Bradley Gardens School PTO: Clothing & Bargain Bicycle Sale on Saturday



Mrs.  Buckley-Johnson prepares to address the B-R BOE on 9/27/11.

Below is an insert describing a wide variety of clothing items, as well as bicycles which will go on sale this Saturday morning, October 1, through early afternoon at the Bradley Gardens primary school in Bridgewater. 

Bridgewater-Raritan PTO members are very active in the support of their schools and spend a lot of time and effort in being involved in their welfare.

If you have a few minutes to spare and think that you may be in need of some of the items listed below, drop by the school. 

Anne Buckley-Johnson will be happy to answer any of your questions at the number below, if you would like to know more.

$1-2-3 Clothing and Bargain Bicycle Sale

Sat., Oct. 1, 2011 from 9am to 1pm at Bradley Gardens School, 148 Pine St., Bridgewater.
 
Find gently-used infant thru adult clothing neatly displayed on tables organized by size and gender. All shirts are $1; sweaters, sweatshirts, skirts, pjs are $2; pants, jackets, winter coats, shoes, boots, Halloween Costumes are $3; bicycles are $10 and up.

Receipts for tax purposes are available at drop off when you donate gently-used clothing and/or bicycles on Friday, Sept. 30 from 9am-2pm and 4pm-6pm at the school’s main entrance.

Please bag clothing by size and gender and label the bag. Ex., “girl 4T”; “Men L.” The school’s PTO runs the sale to help the community and to raise funds for the school.

Please call Anne Buckley-Johnson at 908-725-1611 with questions.

Thanks for reading, and have a good weekend.  The weather looks promising – for a change!

High School Glee Club to Appear on Rachael Ray Show Tomorrow

Glee Club members hold up $10,000 check before Staff & Board officers.

Not all Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Meetings start off this way.  This one was a winner. 

Getting ready for their performance in the Wade Building.

Shortly after the opening of the public session last night at the Wade Building in Martinsville, Dr. Len Herman, Supervisor of Fine & Practical Arts (K-12), and Mr. John Wilson, Teacher and Conductor of the Glee Club took their turn at the lectern facing the Board.
  

Brooke Dobossy sings to accompaniment.

Not only did they announce that the Bridgewater-Raritan Glee Club would perform its rendition of “Heartbreaker” for the pleasure of the Board and attendees at last night’s meeting, but they followed up with an enthusiastic statement that famed singer/performer Kristin Chenoweth will be presenting a check for $10,000 on behalf of Tonic.com to the Glee Club.

Bridgewater Turns out for Monument’s Dedication

Yesterday afternoon, at 4:00 PM, in front of Bridgewater’s new Municipal Complex, citizens, dignitaries, contributors, Girl Scouts, and others all showed up to honor the Township’s march through history at the dedication of the Bridgewater Historic Monument.  

An orange ribbon falls to the ground after its ceremonial cutting by Bridgewater Mayor Patricia Flannery and Veronica Finlay, volunteer project co-ordinator, at the Bridgewater Historic Monument's dedication.. They are joined by Girl Scouts and some of the Monument's many contributors.

It is a very attractive and well-designed addition to the Township complex.  The Monument’s placement physically breaks up the distance between the road entrance and the spacious, open courtyard leading to the main buildings, thus adding an esthetically pleasing aspect to the overall surroundings.

Celebrate Bridgewater Township!

On Thursday, September 22, Bridgewater Township will commemorate its history when the new outdoor Bridgewater Historical Monument will be officially presented to the citizens of our township. 

The descriptive plaques (seven in all) below the new Bridgewater Historical Monument are temporarily supported by boards as their adhesive dries, a mere three days before the official dedication. (Photo/Dick Bergeron)

Its cost was originally included in the design of the Bridgewater Municipal Complex.  However, funding plans were since changed, and the monument has been entirely paid for through private and corporate sources, a not insignificant accomplishment given the times we live in. 

This memorial is in the form of a curved wall which depicts the continuum of Bridgewater’s history from the time that European explorers first made contact with this area’s original Native Americans, the Lenni Lenape Indians.  Subsequent, seamless sections of this integrated mural display Bridgewater’s steady march to the present time.

School Board in Very Early Stage of Redistricting

At its work session on Tuesday of this week, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education entered into a brief, initial discussion about the need for the redistricting of its schools.  As demographic patterns continually shift within this large and widely dispersed school district, it’s a topic which comes up with unpredictable regularity.

Lynne Hurley, Chairperson of the Finance & Transportation Committee, led off the discussion as part of her committee report, explaining that “redistricting will help to balance out enrollment in our schools,” following up with “we (the committee) had a lively discussion” on this topic.

Penny Wolf, a 20-year Bridgewater resident, advises the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education not to consider any school building closings during the redistricting analysis. (Photo/Dick Bergeron)

Tuesday evening, the Board was working with a bare quorum of five of its members, with the other four unable to attend that evening.  As Board Vice-President and Facilities Chairperson, Patrick Breslin, pointed out – the accompanying observation is mine – the issues, challenges, and problems which inevitably accompany “declining enrollment will have a full Board discussion later.”

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Michael Schilder offered his view of what could be a six-step process for the Board’s consideration.  I have taken minimal journalistic liberty with the wording of the following recommended steps:

“They Still Haven’t Gotten Over 9/11 . . .”

Ever since I heard that phrase quietly spoken from the audience at one of Bridgewater’s public hearings earlier this year, the words have remained engraved in my memory. 

I have often pondered upon that utterance which seemed to have come almost as an afterthought from a person who appeared to be sincere, if not sensitive.


This banner hangs in the atrium of the Bridgewater Commons Mall.

This week, the media – especially those of the printed page and the Internet – have been saturated with personal stories of people whose lives have been completely turned upside down by the tragic events of that fateful day – a day that forever changed the psyche of America.

So, I ask you, how do you “get over” 9/11 when, mere days before the commemoration of its 10^th anniversary, our government informs us of yet another credible threat scheduled to take place on the anniversary date itself?

You don’t.  You remain vigilant, and there is plenty of distinguished company to support my thinking:
 
Last night, I read a piece in The Wall Street Journal by columnist Peggy Noonan entitled “We'll Never Get Over It, Nor Should We,”  in which she gives her own account of why we should remember this day of “horror and heroes.”  (Noonan was also a White House speechwriter.)

I followed up with, “A Burden too Great for Anyone to Bear,”  the vivid Star-Ledger story of George Tabeek, the number two person in charge of security at the Port Authority for the World Trade Center who, to this day, cannot erase the personal torment which he feels about his dead co-workers.

“Only Eight More Days . . .”



Bold black letters on a yellow background tell the whole story. (Photo/Dick Bergeron)

That’s how the checkout person responded when I asked her how much longer she thought the Bridgewater location of Borders near the Mall on Commons Way would be open for business.  The date is not official, but if it holds, eight days would bring us to next Friday.

On the weekend of Labor Day, the store was packed with customers, and the checkout line was even longer than it had been on my first visit.

Today was my third trip to Borders, and I stocked up again on paperbacks and hardbacks.  Discounts range from 70% to 90%.  Those bargains are now better than those of any other Internet seller except, perhaps, the thousands of secondary vendors who offer used books.

The prices which I paid for today’s bargains were more in line with those that I would expect to be charged for secondhand books at venues like that of the Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills Rummage Sale.  (Mark your calendar for the weekend of October 7, 8, & 9.)

“The Help”

Movie poster for the book by Kathryn Stockett

The book was published in 2009, and the movie was released this August.  If Priscille had not read the hardback, I might never have gotten to see its dramatization in the theatre.  It seemed like a good afternoon to get out and to take in a movie:  I asked Pris if the book was good and, when she responded “Yes, it was,” I suggested that we go see the movie.  

We drove into the parking lot of the Reading Cinemas in Manville for the 4:00 pm showing.  (It’s also playing at the Bridgewater Commons Mall.)  

Set in the Mississippi of the 1960’s, this is a movie about the hard core remnants of slavery – the lingering effects of segregation in the south – before the passage of the Civil Rights Act during the Johnson Administration. 

However, it is not a broad brush view of the topic, but a highly targeted treatment of the demeaning impact upon African-American women working as domestic help in the private homes of the privileged, and of how these women were marginalized.

Bridgewater's Regional Mall Partially Loses Power at Lunchtime

When Priscille and I arrived at The Bridgewater Commons Mall late this morning, the Mall had lost power  on all three floors facing the east side, while establishments on the other side facing Route 202-206 still had electricity.

The lower level of the Mall at 12:22 pm today, with a power outage affecting stores on the left on all three levels.  Power was still available to stores on the right (the west side, near Route 202-206).  Macy's, straight ahead, still has electricity functioning.  (Photo/Dick Bergeron)

The Food Court which is on the upper level was also affected with loss of power.  The California Pizza Kitchen on the ground floor near Lord & Taylor on the west side was still in operation at 12:23 pm when we left.  It may have been the only restaurant still open for business.

The escalators were inoperable, but the elevators were still working.  I observed several people exiting from one of them:  Elevators are not a good feature to use under such conditions!

Power outages are tricky and unpredictable.  If you had plans to visit the Mall, it would be a good idea to check first.  The phone number listed on the website of The Bridgewater Commons Mall is 908-218-0001.

While driving out of the Mall, we saw an emergency truck standing in front of the Marriott Bridgewater Hotel (908-927-9300), and access to Prince Rodgers Avenue was blocked.  A call placed to the Marriott at 1:14 pm confirmed that the hotel still had no power.  A similar call placed to The Bridgewater Commons Mall customer service did not go through.

Evening Update:  As of 8:50 pm this evening, calls placed to representatives at The Bridgewater Commons Mall and to the Bridgewater Marriott Hotel confirmed that the power outage situation at both locations had not yet been resolved.

Currently:  All signals are go for Bridgewater's Regional Shopping Mall which had power restored since last Friday and may experience a last-minute rush of  very welcomed shoppers on Labor Day in anticipation of school opening, well before the rains pay us another unwelcome(!) visit.