The Perlman Music Program’s August Benefit, to be held at the Dusenberry residence on Ferry Road, was approved on Tuesday night by the North Haven Village Board of Trustees. Rachel Coker, the membership and special events manager for the program, originally visited the board in early April to discuss the benefit. During this initial visit, village attorney Anthony Tohill asked Coker to formulate a comprehensive plan for onsite safety and parking. Subsequently, the program hired an outside and experienced security firm to handle parking and traffic direction. At the beginning of the event a few security workers will be stationed on Route 114 ushering traffic into the property.
The board also adopted the LIMWA, or limit of moderate wave action line, on the new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps. Tohill said the adoption of the LIMWA line would have no discernable effect on homes in North Haven, but could lead to a village-wide 5 percent discount on flood insurance. Tohill also informed the village board that it’s on a bit of a time crunch in terms of adopting a law pertaining to the new flood insurance rates. FEMA must see a draft of the law no later than June 25. The law must be enacted by August 25 to be put into effect on September 25.
Resident Howard Griffith again asked the board about the potential of purchasing 13 small radios and antennas to give to neighborhood coordinators for emergency situations.
“If the telephone or electricity goes out, there is going to be no way to communicate with neighborhood coordinators,” said Griffith.
Tohill said the village is looking into renewing their franchise agreement with Cablevision. He said the company has been known to offer local government money for educational broadcasting, including funds for equipment purchases. Since the village doesn’t need broadcasting equipment, Tohill believes the company might be willing to cover some of the costs to purchase the emergency radios and antennas.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Crafting a village budget is a bit of a guessing game. The village must anticipate supplies needed for storms and snowfall, and the number of home sales, renovations and constructions expected. In this sour economy, the modest-sized North Haven Village prepared for the worst but hoped for the best when drafting their $1,213,117 budget for 2009-10.
The board’s projected revenue from mortgage tax is around $130,000. Village clerk Georgia Welch confirmed an 18 percent decrease in mortgage tax receipts from 2008-2009, compared to the year before. She based the 2009-2010 mortgage tax revenue projections on this reduced percentage.
The revenue accrued from building permits and licenses have also taken a significant hit. From 2007 to 2008, the village earned around $170,000 in revenues from the building department. Steering a financially conservative course, the village budgeted $100,000 last year in permits and licenses. Welch believes North Haven will fall short this year — the village has only received $73,000 in licenses and permits thus far, though this figure is subject to change, as the books will be closed by May 31. For 2009-2010, the village took a more severe look at the future and budgeted only $73,000 in licenses and building permits revenues.
“Everything is down … Will we flat line? Will it get worse? I don’t know. But I think we are pretty conservative,” said Welch of the revenue decreases during the village’s public hearing on the 2009-2010 budget on Wednesday, April 15.
The light at the end of North Haven’s financial tunnel is the village tax rate, which will remain the same as last year, .00050 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In 2010, a village resident who owns a home with an assessed value of $1 million will pay approximately $503.80 in village taxes. Through a combination of a seven percent decrease in fire and ambulance contracts and by dipping into the fund balance by $218,751, the village was able to maintain this tax rate for residents.
“We can’t use that fund balance forever,” warned deputy mayor Jeffrey Sander.
“I don’t know how sustainable this is,” Welch later added, though she remarked that North Haven is faring far better than larger municipalities.
“A lot of places don’t have a healthy fund balance and have nothing to fall back on,” noted village mayor Laura Nolan.
One reason the village is in such good standing is because it has little to no debt. In the coming fiscal year, the village estimates it will spend only $6,473 on debt services. The village’s debt was incurred by the restoration of Cove’s End Lane many years ago. The debt is paid for by the property owners on Cove’s End Lane through an additional road tax.
Though the village has little in the way of borrowed money and a stable fund balance, Welch noted North Haven is limited in the ways it can procure income.
“We don’t have many avenues for revenue in our village as larger scale municipalities [get federal money],” Welch observed. “Hopefully the budget proposed will be enough, but we are only as good as the revenues we get.”
The public hearing was closed without public comment and the tentative 2009-2010 budget was passed unanimously.
Crafting a village budget is a bit of a guessing game. The village must anticipate supplies needed for storms and snowfall, and the number of home sales, renovations and constructions expected. In this sour economy, the modest-sized North Haven Village prepared for the worst but hoped for the best when drafting their $1,213,117 budget for 2009-10.
The board’s projected revenue from mortgage tax is around $130,000. Village clerk Georgia Welch confirmed an 18 percent decrease in mortgage tax receipts from 2008-2009, compared to the year before. She based the 2009-2010 mortgage tax revenue projections on this reduced percentage.
The revenue accrued from building permits and licenses have also taken a significant hit. From 2007 to 2008, the village earned around $170,000 in revenues from the building department. Steering a financially conservative course, the village budgeted $100,000 last year in permits and licenses. Welch believes North Haven will fall short this year — the village has only received $73,000 in licenses and permits thus far, though this figure is subject to change, as the books will be closed by May 31. For 2009-2010, the village took a more severe look at the future and budgeted only $73,000 in licenses and building permits revenues.
“Everything is down … Will we flat line? Will it get worse? I don’t know. But I think we are pretty conservative,” said Welch of the revenue decreases during the village’s public hearing on the 2009-2010 budget on Wednesday, April 15.
The light at the end of North Haven’s financial tunnel is the village tax rate, which will remain the same as last year, .00050 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In 2010, a village resident who owns a home with an assessed value of $1 million will pay approximately $503.80 in village taxes. Through a combination of a seven percent decrease in fire and ambulance contracts and by dipping into the fund balance by $218,751, the village was able to maintain this tax rate for residents.
“We can’t use that fund balance forever,” warned deputy mayor Jeffrey Sander.
“I don’t know how sustainable this is,” Welch later added, though she remarked that North Haven is faring far better than larger municipalities.
“A lot of places don’t have a healthy fund balance and have nothing to fall back on,” noted village mayor Laura Nolan.
One reason the village is in such good standing is because it has little to no debt. In the coming fiscal year, the village estimates it will spend only $6,473 on debt services. The village’s debt was incurred by the restoration of Cove’s End Lane many years ago. The debt is paid for by the property owners on Cove’s End Lane through an additional road tax.
Though the village has little in the way of borrowed money and a stable fund balance, Welch noted North Haven is limited in the ways it can procure income.
“We don’t have many avenues for revenue in our village as larger scale municipalities [get federal money],” Welch observed. “Hopefully the budget proposed will be enough, but we are only as good as the revenues we get.”
The public hearing was closed without public comment and the tentative 2009-2010 budget was passed unanimously.

Popularity: 3% [?]

From adopting a local law regarding the amended FEMA flood maps to buying a street sweeper, everything in the village of North Haven takes an amount of measured planning. To the North Haven board of trustees, hosting a benefit event — as the Perlman Music Program is seeking to do at a North Haven resident in August — is no exception. Rachel L. Coker, manager of membership and special events for the program, visited the board on Tuesday, April 7, to discuss the event to be held at the Dusenberry residence on Ferry Road. The board was chiefly concerned with hiring an appropriate security company to deal with traffic and creating an adequate plan for parking for the some 200 guests expected to attend the bash.

North Haven Village Attorney Anthony Tohill asked Coker to revisit the board with a survey showing were the cars will be situated.

“Show us how you will accommodate the cars … So [you] can describe how if guest 98 and his wife wants to leave at 7:30 [before the event ends] his car won’t be sandwiched in,” Tohill asked Coker. Tohill added that the board felt it was necessary to hire security familiar with the local roadways and knowledgeable of emergency services available in the area.

Coker said previously the program was planning to use a security firm to deal with on-site problems, while the program staff would handle traffic calming and parking.

“You might want to rethink that … if an emergency occurs you need somebody who is better [prepared] than lay people,” responded Tohill.

Tohill used the example of a two car accident occurring in front of the house right before the starting time of the benefit, saying this is an example of a situation best handled by seasoned security professionals. On behalf of the board, he said it is imperative for the program to hire a licensed, and preferably locally-well-versed, security team.

Village Clerk Georgia Welch added that there is a certain amount of pedestrian foot traffic along Route 114/Ferry Road in the summertime, and Village Mayor Laura Nolan chimed in, saying there is a lack of streetlights along this busy road.

Coker seemed receptive to the board and answered their concerns saying, “We will try to do this as thoroughly as possible.” Coker was asked to return on May 5 with a copy of the survey and parking plan.

Tohill also updated the board on the recent FEMA flood maps. He said the village is required to submit an amended local law to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on the limits of the moderate wave action (LIMWA)- found in the new flood maps — by June 25.

In addition, the village is also seeking to purchase a street sweeper. Mayor Nolan said many residents have complained to her about the state of the streets, but trustee James Morrissey said the small sweeper the village is looking to buy would only push debris and materials to the side of the street and do little to clean out the village catch basins. As the board couldn’t reach a consensus on the sweeper, they decided to do a little more research before making a purchase.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The recent implementation of new flood maps by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is confusing for homeowners, as well as village and town officials. Many have found their threat of flooding has been reduced, while others find they are newly in a flood zone.

Jeff Sander, a North Haven Village resident, was in a high-risk zone for flooding before the new maps were issued last November, but now his home has been moved to a lower-risk zone, like many property owners in Sag Harbor.

Sander said he received a notice from the Town of Southampton suggesting he look online at the new maps. In that letter the town intended to inform residents that there have been some changes to the flood zones and recommended residents decide if they wanted to purchase flood insurance prior to the adoption of the final maps, “due to certain grandfathering provisions.”

Sander is one of many in the area still struggling to find out what that will mean when he gets the insurance bill he is expecting in the next couple months.

Last week, Southampton Town Stormwater Manager Walter Bundy, at the request of councilwoman Nancy Graboski, held a meeting with representatives of FEMA, regarding the new Federal Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) in order to ask for some clarification and an extension of the February 4, 2009 deadline for appeals. At the meeting, it was decided that appeals for homeowners will be extended to next Wednesday, February 25.

Sag Harbor village planner Richard Warren said in an email to Sagaponack village officials, that the FEMA representatives at last week’s meeting will be taking some of the concerns from the local municipalities back to Washington for further discussion, and that more public outreach might be necessary, “especially with insurance carriers.”

“It takes us two years to process a 10-lot subdivision,” Graboski said during a work session prior to that meeting, “We have a significant comprehensive project so that is really not enough time.”

Many people like Sander who live on the water, seem to have been spared, according to George Simonson, an insurance agent in Sag Harbor.

Simonson said the village received “better zones that they deserved.” He said there are fewer homes in the high elevation flood zones now than there were before the new FEMA maps in November.

Simonson said the cost of federal flood insurance for one year should be around $352 or “almost a dollar a day.” That, he said, would cover up to $250,000 for a single home and $100,000 of the contents.

The problem with that, he explained, is that most of the homes on or near the shoreline in the area are valued much higher than $250,000. He said homeowners who want their full home covered would need to take out additional insurance through excess and surplus lines markets, for example through Lloyds of London.

Those who live in the flood plain, explained Aram Terchunian, a Coastal Geologist for First Coastal out of Westhampton Beach, usually carry four types of insurance: flood, excess coverage (for the remaining value of the home over $250,000), wind and storm insurance, and homeowners insurance.

He said for homeowners who would now be included in the flood zone, the flood insurance premium will stay the same or be reduced, but the three other types of insurances are “likely to increase.”

Sander said that even though his home has been taken from the highest risk zone and moved back into a lower risk zone, and the insurance is not required, he will maintain his coverage.

Simonson said the cost of insurance for those living in Sag Harbor should go down, or, at the very least, remain the same as it was before the new maps.

Eileen Kenna, a Shinnecock Hills resident, received the same notice as Sander. She said that her home wasn’t in a flood zone before and by looking at the maps online, her home still remains outside the flood plain line.

“I went on the website and I am not in the flood zone,” Kenna said, “So I am not going to get flood insurance.”

Kenna said that just a few years ago, her homeowners insurance was dropped because her home is near a flood plain. Fortunately, she said, she was able to obtain new homeowners insurance from an alternative company.

“They messed up in New Orleans, when the hurricane hit,” she said, “so now they are doing all this to cover themselves.”

Simonson agrees. He said now, in that portion of the country, there are some discrepancies over who is going to cover the homes that were affected by flooding.

Now FEMA is attempting to avoid a similar incident happening on Long Island, if such a situation should occur.

Sag Harbor village planner, Rich Warren said he believes the issues are complex, and he is certain there will be “more to come.”

 

You can check your property at www.suffolknyfloodmaps.com.

 

Popularity: 9% [?]

 

By Marissa Maier

 

When Robert Rust was younger, he would often visit his aunt, Lorraine Anderson, at her 55-acre North Haven estate. Rust recalls helping Anderson rig up her fishing boat to a dock in a little lagoon on the property. He spent time in the cozy two-story barn, which was built by Charles Jundt, the previous owner and noted perfumer who created “Charles of the Ritz” perfume.  

Anderson, and her husband Olen, purchased the property — located at 400 Ferry Road — in the early 1960s. They built a modest ranch house overlooking the water to accompany the two other houses, barn and two-car standing garage also on the property, which Jundt had built in the 1890s.

“It was the only place she wanted to live. She loved that house,” said Rust of his aunt. The Andersons’ property was sprawling and unique with its inlet, pond, orchard and 3,000 feet of shoreline.

As the Andersons grew older, however, it became difficult to maintain the estate. Olen was debilitated by diabetes. While Lorraine cared for her husband, who lost much of his sight and a few of his toes, the structures on the compound fell into disrepair. After Olen passed away in the 1980s, Lorraine lived alone on the property until her death in 2000.

Robert Rust was the sole heir to the Anderson estate because the Andersons were childless. When he inherited the estate, Rust began extensive repairs of the structures on the property. Many of the buildings were uninhabitable and appeared abandoned to passersby.

Originally, Rust intended to keep the property for his own personal use. When his property taxes increased to nearly $180,000 by 2007, Rust could no longer afford to hold onto the estate. He had earned a decent living as an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami, but by the time he inherited the property he was retired and in his 70s.

So in January 2007, Rust put the estate on the market. The property is currently listed at $75 million with Gary DePersia of Corcoran.

Rust, however, hopes to divide the property into a series of lots and sell them. Along with Joseph Lombardi of the Raynor Group and lawyer William Esseks, Rust visited the North Haven Planning Board on Monday, January 26, to present preliminary plans for the subdivision.

Because the property is over 15 acres and the plans include a cluster subdivision, Rust is required to conserve nearly 50 percent of the estate. During the meeting, Lombardi showed three different plans.

The map for the first plan was “a standard plat used to determine the yield, or how many lots can fit on the property,” said Lombardi. This plan featured 18 lots, and a park site, but didn’t set aside land for the required open-space use. Lombardi said this plan was created merely to determine yield.

The second plan showed the full possible density usage for a residential development. This plan included two parcels of open land that totaled 50 percent of the property and 18 lots, although these lots would be smaller than village zoning requires. If the board signed off on this plan, Rust would need an exemption for these smaller units.

Rust, however, is most fond of the third option, which members of the board called “unique.” This is a six-lot plan and 50 percent of the property would be conserved through easements. The lots would be sold in pairs, meaning a buyer would be legally required to buy two lots. Lombardi said the owner could build the main house on one lot and a guesthouse on the other. A certain area of conservation easements would be included in each lot.

“We haven’t made any formal applications to the village yet. We are trying to show the board some of our thoughts and also what Mr. Rust is interested in,” said Lombardi.

At the meeting, the planning consultant for the village, Scott Dobriner, wondered if the 50 percent of conserved land automatically included the wetlands and marshes found on the property, or if these items had to be subtracted from the total acreage before a 50 percent figure was calculated.

Dobriner said he would look into this before the property comes up for discussion again at the meeting next month.  

 

Above: An aerial photo of the Anderson Property. 

 

Popularity: 11% [?]

By Richard Gambino

Deep into January. The holiday season is gone. (In Babylon — the ancient city, not the town off the LIE — people celebrated new year’s for eleven days and nights. Talk about hangovers!) People walk the streets of our East End towns well-bundled and stooping forward, in a hurry against the cold. The nights are still long. But they’re growing shorter, if no warmer, with each day. January 21 is a day perceptively longer than December 21’s day of winter solstice. But despite it seeming a time when all is still, January is also a time of new beginnings. In fact, the month was named for the ancient Roman god, Janus, who was nothing less than the god of new beginnings, and of doorways opening to new vistas.

So I’m deep into a tranquil relationship with a quiet earth. I learned long ago that doors are more likely to open if one doesn’t bang on them. Nature is my inspiration. There’s new life to come in the stark trees. In life’s own time. New flowers too, and the forlorn osprey nests will once again become scenes of fledgling life. Even the evergreen trees seem to be in thoughtful pause, confident they will generate new pale-green growth. In time.

I put on layered clothes and hiking shoes and set out for the trails of the Morton Preserve, where birds and squirrels follow me, hoping I’ve brought some food for them. Over the warmer months, they became used to people bringing seed so that the birds would eat out of their hands, and inevitably drop some on the ground. But winter is a hungrier time for them — fewer people, especially on weekdays and poor-weather days. The trail at Barcelona State Park is another favorite, ending in a view of far-away Cedar Point Lighthouse. From this distance, the sunlit earth-toned building looks as fresh as it must have looked in the nineteenth century. And I love the walking trails at the Camp Hero State Park in Montauk, from which one has great views of the Montauk Lighthouse, the ocean, and boulders left high on the bluffs as the glacier of the last ice age retreated. I look at the concrete bases that used to anchor massive coastal artillery during World War II, and I think of people who were adults during the earlier part of the war telling me of standing on Long Island beaches at night, watching small spots of flames at the horizon of the sea, cargo ships and tankers torpedoed by German submarines. A terrible, dark time I don’t remember — the Germans surrendered in a process which spanned my sixth birthday in early May 1945. And at what was the military Camp Hero is the largest radar dish I’ve ever seen, used in the Cold War — which I remember all too well. In fact, before the late 1980s, I never dreamed that I would one day write about it in the past tense. The dish is now long-abandoned, still aimed at the sky.

Janus is depicted in Roman art as having two faces, at the same time one looking forward and the other looking behind. We humans can also look to both the future and the past. It’s called “reflection,” and “taking stock.” The natural places I’ve mentioned and others on the East End bring it on in me, without my trying. For me, it best happens in the midst of nature in its time of quiet pause. The woods also lead me to be more naturally patient, a requirement if the experience is to bring me to … well, I don’t know in advance. Lately, I find my mind going to the economic suffering all around me, to the unemployed, to parents of young children, to parents of college students, to retirees, to the owners of small shops, to the people in all the homes in the Sag Harbor area — and all over the East End — with “for sale” signs on the lawns. It is a dark time for many of us. But I remind myself of an old saying: “Only when it gets really dark can we see the stars.” I bring myself up short. Am I becoming a dotty sentimentalist? In reaction, I find myself musing that maybe I’d be better off if I had started a consulting firm called, “Blagojevich & Madoff.” That tells me for sure that it’s time to refocus on nature.

A couple of winters back, I waited for weeks to take a photograph I had scouted out. All I needed was some snow. I waited. And waited. I grew impatient, and pessimistic that I’d ever get a chance to “get the shot” — a nature photographer’s obsession. Then, one day, snow came. I watched the flakes fall, enjoying it, growing ever more eager. As soon as it stopped, I took up my camera bag and tripod, and set out for the scene I knew so well. Oh, I got the shot. Just an ordinary one. The real gift of the day was another photo I saw on the way, one that I had not anticipated. A gem of a shot — a perfect winter barn scene, with pristine fresh snow and slanted winter light. The picture later won me a ribbon in competition. But for me the greater reward is remembering that day, and letting myself believe that maybe there might be another bright picture just down the road.

So I allow myself hope, in a mental process that for some reason I need to go through. Maybe it’s because I’ve all my adult life read a lot of realistic history and ideas. I still don’t dodge hard looks at hard realities, but as the years have gone by, I’ve grown better at seeing the stars in the darkness. The really important salients in life grow brighter, like the people I love, the more visible humanity I see in the eyes of many people — and the sublimity of nature in all seasons, a living current going back long before the Babylonians and Romans. The current goes on. We are part of its vital present, and its flow into the future. As in nature at large, there is in our individual lives, and in the life we share with others, times of pause, times to reflect and prepare for the next season. For, after every winter comes a spring.

Here’s to life.

 

 

RICHARD GAMBINO believes with the ancient Roman Stoics that, “The mind is dyed by the colors of its thoughts.”

Popularity: 11% [?]

Doing Anything for Increases

 

Dear Editor,

The “Comments from the Web” on Sagharboronline.com are totally erroneous and misinformed. In my letter “No Bailout for the School District” (Sag Harbor Express December 4, 2008) I prophesized that the Sag Harbor Teachers’ Union will do anything to obtain unrealistic and unaffordable fixed step increases as they had in their expired contract, even at the expense of bankrupting the community. When I questioned, “Why can’t the teachers’ union take a pay freeze so they do not bankrupt the community,” I also asked the following: “Or do they think that the Sag Harbor School District is going to get a government bailout?”

Well, in reading the “President’s Perspective” column in Dick Ianuzzi, President of eth New York State United Teachers’ Union, I predicted correctly: He states, “In the same way Congress passed a $700 billion rescue package for Wall Street, it should also approve direct fiscal relief to New York through emergency block grants and for Medicaid and other underfunded mandated programs (New York Teacher, page 10)” Ianuzzi wants his union to get some of the bailout money. I rest my case.

Vince Starace

Noyac

 

Everyone is Hurting

 

Dear Editor,

At the informational meeting the Sag Harbor School District held on December 18, 2008, the District’s attorney presented the board’s contract offer to TASH as well as the demands of TASH, the teachers’ union. The BOE offered what amounts to a 23% increase per teacher for a three-year contract. TASH is demanding what amounts to a 27.72% increase for a three-year contract. Both figures include salary and benefits for three years. There are other issues such as health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, domestic partner insurance, personal days, duty periods, course approval, increased pay for field trips, coaching stipends, etc. also on the table.

Everyone has to ask, “What is reasonable based on today’s economy?” I read an article in the Wall Street Journal by Sarah Needleman entitled “Pay Raises Seen Taking a Hit,” dated December 16, 2008. The article analyzes salary trends for many professions, white collar occupations and blue collar jobs. Needleman states that employers are “bringing some workers’ projected annual pay raises to a low not seen in three decades.” The article analyzes data from trustworthy sources, such as the Wharton School, Hewitt Associates and Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. Needleman enumerates what we hear on the news on a daily basis: “Companies are very concerned about managing their fixed costs.” Needleman cites Professor Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School who informed us that the “latest salary cuts are particularly noteworthy given employers have eliminated 1.9 million jobs in the past year and various industries may see lower pay gains than others.” Needleman also states that “Workers in education and financial services are also expected to receive below-average annual merit increases for 2.3% and 2.9% respectively, down from 3.5% and 3.9% in July.” I emailed this article to the Board of Education when I heard that the board and TASH’s negotiations hit a roadblock. Fact-finding is the next step in negotiating their contract.  I hope that the board, the district’s attorney, and TASH heed the admonitions of this article. Everyone is hurting in this economy.

How can the taxpayers afford to cover a large increase in taxes when their salaries, 401Ks and benefits are dwindling? The board should reconsider their overly generous offer. The union should reconsider their unaffordable demands in this economy. The community is pleased that the district’s teachers have raised the achievement levels of their students. However, the teachers should also value the working conditions of the Sag Harbor District. Their classes are generally small, their student load is low, and for the most part, the students are a homogeneous group who have excellent family support. The teachers do not need combat pay that other teachers deserve who teach in districts rife with onerous socioeconomic issues.

As I stated in a previous letter, I hope an agreement is reached that is fair to the taxpayers as well as the teachers.

Elena Loreto

Noyac

 

In Memory of Guy Bennett

 

Dear Bryan:

Since our father’s passing we keep thinking about how, in our quest to “take him home” as we had promised, that we were unprepared to offer any words of comfort to the friends and family who gathered a year ago in his memory. It was not that we were at a loss for words, but that we had too many to express how profoundly his passing affected us.

That first year was certainly a long one filled with trials and tribulations as we all experienced a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Finally when we found the right fit for him — where he was comfortable, well cared for, and loved — everything else seemed to fall into place. The disappearance of “Old Daddy” was a painful process making way for the emergence of “New Daddy” who we came to know, love, and understand on a whole different level. In fact we feel privileged to have had the opportunity to be a part of both those lives, as our children may have never known their grandfather at all.

We want his friends and family to know that we never let him forget them. We read him their cards and showed him their pictures while reminding him of their names. We kept him abreast of deaths, births, weddings, and other important events. His favorite photo of Mommy hung on the wall where he looked at her every day. He did not suffer and he was comfortable and happy. He was never a burden to us and we looked forward to our visits with him very much. He brought our families closer and taught us how to love on a whole different level. Together we developed an alternative form of communication that did not require him to remember words or names. We were his “two” and he was always happy to see us, as he touched our faces, patted our heads, and squeezed our hands.

It was that last day as we sat by his side and he squeezed our hands so tightly that he bruised his own and his eyes were clear and aware that we knew he had come full circle and that Old and New Daddy had become one. Although he was unable to speak, he let us know that he was not frightened or in pain. We held the phone to his ear so he could hear Mommy and Bruce say goodbye and we saw his eyes fill with tears of joy to hear their voices and comprehend their words. The joy reflected in his face that day filled our hearts. We are not sure what he was experiencing but we like to think that in those final hours everything we had “remembered” for him came flooding back and he was up to date like he had never been away – or perhaps his loved ones were there to guide him on his next journey – or perhaps his life was passing before his eyes and it had become clear that the beautiful girl whose photo he looked at every day was in fact his wife of more than 60 years. Something we know for sure is that we were blessed to have been able to share this time with him and that we miss him very much.

Barbara Bennett Armstrong

MaryBeth Bennett Schoen

 

Adrift — And I Don’t Mean Snow

 

Dear Bryan,

From Labor Day on it’s always fun to watch the harbor clear out, as boats large and small take their winter (often Saran Wrapped) vacation. By November’s end, there’s usually a straggler or two visible from my house in North Haven. This year, however, there remains one lonely sailboat moored nearby. It seems very touching to me. Is it a victim of the bad economy? A bitter divorce? Death in a family? Or simple abandonment, Because this is all too disturbing to contemplate, I’ve decided to give the boat it’s own voice. Here goes — and Happy New Year, by the way. Keep up the good work.

 

Here I float — alone in the bay,

Having braved Christmas, New Year’s —

Soon, Valentine’s Day.

I watched. I waited and the harbor cleared out,

Awaiting the dinghy, the whir of a prop

Anything at all to signal some help.

Now it’s turned real cold, and I can’t even yelp.

Where is Malloy, or Reiser or Sander —

Any of the regulars who used to meander?

I’m growing moss and a colorful mold.

For all I know, there’s a mouse in the hold.

At least for me, there’d be sweet company,

But by now he’d have eaten through all the provisions,

As a voyage this long, he’d never envisioned.

Come to think of it now, is it long or short —

When you’re just sitting here and haven’t left port?

Does no one notice — do they just look away?

Certainly the locals see me bob and sway.

The wharf is long, but the nights are longer.

Won’t someone save me who’s bigger and stronger?

Please have a meeting or some kind of mingling — 

Before I’m reduced to a mere pile of kindling.

 

-       Susan Dusenberry

-       North Haven

Popularity: 11% [?]

Preliminary results have been released from the New York State Department of Health on the 4-Poster Deer and Tick Study, which was organized by Cornell University and compares the level of pesticides in meat from deer taken on Shelter Island to that of meat from North Haven deer.

Last week at the North Haven Board of Trustees meeting, board members discussed the preliminary study, which mayor Laura Nolan received from James Doherty, supervisor of the Town of Shelter Island.

The 4-Poster device is a passive feeding station that is designed to control ticks that take advantage of deer as hosts — including black-legged ticks and lone star ticks. These types of ticks can transfer Lyme disease. As a deer feeds on the corn bait at a 4-poster station, the animal’s neck, head and ears brush against the rollers of the device, which are coated with an oily liquid containing the permethrin. The stations are currently in use locally only on Shelter Island and Fire Island.

The Cornell study measures the levels of the tick-killing pesticide permethrin in deer meat, liver and hides and it reveals that the pesticide was found in small dosages in meat from North Haven deer and in a slightly higher amount in the Shelter Island deer.

“They found that there was a small amount of permethrin in the deer in North Haven,” said Nolan. She added that this small amount could be due to residents who spray their lawn with the pesticide in an attempt to reduce the number of ticks in their backyards.

Or, she said, the deer are swimming across the water from Shelter Island to North Haven.

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) said that hunters became concerned during the 4-Poster evaluation process about the potential health risks from exposure to permethrin from eating the meat from these deer. The preliminary study reports that people who eat the deer meat, however, would not be affected by the small amount of this pesticide found in the deer.

The release from the DOH said that in order to determine the levels of permethrin in and on deer, 10 deer known to feed at a 4-poster device, in addition to five deer from a comparison area [North Haven], will be harvested and sampled during the hunting season each year as part of the multi-year study.

Cornell University began implementing the feeding stations on Shelter Island last spring.

 

Above: a deer at a 4-poster treatment feeder

Popularity: 5% [?]

By Marissa Maier

The Suffolk County Legislature is in the process of purchasing a 27.8 acre parcel of land in North Haven for preservation, but, according to county legislator Jay Schneiderman, will most likely need Southampton Town to lend some financial support to complete the buy.

“I met with [Southampton Town Supervisor] Linda Kabot and explained to her that purchasing this land without a partnership with the town would be very difficult,” said Schneiderman.

A partnership between the county and town would be a marked change in the way land is purchased for preservation. As of now, says Schneiderman, land preservation purchases are often completed independently by either the town or the county, but not typically as a partnership between the two. But with a troubled economy and money becoming scarcer for many local governments, Schneiderman believes it will be necessary for both parties to provide joint funding for land preservation projects in the future.

The North Haven parcel —known as the Lack property — sits on 27.8 acres of land in the southeast part of the village off Fresh Pond Road and was rated high under the Suffolk County Open Space Rating System for its natural environments. The property contains tidal and freshwater wetlands and is part of the Peconic Estuary.

According to North Haven Village Mayor Laura Nolan, Randy Parsons, the finance and policy advisor for The Nature Conservancy, was approached by the owner of the Lack property about selling the piece of land to the county. Parsons then contacted Schneiderman about the possibility of the county purchasing the land.

The resolution to begin the acquisition process of the property passed the Suffolk County Legislature on December 16. Previously, on December 4, the Suffolk County Executive, Steve Levy, had vetoed the resolution arguing that if the property was developed, the developers would be required by law to preserve 15 acres of the parcel. But Schneiderman, who sponsored the resolution, was able to gather enough votes to override the veto. According to Parsons, the resolution to acquire the land is pending a final signature from Levy. When it is signed the County Real Estate Division will order an appraisal, says Parsons.

The passing of the resolution authorizes the county to begin its planning steps for purchasing the property, including making an offer. Schneiderman adds that the Environmental Trust Board also needs to review the property and agree upon the price with the appraisers. He adds that once a final price has been agreed upon with the owners, the county legislature will still need to authorize the purchase, meaning it will have to come before the legislature for a vote.

Schneiderman believes the project will not pass this final vote, unless the county forms a partnership with Southampton Town to finance the purchase.

“Because of money everything is difficult right now,” said Schneiderman. “No one wants to spend money. [The county legislature] looks at all of the preserved properties on the East End and they say ‘Haven’t we done enough?’ especially considering the price of land here.”

Though he’s hoping for a joint purchase of the North Haven property, Schneiderman is concerned that Southampton Town may not be able to commit the necessary funds due to other parcels already at the top of the town’s Community Preservation Fund (CPF) wish list.

The CPF monies come from a two percent tax on all real estate transfers in town. With less revenue coming in to the CPF due to a decline in real estate sales, the town may not have as many funds available for these projects as it has in the past.  Schneiderman estimates that the town CPF revenue has decreased by nearly a third this year.

The owner of the Lack property — who has not been publicly identified — has been in close contact with Schneiderman and is eager to sell the land to the county for preservation. Schneiderman hopes an alliance can be struck between the county and the town before the purchase of the property goes to a vote in the Suffolk County Legislature.

In the meantime, Schneiderman will continue to work on developing a partnership with Kabot and the Town of Southampton with an eye toward the purchase.

 

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Completely renovated waterview home in North Haven. Located in a waterfront community with 2 beaches, less than a mile from Sag Harbor Village, this clean and bright home features 3 bedrooms/ 2 baths, new kitchen and baths, and a finished basement. Enjoy the large open great room that leads out to decking with a lovely lawn and plenty of room for a pool. $1,299,000. Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

 

Popularity: 9% [?]