From One-Term Councilman To I Want It All - Creighton Gets Conservative Nod Going Into Republican Primary

Robert CreightonWin or lose the Republican primary in September, Councilman Robert Creighton, 75, will be on the ballot in November as a candidate for town supervisor. Last night Robert Creighton received the endorsement of the Smithtown Conservative Committee assuring him a position on the ballot.

Last year Creighton switched his party affiliation from Conservative to Republican. Many saw Creighton’s switch as his first step in his pursuit of the town’s top job.  During his time in office Creighton has been an advocate for business.

Creighton first ran for office in 2007 as a one-term councilman wanting to bring “peace” to the Town Board. He ran for a second term and was re-elected in 2011 to a four year term which ends Dec. 31, 2015. In addition to advocating the expediting of Smithtown’s permitting process, he has proposed allowing the storage of thousands of “Sandy” damaged vehicles on private property in Kings Park and building a town park on 55 acres of state parkland in Kings Park.

In addition to Robert Creighton, Smithtown Conservatives endorsed incumbents Kevin Malloy and Thomas McCarthy for town council, Vincent Puleo for town clerk and Glenn Jorgensen for highway superintendent.

Seen A Skunk, Weasel Or Mink Lately? DEC Wants To Know

DEC LAUNCHING CITIZEN SCIENCE EFFORT TO TRACK FURBEARERS IN LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK CITY

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens today encouraged New Yorkers  on Long Island and New York City to participate in surveys for furbearing mammals in the region. 

Weasel photo Wikipedia“Citizen science efforts provide our wildlife managers with valuable data and give people the opportunity to partner with DEC to help monitor New York’s wildlife resources,” Commissioner Martens said. “I encourage you to take the time to record your observations of these mammals while exploring the outdoors or driving through the state’s beautiful landscapes this summer.”

DEC began the new citizen science project to document the current distribution of select furbearers in Long Island and New York City to help guide wildlife management decisions and determine future survey and research needs.  DEC requests observations from New York City and Long Island for any of the following species:

•         Gray Fox 

•         River Otter

•         Weasel 

•         Mink

•         Skunk 

•         Coyote

•         Beaver

Any information provided to DEC helps staff understand the distribution and abundance of these elusive or inconspicuous mammals. Even reports of road-killed animals may provide useful biological data.

What to do when you observe one of these furbearers:

•         Get a physical description of the animal (size, color, distinctive markings, behavior);

•         Note the location (town, distance to nearest intersection, etc.);

•         Note the type of habitat (woodland, field, pond, lake, etc.);

•         Get a picture!  Trail cameras are often very useful for identification purposes;

•         Fill out the sighting report at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/30770.html .

Common species such as red fox, raccoons, muskrat and opossum, need not be reported.

For more information on identification of these species, please visit http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6969.html, or if you have questions, please contact DEC’s Region 1 wildlife office at 631-444-0311.

Same Old, Same Old - Incumbents Get the Go Ahead From Town Republicans

It was all about the incumbents at Smithtown’s Republican Nominating Convention.  Getting the nod to be the party’s designee:

Supervisor: Incumbent Patrick Vecchio

*Town Board: Incumbents Thomas McCarthy and Kevin Malloy

Town Clerk: Incumbent Vincent Puleo (Conservative)

Highway Superintendent - Incumbent Glenn Jorgensen

County Legislator 12th Legislative District: Incumbent John Kennedy 

In the 13th Legislative district Legislator Lynn Nowick is term limited out of office. Paul Hennings received the committee’s endorsement. Paul Hennings is currently the attorney for Smithtown’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

** Receiver of Taxes was incorrectly identified as part of this election cycle.**

Theater Review - " Oliver! "

THEATER REVIEW “Oliver!”

Presented by: Northport – E. Northport Community Theater - Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

Huge cast takes the stage in Northport for “Oliver!” thru May 19

Who knew?

The Northport area has always been a hotbed of artistic activity in general, and legitimate theater in particular, but until Saturday night I had never seen the Northport – East Northport Community Theater in action. It is now obvious that this big, talented assembly of players is the real deal.

With Bette Silver producing and Jim Redding directing a vast company (only half of whom, alas, are shown here) the Brosnan Center in Northport has become home to the most ambitious staging of Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!” in recent memory.

The now-legendary musical version of Charles Dickens’ classic “Oliver Twist” can only fulfill its great promise when populated by a vast array of actors, especially children, and that’s what happens when this massive company takes the substantial stage at Northport’s Laurel Avenue School. The result is an “Oliver!” of the first order that runs thru May 19.

I’ve found that one tends to single out and fawn over youngsters who show a high degree of stage presence and singing ability. In this production we can’t do that; there are nearly a hundred such deserving kids in the ensemble. Indeed, one wonders where all these gifted children came from!

Thus, director Jim Redding gets the plaudits of this reviewer, and we’ll leave it to him to distribute kudos among the young people whom he has molded into a convincing, endearing gang of London pickpockets and assorted ragamuffins.

Some of the familiar songs from the 1963 triple Tony award-winning show (including Best Original Score) are among the greatest toe-tappers and heartbreakers of our time. Many will say that only “I Ain’t Down Yet” from “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “If He Walked Into My Life” introduced in “Mame” are the equals of “Consider Yourself” and “As Long As He Needs Me” in their respective categories. Significantly, “Oliver!” supplies both those memorable numbers, leaving the audience emotionally whipsawed and breathless. Clearly, director Redding has cast his performers well.

Doug Carney as the conniving (but in this production oddly sympathetic) “Fagin” and Jessica Rae Schaefer as a somewhat bawdy (though humorously so) “Nancy” are the play’s standouts. Carney is an already accomplished actor and vocalist, and Schaefer’s singing skills seem on the way to matching her own considerable acting talents. Both players are superb—Carney, however, is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

As for that raft of energetic kids, they are at their best when singing. Here’s why: There is just no way, it appears, to make children deliver their lines at an appropriately modest pace. They always talk too fast. I’ve known it to be true in hundreds of elementary, junior high, and high school productions, and even the biggest budget Broadway extravaganzas fall victim to the phenomenon occasionally. Luckily that accelerated delivery seldom knocks the youngsters out of character.

It would have been a shame if the gusto with which the “Oliver!” company performs had been diluted with thin music supplied by two or three instruments (or Heaven forbid, just a single piano), but no such malfeasance was permitted by the guiding lights behind this production. The vocalists in the show are accompanied by no fewer than fourteen musicians on strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments. Try to find that on Broadway for twenty bucks!

One last note: The title role of “Oliver!” was convincingly played last Saturday by Nikki Rampanelli. My grandmother Olivine would have been proud of her.

Award-winning Smithtown author Jeb Ladouceur has published seven novels. His theater reviews appear in dozens of L. I. newspapers. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “The Dealer” due this summer, Israeli extortionists threaten to destroy Hoover Dam demolishing the Las Vegas Strip - if casino operators don’t pay millions.

Eating In America - It's Sweet, Salty And Done Outside The Home

American Nutrition - The Foreign Perspective

By Kia Edwards

I took the opportunity to ask a couple of dashing young gentlemen and lovely ladies about the state of American nutrition.  Why would I care about their opinion you ask?  Because they’re all foreign- representing the UK, Belarus and Taiwan.  To me, there’s nothing like hearing from people who are going through a good culture shock to learn about the habits we could improve.  From unnecessary practices to weird indulgences, these people gave me a lot to think about.  Here are my favorite responses.  

Question: When you got here, what was your biggest culture shock with regard to food?

Alesia (Belarus):  There is a lack of (leafy) vegetables in the diet here.  Corn is not a vegetable, a potato is not considered a vegetable.

Evana (Taiwan):  My friends here put whipped cream on peaches when they’re already sweet.

Theo (UK):  The food is similar to Britain, but the portion sizes were a big shock for me.  

Nick (UK):  The kitchens are quite a notable thing in a flat.  People do not cook for themselves, which is just bizarre.  People must eat takeaway most of the time.  My housemates looked at me like a right weirdo for making myself a meal. 

Overall, these answers seem as though we’re in a sort of vicious cycle.  We don’t cook  often, (according to MSN money, restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory saw an increase in profit despite the sluggish economy) and when we eat out, our portions are large and disproportionately focus on starchy carbs and protein.  Combine this with unnecessary, but all too regular indulgences such as whipped cream on fruits, or more often than not, cake and/or ice cream and we can see the issue here.  

Tip:  Cooking can be a daunting task if you’re constantly comparing yourself to Martha Stewart or Barefoot Contessa.  There are quick meals that can be made if you prepare ahead of time, and by that, I mean grocery shopping.  A chicken can be baked in the same amount of time it takes to get dressed, travel, wait and finally sit at a restaurant.  This allows you to control the ingredients you can put in your food and ultimately in your body.  As far as dessert, who doesn’t love a little sweet treat?  Most of us do, myself included, but too many indulgences can have a negative effect on your health.  You can try slightly healthier choices such as angel food cake (instead of the 1500 calorie slice of cake in the restaurant), which is lower in calories since ingredients such as butter are minimal if not completely avoided.  A fruit with a bit of whipped cream or Nutella isn’t terrible, but anything done in excess is going to have some undesirable effects on your figure.

Organic Food:

On a whole, all participants agreed that organic food is far more expensive here.  Alesia stated that the food is bigger here (for example, our massive strawberries) but there is no taste.  This could be one of the reasons for overeating- less taste means less satisfaction and more eating.  It could also explain the mysterious habit of putting whipped cream on fruits!  However, the organic food that comes from local farms in the UK or Belarus tend to be quite affordable.  This is not the case in the USA where the price of organic food can run anywhere from 33-50% more than regular food.  What can you do to combat this?  Well, there are farmer’s markets during the summer, which are tasty, affordable and support a good cause.  During the rest of the year, you can stick to this list of “dirty dozen” foods to buy organic as often as possible due to high instances of pesticide residue:  Apples, Cherries, Grapes (imported Chili), Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Raspberries, Strawberries, Bell peppers, Celery, Potatoes, Spinach

Other observations:

Nick: The same food brands contain more salt here than back home.  I made soup with 2 cubes of bouillon.  Same brand, same measurement and my soup came out horrifically salty.   

Evana:  Americans fry everything!  They fry Oreos and pickles! 

Theo (in response):  They taste incredible though.  

Theo: If you go to the stores here, there are lots of things that look like water, but aren’t water.  They have some hint of fruit or juice, and I’m thinking that’s not water.  Another one is a weird nutrition water and that’s not water either.  They hide the real water in the back.  

Overall, we have a ways to go before we, as a country, become as healthy as we should be.  We definitely have an excellent variety of foods, but the downside is that they are designed to sell, not promote our health.  A fried Oreo or pickle can be fun…if it’s done every few months.  We also need to be aware of the differences in food quality.  “American food tends to be saltier and greasier,” is a statement all participants agreed upon.  Most also agreed that the food “tastes great”.  If we try simple tricks such as eating out a bit less and being more aware of the ingredients in our products, we could go from being one of the largest countries, to “still the best”. 

American Nutrition: The Foreign Perspective

Kia Edwards is a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist who lives in New York City. She studied French and Economics at Colgate University, spent 15 years as a high-level competitive gymnast and 6 years as a gymnastics coach.  Her business, La Fortesse At Home Fitness Training, helps clients get healthy with simple at home exercises and nutrition counseling. www.LaFortesse.com