The Riverhead Charter School is located on Route 25 in Calverton. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
The union president at the Riverhead Charter School — whose embattled principal has been facing allegations of union busting — was fired on Wednesday, the News-Review has learned.
That teacher, Kasey Wehrheim, is now publicly joining a growing chorus of detractors of the school’s principal and executive director, Ray Ankrum, saying she was targeted because of her work with the union. (more…)
Protesters outside the Riverhead police station Saturday. (Credit: Michael White)
It was an education in lactation outside the Riverhead police station Saturday, where six nursing moms and about two dozen supporters staged a public “nurse-in” event to shine a light on breastfeeding laws in New York. (more…)
These four gators were captured in the Peconic River in April 2013. (Credit: DEC courtesy, file)
Perhaps hoping to curb a recent trend of abandoning alligators on Long Island, authorities announced this week a first-ever “amnesty day” in Suffolk County for those who illegally own exotic animals.
“People who are in possession of these animals unlawfully can turn them in to us without fear of prosecution,” said Suffolk SPCA chief Roy Gross, whose group is hosting the May 10 event with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S Department of Agriculture. “No one will be asked to give their name.”
The announcement comes about a year after state Department of Environmental Conservation officers found five alligators in the Peconic River — one of which they shot — and several others in areas elsewhere on Long Island.
In 2012, authorities recovered nine alligators over a span of just a few weeks in Suffolk County alone.
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Town of Brookhaven Wildlife and Ecology Center at 249 Buckley Road in Holtsville.
Read more on alligators being found in Suffolk County.
Trained handlers will be on hand to accept the animals from the public, officials said.
“The purpose of this effort is to get these illegally possessed animals into a controlled environment where they can be cared for properly,” Mr. Gross said.
(Credit: Times/Review stock art)
His audience was a group of Cub Scouts. Their motto: Do your best.
And the children did their best to give Riverhead highway patrol officer Dennis Cavanaugh honest answers.
“How many mommies and daddies were on the cellphone as they were driving here today?” asked Officer Cavanaugh, who had volunteered to talk to the kids that day about law enforcement. (more…)
(Credit: Times/Review stock art)
Southold and Riverhead police officers will be stepping up their patrols later this month as part of a nationwide effort to curb distracted driving. (more…)
The Game of Hamlets is down to a battle between two closely related hamlets. Orient vs. Greenport.
The two Southold Town communities won in landslides this past week, with underdog Orient shocking Riverhead with 71 percent of the vote. Greenport knocked off Mattituck 67 to 33 percent.
Come Tuesday at 5 p.m., we’ll find out which local hamlet people like the most.
Northforker.com has been hosting the 16-hamlet bracket tournament, sponsored by Corcoran Group, since March 13.
On the weekend of April 12-13, we will host an open photo shoot, inviting anyone who lives or works in the winning hamlet, for a large group photo to appear on the cover of the April 17 edition of The Suffolk Times. The photo shoot will take place in a public location in that community. We’re looking for as many people to show up as possible for the photo. Full details will be announced after the winner is chosen.
The April 17 issue will be dubbed either the Orient or Greenport issue, with sections featuring coverage about the winning hamlet.
To vote, simply click on the Birds Eye View or Vote Now icons below and cast a vote on each of the two matchups.
Riverhead Charter School principal Raymond Ankrum outside the Calverton school Monday morning. Mr. Ankrum is at the center of a dispute among teachers at the school.
(Credit: Michael White)
More than a dozen Riverhead Charter School teachers and administrators have come out this week in defense of Ray Ankrum, the school’s principal and executive director, who’s facing “union-busting” accusations that include firings and intimidation tactics directed at staffers sympathetic to the school’s teachers union.
Mr. Ankrum’s supporters include six veteran teachers who are members of the school’s leadership team. The team is also being implicated for taking part in anti-union activities in violation of state labor laws, according to two complaints filed with the state Public Employment Relations Board.
(See the full complaints at the end of this story.) (more…)
