Village Offices will be closed on Friday, March 29, in observance of Good Friday. However, there will be regular garbage collection. I would like to thank all those who voted on March 19.

Applications for 2002 Leisure Passes are now being accepted. If you did not receive one in the mail, please call the Leisure Pass Office at 746-2326 to have one sent to you.

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays - 6 - 9 p.m.; Saturdays - 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

New applicants and those needing their pictures retaken need to call and make an appointment.

Last year's members need only mail their applications in with the proper documentation.

Homeowners: Copy of full front page of a recent LIPA bill and any one of the following: copy of your water bill or copy of your tax bill or copy of your mortgage statement.

Renters: Copy of a recent LIPA bill and copy of your Lease Agreement*

*If you do not have a lease agreement you will need to have a notarized letter from your landlord stating all persons living at that address. This letter must be signed by a Notary Public.

In addition, all new members will need to present personal ID. Please refer to your application as to what is acceptable.

"Keeping Your Kids Drug Free: A How to Guide for Parents" is a 45 page brochure that offers parents real life solutions to the challenge of keeping your children drug free.

This brochure is available free of charge by calling the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 1-800-788-2800.

New York State's College Savings Program "... is a great way to save for the rising cost of a college education. To date, more than 190,000 accounts have been opened, totaling more than

$900,000."

Another "benefit" of this program is the New York State Income Tax deductibility of contributions. You do not have to itemize to get the income tax benefit of these contributions. If you would like more information regarding this program, please call 1-877-NYSAVES.

" Mineola was home for the pioneers of aviation in the early part of the Twentieth Century.

In the summer of 1909, Glenn Curtiss and his friend, Mr. Pickerell, drove out to Mineola and decided that the large plains land, lying southeast of Roslyn and Old Country Roads, would be ideal for a flying field. On July 17, Mr. Curtiss made his first flight on the plains in his airplane, the Golden Flyer. It "looked like an enlarged box kite. The driver's seat projected out in the front and the engine with the propeller, set to push forward, was set at the back."

Glenn Curtiss wrote later about his first flight: "This flight at Mineola gave that place a start as the headquarters for aviators, and soon became the popular resort for everyone interested in aviation in and near the city of New York."

Soon the Hempstead Plains Aviation Field moved down into Garden City, east of Clinton Road. Pete McLaughlin's Gold Bug Hotel, opposite the fairgrounds on Old Country Road, became the rendezvous for aviators. Every evening, after a busy day of flying lessons and aerobatics, the fliers would meet at the Gold Bug to swap flying stories. Mr. McLaughlin even put up a sign, on the top of the small porch, that said, "Gold Bug Hotel, Aeronautical Headquarters."

In 1916, the Hempstead Plains Aviation Field was taken over by the government and renamed Hazelhurst Field. During World War I, Hazelhurst Field was one of the four flying fields in the country. Large hangars and new buildings were erected and "the sight of airplanes overhead was a commonplace view for local citizens" during 1917 and 1918.

During the 1920's the Hazelhurst Aviation Field, or the Mineola Air Field, was the site of flying circuses that "brought thousands of earthlings to gasp at the dare-devils." Even though the flying fields had shifted down to 700 acres, bounded by Clinton Road, Old Country Road, Post Avenue and the Motor Parkway, it was still referred to as the Mineola Air Field. In the late 1920s, it was officially renamed Roosevelt Field in honor of Theodore Roosevelt's son, Quentin, who was killed in France during the war, and had trained to be an aviator at the Mineola Flying Field in 1917.

Some of the aeronautical accomplishments at the Mineola Flying Fields were; In 1919 the British dirigible, R-34, made the first transatlantic crossing, landing at Hazelhurst Field; Army Lieutenant Russel L. Maughan made the first transcontinental flight from Hazelhurst Field, landing in San Francisco, in the spring of 1923; Charles Lindbergh took off on May 20, 1927, from Roosevelt Field, to make the first airplane fight across the Atlantic; Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from Roosevelt Field on a trip around the world in the late 1920's"