Flanders: community meeting on April 8

Welcome April! I’m so excited that winter is (hopefully) behind us. I want to turn off my heat for good, start doing some cleanup outside and feel that warm sun on my skin. I’m crossing my fingers and toes that it stays gorgeous from here on out. I remember when I was young we had a really big snowstorm one April. My dad made this huge snowman that was taller than our roof, which was really cool then but now that I’m the adult and I have to shovel, my feelings toward snow have changed, and not for the better. Here’s hoping that Mother Nature does the right thing.

Here’s a message from your neighborhood community organizations: There will be an important community meeting on Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at the David W. Crohan, Community Center, 655 Flanders Road. In conjunction with other community organizations, FRNCA is hosting a forum to discuss fair school taxes for Southampton residents who live in the Riverhead School District (school taxes went up 22 percent this year!). To be discussed are new legislation proposed by Assemblyman Fred Thiele, who is expected to attend, as well as other options such as changing the current method of 100 percent assessment. It is hoped that Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst and Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming will also attend.

The Town of Southampton Youth Bureau will host a Glow in the Dark Night for students in grades 6 and up on Friday, April 8, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at SYS, located at 1370A Majors Path, Southampton, Come play dodge ball, basketball or laser tag and wear bright or white clothing. Admission is $5 per person. Enjoy great music; snacks will be on sale. Free transportation is available. For more information, call 631-702-2425, visit southamptontownny.gov/youthbureau or find them on Facebook.

By now you’ve all heard about that horrible accident on Flanders Road Saturday morning. What a tragedy. I sincerely hope everyone is OK. I haven’t heard anything different at this point so I’m going to just keep praying for the victims and think positively. I would like to mention, however, that I’m disgusted by the drivers who were diverted down my road because Flanders Road was closed down for a while: At 7:30 a.m. I was trying to pull out of my driveway and not one person would stop for the 15 seconds it would have taken me and just went flying down the road! My neighbor attempted to stop traffic for me by standing in the middle of the road, but to no avail. Finally he directed me to pull out slowly, which is what I did.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. If you want to see your news in the column, please call or email me at the numbers above. The kids love seeing their birthday in the paper, and anniversaries and other good news is welcome, too. Hope to hear from you soon. Drive safe!