Have you ever seen such happy faces as of the members of the Teddy Roosevelt Statue Advisory Committee pictured on the front page of this newspaper? Here are a group of men, longtime Oyster Bay residents, with a mission: to put the Phimister Proctor statue of Theodore Roosevelt on a horse, in his Rough Rider outfit in the small triangle park at the entrance to town, at the intersection of Pine Hollow Road and Lexington and Berry Hill Roads. One cannot doubt their enthusiasm and energy. It is a beautiful thing to see.

In spite of that, we prefer the statue to be located at the Theodore Memorial Park, in the middle of the large lawn bordered by trees that leads to the waterfront. We can imagine it being where children can play and romp around it, and where families can picnic on the lawn, and the veterans can hold their Pearl Harbor commemorative service in front of it each December 7th. It might even draw more people to attend the December 7th service.

Retired Oyster Bay-East Norwich schoolteacher Richard Siegelman would prefer a different statue of TR showing more peaceful aspects of his giant personality. TR was a book lover, as well as an author and was never without a book to read. In a letter to Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto, Mr. Siegelman wrote:

"I agree with Nick LaBella (a longtime Oyster Bay resident, and a mechanical drawing teacher at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville) that the proposed statue of Teddy Roosevelt on a horse would not be the best choice.

"My years as a teacher gives me an educational bias, but my first two choices would be of TR as either a reader or as a writer.

"My third choice would be TR as a father with a child in his arms (as in a photograph of TR holding his granddaughter Edith Derby, possibly the last photograph taken of him)," concluded Mr. Siegelman.

If the committee wants to use the triangle as a gateway to Oyster Bay, we would prefer a fountain decorated in some way with oyster shells. We are after all "Oyster Bay." Someone once told us (with a little edge to her voice) that Oyster Bay was here a long time before Theodore Roosevelt; it has, after all, more than 300 years of history since it was formed as a town.

We think the statue of our 26th president deserves a better location. We think the entrance to Oyster Bay would be better considered as the gateway to a wonderful peaceful harborside hamlet. We would rather see other aspects of TR promoted for future generations.

Surely there is another sculptor just champing at the bit to create a new statue of TR - one that demonstrates the intellectual side of his personality. Give us the image of a peace-loving president.

-DFK