Controversy Swirls over Site of Proposed Mosque

Mountaintop Road entrance to Redwood Inn,  left of the sign.

Monday evening, February 28, at 7 PM, Bridgewater Township’s Planning Board will meet in the Performing Arts Auditorium of the Somerset County Vocational & Technical School on 14 Vogt Drive, in Bridgewater.

Auto on Mountaintop Road passes by Redwood Inn entrance.

Heavy attendance is expected, because this meeting was rescheduled from a prior one at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex, due to an over-capacity audience which was so large, that the meeting never got off the ground. 

Two related items appear On Monday’s Planning Board agenda: 

1) An application for land development on the site of the no-longer-operating Redwood Inn on Mountaintop Road, submitted by the Chughtai Foundation for the construction of a mosque.

An Evanescent Sunrise Visits Bridgewater

Dick Bergeron, Feb 26, 2011, 6:28 AM

As she rose this morning behind the Second Watchung Mountain in Bridgewater, dawn was beautiful, but brief and fickle. 

She cast a soft, pink backlight behind the few clouds that had managed to separate themselves from a solid overcast of gray -- then she quickly shut off the lights, returning the eastern sky into a dim, colorless dome over the hills.

It was one of the most episodic sunrises that I have observed – only a few seconds in duration; then it vanished, before brightening the skies again much later. 

Nature is like that.  She is whimsical and passionately private, refusing to reveal her secrets to us.  We never know for sure what she will do next, as her behavior this winter has proven so decisively. 

Bridgewater-Raritan Gets Increased School Aid from Trenton

Late this afternoon, the New Jersey Department of Education released its district-by-district school aid numbers, and the Bridgewater-Raritan School District will get $6,717,763, an increase of $1,331,546 over last year’s school aid.

 In my last blog post this morning, I had estimated that, if Governor Christie came through with “a full 1% hike in aid to the B-R School District,” as was being reported in the press, that the B-R School District would receive “approximately $1.3 million” more in state aid.

Trenton came through, and that’s what happened.

As it turns out, the last tentative Bridgewater-Raritan School budget presented on January 25^th included an assumption for school aid of only $4,623,537, a reduction, not an increase from last year. 

This means that the School Board and the Administration are now looking at another $807,933 that is available from their prior, low estimate of school aid.  This number, when added to the $1,331,546 increase announced by the state this afternoon, makes a total of $2,139,479 more that is available to help in funding the budget.

Let’s hope that it is not allocated to salary and benefit increases.

Tentative Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget Due for a Rework.

On Wednesday, April 27^th, residents of Raritan and Bridgewater will be voting on the budget for the new school year beginning July 1^st, 2011, as well as for the selection of three School Board members. 

On January 25^th, Superintendent Michael Schilder, speaking on behalf of the School Board, presented a tentative budget of $127.9 million to the public, one which has seen no changes since then. 

That budget number included a projection which assumed a loss of state aid.  At the time, Schilder indicated that no alternative budget scenarios would be presented to the public, until definitive state aid information is forthcoming from Trenton.

Yesterday, when Governor Christie presented his proposed state budget to the legislature, he included provisions for an increase in state aid to school districts, while indicating that all districts would receive an increase, but that none would see a bump in aid of more that 1% of its total budget. 

Actual state aid numbers are due to be released to individual school districts today.  An early morning call placed to the office of Peter Starrs, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, confirmed that the Bridgewater-Raritan District had not yet received any indication of its aid number.

However, a full 1% hike in aid to the B-R School District – if it is forthcoming – would be approximately $1.3 million.  

Filing Deadline Nears for B-R School Board Candidates

The deadline for candidates to file nominating petitions for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education is only two weeks from today, Tuesday, March 8.  If you are thinking about running for one of the three open positions – one for Raritan and two for Bridgewater – but are not sure, click here to get more information.

There are nine members on this Board, and elections take place every year in April, on a rotating basis.  Three positions open up yearly, each one for a three-year term.  In recent years, incumbents have tended to run unchallenged.

This tendency seems to be holding; because, as of Tuesday afternoon, only the three current office holders have filed nominating positions for the seats up for grabs. 

The incumbents who have already filed are Evan D. Lerner and Arvind Mathur, for Bridgewater; and Al Smith, for Raritan.

Photos Capture Emergency Services Crew Clearing Bridgewater Street

Bridgewater Crew Finishes Clearing Tree Blocking Peach Tree Road

Bridgewater Township wasn’t spared the damage caused by severe winds on Saturday afternoon.  These were gusting as high as 46 miles per hour, enough to uproot any of the township’s evergreen trees, some of which are shallowly rooted, and make a perfect target for angry winds.

Shortly after lunch on Saturday, one of those trees on Peach Tree Road in the Sunset Lake area of Bridgewater fell victim to those high winds and toppled straight across the street, blocking it completely.

Within minutes from the time that neighbors in the vicinity placed a call to Bridgewater Police, road crews showed up and immediately got to work cutting down the double-trunked tree and cleaning up the street.

Happy Friday!

The rising sun prepares to warm a mid-winter Friday in Bridgewater.

Today, the sun cast its penetrating glow through the early morning clouds above Somerset County’s Second Watchung Range, announcing the beginning of what would be a 66° day in Bridgewater. 

I was lucky enough to be at my writing desk, with the southeast-facing window providing a full view when it happened.

It was touch and go, because the pre-dawn hours were overcast, and it didn’t look like the sun would pierce through, but it did, culminating a three-day tease of nature, which made me, and probably you too, yearn for spring.  But that is not to be – at least not yet.  Tonight, it’s down to 33° -- expect to get up to another cold morning. 

But that’s OK.  The rest of February, according to Accuweather, is predicted to have daytime temps ranging from the mid-30’s to the high-40’s.  But look out for next Friday:  52° and freezing rain – not good.  Let’s hope that the weather lady is all wrong.

I like the weather variations.  I really do.  Although I admit that my resolve about that wavered significantly when Bridgewater was being pummeled by those not-so-long-ago, successive snow storms. 

Sanofi-Aventis Negotiates Deal, Buys Genzyme for $20.1 Billion

Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, the world’s fourth-largest drug company, with U.S. headquarters in Bridgewater, New Jersey, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Genzyme Corp., according to a report in The Boston Globe. 

Genzyme  employs 10,000 people worldwide and has a staff of 4,500 researchers and other workers in Massachusetts.  Founded in 1981, it is headquartered in Cambridge. 

The company is in the forefront of the biotechnology field, and “has been a leader in developing drugs for rare genetic disorders such as Gaucher and Fabry diseases, treatments that can cost up to $300,000 a year per patient,” reports the Globe.  The biotechnology area of life sciences represents a critical target market that Sanofi-Aventis sees as necessary for its continued growth and success. 

A Review of ‘The Fighter’

Actor Mark Wahlberg portrays 'The Fighter' (Courtesy Teaser-Trailers,com)

Priscille and I had heard quite a bit about the new movie The Fighter which is now playing in theatres, and which was filmed on location in our hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.

 Recent online reviews were favorable.  So were comments from some of our relatives who saw it.  That convinced us to take in the film at one of Bridgewater’s AMC Dine-In Theatres at the Bridgewater Commons Mall, on Thursday evening.

The flick depicts the story of a Lowellian who aspires to a boxing title that appears to be slipping away.   In his early boxing career, the man doesn’t train well and ends up getting mismatched in an Atlantic City bout where, at the last minute, a substitute boxer that outweighs him by 20 pounds wipes him out. 

A Man is Gone, and We in Bridgewater are the Poorer for It.

In memory of Roy T. Devoe (photo by Dick Bergeron)

The yellow police tape is gone now, and the businesses of the Bridgewater Towne Center on Route 202 South are getting back to normal, despite the incomprehensible violence by which this community lost Roy T. Devoe, owner of a jewelry store near Wegmans.

One of my readers had sent me an e-mail shortly after this brutal act occurred, informing me of what had happened, saying that she had been at that establishment only days before to have a watch battery replaced.

Shortly after noon today, when I visited the site, people were passing by on the sidewalk in front of Mr. Devoe’s business, two of them commenting respectfully upon this senseless murder, as they proceeded to their destination.

His loved ones and his friends, as well as others who did not know him, will not forget:  Fresh flowers sit at the entrance to Mr. Devoe’s store, and a message for his eternal rest is hand-written on a large sheet of paper behind the glass door.

His memory will live on.

No community loses someone like Mr. Devoe without leaving a hole, not only in the hearts of the relatives and friends who knew him intimately, but even in the minds of all Bridgewater residents who never met him and who, this evening, are wondering why this could ever have happened. Why this senseless crime?  Why here?  Why anywhere?

The Promise of Spring . . .

Ice burdens a tree in Bridgewater.  (Photo by Dick Bergeron)

The seasons come and go, and in this latitude, we know with certainty that the early greening of May is soon to come, followed not so far behind by the fullness of July and of summer.  

It sounds like a trite statement, yet we accept that assurance, because as adults, we have seen it happen regularly, and without fail.

Young children have not, and that is why they marvel, for example, at the sight of their first snowfall, not thinking of anything but of the joy associated with the falling of snowflakes and of being in the crisp outdoor air. 

If we are lucky enough, no matter what our age, health, or fiscal condition, we will live to see another season, and another, and another:  Even though we don’t give that much thought, we inherently hope so, because nothing is guaranteed – only fools believe that.

Without having thought of it and without having articulated it, we take the change of seasons for granted, because that process is something that we have seen and experienced with our own individual senses.  We know for sure.  There is no doubt.

The Storms that Won’t Let Up

Ice coats utility lines in Bridgewater (Photo by Dick Bergeron)

My sister-in-law sent an e-mail from Cape Coral, Florida, and reminded us that it was around 80 pleasant, sunny degrees down in the Sunshine State.

We could use some of that heat radiating from the warm sunshine – even a little bit of it, if only for about eight hours or so – simply to melt the accumulation of snow and ice that is plaguing us in Bridgewater.

I thought it was not supposed to happen here in New Jersey.  OK, maybe once in a while, but not a major storm – one after the other.  That was appropriate when we lived on the shores of Lake Ontario across from Canada, or in New England – but here in the Garden State?

Black Ice

A stealth coating of ice covers our driveway.

It’s worse than deep snow and it’s far more treacherous.  On the roadways, you won’t see it until it’s too late.  But this time, we’ve all been alerted by all of the weather services to expect the worse in the form of ice, and it’s already here.

This afternoon, just before dusk at 4:52, I shot this close-up of a section of my driveway from a safe position on the front entrance, to show just how slick and slippery black ice can be. 

The only way that I felt confident in walking down the slope of the driveway to get the mail and to pick up the empty trash cans was to use my pair of rubberized shoes whose bottoms, thanks to a gift from Priscille a couple of years ago, are outfitted with a pair of “Yaktraks.”

This neat little invention fits easily under a pair of shoes and will give you the traction of a mountain goat.  If you are interested, Amazon carries different models.  So does Plow & Hearth.  The one I wear retails for $27.

Watch yourself out there for the next couple of days – it’s not fit for human or beast!

Monir’s Egypt

A crowd demonstrates in Egypt  (Denver Post)

Impelled by the onset of grim socio-economic and political unrest among its people, Egypt has descended into a state of turmoil and disarray, causing, once more, my thoughts to turn to Monir. 

He is an Egyptian national, and a friend who was a colleague a long time ago, when we both worked for a computer company in New England.  (I am withholding his full name for security reasons.)

A Coptic Christian, Monir came to the U.S. on a work visa, leaving his family behind. His intent was to go back home; and, after doing well in the U.S., he returned.  I lost contact with Monir when he left America, and I hope that he is still alive and well.

The life of a Coptic Christian in Egypt has not been an easy one.  On New Year’s Day, radical Islamic terrorists bombed a church in Alexandria, killing 21 churchgoers and injuring 79 others. The assault wasn’t the first attack upon this minority group.