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INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
MEMORIAL DAY <strong>2024</strong> VOL. 16 NO. 2<br />
Telling Stories<br />
Roxbury film producer Kelly Sheehan talks<br />
about making documentaries, including one<br />
regarding New Jersey’s Passaic River.<br />
BIRCH BEER BIZ<br />
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS<br />
ART TEACHER<br />
JEFFERSON AT 220
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 3
I<br />
4<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
From the Editor<br />
grew up in West Caldwell, very close to the borders of North Caldwell and Fairfield. It was the<br />
1960s and 1970s. My parents had built the first house on our short, little street — the last property<br />
on the right before the road ended. It was flanked by woods on one side and wetlands beyond the<br />
backyard. It was a radical move for my city-dwelling parents, who both grew up and met in Jersey City.<br />
In those years of my youth, there were a handful of other northern New Jersey towns I remember<br />
visiting often: Jersey City (both grandmothers lived there), Paramus (my dad’s family), Wayne (my<br />
mom’s family), Belleville (location of my dad’s photo engraving business) and Lincoln Park (location of<br />
a swim club and nine-hole golf course, where we were members for about six or seven years).<br />
In traveling to these places, at some point, we had to do two things — cross over the Passaic River<br />
or travel alongside it.<br />
If you are from northern New Jersey, you have likely heard of this infamous waterway. Whenever<br />
there is a catastrophic rain event, local news outlets are talking nonstop about this river. It’s the river<br />
everyone watches, and the Lincoln Park/Fairfield area is usually ground zero.<br />
Maybe you grew up in one of its many riverside towns. Maybe, like me, it was always a part of your<br />
life, just right there, unaware of it until a weather event made you aware.<br />
From our house to my cousins in Wayne or to the swim club in Lincoln Park, we traveled Passaic<br />
Avenue to Twin Bridges, where, because of the winding nature of the river, two bridges were necessary<br />
to get from one side to the other.<br />
At this location, the river acts as a natural border between Fairfield and Lincoln Park. A left turn after<br />
the first bridge took us to the swim club that, by the way, sat on the banks of the Passaic and could<br />
not escape high water in heavy rains.<br />
A right turn took us to the second bridge (remember how skinny it was!), which then took us to<br />
Wayne. Both routes skirted the river for miles.<br />
(If you haven’t been there in a while, a new, wider second bridge has been built. The old skinny<br />
bridge is now part of a walking path.)<br />
I remember this area being very picturesque: the big, leafy trees; the cabins and waterfront homes<br />
arranged here and there; the gaggles of ducks and geese that were always in the roadway; and the<br />
fishermen standing on the shoreline or sitting in a rowboat. My child’s eye never saw the pollution or<br />
the decay or the squalor, which was just as much a part of the river.<br />
I also remember that the river, like today, always flooded, and traveling in and out of West Caldwell<br />
had its challenges.<br />
The early spring rains that caused flooding this year were no different. Getting to my childhood<br />
house (mom still lives there!) was a navigational nightmare. Portable electronic road signs got right to<br />
the point: Don’t even think about driving into Fairfield.<br />
I tell you all this because the terrific cover profile about Kelly Sheehan, a local filmmaker, revolves<br />
around her 2021 release, “American River,” a documentary about the Passaic River. (See Mike Daigle’s<br />
story on page 22.)<br />
About a year ago, I watched the film with my friend, Donna Macalle-Holly, who is the grants and<br />
program director for the Lake Hopatcong Foundation. Fun fact: Donna’s early childhood was in one of<br />
those riverside towns, Paterson. While watching the movie, we both excitedly pointed out places we<br />
knew from our childhoods.<br />
Aside from a couple of 60-something-year-olds reminiscing, we both<br />
found this film to be fascinating. It was a beautifully shot, well-told<br />
story that captured the history of the river in a meaningful and visually<br />
appealing way.<br />
I’m putting the finishing touches on this column on Mother’s <strong>Day</strong>. It’s<br />
raining hard. In a few hours we’ll be heading to West Caldwell to spend<br />
the day with my mom. And as I always do, I will glance at the river when<br />
Yep. That’s the Passaic<br />
we drive over it from Route 46 to get onto Bloomfield Avenue.<br />
River behind me.<br />
Just to see if it’s running high.<br />
— Karen<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
BIRCH BEER BIZ<br />
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
MEMORIAL DAY <strong>2024</strong> VOL. 16 NO. 2<br />
Telling Stories<br />
Roxbury film producer Kelly Sheehan talks<br />
making documentaries including one about<br />
New Jersey’s Passaic River.<br />
ART TEACHER<br />
JEFFERSON AT 220<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Kelly Sheehan stands next to the Passaic<br />
River in Kearny.<br />
—photo by Karen Fucito<br />
KAREN FUCITO<br />
Editor<br />
editor@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
973-663-2800<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Kathleen Brunet<br />
Michael Stephen Daigle<br />
Melissa Summers<br />
Joe Wohlgemuth<br />
COLUMNISTS<br />
Marty Kane<br />
Heather Shirley<br />
Barbara Simmons<br />
EDITING AND LAYOUT<br />
Maria DaSilva-Gordon<br />
Randi Cirelli<br />
ADVERTISING SALES<br />
Lynn Keenan<br />
advertising@lakehopatcongnews.com<br />
973-222-0382<br />
PRINTING<br />
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PUBLISHER<br />
Camp Six, Inc.<br />
10 Nolan’s Point Park Road<br />
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849<br />
LHN OFFICE LOCATED AT:<br />
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Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849<br />
To sign up for<br />
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Lake Hopatcong News<br />
call<br />
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or email<br />
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Lake Hopatcong News is published seven times a<br />
year between April and November and is offered<br />
free at more than 200 businesses throughout the<br />
lake region. It is available for home delivery for<br />
a nominal fee. The contents of Lake Hopatcong<br />
News may not be reprinted in any form without<br />
prior written permission from the editor. Lake<br />
Hopatcong News is a registered trademark of<br />
Lake Hopatcong News, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Hopatcong, N.J.: ‘We Call It Lake Life’<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 5
Birch Beer is Their Business<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Ryan Kovach does not look like a<br />
corporate mogul.<br />
In his company tan apron and matching green<br />
ball cap, he looks like a 16-year-old selling birch<br />
beer at a local farmers market.<br />
But he’s both: The co-founder and chief<br />
executive officer of Dad and Ryan’s Birch Beer<br />
LLC and a 16-year-old selling birch beer at local<br />
farmers markets.<br />
The other thing about Ryan is that he has a<br />
learning disability.<br />
Here’s how he describes himself: “My name<br />
is Ryan. I have a learning disability. I have<br />
problems reading because I can’t put two<br />
words together. I like to play with Legos and<br />
Xbox, and I like cooking. I’m on the bowling<br />
team at Hopatcong High School and an<br />
associate member of the Roxbury Company<br />
No. 1 Fire Department.”<br />
“Dad” — Mike Kovach — fits the birch beer<br />
company into a busy schedule.<br />
He works in information technology, is an<br />
emergency medical technician for the Morris<br />
County Office of Emergency Management and<br />
a volunteer firefighter at the Roxbury Fire Co.<br />
station in Succasunna. The Kovach family lives<br />
in Succasunna.<br />
Kovach said they started the company in 2018<br />
as a way for him and his son to work together<br />
on a project that Ryan was interested in.<br />
Birch beer. Ryan likes birch beer.<br />
So, why not? Dad said.<br />
“We started from scratch,” Kovach recalled.<br />
They assembled the necessary equipment:<br />
stainless steel cooking pots, thermometers,<br />
chillers, carbonators, a bottle capper, boxes for<br />
six-packs, labels, and, of course, bottles.<br />
Brown bottles.<br />
Would it be birch beer<br />
without brown bottles?<br />
Most important, Ryan and his<br />
father said, was a recipe.<br />
Which they will not disclose.<br />
Their birch beer is rich and<br />
lightly carbonated, sweet with<br />
a mix of spice and fruity flavors.<br />
There was a lot of<br />
experimentation, Ryan said. “A<br />
lot of trial and error.”<br />
An early version of the product was red.<br />
“The floor of our kitchen at home was<br />
covered in red sticky stuff,” he said. “And when<br />
you’d walk you’d make a ‘scrich, scrich’ sound<br />
as your shoes stuck.”<br />
Of course, the floor still goes “scrich, scrich,”<br />
because accidents happen and hot sugar water<br />
is sticky, especially when pouring the hot<br />
simple syrup into a narrow-mouthed chiller.<br />
Now, production is split between the<br />
firehouse and the family kitchen.<br />
On an April day at the Roxbury fire station<br />
when Ryan and his father did a demonstration,<br />
Ryan let his father make the hot pour.<br />
Ryan’s mother, Danielle, a special education<br />
teacher in Hopatcong where Ryan goes to<br />
school, said she was glad they stopped making<br />
red birch beer.<br />
“There was red sugar everywhere,” she said.<br />
It takes several days to process a final batch,<br />
Mike Kovach said. A day each to brew, cool and<br />
carbonate a batch, then there’s the bottling,<br />
capping and labeling.<br />
“Labeling is the hardest,” Ryan said.<br />
He peels a rectangular label from the contact<br />
paper and with care lines up the top edges<br />
before smoothing the label on the round<br />
bottle.<br />
Then he does it again.<br />
“It has to be straight and square. Otherwise,<br />
it looks sloppy,” Ryan said.<br />
In the kitchen at the Roxbury fire station<br />
during this demonstration, Ryan and his father<br />
divide the tasks — father brewing and cooling,<br />
son labeling and capping, while nearby a few<br />
Ryan Kovach watches as his father, Mike<br />
Kovach, prepares to let carbonated soda flow<br />
into bottles.<br />
brown bottles of their birch beer with gold<br />
caps await special labels to commemorate an<br />
upcoming wedding.<br />
They banter back and forth, teasing each<br />
other about their work and skill. Ryan, as CEO,<br />
seems to get in the last, joking word.<br />
It’s about learning, the elder Kovach said.<br />
On the company website bestbirchbeer.<br />
com, Kovach said, “At first this started as a<br />
fun thing for us to do, but now I’m seeing the<br />
positive educational and social impacts this<br />
has had on my son. Our birch beer is more than<br />
a beverage. It is my way of teaching Ryan how<br />
to lead a fulfilling life in doing what you love,<br />
regardless of the challenges you face.”<br />
Ryan has two brothers: Michael, a special<br />
education teacher, and Joe, a student at<br />
Kutztown University.<br />
Kovach said they are also both firefighters.<br />
In the Roxbury firehouse kitchen, he said,<br />
the birch beer business is about giving Ryan, a<br />
special education student, an opportunity to<br />
build something for himself that might last. To<br />
date, online sales, farmers markets and special<br />
events keep the duo busy.<br />
At school, Ryan is on the bowling team and<br />
in the drama club. In a recent podcast, Ryan<br />
said he mostly works backstage during plays,<br />
but would soon be appearing onstage as an<br />
actor.<br />
Danielle Kovach said the business provides<br />
Ryan with an introduction to a larger world<br />
that he is able to translate to his<br />
schoolwork, handling the sales,<br />
meeting new people, selling.<br />
An email from Ryan’s parents said:<br />
“We want people to see Ryan for<br />
who he really is rather than just his<br />
challenges. Despite facing difficulties,<br />
Ryan is a great kid with a kind heart,<br />
6<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Left to right: Ryan Kovach adds sugar<br />
to hot water, the first step to making<br />
birch beer. Mike Kovach and Ryan<br />
Kovach in the Roxbury Fire Co. station<br />
kitchen, getting ready to label bottles.
who is determined to make his business<br />
successful. His persistence and determination<br />
have enabled him to grow his company from a<br />
few six-packs a month to thousands of bottles<br />
a year. His motivation and drive inspire us every<br />
day.”<br />
Ryan said he enjoys working the farmers<br />
markets and meeting new people, but mostly,<br />
he said, “he likes making the money.”<br />
He said he also is glad the company helps<br />
organizations that helps kids in special<br />
circumstances.<br />
Kovach said the birch beer company has<br />
supported Unique, a United Kingdom-based<br />
company that provides support to children<br />
with rare chromosome disorders. Since 2021<br />
the business has contributed $500 to Unique,<br />
which can be found at rarechromo.org.<br />
“My dad and I send money to Unique<br />
because I have reading problems. I think if I<br />
send money to Unique, other kids won’t have<br />
the same problem I always have, and those kids<br />
can get more help,” said Ryan.<br />
Dad and Ryan’s Birch Beer is available online<br />
from their website and at seasonal farmers<br />
markets.<br />
As Ryan leaves the firehouse — the place<br />
he first tasted birch beer and where the idea<br />
of him and his father making their own was<br />
hatched — a firefighter at the door yells out,<br />
“Hey, there goes the birch beer kid.”<br />
Ryan smiles. It’s good to be the boss.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 7
Fire Departments<br />
Rescue Carnival<br />
Story by KATHLEEN BRUNET<br />
Photo by KAREN FUCITO<br />
The Jefferson Township volunteer fire<br />
departments are coming to the rescue yet<br />
again.<br />
Fire Company 1 in the Oak Ridge section<br />
of Jefferson and Fire Company 2 in the Lake<br />
Hopatcong area are joining forces to ensure the<br />
community’s annual carnival tradition continues.<br />
This year’s festival, now known as The Firemen’s<br />
Carnival, will feature carnival rides, food trucks,<br />
games of chance, special exhibits, craft vendors<br />
and the township’s annual fireworks display.<br />
The Firemen’s Carnival takes place Wednesday,<br />
May 29, through Friday, May 31, from 5 to 10 p.m.,<br />
and Saturday, June 1, from 4 to 11 p.m. behind the<br />
Jefferson Township Middle School, 1000 Weldon<br />
Road, Oak Ridge. Admission is free.<br />
Fireworks are expected to blast off at about<br />
9:30 p.m. on Saturday, with a rain date of Sunday,<br />
June 2.<br />
This marks the first time the fire departments<br />
are hosting the carnival, which came about<br />
through the merging of two events. Previously,<br />
there was a carnival held in the spring at Our<br />
Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church<br />
in Lake Hopatcong and an annual Jefferson<br />
Township <strong>Day</strong> with fireworks was held in July,<br />
coordinated by the Jefferson Arts Committee.<br />
In 2022, the two events merged and expanded<br />
under the direction of the Jefferson Township<br />
Education Foundation.<br />
Travis Luecht, president of Company 2, said<br />
the fire departments were asked to assume<br />
responsibility for the four-day event, which<br />
requires a plethora of minds and hands to<br />
administer.<br />
“We felt it was a great opportunity for us to<br />
All seats are taken on the giant swing ride at Jefferson’s carnival in 2018.<br />
work together on something fun,” said Luecht<br />
of East Shore Estates. “Typically, when people<br />
see us it’s during an emergency. This puts us in a<br />
different light by placing us in a setting where we<br />
can have conversations with people so they can<br />
get to know us and we can get to know them.”<br />
“For the past few years, it’s been great for both<br />
fire departments to run the 50/50 raffle,” added<br />
Mark VanDyke of Lake Swannanoa, president<br />
of Company 1. “When we were approached<br />
to run the carnival this year, we felt it was an<br />
excellent idea for the departments to be out<br />
with the residents of Jefferson and surrounding<br />
communities.”<br />
The two volunteer fire companies serve more<br />
than 20,000 residents. Company 1, stationed<br />
on Milton Road, Oak Ridge, has more than 55<br />
volunteer members. Company 2, located on<br />
Route 15 in Lake Hopatcong, has more than<br />
35 members. Over the past year, they have<br />
collectively responded to more than 500 calls.<br />
Jefferson Township Mayor Eric Wilsusen is<br />
particularly grateful the fire companies agreed<br />
to organize the carnival. In 2004, he spearheaded<br />
the launch of the carnival at Our Lady Star of the<br />
Sea Roman Catholic Church.<br />
“It’s an event everyone looks forward to,” said<br />
Wilsusen. “I’m glad to see that it’s continuing.”<br />
This year’s festival is expected to draw about<br />
3,000.<br />
Along with learning about the fire companies<br />
and their volunteers, Luecht and VanDyke view<br />
the carnival as an opportunity for people to<br />
discover more about the township, including<br />
its history and its abundance of outdoor<br />
recreational areas.<br />
Those attending this year’s carnival will have<br />
the opportunity to take part in several special<br />
events. On Thursday night, there will be a Touch<br />
a Truck event, featuring equipment from the<br />
township’s fire departments and rescue squads.<br />
On Saturday, more than a dozen vendors will be<br />
selling handcrafted and other specialty items.<br />
New this year will be ax throwing by Who Axed<br />
You of Lake Hopatcong.<br />
Each day will feature more than 20 rides<br />
from Campy’s Blue Star Amusements. The cost<br />
for advanced wristbands for unlimited rides is<br />
$40 (deadline May 28 at midnight) and can be<br />
purchased at https://campys.com. The price at<br />
the event is $45.<br />
“The carnival will have something for<br />
everyone,” said Luecht. “It’s going to be a lot of<br />
fun.”<br />
For more information, search The Firemen’s<br />
Carnival on Facebook.<br />
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
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lakehopatcongnews.com 9
College basketball phenom turned<br />
WNBA player Caitlin Clark has ignited<br />
a firestorm of interest in women’s basketball,<br />
consequently shining the spotlight on women’s<br />
sports in general. But before Clark became a<br />
household name, an eager squad of girls at<br />
Jefferson High School began tackling a sport<br />
that, until recently, only boys played.<br />
Welcome to the new Friday night under the<br />
lights game — flag football.<br />
For the past three years, the sport has seen<br />
success as a club sport, with 83 New Jersey<br />
high schools participating. This is Jefferson’s<br />
second year with a team.<br />
Yandi Esteves, a senior co-captain who plays<br />
center and linebacker, grew up playing football<br />
in her backyard with her brother and father<br />
and has been empowered by joining the team.<br />
“It’s a great program — it inspires all girls to<br />
shoot for the stars. To have a bunch of schools<br />
in New Jersey do this, it shows what we are<br />
10<br />
Story by JOE WOHLGEMUTH<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
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School Builds Confidence and Character<br />
capable of,” she said.<br />
Maggie Gesek, senior co-captain, said she<br />
grew up watching football on television with<br />
her father but never fully understood the<br />
game. Joining this team has been a literal<br />
game-changer for her.<br />
“Now that I can play, I can watch football and<br />
understand it. I feel like I have empowerment<br />
now that I can play a guy’s sport and prove<br />
people wrong,” said Gesek who plays a variety<br />
of positions, including wide receiver, punt<br />
returner and middle linebacker.<br />
She’s also learned a few life lessons<br />
participating in the program. “It really makes<br />
me mentally tough; I didn’t realize how tough I<br />
could be,” she said. And, if flag football weren’t<br />
an option, she said, she would “100 percent”<br />
want to play on the boys team. Her parents,<br />
however, would not be so open to the idea.<br />
“My parents would definitely say no,” she<br />
confessed.<br />
Both Esteves and Gesek said playing flag<br />
football — traditionally a boy’s sport — has<br />
given them new-found confidence, something<br />
they will carry with them when they begin<br />
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their college careers in the fall.<br />
In December, the New Jersey State<br />
Interscholastic Athletic Association announced<br />
that girls flag football would officially become<br />
a pilot program for the spring <strong>2024</strong> season.<br />
“The approval of a two-year pilot program<br />
will provide notice to member schools that<br />
girls flag football may become an NJSIAA<br />
sanctioned sport,” NJSIAA Executive Director<br />
Colleen Maguire wrote in her proposal to the<br />
NJSIAA program review committee dated<br />
December 4, 2023. According to Maguire,<br />
the proposal was passed by the executive<br />
committee at its December 2023 meeting.<br />
“We’re in the first year of a probationary<br />
period with the NJSIAA,” Marcus Thompson,<br />
Jefferson’s head coach, explained. “After the<br />
two-year probationary period, schools have<br />
the option to pick it up as a full-time varsity<br />
sport.”<br />
Thompson, who oversees 26 players and<br />
four team managers, is optimistic the NJSIAA<br />
will pick up flag football as a full-time sport.<br />
“We’re not exactly sure if the rules we are<br />
playing with now are going to be the ones<br />
they’re going to institute. We’re not even<br />
exactly sure if it’s going to be a fall sport or<br />
a spring sport — that’s up to the NJSIAA. If<br />
it is going to get picked up, then we’re going<br />
to have to see which schools decide to keep<br />
going with it. I would imagine most schools<br />
would because there are new schools popping<br />
into the league every year.”<br />
Flag football in New Jersey is typically played<br />
seven-on-seven on a shortened football field,<br />
both in length and width, according to NFL<br />
FLAG. The game is also played with a smaller<br />
football.<br />
Jefferson’s flag football program is also a<br />
member of the New York Jets High School<br />
Girls Flag Football League. According to the
Left to right: Playing defense, Brooke Kuba is ready to rip a flag from the waistband of a Morristown<br />
High School opponent. Quarterback Havana Lopez-Sosa gets ready to launch a bomb to teammate<br />
Sydney Paese. Yandi Esteves zeros in on a Morristown player’s flag. Running back Charlotte<br />
Sinisgalli slips past two Morristown High School defenders. Receiver Maggie Gesek sidesteps a<br />
Morristown High School defender for a slight gain.<br />
Jets official website, the league is committed<br />
to empowering girls by building character,<br />
perseverance, teamwork and dedication skills.<br />
“The Jets donated everything for us in<br />
terms of the flags and footballs and kind of<br />
just jump-started things for us, which is really<br />
cool,” said Aidan Sinisgalli, assistant coach.<br />
“All the first-year programs go to the Jets<br />
facility for a clinic right before the season. The<br />
Jets’ coaches picked drills and ran them, which<br />
was fun,” he added.<br />
In addition, the girls got the opportunity<br />
to play an away game at the Jets facility in<br />
Florham Park.<br />
For sophomore players Aubrie and Charlotte<br />
Sinisgalli, flag football is a family affair. Aidan<br />
Sinisgalli, a 2017 Jefferson High School graduate<br />
and former high school and college football<br />
player, is their brother.<br />
“The most enticing reason for me to coach<br />
is because my two sisters are playing,” said<br />
Sinisgalli.<br />
Backup quarterback and wide receiver Aubrie<br />
Sinisgalli joined the program as a freshman and<br />
has loved playing football since she was a little<br />
girl, even participating in football camps.<br />
“Last year was the first year doing the<br />
program, so it was fun, and this year we just<br />
want to keep growing and growing until it can<br />
become a full varsity sport,” she said.<br />
If flag football weren’t an option, she said<br />
she would have considered playing on the<br />
boys football team. “This is a great thing to do.<br />
All these girls doing this, having never been<br />
able to. It’s a really good change.”<br />
Charlotte Sinisgalli is equally enthusiastic<br />
about the program and said she got interested<br />
in football watching her brothers play and her<br />
dad coach. “I like to get the ball. It’s fun to run,”<br />
said the running back.<br />
“I didn’t think I was going to be that good at<br />
it, and I gave it a try and I learned that I’m not<br />
that bad at it. It gave me more confidence to<br />
try something new.”<br />
Melissa Senatore, mom to senior Taylor, had<br />
reservations about her daughter joining the<br />
flag football team. Specifically, concerns that<br />
playing football — any type of football —<br />
would be too physically aggressive, especially<br />
since most of the teams Jefferson faces are<br />
established programs. Taylor Senatore joined<br />
the team last year and her mother now fully<br />
supports her daughter’s involvement in the<br />
program.<br />
“It’s such a great sport to keep the girls<br />
active,” said Melissa Senatore just before the<br />
start of a home game in April.<br />
Player Cassidy Ball does not shy away<br />
from physically aggressive sports. The senior<br />
running back is headed to West Point next<br />
year and will play on the women’s rugby team.<br />
This is Ball’s first year playing flag football and<br />
she said the program has helped her to grow<br />
as a person.<br />
“I’ve become more of an outgoing person<br />
because of this team. Everyone is trying new<br />
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Ball is encouraged that<br />
more and more girls are<br />
playing high school sports and<br />
making a team is becoming<br />
more competitive. She said<br />
games are well attended by<br />
parents and some friends<br />
but admitted that “random<br />
students” aren’t sitting in<br />
the bleachers. Ball is hopeful<br />
more students will become<br />
spectators of flag football as<br />
the program progresses.<br />
Thompson agreed with Ball’s<br />
assessment of attendance.<br />
“It’s minimal to start, but I<br />
think that is more indicative of female sports<br />
in general. We have had some students starting<br />
to come and I think the more this grows, I<br />
anticipate it almost rivaling what we see on a<br />
Friday night,” he said.<br />
For junior Shannon Mallory, who admittedly<br />
comes from a football family — “we know<br />
football in our house” — flag football is<br />
different than any other sport she has played,<br />
including her passion sport, soccer.<br />
“It’s a lot of work. There are so many different<br />
plays to learn … and rules,” she said.<br />
But despite that, she said, the game is so<br />
much fun to play.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 13
State and Local Police Increase Presence on Lake Hopatcong<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
It’s a digital world.<br />
So how better to reach the Lake<br />
Hopatcong boating public than through their<br />
electronic devices.<br />
That’s what Hopatcong Police Lt. Ryan Tracey<br />
thought when he created QR codes that link<br />
users to boating safety videos produced by a<br />
squad of lake region law enforcement officers.<br />
The codes have been posted near marinas and<br />
other sites available to boaters.<br />
“Everyone is looking at their phones, so why<br />
not?” Tracey said, explaining his effort.<br />
The QR codes were developed to promote<br />
water safety on the lake and are one of several<br />
coordinated efforts among law enforcement,<br />
ENTION BOATERS<br />
SCAN THE town QR and CODE nonprofit BEFORE HEADING officials. OUT<br />
MPORTANT MESSAGE PROVIDED BY<br />
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OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION<br />
ABOUT conditions, BOATING SAFETY this new police enforcement effort<br />
CAN follows HERE recent boating deaths and an increase in<br />
nuisance boating activity.<br />
This effort, which blends enforcement and<br />
education, has brought together police from<br />
Hopatcong, Jefferson, Roxbury and Mount<br />
Arlington, the New Jersey State Police Marine<br />
Division (housed on the lake in Jefferson) and<br />
the Morris County Sheriff’s Office. In addition,<br />
mayors from the four lake towns, the Lake<br />
Hopatcong Commission and Lake Hopatcong<br />
Foundation are supporting this effort.<br />
To make the lessons stick, they are reaching<br />
out to the current and next generation of<br />
boaters, marina owners, schools, boat renters<br />
and multi-language speakers.<br />
“The effort is to reinforce rules that support<br />
the quality of life for all lake users and instill<br />
those values in a new generation of lake users,”<br />
said State Police Marine Services Bureau Sgt.<br />
Anthony Buro.<br />
Buro, Tracey and Morris County Chief Warrant<br />
Officer Jack Ambrose detailed the plans during a<br />
commission meeting in April.<br />
The plans include off-lake programs to educate<br />
boaters and other lake users, and increased<br />
patrols on the lake, the officers said.<br />
The videos cover such topics as safe vessel<br />
operation tips, boating equipment, personal<br />
watercraft safety, anchoring tips and techniques<br />
and watersport safety tips.<br />
Off-lake efforts, Ambrose said, include<br />
meeting at marinas periodically with boat renters<br />
to discuss safe operating methods and to ensure<br />
boat renters have completed the required state<br />
14<br />
Scan the QR code with your<br />
phone’s camera to view the<br />
boater safety videos.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
certification course before taking a boat on the<br />
lake. That course can be completed the day of<br />
the rental, Ambrose said.<br />
At Lee’s County Park Marina, efforts will be<br />
made to reach new and experienced boaters<br />
and multi-lingual boaters, Ambrose said.<br />
Lee’s Marina, operated by the Morris County<br />
Park Commission, is the largest public access<br />
boat launch location on Lake Hopatcong,<br />
Ambrose said.<br />
The Morris County Sheriff’s Office took over<br />
supervision there when it absorbed the county<br />
park police department, he said.<br />
Buro said the education effort has included<br />
numerous school visits across the North Jersey<br />
region over the past two years. The lessons<br />
include boating safety instruction for older<br />
students and water safety courses — including<br />
ice safety courses — for younger students, Buro<br />
said.<br />
Also, HOPE ONE, the Morris County Sheriff’s<br />
Office mobile recovery access vehicle, will visit<br />
the lake region several times this summer.<br />
HOPE ONE offers critical support for persons<br />
struggling with addiction, with the goals of<br />
preventing drug overdoses and deaths, as well<br />
as providing mental health services. It is staffed<br />
by a Sheriff’s officer, a licensed mental health<br />
professional and a certified peer recovery<br />
specialist.<br />
On the lake, Tracey said, lake users can expect<br />
to see a visible police presence.<br />
He said Hopatcong police have secured the<br />
use of the Boston Whaler boat previously used<br />
by the State Park police.<br />
State and local police and the sheriff’s office<br />
patrol the lake on a variety of watercraft.<br />
That number was increased on April 30 when<br />
it was announced by State Sen. Anthony M.<br />
Bucco and Morris County Sheriff James Gannon<br />
that Gannon’s office was awarded a $250,000<br />
grant by the state Department of Community<br />
Affairs to help purchase two new inflatable<br />
patrol boats.<br />
In announcing the grant, Gannon said, “We<br />
take our public safety responsibilities very<br />
seriously. Ensuring boater safety measures are<br />
followed in accordance with the law on Lake<br />
Hopatcong is a primary responsibility of ours.”<br />
One of the key areas of concern has been<br />
Byram Cove, where hundreds of vessels<br />
congregate on weekends. Complaints by cove<br />
residents have been presented to local and state<br />
boards for years.<br />
At a Lake Hopatcong Commission meeting<br />
in March, Buro, Tracey and Ambrose outlined<br />
the patrol and investigative efforts that have<br />
been taken, including drone patrols, undercover<br />
officers and increased boat patrols.<br />
In 2023, between <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> and Labor<br />
<strong>Day</strong>, 22 Byram cove details were conducted by<br />
Hopatcong police, with 12 summonses issued for<br />
NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE ON<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG IN 2023<br />
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• 384 Violations<br />
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• 85 Noise Complaints<br />
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unlawful noise.<br />
Tracey said with the new boat, Hopatcong will<br />
increase its Byram Cove patrols, but does not<br />
envision permanently stationing the vessel in<br />
the cove.<br />
The goal, he said, is increased presence and<br />
potential deterrence of bad acts, not a heavyhanded<br />
effort to take the fun out of boating in<br />
the cove.<br />
Buro said one of the major complaints in<br />
Byram Cove and other key spots around the lake<br />
is the volume of noise from boat sound systems<br />
and other uses.<br />
He said he was encouraged that the four lake<br />
towns are working to develop a standard noise<br />
ordinance that would apply across the lake<br />
region. Instead of each town trying to enforce<br />
its own noise rules, there would be a consistent<br />
standard, he said.<br />
The proposed new rules also change the<br />
intent of the enforcement, Buro said.<br />
The new rules would focus not just on the<br />
volume of the noise as measured in decibels, but<br />
on its potential nuisance effect, he said.<br />
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
ERIKA SIMMONS<br />
LOCAL<br />
VOICES<br />
Admittedly, Erika Simmons, 35, has lived in quite a variety of places since early adulthood, including Hackettstown,<br />
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I give people my undivided attention when I’m with them. I value connection, curiosity, a good sense of humor and an open mind.<br />
DESCRIBE BRIEFLY YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY—HOW DID YOU GET TO THIS POINT?<br />
Wooooo, and this is supposed to fit in three sentences? It’s been a wild trail, let me tell ya! I worked so many different kinds of jobs, fell<br />
in love, moved to London, got a divorce, apprenticed under a very well-known interior designer, moved back to the States after my visa<br />
expired, fell in love again, went to school for interior design and now own my own company, Conscious Interiors. (In a nutshell!)<br />
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR LIFE’S MOST REWARDING EXPERIENCE?<br />
Helping to change the lives of my clients by elevating their spaces. Hearing things like, “Now I can’t<br />
wait to go to my office” or “This is the first time in four years that my wife and I had the space to sit<br />
and finish a whole television series together!” or “All I want for Christmas is Erika Simmons!”<br />
Ha — one of my favorites!<br />
WHO HAS HAD THE MOST INFLUENCE ON YOU?<br />
Gosh, people come into your life at all different stages. But there are two women who have<br />
influenced me in so many ways: my mom, Barbara Simmons, and my Oma, Gertrude<br />
Kertscher. My mom’s artistic and creative eye. My Oma’s worldly openmindedness.<br />
My mom’s unconditional love and support. Both of their<br />
confidence and attention to detail in the kitchen. And boy, have I been<br />
spoiled by their cooking! They both taught me to appreciate and host good<br />
company, how to take care of a home and how to love our loved ones.<br />
And last but not least, the freedom to laugh.<br />
HOW DO YOU EARN A LIVING?<br />
Well, I mentioned earlier my interior design business. It began in<br />
September 2021. I help people see their space in a new way and<br />
bring out their own personal stories that they may struggle to<br />
express visually. The balance within my childhood of the woods<br />
and the water motivates me to capture the overall peacefulness<br />
each of those elements bring to us in every design. I aim to infuse<br />
nature into the lives of others.<br />
ANY HOBBIES?<br />
I love music. I’ve recently started singing in an all-girls band.<br />
We’re called the Ciabatta Bings. I’ve also gotten “back on the<br />
wheel” and have started throwing pottery. Spending time in<br />
nature is very important to me, too. For the last year I have<br />
been using the sauna and cold plunge religiously, and I am<br />
hooked!<br />
DO YOU VOLUNTEER?<br />
I do not but will add that to my <strong>2024</strong> goals!<br />
IS THERE ANYTHING MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE<br />
SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT YOU?<br />
I was a New Jersey state champion ski racer for four years<br />
in a row! I also raced on my high school boys team!<br />
original creative funny<br />
I AM I AM I AM<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 17
For Local Artist and Teacher,<br />
Inspiration is in the Details<br />
Story by KATHLEEN BRUNET<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Local artist and teacher Sue Miller has a keen<br />
attention to detail. It’s an ability she has<br />
put to good use in her artwork and one she has<br />
sought to share with her students. By focusing<br />
on the details of the natural world, Miller finds<br />
peace and joy.<br />
It could be the color and pattern of fallen<br />
leaves at the edge of a lake, how swans move as<br />
they glide through the water or the expression<br />
on two squirrels’ faces as they cuddle together in<br />
a birdhouse whose opening they enlarged.<br />
This attention to detail can be found in her<br />
watercolors and photography and has been<br />
shared with the more than 1,000 students she has<br />
taught over the decades.<br />
Today, that ability to focus on details is known<br />
as mindfulness. Miller, however, learned it long<br />
before it became a popular way to reduce stress<br />
and increase contentment.<br />
A resident of one of the smaller lake<br />
communities in Jefferson, she credits her ability<br />
to see distinct details, along with her artistic<br />
savvy, to her father, who began working with her<br />
at an early age.<br />
A child of the ‘50s who grew up in a seaside<br />
village in Massachusetts, Miller recalled her<br />
father taking her on outings to teach her how<br />
to observe details and to capture what she saw<br />
artistically.<br />
Her father, Tony Pacheco, was a World War<br />
II veteran, artist and musician, who opened a<br />
studio when the Beatles arrived on the scene<br />
“and everyone wanted to learn how to play<br />
guitar,” recalled Miller.<br />
Known for her colorful images of<br />
angels, fairies, animals and people,<br />
Miller, 73, has an extensive portfolio<br />
of work that includes thousands of<br />
paintings and magazine, book and<br />
CD covers, along with a series of<br />
postcards.<br />
She has painted the covers of<br />
Wisdom magazine, a publication<br />
focused on holistic health and<br />
spirituality, for over a decade. She<br />
also creates many of the covers for Pathways<br />
Magazine, which offers information on the mind,<br />
body and spirit.<br />
In 2008, she and her husband, Vern, who is a<br />
musician, composer and songwriter, produced<br />
a book together, “Funtasy Art and Poetry,”<br />
featuring her artwork and his poetry. She also<br />
spearheaded the design and production of a<br />
coffee table book, “Pure Inspiration’s Fantasy Art<br />
Collection,” featuring the work of 16 well-known<br />
fantasy artists.<br />
“I feel I was raised in a fairy tale where I was<br />
taught to appreciate the wonder that surrounds<br />
us,” said Miller. “My dad helped me to develop<br />
a respect for nature and the things God has<br />
created. He taught me how to see and paint<br />
all the beautiful things that so sadly often go<br />
unnoticed in today’s busy world.”<br />
In her artwork, she explained, “I try to lift<br />
people by creating pieces that are colorful and<br />
upbeat. I get so excited about nature and how<br />
other creatures are just trying to get through the<br />
day like the rest of us; it’s something I want to<br />
share. I try to paint things that create happiness<br />
and cheer.”<br />
Most of her artwork features a main subject<br />
surrounded by a<br />
mosaic of bits of<br />
nature, be that<br />
leaves, flowers,<br />
small bugs or<br />
something similar.<br />
It’s what she calls<br />
her “magic.” She<br />
also enjoys hiding<br />
small details, such<br />
as a ladybug in a<br />
young girl’s hair, for<br />
people to discover<br />
and enjoy.<br />
Miller draws a<br />
great deal of her<br />
inspiration from<br />
her lakefront<br />
backyard where<br />
Top to bottom: Sue Miller in her home studio<br />
surrounded by some of her paintings. Miller’s art<br />
students gather at the Lake Shawnee clubhouse<br />
for the first student art show, circa 1995. (Photo<br />
courtesy of Sue Miller.)<br />
she is visited by lots of wildlife. Not only is she<br />
able to get up close to take their photos — that<br />
she later turns into paintings — but two birds<br />
once came to her with their injured baby, which<br />
had gotten caught up in a fishing hook. Miller<br />
took the baby bird to the vet to treat and then<br />
returned it to its parents.<br />
While she had a love for art as a young child,<br />
she did not initially envision living life as an artist.<br />
Again, it was her father who guided her. When<br />
she graduated high school and was uncertain<br />
about what to do, he advised her to pursue a<br />
career as a commercial artist.<br />
She attended what was then Southeastern<br />
Massachusetts University (now the University of<br />
Massachusetts Dartmouth) and then gained an<br />
entry-level art position in a department store,<br />
back when stores produced their own work for<br />
advertisements and flyers.<br />
“I started at the bottom and learned everything<br />
the old-fashioned way with a T-square and a<br />
18<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Clockwise, from left: Miller painting in her studio. The 2020 painting<br />
“Save It All” that appeared on the cover of both Wisdom magazine out<br />
of the New England area and Pathways Magazine in the Washington,<br />
D.C. area. Miller adds color to a new painting.
triangle,” she said.<br />
When the field started to become digitized in<br />
the 1990s, Miller was laid off as the demand for<br />
artists diminished. At the urging of her husband,<br />
she ventured out on her own.<br />
She began licensing her work for commercial<br />
use and started teaching students from ages 4<br />
to senior citizens. At the height of her teaching<br />
career, she was working with 130 students a week<br />
in her home studio. Many of them have gone<br />
on to pursue artistic careers. The technique of<br />
seeing details is one she sought to pass on to her<br />
students, in addition to developing their artistic<br />
skills and confidence.<br />
“I started going to Sue’s art studio when I was<br />
around 4 years old. It gave me a creative outlet<br />
that has lasted with me to this day,” recalled Katie<br />
Della Terza, of Blairstown. “Sue’s teaching style<br />
was one that was always encouraging and never<br />
critical. Whenever I felt I had made a mistake on<br />
a painting, Sue would call it a ‘happy mistake’ and<br />
show me that no matter how bad I thought it<br />
was, I could fix it, and that’s a lesson I still use not<br />
only in my art today, but for life in general.”<br />
“I took painting lessons with Sue while<br />
I was in high school. Sue was a wonderful<br />
teacher, balancing technical instruction with<br />
encouragement to explore new ideas,” said Alicia<br />
Morici, formerly of Jefferson, who now lives in<br />
upstate New York. “She was always cheering me<br />
on, encouraging me to find new ways to express<br />
myself and feel more confident. Sue helped me<br />
find my voice and figure out who I wanted to<br />
be. I went on to college to study art and many<br />
years later still work in design. Now with children<br />
of my own, I hope to do the same for them —<br />
foster a love for art and creative expression.”<br />
Miller and her husband met when she was<br />
21, and he was playing in a band. “We totally<br />
connected. It was meant to be,” she said. They<br />
have been married for 43 years and share their<br />
A-frame home, affectionately known to locals<br />
as “The House of Art and Music,” with their<br />
goldendoodle Sadie.<br />
“I feel like we live in a slice of paradise,” said<br />
Miller.<br />
Sitting in her home studio, three of her<br />
watercolors are displayed behind her: a painting<br />
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While the pandemic ended her art teaching<br />
days, it has given Miller more time to focus on<br />
painting and marketing her work. Her latest<br />
project is a book cover for “Be There: My Lived<br />
Experience with My Sister’s Bipolar Disorder,”<br />
written by Linsey Willis.<br />
Speaking of her work, Miller said, “I feel God<br />
gave me a gift that I really appreciate and want to<br />
share. Art is my life and life is my art.”<br />
Miller’s artwork can be viewed and purchased<br />
at suemillerart.com.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 21
The Butcher, The Baker, The Documentary Film Maker<br />
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
The noun “producer” seems entirely<br />
inadequate.<br />
But as a verb, produce – er, while merely<br />
functional, takes on action qualities.<br />
Produce. Make. Form. Do.<br />
At least it scratches the surface of the<br />
intricacies of filmmaking, to which Kelly<br />
Sheehan of King Cove in Landing has<br />
devoted 40 years of her life, including, before<br />
independently producing films, creating<br />
television series for ABC, NBC Entertainment<br />
and Japan’s Fuji TV.<br />
One of Sheehan’s latest projects was the<br />
acclaimed 2021 documentary “American River,”<br />
which tells the story of the Passaic River, which<br />
flows from a pristine beginning in Mendham to<br />
a polluted life in Newark.<br />
“American River” was featured at the Global<br />
Peace Film Festival in 2022; the Princeton<br />
Environmental Film Festival in 2022; the<br />
Environmental Film Festival at Yale, 2022; the<br />
RiverRun International Film Festival, 2022; and<br />
the Montclair Film Festival, 2022; and was<br />
named best of festival and best documentary<br />
at the 2021 Teaneck Film Festival.<br />
Sheehan said one definition of producer<br />
could be “general manager,” which to a baseball<br />
fan calls up the image of a guy in a business suit<br />
sending some sore-armed lefty to the minors.<br />
More simply, she said, a producer “does<br />
everything.”<br />
In Sheehan’s world it means corralling for<br />
“American River” the physical, financial and<br />
artistic pieces of a project to present a story<br />
that represents the vision of those involved.<br />
Biologist and author Mary Bruno, whose<br />
2012 book, “An American River: From Paradise<br />
to Superfund,” was the basis of the 2021<br />
documentary, said, “Kelly’s role displayed a<br />
classic left brain/right brain situation” — one<br />
part organizer and another part artist.<br />
But make no mistake about it, Sheehan<br />
said, “This is really Scott [Morris, director] and<br />
Mary’s creative project. I was there to support<br />
their vision.”<br />
At times, Bruno said, Sheehan was the listmaker,<br />
the organizer, the person who collected<br />
signed release forms from the riverside<br />
residents interviewed during the making of<br />
the film. Or, Bruno said, taking action when<br />
Sheehan saw a Newark police officer assigned<br />
to the film crew subtly walk into the shot.<br />
Sheehan politely reminded the officer to step<br />
out of the camera shot, that the Passaic River<br />
was the subject of the film.<br />
Other times, Sheehan infused planning<br />
discussions with a filmmaker’s eye for detail,<br />
Bruno said.<br />
Sheehan said a producer’s role is to help<br />
transform an idea into a finished product.<br />
It’s to take the idea of a kayak trip down a<br />
river and to help create a film that illuminates<br />
400 years of New Jersey history and the impact<br />
that history had on the lives of those living<br />
near the river.<br />
Or asking the question at the heart of a<br />
current project she is producing, “Staten Island<br />
Graveyard,” — Why is the grave of the last<br />
enslaved person on Staten Island, who died<br />
in 1900, unmarked under a modern shopping<br />
center?<br />
Sheehan’s role in these productions — that<br />
base word again — is to help hold up a mirror<br />
to the world around us, to send a drone over<br />
the Passaic River, which Sheehan called “that<br />
neglected, forgotten river,” to remind us that,<br />
as Bruno said, “water is magic.” Or, to place a<br />
viewer on that mundane, striped parking lot<br />
and ask, “How did this happen?”<br />
Sheehan’s job then is to take her own words<br />
and visions, and those of others, and remind<br />
the rest of us to remember those things we can<br />
easily forget.<br />
Sheehan and her husband, Dave Silletto,<br />
settled into their home on King Cove in 2022<br />
after moving from<br />
Teaneck where they<br />
had raised twin<br />
daughters Elisa and<br />
Rose, now 21 and<br />
attending separate<br />
colleges.<br />
Silletto is a<br />
retired museum<br />
and nonprofit arts<br />
administrator.<br />
He is also listed as business administrator for<br />
Rainlake, the film production company formed by<br />
Kim Connell in 2001, of which Sheehan became a<br />
partner in 2014 after joining Connell as an executive<br />
director in 2003.<br />
Kelly Sheehan said they wanted to live on Lake<br />
Hopatcong after taking their daughters on family<br />
trips to the region.<br />
Sheehan had moved to New York City where<br />
her career began after her 1985 graduation from<br />
Northwestern University with a Bachelor of<br />
Science degree in television and film production.<br />
Sheehan’s latest films have a sort of six-degreesof-separation-from-Jersey<br />
feel to them.<br />
“American River” featured Bruno, who was raised<br />
in North Arlington, a Passaic River town featured in<br />
the film, and Carl Alderson, a restoration ecologist<br />
and river guide who lives in Highlands at the Jersey<br />
Shore. The film was directed by Scott Morris of<br />
Mendham. Consulting editor Keith Reamer is<br />
based in New Jersey.<br />
Bruno said her grandparents had a home in the<br />
Lake Hopatcong region her family visited often.<br />
If that’s not enough Jersey for you, Sheehan said<br />
Heather Quinlan, the director of “Staten Island<br />
Graveyard,” lives in Mount Tabor, a historic village<br />
in Parsippany.<br />
Morris also directed “Saving the Great Swamp:<br />
Battle to Defeat the Jetport,” the story of the fight<br />
by Morris and Somerset county residents to fend<br />
off the creation of an airport on the Great Swamp,<br />
which is now a national wildlife refuge.<br />
Assisting on that film were Roger Grange, the<br />
director of photography for “American River,”<br />
and composer Ben Morris, who wrote the score<br />
for both “American River” and “Saving the Great<br />
Swamp: Battle to Defeat the Jetport.”<br />
Sheehan said she has taken an interest in the<br />
efforts to clean up Lake Hopatcong, and in October<br />
attended the initial meeting on a proposal to<br />
pump oxygen into the lower levels of the center<br />
of the lake to reduce levels of phosphorus, the<br />
lake’s main pollutant.<br />
One day, maybe, Lake Hopatcong could be the<br />
subject of a Kelly Sheehan-produced film.<br />
Maybe, she said. “We love the lake.”<br />
Rainlake has produced films on such topics<br />
as an annual gathering of Holocaust survivors<br />
(“Four Seasons Lodge,” 2008) and a championship<br />
mariachi band from Zapata High School in South<br />
Texas (“Mariachi High,” 2012).<br />
In 2016, the company produced “Cheshire, Ohio,”<br />
which detailed the rise and fall of a coal town<br />
and illustrated its impact of the industry on the<br />
residents’ health and the environment.<br />
Sheehan’s productions have premiered at<br />
major film festivals — Sundance twice, Tribeca,<br />
AFI Silverdocs, among others — garnering 17<br />
22<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Left to right: Kelly Sheehan (center) on set with Mark Mandler and Ty<br />
Sheridan. (Photo courtesy of Mary Bruno.) A stack of Sheehan’s movies.
Top to bottom, left to right: Kelly Sheehan in her<br />
home office. Director Scott Morris on a shoot.<br />
(Photo courtesy of AMERICAN-RIVER-Director-Scott-Morrishires-©2021-Scott-Morris-Productions-All-Rights-Reserved)<br />
Sheehan in her office. Videographer Rick Segal<br />
filming Mary Bruno and Carl Alderson (in the kayaks)<br />
from a bridge in Lord Stirling Park in Basking Ridge.<br />
(Photo courtesy of Kelly Sheehan.) A behind-the-scenes<br />
view of Bruno (seen on monitor) during an interview.<br />
(Photo courtesy of Kelly Sheehan.)<br />
international awards. Her films have also premiered<br />
on national PBS primetime and the Sundance<br />
Channel.<br />
She said picking topics is often difficult because<br />
she does not want to fall into a pattern of topics<br />
for documentaries.<br />
She seeks “something special, with unique<br />
people and something universal.”<br />
“Staten Island Graveyard” is one of those<br />
projects that is special, unique and universal.<br />
In the trailer for the film, director Heather<br />
Quinlan shows descendants of Benjamin Prine, a<br />
slave, dwell on their declared injustice. And not just<br />
for their relative, but for the families of perhaps<br />
hundreds of Black Staten Island residents, whose<br />
graves and lives have been buried under decades<br />
of development.<br />
Prine, who died in 1900, is placed at the center<br />
of the story because he was the last Staten Island<br />
resident to have been enslaved.<br />
It’s a story about dignity, Sheehan said, about<br />
remembering the forgotten lives carelessly shoved<br />
aside. It’s a story about angered and grieving<br />
families asking, “How did this happen?”<br />
Sheehan’s other current project, which she is<br />
both producing and directing, is “Liquid Light,” a<br />
film about the Joshua Light Show, which the film’s<br />
description said was called “the most psychedelic<br />
light show of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine<br />
in 2012.”<br />
The light show was the creation of Joshua White,<br />
who first set up light shows in 1967 at New York’s<br />
Fillmore East, lighting performances by Janis Joplin,<br />
Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead<br />
and The Who, among others, the film’s description<br />
said.<br />
The light show features “real-time improvisations<br />
of handmade liquid projections, common reflective<br />
objects and repurposed theatrical apparatus.”<br />
The Joshua Light Show had its 50th anniversary<br />
performance in 2017.<br />
For Sheehan, “American River” is about the<br />
appreciation that persistence and education<br />
spawned the belief that the 80-mile winding<br />
path of the Passaic River does not have to only<br />
end in an industrial disaster.<br />
Mary Bruno, at the beginning of “American<br />
River,” said that as a child in North Arlington<br />
she was told not to touch the Passaic River.<br />
With good reason.<br />
It was the most polluted river in the entire<br />
United States, said Carl Alderson, Bruno’s<br />
companion on the kayak journey captured in<br />
the film and a river cleanup specialist with the<br />
U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric<br />
Administration.<br />
Besides being subject to decades of industrial<br />
pollution, the Passaic was the dumping spot for<br />
tons of dioxin, the byproduct of the chemical<br />
process that made the defoliant Agent Orange.<br />
Dioxin is the most carcinogenic substance<br />
ever made.<br />
Since 1986, New Jersey and the federal<br />
government have been cleaning up the section<br />
of the Passaic called the “lower 17” and<br />
the Ironbound section of Newark. The film<br />
includes footage of crews in white moonsuits<br />
vacuuming the streets of the Ironbound to<br />
gather the dioxin-laden dust.<br />
But the film is more than about anger and<br />
disbelief that we could do such a thing.<br />
It’s a story about the long and ongoing<br />
rebirth of the Passaic and of Bruno’s newfound<br />
appreciation of the river she once called home.<br />
There is no reason to fear the Passaic, she<br />
said; instead, her book and this film celebrate<br />
the river.<br />
It is a celebration to see the harvester run by<br />
the local municipal sewer authority scooping<br />
trash from the water, trash that used to cling to<br />
the shores; to watch slim sculls from the Nereid<br />
Boat Club being maneuvered along the Passaic<br />
by agile, athletic crews; to watch families at<br />
Newark’s Riverside Park venture back to the<br />
once forbidden river; to hear the roar of the<br />
Great Falls in Paterson as countless gallons of<br />
water send vibrations through the rock channel.<br />
It’s to understand the 400 years of the river’s<br />
history and, Sheehan said, to hear an audience<br />
at a film showing laugh at the mention of<br />
Alexander Hamilton, who, besides helping<br />
found a nation, conceived Paterson as the<br />
first planned American industrial city, and later<br />
became a Broadway musical star.<br />
It’s to appreciate the work done by<br />
photographers working 15 cameras riverside<br />
and on boats in the river; to thrill at the scenes<br />
captured by four GoPro cameras on kayaks<br />
as Bruno and Alderson dodged branches and<br />
climbed over fallen trees spanning the channels;<br />
to appreciate the planning that was chosen in<br />
design meetings to place those cameras and<br />
personnel at the right places to capture vivid<br />
and exciting footage; to thrill at the luck of the<br />
draw sometimes.<br />
Further, to fade back from the noise and<br />
muck of the lower 17; to view from above what<br />
Sheehan called a moving and beautiful drone<br />
shot by cinematographer Roger Grange; to see<br />
the point when the Passaic River is formed in<br />
Mendham by two small streams, anonymous<br />
little trickles of water that merge in a green<br />
world — the scene that ends the film.<br />
And then to understand, Sheehan said, what<br />
Alderson meant when he said a river is not<br />
what we see at the end of its journey, but what<br />
it is at the beginning, when drops of rain fall<br />
and gather and flow to whatever life it will see.<br />
That life is both beautiful and ugly, “American<br />
River” informs the viewer.<br />
It is special, unique and universal.<br />
It is, Sheehan said, “the story of all of us.”<br />
“American River” is available for streaming on<br />
PBS Passport. DVDs and Blu-rays can be ordered<br />
from the website AmericanRiver.film.<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 23
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lakehopatcongnews.com 25
Jefferson Township Museum Takes Visitors<br />
on a 220-Year Trip Through Time<br />
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Take a stroll through a few rooms of<br />
the Jefferson Township Museum this<br />
summer and you’ll embark on a journey<br />
through 220 years of the township’s history<br />
without ever packing a bag.<br />
Its newest exhibition, which debuted in<br />
April, takes visitors through more than two<br />
centuries of local lore, beginning with the<br />
settling of the Lenape Native American tribe<br />
and through present time.<br />
Jefferson Township native and Assistant<br />
Director of the museum, Brian Schnell, 27, has<br />
curated the collection of almost 140 items<br />
from a combination of artifacts belonging to<br />
the museum, on loan for the exhibit and from<br />
Schnell’s personal collection, he said.<br />
The museum, listed on both the New Jersey<br />
and National Registers of Historic Places, was<br />
built as a private home from 1874 to 1878 by<br />
Amos Chamberlain for his son, George, and<br />
wife, Ruth Elizabeth Speaker, according to<br />
Museum Director Tara Howanice. The couple<br />
had three boys.<br />
“They ultimately moved to Paterson,<br />
though the house remained in possession of<br />
the family until the 1930s,” said Howanice.<br />
The home was deeded to the township in<br />
the 1960s and was the home of Jefferson’s<br />
library for 20 years before it was renovated<br />
in 1982 to reflect how the Chamberlains<br />
might have lived and became the museum.<br />
It is maintained by the Jefferson Township<br />
Historical Society.<br />
“A prominent feature at the museum is a<br />
dumbwaiter that runs from the museum’s<br />
downstairs kitchen to the museum’s dining<br />
room,” said Howanice. “The concealed pulley<br />
mechanism ends in the upstairs sewing room.”<br />
The dumbwaiter was later used by librarians<br />
to move books between floors, she said.<br />
Schnell, who now resides in Long Valley,<br />
studied architecture and history at County<br />
College of Morris before transferring to<br />
Montclair State University, where he received<br />
his Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 2021.<br />
Currently he’s pursuing a Master of Arts<br />
in museum studies online from Southern<br />
University at New Orleans.<br />
Seeking experience in the museum field,<br />
Schnell came to the Jefferson Township<br />
Museum as a museum guide in 2022. He began<br />
doing research and helped to set up exhibits.<br />
It wasn’t long before he was asked to become<br />
the assistant director in early 2023.<br />
The conception of this newest exhibit<br />
began years ago, before Schnell knew how it<br />
would materialize.<br />
“During my undergrad, my professor said,<br />
‘Write a paper on an early American history<br />
topic of your choosing,’” he recalled. “So, I<br />
picked Jefferson’s history because we went<br />
back so far and had so much. But he returned<br />
the paper saying there wasn’t enough<br />
verifiable information. I kept that in the back<br />
of my mind, thinking, ‘I’m going to prove him<br />
wrong one day.’”<br />
When the time came, that’s exactly what he<br />
did. “Fast forward to about this time last year.<br />
Our [museum] President Christine Williams<br />
was talking about the 220th anniversary<br />
coming up and I said, ‘Great!’”<br />
Schnell is already a big collector of military<br />
memorabilia, so he had a head start.<br />
Planning the exhibition had an added<br />
bonus: Supplemented by a catalog of his<br />
work on the exhibit, it will count as a project<br />
towards his master’s degree, Schnell said.<br />
Howanice said Schnell’s enthusiasm is very<br />
much appreciated, but she needed to make<br />
sure what he wanted to do was going to<br />
translate well to the exhibit.<br />
“My task was to make sure we had visual<br />
interest for a wide range of visitors,” she said.<br />
“To come in and make it visually appealing.<br />
Make it more engaging.”<br />
Those 220 years of history are divided<br />
into six main sections and are represented<br />
in separate areas of the museum, according<br />
to Howanice. “This exhibition draws from all<br />
corners of Jefferson Township, which makes<br />
it unique. It has a bit on Lake Hopatcong<br />
history, in addition to the Oak Ridge/Milton<br />
side of town.”<br />
Costumed docents and guides welcome<br />
guests into the museum dressed in full<br />
Victorian attire, Howanice said.<br />
As a porcelain doll reproductionist,<br />
Howanice had made a living from porcelain<br />
dolls, doll clothing and accessories for shows<br />
and collectors until 2019. She got involved<br />
with the Jefferson Historical Society and the<br />
museum about eight years ago as a docent<br />
when she responded to an ad in a local paper<br />
looking for help with costuming. Howanice<br />
said she was appointed Museum Director in<br />
January 2020.<br />
Walking into the museum’s front parlor<br />
during the current exhibit, visitors will<br />
see displays featuring the earliest records<br />
of the area, said Howanice. “It includes<br />
Lenape/Native American history and the<br />
Revolutionary period, reproduced clothing<br />
from the regency period and the romance<br />
period of the 1830s.”<br />
The dining room has an extensive<br />
collection encompassing the Civil War period<br />
and Jefferson’s associations with those who<br />
fought in the conflict, said Howanice.<br />
Heading upstairs to the master bedroom, an<br />
exhibit on the Ringling Manor highlights the<br />
property on Lake Swannanoa once owned<br />
by one of the Ringling brothers. “He built a<br />
massive manor, which is still standing on that<br />
spot, where he would house his portion of<br />
the circus — elephants, tigers and monkeys.”<br />
The sewing room covers Jefferson’s mining<br />
history, said Howanice, and the room believed<br />
to have been the boys’ bedroom explores the<br />
Lake Hopatcong side of town, specifically<br />
Jefferson’s history in recreation. “There’s an<br />
Left to right: A collection of posters, photos<br />
and news clippings from Ringling Bros Barnum<br />
& Bailey. Brian Schnell outside the museum<br />
on opening day in April. Tara Howanice, in<br />
costume, in the dining room of the museum.<br />
26<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
exhibit on the Windlass, Jefferson House and<br />
a bit on aviation,” she said.<br />
Each section has between three and 10<br />
authentic objects, according to Schnell. “The<br />
older the section is, the more difficult it is to<br />
find the actual period pieces.”<br />
Within the Civil War display, an area that<br />
Schnell specializes in, he is especially proud<br />
of a reproduction Civil War uniform he put<br />
together himself.<br />
The uniform is made per the regulations of<br />
the 14th New Jersey Regiment. It features the<br />
brass belt buckle, cartridge case and bayonet<br />
sheath of Brig. Gen. Caldwell Keppelle Hall.<br />
Schnell was able to purchase the rare<br />
pieces from a small museum that was closing<br />
and, through research, found to whom they<br />
belonged.<br />
“Just about everything from the Civil War<br />
is recreated, so to find an actual piece is like<br />
finding the Holy Grail,” Schnell said. “The fact<br />
that the belt is original leather and still able<br />
to be displayed on a mannequin is mindblowing.”<br />
The museum operates entirely through<br />
volunteers and a core group of officers. But<br />
Schnell said each person gets involved where<br />
they can.<br />
“Everyone wears a lot of hats,” he said. “I<br />
think that’s one of our strengths. Everyone<br />
is on the same level. Because we’re so small,<br />
nobody has any authority over each other. It<br />
almost feels like a bunch of friends coming<br />
together to put something together rather<br />
than director, president, curator ... the titles<br />
are more arbitrary rather than binding.”<br />
Docents and guides also participate at other<br />
events appearing in costume, Howanice said,<br />
including a recent presentation on Victorian<br />
fashion at the Jefferson Township Library and<br />
a joint concert sponsored by the Jefferson<br />
Arts Committee.<br />
The Museum Garden Club is another<br />
important part of the museum and also<br />
plays a role in reproducing the past. “They<br />
are responsible for handling the landscaping<br />
and gardening, a plant sale, and planting<br />
and maintaining plants, flowers and herbs<br />
appropriate to what would have been in a<br />
Victorian garden,” said Howanice.<br />
1/2 Inside<br />
Left to right: Photos of George<br />
Chamberlain (center) and his sons,<br />
Archie and Raymond, with military hats<br />
representing time of service. A 45-star<br />
flag hangs in the stairwell.<br />
Miss Elizabeth’s Shoppe, the museum’s gift<br />
shop, is in the area that originally served as<br />
the kitchen of the home.<br />
“It still has a 1913 kitchen stove and Hoosier<br />
cabinet among the store furnishings,”<br />
Howanice said of the store. “The items sold<br />
in the shop are also an important source of<br />
funding for annual scholarships given out<br />
by the Jefferson Township Historical Society<br />
every year. And we are always seeking new<br />
members.”<br />
In August, the museum will open a new<br />
exhibition centered around the lives of<br />
the Chamberlain family. It will run through<br />
October.<br />
The Jefferson Township Museum is open<br />
for tours the first Sunday of every month<br />
from April through October, from 1 to 4 p.m.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 29
Morris Habitat for Humanity Receives Second<br />
Home from Roxbury High School Students<br />
Story and photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Students from Roxbury High School’s Structural Design & Fabrication class watched<br />
as the modular home they built for Morris Habitat for Humanity this past year was<br />
recently hoisted into place on its foundation at 398 West Dewey Avenue in Kenvil.<br />
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom home was built in two sections at the school and moved<br />
to its permanent location on April 30. A one-car garage will be constructed by the students<br />
onsite before the end of the school year, said Frank Caccavale, the primary class instructor.<br />
This marks the second modular home built by SDF students in four years.<br />
There are four properties on West Dewey earmarked for Habitat homes, including the one<br />
delivered in April. Roxbury High School will produce another similarly sized modular home for<br />
the Kenvil location by spring of 2026, said Caccavale.<br />
The two other larger homes will be built onsite by volunteers, said Terry-Ann Zander, vice<br />
president of marketing and communications for Morris Habitat. Typically, a modest-sized<br />
home takes 12-18 months to complete, she said. According to Zander, a family will be picked<br />
to live in the house via a lottery drawing in June.<br />
Last school year, 23 seniors in the SDF class built one side of the house. The other side was<br />
built by 18 seniors this school year. While the current house is smaller than the first home built<br />
by Roxbury students in 2021 and 2022, it was delivered with significantly more finished work<br />
done on the interior, said Caccavale.<br />
“With each build, we’re getting a little better at it,” he said, adding it is still a two-year cycle<br />
from the first swing of a hammer to seeing the house halves trailered off school property.<br />
For senior Dean Campiglia, seeing that first house come together during his sophomore year<br />
was his motivation for getting into the structural class.<br />
“And it’s for a good cause,” said the future plumber.<br />
The importance of building for Habitat is not lost on many of Caccavale’s students, including<br />
Linda Yardolo, a senior interested in pursuing a career as an architect, and Ryland Maloy, who<br />
grew up surrounded by contractors and carpenters.<br />
“This is a great program for families in need,” he said.<br />
Yardolo agreed.<br />
“To be part of being able to give someone a home is amazing, especially because homes cost<br />
so much now,” she said as she watched one half of the house be placed onto its foundation.<br />
Yardolo said the class has provided her with skills she can put to future use — including how<br />
to read floor plans, how to handle power tools and how things work in a house.<br />
“When I have my own home, I’ll be able to fix things. I know how to install a doorknob,” she<br />
said laughing.<br />
Top to bottom: The first half of the modular<br />
house is hoisted onto the foundation. Ryland<br />
Maloy saws through a temporary plywood<br />
wall to expose one half of the house to<br />
the other half. Sean Hardy, second from<br />
right, and Gunner Hilsinger, right, remove a<br />
temporary wall stud. Chuck Seipp, assistant<br />
superintendent of curriculum and instruction<br />
and Frank Caccavale, primary instructor,<br />
watch as one half of the house is lifted onto<br />
the foundation.<br />
30<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Current and past members of Roxbury High School’s Structural Design & Fabrication class gather to<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 31
Hearth and Home Celebrates 30 Years in Dynamic Industry<br />
Photos by KAREN FUCITO<br />
Customers have been cozying up to a<br />
Ledgewood business that has been<br />
warming homes for almost 30 years.<br />
Specializing in wood, gas and pellet stoves, as<br />
well as chimney repairs and cleanings, Hearth and<br />
Home is changing with the needs and desires of<br />
the community it serves.<br />
Prior to owning his own business, Marvin Earle<br />
was working in the wood stove and fireplace field<br />
in Syracuse, New York, before being offered a job<br />
in New Jersey in 1980. When he and his wife Rita<br />
were married a year later, she joined him there.<br />
According to Rita Earle, her husband spent<br />
several years doing fireplace installations while<br />
she worked in accounting. But, she said, he had<br />
always hoped to open his own business.<br />
In 1995, the couple launched Hearth and<br />
Home, choosing the Route 46 location because<br />
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“When I look back, I am amazed that we did<br />
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The couple started out primarily selling wood<br />
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Sales spiked around Y2K, “when everyone<br />
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As oil prices came down, customers became<br />
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Pellet stoves are like a forced hot air furnace,<br />
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32<br />
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS<br />
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5580 Berkshire Valley Road., Oak Ridge, NJ<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Top to bottom: Ben, Rita and Marvin Earle in<br />
the showroom. The the Hearth & Home store<br />
entrance.<br />
electric products has increased, since often<br />
these residences can’t have gas or wood stoves,<br />
according to Earle.<br />
Another big change has come with the<br />
introduction and availability of natural gas in<br />
many of the surrounding areas. Earle said Hearth<br />
and Home has been doing a lot of natural gas<br />
fireplace conversions.<br />
“Our primary product is now gas fireplaces and<br />
gas inserts,” Earle said.<br />
Gas inserts, with a sealed glass front, are<br />
generally installed into an existing fireplace that<br />
might have a chimney in disrepair. “Any chimney<br />
that’s 30, 40 years old probably has some<br />
problems,” said Earle. “A gas insert puts a liner<br />
into it and makes it safe and provides heat. That’s<br />
probably our biggest seller.”<br />
Not only can Hearth and Home make homes<br />
feel good, according to Earle, they can make<br />
them look better, too.<br />
“We also do another big thing a lot of people<br />
might not know we do — fireplace refacing,”<br />
said Earle. “If someone has an old brick fireplace,<br />
we can re-stone them — tile, mantels. We help<br />
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them get what they want.”<br />
A business that you’d think would slow down<br />
with warmer weather keeps up the pace yearround<br />
with another popular service.<br />
“Summer is primarily when we do exterior<br />
chimney repair,” Earle said.<br />
Businesses like Hearth and Home also need<br />
to follow the news in the ever-changing energy<br />
industry and Earle said they are carrying more<br />
electric products due to a growing consumer<br />
interest.<br />
“That’s why we are carrying more electric<br />
fireplaces for those people that do want<br />
something that isn’t going to have any<br />
emissions,” she said. “It’s going to be challenging<br />
to see where it goes in the next few years. It’s<br />
constantly changing.”<br />
While keeping up with the trends, there is a<br />
certain amount of nostalgia that comes with a<br />
hearth store.<br />
“I feel like an old-fashioned business,” said<br />
Earle. “People come in and they’re like, ‘I love this<br />
store. It’s like an old-timey store.’”<br />
That’s because the shop’s shelves are stocked<br />
with old-school bellows, blow pokes, copper<br />
rain chains — quality items that Earle said are<br />
sometimes hard to find.<br />
“It’s fun helping people make their home<br />
cozier.”<br />
During the pandemic, when many people were<br />
slowing down and staying home, Earle said the<br />
business was as busy as ever, even though the<br />
store was closed to the public. While most of<br />
the employees were laid off, a core group kept
the business going, offering curbside pickup for<br />
contractors.<br />
“People were home, and they wanted their<br />
fireplaces,” Earle recalled. “It was a surprise to<br />
us, but they were spending so much time home.<br />
It was the first time they really looked at their<br />
fireplace. So, I think it made a lot of people<br />
reassess. We had limited hours, but we were here<br />
every day.”<br />
Today, Hearth and Home employs 16 full-time<br />
workers. Many have been with them for more<br />
than five years and a few have worked there for<br />
over 20 years.<br />
Marvin Earle is the heart of the business, his<br />
wife said. He visits customers’ homes to put<br />
together job estimates.<br />
“I am in the office handling the accounting and<br />
sales aspects. We both do many jobs from sales<br />
to vacuuming!”<br />
Their son Ben, 33, is now a major part of the<br />
business as part owner, she added.<br />
“It was fun growing a business with our two<br />
children, Ben and Meredith, now 30, who has<br />
helped along the way with some showroom<br />
advice,” she said.<br />
Overall, taking that initial leap 30 years ago has<br />
been rewarding, said Earle.<br />
“There are always some rocky moments<br />
— hard to keep everyone happy. But overall,<br />
the business has been a pleasure, with many<br />
wonderful customers. We would not change a<br />
thing,” she said.<br />
Quality Entertainment Close to Home<br />
DYING IS EASY<br />
A trio of short plays by a local writer<br />
6/14 & 15 at 7:30 pm<br />
6/16 at 2:00 pm<br />
FREE SUMMER CONCERTS<br />
At the Bandshell at Horseshoe Lake<br />
6/20 5:30 pm Randolph School of Rock<br />
6:30 pm Rosewood<br />
7/11 6:00 pm We’re having a foam party!<br />
6:30 pm Suit & Mai Tai<br />
• Live-In Services<br />
• Alzheimer’s Care<br />
• Meal Preparation<br />
• Companionship<br />
• Medical Assistance<br />
• Dress/Hygiene Assistance<br />
• Housekeeping/Laundry<br />
• Incidental Transportation<br />
Services are provided by certified home-health aides,<br />
under the supervision of a registered nurse.<br />
7/18 6:00 pm Puptastic Photo Booth<br />
6:30 pm Hanover Wind Symphony<br />
7/25 6:00 pm Line Dancing<br />
6:30 pm Bobby Clark Band<br />
*Please bring a non-perishable donation for<br />
the Roxbury food pantry*<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 33
HISTORY<br />
by MARTY KANE<br />
Photos courtesy of<br />
the<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG<br />
HISTORICAL<br />
MUSEUM<br />
Lake Hopatcong’s interesting history goes<br />
beyond its storied past as a great resort.<br />
The lake was also home to early industries.<br />
While many people realize that ice was once<br />
cut and stored at the lake and iron ore was<br />
mined nearby, the idea of smokestacks and<br />
production lines is not one we connect with<br />
the lake.<br />
Most area residents are surprised to learn that<br />
a major factory produced explosives for some<br />
50 years on the shores of Lake Hopatcong.<br />
In the early 1880s, before tourists began<br />
arriving in large numbers at Lake Hopatcong,<br />
the area around the lake was considered quite<br />
remote. This isolation was one of the reasons<br />
American Forcite Powder Manufacturing<br />
Company decided to build on 400 acres of<br />
nearly empty land.<br />
The property chosen contained only the<br />
remains of a few old iron mines and fronted<br />
on the lake, allowing easy access to the Morris<br />
Canal. A December 23, 1883 article in The Iron<br />
Era (a newspaper out of Dover), described<br />
American Forcite’s facility as “about 33<br />
buildings” situated in a semi-circle around the<br />
lake and “separated from the powder line by<br />
a high hill ... Further back on the nitroglycerine<br />
hill may be obtained a good view of the factory<br />
and Lake Hopatcong.<br />
“On this hill is an immense icehouse used<br />
to cool the water in the nitroglycerine house.<br />
All the buildings where explosives are handled<br />
are set back into the hill, forming a natural<br />
fortification in case of explosion.”<br />
Eventually, the manufacturing plant<br />
encompassed over 100 buildings spread over<br />
the site.<br />
Lake Hopatcong’s Explosive Past<br />
American Forcite’s main product was the<br />
first commercially available gelatin dynamite<br />
in the United States. Being water resistant and<br />
relatively free of fumes, this dynamite was<br />
particularly suited for tunnel and hard rock<br />
blasting. It was widely used in the iron mines of<br />
northern New Jersey.<br />
The plant’s Landing location also placed it<br />
very close to two important customers: the<br />
Army’s Powder Depot at Picatinny Arsenal and<br />
the Hercules Powder plant in Kenvil.<br />
In 1897, the Lackawanna Railroad built a short<br />
freight spur, known as the Hopatcong Railroad,<br />
which connected the American Forcite plant<br />
to the Lackawanna Railroad at Landing. After<br />
leaving the powder plant, the Hopatcong<br />
Railroad continued a short distance north<br />
to the Mountain Icehouse located at Silver<br />
Springs in Landing. Ice bound for cities to the<br />
east became a major source of cargo on the<br />
railroad during the ensuing years.<br />
American Forcite was responsible for<br />
bringing one of Lake Hopatcong’s most famous<br />
residents to the area. In 1899, American Forcite<br />
was acquired by Eastern Dynamite Company,<br />
which soon became part of the DuPont<br />
Company. As a consultant to DuPont, Hudson<br />
Maxim was sent to the lake to assist at the<br />
American Forcite facility. He soon bought<br />
lakefront property, eventually owning a major<br />
portion of the Borough of Hopatcong’s land.<br />
His arrival caught the attention of the Lake<br />
Hopatcong Breeze, which reported in the July<br />
26, 1902 edition that Maxim, “the inventor of<br />
Maximite and other high-explosives, occupies<br />
Briarwood Cottage in the Styx. At present he<br />
is conducting experiments in his laboratory at<br />
the Forcite Powder Works, probably devising<br />
some new and mighty explosives that will blow<br />
everything and everybody into smithereens.”<br />
By 1903, DuPont controlled more than 75<br />
percent of the American<br />
explosives industry. This<br />
led to antitrust action<br />
and a 1912 agreement that<br />
split DuPont’s explosives<br />
business into Hercules<br />
Powder and Atlas Powder.<br />
Hudson Maxim, who was brought to Lake<br />
Hopatcong because of American Forcite, at<br />
work in 1906.<br />
American Forcite became part of Atlas Powder<br />
Company in 1913.<br />
During World War I, large quantities<br />
of sulfuric and nitric acids, necessary for<br />
producing explosives, were manufactured at<br />
the lake for the war effort. Following the war,<br />
the plant produced dynamite, nitroglycerin<br />
and nitric and sulfuric acids.<br />
American Forcite, and later Atlas Powder,<br />
had a turbulent relationship with the local<br />
community. Explosives manufacturing facilities<br />
of the era had terrible safety records, and this<br />
plant was no exception.<br />
The first major explosion occurred in 1886<br />
and leveled the facility. During its history the<br />
site saw at least 15 major explosions. Most<br />
resulted in loss of life, and several were so large<br />
that the blasts were heard or felt as far away as<br />
Morristown and Paterson.<br />
After a major explosion in 1916, Maxim<br />
tried to mute some of the criticism of the<br />
34<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Left to right: Unidentified employees in front of the American Forcite<br />
Powder Works office in 1895. A 1912 map showing Atlas Powder<br />
Works in Landing (below the word Roxbury).
Left to right: Employees of Atlas Powder Company during World War I, circa<br />
1918. A New York Times article on the explosion at Atlas Powder, May, 1916.<br />
manufacturing facility. The following excerpt is<br />
taken from an article Maxim wrote for the July<br />
1, 1916 edition of the Breeze.<br />
“The recent explosion of a quantity of<br />
dynamite in process of manufacture at the<br />
works of the Atlas Powder Company on Lake<br />
Hopatcong, has thrown a false fear into the<br />
hearts of some persons, and they imagine<br />
that travel, along the highway past the works<br />
is dangerous, and that nearby cottagers are in<br />
peril of seeing their houses blown down about<br />
their heads.<br />
“During the entire existence of these works<br />
on Lake Hopatcong, a period of more than<br />
thirty years, not a single person outside of the<br />
immediate works has ever been injured by any<br />
explosion, and no building seriously damaged.<br />
The only ones that have been killed or injured<br />
have been those engaged in the immediate<br />
vicinity of an explosion. Such explosions are<br />
absolutely unavoidable. No greater care is<br />
possible than is already taken.”<br />
The powder manufacturing facility also had<br />
a poor relationship with local fishermen, who<br />
blamed the plant for fish kills caused by its<br />
dumping of sulfuric acid waste — a byproduct<br />
of the manufacture of gelatin dynamite — into<br />
the lake. The anglers demonstrated their point<br />
by placing live fish in crates at the dump sites.<br />
The fish quickly died.<br />
Parts of the community were outraged, and<br />
litigation followed in 1890. Eventually, the jobs<br />
provided by the explosives factory outweighed<br />
environmental concerns and, after promises by<br />
American Forcite to do better, the plant was<br />
allowed to continue its operations.<br />
The era of explosives manufacturing at Lake<br />
Hopatcong ended in 1932. The once isolated<br />
facility now bordered on a large summer<br />
community. Facing high land values and high<br />
taxation, Atlas management decided to<br />
dismantle the plant and move operations to<br />
eastern Pennsylvania.<br />
Redevelopment of the site was delayed due<br />
to the Depression and World War II. Plans were<br />
unveiled during the Depression to turn the<br />
old powder plant site into a state park and<br />
legislation was introduced in the New Jersey<br />
Legislature in 1936 but did not advance.<br />
It was not until 1947 that Shore Hills Estates<br />
was built on the site, located in today’s<br />
municipalities of Mount Arlington and<br />
Roxbury. Developments such as Shore Hills<br />
skyrocketed during the postwar baby boom<br />
years as Americans sought family-friendly<br />
vacation spots.<br />
The development’s original summer cottages<br />
are now almost completely year-round homes.<br />
Residents occasionally still find reinforced<br />
concrete in various locations on their<br />
properties, and Atlas Road runs through the<br />
development. These reminders are vestiges<br />
of a long-forgotten part of Lake Hopatcong’s<br />
unique and varied past.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 35
COOKING<br />
WITH SCRATCH ©<br />
36<br />
Story and photos by<br />
BARBARA SIMMONS<br />
The kitchen in my family’s house on Castle<br />
Rock Road was tiny.<br />
Calling it a galley kitchen would have been<br />
generous. It was maybe 7 feet wide and 10 feet<br />
long, with a window at the sink end. If you<br />
stood on your toes while washing the dishes,<br />
you could see the lake off to the right.<br />
Walking into the kitchen from the living<br />
room, there was a tiny broom closet to the<br />
right. (Inside was the broom my mother,<br />
Gertrude, used to knock against the ceiling<br />
when I was playing my music too loud upstairs.)<br />
Then came the refrigerator, a teensy bit of<br />
countertop, the gas stove and a portable, fullsized<br />
dishwasher with a butcher block top that<br />
rolled around on wheels and had to be hooked<br />
up to the sink faucet.<br />
On the end wall by the window there were<br />
maybe five cabinets. Opposite the stove was a<br />
small table that seated us in shifts. The morning<br />
shift was my father, Horst Kertscher, and older<br />
brother, Harry, leaving for work together. They<br />
were usually on the road by around 5:30 am.<br />
Around an hour later, my mom, brother, Frank,<br />
and I had breakfast together before school.<br />
Frank and I usually had coffee with Gertrude<br />
at the little kitchen table at 3 pm after school.<br />
We’d have coffee and three cookies or a piece<br />
of cake from the weekend if there was any left.<br />
Because it was too tight in the kitchen, the five<br />
of us usually ate dinner together in the dining<br />
room.<br />
The kitchen was Gertrude’s workspace, her<br />
domain. When it came to cooking, she was all<br />
business.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Can We Dance in the Kitchen?<br />
She was a trained professional, after all.<br />
She studied to be a Hauswirtschaftsleiterin<br />
(executive housekeeper) during the war, a<br />
profession encouraged by her mother who was<br />
neither a great cook nor a good housekeeper.<br />
In boarding school, Gertrude learned how<br />
to manage private households, hospitals,<br />
hotels and care facilities like nursing homes.<br />
During her studies, she became a qualified<br />
nutritionist and an expert in food preparation<br />
and preservation. She learned how to manage<br />
staff and to oversee the kitchen gardens.<br />
In our own home, Gertrude was very focused<br />
when she worked in the kitchen, cranking out<br />
one well-balanced meal after another that<br />
always included meat, a starch, a vegetable and<br />
a salad. And dessert. Every day.<br />
She always had her eye on the clock, timing<br />
every dish so that they would all be ready at<br />
precisely the same time, exactly when my<br />
father and brother would be finished cleaning<br />
up after getting home from work. There was an<br />
urgency in the way she cooked. You had to stay<br />
out of her way.<br />
In our house, the kitchen “triangle” was<br />
Gertrude’s territory. The sink, stove and<br />
refrigerator were just a step away from each<br />
other<br />
I learned as much as I could from her by<br />
mostly watching. She didn’t always have time<br />
to answer my questions about measurements<br />
and timing, but I gleaned what I could as her<br />
sous chef.<br />
As much as she loved ballroom dancing, I<br />
can’t say Gertrude and I really “danced” in that<br />
kitchen — I tried to stay out of her way.<br />
Looking back, there weren’t many people<br />
who helped her in the kitchen.<br />
My grandmother sometimes peeled potatoes,<br />
sitting at the kitchen table. There were one or<br />
two aunts who peeled apples for applesauce<br />
or pitted plums for Pflaumenkuchen, but we<br />
usually did that outside on the picnic table.<br />
Baking was different, though. It was more<br />
relaxed and fun when we were baking. Things<br />
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didn’t have to get done on a schedule.<br />
I’ve seen a few couples cook together who<br />
are really in sync, and I’ve had the pleasure of<br />
cooking with a few people who could really<br />
“dance.”<br />
My son, Francis, and his wife, Brittney, cook<br />
together that way — my daughter, Erika, and I<br />
are very comfortable together in the kitchen.<br />
We seamlessly step around each other, making<br />
way, anticipating each other’s needs — it’s a<br />
beautiful thing!<br />
In researching “managing traffic in the<br />
kitchen,” I mostly came across articles about<br />
how to keep people out of your kitchen.<br />
In a restaurant kitchen, good communication<br />
and synchronized movement are essential to a<br />
smooth workflow and producing consistently<br />
good results.<br />
I learned from the Escoffier.edu website<br />
(one of the first schools for aspiring culinary<br />
professionals) that in a professional kitchen,<br />
overcommunication is key to avoiding<br />
collisions:<br />
“Staff announce to each other ‘Behind!’ if<br />
you step behind someone, or ‘Corner!’ if you’re<br />
coming around a corner. If you’re carrying<br />
something hot, you say “Hot pan!” as you walk.<br />
Even coming out of the walk-in refrigerator,<br />
it’s good practice to thump the door twice to<br />
announce to anyone walking by that this door<br />
is about to open.”<br />
I’ve tried implementing this professional<br />
restaurant communication with my husband,<br />
Aaron, who unfortunately does not dance well<br />
with me in the kitchen. He is usually engrossed<br />
in his task and not really aware that I’m in the<br />
kitchen, too, or irritated that I’m in his way.<br />
We bump into each other, I go left, he goes<br />
left, I go right, he goes right. It’s frustrating! If<br />
he’s cooking, I’m sitting down at the table. It is<br />
a work in progress, though (40 years later!) so I<br />
still have hope.<br />
So, to dance or not to dance?<br />
Lucky for you the following recipe doesn’t<br />
require much prep or a sous chef, so you can<br />
dance solo when you try it.<br />
This beet upside down tart served with a<br />
red and green leaf salad with a honey-lemon<br />
vinaigrette is a beautiful combination of<br />
appealing colors and textures and makes a<br />
perfect springtime lunch.
Beet Upside Down Tart<br />
Serves 2-3<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 sheet puff pastry<br />
½ pound beets, peeled and sliced<br />
(vacuum-packed beets, pre-cooked in water— not pickled<br />
can also be used. These are a big time-saver!)<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
Additional 1 tablespoon olive oil for pan roasting the beets<br />
1 tablespoon honey<br />
Procedure:<br />
1. Line a 13”x18” half-sheet pan with parchment paper.<br />
2. Using a 9” plate, trace a circle in the center of the parchment paper with a pencil.<br />
3. Thaw the puff pastry according to the package directions.<br />
4. Set the pastry on a floured cutting board.<br />
5. Preheat the oven to 390°.<br />
6. If using fresh beets, pan roast them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, covered. Turn over after 8<br />
minutes and roast them on the other side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.<br />
7. Drizzle the circle on the parchment with the honey and two tablespoons of olive oil.<br />
8. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the thyme leaves.<br />
9. Leaving a 1” border, scatter the onions inside the circle.<br />
10. Shingle the sliced beets on top of the onions.<br />
11. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the goat cheese over the beets.<br />
12. Cut a 9” circle out of the puff pastry using that same 9” plate and carefully place it on top of the beets.<br />
13. Seal the edges of the puff pastry against the parchment paper using a fork.<br />
14. Cross-hatch the top with a sharp knife and brush it with about 2 tablespoons of beaten egg.<br />
15. Bake for 35 minutes until the pastry is nice and golden.<br />
16. Let it rest for 5 minutes, then lay a slightly larger plate or cutting board over the top and carefully flip the tart over.<br />
17. Crumble the rest of the goat cheese over the top and season with additional salt and pepper.<br />
Salad<br />
Ingredients:<br />
2 tablespoons sliced almonds<br />
4 cups torn soft lettuce leaves<br />
2 tablespoons thinly sliced onion<br />
A few thinly sliced radishes<br />
Pinch of kosher salt<br />
Some crumbled goat cheese<br />
Salt and pepper to taste<br />
1-2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves<br />
About 3 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion<br />
4 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese (feta cheese can be<br />
substituted if your family is goat cheese averse)<br />
1 beaten egg<br />
Dressing:<br />
Juice of ½ a lemon<br />
1 teaspoon honey<br />
Salt and pepper to taste<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
Procedure:<br />
1. Spread the almonds on a small plate and make an opening in the middle of the pile. Microwave for 2 minutes until just slightly toasted.<br />
You can also toast the almonds in a small frying pan if you prefer.<br />
2. Add the lettuce, onion and radishes to a nice-looking salad bowl.<br />
3. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt (makes the salad stay crisp).<br />
4. Whisk the dressing ingredients together.<br />
5. Dress the salad just before serving, topping with the goat cheese and toasted sliced almonds.<br />
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lakehopatcongnews.com 37
WORDS OF<br />
A FEATHER<br />
M is for Osprey<br />
Photos by KYLE MATERA<br />
Remember when you were a kid and<br />
you’d draw a picture?<br />
Maybe it was a sunny field with flowers. Or a<br />
baseball diamond. A bright yellow sun in a blue<br />
sky. You might have added some birds flying<br />
across that big sky. If you did, chances are you<br />
used a big “M” to draw them.<br />
Did you know then that you were quite<br />
accurately drawing ospreys?<br />
Well, okay, not literally—but almost! In fact,<br />
it is a great diagnostic characteristic of ospreys<br />
in flight.<br />
Their silhouettes, because of the way they<br />
hold their wings, often form an M shape. The<br />
birds are relatively large, with long, slender<br />
wings that span more than 60 inches.<br />
They have dark brown backs, white fronts<br />
with white underwings and dark patches at<br />
their wrists. Their heads are striking, being<br />
overall white with a dark stripe across piercing<br />
orangey-yellow eyes.<br />
Ospreys are unique raptors in North America<br />
because their diet is almost exclusively live fish,<br />
which they dive into water to catch. They are<br />
efficient at catching fish, with a success rate as<br />
high as 70 percent. (Fishermen and women, I<br />
can’t help but wonder how your own fishing<br />
success rate compares to that!)<br />
Ospreys spend an average of 12 minutes<br />
hunting before making a catch. They typically<br />
hunt by soaring in circles over fairly shallow<br />
water, often hovering in midair while they use<br />
38<br />
Story by HEATHER SHIRLEY<br />
Scan the QR code with<br />
your phone’s camera<br />
to hear the sounds of<br />
an osprey.<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
keen eyesight to spot a fish.<br />
Then they hurtle down,<br />
sometimes plunging as deep as<br />
3 feet underwater to make their<br />
catch.<br />
Once caught, a fish almost never<br />
escapes the clutches of this raptor’s<br />
specialized talons. They have<br />
barbed pads on the soles of their<br />
feet that help grip the fish. Ospreys<br />
even have a reversible toe that can<br />
change position from a usual grip of<br />
three toes in front and one in back<br />
— useful for perching — to two toes in front<br />
and two in back to best grip its prey.<br />
Strong fliers, ospreys always hold their<br />
captured fish so it faces headfirst into the air<br />
for optimum aerodynamics.<br />
What is perhaps most impressive about<br />
ospreys is their comeback story.<br />
Starting in World War II, the pesticide<br />
DDT was used to kill mosquitoes and its<br />
effectiveness in doing so led to widespread<br />
agricultural use for pest control. But animals<br />
that ingested insects that had been poisoned<br />
also got poisoned themselves, and this radiated<br />
up the food chain.<br />
Every animal that ate another animal that<br />
had ingested DDT accumulated more and more<br />
of it in its body. This meant an osprey that ate<br />
a fish that ate a frog that ate a dragonfly that<br />
ate a mosquito had significant DDT in its body<br />
because the DDT of all the animals consumed<br />
in that chain was additive.<br />
The poison made it difficult for birds to<br />
absorb calcium, which is a critical component<br />
of eggshells. Less calcium meant thinner eggs<br />
that broke before chicks could hatch. Since<br />
ospreys typically brood only one or two eggs<br />
each season, their population was devastated.<br />
Luckily, the Environmental Protection<br />
Agency banned the use of DDT in 1972.<br />
DDT had a catastrophic effect on ospreys.<br />
According to the Environmental Defense Fund,<br />
in 1981, the number of breeding pairs of ospreys<br />
in the U.S. had plummeted to just 8,000. By<br />
1994, the number had increased to more than<br />
14,000. The Nature Conservancy cites that in<br />
New Jersey in 1974, there were just 50 osprey<br />
nests. Fifty!<br />
Today, New Jersey boasts a thriving osprey<br />
population. Their recovery has been helped<br />
in part through the establishment of humanmade<br />
nest platforms. There are now about 800<br />
occupied nest platforms in New Jersey and<br />
75 percent of ospreys use these structures to<br />
successfully raise chicks.<br />
To see ospreys on their gigantic nests, take<br />
a drive to South Jersey and scan along the<br />
Maurice or Cohansey rivers, Alloway Creek or<br />
in the South Cape May Meadows. If you prefer<br />
armchair exploration, check out the South<br />
Cape May Meadows Osprey Cam on YouTube.<br />
Ospreys are now rather common across<br />
Top to bottom: Osprey in flight. Osprey perched<br />
with fish.<br />
most of North America. They tend to be more<br />
prevalent around saltwater bays and estuaries.<br />
Around Lake Hopatcong, ospreys are usually<br />
seen when they are migrating. Sightings peak in<br />
April and May, then again in September.<br />
Their migration is something to marvel at!<br />
One osprey was tracked by scientists on a fall<br />
migration trek. It flew from Martha’s Vineyard<br />
to French Guiana, a trip of more than 2,700<br />
miles — and its journey was completed in just<br />
13 days.<br />
During an osprey’s lifespan of 15-20 years,<br />
it will travel about 160,000 miles. How does<br />
your own journey on this earth compare? How<br />
about when you eliminate mechanized modes<br />
of travel … how many miles do you think you’ve<br />
walked?<br />
Chances are, it’s not enough. There is so much<br />
of this glorious world to see! So many marvels<br />
and wonders just waiting to be experienced!<br />
Get out there and find your joy. Scan the<br />
skies for some flying osprey Ms.<br />
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Waterloo Canal <strong>Day</strong><br />
Saturday, June 22 ND – 10:00 aM to 4:00 PM<br />
Rain Date June 23 rd<br />
Visit Historic Waterloo for a<br />
full day of tHings to see and do<br />
• Live music by the Long Hill String Band<br />
• Historic Building Tours<br />
Canal Museum, Boat Exhibit, Gristmill<br />
• Historic Trades<br />
Blacksmithing, Tin Smithing<br />
and Wool Spinners<br />
• Canal Boat Rides<br />
• Church Tours<br />
• Winakung, Native Lenape Woodland Forest<br />
FREE PARKING – FREE ADMISSION<br />
Waterloo Village Historic Site – 525 Waterloo Road<br />
For more information, please visit our website: canalsocietynj.org<br />
New Jersey<br />
State Park<br />
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New Jersey<br />
SPONSORED BY<br />
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HISTORICAL<br />
SOCIETY<br />
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(C)973-222-0186<br />
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marymay@realtyexecutives.com<br />
lakehopatcongnews.com 39
Vol. 1, No. 3<br />
Vol. 1, No. 2<br />
<strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> 2019<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
THE BATTLE TO KEEP<br />
CANADA GEESE AT BAY<br />
MAKING MERRY MUSIC<br />
MEMORIAL DAY 2022 VOL. 14 NO. 2<br />
A visionary Jefferson couple turn their dream into reality for their ‘differently-abled’ adult daughter<br />
WOMEN’S NETWORKING<br />
GROUP A HIT<br />
IN SEARCH OF SPIRITS<br />
Fourth of July 2019<br />
Vol. 1, No. 4<br />
Vol. 8, No. 7<br />
Page 6<br />
Page 16<br />
Page 24<br />
Page 30<br />
Family reunion<br />
Vol. 9, No. 5<br />
Page 6<br />
Page 14<br />
Page 2<br />
Pages 28<br />
Holiday 2016<br />
Looking skyward<br />
Local DAR honor soldiers<br />
Charity on wheels<br />
Labor <strong>Day</strong> 2017<br />
FOURTH OF JULY 2023 VOL. 15 NO. 3<br />
Thr e-year study underway to s e if brown<br />
trout can “hold over” in Lake Hopatcong<br />
SPRING 20 2 VOL. 14 NO. 1<br />
WISH LIST<br />
ON THE MILES<br />
FA L 2021 VOL. 13 NO. 6<br />
springs to life in Jefferson<br />
MIDSUMMER 2021 VOL. 13 NO. 4<br />
Garden State Yacht Club hosts<br />
stre s-fr e sailing Saturdays<br />
HOPATCONG<br />
MIDSUMMER 2020 VOL. 12 NO. 4<br />
MEMORIAL DAY 2020 VOL. 12 NO. 2<br />
THE PARK<br />
MEMORIAL DAY 2021 VOL. 13 NO. 2<br />
Vol. 1, No. 1<br />
FOURTH OF JULY 20 2 VOL. 14 NO. 3<br />
Spring 2019<br />
Vol. 10, No. 3<br />
Fourth of July 2018<br />
• American picker<br />
• Olympic spirit<br />
• Passion for golf<br />
• LHC budgets for weeds<br />
FA L 20 2 VOL. 14 NO. 6<br />
directory<br />
CONSTRUCTION/<br />
EXCAVATION<br />
Al Hutchins Excavating<br />
973-663-2142<br />
973-713-8020<br />
Global Contracting<br />
800-292-3268<br />
globalpaving.com<br />
Lakeside Construction<br />
151 Sparta-Stanhope Rd., Hopatcong<br />
973-398-4517<br />
Northwest Explosives<br />
PO Box 806, Hopatcong<br />
973-398-6900<br />
info@northwestexplosives.com<br />
Robertson Excavating<br />
973-398-9476<br />
ENTERTAINMENT/<br />
RECREATION<br />
Lake Hopatcong Adventure Company<br />
37 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-1944<br />
lhadventureco.com<br />
Lake Hopatcong Cruises<br />
Miss Lotta (Dinner Boat)<br />
37 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-5000<br />
lhcruises.com<br />
Lake Hopatcong Mini Golf Club<br />
37 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-0451<br />
lhgolfclub.com<br />
Roxbury Arts Alliance<br />
72 Eyland Ave., Succasunna<br />
973-945-0284<br />
roxburyartsalliance.org<br />
HOME SERVICES<br />
Central Comfort<br />
100 Nolan’s Point Rd., LH<br />
973-361-2146<br />
Evening Star<br />
LED Deck/Dock Lights<br />
eveningstarlighting.com<br />
Homestead Lawn Sprinkler<br />
5580 Berkshire Valley Rd., OR<br />
973-208-0967<br />
homesteadlawnsprinkler.com<br />
J-I Renovations<br />
862-462-0183<br />
jirenovation.us<br />
Jefferson Recycling<br />
710 Route 15 N Jefferson<br />
973-361-1589<br />
jefferson-recycling.com<br />
Metro Supply and Service<br />
201 Green Pond Rd., Rockaway<br />
973-627-7626<br />
metrosupplyinc.com<br />
The Polite Plumber<br />
973-398-0875<br />
thepoliteplumber.com<br />
The Probilt Group<br />
973-886-3654<br />
probiltgroup.com<br />
Royalty Cleaning Services<br />
973-309-2858<br />
royaltycleaningserv.com<br />
Sacks Paint & Wallpaper<br />
52 N Sussex St., Dover<br />
973-366-0119<br />
sackspaint.net<br />
TriStae Lighting<br />
973-358-9302<br />
LightTheTristate.com<br />
Window Genie<br />
973-726-6555<br />
windowgenie.com/northwest-nj<br />
LAKE SERVICES<br />
AAA Dock & Marine<br />
27 Prospect Point Rd., LH<br />
973-663-4998<br />
docksmarina@hotmail.com<br />
Batten The Hatches<br />
70 Rt. 181, LH<br />
973-663-1910<br />
facebook.com/bthboatcovers<br />
Lake Management Sciences<br />
Branchville<br />
973-948-0107<br />
lakemgtsciences.com<br />
MARINAS<br />
Katz’s Marinas<br />
22 Stonehenge Rd., LH<br />
973-663-0224<br />
katzmarinaatthecove.com<br />
342 Lakeside Ave., Hopatcong<br />
973-663-3214<br />
antiqueboatsales.com<br />
Lake’s End Marina<br />
91 Mt. Arlington Blvd., Landing<br />
973-398-5707<br />
lakesendmarina.net<br />
Morris County Marine<br />
745 US 46W, Kenvil<br />
201-400-6031<br />
South Shore Marine<br />
862-254-2514<br />
southshoremarine180@gmail.com<br />
NONPROFITS<br />
Canal Society of NJ<br />
973-292-2755<br />
canalsocietynj.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Commission<br />
260 Lakeside Blvd.,Landing<br />
973-601-7801<br />
commissioner@lakehopatcongcommission.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Elks<br />
201 Howard Blvd, MA<br />
973-668-9302<br />
Lake Hopatcong Foundation<br />
125 Landing Rd., Landing<br />
973-663-2500<br />
lakehopatcongfoundation.org<br />
Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum<br />
260 Lakeside Blvd., Landing<br />
973-398-2616<br />
lakehopatconghistory.com<br />
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES<br />
Barbara Anne Dillon,,O.D.,P.A.<br />
180 Howard Blvd., Ste. 18 MA<br />
973-770-1380<br />
Fox Architectural Design<br />
546 St. Rt. 10 W, Ledgewood<br />
973-970-9355<br />
foxarch.com<br />
REAL ESTATE<br />
Kathleen Courter<br />
RE/MAX<br />
131 Landing Rd., Roxbury<br />
973-420-0022 Direct<br />
KathySellsNJHomes.com<br />
Robin Dora<br />
Sotheby’s International<br />
670 Main St., Towaco<br />
973-570-6633<br />
thedoragroup.com<br />
Christopher J. Edwards<br />
RE/MAX<br />
211 Rt. 10E, Succasunna<br />
973-598-1008<br />
MrLakeHopatcong.com<br />
Karen Foley<br />
Sotheby’s International<br />
670 Main St., Towaco<br />
973-906-5021<br />
prominentproperties.com<br />
RESTAURANTS & BARS<br />
Alice’s Restaurant<br />
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-9600<br />
alicesrestaurantnj.com<br />
Big Fish Lounge At Alice’s<br />
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-9600<br />
alicesrestaurantnj.com<br />
The Windlass Restaurant<br />
45 Nolan’s Point Park Rd., LH<br />
973-663-3190<br />
thewindlass.com<br />
SENIOR CARE<br />
Preferred Care at Home<br />
George & Jill Malanga/Owners<br />
973-512-5131<br />
PreferHome.com/nwjersey<br />
SPECIALTY STORES<br />
Alstede Fresh @ Lindeken<br />
54 NJ Rt 15 N, Wharton<br />
908-879-7189<br />
AlstedeFarms.com<br />
Hawk Ridge Farm<br />
283 Espanong Rd, LH<br />
hawkridgefarmnj.com<br />
Hearth & Home<br />
1215 Rt. 46, Ledgewood<br />
973-252-0190<br />
hearthandhome.net<br />
Helrick’s Custom Framing<br />
158 W Clinton St., Dover<br />
973-361-1559<br />
helricks.com<br />
Italy Tours with Maria<br />
ItalyTourswithMaria@yahoo.com<br />
JF Woodproducts<br />
973-590-4319<br />
jfwoodproducts.com<br />
Steve Lindahl, author<br />
stevelindahl.com<br />
Orange Carpet & Wood Gallery<br />
470 Rt. 10W, Ledgewood<br />
973-584-5300<br />
orange-carpet.com<br />
STORAGE<br />
Woodport Self Storage<br />
17 Rt. 181 & 20 Tierney Rd., LH<br />
973-663-4000<br />
FOR A COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS AND FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT<br />
WWW.LAKEHOPATCONGNEWS.COM<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Answering<br />
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Firefighter honored for 70 years of service<br />
with Roxbury Engine Company No. 2<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
Happy Campers<br />
Sixteen years in and Camp Je ferson is sti l a l about good ole’ fashioned outdoor fun<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE L AKE REGION<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Independence<br />
<strong>Day</strong><br />
Mo ris Habitat helps the<br />
Tesfaye-Tade se family<br />
become homeowners<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE L AKE REGION<br />
Witch You Were Here!<br />
October is a bewitching good time for these ladies in Lake Rogerene<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
•Qua ry Silt S eps into Lake Hopatcong: DEP Slow to React<br />
•Working Sma l Proves Big for Local Artist •Girl Scouts Tackle Trail Maintenance<br />
•New Fireboat for Lake Hopatcong<br />
Home Sweet Homestead<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
For the Birds<br />
Andrew Eppedio (and his mom’s) great avian adventure<br />
• Algae Invades Lake Hopatcong<br />
Volunteers Drive 1th Hour Rescue<br />
• Wiffle Ba l Game Helps Raise Funds<br />
• Sharing Books One Li tle Free Library at a Time<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Christmas<br />
in the village<br />
Annual holiday celebration in Je ferson<br />
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
LOCALLY<br />
GROWN<br />
Je ferson farm comes alive<br />
thanks to third-generation<br />
farmer<br />
The tradition of telling the stories of the lake community<br />
continues thanks to all the advertisers.<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE L AKE REGION<br />
THRIFT SHOP BARGAINS<br />
STAR GAZING<br />
All Their Children<br />
Over 2 Decades, A Landing Couple Welcomed 39 Foster Children To their Home<br />
CARVING OUT A NICHE<br />
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ake Hopatcong News<br />
Catch<br />
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TAKING CONTROL<br />
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ake Hopatcong News<br />
INFRASTRUCTURE<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE L AKE REGION<br />
On the Water<br />
Come Along with Outdoorsman Jeremy Travers<br />
as He Explores the Areas Waterways<br />
THEATER PRODUCTIONS<br />
BEGIN AT ROXBURY PAC<br />
BOOK CLUB PUTS<br />
AREA EMS SQUADS<br />
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ake Hopatcong News<br />
NATIONAL DESIGNATION<br />
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VOLUNTEERS HELP<br />
HOMEOWNERS IN NEED<br />
Summer’s<br />
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Organic, self-sustaining mini-farm<br />
CUTTING COSTS BY<br />
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VETERANS HONORED<br />
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ake Hopatcong News<br />
Easy<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE L AKE REGION<br />
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GRANT MONEY<br />
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HEROES HONORED IN<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE L REGION<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Helping Hands<br />
A l across the area, legions of people are working<br />
the front lines and volunteering their time<br />
BLOSSOMS IN<br />
FINDING NEW WAYS<br />
TO DO BUSINESS<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
STUDENTS PARTNER WITH<br />
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AREA NURSES VOLUNTEER<br />
AT VACCINATION SITES<br />
ONE FAMILY’S<br />
PANDEMIC JOURNEY<br />
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION<br />
Building a<br />
Community<br />
Mo ris Habitat for Humanity finds<br />
a way forward despite the pandemic<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
•We lne s center opens in Hopatcong<br />
•Children’s author penning third book<br />
•Bridge to Liffy Island taking shape<br />
•DEP says no to carp in Lake Hopatcong<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
ICE JOB<br />
HISTORY MADE IN HOPATCONG<br />
AND THE BANDS PLAYED ON<br />
MEMBERSHIPS IN DECLINE<br />
CASHING IN ON COINS<br />
Volunt ers, including two from Hopatcong, take part in a<br />
century-old tradition at Raque te Lake in the Adirondacks<br />
ake Hopatcong News<br />
Informing, Serving and Celebrating The Lake Region<br />
RACING AROUND<br />
STATE BY STATE<br />
A LIFE IN MUSIC<br />
‘Study Hull’<br />
makes maiden<br />
voyage<br />
WINNER, WINNER,<br />
CHICKEN DINNER<br />
BEACON OF LIGHT<br />
Local students schooled on fresh water aboard the Lake Hopatcong Foundation’s floating cla sroom<br />
40<br />
• Markets are open, bounty is fresh<br />
• Smithsonian exhibi to open<br />
• King House expands offerings<br />
• 4H standout leading the way<br />
Community garden turns 5<br />
Hiking the Appalachian Trail<br />
Not your average summer camp<br />
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Memorial</strong> <strong>Day</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
973-663-2800 • editor@lakehopatcongnews.com
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ARE YOU UP FOR<br />
adventure?<br />
DISCOVER THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF LAKE HOPATCONG ON<br />
AND OFF THE WATER WITH OUR GUIDED TOURS<br />
HASSLE-FREE RENTALS LED BY FUN, EXPERIENCED GUIDES!<br />
single &<br />
tandem<br />
BOOK YOUR<br />
TOUR TODAY<br />
KAYAKING HYDROBIKING BIKING<br />
PEDALBOARDING HIKING<br />
ONLINE WWW.LHADVENTURECO.COM OR BY PHONE 973-663-1944<br />
37 NOLAN’S POINT PARK RD. LAKE HOPATCONG, NJ LHADVENTURECO