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Shinnecock Nation celebrates first private land purchase in over 400 years
Residents and school officials reacted with a mixture of disappointment and resignation after budgets or special propositions were voted down in their districts Tuesday, bucking the trend of decisive approvals across Long Island. Maura McDermott reports in NEWSDAY that overall, voters green-lit spending plans and propositions by wide margins. Of Long Island’s 124 school districts, 122 saw their budgets approved by voters Tuesday. The majority of districts’ 100-plus special propositions also were OK'd.
Those results “show that the voting public clearly supports public education on Long Island and are satisfied with the quality of the education that is being delivered and value what public education brings to our communities and our economy,” said Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association. Long Island school budgets earned the approval of about 69% of voters on average, roughly even with last year’s 70% average, Vecchio said.
However, voters in two Suffolk County school districts — Shelter Island and Elwood — rejected proposed 2025-26 budgets that would have pierced state-imposed tax caps. The two proposed spending plans would have exceeded state limits on property tax increases, so they needed the approval of at least 60% of voters.
Districts whose budgets fail can put new spending plans before voters in June.
***
Voters in the Shelter Island School District rejected a proposed 2025-26 budget that would have pierced state-imposed tax caps. On Tuesday, Shelter Island’s school district sought approval for a budget of $13,855,325, up 5.77% from this year’s nearly $13.1 million spending plan. Maura McDermott reports in NEWSDAY that the measure would have increased school property taxes by 6.97%, more than three times the district's 2.13% tax cap. The measure earned the support of almost 55% of voters but fell short of the 60% minimum.
Shelter Island resident Jeanne Woods said she voted for the budget, but she understood why some of her neighbors did not. The cost of living has soared on Shelter Island due to inflation and a spike in housing costs that is “pricing out” many longtime residents, she said.
“Frankly, it's overwhelming to somebody who's on a fixed income,” said Woods, 84, who volunteers with Meals on Wheels and other charities.
The defeat of the school budget was a blow to many parents, including Victoria Shields, 46, who has three children in the district and previously served for about eight years on the PTSA, including as president. Shields said she worried the district would need to cut “vital” services.
School officials “work very hard to walk the line between providing the services that they know our children need and deserve and also not burdening the taxpayers with onerous taxes,” she said. The Shelter Island district had 176 students last year, per state figures.
Districts whose budgets fail can put new spending plans before voters in June.
***
A short Memorial Day “Lost at Sea” service will be held at Main Beach in East Hampton Village at 9 a.m. on Memorial Day Monday, May 26, hosted by the Everit Albert Herter VFW Post 550 and American Legion Post 419. Afterward, a parade will start at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m. and make its way to Memorial Park at the Hook Mill for a ceremony. The day before members of the legion and the VFW will visit each cemetery in their area to honor deceased veterans.
***
Pekin ducks are being brought back to Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the first group of about 900 12-week-old ducks were transported from their temporary home at Miloski’s Poultry Farm in Calverton back to the more than century-old family farm early Monday morning, a week after a U.S. Department of Agriculture avian-flu quarantine was officially lifted, Crescent Duck Farm President Doug Corwin said Tuesday night.
Another 1,800 ducks will be brought to the farm in about a month, after samples of the new residents test negative for avian flu for three weeks.
“It would be highly, highly doubtful that these healthy ducks would be positive, but this is USDA protocol,” Corwin said.
An avian flu outbreak in January shuttered the farm’s operations and forced the euthanization of some 99,000 ducks, leaving the future of Long Island’s last remaining duck farm in jeopardy.
The farm has been testing for the virus since it completed a massive farm-wide cleanup following the outbreak. Most recently, 25 samples were taken in 20 barns on April 28, Corwin said. USDA determined all of the 500 samples were negative, he said. The quarantine was lifted May 12.
The ducks being brought to the farm now were hatched offsite from sanitized eggs laid by Crescent’s hens before the bird flu outbreak.
Corwin said he expects to have around 1,700 females laying eggs by summer. He needs some 8,000 to 10,000 females regularly laying eggs to begin larger scale operations. He won’t begin raising, processing and selling duck meat until next year.
***
The U.S. House of Representatives this morning narrowly passed a wide-ranging bill to deliver President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, after Speaker Mike Johnson put down several mini-rebellions in Republican ranks to muscle the legislation to its first major victory over unified Democratic opposition.
The early morning vote was 215 to 214, mostly along party lines. The legislation would slash taxes, steer more money to the military and border security, and pay for some of this with cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, education and clean energy programs, adding significantly to federal deficits and to the ranks of the uninsured.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) in an e-mail to his 1st Congressional District constituents called passage of the legislation “a significant win for Long Island taxpayers following successful negotiations to quadruple the cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. The change, included in the House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill, now heads to the Senate and awaits the President’s signature. If enacted, the measure would provide long-overdue relief—saving many Suffolk County families as much as $8,000 on their 2026 federal tax returns,” per a statement issued today by Congressman Nick LaLota who further states that, ”The deal raises the SALT deduction cap to $40,000 for households earning under $500,000, with both thresholds indexed to grow by about 1% annually—reaching roughly $44,000 and $552,000 by year ten. A household earning $333,000 and paying $20,000 in property taxes would now be fully covered under the new cap. The provision is valued at $344 billion over ten years.” That’s from an e-mailed statement issued this morning by Rep. Nick LaLota (NY-01).
***
The Sag Harbor American Legion Chelberg and Battle Post and Veterans of Foreign Wars will observe Memorial Day with their annual parade on Monday, May 26. The parade will step off at 9 a.m. from the World War I Memorial at Otter Pond by the corner of Main Street and Jermain Avenue, will proceed north through the village, stopping at war memorials, the Main Street Firehouse, and the Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge, where wreaths will be laid, before concluding at Marine Park. The Sag Harbor Community Band will perform. Veterans, scouts, the American Legion Auxiliary and public officials are expected to participate. The guest speaker will be Carl Browngart. A reception will follow at the American Legion on Bay Street in Sag Harbor this coming Monday.
***
The Shinnecock Indian Nation yesterday celebrated the purchase of a parcel of land adjacent to its Westwoods property in Hampton Bays, saying it’s the first time the tribe has been able to acquire a privately held parcel in 400 years. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the 7.88-acre property sits adjacent to an 80-acre parcel the Shinnecock Nation is partly developing for a travel plaza-gas station, a plan begun last year that has pitted the Shinnecock Nation against the Town of Southampton, which has sued to block construction. The tribe has said the town’s suit is costing it about $22,000 a day amid a stop-work order by a Suffolk Supreme Court judge.
The newly purchased parcel, at 13 Indian Rd., is undeveloped and had been privately owned by Diane and Harold Holzman, county records show.
Amid the pounding of drums and song on the ancestral parcel, Shinnecock leaders said at a tribal ceremony marking the occasion that the purchase was the fulfillment of a long tribal ambition and the first of many such acquisitions.
Trustee Seneca Bowen credited the Shinnecock Sovereign Holdings tribal holding company which worked with tribal and bank funds to pay for the land.
Shinnecock Nation spokeswoman Rebekah Wise said the tribe has no plan to develop the property at present. She called the acquisition a "beautiful moment" in the nation’s "land-back" push, spearheaded by tribal lawyer Tela Troge — an effort that seeks to reclaim parcels of land it previously held that were “illegally” annexed by developers and others.
The ceremony at the parcel Wednesday included a traditional "smudging," with cleansing smoke, song and prayer to "welcome the land back home to its rightful stewardship," the nation said. Unkechaug Nation Chief Harry Wallace and Shinnecock tribal member Shane Weeks led the ceremony.
"This powerful gathering was not only a spiritual event, but a reaffirmation of the Shinnecock Nation’s enduring connection to their ancestral territory, which is vital to the community’s spirit, strength and resiliency," the Nation said.
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By WLIW-FMResidents and school officials reacted with a mixture of disappointment and resignation after budgets or special propositions were voted down in their districts Tuesday, bucking the trend of decisive approvals across Long Island. Maura McDermott reports in NEWSDAY that overall, voters green-lit spending plans and propositions by wide margins. Of Long Island’s 124 school districts, 122 saw their budgets approved by voters Tuesday. The majority of districts’ 100-plus special propositions also were OK'd.
Those results “show that the voting public clearly supports public education on Long Island and are satisfied with the quality of the education that is being delivered and value what public education brings to our communities and our economy,” said Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association. Long Island school budgets earned the approval of about 69% of voters on average, roughly even with last year’s 70% average, Vecchio said.
However, voters in two Suffolk County school districts — Shelter Island and Elwood — rejected proposed 2025-26 budgets that would have pierced state-imposed tax caps. The two proposed spending plans would have exceeded state limits on property tax increases, so they needed the approval of at least 60% of voters.
Districts whose budgets fail can put new spending plans before voters in June.
***
Voters in the Shelter Island School District rejected a proposed 2025-26 budget that would have pierced state-imposed tax caps. On Tuesday, Shelter Island’s school district sought approval for a budget of $13,855,325, up 5.77% from this year’s nearly $13.1 million spending plan. Maura McDermott reports in NEWSDAY that the measure would have increased school property taxes by 6.97%, more than three times the district's 2.13% tax cap. The measure earned the support of almost 55% of voters but fell short of the 60% minimum.
Shelter Island resident Jeanne Woods said she voted for the budget, but she understood why some of her neighbors did not. The cost of living has soared on Shelter Island due to inflation and a spike in housing costs that is “pricing out” many longtime residents, she said.
“Frankly, it's overwhelming to somebody who's on a fixed income,” said Woods, 84, who volunteers with Meals on Wheels and other charities.
The defeat of the school budget was a blow to many parents, including Victoria Shields, 46, who has three children in the district and previously served for about eight years on the PTSA, including as president. Shields said she worried the district would need to cut “vital” services.
School officials “work very hard to walk the line between providing the services that they know our children need and deserve and also not burdening the taxpayers with onerous taxes,” she said. The Shelter Island district had 176 students last year, per state figures.
Districts whose budgets fail can put new spending plans before voters in June.
***
A short Memorial Day “Lost at Sea” service will be held at Main Beach in East Hampton Village at 9 a.m. on Memorial Day Monday, May 26, hosted by the Everit Albert Herter VFW Post 550 and American Legion Post 419. Afterward, a parade will start at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m. and make its way to Memorial Park at the Hook Mill for a ceremony. The day before members of the legion and the VFW will visit each cemetery in their area to honor deceased veterans.
***
Pekin ducks are being brought back to Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the first group of about 900 12-week-old ducks were transported from their temporary home at Miloski’s Poultry Farm in Calverton back to the more than century-old family farm early Monday morning, a week after a U.S. Department of Agriculture avian-flu quarantine was officially lifted, Crescent Duck Farm President Doug Corwin said Tuesday night.
Another 1,800 ducks will be brought to the farm in about a month, after samples of the new residents test negative for avian flu for three weeks.
“It would be highly, highly doubtful that these healthy ducks would be positive, but this is USDA protocol,” Corwin said.
An avian flu outbreak in January shuttered the farm’s operations and forced the euthanization of some 99,000 ducks, leaving the future of Long Island’s last remaining duck farm in jeopardy.
The farm has been testing for the virus since it completed a massive farm-wide cleanup following the outbreak. Most recently, 25 samples were taken in 20 barns on April 28, Corwin said. USDA determined all of the 500 samples were negative, he said. The quarantine was lifted May 12.
The ducks being brought to the farm now were hatched offsite from sanitized eggs laid by Crescent’s hens before the bird flu outbreak.
Corwin said he expects to have around 1,700 females laying eggs by summer. He needs some 8,000 to 10,000 females regularly laying eggs to begin larger scale operations. He won’t begin raising, processing and selling duck meat until next year.
***
The U.S. House of Representatives this morning narrowly passed a wide-ranging bill to deliver President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, after Speaker Mike Johnson put down several mini-rebellions in Republican ranks to muscle the legislation to its first major victory over unified Democratic opposition.
The early morning vote was 215 to 214, mostly along party lines. The legislation would slash taxes, steer more money to the military and border security, and pay for some of this with cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, education and clean energy programs, adding significantly to federal deficits and to the ranks of the uninsured.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) in an e-mail to his 1st Congressional District constituents called passage of the legislation “a significant win for Long Island taxpayers following successful negotiations to quadruple the cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. The change, included in the House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill, now heads to the Senate and awaits the President’s signature. If enacted, the measure would provide long-overdue relief—saving many Suffolk County families as much as $8,000 on their 2026 federal tax returns,” per a statement issued today by Congressman Nick LaLota who further states that, ”The deal raises the SALT deduction cap to $40,000 for households earning under $500,000, with both thresholds indexed to grow by about 1% annually—reaching roughly $44,000 and $552,000 by year ten. A household earning $333,000 and paying $20,000 in property taxes would now be fully covered under the new cap. The provision is valued at $344 billion over ten years.” That’s from an e-mailed statement issued this morning by Rep. Nick LaLota (NY-01).
***
The Sag Harbor American Legion Chelberg and Battle Post and Veterans of Foreign Wars will observe Memorial Day with their annual parade on Monday, May 26. The parade will step off at 9 a.m. from the World War I Memorial at Otter Pond by the corner of Main Street and Jermain Avenue, will proceed north through the village, stopping at war memorials, the Main Street Firehouse, and the Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge, where wreaths will be laid, before concluding at Marine Park. The Sag Harbor Community Band will perform. Veterans, scouts, the American Legion Auxiliary and public officials are expected to participate. The guest speaker will be Carl Browngart. A reception will follow at the American Legion on Bay Street in Sag Harbor this coming Monday.
***
The Shinnecock Indian Nation yesterday celebrated the purchase of a parcel of land adjacent to its Westwoods property in Hampton Bays, saying it’s the first time the tribe has been able to acquire a privately held parcel in 400 years. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the 7.88-acre property sits adjacent to an 80-acre parcel the Shinnecock Nation is partly developing for a travel plaza-gas station, a plan begun last year that has pitted the Shinnecock Nation against the Town of Southampton, which has sued to block construction. The tribe has said the town’s suit is costing it about $22,000 a day amid a stop-work order by a Suffolk Supreme Court judge.
The newly purchased parcel, at 13 Indian Rd., is undeveloped and had been privately owned by Diane and Harold Holzman, county records show.
Amid the pounding of drums and song on the ancestral parcel, Shinnecock leaders said at a tribal ceremony marking the occasion that the purchase was the fulfillment of a long tribal ambition and the first of many such acquisitions.
Trustee Seneca Bowen credited the Shinnecock Sovereign Holdings tribal holding company which worked with tribal and bank funds to pay for the land.
Shinnecock Nation spokeswoman Rebekah Wise said the tribe has no plan to develop the property at present. She called the acquisition a "beautiful moment" in the nation’s "land-back" push, spearheaded by tribal lawyer Tela Troge — an effort that seeks to reclaim parcels of land it previously held that were “illegally” annexed by developers and others.
The ceremony at the parcel Wednesday included a traditional "smudging," with cleansing smoke, song and prayer to "welcome the land back home to its rightful stewardship," the nation said. Unkechaug Nation Chief Harry Wallace and Shinnecock tribal member Shane Weeks led the ceremony.
"This powerful gathering was not only a spiritual event, but a reaffirmation of the Shinnecock Nation’s enduring connection to their ancestral territory, which is vital to the community’s spirit, strength and resiliency," the Nation said.