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As Independence Day approaches, Teddy becomes more anxious. Teddy is our 11-year-old golden retriever, and he still has not come to terms with the noises of the holiday in particular and summer in general. We can feel his distress. For no apparent reason he begins to breathe more heavily. He doesn’t remain in his guardian position near the front door of the house throughout the night but seeks to sleep in one of our bedrooms alongside the bed. During the night he will get up and push against the mattress, tossing his head as if seeking comfort in the form of a few reassuring pats. This happens repeatedly throughout the remaining hours of sleep.

Clearly that doesn’t go over too well with whichever one of us he has awakened. But just try shutting the bedroom door to keep him out, and he will go into another routine. He knocks with his paw, his nails tapping against the wood. When that gets no response, he throws his body against the door two or three times. If admission isn’t granted, he begins to cry, loudly and piteously.

At that point Teddy wins.

While we have been aware of his unease, it was not until we read an article about “noise anxiety” in dogs that we actually understood this behavior was part of a seasonal syndrome and not just the expected reaction to the firecrackers going off on July Fourth.

Think about it. With the advent of more beautiful weather, we humans get outside more and do things like mow the lawn, blow the leaves, drive back and forth frequently, and play outdoor games like baseball or even catch amid screams and laughter. Air conditioners switch on and off and summer storms with rolling thunder and crackling lightning come and go. With the far-more-acute hearing of dogs, is it any wonder that such bursts of sound can send them into panic? They can hear far beyond what we can hear, so the volume of what to us is a deafening storm must be like a rock concert on steroids to their ears. This excites their norepinephrine, the brain chemical that triggers a fear response, and they sometimes do frantic things to try and escape what they perceive to be great danger. They may become agitated hours before a storm arrives, and they may continue to shake for hours after the offending storm leaves. No wonder their nervous systems cannot easily calm back down. A few comforting pats in the night just doesn’t do it for them.

There is a new medicine, as reported by The New York Times, which is the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to counter what is now officially termed “canine noise aversion.” It is called Sileo, distributed by Zoetis, and it works by inhibiting the effects of norepinephrine. I don’t know how you feel about administering medicine, but I prefer the loving, comforting approach so far.

There is one room in our house that is quieter than the rest because of its location, and I might take Teddy there and sit with him as I read, if all else fails. There is even a cot in that room. That seems to work — for him and for me. But depending on the severity of the dog’s discomfort, medicine may be required.

Meanwhile there is a movie coming called, “The Secret Life of Pets.” For those of us who enjoy animals and even tend to treat them like humans, the trailer looks amusing, so I recommend the film.

Happy Fourth!

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We all have them and we can laugh about them — later. In the moment, they are the shortening fuse that converts us from rational people capable of responding to any challenges into people who can’t control the frustration boiling inside us.

Recently, I visited with a friend who couldn’t get through a security gate on the way to a party. She had to wait as several people working at a gated community discussed whether to admit the car in front of her.

My friend is a brilliant person who is capable of erudite speeches, has keen insights and is informed about a wide range of subjects. She is among the most charming people in a room — most of the time.

Sitting in a line that came to a complete standstill, however, she “lost it.” She walked up to the glass partition, shouted at the security guards and demanded that they let her enter a party that would last for hours.

Even in the moment, she says, she could see herself saying things out of intense frustration, but she couldn’t regain control.

Those raw and exposed moments can be — and often are — the subjects of YouTube videos, as people around the action whip out their phones to chronicle someone who reached the point of no return in his or her actions.

From what I understand, our fuses get shorter during the summer months. It’s an ironic time for us to become so irate, when we dial back the pressure and take trips to our national parks, to Niagara Falls, or to a college or high school reunion. Maybe the heat shortens the fuse or speeds up the travel from when the fuse is lit to when it triggers us to react in a way we would just as soon avoid?

To some degree we need moments to blow off steam, to let it go and to release the toxins that have built up in us over the preceding days, weeks, months or, in some cases, years. Letting go of the control we maintain over ourselves through all the hundreds or thousands of nuisances and annoyances can cleanse us and restore our equanimity in a way that yoga classes, deep-breathing exercises or a repetition of a mantra like “serenity now” doesn’t quite cover.

To be clear, I’m not talking about those moments when someone commits some grievous act but, rather, the times when those of us with considerable calm suddenly throw spirited temper tantrums that are visual or verbal displays, without injuries to anyone other than our pride.

In those contained but still surprising displays, is it possible to stop the reaction before we start flapping our arms, jumping up and down, banging on glass doors, or unintentionally releasing saliva when we make our anger-laden point about the inconvenience someone is causing?

Generally, I’ve found that a lit fuse finds its mark, no matter how many James Bond movies I’ve seen where he stops a detonation with 007 seconds left.

So, who lights our fuses? I think it’s people on either extreme: those we know incredibly well, who have a talent for throwing darts at our anger bull’s-eye; and those people we may interact with only once, whose commitment to a process keeps us from accomplishing some task.

Then again, no one can light our fuse if we didn’t let them. We bear responsibility for a lit fuse because we ultimately sit in the control rooms of our brains, like those characters in the animated movie “Inside Out.” So, when the red guy in our brains takes over and he starts stomping our feet and demands that the car in front of us should “go, go, go,” what’s the solution?

Maybe if we anticipate laughing afterward, we can short-circuit that red guy and neither laugh at him nor with him, but laugh about what he might have done.

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Consumers are being encouraged to bring reusable bags to the grocery store instead of plastic bags by one Suffolk County legislator. Stock photo

Plastic bags have replaced tumbleweeds as the de-facto street debris blowing across town, but the two have very different affects on our environment.

Environmental groups from all over the country talk about the consequences of plastic bags polluting our waterways and killing our marine life. Marine animals choke on these bags and try ingesting them, which often leads to death.

One North Shore legislator is working on reducing the amount of plastic bags we use by imposing a 5 cent tax on every bag. County Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport) first tried to introduce an outright ban on plastic bags in stores earlier this year, but has since amended the bill to put a tax on the bags instead.

We support Spencer’s resolution to tax the bags, and think the Legislature should act quickly to put it in place.

Organic and green labels have become trendier over the past few years, but not where it actually counts. A measure like this could impact the environment that we so often take for granted.

We’re always careful when it comes to trusting government to make personal decisions for its citizens — in this case, which bags to use while shopping — but we have also been historically supportive of governmental measures that aim to conserve, improve or save the environment. This is a case where we believe the government should get more involved in our lives and regulate what materials we are using because of the tremendous impact it could have on our environment and the animals that inhabit it.

Other places, including Washington D.C., have already reported a significant reduction in the use of plastic bags through new tax laws. We think Suffolk County should join in on this success for the environment’s sake.

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Nazi material, along with weapons were seized from a home in Mount Sinai last June. File photo from the SCPD

American leaders in recent years have often spoken about the U.S. having a hostile political and social climate; a climate in which people are not tolerant of others’ views and in which disagreements sometimes degenerate into verbal or physical assaults.

Certainly many of us have encountered such instances or felt the sting of another person’s unprovoked hatred at some point in our lives, perhaps in the form of blind political opposition, religious intolerance or racial prejudice.

And there have been times when an ideology has endangered our personal safety, such as when Dylann Roof killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston or when Omar Mateen opened fire at an Orlando gay nightclub, murdering 49 and injuring dozens of others — and killing many LGBT people’s already tenuous sense of safety.

Or when pro-Nazi materials were uncovered in a Long Island home alongside numerous weapons and a manual on how to make a bomb.

The Nazis did not go away with the end of World War II; the disgusting, disturbing views of Adolf Hitler have lived on in people throughout the world, whether they specifically support the swastika or simply have similar ideas and values. So it’s hard to say whether two brothers who were arrested after authorities with a search warrant seized framed photos of Hitler, Nazi flags, and books on white supremacy — as well as guns, drugs and other items — from their North Shore home last week, were always Hitler fans or just persuaded by the recent U.S. social climate.

Whatever the case may be, it’s important more than ever to be vigilant and to speak out when our gut tells us something is wrong.

Mateen had been an aggressive person throughout his life and had made violent threats before, according to media reports. Some incidents were reported at the time and others not until our nation was picking up the pieces after he exploded at Pulse.

Maybe things could have been different if more people around Mateen had the courage to speak out when he said troubling things or displayed violent or unstable tendencies.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini said community tips helped authorities ahead of their raid last week at the brothers’ Mount Sinai home. One neighbor described knowing something bad was going on because of a brawl outside the home, cars coming and going at all hours and prescription medication found in the street.

And that was not the first time neighborhood callers helped catch dangerous criminals in Suffolk, or anywhere else for that matter.

Please, don’t be afraid of being wrong or sounding prejudiced. If you get a bad feeling about something, if you suspect something strange is going on, it probably is. Call the police — they are encouraging it — and help us keep our families and friends safe.

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We’ve got hot summer nights on the horizon. Come on, it’s an election year. In thinking about the days ahead of heated debates, accusations and counter accusations, I made some resolutions I’d like to share:

• I resolve not to get too caught up in politics. No, seriously. I’m not going to count the days — 138, but who’s counting? — before the election.

• I resolve not to study a single political poll between now and Nov. 8, which is, as I mentioned but we’re not going to talk about, 138 days away.

• I resolve I will not watch too many debates when I have better things to do. I might need to clip my toenails. Or, maybe, a movie I’ve seen 20 times, like “Bull Durham” will be on TV and I’ll just have to watch that scene one more time when the players come to the mound to discuss wedding gifts and cursed gloves.

• I resolve not to focus on the number of times either candidate calls the other one a liar. If they do, however, I resolve to imagine that candidate adding, “liar, liar, pants on fire,” to add some levity to the accusation.

• I resolve not to worry too much that one of these two people whom I don’t particularly like will be president. Seriously, we’ve got all these people eager for power and these two are the best we can find? Not everyone wants to be president, but doesn’t this seem like the perfect time for a dark horse to throw his or her hat in the ring?

• I resolve to avoid listening to pundits. I don’t want to hear how you absolutely think your candidate won the debate and the other candidate completely lost the debate, the election and his or her mind the other night. Can you imagine two pundits watching everything you did in a day?

Pundit 1: “Oh, he totally nailed that plaque on his teeth. He won’t need to brush his teeth for a week after a performance like that.”

Pundit 2: “Are you kidding? Do you think he gave the molars any attention? I’ve spoken to the molars and they are feeling neglected. I have a way to brush that would fight for every tooth and not just the ones on top.”

My only pundit exception is David Gergen: He’s smart and funny, has a deep authoritative voice and he’s really tall, so it looks like he’s observing everything from on high. Besides, in the early 1990s I met him, not to name drop or anything, and he actually listened carefully to a question I asked.

• I resolve to do 10 push-ups every time I hear one of the candidates, in an advertisement or during a TV or radio news program, use the word “fight.” I figure if they argue that they’ll fight for me, I might as well fight for my own fitness. Maybe I’ll do 20 sit-ups every time I watch them shake their heads in frustration when describing the ridiculous and calamitous choice on the other side of the aisle.

• I resolve to think of the two candidates as the leaders of their packs on a middle school playground. Each time one of them is emotionally wounded and levels accusations against the other, I will imagine that they are just going through a difficult phase in their political career and that they’ll be OK once they get to high school.

• Finally, no matter what, I resolve to remind myself that the Constitution guarantees us checks and balances. That means, regardless of the final “winner,” other leaders can protect all our interests.

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As I sit at my desk, typing this column, I am enjoying the longest day of the year, June solstice. It will not get dark until almost 9 p.m., and the June light makes our world sparkle. Recently we have been living through some of the most beautiful days with temperature and humidity in the Goldilocks range: not too hot and not too cold. It is also the first day of summer, a word that always brings a smile to my face.

What do you think of immediately when you think of summer? I conjure up cherries, watermelon and corn on the cob; then there are ice cream, lemonade, lobster rolls and backyard barbecues for lots of socializing. Lest you think that all I fantasize about is food, there are those luxuriously lazy days reading at the beach or at the pool … and oh those sweet summer nights. Time seems to slow down a bit and we get to relax amid less structure in our lives.

There are other reasons to be happier when the days are longer. Because we are phototropic beings, the presence of sunlight is important to us, more so for some of us than others. Many people suffer to varying degrees from seasonal affective disorder during the winter, when the days are shorter. Natural sunlight is a freely available mood enhancer, causing us to produce vitamin D, which in addition to helping with the absorption of calcium, also affects our levels of serotonin and melatonin and hence our feelings of satisfaction. When there is little sunlight, some people can suffer from depression.

Light therapy, with specially designed lights and vitamin D plus melatonin supplements can combat SAD to a degree, although no one really knows why some are susceptible. More affected are women, those living farthest from the equator (e.g., the Eskimo) and those with a family history. Chemical makeup, age and genetics also seem to be factors. But there is no SAD during summer solstice. This is the time of the longest light, when the sun seems to stand still in the sky before reversing its direction for the rest of the year. Of course the earth rotates around the sun, rather than vice versa, and as the earth moves away on its axis, it seems the sun is moving lower and lower across the sky through the remaining six months.

June solstice has inspired countless festivals, celebrations and religious events. Stonehenge, that mysterious megalithic structure in England, was clearly built to mark the solstices for the stones are lined up accordingly to receive the sunlight (there were some 12,000 people in attendance this year).

Oops, I didn’t mean to get so carried away with technical stuff. Nonetheless, here’s another bit of trivia: This year the full moon — otherwise known as strawberry moon — coincides with the June solstice we are enjoying. Not since 1967 has that happened, apparently, and it will not happen again until 2062. See how special it is to be alive today!

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Mayoral candidate Barbara Donovan with trustees Michael Schaefer and Joan Hubbard. Photo from Unity and Respect Party

Dear Poquott Village residents,

As most of you know, I was mayor of the Village of Poquott for 12 years and I’m running again. I believe in fiscal and environmental responsibility and transparency at all government levels. I want to spend the next two years getting the job done. I will work within the parameters of the law to do the right thing. I have always respect residents, whether homeowners or renters, and have valued their input.

I’ve lived in Poquott for 44 years. My late husband’s family arrived in the 1890’s and purchased property in the original Bayview Park area. They were involved in the incorporation of the Vilage of Poquott in the 1930s.

I’m a 28-year member of the Setauket Fire Department, having served as a firefighter, EMT, and now as fire police/peace officer. I am also a member of the Poquott Civic Association and many other community organizations. As you can see, I love this community and have “walked the walk” to make Poquott the best it can be.

I’m now retired, but have 30 years of experience in marketing, development and public relations. Budgets were and are my specialty.

As mayor, I consistently attended New York State mayors conferences, planning board and zoning board of appeals workshops and other county and town informational sessions to keep myself current on the latest updates and changes in all local, state and federal laws and mandates.

My door was always open and my personal phone accessible. Residents were welcome to use village hall at any time when village business was not being conducted. All meetings were held in the open and residents were encouraged to attend and comment without fear of repercussions.

When re-elected, these principles will be reinstated immediately. I am, and have always been, committed to courteous and respectful interactions with everyone. I expect the same behavior from all members of my board. The Unity and Respect Party promises to bring back the quality of life that all residents — homeowners and renters alike — have come to expect.

I hope the Unity and Respect Party candidates, trustees Michael Schaefer and Joan Hubbard, and I as mayor, can count on your vote on Tuesday, June 21 at village hall from noon to 9 p.m.

Thank you for your support.

Barbara Donovan, candidate for mayor of the Village of Poquott

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The Incorporated Village of Poquott. File photo

In the June 16 issue of The Village Times Herald, the Letters to the Editor page featured one letter, “Poquott: a village at war” that the newspaper has since learned was sent under a potentially false name.

Readers have notified the newspaper that the letter writers, Felicity and Arthur C. Terrier, may have been falsely reported, and this newspaper now disavows the letter.

It appears there are dirty tricks afoot as the Village of Poquott prepares for the end of what has been a contentious election cycle, where a once long-serving mayor challenges a successor who is newer to the position.

The Letter to the Editor page is this newspaper’s resource to the community to have their voices heard, and we do not support or endorse it being taken advantage of with intent to deceive or distort. Therefore, once again, we disavow and rescind the letter.

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It’s not hard to find dirty spots in our local waters. Photo by Elana Glowatz

There’s no time to waste.

Actually that’s not true — Suffolk County residents have plenty of time to add our own waste to our water supply, and we do it every day.

That’s why it bothers us that Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s proposal to charge a $1 water quality protection fee for every 1,000 gallons of water that homes and businesses use will not be on the ballot for voter approval this November.

He has estimated it would generate roughly $75 million each year toward the environmental cause. Normally, new taxes and fees bother us even more, but these dollars would not be just thrown into the general fund. The plan was to put the money toward expanding sewer systems in Suffolk County — a dire need — and reducing the nitrogen pollution in the water we drink and in which different species live.

Much of Suffolk relies on cesspools and septic systems that can leak nitrogen from our waste into the ground. Nitrogen is in the air and water naturally, but high levels are dangerous. One harmful side effect of nitrogen is increased algae growth, which decreases the water’s oxygen supply that fish and other creatures need to live and produces toxins and bacteria that are harmful to humans.

According to Bellone’s administration, state lawmakers would not get on board with the idea to put his water surcharge on the ballot so the voters could make the final decision. Officials said more time was needed before the proposal was brought to a vote.

On the county level, Republican lawmakers also stood strongly against the proposal.

Most people use 80-100 gallons of water each day, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, so some people may have had to pay up to an extra $37 a year under the fee proposal. Big whoop — if it could help us stop poisoning ourselves and the rest of the ecosystem, we’ll pay up.

We’re disappointed this measure won’t be on the ballot this year. But it could be an opportunity for Bellone to show some leadership by making sure progress is made before 2017. Instead of worrying about being disliked for adding $37 to residents’ water bills each year, he should just take the tough action and enact the surcharge. We’ve already waited too long to get rid of our cesspools. Let’s not waste any more time and water.

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On the eve of Father’s Day, here is an adventure story of a father along with a slice of little known history about the Civil War. His name was Newton Knight, he was a poor Southern farmer and he led a revolt against the Confederacy from deep in the heart of Dixie. Proving that not all residents in any one region think alike, Knight and as many as 1,000 other farmers in Jones County, Mississippi, waged an effective guerilla war against the Confederate troops and declared loyalty to the Union.

Whenever Confederate troops came after him and his band of like-minded white men, they would just melt away into the swamps of southeastern Mississippi and disappear to fight another day. Then, in the spring of 1864, “the Knight Company overthrew the Confederate authorities in Jones County and raised the United States flag over the county courthouse in Ellisville,” according to an article in the March issue of the Smithsonian magazine. “The county was known as the Free State of Jones, and some say it actually seceded from the Confederacy,” the article maintains. There will soon be a movie about this remarkable footnote of history, to be called “Free State of Jones,” starring Matthew McConaughey as Newt Knight.

By all accounts, Knight was a remarkable military leader. He certainly was a remarkable father, who had nine children with his first wife, Serena, who was white and from whom he eventually separated. He also had five children with his grandfather’s former slave, Rachel, entering into a scandalous common-law marriage, and according to the magazine, “proudly claiming their mixed-race children.”

Jones County was poor at the time of the Civil War, with only 12 percent of its population made up of slaves, which probably somewhat explains its lack of loyalty to the Confederacy. It also was marked with what the Smithsonian article calls “a surly, clannish independent spirit.” Today it is 70 percent white, still rural and its inhabitants earn low or modest incomes. And while there is a Confederate monument next to the columned courthouse in Ellisville, there is no mention of the anti-Confederate rebellion that Knight led. In fact, Jones County is described by some of its inhabitants as the most conservative place in Mississippi now, and some disown Knight.

Yet some of the younger people in the county think of Newt Knight “as a symbol of Jones County pride,” according to the article. “Knight was 6-foot-four with black curly hair and a full beard—‘big heavyset man, quick as a cat,’ as one of his friends described him. He was a nightmarish opponent in a backwoods wrestling match, and one of the great unsung guerilla fighters in American history. So many men tried so hard to kill him that perhaps his most remarkable achievement was to reach old age.

‘He was a Primitive Baptist who didn’t drink, didn’t cuss, doted on his children and could reload and fire a double-barreled, muzzle-loading shotgun faster than anyone else around,’ said a local historian. ‘….There’s good evidence that he was a man of strong principles who was against secession, against slavery and pro-Union.’”

Knight actually enlisted with a group of locals in the Confederate Army at the start of the war; a biographer speculated that he relished being a soldier. But many of them, including Knight, deserted from the Seventh Battalion of Mississippi Infantry after the passage of the “Twenty Negro Law,” which exempted one white male from conscription for every 20 slaves owned on a plantation, making it what locals called “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” When they returned home, they found the Confederate authorities where taking what they wanted from the wives in the name of the war effort—“horses, hogs, chickens, meat from the smokehouse and homespun cloth.” There was a mass meeting of the deserters, and they organized themselves into the Jones County Scouts. Knight was unanimously elected their captain. They vowed to resist capture, defy tax collectors, defend each other’s homes and farms, and do what they could to aid the Union.

Their ranks swelled, they waged guerilla warfare successfully against the Confederate war effort, and that is the way they, led by Newton Knight, entered the history books.

  

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