Last week, I attended a meeting of the Briggs Neighborhood Committee along with approximately 30 other members. To say that this committee is comprised of four people is completely false. One of my jobs as a member is to contact other members by phone to inform them of various subcommittee meetings based on the task they have volunteered to perform. The list of active families is over 100 now.

I am not going to pick apart the [editorial] by V.A.C., but I will say a few things. Yes, we are concerned about our homes and our taxes. What is wrong with that? Furthermore, our committee has never said that Station #2 should be moved. We have no problem with it being there and being renovated, at a cost that is fair to taxpayers. What is wrong with that?

Jeanette Murphy

In last week's edition of the Hicksville Illustrated News we expected to see an article about the board of fire commissioners' decision, on Nov. 2, to reject the extension of the polling hours in the upcoming election. There was no article on this.

What we saw instead was an editorial by the editor of the Hicksville Illustrated News supporting the Station 2 expansion plan and a very negative, inaccurate and insensitive portrayal of our committee. Needless to say, we are very surprised, disappointed and, quite frankly, confused.

At the Sept. 30 Hicksville Gardens Civic Association Forum dozens of residents raised their hands when asked who was there from The Briggs Neighborhood Committee. Yet, the Hicksville Illustrated News describes us as a select group of residents - specifically three homeowners who live in the immediate vicinity of the firehouse and one homeowner living on the other side of town. This is just one of many misrepresentations in the piece and we hope you will read it and judge for yourself.

For more than a year now our committee has worked on uncovering information from and about our fire district that should have been made public but was not-information about:

• A firehouse expansion in which eminent domain was considered;

• Improper use of executive sessions;

• An exorbitant tax increase that was not reported in the fire district newsletter;

• The more than doubling of the construction budget for Station 2;

• A fabricated letter from the Town of Oyster Bay to H2M saying that a specific property was not for sale by the town when in fact it had never been discussed with Supervisor John Venditto; and

• Proof that the Station 2 plans were going to be submitted to the Town of Oyster Bay for approval several years ago without telling residents.

Instead of recognition for bringing wrongdoing to light, we have been subjected to a propaganda campaign that is attempting to discredit our committee in order to keep the candidate we support from being elected to the board of fire commissioners on Dec. 14. This is unfair to us and Mike Krummenacker - a highly qualified, honest and community-minded individual and former two-term commissioner who has served the Hicksville Fire Department for 33 consecutive years.

We are not a small special interest group. The Briggs Neighborhood Committee is a network of more than 100 families. We never said Station 2 should move. We said it should stay where it is and be renovated within reason. Our objection to the plans presented by the board had to do with enlarging the footprint of the building, which would aggravate an already problematic parking situation and potentially lead to eminent domain. To construct a building of the proposed dimensions without a parking lot is irresponsible and illogical. But, we never said take down Station 2.

Most importantly, the board of fire commissioners voted months ago to go forward with their plans to rebuild Station 2. There is little we can do about this.

So, why was a Neighborhood Committee to Save Your Neighborhood Firehouse formed subsequent to this vote? Why did they hold a demonstration months after the board voted to rebuild Station 2 and why do they need a petition for something that has already been approved?

Why is their candidate running on this one issue, which has already been decided?

And why is the editor of our local newspaper writing an editorial called "It's Time to Move Forward" when it was decided months ago to move forward?

This is an attempt to intimidate our committee and to give a platform to their candidate, an ex-member, whose experience in the fire service is limited. We know this because he sought our support back in January. He very much wanted The Briggs Neighborhood Committee to back him but we did our research and decided to back a more experienced individual with an outstanding record in the fire service who is also a Nassau County Fire Inspector. The Station 2 members are supporting an individual who quit the department 15 years ago and is trying to make a comeback by making promises to and for a small group of the volunteers. Our committee is supporting a loyal 33-year member of the department who holds prestigious positions in state and local firematic organizations. We think this is ample proof that the Briggs Neighborhood Committee is most certainly not anti fire department and that there are fire department members, like Mike Krummenacker, who can and will work well with the community.

We respect and appreciate the fire department and its volunteer members. All we ever expected was for the Hicksville Fire District to be considerate of our neighborhood and provide a little bit of communication about their plans. Had they done that, we would not be in the situation we are in today.

We want to thank the members of your organization who signed the petition and especially those of you who went out of your way to obtain signatures. The petition effort will continue because the voting hours can and should be extended.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all that you do for this community.

The Briggs Neighborhood Committee

(Editor's Note: This letter was submitted by Linda Quackenbush and Terry Teitjen of the Briggs Neighborhood Committee.)