Nov 2012 - Nassau Journals

THE JOURNAL NOVEMBER 2012 29
CHECK PRESENTED FOR
VETERANS SERVICES
From left, Leonard J. Roseman, chairman, Middlesex County Improvement
Authority; Jason Conway of Provident Bank, the event’s main sponsor; Middlesex
County College President Joann La Perla-Morales; David Brimmer, director of the
Center for Veterans Services; and Chip Wieczorek of Provident Bank.
The Friends of Middlesex County Charity Golf Classic presented
a check for $2,500 to the Middlesex County College
Center for Veterans Services. This gift will help the
center extend services to military veterans and service members
studying at the college.
HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE FOR THE
GREATER CRANBURY COMMUNITY
The Board of Deacons of the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury
are organizing a Holiday Food Drive.
“This year, more families than ever before are in need of holiday
food baskets” said Food Drive Co-Chairperson Flo Kremann. “The
church runs a year round food pantry and the number of families
served each month has increased by 40 percent in the last year.”
Items needed for the holiday drive include canned fruits and vegetables,
boxed potatoes, rice, gravy, cereals, cranberry sauce, cake/
muffin mixes, peanut butter, jellies/jams. Items may be dropped off
in collection boxes just inside of Fellowship Hall at the First Presbyterian
Church, 22 South Main Street in Cranbury. The food drive is
going on now through Saturday November 10. Donations received
after the 10th will be used by Skeet’s Pantry.
“Through the generosity of the community and neighboring
churches, we were able to provide over 125 baskets of food last year,”
said Pastor Louis Mitchell. “The Holiday Food Drive and Skeet’s
Pantry are two of our most important missions as a congregation.
Right now the shelves are pretty bare, so we are reaching out to the
community for help.”
To make things even easier, the Cranbury Boy Scouts will distribute
collection bags to homes in Cranbury on Saturday November
3. The bags will be collected the following Saturday and brought to
the church for distribution. Collection boxes will also be setup in the
annex of the Cranbury School.
For additional information on donating food or to offer to volunteer,
please call the church office at (609)395 0897.
CUB SCOUT
TROOP 53
Enterprising boys form East
Windsor Troop 53 out selling
popcorn to raise money.
Scenes such as this were
common throughout the
area in October.
MEET THE CANDIDATES continued
budget to budget, thereby providing for a little more slack even if expenses
on a particular line item had gone down in the previous year.
Both the challengers and the incumbents agreed on the need
to increase ratables, but the Republicans favored a more proactive
approach, while the Democrats pointed to a relatively low five-percent
occupancy rate in warehousing capability.
Engaging the Voting Public:
Tom Connolly’s suggestion to increase community participation
by broadcasting via cable or podcasting meetings on the Internet attracted
spirited comment. Many of the older attendees felt that this
would actually reduce voter participation, as residents would be less
inclined to show up and interact directly with each other and their
representatives. A younger attendee thought the idea would be popular
among younger residents with busy schedules.
Connolly’s co-candidate Cindy Smithers, was in favor of broadcasting
meetings live as it would serve to engage younger voters.
Neither of the incumbent representatives spoke against Tom’s idea,
saying they would look into the issue and possibly explore funding
options with Comcast in the new year.
Petty Road Differences About a Recent Grant Application:
Tom Connolly castigated the incumbents for allegedly making
a hasty decision on which project to seek a Department of Transportation
grant for. He felt that the township committee, at their
October 8 meeting, should have waited for Petty Road residents to
weigh in about their needs.
Connolly’s father Peter Connolly who lived on Petty Road, was
at the committee meeting. The elder Connolly, who described himself
as “possibly the largest tax payer in Cranbury,” felt the Petty
Road residents were justified in seeking repairs to a road that was
both a “traffic hazard and an embarrassment to the entire town.”
The township committee discussed the issue over three consecutive
meetings, and Township Engineer Bill Tanner made alternate
recommendations that were more likely to receive grant funding.
The committee suggested that, though work toward the project
needed to be addressed in the next budget, there were legal and
drainage-related issues that needed to be resolved first.
A Discussion on Shared Services and Outsourcing:
All the candidates disavowed any interest in outsourcing
Cranbury’s Police Department. Cranbury’s is the second smallest
municipality in Middlesex
County.
As for the Public
Works Department, the
Republican challengers
seem willing to outsource
or share more
functions. Also, costs
like the controversial
new storage shed for
The Audience meets the candidates
Public Works Department employees were criticized. Connolly
Pointed out that the township had done just fine for 315 years without
the $300,000+ storage shed.
The incumbents felt that the Public Works employees provided
faster response times and also serviced on the volunteer fire force.
According to Jay Taylor (a recently signed-on volunteer fire fighter),
two staff members receive an extra dollar an hour in their pay for
serving on the undermanned fire company that is staffed by volunteers.
The Public Works Department also manages the township’s
recycling program.
Overall, the meeting served to apprise the voting public on the
issues.
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