By Doug Geed

So if you’ve been watching us this week, you know we’re in the middle of an in-depth, 10-part series on heroin use — which has reached very serious levels here on Long Island.

Before taking part in this series, I know very little about this drug. Honestly, when I grew up in the late 60’s, heroin usually meant junkies lying in back alleys in the city or in the subways with needles in their arms. That’s not the case anymore.

Heroin today is a powder that you can buy in a bag for about 6-to-8 bucks. A bag will give you about a 3 or 4 hour high. You can use a needle, but you can also snort it through your nose. And lots of kids are doing it — LOTS of kids. It’s found in high schools, middle schools — you name it.

Dominic Scalise is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with an office in Commack. He’s retired as Suffolk County’s Clinic Director for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services. He describes the high from heroin as a peaceful, sedating high. In his words, you’re wrapped up in a safe cocoon where nothing bothers you. Nothing anybody says or nothing anybody does bothers you. All your problems — all the stress in your life — simply disappear. The drug is very easy to get addicted to (after all, who wouldn’t want to have their problems simply go away for a few hours?)

The trouble is, when the high is over, your problems are still there. So you escape back into your little world to make them go away again. Before you know it, you’re hooked — and the problems you ran away from are twice as bad. Suddenly nothing in your life is important anymore — all you want is to get back in your “cocoon.”

Billy Walsh of Centereach knows all about it. You name it, he’s tried it. He calls heroin “the greatest painkiller ever invented.” But it’s caused him plenty of pain as well and now, at 30, he’s got a long list of regrets and has a daily struggle to stay clean.

But as a father of three kids, there was one thing he said that stuck out the most. When I asked him what advice he would give to parents watching our interview he said it was to get more involved in your kids’ lives. Pay attention to them — ask questions — and don’t be afraid to talk about drugs. “They say talking about drugs is difficult,” Billy told me. “No it’s not. Finding your son dead in his bedroom with a needle in his arm is difficult.”

This is a real problem, folks. Pay attention.

By Doug Geed

Like every other parent that I’ve met, my Mom likes to brag about her kids. So I figure after all these years, it’s time I brag about her.

She is the subject of a painting by Monet. Seriously. All right — not THAT Monet — Claude Monet, the 19th century impressionist, but by one of his descendants, Diane Monet — herself an accomplished artist.

To make a long story short, Diane was visiting the nursing home where my Mom lives — Broadlawn Manor in Amityville. It was during one of the “pet therapy” sessions and Diane spotted my Mom holding a cat in her lap. The image just struck her and lo and behold, she made a painting out of it. It’s actually going be the “unveiled” in a ceremony at Broadlawn this afternoon and then the painting will hang in the lobby.

It’s a fitting tribute for my Mom, who’s gone through a lot. My dad died very unexpectedly when I was in high school back in the 1970’s and my Mom — one of those World War Two era brides who stayed at home raising the kids and taking care of the house — suddenly found herself a widow in her early 50’s with four kids.

I was proud when she went to school and became a nurses aide working, ironically enough, at a nursing home. (My Mom is all about helping and caring for people.) And what helped her get through everything, besides her sons and grandchildren, were her pets. My Mom has always been an animal lover and they’ve provided great support and companionship for her through the years. Her last pet — Sarah, a cat — lived to be 17 and died shortly before my Mom moved to Broadlawn.

So I can’t think of a better way for my Mom to be remembered than holding a cat in her lap — a content smile on her face. She’s actually a very friendly person, so if you’re ever visiting Broadlawn Manor Nursing Home in Amityville and recognize her from her new portrait in the lobby, say hi and tell her you enjoying watching her son on tv. It makes her feel good.

By Doug Geed

I think if we took a poll, summer would hands-down be the favorite season of Long Islanders. And it always seems to end so quickly and suddenly. But what helps soften the blow is that fall is such a wonderful time of year. With this weekend being a notable exception, it’s usually filled with warm sunny days and cool nights.
It’s also peak harvest time for Long Island farms. Farm stands all across the North and South Fork are filled with great, healthy, freshly-picked vegetables. In recent weeks I’ve done stories on how farm stands have changed through the years. Farm stands are now a place where families can spend a couple of hours doing everything from getting lost in a corn maze to wandering through a huge pumpkin field searching for that perfect jack-o-lantern. Many serve food — from hot dogs and roasted corn to fresh lemonade, popcorn and candied apples. Many also sell home baked pies as well.
Around the newsroom, my co-workers tell me they’re going to drive out east to go apple picking or visit a farm stand and they ask me which ones to go to. And my answer is always the same — “whatever one you happen to be driving by.”
And it’s the truth — they all have something to offer. And to be honest, I would never single any one of them out in a blog or on the air because farmers are the hardest working people I know and also some of the nicest. It would be unfair to give one a plug over another.
But I really do urge you to visit them. Drive anywhere along Route 25 or Sound Avenue along the North Fork. Take some of the back roads that go north and south connecting those two main roads and you’ll find plenty of places to visit. On the South Fork, Route 27 all the way out to Montauk is also loaded with fun places for the family.
Long Islanders spend millions of dollars through their taxes trying to preserve open space on the East End, an effort most would agree is worth it. But to me, the simplest way to support open space and preserve all the farms and wineries is to simply visit them and buy their product. Trust me, in all the years I’ve been covering the East End, I’ve yet to meet a farmer who can’t wait to sell the property that’s been in their family for decades or even centuries so that it can be leveled for a brand new neighborhood of houses. They’re doing the best they can to hang in there year after year and keep farming.
A day out east helps them continue and will also give your family some great memories.
Here are some links for places you can check out. While you’re on our website, please click on the “Features” link to get more information on my weekend show “The East End.” It’s actually on hiatus until after Election Day so that we can bring you candidate debates, but it will return on November 7th.
Happy Fall!

http://www.lifb.com/FARMINGONLI/FindaFarmstand/tabid/68/Default.aspx
http://www.pickyourown.org/nylongisland.htm
http://www.50plusny.com/story13.htm

By Doug Geed

John German knows his lobsters. He’s been out on our north shore waters since the mid-1960’s catching them.
Yesterday, he told me he got 3-dollars and 50-cents for them — the same price he got 20 years ago.
The recession has a lot to do with it. After all, how many people are eating lobsters these days? But the frustrating, fluctuating population of lobsters and the overall health of Long Island Sound have a lot to do with it as well.

Tomorrow, a Congressional committee will hear from environmental groups from Long Island and Connecticut on what they think is wrong with the Sound — and how they think it can be fixed.

Growing up in Syosset, I remember as a little kid swimming in the various beaches in Oyster Bay, Bayville and Centre Island. Granted, that’s a long time ago and chances are most areas are not as clean today as they were years ago. But the deterioration of the Sound has been alarming — with a devastating die-off of lobsters taking place in recent years.

Adrienne Esposito of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment likes what’s called the “V-Notch” program. When lobstermen catch female lobsters, they mark them with a “v” and throw them back in the water where they cannot be caught for three years. The theory is to leave them be so they can produce more lobsters. People are actually paid by the government to be on board lobster boats to make sure the program is followed.

John German — head of the LI Sound Lobstermen Association — isn’t sure that’s the answer. He says there are plenty of young lobsters in the water, but that for some reason, they don’t make it to the age when they’re legally able to be harvested.
And while many experts believe there’s too much nitrogen in the Sound (from fertilizers and other pollutants that we as people use — and that end up in the water), German thinks there might not be ENOUGH.
He says nitrogen triggers algae — the beginning of the food chain that promotes more fish and aquatic life.
He points to the bottom of Mt. Sinai Harbor where he’s based and says you can see clear down to the bottom 8 or 10 feet down. While he says that may be good for swimming, he’d rather see algae, plant life and fish swimming around.

It’s a complicated issue and one that will probably take millions of dollars to figure out and fix. But let’s hope these Congressional hearings are the beginning. The Sound is too much a part of what makes our Island great to stand by and watch it deteriorate any further.

By Doug Geed

Labor Day is always a tough holiday because we know what’s right around the corner — that first day of school.
This year it was especially tough. Yeah, Mother Nature blessed us with some outstanding weather in late August/early September and we caught a break in that Labor Day was on the latest possible date it can be — September 7th — extending the summer a little bit. But I think Long Islanders would all agree that it didn’t make up for the lousy June we had — and even the spotty July.

For our family, as for many of yours I’m sure, that’s what made it really tough to watch the kids get back on the bus and back to the grind of school. We have one away at college (that sadness is a whole OTHER blog!) and two others still making their way through middle and high school.

They say when you’re young, you spend all your time wishing you were “grown-up” — and when you get older you spend all your time wishing you were young again. For me, I don’t mind getting older — I just wish my kids would stop. Our happiest moments are when all 5 of us are eating together, watching a movie, sitting in the yard — anything as a family.

Back-to-school is just another harsh reminder that time moves on — quicker and quicker the older we get.

Hope everything went smoothly in your household. Time to help the kids with their homework.