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The Selden campus of Suffolk County Community College. File photo

Last week, Suffolk County Community College officially inaugurated Edward Bonahue as its seventh president.

During his inaugural address, Bonahue emphasized the importance of offering quality higher education at an affordable cost. The staff of TBR News Media energetically supports this message.

Often flying under the radar, two-year institutions do some of the most important work throughout the county and the nation. These institutions are the bridge for some people who have been historically left behind by the education system. At a time when the cost of higher education is skyrocketing out of control, when the decision to take out a student loan is comparable to taking out a mortgage, when fewer people see the value of a college degree, community colleges provide families a common-sense alternative.

Residents of Suffolk County should know that the decisions one makes coming out of high school can have enormous long-term consequences. For many, taking out a five-figure mandatory loan before the age of 20 is simply unwise, and for others can be a catastrophic mistake. Some 18-year-olds simply lack the prudence to make a financial decision of that magnitude.

Coupled with inflation and volatility in the market, more than ever parents must do the difficult work of calculating whether sending their children off to an expensive four-year institution is in their best interest. How can one know for sure that a high school student will comfortably adapt to life at the university? How can anyone predict the long-term academic success of someone who has only known a sheltered life on Long Island? Nowadays, sending even one child off to college disrupts the entire family budget dramatically.

To the residents of Suffolk County, to the parents and students who may be uncertain about whether or not college is the right choice, understand there are alternatives. Community colleges, such as SCCC, are a valuable resource that more Suffolk families should tap into.

Community colleges are a stepping stone. They allow students to determine for themselves if they are college-ready. For those who thrive at the community college, the pricey four-year institution may be a reasonable next step. However, for those who learn that they either struggle in a college setting or are dissatisfied by the work of the academy, the reasonable tuition of the community college makes it easier and less painful to cut one’s losses.

Community college should be a testing ground for student fence-sitters, those uncertain about which path is right for them. For many, community college will propel them to other institutions of higher learning. For others, it will likely point them in the direction of other — often more profitable — career alternatives.

The TBR staff congratulates President Bonahue on his recent inauguration. We hope that with his leadership, Suffolk residents will build trust in our county’s more affordable college institutions. From SCCC to Stony Brook University — both institutions that offer generous tuition rates for in-state residents — people here do have the option to receive a quality college education at an affordable price. Some people should choose this path to reduce the overall cost of their education.

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Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

When our children were young, we tried the Ferber method to encourage them to put themselves to sleep.

No, we didn’t abandon them in their room and return six hours later with a smile and a wink. We walked out of the room, told them to go to bed, and slowly extended the time before we returned.

It worked, although the complaints sometimes frayed our nerves to the point where we would argue about who drank the last of the milk, and I can’t even drink milk.

When the children got sick, all bets were off. Walking out of the room when they couldn’t breathe, when they had toxic sludge coming out of one or both ends, and when they had a fever was not an option for us, no matter how little sleep we’d had the night, week, or month before.

Once they recovered from their illness, however, we had to go back to the gradual Ferber method again, as they seemed to have forgotten that they might not need anything from us and that they should just close their eyes and go to sleep.

Parenting in the wake of the pandemic is a little like trying to figure out what role to play after the world has been sick for a few years and when we had to adapt whatever parenting rules we had established.

Do we tell them to “suck it up,” to “fend for themselves,” and to “tough it out,” or do we continue to offer support after they, and we, endured a new set of rules designed to keep us safe in the long term, but that caused all kinds of frustration in the shorter term?

Parenting always seems to have more questions than answers, but the number of questions and the frequency with which we ask them seems to have increased.

Indeed, even as our children have reached the age when we no longer have to strain our backs to make sure they don’t walk too close to the edge of a pool or to a rough surf, we still wonder what role, and how aggressively and consistently, we should play after the pandemic.

How many times have we wanted to agree with them in the last few years when they complained that “this isn’t fair?” Offering the reply, “who said life was fair,” didn’t seem appropriate, sympathetic or understanding. That response would only reinforce the reality that a year without graduation, proms, or downtime that didn’t involve a phone or a Monopoly board was definitely not fair.

Recently, I chatted with a parent in my neighborhood whom I haven’t seen in months. Within seconds, she shared her son’s recent tale of woe. Returning to the soccer field, he injured his leg badly enough that he’ll likely be out of action for soccer and several other sports for the next six months.

That, she said, is heartbreaking on top of all the time he missed on the field.

Amid all the concern for his physical well-being, she shared her worry about his mental health. She reached out to psychiatrist and psychologist friends, hoping to find someone with whom he might talk about yet another interruption in his plans to enjoy participating in a team sport.

To her dismay, she found that the mental health care system is as overburdened as the physical one was during the worst of the pandemic. Concerned about the context for her son’s life, she has dialed back her urge to encourage him to return to school on crutches, standing at the ready to bring him home whenever he feels physically and emotionally overwhelmed.

I completely understand that. At the same time, I wonder if and when we might deploy a safe Ferber-style approach after all the disruption of the last few years.

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TBR News Media

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Another year has rolled by and we again marvel at another anniversary this week of the news group now known as TBR News Media. It started with the lowly Village Times 46 years ago, and actually there was nothing lowly about that first issue. It was 52 pages, mailed to every house in Setauket, Stony Brook and Old Field, and carried some pretty interesting news and graphics.

I guess the biggest news in the April 8th issue, although we didn’t say so, was that there was a second newspaper in town, coming out every Thursday, a day later than the first newspaper, The Three Village Herald. We planned it that way so we could carry most of the week’s news that same week. For example, school board meetings, one of our most important beats, ended late on Tuesday nights and often their agenda didn’t make the other paper until the following week, there being no internet or website in those days, of course. But by coming out on Thursday, while we could report the school news, we couldn’t capture the local supermarket specials, a rich, full page or even two sometimes, because those ads traditionally ran on Wednesday “to give the lady of the house a chance to plan her weekly shopping for the family’s weekends.” Yes, I am quoting the supermarket managers.

This might not strike you as being a particularly significant decision for the newspaper, but it was symbolic of how we viewed our product: news first, advertising second. If we could get the readers, we strategized, the advertising would follow. And history proves us right. We were always something of an upstart. In the beginning, we stopped mailing to every house after the first couple of issues and gave the paper away from news racks in the local stores. Ten months in, we put coin tubes on our newsstands and started to charge a dime, the same as our competition. I can’t tell you, in powerful enough words, how satisfying it was that first day when the dimes rolled out of the tubes and into our palms. Residents were willing to pay, even if only 10 cents, for our efforts.

A couple of years later, we raised the newsstand price to 25 cents, then the industry standard. We were asking a pretty brash question: Were we 21/2 times better than our competition? Yes, there was some tongue clucking about “who did we think we were!” To our relief, our readership grew. Readers put quarters in our tubes and gratification in our hearts. We vowed to work even harder.

What is a community newspaper, really?

We asked ourselves that as we read every other hometown paper we could get our hands on in order to better answer that question. Joining the New York Press Association, which we did two years after we started, helped us network with other publishers across the state for pointers.

We knew that we wanted to be non-partisan, meaning that we would be without party affiliation and completely independent. It was vital that village government news and town board news reach our readers. We particularly favored bragging about our young people, their academic, musical and sports accomplishments. And we created a second section in the paper for cultural events, science and medicine, giving space to local artists and columnists.

We were eager to hear what our readers had to say and made sure we had clearly marked opinion pages for that purpose. Our opinions were there, too. And we thought of the paper as a mirror that was held up to reflect the community we served, providing future historians with the chronology and sentiments of the day.

Most especially, we believed in fairness. And facts. In a controversial situation, we wanted all sides to be heard and heard accurately. We left it to our readers to judge. They were intelligent beings and we never dumbed down the stories for them. Further, we saw as part of our job to protect our communities and their natural beauty from those who would cause harm. Come to think of it, in our six papers, on our website and our social media platforms, that’s about what we still do.

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U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is leading the charge to prevent changes at Northport VA that could slash services. Photo from Schumer’s office

After the release of a recent report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recommending the slashing of services at veterans hospitals, including Northport VA Medical Center, local elected officials have demonstrated exemplary behavior to ensure our veterans are properly cared for.

Among the recommendations in the report are the downsizing and reorganizing of the Northport location, which will transition into a subacute care facility. Inpatient medical and surgical procedures will be moved from Northport to Stony Brook University Hospital and NYU Langone Hospital in Mineola. Services that are offered now in Northport will be provided by St. Albans VA Medical Center in Queens and its community partners.

The VA has cited the changing needs of local veterans and millions of dollars of repairs needed for the Northport VA as their reasons.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is taking action, unveiling an advocacy plan with the hopes of defeating these recommendations. His first call of action is to circulate a petition across the Island. In a press release, the senator said he would present the signatures in a personal meeting to those who proposed the Northport reductions, also including closing two New York City VA hospitals. He will ask local hospital officials to express concerns about treating veteran-specific conditions and will then take the matter to the VA.

Schumer said he will bring the matter to President Joe Biden (D) if necessary.

In a press release, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) said that he will work with the Long Island veterans community to figure out the “best path forward.” U. S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY3) also criticized the report, saying that elected officials were not consulted on the recommendations.

The report has evoked bipartisan support for the VA hospital and rightfully so. Our veterans have given up so much to protect their fellow citizens. When they enlisted, they risked their safety and sometimes their lives to guarantee the rights of all Americans. Thanks to our vets, we can criticize the government, assemble freely, and enjoy the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

Through their words, Americans often thank our veterans for their service. Now is the time to thank them through action. Residents should call the offices of their U.S. senators and representatives and demand that they join the fight to keep veterans health services as local and accessible as possible.

Veterans-specific care needs to be expanded, not slashed. Thank a veteran today by taking action.

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Female Cowbird. Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

A huge fan of our avian neighbors, I have collected numerous anecdotes during my travels on Long Island and around the world. As we delve deeper into the spring, I’d like to share a few.

The brood parasite: Many years ago, OK, decades, I did some research on the brown-headed cowbird. This bird, whose scientific name is Molothrus ater, which means “black vagabond,” shares a lifestyle with the cuckoo. You see, the cowbird, which spends considerable time eating food near farms or settled lands, doesn’t build nests. It lays its eggs in the nests of other birds and contributes nothing to the parenting of its young.

When I was in college, I wondered how these birds knew they were cowbirds and didn’t form attachments to the numerous other species who unwittingly contribute to its success. Their hosts raise these aggressive young that sometimes outcompete their own chicks for food. Speaking with people who lived in Mammoth Lakes, California, where I performed my research, I met several people who were in their early 20s, who listened attentively to the story of my research. When I finished, one of them smiled and said, “Wow, what terrible parents. They must only live in California, right?”

The beak smackers: When I attended Gelinas Junior High School, I learned about the Galapagos Islands. I couldn’t wait to visit a place where sea lions barely budged when people walked near them. I finally traveled to these wonderful islands, made famous by Charles Darwin’s trip where he posited the theory of evolution. As I hiked with my family on a tour, our guide stopped and told us to listen. Smacking sounds, as if people were sword fighting with whiffle ball bats, came from just over a ridge. When we reached the top, we saw albatrosses engaged in extended beak smacking.

Once pairs of these white birds finished their ritualistic and individualized pattern, they started again. Closing my eyes, I could imagine the rhythm of several of these courtship routines becoming the percussion section of a song.

Seeing red: When I studied birds in college, I recalled hearing about the dominance hierarchies of the red-winged blackbird, which occupies marshy areas all around Long Island. With red stripes on their shoulders, these birds are also distinctive for their loud and extended squeaks. The size of the red color reflects the dominance of the birds. Without the bright red indicating the equivalent of a social rank, even the most dominant bird loses his status and preferred spot in a habitat.

Foul play: The black cormorants, which sit low in the water, are excellent divers. They are not, however, particularly well-suited for their watery lifestyle. Their feathers are not waterproof, the way a duck’s are. After they get sufficiently waterlogged, they stand on docks or pilings with their wings outstretched, as if they were holding their feathers on a drying line. They use the wind to dry themselves out. It seems especially cruel and maladaptive for a bird that lives in the water to endure extended periods of being waterlogged.

You want a coke with that? My family was enjoying a meal in Miami after a morning in the sun. Sitting outside, where we had an unobstructed view of the beach and where the wind provided welcome relief from the hot sun, we ordered burgers and fries. I picked up a French fry and lifted it near my head to make a point. Accustomed to human patterns, a seagull saw the opening, grabbed the fry without touching my hand, and flew off to consume his prize.

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Pixabay photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Just as we are trying to decide whether to get the second COVID booster of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna that is now authorized by the FDA for those over 50, the color-coding system that tracks the rate of contagion has turned from green to yellow in New York City, indicating an increase in cases. We know that what happens in the city eventually spreads to Long Island, so that would encourage us to get that fourth shot, yes?

To further complicate the decision, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine Tuesday suggests that “additional boosters are likely to provide fleeting protection against omicron infections in older recipients, and are consistent with evidence that vaccine effectiveness against infection wanes faster than against severe disease,” according to The New York Times.

I say, what?

Let’s consider this carefully. The results of the large new study from Israel are telling us that a second booster shot does provide protection against omicron infections and severe illness among older adults. It is also saying that such protection against infection is short-term and wanes after four weeks, then almost disappears after eight weeks. 

That doesn’t sound so good, right?

But hold on. Protection against severe illness-—again, severe illness— did not lessen in the six weeks after receiving the second booster, but the follow-up period has been too short to know if that second shot continues to offer better protection against severity. By the way, the study involved those ages 60 and older, with nothing on younger populations. So “vaccine effectiveness against infection wanes faster than against severe disease,” concludes The Times. And a previous study from Israel that has not yet been published in a scientific journal, according to The Times, “found that older adults who received a second booster were 78% less likely to die of COVID-19 than those who had received just one booster shot.” The methodology of that study has been criticized, however, with scientists pointing out that those who have received one booster are already likely to be protected from severe illness and death. 

In the new study of 1.2 million adults, “the rate of confirmed infections was twice as high in the three-dose group as in the four-dose group. By eight weeks after the fourth shot, the additional protection against infection had almost disappeared, the researchers found. However, “rates of severe illness were 3.5 times higher in the three-dose group than the four-dose group four weeks after the booster shot. That protection did not appear to wane and actually ticked up slightly by the sixth week after the shot, when rates of severe disease were 4.3 times higher in the three-dose group.”

Still don’t know what to do?

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, said on Tuesday that her agency “really would encourage people who are over 50 who have underlying medical conditions and those over the age of 65” to get a second booster shot.

There is controversy among immunologists and vaccine experts over whether to recommend that fourth shot, at least for those under age 65. Twenty million people 65 or older are now eligible and 10 million between 50-64, according to the CDC.

So if you have decided to get the second booster, which would you get?

Dr. Peter Marks of the FDA suggested in a podcast that there was “a little bit of data” that switching vaccines may provide better protection, but “probably the more important thing is just to get boosted with whatever vaccine you can get.”

I will be getting the second booster this week. My thinking is that in the face of newly rising infection rates, even eight weeks could provide a substantial barrier against falling ill and then having the additional worry of incurring long-haul Covid. But reaction across the country is mixed.

With limited data, we are left on our own.

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Pixabay photo

“Propaganda begins when dialogue ends.” — Jacques Ellul

Democracy cannot flourish without a well-informed, enlightened public.

Many miles away from Long Island, against a backdrop of a momentous war in Ukraine, there is another war for the public consciousness of people everywhere. It is a war against a free and independent press, against openness and transparency with the public, and against truth itself. In moments of greatest agitation, those who most fear the truth will do whatever it takes to bury it. 

During a teach-in last week at Stony Brook University, Distinguished Professor Leonie Huddy of the Department of Political Science, said, “We are also in a propaganda war.” 

The Committee to Protect Journalists is a nonprofit that promotes independent journalism and defends press freedom worldwide. According to the CPJ website, five journalists have already been killed since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. With abhorrent regularity, journalists are now being targeted and killed. 

Aware of the risks, Louise Callaghan, a Middle East correspondent for The Sunday Times of London and virtual panelist at the SBU teach-in, told the audience that she will return to the warzone to report the situation in Ukraine on the ground.

From the bomb shelters of devastated Mariupol to the Long Island North Shore, journalists have incredible responsibility. The Founding Fathers wrote freedom of the press into the First Amendment of the Constitution because they understood journalism was a necessary deterrent to unchecked power. Journalists shine light upon those who hide behind the shadows of deception, whose greatest weapons are disinformation and fear, as not even their nukes can topple what is true.

Right now, dictators and their propagandists are waging a war of ideas, seeking the total annihilation of reason and free thought. Journalists, such as Callaghan, are among our last lines of defense. Whether one is a local reporter on Long Island or a foreign correspondent in Ukraine, the principle remains. So long as journalists are there to shine light on the powerful and the wicked, to distill fact-driven, unfiltered information to the public, then autocrats and their propagandists will never prevail.

This staff editorial is dedicated to the journalists who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of transparency and truth. 

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METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

I’ve tried to dodge the question for years.

For some reason, it comes up despite an eagerness on my part to point to the sky and shout, “Look, it’s a flying turtle,” or to ask, “Wait, aren’t Derek Jeter, Halle Berry and Eva Mendes all sitting together over there?”

You see, I have a dairy allergy. When I first noticed over three decades ago that I couldn’t eat or drink milk products, the world wasn’t as prepared, accustomed and, most of all, accommodating toward allergies.

I’d go in a restaurant, even a fancy one, and tell the waiter or waitress that I was allergic to dairy. I’d get this dubious look like she thought she was on candid camera or that I wanted the fancy French chef to make me a Big Mac.

I tried to order quietly while everyone was looking at their menus or diving for the gold coins I’d thrown across the room as a distraction while I whispered about my allergy to a waitress, begging for a chance to order without facing the inevitable food inquiry.

Alas, more often than not, my distraction techniques and whispering rarely worked.

“I’m allergic to dairy,” I’d mumble.

“Say what?” she’d say.

The restaurant would go silent as if EF Hutton were telling people how to invest.

“I can’t eat anything made with milk, cheese, butter or cream,” I’d say.

“So, what do you want to eat? The chef can’t redo the entire kitchen just for you,” she’d reply, while snarling, blowing the bangs off her forehead and rolling her eyes.

Typically, I’d come up with something creative like a plate of lettuce, an unbuttered bagel, a hard-boiled egg or a Chinese meal. Asian restaurants rarely use milk or butter, which makes Chinese, Japanese and Thai food among my favorites.

Once I’d finally placed the order and was ready to engage in a non-food-related conversation, someone would look me in the eye and ask.

“So, what happens to you if you eat dairy?”

And there it is. I’m not sure what to say. Going into graphic detail forces me to relive unpleasant experiences.

Over the years, I’ve looked at my wife for help. She’s tried to point out the scar from the IV she got when she gave birth to our daughter, shared some exciting anecdote from work, or offered a story from her childhood.

The more we try to redirect the question, the more likely it is to persist.

“No, really, what happens? Would you die?” people have asked eagerly. Sometimes, their tone is so matter of fact that I wonder if they’d like popcorn, with plenty of butter, to watch the death by dairy event.

Do I carry an EpiPen? Would my throat close? Would I need immediate medical attention?

While the answer to all three questions is “No,” I prefer not to think about, and relive, the consequences of a few mouthfuls of key lime pie.

Describing the discomfort that starts in my mouth and continues all the way to my, well, other exit point, requires me to share unpleasant details.

I try to shorten the interaction by suggesting, in general terms, that I’m in intense digestive discomfort.

“How long does it last?” someone asks.

“Long enough that I haven’t had ice cream for over three decades.”

While the question is unpleasant, the modern reality is not. Waiters and waitresses often arrive at the table and ask about food allergies.

Then again, out of habit, some of them ask at the end of my order if I’d like cheese in my omelet or on my burger.

I smile, waiting for them to look me in the eye.

“Right, right,” they eventually grin. “No dairy. I knew that.”

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Pixabay photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Unless you are a conspiracy theorist and view “the slap heard around the world” as a publicity stunt cooked up by Will Smith and Chris Rock, the episode at the Academy Awards Sunday night left you first puzzled, then shocked. After we caught on, there then ensued an outpouring of opinion and punditry about the incident. But there seems little consideration about how Mrs. Smith might have felt about the matter, or how societal values have dramatically shifted.

Mrs. Smith, otherwise known as the actress and producer Jada Pinkett Smith, is a force of her own. An award winner and named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021, does she need defending by her husband? Although it was only a quick shot on the camera, she seemed to grimace at Rock’s joke about her baldness. And indeed, alopecia is a serious and anguishing condition that usually occurs when the immune system destroys the hair follicles and causes hair loss that can last for months or years. She had revealed the diagnosis, sharing a video on her Instagram showing herself with a shaved head, in 2018.

Back in the day, my day, women expected the men in their lives to defend them physically. That was the rationale for men walking on the outside of the sidewalk if a man and woman strolled down a street. The man would be there to protect the woman from any danger or even any mud splash that might come from the road. It was part of the definition of manhood that the male was there to protect the female. Is that an expectation today? Do men still take the curb position during any sidewalk stroll? In truth, I haven’t noticed. I haven’t even thought about it. The idea goes with men opening doors or pulling out chairs for women. I suppose it still happens, and it’s thoughtful if it does, but it doesn’t seem like de rigueur today.

This is a significant societal change. I remember an exchange I had in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a graduate student who was a friend at the time. As we were passing an ice cream parlor, he suggested we go in for cones. I readily agreed and stood in front of the door, waiting for him to open it. How surprised I was when he asked, “Why do I have to open the door for you? Is anything wrong with your arm?” He was clearly ahead of his time, believing as he did in equality of the sexes, and I was glad he wasn’t my boyfriend.

It is my sense today that whoever is in front opens a door. Is that correct or am I just an aggressive woman?

Later, when Will Smith won the award for best actor as the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams in the movie “King Richard,” he made the first of his apologies, explaining that he had acted because he had become emotional. Hey, again, back in my day, men were not allowed to show any emotion, unless they were wimps. Macho meant the strong, silent type. Men who cried were certainly not poster models for unfiltered cigarettes or Marines. If a man cried, there was probably something wrong with him.

Today, men are praised when they offer their “soft” side. Men are allowed to have feelings and to show them. Even the President of the United States, any one of them, has been seen wiping away a tear. For men, feelings can even be a license for strange behavior, which is how Smith explained his behavior. Never mind that he could have stood up and walked out or even turned his back on the comedian. His feelings freed him to be violent, and in front of 15 million people no less.

I wonder what his wife said to him when they got home.

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Stock photo

Social media has enabled people to connect and reunite with each other. Unfortunately, it also has provided another outlet for scam artists.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, “More than one in four people who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media with an ad, a post or a message.”

An event organizer in the TBR News Media coverage area recently discovered that someone had set up fraudulent social media accounts pretending to be a representative from their organization. When they took to their Facebook and Instagram accounts to warn the public, they found their name wasn’t the only one being used to scam local residents.

There are countless scammers out there impersonating not only other people but companies and nonprofit organizations. In the incidents occurring in the TBR coverage area, people set up social media accounts promising vendors that they could secure their spots at future events of the organizers through the account by using PayPal.

The incidents are just another reminder that navigating social media is the same as the web: You can’t take anyone at their word.

The best thing to do when anyone approaches you over social media asking for money — just as you would over the web and phone — is to ask if you can get back to them. If they keep insisting that you pay now, odds are they’re not who they say they are.

Anyone who is legitimately representing a business would have no problem with you jotting down their number and getting back to them. Of course, when calling or emailing a company back, if you are handing over money, you’ll want to make sure you look up the contact information before calling. Many times, scammers will go as far as answering the phone by saying the company’s name or setting up email accounts that make it look as if they are associated with the business.

Some may ask that a person pays through PayPal or Venmo and similar payment apps which may make a person feel better since a credit card number is not being given out. The bottom line is that money is still being stolen and most likely will never be recouped. It’s important that payors do their research.

Facebook’s help center also advises that users be wary if someone asks you “to move the conversation off Facebook to a less public or less secure setting, such as a separate email.”

Other things to look out for are unverified pages claiming to represent a large organization or public figure, or a page that contains messages or posts with poor spelling and grammar.

The most important advice to heed is that if you think you have been scammed, file a police report by calling the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-852-SCAM (7226) and notify the platform on where the fraudulent account is set up.

Social media has provided a whole new world for interaction. With a bit of caution, it can be a pleasant experience instead of a dangerous one. Just some extra care goes a long way.

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