A portion of Ferry Road in North Haven will be closed sometime early next year, between Sunset Beach Road and Tyndall Road, to repair an eroding culvert.

Because Ferry Road, also known as Route 114, is state owned, the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) will pay for and oversee the reconstruction, reported North Haven Village Clerk Georgia Welch.

The culvert has been damaged for several years but it is now compromising the shoulder of the roadbed. Before beginning the project, the DOT is waiting for a permit from the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The construction is expected to take around a week to complete. During this time, however, a section of the road must be closed to traffic.

At a village meeting on Tuesday evening, Welch reported that the best time for the project would be in early January. If the DOT receives the permits in time, the repairs will likely start at the beginning of the new year. Traffic to and from the Shelter Island Ferry will be redirected through Sunset Beach and Tyndall road.

Welch said the DOT will contact homeowners in the area and put up electronic signs on the road to alert drivers of the roadwork up ahead.

“I have been dying to get that [culvert] fixed for the last five years,” remarked village trustee James Morrissey.

The board also discussed the successful program to get abandoned boats off of the beach at the end of Sunset Beach road. At the end of October, there were 13 seafaring vessels at the beach but now there is only one red kayak on the shores without a permit. Welch said the board should assess the condition of the kayak and then decide how to dispose of it.

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Southampton Town Police along with Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance and Sag Harbor Fire Department responded to aid the driver of a pickup truck which had driven into Ryder’s Pond Sunday afternoon. The report originally came as a vehicle in the water, with the driver trapped inside.

Authorities arrived shortly afternoon to find the Toyota pickup in about three feet of water where it appeared to have entered off Barclay Road. The driver, who has not yet been identified, was taken by ambulance to Southampton Hospital, reportedly with minor injuries. 

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North Haven Village is giving residents one last chance to pick up their boats and small water crafts from the village’s beach near the end of Sunset Beach Road. Previously, the final day was slated for Saturday, October 31, but the deadline will most likely be extended to December 1. According to the board, the beach has been blighted with abandoned boats, kayaks, canoes and other water crafts for several years.
At a meeting in early October, village clerk Georgia Welch said she issued only 17 permits for storing small boats, kayaks and the like at the beach. Welch added that nearly 20 such vessels were being illegally stowed at the site.
By Sunday, October 30, there were only 13 water vehicles at the beach, including four kayaks, two sunfish and three Hobie Cat sailboats. Several members of the board believed they knew the owners of at least three of the vessels.
“It used to be 30 to 35 [boats],” said trustee James Morrissey, noting the situation has been mitigated a bit.
However, trustee George Butts theorized that at least six of those water crafts have been abandoned by their owners. Village attorney Anthony Tohill argued that transporting these seafaring apparatuses off-site would be very expensive for the municipality.
“You can do a resolution tonight directing me to prepare and publish a notice [in the newspapers] … giving [owners] one final opportunity to remove their boats,” said Tohill.
Morrissey asked if the board could auction off the vessels after the December 1 deadline, but Tohill said municipalities typically hold the property.
Resident Gail Gambino is hoping to start a village-wide trash pick up initiative. After noticing an uptake in garbage on village roadways over the spring and summer, Gambino approached the board about backing a volunteer program. Trustee Jeff Sander pointed out that North Haven includes several private residential associations who pay separate dues to keep their roadways tidy. Although the board seemed supportive of the idea, some members said the structure of the program needed to be fleshed out.

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Senior citizens living in North Haven Village already receive a village tax exemption on a percentage of their home’s value, but the village board of trustees is looking to amend the income limits in accordance with changes at the state level. The homeowner must be age 65 or up to qualify for the tax exemptions. Under the new amendments, seniors making $29,000 or below won’t have to pay taxes for up to half of the value of their properties. However, the exemptions are only available for seniors making $37,400 or less. Those earning between $36,501 to $37,400 receive only a five percent tax exemption on their properties. For the seniors making the median income for the exemption, between $32,001 to $32,900, they will receive a 30 percent exemption on their village property taxes. Next month, on Monday, November 2, the board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the exemptions.

The next meeting will be a busy one for the board as another public hearing on extending the deer fence local law is also set. Instead of extending the law every two years, the board is seeking to continue the law for a four year period.

At a meeting held this past Monday, the board scheduled these public hearings but opted out of putting another hearing on the agenda. The board vetted out a local law to similarly provide village tax exemptions for volunteer ambulance and fire workers living in the village. However, members of the board took issue with a certain provision in the law which excludes existing board members who also volunteer with the local emergency and fire departments from enjoying the tax benefits of the law. The board decided to put the law on the shelf momentarily, until this provision was clarified with village attorney Anthony Tohill.

The Monday before Thanksgiving week, on November 16, will be leaf clean up day, noted village clerk Georgia Welch.

Sunday, October 31, added Welch is the final day for village residents to clear their small watercraft from the village’s beach at the end of Sunset Beach Road. Welch mentioned that she issued only 17 permits for storing small boats, kayaks and the like at the beach. However, Welch said nearly 20 such vessels are being illegally stowed at the site without the necessary permits.

“We are going to have to make a decision about how we deal with this,” said village mayor Laura Nolan of the extra boats on the beach if they aren’t removed at the end of the season. She said the board would defer any definitive decision until next month’s meeting which will be attended by Tohill.

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Unlike a divisive town hall meeting convened by Congressman Tim Bishop two weeks ago, East End residents gathered peacefully on Saturday afternoon at Marine Park in Sag Harbor, virtually the entire crowd of 70 united in their call for a public health insurance option.

Billed as a health care walk and rally with Dr. Michael Anthony, a health care administrator for over 30 years and Dr. David Posnett serving as speakers with special guest Dr. Gerald Whitehead Deas also weighing in on the debate, event organizers said they conceived the rally as an informational meeting for East End residents rather than a political rally.

The morning began with a three-mile trek from Long Beach to the village with a diverse group of 60 residents, from children to the elderly, making the journey behind a banner that read “With Liberty, Justice and Healthcare for All.” Armed with a bull horn, organizer, North Haven resident and writer John Hooker led the processional down Long Beach and across the Lance Corporal Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge and into Marine Park.

Hooker, who helped organize the event with a group of area residents including Harriet Demato, opened the rally noting that some 20,000 Americans die every year because they cannot afford to see a doctor.

“That is the harshest reality,” said Hooker.

Dr. Anthony, retired as chief financial officer of Brooklyn Health Network, noted the price of insurance premiums for a family of four has skyrocketed in the last seven years, doubling in price while at the same time insurance company profits have risen 400 to 500 percent.

Not only is the situation dire for families, said Dr. Anthony, but also for employers who are finding it increasingly difficult to provide healthcare for their employees. Insurance companies are too few, he added, calling for competition as a means of bringing down the cost of health care.

“What I think we need is a public option,” said Dr. Anthony. “I believe we need a robust public option.

With more insured Americans, noted Dr. Anthony, hospital emergency rooms, which are far costlier to run than a primary care physicians office or walk-in clinics, would not be inundated with patients who have no option but to be uninsured.

Dr. Posnett, an East Hampton resident and semi-retired physician as well as Professor of Medicine at Cornell University, agreed a public option was necessary in the face of a health care system where treating something as simple as an abscess can cost thousands of dollars.

A few years ago his daughter, who was 11, developed such an abrasion from her leg braces, a common problem.
“As a doctor, I knew that this was a simple matter,” said Dr. Posnett. “All that was needed was to drain the abscess. An army medic in the backcountry of Afghanistan might just use a sharp pocket knife to lance and drain an abscess, at practically no cost. In England your general practitioner would do this in his office with a sterile scalpel, a sterile dressing, antibiotics and a follow up visit with the cost under $200.  In New York, well, we ended up with a $6,000 bill.”

Posnett said the reason for the high cost was the slew of doctors, specialists, nurses and procedures required for such a simple procedure. A simpler procedure was not an option.

“Why do hospitals and doctors create policies that are expensive and seemingly absurd,” asked Posnett. “Whether a service can be billed for and monies collected from insurance companies is really important for the hospital’s bottom line. Although hospital policies are always proposed to improve patient care, in this day and age, policies that cost the hospital are less likely to be implemented than those that offer new sources of income. An OR procedure with general anesthesia generates more income than a simple incision in a doctors office with a bit of local anesthesia. The incentives for containing costs are wrong.”

“A robust and competitive public option might bring down costs if it really does compete with private insurance,” continued Posnett later. “That is why the industry opposes it. I thought the public did not particularly care for fat cats on Wall Street or profiteers in other businesses, so why are the insurances exempt?”

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Suffolk County recently offered North Haven Village two parcels of land near the North Haven Point subdivision, and the village was happy to accept the gift.

The county reached out to Sag Harbor Village Attorney Fred Thiele, Jr. early last week believing the parcels belonged to Sag Harbor. Thiele then directed the information to North Haven Village Mayor Laura Nolan, who attributes the recent gift of land to the county simply cleaning up its records. The village had to accept the transfer of ownership of the properties by resolution by September 11.

Nolan called a special meeting on Tuesday to give a brief overview of the history of the properties, which were transferred to the county after the previous owner stopped paying taxes on the land. The land gift includes two parcels, each sized at around two acres, located at the end of Hog Neck Lane in North Haven Point. The land was originally designated a preserve recharge area as part of the North Haven Point subdivision development in the 1970s, reported village clerk Georgia Welch at the meeting.

The undeveloped area was protected to help support the natural aquifer in North Haven. It is mandated that the pieces remain undeveloped, and previous owners of the property weren’t allowed to obtain a building permit to build on the parcels. According to Nolan’s understanding of the history of these parcels, once the developed lots of the subdivision were bought up and sold, the developers discontinued paying taxes on the recharge easements and the properties were transferred into the care of the county.

“For some reason the [town] assessors office put tax money on [the properties],” reported Welch, speaking to the fact that previous owners of the property didn’t explore legal options to discontinue their tax responsibilities.

But now the county is looking to divest their interests in these parcels and instead hand over its stewardship to the village.

“This is just a transfer of ownership … I can’t imagine any reason against it,” remarked Nolan at the meeting.

Welch chimed in that taking over the properties doesn’t involve any increased financial responsibility on the part of the village. Welch said the properties are “being left in their natural state,” and added that the land is “working on its own.”

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A year after 100-year-old Jessie Burke was shot to death in her quiet North Haven home while working on her crossword puzzle, police have yet to make an arrest in the case as neighbors in the sleepy community remain haunted by the incident.

Jessie Margaret Burke was found dead in her home at 36 Payne Avenue in North Haven on Sunday, August 31, 2008, just weeks after her 100^th birthday. Burke, who was shot an undisclosed number of times in the back of the head, was found by her daughter Margaret Jean Burke, 77, who had left the home late that Sunday morning to run errands, leaving her mother in a chair in the den. When she returned, Burke found her mother in the same chair, shot to death.

At the time police described the elder Burke as ambulatory, able to move around, feed herself and lucid enough to tackle a New York Times crossword puzzle the morning of her death.

According to detectives with Suffolk County’s Homicide division, nothing appeared to be stolen from the house and no evidence led police to believe neighbors should be concerned a criminal was on the loose and they were in danger.

While police have never named a suspect in the case, they did question Margaret Jean Burke, a former corrections officer who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of North Haven in 1994 against Robert Ratcliffe. At the time, she was opposed to a proposed deer hunt in North Haven.

Colin Astarita, a Southampton attorney who was hired by Burke, noted at the time that she was fully cooperative with the investigation and adamantly denied her involvement in her mother’s death.

At the time of the murder, a media firestorm erupted with reporters swarming North Haven waiting for the story to break open. However, since September 2008, police, who did not return calls for comment this week, have disclosed no new information regarding the case.

On Wednesday, Astarita said he has heard no new information from police at all, despite being in contact with the district attorney’s office and the homicide division of the Suffolk County Police Department. Astarita said he had just received communication from the district attorney’s office on Tuesday about returning the items taken from Burke’s home as evidence in August of 2008.

“We would like everything back,” said Astarita.

As to whether that meant the district attorney’s office was no longer pursuing the case, Astarita said he did not wish to speculate, but he did note that homicide investigations are kept open until they are solved and statute of limitations does not apply.

On Monday, at The Sag Harbor Express office, Burke spoke briefly about the impact the incident has left on her life.

“I have this cavernous hole,” said Burke when asked about the death of her mother. “I can’t talk about it. You didn’t see the things I’ve seen.”

Burke declined to speak further about the incident.

“Our conversations have been brief, but she, and the whole family are still confused,” said Astarita on Wednesday. “It still appears she is being looked at and has been the only target although we have provided them with a list of people who had access to the house.”

Astarita said it appeared no progress had been made in any of those leads.

Like Burke and her family, some neighbors in North Haven continue to be disturbed by the crime, even as they go about their daily lives a year later.

“I feel haunted by it and I feel haunted by her, knowing justice was never brought,” said writer Cheryl Mercer.

“I would say it is more a curiosity at this point,” said another North Haven neighbor of Burke’s who asked his name not be used in print. “I can’t say I feel I am in danger. I say frequently to people, I have lived in Philadelphia and Chicago and this is the closest I have ever lived to a murder.”

“I think in speaking about the topic people agree it is disturbing,” continued the resident later of the lack of closure in the case. “But after a certain amount of time, it is just the way it is. I will say I never locked my doors before that point; but because of what I have inside and the potential for what is outside, I lock my doors now.”

Robbie Vorhaus, a public relations consultant and father of two who lives down the street from the Burke residence expressed frustration at the lack of closure following such a brutal crime.

“I can’t speak for my neighbors – first of all we don’t have many neighbors, which may be why this was not made a priority by police,” said Vorhaus on Tuesday. “If we were in New York City or even East Hampton there would be enough pressure put on police to solve this case.”

“There is a cold-blooded murderer on the loose,” continued Vorhaus. “That is the absolute bottom line and everyone here is aware of that.”

While Vorhaus said life has returned to virtual normalcy, there is a lack of closure felt by many.

“It is not enough to paralyze us, but it hasn’t receded,” said Vorhaus. “There is a dull ache that there was a cold blooded murder yards from your home and the police, for whatever reason, have not been able to solve it. What is really upsetting is that from the beginning we were told we had nothing to worry about, to go back to our homes while they did their jobs.”

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As we mark the one year anniversary of the murder of 100-year-old Jessie Burke, we are left with as many questions now as we had on the day of the murder. That’s because this is a case that remains unsolved.

The story goes that Burke was shot in her home in a quiet North Haven neighborhood during the middle of the day while her daughter was out running errands. But in the 12 months since Burke’s death, Suffolk County Homicide, which is handling the case, has offered up precious little new information about the crime. They appear to be doing even less to solve it.

But the facts remain — an elderly woman was murdered in her home with a handgun. There has been no information offered by police as to whether or not that weapon was ever found. As far as we know, both the gun as well as the individual who pulled the trigger, remain at large to this day.

Shortly after the murder, the nervous citizens of North Haven were reassured by police and told there was no reason to worry and to go about their business. And that’s where the investigation and the story stops. A year later, the members of the community remain confused, unsettled and, in fact, uneasy about their neighborhood. And who can blame them?

The homicide detectives have done nothing to make the people of North Haven feel any more secure than they did a year ago. No updates, no reassurances and, most importantly, no arrests.

Until someone is in custody the facts remain — a murderer is indeed on the loose.

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Dale Robertson was at his parents home on Sunset Road last Thursday afternoon, when he heard a large crash outside. His brother and he ran out of the house a few seconds later to find the aftermath of a head-on collision between two cars at the intersection of Sunset Road and Route 114, leading to the Shelter Island Ferry. 

“We heard a lady screaming as we ran down the road. She was trying to get out of her car, but her bone was sticking out of her ankle. She was screaming for us to get her babies out of the car,” recalled Robertson.

His brother helped the woman, Mary Merlos, 26 of Southampton to the ground and held up her leg, while Robertson opened the back of the Merlos’ purple Chrysler minivan to find a young seven-year-old boy and a two-month-old girl in a car seat. The older child, said Robertson was out of his seatbelt and almost upside down on the floor of the car. The infant was slumped over and didn’t appear to be moving. 

Robertson immediately tipped the baby’s head back to make sure she was still alive, and then pulled both children out of the car. Neither child had scratches or bloody wounds on their bodies, but the seven-year-old, said Robertson, had a large bruise across his abdomen. 

According to Southampton Town Police reports, the accident, which took place at 4:23 on Thursday, August 13, involved three cars, one driven by Merlos, a Chevy Suburban driven by John Reidy, 84, of Sag Harbor with one 83-year-old passenger, and a Ford pickup truck driven by local fire department volunteer Joel Clint of Sag Harbor. It appears, based on the police report and an account relayed to Robertson by the man in the truck, that the Chevy Suburban made an abrupt left turn onto Sunset Road from Route 114, causing the car to collide with the minivan which was heading south on Route 114. The Suburban then hit a LIPA pole. The third car, the truck, was waiting at a stop sign on Sunset Road, when it was hit by the minivan, though it only received damage to the front end of the car. 

“I don’t think she [Merlos] even had time to hit her brakes,” said Robertson, who said that there was a lack of tire marks on the roadway at the site of the accident. Robertson said local police and ambulances, including the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, showed up very soon after the accident took place. 

Merlos and her seven-year-old son were Medevaced to Stony Brook University Medical Center by a helicopter which landed on Long Beach. Reidy, his passenger, and the two-month-old were transported to Southampton Hospital. Clint, however, wasn’t injured. 

As a result of an investigation, police say a key factor in the cause of the accident was an improper turn and failure to yield to the right of way by Reidy. 

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After months of discussion and revision, North Haven has finally adopted a new flood management and prevention law to correspond with the updated flood maps recently distributed to municipalities by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Although the law has already received approval from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and FEMA, the law doesn’t take affect until September 25. Over the past few months, said village clerk Georgia Welch during a board of trustees meeting held on Tuesday, the village attorney Anthony Tohill has been working to fine tune the language of the law to satisfy both the DEC and FEMA. With the adoption of the law, North Haven residents will continue to be eligible for flood insurance, which wouldn’t have been possible had the board opted out of adopting the new laws. The North Haven Village board’s decision follows in the footsteps of Southampton Town and Sagaponack Village, who both recently adopted similar legislation.

Former village trustee Fred Stelle was also in attendance at the meeting to discuss an application for a mass gathering at his North Haven residence later this week. Stelle, along with his wife Bettina, plan to hold the third annual “Summer Swing” event on their property and Stelle said the event was to benefit the Southampton Town Democratic Committee. Candidates who will lead the Democratic ticket this November will be in attendance, including Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst who is running for town supervisor, Councilwoman Sally Pope and local lawyer Bridget Fleming who are both running for council seats on the town board. Stelle admitted he didn’t give the board ample time to review the application, as it was submitted only a few days before the event is to be held, but mayor Laura Nolan noted that Stelle has held the same event for two years in a row and the village has yet to hear complaints from other residents. Stelle added that only 100 guests would be allowed into the event and in the application he informed the board that a valet service would be on hand to control traffic and park vehicles.

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