Registration closes on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. for joining in the Millennium Mile to be held on Dec. 31 around noontime. For $12, you will get a unique long-sleeve T-shirt with colored imprint on front and back. Register at the Shelter House at the Recreation Center¬ the shirts are there to be picked up (You can just buy one as well without running). We ask those registering and participating to bring a canned or boxed food that will be delivered to the INN in Hempstead that day to help others in need as we enter the new century. Any additional funds raised will be donated to the INN as well.

Over 100 people have already registered and they have received their shirts to commemorate their involvement with this unique celebration. Some volunteers have offered to drive participants from Village Hall to the starting line at the intersection of Covert Avenue and Tulip Avenue at Key Food, right across from the entrance to Sewanhaka HS. The one-mile mark is exactly in front of Village Hall. Other participants will jog down to Key Food or just meet there to start the event.

Rollerbladers will start at 11:45 a.m. while the walkers and runners will start exactly at noon. The recreation, fire, police and public works departments will be actively involved in making the day a success.

Prizes will be given to the best costumes worn by participants, the oldest female and male participants and the best centipede runners. A 'centipede' is four or more people tethered together (or holding) by rope, garland or whatever to show they were a team effort in the Ho-Ho-Ho run in Bethpage last week; there were hordes of reindeer and sheep centipedes. Be creative!

Several residents have asked me who are the folks who will have lived in three centuries who reside in Floral Park. From the best sources available, Julia Dunphy of Magnolia Avenue leads as the oldest Floral Parker at 105 years old. Larry Ferraro of Miller Avenue, at 104 years old, recently moved out to a nursing home near the Northport VA Hospital. And from the FP-Bellerose Senior Citizen Corp., Frances Sutera is living on the northside at 102 years old. Frances is incredibly spry and had a great 100th birthday celebration with her friends and family a few years back at St. Hedwig's Parish Hall.

If there are any more of our residents who are 100 years old or over, please let us know. Mayor Tom Van Buskirk of Bellerose celebrated the two 100+ year old women earlier this year as part of the village's 75th Anniversary.

Cards, letters, pictures, essays¬whatever you prefer¬ you can include in the Village Time Capsule which will be buried in the park across the street from Village Hall. With the capsule not to be opened until 2049, some of our younger residents will be around to celebrate what our residents contributed in 1999.

Newspapers, magazines, collectibles, all are being included in the year-end, century-ending ceremony. What you include is up to you! Any ideas that will show what's good about our society and what life was like in 1999 should be included.

With unique capsules being used, we can seal them up during the morning of the ceremony. So, please make sure your contribution is made by 11 a.m. on Dec. 31. Bring it to Village Hall. The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. at the future Heritage Park.

With great pleasure, I announce that the following appointments will be made at the appropriate times this week to fill the positions vacated by retirement. Virginia Appel to village administrator/treasurer; Yvonne Blaber to village clerk; Terri Emmel to deputy village clerk; Gay Taffel to assessor; Susan Walsh to administrative assistant; and Ken Tymecki as superintendent of Public Works.

Virginia has been an 18-year veteran of the village serving as the assessor and purchasing agent for all of that time. She will oversee the operations of the various departments of the village and work closely with the mayor and trustees. Yvonne has been with the village for almost four years and worked closely with Nancy McLoughlin, our retired administrator. Yvonne will assume the more legal aspects of Nancy's position and will interact closely with the village board.

Terri, Gay and Susan are new to the village family and were selected by the new administrative staff after interviews. All the new folks have been working for at least one month together with the retiring administrators to permit aggressive cross-training of positions.

This will be the last week before a well-deserved retirement for Superintendent of Public Works Lou DiSunno, Mary Jane Menendez, Karin Regin and Edna Lipus. Congratulations to the new, and to the old and may you have a healthy and enjoyable retirement.