To the residents of East Williston: Thank you for electing me as one of your new village trustees. I am looking forward to the challenge and I fully accept the responsibilities bestowed upon me. As I said during the campaign, my commitment to you, and the village that we all call home, is dedication and thoughtful insight as I fulfill the duties related to the position of village trustee.

I am honored to be following in the footsteps of Mayor Nancy Zolezzi and Deputy Mayor Jim Daw who are exiting the positions after serving with dedication, grace, and dignity for many years. I am equally honored and look forward to serving with incumbent Trustees Braito and Ferro and look forward to learning from the fine example they both set. I am eager to take on the challenges with our new Mayor David Tanner. I am confident that Dave will serve this board with distinction in his new role.

Congratulations to my fellow new Trustee Caroline DeBenedittis. Caroline has been a neighbor and friend of mine since I moved into the village. There is no doubt that she will put in the time and passion into her new role and I look forward to working with her side-by-side to accomplish great things for our village.

Finally, I congratulate and thank Bobby and Lauren Shannon. As you know, Bobby and I ran as a team with Dave Tanner. My respect for Bobby grew every day of the campaign. He and his wife, who participated in many ways, took on the challenge of local village politics with the greatest dignity I have seen in a long time.

It was a privilege to go door-to-door with Bobby where resident-after-resident recognized Bobby as a local businessman and neighbor whose personal integrity never wavered. It was a privilege to participate in the campaign process with Bobby at my side. His wife, Lauren, maintained her dignity and demeanor at all times. Thank you both. I sincerely hope that either or both of you will consider participation in village government in the future.

Thank you to my family for their love and patience during the campaign. My personal campaign committee included my husband Kevin and my children Emma and Kevin Jr. as well as my parents, Patricia and Louis Santosus, and my siblings who all live nearby, Patti McCauley, Brian and Gary Santosus.

They offered their love and support throughout.

Bonnie Parente

Village of East Williston

By the time you read this letter the East Williston village election will have been decided.

In my opinion, our village will be well served since all three trustee candidates that ran were equally qualified in their own way and will bring new energy, ideas and opinions to the board.

In the last few days of the election, however, a negative campaign postcard was mailed to all East Williston residents labeling a candidate as a “Williston Park” person.

I write to you today not to address the upcoming election but the arrogance and ignorance of the message in this card.

The card’s message was to keep the “East in East Williston” by diminishing the credentials and integrity of a person who grew up in Williston Park or works in Mineola.

A simple-minded person penned this ignorant message. A person or group of people who clearly do not understand the meaning or concept of a village or community undertook this act.

Technically, a village may be graphically defined but a true community and village has no boundaries.

People make great communities. Williston Park and East Williston residents, along with our children have over the years shared life experiences with each other and other communities.

Our friends and our children’s friends are not limited by street names or zip codes. Our houses of worship and schools are not confined by village boundaries. Our social clubs and sports activities expand far beyond Williston Park, East Williston and Mineola.

These are great villages in which to live and raise a family.

Sad is the person who believes that somehow East Williston is isolated and exists solely to promote it’s own fortunes.

I wonder if this author would hesitate visiting a doctor who practices in Williston Park or Mineola. I wonder if such a person would not eat in a great local restaurant simply because there is no “east” in the address.

In closing, I am angry that such a person or group of people live in our community and can only offer apologies to our neighbors in both Williston Park and Mineola for this coarse and ill-bred act.

Michael Braito

Village Trustee

Village of East Williston

My current term as a Herricks school board member expires on June 30, 2011.

To continue in this role would require me to run in the upcoming election. Over the past year, in my position as mayor of Williston Park, I have faced a number of scheduling conflicts, mostly with my board liaison responsibilities.

In light of this fact, I’ve decided not to seek another term with the Herricks school board. I have enjoyed working in this challenging position but feel the best interests of Herricks can be better served by my moving on.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported me during my second ” tour of duty.”

Many decisions made over the past two years were difficult but well thought out and discussed at length with my fellow board members.

While many may not have agreed with all decisions made, I can attest to the fact that your board of education made decisions that we believed were the best for the district.

I believe that the district is fortunate to have the remaining dedicated members willing to serve.

All four have much to offer to the district and they will continue to provide excellent direction to the Herricks school district.

I wish to acknowledge the Herricks staff, from our administrators to our part-time employees and all those in between.

Throughout my term I have worked with numerous members of our staff and found them to be a dedicated group of individuals.

Although interaction with the student body has been limited, I remain thoroughly impressed with their achievements, on all levels.

I will miss our senior groups but will stop by to say hello, when able to do so.

My family and I have been involved in the Herricks school district, in various capacities since 1977.

While I will end my career as school board member, I will continue to remain involved in the Herricks community.

Once again thank you to all for your support and for giving me the opportunity to serve.

Paul Ehrbar

Herricks school board member

In the MTA-Long Island Bus proposal to cut services, Nassau County has stated that funding will fall $24 million short needed to run local and Able-Ride Buses.

Yet, I am to understand, they have a $100 Million in reserve – correct me if I am wrong.

The MTA recognizes that thousands of people depend on local buses and Able Ride, but puts the blame on Nassau County for not accepting responsibility to fund the services.

No matter who is at fault, Nassau County or the MTA, it has to be fixed and soon. Don’t just say we are going to eliminate services, without first providing and alternative plan, for the working class and the disabled.

If this morning, all county officials and MTA big wigs, were told to hand over their car keys, their first reaction would be no way, how would I function, I have to get to work.

Of course with their salaries, they could afford to take a taxi. That’s not an answer for regular working-class people.

There is a very large percentage, who do not own a car and in order to work, need public transportation. People who can’t get to work will lose their job. With that goes their health insurance (something you don’t have to worry about). They will join the long lines of unemployment.

Unlike you people, we work on Saturdays and Sundays, in restaurants and stores, especially at the hospitals and nursing homes. Relations visit families in hospitals on weekends. It will have a huge impact on North Shore Hospital and LIJ and other medical facilities, who rely on nurses and aides, to arrive for their eight-hour shifts. Aides that work in private homes, to care for the house bound sick and elderly.

I know of many Great Neck residents, whose aides take three buses each day, to wash, feed, change bedpans, care for people who otherwise could not stay in their homes but would be shuttled off to a nursing home. So much for independence. There will be a severe impact to local fire departments as more people will use their ambulance service for a ride to a hospital on treatment days.

Seniors, who no longer should be driving due to age or poor eyesight, will no longer be so willing to give up their car keys.

For the daily working commuter, to and from the train station, they will have to pay upwards of $280 extra a month using taxi service.

These are not sob stories, these are the cold hard facts.

It is obviously money that has been mishandled, maybe too many high salaries and benefits to upper management.

Self-employed and small business owners were forced to pay incredible amounts of MTA new tax. We should asking MTA’s Chairman Jay Walder and president of L IBus System what happened, where did this money disappear. Whether you ride public transportation or not, this affects us all in one way or the other.

Public hearings are on March 23 at Hostra University

Jean Pierce

Great Neck

I was surprised to find that Congressman Gary Ackerman found the time to answer my March 5 letter on the demise of his $9 million dollar earmark.

He wrote a witty and clever response. I was disappointed that he failed to address the critical issues raised in my letter.

If we had the resources, I would love to see Washington send $9 million dollars to assist the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Adults in Sands Point. What Congressman Ackerman ignored is how to pay for this.

All of the 435 members of Congress and 100 United States senators would also love to allocate $9 million dollars and much more to their own favorite cause in their home district or state.

Too many earmarks are like Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Nevada “Cowboy Poetry Festival.”

The problem is $9 million times 535 equals $4,815,000,000 that we don’t have. For years, both the House and Senate have funded thousands of earmarks in the billions of dollars.

Fast forward to today. Congress has to face a $1.7 trillion shortfall in this year’s federal budget and begin reducing our $14 trillion plus long-term debt.

Ironically, the debate is between Democrats including Ackerman howling the sky is falling if as Republicans propose $60 billion is cut out of a multi-trillion dollar budget.

Democrats would prefer a cut of $6 billion, but might be willing to go to $12 billion. At the end of the day, Congressman Ackerman would have us borrow another $1.7 trillion minus the Democrats token $6 billion to $12 billion dollar cut. If you or I managed our respective household budget in this manner, we would have long ago been thrown into debtors prison!

Under Congressman Ackerman’s watch, the long-term federal debt has increased from $3 trillion to $14 trillion dollars. America can’t keep borrowing forever without dire consequences to our economy and freedom.

Congressman Ackerman supported and voted for fellow former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s commitments to drain the corrupt swamps of Washington and implement Pay-as-You-Go Spending.

Two years later, we have added over $3 trillion dollars in new debt under President Obama, Senate leader Reid and former Speaker Pelosi all ably assisted by Congress member Ackerman.

Republicans in Congress who are now in the majority have proposed the elimination of all new earmarks. Sorry, Congressman Ackerman but as an ordinary citizen I don’t have the clout to take away all your earmarks. Talk to your friends across the aisle. All I would ask of Congressman Ackerman is to honor your previous commitment for “Pay as You Go.” Clearly identify the existing source of funding for your proposed earmarks.

The overall operating budget for the Helen Keller National Center is far greater than the potential loss of a $9 million earmark. Could they have applied directly to the federal or state Department of Health and Human Services for funding? Other sources include voluntary donations made by individuals, foundations and corporations. Congressman Ackerman never provided any detailed information as to what percentage of their operating budget would be impacted by the loss of this earmark. I seriously doubt that the basic mission of this well-known excellent institution will result in the suspension of significant services.

Does Congressman Ackerman manage his own family finances the way he does Washington’s? By all means, fell free to bring home our fair share of the tax dollars we send to Washington. But first, please enter a spending detox program. Stop borrowing trillions of dollars. The interest payments alone on our $14 trillion dollar plus long term debt is taking a bigger bite out of the federal budget each year.

Those “nickels in the cup” you sarcastically refer to adds up to millions of dollars donated to thousands of charities. Just ask the millions of school age children who every Halloween collect tens of millions for UNICEF. In addition to financial contributions, millions of Americans also donate time each week to perform volunteer work at their favorite charity. Congressman Ackerman never addressed how much money or hours he personally donates to charities.

Yes, I do get many letters published. Editors feel my opinions on current issues such as in this submission are of interest to their readers.

Larry Penner

Great Neck

As a subscriber to The Great Neck News and a regular reader also of The Herald Courier and The Williston Times, I’d like to compliment the staffs of all three publications for the excellent job they’re doing in covering and reporting issues and news concerning North Shore residents.

I find each publication’s front page inviting, compelling and vital – quite a contrast from the coverage the other weeklies (and daily) are providing.

There are so many newsworthy items in each issue. I also find it commendable that published stories are “customized” specifically for each community. The recent story regarding proposed red light installations appeared in Great Neck’s paper but was also apparently revised and rewritten for the Courier’s readers.

The coverage of Oscar winner David Seidler was wonderful but barely mentioned by the other publications.

I also commend your writers for their journalistic efforts in refraining from injecting their own personal opinions and editorializing in “straight” news stories.

I’ve lived in this community since 1977. This is the first time that a weekly is serving Great Neck (and New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Williston Park, etc.) as a newspaper should.

It is both welcomed and commendable. I’m sure the other papers have taken notice.

They’ve got a long way to go before they can approach your quality and efforts.

A. Newman

Great Neck

A letter published last week raises two interesting questions about the planned renovation of the Great Neck Library.

One is about the cost and the other is about the advisability of investing in a library when so many books are being read on electronic media. These are not new ideas.

The very complex calculations presented in this letter based on incomplete and erroneous assumptions (let’s not debate each one), comes to the conclusion that the renovation will cost each adult cardholder $1,300. To put this into a different context, that was the calculated cost over the next 20 years.

On an annual basis, this is $65/year or $1.25/week. It doesn’t sound so unreasonable, does it?

The same issue that ran this letter also carried a listing of the library programs for this week in March. These programs included story hours at all fur library locations, craft programs coordinated with favorite books, computer help

and senior computer help at multiple locations, music recitals, art exhibits, films, staff-led book discussions at multiple locations, and a special dramatic presentation sponsored by the Brandeis National Meeting.

This is a typical week.

These programs enrich hundreds of library patrons from tots to seniors. Library patrons are our friends, our neighbors and ourselves. Perhaps they/we do own Kindles, perhaps not. We come to the library not only to get reading material for free, but to meet our friends and to be enriched. The library is a magnet for people with active minds, and we deserve a library that is ADA-compliant, has dependable heating and cooling systems, and is an attractive place to visit.

To me, that’s worth $1.25 a week.

Naomi Feldheim

Great Neck

At times it appears that Dean Skelos can’t chew gum and walk.

The state Senate leader from Rockville Centre finds it difficult to focus on two issues at once. Last fall, Skelos pledged his support for the redistricting reform championed by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

Now the Republican leader says he is too busy to address the gerrymandering that is responsible for the near total dysfunction in the state Legislature.

“Cutting government spending, reducing taxes, providing property tax relief and creating private sector jobs are critically important issues that impact every family and business in this state,” Skelos said. “That’s why our focus right now must be on getting a fiscally responsible budget enacted by April 1st, which is just 43 days away.”

We agree. Jobs and tax relief are extremely important in every corner of New York State. But real and lasting reform of state government will not occur until the problem of gerrymandering is solved.

Koch is miffed and rightly so. Skelos and the senate Republicans pledged last fall to support his New York Uprising. Now they are reneging.

After a private meeting with Skelos, Koch said, “He is not going to honor his commitment. He is running out on good government. He’s obviously the anti-reform party now.”

Koch, who at 86 has nothing personal to gain from this campaign, added, “You know, you either have to honor your pledge or you’re, in my judgment, dishonorable… Politics sometimes causes people to give up their decency.”

The redistricting that takes place every 10 years is the central reason for the legislative gridlock in Albany. This process protects elected officials from the wrath of voters who don’t understand why year after year nothing gets done in Albany. The majorities in each house have used redistricting to protect incumbents and maintain the party’s political power.

During the campaign Skelos and most GOP candidates, including state Sen. Jack Martins of Mineola, signed Koch’s NY Uprising pledge. The key elements of the pledge are non-partisan, independent redistricting, responsible budgeting and ethics reforms.

Last month Gov. Cuomo introduced an independent redistricting proposal that embodies the goals of the NY Uprising. His goal is to take politics out of the redistricting process and eliminate gerrymandering.

But Skelos said that he is concerned about the “constitutionality” of Cuomo’s proposal and he’s too busy right now to focus on redistricting.

And now that the elections are over, Martins has been silent on an issue that deserves bipartisan support.

Koch once called Skelos “a Hero of Reform.” That was then.

Now Skelos is showing that his word doesn’t mean very much. The senator has backed away from reform and has instead become the champion of Business As Usual in Albany.

Blank Slate Media Editorial

Slamming critics who fail to recognize the big picture, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano reported a year-end budget surplus of $17.2 million at a press conference in Mineola Thursday.

Mangano credited his administration and the Nassau County Legislature with some “darn good work” during some of the most challenging economic times.

“This is the first administration that has put forth a plan that ends borrowing in its entirety,” said Mangano, citing his long-term policy geared towards ending borrowing for all tax certioraris in 2013. “It is a plan that gets us through the two years before our policies can come into effect.”

By slashing departmental costs, controlling expenses and imposing a hiring freeze the Mangano administration was able to deliver a budget surplus and a 48 percent reduction in the structural deficit, according to Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, who called the press conference to announce the release of the unaudited fiscal results.

“This is a remarkable achievement by our county executive who at the beginning of 2010 inherited a deficit of $133 million and turned the county around on solid footing and delivered a $17.2 million surplus,” said Maragos.

Even by the most conservative accounting standards, Mangano said a budget surplus could be verified.

“It’s a plan that gets us to end borrowing in Nassau County in it’s entirety,” Mangano said.

According to Mangano, the year-end surplus will help increase the county fund balance from $64.2 million to $81.4 million – the first increase since 2006.

At the same time, expenses during 2010 were lower by $60.2 million than budgeted, excluding real property refunds, from two main areas – reduced payroll and fringe benefit costs, and reduced contractual, equipment and general expenses.

“We will continue to manage the challenges presented to this government without increasing real property taxes,” Mangano said.

The Mangano administration was also successful in reducing the structural deficit from $251.6 million in 2009 to $131.6 million in 2010 – a 48 percent improvement from the prior year and the first reduction in the structural deficit in the past five years, according to Maragos.

“I think that is testimony to what can be done with everybody working together,” said Nassau County Legislative Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt, at the press conference.

In the second to last meeting for Village of East Williston Mayor Nancy Zolezzi and Deputy Mayor James Daw Jr., the winter-long discussion on snow continued.

Daw gave an update on the state of the village’s roads and why a small amount of sand will be left on the streets.

“Even though it seems the snow is gone, we are still keeping some sand on the roads incase there is any future snow,” Daw said. “The sand will be gone by April.”

Both Zolezzi and Daw chose to not run for re-election and the day after the meeting voters went to the polls to elect their replacements.

At the meeting, Village Clerk Marie Kimlicka presented the board with a resolution authorizing a tax lien sale for unpaid village taxes occurring on May 2. One resident asked for clarification on the tax lien sale.

According to Zolezzi, the village had been owed more than $100,000 by residents of the village who failed to pay property taxes. After a strongly worded letter sent out to the village, Zolezzi said some back taxes were collected, so the total now stands at $50,000.

In other developments Zolezzi announced the local Rotary Club will be holding a blood drive on March 24, and said the Rotary appreciates all the help they can get.

Zolezzi, who is president of the Rotary Club, will be leaving office after serving for 12 years as mayor.

Reach reporter Timothy Meyer by e-mail at meyerj.tim@gmail.com.

The East Williston School Board made its initial presentation Wednesday, Feb. 2 of a $51.9 million budget for 2011-12, representing a 2.85 percent increase over the current $50.5 million budget and a 6.19 percent increase in the tax levy.

In her presentation of the district administration’s proposed budget numbers, Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, assistant superintendent for business, said employee salaries in the district – which constitute 62 percent of all costs – will rise to $31.9 million, during the next budget cycle.

The bulk of the year-to-year increase is the rise in contributory pension costs of 15.9 percent for the employee retirement system and 11.5 percent for the teachers retirement system. She said health insurance costs will rise 14 percent.

Fitzpatrick said the proposed budget includes $394,000 to be taken from the district’s reserve fund to defray the impact of the mandated increases the district will incur. Last year the school board applied over $1 million in surplus budget funds to reduce costs in the current budget. The school district currently has a surplus of $1.3 million through its first two fiscal quarters.

A contingency budget, which would be implemented if district residents vote rejected the proposed budget in its final form, would be $51.4 million, a 1.79 percent increase over the current budget.

In that contingency scenario, the school district property tax levy would rise by 5 percent. Based on the proposed budget, the tax levy would increase by 6 percent.

Mark Kamberg, school board president, said the board has begun negotiations with all of the employee units in the district. Current contracts with all of the units expire in June.

Resident Bob Howell said the school board should seek concessions from the teachers in the current negotiations.

“Make our teachers aware, because as far as I’m concerned, they have to give back also,” he said.

Kamberg noted that East Williston has joined a lawsuit being brought by other school districts in Nassau County to fight the proposed end of the county guarantee, which would force school districts to bridge the financial gap created when residents file property tax appeals.

“This county has never done it that way,” Kamberg said, adding that the county was “putting the burden on the back of the school districts.”

The county is also imposing a sewer tax on school districts, a tax which the school board may also challenge in court. That tax would add an estimated $40,000 to the school district’s expenses

“We don’t even have sewers here,” said Robert Freier, school board vice president.

East Williston Superintendent of Schools Lorna Lewis pointed out that the school district operates at an inherent disadvantage in comparison to other school districts with substantial commercial tax bases, something that East Williston lacks. She noted that the Great Neck school district draws 40 percent of its taxes from commercial sources.

“For the same level of education, the tax bases are very different for every district. We have no commercial properties, so our taxpayers are unfairly burdened,” Lewis said.

Overall administrative costs for the district are projected to rise $433,271 under the proposed budget, while capital costs, including capital repairs and upkeep of school grounds, would rise by $34,000.

Salaries for the superintendent’s office will rise $7,700. Lewis, whose salary is $223,510, is voluntarily taking a salary freeze next year.

In a presentation on the special education budget on Monday night, Claire Hayes, district special education director, noted a planned exapnsion of the life skills program at The Wheatley School, but projected an overall reduction of $269,829 in non-salary expenses and a drop of more than $300,000 in outside services and tuitions due to one student graduating and another leaving the district.

Hayes also projected a net loss of two teaching positions, with a planned reduction of six teachers at The Wheatley School and the addition of four instructros at the North Side School.

District athletic director Tom Fitzpatrick projected a $42,000 increase in the athletics budget, fueled by the purchase of permanent bleachers for the Wheatley School track field to provide seating for nearly 800 spectators. Freier asked whether portable bleachers would cost less. Fitzpatrick said they would cost approximately $40,000.

Freier said the board would like to renovate the Wheatley tennis courts, which were resurfaced last year, but said the board lacked the means to undertake the job.

“Our tennis courts are in bad shape. But the cost to replace would be too much money,” he said.

One issue yet to be addressed in the current budget is $200,000 in state grant money secure through state Sen. Craig Johnson that was rescinded after Johnson lost his seat last year. That total reflects the cost of projects already undertaken, including refurbishment of the North Side School playground and the running track at The Wheatley School.

In 1936, a small but growing population of Portuguese immigrants established two clubs that formed a kind of cultural oasis for them in Mineola.

The first was a social club and the second Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club, a soccer team that connected them to their experience as Europeans.

The Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club is still thriving today and on Saturday night the Mineola’s Portuguese-American community came together to celebrate its 75th anniversary at the Mineola Portuguese Club on Jericho Turnpike.

“It’s something that’s inbred. It’s something they brought from the other side,” said Lou Pinto.

“The thing to do was to follow in the footsteps of the other players, to continue the tradition,” said Pinto, who played on the club between 1966 and 1976.

Portugal remains among the top European powers in the sport today. That point of national pride is reflected in the success of MPSC as the Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club has come to be known in the first division of the Long Island Soccer-Football League where it competes today.

The Long Island Soccer-Footbal League is registered under the amateur division of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

“It’s always been a strong organization in the community,” said Pinto, who played on the team’s league champion squad in 1973.

Danny Carlos, who plays defense on the team that is on top of its league this season, played college soccer on a scholarship to C.W. Post, where several of his MPSC teammates also played. The team gives them a chance to continue playing competitively against other Portuguese teams based in Jamaica and Farmingville, as well as Forrest Park, an Italian arch-rival in Glen Cove, and Fenner Bacce, an Albanian club.

Carlos, 25, can remember regularly attending games with his family after church on Sundays. And he sees it a way of maintaining the tradition in the community, along with the camaraderie he enjoys with his generation of players on the club’s first team (there’s also a reserve squad) ranging in age from 22 to 30.

“We’re a community club,” Carlos said. “It’s not just the sport we enjoy. It not only brings the Portuguese community alive. We’re keeping friendships alive.”

Rob Silva, 27, a midfielder who said his role is to “create the goals,” said he enjoys the atmosphere that enables him to be around players he grew up knowing and friends like Carlos who he’s played soccer with since they were in grade school.

“We know each other. We’re played with each other,” he said. “Everyone’s together.”

That was feeling of community was a palpable one at the Mineola Portuguese dinner-dance, where a picture of the 1954 team and its New York State championship trophy was prominently displayed on the dance floor.

“It’s amazing how a single sport, a single ball, can bring a people together,” said Gabriel Marques, general manager and executive vice president of the MPSC in remarks during the dinner on Saturday night.

It’s also brought the father-son team of John Da Fonte and Marco Da Fonte closer together as co-presidents of the soccer club, which they oversaw together for the past three years before the younger Da Fonte took the reins himself.

“I feel great that my son followed in my steps,” the elder Da Fonte said.

In the commercial tradition of European club soccer, MPSC has a new corporate sponsor in Empire Surgical, whose name will be featured on the chest of the team’s jerseys along with RiteWay Construction. Power Bar already has a patch on the jersey sleeves, and Mineola’s popular Portuguese restaurant Churrasqueira Barraida has its name emblazoned on the MPSC team jackets.

“I grew up in it. I’ve been actively involved and it’s great,” said Marco Da Fonte, who is also a midfielder on the first team.

But the soccer team is only one part, albeit the most visible one, of the Mineola Portuguese Club itself.

There are also teams of adult folk dancers and youngsters who learn the steps, along with the language, at the Portuguese school there. Along with those Sunday soccer family outings, Carlos vividly recalls attending school there to learn the language for two hours each after his regular school day was done.

“We’re going through a change now,” said 74-year-old Ilidio Mendes, vice president of the club, who has lived in Mineola for the past 51 year after migrating to the U.S. from his native Portugal in 1960.

On the second day he was in Mineola, friends brought him to the club, which presented an opportunity for community networking before networking was a buzz word. Portuguese would help their landsmen find job or assist them with other issues.

“They saw a little piece of Portugal here. When they came over years ago, this was all they had,” he recalled. “Anything they do here, they show up in numbers.”

But the change he sees is the older generation gradually handing over leadership to their children, like the transition between the Da Fonte’s stewardship of the soccer club.

Nelson Santos, 26, is now the treasurer of the club where his father, Antonio Santos, Sr. serves as chairman of the board. A bi-lingual social studies teacher in Uniondale, he is helping to maintain the continuity at the club from an earlier time when his father and his mother, Maria, first arrived in this country from their rural village in Portugal.

“We maintain the aspect of our culture and our history,” Santos said, adding that the community’s aspiration is to raise the next generations of Portugese Americans as. bilingual, bicultural children.

Ilidio Mendes still remembers a very young Jack Martins, the former Mineola mayor who was recently elected state senator, attending the club’s Portuguese school in the days when Mendes cooked pasta for the children. Now his aspiration is to see the club expand and build a separate school for the vibrant ethnic Mineola community.

While they’re learning to speak Portugese and the steps to traditional dances, it’s a safe bet that they’ll be playing soccer too. And if the team doesn’t reach its goal of winning the championship this year, after falling short in the finals and semi-finals the past two years, there is always next year, and the years after that.