East End Notebook: Bicentennial Celebration, Sickness Overcome & More

NORTH FORK

Little Girl Battles Rare Disease, Community Rallies

When Maya Reilly, 7, first spiked a fever of 102.5, her mom, Dina, did what any worried mother would do -- giving her child Tylenol and Motrin and taking her to the pediatrician.

But, as Maya’s fever continued to climb, and she developed a rash across her body, Dina and her husband Dennis knew something was very wrong.

In fact, what had first seemed like the flu turned into a harrowingly critical experience as their daughter fought for her life.

Despite the fact that different pediatricians had told the Reillys to “ride it out,” and said that their daughter had a virus, questions remained.“If it was a virus, why didn’t her sister have it?” Dina Reilly asked. 

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS

UPDATED: 30-Foot Whale Washes Up in East Quogue

A 30-foot whale washed up in East Quogue, near Triton Lane, according to Southampton Trustee Eric Shultz. 

Shultz said the trustees responded after a call about the whale came into the Southampton Bay Constables office at about 7:45 on Wednesday morning.
RIVERHEAD

Civic Group Opposes Plan To Move Bus Barn To Riverside

Civic leaders in the Riverside area are raising their voices against the possibility of the Riverhead Central School District relocating a bus barn to the area.

Members of the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association drafted a letter to Riverhead School Superintendent Nancy Carney, expressing opposition to the idea of relocating the bus barn and bus storage to Riverside.

According to FRNCA president Brad Bender, the civic organization, as well as the Riverside Revitalization and Community Corporation have been working for years to revitalize the hamlet, increase the tax base, create new jobs, and alleviate severely blighted areas.

EAST HAMPTON

Amagansett School Readies To Celebrate 200 Years

The Amagansett School community is gearing up to celebrate its bicentennial.

To celebrate the 200 years since the school district was founded, a special project launched earlier this year to mark the occasion on May 8. 

Sixth graders are leading the "Then and Now" project, an introspective look at the district from its creation to the current day. "The yearlong endeavor provided students with a unique look at the past and challenged them to draw meaningful correlations between the traditions which built their community and the place they call home today," the district said on its website.

SOUTHAMPTON

Local College Student Left Marathon Route Shortly Before Bombing

After watching the elite runners pass the 25-mile marker of the Boston Marathon, Water Mill resident Zoe Strassfield headed back to the Boston University campus, where she is a student, to grab lunch — less than a half hour before two bombs detonated near the finish line. 

Strassfield said Tuesday that she was at Kenmore Square, which is 1 mile from the bombing site, cheering on the runners and clapping plastic paddles together to make noise. She passed her noisemakers to another spectator before she returned to her dorm room, which is 2 miles away from the finish line at Boylston Street, and said she does not know how that spectator fared during the attack. 

Back at her dorm, she learned of the attack and the campus was put on alert. “We received texts and emails from the Boston University police telling us to stay in our dorms, not to go outside, not to go to the marathon route.”