Off the record, on the QT in WHB, and very hush-hush…
...which is a high-falutin' way of saying, "Can you believe the cojones on these guys?!?"
Shortly after starting yesterday's "four-to-12" tour, Sergeant Nick Fusco and Officer Jeff Speer were spotted in their Westhampton Beach police vehicles at the Gabreski Airport location of Holey Moses Cheesecake, Hank Tucker, proprietor. More...
...and I hate it when I feel compelled to do this, but fair is fair!
In yesterday's entry regarding our cinematic choices at Six Corners, "It's Complicated" it was written (note passive voice): More...
...or so one would think from this account in today's New York Times:
Quick Action by Passengers Halted Attack
(At least the updated headline tends toward the remedial.) More...
Happily, at Six Corners in the familiar purview of the Hampton Arts, again operational after a brief pre-holiday hiatus.
The big Christmas openings are the eagerly-awaited "Sherlock Holmes" and the much-promoted "It's Complicated" with Meryl "I'd watch her in anything1" Streep. More...
This isn't original... actually, some friends sent it along earlier this week.
But as a "dog family," Jeanne and I found this irresistible. More...
A retired Marine and airline pilot1 pal sent me a link to a YouTube video of a fatal crash during the filming of "The Flight of the Phoenix."
I hadn't seen it, and what really caught my eye was the way the plane reacted during the mishap... I'd experienced something eerily similar 61 years ago this week. More...
...investigated, suspended, then semi-restored (to restricted duty), Officer Joseph Pesapane, handling snow removal duties this week.
How else are Westhampton Beach taxpayers to get any value out of the officer? More...
...or why corporate attorneys should leave the media statements to their flack-catchers!
From today's New York Law Journal:
Trekkie's Suit Against Auction House Fails to Live Long, Prosper
The précis: some schlub of a fanboy More...
...to the tune of $290 million, an early Christmas award from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C.
Of course, in Redmond, Washington, such a sum is considered "chump change" by Microsoft, or Bill Gates' "walk-around" money. More...
My wife, a medical professional who steadfastly refuses any perquisites from the ubiquitous pharmiceutical representatives who insinuate themselves into her places of work by any means available, is on a rampage.
She was using Google to research the latest on "health care reform," and virtually every news link she followed took her to a page containing an institutional Pfizer advertisement. More...
Last week's Letters page in The Southampton Press Western Edition recalled a story Groucho Marx told Dick Cavett about the last time he saw his long-time foil, the incomparable Margaret Dumont (1889-1965). More...
Updated 12/20/2009 – 01:38 pm
And what to our wondrous eyes did appear this morning? More snow!
We're so completely under here on East Main, that failing a drastic temperature inversion 'tween now and then, we will awaken to our first White Christmas in recent memory.
(Jeanne thinks the last was '95 but I don't recall.) More...
Updated 12/20/2009 – 00:46 am
At least two members of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department drew their service weapons this afternoon during a snowball fight at 14th and U streets.
(Raw footage-language advisory.) More...
Updated 12/23/2009 – 01:25 pm
James Cameron's much anticipated follow-up feature to 1997's "Titanic," opened today and my wife, bless her!, commanded that we head to the nearest imax screen to see it.
It's an event, it's spectacle, and a Friday night flick is almost a family tradition. More...
One of the nicest and most gracious ladies of my acquaintance passed away in Florida last Sunday after a lengthy illness.
Barbara (always "Barbara") was a long-time Summer resident of Westhampton Beach, and was often in the company of More...
...as Bo Diddley used to sing, "by lookin' at the cover."
Or, it seems, even by reading the title! More...
Seems that the entry of two days ago ("Dispatch from Six Corners") struck a raw nerve inside the Police Department and a responsive chord elsewhere in the Village.
While the citizens of Westhampton Beach have yet to march on Six Corners with pitchforks and burning fagots, there have been dark rumblings 'round town1, and that bodes ill for the troika. More...
According to Southampton Town Tax Receiver Theresa Kiernan:
"Taxes are payable by cash; credit cards and ACH {electronic check}."
Well, that makes it easy, doesn't it?! More...
Updated 12/15/2009 – 11:51 am
It wasn't but six months ago that the Village, spurred by Newsday's story about Police Chief Ray Dean's salary, was up in arms over the amount that the Village's top cop was getting.
The outrage, led by sycophants of the troika, was for a time shrill! More...
The headline on 27East late today read:
Oddone Guilty of First-Degree Manslaughter
...which verdict had been agonized over for nine days following a seven week trial. More...
...of the Village Trustees' decision to give the suspended cops "a pass" on their criminal behavior, is substantial.
Aside from the demoralizing effect it has on the honest members of the force, it clouds the entire Westhampton Beach Police Department in far-reaching ways. More...
...and the inaugural "Winter Farmer's Market."
There was a great deal of activity around noontime, and the Speir family did its best to make it successful... Jeanne spent money like a sailor in San Diego, primarily at Steve's Salad Dressings and Carson's Farm Vegetables! More...
It's baaaack!, with "it" being a Winter version of the highly successful Farmer's Market held from June to November in the Mill Road parking lot opposite Woodland Avenue.
With the energetic but low-key Elsie Collins again at the helm, this is being launched as a "pilot program," and is being held More...
At times OtBB has felt like a voice in the wilderness, speaking out... yes!, opinionatedly... on matters about which I feel strongly.
It's often frustrating to discover that enough others aren't sufficiently motivated to demand that changes be affected and wrongs righted, and I wonder what it takes. More...
In response to those OtBB readers who've wondered exactly what Mayor Conrad Teller said in his statement following the Trustees squashing of the Suffolk County Police Internal Affairs report, here ya go: More...
...Westhampton Beach Fire District Election is incumbent Victor Levy.
The results of the vote, held earlier this from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Sunset Avenue Firehouse, are:
| Candidate | Votes |
| Victor Levy | 120 |
| Robert Schunk | 70 |
Mr. Levy will hold the Commission seat for the next five years.
...of the shameful December 2nd Village Board meeting, courtesy of Black Sheep Television, Jacques Ditte, videographer.
The really shameful stuff starts at the 0:14:20 mark.
The drumbeats calling for the disbanding of the Westhampton Beach Police Department grow louder.
...will be held this evening at the firehouse on Sunset Avenue, and then we can call it quits for the year.
It's the annual election of a Commissioner in the Westhampton Beach Fire District which also encompasses the unincorporated areas of Westhampton and Quiogue. More...
...following Monday afternoon's Executive Session, the Westhampton Beach Village Board did what they should have done last week: appoint Village Attorney Hermon Bishop to respond to Winhaven Realty's Article 78 proceeding against the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Mayor Conrad Teller had offered the same resolution at December's meeting, but couldn't get a second to bring it to a vote. More...
And no, this isn't about Rod Stewart, rather one of those moments when someone... in this instance The Southampton Press' Hallie Martin... clicked her lens shutter at precisely the right second, and deposed Deputy Mayor Jim Kametler's mug was captured for posterity.
It may even become the iconic image of the man's sordid career. More...
...guaranteed to compel further reading:
Tom Brokaw Shaken but Uninjured After Fatal Crash
But it's not a "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" item. More...
Quiogue nutburger Irene Barrett, not-so-sotto voce to former Village Police Officer Neil Hanrahan as former Deputy Mayor Victor Levy was addressing the Village Board Wednesday:
"He's running against you next year!"
Now Mrs. Barrett is a hate-filled harridan who loves to interject herself More...
The sheer audacity of Westhampton Beach Village Trustees Joan Levan and Hank Tucker is stultifying.
And yes, deposed Deputy Mayor Jim Kametler was part of it, but those who've watched him for any period of time... ten minutes or more... understand that he has no more audacity than he does intelligence. More...
...that there are risks involved before undergoing any surgical procedure, but I wonder how many of us really hear what they are telling us.
I know I didn't when I was being prepared for my gall bladder removal in Spring '02. More...
...or as it will henceforth be known, "the Night of the Ol' Fixeroo."
In an unforeseen move, the Westhampton Beach Board of Trustees, less Deputy Mayor Toni Jo Birk who did not attend, voted 3-1 with Mayor Conrad Teller opposing, to direct Chief Ray Dean to rescind the suspensions of the two Village Police Officers. More...
...is now in the hands of the jury.
On November 30 it became apparent that the District Attorney's office had finally acknowledged what the more rational observers of the Anthony Oddone trial have said all along: the prosecution had over-reached in its original charge of "Intentional Murder." More...
...for the December Village Board meeting could be an explosive one.
The agenda, per Village Law set by Mayor Conrad Teller, contains three items of particular interest: More...
The current Westhampton Beach Village Board is, en toto, a cheeky lot who clearly do not "know their place" as spelled out in New York State Code.
It's also apparent that they are obtaining legal counsel from a source other than duly appointed Village Attorney, Hermon Bishop. More...
