By Jill Wagner

What should you do if you THINK your child is doing drugs but they deny it? The signs are all there, but you just don’t know for sure?  Now the Suffolk County Sheriff Department has a program that will let you finally get the answers you’re looking for: “Test, Don’t Guess.”

The department is giving out FREE drug tests to anyone who wants one.   They’re easy to use — you take them home, have your child give a urine sample, and then you can find out the results  just ten minutes later – yourself.  Everything from heroin to pot to pills will show up.

Just as importantly, the test comes with guidelines for TALKING to your kids about drug use.  It can sometimes be an uncomfortable subject that you’d rather put off until another time.  But as the Suffolk District Attorney said rather poignantly — “The time to act is now, not later when you’re about to bury your child.”

Or when your child ends up in jail.

The Sheriff has that part covered, too.  They’re offering parents the chance to bring their kids on a private tour of the county jail… a little preview of what’s in store in they continue using drugs.

The kids will also have the chance to talk to inmates like 20-year-old Jamie from Commack.  She says she started using heroin when she was a senior in high school.  That was the beginning of the end.  She went from being an Italian honor student with dreams of teaching to a convicted criminal sitting behind bars.

She told me that heroin is “everywhere” at Commack High School, as it is in many other high schools across the Island.  She said her parents often asked if she was using drugs, but she denied it.  An actual drug test would have left no doubt.  Looking back, she says her parents would have probably put her on house arrest — a far better option than actually sitting in jail.

For more information about the tests or the tours, you can check out the Sheriff Department website at www.suffolksheriff.com.  They also have a list of other resources that can help if you need counseling for your child.

By Jill Wagner

Where are you getting your Thanksgiving turkey this year?   Waldbaums?  Pathmark?  Well, for the first time ever, thousands of Long Islanders are bypassing the supermarket and instead heading for the wilds of Suffolk County.

That’s right, this year marks the first ever Wild Turkey Hunting Season on Long Island.  If you’re like me, you probably didn’t know that wild turkeys roamed our very crowded and developed Island.  They did disappear for decades — but in the 1990’s the New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) re-introduced the Eastern Wild Turkey to Long Island.  It’s been so successful, there are now about 3,000 turkeys strutting their stuff from Nassau to Suffolk.

The turkeys are about three feet tall and some weigh as much as 30 pounds.  Biologists say they have wonderful eye sight and can fly, but they do prefer staying on the ground.   They’ve been spotted on golf courses, in back yards, and crossing busy streets!  Of course, we searched the Island high and low for these feathered friends today and didn’t spot even one.

Perhaps the hunters will have better luck!

The hunting season runs for just five days.  It begins on Saturday, November 21 and runs until November 25th.  Hunters must have a turkey permit and they are limited to only one bird a person.   Shooting hours are from sunrise to sunset.

Here are the locations:

Otis Pike Preserve, Rocky Point Natural Resources Management Area, Westhampton Management Area, West Tiana, Barcelona Neck, and Sarnoff Pine Barrens Preserve.  You can also hunt on private property but certain rules apply.

There is additional information on the DEC website at:  www.dec.ny.gov.

So, how does wild turkey taste compared with the store bought brands?  Most of the experts at the DEC tell us they’ve never actually eaten one.   But they say they’re leaner than farm turkeys and they feed on sweeter foods, like berries… so you might not need as much cranberry sauce with your wild turkey!

by Jill Wagner

It’s been months since West Babylon mom, Diane Schuler, caused a deadly crash on the Taconic State Parkway.  She killed herself, her daughter, and her three young nieces when she drove head on into an SUV– also killing the three men inside.  With no survivors except Schuler’s young son, it is almost impossible to know exactly what happened in the hours before the crash.

But News 12 recently obtained a 97-page police report filled with witness testimony and interviews with Diane Schuler’s family.  It provides a fascinating glimpse into that time period leading up to the tragedy.

According to the report, witnesses saw Diane puking on the side of the road twice–just hours before the accident.  One man says he saw a woman with a read mini van and brown hair “with her hands on her knees as if throwing up.”  Shortly afterwards, the red mini van was “tail gating him and flashing its headlights.”   He moved aside to let her pass, and the mini van continued “zig zagging in and out of traffic.”  And, shortly afterwards, he saw this same van pulled over with the same woman outside the van with her hands on her knees.”

The witness says he’s confident that woman is Diane Schuler, based on pictures released to the media.  He only contacted police AFTER they announced she was drunk at the time of the accident.

Another shocking revelation: Diane Schuler was allegedly a regular pot smoker.  In the report, Diane Schuler’s sister-in-law tells police Diane smoked marijuana almost every night “after the kids would go to bed.”

Many of the witnesses on the road at the time say they personally had to swerve out of Diane’s way to avoid being victims themselves.  One describes her as having a “normal” expression on her face.  Some people say she was driving at around 70 mph.

One account says:  “numerous drivers were honking their horns and flashing their headlights, but [Schuler] kept going as if nothing was wrong.  At no point did this vehicle attempt to avoid oncoming cars.”

Another driver “stated that the minivan came very close to striking her vehicle. She stated that [Schuler] had the opportunity to pull into the median, but did not.”

There are still so many questions about what happened that day — what caused Diane Schuler to get behind the wheel with a carload of young kids and drive head on into another vehicle — but hopefully the police report will help fill in the blanks and give the victims’ families some answers.

By Jill Wagner

Inside the Nassau County Legislature today lawmakers were battling it out over the 2010 operating budget.  Outside at a nearby shopping center, I couldn’t find one resident who was following the budget battle, eEven though property taxes are one of the big components of the budget–and we all know about Long Islanders and their sky high property taxes!

Add to the usual political bickering the fact that this is an election year.  County Executive Tom Suozzi and all the incumbent legislators are on the ballot fighting to keep their jobs (except for Leg. Roger Corbin who did not win the Democratic primary in his district).

It makes for some pretty heated exchanges.  At one point there was mass confusion over whether the nine Republicans voted on an amendment to the budget that would restore some funding for county firefighter training.  To be honest, I am not exactly sure the chain of events, but most Republicans voted “nay” — thinking it was for something else.  The amendment passed regardless, with just the Democratic majority’s support.   But it left Republican lawmakers scrambling afterward to get on the record saying they DO in fact support the firefighters.

It was with that same slim margin, 10-9 in favor of the Democrats, that the 2010 budget eventually passed.  Tom Suozzi and his fellow Democratic lawmakers praise the budget for freezing property taxes.  But Republicans point to a 2.5 percent Home Energy Tax–they say the equivalent of a 4.9% tax increase.  And they say the budget relies on one time fixes that will eventually come back to haunt residents in the form of property tax hikes down the road.

Republicans point to millions of dollars in Federal Stimulus money that won’t be around in 2011.  Plus they say Suozzi’s projections for sales tax, about a 1.5% increase from this year, are too rosy.

The Republicans want the county to cut “vacant but funded” positions.  They say that will save about 11 million dollars a year.  They also want to cut millions in patronage jobs, and they’re asking for each Department Head to cut less than .5% from their 2010 budgets.

For their part, Democrats say their budget is sound and the projected sales tax revenue is conservative.  Suozzi says to look at his record–he’s held the line on property taxes for the last six years.  And he says he’s brought the county workforce to its smallest number in 30 years as a way to save money.

So who’s right?  Dowling College Economist Marty Cantor says in a political year this type of back and forth is to be expected.  He says Suozzi does rely on some one time fixes, more than in Suffolk County’s budget.   But here is Cantor’s bottom line: “It’s all about the economy and the county executive is trying to bide himself a year so the economy can get better.”

And Cantor says that’s better than raising property taxes during a recession!

By Jill Wagner

Any guesses?  You know which lawmakers YOU like, but how about your friends and neighbors….

A recent News 12/Newsday/Siena Research Institute poll asked Long Island voters about several people in public life and whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion about them.   At the top of the list — Senator Chuck Schumer.  58% of respondents say they have a favorable opinion.

After that — it’s the President –  Barack Obama.  He has a 56% favorability rating.  Next, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy has a 55% favorability rating and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has a 52% favorability rating.

What you might find surprising about Steve Levy’s numbers is his popularity with Hispanic voters.  It’s no secret that the County Executive has had tension with the Hispanic community, especially after the murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero last year.  Still, according to the poll, 57% of Hispanic voters say they have a favorable opinion of him.  That’s more than White and African American voters.

Who do you think is the LEAST popular politician?  Ok, the poll doesn’t really phrase it that way.  But, no surprise, Governor David Paterson’s poll numbers aren’t looking good: 24% have a favorable view and a whopping 63% view him UNFAVORABLY.

And while Senator Chuck Schumer ranks high on the list, his counterpart in the US Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand, isn’t looking as good.  Only 22% view her favorably, 29% unfavorably, and 50% of those surveyed say they “don’t know or have no opinion.”

Political expert Larry Levy says that does not bode well for her re-election chances in 2010:  “It’s surprising that her ‘don’t knows’ are as high as they are, but what is a warning sign for her, is that more people that know her DON’T like her.”

The poll also asks Long Islanders about specific issues they face and whether they think Long Island is headed in the right or wrong direction.  The entire poll is available here on the News 12 website — Just click on Numbers & Links.