Thursday, February 1, 2024 ~ Volume 136 ~ Issue Number 11 ~ $1.00
Opioid Crisis Claims Another Life: One-Year-Old Joseph Adonis By Kaitlyn Foley
Office of the District Attorney
Suffolk County is forced to mourn the life of yet another resident due to the current opioid crisis in our state. Oneyear-old Joseph Adonis, of Holbrook, was killed earlier this month due to his exposure to fentanyl and other uncontrolled substances at the hands of his mother and father. On the morning of January 3, 2024, a 911 call was made from a residence in Holbrook. When Suffolk County Police officers arrived, they found fourteen-month-old Joseph Adonis unresponsive and not breathing. The baby was rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Joseph was found in a bedroom littered with uncontrolled substances including cocaine, Fentanyl, Xanax, packaging materials, digital scales, a stun gun, a loaded shotgun, and a rifle, which was all insecure and accessible to both Joseph and his eleven-year-old brother. Continued on page 10 One-year-old Joseph Adonis, victim of opioid overdose.
The Tragedy of
Human Trafficking By Peter Chidichimo Contrary to what many people believe, human trafficking is not the process of transporting people against their will. It is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person to engage in illicit or illegal activity, such as sex work or forced labor. Examples of forced labor include farming, mining, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and even forced marriage. In the United States, the most common form of coercion is sexual in nature, with domestic servitude being the second most common. January was National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. According to the U.S. State Department’s website, the goal is to raise awareness and to educate the public about how to identify and prevent this abhorrent criminal activity. This includes raising awareness of human trafficking both domestically and abroad, through U.S. embassies and consulates. Human trafficking is a global crisis. According to the International Justice Mission (IJM), an organization dedicated to combating human trafficking, millions of men, women, and children are trapped in modern-day slavery around the world. In India, for example, entire families are coerced into forced labor, including in rice mills and garment factories, working up to twenty hours a day. In the Dominican Republic, women and children are lured into sex trafficking with false promises of gifts or a good-paying job. In the Philippines, children as young as two are sexually abused live for anyone in the world to watch through illicit websites. Continued on page 3
FULL STORIES ON:
American Legion Post Receives New Roof Page 15
GOP Senators: ‘Save Our Schools’ Page 16
Local Spotlight: Darryl Sumpter Page 23