I consider myself fortunate to have grown up during the later part of a period known as The Golden Age of the Bronx (1920-1950). Highbridge, our local neighborhood, was located on a high bluff of land overlooking the Harlem River, to the West, and Grand Concourse, on the East. The Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds, "across the bridge," were within easy walking distance of our home. New York Giants' shortstop John "Buddy" Kerr and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Charles "Red" Shea were counted among our Woodycrest Avenue neighbors. I guess it would also be fair to include three-time presidential nominee William Z. Foster, General Secretary, Communist Party USA, as a neighbor, since he lived around the corner on Nelson Avenue. William Z., as he was known locally, in spite of his communist leanings also patronized the same neighborhood merchants as our parents. Unlike our parents, however, he was under constant surveillance by the FBI, NYPD and Lord knows whomever else!

One of our favorite haunts, located along the banks of the Harlem River, was the steam engine locomotive works maintained by the New York Central RR for the now defunct Putnam Division. The Putnam Division provided daily connecting service, at Highbridge, between the Hudson Division and inland Westchester/Putnam County communities as far north as Goldens Bridge/Brewster. As youngsters, we were fascinated by the huge engines, roundhouse, and water tower which dominated this riverside location. It seemed as though we spent countless hours, watching and waiting, as their boilers built up heads of steam and their pistons slowly propelled the wheels of these behemoths toward the trestle upon which we stood. Chug! Chug! Chug! Their boilers belched as huge amounts of vapor and steam poured out of their stacks. With a swift up and down movement of our arms, the engineer or fireman would sound their whistle as the engines passed beneath our vantage point, enveloping us in thick clouds of white steam and coal dust.

It wasn't until I attended the October meeting of our useless school board that I could literally see huge plumes of steam, smoke and sparks eliminating from the heads of the five members present. During the weeks preceding their meeting, the local press was filled with numerous stories of nepotism, patronage and overall corruption in the Brentwood School District and several nearby Water Districts. Could this also be happening in Levittown, I thought? In Levittown's version of I've Got A Secret, I polled the board and was shocked to learn that three of the four board members who responded, through gritted teeth, confessed that their children and other relatives were employed in a professional capacity in our District. Our newest board member must have developed lockjaw since he didn't respond to my inquiry. I'll try again at the next meeting!

Dr. Sirois, as you have already read in the Tribune, defended Levittown's hiring practices and denied that nepotism exists in Levittown schools. I've known Dr. Sirois for over a quarter of a century, and I'll accept his version of Levittown's hiring practices. I'll also continue to believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy!

I found it interesting that later in the evening, by a unanimous 5-0 vote, our intrepid board tabled a resolution designed to eliminate Levittown's practice of requesting "...Civil Service lists with District residents listed with preference" in favor of "...Civil Service Commission to only canvas lists in score order." Why, I wondered, didn't the Levittown School Board support the recruitment of the highest scoring non-instructional candidates for district vacancies rather than local candidates who presumably scored significantly lower in the Civil Service rankings. Oops! There goes those dirty words again, nepotism and patronage, which we know doesn't exist in Levittown!

Incidentally, you'll be happy to know that our hard working board has been busy protecting your scarce tax dollars. After advising me that they weren't accountants, our school board, racing faster than a runaway locomotive, passed over a dozen resolutions, involving millions of your tax dollars, in less time than it takes to shine your shoes. "Don't Confuse Us With The Details!" should be their motto.

I was home in plenty of time to catch the 10 p.m. evening news.

James P. Ward