Bishop William Murphy has elevated former Corpus Christi Pastor Robert Batule to the rank of monsignor. A concelebrated Mass with seven priests and a deacon was said recently at Corpus Christi followed by a reception in Fitzgerald Hall to honor Father Batule. At the reception among those we spotted were Mario Alves, Ed Curran, Helen Alfiere, Marge Irace, Anna Massa, Dolores Mangold, John Macedo, Bruce and Marianne Burns, Mike and Jill Dougherty, Muriel Sabador, Fran Dempsey and son Bill, Mary Szezeck and Sister Laura Helbig.

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Among diners at Eleanor Rigbys were former fire chief Jack Gayson and wife Karen and son John, former fire chief Richard Kotowski and Camille Maucere.

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Mike Lane of the Irish Echo and active in the Irish-American Society is home from a vacation in Galway. Mike lives in Albertson.

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Mayor Jack Martins delivered his State of the Village address before the community and the Chamber of Commerce at the village hall. I had the pleasure of introducing his honor. The mayor spoke of the improvements downtown where we have new street lighting, new sidewalks and new benches. He noted that 200 new parking spaces are being created and that eventually there will be some 1,100 in the area which will really solve the long-standing shortage of parking spaces. The mayor said that work will begin shortly on the elimination of the grade crossing at Roslyn Road and that projects are in the works to enhance the main business district between Mineola Boulevard and Willis Avenue. There will be more signs indicating to motorists that they are now entering the village, particularly one where Gensel's is now located. He spoke of the beautiful pool and our handsome library. He challenged anyone to find a better looking bridge in Nassau than the one recently completed and said it was an engineering feat. He said that his administration had reduced debts and borrowing. He later attended the Chamber dinner meeting and spent 30 minutes answering questions from about 75 members.

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Talk about a reliable employee, Sally Patterson has worked at Bowne Engineering for 59 years. Sally and Charlie live on Nassau Boulevard and he is a Eucharistic minister at Corpus Christi.

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Retired Mineola dentist Dr. Michael Giuliano and his wife Marian breakfasted at the Jericho Diner. Mike ran twice for the board of education.

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Also at my favorite diner were Jeri Solosky and her daughter and son-in-law Donna and Bill Proctor.

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That very helpful lady at the information desk at our library is Pat Lackner. You can hear a touch of Ireland when she talks. Pat has been at the library for four years.

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Popular former Corpus Christi priest Father Joseph DucMinh was in town. He often visits his native Vietnam.

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Speaking of that church, they recently collected $8,000 to aid migrant workers from St. Helen's parish in Vero Beach, FL who lost everything they owned in one of the hurricanes.

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A new supermarket will be opening in the Herricks shopping center in the old Grand Union building - H Mart. They are a large chain in New Jersey.

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A couple of misleading signs, we hope: A department store sign read "Toilet out of order, please use lower floor." A London store had "Bargain Basement on second floor," a sign in Kenya warned "Elephants Stay in Car" and on Long Island we saw "Children Drive Slowly." You hate to see those little tykes speeding along.

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I'm a long-time stamp collector and have over 10,000 entries in some four volumes. Leafing through the pages I find so many countries that have long ceased to exist such French Equatorial in Africa, Anglo Egyptian Sudan, Portuguese India, the Belgian Congo, the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony and many others. On the other hand a host of new countries have emerged, especially in Africa and following the breakup of the old Soviet Union. Maps are constantly changing.