The Times of Smithtown - February 23, 2023

Senator Mattera welcomes Smithtown session volunteer

Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James) recently welcomed Anthony Tarquinio to his Albany office as a session volunteer. A 2020 graduate of Smithtown High School East, Anthony is currently in his senior year of study at the University of Albany where he is majoring in homeland security and cybersecurity.

During his tenure with Mattera, Anthony will assist staff with legislative matters and constituent assistance to enhance the lives of the residents of

the 2nd Senate District.

A member of the University of Albany’s ice hockey team, Anthony is on course to graduate this coming spring.

“I am very pleased to welcome Anthony to our staff and know that he will be a tremendous resource for the residents of our area,” Mattera said. “I thank him for taking the time to join our team for the Legislative Session and look forward to working with him over the next few months.”

From left, state Sen. Mario Mattera and Anthony Tarquinio Photo from Sen. Mattera’s office

Smithtown Central School District set to hire armed guards

BY RITA J. EGAN RITA@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM

process, currently identifying security firms which will have to be vetted and approved by the Board of Education.

EDUCATION

Smithtown Central School District recently made the decision to enhance security in its schools, which includes two high schools, three middle and seven elementary schools.

A decision to hire armed guards was announced in a Feb. 15 letter signed by Superintendent Mark Secaur and the Board of Education trustees.

“The safety and security of the students, faculty, staff and community members of the Smithtown Central School District has been, and will continue to be, a top priority,” the letter read.

It was stated that over time the district’s “security enhancements related to staffing, infrastructure, training, and operational protocols have evolved and improved.” The decision was made to “better protect the members of this school community.”

The letter said national news reports are reminders that “schools have occasionally been viewed as ‘soft’ targets and the scene of senseless tragedies caused by ‘active shooters.’”

“With this in mind and with a heavy heart,” the letter continued, “our district has made the decision to bolster our security detail by adding armed guards to the exterior perimeter of each of our schools to strengthen our ability to respond during a crisis, as well as to deter those who may seek to do harm.”

The superintendent and trustees said the security enhancement will improve response time in the case of an emergency in and around its buildings.

The district is in the early stages of the

“The guards will be required to undergo multiple training sessions per year and will need to re-qualify through periodic performance based assessments to ensure they will perform at an optimal level if ever called upon,” the letter emphasized.

In addition, armed guards will work with the Suffolk County Police Department.

While the armed guards will be stationed throughout the school district, officials cannot “comment on specific details such as guard deployments, locations and working hours as it may compromise their safety and effectiveness.”

The superintendent and board members said in the letter that the guards will not be posted inside the buildings.

“This decision has not come lightly, but we believe that this is a necessary step to improve our approach to the safety and security of our students, faculty, staff and community members,” the letter concluded.

According to the district’s 2023-24 General Fund Budget Overview, $850,000 has been allocated for the proposal.

When TBR reached out to the district to ask if school officials could elaborate, a media spokesperson said, “The district is not providing any comments outside of the community letter.”

The Kings Park school district, which also is located within the Town of Smithtown, has permitted certain security guards employed in the district to be armed while on duty since 2018, according to Superintendent Tim Eagen. The district did not hire an outside armed security firm, and all of the security guards are retired law enforcement officers who carry

law-enforcement issued firearms. In a discussion thread about armed guards in the Smithtown school district on the Facebook group Smithtown Moms, there was overwhelming support of the proposal. While a few mothers said there have been instances that guards haven’t been a deterrent in past incidents in the country, many felt the decision was long overdue.

Members of the Facebook group Suffolk

Progressives have been less supportive of the move and one member has started a Change. org petition, Remove Armed Guards from Smithtown Schools, with 110 signatures as at Feb. 22. Petition signers and Suffolk Progressives wrote that more needs to be done to fund mental health programs and ban the sale of assault weapons.

The Smithtown school district will hold its next board meeting March 14 at 7 p.m.

Smithtown school district’s administrative Joseph M. Barton building on New York Avenue.

Photo by Kyle Barr

Eye on the Street: Armed guards in schools

BY CAROLYN SACKSTEIN DESK@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM

Given the nationwide proliferation of violence in schools, the Smithtown Central School District Board of Education recently voted to vet and hire a private security firm to patrol the exterior perimeter of all schools with armed guards. Long Island schools from Greenport to Copiague have experienced threats of violence made by students. Following the Parkland, Florida, school shootings in 2018, some districts opted to provide armed security personnel, including Hauppauge, Miller Place and Mount Sinai. With an ongoing public debate over the most effective way to protect children in schools and public spaces, TBR News Media took to the streets of Port Jefferson village Saturday, Feb. 18, asking people for their opinions on armed guards in and around schools.

Nicole Carhart, West Islip

When asked about armed guards on school campuses Carhart said, “It depends. It is good for people to keep safe. You want to make sure they are not using it against others.”

Gannon Lawley, Anchorage, Alaska

“I am against armed guards in almost all places, especially schools. It doesn’t strike me as the kind of thing that would be good for a school or a learning environment. It arises from an aversion to armed guards in general. It’s a hippy peace thing for me.”

Joseph Vergopia, Manhattan

When asked to comment on Smithtown’s decision to put armed guards on campus, he responded, “That’s the stupidest idea I ever heard, because more guns on the street are just a ridiculous way to curb gun [violence].”

Monell thought Smithtown’s decision was “a positive outcome.”

Louis Antoniello, Terryville

Jeremy Torres and Xiao Han Wu, Stony Brook

Jeremy Torres from Stony Brook village was with his wife, Xiao Han Wu, originally from Beijing, China, and young daughter. Torres said, “With today’s crazy environment, I would prefer police on the campus. As long as [private security] has proper training and qualifications and gun safety, I would trust that.

You can’t just have anybody.”

Han Wu said, “Because I see a lot of news like shootings in the schools and all that and having a kid, that definitely makes me more concerned about the safety in schools. I feel comfortable, they put armed guards [on campus]. I also prefer police.”

“There are better ways to protect the school systems. [Examples would be] electronic locks on the schools, where you have to use a pass key to get in, electronic locks on the classroom doors and gymnasiums. If there is an issue in the school, where somebody does get in, the entire school can be locked down with kids and teachers in the classroom through the main office. They can just lock it down electronically. Nobody can get into the classrooms. Would you rather have more guns where now you’re getting into a gun fight on the street? Doesn’t matter if it is someone who has been trained to use a gun or not. If you look at the statistics and the percentages of how many times you hit with your first or second shot, those percentages are very low. Where are these bullets going? They could be going into the windows of the school. They could be going into neighbors’ houses. The best thing to do is spend your money on securing the building, and electronic locks are the way to go. You can also have security cameras all around with people watching the security videos. They can see who is coming on campus. You’re stopped at the door, they ask what you’re doing there, you’re on camera, you show your ID. You sit and wait to pick up your son or daughter. You can drop something off for them at security. That’s how you secure a building. Leaving the building open without electronic locks and just having people walking the perimeter with guns is not the way to go.”

Hector Monell, West Islip

Bellone announces Suffolk County restores main website

BY RITA J. EGAN RITA@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) and county officials announced Friday, Feb. 17, that Suffolk has made progress restoring cybersecurity.

The announcement comes after county websites, servers and networks have been offline since September last year — the results of cyberattacks that first struck at the end of 2021. The county’s main website was restored online Friday, with more services coming online this week.

Bellone thanked everyone involved, including county IT professionals and County Clerk Vincent Puleo (R), who entered office earlier this year.

“His leadership and his partnership in the brief time that he’s been on the job has allowed us to make incredible progress, and he’s responsible for the announcement that we have today,” Bellone said.

The county executive reviewed key findings from a forensic investigation of the cyberattack that began in the County Clerk’s Office in December of 2021. According to Bellone,

hackers were able to enter the clerk office’s system, and for eight months were able to operate before securing additional credentials to migrate into the general county system.

Bellone added that an IT director in the clerk’s office had been placed on administrative leave after, the county executive said, the director obstructed efforts, resulting in countless delays to restore security.

Bellone said every county office was deemed clean by Oct. 17, except for the County Clerk’s Office, and the expense of the security breach has been “extremely costly to taxpayers of this county.”

Despite hackers demanding $2.5 million from the county, Suffolk refused to pay the ransom.

Bellone said the county had replaced the County Clerk Office’s firewall with the most updated protection.

“The clerk’s office has been deemed clean, and we are able to start to restore online services beginning with the county website,” he said.

The county executive said he knows now the segregated IT environment within the various county offices was a mistake. He added it was fair to criticize him.

“I should have more quickly implemented the recommendations in the 2019 cybersecurity assessment, which I commissioned, to hire an additional executive level leader focused on cybersecurity,” Bellone said.

Puleo said the county’s IT department’s dedication has been unwavering during the

process.

“Going forward, we will do everything we can in the clerk’s office to cooperate and get things where they belong and keep the protection so that the whole county IT is protected from future attacks,” the county clerk said.

Amid positive trends, doctors address long COVID, vaccines, newborns

BY DANIEL DUNAIEF DESK@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM

The number of people battling significant symptoms from the flu and respiratory syncytial virus has been coming down since its peak in January, as these infections have run their course.

“This year, we experienced the most severe flu and RSV waves in decades, and our COVID wave wasn’t small either,” said Sean Clouston, associate professor of Public Health at Stony Brook University.

The number of these illnesses was high as people no longer wore masks in places like schools and after people experienced lower-thanusual illnesses in the months before the mask mandate was lifted, creating fertile ground for viruses to spread.

“The most likely reason that the current flu and RSV seasons have improved is that we have had such a bad season earlier on that we have hit a natural ceiling on the ability for these diseases to successfully infect more people,” Clouston said in an email.

As for COVID-19, the numbers of people who have developed significant illnesses has continued to decline as well, through a combination of the natural immunity people have after their bodies successfully fought off the infection and from the protection offered by the vaccine and boosters.

Doctors added that the vaccine and natural immunity hasn’t prevented people from getting

infected, but they have helped people avoid severe and potentially life-threatening symptoms.

“All these people who run around saying, ‘My vaccine isn’t working because I got reinfected,’ are missing the point,” said Dr. Bettina Fries, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Medicine. “It is working. It doesn’t protect you from infection, but [it does prevent] a bad outcome.”

Indeed, during the most recent COVID surge during the winter, Fries said the hospital continued to care for patients, most of whom recovered.

Vaccine timing

Amid discussions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health organizations throughout the state and country about the timing of future booster shots, local health care providers indicated the increasing likelihood of an annual COVID booster.

Fries said we will get to an annual vaccination for COVID, adding, “It’s the same as we see with the flu.”

In general, people aren’t rushing off to get an updated COVID booster.

“To maximize the protective value of the vaccine while minimizing the number of vaccines you use, people should likely get the vaccine two weeks before they anticipate heavy exposure,” Clouston said.

For most people, that would mean getting the shot in early November to prepare for larger indoor gatherings, like Thanksgiving and the

December holidays.

In a recent article in the journal Lancet, researchers conducted an extensive analysis of COVID reinfection rates.

The study dealt only with those people who had not had any vaccinations and addressed the effectiveness of natural immunity from preventing infections and from the worst symptoms of the disease.

Prior infections in general didn’t prevent people from getting reinfected, but it does “protect you from getting a really bad disease and dying,” Fries said.

Long COVID

Even with the number of people contracting COVID declining, the overall population of people battling symptoms of long COVID, which can still include anything from loss of smell and taste to chronic fatigue, continues to increase.

“There’s a plethora of symptoms of long COVID,” Fries said. “We’ll have to figure out how to classify this and hopefully come up with better therapy. Right now, we can only symptomatically treat these patients.”

Dr. Sritha Rajupet, director of the Stony Brook Medicine Post-COVID Clinic, explained in an email that some patients who have lost their sense of smell or have a distorted sense of taste have tried a process called a stellate ganglion block “after several case reports and early research have shown that it could be helpful.”

In such a procedure, doctors inject a local

anesthetic on either side of the voice box into the neck. Rajupet said that “additional research and clinical trials still have to be performed.”

Newborns and COVID

As for children infected with COVID soon after birth, doctors suggested that the impact has been manageable.

“The great majority of young children who contract COVID do quite well and recover fully,” Dr. Susan Walker, pediatrician with Stony Brook Children’s Services, explained in an email. “The impact on their development from having actually experienced COVID illness is minimal.”

Children hospitalized with more significant illness from COVID might experience temporary developmental regression which is common in children hospitalized for any reason. The developmental impact seems more tied to social isolation.

“Children born during the pandemic spent their first years of life rarely seeing adults or children other than those in their immediate family,” Walker said. “The result is that many of these kids became excessively stranger anxious and timid around others.”

The lost social opportunities, the pediatrician said, resulted in delays in the personal/social domain of development. She added, “The good news is that kids are resilient and, in time, with appropriate social stimulation, [these children] should be able to regroup and catch up developmentally.”

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, center, and County Clerk Vincent Puleo and Chief Deputy County Executive Lisa Black were on hand Feb. 17 to announce the county’s progress in restoring cybersecurity. Suffolk County photo

The following incidents have been reported by Suffolk County Police: Teens damage fences in TikTok challenge

Suffolk County Police arrested six people on Feb. 20 for allegedly damaging fences as part of a TikTok Challenge in the Centereach and Selden areas. A homeowner on Cobblestone Court, Centereach heard loud noises on Feb. 20 at approximately 1 a.m., and noticed on surveillance cameras that six males kicked several sections of his fence down. The males, aged 12-18 returned and at 4:07 a.m. ran through the fence at the same time, as part of a TikTok challenge, sometimes referred to as “The KoolAid Man.” The homeowner called 911 and Sixth Precinct officers observed a black Hyundai sedan matching the description of a vehicle seen near the scene. The officers arrested the males on Hammond Road at 4:15 a.m.

Further investigation by Sixth Squad detectives revealed there were at least two other instances where some of the males allegedly damaged fences in Centereach and Selden. The five juveniles and one 18-year-old were charged with several counts of Criminal Mischief 3 rd Degree and Criminal Mischief 4th Degree. Detectives are asking if anyone feels they may be a victim to this challenge, to call 631-854-8652.

Shoes stolen from Famous Footwear

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police Fourth Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate a woman who allegedly stole shoes from Famous Footwear, located at 1770 Veterans Memorial Highway, at 2 p.m. on Feb. 11.

Ronkonkoma man arrested for murder

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced Feb. 16 the indictment of Brian Cordovano, 48, of Ronkonkoma, for allegedly murdering two men in order to steal property belonging to one of the victims.

According to the investigation, Ian Saalfield, 45, of Lake Grove, was reported missing by his wife on April 26, 2022. She advised police that she last saw her husband leave their house with Brian Cordovano, Saalfied’s longtime friend, in Saalfield’s 2015 Lexus. Saalfield never returned home. A few days later, on May 2, 2022, police found Saalfield’s Lexus in Holtsville. On that same day police found Saalfield’s car, police

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Wanted for Commack petit larceny

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Fourth Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the people who allegedly stole sterling silver jewelry from Hobby Lobby, located at 124 Veterans Memorial Highway in Commack, on Jan. 10. The man is also a suspect from multiple other larcenies at the same Hobby Lobby that occurred on different dates.

were called to the Rodeway Inn motel to assess Cordovano who was suffering from an apparent cocaine overdose. While Cordovano was being brought to the hospital, motel staff alerted police to a 2004 Toyota in the parking lot, which allegedly had been used by Cordovano. A registration check revealed that the car belonged to Robert Julian, 59, of Selden.

Police then responded to Julian’s home on Hollywood Ave. in Selden and found the bodies of Saalfield and Julian inside, each dead due to a gunshot wound to the head. Cordovano was arrested following a traffic stop in Smithtown on Feb. 15. He was charged with two counts of Murder 1st Degree, among other charges.

— COMPILED BY HEIDI

SUTTON

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS.

Do you recognize this woman? Photo from SCPD

Do you recognize this couple? Photo from SCPD

School News

Smithtown High School

Smithtown High School East students bring sign language to Mills Pond

Students from the American Sign Language class at Smithtown High School East were able to put their skills to good use on Feb. 17 at Mills Pond Elementary School. The students, under the tutelage of teacher Brynjar Leifsson, sat down with second graders and signed their way through the book, “The Deep Blue Sea.” Mills Pond librarian Erin Lallier and the students had completed the book earlier but this was an extra special and educational way to read it again.

Leifsson, who teaches American Sign Language classes at both High School East and High School West, said it’s very rewarding to see his students use sign language outside of his classroom.

“I really see the students in a different way outside of the classroom,” Leifsson remarked. “In classes we have the same dialogue but teaching this way reinforces to the students they have to communicate the right way.”

Smithtown High School East student helps earthquake victims

Ilayda Guven, a member of the Smithtown East Chapter 4958 Tri M Music Honor Society, recently organized an assistance drive to help aide the people of Turkey and Syria from the recent earthquake.

Ilayda, a junior at Smithtown High School East, collected approximately 15 bags of hats, gloves, blankets, boots, over the counter medicine, baby clothing and diapers. All donations are being sent to the Turkish Consulate for delivery.

Photo from Smithtown Central School District

Photo from Smithtown Central School District

Down by 10 in second half, Cougars roar back to beat Bulls, 48-43

BY STEVEN ZAITZ DESK@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM

The Commack Cougars boys basketball team continued their march to the Suffolk County AA championship by beating the top-seeded Smithtown West Bulls in the semi-final round on Tuesday night at neutral site Longwood High School. The final score was 48-43.

Commack senior center Ethan Meisel led the Cougars with 12 points and 10 rebounds,

and he tied the score with a layup with two minutes left in the game after Smithtown West had been up by as many as 10.

But Commack, the fourth seed, outscored West 22-7 over the final 13 minutes of the game, and key free throws down the stretch by senior guard Mike Gitz after a gigantic offensive rebound by senior power forward Chris McHugh, with 10 seconds remaining in the game, sealed the win for Commack. Junior guard Nick Waga, who appeared to be seriously injured with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in

the fourth quarter, reentered the game to help close out the contest. Waga scored 10 points and handled the crunch-time pressure that West applied in their desperate attempts to create late-game turnovers.

The Bulls were again without superstar center Patrick Burke who dislocated his knee against Northport earlier this month and this gave Meisel, McHugh and forward Matt Rosenoff to freely operate in and around both their offensive and defensive baskets.

West senior guard Jack Melore scored 15 for

the Bulls but missed on all four of his three-point shots in the second half. Brothers Lorenzo and Ben Rappa combined for 20 points in the losing effort. Commack will attempt to win the county crown in the program’s history when they take on seventh-seeded Brentwood, who knocked off third-seeded Bellport, 63-59, earlier in the day.

The AA Championship game will be held at Stony Brook University’s Island Federal Credit Union Arena on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. The winner will take on the Small School Champion, who is yet to be determined.

Ben Rappa, above, drives to the goal. Chris McHugh, left, skies for a rebound for Commack. Photos by Steven Zaitz

Commack muscles past Floyd

BY STEVE ZAITZ DESK@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM

Before the Commack High School boys basketball team won Tuesday night’s game against Smithtown West (see page A8), the team took on William Floyd on Friday, Feb. 17.

The Cougars rode junior guard Nick Waga’s 23-point performance to a 58-34 victory over William Floyd on Friday. Senior forward Chris

McHugh had a double dozen — 12 points and 12 rebounds and senior guard Mike Gitz added 10 points.

Friday night’s win moved the Cougars to the neutral site portion of the program in taking on the Bulls, who were the first seed in the Class AA division. Previously, Commack defeated Smithtown West in a road game on Jan. 17 which was the Bulls first loss of the year after winning their first 12 games.

Mike Gitz, left photo, drives to hoop, and Commack’s Nick Waga, right, is defended by Jake Yourison.

Photos by Steven Zaitz

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PJ Chamber of Commerce

Administrative Aid

15 hours a week

Tuesday-Thursday • 11-4pm

Description job responsibilities: Assist Director of Operations in daily operations. Duties include: daily banking, member relations (updating member records, billing, new member intake); answering phones, social media updates; interacting with visitors to the Chamber.

Qualifications: Computer literate; Word, Excel, Quickbook , Word Press. Can work UNSUPERVISED, Detail-oriented. Understand the operations of a non-profit organization or similar operation. Good communication skills and multi-tasker.

Contact by email: info@portjeffchamber.com or call 631-473-1414

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Letters to the Editor Editorial

Media responsibility in covering mass violence

Whether or not school districts should hire armed guards is complex, requiring thoughtful consideration from parents, students, community members, educators, school administrators and elected officials.

But as we work through the intricacies of this sensitive and often contentious issue, a related matter is worthy of our attention: How can we appropriately cover mass shootings when these tragic events arise?

The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed. Unfortunately, mass shootings are commonplace in this country. Already in 2023, there have been more mass shootings than days in the year. As a nation, we have failed to address this critical policy concern.

When one of these all-too-familiar violent events occurs, the press often too hastily reports on it. Helicopters circle above the crime scene as field reporters rush to the periphery, searching for immediate information.

A tragedy soon becomes a spectacle. Within days — sometimes just hours — the suspect’s name is revealed to the public. Then the shooter’s image is flashed incessantly on every newsreel and in every major newspaper in America. As the media goes to work uncovering the personal details of the shooter’s life, a depraved human being is made into a national celebrity.

And this phenomenon is not unique to the press. Hollywood capitalizes on violence; the more graphic a film’s depictions, the more revenue it will generate. Violence sells in this country, whether in motion pictures, music, video games, digital media or newsprint. And the ubiquity of these images within American popular culture has the natural effect of normalizing violent behavior nationwide.

Here at TBR News Media, we reject this dynamic entirely. Mass violence in America should not be accepted as mainstream nor should it be sensationalized or embellished. With a medium that enables us to disperse information widely both in print and on the web, we are responsible for using our platform appropriately.

Research on mass shooters indicates they are often motivated by perceived isolation or social rejection. Some commit an atrocity to achieve a mark on the world, since even playing the villain can be preferable to obscurity.

As journalists, we must deny violent offenders precisely the attention and fame they so crave. We legitimize acts of violence when we publish names or run headshots of mass shooters. By lending our platform to the least deserving, we encourage copycat offenders.

It is time that we, the members of the press and the distributors of information, end the dramatization and glorification of mass violence in America. It is time to substitute sensationalism with rigid, objective reporting when violence inevitably ensues.

This same standard applies to digital media. In this century, so much of the information available to us is circulated online. For this reason, Big Tech has a similar obligation to monitor its content and halt the spread of personal details regarding mass shooters.

While restraining our coverage is necessary, mass violence deserves our close attention. Still, we must focus on the issues: Should we hire armed guards in and around schools? How do we keep guns out of the hands of potentially violent offenders? How can we expand access to mental health services, so fewer people resort to mass violence? And more.

The focus should be policy driven and victim centric. We should create awareness of the problem while working to identify solutions. But we must not say their names or run their headshots.

By covering shootings appropriately, we can do our part to curb the spread of mass violence. By applying these methods consistently, journalists can work to change the culture, save lives and make a positive difference for the nation and humanity.

Equality under the law should be bipartisan

Every person deserves equality under the law. The laws of our nation must ensure that basic human rights are protected and enshrined. These views should not be partisan, as they impact all of us, regardless of political affiliation.

Given what should be a nonpartisan recognition of human dignity and equality, it is striking that every Republican legislator in the New York State Legislature from Suffolk County, including Assembly freshman Ed Flood [R-Port Jefferson] and Sen. Anthony Palumbo [R-New Suffolk] voted against the Equal Rights Amendment that will appear on our ballots in November 2024. Our current New York State constitution does not protect historically targeted groups, and this amendment would change that by prohibiting government discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex.

Thankfully, the Republican Party is irrelevant in Albany, given the Democratic supermajority in both chambers. But it is disgraceful that our state representatives would deny so many of their constituents’ basic protections. Voters across New York state will have the opportunity to vote on the Equal Rights Amendment and should vote out every legislator who voted against it. We deserve leaders who represent all of us, and we deserve the chance to vote on measures such as the ERA.

At the federal level, our freshman representative Nick LaLota [R-NY1] has also been disenfranchising his constituents. His votes have largely flown under the radar as the media feasts on the spectacle that is U.S. Rep. George Santos [R-NY3]. One of the votes ignored by the media is H.R. 26, the socalled “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” that all of Long Island’s Republican representatives voted in favor of. This piece of legislation that sought to criminalize late-term abortion ignores the basic facts that 93% of abortions occur in the first trimester of pregnancy, and 99% occur before 20 weeks of gestation.

A better use of taxpayer dollars would be to focus on issues like maternal mortality rates, given that Long Island’s maternal mortality rate is higher than the national average, with Black women disproportionately impacted. If our Republican legislators were truly “prolife,” they would be investing in prenatal, neonatal and maternal health. Thankfully, this bill will not go to a vote on the Senate floor, but we deserve better representation for ourselves and our families.

As our members of Congress and the

state Legislature spend this week at home on recess, this is the perfect opportunity to ask them why they have chosen to deny so many of us our basic rights. It is an opportunity to remind them who they serve, and for each of us to remember that if our representatives refuse to listen to us, it’s time for new representation.

Shoshana Hershkowitz South Setauket

How to tackle carbon dioxide emissions

Virtually every rational person agrees that it would be a good idea to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide, thereby reducing the contribution of civilization to the phenomenon of global warming.

Perhaps the most obvious way to achieve this goal would be to convert some, or most, or all of our motor vehicles using internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. To accomplish this monumental task, the vast amount of energy currently provided by hydrocarbon fuels must be replaced by an approximately equal amount of electrical energy.

But what is the best way to produce this energy, using technology that is available today? On the one hand, we have our renewable energy, consisting primarily of solar arrays, windmills and hydroelectric generators. But these have serious limitations, primarily due to the intermittent availability of sun and wind, and also the mind-boggling cost and technical problems associated with batteries or other technologies to fill in the gaps.

The obvious solution to this problem would appear to be nuclear power, which provides clean energy all day and all night, in good weather and bad, with zero emission of carbon dioxide.

Nuclear power has been used to generate electrical power in France for 60 years, and now provides approximately 72% of their requirements. The worldwide leader is the United States, which generates more than 30% of the world’s nuclear power, but only about 19% of our own domestic usage. We have some 70,000 wind turbines, which provide about 7% of our power, when the wind is blowing. We also have a lot of solar panels, which supply some 2% of our power, when the sun is shining.

We now have a government that claims to believe in “science,” as only they can define it. At the same time, they tell us the following:

1. We must get rid of our ICE vehicles.

2. We must replace them with EVs.

3. To ensure conformance, gasoline will become increasingly less plentiful

and more expensive.

4. We will build as many windmills and solar arrays as we can.

5. We will deal with the battery problem at some time in the future.

6. We will shut down nuclear plants, e.g., Diablo Canyon in California and Indian Point, as soon as we can.

7. We will make it as difficult as possible to obtain a license to build a new nuclear plant.

8. We will redefine or reinterpret inflation to prove that we had no part in causing it to increase.

Thank goodness that we have a government to understand science and regulate technology. What would we do without them?

George Altemose Setauket

Sun safety Is not just for summertime

The winter season brings cold winds and snowy weather, but it also can bring damage to your skin. Ultraviolet radiation from the sun damages your skin year-round, not just during the summer months.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S., yet most cases can be prevented. UV radiation from the sun and indoor tanning lamps are the primary cause of skin cancer and reducing your exposure can significantly reduce your cancer risk. Even on cold, winter days, UV radiation from the sun can cause damage to your skin, especially at high altitudes and on reflective surfaces such as snow or ice. Snow reflects up to 80% of the sun’s UV radiation, increasing the damage caused to your skin.

Sun protection is necessary every day, regardless of the weather or time of year. Sun safe practices such as applying sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, UV protective sunglasses and long-sleeved clothing, and seeking shade whenever possible, can help prevent skin cancer.

The Cancer Prevention in Action at Stony Brook Cancer Center works to build awareness about the dangers of UV radiation and promote the benefits of sun safety through education, awareness and policy support to reduce skin cancer rates on Long Island.

To learn more about Cancer Prevention in Action, visit takeactionagainstcancer.com or contact us at 631-4444263/COE@stonybrookmedicine.edu.

CPiA is supported with funds from Health Research Inc. and New York State.

Annalea Trask Program Coordinator Cancer Prevention In Action Stony Brook Cancer Center

Opinion

Riding in cars with our kids after their games

ong ago, back when my son was shorter than I, and when he listened to more of what I said, I was driving him and his teammate back from a baseball game that was more than an hour away from our house.blurs into a collection of highs, lows and everything in between.

Halfway home, we were the first car to stop at a red light. When another car pulled up next to us, we recognized the father of one of my son’s teammates.

in a close game.

After our next game, my son and I got in the car, and I had a chance to look at us more closely in the metaphorical mirror.

Looking straight ahead, the father was screaming at the top of his lungs. My son and his teammate, who usually filled the car with nonstop commentary about the game, school, weekend plans and anything else that came to mind, were stunned into silence.

D. None of the above

Those were the days when such long rides were part of our weekend routine, as we packed athletic gear, food, paper towels and flip-flops into the car to enable our children to compete against other children from distant towns or neighboring states, while also taking off their cleats and running into a deli to use the bathroom.

I don’t recall the details of the game because, even then, my son played in so many of them that the entire montage of memories

The three of us shifted our heads and saw his son sitting in the front seat with his head down, absorbing the ongoing verbal blows from his father, who had started gesticulating and was so frustrated that he spit on the windshield as he shouted.

During the entire red light, the father excoriated his son. As we drove away, my son’s teammate shared his memories of the game, pointing out that the boy in the other car had made a key error and struck out late

No, I wasn’t screaming at him. No, I didn’t spit on the window. The pattern I noticed, however, was one in which my son — when he was alone with me — focused only on the things that went wrong. He lamented everything he did wrong or didn’t do right. Sometimes, I recalled, I piled on, telling him how he could or should have done something differently.

As I tried to get a few words in after that game, he cut me off. He continued to criticize his performance until he was too exhausted to speak, at which point he urged me to talk.

I didn’t want to review the game. I wanted to discuss our interactions.

After considerable back and forth, I set new ground rules not for coach/player interactions, but for father/son discussions, particularly as they pertained to sports.

Two presidential hands, one rough the other smooth

This President’s Day saw two presidents much in the news, Joe Biden for his clandestine trip to Kyiv, and our 39th president, Jimmy Carter, for entering hospice care. Carter, who at 98 years old is the oldest former chief executive of the United States, signaled the end of his repeated hospital stays.

I never wanted to discuss whatever he thought went wrong in a game first. I wanted to begin with everything he did well. That could include positioning, fouling off a tough pitch, supporting his teammates, calling for a ball — even one that he dropped — and having a long at bat.

Then, we discussed what could have gone better. He threw the ball to the right base, but the throw was too low. He was fooled on a high pitch at the end of an at bat.

The first game after our discussion, he started off by criticizing himself. But then, something remarkable happened: he remembered our last discussion, and we started with everything he did well. Those first few moments built a positive foundation around which to start making improvements.

In future games, he started to focus on ways to perform well, even after he had struck out or had made a mistake. Instead of focusing on the ways he might have let himself or the team down, he wanted the opportunity to help.

photographer stood to the side, snapping away, as I drew closer to the most powerful man in the world.

I tried hard to come up with something more to say than my name and where I was from. Then I remembered. His sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, had recently visited Stony Brook to speak about her Baptist evangelism, and rather than telling him my name, I mentioned covering that.

Between

I had the honor of being invited to an outof-town press conference at the White House during President Carter’s one term, and of course, the memory will always remain with me. It was my first of several such invitations, and I smile when I compare my Carter and subsequent Ronald Reagan visits. The year was 1978, the country was recovering slowly from severe stagflation,

and everyone was watching their expenditures. Hence, it was not surprising that when lunch came in the middle of the event, it consisted of a boxed meal that we balanced on our laps in the Oval Office. In the box were two half sandwiches, one of cheese, the other of tuna salad. There was also a hard-boiled egg, accompanied by a small salt packet, an apple and a cookie. I confess to such high excitement that I don’t remember how the food tasted, just that I held the egg in one hand and sprinkled salt on it with the other. I do recall thinking then that I was experiencing one of the most amazing moments of my life at the same time that I was doing this most mundane action of salting my egg.

Carter talked about the economy, suggesting an optimistic view for the coming year, among other issues, and then we got up, formed a single line and moved toward him to shake hands for perhaps a three-second intro and photograph we could all carry back

TBR News Media publisher Leah Dunaief meeting the 39th U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, at the White House in 1978.

with us for the front page of our newspapers. I was toward the back of the line, and the

TIMES BEACON RECORD NEWS MEDIA We welcome letters, photographs, comments and story ideas. Send your items to P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733 or email rita@tbrnewsmedia.com. Times Beacon Record Newspapers are published every Thursday. Subscription $59/year • 631-751-7744 www.tbrnewsmedia.com • Contents copyright 2023 EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Leah S. Dunaief GENERAL MANAGER Johness Kuisel MANAGING EDITOR Rita J. Egan EDITOR Rita J. Egan LEISURE EDITOR Heidi Sutton COPY EDITOR John Broven ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Kathleen Gobos ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Elizabeth Bongiorno Robin Lemkin Larry Stahl Katherine Yamaguchi Minnie Yancey ART AND PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Beth Heller Mason PRODUCTION Janet Fortuna Sharon Nicholson CLASSIFIEDS DIRECTOR & SUBSCRIPTIONS

“Isn’t Ruth wonderful!” Carter exclaimed in his soft drawl as his Caribbean blue eyes widened with pleasure. He then proceeded to talk about her for at least two full minutes, how proud of her he was, as I noted that he was not much taller than I and that his hands were rough.

BUSINESS MANAGER

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MANAGER Courtney Biondo INTERNET STRATEGY DIRECTOR

SPECIAL

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Year After Year AwardWinning Newspapers

BY DANIEL DUNAIEF

Photo from Leah Dunaief

At Huntington Hospital, we deliver the advanced care you need, right in the town you love. That’s what it takes to be rated one of the best hospitals in the New York metro area by U.S. News & World Report.

From leading-edge robotic surgery to expert cancer care, we’re raising health every day. Because we don’t just want to be the best — we want what’s best for our community, too.

Northwell.edu/RegionsBest