Town of Southampton in roll out new mass alert system

Corporal punishment and harsh discipline during toilet training against toddlers and preschool-age children that went unreported to the state.Young children left without competent supervision and staff who failed to immediately inform parents of serious incidents.Day care centers that failed to conduct criminal or sex offender background checks for new hires, in violation of state guidelines.Robert Brodsky reports in NEWSDAY that these are just some of the nearly 100 allegations leveled against seven Long Island day care centers that state officials report are now at risk of losing their license to continue operating.Meanwhile, another four local childcare facilities had their license revoked and were forced to shutter in recent months after serious health or safety violations were documented by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, a Newsday investigation found.None of the nearly dozen Long Island day cares that have found themselves under scrutiny from the state are on the east end. Overall, the day cares cited represent just a small fraction of the 2,133 childcare providers on Long Island.But to the families of children enrolled in these facilities, typically ranging in age from infants to as old as 12, the alleged violations raise questions about the businesses' safety protocols and offer doubts whether they'll continue to operate moving forward."The safety and well-being of all children in Office of Children and Family Services-licensed childcare programs is our top priority," said Daniel Marans, a spokesman for the agency. "To achieve these standards, we work diligently to ensure enforcement is fair and proportional across the state, creating a pathway back to good standing for childcare providers that fully comply with OCFS’ remediation plans."In Suffolk, five day care businesses are at risk of revocation, records show.They include Dazzling Tots Daycare in Mastic, Kiddie Academy of Farmingdale, The Learning Experience in Northport, Snuggles Day Care in Copiague, and Vanessa Little Blessings Daycare in Coram.***An off-duty Quogue Village police officer who struck and killed a Hampton Bays woman with his personal vehicle will not be charged with a crime following a review of the case by New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation.Robert Brodsky reports in NEWSDAY that Margaret Lucey, 89, was crossing Ponquogue Avenue walking west in Hampton Bays shortly before 11 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2024, when she was struck by officer Jon Stanton’s Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck as Stanton made a left turn from Good Ground Road, authorities said.Stanton remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, the report said. Lucey was taken by Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance to Southampton Hospital where she died from her injuries, Southampton Town police said.Two months after the accident, the AG's office announced that it was launching an investigation of the crash, which is mandated under a 2021 state law for deaths involving on- and off-duty police, peace officers and correction officers. Yesterday, James' office released her 11-page report into the incident which "concludes that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that Officer Stanton committed a crime when he caused Ms. Lucey’s death."The investigation, the report states, included review of a 911 call, footage from nearby security cameras, an interview with a witness and photographs from the scene. The investigation, the report said, found no evidence that Stanton was speeding, distracted, impaired by drugs or alcohol or driving in a reckless manner.Stanton, who was hired by the Quogue Village P.D. in February 2022 and is a volunteer firefighter and EMT, immediately requested an ambulance, the report states, and began performing life-saving measures.***Suffolk County legislators approved at least $3.9 million to settle police-involved lawsuits so far this year, including $3 million to the estate of an emotionally disturbed man, Walter Kellogg, who was allegedly shot and killed by a police officer outside his Shirley home.Lawmakers also approved $600,000 to settle a lawsuit that claimed the same officer assaulted a Shirley woman in 2012.Internal affairs cleared the officer of wrongdoing in those incidents but he was terminated on other charges in 2022.Michael O'Keeffe reports in NEWSDAY that the Suffolk police Internal Affairs Bureau cleared former Officer Frank Santanello of wrongdoing in the 2018 fatal shooting of Walter Kellogg, but the Suffolk County Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, which must sign off on large settlements, authorized $3 million to settle the estate's federal lawsuit at its March 3 meeting, according to the panel's minutes. Internal affairs also cleared Santanello in the alleged assault and false arrest of Jessica Roger, also of Shirley, in 2012. But the Ways and Means Committee approved a $600,000 settlement to end her federal lawsuit in January.Santanello, the target of 25 civilian complaints and four administrative investigations, joined the Suffolk County Police Department in April 2002. He was placed on suspension without pay in April 2021, and an arbitrator upheld his termination in June 2022, internal affairs bureau records reviewed by Newsday show.***The Town of Southampton is rolling out a new mass alert system that it says will be able to more efficiently alert large numbers of residents and town employees to emergencies, public safety threats, weather alerts or information about blocked or closed roadways and extended traffic delays.Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Southampton Town’s new system — which residents are being asked to sign up for now — will allow the town to send text messages to thousands of numbers at once and allow the town to target information by hamlet or neighborhoods or specific clusters of town facilities.To sign up for the new text alerts, residents need only send a text saying “SouthamptonNY” to 38276 and they will be enrolled in the alert system. The town has also set up a specific notification for news related to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in June, which you can enroll in by texting OPEN26 to 38276.The need for the new system became apparent, Southampton Town officials said last week, during the Westhampton Pines wildfire in spring 2025 when conflicting information about whether an evacuation had been ordered sowed confusion and panic in neighborhoods near where the fires were raging.The town’s current emergency alert system, NotifyMe, is only able to send text messages to fewer than 200 individual numbers at a time, so broader alerts and information messages are sent via email. But town officials acknowledged that emails are often not viewed as immediately as text messages are.More than 500 town employees have been enrolled in the alert system already, which will allow the town to notify those who work in specific buildings, or groups of town facilities, about information relative only to their locations.For mass emergencies, the system will also be able to access lists of residents who have signed up for CivicPlus alerts about town activities and events.Ryan Murphy, Southampton Town’s emergency management coordinator said the town will be starting a broad public outreach to encourage residents to sign up for the alerts in the coming weeks.***Designs for a facelift for the off-the-beaten-path Town Lane sculpture park in East Hampton include seven parking spaces and a gravel walkway access point, essentially establishing official access for the public.Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that in 2006, East Hampton Town officials bought the easily overlooked 5-acre parcel of land, located at 173 Town Lane for around $1 million for the purpose of showcasing sculptures by Sasson Soffer, which are still present on the unkempt property. Those sculptures remain on display in the park.The idea behind the work that town officials plan to undertake, the initial stages of which are being funded by the Sasson Soffer Foundation, is to beautify the park itself and provide access to and from for the public, which is currently lacking. A walking path will be made of pressed gravel.“The town's Land Acquisition and Management Department has maintained the meadow by annual, or as needed, mowing,” said East Hampton Town Land Acquisition Principal Environmental Analyst Andy Gaites. “Proposed improvements to the park, which are to be donated by the Sasson Soffer Foundation at no cost to the town, include driveway improvements, addition of a parking area, ADA compliant pathways, benches and native plantings.”Contractors working on behalf of the Sasson Soffer Foundation are planning to begin removing vegetation this month, so long as all the paperwork gets put in place. East Hampton Town officials say the plan is to begin parking preparations in July.***The bodies of two missing fishermen who both apparently drowned after falling out of a kayak were found in western Shinnecock Bay early yesterday morning.Southampton Town Police have identified the men as Daniel Villa, 25, of Southampton and Juan Carlos Penaranda, 43, of Quogue.As posted on 27east.com, the pair had ventured out together on a two-man kayak from the south pier of the old Ponquogue Bridge at about 8 p.m. Tuesday night to go fishing. They had paddled west into Shinnecock Bay from the old bridge pier, a popular area for striped bass fishing.Police were notified at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday by concerned family members that the men had not...