Smithtown's Official 350th Anniversary Logo

The Town of Smithtown will be celebrating its 350th anniversary in 2015. A committee has formed to plan events for a 350th Anniversary Celebration. This logo was selected by the committee from designs submitted by high school students and is the official logo for the celebration. The logo was designed by Smithtown HSE Senior Sabrina Shankar, Class of 2014.

The 350th Anniversary Committee is selling magnetic decal Logos to raise funds for the scheduled activites.  The logos can be put on cars, refrigerator or anything metal.  The magnetic logo is being sold for $10 each. To purchase a logo contact Kiernan Lannon at (631)265-6768 or kmlannon@smithtownhistorical.org or Pat Biancaniello at pat@smithtownmatters.com

Smithtown Matters is proud to support Smithtown’s 350th Anniversary Celebration. 

OP-ED Legislator Trotta Urges Voters To Say NO To County Proposition # 5

Everyone loves open space and wants to protect our drinking water, but Proposition #5, which is on the ballot on Election Day, is much more about cash flow than it is about water quality.  While no one cares more than me about protecting our drinking water and preserving open space, in looking at the details of this Proposition, which, you pay me to do; I can tell you that the voters are being misled. You are not being given the whole story -

This Proposition would permit the county to potentially raid more than $100 million dollars from the Sewer Assessment Stabilization Reserve Fund over the next several years in order to pay the county’s bills. This while borrowing $30 million for other environmental programs, including sewer expansion. Why would we borrow for sewer expansion while spending the money that is already available in the fund on other things?   This is simply a way to balance the budget this year while pushing off paying our bills to our children and grandchildren!

Why are taxpayers “paying back” money to the open space program when no money was taken out of it?  The surplus sewer money should be used for installing sewers in our downtowns, which would stimulate economic development, create employment, and have a far greater impact on protecting our drinking water than buying open space (likely on the east end). Not to mention, open space is taken off the tax rolls!

Not surprisingly, there is no plan in place to repay the $100 plus million dollars that will be raided from the Reserve Fund, therefore, the county will likely have to borrow once again, creating even more debt to burden future generations.

Does this really give the voters a choice? A separate resolution, IR-1746, has been introduced in the Legislature, which creates an agreement between the county and the environmental community that would make the proposed amendments to the Drinking Water Protection Program whether the voters approve Proposition #5 or not.  So clearly they are not serious about giving voters a choice.    

If the County Executive says his number one concern is our drinking water, why is he taking money that could be used to expand sewers and protect our drinking water and using it to pay the county’s bills? The environment and the quality of our drinking water should not be used as bargaining chips and funds established to protect taxpayers and our environment should not be turned into ATM’s.  I recommend that you vote NO on Proposition #5.

Robert Trotta

Suffolk County Legislator, 13^th District

Local Resident Anne Carlin Set To Open The Crafter's Table In St. James

By Dana Klosner

It’s just about time to think about those holiday presents and a unique and hand-crafted gift with a personal touch might just be the answer.

Opening mid-November, The Crafter’s Table, located at 529 Lake Avenue in St. James, is a ceramic and glass fusion studio, where there will be hundreds of pieces of ceramics that have been cleaned and fired and all ready for customers to paint. The owner/manager Anne Carlin, will then glaze and fire it for you to make your own unique piece of pottery. She also offers glass where you can make your own jewelry, plates, cheeseboards or checkerboards among other pieces which she will then fire.

Carlin has been working in ceramics for years. She was the activities director in a nursing home where she did ceramics. She recently attended a seminar in Scottsdale, Arizona where she learned some easy techniques that had a nice outcome, she said. 

In her store you can make anything from a simple plate, coffee mugs and platters, Carlin said. Prices will range for $10-$65 depending how detailed you want to get.

For Carlin it was the right time in her life to open a studio. 

“My youngest is a junior in high school so it’s time to start focusing on my future,” said Carlin who also has a 22 year old son. “I needed something else to do besides be a PTA mom. I have always loved crafts. They are creative and relaxing. I went to a paint your own pottery place and I said, ‘This is for me, I can do this.’”

The name was the result of brainstorming between Carlin and her husband over dinner. 

“I didn’t want it to be just ceramics,” she said. “My husband, Bob, came up with the idea The Crafter’s Table.”

The shop will offer many programs including classes, an after school program, Ladies Night, Drop and Shop where you can drop your kids off and go shopping and Date Night, where again you drop the kids, they will be fed dinner, do a craft and a game, and you pick them up two hours later. Of course there will be open nights as well where you pick a piece of ceramic and paint it. 

Making glass is also something you can enjoy in her store.

“Glass is so new and so cool,” Carlin said. “Glass is like a puzzle. You cut it, fit it together, put it in the kiln and melt it together. It has to be a certain thickness. If it’s too thick or too thin it doesn’t melt right.”

“The beauty of creating pottery and glass is that you are not limited,” she said. “There are so many options. If you choose a mug you can simply paint it pink or you can put a detailed design on it. There’s no limit.”

Running her own store is truly a new endeavor for Carlin.

“I’ve never even run a cash register,” she joked. “Hopefully I will keep hearing ‘caching.’”

Carlin says St. James is the perfect place for her shop.

“It’s a small little hometown,” she said. “Everyone knows everyone, and everyone supports everyone. It’s a very nice quaint town. The Chamber [of Commerce] has been very supportive of my opening my business. Members of the Chamber popped into the studio and welcomed me.”

It takes a lot to run a business, Carlin said. “It takes creativity, determination, passion and persistence.”

Customers to The Crafter’s Table will get a nice relaxing experience, she said. “They will come out of it with a unique piece of art that they created.”

The Crafter’s Table is located at 529 Lake Avenue in St. James. It is set to open the second week in November. 

Kings Park Women Take 4th Place At USTA Championship

A team of female tennis players from Long Island Team SUMO Citrus finished fourth at the USTA League Adult 18 & Over 4.0 National Championships last weekend. The USTA League National Championships were held in Tucson, Arizona. Team SUMO Citrus is captained by Michelle Stoerback and Diann Starcke. The Coach is Tina Buschi. 

After becoming league director at Sportime in Kings Park, Stoerback met Buschi, adult regional Sportime director and coach. During the winter of 2014, the two of them worked together to form the team made up of tennis friends from Sportime. “Our leadership, friendship, shared love of the game and competitive spirit unified this team,” Stoerback said.The novelty of having Buschi as the coach provides the captains with the opportunity to make other team decisions.

“There is so much added pressure when you are the captain and co-captain of a team, not to mention setting up matches, making teams and forming line-ups,” Stoerback said. “Buschi relieved us of this pressure by helping us make these decisions. Her experience in the USTA and knowledge of the game led us to where we are today.”

To raise money for the trip to Nationals, Team SUMO Citrus organized a fundraising event, Oktober-Tennis-Fest. The event took place on October 10 and was sponsored by Sportime in Kings Park.

“We raised about $7,500 and had very generous sponsors. Spuntino of Saint James supplied all of the food to feed over 150 people. We also had very generous donations of gifts and baskets from various businesses around town such as Cactus Salon, Mercedes Benz of Smithtown, DJ Tony Kerr, Wineries from the east end and our number one sponsor, Sportime of Kings Park. Sportime of Kings Park supplied our team with uniforms, a coach and the use of their entire facility for our fundraiser on October 10” said Michelle.

In addition to captaining Team SUMO Citrus, Stoerback enjoys playing tennis with her nine-year-old daughter, Hailey Stoerback. “Hailey shares a love for the game and the USTA,” Stoerback said. “Watching our practices and cheering for us in matches has given her motivation to practice and work hard.” Hailey is currently ranked third in the USTA Eastern Section and first on Long Island.

According to Michelle, the team is named after a very large, juicy sweet orange. “Sumo Citrus is a tangerine-orange hybrid. It’s a combination of the famous easy-to-peel Japanese Satsuma and big, juicy, sweet oranges from California. These oranges are only available during the months of March and April. In March, Marie Woitach, a member of our team, came across the fruit at Whole Foods. For our first practice she purchased one for everyone. Not only were these oranges unbelievably delicious, they were easy to peel, without the sticky mess. Before we knew it everyone was buying them on a weekly basis. We ate them so much that we decided to name our team Sumo Citrus.” 

The USTA Eastern Section, based in White Plains, N.Y., is a not-for-profit community service organization whose mission is to promote and develop the growth of tennis. The section encompasses all of New York State, Northern New Jersey and Greenwich, Conn. It is one of 17 geographic sections of the United States Tennis Association, the governing body of tennis in the United States, and supports more than 49,000 members. The section also establishes and maintains rules of fair play, high standards of sportsmanship and represents, in its jurisdiction, the programs and policies of the USTA. More information about the USTA Eastern section is available by visiting: www.eastern.usta.com<http://www.eastern.usta.com>.

Maureen Rossi Joins Talk Radio As The Non Profit Voice On LI News

Smithtown resident and community activist Maureen Rossi is the new host of The Non Profit Voice on LI News Radio.   103.9 is Long Island’s only all-talk radio station with news, traffic, weather and feature programs.

Found on the FM dial, the Non Profit Voice is produced by Ron Gold of Marketing Works and highlights various non-profits around Long Island every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.

Rossi says she is thrilled to be doing the show.  “I was a guest on The Non Profit Voice several times speaking on the Island’s opiate and heroin epidemic,” she explained.    “That was a very positive experience; now I am so happy to be hosting, its enormous fun and I get to learn about all the non-profits that serve this great Island we live on,” she added.

Last Saturday Rossi celebrated National Down Syndrome Month with a provocative interview with the Executive Director of ACDS Michael Smith and a member of his staff, Mary Lynn Dinu.  Dinu is also the mother of a nine year old son who happens to have Down Syndrome.  A lively beautiful child in Spider Man pajamas, Rossi invited him into the studio after the show to play with the equipment; he was able to hear himself on the radio speakers in the airport.   “Is it wrong to have so much fun at work,” she asks laughingly. 

LI News Radio (103.9) is broadcasted LIVE from Islip’s MacArthur Airport.

The LI News Radio news department is the largest in Suffolk County, keeping the Island informed locally and state-wide.  Rossi says the website is extremely well done with a news ticker and breaking news.  “It’s a very modern take on news, lots of it, short blips of data, the site is a great news source in addition to the station,” she explained.

Being in the news business for twenty years, she says she is a self-proclaimed news junkie.  “I am a huge fan of the station and listen daily in my home-based office in Kings Park while I work,” said Rossi.

She said there have been so many political guests since the station was launched in December 2013.  Rossi says she particularly enjoys the political coverage because she has interviewed most of the elected officials who have been guests on the station.  “If you want to have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening on Long Island, LI News Radio is the place to be,” she ended.

Those residing north of 25A sometimes have to get the station online on a computer or digital device via