COURTESY PHOTO | A Jamesport woman was arrested March 8 for using her mother’s debit card and identity to rent a room at the Enclave Inn in Bridgehampton (pictured).

A 48-year-old Jamesport woman is facing felony charges after she pretended to be her mother to rent a hotel room in Bridgehampton, Southampton Town Police said in a press release issued Wednesday morning.

Allison Greene used her mother’s debit card and signed her mother’s name without permission when she checked in at the Enclave Inn earlier this year, police said.

She was arrested March 8 and charged with felony counts of grand larceny, identity theft and forgery, police said.

NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | Jamesport Manor Inn restaurant operates in the site of what was once a long-vacant Victorian-style house on Manor Lane.

The Jamesport Manor Inn’s proposal to add a catering hall to its Manor Lane property is back on the town’s agenda.

A state Supreme Court judge last week overturned an earlier court ruling on the case, saying the catering hall application must go back to Riverhead’s Zoning Board of Appeals for a ruling on its merits.

“This is a good thing,” said John Ciarelli, a Manor Inn attorney, told the News-Review. “We’re going to go full speed ahead and try to get this thing resolved finally.”

In 2009, property owners Matt Kar and Frank McVeigh had sought a ZBA ruling challenging town planning director Rick Hanley’s decision that the plans needed a special permit from the Town Board,  in addition to a site plan approval from the Planning Board.

But the ZBA in 2009 denied that application on the grounds that the hearing notice was not properly posted — a move the judge last week called “arbitrary and capricious” — rather than on the merits of the case.

That led to a lawsuit filed by Kar-McVeigh LLC in 2009, which was decided in the inn owners’ favor by state Supreme Court Justice Peter Cohalan in 2010.

Judge Cohalan, in that ruling, ordered the town to process the application. The town appealed that ruling, and in March of 2012, an appeals court overturned Judge Cohalan’s ruling, saying he was wrong in ruling that the town had to process the application before the town’s appeal on the motion to dismiss the case was decided.

The appeals court also rejected the town’s motion to dismiss the case.

This put the case back in state Supreme Court.

Judge Cohalan retired last year, and his replacement, Judge Joseph Farneti, ruled last Tuesday that the whole thing had to go back to the ZBA for a decision on the merits.

He said in his decision that the ZBA determination to reject the application based on the improper hearing notice “lacks a rational basis and is arbitrary and capricious.”

Jamesport Manor Inn had previously received a ZBA ruling from Judge Cohalan in 2007 upholding a 2004 ZBA ruling allowed Kar-McVeigh to have catering, but only in the main building.

That decision pertained to a lawsuit filed by neighbors, which ultimately was decided in Kar-McVeigh’s favor.

But when the inn owners sought permission to build a temporary tent or a permanent 4,000-square-foot barn for catering on the four-acre site that also houses the Jamesport Manor Inn, Mr. Hanley ruled that this would constitute an expansion of a “nonconforming, pre-existing use,” which requires a special permit from the Town Board.

A nonconforming, pre-existing use is one that doesn’t conform with the property’s zoning, but which has existed before zoning.

Mr. Ciarelli said the catering hall is needed for the restaurant and inn to  be economically feasible.

“I don’t think the community is going to feel an impact at all,” he said. “It’s not like the catering use is going to happen every day. It’s a nicely run operation, the property is beautiful and there’s nothing going to happen that will change that. They spent a lot of money trying to restore the building and this is an economic necessity for them.”

Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said he was aware of the court ruling, but deferred to the ZBA.

“It’s a ZBA ruling, so it’s an issue for the ZBA to decide whether they will appeal the ruling or not,” Mr. Walter said.

The Town Board funds the ZBA and appoints its members, but other for that, the ZBA is an autonomous board, he added.

tgannon@timesreview.com

TIM GANNON PHOTO | Firefighters put out a house fire in Jamesport Friday night.

Jamesport Fire Department volunteers quickly put out house fire on Lockitt Drive that started while the occupants of the home were away Friday night.

“We had gone out and when we got back home, we heard the fire alarms and saw the smoke,” said Dieter Schwarz, who lives at the home with his wife, Laurie, and step-daughter Amanda.

“We called 911 and then we started getting our animals out,” he said.

The animals rescued were a dog, three cats, three birds and four turtles.

Mr. Schwarz said the home was filled with smoke when they opened the doors. They noticed the fire at about 8:45 p.m, he said.

Jamesport fire chief Duffy Griffiths said about 50 volunteer firefighters responded with help from the Mattituck Fire Department, which was on standby at the scene. The Riverhead Fire Department sent a rapid response team of veteran firefighters trained to rescue firefighters who may run into difficulty fighting the flames.

“We knocked it down real quick,” chief Griffiths said.

The Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance also was on the scene, although no one was injured and all of the animals were accounted for.

Mr. Schwarz said they breathed in smoke while looking for the animals but were OK.

The fire started in the back wall of the building, although the cause had yet to be determined, chief Griffiths said.

Mr. Schwarz said it appears to have started near a basement dryer, although he said the dryer wasn’t on while they were away.

Riverhead fire marshal Dave Andruszkiewicz is investigating the fire’s cause.

tgannon@timesreview.com

TIM GANNON PHOTO | Firefighters put out a house fire in Jamesport Friday night.

A Jamesport teenager was arrested late Sunday night after crashing his vehicle on Main Road while high on drugs and then trying to run from police at the scene, Riverhead Town police said.

Joshua Odell, 19, crashed in Jamesport near Jason’s Vineyard about 11:20 p.m., police said. A police officer got to the scene of the crash and saw Mr. Odell standing outside the driver’s side door of the crashed car.

When Mr. Odell saw the officer, he began to run east on Main Road, police said. The officer chased after Mr. Odell and caught him about 50 yards from the spot of the crash, police said.

After his arrest, Mr. Odell told the cop he had smoked marijuana laced with PCP before driving, police said.

Mr. Odell was arrested and charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor, and first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, after he was caught with a fake drivers license that stated he was 21 years old, police said.

He was held at police headquarters and arraigned in Town Justice Court Monday afternoon.

He was released with a future court date because he had no previous misdemeanor or felony convictions on his record, court officials said.

psquire@timesreview.com

A Jamesport man and a Flanders woman were charged in Southampton Town Friday night following a pair of unrelated traffic incidents, according to a police press release.

Joshua Georges, 31, of Jamesport was handed over to Southold Town police after Riverhead police pulled him over shortly after 9:30 p.m. and learned he was wanted on a bench warrant, police said. He was held overnight for a Saturday morning arraignment.

Nancy Alexander, 51, of Flanders was arrested after she rear-ended another vehicle on County Road 105 near Flanders Road shortly after 8 p.m., police said. An investigation revealed she was driving drunk, police said. She was also held overnight for a Saturday morning arraignment.

JAMESPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT COURTESY PHOTO | A motorcycle burst into flames Friday, the second incident in a busy week for the volunteers.

The summer season is just a month away but the Jamesport Fire Department was already hard at work this week as three separate fires sparked across the district in just under a week, fire officials said.

Firefighters got the call of the first fire Wednesday about 2:35 p.m. for an outside fire on Tuthills Lane in Aquebogue. Fire crews arrived at the street to find a “large pile of hay bales” on fire, fire officials said. The fire had already spread to a nearby wooden fence that surrounded the hay bales, but firefighters used two fire engines to put out the flames and prevent the fire from spreading.

JAMESPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT COURTESY PHOTO | Firefighters extinguish a rekindled bonfire on Saturday.

Two days later, Jamesport firefighters were called to the scene of a motorcycle accident at Sound Avenue and Herricks Lane in Jamesport, officials said. A motorcycle was lying in the middle of the road and had burst into flames.

Riverhead Town police said the driver of the 2011 Kawasaki motorcycle, a 19-year-old man from Cutchogue, lost control of the vehicle about 7:35 p.m. and dumped the motorcycle before it caught fire.

A fire engine arrived on scene and put out the fire while fire police and Riverhead police closed the road.

The teen was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment of a hand injury, police said.

The next day on Saturday, Jamesport firefighters were called to a second outside fire on state park property adjacent to the Hallockville Museum Farm. Volunteers used two fire engines and an off-road vehicle to quickly extinguish the fire.

Fire officials said the fire “appeared to have been a large unattended bonfire which had rekindled.”

Jamesport Fire Chief Duffy Griffiths said residents should take extra precautions as the summer season approaches to conduct outside activities safely.

psquire@timesreview.com

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Contractors for the Department of Transportation caused thousands of dollars in damage to this irrigation system in Calverton, the development manager said.

John Peck is glad the state Department of Transportation is installing a bike path along the Calverton mobile home park he manages.

“I think it’s fantastic,” he said.

But the $8,000 to $10,000 worth of damage state contractors caused to Lakewood’s irrigation system has him upset, he said.

“I do not respect the fact that they didn’t get a hold of me and let me know that we needed to move the system and get it shut off,” Mr. Peck said. “It’s very unfair what they’ve done.”

Town officials say residents in Jamesport have also complained about state crews pulling up irrigation lines and trimming trees since work on the $3.2 million bike path stretching from Calverton to Northville began in March.

Eileen Peters, a representative for the state Department of Transportation, told a reporter Thursday she had not heard any reports of damage along River Road near the Lakewood development.

“Generally speaking, you’re not allowed to encroach on state property,” she said.

But, she added, River Road is not a state road.

“We really need to examine this situation,” she said, adding the department would be look into the matter.

The bike path is being constructed through a grant by the state DOT as part of a federal stimulus bill.

Meanwhile, the Lakewood development’s attorney is preparing to bring legal action against the DOT to pay for repairs to the irrigation system’s plumbing, which was damaged during path construction about three weeks ago, Mr. Peck said.

State crews removed several feet of the park’s lawn and replaced it with concrete, Mr. Peck said, adding the crews ripped up the 1-1/2-inch rubber pipe along the road, which fed the entire complex. It could not immediately be determined if the plumbing was in a government right-of-way.

“They actually did it from one end of the park to the other,” he said,

The irrigation system is now broken and must be replaced. In the meantime, employees for the development are having to use hoses to water the landscaping, he said.

“Now everything’s dying on me and I’m upset about it,” Mr. Peck said.

Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said complaints have been coming to the town since work began in March, and he believes the DOT should pay to repair the irrigation systems at Lakewood.

“The bottom line is you’ve destroyed somebody’s private property, you should repair it,” Mr. Walter said. “It’s incumbent on the DOT to replace that property.”

In the meantime, Mr. Peck said he is frustrated he wasn’t given a warning his lines would be removed. Had he gotten a heads-up, he could have taken the lines away from the roadwork area in under 24 hours, he said.

“This is going to be a headache for us,” Mr. Peck said. “Now it’s going to cost us a fortune.”

psquire@timesreview.com

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this report indicated the mobile home park’s irrigation  system was in the state’s right-of-way.

That has yet to be determined.

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Caution tape now surrounds the Jamesport fields where the saplings were allegedly stolen.

A Jamesport nursery owner reported that someone took about 30 trees from his field on Herricks Lane, Riverhead police said.

Lou Caracciolo of Shade Trees Nursery’s told the News-Review he noticed some trees were missing from a parcel about a half-mile from the nursery’s main office Wednesday. On Thursday, he realized more trees were missing.

The trees were “an assortment of shady flowering trees,” he said. Police said maple, cherry, pear, red bud, birch and zelcova trees were removed from the field.

Mr. Caracciolo said whomever took the trees likely parked along the road and pulled out the trees by hand, adding that the nursery has been the victim of larcenies in the past.

The trees are worth about $1,500 total, police said. Detectives are investigating the reported theft.

psquire@timesreview.com

RACHEL YOUNG PHOTO | Ellie Schultz, a 9-year-old ballerina from Jamesport, warming up at the Mo Chuisle Moya Strast School of Dance in Mattituck.

Her auburn hair pulled back into a tight bun, 9-year-old Ellie Schultz practices jetés on the hardwood floors.

Ellie, who is small for her age, leaps swiftly from one foot to the other across the small studio in Mattituck, her freckled face a canvas of concentration.

“You missed a step,” instructor Cheryl Kiel tells Ellie. “Do it again,” she says encouragingly.

Uncomplaining, the ballerina completes several more series of jumps, not seeming to tire. Only once, after a set of particularly successful jetés, does Ellie allow herself to convey any emotion. She glances quickly at herself in a large mirror.

She grins.

Ellie has good reason to smile. The Aquebogue Elementary School third-grader was recently accepted to the American Ballet Theatre’s Young Dancer Summer Workshop, a fiercely competitive two-week program in New York City. She was encouraged to audition by Ms. Kiel, who owns Mo Chuisle Moya Strast School of Dance on Pike Street and has instructed Ellie in Russian ballet for the past four years.

DEBORAH SCHULTZ COURTESY PHOTO | Ellie performing at a dance recital in 2012.

“She’s the first student I’ve had that I felt was ready for the program,” Ms. Kiel says. “I told her mom from the first time I gave her a private lesson that I knew she had special talent. Being a ballet dancer myself I can see the feet, the body, the alignment. I knew if she had the correct training she would probably be able to do something [with it].”

“I think it might be cool to try it,” Ellie says shyly of the Young Dancer Summer Workshop, for which she auditioned in January. The 14-day program, which begins at the end of July and will be held at ABT’s dance studio in Union Square, is for dancers ages 9 through 12. For five days each week, Ellie will take ballet classes and attend educational workshops on topics such as nutrition and technique.

Ballet has been a part of the Jamesport girl’s life for nearly as long as she can remember. When Ellie was in kindergarten, her mother, Debbie Schultz, signed her up for one of Ms. Kiel’s group ballet classes. The then-5-year-old had joined the class a few months later than her peers so Ms. Schultz, who works for Honeywell, a technology company, enrolled her daughter in private lessons with Ms. Kiel to help her catch up with the other students for an upcoming recital. Ellie learned the material quickly and began to flourish. She now comes to Mo Chuisle four days a week and dances alongside teenagers in an advanced class.

“She quickly fell in love with ballet,” Ms. Schultz says of her eldest child. She and her husband, Fred, who owns Sterlington Deli in Greenport, also have a 6-year-old daughter, Sadie.

Her raw talent aside, Ellie’s determination and studious approach to ballet help set her further apart from other dancers her age.

When she was 6, the wisp of a girl walked into the dance studio wearing a white tutu and clutching the sheet music for “Giselle,” a famous French ballet in which she was set to perform a solo during an upcoming recital.

“I need to do it again,” Ms. Kiel remembers Ellie telling her. “I don’t have the timing right.”

“That’s when I knew she was different,” Ms. Kiel recalled.

Ms. Kiel grew up in Babylon and has been teaching Russian ballet, which emphasizes the development of a strong upper body and use of the arms, for 12 years. As a teenager, she trained seven days a week with a number of teachers, including Yuli Zorov, a graduate of the internationally famous Bolshoi School in Moscow. This particular afternoon, Ellie is practicing a solo from the comic ballet “Coppélia,” which she’ll perform in June in a recital at Pulaski Street School in Riverhead. After doing some pliés at the barre to warm up, the 9-year-old waits, her tiny body composed but relaxed, for the music to start. When it does, the song, with its intense dramatic flair, provides a stark contrast to Ellie’s innocent face. As she dances, she exhibits a gracefulness unusual for a 9-year-old girl: it’s almost womanly, with focused but fluid movements.

“All little girls love ballet; when Ellie dances you can see that she has something extra,” says Linda Stavrinos, the mother of one of Elllie’s classmates. “You can just see it.”

Ellie’s talent is undisputed, but when the ballet slippers come off, she’s a 9-year-old who likes writing, playing lacrosse and going to sleepovers at a friend’s house. When asked what she likes about ballet, she answers, “My teacher.”

“We never really pushed her, Fred and I,” Ms. Schultz says. “We always ask her, ‘Do you still want to continue? Is this what you want to do?’ She has always wanted to take more classes. She loves being here.”

Does she want to be a ballerina when she gets older?

“Sure. Maybe. I don’t know,” the girl says.

And then, perhaps pondering the future, she smiles.

ryoung@timesreview.com

A 49-year-old South Jamesport man was arrested on a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge after a car crash Tuesday night in Southold, police said.

John Nordin was arrested about 9:45 p.m. after the accident on Main Road, Southold police said.

Information on the car crash was not immediately available.

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COURTESY PHOTO | Dr. Peter Badmajew and his first wife, Antonina Soszka-Badmajew, beside the Baltic Sea in 1951. The two had met through common friends who were insurgents during the uprising.

It was during World War II, early August 1944. Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany and Dr. Peter Badmajew of Jamesport, now 85, was a member of Poland’s Home Army, fighting to liberate his home city of Warsaw.

CARRIE MILLER PHOTO | Dr. Peter Badmajew, 85 of Jamesport, recently self-published a memoir of his experience as an insurgent in the Warsaw uprising.

As light filled the sky, marking the third day of the uprising in Warsaw, Dr. Badmajew stood on guard, keeping watch while members of his platoon slept. Through breaking light he saw German soldiers completely surrounding the home where he’d taken refuge.

This is one of many turning points described in Dr. Badmajew’s self-published memoir, “The History of a Warsaw Insurgent,” which depicts his experience as a 15-year-old soldier during the war.

“I ran upstairs and I woke everybody,” he said. “We organized a chain and we started to move all our belongings into the attic, not to leave any sign that insurgents were there.”

As German soldiers filled the home, he and six others gathered in a hidden crawl space just underneath the attic. As the last insurgent, a woman, entered the space, a German guard was making his way up the attic steps, just above their heads.

“When I looked up I saw the sole of his boot between the gaps of those beams. Sand was like a stream falling on our heads from the floor above,” Dr. Badmajew said.

“This was the greatest stress that I can remember,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is the end, I am going to die here.’ ”

Dr. Badmajew went undiscovered. He continued to fight for almost two months before he was captured and forced into a cattle wagon that transported him to a prison camp, where he worked until he was able to escape.

The memoir describes Dr. Badmajew’s first time shooting a gun during the war — and the German soldier on the receiving end. He began writing about the experience upon his escape from prison camp, calling on other insurgents who had survived the war to help him remember the details.

The book was originally released in Poland in 2008 and has become part of the Warsaw Uprising Museum, dedicated to preserving history on the war in Poland.

He recently added to the book and published it in the U.S. just a few months ago. The revised book also covers his personal challenges of prostate cancer and losing his second wife to an untreatable brain disorder known as supranuclear palsy.

After the war, Dr. Badmajew studied medicine, went to Canada on an internship and eventually came to the U.S.  He went on to become a surgeon and has been in practice in Jamesport, with an office on Main Road, for over 25 years.

“The History of a Warsaw Insurgent” is available for purchase online and will be featured at a book fair in Frankfurt, Germany, in October.

cmiller@timesreview.com

STEVE ROSSIN PHOTO | The Jamesport Fire Department Parade is tonight at 7 p.m. The carnival continues throughout the week.

The Jamesport Fire Department has put the finishing touches on setting up for what has become a staple for the Town of Riverhead — its annual summer carnival.

The weeklong event kicked off Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. by the corner of Main Street and South Jamesport Boulevard at the George Young Community Center. This year’s event marks the events 58^th anniversary of the event.

Jamesport Fire Chief Duffy Griffiths said people have been anxiously awaiting the start of this year’s festivities.

“We start getting questions about when the parade and fireworks are coming as early as May, people line up their vacations around it,” Mr. Griffiths said.

There are over a dozen rides to choose from like the Himalaya, a large tilt-a-whirl that is expected to be one of the more popular attractions among carnival goers this week. In addition to the rides, there will be opportunities to play carnival classics like the balloon and darts game as well as trying to sink someone in a dunk tank.

Other activities expected to take place this week include the customary parade which begins Wednesday at 7 p.m. Residents can also gaze at fireworks in the starry sky, which will close out the festivities Saturday night at 10 p.m.

Mr. Griffiths said the event has been a rewarding experience since he first joined the fire department.

“I’ve been doing it for 13 years and it’s great, people are happy when they come and you get to see the same faces and new faces every year,” he said.

One of the things Mr. Griffiths says he loves most about the carnival is being able to share the experience with his kids.

“The kids love it, it’s great because they’re 10 and 7 years old and as they get older and go on different rides they get a little more freedom,” he said.

The carnival will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight each day. Admission is free,but the Fire Department is accepting donations to help pay for the fireworks show that will take place Saturday night.

CYNDI MURRAY PHOTO | Husband and wife duo John and Margret Scialdone urged citizens to impeach President Obama.

Armed with pamphlets and signs depicting President Barack Obama in the likeness of Adolf Hitler, a husband-and-wife protesting team that tours the region set up camp in Jamesport Wednesday.

John and Margret Scialdone stood outside Jamesport Commons Shopping Center on the Main Road throughout the day, urging citizens to impeach the president.

The Scialdones are members of the LaRouchePAC. Named for a former presidential candidate from the 1960s, the group works to raise awareness on issues like the Glass-Steagall Act that was designed to separate commercial banking functions from investment banking activities.

The law was repealed in 1999.

The group is now fighting to reinstate the legislation, which it believes will remove government commitment from bailing out private sector debts and end “too big to fail banks.”

And since President Obama isn’t doing anything to reinstate Glass-Steagall, the couple likened him to “a fascist.”

“He belongs in jail,” Ms. Scialdone said, adding that money to bail out banks could go toward other endeavors, such as space travel.

The couple travels around the tri-state spreading the message.

“We are heartbeats away from the great financial meltdown in American,” Ms. Scialdone said.

Alabama, South Dakota, Indiana and Maine have passed a resolution in support of Glass-Steagall.

TIM GANNON PHOTO | Karate kids perform during the Jamesport Fire Department parade Wednesday.

The Jamesport Fire Department’s annual parade kicked off Wednesday with fire departments from across the East End marching along with bands, politicians, and farm equipment.

The fire department’s annual carnival, which started Tuesday night, runs through Saturday night.

A fireworks show will conclude the carnival Saturday night.

An underage Jamesport woman was arrested for driving while intoxicated Thursday morning in Mattituck, according to a Southold Town police press release.

Yvonne McKay, 20, was pulled over on Route 25 in Mattituck a little after midnight for failing to maintain her lane, police said. Upon further investigation, Ms. McKay was found to be intoxicated, according to a report.

She was arrested for misdemeanor DWI and held at police headquarters overnight awaiting arraignment.

Members from several North Fork congregations will gather in Mattituck’s Strawberry Fields August 3 for a day of music, prayer and sermons at the Great North Fork Awakening.

The free event, which starts at noon and ends at 8 p.m., is being hosted by volunteers and will consist of short sermons from various Long Island churches. Greg Gaffga, pastor of the Mattituck Presbyterian Church, will give the opening sermon.

In a press release, Monica Harbes, who owns Harbes Family Farm in Mattituck with her husband, Ed, said the event is geared toward “anyone who is interested in renewing their faith, seeking spiritual direction, or those who may have questions about beginning a relationship with God.” Ms. Harbes was not immediately available for further comment.

Local Christian rock band Crossing Jordan will perform two short sets during the day and a longer set in the evening.

Food vendors will be on site, but guests are invited to bring their own picnic baskets.

ryoung@timesreview.com

RACHEL YOUNG PHOTO | The site of a car crash Friday afternoon in Jamesport.

Four people were sent to the hospital after a four-door sedan crashed into a telephone pole shortly after 3 p.m. in Jamesport.

According to Riverhead police, the car was heading eastbound, just east of Jamesport Vineyards, when it veered off the road and into the pole.

Police are still investigating the cause of the crash, which shut down Main Road for close to an hour while traffic was diverted around the scene.

Police said the driver and passengers of the car were sent to Peconic Bay Medical Center by Mattituck Ambulance for non-life threatening injuries.

LIPA was on scene repairing the pole, and as of 4:15 p.m., Main Road had been cleared back up.

RACHEL YOUNG PHOTO | A car is towed away after its driver hit a telephone pole on Main Road today.

TIM GANNON PHOTO | Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter is flanked by Jeff and Christine McKay is celebrating the opening of their new venture, Vines & Hops, in downtown Riverhead Sunday.

A new business opened up in downtown Riverhead this weekend.

Vines & Hops is a collaboration between a married couple — a strength and conditioning coach and a physical therapist — who are changing course to sell wine, beer, coffee and Artisan foods.

Jeff McKay of Jamesport is the strength and conditioning coach and massage therapist, and his wife, Christine, is the physical therapist.

“I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” Jeff said in explaining his new venture. “I’ve been doing it for 30 years and I just said, ‘You know what? I’m done.’ So I basically just reinvented myself. People were saying ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this.’”

They are.

The McKays hosted a ribbon cutting at the newly opened Vines & Hops, which is located in a storefront on Main Street across from the former Woolworth building.

“We started this whole process back in the spring,” Jeff said. “I think it was in March, we had looked around at a couple of places in Jamesport, and they fell through, which we’re kind of happy about now. Then one day, I told my wife I was going to call around and see what’s available on Main Street. I had gotten in touch with Ike Israel of Richmond Realty and when he told me what they wanted for this, I almost fell off the couch. Back in the 90s, this storefront would have been triple what we’re paying now.”

The McKays quickly went about working on the lease and getting a liquor license. Given the choice of taking their time and opening in the middle of winter or rushing to open at the end of summer, the McKays chose now.

“We’re looking to have entertainment after the Holidays,” Mr. McKay said. “Just an acoustic guitar on weekends. And next year, since the drive-through next door is part of this property, we are looking to do an outdoor beer garden, which will also have wine. And the whole brick facade is going to be a continuous waterfall.”

Vines & Hops has two large-screen televisions on the wall, wi-fi available for computer users and a number of couches for patrons to sit on.

The menu has buttermilk dough slider rolls from Goodale Farms in Aquebogue, filled with flank steak or Buffalo chicken;  empanadas with spinach- and goat cheese-filled pocket crusts and other Artisan small plate and dessert bar menu items.

And they have locally made craft beers and wines from the likes of Long Ireland, which is based in Riverhead, Southampton Public House, Pindar, based in Peconic and others. They also sell various specialty coffees and teas, such as latte, cappuccino, and espresso.

Mr. McKay said he’s happy to be a part of downtown Riverhead’s renovation.

Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, who attended the ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the site Sunday, concurred.

“I am so happy you’re taking a chance on us, because we will do everything at our disposal to make you a success,” Mr. Walter said.

tgannon@timesreview.com

FILE PHOTO | Town officials have said the digital sign at the Valero station in Jamesport violates historic district codes.

When the new bowling alley in Riverhead proposed erecting an animated billboard, it caused many people to wonder about the lit-up Valero price sign in downtown Jamesport, which similarly violates town code.

“What happened?” they asked. “I thought the town was going to make them take that down!”

Setting out to learn about town actions with regard to the Valero sign, I encountered a familiar roadblock: a FOIL request denial. I realized the town’s routine and cavalier obstruction of taxpayer requests for information is a far more important story than failure to enforce sign codes.

The opening statement of New York’s FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) statute says: “a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions.” It couldn’t be more plain.

Why, then, does our town government so often fail to deliver requested information?

I haven’t kept track, but probably have had more FOIL requests rejected than filled. I’ve seen massive files withheld because they’re deemed “intra-agency material,” though exempt external correspondence was included. Another typical reason/rejection response: “It’s all being discussed with counsel, and is therefore privileged.”

Baloney.

My Valero request was sent to town code enforcement and the town attorney. Code enforcement rejected it, saying deputy town attorney Bill Duffy directed them to do so because the information, “if disclosed, would interfere with law enforcement investigations or judicial proceedings.”

That’s a particularly lame excuse in this case. I contacted Mr. Duffy, but he didn’t return my calls. Because this rejection was so blatantly wrong, I thought about appealing it. I then remembered Mr. Duffy is also the town’s designated FOIL appeals officer; that battle was already lost.

Though an issue of minor consequence, this matter was so simple and straightforward that it made a great example; I contacted the Committee on Open Government (COOG), the state agency that oversees FOIL implementation. In response, the COOG assistant director made many useful observations.

Specifically on the denial of Valero information, she said: “If the agency has issued a notice of violation or a summons for violation of a zoning code, such notice would be required to be made public upon request for various reasons — one, it is likely that it is part of the public record at the courthouse; two, it would represent a final agency determination, which is required to be made public pursuant to section 87(2)(g); three, it would be difficult, if not impossible, in my opinion, for an agency to show that a record such as this if disclosed, would interfere with an investigation or judicial proceeding.”

(About the common “discussed with counsel” excuse, COOG said: “Merely because records are discussed with an attorney does not make them attorney-client privileged.”)

These are strong words, and it appears that Mr. Duffy is unequivocally wrong. If he returned my phone calls, I’d tell him so.

The point is not that secrets are being kept about the Valero sign (though they are); the point is that every day, residents are routinely and illegally blocked in their efforts to get information about the workings of this town.

It’s not always by denial. A taxpayer sought landfill records and was prepared to pay the 25¢ per page copying fee. The FOIL officer said the taxpayer must first pay $125 to have the 600-page file redacted … after which he could look at the pages, decide which he needed, and then pay copying costs. Outrageous. (Did the town charge this “redacting fee” multiple times for the same file?)

To be clear, plenty of folks working at Town Hall understand their job is to serve the public, and seem to enjoy doing so. Prompt and courteous assistance on some FOIL requests is not uncommon. The town clerk’s office, for example, is unfailingly helpful and incredibly efficient.

Yet, in some areas information is given grudgingly, and every request is treated as a nuisance. The town attorney’s office seems consistently prone to naysaying, foot-dragging, and abusive decisions. This must change.

Last year, Supervisor Walter and three council members joined town attorney Bob Kozakiewicz at a COOG forum on FOIL implementation. Was that just for show?

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Back to Valero. The sign went up in 2008. In January 2009, Riverhead filed suit in state Supreme Court against the owner. Since that filing, there have been four motions, two conferences, 91 adjournments, and 0 decisions, with no activity since August 2010. (This info is from the court system website.)

Taxpayers deserve to know: 1) what actions code enforcement officers took before the lawsuit was filed; 2) whether the town sought injunctive relief to — at the very least — turn the sign off; 3) whether fines are being imposed and collected for this small-but-flagrant violation; 4) why there’s been literally no progress on this case in over three years.

The town’s position is that we’re not entitled to know any of these things, even though the state FOIL committee says that’s wrong.

Town attorneys are hired by, and take direction from, the Town Board. Voters who find this behavior troubling should remember that the incumbent supervisor and council members are extremely unlikely to fix this pervasive problem. We need representatives who will treat residents with greater respect, and who will obey the law.

Larry Simms owns a home in South Jamesport and is a principal in a firm that licenses commercial flooring technology. He is active in savemainroad.org, an advocacy group dedicated to preserving the character of the Main Road corridor and surrounding areas.

FILE PHOTO | Town officials have said the digital sign at the Valero station in Jamesport violates historic district codes.

Four years after Riverhead Town took the owners of a Jamesport gas station to court over its illuminated sign, the business owners are in the process of taking a new approach to try and settle the score. Though a Thursday night meeting will determine when exactly the next step will be.

Back in 2009, the town took the owners of the Valero gas station on Main Road and South Jamesport Avenue to court over an electronic sign showing gas prices.

Town officials said at the time that internally illuminated signs are not permitted under town code in the Village Center zone, where the gas station is located, and claimed the sign was erected illegally.

Now, four years later, the sign is still there and that case is still pending in state Supreme Court.

Related Op-Ed: FOILs on Valero case kept in the dark

But now, the owners of the gas station are trying a different approach, and have applied to the town Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance to allow them to replace the illuminated sign with an LED illuminated sign at the same location. The applicant, 801F Realty Corp, is seeking the change under a section of the Town Code that allows a use that doesn’t conform to zoning to be changed to another nonconforming use by the ZBA. They also are requesting a variance to allow a shed on the property to be less than the required 10 feet from the side yard property line.

While the application is scheduled for a hearing on Thursday night’s meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., the applicant has already requested that the hearing be moved to the Nov. 14 ZBA meeting, which is two meetings away.

That adjournment, if granted, would also assure that the application to legalize the use is still pending before 801F Realty’s next scheduled court appearance in the lawsuit brought by the town. That court date is scheduled for Nov. 13 before state Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Spinner.

Kenneth Robinson, an attorney for the applicant, said in a letter to the town that the reason they requested the adjournment to Nov. 14 is because the principal of 801F Realty Corp, Eugene Buccellato, died two weeks ago and the company is in a transition process. Mr. Buccellato was responsible for the Jamesport location and was the one who signed the ZBA application on 801F Realty Corp’s behalf, Mr. Robinson wrote.

In addition, he said the person who prepared the plans for the application, Michael Papsidero, will not be available on Oct. 10.

Bill Duffy, the assistant town attorney who handles planning issues, said Monday that he has instructed the planning department not to automatically grant the adjournment, and to allow the ZBA members to discuss it and make a decision on the request at Thursday’s meeting.