It was nice to read in the Jan. 20 edition of the Manhasset Press that many Manhasset residents honored Eileen Brennan for her years of service to Anton Newspapers and to this community.

The letter to the editor by Barbara Kelly Vessa, president of the Manhasset Women's Coalition Against Breast Cancer, thanking Eileen for her contribution to the tremendous accomplishments that the Coalition has achieved was a very noteworthy tribute.

As many of us have worked over the years to try to improve the quality of life in Manhasset, Eileen was always there to help us get our message to the community. Although there are many groups that Eileen has helped, my comments focus on only one of them, the Bayview Civic Association. The BCA was formed in 1995, with an aggressive agenda, one that is carried on today by its extremely energetic and devoted president. Because of Eileen and the Manhasset Press, the association was able to coordinate efforts to accomplish many worthwhile projects on behalf of the community-at-large. For example, most people have no idea how much resistance was received to build a playground on Plandome Road. Eileen, along with about a dozen other brave souls, was immediately a supporter of the proposal. She took an editorial stand in favor, helped publicize the concept and gave us a forum to show how much support the plan obtained in the community.

There are other examples: the addition of the western portion of the Manhasset Long Island Rail Road platform that has made it more convenient for commuters and students at the high school to get to their destination, the annual holiday show for Manhasset's kids that is now a 10-year "tradition," the initiation of a plan to revitalize the bay and the receipt of state grants for it, road improvements, new play equipment at the tennis courts, ongoing efforts to increase traffic enforcement since so many Manhasset pedestrians have been injured (some killed) on Plandome Road and Northern Boulevard. The list goes on and on. (There are certain people that initiated many of these concepts and worked extremely hard and selflessly to see these ideas through to fruition. However, since this letter is about Eileen, their names have been left out, but feel free to ask me about them so I can brag about the tremendous work they also did for this community.)

Although many people live in a community and never contribute a thing, Eileen did more than her share to make Manhasset a better place. A thank you from me, though deep in sincerity and appreciation, cannot come close to the thank you that she will hear if she sits on a bench at the Plandome Road playground and hears the children's laughter and witnesses their enjoyment.

John Minogue