Introducing Sachem Patch

Welcome! If you've had the opportunity to scroll around the site a bit, you'll notice it's unlike anything you've seen before. When has the Sachem area ever had a 24/7 news source? Never. Aside from a few weekly papers that cover one town, or a shopper guide that prints month-old news, the area has never been paid due diligence from a media standpoint. That is, until now, however.

On Sachem Patch, you'll find everything you need about the Sachem area – stories about the school system, crime, politics, high school sports, entertainment, fire department info – everything! The idea of local journalism will hit your computer full-force. Patches are popping up throughout the country and if you haven't noticed, the Patch network is changing how people view and receive their news. You want it now, hard and fast and at Sachem Patch we'll do that for you.

If you're wondering why this Patch is using the Sachem name and not one town like the other Patches in our media network, it's because our area's identity is focused on its school system and the Sachem moniker. Other Patch sites focus on one town, with one fire department, with one high school – not this Patch. It bucks the trend.

Think about it. One district has two high schools that have students from close to seven hamlets/cities, with one library that reaches the same people, with a couple of Suffolk County Police precincts that protect the same people and with restaurants that Sachemites all use. It's a unique area and is better served when you can learn about what's going on around all of the Sachem towns, instead of just one.

It helps that I was raised and still live in Sachem, have covered many facets of the area before and bleed Black & Gold just as much – if not more – as any other Sachem alum. In the words of Jack Bauer, "you have my word" that the coverage will be top notch.

While the site will specifically focus on news from Holbrook, Lake Ronkonkoma and Farmingville, there will also be plenty about things happening in Holtsville and Lake Grove. It's inevitable that something will happen in the latter two towns that is newsworthy and it would be counter-productive to not include that information on the site. For the business directory listing, however, just Holbrook, Lake Ronkonkoma and Farmingville locations are featured for now.

For sports fans, you'll get your fix. We'll have season previews, reviews, in-game coverage when possible, athletes of the week, athletes of the year, Q&A's, "where are they now?" columns and starting next week, weekly blogs from two Sachem high school athletes.

For government aficionados you'll be satisfied as well. We have reporters covering the Town of Islip, Town of Brookhaven and Town of Smithtown, attending zoning and planning board meetings and keeping us all updated on recent changes that affect us on a daily basis. For foodies and entertainment lovers, we'll have restaurant reviews and coverage of all local artsy events at the schools and library.

I'm looking for user participation with this site. I want you to comment on stories, tell your friends and neighbors about the site, find new and interesting places to eat or shop and let us know what you like and don't like. If you know of an interesting story, send me an email. If you want an event covered, send me an email. If you just want to say hi, and let us know that Sachem Patch is doing a good job, you guessed it, send me an email. I can be reached at Chris@Patch.com.

Here are some of the weekly features we'll be running:

Monday: -Weekly police blotter

Tuesday: -Business of the week

Wednesday: -Out to Eat: restaurant reviews

Thursday: -Where are they now? A look at former Sachem students and athletes -Political opinion pieces: Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Bill Lindsay and Suffolk County Legislator Tom Muratore will write columns every-other week

Friday: -Sachem students of the week

Saturday: Athlete blogs: A weekly look into the life of two Sachem athletes

Sunday: -Week in review: highlighting the top videos/stories of the week

-Sachem athletes of the week

-Photo essay of the week: pictures that highlight one part of Sachem each week