"Property taxes are killing us," said Nassau County Legislator Rich Nicolello, speaking before 70 members of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce. Nassau County is the second most expensive place to live in the United States. "Those special districts are just a drop in the bucket of our taxes. Sure, some money could be saved by combining services like transportation, water, maintenance and other functions. But the real problem is school taxes and teacher's salaries," according to Nicolello. His idea is to have new teachers become employees of the state and not of the school districts. This would not hurt teachers in existing positions and would affect only new teachers. If they become the expense of the state it would shift the burden from the homeowners and gradually give them some relief. Nicolello is a lawyer specializing in the civil litigation, particularly actions against school districts. He is the counsel for the board of education of New Hyde Park. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Lions, the Cellini Lodge, the Elks Club and the Knights of Columbus. He is also a member of the NHP Chamber of Commerce. In closing, he mentioned how the state has projected a three percent revenue from sales taxes. The slowdown in the economy reduced this to two percent.

Frank Guarino recently marked his 91st birthday. He is a long-time usher at Corpus Christi Church. He and his wife, Mary, live in the Clinton Arms Apts. Mary's birthday is coming up soon, we will keep you posted. She is a member of the church choir.

Good luck to Frankie Fuentos, who was born Jan. 1, 2008 at Winthrop Hospital and was the winner of our first baby of the year award. Mom, Ana, will receive about $250 worth of gifts from the merchants of Mineola and Williston Park. Ana, who lives on Roosevelt Place, says Frankie weighed in at 6 lbs. and 11 oz.

Pete and Maryann Fearon were in Atlantic City 17 years ago when she spotted Jay Leno at a nearby table in a restaurant and wanted to ask for his autograph. Her husband cautioned, "Don't disturb the man when he is eating dinner," but you know Maryann, who dashed across the room and asked for Jay's autograph. "He couldn't have been nicer," said Maryann. "He asked me to sit down and talked to me for about 15 minutes. He drew a sketch of himself, big chin and all, and signed his name. Later in his floor show he thanked his audience at the end of his routine and said, 'and especially you, Maryann.'"

Speaking of Leno in his segment about "Headlines," he had a newspaper picture of two young women of about 5 ft. 5 inches surrounded by almost 7 ft. Wilt Chamberlain. Caption reads, "Chamberlain, in the center of the picture." Gee, we thought it was one of the women. He calls this saying the obvious.

Father James Bowman, pastor of Corpus Christi Church, announced at the end of Mass that Jeanne Lazar was retiring after 38 years as a lay reader. Jeanne has been in ill health for a number of years.

Yulandi Bassani of Clinton Ave. likes to shop at King Kullen, says their service and prices are tough to beat.

Transitory Deacon Tom Tassone serving at Corpus Christi church will be ordained a priest on June 14.

Dave Miller lunched at the Jericho Diner. He lived most of his life in Mineola and his mother, Rebecca, was a mainstay at Temple Beth Sholom. Dave and his wife, Dorothy, now live in Massachusetts. Dave recently sold his property on Main St., which is the site of the condos being built. Dave also sold his business called "Partymaker." Dave was active in school affairs.

Newsday and The NY Times both hailed Kiss the Chef on East Second St. as one of the best five diners on Long Island.

Alexander Hamilton started the NY Post in 1801. Little did he know that it would be the oldest published newspaper in the US. The Post has seen many great newspapers come and go. During most of the 19th century, it was a rather dull broadsheet. It came under the ownership of Dorothy Schift after WWII and she converted it into a Left Wing tabloid with a small declining circulation. With the opposition of The News, Mirror, Journal American, Sun, Tribune, The Times and another left wing rival PM the paper was about to cease publication when it was purchased by Rupert Murdock. Murdock is a billionaire who owns newspapers in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. He recently purchased The Wall St. Journal. He converted the Post into a wild right wing newspaper with a heady mixture of gossip and good sports coverage and has been able to strengthen its circulation. The Post still loses millions every year but Murdock doesn't really care, all he wants is to have a NY outlet. Gee, it's great to have that much money.

Ollie and Ginny Wright have lived on Royal Ave. for 46 years. Ollie is a retired photographer.

Dennis and Betty O'Sullivan of Williston Park lunched at the Jericho. Both are looking forward to the St. Patrick's Day parade. The O'Sullivan's live in Williston Park.

Let's tell Garden City to mind their own business and not try to stop our Winston condo on Old Country Road. This will help our village and is not close to any Garden City homes. We need this condo.

Welcome to Jennifer Worth, our new advertising manager at Anton Newspapers. Jennifer has held executive positions with Newsday, TV and radio.