The Other View Of Nissequogue River State Park

Demolition of buildings at the Nissequogue River State Park (former Kings Park Psychiatic Center) began this week.  The photos in this article were taken at the Nissequogue River State Park on Saturday, August 18, 2012.  The work site is not pretty but if all goes as planned, next year’s photos of the site will show a remarkable tranformation from blighted site to parkland where visitors will be able to enjoy the spectacular scenery and majestic views that are available at the park. Click Here

Thank you ! Shirley Borrillo

Pictured from left to right Laura Greif Program Director, Shirley Borrillo and Mae Inzone Club Leader.For the past twenty-three years Shirley Borrillo has kept the senior citizens of Smithtown moving! Shirley originally joined the Smithtown Senior Citizen Center as a participant because of her love of dance.  She quickly became an important part of the Center as a volunteer and teacher of both exercise classes and line dancing – twice a week for over twenty years!

Not only did Shirley donate her time and energy but she also choreographed her own line dances and created videos and music

CD’s for the classes she taught.  Her talent also led her to participate in the Center’s yearly Talent and Fashion Shows.

A group of Shirley’s friends and students recently gathered at the Senior Center to honor and thank her for her many contributions.  A proclamation from the Town of Smithtown presented by Supervisor Vecchio was read to Shirley thanking her for her years of service.  According to Laura Greif, Program Director at the Smithtown Senior Citizen Department, “Shirley’s passion inspired countless seniors to get and stay active. She will be sorely missed and we all wish her well in her retirement.” For more information about the Smithtown Senior Citizen Department come visit us at 420 Middle Country Road in Smithtown, call us at 631-360-7616 or visit us at  HYPERLINK “http://www.smithtowninfo.com” www.smithtowninfo.com.

Smithtown's Summer Nights Program - Everybody Wins!

Smithtown’s Youth Bureau ended its “Summer Nights”  2012 program with a concert by a local band named Rendition. To earn the opportunity to play their music on closing night, Rendition had to win the Youth Bureau’s Battle of The Band competition which was held throughout the summer. 

This is the Youth Bureau’s third summer in operation at Hoyt Farm and the first year for the “Battle of the Bands” competition. The Summer Nights Program was created by Youth Bureau Director Patsy Hirschhorn with the support of the Smithtown Town Board and the help of the Departments of Public Safety and Parks. The program, which began in 2010, has grown every year with more participants and more activities for the teens to enjoy.  The goal of the program is to provide activities for people in their teens in a safe environment.  “We started with  two programs in 2010 that included basketball, volleyball, bocce and arts and crafts. In 2011 we added Karaoke and this year we added the Battle of the Bands competition.”stated Patsy Hirshhorn. 

The Summer Nights program is a cooperative effort involving town departments and also the young people who have been appointed to the Town’s Youth Board. The members of the board decided that a Battle of The Bands competition would be fun and would also provide an opportunity for local bands to showcase their work.  “The idea came from one of our teen members.  It was challenging putting it together, but we did it!  We are pleased with the response from the kids and grateful to the volunteers who chaperoned our events” stated Patsy.

The closing event drew a crowd of over 100 teens who Listened to music, played basketball and just enjoyed the evening out.  The members of Rendition couldn’t be happier with the night. All the members in Rendition are high school students (five seniors and one junior).  Three are cousins. Three attend Commack HS, two attend Saint Anthony’s HS and one attends Connetquot HS.  While they are all passionate about their music they are diverse in their interests and talent.  

Jonathan O’Kane is the lead vocalist and one of the three cousins who started the group. He will be starting his senior year at Commack HS in September.  He loves sports and music, but plans to get into business marketing as a career.

JJ Hickey is Rendition’s lead guitarist. He attends St. Anthony’s HS where he will begin his senior year in September. He has a unique ability to learn music by ear in seconds.  He plays hockey and is leaning towards a career in criminal justice or the Navy. He is also one of the three cousins and a founder of Rendition.

Gino Leocadi is the drummer and the third cousin in the group.  Gino attends Connetquot HS where he will be entering his senior year in September.  In addition to drums, Gino plays the piano which he taught himself. He also plays by ear. He plays varsity baseball at Connetquot.  He plans to pursue a career in business but continue with his music as well.

Jimmy Orsetti is a rhythm guitarist. He attends Saint Anthony and is entering his senior year. He is a “masterful ” performer who brings a lot of energy to the performances. He hope to peruse a career in aviation.

Alex Blanc is the bassist for Rendition.  He attends Commack HS where he will be a senior in September. Alex is skilled in writing music. He plans to continue with music, but hopes to have a career in medicine.

Joe Noto is the fill in bassist. Joe is not a regular in the group, but helps out when needed. He will be starting his junior year at Commack HS in September. Joe currently performs with a high school band “10 feet Under”. Joe plays many instruments including cello, guitar and drums. 

The band members reported that they had a great time participating in the competition and winning was fun too! Watching the crowd you could tell they were not the only ones who enjoyed themselves.

Creating Ripples - National Night Out

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples” Mother Teresa

Creating ripples is what the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) was doing when it participated in the “National Night Out Against Crime” at Target South in Commack on August 7.  National Night Out is not a single event it is a community-building campaign that spans the entire year.  The goal for the campaign is to create an atmosphere of trust and respect that will help communities to thrive.  

“National Night Out Against Crime is a wonderful opportunity for the community to meet local law enforcement officers and the specialized units that serve their neighborhoods. It also allows the public to discover various community organizations that provide much needed services and information that are particularly helpful but may otherwise be unknown”, stated the Community Liaison Officer from the Fourth Precinct.

The event, hosted by Target and the SCPD, provided an opportunity for the public to learn about organizations that provide services through the county as well as community organizations.

A few of the organizations distributing literature at the event were Suffolk County Police Explorers, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), County of Suffolk Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services, Suffolk County Auxiliary Police and the Commack Fire Department.

One young person said, “Everyone talked to me.  I liked the fire truck the best.” One seven year old said she was going to work on a big fire truck when she got older. A young boy named Jeff said ” I want to help people when I get older.”

“Creating ripples”- that is what National Night Out is about.

Randy Altschuler "Anti-Woman"? Ridiculous

Dear Editor:

I’ve been involved in politics for a long time and watched a lot of ridiculous accusations being made against one candidate or another, but Congressman Bishop’s daughter attacking Randy Altschuler as “anti-woman” last week took the cake!

As you know, an independent, non-partisan ethics group criticized Congressman Bishop recently in a scathing report for abusing his office and funneling nearly $600,000 to his daughter’s business.  Instead of addressing this legitimate criticism about this unethical business arrangement, Ms. Bishop accused Randy of being “anti-woman” for raising the Congressman’s ethics as a campaign issue.

Anti-woman?  Really?  While Randy is certainly against Members of Congress abusing their office to enrich their own family as Congressman Bishop has done, he is hardly anti-woman. 

Randy was raised by a single Mom whom he adores; is happily married to his beautiful wife and practicing pediatrician, Cheryl; and is the proud father of a precious little daughter named Sasha.  That doesn’t sound like someone who is anti-woman, does it?

Randy’s Campaign Manager (me), Deputy Manager and Finance Director are all women.  Would someone who is “anti-woman” hire women for the top three staff positions in his campaign?

The bottom line is this: A respected, non-partisan ethics group has said that it is wrong for Members of Congress to use their positions of power to enrich members of their own family.  Even Democratic Congressman Steve Israel said he would draw the line at hiring family.

Instead of trying to distract voters with nonsense, let’s hope Congressman Bishop will start explaining why 30,000 jobs have left Long Island during his time in Congress and why he’s been named one of the worst ethics abusers in Washington.

Sincerely,

Diana Weir

Campaign Manager – Altschuler for Congress