As the Village Party plans a fund raiser for incumbent Trustees Warren Brinker and Maryanne Warnecke, the Hometown Party is still working on the specifics of how Linda Fairgrieve will get her message out.

Robert Walker, president of the Mineola Village Party, has announced plans for a cocktail party fund raiser in support of Brinker and Warnecke, who will face Fairgrieve in the village board election on March 21.

The Village Party fund raiser will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Jericho Turnpike on Thursday, Feb. 17 starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased by calling campaign chairman Lou Santosus at 747-0383.

"This is an important event as it gives us the opportunity to showcase all of the wonderful accomplishments Warren and Maryanne have achieved in the past two years," said Dennis O'Brien, campaign manager. "It serves as a reminder that these trustees were the driving force behind the new pool, parks, fields, community center and the library."

Other supporters heralded the village's financial situation.

"I'm voting for Brinker and Warnecke because they have kept Mineola out of the fiscal mess that faces the rest of Nassau County," said supporter and village employee John Kessler.

Fairgrieve's full-time job as an insurance claims examiner has prevented her from doing much door-to-door campaigning as of yet, but according to village Trustee Elizabeth Conlon ¬ the only Hometown Party member on the current board ¬ Fairgrieve will be making rounds and making public appearances in the coming weeks.

"I don't think she's been walking a lot because she does work full-time, but she'll be going to meetings and speaking at the senior center," Conlon said. "We're setting up a cocktail party fund raiser for early March."

In the meantime, Hometown Party workers have been getting her name out by canvassing the area.

"We've been going door-to-door," said party President Kitty Butler. "We're getting signatures on petitions and we're getting our posters printed."

However, Conlon laments that there are no longer debates between village office candidates like those which were once sponsored by the Mineola American under founder Lou Sanders.

"Nobody seems to want to sponsor the debates," Conlon said. "When I ran in 1972 we had a debate and I was scared to death. But, it did give people who were not yet decided a chance to see the candidates in one place at one time."