The Westfield Leader

OUR 121st YEAR – ISSUE NO. 50-2011 SEVENTY FIVE CENTS (908) [email protected], December 15, 2011USPS 680020

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Greg Ryan for The Westfield LeaderEXCITEMENT BUILDS...Children and parents line up for the Santa Train last Saturday for a two-hour ride with Santaand his Elves. Santa poses for a picture with all on board. Retired members of Jersey Central Railroad, NJ Transit andRailroad historians in cooperation with NJ Transit run the train from Westfield to Raritan and back. The children eachreceived a gift as well as candy canes.

Greg Ryan for The Westfield LeaderALL ABOARD...This family is all set and waiting to pull out from the WestfieldTrain Station for the Santa Train last Saturday.

Paul J. Peyton for The Westfield LeaderHAPPY 104TH!...Marie Rehn blows out the birthday candles to mark her 104thbirthday with the help of her daughter, Marlene Ring, far left, and granddaugh-ter, Suzanne Glassman, during a birthday party at Brighton Gardens inMountainside on Wednesday.

Greg Ryan for The Westfield Leader‘TIS THE SEASON...Members of the Westfield Knights of Columbus and theirhelpers set up the manger at the Westfield northside train station last Saturdayas part of their annual Christmas display.

Westfield BOE Approves Code ofConduct Upon First Reading

WF Council OKs Police Vehicles,$108,600 in Budget Transfers

By LAUREN S. BARRSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

WESTFIELD – At its final meet-ing of 2011 on Tuesday night, theWestfield Town Council passed mul-tiple resolutions allowing for the pur-chase of police vehicles and makingseveral budget transfers.

The council approved the policedepartment’s purchase of a 2012Dodge Durango for $24,161; a 2013police interceptor for $26,795 and a2012 GMC Sierra pickup truck for$25,483.

Town Administrator Jim Gildeatold The Westfield Leader that theprices are state contract pricing andthat the models are stripped down.

He said that the Durango will be usedas an unmarked vehicle for the detec-tive bureau and that an unmarked carhad not been purchased in the lastseven or eight years. During the re-cent severe storms, Mr. Gildea said itbecame apparent that a second pickuptruck was needed by the police inorder to cover both sides of town forthe delivery of roadblocks and otheritems.

The council also unanimously ap-proved budget transfers in order tomeet several department needs. Dueto storm-related emergencies, an ad-ditional $12,000 was needed in gaso-line, $82,000 was needed for firedepartment overtime and $13,000 was

needed for the parking department.According to Mr. Gildea, the spe-

cial police officers, who serve underthe parking department, were neededfor overtime in order to direct trafficdue to traffic light outages duringseveral storms this year. While thetown has applied to Federal Emer-gency Management Agency (FEMA)in order to recoup storm-related costs,it has not yet known how much orwhen Westfield will receive funding.

Additionally, there was a budgettransfer of $12,000 to the legal bud-get due to an increased cost for laborattorney fees.

The majority of the funds($108,600) were transferred from thetown’s group insurance line item.According to Mr. Gildea, money thatwas budgeted was not spent due toemployees opting out of insuranceplans or choosing a lower-cost planthan the town had anticipated.

In other business, the councilpassed a resolution approving themeeting schedule for 2012. Thecouncil’s conference sessions willnow begin at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8p.m. The schedule also calls for nineof the conference sessions to be heldon the same night and just prior to theregular 8 p.m. public sessions.

A resolution was approved settingthe annual reorganizational meetingfor Tuesday, January 3, at 7 p.m. Thecouncil also approved its own $1annual salary.

During the public comment por-tion of the meeting, Central Avenueresident Adina Enculescu again askedthe council to move the pedestriancrossing signal from in front of herhome to the intersection of CloverStreet and Central Avenue. She alsosaid that while she was traveling inEurope someone planted bushes onher property and damaged her sprin-kler system.

“The work was done without any-body notifying me,” she told the coun-cil. She also expressed her disap-pointment that Mayor Andy Skibitskywas absent from the meeting, saying

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

By KIMBERLY A. BROADWELLSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

WESTFIELD – The WestfieldBoard of Education unanimouslypassed upon its first reading thedistrict’s Code of Conduct policy atits meeting Tuesday evening. The10-page document was the focus ofSuperintendent Margaret Dolan’sreport.

In her report, SuperintendentDolan thanked the 16-member com-mittee, consisting of parents, stu-dents, local business people, lawenforcement, health-care workersand administrators. She also notedthat codes of conduct were reviewedfrom other districts.

The superintendent said the

district’s mission statement was al-ways the main focus of the group. Itreads, “The Westfield Public SchoolDistrict, in cooperation with familyand community, prepares all stu-dents to reach their highest poten-tial and to become productive, well-balanced and responsible citizensin a global society through educa-tional programs that respect indi-vidual differences and diversity.”

Superintendent Dolan also said,“We believe a school district excelswhen all members exhibit strongcharacter, including integrity andhonesty, a strong work ethic andsportsmanship.” She noted thatthese were the “core ethical values”of the code.

The document outlines responsi-bilities for students, parents, teach-


Aschenbach Ends Tenure,Criticizes Birchwood Ruling

By FRED T. ROSSISpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

CRANFORD – Mayor DanielAschenbach bid adieu to the town-ship government on Tuesday, endinga municipal government career thatbegan in the early 1980s and endedlast month when he was defeated forre-election to his township commit-tee seat.

“Use me up until I’m done,” themayor said at Tuesday’s committeemeeting, quoting an Oprah Winfreyaphorism. It was the final meeting of2011, which the mayor referred to as“quite a year,” citing Hurricane Irenein late August and its aftermath, aswell as township financial woes ear-lier in the year and the ongoing fightto prevent development of theBirchwood Avenue property. WhileMr. Aschenbach did not quite ruleout running for office in the future, healso vowed to “stay involved.” Hedevoted most of his remarks to prais-ing the township team that has workedwith him during his 2011 mayoralty,including Township Attorney DanielMcCarthy, Acting Township Admin-istrator and Police Chief Eric Mason,his committee colleagues and town-ship employees.

Earlier, Deputy Mayor KevinCampbell praised the mayor’s effortsduring the post-Irene recovery as “offthe charts” and “exemplary.” Com-missioner David Robinson, who isslated to become mayor in 2012 whenthe Republicans regain control of thecommittee, praised Mr. Aschenbach’srole in the Irene recovery as “tremen-dous,” telling the mayor that, “youwere there leading the community.”

In other business, Mayor

Aschenbach said it was “obviouslyoutrageous” that a judge ruled onMonday that the Birchwood Avenuedevelopment, which calls for 360housing units to be built, can go for-ward. The mayor said the townshipcommittee on Monday night had ap-proved the filing with the state Supe-rior Court of a motion to reconsider,adding that there is a “strong case”for an appeal of the judge’s ruling.The township has opposed the devel-opment, instead seeking to turn theproperty into a retention basin in aneffort to mitigate flooding on nearbystreets.

Mr. McCarthy said the motion toreconsider will be filed by Thursday,December 29, and told a questioningresident that there are some proce-dural matters that must first occurbefore a formal appeal of the rulingcan be filed.

At the start of the meeting, themayor spent 30 minutes handing outcertificates of appreciation to mem-bers of the Cranford High Schoolvarsity football team, which won thestate championship on December 3.“You have made Cranford veryproud,” he told the several dozenplayers, coaches and family mem-bers who crowded the meeting room.The victory, he said, “couldn’t havecome at a better time, given all we’vebeen through.”

In other business, MichaelDubitsky was sworn in as a proba-tionary officer with the CranfordPolice Department. Additionally, thecommittee passed a resolution waiv-ing parking fees in the downtownarea during the Christmas shoppingseason.

WF Resident Is Shocked ByLack of Tree Removal Policy

By LAUREN S. BARRSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

WESTFIELD – When Carl Ceterareturned home to Wyandotte Trailfrom a weekend vacation, he was“in shock” to find that his neighborhad taken down more than 30 trees,but he was further stunned when hefound out there were no regulationsgoverning such practices.

While other towns have ordi-nances on the books that preventhomeowners from cutting downprivately-owned trees without a per-mit, Westfield has no such ordi-nance. Town Administrator JimGildea told The Westfield Leader,“We don’t have any regulations thatoverstep private-property rights.”He added that there are no viola-tions on this particular property.

Property owners have the right toremove any and all trees from theirproperty, with the exception of treeslocated in the town or county right-of-way. Only when filing for ademolition permit or making appli-cation to the planning or zoningboards is the property owner re-quired to submit a tree plan.

According to Town Engineer Kris

McAloon, when a resident appliesfor a demolition permit, he inspectsthe site and the town’s tree commis-sion makes recommendations re-garding the number of trees beingremoved and the number to beplanted. He said that, “for the mostpart, we have compliance (with therecommendations).”

Councilman Dave Haas, whoserves as the governing body liai-son to the tree commission, addedthat the recommendations are non-binding.

Ralph Rapuano, Jr., whose com-pany, Elegant Homes, is doing con-struction on the property where Mr.Cetera is questioning the tree re-moval, said that the property owner,Adam Levy, has “followed everyguideline.” Mr. Rapuano told TheLeader that his company is not theproperty owner and that the treeswere removed prior to the applica-tion for the demolition permit. “Ihave nothing to do with cutting treesdown,” Mr. Rapuano said.

Mr. Cetera told The Leader thathe feels the town should be doingmore to preserve trees or the town


Garwood Council FreezesLongevity; Field DelayedBy CHRISTINA M. HINKE

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader

GARWOOD – During its meet-ing Tuesday night, the BoroughCouncil voted 4-2, with Council-man Victor DeFilippo and Council-woman Sara Todisco voting no, ona motion to adopt an ordinance tofreeze longevity benefits.

“If the ordinance is passed, I cantell you I do not intend to sign it,”Mayor Patricia Quattrocchi saidduring the workshop meeting.

“Having worked in the field ofemployment for over 20 years, I amvery sensitive to what people haveagreed to when they are hired,”Mayor Quattrocchi said.

Eleven non-union employees ofthe borough will be affected by thisamendment to the ordinance.

Future non-union employees can-not receive longevity benefits, andcurrent non-union employees whoreceive longevity benefits cannotaccrue additional benefits. “It fixestheir longevity. It allows them toretain it. They will continue to re-ceive what they have earned – theysimply will not be entitled to in-crease their longevity,” BoroughAttorney Joseph Triarsi said.

Resident Fred McCarrick askedhow much the borough would saveby doing away with longevity ben-


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Horace R. Corbin for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times - Nov. 23, 2006BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...Festive wreaths adorn lampposts in Fanwood three years ago aroundthe train station in anticipation of the holiday season. Santa is coming to town in Fanwood and Scotch Plains this weekend.

Paul J. Peyton for The Westfield LeaderBUDGET 101…Scotch Plains Township Manager Chris Marion, far right,makes a point while explaining the municipal budget process to residents, fromleft to right, Al McMahon, Robert Petix and John Brewer. The meeting was heldThursday morning at the municipal building.

efits, and the council could not pro-vide a figure. “I don’t understandhow you can vote on this ordinanceand not know how much you aregoing to save; it doesn’t make anysense whatsoever,” Mr. McCarricksaid.

“We can’t afford this anymore,”Councilman Jim Mathieu said,blaming the state’s 2-percent cap.

“If we go above that 2 percent,somebody is going to be laid off.You’ll end up with a borough whohas a big payroll and no employ-ees,” Councilman Keith Sluka said.

After the motion to adopt wasmade, Councilman Mathieu said tothe mayor that she originally in-structed the Laws and LicensesCommittee to remove longevityfrom the personnel policy. He saidthe mayor wrote in an e-mail datedJune 8, “I would certainly want torid ourselves of longevity as it isnot acceptable to me.” She repliedto Mr. Mathieu that the statementdoes not comprise all of her thoughtson the issue.

“What evolved out of your com-mittee was not what I had in mind,”she said.

Breaking ground on the athleticfield complex will be delayed yetagain after bids for the complexcame in over budget of the $2.1-million bond ordinance approvedin 2007, with bids ranging from$2.65 million to over $5 million. Anew bond ordinance would need tobe approved at a rate higher thanthe lowest bid in order to proceedwith accepting a bid, Mr. Triarsisaid.

A grant in the amount of $875,000had come in after the bond ordi-nance was adopted, Borough ClerkChristina Ariemma said, whichwould help offset the monies theborough would have to burden tax-payers with.

About $800,000 would be raisedthrough taxes to build the athleticfield complex, according to thecouncil.

Legal issues also complicate thematter, Mr. Triarsi said. This in-cludes a letter from FieldTurf, anartificial turf supplier, that puts theborough on notice that the com-pany reserves the right to file alawsuit if the borough approves thebid because the borough would bein violation of public contracts law,Perry DiPiazza, regional vice-presi-dent of FieldTurf, told The WestfieldLeader. He spoke before the coun-cil explaining the company’s posi-tion.

He said the borough’s consult-ant, John Bell of Kinsey Associ-ates, worded the bid to say that noalternate brands of artificial turfmay be considered, which is ille-gal, Mr. DiPiazza said.

He also noted that the borough“would have realized a $100,000savings” by using another brandother than the brand specified onthe base bid.

Russell Graham of Liberty Courtasked during public commentswhen the public works departmentwill remove trees and limbs left onthe curbside and roadside afterOctober’s snowstorm.

“The guys are doing the best theycan,” Council President TimothyHak said. He said it is not in thebudget to pay overtime.

“We are six inches of snow awayfrom a disaster,” Mr. Graham said.

Former Mayor Dennis McCarthysaid on his block he has seen ro-dents scurrying in and out of thepiles of leaves and limbs.

Mayor Quattrocchi asked Mr. Hakto look into prioritizing areas.

Resident Kevin Cullen of WillowAvenue said the owner of Surgent’sElite Gymnastics School at 501South Avenue is running part of hisbusiness in a residential zone thatfalls within his neighborhood onWillow.

He said the owner built a parkinglot against what was allowed by thezoning department.

“Every day I have to put up withpeople dropping kids off; when theypick them up they park in front ofmy driveway, in front of fire hy-drants,” he said. “All I want you todo is to tell me how my street be-came a commercial street.”

“What do I do, do I sell my house?I figure for this part of my taxes Iget peace and tranquility,” he said.

The borough will submit appli-cations for Year 38 of the Commu-nity Development Block Grant Pro-gram (CDBGP), a federal govern-ment program, in the amounts of$25,000 for the senior citizen pro-gram, $12,000 for senior citizentransportation, and $10,000 for se-nior citizen handyman program.

Councilman Louis Petruzzelliannounced that the Garwood Vol-unteer Fire Department has added anew firefighter.

Former councilman AnthonySytko, a 28-year resident ofGarwood, announced he wouldmove to Trenton to be closer towork. He spoke about how the fu-ture of Garwood lays in the handsof the residents. “This town de-serves leaders who care. I reallyhope we find these people,” he said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Garwood Council

Health Insurance, Tax AppealsIssues Impacting SP Budget

By PAUL PEYTONSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

SCOTCH PLAINS – Members ofthe Scotch Plains community receiveda budget briefing from TownshipManager Chris Marion last Thursdayand learned more about the munici-pal budget process.

Mr. Marion said last year’s mu-nicipal budget was $23 million andrepresents 16 percent of residents’property-tax bills. The biggest spend-ing item in the municipal budget ispublic safety, which includes police,fire and the township’s contributionto emergency medical services. In-surance represents 14 percent of thespending plan, with deferred chargesand statutory expenses accountingfor 10 percent. Public works and rec-reation account for 9 and 5 percent,respectively.

He said revenues have been lowerin recent years, mostly from a 22-percent drop in state aid in 2010,accounting for $626,255. Aid wasflat in 2011 at $2,227,587.

Paul Peyton for The Westfield LeaderMERRY CHRISTMAS…Downtown Westfield Corporation (DWC) ExecutiveDirector Sherry Cronin welcomes the businesses community to DWC’s Christ-mas party last Wednesday. She also reviewed DWC’s accomplishments in 2011.

ers and administrators. In addition,the document outlines the rights ofall school community members andtheir rights of free speech and expres-sion. It notes that the school commu-nity shall “respect the rights of otherswhen expressing their views and re-spect the religious, political, socialand personal beliefs of others.”

Board member and Code of Con-duct Committee member RoseanneKurstedt noted that the code is re-viewed on a yearly basis.

In other business, board memberJane Clancy gave a facilities report,noting that Interim Board SecretaryVincent Yaniro and Maintenance Su-pervisor Michael Morris have beenworking on a five-year plan for main-tenance and repair. She stated thatMr. Morris had pointed out an imme-diate need at Westfield High Schoolto repair the rigging system for theschool’s stage. Mrs. Clancy notedthat there was an “immediate need toreplace the ropes and lighting of thestage and that it needs a new curtain.”She said a full report of district needs

is “going to look like some newdevelopment.” He also said he seesconstruction sites around town wherethe dirt is piled too close to a tree’sroot system, which he said can causethe root system to become compro-mised and the tree to die.

Mr. McAloon told The Leaderthere are regulations requiringbuilders to keep dirt piles a certaindistance from a tree based on thetree’s circumference, and that thetown does enforce these regulationswhen notified of violations.


Tree Removal

“Our budget goals are similar againthis year: to maintain core municipalservices for the citizens of ScotchPlains, minimize tax impact and re-main under statutory caps. We arealso looking to avoid additional re-ductions, of course,” Mr. Marion said.“I always tell the unions that every-thing is on the table.” He has tolddepartment heads that he is lookingfor a “conservative budget” in 2012and that “all line items will be scruti-nized.”

The manager, who serves as thetownship’s chief operating officer,said Scotch Plains had layoffs in 2009but was able to maintain its munici-pal workforce in 2010 and 2011. Thetownship had not filled some vacan-cies in police and public works.

“That’s changing as of this monthbecause we found due to the stormsthat we had…that our overtime wasup,” Mr. Marion explained. “We alsohave an issue in regards to manpowerand staffing.”

In terms of municipal contracts, hesaid the current police contract callsfor a 2-percent increase in 2012, andthe union representing public worksand recreation employees currentlyis in negotiations with the township.The police union agreed to change toa point of service (POS) insuranceplan as well as a new three-tier pre-scription program.

In terms of the 2-percent munici-pal spending cap, Mr. Marion saidthe 2011 budget was $451,802 belowthe cap.

The manager noted that the statethis year began requiring towns toseparate out library budgets from themunicipal budget. The Scotch PlainsPublic Library assessment this yearwas $1,347,193. A board of trusteesgoverns the library.

Looking at 2012, Mr. Marion saidproposals for employee health insur-ance premiums for next year came inat between 16.6 percent and 19 per-cent, but Mr. Marion expects that thetownship would be able to get thatnumber down to a 9.5-percent hikeover 2011. Other cost drivers, he said,are pension payments for police andfire and public employees.

“How do you know these are legiti-mate (proposals)? Are you doing anyfollow-up to ensure these are legiti-mate?” resident Robert Petix in-quired.

Mr. Marion said the township re-tains an insurance broker and that thetownship has been “very thorough”in their review of proposals for pro-fessionals representing the town.

Another big factor in the munici-pal spending plan, he said, is taxappeals. Scotch Plains had 98 taxappeals in 2009, 167 in 2010 and 209in 2011. “That is a statistic that isreally going to impact what we do,”Mr. Marion said. “That (209) is stag-gering to me.”

The township is looking at joiningother municipalities on shared-ser-vices agreements from animal con-trol to health department services.Scotch Plains currently spends$60,000 on animal-control serviceswith Associated Humane Societies in

Newark. Additionally, Scotch Plainshas had a long-time relationship withRahway’s health department. Thetownship opted not to proceed withjoining the county’s dispatch servicesat this time.

“We also are in the process of evalu-ating that contract (health services)to see if there are other health ser-vices-related providers out there,” Mr.Marion said.

The township also is looking intodoing shared services in technologyand network administration with theboard of education. Mr. Marion saidthe township is looking to upgrade itswebsite and has installed a new phonesystem at the municipal building.

Another area discussed was theScotch Plains Senior Citizen Corp.The township has a legal obliga-tion to cover financial deficien-cies with the corporation, whichin 2010 amounted to $136,000.The township’s obligation ends in2013.

“That got my attention,” Mr.Marion said of the 2010 shortfall.Eventually, the township opted topay up to $46,000 of theorganization’s utility bills.

Resident Al McMahon said thetownship has to find a way to makemore money, as it cannot keep raisingtaxes, which drives senior citizensout of Scotch Plains.

“I think you have a hidden way tomake money, and it’s calledShackamaxon,” Mr. McMahon said.“It (private enterprise) is not makingmoney; it’s losing money. So whomare they going to sell it to? Now if thetown bought it, what would you dowith it? You have a tremendousamount of acreage.”

“I think it’s a jewel if you handle itright,” Mr. McMahon added.

Mr. Marion explained that therewas “no way that the township couldresponsibly purchase that property”given the added debt service thatwould be required.

Another resident questionedwhether the township should “evenbe involved” in the sale of a privateproperty.

Resident Al Smith said the town-ship council should support the fairschool funding legislation sponsoredby Senator Michael Doherty (R-23,Hunterdon).

“It would provide this town with$38 million of tax support from thestate,” Mr. Smith said.


Westfield Board of Edwould be given in January.

In separate business, it was an-nounced that the district would reg-ister children who will become eli-gible for kindergarten in the 2012-2013 school year. The announce-ment also called for Westfield chil-dren who have not attended theWestfield public schools for kinder-garten, but are looking to enter firstgrade in the district in the fall, toregister. It was noted that parents cancheck the Lincoln School website,westfieldnjk12.org/Lincoln, for in-formation regarding kindergartenregistration. Registration informationfor first grade is available on each ofthe elementary school websites.

Finally, it was announced thatWestfield senior citizens are invitedto the final rehearsal of WestfieldHigh School’s Winter Choral Con-cert on Wednesday, December 21,from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. in theschool’s auditorium.

The next board of education meet-ing will take place on Tuesday, Janu-ary 10, at 8 p.m.

she wanted to discuss what she calledhis portrayal of her as a “liar” in a recentTV36 program.

Mr. Gildea said the County of Unionput the bushes on Ms. Enculescu’sproperty and that “the town was notinvolved in it in any way.” He said thecounty also replaced trees that had diedon the new cul-de-sacs along CentralAvenue. Mr. Gildea said he would con-tact the county regarding Ms.Enculescu’s issues.


WF Council

Ted Ritter for The Westfield LeaderVOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH...Jeff Downey was honored by FanwoodMayor Colleen Mahr Tuesday night as the borough’s volunteer-of-the month.Mr. Downey said, “it’s been a pleasure” to serve on the rescue squad and as avolunteer firefighter. He was presented with a framed drawing of Fanwood’shistoric train station. Mr. Downey said Fanwood is “a small town and a smallcommunity, and it’s a great community.”

Serving the community since 1959

SEVENTY FIVE CENTS(908) [email protected] 52nd YEAR – ISSUE NO. 50-2011 Published Every Thursday Since 1959

www.timesnj.comUSPS 485200

Periodical – Postage Paid at Rahway, N.J.Thursday, December 15, 2011

PPPPPAAAAAGE INDEXGE INDEXGE INDEXGE INDEXGE INDEXRegional ........ 2-3Editorial ........ 4-5Police ............ 6Community ... 6-9Obituary ........ 8

Education ...... 16Sports ............ 11-15Real Estate .... 11-14Classifieds ..... 15A&E .............. 17-18

Congratulations to Our Sales Associates of the Month!For

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Eulondia Reese-TurnerSnap this QR code

with your smartphone to visit our web site

Julie Murphy Cathy Splinter EuEuloloondndn iaia R Reee sphyhyy CaCaCathththyyy yy SpSpSpplilintntntererer

Westfield-West | 600 North Avenue West, Westfield | 908-233-0065 | www.cbmoves.com/westfieldwest©2011 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker® is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned And Operated By NRT LLC. ©©©©

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Horace R. Corbin for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times - Nov. 23, 2006BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...Festive wreaths adorn lampposts in Fanwood three years ago aroundthe train station in anticipation of the holiday season. Santa is coming to town in Fanwood and Scotch Plains this weekend.

Paul J. Peyton for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesBUDGET 101…Scotch Plains Township Manager Chris Marion, far right,makes a point while explaining the municipal budget process to residents, fromleft to right, Al McMahon, Robert Petix and John Brewer. The meeting was heldThursday morning at the municipal building.

Greg Ryan for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesALL ABOARD...This Scotch Plains family is all set for the Santa Train lastSaturday, a two-hour ride with Santa and his elves. Santa poses for a picture withall on board. Retired members of Jersey Central Railroad, NJ Transit andrailroad historians, in cooperation with NJ Transit, run the train from Westfieldto Raritan and back. The children each receive a gift as well as candy canes.

Health Insurance, Tax AppealsImpacting Scotch Plains Budget

By PAUL PEYTONSpecially Written for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times

SCOTCH PLAINS – Members ofthe Scotch Plains community re-ceived a budget briefing from Town-ship Manager Chris Marion lastThursday and learned more aboutthe municipal budget process.

Mr. Marion said last year’s mu-nicipal budget was $23 million andrepresents 16 percent of residents’property-tax bills. The biggestspending item in the municipal bud-get is public safety, which includespolice, fire and the township’s con-tribution to emergency medical ser-vices. Insurance represents 14 per-cent of the spending plan, with de-

ferred charges and statutory ex-penses accounting for 10 percent.Public works and recreation accountfor 9 and 5 percent, respectively.

He said revenues have been lowerin recent years, mostly from a 22-percent drop in state aid in 2010,accounting for $626,255. Aid wasflat in 2011 at $2,227,587.

“Our budget goals are similaragain this year: to maintain coremunicipal services for the citizensof Scotch Plains, minimize tax im-pact and remain under statutorycaps. We are also looking to avoidadditional reductions, of course,”Mr. Marion said. “I always tell theunions that everything is on the

table.” He has told department headsthat he is looking for a “conserva-tive budget” in 2012 and that “allline items will be scrutinized.”

The manager, who serves as thetownship’s chief operating officer,said Scotch Plains had layoffs in2009 but was able to maintain itsmunicipal workforce in 2010 and2011. The township had not filledsome vacancies in police and pub-lic works.

“That’s changing as of this monthbecause we found due to the stormsthat we had…that our overtime wasup,” Mr. Marion explained. “Wealso have an issue in regards tomanpower and staffing.”

In terms of municipal contracts,he said the current police contractcalls for a 2-percent increase in2012, and the union representingpublic works and recreation em-ployees currently is in negotiationswith the township. The police unionagreed to change to a point of ser-vice (POS) insurance plan as wellas a new three-tier prescription pro-gram.

In terms of the 2-percent munici-pal spending cap, Mr. Marion saidthe 2011 budget was $451,802 be-low the cap.

The manager noted that the statethis year began requiring towns toseparate out library budgets fromthe municipal budget. The ScotchPlains Public Library assessmentthis year was $1,347,193. A boardof trustees governs the library.

Looking at 2012, Mr. Marion saidproposals for employee health in-surance premiums for next yearcame in at between 16.6 percentand 19 percent, but Mr. Marion ex-pects that the township would beable to get that number down to a9.5-percent hike over 2011. Othercost drivers, he said, are pensionpayments for police and fire andpublic employees.

“How do you know these are le-gitimate (proposals)? Are you do-ing any follow-up to ensure theseare legitimate?” resident RobertPetix inquired.

Mr. Marion said the township re-tains an insurance broker and thatthe township has been “very thor-ough” in its review of proposals for

Paul J. Peyton for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesHAPPY 104TH...Marie Rehn blows out the birthday candles to mark her 104thbirthday with the help of her daughter, Marlene Ring, far left, and granddaugh-ter, Suzanne Glassman, during a birthday party at Brighton Gardens inMountainside.


Mahr: Shared Services, Tax ReliefMain Focus for Fanwood in 2012

By TED RITTERSpecially Written for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times

FANWOOD – Mayor ColleenMahr, during the borough council’slast regular meeting of the year Tues-day night, indicated that shared ser-vices will continue to be a key localissue for 2012.

“Property tax relief…that is whereour focus is,” said the mayor, adding,“Shared services is the vehicle to getus there now…not in a few years.”

Mayor Mahr, who said she is “hon-ored and excited” to begin her thirdterm January 1, emphasized that,“there is no [municipal] consolida-tion movement underfoot” by eitherthe Fanwood or Scotch Plains gov-erning bodies.

Rather, the mayor indicated, she iseager to meet with Scotch Plains of-ficials in early January to resumediscussions on the proposed mergerof the two towns’ police departments.

Mayor Mahr called the proposedpolice merger “a bold move” andacknowledged that, “there will be

hurdles.”But the mayor also said, “I know

that we’re on the right track.”Mayor Mahr said “there was a break

from the conversation” with ScotchPlains regarding joint police serviceswhen Scotch Plains looked into theUnion County system and then pro-posed running both municipalities’dispatching, purportedly at a lowercost.

Later in the meeting, during publiccomments, resident Joe Nagy askedabout the potential cost savings asso-ciated with a shared Fanwood-ScotchPlains police department.

Mayor Mahr acknowledged, “Idon’t have up-to-date numbers,” butshe noted, “our police [operatingbudget] numbers have changed sig-nificantly downward” as a result ofjoining the Union County dispatch-ing system and other cost-savingmeasures.

Mayor Mahr said an “operationsplan” for a joint police departmenthas been “prepared in draft form.”The mayor indicated she would liketo make the report public in Januaryor February, followed by a commu-nity meeting in late February or earlyMarch.

“I think we’ll have some signifi-cant stuff to put our teeth into,” MayorMahr said.

“You are not as far along as Ithought you would be [regardingshared police services],” Mr. Nagy

said.The mayor agreed, saying, “We

need to pick up the pace.”During council comments, nearly

every member of the governing bodytook the opportunity to addressshared-services topics.

Councilman Robert Manducapointed to the need to “take into ac-count the risk-reward” of joint ven-tures, but commended the mayor forher efforts on that front.

Councilwoman Katherine Mitchellquestioned Scotch Plains’ joint dis-patching proposal and noted earlierestimates showing a higher cost, ask-ing, “How can Scotch Plains do it forless [money] now?”

Councilman Russell Huegel urgedaction on shared-services proposalsthat have already been examined.

“I would think property-tax reliefwould not mean spending moremoney on studies,” he said.

Councilman Anthony Parenti sug-gested, “We have to look at [policeand other shared-services proposals]very, very carefully;” but, he added,“If it’s going to save us any tax money,I’m all for it.”

Councilman Mike Szuch urged themayor to “put a Republican” on theShared Services Committee.

Mr. Szuch said, “there has not beena Republican on that committee sinceit was formed” in 2009.

“We’ll see if we all can’t do a littleCONTINUED ON PAGE 10


Aschenbach Ends Tenure;Criticizes Birchwood Ruling

By FRED T. ROSSISpecially Written for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times

CRANFORD – Mayor DanielAschenbach bid adieu to the town-ship government on Tuesday, endinga municipal government career thatbegan in the early 1980s and endedlast month when he was defeated forre-election to his township commit-tee seat.

“Use me up until I’m done,” themayor said at Tuesday’s committeemeeting, quoting an Oprah Winfreyaphorism. It was the final meeting of2011, which the mayor referred to as“quite a year,” citing Hurricane Irenein late August and its aftermath, aswell as township financial woes ear-lier in the year and the ongoing fightto prevent development of theBirchwood Avenue property. WhileMr. Aschenbach did not quite rule outrunning for office in the future, healso vowed to “stay involved.” Hedevoted most of his remarks to prais-ing the township team that has workedwith him during his 2011 mayoralty,including Township Attorney DanielMcCarthy, Acting Township Admin-istrator and Police Chief Eric Mason,his committee colleagues and town-ship employees.

Earlier, Deputy Mayor KevinCampbell praised the mayor’s effortsduring the post-Irene recovery as “offthe charts” and “exemplary.” Com-missioner David Robinson, who isslated to become mayor in 2012 when

the Republicans regain control of thecommittee, praised Mr. Aschenbach’srole in the Irene recovery as “tremen-dous,” telling the mayor that, “youwere there leading the community.”

In other business, MayorAschenbach said it was “obviouslyoutrageous” that a judge ruled onMonday that the Birchwood Avenuedevelopment, which calls for 360housing units to be built, can go for-ward. The mayor said the townshipcommittee on Monday night had ap-proved the filing with the state Supe-rior Court of a motion to reconsider,adding that there is a “strong case”for an appeal of the judge’s ruling.The township has opposed the devel-opment, instead seeking to turn theproperty into a retention basin in aneffort to mitigate flooding on nearbystreets.

Mr. McCarthy said the motion toreconsider will be filed by Thursday,December 29, and told a questioningresident that there are some proce-dural matters that must first occurbefore a formal appeal of the rulingcan be filed.

At the start of the meeting, themayor spent 30 minutes handing outcertificates of appreciation to mem-bers of the Cranford High Schoolvarsity football team, which won thestate championship on December 3.“You have made Cranford veryproud,” he told the several dozen

WF Resident Is Shocked ByLack of Tree Removal Policy

By LAUREN S. BARRSpecially Written for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times

WESTFIELD – When Carl Ceterareturned home to Wyandotte Trailfrom a weekend vacation, he was “inshock” to find that his neighbor hadtaken down more than 30 trees, buthe was further stunned when he foundout there were no regulations gov-erning such practices.

While other towns have ordinanceson the books that prevent homeownersfrom cutting down privately ownedtrees without a permit, Westfield hasno such ordinance. Town Adminis-trator Jim Gildea told The ScotchPlains-Fanwood Times, “We don’thave any regulations that overstepprivate-property rights.” He addedthat there are no violations on thisparticular property.

Property owners have the right toremove any and all trees from theirproperty, with the exception of treeslocated in the town or county right ofway. Only when filing for a demoli-tion permit or making application to

the planning or zoning board is theproperty owner required to submita tree plan.

According to Town Engineer KrisMcAloon, when a resident applies fora demolition permit, he inspects thesite and the tree commission makesrecommendations regarding the num-ber of trees being removed and thenumber to be planted. He said that,“for the most part, we have compli-ance (with the recommendations).”

Councilman Dave Haas, whoserves as the governing body liai-son to the tree commission, addedthat the recommendations are non-binding.

Ralph Rapuano, Jr., whose com-pany, Elegant Homes, is doing con-struction on the property where Mr.Cetera is questioning the tree re-moval, said that the property owner,Adam Levy, has “followed everyguideline.” Mr. Rapuano told TheTimes that his company is not theproperty owner and that the trees


Scotch Plains - Fanwood Times onlyPage 10 Thursday, December 15, 2011 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A Watchung Communications, Inc. Publication

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HonoHonoHonoHonoHonor Rollr Rollr Rollr Rollr RollScotch Plains-Fanwood High School — First Marking Period

Leighton Heisey, Ryan Henkels, KevinHesson, Emily Ho, Brenda Ho, TaylorHoblitzell, Eric Hogan, StephanieHolmes, Nicole Horn, Jessica Howard,Tyler Hubbert, Sarah Iannaccone,Emily Isola, Amar Jain, Rajan Jain,Alicia Jiang, Ian Johnston, HadleyJones, Amanda Karacsony, DanielleKaracsony, Victoria Karakis, BridgetKelly, Kendahl Kelly, Jacob Kennedy,Marianne Khalil, Lauren Kilcullen,Kerri Killeen, Jacob Klapper, EmmaKlein, Jessica Klein, Ezra Klein, EunbinKo, Emily Koprowski, AnthonyKrajcsik, Madeline Krema, IsabellaKrempa, Austin Kwinta, MichaelLange, Rachel Lavelle, David Leavitt,George Leavitt, Michael Lee, ChristieLeist, Elsa Leistikow, Yi Lin, EvelynLogie, Constandinos Logus, SaraLombardi, Emily London, AlexandraLoop, Joshua Lopez, Shannon Lord,Amanda Mach, Sam Mahler, JennaMaizes, Grace Makowski, ArielleMargulies, Matthew Marino, AaronMarkey, Kevin Maxwell, John Mccall,Brigid Mcgovern, Alyson Mcgrath,Ailene Mcnamara, Andrea Mcneely,Madeline Mcnichol, Joseph Mcquoid,Kelsey Meisch, Olivia Mendes,Gabrielle Mendes, Jake Metsky, EmilyMiller, Enovi Molina-Chevez, Chris-tine Monroy, Sean Patrick Monteverde,Aurora Morton, Rae Moses, RossMulcahy, John Musso, VarshiniNarayanan, Rachel Naugle, OliviaNelson, Claire Nguyen, Nicole Nilsen,Ryan Nival, Daniel Nizolak, AlexandraO’Hara, Michael O’Malley, Lee AnnOrenczak, Benjamin Oster, JesseOzdamar, Benjamin Pacaja, RaushanPalejwala, Tara Palkoski, Emily Palmer,Maria Pansulla, Nikhil Patel, AlanPayne, Savvas Petridis, MatthewPicone, Kaitlin Picone, Brendan Pierce,Stephanie Plant, Melissa Quarto, JohnQuigley, Isabel Quinones, AidanRacaniello, Amanda Raphael, AngelaRastelli, Carly Redfield, Lyndsay Reed,Erik Reiman, Corentin Rejaud, MichaelRempter, Dein Rice, Megan Rickmers,Alyssa Riporti, Jeffrey Rodgers, AlecRodriguez, Darek Rola-Zarzor, RyanRomaine, Michael Rosenheck, JacobSalem, Dylan Sands, James Schetelich,Danielle Scheu, Kristen Schiavo, Eliza-beth Schwartz, Cassandra Segulin, Eu-gene Siskoske, Tristan Sizemore,Nicole Skickova, Andrew Skoog,Abigail Slaugh, Andrew Smith, Jer-emy Sonpar, Emilio Sta Rosa, ElisaStaniec, Nicholas Stawicki, EmilyStefanik, Zoe-Nicole Stein, AlexandraSullivan, Taylor Swaak, Ashley Taillon,Eric Tannenbaum, Raina Tellado, SaraTepper, Philip Tice, Cynthia Timko,Nicole Van Etten, Michael Villegas,Olivia Wallden, Andrew Warne, CallumWayman, Jaime Weisbrot, KatherineWesterlund, Andrew Wheeler, WilliamWilkins, Lindsey Wilkinson, RachelWilliams, Andrew Wilson, VictorZanowicz, Christian Zazzali, TylerZeile, Lina Zikas, Arielle Zuaro

Honor RollNathan Abdy, Leigh Abramson, Ross

Alexander, Kayla Allen, Michala Allen,Andrew Alonzo, Omar Amer, JaclynAnglin, Jacob Arkin, Eduardo Arocha,Lesley Aviles, Daniel Babis, WilliamBabis, Aleisha Baker, ElizabethBaldwin, Allazandra Bass, RebeccaBeauvais, Stephanie Beauvais, AllisonBegalman, Corin Bell, JordanBernstein, Frank Besson, Cody Biondi,Matthew Boczon, Alexandra Bord,Thomas Braun, Katherine Briante,Abigail Bridge, Marc Brody, GlenishaBrown, John Bruckman, BryanBuchanan, Gabriella Buissereth, CaitlinBunin, Jonathan Burgos, AlexandraBurns, Rachel Butler, Olivia Buttigheri,Sara Calabrese, Benjamin Caldora,Michael Caminiti, Nicole Campbell,Bryan Canfield, Sean Cannon, AnnaCannone, Ian Cappelli, MarinaCarvalho, Elizabeth Casserly, WilliamCastore, Emma Cavaliere, AllysonCerini, Kevin Cevallos, Alec Chabus,Nathan Abdy Honor Roll, LeighAbramson, Ross Alexander, KaylaAllen, Michala Allen, Andrew Alonzo,Omar Amer, Jaclyn Anglin, JacobArkin, Eduardo Arocha, Lesley Aviles,Daniel Babis, William Babis, AleishaBaker, Elizabeth Baldwin, AllazandraBass, Rebecca Beauvais, StephanieBeauvais, Allison Begalman, CorinBell, Jordan Bernstein, Frank Besson,Cody Biondi, Matthew Boczon,Alexandra Bord, Thomas Braun,Katherine Briante, Abigail Bridge,Marc Brody, Glenisha Brown, JohnBruckman, Bryan Buchanan, GabriellaBuissereth, Caitlin Bunin, JonathanBurgos, Alexandra Burns, Rachel But-ler, Olivia Buttigheri, Sara Calabrese,Benjamin Caldora, Michael Caminiti,Nicole Campbell, Bryan Canfield, SeanCannon, Anna Cannone, Ian Cappelli,Marina Carvalho, Elizabeth Casserly,William Castore, Emma Cavaliere,Allyson Cerini, Kevin Cevallos, AlecChabus, Joseph Dunn, Alison Durant,Robert Dyckman, Brendan Earl,Destinee Edwards, Amanda Ekstrand,Morgan Ellman, Luke Emnas, JessicaEsbrandt, Manuel Espinoza, JohnFabricatore, Dannielle Farrall,Alexander Favreau, Daniel Federico,Kimberly Felber, Dahlia Fioretti,Caitlin Flood, Jahtiana Foote,Amanda Fortune, Alaina Frank, Sa-rah Freeman, Jaclyn Friedman, Ali-cia Fung-A-Fat, Ryan Gajdzisz, Eliza-beth Gallo, Drew Garber, StevenGarber, Alyssa Gardner, JillianGardner, Tyler Geissel, AllisonGeissler, Alexa Gelfand, RaynaGeller, Lonny Geller, Elizabeth Gel-ling, Christian Germano, VictoriaGiamboi, Stephanie Giaretta, KaylaGiordanella, Justin Glock, DevinGlover, Julie Glover, Matthew Goetz,Christian Gordon, Lia Gordon,Hannah Greaney, Dasia Green, Mat-thew Greenberg, Allison Grimm,Javier Guerrero, Diego Guerrero,Emma Guidi, Julie Haggan, StephenHandy, Alexandra Harmon, RiceHarnett, Katherine Harper, Sara Hayes,Shannon Healy, Paige Heiden, KarinaHernandez, Timothy Hesson, LucyHollander, Michael Hopkins, JohnHorre, Peter Hsiao, Adriana Huaman,Justin Hudak, Danielle Hurtado, An-gela Ignomirello, Christian Isolda, Mat-thew Itzkowitz, Emma Jaczko, ArielleJefferson, Matthew Jegede, AbigailJenkinson, Helen Johns, BrianaJohnson, Pierce Johnston, NaomiJoseph, Ryan Kalkstein, AlexanderKarakis, Doriane Kasper, TraceyKatz, Justin Kaufman, KaitlinKearney, Melissa Keiser, BrendanKelly, Grace Kelly, Conor Kelly,Kevin Kerby, James Killeen, KaitlynKilleen, Rebecca Klee, Celia

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD –Scotch Plains-Fanwood High Schoolhas announced the following studentshave been named to the Honor Rollfor the First Marking Period. To ob-tain High Honor Roll status a studentmust receive straight A’s if the stu-dent is taking four or five subjects, orat least five A’s and a maximum ofone B.

To obtain Honor Roll status a stu-dent must receive no mark less than aB and at least three A’s.

High Honor RollAndrew Alonzo, Elisabeth Duke,

Emily Fidlow, Abigail Fontana,Lauren Frazier, Elizabeth Hom, GraceO’Brien, Mykala Porter, ShannonShaw, Cobi Silverstein, Emma Sobel,Leah White, Garrett Zito, CaseyAbramson, Meghan Allen, KelseyAmes, Alyssa Apuzzio, Jourdan Ar-cher-Sizemore, Rachel Armus, LisaAwaitey, Judah Axelrod, JessicaBanasiak, Andrew Barcia, Lea Barny,Samuel Bebout, Jacob Beckerman,Elijahu Ben-Michael, AlexaBergenfeld, Erica Berkowitz, JeremyBerkowitz, Sal Bhakuni, DominikaBlach, Samantha Bordman,Alexandra Boyarsky, Kayla Brady,Morgan Bransky, Zachary Brencsons,Mary Brumfield, Christopher Bubnov,Emma Budiansky, Kaitlyn Budis,Kathryn Bumiller, Christopher Burke,Shannon Burns, Brian Burns, JulieBusch, Jamie Bush, Andrew Buzzanca,Melissa Calabria, Eric Calvo, LouisCampanaro, Teresa Cannone, LauraCappelli, Adam Carabba, AllisonCaramico, Daniela Caro-Esposito, JohnCavaliere, Jessica Cepparulo, JasonCepparulo, Angelo Chaia, HenryChang, Krystel Charles, Christian Choi,Christopher Ciccarino, Julia Cirincione,Andrew Citera, Michael Colineri,Connor Coll, Kathleen Colonna, JodieCornwell, Arianna Correa-Gomez,Meghan Costello, Kelsey Coupe,Roland Crystal, Isabel Crystal, Tho-mas Cunningham, Nicole Cusmano,Jordan Dagostaro, Connor Danik,Steven Davies, Russell Davis, KatherineDemarco, Erin Dempsey, JenniferDenman, Brian Deutschmeister, JohnDibattista, Panayiotis Dimopoulos,Maria Diwane, Ariana Donaldson, AliDorn, Sari Dorn, Ramona Dunning,Allison Durett, Sean Duthie, AlexEckert, Lauren Eckert, AlexandraEhrenthal, Caitlin English, BrookeEnners, Colleen Farrell, ChristinaFasolas, Alyssa Fioretti, SarahFischmann, Scott Flanzman, CarlyFleischer, Kori Fleischman, KatherineFletcher, Jason Fortunato, AlexandraGale, Gianni Garyfallos, BenjaminGechtman, Jason Gerstenfeld, RomanGerus, Joshua Getman, Alyssa Gilman,Kerri Gilman, Haley Goeller, PaigeGoldner, Alyssa Goldsmith, CraigGorbunoff, Alexander Gugliotta, Jer-emy Haas, Matthew Haas, Lisa Hanna,Joseph Haverlock, Steven Haverlock,

Kleemeyer, Joshua Knechtel, PaulKussner, Marissa Lamastra, NicoleLamastra, David Lange, BrianLapham, Kelly Lapham, JuliaLavelle, Patrick Leahy, Kristen Lee,David Leong, Victoria Lesce, Chris-tian Lettieri, Jamie Levitt, KevinLewis, Alyssa Leyden, JillianLindenberg, Michael Lockatell, Rob-ert Lockatell, Lauren Lockfeld,Samantha Loop, Alyssa Lopez,Daniel Lopez, Edward Lopez, BrookeLord, Natalia Loureiro, EvanLubranski, Jessica Luong, ThomasLyons, Thomas Magelinski, BrittanyMahoney, Jacqueline Mains, RebeccaMaioriello, Madison Maisel, KaitlynMajek, Amanda Malool, Eric Manfra,Paige Mankin, Elise Mann, AmandaMarcus, Mitchell Marcus, EmilyMargulies, Jacob Margulies, AlexMarkovits, Tyler Martin, MaxineMarvosa, Amani Mateen-Bradley,Alex Mazursky, Jasson Mazzetti,John Mccolly, William Mcduffie,Danielle Mcduffie, MadelineMcgovern, Jessica Mcgovern,Meghan Mcgrath, Anna Mcguinness,Brendan Mckenna, Ryan Mckenna,Daniel Mcmillan, Lauren Mcmorrow,Jake Mcnamara, William Mcneely,Melissa Mcquoid, Kathya Melendez,Julia Mendes, David Michalak,Jonathan Miksis, Gabriele Miller,Tiffani Mironski, Michael Misiak,Mariel Mital, Tessa Mitterhoff, JacobMonzella, Taylor Moon, Ashley Mo-rales, Jordan Morris, Jay Morris,Paige Morrison, Dylan Mruczinski,Claire Muirhead, Casey Murphy,Sean Murphy, Mitchell Naveh,Alexandra Negri, Hannah Nizri,Christine Nocum, Kristen Northrup,Cole Nowlin, Kelsey O’Connor,Emilia O’Leary, Kelly O’Leary,Derek Offitzer, Thomas Osterman,Raymond Osterman, DanielleOwens, Alex Ozdamar, JosephPagano, Diana Pak, David Pak, OliviaPaladino, Kristina Palazzolo, AmyPalumbo, Ariana Paradiso, MeredithParker, Dhruvi Patel, Lisa Peccarelli,Alexandra Peluso, Kayla Pennington,Daniel Pesin, Bertram Peters, BriannaPeterson, Megan Phelan, Erin Pierce,Ryan Piliego, John Pletscher, JackPoillon, Naomi Porter, Carly Prowe,Mark Prowe, Lucrecia Rainero,Leonardo Ramos, Lindsay Ratner,Brandon Ray, Chandler Reeson,Zachary Refinski, Haley Regan, Sh-annon Reilly, Delaney Reimers,Margot Rejaud, Samantha Renfree,Amanda Rimpici, Chloe Ritz, KarlaRizzi, Kathryn Rodriguez, BrandonRodriguez, Carlie Roessle, JacquelineRoiz, Gabriella Rojas, Alec Rola-Zarzor, Kathryn Romagnano, HanselRomero, Jason Rosen, NeilRosenzweig, Caroline Ross, MichaelRothman, Annarita Rotondi,Khansinee Ruangsirin, Brian Rubin,Kelly Ruggieri, Todd Ryan, MichaelSabony, Leah Salituro, MichaelSangern, Matthew Sass, WilliamSchauer, Ashley Schoss, AmandaSchroder, Jennifer Schwarz, JeremyScialdoni, Hailee Sciara, RobertScillieri, Taylor Sebolao, RebeccaSegal, Natasha Segulin, MerhanShams, Zachary Shanker, MarcusShaw, Kimberly Shaw, John Sheehy,Christopher Sheil, Deirdre Sheridan,Leila Shevins, Marc Shlissel, KolaShomade, Sabrina Siddiqui, AmberSimmons, Joshua Simon, TyreeSingletary, Alexander Skoog, HarrySmith, Christopher Smith, TaylorSmith, Molly Solomon, KaylaSpector, Monica Squeri, TracyStaeudle, Michael Steinfeld, WilliamStoll, Sheila Strong, Olivia Strothers,Amanda Suhovsky, Tara Sweeney,Garrett Szeto, Christine Szpond, YanisTenemaza, Gabrielle Testa, ChloeThomas, Andrew Tomasulo, JonathanTomasulo, Hallie Traiman,Chayakorn Triamarit, Megan Tsipas,Dea Tsutskiridze, Jenny Tyler, JoVenice Uriarte, Justine Valdes,Marcus Valdez, Brian Van Brunt,Mary Van Natta, Paige Vanbuskirk,Sarah Vanbuskirk, Clarissa Vargas,Emily Vaslas, Emily Vaughn,Guillermo Villeda, Alfred Voelker,Megan Voorhees, Alex Walejewsky,Nah’Rya Walker-Pierson, Christo-pher Wasieczko, Malik Watkins,Megan Welch, Kyle Westerlund,Kevin Westerlund, Michael White,Andrew Whitehouse, OliviaWhitehouse, Caitlin Williams, KurtisWisniewski, Nathaniel Woerner, CaitlinWorthey, Peter Wright, Elise Xu, AndyXu, Ethan Yang, Richard Yawger, Ben-jamin Yorkovich, Tal Zaksenberg,Lizette Zambri, James Zambri, KathrynZawodniak, Jerry Zhu, Amy Zhuang,Michael Ziegler, Christian Zoufaly

professionals representing thetown.

Another big factor in the munici-pal spending plan, he said, is taxappeals. Scotch Plains had 98 taxappeals in 2009, 167 in 2010 and209 in 2011. “That is a statistic thatis really going to impact what wedo,” Mr. Marion said. “That (209)is staggering to me.”

The township is looking at join-ing other municipalities on shared-services agreements from animalcontrol to health department ser-vices. Scotch Plains currentlyspends $60,000 on animal-controlservices with Associated HumaneSocieties in Newark. Additionally,Scotch Plains has had a long-timerelationship with Rahway’s healthdepartment. The township optednot to proceed with joining thecounty’s dispatch services at thistime.

“We also are in the process ofevaluating that contract (health ser-vices) to see if there are other healthservices-related providers outthere,” Mr. Marion said.

The township also is looking intodoing shared services in technol-ogy and network administrationwith the board of education. Mr.Marion said the township is look-ing to upgrade its website and hasinstalled a new phone system at themunicipal building.

Another area was the ScotchPlains Senior Citizen Corp. Thetownship has a legal obligation tocover financial deficiencies withthe corporation, which in 2010amounted to $136,000. Thetownship’s obligation ends in 2013.

“That got my attention,” Mr.Marion said of the 2010 shortfall.Eventually, the township opted topay up to $46,000 of theorganization’s utility bills.

Al McMahon said the townshiphas to find a way to make moremoney, as it cannot keep raisingtaxes, which drives senior citizensout of Scotch Plains.

“I think you have a hidden way tomake money, and it’s calledShackamaxon,” Mr. McMahon said.“It (private enterprise) is not mak-ing money; it’s losing money. Sowhom are they going to sell it to?Now if the town bought it, whatwould you do with it? You have atremendous amount of acreage.”

“I think it’s a jewel if you handleit right,” Mr. McMahon added.

Mr. Marion explained that therewas “no way that the township couldresponsibly purchase that property”given the added debt service thatwould be required.

Another resident questionedwhether the township should “evenbe involved” in the sale of a privateproperty.

Resident Al Smith said the town-ship council should support the fairschool funding legislation spon-sored by Senator Michael Doherty(R-23, Hunterdon).

“It would provide this town with$38 million of tax support from thestate,” Mr. Smith said.


Scotch Plains Budget

bit better and push us along,” he said.Also during the meeting, Mayor

Mahr, looking ahead to 2012, saiddowntown redevelopment “contin-ues to move at a really swift pace.”

She indicated the Fanwood Cross-ing mixed-use development underconstruction at South and MartineAvenues should be completed in latespring.

Although the mayor said there isno first-floor tenant at this point, shepredicted “interest will be generated”as the project nears completion.

Also looking ahead, Mayor Mahrcautioned that the borough “will con-tinue to face challenges,” resultingeither from the “weather or man-made issues out of Trenton.”

In other business Tuesday night,Borough Engineer AntoniosPanagopoulos reported that the Belve-dere Avenue and Watson Road re-construction projects are “nearlydone” and “essentially complete;”the contractor on the Belvedere jobwill return in the spring to repair aportion of the road that was improp-erly prepared for repaving.

Councilman Huegel saidFanwood’s Business and ProfessionalAssociation (BPA) is preparing to

launch its new website,fanwoodbusiness.com, next month.

“Membership [in the association]is up, so things are happening withthe BPA, I’m happy to announce,”Mr. Huegel said.

Councilman Szuch reported thatthe old skating rink at LaGrande Parkhas been dismantled and is nearlyrebuilt as winter approaches.

Mr. Szuch explained that when theweather gets cold enough, the rinkwould be flooded with water to allowskating again for the first time inyears. The councilman said severalrecreation commission members areeager to celebrate the rink’s reopen-ing by being among the first skaterson the ice.

Mayor Mahr honored Jeff Downeyas the borough’s Volunteer of theMonth. Mr. Downey, who the mayorsaid has been “active in Fanwood fordecades,” is a second lieutenant onthe volunteer rescue squad and alsoserves as a volunteer firefighter.

The borough’s annual reorganiza-tion meeting and swearing-in cer-emonies are set for Sunday, January1, at noon in Borough Hall, followedby a reception at the Chelsea Resi-dences starting at 1 p.m.


Fanwood Council

players, coaches and family mem-bers who crowded the meeting room.The victory, he said, “couldn’t havecome at a better time, given all we’vebeen through.”

In other business, MichaelDubitsky was sworn in as a proba-tionary officer with the CranfordPolice Department. Additionally, thecommittee passed a resolution waiv-ing parking fees in the downtownarea during the Christmas shoppingseason.


CF Council

were removed prior to the applica-tion for the demolition permit. “Ihave nothing to do with cutting treesdown,” Mr. Rapuano said.

Mr. Cetera told The Times that hefeels the town should be doing moreto preserve trees or the town is “go-ing to look like some new develop-ment.” He also said he sees con-struction sites around town wherethe dirt is piled too close to a tree’sroot system, which he said can causethe root system to become compro-mised and the tree to die.

Mr. McAloon told The Times thereare regulations requiring buildersto keep dirt piles a certain distancefrom a tree based on the tree’s cir-cumference, and that the town doesenforce these regulations when no-tified of violations.


Tree Removal

Ted Ritter for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesVOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH...Jeff Downey was honored by FanwoodMayor Colleen Mahr Tuesday night as the borough’s Volunteer of the Month.Mr. Downey said, “It’s been a pleasure” to serve on the rescue squad and as avolunteer firefighter. He was presented with a framed drawing of Fanwood’shistoric train station. Mr. Downey said Fanwood is “a small town and a smallcommunity, and it’s a great community.”

Greg Ryan for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times’TIS THE SEASON...Members of the Westfield Knights of Columbus and theirhelpers set up the manger at the Westfield northside train station last Saturdayas part of their annual Christmas display.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION

Pat DiFabio Honored forSixty Yrs. With Garwood FD

DEDICATED FIREFIGHTER...Garwood Councilman and Fire CommissionerLou Petruzzelli, left, and Fire Chief Wayne Frew, right, congratulate FirefighterPat DiFabio on his 60th anniversary with the Garwood Volunteer Fire Depart-ment. The ceremony was held December 11 at The Westwood in Garwood. Pleasesee story below.

Peek at the Week

By Paul Peyton of The Leader/Times

In Politics

Peyton's

Unemployment Rate‘Down’ to 8.6 PercentWASHINGTON, D.C. — The

nation’s unemployment ratedropped to 8.6 percent in Novem-ber — the lowest in two-and-a-halfyears.

The big dip in unemployment from9 percent in October occurred eventhough the Labor Department re-ported that just 120,000 jobs wereadded in November. “Nonfarm pay-roll employment added 140,000 pri-vate sector jobs last month. Thismeans we’ve added 1.9 million pri-vate sector jobs over the past year —an average of 157,000 a month,” U.S.Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said.

Rep. Leonard Lance (R-7th) re-sponded that, “Today’s unemploy-ment report brings some welcomenews as American families head intothe holiday season. An unemploy-ment rate of 8.6 percent is still unac-ceptably high making November the34th straight month where the job-less rate has been 8 percent orhigher.”

Christie Nominates Dow forSeat on Superior Court in Essex

Governor Chris Christie has nomi-nated Attorney General Paula Dow toa judgeship on state Superior Courtin Essex County, the county whereMs. Dow previously served as countyprosecutor, according to news reports.The Governor also nominated hischief counsel, Jeff Chiesa, to replaceMs. Dow as attorney general.

Senator Nick Scutari (R-22, Lin-den) said the judiciary committee, ofwhich he chairs, would not meet untilafter the new year. Governor Christiehas said he hoped the nominationscould be confirmed this month.

Corzine Says He Doesn’t KnowWhere $1.2 Bil. in Funds WentFormer MF Global chief executive

Jon Corzine, in testimony last Thurs-day before House Agriculture Com-mittee, said he doesn’t know whathappened to $1.2 billion in missingcustomer funds, USA Today reported.

In his written statement, Mr.Corzine said the brokerage’s deci-sion to seek bankruptcy court protec-tion was due to a $119.4-millionwrite-off of tax benefits that could nolonger be classified as assets.

“I am not in a position, given thenumber of transactions, to know any-thing specifically about the move-ment of any specific funds, and I willrepeat, certainly would never intendto direct or have segregated fundsmoved,” Mr. Corzine said in answer-ing a question on whether there hadbeen any “authorized or unautho-rized transfers” of customer funds.

USA Today reported that MFGlobal’s collapse has been a hardshipfor ranchers and farmers who used thebrokerage for commodities markettrades in an effort to protect themagainst swings in agriculture prices.

Assembly Panel OK’s MovingBOE Elections to November

The Assembly Appropriations Com-mittee on Thursday approved a billthat would allow school board elec-tions to be held during November.Assemblyman Lou Greenwald andSen. Donald Norcross (both D-Camden) have said the change wouldsave towns money and increase voterturnout for school board elections thattraditionally have low participation.

The bills (A-4394 and S-3148)would give local boards of educa-tion, municipalities and voters theoption of moving the election date.Towns or BOEs would have to adoptresolutions to move the election date

or have a petition signed by 15 per-cent of the legally qualified voterswho voted in the previous Presiden-tial election to force the change,nj.com reported. Municipalitieswould save between $10 million and$12 million, Asm. Greenwald said.

Garrett Supports Bill AgainstU.S. Bailout of European BanksAmericans for Limited Govern-

ment President Bill Wilson haspraised Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th) forco-sponsoring legislation, H.R. 2313,“that would bring an end to any U.S.involvement via the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) to bail outEuropean banks that bet poorly onsovereign debt,” according to a pressrelease from the organization. TheCongressman is the chairman of thefinancial Services Subcommittee onCapital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.

“All indications coming out of therecent European summit are that theIMF will play a leading role in bail-ing out European financial institu-tions that bet poorly on sovereigndebt through some $200 billion houseof cards scheme…This means U.S.taxpayers, who have already pouredat least $20 billion into propping upPortugal, Greece, and Ireland throughthe IMF, will again be on the hookwhen the European governments de-fault on their debt,” Mr. Wilson said.Rockland Taxes to Jump Under

Budget OK’d by LegislatureRockland County, N.Y.

homeowners will pay $172 more onaverage in taxes under a budget ap-proved by the county legislature, TheJournal News has reported. The newbudget, which differs from the oneproposed by county executive ScottVanderhoef, will save more than 500jobs and keep Summit Hospital, thecounty-run hospital, open.

Anna Little LookingTo Run for U.S. Senate

Anna Little, who lost to Rep. FrankPallone (D-6th) in 2010 after upset-ting Diane Gooch in the GOP pri-mary as a Tea Party supported candi-date, is moving closer to declaringher candidacy to seek the Republicannomination to run against Democraticincumbent U.S. Sen. RobertMenendez (D-N.J.) next year,politickernj.com is reporting. StateSenator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13,Middleton) is also said to be consid-ering running. Ian Linker, a BergenCounty attorney, is the only canidateto declare to date.

Christie Rips Codey, RiceFor Blocking Essex Nominees

GARWOOD — Firefighter PatDiFabio was honored by the GarwoodFire Department on December 11 atThe Westwood in Garwood for his 60years of active service to the depart-ment. He was presented with a ringby Fire Chief Wayne Frew and alsowas presented with a resolution byGeorge Heflich, Sr., president of theNew Jersey State Firemen’s Associa-tion, for his many years of service tothe department and the communityof Garwood.

Firefighter DiFabio joined theGarwood FD on January 3, 1951 atthe age of 23, and became a lifemember of the New Jersey StateFiremen’s Association in 1969. Hehad been active in the departmentover many years, serving on manycommittees and chairing some. Hehas also been involved with thefire prevention program each Oc-tober, where he has visited schoolsand helped teach the students aboutfire safety.

In 1995 he attended the MiddlesexCounty Fire Police Academy wherehe graduated after completing acourse on fire police instructions. Atthat time he was made a Garwood firepolice officer by the fire department.The Garwood Knights of Columbushonored him in 2011 as the outstand-ing firefighter of the year. He wasalso was honored by the EducationFoundation of Garwood as an out-standing citizen.

Firefighter DiFabio is still activewith the fire department and answers

calls no matter what time of day ornight as a fire police officer. He canusually be found every Sunday morn-ing at the firehouse making coffee forthe men and passing on his jokes andgood nature.

In his spare time he volunteers atRunnells Specialized Hospital inBerkeley Heights.

TRENTON – Citing the failure andrefusal of Essex County senators tofulfill their duty in the nominationsprocess – and the impact of that failureon operations of the Superior Courtand state government – Governor ChrisChristie has said using senatorial cour-tesy as an excuse to unnecessarilydelay confirmation for qualified nomi-nees must come to an end.

Twenty nominees from EssexCounty have been stalled in the Legis-lature because senatorial courtesy isbeing used to block their nominationsfrom moving forward, the Governor’soffice said. The average gubernatorialnominee from Essex County has waited231 days since their nomination wassubmitted to the Senate, with somebeing delayed 18 months.

“The behavior of certain legisla-tors in blocking well-qualified nomi-nees for their own narrow, often per-sonal interests is completely unac-ceptable and now affecting the ad-ministration of justice for the citi-zens of Essex County,” GovernorChristie said.

Waiting 577 days for action on hernomination to the University of Medi-cine and Dentistry of New Jersey(UMDNJ) Board of Trustees is Dr.Eve Elizabeth Slater, a former seniorvice-president of worldwide policyfor Pfizer, Inc. and the first woman to

serve as assistant secretary of health inthe U.S. Department of Health and Hu-man Services. Dr. James Orsini, whosenomination to the UMDNJ Board ofTrustees has been delayed for 381 days,has been a physician with UMDNJ’sDepartment of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology since 1985.The governor saidActing Education Commissioner Cerfhas been refused a hearing for his con-firmation as commissioner of the de-partment for nearly a year. The Gover-nor called on Senators Dick Codey andRonald Rice to stop the abuse of sena-torial courtesy.

The nominees being held up are forpositions on the Board of Tree Experts,Catastrophic Illness in Children ReliefFund Commission, Ellis Island Advi-sory Commission, Essex County Boardof Taxation, Governor’s Council onAlcoholism and Drug Abuse, Kean Uni-versity Board of Trustees, New JerseyCemetery Board, New Jersey HealthCare Facilities Financing Authority,New Jersey State Council on the Arts,Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission,Police and Firemen’s Retirement Sys-tem of New Jersey Board of Trustees,Site Remediation Professional Licens-ing Board, State Council on Develop-mental Disabilities, State Lottery Com-mission, and the University of Medi-cine and Dentistry of New Jersey Boardof Trustees.

Fed, Currency ComptrollerOffers Foreclosure Review

TRENTON — Because of the on-going foreclosure crisis, the FederalReserve Board and Office of theComptroller of the Currency haveinitiated a no-cost Independent Fore-closure Review program.Homeowners who were in foreclo-sure during 2009 and 2010 and whobelieve they were financially harmedby misrepresentations or errors madeby their lender can request the inde-pendent foreclosure review. Compen-sation may be available for finan-cially harmed homeowners.

Over 20 leading mortgage providersincluding Bank of America, Chase andWells Fargo, are required to contactand provide a request for review formto any borrower that was involved in aforeclosure action on a primary resi-dence between January 1, 2009 andDecember 31, 2011.The independentforeclosure reviews are conducted byindependent consultants who are over-seen by the Federal Reserve.

Examples of situations that mayhave led to financial injury include:The mortgage balance amount at thetime of the foreclosure was more thanyou actually owed; you were doingeverything the modification agreement

required, but the foreclosure sale stillhappened; the foreclosure action oc-curred while you were protected bybankruptcy; you requested assistance/modification, submitted completedocuments on time, and were waitingfor a decision when the foreclosuresale occurred or fees charged or mort-gage payments were inaccurately cal-culated, processed, or applied.

Another example would be thatthe foreclosure action occurred ona mortgage that was obtained be-fore active duty military servicebegan and while on active duty, orwithin nine months after the activeduty ended and the service memberdid not waive his/her rights underthe Service Members Civil ReliefAct.

Borrowers can request a review orask questions by calling 1-888-952-9105 Monday through Friday from 8a.m. to 10 p.m. or on Saturday from8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more informationand a complete listing of the partici-pating mortgage servicers, visitindependantforeclosurereview.com.Requests for reviews must be post-marked no later than April 30, 2012to be eligible for review.

See it all on the Web!www.goleader.com

A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES Thursday, December 15, 2011 Page 3

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By Senator Thomas Kean, Jr., WestfieldSenate Minority Leader, GOP, LD-21

The end of every two-year legisla-tive session is known as “Lame Duck”— the time between Election Dayand the start of the new legislativeyear, representing our last chance topass bills pending before the Senateand Assembly.

While these sessions are alwaysmarked by a flurry of action, quitefrequently that action is on legisla-tion of little or no substance. LameDuck proceedings are too often like adrawn-out episode of Seinfeld, theshow about nothing. Given the eco-nomic challenges facing New Jersey,I hope this year will be different.

Republicans have been workingfor over a year to address severalneeded reforms that will help controlproperty taxes and stabilize state fi-nances so that businesses can prosperand create jobs in New Jersey, andresidents can afford to live here. Wewill soon see if the Democratic Sen-ate president’s commitment to do“something” in the next few weekswill be for substance or show.

Legislative Republicans want to endthe practice of paying public workersfor unused sick leave once and for all.True reform needs to eliminate cashvalue for any future sick leave ac-crued, and require that any furtherpayments for time already banked becalculated at the employee’s salarylevel when it was earned, not his or herhighest year of salary.

Democrats have previously refusedto embrace ending payments for anytime accrued by an employee movingforward, instead proposing we allowpayments to continue up to a cap.

That is a sham, and I hope that themajority will not try to once againpass a feel-good bill that doesn’t solveall facets of the problem. Sick leaveshould be for when you are sick, not abonus to collect upon your retirement.

The state civil service system makesit extremely difficult for local electedofficials to reduce unnecessary orduplicative positions, change job re-sponsibilities of workers to meet thecommunity’s needs or get rid ofpoorly performing employees.

Voters should have the ability to doaway with civil service in their com-munity through a referendum, whichis part of the reform agenda Republi-cans have championed. In addition,local elected officials should be al-lowed to institute mandatory fur-loughs to cut costs in order to avoidproperty tax increases. Here again,Democrats passed watered-down leg-islation that accomplished little. Theircivil service bill, vetoed by the gover-nor, contained no voter referendumand no new cost-cutting tools forlocal government.

Over the last two years themajority’s approach to job creationhas been little more than advancinginconsequential legislation that, whilecontaining the words “jobs” or“work” in the title, will have littlepractical impact on our economicclimate.

Judging by their support this yearfor a budget that spent roughly $1billion more than the state takes in, itappears Democrats still do not un-derstand how the economy works.Joblessness in New Jersey stems fromyears of fiscal mismanagement, bigbudgets and high taxes that tell em-ployers to get out while they can.

To send a signal to businesses thatthey will no longer be gouged to payfor bad decisions coming out of Tren-ton, we need to apply the same 2percent cap to the state budget thathas been enacted at the local level.Fiscal discipline doesn’t make for agreat sound bite, but it is the only waywe will tell job creators that NewJersey is a welcoming place for them

Will Lame Duck Just BeAnother Seinfeld Session?

to do business.Despite the partisan rancor in Tren-

ton, we have been able to accomplishsome big things for New Jersey overthe past two years: a hard cap onproperty taxes and historic reformsto pensions and benefits for publicworkers, just to name a few.

But politics has bottlenecked toomany common-sense ideas as well.With the clock winding down on2011, what is done or not done dur-ing Lame Duck will show whetherthe majority is serious about getting“something” done for taxpayers, or ifthis will just be another “SeinfeldSession” in the State House.

Shared Services Agreements Capped Under Stender BillTRENTON – Legislation spon-

sored by Assemblywoman LindaStender (D-22, Scotch Plains) thatwould help promote cost savings be-tween local governments by holdingthe line on the annual fees chargedfor shared service agreements wasapproved by an Assembly panel onThursday.

“We all want to see shared ser-vices agreements to help controlproperty taxes and help communi-ties fit within the new 2-percent cap,but we also know that these agree-ments can cost money upfront inmany cases,” Asw. Stender said.“With this simple change, we canincrease the reliability of shared ser-vice agreements and provide moreincentives for local officials to con-sider this measure as a way to stream-line costs. That’s good news for tax-payers.”

The bill (A-3625) would cap theannual fee increases for a shared ser-vice agreement at 2 percent, the samecap that is in place for local propertytax levy increases. An increase in ashared services agreement could onlyexceed the 2 percent cap if the in-

crease has been approved by the vot-ers of each local unit that is a party tothe agreement. Under current law,local units of government are allowedto enter into a shared-service agree-ment with another local unit(s) in aneffort to reduce administrative ex-

penses and save money through effi-ciencies of scale. For example, twoneighboring municipalities that pro-vide trash removal for their respec-tive residents might enter into a sharedservice agreement that allows one ofthe municipalities to provide trashremoval for the residents of bothtowns.

The bill was approved by the As-sembly Housing and Local Govern-ment Committee and now awaits con-sideration by the full Assembly.

Literacy Volunteers of UCOffers Tutor Training Workshops

REGION — Literacy Volunteersof Union County (LVUC) is nowregistering volunteers for its winter2012 tutor training workshop. Theworkshop will take place at thePlainfield Public Library, located at800 Park Avenue, on January 21, 28,February 4 and, if needed for a snowday, February 11.

The workshop begins at 9:30 a.m.and concludes at 2:45 p.m. Atten-dance is required at all sessions to

become a certified tutor of both basicreading skills and English as a Sec-ond Language.

Certified tutors will be assigned astudent(s) from LVUC’s waiting listof over 200 adults in Union Countywho are hoping to be matched with avolunteer. There is a $40 non-re-fundable registration fee. For infor-mation, visit lvaunion.org, call (908)755-7998 or [email protected].

FW Starts ‘No Knock’List for Solicitors

FANWOOD — Fanwood’s new noknock ordinance allows residents to get ona list telling solicitors to stay away fromtheir homes. Residents can register by down-loading and mailing in the form found atfanwoodnj.org to the borough clerk. Regis-tration is free and good for five years.

N.J. to Receive $28 Mil.To Buy Flooded Homes

TRENTON — New Jersey will re-ceive $28 million in Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA) HazardMitigation Grant funding to acquire, or“buy-out” approximately 95 propertiesin flood-ravaged areas in the northernand central part of the state as a result ofheavy rains from Hurricane Irene onAugust 27 to September 5, 2011. Eightcommunities will receive funding in-cluding six located in the Passaic RiverBasin as well as two communities inMiddlesex and Somerset Counties.FEMA announced this week that fund-ing would be be made available for thepurchase of 11 flooded-out homes inCranford, although the amount of fundshas not been released at this time.

The following flood mitigationprojects have been approved:$6,277,681 to the New Jersey De-partment of Environmental Protec-tion for the acquisition of approxi-mately 56 residences in Wayne Town-ship; $4,134,889 to Lincoln Park for18 residences along the PomptonRiver; $3,848,204 to Pequannock for15 residences along the PomptonRiver; $3,149,867 to Pompton Lakesfor 13 residences along the PomptonRiver; $3,098,410 to Fairfield for 12residences along the Passaic River;$2,944,041 to Little Falls for 15 resi-dences along the Passaic River;$2,888,909 to Manville for the ac-quisition of 13 residences along theMillstone River, and $1,929,615 tothe Borough of Middlesex for acqui-sition of seven residences along theRaritan River.


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Letters to the EditorABCDICTIONOPQRSTDECEPTIONUVWXYZ

TM

DDDDDiction Deception

Letters tothe Editor

Your State Legislators---LD-21---

Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R)425 North Ave. E.Westfield, N.J. 07090(908) 232-3673

Asm. Jon Bramnick (R)251 North Ave. WestWestfield, N.J. 07090(908) 232-2073

Asm. Nancy Munoz (R)57 Union Place, Suite 310Summit, N.J. 07901(908) 918-0414

---LD-22---Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D)

1514 E. Saint Georges Ave.Linden, N.J. 07036(908) 587-0404

Asw. Linda Stender (D)1801 East Second St.Scotch Plains, N.J. 07076(908) 668-1900

Asm. Jerry Green (D)17 Watchung Ave.Plainfield, N.J. 07060(908) 561-5757

LD-21 includes Westfield, Mountainside,Garwood, Summit and Cranford.

LD-22 includes Scotch Plains, Fanwood,Plainfield, Clark and Linden.

[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@njleg.org

7th Congressional DistrictRepresentative Leonard Lance, 425 North Avenue E., Westfield, NJ 07090 (908) 518-7733

Board of Health OKs Sanitary Code,One Percent Increase in WF Budget

The Westfield Board of Health meton December 5 and approved a re-vised Sanitary Code for the town.The new code continues the board’seducation and enforcement strategyto promote health and prevent dis-ease and is designed to meet the es-sential requirements of the state De-partment of Health and Senior Ser-vices. Among the requirements tokeep Westfield a healthy community,residents must license their dogs andcats and all residents and businessesmust have garbage pick-up. In addi-tion to the chapters on animals andrabies control and solid waste andsewage control, the sanitary codeconcerns commercial food and bev-erage safety, communicable diseaseprevention and control, exterior leadpaint removal, building sanitation andheating, and noise control. Town resi-dents can access the sanitary code onthe Westfield Regional Health De-partment websitewww.westfieldnj.gov/health.

The board also approved the 2012budget for the Westfield RegionalHealth Department. The total budgetfor Westfield, $291,195, representsless than one percent change from2011 and is 9 percent less than in2010. Westfield is the lead town forthe health department, which alsocurrently provides shared publichealth services to seven neighboringmunicipalities. The board is workingto increase the number of munici-palities served by the health depart-ment in order to further improve ser-vice quality, regional cooperation,efficiencies and cost control for all.

The health department is sponsor-ing cholesterol screening with Over-look Medical Center on Thursday,January 12, from 10 a.m. to noon inthe municipal building (there is a $10fee). The department is also sponsor-ing free Peripheral Vascular Diseasescreening with Overlook on Thurs-day, February 9, from 10 a.m. to noonin the municipal building. In addi-tion, residents can attend free weeklyblood pressure screenings. For more

information about these programs andto register, please call Laura Scanlon,the public health nursing supervisor,at (908) 789-4070, extension 4074.

Finally, I want to acknowledge andthank the volunteer members of theBoard of Health and the senior staffof the department for their terrificwork on behalf of public health inWestfield: Tom O’Neill (vice-presi-dent), Mitchell C. Beinhaker, Dr.Vasilios Diamantopoulos, Dr. RonenGold, Gavin Handwerker, Dr.Seymour Koslowsky, David Oliveira,Dr. David Weinman, Sam Della Fera(our council liaison), health officerMegan Avallone, principal registeredenvironmental health specialist KenPincus and Laura Scanlon.

Information about all of thedepartment’s activities is availableon its website www.westfieldnj.gov/health. The complete minutes of theDecember 5 meeting will be postedafter review and approval at our Janu-ary 9, 2012, meeting, which starts at5 p.m. in the municipal building.

Dr. Lawrence BudnickPresident, Westfield Bd. of Health

Ode to Leaves?In the spirit of the holidays, please

sing to the tune of “Jingle Bells”:*****

Walking down the street, In a one horse open sleighCan’t get very far, Branches and leaves in my wayI don’t want to be mean, But they’ve been here since Hallow-eenCould they be cleared one day, Considering the high taxes we pay...HEY!Clean the streets!Clean the streets!Please do them today!Isn’t it the least we get, For the high taxes we pay!Happy Holidays Everyone!

Vince GagliardiWestfield

Shouldn’t Corzine FaceTheft Charges?

I am having a hard time under-standing the rules: If I steal $50 fromQuick Chek or 7 Eleven, I am ar-rested and go to jail. However, if Isteal over $1.2 billion, I am allowedto walk free and go wherever I want(Jon Corzine, for example). Is thethreshold, one billion and over thatthere is no prosecution?

Carl SwensonWestfield

Central Light Has Been Beaten toDeath; Leaf Pickup More Important

Leaf Piles Makes Walking AlongWestfield’s Busy Roads Treacherous

I just returned with my dogs fromour daily walk. It’s a beautiful earlyDecember morning, mild and sunnywith barely a chill in the air. Ourusual route takes us throughWestfield’s Wychwood section anddown some of the loveliest streets intown. Unfortunately, what shouldhave been a relaxing, enjoyable ex-perience was anything but. Onceagain, as has been the case virtuallyevery day since mid-October, I re-turned with my teeth clenched andmy hands shaking.

Leaves, leaves everywhere! Wetmoldering leaves that prevent mefrom enjoying my walk, make mefear for my safety, and make mereconsider leaving the house, evenduring this autumn’s exceptionallyfine weather. I’m not alone. I seeother dog walkers and pedestrians,joggers, bicyclists and folks pushingstrollers all trying to take pleasure inthe great outdoors without being runoff the road by a car or truck that isapparently on its way to someplacevery, very important.

One stretch of Kimball Avenue isparticularly treacherous. Leaf pileshave narrowed the road so much thereis barely room for one car to pass, letalone a car and a woman walkingthree dogs. My options are to leap

into the wet decaying piles out ofharm’s way, walk through my neigh-bors’ front yards, or stay home. Ofcourse, it would never occur to manydrivers to slow down when they seehuman beings.

Westfield’s onmipresent landscap-ing trucks and trailers make it evenmore difficult to navigate the leaf-strewn roads. I realize they are onlydoing their jobs – adding MOREleaves to the existing mounds of deadfoliage.

I understand there is (supposedly)a pattern or system to the town’sannual leaf collection. But to the ca-sual observer, the pickup seems ca-pricious and totally random at best. Ilove our trees, but the overabundanceof rotting leaves on the streets createsparking, safety and environmentalissues. And before you cite the un-precedented late October storm as anexcuse, the situation has not beenmuch better during the four years myhusband and I have lived in town.

While the ever-growing leaf pilesmay be gone by the time I return fromtomorrow’s walk, I have next year tolook forward to. Isn’t there a betterway?

Gretchen SchmidhauslerWestfield

Raritan Valley Rail Riders Get NothingFrom Extension of NYC Subway

Recently Senator Tom Kean, Jr.contributed an op-ed piece in TheWestfield Leader favoring the exten-sion of the #7 New York subway lineto Secaucus. Senator Kean praisesthat plan as being the best solutionfor increasing trans-Hudson rail ca-pacity while addressing trans-Hudsoncongestion. As chairman of theRaritan Valley Rail Coalition, I mustrespectfully disagree. The #7 NewYork subway line extension doesnothing for the Raritan Valley railriders from High Bridge, Somerville,Plainfield, Westfield, Cranford, Unionand points in between.

Since the coalition’s inception un-der the guidance of CongressmanBob Franks in 1998, the Raritan Val-ley Rail Coalition’s number one pri-ority has been a one-seat ride intoManhattan, which is now available tomany rail commuters on other linesbut not Raritan valley line riders. Ourriders now have a two-seat ride withan awkward transfer at Newark’s PennStation. The #7 New York subway

line extension would at best move thetransfer point from Newark toSecaucus and at worst result in athree-seat ride with two transfers forconstituents in Senator Kean’s dis-trict. The #7 New York subway lineextension is not the answer.

While the rail coalition recognizesthere are many complex engineeringissues related to the proposed Gate-way Tunnel Project, which wouldexpand access to Manhattan’s PennStation, we are pleased that a federalgrant of $15 million has been re-ceived by Amtrak for advancing en-gineering on this project. We lookforward to supporting direct accessto Manhattan’s Penn Station, provid-ing a one-seat ride by utilizing thenew dual mode locomotives. Thiswill benefit not only the Raritan Val-ley Line riders, but also other linesthat currently have either partial orno electrification.

Peter PalmerChairman, RV Rail CoalitionSomerset County Freeholder

Collusion ErrorCollided in HeadlineI am a big fan of The Westfield

Leader. I was a little disappointedwith the major misspelling on thefront page last week: “BOE auditorsays collision made bid rigging toughto catch.” I believe the word shouldhave been “collusion.”

Does anyone proof the pages be-fore they are printed?

Carol MolnarWestfield

What Happened? I had to check tosee if I actually had The WestfieldLeader. It looked strange not to seesomething about the traffic light onCentral Avenue on the first page.

Now we can worry about the im-portant things like “what flavor cof-fee will they have in the morning atthe Train Station News Stand? Orwill the train be on time?”

I think the concern about the Cen-tral Avenue light has been beaten to

death. Leaf and branch pick is farmore important and the streets arenow safer since most of the debris hasbeen removed.

The photo of the Yuletide Carolersin downtown Westfield is a great ex-ample of what Westfield is all about.We may have some little complaints,but it’s still a great place to live.

Tom LienhardWestfield

Over $1.2 Billion?Guess Too Many

Others Are Connected

Judges Must ComplyWith The Law

Pension and benefits reformsshould apply to the judiciary. I sup-port Governor Christie’s argumentthat the pension reforms apply equallyto all public employees, includingthe judiciary. I am disturbed that threeof the judges renominated for tenuredid not express solidarity with theother employees of the State of NewJersey.

All other public employees arecomplying with the law that requireshigher pension and health benefitscontributions. I therefore voted no onthose three re-nominations and I hopethey would reconsider and voluntar-ily make the contributions like allother public employees. After allequal treatment under the law is thebasis of our legal system.

In our system we have three co-equal branches of government. Forthe judiciary to claim it should betreated differently during this time ofeconomic crisis and uncertaintythreatens the solvency of the pensionand health benefits system. I lookforward to working with the Gover-nor and my colleagues across theaisle to solve this problem in the nearfuture.

Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-39)Cresskill

Signs, Dogs May Stop Solicitors;Not the New Fanwood Ordinance

Fanwood is the latest municipality to enact a DoNot Knock policy in effort to do... something? We’renot sure what it’s really for. Is it to stop the intrusionof door-to-door solicitors and peddlers from comingto homes that do not want these visitors? Or is it toget a closer look at who might be roaming theneighborhoods and possibly be up to no good?Residents are told to go onto Fanwood’s website tosign up to get on the list which will be maintained bythe borough with a copy given for enforcement bythe police department.

What happened to the days of posting “No Solic-iting” signs? That seemed to do the trick. “Beware ofDog” signs have also been known to be quite effec-tive. Keeping the front porch lights off has alwaysbeen the signal for trick-or-treaters to stay away onHalloween. What about children selling Girl Scoutscookies? Does this ordinance apply to them? Andwhat about the neighbor seeking signatures on apetition on some local issue? Are they exempt? Just

like the Do Not Call list a few years ago, Fanwood’sordinance excludes politicians from having to com-ply. It also does not limit members of religiousgroups or environmental causes, etc. from conduct-ing door-to-door campaigns.

What’s the point of the ordinance in the firstplace? The door-to-door salesman hasn’t been aroundsince the days of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

Is Santa Clause going to be banned from homesthat signed up for this Do Not Knock list? We guessSanta will literally have to check his list twice to seewho is naughty and nice. Maybe Tony Orlando willbe banned from knocking three times.

In our opinion, government does not need to getinvolved in soliciting. And Fanwood’s ordinance onwho is exempt has more holes in it than Swisscheese.

If homeowners just post “no trespassing” signsand call police when someone violates the “houserules,” that ought to do it.

Below are four arcane words, eachwith four definitions – only one is cor-rect. The others are made up. Are yousharp enough to discern this deception ofdiction?

If you can guess one correctly – goodguess. If you get two – well-read indi-vidual. If you get three – word expert. Ifyou get all four – You must have a lot offree time!

All words and correct definitionscome from the board game DictionDeception.

Answers to last week’s arcane words.1. Sarcenet – A soft silk cloth, used for

ribbons, linings, etc.2. Hornotine – A bird in its first year3. Juramentado – A Filipino Moslem

who takes an oath before a priest that hewill die killing Christians

4. Pileous – Hairy

ULOTRICHI1. A disease of the gums characterized

by bleeding or hemorraging2. In South Africa, an outsider; a for-

eigner3. The woolly-haired peoples4. The elm family of trees

EXPERRECTION1. To remove the bones from2. Putting out or destroying the eyes3. Coughing up or spitting4. Awaking from sleep

DELIQUATE1. To melt or be dissolved2. To make harmful or injurious3. To please, charm or delight4. To accuse or inform against

PRATTI1. Established practice or custom2. Cymbals3. A translucent quartz of leek-green

color4. Idle babble or chat

The Only Courtesy Appropriate IsThat Which Is Due to The CitizensTwo Essex County state senators are using a politi-

cal game known as senatorial courtesy to hold up 20Essex County nominations by Governor ChrisChristie on essential positions ranging from thestate’s education commissioner to a seat on the KeanUniversity Board of Trustees here in Union County.It’s getting so bad that Essex County is running outof judges and has suspended court.

Senatorial courtesy is an unwritten practice usedby state senators to block consideration of nomina-tions from the Governor’s office. Senators from bothpolitical parties have often used the rule over theyears to block nominations of judges and others,either in opposition to the nominees or to get theGovernor to support some piece of legislation theyare sponsoring.

In our view, it is really a form of filibuster and is nomore than political quackery. If the Democrats wantto oppose Governor Christie’s nominees, then theyshould vote against them in committee or in the fullSenate.

State Senators Dick Codey and Ron Rice (both D-Essex) are refusing to end their hold up of thenominees. Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex) hascalled the holdup of judicial nominees a crisis in the

county and has asked Senate President StephenSweeney (D-Gloucester) to suspend senatorial cour-tesy by the Essex delegation. In response, Sen. Ricehas accused Gov. Christie of being the one holdingup the judicial nominations in Essex County, sayingthe Governor has taken the action to force him andSenator Codey to allow the Governor’s nominationsto move forward, including Acting Education Com-missioner Chris Cerf.

Gov. Christie this week also nominated AttorneyGeneral Paula Dow to the Superior Court in Essex.How long will this take?

Holding up qualified individuals to commissionslike the University of Medicine and Dentistry ofNew Jersey (UMDNJ), the Board of Trustees, Lot-tery Commission or even the Board of Tree Expertsseems pointless to us. Destructive too.

Rather than holding up judicial nominations per-haps the Governor could holdup the paychecks ofSens. Codey and Rice. Better yet, the feudal Senato-rial practice should be ended entirely.

The only courtesy that the state legislature shouldextend is that which is due to the citizens.

Let’s stop playing games. Government is defunctenough.

Union County FreeholdersElizabeth, New Jersey

(908) 527-4200Al Faella, Mgr. [email protected]

Deborah Scanlon, chair


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Nomination of Thomas Nast toN.J. Hall of Fame Is Outrageous

The New Jersey Hall of Fame hasnominated Thomas Nast, cartoonistand formally of Morristown, as oneof their inductees for the Hall ofFame for 2012.

Mr. Nast is known for being thefather of the Republican Elephant,Democratic Donkey and many otherfamous cartoons. However, in 1871he also authored “The American RiverGanges” which portrays CatholicBishops attacking American schoolchildren and in other cartoons heassociates Irish as violent drunks.Part of the Hall of Fame’s mission isto educate and show our childrenexamples of what they can aspire tobe. Clearly, the Nast example is oneof the worst examples we can use toillustrate such an important life les-son. I find it is outrageous that theNew Jersey Hall of Fame is evenconsidering such a bigot in these timesfor consideration.

According to the New Jersey Hallof Fame website, any New JerseyHall of Fame nomination goesthrough an expert of 30 or more pan-elists of experts in their fields for afirst round of vetting. Once the nomi-nation has been vetted it goes to theHall of Fame Voting Academy, whichconsists of more than 100 organiza-tions statewide.

If the nomination passes thoughthis round it then is announced on theHall of Fame website for the public tovote on who deserves to be inducted.This nomination is not only offensiveto the Irish and Catholics, but the factthat the nomination made it past thefirst and second rounds is mind bog-gling! On behalf of Irish and Catho-lics in New Jersey, we ask the New

Jersey Hall of Fame to immediatelywithdraw the nomination and offeran apology for their horrific, insensi-tive nomination.

The New Jersey Hall of Fame in-cludes a wealth of talent includingJon Bon Jovi, Abbott and Costello,Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Lewis, WaltWhitman, Widrow Wilson, CountBasie, Larry Doby, Carl Lewis, MaryHiggins Clark, Leon Hess and manyothers who call New Jersey home.

Sean Pender, PresidentNew Jersey Ancient Order of

Hibernians

New Jersey Needs to Raise Gas TaxTo Maintain, Repair Our Roads

Frederick L. Gruel, CEO of NewJersey’s AAA club, is in all the papersspreading the word that road safetyand deteriorating road conditions arehis greatest concerns. But then heuses a survey of unhappy drivers (isthere any other kind in New Jersey?)to assert that a gas tax increase shouldbe the state’s last resort in addressingthose concerns. AAA has been a sup-porter of the gas tax in the past as longas it’s used only to fund transporta-tion, so Mr. Gruel’s “last resort” po-sition on an increase seems to be anew line in the sand.

Among the “funding” solutions Mr.Gruel says his members do supportare eliminating waste, fraud andabuse, stopping diversions of High-way Trust Fund money to the generalfund, and halting the use of gas taxrevenues for state DOT salaries. Allwell and good.

But that’s not really the problem, isit? New Jersey hasn’t increased itsgas tax in 23 years. Accounting forinflation, the 2.5-cent increase votedin 1988 is worth next to nothing nowbecause it is not indexed. We are oneof the wealthiest states in the U.S.

and have the second lowest gas tax inthe country, behind Alaska and Wyo-ming.

This is not just a New Jersey prob-lem. The Federal Highway Trust Fundis doling out more than it takes in andCongress won’t consider a gas-taxincrease to keep it solvent. The fed-eral gas tax runs about $19 per monthfor the average driver. A 10-cent-per-gallon increase would be enough tokeep our national highway system ingood repair, create jobs and shortendelays. That dime a gallon equalsabout $4 per month.

So, the question infrastructure ex-perts ask is: “will America let its mostimportant public investments crumblerather than pay $4 per month?”

Apparently yes. The last federalgas tax increase was in 1993 and thatwas a nickel, which is worth abouttwo cents today, after inflation.

Do AAA members in New Jerseyreally feel that they are being unfairlytaxed and should not have to paymore than they did in 1988 to use thestate’s public highways? Or is Mr.Gruel positioning his politically pow-erful organization for the comingbattle over how to save the state’sbankrupt Highway Trust Fund.

If the opponents of a gas-tax in-crease win that fight, then one of twothings will happen:

1. Roads will deteriorate, delayswill increase and the can will havebeen kicked down the road again,into our children’s laps. Every $1spent to keep a good road good pre-cludes spending $6 to $14 to rebuildone that has deteriorated.

2. Or some other source of newmoney besides highway user feeswill be used to shore up the HighwayTrust Fund. Income taxes? Propertytaxes? Sales taxes? Millionaires?Tolling free roads (we’re not build-ing any new ones)?

New Jersey already ranks 48th inthe Tax Foundation’s State BusinessTax Climate Index. Taxing salariesand wages or whatever to pay forrepairing roads would put New Jer-sey at the dismal bottom of that list.

In the 1950s, our parents/grand-parents worked hard, saved and paidfor New Jersey’s infrastructure, in-cluding the 14 different interstatehighways that we rely on to speed usto our jobs. That generation agreed todouble the New Jersey gas tax be-tween 1954 and 1972 to help buildthose roads. It’s our job to maintain,repair and rehabilitate them, and thattakes money and grownups to makethe right choices today.

William ReinhardtWestfield

Bill to Create ‘New Jersey TradeSecrets Act’ On Governor’s Desk

TRENTON – Legislation to help pro-tect the trade secrets of New Jersey busi-nesses has been approved by both housesof the Legislature and sent to the desk ofGovernor Chris Christie.

The New Jersey Trade Secrets Act (S-2456/A-921) would establish by law spe-cific remedies available to businesses inthe event that a trade secret – such as aformula, design, a prototype or invention– is misappropriated. The bill is based onlegislation that exists in 46 states and theDistrict of Columbia.

“The New Jersey Trade Secrets Actseeks to protect businesses operating inour state by creating severe legal conse-quences for individuals involved in thewrongful disclosure of confidential in-formation,” said Senator Nick Scutari(D-22, Linden).

A trade secret is defined in the bill asinformation, held by one or more people,without regard to form, including a for-mula, pattern, business data, program,device, method, technique, design, dia-gram, invention, plan, procedure, proto-type or process, that: (1) derives indepen-dent economic value, actual or potential,from not being generally known to, andnot being readily ascertainable by propermeans by, other persons who can obtaineconomic value from its disclosure oruse; and (2) is the subject of efforts thatare reasonable under the circumstancesto maintain its secrecy.

Under the bill, misappropriation meansthe acquisition of a trade secret of anotherby a person who knows or has reason toknow that the trade secret was acquiredby improper means, or improper disclo-sure or use of a trade secret of anotherwithout express or implied consent of thetrade secret owner. The holder of a tradesecret could seek the following remedies

for a misappropriation: damages for boththe actual loss suffered by the plaintiff andfor unjust enrichment of the defendantcaused by the misappropriation. Damagesmay also include the imposition of a rea-sonable royalty for unauthorized disclo-sure or use; injunctive relief for actual orthreatened misappropriation of a trade se-cret. Under certain exceptional circum-stances, an injunction may condition fu-ture use upon payment of a reasonableroyalty; and in cases involving the willfuland malicious misappropriation of a tradesecret, punitive damages, in an amount notexceeding twice that awarded for actualdamages and unjust enrichment.

In addition, a court would be able toaward attorneys fees in any action in-volving misappropriation if willful andmalicious misappropriation exists; a claimof misappropriation is made in bad faith;or a motion to terminate an injunction ismade or resisted in bad faith. The billstipulates that if a public entity or em-ployee is the defendant in any actioninvolving misappropriation of a tradesecret, the provisions of the New JerseyTort Claims Act would supersede anyconflicting provision of the bill.

“Sen. Scutari said, “This measure willgo a long way toward protecting thesebusinesses, and will place New Jersey onpar with 46 other states and the District ofColumbia in helping companies to guardtheir trade secrets.”

The Senate approved the bill 39-0 inSeptember; the Assembly approved it79-0 last week. The legislation wouldtake effect immediately, except it wouldnot apply to misappropriation that oc-curred prior to the effective date or to acontinuing misappropriation that beganprior to the date of the bill and continuedafter the effective date of the bill.

Hoboken FerryTerminal Is Back

HOBOKEN – For the first time innearly 45 years, ferry service is oper-ating at Hoboken Ferry Terminal. Thismarks the completion of a massive$120 million, nine-year redevelopmentand rehabilitation project of the FerryTerminal, owned by NJ Transit. Formore than 15 years, the Hoboken Ter-minal and Yard complex has been un-dergoing a major redevelopment andrehabilitation; the restoration of ferryservices marks an important milestonein this program. STV is the projectmanager for the entire rehabilitationprogram and also provided mechani-cal, electrical, plumbing, and indus-trial engineering design services.

The Ferry Terminal is one of the lastgrand operating ferry terminals in thecountry. It is an integral part of theHoboken Terminal, which is the larg-est multi-modal terminal in the NewYork Metro area and serves nearly60,000 commuters each weekday.

The Hoboken Terminal was oncethe crown jewel of the New Jerseyskyline. Ferry service at the terminalended in November 1967. As a result,portions of the building fell into seri-ous disrepair, and much of the uniqueBeaux Arts-inspired ornate coppercladding on the exterior had fallen off.In 1973, in an effort to save the build-ing, the complex was added to theNew Jersey and National Registers ofHistoric Places.

Horace Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesHAVING A GOOD TIME...Cub Scouts from Tamaques School in Westfieldvisited the newspaper office last Thursday to learn how the news is gathered,edited and published.


POLICE BLOTTER

Westfield PAL SlatesCoat Drive Sunday

WESTFIELD – The Westfield Po-lice Athletic League (PAL), in con-junction with other charitable orga-nizations in the community, will spon-sor its first annual holiday coat drivefor those in need.

Anyone interested in donating usedcoats, hats and gloves may drop theseitems off at the football shed inWestfield’s Tamaques Park this Sun-day, December 18, between 9 and 11a.m. Any size may be donated, frominfants up to adults.

The recipient of the holiday coatdrive will be St. Clare’s Home forChildren in Elizabeth. St. Clare’s pro-vides housing for children who havebeen removed from their homes aswell as those children infected withthe HIV virus.

For more information, call JohnDugan at (908) 868-2811 or OwenBrand at (908) 337-7282 with anyquestions.

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Former Assistant Union County Prosecutor

AN EAGLE EARNS HIS WINGS…David Jennings, 17, of Mountainside ispictured with Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, one of multiple dignitaries in atten-dance during the recent Court of Honor ceremony where he was awarded the rankof Eagle Scout. David received the distinction for his project, the design andconstruction of handicapped-accessible flower planters at Brighton GardensSenior Assisted Living in Mountainside. He is a member of Boy Scout Troop No.177. Also in attendance were Congressman Leonard Lance, the MountainsideRotary Club and Deirdre McGuiness from the American Cancer Society.

David Jennings Earns RankOf Eagle Helping Seniors

MOUNTAINSIDE – Seventeen-year-old David Jennings ofMountainside, a member of BoyScout Troop No. 177, recently earnedthe rank of Eagle Scout – the highestrank available in Boy Scouting.

To achieve this rank, David com-pleted a project that helped brightenthe lives of residents of BrightonGardens Senior Assisted Living inMountainside, some of whom arewheelchair-bound, enabling them tosit and tend to their blooms on theback patio of the facility.

Over the course of several monthsthis past year, and with the aid ofcommunity members, fellow scoutsfrom Troop No. 177, led by Scout-master Mark DiPietro, and Girl ScoutTroop No. 855, led by Troop LeaderMarianne Jennings, David built threeraised flower planters for BrightonGardens that can be used by seniorcitizens with limited mobility. Theseniors can sit down comfortablywhile tending their plants.

The planters were built from com-posite material for the boxes andtreated wood for the legs. ContainerManufacturing, Inc. donated all thematerials for the build, includingbulbs, aprons, gloves and spades forthe project, which also included a“hands-on” gardening class for theseniors.

David received his Eagle Scoutrank in November during an EagleScout Court of Honor ceremony atthe Community Presbyterian Churchin Mountainside, with many localdignitaries, family and friends in at-tendance.

Many of the senior residents fromBrighton Gardens also were on handat the ceremony. An especially touch-ing moment at the Court of Honor

was when one of the avid gardeners,with the help of a walker, made herway to the front of the audience. Sheremarked how much she especiallyenjoyed David’s visits in full uni-form, and thanked him, his friendsand other community members forbringing his project to fruition.

A member of Troop No. 177 since2000, David is a high-school seniorat the Academy for Allied HealthSciences in Scotch Plains. He alsohas raised thousands of dollarsthrough “Relay for Life” for theAmerican Cancer Society over thepast three years.

David is the son of Marianne andDave Jennings of Mountainside.

TREE TEAM…Westfield Area “Y”’s Men’s Club members and volunteersgather December 3 for a fresh delivery of 400 trees for the club’s annualChristmas Tree Sale. The sale is taking place now through Friday, December 23,at the Elm Street Athletic Field in Westfield.

‘Y”s Men Keep TraditionOf Annual Tree Sale Alive

WESTFIELD – The Westfield Area“Y”’s Men’s Club’s Annual Christ-mas Tree Sale has been a traditionsince 1953. The “Y”’s Men functionas a service club for the “Y” and localyouth by supporting worthy organi-zations.

Selling Christmas trees has beenthe club’s primary fund-raisingmethod. Since its inception, the “Y”’sMen have raised more than $2 mil-lion for community charitable grants.At approximately three tractor-trailerloads per year the number of treessold by the “Y”’s Men would fill

Giants Stadium, according to the club.An assortment of trees such as

Fraser Firs and Douglas Firs are avail-able, as are Balsam wreaths, pineroping, tree stands and tabletop trees.The tree sale is taking place at theElm Street Athletic Field in Westfield(across from Stop & Shop) nowthrough Friday, December 23. Salehours are Monday through Friday,3:30 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays andSundays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For moreinformation, visit westfieldynj.organd click on Community Calendarand Y’s Men’s Club.

Expectations Can DifferIn Marriage/Relationships

Peter M. Kalellis

WESTFIELD – All humans entermarried life or a significant relation-ship with a number of expectations.Some of these are tenderly verbalizedand expect fulfillment andothers remain silent. Inmarriage, each spouse mayact sacrificially to meet theother’s needs because thepounding heart and roman-tic feelings fuel the desireto please.

What happens whenthose feelings diminishand expectations seem toincrease? At times, expec-tations are not met becauseone spouse does not knowwhat is expected of him orher. For example, when the wife needsto be held and touched affectionately,instantly the husband, misinterpret-ing her expectation, expects sexualfulfillment. When husbands and

wives do not respect each other’ssexual expectations, they ignore avery important part of married life.

Dr. Peter M. Kalellis, a licensedtherapist and author ofseven self-help books, of-fers Individual, Marriageand Family Therapy at hisoffice, 232 St. Paul Streetin Westfield, N.J.: (908)232-6118. Individuals fac-ing personal problems orcouples in troubled rela-tionships experience VIPservice and find relief andsupportive solutions in theoffice of Dr. Kalellis.

Phone: (908) 232-6118.E - m a i l :

[email protected]: www.PeterKalellis.com

Paid Bulletin Boardgoleader.com/express

WestfieldMonday, December 5, a Westfield

resident reported the theft of a greenSchwinn mountain bicycle from thebicycle racks at the north-side trainstation lot. One of two cable locks onthe bicycle was missing; the otherwas left behind after being cut.

Monday, December 5, ChristianStevens, 49, of Garwood was arrestedand charged with driving while in-toxicated (DWI) following a motorvehicle accident on the 800 block ofWillow Grove Road. He was releasedto a sober adult.

Tuesday, December 6, AlyssaDorney, 33, of Manalapan was ar-rested after surrendering herself atpolice headquarters on an outstand-ing Old Bridge warrant. She was pro-cessed and posted $114 bail.

Saturday, December 10, LakethaGregory, 36, of Westfield was arrestedon Brightwood Avenue on multipleoutstanding warrants. They includeda Union County Sheriff’s no-bail war-rant, a Plainfield warrant for $250,two warrants from Elizabeth totaling$219 and a Roselle warrant for $96.She was processed and turned over tothe Union County Sheriff’s Office.

Sunday, December 11, a residentof the 100 block of Pearl Street re-ported the theft of a radio from amotor vehicle that was parked in frontof the house. Someone unknown en-tered the vehicle and removed a JVChead unit with CD player (blue andsilver in color), valued at approxi-mately $150.

Scotch PlainsMonday, December 5, a resident of

Grand Street reported that sometimeduring the day someone removed abicycle, valued at approximately$400, which had been left on the sideof his house.

Tuesday, December 6, MarekMarylski, 63, of Carteret was arrestedand charged with DWI after a motorvehicle stop on Raritan Road, at whichtime he failed multiple field sobrietytests, according to police. He wastransported to police headquarters,processed and released.

Wednesday, December 7, a resi-dent of Coles Avenue reported thatsometime during the day someoneremoved her cell phone, valued atapproximately $500, from her bag,which she had left unattended.

Thursday, December 8, a residentof Martine Avenue reported that helooked out of his window and ob-served an unknown suspect walkingacross his backyard.

Saturday, December 10, a residentof Stony Brook Circle reported thatsometime during the early eveningsomeone entered his house throughan upstairs window and, once inside,the suspect removed several thou-sand dollars worth of jewelry.

Saturday, December 10, a residentof Valleyscent Avenue reported thatsomeone broke the mirror on the pas-senger-side door of her motor ve-hicle, which was parked in the streetin front of her house.

Saturday, December 10, a residentof Lamberts Mill Road reported thatsometime overnight someonesmashed the driver’s-side window ofhis motor vehicle, which was parkedin front of his driveway.

Saturday, December 10, AnthonyMoskal, 23, of Scotch Plains wasarrested after a motor vehicle stop onRoute 22 on an outstanding $165warrant issued by the Fanwood Court.He was transported to police head-quarters, processed and released.

Sunday, December 11, BridgetteTurner, 45, of Carteret was arrestedand charged with DWI after a motorvehicle stop on Route 22, at whichtime the officer smelled the odor ofalcohol. According to police, after fail-ing multiple field sobriety tests at thescene she was transported to policeheadquarters, processed and released.

Monday, December 12, a residentof Celler Avenue reported that hernext-door neighbor yells at her everytime she leaves her house.

MountainsideTuesday, December 6, a surgery

center on Route 22 reported that ablack male, wearing a light-coloredcollared shirt and sweater, a hat and

sunglasses, was seen on a surveil-lance video entering a secured areaof the building that leads to thewomen’s locker room. According topolice, the suspect broke into lockersbefore leaving the secured area andgetting locked out.

Wednesday, December 7, a residentof South Orange came into policeheadquarters to report that he had pur-chased a motor vehicle from a gasstation on Route 22 and had made$1,150 in payments. According topolice, when the victim went to makeanother payment, the station was aban-doned. The victim stated that he wouldlike to either receive the vehicle or hismoney back, police said.

Friday, December 9, Vonetta J.Hunter, 49, of North Plainfield wasarrested after a motor vehicle stop onRoute 22 for allegedly driving with asuspended license. She was processedand released at the scene.

Saturday, December 10, Winton A.Alpizar, 49, of Chatham was arrestedand charged with DWI after a motorvehicle stop on Summit Road. Hewas transported to police headquar-ters, processed and released.

Saturday, December 10, an indi-vidual driving on Summit Road atapproximately 10:19 p.m. stated thatsomeone threw eggs at her car.

Sunday, December 11, a 17-year-old juvenile from Westfield was ar-rested and charged with DWI after amotor vehicle stop on New Provi-dence Road. He was transported topolice headquarters, processed andreleased to a responsible adult.

FanwoodThursday, December 1, Alfred

Crawford, 41, of East Orange wasarrested on an active warrant out ofMontclair after a motor vehicle stopat Terrill Road and South Avenue. Hewas processed, posted bail and re-leased.

Friday, December 2, a resident ofthe 20 block of Oakwood Court re-ported that someone attempted tobreak into his house. A doorknob wasfound broken off; however, entry tothe residence was not gained.

Friday, December 2, an individualmade a purchase at a store on the 500block of North Avenue and left hiswallet on the counter. According topolice, when he returned to the storethe next day, the wallet, which con-tained $190 in cash, was missing.

Sunday, December 4, Tayllor Coo-per, 25, of Rahway was arrested onan active warrant out of Bellmawrafter a motor vehicle stop at MidwayAvenue and Russell Road. He wasprocessed, posted bail and released.

Monday, December 5, ShivellDuncan, 33, of Hillside was arrestedon an active warrant out of Newarkafter a motor vehicle stop at SouthAvenue and Terrill Road. She wasprocessed and released by the New-ark Court.

Monday, December 5, RaheemBelin, 25, of Plainfield was arrestedon an active warrant out of Plainfieldafter a motor vehicle stop at SouthAvenue and Old South Avenue West.He was processed and turned over tothe Plainfield Police Department.

Tuesday, December 6, AlexanderLiberman, 31, of Summit was ar-rested on an active warrant out ofMountainside after a motor vehiclestop at Midway Avenue and ForestRoad. He was processed, posted bailand released.

Tuesday, December 6, WillieSpooner, 67, of Elizabeth was arrestedon a charge of providing false infor-mation to police and on an outstand-ing warrant out of Newark, after thevehicle in which he was a passengerwas involved in a motor vehicle acci-dent. He was processed and releasedpending his court hearing.

Sunday, December 11, VonettaHawkins, 37, of Rahway was arrestedon an active warrant out of Trentonafter a motor vehicle stop at Terrill andPaterson Roads. She was processedand released by the Trenton Court.

Monday, December 12, Luc Louis-Charles, 21, of Plainfield was arrestedon an active warrant out of Union aftera motor vehicle stop at Midway andWillow Avenues. He was processed,posted bail and released.

JCC-J Connection Invite AllFor ‘Lower East Side Day’

SCOTCH PLAINS – The JewishCommunity Center (JCC) of CentralNew Jersey and J Connection willhost “Community Lower East SideDay,” recalling the Lower East Sideof Manhattan of years past, on Sun-day, December 25. It will take placefrom 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the JCC,located at 1391 Martine Avenue inScotch Plains.

Participants will have an opportu-nity to travel down “Delancey Street”and play turn-of-the-century games;make their own egg creams in theSoda Shoppe and create a work of artin the Studio for Art and Soul. Snacks(or “noshes”) such as pickles from abarrel, potato knishes and lunch spe-cials will be available for purchase atthe café.

At 10:30 a.m. and noon, multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sruliand Lisa will perform Klezmer mu-sic, and attendees are welcome tobring their own instruments and playalong. There also will be a photodisplay entitled “A Glimpse of Jew-

ish Newark,” sponsored by TheManischewitz Company, and a com-munity Chanukah candle lighting.

This event will be open to the en-tire community and is made possiblein part by a 2011 HEART (History,Education, Arts Reaching Thousands)Grant from the Union County Boardof Chosen Freeholders.

The cost per family is $25. Pre-registration is suggested at jccnj.org.For more information, contact RandiZucker, J Connection director, at(908) 889-8800, extension no. 253,or [email protected].

J Connection is a partnership be-tween the JCC of Central New Jerseyand local synagogues and is fundedby a grant from the Jewish Federa-tion of Central New Jersey.

The JCC of Central New Jersey isa constituent agency of the JewishFederation of Central New Jersey,United Way of Greater Union Countyand the Westfield United Fund. Fi-nancial assistance is available formembership and various programs.


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WHS’ Oria Aspen Wows WithRemarkable Debut Album

Focusing her creativity and making her own way in music.

WESTFIELD – With her remark-able debut, “Yellow Paint,” 17-year-old Oria Aspen bursts onto the sceneand proves she is a musical force tobe reckoned with for many years tocome.

A collection of 13 original songs,all written by Oria, “Yellow Paint” isher deeply personal journey througheveryday life, which is sure to reso-nate with anyone who has ever had tonavigate the rocky road to adulthood.Sometimes sassy, sometimes heart-breaking, sometimes raucous, butalways passionate, “Yellow Paint”conveys the hopes, fears, frustrationsand joys that we all experience. With“Yellow Paint,” Oria has managednot only to paint a picture of herworld, but has invited us to be a partof it.

Her musical talent should come asno surprise – the daughter of ac-claimed jazz/blues/rock guitaristGlenn Alexander, Oria was raised ona steady diet of Ella Fitzgerald, BillieHoliday, Louis Armstrong, RayCharles, Aretha Franklin and JamesBrown. She was writing her ownsongs by the time she was 5, andsinging at her father’s jazz perfor-mances at age 8. An accomplishedflutist, Oria also plays piano. By age13, she was incorporating her love ofjazz and blues into the pop songs shewas meticulously crafting. The re-sult: “Yellow Paint” – a stark, honest,surprisingly mature, portrait of ayoung woman trying to find her placein the world.

A labor of love three years in themaking, there really is something foreveryone on “Yellow Paint,” as Oriahas written straight-up pop/rock songslike the first single, “Be My RockStar,” as well as “Burn Up In TheFlames,” “It’s You” and the title track,“Yellow Paint;” some punk vibes like“Party Song;” the beautiful ballad“Over The Rainbow;” a defiant soul/

rap groove called “Get Back;” gor-geous, heartfelt songs such as “LuckyTo Be Me” and “Last Song,” as wellas darker ballads like “Scars,”“M3NT@L” and “Forbidden Love.”Also included on the CD: Oria’s duetwith legendary New Jersey soul manand rocker, Southside Johnny, withtheir interpretation of the LouisArmstrong classic “What A Wonder-ful World.”

“Yellow Paint” not only showcasesOria’s impressive vocal ability andmasterful flute skills, but also revealsher exceptional songwriting talent.

Most songs were recorded in NewYork and New Jersey and featuresome of the East Coast’s most tal-ented and acclaimed musicians, in-cluding session ace and multi-reedman, Bob Magnuson; world-re-nowned drummers Shawn Pelton(who has worked with Shakira, Pink,Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow, ShawnColvin) and Van Romaine (EnriqueIglesias, Naughty By Nature, DeepPurple, Steve Morse); The AsburyJukes’ Jeff Kazee (keyboards), TheGeneral (guitar), John Conte (bass),Chris Anderson (trumpet) and NealPawley (trombone); Conan O’Brien’skeyboard wizard, Scott “Hollywood”Healy; producer and keyboardextraordinaire Michael Mancini, aswell as Nashville’s top session acesMike Durham, Tony Harrell, GregMorrow and Steve Mackey. The pro-duction and lush arrangements of“Yellow Paint” are courtesy of Oria’smusical partner and guitarist, TheGeneral.

“Yellow Paint” is available now oniTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, Tunecore,www.oriaaspen.com, locally atSound Station, 433 South Avenue,Westfield, and other fine music out-lets.


Menorah Lightings AmongLocal Chanukah Festivities

WESTFIELD – The UnionCounty Torah Center, located at 509Central Avenue in Westfield, hasannounced that a Menorah Light-ing ceremony will take place onTuesday, December 20, at 7 p.m. indowntown Westfield at the train sta-tion on North Avenue.

The Cranford Menorah Lightingwill take place across from the mu-nicipal building near the gazebo onThursday, December 22, at 7 p.m.

There will be music, refreshmentsand “Chanukah Gelt” for everyonein attendance. Chanukah, the Festi-val of Lights, will begin on Decem-ber 20 at sundown and continuethrough Tuesday, December 27.

The Torah Center will host a Fam-ily Chanukah Party on Wednesday,December 21, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.The program will feature a tradi-tional Chanukah dinner with latkes,lasagna, baked ziti, live entertain-ment and Chanukah gelt, plus Chris-topher Lueck will perform a showfor all ages. The suggested dona-tion is $5 per person. Children age3 and under may attend for free.Reservations are preferred but notrequired.

The Torah Center, together withthe Chai Center in Millburn, willsponsor a “Chanukah on Ice” eventon Saturday, December 24, from

6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Union SportsArena on Route 22, West, next toBest Buy, in Union.

Participants will skate to Jewishmusic while watching a Menorahbeing lit in the center of the rink.Refreshments will be served. Thecost is $10 per person, includingskates. Reservations are not re-quired.

The Torah Center and Gesher willpresent a Chanukah show for thewhole family entitled “Lights,” tobe aired on Tuesday, December 20,at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, December22, at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, Decem-ber 27, at 7:30 p.m. It will be broad-cast on Comcast Cable Channel 96.

The Torah Center will present aChanukah Story and Crafts Hourfor children ages 3 to 5 on Sunday,December 18, from 1 to 1:45 p.m.at the center. Children will listen toa story, learn about the holidaysand do an arts-and-crafts project.Popular holiday songs also will betaught. The fee is $5 per child. Res-ervations are required for this pro-gram by Friday, December 16.

For more information on any ofthese programs or to respond forthose where reservations are rec-ommended or required, call (908)789-5252 or [email protected].

Local Realtor Sees BusinessGrow Through Use of Video

Home Video Studio

WESTFIELD – When realtorSharon Steele wanted to pump upbusiness, she turned to video. Notvideo of the homes she’s selling(though video is mandatory thesedays in order to promote a prop-erty), but rather videos showcas-ing the community and its busi-nesses. Her approach, to marketthe town and local flavor, caughtthe attention of The Star-Ledger, a

reporter from which recently fol-lowed her around for several hoursas she interviewed business own-ers on camera for her series. Theirstory about Ms. Steele’s approachappeared in its Sunday businesssection (http://www.nj.com/busi-n e s s / i n d e x . s s f / 2 0 1 1 / 1 1 /post_147.html).

Ms. Steele, a Westfield-basedColdwell Banker realtor, startedthe project with videos of Cranfordbusinesses, one of the towns she

frequently covers. She’ll focus onWestfield and other Union Countytowns in the next set. For theCranford series, she interviewedowners of Pairings, Breadsmith,Kilkenny, Just 4 Pooches, I. De-signs, Cranford Hotel, ArtistFramer and Perrotti’s. The videosare featured on her Communitiespage at(www.sharonsteelerealestate.com).

To produce these videos, Ms.Steele turned to another locallyowned business, Home Video Stu-dios in Westfield, run by DanWeiniger (http://www.homevideostudio.com/dan).Mr. Weiniger is no stranger to video,since he shoots and edits a widerange of videos, including sportsand arts scholarship clips, tourna-ment highlights, performances, per-former stock reels, plus videos forfundraisers and family events.

Video is something every busi-ness should have on its website,said Mr. Weiniger. He noted thatonline video is the fastest growingmedia platform in history, and that72 percent of domestic Internetusers watch video clips online,more than those who follow blogsor other social networking plat-forms. Video reminds customersthat they’re doing business with anactual person, giving the businessa leg up, he said.

Ms. Steele told The Star-Ledgerthat her business is “sky-rocket-ing,” and she attributes that to hernew marketing projects. If you area Westfield small business and areinterested in being filmed for thisproject, please contact SharonSteele [email protected].

Home Video Studios can bereached at (908) 301-9300 [email protected].


Area Church to HoldNew Year CelebrationROSELLE PARK – The Church

of the Assumption invites the com-munity to ring in the New Year onSaturday, December 31, from 9p.m. to 1 a.m. in the church’s LoretiHall, located at 113 Chiego Placein Roselle Park.

DJ John DePalma will providemusic for dancing. There also willbe hot and cold hors d’oeuvres andother dishes prepared in the church’sown kitchen. Tickets are $35 perperson (Individuals must be at least21 years old to attend this BYOBevent). Participants also can reservetables for 8 to 10 people.

Tickets can be purchased in therectory and before and after allweekend Masses. For Mass timesand further information, visitassumptionrp.com. For rectoryhours, call the parish office at (908)245-1107.


Begun in 1876 by William Gray, in Cranford and later Incorporated in

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– Obituaries –Florence Swink, 92, Westfield Teacher;Active Parishioner and Avid Traveler

Florence G. Swink, 92, ofBridgewater died on Sunday, No-vember 20, 2011.

Florence was born and raised inWestfield, N.J. before moving toBridgewater in 1997. She was em-ployed as a schoolteacher with theWestfield Board of Education for over20 years, retiring in 1974.

She graduated from New JerseyCollege for Women in 1939 with aBachelor of Science degree and fromMontclair State in 1976 with a master’sdegree. Florence was a member ofThe Presbyterian Church in Westfield,where she served as a church elder,and the Westfield Music Club.

Florence was very proud of her latehusband, who was senior vice-presi-dent and treasurer at Rutgers Univer-sity. In her spare time, Florence en-joyed reading and needlepoint andtaught private math and piano les-

sons. She was an avid traveler andloved taking trips all over the world.She will be sadly missed by her fam-ily and friends.

She was predeceased by her hus-band, John, who died in 1991. Sur-viving are her daughters, NancyStogowski and her husband, Joseph,and Annette S. Merrill and her hus-band, Gregory; her brother, MyrtonGlover, Jr.; three grandchildren andsix great-grandchildren.

Services were private under thedirection of Bruce C. Van ArsdaleFuneral Home, 111 N. Gaston Av-enue in Somerville.

Donations can be made to the VNAof Somerset Hills, 200 Mount AiryRoad, Basking Ridge, N.J. 07920. Tosend condolences to the family, visitwww.brucecvanarsdalefuneralhome.com.

December 15, 2011

Ethel O’Shaughnessy, Active Locally;Opened Montessori School in CranfordEthel Marie (Shaw) O’Shaughnessy

of Fairfield, Conn. passed away peace-fully on Saturday, December 10, 2011,with family by her side.

Born in West New York, N.J., Etheland her late husband, James M.O’Shaughnessy, raised their six chil-dren in Westfield, N.J., where theywere active members of Holy Trinityparish and were dedicated volunteersin their community.

Ethel had been a resident ofFairfield, Conn. for the last 12 years,where she formed many close friend-ships and was active in family life asa mother and grandmother.

Ethel earned a Bachelor of Arts inEconomics from St. Elizabeth’s Col-lege, where she was a member of theAberdeens. She later earned her Mas-ters in Education from Kean Univer-sity and obtained a Montessori teach-ing certificate. With a lifelong loveof children and learning, Ethel wenton to teach Montessori and lateropened a Montessori school inCranford, N.J.

Ethel had a uniquely warm spirit, adeep faith and a charismatic pres-ence. She enjoyed playing bridge,attending theater and music perfor-mances and taking classes at the localcollege. Ethel had a wonderful life:she was a source of wisdom andinspiration in the lives of her ex-tended family and a spark of joy to allwho knew and loved her.

Ethel’s legacy lives on in her chil-dren, Mary Anne Kresse and her hus-band, Fred, of Seneca, S.C., KathyO’Shaughnessy and her husband,George Klitsch, of Stamford, Conn.,

Beth McTigue and her husband, Jerry,of Fairfield, Conn., JamesO’Shaughnessy and his wife, An-drea, of Medfield, Mass., EileenGrasso and her husband, Patrick, ofOld Greenwich, Conn. and MargaretSkikos and her husband, Peter, ofSanta Rosa, Calif.; 10 grandchildren,Philip and Michael Kresse, Ryan,Emily and Sarah O’Shaughnessy,Owen and Kate McTigue, and James,Andrew and Paul Grasso, and twogreat-grandchildren, Alyssa andKathyrn Kresse. She also is survivedby her sister, Anne Hickman of Pom-pano Beach, Fla., and brother, RogerShaw of Fort Lee, N.J.

Ethel’s family wants to express theirheartfelt gratitude to ShimoneFitzgerald for her loyal service totheir mother, and in her final days, tothe staff at St. Vincent’s Medical Cen-ter in Bridgeport, Conn.

A Mass of Christian Burial tookplace in Fairfield yesterday, Wednes-day, December 14, with interment atSt. Gertrude Cemetery in Colonia,N.J. Shaughnessey Banks FuneralHome in Fairfield, Conn. was en-trusted with the arrangements.

Memorial contributions may bemade in Ethel’s name to: The ShrineChurch of Saint Anthony of PaduaFranciscan Friars, 154 Sullivan Street,New York City, N.Y. 10012 or Foodfor the Poor, 6401 Lyons Road, Co-conut Creek, Fla. 33073-3602 orwww.foodforthepoor.org. To send anonline condolence, please visitwww.shaughnesseybanks.com.

December 15, 2011

I N S E S S I O NI N S E S S I O NI N S E S S I O NI N S E S S I O NI N S E S S I O N

By Carol Pedro, Exec. Dir. Youth & Family Counseling Service

Acts of Love and KindnessCan Boost Holiday Spirits

’Tis the season! Observing thetraffic, the malls and local stores, itis no surprise we sometimes see anincrease in depression and anxietyat this time of year. Rushing aroundto make it to parties, get shoppingdone and decorate is exhausting.Many people share struggling withfamily and financial difficulties aswell as adjusting to longer andcolder nights. Some suffer fromSeasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)or General Anxiety Disorder(GAD).

SAD is characterized by a de-pression which usually occurs inthe winter. Symptoms may includelethargy, increased appetite and lossof interest in activities.

GAD is a pattern of frequent,constant worry over many differentsituations.

Q: Thirty-four-year-old Michael,a client of approximately two yearswith a history of GAD, expressesan increase in anxiety and depres-sion. Michael states, “I feel over-whelmed but can’t get motivated; itseems worse now…I just want tosleep. I’m worried about money tobuy gifts and seeing my family overthe holidays…we don’t all getalong.”

A: After supporting Michael’s feel-ings and checking that he is main-taining his current self-care regimen,i.e. taking medications prescribed andusing appropriate coping skills, wecreate a plan. Explaining the possi-bility of SAD, I suggest reducingcaffeine intake, avoiding alcohol andadding a schedule of exercise to hisdaily activities. Understanding hislong history of anxiety and depres-sion, we review what has worked in

the past. Keep healthy sleeping andeating habits. It’s okay to say “no” toa party or gift exchange. Keep a senseof humor and try to do somethingfun. According to Yale psychologistPaul Bloom, watching a holidaymovie and sharing a Christmas storyis one of the primary mechanisms formaking society “nicer” with theiruplifting messages and themes ofhope, giving, love, charity, gratitudeand kindness.

So when you feel stressed or downthis holiday season, do somethingloving and giving. Visit a shelter,soup kitchen or hospital. Devotetime to kids and the elderly throughvolunteering. Spend an afternoonto celebrate with those less fortu-nate. Giving isn’t only about pre-sents. Give your time, your supportand your love. Have a hot cup ofcocoa with lots of marshmallowsand remember – “Love is the fruitof all times and within reach ofevery hand.” – Mother Teresa.

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Margaret Swett, 91, Was Known ForMusic, Garden and Culinary Talents

Following a remarkable life of 91years, Margaret Swett passed peace-fully on Wednesday, December 7,2011. Surrounded by family andfriends to the end, Margaret waspreceded in death by her husband,Warren P. Swett, and leaves behindthree children, Dianne Schultz,Geoffrey Swett and Graham Swett,as well as four grandchildren and agreat-grandchild.

Born Margaret Agnes Skinner inBrisbane, Australia, Margaret had twosisters, Joan Weyer, who precededher in death, and Valma Gregory,who still resides in Australia. She mether husband-to-be, Warren, who wasstationed there during World War II,while playing violins together in alocal orchestra. They married in Aus-tralia, and Margaret later boarded aship to follow him across the PacificOcean, still being prowled by Japa-nese submarines, for her new homein the United States. They settled inNew Jersey, where Margaret soonbecame busy raising their childrenand making a home for her family,which always came first.

In spite of her busy family life,Margaret enjoyed the musical arts andmade time, along with her husband, toplay her violin with the PlainfieldSymphony Orchestra. She also joined,and became chairman of, a local cho-ral group, the Chansonettes; sang with

her church choir and was an activemember and later president of theWestfield Musical Club.

In her later years, living in Onset,Mass., she became an active memberof the Wareham Garden Club, whereshe won awards for her floral ar-rangements. Her culinary skills werelegendary among her friends and fam-ily, and a dinner party at her house forher “Marching and Munching”friends was not to be missed. Marga-ret also was an avid traveler, andfollowing Warren’s retirement theysaw many parts of the world together,including a trip back to her homelandand, closer to home, an adventuroustrip down the Inland Waterway on thefamily sailboat. She made for herselfand those close to her a remarkablelife indeed. Her energy, her commit-ment to excellence and her heartylaugh will be missed by all thosewhose lives she touched and thosefortunate enough to know her.

In lieu of any flowers friends andfamily may wish to send, her childrenask that a donation be made inMargaret’s memory to The Yale Schoolof Medicine, Office of Development,P.O. Box 7611, New Haven, Conn.06519-7611, Attention: RichardGalietter. All donations will go to-wards macular degeneration research.

December 15, 2011

WF Foundation AwardsGrants to Seven Recipients

WESTFIELD – Westfield Foun-dation trustees recently selectedgrant recipients for the fourth quar-ter of 2011. Established more than35 years ago, the Foundation seeksto enhance and enrich the lives ofthose in Westfield and surroundingcommunities.

The Foundation granted more than$34,500 to seven local programs andprojects benefiting all segments ofWestfield and surrounding commu-nities. These grants will be used forprojects such as a suicide interven-tion-training program, therapy forvictims of domestic abuse, counsel-ing for children with limited accessto mental health care, and special-ized car seats and computer equip-ment for disabled children.

The Westfield Foundation favorsgrants for programs or projects thatfocus primarily on the communityof Westfield or groups serving theWestfield community. Areas of fo-cus include education; the arts andother cultural activities; civic, healthand human services; community de-velopment, and the conservationand preservation of historical re-sources.

This quarter’s recipients includeCONTACT We Care, Kean Univer-sity (Premier Stages), YWCA East-ern Union County PALS program,Children’s Specialized HospitalFoundation, Youth and FamilyCounseling Service, WestfieldCommunity Players and JewishFamily Services.

The Westfield Foundation is aturnkey solution for individuals andfamilies who want to leave a legacyin the community. The Foundationcurrently is holding its annual ap-peal within the community. Tax-

deductible donations made by localresidents allow the Foundation tokeep thriving and giving back to thelocal community.

The Foundation’s funds are pro-fessionally invested and the incomegenerated is granted to carefullyscreened applicants throughout theyear. Since its inception, the Foun-dation has distributed more than $4million. With the support of thecommunity, the Foundation con-tinues to assist agencies and pro-grams in need of financial assis-tance.

For more information about theWestfield Foundation, visit its website,thewestfieldfoundation.com. Anyoneinterested in contributing to the Foun-dation is asked to contact BetsyChance, executive director, [email protected] or (908)233-9787 with any questions.

FOUNDATION BREAKFAST…The Westfield Foundation recently hosted its10th annual Cornerstone Breakfast November 8 at Echo Lake Country Club inWestfield. The Cornerstone Society is composed of former trustees to the Founda-tion. The breakfast serves as a venue to keep former trustees apprised of theFoundation’s current work. Representatives from Literacy Volunteers of UnionCounty spoke at this year’s event about the impact of the funding for their program.Pictured, left to right, are: Arlene Klemow, development director for LiteracyVolunteers of Union County; Elizabeth Gloeggler, executive director of LiteracyVolunteers of Union County, and Anthony J.R. Cook, president of the Foundation.

La Leche League ListsMeeting Schedule

WESTFIELD – La Leche Leagueis an international, non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated toproviding support, encouragement,information and education to womenwho want to breastfeed.

All women interested inbreastfeeding are encouraged to attenda group meeting. Babies and childrenare welcome. Meetings cover topicsrelated to all aspects of breastfeeding.From January through April, La LecheLeague of Westfield will meet the sec-ond Thursday of each month at 10 a.m.and the fourth Wednesday at 7 p.m.

More information is available atlalecheleaguewestfield.weebly.com/. For questions and meeting loca-tions, e-mail a La Leche League leaderat [email protected].

‘Icy Moons of Saturn’ to BeAAI Topic Tomorrow NightCRANFORD – Amateur Astrono-

mers, Inc. (AAI) will hold its monthlymeeting tomorrow, Friday, Decem-ber 16, at 8 p.m. in the Roy SmithTheater on the Cranford campus ofUnion County College (UCC), lo-cated at 1033 Springfield Avenue.

Guest speaker Andy Poniros,NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassa-dor, will present “The Icy Moons ofSaturn.” Mr. Poniros will guide at-tendees on an exploration of the Sat-urn system using multiple images andscientific data collected by the Cassinispacecraft and Huygens probe. Fea-tured will be Saturn’s moons, Titanand Enceladus, plus several other icymoons, the planet itself and its rings.Some discoveries made by the Cassiniscience team will be included.

Mr. Poniros received an ASEE inElectrical Engineering fromNorwalk State Technical College in1974 and has worked as a medicalimaging engineer for 37 years. He isNASA Lunar Rock Kit Demonstra-tion Certified, a science reporter forWPKN Radio (WPKN.org) and is amember of the Astronomical Soci-ety of New Haven.

Following his presentation, attend-ees will be able to join AAI membersat the William Miller Sperry Obser-vatory, also located on the CranfordUCC campus, for refreshments and

the chance to look through the twolargest amateur telescopes in thenortheast (weather permitting).

Sperry Observatory is open to thepublic every Friday evening, rain orshine, between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.for an informal talk and observing.For more information, visit AAI’swebsite, asterism.org, or call (908)276-STAR. Admission and parkingare free.

Shabbat Dinner and ShowSet For Tomorrow at CBI

SCOTCH PLAINS – CongregationBeth Israel will hold its annual ShabbatFamily Dinner and Hanukkah Showtomorrow, Friday, December 16, be-ginning at 5:45 p.m. Sponsored by thesynagogue’s Sisterhood, the family-friendly dinner will feature a tradi-tional Friday night Shabbat meal alongwith customary Hanukkah fare.

After dinner, the CBI Players, astudent performance group, will puton an original Hanukkah-themedshow designed to appeal to all ages.Congregation Beth Israel’s Fridayevening services will follow at 7:30p.m. The evening’s activities will beopen to the community.

This year’s show, entitled “WhoNeeds Presents?,” will tell the story ofa group of young people who discoverthe true meaning of Hanukkah. It waswritten and is being directed by Alison

Simon, a Westfield High School jun-ior and student in Congregation BethIsrael’s Akiba Academy Hebrew HighSchool. The play will feature a cast ofstudents of all ages from Congrega-tion Beth Israel’s Religious School.

“The Hanukkah Dinner and Showis always a really fun evening forboth adults and kids and a great wayto start off the holiday season,” saidRachel Scharf, Sisterhood event co-chairwoman. “The young childrenespecially enjoy watching a play per-formed by other kids. And afterwards,parents can introduce their childrento our casual, family-friendly Fridaynight services.”

For more information or to regis-ter, call Sisterhood Co-ChairwomenRachel Scharf at (908) 232-8715 orClaire Bornstein at (908) 789-1215,or the synagogue office at (908) 889-1830. Congregation Beth Israel islocated at 18 Shalom Way (corner ofMartine Avenue) in Scotch Plains.

CELEBRATE HANUKKAH!…The CBI Players are pictured rehearsing fortheir performance tomorrow evening, Friday, December 16, when CongregationBeth Israel of Scotch Plains presents its annual Shabbat Family Dinner andHanukkah show, beginning at 5:45 p.m.

FESTIVE FALL ARRANGEMENTS…Nancy Nicholls, left, and Sue Faulkner,members of the Floraphile Garden Club of Cranford, are pictured during thegroup’s Thanksgiving Centerpiece Workshop that was held November 21 at theCranford Community Center.

Floraphile to PresentSocial Holiday Event

CRANFORD – The Floraphile Gar-den Club of Cranford will hold itsannual social holiday gathering onMonday, December 19, at 12:30 p.m. Itwill take place at Cheese…Please!, lo-cated at 26 Eastman Street in Cranford.

Club members will sample an as-sortment of cheeses and treats alongwith seasonal beverages. The cost toattend is $5 for members and $12 fornon-members. To make reservations,contact Mary Ellen [email protected].

Founded in 1950, Floraphile hasbeen an active and integral part of theCranford community for more than60 years. For more information aboutthe organization, contact Debra [email protected] to find outabout workshops, tours and programslined up for Spring 2012.

Temple Sholom PlansChanukah Shabbat

FANWOOD – Temple Sholom ofFanwood/Scotch Plains invites all toattend its special Chanukah Shabbatservice at 6 p.m. on Friday, Decem-ber 23, followed by a kosher-style,potluck dinner with the congregationat 7 p.m. Participants are encouragedto bring a family menorah for thatevening’s candle lighting.

Temple Sholom currently is housedwithin the Fanwood PresbyterianChurch, located at Martine andLaGrande Avenues. For more infor-mation or to register, visitsholomnj.org or call (908) 889-4900.

Y Gymnastic TeamHosts Toy Drive

SCOTCH PLAINS – TheFanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA hasannounced that the Y GymnasticTeam is hosting its 16th Annual ToyDrive. The gymnasts are seekingunwrapped gifts for children of allages – infants through 18 years old.A Gift Suggestion Tree is stationedby the Gymnastic Office at theYMCA, located at 1340 MartineAvenue in Scotch Plains.

Interested participants are invitedto take a tag and return it with anunwrapped gift by Tuesday, De-cember 20, to the Fanwood-ScotchPlains YMCA. Anyone can donateand all gifts will be distributed tochildren in need within the localcommunity.


Celebrate ChristmasFESTIVAL OF ADVENT LESSONS & CAROLS

Sunday, December 18 at 10:00 A.M.

Works of Archer, Bach, Stanford, Nestor, Handel & Schubert.

FAMILY EUCHARIST & CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

Saturday, December 24 at 4:00 P.M.

with St. Paul’s Primary & Junior Choirs

CHRISTMAS EVE CHORAL EUCHARIST

Saturday, December 24 at 10:00 P.M.

Carol Sing at 9:45 P.M.

with St. Paul’s Treble & Parish ChoirsBrass Quintet & Percussion

Works of Willcocks, Schubert & Nestor

CHRISTMAS DAY EUCHARIST

Sunday, December 25 at 10:00 A.M.

with Homily & Carols

The Rev’d Andrew C. Hamersley, rectorCharles M. Banks, director of music & organist

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church414 East Broad Street in Westfield

(across from Town Hall)

Information: 908-232-8506, EXT. 10

www.stpaulswestfield.org

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The Evalyn Dunn GalleryWelcomes Joyous Crowd

Jacie Civins welcomes all to the Evalyn Dunn Gallery

WESTFIELD – On Saturday andSunday, December 3 and 4, a joyouscrowd gathered for the Grand Cel-ebration of the redesigned and en-larged Evalyn Dunn Gallery on SouthAvenue in Westfield. Founded byEvalyn and Benjamin Dunn, parentsof proprietor Jaclyn Civins, gueststook time to stroll the gallery as theysipped wine and enjoyed horsd’oeuvres.

Boasting the essence of style anddesign, Ms. Civins captured the pa-nache of Worth Avenue in PalmBeach, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills,5th Avenue, Park Avenue, and theexciting Soho in Manhattan. As acurator, The Evalyn Dunn Gallerycontinues to be a local venue for theexhibition and presentation of thefinest 21st-century American andEuropean artists around the world.

Enter the gallery and become to-tally mesmerized by enormous paint-ings of magnificent gardens artisti-cally suspended from the ceiling.Bursting in vivid colors of Purple asin Iris, Yellow as in Daffodils, andWhite as in Snapdragons, you’recompletely ensconced in a replicaof Monet’s Garden. And while it iseasy to imagine a walk down a vividpath leading to a charming cottagepainted Yellow, with Kelly Greenshutters and a Purple roof, suspendedjust below this Ron Hedrick work ofart, is the Essence of Vancouver –Light! Note the preponderance ofsunlight and shadows as they carryyou down a path to perhaps a lake,pond or secret garden.

As featured artists of the Gallery,Ron Hedrick and his daughter, Jes-sica, are known for “The Essence ofLight,” their fantastic landscapes andtheir fine collection of ballet dancers.

“We discovered the Hedrick fam-ily while on a tour of Vancouver,”said Ms. Civins. “The father-daugh-ter team concentrates on landscapesas well as figurative works of art.”

Divided into specific areas, passthe “Gardens” and enter the “Worldof Destinations.” From Spain, toParis, then Venice, and back to Rome,Italy, you’re quickly whisked up toBen and Jerry’s Vermont, beforeheading down to Central Park, whereyou’re privy to blossoms, exotic au-tomobiles and a special departmentspecifically designed for the selec-tion of frames in all shapes and sizes.And of course, more paintings. Thistime by Michele Byrne of Pennsyl-vania, who says, “It is my intentionto live the rest of my life as an artist.For I believe art and life are insepa-rable.”

New to the Evalyn Dunn Gallery isa selection of giftware. A selection oforiginal pastels are signed, dated andframed for a mere $28. Then charm-ing, mini bud vases, perfect for lav-ender or teeny buds, are available inassorted colors of burnt orange, red,purple and tobacco ($38).

Along with all of the bibelots dis-played on the walls and shelves ofthis 2,300-square-foot gallery, doremember it’s the place to visit forcustom framing. Rest assured a cer-tified framer will do his best topresent your work exactly as you’ve

always dreamed it would appear onyour wall.

But there is an even greater attrac-tion for those who truly admire fineand precious art. Off to a corner, JacieCivins proudly displays original worksby Renoir, Degas and Whistler. Thus,an even greater reason to visit TheEvalyn Dunn Gallery. Savor the plea-sure of positive comments, as youchat about all of the gorgeous artworkyou’ve been lucky enough to enjoy.

Location: Evalyn Dunn Gallery,549 South Avenue, West, Westfield.Phone: (908) 232-0412.


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IHM Slates Sunday Concert;Announces Holiday Services

SCOTCH PLAINS – The Immacu-late Heart of Mary Parish will host aChoir Concert this Sunday, December18, beginning at 3 p.m. It will takeplace in the Main Church, located at1571 Martine Avenue in Scotch Plains.

The concert, featuring both reli-gious classics and Christmas stan-dards, will be offered as part of thechurch’s season of Advent prepara-tion. It will showcase the voices of itsAdult, Children’s and ContemporaryChoirs under the direction of MusicMinistry Director Katie Wills. Ad-mission will be free and open to allbut donations will be accepted tosupport the Music Ministry.

Immaculate Heart of Mary alsohas announced its schedule for Christ-mas and New Year celebrations. OnChristmas Eve, Saturday, December24, the parish’s annual Children’sNativity Pageant will be presented at3:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 4 p.m.Early arrival is advised to ensure bestseating. Additional Christmas EveMasses will be celebrated at 6 and10:30 p.m.

On Christmas Day, Sunday, Decem-ber 25, Mass will be celebrated at 9a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon (there will beno 7:45 a.m. Mass on Christmas Day).

On New Year’s weekend the nor-mal Mass schedule will apply: Satur-

day, December 31, at 5:30 p.m., andSunday, January 1, at 7:45 a.m., 9a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon. All arewelcome.

For additional information or di-rections, call the parish office at (908)889-2100, visit the parish website,ihmparish.net, or [email protected].

Library AnnouncesHoliday Closings

GARWOOD – The Garwood Pub-lic Library, located at 411 Third Av-enue, will be closed for holiday ob-servances and maintenance on thefollowing days: Saturday, December24, for Christmas Eve; Monday, De-cember 26, in observance of Christ-mas; Thursday and Friday, Decem-ber 29 and 30, for maintenance, andSaturday, December 31, for NewYear’s Eve.

The library will be open for busi-ness on Tuesday and Wednesday,December 27 and 28, from 9 a.m. to8 p.m. During the days the library isclosed, the outdoor book drop will beopen for any returns that come due.Patrons are advised that DVDs andaudiobooks must be returned insideto the Circulation Desk to avoid anadditional fee.

PCW Men to Discuss EgyptDuring Breakfast SaturdayWESTFIELD – The Men’s Group

of The Presbyterian Church inWestfield (PCW) will present a pub-lic discussion of current events inEgypt and the Islamic/Christian in-terface by Ehab Gad this Saturday,December 17, at 7:30 a.m. in Assem-

bly Hall on the ground floor of thePresbytery on Mountain Avenue.

Mr. Gad is an Egyptian Coptic Chris-tian who has lived in the United Statesfor many years and still has manyclose ties in Egypt. He currently isemployed with Chanel, where he isthe chief union representative.

The PCW Men’s Group meets onthe first and third Saturdays of eachmonth for breakfast and a discussionof topical events and spiritual issuescentral to the enrichment of men’slives and their interaction with theirfamilies and the community at large.

These meetings are open to all men,and visitors and new members areencouraged to attend. The Presbyte-rian Church in Westfield is located at140 Mountain Avenue in Westfield.

The breakfast and discussion ses-sions last for 90 minutes. A nominal$5 donation for breakfast is requested.For more information, contact ThePresbyterian Church at (908) 233-0301 or by e-mail [email protected]; visit thechurch website, westfieldpc.org, orcontact Doug Miller [email protected].

County Invites PublicTo Carol Sing Dec. 23ELIZABETH – The Union County

Board of Chosen Freeholders and thecounty manager invite members ofthe public to join them for the 56thAnnual Christmas Carol Sing-alongevent on Friday, December 23.

Participants will gather around theRotunda Christmas Tree on the mainfloor of the Union County Court-house building, located at 2 BroadStreet in Elizabeth, at 10:30 a.m.

County Manager Alfred Faella willbe master of ceremonies. FreeholderChairwoman Deborah Scanlon willoffer the welcome. The program willfeature Christmas caroling, with BillLee, Superior Court, solo, and GlenMerritt, Facilities Management Di-vision, on keyboard.

Cranford Historical SocietyPlans ‘Civil War Christmas’CRANFORD – The Civil War

Sesquicentennial Committee of theCranford Historical Society willpresent “A Civil War Christmas” onSunday, December 18, from 2 to 4p.m. at the Crane-Phillips HouseMuseum.

Nineteenth-century holidays willbe recreated in the museum parlor.Civil War re-enactors from the 2ndRhode Island Volunteers CompanyD will be at the museum to demon-strate rug hooking and church dollmaking. Adding to the ambiancewill be music that would have beenplayed during the Civil War. Therealso will be a Louisa May Alcottreading. Louisa May Alcott was anauthor, Civil War nurse, abolition-ist, educator and health-care re-former. Additionally, visitors willhave an opportunity to make a lav-ender sachet to take home.

The 150th anniversary of theAmerican Civil War began this yearand will run until 2015. On October

27, 2009, the Township of Cranfordadopted a resolution designating theCranford Historical Society as thelead organization for commemo-rating that defining period of Ameri-can history. The Society will spon-sor educational and entertainingprograms throughout the anniver-sary designed to broaden publicawareness of the transformativeevents leading to the conclusion ofthat great struggle.

The Crane-Phillips House Museumis located at 124 North Union Avenuein Cranford. Admission will be free.For further information, call the his-torical society’s office at (908) 276-0082 or [email protected] in 1927, the Cranford His-torical Society’s mission is to preserveand perpetuate the history of Cranford.

SANTA VISIT…Members of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Newcomers’ Club heldtheir annual Holiday Breakfast with Santa December 3 to help women andchildren in need of basic supplies this winter. Several bins of baby items, includingabout 400 diapers, winter clothes and toiletries, were donated to Raphael’s LifeHouse in Elizabeth, a transitional home and support center for young drug- andalcohol-free women who are homeless and pregnant. Children from 35 familiesattended the event. Pictured with Santa, from left to right, are: Kevin Wright,Emily Wernert and Bennie Sokolowski. For more information, visitscotchplains.com/newcomers/.

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Raiders’ Goal Remains Same;Win Conference in Basketball

By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Outstanding athletes may havegraduated, but for this year’s ScotchPlains-Fanwood High School boysbasketball team, the goal remains thesame – win the conference!

Last year, the Raiders finished 20-9, won their first two games in theUnion County Tournament beforefalling to national power St. Patrick’s

and advanced to the semifinals of theNorth Jersey, Group 3, Section 2 Tour-nament.

Chuck Oliver, their all-aroundshooting sensation, and Pat Dougher,an accurate outside shooter, havegraduated, and Matt Jegede, a seniorforward known as “The Chairman ofthe Boards” is out for the season aftersurgery, so the remaining Raidershave quite a challenge if they want to

win the Mountain Division of theUnion County Conference(MDUCC).

“I think a lot of people may thinkwe are down, but I am confident thatwe can really defend and really do agood job this year. We still have highhopes. Our goal every year is win aconference,” Raider Head Coach DanDoherty said.

KALIMTZIS, ROTONDO, OPOKU, BARBER STEP IT UP

Blue Devil Wrestlers ReturnExperienced Squad to Mats


Westfield High School (WHS)wrestling history was made last yearwhen the Blue Devils finished with a16-7 record to tie the all-time WHSrecords for win. Additionally, Chris-tian Barber, then a senior, became thefirst NJSIAA state champion in 35years, but even better, the Blue Dev-ils have returned all but two varsitystarters.

Six wrestlers, who qualified for theRegion 3 Tournament, head up a

group of approximately 40, and allthe weight classes have the potentialof being filled.

Senior Mike Kalimtzis, a two-timeUnion County Tournament (UCT)and District 11 champion at 103-lbs,placed second in the region and quali-fied for Atlantic City (AC) last yearand finished with a 33-5 record tobring his career record to 77-21.Kalimtzis will compete at 120-lbs.

“Mike has done everything right.He had a great junior year. He isgoing to follow it up. He set his goals

even higher. He is stepping up as aleader on this team,” Blue Devil HeadCoach Glen Kurz said.

Junior Nick Rotondo, who wontwo bouts at regions last year andfinished 19-11, will compete at 132-lbs.

“He’s going to follow up a strongsophomore year with an even betterjunior year. The sky is the limit forhim. He is still relatively new to thesport, but he is very instinctive. He’snot afraid to mix it up with kids. He’s

SEBOLAO, SWEENEY SELECTED RAIDER CAPTAINS

Lady Basketball Raiders TryMuch Different ApproachBy DAVID B. CORBIN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Team strengths and weaknessesvary from year to year, so with that inmind, this year’s Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School girls basket-ball team has been focusing on a

much different approach.Last year, the Lady Raiders had a

strong inside-outside offensive ap-proach with the inside power of AysiaPeterson and the outside shootingability of Evie Klotz; however, somebreakdowns on defense cost them

several victories, even though theyfinished with a respectable 15-12record.

“Last year, a lot of times we beatourselves. We were in games andsomething happened. I feel, as long

Blue Devil Boys Compete at Nike NationalsRunning as the Blue Devil Track

Club, the Westfield High Schoolcross-country team competed in theNike Nationals held in Portland, Ore.On December 3.

The Blue Devils received the bidby finishing third in the Nike North-east Regional Cross-Country meet atBowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls,N.Y. on November 26. Although the

top-two teams in each of the eightregions received an automatic bid tothe nationals, Westfield’s perfor-mance with an average time of 16:50earned them an at-large bid. Expensesto Portland were paid by Nike.

Obviously the competition wasvery stiff at the nationals, which fea-tured 22 teams running on the soggyPortland Meadows course. JackLeahy, who placed first at the re-gional meet with a time of 16:08, wasthe first Blue Devil boy to finish with

a time of 16:44 (132nd place). MattLuppino finished 144th with a timeof 16:50, Kevin Smith crossed 148that 16:52 and David Carville came in161st at 17:00. Evan Tarlow finished167th at 17:07, and John Kirna fin-ished 173rd at 17:15.

Probitas Verus Honos




Read Regional Meet StoryIn the December 1 Issue of

The Westfield Leader

Courtesy of Oliver Kirna for The Westfield Leader and The TimesREADY TO START…The Blue Devil Track Club, green uniforms, competed at the Nike Cross-Country Nationals inPortland, Ore. on December 3. The seven Blue Devil competitors were: Jack Leahy, Matt Luppino, Kevin Smith, KevinIngram, David Carville, Evan Tarlow and John Kirna.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesREADY TO LEAD THE RAIDERS…Team captains, pictured, left to right, are: Ian Johnston, Anthony Byers and DominicGonzalez, who will lead the Raider boys basketball team into another exciting season.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesTALENTED RETURNING VETERANS…The Blue Devil wrestling team has a host of talented returning veterans.Pictured, left to right, are: Colin Barber, Mike Kalimtzis, Nick Rotondo and Ellis Opoku.

Union County Wrestling PreviewWill Be in December 22 Issue


Outside of 106 pounds, everywhereWHS wrestling coach Glen Kurzlooks he sees familiar faces. Of course,one of the faces he does not see isChristian Barber, who won the statetitle at 152 pounds last winter and iscurrently at the University of NorthCarolina.

But Kurz, who has a 121-112 recordin 13 years at the helm of his almamater, has proven his teams are toughto beat when it fills all the weights,and that should not be a problem thiswinter.

Last winter the Blue Devils were16-7. This year’s seniors were fresh-men on the last WHS team to qualifyfor the state team tournament, beat-ing Piscataway before falling to NorthHunterdon in 2009. That team had a16-2 dual-meet record.

When Kurz (’91) was a standout atWHS, his teams qualified for the stateteam tourney in his sophomore, jun-ior and senior years, winning the sec-tion in ’90 before falling in the stateGroup 4 final to Madison Central(now Old Bridge).

Here’s a glance at this year’s prob-able lineup:106: freshmen John Fuller or NickKalimtzis;113: junior Anthony Aldana was 6-19;120: senior Mike Kalimtzis was 33-5 at103, winning two holiday tourneys anda district title;126: sophomore Nick Velez – 16-17 at112, junior Pat Currie – 11-9 at 125;132: junior Nick Rotondo – 19-11 at 130;138: senior Ellis Opoku – 26-12 at 135;145: senior Troy Skibitsky – 14-6 at 140in an injury-shortened season;152: junior Colin Barber – 22-12 at 145;160: junior Brian Bulger – 13-5 at 160,senior Keith Peterson – 14-12 at 130,senior Mike DeLouisa – 7-8 at 160;170: one of the above;182: senior Kieran Cline – 19-12 at 189;195: senior Luke Gibbons – 12-16 at215, while seniors Nick Knepper andOzan Oral didn’t wrestle varsity;220: one of the above;285: senior Kyle Kania – 19-18 at 285.

“That’s a pretty solid lineup if ev-erybody gets down to those weightsand stays healthy,” Kurz said. “Three 6a.m. practices a week should get theexcess fat off.”

That’s a combined total of 231 winsand 162 losses returning.

The Blue Devils open up this Satur-day in the Maroon Raider Classic atNutley. Last year WHS finished thirdand had five individual winners: Chris-tian Barber and returnees Kalimtzis,Currie, Rotondo and Kania.

Kalimtzis brings a 76-21 careerrecord into the season, while Skibitskyis 60-25.

SWIMMING UPDATEThe boys had a tough meet on Tues-

day against Summit and Wallace Poolwill really start heating up now. Two-time defending state Public A cham-pion Bridgewater-Raritan visits tomor-row at 2:30, while archrival and de-fending state Public B king ScotchPlains-Fanwood comes to town onThursday, Dec. 22, also at 2:30.

The state Public A champion in nineof the last 12 years has been eitherWHS (six times) or Bridgewater(three), and that doesn’t figure tochange this February. But at least theywon’t likely be competing in this year’stournament until the final. The statechanged the rules this winter, at leastpartially because WHS and B-R haveboth been in North 2 for most of those12 years. Now the top four powerpoint schools in Public A (and PublicB) are put into four different sections.Last winter, the top three Public Apower point totals were all North 2teams: B-R, WHS and HunterdonCentral. Should that be the case againthis winter, WHS would be put inNorth 1, B-R would be North 2 andHunterdon Central would go into Cen-tral.

While Bridgewater lost quite a fewstuds from last year’s team, the Pan-thers return plenty of quality kids andthey are the team to beat until beaten.SP-F, with Greg Baliko, Joe Dunn,Dan Pesin and Ryan Gadjzisz forminga formidable foursome.

Next month the Devils will have bigmeets on Jan. 5 (home double dualwith Oak Knoll and Christian Broth-ers), Jan. 17 (home vs. Mount St. Marygirls, 2:30; at St. Joseph, 5:15) andJan. 24 (a visit from South Jersey

power Bishop Eustace).The county meet will be held on a

Sunday, Jan. 29, at Rutgers. While theWHS girls shouldn’t have muchtrouble winning, the boys meet shapesup as a three-way tussle between WHS,SP-F and Summit.

FOOTBALL UPDATEWhile The Star-Ledger’s all-county

and all-state teams have yet to benamed, the Mid-State 39 Conferencecoaches have named their division all-stars. WHS was well represented onthe Watchung Division team, as postedon sports writer Harry Frezza’sfacebook page.

First team: receiver Pete Ondi, cen-ter Dan Bigelow, defensive end MikeLaFace, linebacker Pat Johnson, de-fensive back James O’Rourke andkicker Jon Gribbin.

Second team: receiver MikeStravach, guard Abe Fertig-Cohen,quarterback Nate Mitchell, defensivelineman Ryan Elliott and linebackerJoe Rinaldi.

Honorable mention: offensive line-man Brenton Harries and defensivelineman Alex McHugh.

Although he missed three gameswith injury, it’s hard to believe thecoaches missed TE-LB John Lanzano.The defense allowed 63 points in thegames he missed, and 48 in the sevenhe played.

BOWLING UPDATEA couple of interesting bowling re-

sults to open the season. In the winover SP-F, the top WHS bowler, LucasCruz, had an off day with a 469. Butthe other four bowlers were as tight asJack Martin’s cross country team’spack. Taylor Friss (563), Eric Saunders(560), Theresa Carlino (559) and AdamFirestone (556) were seven pins apart.Cruz was back in control against Clarkwith a 226-224-225-675 series.

GIL-WIL TRIVIA UPDATEThe first entrant in the Den trivia

question, provided by Faithful Read-ers Jeff (Gilbert) from Pittstown andJim (Wilday) from Long Beach Islandand now known as the Gil-Wil TriviaQuiz, was from Holden Ehrhart andChris Sweeney, sophomores on thecurrent WHS football team. They cameup with 37 names of Union County-born or -schooled players who madeNFL rosters.

That number still has to be fact-checked (we’re not FOX news here!)but the entry was received on Sunday,Dec. 4, at 4:20 p.m.

Rumors coming from West Jerseyhave Steve (Steamboat) Merrill (’71),currently rehabbing from knee sur-gery, with a list of 40 players.

It’s still not too late to be part of thisand come up with your own list. Re-member to include the player’s name,his school or birth hospital, and hisNFL team with approximate years.Send to [email protected].

IN PASSINGCharles Frankenbach, one of the

greats during the town’s glory days ofthe 1940s, passed away on Nov. 25 atthe age of 84. Frankenbach (WHS,’45) was a center on the great 1944football team that went 10-0 and postedsix shutouts, including the final fourgames. He was even more known as apower pitcher on the baseball field,where he posted a 10-5 career pitchingrecord. As a senior captain he struckout a then-school record 88 batters injust 65 innings.

Frankenbach, whose son Charleswas the leading scorer on the ’81 WHShoops team, was also one of the origi-nal committee members when theWestfield Athletic Hall of Fame wascreated in the early ’90s.

Gail Demarest Wilday passed onNov. 21 at age 69. Gail (’59) was theolder sister of WHS swimmingstandouts Chip (’65), Dave (’67) andPete (’72). She married Pete Wilday(’58), who shared catching duties atWHS with future major leaguer JeffTorborg (’59) in 1957 and ’58 (Wildayhad 50 at-bats those two years andTorborg had 44).

The Devil’s Den appears in TheWestfield Leader on the first and thirdThursday (and occasional fifth Thurs-day) every month during the schoolyear. Contact us with comments, com-plaints and suggestions [email protected]. And remember, winor not, Whs4evr!

TUFARO, STEINFELD, CANNON, NATALE LEAD FIELD

Raiders Will Get Jump StartWith Experienced Wrestlers


Injuries, arms in slings and inexpe-rience hampered the Scotch Plains-Fanwood (SPF) High School wres-tling team last year, but this year’sRaiders return a much more experi-enced room with just a few newcom-ers.

“It is a smaller room than what wehave had in the past, but it is a morecohesive group. Out of all the kids inthe wrestling room right now, onlyfour came in without any wrestlingexperience, so we really didn’t haveto go through the ranks with the nov-ice stuff and really break it down.From the Monday after Thanksgiv-ing up until now, we have pretty muchbeen going at it in practice like it ismidseason,” Raider Head Coach TJGavor said.

Coach Gavor is no stranger to theRaider program, since he was theassistant coach under John Schulzfor five years.

Two former SPF standouts, NickGiannaci and Marc Fabiano, are alsoin the room as assistants.

“Nick Giannaci was a state tourna-ment qualifier his senior year. Hemoved up to be the assistant coachand Marc Fabiano stepped in to be-come the JV coach. Marc was a stateplace winner. He took eighth at heavy-weight,” Coach Gavor pointed out.

Additional help will come from anexperienced group of freshmen, whowill beef up the lower weights.

“Just based off what we have seenin seven practices, some of the lighterweight freshmen are really steppingup and emerging as kids, who couldbe varsity caliber wrestlers this year,”Coach Gavor said.

JT Beirne is expected to competeat 106-lbs.

“JT Beirne has a little bit of Jujitsubackground and doing some martialarts through the years. He is prettyground in his wrestling backgroundas well,” Coach Gavor said.

Tom Cunningham will compete at113-lbs.

“Tommy has been part of the Raiderwrestling program since he was sevenor eight years old coming up throughthe PAL. He came with us to the dualsthis summer, so we know his style.He is really emerging in the room asa freshman to watch,” Coach Gavorsaid.

Another freshman to watch will beBrian Lapham, who will occupy the126-lb class.

“Brian is certified already at 126-lbs. He has been very responsive.Pretty much anything we throw athim, he takes it in stride. Very re-spectable his work ethic is. He is a12-month wrestler. He is an APEXkid. He goes to tournaments in theoff-season,” Coach Gavor said.

Sophomore Dom Natale, who had19 wins last year, is expected towrestle 132-lbs and his brother Dion,a senior, should compete at 138-lbs.

“Dominic is sort of an old-schoolthrowback. Lace them up and smackyou in the mouth wrestler! Hewrestled at 130-lbs. That was lightenough where you would see a lot offreshmen and sophomores, but it’sheavy enough to where he was seeingsome upperclassmen. To compile a19-9 record as a freshman, is prettyimpressive,” Coach Gavor said. “He’sgot that lanky gait and likes to get inon a power half and go to town.”

Veteran seniors Mike Steinfeld and

Sean Cannon are expected to competeat 145-lbs and 152-lbs, respectively.

“They both came in pretty strong.Steinfeld was at APEX over the sum-mer. He hasn’t stopped since the endof last summer. Sean travels with hisclub team as well. Both of these kidswere basically born in singlets.Steinfeld has looked incredible sofar. His motor is second to none. Weare expecting him to be a little bitstronger than he was last year. Sean isthat wildcard wrestler, who couldupset anybody in the state. He’s gotall those funky moves in his arsenal.We have coach Giannaci workingwith that group, keeping themhumble,” Coach Gavor said.

Senior John Devia may be at 160-lbs, along with a host of underclass-men. Senior Luke Vuono and sopho-more Mike Ridge will compete at170-lbs or 182-lbs, and senior MikeMcFarlane will compete at 195-lbs.

Seniors Luke Mineo and AndrewJacobs will battle for the 220-lb spot.

“Those two would probably be var-sity wrestlers on nine out of 10 line-ups. Unfortunately, I have both ofthem at the same weight class. Wewill see if one of them would like tostep up and, at least, get down to 195before districts,” Coach Gavor said.

Definitely filling out the heavy-weight class will be junior AnthonyTufaro, who weighs every ounce of285-lbs.

“At the NWCA website last year,out of the top-10 records, nine ofthem graduated. He was the only kidin the state that was over 33 wins lastyear at heavyweight. He knows hiscompetition in the district and theregion. We certainly have high hopesconsidering that,” Coach Gavor said.“I am glad I got coach Fabiano in theroom [to wrestle Tufaro] to take theburden off of me.”

The Raiders open their season to-morrow, December 16, with a trian-gular meet against J.P. Stevens andMetuchen in Edison at 4 p.m.

Devil’s Den

By BRUCE JOHNSONSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

WHS Wrestlers HaveDepth and Experience

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David B. Corbin (2011 District 11 Tournament) for The Westfield Leader and The TimesBIG THREAT AT 145-LBS…Raider senior Mike Steinfeld, top, is expected to have a good season at 145-lbs. The Raidershave returned a lot of experienced wrestlers and have some tough freshmen.

Raiders’ Goal Remains SameCONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Senior guards/co-captains DominicGonzalez, Ian Johnston and AnthonyByers have been given the responsi-bility of building a strong defense,which should help the Raiders keepthe scores close at all times.

“I think our strength are our guards.We return Dominic Gonzalez and IanJohnston, two real good, quick guards,real good defenders. They are mak-ing better decisions every day,” CoachDoherty said.

Byers, who was outstanding on thefootball field, will use his extraordi-nary athleticism to frustrate oppo-nents, make plenty of steals and grabrebounds.

“Anthony Byers is a great athlete.On the football field he was tremen-dous. We are very tough defensively.We are short a little bit on size, but wecan defend a lot of people [with] trappress,” Coach Doherty said.

Last year on offense, Gonzalezagitated opponents with his quickmoves to the basket, and coming offthe bench, Johnston displayed his

quickness and sleight of hand in cre-ating steals.

Also coming onto the scene will bejunior Xavier Noel-Brooks, whocould also ad some offense.

“Our four guard, Xavier Noel-Brooks, is a strong guard, who is shoot-ing the ball a lot better. He is going toget better throughout the year.

Junior forward Tom Bonacum wasvery tough under the boards last yearand had the ability to dish out theassists. A little more of the shootingresponsibility may also rest inBonacum’s hands.

“Tom Bonacum will speed up hisdevelopment a little more as an insidepresence. At 6’5” he is playing reallywell,” Coach Doherty said.

Others who will be strong off thebench are senior Tyree Singeltary andjunior Kevin Raszka, a 6’2” junior.

“We are going to be a big defensiveoriented team and then taking care ofthe ball. We will have a number ofscorers who will help us. Tommy willbe our first option, but on any givennight, we could have anybody beingour leading scorer. Pretty much ev-erybody can shoot [from the out-side]. Even Tom against a toughmatch-up, he will step out and hit athree on people,” Coach Doherty said.

Although still in the MDUCC, therehave been some changes in the Raid-ers’ schedule.

“We are still in that middle divi-sion. We don’t play St. Benedict’s.We backed off a couple of thosegames. Roselle Catholic moved outof our division, so we will playCranford twice,” Coach Doherty said.

The Raiders will compete in theTip-off Classic at West Orange HighSchool on December 17.

“We will play Neptune. They areusually one of the better teams inSouth Jersey every year,” CoachDoherty said.

The Westfield LeaderThe Scotch Plains – Fanwood

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VETERANS ARE HESS, MITCHELL, YUCETEPE, TURNER

Blue Devils Are Starting withClean Slate in Boys Basketball

CALLINAN, McGUIRE, SCHUSTER NAMED CAPTAINS

Lady Blue Devils Seek RightCombination in Basketball


Five girls with some varsity expe-rience return to this year’s WestfieldHigh School girls basketball team,which is in the process of searchingfor the right combinations among theupperclassmen and underclassmen.

“It’s hard to give a specific lineup,because I am still trying to find differ-ent combinations. We have speed andwe have some height, so I am tryingto put combinations together where,if I put a bigger lineup on the court, Iam trying to figure out when wouldbe a good time to do that. There’s alsogoing to be a time when I put a speedlineup on the court,” Blue Devil HeadCoach Joe Marino said.

Seniors Ellie Callinan and CarolynMcGuire, juniors Colleen Gallagherand Jenna Perrotta, and sophomoreKelly Culnan, a forward, experiencedtime on the court last year.

Callinan will be occupying the for-ward position most of the time, but insome cases, she may play the centerposition. McGuire will be starting at

center. Senior Casey Schuster, whoplayed on the JV squad last year, willbe at forward. Callinan, McGuire andSchuster have been selected team co-captains.

“I am expecting her [Callinan] as acenter to basically get rebounds forus. Casey gets to the ball very welland she will help out in boxing out,”Coach Marino said.

Other girls who played on the JVsquad last year are juniors EmilyBrucia and Sarah Seitz, and sopho-more Alexis Kardias, who showspromise at forward.

“Alexis brings some speed, as wellas being very aggressive to the ball.“Sara is a good ball handler,” CoachMarino said.

Four freshmen may very well ex-perience a lot of playing time on thecourt. Among other abilities, LillianScott and Jackie Knapp have showntheir ability to hit from the outside.Megan Mondon and Jamie Miller arealso expected to add a lot of help tothe upperclassmen.

“Lillian is a good ball handler, and

Jackie Knapp is a very good ballhandler and shooter,” Coach Marinosaid.

Presently, the point guard positionis up for grabs among Perrotta, Scottand Mondon.

“They are fighting for the pointguard position,” Coach Marino noted.

With so many girls still in the mix,Coach Marino said, “There’s onlyfive of 11 on the court at one time. Itis going to be a hard decision. Theyare all working really hard, and theyunderstand what their role is. Basi-cally we are going to try to be ascompetitive as we can be. Whateveris working at the time will be thelineups that I will put on the court. Weare putting it together and we aregoing to be in a position to reload ateach position. When someone comesout, we will be able to pop anotherperson right in there and not reallydrop off that much,” he said.

The Lady Blue Devils will open atLinden tomorrow, December 16, thenhost Newark Tech on Monday, De-cember 19, at 4 p.m.


No returning varsity starters makesit a clean slate for this year’s WestfieldHigh School boys basketball team,that also has a new head coach withDaryl Palmieri, who is no stranger toUnion County basketball.

Coach Palmieri was an assistantcoach at Linden for six years, anassistant for three years at Millburnand head coach at Parsippany for oneyear before coming to Westfield.

“I played at Roselle Catholic, so Iknow Union County very well. Thecompetition in Union County is someof the best in the state if not the best.I tell my kids every day, we got to do

everything we can to be able to com-pete with these teams. We can’t takea day off. Every single day, we haveto work hard to keep getting better.Hopefully it will pay off,” he said.

Winning ways is also no strangerto Palmieri since Linden has been theonly team to knock off perennial na-tional powerhouse St. Patrick’s in theUnion County Tournament.

“I was part of the staff on thoseteams. Some of those times when weplayed St. Patrick’s they were num-ber one in the country. We had sometough kids, who wanted to win itmore. I am trying to instill some ofthat winning mentality here,” he said.

The only potentially returningstarter from last year, Scott Toresco,transferred to Roselle Catholic. Se-niors Nate Mitchell, Aswad Turnerand Ozan Yucetepe, and juniorKeegan Hess saw limited time at var-sity last year.

“We have a group of kids, whohaven’t had a lot of varsity experi-ence. That is what we are goingthrough right now. We got a littlefrustrated going through our firstcouple of scrimmages then it kind ofhit me last night as I was sitting in my

office that this is new for some kids.They really haven’t had a lot of ac-tion,” Coach Palmieri said.

Of the four players with some var-sity experience, Hess, a guard, andYucetepe, a forward, probably spenta little more time on the court. Butwith all positions still up for grabs,Coach Palmieri has also brought threesophomores and a freshman up to thevarsity.

“Ozan just moved here from Tur-key a year ago. He’s new to Americanbasketball. He really didn’t see toomuch time last year, so these kids arelearning right now. We have a lot ofyoung kids seeing action. I am tryingto create an environment where it is

competitive. I am trying to encour-age the young kids to compete forspots,” he said.

Sophomore forward Dylan Elliotthas been impressive in practice, andhis freshman brother Sean has dem-onstrated some moxie.

“Dylan Elliott has shown me a lot.He is a very aggressive, confident

player. I see him doing good thingsthis year,” Coach Palmieri said.

Another sophomore, MikeAndroconis, is vying with Turner atcenter.

“He started at JV, but a couple ofdays in, I wanted to take a look athim. He is right in the mix to playinside for us,” Coach Palmieri said.

With his superb command of theBlue Devils’ football team this pastfall, Mitchell, a guard, seems to haveemerged as a team leader.

“I think Nate Mitchell is that kid. Iwatched him lead that football teamall year to a very successful season.All year watching them, I was ex-cited about having him. You could

see it coming out right away. A coupleof times I’ve had to get on him. Healways responds. That’s the sign of agood leader. I knew he had the lead-ership qualities,” Palmieri said.

The Blue Devils will open theirseason by hosting Barack ObamaAcademy (Plainfield) tomorrow, De-cember 16, at 7 p.m.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesBLUE DEVIL VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM…Pictured, left to right, are: front row; captains Ellie Callinan,Carolyn Maguire and Casey Schuster; second row, Alexis Kardias, Megan Mondon, Jackie Knapp, Jamie Miller and LillianScott; back row, Sara Seitz, Colleen Gallagher, Emily Brucia, Jenna Perrotta and Kelly Culnan.

Reading is Good For You

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David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesRETURNING WITH SOME VARSITY EXPERIENCE…Four Blue Devils have returned with some varsity experience onthe basketball courts. Pictured, left to right, are: Keegan Hess, Nate Mitchell, Ozan Yucetepe and Aswad Turner.

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Raiders Try Different ApproachCONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Blue Devil Matmen ExperiencedCONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

as we are not beating ourselves, thatwe will always have an opportunityto win,” Raider Head Coach Jen Ryansaid.

Peterson and Klotz have gradu-ated, but the Raiders have returnedseveral girls with playing experience.

“We have a nice core returning. Ofthose five players from last year, fourof them got a lot of playing time. Wefeel as though they really started offnicely. They have been guiding thenew kids along. We have seven newkids, two freshmen! We are youngagain,” Coach Ryan said.

Junior co-captains Tara Sweeneyand Taylor Sebolao, along with sopho-mores Alyssa Riporti and KatieHarper have that playing experienceand are expected to step up evenmore.

“We are going to have a muchdifferent approach to games. Whenyou have four kids with experience,the expectation is that they are goingto have a little bit more savvy and bea little bit wiser. We are going to trydifferent types of defenses,” CoachRyan said.

Harper and Riporti, both strongsoccer players, possess the quicknessand moxie to help shore up a defense.

“Whenever you have athletic kidswith speed, it always helps your de-fense. We are trying a lot of differentthings in scrimmages to see what weare best at as a team. It may be mixingup personnel on the floor, and that’sgoing to take some real planning, as

far as coaching goes. It’s going to bewho are going to fit those pieces ofthe puzzle,” Coach Ryan said.

Other guards who may be able to fitthe pieces of the puzzle are: sopho-mores Alex Venable and MadisonMaisel, freshman Mykala Porter andsenior Destinee Edwards.

Replacing the role of Peterson, whowas not only the top scorer but the toprebounder, will be a challenge.

“Tara Sweeney is a post player.This is her third season at varsity. Shereally had a great second half of theseason last year and came up big forus. We are hoping that carries out,”Coach Ryan said.

Freshman Thabitha Dwumfour, a6’1” center, should also help underthe basket.

“We are hoping we are going to beable to use her in a lot of differentopportunities,” Coach Ryan said.

Sebolao is an effective outsideshooter who could bang the three-pointers, but she offers much more.

“She was under fire for the last twoyears. She was on the court expectedto do certain things for our team. Thisyear, she is that much more confi-dent. She is in great shape coming offthe soccer season. She is a leader onthe court mentally with her choices.She has a lot of different weapons.She does a great job driving to thebasket, having that triple threat,whether or not she is going to pull up,whether or not she is going to drive orwhether she is going to hit the openperson,” Coach Ryan said. “We arelooking for her to take the majority ofour shots.”

With Sebolao’s inside-outside ver-satility, and strength under the boards,Coach Ryan said, “We are looking tohave a legitimate inside, outside gameand make any defense pay for dou-bling down on our post players withsome outside shooting.”

Many teams may be keying onSebolao with her offensive attack, sohelp would be needed if the Raidersare going to have a successful season.

“It’s a matter of seeing who is go-ing to step up. The green light is givento everybody. I want kids to be ag-gressive offensively,” Coach Ryansaid.

The Lady Raiders will hostPlainfield tomorrow, December 16,at 7 p.m. in their season opener

dangerous! If he’s going to make itdown to Atlantic City at some point inhis career, this is a good time to makea run for it,” Coach Kurz said.

Senior Ellis Opoku, who also wona pair of bouts in the region andfinished 26-12, will occupy 138-lbs.

“He really turned it on at the end ofthe year with a great region tourna-ment. Ellis gets better as the seasongoes on. He’s got a good gas tank,because he works hard. He under-stands the equation of hard work pay-ing off,” Coach Kurz said.

Presently the 145-lb class is open,but junior Colin Barber, a region quali-fier who finished 22-12 last year at thatweight, will step into the 152-lb spot.

“He had a nice sophomore year.He’s really starting to mature. He’spushing himself. He is real seriousabout the sport now,” Coach Kurzsaid.

Senior Kieran Cline, a region quali-fier at 189-lbs last year, will competeat 182-lbs. Senior Luke Gibbons willcompete at 195-lbs, along with seniorNick Knepper. The two will be inter-changeable between 195-lbs and 220-lbs.

“Luke looked good at camp thissummer. He impressed me in a coupleof matches, and Nick has really madea commitment to the sport. He is somuch bigger, so much stronger. Hecarries himself with some confidence.It’s going to translate onto the wres-tling mat,” Coach Kurz said.

Senior Ozan Oral and junior NickArnold, a lacrosse player, may alsocompete at 220-lbs.

“Nick has a little wrestling back-ground. He is not afraid to mix it up,”Coach Kurz said.

Junior Kyle Kania will compete atheavyweight.

“We are expecting him to bolsterthe top of our lineup,” Coach Kurzsaid.

Three veterans will be contendingfor the 160-lb spot, Brian Bulger,Mike DeLuisa and Keith Peterson.

“The second one will be up at 170.It’s a shame to have three kids, whoare good athletes, good wrestlers allin the same weight class, but that isthe reality. All three of those guys areteam players and will help the team insome capacity,” Coach Kurz said.

Sophomore Nick Valez and juniorPat Currie, both who have varsity expe-rience, are the candidates for 126-lbs.

“Nick put in a good off-season. Hegot that freshman year out of the way.Pat is always a hard worker,” CoachKurz said.

Junior Anthony Aldana, who com-peted at 119 last year, is expected tocompete at 113-lbs.

“We are trying to get Anthonydown. He is doing it the right way. Ithink that would be a great fit for him.He is making a sacrifice for the team.He will be strong,” Coach Kurz said.

Two freshmen, Nick Kalimtzis andJohn Fuller, will compete at 103-lbs.

“Both kids have gone through ourRecreation league and have done alittle off-season work with us. I thinkthey will take some lumps this yearbut help us out down the road,” CoachKurz said.

The Blue Devils will open theirseason at the Nutley Tournament onSaturday, December 17, at 9 a.m. Theprestigious Roselle Park Tournamentis set for Tuesday, December 27, be-ginning at 9 a.m.

PUBLIC NOTICETOWNSHIP OF SCOTCH PLAINS

PLANNING BOARDNOTICE OF DECISION

On November 28, 2011, the Township ofScotch Plains Planning Board adopted aResolution granting Minor Subdivision andVariance approvals to the Applicant/Owner,445 Terrill Road, LLC, to permit a zero lotline subdivision to separate the AdvanceAuto Parts store from the remaining ap-proved retail space. The subdivision willseparate the site into two new tax lots inconnection with the property located at445 Terrill Road, Block 203, Lot 3 on theTax Map of the Township of Scotch Plains.A copy of the Resolution is on file andavailable for PUBLIC INSPECTION at thePlanning Board office located at 430 ParkAvenue, Scotch Plains, New Jersey duringthe office’s normal business hours.

HEHL & HEHL, PCAttorneys for the Applicant

1 T - 12/15/11, The Times Fee: $20.40

PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICETOWNSHIP OF SCOTCH PLAINS

RECREATION COMMISSION

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Open Public Meetings Act (Chapter 231, P.L. 1975) requires that theRecreation Commission of the Township of Scotch Plains post and maintain postedthroughout the year, a schedule of its regular meetings and;

WHEREAS, the Open Public Meetings Act (c. 231, P.L. 1975) also requires that theRecreation Commission of the Township of Scotch Plains post and maintain postedthroughout the year, the schedule of caucus meetings;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Recreation Commission of theTownship of Scotch Plains, Union County, adopts the schedule of regular and caucusmeetings listed below, pursuant to said act;

2012 REGULAR MEETINGS OF THE RECREATION COMMISSION

8:00 P.M. SCOTCH HILLS COUNTRY CLUB820 Jerusalem Road, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Jan. 9 July 9Feb. 13 August 13March 12 Sept. 10April 9 Oct. 15May 14 (Caucus & Public) Nov. 19 (Caucus & Public)June 11 Dec. 3

2011 CAUCUS MEETINGS OF THE RECREATION COMMISSION

7:30 P.M. ROOM 202 MUNICIPAL BUILDING430 Park Avenue, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Jan. 23 Sept. 24Feb. 27 Oct. 29March 26 Dec. 10April 23June 25

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, the Recreation Commission will prohibit publicattendance at any caucus meeting when items enumerated in C:10:4-12 of the OpenMeetings Act (Chapter 231, P.L. 1975) are to be discussed;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, a copy of the schedule of regular and caucusmeetings will be posted in the officially-established bulletin board in the MunicipalBuilding Lobby, 430 Park Avenue, Scotch Plains.

ROBERT GIORDANELLA, CHAIRMANScotch Plains Recreation Commission

I certify that the above is a true and exact copy of resolution adopted by the RecreationCommission at its regularly scheduled meeting on December 5, 2011.

ROBERT GIORDANELLA, CHAIRMANScotch Plains Recreation Commission

1 T - 12/15/11, The Times Fee: $78.54

PUBLIC NOTICETOWN OF WESTFIELD

BOARD OF HEALTH

The Westfield Regional Health Depart-ment will hold a reorganizational meetingon Monday, January 9, 2011 at 5:00 PMheld in the Council Conference Room lo-cated on the first floor of the WestfieldMunicipal Building, 425 East Broad Street,Westfield. Official action will take place.

Megan AvalloneBoard Secretary

1 T - 12/15/11, The Leader Fee: $11.73


BOARD OF HEALTH

Public notice is hereby given that Boardof Health Ordinance #BOH2-2011 entitled“GENERAL PROVISIONS, BOARD OFHEALTH OF WESTFIELD”, was adoptedat a meeting held on December 5, 2011.


BOARD OF HEALTHORDINANCE #2-2011

AN ORDINANCE BY THEBOARD OF HEALTH, OF THETOWN OF WESTFIELD,COUNTY OF UNION, AMEND-ING BOH2-2008 ENTITLED“GENERAL PROVISIONS,BOARD OF HEALTH OFWESTFIELD”.

Copies of the proposed Ordinance,#BOH2-2011 are available for review be-tween the hours of 9:00 AM—4:00 PM, orby appointment, at the offices of theWestfield Board of Health located on thesecond floor of the Municipal Building at425 East Broad Street, Westfield, NewJersey.

This ordinance shall take effect immedi-ately after publication as required by law.

Introduced: November 7, 2011Adopted: December 5, 2011Approved: Unanimously

1 T - 12/15/11, The Leader Fee: $29.58

PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICETOWN OF WESTFIELD BOARD OF HEALTH

Public notice is hereby given that Board of Health Ordinance #101 entitled “AnOrdinance relating to Personnel Positions and Salary Ranges of Officers and Employeesof the Board of Health of the Town of Westfield, County of Union, State of New Jersey”,was adopted at a meeting held on December 5, 2011.


BOARD OF HEALTH ORDINANCE #101AN ORDINANCE BY THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE TOWN OFWESTFIELD ENTITLED “AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO PERSONNELPOSITIONS AND SALARY RANGES OF OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEESOF THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE TOWN OF WESTFIELD, COUNTYOF UNION, AND STATE OF NEW JERSEY”.

Be it ordained by the Board of Health of the Town of Westfield, County of Union, Stateof New Jersey, that Board of Health Ordinance #100 is hereby amended as follows:

Section 1The following personnel positions and salary ranges are hereby established for Officers

and employees of the Board of Health and shall be effective retroactively from July 1,2011.

Job Title Salary Range

Regional Health Officer $90,000 — $133,000Public Health Nursing Supervisor $69,000 — $80,000Principal REHS $69,000 — $80,000

Section 2This Ordinance shall take effect immediately after Final Passage and publication

according to law.Introduced: November 7, 2011Adopted: December 5, 2011Approved: Unanimously

1 T - 12/15/11, The Leader Fee: $55.08

PUBLIC NOTICESUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

CHANCERY DIVISIONUNION COUNTY

DOCKET NO. F-56466-10FILE NO. 12544-10

NOTICE TO REDEEM

EDISON TAX SERVICES, LLCPLAINTIFF VS. 1082 ELIZA-BETH AVENUE, LLC; COLO-NIAL SAVINGS AND LOANASSOCIATION OF ROSELLEPARK, NJ N/K/A WACHOVIABANK, NA; JERSEY MORT-GAGE COMPANY; STATE OFNEW JERSEY;DEFENDANT(S)

TO: 1082 ELIZABETH AVENUE, LLC;PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that an order

made on December 8, 2011, the SuperiorCourt Fixed January 23, 2012 between thehours of nine o’clock in the forenoon andfour o’clock in the afternoon, prevailingtime, at the office of the Tax Collector ofELIZABETH, located at CITY HALL, 50WINFIELD SCOTT PLAZA, ELIZABETH,NEW JERSEY 07111, as the time andplace when and where you may pay to theplaintiff the amount so found due for prin-cipal and interest on its certificate of taxsale as follows:

LOT 558 W09 BLOCK 9 on the taxduplicate of ELIZABETH. Total amountrequired to redeem tax sale certificate no.0700327 is $34,874.04, together with in-terest from September 30, 2011 and costsof $1,287.22.

And that unless, at the same time andplace, you or one of you redeem by payingthe aforesaid sum so found due to plaintiff,then you, and each of you shall be de-barred and foreclosed of and from all rightand equity of redemption of, in and to thelands and premises above set out anddescribed in the complaint and every partthereof, and that the plaintiff be vested withan absolute and indefeasible estate ofinheritance in fee simple in said lands andpremises.

Anything to the contrary notwithstand-ing, redemption shall be permitted up untilthe entry of final judgment including thewhole of the last date upon which judg-ment is entered.

Michael G. Pellegrino, Esq.Attorney for Plaintiff

PELLEGRINO & FELDSTEIN, L.L.C.Denville Law Center290 Route 46 WestDenville, New Jersey 07834(973) 586-23001 T - 12/15/11, The Leader Fee: $51.51

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesRAIDER TEAM CAPTAINS…Tara Sweeney, left, and Taylor Sebolao havebeen selected team captains of the Raider girls basketball team.


BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT

Notice is hereby given that WestfieldBoard of Adjustment adopted Resolutionsat its December 12, 2011 meeting for thefollowing applications decided at its No-vember 14, 2011 meeting.

Gladys Sheppard, 28 Prospect Street.Applicant sought a “d” use variance topermit a party component use which isneither a permitted principal use nor anaccessory use that is customarily subordi-nate to a permitted principal use (hairsalon) in the CBD zone in conjunction withpreliminary and final major site plan ap-proval for an alteration to the façade of thebuilding. Additionally applicant sought vari-ance relief to allow 6 on-site parking spaceswhere 12 spaces are required. Applicationapproved with conditions.

Anthony and Kerri Pappalardo, 26Gallowae. Applicant sought approval toconstruct a first story addition contrary toSection 11.07E7 of the Land Use Ordi-nance to allow a rear yard setback of 9.93feet where 35 feet is required. Applicationapproved with conditions.

Jeffrey T. Smok & Dorothy Przydzial-Smok, 203 Sinclair Place. Applicantsought approval to demolish the existingfront porch and construct a new front porchcontrary to Section 11.08E5 (12.03E) ofthe Land Use Ordinance to allow a streetside yard setback of 15.6 feet where 20feet is required. Application approved withconditions.

Dana Nicole Dossin & Pierre DamienDossin, 520 Sherwood Parkway. Appli-cant sought approval to construct a singlestory first floor addition contrary to Sec-tions 12.04F1 and 11.09E5 of the LandUse Ordinance to allow a coverage bybuildings and above ground structures of20.69% (2,156.5 square.feet) where amaximum of 20% (2,084 square feet) isallowed and to allow a street side yardsetback of 17.8 feet where 20 feet is re-quired. Application approved with condi-tions.

Martin and Trudy Silverman, 429Edgewood Avenue. Applicant soughtapproval to construct a first floor additioncontrary to Sections 12.04F and 12.04F2of the Land Use Ordinance to allow acoverage by buildings and above groundstructures of 20.35% (1,200 square feet)where a maximum of 20% (1,177.7 squarefeet) is allowed and to allow a buildingcoverage with a deck of 23.3% where amaximum of 22% is allowed. Applicationapproved with conditions.

Plans and application are on file in theoffice of the Town Engineer, 959 NorthAvenue West, Westfield, New Jersey andmay be seen Monday through Friday from8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Kathleen NemethSecretary, Board of Adjustment

1 T - 12/15/11, The Leader Fee: $59.16

D. Blair Corbin’D. Blair Corbin’D. Blair Corbin’D. Blair Corbin’D. Blair Corbin’sssss

WWWWWalk Down Memory Lalk Down Memory Lalk Down Memory Lalk Down Memory Lalk Down Memory Laneaneaneaneane

RaidersBlue Devils

From the archives of The WestfieldLeader and The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times – www.goleader.com

December 1998: Blue DevilValerie Wicks has been selected toThe Star-Ledger All-State Group 3list in girls field hockey. She was alsonamed the Union County Player ofthe Year. Junior Paige Corbett wasnamed to the All-State Group 3 ThirdTeam.

December 21, 1999: Another hugecrowd nearly packed the balcony atthe Westfield Y’s Wallace Pool, inanticipation of the showdown be-tween Westfield, ranked No. 5 in theGannett Swim Rankings, and visit-ing Shawnee, the state’s top-ratedboys’ team. But it was the girls’ meetthat kept the nearly 400 fans on theedge of their seats. While the Shawneeboys were very impressive in postinga 115-55 victory, the Blue Devil girls,ranked No. 1 in the state by Gannett,had to sweat things out a bit before

pulling away for a 100-86 win.Divers Lindsay Guerrerio and

Ashley Flood placed second and third,respectively, in their event. AshleySaul won the 100 fly. Jesse Coxson,Chrissy Schwebel and ChrissyRomano went 1-3-4 in the 500. KatieBartholomew brought the crowd toits feet, rallying in the final few yardsfor a victory in the 100 breaststroke.

December 16, 2000: The Raiderboys basketball team with first-yearHead Coach Dan Doherty won theseason opener with a 64-47 victoryover Hillsborough. Senior 6’9” cen-ter Andrew Feeley was the king of thecourt with 19 points, 16 rebounds andfour blocked shots.

December 13, 2001: Sans four ofits major swimmers, the Blue Devilgirls swimming team dunked BishopAhr, 86-84, at the Westfield YMCA.The Blue Devils needed to secure twoof the top-three finishes in the finalevent, the 400-freestyle relay, and didto up their record to 2-1. Senior AlexaVantosky helped lead the way by plac-ing first in the 100 butterfly with atime of 1:06.71, second in the 50freestyle at 27.23, anchoring the win-ning 200 freestyle relay – sophomoreKelli Layton, freshmen Neda Simaikaand Kirsten Selert and Vantosky –and teaming with sophomore SuzannaFowler and freshmen Simaika andChristine Clark to touch second in the400 free relay.

December 2002: Blue Devil se-nior goalie Megan Connors was se-lected to The Star Ledger All-StateSecond Team in girls soccer. Connorsand senior defender Ashley Kent wereselected to the All-Group 4 SecondTeam and Susan Williams was namedto the Third Team. All three werenamed to the All-UC First Team andthe 20-3-3 Blue Devils, who finishedfourth in the state rankings, were

named Union County Team of theYear.

December 2003: Serving as BlueDevil girls’ assistant soccer coachfrom 1985 through 1990 and takingover the reins as head coach in 1991,Peter Giordano formally announcedit was time to let go and retired thisyear. His teams won seven UnionCounty championships, nineWatchung Conference titles, sevenstate sectional titles and were stateGroup 4 runners-up three times. Hewas named 1991 Area Coach of theYear and, in 1992 and 1994, wasnamed Union County coach of theYear. In 1994 and 2002, Giordanobecame New Jersey Girls’ SoccerCoaches Association and large schoolCoach of the Year.

December 15, 2004: The BlueDevil girls swim team used depth tonudge out The Raiders, 87-83. LizHawkins finished in 57:11 to win the50-freestyle. Amanda Dickson

touched first in the 100-breaststrokewith a time of 1:10.82 and finished in2:15.11 to win the 200-IndividualMedley (IM).

December 15, 2004: The BlueDevils boys swim team overcame theRaiders, 92-78. Raider DaveHauptman touched first in the 50-freestyle with a time of 23.04 andwon the 100-freestyle in 50.92. MikeSheffield touched first in the 100-butterfly with a time of 55.33. BlueDevils Brandon Cuba, Dan Chabanov,P.J. Harley and Pat Daurio won the200-yard free. Chabanov, Cuba andHarley teamed with Luke Baron towin the 400-freestyle relay. KyleMurray, Daurio, Baran and Cuba wonthe 200-medley relay.

December 16, 2005: Immediateacts of thievery set the pace for theBlue Devil boys basketball team’sopening game that was won by Lin-den, 74-55, in Westfield. Junior for-ward Dan Pritsker bucketed 16 points,including two from 3-point range.Junior point-guard Tom Bonard (two3-pointers) and junior guard MikeVenezia each put in 10 points. JoshGerckens scored nine points.

Early December 2006: The Raiderboys basketball team will rely on itstwo top scorers. Junior point guardBrian Dougher netted 386 points, in-cluding 52 three-pointers, and wasthe chief thief with 45 steals last year.Agile senior guard Greg Bayard ter-rorized opponents with 59 from three-point range and finished with 370points.

Early December 2006: Senior Co-Captains Tom Bonard and MikeVenezia will be very busy leading theBlue Devil boys basketball team to awinning season through a very toughWatchung Conference. This season,the Blue Devils look to improve upontheir 14-9 record and seek to qualifyfor the North Jersey, Group 4, Sec-tion 2 tournament for the fifth time insix years.

David B. Corbin (December 20, 2007 files) for The Westfield Leader and The TimesLOOKING FOR A SET UP…Blue Devil Chris Sheehan, No. 30, dribbles downcourt, while being hounded by Raider Dan DeCataldo. The Raiders won, 54-45,in Westfield on December 15, 2007.

WF Basketball AssociationSecond Grade Girls Action:

the ball well.The UMASS team showed im-

provement. Trinity Koetje made anamazing chest pass to JuliaCorsentino, who nailed a jump shot.Zhana Velkov made a breakaway stealand hit a bank shot. Isabella Panoradefended well and forced turnovers.Anjali Jain had a steal and made thebank shot. Katey Peretz had two as-sists. Mia Bryson swished a shot.Shreya Jyotishi forced an errant pass.Emma Coyle played stellar defense.Amanda Rickert made a beautiful cutand hit the bank shot.

Pittsburgh showed tremendous all-around improvement. KeralaMcGrail, Annie Ryan, Amanda Wallisand Lydia Murray had good ball han-dling and passing skills. Ellie Shermanand Ava Pravlik made several nicepasses. Caitlin Kearney and BridgetMooney offered good rebounding andstrong defense. Avery Longstreet andKatie Palmer contributed some niceshooting.

Cincinnati Bearcats faced Michi-gan State. Alexa Diziki and MeghanO’Connor displayed speed and ball-handling skill. Reilly Melvin andMadison Little had accurate passing;Carsyn Parmelee, Megan Sandstedt,Sophia Yang and Chelsea Little addedrebounding. Arden Meyer and LaurenLehnert added all-around skills. Theentire Bearcat team played with hustleand persistence.

Michigan State Spartan GwenSabato had a nice outside shot andgreat drive to the basket. Avery Hoefthad quick moves to the basket. Cen-ter Riley Newall added assists andrebounding. Kalea Calugay broughtvision and passing skills. MargauxNeumann showed leadership, droveto the basket and had fine perimetershots. Emma Riley and Olivia Bryandefended well and added great drib-bling skills. Madison Gatto recordedher first basket. Kate Johnson was akey shooter. Kavya Panjwani show-cased her speed. Katie Hoerle handled


Three Raiders ReceiveRegion Soccer Honors

Three members of the ScotchPlains-Fanwood High School girlssoccer team, Christy Monroy, SarahVanbuskirk and Christine Miklas,have been selected to the North 2Top-20 Players list by the New Jer-sey Girls Coaches Soccer Associa-tion (NJGSCA). Vanbuskirk Wasalso named NJGSCA Top-20 play-ers of the state. Assitionally, she wasnamed a National Soccer CoachesAssociation All American.


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WF Blue Storm Boys DefendIntercounty U17 Soccer Title

Westfield’s Blue Storm success-fully defended its U17 boys soccerFall InterCounty Championship titlewith a 3-1 victory over Scotch PlainsMcDermott.

Trailing 1-0 at halftime, BlueStorm quickly tied the score on AlexLaitamaki’s successful penalty kick.Westfield added another goal at the20-minute mark as Pat McCusker’scorner kick successfully eluded theScotch Plains keeper. In the finalminutes, Leo Kleiman-Lynch madea shot that hit the crossbar and re-bounded to John Towey, who buriedit to ice the victory.

After finishing the regular seasonin first place, Westfield won its play-off opener decisively with a 6-0 vic-tory over Westfield’s Blue United.Laitamaki, McCusker, Sam Binetti,Eric Sokol, Dan Cetlin and JustinWilliams scored goals. In the semifi-

nals, the Blue Storm avenged itsonly regular season loss by defeat-ing the Springfield Lightning, 3-1,on goals by Laitamaki, Sokol andRyan Morse.

The championship capped an im-pressive two-year run, which theBlue Storm won two Fall IC titlesand amassed an overall record of 19-1. The team also relied on solidgoaltending from Williams andbackup keeper Binetti and a formi-dable defense anchored by ChrisStivala and Harry McCarthy. Perhapsits greatest strength, however, was animpressive roster depth that includedOwen Browne, Sam DeJohn, AndresChang, Alex Schiffer, MarkEisenhauer, Matt Boyle and AndyFromm and which enabled the teamto play winning soccer despite inju-ries at different points on its way tothe championship.

SANTY HOOPS CHAMPS…The WBA Westfield Blue 4th grade boys team wentundefeated in the 16th Annual Clem Santy Holiday basketball tournament onDecember 1-4 and proceeded to defeat Clark in the championship game, 25-14.Pictured, left to right, are: front; Declan McCauley; kneeling, Griffin Rooney, JasonLee, Jake Walsh, Jake Waldman, Andrew Echausse and Jack Riley; standing, ColinFreer, Henry Shapiro, Eric Daaleman, William Kessler and Colin Elliott.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPS…The Westfield Blue 7th grade girls won the annualScott W. Anderson Memorial Basketball Tournament in Warren on December 3.Hannah Liddy, the team’s leading scorer, was named MVP. Pictured, left to right,are: Kelsey Moum, Lea Moynihan, Shannon Devitt, Caroline Martini, Lizzie Brucia,Kasey Ciarletta, Danielle Rinaldi, Samantha Della Fera, Hannah Liddy, ParkerYarusi and Jenna Iorio. Coaches are Ray Yarusi, Jim Iorio and Judy Brucia.

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FSPY 30+ Men’s BasketballLeague Week Two Results:

FSPY Men’s 30+ B’BallersOpens Season on December 4

The Fanwood-Scotch Plains Y 30+Men’s Basketball League opened itsthird season on December 4 with anopening day triple-header.

The Dominators dominated theDream Team, 45-36. The Dream Teamovercame a slow start to post a 17-14halftime lead behind 11 points fromEric Halpin, but the Dominators ruledthe second half.

Jason Pompeo led with 16 points,6-for-9 from the free throw line. IanBrown hit 10 of his 14 points in thesecond half. Dream Team rookie LouJones chipped in 10.

Nothing But Net snared Ballerz,53-44. Captain Marlon Brown gotNothing going after trailing at the end

of the half to overcome a five-pointdeficit for the win. Brown’s 16 pointswere complemented by Brian Parker’s22 points (3-for-4 free throws). AdamMertz added seven. Ballerz’s TroySims hit seven of his nine points inthe first half. Dave Berger had 13points.

Full Court slipped by SWISH, 49-46. SWISH jumped out to a 30-19lead. League MVP Jamal Berry hadnine points in the half, and captainPankaj Puri banged two 3-pointers.Full Court came to life in second half.Jason Holley sank 17 points and JerryBaglien hit 13 points. Lee Gallmanadded seven and Stephan Lee postedeight.

DECEMBER 11:Ballerz 69, Full Court 65

The score was knotted, 36-36, af-ter 20 minutes. Full Court rookieJack Ryan bucketed 27 points, whileBallerz rookie Scott Lowder, whofinished with 23 points, sank 13.Ballerz trailed slightly and hungaround until the three-minute markwhen Lowder hit consecutive three-pointers to put them up one. Big manTroy Sims (16 points) also took con-trol of the boards. Ryan added 13 tofinish with 40 and Steve Lee had 15.Dominators 46, SWISH 43

Balanced scoring with six of sevenplayers netting points and 23 pointseach half allowed the Dominators toslip past SWISH. Ian Brown (16points) and Jason Pompeo (13 points– 6-for-9 free throws all late in thegame) led the Doms. SWISHer JamalBerry posted 26 and CommissionerKevin Adams added eight.Nothing But Net 72, Dream Team 56

The Dream Team was caught shortof players had to endure a nightmare.Nothing But Net jumped-out to a six-point lead after one quarter, extendedit to 15 at halftime and cruised in thesecond half.

NBN rookie Brian Parker pumpedin 29 points (5-for-8 from the charity

stripe). Captain Marlon Brown net-ted 18 points. Dream Team pointguard and occasional center EricHalpin posted 24 points.

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HonoHonoHonoHonoHonor Rollr Rollr Rollr Rollr RollDeerfield School, Mountainside — First Marking Period

SPFHS Juniors DefeatSeniors in Powder-Puff Game

SCOTCH PLAINS- Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School DECA hosted apowder-puff football game played byjunior and senior girls on November23. The juniors defeated the seniors bya score of 9-0.

Over eighty participants thrilled andentertained the crowd that came out onthe rainy Wednesday afternoon. Withcoaching from both junior and seniorfootball players, the girls were able toplay a competitive game and take partin what has become a classic rivalrybetween the two classes.

Senior Luke Vuono, a four-yearcoach, sated, “We played with heartand even though we lost, I think thegirls had a lot of fun and we raisedmoney for a good cause.”

The juniors scored on screen pass tojunior MVP Christine Charles. Thejuniors missed the extra point due to theimpressive defensive skills of seniorSarah VanBuskirk. Junior Annie

Cannone kicked a field goal in thesecond half to cap off a junior drivedown the field. Junior Anthony Tufarowas pleased with his team. “We playedhard. The girls stepped up to the plateand held the seniors on several plays.This was a team effort,” he said.

The proceeds from the ticket salesand concessions, as well as participa-tion fees were donated to the CancerResearch Institute of New Jersey.SPFHS DECA raised over $500 inorder to continue the fight against can-cer. The event was organized by DECAsupervisor Mrs. FitzGibbon, as well asby seniors Sarah VanBuskirk andKathryn Romagnano.

DECA is a student-centered co-cur-ricular organization whose program ofleadership, competition, communityservice, and personal development isdesigned specifically for students en-rolled in marketing and business edu-cation classes.

BRAGGING RIGHTS…Rain was not an issue when the juniors, pictured above,defeated the seniors 9-0 at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School powder-pufffootball game hosted by DECA on November 23. Over eighty participants thrilledand entertained the crowd that came out on the rainy afternoon.

SECOND CHANCE…Students from Evergreen School in Scotch Plains get intothe holiday spirit by conducting a collection of gently used plastic toys for SecondChance Toys. The students helped clean, organize and tag the toys with person-alized messages. Approximately 600 toys were transported by volunteers from 1-800-Got-Junk? to New Community’s Harmony House, a transitional livingfacility in Newark. Pictured here are fourth graders, along with Spanish teacherand Second Chance Toys board member, Sra. Lipton.

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WF Student Accepted intoNYC Playwright Workshop

Alexa Derman

WESTFIELD - Alexa Derman, asophomore at Westfield High School,has been accepted into the YoungPlaywright Inc.’s AdvancedPlaywriting Workshop for 2011-2012. Only 14 students were admit-ted to this free program,most of whom are attend-ing private high schoolsin New York City.

As a participant in theAdvanced PlaywritingWorkshop, Alexa attendssessions once a week. Atthe end of the school day,she commutes to NewYork City, attends live the-ater, analyzes plays, com-pletes writing exercises,and ultimately will write a new playthat will be showcased at the end ofthe year in a professional stagedreading.

Elizabeth Bojsza, Literary Man-ager for Young Playwrights, Inc.,informed Westfield High SchoolPrincipal, Peter Renwick, of theorganization’s high regard forAlexa’s plays, short stories and writ-

ing samples that she submitted in theannual competition, and stated, “Notonly is Alexa’s participation in thisrigorous program an achievement forher, but it is also a testament to thequality education that she receives at

Westfield Senior HighSchool.”

Alexa said, “Ourdrama department hereis so great; when I readplays in drama class, Iwant to write more.”Alexa also referred toher Roosevelt SchoolLanguage Arts teacher,Carine Helwig (neeRevfi), “who made melove writing even

more.”Alexa said that she has been writing

since she was 7 years old. “I lovetheater and love to write, so this is agood match.” She also stated, “Thankyou, Stephen Sondheim for foundingthis program.” Mr. Sondheim startedYoung Playwrights, Inc., an Off-Broadway theater company, over 29years ago.

ANGEL TREE...Middle School students at The Wardlaw-Hartridge Schoolselect items from a tree that includes items on a wish list from autistic children atCrossroads School in Westfield. The students hope to provide a brighter holidayseason for these children by making their wishes come true.

Chyten Offers SAT/ACTComprehensive Prep Courses

AREA – Chyten, the Premier Tutor-ing and Test Preparation Companyannounces the SAT ComprehensivePreparation course schedule for theSAT: January 28, March 10 and May 5testing dates, and the ACT: February11, and April 14 testing dates. Classesare offered at the four New JerseyChyten Centers: Basking Ridge (908)647-9320, Flemington (908) 788 -3660, Millburn (973) 564-5220 andRidgewood (201) 857-4840. Visitwww.chytennj.com for more details.

Chyten’s classes are unique and ef-fective from start to finish. Chytenstudents achieve the largest score in-crease of any test prep company in thecountry: 274 points on the SAT, 4 – 7points on the ACT.

All Chyten’s instructors are experi-enced teachers with Master’s degree orhigher. Chyten designs strategies andthe strategic lessons learned will last alifetime. All classes are kept small, sothat teachers can get to know their

students. For practice and skill-build-ing, Chyten has extensive banks of testquestions of all types, actual and origi-nal. For strategy development, Chyten’smanual provides insights into the SATand the ACT you cannot get anywhereelse. Our classes include all materialsand two full length Magnostic SAT andACT Diagnostic exams.

Additionally, Chyten offers one-on-one tutoring, both test preparation andmost academic subjects, for a trulycustomized approach to learning. Ses-sions take place in private, comfortablestudy rooms and are highly effective,focusing on the individual studentsneeds. Utilizing the results from ourunique Magnostic Diagnostic Reports,tutors are able to zero in on each stu-dents’ strengths and weaknesses to de-velop and individualized learning pro-gram. One-on-one tutoring is availableseven days and evenings a week. Chytenproudly offers a guaranteed tutor matchfor each student.

TONS OF FUN...Park Middle School parents volunteered to feed hundreds ofhungry Scotch Plains-Fanwood family and friends attending the annual QuarterDip held October 27.

Park Middle School Serves UpFood And Fun at Quater Dip

SCOTCH PLAINS - On October27, 12 teachers and 20 Park MiddleSchool parents volunteered to feedhundreds of hungry Scotch Plains-Fanwood family and friends attend-ing the annual Quarter Dip. TheEighth Grade Activities Committeehosted the event to raise funds forPark’s Class of 2012.

For $5 per plate, attendees chosefrom over 15 types of main dishesand over a dozen different side dishes,salads and breads. A variety of des-serts were also available for fifty centseach. All the food was donated by

Park Middle School friends and fami-lies. The 8th graders had a chance toenjoy the evening and dine withfriends.

In addition to the food, there wereraffles and counting and guessinggames and music. It was an inexpen-sive evening for family and friends togather, eat and support Park’s 8thgraders.

Anne Coogan, Jennifer Cooney andColeen McSherry, committee co-chairs, thank all the volunteers andthe Scotch Plains Community for theirtime, donations and support.


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JEWELRY TRUNK SHOWS • SAT., DEC. 17th & SUN., DEC. 18th

December. Mixing classics withnewer compositions (“Dig That CrazySanta Claus!”), Setzer and his top-notch band infuse every song withtremendous energy, making classicslike “Jingle Bells” and “Winter Won-derland” seem fresh and alive again.There are several albums to choosefrom, but Ultimate Christmas Col-lection is your best choice for somefun, big band style Christmas music.

“Christmas in Hollis” by Run-DMC — A seeming oddball (a Christ-mas rap), this is still an earnest ac-count of Christmas time from per-haps rap’s greatest band, Run-DMC.The drums and beats hit as hard asany other song in the band’s reper-toire, but bells echo loudly, as thelyrics speak about Christmas dinner,presents, and even returning Santa’swallet. A little cheesy in retrospect,but still a one of kind effort from theCrown Kings of Rap, and worthy ofa spin at your Christmas party.

A Charlie Brown ChristmasSoundtrack by Vince Guaraldi Trio -While the namesake special is one ofthe staples of the Christmas seasonthanks to it’s earnest message, thesoundtrack is a major part of its charm.Recorded by jazz legend VinceGuaraldi, the twelve songs here rangefrom renditions of classics (“OTannebaum”, “What Child is This?”)to Guaraldi’s unforgettable originals(the irresistible “Linus and Lucy”,“Skating” with it’s piano line thatperfectly paints the image of fallingsnow). There are even mixes of thetwo, such as Guaraldi’s “My LittleDrum” which takes a page from “TheLittle Drummer Boy.” It all combinesto form not only a great jazz album,but a warm Christmas collection thatkeeps its charm no matter its age.

“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”by Bruce Springsteen and the E-StreetBand — No New Jerseyan wouldever host a Christmas party withoutgiving this classic a spin. Recordedlive, this is a rendition that reeks ofSpringsteen at his joyous best, begin-ning the song by asking if the crowd’sbeen good (and the band, as he asksClarence Clemons if Santa will bringhim a new saxophone). From there,things takes off with Springsteen’sbuilding vocals that erupt into a fullon party song, as he does a call andresponse with Clemons before thebig man wails into his saxophone. Aprime piece of Jersey Christmas mu-sic, a moment of joy made even more

Christmas SongsCONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

poignant with Clemons’ passing awaythis year

“Christmas Song” by DaveMatthews — Dave Matthews seemsto always have a good time, but hegave perhaps the starkest performanceof his career with this song. Despiteits name, this is not a rendition of theclassic carol, but a telling of the storyof Jesus, with only Matthews and hisguitar. The song paints a picture ofJesus’ life, showing him not as amessiah, but as man full of love forhis fellow man, no matter their statusor worth. The song even movesthrough his crucifixion and death,with Jesus asking God why he isfilled with love in such a hatefulworld. A reflective song about thesource of Christmas, that dwells noton his divinity, but the message oflove he left behind.

“Happy Xmas” (War is Over) byJohn Lennon — One of the Beatle’sbest-known solo hits, the song is areflective hymn for the spirit of theseason. Its timelessness is due to theraw questions it asks - have we madethe world better as another year comesto an end? Can we use the spirit of theseason to help do it? And can weremember to share that spirit andeffort with everyone? As with hisgreatest solo work “Imagine,” Lennonwraps these questions in a gorgeousmelody, with a children’s choir sing-ing the chorus. A song for the holi-days, and for the time after.

“Fairytale of New York” by ThePogues feating Kristy MacColl —The Pogues are known for blendingIrish and punk music, but it was thisholiday song that made them famous.Teaming with British singer MacColl,The Pogues crafted a moving, bitter-sweet song about an elderly coupletrying to celebrate the holiday whileblaming each other for their lostdreams. It’s a stark example of forcedfeelings of joy at Christmas, effort-lessly shown by MacColl and theslurred vocals of Shane MacGowan.It’s another song not to play for theyoung as there are profanities, andthe characters are plainly shown asaddicts. But there is a redeemingsweetness to the melody, and the songends on the note of the husband’slove and the hope of reconciliationamidst a soaring coda. It’s a totallydisarming, heart - twisting song that’sa message of love and hope despiteall the hardships - a perfect song tocelebrate the holidays to.

One Popcorn, Poor • Two Popcorns, Fair • Three Popcorns, Good • Four Popcorns, Excellent

POPCORN™

‘The Muppets’Occupies the Conscience

3 popcorns

By MICHAEL S. GOLDBERGERFilm Critic

When “The Muppets” is going full tilt,espousing its positivism and good cheer,and the endearing compassion makes uslaugh with well-being, observe theaudience’s happy faces. It makes youwish you could just grab Congress by theshoulders and say, “C’mon man, joinin…be a little less selfish. You couldreally make this a better world.”

Yeah, well, until the rainbow connec-tion exercises that kind of magic, wehave this feature-length big wish to re-mind us that not everybody has turnedfull cynic, detractor or obstructionist.While not the best Muppet yarn to date,we are still heartwarmingly informedwhy a couple generations have been en-thralled by the life-ennobling fantasy.

Smart and plucky, there is no shortageof muckraking cleverly aimed at our cur-rent political quagmire/malaise as TexRichman (get it, get it?), deliciously por-trayed by Chris Cooper, seeks to blockthe Muppets from saving their old studioand making a comeback. You see, there’soil under that thar building and Tex reck-ons to corral it all for himself.

If he makes some poor suckers un-happy in the bargain, all the better. But bewarned, Mr. Richman, the film ostensi-bly proclaims, the Muppets and all thatthey symbolize are not to be trifled withso cavalierly. Representing Muppetkind’sinterests are Jason Segel’s blithe Gary,his puppet brother, Walter (Peter Linz),and girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams).

The envisioned renaissance of JimHenson’s original gang, now depicted ashaving long forsaken showbiz, begins inSmalltown, U.S.A., when Gary, plan-ning a combination vacation/anniversarytrip to Hollywood, springs it on Walterthat there’s a ticket for him, too. And ofcourse that means they’ll be visiting theMuppet Theater, a Mecca for Walter.

But alas, upon arrival, the MuppetTheater has gone to seed. A tour by adoddering old guide played by Alan Arkinonly makes the scene of dishabille all themore depressing. Oh, what’s a poten-tially heroic puppet in search of his truedestiny to do? Simple, responds Gary,save the day by visiting the Muppets indiaspora and reunite them.

In the mode of “The MagnificentSeven” (1960), the self-appointed cru-saders start at Kermit’s hermitage, a veri-table museum to yesteryear’s glory remi-niscent of Norma Desmond’s (GloriaSwanson) manse in “Sunset Boulevard”(1950). It takes some cajoling to sell theretired icon, but soon they’re off in stylein his 1984 Rolls-Royce.

Stops at Gonzo’s plumbing empire,the third rate theater where Fozzie Bearbravely ekes out a living, and on down

the line of now displaced Muppets im-press an urgency for their return to grace.That’s just one of the many metaphorsadeptly tied together in no less than sixstorylines weaving through the saga. Anice score complements the message.

Interestingly, the gaggle of obviouslyastute 9 to 11-year-olds perched to myright got it, snickering heartily at thefilm’s social satire, probably affirmingwhat they’ve all along suspected. Whilethere was otherwise no great guffawingin the theater, but rather a series of inter-mittent yet earnest chortles, the joyfulmirth of social contagion was in fullflower.

Aside from a curiously stolid Grampsand Grandma seated in front of me who,I suspect, never reacted to anything intheir entire lives, the audience knew thiswas an experience in goodness. Whilethe script by Jason Segel and NicholasStoller isn’t as tight or joke-filled aswe’d like, it nonetheless spans the gen-erations with warmth and glee.

Miss Adams and Mr. Segel, the goody-two-shoes cliché playing afflatus towould-be-Muppet Walter, put it acrossnicely via a one-two combination of in-nocence and self-effacement. They are atonce grownups and children, yet wiseenough to detail the challenges Waltermust face up to if he is to ever self-actualize.

In addition to the étude in good vs.evil, the coming of age contemplationand the ponderings about stardom, themusical comedy also includes a primeron the protocols of keeping a romance inbloom. Bouquets aren’t enough, we ob-serve, as Gary, heretofore preoccupiedwith Walter’s pilgrimage, must himselfgrow into the altruism that is love.

The movie’s height of sensitivity andwhimsy comes when Walter and Gary,through song and dance, take turns ad-dressing their alter egos—Gary to hispuppet self, Walter to his human paral-lel—in the very simple but delightful“Man or Muppet.” You can’t help butsmile. I mean, gosh, here we are takingthe Muppets seriously, and rightly so.

Oftentimes, especially after hearing alying politico or being pickpocketed bythe bank’s “other fees,” we wish folkswould be a bit more upright, like it seemedwhen we were little, before we got toknow the score. “The Muppets”enchantingly reminds of our human po-tential, that we are not puppets, and thatyou can’t pull our strings for very long.

… “The Muppets,” rated PG, is a Walt

Disney Studios Motion Pictures releasedirected by James Bobin and stars JasonSegel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper andThe Muppets. Running time: 103 min-utes

Kean University PresentsDance Theatre Of Harlem

FIRST PLACE...Haley Needle ofScotch Plains, a junior at TheWardlaw-Hartridge School, won firstplace in the 15-17-year-old division inthe Watchung Center Arts Competi-tion for her “Screaming Man” illus-tration.

UNION - Kean Stage presentsDance Theatre of Harlem on Satur-day, January 7, at 7:30 p.m. in KeanUniversity’s Wilkins Theatre.

A classic American institution,Dance Theatre of Harlem keeps theirchoreography and approach to bal-let unique while remaining true toclassical technique. In an innova-tive performance at Kean, audiencemembers are taken behind thescenes as the troupe incorporatesits trademark artistry with audienceinteraction.

In 1955 Arthur Mitchell, an Afri-can-American ballet dancer se-lected by George Balanchine andLincoln Kirstein, joined the NewYork City Ballet. This historic oc-currence in pre-civil rights Americaset the stage for many firsts byMitchell, which changed the faceand future of dance forever.

Through roles choreographed byBalanchine specifically forMitchell, such as the pas de deux inAgon and the role of Puck in AMidsummer Night’s Dream, hehoned his craft to become a princi-pal dancer with New York City Bal-let for 15 years.

Shortly after the death of Dr. Mar-tin Luther King Jr. in 1969, ArthurMitchell and Karel Shook foundedthe Dance Theatre of Harlem(DTH). Nurtured by the optimismand idealism of the Civil RightsEra, the school began with classestaught in a garage on 152nd Streetin Harlem, the community in NewYork City in which Mitchell grewup.

The school’s curriculum was de-signed to give the children ofHarlem the same opportunitiesMitchell had as a teenager. DanceTheatre of Harlem flourished andthe nucleus of a professional com-pany was born.

One of the benchmarks of theschool became the “Open HouseSeries,” which opens the doors ofDance Theatre of Harlem to show-case the activities of the profes-sional Company, DTH Ensemble,students from the school as well asguest artists from all disciplines.These informal studio performancesare a community concert series thatcontinues today, offering qualityentertainment at nominal ticketprices to families living in Harlemand the New York Metropolitanarea.

Eager to continue to shape the

spirit of dance into the new millen-nium, in 2000, Dance Theatre ofHarlem performed to sold-outhouses in China, giving the countryits first performances of “Firebird”,and conducted extensive outreachand educational activities in Man-darin Chinese. That same year, thecompany returned to the legendaryApollo Theater in Harlem, whichmarked DTH’s first performanceon its stage in 25 years.

At home or abroad, DTH is metwith sold-out performances and ac-colades. After successfully return-ing to the UK in 2002 and 2004,DTH celebrated its 35th Anniver-sary with an extensive U.S. tour,followed by performances in Greeceprior to the opening of the 2004summer Olympics. In late 2004,the professional company went onhiatus; in keeping with the DTHphilosophy of “using the arts toignite the mind” the DTH Ensemble,the performing arm of the school,continues to thrill audiences withlecture-demonstrations at schools,colleges, universities and dance fes-tivals. Most recently, the Ensemblewas invited to perform for the Presi-dent and First Lady of the UnitedStates at the White House and is theonly performing arts group invitedto dance in the elegant rotunda atthe New York State Supreme Courtfor the annual African AmericanHistory Month celebration.

Tickets to Dance Theatre ofHarlem are $30 standard, $20 se-nior, student, child and can be pur-chased by calling Kean Stage BoxOffice at (908) 737.SHOW (7469),online at www.keanstage.com, orin person at Kean University’sWilkins Theater Box Office, locatedat 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.

Photo courtesy of Mark AdamoDance Theatre of Harlem

Gene and Shelley Enlow RecitalHall Presents Holiday Brass

HILLSIDE – Gene and ShelleyEnlow Recital Hall at Kean Uni-versity presents an annual tradi-tion of sonorous arrangementsof music for brass and percus-sion, Holiday Brass on Sunday,December 18, at 3 p.m.

The brass quintet featuresCharles Bumcroft and JerryBryant, (trumpets), Lisa Pike,(horn), Anthony Mazzocchi,(trombone) and Andy Bove(tuba) with James Musto (per-cussion).

Tickets to Holiday Brass atEnlow Hall are $25 and can be

purchased by calling Kean StageBox Office at (908) 737-SHOW(7469), online atenlowhall.kean.edu, or in per-son at Kean University’s WilkinsTheater Box Office. Enlow Re-cital Hall is located at 215 NorthAvenue, Hillside, NJ 07205.

WQXR is a media sponsor ofGene and Shelley Enlow RecitalHall. For complete Enlow Hall2011-12 Season information,please visit the website or con-tact Ms. Cory Ransom, Director,Operations (908) 737-5932,[email protected].

Watercolor Works by ArturoMorales at Bouras Galleries

preparation for a professional actingshowcase on Tuesday, January 17, inNYC to introduce the actors to theindustry professionals.

After asking Ralph Saro and JasonGillis about their characters’ back storyin Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp, theactress told the two that she had noth-ing more to add to their performance,implying that they had presented acompletely researched, well-donescene. When the last duo of KevinGilbert and Cassandra Otten presentedan amusing scene from The Spin byGreg Pierce, Ms. Burstyn commentedon the physicality of the scene that wassupposedly taking place in a closet.“Pay attention to the sensory aspect ofthe closet you are in,” she suggestedand told them to actually rehearse thescene in a closet without a light andwith coats hemming them in on allsides.

In the question and answer portionof the night, which was opened to thefull audience, Ms. Burstyn, who is theArtistic Director for New York’s Actor’sStudio, expounded on aspects of herphilosophy of acting. Dressed in dra-matic, loose fitting leather pants, turtleneck and a long brown vest, the theatrestar comfortably sat onstage to fieldquestions, with Mr. Wooten acting asmoderator.

“Acting is the only art you have tohave an audience, a witness,” she toldthe students. “We should ‘practice’ justlike a concert pianist, every day. Youhave to be working all the time—audi-tion, act and practice.”

Master ClassCONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

WCP to PresentRehearsal for

MurderWESTFIELD - Westfield Commu-

nity Players continues its 2011-2012season with the mystery, RehearsalFor Murder, by Richard Levinsonand William Link. The show opensSaturday, January 7, and runs throughSaturday, January 21.

After his leading lady (and fian-cee) commits suicide, Alex Dennisonis left heartbroken and believes shewas actually murdered. On the anni-versary of her death, he gathers thecast and crew of his last play in an oldBroadway theater in order to find outwhat really happened that fatefulnight.

The show is directed by Brian Remoof South Plainfield, produced by SteveLemenille of Clark and stage man-aged by Barbara Ruban of Spring-field. The cast features A.J. Liana ofBayonne, Bob Pape of Rahway, LauraCasey of Atlantic Highlands, AngelDuncan of Maplewood, Ami Martinoof Clark, Ken Webb of Fanwood,Steve Lemenille of Clark, KristinaHernandez of New Providence, RussOrtiz of Islin, Mark Schumacher ofMiddletown, Peter Curley ofMorristown, Craig Tiede, and MandyRussell.

Continuing the opening night tra-dition, audience members are invitedto a reception with the cast and crewimmediately following the final cur-tain.

The theater is located at 1000 NorthAvenue, Westfield. Tickets are $20and can be reserved by calling the 24-hour tape (908) 232-1221.

Funding is made possible by theNew Jersey State Council on the Arts,Department of State, a partner agencyof the National Endowment of theArts, through a grant administeredby the Union County Office of Cul-tural and Heritage Affairs.

SUMMIT - Watercolorist ArturoMorales of East Brunswick will exhibitat Bouras Galleries from Wednesday,January 4, 2012 through February. Theexhibit is open to the public.

Mr. Morales studied fine art, graphicdesign and illustration at the School ofVisual Arts in New York City. He workedas a graphic designer, art director andillustrator for 35 years, receiving manygraphic design and marketing awards.After the economic downturn he wasforced into early retirement. Follow-ing the advice and encouragement ofhis family and friends he started paint-ing again, awakening a dormant pas-sion for watercolor.

He became a member of the Arts

Guild of New Jersey in Rahway,where he studied Expressive Water-color with Lito David, who encour-aged him to display his art. Arturohas started exhibiting and has soldseveral paintings already. He stated,“Watercolor has a magical quality,when at first you put brush to thepaper it seems to talk back to theartist, the color says this is how strongand powerful I am or how soft andsubtle.”

Bouras Galleries is located inBouras Properties at 25 DeforestAvenue, Summit. Mr. Bouras, ownerof the building, is very communityoriented and has supported manycharitable and civic organizations intown and throughout the country.Bouras Properties has also been thelocation for various city-sponsoredevents. Along with the idea of a venuefor New Jersey artists goes the addedbonus that part of the proceeds fromany sales at the Bouras Galleries goesto benefit Overlook Hospital.

For an appointment, call Linda Colat (908) 277-6054.

Triskelion Presents ‘ToAll A Goodnight’

SCOTCH PLAINS- Triskelion willpresent “To All A Goodnight,” a holi-day treat with readings, carols andkids. This holiday show will feature aspecial presentation by children ofthe community performing an origi-nal work. Performances will be heldon Friday, December 16, at 7:30 p.m.and Sunday, December 18, at 3 p.m.

Performances will be held at AllSaints’ Church, 559 Park Avenue inScotch Plains located across fromPark Middle School. There is addi-tional parking behind the church offSchool Place.

Tickets are $15 for adults and chil-dren under 18 are $10.

For information and tickets (908)256-5704 or visitwww.triskelionartists.org.

‘Unemployment’ DemonstratesUnusual Techniques

BAYONNE – With the officialunemployment rate around nine per-cent for more than two years and theaverage duration of individual un-employed at 40 weeks, most job-searchers are not only overwhelmedby the challenges of looking for ajob, but also by the psychologicaleffect of being out of work.

The book “Unemployment as anOpportunity” by Marcus Valentinerblends a practical job-search guide,demonstrating usual and unusualtechniques that successfully lead youthrough the process with an inspira-tional real-life self-help book aboutmotivation, energy, life and personaldevelopment and presents it as onereal story, which it actually is. It isentirely based on his experience whilehe was unemployed and looking fora job for more than two and a halfyears.

This new book explains how tostart the job-search game with seri-ously analyzing yourself, getting theinformation you need and activelyreaching out to employers, even con-tacting managers directly. At the sametime, it shows that it is critical tounderstand that only the right mindsetand the right approach will get youthe job you are looking for. Recog-nizing that you are the most impor-tant person in the world, that everysituation in your life offers an oppor-tunity, that life itself is a giganticgame and knowing the rules of the

job-search game will leave you re-laxed, confident and motivated.

Marcus Valentiner works as a stock-broker, trader and market analyst inNew York, N.Y. and currently buildshis career-coaching business. Overthe last year he documented all expe-rience and skills he gained and wrotethis book that also provides a highlyinteresting “behind-the-scene”-viewof the corporate hiring process.

For more information about thebook visit www.volt-aic.com.


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The Angels came, the Shepherds came, the Wise men came, WILL YOU COME? We invite you this Christmas to worship HIM with us. St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church Very Rev. John J. Paladino, Pastor/Dean

2032 Westfield Avenue, Scotch Plains, New Jersey 07076 www.stbartholomewchurch.org

(908) 322-5192

MASS SCHEDULE Christmas Eve Christmas Day

3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 7:30 pm, 12:00 Midnight 10:30 am, 12 Noon

Premiere Stages MasterClass Taught by True Master

By SUSAN MYRILL DOUGHERTYSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

UNION — “Kean University: WorldClass Education” is the school’s slo-gan. With a presentation on December5 by world-famous actor Ellen Burstyn,it’s easy to see why Kean can make thatclaim.

Known as a “triple crown winner” ofan Emmy, an Oscar and a Tony, Ms.Burstyn gave a master class open tostudents in Kean’s classes as well as tothe public. A master class is for stu-dents who have studied extensively ina particular field and are given feed-back by someone who is recognized asa master in that area.

This particular event found sevenstudents of Premiere Stages’ ArtisticDirector and Kean teacher John Wootenpresenting scenes for Ms. Burstyn. Thestudents in the class “Acting as a Pro-fessional” that is billed as a “cap-stone”course is part of the Kean Departmentof Theatre. The class helps graduatingmajors transition into their professionalcareers.

The students performed short scenesand were afforded feedback from Ms.Burstyn. “Tell me about the play,” sheasked Amber Adeline who presentedfrom Neil LaBute’s The Shape ofThings.

Later, Ms. Adeline reflected on theexperience of performing for a super-star. “She was insightful, commandingin her presence and brought such en-ergy to the moment.” Ms. Adeline con-tinued, “She was comforting, support-ive and a powerful lady. I’m gratefulfor this experience that Premiere Stagesof Kean has provided.”

Alan Kendall of Clark was pairedwith Audra Taliercio to present a scenefrom Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman.The scene zeros in on a blind datebetween a thirty-something girl and ayoung man who eventually proves tobe a stalker.

“You both have lovely stage pres-ence, but show us the complexities ofthe subtext,” Ms. Burstyn suggested.Mr. Kendall said he learned a great deal

from Ms. Burstyn’s remarks in askingthe two actors to do the scene again andchange their focus. “I learned that thereis always room for improvement,” hesaid. “She made it clear it’s [acting] aconstant process that is changing andevolving to make it better.”

The student actors are using thismaster class experience as part of their

Susan M. Dougherty for The Leader and The TimesMASTER FEEDBACK...Actress EllenBurstyn fields questions from the au-dience at Premiere Stages/KeanUniversity’s master class on Monday,December 5. In response to an audi-ence member’s question, Ms. Burstynexplained her feelings about an actorwho has to go to a “dark place” througha character. “The fear of that is greaterthan the experience of it,” she said. “Ifeel exhilarated, full of energy afterbeing in the ‘dark place’ on stage….asactors, get on top of that horse and rideit and don’t get trampled by it.”


Non-traditional ChristmasSongs for the Jaded

By ERIC NIERSTEDTSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

It’s the Christmas season again,and as we walk through the malls forour shopping, or listen to the radio aswe drive, we are bombarded with thesame Christmas carols and songs wehave heard for years beyond mea-sure. And no matter what we do orhow hard we try, every year we findourselves despising the happy jinglesof “Rudolph” and “Frosty”, the wornout Bing Crosby numbers, and the nolonger funny parodies that make usyearn for the season to be over.

But are all Christmas songs thisplayed out? Not really. While thereare plenty of worn out traditionalcarols and pop songs, there are a fewthat have been successful by beingeither under the radar, or just becauseof their genuine iconic status.

So if you’re looking for some newor enjoyable material to listen to asyou wrap, or to play at your Christ-mas party, here’s a few suggestions:

“Run, Run, Rudolph” by ChuckBerry — While the first song on thelist is a popular radio hit, it neverreached the overplayed status of itsdistant cousin “Rudolph”. Instead ofbeing a saccharine jingle, this is aguitar heavy, fast paced 50s rockersung by the greatest of all 50s rock-ers, the immortal Chuck Berry. Evenas one of the few hits Berry did notwrite himself, it still vibrates with allthe passion and power that Berry putinto his own compositions. Severalartists have covered it over the years,but if you really want a good time, theoriginal Berry song is still the best.

“Merry, Merry Merry Frickin’Christmas” by Fricking A — This is

a song for anyone that enjoys laugh-ing at the craziness of the holidayseason, but is burned out on “12 Painsof Christmas.” Built on a pop-punkbeat, the song is almost an audioversion of National Lampoon’sChristmas Vacation, a note-by-noterecitation of all the insane familymembers that gather at Christmas,and the misery it inflicts on the brattyprotagonist. While it does contain adated Ashlee Simpson joke, andshould not be played for youngerkids, it is still a fun and funny song foranyone who does not sugarcoat alltheir Christmas memories.

You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch— Another holiday classic that getsgood airplay, this remains a charm-ing and nostalgic tune for any gen-eration. The clever wordplay (“You’reas cuddly as a cactus, you’ve gotgarlic in your soul”), and wonder-fully slinky melody echo both Dr.Seuss and his Yuletide creation, andmake the idea of the Grinch’s sinisternature seem fun. A big part of thereason the special remains a belovedtreasure, the original version is a clas-sic, but there are many fine covers,including one by the next artist on thelist.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s(BSO) Christmas Albums — Begin-ning his career as a member ofrockabilly revivalists The Stray Cats,Brian Setzer has morphed into a jumpblues bandleader, leading his mas-sive orchestra in keeping the big bangsound alive. Nowhere does he dowith this more joy then the BSO’snumerous Christmas albums, whichkeep the band on a massive tour every


Ring in the New Year withThe Westfield Symphony

The Westfield Symphony Orchestra

WESTFIELD - On Saturday,December 31, at 7 p.m., under thebaton of Maestro David Wroe,Westfield Symphony Orchestra(WSO) again presents one of NewJersey’s most popular New Year’s Evemusical celebrations. This year’sperformance, That’s Entertainment,promises a superb revue of the goldenage of the American musical presentedin glorious symphonic splendor.

The concert has become a musicalevent eagerly anticipated by much ofcentral New Jersey. Soprano SandraJoseph, who has performed for mil-lions during her ten-year run as Chris-tine Daae in The Phantom of the Op-era, will join WSO and a host of otherrenowned guest vocalists direct fromBroadway stage to perform a superbrange of show stoppers from timelessmusicals including Chicago, LesMiserables, Phantom, Gigi, Camelot,Showboat, and many more.

An event for the whole family, this

is a friendly cabaret–style concert foradults to reminisce to songs they allknow, for kids to enjoy some of themore peculiar characters to graceBroadway’s stage, and for us all torevel in the musical genius of some ofAmerica’s finest musical theatercomposers, outstanding guest vocalperformers and a fully professionalworld class orchestra led by MaestroDavid Wroe.

The WSO recommends that audi-ence members make reservations assoon as possible as tickets are sellingfast and last year’s concert was a sell-out. Tickets in advance are $40 forgeneral admission and $70 for pre-ferred seating ($45 and $75 at thedoor, if available).

Tickets may be purchased on lineat www.westfieldsymphony.org(where audience members can selectseats, print tickets, and avoid a $6handling fee) or by calling (908) 232-9400.

CorrectionIn last week’s edition of the

newspaper, Michelle Rosen ofMORe Staging and Design wasincorrectly identified in an articleregarding the Home for the Holi-days house tour.

We apologize for the error.

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By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield

Leader and The Times

Finishing some unfinished busi-ness most likely is on the mindsof the Cranford High School girlsbasketball team, that came upshy of repeating as North Jersey,Section 2, Group 3 championsbut still had an outstanding sea-son to finish with a 22-6 record.

The good news is that the LadyCougars return all of their start-ers, so their chances to reclaimthe crown look good. MorganMiller is the only senior on thesquad, and juniors Jess McCoy,Jenna Goeller and KateMcGovern, along with sopho-mores Mairead McKeary and CarliMaucione have been refining theirskills.

“I am very excited about thisyear, because we are all return-ing, and we have matured asbasketball players. We are a yearolder. Morgan is our only senior.They worked very hard over thesummer. We were in a fall league.We played very well. We imple-mented a few new offenses anddefenses,” Cougar Head CoachJackie Dyer said.

Last year, Miller, a forward,totaled 300 points, including 37three-pointers, and hit 37 of 54from the free throw line. She alsohad 86 assists and 145 rebounds.

“She is an awesome three-pointshooter. She gives her heart andsoul every time she is on thefloor. She is a big time leader forus this year. It’s her senior year,so she wants it more than any-

thing to do well,” Coach Dyersaid.

McCoy, a guard, pretty muchdid it all. She led the team with322 points (38-for-56 freethrows) and 201 rebounds. Shealso had 68 steals and 68 assists.

“She’s pretty much one of myoverall [players]. She plays in-side-outside. She will bring theball up the floor for us some-

times. She is a great defender. Itcomes very natural for her,”Coach Dyer said.

This year, Goeller, a point guardand McKeary, a guard, haveshown maturity handling the ball.

“She has improved a lot withher ball handling, and she hasbecome more confident drivingto the basket and shooting theball when she is open. Same

thing with Mairead! In our scrim-mages, she’s constantly going tothe basket, very aggressive on

McCOY, MILLER, GOELLER, McGOVERN, McKEARY, MAUCIONE RETURNING VETERANS

Cougars Return All Starters For Exciting Hoops Seasondefense,” Coach Dyer pointed out.

Lasy year, Goeller led the teamwith 107 assists. Goeller, whohas 129 points, showed shootingaccuracy from the outside byhitting 13 from three-point range.McKeary finished with 114 points,69 rebounds and 25 assists.

“Jenna has worked very hard onher shot. She’s become a lot moreconfident with her shooting. Point

guards tend to pass the ball alittle too much, but we haveworked with her and said scorewhen you can,” Coach Dyer said.

McGovern, a forward, was verytough under the boards. She

amassed 27 blocked shots, whileadding 83 rebounds, 31 steals inaddition to sinking 25 of 37 freethrows.

“Kaitlyn has worked very hardover the summer and fall on herpost moves and becoming moreaggressive. She’s going to be abig scorer for us,” Coach Dyerssaid.

Maucione, a forward, contrib-uted 107 points, 59 reboundsand 17 blocks.

Last year, opposing team foundout that it was not a good idea tofoul any of the Lady Cougars,since they were averaging in high60-percent range to low 70-per-cent range.

“We take 80 to 100 free throwsa practice, so I wouldn’t wantany percentage lower than whatwe had last year,” Coach Dyersaid.

Offense was one aspect of thegame, but defense was the LadyCougars’ bread and butter. Theyconstantly frustrated opponentsinto making bad passing deci-sions and had several “ChiefThieves” who could snatch theball and convert it to Cougarpoints.

“The girls know that I am de-fensive minded. You are going toget your points, but if you don’tplay defense, the other team isgoing to outscore you, so wework on defense a lot in practice.Their aggressiveness and inten-sity in wanting the ball, helps inthat aspect,” Coach Dyer ex-plained.

The Lady Cougars will open theirseason with a home game againstOak Knoll tomorrow, December16, at 4 p.m. On Tuesday, De-cember 20, the Cougars will en-tertain New Providence at 4 p.m.

“The girls have worked reallyhard. It’s going to be exciting tosee what happens,” Coach Dyersaid.

David B. Corbin (2011 District 11 Tournament) for The Westfield Leader and The TimesLADY COUGAR RETURNING VETERANS…The Cougar girls basketball team returns all of their starter. Pictured,left to right, are: Mairead McKeary, Carly Maucione, Morgan Miller, Jess McCoy and Jenna Goeller.





By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield

Leader and The Times

Just because two fantastic wres-tlers Joe Giaccio and KyleMarkovitch, who broke schoolrecords and qualified for theNJSIAA tournament in AtlanticCity, have graduated, that doesnot mean that this year’s CranfordHigh School wrestling team islight on talent.

With four returning Region 3qualifiers, including an NJSIAAqualifier, and many experiencedwrestlers waiting in the wings tobreak into the lineup, the Cou-gars will be quite competitive.

The Cougars’ former head coach,Darren Torsone, has moved upto the Director of Athletics posi-tion, but his replacement, PatGorman, is no stranger to theprogram. Gorman, a Cranfordresident, has been Torsone’s as-sistant for eight years.

“I lived in town for 32 years. Iwrestled through the PAL systemhere, so it’s been a lifelong thingto be a part of the Cranford wres-tling family, Head Coach Gormansaid.

The biggest-name wrestler willbe senior J.P. Christiano, whowas a Union County Tournament,District 11 Tournament and Re-gion 3 Tournament champion,who made it to the quarterfinalsat Atlantic City (AC) and finishedwith a 35-4 record at 160-lbs.Christiano is expected to com-pete at 170-lbs.

“He finished a great year inwrestling last year. He just fin-ished a great year in football. He’slooking strong. He’s ready to go.He’s hungry to do better thanwhat he did last year. I foreseehim having an excellent year.He’s going to put up some num-bers, and he’s going to turn some

heads,” Coach Gorman said.Senior Ian Henry came on

strong last year to place third inthe UCT and second in the dis-trict at 125-lbs to finish 22-15.Henry is in with a mix of Cougarsvying for the 126-lb spot, whichincludes sophomore Cory Birch,

who wrestled 119-ls last year.“Ian Henry finished second last

year at the district. He is a toughkid. We are looking for him tofinish in the top at the districts.Corey Birch will be wrestlingabove him probably. We are ex-pecting big things from him,”Coach Gorman said.

Not to be overlooked is junior

Jim Dyer, who placed fourth inthe district at 152-lbs last year.The other three, Christian Bar-ber (Westfield), DevinGeoghegan (Brearley) and Di-ego Chavez (Rahway) all quali-fied for AC. Barber andGeoghegan placed 1-2, respec-

tively. Junior Corey Markovitchwrestled two weight classesabove his normal class but placedsecond in the district at 171-lbs.Dwyer and Markovitch are ex-pected to compete at 152-lbsand 160-lbs, respectively.

“He is looking very strong inthe room. Jimmy has a greatfuture here, as does Corey

Markovitch, JP Christiano, JeffWeiss, Ryan Farrell, all the wayup the line,” Coach Gorman said.

Weiss and Farrell, both juniors,will compete at 220-lbs andheavyweight, respectively. Jun-ior Mike Diaz, a very effectivelinebacker on the football team,

will compete at 182-lbs, and jun-ior Rob Kessler will be in the mixat 170-lbs.

“From heavyweight all the waydown to [1]52 are kids, whohave already been in the lineup.Fourteen of them are comingfrom the football state champi-onships, so these kids are hun-gry for another successful sea-

son. To roll that right over towrestling is great. We are glad tohave them. It wasn’t a slow startat all. We got these kids in there,and they hit the ground run-ning,” Coach Gorman said.

The middleweight classes willbe a mix of the 12 sophomoresand some of the 11 juniors on thesquad.

“In the middle, we have somenew features in the lineup, whohave been wrestling behind toughkids last year. It is not like theyare new to the sport, they justhad a tough time breakingthrough the lineup, so we areexpecting these guys to have abreakout year,” said CoachGorman, who added, “We have abunch of kids, who have all beenhere. We only have three fresh-men, so all the sophomores havea lot of experience. We are look-ing for all that experience tocome through when they get tothe varsity level.”

Of the three freshman, GavinMurray should be solid at 113-lbs.

“We are looking for him to havea really good year. A lot of thesekids coming up through the PALsystem have already wrestledmore matches than some of thekids, who have been here for awhile. These kids are going allover the state, wrestlingmatches. When we get that cali-ber of kid in here, it benefits theprogram,” Coach Gorman said.

Coach Gorman is also excitedwith his new addition to thecoaching staff, Justin Bonitatis,an All-American from The Col-lege of New Jersey

“We are meshing as coaches.We are happy to have him onboard,” he said.

The Cougars’ first home matchwill be against New Providenceon Wednesday, December 21, at7 p.m.

J.P. CHRISTIANO, IAN HENRY, JIM DWYER, CORY MARKOVITCH PREPARE TO STEP UP

Cougar Matmen Return Experience, Have Coach Change

David B. Corbin (2011 NJSIAA Tournament) for The Westfield Leader and The TimesCougar J.P. Christiano, left, made it to the NJSIAA quarterfinals at 160-lbs





By CHRISTINA M. HINKESpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

GARWOOD – During its meetingTuesday night, the Borough Coun-cil voted 4-2, with CouncilmanVictor DeFilippo and Council-woman Sara Todisco voting no,on a motion to adopt an ordinanceto freeze longevity benefits.

“If the ordinance is passed, I cantell you I do not intend to sign it,”Mayor Patricia Quattrocchi saidduring the workshop meeting.

“Having worked in the field ofemployment for over 20 years, Iam very sensitive to what peoplehave agreed to when they arehired,” Mayor Quattrocchi said.

Eleven non-union employees ofthe borough will be affected bythis amendment to the ordinance.

Future non-union employeescannot receive longevity benefits,and current non-union employ-ees who receive longevity ben-efits cannot accrue additional ben-efits. “It fixes their longevity. Itallows them to retain it. They willcontinue to receive what they haveearned – they simply will not beentitled to increase their longev-ity,” Borough Attorney JosephTriarsi said.

Resident Fred McCarrick askedhow much the borough would saveby doing away with longevity ben-efits, and the council could notprovide a figure. “I don’t under-stand how you can vote on thisordinance and not know how muchyou are going to save; it doesn’tmake any sense whatsoever,” Mr.McCarrick said.

“We can’t afford this anymore,”Councilman Jim Mathieu said,blaming the state’s 2-percent cap.

“If we go above that 2 percent,somebody is going to be laid off.You’ll end up with a borough whohas a big payroll and no employ-ees,” Councilman Keith Sluka said.

After the motion to adopt wasmade, Councilman Mathieu saidto the mayor that she originallyinstructed the Laws and LicensesCommittee to remove longevity

from the personnel policy. He saidthe mayor wrote in an e-maildated June 8, “I would certainlywant to rid ourselves of longevityas it is not acceptable to me.” Shereplied to Mr. Mathieu that thestatement does not comprise allof her thoughts on the issue.

“What evolved out of your com-mittee was not what I had inmind,” she said.

Breaking ground on the athleticfield complex will be delayed yetagain after bids for the complexcame in over budget of the $2.1-million bond ordinance approvedin 2007, with bids ranging from$2.65 million to over $5 million. Anew bond ordinance would needto be approved at a rate higherthan the lowest bid in order toproceed with accepting a bid, Mr.Triarsi said.

A grant in the amount of$875,000 had come in after thebond ordinance was adopted, Bor-ough Clerk Christina Ariemmasaid, which would help offset themonies the borough would haveto burden taxpayers with.

About $800,000 would be raisedthrough taxes to build the athleticfield complex, according to thecouncil.

Legal issues also complicate thematter, Mr. Triarsi said. This in-cludes a letter from FieldTurf, anartificial turf supplier, that putsthe borough on notice that thecompany reserves the right to filea lawsuit if the borough approvesthe bid because the borough wouldbe in violation of public contractslaw, Perry DiPiazza, regional vice-president of FieldTurf, told TheWestfield Leader. He spoke be-fore the council explaining thecompany’s position.

He said the borough’s consult-ant, John Bell of Kinsey Associ-ates, worded the bid to say that noalternate brands of artificial turfmay be considered, which is ille-gal, Mr. DiPiazza said.

He also noted that the borough“would have realized a $100,000savings” by using another brand

other than the brand specified onthe base bid.

Russell Graham of Liberty Courtasked during public commentswhen the public works depart-ment will remove trees and limbsleft on the curbside and roadsideafter October’s snowstorm.

“The guys are doing the bestthey can,” Council PresidentTimothy Hak said. He said it is notin the budget to pay overtime.

“We are six inches of snow awayfrom a disaster,” Mr. Graham said.

Former Mayor Dennis McCarthysaid on his block he has seenrodents scurrying in and out ofthe piles of leaves and limbs.

Mayor Quattrocchi asked Mr.Hak to look into prioritizing ar-eas.

Resident Kevin Cullen of Willow

Garwood Council Freezes Longevity Benefits; Athletic Field DelayedAvenue said the owner ofSurgent’s Elite Gymnastics Schoolat 501 South Avenue is runningpart of his business in a residen-tial zone that falls within his neigh-borhood on Willow.

He said the owner built a park-ing lot against what was allowedby the zoning department.

“Every day I have to put up withpeople dropping kids off; whenthey pick them up they park infront of my driveway, in front offire hydrants,” he said. “All I wantyou to do is to tell me how mystreet became a commercialstreet.”

“What do I do, do I sell myhouse? I figure for this part of mytaxes I get peace and tranquil-ity,” he said.

The borough will submit appli-

cations for Year 38 of the Commu-nity Development Block Grant Pro-gram (CDBGP), a federal govern-ment program, in the amounts of$25,000 for the senior citizen pro-gram, $12,000 for senior citizentransportation, and $10,000 forsenior citizen handyman program.

Councilman Louis Petruzzelliannounced that the Garwood Vol-unteer Fire Department has addeda new firefighter.

Former councilman AnthonySytko, a 28-year resident ofGarwood, announced he wouldmove to Trenton to be closer towork. He spoke about how thefuture of Garwood lays in thehands of the residents. “This towndeserves leaders who care. I re-ally hope we find these people,”he said.

By FRED T. ROSSISpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

CRANFORD – Mayor DanielAschenbach bid adieu to the town-ship government on Tuesday,ending a municipal governmentcareer that began in the early1980s and ended last month whenhe was defeated for re-electionto his township committee seat.

“Use me up until I’m done,” themayor said at Tuesday’s commit-tee meeting, quoting an OprahWinfrey aphorism. It was the finalmeeting of 2011, which the mayorreferred to as “quite a year,” cit-ing Hurricane Irene in late Augustand its aftermath, as well as town-ship financial woes earlier in theyear and the ongoing fight to pre-vent development of theBirchwood Avenue property. WhileMr. Aschenbach did not quite ruleout running for office in the fu-ture, he also vowed to “stay in-volved.” He devoted most of hisremarks to praising the townshipteam that has worked with himduring his 2011 mayoralty, in-cluding Township Attorney DanielMcCarthy, Acting Township Ad-

ministrator and Police Chief EricMason, his committee colleaguesand township employees.

Earlier, Deputy Mayor KevinCampbell praised the mayor’sefforts during the post-Irene re-covery as “off the charts” and“exemplary.” CommissionerDavid Robinson, who is slated tobecome mayor in 2012 when theRepublicans regain control of thecommittee, praised Mr.Aschenbach’s role in the Irenerecovery as “tremendous,” tell-ing the mayor that, “you werethere leading the community.”

In other business, MayorAschenbach said it was “obvi-ously outrageous” that a judgeruled on Monday that theBirchwood Avenue development,which calls for 360 housing unitsto be built, can go forward. Themayor said the township com-mittee on Monday night had ap-proved the filing with the stateSuperior Court of a motion toreconsider, adding that there is a“strong case” for an appeal of thejudge’s ruling. The township hasopposed the development, in-stead seeking to turn the prop-

Aschenbach Ends Tenure, Criticizes Birchwood Rulingerty into a retention basin in aneffort to mitigate flooding onnearby streets.

Mr. McCarthy said the motion toreconsider will be filed by Thurs-day, December 29, and told aquestioning resident that thereare some procedural matters thatmust first occur before a formalappeal of the ruling can be filed.

At the start of the meeting, themayor spent 30 minutes handingout certificates of appreciation tomembers of the Cranford HighSchool varsity football team,which won the state champion-ship on December 3. “You havemade Cranford very proud,” hetold the several dozen players,coaches and family members whocrowded the meeting room. Thevictory, he said, “couldn’t havecome at a better time, given allwe’ve been through.”

In other business, MichaelDubitsky was sworn in as a pro-bationary officer with the CranfordPolice Department. Additionally,the committee passed a resolu-tion waiving parking fees in thedowntown area during the Christ-mas shopping season.





Pat DiFabio Honored forSixty Yrs. With Garwood FD

DEDICATED FIREFIGHTER...Garwood Councilman and Fire CommissionerLou Petruzzelli, left, and Fire Chief Wayne Frew, right, congratulate FirefighterPat DiFabio on his 60th anniversary with the Garwood Volunteer Fire Depart-ment. The ceremony was held December 11 at The Westwood in Garwood.Please see story below.

GARWOOD — Firefighter PatDiFabio was honored by theGarwood Fire Department onDecember 11 at The Westwoodin Garwood for his 60 years ofactive service to the department.He was presented with a ring byFire Chief Wayne Frew and alsowas presented with a resolutionby George Heflich, Sr., presidentof the New Jersey State Firemen’sAssociation, for his many yearsof service to the department andthe community of Garwood.

Firefighter DiFabio joined theGarwood FD on January 3, 1951at the age of 23, and became alife member of the New JerseyState Firemen’s Association in1969. He had been active inthe department over manyyears, serving on many com-mittees and chairing some. Hehas also been involved with thefire prevention program eachOctober, where he has visitedschools and helped teach the

students about fire safety.In 1995 he attended the

Middlesex County Fire PoliceAcademy where he graduatedafter completing a course on firepolice instructions. At that timehe was made a Garwood firepolice officer by the fire depart-ment. The Garwood Knights ofColumbus honored him in 2011as the outstanding firefighter ofthe year. He was also was hon-ored by the Education Founda-tion of Garwood as an outstand-ing citizen.

Firefighter DiFabio is still activewith the fire department andanswers calls no matter whattime of day or night as a firepolice officer. He can usually befound every Sunday morning atthe firehouse making coffee forthe men and passing on his jokesand good nature.

In his spare time he volunteersat Runnells Specialized Hospitalin Berkeley Heights.

Library AnnouncesHoliday Closings

GARWOOD – The Garwood Pub-lic Library, located at 411 ThirdAvenue, will be closed for holidayobservances and maintenance onthe following days: Saturday,December 24, for Christmas Eve;Monday, December 26, in obser-vance of Christmas; Thursday andFriday, December 29 and 30, formaintenance, and Saturday, De-cember 31, for New Year’s Eve.

The library will be open forbusiness on Tuesday andWednesday, December 27 and28, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Duringthe days the library is closed, theoutdoor book drop will be openfor any returns that come due.Patrons are advised that DVDsand audiobooks must be returnedinside to the Circulation Desk toavoid an additional fee.

Cranford Historical SocietyPlans ‘Civil War Christmas’CRANFORD – The Civil War

Sesquicentennial Committee ofthe Cranford Historical Societywill present “A Civil War Christ-mas” on Sunday, December 18,from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Crane-Phillips House Museum.

Nineteenth-century holidayswill be recreated in the museumparlor. Civil War re-enactorsfrom the 2nd Rhode Island Vol-unteers Company D will be atthe museum to demonstrate rughooking and church doll mak-ing. Adding to the ambiance willbe music that would have beenplayed during the Civil War.There also will be a Louisa MayAlcott reading. Louisa May Alcottwas an author, Civil War nurse,abolit ionist, educator andhealth-care reformer. Addition-ally, visitors will have an oppor-tunity to make a lavender sa-chet to take home.

The 150th anniversary of theAmerican Civil War began this

year and will run until 2015. OnOctober 27, 2009, the Town-ship of Cranford adopted a reso-lution designating the CranfordHistorical Society as the leadorganization for commemorat-ing that defining period ofAmerican history. The Societywill sponsor educational andentertaining programs through-out the anniversary designed tobroaden public awareness of thetransformative events leadingto the conclusion of that greatstruggle.

The Crane-Phillips House Mu-seum is located at 124 NorthUnion Avenue in Cranford. Ad-mission will be free. For furtherinformation, call the historicalsociety’s office at (908) 276-0082 or [email protected] in 1927, the CranfordHistorical Society’s mission isto preserve and perpetuate thehistory of Cranford.

‘Icy Moons of Saturn’ to BeAAI Topic Tomorrow NightCRANFORD – Amateur Astrono-

mers, Inc. (AAI) will hold itsmonthly meeting tomorrow, Fri-day, December 16, at 8 p.m. inthe Roy Smith Theater on theCranford campus of Union CountyCollege (UCC), located at 1033Springfield Avenue.

Guest speaker Andy Poniros,NASA/JPL Solar System Ambas-sador, will present “The Icy Moonsof Saturn.” Mr. Poniros will guideattendees on an exploration ofthe Saturn system using multipleimages and scientific data col-lected by the Cassini spacecraftand Huygens probe. Featured willbe Saturn’s moons, Titan andEnceladus, plus several other icymoons, the planet itself and itsrings. Some discoveries made bythe Cassini science team will beincluded.

Mr. Poniros received an ASEEin Electrical Engineering fromNorwalk State Technical Collegein 1974 and has worked as amedical imaging engineer for 37years. He is NASA Lunar Rock KitDemonstration Certified, a sci-ence reporter for WPKN Radio(WPKN.org) and is a member ofthe Astronomical Society of NewHaven.

Following his presentation, at-tendees will be able to join AAImembers at the William MillerSperry Observatory, also located

on the Cranford UCC campus, forrefreshments and the chance tolook through the two largestamateur telescopes in the north-east (weather permitting).

Sperry Observatory is open tothe public every Friday evening,rain or shine, between 7:30 and10:30 p.m. for an informal talkand observing. For more infor-mation, visit AAI’s website,asterism.org, or call (908) 276-STAR. Admission and parking arefree.

Cranford/Garwood/Area News


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