Mr. Zaleski played Santa for the fifth straight year with the hope of helping every student in need receive a gift during the holiday season. As a 31-year member of Riverhead’s highway department, Mr. Zaleski said he is happy to use his longtime municipal status as a platform to give back to those in need. He was reelected highway superintendent this November.

“It’s really a good thing,” Mr. Zaleski said. “And I’m very humbled, because every year it grows more and more.”

His son Ryan attended school in Riverhead, and Roanoke Avenue Elementary principal Thomas Payton left an indelible mark on Mr. Zaleski as an attentive school administrator. 

“Mr. Payton would literally wait for my son and walk him in to school every day,” Mr. Zaleski said. “So I never forgot something like that.”

The principal keeps a list of local children in need throughout Riverhead’s grade schools—including Aquebogue, Riley Avenue, Roanoke Avenue and Phillips Avenue—and helps distribute the toys throughout the district. 

“[They] make sure all of the children in need get something,” Mr. Zaleski said. 

Roanoke Avenue Elementary School assistant principal Andrea Lopez told the Riverhead News-Review the school is “extremely grateful” for Mr. Zaleski’s generosity. When dropping off toys Monday afternoon, Ms. Lopez couldn’t help but notice the big smile on Mr. Zaleski’s face.

“Receiving all of this for our families and our parents, it really makes their holiday,” she said. “It’s the most gracious thing that he could do. You know things are tight nowadays, and it lifts up the spirits of everybody and makes that bridge between our school and the community that much tighter.”

When collecting the toys, Mr. Zaleski asks that people donate a variety of toys for students in grades 1 through 4—dolls, trucks, board games, paint sets, you name it. This year, roughly 500 toys were donated by community members with the help of Riverhead Moose Lodge 1742, All Suffolk Car Clubs and Fink’s Country Farm.

The toy donation is accompanied by an annual 5K that Mr. Zaleski runs—something residents are likely familiar with from his years of running in town. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Zaleski ran a 5K to support healthcare workers and has run several others in support of local food banks since. 

Mr. Zaleski consistently goes above and beyond for his community, with over a decade of educational, interactive elementary school visits displaying highway department equipment like snow plows and dump trucks. His efforts earned him and the Riverhead Highway Department the Riverhead News-Review’s 2024 Public Servant of the Year award. 

“It’s just all ‘do good to feel good,’” Mr. Zaleski said of his efforts. “That’s basically my motto.”

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Emergency room doctors taught more than 60 students key skills like splinting, stitching, intubation and CPR during the workshop.

“It is really important to build relationships when pursuing medicine, and these students will have started to build those relationships,” SBU Division of Health, Equity and Advocacy senior administrative assistant Lauren Rozmus said in a press release.

The medical personnel work with the hospital’s Division of Health, Equity and Advocacy with the goal of improving care in the emergency room for all patients. The division’s outreach to school districts like Shoreham-Wading River builds community partnerships and provides opportunities for students of various economic standing to take advantage of being able to build relationships with medical personnel in the field.

The hospitals and ambulatory health services industries accounted for a combined 175,500 jobs in the Long Island Region in 2023, according to the New York State Department of Labor. Median wages in those fields ranged from $38,629 for home and personal care aides to $165,722 for medical and health services managers in 2023.

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In a 67-page Final Scope released Monday, Dec. 1, SCWA outlined the environmental review for the two-phase, 12-mile project — which is estimated to cost $35 million for the first phase alone. The document sets the stage for a Draft Environmental Impact Statement expected by late January, SCWA communications director Daniel Dubois told Riverhead News Review.

“Following its release, we will hold public hearings to take comments,” Mr. Dubois said. “Once that process is complete, the SCWA Board will make a final determination on the project’s environmental impact.”

The move comes two months after Riverhead’s five-member Town Board voted unanimously that SCWA must comply with local land-use regulations for the 8.15-mile pipeline that would run through town but provide no water service to Riverhead residents.

SCWA conducted its own legal review, known as a Monroe Balancing Test, and reached the opposite conclusion, claiming immunity as a state-created authority.

Now Southold wants its own review of whether the pipeline project should be exempt from local regulations. During discussion at the Town Board’s Tuesday, Dec. 2, work session, officials said they would conduct a Monroe Balancing Test — a legal standard that weighs whether regional projects can override local control.

“I think it’s very important that we have that here,” Southold Councilwoman Jill Doherty said.

The town is determining when it will hold the Monroe Balancing Test, which would allow local experts and residents to voice their concerns about the project.

The pipeline is intended to bolster drinking water supplies for Southold, which the Final Scope says faces a “limited supply of potable drinking water” and local water sources “subject to saltwater intrusion.”

If approved following environmental review, construction could take four years, with the pipeline expected to be operational by 2030.

In October, the feud over the pipeline escalated when SCWA attorney Richard Finkel argued the not-for-profit agency should be immune from local regulation because “if the authority was bound by local land-use regulations in each [municipality it serves], it would be subject to the regulations of all 43 municipalities in which it operates.” 

Riverhead officials countered that the town would shoulder construction impacts — particularly along Sound Avenue, a major agricultural and tourism corridor. The pipeline would carry water from Flanders wells through Riverhead to Southold customers. 

“You design it, you approve it, and you do it and step all over Riverhead while doing it, with no benefit to us whatsoever,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said at an October hearing. 

Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said he was reviewing the pipeline Final Scope and would respond after completing his analysis when contacted by Riverhead News Review.

In October, Mr. Howard argued that Riverhead should have the authority to conduct the Monroe Balancing Test, saying the host community — not the entity seeking immunity — should determine whether local regulations apply.

Environmental planning firm Nelson Pope Voorhis prepared the Final Scope based on comments from three public scoping sessions held in June and on written comments submitted through August. The firm will now conduct the environmental analysis.

Pipeline construction plans

Phase one would run 8.15 miles from Riverside and Flanders in Southampton to the Riverhead-Southold town line in Jamesport and Laurel, supplying up to 6,000 gallons per minute to approximately 9,500 Southold customers, according to SCWA documents.

No new wells would be drilled. SCWA would draw from excess capacity in its South Shore Low Zone, according to the Final Scope. A booster station would be built on SCWA property on Pier Avenue in the Jamesport area.

The pipeline would be installed using two methods: approximately 0.63 miles by directional drilling beneath the Peconic River, the Long Island Rail Road and Main Road, with the remaining 7.52 miles installed by open-cut trenching.

The daily installation rate for trenched sections is estimated to be 300 to 400 feet per day, and up to 600 feet per day or more on long stretches within grassed shoulder areas such as along sections of Cross River Drive.

An alternate route could run north from the Flanders Road and Cross Island Drive intersection, then north to the Cross River Drive and Main Road intersection, and east along Main Road to the Franklinville Road intersection in Laurel, connecting to an existing SCWA main.

Phase two would extend existing water infrastructure 3.79 miles from East Marion to Orient. SCWA says it is not currently planning the extension and included it only to avoid “segmentation” violations under state law. No cost estimate for the second phase was available.

Southold Councilman Brian Mealy said at the Dec. 2 meeting that data from an ongoing U.S. Geological Survey study on the aquifer should be included in the pipeline environmental review.

In October, Southold Councilman Greg Doroski questioned whether SCWA was overstating the water crisis. Mr. Doroski — who won election to the county Legislature last month and will leave the Town Board in January — asked whether “the urgency created by the SCWA in moving this proposal forward is artificially created.”

Environmental review process

Throughout the environmental review, consultants will evaluate potential impacts, including land disturbance from construction, coastal habitat and wildlife effects, surface water quality, groundwater supply capacity, traffic safety, and proximity to schools and hospitals.

The Final Scope notes that “the Towns of Riverhead and Southold have raised concerns that the proposed action may induce secondary development or will be growth inducing.”

Impacts such as potential property value increases near public water are considered “out of scope for an environmental review,” according to the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) handbook.

An analysis of how the project would affect future development at EPCAL in Calverton was also determined to be outside the review scope and is “not expected to be significantly or adversely impacted.”

SCWA and other agencies with permitting authority will be consulted on mitigation options, the Final Scope states.

The draft impact statement, beyond the review of the proposed project, potential impacts and alternative routes, will assist in SCWA’s “final determination of impact and the appropriateness of moving forward with the project.”

The Final Scope determined that water conservation programs alone, like Southold’s irrigation legislation passed in July modeled after an SCWA program, would not achieve the project’s goals of bringing potable water to the North Fork.

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Two barns caught fire at the farm at 4976 Sound Ave. around 5 p.m., though firefighters were able to save one, according to Riverhead Fire Department Chief Piotr Kurzyna. One of the destroyed barns housed pigs and chickens.

“I literally drove here at 4:35, and by five the building was on fire. 
So, I drove through here. I didn’t see anything, nothing to indicate there was any problems,” Laura Wells, the owner of the farm, told Riverhead News-Review on Thursday, Nov. 13.

“I was talking to my grandson. He’d come over to get a package from our porch. 
I walked outside with him, and then I went back in the house. I got word that there was a fire, came back and the yard was full of smoke. I was literally outside not even two minutes before that, and then all of a sudden, there was smoke everywhere.”

The Wells family has operated the farm since 1661, making it Riverhead’s oldest farming family.

The Riverhead Police Department said they responded to the fire and found a portion of one barn fully engulfed in flames.

With the assistance of the Wells family, uniformed officers entered the barn and helped multiple animals to safety. Firefighters at the farm were reportedly seen chasing pigs out of the barn and into pens to save them.

“It was difficult to get the animals out, especially when they were afraid,” Chief Kurzyna told Riverhead News-Review last Thursday afternoon. Smoke also made it difficult to get the animals out, he added.

All of the chickens in the barn were killed, as well as two of the 20 pigs, Ms. Wells said. None of the lambs on site were in the barn.

A Riverhead police officer and Ms. Wells’ two granddaughters were treated on site for smoke inhalation and transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center for further care, according to officials and Ms. Wells.

“My granddaughters ended up in the ER. 
They had smoke inhalation. They were helping get the pigs out. I believe [there was also] a police officer, but they say he’s doing fine,” she said. 


The officer was treated and released from the hospital, Riverhead Police Department Chief Ed Frost said.

The pigs have been secured together in an outdoor pen since last week. Their behavior appears normal, and they are eating and drinking.

“The pigs are doing very well. There’s one that has a small burn on the backside. They will probably bring somebody in to have to look at that. As far I can tell, it’s just the one pig,” Ms. Wells said. “But they’re doing well, surprisingly. Being outside probably helped them, with the fresh air.” 

According to Ms. Wells, more animals are housed in these barns during the summer, but now the season is winding down.

“I would like to thank all the first responders who came to our place to help with the barns that caught fire. Also, I would like to thank those who helped save as many animals as possible and get them out of the building and into an outside pen where they could get fresh air and be tended to by our personnel,” Eric Wells Sr. wrote on Facebook. “I would also like to thank Stan Niegocki of Niegocki Farms for his help in tending to the animals.”

Fire departments from Riverhead, Jamesport, Flanders, Mattituck, Cutchogue, Wading River, Hampton Bays and Eastport responded to the inferno, which closed traffic along Sound Avenue between Church Lane and West Lane for several hours. Chief Kurzyna said that more than 50 firefighters responded to the scene.

It took more than two hours to get the fire under control, according to Chief Kurzyna. Firefighters were there for about nearly four hours, spraying the buildings down to ensure there were no more hot spots.

“Everybody did a phenomenal job at that fire,” Chief Kurzyna said.

The Ridge Fire Department and other ambulance personnel were also on standby.

The Riverhead fire marshal’s office, Riverhead Detective Division and the Suffolk County Police Arson Section are investigating the cause of the fire, which did not appear to be suspicious in nature.

“They’ve ruled out foul play. That’s about all they can do at this point,” Ms. Wells said.  “The fire marshal was saying they’re just leaving it as undetermined.”

Police said due to the significant amount of water used to extinguish the fire, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation representatives were present to monitor water runoff.

John Di Leonardo of Humane Long Island rushed to the scene after smelling smoke from the nearby fire. He got there around 6 p.m. and stayed for about an hour. Mr. Di Leonardo said upon arriving, he immediately noticed how terrified all the pigs and sheep in the corral were. 

“A lot of the pigs were experiencing smoke inhalation, foaming at the mouth,” he said. “They had burns and lacerations on their body.”

Mr. Di Leonardo said he did not perform any veterinary assistance, but offered to bring some doctors in.

“It could have been so much worse. Buildings can be rebuilt, you know. Nobody got hurt, so that’s what’s important at this point. That’s what we need to focus on,” Ms. Wells said.

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The 320-page novel is up for consideration against 75 other nominees for Best First Novel for the 2026 Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Awards. While the submission made by publisher Pegasus Crime does not necessarily entail a nomination, Mr. Wick was honored by the consideration. 

“For a first novel to receive consideration for the Edgar Award is really a great honor,” he told the Riverhead News-Review. “The Mystery Writers of America represents some of the most famous crime writers in the country. Just [being] nominated is a great honor.”

Set in 1954, “The Ruins” follows Lindenhurst chief of police Paul Beirne as he is called to investigate the grisly murder of a woman found on the railroad tracks, Times Review Media Group previously reported. 

As Beirne, who struggles with his own demons and haunting memories of his time as a POW in Japan, begins to dig into the violent mystery, he discovers a shocking connection to a murder that occurred two decades earlier. With it, he realizes that Lindenhurst — on the verge of a mid-century renaissance thanks to a large developer building suburbs in the community — has dark secrets that reach far beyond Long Island.

Mr. Wick’s novel is inspired by a case he covered at Newsday. In an article published on Feb. 10, 1981, named “Twenty-Six Years Later, The Murder Is Solved,” Mr. Wick wrote about a cold case that was solved after a quarter-century.

Previous winners of Best First Novel were Henry Wise for “Holy City in 2025, I.S. Berry for “The Peacock and the Sparrow” in 2024, and Eli Cranor for “Don’t Know Tough” in 2023. 

As a new author, Mr. Wick was invited to join the group. Members of the organization include current president Lisa Scottoline, Stephen King, Peter Lovesey, Ellen Hart and more. 

“Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writes, and those who are devoted to the genre,” its website states.

Nominations will be announced on or around Jan. 19, 2026, which is Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday , according to the Mystery Writers of America’s website. Winners will be announced at the Edgar Awards Banquet in late April or early May 2026. 

Membership with Mystery Writers of America is open to the public, as the organization is a registered 501(c)(3). For more information about the organization, visit mysterywriters.org.

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Quannacut Outpatient Services held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, Nov. 6 — three months after opening its doors on East Main Street. It was attended by around 30 people, including Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital leadership, clinic workers and local elected officials.

So far, 25 people have registered for the clinic, SBELIH chief administrative officer Paul Connor told The Suffolk Times at the ceremony.

The clinic offers telehealth, co-occurring and primary care medical services. It also provides medication for addiction treatment, psychiatric evaluations and acts as a New York State Department of Motor Vehicle treatment site for driver’s license reinstatements.

Quannacut Outpatient provides highly specialized programs that address both immediate and long-term substance use and mental health needs, as well as the impact on families, significant others and support systems. It offers individual and group therapy for mental health and substance use.

The clinic is an arm of SBELIH, and recently received licensure from the New York State Office of Mental Health. The license has expanded the hospital’s ability to provide comprehensive behavioral health care to the region.

Assistant vice president of neurosciences and psychiatry Dr. Kristie Golden Campo, who started working as a case manager at 21, praised the clinic’s efforts. When she started, she said she had a case load of clients from Huntington to Port Jefferson. She drove one of her clients out to Greenport to get services at the time from SBELIH, formerly known as Eastern Long Island Hospital, for treatment of her co-occurring disorder.

“There is no better place for this integrated license to exist,” Ms. Golden Campo said. “This has been something that Eastern Long Island Hospital has done for a long time, and they’ve done it better than any other facility that I can remember.” 

Mr. Connor added: “Here on Long Island, where our communities stretch across rural and suburban landscapes, the lack of access has real consequences.”

The OMH license will allow the clinic to “close the gap” of services and connect people to the help they need closer to home, he said. It can be reached at 631-369-8966.

“I think a lot of us know people who could use these services, and I think that gives us great comfort knowing that they can be offered,” Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski said of the clinic. “And, it gives us even more comfort knowing the people who are here are the ones who offer those services.”

Greenport Village Mayor Kevin Stuessi lauded the hospital’s achievements, calling health care one of Southold’s greatest exports. 

“This is something that affects many of our friends and family,” he said. “I’ve certainly seen it in my family as well.”

The clinic opening comes at a time of need: One in five U.S. adults live with mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health as recently as 2022. 

Nearly 49 million people in the U.S. over the age of 12 struggled with substance abuse in 2023, only 6% of whom received treatment, according to a 2023 survey by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That same survey found that nearly 21 million American adults suffered from both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders. 

For more information on treatments available at Quannacut Outpatient Services, visit elih.stonybrookmedicine.edu.

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The four-year Southold Town Board member notched 52% of the vote in what he called a “Republican-favored district” and will now represent Southold, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Brookhaven and Southampton.

Mr. Doroski received 11,219 votes, beating Ms. Stark by 908 votes according to the Board of Elections’ unofficial results.

The remaining 30 people at the Democratic watch party at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. in Peconic erupted in cheers when Southold Democratic Committee chair Kathryn Casey Quigley announced his victory at 11:11 p.m.

Democrats had held off on calling the county legislator race at 10:39 p.m. despite Mr. Doroski appearing on the brink of pulling the upset. As of 10:41 p.m., the two candidates were split by 795 votes. By 11:11 p.m., Mr. Doroski’s lead had grown to 890 votes, prompting the Suffolk County Democratic chair to call the race in his favor.

It capped a strong night for Democrats in the area, as well as nationally, with wins in key races including the New Jersey and Virginia governorships and New York City’s mayor’s race.

Throughout his door knocking-campaign, Mr. Doroski said he found “there is more that unites us than divides us” among voters.

“We all want to preserve our open space; we all want to preserve our farmland, our water,” Mr. Doroski said late Tuesday night, citing common threads among 1st District voters.

Ms. Stark, who was at the Republican watch party in Riverhead, commented Wednesday.

“We have accomplished great things – historical changes that will have longstanding benefits for the East End. Thank you to my family and every supporter who stood by me — our work continues,” she said.

Mr. Doroski’s win coincides with Southold Democrats taking home at least seven other seats Tuesday night between Southold’s Town Board, Trustees, highway superintendent and town justice races.

The room of more than 100 people at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. burst into applause at 9:25 p.m. when Mikie Sherrill was announced winner of the New Jersey governor’s race.

“That’s going to set the tone for the evening, right,” Ms. Casey Quigley said.

When he takes his seat on the County Legislature next year, Mr. Doroski plans to meet with department heads, commissioners, employees and other legislators to get the lay of the land on the county level before rolling up his sleeves.

Issues at the forefront of his mind are figuring out how to garner more funds from state partners for the working waterfront initiative and seeing how Southold’s deer management protocols could be translated to the district and East End at large, he told The Suffolk Times late Tuesday night.

Mr. Doroski’s term will end in 2028, as Proposition 2 in Suffolk County — to change County Legislator term lengths to four years to coincide with New York’s even-year election cycle — received a 57.4% voter approval rating.

Meanwhile, at the Southold Republican watch party at Sannino Vineyard in Cutchogue, Republican chairman Peter Ganley had expressed confidence earlier in the evening around 9:13 p.m.

“We’d rather be us than them,” Mr. Ganley said, touting the “biggest turnout in a decade” and crediting this year’s GOP slate as one of the strongest the party has ever had.

He warned attendees that early numbers would be heavily Democratic from early voting.

“The first numbers you see will be scary to everyone. You’ve all been warned,” he told the Republican gathering at 9:36 p.m.

By 11:17 p.m., TVs were turned off at the Republican watch party and Sannino Vineyard cleared out.

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Riverhead Town Supervisor

The Riverhead battle for town supervisor pits GOP incumbent Tim Hubbard against local pastor Jerry Halpin.

Riverhead Town Board

Four candidates are vying for two open seats on the Riverhead Town Board. Incumbent councilmen Kenneth Rothwell and Bob Kern are both running for second, four-year terms. Both were elected in 2021 and have played critical roles in making decisions that shape Riverhead’s future. Two newcomers, Kevin Shea and Mark Woolley, have also entered the ring of this competitive race. Mr. Shea of Baiting Hollow, is a retired New York City firefighter and 9/11 first responder, and a staunch environmental steward. Mr. Woolley, a Riverhead native, is a seasoned government liaison who has worked with six different members of Congress.

Suffolk County Legislator

The race for County legislator between Republican incumbent Catherine Stark and Democrat Greg Doroski and it has an odd twist. Depending on the results of Proposition 2 on the ballot in Suffolk County, the winner could be back on the campaign trail next year. 

The proposition looks to extend the term for Suffolk County legislators to four years from their current two-year stint. 

If Prop 2 is approved, the elected legislator would serve a three-year term through 2028. 

If it fails, the winner will serve a one-year term and have to run again next year to get on board with the state’s move to even-year election cycles to coincide with state and federal elections.

Early voting wraps up today, with polls opening at 10 a.m. and staying open until 6 p.m. The voting booths are located on the lower level of Riverhead Town Hall at 4 West Second St. and in the rear of the Southold Town Recreation Center at 970 Peconic Lane in Peconic.

Can’t make it to vote early? Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4, with voting from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. However, registered voters must report to their regular polling location. Find out where to vote on Election Day here.

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Dr. Ghayalod grew up in East Quogue and completed her residency at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where she served as chief resident.

“She is a dedicated family practitioner who has also completed fellowship training in addiction medicine,” Dr. Jarid Pachter said. “I believe she will be the perfect fit for our practice in Southold and in helping the many patients suffering from substance use disorders in Suffolk County. I could not be more thrilled to welcome her to Southold Family Medicine and Quannacut Outpatient in Riverhead.”

Dr. Ghayalod earned her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, and completed a fellowship in addiction medicine with Tufts University at Cambridge Health Alliance, where she taught medical students and residents. She began practicing at Southold Family Medicine in September.

“I’m incredibly proud to join Stony Brook Community Medicine, the place that has cared for me and my family since I was a child,” Dr. Ghayalod said in the press release. “As someone who grew up on Eastern Long Island, the North Fork has always held a special place in my heart, and I’m excited to provide care to this community.”

She is now accepting new patients, with office hours Monday through Friday. Patients who wish to make an appointment with Southold Family Medicine should call 631-734-8742.

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His four years in local government have taught him how to get things done, and he’s ready to bring that same approach if he wins on the county level, he said.

Mr. Doroski points to his four-year track record on the board that includes preserving open space, working with the Southold Police Benevolent Association, pushing to keep projects like the Southold zoning update on track and supporting the Community Housing Plan. 

An official who “does [his] homework,” Mr. Doroski said the skills he’s honed at the town level would translate well to county government.

Mr. Doroski said public safety, open space preservation, aquifer and environmental protections, and the cost of living are the predominant concerns throughout the 1st District, which runs from Wading River and Manorville to Orient.

On taxes, Mr. Doroski acknowledges the challenge of balancing municipal budgets while keeping increases manageable. Last year, Southold saw a 7.48% tax levy increase, driven by what he called “unprecedented healthcare costs, retirement costs and just the cost of doing business.”

The year before, the increase was just 0.38%.

Mr. Doroski draws on his experience as a small-business owner — a founder of Threes Brewing in Brooklyn in 2014 who works at Riverhead Brewhouse as a brewer — to guide his approach to fiscal planning. He stressed the importance of proactive budgeting to avoid steep tax hikes down the road.

He also makes a point of staying visible and accessible, attending events and town board meetings throughout the district.  He intends to continue this as a county legislator, modeling himself after Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski’s time on the Legislature from 2013 to 2022. 

“Being a public servant isn’t about having private conversations with someone, it’s helping shape the public conversation,” he said. “It’s helping educate the public. It’s being part of that in a public, open, transparent way.”

Recent immigration enforcement, a polarizing issue for many, is something Mr. Doroski has spoken out against on the heels of recents raids by Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers on the East End.

“To have ICE agents show up in unmarked cars, in masks, without badges, is a recipe for disaster,” he said. “How are our officers supposed to identify them?”

He prides himself on working across party lines with local officials, constituents and community leaders — and said he’s not afraid of spirited debate.

“I think looking back at the history of this county, debate is at the foundation,” he said.

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