Bongo drums, flutes, percussion instruments, clashing cymbals, gospel choir singing and swaying back and forth with hand clapping, every hymn was sung with Creole, Hispanic or native music, thus I think I have seen the church of the future. Attending St. Camillus Roman Catholic Church just north of Washington, we encountered a multi-cultural Mass. The congregation who joined in the singing and hand clapping was composed of whites, Afro-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Haitians. The church is staffed by the Franciscan community and the pastor, who also joined in all the singing and hand clapping, Father Lawrence Hayes gave an inspiring homily. The church which holds 1,000 was packed.

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The above was part of our trip to see our daughter, Sister Annmarie, who works and lives in Silver Spring, MD., just north of the capital. She took us on a great "Lil Red Motorized Trolley" tour of Washington starting at Union Station. We saw the Supreme Court, the White House, the Capitol, the houses of Congress, all the foreign embassies. We visited the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. I got to take some good pictures of our 16th president. We saw the Korean War Memorial and the many, many walls containing the names of the 58,000 who died in the Vietnam War. We found the name of a young man from our neighborhood, Thomas DeLuca who was just 19 years old when he was killed. We then crossed the Potomac and saw Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. Crossing back into DC we saw the National Cathedral, the Pentagon, Francis Scott Key Park, and Ford's Theater where Lincoln was assassinated and many other points of interest.

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We talked to Helms Bohringer, a football coach at Mineola High School. He was quoted regarding the Mepham scandal. "We watch our kids 24 hours, seven days. When our team is traveling they are absolutely our responsibility," he said.

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Ron Geoffiron of Washington Avenue plays right field for the amateur LI Angels. His team will later play an exhibition game against the US Olympic team. Ron's uncle of the same name was the Hall of Fame hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens.

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Will a handful of atheists be able to prevent us from saying, Under God in our Pledge of Allegiance? The overwhelming majority of Americans want the pledge to stay the way it is.

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Sorry to hear that Janet LoSquadro is ill. Our prayers and good wishes go out to her and her husband Manny.

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John Colbert, our former mayor, and realtor Pete Owens had breakfast at the Jericho.

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Former District Court Judge Bob Rosenthal enjoyed lunch at Cugini's. Bob lives on Andrews Road.

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At that wonderful Portuguese restaurant Churrasqueira were Jack and Karen Gayson and Don Leogrande of Windsor Fuel.

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Mineola's most senior hunter Alice Grom of Arlington Street is just back from New Hampshire. Alice used to hunt deer but now only goes for grouse. When she got to her family's home which is just 60 miles south of the border she found six inches of snow which prevented hunting of any kind. Alice is 82 years old.

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Jim Agnew of Garfield Avenue who visits his mother in Ireland on a regular basis buys his newspapers and Lotto tickets at TK's Gifts on Jericho Turnpike.

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Pat Crispo, who used to own PR&A Service Station, now works on Saturdays at Cartech at 397 Jericho Turnpike. Pat and his partner Tony had a thriving business and now his old customers can make an appointment any Saturday.

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Bill Delventhal of Pomander Road feel it's important to fly an American flag. For a regular size residential home, he suggests flying the flag on a six to seven-foot-high staff. He related a story about his flag in which the wind picked it up and wrapped itself around the staff. He went out front and pulled the flag from the holder, cleared it and as he put it back in the holder, he noticed a car slowing down with the driver looking toward the house. The driver stopped a few yards past the house, exited the car, walked to the rear of the car and snapped one real smart salute toward the flag. The man said he had to stop and do the right thing since he was so glad to see people flying the flag. "He made my day," Bill said.

Bill is the father of our general manager.