East End Holiday Events

Long Island Morning Edition

Only a fraction of the millions of dollars available for drug abuse prevention, treatment and education on Long Island has been spent in the more than three years since a landmark settlement against opioid manufacturers and distributors — even with hundreds of local overdose deaths annually.

A Newsday investigation showed that out of $213.5 million in settlement money available on Long Island to date, Nassau and Suffolk counties have issued a collective $97.2 million in contracts and grants since 2022, but only $8.1 million has been distributed.

That adds up to about 3.8% of the funds and less than the combined $13.4 million the counties have earned in interest as most of the money sits idle.

A lack of urgency to get opioid settlement funds to vendors, bureaucratic red tape and a cumbersome grant reimbursement process appear to have slowed the pace of distribution in both Nassau and Suffolk, according to some county legislative leaders and a budget watchdog.

Robert Brodsky and Anastasia Valeeva report in NEWSDAY that the funds were part of the more than $2.6 billion that court records show entities in New York State have received so far after 2021 settlements in a lawsuit over the opioid epidemic that 46 states and municipalities brought against pharmaceutical distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, along with drug manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson.

The opioid crisis, while showing signs of slowing, has claimed thousands of lives on Long Island since the 1990s, with more than 650 people dying of overdoses last year, according to government figures….including 463 fatal overdoses in Suffolk County.

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The Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for the holiday season and has planned a number of events, the first set for today at 4:15 p.m. on the Long Wharf when the community tree and the windmill are lighted. Sarah Conway and the Playful Souls will provide the musical backdrop. “This is a special time for our community to come together and celebrate the magic of the holidays and our local traditions of the tree and windmill light up, visiting with Santa at the Windmill and the lighting of the menorah. We know generations of Sag Harbor families and visitors look forward to these events and the Chamber is delighted to continue to support them,” states Ellen Dioguardi, president of the Sag Harbor Chamber. Area businesses are embracing the “Keep It Local Holiday Edition,” encouraging shoppers to support small businesses this holiday season. Participating boutiques will be open until 7 p.m. tonight, in celebration of the tree-lighting, offering people extended time to shop. The first 10 visitors to this evening's tree-lighting will receive an exclusive holiday edition tote bag. Additionally, each shopper will receive a shopping card, which can be stamped at participating shops and entered into a main drawing on December 15. Santa Claus will visit Sag Harbor a week from tomorrow arriving by firetruck, courtesy of the Sag Harbor Fire Department. He will be at the windmill from 1 to 3 p.m. for visits and photo opportunities. That will be on Saturday, December 14. Details about Sag Harbor events may be found at sagharborchamber.com.

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The Village of East Hampton gets into the holiday spirit tomorrow with SantaFest. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the day will begin with Santa’s arrival, by helicopter, at Herrick Park. While awaiting his arrival, musical and dance performances will be given by students from East Hampton Middle School and East Hampton High School, and free doughnuts will be provided by Dreesen’s Catering & Donuts. The Santa Parade kicks off at noon, starting on Main Street and turning onto Newtown Lane and featuring floats and marching bands, with John Ryan as the grand marshal.

Then, after numerous family friendly festivities during the day – at 5 o’clock tomorrow evening there will be a tree-lighting ceremony in Herrick Park

The ceremony will include singing and a guest of honor performing the lighting with East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen.

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A proposal to close the handful of remaining sand mines on residentially zoned property in the Town of Southampton is shaping up to be a bitter battle when the Town Board holds a public hearing on the matter this coming Tuesday, December 10, at 1 p.m. Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that on one side are the board’s Democratic majority and environmentalists, who say closing mines is in keeping with the goals of Southampton Town’s Comprehensive Plan to protect the groundwater, and its zoning code, which outlawed mines in the early 1970s, making those that remained preexisting, nonconforming uses that were expected to be phased out over time. On the other side are those in the construction business, most prominently John Tintle, the owner of East Coast Mines, the largest remaining sand mine in town. Tintle has been joined by Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara, the lone Republican on the board, in charging that the legislation proposed by Democratic Councilman Bill Pell is targeting Tintle’s businesses to curry favor with Robert Rubin, the owner of The Bridge Golf Club, which has residential lots abutting Sand Land…the sand mine in Noyac that has been closed for a year now. The law being considered by the board cites the Comprehensive Plan’s effort to protect Southampton Town’s sole-source aquifer, from which it obtains all of its drinking water, and the town’s right to amortize preexisting, nonconforming uses that are not abandoned by their owners.

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Riverhead Police have charged a Patchogue man in the recent burglaries at Star Confectionery and Mugs on Main in Riverhead. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that police said in a press release last night they arrested Saquon Blount, 26, Thursday morning after an investigation into the break-in at the iconic East Main Street luncheonette on Nov. 12 and a burglary on Oct. 29 at Mugs on Main, a coffee shop also located on East Main Street in Riverhead.

The proprietors of both establishments told police the burglar removed cash from their businesses during the burglaries.

A police investigation determined that Blount was a suspect in both incidents, according to last night’s press release.

Blount was arrested yesterday at approximately 8:50 a.m., police said, and was transported to the Riverhead Police Department., where he was processed on two counts of Burglary in the Third Degree, a class D felony.

Blount was additionally charged with petit larceny in two separate, unrelated incidents in Riverhead last month: Nov. 1 at the Nike Outlet at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead and Nov. 11 at the Riverhead Lofts apartment building at 221 E. Main St. Blount was charged with two counts of Petit Larceny, a class A misdemeanor.

Blount was arraigned on all charges and remanded to the custody of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, police said.

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The Riverhead Holiday Extravaganza starts tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a Lions Club Parade. Then at 2:30 p.m. Santa arrives by boat (a bedecked flotilla is welcome to join in) & free hot cocoa. At 2:45 p.m. a Saturday bonfire; 3 p.m. music, 5:15 p.m. tree lighting. Games, crafts & juggling throughout tomorrow in Riverhead.

Greenport’s annual Parade of Lights & Tree Lighting returns tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. Santa and Mrs. Claus drive through the streets of Greenport Village in a parade filled with decorated and lighted fire trucks. Immediately after Saturday’s parade, join local school children in singing carols at the tree lighting in Mitchell Park. The parade runs from Center Street down Main Street to Front Street, ending at Mitchell Park in Greenport.

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Last month, the Southampton Village Ethics Board ruled that Southampton Village Trustee Robin Brown violated the ethics code when she attended a Metropolitan Opera benefit in New York City in May alongside her husband and other guests, notably Southampton Village resident Peter Marino, a world-renowned architect and owner of the Peter Marino Foundation art collection on Jobs Lane in Southampton. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that Brown’s attendance at the event — specifically the allegation that she did not have to purchase tickets to attend — was one of eight ethics complaints brought to the board’s attention by Southampton Village resident David Rung, who has been an outspoken critic of the village administration. The board ruled that six other complaints brought to their attention by Rung did not constitute violations and said that another — related to campaign finance — was outside of their jurisdiction. There was an additional ethics complaint, not brought by Rung, related to Brown’s attendance at a Peconic Baykeeper fundraising event in August, where again she is alleged to have not purchased a ticket. The Ethics Board ruled that there was an ethics code violation related to that event as well. In a statement on Wednesday, Brown responded to the findings of the Southampton Village Ethics Board, which she disagreed with, and added that she felt that Rung was essentially weaponizing the Ethics Board, saying that “some of his assertions suggest that he is utilizing the village’s Ethics Board as a forum to attack village officials.” Brown called the board’s decision “plain wrong" stating, "Ethics boards are created to ensure integrity in the local government and not to be used as weapon for political purposes or vendettas." Trustee Brown asserted that the complaint the Ethics Board received was based on “disinformation.”