BEACON RECORD The Village
Mount Sinai • Miller Place • Sound Beach • rocky Point • ShorehaM • Wading river • leiSure country March 17, 2016
Volume 31, No. 34
Junior Iron Chef Competition returns Also: Home & garden Show, ‘Music Man’ at CMPAC, ‘First Date’ at SCPA, Scandinavian Heritage Fair
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St. Patrick’s Day parade marches on By giSelle Barkley
Several decades after its creation, the Friends of St. Patrick continue a 66-year-old tradition with its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Residents sported green clothing, face paint and accessories on
Sunday, March 13, to celebrate the not-for-profit’s Miller Place-Rocky Point parade. Members of the Suffolk County Police Department, local fire departments and elected officials joined the queen and royal court and other groups in the parade. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer
$1.00
Photos by giselle Barkley
above, the Sound Beach Fire department and, left, a young boy dressed as an irishman make their way through the St. Patrick’s day parade.
(D-NY), New York State Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) and Town of Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) were among those who treked more than two miles down Route 25A,
from the Flying Pig in Miller Place to Broadway in Rocky Point. While the parade celebrated today’s St. Patrick’s Day, it is also a way to unite the community, said Grand Marshal and Friends of St. Patrick President John Barchi. ST. PATRICK’S continued on page A12
Officials caution Mount Sinai seniors against scam By deSirée keegan
We are Seawolves
SBU men’s basketball team makes history, heads to NCAA tournament
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“Don’t trust anyone.” That’s what Bernard Macias of AARP advised seniors to do at a press conference held at the Rose Caracappa Senior Center in Mount Sinai regarding phone scams across Suffolk County. “It’s happening more and more than you think,” he said. “Clearly, for AARP, we’re here to protect people 50 and over, but we’re finding that our members’ children
and grandchildren are being faced with this. Don’t trust anyone, really, because they’re constantly changing those scams.” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said that in 2015, the total cost of financial fraud against seniors across the country was $36.5 billion. Although anyone can be a victim of scam, con artists particularly prey on seniors, he said. “That is an extraordinary sum that is being stolen from our citizens,” he said. “Tax day is April 15, it is fast approaching and it is a time that scam artists are working hard to get a hold of people’s hard-earned money.” Bellone said that in one instance, a scamming entity posed as the Internal Revenue Service and said that if the person did not provide a certified check or transfer funds to the agency, they would be imprisoned. The caller went so far as to tell the victim that they would remain
Photos by Desirée Keegan
above, leisure village resident Maggie hamm shares how she almost fell victim to a phone scam. left, councilwoman Jane Bonner cautions residents.
on the line until the woman reached her bank and successfully wired the funds to an account that was provided, he said. Luckily, the bank manager recognized the customer and noticed that she looked and sounded
worried, Bellone said. The victim told the manager about the person she was on the phone with, and the manager was able to stop the scam from happening. Last week was National ConSeNIOR SCAM continued on page A7