HEARD IT ON THE GRAPEVINE

SCOOP: Guess who's running for a seat on the Babylon Village Library board? Gayle Askoff has filed petitions to challenge incumbent 20-year board member and currently board president Mary Gallagher, who has also filed her petitions to run for e-election. Gayle has lived in Babylon Village for 55 years. Thevote will be held on April 14 from noon until 9 p.m.

MORE VACATIONS TO TELL YOU ABOUT. People are getting away from the cold winter weather. We'll start with Mary Ellen Sullivan and Mary Jane Young, who had a great time when they sailed to the Eastern Caribbean aboard the "Summit" on the Celebrity Line, and enjoyed stops in Puerto Rico, Grenada and Aruba. And Nancy Corry and Donna D'Andrea had a fab time on a trip to the Grand Bahama Islands. They were accompanied by 32 of their friends on the yearly event. And Nancy Swan and "Packy" McInnis enjoyed their recent visit with Nancy's son Jimmy and his wife Kate at their home in St. John's in the Virgin Islands. Theyflewto St. Thomas and traveled by boat to St. John's where Jimmy owns and operates the only hardware store in town. Jim also has the only lawn in town with 20 feet of grass, which he cuts with scissors. Kate and Jim have two daughters. Cyntia attends the Savannachg School of Art where she is an honor student and Sarah is a student at Eckard College in Florida. Nancy and "Packy" also visited with former Babylonian Richie Weinschenck who lives in St. John's.

MEMORIES OF A BLITZ BRAT is the title of a book written by long-time Village resident Beryl Menger. Beryl lived through the horrible devastation of the bombing during World War II and often told her late son, Andrew, about life in England. She married and came to the United States in 1950. Her mother was a professional singer and her father was a professional pianist. Her late husband Bill was a highly regarded boat builder in the area. The book is being published by Amazon.com and is dedicated to Andrew. Beryl expects it to be ready for the market in several months. She has a son William, daughter-in-law Linda and two grandchildren who live in Babylon.

LONG ISLAND YACHT CLUB CELEB RATES 51st ANNIVERSARY. It was an elegant affair - black tie, gowns and all in formal attire. Former two-time Commodore Hans Heiduct did a great job as M.C. He and present Commodore Linda Bias did a great job presenting awards to committee heads and good helpers. Thehighly coveted "Jim Boles" award named after the founder of the club went to handsome, always helpful Billy Keiser with much applause. John and Jeanne Ramsey were honored as the longest living couple in the club by cutting the anniversary cake. Themenu choice was super, as were the huge steaks. Thebig news of the evening was the happy report that a new pool is being built.

IT WAS STATE OF THE VILLAGE TIME at the "Busy Women" luncheon meeting at Southward Ho last week. Mayor Ralph Scordino brought the group up-todate on various projects in the Village, including the 14 town houses being built on the Park Avenue property by Blair Mathies. The Mayor has applied for financial aid from governmental stimulus funds for nine projects in the Village. He also talked about ongoing work on the Village pool and on Village drainage programs. The talk was very informative and last, but not least, everyone had kudos for the delicious food.