Mineola has no hardware store with the closing of Main St. Hardware, the last survivor. Once the home of eight thriving stores, we had Prices Hardware, Mineola Hardware, Richmonds, Ashbys, Petersens, Mirandas and Jacks. Herb Jahn and his wife, Myra, the owners of Main St. Hardware, were struck by a car crossing a street out East. Although for awhile their son, Kurt and grandson Kurt Jr. tried to keep the store going, the recent death of Herb led to the decision to finally close the store. The Jahn family goes way back in Mineola from when Herb's dad opened the Nassau Meat Market in 1928 on Second Street. Herb worked with his father in the butcher shop, but always dreamed of having a hardware store. He opened Main St. Hardware 27 years ago. There are, however, two pretty prosperous stores in the area, Munder's Hardware in Williston Park and Albertson Hardware.

Mr. Hai was at Corpus Christi Church the other day, visiting from Brooklyn. Hai used to be the sexton at the church and once when he saw a man stealing the collection box, he confronted the thief and wrested the box away from the fellow. In the course of the struggle Hai received a stab wound. The pastor told Hai in the future to let the thief go rather than risk his life. Hai was used to action having fought with the Vietnamese army against the Viet Cong.

Tony and Anastasia Antoniou live in Carle Place. Tony is the maintenance man here at Anton Newspapers and kind of a jack-of-all-trades. Anastasia works in our business office.

Neil Walsh of Mineola is a language teacher working in Japan and a peace activist. He attended the United Peace Conference in Japan with the Dalai Lama. Neil is the son of Dennis, that excellent painter and star of Channel 18.

Sarah Jane Berman breakfasted at the Jericho Diner. She is a reporter for a local weekly newspaper.

Kilian Breen, Patricia Breen-O'Shea, Teresa Breen and Cassidy Lynn O'Shea lunched at Johnathan's. Teresa's grandson, George Breen, was their waiter. Do you think this family could be Irish?

Speaking of Ireland, I understand that the Grand Marshal of this year's parade, sponsored by the Irish American Society, will be Pat Browne. Pat, who hails from County Kerry and his wife, Eileen, are very active in the Irish American Society.

To conclude our 100th birthday celebration, we buried the time capsule in front of the Mineola Library. The capsule with many contributions from organizations in the village, was buried about 8 feet down. The waterproof steel container will be opened in 2031, 25 years from now. It was a bitter cold evening and yet a crowd of about 150 were present, including the mayor and the village board and, of course, the three people who made the year such a success, Bob Hinck, John DaVanzo and Candai Maia. Others whom I had a chance to talk to were Steve Ford, Maureen O'Connell, Dorothy Campbell, Marge Hogerty, Carl Marchese, Larry Licopli, Rocky Spinelli, John Larsen, Joyce and Karen Gorycki, Ron Ciesinski, Gabe Parajos, Carolyn Lumley and John Herling.

Solved most of the world's problems at the lunch I had with Judge Scott Fairgrieve, law student Loreen Gehrig and attorney Mike Pfeiffer. Loreen believes she's a distant relative of the Great Lou.

Bob Turk, police commander of the 3rd Precinct, will be the guest speaker at the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Feb. 20 at Piccola Bussola at 6:30.

Talk about never giving up, the diner near our office in the East End has re-opened with new owners. Many have come and gone. There were at least four Hudson Diners, that's the name of the street that it is located on. There was also Matt's Diner, The Silver Diner and Mike's Diner. It's now called "Kiss the Chef" and is owned by Lorraine and Horacio Mazariegis. They have four daughters, one of whom, Rochelle, works with her parents in the diner. The family has been associated with some good restaurants in the city. The diner has always been hurt by the fact that for many years a coffee wagon stops in the area and that most of the women working in the nearby factories bring their own lunches. Good luck to Lorraine and Horacio.

Vera Levine of Walker Road is the new vice president of the Mineola Choral Society and she is a nurse at LIJ Hospital.

Cathy Whitley was the guest speaker at the last Chamber of Commerce meeting. She manages Robert's Mens Shop, the store her dad, Robert Seewaldt, established 52 years ago. Their store is the oldest on Jericho Turnpike, except for Katz Floor Covering. When we first met Bob Seewaldt, he was a salesman at Saul's Mens Shop on Willis Avenue. He told me he hoped to open his own place and a year later he made his dream come true.

Former Mayor John Colbert and former Deputy Mayor Lou Santosus lunched at the Jericho. At another table were Joe Galante, the public relations director for OTB and chairman of the Independent Party Bobby Kalotee. Also at the diner was Bobby Carson of Mineola.

The NY Post has some great headlines. The recent lunch held by Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, was called "Bimbo Summit."