William Starr Midgley, Jr. of Cutchogue died Sept. 26, 2014 at the age of 88. He was an ex-chief of the Cutchogue Fire Department and a dedicated member of the American Legion.

The family will receive visitors Monday, Sept. 29, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Homes in Southold American Legion services will take place at 3 p.m. and Firematic services will be held at 7:30 p.m. A funeral service will be held Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 2 p.m. at Cutchogue United Methodist Church. The Rev. Thomas MacLeod will officiate Interment, with U.S. Navy honors, will take place at  Cutchogue Cemetery.

Memorial donations to Griswold Terry Glover Post #803 Scholarship Fund, Cutchogue Fire Department Scholarship Fund or Vermontville Scholarship Fund would be appreciated

A complete obituary will follow.

Helen S. Wazlo of Greenport died Sept. 26. She was 99. 

The family will receive visitors  Monday, Sept. 29 at Horton-Mathie Funeral Home from  2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral mass will be held Tuesday Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. at St. Agnes R. C. Church in Greenport. Burial will take place at the church cemetery.

The family has suggested that memorial donations be made to the Greenport Fire Department Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 682, Greenport, NY  11944.

A complete obituary will follow.

Southold Police said a man was arrested on a DWI charge Sunday afternoon after he threatened another man at a Cutchogue winery and then proceeded to leave the vineyard in his “large motor home.”

According to police, a harassment call had been filed with police reporting the incident, and police later spotted the motor home driving westbound on Route 25. Police said the driver was then observed leaving his lane of travel, and failed to make a sufficient turn signal.

Police pulled over 59-year-old George Clancy, and said during an interview he had alcohol on his breath. He was reportedly found to be intoxicated and arrested on a misdemeanor DWI charge.

A list of events for this week at each of the local schools, as listed on school calendars.

MATTITUCK-CUTCHOGUE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Thursday, Oct. 2

• 7:30 a.m. — Mattituck High School Breakfast of Champions

• 7 p.m. — Cutchogue-East Elementary School PTA meeting

SOUTHOLD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Monday, Sept. 29

• Junior-Senior High School Picture Day

Sept. 30-Oct. 1

• Elementary school pictures, band room

Oct. 1-3

• Grades 10-11: PSAT sign up

GREENPORT SCHOOL DISTRICT

Monday, Sept. 29

• Guidance begins seniors annual review

Tuesday, Sept. 30

• 2 to 8 p.m. — Floyd Memorial Library budget vote

Wednesday, Oct. 1

• Elementary School Picture Day

• 6 p.m. — PTA meeting

Thursday, Oct. 2

• High School Picture Day

• Homecoming Dance

OYSTERPONDS SCHOOL DISTRICT

Tuesday, Sept. 30

• 2 to 8 p.m. — Floyd Memorial Library budget vote

NEW SUFFOLK SCHOOL DISTRICT

No events listed online.

OUR LADY OF MERCY REGIONAL SCHOOL

Sept. 30-Oct. 2

• Grade 4: CogAT assessments

Friday, Oct. 3

• First Friday Mass

• Pizza

• Uniform sale

• 12:15 p.m. — Dismissal

BISHOP MCGANN-MERCY HIGH SCHOOL

Thursday, Oct. 2

• Picture Make-Up Day

Friday, Oct. 3

• 7 p.m. — Mass Project M.E.R.C.Y.

PECONIC COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Monday, Sept. 29

• 9 a.m. — Morning Gathering

Wednesday, Oct. 1

• School Picture Day

Friday, Oct. 3

• 9 a.m. — “First Friday”

Betty and Dave Pfeiffer moved to Glenwoods Oaks when they decided it was time to downsize from a large home in Hampton Bays in December 2013. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

Last year, Betty and Dave Pfeiffer decided it was time to downsize.

Their 10-room home and in-ground pool in Hampton Bays had served them well while their two sons were growing up, but the boys were now adults living in Riverhead.

“It was time to move along,” said Mr. Pfeiffer, a retired Suffolk County police officer.

Encouraged by the recommendation of their friends and eager to live closer to their children, the pair checked out the model manufactured homes at Glenwood Village, a 120-acre 55-and-older community located on Mill Road, just off Route 58, in Riverhead.

“And we didn’t look any further,” Mr. Pfeiffer recalled last week from the steps of his new three-bedroom, two-bath house in Glenwood Oaks, Glenwood Village’s enclave of recently constructed properties. “We bought the model.” 

The Oaks model’s kitchen with granite countertops, high-end cabinetry and stainless steel appliances (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

The Pfeiffers are far from an anomaly in the real estate market. In fact, manufactured homes like those at Glenwood Village and surrounding communities are increasingly desirable among retirees looking to simplify in an affordable way while maintaining their standard of living.

Gone are the negative connotations long associated with trailer parks, said Brian Stark, vice president of Stark Homes, the parent company of Glenwood Village. Today’s mobile homes — now often called manufactured homes — are customizable and loaded with high-end finishes like granite countertops, crown molding and hardwood floors. And they’re easier on the wallet, too: the median home price at Glenwood Village is around $275,000 and, according to real estate tracking firm Suffolk Research Service, last year’s median mobile home sales price was $120,000.

“The price of buying these houses is a big thing,” said Joe Kummer, a former president of the Mobile Manufactured Homeowners Association of Suffolk. A Wantagh native, Mr. Kummer has lived in a two-bedroom, two-bath home at Calverton Meadows, a retirement community in Calverton, for the past 22 years. He and his wife moved to Florida briefly but returned to the East End for its cooler climate.

If he were to sell his manufactured home today, Mr. Kummer estimated, it would probably go for around $55,000. If his house weren’t located in Calverton Meadows, he guessed, it would likely go for $150,000 or more.

A tray ceiling above the dining room area. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

And Mr. Kummer is quick to correct people who refer to houses like his as “trailers.”

“I say, ‘Okay, if you back your car up and you can pull it away, it’s yours,’ ” he said. “They’re not trailers. There are no wheels on them. They’re anchored to the ground and we’ve got a concrete foundation.”

That is exactly the point people like Mr. Stark are trying to make.

“Mobile homes have evolved from a home-on-wheels, low-cost alternative for housing into a more detailed, customized product,” Mr. Stark said from his office at Glenwood Village last week. A South Jamesport resident, he’s been in the business for 21 years. His father and uncle founded Glenwood Village in 1959 and the community now has 535 units. Mr. Stark is in the process of building 25 more.

“Look at the American household back in the 1960s,” he said. “You had one TV, one car, maybe a one-car garage. Now homes have five TVs and two cars. Everybody takes a vacation. The standard of living has increased, and I think you can really see that in our product.”

Glenwood Village vice president Brian Stark on the deck of the Sands Point model in the new Glenwood Oaks neighborhood. The homes on the west side have a buffer of woods between them and the Riverhead Raceway property. (Credit: barbaraellen Koch)

The mobile homes themselves aren’t the only thing that has changed over the years, Mr. Stark said. The buyers have, too.

Historically, he said, most customers came from western Suffolk, Nassau County or Queens.

“Now, we see people from the South Fork,” Mr. Stark said.

That’s because Riverhead is a desirable option for retirees like the Pfeiffers, who want to remain on the East End but can’t afford to pay a premium to do so, he said. In the past, they might have moved to Florida. But now, he said, the public’s opinion of Riverhead has changed and continues to evolve.

“I always tell people that when my father and uncle had the park, very few people who had a home east of the [Shinnecock Canal] probably would come to Riverhead. But when they come in here and they see they can customize a home and they see they can be in an area where there’s shopping and a good hospital, you open up a new audience.”

An ‘Oaks’ style home. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

Shopping admittedly doesn’t do much for Mr. Pfeiffer.

“You know what does?” he said. “Sound Avenue. The beaches. The farm stands.

“We [used to live] very close to the Shinnecock Canal and the ocean,” he said. “Now, instead of going there, I run up to Reeves Beach or Iron Pier. And you’ve got the Sound. And absolutely beautiful beaches.”

His quality of life has remained the same since he moved to Glenwood Village, he said. But there’s one key difference.

“It’s gotten easier,” he said. “I have a lot less maintenance.”

ryoung@timesreview.com

United Riverhead Terminal in Northville plans to convert two of the existing petroleum tanks on its property to gasoline storage tanks. (Credit: Tim Gannon)

Remember the gasoline shortage that followed Hurricane Sandy? Things like that could be less likely to happen after future storms, given a proposal to store more than 4.8 million gallons of gas in Northville holding tanks that now contain oil.

The plan for the 287-acre United Riverhead Terminals property on Sound Shore Road will be subject to a public hearing before the Riverhead Town Board. A hearing date of Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. has been discussed but not yet formally approved.

“The project was initiated after the response we received from government officials during Superstorm Sandy,” said Scott Kamm, general manager of United Riverhead Terminals.

When Long Island was crippled by a gasoline shortage during the power outage cause by Sandy, officials asked if URT had gasoline storage capability. But at the time, it stored only petroleum, Mr. Kamm said.

The company, which acquired the former Northville Industries property in 2012, now plans to convert two existing tanks to store gasoline. It also wants to build two additional 19,000-gallon tanks for blending 10 percent ethanol into the gasoline. There are currently 20 storage tanks at the facility.

The two tanks to be converted are on the north side of Sound Shore Road. One tank, with a capacity of 87,000 barrels of oil, will hold 2.7 million gallons of regular gasoline; the other, which can hold 67,000 barrels, will contain 2.1 million gallons of premium gasoline, according to URT. (One barrel equates to 31.5 gallons.) The project already has state Department of Environmental Conservation approval, according to Mr. Kamm.

The proposal doesn’t technically require a special permit, since it isn’t a 10 percent expansion, according to town environmental engineer Joe Hall. However, Town Board members decided to hold the hearing anyway, because Northville residents had inquired about the project.

Supervisor Sean Walter also suggested that URT do a traffic analysis for the intersection of Sound Avenue, Pennys Road and Northville Turnpike.

State police said a Greenport woman was arrested for marijuana possession during a traffic stop in Southold Friday.

According to a news release, Loretta McKnight, 52, had been pulled over for speeding on Cox Lane when a state trooper found the drugs. She was charged with criminal possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor, and released with a future court date in Southold Town.

psquire@timesreview.com

RIVERHEAD RACEWAY ROUNDUP

The curtain came down on the Riverhead Raceway season Saturday evening with Brendon Bock of Franklin Square taking first place in a 40-lap Legend Race Car race and James Charrier of Shirley being declared the winner of a 50-lap Grand Enduro. With that win, Charrier successfully defended his 2013 Grand Enduro championship.

Bock charged in front on the 14th lap and didn’t look back. Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches made a Lap-37 pass of Pedersen to claim second place. Artie Pedersen III of Center Moriches was third, Kyle Ellwood of Riverhead was fourth and the division champion, Kyle Soper of Manorville, came in fifth.

When the checker flag waved on the final Grand Enduro of the year, Charrier crossed the line in the second position which on its own merit was good enough to give him his second straight championship. However, Riverhead Raceway officials had a postrace tear down waiting for the top six cars in the race and that affected four of those teams. The race winner, Jimmy White Jr., refused the tear down and was disqualified as were David Antos, Brian McCormack and Greg Zaleski, who either refused the inspection or were caught with unapproved engine modifications or parts.

It is Charrier’s third straight Grand Enduro title and fourth over all. Steve Mastro of Port Jefferson was second, with third going to Walter Stroud of Yaphank.

A former four/six-cylinder Truck Enduro champion, Don Nelson Jr. of Rocky Point, won a 50-lap finale while Greg Harris of Riverhead notched the championship, his second in a row. For Nelson the victory was his second of 2014, a season that saw him miss most of the races because of a blown engine in May. However, there was no keeping Nelson from rebounding with two late-season wins. Harris was the runner-up while Richard Galante of Riverhead drove in third in just his second start.

Two seasoned veterans won eight-cylinder Enduro events. In the 75-lap opener, Dominic Ranieri of East Northport took the win, with the next two finishers being Anthony Pizzo of Lake Ronkonkoma and Michael Sorrentino of Lindenhurst.

Kris Dane of Hicksville finished the race sixth after starting way back in the 23rd position, but that drive to the front was good enough to give him his first career track championship in the class. Dane has been racing in the class the better part of the last decade.

In the nightcap, it was Pizzo taking the win, Ranieri second and Jimmy White Jr. of Southampton third.

Over the last few four/six-cylinder Car Enduro races, Mike Mujsce Jr. of Hampton Bays has had the dominant car. That was the case in the 75-lap finale, which he won in convincing fashion. The 2013 champion, Joe Warren Jr. of Ridge, was second and third went to Mike Mujsce Sr. of Quogue. Peter Verwys Jr. of East Rockaway crossed the line sixth and with that clinched the championship, a career first for the soft-spoken second-generation driver. For many years the Verwys name was prominent at Freeport Stadium.

In 1999, when she turned 85, the town honored Mary Tuthill for her work establishing a nutrition center for senior citizens. Here, as she nears her 100th birthday, she holds the proclamation she was given by town officials.

Often referred to as a Renaissance woman by her family and friends, there is little Mary Tuthill has set out to do in her life that she hasn’t achieved.

And it’s been a long life, thus far.

With a résumé that includes founding Southold Town’s adult nutrition program and assisting in the creation of Suffolk County Community College, many of Ms. Tuthill’s achievements are still visible today across the county. 

When she reflects on her life, Ms. Tuthill, who will celebrate her 100th birthday Tuesday, Sept. 30, said there is one common denominator behind all of her accomplishments. “Curiosity,” she said. “I have always been interested in finding out more.”

Learning is something Ms. Tuthill has strived for since an early age.

Born in Manhattan in September 1914, she always dreamed of becoming a nurse. At 17, she was accepted to St. Catherine’s Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn.

“I have a one-track mind and I wanted to be a nurse,” she said. “St. Catherine’s almost turned me down because I was too young, but I got lucky.”

It was at St. Catherine’s that she met her husband, Percy Tuthill, a North Fork native and doctor who was working at the hospital in the summer of 1934. The couple wed on Sept. 25, 1936, and would have celebrated their 78th anniversary this month.

In 1940, they moved to Orient. Mr. Tuthill established his medical practice in Greenport, and Ms. Tuthill worked there while raising their five daughters and four sons.

At the same time, Ms. Tuthill championed education efforts and became the first director of the Eastern Long Island Parent Teacher Association District, now known as the Suffolk District PTA. During her role as director, she joined forces with county and state officials to secure a former tuberculosis hospital in Selden as the future site of Suffolk County Community College, she said.

“Not many people here could afford to go away to school and they needed one that they could easily commute to,” she said. “I saw the former tuberculosis hospital as an opportunity and a group of us went to Albany to discuss it. At the time, [politicians] upstate thought everyone on Long Island was rich. They agreed to visit the site and I got to show them around. The site was eventually picked.”

In addition to education, nutrition is another of Ms. Tuthill’s passions. While she was working as a San Simeon by the Sound nurse in Greenport in 1974, Southold Town asked her to establish a nutrition center for seniors — a precursor to today’s Human Resource Center in Mattituck.

“I knew because I worked in nursing that people could have gone home [from hospitals] sooner, if they had the proper nutrition,” she said.

Ms. Tuthill retired as manager of the program in 1980 and the Town Board issued a proclamation for her contributions in 1999, on her 85th birthday.

“The nutrition program Mary Tuthill established still follows the same protocol and provides useful health and medical information and services to the benefit of the senior citizen population and their families residing in Southold Town,” the proclamation reads.

Friends and family say Ms. Tuthill’s work has been an inspiration to them all.

“She is an amazing lady,” said longtime friend Betty Goldsmith. “We all admire her for her intelligence and kindness. We call her ‘The Renaissance Woman’ for accomplishing all she did.”

“She inspired us all to be independent and to get educated,” Ms. Tuthill’s daughter Hope said.

Ms. Tuthill, who now lives in Southold, said nutrition and exercise are still a priority in her life. She exercises with friends each Tuesday at the Southold Public Library, keeps busy playing bridge, and completes The New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday.

When asked what her secret to a long life is, Ms. Tuthill laughed.

“I always tell people, ‘Just keep breathing,’ ” she said. “It always helps.”

cmurray@timesreview.com

Fire districts within Southold Town will be holding public hearings on their proposed 2015 budgets later in October.

Fire districts are the taxing entities that fund local fire departments, which are mostly run by volunteers but receive tax money to run facilities, purchase and operate equipment and pay some employees.

The following is a breakdown of the budget proposals, and the hearing times and locations.

Southold

The proposed budget calls for $1.88 million in spending, up 1 percent over 2014’s $1.86 million budget. Of that amount, all but $23,800 will be raised through taxes, a 2.63 percent increase over the current year.

A public hearing on the budget will take place Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Southold fire station at 55135 Main Road.

Cutchogue

The proposed 2014 budget is $1.32 million, up 3.5 percent over the current budget of $1.28 million. All but $1,000 will be raised through taxes — a 7.3 percent tax levy increase over the current year.

A public hearing is Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Cutchogue firehouse at 260 New Suffolk Road.

Mattituck

The proposed 2015 budget calls for $1.89 million in spending, a 2.1 percent increase over the 2014 budget of $1.85 million. The entire budget amount will be raised through taxes.

A public hearing is Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Mattituck Fire Hall on Pike Street.

Orient

The proposed 2015 budget calls for $669,295  in spending, up 1.8 percent from the current budget of $657,545. The amount to be raised through taxes totals $618,045.

A public hearing will be Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Orient firehouse at 23300 Main Road in Orient.

East Marion

The proposed 2014 budget calls for $610,744 in spending, up 0.1 percent from the current budget of $609,996. Of that amount, $509,644 will be raised through taxes.

A public hearing on the budget will take place Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the East Marion fire station, 9245 Main Road.

* The Greenport Fire Department is funded through the Greenport Village budget.

Marion B. Danowski of Riverhead died Sept. 26, 2014. She was 89. 

She was born in Long Island City on May 21, 1925, to Alice (née Adams) and Robert Liebert. On July 28, 1940, she married Paul R. Danowski, Sr.

For many years, Marion was a secretary for Dr. Marino Nataloni in Riverhead. She had also served on the Riverhead School Board.

Predeceased on Sept. 27, 1985, by her husband, Marion is survived by her children, Paul, of Riverhead, Mary Galligan of Riverhead, Joan Scamordella of Nevada and Robert, also of Riverhead; four sisters, Alice Schultz of Wading River, Doris Zinna of Mount Sinai, Rita Harmon of Riverhead and Madeline Filmanski of Wading River; four grandchildren, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jonathan Caffrey, Amanda Russell and Erin Galligan; four great-grandchildren and her companion, John Bartosiewicz of Jamesport.

The family will receive visitors Tuesday, Sept. 30, from 4 to 9 p.m. at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Mattituck. Religious services will be held Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 9:30 a.m. at the funeral home  Interment will take place at St. Isidore’s R.C. Cemetery in Riverhead.

This is a paid notice. 

Northforker.com presents our latest “Experience North Fork” Giveaway. We are giving away great prizes through rafflecopter that only take a second to enter multiple times. East Wind – Caterers, Inn & Spa is our latest partner. Enter to win (2) tickets to Craft & Courses at Desmond’s Restaurant at the East Wind. Four courses of delicious food paired with four Long Island craft beers. Wednesday, October 15th.

You can enter until Tuesday, October 6th at 2:00PM.
 

Patrick Leonard Carpenter, 78, of Southold passed away peacefully Sept. 23 in Greenport. 

Patrick was born June 10, 1936 in Far Rockaway. After graduating from Richmond Hill High School in 1955, he served four years in the U.S. Army. Patrick later enrolled in Manhattan College where he received his Bacheleor of Science degree in biology. He received his Masters in Education at CW Post.

While teaching biology at Hicksville High School, Patrick met his wife, Lynne Breining, a school colleague. The two were married in the summer of ‘77 at Patrick’s summer home in Southold.

Patrick was fond of the U.S. Army, Corvettes, hunting and most of all, the history of World War II.

He is survived by his wife Lynne; his son, Patrick; his daughter, Jean and two grandchildren, William and Alisa.

A memorial service in his honor will be scheduled at a later date.

Donations in his name to American Cancer Society would be greatly appreciated.

Willy, a 10-week-old kitten, was rescued from a water pipe in Southold Tuesday. (Credit: Carrie Miller)

It was an awfully long night for Willy, the newest kitten up for adoption at North Fork Animal Welfare League’s shelter in Southold.

The 10-week-old kitten was discovered Monday trapped in a 20-foot-long stormwater pipe buried about three feet below the ground after falling into a hole near the back of 7-Eleven in Southold.

On Tuesday morning, nearly 16 hours later, volunteers from NFAWL, Coastline Cesspool & Drain Service and North Fork Sanitation, both of Cutchogue, successfully rescued the buff-red kitten.

Gillian Wood, the director of the animal league, said it was one of the more unique rescues she’s been a part of.

“It was really a community effort. There were a ton of people concerned,” Ms. Wood said. “But Will [Park] and the guys from Coastline [Cesspool] really were the heroes in this. They went totally out of their way to get that cat out.”

Rizwan Haq, a 7-Eleven employee, found Willy around 6:30 p.m. Monday while throwing trash into the bins on the side of the building.

“I heard meow, meow,” said Mr. Haq, who has a cat of his own. “I went inside to tell another [employee] and we called the police for help.”

One of the convenience store’s nighttime employees, Jeremy Geraci, told rescuers he had seen the kitten about two days prior, running around the back of the building, though no one was sure when he had become trapped.

Ms. Wood said she soon received a call from police, and the rescue effort was underway.

She said she called Will Park of Coastline Cesspool, who brought a crew of men — and a camera built for viewing the inside of the pipe, which helped NFAWL members monitor the kitten while he was stuck underground.

Jeff Standish, director of the Southold Town Department of Public Works, met volunteers and workers on the scene. Due to an impending rainstorm, they rerouted the drainage pipes coming from the roof of the building to keep the kitten as dry as possible.

By then, night had fallen, forcing the rescue to be put on hold, Ms. Wood said.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Park returned with his workers armed with a plan. North Fork Sanitation’s Roy Schelin III also stopped by to help.

Using a wad of duct tape twisted around the cabled camera, they threaded the camera through the pipe, essentially forcing the kitten to run out the opposite end.

By about 10:30 a.m. the kitten popped his head out of the pipe, his lower half and tail covered in mud.

Willy, named after the man who rescued him, was then taken to NFAWL’s shelter in Southold, where he is being prepped for adoption.

cmiller@timesreview.com

See more photos of the rescue: 

Tom Schiliro (left) and Anthony Palumbo, who are running for the second district state Assembly seat, debated Monday night in Riverhead. (Credit: Tim Gannon)

The Women’s Equality Act, and specifically, the parts of it dealing with abortion, was a hotly debated issue between the two candidates for the second district state Assembly seat during a debate Monday night at Polish Hall in Riverhead, which was sponsored and moderated by news website RiverheadLocal.com. 

Incumbent Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) is facing challenger Tom Schiliro (D-Manorville) in the race. Mr. Palumbo has the backing of the Republican and Conservative parties while Mr. Schiliro is backed by the Democrat, Independence and Working Famiies parties. Mr. Palumbo was elected to the Assembly seat in a special election in 2013 after then-Assembylman Dan LoSqaudro was elected Brookhaven Town highway superintendent. He is an attorney and former prosecutor.

Mr. Schiliro is a Suffolk County Parks Police sergeant who’s also been a teacher and the owner of a horse stable in Manorville.

According to Board of Elections records, Mr. Schiliro has both raised more campaign money and spent more that Mr. Palumbo in 2014, although Mr. Palumbo carried a significant amount of money over from 2013. In 2013, Mr. Palumbo’s campaign raised $152,120 and spent $151,373 on the special election. In 2014 disclosure filings, Mr. Palumbo has raised $37,430 and spent $22,766, while Mr. Schiliro, who didn’t have a campaign committee in 2013, has raised $43,135 and spent $34,574.

Here’s how both men stand on the issues that have come up this campaign season:

WOMEN’S EQUALITY

Palumbo: Says his opponent is running television ads “distorting my record” on the Women’s Equality Act, which Mr. Palumbo voted against in the Assembly, and which did not have the support of the Republican-controlled state Senate. ”I agreed with nine of the 10 points” in the bill, Mr. Palumbo said.

The bill was presented in the Assembly as one huge bill where all 10 points had to be either voted for or voted against. The section Mr. Palumbo said he opposes deals with abortion and would have extended abortion rights to the third trimester, expanded the types of doctors who can perform abortions and repealed the criminal aspects to abortion in the current low. The other nine points had passed the Senate but never came to a vote on the Assembly floor.

“So the speaker (Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver) controls what bills get to the floor,” Mr. Palumbo said. “Those bills that I sponsored would have been approved had any of them come to the Assembly floor, but they chose to play politics with women’s health and that’s offensive to me.”

Schiliro: Says he supports the whole bill.

As for the bill’s position on abortion, Mr. Schiliro said, “All this does is codify into law Roe v. Wade from 1972. This is an issue that has to be decided between a woman and her doctor and it’s absolutely disgusting that we debate this on a political stage.”

“I just heard that you’re for it, for it, for it, but yet you voted against it,” he said to Mr. Palumbo. “If you vote against it, then you can’t say you’re for it.”

PARTIES IN ALBANY

Is being a Democrat in a Democratically controlled Assembly is a good thing or a bad thing?

Schiliro: ”I’d rather be a member of the majority party any day,” Mr. Schiliro said. “You can get a lot more done.”

He feels that rather than having a caucus based on political parties, he will work with a “suburban caucus” of Assembly members dealing with issues to benefit areas like Long Island. Having a member of the majority part in charge of that caucus would be more effective, he said.

Palumbo: Says the Assembly majority members are expected to vote the way Assembly Speaker Sheldon Siver wants them to vote. Being a member of the minority party means he’s not beholden to the assembly leadership. ”The beauty of being a Republican is that we can fight to the death” on issues, he said. “You don’t need someone who his beholden to the machine. You need someone who is going to fight.”

COMMON CORE

Palumbo: Says he sponsored a bill to change the controversial Common Core State Standards. He said Governor Andrew Cuomo initially ignored those calls for change.

“We continued to yell and scream” and the governor eventually agreed to implement some of those changes, he said.

Schiliro: Also opposes Common Core. ”It’s almost like we have the same position,” he said. ‘The difference is that I speak from experience,” having been a school teacher and someone who has written curriculum.

ENTERPRISE PARK
at CALVERTON

Schiliro: Says EPCAL should be part of the Startup New York program, which gives businesses a 10-year exemption on property taxes and sales taxes if they locate there. He also feels solar energy should be located at EPCAL.

Palumbo: “Less government is more,” when it comes to EPCAL. He feels eliminating the state’s MTA payroll tax entirely will help draw businesses to EPCAL.

“Who in their right mind would come out to open a business with 25 or more people on Long Island with the cost of living and taxes so high?

tgannon@timesreview.com

Former Cutchogue resident Jessie Skirel died Sept. 27 at San Simeon by the Sound in Greenport. She was 93. 

She was born Sept. 29, 1920, in Southampton to Alexandria and Victor Nakelski and was a homemaker who helped her husband, Julius, on the family farm.

Family members said she loved people and enjoyed being outside and tending to her strawberry patch.

Predeceased by her husband in 1990, Ms. Skirel is survived by many nieces and nephews.

The family will receive visitors Tuesday, Sept. 30, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Coster-Heppner Funeral Home in Cutchogue. A funeral service will be held Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Ostrabrama R.C. Church in Cutchogue. Interment will take place at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Cutchogue.

Artist and longtime resident of Southold and Greenport, Lidya Buzio died Sept. 30 at her home. She was 65. 

A gathering for friends and family will take place Saturday, Oct. 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. at her home.

A complete obituary will follow.

Former Southold resident William Fredrick Metz Jr. of Florida died suddenly Sept. 29, 2014. He was 31.

Funeral arrangements, incomplete at presstime, are in the care of DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Homes.

A complete obituary will follow.

Birchwood is expected to re-open by November. (Barbaraellen Koch file photo)

It has a new catering room, a new menu, and even a new name — technically.

But the new owner of the Birchwood restaurant in Polish Town makes something very clear: the things that locals loved about the venerable eatery will stay the same.

“It’s been a tradition in this town for how many years?” said Danielle Sessa, who is set to close a deal on the property Tuesday. “I feel this restaurant is the heart of the town. It is filled with history. My family and I are making sure the doors open again on this landmark.”

The eatery has been closed since June, after the previous owner, James Loo, died in January and the property was given to his 12-year-old daughter in estate proceedings following his death. Though a note on the door posted in July said work would be underway, the doors have remained closed.

Ms. Sessa, a Wading River native who runs a local catering business and whose family has years of experience in the restaurant industry, plans to reopen the shuttered restaurant by the first week in November.

The restaurant will be renamed “The Birchwood of Polish Town” as a way to honor its heritage and the town, she said.

Andrea Mayer, who divorced Mr. Loo in 2004, was named as administrator of the property last month in her daughter’s stead and had previously announced her plans to sell the property.

Ms. Sessa emphasized that the new Birchwood will be “family owned and operated,” adding that she and her parents will add their own Italian twist to the Birchwood’s old menu, adding passed-down recipes for pastas and homemade cheesecake.

But locals need not worry; the old favorites, like the pu pu platter, won’t be going anywhere, she said.

The catering room in the new Birchwood is set to be renovated, with new carpets, mahogany-stained wooden panels and new white trim around the walls, Ms. Sessa said. She added that LED lights and televisions will be installed to update the space for weddings, parties, seminars and luncheons.

“I just wanted to update everything,” she said in the still-vacant catering room.

The main restaurant, she says, will be kept the same as a nod to the restaurant’s history. Her father, will also be adding a section of the wall as a “9/11 Tribute” she said.

Ms. Sessa’s two siblings will also work in the restaurant; Ms. Sessa plans to rehire some of the old staff who were laid off by the previous owner.

The new owner said she was looking for a space for catering events with a “home spun” atmosphere to call her own.

“The Birchwood fits this all into one package for me,” Ms. Sessa said. “It’s the character of the place and the town.”

Local business owners all said they’ve heard customers asking about the Birchwood and whether it would reopen.

“We still see people pull up, get out of their cars, go to the door and try to go in,” said Wanda Wilinski, who works at Gadzinski Insurance across from the restaurant on Pulaski Street. “We’re in favor of it [reopening].”

Damian Klusek, a manager at the Euro Deli nearby, said having the Birchwood was an essential part of the community.

“We need a Polish restaurant here,” he said.

A nearby manager of Carlo’s Pizza Oven around the corner said customers had been asking about the Birchwood restaurant and whether it would reopen.

“I’m sure you’re going to get all the customers back, but I can’t really say,” the manager, who gave his name as Pete, said. “It was always a good place here in Polish Town.”

The pizzeria manager said that the new Birchwood may face some challenges opening so late into the season, with the cold winter coming.

“There’s gonna be positives and negatives,” he said. “It all depends on how they open it up.”

psquire@timesreview.com

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