Huntington Notebook: Cemetery Stewards Program; Chapin Honored

An online historic cemetery stewards program has been established by the Town of Huntington to enlist volunteers to report conditions of 56 historic cemeteries.  

The program calls for stewards to submit biannual status reports to describe conditions of designated historic cemeteries. Once submitted, the reports will be reviewed by town officials for maintenance purposes.

"The historic cemetery stewards program allows volunteers to play an active role in the preservation of these properties and it gives the Town of Huntington important information to help maintain them," said town board member Susan Berland, who initiated the program. "I encourage anyone looking to donate some time to a worthy cause to visit the Town of Huntington's website for more information on how to become a steward." 

Also, the announced plans for the second annual Huntington Awareness Day parade and fair scheduled for Sept. 17 as a celebration of the community's unity, diversity and solidarity. Historian Jack Abrams has been chosen as the parade's grand marshal, for the "Unity in the Community" parade.  The parade will begin in Huntington Station and run from West Hills Road to Church Street. It will end at a fairgrounds set up in the municipal parking lot between Railroad Street and Lowndes Avenue. New to the parade this year will be a Chalk Flood of street drawings and a Huntington Kinetic Sculpture Competition.

Joining officials from Long Island Cares and members of the Harry Chapin family July 16, town board members rededicated the Chapin Rainbow Stage July 16 at Heckscher Park prior to a memorial concert to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Huntington singer's death.

At a meeting last week, the town board:

Authorized the continuation of the Youth Court Program for the 2011-12 school year.

Appointed Deborah Robbins to the Public Art Advisory Committee.

Authorized the town comptroller to amend the 2011 operating budget to implement immediate, comprehensive townwide spending reductions by $609,671 in various departments to "protect its taxpayers against any additional and unforseen negative developments."

Approved a contract with the state office for People With Developmental Disabilities for funding the 2011 Young Teen Program for the Developmentally Disabled.

Appointed Theodore Lueken, Shane Polhamer, Mortimer Roberts and Naveen Shetty to the handicapped parking enforcement program.

Granted permission to the East Northport Chamber of Commerce for a sidewalk sale Sept. 9-11, 2011.

By a 4-1 vote, authorized an agreement with Renaissance Downtowns LLC to engage them as master developer with the next phase of Huntington Station's Revitalization. Board member Mark Mayoka voted against the proposal.

Authorized application to and funding from Kodak American Giveaways for a grant to print and expand the Huntington Trail Guides.

Authorized the execution of a settlement agreement and release in the matter of certain lawsuits related to methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether.