Cherry Grove: Recent Break-Ins

Click on this picture to view the larger version. Kudos to Charlie Isola for keeping the community informed and for the good advice on what to do if you see something suspicious. I spoke with another police officer yesterday. They have someone in custody but they can't discuss the details yet. Let's hope they got the culprit. Still, we need to come together as a community and institute some sort of local crime prevention program, such as a community watch.

Jim

A Stormy Day...And Some Other Thoughts

The early ferry wasn't very full on our trip over to America (Long Island) on Wednesday. The weather was threatening and before long the rains came. The storm hit hard on Long Island. Many roads were flooded. I went to one store, Best Buy in Patchogue, only to find out that they weren't sure they would even open because of the severity of the storm. We did our chores and returned to Cherry Grove on the 11:30 AM boat.

The freight boat on its way over to the Grove loaded with supplies.

Another freight boat containing construction supplies, and the garbage scow leaving the Pines harbor.

I spoke with a Suffolk County Police Officer late yesterday afternoon. I asked him if the police had apprehended any of the bad guys who are responsible for the recent crime spree in The Grove. He told me that they caught one individual, but he did not elaborate and apparently did not know what particular crime(s) that this individual was charged with.

Have you been following the free fall of the American dollar vs. European currencies? The last time we were in London a couple of years ago, we felt the pain of the unfavorable exchange rate at that time. It's worse now, with the dollar worth only about 1/2 a British Pound. Ouch!

Jim

Cherry Grove - Party Town?

Yesterday was just about as perfect of a day as you can get here in Cherry Grove. It was sunny and warm, not too windy, and the water has warmed up to about 70 degrees, still too cool for the Florida "snow birds," but nice enough for me to spend three long sessions body surfing in the afternoon. Later, our little family (me, Dan, and the pets Bradley the dog and Nikko the cat) enjoyed cocktails on our roof deck. It was a beautiful evening. I took these pictures of the Grove from the deck.

On the down side, we continued to get reports of the burglaries and other unpleasant incidents that have taken place recently on the island. It's summertime and the popularity of the Grove as a "party-hardy" adult resort brings with it a certain element that creates problems requiring the presence of law enforcement. On Monday, a police helicopter circled the community while police on foot searched for suspects in a burglary. Some residents feel as though in summer the Grove morphs into a party town where anything goes. We have only about 300 homes here, yet we have SEVEN bars! We seem to lack the resolve as a community to organize and take back our town from the wild bar/party set that controls it in summer. One example of how out of control this has been is the noise problem that has existed here for years. Loud music is clearly audible in much of the community well into the wee hours most summer nights. There has been a lot of talk about it year after year, but nothing much has been done to control the problem. Another resident assigns the blame for this state of affairs as follows::

I blame our local civic organizations who would rather address raising
money and pretend that everything is ok than confront real issues and make waves. Were these disturbing recent events even given lip service at last Sunday's CGCAI/CGPOA (community association) meeting? I haven't heard that they were. Probably too busy dishing out the "I'm okay, you're okay bullshit."

That's a pretty damning assessment, but it is well past time that the community stands up for itself. Over a year ago I sent an email to the president of the community association with the following suggestion (among others):

12. Organize a town watch in conjunction with the Suffolk County Police to help
address pressing community concerns such as noise pollution.

I have noticed that another community on the Island, Ocean Beach, has some sort of auxiliary town youth corps that appears to serve a function similar to a town watch. Why not try this approach in The Grove?

Jim