NEW SUFFOLK
Thank you, Legends

A significant change is taking place in New Suffolk as Legends transitions to new ownership. We all need to take a moment to thank Diane and Dennis Harkoff for the many years of fun, food and drink — not just for the New Suffolk community, but for the greater Southold Town community. Since the early 1990s, Legends has been a “locals” favorite bar, restaurant and watering hole.’

Dennis and Diane did not just serve up great food and beverages, but also created a place where one could come to relax and enjoy life. People went to Legends to meet old friends, make new friends and have fun. The Harkoffs became part of the New Suffolk community, donating prizes and gifts for many community events, sponsoring a home for the Wednesday evening sailing community and giving back when asked for the greater Southold community. 

Their Super Bowl events were always packed, as you were guaranteed to have a great time, no matter who won. Their St. Patrick’s Day celebration attracted parade participants far and wide to listen to bagpipers and enjoy the young step dancers. I wish them nothing but the best in the years ahead. To the new owners, PLEASE do not change anything about the place. Maintain the Harkoffs’ business model: welcoming everyone, providing great food at a good price and, of course, a place to watch a game or two, laugh and have fun. Legends should always be a place where “everyone knows your name.”

Be well, Diane and Dennis. Enjoy retirement and, most important, thank you for years of offering great hospitality for our community.

Dave Bergen

ORIENT
Pole patrol

I am not an expert on telephone poles but it looks to me like the leaning pole on the Orient-East Marion Causeway may be coming to the end of its life. If it goes down, until it is cleared/replaced Southold police will be unable to respond to Orient hamlet emergencies, and our emergency medical technicians will not be able to head west with ambulance. This pole is directly opposite the scene of the tragic accident in which four people lost their lives some months ago.

Edward Webb

CUTCHOGUE
Good job

Times Review Media Group’s recent piece on sex trafficking in Suffolk County is extraordinary work for a local paper. Congratulations to all involved.

Tim Wacker

CUTCHOGUE
I touched a nerve

In a letter entitled “Wrong about the Constitution,” Bob Bittner correctly notes that while I quoted the language of Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 of the Constitution, I did incorrectly cite it as the 14th Amendment. The language was correct, the citation was not. For the sake of clarity, the applicable language for this discussion reads as follows:

“Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States; but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”

What Mr. Bittner is 100% wrong about, however, is his personal interpretation of this provision to conclude that “It would … seem logical that unless the Senate convicts there is no further criminal liability.”

Donald Trump’s attorney advanced a ridiculous argument in the Court of Appeals that if Trump assassinated a political opponent, he could not be charged with a crime unless he was first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate. By the time this letter is published, I expect that the Court of Appeals will issue its decision on whether a president can commit murder with impunity, so we’ll know soon enough if three appellate judges got it right.

Barbra LaCorte, another writer to the paper, called my letter “. . . the most egregious [she’s] read in your paper.” She demands, “What I want to know from Mr. Levy is exactly what did Trump do?” Well, that’s quite an invitation. So let’s see.

How about four criminal counts that on Jan. 6, 2021, he interfered with the official process of counting electoral votes in an attempt to prevent Joe Biden from being sworn in as President? Or how about the 40 criminal charges relating to the classified documents he took and kept in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom? Or what about the 34 criminal charges in New York that he falsified business records to prevent the disclosure that he had paid off a hooker? And then there’s the attempt to interfere in the Georgia election count when he called the Secretary of State and leaned on him to “find” another 11,780 votes. (“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have … Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”)

And all this is in addition to the civil cases in which Trump stands to lose $370 million for defrauding banks and insurance companies (the fraud has already been established), and he’s been charged with abusing E. Jean Carroll and then defaming her. A jury has already ruled in her favor and awarded her $5 million. And now another jury is going to award more because Mr. Trump continues to defame Ms. Carroll.

Michael Levy

CUTCHOGUE
Tides are higher for a reason

Regarding Peter Carroll’s letter in last week’s Suffolk Times, using tide tables (not tide gauges) to evaluate sea level rise is problematic at best, and using old tide tables to compare 1824 and 1924 with today’s tides is foolhardy. The reason? The earlier tide tables cannot have anticipated the one foot of sea level rise that has occurred during the past century. Consequently, a 5-foot high tide, plus a 3-foot storm surge in 1924 might not lead to flooding. But add the one foot of sea level rise in 2024 to the same 5-foot high tide plus 3-foot storm surge and flooding might very well be the result. Add land subsidence that is occurring along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts and the resulting nuisance flooding is substantial. The question Mr. Carroll is really asking is whether or not global sea levels have actually risen. They have.

Scientists use satellite altimetry and tide gauges (that go back over two centuries) to measure absolute changes in mean (average) global sea levels and the conclusion is unequivocal. Global sea levels, and local sea levels on Long Island, have risen over the last century by +/- 1 foot. Data from NOAA’s closest tide gauge station, #8510560, Montauk, New York, confirms this fact. 

More importantly, according to both NOAA and NASA, sea level rise is accelerating primarily due to increased melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. According to NOAA: “Ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet increased seven-fold from 34 billion tons per year between 1992-2001 to 247 billion tons per year between 2012 and 2016. Antarctic ice loss nearly quadrupled from 51 billion tons per year between 1992 and 2001 to 199 billion tons per year from 2012-2016.”

As I stated in the Guest Spot, any future increase in sea levels depends on future emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Until we stop those emissions, Earth’s temperature must continue to rise, increasing the melting of polar ice sheets, and causing sea levels to rise.

John Gibbons

SOUTHOLD
Doo-doo don’ts

After seeing two plastic bags of dog feces hanging from a tree, I started paying attention on a walk through the Peconic Dunes on Soundview Avenue. In less than a mile on the trails I counted 15 plastic bags of feces thrown off the trail in the woods, under brush or in trees. Please, if you are going to go through the trouble of bagging it, take it with you. If you won’t take it out, then skip the plastic!

Rita Hagerman

Calverton
This endorsement makes no sense

The same week that Judge Kaplan instructed a jury in New York that “Mr. Trump sexually abused Ms. Carroll …” Congressman Nick LaLota said, “I endorse President Trump to be our 47th president and look forward to him cleaning up the mess that President Biden created.” I hope Mr. LaLota at least wants Mr. Trump to wash his hands before cleaning up historic low unemployment, record job creation, a 38,000-plus Dow and the lowest post-COVID inflation rate of any western industrialized nation.

Jerry Silverstein