I’m writing regarding the problem of extreme traffic congestion on both our roads during the fall (pumpkin) season. On one hand, it’s great to see one of our local merchants (in this case Harbes) doing so well, and it’s also nice to see that so many non-local folks want to share in some of the charms of what we experience here on the North Fork.
Opinion
I’ve never formally committed to any boycott.
It’s a word that gets tossed around whenever one segment of society feels slighted for whatever reason, some justified, some not so much. READ
To the residents who live nearby, Vineyard 48 in Cutchogue has been an awful neighbor. Incidents reported by neighbors and those investigated by Southold police show that guests at the vineyard act badly even in plain sight and don’t seem to care what anyone thinks. READ
Last Sunday, Kathleen Grimmett of Austin, Texas, was on the Internet trying to find information about her parents, Bill and Billie Lamb. Billie was her mother’s nickname; her given name was Vera. Ms. Grimmett’s father was a World War II veteran who wrote hundreds of letters home from France and Germany to his wife in Orlando, Fla.
Fall traffic on the North Fork has become a major quality-of-life issue — and one without an obvious solution. Crowds coming our way for what used to be called “wine tasting,” long afternoons at breweries and “agritainment” centers that are more like amusement parks draw enormous numbers of people and cars. A common refrain heard on weekends is that the drive from Riverhead to Mattituck can take over an hour.
When I first spent summers on Shelter Island, in the 1970s, a favorite rainy-day excursion was a trip to Greenport to shop at the Arcade. If we needed beach toys, 100 percent cotton socks or sheets for the extra guest, we knew where to go. European visitors delighted in the novelty of finding measuring cups in ounces rather than grams. The store’s aura — its creaky wooden floors and leathery smell — was as welcoming as its inventory.
I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve been on this “All in the Family” kick lately. You know “All in the Family,” the popular sitcom from the 1970s starring the fictional character Archie Bunker.
A scene of terror erupted in a central Illinois high school last week when a male student began firing a gun before a teacher managed to subdue him, preventing any casualties. A week earlier in Washington, a student opened fire in a high school hallway, killing a classmate and wounding three others.
A colleague of mine at this newspaper used to refer to the North Fork’s easternmost hamlet as The People’s Republic of Orient. The implication was that residents of Orient considered themselves and their hamlet separate and apart from the rest of Southold Town — a humorous suggestion that was, at the very least, partially reality-based. READ
Scott Russell did something unusual this week when he called reporters to Town Hall to say publicly that he supports the Sports East project for Mattituck. READ
