SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - College Closings Are Sad Events

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Dowling CollegeThe announcement last week of the closure of Dowling College in Oakdale, preceded a decade ago by the closure of Southampton College, are sad events in the history of higher education in Suffolk County. I was closely involved with both colleges.

What has been Dowling College since 1968 started in 1959 as Adelphi Suffolk College. Adelphi University in Garden City had been eager to expand into Suffolk County.

In a fine history of Adelphi Suffolk that appeared in the Fall 2005 and Fall 2006 issues of the Long Island Historical Journal, Leroy Douglas, a fellow student of mine at Adelphi Suffolk (who went on to become a Forest Hills High School social studies teacher) related how Adelphi offered extension courses in Riverhead, Patchogue, Port Jefferson and Sayville between 1953 and 1958. “Adelphi Suffolk was created in response to a very pressing educational need,” he recounted. “While over six thousand students graduated from the forty-two high schools in Suffolk County in June 1960, the fastest growing county in the United States did not have a single four-year college.”

There was competition between Southampton and Sayville to be the site of Adelphi’s Suffolk campus, but Sayville won out with a community group promoting the hamlet and an old public school building—“Old ‘88”—provided for its location.

Adelphi Suffolk became the first four-year liberal arts college in Suffolk.

I had entered Antioch College in Ohio in 1959 and was inspired by an Antioch internship (at the Cleveland Press) to become a journalist—as soon as possible. I was from New York City, and at Antioch the first week met a girl from Centerport in Suffolk (last month we celebrated our 55^th wedding anniversary) and we headed back east in 1961 and I became a student at Adelphi Suffolk.

Adelphi Suffolk was a wonderful experience.  There were some brilliant professors at that old 20-room schoolhouse and a cozy feeling. I started a college newspaper The New Voice (one of its reporters was Leroy Douglas who was from Wyandanch).

I’m afraid I couldn’t stay at Adelphi Suffolk beyond a year-and-a-half. That itch to get into journalism was so strong. I finally became a reporter at the daily Long Island Press and completed a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s years later.

Adelphi purchased the former William K. Vanderbilt Estate in Oakdale in 1963 and the college shifted its locale to that picturesque riverside setting, ties with Adelphi ended in 1968, and it was renamed Dowling College for its principal benefactor, philanthropist Robert Dowling.

Although since 1978 I’ve been a regular journalism professor at SUNY College at Old Westbury, I taught a course at Dowling College a while back filling in for my friend, New York Times reporter John Rather, and the feeling was the same as I had experienced as a student—cozy, personal. Indeed, Dowling described itself for many years as “The Personal College.” That it was: small classes, close interaction between students and teachers.

Our son, Adam Grossman, graduated from Dowling and went on to become Riverhead Town Attorney and is now vice chairman of the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals. Journalists I have known who went to Dowling include Joe Demma of Newsday, Bryan Boyhan of The Sag Harbor Express and Mike Jahn of The New York Times.

Dowling’s closing—unless11^th hour negotiations are successful in saving it—would be a terrible loss for Suffolk County.

Likewise, the closing of Southampton College was a terrible loss for Suffolk. It began as an extension in 1963 of Long Island University in Suffolk County—also, like Adelphi Suffolk, coming to Suffolk but after a push from Southampton residents.

Stony Brook SouthamptonI taught at Southampton College as a part-time adjunct professor from 1980 until it was shut down by LIU in 2005. It, too, was a very personal learning institution—also featuring small classes and close interaction between students and professors. It was taken over the next year by Stony Brook University and became Stony Brook Southampton, a college focusing on ecological sustainability—in Suffolk a perfect locale for learning about that.

Phoenix-like it was booming, some 800 students were enrolled by 2010, but then the new president of Stony Brook University, Dr. Samuel Stanley, suddenly and so unfortunately ordered it shut down that year. In the last few years, there’s been a partial rebirth at Stony Brook Southampton—Stony Brook’s marine sciences program is prospering there, a graduate program in writing which goes back to Southampton College is doing well. There are other graduate programs. And quite likely it will be the new site of Southampton Hospital with many associated courses in the health sciences.

Still, driving past Stony Brook Southampton one sees a college that is a shadow of what it had been, even though the state has invested many tens of millions of dollars in it.

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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. 

Commack HS Interact Students Join Commack - Kings Park Rotary Club For Pizza and Discussion

Commack High School  Interact Club students met with members of the Commack-Kings Park Rotary Club for pizza and conversation on Tuesday, May 31. Debbie Virga, coordinator of the Interact Club and Commack HS Superintendent of Curriculum Dr. Adele Pecora participated in the lively conversation.

The Interact Club is sponsored by the Commack-Kings Park Rotary Club. Interact members work independent of the Rotary but adhere to the principles of fairness, concern and being charitable. The Interact Club leadership board met with the Rotarians talking about past activities and activities for the future.  

The students were excited about the prospect of working with students in the newly established Interact Club at Kings Park HS. 

Accomplishments in 2015/16 year included: Two Commack Interact students went to Cambodia during the summer of 2015 where they worked with young women teaching swimming skills and self defense. Other events the students participated in are food drives, coat drives, special olympics and a Halloween Dance for people with special needs. 

Rotarians were impressed with the commitment the club members show to the school and their community. Commack-Kings Park President Joanne Davis and incoming President Arthur Olmstead were joined by Rotarian Alex Paykin at the informal pizza/discussion event. “The Interact students are awesome. We are proud of their accomplishments and look forward to working with them as they do more wonderful things.” said Joanne Davis.

The Commack-Kings Park Rotary Club meets every Tuesday at the Bonwit Inn in Commack at 12:15 p.m.. You are invited to attend a meeting to learn more about Rotary.

Theater Review - 'Shrek, the Musical'

THEATER REVIEW

‘Shrek, the Musical’ - Produced by Theatre Three, Port Jefferson 

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

The musical ‘Shrek’ as currently presented at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson is probably being staged as well as it’s ever going to be. Those who don’t believe in miracles should consider that in the hands of gutsy director Jeffrey Sanzel, even so-so entertainment like this occasionally tedious piece of theater can be made to look consistently interesting … dare we say ‘good’ most of the time!

Let’s consider what Long Island’s most accomplished show business impresario is forced to work with here: 

‘Shrek, The Musical’ first tested the legitimate theater waters in Seattle in 2008. There the show received what by all accounts must be termed generous mixed reviews. It was even referred to by one northwestern critic as a converted film that managed to convey a heartfelt message. Hmmm! Can you say ‘ambiguity’?

Rather forgettable in both its lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (who amazingly once won a Pulitzer for drama), and music by Jeanine Tesori (best known for co-arranging, co-writing, and co-conducting scores with moderate success at best), the primary thing ‘Shrek’ has going for it is its Steven Spielberg pedigree. DreamWorks started the ball rolling when the soon-to-be Disney competitor pledged a bundle to the computer-animated film project, and made a lot of money in the bargain. Such is Spielberg’s magic touch. Seldom, if ever, does our Hamptons neighbor, Steven, lose money on an endeavor.

The initial film incorporated musical renderings by the likes of ‘Smash Mouth,’ ‘Eels,’ and ‘Baha Men,’ and soon everybody wanted a piece of the ‘rock phenomenon.’ Performers figured if these sorely limited entertainers could successfully capitalize on ‘Shrek,’ anyone might. Thus, from no fewer than (count ‘em) four successive ‘Shrek’ incarnations, sound track albums featuring everybody and his brother were released. By 2010 there was ‘Shrek’ litter everywhere we looked … and listened.

But what’s going on at Theatre Three can hardly be labeled artistic debris. 

In the first place, the big, brassy cast that director Sanzel has assembled is so talented that even a star like Rachel Greenblatt (who carried ‘Grease’ single-handedly at Smithtown’s Performing Arts Center a few years back) is found in a relatively minor part here. 

An indefatigable Danny Stalter (as the ogre, Shrek) brings non-stop gusto to the title role, Jenny Kavaler (my, what a pure voice she has!) is a loveable ‘Princess Fiona,’ while Bobby Montaniz makes the tough ‘Donkey’ characterization something special. And I particularly liked Hans Paul Hendrickson as ‘Pinocchio.’ Stage presence is hard to define, but Hendrickson has it in spades.

That said, it was Matt Sanese who virtually stole the show as he skillfully interpreted the dwarf, ‘Lord Farquaard.’ One can only imagine how difficult it must be to play such a featured role on one’s knees … for two hours plus! That’s endurance, folks.

Of course, this musical wherein an ugly Ogre and his faithful Donkey set out to rescue Princess Fiona from a fire-breathing Dragon, is best appreciated by children (while kids under the age of eight might be tested beyond their endurance). Let it be known, though, that there were some six and seven-year-olds in attendance when I was there last week, and not one indication of boredom was in evidence. 

The adults too, inexplicably sat still throughout. Maybe like me, they were simply mesmerized by the colorful costumes, the eye-popping makeup, the dazzling special effects, and the contagious enthusiasm of two dozen gifted actors. Or perhaps they were stunned that Jeffrey Sanzel, the miracle man of Port Jefferson’s famed Theatre Three, somehow could breathe life into a show that, while it admittedly satisfied a number of cult fans early on, never was able to recoup its investment on The Great White Way.

Not all Broadway musicals do, of course … but actor/writer/director Sanzel is not one to shy away from a challenge regardless—not even from a test as intimidating as this one must have been.

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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 actually wrote the other’s most acclaimed work. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

Suffolk Closeup - The Brilliance Of Walt Whitman

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The most famous native of Suffolk County is Walt Whitman—much of whose work was closely tied to his birthplace. 

“Starting from the fish-shape Paumanok, where I was born,” he wrote in “Leaves of Grass.”  (He always referred to Long Island by its Native American name.) From here, he related, “I strike up a New World.” 

Dr. William T. WalterIn a poem titled “Paumanok,”Whitman sang: “Sea beauty! strech’d and basking! One side thy inland ocean laving, broad, with copious commerce, steamers, sails,  And one of the Atlantic’s wind caressing, fierce or gentle—mighty hulls dark-gliding in the distance.  Isle of sweet brooks of drinking-water—healthy air and soil! Isle of the salty shore and breeze and brine.”

This year has seen more attention to Walt Whitman in these parts.

Canio’s Cultural Café of Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor held a “Walt Whitman Marathon” last Saturday, an all-day reading of “Leaves of Grass.”

There have been special events at the house in which Walt Whitman was born in West Hills (now Huntington Station) on May 31, 1819.

Suffolk County Green Party activists Ian and Kimberly Wilder, lovers of poetry and nature, residents of Riverhead, have proposed making his birthday a national holiday.

Said Ms. Wilder, a teacher, in an essay that is online (ontheWilderside.com): “Walt Whitman was born close to me in West Hills…For me Whitman has become a touchstone for something more than beautiful poetry. I first discovered Walt Whitman for myself when he was quoted in a sermon in an interfaith church in Virginia. Then a bookstore colleague of mine read with me from ‘Leaves of Grass,’ and I was awakened to this powerful voice of self, universe, and nature, combined. Since then, I have come to realize Whitman’s amazing gifts as a poet, as political figure, as reshaper of language, as loving brother, and as a complicated and beautiful a person who ever lived.”

“Whitman’s sense of self and poetry are effused with a love and connection to nature,” Kimberly went on. And, she emphasized: “Whitman credited this constant backdrop of Long Island’s pulsing waters for the subtle rhythm in the new poetic language he invented. And as a good transcendentalist, he had a genuine passion for the sea, the sun, and the earth over material goods.”

On a Walt Whitman birthday celebration, she said, “every person and business (especially those on Long Island) should observe 15 minutes of silence. We could stop mowing our lawns, stop driving our cars, click off our cellphones, turn off all buzzes and drones of machinery, and just listen to the silence that enfolds us again in the embrace of nature.”

At Canio’s on the Friday eve of the “marathon” reading of “Leaves of Grass,” William T. Walter, president of the board of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, gave a presentation on “Walt Whitman on Long Island.”

I have been to the Walt Whitman Birthplace—indeed years ago, on the first of the “Long Island World” series of programs I hosted on WLIW-TV/21, I began at the birthplace, with shots of its inside and outside, photos of Whitman, words from “Leaves of Grass” read by my late friend Richard Cummings of Bridgehampton, and then jumped to what is now Walt Whitman Mall just a few blocks away. The lilting words of Whitman were replaced by the cacophony of noise emanating from Walt Whitman Mall. This TV program was about change on Long Island.

But until listening to Dr. Walter at Canio’s I really didn’t have a grasp about Whitman on Long Island. Dr. Walter, who since 1980 has been involved with the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, which operates the state-owned official historic site, explained how Whitman was of the fifth generation of his family in the Town of Huntington. Coming to the town just 15 years after it was established in 1653 was Joseph Whitman. 

Whitman’s father, Walter—his son was also named Walter but “referred to as Walt to avoid confusion,” said Dr. Walter—“didn’t want to be a farmer” like those in the generations before him. “He wanted to be a carpenter.” But ultimately there was “not much of a market” in then lightly populated Huntington, said Dr. Walter, so the family moved to Brooklyn where 

Whitman went to school for a while, then apprenticed as an “office boy” and also in a print shop. And he was back in Suffolk County in 1838 starting “his own newspaper” in Huntington, the Long Islander, which is still published. 

This, the beginning of Dr. Walter’s presentation, just skims the surface of his fascinating talk. The Wilders (Ian is deputy director of Long Island Housing Services) are right. We should have an annual celebration on Walt Whitman’s birthday and learn more about his colorful life and brilliant, extraordinary poetry, words that changed the world of poetry.

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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. 

Letter To Editor - Steck-Philbin Site Goes To Powercrush, Inc A Sand And Gravel Supplier

It is disappointing to learn of Suffolk County’s selection of Powercrush, Inc. and Vision Associates LLC as the solar developer for the former Steck-Philbin site. It is a disappointment for a number of reasons.  

Powercrush, Inc. is a sand and gravel supplier, not a solar developer. As far as we can tell they have never developed a solar site and are completely unqualified to undertake this task.  It is difficult to ascertain what, exactly, Vision Associates LLC does, as neither they nor Powercrush, Inc. have a website.

Powercrush, Inc. is one of the many shell companies owned by Toby Carlson and operated out of 140 Old Northport Road in Kings Park - all sharing the same phone number (631)368-4000. Other businesses include Carlson Associates, Ketcham Group, Ketcham Transport, Ketcham Farms, Ketcham Container, Ketcham Supply, and so on.

However, it should come as no surprise that Powercrush, Inc. and the various Ketcham entities make significant campaign contributions to local politics. A very brief search yielded nearly $50,000 in “campaign contributions” in recent years (see attached).

Carlson Associates is no stranger to the NYSDEC. They have been fined more than $125,000 for their illegal sand mining activities in the 1990s (see attached) and their legal troubles have continued until as recently as 2013 when they were fined by Smithtown for property violations and flagged for submitting “vague” and “flawed” site plans (see attached Newsday article).

While our FOIL request for the proposal details was wholly denied by the Suffolk County Landbank (see attached), we have learned that Powercrush, Inc. plans to develop the site as a 4-megawatt solar farm and offered Suffolk County no more than $500,000 for the tax lien. 

It may sound like sour grapes, but it is interesting to note that Ecological Engineering, with its more than 10 installed megawatts of experience, had proposed to install Long Island’s first community-owned 6-megawatt solar farm and offered the Suffolk County Landbank nearly $1,000,000 for the tax lien. 

We wish Suffolk County, the Suffolk County Landbank and Powercrush, Inc. all the best in their new partnership. We hope the redevelopment of the site is a great success. 

But I wouldn’t count on it.

-Shawn Nuzzo

Shawn Nuzzo, LEED APPresident

Shawn Nuzzo is President of Ecological Engineering of Long Island

Carlson Associates DEC Violations 1993.pdf

Carlson Associates NEWSDAY.pdf

FOIL denial.pdf

Ketcham donations.pdf

powercrush donations 2.pdf

Powercrush donations.pdf