The Village of Mineola Swimming Pool won't officially open until this weekend, but there has already been quite a splash. After reading in the Around the Town with Lou column in the Mineola American, some residents voiced their objections to the pool/recreation board's decision to stop competition between Mineola swimmers and Floral Park and Williston Park swimmers in favor of an all-intramural program.

Mineola resident Barbara Stagnari has visited the Mineola pool regularly during the summer months for the ten years she has been in the village. Her children are active members of the Mineola swim team. Stagnari also was an alternative on the pool/recreation board until about a month ago when she received a letter, saying she was no longer a member of the board. She was then disturbed to learn the board decided not to have Mineola swimmers compete against Floral Park and Williston Park as has been the custom. "Obviously, this decision was made after I was mysteriously cut off from the pool board," Stagnari said, questioning why she was eliminated as the alternate on the pool board.

"I think we should have been asked. The decision was made. I think we should ask the people who put their children on the swim team," said Mineola resident Tracy Tomei, who also supports competition with other teams.

Part of the pool board's decision could have been made based on the Floral Park team's decision to drop out of competition. However, Stagnari suggested finding teams from other pools in the area for Mineola to compete against. "Now, I think it's a good opportunity to swim against other teams, maybe teams that are more on our level, maybe smaller teams that are more recreational like ours," she said.

Stagnari said she made a list of ten pools that could be contacted to possibly set up a swim meet and even volunteered to make the calls.

It was reported in the Around the Town with Lou column that the board decided to do away with competition with the other villages because of bickering among parents at the meets. However, Stagnari said that has not been the case among Mineola parents and doing away with competition with other teams is only hurting the Mineola children who display a lot of spirit in competition. "This is one sport in Mineola where all the kids root for other Mineola kids," she said. "All the kids and all the parents are rooting for each other."

The pool/recreation board is an advisory board. It may be the village board that ultimately makes the determination on whether the Mineola swim team is an intramural program or it competes against other teams. The board's liaison to the community pool, trustee Elizabeth A.J. Conlon, was away and wasn't able to attend last Wednesday's board meeting.