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Unlike the contentious debate between the candidates for Riverhead Town supervisor, last Wednesday’s debate among the five candidates vying for two available Town Council seats was relatively peaceful and all of the candidates got along with each other.

The field includes two Republican candidates, incumbent Tim Hubbard and challenger Frank Beyrodt, along with Democrats Diane Tucci and Pat Snyder and Libertarian candidate William Van Helmond. The Republicans also have backing from the Conservative party, while the Democrats are backed by both the Independence and Working Families parties.

Following are excerpts from each candidate’s opening statement, followed by a recount of the debate on some of the bigger issues discussed:

Tim Hubbard

“The reason I think I’m a good candidate for the town is past experience,” Mr. Hubbard, a retired police detective, said. “I was a member of the Eastern Suffolk BOCES advisory board. I was a member of the board of directors of the Riverhead Police Benevolent Association, I was named Educator of the Year by the News-Review and I was elected to the Riverhead school board. All of these put together helped me work with budgets, and the budget in a town this size is a good size budget.”

Mr. Hubbard said he was born and raised in Riverhead and knows the town.

“Plus,” he added, “I have to say that in my first four years on the Town Board, I stand very strong on my record.”

Diane Tucci

Ms. Tucci, making her first run for Town Board, said she’s a fourth-generation Riverhead resident and “grew up working on my grandparents’ farm in Baiting Hollow.”

She has worked as director of marketing for the Suffolk Theater and has been executive director of both the Riverhead Business Improvement District and the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, doing both jobs simultaneously for a time. She also owns a marketing business in downtown Riverhead.

She has worked to “spearhead” community events like Alive on 25, the Halloween Fest, the Cardboard Boat Race and Art in the Park.

“I’m known as a person who gets things done,” Ms. Tucci said. “As a Town Board member, I will continue the hard work I have already been doing and take it to the next level.”

William Van Helmond

Mr. Van Helmond is president of the Greater Jamesport Civic Association and a member of EPCAL Watch. As president of the civic association, he is often the voice of the community, such as when it opposed a town plan to allow live music and alcohol at South Jamesport Beach. He said he’s also served on the board of directors of Vail-Leavitt Music Hall and assisted in naming South Jamesport Avenue after NYPD Det. Brian Simonsen, a Jamesport native killed in the line of duty in Queens.

“I’ve got to feel that as a reformer, I tend to work with the people I’m surrounded by and I try to bring unity and create respect in every organization I’ve been in,” he said.

Frank Beyrodt

Mr. Beyrodt is an owner of Delea Sod Farms, which has been in business for 91 years.

“We have to work within budgets, which is the way businesses are successful, and we’ve been here for 91 years, so we’ve been doing something right,” he said.

A former president and longtime member of the Long Island Farm Bureau, Mr. Beyrodt also is on the board of directors of Island Harvest, which provides food to needy people.

“I’ve been on committees and I know how to gain consensus,” he said.

Pat Snyder

Ms. Snyder retired last year as executive director of East End Arts in Riverhead. Before that, she was director of the arts organization’s school, where she said she increased enrollment from 45 students to more than 1,000.

Ms. Snyder said she created programs like the annual street painting festival in Riverhead and the annual Winterfest cultural program at local wineries during the traditional off-season.

Being EEA’s executive director, Ms. Snyder said, “is where I discovered the power of arts to be a community builder and economic driver.”

EPCAL

Republicans Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Beyrodt both support the potential sale of 1,643 acres of town-owned land at EPCAL to Calverton Aviation & Technology for $40 million, although both also said they support removing approximately 1,000 acres that were not part of the original agreement from the deal.

Both noted that once the deal is complete, the town will immediately receive over $4 million in property taxes, since the land has been off the tax rolls for many years. Both also cited a recent presentation by three companies that said they were interested in coming to EPCAL should the CAT sale be finalized.

“EPCAL? Absolutely yes,” Mr. Hubbard said. “I’m extremely excited.”

“Jobs, jobs, jobs,” Mr. Beyrodt said. “That’s what we need here, and if they can deliver on that, I’m really optimistic about this deal.”

Ms. Tucci said “there’s a lot of questions to be answered” about the proposal.

“Whether I support the deal depends on whether they can live up to the promises of what they say they’re going bring here,” she said.

She also opposes including the additional 1,000 acres in the sale to CAT.

CAT has said it will include a covenant in the contract saying it will not develop that acreage, but it also says it will not do that until the sale is complete.

“It’s a complicated situation,” Ms. Tucci said. “We need the jobs and we need the revenue to add to our tax base.”

“As far as I’m concerned, hope is not a plan, and that’s what I keep hearing,” Ms. Snyder said. “We can’t just hope they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do.”

She said the town needs to hold onto the 1,000 acres.

“That’s our land,” Ms. Snyder said.

Mr. Van Helmond said: “The question is, what is it, and why aren’t they being transparent about it? They haven’t really released much information on the businesses they’re looking to bring in.”

CAT has said it’s difficult to identify tenants for the property because they don’t yet own the land.

Mr. Van Helmond also opposes the sale of the additional 1,000 acres — as well as the low cost-per-acre for the proposed sale.

Downtown

The Town Board recently approved plans to update the town’s master plan for the first time since 2003, and to commission a “pattern book” for the downtown area.

Mr. Beyrodt said that, as an investor and business person, “what you want most in the government that you’re investing in is confidence in knowing that the rules will not be changed on you when you invest your money.”

Some property owners say they bought land because of the prior zoning.

Ms. Snyder said one of the things she’s heard most on the campaign trail is complaints about the five-story apartment building already going up.

“It’s in a place it doesn’t belong,” she said.

Mr. Van Helmond also felt the 116-unit Riverview Lofts apartments are “way out of character.”

Mr. Hubbard, who voted against the pattern book, said the apartments are needed “to create a vibrant downtown,” but he feels there should be more market rate units, as most of the apartments under construction or already built are affordable rentals.

“Market rate people have cash in their pocket so they can go downtown and support the businesses and restaurants,” he said. “That’s what we need. We don’t need any more affordable housing.”

Ms. Tucci agreed with Mr. Hubbard on that issue, saying the town currently has 80 percent affordables and 20 percent market rate apartments. She said it should be the other way around. She said studies have been done that show it’s more important to have more market rate apartments than affordable ones.

Unlike Mr. Hubbard, however, she supports the downtown pattern book.

“My idea of the pattern book is what it’s going to do through input from the community,” she said.

“The book will show what downtown could look like in different forces of buildouts,” Ms. Tucci said. “But more importantly, with the community input, is that it looks like what the community wants it to look like.”

Code enforcement

All five candidates agreed that illegal and overcrowded housing is a major problem, but differed slightly on what to do about it.

Mr. Hubbard proposed changes to the town budget to add two code enforcement officers, along with a part-time paralegal for the town attorney’s office and a part-time clerk for the code enforcement department — all so the town can take code violators to state Supreme Court, which can impose steeper fines than the town Justice Court.

Mr. Hubbard also proposes banning cars parked in front yards and reducing town rental permits from two years to one.

“Every year, when you do a rental permit, you have to be inspected,” he said.

“This will give us a better idea of who’s living in the house,” he said. “It also will give us a better idea of how many people are living in the house, and we also need to require the names of the people who are living in the house. This information, together with working with the school district, which we have to do, is going to help us crack down on this.”

Ms. Tucci said the town can’t put any pressure on the school district for information about who is attending town schools. The town, she said, is only responsible for code enforcement.

Ms. Snyder said the town needs to take some of the cases to state Supreme Court, because many of the violations are safety issues.

Mr. Van Helmond said the town should form an advisory committee to which people who know where overcrowded housing is can report that information.

Mr. Beyrodt supported Mr. Hubbard’s proposals.

“Remember, government’s sole purpose is the safety and welfare of the community,” he said.

Latino population growth

Mr. Hubbard said that Riverhead is not a “sanctuary city,” as a website claimed a few years ago, but added that the designation has “brought droves and droves of people to this town.”

He said Riverhead “has schools that are bursting at the seams,” and that the school district is one of the few in Suffolk County where enrollment increases every year.

“Immigration has to be handled on the federal level,” he said. “There’s not much we can do.”

Ms. Tucci agreed, saying, “I don’t really want to touch immigration issues because that comes from the federal level.”

“I don’t want this to become an indictment of the Hispanic community,” Mr. Beyrodt said. “And it seems that, somehow, in certain parts of our community, it has. I’d like everybody to remember where your family came from. Probably not here.”

He said the first-generation immigrants were probably in some sort of inadequate housing to start.

“Many of these people are working long days and they’re hard-working and they’re good, honest, church-going, God-loving people that just want to make a living and they just happen to be at the bottom of the totem pole right now. Just like the Italians and the Jewish and everybody else that came before us, they came for the dream and it’s government’s role to make sure they are [integrated] into the community.”

A group that had been loudly clapping after Republican candidates spoke was silent after Mr. Beyrodt spoke.

Ms. Snyder and Mr. Van Helmond both said immigration is a federal issue.

tgannon@timesreview.com

The post Five candidates vying for Town Board debate EPCAL, downtown and more appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

The Riverhead Business Improvement District hosted its annual “weekend of fun and frights” as part of its Halloween Fest celebration this weekend.

The annual festival, which runs the spectrum from cute to creeptacular, featured everything from trick-or-treating to a Halloween parade and a coffin race. There were also several parties and specials at local businesses and a screening of the classic 1975 film “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Suffolk Theater.

Photographer Elizabeth Wagner captured much of the fun.

The post 25 photos from Halloween Fest in downtown Riverhead appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

It rained, but it didn’t rain on Megan Kielbasa’s parade, nor that of her teammates on the Riverhead High School girls cross-country team.

The course conditions at Sunken Meadow State Park were muddy and — one would think — slow for the Section XI Division Championships as a light but steady drizzle fell Tuesday afternoon.

All in all, though, Kielbasa wasn’t complaining. Temperatures were in the low 60s/high 50s, and that suits the senior just fine.

“Honestly, cooler conditions are kind of better,” she said. “They’re more ideal for cross country.”

That may be one explanation for why Kielbasa ran her fastest time ever on the 5,000-meter course: 19 minutes and 54.99 seconds. It brought her fourth place in Division I. Teammate and fellow senior Christina Yakaboski was fifth in 20:06.96.

“I knew going into it that I just had to work on myself personally, do the best I could do, try to [run a personal record] myself, and I did that, so I’m really happy,” said Kielbasa, who had mud splattered on her legs. “It was just fast. Everybody went really fast today, which you had to adjust to.”

Also running for Riverhead were junior Linda Pomiranceva (14th in 21:12.14), senior Madison Kelly (26th in 21:43.65), freshman Lauren Matyka (28th in 22:00.11), junior Jordyn Jager (35th in 22:21.66) and senior Kristina DeRaveniere (45th in 22:57.15).

After the race and before the team results were released, Kielbasa was asked about Riverhead’s aim to repeat as the Division I champion.

“We’ll see what the results are,” she said. “I’m not sure yet. I don’t want to jinx anything.”

Then the verdict came in: Riverhead took second in the division to Ward Melville, which had 50 points. Riverhead had 70 points and an average time of 20:59.57, the best in the program’s history, according to coach Justin Cobis.

“We’re a really good team,” Kielbasa said. “Everybody’s so sweet, and we really care about the sport.

“It’s been a really good season. I’m very happy with the team. This easily is Riverhead’s best top seven [runners] that we’ve ever had.”

Shoreham-Wading River senior Nicole Garcia was third in Division III in 20:02.12.

Garcia went into the meet with the second-fastest time this season at the Sunken Meadow 5K course. Her 19:59.34 was second only to Mount Sinai senior Sarah Connelly’s 18:36.39. Connelly was first Tuesday in 18:40.81.

SWR’s Zelin ninth in D-III. Given his druthers, Adam Zelin would prefer not to run in rain. Having said that, he added, “But I enjoy running, so I’d rather run in rain than not run at all.”

And, all things considered, Zelin didn’t do badly for himself at all. The Shoreham-Wading River senior finished ninth in Division III in 17:51.88.

“It was a little bit rough with all the rain,” Zelin said. “Yeah, it definitely could have been worse. I mean, the course was definitely a bit muddy. I was so proud of my time considering everything.”

The boys championship race Zelin ran in was the first of six races on the course, which was already in rough shape.

Zelin said, “Definitely rough because what happened was there was like mud patches everywhere, so you really had to go where you wanted to go because otherwise you were stuck in a mud patch and you get your shoes all wet.”

Photo caption: Despite the rain and mud, Riverhead senior Megan Kielbasa ran her fastest time ever on Sunken Meadow State Park’s 5,000-meter course (19 minutes and 54.99 seconds) to take fourth place in Division I. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)

bliepa@timesreview.com

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Re-election campaigns begin quickly in Riverhead Town, where the supervisor serves two-year terms. 

In November 2017, residents voted Laura Jens-Smith in as the town’s first female supervisor. In the 22 months since she took office, Ms. Jens-Smith, 56, of Laurel has done an admirable job leading the town and deserves a second term to continue what she’s started.

The issues facing Riverhead Town — the sale of land at the Enterprise Park at Calverton, downtown Riverhead’s development, the future of Route 58 — remain in the limelight. At this time two years ago, billionaire John Catsimatidis appeared to be the lifeline coming to rescue Luminati Aerospace in its pursuit of the EPCAL land. That agreement fell apart quickly after the election and we soon learned about Calverton Aviation & Technology and Triple Five Group.

Ms. Jens-Smith’s skepticism about the Luminati deal was a key reason we endorsed her in 2017 and we still believe her leadership will be key as the current deal with CAT progresses. Ms. Jens-Smith voted against finding CAT qualified and eligible. That vote ultimately passed 3-2 along party lines, so the focus now must be making sure CAT delivers on its promises.

Ms. Jens-Smith has pointed to several accomplishments in her first term. The town, at the close of the 2018 budget year, had reduced its outstanding debt by $7.2 million. She has stated she believes in “pragmatic conservative budget practices” and has presented another budget for 2020 that stays within the state tax cap.

Ms. Jens-Smith voted in favor of a “pattern book” to guide future zoning decisions in downtown Riverhead. That came at the recommendation of the downtown revitalization committee. The pattern book will be tied to an update of the town’s master plan, last updated in 2003, which will allow the town to reshape its focus for the future.

Ms. Jens-Smith’s opponent, Republican candidate Yvette Aguiar of Riverhead, 60, brings a background in law enforcement and business to her first run for public office. A focus of her campaign centered on overcrowding in Riverhead, which she linked to the Riverhead Central School District’s proposed bond. She opposes the bond and argues that town enforcement of violations for illegal overcrowding would reduce the burden on the school district.

We’ve seen no concrete statistics that link overcrowding and school enrollment. How many students attending Riverhead schools are living in these illegal houses? If all those illegal homes were suddenly eliminated, would that alone be enough to counteract the rise in enrollment? And where would those children go? If they’re in Riverhead, the school system must educate them.

Ms. Aguiar didn’t adequately tackle the complexities of the issue. And the idea that a sudden crackdown on overcrowded homes will eliminate the school district’s need for expansion is a stretch. Certainly lacking in the discussion is a measure of compassion for the children who should supposedly be booted out of the district.

That’s not to say overcrowding isn’t a problem. It is, and Ms. Jens-Smith agrees and has worked toward addressing it; the number of code violations doubled from the previous year. As she pointed out, not every home with several people living in it fits the legal definition of an overcrowded home that warrants violations.

Let’s not forget, the Town Board has operated under a Republican majority for the past decade. To pin all overcrowding issues on Ms. Jens-Smith in the last 22 months is not based in reality. In 2011, we published an editorial urging the Town Board to act on overcrowded homes. The issue long predates Ms. Jens-Smith.

Ms. Aguiar was loose with facts at a debate hosted by the News-Review last week, at one point saying CAT has “trillions of dollars in the bank,” and at another point describing the companies CAT recently brought in seeking to relocate to EPCAL as Fortune 500 companies. While speaking about traffic, she said Southampton had a problem that they recently solved. We’re pretty sure traffic remains problematic on the South Fork.

Several of the issues she’s tried to raise don’t warrant her election to office.

She argued more needs to be done to address flooding in downtown Riverhead. When we reported on downtown flooding in 2016, Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, a Republican, noted she had previously sought out a company to provide a temporary barrier the town could use to hold back the tide, but the approach ended up being too costly.

It’s highly doubtful, as Ms. Aguiar suggested, that the Army Corps of Engineers will provide an assessment that leads to grant money. As we reported in 2016, justifying costs could be a challenge. The effort would require cooperation from private businesses. Public funding would need to justify the government’s investment, so businesses would have to show if or how they’ve lost money due to flooding.

Don’t expect the Army Corps to build some sort of levee system downtown. At the end of the day, the flooding simply results in a swamped parking lot a couple of days a year.

Ms. Aguiar also cautioned that Ms. Jens-Smith might sell both the water district and police department to the county, a recycled political issue from 2015, when then-supervisor Sean Walter claimed he would save the Riverhead Police Department from Ms. Giglio, a challenger for supervisor. He cautioned that Ms. Giglio would sell the department to Suffolk County, even as Ms. Giglio adamantly denied it and noted that such a change would require a vote by taxpayers.

Ms. Jens-Smith also adamantly denies she’s listening to offers to sell either department.

Ms. Aguiar pushed for an assisted living facility in downtown Riverhead. An assisted living facility is already proposed for the Calverton Manor property on Route 25 and Manor Road.

One point we can agree with from Ms. Aguiar is the need for greater transparency. The more transparent local government is the better, and there’s certainly room for improvement from the current administration. It’s also easy for newcomers to say they’ll be more transparent, but really, we have no way of knowing.

For Riverhead supervisor, we endorse Ms. Jens-Smith.

The post Endorsement: Laura Jens-Smith for Riverhead Town Supervisor appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

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As advancements in health care surge forward, health insurance premiums continue to rise, leaving many on the North Fork puzzled as to what they need to know to better navigate their medical futures.

At the Oct. 23 Times Review Talks forum: “The State of Health Care & Health Insurance,” a panel of experts discussed its present and future, including Peconic Bay Medical Center president and CEO Andrew Mitchell; Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital chief administrative officer Paul J. Connor III; Anthony Cardona, president of Cardona & Company;  Dr. Jarid Pachter, vice chair of ELI Leadership Coordinating Council and SBUH Medical Board & MEC member at large, who is also the director of Quannacut Outpatient;  Davin Laurina, associate vice president of commercial sales and broker service for Healthfirst; and Erica Gerrity, director of management services for Peconic Bay Medical Center.

Times Review Media Group content director Grant Parpan moderated the discussion.

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Suffolk County police are investigating a burglary that occurred around 3 a.m. Thursday at a Shoreham home where one occupant was struck in the head by a hammer.

Police said three men entered the home on Suffolk Down and confronted a man and an 18-year-old woman who live in a rear bedroom. One suspect appeared to be armed with a handgun, police said.

The suspects attempted to steal a safe but dropped it as they fled the home. Detectives believe the home was targeted.

The teenager who was struck with a hammer was treated and released at a local hospital, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Seventh Squad at 631-852-8752 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

The post Cops: Three suspects break into Shoreham home, attempt to steal safe appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Riverhead Town’s Wading River Hamlet Plan in 1988 recommended building a 24-foot wide easement for an interior road that would be behind the stores on the south side of Route 25A and connect to Wading River-Manor Road.

But that road has never been built, although the easement still exists.

The developer of a proposed commercial site plan called 6333 Realty Group and other property owners had asked the town to terminate the easement, something the Town Planning Board has also recommended in a resolution in April.

On Thursday, the Town Board took up the debate, as a draft resolution to terminate and release the easement on the properties encumbered by it was discussed in preparation of putting it on the agenda of the Nov. 6 Town Board meeting.

But it did not go smoothly.

Jeff Murphree, the town’s building and planning administrator, said “the bypass road is essentially a dead issue because the prior town boards approved McDonalds and Walgreens” on part of what was to be part of the bypass road.

Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said the Town Board can’t vote on the resolution because it has not been analyzed under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, to determine its impacts.

Prior coverage:

Town leaning toward dropping long-discussed Wading River ‘service road’

Wading River ‘service road’ proposal stirs debate

The change would affect five lots, she said. These lots currently have McDonalds, Walgreens, Landmark and Bernard May’s farm stand, as well as the 6333 Realty Group land.

“The SEQRA would be minor in nature,” Mr. Murphree said.

“I don’t see it that way,” Ms. Jens-Smith said. “I think SEQRA needs to be done and I’m surprised the resolution is in here with it.”

She said she would pull the resolution from the agenda for the Nov. 6 meeting.

“No, I want it in,” Councilwoman Jodi Giglio said.

She said the would-be developers of a new veterinary clinic in the 6333 Realty Group building have been waiting for 15 years.

“We need to stop holding people up with minutia like this,” she said.

Mr. Murphree said the SEQRA would be simple and could be done by the end of the day.

“And it will have a negative declaration before the end of the day,” Ms. Giglio said, referring to a declaration that means additional studies are not needed.

“How do you know that if you haven’t studied it yet?” Ms. Jens-Smith responded.

Mr. Murphree said he had already sent the board a Sept. 29 staff report that summarizes all of the issues that SEQRA would address.

Ms. Jens-Smith said the board would still need to discuss it.

Councilwoman Catherine Kent asked if Mr. Murphree could go over the SEQRA report with the board at its next work session on Nov. 7.

“It’s only a few days,” she said.

Board members agreed to do that.

tgannon@timesreview.com

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In his closing statements at a debate last week hosted by the News-Review, incumbent Councilman Tim Hubbard said he considered the four other candidates vying for Town Board friends. They are all people he has known for a long time. Other candidates expressed similar sentiments.

In some elections, a candidate’s praise of an opponent can come across as feigned, but this time the shared sentiment felt genuine.

After all, the five candidates for Town Board are familiar faces in Riverhead, and each could bring different backgrounds and expertise to the town council position.

Republican candidate Frank Beyrodt is a past president of the Long Island Farm Bureau. Democratic candidate Pat Snyder was executive director of East End Arts. Fellow Democrat Diane Tucci was executive director of the Riverhead Business Improvement District. Libertarian candidate William Van Helmond is president of the Greater Jamesport Civic Association.

That’s just a snapshot of efforts the newcomers have already made trying to improve their communities.

Riverhead voters will be in good hands as they choose two council members, at least one of whom will be new. (Current Republican Jim Wooten reached his term limits and was not eligible to run again.)

Mr. Beyrodt ran for town council in 2017 and narrowly missed earning a spot on the board when he finished 128 votes behind Catherine Kent. We felt he would be a welcome addition to the Town Board at the time and we again endorse him. His farming experience and work with Island Harvest, combined with his business expertise at DeLea Sod Farm, give him a unique perspective to bring to the Town Board. A topic during this election season has been the transfer of development rights, or TDR, where the development rights on farmland the town seeks to preserve are transferred to land where the town feels additional development is warranted.

“It’s one of my big crosses to bear,” Mr. Beyrodt said during a debate last week. “We need to get that back going again.”

We commend Mr. Beyrodt for taking a stand when speaking on the growing Hispanic and Latino population in Riverhead. He said he didn’t want the discussion to become an indictment of the Hispanic community.

“Many of these people are working long days and they’re hard-working and they’re good, honest, church-going, God-loving people that just want to make a living and they just happen to be at the bottom of the totem pole right now,” he said.

That’s the kind of leadership we would hope to see from Mr. Beyrodt if he’s elected.

Ms. Tucci, who grew up working on her grandparents’ farm in Baiting Hollow, has been a community asset in a number of ways and would also be a welcome member of the Town Board. Her roles with the Riverhead BID and Chamber of Commerce provide experience that will be helpful for the Town Board, particularly as a link to the business community.

She supports the pattern book for downtown Riverhead that will guide future zoning and was most excited to talk about downtown during a debate last week. She supported market rate housing, as did other opponents, as a next step for downtown.

Ms. Tucci raised smart points during a debate on one of the main election issues: overcrowded housing and code enforcement. She realizes that addressing overcrowding alone is not going to solve the need for the school district to expand.

“The town is only responsible for code enforcement,” she said. “We can’t have any pressure on the school about who’s going into the schools. What we really need to do is start working together on this as a community.”

She brought up the town’s homeless population and cautioned against inadvertently adding to that.

She agreed the town should crack down on landlords who are profiting from illegal homes. But she’s willing to talk about the human element of the issue, which is often ignored.

As the lone incumbent, Mr. Hubbard will be a favorite for re-election and he clearly knows the issues and has worked hard over the past four years. But for an endorsement, we go back to that qualified and eligible vote in 2018, where Mr. Hubbard, as the swing vote, said yes. The story on that EPCAL land and Calverton Aviation & Technology has yet to be completed, but it’s fair to say the community remains skeptical and worries persist about what that developed land may one day look like.

Mr. Hubbard may be proved right in the long run, but we simply don’t know.

Ms. Snyder and Mr. Van Helmond would both bring strengths to the position.

But from our perspective, we endorse Mr. Beyrodt and Ms. Tucci.

The post Endorsement: Frank Beyrodt, Diane Tucci for Town Board appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

A Riverhead man accused of killing his wife in August was found “incapacitated” to stand trial by two competency tests and will be sent to a medical facility operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health, according to Judge Mark Cohen.

Robert Brown, 65, appeared before Judge Cohen in Suffolk County Court in Riverside Friday. Mr. Brown fatally shot his wife Aug. 27 at their home, prosecutors said, and he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

“The trial is on hold,” said Ian Fitzgerald, Mr. Brown’s court-appointed attorney in an interview.

Mr. Fitzgerald said his client will be re-examined by doctors at the New York State Office of Mental Health facility.

“If they determine that he’s not incapacitated, he’ll come back here to face trial,” he said. “If they determine he is not competent, they will seek a retention order from the courts. The commitment order only lasts for a year, so if they want to keep him there, they will have to come back to the court and say ‘this person is still not competent, we need to keep him here,’ and the court has to basically reorder that he be kept there.”

At the time of his arrest, some neighbors indicated that he might be suffering from some sort of dementia.

On Friday, after he was being pushed out of the courtroom in a wheelchair, Mr. Brown laughed out loud and said “I knew that before this.”

Police said Mr. Brown barricaded himself inside his Doris Avenue home for nearly four hours while police ordered him to come out following reports that he was walking outside the house with a gun.

After police broke down the front door, they arrested Mr. Brown and found his 71-year-old wife, Sara, dead from a gunshot wound.

He was later indicted by a grand jury. The top charge carries a maximum term of life imprisonment.

Riverhead police said in a criminal complaint that “the charges were based in part on oral admission of [Mr. Brown] where in sum and substance, he stated, ‘I shot my wife with a pistol in the neck area.’ ”

Mr. Fitzpatrick requested the court order a competency test at a court appearance in September to ensure Mr. Brown understands the charges and can assist in his defense.

tgannon@timesreview.com

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He’s often ranked among the best stand-up comics and is known for his role in classic films like “The Jerk,” but Steve Martin is also a masterful banjoist who, in 2013, partnered with Edie Brickell to write a poignant musical which will make its Long Island premiere next week.

“Bright Star” is inspired by the story of the “Iron Mountain Baby” from the early 20th century. Set in the mountains of Asheville, N.C., the story follows the intertwined lives of small-town characters during the 1940s and in flashbacks to the 1920s.

The tale of love, loss and redemption is set to a bluegrass-inspired score and was nominated for five Tony Awards in 2016, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It had a brief three-month run on Broadway in 2016 — at the height of Hamilton’s reign.

The musical, presented by the Riverhead Faculty & Community Theatre, opens Friday, Nov. 1.

* See more photos below *

“It had a pretty short run [on Broadway] but because of that, it has such a cult following,” said Justin Harris, a Riverhead native who is making his directorial debut with this production. “There aren’t too many country- or folk-inspired musicals that appear on Broadway.”

He said he was immediately drawn to the show, which pairs emotional storytelling with the rawness of country and bluegrass music.

“The lyrics are poetic and the music just pulls you in,” Mr. Harris said. “[Steve Martin] is this jokester, but has mapped out an incredibly emotional show.”

He said it’s an honor to have a hand in bringing the production to the RFCT, where he got his own start in theater as a first-grader in a production of “Oliver! The Musical.”

“It feels like a full-circle moment,” he said.

Mr. Harris, 26, graduated from Riverhead High School in 2011 and holds a degree in neuroscience from Brown University. He currently teaches youth theater courses at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.

“This small-town folk musical fits in perfectly with the East End of Long Island,” Mr. Harris said. “[The story] is embedded in community, and how every decision that one person makes can affect another person, whether we know it or not.”

Mr. Harris has made several adaptations from the original Broadway production, including casting a large ensemble of 35 actors that range in age from 7 to their 60s.

One major change is the decision to cast four actors, rather than two, to portray the two lead characters, which deal in flashbacks.

The production will also feature a live pit orchestra under the direction of Karen Hochstedler.

Mr. Harris said he hopes audiences will leave with a renewed sense of hope after seeing the production.

“One of the lyrics I keep coming back to is ‘The sun is gonna shine again,’ ” Mr. Harris said. “Hope is what the world needs now more than ever.”

The RFCT is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1980 to raise funds for student scholarships, music boosters and other projects that involve children in the arts. “Bright Star” opens Friday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Charles Cardona Auditorium at Riverhead High School.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 1, 2, 8 and 9, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 and 10.

Tickets are available online at rfct.org for $15 in advance, $20 at the door and $10 for students.

Top photo caption: The cast of ‘Bright Star’ rehearses at Riverhead High School Monday. (Credit: Tara Smith)

tsmith@timesreview.com

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Senior David Squires was first to climb atop the monument that displays the Victory Bell outside Pulaski Street School. Fellow seniors Isaiah Barbieri, Steven McDonald and William Berkowsky followed.

Surrounded by a huge group of fellow classmates and Riverhead football supporters, the players paused before ringing. They looked back toward Coach Mike McKillop Memorial Field.

Someone was missing.

They needed Albert Daniels.

Clutching a football in his left hand, Daniels — the Blue Waves’ standout running back — arrived a few moments later after completing a television interview. Daniels joined his teammates at the bell and the joyous sound of victory soon rang out as the crowd chanted in unison to 37.

“I’m like, they better not start without me, so I just sprinted over here,” Daniels said.

It was only fitting the Blue Waves waited for Daniels. The senior rushed for four touchdowns in the 37-14 victory against Walt Whitman on homecoming in front of a standing-room only crowd, his latest masterpiece in what has been one of the best individual rushing seasons in the program’s long history.

Albert Daniels carries the ball for Riverhead. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

The win locked the Blue Waves into the No. 6 seed in the playoffs as they avoided a potential drop in power points that could have seen them matched up with undefeated William Floyd. Instead, the Blue Waves (6-2) will travel to face No. 3 Longwood (6-2), likely Friday night.

“I’ve played on this field since I was 6 years old,” Daniels said. “All the greats have rung that bell over the years. To ring it once last time on the home field is beautiful.”

Daniels carried the ball 31 times and gained 194 yards. He scored on runs of 1, 35, 2 and 7.

After taking a one touchdown lead into halftime, the Blue Waves came out firing in the second half with scoring drives on each of their first three possessions, all touchdowns from Daniels.

“That’s a credit to my offensive line and coaches,” Daniels said of the rushing attack. “They do an amazing job game planning and offensive line does a great job blocking.”

Daniels first joined the varsity in Riverhead as a freshman. In those first three years, he never got the chance to experience playoff football.

Three years ago the Blue Waves were 1-7, matching their worst record since 1991. The next two years only added up to five more wins.

Tyreek Earl Parker and Lamarion Hopkins (75) sack Whitman’s quarterback, who lost the ball but was ruled down by contact. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

Now, with Saturday’s win, the Blue Waves matched their winning total from the past three seasons combined — all while competing in Division I for the first time.

Talk about a turnaround.

“I’m super excited,” Daniels said. “First time in playoffs after three-year drought. It’s a great feeling, especially in Division I.”

The Blue Waves will be vying for their first playoff win since defeating Deer Park in the first round in 2014.

Riverhead coach Leif Shay said heading to the playoffs brings back the spirit that Riverhead football has always been known for.

“The community backs these kids and it’s an exciting time,” he said. “They’ll ring the bell and all those traditions come back to life.”

While Whitman came into the game as a bottom-four team in Division I, the Wildcats were coming off a close game against Longwood. The Wildcats lost that game by three points, so the Blue Waves knew they couldn’t take anything for granted.

The bleachers were packed for the homecoming game. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

And Shay is never particularly excited when his team plays on homecoming, always wary of the potential distractions the players could face in the week leading up to the game.

“Credit to our guys that they came in focused and ready to play,” he said.

The Wildcats actually struck first in the game, scoring through the air on their second possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead. But the Blue Waves answered with a quick four-play drive after starting in Wildcats’ territory. Quarterback Christopher Dorr connected on a 21-yard pass to Christian Campbell to tie the game.

Riverhead’s defense was outstanding the rest of the way as Whitman could get nothing going on the ground. The Wildcats relied on their passing attack with minimal success the rest of the way. The final two points for Riverhead came  on a safety.

Riverhead kept Whitman off the scoreboard again until late in the fourth quarter, at which point both teams were playing backups.

“I thought it was a great overall team effort [on defense],” Shay said.

Riverhead took the lead on a 10-play drive capped by Daniels’ first touchdown run from a yard out on fourth down with 6:54 left in the second.

Now it’s onto the playoffs.

“It’s going to be a helluva game,” Daniels said.

joew@timesreview.com

Christian Campbell hauls in a touchdown pass in the first quarter. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

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Go figure.

Playing with the wind in the first half of the Suffolk County Class A girls soccer semifinals, Shoreham-Wading River could muster but one goal on Thursday night.

Then faced with wind and gusts in the 30-40 mph range in their face during the second half, the Wildcats struck three times en route to a comprehensive 4-0 home win over Hauppauge.

“It’s funny. That’s the game of soccer. That’s sports,” Shoreham coach Adrian Gilmore said. “Sometimes you have all the right conditions and it doesn’t work out and sometimes when you have to work the hardest it does work out.”

For the second-seeded Wildcats (13-2-2) it was more skill than luck, although they certainly did not turn down the latter against the No. 3 Eagles (10-4). Sara Hobbes, Gianna Cacciola, Ashley Borriello and Madison Bergen scored.

Their prize will be an opportunity for a county championship against eighth-seeded Harborfields at North Babylon High School on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Harborfields surprised No. 5 Eastport-South Manor in the other semifinal, 1-0, after knocking off top-seeded Half Hollow Hills West in the quarterfinals.

Senior goalkeeper Alison Devall, who recorded Shoreham’s 12th shutout, said she was “nervous and excited,” about the final.

“If we play our game, we should be fine,” she added.

The Wildcats knew what they were getting into. In the first game of a playoff doubleheader at Thomas Cutinella Memorial Field, the girls team watched the boys team battle the wind and its Hauppauge counterparts that turned into a 2-1 overtime defeat for the home side.

“We saw how the wind was such a huge factor,” Gilmore said. “So, we told the girls it was really important to play to feet.”

It took a while for that to sink in.

“We were nervous going into the game,” Cacciola said. “We had something to prove.”

With the wind at their backs in the opening 40 minutes, Shoreham proved it could dominate huge stretches but had problems finding the net until Sara Hobbes headed in Lakin Ciampo’s corner kick at 25 minutes and 26 seconds.

Hobbes said the wind helped her on the goal. “I think it definitely did,” she said. “It swerved in a little bit and I had to make a harder run inside. But Lakin’s kicks are really consistent. They are really always in the same spot no matter with the wind.”

Shoreham, however, feared it might have squandered too many chances with the wind.

“We had a lot of opportunities. We should have put them away,” Borriello said. “It’s not perfect. Some were unlucky.”

Added Gilmore: “The first half was little sloppy, a little kick and chase.”

It wasn’t until a halftime talk by Gilmore reminding how close Shoreham was to achieving one of its goals.

“We’re lucky out of our 11 starters four have been with us for 3 1/2, four years,” she said. “It’s their third trip back to the counties. We reminded them: ‘You can go back to the counties three years in a row. Most high school kids can’t say they did that and we’re 40 minutes away and we have to play hard.’ ”

With the second half only 55 seconds old, the Wildcats were awarded a penalty kick after a hand ball. Sensing that goalkeeper Zoe Kaplan was going to dive to her left, Cacciola drilled it into the middle of the net.

With a two-goal cushion and more confidence, the Wildcats found their game, even if it was against the wind.

“We just were really determined,” said freshman Madison Bergen, whose closed out the scoring by converting a rebound at 59:14. “We moved the ball around as fast as we could.”

“We relaxed. We played simple and on the ground,” said Borriello, who connected off a right-wing cross by freshman Graceann Leonard at 56:28. That goal was aided by the wind a bit, too.

“It looked like it was going to go in and all of a sudden and I saw it was just skimming the post and I ran in and tapped it in,” she added.

Reaching the county final has never gotten old for Gilmore.

“It’s a great feeling,” she said. “The kids work so hard for coach [Brian] Ferguson and I day in and day out. Halloween, we had a great crowd. It’s what you work for all year. The main goal is to get there, to work hard and get to states. I’ve never been there.”

The Wildcats can take a giant step toward those goals on Tuesday.

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A Riverhead man accused of killing his wife in August was found “incapacitated” to stand trial by two competency tests and will be sent to a medical facility operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health, according to Judge Mark Cohen.

Robert Brown, 65, appeared before Judge Cohen in Suffolk County Court in Riverside Friday. Mr. Brown fatally shot his wife Aug. 27 at their home, prosecutors said, and he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

“The trial is on hold,” said Ian Fitzgerald, Mr. Brown’s court-appointed attorney in an interview.

Mr. Fitzgerald said his client will be re-examined by doctors at the New York State Office of Mental Health facility.

“If they determine that he’s not incapacitated, he’ll come back here to face trial,” he said. “If they determine he is not competent, they will seek a retention order from the courts. The commitment order only lasts for a year, so if they want to keep him there, they will have to come back to the court and say ‘this person is still not competent, we need to keep him here,’ and the court has to basically reorder that he be kept there.”

At the time of his arrest, some neighbors indicated that he might be suffering from some sort of dementia.

On Friday, after he was being pushed out of the courtroom in a wheelchair, Mr. Brown laughed out loud and said “I knew that before this.”

Police said Mr. Brown barricaded himself inside his Doris Avenue home for nearly four hours while police ordered him to come out following reports that he was walking outside the house with a gun.

After police broke down the front door, they arrested Mr. Brown and found his 71-year-old wife, Sara, dead from a gunshot wound.

He was later indicted by a grand jury. The top charge carries a maximum term of life imprisonment.

Riverhead police said in a criminal complaint that “the charges were based in part on oral admission of [Mr. Brown] where in sum and substance, he stated, ‘I shot my wife with a pistol in the neck area.’ ”

Mr. Fitzpatrick requested the court order a competency test at a court appearance in September to ensure Mr. Brown understands the charges and can assist in his defense.

tgannon@timesreview.com

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A Riverhead woman was arrested Sunday evening for criminal possession of a controlled substance, police reports said.

Sophonia Reeder, 50, was stopped at the intersection of Marcy and Osborn avenues around 11:30 a.m. after violating a stop sign, police said. She allegedly told police she stopped at the BP Gas Station on West Main Street and was on her way home from work.

Upon further investigation, police found a number of small white rocks, suspected to be crack cocaine, in the center console of her vehicle. A field test of one of the granules tested positive for the presence of narcotics, reports said.

Ms. Reeder was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, both misdemeanors, and an additional traffic violation. She was transported to police headquarters for processing and released with a ticket, reports said. Evidence recovered at the scene was processed and forwarded to the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory for further analysis.

• Julio Cruz, 38, of Riverhead was arrested for harassment Saturday morning in Riverhead, police reports said.

Around 1:40 a.m., a witness reported a domestic incident at a home on Horton Avenue. When police arrived at the home, a female victim stated she was in a physical and verbal dispute with her boyfriend, Mr. Cruz, who fled from the scene in an unknown direction.

Police immediately searched the area but could not find Mr. Cruz, reports said. A domestic incident report was filed and charges against Mr. Cruz were prepared by police.

Shortly after the report was filed, Mr. Cruz was reported to have returned to the area and he was arrested, police said. He was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing, a misdemeanor, and harassment, a violation. He was transported to Riverhead Police Department headquarters for processing and was held for arraignment.

• A Moriches man was arrested in Calverton Friday morning for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Travis Abinette, 30, was operating a 2011 Toyota Prius when he was stopped for a traffic infraction on Hulse Landing Road. Upon further investigation, police found Mr. Abinette was driving without a license.

Mr. Abinette was arrested at approximately 8:46 a.m. and charged with aggravated unlicensed operation, a misdemeanor, and one additional traffic violation.

• William Christiansen, 63, of Westhampton was arrested at the Riverhead Home Depot Friday for petit larceny, reports said.

Around 3 p.m., Home Depot staff reported that Mr. Christiansen removed several items, valued at $144, from the store without paying, police reports said. While on the scene, police recovered black pliers from Mr. Christiansen, reports said.

Mr. Christiansen was arrested, charged with petit larceny and possession of burglary tools, both misdemeanors. He was transported to Riverhead Police Department headquarters and while being processed, police recovered two packets of suboxone and a prescription from his wallet. All substances were placed into police property, reports said. The case is still being investigated.

• Police responded to a report of a commercial alarm at Luminati Aerospace early last Tuesday morning, reports said.

Police responded to the alarm that sounded at approximately 1:55 a.m. at the Calverton location. Police checked the exterior of the building and found a south-facing door padlocked and partially open; however, the building was not accessible through the door and the rest of the establishment was secure. The owner of the property was unavailable to respond, reports said.

• Police are investigating a report of larceny that occurred Monday morning at a sod farm in Calverton, reports said.

The homeowner reported that around 7:25 a.m., an unknown male entered the sod field behind his property on Deep Hole Road and began to remove scrap metal from his backyard. The homeowner approached the subject and asked him to put down the metal and leave. The suspect laughed, continued to load scrap metal into his dark blue Dodge pickup truck and drove away, reports said.

The homeowner was unable to obtain the license plate of the man’s vehicle and told police he does not have video surveillance on the property.

Police reports said the vehicle description seems consistent with the vehicle involved in another nearby larceny, but that has not yet been confirmed. A suspect has not been found but was described as a thin, white male in his early 20s. He would be charged with petit larceny, a misdemeanor.

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.

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Approximately 31 students in Riverhead Central School District are being home-schooled after not meeting state immunization standards, the district said. 

Four months ago, New York State tightened regulations on school vaccinations requirements and ended non-medical exemptions from vaccines amidst one of the worst measles outbreaks since 1992. Children with nonmedical exemptions must now be vaccinated to attend or remain in public schools and daycare services. Students with a valid medical exemption from a physician are permitted to remain in school.

Roughly five students in Riverhead have been excluded from attending school and extracurricular activities because they lack appropriate immunizations, district officials said. However, district officials said that number is fluid, as students who have received their initial series of immunizations can continue to attend school as long as other necessary immunizations are scheduled.

Riverhead parents and community members flooded a school board meeting last month and requested the district support them in obtaining an emergency injunction to allow children to stay in school despite the state-imposed mandate. 

At that meeting, Superintendent Aurelia Henriquez said she wrote two letters asking the Board of Regents, state judges and elected representatives to delay the implementation.

Discussions about immunization laws persist in Riverhead Town as a recent proposed bill in Albany could require children to obtain the human papilloma virus vaccine to attend public school or daycare.

That bill, currently under review by the Senate, would require all children born after Jan. 1, 2009 to obtain a dose of immunizing agents against HPV. If approved, it could take effect Sept. 1, 2021.

The vaccine, which prevents certain cancers, is typically given to boys and girls around the age of 11 or 12.

The bill states that HPV is “an incredibly common sexually transmitted infection that can be passed even when an infected person is asymptomatic, and can cause genital warts or cancer.”

Routine vaccination could prevent 92% of cancers caused by HPV, saving thousands of lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The bill is sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan), who sponsored legislation eliminating the religious exemption for vaccines for school children.

Shoreham-Wading River Superintendent Gerard Poole did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding immunized students in the district.

Rhode Island, Virginia and the District of Columbia require the HPV vaccine for children to attend school.

Captions: Aquebogue Elementary School teacher Keri Stromski (left) and Kristen Kramer lift Ms. Kramer’s son to the microphone at last Tuesday’s Riverhead school board meeting. Ms. Stromski and nearly 30 others attended the meeting to express their frustration with new state legislation that abolishes religious exemption from school vaccinations.

knalepinski@timesreview.com

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Photos by Joe Werkmeister

Riverhead High School celebrated homecoming 2019 with the annual parade through downtown Riverhead.

The marchers, including the high school band, cheerleaders, ROTC and more — made their way up to the high school football field where the Blue Waves were set to play Walt Whitman in the regular season finale.

On a crisp fall day, spirits were high as students from each class proudly marched with their floats, followed by the loud sirens from local fire departments’ trucks.

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Southampton Town police arrested a Flanders man on felony DWI charges after he allegedly ran three stop signs on Oak Avenue in Flanders early Friday morning.

According to officials, Christopher Vaca, 30, was stopped around 5:27 a.m. and found to be intoxicated. He told a police officer, “I’m drunk. Just arrest me for the DWI already,” according to a police report.

Police said Mr. Vaca has had a previous DWI conviction in the past 10 years and was also found to be driving without a court-ordered interlock device.

He was charged with circumventing a court-ordered interlock device, a misdemeanor, and two felony charges of first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and driving while intoxicated.

• Pablo Cortez, 31, of Flanders was arrested for driving with a suspended license in Hampton Bays Friday.

Police said he was stopped on Springville Road for driving with a cracked windshield around midnight when a DMV check revealed his license had been suspended.

Mr. Cortez was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor, as well as two violations, officials said.

• Police responded to a Flanders Road residence last Thursday morning after a man reported a possible burglary.

A 61-year-old Flanders man said that when he left his father’s residence the night before, he locked all of the doors but returned the next morning around 9 a.m. to find the back basement door had been broken into.

It’s unclear if anything was stolen from the residence, but police said an investigation is ongoing.

• David Stetler, 31, of East Marion was arrested for driving with a revoked license in Speonk last Wednesday afternoon.

Police said he was stopped for speeding on North Phillips Avenue and further investigation revealed his license had been revoked and his vehicle appeared to be unregistered.

He was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor, reports said.

• Southampton police arrested Henry Perez-Guevara, 23, of Flanders around 7:46 p.m. last Tuesday and charged him with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and a violation for leaving the scene of an accident.

Police did not provide any additional information in a report.

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.

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Al Krupski is among the strongest advocates for the North Fork. From his tenure as a Southold Town trustee, to his six years on the Suffolk County legislature, nobody has been more out front in terms of preserving our farms and farmland and the health of our salt creeks and bays.

In 2017, we said of him: “He is the brightest light on the North Fork political landscape.” Well, two years later, as he seeks a fourth term on the legislature, this remains true. We feel it would be accurate to say he is perhaps the brightest light on the East End for everything that makes Eastern Long Island the unique place that it is.

As it was in his previous elections to the Legislature, Mr. Krupski’s opponent is Remy Bell, a former Riverhead Town GOP chairman, who is little more than a placeholder on the ballot, meaning Mr. Krupski is essentially running unopposed. The GOP simply can’t touch him.

His family’s farming history in Peconic has been Mr. Krupski’s anchor point. His public service career grew out of that. It’s the garden from which his view of the North Fork and what is required to preserve it took root. The same ground also produced his son Nick Krupski, who, like his father, is keenly focused on the region’s beauty and the challenges ahead like climate change. Nick Krupski is running unopposed for reelection to the town trustees.

We, once again, enthusiastically endorse Mr. Krupski for reelection.

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When bike sharing was announced for Riverhead Town in September, Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith called the program “super exciting.” The Suffolk County program is called Bethpage Ride, and 17 locations in the county have been set up to date, with five in Hampton Bays.

To the delight of Riverhead officials, Bethpage Ride will soon be up and running in multiple locations in the town, including several downtown but also at the 9.2-mile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Trail at EPCAL, which is already popular with bike riders. Dozens of rental bikes will be kept at docking stations.

Bethpage Ride is a creation of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s activist administration, and is among his best proposals. Here on the East End, another, far more urgent proposal has been pushed by the Bellone administration that shows his thinking on critical environmental issues: the county’s strong support for the installation of I/A septic systems as a means to reduce nitrogen pollution in groundwater.

Suffolk County is the most densely populated area with septic systems in the United States. These systems are heavy polluters of groundwater — the water we drink. The Bellone administration began promoting the news systems, called Innovative and Alternative On-Site Wastewater Treatment Systems, which are said to reduce nitrogen by up to 70%. They also cost individual homeowners in excess of $20,000.

Mr. Bellone’s staff has held community meetings in Southold — and more are planned for Riverhead — to promote the systems, but also to promote access to county grants of up to $20,000 to cover installation costs. This is very important news for the East End, where septic systems are ubiquitous and, in hundreds of locations, very close to saltwater. By last spring, 102 systems had been installed countywide. On Tuesday, Mr. Bellone announced that more than 100 county residents applied for the grants in October.

This is very good news, and we on eastern Long Island need to do whatever it takes to keep our groundwater safe and our creeks and bays clean. Mr. Bellone’s opponents are John M. Kennedy, running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines, and Gregory John Fischer, on the Libertarian line.

We endorse Steve Bellone for Suffolk County executive.

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For our final Times Review Talks event of 2019, we’ll be focusing on Riverhead in 2029.

“Riverhead: What Will It Look Like 10 Years from Now,” is set for noon on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at The Vineyards at Aquebogue. Topics expected to be discussed include the future of downtown development, Route 58, housing, Peconic Bay Medical Center, the EPCAL sale, the upcoming school bond vote and the revitalization of neighboring Riverside.

RESERVE YOUR SEAT NOW

Riverhead Town Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith, Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, Peconic Bay Medical Center President & CEO Andy Mitchell, Richmond Realty’s Ike Israel and Sean McLean of Mpact Collective and the Riverside redevelopment efforts are among the confirmed panelists. The discussion will be moderated by Times Review Media Group content director Grant Parpan. Representatives of the Riverhead School District, whose taxpayers will soon be asked to consider an $87.9 million facilities bond, declined to participate in the event.

Times Review Talks are panel discussions mostly on issues our communities are facing with the people who best understand the concerns and, in some cases, are in a position to make a difference. Times Review Media Group, which publishes both The Suffolk Times and Riverhead News-Review, held six previous events this year and is currently planning more talks for 2020.

Audience members are invited to ask questions during the 90-minute events. The $30 ticket price ($20 for Times Review subscribers) includes lunch. Space is limited, so we recommend purchasing your tickets in advance at bit.ly/TRTalks_November.

This month’s lead sponsors are Richmond Realty and Peconic Bay Medical Center. Additional sponsors are Riverhead Ford Lincoln, Riverhead Buick GMC, Suffolk Security Systems and Advantage Title.

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