There are those that say "Good ol' Hillary" and then there are those that say "screw the bitch"
Monday, March 11, 2002 9:43 p.m. EST
Hillary & Co. Bump Fireman From 9/11 Tribute to Olympic Golden Gal
Great Neck, N.Y., firefighters wanted to honor Olympic gold medal winner Sarah Hughes with a hometown parade and an awards ceremony on Sunday, but had the rug pulled out from under them by Sens. Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and lesser political stars.
"It was kind of like snatched out from underneath us," Alert Fire Co. Chief Raymond Plakstis told WABC Radio's Sean Hannity on Monday. "The political people came in, overrode us - you know, more or less [they said], 'Thank you very much but you can sit in the back seat.'"
Great Neck's Sarah Hughes parade drew saturation media coverage with TV cameras everywhere, a combination that's all but irresistible to attention-loving legislators like Clinton and Schumer.
And so the three Great Neck fire companies that were among dozens from Long Island to respond to the 9/11 attacks got nudged aside.
"The Alert Fire Co. was down [at Ground Zero] for five days straight. Roughly 87 members went down, along with Manhasset-Lakeville and the Vigilant Fire Co.," Chief Plakstis explained. "The Vigilants actually lost one of their assistant chiefs [in the WTC disaster]."
The Great Neck firemen wanted to honor the Olympic golden girl because, as Plakstis put it, "On Feb. 21 Sarah skated for herself and won the gold but on the 22nd she skated for the victims and heroes of 9/11."
But instead of getting a chance to respond to the gesture publicly, Chief Plakstis said, "They told us we can't have marchers and we can't present anything. ... We were forced out."
"It's just a sad situation when a home town can't bring home one of its own without everybody getting shoved to the side because the politicians want to be politicians," he added. |
