Editorial - Kudos To The Challengers!

Kudos to the challengers! 

This year’s Democratic challengers for Town positions are an eclectic group with diverse backgrounds and agendas. They don’t have access to the “political machine” that Republican candidates have because Smithtown is a Republican town. The candidates get little guidance from incumbents, no one taking them under their wing and clearing a path for them. So the question is why do it? Why put yourself out in front of the public day in and day out during the campaign season when the chance of success is slim. Again the answers vary.

Running for Town Supervisor Steve Snair, now 32 years of age, grew up in Smithtown went off to college, then to law school and returned to his hometown remembering the fond memories of his youth. Naturally he sees things differently from when he was a child. Somehow, the lack of housing wasn’t so much of an issue when he was younger, somehow the traffic wasn’t so horrible, the buildings weren’t so dilapidated.  Still anxious to live in his hometown, he looks for a place to live and to open an office. It’s difficult, really difficult for him to find a place to live but he does. He travels a minuscule distance between his home and his office and deals with a major traffic snafu that everyone agrees needs fixing, but no one has an answer. Snair’s running for office because he sees answers not just problems, he sees possibilities.  He is the future and the future is knocking at the door asking to be allowed in. 

Eddie Haeffer running for Town Clerk and Thomas McCarthy running for Highway Superintendent very different stories and different backgrounds. Eddie, a real estate agent and former Golden Glove Boxer,is a father with two young children and a wife, very recently diagnosed with breast cancer. What makes him put himself out there and ask people for their consideration? The impetus? An incident when he was involved in a motor vehicle accident on Main Street in Smithtown with a driver talking on a cell phone. His frustration is palpable as he describes his anxiety over a situation that changed his life. Grateful that no one was seriously injured, Ed feels that government can and should do more to protect citizens and enforce its laws. Eddie isn’t a Democrat,  he’s a person wanting to make a difference.  

To Thomas McCarthy it’s all about storm response. McCarthy, acknowledges the Herculean efforts of Glenn Jorgensen during the recent storm events, but feels residents were let down by the Highway Department’s response during the record snow storm earlier this year. McCarthy is extremely articulate in his message that there is a better way to run the Highway Department. A man on a mission, he hopes to turn the department around by implementing a more professional style of management and incorporating analytic programs for road construction and repair. 

Adam Halpern and Richard Macellaro are the two candidates running on the Democratic line for Town Council. They could not be more different. Their backgrounds, style and approach is so different it is difficult to believe they are both running on the same line. What makes them run? Richard is the man who shows up for every meeting and can be found at almost every community event. He is the  guy next door who smiles at everyone, gets along with everyone. Richard feels that the fighting and bickering on the Town Board is detrimental to taxpayers. Compromise, work together, and think out of the box are lines he uses to explain his views.

Adam Halpern, an attorney and former judge, is cautious and methodical. He is the quiet candidate who looks people in the eye and tells them he will never lie or mislead them. You walk away believing him.  Quiet and studious, Halpern’s passion seems to be restoring trust in government by enforcing laws and codes currently on the books. 

It is the policy of Smithtown Matters to not endorse candidates. This editorial should in no way be taken as an endorsement of any candidate, but rather it is a thank you. Thank you for your time, your passion and for sharing your vision.

It is now up to the voters. Remember to vote on Election Day - Tuesday, November 5th.

Pat

News of Long Ago - "Charles Butler Returns To Being A Lawyer And A Gentleman Farmer"

News of Long Ago by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

Last article was about Charles Butler and his two year term as Smithtown’s Supervisor from 1924 to 1925.  This article deals with the story of his life after the voters retired him from the office of Supervisor in 1925 until his death at the age of 77 in 1954.  

“Charles Butler returns to being a lawyer and a gentleman farmer….”

Charles Butlers’ defeat in his re-election campaign for Smithtown Supervisor in the 1925 election must have soured him on politics.  As far as I know, he didn’t run for elective office again.  He returned to his practice as an attorney in New York City and commuted daily from St. James to his office in Manhattan. He spent a lot of time in the city at work and at play, frequenting concerts, Broadway musicals, and plays.  He was a member of a number of clubs in New York City including the Harvard Club, the Down Town Association, the University Club, and the Church Club.  He joined the Colonial Lords of the Manor and the Union Society of the Civil War.  Professionally, Mr. Butler was a member of the bar associations of New York City and of New York State and was a member of the Phi Delta Phi chapter of the New York Law School.  All of the activities conducted by these organizations kept Charles Butler active and involved in the social life of the city.  His position as treasurer and Director of the Garden City Corporation kept him actively involved in the development of Garden City on Long Island and his 400 acre dairy farm in St. James ensured that he continued to play an active part in his hometown community.

   In St. James, Charles Butler lived at Branglebrink Farm in a house that his brother Lawrence had designed for him.  The farmhouse occupied “the top of a hill rise” on the farm and commanded “an extensive view of Long Island Sound.”  Here he supervised the operation of his dairy farm where his herd of fifty milch cows supplied milk to “three routes of about five hundred quarts each,” routes that delivered milk to households throughout St. James, Smithtown, Stony Brook and Kings Park.  Branglebrink Farm milk was in such demand that “additional local milk had to be obtained for resale” and other nearby dairies benefitted as a result.  (Biographical information on Charles Stewart Butler contained in the Butler files of the Long Island Room, Smithtown Library files.)    

Charles Butler was a big man with a big heart.  Like his mother, Cornelia Stewart Butler, and his older brother, Lawrence Butler, he had a philanthropic streak in his heart.  It was Charles Butler who “was a chief organizer of the St. James Fire Department in 1922.”  He was the one who persuaded his brother to design the firehouse, then in 1925, he donated land where the firehouse was erected, and finally it was his money that paid for the materials to build the firehouse.  Because of his generosity, the men of the St. James Fire Department made Charles Butler an honorary chief and he held that distinction until the end of his life.  Members of the St. James Episcopal Church were also beneficiaries of Mr. Butler’s philanthropy.  In 1929, he “made a gift of the parish hall” that was built to the east of the Episcopal Church. (“Charles Butler Rites Are Set; Widely Known,” Smithtown Star, October 27, 1954, pg. 1.)

   Pete Micciche remembers how Charles Butler helped his grandfather, Joseph Micciche, during the depression.  Pete’s grandfather could not find work during the depression and to try and find work he would report to Town Hall to see if he could secure one of the jobs that the town occasionally made available.  He always made sure that he would report early in the morning and get his name first on the sign-up sheet before anyone else.  But when men were assigned jobs, his name was always ignored.  In the 1930’s, there was a lot of prejudice directed at Italians and his grandfather would go home every day, frustrated and bitterly disappointed.  When Charles Butler heard about his plight, he offered Pete’s grandfather a job as gardener at Branglebrink Farm, and he went to work maintaining the grounds and gardens for $25 a month.  He worked for Charles Butler for almost thirty years maintaining a beautiful flower and vegetable garden that was just behind the house.  

Mr. Butler was a friendly, gregarious man who mixed easily with people.  He was generous to his employees and their families at Christmas time.  Peggy Micciche and Sissy ? recalled that Mr. Butler was a tall, big man, who always had an annual Christmas party in his home, and since their grandfather worked as Mr. Butler’s gardener, they were always invited to the party.  Peggy remembers that the party was held in a “big dark room” (the parlor) where they all gathered, and then Mr. Butler would personally hand out the Christmas presents he had purchased for the children.   

Mr. Butler was also a proud man, proud of the fact that he was a descendant of the bull rider, Richard Smythe.  In fact in 1936, during Smithtown’s annual Horse Show, he demonstrated his prowess at bull riding by actually riding one of the bulls from his farm.  You can see from the photograph accompanying this article that two employees from his farm had the bull carefully in check, one with a halter around the bull’s neck and the other with a pole attached to the ring in the bull’s nose.  Charles Butler seemed to be having a fun ride and we can only wonder what he was carrying in the paper bag in his right hand – perhaps some trinkets for the local Indians?  Charles Butler was also a very flamboyant dresser and an actor and there was no part he liked to play better than that of Richard Smythe.  For a costume ball, he had a special red velvet suit with matching a pilgrim’s hat created so he could play and look the part of his famous ancestor.  His costume is now a part of the Smithtown Historical Society’s garment collection.

Charles Butler was also a very funny man.  Perhaps the funniest line he ever delivered was at a town board meeting that is said to have happened in the early 1950’s when Paul Given was Supervisor of Smithtown.  It seems that it wasn’t too long after the statue of the bull was unveiled that the young women in the School of Nursing at the Kings Park State Hospital decided to make an annual pilgrimage to the statue to paint the bull’s testicles red.  The girls thought it was a hilarious stunt, but the men of the town parks department who were assigned to clean up the bull were a little put off by the task.  To make matters worse, other pranksters in town began to do the same thing.  The whole matter of what to do about curtailing the decorating of the bull’s privates was discussed at a town board work session and nobody could come up with a solution until one board member suggested in jest that the thing to do was castrate the bull.  At that point, Charles Butler, who just happened to be in attendance that day, jumped up and demanded to be recognized.  He took a long serious look at each and every board member and then said to the members of the board, “I object! I object!  You can’t castrate the bull because there are no descendants of Richard Smythe presently on the Town Board.  And there shall be no castration without representation!”  That ended any further discussion of castration.  

When Charles Butler passed away October 26, 1954, six months after his brother Lawrence, he was laid out by his own request in the parlor of his home at Branglebrink Farm.  The parlor was a long narrow room that had a ceiling that was shaped like the interior of a coffin and Mr. Butler had the ceiling and walls painted with a coppery colored paint.  The overall effect was that you felt as if you were in a large coffin whenever you entered the room.  What possessed the man to create this room, and to entertain and live in the room long before his actual death, is something that is only known to Charles Butler.  But it was in this room where Charles Butler was actually placed in his coffin, and people came to pay their last respects, before his body was taken to the St. James Episcopal Church for his funeral service and internment. 

Since Charles Butler never married, everyone wondered what would happen to his estate.  When his heirs petitioned the Surogate’s Court for probate, the value of Charles Butler’s estate was estimated to be “over $50,000” in personal property and “over $100,000 in realty.” When the will was probated, it was revealed that Mr. Butler had made a number of bequests.  He gave the St. James Episcopal Church $20,000; the Trustees of St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., $2,000; the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, $3,000; and the New York Association for the Blind in Manhattan, $5,000.  He bequeathed $5,000 to his cousin Cornelia S. Osborne; $1,000 to his cousin and godson James L. Osborne; $1,000 to his godson Tudor H. Owen; and $1,000 to his goddaughter Mary C. W. Hiller.  He left $5,000 to Walter H. Grimm of Rancho Sante Fe, California; $40,000 to his secretary, Reginald C. Massonneau; $5,000 to Mrs. Elizabeth Shaw of Amarillo, Texas; and to Mrs. Marguerite Swann Musgrave of Pittsfield, Mass. and to the children of her marriage to Peter Musgrave Jr., he bequeathed the property known as “Linwood” at Stockbridge, Mass.  There were a number of other small bequests including personal effects that he gave to friends and family members, a gift of $1,000 to his attorney James Stanislaw of Lake Avenue, St. James, and a $500 gift to the St. James Fire Company.  The rest of his estate was “devised to Susan L. Huntington,” his sister, and Jack Stanislaw, his “friend and attorney,” was appointed “executor.”  (“Church at St. James to Get $20,000 in Supervisor’s Will,” unattributed newspaper clipping found in the Butler file in the Long Island Room of the Smithtown Library, courtesy of Kathy Ball.)   

Charles Stewart Butler left a remarkable legacy to his sister Susan Butler Huntington when she became the beneficiary of the 400 acres of property that made up Branglebrink Farm. What she did with that property and how she left her own imprint on the history of Smithtown is a story that will have to wait until next week….

Letters: John Kennedy - The People's Legislator

Dear Community Member:

I have been privileged over the past seven + years to have worked with dedicated public officials in our school boards, town, county, state and federal government and agencies with a multitude of community issues including the Iroquois Natural Gas Pipeline originally proposed through our residential neighborhoods, schools, youth athletic fields, environmentally sensitive areas and historic landmarks that would have had a major impact on many of us. With the cooperation and support of our public officials, civic associations, schools, LIPA and local citizens, like yourself, we succeeded in having the then-proposed route away from our direct communities.

One of the public officials that had spent endless hours of support, research, advocacy and dedication has been Legislator John M. Kennedy, Jr. In addition to his dedication and hard work ethic for the people, he has the heart for the community. During his tenure, he continues to represent us as our Long Island utility infrastructure remains to be a challenge for us.

Legislator John M. Kennedy, Jr. consistently fights for us with ongoing and numerous civic issues that have an effect on us every day. He has always been there to support and defend our 12^th Legislative District. The hard work and dedication of him and his team are supporting us if they are in knee high water cleaning up the Nissequogue River, working until 11pm at night researching the issues or reaching out on a non-partisan basis to the other Suffolk County Legislators and County Executive to do the right thing for the Suffolk County residents. 

Legislator John M. Kennedy, Jr. is a man of:

• Leadership, including as Suffolk County Legislature Minority Leader.
• Integrity
• Experience
• Dedication
• Heart for his constituents

I strongly support his candidacy for re-election as Legislator to the 12^th Legislative District on any political party affiliation.

Although I am a Registered Republican, I recommend John M. Kennedy, Jr. on a non-partisan basis as I consider him the People’s Legislator.

Please vote and re-elect Legislator John M. Kennedy, Jr.

Please Vote For John M. Kennedy, Jr. on Republican, Conservative or Independence Lines.

Sincerely,

Paul E. Borowski

Hauppauge Resident

Rotarians And Kings Park Community "Stuff The Tesla" For Food Pantry

Commack - Kings Park Rotary Club and the Kings Park community teamed up with Key Food in Kings Park on a food drive for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Joseph’s church.  The challenge was to “Stuff the Tesla” with items needed most by the food pantry. The list included tooth paste, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, deodorant etc., as well as the food items. The response from the Kings Park community was overwhelming. Rotarians are happy to say the Tesla’s trunk, frunk and back seat were completely filled and there was an overflow. 

The Tesla Model S - is an all electric car that accommodates five adults with storage capacity in both the rear and front (frunk) of the vehicle. This allowed for a lot of room to accomodate the donations which kept coming throughout the day. Many Kings Park residents took time to check out the all-electric vehicle as they helped to stuff the Tesla. 

St.Vincent de Paul volunteers Adele and Kathy with Rotarian Joanne DavisThe highlight of this event was the generosity of the Kings Park community as well as the commitment of Commack-Kings Park Rotarians and  St. Vincent de Paul Society to helping provide for those in need.

The St. Vincent de Paul food pantry is located at St. Josephs Church on Church Street. Donations are welcomed throughout the year. The Commack-Kings Park Rotary Club meets at the Bonwit Inn in Commack every Tuesday at 12:15.

News Of Long Ago - "Charles Stewart Butler's Moment In The Sun As Supervisor Of Smithtown, 1924-25"

News of Long Ago by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

(I have been writing about the descendants of Judge John Lawrence Smith and the contributions they made to Smithtown’s history.  Last week I wrote about another grandson of the Judge, Charles Stewart Butler, the owner of Branglebrink Farm in St. James, who was elected Supervisor of the Town of Smithtown in 1923.  This article deals with the impact that Charles Butler had upon Smithtown once he became Supervisor.)

“Charles Stewart Butler’s moment in the sun as Supervisor of Smithtown, 1924-25….”

  The two years that Charles Butler served as Supervisor of Smithtown were marked by a number of progressive changes in the operation of Smithtown’s government.  Harry D. Sleight, the historian who compiled Town Records of the Town of Smithtown for the years 1835 to 1929, described the years 1924 and 1925,  when Charles Butler served as Supervisor,  as “a busy two years.”  He noted that Smithtown in the preceding 25 years of its history had been “like a snowball accumulating snow as it progressed, rolled up in that period, a greater population, and greater financial resources, than possible in the past centuries of slow plodding progress.”  And when Charles Butler came into the office of Supervisor, he determined that he was going to use those resources and continue to implement and build on the changes that had been initiated during Charles Miller’s term as Supervisor from 1920 to 1923.  Many of these changes were needed, but they did not meet with universal approval, and when the changes were made, many voters were alienated and this ultimately led to the demise of Charles S. Butler’s political career. 

During Charles Butler’s term as Supervisor, Republicans enjoyed a majority on the Town Board and they followed the Supervisor’s leadership when it came to dealing with controversial issues.   The proposal of purchasing land for a town dump had been submitted by the previous Supervisor, Charles Miller, and it came to fruition during Charles Butler’s administration.  Five acres of land off Middle Country Road was purchased from Mrs. Adeline B. Nooy for $1,000 and a dump site was established in St. James.  The Town Board then legislated controls on the disposal of garbage.  The Superintendent of Highways was given new status, an improved salary, a new office with office furniture, and a Roads Department that was provided with new motorized equipment so that town roads could be improved and paved.  The Town Board even approved the purchase of a new “motor cars” for Town Officers to use and even agreed to purchase a new car for the Highway Superintendent’s use.  Traffic problems were first addressed and beacon lights and silent policemen were installed on Main Street at several intersections.  At busier intersections, electric traffic signals were installed to handle the flow of traffic.  Parking regulations were created, traffic signs were erected, and part-time police officers on motorcycles were employed to enforce the traffic laws.  Sidewalks and paths were built, street lights were installed in Smithtown Branch, and eventually St. James and Kings Park had street lights installed as well.  Smithtown Branch was transformed from a little rural  village into a real town that even boasted a brand new public school building on New York Avenue, a school that housed an elementary school and a secondary school, grades K-12, all under one roof.  

The Town Board turned its attention to improving its beaches and parks, and improvements and repairs were made to the beach buildings.  The town beaches were so attractive and appealing that non- residents were attracted to them and the Town Board permitted non-residents to use them if they paid a $10 fee.  The fees collected helped finance other improvements.  The Town Board also accepted donations “from private individuals” for the cost of construction of a “five foot” wide “passenger bridge” that was erected “across the meadows to Sunkenmeadow Beach.”  In addition to all of these changes, the Town Board authorized the creation of the Kings Park Water Company and granted a “permit to apply for papers of incorporation.”  All of this happened in the short span of two years.  (Town Records of the Town of Smithtown, Harry S. Sleight, published by authority of the Town of Smithtown, 1930, pp. 657-659.)

This flurry of activity by the Town Board must have had a dramatic impact upon the community.  Many of the changes were highly visible.  They were also visible in the tax bills that the residents of the town now had to pay.  It must have seemed to many that Smithtown had suddenly been dragged into the 20^th century and changes had been wrought that residents didn’t like and it had them kicking and screaming.

The straw that broke the taxpayers’ backs seems to have come when the Town Board authorized the construction of a plank road on Long Beach.  The Smithtown Country and Beach Club, was an association of estate owners who had houses that surrounded St. James Harbor, and the estate owners had beach rights on Long Beach.  The estate owners’ beach front properties were located between the town parks of Long Beach and Little Africa.    The Country and Beach Club members were incensed by the flagrant disregard of their property rights by Smithtown residents who trooped across their property to get from Long Beach to Little Africa.  Cars kept getting stuck in the sand, and people kept interrupting the estate owners’ private beaches parties.  The Country and Beach Club asked that the Town Board construct a plank road across their property to connect the two parks and so stop the desecration of their beach front.  The Town Board decided to construct a plank road and accepted a $2,000 donation from the Club to begin construction of this road.  The Town Board added $1,000 from the Beach Fund and appointed Justice George Hodgkinson to oversee the construction of this roadway.

Almost as an afterthought, the Town Board decided to ask the voters for approval of this project  through a special proposition that they placed on the fall election ballot of 1925.  This issue became a hotly contested one in the election campaign in the fall of 1925.  Charles Butler sought a second term as Supervisor and faced a formidable opponent in E.H.L. Smith, a popular Democrat who had previously served eighteen years as Supervisor of Smithtown.  In addition to fielding a strong candidate, the Democrats lambasted the Republican Town Board for its spending and focused in on the issue of the plank road under construction on Long Beach.  The plank road became an election issue because Charles Butler and his brother Lawrence Butler were members of the Smithtown Country and Beach Club.  In fact their father had been the founder of this association and, as estate owners, the Butlers had property rights on Long Beach.  Democrats began to question the Town Board’s action in authorizing the construction of this roadway,  especially in light of the fact that the question of building the plank road at taxpayer’s expense had been proposed in 1923, and the proposition suggesting that taxpayers spend $5,000 to construct  a plank road at Long Beach had been  defeated.  

The outcome of the election in 1925 was predictable.  On November 5, 1925, when the votes were counted, Charles S. Butler lost his re-election bid for Supervisor by 336 votes and E.H.L. Smith became Supervisor.   And the proposition on the ballot calling for the authorization to spend $4,000 on the construction of 2300’ of plank road from “the end of the present road at Long Beach to the Town Park on said Long Beach” was once again defeated.  The hotly contested issue spilled over into other election races and Democrats were swept into office in practically every elected position in Smithtown.  Charles S. Butler had been given the gate by residents of Smithtown who were ranting and raving about the arrogance of wealthy estate owners who seemed determined to have a plank road built on Long Beach, at taxpayer’s expense, with or without the approval of the little people in town. 

It’s interesting to note that at one of the last meetings Charles Butler presided over as Supervisor on November 12, 1925, the Town Board authorized that “an additional sum of $1,000 be appropriated from beach funds to continue on with the plank road at Long Beach.”  And at his last meeting as Town Supervisor on December 22, 1925, a letter was received by the Town Board from “Messrs. Martin Taylor and Henry A. Stickney, in which they contribute Five Hundred Dollars toward the work of building a plank road on Long Beach.”  The Town Board accepted their gift and the plank road was completed with most of the cost of construction being paid for through private donations.  But the public perception that Supervisor Butler was spending tax dollars to have the road built for the wealthy members of the Country and Beach Club led many people to vote against him in the 1925 elections.

His defeat in the 1925 election must have soured Charles Butler on politics.  As far as I know, he never ran for elected office again.  When he left office, Charles Butler went back to work as a lawyer in New York City, but continued to live at Branglebrink Farm watching over the operation of the dairy which supplied milk to households throughout St. James, Stony Brook, Smithtown Branch, and Nesconset.   And he continued to play an active part in the life of the community, but that is a story that will have to wait until next week….