Planning For Smithtown's Sesquarcentennial Has Begun

Town Historian Bradley Harris has kicked off the planning for Smithtown’s March 3, 2015, 350th Anniversary. Earlier this month Supervisor Vecchio started the process by sending a letter to Mr. Harris asking him to begin planning for a commemorative celebration.  Supervisor Vecchio encouraged Mr. Harris to form a committee and start the planning, “it is my belief that the committee would need at least one year to calculate costs, consider types of events, group participation, etc.”

Harris is already working on putting a committee together and is focusing on appropriate activities to celebrate Smithtown’s Sesquarcentennial (350th anniversary). A former teacher, Smithtown Councilman, and current Town Historian, Mr. Harris is certain the celebration should include more than a parade. “Smithtown has a rich history and its 350th anniversary provides a great opportunity to educate residents and celebrate the wonderful town in which we live.” 

There is a consensus that whatever celebratory event(s) take place, activities should include all of the hamlets this photo was found on Long Island History throughout Smithtown.

There was a 300th tricentennial celebration 50 years ago in 1965 which was very popular with residents.

Mr. Harris provided the following piece of history about Smithtown’s founder Richard Smythe.

“Richard Smythe first came to America aboard the ship known as the John of London that sailed from England for St. Christopher’s in the Caribbean West Indies on October 2, 1635. Why he chose to emigrate to America at this time is not known, but he was travelling with 33 other passengers, all single young men and women. The passenger manifest lists six women, ages 18-21, and 27 men ranging in age from 18-28, one Richard Smith, age 22, among them.  It almost appears to have been a “singles cruise.”  Ships sailing for the West Indies followed a course that took them along the New England coast and it would have stopped at Boston along the way.  Richard Smythe could have ended his voyage in Boston or perhaps gone on to St. Christopher’s and then come back to Boston at a later date.  Where he was living and what he was doing at this time in his life is not known. The first definitive mention we have of Richard Smythe appears in the town records of Southampton, L.I., dated October 26, 1643. The entry concerns a ruling of the Southampton General Court and directs a Thomas Hyldreth to settle a dispute he was having with “Mr. Smith” by paying him “three pounds and twelve shillings and foure pence” worth of English wheate to settle “all matters of Controversie” that had arisen between them.  

His possession of the “Nesaquauke” lands was confirmed on March 3, 1665, when the Royal Governor of the Colony of New York, Sir Richard Nicolls, granted him a patent. This Nicolls Patent recognized his ownership of the lands on the eastern bank of the river and acknowledged his disputed claim to the lands on the western bank.  The Patent required that Richard Smythe settle ten families upon the land within three years, unless he was able to resolve the dispute he was having with Huntington over possession of the lands on the western bank, then he was required to settle twenty families upon the land within five years.  To encourage Richard  Smythe to settle families upon the land, the Royal Governor declared that Richard Smythe’s lands shall have the “like and equal priviledges” as any other town in the Colony, and that his lands would be exempt from paying taxes during the three (or five) years while he established families on the land. (An early tax abatement plan.) 

In effect, the Patent created Smythe’s Town or Smithtown. But it took Richard Smythe another 12 years of contentious legal battling with the Town of Huntington before he prevailed  in colonial courts and was granted the lands on the west bank of the Nissequogue River.  Then a second patent granted in 1677 by the Royal Governor of the Colony of New York, Edmond Andros, reaffirmed Richard Smythe’s ownership of the Nesaquake lands on both sides of the river, and acknowledged that the lands owned by Richard Smythe were to be called Smithtown and were to be treated as a “township.” Read more 

Patrick R. Vecchio is unique in that he is the longest serving town supervisor in New York State  and has already served as Smithtown’s Town Supervisor for 10 percent of its history. 

If you have an idea as to how you would like to see Smithtown celebrate its Sesquarcentennial send them to pat@smithtownmatters.com.

Letter To Editor - The NY State Pet Dealer Bill Is Law

The NY State Pet Dealer Bill is law!

Thank you Governor Cuomo. Today the Governor signed what is known as the Pet Dealer Bill, a bill that gives local municipalities the right to enact stricter legislation protecting animals in our communities.  In the United States there are seven puppies or kittens born for every human born.  There will never be enough homes for all those animals, so a good percentage of them are destined to be disposed of via euthanasia.  When someone can go out shopping for clothes, and come home with a puppy they passed in a pet shop in the mall, you know that even the “lucky” puppies that make it to a home often don’t last there very long.  

The surplus of animals is wrong for the animals who are cruelly treated, wrong for taxpayers who foot the cost of managing the welfare of surplus animals, and just plain wrong for society.  

This is just a first step to solving the pet overpopulation problem.  In other states where similar laws have already passed, pet shops, now without the endless supply of puppies, have begun working with shelters.  The pet shops are now providing adoptable shelter animals to the public.  Laws should now be passed at the county level, and even right here in Smithtown, banning of the sale of puppies and kittens raised in cruel and unhealthy puppy mills.  The Smithtown Town Board now has the right and the responsibility to adopt ethical and tough new laws to crack down on puppy mills and bad breeders who place profit above the health and safety of animals.  It’s the right thing to do.

Sandy Trehy

Adopt A Boxer Rescue

Kings Park NY

"Lone Survivor" Opens Today - Coffee With Lt. Michael Murphy's Dad

Coffee With Lt. Michael Murphy’s Dad - LI Hero -American Hero - Lone Survivor and SEAL of Honor

Maureen Rossi

photo wikipediaThe late Lt. Michael Murphy’s father Dan met me at the Lake Grove Diner this week to present me with two inscribed copies of the biography of his son’s life, SEAL of Honor. They were limited editions signed by the author Gary Williams; they were also commemorative issues for the USS Michael Murphy (DDg-11), the Destroyer named for his son.  One book was for my very patriotic and beloved father, Michael Ledden and the second for the small library in my home office.  Both of us being of Irish decent with families hailing from Queens, Dan and I soon found we had a lot in common; relatives named Michael, Maureen and Brian, the gift of gab and loved ones ‘on the job’ (cops and fireman).  Over bad coffee we shared small bits of our lives; he was in an excited mood.    The movie depicting his late son’s last battle in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Lone Survivor, opens nation-wide January 10th.   His oldest boy Michael Murphy was amongst the nation’s elite of the elite, he was a Navy SEAL and a commanding officer.    Lone Survivor is the title of the book written by Murphy’s best friend and Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell; the film (sharing its name) has gotten rave reviews from the bi-coastal premiers on Christmas Day.   I look forward to seeing the film this weekend  and I look forward to reading both books; SEAL of Honor and Lone Survivor.  

Dan told me he thoroughly enjoyed both books but there were some slight disparities, mainly regarding the goat herders whom the four Navy SEALs came upon in the Kunar Province by the border of Pakistan on June 28, 2005.   Dan said in Luttrell’s book it sounded as though the four Navy SEALs were voting about the decision as to whether or not to let the goat herders go or to kill them.   He said he and Michael’s mother knew their son, they knew that as a commanding officer there would be no vote – that Michael was addressing the issue but had already made up his mind.  Dan said he knew his son could not cut the throat of thirteen boys herding the family goats.   

Dan spoke strongly and assuredly on this issue and all issues regarding his son.   In the nine long years since his son, a Long Island hero and an American Hero lost his battle to Taliban fighters – I have seen Dan on Fox News and New York T.V. stations and he has always had the similar composure as the one I saw at the diner.   

However, things changed as he began to share the story of his son’s last journey home.   Dan and Michael’s mother Maureen met Michael’s body at Dover Airport in Delaware.   Dan made the decision to ride in the hearse with his son and Maureen rode in a limousine provided by her Kings Park relatives who own Clayton’s funeral home where Michael was to be laid out.   Dan explained they were escorted in each state by two cop cars.  I watched Dan carefully as he paused to gather his composure and then right before me this tough Vietnam veteran began to cry as he shared his memories.   He said when they arrived at the New York border, former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had well over fifty cop cars waiting to escort them, he then had the entire Belt Parkway closed down and at every single exit, New York City cops stood at attention and saluted Lt. Michael Murphy as the hearse drove by.   

Over empty cups of coffee, in a crowded diner we wept together.  I cried for his son and the hole in his heart that would never be filled and I cried for all our boys and girls who have returned back to this great nation in a casket over the last decade.    They were not my first nor will they be the last tears I shed for Lt. Michael Murphy – his beautiful face adorns the book jacket of Seal of Honor, it sits quietly in my office beckoning me to read it.   Lt. Michael Murphy was highly decorated and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; he is a Long Island hero and an American hero.    it is with great honor that I will see the film Lone Survivor and I encourage all Long Islander’s to do the same.   Dan and I culminated our short meeting and we embraced, we exchanged numbers and promised to stay in touch.  The former prosecutor drove out of the Lake Grove Diner parking lot in his BMW with his Purple Heart license plates, he’s a veteran of war, a proud Navy SEAL father and sadly part of a club no parent ever wants be in.  

 “Lone Survivor” Opens Christmas Day Chronicles Navy Seal - Michael Murphy’s Last Heroic Battle             

B-A-Z-I-N-G-A - Town Attorney Zollo And Planning Board Chairman Out By New Town Board Majority

Town Bd meeting Jan 7, 2014Bazinga - That sums up Tuesday’s Town Board meeting.  As expected, Town Attorney John Zollo was not reappointed and was instead replaced by Matthew Jakubowski who currently serves as Smithtown’s Deputy Town Attorney.   Fred Calandrino, currently serving in the Town Attorney’s Office, will move into the Deputy Town Attorney’s position.  That leaves one vacancy in the office.  According to Supervisor Patrick Vecchio the position will be filled. Although he does not have a specific candidate in mind, he did suggest that as soon as the word gets out that a vacancy exists, resumes will start to appear.  

Zollo served as Town Attorney since 2012 when he was appointed in a three - two vote with Wehrheim, Creighton and Malloy voting for him and Vecchio and McCarthy voting “No”.  At the time of his appointment, Vecchio stated publicly that he was uncomfortable with Zollo’s appointment for many reasons, not the least of which was his relationship with many businesses doing business before the Town. 

In a discussion after the board meeting on Tuesday, Zollo said that before taking office in 2012 he apprised all the board members of his (business) relationship with four businesses with issues before the Town including Carlson, Santilli, Bavarian Inn and Reliable Tree.  He also stated that throughout his tenure he recused himself from Town dealings with the above mentioned businesses. 

Zollo looked somewhat surprised when the vote was taken. When asked, he stated that he was hoping that he would have received support from Councilwoman Nowick. He said that he had spoken with her and she never indicated how she would vote. The roll call for the Town Attorney vote and several others revealed a new majority with Councilwoman Nowick voting along with McCarthy and Vecchio on all votes she cast.  That left Wehrheim and Creighton, the lone men out, voting against the appointment of Jakubowski and Calandrino.

Ditto on the appointment of Conrad A. Chayes, Sr. to the Planning Board and the appointment of James Ehrhardt as Chairperson to the Planning Board. The majority supported the appointments replacing John Gee former Chairperson and long term Planning Board member.  

Political retribution? Some may say so.  Both Gee and Zollo supported Creighton in his bid for supervisor.  Zollo served as Creighton’s treasurer.  According to Vecchio, “No, I do not believe in retribution.” In a meeting in his office after the board meeting, Tuesday Vecchio expressed his position, saying that he had concerns with Zollo’s appointment two years ago and voted “no”, but was outvoted. He emphasized the many issues before the Town that require the Town Attorney and Supervisor to work together. Clearly he was not comfortable with Zollo. 

Zollo thanked the Board for giving him the opportunity to serve. He asked for time to clear out his office. He also  expressed support for Matt Jakubowsky and Fred Calandrino, reminding people that it was he who hired them during his first stint as Town Attorney 1992- 2002. “We did a lot of good work over the past two years.” Zollo also acknowledged that there have been a lot of challenges. Zoning, land use issues and code enforcement controversies were routine over the past two years. 

Councilmen Wherheim and Creighton both supporters of Zollo praised his work. According to Wherheim “Zollo reorganized the Town Attorney office sending less work to outside attorneys and thereby saving taxpayers over $250,000. Both Creighton and Wehrheim expressed the sentiment that Zollo did a good job and that this was a political decision. 

B-A-Z-I-N-G-A!

Smithtown Dish - Restaurant Hunter To Film At New York Stuffed Cone

Smithtown Dish – small bites of foodie news

By Nancy Vallarella

TOMORROW – January, 9^th FiOS1’s resident Restaurant Hunter, Emmy-winner Rob Petrone will be filming at New York Stuffed Cone in Saint James.   New York Stuffed Cone’s owner, Dave Saracino, will be doing his best Willy Wonka in demonstrating to Rob Petrone some of the café’s most popular items. Dave will be busy today creating a new ice cream flavor for this event. The inside scoop – it will be vanilla based, incorporate homemade waffle cones and include a “surprise ingredient”.  New York Stuffed Cone is located at 556-18 North Country Rd. The shop opens and filming starts at 11am. Stop by and show some local love.