Village offices and the library will be closed on Wednesday, Jan. 1. Additionally, there will be no rubbish collection that day.

Refuse collection schedules will remain the same and rubbish will be collected throughout the entire Village on Friday, Jan. 3.

The weather people did predict snow on Christmas Day and this time they were nine plus inches correct.

The wet snow started to accumulate on Christmas afternoon and the snow crews arrived that same afternoon and started plowing our streets.

Since the snow was rather heavy, several "passes" had to be made up and down the streets to make them passable. Salting and sanding commenced after the initial plowing process ended.

During the daylight on the 26th renewed plowing and salting/sanding was instituted where needed.

Your cooperation in keeping our streets free of snow after they have been plowed would be appreciated. Regretfully, some (very few, I am pleased to say) folks shovel or blow their snow from their property onto the street. This practice can cause problems for motorists and others trying to maneuver through the streets.

I have mentioned several times about clearing our streets. There are many roads in our village which are Nassau County and/or New York State roads. Early in the morning of Dec. 26 I was traveling east on Second Street from Third Avenue on my way to the Department of Public Works facilities on Liberty Avenue. I couldn't help but notice that it wasn't until I crossed Roslyn Road that I was able to see the "blacktop." The reason for the marked difference in the snow removal was, in my view, because I was again proceeding on a "Village Street."

Many of our residents are unaware that Second Street between Third Avenue and Roslyn Road is a "Nassau County Road." The other Nassau County roads in our village are:

First Street

Herricks Road

Main Street - Between First St. and Old Country Rd.

Mineola Boulevard

Nassau Boulevard

Old Country Road

East Old Country Road (Roslyn Road East to East Village Line)

Roslyn Road

Sheridan Boulevard - Between Westbury Avenue & Jericho Turnpike

Westbury Avenue

Willis Avenue

The New York State Roads in our Village are:

Jericho Turnpike

East Jericho Turnpike (Roslyn Road to the East Village Line)

Hillside Avenue

I would like to thank all the Mineola employees who left their families on Christmas Day and came to work. I, and all the members of the board of trustees say to each of you. Thank you !

We may think we are eating a healthy diet, but many foods contain hidden products. Learn the facts about nutrition and how to safeguard your health. Winthrop-University Hospital's Health Update for Seniors and Their Families series will present a free lecture, "Nutrition: Know What You Eat" on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at the Mineola Community Center, 155 Washington Avenue in Mineola. The program will begin with blood pressure checks at 1:15 p.m., followed by the lecture at 1:45 p.m.. Seating is limited and reservations can be made by calling 663-3916 to reserve your seat.

Donna Norkaitis-Gerrity, MS, RD, CDN, nutritionist at Winthrop, will teach you how to read nutrition labels and identify hidden products in your food. She will also provide guidelines on eating healthy, as well as tips on lowering sodium and cholesterol. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer period.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office issued a "Press Release" on Dec. 23 entitled "Pennies for Charity, where your money goes."

The attorney general's office report highlighted that the cost incurred by nonprofit organizations that engage telemarketers to solicit charitable contributions from New Yorkers. It shows that less than a third of the money raised by telemarketing campaigns goes to charity.

In the report there is section Geographic Area Codes that is more enlightening. The data compiled in the section of the report is "Based upon the address contained in documents filed with the Certificate Bureau, each charitable organization listed in the report has been assigned to a particular geographic area. For the counties of Nassau and Suffolk the sum of $7,987,963.59 was raised in the reporting period but the "Net percent to charity per geographic area was only 22.61 percent. This contrasts with the five boroughs where $21,486,929.72 was raised and the net percent to the charities was 54.47 percent.

If you would like more information about this report please visit the attorney general's website at www.oag.state.ny.us/charities/charities.html.