SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Spring Is Coming And So Are The Leaf Blowers

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

 Spring begins next week and with it the sweet songs of birds and the rush of warm weather…and the racket of gas-powered leaf blowers—unless their use is restricted.

All over the nation, moves to curtail the use of gas-powered leaf blowers are being made.  On Long Island, a law restricting the use of these noise-makers from mid-May to mid-September is on the table in Southampton Village and a vote could come very soon. The Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, a major Long Island town (population 233,000), just passed a similar law. Its town board unanimously voted for it. Other municipalities on the island are also considering legislation.

In the United States, the list of cities, counties. towns and villages that have restricted the use of gas-powered leaf blowers has become enormous.

It includes Carmel, California, the first city in the nation to ban gas-powered leaf blowers back in 1975, now joined by places including: Aspen, Colorado; Beverly Hills, California; Boulder. Colorado; Brookline, Massachusetts; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Claremont, California; Del Mar, California; Dobbs Ferry, New York; Evanston, Illinois; Framingham, Massachusetts; Hastings, New York; Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; Indian Wells, California; Key West, Florida; Los Altos, California; Los Angeles, California; Malibu, California; Mamaroneck, New York; Maplewood, New Jersey; Menlo Park, California; Mill Valley, California; Montclair, New Jersey; Palo Alto, California; Pelham Manor, New York; Portland, Oregon; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Rye, New York; Santa Barbara, California; Santa Monica, California; Scarsdale, New York; Scottsdale, Arizona; Sunnyvale, California; Tampa, Florida; most recently Washington, D.C.; White Plains, New York; Yonkers, New York. 

There should be action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but considering how that agency has been decimated by the Trump administration, that can’t be expected now. So, it’s up to cities, counties, towns and villages to do what needs to be done—one by one.

In Southampton Village, its mayor, Michael Irving, and trustee, Kimberly Allan, are sponsoring the legislation. It cites activities causing “noise and other impacts negatively effecting the atmosphere and peace, comfort, repose and tranquility of the Village particularly during weekends, and throughout the summer season when most residents and tourists are enjoying their homes and properties.” It limits the months (no warmer weather months) and times (no earlier than 8 a.m. or later than 6 p.m.) and days (no use on Sundays and federal and state holidays) when gas-powered leaf blowers can be used.

The machines are extreme noisemakers—and they are also serious health hazards.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, they typically produce 90 decibels of noise and exposure to two hours of such noise can cause permanent hearing loss.

Their engines produce as many hydrocarbons in 30 minutes as a Ford Raptor F-150 pick-up truck does driving 3,887 miles, according to research by Edmunds Automotive. Visit—

https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html

“It’s the new second-hand smoke,” comments Trustee Allan.

“Exhaust emissions from gas-powered leaf blowers can contain significant amounts of highly toxic compounds linked to certain cancers, asthma and other respiratory problems, as well as damage to the heart, lungs, and central nervous system,” notes the Long Island-based organization Grassroots Environmental Education on its fact sheet on them. Toxins in their engine exhaust include cancer-causing benzene, toluene and formaldehyde, among other poisons.

“Gas leaf blowers are a threat to our health and our environment,” says Bonnie Sager, co-founder of Huntington CALM, which began the struggle against gas-powered leaf blowers on Long Island. Its efforts have been endorsed by the Long Island Asthma Coalition, American Lung Association, Mt. Sinai Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit and the American Academy of Pediatrics LI.

As I have learned through the decades of writing about polluting processes and products, there are alternatives. For leaf blowers, machines utilizing the high-energy batteries are available today. They make less noise and it’s at a difference frequency that doesn’t carry anywhere as far—and there’s no exhaust. Where gas-powered leaf blower use has been restricted, this is what landscapers are commonly using. 

In Southampton, Jackson Dodds & Company has been “using battery-powered leaf blowers for years—we’re going into our fourth season,” Doreen Johnston, sales manager with the landscaping firm, told me last week. She said: “We’re very happy with them.”

Hopefully, Southampton Village will pass its law on gas-powered leaf blowers and this will spread to communities throughout Suffolk. And wouldn’t it be good if action follows, too, on the county and state levels. 

As the North Hempstead law puts it: the “use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers presents an environmental hazard that reduces the quality of life in the Town. Gasoline-powered leaf blowers endanger residents, passers-by and operators through the production of excessive noise and increase the risks of hearing loss” and otherwise constitute a “health hazard.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. 

Forest Brook Elementary Students Honor WWII Veteran's Voices

On Wednesday, March 6th Hauppauge School District’s Forest Brook Elementary hosted Veteran’s Voices, an intergenerational program that brings students and veterans together. Florida HS student Benjamin Mack-Jackson founder of the WWII Veterans History Project did a presentation for the students.

Now in its second year, the Forest Brook Veterans Voices program was developed by school nurse Deborah Wissmann, RN., “The idea for Veteran’s Voices stemmed from a project my son had done in 6th grade. His class had to videotape an interview with someone who was a hero to them.  My son chose his grandfather, my father. A few years later when my father passed away, this became a cherished keepsake.  In college my son formed a club called “Heard at Geneseo.” They  recorded the history of residents living in the town for decades.   These ideas, along with Principal Kristen Reingold’s dedication to honor Veterans became “Veterans’ Voices.”

Programs like this need a lot of support. School board member Gary Fortmeyer attended the assembly which was funded by a grant from the Hauppauge Educational Foundation (HEF). 

The March 6th event was the culmination of fifteen weeks of work. 4th and 5th grade students interviewed, recorded and photographed their interviews with veterans. The students then created keepsake books for each of the people they interviewed.

Principal Reingold and Medha RaoThe students and veterans speak with pride about how much they enjoyed interacting with each other. Medha Rao a 4th grader shared her experience with Smithtown Matters. “I talked to two veterans Dennis and Michael who were very funny to talk to. Michael is a WWII who liked school a lot and said he was born under a desk he was a principal for a high school, middle school and elementary school.  Dennis was funny, he told stories that were easy to understand.”


Benjamin Mack-Jackson

Medha who thinks she might become a journalist and an author said she doesn’t want to join the military because there is a lot of violence. “But I like learning about it. I think students should join Veterans Voices next year because it is a good way to learn about the veterans.” 

Ms. Wissman and Principal Reingold acknowledged the many benefits of the program including the significance of carrying on the tradition of oral history, communication with a different age group, developing and asking appropriate questions. But, it is not only students who benefit from the interactions the veterans who traveled from the Arbors Assisted Living facility were beaming as they posed for pictures with the students and looked through their keepsake books.  

Benjamin Mack-Jackson’s presentation was all about respecting, honoring and giving back to veterans. He is a 16-year-old Florida resident who developed a fasination with WWII. At the age of 13 he began researching WWII and realized he wanted to learn more and began interviewing veterans. He now travels throughout the U.S. with his museum in a box which contains WWII artifacts. His stated goal is to help educate his generation as well as future generations the importance of WWII and the people who served during the war. 

Ben explained, in age appropriate language, how many countries fought in the war, the significance of newspapers for communication,  the difference between the beginning of WWII and the date the U. S. entered the war. He discussed D-Day when 5,000 plus Americans lost their lives and the meaning of V-E day and V-J day. 

The students then donned gloves and began to examine the artifacts. Kudos to Forest Brook.

The St. James General Store - Community Treasure Then and Now

Smithtown by the Sound

By Nancy Vallarella

The St. James General Store -Community Treasure Then and Now

The Saint James General Store has been a local gem since Ebenezer Smith built it in 1857.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is the oldest general store still open for business in the United States.  

There is much documented fact and folklore on the store’s history. Information on ownership, paranormal occurrences, famous past visitors, visits with Santa, and most recently, resolved funding concerns are found on-line and in print.

This article is an attempt to explore some of the less known tidbits of information that help make the St. James General Store one of the most endearing assets in the community today.

Presently, cell phone service is sporadic north of the St. James General Store.  I have a running joke about that…” Nissequogue is Indian for land of no cell phone towers.” Amazingly, I get responses ranging from chuckles to “Really?” 

It’s all good.  Nissequogue is too beautiful to be compromised with ugly technology but, phone service was a big deal at the St. James General Store in the late 19^th century.  It was the home to the hamlet’s first telephone.  Can you imagine being a clerk hearing one side of all of the conversations had in town?

World-renowned architect, Stanford White frequently used that phone.  One has to wonder if it was all for business or did it help facilitate trysts with then supermodel, Evelyn Nesbit.  Folklore has it that after hanging up the phone and leaving the store, Stanford was standing on the porch when the phone shattered having been struck by lightning. Foreboding? Indeed.

Known for his promiscuity, Stanford White moved on as did Miss Nesbit.  Nesbit eventually married Harry Thaw, a multi-millionaire with questionable acquaintances and mental faculty. 

On a lavish trip to Paris, Evelyn confessed her affair with Stanford White to Thaw.  Historians report that Thaw and White were long-standing rivals. Fate brought these two adversaries together at the theater of Madison Square Garden. Thaw shot Stanford White, killing him in the name of his wife’s virtue or maybe the lack of.  

Thaw was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. He was however incarcerated in an institution for the criminally insane.  Thaw’s legal team maneuvered him free seven years later. The couple divorced in 1915.

On a much lighter note:

Did you ever wonder about the history of the St. James General Store’s giant stuffed bear? 

It’s a mystery.  The bear’s big presence has an unknown past.  St. James General Store Merchandise Manager, Karen Sheedy has been there for twenty years and states that the bear has been there before she came on board.

It is difficult to trace the origin of many of the displayed museum pieces due to the changes in ownership. However, there are several verified original items. Ledgers, old photographs, original counters and cases, the post office, coffee grinder, tea canisters, and pot belly stove are among the original items remaining. 

Why was the Indian statue moved inside the store?

The statue went missing twice while residing on the store’s porch. Luckily, it was found in the Smith Haven Mall parking lot and again in the nearby woods.  It now welcomes visitors as they enter the inside of the store, inconveniently unavailable to pranksters.

Can you guess what the number one selling item in the store is today?

The Molasses Pop!    

Special thank you to Brad Harris, Smithtown Historian, and Karen Sheedy, Merchandise Manager, St. James General Store. Your time, knowledge, and patience are appreciated.

Op-Ed We Must Re Examine Social Security Death Benefits

By Veronica Colwin

Most people under the age of 60 years old, do not really plan on becoming widows or widowers. It is not something we necessarily expect, but sadly it is the reality for many. I mean clearly death does not discriminate based on income or age, so why does the government, regarding Social Security Death Benefits. 

Here is the scoop in case you are unfamiliar with how Social Security Death Benefits work for the surviving spouse and children. Every child dependent of the deceased is qualified until either the age of 18, or upon their high school graduation. Yes, you read that right! Not through college, but on their very last day of high school. The widow/widower is eligible for benefits only if they have a child under the age of 16, AND are only allowed to make under $15,000 annually. Yes, you read that right as well! 

Here lies the struggle, if you seek to supplement the loss of benefits from a child who just graduated high school to help with college expenses, you must do so while earning the kind of wages you would if you were an employed teenager. Why? Because you risk losing the benefits you continue to receive for having any other children, under the age of 16 years old. 

I am working with a client, we’ll call her Sue, who is widowed and raising five children on her own since the death of her husband eight years ago. Sue’s two older children are in college, she has a senior in high school, a daughter in 11^th grade and a 10-year-old son. Sue has been a stay at home since becoming a widow, to be there for her children. Her 11^th grader and 10-year-old are both categorized as “children with special needs.” 

Sue has much on her plate without adding the financial struggles she is about to face. Come June 2019, her senior in high school will lose his Social Security Death Benefits, while preparing for college. Sue will then have three children in college, and two at home with special needs. She must find a way to either continue to support the six of them on monies allotted for three people, or go back to work, being mindful of that $15,000 cap. There is another option, to gain full-time employment and give up her benefits. Let’s play out that scenario for Sue. After being a stay at home mom for over eight years, she tries returning to the workforce and earning an income that was more than the income she just lost. Hm…sounds easy enough right? Wrong! She’s been out of work for eight years, some would call her unemployable, and if she did gain full time employment, how is she going to cover child care expenses for her two “special needs” children?

The point here is that although many like Sue are grateful for the benefits, the guidelines make it impossible for widows/widowers to supplement their income when they so clearly need to. Any parent knows, regardless of the circumstances, there continues to be a financial responsibility to children attending college. So, why do benefits that are supposed to replace the income of a deceased parent end at high school graduation? 

Veronica Colwin is a graduate student working on her MSW at SUNY Stony Brook. As part of the social work curriculum she has spent the last two years receiving field and classroom instruction on how to provide care to clients in integrated health settings. Ms. Colwin is a single parent of a child with special needs, she has also spent time volunteering in a domestic violence shelter. Veronica Colwin will be graduating in 2019.

Theater Review - 'Nine'

Theater Review – ‘Nine’

Produced by: Theatre Three – Port Jefferson

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur    

  Sometimes theatrical projects that we undertake with blind conviction as teenagers, actually turn out to be the roaring successes we’d dreamed of. Such accomplishments are rare, of course … after all, few if any in the heady profession known as show business can legitimately wear the mantel of a Mozart, Merman, or Mark Twain. But in 1963, aspiring young composer/lyricist, Maury Yeston, became obsessed with Federico Fellini’s semi-autobiographical film ‘8½,’ and twenty years after initially viewing it, he (with the help of master director Tommy Tune) turned the motion picture into a boffo Broadway musical.

  Yeston named his production simply ‘Nine’ … a number prophetically three short of the dozen Tony nominations (five of which resulted in wins) that the show ran off with in 1982. Add ten Drama Desk Award nominations (seven wins) and we’re talking about a smash musical by anybody’s reckoning.

  As we now know, 729 performances at Broadway’s 46th Street Theatre followed, after which the play was taken on tour in this country … opened internationally in London, Sweden, and Australia … and was revived to wide acclaim by New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company in 2003. The wonder of it all is that until the show’s stage debut in the eighties, composer and Yale alum Yeston had never anticipated that his ambitious project would effectively provide anything but his own satisfaction.

  ‘Nine’ centers on noted film director Guido Contini (played wonderfully by Brian Gill) and his search for a plot suitable to his upcoming movie. Not surprisingly, the film is to be a musical treatment of Giacomo Casanova’s life and his legendary womanizing in the eighteenth century … though it must be noted that our Guido is as much the romantically pursued during the amorous proceedings, as he is the reluctant pursuer. Frequently, this situation lands Contini in something of a pickle (there’s a tawdry joke in there somewhere) … indeed, we see that all the demands made by a virtual squadron of insistent honeys would undoubtedly have proven too much for a less gifted Lothario than Guido to accommodate.

  Ah, me. What’s a poor matinee idol to do?

  Well, if anyone would know, it would be Brian Gill. While co-starring with Tracylynn Conner in Theatre Three’s 2017 production of ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ the 160-year-old stage fairly sizzled as, under Jeffrey Sanzel’s direction, Conner and Gill found the chemistry required for that heartbreaking love story. Now, the Maestro has paired the two once again, and the match, though significantly less tension-filled this time, proves that ‘Bridges’ intensity was no fluke.

  By the same token, ‘Nine’ is no ‘Bridges of Madison County,’ … for few plays can match the brief Francesca Johnson-Robert Kinkaid saga for pure simpatico.

  Though it might be said that both stories have to do with the phenomenon which Canadian psychoanalyst Elliott Jacques originally termed, ‘Midlife Crisis,’ (and suggested that all of us experience it between the ages of 45 and 64) in ‘Nine’ Guido Contini gets a dose of the malady that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. In younger years, healthy males might think it heaven-sent to be chased by an endless bevy of breathtaking beauties, but ‘Nine’ puts the lie to that notion in no uncertain terms. Accordingly, what might have been viewed as a naughty little titillating show, is transformed by Sanzel et al into a compelling comment on human behavior. 

  All of the performances in this rather deep musical are quite good, and the cast is treated to a perfect, pastel set (Randall Parsons), appropriate costumes and lighting (Ronald Green III and Robert W. Henderson, Jr.), and some of the sweetest musical accompaniment (veteran Jeffrey Hoffman directs) to which we are likely to be treated this theater season. In the final analysis, it is the incomparable Brian Gill for whom it might be said this difficult piece of unforgettable theater could have been written … and the magnetic Linda May (Guido’s mother) whose consummate playacting commands our attention from first to last, deserves all the stars we’ve got.

____________________________________________________________

Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s topical thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced at the Smithtown Library on May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com