The press should leave Lindsay Lohan — and Merrick — alone

“Stand in the place where you live/ Now face North/ Think about direction/ Wonder why you haven’t before.” — R.E.M.

In 2002, my wife and I were living in a one-bedroom apartment that we owned on Park Avenue in Long Beach. We loved the City by the Sea but wanted a smaller, quieter community in which to raise our children. We’ve never regretted our decision to move to Merrick.

That’s why I was disturbed to read a recent online Vanity Fair article, “Sweet Home, Long Island,” by freelance journalist Jessica Pilot, in which she recounts her recent trip to Merrick to examine the hometown roots of starlet Lindsay Lohan and makes a mockery of the community in the process.

Lohan was raised in a home near Merrick Avenue Middle School through her teen years, when all seemed to go awry in her life. She was adorable as an 11-year-old in “The Parent Trap.” By all accounts, she was a very normal student at Calhoun High School in North Merrick, fond of wearing T-shirts and jeans.

Sometime thereafter, however, alcohol and drugs took control of her life, and she’s had a wild ride of it ever since. In courtroom photos she looks tired and far older than her 24 years. The press should leave her alone until she can get substance-abuse counseling and put her life in order.

No doubt, Lohan could use a break from the constant coverage, and frankly, so could the rest us. But the more she spirals out of control, the more the media hovers. Last Friday she was sent to jail for the second time in recent months for failing a court-ordered drug test. Within 24 hours, she was released on $300,000 bail, and the press once again had a field day.

Vanity Fair entered the fray with a cover story on a willing Lohan for its October issue. Pilot’s piece ran online only and accompanied the main article. Her story, a mix of fact, opinion and innuendo, got to me because it derided Merrick in such a mean-spirited way.