Editorials
1999 - 2001

The latest addition to their reporting staff, twenty two year old Jason Gers, appears to be another, "I’ll do what I’m told" Leader reporter. In discussing his qualifications for the job, Gers told FNYN, "I was a philosophy major in college and I have no experience in journalism. This is my first job."

Gers boss, Leader editor Paul Laursen, said about Gers connections, "He used to skateboard at Baldwin High School and went to a pediatrician in Baldwin.

Former long time Leader reporter, Laura Shoafer, was forced to resign when her conscience wouldn’t allow her to work for the Leader. The Leader’s long time Village Hall reporter, Jim Golding, a professional journalist, tries not to tow the company line, but his resignation to his bosses is written all over his face.

Newsday Reporter MIA
July 11, 2001

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time." [P.T. Barnum]

On Monday afternoon, July 2, 2001, I called Newsday and asked to speak to Indrani Sen, the reporter who, subsequent to an e-mail from FreeportNYNews, originally broke the story in Newsday regarding the Village Board’s decision to demolish Freeport’s free neighborhood swimming pools. I wanted to advise her that a preliminary count of signatures on the petitions, circulating throughout the neighborhoods to save Freeport’s swimming pools, was at least five hundred and that the expected turnout at that evening's village hall meeting was expected to be overwhelming. Newsday’s operator told me that Sen was off and that their Freeport beat reporter, Sid Cassese, "is on vacation."

It appeared that Long Island’s only major newspaper was committed to this story, as it was receiving coverage by News 12, the NY Times, and eventually Channel 4’s News for New York and Channel 7’s Eye Witness news.

By all standards, the story was a good story. A conservative republican village mayor and board of trustees secretly deciding to demolish the community’s free public swimming pools. A mayor, who up until the very end, would only speak to the press by press release and a board of trustees, who wouldn’t speak to anybody.

The story was a good tale, with a good narrative. It was compelling. It was a breaking news event. It was a real story, being driven by everyday people, who had, had enough and weren’t going to take this insensitive, high handed governmental action, sitting down.

At 07:30 p.m., July 2, 2001, Newsday’s Sid Cassese wasn’t in Freeport’s village hall. Nobody saw him there. None of Freeport’s three county legislators, who appeared in support of the people, saw him. Bernie Smith, who gave Cassese a phone interview the following day, didn’t see him. George Coward, who was also interviewed by phone, didn’t see him, either. Indeed, if Cassese was there, he would have heard a gracious Mr. Coward say, "This is only the second meeting I have been to in thirty five years."

Cassese’s claim that "about 100 residents" were at the meeting was ridiculous. If he was at the meeting, he would have known that there were almost two hundred people there, and for a time there was standing room only. Is this news by press release from Cassese’s friends in Village Hall?

If Cassese had followed the story, he would have known that County Legis. Patrick Williams had met earlier in the week with Glacken and then with the community, not the other way around, as Cassese had reported.

Newsday’s Cassese reported, "The Mayor said he reconsidered the issue following Monday night’s meeting. After consulting with the four trustees, he made another executive decision."

If Cassese was at Monday night’s meeting, he would have heard the Mayor approve the expenditures of over $2,000,000 on parking lots and road construction and then defend his position to demolish the pools, to the end. He would have known that at 11:30 p.m., the Mayor and Trustees vanished into an executive session, without one word about the evening’s events, only to reappear at one in the morning, still without a word.

If Cassese was on the ball, it would have only taken a little digging to discover that by Tuesday morning, the Mayor had discovered that the community was not going to take the demolition of their pools sitting down. Indeed, demonstrations were being planned in Martin Luther King Park and some of Freeport’s mothers had vowed not to allow the wrecker’s ball to destroy what they knew they could never get back. Sometime before the Mayor’s press release On July 3d, Channel 4 knew, and so did the Mayor. How could Newsday not know? What really caused Freeport’s Mayor to suddenly have a change of heart? And when did Newsday decide to cover Monday night's meeting -- after they received Glacken’s press release that he had caved to the will of the people?

Surely, Cassese should have been there sometime, notebook in hand. How could he make the story real, if he wasn’t there? Is being MIA typical of Newsday’s reporting? I would think not. Is it acceptable in all communities, or does Freeport have special qualities that makes it acceptable here? How can Newsday claim to report honestly on a story, when they don’t send a reporter?

With Newsday being the only daily "Long Island" newspaper, they have a special responsibility to the communities they serve. If they want to be the brand name people trust, then they have to be here. They have to do smart, well-reported stories and assume that the readers are smart, because they are. When people say about being quoted by a reporter, "I don’t know why he said that. I didn’t tell him that," there is a problem.

Freeport’s residents deserve more that news by press release. Let’s not have any more shadow journalism. Remember, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm." [Macaulay: Hallam’s Constitutional History (1828)] Without an honest press, with journalism at its core, we run the risk of loosing everything.

It is a fact that the Freeport School District has seen a massive defection of both experienced teachers and administrators, as well as the newly arrived. Lisi supports the Board's position that the massive defections are a mirage, while Coward has been critical of this for some time. The turmoil at Freeport High School, since the hiring of principal Northover, is well known throughout the district. Lisi has been in full support of freewheeling Northover, while Coward has been justly critical of her.

The district Administration and the Board are constantly violating the Freedom of Information Laws and Open Meeting Laws. Lisi has been part of the system and has never been critical of these violations. Coward has said that she will not tolerate violations of these laws by the district or the Board and will report back to the People when they are violated.

FNYN has been troubled by both Lisi's and Sunday's silence on many issues at the Board's action meetings. Lisi's silence is understandable, as the Board has collectively agreed on their secret agendas well before the meeting dates. Coward's silence is troubling. While she is to be commended for her newsletter, the Sundaytimes, and her web site, both of which have been highly critical of the Board and the Administration, she did not share most of these justifiable criticisms openly and publicly with the Board. While Coward has been particularly critical of the failures of Dr. Tony Ciaglia, the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, on the night the Board opened the floor for the discussion of the granting of tenure to Ciaglia, she was unexplainably silent. Coward, an experienced educator, with many good ideas, has also failed to challenge the Board with the failed policies of Superintendent Moffett. FNYN does not understand Coward's reticence to confront openly those she wishes to join and hopes that if elected that reticence will disappear.

It is clearly time for a change. Lisi has not tried to distance herself from the failed policies of the Renken/Grover controlled Board. Instead, she has unfailingly supported them. Coward is a fresh face with a different approach. In her private newsletters and her web site, she has been justifiably critical of the Renken/Grover Board and the district's top administrators. With the hope that these criticisms will carry over into open discussions at Board meetings, FNYN urges you to cast your vote for Sunday Coward.

A few years ago, I met with Superintendent Moffett and complained that our students must do better than those in the similar schools if they were to have a bright future. Her response, "Our students do good enough" is clearly, not good at all.

The 1.8 million dollars that the Board included in the budget for the addition of eight classrooms at the high school are needed and necessary. In fact, many more than eight classrooms are needed. If the Board was responsible, they would have gone to the public with a separate bond proposal for the necessary additional classroom requirements at the high school. Instead they threatened the public with high taxes, split sessions and trailer parks for the students if they didn't get their way. When Board President Grover said at a recent planning session, "It's not to put a gun to anybody's head ..." and then threatened the district with punitive measures if they didn't go along with their plan, that should have been a wake up call to the residents that they would not stand for the tyranny of this board anymore. After the recent budget hearing one resident observed, "This isn't the Board of Education, this is the Mafia."

If the budget fails, it reverts back to that of the previous year. NYS law now provides that transportation and sports are not cut. Until the time that the Board acts responsibly and begins treating the residents like the adult taxpayers that they are, taxpayers in a high need low wealth district, FNYN recommends a "NO" vote on the budget.

They saw nothing wrong with paying for speeding tickets with your money. Now they want you to trust them with 40,000,000 dollars.

• Vote NO •