By Barbara Morris
He was greeted enthusiastically, and then some male voice was heard from the rear of the muster room. “We're glad you're here, and we hope you'll be happy, but we're never allowed to keep a C.O. for more than three years.” Heads shook in wry support because that was a somewhat uncomfortable prophesy. Three years is such a short time.As things worked in their own miraculous way, then Capt. Steven Haynes arrived in January 2007. In February 2007, he met and began to court a lovely lady named Lindsay. We found out about Lindsay's strong impression on Steven Haynes who, by now had become deputy inspector, when he shocked the members of the precinct council by announcing he was planning to resign from the Police Department and move to Georgia. Almost as an afterthought, he added, “I'm planning on getting married and since my bride's family lives in Georgia, she wants to live there. At least this time, I'll try it her way,” he smiled with a twinkle in his eye.The wedding took place, followed by a honeymoon cruise, followed by a shorter trip Jan. 4 to lovely Antun's Restaurant owned by his friend, Mr. King.At this point, Lt. McGuire took over as master of ceremonies.From his first words, everyone present had to acknowledge the lieutenant's admiration and respect for Haynes. He told us of their meeting, and how he called his new boss shortly thereafter to tell him that he and his team had just discovered a stash of guns.Haynes said he'd “be right there.” Within a very short time, the team was confounded to hear an unusually loud rumbling noise breaking the quiet of the night. “What the…?” Before his question was finished, Capt. Haynes hopped off his great big Harley, smoking a great big cigar. No car and no driver – the C.O. on his own.When Haynes spoke to us at his luncheon, he started thanking the Lord for bringing him this far. He then thanked all those – especially his mother and other family and friends, the NYPD (mainly the 105 in Queens and Brooklyn Housing), and the 105th Precinct Council and community activists.To lighten the speech a bit, he told us of one of his assignments many years ago, when he and his partner were told to respond to a call from a man who heard someone downstairs in his home. After multiple unsuccessful searches, they told the man there was no one there. The man instead heard someone and pleaded for another search. The two young officers tried again -this time even pulling back a door under a commode. To their surprise, the door was quickly pulled closed again. The intruder had been found!We all left the party smiling and wishing Mr. and Mrs. Haynes a wonderful life.
