Letter: Neighbor Village Residents Give Thanks To Mineola, Williston Park

Thank you to everyone who contributed in some way to our project of delivering meals to homebound senior citizens and those in need on Thanksgiving afternoon.  Through the generosity of so many, 240 hot dinners were delivered throughout Nassau County and 19 families were provided with the fixings to make their own Thanksgiving meal.

Around the Town with Lou: December 10, 2010

Davenport’s popular restaurant was jumping Thanksgiving with every table taken from noon to 9 p.m. Among the crowd were John DaVanzo and his three daughters Mary, Judy and Terry. At another table were Paul, Michele and Paulie Krumholz and across the room were Ray Passaro, Judith Vassallo, Ellen Sweeney, Patty Nicoll, David Gilouris, Mary Gilouris, Jo’Ellen Shearil and at another table were Fran Dempsey, her son William and his wife Susan and grandson William.

Letter: Local Resident Happy Mineola BOE Listened to Community

I am very proud of our Board of Education majority for listening to the community and giving us the North and South PreK-2 schools (Meadow and Hampton) for which we asked. Your vote last Thursday demonstrated your inherent good will and spirit of compromise.

Letter: Mineola School District Council of PTAs Releases Statement

(From a statement made by Mineola District Council of PTA members Robin Bischoff and Cindy Velez to the Board of Education on Nov. 18.)

Board trustees are invited to PTA meetings at every level, every month.  Parents and community members attend Board of Education meetings twice a month. Throughout this long and emotional process of school reconfiguration, the Board of Education has been repeatedly commended for its efforts to consider feedback from the community.

Around the Town - November 26, 2010

Supreme Court decisions can be both good and bad. A good one was the banning of partial birth abortion. This horrible procedure has now been outlawed. Even many pro-choice people say that it is close to outright murder. On the other hand their decision to allow unlimited advertising from corporations and unions is destroying our democratic elections. This unregulated money flowing into campaigns often from unknown sources is unfair and should be controlled.

Letter: Resident Comments On Previous School Bond Vote

469 yea! 2234 nay! By a nearly 5 to 1 margin, voters rejected a bond that was presented as the most cost-effective option in terms of savings. Was it defeated because of an anti-clustering sentiment? Or because of opposition to moving fifth and eighth graders to the middle school and high school, respectively? Or because of a desire not to see neighborhood schools closed? Or because of closing buildings while bonding to build onto others? Or was it due to a combination of some or all of these factors? The question as to what the community wants remains unanswered.

Letter: Herricks and Mineola Merge into Herneola

Over the few years long process of reconfiguring our schools, it has been suggested by some board members that John McGrath has stood silently by, adding nothing to the process as a sign of his objection to closing any schools. When asked for his input at a recent school board meeting, his reply was “I’ll think about it and get back to you.”

Around the Town with Lou - November 19, 2010

Liar, cheater, weasel are just a few of the terms used to describe one’s opponent in the recent election. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is a good case in point. His opponent who had deep pockets outspent Tom 8 to 1. I have known Tom since he was a 17-year-old kid in Mineola High School. In his long career he has always been friendly to all. He never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was a sweet, even-tempered man. To listen to his opponent he was just short of being a criminal. Tom won the election. The public, I think, has had enough of the negative ads that they all used to blacken their opponents with half-truths, lies and gross exaggerations. It would be wonderful if in the future candidates would just tell people what they hoped to accomplish without the vicious attacks on their opponents. Don’t hold your breath.

What Every Long Islander Should Know - November 12, 2010

A Big Step Toward a Smaller Carbon Footprint

“Greenhouse” gases: pleasant-sounding name for carbon dioxide, methane, and other carbon-based gases that threaten to destroy ecosystems, play havoc with weather patterns, raise sea levels worldwide, and inundate much of Long Island.

Around the Town with Lou - November 5, 2010

Police Commander of the Third Precinct, Kevin Canavan, will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce, Nov. 16, at Piccola Bussola. After his graduation from the Police Academy in 1988, he was assigned to the Aviation Bureau as a pilot. During that time he won the award for heroism as well as the Helicopter Association International Award for Heroism. He was promoted to inspector and named the commanding officer of the third precinct last year.