My friend Jim Smith of Bauer Place has been a sports writer for Newsday for 33 years. Mostly, he has devoted himself to hockey covering the Islanders and the Rangers and his well-known bylined articles appeared three times a week. If you haven't seen his byline recently, it's because Jim has now become the hockey editor of Newsday. His shift goes from 6:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Jim says he misses the excitement of covering the games personally. He also used to write for the weekly Hockey News. At present he is hard at work on a book about his wartime experiences in Vietnam.

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Always great to talk to, John DaVanzo. John and his brother, Bill, used to own two businesses in the village: Big Three Movers and they had an Esso gas station on Mineola Blvd. John was later elected to the village board and served as a trustee for several years before being elected Town of No. Hempstead Clerk. When John ran for re-election his victory was almost automatic and he was re-elected by huge majorities time after time. He also had an heroic tour of duty in World War II and he was lucky to escape with his life. John and yours truly go way back when we used to ride horseback together in the various centennial celebrations of the village. We would dress as colonial soldiers and at other times he as Kit Carson and me as Daniel Boone. Our horseback riding used to be a weekly event at Park Stables, Lakeside and, best of all, the wonderful Muttontown Preserve over hill and dale and around lakes. These days, John buys and sells real estate for Bagnato Realty and spends hours as a volunteer at St. Francis Hospital. Without a doubt John is the most popular figure in the history of this village.

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When the Mineola swimming pool was opened many years ago there was a plaque which honored John DaVanzo as being responsible for making this fine community asset a reality. After the reconstruction of the pool, the sign disappeared. Let's have the village order a new plaque or make every effort to find the original one. John deserves to have his efforts continue to be recognized.

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Bob Kershaw of Raff Ave. was talking about the old days of the East End Civic Association and recalling names like the long forgotten Frank Zytka. Civic Associations were popular some 40 years ago when Mineola was younger with a lot of new homeowners and people banded together to be able to confront the builders with their problems. There was a West End Civic Association also of which my wife and I were treasurer and president respectively.

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Speaking of builders we heard recently of the death of Bill Drost in Chapel Hill, No. Carolina. Drost built many of the homes in the west end of the village and was also village building inspector many years ago.

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Former Mayor Stanley Krause will be 90 years old in January. Stan, who lives on Jackson Avenue, was the fifth mayor in our history following Harry Asher, Harry Schmidt, Joe Nohowec and Tom Wilson.

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Lee Adams of Amherst St. Williston Park says one of her favorite places to shop during the holiday season is Hicks Nurseries.

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Nick Witkovsky of First St. is president of Corpus Christi's St. Vincent de Paul Society. He works with King Kullen and brings leftover produce from the market to Corpus Christi's Outreach on Tuesdays and to the INN in Hempstead on Thursdays.

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Those gatehouses at the corners of Berkley, Kenilworth and Weybridge Roads on Old Country Road give the area a touch of the historic past.

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Manny and Janet Losquardo have owned Hy Grade Fuel Oil Co. for 31 years. The couple live in Albertson.

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Joanne Strano of East Williston is the owner of Hildebrandts Luncheonette and a good customer of Ceriello Italian Foods on Willis Ave. Andy Ceriello is a very enterprising man and will soon open a branch in Grand Central Station. Andy had eight stores and four more are in the planning stage.

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Frank and Mary Guarino of Woodnut Place are active people. She sings in the Corpus Christi choir and he is a church usher. Both Frank and Mary serve as Eucharistic Ministers.

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What a delightful brogue Tillie McPartland possesses. She and her husband Noel, both Irish born, live on Wellington Road.

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Nora Murphy of McKinley Parkway enjoyed lunch at Jericho Diner.

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Alice and Stan Grom of Arlington St. recently feasted on grouse. Alice went up to New Hampshire and bagged five grouse. The lady loves to hunt and during her lifetime she has brought down 11 bucks.