News Nearby: Rocky Point Parents Rally Around Principal Put on Leave

From Three Village: Poquott Man Plans Run in 170-Mile ‘RacingThePlanet’ Marathon

Shawn Gaffney jokes about what kind of headlines he'll make as he embarks on a 170-mile, seven-day marathon in Iceland. "'Local Man Plans Elaborate Death in Iceland'?" he suggests. Gaffney, 34, a Poquott resident by way of Boston, will head to Iceland next week to challenge himself to complete the event, which begins Aug. 4. While he kids about the grueling competition, he says he recognizes the enormity of the challenge. "I think it will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done," he said.

From Miller Place-Rocky Point: Parents Rally Around Principal Put on Leave

A group of Rocky Point parents are getting ready for 'round two' of their fight to save the job of an assistant principal they say has been wrongly targeted by school district administrators and the Board of Education.

Joe Tapler, assistant principal at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School, was placed on administrative leave in late June, the school confirmed, with an interim principal currently handling his duties. Hundreds of children, parents and grandparents packed the last school board meeting – captured in a YouTube video of the meeting – to protest the move and though the next meeting is still weeks away, and though summer typically equates itself with a break from school, many are at the ready to 'Rally For Mr. Tapler.'

From Smithtown: Staff Sues Head of the Harbor Billionaire For Watering Down Wages

Former household staff members are suing a Head of the Harbor billionaire for stiffing them on wages because they failed to close doors or make sure hanging pictures were level at his palace on the Long Island Sound.

Robert Mercer, co-chief executive officer of Setauket hedge fund Renaissance, is accused of taking money from household staff’s for each time they failed to replace a shampoo bottles, properly close doors and other service tasks around the mansion.