This Morning’s Bulletin — 6.25.14

June 25, 2014June 28, 2014 Beth Young 0 Comments

Good Morning!

• New York State Senator Lee Zeldin handily won the Republican primary for the East End’s First Congressional District last night, taking 62 percent of the vote over former SEC prosecutor George Demos’s 38 percent.

• The New York State Legislature has passed legislation to authorize a land swap between Southampton Town and Suffolk County so that the county can modify the Riverside traffic circle, which they’re planning to make two lanes wide and shaped like an egg. The bill was proposed by State Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Senator Ken LaValle. Suffolk County has agreed to swap a county parcel alongside the Peconic River just west of the circle in exchange for use of town property to change the dimensions of the circle. The bill must now be signed by Governor Cuomo and be approved both by the Southampton Town Board and a public town-wide referendum. The work is expected to begin in 2016.

• The Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, first proposed by Congressman Tim Bishop, opened earlier this week, the first step in properly diagnosing and treating service members exposed to toxic burn pits. Thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans currently suffer from illnesses related to burn pit exposure. Some of the conditions associated with burn pit exposure include constrictive bronchiolitis, reactive airway dysfunction syndrome, pulmonary fibrosis, leukemia, lung cancer, throat cancer, and Hodgkins lymphoma. Due to the specialized nature of many of the illnesses associated with exposure and the cost of the medical equipment required for diagnosis and treatment, only a few facilities are equipped to treat veterans with these conditions. For more information, veterans can visit the VA’s website at www.publichealth.va.gov or call Congressman Bishop’s office at 631.289.6500.

• The Southampton Town Historic Division will offer a day-long conservation workshop this Saturday, June 28 at the East Quogue Methodist Church Cemetery in East Quogue. The event is one of a series of workshops planned in 2014 to do repairs of the town’s historic cemetery monuments. Joel Snodgrass, principal of Steward Preservation Services and a professional stone conservator, will lead the free public workshop, along with Southampton Town Historian Zach Studenroth. All are welcome to attend the workshop, which will run from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Comfortable clothes and sunscreen are recommended. For additional information or to sign up, contact the Town Clerk’s Office at 631.287.5740.

Anthony Mammina built wooden recycling bins for Riverhead High School for his Eagle Scout project.

• Riverhead High School alumnus Anthony Mammina of Boy Scout Troop 204 recently finished his project for his Eagle Scout badge. As a student at Riverhead High School, Anthony helped lead a recycling effort, beginning a program that has so far recycled 16,257 units. Next year, the school is hoping to expand the program to both the Middle School and the Pulaski Street School and recycle 20,000 units. Anthony’s Eagle Scout project was the construction of four wooden recycling bins for athletic fields on the Riverhead High School campus.

• Tonight marks one of the first free outdoor summer concerts of the summer, with a show by The Lone Sharks at Silversmith’s Corner in Southold at 7:30 p.m. See some more of the free concerts in store for the upcoming weeks in The Beacon’s summer concert listings.