HAUPPAUGE – A new lawmaker joined the Suffolk Legislature temporarily Monday as County Executive Steven Levy recognized the crafter of the proposal that won his “There Oughta Be a Law” program.

Willard Christy of East Islip joined Levy Monday in Hauppauge as the county executive recognized Christy for devising a system to eliminate unused prescription medicine in a safe and eco-friendly way. Christy’s entry suggested that a county agency receive and dispose of all expired and unused medications.  This would be an alternative for residents who currently may keep pills and capsules stored in medicine cabinets (and perhaps within reach of children) or who may flush the medications down the toilet, which could cause chemical imbalances in our drinking water and harm our wildlife.

Christy submitted his entry for “There Oughta Be a Law” in April, a few weeks after the law-making contest for all county residents was introduced by Levy. Said Christy regarding how he came up with the idea for his bill: “You can open any major newspaper and read about drugs contaminating our waters on a regular basis. Just recently I read about wildlife in Alaska being found with antibiotics in their system. Our aquifer is less than 100 feet below the surface; that’s very close to the surface and our septic tanks. These drugs and chemicals can easily seep in and contaminate our drinking water. We spend a lot of money preserving open space to protect our drinking water, and rightly so, but what good is it doing if we are just poisoning our water through other methods?”

The bill will be introduced at the next general meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature by Legislator Steven Stern.