Rep. Gary Ackerman is hopeful that the memory of the tragic gunshots in Tucson resonate loudly enough on Capitol Hill to enable serious consideration of his bill to bar gun dealers who’ve lost their licenses from selling firearms to people without background checks.

Ackerman (D-Great Neck) said he had planned to reintroduce his legislation, the Fire Sale Loophole Closing Act, to close the ex-gun dealer loophole during the new Congressional session after it failed to gain support when he introduced a year ago. But he now hopes the Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords hits close enough to home to motivate some of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support his bill.

“It seems to make a heck of a lot more sense because it’s very timely,” Ackerman said. “At this particular time in this society, we seem to be at the wedding of the mentally ill to the gun culture. And the band at the wedding is playing very troubling mood music. This legislation makes strong absolute common sense no matter what your interpretation of the second amendment might be.”

As it stands, the so-called “fire sale loophole” enables gun dealers who have lost their licenses to sell firearms to convert their inventory into a “personal collection” of guns which they can sell to anyone with no restrictions – either FBI background checks or maintaining records of their sales.

Ackerman acknowledges that the Republicans now in the majority in the House of Representatives count members of the National Rifle Association among their core constituencies. But he thinks the logic of his legislation could still be politically attractive to his colleagues across the aisle.

“If they want to look reasonable, this certainly is one of the more reasonable bills that are out there,” Ackerman said.

But he said he was still “skeptical” because he is well aware that NRA members resist regulation at gun shows.

Ackerman said he plans to write letters soliciting support among all of his colleagues in the House by the end of this week, but concedes the future of the legislation is largely up to the majority party.

He noted that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and leading gun control organizations, including Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, have endorsed the legislation.

“We need common-sense, effective policies to close gaps in the background check system and keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other dangerous people,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Ackerman said he is willing to co-sponsor legislation recently introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) that would make it illegal to sell oversized ammunition clips for semi-automatic handguns of the type that the shooter in the recent Tucson incident had used.

Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@archive.theisland360.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204

The Great Neck Bruins hockey games ran the gamut from nail biter to blow out on Saturday, Jan. 8.

The Great Neck Bruins Peewee Team lost a heartbreaker to the Long island Edge 7-6. Nick Nikas carried the team with an amazing four-goal game.

The Bantam Team soundly defeated the Mamaroneck Tigers 4-1. Jarett Greben, Ian Lam, Jordan Domnitch and George Pappous each netted a goal.

The Midget Minor Team were overpowered in a 6-2 decision to Aviator. Matt Bernot led the Bruins by scoring both goals.

The under-manned Minors squad lost 11-3 to Ice Cats White on Saturday night which was their second game of the day. Max Latin, Luke Viscusi and Brad Rutkin scored in the second game.

The Squirts continue to improve as a team, but were defeated in their weekend game on Sunday to the New York Titans.

On a rare Monday game, the Bantam team lost a 5-2 decision to New York Apple Core at a game played at Long Beach Arena. Stay tuned for upcoming scores as all the teams compete for playoff spots.

After awarding a contract to SUNation Solar Systems for two village solar electricity projects at a Jan. 20 board of trustees meeting, Lake Success is one step closer to setting an example they say they want residents to follow.

The solar systems to be installed are a 49.72 kW system on the roof of the Community Building and a 17.02 kW system on the roof of the Department of Public Works Building.

The money to fund the project comes from two federally funded stimulus grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority – $372,725 for the Community Building and $127,255 for the DPW Building.

“We wanted to go green,” said Carol Pogrell, village administrator. “We have so many people in and out of this building we thought it was a good place to show people what can be done.”

Lake Success Mayor Ronald Cooper, who did not attend the Jan. 20 board of trustees meeting, stated previously the solar electric systems underscore the village’s commitment to using energy efficiently and in an environmentally-friendly manner and it might encourage residents to embrace the benefits of the technology.

“This will be an opportunity to encourage the village’s residents and those of the surrounding communities to explore renewable energy for their homes,” Cooper said.

The Community Building, located at the Lake Success golf course, is used for community events, its health club and dining facility and is the location of the village hall.

Cooper said “he hopes that the solar installations here will inspire other municipalities to embrace the technology to help reduce operating costs as well as providing the kind of renewable energy that will help our environment and in a small way help to reduce our dependence on oil as our basic source of energy.”

The Russell Gardens Board of Trustees recently approved a $1.3 million budget for 2011 that includes $9,000 for pay increases $29,260 for state-mandated pensions, $90,000 for village upgrades and an 8.5 percent increase in property taxes.

“Unfortunately, the state gives us less and less and we have to make it up somewhere,” Russell Gardens Mayor Matthew S. Bloomfield said.

The board unanimously passed the budget at a regular meeting Jan. 6 at village hall.

Although the mayor blames the sluggish economy for the need to increase property taxes from $1,065,679 last year to $1,156,515 in 2011, he said his employees still deserve a pay raise but none have been approved to date. Village funds have been budgeted to allow for the expected increases to village employee salaries based on productivity of employees, said Bloomfield.

“Our guys are doing a lot more than the year before,” said Bloomfield. “We feel they are unique and special to our village.”

The village is required under state mandates to pay employees increased employee pension benefits including $18,260 for state retirement, $1,000 for social security and $10,000 for in hospital medical insurance, according to the mayor.

Bloomfield, who has served for two years and will run for re-election in March, said he hopes to have an even tax rate going forward.

“I think that residents should be able to plan financially,” he said.

Bloomfield said the $90,000 budgeted for village upgrades will be used to cover part of the $140,000 needed for two village street projects – one job to replace 30-inch diameter storm sewers on Tain Drive, the other to repair curbings on four village streets. The balance needed to cover the cost of the street projects will come from an expected $60,000 in village surpluses, according to the mayor.

In 2011, Russell Gardens will spend $8,000 for new computer equipment and will save $22,581 on its yearly garbage contract, according to budget numbers.

Property taxes account for the majority of revenue in Russell Gardens with the remainder coming from utility taxes, tax sales, building permits, fines and mortgage taxes.

The mayor and trustees of Russell Gardens are not paid by the village which employs four union workers and two non-union workers.

As a hobby, a former resident continues to add to a helpful list of names of famous Great Neck people for anyone to enjoy. About 30 new names were recently added to the hundreds already on the list of Famous and Recognized Great Neckers which was complied from internet sources, books, notes from classmates and other papers and includes people who either live or have lived in the Great Neck area, according to Edgar von Schmidt-Pauli, the list’s author.

Now living in Virginia after moving from Great Neck in 1963, von Schmidt-Pauli said he has been working on the list for about five years simply because of his love for history and his hometown.

“If you’ve ever lived in Great Neck, you’ve heard about the history,” said von Schmidt-Pauli. “I have something in my heart about Great neck.”

Some of the most names added to the list this year include Andrew Chaikin, author of “A Man on The Moon;” Richard Allen Epstein professor at the University of Chicago and author; Peter Benedek, founder of United Talent Agency; Jeffrey L. Fine, who won Best Parenting Book in 2010 for “The Art of Conscious Parenting;” Joel Greenblatt founder of NYC Charter schools; Al Grey, jazz trombonist with Count Basie and Dizzie Gillespie, Congressman Peter T. King; Carl Sigman, song lyricist of “Pennsylvania 6-5000;” and Gilbert Tilles, founder of the Tilles Center at C.W .Post.

Von Schmidt-Pauli, a graduate of Great Neck High School in 1953, lived in Great Neck from 1938 to 1963 in several areas including Great Neck Estates. He has remained in touch with classmates and other people associated with Great Neck who have helped in with the list.

Two books, “Inventing Great Neck” by Judith S. Goldstein, and the “Ultimate Book of Great Neck” by Marcelle S. Fischler, were also helpful in putting the list together, according to von Schmidt-Pauli.

The list of famous Great Neckers can be found on the internet at www.gnalumni.org or by searching Google under ‘famous Great Neck residents’ and it is free for anyone to use or add to, said von Schmidt-Pauli, who will continue to make updates to the names on the list.

Nassau County Police have tied the recent Great Neck area break-ins to more violent crimes including an assault in Hempstead and the rape of a girl in Texas in 2009.

A meeting called last week to calm the fears of Great Neck residents regarding the recent home invasions in the area apparently heightened concerns even more when police disclosed just hours before the meeting the link between the suspect in the break-ins and the other two crimes.

Marcia Rotman, president of the Great Neck Civic Association said she called a “benign” meeting Jan. 13 at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Kings Point so residents could get updates from police regarding the recent string of home invasions in the area but she said what they heard was more than she expected.

“It certainly has frightened all of our residents,” said Marcia Rotman. “I don’t think it alleviated anybody’s fear.”

After local media outlets learned of the announcement by the Nassau County police, about 70 people attended the meeting including Nassau County police representatives, the Kings Point Police Commissioner Jack Miller and Mayor Michael Kalnic, and Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth.

“Basically, we wanted to remind people to be cautious,” said Miller. “We still have stepped up patrols in the area and are working closely with Nassau County.”

Miller said any suspicious activity should be reported right away to the police who continue to search for the suspect, described as a 5-foot, 2-inch tall day laborer from Honduras with short, dark hair, possibly a limp, who speaks Spanish.

“We are trying to flood the county with flyers,” said Detective Vincent Garcia, a public information officer with the NCPD. “We feel that somebody has seen this guy and someone will recognize him.”

Last week, police linked the suspect to other crimes through a national database of evidence which has left residents uneasy and police on alert.

On July 16, a 51-year-old woman hired the suspect, known as ‘Marvin’ at Home Depot in Hempstead to do plumbing work inside her residence. The victim complained about the quality of the work, the suspect became enraged and struck her in the head several times with a hammer causing her skull to be fractured.

Through DNA from a hat left behind at house in Great Neck, police have linked the suspect to a Hempstead assault in July and the string of recent Great Neck home invasions, and the abduction and rape of a 2-year-old girl in Laredo, Texas.

A suspect entered a Lighthouse Road residence in Kings Point on Dec. 15 through a bathroom window and entered the bedroom where two girls, ages 1 and 5, were sleeping. The 5 year old was awakened and startled to see a man standing over the bed.

In Kings Point on Lighthouse Road on Dec. 15, a 63-year-old year old female discovered an unknown male subject looking at her through the broken glass of the back door.

The suspect held a kitchen knife to the throat of a 61-year-old female victim on Georgian Lane in Great Neck before fleeing through the back door.

On Nov. 30, a suspect was seen in a rear yard on Potters Court in Great Neck attempting to gain entry into a home through rear sliding door before fleeing the scene.

According to detectives, a 15-year-old female was awakened Dec. 12 by an unknown male holding a wet cloth across her face. The victim struggled to free herself at which time suspect fled in an unknown direction.

Area residents have been cautioned to set alarms and lock windows and doors, and notify police if they hear suspicious noises.

Anyone with information about these crimes or the suspect is encouraged to call toll-free to 1-800-244-TIPS (8477). All calls will be kept confidential. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information leading to an arrest.

Police have contacted “America’s Most Wanted” to help with the case.

Email: rjacques@archive.theisland360.com

In figuring out when a resident of the Great Neck Peninsula can get an agenda for a village board meeting, it all depends on where you live.

If Russell Gardens residents want to review board of trustees meeting agendas, they shouldn’t expect them until just hours before the proceedings begin, Village Clerk Christine Blumberg said.

With some area villages working to get meeting agendas out up to a week in advance through a number of resources, Russell Gardens chooses to do it the old fashioned way for residents.

“It’s up to them to find out,” Blumberg said. “If they want the agenda, they can call and ask me for it.”

Blumberg said residents may also stop by village hall and pick up an agenda in person on meeting days.

Asked if it is important for Russell Gardens administrators to produce agendas as far in advance as possible for residents to better decide if they should attend a meeting of interest, Blumberg said no discussion has been made regarding alternative agenda display options for more timely production of agendas, including advance website or bulletin board postings.

“It’s always been our procedure to get it out the day of the meeting,” Blumberg said.

“No matter what,” meeting agendas are available by noon on the day of the trustee meetings at village hall, according to Blumberg who declined a request by Blank Slate Media to have advanced meeting agendas e-mailed to the Great Neck News. She said agendas will be faxed to the newspaper if a request is received on the day of each individual meeting.

Notice is also short for Village of Kings Point residents.

Kings Point, which doesn’t have a village website, offers a limited amount of information to residents and media interested in knowing agenda items in advance.

“Honestly, the agenda isn’t prepared in advance and the material is decided within a day or two of the meeting,” – sometimes the day of the meeting, according to Kings Point Village Clerk Louis Di Domenico.

Di Domenico said residents rarely request advanced agendas, if at all.

“We don’t have people upset in King’s Point. If they were, they would come to the meeting,” Di Domenico said.

Di Domenico said the village posts required announcements in local newspapers, including the Great Neck News.

At meetings, Kings Point provides agendas to anyone who requests one.

According to business experts, meeting agendas are an important part of any meeting, but are often overlooked.

“Most people who skip writing an agenda have no idea what they want to accomplish during their meeting,” says Penelope Trunk, the founder of Brazen Careerist, a career management tool for next-generation professionals.

Unlike Kings Point and Russell Gardens, most villages in the Great Neck area use a variety of outlets to make agendas available in advance for interested residents.

In Great Neck Plaza, agendas are usually produced a week ahead of scheduled trustee meetings, which run twice a month on Wednesdays.

“If not, definitely by Monday,” said Plaza administrator Pat O’Byrne, who posts agendas and announcements to the village website, on signboards, by e-mail and in local newspapers.

“If you’re interested, we are here to tell you what’s going on,” O’Byrne said.

O’Byrne said she understands the importance of agendas to local residents.

“If there’s an item people want to see, they will make time to come to the meetings,” O’Byrne said.

“We want them to be informed,” says Kathleen Santelli, the village administrator in Great Neck Estates. “We do want people to know what is going on.

In Thomaston, which does not have a village website, proposed agendas are prepared at least a week in advance when possible and made available to anyone who requests one, according to Barbara Daniels, the village clerk.

In the Village of Great Neck, the agenda is posted both inside and outside village hall before scheduled meetings which generally fall on the first and third Tuesday of the month. Sometimes they are posted the week prior, sometimes on the week of the meeting, according to Dan Small, an assistant to Great Neck Village Mayor Ralph Kreitzman.

Small said Great Neck Village has a website, but has no plans to post meeting agendas to it.

“It’s another thing we have to do, time is limited,” said Small.

In Kensington, a mailer is sent to residents reminding them of meetings and agendas are done days ahead of trustees meetings.

“We try to get them out one week in advance,” said Arlene Giniger, the Kensington village clerk.

In Lake Success, agendas are ready four to five days before board meetings which usually run one Monday per month, says Village Clerk Carol Pogrell of Lake Success.

“We want time for our board to review what is going to be on it,” said Pogrell, who does not post agendas to the village website.

The Village of Saddle Rock posts meeting information on public access channel 18 through Cablevison and tries to get its agendas out least a week in advance, according to village administrator Donna Perrone.

Saddle Rock does not post agendas to its website.

E-mail comments to Rich Jacques at rjacques@archive.theisland360.com

A winter storm passed through Long Island overnight dumping about 8-10 inches of snow on the area.

Plows hit the streets early Tuesday night in anticipation of the first winter storm of 2011.

Most roads were passable by rush hour, but many schools and businesses in Long Island were closed Thursday.

It was the third snowstorm to hit the New York metropolitan area in three weeks.

It is altogether understandable that Nassau County residents are frightened by sex offenders. They don’t want a person who has been convicted of molesting a child living near a playground, a park or a school. And they want to know when a sex offender is living one of the motels that now provide housing for the homeless.

However, at a time when Nassau County is on the brink of bankruptcy, it does not make sense for the county legislators to spend money duplicating work already being done by the state. At a recent meeting a Westbury couple asked the county legislature to put a resolution on the 2011 calendar requiring motels to put up a sign if a sex offender is living in their facility.

It seems to us that such a sign would paint a scarlet letter on every person living in or even working at that motel while making only a minimal contribution to public safety. The sign might also frighten families living nearby who would have no idea which resident was the sex offender.

At this meeting one speaker said she gets frustrated when she calls the police asking for information about sex offenders living in the county. “It is disappointing,” she said. “I get transferred from department to department with nobody addressing the issue … We need to make the Nassau County police department more accountable to follow the law.”

Fortunately the state already has a solution for her problem. On its website the state Division of Criminal Justice Services provides detailed information on every registered sex offender living in New York State. Anyone wanting to know if a sex offender lives nearby can go to www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/. Under the Sex Offender Management heading there is a button that allows people to “Search the Sex Offender Registry.” In one of the options the concerned party can put in a zip code and get a list of every registered sex offender living in that zip code. The site lists the offender’s name, a recent photograph, his/her address and the nature of the crime, including the age of the victim.

Level 1 sex offenders, those considered at lowest risk of a repeat offense, are required to register with the state for 20 years. Level 2 and 3 sex offenders must register for the rest of their lives.

The state’s Sex Offender Registration Act is a thorough piece of legislation. Sex offenders who fail to comply with SORA face stiff penalties. Offenders that don’t notify the state that they have changed their address, even if they are no longer on probation or parole, can be sent to prison. The law also sets strict limits where sex offenders can live.

It is unfortunate that none of the county legislators at the meeting explained the services already provided by the state. We assume that they are aware of SORA and the efforts already being made by the Division of Criminal Justice Services. We don’t take lightly the danger presented by sex offenders living in Nassau County and the concerns that were expressed at this meeting. In many cases sex offenders are sick individuals with a high risk of reoffending. If the county police learn that a sex offender is not complying with the regulations of the SORA act, they should move quickly to arrest that person.

What we don’t see is a need for the county to reinvent the wheel.

Blank Slate Media Editorial

Democrats staged a protest Monday regarding Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s request for legislative approval to grant contracts to alleged politically-connected law firms.

Calling it irresponsible, county Democratic lawmakers are incensed that Mangano’s request, which comprises one-half of the total $2 million budgeted amount for outside counsel, comes at the most critical point in the county’s financial history.

Just days away from a decision by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority regarding Nassau’s finances, Yatauro said it is not proper fiscal management to spend half of the budgeted amount for the entire year on financial give-aways to Mangano’s friends.

“If you want NIFA to stay out of your business then act like the leader you should,” said Diane Yatauro, D-Glen Cove. “If you don’t want them taking you over then cut and don’t spend. It’s a $2 million budget, $1.2 is being spent today.”

The county executive said he is cleaning up the $343 million deficit created by Yatauro and her Democrat colleagues.

“Rather than play politics, legislator Yatauro should recognize that these firms were hired to protect taxpayers wallets,” said Mangano in a statement Monday. “The truth is that legislator Yatauro sat idle as the law firm of former County Executive Suozzi’s father made millions off the broken property tax assessment system. Its time to expose the truth of the past and move forward.”

“I’ve always been of the belief that process and procedure protects you. Right now, I’m questioning the process and I don’t feel very protected,” said 10th District lawmaker Judi Bosworth, D-Great Neck, who joined other Democratic legislators and civic leaders at the press conference at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive Building in Mineola to voice opposition.

According to Yatauro, some of the contracts include: $350,000 to Lewis & Fiore, LLP; $250,000 to Wilson Elser; $300,000 to Rivkin Radler; and another contract for $175,000 to Rivkin Radler. Rivkin Radler is the former law firm of County Executive Ed Mangano.

David Denenberg, D-Merrick, said the previous administration saved $29 million a year by doing in house legal work and that the county must do it again.

“With NIFA looking down our throat, a practice of giving away taxpayer money to connected law firms on a no bid sweat heart contract is bankrupting us again,” said Denenberg. “Over the last eight years we stopped it.”

County legilsaltor Wayne Wink, D-Roslyn, said Mangano is “looting” the taxpayers and asked that the contracts be halted.

“These contracts represent really the most cynical of what government is perceived as being. I think all of these things need to be put on hold,” said Wayne Wink.

Tax advocacy groups claim Nassau cannot afford to hire outside council and asked that GOP lawmakers not “rubberstamp” Mangano’s proposed contracts.

“I can’t believe that the Republican legislators would rather risk a NIFA takeover than to deny their friends this gift,” said Caudia Borecki, president of the North Merrick Community Association.

Yaanik Kosuri and Lisa Bevilacqua began studying international social issues in a course the two took at Herricks High School.

The two Herricks who took the Social Science Research course are now part of a group of six students from Princeton and Duke who started a project in Zimbabwe six months ago to address issues of nutrition and to treat schistosomiasis, a parasitic infection that afflicts 40 percent of that country’s population.

Herricks social studies teacher Melissa Jacobs said the work of Kosuri and Bevilacqua is what she hoped for when she created the program five years ago,

“They’ve been doing wonderful things for five years,” Jacobs said during a presentation at last week’s Herricks School Board meeting on the program.

Jacobs said the Social Science Research course aims to train students to do “deep research” on social topics, learning to discern valid research sources from questionable ones and objective sources from subjective sources.

Often, Jacobs said, the research often moves into related fields of study.

The result has been a constant flow of research that has enabled Herricks students to compete successfully in the annual U.S. Institute of Peace Essay Competition and the National History Day competition, which offers modest scholarship prizes and a shot at getting a ten-minute documentary screened on the History Channel.

Herricks students regularly advance from the regional levels of the National History Day competition to the state and national levels, according to Jacobs, who said one group of Herricks students produced a documentary on Tiananmen Square strike in Beijing won the top prize in the competition during one of the initial years of the research course.

Some of the 30 seniors who are currently taking the course have done internships at the New York University Center for Global Affairs, and also have taken courses at that NYU school.

“It really shows us how to apply our knowledge to the world,” said senior Dan Cohampour, one of the students who did an NYU internship.

Group and individual projects produced by the students comprise written papers, multimedia projects or information databases like the one Cohampour created.

Senior Grace Oh studied the geo-politics of countries in central Asia, focusing on oil pipelines as political commodities. She created a blog on the subject that she plans to maintain.

“I learned a lot about countries I didn’t know anything about,” Oh said.

The research training starts ideally in students’ freshman year, according to Jacobs, who said there are no prerequisites or any requirement for the students to continue through their senior years, although she said many choose to do so.

“The goal is to get them started in freshman year and keep them in,” Jacobs said. “It’s really been driven by the students who really wanted it.”

Kosuri was among the first students who wanted the course, according to Jacobs, who said a fundraising event is currently being planned to support his work in Zimbabwe.

“Our kids are doing wonderful things and they’re really global citizens,” Jacobs said.

Natalie Li, a Herricks graduate who is now a sophomore at Harvard University, attested to how her experience in the social science research course in high school influenced her college studies.

“Social studies research inspired me to continue historical research at Harvard. It has immensely prepared me to work at a higher level,” Li said.

The Village of Mineola and some residents disagreed at last week’s village board meeting about the way the village Department of Public Works handled snow and garbage removal after the post-Christmas blizzard.

Village of Mineola Mayor Lawrence Werther praised the DPW efforts, along with other board members.

“You and your team did a phenomenal job,”Werther told Mineola DPW Superintendent Thomas Rini. “The village streets were well plowed.”

But several residents criticized the DPW’s effort and the village’s management of garbage removal in the blizzard’s aftermath.

“I think you missed the ball on this one,” resident Rick Ueland said at the Jan. 5 meeting. “There are still streets emergency vehicles can’t get down. We’re well over a week out and some street aren’t dug out.”

Ueland said there were still accumulations of a foot on side streets that intersect Jericho, including Marcellus Road and Wellington Road.

“Everybody’s sitting up there saying we did a great job,” Ueland said. “Has anybody been out there?”

“I can put them back out there and plow everyone back in. Is that what you want me to do?” Rini retorted. “I have 13 people. I don’t have an army.”

Ueland conceded that the DPW did a “phenomenal job” in the beginning, but said the village needed to do a “better job” in the future.

The DPW effort started with salting the roads as the snow started coming down heavily that Sunday afternoon, followed by 13 plow trucks and two front loaders dispatched at 6 p.m. that evening for a run that continued into late Monday night, according to Rini.

“The guys were in for 28 hours straight,” he said. The amount of snow and the snow coming down – literally horizontally – made it very difficult.”

Rini said he was advised by the county that it was pulling its plows in at 9 p.m. Sunday night, but said he made the decision to keep Mineola’s plows on the job. Crews took a three-hour break at 2 a.m. on Monday, and then resumed their work. Visibility became a serious problem, nearly causing one of the Mineola trucks to hit a white truck parked on Jericho Turnpike, Rini said. Cars were buried in the drifts and the plows couldn’t “feel” the curbs, he said.

“It got a little hairy. To our amazement, there were people walking in the street and we couldn’t even see them,” Rini said.

Many of the calls the DPW received were from residents complaining about unplowed county roads. Rini said there were two buses stuck on 1st Street early Monday morning, and the Mineola DPW trucks plowed 1st and 2nd Streets, which fall under the county’s jurisdiction.

“They got behind the eight ball on this,” Rini said of the county’s side of the clean-up.

The total cost of the snow removal effort was $26,500, comprising $13,500 for DPW workers’ overtime and $13,000 for salt, all of that to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Rini.

Village resident Nancy Desorbo complained that garbage put out by businesses in the village had not been picked up on the successive holiday weekends.

“Now you had this garbage all over the road. It’s a disgrace,” she said. “This is unsightly, unsanitary and unsafe.”

Werther said part of the problem is the way businesses put out their garbage.

Rini said the village has never picked up garbage on Saturdays and the businesses acted improperly.

“Many of these businesses have facilities for refrigeration of garbage. They shouldn’t have been putting it out there,” he said.

Village resident David Keefe said many businesses had been negligent about cleaning their sidewalks. Resident Bill Urianek said a gas station on Emory Street had plowed snow from its property out onto the street.

Village attorney John Spellman said he had already consulted with Rini to give flyers to those who plowed snow back onto the street. In his report on the storm, Rini said that businesses plowing snow into the street had become “an increasing problem.”

After consulting with Werther during the storm, Rini said the decision was taken to not issue tickets to vehicles parked on the streets, which poses another impediment to snow removal operations.