At last Wednesday's Village of Mineola Board of Trustees meeting, Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps (MVAC) Commissioner Ken Sokolsky appeared in front of the village board to set the record straight about the ambulance corps. In response to a resident's concerns about the corps answering calls in Garden City, Sokolsky wanted it to be known that Mineola comes first when it comes to answering calls.

According to information provided by Sokolsky, in 2005, the ambulance corps responded to 1,511 calls. Out of those calls, only 34 were for mutual aid including eight to Garden City and 11 to Williston Park. As of May 31 of this year, the corps has answered 603 calls with only 14 coming outside of Mineola.

In the past, resident Sal Cataldo voiced his opinion that the corps should not be answering calls to Garden City since the corps does not solicit donations from Garden City residents. However, Sokolsky pointed out that the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps is the fifth responder to Garden City and answered only eight calls in 2005 and two calls in 2006.

However, Cataldo said that is eight calls too many even though Village Trustee Paul Cusato attempted to explain the FireCom system in Nassau County, which dispatches emergency services.

"Garden City is getting it for nothing and I resent it," said Cataldo as he urged the Mineola Ambulance Corps to send donation envelopes and letters to Garden City residents.

MVAC President Pat Tobin, who was at the meeting, said the ambulance corps doesn't send out envelopes to Garden City residents because the corps doesn't answer calls there often since it is the fifth responder to Garden City.

Still, Cataldo wasn't convinced. "It's about time they give something," he said of Garden City.

Sokolsky also wanted to make it clear that in the case of finances, the ambulance corps is grateful for every penny it gets and has been successful in securing grants to purchase equipment and being fiscally prudent by spending its money wisely. "I'm extremely proud of what we do," he said.

Cataldo said his point was that if MVAC is going to respond to Garden City, Garden City should contribute to the corps. He reiterated that he has been a longtime supporter of the corps from the days it was started by Joe and Louise DiGiorgio along with Bill Morgan. "I've never said anything bad about the ambulance corps and I never will," he said.

Mayor Jack M. Martins and trustees Larry Werther, Linda Fairgrieve, Paul Cusato and John DaVanzo paid tribute to former trustee Tony Bellissimo, who died recently. Mayor Martins called Bellissimo one of the pillars of the community and said he will be missed.

Bellissimo was a member of the Mineola Volunteer Fire Department for nearly 50 years. Trustee Cusato, who is also a firefighter, said he knew Bellissimo for 39 years and called him a great guy. Trustee DaVanzo was Bellissimo's best friend and said that Tony did a lot for this community.

The Nassau County Legislature scheduled three hearings with regard to the Nassau County HUB development. The first was scheduled for last Thursday. The second was scheduled for Tuesday, June 13 at 7 p.m. and the third is scheduled for Friday, June 16 at 10 a.m. The transportation component of the plan could impact Mineola by sending additional traffic to the train station.

A resident of Jackson Avenue complained about what she perceived to be dangerous conditions on the street that come from cars speeding down the street. The resident also alluded to a huge fight between youths that occurred on the corner of White Road and Jackson Avenue.

The area has numerous students coming home from schools. The resident asked the village to consider putting speed bumps in the road to slow the speeding motorists and make the area more safe.