Header images: Amityville Village Hall — Abductive, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 · NY Route 110 at NY 109 — Doug Kerr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Southern State Parkway entrance — Dougtone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

By I Love Babylon · Week of August 30 – September 5, 2026

Amityville called off its varsity football season before the first snap, citing the number of players already hurt. A woman was killed crossing Route 110 in East Farmingdale, and four days later a man was critically injured walking on Sunrise Highway in West Babylon. And a Lindenhurst driver admitted in court that he was doing 121 miles an hour on the Southern State when he killed a West Babylon man. Here’s everything worth knowing from across the Town of Babylon — the big stories up top, quick hits below.

Jump to a story:
Amityville Calls Off Its Varsity Football Season •
A Woman Killed Crossing Route 110 •
121 MPH, and a Guilty Plea •
The Geiger Park Turtle Has Died •
A Car Through the Front Door in Deer Park •
Chick-fil-A Is Not Coming to West Babylon •
64 Rentals Planned on Former Church Land •
Two Babylon Schools Earn National PTA Honors •
Deer Park Opens the Year •
The Q31 Film Festival Returns •
Quick Hits •
Coming Up •
Remembering Our Neighbors •
What to Watch Next

TOP STORY · AMITYVILLE · SEPTEMBER 1

Amityville Calls Off Its Varsity Football Season Before It Starts

The Amityville Union Free School District has cancelled varsity football for the 2026–27 school year. The reason the district gave News 12 was injuries — too many of them, on a roster too thin to absorb them. The junior varsity season goes ahead as scheduled.

In a letter to the community, Superintendent of Schools Gina Talbert wrote that fielding a varsity squad “without sufficient upperclassman depth creates unnecessary safety risks for younger athletes,” and that the decision “centers entirely on student-athlete safety and long-term program health.” The district did not say how many players were hurt or how badly.

The part that stings is at the end of the letter. State and league rules bar seniors from playing at the JV level, so Amityville’s three senior football players have no season at all. Talbert said the district is “actively working to support these young men through leadership roles within the program.” Amityville is the third Long Island school to cancel varsity football this season, after Port Jefferson and Holy Trinity.

Sources: News 12 → · News 12 →

PUBLIC SAFETY · EAST FARMINGDALE · AUGUST 29

A Woman Was Killed Crossing Route 110 at Conklin Street

Suffolk County police have identified the woman struck and killed while crossing Route 110 in East Farmingdale on Saturday night as Meghann Jones, 43. She was walking west across Route 110 at Conklin Street at about 8:30 p.m. when she was hit by a southbound 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

Jones was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where she was pronounced dead. Police said she was crossing where there is no crosswalk and stepped in front of the vehicle, and that the driver — a 30-year-old Farmingdale man, who was not hurt — will not be charged. The car was impounded for a safety check. Detectives ask anyone with information to call the First Squad at 631-854-8152.

It was not the only one. Four days later, on the night of Tuesday, September 1, a man walking in the eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway in West Babylon, between Exits 37 and 38, was struck by a 2014 Kia Optima and critically injured. He was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital; his name has not been released. The driver, Rosemarie Grispino, 50, of East Islip, was not hurt. Two pedestrians struck on Town roads in four days is worth the Town’s attention.

Sources: Newsday → · Patch → · Greater Long Island → · Greater Long Island → · News 12 →

COURTS · LINDENHURST & WEST BABYLON · SEPTEMBER 4

121 MPH on the Southern State, and a Guilty Plea Two Years Later

Felix Pantaleon, 24, of Lindenhurst pleaded guilty on Friday to second-degree manslaughter and a string of other charges in the crash that killed Reynaldo Collado, 49, of West Babylon. Both men are from the Town of Babylon. The crash happened on the Southern State Parkway in North Babylon at about 10:30 p.m. on September 22, 2024.

The number at the center of the case came from the car itself. The event data recorder in Pantaleon’s 2014 Honda Civic showed he was travelling roughly 121 miles per hour. Prosecutors said he cut off other drivers and weaved between lanes before striking the rear of Collado’s 2009 Honda CR-V. Both cars left the roadway; Collado was pronounced dead at the scene. One passenger suffered a fractured vertebra and pelvis and needed treatment at a rehabilitation facility, and three other people in the CR-V were injured. Before the crash, Pantaleon had been using his phone to record himself driving.

He pleaded before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, three counts of third-degree assault and reckless driving. He is due back in court October 23 and is expected to be sentenced to four to 12 years. “Vehicles become lethal weapons in the hands of those who treat them like toys,” District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Sources: Patch → · Newsday → · Daily Voice → · LI Life & Politics →

FOLLOW-UP · DEER PARK · SEPTEMBER 1

The Turtle Found Caged at Geiger Park Has Died, and the Reward Is Now $3,000

We wrote last week about the yellow-bellied slider that Town of Babylon park rangers pulled from Geiger Park Lake on August 23 — zip-tied inside a submerged cage, with a fishhook lodged in its mouth. The rangers had gone to the park on a complaint about e-bikes. The turtle survived the rescue and was taken to West Islip Veterinary Hospital, where Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross described it as “lively.”

It has since died. The SPCA announced the death on Monday and raised its reward from $2,000 to $3,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The organisation did not say when the turtle died or what killed it. Gross has said he believes whoever tethered it underwater meant to kill it, and that in his years as chief he had never seen a case like it. Pat Valusek, chairperson of the New York State Humane Association, has added her group’s support to the search.

The case has travelled well past Deer Park — PEOPLE picked it up, and a national petition is circulating. If you were at the lake on August 23, the SPCA wants to hear from you at 631-382-7722.

Sources: Patch → · News 12 → · PEOPLE → · Petition →

CRIME · DEER PARK · AUGUST 30

A Car Came Through the Front Door of a Deer Park House at 4:45 in the Morning

An Amityville man has been charged after police said he drove a vehicle into a Deer Park home before dawn on Sunday. Matthew Troche, 19, was heading south on Cayuga Avenue when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a house on Nicholls Road at about 4:45 a.m., Suffolk County police said. Nobody inside the home was hurt. The homeowners told News 12 they woke to find a car in their living room.

Troche was treated at a hospital and released. Police said that during the investigation officers found him in possession of a handgun and a high-capacity magazine. He was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs and with second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and was held overnight at the Third Precinct for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip.

Sources: Patch → · News 12 → · News 12 →

BUSINESS · WEST BABYLON · SEPTEMBER 4

After Four Years, Chick-fil-A Is Not Coming to West Babylon

The long-running question about the Chick-fil-A at the Great South Bay Shopping Center finally has an answer, and it is no. The company confirmed to Greater Long Island that it is no longer moving forward at 805 Montauk Highway, ending a proposal that had been in front of the Town of Babylon for more than four years.

The Babylon Town Planning Board first approved the plan in April 2022 — a 5,000-square-foot restaurant on the pad site that used to hold a Payless shoe store — and unanimously approved a modified, expanded site plan in September 2025. “We would very much like to have more restaurants in West Babylon, but we have no new locations to confirm at this time,” the company said. The Bay Shore location, in the vacant TGI Fridays at South Shore Mall, is still going ahead.

Sources: Greater Long Island →

DEVELOPMENT · WYANDANCH · SEPTEMBER 4

64 Duplex Rentals Are Planned in Wyandanch on Former Church Land

Developers are moving ahead with 64 duplex-style rental units on a wooded three-and-a-half-acre lot near the corner of Patton Avenue and Straight Path, part of which was once owned by the First Church of Wyandanch Ministries. The units are two-bedroom rentals with garages, about a quarter-mile from the church.

Bridgehampton Equities, a Southampton investment firm, and Rabo Patton Developers LLC received site plan approval from the Town of Babylon in late August. CEO Jason Zimmerman said he expects approval to begin clearing land this fall, with construction starting early next year. The Town of Babylon Industrial Development Agency has given preliminary approval to a package of tax benefits, which the IDA said will deliver much-needed housing.

Zimmerman pointed to what has already been built nearby — about 600 mixed-income apartments at Wyandanch Village, roughly a mile north by the LIRR station — as the reason he was willing to build here.

Sources: Newsday →

SCHOOLS · BABYLON VILLAGE · SEPTEMBER 3

Two Babylon Schools Are Named National PTA Schools of Excellence

Babylon Elementary School and Babylon Memorial Grade School have both earned the National PTA’s 2025–27 School of Excellence designation, a two-year recognition of the work schools and their PTAs do together to build family-school partnerships. Earning it takes a year: gathering feedback from the school community, building an action plan from what comes back, and measuring whether it worked.

Three hundred and thirty schools nationwide received the designation this cycle. Thirty-two are in New York, 21 on Long Island, and 10 in Suffolk County — two of them here. “This recognition is a testament to the strength of our Babylon community,” said Babylon K–6 PTA President Anca Radoi.

Sources: Patch →

SCHOOLS · DEER PARK · SEPTEMBER 1–4

Deer Park Opens the Year With Two Words: Make It Matter

Deer Park students went back this week, and Superintendent James Cummings set the tone for staff first. At Superintendent’s Conference Day on September 1 he introduced the district’s 2026–27 theme, “Make It Matter,” built around instruction, safety and school culture, along with updates on summer programs, districtwide projects and staff training. Teachers and administrators started the day with breakfast in the newly renovated Deer Park High School cafeteria.

The district also has a little more to work with. Assemblyman Keith P. Brown secured $60,000 in state Bullet Aid funding for peer mentoring — $30,000 each for Deer Park and Huntington high schools — to support student mentorship, peer support and leadership development.

Sources: Patch → · Patch → · TBR News Media →

ARTS · WYANDANCH · SEPTEMBER 3

The Q31 Film Festival Returns to Wyandanch Plaza

The Q31 Film Festival is coming back to Wyandanch Plaza. This year’s programme includes a panel discussion titled “Digital Diaspora: Caribbean & Latinx Creators Rewriting the Rules.” Long Island Business News has the announcement; we were not able to reach the full listing before publishing, so check the festival’s own channels for dates and times.

Sources: Long Island Business News →

Quick Hits

  • A Copiague man is charged with depositing about $66,000 in fraudulent checks at two Nassau banks. Richard Almonte, 37, was arrested Tuesday over checks allegedly cashed at a Capital One on Gulls Cove in Plandome Manor on January 7 and at Four Leaf Federal Credit Union on Grand Avenue in Baldwin on January 29, Nassau County police said. He faces two counts of grand larceny, attempted grand larceny and criminal possession of a forged instrument, and was to be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead. News 12 →
  • A West Babylon man is one of two charged in the theft of a Flock camera in Syosset. Police traced the vehicle to Third Street in West Babylon and charged Evren Daldal, 23, of West Babylon and Dayton Schell, 22, of Ronkonkoma. News 12 → · Jericho News Journal → · LI Life & Politics →
  • Swimming was advised against at three Town beaches after heavy rain. Suffolk health officials issued a rainfall advisory for Amityville Village Beach, Tanner Park in Copiague and Venetian Shores Beach in West Babylon on September 2, because bacteria levels can exceed state standards after stormwater runoff. It was expected to lift at 7 a.m. the next morning. Patch →
  • Expect overnight lane closures on westbound Sunrise Highway through the Town. The state has closures scheduled weeknights on westbound Sunrise Highway in the Town of Babylon, along with the Wantagh State Parkway in the Town of Hempstead. LongIsland.com →
  • The Deer Park house that lights up now has a name behind it. James Hentschel, 48, of Namleps Lane has spent up to $5,000 on programmable lights and turns his house into a rotating canvas — holidays, the 9/11 anniversary, and most recently a pink-and-purple Dolly Parton tribute. “I was always into lights,” he told Patch. “My first car, I had lights. My first house, I bought lights.” Patch →
  • A Wyandanch woman was charged with drunk driving in Southampton. Southampton Town Police said Shatia Scott, 32, was stopped on August 30 and charged with driving while intoxicated on a suspended licence, with swapped plates and no registration or insurance. LongIsland.com →
  • Around the Town, in brief: an Amityville player helped Farmingdale State hold off CCNY in volleyball (details →); Lindenhurst’s Julia Rebich, a Lindenhurst High graduate, is a senior forward on the Farmingdale State women’s soccer roster (details →); an Amityville native is among those in the Long Island Nets G League tryout (details →); and Tiarra Poke of North Babylon, a first-year biology student, was one of the new faces quoted in St. John’s move-in weekend coverage (details →).

Coming Up in and Around Babylon

  • “Beyond the Break” closes today — the group exhibition at the Christensen Gallery in Babylon Village honouring Bunger Surf Shop and its founder Charlie Bunger, with work by 28 artists, comes down September 5. Bunger has been at the heart of Babylon Village for more than 60 years; Charlie founded the Bunger Surf Team and the East Coast Surfing Championship, first held at Gilgo Beach in 1962. “Babylon has such a rich surf culture,” said gallery owner and curator Theresa Christensen. Fire Island News →
  • Felix Pantaleon returns to court October 23 for sentencing in the Southern State crash.
  • The wrong-way Deer Park case is sentenced October 30 — the guilty plea we covered last week.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Don’t miss our latest events roundup — your guide to festivals, live music, markets and family fun across the Town of Babylon.
See this weekend’s events →

Remembering Our Neighbors

We take a moment to remember neighbors whose obituaries were published or shared this week. Our thoughts are with their families and friends.

One name this week belongs to the Town itself. Bessie Lowe, of Amityville, died of heart failure on August 7 at 71. She was born in Livingston, Alabama in 1955 and moved to Amityville in the early 1980s. She worked for the Town of Babylon’s Department of Human Services, where she prepared food donations, scheduled HEAP and Project Warmth intake appointments, and coordinated the department’s food pantry, its Thanksgiving baskets and the Christmas programme that has Town staff adopt a family. She earned her bachelor’s degree at St. Joseph’s in 2022 and her master’s in 2024, at 69. “She made it her mission to assist anyone who walked through the doors,” said her niece Jovonna Rodriguez, of Amityville. Her supervisor, Madeline Quintyne of North Babylon, called her “my friend, my sister friend, my co-worker.” Newsday →

What Residents Should Watch Next

The Amityville football decision is the one with the most unfinished business in it. The district has not said how many players were injured or how, and it has three seniors with no season and a promise to find them something. Whether that promise turns into anything concrete is a fair question for the next board meeting. On the roads, two pedestrians were struck in four days — one killed on Route 110 at Conklin, one critically hurt on Sunrise Highway — and both are state roads, which means any fix runs through Albany, not Town Hall. Pantaleon is sentenced October 23 and the wrong-way Deer Park case on October 30. And the Geiger Park cruelty case is now a death investigation with a $3,000 reward on it; the SPCA is still asking anyone who was at the lake on August 23 to call 631-382-7722.

Babylon Local

ARE YOU A BABYLON LOCAL ICON?

Two questions.

1. Do you serve the Town of Babylon area?
2. Are you rated 4 stars or above on Google?

If you said yes to both, you belong on Babylon Local — and you may already be on it.
The directory holds 1,177 businesses across the Town of
Babylon. No Google profile yet? Reach out anyway — happy to help you set one up.

One hundred of them will carry the Founding Icon badge — the upgraded listing with your
photos, reviews, Google map, events, video, and an AI assistant answering questions about your
business around the clock. Founding pricing is open now, steps up twice before it is gone, and
the package gets smaller each time.

The price goes up. The package gets smaller. This is the last weekend of founding pricing — it ends
Labor Day, Monday September 7 at 11:59 PM.


See What Is Included →

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— ILoveBabylon.com ·
Amityville · Babylon Village · Copiague · Deer Park · East Farmingdale ·
Lindenhurst · North Babylon · West Babylon · Wyandanch · Wheatley Heights ·
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