This newspaper has of late become the target of complaints from Sea Cliff officials and their supporters that they're not getting a fair shake in our reporting on the great ferry debate that has been the subject of intense coverage in recent months. Despite threats from ferry opponents to cancel subscriptions to this weekly journal, newsstand sales are up and climbing.

The fact of the matter is that a newspaper can only be as objective as the number of sources it has available to it. In every major news report, it is the policy of this publication to seek not just both sides of a story, but every side. In the case of the ferry debate, we have endeavored to gain access to all of those sides. That includes not only ferry proponents, but ferry opponents as well, namely, Sea Cliff's village officials and the North Shore Environmental Alliance, (formerly the Alliance Against the Ferry).

It is remarkable that it is Sea Cliff's officials who make these charges of bias in reporting when they are the ones who have for weeks refused to return our calls. Why they are hiding remains a mystery. Suffice to say, however, that we cannot report their side if they're not going to return our calls.

Ours is not the only case of being ignored by those who are in the best position to get their side out. Kevin Horton, editor of the Gold Coast Gazette, the other weekly newspaper that covers Sea Cliff events, has complained bitterly in his own paper that he is unable to gain access to public documents sought under New York's Freedom of Information Law, (FOIL). Joseph Reilly, president of the Sea Cliff Taxpayers' Association, reports that he also served a FOIL request on the Village of Sea Cliff weeks ago in order to find out just how much money the Village was committing to its lawsuit against the City of Glen Cove. To date, he's received no response from Sea Cliff other than their acknowledgment that they are in possession of his request.

We have lots of questions for the Village officials. For example, how much money has been spent on the ferry lawsuit and how much more has been authorized for expenditure? Has any amount been set aside for ferry litigation in the proposed Village budget? When was any expenditure authorized by a vote of the Village trustees and where is a copy of the resolution? What exactly is the relationship between the Village and the Alliance? Who's paying for their fund raisers? The questions go on ad infinitum.

What's going on here? Despite calls to the office of the Mayor of Sea Cliff, this paper is as much in the dark today about Sea Cliff's side of the story as it was on the day we first reported that there was a story. Who's fault is that?

It may very well be time for either Mr. Horton or Mr. Reilly to consider taking legal action to enforce their rights under FOIL. Public officials should never be permitted to hide behind their own stonewalling. The whole idea of representative government in a democracy is that the people we choose to act for us are supposed to be responsible to us. Refusing to provide information on a matter of substantial public significance is hardly the fulfillment of one's responsibility in this regard.

And that's why this paper rejects not just some, but each and every complaint about the fairness of our reporting. If the people in possession of one side of the story choose to play their cards close to the vest because they don't want the opposition to know what they're up to, then they simply have to accept the responsibility of their own actions, or inaction if you will.

Sea Cliff's village officials know the telephone number of this newspaper. Our word processors are turned on and ready to go. All they have to do is pick up the phone and dial.

¬ZC