sports, humor and commentary blue devil luppino …raspberry beret. “i think the new hair goes in...

BallyhooBallyhooBallyhooBallyhooBallyhoo New Jersey

Sports, Humor and Commentary

Page S-1 Thursday, June 13, 2013

goleader.com/ballyhoo

BallyhooBallyhooBallyhooBallyhooBallyhooSubmit commentary and items for publishing.

Email to [email protected]

See & Subscribe atgoleader.com/ballyhoo

l'ennemi du journaliste

BLUE DEVIL LUPPINO EIGHTH IN 1,600METERS, BLUE DEVIL GIRLS FINISH NINTH IN THE 4X8

WF Boys 4th in 4x8 at MOC, CR’s Grant, Hunter 3-4 T.J.By DAVID B. CORBIN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

New Jersey’s best track & fieldathletes converged on Frank JostField in South Plainfield on June 5to compete at the Meet of Cham-pions, and the Westfield HighSchool Blue Devils and CranfordCougars managed to place a fewof their athletes in the top-8.

Blue Devils Kevin Smith, MattLuppino, Rob Marczydlo and DanLuzzi finished fourth in the 4x800meters with a time of 7:56.79.Blue Devil senior Peter Fagan didnot place in the top-6 but didclear 14-6 in the pole vault event.Blue Devils Gabby Stravach,Natalie Marcotullio, MeghanO’Dwyer and Emily McBain fin-ished ninth in the 4x800 with a

time of 9:28.63, and MeghanReilly placed 12th in the javelinwith a toss of 117-10.

Luppino, a junior, won his heatin the 1,600 with a personal-record (PR) time of 4:16.98 Histime was good enough to placehim in the top-8 at No. 8. Luppinowas hanging in the fifth positionduring the first lap and moved upto fourth in the following lapsuntil he put on a big kick to passthe rest by the time he crossedthe finish line. All season, Luppinohas also been competing in the800 meters, which required astronger kick.

“I was waiting for my time. Therace went out very hard. I knewthe front five were going to runtough and they were going to

finish tough, so I just stayed withthat pack, made it around theend, had a little left for a kick andI had a huge PR by about fourseconds. It’s great for a kickwhen you have so much trainingin the 800. You know you got tobe able to kick. When we gotaround a quarter of a mile, youjust got to go out and kick. Todayis beautiful. Today was a greatday for track & field,” Luppinosaid.

Cranford Cougars BryannaGrant and Regine Hunter placed3-4 in the triple jump with re-spective distances of 38-8.5 and38-6.5, a little under their bestdistances.

“Regine’s is 39-5. She poppedthat at Penn Relays this year. SoBry ended in New Jersey at 39-8.We will go to Nationals next weekand see it we can pop somethingbigger,” said Cougar Head CoachPete Kane, who added, “It’s toughthat I have only a week and a halfto coach them. I have been spoiledwith two girls placing third andfourth in the Meet of Champs. It’sexciting for them and for me.”

During this competition, Hunteradded a new feature to her manynew looks she has introducedthis season, this time wearing araspberry beret.

“I think the new hair goes intonight she said, so she will havesome new ‘do’ for Nationals,”Coach Kane said with a grin.

Grant and Hunter, along withall the fans, coaches and contes-tants, who observed from thesidelines got a real treat whenjunior Keturah Orji of Mount Ol-ive broke the state record in theevent with a distance of 42-6.5.

“I’m thrilled with their perfor-mances today. I think that they

are sitting there right now a littleannoyed, because they didn’t dobetter. I don’t think they are madwith their places, but I think theywanted to go 39-40. All thingsconsidered, they placed third andfourth at the Meet of Champions

in a loaded field. They just jumpedagainst a state record holder.You got to take everything intoperspective here. Keturah Orji isa nice girl, a great jumper. It’sfun to jump against the best,”Coach Kane said.

Blue Devil Matt Luppino

Cougar Bryanna Grant

Cougar Regine Hunter





By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

A great ride finally came to anend for the Westfield High Schoolbaseball team when it experi-enced an 8-1 defeat from thebats and aggressiveness of theNo. 4 ranked Eastern Vikings inthe Group 4 championship gameat Toms River North on June 9.

The 29-4 Vikings capitalized onan unfortunate Blue Devil error,and some very crafty base run-ning to grab an early 3-0 lead,while dodging the bullet twicewith serious threats in the sec-ond and third innings to keep themomentum in their dugout.

From that point, the momen-tum remained in their corner withthe assistance of pitcher StevePriolo, who permitted only onehit and a free pass from thefourth inning onward. Priolo fin-ished with seven strikeouts, while

walking one and allowing fivehits.

“We had second and third twice.We just didn’t get the big hit thatwe needed. We had the rightpeople up, but we didn’t hit theball,” Blue Devil Head Coach BobBrewster said.

Blue Devil starting pitcher BradDeMartino spent four and a thirdinnings on the mound, allowingfive hits and walking three, whilestriking out five. With the score,5-0, senior Kevin Galasso re-lieved and after yielding a two-run double to the first batter,Jake Quinn, who finished with apair of doubles, yielded a run ontwo hits and a hit batter in thesixth inning and two hits in theseventh.

“Brad did well. We were tryingto keep it close, so we broughtKevin in, and the kid hit a coupleof shots on him, and that was it.

They beat us fair and square,”Coach Brewster said.

The Vikings scored twice in thetop of the second. Priolo drew awalk, stole second and scoredwhen a grounder slipped throughthe legs of the third baseman.After DeMartino fanned the nexttwo batters, Billy Beasley tappeda single to left, then Ben Hoffman(3-for-3, double, run scored)rapped an RBI single.

In the Westfield second, JakeGreenberg and Tyler Bowmanboth chopped one-out singles andadvanced to third and second,respectively, on a wild pitch, butthe next batter grounded out tothe pitcher and the final batterpopped up to Priolo.

In the third inning, Tom Flacco(brother of quarterback JoeFlacco of the Super Bowl Cham-pion Baltimore Ravens) put onan exhibition of base running

after slapping a single to right.Flacco stole second and thirdbase, and even though he waschecked on a grounder to third,he stole home when the ball wasthrown to first for the putout.

The Blue Devils threatenedagain in the third when QuinnDursee bounced a leadoff singleand Anthony Perconte followedwith a single over second. MattStorcks advanced the runners intoscoring position with a sacrificebunt, but Priolo fanned the nextbatter and got the next to groundout on a check swing.

A pair of doubles, two walks, awild pitch, a throwing error tofirst on a pickoff attempt and amental lapse on coverage at homeprovided the Vikings with a 7-0lead in the fifth.

In the sixth, Storcks singled toright-center and advanced to thirdon a pair of wild pitches. Liam

Devin stepped up and broughtStocks home with a groundout tosecond. The Vikings got their finalrun as a result of a hit batter, adouble and a difficult pop-up thatplopped into shallow right.

Even though falling short ofgrasping a Group 4 crown, the19-12 Blue Devils, who finishedranked 13th in New Jersey, gelledat the right time. After a dismalbeginning, they were runners upto the Cranford Cougars, whobecame the Group 3 championswith a 4-2 victory over BurlingtonTownship, in the Union CountyTournament, won the North Jer-sey, Section 2, Group 4 title andwere the only team to defeatCranford this season.

“After starting 0-3, it was prettytough for us to recuperate andget back to where we thought weshould be playing well. We were

STORCKS SINGLES, SCORES; DEVIN RBI; GREENBERG, DURSEE, PERCONTE, BOWMAN SINGLE

Vikings Sack Blue Devils, 8-1, for Group 4 Baseball Crown

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Shortstop Matt StorcksLiam Devin batting





kind of down on ourselves, butwe knew we had the potential tobecome a better team. Clearlywe turned it on in the statetournament and they outplayedus a little bit. It’s pretty remark-able that we even got here,”

Devin said.“At the beginning of the year,

before we lost those first threegames, I thought we were goingto be a great team to win coun-ties and win states even. Weknew we had the talent. We just

needed to play together. Fortu-nately, we did it just in time forthe county tournament and thestate tournament. We ran intogreat teams both times. A coupleof bounces went their way, andthey were the better team,” se-nior Eric Demers said.

“We knew from the get-go, evenafter we were 7-8, we knew wehad the potential to go far in thestates and make the finals in thecounty. It was about getting to-gether as a team. We weren’tputting it all together, weren’tpitching well. We were fieldingbadly, but we started to. It wasjust around the states. We rodeit this far, but we got outplayedtoday,” Greenberg said.

“We started off a little creaky.We had the guys. We had thetalent. We were all there. We justcouldn’t find the click. At first, wehad trouble showing everyone,but eventually got together as ateam, got our cohesiveness andhad great pitching from every-one. We found the missing parts.

We brought it this far. We wereplaying to our potential. Today,it wasn’t our day,” Dursee said.

“When you think in tournamentplay when it’s one-and-out, ev-ery time you play it’s the seventhgame of the World Series. You

got to win, and we were 8-2 in anelimination game. That’s good!We just couldn’t get over thattop,” Coach Brewster said.

Eastern 021 041 0 8Westfield 000 001 0 1

29-4 Eastern Vikings Sack 19-12 Blue Devils, 8-1, for Group 4 Baseball Championship

MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 4

Third baseman Eric Demers Second baseman Tyler Bowman

Pitcher Kevin Galasso

First baseman Jake Greenberg





By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Three Group 3 championshipsin four years is what the CranfordHigh School baseball seniors haveaccomplished when the Cougarsdefeated Burlington Township,4-2, at Toms River East HighSchool on June 9. But it did takean entire team to pull the Cou-gars to sweet victory and to earnthe state’s No. 1 ranking.

“It is really a credit to the se-niors’ work ethic. They were tal-ented when they were in LittleLeague and had great instructionsfrom their coaches, Mr. Bruns, Mr.Forrestal, Mr. Folinusz (othersmentioned). They were readywhen they came here and we triednot to mess it up,” said CougarHead Coach Dennis McCaffrey.

Senior Ryan Williams (draftedby the Texas Rangers in the 28thround) upped his season record

to 11-0, scattering five singles,while walking two and strikingout eight. Williamson also added

a double, but junior Matt Ravitierput the 25-1 Cougars in thedriver’s seat when he rapped a

RAVITIER RAPS 2-RUN IB; FEENEY RBI 2B; TROTTER 1B, SCORE; WILLIAMSON 8 K’s, 11TH WIN

Cougars Grab Group 3 Title, Topple Burlington Twp, 4-2two-run single, scoring juniorBobby Bruns, the pinch runnerfor sophomore Albert Garguilo,who singled, and senior Alex Plick,who reached safely on a sacrificebunt, in the bottom of the fifthinning to make the score, 3-2.Senior Jake Forrestal also had abunt single just before Ravitier’ssingle and his pinch runner, jun-ior Jack McCaffrey, scored aninsurance run on senior AndrewDiFrancesco’s sacrifice fly.

The Cougars scored their firstrun in the bottom of the firstinning when junior Tommy Trot-ter tapped a leadoff single andscored on senior Sean Feeney’sdouble. Burlington Township (16-8) took a 2-1 lead in the top of thefourth when Dennis Stewart pokedan RBI single and Zach Schuyleradded an RBI groundout.

“Everybody contributed. Every-body did have a role in the team’s

success. They all were very hardworkers,” Coach McCaffrey added.

As freshmen in 2010, the groupof seniors, which also includesChris Folinusz, Matt DiMartino,John Armstrong and GeorgeGeorgeadis, sunk Ocean City, 15-3, in five innings for their firstGroup 3 title. Williamson relievedin the third inning but had toleave when a line drive shot backto the mound broke his hand.Last year, the Cougars silencedFreehold Boro, 4-1, for their sec-ond Group 3 title. Williamsontossed a two-hitter. Folinuszblasted a solo shot in the fourthinning and added another soloblast in the sixth inning.

Burlington Twp 000 200 0 2Cranford 100 030 x 4

Probitas Verus Honos

Tyler Bowman to Jake Greenberg Catcher Mike Ionta

Pitcher Brad DeMartino





By FRED T. ROSSISpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

CRANFORD — The townshipcommittee approved an amend-ment to the 2013 municipal bud-get that pares expendituresenough to reduce the municipalproperty-tax increase from 2.8percent to 2.0 percent.

The committee in late April ap-proved the $34.2-million bud-get, which included a 1.69-per-cent increase in the municipalportion of property taxes. A sub-sequent amendment adding$250,000 to the township legalbudget increased the tax increaseto 2.8 percent. CommissionerAndis Kalnins, the finance com-missioner, said at thecommittee’s business meeting onTuesday evening that the gov-erning body “sharpened our pen-cils a bit” and found savings inseveral areas, including admin-istration, public works, buildingsand grounds, the capital improve-ment fund and snow removal,and also used an additional, smallportion of the township surplusto reduce this year’s tax increase.

In other business, the commit-tee introduced an ordinance thatwould repeal an ordinance en-acted late last year setting up avoter referendum on whether acommission should be estab-lished to study Cranford’s char-ter with an eye on possibly chang-ing the form of township govern-ment. The committee’s vote tointroduce the ordinance, whichwill have a public hearing onTuesday, July 16, was along partylines, with the three Democratsvoting in favor of the repeal ordi-nance and the two Republicansvoting no in an expression ofsupport for a charter study com-mission.

Former Republican mayor MarkSmith spoke in favor of repealingthe ordinance, saying that “failed

leadership” in previous years hadprovided the impetus for calls fora charter study. Other residentswho spoke about the ordinancewere split, with one saying heliked being able to vote for com-mittee members every year.

Mayor Thomas Hannen, Jr. saida final report by an expert inlegal ethics on whether therewere any conflicts of interest inhaving the former township at-torney and his law firm repre-sent the township in two signifi-cant housing development mat-ters while the firm’s ties to thedevelopers were being ques-tioned will be posted on the town-ship website this week.

Professor Michael Ambrosio –who teaches legal ethics at Se-ton Hall University School of Law– was hired in March to examinewhether the Florio, Perrucci lawfirm and one of its attorneys,former township attorney PhilMorin, had a conflict of interestin representing Cranford in build-ers’ remedy litigation and siteplan hearings for the housingdevelopments at 555 South Av-enue and on Birchwood Avenue.

Both developments have longbeen sources of local contro-versy. A group of residents,backed by a group they formedcalled Concerned Citizens ofCranford, has claimed thatMichael Perrucci, the law firm’smanaging partner, is also a prin-cipal with Woodmont Properties,a client of the firm and the devel-oper of the 555 South Avenuesite. The group of residents isclaiming that Mr. Morin, as town-ship attorney last year, repre-sented the municipality at a hear-ing where his boss was the de-veloper.

Mayor Hannen announced thewebsite posting on Tuesday with-out commenting on the report’scontents or conclusions. Instead,

Paul Lachenauer for The Westfield LeaderPLEIN AIR...Artist Marc Salmin explains his craft to a pair of young onlookersin front of the train station in Cranford during the Jersey Central Art Studio’s“Paint the Town” event, which took place all over downtown Cranford this pastweekend. See story page 18.

he urged the public to read it anddraw its own conclusions insteadof having the township commit-tee interpret it.

At the start of the meeting,representatives from the NewJersey State Association of Chiefsof Police announced that theCranford Police Department hadearned reaccreditation for an-other three years. RaymondHayducka, the group’s president,made the announcement, ex-plaining that the accreditationprocess included an in-depth re-view of every aspect of thedepartment’s organization,management, operations andadministration. To earn accredi-tation, the department was re-quired to comply with best prac-tice standards in four areas:policy and procedures, adminis-tration, operations, and supportservices. Another associationofficial said Cranford has “one ofthe finest police departments inNew Jersey.”

Afterwards, Police Chief Eric Ma-son presented citations and cer-tificates of commendation to sev-eral police officers in recognitionof their outstanding perfor-mances in the past year.

In other business, MayorHannen read a proclamation con-gratulating the Cranford HighSchool varsity baseball team forits victory last weekend in theGroup 3 state championship.Deputy Mayor Edward O’Malleypresented certificates to threelocal businesses – Joanie’s Café,King Farms and Strength andFitness Club – for their efforts atadopting environmentally-sus-tainable practices as part of thelocal Go Green initiative. And henoted that the state Departmentof Environmental Protection hasrecognized Cranford as having“the largest Green Business pro-gram in the state.”

Further Budget Cuts ReduceCranford Tax Hike to 2 Percent

Garwood Council ContinuesDiscussion on Development

By MEGAN K. SCOTTSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

GARWOOD – A proposed resi-dential development on the bor-der with Westfield dominated dis-cussion for a fourth straightGarwood Borough Council meet-ing Tuesday, with more than ahalf dozen residents seekingsome type of action from thepanel.

The Westfield Board of Adjust-ment approved the 16-townhouse development at thecorner of Grove Street and MyrtleAvenue on April 16. The appli-cant is C.W.M.&P.

While expressing doubt that anymove would be successful, thecouncil directed Borough Attor-ney Bob Renaud to investigate ifit was possible for the borough toforce the developer of the com-plex to purchase bonding to coverany flood damage caused afterthe housing is completed.

“It’s hard to do somethingwithin your own community; Ithink it’s almost impossible to dosomething in another commu-nity,” said Borough Engineer DonGuarriello, summing up the viewsof some on council.

The issue concerns the ex-pected storm water runoff intothe Garwood Brook from a two-acre site on Grandview Avenuebetween Myrtle Avenue andGrove Street on the west side oftown.

Many of the same residents,including former mayor DennisMcCarthy and Alex Grohol, wholive along the brook, againpressed council members aboutthe complex.

Councilman Bill Nierstedt saidthe developer refused a requestfor a meeting after previouslysaying he would be willing todiscuss Garwood’s concerns.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6





Board Discusses Ideas forNorth Ave. Approach to CF

By DELL SIMEONESpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

CRANFORD – The CranfordPlanning Board met last Wednes-day evening to discuss ideas forthe 20-acre gateway on the rail-road side of the street approachto Cranford, along North Avenuebetween the former Central Rail-road of New Jersey Roundhouseand Roselle.

Board Attorney Allan Barkinsaid the area is, according to theMaster Plan, deemed a research,office and light industry, or ROI,zone. The goal of the board is tocome up with an appealing mixof business that would be archi-tecturally attractive, provideratables, be welcoming and keepthe traffic density low.

Since this was the first meet-ing on this project, the boardconsidered many ideas and re-jected some others that wouldnot be appropriate for the gate-way plan. Former mayor DanAschenbach said he was con-cerned the final plan would en-sure a good flow of traffic. TheGarden State Parkway ingressand egress are not too far fromthe proposed gateway parcel.Mayor Tom Hannen, Jr. ex-pressed the same concerns.

“We have to be proactive, notreactive,” Planning Board Vice-Chairman Kevin Illing said.

The board members all hadsuggestions of what they wouldlike to see at the site, but theMaster Plan excludes somechoices.

“The area now is zoned forprofessional offices, researchlabs, and a small food store, nota large supermarket,” Mr. Barkinsaid.

Essential services are allowedin the zone, but no one seemedto know what that meant. Boardmembers agreed that they didnot want a succession of strip

malls. Board member KathyMurray had recused herself fromthe discussion and left the meet-ing.

At one point, Mr. Barkin sug-gested that everyone review theordinances and reaffirm whatthey did not want to be in thegateway. The board talked abouta hotel or motel, but the ideawas voted down. They also men-tioned a child-care center, butscrapped the idea. Board mem-bers also considered a bank, butMr. Barkin said a drive-up win-dow might deem the idea condi-tional.

Mr. Aschenbach had some lit-erature from a previous timewhen the township was consid-ering developing South Avenue.He suggested the board look itover just to get ideas.

At the beginning of the meet-ing, the board had an informaldiscussion on the necessity offilling the position of administra-tor in regard to overseeing theimplementation of affordable-housing rules. Board membersalso agreed that a process ormechanism should be put in placeto enforce the rules. Mr.Aschenbach said, “This is seri-ous; COAH (Council on Afford-able Housing) has guidelines.”

“I’m really surprised, disap-pointed and dismayed at his re-action,” Mr. Nierstedt said.

In previous meetings, Mr.Renaud and Mr. Nierstedt bothexpressed doubts about the suc-cess of legal action againstWestfield. They explained thatthe developer had met the state-mandated “residential site im-provement standards” which isrequired to reduce the stormwater runoff from the property.They also said the project in-cluded affordable or so-calledMount Laurel housing units, whichincreases the difficulty in block-ing construction.

“I don’t know what other actionthis council should take,” Mr.Nierstedt said. “I don’t know whatother action the residents areencouraging us to take.”

Mr. Grohol told the council thathe had contacted an insurancebroker about the project and saidif the area along the brook waschanged to a flood zone the costto insure his home would jumpfrom about $500 to more than$1,900 a year.

“Multiply that by the 100 ormore houses down that brook,and we are talking some seriousmoney,” Mr. Grohol said. “Sodrainage is the issue, and moneygets some serious attention.”

He therefore suggested thebonding proposal, which thecouncil referred to Mr. Renaud.Mr. Renaud was absent on Tues-day.

Mr. Nierstedt and Mr. Guarrielloscheduled an inspection walk ofthe Garwood Brook on Saturday,June 29, and invited residents tojoin them at their own risk.

In other meeting news, thedeadline for bulk garbage appli-cations has been extended toFriday. So far, 120 householdshave signed up. The $80 permitallows for disposal of up to 750pounds of bulk. Pickup is sched-uled to start on Monday, June 24,and run for two to three days

depending on the number oftrucks. Borough Clerk ChristinaAriemma will mail or e-mail per-mits with instructions.

Participating households shouldhave their bulk out by 7 a.m. onJune 24. About 80 householdshave signed up for the borough-wide yard sale on Saturday andSunday, June 22 and 23, accord-ing to Ms. Ariemma.

Three properties are still en-croaching on the Athletic FieldComplex. Ms. Ariemma said shesent another letter dated May 28to the homeowners. She saidshe did not include a deadlinebut told them what the encroach-ment was and that the projectwas underway. The letter did

ask the homeowners to contactthe borough and provide a timeframe for when the encroach-ment will be taken care of, butnone have so far, according toMs. Ariemma. The buildings andgrounds committee is going tomeet to come up with the bestway to proceed, with input fromMr. Renaud.

For now, leaf bags will be pro-vided for free to residents. Coun-cil members passed an ordinanceat their previous meeting requir-ing homeowners to place leavesin biodegradable bags or in con-tainers 32 gallons or less. Themeasure ends the Department ofPublic Works practice of vacuum-ing leaves left in the streets.

Budget Cuts Reduce Cranford Tax Hikes 2 Percent

Garwood Dems FailGet Write-In Candidate

By PAUL J. PEYTONSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

GARWOOD — Last week’sDemocratic Primary in Garwoodfailed to generate candidates forthis November’s General Electionagainst Republican CouncilmanJames Mathieu and Mike Martin.Mr. Mathieu ran off the local GOPendorsed line, defeating recentlyappointed Councilman StevenBlaufeder.

No Democrats filed by the April 1deadline to file nominating peti-tions with the Garwood BoroughClerk. Thus, a write-in campaignwas necessary.

Borough Clerk Christina Ariemmatold The Westfield Leader thatthere were three write-in votes inlast week’s Primary. Charles Tombsreceived two votes and Joe Sarnogarnered a vote. Ms. Ariemmasaid Mr. Sarno is a registered Re-publican, but that Mr. Tombs waseligible to run as a Democrat.

The clerk said, however, thatthe Union County Board of Elec-

tions informed her that the mini-mum of write-in votes neededwas five.

Another write-in candidatecould still come forward in No-vember but they would need tobe the top vote getter. In 2009,the last gubernatorial electionyear, the top Garwood councilvote getter received 669 votes.

In the June 4 GOP Primary, Mr.Mathieu, who lost the support oflocal party leaders over the pastfew years, was the top vote get-ter, with 124 tallies good for 36percent of the vote in the three-way race. Also victorious wasMike Martin who received 119vores or 34 percent of the vote.

Recently appointed CouncilmanSteven Blaufeder finished thirdwith 102 or 20 percent of thevote. Mr. Blaufeder and Mr. Mar-tin ran on a line endorsed by theGarwood Republican Committee.

Garwood Seniors SetCasino Trip Date

GARWOOD – The Garwood Se-nior Citizens Club invites mem-bers of the community to join theclub for a trip to the ShowboatCasino in Atlantic City on Wednes-day, June 26.

The bus will leave from theGarwood Firehouse parking lotat 9 a.m. and return at approxi-mately 7 p.m. The cost of theouting is $25 per person. Forfurther information, call MarySpina at (908) 789-0127.

Probitas Verus Honos





Letters tothe Editor

Thanks to All WhoSupported FundraiserThe Garwood Knights of Co-

lumbus would like to thank ev-eryone who donated to our an-nual fundraiser for “Physicallyand Mentally Challenged Citizens”during the weekend of May 4thand 5th.

Your generosity resulted in$4,722 being collected by ourmembers within the Borough ofGarwood.

Please know that the entireamount collected is donated tothe following local organizations:The Garwood Public School Pre-K Handicap Program, UnionCounty Special Olympics, TheARC of Union County, UnionCounty Day Training Center, NewJersey State Special Olympicsand Catholic Community Ser-vices.

Our special thanks to the fol-lowing people for their coopera-tion and support: Kings storemanger Brien Delp, ShopRitestore manager Joe Barbato,Pathmark store manager VincentTelesco, and Dunkin Donuts fran-chise owner Michael Komondy.

In closing, our thanks again toall of our council members, theirfamilies and “our friends” of theGarwood Knights of Columbuswho volunteered the many hoursin collecting that made this veryworthy fundraiser in helping theless fortunate a great success.

Keith GallagherMichael O’Donnell, Robbie Kenney

Garwood Knights of Columbus

SPFHS Student Exhibit in Tomasulo GalleryCRANFORD – From today,

Thursday, June 13, to Thursday,July 11, the public is invited toview, “Faces – Student Art:Scotch Plains-Fanwood HighSchool Exhibit” in the TomasuloGallery at Union County College.The exhibit is under the directionof art teacher, Jeffrey Gutterman.

“Faces” is an exhibit comprisedof self-portraits done in charcoalon paper, created by senior stu-dents from Scotch Plains-

Fanwood High School. The stu-dents were instructed to drawthemselves not as they normallylook, but rather to make funny,unattractive, or scary faces. Todo so, photographs were takenof their expressions in controlledlighting, using only a single lightbulb.

The students participating in theshow are: Lesley Aviles, DanaCappaccille, Quinn Cicolello, EmilyDzuback, Alexa Gelfand, ShainaGordon, Shannon Healy, SloanIbarra, Jacob Kennedy, MarianneKhalil, Dustin Loh, Brie Manns,

James Masback, Ariana Paradiso,John Roberts, Jackie Roiz.

The Artists’ Reception for thisexhibit will be held from 4-6 p.m.on June 13 in the Tomasulo Gal-lery, located on the first floor ofthe Kenneth C. MacKay Libraryon the College’s Cranford cam-pus at 1033 Springfield Avenue.Light refreshments will be served.

Gallery hours are Monday –Thursday 1-4 p.m. and 6 -9 p.m.on Tuesday – Thursday. For moreinformation on the gallery, visitwww.ucc.edu/go/TomArt or call(908) 709-7155.

Marylou Morano for The Leader and The TimesPLEIN AIR...Russian-born painterNikolay Mikushkin of Syracuse, N.Y.shows his rendition of the historicDroescher’s Mill during Cranford’splein air art event held this past week-end.

Plein Air Event DrawsArtists from Near and Far

By MARYLOU MORANOSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

CRANFORD – For the fourthyear, artists from near and farconverged in Cranford to partici-pate in “Paint the Town,”Cranford’s plein air painting eventand art sale.

This year’s “Paint the Town,”sponsored by Jersey Central ArtStudio (JCAS), took place fromJune 4- 9.

Plein air painting is painting donein open air, or outside. It is anartistic technique that gained popu-larity in the late 1800s, with ClaudeMonet, who is known to have usedplein air painting to create many ofhis impressionist works.

Thirty-one artists took part thisyear. They were invited to attendbased on entries judged by MarcDalessio, a plein air painter ofportraits and landscapes who haslived and painted in many coun-tries throughout the world.

On Thursday, several plein airartists could be found painting

along North Union Avenue. Catherine Hillis of Virginia was

at work on a water color of asidewalk landscape that had asits focal point a bicycle proppedin the doorway of Periwinkles. Itwas the first time painting inCranford for the artist, whosework has appeared twice inSplash 14, an annual compila-tion of the top 100 watercolorpainters in America.

She uses watercolors as hermedium because of their sponta-neity and how the colors meldtogether.

“Plein air painting is invigorat-ing and sheer fun,” Ms. Hillis toldThe Westfield Leader and TheTimes.

Further down North Union Av-enue, Patricia Walach Keough ofCarlisle, Pa., was working on arendition of an architecturalstructure located near theCranford Clock.

Ms. Keough has been a pleinair painter for over 40 years, and

CRANFORD – St. James CYOwill host the monthly Flea Mar-ket and Collectible Show atUnion County College, located

St. James CYO to Host Flea Market,Collectibles Show Set at UCC

at 1033 Springfield Avenue, offGallows Hill Road, Cranford. Itwill take place on Saturday,June 22, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.outdoors in Lots 5A and B. Ad-mission will be free.

There will be 50-plus exhibi-tors displaying quality mer-chandise such as jewelry, hand-bags, sunglasses, sports col-lectibles, clothing, dollar items,DVDs, scarves, perfumes, an-tiques and collectibles, garage/tag sale items and more, all atbargain prices.

A variety of food also will beavailable to choose from, withhot dogs, hamburgers, coffee,cold drinks, breakfast sand-wiches and zeppoles among theselections. The flea market willbe held on the fourth Saturdayof the month until October.

Other schools and/or local or-ganizations that would like toparticipate by having an ex-hibitor space to sell their itemsand/or promote their club arewelcome to reserve one of thefour spaces that will be offeredfree. For information and res-ervations, call (201) 998-1144or e-mai [email protected].

her medium of choice is oils be-cause of their versatility. Like Ms. Hillis, this was Ms.Keough’s first “Paint the Town”experience. “Cranford is a very paintabletown,” she said, adding that it isthe town’s topography that helpsto make it so.“Cranford’s hills break up the land-scape and provide differentangles. This allows unexpectedthings to appear and a variety ofobjects to paint,” she said.Oil painter, Nikolay Mikushkin, ofSyracuse N.Y., set up his easelacross from Droescher’s Mill onLincoln Avenue East and was us-ing the landscape as inspiration. Born in Russia, Mr. Mikushkinremembered how plein air paint-ing was an integral part of hisRussian art education.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8Probitas Verus Honos





Floraphile Club PlansYear-End CelebrationCRANFORD – The Floraphile

Garden Club of Cranford will holdits year-end celebration on Mon-day, June 17, at 12:30 p.m. atthe Hanson House, located at 38Springfield Avenue, Cranford.Harv Nevalls will give a presen-tation entitled “What Your Back-yard Needs to Attract Birds.”

Attendees also will do a gar-dening book swap. Each personwho brings a book from herpersonal collection can swap itand bring home a “new” bookfor her horticulture library.

As always, guests are welcome.To learn more about joining theFloraphile Garden Club of Cranfordor for information on futureevents, contact Mary Ellen [email protected].

Historical SocietyPosts Garage Sale

CRANFORD – The Cranford His-torical Society will hold aFundraiser Garage Sale on Sat-urday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to3 p.m. at the Crane-Phillips HouseMuseum, located at 124 NorthUnion Avenue, Cranford. TheSociety has requested no “earlybirds” at the event.

This fundraiser is to benefit thepurchase of a miniature barn inmemory of Donald Widdows, amember and former trustee ofthe Society. This miniature barnwill be placed at the Crane-PhillipsHouse Museum, just as it was inthe 1870s, for all visitors andannual third-grade school toursto see. For more information aboutthe garage sale, call (908) 447-6994.

The Cranford Historical Societypreserves and perpetuates thehistory of Cranford. Anyone inter-ested in becoming a member ofthe Society is asked to visit theorganization’s website,cranfordhistoricalsociety.com, fora membership form or to call theoffice at (908) 276-0082 to have amembership form mailed.

“Each summer, we would haveto create 30-40 plein air paintingsas part of our course work,” herecalled.

For Mr. Mikushkin, plein airpainting is all about space andfeeling.

“Plein air painting allows the art-ist to experience color and spaceand a three-dimensional world,”he explained. “An artist uses pastexperience to learn with everypainting produced.”

Nancy Harrison of Cranford wasobserving the artists as she strolleddowntown with her three grand-children. “The plein air event is excitingand it adds flair and interest to thecommunity, she commented, add-ing that it is not that often that onegets to see an artist at work. In addition to painting plein airstyle in and around Cranford,“Paint the Town” also included ademonstration by award-winningartist and plein air participant,Stewart White, at the SimplyGallery on Thursday evening.

Other events over the courseof the five days included the timed

“Quick Draw” painting competi-tion, a Pre-Show Gala, and aGrand Finale Art Exhibit and Sale.

Quick Draw and Main ArtAwards were judged by PeterTrippi, the Editor of Fine Art Con-noisseur.

JCAS is a non-profit group ofartists and citizens dedicated toraising awareness of the arts andthe artistic process, as well asintegrating the arts into the com-munity through education, events,and economic development.

More information about JCAS canbe found on their website,www.jcas.org.

Plein Air Event Draws Artists Kenilworth Hist. Soc. SlatesNitschke Open House EventKENILWORTH – Kenilworth’s

newly restored historic Oswald J.Nitschke House, located at 49 South21st Street, will open its doors tothe general public this Saturday,June 15, in celebration of Flag Dayweekend. Visitors are invited totour the site during an “open house”event hosted by the KenilworthHistorical Society from 10 a.m. to 5p.m. Admission is free.

Attendees will have an opportu-nity to view the fine craftsmanshipthat is evident in the carefullyrestored walls, ceilings, floors andfaux-grained woodwork through-out the house, according to theHistorical Society.

Visitors also will see how theNitschke House basement has beentransformed into a cultural artscenter, which will serve as a venuefor art exhibits, concerts, meet-ings and other community eventsand celebrations.

“We’ve worked very hard toreach this significant milestoneand are extremely grateful to theNew Jersey Historic Trust, NewJersey Cultural Trust, New JerseyDEP Green Acres Program, UnionCounty Board of Chosen Free-holders, Union County Office ofCultural and Heritage Affairs, E.J.Grassmann Trust, Kenilworth of-ficials, Kenilworth Veterans Cen-ter/VFW Post 2230, Dr. JeromeForman, LaTorre Construction,Connolly and Hickey Historical Ar-chitects, Cottage Gardens, WagnerConstruction, Meyer and Depewand all the many other businesses,individuals and organizations whohave assisted us, along the way,with various aspects of theNitschke House preservationproject,” said Shirley Boyden Max-well, president of the KenilworthHistorical Society.

A major portion of the interiorrestoration work was carried outwith the help of grants from theNew Jersey Historic Trust and theNew Jersey Cultural Trust, as well

as “Preserve Union County” grantfunds. An earlier New Jersey His-toric Trust grant, totaling nearly$200,000, helped fund the exte-rior restoration, completed in 2007.

These competitive grants werematched with funds awarded tothe Nitschke House project by theE.J. Grassmann Trust and variouslocal businesses, in addition toother monies raised by theKenilworth Historical Societythrough multiple ongoing fund-raising activities.

Once the Nitschke House site isfully operational, it will feature notonly a “living history” museum onthe first floor and a cultural artscenter in the basement, but alsothree rooms of exhibits on thesecond floor; an elevator that willmake the building completely ac-cessible for people of all ages andabilities; additional heirloom gar-dens and a Kenilworth HeritageWalkway featuring engraved com-memorative pavers sponsored bylocal donors.

LOCAL TALENT…PetroGrass, a bluegrass band featuring members fromGarwood and Cranford, will play a private concert on Monday, June 17,beginning at 6:30 p.m. for residents of Westfield Senior Citizens Housing. It willtake place in the garden at the Unit 1 building, located at 1133 Boynton Avenue,Westfield. The five-member ensemble’s repertoire includes fiddle tunes andcountry and folk selections, as well as Celtic tunes and waltzes. The band also hasappeared at other local venues.

Quinnipiac AnnouncesGrads

HAMDEN, Conn. – The follow-ing area residents graduated fromgraduated from Quinnipiac Uni-versity during the 82nd Under-graduate Commencement heldMay 19.

Ryan Conde of Mountainside -Bachelor of Arts in Film, Video andInteractive Media; GregoryDiGiovine of Cranford - Bachelor ofScience in Financial Management;Michael Forgash of Westfield -Bachelor of Science in FinancialManagement; Emily Kline ofWestfield - Bachelor of Arts inSociology; Joseph Kopser ofWestfield - Bachelor of Arts inJournalism; Rachael Leahy ofWestfield - Bachelor of Science inInternational Business; MichaelMorgese of Cranford - Bachelor ofArts in Film, Video and InteractiveMedia; Krystin Orrico of Cranford -Bachelor of Science in Marketing;Carla Somnolet of Westfield - Bach-elor of Arts in Psychology; CaitlinSteele of Westfield - Bachelor ofScience in Entrepreneurship;Daniel Sullivan of Westfield - Bach-elor of Science in Marketing.

sports, humor and commentary blue devil luppino …raspberry beret. “i think the new hair goes in...

Documents