SPFLD PUBLIC LIBRARY2484 PLAINFIELD AVESouth Plainfield NJ 07080 AU6 1S1999

South Plainfield

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PAIDPERMIT NO. 15

SOUTH PLAINFIELD,NJ 07080

VOL 2, NO. 40 50 CENTS AUGUST 13,1999

Council toProposeBillboardOrdinance

The Borough Council is plan-ning to introduce a billboard or-dinance at next Thursday's coun-cil meeting ro regulate the place-ment of any proposed future bill-boards.

The billboard ordinance has al-ready been reviewed by the Plan-ning Board, the Board of Adjust-ment, the Borough Attorney andby several department heads.

Numerous court decisions havesaid that billboard messages areconstitutional and protected byfree speech. Right now billboardsare prohibited in South Plainfield.Presently 1-287 has no billboardsalong its entire length.

The proposed ordinmieewouldcover the section-of 1-287 whichpasses through South Plainfield.The council feels this is the onlylogical area where billboardscould be placed.

The billboards would be al-lowed in only certain zoned ar-eas. They would be restricted toa height of 40 feet and placed nocloser than 500 feet from eachother as well as prohibited in aresidential zone. Also no morethan four billboards would be al-lowed within one mile.

By passing this ordinance, thecouncil feels it will have somecontrol over the placement andnumber of any future billboards.

Julia Dougherty, age 10, of the South Plainfield Tiger Sharks, takes sixth place in the 50 Breaststroke at theNew Jersey Swimming and Diving Conference Championships. Julia also took a third place medal in the 50Backstroke at the event.

Tiger Sharks Eat Up Opponentsat NJSDC Conference Meet

Six Tiger Shark Swimmers at-tended the end of season NewJersey Swimming and DivingConference Meet on Wednesday,August 4.

Natalie Jones was the TigerSharks big winner, taking home afirst place medal in the girls 11-12-year-old 50 Butterfly. Natalie alsocaptured a second place in the girls11-12-year-old 100 IndividualMedley and third place in the girls11-12-year-old 50 Freestyle.

Calvin John Smiley also had agood night at the conference meettaking home three individualmedals: second in the boys 11-12-year-old 50 Freestyle, secondin the boys 11-12-year-old 50Backstroke and fifth in the boys11-12-year-old 100 Freestyle. "

Other Tiger Sharks who placedin their events (finishes firstthrough sixth):

Jen Bams placed fourth in thegirls 15-18-year-old 100 Free-

style; fourth in the girls 15-18-year-old 200 Freestyle and fifth inthe girls 15-18-year-old 100Backstroke.

Shannon Dabrio placed third inthe girls 15-18-year-old 100Breaststroke.

Talya Gunasekara placed fifth inthe girls 8-and-under 25 Breast-stroke.

Devin Gunasekara placed sixthin the boys 11-12-year-old 50Butterfly. See results, page five.

Eleanor HainesNamed LaborDay ParadeGrand Marshal

Eleanor Haines of Oak ManorParkway has been nominated asGrand Marshal of this year's Lab-or Day Parade.

Mrs. Haines has been active inthe South Plainfield communityfor over 20 years. She has been amember of the "Cooties" of theAmerican Legion and has workedon behalf of veterans for most ofher adult life. Her husband was acombat veteran of World War IIand it was largely through Elea-nor's efforts that Borough Parkwas renamed Veterans Park.

Eleanor has also worked for dieyouth of our borough. One of thenicest things about going to rheSouth Plainfield Library is beinggreeted and helped by Mrs.Haines. She truly represents diespirit of our community.

BELMONT ROADCLOSURE ALERT

Belmont Ave. between SpicerAvc. and Hamilton Blvd. will beclosed all day next Wednesday,August 18. All traffic will be de-toured away from the construc-tion site. Trucks will be takeHamilton Blvd. to Spicer andcars will turn left off Belmontonto Harvard to Spicer.

Motorists are advised to ex-pect delays and it is suggestedthat they find alternate routes.

The "Original" Harold Hill Attends TheMusicManBy John Abbott

When the opening night cur-tain rose on "TheMusicMan" forthis year's production of the Sum-mer Drama Workshop (SDW)last week, the good citizens ofRiver City were, in a sense, indouble jeopardy from "Professor"Harold Hill. While Hill (JosePineda) wooed his way into thewallets of the citizens and even-tually into the heart of librarianMarian Paroo, SDW's first Pro-fessor Hill, played by John

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Obituaries 6

Interactive ComputerColumn 7

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Abbott, was lucky enough to bein die audience. However, Abbottwas there to enjoy this lavish newproduction and not to ensureyoung Mr. Pineda satisfactorilyhoodwinked the straight-lacedIowan Hawkeyes.

Abbott was cast as Hill in theSDW's third season in 1974. Thethen-fledging theater group forteens then, as now, drew on localtalent for cast and crew. Watch-ing the show in the comparativelyhigh-tech facilities of the "new"SPHS, a few comparisons in theproductions arose-among thelargest differences was die loca-tions where the shows werestaged. What the earlier cast andcrew wouldn't have given to runthe show from the current highschool stage! It's air conditioned,unlike the gym at the John RileySchool, where the original perfor-mance took place, because the cer-tificate of occupancy for the then-new SPHS hadn't been yetgranted. And the old location in-cluded acoustical nightmares.

Despite instruction in propervoice projection, in "Trouble"where Hill turns Mayor Shinn'sbilliard parlor into a foil for hisscheme, Abbott just couldn't hitthat final high note. The singingwent flat as a pool table surfaceand not nearly as smooth. I thinkit's fair to say the "The MusicMan" alumni in the audience lastweek would have appreciated thehelp in overcoming the environ-mental and acoustical horrors.The original orchestra was sixyoung musicians. The full orches-tra, which performed this year,would have really helped the castget through the troublesomenumbers.

But, despite everything fromproduction problems to internalpolitics, the original SDW produc-tion of "Tfe Music Man" was thebenchmark of a struggling teentheater group enduring growingpains in the mid 70's, to the verygifted cast, orchestra and stage crewthat performed this year. Yet, John Abbott (left), SDW's "original" Harold Hill, poses with current

"Music Man" cast member Jose Pineda.