Drug Hotline Dial 631-852-Narc To Report Drug Activity

Suffolk Police Announce New Initiative Aimed at Reducing Drug-Related Crimes

New tips hotline created for residents to report drug activity

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy D. Sini announced a new initiative aimed at reducing drug activity in Suffolk County during a press conference today at Suffolk County Police Headquarters in Yaphank.

As part of a redirected approach to fighting drug abuse in Suffolk County, a new tips hotline has been created for residents to report suspected drugs sales and drug activity in their neighborhoods. Residents are encouraged to call anonymously to 631-852-NARC to report information about drug dealers within their communities. That information will be vetted by a member of the Criminal Intelligence Unit and then dispersed to either Narcotics Unit detectives or precinct personnel depending on what information is reported.   

“This hotline is going to help forge a true partnership between the Suffolk County Police Department and the public,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy D. Sini said. “We are asking the public’s help to fight this scourge and with the public’s help, we can make a real difference.”

Tipsters who provide information leading to arrests will be entitled to cash rewards thanks to a partnership with Suffolk County Crime Stoppers. Tipsters may remain anonymous even if they wish to receive a reward. The new hotline will be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to accept information.

“If you see something, say something and Suffolk County Police will do something about it,” Commissioner Sini said.

St. James Resident Pleads Guilty To Felony Charges Endangering The Environment

Datre Jr. pleads guilty to felony charges of endangering the environment -Cleanup of damaged land and prison part of the sentence

Thomas Datre Jr.Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said today there has been a plea of guilty by the principal defendant on trial for the illegal dumping of tens of thousands of tons of contaminated construction debris in Suffolk County in 2013 and 2014.  The trial was in its sixth week in Central Islip.

Thomas Datre Jr. of St. James, on trial since February 23 with his father and four family-operated companies charged with dumping thousands of tons of contaminated construction debris at four locations in western Suffolk County, has pleaded guilty to four felony charges of Endangering the Public Health, Safety or the Environment in the third degree.

District Attorney Spota said the 42-year-old will be sentenced to up to three years imprisonment in an upstate correctional facility and, according to the terms of the plea, Datre Jr. is responsible for the restoration of Roberto Clemente Town Park in Brentwood to an active playground, soccer field and recreational facility for Brentwood residents.   In addition, Datre Jr. is financially and otherwise responsible for the cleanup and remediation of the environmentally fragile wetlands area on the Islip-Babylon town border in Deer Park and a lot at the corner of Sage Street and Islip Avenue in Central Islip. Dangerous toxins, including Dieldrin, Asbestos and other contaminants classified as “acutely hazardous” or “hazardous” were detected in the dumped debris.  District Attorney Spota said the dumping investigation which began in April of 2014 uncovered a scheme “based in greed that left Suffolk County with an environmental catastrophe.”

The cleanup of the environmental damage was addressed in in the terms of Datre Jr.’s plea.  “Before the defendant is sentenced, he will clean up at his expense the properties he dumped debris on,” District Attorney Spota said.  “Mr. Datre will report on his progress with the cleanup to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the court and the district attorney’s office.”

Datre Jr. also pleaded guilty today to four misdemeanor charges of operating a solid waste management facility without a permit.  The sentences on those convictions will be served concurrently.

The charges in the indictment against Datre Sr. were dismissed in satisfaction of the plea of Datre Jr.

In addition to Datre Jr.’s guilty plea the family-run business, 5 Brothers Farming Corp. pleaded guilty to four counts of endangering the environment in the third degree; one felony plea per each of four sites where New York City building rubble was dumped in Suffolk.

Datre Jr.’s co-defendant, Christopher Grabe of Islandia Recycling, also pleaded guilty today to two felony charges of endangering the environment and two misdemeanor charges of operating a solid waste management facility without a permit.   District Attorney Spota said Grabe, for his role in the dumping of debris at Clemente Town Park in Brentwood and at the Route 111 site in Central Islip will be sentenced to up to six months in jail and five years’ probation. 

Grabe also pleaded guilty to a tax fraud felony filed by the district attorney’s Tax Crimes Unit in March of last year.   Grabe, 38, “from 2011 through 2013 failed to report about $885,000 of income to New York State, resulting in evasion of approximately $57,000 in income taxes, ” District Attorney Spota said.  The defendant is now required to pay the unpaid taxes.

In a separate investigation and indictment, Thomas Sr. and Clara Datre today representing Daytree at Cortland Square Inc. before Justice Fernando Camacho acknowledged the firm’s failure to pay prevailing wages to its workers performing tree and stump removal for the Town of Islip.  For the plea to the misdemeanor charge failure to pay the prevailing wage, 13 workers employed by Daytree at Cortland Square Inc. will be paid by the company approximately $90,000 in wages that they did not receive while working on the town contract.

Theater Review - "Memphis"

THEATER REVIEW ‘Memphis – The Musical’

Produced by: The John W. Engeman Theater - Northport - Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

When Richard Dolce and Kevin O’Neill decided to produce ‘Memphis – The Musical’ at Northport’s swanky Engeman Theater, the first question they must have asked themselves is: “But who do we get to play the renegade radio personality ‘Huey Calhoun?’” It’s a logical question, too, because a company can probably cast eleven of the production’s twelve featured roles with relative ease, but until you’ve nailed down the  central character (based on real-life Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips) you’ve got only ten percent of ‘Memphis’ ready to go. That’s how essential Carson Higgins is as ‘Huey’ in this non-stop tour de force.

The obvious answer to the dilemma is: “Let’s find someone who’s already interpreted the part successfully.” Because, face it, ‘Memphis – The Musical’ is at its heart a one-man show … one that ‘Huey Calhoun’ makes-or-breaks, much as does the radio celebrity character he depicts in this slam-bang, rock and roll musical. Dolce and O’Neill are lucky to have found their ‘Huey’ in the person of Carson Higgins, who played the Memphis radio personality during the energetic show’s Ivoryton Playhouse run in Connecticut.

Throughout most of the play, actor Higgins portrays a worn-to-a-frazzle 1950s DJ to near-perfection, and the only element that’s missing in Joe Depietro’s Tony winning book is the ‘Payola’ stigma that defined the industry throughout those years. 

Fact is that virtually all DJs took the illegal payoffs during the early days of the recording industry’s phenomenal growth, and it is to Director Igor Goldin’s credit that ‘Memphis’ captures the feel of the not-so-secret skeleton in the record industry’s closet. 

If that sounds like a first-hand observation … it is!

All of us who worked in Music Radio at the height of the Payola scandal accepted payoffs (thinly disguised as ‘bonuses’) from record companies to play their tunes. And the bribes weren’t confined to on-air personalities … employees from station managers to janitors were on the take.

‘Memphis,’ however, has a much more important story to tell. It involves the manner in which ‘art and courage’ will overcome ‘opportunism and bigotry’ every time. When Huey Calhoun decides that he’s destined to be the first White disc jockey to play Black music on the air, he does so over the objections of his friends, his associates, and the prevailing wisdom of his employers at the time.

Not that there’s anything wrong with Patti Page’s ‘How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?’ … the number must be significant, why else would Joe Depietro have included the cute tune in his Tony-winning book? What’s significant is that pioneering disc jockey Calhoun, recognizes the time has come for change in the vanilla musical menu being fed to America’s casual listeners. Even in the Deep South … especially in the Deep South!

Of course, the rest is history … just check today’s pop charts.

This musical (running thru May 8) could have been ruined by the addition of an unnecessary interracial love angle, had the issue been left to a lesser Director than Goldin to address. But as things work out, tackling the 1950s ‘no-no’ somehow works … and we overlook inclusion of the matter in the bright light of 2016 diversity.

Instrumental in all of the goings on are the versatile Breanna Bartley (Huey’s love interest, Felicia), C. Mingo Long (her big-voiced brother, Delray), and the highly talented Jarred Bedgood, (who makes his New York debut a stellar one as Gator).

Kathryn Markey plays an often-conflicted Gladys convincingly, and empathetic Arthur L. Ross, Bobby, provides much-needed comic relief, keeping this long play from becoming tiresome. At any rate, when the curtain falls, you’ll understand why ‘Memphis’ was nominated for eight Tony Awards on Broadway … and won in no fewer than four categories!

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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. Ladouceur’s website is www.JebsBooks.com

SC Legislator Trotta Proposes To Limit Campaign Contributions

Suffolk County Legislator Rob Trotta Sponsors Legislation to Limit Campaign Contributions from County Contractors and Public Employee Unions

A Means to Eliminate Corruption in County Contracts

(Smithtown, NY)…At the March 1 General Meeting of the Legislature, Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta introduced a resolution (IR-1179) to limit the amount of campaign contributions that contractors and public employee unions doing business with Suffolk County can make to its elected officials. The bill contains a cap of $2,000 for a business or employee organization which has a contract with the county and wants to contribute to the campaign of a legislator or county-wide elected official or candidates running for those offices. 

“It is not uncommon for people and organizations doing business with Suffolk County to make donations to the political campaigns of County officials and candidates seeking County office,” said Legislator Trotta.  “Such contributions can be interpreted by the public as a “pay to play” that results in government contracts being awarded on the basis of connections and contributions,” added Trotta.  Therefore, the purpose of this law is to limit the contributions that contractors and public employee unions can make to elected County officials and candidates for county office and reduce special interest influence on the county’s contracting process. “I can assure the residents and voters of Suffolk County that when I first ran for office three years ago and this past year I did not accept campaign donations from the unions and special interest groups” said Legislator Trotta. “With all the corruption we are seeing in the various levels of government, I believe that this measure is a step in the right direction toward curtailing the process of doing business as usual with Suffolk County,” said Legislator Rob Trotta.

At the March 22 meeting of the Legislature, a public hearing on this local law was recessed until the April 12 meeting of the Legislature. For more information, please call Legislator Rob Trotta at 631-854-3900.

Rotarians Give The Gift Of Words To Park View Elementary Students

By p.biancaniello

click on photo to enlarge

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” Ludwig Wittgenstein

It is tempting to think that owning a dictionary is wasteful and useless. There are those who believe that technology and access to online dictionaries are all young people need. Those who think this have not seen the smiles of the students as they receive their gift dictionary.  Those who think dictionaries are obsolete have not talked to educators. 

The Commack-Kings Park Rotary Club has been distributing dictionaries to third graders in the Commack and Kings Park school districts for many years. Club members donate the dictionaries as part of their commitment to literacy and community.

Rotarians are optimistic that students will learn the power of words and their usefulness in expressing feelings, dreams, hopes and thoughts. The dictionary is gifted to the students with the hope that the they feel empowered to use words in a way that will help them as they write their life story.

The Commack-Kings Park Rotary Club meets every Tuesday at 12:15pm at the Bonwit Inn in Commack. People interested in learning about the club are encouraged to attend a meeting.