Tom Bencivenga will be heading for Saratoga in August to see the horses run. Tom, who lives on Brown Street, has been going to Saratoga for years now and actually has proven himself a very astute handicapper. When we first came to the village, Tom was our postman having made the post office his career.

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Welcome to Mineola for Kara and Bill Symington, our newest residents. Kara works at the Mineola pool.

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Mary O'Neill, Mary Guarino and Anita Girardi enjoyed lunch at Eleanore Rigbys. Mary Guarino has some terrific looking hats and is getting up there in a league with Jill Dougherty.

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Dan Lynch of Emory Road frequently lunches at the Jericho Diner. Dan is active in the Knights of Columbus and in Corpus Christi Church.

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Those pesky raccoons are back with us again. Even though I put a large brick on the cover of our garbage can they are strong enough to pry it open. Neighbors report them eating grapes and raiding their fish ponds.

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Recently met, at Charles Cavalconte's wake, the son of Charlie and Margaret, Charles and his wife Cheryl who live in Rhode Island.

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Ed Hilbert of Fairfield Avenue buys his morning paper from Phyllis Alfiere at TK's Gifts. Ed is a Corpus Christi usher.

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Charlene Conway of Mineola has taken the summer off from her job as hostess at JB's Pub.

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Dolores Jose is some fast learner. After taking Spanish just two years at night school, she now speaks with the fluency of a native of Spain. Dolores is a waitress at the Seacrest Diner. She and her husband Ilidio live on Roosevelt Avenue.

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Dorothy O'Keefe and her daughter Margaret were back in town. They live in Maryland, but have not yet sold their house on Jackson Avenue. Margaret is getting a job with K-Mart in Maryland.

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Don and Sue Miron will be trying their luck at Las Vegas in August. She is a waitress at the Jericho Diner and Don is a member of the Williston Park Fire Department.

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Jennifer Hettinger, daughter of Frank and Terry of Walker Road, is interning at the Mineola American this summer.

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Former Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Mehlman and his wife Muriel had a wonderful dinner recently at the Davenport Press Restaurant.

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Where Jonathan's Restaurant stands now and where Howard Johnson's was before that, at the corner of Jericho Turnpike and Herricks Road, was the location of the old Queens County Courthouse from 1787 until it burned down in 1910. It was later a home for the mentally ill. Mineola historian Thomas Barrick writes that times were free and easy in the old days and liquor was actually sold at the courthouse. Prisoners were arraigned, tried and acquitted or convicted. Some went free, others were sent to other jails to spend time behind bars. A few were hanged nearby. The last hanging was held in 1900 at the spot where HOJO's formerly stood.

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Jimmy Pinelli is the supervisor of parks. He lives on Cleveland Avenue.