The TIMES of Smithtown
Volume 28, No. 4
Serving Smithtown • St. JameS • neSconSet • commack • hauppauge • kingS park • Fort Salonga March 26, 2015
$1.00
Photo by Phil Corso
commack celebrates student success with commack Superintendent Donald James, science research assistant andrea Beatty, science research.
‘By Default’ opens at Gallery North
also: Town of Brookhaven Home and garden Show, easter happenings
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Family, fun and tai chi St. James senior shares secrets of longevity after 108 years
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County endorses domestic violence reform By phil corSo
The Suffolk County Legislature stood united Tuesday as it approved a new Suffolk County bill that will change the way police and advocacy agencies approach domestic violence by taking a new look at different risk factors. The bill, which County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he intends to sign into law, emphasizes a three-pronged approach: directing county police to assign grades of recidivism risk to offenders, providing domestic violence victims with
self-assessment opportunities, and linking them up with advocates to deliver more resources. County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), who introduced the bill, plugged the measure alongside Bellone, Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory (DAmityville) and other Suffolk leaders just hours before the Legislature voted Tuesday evening with 16 legislators in favor and one absent at the time of the vote. “One out of four women in the United States will experience some type of domestic violence during her lifetime, and
every year more than 1,500 of these women will be killed by their abusers,” Hahn said. “Key to addressing this issue is to realize that over half of domestic violence victims who are murdered or are the victim of an attempted murder by an abuser did not accurately perceive his or her risk.” A total of 38 domestic violence-related homicides have been reported in Suffolk County between 2009 and 2013, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The legislation plays off of a Portland, Ore., police initiative
that assesses risk for intimate partner violence — an initiative that Suffolk police used on a limited basis to high praise. The 20-question assessment, lawmakers argued, helps victims see how much danger they are in while also linking them up with advocacy groups near them. As far as the offenders go, Bellone and Sgt. Kelly Lynch, commanding officer for the Suffolk County Police Department’s Domestic Violence Bureau, said cops will use a new danger assessment tool to VIOLeNCe continued on page a9
Smithtown residents want seat on shelter board
File photo
councilwoman lynne nowick is the town board liaison to the Smithtown animal Shelter. By phil corSo
Their calls for change helped spark the formation of an expert-led animal shelter advisory board, but Smithtown
residents still said they felt excluded from the process. Several residents have f lanked each town board meeting over the last several months with aggressive calls for change at the Smithtown Animal Shelter. In response, Town Councilwoman Lynne Nowick (R) announced a new advisory board back in February, soon after taking on the shelter liaison role from Councilman Bob Creighton (R), which included the shelter’s 30-year Director George Beatty, animal welfare experts Lucille DeFina and Diane Madden, and animal welfare attorney Elizabeth Stein. But residents still confronted Nowick at last Thursday’s town board meeting demanding answers as to why there was no Smithtown-based spokesperson involved.
Angela Cano, a Smithtown resident, was only one of several residents to call on Nowick to give Smithtown natives a seat at the advisory table to help shape the shelter’s future. She thanked Nowick for assembling the board, but spoke as a member of a Smithtown mothers’ Facebook group in saying she and her neighbors felt shut out of the process. “They feel very strongly that while we are thankful for the women on the advisory board, we feel at least one resident should be more involved in what is going on in the shelter,” she said. “There are thousands of people backing that up.” Nowick defended the advisory board and said they were already making great strides toward addressing accusations and concerns over animal neglect and inSHeLTeR continued on page a9