whidbee’s location to call 911 or the 6th Squad at 631-854-8652.

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Buttercup’s Dairy has been an area staple for close to a century. Photo by Joan Nickeson

Buttercup’s Dairy, owned by Rich Smith and family, is located at 285 Boyle Road at the corner of Old Town Road. They are a long time loyal member of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce. The bonny red building is the stalwart edifice of the Terryville community. The original 1935 dairy farm established by Smith’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Kroll, extended more than 50 acres. It was engaged in a vigorous regional dairy trade. Local needs led the family to start selling food staples.

Joan Nickeson. File photo

Sitting on several serene acres today, and free of the cattle it was once known for, the interior of Buttercup’s is refurbished. We find a variety of organic eggs, chicken, beef, dairy, nut and soy milks, grocery and health food items, ice, cold cuts, cakes, seasonal chocolate candy specialties, sundries, plus outside we enjoy the benches for eating lunch and the Little Free Library kiosk. It is also adorned with poster sized photographs of what the farm and grounds looked like years ago. Shopping there is a treat. Perhaps you’ve seen their mascot, Speedy Cow, at local chamber of commerce events and fundraisers. 

So what happens to business at Buttercup’s, amid a global pandemic? This community known historically as “the land of steady habits” and “the place where many paths meet” could only be thus: “This community has been great,“ Rich Smith said.

Physical adjustments made inside protect everyone, meet U.S. Centers for Disease Control and New York State guidelines, and are met with appreciation by customers. The call-in order system for cold cuts is working well; no congregating on either side of the deli case, which keeps staff and patrons safe. It is easy to stop in for fast service. Swing by to pick up dinner with local zucchini and tomatoes and a whole fresh watermelon or a pie for dessert 631-928-4607

Joan Nickeson is an active member of the PJS/Terryville community and community liaison to the PJS/T Chamber of Commerce.

A kitten was rescued by Suffolk County Police July 10 from a Terryville storm drain. Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Police officers responded as quick as a cat to a little kitten reported stuck in a Terryville storm drain Friday, July 10.

Police said officers responded to 39 Clymer Street at around 6 p.m. after a 911 caller reported a kitten had fallen into the drain on the side of the road. The officers notified the Emergency Service Section.

ESS Officer Michael Viruet then climbed into the drain, police said, and rescued the kitten. The baby cat was adopted by a local resident once removed from the drain.

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The Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce reminded residents their stores are open for Phase Two after a chamber meeting June 16. Photo by Joan Nickeson

The Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce released a video June 16 after a chamber meeting reminding the public that its stores, restaurants and other businesses are largely open since the start of Phase Two reopening on Long Island.

In Phase Two, restaurants are allowed to do outdoor sit-down dining, and stores are allowed to have customers shop inside, though at a reduced capacity. Hair stylists, salons and barbershops are also allowed to open, though most place require an appointment and there are other restrictions involved.

Click here to watch the video. For a full list of businesses in the Port Jefferson Station and Terryville communities and how they are operating, visiting the chamber website at https://pjstchamber.com/available-chamber-businesses/

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The cell tower has been proposed for the southwestern portion of the property. Photo from Google maps

The Terryville Fire District is moving ahead on plans for a cell tower at its main firehouse, one they say could make the difference in emergency situations. 

The fire district has proposed creating a 120-foot monopole cell tower at the southwest portion of the property. Steve Petras, the district manager, said they are working with Port Jefferson Station-based LI Tower Partners. While Petras said they have not yet confirmed which provider would be on the tower, he mentioned AT&T was currently at the top of the list.

The cell tower, which district officials called a “mobile communications tower,” will include apparatus to extend the reach of the fire department’s radio equipment. 

So far, the final engineering reports have yet to come in, according to Petras. At its last meeting, March 26, the Town of Brookhaven voted unanimously to waive the site plan requirements and building fees for the cell tower, due to the district being a nonprofit. The fire district would still need to bring such a plan before the Town Planning Board in public hearings.

In May of last year, residents living near the Terryville Fire Department’s Station 2 firehouse on Canal Road vehemently protested the proposed cell tower. That tower had been proposed for the rear of the property, closer to the trees on the north side of the facility. 

Residents had complained that it would be an eyesore and decrease their property values. Leaders of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association joined in the protest, saying the fire district had not properly advertised its intentions to residents.

District officials disputed that, saying they had placed a legal notice in the March 16, 2017, edition of The Port Times Record on proposals for a cell tower on Canal Road and Jayne Boulevard as well as broadcasted those plans on all the digital signs outside each firehouse.

“When we sat down at those meetings, nobody from the community came out,” Petras said.

However, the new proposed location for the cell tower is enclosed, not by residential homes, but by retail businesses. 

Sal Pitti, the president of the civic, said he has not been contacted yet by the fire district, but the civic has not yet taken a stance on such a cell tower at the Jayne Boulevard location and would have to talk to the few people residing in the area, such as those living in the Fairfield Gardens on Terryville Road. 

However, of the three firehouses that could house a cell tower, “that’s the most desirable one,” he said.

The district manager said the fire district’s main justification in building a tower is two pronged. One is to eliminate dead zones within the district, while the other is to open up more potential revenue to the district to try and help keep taxes down.

The first point could mean the difference between a quick or slow response, or life and death.

“We’re having a hard time communicating with portable radios,” Petras said. “All our apparatus is outfitted with 4G, but we’re getting really bad reception in some areas — that’s a life safety issue for us … that’s unacceptable.”

The district manager said he did not yet know how much revenue the district would receive from the cell tower, and, depending on which service picks it up, the fire district would not have to spend time or money on building it or its maintenance.

This article was amended Oct. 15 to correct the company that is constructing the tower.

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Robert Niedig, Robin Hoolahan and Sean Leister deliver bags of food to students who need it. The program is expected to continue as long as the schools remained closed. Photo by Kyle Barr

Though schools in the Port Jefferson area may be closed, districts have been working constantly to get food to the children who may need it now more than ever.

Volunteers and staff help deliver meals at both JFK Middle School and the Comsewogue High School March 19. Photo by Leigh Powell

Port Jefferson Deputy Superintendent Sean Leister and a few volunteers stood inside the high school’s cafeteria Friday, March 20. For the weekend, the district was handing out three meals, one for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. 

The program is based on the district’s previous reduced cost lunch program, but now its being donated to anybody 18 or under free. Nobody has to sign up, and nobody at the door checks if the person lives within the district.

“The program is not restricted, it’s for any child 18 and under that feels they have a need,” Leister said.

When school was normally in session, Leister said the district had 110 students signed up for the program, where around 65 normally picked it up. In the last week or so, the district has been producing around 50 to 60 meals each day. Middle School Principal Robert Neidig has also volunteered to deliver to those resident’s houses who said they were unable to come out to pick their meals up. He said families have been really appreciative, even one young girl who comes to the door so excited to see the meals he’s brought.

“It’s like if I were delivering them candy,” Neidig said.

Each bag comes with a sandwich, bagel or wrap, along with fruit and milk. Any untaken meals are being given to Infant Jesus RC Church for them to distribute any remaining food.

Leister said the district has also applied to New York State to allow them to make breakfast and dinner meals as well. Local residents can get these meals at the Port Jefferson High school from 11 to 1 p.m. on weekdays.

Meanwhile in the Comsewogue school district, staff and a score of volunteers worked Thursday, March 19 at two separate schools to donate around 1,800 meals to children in need within the district.

Volunteers and staff help deliver meals at both JFK Middle School and the Comsewogue High School March 19. Photo by Jennifer Quinn

Comsewogue School District Superintendent Jennifer Quinn said the staff took everything from the schools cafeterias and even raided the faculty food pantry. Originally the district thought they would be able to only give out 1,100, but they went far above what they expected. 

This is one of the toughest things we’ve ever experienced — we will do what we need to do, together,” Quinn said. “We need to make sure our families are fed and our children are educated, and we are as whole as possible by the end of all this.”

Food included in bags were cold cuts, bread, apple sauce, juice, milk, cereal, cereal bars, and frozen hamburgers and meatballs. Staff and volunteers placed the bags inside the cars of those who drove up to the high school and JFK Middle School. Volunteers also drove meals to families who said they were unable to come by the two pickup locations.

There were around 30 volunteers who came by to offer aid. Quinn said they were offered aid by over 100 residents, but she felt she had to turn most away to try and reduce the chance of any kind of contagion.

The Comsewogue district is expecting nonprofit food bank Island Harvest to donate them another 300 meals come this Monday. Quinn added the district is likely to raid the cafeterias in the other schools, and should have another 1,100 meals after they receive aid from a New York State program giving food aid to schools during the mandated shutdown.

The Comsewogue School District is expecting to host its next bagged food drive Thursday, April 2.

 

Superintendent Joe Rella a his last graduation ceremony, 2019. Photo by Kyle Barr

By Kyle Barr and Monica Gleberman

Dr. Joe Rella, the beloved former Comsewogue superintendent who spent just over 25 years in the district, passed away Feb. 21, with Moloney Funeral Homes and the district confirming his death late Friday night. He was 69.

Community members flocked to social media to share their thoughts and memories about their superintendent affectionately known around the district as just “Rella.”

Comsewogue Superintendent Joe Rella with students who participated in Joe’s Day of Service. Photo from CSD

“So much of what I learned about community was through his unceasing example of what it meant to serve the place you call home,” said Kevin LaCherra, who graduated in 2009. “To bring people in, to find out what they need, to fight like hell to get it and then to pass the torch.”

Rella entered the district as a part-time music teacher, making only $28,000 in salary. He would move on to become a full-time music teacher, then the high school principal and finally, superintendent of schools, which was his final position, held for nine years.

In an interview with TBR News Media before his retirement and final graduation ceremony in 2019, Rella had likened the act of running a school district to music, all based in a learning process for both the students and for him.

“Because one thing you learn, there is no such thing as a mistake, it’s a springboard to your next part of the piece,” he said.

The district planned to decorate school buildings with blue-and-gold ribbons come Monday and make counselors available for students who may need it, current Superintendent Jennifer Quinn said Saturday. The district was closed Wednesday, Feb. 26 to allow teachers and students to attend his funeral.

Quinn had worked with Rella for 13 years. In a phone interview Saturday, the current superintendent had nothing but great things to say about her predecessor and mentor. If anything, she said Rella “did not want people to remember him sadly. He wanted them to smile and laugh. He just loved everybody.” 

Rella’s wife, Jackie, passed in 2016 following a struggle with breast cancer. The superintendent himself had been diagnosed with stage 4 bile duct cancer in 2017. Despite his sickness, he would stay on in the top position for another two years. 

Comsewogue Superintendent Joe Rella congratulates a member of the class of 2016 during graduation June 23, 2016. File photo by Bob Savage

It was that dedication, even in the face of sickness and loss, that built up so much trust between him and the community over the years. Quinn said he was humble, always the one to take the blame if plans didn’t work out, but he was always ready to heap praise on others.

“He made everyone important,” she said. “He never shied away from a tough problem and tried to make everything better — he always did.”

Others in the district said Rella’s example pushed them to do more and to do better. Andrew Harris, a special education teacher in the high school, created Joe’s Day of Service in 2018. Named after the then-superintendent, the program asked students to do volunteer work around the school and the greater community. Students have traveled all the way to the Calverton Cemetery in both 2018 and 2019 to clean graves and plant flags.

Harris said there are hundreds of examples of Rella’s kindness, such as driving over an hour to take care of a teacher’s mother who was suffering from cancer.

“In many ways, just like they call the middle of our country the ‘flyover states,’ Port Jefferson Station used to be like a ‘drive-through town’ — people were on their way to another town as the destination,” Harris said. “That all changed with Dr. Rella’s leadership. No matter where you went, and especially as a teacher, when you say you are from Comsewogue and Port Jefferson Station, people know where you came from and the legacy. It makes us all proud to say it.”

The school board accepted Rella retirement in November 2018. He had said in previous interviews his diagnosis did not factor into his decision to retire, and it had been his and his wife’s intent to make that year his last.

“Joe and Jackie were the face of Comsewogue for many years,” said John Swenning, school board president. “Their dedication and support to our administrators, teacher, staff, parents and most importantly our students is nothing short of legendary. Dr. Rella is the Italian grandfather that every kid deserves to have. He will be missed dearly.”

School board trustee Rob DeStefano had known Rella since his sophomore year in Comsewogue high, when the to-be super had joined the district as the new music teacher. DeStefano would be elected to the board coinciding with Rella’s appointment as head of schools. One memory that cemented the famed superintendent in his mind, according to a previous column he wrote for TBR after Rella’s announced retirement, was during a jazz band concert he and his wife got up on stage and started to dance the Charleston.

Rella speaks out against standardized testing in 2015. File photo

Despite the loss, the Rella name lives on in the district, particularly in the high school courtyard, full of sunflowers, named Jackie’s Garden after his late wife. As the superintendent participated in his final high school graduation ceremony last year on June 26, students rolled out a new plaque, naming the high school auditorium the Dr. Joseph V. Rella Performing Arts Center.

His funeral, held Wednesday, Feb. 26, at St. Gerard Majella R.C. Church in Port Jefferson Station, drew huge crowds of family as well as school officials and community members.

Those same Community members and school officials gathered outside the high school Wednesday morning before the funeral. At just after 10 a.m., a hearse bearing Rella and a procession drove around the circle outside the high school, his final visit to the institution residents say he cared so deeply about. Members of both the Port Jefferson and Terryville fire departments hung a giant flag above the ground for the hearse to drive under. Residents and students held blue and yellow signs, all thanking the superintendent for his life of work and service. 

Quinn said they will be working out the details for a larger memorial sometime in the near future.

“He embodied the Comsewogue culture — pushed it and all of us forward,” said 2019 graduate Josh Fiorentino. “To say I know how he wanted to be remembered would be a lie. However, I and many others will remember him as a Warrior. The truest of them all.”