The letter of Bernard Chetkof, printed in the Dec. 19 edition, is disturbing and misleading. It was I who brought to the attention of the Water Board the environmental danger presented by the underground gasoline tanks adjacent to two wells at the Water District property. The minutes of the meetings will show, or should show, that Mr. Chetkof and the commissioners took no action for many months.

Mr. Tenenbaum attended numerous meetings of the Water Board from 1986 through 1992. I was present at those meetings. Mr. Chetkof's assertion that Tenenbaum attended three meetings is totally untrue. In contrast, an inspection of the Water District minutes will show that Mr. Chetkof never attended any Plainview Water District meeting unless he was paid to do so. The record will show Water District payments to Mr. Chetkof were well in excess of $100,000.

I, for one, am grateful that Mr. Chetkof is no longer a resident of the Plainview-Old Bethpage community. His misrepresentation of facts, disregard for the truth, and his highhanded tactics will not be missed.

Jacques Wolfner