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Clarksville Road bridge closed indefinitely BY BILL SANSERVINO
Members of the WW-P High School North cross country team pose for a photo.
The Clarksville Road bridge in West Windsor remains closed for emergency repairs last month, with no confirmed timeline for reopening, according to local and state officials. The closure began Nov. 2 after a routine inspection found severe corrosion on several structural elements of the bridge, which crosses over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail line. The bridge, designated as County Route 638, was shut down between
Meadow Road and Everett Drive to protect public safety. Detour signs have rerouted drivers through Quakerbridge Road, U.S. Route 1, and Alexander Road, causing major disruptions for local traffic, commuters and emergency vehicles. Mayor Hemant Marathe said in a Nov. 17 social media update that the N.J. Department of Transportation “is working on it every day. The priority is to open the bridge as soon as possible even in a diminished capacity.” See CLARSKVILLE , Page 4
North’s Jha medals as youngest Finding the perfect tree Some Christmas tree runner at Meet of Champions traditions enjoy a Mercer BY JUSTIN FEIL
At the Meet of Champions awards ceremony, the medalists are asked to stand by class. Agrim Jha was the only sophomore. The High School North student placed 14th overall in 15 minutes, 58 seconds in the MOC boys final at Holmdel Park on Nov. 15, the youngest runner to place on the boys side and one of only four nonseniors in the top 20. “It’s a proud moment,” Jha said. “That’s also a really stacked field, and I knew a lot of the guys that were there, so it was
really nice to get a little recognition.” Jha led the Knights to 10th in the team standings. Junior Paul Wittenberg was 23rd in 16:14, sophomore Rohan Varma was 96th in 17:14, freshman Ashvin Avineni took 116th in 17:32, and sophomore Soham Shah was 128th in 17:46. That left North tied with Morris Knolls, but the Knights took 10th place on a sixth-runner tiebreaker when sophomore Sushanth Karri placed 143rd in 18:10, ahead of Morris Knolls’ sixth finisher. North’s lone senior in the lineup, Veejhay Roy, also beat Morris Knolls’ See JHA, Page 13
County origin story BY BILL SANSERVINO
For New Jersey’s many tree farms, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas bring the crowds they work toward all year — people who come not just to buy a tree, but to take part in something that feels like the official start of the season. What many don’t know is that Mercer County has bragging rights when it comes to this tradition. The first commercial Christmas tree
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farm in the United States took root in Hamilton Township, where William V. McGalliard began planting Norway spruces in 1901. Hoping to turn rocky farmland into profit, he instead helped spark a holiday custom that swept the nation. He planted 25,000 spruce seedlings and 5,000 saplings from Charles Black of Hightstown. When the first trees matured around 1907, McGalliard sold them for $1 each, long before choosing a tree became the family-centered excursion we know today. Born in 1857, McGalliard spent his life in White Horse, where he farmed, served on local boards, and built the town’s water See TREES, Page 8
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