Mineola Mayor’s Message: Junior Firefighter Award, Arbor Day and New Archbishop

The following are the opening remarks of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss made during the public meeting of the Mineola Village Board on May 1, 2013:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Last Tuesday our Mineola Junior Fire Department was honored by the Town of Hempstead at their annual Make a Difference Awards night. Town supervisor Kate Murray presented them with this award for acts of kindness given to the south shore of Long Island in the aftermath of super storm Sandy.

I hope you remember that our fire department family provided over 1,500 meals and held a pancake breakfast to raise funds for the families that were affected. Through the incredible, but not surprising, generosity of you, the residents and business owners of Mineola, thousands of dollars were raised. With those funds, the junior fire department purchased toys and gifts for all ages of children and drove Santa and his helpers on fire trucks to the south shore to distribute them. For many of those families, as I’ve mentioned in the past, it was the only Christmas they would have. Congratulations to all involved and the award was well-deserved and certainly earned.

I attended the installation of the officers of the Mineola Junior Fire Department and had the honor of swearing them in. That evening one junior firefighter was recognized as their junior firefighter of the year. That young man is Brendan Corrigan. It’s a well-deserved award and we wish to congratulate him for all the outstanding work he’s done for the village.

Last Friday the village board replanted a tree in Memorial Park in recognition of Arbor Day. The tree replaced a tree that was lost during super storm Sandy. The tree has a special significance as it was a tree dedicated in memory in honor of U.S. Army Specialist and Mineola resident Thomas Motto, who earned the Bronze Star, unfortunately he was killed in action in the Vietnam War.

Sunday I had the honor of attending Archbishop Coyle’s last mass here in Mineola. I thanked him for his support and guidance while he was here. Archbishop Coyle is now the bishop of the military services. We are extremely saddened to see him go, but if he has to leave Mineola, there is no better place for him to serve than the brave men and women of our military. Congratulations to Bishop Coyle, he always has a home here in Mineola.

Some of you may have received a letter in the mail from a private company offering insurance for water pipe repairs, should you need them. The company appears to be legitimate. With that being said, the village is not at all associated with this company, nor do we endorse them. Like the purchase of any insurance, you should contact your insurance company to see if what is being offered is already covered by your policy or not.

Finally, our little league season is in full swing. If you find yourself sitting at home looking for something to do on an evening or during a weekend, stop down at one of the fields, take in a game, enjoy the evening or the afternoon and cheer on our future hall of famers; there’s no doubt you’ll walk away being glad you did so.

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