A Word From The Publisher

The two letters in this week's paper both merit some comments. In the first letter, the writer had contacted us to complain that he was incorrectly included in the annual Nassau County tax lien listing and requested that we remove his name forthwith. As we told him (and have told others in previous years) those lists are published by the munipality as legal advertisements, and any changes would have to be made by them. The letter writer commented to us that it is our responsibility to make sure that each and every entry in those lists is accurate, which is obviously nonsensical. As anyone who cares to look can see, there pages of names, and for us to investigate each and every case before publishing the legal ad for the county would take weeks of effort, not to mention that fact that there would certainly be many cases in which the homeowner's word would conflict with the county's.

We, too, have known people who have been wrongly placed on the list. So let it be known that just because a name is on the list, doesn't mean that it is correct. In fact, homeowners should check the list just to make sure they themselves don't appear incorrectly.

The second letter gave us much more pause for thought. On one hand, the points the writer makes are of great interest, especially in a town which has such an energetic sports program. Younger and younger kids seem to be competing with more and more pressure each year. Maybe it's something that we as a community should talk about.

On the other hand, though, our sports section is supplied mostly by you, our readers. We'd hate to alienate the very people who make the paper so interesting each week, and who spend many hours preparing articles and taking photos for their teams.

We have taken a middle course of action by using the letter, but redacting the name of the team and sport. We'd like to hear from our readers what they think.

Meg Morgan Norris

Publisher