Ten SHSE Students Chosen For NYSMA All-State Conference

High School East student-musicians chosen for All-State

Ten student-musicians from Smithtown Central School District’s High School East were selected for the New York State School Music Association’s All-State Conference. Ten Smithtown High School East students from the Smithtown Central School District have been selected for the New York State School Music Association’s All-State Conference. 

The following students were chosen to perform in the NYSSMA All-State Conference from Dec. 1-4 in Rochester, New York:

• Jack Furci (jazz drum set/alternate)
• Kylie Lavrenchick (soprano I/women’s chorus)
• Max Lippman (baritone saxophone/alternate)
• Ryan MacCarthy (tenor II/mixed chorus)
• Aaron Min (alto saxophone/alternate)
• Lolita Nazarov (tenor saxophone/symphonic band)
• Keisuke Setsu (violin/alternate)
• Max Sherman (tenor I/mixed chorus)
• Brandon Star (trumpet/symphonic band)
• Justin Wei (violin/symphony orchestra) 

These students were chosen among thousands of student-musicians who auditioned at solo and ensemble festivals throughout the state.  

Photo courtesy of Smithtown Central School District - Click on photos to enlarge

"Coffee With A Cop" Perfect Time To Meet With Local Police

If you missed the “Coffee with a Cop” event Tuesday morning you missed the opportunity to speak with members of the Suffolk County Police Department and to ask questions.

Suffolk County Police from the Fourth Precinct hosted “Coffee with a Cop” at the Hauppauge Palace Diner Tuesday morning between 9am and 11am.  Attendees had the opportunity to meet one on one with officers. Unfortunately, the event was sparsely attended by the public. The concept of interacting with residents in a neutral setting is a good way for the police to keep apprised of what is happening in a community, listen to concerns and to develop relationships.

This type of forum allows for the public to ask the questions discussed on social media. Some of the questions Smithtown Matters receives deal with suspected drug dealing and burglaries. Coffee with a Cop is perfect for asking the police if they are aware of a certain site suspected of illegal activity.

The police department has a wealth of information which they make available on their website .

Over coffee officers provided guidance on how to handle parking lots at night, information about identity theft and more the more challenging topic of young people and drug use.   

The Fourth Precinct will be hosting monthly community meetings, The next meeting will be held September 6th, at the Nesconset Library, 148 Smithtown Blvd. Nesconset @ 7pm

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Get Real With Speeders On LI Expressway

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Andrea Kalkstein Lieberman was driving east on the Long Island Expressway, approaching Manorville on Sunday, August 21, in the left-hand lane, when “three cars cut in front of me, zoomed around me so fast—and sped off weaving around cars. ”

She gauged their speed at 90 miles per hour.

She said the three cars seemed to be playing “cat and mouse together.”

“A few minutes later,” Ms. Lieberman related, “traffic slowed down and I saw a huge cloud of dust ahead.” Then she passed the scene of the horrific event in which one of the eastbound cars had flown into the LIE’s westbound lane. Six persons died.

“They could have killed me,” said Ms. Lieberman, a businesswoman from Water Mill, and a friend. She called the Suffolk Police Department three times to provide an account of what she had witnessed.

The crash was a terrible tragedy. Among those killed were Scott Martella, communications director for the Suffolk County executive and previously a staffer for Governor Andrew Cuomo. A graduate of Smithtown High School, he was elected to the Smithtown School Board in 2009—becoming at 22 the youngest school board member ever of Smithtown schools. 

A Northport resident, Mr. Cuomo in a statement spoke of Mr. Martella as “a dedicated, beloved public servant” who ‘was always full of big ideas to help solve the toughest challenges of the day.” Injured was Mr. Martella’s fiancée, Shelbi Thurau. They planned to marry next year.

Also killed were Isadore and Helen Adelson of Westhampton, who were on their way to a wedding in New Jersey. And killed, too, were Carmelo Pinales of Hicksville, driver of what police say was a speeding car that went out of control, careened across a grass median and went airborne and struck the autos that Mr. Martella and the Adelsons were in. Also killed were Mr. Pinales’s son and a sister. 

What Suffolk Police say was the cause—a speeding driver—is reflected in what I see regularly on the LIE. I drive 50 miles each way on the LIE, in Suffolk and Nassau Counties, heading to and returning from SUNY College at Old Westbury, where I teach.

I’ve been driving a Toyota Prius in recent years and thus can make use of the HOV lane that covers most of the stretch—and like the lane not only for its lighter volume but because it provides somewhat of a separation from the scene in the regular lanes. 

On the average, every other day I see one, two or three maniacal drivers racing at 80 miles an hour and more, weaving through traffic in those lanes.  

To them it seems, the LIE is a racetrack despite it often being congested. And they endanger the lives of so many people as they zoom in and out, cutting in front of cars and trucks and rocketing ahead in wild zig-zags. 

It’s reckless driving at its worst.

Some of these drivers are caught. But in my experience, it isn’t so often that I see one of these dangerous road-racers having been pulled off to the side of the LIE by police. 

Among recent articles on these characters—at least those who have been caught—was one in July about an 18-year-old Deer Park woman charged with speeding on the LIE at over 110 miles per hour and making “multiple unsafe lane changes without signaling,” according to the police report.

In June, a 23-year-old Bronx man was arrested for racing his car at more than 100 miles per hour on the LIE. He was caught because a video was posted on YouTube and Facebook by another one of the drivers doing high-speed cat-and-mouse with him on the LIE. “Police said they believe at least three drivers were racing as they headed to a car show,” stated the story on the WCBS/2-TV website. The video proudly presented the cars weaving through LIE traffic at high speed.

Startling was the paragraph in the article in which Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter (a SUNY Old Westbury graduate) said only misdemeanor charges could be brought “because state lawmakers have been unable to agree on measures upgrading reckless speeding as a felony.”

After the Manorville tragedy, I used Google to explore whether New York State—with its governmental dysfunction—was alone in not coming down hard on this madness.

It is not. Reckless driving is just a misdemeanor in states throughout the U.S. The penalty can be up to a year in jail—the maximum for misdemeanors nationally—but in many states it is far less: as little as five days, 30 days, 90 days, and so on. In New York State it is 30 days for the first offense. There are also fines and driver’s license suspension or revocation.

But for these characters on our highways, the penalties should be much, much tougher. 

In their hands, motor vehicles constitute instruments of murder.

Moreover, policing must be much stronger on the LIE. Governments have budget constraints. But, surely, a major push to apprehend those who make the LIE so dangerous to drive on—especially by providing unmarked police cars regarded by those in law enforcement as so important to catch reckless speeders—is a top priority.

As one person commented on the News 12 Long Island website about the June videotaped road race on the LIE: “The insensitivity and ignorance of these drivers is criminal. The death toll on our Long Island highways has reached epidemic proportions.” 

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Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.

Book Review - 'Miller's Valley'

BOOK REVIEW

“Miller’s Valley” - By Anna Quindlen  - 257 pages – Random House

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

In Anna Quindlen’s incisive depiction of a poor rural family as they deal with the hardscrabble condition of their lives, the novel’s narrator, Mimi Miller, begins her story as an 11-year-old girl. From the outset, the farmer’s daughter ushers her readers into the kitchens, barns, and bedrooms of the star-crossed Miller family, and then wrings every last ounce of compassion from us, as we become more and more absorbed by the book’s magnificently drawn and strangely familiar characters. Furthermore, Mimi doesn’t let go of our increasingly brittle heartstrings until she’s a grandmother reciting her sad but hopeful epilogue some 250 pathos-driven pages later.

And what a heart-rending tour that four-hour span becomes!

Miller’s Valley has been home to Mimi’s intrepid family for some 200 years, but soon the entire courageous farming community, constantly the scene of brutal seasonal flooding, is going to fall victim to the smothering ‘care’ of the Nanny State. You see, big government has the answer to the valley’s all-too-frequent woes: If flooding is all that Miller’s Valley is good for, then so be it … the whole 6000-acre area will be dammed-up and like it or not, Miller’s Valley will be transformed into a broad, 40-foot-deep reservoir. Even the town’s tallest flagpole will be buried beneath the water’s surface.

This program, of course, requires federal acquisition of property (including centuries-old homes) owned by The Millers and their neighbors. Some acquiesce to the Eminent Domain demands … others resist. But that’s not Quindlen’s real story at any rate. The proposed Reservoir is merely a literary device … a metaphor, actually … that moves us inexorably through the challenging lives of these determined people, and it happens to work quite well. But there never is any question that the author has much more in store for us than a depressing tale about soggy real estate.

Practically every abysmal turn of events that can befall a long-suffering family seems destined to smite The Millers. Virtually by the time Mimi, her stoic mother (a nurse), her two older polar-opposite brothers (one an engineer, the other a bum), and her ill-fated father (whom Mimi adores), have been introduced to us, only the elder brother has been spared a major catastrophe.

It’s a near literary miracle that somehow Quindlen (she of such immense compositional prowess) manages to avoid creating the impression of overkill rampaging throughout Miller’s Valley. The author pulls this temperance off despite employing detailed descriptions of unwanted pregnancies … abortions … a laundry list of diseases … infidelities … drug addiction … and death. Indeed the most sympathetic character in the book is the most bedeviled, and yet we, along with his long-suffering mother and sister, love him still.

Through all this novel’s clearly defined tribulations we are carried along on the broad shoulders of the two strong women who emerge from Miller’s Valley … Mimi and her stoic mother. They are as believable as are the flawed family members (and friends) the women are called upon to nurture, and we know for certain that they will never falter … or will they? For as we learn early on, Anna Quindlen is full of surprises … though it must be said that even if she were not, Miller’s Valley would still have been a mesmerizing page-turner. That’s how compellingly the gifted novelist recounts her story of ordinary people determined to go on living and loving … even if they are never laughing.

In that regard, make no mistake; this is not a feel-good novel. I can’t recall encountering one honest-to-God humorous incident in its entire length. Not a smile in 250 pages! Nor is Miller’s Valley the sort of spellbinder wherein we constantly brace ourselves for the Miller family’s next dramatic shift of fortune. Indeed, it seems to me Quindlen’s most impressive talent is for quietly revealing those twists conversationally … without ever giving us the slightest hint that they’re coming.

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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 the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. It maintains that each wrote the other’s most famous work. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

Is Your Cell Phone Dead Zone On The List? 200 Dead Zones On LI

SCHUMER REVEALS: LI’ERS HAVE REPORTED OVER 200 CELL PHONE DEAD ZONES SCATTERED ACROSS ISLAND, CREATING DROPPED CALLS & DRIVING PEOPLE CRAZY—SCHUMER DELIVERS LI DEADZONE LOCATIONS TO CARRIERS & ASKS THEM TO BE FIXED 

Schumer Details Results From His Online Crowdsourcing Campaign To Help Identify Dead Zones; Having Good, Quality Coverage Is Essential To LI Safety, Business & Every Day To-And-From

Many Carriers Have No Clue Where Dead Zones Exist But LI Residents Often Know Exactly Where Their Calls Are Constantly Dropped  

Schumer: Carriers Must Come Up With Solution That Meets Community Need & Consent

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today revealed that in response to his crowdsourcing campaign to identify and locate dead zones—particularly on Long Island—over 200 maddening dead zones have been identified. Schumer detailed these dead zones and said there are many areas throughout Long Island that experience poor quality when it comes to cell phone network speed, network reliability, data performance, call performance and text performance. 

“When it comes to cell service on Long Island, these dead zones are proof carriers need to—quite frankly—raise the bar,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “A heavily populated region like Long Island shouldn’t be home to over 200 dead zones. Just a stone’s throw away from New York City and home to several universities, thousands of businesses and more, Long Island’s cell phone coverage must remain uninterrupted. Now that Long Islanders have submitted critical dead zones locations to my office, our wireless carries must make sure they are fixed. I will share these locations to carriers and am urging them to come up with a solution that meets the needs of both Nassau and Suffolk residents.”

Schumer revealed these locations and publicly asked carriers to come up with a solution to fix them that meets community need and consent. This past winter, Schumer asked Long Island residents to submit their local cell phone dead zones via his website. Schumer said this data collection will be used to help wireless carriers better track Long Island service interruptions for their coverage maps.

Schumer said quality wireless service must be an essential part of modern U.S. infrastructure, just like roads, mass transit and consumers deserve access to information that allows them to make informed decisions about their wireless carriers. Schumer said that wireless carriers need to do everything possible to ensure that New Yorkers have access to cell phone service at all times. Schumer argued that poor wireless service, and often times, inaccurate coverage maps that hide dead zones, hurt consumers and businesses in several ways. For instance, a lack of wireless coverage across Long Island could be a threat to public safety. Wireless services also support global positioning system (GPS) products that are essential to residents and tourists alike. Schumer said the lack of wireless coverage could make tourists reluctant to travel to an area knowing they will not have the ability to use their GPS technology to explore the area or make calls in an emergency situation.

Schumer today said that the Long Island dead zone locations submitted to his office did not discriminate by region. For instance, dead zone locations were prevalent in western Nassau County areas—in communities like Great Neck and Port Washington—as well as in areas on the Eastern End of Suffolk—in East Hampton and Fishers Island neighborhoods.

Schumer said his full list of dead zone locations on Long Island will help wireless carriers identify which areas need to be brought up to speed. Schumer today delivered dead zone data to wireless carriers and urged them to come up with a solution that meets the needs of these communities.

Below is the list of the Nassau and Suffolk dead zone street locations submitted to Senator Schumer’s office this year. Repeated street locations on this list mean that numerous addresses along that street were submitted.

1.     White Oak Tree Road, Syosset

2.     Shore Road, Long Beach

3.     Valentine Drive, Albertson

4.     Northern State Parkway at Jericho

5.     Long Mountain Parkway, Woodbury

6.     Graywood Road, Port Washington

7.     Paff Avenue, Uniondale

8.     US-11, Lawrence

9.     Spruce Street, Massapequa

10.   Northern Boulevard, Great Neck

11.   Bay Drive, Massapequa

12.   Westbury Avenue, Plainview

13.   Edwards Street, Roslyn Heights

14.   Forest Lake Blvd, Wantagh

15.   Watersedge Court, Lattingtown

16.   Meritoria Drive, East Williston

17.   Bengeyfield Drive, East Williston

18.   Charney Court, Manhaset

19.   Maneri, Lattingtown

20.   Inwood Road, Port Washington

21.   Cornflower Road, Levittown

22.   NY-25, Syosset

23.   Parkside Drive, Great Neck

24.   Watersedge, Glen Cove

25.   Harrison Avenue, Baldwin

26.   Wellington Road, Mineola

27.   Horace Harding Boulevard, Lake Success

28.   NY-106, Oyster Bay

29.   Chestnut Street, Glen Cove

30.   North Service Road, Lake Success

31.   Long Mountain Parkway, Woodbury

32.   Franklin Place, Woodmere

33.   Wallace Street, Rockville Centre

34.   Herrick Drive, Lawrence

35.   Talbot Drive,  Great Neck

36.   Community Drive, Manhasset

37.   Brookville Road,  Brookville

38.   Community Drive, Manhasset

39.   NY-106, Jericho

40.   NY-107, Glen Head

41.   Ocean State Parkway, Babylon

42.   Cypress Avenue, East Meadow

43.   Kramer Lane, Plainview

44.   Northern Blvd, Great Neck

45.   Hilda Street, North Bellmore

46.   North Broadway. North Massapequa

47.   Bulson Road, Rockville Centre

48.   Lakeville Road, Lake Success

49.   Highwater Avenue, Massapequa

50.   Finch Lane, Levittown

51.   Harbor Road, Port Washington

52.   North Beech Street, North Massapequa

53.   Jerusalem Avenue, Massapequa

54.   Brookville Road, Muttontown

55.   Blueberry Lane Hicksville

56.   W. John Street, Hicksville

57.   Store Hill Road, Old Westbury

58.   Oak Point Drive, North Bayville

59.   Glen Cove Road, Glen Head

60.   Paulanna Avenue, Bayport

61.   East 10^th Street, Huntington

62.   Pembroke Drive, East Hampton

63.   Southview Circle, Lake Grove

64.   Soundview Avenue, Southold

65.   Main Street, Northport

66.   Sunken Meadow Road, Northport

67.   Riviera, Kings Park

68.   Bolan Drive, Huntington Station

69.   Abbott Avenue, Mastic

70.   Valley Road, Kings Park

71.   Saint George Court, Melville

72.    Helme Avenue, Miller Place

73.   Whiskey Road, Ridge

74.   Central Avenue, Amityville

75.   Yennecott Drive, Southold

76.   Landing Avenue, Smithtown

77.   Ona Avenue, Dix Hills

78.   NY-25, Smithtown 

79.   Marlin Road, East Quogue

80.   Greenwood Drive, Fishers Island

81.   Hog Creek Lane, East Hampton

82.   Thanet Way, East Hampton

83.   Shore Road, Mount Sinai

84.   Old Montauk Highway, Sayville

85.   Ocean View Avenue, East Hampton

86.   Middle Country Road, Middle Island

87.   Smithtown Blvd, Nesconset

88.   East Main Street, East Islip

89.   Louis Kossuth Avenue, Bohemia

90.   Basswood Lane, Farmingille

91.   Fleets Cove Road, Huntington

92.   Clark Road, Southold

93.   Old Main Road, Southold

94.   Windshield Drive, Fisher Island

95.   Hawkins Road, Stony Brook

96.   Brooks Point Road, Fishers Island

97.   Bluff Road, Nissequogue

98.   Park Avenue, Huntington

99.   Nichols Road, Nesconset

100.Zavra Street, Bohemia

101.Johnson Avenue, Bohemia

102.East Main Street, Fisher Island

103.Vanderbilt Parkway, Dix Hills

104.Midvale  Drive, Kings Park

105.Mill Lane, Peconic

106.Lynch Street, Huntington

107.Green Knoll Court, Fort Salonga

108.Maplelawn Drive, Commack

109.Broadview Drive, Commack

110.Henry Avenue, Selden

111.Knight Lane, Kings Park

112.Bread and Cheese Hollow Road, Fort Salonga

113.Landing Avenue, Smithtown

114.Rockhill Road, Rocky Point

115.Saint Johnland Road, Kings Park

116.Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton

117.Cenacle Road, Lake Ronkonkoma

118.Baycrest Avenue, East Quogue

119.Smithtown Avenue, Ronkonkoma

120.Everest Court, Huntington

121.Bow Drive, Hauppauge

122.North Country Road, Setauket

123.North Country Road, Mt. Sinai

124.Nichols Road, Nesconset

125.George Road, New Suffolk

126.Winthrop Drive, Fishers Island

127.Knight Lane, Kings Park

128.Raynier Place, Nesconset

129.Hilltop Drive, Sound Beach

130.Pinelawn Road, Melville

131.Smithtown Blvd, Nesconset

132.Mill Road, Coram

133.First Avenue, Moriches

134.Bluff Road, Nissequogue

135.Town Line Road, Commack

136.Magnolia Drive, Kings Park

137.Boxwood Drive, Kings Park

138.Aztec Drive, Bay Shore

139.Main Street, Northport

140.Soundview Avenue, Southold

141.Southview Circle, Lake Grove

142.Burham Drive, Smithtown

143.Abbott Avenue, Mastic

144.Prospect Drive North, Huntington Station

145.Noyack Road, Southampton

146.Grand Central Avenue, Amityville

147.Heather Drive, Kings Park

148.Goose Hill Road, Cold Spring Harbor

149.NY-25A, Cold Spring Harbor

150.Oak Lane, Hampton Bays

151.Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton

152.Northside Road, Wading River

153.Somerset Avenue, East Islip

154.Little Bay Road, Wading River

155.New York Avenue, Halesite

156.Frog Pond Road, Huntington Station

157.East Main Street, Huntington

158.Norton Avenue, Terryville

159.Clark Road ,Southold

160.Sound Beach Drive, Mattituck

161.Middle Country Road, Middle Island

162.East Legion Avenue, Matticuk

163.Skyline Drive, Coram

164.Smithtown Blvd, Smithtown

165.Knoll Lane, Smithtown

166.Landview, Kings Park

167.Chichester Road, South Huntington

168.Montauk Avenue, Fishers Island

169.Quogue, Riverhead Road

170.Brookhill Lane, Huntington

171.North Country Road, Mt. Sinai

172.Marbeth Circle, Miller Place

173.East Jericho Turnpike, Huntington

174.Shetland Lane, Stony Brook

175.Winthrop Avenue, Fishers Island

176.Pine Terrace, East Marion

177.Fort Salonga Road, Northport

178.Crystal Brook Hollow Road, Port Jefferson Station

179.Shore Road, Mt. Sinai

180.Lombardy Blvd, Brightwaters

181.Aspen, Kings Park

182.Vernon Valley Road, Northport

183.Nassau Point Road, Cutchogue

184.Merrimack Road, Smithtown

185.Bankside Drive, Centerport

186.Ravenwood Drive, Kings Park

187.Round Swamp Road, Huntington

188.Ridge Road, Ridge

189.Pine Needle Drive, Manorville

190.Totten Avenue, Deer Park

191.Sound Beach Drive, Mattituck

192.Ruth Road, Mattituck

193.Winthrop Drive, Fishers Island

194.Newton Road, Hauppauge

195.Deerfoot Path, Cutchogue

196.Smith Street, Nesconset

197.Richland Blvd, Brightwaters

198.Route 111, Smithtown

199.West Way, East Hampton

200.Rainbow Drive, Hauppague

201.Mt Sinai-Coram Road, Mt. Sinai

202.Weinmann Blvd, Melville

203.Middle Hollow Road, Lloyd Harbor

204.Westview Drive, Lloyd Harbor

205.Prospect Street,Shoreham

206.Hillcrest Drive, Calverton

207.Thanet Way, East Hampton

208.Pipe Stave Hollow Road, Miller Place

209.Hilldale Avenue, Miller Place

210.Lodge Avenue, Huntington Station

211.Somerset Avenue, East Islip

212.5^th Street, Nesconset

213.Hancock Comons, Yaphank

214.Eagle View Road, Claryville

215.Center Walk, Sayville

216.Brightview Drive, Rocky Point

217.Arlene Court, Hauppague

218.Central Avenue, Fishers Island

219.Roseland Lane, East Patchogue

220.Yorktown Place, Fort Salonga

221.Winthrop Drive, Fishers Island

222.Wind Watch Drive, Hauppauge

223.De Place, Hauppauge

224.Northern State Parkway at Melville

225.Norfolk Drive, Northport

226.Northside Road, Wading River

227.Cedar Grove Avenue, Lake Grove

228.North Country Road, Port Jefferson

229.Cranford Blvd, Mastic

230.Renee Drive, Oakdale

231.Wheelock Walk, East Hampton

232.Court Street, East Islip

233.Fort Salonga Road, Northport

234.Main Road, Peconic

235.Geoggrey Lane, Kings Park