January 2010

Many thanks to Dave Fortuna and his crew for clearing the brush along Main Street opposite the Neighborhood House. Now everyone driving by has a wonderful view of the pond!

By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about the incident concerning the menorah placed beside the Christmas tree at the park entrance. Tim Glynn, our president, wrote the following letter for the Times Beacon Record.

To the Editor:

I write, with great sadness, from Setauket's "downtown" by the Post Office.

On Thursday, December 10, a day before the beginning of Chanukah, Rabbi Chaim Grossbaum of Temple Chabad of Stony Brook called me, as President of the Frank Melville Foundation, and told me that one of his congregation wanted to sponsor a Menorah to be displayed in the park for the holiday. Temple Chabad has a special connection to the park because they regularly celebrate services in Bates House.

It seemed fitting to me that the Menorah be displayed prominently across the drive from the post office, at the approach to the Old Field Road Bridge, next to the Christmas tree, also donated by a member of our community. When I polled the park board members, they agreed.

Friday morning, Rabbi Grossbaum and Hap Barnes, one of board members, met and installed the Menorah, connected it to electrical power, and, at sundown, the festival of lights began, with the miracle of electronics lighting the center and first of the eight lights, signifying the first of the eight nights of Chanukah.

Sadly, the second of the eight lights was not to be lit. Saturday morning the Menorah was not to be found. Late Sunday morning, in the company of the Suffolk County Police and the Rabbi, I found it lying in the shallow waters of the mill pond north of the bridge. I was struck by its light as it lay there beneath a thin cloak of ice on the surface of the water (it was cold Saturday night). Its automation and electric lights lost forever, it still signaled to me.

It was my privilege to stand in the rain for some time today with the Rabbi, with the Suffolk County Police who were responsive, sensitive and helpful, with their Emergency Service Unit that worked to recover the Menorah from the ponds. We talked about many things, family, hiking and sailing. He told me he was surprised that the member of his congregation who had donated the Menorah was pleased with
its location and did not want it more prominently displayed, perhaps on 25A. He told the Rabbi, "No this is our downtown."

I would prefer to believe that this act of vandalism, here in our downtown, is just the thoughtless, misdirected act of a teenager who reacted to something different, something he or she had not seen in that place before. Rabbi Grossbaum prefers that explanation and argues powerfully that this was something, if the child's parent knew, they would come running to replace the Menorah and educate their child. A wake up call, he said. I hope that he is right and that no one did this, child, teenager or
adult, with any intent. With intent, this is a hate crime. It is a felony punishable by a year or more in jail. More than that, as one passerby said in hushed tones as the Special Services police hoisted the broken Menorah from water, "This is wrong."

Tim Glynn
President
Frank Melville Memorial Foundation

Let’s hope that 2010 is a better year for many of us. Happy New Year!

George Booth T-Shirt

We are thrilled to be able to offer this year’s donors a very special gift for contributions over $100. George Booth, the celebrated cartoonist, has created a t-shirt just for our Friends.

Here’s a little background on our artist. Mr. Booth was raised in Missouri and drafted from college into the United States Marine Corps. In 1944 he was invited to re-enlist and join the Corps “Leatherneck” magazine as staff cartoonist. He was then re-drafted at the start of the Korean War and ordered back to “Leatherneck.”
As a civilian (finally!) he moved to New York City and struggled to find his place. He found it at the New Yorker where his doodles style featured everymen beset by modern complexity and goofballs perplexing their spouses. His cartoons often featured a dog - just like the t-shirt he created for our park.
He was recognized for his accomplishments in 1993 by the National Cartoonist Society. Our campaign is so lucky to have his help! I hope we see a lot of t-shirts adorning our Friends as they visit the park this spring.