The benefits of universal busing are so abundantly clear that the pressing questions should be ... not if I should vote yes for busing today, but why we didn't think of it sooner? After speaking with proponents of the referendum, members of the universal busing working committee and PTA Council; attending school board and PTA meetings and hearing various members of the community, school district, board and current school board candidates discuss the subject, we sat down and said ... with all the advantages of this program - how could anybody consider voting down something as primary as basic needs for security and safety for our children. After all, didn't we all move to suburban Long Island, at one point or another, to establish a better life for our family and children?

Today, money is tight for everybody. That is why we have so many two parent working families and everybody trying to make the best decision how to spend their disposable income. But, here's why universal busing cannot be included in the category of luxury spending. Three major highways criss-cross our community. Traffic along Manetto Hill Road and Old Country Road, which were at one time single lane roads, is whizzing by with families to and from school and work, shoppers, business travelers, and transients cutting through our local community streets. Among these statistics are drunk drivers, individuals capable of road rage - some even carrying weapons, ex-offenders of one sort or another, as well as our normal harried commuters. These are certainly not the roads that we walked across going to school in the '60s and '70s. To make matters worse, with children trying to travel along these bustling streets, on foot or bicycle, we are also now faced with the dilemma of abductions, pedapfiles, and what doorbell to ring in an emergency, when society and the POB School District are teaching stranger danger. Truthfully, even if a child were so bold as to ring a stranger's doorbell in an emergency, most likely no one would be home with all the working families, seniors living more active lifestyles and a myriad of other reasons why people aren't home as much today.

Long Island is still not at its peak of student population with every house filled with children as it once was, although we are in a period of resale. Very often, our children have to walk alone because there are no other children in the houses near them. They cannot follow the buddy system or walk in groups. In fact, we have a wonderfully diverse community here of young and old working together, hand in hand, to make this the great community it is - each reaping benefits from the other. Very often children are forced to walk alone as they are not entitled to a bus, and parents must work and cannot afford to remain home to drive them. Thus, you have the lone child walking these well-traveled roads, often along the gutters in winter, dangerously close to traffic, as sidewalks are rarely cleared of snow. As the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District is quite unique in starting middle school as early as 5th grade, you are presumably seeing what we used to call elementary school children subject to the mileage criteria of older middle and high school children.

Our homes are considered our primary investment and our children and grandchildren our future. For less than a dollar per week let's vote yes to our children, our school district, and to enhancing our property values by supporting universal busing like our neighbors to the north and east so wisely did in Syosset and Melville.

With the recent crisis in Colorado, how could we even consider not doing everything we can to support our children and our school district. It is our schools that attract the fine neighbors we have and provides the greatest foundation for our children. It is the key to the resale value of our homes.

We look forward to seeing you voting yes to the school budget and universal busing on May 18. Remember, we are a community - we must support each other.