Regardless of how you may have recently voted on the police referendum, the issue is over and we must now start a process of reconciliation. This ill-conceived idea has divided our community. Neighbors not speaking to each other, families arguing among themselves, shoppers not giving their business to stores that supported or opposed the referendum and people generally uneasy with the whole matter. This is not the time to be smug or bitter about the results of the vote. In order to reunite our community, the bitter sniping has got to cease.

It is time to reconcile those differences and what better time of the year to begin as the holidays approach. We should put those differences aside and start anew. No better place to start than with the village board itself. If the mayor is to be judged as a real leader that I think he is, he must reign in the bitter resentment that came out during the village open meetings. The rhetoric sometimes bordered on insult and complete rudeness. Regardless of political affiliation, each member of the board who was elected by their constituents deserved the right to have his or her opinion heard. Not talked down to, or interrupted when speaking, but to have that opinion weighed and explained. I'm sure that if their parents were alive, the guilty parties would have been taken out to the woodshed and there had a lesson in manners explained to them. Especially when dealing with a lady which was often the case.

A lot has been said about the "Quality of life" (QOF) issue. I'm not sure that half the speakers have any real idea of what that phrase really means. Homeless people, drinking in the park and so forth could be considered QOF issues, but there are more important things to consider. Our village is blessed in so many other ways. We have churches and clergy of all faiths who look after our spiritual and private needs and guide us through life. Our schools are equal to or better than most with a very good school system from pre-K to high school, backed up by two parochial standouts, Chaminade High and Corpus Christi schools. Medical care is at our fingertips with an outstanding hospital at Winthrop, doctor and specialist offices are right here in our own village. Our Fire Department, Ambulance Corps, Sanitation Department and other village services are second to none. We are at the center of the transportation hub giving us service to and from the city and workplaces of our choice. I know this may sound silly, but we also have some of the finest variety of ethnic foods available in this area in our restaurants, stores, bakeries, etc. We have in our community a great mix of ethnic, social organizations and people of different nationalities whom we should relate to and learn from.

The homeless may be seen as a problem, but it is one caused by society; not something we can easily cure. Some of these people have been put back on the street because of budgetary restraints at Veteran homes and other institutions. The laws protect them from harassment, as well as protects us from being harassed by them, but we must obey the law, not make up our own because they offend our eyes. The drinking in the park issue is something that has been going on for decades. Let me go back to the early '60s. I was assigned (as a NCPD Police Officer) to Mineola back then, and in the summer we were often called upon to "chase the kids" out of the park because they were drinking. Well, my fellow officers and I would go down to the park, find the guilty parties (Mineola's own sons and daughters), make them empty their beer or wine, pat them on the behind and send them home. For all I know, any one of them could have been the same people, who today are clamoring for action. Taking them home to their parents was an act of futility for we would get the same answer today's parents use, "Not my child!" In one or two weekends the young people would be back in the park, doing the same thing. And where do you think they relieved themselves after an evening of drinking? Around the gazebo or in the bushes by the sump? I know there are some that'll say, "it's those people who are doing these things today, not our children." So you see, things don't change.

I guess what I've tried to say to all in this letter, is that there is enough blame to go around for all of us to shoulder our part, but there should be no shame for whatever stand we may have taken. If we are to regain that community spirit our village fathers hoped for and see this community continue to grow, as we have seen as we celebrate our 100th anniversary, we must reconcile our differences and overlook the faults of others as we hope people will overlook our shortcomings.

I would hope as the new year arrives, the mayor will sit down with some of our residents and maybe we can share ideas to bring back "the quality of life" we hear so much about. Personally, I think the mayor has done a fine job for our community. The downtown renewal project is gaining a foothold. He has always supported the senior citizens of our community. In the past he has often availed himself to suggestions, I hope this will continue. Sometimes a person's vision can overtake reality and he or she can become so fixated with an idea that if those goals are not accepted by the majority, bitterness and disunity may result. Such seems to be the division that has come as a result of the presentation of this referendum.

I know this division can be overcome if we work together, so let's start now.

Merry Christmas to all and let us all look forward to a very healthy, productive and harmonious New Year. Happy New Year.

Dan Scheidel