Internet Safety for Parents: Do You Know What Your Child is Doing Online?

By Jason Reis

Most school age children in today’s society have full access to the internet. While it is true that the internet possesses an infinite amount of information which can help with schoolwork, it also opens up a whole new social world and brings together people from all over the world that may be preying on children.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1 in 5 children state they have received unwanted sexual advances while online.

And, a 2006 study by the Zandi Group of teenage students reported the following disturbing statistics:

54% of students surveyed said they frequently have private conversations with online strangers
42% of teens said they have posted personal information online
30% of teens reported that they have talked with a cyber stranger about
meeting in person
16% of pre-teens and teens discovered that someone online was an adult
pretending to be much younger.

In the same study;

33% of pre-teens and teens say that their parents know little or nothing about what they do online,
22% say their parents have never discussed Internet safety with them
42% of parents don't monitor what their children read or type in chat rooms.
95% of parents have stated they don't understand the shorthand lingo kids' use in chatrooms such as "A/S/L" which means age/sex/location, or "P911" which means parent over shoulder.

Parents need to know what their children are doing on the internet at all times. The internet is a world that is the total opposite of the offline “real world.” For instance, we teach our children never to talk to strangers or give out personal information. We even define a stranger as anyone the child has not met and does not know. Yet in cyberspace, with the popularity of sites like Facebook or MySpace, kids are talking to strangers and even exchanging personal information on a daily basis.

Even internet games have become a source for predators to contact children, as well as a place where children get harassed and bullied. X-Box, PlayStation and even many computer games now include features that allow children to talk to each other real time (using a microphone).

Many parents are still intimidated by computers because they simply don't understand them, yet kids seem to grasp technology much faster. However parents need to educate themselves and learn the lingo. It's only after they learn the language and put aside their technology fears that they can truly understand the threat and protect their child from it.

Here are important tips to keep your children safe online:

1. Create your own home computer rules that each child should read, understand and sign. Keep a copy posted near the computer.

2. Keep the home computer in a common space that can easily be seen by parent(s) as they do house choirs, not in a child’s room.

3. Look into purchasing filtering programs such as “spyware”, “adware” and anti-virus, and parental block software to safeguard web surfing.

4. If your child uses chat or e-mail, talk to them about never meeting in- person with anyone they first "met" online.

5. Talk to your child about who they are emailing and chatting with online.

6. Visit the websites your child visits on a regular basis. If your child has a MySpace or Facebook account, log in and become familiar with the site and review what your child has posted.

7. Type your child's full name, username and any alias you know your child uses into a search engine. Children often post on message boards and social networking sites. This is a good way to discover what your child is posting online.

8. Monitor where your child goes online. For example, all computers have a history folder and temp files folder which enable you to see what websites have been visited, as well as any files that have been downloaded.

9. Teach your child the golden rule of cyberspace: Never do anything online that they would not do offline.

10. Get involved with your child and stay in the loop of what he/she is doing online, while still allowing some level of personal space.

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Jason Reis is the owner of Session Media, a website development and branding solutions firm based out of Selden, NY. Session Media strives to provide the service and solutions that satisfy their existing customer needs—as well as to meet the needs of new customers. With access to some of the best resources for product development and branding services, Jason welcomes the opportunity to provide advice and solutions on a myriad of IT topics, including safety and security. For information, check out his website at www.sessionmedia.net and drop him an email.

Things To Do on Long Island New York

Sundown Series: Summer Concerts and Family Fun


The following programs are being presented by The Parent Resource Center (PRC) of Port Washington on Tuesday nights and are geared toward kids and families. All proceeds generated by PRC hosted events are used to support the Parent Resource Center and its programs.

The Parent Resource Center is a non-profit cooperative dedicated to providing affordable, quality educational and social opportunities to all of our community’s families. Operating in an economically and culturally diverse area, PRC members celebrate their differences through the open exchange of ideas and experiences. At the same time, families come together at the PRC to share the joys and challenges of raising young children while their children play, experiment, and learn in a safe and nurturing environment.

The Parent Resource Center
232 Main Street, Suite 4
Port Washington, NY 11050
516-767-3808

Port Washington Parent Resource Center
Sundown Series: Port Washington Police and Fire Department/BBQ

Tuesday evening July 8, 2008 6:00-7:30pm

Meet our local firefighters and police officers. Climb aboard a real Fire Truck! Learn all about fire safety and wear a fire helmet. Bring a blanket and join us outside on the lawn at Landmark Park (across from the library). A BBQ dinner and other tasty treats will be available for purchase. Admission is $5 per person. Children under 1 year are free. No reservations or advanced ticket sales necessary. Please call the PRC office at 516-767-3808 for details.

Port Washington Parent Resource Center
Sundown Series: Jeff Sorg and his Songs Say So Much Band with tips for “living green”

Tuesday evening July 15, 2008 6:00-7:30pm

Dance and sing along with the music of this popular recording artist and Port resident. And pick up some tips for “living green”. Bring a blanket and join us outside on the lawn at Landmark Park (across from the library). Pizza, beverages, and other tasty treats will be available for purchase. Admission is $5 per person. Children under 1 year are free. No reservations or advanced ticket sales necessary. Please call the PRC office at 516-767-3808 for details.


Port Washington Parent Resource Center
Sundown Series: Miss Holli and Tommy with a Luau theme

Tuesday evening July 22, 2008 6:00-7:30pm

Kick up your heels and enjoy this fabulous duo’s fun interpretations of children’s classics! Our Luau theme will create a more festive evening so don’t forget to try some Hula-dancing lessons and the Limbo. Bring a blanket and your best dance moves to the Landmark Park (across from the library) for plenty of warm weather and musical fun! Pizza, beverages, and other tasty treats will be available for purchase. Admission is $5 per person. Children under 1 year are free. No reservations or advanced ticket sales necessary. Please call the PRC office at 516-767-3808 for details.


Port Washington Parent Resource Center
Sundown Series: Laugh and Sing with Bruce

Tuesday evening July 29, 2008 6:00-7:30pm

Sing along to original music and old time favorites with Bruce Katz of Little People Entertainment. This fun interactive show will let your children participate with props and musical instruments. So gather the kids, bring a blanket and join us outside on the lawn at Landmark Park (across from the library). Pizza, beverages, and other tasty treats will be available for purchase. Admission is $5 per person. Children under 1 year are free. No reservations or advanced ticket sales necessary. Please call the PRC office at 516-767-3808 for details.


Port Washington Parent Resource Center
Sundown Series: Lynda Quinn – DJ extraordinaire

Tuesday evening August 5, 2008 6:00-7:30pm

Turn the beat around! Join us as we reunite with the PRC’s favorite DJ, Lynda Quinn! She’ll be sure to have everyone up and dancing! So gather the kids, bring a blanket and join us outside on the lawn at Landmark Park (across from the library). Pizza, beverages, and other tasty treats will be available for purchase. Admission is $5 per person. Children under 1 year are free. No reservations or advanced ticket sales necessary. Please call the PRC office at 516-767-3808 for details.

The Parent Resource Center
232 Main Street, Suite 4
Port Washington, NY 11050
516-767-3808

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The PRC is a Parent CO-OP that offers members classes for pre-school aged children (with and without their parents), social gatherings and field trips for the whole family, workshops for parents, drop-in playtime (with parents) , drop-off baby-sitting and a myriad of resources for the whole family. For more information and upcoming programs, visit the website at www.parentresource.org

Growing Demand of Families Struggling on Long Island, New York

Dear Friend,

Newsday's recent cover story, "Look Who Needs Help Now," may seem like an eye-opener, but sadly it is a situation with which we at Island Harvest are all too familiar.

With the cost of such essentials as home heating oil up 50%, gasoline up 21%, food staples up 18 - 22%, unrelenting taxes, and increasing mortgage payments - we find ourselves in a crisis that is compelling solidly middle class Long Islanders to turn to food pantries and other local charities for assistance with the basics.

We hear the stories every day - and have been hearing them for a while about the struggle working people must face to provide their families with nutritious meals to make it through a day. Demand for turkeys by our network of member soup kitchens, food pantries, and other agencies reached 22,000 last holiday season - a shocking 42% increase over the prior year.

As Long Island's largest hunger relief organization, we are supplementing over 5 million meals each year - yet it is still not enough to meet the growing demand of those struggling to make ends meet.

We continue to work hard to find creative ways to fill in the ever growing gap between the supply of donated food and demand for it - including securing commitments from new businesses and trucking in more food to Long Island from other parts of the country.

Your help is needed to address this not always visible, but serious and growing situation. You can help by making a contribution, volunteering, donating food, organizing a food drive, or getting your company or school involved with us. Our Web site offers many great suggestions on how you can get involved in the fight against hunger and food waste - and lend a hand to our neighbors in need.

Or if you want to talk to a person, you can call us at 516-294-8528.

Thank you for your concern and continued support as we work together in ending hunger and reducing food waste on Long Island.

Sincerely,
Randi Shubin Dresner
President and CEO


Island Harvest
199 Second Street
Mineola, N.Y. 11501 USA
516-294-8528

Island Harvest is a non-profit organization the bridge between those who have surplus food and those who need it. Our staff and volunteers “rescue,” or “collect,” good surplus food from over 600 retailers and wholesalers. Then, they deliver it, free of charge, to our network of 440+ soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, Head Start programs, senior and community centers, and other places where those who need it can get it, all across Long Island, New York.

There are so many ways you can get involved with Island Harvest, from making a contribution or making a long-term investment by leaving Island Harvest in your will, becoming a volunteer, conducting a food drive or becoming a sponsor. For more information call 516-294-8528 or visit the website at www.islandharvest.org

Flood and Wind Insurance Reform in Congress

By Aaron J. Stein
The National Flood Insurance program, administered through FEMA which is in turn part of the Department of Homeland Security, is currently how the vast majority of Long Islanders and people all around the country buy their flood insurance when needed. The idea of the program was that because flood is catastrophic in nature, meaning that it can affect large numbers of people at the same time, that only the taxing power of the federal government was enough to make sure that when the time came to pay huge claims, the money would be there.

The problem is that the rates being charged in the program are not nearly enough to pay the claims, so additional monies have had to be put in over the years by Congress, and those funds basically come out of taxes paid be everybody, not just those in the flood hazard areas. There are some social arguments back and forth about whether that's right or wrong, but after Katrina, it was decided that the program needed to be revised to be 'actuarially sound', meaning that it would collect enough premium dollars to pay the claims, without resorting to general tax revenues or other bailouts. The difference is many billions of dollars, and the answer they have come up with is to include more people in the flood hazard areas and also to increase rates.

But since a couple of the people whose homes were destroyed in Katrina happened to be influential members of Congress, they are not looking to stop there. In trying to judge who was responsible to pay the claims of Katrina, there was a lot of finger-pointing on the part of insurance companies who denied some claims that they felt should have been paid under flood coverage. However since many of the affected residents had been told that the work of the Army Corps of Engineers, in building the levee system, would protect them from flood, they did not carry flood insurance and so were left with no way to rebuild.

What is being proposed is to move windstorm coverage from the private homeowners insurance industry to the government-backed flood insurance program, and price it accordingly. Interestingly, this has the insurance industry up in arms. Although as we know here on Long Island, and particularly as you get farther out on the South Shore of Suffolk County, many insurance companies are shying away from providing policies at all because of the windstorm exposure.

Now this sets up an interesting position for the insurance carriers. On the one hand, they are arguing that wind insurance should NOT be taken out of their hands and put into the Government hands. In general, a founding principle of our country was private ownership, and that the Government should not set itself up as a competitor to private industry. But there are many cases (Medicare, Workers Comp...) where private industry was not up to the task and the government stepped in.

To me, it seems simple enough - if covering losses for hurricanes is a money-losing proposition for insurance companies (which one would have to think it must be if they won't write more coverage) then why would they care if the government took it over? And virtually any argument that could be made for or against the government covering windstorm could be easily turned into the same argument for flood insurance. So which is it? The coverage is too risky and they don't want it, or it's profitable and should be left in private hands? The answers being given by the industry suggest they are trying to play both sides of the fence.

As for me as an agent, I have to say it doesn't really matter. I sell both the government flood insurance as well as home insurance for all kinds of waterfront property. Our job is to deliver, explain, and service the product. So I have no great stake in the outcome here, but I know a snow job when I see one.

Big Changes in Long Island Flood Insurance

By Aaron J. Stein

Hello all, and please accept my apologies for not having written a blog entry in quite some time. But this morning's Newsday article regarding flood insurance had something in it that got me so frustrated that I had to write.

The article is about the re-mapping of flood zones on Long Island by the FEMA, the government agency in charge of the national flood insurance program. They are using new equipment and techniques to reevaluate all the flood maps which may or may not result in people now being required by their bank or mortgage company to carry flood insurance where they may not have been required before.

FEMA is suggesting that some who live near a flood zone are currently outside of it might want to think about purchasing flood insurance now because the price may change dramatically if they are included in a flood zone after the new maps are issued. For instance right now someone who is not in a flood hazard area here on Long Island would pay under $400 for the maximum flood insurance available from the government. If your house is deemed to be in a flood hazard area when the new maps are complete your rate could easily be four to five times higher.

Under FEMA rules, if you have a flood insurance in place and your zone changes you grandfathered in to the old zone for as long as you keep your insurance in force. So if you live close to a flood zone but outside it you might want to think about buying one of the inexpensive policies now. If you end up in a flood zone and your bank requires the coverage, you will be locked into the lower rate. If you remain outside of flood zone under the new maps, you could cancel the policy after a year if you wish. (FEMA will not allow a policy to be canceled in the middle of the year unless you sell your home)

My problem is that in the article there is a quote from County Executive Steve Levy saying that homeowners should be allowed to make their own decision on whether to carry flood insurance or not, as opposed to having that decision made for them by FEMA or their bank. The fact is that we hear every day from people who are only buying flood insurance because their bank is forcing them because of government regulations. They feel that the fact that they've never seen a flood in their home means they will never be flooded. Unfortunately this is not the case and we only need to look at the ongoing problems resulting from hurricane Katrina to see that.

In addition, the idea coming from the County Executive that people should be able to choose which government programs and mandates they participate in and which they choose not to is absurd. If that were the case most people on the South Shore would probably still have cesspools in their backyards except that the government mandated participation in the Southwest Sewer District in order to protect our drinking water in the long run. The same logic is behind a part of our sales tax collections which go to fund open space purchases.

And how about school taxes? I have no children in school anymore. Can I opt out of school taxes because I no longer see the direct benefit to me? I found this to be a very irresponsible statement by the County Executive and contrary to the whole reason for the existence of virtually every government program. It's fine to be a fiscal conservative with the general opinion that government should take the least role possible in people's day-to-day lives. However say that these decisions should all be left to the individual homeowner and rely on them to make the best decision for everybody for the long-term simply does not work and is not valid.

Long Island's ''Feast of Feasts'' July 11-15, 2007 - Wellwood Ave. Lindenhurst, New York

OLPH International Feast 2007

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church
2007 INTERNATIONAL FEAST
July 11-15, 2007

Celebrating it's 25th year, Our Lady of Perpetual Help(OLPH) Parish has expanded their annual feast making it bigger and better than ever! The festival committee has turned this local event into an International delight. More rides, more food, more vendors and more fun than before...

OLPH International Feast takes place on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst, New York. Festival activies start on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 and run through Sunday, July 15, 2007.

The International schedule of events include Polish, Irish, Italian, American and German themed nights. Rides, games and attractions. Expanded vendor area with an assortment of ethnic inspired foods and specialty items. Air-conditioned Vegas area located in the School will be open every evening. Live music and entertainment is scheduled for each themed evening.

Polish Night - Wednesday, 7/11/07
Celebrate your Polish heritage on Wednesday July 11th, or learn about Polish tradition at the OLPH International Feast's Polish Night. Dance to the music of Polka band "Retro" performing live on stage in the entertainment area. Dine under the stars in the food court where Polish delicacies include pierogies and kielbasa. Enjoy all the other foods and browse through the specialty showcase items in the vendor area.

Special Benediction, Procession and Blessing begins at 5:00pm from the Church led by Monsignor Rev. Daniel S. Hamilton. The United States Marine Corp. will be making a special appearance providing the color guard for the opening ceremony!



Irish Night - Thursday, 7/12/07
OLPH International Feast's Irish Night celebrates and honors the Irish with music, dancing and delicious Irish food on Thursday. A changing of the flag ceremony followed by the Award Winning New York Shields. Gerry Finlay and the Cara Band will be performing live on stage in the entertainment area.

Irish delicacies, including corned beef and cabbage as well as other delicious ethnic food will be served in the food court. Additional vendor areas with ethnic inspired specialty items make this a fun-filled evening with a bit of the Irish for everyone.


Italian Night - Friday, 7/13/07
Dance "The Tarantella" when the OLPH International Feast Italian Night takes place on Friday, July 13, 2007. A changing of the flag ceremony will be held at the beginning of the evening. Enjoy live music in the entertainment area and stroll through the vendor areas for all things Italian.

Delicious food prepared by Joe's Italian Deli will be served in the outside eatery. Sausage and peppers, peaches and wine, cannoli, funnel cakes, ice cream and other ethnic treats. So, bring the family and don't miss this fun-filled evening when lil' Little Italy comes to Lindenhurst, New York.


American Night - Saturday, 7/14/07
Rock n' Roll American Style on Saturday, July 14, 2007 with special showcase 50's Band "The Beltones" at the OLPH Annual Feast. A changing of the flag ceremony takes place at the beginning of the night. Savor a variety of foods along Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst. Vendor areas with ethnic specialty items on sale as well rides, games and attractions. It's American, it's International, it's fun for all ages and backgrounds.




International Fair and German Day & Night - 7/15/07
The final day of the OLPH International Feast, Sunday, July 15th, 2007, will be one to remember with the biggest addition in 25 years. Wellwood Avenue from West Gates to Hoffman Avenue in Lindenhurst will be shut down for the International Street Fair! Fun filled activities begin at 10am and last until the festival closing bell at 9pm. The street fair features hundreds of vendors with food, crafts and novelty items.

The changing of the flag ceremony starts off the evening for German night. Live music in the entertainment area by long-time favorite performers, "The Spitzbaum". Knockwurst, Bratwurst, Sauerkraut and Potato Pancakes are on the menu at the outside eatery as well as other ethnic treats.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help International Feast features rides, games and attractions. Vendor area with an assortment of ethnic inspired food and specialty items. Air-conditioned Vegas area located in the School will be open every evening. Live music and entertainment is scheduled for each themed event.

For general information visit the OLPH International Feast Website
OLPH Feast Coordinator 516-242-9531.
Vendor space available 631-539-4942.

OLPH International Festival is sponsored by:
LongIsland.com, Walk 97.5 FM, Artusa Construction, Four Seasons Sunrooms, Manhattan Beer Distributor, Pepsi Cola, Joe's Italian Market, Johnstons' Funeral Home, Lindenhurst Funeral Home, OLPH Kinghts of Columbus, The Cannoli Factory, OLPH Holy Name Society, OLPH Parents Association, Allstar Midway, Carnival Amusements, Sal's Fruit Tree, All County Business Machines, Eye Values, Inc., Johnny Mica, Inc. Ridgewood Savings Bank, Giannini Landscaping and Babylon Dental Care.

Special thanks to contributors, vendors and volunteers, the OLPH Feast Committee, The Incorporated Village of Lindenhurst as well as the church staff for helping to make this event possible.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church 210 S Wellwood Avenue Lindenhurst, NY 11757 Rectory Phone: 631-226-7725 OLPH School 240 S Wellwood Avenue Lindenhurst, NY 11757 School Phone: 631-226-0208

Ode to a Carbonated Beverage

By Michael Watt

I attended my first college fair as a parent earlier this week and quite frankly I went in there thinking, “If nothing else, I should be able to get a column out of this.”

Alas and alack: After hours of trying the only thing I can come up with is, “Boo hoo my kid’s going off to college. Now I feel old because it seems like just last week I was going off to college and blah blah blah.” Nobody wants to read that and I certainly don’t feel like writing it.

As I contemplated what else I might want to write about, however, I poured myself a tall glass of seltzer. Now there’s something worth writing about: seltzer. It just sounds funny.

I love my seltzer. I can drink it all day and it doesn’t make me nauseous or jumpy or stupid like so many other beverages I can name. Right now under my desk is a case and a half of the stuff and I don’t have to count the bottles after I’ve been out of the house for a while to determine if my impressionable young sons got the urge to “experiment” and “explore” in my absence.

It’s fun to drink, too. If I drink a big glass quickly, for instance, I can almost always count on a huge belch ensuing. Sometimes all you need to break up your day and/or lighten the mood is a good belch. As my son Max likes to say, “Some things never get old.”

It can be a pain in the neck to order in restaurants, though, especially when I’m out with a group of friends (like that ever happens) or at a business dinner (more likely). Most folks order something cool or adult sounding, like “I’ll have a glass of Chardonnay,” or “I’ll take an unsweetened Iced Tea.” When it comes around to me I order my seltzer and for some reason I almost always have to repeat myself. Sometimes I think they think I’m saying salsa, which wouldn’t make any sense for obvious reasons. It doesn’t matter, though, because invariably they bring me club soda anyway.

Now, not too many people know that there is a difference between seltzer and club soda, primarily because not too many people care. I know I didn’t know, or care, until I was in my late teenss. I was filling in as a bartender at a Bar Mitzvah when one of the party attendees asked me for a seltzer. Not knowing (or caring) I poured him a club soda. He called me on it and when I asked – probably in a not-very-nice-way – what the difference was, he was kind enough to explain that seltzer has no sodium in it while club soda is rife with the stuff. He also explained that seltzer is Kosher and club soda is not. Unfortunately he explained this to me after several other party patrons were served club soda thinking it was seltzer.

Is that a big deal? Let’s put it this way: You don’t know guilt until you’ve discovered that several very nice folks may have to spend a few extra days in whatever it is Jewish people consider hell because their paths crossed with a brash, unthinking Gentile.

Seltzer can also be a pain because it’s not something most folks have on hand. I have gotten into the habit, therefore, of bringing my own seltzer with me on those rare occasions when I get invited to someone else’s home. You can just imagine how impressed my hosts are when I whip out two liters of “Vintage” or “Zazz.” Nothing screams “cheapskate” and “oh, this ought to be a laugh riot” like store-brand seltzer. (Don’t even get me started on what it’s like to show up at an all-night poker game packing a night’s supply of seltzer when everyone else is lugging in 12-packs of beer. Let’s just say I’m lucky they let me sit at the table).

Being a seltzer aficionado beyond the tri-state area can also be problematic. Anytime I go away on a business trip, for instance, the first thing I do when I get to my destination city is head to a local convenience store to stock up on the stuff I forgot to pack – a toothbrush, matching socks, a re-charger for my cell phone, etc. I also like to buy the basic food staples - bananas, chocolate and cookies - I need to get me through the next couple of days. I would get some seltzer, too, but for some reason seltzer does not exist west of the Hudson. I am sure it is just a coincidence but my rule of thumb is, “If you can’t find any good bagel places in the neighborhood then there’s not going to be any seltzer on the supermarket shelves, either."

Drinking seltzer does have its advantages. There are no calories, for instance, and I have never consumed excessive quantities of the stuff and then surrendered to the urge to call an old friend collect in the middle of the night. My only hope is that my older boy embraces my passion for seltzer when he goes away to college because it seems like only yesterday I was going off to college and I can tell you now the carbonated beverage I wrote odes to back then was definitely not seltzer.

Thank for you for reading this column.

Our First Storm Scare of the Season

BY AARON STEIN

This past weekend, Long Island and the surrounding areas got our first scare of this season. For those who don't realize it, we are already in the beginning weeks of what is considered hurricane season for our part of the world.

Here in Nassau and Suffolk counties, we got pretty lucky this past weekend. New Jersey was not so lucky and they continue to dig out of the mess. This was a nor'easter, as opposed to a tropical storm. There are a couple of things that were different. One is that it came from over the middle of the country, as opposed to tropical storms and hurricanes, which originate (strangely enough) in the tropics, out over water.

So that means that our deluge of rainfall was preceded by a bunch of snow being dropped on the middle part of the country. Usually they are laughing at us when we get hit by a tropical storm, because those rarely make it far inland. Once they do go over land, they quickly lose much of their strength.

The other thing that makes nor'easters so treacherous, especially here on Long Island and in the sort of inverted coastal corner that is the New York metropolitan area, is that the wind comes from a different direction than what is normal for us. Typically, our winds are the 'prevailing westerlies'. (Wind is named for the direction where it originates). That's why our weather patterns usually run from west to east. So if it's raining in central Pennsylvania, most times you can watch as the weather forecasters tell us how long it will be until that reaches us.

Even in this nor'easter, it came from the west relative to us. But the wind is from the northeast instead of the usual west. That means that to a certain extent, these high winds are blowing water in towards our south shores as they circulate around the storm's center! That's why nor'easters can cause heavy flooding even though it might not seem, walking out into our back yards, that things are all that horrible.

Let's hope this does not portend a more active hurricane season here on Long Island. In the past few weeks several more major insurance carriers have stopped writing in Suffolk County. The markets that are open are getting more expensive. And a couple of bad storms could really cause a crisis. We shall see.

As always for more information please visit our web sites at www.NYInsuranceWithService.com and www.FloodInsuranceNY.com.

Important Information About the Pet Food Recall

By Dennis Leon, DVM

As everyone probably knows by now, there is a nationwide recall on specific canned dog & cat foods manufactured by Menu Foods and sold under various other brand names. Affected pets seem to have signs and symptoms of kidney disease, including, but not limited to anorexia, lethargy and vomiting. A complete list of foods currently affected by this mass recall can be found at:

http://www.menufoods.com

Most of the foods affected are cheaper "supermarket brand" foods, but included on the list are a few manufacturers who sell "premium" foods: Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet and Nutro. Not all of their foods are affected by the recall -only specific canned foods produced at a specific plant in Kansas within a certain date range. More specific info can be found at the following sites:

http://us.iams.com/iams/...

http://www.hillspet.com/menu_foods/...

http://www.nutroproducts.com/menufoods.asp

Menu Foods says they have narrowed down the culprit to wheat gluten, an ingredient used in the affected foods. They had a "new" distributor for wheat gluten at their Kansas manufacturing plant between 12/3/06 and 3/6/07. It is unclear at this time what other foods were manufactured in this time range using wheat gluten from the same source. Other manufacturers and brand names of food may or may not be recalled as more information is gathered.

If you have any of these affected foods with matching date and plant codes, discontinue feeding them immediately. Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet and Nutro all carry a 100% guarantee, so you will get refunded for the food. I have also been advising clients to discontinue feeding (or eating?) ANY food containing wheat gluten until the food companies and FDA sort out this whole issue.


For more information, contact:
Dennis Leon, DVM
Levittown Animal Hospital
2703 Hempstead Turnpike
Levittown, NY 11756
516-796-2266

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Dr. Dennis Leon is the owner and chief veterinarian at Levittown Animal Hospital. After working in a variety of small animal practices since 1992, he earned his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2001. Following his veterinary education, Dr. Leon worked in a busy multi-doctor practice in Hayward, CA, where he also served as a veterinary consultant to the City of Hayward Animal Services Bureau, Hayward Animal Shelter, Alameda County Animal Control and San Leando Animal Shelter. His professional interests include preventative medicine, anesthesiology, pain management, kidney disease and and obesity treatment.