Ready or not, here it comes. The end of daylight saving time (DST) is fast approaching, perhaps for the final time if legislators vote to permanently end switching clocks an hour backward in the coming months. The seasonal time change will occur on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 a.m. and along with it, an extra hour of sleep. DST returns on March 12, 2023.
By Daniel Dunaief
I’ve been on a long journey that’s taken me around the world for more than two and a half years. Many hosts have provided for me, enabling me to grow and, in some cases, make changes.
I don’t recall the beginning. The first host I remember was an incredibly kind doctor. She spent countless hours caring for others, looking into their eyes, assuring them she would do everything she could for them.
She was so focused on helping others that she didn’t even know she was hosting me. I stayed quiet just long enough to make the jump to a famous American actor who was working in Australia.
He and his wife didn’t enjoy their time with me. They warned the world about me and my extended family.
My next host was a businessman. He had been in a hospital with his son, who had a broken leg. The businessman stayed in the waiting room for hours, trying to do his work but unable to focus because he was so concerned about his boy.
Finally, after hours of surgery, the doctor came out to talk to him and that’s when I found a new host.
This businessman worked hard. Once he discovered his son was safe, he ignored me and my needs.
I developed without anyone noticing me. At one point, I heard someone come looking for me, but I hid just far enough away. I traveled a great distance on a plane with him. Once we were in a new country, I had so many choices.
Realizing it was time to go, I jumped to an elderly bus driver. He was a gentle man. The lighter laugh lines near his eyes looked like waves approaching the shore on his dark chocolate skin.
Before he collapsed into bed the second evening we were together, he seemed to be staring directly at me. In his house, I had a choice of other possible hosts, but decided to hitch a ride with his son.
That one almost cost me my life. His son soon realized I was there, and he stayed away from everyone. I was curled up alone with him. He barely moved for long periods of time, except when he coughed or sat up and sent text messages and emails. One night, when he was finally sleeping, a man came into his room to clean it. That’s when I escaped.
This man didn’t even know he hosted me. He wasn’t stuck in bed, and he didn’t cough. I traveled with him to several events. After other trips, I found an important politician. We took a ride in a helicopter and went to a hospital where doctors provided all kinds of new medicines.
I became like a game of telephone, passing along from one person to the next. And, like a game of telephone, the message changed, as I demanded different things from my host.
I found myself at a concert with a young woman who sang and danced for hours. She looked so vibrant and full of life.
She was a friendly enough host, until I set up camp with her mother. Then, she shouted at me, praying to keep me away. She took me to a hotel, where she seemed to stare at me while she prayed.
When someone delivered food and walked in the room to wait for payment, I made the jump to him. During the day, he was a student with a full and busy life. I didn’t stay long, moving on to his girlfriend, her roommate, and, eventually, to a professor.
I stayed with the professor for over a week. She spent considerable time grading papers, writing at her computer, talking to family members, and taking medicine.
I have made some changes along the way. I don’t travel with as much baggage as I used to. I know people think I’m not as much of a burden as I was in the early days. My most recent host would disagree. He couldn’t talk, had trouble sleeping and was exhausted all the time. I’m getting ready to travel the world again this fall and winter. You can ignore me all you want, but I’m still here, making changes and preparing to find more hosts.
— Your friends at TBR News Media
Update: Madeline Rivera-Cordon has been located unharmed. Suffolk County Police arrested an 17-year-old male in connection with Madeline who was located at his Copiague home on Chestnut Place on Oct. 28. The 17-year-old has been charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He will be arraigned on a later date.
————————————————
Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are seeking the public’s help to locate a 12-year-old Ronkonkoma girl who was reported missing.
Madeline Rivera-Cordon was last seen leaving her residence, located on Pond Road on October 19, at approximately 7 p.m. Detectives believe she might be in Brentwood, Central Islip or Patchogue.
Rivera-Cordon is Hispanic, 4 feet 8 inches tall, and approximately 80 pounds. She has brown eyes and brown hair.
Detectives are asking anyone with information on her location to call 911 or Fourth Squad detectives at 631-854-8452.
This fall and winter, several infections have their sights set on your lungs.
Amid threats from diseases that affect other organ systems, three of them — COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus — can and often do attack the lungs.
While the current strain of COVID isn’t as lethal as the original, the virus continues to mutate, leading to new strains and, potentially, to different strains later this fall.
At the same time, the flu and RSV have been waiting for an opening after COVID protections like masks also kept them at bay during 2020 and 2021.
“How bad is the winter going to be?” asked Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. “It will be based on more [COVID] variants coming through, with a strong flu season, which is never something you want to see.”
The number of cases of respiratory illnesses like RSV and the flu has been lower in the last few years. The lack of exposure to those viruses, however, may give them an opening for a stronger return in the population.
These viruses “didn’t paddle along for a while,” Nachman said. “Now, they are paddling furiously. Everyone is seeing them.”
People’s immune systems may not be prepared for the threat from these recurring viruses.
When people arrive at the hospital, health care officials often see the same symptoms, with coughing and sneezing.
“It could be one, two or three” causes at the same time, Nachman said.
The combination of contracting more than one virus at the same time could lead to prolonged and painful illnesses.
COVID reality
Much as people would like to return to a pre-pandemic reality, the SARS-CoV2 virus not only continues to infect people, but it also remains something of an evasive target, with mutations leading to new variants.
While area hospitals don’t test for the specific COVID strain when patients are sick, doctors expect that some of the people who have contracted the disease have the modern variants.
“Undoubtedly, many cases that are coming to our Emergency Department are due to the new Omicron sub-variants,” said Dr. Sunil Dhuper, chief medical officer at Port Jefferson’s St. Charles Hospital. “Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that Omicron BA.5 cases are trending downwards and the cases due to the sub-variants are on the rise.”
“The purpose of the vaccine is to attenuate the symptoms from the virus and reduce the severity of illness, hospitalizations and/or death.”
— Dr. Sunil Dhuper
Symptoms of the newer variants are similar to others, with fever, chills, cough, runny nose, fatigue, muscle or body aches, shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste, sore throat, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea, Dhuper explained.
Doctors said it was difficult to gauge how effective the new bivalent COVID vaccines are against the latest strains.
The latest booster may “not be active against all the coming variants,” explained Dr. Phillip Nizza, attending infectious disease physician at St. Charles Hospital.
The new booster was designed to enhance the reaction to the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
“We don’t have enough data” to determine the effectiveness of the booster against current and future threats, Nachman said. “How effective it will be depends” on differences between the booster and the strain someone contracts.
Still, the vaccine is likely to provide some benefits, doctors said.
“The purpose of the vaccine is to attenuate the symptoms from the virus and reduce the severity of illness, hospitalizations and/or death,” Dhuper wrote. “And I think the vaccines would be very successful in accomplishing that objective.”
Even for people who have been infected recently with COVID, Nachman urged people to get a booster.
The combination of an infection and a booster “Is always better than not getting a vaccine,” Nachman said. “You should get a vaccine. The timing is tricky” and could involve getting a dose two weeks after contracting the virus or waiting.
The viral threat during the December holidays, in particular, is higher, so Nachman urges being as immunized as possible before then.
With people not wearing masks and not even testing for the virus even when they get sick, Nachman suggested that it’s “highly likely” the country will see new variants by the spring.
Nachman urged people to take steps to protect themselves, which includes eating well, exercising, receiving the latest vaccination and limiting exposure, particularly for those who might be vulnerable.
“Take care of yourself,” Nachman urged.
At Stony Brook University Hospital, the wards are busy, with a steady stream of patients coming in, receiving treatment and getting discharged, Nachman said.
“We’re seeing a lot of other viral illnesses,” she added.
She sees a ramp-up in RSV, which she doesn’t expect to peak until Thanksgiving.
Dhuper remains concerned about viral threats this fall and winter.
“We do anticipate a worse flu season this year as the herd immunity is at a lower level,” he wrote. “People should get their flu shots sooner rather than later as that is the only primary protection we have to offer. People with comorbidities should particularly be concerned as the likelihood of severe illness, hospitalization and even death could be higher without the protection from the vaccine.”
While Nizza hasn’t seen any major spike in the flu yet, he suggested in an email that “now would be a good time to get vaccinated.”
Got all that? Good, now, when you’re outside, far from other people and you want to give your lungs a break, take a deep, cleansing breath. Other times? Protect your health and the health of your family and community.
By Leah S. Dunaief
Last week I wrote about the pleasure of getting away, even for a day, and enjoying the foliage season in lower New England. This time I want to wax rhapsodic (well, in a manner of speaking) about the special places we love here in the neighborhood.
Do you have such a special place? By which, I mean a place you go when you want to enjoy the beauty of the area, where you can sit and relax and let concerns just melt away for a few minutes. Or where you can go to think out troubles peacefully, deciding what to do next. Or maybe, you just want a bucolic walk.
One such location for me is the Frank Melville Memorial Park, not far from 25A and my office in Setauket, but nicely hidden from view. Opened in 1937 as a memorial to Frank Melville Jr., it was the brainchild of his wife, Jennie MacConnell Melville, and his son, Ward Melville. While it is privately owned, the park is open for the pleasure of the public every day from sunrise to sunset.
So who was Frank Melville, you might ask, and how did it happen that a park is dedicated to him?
Frank Melville Jr. started by selling shoes to the residents from his sailboat on a fixed schedule, as he and his family of wife and small children circumnavigated Long Island. Eventually, he founded the Thom McAn brand with J. Franklin McElwain, a New Hampshire shoe manufacturer, exactly one hundred years ago. Their first retail shoe store in New York, selling a few simple styles at a low fixed price, then expanded to hundreds of stores across the US, becoming the largest footwear retailer in the country with 1400 stores. The brand name was eventually bought by Sears 86 years later.
As they grew wealthy, the Melvilles, who lived in Manhattan, bought a second home for themselves in Old Field, and became increasingly philanthropic, donating local land for community benefit, including what is now the campus for Stony Brook University. And it was Ward Melville, who visualized and created Stony Brook Village in 1941, the first outdoor mall in the country, and to this day, a fun daytime destination.
When I walk through the park, which surrounds the duck pond with leafy and varied greenery now changing colors, I marvel at the generosity and vision of the Melville family in fashioning such a jewel for anyone who wishes to enjoy its paved path, picture postcard views and many benches. It is such a place of respite for those of us who work just around the corner and those who come with their dogs from farther away.
Dogs are welcome, as long as their owners pick up after them. We sat on one of the benches last Saturday and called out, “Hello, Dog,” to the various pooches as they walked by with their owners. The dogs immediately veered over for a pat, and sometimes the owners lingered for a chat.
It was quite a social affair on a beautiful fall afternoon for dogs and people.
One of the people we met as we strolled along was Anita Lago, an energetic woman from Stony Brook who discovered the pond and the park eight years ago and has been coming over to enjoy the swans regularly since then. When she was found cleaning out the stray fishing lines and other detritus that might enmesh the fowl, she was offered a pail and a rake by the foundation that oversees the park and invited to be official. And so, she can be found at water’s edge, when she is not at her full-time job, a hard-working volunteer helping to keep the pond clean and the swans and other fowl safe.
The Frank Melville Memorial Park is supported by donations from a grateful public. It’s that kind of place, one that brings out the best in all of us as it gifts to us all year round.
Election Day is less than two weeks away, and now is the time for citizens to begin researching their ballots.
When we vote, we are not merely selecting a “D” or “R.” Our representatives are living, breathing creatures with all of the features of ordinary citizens. They possess personality traits, character flaws, preferences, opinions and persuasions.
In these last few weeks, we must uncover these traits and determine whether they align with our values. Today, it is not enough to show up to the polls and vote. Here in Suffolk County, we find numerous examples of the popular will being subverted to advance the interests of a powerful few.
Take judicial elections, for example. Party leaders hold enormous power concerning our judges. Through a sequence of dealmaking and compromises — most of which happen behind closed doors and away from the public eye — the party leaders line up all county judgeships through cross-endorsements well before the election.
To receive a judgeship and the sweet $185,000 to $211,000 salary that comes with it, our “elected” judges do what they must. They answer to their superiors, who are the political bosses awarding them their seats of power and cushy salaries. Meanwhile, the ordinary citizens — those paying these salaries — get left behind and forgotten.
If we do not research our ballots thoroughly, then our only options this November are those handpicked by the party chieftains. An uninformed citizenry only reinforces this broken electoral system, rendering our elected officials less accountable to the people with each passing election.
A functional, vibrant democracy requires that citizens take an active, rather than passive, role in the electoral process. We must take a deeper plunge into the candidates on our ballots. Who are these people? What are their professional backgrounds? If elected, how will they advance our values and interests?
It is time for the people to take back the reins of power. Let not the political bosses pull our strings as they do the puppets they try to plant in office.
If we want politicians to be accountable to us, we must give our votes much more weight. Blindly voting down a ballot is as pointless and unproductive as not voting at all, especially since ballots also include candidates who have not actively campaigned. No person, regardless of party affiliation, is entitled to our vote.
Next week, TBR News Media will release its election supplement. Read through those articles, and get to know your prospective representatives. Let us break away from the party masters. Let the age of the uninformed voter die a sudden, unceremonious death.
By Daniel Dunaief
In tougher days before our son had a driver’s license and I had to pick him up from school, I brought the dog in the car. I’d see my son walking from school, head down, shoulders slumped, with the equivalent of a teenage angst enveloping him.
He’d get to the car, ready to throw himself into the seat next to me, to tell me his day was “fine” or that he “didn’t want to talk about anything,” and then he’d see the dog, wagging and prancing in the back seat and he was helpless against such charm and unbridled joy.
Our dog would throw his head into his hands, letting our son know that anything and everything our son did, particularly when he pet our dog’s ears, was welcome and appreciated.
While I know many people love puppies, with their fluffy fur and their playful demeanor, I have become increasingly attached and fond of our dog as he has aged.
And, as my wife has said, the feeling appears to be mutual.
When he was younger, our dog rarely came when I called him. He seemed fine with my petting him, but he didn’t go out of his way to get up from a comfortable nap.
But, then, something happened in the last year. Maybe it’s because we’ve traveled to visit family and friends for weddings and we haven’t taken him on each of our trips, or because he suddenly figured out that I feed him, provide water and take him for his necessary walks.
Whatever the case, he’s as happy to see me as I am to see him. At the same time, he’s become increasingly sensitive to the stress I’m feeling. When I get off the phone after an exasperating call with a customer service representative, he comes wagging over as if to say, “Yeah, that was annoying, but you’ll be fine and I’m still incredibly soft. Don’t you want to check?”
Recently, I contracted COVID-19. My wife, who hasn’t been feeling too well herself, took incredible care of me, picking up food and medicine while I shivered in bed and struggled to swallow through the razor blades dangling in the back of my throat.
In addition to the necessary and helpful support from my wife and brothers, I received encouragement from our dog, who seemed to recognize something was amiss. He came to the side of the bed and leaned his head into my hand. He put his paw up near my arm as well, wagging cautiously and looking into my eyes.
He reminded me of our dog from my childhood. Also, a golden retriever, our earlier dog raced to the kitchen door to be let out (yes, that was a different time). He used to return when he was ready and after he’d visited the neighbors and tended to his physical needs.
In my junior year of high school, I developed a migraine that limited my ability to see and gave me a horrific headache. At the same time, all physical contact was uncomfortable, from my friend touching my hand to guide me to the nurse to my mother escorting me to the car.
When I returned home, I lay in a dark room, miserable under the searing pain. The dog, who wasn’t used to having me home during the day, stayed in my room all day. He didn’t move or make a sound and, more amazingly, he never tried to touch my hand.
He finally went outside after I got up and felt better. He stood guard all those years ago, just as our pets do now, protecting us against strangers and offering support in our lowest and most emotionally vulnerable moments.
Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, turned 70 on Oct. 7. He was showered with presents and praise as his soldiers continued to fight an ill-fated and illegal war in Ukraine. The Belarusian leader got him a new tractor. The ruler of Turkmenistan gave him celebratory watermelons. Countries such as Cuba, Turkey, South Africa and Kazakhstan called to wish him a happy birthday.
Yet, as Putin celebrated this milestone year, the septuagenarian dictator received reports that a strategic bridge connecting Russia to Crimea was severely damaged.
This bad news came amid a string of military and strategic blunders, the declining morale of his army and signs of growing internal unrest in Russia. Putin retaliated with missile strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets.
An invasion gone awry
Widely considered a poorly planned military operation, the once-vaunted Russian military has consistently demonstrated tactical weakness in supply, logistics and communications. Putin is deploying his army with massive shortages in weapons and food after his men chaotically abandoned much of their equipment on the battlefield.
Reports suggest that Putin has asked North Korea and China for military hardware to recover its loss of tanks and trucks, which have been destroyed, deserted or captured.
While President Joe Biden (D) has pledged to keep American ground forces out of Ukraine, the United States has continually aided the Ukrainian army. So much American weaponry has been sent to Eastern Europe that America is entering new multibillion-dollar contracts with defense companies to replenish its own national arsenal.
The American military has mentored the Ukrainian officer corps with special warfare and tactical training. The U.S. Department of Defense has given the Ukrainians sensitive intelligence, helping them locate enemy forces and target them through conventional or guerrilla operations.
Currently, the Russian military is bleeding out. Part-time soldiers want no part in this war. Making matters worse for Putin, his call-up of 300,000 reservists has met stark opposition from the Russian populace.
Putin has even lowered standards for recruitment, allowing the homeless, criminals, wounded soldiers and the middle-aged to enlist. The Russian military has become merely a debasement of the once-fierce Red Army, slowly reduced to second and third-rate personnel.
Outfoxed by the Ukrainian president
In the face of overwhelming Ukrainian resistance, many of Putin’s citizen-soldiers have surrendered. Meanwhile, Russian conscripts, with little training, have gone into battle with obsolete weapons and limited food against a motivated enemy gaining momentum.
At every turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has outwitted and outmaneuvered his Russian counterpart. Zelenskyy has sent online messages to the Russian soldiers, declaring they will be treated well in defeat. Some Russians were even offered to be sent to another nation, where they could save their lives by sitting out the war.
Whereas the Ukrainians have proven themselves capable of deterring the Russians, Putin has employed desperate means. Given his nuclear options, we are now hearing about a possible escalation in a conflict that could get much worse.
Domestic unrest
On the home front, the invasion of Ukraine is unpopular; its effects felt the worst by Putin’s own people. Prominent Western businesses pulled out of Russia months ago, initiated by a global economic boycott designed to cripple the Russian economy.
In the name of wrecking Ukraine, Putin has incited demonstrations against his authority. He has tried to suppress these demonstrations and censor news of the conflict. Still, the stories of many Russian losses on every front are too difficult to hide.
Russian citizens have followed the fighting in Ukraine, the heavy losses incurred by their fellow countrymen and the lack of supplies for their soldiers. In Russia, mass border crossings have taken place. Cars, many carrying young men, have been seen deserting conscription to the Russian army.
It is estimated that almost 200,000 reservists have fled Russia. Putin needs soldiers but has not yet resorted to calling upon his massive citizen population for a full-scale draft.
There is much fighting left and additional sacrifices to be made. The Ukrainians, however, have proven that there is no safe place for the Russian military within their territory.
While Putin plays with his new tractor and enjoys his watermelons, he has little else to celebrate on his birthday. He has waged an unjust war against a sovereign nation. His actions have greatly diminished Russia’s power and legitimacy worldwide.
If any of this forecasts a difficult road ahead, Putin’s 70th year will surely be a bad one for him.
Rich Acritelli is a history teacher at Rocky Point High School and adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College. Written in conjunction with members of the high school’s History Honor Society.
The last few days marked National School Bus Safety and National Teen Driver Safety weeks. The lessons and tips organizations shared during these respective periods are vital to remember all year.
School bus laws seem easy for drivers to understand when they are behind the easy-to-spot, yellow vehicle. However, confusion seems to ensue when it is situated elsewhere on the road. If a driver is in the vicinity of a school bus with its red lights flashing and its “stop” sign extended, it means to stop and wait. This applies not only when a driver is behind the school bus but also when it’s on the opposite side of the road, whether it be on a two-way street, divided highway or multiple-lane roadway. The rules also apply in parking lots and school grounds.
In New York, respecting the law can mean saving anywhere from $250 to $1,000 in fines, avoiding jail time, having points on a license or its being revoked. Most important of all, stopping when seeing a school bus saves children’s lives.
When those children grow up and are ready to learn how to drive, there is a lot to take in, and safe driving behaviors should be of the utmost importance. Parents need to have meaningful conversations with their children about making sure seat belts are used and traffic laws are followed.
The repercussions of distracted driving, such as loud music, goofing around with friends and checking text messages, must also be brought up. Parents can lead by example by ensuring when their teens are behind the wheel, they avoid bad driving habits, especially when other young people are in the car.
One of the most important conversations parents can have with their children is that if using alcohol or drugs at a party, make sure to have a designated driver, sleep over or use Uber or Lyft. While the use of these apps has increased, providing rides when needed, some still insist on getting behind the wheel after drinking. With the holidays around the corner, incidents of people too impaired to drive will inevitably increase. A car can always be retrieved from where it was left the night before, but a life can never be replaced.
With the cooler weather here, there is another traffic safety reminder for people of all ages to heed. It’s the beginning of mating season for deer, also known as rutting season. The animals can run out on the road without warning. Usually when a driver sees one, there may be another or a few right behind the first, especially around dusk. When one is spotted, proceed with caution — and respect deer-crossing warning signs.
Dangers on our roadways seem to be increasing every day, but with a little bit of education and care, we can make our roads safer for all.
Prev
