The members of the Briggs Neighborhood Committee do not wish to engage in weekly public disagreements with any groups or individuals. Our purpose is and has been from the beginning, to research and provide information that has not been provided to the public when it should have been and to advocate for the best interests of our community.

Our issues have been with the fire district whose commissioners have purposely withheld information from taxpayers for years. We have researched and documented this. The only way to put an end to this practice is to elect good fire commissioners. We have found a worthy and excellent candidate - Mike Krummenacker. Last year, we supported Charley Hearon and we are proud of the job he has done. It's not about denying the volunteers anything or controlling the board. It's about knowing how our tax dollars are being spent.

We never suggested that the current Station 2 be moved. We always said the station should remain where it is and be renovated as would be reasonable for the size of the property it stands on. Our suggestion was that if a large two-story, state-of-the-art firehouse needed to be built it should be built on property large enough to support it and provide adequate parking. We didn't suggest taking down Station 2 and any statements to the contrary are simply false. The vote by the board of fire commissioners, to go forward with the renovation, took place on April 14. Saving the firehouse is a false and shameful campaign platform that is being used to scare people into believing that the firehouse will be closed if they don't vote for a particular candidate.

For the record, we want Hicksville Fire District taxpayers to know that fire commissioner candidate Mike Krummenacker immediately accepted the invitation to the civic association-sponsored Meet The Candidates Night on Dec. 9 to answer the community's questions and debate his opponent Harry Single. Single declined the invitation.

In lieu of the civic association-sponsored Meet The Candidates Night, our committee will provide the Hicksville community an opportunity to join us in the library's community room at 7:30pm on Thursday, Dec. 9 to meet and talk with fire commissioner candidate Mike Krummenacker and Fire Commissioner Charley Hearon. Pizza, soda, coffee and cake will be served. We hope you will join us for a fun and informative evening.

I question all the qualifications for fire commissioner in the upcoming elections in the Hicksville Fire District as written in letters to the editors by an ex-commissioner and ex-chief of the Hicksville Fire District.

Various committees support candidates and candidates seek support by agreeing to certain agendas. Unfortunately, these agendas may not be beneficial to the remaining majority of the community. Michael Krummenacker is supported by the same Briggs Neighborhood Committee that supported Commissioner Hearon last year for his stand on the re-location of Station 2. This does not show a commitment to all residents and taxpayers. An elected fire commissioner should have a very strong desire to serve and maintain a fire department while maintaining a commitment to all residents and taxpayers, not just committees which could be comprised of a small amount of residents and not truly reflecting the needs and desires of the remaining mass majority of the community.

Any qualified resident, man or woman, may run for fire commissioner. All that is needed is a very strong desire to serve and maintain a fire department and district like Hicksville, with eight companies comprised of the best and bravest chiefs, officers and firefighters on Long Island. The candidate must have the commitment to all residents and taxpayers of the Hicksville Fire District to keep out unnecessary tax increases and needless expenditures.

It is with the above resolve that I was elected over Michael Krummenacker as fire commissioner in 1992. In his 10 years on the board, Krummenacker was there for tax increases of over 200 percent and other needless expenditures. With my 35 years as a Hicksville resident, 42 years as a volunteer firefighter (between New Hyde Park and Hicksville) and 28 years in the FDNY - retiring as a lieutenant, I am urging the residents and taxpayers of the Hicksville Fire District to become involved in their fire district by coming out to vote on Dec. 14 at Hicksville Fire Headquarters on Marie Street.

I would ask you to vote for Harry Single, Jr. for fire commissioner. As a Hicksville businessman and resident he has the commitment, desire and dedication to make the best financial and business decisions on the fire district level. On the fire department level he will give the chiefs, officers and members of the eight companies the financial support they need. He will also purchase the best apparatus and equipment that can be obtained to maintain the great Hicksville Fire Department that protects you and I.

The Hicksville Illustrated News' editorial "It's Time to Move Forward" (Nov. 12, 2004) was right on the money. It exposed the Briggs Neighborhood Committee for what they truly are. For over a year, the Hicksville residents have had to listen to the false statements from a group of four that could care less for the safety of the residents of Hicksville or the members of the Hicksville Fire Department.

Well the tide has turned. Last year, the Briggs Street Committee targeted each Hicksville Fire Commissioner for removal, and last year they were successful. They elected their puppet commissioner whose only concern is to bring the group of four's agenda forward, which is to stop the renovations at Station 2 and move Engine 932 and Ambulance 9322 some where else. The board has spent over $70,000, at the request of the Briggs Street Committee to research brownfields and any other possible available land - no matter what part of town it might be, including Bloomingdale Road - even though that is not part of the Hicksville Fire District.

In their most recent letter "Community Group Disappointed with Editorial" (Hicksville Illustrated News, Nov. 19, 2004), they stated that they never were in favor of taking down Station 2 and moving them to another location. Last September, they stated that they would be satisfied with Engine 932 moving and Ambulance 9322 staying.

They ask why, after the board of fire commissioners voted to go ahead with the construction of Station 2, was the Hicksville Residents to Save our Neighborhood Firehouse committee formed. It's very simple. The committee was formed to correct the false statements presented by the group of four, to see that the construction of Station 2 is completed and in an effort to elect commissioners who will represent all of Hicksville, not three people living next to Station 2.

They also complain about the use of executive session at board meetings. If this board is doing anything improper, as in the use of executive sessions, then notify the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. And while they're investigating the complaint have them look at the 500 petition signatures the Briggs Street Committee collected and maybe see if any laws were violated by someone whiting out the address by the committee and then submitting them to the board as a legal document.

What prize does the group of four have for us this year as their candidate, no other than Mike Krumennacker. Mr. Krummenacker was on the board back in the 1980s. The group of four complain that their petition of 500 signatures (with many of the addresses whited out) were not accepted by the board to change the voting hours. When Mrs. Tietjen and Mrs. Quackenbush interviewed their new puppet candidate did they ask Mr. Krummenacker why he, as a commissioner, did not accept 1,200 signatures (all legal signatures) from Hicksville residents asking the board not to purchase a 100-foot tower ladder that the chief's office and the members of the department felt was not needed due to the fact that the department has one tower ladder already and that a better replacement for Ladder 936 would have been a straight 100-foot ladder.

Not only did the board at that time, led by Mr. Krummenacker, disregard all 1,200 legal signatures of Hicksville residents but, because of the actions of the members of Ladder Company 6 against the purchase, they moved the company from its quarters at Station 3 on Strong Street to Headquarters on Marie Street, slowing the response of the responding members and placing the residents in the northeast section of Hicksville in danger.

Who we elect in this year's election and proceeding years is critical. Do we want a commissioner supported by this NIMBY group or do we want a free thinker who will listen to all the residents of Hicksville and the members of the Hicksville Fire Department? Because ultimately, their decisions affect the membership the most.

Harry Single is that candidate. Harry is a former member and line officer of the Hicksville Fire Department. He has been involved in various committee groups for years. He said no thank you to the Briggs Street Committee because he would not support their agenda of shutting down Station 2 and jeopardizing the health and safety of the residents of Hicksville.

Please, on Dec. 14, come out and support Harry Single for Hicksville Fire Commissioner.