Jamesport Fire Department volunteers extinguish a vehicle fire on Tuthills Lane in Jamesport Sunday. (Credit: Jamesport Fire Department)

The Jamesport Fire Department extinguished a vehicle fire on Tuthills Lane late Sunday morning, according to a department spokesperson. 

The fire was reported shortly after 11 a.m. and volunteers quickly responded to the scene just south of North Apollo road, fire officials said.

Two fire engines and a heavy rescue support truck were used to extinguish the fire in the Ford Bronco while fire police closed the roadway.

“The good turnout of firefighters enabled us to bring the fire under control and open the road back up quickly,” said Chief Sean McCabe.

See more photos from the scene on the next page. 

Laura Courtney with the note and $10 bill left at her house Monday. (Credit: Vera Chinese)

A Jamesport homeowner said she was a little surprised to find a note and a $10 bill left at her front door when she returned home from a brief excursion to Greenport Monday afternoon.

But she was downright shocked when she realized that, in exchange for the money, the person took a metal table and three stained glass beads from her backyard.

Laura Courtney, who lives on the northeast corner of Herricks Lane and Main Road, at the site of her closing business, Imagine Farms and Gardens, said she filed a report with Riverhead police over the incident Monday.

Ms. Courtney said she felt “violated” that someone would walk into her backyard and take her table, leaving $10 and a note behind.

The note read: “You were not here. Purchased round small painted white metal table outside in rear of property. Thanks.”

“I almost would have felt less violated if they just took the thing without leaving a note and money,” she said. “I wonder if this person is doing this to other property owners.

“You know how when you leave money at a farmstand, that’s the honor system? Well this is the dishonor system.”

Ms. Courtney said she is closing the business on her property, where she sells refurbished outhouses, and has put her house up for sale. But she said she has not posted any signs indicating the personal items in her yard or the home are for sale — and her outhouses are sold by appointment only.

She has since put up a “No Trespassing” sign on a large sandwich board at the top of her driveway to discourage another incident. “I don’t want to put that hostility out there, but I feel like I have to,” she said.

She estimated the table was worth about $100.

(Credit: Vera Chinese)

gparpan@timesreview.com

The Jamesport Fire Department. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)

The Jamesport Fire Department is receiving nearly $25,000 in federal funding to purchase of new gear for firefighters.

The department is one of three in Suffolk County that were awarded a portion of a $583,786 grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced Monday.

With the funds, Jamesport Fire Department will buy four coats, eight fire resistant hoods worn under helmets and ten pairs of thermal pants with knee protection.

This is the first time in seven years the department received grant funding for equipment, Jamesport Fire Department Chief Sean McCabe said.

“We are thrilled,” he said. “It brings us up to date National Fire Protection Association certifications as far as gear and protective clothing.”

The department applied for the grant in last fall and found out last week they were awarded the funding. News came just before the department’s 59th Annual Bazaar and Fundraiser, a yearly carnival the department has from Tuesday through Friday that also includes a parade and fireworks.

Medford Fire District is set to receive the lion’s share of the grant funding — $476,820 to be exact — to buy 82 self-contained breathing apparatus.  Gordon Heights Fire District will get just over $80,000 to retrofit diesel exhaust systems to a half-dozen fire trucks.

Senator Schumer was an original sponsor of the legislation that led to the creation of this funding program that aims to help offset the rising costs of equipment and fire prevention.

“With this funding, first responders in Suffolk County can focus on their important work knowing they have new, reliable and protective equipment,” said Senator Schumer in a statement. “This investment will help ensure that our local heroes can continue their life-saving work as effectively and safely as possible.”

The Jamesport FIre Department Carnival continues through the weekend. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)

Congratulations to recent Westhampton Beach High School graduate Alexus Van Helmond, daughter of a very proud William Van Helmond of Jamesport. Alexus will attend Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., this fall. 

Summer has truly begun! Jamesport Fire Department’s annual carnival started July 8 and continues through Saturday, July 12. Pay-one-price unlimited rides until 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 10-11. Fireworks on Saturday, the 12th. While you’re there, remember to purchase some raffle tickets for $20 each. First prize is $2,500, second prize is $1,000 and third prize is $500. Winners will be chosen at the Sound to Bay Fireman’s 10K Aug. 24.

Long Island Antique Power Association’s 22nd annual Tractor Pull and Show will be held this weekend, July 12 and 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hallockville Museum Farm. Featured will be John Deere equipment and antique engines. Admission is $7 per person; children 12 and under are free. Food will be available for purchase. Visit liapa.com for more information.

Old Steeple Community Church will host its annual chicken barbecue Saturday, July 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. You can go to the tractor pull at Hallockville and then have dinner at the barbecue. Tickets — $15 in advance; $17 at the door — can be purchased by calling Jean at 722-4171 or emailing her at jlapin224@yahoo.com.

Jamesport Meeting House is thrilled to present “An Evening with Sondheim” Monday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m. featuring the music and lyrics of Broadway’s greatest modern composer, Stephen Sondheim. General admission tickets are $15 ($10 for students) and will be available in advance at jamesportmeetinghouse.org. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church will host a yard sale Saturday, July 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church is accepting donations. Call 722-4000 for more information.

I have some very exciting news! We have a very special event planned for July 31 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Martha Clara Vineyards. Join me and my two- and four-legged friends at a fundraiser for Canine Companions for Independence, “Wine and Noses.” Tickets are $60 each and include a glass of wine, appetizers from Grace and Grit, your choice of entrée provided by North Fork Food Truck and The Roaming Fork Food Truck, and dessert provided by North Fork Food Truck. In addition, there will be raffles and presentations. You are sure to be inspired as you mingle with these exceptional dogs and their trainers, who help create miracles for exceptional people with disabilities. Let’s give CCI a great North Fork welcome. Tickets can be purchased online at cci.org/LIWineAndNoses or by calling me at 631-833-1897. I will deliver them to your door and you will get to meet Moats, our newest CCI puppy. Hope to see you all at the fire department carnival and at our CCI fundraiser.

Miriam Moysen with her late husband Bulmaro Dominguez soon after the birth of their first child, Pablo, last year. (Credit: Courtesy Photo)

She’s a familiar face at the Southold IGA Supermarket, where for seven years she’s helped shoppers from the community find necessities, cash in coupons and bag up their goods.

Her name is Miriam Moysen, 38, and now she is in need of help from the community. 

On June 28, Ms. Moysen unexpectedly lost her husband, Bulmaro Dominguez, 42, after he suffered a heart attack in their Jamesport home.

The new mother of a baby boy named Pablo, she had taken off in recent months to raise their 11-month-old son — but is now a single mother left to provide for her family, including the cost of funeral arrangements for her husband, she said.

“He was the only one bringing the money home,” she said of the time since she started staying home with the baby. “I am going back to work. All of the expenses, I have now been left with.”

Ms. Moysen is seeking help with covering the cost of sending her husband’s body home to his family in Mexico, so “his parents could see him one last time.”

She has taken out loans to cover his transport — amounting to over $5,000 — and has started a Go Fund Me online campaign to raise money to cover the cost of the loans.

As of Monday afternoon, 22 people had donated a total of $1,000 toward her $5,000 goal, according to the page.

Click here to make a donation

Mr. Dominguez worked as a cook at The Crazy Fork Restaurant in Mattituck, and though the couple has lived in Jamesport for the past four years, she said they both enjoyed working in places to the east.

“He was a great friend, as anybody can tell you,” she said. “He was a really big Mets baseball fan, and we were always together.”

Tanya McDowell, a manager at The Crazy Fork, said Mr. Dominguez had worked as a chef at a number of different restaurants over the years, and that he, too, is well known in the community.

“He was great to work with,” she said. “The last I saw he was running home to see his baby. That was his world.”

Ms. Moysen said they both came to the U.S. about 13 years ago, finding one another soon after.

cmiller@timesreview.com

Ezra Fife re-enacts finding a note on his work pickup telling him that a good Samaritan found something he dropped before meeting his wife Cori and son York to see a movie. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

What would you do if you found $800 underneath a pickup truck parked at a shopping center?

That’s the dilemma 15-year-old Matti Gibson faced on Sunday afternoon outside the Rite Aid store in the Mattituck Plaza.

It would be untrue to say the part-time Jamesport resident didn’t think about all the ways she could spend the eight $100 bills she had just found. But in the end she and her mother, Kim, decided the right thing was to secure the cash and leave a note on the truck under which it was found.

Ezra Fife of Aquebogue is mighty grateful they did. He had just been paid from a contracting job when he rushed to the plaza to meet his family for a movie at Mattituck Cinemas. Twenty minutes late, he opted not to stop off at the bank on his way.

When he left the theater he found the curious note: “If you lost something, please call Kim at …”

“I checked for my wallet and found I still had it,” he recalled Monday. “My license and debit card were there, too.”

Forgetting he had stuffed the cash in his back pocket before the matinee, Mr. Fife admitted to Ms. Gibson that he had no idea what he had lost.

“Well, I don’t want to tell you in case it’s not really yours,” she said.

“Oh my God, did you find hundred dollar bills?” he responded.

After he verified that it was eight folded $100 bills, Ms. Gibson gave him her address and invited him to her house in Jamesport to reclaim his hard-earned cash.

Ezra Fife, right, stands next to Matti and Kim Gibson (Center), after they returned $800 he had lost in Mattituck. (Credit: Gibson family)

Of course, Matti who said on the ride back home that they “did the right thing,” was still holding out a little hope nobody would come forward.

“She stood right next to me when he called,” Ms. Gibson said. “When she heard him say he didn’t know if he had lost anything she started high-fiving her friend.”

The best part of this little Sunday tale isn’t even the way the Gibsons generously returned what wasn’t ever really theirs — a dollar amount that could have tempted just about anyone to keep it.

The best part is what happened afterward.

When he arrived at their summer house, Mr. Fife learned the Gibsons, who split time between Jamesport and Manhasset, were hosting a barbecue. They invited him to sit and talk awhile.

Two hours and a couple beers later, a new friendship was born.

“If someone else found that money, who knows what would have happened,” Ms. Gibson said. “But if nothing else, we made another friend on the North Fork. And that’s always a great thing.”

Grant Parpan is the executive editor of Times/Review Newsgroup. He can be reached at 631-354-8046 or by email at gparpan@timesreview.com.

Tricia Wright, right, with Clay IV – the dog she raised as a puppy – and Fernando, the service dog’s new owner. (Credit: Courtesy)

We all bond with our pets — some of us even more so than with fellow humans — so it’s difficult to imagine ever giving them up. 

But that’s what some North Fork residents — many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing or at least meeting — are doing in order to train service dogs for the nonprofit Canine Companions for Independence. And with the bigger picture in mind, they find it a little easier to let go.

Canine Companions for Independence is a national organization that provides service dogs free of charge to people with various disabilities. Before the dogs go through service training, they are taken in by volunteers who acclimate them to home life and being out in public.

The Benthal family of Jamesport, who are good family friends of mine, has been actively involved with the organization. In fact, one of the children received a service dog from Canine Companions and another has raised five pups for the group

The youngest Benthal, 18-year-old Johanna, has a rare genetic neurological disease and has undergone 90 brain surgeries because of it. Seeing Johanna walk around for the past 10 years with her service dog, Taffy, has been a heart-warming, if not heart-melting, sight.

Over the years, I’ve watched as other family friends and acquaintances from the North Fork also became involved by acting as volunteer host families for Canine Companions. After witnessing the emotional connections between these volunteers and their trainees, I decided to look a little more deeply into the process.

Since 2003, 14 puppies raised on the North Fork have graduated from the program. Johanna’s older sister, MaryAngela Benthal, is currently raising her fifth service dog and Tricia Wright of Mattituck is on her fourth.

At Canine Companions, “graduated” means that the dogs have completed and passed all of the training steps in the program — a very difficult task. Only about half the dogs that enter the program end up being paired with someone in need.

The puppies are about eight weeks old when they go to the volunteers’ homes. With animals this young, MaryAngela said, the puppy-raisers focus first on the basics: acclimating them to home life, housebreaking them and introduce them to wearing a leash.

As time goes on, she said, families start teaching their canine charges basic commands. When they’re about six months old, the pups can be taken out in public and must learn to remain calm, respond to positional commands and develop other skills that prepare them for companionship with a person with disabilities.

When the puppies are 15 to 18 months old, the volunteers must turn them back over to Canine Companions so professionals can begin more extensive training.

After forming a close bond over nearly 18 months, people frequently ask MaryAngela and Tricia how they’re able to give the dogs up.

“When you see the people who are getting the dogs, they are just so deserving,” Tricia said. “Our level of need for keeping them is so far less than their level of need. You just have to do things for other people sometimes.”

“I just point next to me to Jo and say ‘That’s why,’” MaryAngela said. “I have a constant reminder of why I’m doing what I’m doing. The tangible goal is right there in my house with me.”

Ellen Torop, program manager for Canine Companions’ northeast region, based in Medford, said that after families are done training the dogs, the animals undergo a medical exam and are then evaluated based on their temperament.

“We make sure the dog isn’t fearful, isn’t too bold or isn’t too high-energy,” she explained.

The pups that make it through this round then participate in about six months of professional training, which is spent reinforcing commands they learned from their raisers and learning more advanced service-related commands and tasks like picking up objects, opening doors, turning lights on and off or pulling a wheelchair.

Applicants are paired with their dog mates during “team training,” when people who have already been accepted by Canine Companions explore which dogs they work and bond with best. MaryAngela remembers attending her sister’s session and feeling inspired by what she witnessed.

“I observed not just Jo and Taffy but other people and dogs in the class, too,” she explained. “I was amazed how all these different people came in not knowing the dogs at all and then after a few days were able to find their perfect fit for the rest of the dogs’ lives.”

After dogs and people are matched, a “graduation” ceremony takes place at which the volunteers who raised each dog return to hand the leash over to the dog’s new person.

Clay IV, the dog Tricia raised last year, just completed his training and was paired with a Canine Companions applicant during graduation last Friday.

“It was an exciting day, it really was,” she said. “And Fernando, the gentleman who received Clay, was so amazingly grateful and cheerful. You could just see how much that dog meant to him.”

Claire Leaden is a student at Manhattan College and an intern at Times/Review News Group. This is her second summer with the company. She can be reached at intern@timesreview.com.

Aela works with her ballet instructor, Cheryl Kiel, at Mo Chuisle Moya Strast School of Dance in Mattituck last week. (Credit: Rachel Young)

For more than two centuries, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow has nurtured some of the world’s most illustrious dancers.

Nine-year-old Aela Bailey of Jamesport hopes to become one of them. 

A fourth-grader at Aquebogue Elementary School, Aela recently spent eight hours a day for three weeks training with 30 other young dancers in the Bolshoi’s competitive summer intensive program at Lincoln Center in New York.

“I got blisters on every single toe,” she said proudly Friday at Mo Chuisle Moya Strast School of Dance in Mattituck. For emphasis, the long-limbed girl extended her left foot, outfitted that day in white sandals instead of ballet slippers.

Minor injuries are just part of the territory for Aela, who began studying ballet six years ago under the instruction of Mo Chuisle’s owner, Bolshoi-trained ballerina Cheryl Kiel. Aela’s friend and fellow dancer, Ellie Schultz, 10, of Jamesport, also auditioned for the Bolshoi’s summer intensive earlier this year and was accepted to the school’s Connecticut program.

“The Bolshoi is the biggest company in the world,” Ms. Kiel, a Babylon native, said. “And to have us accepted there was —“

“A little bit surreal, I think, right?” Aela’s father, Gene, interjected. “I almost didn’t believe it.”

According to Rina Kirschner, vice president of the Russian American Foundation, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s summer intensive program offers students from around the world ages 9 to 22 the chance to train with master teachers in New York City or Connecticut for three to six weeks during the summer. Aela trained July 20 to Aug. 8.

“Both Aela and Ellie were able to expand their personal, cultural and pre-professional horizons through intensive ballet training with master teachers from Moscow, [the] study of Russian language and interaction with talented dancers from all over the world,” Ms. Kirschner said. “Both Aela and Ellie worked extremely hard and made substantial progress.”

Mr. Bailey, an air traffic controller at New York Center in Ronkonkoma, and his wife, Amy, a nurse practitioner, rented an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side while Aela was training. The couple took turns looking after their three other children, 11-year-old son Quinnlan and daughters Maeve, 7, and Paige, 5.

Aela (right) expains the different types of ballet shoes to her 5-year-old sister, Paige. (Credit: Rachel Young)

Aela, who trains four to five days a week in Mattituck — “She complains when she doesn’t get to,” her father said — auditioned for the intensive in January. She also tried out for the American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive and was accepted there as well.

“The ABT does a mixture of jazz and tap, too,” Aela said, explaining why she declined its invitation. “I wanted to go to the Bolshoi because I thought it was better to focus on ballet.”

A typical day at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy began with an hour of stretching, she said. Students also practiced technique, studied the Russian language and choreographed a dance routine.

The program’s teachers, who fly in from Moscow for the summer and speak varying degrees of English, were strict about correcting technique, Aela said. This is a Bolshoi hallmark, and one of the reasons its dancers are so successful, Ms. Kiel said.

“My teachers imparted so much knowledge to me that I’m able to pass on,” she said. “They were very good at telling me why, and not just telling me to do it. They actually fixed you.”

The Bolshoi summer intensive may be over, but Aela’s journey is just beginning.

“I wanna go to Moscow,” she whispered with a smile to Ms. Kiel.

And one day, she may very well make it to the Bolshoi’s renowned stage in the heart of Russia.

“I see really, really positive things for Aela,” Ms. Kiel said. “She’s a hard worker, she never complains, and she has a love for it, which is what you need because it’s such a rough life — the classes, the stretching. It can be painful when you get on your toes. And she has what it takes. She has the desire, which is the biggest thing.”

ryoung@timesreview.com

A six-mile stretch of Main Road could be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The corridor includes Aquebogue’s Old Steeple Church, built in 1862 and designed by a farmer with no architectural experience, as well as Aquebogue Cemetery, which dates back to 1755 and contains the graves of numerous Revolutionary War soldiers. (Credit: Andrew Lepre)

The Riverhead and Southold landmarks preservation commissions have nominated the six miles of Main Road running through the hamlets of Aquebogue, Jamesport and Laurel to the National Register of Historic Places. This designation will open up access to incentives that might help preserve some of the many historic structures along this stretch of rural highway that serves as the gateway to the North Fork. 

There has been considerable confusion about our efforts. Some think that this is a local historic district, which would have rules and regulations. Both towns already have several such districts. However, for the Main Road corridor we are proposing something with no restrictions — namely, a National Register historic district.

Although the two types of districts sound similar, the National Register historic district is, in fact, totally different. A National Register designation brings recognition and access to various types of tax credits — but no restrictions, no regulations and no reporting requirements for property owners.

Here are the three most common misunderstandings:

• Will a National Register historic district bring us more rules, restrictions and requirements?

No. The assumption that it will is based on a lack of understanding of the distinction between local historic districts, which do bring restrictions, and National Register historic districts, which do not. Creation of a National Register historic district will bring no constraints to the rights of property owners, which we strongly support.

• Will creation of a National Register historic district eventually lead to more restrictions?

No. In both Riverhead and Southold, only the town boards can create the kind of local historic districts that do have restrictions. The town boards are required to hold public hearings and are very unlikely to create any local districts unless there is strong support from property owners. The existence of a National Register historic district changes nothing. Moreover, it is very clear in both town codes that any new National Register historic districts are not subject to automatic conversion to local districts.

• Will a National Register historic district bring additional review whenever state permits are required?

No. Under decades-old state and federal laws, all applications for state permits, such as for road cuts or work near wetlands, are already sent to the State Historic Preservation Office for review. Actual listing on the National Register will make no difference in this process.

We believe that listing Main Road on the National Register will bring many benefits to property owners along the historic roadway — and to the community in general. Most significant is access to tax credits available to owners of income-producing historic properties, such as businesses, rental homes and agricultural operations, for major restoration projects. This could be an important tool to save or restore some of the rundown and dilapidated structures along Main Road.

In addition, virtually all of the approximately 100 owner-occupied homes in the Riverhead part of the district built before 1964 will qualify for a special 20 percent state tax credit that can be used for a wide range of home repair projects, such as new asphalt roofs or replacement boilers, as long as the project is at least $5,000 in total, 5 percent of the work is exterior and the project does not damage the historic aspect of the house.

Many types of retail businesses, even ones not in historic buildings, will benefit from the added prestige of being located in a National Register historic district. Churches and other nonprofits will benefit because National Register designation can be an important tool in attaining grants. Realtors will use the National Register designation as an appealing enticement to prospective buyers. Contractors will benefit from the added work the tax credits can bring.

We have been asked why we don’t simply list the most historic structures on the register and leave everyone else out. Unfortunately, this approach is not practical. First of all, listing a single structure is laborious and time-consuming. Moreover, while a few dozen structures might qualify individually, by creating a district we can pre-qualify a few hundred structures for National Register benefits.

We know that not everyone will benefit directly, but even those with non-historic properties will benefit indirectly from incentives that will help their friends and neighbors preserve this incredible historic resource. And, most importantly, no one will be burdened by any new restrictions, since the National Register designation is purely an honorary one.

If you have more questions, please feel free to contact us directly. It is important that everyone understand the reality of what we are proposing.

Richard Wines is the chairman of the Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission. He can be reached at richard@windswayfarm.com. James Grathwohl is the chairman of the Southold Landmarks Preservation Commission. He can be reached at jfgresources@yahoo.com.

Our Redeemer Lutheran and Old Steeple churches in Aquebogue, as well as First Parish Church in Northville, all offer shelter and food for Maureen’s Haven. 

Every evening during the winter months, Nov. 1 through April 1, homeless guests are screened and transported from the North and South forks to one of 18 host houses of worship between Greenport and East Hampton. The guests are then offered food and a place to sleep. Maureen’s Haven will be hosting a 5K run/walk fundraiser Oct. 26 at Stotzky Park in Riverhead. For more information on Maureen’s Haven, the North Fork churches that are involved, and the 5K, visit maureenshaven.org.

The first informational and planning meeting for volunteers who wish to assist Maureen’s Haven at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church is Sunday, Oct. 5, at 11:30 a.m. For more information, call 722-4000.

Each of the local churches — Old Steeple, Our Redeemer, Living Waters and First Parish — also sponsor food pantries to help needy families in our community. Please contact them directly to get more information about how to donate and/or to seek assistance.

I was joking with Johanna last week and I told her that Christmas is only three months away. That means we’ll be decorating in two months! It also means that Living Waters Church is already preparing for its annual Christmas production. If you’re one of those people who shop early for the best Christmas deals, you won’t want to miss this one. Living Waters is having an incredible one-day sale on tickets for the show. This Sunday, Oct. 5, the church will offer 50 percent off the price of Thursday night’s show and 30 percent off Friday and Saturday night performances. Regular ticket prices are $24 for adults and $19 for seniors and children 17 and under. All tickets will be $27 at the door. A portion of the ticket sales goes to support those who are less fortunate in our local community. You can order your tickets by phone at 722-4969, online at lwfgc.org, or before or after their Sunday morning services at 8:45 and 10:45 a.m. Performances begin Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. and continue through Sunday, Dec. 14. These shows are always amazing and are a great way to get into the real spirit of Christmas.

Enough talk of Christmas! I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful and unseasonably warm fall weather. Get outside and enjoy the season while it lasts. Have a beautiful week!

Contact Aquebogue columnist Eileen Benthal at eileenbenthal@gmail.com or 833-1897.

Two days after Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Riverhead Town police offered a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information about a burglary at a house in Jamesport, police say the homeowner is also offering up a “substantial cash reward” for information that leads to the return of the safe, its contents or an arrest. 

Police did not say how much the additional reward would be.

Someone entered the house at Ziemacki Lane sometime between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Oct. 12, according to a news release. A tan Sentry brand safe was stolen from a bedroom in the home, police said.

Riverhead Police have asked anyone with information to contact detectives at (631) 727-4500 ext. 633.

A 30-year-old Jamesport man was arrested on a drunken driving charge early Thursday in Mattituck, Southold Town police said.

Porfirio Martinez was stopped by police about 1:20 a.m. after he was spotted crossing a double yellow line while traveling eastbound on Main Road near Elijah’s Lane, police said.

Mr. Martinez was found to be intoxicated and charged with misdemeanor DWI, police said.

He was arraigned and held on $300 cash or $1,500 bond, records show.

Update, 4:10 p.m.: A mother and her adult daughter escaped from their burning condo unharmed, according to Riverhead Police.

The fire is believed to have started in the chimney shortly before 3 p.m.

Just about an hour later, most of the flames had been extinguished by fire volunteers that had responded to the scene.

Cutchogue and Wading River Fire Departments have also responded to the scene.

Original story: Firefighters from multiple departments are in the process of battling a raging residential fire in Northville at Maidstone Landing.

Units from Jamesport, Riverhead and Mattituck have been called to the scene of the fire, which broke out around 3:15 p.m. at the condo development near the Long Island Sound.

One resident of Maidstone Landing, Joseph Tuminello, said he was working from home when he heard sirens going off. Shortly thereafter, the roof collapsed on the condo.

“It’s consumed with flames,” he said around 3:25 p.m. “It looks like it started on the roof and traveled down through the whole first floor … It hasn’t spread [to any other unit]. They seem to be containing it.”

It remains unclear at this time if there are any injuries.

Check back with RiverheadNewsReview.com for updated information as it becomes available.

Caption: A home went up in flames on Thursday afternoon in Northville. (Credit: Joseph Tuminello)

The suspect: Manuel DeLeon Cuellar. (Credit: Suffolk Police)

The Suffolk County Police are on the hunt for a 24-year-old Jamesport man who allegedly set fire to his girlfriend’s Brentwood apartment and struck a police officer with his vehicle as he fled, according to a police press release. 

Manuel DeLeon Cuellar broke into his girlfriend’s apartment at 2 a.m. Thursday, police said. He allegedly assaulted the woman and set fire to the apartment, police said. As he fled the scene, he struck a Third Precinct officer with a Chevrolet pickup truck and then crashed the truck a short distance away, police said. He fled on foot and police are asking the public’s help to find him, police said.

The woman and officer were treated for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Mr. Cuellar is described as Hispanic, 5-foot-9, 175 pounds with brown eyes, black hair and a beard. He was last seen wearing a black jacket and white checkered shirt. Police said he may be armed with a knife.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS or the Third Precinct at 631-854-8352.

Police said Alvah Randall Jr., 28, used a screwdriver to cut a Riverhead woman. (Credit: Riverhead Police Department)

A Jamesport man was arrested Monday for allegedly cutting a woman with a screwdriver during an argument over the weekend, Riverhead police said.

Officers said Alvah Randall Jr., 28, used a screwdriver to cut a Riverhead woman on her stomach when the two acquaintances got into a fight at Main Road house in Jamesport on Saturday afternoon.

Mr. Randall Jr. was arrested on Monday and charged with one count of assault in the 2^nd degree and one count of harassment in the 2^nd degree, according to Riverhead police.

Police said he is going to be arraigned Monday afternoon.

George Kurovics enlisted with the U.S. Navy in 1944 at just 16 years old. (Credit: courtesy photo)

George Kurovics was proud of his military work in World War II, during which he served as a tail gunner on reconnaissance planes in the South Pacific.

“He was proud of his country just as much,” said his son, also George, in an interview Wednesday morning, a day after the 90-year-old was struck and killed on Main Road in Jamesport by an alleged drunken driver. 

Mr. Kurovics enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944 at just 16, after receiving permission from his parents, an act his son said “showed how he wanted to serve his country and what type of person he was.”

He was honorably discharged in 1947 and opened a barbershop in 1948 — George’s Rocky Point Barbershop — which his family believes to be the longest-running business in Rocky Point.

He was hit around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday by Diane O’Neill, 65, of Farmingville — a longtime Southold teacher who was then arrested on a DWI charge. Up to that moment,Mr. Kurovics was still working five days a week at the shop along with his wife, Joyce.

“We were definitely expecting him home [from work] around the time that this happened,” his son said Wednesday.

The younger Mr. Kurovics — who lives with his family and is known as “Little George” in the tight-knit neighborhood at the south end of Herricks Lane — said that when his father didn’t come home, he went outside to look for him.

“I saw the sirens and I started walking over there and I spotted his truck. It was still running, with all of its stuff in it,” he said. “I saw a body under a cover, obviously hoping it wasn’t his. Then I saw his … hat on the sewer drain.”

The family believes Mr. Kurovics had stopped after he spotted one of the family’s cats dead on the roadside.

“I thought it only made sense that he saw the cat and was getting it so that we could bury it in the yard,” he said. “I’m assuming he wasn’t even crossing the street.”

“Crazy enough,” Mr. Kurovics explained, his father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago and given just six months to live. A risky, complicated Whipple surgical procedure saved his life.

“He actually beat the pancreatic cancer and we were just about to go on to the two-year marker, cancer-free,” he said. “Otherwise, he was just a warm-hearted, loving man. He liked to stay active. He liked to stay moving.”

Police investigate the scene of the fatal accident Tuesday night. (Credit: AJ Ryan/Stringer News)

Mr. Kurovics liked to tend his garden and chop wood to keep his family warm, family and neighbors said.

On his ability to continue cutting hair at an advanced age, his wife said, “It was a relaxed atmosphere for him to work in.”

“He was a hard-worker,” she added. “Labor was what drove him.”

The Kurovics met in the barbershop in 1978 after she took a job there. They were married a year later and had their son.

“We worked together on a daily basis,” Ms. Kurovics said.

At the barbershop, Mr. Kurovics entertained countless people over the years as he cut their hair.

“He always had a story, always had a joke,” said longtime customer Steve Friello.

Mr. Friello, 46, moved to Rocky Point in 1996. He’s gotten his hair cut at George’s ever since, he said, as have his three sons. Every year, he said, Mr. Kurovics would give him tomatoes from his garden.

“It was just a pleasure going there and listening to what he had to say,” Mr. Friello said. “The stories of his life and the things he did were just fascinating.”

Ruth Doroski, who lives next door to the Kurovics, said no one on the block heard the crash. They just heard sirens and later saw the lights.

“I just happened to go out to the road and I saw him,” she said. “He was the nicest man you ever wanted to meet. Very considerate. Always had a joke to tell.”

Another neighbor, Dr. Peter Badmajew, 86, said he had known Mr. Kurovics for almost 50 years.

“He was a very brave person,” he said. “He was energetic and full of joy and very helpful. He was such a pleasure.”

Mr. Kurovics is also survived by an ex-wife, Mary-Lou Stein of Port Jefferson, and their three adult children: Joy, Linda and Lee.

“His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all made a tradition of getting their first haircut by Papa George at the barbershop,” Ms. Kurovics said.

Diane O’Neill enters court in RIverhead Wednesday morning. (Credit: Paul Squire)

Ms. O’Neill, a teacher for 21 years in the Southold School District, had been westbound in her 2007 Mercedes-Benz on Main Road near Herricks Lane shortly after 7:15 p.m. when the crash occurred, according to a police report.

Main Road remained closed for about four hours for an investigation, according to Stringer News.

During the arraignment, Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith said police at the scene reported that Ms. O’Neill was unsteady on her feet, with glassy, bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcohol on her breath following the accident.

A blood sample was taken from Ms. O’Neill, the mother of two grown children, and the case is expected to go to a grand jury for consideration of upgraded charges, prosecutors said.

Her son, Sean, appeared with her in court Tuesday. He declined comment outside the courtroom.

Ms. O’Neill told Judge Smith she has been a teacher for 35 years. Her longtime employer, the Southold School District, offered the following statement Wednesday: “The district has learned that Diane O’Neill, a math teacher at Southold High School, has been arrested off school grounds for an incident unrelated to her employment with the district. The district is truly saddened to learn of this tragic accident. The Southold Board of Education and administration extend our deepest condolences to the families involved in this tragedy. Ms. O’Neill is a veteran educator with twenty-plus years of service and no prior incidents. Her status with the district is pending.”

Bail was set at $10,000 and Ms. O’Neill is due back in court at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15.

mwhite@timesreview.com

Police said that on Tuesday night, shortly after an armed robbery was reported at an E. Main Street business, another was reported just a few miles to the east at a Jamesport business.

According to police, around 8:30 p.m. the manager of MCN Distributors reported that three males entered the business, pointed a handgun at him, and removed cash and heating/air conditioning equipment from the store.

Police said the men used a company box truck to take the proceeds, and the truck was later recovered on Reeves Avenue near Doctors Path.

The robbery was reported not long after a man entered the Damaris Multi Service, located at 725 East Main Street around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday wearing a ski mask and holding a handgun.

Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call 727-4500, ext. 302.

Grand Marshal Allen Smith and East End Emerald Society trustee John Cuddy at the Peconic Bay Diner in Riverhead Saturday. (Credit: Tim Gannon)

Things will be getting pretty Irish in the Town of Riverhead from late February into March, as the East End Emerald Society gears up for its second annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Jamesport on March 28, which is expected to be bigger than last year’s inaugural parade.

In addition to the parade, the East End Emerald Society also is planning a reception on Saturday, Feb. 21 to formally introduce its grand marshal for the parade, Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith. 

That event will be held from 7-10 p.m. at Jason’s Vineyard on Main Road in Jamesport. Admission is $25.

Mr. Smith was chosen as this year’s grand marshal because of his history of giving back to the community, according to East End Emerald Society Trustee John Cuddy.

Mr. Smith has been a town justice since 2000. He served as town supervisor in the late ’70s and was a town attorney prior to that. He also served on the Riverhead Board of Education for several years in the ’90s, he’s been a member of the Riverhead Fire Department since 1978 and he’s been a longtime member of the Riverhead Rotary Club.

“It’s an absolute honor to be named Grand Marshal and it’s going to be a hoot,” Mr. Smith said on Saturday, where he and members of Emerald Society trustees gathered at the Peconic Bay Diner to discuss plans for the parade. “We going to have a lot of fun and I hope people show up and enjoy themselves.”

Mr. Smith said one of the things he hopes to do is have his grandson, Liam, with him in the parade.

“He’s my leprechaun,” he said. “He had a map of Ireland written across his face.”

The East End Emerald Society also will be a beneficiary of the “The March of the Leprechauns,” a pub crawl which is also being called “Lepre-Con,” a play on the popular “SantaCon” pub crawls.

It’s being organized by the Suffolk Theater on March 7 and the Emerald Society and Maureen’s Haven Homeless Outreach will be the beneficiaries of the event, according to Mr.  Cuddy, who said they will use the money to pay the pipe and drum bands that march in their parade.

The event starts at 1 p.m. and participants, who are expected to dress in “all things Irish,” can buy $10 tickets at participating bars and restaurants, which will have various specials and promotions.

The parade itself starts at 1 p.m. in Jamesport on Saturday, March 28, and the route will go from Washington Avenue to the Jamesport Fire Department.

Last year’s parade was the first ever St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Riverhead Town, and while it had an impressive showing and a lot of participants, it didn’t have a pipe band, something Mr. Cuddy says will be different this year.

“We’ve already signed contracts with the Suffolk County Police Emerald Society Pipe Band, and the Long Ireland Pipes and Drum,” Mr. Cuddy said.

This year’s parade is expected to be bigger than the inaugural event, Mr. Cuddy said.

“We’re getting a lot of calls from all over,” he said. “We got an email this morning from the New Hyde Park Fire Department and they want to come and march in the parade. So the spectrum has broadened.”

Mr. Cuddy said the parade date won’t be in conflict with any other St. Patrick’s Day parades in the area.

Last year’s parade was on the same day at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hampton Bays.

tgannon@timesreview.com

The building at 1491 Main Road used to house a North Fork Bank branch. (Credit: Michael White)

Citing ever-ongoing efforts to operate “as efficiently as possible while continuing to provide quality service and products,” a Capital One Bank spokeswoman confirmed this week the company will be closing down its Jamesport branch.

It’s one of five branches and one drive-up bank closing in Suffolk County, said the spokeswoman, Julie Rakes.

They will be closing April 24 and April 25, she said.

“We take the decision to consolidate branch locations seriously, as we understand the effect that it has on our associates and customers,” Ms. Rakes said. “Customers were informed via letter mailed January 21 of the branch closing.”

The branch’s five employees were all given more than 90 days notice that their positions were being eliminated, she said.

“They will be able to post for roles at other Capital One locations and the company will assist in that process,” she said. “In addition, all impacted associates will be eligible to receive a severance package, including retraining assistance and outplacement services if they are not able to find another role within the company.

One loyal customer of two decades interviewed outside the branch Friday said the company was making a mistake.

“They’re being pennywise and pound foolish,” said Paul Wilmot, a business owner who lives nearby.

“I hate it,” he said. “These people are the best. I’m only here because of these ladies. I’ve been with them for over 20 years. It’s convenient because it’s right here. I come here, they know me. Now what? I have to go somewhere else and reinvent myself.”

Employees at the branch said they could not comment on its impending closure.

Customers in Jamesport will see their accounts automatically transferred to the Riverhead branch on Route 58, Ms. Rakes said.

“There will be no changes to customers’ accounts or their account numbers; they will continue to receive the same level of high quality service at any of our nearly 900 branches,” she said.

The building at 1491 Main Road used to house a North Fork Bank branch.

North Fork was absorbed in 2006 by the much larger Capital One, which acquired it for $13.2 billion.

The other branches closing in Suffolk are in Amagansett, Bay Shore, East Quogue, Stony Brook and the Deer Park drive-up.

mwhite@timesreview.com

Rob Gabrielsen and his wife Amanda along with Ayden and Robert, far right, skating on the family rink in Jamesport. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

If you build it, they will skate.

The Gabrielsen family of Jamesport has a love of winter sports. Some Scandanavian blood runs in the family, so that may have something to do with it. But the Gabrielsens’ enthusiasm for skating goes beyond that of most people. After all, how many families can say they have an ice skating rink in their backyard?

It may become a family tradition.

When Rob Gabrielsen, 36, was a youngster, he had a passion for hockey, skating and playing anywhere he could find space, often tennis courts or parking lots. He was chased off more than once by police.

“It got to a point where we couldn’t skate any more,” he said. “We had nowhere to go.”

Except home.

Rob’s uncle, Tom Gabrielsen, who lived next door, built a rink in his backyard that all the Gabrielsens and their friends could enjoy. It became a haven for skaters and hockey players alike.

“The kids loved it,” said Tom.

Evidently, Rob had good memories of those days. A couple of years ago he told his slightly surprised wife, Amanda, “I’m building a rink.”

And so he did.

Following basically the same design as the one his uncle built, he assembled a 36-by-70-foot rink, using 2-by-6s, plywood and a plastic liner. The average depth of the ice is about 8 inches, he said. Lighting allows for nighttime skating, and a nearby wood stove and couches add a degree of comfort for breaks in the action.

One thing the Gabrielsen rink doesn’t have is a name. Perhaps a case can be made for selling naming rights, a reporter joked.

Rob said he wants his children — Robert, 8; Ava, 6; and Ayden, 3 — to derive the same enjoyment out of the rink as he did when he was a kid.

“The best thing, without a doubt, is watching the kids skate,” he said. “It’s good exercise. It gets the kids out of the house and it’s different.”

Rob’s father, George Gabrielsen, was quite impressed with his son’s work. “He’s obsessed with perfection on his rink,” George said. “He has that thing like a mirror.”

Building a rink is one thing. Maintaining it is something else. The Gabrielsens don’t have a Zamboni machine.

“No Zamboni,” Rob said. “I got shovels and a hose.”

Rob said he shovels and waters the rink every night. “Building it is easy,” he said. “It’s the maintenance that’s time consuming.”

This season the rink was operational by the end of December, and the frigid weather has been accommodating. When Rob was a youngster, Feb. 15 was the date when the family rink was usually closed for the season. “Some people were hoping it would be warm in the winter,” George said. “We were just praying for the cold weather.” This winter the Gabrielsens are still skating strong.

The Gabrielsen rink rules remain the same. A premium is placed on safety. That means helmets for inexperienced skaters, no high sticking and no lift shots. “Really, no horsing around,” said Rob.

But there has been at least one offender: Rob.

“I just put a puck through my neighbor’s windshield this year,” he said.

Tom said a couple of pucks bounced off his house, but no windows were broken near his old rink, which hasn’t been around for about 10 years.

Unlike in Rob’s youth, young skaters and hockey players in the area have options. George was a member of the Riverhead Recreation Committee who pushed for the skate park that was built at Stotzky Memorial Park. Jean W. Cochran Park in Peconic also has a rink, as does Greenport.

Of course, the Gabrielsens don’t have to go far to find a clean sheet of ice.

“The whole concept of the rink was based on the kids enjoying the ice, whether it is skating or playing hockey,” Rob wrote in a text message. “Building the rink, maintaining the rink or removing the rink for summer storage is well worth the time we put into it. It brings a smile to our faces every time the kids go out and have at it.”

bliepa@timesreview.com