The year 1998 literally got off to bang as the Nassau County Museum of Art hosted a highly successful exhibit by Mort Kunstler, the nation's preeminent living Civil War artist. The exhibit featured a Civil War reenactment on museum grounds between Union and Confederate cavalry units from respectively, Company H of the 119th New York Volunteers and the 57th Virginia Infantry squad.

Company H was also known as the "Willis Company" named for Capt. Benjamin Albertson Willis, who in turn has seen three villages in the Roslyn area named after him.

Another blast from the past came from Edwards Inc., the New England-based supermarket company which hoped to succeed where Stop & Shop failed and build its own 86,000 sq. ft. supermarket in Roslyn. In Aug., 1996, Edwards purchased Stop & Shop. Itself a subsidiary of Ahold Inc., a Dutch company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Edwards sent its emissaries to Roslyn to assure the Chamber of Commerce that they were flexible on the size of any new supermarket. Chamber members in turn, urged Edwards to come up with a viable traffic study before making any building applications.

However, Edwards, with help from lawyers from LCS Realty, went ahead with an application for an 86,000 sq. ft. facility, essentially arguing that such a plan was the only "viable" form of development for the area and that the Article 78 lawsuit (which killed the Stop & Shop plan) was successful only because of mistakes made by the previous Pasnik Administration.

In May, the Roslyn Village Site Review Board denied the building application on the grounds that it was "not in conformity" with the village's new Master Plan. In addition, such a supermarket, the SRB claimed "is not permitted and is prohibited" pursuant to the village's zoning law provisions. The supermarket, the SRB further maintained, would not "preserve and promote" the "proper use of land" within the village.

LCS promptly filed an appeal with the New York State Supreme Court. In December, the court rejected the appeal and upheld the SRB's earlier decision.

On the heels of the Civil War exhibit, more history came to Roslyn in the spring. The George Washington Manor, as most Roslynites know, is named after the Father of Our Country to honor the time he spent there congratulating the Onderdonck family, whose members bravely served as spies for the American cause during the Revolutionary War. In late April, "President Washington" revisited his old haunts, this time to mark the commencement of a Long Island Heritage Trail that runs along Route 25A.

One of the biggest news stories of the year involved renovation of the Roslyn Grist Mill, one of the village's oldest historical buildings---and certainly the one in most dire need of repairs.

In 1997, Roslyn Mayor Janet Galante named Grist Mill renovation a top priority of her administration. Toward that end, local citizens held fund raisers to help pay for renovation costs, but most importantly, they also lobbied the Nassau County Legislature to pass a bond act that was essential to any serious renovation work.

Fortunately, the mayor's good working relationship with Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Gulotta, came in handy, as Mr. Gulotta declared the bond act an important priority of his own office. In October, right before the November elections, the bond act passed. Not only that, it was for $2.65 million, substantially higher than the $1.2 million originally sought by the village.

Also on the financial side, residents of Roslyn were spared a tax increase after it appeared the 1998-99 budget would include a 14 percent revenue increase. Money owed the village by the county over sewage lawsuit payments and a smaller garbage contract were cited by village officials for the turnabout.

The Village of East Hills included a small 2 percent tax increase in its budget. Mayor Michael R. Koblenz called it the "lowest tax increase" for any Nassau County town or village.

East Hills also remains locked in its long-running disagreement with the New York State Department of Transportation over planned Long Island Expressway expansion. For three years, the village has waged a lonely struggle against the DOT over expansion plans that the village has long maintained might unduly penalize local homeowners, threaten their property values and even cause safety concerns for the two public schools located near the planned highway expansion.

In an exchange of letters with DOT officials, Mayor Koblenz noted that while the department is addressing the concerns of residents in Queens and Westchester counties, plus the Nassau County village of Huntington, East Hills, in the mayor's view, has not received the same amount of respect from the DOT.

Also in East Hills, plans for a park at the soon-to-be-vacant Air National Guard lot are going forward, with a year 2000 opening still a target for the village.

On some personal notes, a most unusual reunion of former Roslyn Little League players was held this fall. Roslyn native John Piltz, after reminiscing about his Little League days in the village with his son, decided to hold a reunion of his former teammates from the mid-1950s. This was Roslyn's Golden Era of Little League, as the village held the distinction for having more Little Leaguers than any other suburban district in the country.

The reunion was held in October at the Swan Club, right after the New York Yankees completed their amazing world championship season. The event gave these boys of summer an opportunity to recall their own playing days and an era when the World Series itself was dominated not just by the Yankees, but the long-lost National League teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.

Finally, the year marked the retirement of two longtime village public servants: Deputy Mayor Marlene Freeman and Village Clerk Kay Cunningham.

In July, Deputy Mayor Freeman resigned her position to move with her family to New York City. Ms. Freeman was first elected to the Roslyn Village Board of Trustees in 1989 and along with then-trustee Janet Galante, she was one of the only two BOT members to vote against the first big Stop & Shop construction vote back in December, 1994.

That vote paid dividends as public opposition to Stop & Shop rearranged politics in Roslyn. In the next elections, held in 1995, Ms. Galante, running on an anti-Stop & Shop ticket, was elected mayor with Ms. Freeman moving up as deputy mayor.

"It has been extremely gratifying to have had an opportunity to be a part of a team of dedicated volunteer residents....who have worked so hard to maintain and improve the quality of life for other village residents," Ms. Freeman said on the occasion of her retirement.

Also leaving village government was Kay Cunningham, who had spent 21 years with the village, serving in several capacities, including village clerk.

Roslyn Mayor Janet Galante accepted Ms. Cunningham's retirement with "deep regret and sadness." Ms. Cunningham, who plans to stay in Roslyn, recalled the different administrations and jobs she had served under during her time with the village. "It's been interesting," she said. "I enjoyed my work. It was never about politics. [Working for the village] was not a job. It was just a position."