The building at 186 Second St. that houses John's Barber Shop was built in 1898 and for all those 101 years it was occupied by a barber. Fifty years ago it was the shop of Adolph Carlsen and the owner of the building was the plumber Al Smith. In fact, the present owner, Herb Jahn, bought the building from Smith. Herb owns five buildings in the area including his own place, Main St. Hardware.

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Asher's Pharmacy recently went out of business. The name Asher has long been associated with Mineola. The drug store had been at the corner of Mineola Blvd. and Willis Ave. for 80 years. Harry Asher, elected in 1925, was the first mayor of the village. When Harry died the business was passed onto his sons Harry Jr. and Bill. The Ashers have long gone from the village and the store thereafter passed through several owners. Mineola, which once had nine drugstores, now has only one independent left, Franwin Pharmacy.

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We attended the 50th wedding anniversary of Walter and Grace Weismantel now of Florida but formerly of Roosevelt Ave. Walter was the owner of Weismantel's Bakery across from the old Village Hall on Jericho Tpke. It was a wonderful shop and people still say to me, "Gee, we sure miss that bakery." Who can forget those wonderful hot sugar donuts Walter used to serve at fairs? Grace and Walter renewed their vows at the church where they were wed 50 years ago, the East Williston Community Church. We had the honor of offering the toast at the reception at Eleanor Rigbys where a delicious dinner was served to about 30 guests. Walter served for 15 years on the pool board. His daughters, Diana, Sandy, Janet and Karen, were all, at one time or another, members of the swim teams and served as lifeguards. Walter, several years ago, received the Citizen Party nomination for the Village Board and was defeated in a very close race. Many more years of happiness to a grand couple.

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The annual Christmas dinner of the Corpus Christi Usher Society will be Dec. 14 at Eleanor Rigbys. Father Kenneth Winkler is expected to attend.

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Work on the new library is proceeding on schedule and is supposed to be finished by the summer of 2000, but insiders say it will more likely be in the fall.

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Steve Husowitz of Ninth Ave. was honored by the village for his work in stopping crime. In his capacity as a bus driver and postman he has been creditd with a number of citizen arrests. Now retired, he teaches blind people how to bowl.

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Always good to talk to Mary Goeller. Her dad used to have a barber shop on Jericho Tpke. in the vicinity of the Jericho Terrace.

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After a slow start on Halloween, we were visited by about 50 goblins, ghosts, witches and skeletons.

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An ad in the New York World in 1891 was offering 25 x 100 lots in Mineola for $50.

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Always good to exchange a few words in Spanish with Julia Ricca of White Rd. Both of us speak Español as a second language.

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Ran into Vicki Garcia the other day. She used to work at Jay's Dept. Store. Vicki and her husband Joe live in town.

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Tom DiNapoli is the man of the hour following the big Democratic win. He is the party leader and gave the Democrats their biggest win in Nassau County history. We knew Tom in his high school days in Mineola. Tom first made a name for himself by being elected to the Mineola Board of Education at the age of 18. He was the youngest person, at that time, ever elected to a school board in the United States. Later he became president of the board and the rest, as they say, is history.