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December 02, 1993 - Plying the Paved PathFocus on Nature Plying the Paved Path By Paul Stoutenburgh The calendar told us on a recent Sat- urday that we had scheduled ourselves for a bus trip to New York. We try to get in three or four times a year via this con- venient means of transportation to see a show or for some other event. Our day started bright and sunny, a typical late fall day with its glow of yellow leaves everywhere. Each time we leave for the city I feel we're leaving a way of life behind that's rare today and are traveling into a world foreign and uncomfortable to me. The bus loaded in the converted church - library parking lot where the stark white steeple of the church stood out clear and strong against a cloudless blue sky. Everyone was in high spirits. Buses have become more and more popular, and in a day of concerned and enlightened people, it seems the only re- sponsible way to go. We were among the first to enter the bus and once comfort- ably seated we watched the wide range of dress from the casual to the latest in style file in. Once under way we left behind a rural character not easily matched in today's world of pizazz and polish. Farms and vineyards disappeared behind us. Oc- casionally we'd see a tell tale sign of our changing times, the stark "For Sale" sign that meant another farmer had given up a way of life —a move that would affect us all in the future in one way or another. Quaint towns passed by, still un- spoiled by the modern shopping centers that we'd become familiar with as we moved westward. It may seem funny Holiday Open House The Suffolk County Historical Society at 300 West Main Street in Riverhead, will hold its annual Holiday Open House from 2 to 5 P.M. on Sunday, December 5. This year's festivities will include two new exhibitions, weaving and spinning demonstrations, Irish music, children's activities, special gift items and refresh- ments. Admission is free. Call 727 -2881 for further information. A sampling of Long Island -made co- verlets, from the Society's collection, re- cently shown by SPLIA in The Gallery at Cold Spring Harbor will be on display. To celebrate the coverlets and the weaver's art, members of The Pauma- nok Weavers Guild will demonstrate the skills of carding, spinning and weaving. Playing the penny whistle and the banjo, John Corr and Stephen Sanfilippo will perform songs and tunes of she- pherds and weavers from Ireland and the British Isles. Mr. Corr and Mr. San - filippo are well -known musicians in their own right and members of the pop- ular Irish group, Paddy Doyle's Boots. but the song that had the line "You al- ways hurt the one you love" ran through my mind. People move out here to the East End because they love its rural character, but to accommodate them, developments are built and we lose the very open spaces that attracted them. We were leaving behind the great beaches and tidal flats that our East End is so well known for. Nowhere else can you find the fine beaches of the ocean along the South Shore nor the peb- bly beaches of the protected bays that line the fish -tail of our North and South Forks. Few places can rival our creeks with all their treasures of fish, clams, crabs and variety of life forms that make living on these estuaries so re- warding. Later, at the outskirts of the city, we'd pass over what were in the early days pristine creeks that have been lost to pollution and bulkheads. Their only use now is as a thoroughfare for barges laden with man's waste, raw materials and manufactured products. Most of the trees planted along the highway were the non- native Norway maples and their bright yellow leaves gave us a trail of color to follow. As we approached Riverhead's Route 58 the rural character of the roadside changed. Stores with no sense of place started to clutter the road edge. Signs of every color and description tried to lure our eyes. The ugliness of unplanned busi- nesses dominated the scene. Businesses are necessary —but to blight an area with no thought as to how it will affect the community in this day and age of careful planning is a crime. We looped around the 60 -acre clover leaf that marks the beginning and end of the Lang Island Expressway. The yel- low leaves of the maples were gone and the dark reds of the scrub oak and the greenery of pines took over. We were passing through the pine barrens —the area that guards the future of Suffolk County's fresh water supply. Occasionally along the roadside I'd see mounds of newly-dug dirt where groundhogs or woodchucks had bur- rowed. Usually we associate these large rodents with upstate pastures, but here and in a few other places they've been able to hold on as they did in Colonial times. When the Expressway was first put in, extensive non - native plantings were put along the roadside edge to make it beautiful. The trouble is that the relent- less pressure of nature has pushed the pine barrens and scrub oaks into the mowed and planted area. In many pla- ces they have taken back their lost ter- ritory. Occasionally we'd see huge tractor trailers hauling garbage away from some town or village to be deposited in BMW • MERCEDES • AUDI • JEEP Collision Repairs 40 Willow Road, Water Mill Just East of Amoco Station 726 -2776 Great Holiday Gift Bargains B oos CHRISTMAS MEET SANTA Re {reshments BOUTIQUE .... ............................... SATURDAY, DEC. 4 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. .... ............................... Bide -A -Wee of the Hamptons 118 Old Country Road • Westhampton Call (516) 325 -0200 B.H. Friedman, standing center, will be the narrator and Eric Johnson will play Santa Claus in this weekend's performance of "The Polar Express," a production of Jacqui Leader's Kids Connect drama workshop at LTV Studios in Wainscon. For ticket information, call 267 -6469. someone else's backyard. The old ad- age "Not in my backyard" is all too pre- valent throughout our country. Perhaps we should rethink this concept and re- alize that if we produce it, we should take care of it. Further west the traffic started to build up. Where were they all going? Most of the cars carried only one per- son. We passed the great wooden walls that have recently been put up to pro- tect people from the sounds and smells of modern day traffic, another hidden and untold expense. It wasn't too long after that we saw the first high -rise on the horizon and from then on to the city we found walls of brick, cement and glass separated by blacktop. This is the world I can do without. 19 �aIIIo 3800kg New&bor,N.. &S-,dalarAay Sag Harbor, N.Y. N stoteay ii 725 -4926 Noon to 6P. Dec. 4, Sat. at 6 Poetry Reading: Virginia Walker Dec. 5, Sun. at 3 Poetry Reading: Anne Porter, Paton Miller & Dudley Merchant Gerry came to us because we were minutes away when he had a heart attack. Joey comes because the next closest hospital for his special treatment is 2 hours from home. Emergencies can happen to anyone. But so can rare medical conditions. We know this only too well at Central Suffolk Hospital, where our wide range of services treats both. No one illustrates this reality better than Gerry Philbin and Joey Dombkowski. Gerry is known to most Long Islanders as a former football star for the New York Jets. Unfortunately we got to know him when he had a heart attack near his home in Quogue. Today he is back on the golf course after what Gerry describes as the best medical attention he's ever received. Joey is a regular visitor from Bridgehampton to our Child Habilitation Center, where we treat both children and adults with a variety of handicaps and developmental disorders. Many would have to travel great distances for these special services if we were not here. No matter what the medical circumstances, you should know that Central Suffolk Hospital has the services you'd expect to find at a regional healthcare facility — plus many you would not. Please support our Anuual Giving Drive now in progress Central Suffolk Hospital FOR A LIFETIME OF QUALITY HEALTHCARE. 1300 Roanoke Avenue • Riverhead, New York 11901 -2058 • (516) 548 -6000 THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / DECEMBER 2, 1993 Mark E. Goldberg Prosthetic & Orthotie Labs Reach your highest level of activity with more comfort e3- less effort • Evaluation, Custom Design & Fabrication • AdvancedTechnology &Latest FittingTechniques Free Initial Consultation • Most Insurance Accepted - American Board Certified Phone Answered 7 Days a Week • How Visits • Transportation Available 2870 Heuy,wd Tpke. — Our Newest Office — I- vittown, NY 11756 THE HAMLET GREEN For All Locations Call 1312 Middle County Rd. 107 -6 West Montauk Highway Selden, NY 11784 Hampton Bays, NY 11946 Gerry came to us because we were minutes away when he had a heart attack. Joey comes because the next closest hospital for his special treatment is 2 hours from home. Emergencies can happen to anyone. But so can rare medical conditions. We know this only too well at Central Suffolk Hospital, where our wide range of services treats both. No one illustrates this reality better than Gerry Philbin and Joey Dombkowski. Gerry is known to most Long Islanders as a former football star for the New York Jets. Unfortunately we got to know him when he had a heart attack near his home in Quogue. Today he is back on the golf course after what Gerry describes as the best medical attention he's ever received. Joey is a regular visitor from Bridgehampton to our Child Habilitation Center, where we treat both children and adults with a variety of handicaps and developmental disorders. Many would have to travel great distances for these special services if we were not here. No matter what the medical circumstances, you should know that Central Suffolk Hospital has the services you'd expect to find at a regional healthcare facility — plus many you would not. Please support our Anuual Giving Drive now in progress Central Suffolk Hospital FOR A LIFETIME OF QUALITY HEALTHCARE. 1300 Roanoke Avenue • Riverhead, New York 11901 -2058 • (516) 548 -6000 THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / DECEMBER 2, 1993