The Medicare website (www.medicare.gov) has a wealth of information. Information about "...Medicare and Choice Plans are available on the website. Once on site, click on Medicare Health Plan Compare, then key in your site and zip code. (Some Medicare and Choice Plans are available "down only in certain zip codes.") You can also "load" or order a Guide to Health Insurance that supplements Medicare (see general information number in the article). There is another service available i.e., Medicare personal Plan Finder. This is supposed to assist you to "...compare the aggregate out-of-pocket costs of available Medicare and Choice options and Medigap policies." Should you not have access to a computer, you may wish to contact the U.S. government's toll free ELDER CARE locator at 1-800-677-1116 "...to be referred to their local area agency on aging" for general help in trying to understand health care options. Another helpful telephone number is 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) which is the general information number that has six choices. Just a reminder that village offices will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 28 and there will be no regular garbage collection on this date. The holiday collection schedule is: Wednesday, Nov. 27 - Garbage collection for Monday & Tuesday routes and rubbish collection for the entire village. Friday, Nov. 29 - Normal Collection The board of trustees will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Mineola Village Hall, 155 Washington Avenue. The public is invited to attend this meeting which is scheduled to commence at 7:30 p.m. Winthrop-University Hospital will hold its annual tree lighting ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 4:30 p.m. The festivities will include a selection of carols by the Mineola High School Concert Singers, under the direction of Ms. Meg Lavin. Local residents are invited to join in the celebration as the switch is thrown to illuminate the evergreen that graces the emergency department entrance of the hospital. Light refreshments will be served in the main lobby immediately following the ceremony. Cole Layer Trumble (CLT), Nassau's "...agent in handling the Reassessment Program, concluded the Information Review Meeting phase Nov. 8." CLT anticipates that it will notify owners who had such meetings whether there will be a change or not by Dec. 18. If upon receiving the latest information, you believe your assessment is excessive, you may file a formal appeal between Jan. 2, 2003 and March 3, 2003 with the Assessment Review Commission. To assist you, there is a booklet that will be available on Jan. 2 entitled "How to File a Complaint on Your Assessment." This booklet has to be picked up in person at the Department of Assessment, 240 Old Country Road, Mineola (4th floor). Simonson Road bears the name of the Simonson family who moved from a farm in Jamaica to a 66-acre farm in Mineola. That farmland included among other things the site of the middle school and Chaminade High School. The Salisbury Shuttle operated "...between Country Life Press in Garden City eastward stopping at Clinton Road, Mitchell Field, Meadowbrook and Salisbury." This "shuttle," made up of one car, made eight roundtrips a day and Long Island Rail Road tickets were not valid. Service ceased on May 15, 1953. This information was taken from Long Island Railroad Memories by Richard J. Harrison.