State appellate panel rules against Shinnecock billboards

Long Island Morning Edition

A panel of New York State judges has imposed an injunction blocking the Shinnecock Nation from operating two electronic billboards on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that it is a ruling which could have broader legal implications on the tribe’s ongoing construction of a gas station on the north side of Sunrise Highway…the 27 westbound side…and plans for much more ambitious future waterfront development of the Shinnecock-owned Westwoods property in Hampton Bays. The billboards were operating as of yesterday as the State Department of Transportation said it is still weighing what action to take in the wake of the December 4 ruling by the State Appellate Division, 2nd Department. Its judges said that a lower court had erred in not imposing an injunction blocking the construction of the billboards in 2019. The recent ruling does not settle the matter of the overall legal status of the Westwoods property itself — which Southampton Town officials and many in the Hampton Bays community had hoped it would. The judges indicated that determining whether the Westwoods land is sovereign Shinnecock territory, as the tribe has claimed it is, will likely require years of new litigation. But the judges agreed with the argument by attorneys for the state that, regardless of the sovereign status of the parties or the land, the construction of the billboards and the potential safety hazards they present is the sort of “highly disruptive” activity that a previous landmark case declared impermissible under federal law, even by a sovereign tribe. “Even assuming that the nation has owned the subject property for centuries, the critical issue in this case is the disruptiveness of taking away the state’s power to regulate the subject property,” the court ruling says.

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Students attending a West Islip High School boys basketball game this past Friday night "verbally taunted" members of the opposing Patchogue-Medford team with "highly inappropriate racial remarks.” Darwin Yanes reports in NEWSDAY that a day after the game, which West Islip won 48-38, Patchogue-Medford's athletic director, Anthony Cracco, wrote in a letter to parents that, "Some fans directed taunts and racial slurs at our players, an act that is both unacceptable and deeply troubling." School officials did not elaborate on the nature of the remarks.

Cracco noted in the Saturday letter that West Islip’s administrative team "acted swiftly and are actively working to collect evidence to ensure that those involved are held accountable."

West Islip Superintendent Paul Romanelli, in his own letter to families Monday, called the behavior "concerning and completely unacceptable." He said the district has been in contact with members of the Patchogue-Medford administrative team to apologize for the actions of their students.

"These actions were shameful, and it is truly sad that we are still seeing incidents involving race both locally and across the globe," Romanelli said in his letter. "I am thankful for the dedicated staff members that worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to ensure we had all the necessary information to move forward with addressing this issue in a timely manner."

According to state data from 2023-24, 50% of Patchogue-Medford High School students are Latino, while 38% are white and 7% are Black. West Islip High School's student population is about 81% white, 14% Latino and 1% Black.

Romanelli added in his letter that all students involved in the incident have been identified and steps have been taken to "hold them accountable" for their actions.

"This situation does not define us, and I am hopeful that this can be a learning experience for our district as actions like this affect us all," he wrote.

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In the spirit of the season, “A Christmas Carol” will be read by Laura Jasper this coming Sunday, December 15, at 1 p.m. in the Masonic Temple in Sag Harbor. The classic Dickens tale features the perennial characters Scrooge, Jacob Morley, and ghosts, who in Dickens’s words “may haunt you pleasantly.” The reading is suitable for all audiences. Masonic Temple is located at 200 Main Street, above the Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum. Admission is free but a donation of a canned food item is appreciated. That’s “A Christmas Carol” reading by Laura Jasper this coming Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Masonic Temple in Sag Harbor.

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Within a week before today’s scheduled closing on East Hampton Town’s landmark $56 million acquisition of the 30-acre parcel at 66 Wainscott Main Street in Wainscott, the Town Board held a public hearing on amending the zoning code to apply historic landmark status to two structures on the parcel when it met this past Thursday. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the homestead contains the 1904 Louisa Edwards Osborn Main House and the 17th century Osborn Barn, which at one time housed a garage. “This property possesses special character, historic and aesthetic interest and value as part of the cultural, economic and social history of East Hampton,” according to the proposed resolution, “and embodies the distinguishing characteristics of building types, periods and methods of construction.” The Town of East Hampton announced the intention to acquire the property using Community Preservation Fund money in September. The Town Board held a public hearing on the acquisition, from the businessman Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics company, at an October 17 public hearing. There, a dozen residents of the town wholeheartedly endorsed the intent to acquire the parcel, which would represent the most expensive CPF purchase in the town’s history. Lauder purchased the property for $66 million in 2021 to prevent its development. On November 7, the East Hampton Town Board voted to authorize the purchase for the preservation of open space, agricultural lands and historic places and property, and for water quality protection and improvement. The property is situated within an agricultural overlay district and harbor protection overlay district, and encompasses around one-third of the shoreline of Wainscott Pond, the most severely impaired water body in the town and which the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has identified as an impaired water body under its Priority Waterbodies List. The pond, owned by the Town Trustees, has been beset with frequent harmful algal blooms, which threaten aquatic ecosystems and human health.

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A state appellate panel last week ruled that a lower court in 2019 should have granted a request by the NYS Department of Transportation to halt construction and operation of the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s monument billboards on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays while the case was pending in court. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that a majority of the four-judge State Appellate Division ruled Dec. 4 that state Supreme Court at that time should have allowed a preliminary injunction sought by the state under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the commissioner of the Department of Transportation, which had issued stop-work orders seeking to block construction and operation of the billboards. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office has continued with the legislation despite tribal requests that it be abandoned.

The tribe defied the state’s stop-work orders and the billboards on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays have been operating since 2019 — an important source of income for the federally recognized tribe, members have said.

It’s unclear what impact the appellate ruling will have on the tribe’s operation of the billboards, which continue to operate on the north and south sides of Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays. Department of Transportation spokesman Glenn Blain said the DOT is "reviewing the decision and considering next steps."

The Shinnecock Nation is expected to appeal the case, a tribal source familiar with the case said.

As part of its ruling last week, the Appellate Court panel also rejected fines of as much as $1,000 a day against Shinnecock trustees named in the suit.

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The Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library is hosting a panel discussion next Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m. The event has been organized by the Peconic Baykeeper and the Peconic Estuary Partnership on the challenges facing the Peconic Bay scallops, with leading scientists who have been working for decades to replenish the scallop population on Long Island.

The Peconic Baykeeper is the only independent non-profit organization solely dedicated to the protection of the aquatic ecosystems of the Peconic and South Shore estuaries of Long Island.

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There are a lot of old restaurants on Long Island that could fairly be called iconic. But only one of them features a stucco castle guarded by two larger-than-life-size statues of sword-armed knights. That distinction belongs solely to Westhampton’s Casa Basso which, after 96 years, served its last dinner on Nov. 23. Erica Marcus reports in NEWSDAY that the property, situated on a 1½-acre parcel between Montauk Highway and Beaverdam Creek, comprises the castle, until recently home to Jerri’s Cakery and Confections (which is looking for a new home), and a markedly less distinguished, low-slung building that housed the restaurant proper. It had been on the market for more than two years, said Julie Bracovic, who owns it with her husband, Bejto, the chef. But now, she said, the Town of Southampton has agreed to purchase it for $4 million, with the intention of preserving the castle, knocking down the restaurant and providing public access to the marshlands that border the creek. "Before the restaurant was built, this was a waterfront park," Julie said. "Now it will be a park again." The stucco castle was erected in 1902 as the ceramic studio of Theophilus A. Brouwer, who made pottery in addition to the sculptures, such as the knights, that were displayed on the grounds. Brouwer died in 1932 but, four years earlier, M.L. Basso opened the restaurant that bore his name. In the 1950s, the Basso family sold it to Valerio "Rene" Mondini, an Italian chef. The Bracovic era began in 1972 when Bejto, a 17-year-old immigrant from Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia), headed out to Westhampton from Brooklyn to serve as a dishwasher for the summer. He and his wife purchased Casa Basso in 1986.

Last Saturday and Sunday, two weeks after they served their last supper, the Bracovics opened the restaurant to sell off all the kitchen equipment and tableware as well as liquor, paintings and decorative items. "A lot of people hadn’t known we were closing," Julie said. "So they were able to come and say goodbye."

Parting with the business is bittersweet, she continued, "but we are getting older. We want to enjoy life, spend time with our family. Every good thing must come to an end, and this is a happy ending."