Kings Park Women Take 4th Place At USTA Championship

A team of female tennis players from Long Island Team SUMO Citrus finished fourth at the USTA League Adult 18 & Over 4.0 National Championships last weekend. The USTA League National Championships were held in Tucson, Arizona. Team SUMO Citrus is captained by Michelle Stoerback and Diann Starcke. The Coach is Tina Buschi. 

After becoming league director at Sportime in Kings Park, Stoerback met Buschi, adult regional Sportime director and coach. During the winter of 2014, the two of them worked together to form the team made up of tennis friends from Sportime. “Our leadership, friendship, shared love of the game and competitive spirit unified this team,” Stoerback said.The novelty of having Buschi as the coach provides the captains with the opportunity to make other team decisions.

“There is so much added pressure when you are the captain and co-captain of a team, not to mention setting up matches, making teams and forming line-ups,” Stoerback said. “Buschi relieved us of this pressure by helping us make these decisions. Her experience in the USTA and knowledge of the game led us to where we are today.”

To raise money for the trip to Nationals, Team SUMO Citrus organized a fundraising event, Oktober-Tennis-Fest. The event took place on October 10 and was sponsored by Sportime in Kings Park.

“We raised about $7,500 and had very generous sponsors. Spuntino of Saint James supplied all of the food to feed over 150 people. We also had very generous donations of gifts and baskets from various businesses around town such as Cactus Salon, Mercedes Benz of Smithtown, DJ Tony Kerr, Wineries from the east end and our number one sponsor, Sportime of Kings Park. Sportime of Kings Park supplied our team with uniforms, a coach and the use of their entire facility for our fundraiser on October 10” said Michelle.

In addition to captaining Team SUMO Citrus, Stoerback enjoys playing tennis with her nine-year-old daughter, Hailey Stoerback. “Hailey shares a love for the game and the USTA,” Stoerback said. “Watching our practices and cheering for us in matches has given her motivation to practice and work hard.” Hailey is currently ranked third in the USTA Eastern Section and first on Long Island.

According to Michelle, the team is named after a very large, juicy sweet orange. “Sumo Citrus is a tangerine-orange hybrid. It’s a combination of the famous easy-to-peel Japanese Satsuma and big, juicy, sweet oranges from California. These oranges are only available during the months of March and April. In March, Marie Woitach, a member of our team, came across the fruit at Whole Foods. For our first practice she purchased one for everyone. Not only were these oranges unbelievably delicious, they were easy to peel, without the sticky mess. Before we knew it everyone was buying them on a weekly basis. We ate them so much that we decided to name our team Sumo Citrus.” 

The USTA Eastern Section, based in White Plains, N.Y., is a not-for-profit community service organization whose mission is to promote and develop the growth of tennis. The section encompasses all of New York State, Northern New Jersey and Greenwich, Conn. It is one of 17 geographic sections of the United States Tennis Association, the governing body of tennis in the United States, and supports more than 49,000 members. The section also establishes and maintains rules of fair play, high standards of sportsmanship and represents, in its jurisdiction, the programs and policies of the USTA. More information about the USTA Eastern section is available by visiting: www.eastern.usta.com<http://www.eastern.usta.com>.

Maureen Rossi Joins Talk Radio As The Non Profit Voice On LI News

Smithtown resident and community activist Maureen Rossi is the new host of The Non Profit Voice on LI News Radio.   103.9 is Long Island’s only all-talk radio station with news, traffic, weather and feature programs.

Found on the FM dial, the Non Profit Voice is produced by Ron Gold of Marketing Works and highlights various non-profits around Long Island every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.

Rossi says she is thrilled to be doing the show.  “I was a guest on The Non Profit Voice several times speaking on the Island’s opiate and heroin epidemic,” she explained.    “That was a very positive experience; now I am so happy to be hosting, its enormous fun and I get to learn about all the non-profits that serve this great Island we live on,” she added.

Last Saturday Rossi celebrated National Down Syndrome Month with a provocative interview with the Executive Director of ACDS Michael Smith and a member of his staff, Mary Lynn Dinu.  Dinu is also the mother of a nine year old son who happens to have Down Syndrome.  A lively beautiful child in Spider Man pajamas, Rossi invited him into the studio after the show to play with the equipment; he was able to hear himself on the radio speakers in the airport.   “Is it wrong to have so much fun at work,” she asks laughingly. 

LI News Radio (103.9) is broadcasted LIVE from Islip’s MacArthur Airport.

The LI News Radio news department is the largest in Suffolk County, keeping the Island informed locally and state-wide.  Rossi says the website is extremely well done with a news ticker and breaking news.  “It’s a very modern take on news, lots of it, short blips of data, the site is a great news source in addition to the station,” she explained.

Being in the news business for twenty years, she says she is a self-proclaimed news junkie.  “I am a huge fan of the station and listen daily in my home-based office in Kings Park while I work,” said Rossi.

She said there have been so many political guests since the station was launched in December 2013.  Rossi says she particularly enjoys the political coverage because she has interviewed most of the elected officials who have been guests on the station.  “If you want to have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening on Long Island, LI News Radio is the place to be,” she ended.

Those residing north of 25A sometimes have to get the station online on a computer or digital device via

Cub Scout Pack 68 Takes Annual Pack Hike At Caleb Smith State Park Preserve

Cub Scout Pack 68 - Mt. Pleasant Elementary, Smithtown

Held their annual pack hike at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve on Sunday, October 19. The boys prepared trail mix for the hike & practiced leaving “no trace” (don’t litter, don’t make too much noise), following trail markers, staying on the trail and using the buddy system during the hike.

Legislator Kennedy Addresses Nepotism and Wife's Employment

By Dana Klosner

In a recent telephone interview, Suffolk County Legislator John M. Kennedy, the Republican candidate for the Suffolk County Comptroller’s office, answered allegations that he skirted the nepotism law when he hired his wife as a legislative aide and failed to file a sworn statement disclosing that he had hired a relative after he first took her on in 2007.

Legislator John M. KennedySupporters of his opponent, Democratic candidate James Gaughran, chairman of the Suffolk County Water Authority, have sent out mailings and automated telephone calls to voters attacking Kennedy over pay increases he gave his wife, Leslie Kennedy that raised her salary by a total of $50,000 and for personally signing his wife’s time sheets, as reported in Newsday.

“No one is circumventing or bypassing the rule of law,” Kennedy said. “Ordinary hiring doesn’t require resolution. In this case, so that there would be no appearance of impropriety there was a resolution, publication and a public hearing. There is nothing untoward, illegal or improper about this. There was simple compliance with the provision of the administrative code.”

When the question was raised whether or not Kennedy would hire his wife if he won the Comptroller’s race he simply said that she has no interest in having any position in the Comptroller’s office. That is not something that is of her skill set or interest regarding work. 

When asked if he sees this as a perversion of the nepotism law. He said, “Not at all. There is nothing contorted. It isn’t improper, illegal or anything outside of conformance. There have been many legislators that have had siblings, children or other folks that have worked in their office. What this really gets at is demeaning or turning a blind eye to the role of the job of an individual as a legislative aide which is a wide and diverse role, and as a matter of fact ultimately the focus should be on if the individual is good at what he or she does regardless of family or marital status.”

“I think that people should trust individuals who are in particular positions be it my political party or any other political party,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t get elected just to represent Republicans I got elected to represent 83,000 individuals. I don’t ask somebody when they call my office, what their registration is. I worked on a consistent basis across the board with folks in the Democratic Party. I spent the better part of eight years defending John J. Foley. I worked with Kate Browning and I worked with John J. Schneiderman who is of the Independent Party.  I work on behalf of every resident whether they are a registered voter or not. That has nothing to do with what I do day in and day out.”

Questioned about overtime Kennedy says his wife does not get overtime. 

“This is an issue that was raised by my opponent that is not just a misperception it’s an outright lie and quite frankly demonstrates how truly little my opponent knows about basic categories of employees in municipal employment,” Kennedy said. “It demonstrates how poorly qualified he is to be Comptroller. By definition an exempt employee cannot get overtime. He chooses to ignore that fact and has sent 18 mailers saying get’s gotten overtime. He intentionally and with malice is lying. She’s paid 35 hours a week.”

“It is sad that this is the only thing that there is to talk about in a race for a county wide office for chief fiscal officer where I bring 39 years of dedicated public service, a Masters in Business Administration, a Juries Doctorate from St. John’s, ten years of hard work and advocacy on the behalf of a legislative district,” Kennedy continued.

At the end of the conversation Kennedy expressed his frustration that important issues were not being addressed. “It appears the only thing that’s of any substance is that my wife is in my legislative office. That’s sad. That’s truly sad.”
 

Chamber Of Commerce Candidates Forum Gets Loud And Nasty

Suffolk County Comptroller Candidates James Gaughran (seated) John Kennedy (standing)The Greater Smithtown Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum at the Brush Barn Wednesday, October 15, 2014.  Candidates for U.S. Congress, NYS Senate and Assembly and Suffolk County Comptroller attended.  Each candidate was given four minutes for an opening statement before taking questions from the audience.

The list of candidates in attendance included: Congressional candidates Tim Bishop and Lee Zeldin, NYS Senate candidate John Flanagan, NYS Assembly candidates Michael Fitzpatrick and Jason Zove, Suffolk County Comptroler candidates John Kennedy and James Gaughran.

While the other candidates spoke of their goals,  accomplishments and asked for attendees votes, Suffolk County Legislator Kennedy, the Republican candidate for Suffolk County Comptroller,  used much of his time to defend his hiring of his wife Leslie as his legislative aide. Leslie’s appointment has become a focus of mailings and calls being made by supporters of opponent Jim Gaughran. 

Gaughran arrived late and missed Kennedy’s opening statement.  Given the opportunity to make his opening statement, he spoke of his plans as comptroller to go after waste and corruption in County Government. Gaughran spoke of his background in government and his involvement in creating an ethics code for the Town of Huntington and for Suffolk County.  He praised Leslie Kennedy as a hard worker but criticized John Kennedy for his failure to follow proper procedures in hiring a relative.

Democratic mailings, at least three so far, focus on Kennedy’s hiring of his wife Leslie Kennedy as an aide in his office. The mailings accuse Kennedy of “exploiting and profiting from his political office by  giving his wife a $50K pay raise (more than doubling her salary and making her his highest-paid employee), personally signing his wife’s time sheets, consistently crediting her with extra hours, which could allow them to bring home thousands of dollars more in taxpayer money.” 

Kennedy announced his intention to rebut Gaughran.  Kennedy stood-up and loudly condemned Gaughran, pointing a finger and shouting more than once that Gaughran was a “liar and a criminal”. Kennedy than implied that women should be offended by Gaughran’s attack on his wife equating it as an anti-woman attack. Kennedy made a bizarre statement that he hadn’t pointed out Gaughran’s  salary as Commisioner of Suffolk County Water Authority,  then stating it was $196,000, nor had he spoken of  positions Gaughran’s wife has held which he then went on to describe in detail, nor of patronage appointments in the Water Authority under Gaughran’s tenure. 

Gaughran stood and quietly rebutted Kennedy’s comments. 

It was now time for questions from the audience.  Questions were asked of Congressional candidates.  Lee Zeldin, a military reservist, was asked to explain what would happen to the congressional district’s vote if he was called to serve. Zeldin, a NYS Senator, responded that he has only missed one vote in the Senate due to his military commitment and that although he loved the reserves he might consider resigning from the reserves if elected. 

The LWV is hosting a Candidates Forum with the same candidates Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at Brush Barn. Smithtown LWV Candidate Forum - Meet And Question 2014 Candidates Before You Vote