Cross Sound Ferry in Orient will soon add another boat to its fleet to expand service to and from New London, Conn. during peak summer travel times.
Tag: Cross Sound Ferry
North Fork residents can breathe a sigh of relief.
An ill-fated proposal to allow heavy freight trucks traveling from I-95 in Connecticut to the North Fork via Cross Sound Ferry has officially been eliminated. READ
Jerry and Fern Hill, left, founded Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch on Middle Road in Riverhead. (Courtesy photo)
About a month after the Cross Sound Ferry’s 25th annual Fireworks Benefit Cruise, the company donated a $10,000 check to Riverhead nonprofit Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch.
Close to 400 people attended the annual fireworks show, a sunset cruise from Orient Point to New London which features a fireworks display. In addition to donating to THCR, the event raised funds for a scholarship the company set up for Greenport, Mattituck-Cutchogue and Southold High Schools.
“Cross Sound and Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch have enjoyed a great working relationship for the last 7 years. THCR feels blessed to have a relationship with a company that is committed to helping the youth on Long Island that are in need of second chances at life,” said Thaddeus Hill, executive director of THCR.
“The Ranch,” as Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch is known, serves at-risk youth on a 70-acre farm on Middle Road in Riverhead.
Cross Sound Ferry’s charity cruise has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since its inception a quarter decade ago.
“The programs offered by THCR to children and families in need are invaluable especially in today’s world. Any support we can lend to their efforts is worthwhile,” said Stan Mickus, marketing director with Cross sound Ferry.
(L-R) Cross Sound Ferry co-owner Adam Wronowski speaks with Congressman Tim Bishop and the ferry’s Long Island liason David Kapell near the terminal Tuesday afternoon. (Credit: Paul Squire)
The Cross Sound ferry terminal in Orient will be getting new ramps, new bulkheads and new mooring structures — all thanks to $1.23 million in federal funding — the ferry’s co-owner and Congressman Tim Bishop announced Tuesday afternoon. (more…)
(Credit: Suffolk Times File Photo)
A 42-year-old man who allegedly threatened a family member on Long Island before fleeing the scene was arrested Thursday afternoon after he boarded the Cross Sound Ferry in Orient with a loaded gun, Connecticut police said. (more…)
Gusting winds and heavy rain have caused the Cross Sound Ferry to cancel some of its scheduled trips across the Long Island Sound Wednesday.
The 7:30 a.m. car ferry from New London and the 9:30 a.m. departure from Orient Point were cancelled, according to the website.
All Sea Jet services are also cancelled for the remainder of the day and there will be no casino connections due to the inclement weather, according to the ferry’s website.
For the latest updates on delays and cancellation check the Cross Sound Ferry website.
KATHERINE SCHRODEDER PHOTO | Alan Martinez, third place winner in a “World’s Fastest Shucker” contest, shows off his work at Claudio’s Restaurant.
After the last tasting of wine was sipped and the final oyster was shucked, organizers of the first-ever Taste North Fork festival are hailing the event a success. So successful, in fact, the North Fork Promotion Council is already working toward repeating the event in six months.
On Monday, NFPC president Joan Bischoff said members voted unanimously to bring back the event sometime in March or April following the large spike in business the three-day Veterans Day festival brought to the North Fork.
“The enthusiasm of the North Fork is what is driving this,” Mr. Bischoff said. “We’re going to try to schedule it on a weekend where there is something already going on, like restaurant week. It will be a good way to start off the summer season.”
Taste North Fork was made possible through a portion of a $335,000 “I Love NY” grant, aiming to help promote agritourism on the East End. Since the East End Tourism Alliance, Long Island Wine Council and North Fork Promotion Council unveiled the plan in August the event has received an overwhelming response from local businesses and town officials, organizers said.
“Businesses had anywhere from 20 to 40 percent increases in traffic and sales,” said Brain DeLuca, of East End Tourism Alliance. “We had some vineyards with 60 to 80 percent increases in traffic and sales. Overall it was a tremendous success. The was a lot of collaboration between the businesses.”
Throughout the long weekend more than 50 local wineries, restaurants, hotels and shops offered a full range of activities celebrating local wines and foods across the region.
Participants had the option of hopping on a free shuttle bus provided by Hampton Jitney that ran in a loop between Riverhead and Greenport. There were also feeder buses from the Cross Sound Ferry and Long Island Rail Road. The free ridership was another first on the North Fork.
“We had a lot of ridership,” Mr. DeLuca said. “Over 1,000 people took the jitney. Hopefully this will demonstrate to the county and the state that need to start funding something similar in coming years.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that he was pleased with the turnout.
“We launched the ‘Taste NY’ campaign earlier this year to highlight the superior products that are grown and produced right here in New York and last weekend’s “Taste North Fork” event marked our latest effort,” he said. “The event was a great success in promoting the local food and beverage products to New Yorkers and visitors, and we will continue to push this ‘buy local’ movement all across the state to support our vibrant agricultural industry.”
CARRIE MILLER PHOTO | SWAT officers at the exit of the Cross Island Ferry in Orient Friday afternoon.
UPDATE (1:15 p.m.):
Local authorities say a walk-on passenger to a Cross Sound Ferry boat heading to Orient Friday morning “fit the description” of a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings and set off a scare that drew dozens of police officers to Orient and New London, Conn.
“It was not him,” said Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said from the scene. “It was someone who looked like him.”
Suffolk Police did apprehend the passenger, but determined he was not the suspect. As of 1:15 p.m., the man was being transported to Southold Town police headquarters to further check his status with county investigators — as a precaution, he said.
Police were going to run the man’s fingerprints electronically through what’s called a “live scan,” to run the prints through state and federal databases. The live scan has replaced ink and roller as a means of taking prints, Chief Flatley said.
But, he added, “they have no reason to believe it is him at this point. He was fully cooperative. He definitely fit the description.”
Police at the scene also X-rayed the man’s bag, he said.
“We received a call after 11 a.m. from crew aboard the Cross Sound Ferry,” Chief Flatley said. “There were concerns about someone that had a resemblance to the man from Boston. After the crew contacted them, they notified the Suffolk County Police Department, who sent an emergency services unit, a bomb team. There was no arrests.”
A utility worker at the Orient ferry yard who did not give a name, told a reporter he saw police swarm the passenger and force him down on his stomach near the ferry’s snackbar.
The worker said he thought at the time the man was being arrested.
CARRIE MILLER PHOTO | Police were blocking traffic at the Orient Causeway on Route 25 just before 12:30 p.m. Friday.
PRIOR COVERAGE:
At least a half dozen Suffolk County police cars — their lights and sirens blaring — were spotted heading east on Route 25 in Mattituck about 11:40 a.m. Friday, for what could be shaping up to be a false alarm.
Police have shut Route 25 west of Orient, at the Orient Causeway, officials said, though some cars were being allowed to pass through as of just before 12:30 p.m.
CYNDI MURRAY PHOTO | Police vehicles heading east on Route 25 in Mattituck about noon Friday.
The Day of New London newspaper reported before noon that police tactical teams also reported to the waterfront in New London for reports of “a possible suspect” in the Boston Marathon bombings Monday and subsequent shootings Thursday night in Cambridge.
But The Day updated the site a few minutes later after reporting passengers were boarding the ferries as normal. Ferries at the New London terminal go to Block Island, although seasonally, Orient and Fishers Island.
Meanwhile, schoolchildren have been told by police to remain indoors.
Oysterponds School District Superintendent Richard Malone said he received a call from the police shortly before noon.
“I spoke directly with the police and they told me to keep the kids inside and not to let anybody in or out,” he said.
[Video from New London, via theday.com]
The Oysterponds school on Route 25 is not on lockdown, he said, but the district has staffers at the doors.
Classes are continuing, Mr. Malone said, but he is awaiting word from the police on how to handle dismissal, which is at 2:45 p.m.
“The children are in the classrooms and we’re using the gym for recess,” he said.
Police gave the same order to the neighboring Greenport School District, but the district’s school already had a half-day scheduled due to parent/teacher conferences.
The children were dismissed at 10:52 a.m.
“We’re all secure here,” said district superintendent Michael Comanda, adding that though children were gone, staffers were still in the building.
“We’ve got a person at every door and we’re monitoring the situation and waiting for the green light from the police,” he said.
“It’s unexpected, but we’ve been practicing our lockdown and evacuation procedures regularly now we’re putting them to use,” he said.
A Suffolk County police spokeswoman could not comment on the matter.
Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley was not immediately available.
with Tim Kelly, Michael White and Joe Werkmeister