Letters to the Editor: East Rockaway and Lynbrook

Library workers are team players

To the Editor:

In light of recent articles in the local papers, along with the deceptive mailings sent out by Mayor Francis T. Lenahan, I would feel incredibly remiss if I didn’t speak out and defend my second family at the East Rockaway Public Library.

First, I will openly state that I was once an employee of the library and utilized the opportunity afforded to me, now coined by the Pride Party as the “gold-plated benefit package.”

For my colleagues and I who were getting those benefits as three-fifths employees, those benefits produced a real sense of loyalty to the library, the board and the village. I strived to earn full-time, five-day-a-week employment — and I did, ultimately working there for 13 years, from the time I was a teenager into my 30s. That was no small feat, considering the average person changes jobs 11 times between the ages of 18 and 44.

Some would have you believe that the library staff and board have conspired for years to rook the taxpayers of East Rockaway. In fact, the majority of the library staff are tax-paying village residents. These people are hardworking, dedicated professionals who have devoted the better part of their lives to this community.

In spite of the library staff graciously giving up these benefits — which, by the way, are common to half of the Nassau County libraries and which had been in place for three decades — Mayor Lenahan has decided to attack these employees for his own political agenda.

Village residents should instead laud library employees as team players who conceded benefits they are legally entitled to for the betterment of East Rockaway.

Shannon Kearney
East Rockaway

He crossed the line

The following letter was sent to Mayor Francis Lenahan and the Herald.

Mayor Lenahan:

I was never a fan of yours when you ran for mayor of East Rockaway. I thought your lowbrow, mean-spirited campaign reflected your political aspirations and sentiments toward many of the residents of this community.