South Fork Residents and Businesses Rally For Increased LIRR Service to Hampton Bays Train Station

Long Island Morning Edition

Elected officials on the South Fork, Long Island Rail Road passengers, and leaders in education, small business and medicine are planning a rally to call for increased train service to the South Fork on Friday, May 17, at 3:45 p.m. at the Hampton Bays LIRR station. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the South Fork Commuter Coalition is asking the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to commit funding in its upcoming capital budget for long-discussed infrastructure improvements for the South Fork, which is widely considered to be underserved by the railroad. Specifically, the South Fork needs new and upgraded sidings, which are sections of track separate from, but parallel to, a main line that allow trains traveling in opposite directions to pass. This, advocates say, would improve efficiency and allow for more train service on the South Fork. Much of the LIRR’s Montauk branch, including all of the South Fork, features a single track. At its first meeting on April 11, members of Southampton Town’s Traffic Mitigation and Safety Task Force spoke of the importance of rail service in alleviating “trade parade” traffic congestion. The railroad is “the most under-utilized infrastructure we have,” NYS Assemblyman Fred Thiele said at that meeting. The MTA will approve its five-year capital plan in October. The South Fork Commuter Connection, which debuted on the Montauk branch in 2019, is a coordinated rail and bus system that operates between Speonk and Montauk during peak commuting hours to provide a public transportation option and alleviate traffic congestion. It comprises expanded LIRR service and the “Last Mile Connection” shuttle service to take passengers to their workplace on weekday mornings. Later afternoon bus and train service returns riders to their stations of origin.

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Law enforcement officers descended early today on an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters outside Stony Brook University's Staller Center where they took several demonstrators into custody and forced others to leave.

As reported on Newsday.com, protest leaders and university administrators had reached an impasse before campus police along with New York State Troopers and Suffolk County police officers moved in after a deadline for demonstrators to leave passed at 11 last night.

Administration officials had earlier agreed to meet today with the student leaders but also threatened them with possible expulsion if they remained on the grassy common.

About a dozen protesters had remained camped out as the deadline passed. Another roughly 100 demonstrators who left the immediate area to avoid getting arrested formed a perimeter around the smaller group. Others began clearing out supplies that had been spread out in the encampment.

In a statement early this morning, university officials said among the 29 people arrested were "students, faculty members and others from outside our campus community for violating various legal statutes and university policies. What began as a peaceful demonstration escalated to include intimidation and harassment of other students and the erection of tents in violation of the University’s clearly stated policy. University administrators made every effort to avert this outcome."

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ReWild Long Island is offering internships and community service opportunities in East Hampton for its second summer.

The 2024 Summer Program To Fight Hunger and Climate Change includes volunteer work in organic vegetable harvesting, regenerative food production, sustainable landscaping, pollinator garden design and composting.

Locations and partner organizations include Share the Harvest Farm, LongHouse Reserve, Surfrider Village Green and Methodist Lane Bioswale, East Hampton Compost and East Hampton High School Pollinator Garden.

The hands-on activities are intended to encourage a sense of connection among teenagers and the ecosystem. Furthermore, ReWild offers students the unique opportunity to engage with local environmentalists, gaining insights into community-driven environmental initiatives and discovering ways to contribute to future efforts

As reported on 27east.com, ReWild welcomes high school students and rising freshmen to apply for either a role as a student intern or a student volunteer. Applications are open through May 15 and may be found at ReWildLongIsland.org/summerprogram. Student volunteers are required to work a minimum of 30 hours (including training), and student interns are required a minimum of 60 hours (including training) and will receive a stipend of $300 at the conclusion of the program. All participants earn community service hours.

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The East Hampton Town Trustees have posted an $888,000 bond to cover the entire liability, plus anticipated interest, for contempt of court charges filed against them and East Hampton Town officials for violating a 2021 court order not to permit 4x4 vehicles from using a stretch of Amagansett beach - popularly referred to as “Truck Beach” - that has been ruled privately owned.

Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that posting the bond is expected to automatically lift a freeze placed on the Trustees’ checking accounts by an attorney representing the oceanfront homeowners that sued over control of the beach in 2009, who has demanded that some $740,000 in fines and legal fees be paid immediately, despite the court rulings being under appeal.

The Trustees have groused at being saddled with the entire financial liability, since the contempt charges appeared to have been precipitated primarily by the actions of East Hampton Town Board and East Hampton Town Marine Patrol officials who did not take steps to prevent 4x4 owners from driving onto the beach in protest of the ruling.

The town is automatically protected from the liability of the judgment against it by state law that protects a taxpayer-funded municipality in the case of a legal appeal ruling against it. But a judge ruled this past winter that the Trustees are not a municipality and are not afforded that same protection and that they could be held liable for the entire amount of the judgment in the contempt case, even though the fines and legal fees were leveled against both entities jointly.

Trustees Clerk Francis Bock said on Wednesday, “It was either do this now or wait until the hearing with the judge on May 16…and we’ve already gotten the Sheriff’s notice, which gives us 30 days, and if we missed the deadline the sheriff could just go in and seize the funds from our accounts.”

“We’re screwed either way, so this was the best way for us to get our accounts free again,” Trustee Bock lamented.

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Long Island Game Farm officials said the giraffe that died in October was malnourished due to a resistance to medication from parasites and did not die due to starvation.

Bobo, a 3-year-old, 12-foot giraffe, died Oct. 2 when he collapsed at the game farm in Manorville while preparing to be returned to his home at a zoo in South Carolina.

The giraffe was leased to the game farm, where he spent his summers on Long Island. John Asbury reports on Newsday.com that a USDA report found the giraffe died of malnourishment, cold living conditions and a “heavy parasite load and poor body condition.”

Melinda Novak, the game farm’s president, said in a statement issued yesterday: “Bobo had a drug-resistant parasite that he was being treated for prior to his death. At the time of his passing, Long Island Game Farm was initially informed that heart failure had been the cause of death.”

The game farm followed a feeding schedule by Bobo’s owner, including a diet of feeding pellets, carrots and lettuce. The giraffe was under veterinarian care for about two months to be treated for the parasite, Novak said. She said a necropsy from Cornell found Bobo had an unusually small heart.

The game farm was issued a warning of violation following Bobo’s death and the USDA told the facility it must make improvements before it obtained another giraffe. A follow-up inspection by the USDA found no violations.

Novak said the game farm has been speaking with inspectors, who said it may obtain another giraffe after an inspection.

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This coming Monday May 6th at 6pm, the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association will commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day at Riverhead Free Library to honor the memory of the lives taken and of all who risked or sacrificed their own lives to save others. This year, explore and reflect on Hearts and Minds; hearing the thoughts and emotions shared on diary pages written in hiding or in deathcamps; the memories of survivors whose life’s work became keeping their stories alive; and the reminders, written in essays and poems, that the future is in our hands. This free program next Monday, May 6th at 6pm in the Riverhead Free Library, is presented as a community service by the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association. Advance registration requested, but not required. Call Riverhead Free Library at [phone] to register.

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After 13 months of research and interviews, the BESS Task Force has submitted draft recommendations for regulating Battery Energy Storage Systems to the Southold Town Board.

BESS facilities store energy generated by renewable technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines, for future consumption. The systems are currently not permitted under town code, but the technology could become a key component of the region’s energy supply. The Southold Town Board recently renewed a moratorium on BESS applications through April 11, 2025. Nicholas Grasso reports in THE SUFFOLK TIMES that the volunteer group — comprising seven area residents, including Norman Reilly of the Southold Town Fire Chief’s Council — examined the BESS codes of neighboring towns and interviewed local environmental advocates, town employees and elected officials to create its 39-page report, dated April 3. The group also met with representatives from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which promotes energy efficiency and renewable energies, as well as developers and consultants involved in the installation of BESS facilities.

Task Force recommendations state that any BESS facility with an energy capacity greater than 600kWh {kilowatt-hour} which classifies it as Tier 2, would require a special use permit, a SEQRA Type I environmental impact statement and a site plan approval process that would examine an array of fire and other safety plans.

With the task force’s mission complete, the Southold Town Board and various town departments — including building, legal and planning — must now review its recommendations.

“It’s got to go through almost everyone,” Supervisor Al Krupski explained. “It’s a public document, so it will be a very public process … It also concerns public safety, so the local fire departments are going to be encouraged to weigh in also.”