Joan M. Condit of Peconic died July 19 at her home. She was 90. 

She was born Feb. 12, 1925, in Bay Shore to Cornelius and Elizabeth (Keser) Van Bourgondien.

Ms. Condit was a greenhouse worker for C. J. Van Bourgondien Nursery in Peconic. She was a former Pink Lady volunteer at Eastern Long Island Hospital and a former member of Cedars Golf Club Cedarettes.

Family members said she enjoyed gardening, playing bridge, golfing, boating, baking and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Predeceased by her husband, Ralph, in 2008, Ms. Condit is survived by her children Thomas, of Florida, Sharon Grasso of Peconic, Barbara Murrin of Tennessee, Ralph C. II of New York, Cathleen Harrison of Baiting Hollow, Joan Condit-Shaut of Illinois; her brother, John Van Bourgondien of Southold; her sister, Elizabeth Hutchinson of North Carolina; 13 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

The family will receive visitors Thursday, July 23, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Coster-Heppner Funeral Home in Cutchogue. A funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, July 24, at St. Agnes R.C. Church in Greenport. Interment will follow at Calverton National Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to Peconic Bay Medical Center Health Foundation.

Marie Frances Ferrari of Shelter Island passed away peacefully at her home on July 14, 2015, at the age of 70.

Marie was born in New York City Oct. 3, 1944, to Joseph and Clara Galli. She graduated from The Mary Louis Academy and Lenox Hill Hospital School of Nursing. Marie worked as a registered nurse for over 20 years, most recently at the Norwegian Christian Home.

Marie was a beloved wife to her husband, Larry, who she met at a school dance in 1961. They seemed to have loved each other forever and were looking forward to celebrating their 50th anniversary next month. For Marie, family always came first and she was a loving mother who was extremely proud of her children, their families, and their accomplishments. She adored her grandchildren and always made sure to have a special something for them whenever they visited.

Marie was an avid yard-saler who definitely believed that the early bird got the worm. When not hunting for treasures, she loved spending sunny days with family and friends on the beaches of Shelter Island. A consummate host, Marie enjoyed family gatherings and the rousing games of Skit-Scat that followed. She was funny and quick-witted, and could leave a room in stitches.

Whether it was your favorite meal or treat, or the perfect present, Marie loved to delight family and friends in a uniquely personal way. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

Marie is survived by her husband, Lawrence Ferrari; her son, Adam Ferrari and his wife, Michele; her daughter, Alison Thaxter and her husband,Trevor; her son, Jonathan Ferrari and his husband Joe Datema; and her grandchildren, Jack, Louisa, Liam, Miles, and Maeve.

The family will receive visitors Saturday, July 25, from 3 to 7 p.m. at DeFriest-Grattan-Shelter Island Funeral Home.

Memorial donations may be made to: Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation, P.O. Box 547
Shelter Island, NY 11964.

This is a paid notice. 

Former longtime Greenport resident Richard “Jonathan” Wiggins died July 17 at Southampton Hospital. He was 67.

He was born Sept. 24, 1947, in Queens to Theresa (Brennan) and Kenneth Wiggins.

Mr. Wiggins owned Jonathan Wiggins Realty in Southold for 20 years.

Family members said Mr. Wiggins enjoyed bicycling and furniture restoration.

He is survived by his sons, Jon Brendan Wiggins of Lewes, Del., Richard Jesse Wiggins of Queens, and Dillon Wiggins of Riverhead; his sisters, Theresa and Jeanie; and four grandchildren.

The family will receive visitors Friday, July 24, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Horton-Mathie Funeral Home in Greenport. A funeral service will take place at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 25, at St. Agnes R.C. Church in Greenport. Interment will follow at the church cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Former Southold resident Helen Gagen Lee of West Palm Beach, Fla. died July 20. She was 93.

The family will receive visitors Friday, July 24, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Southold. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick R.C. Church in Southold, officiated by the Rev. Peter Garry will officiate. Interment will take place at the church cemetery.

A complete obituary will follow.

The Oysterponds School District’s annual summer report will be presented Aug. 4 at Poquatuck Hall in Orient.

Oysterponds school board members will be on hand to have an informal discussion about the pre-K through sixth-grade district and its future plans.

The meeting starts at 5 p.m. and is open to the public.

For more information, call the school at (631) 323-2410.

The first six months of the year have been profitable for the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund, according to elected officials. A large part of that boost was thanks to Southold Town.

The CPF as a whole has seen a 5.5 percent increase in revenue year over year having raised a total of $48.28 million, according to data from state Assemblyman Fred Thiele’s office.

The fund’s money is obtained through a voter-approved two percent real estate transfer tax and is used to purchase open space and farmland development rights in the five East End towns.

Southold revenue rose 20.7 percent, from $2.21 million to $2.76 million. It was the highest growth in revenue reported among the five East End towns.

“It’s a very straightforward formula,” said Southold Supervisor Scott Russell. “More sales, which we’ve had a tremendous volume of sales in Southold, and escalating prices increase the revenue generated.”

Mr. Russell said the noticeable increase in CPF revenue raised shows signs of a good housing market.

It wasn’t just Southold that saw a bump in revenues. East Hampton saw an increase of 6.5 percent during the first six months of 2015 compared to 2014 and Southampton fund revenue rose by 5.8 percent.

Other nearby towns of Riverhead and Shelter Island didn’t boast as impressive numbers. Both towns saw a marked decrease in the first half of 2015, with Shelter Island down 11.8 percent and Riverhead decreasing by 20.7 percent from $1.79 million to $1.42 million.

“I think the reality is that there is still not a real strong housing market,” said Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, in contrast to Mr. Russell’s assertion. “I still practice law and I see fits and starts to the housing market. I don’t think it is just Riverhead.”

Mr. Walter said Riverhead has had good years of CPF revenue in the past — including last year. But he said the overall housing market across Long Island shows a weak economy.

According to a statement released by Mr. Thiele (I-Sag Harbor), even with decreased revenue in two of the five towns, revenues in June alone increased from $7.5 million in 2014 to $9.02 million in 2015.

Over the last 12 months, CPF has generated $100.3 million. Created in 1999, it has since generated a total of $1.04 billion.

“2014 was the largest year for CPF revenues in the history of the program,” Mr. Thiele said in his statement. “This reflects the continued strength in East End real estate and the continued availability to local towns of the necessary revenues to protect community character. ”

nsmith@timesreview.com

From a state championship in soccer to a state title in baseball, Mattituck High School achieved a near unprecedented level of success in athletics this past year. 

All those accolades, when combined together, put Mattituck as one of the top schools in the state for the 2014-15 school year. Mattituck finished third overall in the boys standings for the Kerr Cup, an all-sport championship award presented by the New York Sportswriters Association. The Kerr Cup is determined by tallying points for how successful each team in a school is over the course of a year.

For the boys, Mattituck finished third behind Shenendehowa (42.17) and Victor (35). Mattituck totaled 30 points and was the top Class B school in the state.

The results were announced Tuesday morning by the New York Sportswriters Association.

In boys and girls combined, Mattituck finished eighth and was the third Class B school.

Mattituck was the only Long Island school to finish in the top-10 for the boys and girls combined score.

This is the seventh year of the Kerr Cup. It’s the first time a North Fork school made the list.

The success for Mattituck this past season was sprinkled throughout the year. Starting in the fall, the boys soccer team won the Class B state championship. The wrestling team in the winter won the Division II county title. And the baseball team in the spring won the Class B state championship.

Click here to read more about how the Kerr Cup is determined.

I have never liked that intersection. Ever since our daughter and her family moved from East Marion to Cutchogue several years ago, the former Joan Giger Walker and I have found ourselves several times a week at the blinker light on the corner of Depot Lane and Route 48 in Cutchogue.

It’s a dangerous intersection, with no stoplight and cars racing east and west at speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour.

And there we were again this past Saturday evening just before 5:30, heading home to Orient, when we drove south on Depot Lane and came upon the scene of a nightmare.

The crash had just happened. Traffic was stopped in both directions and there was no sign yet of emergency vehicles, although about a dozen people scurried around the wreckage. Our first instinct was to call 911, but then we heard the first sirens approaching. 

What was immediately apparent was that this had to be a fatal crash. The black stretch limo in the westbound lanes appeared to be cut in half behind the front passenger door. And we both had the same thought at the same time: If there were passengers in the back, they probably didn’t make it.

Joan remembers seeing a man sitting on the tailgate of the red pickup truck and I remember my journalistic instincts kicking in. I called the newspaper as at least a dozen emergency vehicles began to arrive at the scene.

The aftermath of this tragedy will resonate for years. And in the case of those who lost loved ones, it will resonate forever. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the families of the victims and survivors.

The driver of the pickup, Steven Romeo, has been roundly vilified, and rightly so. He has admitted to drinking before he drove, and that is likely to result in the filing of criminal charges and, perhaps, a lengthy jail term. But there are mitigating factors, too, including eyewitnesses who say the limo pulled directly into the path of his truck and preliminary indications that Mr. Romeo was traveling at a normal speed in traffic.

Why, then, did he allegedly flee the scene of the crash? One can only surmise that he was in shock. And who wouldn’t want to run away, instinctively, from something like that?

And what now? Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley told me this week that Suffolk County had already been studying that intersection with an eye on installing a traffic light. Earth to Suffolk County: No further study is necessary. That light should be installed immediately.

Secondly, those omnipresent stretch limos need to be prohibited from making U-turns anywhere in Southold Town. And if that means they can no longer access vineyard tasting rooms, so be it.

That is not to say a traffic light and improved signage would have prevented this tragedy. Accidents happen, particularly when alcohol is factored in. (Our car was sideswiped by an unlicensed, uninsured drunk driver on Main Road in Orient several years ago, but fortunately our injuries were minor.)

But at the very least — in respect to the memory of Brittney M. Schulman, Lauren Baruch, Stephanie Belli and Amy R. Grabina — the aforementioned actions need to be taken now to help ensure that this sort of tragedy never happens again in Southold Town.

The author is the former co-publisher and owner of Times Review Media Group. He can be reached at tgustavson@timesreview.com.

Photo caption: Southold resident Carol Owens didn’t know the victims, but still visited the crash scene Tuesday with flowers.

A drunk driver smashed her vehicle into a home on Main Road in Greenport late Tuesday, then fought with officers who tried to arrest her, Southold Town police said.

Dawn Cone, 47, of Greenport allegedly crashed into the house about 10:26 p.m., according to a news release. A police investigation found she was drunk at the time of the crash, police said.

Ms. Cone got into a “short struggle” with officers and was ultimately arrested. She was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest and harassment, a violation, according to the news release.

She was taken to Southold Town police headquarters and held for a morning arraignment.

No one was injured in the crash, police said. It was not immediately clear if anyone was home at the time of the incident.

psquire@timesreview.com

Southold Town police arrested a 22-year-old Selden man just after midnight Wednesday after he was allegedly seen speeding and passing cars while driving drunk.

According to a news release, Lawrence Insinga Jr was pulled over near the intersection of Main Road and Laurel Avenue about 12:20 a.m. Police said Mr. Insinga had passed a vehicle in a no passing zone and was speeding.

Mr. Insinga failed field sobriety tests at the scene and was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. He was held at police headquarters for arraignment.

psquire@timesreview.com

For the past three months, the New Suffolk Civic Association and New Suffolk Waterfront Fund have tried to come to a compromise about how to share the school district’s renovated ballfield.

They couldn’t agree.

“Unfortunately, such an agreement hasn’t been forthcoming,” said New Suffolk school board president Tony Dill at last Tuesday’s school board meeting.

So at that meeting, Mr. Dill announced the board members — who approved the renovations last month — would set the policy themselves.

Mr. Dill said the board had drafted the guidelines with a lawyer after negotiations between the civic group and the waterfront fund failed. The board will approve the final guidelines at its next meeting in August.

Mr. Dill said the ballfield has been a school-owned property for centuries. It’s been used for school needs, for organized and recreational activities and even for animals to graze in over the years, he said.

“This slowly evolving mix of uses never resulted in any community disputes, so there was never a reason for the school board to get involved with the property,” he said.

But the pattern has changed in recent years.

With the ballfield set to be upgraded, groups are now seeking to use the property for their “personal desires,” Mr. Dill said, causing “increasingly bitter divisions within the village” and prompting the board to take action.

Under the proposed guidelines, events at the ballfield will be separated into three categories: uses the school board always permits, uses the school board never permits and uses that require special permission from the board.

Among the uses always permitted by the district are use by residents for informal or leisure activities, use by residents as a place of refuge for cars during storm emergencies, use by nonprofit organizations to hold events that benefit school programs and use of the baseball diamond by the Mattituck-Cutchogue Little League, according to the proposed guidelines.

Uses not permitted include smoking or consuming alcohol on the property, anything that would result in increased property maintenance costs for the school, parking cars or using the property after “natural darkness,” according to the proposal.

Events that will “clearly benefit the larger New Suffolk community,” ones that require setting up tables and tents, formal athletic events other than those held by Mattituck-Cutchogue Little League, and events that involve amplified sound require special permission from the board.

The full proposed guidelines are available through the school secretary.

Mr. Dill encouraged residents to make suggestions about the guidelines. Meanwhile, work on the ballfield has officially begun.

nsmith@timesreview.com

Main Road bid a sad farewell to a piece of its history over the weekend.

Owners began to demolish a famous Gothic house at 591 Main Road in Aquebogue Saturday to make way for a new home.

The long-vacant home was built by local carpenter John Elliot Aldrich around 1870, and has been owned by the Corwin family as part of their duck farm since the 1950s.

In place of the historic house, Blake Corwin will build a home for his growing family.

“It’s hard to see it gone,” he said. “It was a landmark in some ways, but you’ve got to make the decision: Do you want to sit and look at something that’s costing you money, or move forward?”

With its illustrious Gothic-Italianate features, the historical house stood out from its modest neighbors as an advertisement that Aldrich was a “master builder,” said Richard Wines, chair of the Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission.

It was never an official town landmark, but it was easily recognizable by many. But in recent years, it had fallen into disarray.

Before its demolition, the Aldrich house sat vacant for 11 years because it was hazardous and uninhabitable. Among its problems were a roof riddled with holes, substantial water damage and a “mountain” of raccoon feces on the floor.

A 2005 News-Review story described it as “ominous.”

“It was in a horrible state of disrepair, and it would have cost us multiple millions of dollars to repair it, which is a shame,” said Doug Corwin, Blake’s father. “We’d love to have rebuilt, but it became totally impractical.”

Blake Corwin currently lives across the street from the plot with his wife and two daughters. A third child “may be on the way,” he said, so he had to choose between expanding his house now or building a new residence where the abandoned house stands.

Mr. Corwin said his children would have to cross Route 25 to get onto the family farm and visit their grandparents if he were he to expand his current property. So to ensure their safety and comfort, he made the tough decision to demolish the home and replace it with a newly-built two-story, four-bedroom house.

Mr. Corwin said he kept some doorknobs and wood from the 1870 house. He hopes to find a use for them in the new home.

“I’m trying to preserve the first floor itself to see if the beams were worth anything,” he said.

The Corwins had previously worked with Mr. Wines to explore strategies to preserve the house, focusing on a potential long-term lease of the home since the family did not want to sell the property.

“The Corwin family did what they could to keep it going, and we certainly thank them for that,” Mr. Wines said. “It’s always sad to see a house like that go.”

But with so many issues, it became infeasible for the Corwins to restore the property themselves — a project that would have cost millions of dollars, Mr. Corwin said.

“We’re not millionaires, we’re duck farmers,” Blake said.

In 2012, the Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote a proposition to have a six-mile portion of Main Road including the house registered as a historic district. That effort failed two-and-a-half years later after meeting opposition from local residents.

Mr. Wines said the Aldrich house would not have been automatically saved from demolition were it part of a historic district. However, the district would have allowed anyone looking to renovate the property to have 40 percent of the project paid for by federal and state tax credits.

“Of course we’re sad to see [the house] go,” Mr. Wines said. “This is one of the reasons the landmarks commission worked for two-and-a-half years to try and set up a nationally registered historic district.”

Now, Mr. Wines is galvanized by the loss and hopes for greater success in protecting other historic houses along Main Road.

“We’re going to miss it, but I think we need to take this as a wake-up call,” he said.

clisinski@timesreview.com

Photo credits: Barbaraellen Koch

Here is the Suffolk Times Service Directory for July 23, 2015. If you are interested in placing an ad, please call Karen, 631-354-8029 or email kcullen@timesreview.com.

Suffolk Times Service Directory: July 23, 2015

Here are the classifieds for July 23, 2015. If you are interested in placing an ad, please call Karen, 631-354-8029 or email kcullen@timesreview.com.

Times Review classifieds: July 23, 2015

At this stage, motor vehicle accidents are an inevitable, unfortunate fact of life. As long as we have cars and roads, accidents and crashes are bound to occur.

Here on the North Fork, where many people visit and participate in activities that involve alcohol, the risk of a crash can increase.

Factor in our growing deer population and the use of cellphones on our roads, and we are in even greater danger.

We must do everything in our power to make sure we take responsibility for our actions on local roads.

The eight young women killed or injured in Saturday’s horrific crash did their part by hiring a driver to take them to their destinations in Riverhead and Southold towns. The other driver, who allegedly drank beer at home before getting behind the wheel, seems not to have done his.

If it is proven in a court of law that Steven Romeo was driving drunk Saturday night, he should be penalized to the full extent of the law.

While we can’t eliminate motor vehicle crashes entirely anytime soon, there are many more things we can do to mitigate the risk of another tragedy like the one we all experienced this week.

• Last year, this newspaper’s editorial board called for the installation of interlock devices in all new vehicles. Following this week’s crash, Newsday called for the same. Using existing technology that prevents drunk drivers from starting their cars is an effective way to prevent disasters from occurring.

• We must find a way to fund Stop DWI patrols every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in all five East End towns. This is an action that can be taken swiftly at the local level, and changes can be made as success or failure is determined. The patrols have proven effective over holiday weekends, though expanding them makes sense — if we can only find a way to fund them regularly over the long term.

• In response to this week’s tragedy, the county, town and state should re-evaluate the effectiveness of all blinking yellow lights in our area. They should be replaced with regular traffic signals where appropriate. And while we’re encouraged to hear that a traffic light is in the works for the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane, we believe a left-turn signal should also be installed.

• State lawmakers should consider a law making it illegal for limousine drivers to make U-turns on all roads in New York. These vehicles are simply too big, and too many lives are put at risk each time a limo driver makes the decision to make those turns.

• Increase the penalties for DWI convictions, including permanent loss of a license for all repeat offenders. Would you drive drunk if it meant you might never be allowed to drive again?

(PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Gannon)

Tom Spackman doesn’t want his picture taken.

Sure, he’s been in a few television shows and performed in classic plays on the New York stage. He even has a devoted fan-base. If you search online for “Tom Spackman,” he admits, you’ll find a photo of him pretty quickly.

But Mr. Spackman doesn’t want to be known for his face. In fact, he’d rather you not know his face at all. 

So when The Suffolk Times asked for a photo during a recent interview at his Greenport recording studio, he politely declined.

Mr. Spackman’s voice — the voice of everything from commercials to national TV news programs to a starring role as the Bounty Hunter in the popular online “Star Wars: The Old Republic” video game — should speak for itself, he said.

“The people that play this game … There’s something about the fact that they don’t see me,” he said. “All they envision is the ‘Bounty Hunter’ and I like that. I don’t want to take away that illusion.’”

For the past 20 years, Mr. Spackman has worked as a voiceover artist for television stations like Showtime, NBC Channel 4 in New York and National Geographic. He’s currently the promo voice of “Dateline NBC.”

The guy on the commercials you hear each week before the broadcast? That’s him.

In recent years, Mr. Spackman’s work has exploded in popularity thanks to the “Star Wars” game. He even has fans who ferociously debate other fans that question his true identity online.

“It’s such great fun to play that kick-ass guy,” he said. “He’s very rugged. ‘Go ahead, make my day.’ … Think of it as Clint Eastwood in space.”

A Binghamton, N.Y., native who grew up in Detroit, Mr. Spackman enrolled in a pre-law program at Wayne State University in the early 1970s but discovered a love for theater after taking an elective class about Shakespeare his senior year.

After graduating, he went back to school — this time, to become a classically trained actor.

Mr. Spackman went on to become a leading member of an Off-Broadway stage company, but transitioned into doing commercials for companies like Audi and Estée Lauder after a mentor suggested he explore his voice-over career.

But around 2000, commercial gigs began to dry up. Companies started using celebrities more often; they wanted famous voices, Mr. Spackman said, not necessarily the best ones.

“There’s more to doing voiceovers than having a good voice,” he said. “You need to know how to read copy, how to act copy. Understand that it’s an acting gig, just not in front of a camera and not in front of an audience.”

Mr. Spackman voices one of eight playable characters in the game, which has become enormously popular since it was first released years ago. (Credit: courtesy)

As Mr. Spackman transitioned into reading promos for television networks like SyFy, Turner Classic Movies and HBO, he was also settling into his new Long Island home.

Mr. Spackman first came to the North Fork in the 1970s to help build a friend’s house. After a few months in the countryside, he fell in love with the area.

After visiting for several years, Mr. Spackman finally bought a cottage in Greenport in 1999 and completely rebuilt it. But most importantly, he moved the property’s one-car garage into the backyard, near the rear fence.

Inside, he built his studio, a nearly soundproof room where he records. The black, windowless space is small and sparse, about the size of a large bathroom. Moveable curtains are draped along the walls to deaden any interior sounds.

“The floor was floated on rubber gaskets,” Mr. Spackman said. “If there is a truck coming up the street, it doesn’t vibrate the floor … Helicopters coming over, I can’t do anything about.”

In a corner of the room, protected by foam columns designed to “catch” his deep bass vocal tones, hangs a $1,100 TLM 103 Neumann microphone. A metal music stand holds the iPad Mr. Spackman uses to read his lines.

Digital scripts prevents the sound of rustling papers, he explained. When it’s time to record, even the smallest sound matters, like the quiet hum of an air conditioner. So he takes every precaution he can.

“There’s always going to be [an audio] signature, no matter what you do,” he said.

When he’s not in his other studio in Long Island City, Mr. Spackman is here, recording the promos through a dedicated copper phone line that is piped into the booth at NBC’s Manhattan studio.

Recently, he’s been reading more lines for the “Star Wars” video game to keep up with the latest content.

In the game, Mr. Spackman performs one of eight character “classes” a player can select from. Each class is fully customizable, so the Bounty Hunter never looks, but always sounds, the same.

Mr. Spackman auditioned for the role years before the game was released. At the time, he had no idea what he was getting into.

To perform the role, Mr. Spackman had to read hundreds of lines, taking his character on adventures across 35 planets. But since the game features choices players can make, Mr. Spackman had to perform the lines for every possible permutation. Each “flashpoint” in the plot, he said, branched off in three directions.

But it wasn’t the sheer size of the script that Mr. Spackman found most challenging. Instead, it was the isolation: having to act without someone to act with you.

“When you’re working in a situation like that you’re not working with another actor,” he said. “When you’re across from someone you can see how they do it and change your inflection [to match].”

Mr. Spackman has also been shocked by the fan-base that has sprung up around his character.

“I didn’t realize when I started doing it how big the gaming community is and how intense it is,” he said.

He’s been invited to conventions to sign headshots with the game’s other voice actors, but Mr. Spackman politely declines. It’s all about keeping up the facade and making gamers believe the Bounty Hunter is a real character.

“That’s all that matters,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s about pleasing them.”

psquire@timesreview.com

The Village of Greenport released a statement on its website Thursday regarding the outage that left the entire village without power for more than three hours Sunday afternoon, forcing some businesses to close. 

Village officials previously said it was a PSEG issue, something the utility later denied. The following is the latest explanation on the outage:

In 1688, the world was still seven decades from the birth of Mozart. Queen Elizabeth I had been dead for 85 years and the American colonies wouldn’t secure their independence from England for nearly another century.

That same year, the house that’s believed to be Greenport’s first English residence was built.

More than 300 years later, the 2,220-square-foot saltbox-style structure, known today as the Youngs-Coyle House, still stands. In fact, the recently restored three-bedroom home was listed for sale earlier this month by Century 21 Albertson Realty in Southold. The asking price is $719,000.

Read more on northforker.com

[Photo caption: Built by Col. John Youngs in 1688, this Champlin Place home is believed to be Greenport’s first English residence. The house was originally located on what is now Robinson Road; the property was listed for sale earlier this month. (Credit: Courtesy photo)]

Bail was lowered today for the man police said was driving drunk in a crash that killed four women on Saturday. He is due back in court in mid-September.

Peconic resident Steven Romeo, 55, has been at Eastern Long Island Hospital since Saturday. According to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, he suffered a broken nose in the crash. He was arraigned at his bedside in the hospital on Sunday, where he pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge.

Bail was lowered from $1 million bond/$500,000 cash to $100,000 bond/$50,000 cash on Thursday afternoon at Southold Town Justice Court in front of Town Justice Rudolph Bruer.

According to Mr. Bruer, at Mr. Romeo’s arraignment on Sunday — which was closed off to the public — both sides agreed to again discuss the terms of the bail at Mr. Romeo’s next hearing. Assistant District Attorney John Scott Prudenti told Mr. Bruer that because of the expected long length of the investigation, the bail should be lowered at this point. Mr. Prudenti said that there are no updated charges at this time.

Mr. Romeo had originally been scheduled to appear in court tomorrow, though both sides agreed to meet a day early. Neither prosecutors nor Mr. Romeo’s defense attorney commented as to why.

Both sides met in the Mr. Bruer’s chambers with the town justice for 15 minutes prior to the hearing.

When asked by Mr. Bruer,Mr. Romeo’s attorney, Steven O’Brien told the town justice that he hopes his client will be able to post bail soon.

Mr. O’Brien, declined to discuss his client’s injuries.

“I won’t offer comment on that,” he said. “I won’t offer comment on the case at all.”

According to authorities, Mr. Romeo was driving his truck westbound on Route 48 shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday when he hit a limousine that had eight young women inside of it. Three were killed instantly, one died at the hospital and four more passengers were injured.

Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Miller said on Sunday that additional charges are expected in the case as Mr. Romeo is currently facing just one misdemeanor drunk driving charge.

The crash took the lives of Brittany Schuman, 23, of Smithtown; Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown; Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park; and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack.

Injured but surviving the crash were four additional passengers: Joelle Dimonti, 25, of Elwood; Melissa Crai, 23, of Scarsdale; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket; and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn. The driver of the limousine, 58-year-old Carlos Pino of Bethpage, was also treated for non-life threatening injuries at a Suffolk County hospital.

Police were later notified that after the crash, Mr. Romeo had walked away from the scene. He allegedly climbed a six-foot fence and was found making his was down an embankment on the Cutchogue Waste Transfer Station property, Mr. Spota said.

A police officer followed after him and brought him back to the scene, according to the district attorney.

Mr. Romeo is due back in Southold Town Justice Court on Sept. 18.

Caption: A.D.A. John Scott Prudenti at Southold Town Justice Court on Thursday.