Cops Foil Man's Attempted Meetup with 13-Year-Old
New York State Police said a 62-year-old East Setauket man was about to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl in upstate New York for a sexual affair when instead, he was arrested by undercover police. According to police, Michael Ripp had made plans to meet a girl "for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct." However the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Attorney General’s Office, the State Police Computer Crimes Unit, and State Police units had tracked the meet-up and arrested Ripp on charges of attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, a felony, and attempted endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.
Flu Patients Tripled So Far at SBU Hospital
Eleven days into the new year, Stony Brook University Hospital has already treated three times the number of patients for influenza than it did throughout the same time frame in 2012. According to a hospital spokesman, 51 patients have been admitted to the hospital this year, compared to 17 last year. Across the country, the Centers for Disease Control has said that this year's flu outbreak is expected to be one of the worst years in the past decade. And on the local level, flu shots are going fast; Rite Aid reported an hour-long line early Friday while CVS was flat out of them.
Romaine Pledges More Enforcement Against Illegal Housing
Newly elected town supervisor Ed Romaine on Monday said he will devote more town resources to fighting illegal housing, a hot-button topic in Three Village. His pledge, given at the monthly meeting of the Civic Association of the Setaukets and Stony Brook Monday night, was met with applause. "I’m not a fan of illegal housing because it allows some people who don’t want to live by the rules to enrich themselves at their neighbors’ expense," Romaine said. "... We will be starting a far more vigorous enforcement effort. This is something that I don’t think the town has done enough of."
Brookhaven councilwoman Kathy Walsh, who has served the town for seven years as the Republican representing the third council district, on Friday made the jump to the Independence Party – and has also been named the Democrats' choice to run against Republican candidate Dan Losquadro, who kicked off his own campaign last week, to fill the town's vacant highway superintendent post.
Late Port Jefferson Couple Makes Major Gift to Stony Brook Medicine
The late Phillip and Carolyn McGrath of Port Jefferson have bequeathed $787,712 from their estate to Stony Brook Long Island Children's Hospital and to The Cody Center at Stony Brook, which is devoted to autism spectrum disorders and related developmental disabilities. The donation will be matched by an anonymous donation and another from The Simons Foundation for a total gift of $1.57 million.
Cops Investigating Car Theft at Assisted Living Facility
Suffolk police are investigating the theft of a car from the parking lot of Sunrise Senior Living in East Setauket last week. The vehicle, a 1999 Plymouth Breeze, went missing sometime between 1:35 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Jan. 3. The management at Sunrise could not immediately be reached for comment. Anyone with information on this incident can anonymously make a report to CrimeStoppers by calling 1-800-220-TIPS.
Soccer Field Construction Riles Nearby H Section Residents
Tree clearing and other aspects of construction have already begun to expand the Three Village Soccer Park at Stony Brook University, and negotiations are still ongoing between the Three Village Soccer Club and University officials regarding a new agreement on field use between the two neighbors. However, caught in the middle is a separate group of neighbors: residents of the "H section" neighborhood, some of whom own property bordering the fields and are reeling at the thought of more soccer fields, lights illuminating some of those fields, and tree clearing that they say will kill their privacy, decrease their property values, and displace the wildlife.
Romaine: Community Needs to Weigh In Before 'College Town' Idea Moves Forward
Brookhaven town supervisor Ed Romaine on Monday said the community needs to talk more about the idea that has come to be known as "college town" in Three Village – and said the town would be willing to facilitate further discussion. Romaine did not describe the idea as altogether dead, but rather, he said more input was needed before any idea could move forward to the planning stages. "That’s something that I would like to hear a lot about from the community before I judge any of this. ... I would want to have a plan that the community could endorse," Romaine told the crowd gathered for the monthly meeting of the Civic Association of the Setaukets and Stony Brook.
