Riverhead Country Fair not being held on 50th anniversary

A Deer Park orthopedic spinal surgeon, accused of copying and pasting 43 virtually identical surgical reports, has been named in another federal racketeering lawsuit, this time for providing unnecessary spinal surgeries on drivers and passengers involved in allegedly staged motor vehicle crashes with FedEx vehicles.The wide-ranging lawsuit, filed last week by FedEx in New York's Southern District, alleges that Dr. Alexios Apazidis, along with two dozen other physicians, lawyers, chiropractors and radiologists, conspired to bilk the mammoth delivery company through sham lawsuits and inflated medical bills.Robert Brodsky reports in NEWSDAY that the RICO lawsuit is the latest to pull back the veil on what critics contend is an interconnected fraud scheme in which motorists claim catastrophic injuries from motor vehicle crashes that they deliberately caused and then — at the recommendation of their attorneys — seek treatment at preferred medical providers. All of the accidents cited in the lawsuit occurred in the five N.Y.C. boroughs.The FedEx lawsuit, which follows the pattern of similar complaints filed across the country by the ridesharing service Uber, comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched a crackdown on staged vehicle crashes that cause drivers’ insurance premiums to escalate. Long Island, Hochul said recently in Deer Park, has seen an 80% increase in auto premiums since 2019, in large part due to criminal networks that conspire to stage accidents and provide unneeded medical treatment to extort large settlements or insurance payouts."The FedEx RICO case underscores exactly why Governor Hochul's auto insurance reforms are needed now," Hochul spokeswoman Kristin Devoe said in a statement. "This case is not unique and New Yorkers are paying the price for a system that allows loopholes to be exploited by bad actors, driving up premiums across the board for everyone. The governor's proposal is about stopping these scams, lowering premiums and protecting law abiding New Yorkers."Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, an advocacy organization that supports the governor's proposed changes, said the lawsuit should serve as a "wake-up call" to state lawmakers who have resisted Hochul's reform measures."States throughout the country are enacting liability reforms for a reason," Stebbins said. "From the Big Apple to the Big Easy, staged car crashes have become big business for crooked doctors and lawyers."The 2026-27 New York State budget was due April 1st. Disagreements continue over policy items, including a climate bill and car insurance reform as well as this “staged accident issue.”***East Hampton Town officials say that multiple pairs of eyes now see each application that comes through the Building Department, ensuring in the wake of a major bribery investigation that all is done above board.The way the beleaguered Building Department handled applications in the past had been “vertical,” in the words of East Hampton Town officials, meaning that each application went to – and stayed with – one building inspector throughout the process. This approach, which town officials said was new, was described, then, as “horizontal.”But they say that the process now mirrors that used in departments in western towns, which have exponentially greater populations but roughly the same number of building applications.Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that East Hampton Town Principal Building Inspector Richard Normoyle took the helm at the Building Department, which had been plagued with a backlog, turnover and lawsuits, late last year, bringing with him a 30-year background in municipal building operations that included employment in western towns, such as Huntington and Babylon.“We're ensuring that this type of thing never takes place by breaking apart some of the responsibilities that the building inspectors previously held by themselves,” Normoyle said this week.“The way the process used to work was once the application came in, the building inspectors would handle the process pretty much from beginning to end,” Normoyle said. “They would review the documents. They would do the inspections. They would write the permit fees. They would write the descriptions. These are now jobs that are going to be broken apart.”But the investigation conducted by the district attorney’s office, which culminated in charges of receiving bribes against Evelyn Calderon, a suspended office staffer, and Ryan Benitez, a former building inspector, was not the only reason for the changes to departmental operations recently undertaken.East Hampton Town officials say the procedural changes are also a means of boosting procedural efficiency in the department, bringing it more in line with the processes that Normoyle saw while he worked in western towns.***Shelter Island Friends of Music presents Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, on piano in concert this coming Saturday, April 18, at 6pm in Shelter Island Presbyterian Church. A full capacity crowd is expected so you are encouraged to arrive early to get a seat. Due to fire code regulations, organizers cannot guarantee seating once that capacity is reached. Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner has emerged as one of the most compelling pianists of his generation.Saturday’s concert is free; donations are greatly appreciated. The performance will begin promptly at 6 pm this coming Saturday in Shelter Island Presbyterian Church with no intermission.You are invited to a reception with Llewellyn immediately following the concert! For further info visit the Shelter Island Friends of Music website at sifriendsofmusic.org.***A defiant Sag Harbor Village Mayor Tom Gardella refused to resign from his post last night after all four of his fellow board members voted in favor of a resolution formally requesting his resignation. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that the resolution was one of four additional resolutions that the board added to the meeting agenda related to the mayor’s conduct over the past few months, and to an investigative report that found he’d breached the Village of Sag Harbor’s social media conduct and harassment policies.The board also presented findings of a “pattern of procedural avoidance,” accusing the mayor of “statutory neglect” and “breach of fiduciary duty” related to the budget development process.The board introduced a resolution to waive privilege attached to the investigative report prepared by labor attorney Vince Toomey related to Gardella’s behavior on social media, which included screenshots of his social media posts and interactions with various social media users, including members of the community, as well as emails sent to the village detailing concerns about his conduct.The report recommended that the mayor participate in one-on-one social media and anti-harassment training, which the mayor agreed to at the meeting. The report also stated “that the board may wish to censure the mayor” to “publicly distance” itself from his comments and make it clear they aren’t reflective of the board at large, which the board voted to do.While Mayor Gardella said he welcomed the opportunity to participate in social media and anti-harassment training, he was not willing to go further than that.That report also accused Gardella of “a pattern of procedural avoidance” during the budget preparation, including “systematically bypassing” safeguards like consulting with labor counsel and senior administrative staff and the board. They also highlighted that the mayor had engaged in “unauthorized and unvetted negotiations for selective salary adjustments totaling an estimated $250,000 annually, which would have inflicted a $2,865,970 cumulative fiscal burden on taxpayers over the next decade.”They accused Gardella of assigning indiscriminate raises to staff, and ignoring repeated warnings from senior administrative staff, and said he attempted to shift accountability for his own budget filings onto senior administrative staff.The Sag Harbor Village Board will get together again this coming Friday at 3 p.m. for a special budget meeting before adopting their 2026-27 budget.***The Riverhead Country Fair will not take place this year, the 50th anniversary of the popular event’s founding in 1976. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the country fair committee announced the cancellation in a Facebook post yesterday. The committee has decided to put the country fair “on hold until the downtown construction is completed,” the post said.“We have no place to be,” Sue Young, who serves on the board of directors of Riverhead Townscape, which produces the October event told Riverheadlocal. Construction of downtown buildings on the south side of East Main Street makes use of the East End Arts Council grounds and the eastern portion of the Peconic River parking lot infeasible, Young said. The green space of the East End Arts campus hosts the agriculture and homemakers competitions and displays, while the carnival is held in the eastern area of the parking lot. Both of those sites will very soon become or be in close proximity to construction zones. It’s not clear when the fair might be able to return, or whether the future configuration of the arts council campus or the riverfront parking lot — where a playground is planned —will provide space for the fair after construction is completed, Young said.The fair as we know it was founded by Riverhead Townscape, an organization established during the American bicentennial year of 1976 to beautify...