KOREAN WAR* USNAVY * VETERAN 1950-53 A Reason To Honor Veterans

Autumn Daze

By June Capossela Kempf

Here we are.  The season’s cool winds and driving rainstorms have brought down all the leaves that shaded us from the glare of the summer’s sun. Our thoughts now turn to the looming holidays that are coming at us like a cluster of ferocious firestorms. It’s November!  Plans have been in the works since last November to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with yet another world famous and magnificent Macy’s Day parade.  Spectators from all over the country crowd the sidewalks of New York and marvel at the iconic array of enormous inflatable characters while battling the winds high above their heads. They can hear loud and flashy marching bands from blocks away and if lucky, see dancing Rockettes dazzle the audience at Herald Square – all in anticipation of Santa ushering in the Christmas season. What a show!

But while this was all going on, another event was being quietly planned.  Parades and ceremonies, organized with solemn dignity giving homage to our heroes who sacrificed so much so we can have a reason to be thankful. In places all over the country citizens march down their own Lake Avenues in near silence. At the end of the road, they gather to hear a single bugle tapping out ‘Day is Done’. Veterans snap to attention and prayers are offered up by a local clergyman by the village gazebo.

What a scene!

Grandpa got ready early to go to the parade, and although he doesn’t have his old sailor’s garb to wear, he proudly dusted off his baseball hat emblazoned with the words:  KOREAN WAR* USNAVY * VETERAN 1950-53. Whenever he wears that hat, people, strangers if you will, stop everything to thank him for his service and engage in conversations like they were old friends hanging out on the front porch.

This year he was unable to participate in the parade itself, so Grandpa stood on the sidewalk, saluting each group of marchers as they passed by. But only a few devoted spectators showed up to stand in line beside the old Naval airman. As bitter memories flooded his mind, of things he could never talk about - even to his family; he connected with his fellow veterans, who didn’t need any explanations about his state of mind -they knew. 

On the way home, Grandpa seemed to be a bit agitated.

“How come there was such a small turn-out for the parade?” Then wondered out loud why we never learned anything from all the horrors of wars and atrocities gone by.

“It’s still going on,” he said. He then fell silent for a few moments and stared into space, stuck in the past, perhaps revisiting those distant terrors that came to haunt him from time to time. When he was ready, he put his dark recollections away and came back into focus:

“Hey,” he laughed. “Did they ever get the big witch rebuilt?” 

“You mean Winnie?”

“Yeah, “he said, “When I passed by her place the other day, she had a new head, and a construction crew was busy framing out her torso.”

“Ohhh, do you want to drive by?” I asked.

“Yeah, let’s go see how much she has developed by now.”

“Yup! I wouldn’t be surprised if she winds up all blown up and flying her broom high above the Macy’s Day parade next year.”

 I really meant that.

June Capossela Kempf: Essayist and  Author of : Yo God! Jay’s Story, a memoir  and Lady of the Dollhouse, a YA mystery

Assault On Police Results In Arrests At St. James Wedding

Suffolk County Police last night arrested a man for assaulting a police officer who was breaking up a fight at a wedding in Saint James.

Fourth Precinct Patrol officers responded to a wedding at a catering establishment located at 199 Mills Pond Road after a 911 call reported a fight at approximately 7:45 p.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they found multiple skirmishes had broken out among the more than 100 guests at the wedding. Officers from the Second, Fifth and Sixth Precincts, Canine Section and Emergency Services officers, as well as Smithtown Park Rangers and Head of the Harbor Police officers also responded.

As officers were breaking up the fight and restoring order, Justize Murphy bit one officer on the arm and shoved another officer. A second man, Qeywon Wilson, obstructed another officer who was attempting to break up the fighting.

Wilson was charged with Obstructing Governmental Administration. He will be arraigned at a later date.

Fourth Squad detectives charged Murphy, 22, of Mastic Beach, with Assault 2nd Degree. He will be held at the Fourth Precinct overnight and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip later today.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: Suffolk County Environmental Executive Forum

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The environment has long been a leading concern in Suffolk County and thus having a Suffolk County Environmental Executive Forum early in the contest for Suffolk’s highest county government position, county executive, was a natural.

Held last week at Stony Brook University, sponsored by the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Julie Tighe, president of the fund and also the league itself, opened the forum by saying “this election season is critical to the environment.”

The environment is not only on the “top of the minds” of people, but “permeating into their daily existence,” Tighe said. She addressed how in recent weeks “we’ve seen apocalyptic orange skies” and there have been “multiple torrential rainstorms” including, she noted, four inches of rain in Suffolk the day before the forum last Monday evening. Further, globally there was a series of days that had “the hottest temperatures the Earth has ever seen.”

The extreme weather events—drought in Canada resulting in massive wildfires and orange skies in the U.S., severe rainstorms especially in Vermont and upstate New York, and the globe’s hottest weather in 120,000 years—are being attributed to climate change caused largely by the burning of fossil fuels.

Tighe urged people to make the environment a “top priority” in the coming election.

On the ballot in November as candidates for Suffolk County executive will be Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine, the Republican nominee who before becoming supervisor of Long Island’s largest town was a long-time Suffolk legislator, and David Calone, the Democratic nominee, an attorney, an ex-prosecutor including for the U.S. Department of Justice, and also formerly chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission and a trustee of the Long Island Power Authority.

Each spoke for the several minutes allotted for opening and closing statements and were separately questioned for more than a half-hour apiece by Tighe. Before becoming leader of the league, she was chief of staff of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for 11 years. There were about 200 people in attendance at the forum. 

Calone, of East Setauket, was the first to appear on the stage. In his opening remarks, he said: “I am the candidate with the broadest environmental experience of any candidate we have ever seen run before for Suffolk County executive.” And he referred to actions he has taken on environmental and energy matters in various positions he has held.

Calone said “we have significant issues facing our county” and cited two. One was how Romaine, he charged, “failed to deal with the landfill in Brookhaven Town” which has been “poisoning the community and putting our entire economy at risk.” The second was the rejection by the Republican majority on the Suffolk Legislature on having a referendum on the November election ballot on a measure increasing the sales tax in the county 1/8^th percent to raise money to replace cesspools on which most of Suffolk depends with sewers and what are termed Innovative/Alternative Septic Treatment System.

However, when it came his turn, Romaine, of Center Moriches, said prior to his taking office as Brookhaven supervisor there was a push by the then Democratic town administration to increase the size of the landfill. Instead, said Romaine, he called for closing the landfill, and that has been happening while he seeks reducing waste with a “circular system” concentrating “on recycling.” As for a referendum increasing the sales tax for money for sewers and new high-tech septic systems, he said the plan developed is “far from perfect” and “I don’t believe legislators were involved in drafting this legislation,” but “I am not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” He said: “I hope it goes through and if it doesn’t, you have an ironclad commitment from me that another plan will be forthcoming as soon as possible and that plan will include consultation with all 18 county legislators and not be drafted in secret.”

About climate change, Calone and Romaine had similar positions—both advocating the elimination of fossil fuels especially through the use of solar and wind power and electric vehicles. Romaine said “we can substitute green, non-polluting power” for energy to replace the burning of fossil fuels.

Romaine pointed to repeated endorsements he has received from environmental groups that he has received as a candidate for the legislature and town supervisor “because of the work I’ve done for the environment.” He spoke of endorsements by the Sierra Club, Long Island Environmental Voters Forum and the league. He said that as a legislator “I preserved more land in my district”—which, he noted, included Shelter Island, Riverhead and Southold towns and eastern Brookhaven—“than the other 17 county legislators together.” 

To hear all of what was said in the hour-and-a-half forum, a video of it is on YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0agp2ALNfY&t=3s This can also be linked to by inputting on Google or YouTube the words Suffolk County Environmental Executive Forum. 

The incumbent Suffolk County executive, Democrat Steve Bellone of West Babylon, after three four-year terms is term-limited and will leave office at the end of this year. 

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. 

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: Journalism In A Changing Media Environment

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The Local Journalism Sustainability Act was not acted upon by the New York State Legislature in its past session, but a co-sponsor of the measure, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor, is looking for action in the legislature’s next session which starts with the new year.

“I think it’s an important bill,” said Thiele last week. “Community newspapers are such a critical part of democracy. They are checks on the system.” 

But through the nation and in New York State, community newspapers have in recent times been unable to survive because of economic problems and “a changing media environment,” said Thiele. 

Indeed, said the long-time assemblyman, “a lot of places in the state are now media deserts”—communities with no community newspapers.

The act would be implemented by providing state tax credits to media companies that hire more local journalists, and a personal income tax credit of up to $250 annually to those who support local media companies as subscribers.

The measure is non-partisan. Its two other co-sponsors from Suffolk County besides Thiele are Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio of Riverhead and Senator Anthony Palumbo of New Suffolk, both Republicans. Thiele is a Democrat. 

“We the undersigned lead newsrooms, unions and other organizations working to strengthen local news in the state of New York. We do not, as a rule, write letters to elected officials, but we believe that the dramatic loss of community journalism is grievously harming communities—and that the legislation being considered in New York State is a First Amendment-friendly way of addressing this crisis,” wrote an array of publishers and editors, representatives of press unions and others earlier this year in a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and leaders of the state legislature.

“The scale of the problem is hard to overstate,” declared this coalition, Rebuild Local News. “The number of weekly newspapers in New York plunged from 439 in 2004 to 249 in 2019.”

“Nationally we’ve seen about a 57% decline in the number of reporters in less than two decades. On average, two newspapers are closing each week,” it said.

It noted: “Studies have shown that communities with less local news have more waste, corruption and polarization—and less civic engagement.”

“We are all working hard to quickly adapt our business models, better engage readers, and draw in support from the philanthropic sector. But these steps will not be nearly big enough or fast enough. And the vacuums that are being created by the shrinking of local news are being rapidly filled by social media, national partisan news, counterfeit local websites (funded by political activists of both parties) and conspiracy theories. The communities harmed are rural and urban, large and small, red and blue. Time is of the essence.”

“This nonpartisan legislation also has firewalls to prevent elected officials from rewarding or punishing particular news outlets,” it continued. “No government body decides to give a grant to this newsroom or that. It’s a tax provision. You qualify or you don’t. That provides great insulation.”

“We’ll end on a note that may seem unusual in a letter like this. Part of why we need a strong local press is to hold elected officials accountable. Passing this will not make us do less of that. In fact, it will help us do more,” it said. “But the benefits go beyond that. Community news helps residents make choices for their families, gives communities the information they need to tackle their problems, and enables neighbors to better understand each other. It strengthens communities.”

I’ve mentioned in this space how I was inspired to go into journalism by a college internship at the Cleveland Press which had emblazoned above its entrance its motto: “Give light and the people will find their own way.” Regularly I saw those words become reality especially because of the newspaper’s investigative reporting. The Cleveland Press no longer exists.

I later spent years at the daily Long Island Press. It no longer exists.

Thiele says the tax credit plan in the bill is similar to “the incentives provided to so many industries to improve their health.” And, in this case so needed, as he says, to “insure the state of democracy on the local level.”

Issues involving housing and crime dominated the past session of the state legislature which ended last month. Thiele relates that when tax issues—including tax credit matters—are involved, typically the legislative process is slow.

Helping the local press be sustainable is vital for local democracy. 

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. 

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: Long Island And Climate Change

                                                 SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

                                                By Karl Grossman

The lead story this spring in Newsday brought dismal information about the impact of climate change on this area. Starting on the newspaper’s front page and running for three pages, the April 23^rd piece, headlined “LI’s Future And Climate Change,” declared: “In 2080, the historic Montauk lighthouse and Orient Point may be their own islands, cut off from the rest of Long Island by newly formed rivers.”

“At the end of the century, Fire Island may be little more than a sandbar separating the Atlantic from the Great South Bay. And South Shore coastal neighborhoods from Freeport to Hampton Bays could be uninhabitable.”

The article, by Carl MacGowan, continued: “These are some of the likely scenarios for Long Island’s 1,600 miles of vulnerable shorelines, according to climate scientists and environmentalists, who, citing numerous studies, said rising ocean and bay tides will alter how Long Islanders live, work and play. The pace and severity of nature’s makeover is uncertain, and most of the Island—especially inland areas far from the coasts—will be spared the worst of it, experts said. But there is broad agreement that climate change will impact the Island—and residents and public officials must start planning for a flood-filled future.”

It’s not just an area issue, of course. The climate crisis is a rapidly growing global calamity—and last week the world hit a meteorological historical record. “Earth’s hottest day? July 4 set a record, scientists say,” was the headline of a piece by Doyle Rice in USA Today. “Tuesday was Earth’s hottest day on record,” it began. “It comes as scientists say the planet is the hottest it has been in roughly 125,000 years. Experts believe more heat records will fall this summer.”

In the Newsday story, Alison Branco, with the title of climate adaption director at The Nature Conservancy office in Cold Spring Harbor, is quoted as saying: “It’s really hard to accept, but the ocean is going to make that decision for us. It doesn’t mean we can’t live here. It’s just going to look really different.”

An array of studies and experts are cited.  Over the next couple of decades, Long Island’s fish-shaped geography—with the North and South forks as the tail—likely will be dramatically reconfigured. Rising tides could turn Southold’s Hashamomuck Pond into a river stretching from Long Island Sound to Shelter Island Sound, severing Greenport and Orient from the rest of the town…On the South Fork, Napeague and Shinnecock bays could overwhelm the narrow strips of land that connect communities such as Hampton Bays, Amagansett and Montauk”—is Branco’s assessment. “It’s really going to be a series of islands as opposed to the long peninsulas that we have now.”

Kevin McAllister, president of the Sag Harbor-based organization Defend H20, relates how “some coastal communities such as Lindenhurst and Long Beach may simply become inhospitable for human habitation. These are locations that we just have to move back from.”

What’s to be done? Regarding this area, Newsday reported: “Experts say local officials should start planning to raise roads, build bridges and possibly bar development in some coastal areas.” Adaption, resilience—and retreat—have become key words.

But this is a global disaster. In medicine the strategy is dealing with the cause of illness not just the symptoms.

“We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month. “It’s time to wake up and step up.” At a conference at UN headquarters in New York, Guterres, previously prime minister of Portugal, emphasized that central to the climate crisis is the burning of fossil fuels and he repeated the call he and others have made over and over again: the burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil and gas—must be eliminated with a rapid transition to green, renewable energy.

The technologies are here now to do that.

“No Miracles Needed” is the title of a brilliant just-published book by Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program and an engineering professor at Stanford University. It’s subtitle: “How Today’s Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air.”

He writes: “The world needs to switch away from using fossil fuels to using clean, renewable sources of energy as soon as possible. Failure to do so will lead to accelerated and catastrophic climate damage, loss of biodiversity, and economic, social, and political stability.” He explains how we can “solve the climate crisis, and at the same time eliminate air pollution and safely secure energy supplies for all — without using ‘miracle’ technology.” Dr. Jacobson details the use of “existing technologies to harness, store and transmit energy from wind, water, and solar sources to ensure reliable electricity and heat supplies.” And he discusses “which technologies are not needed”—including gas, carbon capture and nuclear power (the nuclear fuel cycle is carbon-intensive and nuclear plants themselves emit carbon, radioactive carbon).

To see my TV interview with Dr. Jacobson, go to www.envirovideo.com

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.