Landmark Food Market to Shutter its Doors

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:  It may appear to be just another business that is closing down, but the A&P food market situated on Route 202/206N, at the junction of Burnt Mills and Washington Valley Roads has, since it was built in 1967, been an iconic presence at what is one of the busiest intersections in Somerset County.

This now-too-little and outdated store at 75 Washington Valley Road in Pluckemin Village represents the history of a great business enterprise.

A view of the A&P in Pluckemin, New Jersey,
on Sunday afternoon, January 27, 2013

The success story of the A&P began modestly in 1859 with a chain of stores selling tea and coffee that grew to 70 outlets by 1878.   In 1930, it had become a coast-to-coast behemoth of 16,000 grocery stores.

But the very size and success of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, combined with other marketing, operating, and competitive factors, would soon attract the attention of the anti-trust division of the U.S. Government.

Flash Report on Board Meeting:

Tonight, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, the following salient topics were discussed:


Dr. Schilder runs through some PowerPoint slides
concerning the current status of the 2013-2014 tentative
school Budget.  (Bergeron Image.)

• Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Schilder proposed an additional $230,000 to the tentative 2013-2014 budget for more security at the campus-style Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
• That sum includes $100,000 for a uniformed school resource officer (SRO); $40,000 for two security guards; and $90,00 for "door enhancements."
• The SRO would be hired and trained by the Bridgewater Township Police and would most likely be an armed officer. The two security guards would not be armed, but would be assigned to outside duties and surveillance.
• Dr. Schilder, in response to a question from a Board Member, said that he had contacted the Borough of Raritan to see if it would help with the provisioning of a school resource officer, and that he was given "a definite no."
• Approval of Dr. Shilder's proposal would increase the security contingent at the High School to five.
• The date for the release of State Aid numbers conflicts with a previously scheduled BR-BOE presentation of the tentative budget to the public on February 26. It is being rescheduled to early March by which time aid numbers are expected to be known.
• The tentative budget currently stands at $139,392,430 (Total expenditures), and assumes state aid of $9,149,043.
• With a tentative increase of $230,000 for additional security and the uncertainty as to the timing and amount of State Aid, those numbers are subject to change.

According to a Headline on Yesterday’s Front Page Star-Ledger . . .

. . . “Christie’s GOP star dulled by aid vote.” 

Apparently the editor either does not appreciate or overlooks the fact that, in the natural world, a star derives its bright light from its own internal source of energy – not extraneously.  So it is with Governor Christie.

In a TV interview aired on January 2, Governor Christie responds
to the failure of the U.S. House of Representives to vote for the
full amount of a bill which would have provided funds for
Hurricane Sandy related recovery efforts.  (Screenshot:/Bergeron Image)

 

The newspaper story hypothesizes that Governor Christie may have had his “star dulled,” as a result of the forceful manner by which he stood up to the U.S. House of Representatives – in particular, GOP Speaker John Boehner, who   
procrastinated on a vote for the full $60.4 billion sought for disaster relief and recovery in the tri-state area.

A gaggle of ungrateful GOP congressmen from the Midwest also got their noses slightly out of alignment, citing – by their own definition – so-called ‘conservative’ principles:

His Swagger Radiates no Sweetness.

Observers have seen it dozens of times:  Our slim President’s athletic, waist-level fist-pumping jog down the steps of Air Force One – alone, confidently smiling, immaculately dressed in a dark business suit,  complementing shirt and silk necktie – jauntily disembarking from the boarding ramp.

It’s the vision of a U.S. chief executive completely in control of the ship-of-state, a position from which he has not been reluctant to use the full power conferred on him by the electorate. 

After the 2012 national election, the President invoked his assertion that the entirety of Americans had indisputably endorsed him to fix culpability on anyone in the Congress who doesn’t concur with his re-election ‘mandate:'

A Touch of Faith

Monday night, in the courtroom of the Bridgewater Township Municipal Complex, the annual re-organization of the Township Council; the selection of the new Council President; the swearing-in of a Councilman; and the appointments of personnel to various boards, commissions, councils, and committees were the order of business.

The evening culminated with delivery of the 2013 State of the Township Address by Mayor Dan Hayes.

But, in this brief blog post, I would like to put a different twist and emphasis on another aspect

New Election Process, New Board, New Faces

Thursday night, in the Wade Administration Building of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, two newly elected Board Members, Jacqueline Barlow and Aaron Kurdyla, were sworn in to their three-year posts. 
 
Patrick Breslin, who was re-elected to another term, was selected by a unanimous vote of his colleagues to the post of Board President. 
 
Jill Gladstone, current board member, was elected by her peers to the position of Board Vice-President, with Lynne Hurley casting the only ‘nay’ vote.