(Editor's Note: The following Letter to the Editor has been written in response to one printed in last week's edition of the Levittown Tribune.)

You called my letters "diatribes." Reread them. Neither of my letters made any personal attacks. I merely responded to the statements of Mr. Reilly and Mr. Warner.

Mr. Reilly used the phrases "ignorant and malicious" and a "nimby attitude." Mr. Warner made the comment "Do you feel we might become an uncontrollable army of misfits bent on destroying what quality of life you cherish?" Does the word "diatribe" come to mind?

A sarcastic and condescending tone equally drips from your pen. Instead of being insulting offer some facts. You never provided any evidence that the expansion of Progress House would not be a detriment to the community at large.

You and Mr. Reilly are both members of St. Bernard's Parish Council and Mr. Warner is working on his master's degree in divinity. Again what does that have to do with the discussion at hand? Your letters were nothing more than self serving, holier than thou autobiographies. I made no mention of my personal accomplishments or religious affiliations because they are irrelevant. I am a community member and that alone is enough to qualify my opinion. If you would have taken the time to actually have read my "venomous letters" you would have found that my opinions were based on my personal observations and not on pious zeal. All of your sanctimonious good intentions do not change what I and other members of this neighborhood experience on a daily basis.

Let's stick to the facts. The public debate about the expansion of a government funded mental health outpatient facility and its effects on the area are of great concern to this community. Questions need to be asked. Will the staff at Progress House concern themselves with what goes on outside of the facility as they currently do not do? Will the increase in patients impact local emergency and police services? Will the lifeguards at Bluegrass Pool have to double as security officers? Who will prevent loitering in and around the Levittown Public Library and Levittown Memorial Park? How big is too big in your estimation?

If there is a need for persons with behavioral problems to get help perhaps other communities need to share in hosting the services that we in Levittown currently provide, as Mr. Thomas Wilson so eloquently stated in his letter.

And on a personal note sir, I never said I lacked a higher education. However unlike you I do not need to provide an exhaustive list of my educational credentials in order to qualify my opinion. You however believe that yours entitles you to preside over the unenlightened masses as we are not as sophisticated and tolerant as you. It is you who wishes to be the king. This community should not have to provide you with the means of feeling good about yourself.

Joseph G. Siclari