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Temple Micah at 50
Mixed month for TWW Lead issues persist, but utility officials say things are improving
By MicheLe ALPeRiN Temple Micah has met for religious services at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville since its founding 50 years ago. The synagogue, still going strong, has 50 to 60 worshippers Friday nights, 200 on the High Holidays, and over 90 students in its religious school. The community prides itself on its inclusive community, lack of affiliation with any Jewish movement, shared building, and low cost—values that were there from the beginning. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the congregation will join with fellow congregants and the wider community on March 23, 7:30 p.m., for a Havdalah service and a reception, with music, dancing, eating, and more. Lawrence resident and current president Ivy Cohen grew up in a largely Jewish community, but in Lawrenceville, which had fewer Jews, she and her husband wanted to make available to their kids “the Jewish traditions and values” that they had grown up with. And Temple Micah has been right for them. “It feels like it has a great sense of community,” Cohen said. “It’s connecting to your religion and your background in a way that’s comfortable and meaningful.” Hopewell resident Judy Livingston, a former board memSee TEMPLE, Page 12
By ROB ANThes
ranthes@communitynews.org
After Jack Ball (center) retired as manager of the Trenton Farmers Market, Chris Cirkus (far right) took the reins. Picture are Trenton Farmers Market board treasurer Jim VanHandel of Cedar ville Farms, vice president Kevin Gsell of Russo’s Fruit and Vegetable Farm, Ball, president Gar y Mount of Terhune Orchards and Cirkus.
Changing of the guard at farmers market New manager takes over after long-time market runners retire By scOTT MORGAN That Chris Cirkus took the helm at the Trenton Farmers Market shouldn’t be too surprising. She’s made a full-time career out of managing multiple part-time farmers markets in the area. So when it came
time to find a successor to Jack Ball—the manager of the Trenton Farmers Market for 39 years—Cirkus jumped at the chance...to find one. About a year ago, Ball fell ill. He’s feeling a lot better, but at the time, the 74-year-old felt it would be best to step down. So Gary Mount, owner of Terhune Orchards and a member of the Trenton Farmers Market board, called Cirkus and Beth Feehan to help find a successor.
Cirkus managed the West Windsor Farmers Market (and still does) and Feehan used to. The pair also co-managed the 31 & Main Farmers Market at the College of New Jersey. So the Trenton Farmers Market board brought them in as consultants, thanks in part to their steep connections in the farmers market game. “We found a few candidates and they hired someone,” See MARKET, Page 8
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The results are in, and they’re not what Trenton Water Works customers had hoped. For the third time in the last four testing periods, TWW has violated the federal action level for lead. More than 11 percent of samples taken by TWW in the second half of 2018 had elevated lead levels. The highest sample, from a home on West Paul Avenue in Trenton, was 1,430 parts per billion—nearly 100 times the federal limit. TWW officials, for their part, say they continue to take steps needed to correct the problem. TWW assistant director Kristin Epstein said TWW has fast-tracked the installation of a system intended to prevent lead in corroding pipes and fixtures from leaching into water. Epstein said she expects the system to be online for 80 percent of TWW’s service area, including the entire suburban portion, this spring. To prove they’re working in good faith, TWW officials pointed to data released by the City of Trenton last month that shows the amount of potentially dangerous disinfectant byproducts in the water has decreased significantly since the summer See WATER, Page 19
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