PARADE DAY IS HERE - ONCE EVERY FIFTY YEARS CELEBRATE SMITHTOWN

Celebrate Smithtown continues with the largest parade ever in the Town of Smithtown as more than 2,100 participants are expected to be a part of Smithtown’s 350th Anniversary Parade.  

The committee planning the parade, under the direction of Chairman Mike Donnelly, has been organizing this celebration for over a year.  The parade will include almost EVERYTHING! 

According to Mr. Donnelly, there are 16 floats created for the occasion, school bands and a pipe band (because everyone loves the music).  There will be antique cars, the oldest Smithtown resident Marie Sturm (104 years old)  and the first baby born at St. Catherine of Siena on our historic 350th Anniversary of March 4, 1665 -  Patent Day.  There will be schools, scouts, businesses, churches, military, Suffolk Count Police, and Fire Departments with their historic fire trucks.  There will be dignitaries: Supervisor Patrick Vecchio, Council members Thomas McCarthy, Robert Creighton, Lynne C. Nowick, Congressman Lee Zeldin , County Executive Steve Bellone, NYS Senator John Flanagan, Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick, Legislators Kennedy and Trotta, County Comptroller Kennedy and Town Clerk Vinnie Puleo.

Richard Bull Smith, a direct descendent of Smithtown’s founder Richard Smythe, will be Grand Marshall followed by Smith family members. Making a grand entrance will be Town Historian Bradley Harris joined by parade Master of Ceremony Noel Gish.

Join the fun be a part of Smithtown’s 2015 history and come out and celebrate. Wear a costume or just cheer on the parade. We expect large crowds to watch. Main St Smithtown from Brooksite Dr. to Rte. 111 will be closed to traffic from 11 am until 3pm.

Theater Review - "Sweeny Todd"

THEATER REVIEW - Sweeney Todd - Produced by: Theatre Three, Port Jefferson

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

 ‘Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,’ didn’t have a particularly long life span at New York’s Uris Theatre; it opened there in March, 1979 … and closed in June of ’80, after 557 stellar performances. As Broadway musicals go, the show was a success, of course … but was hardly spectacular in its duration on the Great White Way.

Extenuating circumstances notwithstanding, this relatively brief run is rather surprising in view of the seven Tony awards … and eight New York Drama Critics Circle awards that ‘Sweeney’ garnered. The critics and theatergoing public alike were in obvious agreement—with Len Cariou excelling as the malevolent star in the musical’s title role, and Angela Lansbury as his darkly comic accomplice— Stephen Sondheim’s gruesome show was a bloody hit!

Now ‘Sweeney Todd’ and his grisly collaborators have come to Long Island. Led by Steve McCoy (the sympathetic, but convincingly ruthless barber), Suzanne Mason (his delightfully cold blooded coconspirator) and Linda May (the beggar woman who ties everything together in a standout performance) the presentation is breathtaking in its overall artistic brilliance.

Conceptually, this play is not a far cry from Stanley Ellin’s cannibalistic masterpiece, ‘The Specialty of the House,’ a short story wherein unlucky gourmand’s are selected regularly to be served up as stew to members of an epicurean brotherhood. As in that famous tale, we don’t know who this story’s next victim might be, because the wrongfully imprisoned ex-convict (Sweeney), having apparently lost his wife and daughter to a villain of Simon Legree proportions, has sworn revenge on the world at large.

All of Sweeney’s various victims willingly and unwittingly climb the stairs to the vindictive barber’s second story tonsorial parlor (conveniently located above Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pie Shoppe), there to receive …the closest shave they’ve ever had…before being killed and dumped in a sort of laundry chute that leads to the basement meat grinder. Furthermore, no one is immune from swift dispatch via Sweeney’s straight razor … not even Generals, as a stanza in one clever number tells us … nor, for that matter, his privates! Anyone might wind up in one of Mrs. Lovett’s tasty pies. “God, that’s good!” the Act II song goes. Yum!

All this activity requires a high degree of theatrical virtuosity, naturally, and if there ever was a more ingeniously devised stage set than the one designer Randall Parsons has created for this show, I haven’t seen it. The three-level rendering in rowdy old London is absolutely fantastic. What’s more, it is incredibly well lit by Robert W. Henderson, Jr. Truly, this team has served up a ghostly, yet vibrant venue for the ages, and Ronald Green III’s costumes could not supplement it more effectively.

‘Sweeney Todd’ has a cast of two dozen, and not a single member of the company seemed uncomfortable in his or her assigned role. The action is fast-paced, and the actors climb or descend to their appointed locations on stage with ballet-like confidence and grace. It’s the sort of precision we’ve come to expect from director Jeffrey Sanzel, but credit choreographer Sari Feldman as well. Her work in “Les Miserables” resulted in similar meticulousness.

Jackson Kohl’s seven-piece orchestra was flawless, as always, with Marni Harris and Annette Perry shining on violin and cello respectively. Theatre Three can be proud indeed of the memorable production kicking off its 2015 – 2016 season. The show runs thru October 24^th.

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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eleven novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His newest book, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between Harper Lee and Truman Capote. He will introduce the novel at the Smithtown Library’s Main Branch on Monday, November 9. Ladouceur’s website is www.JebsBooks.com.

 

OpEd - Appealing For Your Vote Issue By Issue

During the next few weeks leading up to Election Day, I will be outlining issues within the Town of Smithtown, my take on those issues and the ways I intend to help with those issues.

When people talk about the installation of sewer systems, the conversation most often goes to cost, then the inconvenience of the construction and ultimately to the horrors of the mismanaged Southwest Sewer District during the 1970’s. Thus ends the conversation because no one wants to hear anything further. Add to this the fact that cesspools and drinking water and aquifers and groundwater are below the surface where we can’t readily see them and the book is closed on the subject.

Now for a very brief hydro-geological lesson: Our drinking water is pumped from aquifers deep within the ground. The waters that ultimately trickle to these aquifers travel through many layers of sand that act as a filter. The sand also adds minerals to the drinking water making Long Island water soft for bathing but also filled with nutrients for good health. This should be an ideal system for all of us.

Our sanitary wastewater and assorted “stuff” is processed for the most part within Smithtown and much of Suffolk County through cesspools. Cesspools are essentially big holes in the ground where everything is dumped. Ideally these systems should allow the solids to dissolve and allow water to trickle though that same sand filtration system that cleans our drinking water. In an area with a sparse population, this system is fine. However, in a densely populated region such as Suffolk County, the amount of wastewater released cannot possibly be purified by the time it reaches the drinking water. Hence bacteria and ultimately the chlorine that is added to the drinking water in an effort to mitigate the bacteria.

We have one added feature to our sub surface that not all of Suffolk County has. Smithtown contains a very thick clay layer deposited by glacial action from the Ice Age that begins in the Lake Ronkonkoma region and travels northwest through Nesconset, parts of Hauppauge, Smithtown and the Village of the Branch. This clay layer is responsible for the water table that floods many homes and gives those same homes fits with the cesspool systems. If you think it is all negative, it is not. This clay layer is also responsible for keeping the soil very arable and is in part responsible for the reason Smithtown is so green. This area is known as the headwaters of the Nissequogue River because the clay layer forces much of the groundwater to travel horizontally. In this manner groundwater is making its way toward our wetlands, shoreline and beaches.

The final issue surrounding the clay layer is that not only does the groundwater travel horizontally, but much of our sanitary wastewater does as well. This wastewater travels to those same wetlands, beaches and shoreline. When beaches are closed for excess bacteria, this is the reason why. When there are fish die offs from lack of oxygen in the water because of excess nitrogen, this is the reason why. When wetlands die off and no longer protect us from storm surges and are no longer the natural incubators for sea life, this is the reason why.

Now we arrive at a dilemma. A public sewage system that is installed properly and operated properly will go a very long way to resolving our drinking water issues, our groundwater issues and our shoreline issues. Can Smithtown go it alone and fund and construct such a system? The answer is no. It can be done regionally, though, with the cooperation of state, federal, county and multiple town moneys.

Such an opportunity may have presented itself. Suffolk County has received a nearly 400 million dollar grant for drinking water improvements and has named a “sewer czar” to determine what is to be done with this grant. Smithtown has had a history of ignoring partnering with Suffolk County and has turned away in the past from opportunities that could have vastly improved our town. We cannot let this slip through our fingers because of petty political feuding. Maybe it is time to realize that this is not a political issue but rather one of health and safety. If the right people are elected, we can avoid the problems that occurred in the 1970’s. If we sincerely want to see our town prosper and future generations live within and enjoy this area, it is past the time that we begin in earnest to ensure that happens.

This November Election Day presents our renewed opportunity to put Smithtown on the right track to meet the future. Don’t let this chance slip through your fingers by letting others vote and choose for you. Make an educated choice and get to the polls. 

Larry Vetter

Democratic candidate for Smithtown Town Council

Inzerillo Retains Lead To Become Republican Candidate For Smithtown Town Council

The Republican primary winner for Smithtown Town Council is Lisa Inzirillo. With all ballots  counted Ms. Inzerillo  has retained the lead over incumbent Robert Creighton. The 143 votes that separated the two candidates was reduced to an 81 vote lead for Ms. Inzerillo.

Mr. Creighton will remain on the Conservative, Independence and Reform lines in the November election.

The two Republicans, Inzerillo and Wehrheim, will compete against Democrat Larry Vetter as well as Robert Creighton for the two Town Council positions on Election Day, November 3.

Republican Town Council Primary Winner To Be Determined Today

Lisa InzerilloRobert CreightonSmithtown Republicans will learn who will be the designated Republican candidate for Town Council today. When the votes were tallied on primary day September 4, challenger Lisa Inzarillo beat out incumbent Robert Creighton by 143 votes. What remained to be added into the final vote tally was the absentee ballots and affidavit ballots filed by registered votes unable to get to the polls.  The ballots, 236, will be counted today at the Suffolk County Board of Elections in Yaphank.

The winner of the primary will join Edward Wehrheim on the Republican line in the November election.  It would be very difficult but not impossible for Mr. Creighton to upset Ms. Inzerillo. According to Smithtown Republican Chairman, William Ellis, Creighton would need approximately 80 percent of the absentee ballot votes to retain his position on the Republican line.

Should he lose the primary, Mr. Creighton will be on the November ballot on three lines the Conservative, Independence and Reform. Should Ms. Inzerillo lose, her name will not appear on the ballot in November.