Deacon Brian Mannix of Corpus Christi Church, who confesses to being mechanically challenged, was driving from Foxwoods in Conn. with his wife and 88-year-old father-in-law when he had car trouble. He pulled off to the side of the road and hoped for help as his cell phone was of little help. Hundreds of cars went whizzing by before a car finally stopped to offer assistance. The drivers were two recent immigrants from Eastern Europe. This was a good lead into Brian's homily regarding the Good Samaritan.

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Joan Meehan of Liberty Ave. notes that when I mentioned famous grads from Tom DiNapoli's class at MHS, I could have noted Richie Meade, the Navy lacrosse coach who led his team to this year's NCAA National Championship Final.

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A reader who says he is a non-believer writes me that I constantly attack atheists. I'm a good Catholic but I realize there are many sincere people who are non-believers and they should not be demonized. By the way, like this reader, I subscribe to the Theory of Evolution but find that it does not conflict with my faith.

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I was very pleased to see my neighbor of many years, Blanche Paris, outside in her wheelchair with her live-in helper. Blanche is 99 years old.

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Lou DiVeglio of Beebe Rd., some years ago, wanted to go to a Yankee game so he called in sick. During the game the right fielder made a great catch tumbling into the stands and landing on Lou's lap. A Daily News photographer snapped the picture and wouldn't you know, it made the back page of the tabloid with Lou's face as clear as day. The next day the boss tacked the photo on the bulletin board and penned under it, "This is not considered being sick."

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Frank Carboine, who died recently, was a former Mineola High School teacher and a director of the Mineola pool.

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Kat Maher, the leading swim instructor, gave an inspiring talk at the last Pool Board meeting on the plan to have a competing team. A match has been set for Aug. 12 against the Stewart Manor team at our pool.

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Speaking of the pool, for years we have tried to make it a paying proposition with a yearly membership fee and we always ran with a loss. When we put it on the tax rolls and made the pool free to all residents we thought the facility would be overcrowded. Surprisingly, the pool seems to have about the same number of people it always had, just a comfortable amount. Of course, now we only have Mineola people while before we had many out of towners.

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Lou Panacciulli's Nassau Pops Orchestra gave us a wonderful concert in the park. Good to see Margaret and Bill Ballantyne there as well as Bruce Burns. About 500 people spent an enjoyable evening.

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Our recreation program has about 300 kids enrolled. Marta Desousa says they have basketball, soccer, hockey, drama and arts and crafts on their program.

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Tony Donnelly has regrown his beard. Leaving church with me we met a lad of about 8 or so and Tony asked him who's more "handsome" me or Tony. The boy said I had a better beard but that Tony was better looking. This kid obviously is headed for a career in politics.

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Dave Miller was having coffee in the Jericho Diner. Dave has long been interested in village affairs and used to attend school and village board meetings on a regular basis. Dave ran for the school board three different times.

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Victoria and Timothy Denzer are new residents of Beebe Rd. Victoria comes from E. Williston and owns Nancy's restaurant in Floral Park. Timothy comes from Queens Village and is in construction.