SHSW Class Of '75 Commemorate 40th Anniversary

Trees to Remember

Smithtown High School West’s Class of 1975 recently celebrated their 40^th reunion, and decided that as the first graduating class of High School West, they wanted to commemorate the occasion by planting trees where their seeds of learning were cultivated. 

Using funds collected from their reunion celebration, the Class of 1975 agreed to donate three trees, planted in front of the HSW campus, along with a plaque, which was unveiled before homecoming. A donation was also made to the Smithtown Library to purchase children’s books. 

“West had, and continues to have, a great staff of teachers who were supportive and had such a positive influence on all of us,” said Janet Gambrell Bernabeo, a Class of 1975 graduate who now works for Smithtown School District. “We graduated in 1975 with 412 students. We have a strong alumni connection and plans are in the works to reunite again. We were proud and honored to be the first graduating class of High School West.”

Photo Caption: From left: Members of Smithtown High School West’s first graduating class in 1975: Jill Murman Payne, Nicolette Pumilia, Margherita Fanera Schneider, Janet Gambrell Bernabeo and Debbie Myers March in front of the three trees they donated.

Photo courtesy of the Smithtown Central School District

Smithtown Man Dies After Being Struck By DWI Driver In Smithtown

Suffolk County Police have arrested a Saint James man for driving while intoxicated after a motor vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian in Smithtown last night.

Timothy BurkeTimothy Burke, 43, was driving a 2006 Dodge Charger northbound on Route 111 when his vehicle struck a pedestrian who was crossing Route 111 at 8:30 p.m.

The pedestrian, Kenneth Rich, 51, of Smithtown, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

Burke was charged with driving while intoxicated and will be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip on October 10.

The vehicle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone with information about the crash to contact the Vehicular Crime Unit at 631-852-6555.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Where's The Endorsement? Inzerillo Supporters Want To Know

Councilman McCarthy, Councilwoman Nowick, NYS Assemblyman Fitzpatrick, Supervisor Vecchio, SC Legislator Trotta and Republican Town Council candidate Lisa InzerilloStanding outside Town Hall Republicans gathered to endorse and to offer support to Lisa Inzerillo a winner in the September 10th Republican primary. Ms. Inzerillo, received the second most votes in the primary defeating incumbent Councilman Robert Creighton. Ms. Inzerillo is the official Republican candidate for Town Council.  Gathered around Ms. Inzerillo was Supervisor Patrick Vecchio, NYS Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick, Legislator Robert Trotta, Councilman Thomas McCarthy and Councilwoman Lynne Nowick.

Along with the photo-op the message of the press conference was clear, primary election results are valid and reflect the will of the voters. Winners of primary challenges are legitimate and entitled to party backing.

The majority of elected officials attending the press conference had successfully won a Republican primary challenge and everyone who won their primary received the backing of the Republican Committee.  In 2013  incumbent Patrick Vecchio received local party backing after defeating Robert Creighton a John LaValle (Suffolk County Republican Chairman)  favorite.  Lynne Nowick defeated Councilman Kevin Malloy and Legislator Trotta came out of nowhere to win his primary for an open seat. With each victory came a message from Smithtown Republican Chairman Bill Ellis to unite and get behind the candidate.

More than three weeks after her victory Ms. Inzerillo is still waiting for her endorsement from town leader Bill Ellis. 

Supervisor Patrick Vecchio and Lisa InzerilloRepublican insiders suggest Ms. Inzerillo should not hold her breath.  “A civil war” is how one committee person described the current status of the Republican Party.  Another Republican, declining to be named, described a power struggle that has the longest serving Town Supervisor, Patrick Vecchio pitted against a contingency that wants to strip him or at least share some of his control over Smithtown’s zoning, Town Departments, Town planning and the budget. The underlying concern for some Republicans is a sense that the battle is being orchestrated by outside forces namely John J. LaValle. Mr. Creighton was a registered Conservative who changed party affiliation to Republican specifically to primary Supervisor Vecchio in 2013.  Amongst those who supported Creighton even after Vecchio won the primary were Conservative Party member Smithtown Town Clerk Vincent Puleo and Republican County Chairman Mr. John LaValle. 

Chairman Ellis was reluctant to endorse Inzerillo on September 10 when she won the vote count. In a phone conversation with Smithtown Matters he said he would wait until the absentee ballots were counted and suggested that there were some improprieties in the signatures on her petitions.  According to sources at the BOE there have been no challanges and no investigation into the Inzerillo petitions. So where is the endorsement Inzerillo backers want to know?

Councilwoman Lynne Nowick and Lisa InzerilloLast week Mr. Ellis was fired from his position on the Suffolk County Board of Elections (BOE) by Suffolk County Chairman John J. LaValle. As county leader, Mr. LaValle has the authority to hire and fire Republican BOE employees. There has not been any explanation as to why Mr. Ellis was fired. Mr. Ellis remains the Chaiperson for the Smithtown Republican Committee.

There are some who believe that Mr. Ellis was about to recognize Ms. Inzerillo as the official Town Council candidate before he was fired from the BOE. Mr. Ellis, as leader of Smithtown Republicans, still has the responsibility for getting Republicans elected. For now the only thing coming from Bill Ellis is silence. Will he come out and endorse Inzerillo? Many Republican committee people suggest that Inzerillo not hold her breath waiting.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2015.

Councilwoman Nowick In The Dog House With Task Force Members

Transparency in Smithtown’s Animal Shelter - 

In what should be a surprise but isn’t, three members of the Animal Advisory Task Force created by Councilwoman Lynne Nowick resigned. The task force was created to look into practices at the animal shelter with the goal of increasing  adoption and improving quality of life for the animals.

Councilwoman Nowick, liaison to the Animal Shelter, appointed Diane Madden, Elizabeth Stein and Lucille DeFina, hand picking them from the many animal advocates who appeared before the Town Board. The women served for nine months working with the Councilwoman and George Beatty, former director of the Smithtown Animal Shelter. 

During the nine months they served, the task force members worked to establish polices and procedures to clean-up and improve the operation of the shelter.  There have been successes at the shelter. According to all those involved many of the polices brought forward by the task force were implemented resulting in  the shelter being cleaner, record keeping has greatly improved as has medical care for the shelter animals. A change in the Shelter’s name was seen as reinforcement of the Town’s commitment to adoption.

Director George Beatty retired and eight weeks ago a new director Sue Hansen was appointed. With Mr. Beatty’s retirement came a sense that the animal shelter was moving in a new direction.

According to Diane Madden, a major component their work was the hiring of a full time animal behavorist. It is this demand that has lead to the resignations of the three women. All of whom have expressed their anger and frustration and directed it to Councilwoman Nowick whom they say has lied to them. 

According to Ms. Madden an animal behaviorist would be responsible for developing programs to ensure that the shelter dogs would get the care and training necessary to become adoptable finding a forever home.  The behaviorist would provide shelter, staff and volunteers tools they needed to work with the animals so that the dog would succeed when reintroduced into family life. 

All parties agree that a dog, living in a shelter spends too much time in a cage and not enough time being socialized and trained to fit into a family. Proper training teaches a pet how to interact with children, other animals, deal with food issues, leashes and housebreaking. The behaviorist envisioned by the three task force members would develop procedures and programs to encourage and increase adoption for the cats, dogs and birds at the shelter.

Currently the shelter houses eight dogs and sixty cats. Some animals have lived in the shelter for years. The longer an animal remains in a shelter the more challenging it is to find homes for them. A behaviorist, according to Ms. Madden, is the key to improving the adoption rate.  

According to Councilwoman Nowick she tried hard but was unsuccessful in finding a way to hire a behaviorist. First and foremost because there is no existing civil service title for a behaviorist and a working out-of-title is not an option. Ms. Nowick says she worked with the Town Attorney and looked for funding for the position with the Town’s Comptroller. Unsuccessful in her attempt to come up with any feasible way to hire a behaviorist, Ms. Nowick went back to the women and told them it wasn’t happening at this time.

The problem for the three women was they could not imagine that the town could be so shortsighted.  “We said from the outset that a full time behaviorist was necessary,” said Ms. Madden.  “All the work we put in was predicated on our belief that the Town wanted better for the animals and that Ms. Nowick was advocating for this position. When we heard that the Board was not going to agree to it we were angry and frustrated.” said Madden.  

The women went to the Town Board meeting to express that frustration and to tell the Town Board members how shortsighted they were being. It was at the Town Board meeting that they learned that Ms. Nowick not only did not discuss their most important request, but hadn’t relayed any of their concerns to the other members of the Board.

To say that Elizabeth Stein, Lucille DeFina and Diane Madden were horrified when Councilman Wehrheim said he had no idea that there was a discussion about an animal behaviorist would be an understatement. They arrived at the Town Board meeting placing blame squarely on the backs of the town board members. After they addressed the board they were left with an intense feeling of betrayal by Councilwoman Nowick. “To find out at an open public Town Board meeting by the other Town Officials that they would have approved this and have been supportive of us and anything we felt was necessary within reason, but they were never informed about this request pretty much tells us that Lynn is more interested in climbing the political ladder than she cares about animals and this was all an act.” Said Lucille DeFina in an email to Smithtown Matters.

The supervisor released his 2016 budget on Monday and it were additional funds that could, if Director Susan Hansen chooses, be used to hire a behaviorist. Ms. Hansen is trying to acclimate herself in her new position. She has been in contact with Michael Gould, a highly respected trainer. Mr. Gould has volunteered to help the developing strategies for success for the shelter. She asks that the focus be on the animals and not on a disagreement.

Councilwoman Nowick is pleased with Ms. Hansen who she said was recommended by the task force members. She will remain liason to the animal shelter but “I will not micro manage. Ms. Hansen, by every indication is quite capable of making decisions at the shelter.”Said Nowick. At the work session Tuesday, Oct. 6th Ms. Nowick criticised the task force members for misleading Town Board members. She implied that they were focused on one particular trainer/behaviorist being hired by the town. In an earlier conversation Ms. Nowick defended herself against the accusations made by Ms. Madden saying ” I would not bring a proposal before the board without knowing that it could happen. Why would I ask to hire a behaviorist if there is no such title?”

Councilmen Creighton and Wehrheim stand by their position that IF they were given the proper information and IF it was presented at a work session and IF there was money in the budget they would have supported it. 

OpEd - Revitalizing Smithtown's Downtowns Is Complex But Well Worth The Effort

By Larry Vetter

Talk of the “Long Island Brain Drain” has clearly identified the lack of challenging jobs commensurate with our young peopleʼs education and lack of affordable housing as two legs of the stool that is driving away our youth. The third leg is less spoken of. That leg is the lack of community. Community is basically defined as a social unit of any size with common values.

When I was younger and believed in the power of youth to make changes, I wanted to be surrounded by people with a commonality of goals and values. It is only natural to think that or children and young people feel the same way. As I married and developed a family, again I wanted to be surrounded by individuals in a similar stage of life. What better place for them to gather than a vibrant downtown?

We often view a downtown area as simply a retail area. I have often felt it is much more than that. A vibrant downtown is a gathering place. It is a place to meet old friends and make new ones. It is a place to chat and share thoughts and ideas. It is a place to browse and purchase, have a meal and be entertained, a pace to bring your family. Towns that have embraced this idea are currently undergoing revitalization. Towns that have embraced this idea are magnets for the younger generation.

We have four downtowns within the Township of Smithtown: Kings Park, Nesconset, Smithtown and St. James. Each is suffering a similar malaise. There are a number of things that can be accomplished to insert energy into our towns, some simple and some complex.

The complex aspect is not something that our town can accomplish on itʼs own. A vibrant downtown often centers around a viable transportation system making areas readily accessible. Upgrading our railroads and bus routes as well as retooling our road systems and improving parking areas will be a start. Installing sewer systems go a long way to making restaurants, cafes, music venues and taverns much more viable. Improved sidewalks and pedestrian areas will entice foot traffic that retail centers must have to survive. Although these steps are well beyond the capabilities of any town to go it alone, there are steps we can take to begin the process.

The simpler aspects of improvement are areas we can begin. Suffolk County has a downtown initiative that several towns on Long Island are taking advantage of. This includes architectural and design help and funding. Smithtown can be a part of that. We can utilize our highway department to begin the process of making the towns more pedestrian friendly by repairing damaged sidewalks and making crossings safer. Our building department can develop new rules to ease permitting processes to encourage building owners to make repairs and

improvements to attract businesses. As a town we can ease the permitting process that would allow more festival type occasions to provide entertainment for Smithtown families.

All improvements begin with dialogue. This dialogue has either been missing or it has been well hidden. Smithtown is a good place to live but could easily be a great place to live. Election Day, November 3 is everyoneʼs chance to have their voice heard and to begin the process of making our town a place that welcomes the future, not cowers from it. 

Larry Vetter is the Democratic Candidate For Smithtown Town Board