The Suffolk County high school football season officially began Monday morning under the shadow of another tragedy, raising new concerns about safety in a sport where brain injuries have become a topic all the way up to the National Football League.
Editorials
One hundred years ago, when Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County was started, Long Island had over 100,000 acres of farmland. Most of that acreage was dedicated to potatoes and, considering the massive expansion of the New York City suburbs, it’s interesting to note that potato farms once extended as far west as the Nassau-Queens line. Long Island’s glacier runoff soil was perfectly suited for the growing of potatoes.
Councilman John Dunleavy’s attempt to circumvent the term-limit law passed last year predictably never gained any traction. When the Town Board approved term limits of 12 consecutive years for council members, it signaled the end of Mr. Dunleavy’s tenure; he was first elected in 2005. READ
The history of voting rights in America is littered with obstacles and roadblocks.
It took until 1870, with the 15th Amendment, for African-American men to earn the right to vote. And even then, literacy tests and poll taxes were designed to suppress their vote. The 19th Amendment, granting voting rights to women, wasn’t adopted until 1920. The 24th Amendment, outlawing poll taxes, was passed in 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to further solidify those rights for African Americans, nearly a full century after the 15th Amendment granted them.
What makes the North Fork unique is its farmland, salt creeks and Peconic Bay. They draw people here and keep them here. From the point where the Peconic River enters the bay in Riverhead all the way east to Gardiners Bay, this stunning body of salt water is magic.
Riverhead Free Library has made history on Long Island.
It has launched a program its backers appropriately call RiverHope, which allows people who are part of the Maureen’s Haven homeless outreach program to receive library cards. This is important because it offers people without a fixed address access to all that the library has to offer — the ability to check out and read books, use of the library’s computers for email and job searches, but also access to a wide range of library programs, including an online educational forum called Universal Class. That program alone opens the door to classes in 32 subjects, as well as professional and certification courses.
Summer is here in all its glory. With it come all the things that make this time of year on the North Fork so terrific — along with the associated dangers, on land and on water.
Perhaps boating is at the top of the list of joys that can turn horribly bad.
In the past, when we have used this space to promote safety on the waters around the North Fork, we’ve noted local boating accidents — and even deaths.
Amid the pomp and circumstance of Friday’s grand reopening of a hangar at Luminati Aerospace’s Calverton facility — an event that featured bold assertions, a former astronaut on hand and the usual lineup of politicians — a nagging question hung over the site where Grumman once built F-14 jets. READ
