Suozzi Draft Heats Up

Club thinks former county exec should run again

There are heroes and villains on both sides in the ongoing debate concerning the function of Nassau County. Is the old regime to blame? Are current leaders at fault? Discussions are constant, opinions on either side rarely align, but one group thinks a change is in order.

The Nassau County Young Democrats kick-started a “Draft Suozzi” campaign a few weeks ago at draftsuozzi.com to convince former county leader Tom Suozzi to run against current Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano, a Republican. More than 1,500 supporters have signed up on the site, a far cry from the hundreds of thousands of people Nassau currently call home, but nonetheless a gathering.

Mineola Restaurant Owner vs. Mangano

Haber to run for Nassau’s top job

Can a Roslynite be elected Nassau County Executive? That’s a question that Adam Haber is willing to find out.

A member of the Roslyn Board of Education, Haber is now the only Democrat to officially announce his candidacy for the seat currently held by Edward P. Mangano.

Haber has been preparing for the run for several months. Since last year, he has been supervising his own website, which asks residents to respond to a “question of the week” on pertinent issues, both local and national. On Dec. 19 he held a fundraiser at his restaurant, Lula Trattoria in Mineola. According to published reports, Haber has more than $2 million in cash on hand, nearly equal to the amount raised by Mangano.

Herricks Road: Crunch Zone

Traffic divider missing a safety feature?

Mineola resident George Sommer can never forget the morning in 1982, when he awoke to learn that nine teenagers had been killed when a van in which they were riding was struck by an LIRR train at the now defunct Herricks Road train crossing, after the van’s driver went around lowered gates. 

Sommer’s son was supposed to be with them in the van, but Sommer kept him home to do school work.

State Aid: Slight Uptick For Mineola

School district doesn’t expect any other increase

The Mineola School District saw a .58 percent increase, or $26,253 from 2012-13, in Gov. Cuomo’s preliminary state aid figures released last week. The state awarded Mineola $4,492,542 last year.

Mineola saw “a slight” increase in building aid, according to Finance Superintendent Jack Waters, but a reduction in high tax aid. The district received $290,733 last year, but just $87,219 next year.

Negotiations are still ongoing, according to district reps. But Waters isn’t expecting much to change.

East Hills Man: ‘Save The Tree’

Passing tree law is no easy task, says Mineola

A century ago, Joyce Kilmer wrote, “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.”

East Hills resident Richard Brummel apparently thinks he has never seen anything as lovely as a tree, and he is now stumping for the preservation of a 125-yerar-old tree on Roslyn Road near Jerome Avenue in Mineola.

Brummel has circulated petitions to the Mineola Village Board and the Town of North Hempstead. The tree sits on foreclosed property.

Brummel hopes new tree laws will be established in an effort to preserve older, bigger trees in the area.

East Williston Moves To Evict Raccoons

Location has become pest-infested, a bane to village residents

East Williston Mayor David Tanner announced that engineering plans to either demolish or refurbish the vacated property on Sumter Street are complete, and the board will put a bid together for contractors.

The mayor revealed the plan at its meeting Jan. 14.

Trustee Robert Vella expects a decision to be made by the end of March. In addition, a “ball park” estimate of $30,000 was given for the work. 

“We are confident that we’ll get back everything we’ve put into this…any cost laid out will act as a lean on the property,” Tanner said. According to Trustee Bonnie Parente, a large portion of that $30,000 is tax liens that are already attached to the property.

Hometown Hero Is A WWII Sgt.

World War II veteran, former air traffic controller honored

When Anthony Catalano landed in Normandy on D-Day with General George Patton’s Third Army, 70th Infantry Division, he wasn’t thinking  about accolades or honors. 

Commendations were the furthest from the Mineola resident’s mind on that June 6, 1944. He was concerned with defending his home, his country, and his family from the evil that was hell-bent on world domination.

Catalano, who was a sergeant during the war and is now 92 years old, reflected on the horror he witnessed, the freezing nights in the French forests and the men that were left behind after World War II, during his acceptance of North Hempstead’s Hometown Hero Award on Tuesday, Jan. 15. He is the fourth Mineola resident to receive the award. Joseph Wood, Bill Gresalfi and John DaVanzo have been commended since 2010.

Body And Brain Coming To Mineola

 Yoga facility opening on Hillside Avenue

Joyce Peprah was inspired, inclined to proceed with a vision of holistic healing through the power of yoga after suffering a leg injury. 

Rather than rely on prescription drugs to help with the pain, she pushed through the agony with spiritual discipline that originated in ancient India.

The idea sprung while working at her current job. She is a nurse at the Cornell Medical Center in New York City. 

However, the plan is coming to fruition in Mineola.

Mineola Schools Could Decrease Its Polling Places

Cost saving, impending scanner machine requirement could see one or two polling places for school elections

With the advent of the new scanner voting machines that roll into every polling place during election season, schools and villages are running out of time using the old lever machines. 

Since 2010, Mineola and neighboring villages were granted a reprieve from the state through the intervention of Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel and Senator Jack Martins, They are allowed to use the old voting units in local elections.

But in 2015, the archaic but reliable lever contraptions will go the way of the dodo bird and the new electronic machines will become a required use. The Mineola School District is attempting to get out ahead of the fray concerning the first use of scanner ballot machines in its polling places.

Apple Awards Mineola For iPad Genius

School district one of three in Northeast dubbed Apple Distinguished Program of the Year

In September 2010, the Mineola School District became one of the first districts on Long Island to institute iPads into the daily learning of its students. Eighty-two fifth-grade students and ten teachers received the devices.

The initiative was considered innovative among the realm of teaching and now Mineola is being recognized for its foresight into the future of education. District Superintendent Michael Nagler announced the district’s iPad program for the 2012-13 school year was selected as the Apple Distinguished Program of the Year. Apple has recognized 103 programs nationwide.

To be considered for the award, a program must be “exemplary learning environments and centers of innovation, leadership and educational excellence,” according to Nagler.