Caithness Grant for Historic Cemetery Restoration

March 29, 2011

Re: Caithness Grant for Historic Cemetery Restoration
Brookhaven Town Resolution 7609

Dear Councilwoman Kepert,

I have recently been informed that the Caithness Committee will be meeting, perhaps for the last time, in June. However, we still need a little more time to complete the restoration of one more of the six cemeteries that we had hoped to repair with the grant money.

This last cemetery is the Barteau Cemetery. The restoration work is being held up waiting for the Brookhaven Town Parks Department to open the access road leading from Montauk Highway to the Cemetery. Until this is done we cannot clear the cemetery of brush and inventory the headstones that need repair, nor can our stonemason, Hollis Warner, get his equipment into the cemetery.

I am writing to request that the Fire Place History Club’s remaining grant money, $1,685, be held until the Parks Department opens the access road to this cemetery so that the repairs can be made.

I would also like to urge you to please contact Commissioner Ed Morris asking him to make opening the access road to the Barteau cemetery his number one priority.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Martin Van Lith, chair

Opera and More .. Becker/Gambles Spring Concert

A voice and organ recital featuring:

Michael Douglas Jones, bass

Andrew Fuchs, tenor

Samantha Pruyn Guevrekian, soprano

Carol Weitner, organ

Daniel Ragone, piano

Performing works by Handel, Mozart, Puccini, Quilter, Schubert and Smetana

Saturday, April 30, 2011, 5 pm

Old South Haven Presbyterian Church, Brookhaven

Corner of South Country and Beaver Dam Roads

Tickets at the door $25.

Stop the Sludge Coalition

From: "STS. [Stop the Sludge] Brookhaven"
Date: April 22, 2011 11:15:29 AM EDT
Subject: Follow-up to last night's meeting

Good Morning,

Just following up on last night’s STS Coalition meeting. Two of the photographs that are attached were taken at the landfill approximately two weeks ago. They are installing new diesel fuel tanks for Town use inside the landfill, by the recycling area. The third photograph was taken from the Town Council’s Conference room on the 3rd floor at Town Hall.

The Executive Board held a productive meeting with Councilwoman Kepert on April 15th. She will prepare a resolution for the creation of a Landfill Advisory Board. We preliminarily compiled a list of organizations that will be appointed to the Advisory Board. In addition we are also reaching out to others with special expertise. Some of these individuals and/or agencies include: Larry Swanson; Ed Hubbard, S.C. Health Dept., BNL, DEC (Air Quality), EPA, as well as someone from SC Leg. Kate Browning’s office. We will be refining this list and identifying specific representatives from each organization as well as drafting purpose, goals and tasks of this board, after our meeting with Supervisor Lesko next week.

We discussed hosting a public meeting for all residents from the surrounding communities. We are tentatively looking at June2nd at 7 PM for this meeting. We need to confirm with our elected officials that they are available. A brief outline of an agenda was discussed. At our next meeting we will finalize these plans.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 28th at 7:30 PM. We will report on our meeting with Supervisor Lesko, finalize the list of appointments to the Landfill Advisory Board, and the agenda for the public meeting.

Last night we were asked to distribute the list of questions we were “required” to submit before Supervisor Lesko would schedule a meeting with us. The email correspondence has been inserted below.
Finally, just a bit of housekeeping information. During the process of forming the STS Coalition, we distributed information to our members on the list-serve. One of our initial messages was forwarded to someone outside of our Coalition – who then forwarded to someone else and so on. This provided access to our email contact information – which for many is a “personal” email account. For a handful of us we were besieged with emails. Having realized what occurred, it was determined that all future emails to our list-serve would be distributed as Bcc. Our current list-serve has grown considerably since the initial un-intentional released list. We are taking every precaution to protect our contact database. We just wanted to clarify for all that when you receive an email from sts.brookhaven@gmail.com, that information is being distributed to all on our list-serve. If any member of our Coalition wishes to distribute information to the list-serve, you can forward it to us and we will disburse your information. Hope this explains why our emails appear to be addressed to the individual recipient.
We wish everyone a Happy Easter and/or Happy Passover!
Regards,
Sharon

---

Dear Brain,

Thank you for agreeing to arrange a meeting between the STS Coalition executive board and Supervisor Lesko. As you requested, below you will find the questions and topics we are seeking to discuss. I look forward to hearing from you so that we can schedule this important meeting.

. Creating an advisory or liaison community based board to work with the Town in matters regarding the landfill. The objective is to enhance communication and allow for community involvement.

2. STS would like to have clarity on financial information regarding the landfill. Much has been said in the press but we would prefer to better understand the Town’s numbers and budget. Such questions include
· What amount of funds does the landfill generate per year for the Town Budget?
· What is the breakdown on the gross income projected for the landfill? How much revenue is generated from C&D, Ash, recycling, yard material, etc?
· Can you provide last year’s budget for the landfill – with the actual numbers for income and expenses and a breakdown of both?
· Does the Town have long term projects of income for the landfill? If so, what are they?
· Can our budget discussion include general operating and maintenance costs?

3. STS wants to discuss Cell 6 and Cell 7. This discussion would include such topics as
· When will Cell 6 close?
· When will Cell 7 open?
· How many phases of 7 are being planned?
· How will Cell 7 be used?
· What is the expected lifetime of this cell?

4. STS wants to discuss any future plans or ideas for reducing the Town’s solid waste. For instance, there was a “pay as you throw” committee and we are not sure what happened with that work.

Adrienne Esposito
Executive Director
Citizens Campaign for the Environment

Woodruff Cemetery Explored

Richie Davin, owner of Davin's Funeral Home along Montauk Hwy in Mastic has been asking me to go with him to the
Woodruff cemetery for nearly a year, which is behind his sister, Sharon's, house. Sharon is on left of 1st pix, her house is about 100 yards directly behind her to the north. Sharon was a classmate of mine at William Floyd. We poked
around and came up with one complete stone and big pieces of two other stones.
--Marty Van Lith


L. to R.:  Sharon, Betty Bundy, Diane martens, Richie Davin



Stephen Robinson gravestone







Hannah M. Woodruff, wife of Matthew Woodruff










Name not found

Stop The Sludge Coalition

The Stop The Sludge (S.T.S) Coalition was formed to address noxious and unacceptable odors adversely affecting residents, schools, businesses and the quality of life for all in the vicinity of the Brookhaven Town landfill. Since 2008, the Town accepted non-hazardous sludge from Long Island municipalities, including Huntington, Riverhead and North Hempstead. In June 2010, they also began receiving 10,000 tons per month of bio-solids from several New York City waste water treatment facilities.

On March 25, 2011, the New York State Department of Environmental & Conservation (DEC) modified the Town’s permit to remove the authority for the Town to accept non-hazardous sludge at the landfill.

While the Town Supervisor has indicated they will comply with DEC’s decision, we believe further action is needed to prevent future contracts by the Town of Brookhaven that negatively affects our communities.

• Our residents should NOT be required to bear the harmful impacts of NYC or any other communities’ disposal needs.
• We don’t want to fill the budget hole by filling the landfill with sludge.
• We believe community involvement is critical to shaping Brookhaven’s future. A Landfill Community Advisory Board is needed to guide Brookhaven’s future landfill decisions.

Visit the S.T.S. web site at http://www.stsbrookhaven.org/Welcome.html for further information

L.I. Pine Barrens Society February Update

From: Pine Barrens Society victoria@pinebarrens.org>

Date: February 16, 2011 5:52:06 PM EST

Subject: [PineBarrens] February Update!

Long Island Pine Barrens Society – February Update

The Carmans River Protection Plan: What Is It? What’s In It?

Good news for the future of the Carmans River and its surrounding community! A draft of the Carmans River Watershed Comprehensive Protection and Management Plan has been submitted to Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko and the Town Board for approval (Click here to see the draft plan on the Town’s website). This undertaking to prevent further degradation of the river concludes over three months of work by an appointed Study Group composed of leading environmentalists, builders, town government and Pine Barrens Commission. The plan seeks to protect 9,100 acres of the Carmans River Watershed, and redirect development to areas away from the river and residential communities. In addition, it would preserve water quality, save natural habitat, reduce impacts of current land use, remediate contaminated groundwater and allow monitoring of possible future degradation of the river and the surrounding land.

What Happens Next? How the Public Can Participate.

To help ensure that the Town Board votes to formally adopt the current plan, it’s important for residents and concerned parties to remain informed and stay involved in the process. There will be three public information forums held, prior to a public hearing on March 29^th, 6 PM, at Brookhaven Town. The first forum will be hosted by the Carmans River Partnership on Saturday, February 19, 12:00 PM, at Longwood Public Library in Middle Island. Brookhaven residents are encouraged to attend.

For more information on the Carmans River protection plan, please visit the Town’s website for more information:

Below are links to recent press:

Newsday Article from 2/8/11

Newsday Editorial from 2/9/11

News 12 TV coverage from 2/9/11

Sunday Newsday- Rick Brand column 2/13/11

Town of Brookhaven’s Carmans River Protection Plan press conference coverage from 2/10/11

As always, we’ll continue to keep you updated and strive to do our part to help keep Long Island healthy and clean!

In Memory of a Friend and Environmentalist

On a very sad note, Dan Morris, an ardent and effective environmental advocate has died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma at the age of 63. He and his wife, Marilyn England, created and led the Open Space Council to a long series of environmental victories and made enormous contributions to the enactment of the Pine Barrens Protection Act of 1993. He will be sorely missed.

You are subscribed to the Pine Barrens Society email-list. The Pine Barrens Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the State of New York. To unsubscribe or invite a friend, please call (631) 369-3300 or email info@pinebarrens.org. As a subscriber, your contact information will be kept private.

School of Documentary Filmmaking to be named for local Brookhaven resident George Stoney

SPECIAL EVENT SPONSORED BY THE PLAZA MEDIA ARTS CENTER

ALL MY BABIES Screening & ceremony naming of a new School of Documentary Filmmaking after local Brookhaven resident George Stoney

DATE: February 23, 2011 — TIME: 7-10 PM

PLACE: Brick House Brewery, 67 West Main Street, Patchogue

THE FILM: In 2002 the Library of Congress deemed All My Babies a "culturally, historically and artistically significant work" and included it in the National Film Registry. Shot in 1952 in the deep south amidst racial tensions, George Stony ventured in with a camera crew to follow the practices of midwife "Miss Mary" Coley, an African-American, as she delivered babies. Screened as a landmark film for its realistic artistry this film has also been used around the world by UNESCO.

THE FILMMAKER: George Stoney has made over 1 00 documentaries. As an advocate of video as a tool for social change, he was one of the leading figures behind the creation of Public Access Television, a "free-speech forum" for ordinary people to create and broadcast content on cable television systems. By 1969, having secured broadcasting rights for citizens, Stoney went on to co-create the Alternate Media Center to train people in video production. Mr. Stoney was recently appointed Emeritus Professor at NYU's Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, where for forty years he has inspired and mentored generations of new filmmakers.

THE PLAZA MEDIA ARTS CENTER: Following in George Stoney's footsteps, The Plaza Media Arts Center will be offering classes geared towards helping participants write, film, direct and edit quality short films, narratives and documentaries, that merge social activism, the art of filmmaking and journalism, to make proactive change in their community. Spring classes start March 21 and are taught by filmmakers and experienced teachers.

Collaborating with Huntington's Cinema Arts Centre, The Plaza MAC will resume screening the latest independent and foreign films by summer 2011. A special Italian Film Festival is slated for fall 2011.

The Plaza MAC team is currently working with politicians, developers, community organizations and businesses to renovate the old Plaza Theater and to build a Media Arts Center that will become the creative media arts hub with studios and equipment for classes and film production.