Chamber Members 'Meet The Media'

Panel moderator Joye Brown, Huntington Councilman Ed Smyth and panelist Peter Sloggatt at Huntington Chamber’s Meet the Media breakfast. Photos/Len Marks Photography

Chamber board member Gail Lambert, Chairman Brian Yudewitz and Kirk McDavid of Northwell Health Systems, an event sponsor. Photos/Len Marks Photography

One of the newsmakers talked about at Meet The Media, Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci. Photos/Len Marks Photography

The recent election, development issues, immigration and the opioid crisis were among topics discussed by a panel of journalists in a public forum hosted by the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce last week.

Meet The Media is an annual event in the chamber’s series of monthly networking breakfasts. This year’s edition was moderated by Newsday columnist and Huntington resident Joye Brown, and featured three veterans of the news media: David Winzelberg, who reports on real estate and development issues for Long Island Business News; Drew Scott, a Long island News Radio reporter and longtime correspondent for News12 Long Island; and Peter Sloggatt, publisher and managing editor of Long Islander News.

Guests had an opportunity to talk with the panelists during an hour of networking that kicked off the event. Over breakfast, Brown pitched questions and topics to both the panel and audience members to explore the top stories in current news coverage, as well as those under-reported stories that deserve deeper coverage.

Several newsmakers were in attendance, including Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci and Councilman Ed Smyth, whose election to the town board last November ushered in a new Republican-led majority. Councilwoman Joan Cergol, who was appointed by the Democratic majority late last year to fill a recently vacated seat, and fellow Democrat Mark Cuthbertson were also there.

The new majority in charge at Huntington Town Hall, and its “new direction” for the town were among topics discussed. Lupinacci did not definitively comment on the pace of apartment-building and parking issues in Huntington village, two of the issues raised by the panel.

The opioid crisis and last year’s 600 overdose deaths on Long Island dominated the discussion. Scott poignantly bringing the issue home when he brought up a photo on his tablet and held it up for the crowd to see. The picture was of him with his granddaughter, Hallie Rae Ulrich, one of those 600 deaths. Scott recounted how he learned that the body found on the side of a road in East Hampton last Sept. 7 – a story he was monitoring as a journalist – was his granddaughter. She had apparently been left there after overdosing.

According to Scott, he and his family were unaware of Hallie’s drug use. He has since dedicated himself to sharing Hallie’s story to raise awareness and incite action on opioid abuse, stressing that the crisis has impacted across economic and social lines. Brown further emphasized the point by asking for a show of hands from anyone who has been personally touched by the crisis.

Well over half those in the audience raised their hands.