Sandy-damaged Car Lots Still Causing Pine Barrens Concerns
January 9, 2013 § Leave a comment
Thousands of Superstorm Sandy damaged vehicles being stored in parts of the Pine Barrens region are increasingly raising environmental concerns from officials and advocates worries about fluids leaking into nearby drinking and surface water supplies.
Opening arguments are slated to begin Friday in a lawsuit against an Eastport farm accused of illegally storing vehicles. Two weeks ago, Riverhead officials expanded a similar makeshift storage lot in Calverton. And New York State environmental officials are monitoring other unofficial junkyards that have been popping up since the storm.
Some 20,000 cars wrecked by Super Storm Sandy cover Land at the Town of Riverhead’s Enterprise Park in Calverton. The site lies in the protected Long Island Pine Barrens and a state-designated Special Groundwater Protection Area, above some of the Island’s purest drinking water supplies. (Pine Barrens Society )
“Superstorm Sandy was a natural disaster over which nobody had any control,” said Richard Amper, executive director of the not-for-profit Long Island Pine Barren Society, which advocates for open space preservation. “But the dumping of wrecked cars in drinking water protection areas represents a disaster of government’s own making if action is not swiftly taken to remove junk cars.”
Vehicles that were damaged by the Oct. 29 superstorm’s floodwaters were towed to storage lots set up by insurance companies and others. The companies hope to resell undamaged parts of the cars. But the damaged cars risk leaking gasoline, oil, anti-freeze and other toxins into adjacent wetlands or the ground before seeping into aquifers that serve as LI’s drinking water supply.
Suffolk County and Brookhaven town are suing Ringhoff Farm, claiming its owners illegally stored vehicles on land they were paid to preserve. The suit alleges the junkyard violates town zoning rules and the terms of a deal with the county, which bought the 140-acre farms’ developmental rights for $1.7 million.
“Suffolk County taxpayers did not purchase the Ringhoff Farm’s development rights in order for it to be used as a junkyard,” County Executive Steve Bellone has said. The farm’s owners did not return calls for comment.
According to Christopher P. Ring, the attorney for the Ringhoffs, as soon as the Ringhoff’s were told to ‘cease and desist,’ they immediately stopped allowing Sandy damaged cars onto their property and are in the process of removing them.
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) agents first discovered the farm’s junkyard and then notified the county, whose investigators were initially denied access. Judge William Kent, who’s presiding over the case, has issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the farm from accepting more vehicles.
The Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission reportedly cited the Ringhoffs this week for storing the damaged cars as well, which may bring additional legal action against the farm’s owners.
When other Sandy lots started popping up, the DEC issued statement reminding “landowners who are considering accepting vehicles on their properties to follow regulations designed to protect environmentally sensitive areas.”
Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine and Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst also released a joint statement on the vehicle storage issue saying, “we must remain mindful of the potential for long term and costly consequences if proper and thorough environmental and safety precautions are not taken.”
The DEC said it also directed a Southampton sand mine owner to off a portion of the property that was regulated by a DEC permit and that the owner complied without being issued a violation, officials said.
While authorities continue to monitor such situations and the Ringhoff case has its day in court, Riverhead town leaders voted Dec. 27 to expand Insurance Auto Auctions Corp.’s storage of tens of thousands of vehicles on runways at the 2,900-acre Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL), which falls within the Pine Barrens groundwater protection area. Riverhead, which has been trying to develop the property for years, earned $2 million by insurance companies to store the out-of-commission cars for up to a year.
But the DEC issued a notice of violation to Jan Burman, who owns a subdivision in EPCAL, and Copart, an insurance company that was storing Sandy damaged vehicles on his portion of the property deemed to be protected sensitive grasslands. The company declined to comment.
In addition to environmental concerns, critics are concerned that unscrupulous used car dealers may try to pawn off the damaged vehicles to unsuspecting buyers. But with big bucks to be made off scrapping the vehicles and storing them in the meantime, the problem will likely persist.
“This is not a Sandy relief for victims, this is a money making business proposition,” Amper said.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine: Long Island Among 10 Best Wine Destinations
January 9, 2013 § Leave a comment
Move over Napa and Tuscany.Wine Enthusiastmagazine has ranked Long Island as one of the ‘10 Best Wine Travel Destination for 2013’ alongside regions such as Rioja, Spain and Vale dos Vinhedos, Brazil.
The honor comes as The New York Wine and Grape Foundation has been celebrating the fact that last year 48 New York wines were rated 90 or above by the three major wine consumer magazines — Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, and Wine & Spirits.
“It’s a unique amalgam of metropolitan influences against a core of hearty, agricultural tradition,” Wine Enthusiast wrote of LI wine country’s allure, where more than 50 wineries dot the North Fork and the Hamptons.
East End vintners have perfected the craft of making aromatic wines rich with flavor. LI’s wineries offer a profusion of Merlot, Chardonnays and sparkling wines, among other varieties.
Oenophiles mostly flock to the wine trail to sample the latest offerings during summer and the fall harvest season.
Among the local favorites are Lenz Winery in Peconic, the second-oldest winery, Martha Clara’s Vineyards in Riverhead, one of the most recognizable names, and Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehamton, which prides themselves on “artisanal experimentation.”
For more information, check out www.liwines.com
Planetarium Debuts at Cradle of Aviation Museum
October 14, 2012 § Leave a comment
The Cradle of Aviation Museum launched a new planetarium this month that aims to inspire the next generation in the wonders of science and math.
The JetBlue Sky Theater Planetarium’s state-of-the-art digital projection system was unveiled Oct. 4 in the East Garden City museum’s five-story dome theater, which is best known for showing educational IMAX movies.
“It is one of the best tools for teaching where we are in the grand order of things,” said Scott Carpenter, the second man to orbit Earth 50 years ago as a part of the Mercury 7 crew.
The out-of-this-world special guest joined local lawmakers, school children, museum and JetBlue executives for the debut.
“Science is really interesting especially in space because you are in the middle of nowhere,” Shayna DeRosa, an excited 10-year-old from Wantagh Elementary School, said after the presentation.
With a countdown from three, the demo of the planetarium’s capabilities treated the audience to a two-minute space tour, starting on Earth, landing on the moon and exploring the surface of Mars as if it was the Mars rover.
And the adventure doesn’t stop there. The museum plans to live stream NASA’s next greatest venture in its planetarium.
“The next big mission is to land on a meteor and we will live stream that,” Andrew Parton, executive director of the Cradle of Aviation Museum said.
Robin Hayes, chief commercial officer of JetBlue, noted the 3D virtual experience of total immersion into the stars, planets and galaxies comes “without the goofy-looking glasses.”
The Uniview planetarium program software used creates real time and recorded programs of the known universe utilizing databases from NASA and the European Space Agency’s satellites data. Programs can be customized for students to see and control using an Xbox controller.
“We can now tap into satellite and look into Earth and observe the weather patterns for Earth science,” said Hayes. “It is one of the best tools for teaching where we are.”
The Cradle of Aviation, which works close with several Long Island schools to bolster interest in science and math as part of the STEM program—short for Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—hopes to encourage students to choose careers in math and science.
Several national reports have cited a decline in testing scores for the STEM fields. According to the National Math and Science Initiative, the US ranked 25th in math and 17th in science.
“I would like children to focus on math and science or the Aerospace industry and to know that there are careers here in Long Island so they don’t have to leave,” said Hayes. “As an airline, we can’t function without people in our fields, we are in the most important area in the country for development of aviation.”
Carpenter also helped inspire students.
“Curiosity is the greatest gift and fear does a lot of good things,” he said. “If you are curious to face those unknowns with pleasure, you are going to learn.”
Book Review: A Wedding in Great Neck
September 30, 2012 § Leave a comment
A Wedding in Great Neck by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Everything must be perfect for the day of a wedding; it is not only a day for two loving partners but for a family’s celebration as well. However, the binding ties of a family can be strong enough to either make it or break it in A Wedding in Great Neck.
The family of beautiful and accomplished Angelica Silverstein has gathered on Long Island for the fairytale wedding between Angelica and her Israeli fiancé, a former fighter pilot. Angelica is eager to make sure everything goes right on her perfect day. However, conflicts and tensions ensue within the Silverstein clan, threatening her perfect day.
In this book, McDonough gives readers a witty and moving glimpse of this particular family, where conflicting emotions are rampant on this wedding day. But can the family put aside their personal problems for the celebration of their daughter?
The tribulations within this family have unraveled at this crossroad and more than one life will be changed forever before the vows are even said.
McDonough will be speaking about her book, writing, life and answering questions, following a book signing at the Great Neck Library on Sunday, 10.21.
Tiny, Sentimental Portraits Turn Matchbooks Into Canvases
April 18, 2012 § Leave a comment
Though various simple technologies have made them somewhat obsolete, matchbooks are still very much a part of life, and our interactions with them are strangely intimate—the memory of a certain restaurant, the phone number of a forgotten acquaintance, the sight of a single, lonely match remaining in the book. Artist Krista Charles takes this sentimentality a step further by using the matchbook not only as a medium, but as inspiration for her art. Her collection is titled Matchbook Landscapes.
Pulling old matchbooks from her own personal collection, Charles tracks down the addresses of the businesses who printed them and then uses Google Street View images as templates for the tiny sketches she draws on the inside flap of each book, along with a little note about the state of the same location today. Whether the businesses still exist or not, the matchbooks become a canvas for Charles’ intricate illustrations of what remains standing.
While most matchbooks serve as an advertising medium coupled with a convenient source of flame, these matchbooks combine design and historical value, becoming a testament to the changing history of places. Call it palm-sized preserved art. Here’s what Charles had to say about her work:
“With Matchbook Landscapes, I combined my love for art, antiques and travel through my collections of matchboxes. For each, I found the location of the business on Google Maps. Inside the cover, I draw in pencil what is there at this time (fingers crossed that Google has brought me to the right place). Each design usually takes two hours. I spend more time in these places digitally than if I had gone in person. The trip thus leaves a trace, even if only a virtual one.
http://www.thecreatorsproject.com/blog/tiny-sentimental-portraits-turn-matchbooks-into-canvases
Record Player 2.0: “Soundmachine” Puts A Retro Spin On Performing Electronic Music
January 20, 2012 § Leave a comment
Seeing a DJ who uses actual records and turntables has become something of a rarity in the age of laptop DJing but this new installation and set of instruments takes us back to disc jockeying’s roots. Soundmachine by Creators The Product is not only retro-inspired in its record player 2.0 design—sleek, simple, and intimately familiar—it also harkens back to the early days of vinyl slinging mix masters, essentially distilling the process of mixing to its bare essence in this elaborate music sequencing machine.
The end result is sort of a three-pronged turntable for electronic music, mixing and matching between the three discs, each with three different tracks of sounds, rhythms and beats. The end result is an elegant, paired down version of the processes employed by DJs of yesteryear, and, to a certain extent, still in use today but in a digital format. It’s a welcome reminder that no matter how far we’ve come with technology and the myriad of tools, gizmos and gadgets currently at our disposal, the foundational elements of how we make music remain unchanged.
Supreme Court Deems Punishment for Teacher Shockingly Lenient
December 16, 2011 § Leave a comment
Colleen McGraham was a 36-year-old tenured high school English teacher that pursued her 15-year-old male student back in 2005. The only punishment received was a 90-day suspension without pay. However, State Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam believed that the punishment was “shockingly” lenient and the opposite in protecting children.
“The award in this case recognizes the seriousness of the allegations and imposes a penalty which we do not think is disproportionate to the charges,” stated the Court. ”[And] we find the penalty imposed here not to be so lenient as to have been arbitrary or capricious.”
In this context, pursuing her student didn’t mean physical contact, just electronically. McGraham exchanged intimate emails, instant messages and posted blog entries about her obsession.
As the New York City Department of Education sought to discharge McGraham, McGraham insisted on a due process hearing. The State of New York Court of Appeals found McGraham guilty of three out of five specifications of misconduct for behaving inappropriately as a teacher. McGraham’s actions were justified due to her “good” record, she was only suspended without pay and left to attend therapy.
According to the memorandum, the decision “[It] was rational, under the circumstances, for the hearing officer to find that respondent’s actions constituted serious misconduct, but that she was remorseful and her actions were unlikely to be repeated, such that termination was not mandated.”
The Supreme Court then reversed the Administrative Hearing Officer’’s decision and concluded that “the penalty imposed by the arbitrator of a mere 90 day suspension violates a strong public policy to protect children and is accordingly without a rational basis.”
Although McGraham was never physical, the inappropriate exchanging was a threat to the minor. Early in 2005, online conversations began taking place where they spoke about the student’s personal matters. It then progressed to movie suggestions, such as Harold and Maude, a 1972 film about a relationship between an older woman and teenage boy. The particular film made both the student and his girlfriend uncomfortable according to court papers.
In a secret blog, under an alias, McGraham revealed the nature of her obsession with the student. From May 2, 2005 to July 1, 2005, she had written 20 blog entries.
In her May 02, 2005 entry, McGraham stated, “Why do the tears always come? My feelings for him are so strong, and I can’t say or do anything – I love being close to him, talking to him, being around him.”
In late May of 2005, McGraham felt compelled to discuss the nature of their relationship and declared her romantic interest to the student. He then reported the communications to the high school principal. Even though the interaction with the student was not of sexual nature, Justice Abdus-Salaam deemed that it was still inappropriate.
“The fact that a romantic, sexual relationship did not develop between the student and teacher may say more about the student’s maturity than the teacher’s ability to conduct herself appropriately,” the judge wrote.
According to the judge, even with the 90-day suspension, McGraham didn’t seem to demonstrate remorse or “demonstrat[ed] that [respondent] would not engage in this type of conduct in the future.” She continued to attempt a romantic relationship with her student.
“Damn the consequences,” McGraham stated in her June 26, 2005 blog entry. “This is just so difficult. Because of course within the realm of the way things are supposed to be, obviously it is crazy. But life is all about things that don’t happen like the norm. Many crazier thing have happened and been okay.”
With this substantial evidence, the court overturned the decision made by the hearing officer.
“It is beyond question that in the broadest sense of the term; there is a strong public policy in preventing student/teacher relationships that, whether of sexual nature or not, threaten students’ well-being,” stated the court.
In July 2009, McGraham’s employment was terminated because she allowed her teacher’s certification to lapse. Today, she is a professional poker player. However, the appeal and decision isn’t left in vain. Not only will it prevent McGraham from obtaining future employment with the Department of Education, but it will “protect students from improper conduct by those entrusted to educate and guard them.”
Op Ed: National Threat
December 16, 2011 § Leave a comment
If you haven’t heard of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, I strongly suggest you give your undivided attention to what could change our democratic nation to one that is a permanent state of martial law.
Recently, the U.S. Senate, 93-7, passed a bill that would give the military the right to detain indefinitely a “suspected” terrorist and lock him away forever without the possibility of a trial. Why would this affect a concerned American citizen? Only because the “suspected” terrorist would be incarcerated, denied lawyers, a trial and discharge; the word “suspected” being the major indicator. This can become our reality if Congress refuses to take into account our values and constitutional rights while combating terrorism. President Barack Obama must veto this.
The bill broadly describes whom this would directly affect. According to the bill, “a person who was a part of or substantially supporting al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” So who does “associated forces” even entail? As long as our government can call you a terrorist, that’s it, the military can detain you without due process, forever.
Ten years ago, we witnessed the Patriot Act that forfeited our individual freedoms for assurances of better security, the establishment of Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Now this? Yes it has been ten long, arduous years of war, however, we have been able to handle terrorism and its threats without granting the higher power to the military. So why is this trying to pass now? It seems unreasonable and unsupported that we need this much authority to keep our country safe. I strongly believe that this bill isn’t “protecting” us from harm’s way. In fact it is the American people that need to be protected from this bill. We are being jeopardized and cannot let this over-militarization to happen.
As this bill allows the transfer and detention of American citizens to “offshore” prisons, to who knows where, it also authorizes torture. The torture of those “suspected” of terrorism.
There are many that oppose the bill including FBI Director Robert Mueller, CIA Director David Patraeus, Secretary of Defense Leon Pannetta, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Lisa Monaco, assistant attorney general for National Security and more.
Those that support the bill believe that Americans must sacrifice their security for freedom. On the contrary, taking away our freedom and given rights for the sacrifice of security that we already have, is unnecessary.
Senator Lindsey Graham states that, “If you’re an American citizen and you betray your country, you’re not going to be given a lawyer … I believe our military should be deeply involved in fighting these guys, at home or abroad.” She also believes that suspected terrorists, “should be held humanely in military custody and interrogated about why they joined al-Qaeda and what they were going to do to all of us.
What I find questionable that Graham uses is the word “humane.” Torture methods such as water boarding, sleep deprivation and other methods that were outlawed in the 2005 Anti-Torture Act will be added to a top-list of approved interrogation techniques that could be used on those suspected. Look at those were treated at Guantanamo bay. Who knows what could happen to those detained without trial or lawyers if this bill is to pass.
I believe that with this act, it further goes to show how excessive our executive power has become and that there is an extreme oversight of the protection of our civil liberties. This attempt to protect our country is misguided and it will indefinitely do more harm then good. It is frightening to even think that our own military can, without charges or a trial – incarcerate, detain indefinitely, torture and interrogate anybody “suspected.”
However, I remain hopeful. As of December 13, 2011, 40 members of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives sent an imperative letter to House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders and conferees opposing the NDAA. This is a historic threat to our civil liberties. Is this bill really worth the price? President Obama, if this passes in Congress, I plead you to veto this bill. Terrorists are not the only national threat; it is this bill that threatens our given, basic constitutional right to due process.
“Editors note: For those that are concerned and should be concerned, I urge you to write and call your Representative and Senator to tell them to stop NDAA Section 1030. Again, mention the facts listed at the bottom of this petition. http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-ndaa-section-1031-citizen-imprisonment-law-today
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-ndaa-2012-now/
– Contact your Representative at
http://writerep.house.gov/writerep/
– Contact your Senator at
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
and write and call the White House to tell the President you won’t sit by and watch NDAA Section 1031 become law. http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
Still Me, the Difference Between Reality and Human Perceptions
December 15, 2011 § Leave a comment
Daniel Labbato always had hair at different lengths, but it has never been as short as it is now. After growing his hair and facial hair for 18 months, it took him 15 hours to create 40 different documented haircuts in his project Still Me.
Labbato is a SUNY New Paltz professor, specializing in film making and video editing. He created an experimental project investigating the difference between reality and human perceptions of recorded reality, a simulation.
After wanting to do this project for at least 10 years, Labbato finally decided it was the right time. He felt his teaching job created room for an intellectual experiment with a purpose that was accepted within the faculty and community.
Labbato then found a barber who knew how to cut men’s hair in different ways and set up a photo shoot. After each haircut and hairstyle, one after another, a picture would be taken, his hair getting shorter and shorter.
“When you have really long hair, people definitely wonder about you,” said Labbato. “After I cut my hair, I was perceived differently, I came back to school and it really blew people away. It was even harder for me to recognize myself in the mirror.”
Labbato is in the process of working on a website that will showcase his visual experiment. Still Me will portray perception, languages and how it embodies the certain prejudices that occur without one being aware.
“Still Me is a play on words, which is a big thing about my work,” said Labbato. “If you’re using a play on words, there is more than one interpretation of the words to understand it.”
Still Me is a take on the still photographs taken of Labbato and he is still himself even though he portrays different personalities and outfits along with the different hair styles.
Labbato set out to disprove individuals who don’t usually think that white males experience discrimination. He said there are many different kinds of levels of discrimination if one doesn’t fit the exact mold society makes of people. These discriminations are assumptions, and we as humans can only perceive the things we think we know about reality, when we really do not know what reality is, he said.
“I’ve always tried to be an individual and I have my own reasons for the things that I do but people do judge you,” said Labbato. “Whether it’s how you dress, or how your hair is, they think they know you when they don’t, so we are all sort of trapped by our own assumptions we make of our perceptions.”
Labbato said a person perceives things that turn into thoughts and he/she can’t have a thought without using language. He was first against the idea because as an artist, his intuitions and feelings are things done without consciously thinking– they are spontaneous. However, when we have a thought, it is an association with those words, he explained.
“The word isn’t the thing. If I say, ‘he’s a bagman,’ what are the associations with that?” asks Labbato. “He is homeless or he has psychological or social problems. You make an assumption and your mind starts to fantasize how they got that way.”
Labbato said this is the foundation of how humans work and exist.
“Whether I like that person or whether I am repelled, to me assumptions [are] the basis of how we work and how we live and decide what is wrong and right, good or bad in society,” Labbato said. “However, perception isn’t reality. Reality can exist without us perceiving it.”
Labbato hopes with his experiment humans will be more open-minded and accept that we don’t always really know for sure.
“Is my essence changing because my appearance is changing?” said Labbato. “No, essence is essence. I’m still the same person. I’m still me.”
Reality through a Lens
December 1, 2011 § Leave a comment
I recently stumbled upon on my friend/fellow student Jade Schwartz’s blog: Reality Through a Lens. It is a blog dedicated to photography and the importance of it. Scwartz says in one entry, “With just a click of a button a million different feelings are compacted into one, that image being the whole, illustrating thousands of different emotions easily noticeable to the naked eye. That being called photography. The ability to capture an individual’s exact feeling at any given moment and savior it for a lifetime is the reason why photographers exist.” This re-inspired me to take up photojournalism again. A picture is really worth a 1000 words, it is a moment captured that evokes so much feeling. When working on my documentary, Part Time Student, Full Time Addict, I remembered the powerful pictures that I caught of one subject, Jake, shooting up heroin. As much as the moment lays engrained in my mind, so do the pictures that I took. What feelings does it invoke in you?
Kathy Kim - Multimedia Reporter 