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BY ARLENE GROSSarlenegross@tbrnewspapers.com

Th e 2 percent spending increase that the Har-borfi elds school district has proposed would mean cuts to staff , administration and programs dis-trictwide if the board and public adopts it for the 2009-10 school year.

As noted at a public workshop last Saturday, the Harborfi elds school district would have seen a 5.04 percent or $3.46 million spending increase

Volume 2, No. 18 March 12, 2009 75¢

HUNTINGTON • HUNTINGTON BAY • GREENLAWN • HALESITE • LLOYD HARBOR • LLOYD NECK • COLD SPRING HARBOR

Edition

The TIMESHUNTINGTON

For breaking news, visit www.northshoreofl ongisland.com

He lived boldly,outside the linesArtist embodied spiritbehind ‘Ride for Life’Page A3

Dollar wrenching

Continued on page A6

Online extraResidents rail against spate of shootings near schoolOn our website

Photos by Ted Taylor

Welcome, whether friend or rover!Everyone’s Irish on St. Patty’s Day and, due to demand for parading pipe and drum bands the Island over, the saying applies through much of March as well. This past Sunday, the O’Hare clan — above, from left: Juliana, Billy, Danielle, Frankie, Eric, Ashley, Eric, Matthew, Tara, Michael and Michael — celebrated their hometown’s 75th annual St. Patrick’s parade, as did fellow revelers, at right: Kathy Eklund, Jamie Brzustoski and Michael Brzustoski, also of Huntington. More parade photos on our website.

Two districts hit their caps, but at what cost to kids?BY ARLENE GROSSarlenegross@tbrnewspapers.com

Huntington school administrators on Monday proposed a draft $105.56 million budget with a potential 3.95 percent tax rate increase, hitting the board’s target of a 2 percent cap.

Th e proposal, if adopted this spring, would carry a tax rate of about $197.98 per $100 assessed value.

Spending typically goes up every year due to Continued on page A6

‘Close to Home’ exhibit opensSt. Patrick once again on the march SundayPage B1

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In a 12-6 vote, the Legislature overrode County Executive Steve Levy’s veto last Tuesday and increased park fees to bring an additional $1 million into the county’s coff ers.

Most of the money will aid the Van-derbilt Museum in Centerport, which took a big hit last fall when its endowment dropped precipitously, along with the rest of the declining stock market.

Th e bill’s sponsor, Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D-East Setauket), said she had been exploring park fee hikes for more than a year, “just because our costs have gone up and they’re not refl ected in the fees.”

Th e cost of fuel for the parks depart-ment, for instance, has increased by about 500 percent and people with larger recre-ational vehicles with more appliances have not been asked to help defray the costs.

“During these very diffi cult economic times, the taxpayers of Suff olk County should not be subsidizing recreational ac-tivities on as high a level as we had been in the parks. We have not raised user fees in our parks for seven years. Th ere’s just a sense of fairness in asking people who are engaged in recreational activities to at least keep up with infl ationary prices.”

Dan Aug, a spokesman for the county executive, said Levy was proud to have not raised park fees for fi ve years.

“So he was disappointed that the Leg-

islature went in that direction,” Aug said.“At the same time, however, he’s pleased that the museum will be open and oper-ating for a period of time, that will allow all parties to endeavor to fi nd a long-termsolution leading to continued operation of the facility.”

Th ough he is for the county propping up the Vanderbilt, Legislator Lou D’Amaro(D-North Babylon) voted to sustain Levy’sveto, he said, “because this is not the timeto be raising park fees — when the econo-my is in free fall and the fees would be paid by those who could least aff ord to pay it.”

D’Amaro also questioned the wisdom ofrelying on a short-term solution: the parkfee windfall is only for one year. “Th ey’re going to need funding well beyond that one-year period,” he opined.

Also, whether higher park fees actuallyyield more county revenue remains to be seen. It might be that fewer people use theparks as a result, he said.

Another of his concerns is that the Van-derbilt won’t see any of the funding untillate summer, aft er people have been us-ing the parks for a few months. “Based onthe testimony I’ve heard at the Legislaturefrom the Vanderbilt representatives, their cash fl ow crunch is occurring now. To waitthree, four or fi ve months is not going tohelp them.”

Still, Carol Ghiorsi Hart, executive di-rector of the museum, sounded upbeat about the Legislature’s vote. “We are very,

Parks fee hike passesCourtesy Vanderbilt Museum

The Whale Shark exhibit, one of the many educational features the museum off ers to children from across the Island.

The TIMES (USPS 003-952) is published Thursdays by TIMES BEACON RECORD NEWSPAPERS, 185 Route 25A, Setauket, NY 11733. Periodicals postage paid at Setauket, NY and additional mailing offices. Subscription price $35 annually. Leah S. Dunaief, Publisher. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to PO Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733.

RCH 12, 2009 • TIM

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Th e Huntington Bay artist who died last Wednesday of complications from amyo-trophic lateral sclerosis worked up to his fi nal days, his wife said last week.

“He would get in his studio and try to do something, which was amazing because physically doing anything was extremely challenging,” Donna Simonetti said of her husband, Mark Kuhn, 57.

Two years ago, Kuhn was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Th e disease aff ected the bulbar region of his brain, inhibiting his speech, swallowing and breathing. “Eating became more diffi cult because he would choke and he couldn’t clear his throat,” Simonetti said, “so last July he had a feed-ing tube inserted.”

Due to his illness, Kuhn could no longer work with sculpture, so he returned to his artistic roots: painting. “At his soul, he was a painter.”

Up until last week, Kuhn was working on “Th e Lifeline Series,” which Simonetti described as “an extension of the images he had done in his sculptures over the years but brought to a fl at surface with great em-phasis of color.”

It was a dead oak tree his wife wanted removed from their Huntington prop-erty that inspired him to start sculpting 18 years ago.

“He said ‘Oh no, don’t do that. I see an image of a face, about 30 feet up.’ We had them top the tree off and he created what we called ‘Th e suburban totem pole.’”

When their daughter Paige attended Flower Hill Primary School in the early

1990s, her class and the rest of the second grade toured Kuhn’s studio, gathering around the totem pole to sketch it. “Th at was a choice moment in our lives, all those little kids sitting out there.”

Because the tree’s roots were still in the ground, however, it had rotted from the inside out.

“From that he learned that if he’s going to do sculptures, he’s got to put them on pedestals so that their root systems are not intact,” Simonetti said.

Over the years, Kuhn continued to paint and sculpt, creating a centerpiece statue of the assumption of Mary that still graces the lawn of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Centerport.

About a year ago, he began “Th e Lifeline

Series” of “very colorful fi gurative forms that seem to fl oat or swim through inter-esting atmospheres,” Simonetti said.

Th e 12 canvases and dozens of drawings will be on display at the Art League of Long Island in Dix Hills, from July 15 to Aug. 16, where Kuhn taught for many years.

When he fi rst joined the Art League aft er moving to Long Island 19 years ago, Kuhn wanted to reach out to other local artists and called upon Huntington painter Stan Brodsky.

Ever a fan of Kuhn’s work, Brodsky was most impressed with “Th e Lifeline Series.”

Brodsky said, “Th ese paintings are very bold, large and extremely fresh; they’re not worked over in any way. It seems as if he knew what he wanted.”

Former Art League teacher Sue Cont-essa, of St. James, said she was happy that Kuhn had worked to the end. “Truthfully, I don’t know how he had the strength to do it.”

Simonetti conjectured that Kuhn, a cre-ative artist since childhood, used art dur-ing periods of personal crisis to express what he was experiencing emotionally.

“I think this was no diff erent than that,” she said. “It was like an essential part of his being to express himself in his art, par-ticularly if he was going through a diffi cult time.”

Kuhn taught in an atypical, free-spirit-ed manner, bringing in unusual objects for still life pieces, such as shoes and his mask collection, Contessa recalled. “It wasn’t like the normal fl owers and fruit. I think he had more fun and I think he hoped it would make it more fun for them,” she said, refer-ring to his students.

Simonetti also spoke of Kuhn’s uniquespirit. “He had his own way of looking atthe world. He questioned and evaluated ev-erything on his own terms He didn’t takeanything at face value. … He approachedeverything with great passion whether itwas his art work, his family, his music.”

Learning the bass guitar several years ago, Kuhn formed a rock band called “Th eBarking Men,” which performed at Hun-tington’s Summer Arts Festival last year.

“He’s always driven,” she said. “He takesup the guitar, he’s practicing for ten hoursa day until he becomes profi cient enoughto play with professional players who had played all their life. He was not going to let adversity stop him from doing what hewanted to do.”

One of those band members, Peter Ga-lasso, of Setauket described Kuhn as fi erce-ly adventurous in life and in art.

“In music, he was always exploring, ei-ther rhythmically or tonally, diff erent ideas that you wouldn’t expect, which is a greatthing — not only for him but [also] for thepeople that are playing with him. You wantto hear things that spark your imagination.Th at’s what Mark was good at. He always took chances.”

Kuhn’s 20-year-old son, Bennett, who took a leave of absence from Tuft s Uni-versity to help his father work, said spend-ing the last few months with his dad wasa blessing. “To be here for him, to comforthim and to help him with his work.”

Bennett had taken a road trip with hisdad to get closer to him aft er his diagno-sis but soon realized that “we already beenbest friends for a long time. Th ere wasn’t

His paintbrush was his ‘Lifeline’ in illness

Courtesy Kuhn family

Mark Kuhn: a steadfast artist through ALS.

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very happy here at the Vanderbilt that we will be able to keep all our doors open to the public through the end of the year.”

In the meantime, the museum is fund-raising with the help of the recently es-tablished Friends of the Vanderbilt group. Behind the scenes, museum trustees are working to secure corporate and founda-tion support and apply for grants.

“We’re trying to develop some special event programs to bring in more visitors,” she said. “We do expect our attendance to go up as people stay closer to home. We’re going to be off ering more of what we do so well.”

Hart has high hopes for a new sum-mer program for children called Wizard University.

“Our site with the planetarium as well as the historic mansion with the collections is the perfect site to really excite the mind in imaginative ways and teach real science and history but in a fun way.”

What’s more, the museum has added vending machines and is exploring food service options, like partnering with local restaurants or catering facilities.

However, there is one revenue stream that is down this season — catered wed-dings. Fewer couples booked their wed-dings there this season. “Because weddings are planned usually a year ahead, it’s going

to be hard to make that up.”Viloria-Fisher sees the recent legislation

as a win-win solution.“Th e point here is that whether or not

we passed this bill, we would have had toput some money into the Vanderbilt,” shesaid. “What this bill does is prevent usfrom having a hole in our budget. We havea commitment to keep the Vanderbilt alive. We would have had to fi nd the moneysomewhere else. And in these times, wherewere we going to fi nd the money?”

Parks fee hikeContinued from page A2

much catching up to do.” Calling his father a devoted family man

and friend, Bennett said, “Th e space he putinto all aspects of his life was not very dis-tant. Th ey were all very connected. Th eyfl owed seamlessly.”

Bennett’s sister, Paige, 23, formed the “Making Our Mark Team,” raising $7,000 for the ALS walk last September.

Paige said, “It seems like everyonethat we run into, the way they describe him is: he was alive, vivacious and full ofenergy always.”

Brodsky added, “I will miss Mark’s pres-ence and his friendship a great deal. It was agreat pleasure knowing him.”

In lieu of fl owers, the Kuhns requestdonations be made to the ALS Associationonline at alsa.org/goto/markkuhn.

‘Lifeline’Continued from page A3

Buy a shamrock or adopt a ‘lucky dog’Visit Little Shelter, 33 Warner Road, Huntington, between noon and 5 pm on Sun-

day, March 15, and meet dogs, cats, puppies and kittens available for adoption. Also,partake of special festivities, including free giveaways and a bake sale. If you’re unableto adopt, make a donation! Shamrocks will be sold in $1, $5, $10 and $20 denomina-tions with yours or your pets’ names inscribed on them. Call 368-8770, ext. 205.

RCH 12, 2009 • TIM

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Ryan scores 10 for Tornadoes in small-school championship lossBY ROBERT LEUNERkatsports@tbrnewspapers.com

Like a swarm of pesky gnats, or worse, hungry, biting blackfl ies on a hot Memorial Day aft ernoon, the Wyandanch Warriors, Class B champs, pestered and ultimately got the better of the Class A champion Harborfi elds Tornadoes in a Suff olk County small-school girls’ basketball game played at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue on March 6. Wyandanch’s 53-39 victory was due to their tena-cious defense and the Tornadoes’ inability to fi nd their off ense.

Wyandanch junior guard Kim Weathers led all scorers with 19 points while senior center Natassya Wright chipped in with 9 points and six rebounds. Eighth-grade forward Bridgit Ryan paced the Torna-

does with 11 points while senior captain Dominique Hendrickson added 7 points and 13 rebounds.

“I think we played hard but they shot better,” said Harborfi elds head coach Russ Tietjen. “Give Wyan-danch credit, their press worked. We tried to pass up-court but their speed and quickness were too much.”

Th e Wyandanch defense forced some 30 Harbor-fi elds turnovers with their court press. Th e most domi-nant was a steal and basket by Syriah Celestine in the Harborfi elds backcourt as the buzzer sounded to end the fi rst quarter and put Wyandanch up 13-11.

Harborfi elds managed to stay close in the fi rst half behind the long-range shooting of sophomore Lynn Zhong, senior Casey Bishop and Ryan, but the Wy-andanch defense proved to be all but impenetrable. Th e Tornadoes were only trailing by two points when Wyandanch senior Charneice McCullough let go a bomb from beyond the half-court line that found the basket as time expired. Th e Warriors went into the half with a 26-21 lead.

Somehow Wyandanch turned up their defensive eff ort in the third quarter. Th ey forced three Har-

borfi elds turnovers in the fi rst minute of play and opened the second half behinda solid 8-2 run. Th e Warriors began to

open their off ense up behind a ferocious transitiongame that netted several fast-break baskets. Flusteredand frustrated, Harborfi elds hardly stood a chance atregaining their composure. At the end of three quar-ters the Warriors had extended their lead to 11 pointsat 40-29.

Wyandanch padded their lead to 15 points withtwo straight baskets to open up the fourth. Mean-while, the Tornadoes continued to remain cold fromthe fl oor.

At times they appeared desperate too. Severaltimes they let go with long shots that failed to fi ndtheir mark. Nor could they fi nd any success on the in-side. Earlier in the game Hendrickson enjoyed somefreedom in front of the basket, but as the game woreon the Warriors adjusted and limited her mobility.

Fortunately the loss does not deter Harborfi eldsfrom their quest for a Class A New York State cham-pionship. Th e Tornadoes will face Nassau County champions Floral Park in the regional fi nals on March14 at Hofstra University beginning at 2 pm.

Blue Devils fall in county finals to East Hampton

Courtesy Jim Hoops

Huntington’s Stevens Merilan plays defense, above, on March 4 against a tough East Hampton team. His teammate John Patron, left, fi res away a pass under heavy pressure. Anthony Brown, lower left, feels the pressure and looks for an open Blue Devils player.

GIRLS’ HOOPS

BY JOHN WESTERMANNkatsports@tbrnewspapers.com

Th e Huntington boys’ basketball team fought its way past John Glenn to the Class A fi nal at Longwood High School on hustle, poise and timely outside shoot-ing. Th e East Hampton Bonackers won

this game last year. Th e building was full and loud on March 4 with student sec-tions chanting good-natured abuse at each other. Th e game broadcast live on radio. Th e winner advanced to the small-school Suff olk County fi nal against Greenport and the state regional game on March 13 against Roslyn at Farmingdale State. A perfect setting and a perfect opportunity — except the Blue Devils outside shooting turned ice-cold and they fell 52-32.

“East Hampton played a great ball game tonight,” Huntington head coach Mike Schmitz said. “Th ey were under control, doing what they usually do; and we couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean. Plus, we made a bunch of mistakes. Every mistake against East Hampton winds up an easy bucket. I said it before: when we don’t shoot well, we lose.”

Th e Blue Devils got a good start and

led 5-1 aft er a drive and 3-ball from senior forward Ted Calligeros. Senior forward Anthony Brown soared to block a Bo-nacker layup and Calligeros took a charge on the defensive end. Still, East Hampton fought back to an 8-8 tie at the end of the fi rst period. Calligeros worked the off en-sive glass for an early second-quarter put back but then drew his second foul and had to go back on defense. Th e Bonackers got hot from outside and surged to a 24-13 lead at the half.

Huntington kept the game within the 10-point range during the third quar-ter but Calligeros picked up a few more touch fouls. When Calligeros was called for his fi ft h and sat down, the Blue Dev-il deep threat was much reduced and the Bonackers were able to concentrate fully on smothering senior guard Matt Duff y. Huntington freshman John Pa-

tron grabbed a rebound and scored, andBrown dropped in one fi nal layup to makethe 52-32 fi nal score.

Center Hayden Ward scored 26 points to lead the East Hampton off ense. Point guard Jerome Russell added 16 points andshowed almost limitless range. Brownhad 11 points slashing to the basket forHuntington. Calligeros fi nished with 10 points. Patron had six, Duff y three andStevens Merilan added a bucket.

“I’m proud of the kids,” said Schmitz.“We went even further than I thought we might. Th ey gave a great eff ort this year.”

He continued, “I’m defi nitely not a fanof using three referees in these playoff games. Th ey don’t practice it, and I don’tthink they’re very good at it. I thought they let their guys jump over our backs forrebounds and then fouled out Calligeros on very little contact. I watched the AAgame the night before, and I think they were a problem there, too.”

Wyandanch @ Harborfi elds girls’ hoops

Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th FinalWyandanch 13 13 14 13 53Harborfi elds 11 10 7 11 39

SPORTSSPORTS

BOYS’ HOOPS

6 • T

just to maintain the current budget. Even a contingency budget would bring a 3.78 per-cent or $2.6 million spending increase.

Amping the budget by 2 percent over its current $68.65 million would yield a tax rate increase of $8.46 per $100 assessed value, up 4.37 percent from the current $193.64 rate.

Revenues, including state aid, applied fund balance, interest and reserve appro-priations, if applied, are expected to drop by $818,000 to $16.92 million or 4.6 percent less than this year.

“Th ose are very, very sketchy at this point,” William Nimmo, assistant superin-tendent for business said.

A father of three, Derek McKane, of Greenlawn, said he is concerned that people are overreacting to news reports and cutting off much needed funding as a result.

“As I understand it,” he said, “the diff er-ence between a contingency budget, which is a radically reduced one, and the budget that is being discussed, which is even fur-ther restrictive, is less than a dollar a day per household for the community,” McK-ane said, “It seems like that little amount of money to have to increase class sizes, approaching 30 kids in a class, to cut out sports programs and all these kinds of en-riching programs that make a school dis-trict a good school district for less than a dollar a day seems like a bad decision.”

He continued, “As much as this com-

munity is hit as any other, the dollar a day is something that we can always pull to-gether no matter how bad it gets. We have to be careful not to run scared and con-strain ourselves in ways that we’re going to regret.”

Th e next budget hearing and commu-nity forum is set for Wednesday, March 18, at 7:45 pm in Oldfi eld Middle School.

Budget cuts breakdown on our website.

contractual expenses, including teacher and administrative raises. So, to arrive at the 3.95 percent tax rate hike, the district proposed reductions of about $1.9 million: $1.45 million from staff and $448,000 from programs.

Many members of the public showed up to voice their concern for two of the proposed cuts: one to shelve half the four librarians at the primary school level; the other, to reduce the number of elementary-level SEARCH enrichment program teach-ers from three to one.

Noting that for many children in Hun-tington, the school library is their only library experience, Cindy Tietjen, the li-brarian and media specialist at Jeff erson Primary since 2001, said, “Over 15 years ago, a shared librarian was tried on the elementary level and all who were present during that brief time recall it as a dismal failure. Th e room was dark, shuttered … resources disappeared, books were piled all over and, worst of all children, were left

without a friendly face to deliver instruc-tion. In a time when reading scores are of the utmost importance, does it make sense to limit access to books?”

Before she left the podium, Trustee Eliz-abeth Black pointedly asked Tietjen if she is a taxpayer in the community.

“No, I am not,” came the reply.Suzanne Miller, a Woodhull parent,

made the case for keeping SEARCH, which is an acronym for Scholastic En-richment and Resource for the Children of Huntington.

“Th e opportunity for enrichment is not something that should be taken from our children,” Miller said. “It is a fundamen-tal part of what stimulates their learning skills. … Just because a program isn’t re-quired, doesn’t mean it should be elimi-nated. … Are we a district that can only aff ord to properly educate 85 percent of our students?”

Max Strieb said, “SEARCH is my son’s favorite part of the week,” and noted that federal stimulus education aid was de-signed to avert layoff s so the monies could be spent on saving enrichment program teachers.

Th ough she was somewhat skeptical about the SEARCH program when she learned of it last year, Pauline Messina said, “What we found was that it expanded [my son’s] horizons tremendously by allowing a special type of hands-on learning that just wasn’t feasible in a class of 25. … It is es-sential to continue to cultivate the love of learning and passion for curiosity.”

Jennifer Reda, vice president of Jack

Abrams’ PTA, explained that SEARCHaff ects 550 students in the district: 150 ingrades 4 through 6; 150 third-graders; and250 second-graders.

“I am very proud to belong to a com-munity that takes so seriously its respon-sibility to the needs of all of its children,”Reda said. “I ask you to remember that ifthe SEARCH programs are eliminated,our district will fail to meet the needs ofthese children.”

Board President Bill Dwyer stressed that the board gives general direction toadministration, which then visits each ofthe building principals and program direc-tors to see where cuts can be made.

“It’s not just a few guys and the board sitting up here dictating,” he said. “We’regetting feedback from the lowest levelsback up, trying to put together a budgetthat everyone’s aware of.”

Trustee Emily Rogan emphasized thatSEARCH is not a gift ed and talented pro-gram, which requires high IQ test scores,but rather a program for “highly capable” children.

“It is an enrichment program,” she said.“And it does serve a certain group of stu-dents but it isn’t a true gift ed and talentedprogram.”

Board members asked Barbary Lacey,assistant superintendent for curriculumand instruction, to come to the next board meeting with details about SEARCH and to research how many librarians otherneighboring districts have so they couldmake more informed decisions on both matters.

Harborfi eldsContinued from page A1

HuntingtonContinued from page A1

We have radically mixed feelings regarding County Executive Steve Levy’s plan unveiled last week to seek corporate sponsorships and advertising at county facilities, in the name of addressing his particular level of government’s fi scal woes. Granted, thinking outside the box is needed and welcome in times of crisis, and we have no doubt this proposal quali-fi es. If Levy can tap into a signifi cant pot of gold to keep taxpayers from reaching deeper into their pockets at precisely the time when they can least aff ord it, terrifi c — to a point.

His proposal is to solicit “targeted marketing” at county parks, golf courses, campgrounds and hiking trails. His request seeks off ers of “advertising, displays, signs or corporate sponsorships throughout the county’s expansive parks and recreation system.” Responses are to be directed to the Suff olk County Nam-ing Rights Committee — we didn’t know either that the county had such an animal.

Our ambivalence toward Levy’s idea comes in the breadth of his request. Golf courses already consist of acres of ad-vertising, beginning at the pro shop but included in every foursome walking the fairways — golfers decked out in their Titlist Golf Ball caps and Jack Nicklaus shirts and carrying their Wilson golf bag with the large logo proclaiming that golfer’s choice and who willingly pro-vides free advertising for the company. A modest sized billboard on the trail to the fi rst tee; a logo attached to each ball washer; some golf attire clothing company

name displayed across the front of each golf cart — why not? Th e advertising is already there; encourage more of it to ease the burden on the citizenry, possibly providing the funding needed to keep the courses operating.

But — billboards in campgrounds and along hiking trails? We don’t think so. Th e whole idea, is it not, of those facilities is to get away from the norm, from civilization so to speak, for a few hours or days. Th e last thing any nature-loving hiker would tolerate along her favorite trail through some of the few pristine acres still left on Long Island is an advertisement for hiking boots staring her in the face at the begin-ning of her walk. Campers and hikers are trying to get away from it all, not just most. We urge the county executive to tread very carefully into this new venture. Let’s not ruin the valuable county facilities he’s trying to save. Let’s not sell out com-pletely to the corporate mentality that says everything — the Mets new home, the Ducks ball fi eld, Jones Beach theater and the rest — must have an international cor-porate giant’s name plastered on the side of it. (We shall miss Shea Stadium, named for — would you believe — a person?!)

Be careful, Mr. Levy, how you treat our parks, our woods, our open spaces.

I think that I shall never see, A billboard lovely as a tree.Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,I’ll never see a tree at all.

Ogden Nash1933

EDITORIAL OPINIONWind power, a real optionTO THE EDITOR:

In April 2004, Daniel Karpen made a proposal to the school district to conduct a wind energy study to determine the feasibility of installing a wind turbine on school grounds at the Oldfi eld Middle School.

We should all be working to keep costs as low as possible and that means exploring every opportunity for savings. Among the things that should be consid-ered is the cost of energy. I have been told that the electric bill for the district is approximately $700,000 per year. Th is is a sub-stantial amount of money and a good place to start for savings.

Modern electrical generating equipment using wind may be an answer. In addition to amortiz-ing the equipment over time, we may be able to remove that cost entirely. Th is is keeping with our desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are created by conventional oil and gas-fi red electrical generation that is used on Long Island.

Mr. Karpen’s proposal is a serious one, and it should be put on the agenda, examined, and approved if deemed feasible at the next scheduled meeting on March 18.

Ernest FazioCenterport

Another classic stationDEAR MR. MCKINNEY:

I couldn’t agree more with your comments about WQXR and the fading away of classical music on radio (“Classic music struggles to survive,” March 5).

However I wish you had mentioned our other classical music source in Suff olk County, namely WSHU 91.1 FM Public Radio. Our main transmitter and translators cover the whole of Suff olk County, all the way out to Montauk Point. We have classical music programming every week-day from 9 am to 4 pm, and again from 8 pm to 5 am. On Sundays we have Baroque music from 8 am until 1 pm and my own classical program (temporarily hosted by Lauren Rico while I am away) Sunday Matinee, from 1 until 6. Th is is also broadcast on WSUF 89.9 FM.

Th is is a pretty impressive line up of classical music, I think. You can see details at www.wshu.org

People sometimes think of us a Connecticut station, but half our listeners and supporters are on Long Island (where I am based) and we have a studio at Suff olk County Community Col-lege in Selden. If you get a chance in future, please mention WSHU to your readers. We are non-profi t, and need all the listeners we can get!

David BouchierWSHU essayist and music host

Be careful with our parks

RCH 12, 2009 • TIM

ES OF H

• PAGE A

TIMES BEACON RECORDNEWSPAPERSWe welcome letters, photographs, comments and storyideas. Send your items to PO Box 707, Setauket, NY11733 or email to timesnpt@tbrnewspapers.com. Or drop by our news offi ce at 67 Main Street, Northport. Th e opinionsof our columnists are not necessarily those of the paper.Times Beacon Record Newspapers are published every Th ursday. Address: PO Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733. Telephone: 631-751-7744Web • www.northshoreofl ongisland.com Con tents copyright 2009.

EDITOR AND PUBLISHERLeah S. DunaiefGENERAL MANAGERJohness KuiselEXECUTIVE EDITORLee LutzEDITORPatricia ProvenLEISURE EDITOREllen BarcelSPORTS EDITORKatherine ConsorteONLINE EDITORPatricia Proven

ASSOCIATE EDITORAlyssa CutlerEDITORIALJohn BrovenJennifer ChoiJoseph DarrowMichael DownerArlene GrossRobert LeunerElise PearlmanLisa SteuerJohn WestermannDave Willinger

PHOTOGRAPHYJohn GriffinRobert O'RourkAlan PearlmanRichard PodlesneyART AND PRODUCTIONDIRECTORDavid R. LeamanART AND PRODUCTIONJanet FortunaBeth Heller MasonWendy Mercier

ADVERTISING DIRECTORKathryn MandracchiaADVERTISINGMary ChirichellaRobin LemkinBarbara NewmanElizabeth ReuterLaura SatchwillNancy SolomonTed TaylorLynn TunneyMinnie Yancey

CLASSIFIEDS DIRECTOREllen SegalBUSINESS MANAGERSheila MurrayCREDIT MANAGERDiane WattecampsCIRCULATION MANAGERAlyssa CutlerBUSINESS OFFICESandi GrossMeg MalangoneSUBSCRIPTION MANAGERTerri Caruso

PEOPLE

Photo by Steve Silverman

‘Swift y’ stewards rescueTh e Greenlawn Fire Department recently dedicated its new ambulance in

memory of Firefi ghter Arnold “Swift y” Stilwell, a 50-year member of the de-partment, charter member of the Greenlawn Rescue Squad and active volunteer who died in October 2006.

Th e new state-of-the-art ambulance is a Horton, unit 2-7-5, and replaces a 14-year-old ambulance that was taken out of service. Th e new rig was placed into service in July, and dedicated on Labor Day weekend at the Greenlawn Fireman’s Fair. Aft er a welcome by Board of Fire Commissioners Chairman Larry Ancewicz, Chief Scott Demarest presented commemorative plaques and fl owers to members of the Stilwell family. Th e ceremony concluded with the reading of the Fireman’s Prayer by Chaplain John McKenna.

Standing, from left , are Greenlawn fi re chiefs Greg Moran, Scott Waryold, and Scott Demarest with Arnold Stilwell’s ex-wife, Valerie Stilwell, and his part-ner, Bea Bivona. Seated is Arnold’s mother, Dorothy Stilwell.

Boorshtein named president

and CEO of Family Service

LeagueA licensed clinical social

worker, Karen Boorsh-tein has been with Fam-ily Service League, with headquarters in Hunting-ton, since 1993. She has worked to develop critically needed programs in the changing Long Island com-munity. Boorshtein began her career at FSL as direc-tor of the agency’s longest running program, County

Wide Counseling. During the past 16 years, she was instrumental in growing their South Shore services from a 1,240 square foot site to the present Iovino South Shore Family Center which encompasses 42,000 square feet. Her eff orts resulted in FSL becoming the largest community based agency provider of Universal Pre-Kindergarten services in-cluding the Brentwood and Bay Shore school districts. Other program initiatives include bringing the nation-ally recognized Families and Schools Together program to Long Island and developing a successful intergenerational housing program, HomeShare Long Island.

She has worked tirelessly to bring fi nancial support to the agency from local, state and federal levels of government.

Kornfeld assumes leadership role

in NERFAHuntington resident Mi-

chael Kornfeld was elected secretary of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance board of directors during the organization’s annual conference. NERFA is the regional affiliate of the Folk Alliance, a Memphis-based organization that seeks to foster and promote tradi-tional, contemporary and multicultural folk music in North America.

An award-winning com-munications and public relations strategist, Kornfeld also attended the 21st An-nual International Folk Alli-ance Conference in Mem-phis in February, where he spoke on a panel and promoted several indepen-dent recording artists.

Send information for the People page to: vtimes@tbrnewspapers.com.

When an older man fathers a child, regardless of the age of the mother, there seems to be a small but increased risk that the child may score less well in intelligence tests. And although the risk is still quite small, such a child may also have an increased chance of birth defects and neuropsychiatric conditions like schizophrenia, au-tism and bipolar disorders. Th ese results of a broad scientifi c study involving 33,500 children born in the United States between 1959 and 1965 are causing a sea change in medical perspective.

Until now, the age of the mother has been considered of paramount importance, espe-cially since the biological clock of women is limited while the ability of men to father children continues as they age. With these results, it would appear that men too have a “clock” that begins ticking in their mid-30s. Evidence suggests that the chance of a successful pregnancy falls slightly aft er the father turns 35 and more so, although the risk is still quite small, aft er 40 years of age. Th is information is of particular

relevance today, when more men are delaying fatherhood until their 40s. For example, in 1993, in England and Wales, about 25 percent of births within marriage were to fathers ages 35-54, but by 2003, the number had risen to 40 percent. And according to the National Center for Health Sta-tistics in the U.S., in 2004 about 24 in every 1,000 men aged 40-44 fathered a child — an increase of 18 percent from the previous decade.

Further, the children of older mothers in the study tend to fare better in intelligence tests than the children of younger mothers.

John McGrath of the Univer-sity of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, led the primary study. “We report, to our knowledge for the fi rst time, that the off spring of older fathers show subtle impair-ments on a range of neurocogni-tive tasks during infancy and childhood. Th e patterns of these fi ndings were relatively consistent across ages and across neuro-cognitive domains,” according to McGrath. However, there was no further study to show if these

children catch up with their peers later in life.

So what’s going on here?For starters, women are

born with all the cells that will evolve into future eggs. Th ese eggs undergo 22 divisions in the womb. Men, however, produce new sperm cells throughout their lives. By age 20, sperm cells have divided 150 times and by age 50 some 840 times. With division there can be “copy error mutations,” or environmentally induced mutations, which in turn could lead to developmental problems. Th at could explain why the man’s age at fatherhood is relevant to the outcome of the pregnancy.

Further, children of older mothers, while less at risk from cell mutation, may perform better also because they receive the ben-efi ts of a more nurturing home environment. Th ey are on the right side of the heredity/environ-ment question on both counts.

A study recently published in the Archives of General Psychia-try concludes that the off spring of older fathers have a higher risk

of autism than that of younger fathers. If the father is over 40, the risk, though still small, is six times higher than if the father is under 30.

Researchers at Columbia Uni-versity found that men aged 50 and over are three times as likely to father a child with schizo-phrenia compared to men 25 and under. And men aged 45-49 are twice as likely to have a child with this illness. Th e researchers estimated that “as many as one in four cases of schizophrenia may be caused by the age of the father.” Th is conclusion is based on a study of 88,000 people.

And in Sweden, in a study at the Karolinska Institute, the con-clusion was that the older a child’s father, the more likely he or she was to have bipolar disorder. Children of men 55 years and up were 1.37 times more likely to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder than those of men 20-24. Please note that these are still small risks overall.

Th e risk of preterm birth increases with paternal age, according to a March

2005 issue of Epidemiology. Be-cause of increased risk of genetic abnormalities in the off spring of older fathers, the American So-ciety for Reproductive Medicine has limited semen donors to 40 years or younger, and in the U.K., 39 is the top age.

Men aged 50 and older are four times more likely to have a child with Down syndrome.

Some famous older fathers include the likes of Michael Douglas, Mick Jagger and Rupert Murdoch.

Perhaps society should look more kindly on older women who partner with younger men. It’s an idea that tickles me.

Male ‘biological clock’ ticking too

BY LEAH S. DUNAIEFvtimes@tbrnewspapers.com

Between you and me

8 • T

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