Hamilton Post
JANUARY 2019
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Hot topic
Gift helps swimmer find success
Fire consolidation inching toward reality in 2019
Prescription goggles unleash Nottingham’s Rachel Soto-Garcia’s true potential in pool
By sAmAnthA sciARRottA ssciarrotta@communitynews.org
By Rich FisheR A “Secret Santa” present usually provides a gift card, a gag gift or some trinket to dress up a desk top. But for Rachel SotoGarcia, Secret Santa unlocked the secret to her swimming improvement. So much so, that she is a team leader and one of the top swimmers as a senior on the Nottingham High girls’ team. It would have been hard to imagine such a thing just two years ago. After coming out for the Northstars as a sophomore, Soto raised some eyebrows in the pool during those first few months. “She kept running into walls,” coach Andrew Parsons said. “She had very bad eyesight.” “Very bad” may have been giving her too much credit. “My vision was a negative eight,” Soto said. “Once you’re past negative five you’re technically legally blind. So when I was in the water, all I saw was blurs and colors, and my depth perception was bad. So when I was flipping into the wall, I would either miss or my whole butt would just hit it. I was like ‘Darn.’” See SWIMMER, Page 14
FREE
Hamilton resident Sara Stoy applies makeup in this publicity photo for the Lifetime TV show “American Beauty Star.” The Steinert graduate appears on the new season of the show, which premiers Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019.
A beauty star is born Makeup artist, 21, cast on Lifetime’s ‘American Beauty Star’ By scott moRGAn Makeup looks easy, right? A little foundation here, a little liner there. Blend, brush, touch up, and off you go? Not if you watch Sara Stoy do it—which you actually can do on YouTube. For the past three years, this 21-year-old Hamiltonian has run her own channel, MakeupBySaraStoy, which
showcases two things above all else: Stoy’s camera-friendly countenance and the artistic skill that qualified her to make it to broadcast television. That Stoy landed a spot on the second season of the reality competition show American Beauty Star is a lot less of a mystery if you watch even one of her YouTube tutorials. There are about three dozen video tutorials on her page, most highlighting what Stoy herself describes as easy, smokey, or sexy looks for a night out. But she’ll throw you a few surprises. If you ever wanted to be a prettier-than-the-typical
scarecrow or pumpkin for Halloween, for example, Stoy’s got you covered. And blended. Her deft skills with brushes and makeup impressed the producers of Lifetime TV’s reality show enough to set her up in Atlanta for a few weeks this past summer. How she got there was a simple enough lesson to inspire anyone—she gave it a shot. “I watched the first season,” Stoy said. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I could so do this.’” So she followed the show on Instagram, where the producers announced a casting call for See STOY, Page 16
A contentious issue in town may see a resolution in the coming months—the final steps toward fire district consolidation in Hamilton could happen this year. Township council approved an ordinance in September to consolidate the eight districts into one municipal department— rather than one or multiple independent districts. This move would give the mayor and council control over the department once the process is completed. Consolidation has been a topic of discussion for over two decades, said township business administrator David Kenny, but talks have picked up steam over the last few years. However, while many municipal and fire officials agree that consolidation should happen, the terms are still up for debate. There are currently eight fire districts in Hamilton, plus one shared department in Chesterfield that would not be part of consolidation. The total fire budget in 2018 was $27.8 million, which Kenny said is a 14 percent increase over the last two years. In comparison, the total township budget in 2018 was $68 million. “I would hope that we can cap the fire budget in the $22-$23 million a year range, as opposed to See FIRE, Page 12
Ask The Doctor brought to you by
See our column on page 42
See our ad on pg 47
1179 NEWARK, NJ