Photos of Christopher Morley Park, Manhasset-North Hills, N.Y., August 2015

      Despite the pending Article 78 citizen's lawsuit to prevent it, the Roslyn Water District sent bulldozers and tree-cutters into Christopher Morley Park on August 20, 2015 and destroyed the most pristine part of the public recreational forest for a toxic-spewing "air-stripper" project.

      The lawsuit is pending in State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department in Brooklyn, and will be heard in the fall or later.

      Organizer Richard Brummel of East Hills took responsibility for failing to adequately mobilize or maintain public attention to force Nassau County and the Town of North Hempstead to withdraw support for the plan -- which is based on the fallacy that Roslyn desperately needs the polluted water from under the Park, and the "air-stripper" is the only way to clean it.

      "We just really should have taken this home to the County Legislature and Town Board when it was clear the courts would not act in time. When you lose focus and take your eye off the ball, in this discipline you pay for it, and it is not clear until the night after the bulldozers come in. But then it becomes clear -- night after night...."

      Acting Justice James P. McCormack failed to provide the semblance of justice in claiming the three citizens could not sue because they lacked adequate connection to the Park or injury from the project -- despite the sworn, unchallenged statements from all three that they frequently used and enjoyed the forest and would be harmed by the construction of a water-decontamination facility in its pristine center, clearly visible from three main trails.

      Judges of the Appellate Division, notably chief judge Randall Eng and associate justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix, also participated in decisions that assured the Park would have no protection pending the appeal AND that the appeal would not be heard in time to prevent the damaging work, regardless of the decision.

      These judges are all subject to election. The judge James P. "Jim" McCormack -- see his fund-raising Facebook page if it is still up -- is seeking election as a Supreme Court Justice in Nassau County this year as a Democrat, and should be roundly opposed. We will be contacting the Democratic Party and the Bar Association for this purpose and urge you to assist. We cannot afford such jurisprudence going forward.