Lots of Snow - Smithtown Superintendent of Highways Is Prepared

“We’re ready,” said Glenn Jorgensen, Smithtown’s Superintendent of Highways, “ We have 6,000 cubic yards of sand and salt stockpiled and ready to go when needed.” 

With forecasters predicting a major snowstorm in our area tonight into tomorrow morning Glenn Jorgensen is not taking any chances and not taking any shortcuts.  With some snowstorms you have some flexibility as to when and how many crews you call.  This time forecaster’s snow predictions are in the six to fifteen inch range with high winds as well, therefore,  “ when the first snowflakes fall the call will go out to all crews. That means everyone and everything will be working,” said Jorgensen.

Roadwork will be done in three phases salt and sand in the beginning, plowing until all roads are clear and then the follow up with salt and sand as needed. Drifting snow is expected to create areas where re-plowing will be necessary.   The town will be sending out around 100 town vehicles and forty private vehicles to ensure that the roads are cleared as quickly and safely as possible.

Costs are covered in the Highway Superintendent’s budget. This storm is estimated to cost about $200,000 but Jorgensen says that he has the money in his budget and his priority is keeping the roadways clear of snow.

What would Glenn Jorgenson like the residents to do?  Stay off the roads unless it is necessary.  Stranded vehicles make the work of snow removal much harder.  Don’t park on the streets.  If you own a snowplow blow the snow on your lawn and not into the street!

Jorgenson would like the people of Smithtown to know that “Smithtown will maintain its roads the way they have been doing for many years.” Glenn Jorgenson expects the same results, satisfied residents. 

First Baby Of The Year At St. Catherine's

  Interim Chief Medical Officer Patrick O’Shaughnessy, DO, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Dennis Verzi, Christina Budriss holding baby Alexis Grace, Senior Vice President of Administration Gara Edelstein and Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs Jennifer Logiudice Sunday, January 2 at 1:51 AM. Baby Alexis Grace Budriss was greeted by mom and dad, Christina and David Budriss three weeks early, but they were still very joyful to welcome the new little one to their family.

“We were not expecting Alexis to arrive three weeks early, as our other three children came on the scheduled due date or later,” stated Mrs. Budriss. In fact, it was so quick. We got to the hospital at 1:30

AM and by 1:51 AM, she was here!” The Budriss family has welcomed all four of their children at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center and was happy to receive the gift basket arranged by Bella Casa Florist, including a $100 gift card to Babies R’ Us, along with other assorted baby items.

For more information about Maternity Services at St. Catherine, please call (631) 870-3444 or visit www.stcatherinemedicalcenter.org.

Goodbye Storm of 2010!

By Pat Biancaniello

Have we seen the end of the Storm of December 2010?  Smithtown Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen certainly hopes so.  Mr. Jorgensen, sounding very tired at noon on Monday, December 27th. was quite pleased with the way the Smithtown Highway Department handled the snowstorm. 

 The Smithtown Highway Department had roughly 100 of its vehicles and 40 private vehicles on the road from 10 a.m. Sunday, December 26th through 11p.m. in the evening.  The workers were then given a rest only to resume the work of clearing the snow from the streets at 3 a.m. on December 27th.  “The crews will remain on the roads until the job is completed”  Jorgensen said.   As of noon on the 27th all the main roads were clear and the workers were pretty much finished with courts, and dead end streets which are always the last to be completed.

All things considered, high winds, lightning, heavy snowfall (around 13 inches in some parts of Smithtown)  things went as planned.  The crews were successful in clearing streets reasonably well, but were back on some streets three hours later because of the high winds which blew the snow back on the roads and in some cases created high drifts. 

 Jorgenson said that schools being closed was a blessing and that there were not too many parked cars on the roads that needed to be plowed around.  Some breakdown’s in equipment, while annoying, were handled by crews working together to cover areas that were originally assigned to different crews. 

 Falling trees created some problems. A tree on Rte. 25 by Old Willets Path took down a pole and caused Rte. 25  to be closed from Old Willets Path to Meadow Rd.  near the bull.  

All in all, said Glenn Jorgenson, “The highway workers did everything they could to clear the roads of snow as quickly and as well as they could.”

Suffolk County - First In Arrests Made Under Leandra's Law

By Pat Biancaniello

Suffolk County is first in the State.  It has been one year since the Child Passenger Protection Act became law on December 18, 2009.  The law most commonly referred to as Leandra’s Law has resulted in 661 people across NYS being arrested and charged with a felony for driving while intoxicated or impaired with a child under the age of 16 in the car.  Of the 661 people arrested, 10% or 67 people, were arrested in Suffolk County thus giving Suffolk County the dubious distinction of having more arrests under Leandra’s Law than in any of the other 61 counties in New York State. 

The provisions of Leandra’s Law include: 1. First time offenders may be charged with a Class E felony punishable by up to four years in state prison.  2.  As of Aug. 15, 2010 Courts must order those convicted under Leandra’s Law to install and maintain an ignition interlock on any vehicle owned or operated by the driver for a minimum of six months in addition to the terms of sentence driver receives. 3.  The driver’s license is suspended pending prosecution. 4.  Intoxicated or impaired drivers who cause the death of a person under 16 years of age may be charged with a Class B Felony which is punishable by up to 25 years in state prison.  5. A driver who is intoxicated or impaired and causes serious physical injury to a child in the vehicle may be charged with a Class C felony and a punishment of up to 15 years in prison. 6. Lastly, if you are the parent, guardian, custodian or any other person legally responsible for a child and you are charged with driving while intoxicated or impaired by drugs while that child is in the vehicle, you will be reported to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment by the arresting agency. (NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services) 

The good news is the law seems to be working in Suffolk County.  According to the one year report completed by the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Suffolk County has had the highest number of arrests over the year with a total of 67,  Erie County second with 57, Westchester third with 45, Monroe County fourth with 41 and Nassau County was fifth highest with 40.   

The bad news is that in a one year period 67 people on the roadways of Suffolk County were arrested with a blood alcohol content higher than .08 with children in their car.  If you look at the numbers by gender, there were 39 males and 28 females driving while impaired with children in the car. 

The arrests were spread out throughout the county and throughout law enforcement departments across the county.  The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department was responsible for 8 arrests, Suffolk County Police Department made 33 arrests, Sag Harbor Village Police Dept. made 1 arrest as did the Northport Village Police Dept. (1), Westhampton Beach Village Police Dept. 1, East Hampton Town PD 2, Riverhead Town PD. 1, Southampton Town PD 5, Southhold Town PD 1, Suffolk County Park Police 1, NYSP Brentwood 13. 

Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick is concerned and acknowledged a certain frustration about this serious problem, “ I don’t get it.  We all have pressures and problems in our lives.  These people driving are adults, it’s scary to think that they are not more responsible. With the heightened awareness by the media and organizations such as MADD, and SADD, I don’t know what it will take to make people more responsible.” 

On December 7, 2010, the Suffolk County Legislature unanimously adopted  Resolution 2013-2010 introduced by Legislator Lou D’Amaro (17th Legislative District) which establishes a higher standards for breath alcohol ignition interlock devices (BAIID). “These advanced BAIID features are absolutely pivotal to the County’s ongoing efforts to deter drunk driving.” “ My bill sets the highest possible standards for these potentially life-saving devices and will have no impact on the County budget or Suffolk taxpayers because the onus is on the offender to pick up all applicable costs.” said Legislator D’Amaro in a statement he released.

Governor David A. Paterson stated in his press release, “I commend members of the State’s law enforcement community for their enforcement of this important law because every passenger, and certainly every child, deserves a sober driver. All drivers should expect nothing less than sober drivers ahead of them, behind them, and in the oncoming lane of traffic. As we celebrate the holiday season, I urge all New York’s drivers to give their passengers – and their fellow drivers on the road – the gift of a designated driver every time they get behind the wheel.” 

Caroline Grove And Michelle White - Doing Their Part For Smithtown's Firefighters

(In the picture L-R, Chief Murphy, Chief Sisino, Chief Hansen, Michelle White, Caroline Grove, Chief Duffy)photo by Jeff BresslerThe Smithtown Fire Department honored Caroline Grove and Michelle White at their monthly meeting on Monday, December 13th.  

Both Caroline and Michelle have been involved in Girl Scouts for ten years and both are members of Troop 2626.  The girls were honored by the Smithtown Fire Department after they earned their Silver Award working on a project to help firefighters.  The girls created and donated reusable neck cooler packs to be used for firefighter rehabilitation at the scene of an incident.

The  Silver Award represents a girl’s accomplishments in Girl Scouting and her community. It is also the highest award for girls in scouting between the ages of 11 and 14.  

Joanne T Grove, the mother of Caroline and Co-leader of troop 2626 was pleased with the recognition for the girls as well as their accomplishment. “ We’re very proud of their dedication to the Smithtown Community.”