Of the reported estimated over 100,000 "illegal" basement apartments in Nassau County, how many are used for home offices equipped with computers and high tech equipment in which lawyers, accountants, realtors, etc. conduct business and who by the nature of their location may conceal income derived from these businesses. What government agency is prepared to trespass on their private property to investigate these "illegal" apartments to shut them down and explore whether they pay their federal, state and county taxes?

"Accessory apartments" has become a fashionable term used to diminish a homeowner's right to the free use of his space. Faced with the highest property taxes in the county and state, any accommodation used to help pay for these taxes is a homeowner's necessity. There are no county handouts. When homes are foreclosed the county is an indifferent entity. Scavengers are always out there to snap up someone's loss.

Conduct that endangers lives in public or when there is unsavory activity, i.e., drugs, prostitution, menacing gun possession, it is the job of the police to enforce the law. Trespassing on private property for a mere suspicion that a law has been broken that would endanger the community has no validity.

If the county wants to increase its revenues, it is not to penalize homeowners for exercising their property right freedoms by imposing fines, fees and more taxes. With high living costs many homeowners hold down more than one job to meet their obligations. Downsizing government, capping salaries and benefits, sharing health costs, consolidating duplicate government services, as well as consolidating school districts and cost-sharing is one way to go. But, who would even consider making these kinds of adjustments?

Intrusiveness in every area of our lives is out of control. With the advent of computers and high technology there is no place anyone can hide. Information about us is available to anyone who wants it. Yet, a man's home is still his castle, a refuge from intrusion and an increasingly greedy and hostile world.

Katherine Aliferis

Franklin Square