Inside this issue:
JUNE 2022 FREE
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SIX09 Summer Fun COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Quakerbridge Road home to oldest Ultimate Disc league BY ThOMAs KeLLY
The game of Ultimate Frisbee was invented in the parking lot of Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, in 1968. This was during the height of 1960s counterculture. Surfing, skateboarding, and Frisbee were sports outside the mainstream as young people wished to look and act differently than their parents before them. The newly mass produced Frisbee was an easy object to be tossed between people with no equipment or extravagant rules. It also took a short time to gain enough skill to
have fun with a Frisbee. In 1957, Wham-O, a toy manufacturer, acquired the rights to what they renamed the Frisbee. Ten years later the game of Ultimate was making inroads on New Jersey college campuses. Wham-O is also known for creating and marketing many popular toys including the Hula Hoop, Slip N’ Slide, Silly String, the Superball and Hacky sack. In Mercer County there is an Ultimate league where people have been playing the game since 1977. It is the oldest established Ultimate Disc league in the world. The field where they play is located on Quak-
erbridge Road, bisected by the border between Lawrence and West Windsor townships. Three million people play Ultimate Frisbee in the United States. In 90 countries worldwide there are 5 million players. As the term Frisbee, is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company, the sport is called Ultimate Disc or just Ultimate. The name Ultimate, is said to have been coined by the originators who referred to the game as the ultimate sports experience. The first collegiate Ultimate Disc match was played by Rutgers and Princeton in See DISC LEAGUE, Page 3
Nerwinski reports on improvements INTerVieW BY BiLL SANserViNO
Noah Lehrfeld scored 44 goals for the LHS boys’ lacrosse team this year. For more on Lehrfeld and the team, turn to Page 13. (Photo by Rich Fisher.)
Lawrence Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski recently sat down with the Lawrence Gazette to talk about issues impacting the township. The first part of the Q&A resulting from that interview ran in the April issue of the Gazette and addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the township, the 2022 municipal budget and residential and commercial property values. In the second part of the interview Nerwinski discussed the state
of retail in the township and the situation regarding recreational cannabis sales in the township. Parts one and two can be found online at communitynews.org. In the final part, Nerwinski talks with Gazette editor Bill Sanservino about various capital improvements the township is planning to make in 2022. Nerwinski also talks about what’s going on in town in this month’s column on Page 15. *** Lawrence Gazette: Let’s talk about quality-of-life type programs in Lawrence Township. What are
HEALTH
HEADLINES M O N T H LY N E W S F R O M
starting on pg 9
some things that Lawrence has recently implemented or will be putting in place that are that are assets to the community? Kevin Nerwinski: Nancy Bergen, the recreation department’s superintendent, does an amazing job with the different programs that she runs. And we’ve just added another person to that department so we can continue to do different and interesting programs. That said, we have to work harder to get to get the word out to our residents about what we offer. It’s very difficult if someone See NERWINSKI, Page 8
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