FREEPORT POLICE CHIEF OBLIVIOUS

by Stewart Lilker

At the commencement of the evening's Village board meeting, Freeport's top ranking police officer, Chief Mike Woodward, was in his regular spot, front and center in the front row of Village Hall, oblivious to what was going on around him. Throughout most of the meeting, he sat as he usually does, with his nose buried in a magazine, rarely looking up and only occasionally taking notes. Unlike Deputy Chief Burdette, who always sits in the back of Village Hall or against one of the side walls, where he can be seen watching who is coming or going, Chief Woodward always sits with his back towards the room's entrance with his nose buried in a magazine. After it was established that Woodward is usually the only police officer present at the meetings, the Board and the Mayor laughed when your reporter suggested that the Chief should be paying attention to what was going on in the room, and not reading his magazines.

Highlights from the conversation between your reporter and the Board:

FNYN: Do we usually have a member of the police department here besides the Chief?

Mayor Glacken: Why are you asking?

FNYN: Because I don’t know.

Mayor Glacken: Well, why don’t you ask?

FNYN: It seems that the only policeman that is in this room is the police chief. He is probably the only one in the room who carries a gun. With security being the way it is, it would seem reasonable that if he is the only officer here, that he would sit in the back of the room, so that he could see what is going on, [rather than sitting in the middle of the front row] unless he has an eye in the back of his head. But particularly what bothers me, which I’ve been watching for months and months, is that he uses this time to catch up on his reading. I don’t know if this is part of his job to be here. Let me ask, [turning to Woodward] Is it part of your job to be here?

Chief Woodward: (sat silent, grinning and refused to respond, while all the trustees sat giggling, except Trustee Miller)

FNYN: (to Woodward) I don’t know what’s funny. Are you going to answer the question?

One of the Trustees: (interrupts) I don’t know what you’re point is.

FNYN: My point is that the police chief of this department, who most of the time is the only policeman in this room, spends most of these meetings with his nose buried in a magazine. It would seem to me that Chief Woodward should be paying attention to what goes on here. It would be nice to know that our Police Chief, who is armed and I presume knows how to shoot a gun, was paying attention and could see if some maniac walked into this room.

(Your reporter sat down after these remarks, leaving the Trustees and the Chief laughing)

At the conclusion of the open session of the meeting, Woodward went around to the Trustees grinning, showing them the article he was reading.

A resident commented after the meeting, "Everybody is paying attention, he [Woodward] has his nose in a book. It's unprofessional. He is supposed to be paying attention to what is going on and to the security."

Sometime after the meeting, your reporter spoke to a twenty plus year member of the Hempstead Village police department. The officer did not want to be identified, but told FNYN that in the over twenty years he has been attending the Hempstead Village Board meetings, he has never seen the police doing personal reading during the Board meetings. He said, "You better believe they pay attention to what is going on."

In other business before the Board, the Board blasted through the evenings agenda, not counting the comments of Mr. Jay, in record time of four minutes and forty seconds, after which time the board entertained comments from the audience. (Go to Agenda)

Ken Bagatelle, president of the North West Civic Association, again complained to the Board about the terrible acoustics in Village Hall. He said, "At the Zoning Board meeting, the attendees were complaining that they couldn't hear what was going on." Bagatelle asked, "Are we making any progress?" (referring to the acoustics). Glacken responded as he has for almost three years, "I said we’d have it done by the end of the year."

The Mayor’s brother in law, mob/Village Attorney Edwards, defiantly refused to speak into the microphone, making his remarks completely unintelligible in the back of the Board room.

Resident Rosario Zappula complained to the Board that it had been months since the Scalamandre property had been rezoned. He said, "All we have to show for it is a forty foot mound of dirt and a newly arrived crane on the property." Glacken turned to his brother in law, Edwards for the answer, most of whose comments disappeared into the echo in the room.

Resident Vincent Greco asked the Board, "Is it your intention to build another power plant in Freeport?" Glacken claimed, "We’re looking at the property at plant number one."

The Board went into executive session at 9:00 p.m. At 10:30 the Board went into another of their infamous second sessions, where they schemed do the business that they don’t want the public to know about. During these second sessions, the Mayor, in clear violation of the rules of the Board, refuses to allow questioning, refuses to use the microphone and speaks so unintelligibly as to be able to be barely understood only ten feet away.

Glacken read three resolutions in two minutes. FNYN was able to make out the following. The first resolution apparently approved an agreement between BeautyRama and the Village for relocation. If the Mayor mentioned an agreed upon amount, it was unintelligible.

The second resolution approved an RFP for Plaza West. There was no explanation regarding the other RFP’s or why a new one was necessary. The third resolution passed by the Board was the recommendation of a letter of intent for something. Glacken affirmatively made sure that his words were unintelligible. For some unexplained reason, Trustee Mauserberger abstained from the vote.

Glacken did not make himself available for questions after the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:32 p.m.