RiverheadLOCAL

Suffolk County Community College is moving to purchase the downtown Riverhead building that houses its Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center, a major institutional presence on Main Street that the college has leased for nearly two decades. The college’s Board of Trustees on Thursday authorized the college president or a designee to negotiate and execute a purchase-and-sale agreement for the approximately 30,000-square-foot building at 20 East Main Street.

Riverhead school board members sharply rebuked members of the Town Board Wednesday night, accusing town officials of making false statements, politicizing negotiations and misrepresenting the school district’s financial commitment to the school resource officer program. Five school board members spoke during the board’s Sept. 16 meeting. None identified by name the town officials they criticized.

Alfred Bruce Madsen of East Quogue died Sept. 14, 2026, at Stony Brook University Hospital. He was 78 years old. Born July 6, 1948, in Bay Shore, he was the son of Alfred and Leona Madsen. He graduated from West Islip High School in 1966 and served in the Coast Guard from 1972 to 1978. He married Judith Dawley on April 1, 1980, in Hampton Bays. He worked as a boat mechanic at Modern Yachts in Hampton Bays. His hobbies and interests included fishing and leatherwork.

A long-discussed effort to restore the Wading River Duck Ponds is moving into the engineering phase after the Riverhead Town Board approved funding and awarded a contract for an assessment of the ponds Tuesday. The board unanimously appropriated $40,000 from the town’s general fund balance to cover Riverhead’s share of the engineering work. It also awarded a contract to M&J Engineering for an assessment costing no more than $78,856.

By law, all real property in a town is to be assessed at a uniform percent of value. In 1980, the Town of Riverhead performed a reassessment and put all assessments at 100% of market value. Because the town has not performed subsequent updates, our uniform percent of value this year is down to 7.73% of market value. What a difference 46 years makes. However, not all properties appreciate and depreciate at the same rates.

Fred J. Gallo Jr. of Riverhead died Sept. 13, 2026. He was 79 years old. Born April 9, 1947, he was known as “Boo Boo,” his family said. He was a business owner, inventor, mechanic and builder, and was once called “the Conch King” by The New York Times. In his youth, he was a stock car driver and later became the owner and builder of a stock car; in 1978, his car, the 91, driven by his friend Frederick “Spider” Ligon, won the Riverhead Raceway bomber division.

The Riverhead Town Board on Tuesday tabled a resolution authorizing Supervisor Jerry Halpin to sign a renewed agreement with the Riverhead Central School District for two school resource officers, prolonging a dispute over who should pay for police officers assigned to the district’s high school and middle school. The vote to table the resolution was unanimous.

Benedict M. Santacroce of Westmoreland, New Hampshire, died Sept. 12, 2026, surrounded by family. He was 26 years old. Born Jan. 14, 2000, at home in Southold, he was the son of Lorraine M. (Doskoez) and James R. Santacroce and was one of 10 children. A Southold native, he later lived in Sullivan County and Coos County, New Hampshire, before settling in Cheshire County.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and the Riverhead Town Police Department are asking for the public’s help to identify and locate a man they say took unlawful photos of a woman at a Riverhead store last month. Police said a man used his cellphone to take photos under a woman’s dress at Walmart, located at 1890 Old Country Road, on Aug. 7 at approximately 7:30 p.m. Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest.

New York students would no longer have to pass Regents exams to graduate from high school beginning in 2028, under a major change approved Monday by the State Board of Regents. The exams themselves are not going away. Students will still take state tests, and Regents exams may still be used to show mastery of a subject or earn special seals and endorsements. But passing a set of Regents exams would no longer be required to receive a high school diploma.