Saltaire Summery

Saltaire SummeryBy Hugh O’Brien Well, for a while the summer heat broke and the cooler breezes heralding the approach of autumn descended, before the heat made a final, defiant comeback. That golden fall hue (as it were) has made its first appearance, and the sun is creeping southward nearer and nearer the ocean, before reverting to its northerly journey on Dec. 22. Time to recap, remember and look ahead. For starters, some of the folks who brought you the Saltaire summer of 2016…The Village Administration: Mario Posillico, Donna Lyudmer, Nancy Henriksen, Georgine Posillico in Village Hall; Saltaire Board of Trustees (John Zaccaro, Alex Chefetz, Hugh O’Brien, Hillary Richard, Frank Wolf, with a special nod to Bob Cox, who did much of the prep work); Justice Court staff Frank Markus, Jarrod Bernstein, Mark Geistfeld, Liv Hempel; Maintenance staff Vern Henriksen, Larry Slack, Jimmy Wilde, Chuck Gremli, Matt Nelson; as well as the Post Misstresses Alice Whitlatch and Liv Hempel.SVFD: Bob Rittenhouse, Chief; Sgt. Chris Degni; Charlie Fagan; Jim Wilde, Sr. and Dan Coyle heading the force; Village Doctor Bob Furey; Fire and Rescue SVFC Chiefs Jim McDonald, Emily Mason, Mario Posillico, Harry Baker, officers Vern Henriksen, Carolyn Wise and Hugh O’Brien, plus incoming 1st Assistant Chief Josh Raeben, the firefighters and EMTs, and the summer’s paramedics.Lifeguards: Rich Wilde, head guard and the rest of his crew.Recreation Department: Ted and Jen Nagengast, with Art Director Kristy Green.             Library: Katelin Valente.Village Market: Patrick Adams, with Melissa Adams and Nicole Diller.The SCA (with or without the traditional extra A): Grace Corradino, Lilli Diller, Joyce Magid, Richard Montero, Robert Barber, Clare Briody, Carol Cappelletti, John Cooney, Michele Joerg, Kathy Shaw, Katelin Valente, Allison Williams, and Kathryn Corrigan Woods.The Yacht Club: Commodore Pia Notaro will send out her own note of thanks, but I want to acknowledge Dennis Sommeso, Cheryl Valente and Gillian Golub, all without prejudice.And special thanks to two longtime Village employees who retired this past year, Dennis Foley, former security chief, and Bob Chinkel, maintenance crewman and lethal eggnog specialist.Unfortunately, space constraints make it impossible to list all the other staffers, volunteers, and employees whose hard work made those nominally in charge look good. But the thanks are just as strong, and if we’ve inadvertently missed anybody, well, we’ll publish another list next May of everyone who was (justifiably) upset about not being properly recognized this summer.Notes for the coming weeks…LABOR DAY SHOW – Friday, Sept. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Yacht Club.PANCAKE BREAKFAST – Sunday, Sept. 4, starting at 8 a.m. at the firehouse.POST OFFICE – shuts for the year Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 1:30 p.m. There’s still mail and packages aplenty waiting for someone to pick them up.HALLOWEEN PARTY – Saturday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. at the Library; but keep posted for any updates.SALTAIRE MARKET – open daily through Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 10; please note reduced store hours after Labor Day.CAMP and LIBRARY programs end by or before Labor Day. Dr. Bob will keep regular office hours through Thursday, Sept. 15, but he’ll be around into October to respond to local pandemics.REFUSE COLLECTION reverts to Mondays only (Tuesdays on holiday weekends) starting Monday, Sept. 12. Meanwhile, reduced staffing or not, the job of running, maintaining, patrolling and keeping the physical plant as well as physical residents in proper working order goes on, 365 days a year, or 366 in 2016. Summer operations don’t appear by magic; it’s the long, hard work throughout the cold and dark of the lonely winter out here that makes sure your summer goes as smoothly as possible. Hence the thanks due those and others named above.Sport! Deadlines and space limitations, respectively, make it impossible for us to list the winners of the Sand Castle contest and Jogathon, but we hear they’ll be posted on the SCA website, so due recognition should be forthcoming. But heartiest congratulations to everybody. Softball play-offs are coming Labor Day weekend. And, yay! Ralph Perlberger has come through with the Soccer Cup results: Team Blue defeated Team Orange. Yes, a painful loss for a Hollander to accept, but Ralph took it in good grace, and he thanks the players, refs and organizers for another successful tournament…with 21 percent fewer ambulance calls this year!Sadly, we have to take a moment to remember those who’ve left us over the past year…Christel Hann, author, naturalist, linguist, all-round lovely person; Peter Notaro, every inch a true gentleman, a genuinely good and kind man; Peter Banta, longtime neighbor and village devotee; Hilary Lipsitz, a man of grace, humor and the sweetest of natures; Michael Steinmetz, family man and friend who honored our community. Already their loss is felt.We sign off with the answers to last week’s pop pol quiz. Apparently it did create some chatter, so politics served one constructive purpose this summer.ONE: The last time both presidential nominees hailed from the same state was 1944 – Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas E. Dewey. Then as now it was New York, and FDR carried it handily.TWO: So far the only president born in NYC was Teddy Roosevelt. Let’s not undermine civic pride now.THREE: It was in 1856 – 160 years ago – that one elected Democratic president last succeeded another – those illustrious chief executives Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) and James Buchanan (1857-1861). A repeat is overdue.FOUR: Last president with a beard, Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893). Last candidate with a beard, Charles Evans Hughes (1916). Although Buchanan reportedly had a “beard.”FIVE: The last election in which all four national nominees were born in different states than they represented was actually only 2008: Obama (Hawaii/Illinois), Biden (Pennsylvania/Delaware), McCain (Panama Canal Zone/Arizona), Palin (Idaho/Alaska). We checked their birth certificates.SIX: Nineteen of 43 presidents never reached the ages Hillary or Donald will be next Jan. 20. (Well, 42; we’ll have to see about Obama, who’s 55…according to his birth certificate.) Kids are taking over everything.So…. Have a happy winter and vote, well, conscientiously. Jusq’a l’année prochaine, amid the rubble if need be.