The Holiday Tree Lighting will be on December 4th at the Community Center, 155 Washington Avenue. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. and continues till 9:00 p.m. Please join us.

The Fall Tree Planting Program is on schedule. This fall we will be planting in excess of 300. This ongoing program has occasioned numerous gracious comments from our residents. One I particularly enjoyed was "Thank you for making our Village greener."

If you are interested in participating in next fall's Tree Planting Program. Please call the Department of Public Works at 746-0753.

In an attempt to assist our residents the Village has obtained approximately $70,000 in grant rehabilitation monies. Please call the Village Clerk at 746-0750 for more details.

I have encouraged our residents to file their STAR/ENHANCED STAR application in past columns. The deadline, December 31st is quickly approaching. The savings for those who timely file are considerable. It is currently anticipated that the savings will be up to 27 percent for those who file the STAR application and the savings are even greater for those who qualify for the Enhanced Star Program.

If your school taxes are $2,300 you will save in excess of $575.

Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell has been holding "help sessions" throughout her district to assist her constituents who might need assistance in completing their STAR applications.

There will be another "help session" on Thursday, December 3 from 10:00 - noon at the Community Center, 155 Washington Avenue. Please call 222-0007 to make an appointment.

On December 7th at 11:00 a.m. a memorial service will be held at the Mineola Community Center, 155 Washington Avenue. This service not only is to remember those who died on that day but also to remember all those who have served our Country. We owe much to our veterans and I hope you will join us.

With the winter season rapidly approaching, the challenge of snow and ice control could soon be upon us. The Incorporated Village of Mineola's Department of Public Works is presently making preparations for this winter's snow removal operations.

The Department of Public Works' first priority will be to clear snow and ice from Village roads for safe passage for vehicular travel. In that regard, the Village of Mineola requests the cooperation of all residents to remove their vehicles from the roads whenever snow is predicted, or whenever snow begins to fall. If off-street parking is a problem, residents are reminded that there are ample parking spaces available in the municipal parking fields located throughout the Village.

Additionally, to avoid being "plowed in," residents are advised to wait until after their road has been cleared of snow, from curb to curb, prior to cleaning their driveway aprons and sidewalks. Waiting for the snow removal equipment to finish plowing operations will avoid the unnecessary work and aggravation of having to dig out driveways and sidewalks more than once.

With a cooperative effort from all of our residents, the timely and efficient removal of snow and ice from our streets cannot be accomplished.