Letters to the Press: For the Week of Sept. 16 – Sept. 22

Serve and Protect Who?

George Grier, of Uniondale, counted on Nassau County police’s use of the Shot Spotter gunshot detection system in his neighborhood to save his life on Labor Day [“Cops: Uniondale Man Fired Warning Shots at Group on His Lawn,” Sept. 6]. The First Precinct uses this technology to detect gun fire and promptly send officers to investigate.

Instead of Shot Spotter saving his life, police used it to arrest Grier for reckless endangerment. Grier fired four warning shots into his lawn to scare off a group of men who Grier alleges threatened to kill him and his family. He didn’t shoot his legally registered rifle at anyone—only into the ground. No other arrests were made.

This raises two questions. First, who exactly does the police protect and serve? Second, how should we handle a similar situation?

Michael Jessen, Sayville

Hurricane Schmurricane

Regarding your recent cover story on hurricane preparedness [“In Harm’s Way,” Sept. 2]: Are the writers chomping at the bit, hoping for an overdue hurricane to strike and destroy most of Long Island?

Their imagination takes over from word one. “The Atlantic Ocean north to Sunrise Highway.” Even during the ’38 hurricane, in rare places the extension of the Atlantic did not cross Montauk Highway.

Talk about being carried away. Why not include in this nightmare that Fire Island houses—sand and all—pile up along the shore of the Great South Bay? Hey, I live in Bayport—could I possibly look forward to having oceanfront property?

I have an idea for a future doomsday article: An earthquake that swallows the Great South Bay. Imagine all that extra land and you could walk to Fire Island. Do I hear FI residents locking and loading?

And that took only one imagination.

John Moran, Bayport

The editor responds: John, although we may have dodged Hurricane Earl, the point of the article was to forewarn residents of the worst-case scenarios that Long Island emergency management officials are planning for and reiterate what they remind us annually: It’s only a matter of time before we get hit again.