5 Top Stories From the Summer

1. : Hurricane-turned-tropical storm Irene hit Aug. 27 and left trees blocking roadways, power lines down and some residents in the dark for a week.  

2. : 30-year-old Commack resident Brian Dorak died after being struck by a vehicle on Veterans Memorial Highway on June 6.

3. : New York passed same-sex marriages into law on June 24, and on July 25 Hauppauge residents John Garand, 57, and Rene Meyer, 61 made their way to Smithtown town hall to become the first couple in the Town of Smithtown to fill out the application.

4. New Businesses: Announcements of three new eateries came to Commack this summer. up in June, and has been packed ever since. Residents eagerly await the openings of and in a few months. 

5. : Hundreds gathered at Commack High School on those that were lost in the World Trade Center attacks 10 years earlier. Two new 9/11 memorials were also constructed nearby— a and the .