A multi-million dollar deficit was turned into a surplus. This was the accomplishment of Tom Suozzi as mayor of Glen Cove. He made history in 2001 when he became the first Democratic County Executive in over 30 years and has most recently been responsible for bringing Nassau County back from the brink of bankruptcy to its first credit rating increase in more than two decades. When Suozzi took over Nassau it was judged the worst run county in the country. "We cut the workforce by 12 percent, eliminated waste, borrowed less money and has signed better contracts with unions," says Mr. Suozzi. Nassau was the only county in the US to get two credit rating upgrades in the last two years, receiving the grades from Moodys and Standard and Poors.

Speaking to the Mineola Chamber of Commerce, the county executive said that the government buildings are in terrible condition following what he claimed were years of neglect. "What we need on LI are more hi-tech jobs, affordable housing and more sports attractions like the Islanders," he stated. "If we could consolidate we could save more. The police now have 11 different buildings, to take one example. Fewer buildings would mean less maintenance and less staff." He admitted he had made mistakes and said that these are being corrected. He ended his talk with humor, saying, "If you like what I said, tell your friends and if you didn't, keep it to yourself."

Village Trustee Lou Santosus had coffee in the newly-opened Hudson Diner in the East End.

On St. Patrick's Day two cute Irish-American girls were having breakfast at the Jericho, Chrissy (Shannon) Cabera and Evita (Ceron) Granados, both from Mineola. At O'Donnell's Pub, Laura Blake introduced me to Glen Clarke of County Sligo and Brendan Campbell from the still British-occupied County Tyrone. Speaking of Ireland, more than 50 million Americans are all or some part Irish.

Concetta (Tina) Ceriello, whose dad owns Ceriello's in Williston Park, goes with Timothy O'Leary, the nephew of Jack Whelan of Wardwell Road, who was the grand marshal in the recent parade. Last year, Tina visited the Whelan family in County Clare.

Speaking of our love of euphemisms, we now have Secretaries Week called Administrative Professionals Week.

Congratulations to Linda Fairgrieve and Paul Cusato on their victories. This was a big setback for Mayor Martins' party which had enjoyed a 3-2 majority. The mayor's New Line Party is now outnumbered 3-2 with Lou Santosus usually voting with Linda, and only Larry Werther in general support of Mr. Martins.

Ken Collins of Sheridan Blvd. was enjoying a Guinness at Connelly's Pub. He and his wife Donna have lived here for 54 years.

The much-traveled Peter Gollobin recently visited India. Peter, whose business is medical supplies, often visits the sub-continent where he has many customers.

Libby Linehan has lived on Raff Ave. for 50 years. You have to admire her as she was widowed at an early age and raised five children single-handedly.

I have a tremendous stamp collection encasing four volumes. A man, whose name I no longer remember, although it might have been Demato, gave me a large collection he had on hand. I finally finished processing them and could use some more if he could call me at 747-8282.

Dolores Mangold who sings in the Corpus Christi choir is a loyal customer at Tres Belle Hair Salon.

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Carol and Tony Tuzzolo have lived on Beebe Rd. for 28 years. He is the man who developed the new Hudson Diner in the East End. The Tuzzolos enjoyed dinner at the Davenport on a recent Saturday night.

Remember Nassau Bike which was located where Swift Auto Parts is today on Willis Ave.? Originally a harness shop, the owner Walter Tworkowski of Mineola not only sold bikes, but also served the harness tracks at Roosevelt Raceway and Pompano Beach in Florida. Walter was an avid supporter of the Chamber of Commerce and a president and one of the founders of the organization. Nassau Bike has been gone for 24 years. Speaking of bicycles I recently met, at Mineola Bicycle on Jericho Tpke., John Czajka where John worked for many years. He and his wife Ann now live in Florida. John stops by when he's up here to help out at the shop. He was raised in the village and lived on Washington Ave.