We were completely shocked and disturbed by Elizabeth Allen’s vitriolic letter in your Dec. 5 issue berating Ruth Tamarin for her alleged involvement in the selection and endorsement of an individual to replace her as a [Great Neck] Park Department Commissioner.
After praising Ruth for the magnificent service she performed during the last 16 years in making the Great Neck parks some of the finest in the country, she goes on to berate Ruth for encouraging and endorsing a highly qualified individual whom Ruth believed would be the best candidate to follow in her footsteps and continue the good work to make bur parks even better than they are now.
Ruth retired from her elected position because of personal issues and nothing could be further from the truth than that she wants to be “the guru behind the throne” and that she “went to this woman and that woman and another and another and so on until someone said yes when she asked”.
We have been close friends with Ruth for many years and know that the Great Neck Park District was a high priority in her life.
She fought vigorously to achieve what was best for our parks and the results are visually evident. Ruth thought carefully about who her replacement should be and would only encourage a candidate who would be a strong asset to the board of commissioners.
She preferred a woman candidate (as do we) and spoke only to the one woman who she knew would be right for the job and I wholeheartedly encouraged Sharon Epstein to run for the position. Ruth’s only involvement in the campaign was to simply endorse her in her letter in your Nov. 28th issue.
Since she is no longer a sitting commissioner she can endorse the candidate of her choice without any accusation of politicking ..
We do not know what prompted Ms. Allen to compose such a diatribe since she and Ruth have been friends for a long time.
Because of your time requirements, this letter is submitted prior to the Dec. 9 election and we do not know if Ms. Allen’s letter had any effect on the outcome, but at the very least a formal apology to Ruth is warranted!!
Ronnie and Vie Beecher
Great Neck
