Week in Review: Water & Empathy

Caravan of Empathy, ICE Concerns, Sustainability Tips & a Fresh Galette

Author

Beth Young
August 03, 2025

Welcome to the East End Beacon’s Week in Review!

Good Works Edition

A Caravan of Empathy Carries Message of Support for Immigrant Workers

Rev. Richard Witt, Executive Director of Rural & Migrant Ministry, discusses the fears immigrant workers are facing as immigration crackdowns spread across New York.

Rural & Migrant Ministry, a fait-led non-profit that provides support to immigrants working throughout New York State, kicked off a statewide "Caravan of Empathy" on the East End on Saturday, leading an ever-shifting convoy of people concerned about the ethics behind new federal immigration enforcement practices.

Views from the Forks:

A Better Path Forward on Immigration

by Southold Town Councilman Greg Doroski

As a Police Commissioner for the Town of Southold, I want to address the recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation that took place in Greenport Village on Saturday, July 26. What we’ve learned so far presents both encouraging and troubling elements that the public deserves to understand.

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On The North Fork

Mattituck Students Urge Water Conservation

Mattituck High School Students Ryan Harned (left) and Zoe King (right) with Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski after presenting their ideas for protecting the North Fork’s water to the town’s Water Advisory Committee on July 10.

Two rising seniors at Mattituck High School are proving this summer that their voices are not just a drop in the bucket in the conversation about the future of our water supply here.

Ryan Harned and Zoe King have been working this past school year on a project to help get the word out about what people can do, on their own properties, to conserve water, in collaboration with the North Fork Environmental Council’s Southold Land Use Coordinator, Anne Murray.

On The South Fork 

Sustainable Southampton: How Little Changes Can Have A Big Impact

Every choice we make in our personal lives has a ripple effect outward, from our homes to our backyards to our neighborhood and the world.

Evan Mason, an architectural designer who serves on Southampton Town’s volunteer Sustainability Committee, has long seen this interconnectedness in her work. 

This August, with the Sustainability Committee, the Peconic Land Trust and the Mecox Bay Conservancy, she’s spearheading a forum, “Understanding Climate Change on the East End: Why It Matters and What We Can Do” at the Hampton Library, to help everyone understand the role of their homes and their choices in protecting the environment.

The Government Beat

This Week on the East End

HEARING WILL DETERMINE FUTURE OF LONG-AWAITED FIRST BAPTIST HOUSING IN RIVERHEAD

A month after New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the First Baptist Church of Riverhead had received a $1 million grant to build 80 units of affordable housing on its campus on Northville Turnpike, the Riverhead Town Board will hold an Aug. 5 public hearing on a zoning change that would allow the project to provide units that are more affordable than originally proposed.

John McAuliff

FEATURED LETTER: QUESTIONS AS RIVERHEAD READIES TO VOTE ON TOWN SQUARE DEVELOPER

To the Editor,

During the Town Board hearing on July 22, twice as many Riverhead residents spoke out against Mr. Petrocelli’s third hotel in the Riverhead Town Square.  Eleven opposed it; four had questions; and five supported it.

Suffolk County

Working Waterfront Legislation Goes to Public Hearing

Greenport, from the Harbor

A bill to allow conservation easements on “working waterfront” property goes before the Suffolk County Legislature for a public hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at the Legislature’s 6 p.m. meeting at the County Center in Riverhead. The bill is designed to help keep property that had historically been used for maritime purposes from being used for other purposes, in an attempt to protect threatened industries including aquaculture, fishing, marine repair and recreational boating. Stay tuned to eastendbeacon.com for more details early this week.

In Our Hearts

As Need for Services Grows, CAST to Celebrate 60th Anniversary

The Center for Advocacy, Support & Transformation (CAST) in Southold will celebrate 60 years of service to the North Fork and Shelter Island communities with a special 60th Anniversary Celebration & Appreciation Event on Friday, Aug. 8 from 6 to 9 p.m. at CAST headquarters at 53930 Main Road, Southold.

Editorial:

Our Environment is Our Economy

In the time we’ve been covering the East End, we can’t remember seeing residential property re-zoned outright as commercial property. 

We’ve seen planned development districts that had initially been conceived with the intent of providing a public benefit in exchange for greater development but didn’t live up to the expectation, we’ve seen the dire need for housing drive greater density of residential development and we’ve seen allowed uses of properties added and taken away as time and industry changes, but we haven’t seen a compelling argument for making residential property commercial. 

But this is now a request being seriously made by some business advocates on the North Fork, who have organized a concerted effort to cast doubt upon Southold Town’s Zoning Update project. 

PECONIC DISH

A Buttery Fresh Onion Galette

by Alison Boyd Savage

Uncured onions arrive in the farmers market in early July, and their reign is short. Within a few weeks most of the harvest will be dried to create a stronger flavored allium with its distinctive papery skin. Get them while they are still sweet and melting. Char them on the grill in a metal basket, serve sliced raw in a salad, or bake them into a delicious galette.

Our August Print Issue Is Out!

The Beacon’s August issue is now on newsstands throughout the East End. You can subscribe at the link below to get the paper delivered to your mailbox, or pick it up at the newsstands at the second link below. You’ll read much of our extended coverage in print before you find it here, and our print subscriptions support much of the work we do!

UPCOMING EVENTS

A Great Week for the Arts

Sunday, Aug. 3

Stravinsky’s “The Soldiers Tale” on Shelter Island

If you’re looking for the East End’s most underground, far-out musical event of the summer, a Sunday afternoon “classical” music performance in a high school auditorium on Shelter Island might not seem like the obvious choice, but Shelter Island Friends of Music is delivering one of the edgier music experiences of the summer on August 3 at 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 9

The Hot Jupiters on the New Suffolk Ballfield

Some hot musicians flew too close to the sun, and they will be landing on the New Suffolk Ballfield Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. with new sounds, a light sculpture and poetry. It’s free — bring a blanket and a picnic.

Aug. 7 — Aug. 10

A Sound Map of the East End

The Arts Center at Duck Creek in East Hampton presents An East End Sound Map: Cal Fish, Becca Rodriguez, and ONE LANDSCAPE, a four-day immersive installation and interactive program exploring the sonic, ecological, and narrative layers of the East End landscape

Keep Independent News on the East End

The Beacon is able to provide all of our content online free of charge thanks to support from our readers. Be a vital part of keeping our community informed!

Words

“The cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears or the sea”

— Isak Dinesen

See you next Sunday,

Beth