Union County will not change its current seal

By David Jablonski Managing Editor

The Union County seal was almost changed last month, if not for the efforts of concerned organizations and individuals in the Union County government.

“We were not told about it at first, but our understanding is that a group, Mothers Against Domestic Violence, questioned why our seal has the scene it does,” said Barbara La Mort, president of the Union Township Historical Society, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, May 1. “And I don't think the person addressing our group knew the history of the seal. My disappointment with this is that this had been in discussion since 2020, but we’ve only been made aware of it at Christmas 2022. Though polling was introduced in March, the existing seal wasn’t a third option.”

“When we found out about this last December, it was only by a fluke that somebody heard someone talking about it in the court house or the commissioners building, and they passed it onto us,” she added. “The Union County Historical Society also agrees with us.”

“We love our town and want to preserve its history as best we can,” said David Arminio, vice president of the Union Township Historical Society, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, May 1. “The mission of the Historical

The

Society is not just the preservation of the history of the American Revolution – it’s the preservation of the history of the town, from the 1620s all the way to 2023 and beyond.”

The county seal is unique in New Jer- sey and very likely the entire nation, as it depicts a woman being killed in the doorway of her home,” La Mort said. “If that was the entirety of the picture, then perhaps Mothers Against Domestic Violence would be justified in its opposition to this as the county seal; however, when viewed from a historical standpoint, this seal is extremely important to both the county and to the importance of women in our nation’s history.

“Our museum is on the site that’s depicted on the seal. The actual house was burned with Hannah Caldwell’s dead body in the house. One of her neighbors begged the British officers to let the husband and children have a proper funeral for her and then the neighbors brought her body to the neighbor’s house. She was in the house with two of the children and two friends. Steven Speilberg wants to make a movie out of it. There’s deep faith. There’s military battles. It’s like ‘The Patriot.’”

To better understand the significance of the scene represented in Union County’s seal, La Mort went into greater detail regarding this historical event.

“On June 7, 1780, Hannah Caldwell was sitting on her bed, nursing her baby,” she said. “Her 4-year old son kept running to the window and saying he saw soldiers coming. She asks the two women with her to get him away from the window. Finally, she gets up from the bed, hands the baby to one of them and goes to the window and, at that moment, she is shot through the window and dies.”

La Mort said some historians specu-

See DESPITE, Page 10

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin on Friday, May 12, announced the winners of the 2023 Excellence in Policing Awards, highlighting the outstanding service displayed by law enforcement agencies, officers, and professionals across the state.

The Excellence in Policing Awards, created in 2019, were designed to encourage and reinforce New Jersey’s commitment to strengthening the relationships between law enforcement agencies and their communities. This year, for the first time, the Excellence in Policing Awards were during National Police Week, a week designated by President John F. Kennedy as a time for a grateful nation to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of, and in the service to, strangers.

“Today, I am honored to present awards for Excellence in Policing to the dedicated public servants and agencies who work tirelessly to strengthen our communities by implementing innovative, creative and unique programs or by demonstrating particularly heroic actions,” Attorney General Platkin said. “These recipients represent the very, very best of New Jersey law enforcement. Thanks to their efforts, we can better serve our fellow residents and, in turn, not only make New Jersey safer, but truly stronger.”

The following Excellence in Policing Awards were awarded:

Detective Seals Valor Award to Officer

Michael Gamba, Cranford Police Department. The Detective Joseph Seals Valor Award honors a police officer or officers who demonstrated an act of extraordinary bravery or heroism in the line of duty. The award honors Seals, a 13-year veteran of the Jersey City Police Department, who lost his life in the line of duty in December 2019. Seals’ actions at the time of his death likely saved the lives of many others. Seals was not a stranger to heroism; in 2008, he broke through a window and stopped the rape of a 41-year-old woman on Christmas Eve. The Detective Joseph Seals Valor Award is presented to Officer Michael Gamba of the Cranford Police Department.

Gamba's courageous actions on May

28, 2022, at a senior housing complex in response to a domestic violence incident earned him this award. When Gamba and his team arrived at the scene, they learned that the suspect had already left the residence and was walking in the neighborhood. Fearing that the individual may still be armed, Gamba approached the suspect, who reached into his waistband and pulled out a loaded “ghost gun,” unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home. Without hesitation, Gamba wrestled the firearm from the suspect’s hand, preventing injuries to himself, his colleagues and innocent pedestrians in the area. Gamba’s bravery is the embodiment of valor and pays tribute to the memory of Seals.

Camp Invention, a nationally recognized, nonprofit summer enrichment program, is coming to Orange Avenue School the week of June 26 through June 30.

A program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Camp Invention challenges children in kindergarten through sixth grade to tap into their natural curiosity and use their creativity to solve problems.

Through hands-on activities, Camp Invention promotes STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — learning; builds confidence, leadership, perseverance and resourcefulness; and encourages entrepreneurship, all in a fun and engaging environment.

Each year, the program features a new curriculum inspired by some of our nation’s most world-changing inventors — the National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees. This year's Wonder program encourages children to be confident in their ideas and explore their innovativeness though hands-on activities including:

• Catching Air: Taking a confidence-building ride through physics, engineering and art, children design and build their own skate park;

• Invention Celebration: Campers take on the role of event planners as they throw a party celebrating creativity and innovation;

• MimicBot: Children show their unique style when they transform a robot that mimics sounds into a one-ofa-kind animatronic stuffie; and

• Pop-Up Venture: Big ideas come to life as campers design their own mini pop-up business.

“Both of my kids loved Camp Invention! They loved having the opportunity to create, innovate and iterate what they had learned,” said the parent of 2022 Camp Invention campers. “They were intensely proud to tell of their work each day and to showcase their projects at the end of the week.”

All local Camp Invention programs are facilitated and taught by qualified educators who reside and teach in the community. Camp Invention serves 118,000 students every year and partners with more than 2,200 schools and districts across the nation. For more information or to register, visit invent.org/camp.