We write in response to the recent advertisement in your paper attacking the motives of the Society to Preserve Underhill and those of its leader, Joe Lorintz. There are good ways to settle disagreements over land use decisions. Personal attacks are not among them.

The League of Women Voters of Nassau County has been a member of the society and worked closely with Mr. Lorintz from the beginning. He has always been public-spirited and honorable. It is laughable to think that any of us has profited financially from our involvement in preserving the Underhill property. Members of the Society to Preserve Underhill have expended their own funds to gather material, attend hearings, produce and distribute information.

The League of Women Voters has worked for years to preserve Underhill because Nassau County is in dire need of open space and watershed. The Underhill property is a state-specified Special Groundwater Protection Area and is listed on New York's priority list of open spaces to be preserved. That is what we all should be working toward!

Esther Ernst

Co-director, Natural Resources

League of Women Voters of Nassau County