9-20 HP

Hamilton Hamilton PPost ost

SEPTEMBER 2020

COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG

Schools to start remote

Uniting to keep kids safe Parents want to ensure every student has a mask

District eyes October switch to hybrid learning model

By Rob Anthes

Concerned about the reliability of the global supply chain and seeing a need in their community, two township parents took it upon themselves to ensure every student in the Hamilton Township School District has at least one reusable, cloth mask.

Mask Up HTSD was started

by Sarah Valerio and Lisa Schulz, and the duo have embarked on the big job of collecting masks for the school district’s nearly 12,000 students.

The school district has asked every student to bring two masks with them each day— one to wear and a spare one just in case—once in-person instruction resumes. Hamilton schools will start the year remotely.

Valerio and Schulz hatched the idea for Mask Up HTSD after sharing concerns that some children might not have one mask, let alone two. HTSD has ordered a supply of disposal masks, but the pair was skeptical that schools would be able to keep up with providing disposal masks to children every day. Both have served on district pandemic planning committees this summer, and knew the realities and demands that opening during a pandemic placed on the district and individual schools.

See MASKS, Page 14

FREE

By SaM Sciarrotta

Hamilton resident Lucas Ratliff (right) with mom Michelle on the Chill Out Italian Ice truck. Lucas, 11, created and executed the idea for the business.

Their courage and compassion inspire us all.

One sweet ride Sinceappeared April, Chill Out has been — amaybe an Italian icein chalk Lucas Ratliff, 11, One trucks morning, message written truck instead. After all, Don on the roads of Hamilton, of an RWJBarnabas Health facility. The words runs mobile Italian in front had driven a Super Cool Ital- serving mobile frozen treats couldn’t havetruck beenaround simpler,inorthe more stirring, to soul neighborhoods all over ian Ice ice business or more accurate.

New Brunswick area when he town. And which, perhaps one day soon, will be expandwas younger.

Not long after that conver- ing operations throughout the Lucas on region, thanks to its energetic Lucas Ratliff and his father sation, Don found “Heroes look- founder.

Don were sitting by the camp- Facebook Marketplace, work here.”

And despite his young age, fire in Otter Lake one night ing for a truck to buy for his last September when Lucas new enterprise. Which was he has been the true driving a bit of a surprise, because force behind the business, said he was thinking of ways Three words of gratitude and encouragement that Lucas isn’t on Facebook, Don says. to earn some money. capture the courage and compassion of health “For an 11-year-old, he’s very because Lucas is 11.

Maybe I’ll start up an ice workers here andis a across To share in your everything going But Lucas drivenAmerica. young advanced cream truck, he said. Lucas thanks or to support ourthe Emergency on in theFund, business,” he says. man who was on way to Response had some $5,000 saved up up his new business, “Everything from inventory to to invest. Then he said, well, visit starting rwjbh.org/heroes there are so many ice cream Chill Out Italian Ice LLC. See CHILL OUT, Page 12

By Joe EMansKi

The Hamilton Township Board of Education voted to start the school year with remote learning during an emergency meeting Aug. 15.

The district will proceed with a goal of switching schools to a hybrid in-person and distance model starting Oct. 12.

Students that require programming or services that cannot be conducted remotely will be provided with a hybrid option.

The board met Aug. 15 after Superintendent Scott Rocco released a letter updating the community about the district’s reopening plan Aug. 12, following an executive order signed by Gov. Phil Murphy that allowed school districts to start the year remotely. In the letter, Rocco called for a reanalysis of the district’s most recent plan.

Gov. Murphy released revised guidelines for New Jersey schools with his executive order. With the new plan from the state, districts must meet a number of qualifications before starting in-person classes. If those requirements are not or cannot be met, schools will start the year remotely— See SCHOOL, Page 11

And please, for them, stay home and safe.

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2Hamilton Post | September 2020

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When you control the mail, you control...an election ROB ANTHES FROM THE EDITOR

The U.S. Postal Service has been in the news a lot lately, and the controversy reminded me—as things are apt to do to men of a certain age—of a Seinfeld quote.

For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Jerry Seinfeld’s nemesis in the hit ’90s sitcom was Newman, a postal worker who lived in the same apartment building. Wayne Knight played the character exceptionally, but no Newman moment tops a line from Season 5, after Newman is unsuccessful in his attempts to persuade Jerry to do him a favor.

In a rage, Newman threatens Jerry: “You remember this: When you control the mail, you control...information.”

The comedic timing and inflection of the line is impeccable. But while funny, in 2020 we’re also learning how true the sentence is. And it turns out it’s no laughing matter.

Odds are that if you are holding this newspaper in your hands, you’re doing so because the United States Postal Service delivered it to you. But more than information moves through the mail—there’s life-saving medications, important documents, packages, payments, those donation solicitations that come with sweet return address labels.

The mail is magic. Heck, in Miracle on 34th Street, the USPS even legally confirms Santa Claus’s existence.

For generations, Americans have trusted the USPS—and, for as bloated and dysfunctional as it allegedly is, the USPS always has delivered.

It is why a vast majority of voters—including 68% of independent/ unaffiliated voters and 83% of Democrats— polled by Gallup in May felt comfortable with the prospect of an election held mostly or entirely by mail.

It has come to pass that in New Jersey the USPS in fact will be the main conduit for our electoral process this November. It has also come to pass that the USPS coincidentally just welcomed a new postmaster general— a man with no prior USPS experience and millions of dollars in ties to firms that would benefit from postal service not being able to do its job quite so well.

Throughout August, word spread around the country of slowed mail, removed postal boxes, junked pro-

If there was a plan to shake confidence in the USPS, it’s working.

Have you Heard?

The Hamilton Township FREE Rabies Clinic is coming...

DATE: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020

Have you heard?

TIME: 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

PLACE: MCMANIMON BUILDING AT

Hamilton Township FREE Rabies is AVENUE coming…

320Clinic SCULLY (OFF OLDEN

AVE. BETWEEN LIBERTY ST. & CEDAR LANE, OPPOSITE OLDEN PHARMACY)

FOR PETS OF HAMILTON TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS ONLY IMPORTANT NOTES

1) All (human) attendees are required to WEAR A MASK. 2) One human per animal.

3) Cats and dogs must be at least 3 months of age to be vaccinated.

DATE: Tuesday, 22nd 2020 4) Dogs mustSeptember be on a leash (no longer than 6’).

5) Cats in ap.m. carrier.

TIME: 5:00 must p.m. tobe 7:00 6) Please bring proof of any prior rabies shot to receive a 3-year certificate; PLACE: McManimon Building at 320 Scully Avenue (off Olden Ave. without a Lane, 1-year certifi cate will be issued. between Liberty proof St. & Cedar opposite Olden Pharmacy) 7) NJ State Department of Health’s Policy states no dog license can be issued if their rabies immunization expires before November 2020.

Dog OF licensing will be TOWNSHIP available. Cash, check orONLY money order accepted.$8.00 FOR8)PETS HAMILTON RESIDENTS spayed/neutered or $11.00 non-spayed/non-neutered, Senior Citizen fee for ANT NOTES spayed/ neutered $2.00, Senior Citizen fee for non-spayed/non-neutered (human) attendees $5.00 are required to WEAR A MASK. e human per animal.

ts and dogsFor mustquestions, be at least 3 months of age to be vaccinated. call Hamilton Township Animal Shelter at (609) 890-3550 gs must be on a leash (no longer than 6’). ts must be in a carrier. ase bring proof of any prior rabies shot to receive a 3-year certificate; without proof a 1-year tificate will be issued.

State Department of Health’s Policy states no dog license can be issued if their rabies munization expires before November 2020. The state requests a one (1) year overlap in the three

4Hamilton Post | September 2020

cessing equipment and profoundly demoralized postal staff.

The president—who is voting by mail himself but has discouraged the widespread use of the method—said that the USPS needed millions of dollars in extra funding in order to handle the load of ballots likely to be processed through the mail. Between the lines was the suggestion that the funding wouldn’t arrive by Election Day. On Aug. 24, the USPS Twitter account jumped in the fray, issuing its own Newman-esque warning. “If you plan to vote by mail,” it read, “plan ahead.”

If there was a plan to shake Americans’ confidence in the USPS before an election that requires a fully functional postal service, it’s working. On Aug. 26, a national CNBC/ Change Research survey found fewer voters planned to vote by mail than a similar poll taken earlier this summer. The biggest shift came among Democrats, where anticipated vote-by-mail participation dropped by 11 percentage points.

This all is especially important in Mercer County, where it seems officials are determined to force as many ballots as possible through USPS. Typ-

ically, a “mail-in” ballot can be delivered three ways: by mail, via secure drop box or in person at the county Board of Elections office. However, the Mercer County Board of Elections announced Aug. 20 that it would not accept any ballots in person. It also announced it has installed five drop boxes countywide: at the East Windsor Municipal Court Building, at the Hopewell Township Administration Building, at the Princeton Municipal Building, at the Trenton Courthouse Annex and, in Hamilton, at the Golf Center/Call Station, near the library.

Another eight drop boxes will be placed in to-be-announced locations.

Put another way: there are more than 250,000 registered voters in Mercer County, only 13 drop boxes and no in-person drop-off. There will be a lot of ballots in the mail.

We are just a month away from the first vote-by-mail ballots being issued and nine weeks away from Election Day 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, to borrow a phrase from my sister, we have gotten used to building the plane while we’re in the air. As a community, a county and a nation, we already have a lot to figure out to ensure the 2020 general election isn’t a crash landing.

We can’t be questioning if the plane’s engine—the USPS—is up to the journey.

Contact editor ROB ANTHES: ranthes@ communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext.

124, facebook.com/robanthes, twitter.com/ robanthes.

Hamilton Post

we are a newsroom of your neighbors. The Hamilton Post is for local people, by local people.

As part of the community, the Post does more than just report the news—it connects businesses with their customers, organizations with their members and neighbors with one another. As such, our staff sets out to make our town a closer place by giving readers a reliable source to turn to when they want to know what’s going on in their neighborhood.

EDITOR Rob Anthes (Ext. 124) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michele Alperin, Rich Fisher, Nicole Viviano CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS Peter Dabbene, Thomas Kelly, Bob Sherman, Jr. AD LAYOUT & PRODUCTION Stacey Micallef SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jennifer Steffen (Ext. 113)

An award-winning publication of Community News Service, LLC © Copyright 2020 All rights reserved.

CO-PUBLISHER Jamie Griswold

CO-PUBLISHER Tom Valeri

MANAGING EDITOR, COMMUNITY DIVISION Rob Anthes

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Thomas Fritts PRODUCTION MANAGER Stacey Micallef DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL INITIATIVES Joe Emanski

MANAGING EDITOR, METRO DIVISION Sara Hastings

Community News Service 15 Princess Road, Suite K Lawrence, NJ 08648 Phone: (609) 396-1511 News: news@communitynews.org Events: events@communitynews.org Sports: sports@communitynews.org Letters: ranthes@communitynews.org Website: hamiltonpost.com Facebook: facebook.com/hamiltonpostnj Twitter: twitter.com/mercerspace 40,000 copies of the Hamilton Post are mailed or bulk-distributed to the residences and businesses of Hamilton 12 times a year.

TO ADVERTISE call (609) 396-1511, ext. 113 or e-mail advertise@communitynews.org A proud member of:

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September 2020 | Hamilton Post5

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Judge Robert Lougy granted a motion by three suburban municipalities served by Trenton Water Works to join a lawsuit against the water utility.

Ewing, Hamilton and Lawrence townships learned Aug. 14 that their request to become parties to a state suit against the City of Trenton and Trenton Water Works had been accepted by the court.

“This means that we will be able to fully participate in the case, advocate on behalf of our resident customers of TWW, and to be involved in any settlement discussions which may take place,” Lawrence Township manager Kevin Nerwinski wrote on Facebook.

“Obviously, this is a good thing for us.”

The towns filed a motion to intervene in Mercer Superior Court July 8, allegeding that for years Trenton has moved money paid by suburban ratepayers away from the water utility into other areas of the city budget— with suburban residents essentially subsidizing the Trenton tax base.

TWW serves 225,000 people in Trenton, Ewing and parts of Hamilton, Hopewell Township and Lawrence.

The four suburban municipalities do

not own any part of the water system.

The governments of Ewing, Hamilton and Lawrence demanded in their motion that the City of Trenton no longer control the water utility, proposing that Trenton either sell all of its water infrastructure to a private entity, submit to oversight by the state Board of Public Utilities or provide the four suburbs ownership and proportional control over TWW. “The right to clean water is a human and constitutional right,” Hamilton Township director of law Elissa Grodd Schragger wrote in a July 8 letter to Lougy. “This is nonnegotiable. It is also clear that Trenton and TWW have repeatedly and egregiously missed benchmarks in fulfilling their obligation to provide safe and clean drinking water for the customers of TWW.” The City of Trenton had disputed the claims, and pointed to efforts undertaken by Mayor Reed Gusciora’s administration, such as reducing the utility’s vacancy rate to 5%, launching a program to replace lead service lines in the system, making repairs and improvements at TWW’s water filtration plant and embarking on a $405-mil-

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lion, six-year capital improvement plan.

But the administration and the city council have been at loggerheads regarding spending at TWW for months now, and it was council’s decision to reject $83 million in improvement projects at TWW in May that spurred the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Attorney General’s Office to file suit against TWW and the City of Trenton June 15. DEP, in a statement announcing the suit, cited “a pattern of inaction” in city government.

–Rob Anthes

Wilson, Crockett win NJPTA awards Two Hamilton Township schools were among the winners of the 2020 New Jersey PTA Success Awards, announced in early August.

Wilson Elementary School won recognition in the Healthy Lifestyles category, while Crockett Middle School earned notice in three categories.

Crockett won the President’s Award for 5th grade mixer created and organized by Danielle Nutt, Crockett PTA’s vice president of membership.

The middle school won the category for outstanding communication with parents for its Blue & Gold E-Newsletter, website and Facebook page. The school had to provide information on how it monitored analytics and how it maintained an informed audience.

Finally, Crockett Middle School principal Roxann Clarke-Holmes earned honorable mention for the Outstanding Educator Award.

The New Jersey PTA is based in Hamilton. For more information, go online to njpta.org.

Eden Autism group homes receive meals from Knights of Columbus, Hamilton eateries People at Eden Autism’s residential homes have been receiving special deliveries, courtesy of one of Eden’s long-time community supporters.

Since mid-July, the Knights of Columbus Princeton Council No. 636

have been purchasing and delivering meals to all of Eden’s 28 group homes and apartments. Every Tuesday, half of Eden’s residences receive lunches for both the participants and staff, with the other half receiving meals the following week. The meals range from pizza to chicken fingers and French fries, often with donuts and other treats included. Roughly 350 meals from Hamilton restaurants have been delivered to Eden residences over the last four weeks.

The Knights of Columbus said it plans to continue providing meals through September. The organization has partnered with local businesses that offer the meals at a discounted price. Vincent’s Pizza and Donuts Time, both located in Hamilton, have been providing a variety of food for Eden’s staff and residents.

“The Knights of Columbus are longtime friends of Eden,” said Eden Autism Chief Development Officer Melinda McAleer. “Many of the members have volunteered for years.

Seeing teenagers and young adults join the Knights in serving the men and women in our residential program reassures us that the community will continue to help carry out Eden’s mission for years to come.”

Hamilton resident Joe Bendas is Grand Knight of Princeton Council No. 636 as well as one of Eden’s earliest volunteers. He said delivering meals provides much more than an opportunity to give back—it’s a way to stay connected to Eden during the pandemic.

“What prompted me to start this?

It’s simple, I miss Eden,” Bendas said.

Bendas has been recruiting high school and college-age students to help deliver the meals and to volunteer at the Eden 5K and the Eden Family Picnic. Eight of the students have been part of the meal delivery effort.

“My goal is for all of these young people to carry on with Eden for many years to come,” Bendas said Based in Plainsboro, Eden Autism offers a 12-month school program for 3 to 21 year-olds, vocational training for adolescents and adults, residential services for adults, as well as other resources for people with autism.

See AROUND TOWN, Page 8

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AROUND TOWN continued from Page 7

Township’s 2021 calendar to honor ‘Hometown Heroes’

Each year, Hamilton Township publishes a calendar, and the township announced Aug. 11 that the theme for the 2021 version will showcase frontline workers, essential personnel, residents and businesses who volunteered throughout the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The township has dubbed them “Hamilton Heroes.”

The township has asked residents and businesses to submit photos for the 2021 calendar consistent with the year’s theme. Featured photographs for the upcoming calendar will be chosen by a selection committee. Photographers will be credited for their picture.

Those wishing to submit a photo along with a signed disclosure form can do so by visiting the township website.

Rules for photo submission can also be found there. The deadline for photograph submission is Friday, Oct. 2, 2020.

Local businesses can also participate in the 2021 calendar by purchasing advertisements. Advertisement information also is available online.

Deadline is Monday, Sept. 14.

The township expects 2021 calendars to be distributed to households and local businesses in late December.

Hamilton resident named chief of Mercer County detectives Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri recently announced the promotions of six members of his investigative staff, including the second female chief of detectives in Mercer County history.

Jessica Plumeri was sworn in as chief of county detectives on July 31.

Plumeri takes the helm after the Aug.

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Hamilton resident Jessica Plumeri (right) new chief of county detectives, with Mercer County prosecutor Angelo Onofri.

In 1999, Plumeri entered the graduate program in education at The College of New Jersey. She attended classes at night and graduated with her master’s degree in teaching in 2001.

The following year, she was hired by the Hopewell Township School District as a second-grade teacher. In 2010, she received the Teacher of Year Award from the Hopewell Township Board of Education.

While Plumeri says teaching was a rewarding and fulfilling experience, she still felt that something was missing.

She realized her true passion in life was law enforcement, so she returned to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Upon returning to the prosecutor’s, Plumeri was assigned to the Trial Unit, assisted in homicide investigations, and returned to the Special Investigations Unit, where she served as a member of the Mercer County Narcotics Task Force. As a detective in the SIU, Plumeri participated in more than 3,000 narcotics investigations, 300 of which were undercover.

In 2016, Mercer County Sheriff John A. Kemler appointed Plumeri undersheriff of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, where she was responsible for the origin and coordination of the MCSO Tactical Response Team, policy development and training, court security, security for the TrentonMercer Airport, and numerous other essential duties related to warrant services and fugitive apprehension.

In 2019, Plumeri returned to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office as deputy chief of detectives, and has been responsible for the oversight of major crimes investigations throughout the county.

1 retirement of Tracey McKeown, who was the prosecutor’s office’s first female chief.

Also promoted were Capt. Tarek Elkachouty to deputy chief; Lt. Matt Norton to captain; Sgt. Natischa Clark to lieutenant; Detective Brian Kiely to sergeant; and Detective Michael Castaldo to officer-in-charge.

Born in Trenton and raised in both Trenton and Hamilton Township, Plumeri graduated from Hamilton High North (Nottingham) in 1990 and attended Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, graduating in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice.

After college, she was hired as a detective with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and, after graduating from the New Jersey Division of CrimiPolice investigating nal Justice Academy, was assigned to the Grand Jury, Trial and Megan’s graff iti incidents Law units. As her career progressed, Plumeri was assigned to the Special Hamilton Police are investigating Investigations Unit, where she began a string of bias incidents, including her passion for investigations involving three from the first half of August. the illegal distribution of narcotics.

See AROUND TOWN, Page 10

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AROUND TOWN continued from Page 9 Crime Tip Hotline at (609) 581-4008 with On Aug. 12, HPD responded to 210 any additional information.

Ridge Ave., near the entrance of the Ahavath Israel Congregation CemNottingham High grad etery, on a bias intimidation complaint regarding a report of graffiti. Police produces, stars in film said responding officers observed graffiti in the road, “Kill [n-word]” in Actor and filmmaker Matt Steele red spray paint. recently released his first feature film, This is the fourth DIVOS!, available to such incident since view on demand.

June, and HPD alleges A Hamilton native, they all involve the Steele based much of same suspect.

The the film around his expefirst reported incident riences doing musicals occurred on June 11 at while a student at NotSaint Mary’s Cemetery, tingham High School on Cedar Lane near CloDIVOS! is a comedy ver Avenue, with the about egotistical boys in same words painted in their high school musithe same color. Two cal, and tells the story of more incidents with the a self-proclaimed “future same words and paint Broadway legend” being occurred in August, one forced to share the spoton Aug. 3 and the other light with the school’s Steele on Aug. 6. The Aug. 3 star athlete. The film incident happened at stars Steele, as well as Shady Brook Park, on Pitman Avenue. Nicole Sullivan (Mad TV, High School The Aug. 6 incident occurred on Clo- Musical: The Musical: The Series) and ver Avenue, in the cemetery. In the Tony Award-winner Marissa Jaret first two August incidents, the words Winokur (Broadway’s Hairspray). For were accompanied by a swastika, also more information, go online to divostdrawn with red spray paint. hemovie.com.

HPD detectives have not been able to develop a suspect in the incidents. Ham- WHAT DID WE MISS? What are you ilton Police has asked anyone with infor- noticing in your community? What mation to contact Det. Lawrence MacAr- stories do you think we should tell? Do thur at (609) 689-5827, or via email at you have news to share? We want to lmacarthur@hamiltonpd.org. The pub- hear from you. Send your news or tips lic can also contact the Hamilton Police to news@communitynews.org.

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SCHOOLS continued from Page 1 those schools must provide regular updates about their progress toward an in-person hybrid model.

This is the second change of course from the state. In June, Murphy expressed a desire to get children back to school, and said all schools were required to meet inperson in some capacity. Then, a few weeks later, Murphy loosened his stance, announcing that families could choose a remote option for their children.

The Hamilton Township School District has spent months planning for the 2020-21 school year—and adjusting to the ever-changing state guidelines. In his letter, Rocco wrote that the district has prepared for all outcomes under each of the state’s sets of guidelines. Hamilton has plans for full-time in-person, hybrid and full-time remote models. However, key supplies like PPE items still have not been delivered to the district.

“Our intention has always been to be ready for whichever scenario presented itself based on the state’s pandemic data, its staged transition to reopening, health and science and the experiences of educational organizations who opened prior to us around the countr y,” he said.

Rocco cited the decisions of other districts, as well as state higher education institutions, to start the year fully remote. Hamilton was the second district in Mercer County to

announce a switch to all-remote.

Lawrence Township’s Board of Education approved a remote learning plan for its district Aug. 12, just hours after Murphy’s executive order.

Remote learning in Hamilton will consist of 10- to 15-minute mini lessons followed by individual and group breakout sessions. The district has purchased e-learning packages, science labs, music apps and individual kits for classes where students would traditionally share supplies—art, robotics, woodworking and others.

Lessons will be recorded, and class structure will var y for younger students. The district is still working on determining whether teachers will work from home or instruct from school buildings.

“Our efforts and desire continue to be in person with our students,” Rocco said in his Aug. 12 letter. “Our hybrid plan is designed to reduce school capacity and potential exposure while providing in-person instruction to a percentage of students each day, while those that are not in school, learn in a remote manner. With all that being said, our district will not waiver on our focus to open safely with our health protocols in place and all of the supplies and equipment in our possession.”

Contact SAM SCIARROTTA: ssciarrotta@ communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext.

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CHILL OUT continued from Page 1 gas on the truck, he’s very involved in what’s going on.”

Which is not to say that Lucas doesn’t have plenty of support. Everyone in the family is involved in some way. Mom Michelle is Lucas’ co-owner in the business, and brother Brad, 24, helps out in the truck, serving Italian ices and cleaning the freezers. Brother Jordan, 21, does a lot of the driving.

And Don says he helps out with general operations as well.

“His mom and I, we basically just make sure everything is legal for him and hand it over to him,” Don says. “I’m sure if he could drive, he’d be operating his own truck by himself.”

The $5,000, Don says, Lucas had saved up over the years: birthday money, Christmas money, earnings from doing chores around the house. And he found his love for the culinary arts at a surprisingly young age, fueled in part by his love for competitive kids’ cooking shows that he likes to watch on TV. “He’s not the average kid,” says Don, 42, of his son. “He’s been into culinary stuff—more on the baking side—since the age of 2. He’s always baking. When it comes to Christmas gifts, he doesn’t want games and toys, he wants baking supplies. He’s always baking cakes for his teachers at school, cupcakes, you name it, he’s baking it for them.”

The Chill Out truck is actually a converted minibus. Don says Lucas made the decision to go with a bus, figuring it would be distinctive and more fun than a traditional ice cream truck.

“Lucas did all of his research,” Don says. “He went onto my Facebook account, he found a school bus within his reasonable price, he showed me

what he had. He talked to the gentleman who had the bus, he spent $1,200 and he bought the bus.”

To turn it into an Italian ice truck, the Ratliffs gave it a deep clean and took out all the seats. They installed the equipment necessary for the operation of the truck, including water tanks, discharge tanks and freezer units. Lucas first bought some used freezers, then, when he was dissatisfied with those, replaced them with some brand new freezers.

Lucas, a Kuser Elementary School graduate who will attend Reynolds in the fall, was also the taste tester who decided which brand of Italian ice to serve. Don says he tried 50 different companies before choosing Famous Italian Ices out of Philadelphia.

Within a few years Lucas would like to start making his own ice, but to get the business started he decided to go with a proven brand.

Don says they had just about got the truck ready to roll when the pandemic caused statewide lockdowns. But he says Lucas never got discouraged.

“He just kept moving forward with everything he was doing. He was always focused on what his goal was with this,” he says.

They had an agreement with a commissary kitchen and all the permits they needed to operate. But because of the pandemic, they thought they might have to table their plans until next year.

Then they got a call from Hamilton Township asking if they were planning to get started any time soon.

“I was like, ‘Are you going to allow me to do this?’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, we feel it’ll be safer you going door to door than people going out to a restaurant to sit down.’ So we had a

‘I’m sure if he could drive, he’d be operating his own truck by himself.’

–Don Ratliff, on his 11-yearold son Lucas

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Michelle and Lucas Ratliff with the Chill Out Italian Ice truck, a converted minibus.

week to find Lysol wipes and get out head accounting clerk for facilities at Rutgers University. The family lives in on the road,” Don says.

And since April, the Chill Out truck Hamilton in the area between Hamilton has been out on the road Wednesdays Avenue and Liberty Street.

Don says Lucas eventually wants through Sundays in various Hamilton neighborhoods. Mondays and Tues- to be a baker, and his ultimate dream days are for sanitizing the truck and is to own his own food establishment with a heavy emphasis on baked getting it restocked.

They usually leave home base around goods. “He’s constantly writing down 3 p.m. and drive around until 8 or 8:30, new recipes, and now he’s trying to later on weekends. They also do special find ways to incorporate Italian ice events, including a lot of birthday cel- into baking,” Don says.

Chill Out Italian Ice. Web: facebook. ebrations. On any given day they offer Phone: some 20 or 30 flavors of Italian ice, plus com/chilloutitalianiceLLC. (609) 256-2522. soda, water and soft pretzels.

Social media has been the main way of getting the word out. Especially in Contact JOE EMANSKI: (609) 396-1511, ext. the early going, whenever someone 120, jemanski@communitynews.org would request that they visit a certain street, they would make every effort to get there.

YOUR YOUR HOMETOWN HOMETOWN AGENT AGENT “We learned that Hamilton is so huge, we were spending three hours a day just going to requested streets,” Don says. Now for the most part they set out on a route and let people know where they will be. They still accommodate social media requests when possible.

Things have gone so well that Lucas Insurance Insurance Counselor Insurance Counselor Counselor has already purchased a second vehicle — a van this time — and has been busy making it roadworthy.

“He’s always been that kid to be on top of things. In school he’s very well 1260 Route South Route 33 South respected by the teachers, he’s never 1260 1260 Route3333 South in trouble,” Don says. “I came down- Hamilton, 731 Hamilton, NJ 08690 08690 Hamilton, NJ NJ 08690 stairs the other night and he’s on the Ph: (609) 631-4286 Ph: Ph: (609) (609)631-4286 631-4286 computer, ordering ice. The other Cell: (609) (609) 337-2366 Cell: (609)337-2366 337-2366 night, he was doing the quarterly Cell: sales tax stuff.” jwoloszyn@aaamidatlantic.com jwoloszyn@aaamidatlantic.com Don, originally from Highland Park, jwoloszyn@aaamidatlantic.com worked as a truck driver before a back http://midatlantic.aaa.com/ http://midatlantic.aaa.com/ injury made him unable to work. When http://midatlantic.aaa.com/ Agent/jenniferwoloszyn Agent/jenniferwoloszyn Michelle, originally from Edison, is not Agent/jenniferwoloszyn helping her son with his truck, she is

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MASKS continued from Page 1 Valerio, who is president of the Greenwood Elementary School PTA, spoke with Greenwood principal Nicole Dickens-Simon about what the school’s greatest needs were for the new school year. The answer: masks.

Principals around the district echoed that answer—they needed enough masks to ensure every student would have one.

So, Schulz and Valerio jumped into action, forming Mask Up HTSD. They are asking the community to donate new, clean, reusable cloth masks in child and adult sizes. There are currently five drop-off locations: outside of Wilson Elementary School, Nottingham High School and Steinert High School, at the Hamilton Township Free Public Library and at 33 Barber Shop on Route 33 in Hamilton Square. Each mask should be put in a Ziploc bag with the mask’s size labeled on the bag in marker.

The mask drive will be ongoing, lasting as long as the need for masks exists.

In its first month, Mask Up HTSD had a quick start. It took a huge jump toward its goal Aug. 26 after Mike Simone, who works for UnitedHealthcare and has a child in Steinert High School, help donate 3,000 masks. But they’ve found support throughout Hamilton.

“It’s really just been this organic collaborative effort,” Valerio said. “It makes me feel really good, actually, because it’s something tangible that we can do right now, when it feels like a lot of things are outside of our control.”

The Hamilton Board of Education’s decision to start the school year remotely, with a goal of commencing hybrid instruction in October, has bought Mask Up HTSD a few extra weeks to ensure principals have the masks they need on the first day of classes. Valerio said they plan on distributing masks to schools based on the sizes they receive—adult masks would be too large for elementary school children, for example—as well as the projected hybrid enrollments at each school. They’ve set up a shared

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14Hamilton Post |

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September 2020

Congratulations to Jeannine and Rachel, the first

9-30-2020

spreadsheet so those involved can track the inventory of masks at the schools, as well as new donations that need to be distributed.

There are a lot of logistics, and both Valerio and Schulz are thankful for the extra time.

“To be honest, as far as the mask drive goes, I think starting in October is wonderful,” said Schulz, who has four children attending district schools.

“We were just gifted extra time to accumulate what we need. The reality is that no matter when we go back, the masks will be part of the school day.”

The ultimate goal is to approach the drive with a “One Hamilton” whole-district approach, and ensure masks are distributed in an equitable way. Valerio said she asked superintendent Scott Rocco to direct any mask drive efforts at the school level to Mask Up HTSD, so that there is a pool of masks for the entire township.

They want to avoid one school having thousands of masks while another has none.

“Dr. Rocco’s goal is ‘One Hamilton,’ and this would seem to be a nice thing that people could maybe agree on that

we could do it all together,” Valerio said.

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September 2020 | Hamilton Post15

16Hamilton Post | September 2020

September 2020 | Hamilton Post17

Wilson Elementary teams up with TASK to feed families

By Nicole Viviano

A free meal program started at Wilson Elementary School has filled a need for families in Hamilton Township struggling due to the financial side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The summer program, a partnership between the school and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, proved to be such a necessity that the Hamilton Township Board of Education approved it to continue through June 2021.

The program started with Wilson Elementary principal May Fermin-Cannon and TASK’s associate director of operations Paul Jensen providing meals at Wilson Elementary every Tuesday. It has now expanded to include a second location at Kuser Elementary.

The meals are provided free, noquestions-asked, first-come-first-serve, with contactless pickup.

Fermin-Cannon anticipated the need in her school community and surrounding area during remote learning in the spring, as the school district worked to distribute five days’ worth of breakfast and lunch for students and their families through the end of the school year.

Fermin-Cannon realized the need for additional food resources would not end, just because the school year had. She wanted to find a way to continue helping throughout the summer.

Hamilton Township council members Charles Whalen, Pat Papero, Jr. and Anthony Carabelli, Jr. volunteer handing out meals at Wilson Elementary School.

The Wilson Community Meals Program was the result.

“The social economic status and background of our families always tell us that they’re in need for additional resources,” Fermin-Cannon said. “Our school has a high rate of students who receive free and reduced lunch, that qualify for that.”

At Wilson 73% of students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Kuser shares a similar makeup, with

66% of its students in the same category. Both schools are located near the Trenton-Hamilton border and have partnered with TASK. The hot meals are managed by TASK, and provided by local restaurants. When the program was first underway, Jensen put out a call through the restaurant association.

Those who responded and met the criteria have been supplying meals

throughout the summer.

Participating restaurants include Texas Roadhouse and Mexican Mariachi Grill. On select weeks other organizations, such as small meal prep company Kenny’s Meals and nonprofit SoupKitchen411 have helped.

Jensen has approval to continue getting meals from these establishments through the end of September. At that time, costs will be reevaluated to determine if it’s feasible for TASK to continue using restaurants or if it needs to move all meal supply in-house.

“His [Jensen’s] role is critical because not only is he in charge of getting the meals and the food, he also brings it to the school, sets it up on his own,” Fermin-Cannon said. “And he also works every week to get volunteers to be there with him, helping distribute.”

On one Wilson distribution date, Mayor Jeff Martin and councilmembers Pasquale Papero Jr., Charles Whalen and Anthony Carabelli Jr. helped give out meals. Volunteers typically are kept to a minimum to abide by COVID19 safety guidelines. They wear masks and gloves, while the meals come in sealed packages and are grouped together to meet each family’s needs.

“As we interact with the families at a safe distance, they’re always very grateful, extremely grateful,” FerminCannon said.

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son June 30, only 15 meals were given out. By the next Tuesday, that number jumped to 125 meals.

“The first week I showed up with 300 meals, shooting for the stars,” Jensen said. “Whatever we do not use, we bring back and we distribute through the soup kitchen. We do not let it go to waste.”

Since then, they’ve locked in the number of needed meals at 250. The most recent distribution days cleared out the 250 meals in supply. Jensen explained that on average a family will take three or four meals. This means that roughly 63 to 83 families are being helped through the weekly program.

Kuser held its first community meals day Aug. 20 and will continue throughout the school year. Jensen came prepared with 200 meals for Kuser’s first distribution.

Kuser principal Roberto Kesting said the program will be on Thursdays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Kuser, located at 70 Newkirk Ave., is using its morning entrance route for outdoor, contactless meal pickups.

Families can come down Walker Avenue, where tables will be set up.

Kuser’s program was approved by the school board in early August, after Kesting and Jensen worked through the building use application for the elementary school.

Kesting was first introduced to the work Wilson Elementary and TASK were doing through his friend and colleague Fermin-Cannon.

“She [Fermin-Cannon] thought that this would be a program that my community would benefit from, and it really mirrors what she is doing over there at Wilson,” Kesting said.

Wilson Elementary Community Meals was held every Tuesday from June 30 to Aug. 25 from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Outdoor, contactless pickup was held at the school, located at 600 E. Park Ave. The Wilson program will remain on Tuesdays at the same location, but will start at a later time to ensure no schedule conflicts with the school day.

Before TASK and Fermin-Cannon joined forces, TASK was inquiring about a possible partnership with the Hamilton school district. Wilson was a natural choice with its proximity to the Trenton border and that “it’s an area that has a need,” Jensen said.

When Kuser’s program was suggested to TASK, Jensen saw similar

demographics and free and reduced lunch program numbers. These considerations were to make sure that the meal program was needed in that area.

“We do a lot inside the city of Trenton as far as meals go, and we’re looking to expand to other areas that maybe we hadn’t had the opportunity to,” Jensen said. “And that’s when working with the Hamilton schools came up. It’s an area we’ve been looking to get into, because we thought there was a need there and just never had a place to get set up at and then we developed this relationship with the schools.”

Fermin-Cannon was connected with Jensen from TASK through board vice president Pamela Kelly. After covering what the program would entail and what TASK could provide, the partnership was set in motion.

“Given the current state of our country with the economy being the way it is COVID has directly impacted our families,” Fermin-Cannon said.

“And this is our way to show our support, to be empathetic and to help the children. We don’t want any child to be hungry and if there’s anything we can do to prevent that we will do that.”

These meal programs are an additional resource for families, and separate from district food distribution.

Kesting plans to reach out to his colleagues at Greenwood Elementary to share information on Kuser’s meal program, just as Wilson has put the word out to its surrounding community.

“We want to help not just our Kuser community but the greater community if we can,” Kesting said.

The exact timing and relevant updates for both school programs will be shared on the schools and district’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

School communication channels and websites will also be used by the principals, as they have been throughout the summer at Wilson. Social media posts list important information on the meal programs in both English and Spanish.

“So this is just one little way that we’re saying to each family, ‘We’re with you.

We’re together. We have each other and here’s a nice hot meal for your family for tonight that you don’t have to worry about,’” Fermin-Cannon said.

For more information, contact Paul Jensen at (609) 695-5456, ext. 111 or paulj@trentonsoupkitchen.org.

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Deadline latest hurdle to accurate Census count

By Michele Alperin

As we approach the finish line for the 2020 Census, enumerators in New Jersey are facing serious obstacles to achieving a fair and complete count.

A shortened deadline, fewer enumerators (formerly known as census takers) than planned due to the pandemic and fears of completing the census—particularly in the Latino community—sparked by actions and words of the Trump administration are just a few of the hurdles in the way of an accurate count. The U.S. Census, completed every 10 years, “is designed to count every resident,” to determine apportionment of seats in U.S. House of Representatives and to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities, according to census.gov.

“There’s a concern from many, especially in the immigrant population, about privacy and security, especially when our current administration had, in many of our minds, been undermining the process: first, by trying to include the citizenship question, and lately by shortening the deadline,” says Princeton councilwoman Leticia Fraga, who is handling census activities in the town.

Manuel Hernandez, president and a founder of the Latino Merchants Association and the owner of a construction and HVAC company in Trenton’s

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Chambersburg, who has been helping with the census since last year, says, “It’s been tough because a lot of people are afraid something is going to happen to them, that the government is going to come after them because they are not legally here. We have convinced a bunch of people, but some, after long conversations, we haven’t been able to convince.”

“Especially because of what the president is saying, they think somebody is going to show up at the door and take them and deport them. Also a lot don’t understand the importance of the census,” Hernandez says.

To respond to the immigrants’ fears, says Eduardo Gittens, chief of staff for Assemblywoman Verlina ReynoldsJackson and co-chair of the Trenton Complete Count Committee, “We enlisted the assistance of trusted partners; one being the Latino Merchants Association—different businesses and business owners that have a great relationship with the Latino community.

They’ve worked closely with us passing out information, putting out a positive message in how the census will be able to assist them; and assuring them that their information will not be shared and they don’t have to fear any repercussions.”

Recently the Census Bureau, at the behest of the Trump administration, shortened the deadline for counting

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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, at a virtual “census rally” on Aug. 13, said, “Because of the federal government’s decision to shorten the window, census workers will have less time to do their work. We were undercounted in 2010, and it cost us untold billions of dollars in the decade since.” As a result, he added, “we must redouble our efforts.”

As of Aug. 18, most towns in Mercer County had percentage response rates in the 70s; outliers were West Windsor at 81.6%, Ewing at 67.4%, and Trenton at 44.3%. Percentages in Princeton, Lawrence, West Windsor, and Bordentown were higher than the final 2010 selfresponse rate; in Hopewell, Hamilton, and Robbinsville they were close; but three areas were more significantly behind: Pennington by 6.9%, Ewing by 4.8 %, and Trenton by 9.3%.

Mercer County has 21 hard-to-count census tracts, with 19 in Trenton and two in Hamilton on the border of Trenton.

Patricia Williamson, the New Jersey Counts Project Director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, who is focused on hard-to-count cities in New Jersey, says, “We needed those extra four weeks to get those people [Latinos]. It takes a 20-minute conversation to help them understand what’s going on.”

Regarding the shortened deadline, Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes issued a statement to Community News Service: “Mercer County opposes this shortsighted decision by the federal government.”

One reason that completion rates are not higher, Ewing councilwoman Jennifer Keyes-Maloney says, is that “people don’t necessarily understand why they have to fill out the census.” Someone close to her, for example, thought she didn’t have to complete the census because she didn’t have children.

Another person told Fraga she didn’t realize the census applied to her because she rents. And where multiple families live in one household, “they think because they are not on the lease, they don’t count,” Fraga said.

Williamson says that immigrants and people of color “tend to not report children under five out of safety.” Sometimes children are not supposed to be living where they actually are. Or there are too many people in a home, and residents are afraid that if their landlord finds out, they will have to be separated.

Some parents are not documented and afraid to mention their children.

Other people don’t understand the value of counting their children—even in suburban areas, Williamson says.

“They don’t realize when they start having overcrowded schools and don’t know why that was happening, that’s because lots of kids who were not accounted for when they were one or two are now in schools and in sports.”

Even legal immigrants are sometimes afraid to complete the census, Williamson continues, because “they are concerned they are in a mixed fam-

ily or that their paperwork won’t hold up.”

Of course, the census is mandated to count all residents of the United States.

As of Aug. 18 response rates for households in the state was at 65.8%. But the response rates in suburban communities has been substantially higher than in urban ones.

“Suburban communities tend to understand the value of taking the census and the importance; the outreach isn’t as necessary,” Williamson said.

In these communities, most people complete the census because they know it is a constitutional requirement and that a proper count is the basis of representation and of funding for federal programs.

In urban communities, where many people don’t realize how the services they use are funded, education is the first step in promoting census.

But, Williamson says, “even after that, there’s the issue of the fear and distrust of the government.” Whether from hearsay or by observation, they believe “that if they take the census and they do something the government wants them to do they are going to be adversely impacted.”

Although this has always been an issue, Williamson says, in the current decade “certain people in the current leadership have made people such as immigrants in particular and people of color feel that they are not valued, and with immigrants, that they are not welcome and if they are giving their information to the same government, that government might deport them.

It is very hard to separate the Census Bureau from ICE and from the IRS.” “What I do is try to debunk certain myths about the census so people can understand it is not about other parts of the government; it is purely statistical and confidential—your information remains within the Census Bureau and statistics are provided to ensure you get proper services,” Williamson says.

When she reaches out to people in these communities, she tells them that any issues they may have with the Internal Revenue Service or Immigration and Customs Enforcement are “separate from being counted, from letting the census know you exist.

Because you exist, regardless of your standing or status, you are eating, using services, sending your children to our schools, going to hospitals, and going to stores.”

With so much left to do, the census faces yet another big problem: the coronavirus has reduced the number of enumerators available to go door to door to households that have not completed the census. According to Hughes, the original 500 enumerators hired for the county dwindled to 300 due to the virus and its effects: retirees were concerned about contracting the virus and spreading it to their significant others; other people sought other employment because of the delay in going door-todoor; and even young and middle-aged

individuals were nervous about virus exposure and the potential to spread it to their households, many of which included elderly family members.

“Although the bureau continues to hire replacement workers, time is running out for extensive training, so the reduced workforce seems to be what we have to work with until Sept. 30,” Hughes wrote. As a consequence of the reduction in time and number of enumerators, they will be making only two visits to a household before moving on rather than the original projected five visits.

Today, making sure the census is completed involves a broad community effort, in tandem with the Census Bureau and centered on complete count committees, which the Census Bureau website describes as “a broad spectrum of government and community leaders from advocacy, education, business, healthcare, and elected officials” who “develop and implement a 2020 Census awareness campaign based upon their knowledge of the local community.”

The efforts in the Trenton area are illustrative of the communal effort to obtain as large a census count as possible. A group of nonprofit partners have been working together to promote the census, including Arm in Arm, Children’s Futures, the Latino Merchants Association, A Better Way, the YMCA of Greater Mercer County, Shiloh Baptist Church, Isles, and the United Way. “It’s been wonderful working with all of the other nonprofits—it’s a collaboration of nonprofits all trying to

achieve the same thing,” says Terry West, community development specialist for the Office of the Executive in Mercer County. They have also gotten houses of worship to share census messaging during their virtual services.

The complete count committees have been promoting self-response, via telephone, hard copy, or online, and then enumeration is supposed to help fill in the gaps. Then in mid-August the census bureau’s enumeration teams, who know exactly which addresses haven’t responded, took over with door-to-door efforts.

Early on, West and his community helpers were using lists of registered voters from the superintendent of elections to knock on doors in Chambersburg, now a predominantly Spanish-speaking community with many undocumented immigrants from Central America.

“As we were out there we noticed dozens of houses in Chambersburg [not on their list] where there were families and started to focus on those on the second wave in early March,” West says.

In an effort to reach the occupants of these residences, the complete count committee also did an ad campaign based on community stakeholders widely familiar to different parts of the Trenton community: for example, a board member for Trent House and for Mercer Cemetery from the Polish community and the coordinator of Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market to

reach a younger generation.

Similarly, they designed door hangers with a Trenton resident and her son on one side and the director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County with his son.

“We spent time thinking about the best way, in the shortest amount of time, to grab attention, promote the census, and let people know that it’s necessary and safe,” West says.

They also initiated a bilingual postcard campaign where they hand-wrote messages to those hardest to count.

Helping them out were the League of Women Voters; A Better Way, whose executive director, Perry Shaw, was instrumental in getting the cards completed, labeled, and mailed; and the Latino Merchants Association, which covered the Spanish-speaking community. They successfully sent out 30,000 postcards during the pandemic.

The Trenton committee has also been very active on social media, particularly in Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where they are currently doing a countdown noting the number of days until the end of the census.

Each day they feature a different area where census data translates to money for community services: healthcare, public education, community block grants, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

As restrictions have started to lighten, census officials and volunteers in Trenton, armed with tablets to enable immediate completion of

the census and census literature, have met with people outdoors, near senior centers, low-income apartment complexes, and food banks.

“Our best efforts have been going to food distribution sites, where we bring gift bags and talk about the importance of the census,” West says. Using this approach, they can usually convince 30 to 50 individuals and on occasion 100 to participate in the census.

“Sometimes giving people something helps them realize we are with you on this and they would at least listen to us and have a conversation,” Williamson says.

Among senior communities understanding where the dollars go, whether for food programs, Medicaid, or highways, is a motivator to complete the census, Gittens says.

For West, a very effective technique has involved explaining the amount of money that comes back to the community per person who is counted in the census. approximately $1,800 per year per person for 10 years. For a family of five, that comes to $90,000.

Although officials from the Census Bureau have expressed confidence that they have enough employees to complete their job by Sept. 30, Williamson does not agree.

“At this point the people who have not responded did not intend to respond—now we’re back to the people who are not doing it either because of misunderstanding of the importance of the census or fear or distrust of the government,” Williamson says.

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September 2020 | Hamilton Post21

Lights out (for now) for energy aggregation

By Rob Anthes

Hamilton Township will take a break from its energy aggregation program once its current contract expires in September.

Currently in the second round of the electricity-bundling program, Hamilton Township will not go out to bid for a third phase, Mayor Jeff Martin said. The township’s energy consultant, Gabel and Associates, informed the township in late July that disruptions in the energy market due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant the township likely would not find prices better than the ones offered by utility company PSE&G. The firm recommended Hamilton Township not seek bids at this time, advice that Martin took.

Residents currently participating in the Hamilton Township Community Energy Aggregation Program will receive a notice from PSE&G in August, the township said, and will be transitioned back to electricity provided by PSE&G, effective with their September meter read dates.

Normally, customers of utilities like PSE&G receive electricity at a fixed rate. Energy aggregation allows local governments to bundle electricity accounts—such as the ones belonging to residents—in order to

seek bids for cheaper energy rates.

Electricity is then sold to this group of accounts together, at a bulk rate lower than one an individual customer could receive. Hamilton Township officials have said residents together have saved millions of dollars since the program started under then-Mayor Kelly Yaede in 2016.

Martin wondered, though, just how in demand the HCEA program is, considering how many residents did not participate in it. The effectiveness of energy aggregation—and total savings received from it— diminishes as residents exercise their right to opt-out of the energy aggregation agreement.

In late 2016, for example, the township entered into an agreement with South Jersey Energy that township officials said would generate more than $8.5 million in savings for residents. The actual savings of the 21-month deal wound up being far less—a total of just more than $1 million—due in part to many residents choosing to not participate.

In November 2018, with the South Jersey Energy deal ending, the township conducted a public bid for new aggregation proposals. The township said the offers it received were higher than the price offered by South Jersey Energy, and officials

decided to return to PSE&G instead.

The township tried energy aggregation again in March 2019, accepting a bid from Constellation NewEnergy to provide electricity to Hamiltonians at a bulk-buy price. The second phase began in June 2019 and ends this September.

A statement issued in 2019 by the township said Constellation NewEnergy offered a price about 12 percent lower than PSE&G’s electricity supply price, and more than six percent below the projected PSE&G price during the 15 months of the contract.

The township estimated the average resident would save $90 during the 15-month contract, with a townshipwide savings of $3 million. Martin did not say what the actual savings of this round of energy aggregation were.

Since the start, the energy aggregation program caused confusion and frustration for some. With the entire township automatically enrolled, residents who wanted to continue receiving electricity from PSE&G directly had to fill out a postage-paid “opt-out” card and mail it. Those who missed the opt-out deadline found themselves enrolled anyway.

Other residents said they enjoyed their experience on the energy aggregation plan.

“My dealings with Constellation

regarding delivery charge adjustments and general customer service were surprisingly positive,” Hamilton resident Jim Fry said in a Facebook comment. “Constellation representatives were informative, helpful, patient and prompt with information and follow-up calls to provide me with updated information. A $90 savings may not sound like much to some customers, but to me, this will be a significant change from aggregation discounts.”

Martin said he knows both experiences, with he and his wife opting out of the program in the second round after joining the first time.

“Personally I just like working with PSE&G, and I felt like we had a better experience with them,” Martin said.

Still, Martin said he won’t rule out a return to energy aggregation, depending on where the energy market goes and what township residents want.

“If Gabel thinks we should pursue Phase Three, they’ll reach out to us,” Martin said. “Then they’ll go before council to present, and the town will reach out to residents to see what they think.”

Contact editor ROB ANTHES: ranthes@ communitynews.org, (609) 396-1511, ext.

124, facebook.com/robanthes, twitter.com/ robanthes.

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SPORTS

Local minor leaguers chase dream despite setbacks who might give him one last shot.

“There’s still a chance, you never know,” Pugliese said. “There was a guy in our league who got picked up from the Bridgewater Blasters. I’m doing it for fun, I’ve got nothing else to do, I go down to the beach here and there. You never know, if it does happen where someone liked me, I would sign to play somewhere. Until then I’ll enjoy my time with the Patriots.”

It’s a sensible attitude for the newlywed, who just bought a house in Hamilton. He is taking things as they come while working toward a Health & Physical Education degree at Kean University.

But Pugliese feels for guys like Alu, a teammate of Peroni’s on Washington’s Auburn Doubledays Class-A short season team. The Princeton Day School/ Boston College product was gearing for his second season after batting .257 with five doubles, two triples, a homer and 25 RBI in 45 games last year.

He was ready to build on that when the virus hit.

“At first I was kind of shell shocked,” Alu said. “I hadn’t done the no-baseball thing in my whole life. Now I’m kind of into that high school mode where in the off-season you just gotta get better somehow. There’s no coordinated team prac-

By Rich Fisher

Like it did with everything else in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse effect on minor league baseball this summer. That was particularly true amongst Hamilton players, as township residents Anthony Peroni, James Pugliese and Jake Alu each suffered in various ways.

The worst scenario occurred with Steinert graduate Peroni, who was one of numerous players in the Washington Nationals farm system released strictly due to budget issues.

The former Mercer County Community College standout never saw it coming.

“It was one of the more blindsiding events of my life,” Peroni said. “We released around 50 to 60 guys, and it was just all based on pay cuts. It really hurt for a while, now I’m trying to keep moving forward.”

Steinert grad Pugliese, a former Cubs farmhand now with the Somerset Patriots, felt sympathy for his younger friend.

“A guy like him was released for no reason other than the virus,” Pugliese said. “It wasn’t performance based.

There were thousands of guys released

COVID-19 has added a complicating factor to the pro baseball careers of Hamilton natives Jake Alu, James Pugliese and Anthony Peroni. (Photo by Rich Fisher.)

because they’re trying to limit the minor league affiliates and cut the teams down so organizations are paying a lot less people. He was one of them, which is sad.”

Pugliese’s situation is only slightly better. Now 28, his window to make the Major Leagues is nearly closed.

After eight years with the Cubs, the pitcher was released in 2018 and signed with the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. It’s an independent league, and while Pugliese is mostly playing for enjoyment, part of him still hopes to be seen by a pro scout

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tices like in college. So you kind of go back to your old gritty days of high school and middle school and just do what you can.”

Alu had an interesting debut season at Auburn. He began by hitting well, only to discover that when the pitching got tougher to handle, changes had to occur.

“I definitely realized I needed to make adjustments, and that was hard because I was having success,” Alu said. “I was talking to the coaches and going forward I needed to change some things. So it was tough in my head to say, ‘Hey I’m gonna change this,’ when it wasn’t failing me. I had a little struggle in the middle, and then at the end of the year I started figuring things out and putting it all together.

Hopefully it plays into next season.”

He was, of course, hoping it would play into this season. Anxious to keep that momentum going, Alu was suddenly put on hold with the rest of the MILB universe.

As a veteran, Pugliese feels the 23-year-old can still see his way through it.

“I think it does set him back,” Pugliese said. “But if you have a positive mindset and if you’re still with an affiliate, you still have to grid. You have to know how to overcome this, it’s something nobody has ever experienced before.

“It’s just the way that he approaches it during the summer and winter; to continue working toward his craft and just improving on his ability so he doesn’t miss a full year. If he still swings, still throws, hopefully he doesn’t have too much of a difference into that next season.”

Alu has done what he can. Upon arriving home after the season was put on hold, he took some swings and maintained the shape that he was in entering spring training. Once the season shut down permanently, he kicked it up a notch.

“I tried to take it to the next level,” he said. “I wanted to get a little bigger, a little stronger, a little faster and just go all in as if I was getting ready for spring training again but now I’ve got a bunch of time to get ready.”

And while it’s not the greatest scenario, Alu tries to put a positive spin on things.

“It’s definitely tough, it does set you back,” he said. “But a bunch of infielders got released ahead of me. So it could also play into my favor. When you get back down there you gotta perform. You lost a year but there’s less guys ahead of you.”

He is saddened, however, by the fact that one of the released players was his buddy Peroni.

“That hurt me so bad, the situation was unbelievable,” Alu said. “It was like a crapshoot, and he got caught in it.”

Peroni, also 23, got the news on May 29 while playing golf with his dad at Mercer Oaks East. Suffice it to say, it was a memorable day for all the wrong reasons.

“It was so random,” Peroni said. “It was the 18th hole, and it was already a bad day out there with the way I was playing. I’ll never forget it. It’s pretty tough to take.

“It hurt for a little while because the situation wasn’t based on perfor-

mance, it’s just things that are going on with baseball right now and the virus and everything. It was weird, we’re in spring training, you’re all into it, ramped up and ready to go and then a couple days later you’re back home and kind of a letdown feeling.”

The letdown got even worse with his release shortly thereafter. The snakebitten Peroni had several bouts of bad luck after being drafted out of MCCC in 2017. Shortly after reporting to the Nationals, he suffered a back injury that limited him to two at-bats that season.

He struggled with Rookie League pitching in 2018 and returned to Auburn last year, where he hit .216 with two homers and 13 RBI. “My first full healthy year was a slow year, a lot of learning,” Peroni said. “I feel like my following year is when I really put my feet on the ground as a professional and had a good base of what I needed to do. This year, I felt I had a really good camp going. I felt I had a really good month. There was a lot of buzz so it’s disappointing.”

Peroni is not giving up. He talks every day with his agent to formulate a plan moving forward. After taking a few weeks off to clear his head, Peroni began working out and taking swings whenever possible. He also worked as a coach with the Hamilton A’s travel program.

“It felt good to be around the game again, talking to people,” he said. “We had a good time and it brought out that urge to play. That itch. It came back that week and now I’ve been itching to get back on the field.”

Pugliese has never lost that itch, which is why he is still making the 50-minute drive to Bridgewater just to play home games. His family and inlaws are regular spectators, and they got to watch Pugliese pitch several times this year as the league set up a 13-game season to be played on weekends.

He also stays in shape during the offseason, conducting pitching lessons while throwing against a screen out back or in his unfinished basement.

Pugliese is hoping he might still be signed and become a feel-good stor y. He knows that’s a long-shot, however, and is prepping for life after the diamond.

“Hopefully I’ll become a gym teacher somewhere local,” Pugliese said. “I’ll probably play one or two more seasons after this summer. I would give it that.

I would love to play for the Patriots another two years, but if I got picked up I would love to play there, too.”

And while he was upset at not having a full season this year, Pugliese’s heart mainly went out to guys like Alu and, especially, Peroni.

“I really felt for the guys who were with an affiliate, who are playing with an organization and trying to make the major leagues,” he said. “My situation is different playing in an independent league. Obviously I still want to get to that point, but it hits a lot harder for guys who have worked their whole life to get signed to play pro ball in an organization and all of a sudden their career is cut short due to a virus. It’s not even performance-based. It’s completely out of their control.”

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September 2020 | Hamilton Post25

‘Fortunate Four’ lead H-NB Babe Ruth to state title game

By Rich Fisher

Call them the Fortunate Four.

In a pandemic-plagued summer where most folks were scrambling for activities in an effort to maintain normalcy, the Hamilton Township quartet of Nate Mains, Mac Meara, Isaac Acosta and Austin Boddie got to participate in two high-level baseball tournaments.

All four were key components of the Hamilton-Northern Burlington 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Star team, which reached the state championship game before falling to Atlantic Shore on Aug. 12.

In July, Mains, Meara and Acosta were part of the Dirty Boyz Liedtka Trucking (Hamilton West) team that won the North Trenton-Bordentown region en route to a Sweet 16 berth in the state-wide Last Dance World Series tournament. Boddie played for the NJ Tigers (Trenton Catholic Academy), who fell to the Dirty Boyz in the regional final.

Those opportunities came after their high school seasons were wiped out by COVID-19 concerns. Not only did the tournaments give them competitive baseball, they allowed the players to gain a new gratitude toward the game.

“This whole COVID experience has made me appreciate baseball so much

Mac Meara, Isaac Acosta, Austin Boddie and Nate Mains experienced two high-level baseball tournaments this summer. (Photo by Rich Fisher.)

more than I always have,” said Meara, who was H-NB’s top pitcher. “It has helped me learn never to take anything for granted.”

Boddie agreed, saying, “With all the concerns, it made me appreciate the game more because I missed it so much when we could not play.”

Acosta cherished the chance to play again, and felt the backdrops—which both featured huge crowds—made it

more special.

“It made me appreciate the beautiful game of baseball itself even more,” he said, “but also having good competitive games against some good teams added the cherry on top.”

For Mains, it was all about being in the dugout again, striving for a common cause.

“It really made me appreciate the moments you spend with your team,”

the standout catcher said. “Also, (you realize) that the next game or practice or even season is never guaranteed so I made sure to leave everything I had on the field each game.”

The tournaments provided different scenarios for the participants. In the Last Dance, they were their teams’ youngest players so playing time was scarce. But it gave them a chance to play at some big-time venues. The Dirty Boyz played three games at Trenton’s Arm & Hammer Park and one at Lakewood’s First Energy Park, while the Tigers played once at Arm & Hammer.

“Playing in minor league stadiums was such a cool experience,” Mains said. “Walking through the tunnels gave me a surreal feeling. Seeing the crowd in actual stadium seating was unlike anything else. From the jump, those games just had a different feeling than playing on a normal high school field.”

Acosta called it “an amazing experience; especially going to Trenton Thunder games since I was little and finally getting to play there for the first time.”

Meara also had a childhood wish realized.

“Being able to play in minor league parks for four straight games was awesome,” he said. “When I was younger I had always dreamed of playing at Trenton Thunder, and my dream came true this summer.”

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The Tigers lone opportunity to play at Arm & Hammer resulted in a 7-1 loss to Liedtka Trucking, but it was still a fun opportunity for Boddie.

“I was actually super excited when I heard we were playing West because I knew I was going against my brothers in Nate, Mac and Isaac,” he said. “There was definitely some trash talk going on between us, but in the end it is all just fun and games because this is the game we love and the game that brought us together and made us a family.”

That family all shared the same dugout during the Babe Ruth states at Switlik Park, and this time the quartet would see a lot more playing time.

Boddie felt he was well prepped.

“It was amazing to play in the Last Dance with my school team, they showed me great leadership skills,” he said. “That prepared me for my short season with my Hamilton Northern Burlington team.”

The bad news this year was that Babe Ruth Baseball opted not to have the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament or World Series due to COVIDrelated travel concerns. It was a gut punch to H-NB, which had reached the regional finals as both 13- and 14-year-olds and came scant outs away from winning each year.

“One of our big goals was to go to the World Series before it was all said and done,” H-NB manager Jim Petersohn said. “The first big hit we really had after the high school season was learning there wasn’t going to be the regionals or World Series. Emotionally I think it took everything away from kids and parents. We had been regional finalists two years in a row.

We really felt this year was gonna be our year. So, they had to refocus and start to appreciate just playing the game of baseball versus their team goals for the entire season.”

H-NB opened with a 15-0 win over Mount Laurel and Meara threw a onehitter in a 5-0 victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro. One of the best Babe Ruth rivalries in the state resumed in the winner’s bracket final, when Atlantic Shore posted a walk-off, 11-10 win in eight innings.

After taking a 10-2 victory over West Windsor, H-NB needed to win twice against Atlantic Shore in the championship round. Meara had another solid outing in a 7-6 win, when H-NB scored three runs in the final two innings. Disaster struck in the title game when Atlantic Shore erased a 3-0 deficit with eight sixth-inning runs for an 8-4 victory.

In comparing and contrasting the events, Mains said, “The two tournaments really had some intense games.

After each pitch you could hear the crowd exhale and see how laser focused everyone on the team was.

“The big difference for me were the stakes that I was playing for. In the state tournament it was my last time playing for H-NB and I wanted to go out with a bang, to make my last season memorable. With the Dirty Boyz, I was seeing that same feeling go through the seniors. I did everything I could when I got in the game to allow them to have

the best final experiences with Hamilton West that they could.”

Although the Last Dance participants did not play much for the Dirty Boyz, the fact they were able to get into a baseball rhythm prior to the state tournament proved invaluable.

Mains hit .313 with a .522 on-base percentage and four RBI, while earning rave reviews around Switlik Park for his defensive prowess. Acosta hit .333 with a team-high eight RBI and two doubles, Meara was the team’s top pitcher and Boddie had a .444 on-base percentage and three runs scored.

“Defensively Nate just got a lot of experience, and he’s like a sponge when it comes to learning the game,” Petersohn said. “Isaac just really matured a lot this year. Isaac was a little injury prone before this, and I think he took care of his body much better in the off-season. Mac really matured and turned into a fine pitcher. The two outings he had were incredible for us.”

One of the team’s top offensive players was another Hamiltonian. Chris Nodeland hit .429 with a grand slam, seven RBI and six runs scored. His dad Brian, an assistant coach, was also key as he ran practices in Petersohn’s absence.

“Chris is a very hard worker, he spends a lot of time in the gym and for a smaller kid he’s pretty well put together,” Petersohn said. “It made him a faster, stronger player. The grand slam he hit was a no-doubter.

He hit the ball very well throughout the whole tournament. He had some very big hits for us.”

Although he had just seven at-bats, township product Noah Rivera made the most of them with four hits, two RBI and two runs scored. He also pitched a one-hitter with eight strikeouts in the four-inning win over Mount Laurel.

Rounding out the Hamilton contingent was Billy Sikorski, who went 2-for-6.

H-NB’s heartbreak of losing to Atlantic Shore was similar to the Last Dance, when the Dirty Boyz rallied from a 6-1 deficit and put the tying run on third with two outs in the seventh before falling to Brooklawn.

The setbacks could not take away from the overall experience.

“Both teams did amazing,” Meara said. “Both of the losses were pretty tough knowing how far we made it and how close we were. In the end though, I had a blast with both teams and loved it, I’m really going to miss playing at Switlik and for the Dirty Boyz. I had a really close bond with some of those seniors and they will definitely be missed.”

Mains and Acosta felt likewise.

“Both the Dirty Boyz and HNB players are all brothers to me and we all played the game hard and with a lot of heart,” Mains said. “The experience was extremely rewarding, I am very thankful for coach (Marc) Moceri for giving me the opportunity to play in the Last Dance tournament and also very grateful to have a state tournament in this crazy year.”

“It meant a lot,” Acosta said. “Knowing that I had the opportunity to play baseball during these crazy times is amazing and I’m truly grateful for everyone who helped us have a season this year.”

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Little Lads 12s grateful after district title win

By Rich Fisher

The Hamilton Little Lads 12-yearold All Stars are going out the same way they came in—as champions.

After HLL did not play a recreation season due to COVID-19, the Lightning learned three weeks beforehand that Cal Ripken Baseball would be staging the District One and state tournaments.

“We had one week to get the tryouts going and two weeks to practice as a team before the first district game took place,” manager Al DeLellis said. “We had a good core group who had been together since they were eight, we practiced three times a week, got them a few scrimmage games. We went through a little bit of a curve, had some kids playing in some positions, but we were ready to go in that first game.”

It might have seemed otherwise when Hamilton fell behind host Northern Burlington, 3-1 in the first inning. But in the third, Dayne Bates slugged a three-run homer and Hamilton never trailed again in going 3-0 and winning the district title for the first time since they were 9-year-olds.

“They won it their first year,” said DeLellis, who served as the team’s assistant coach in previous years. “We had some opportunities. As 10s we finished third and we had a tough year as 11s, but it was great to win it the last year.”

The victory sent the Lightning

The Hamilton Little Lads 12-year-old All-Star team advanced to the state tournament after winning the District One title in August. Pictured are (back) Manager Al DeLellis, Coach Steve Maglowski, Coach Bryan Shaffer, Coach Mike Bates, Coach Chris Whalen, (third row) Drew Maglowski, Chase Muni, Dayne Bates, Nick Colella, (second row) Nate Flansburg, Anthony DeLellis, PJ Lanausse, Christian Morency, (front) Chase Lau, Derek Anson, Christopher Whalen, Arjun Hsu, Jimmy Musser and Marcello Pandolfini.

into the states in Delran, where they opened on Aug. 22.

Bates, who has been with the team throughout, was happy to end the district drought.

“It was frustrating, mostly because I knew we had the talent to win, we had

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the pieces,” he said. “So, it was definitely good to win it this year.”

There will be no regional tournament or World Series, but Dayne was hoping for a strong showing in states, saying, “I think we’ll take our momentum from districts and we can do well.”

The way this year’s districts were set up, the participants played a roundrobin to decide seedings for the final round. Hamilton opened with a 7-5 win over NB and defeated New Egypt, 16-0, to go 2-0 in the round robin.

That gave the Lightning a bye as it awaited the Northern-New Egypt survivor.

In the championship game, PJ Lanausse was outstanding for five innings as Hamilton took a 3-0 lead.

And since the Lighting had to wait so long for their second championship, Mother Nature tested their patience even further.

The sky opened prior to the sixth inning, forcing the game to be suspended on Monday night. Much like the 2007 Phillies-Rays World Series Game 5—played before these guys were even born—the game to decide the title couldn’t resume until two days later as it rained Tuesday as well.

“I feel like if it was any average game we wouldn’t have been as motivated to come back the next day,” Bates said.

“But we were fighting for the banner so that’s all we needed to really push.”

When play resumed, Bates requested that he be able to take the mound and close it out after not pitching in the previous games.

“He’s actually our ace,” DeLellis said. “He’s been pitching with some arm issues, so we had some other kids helping out on the mound. That day he told me, ‘Coach I want the ball.’ He said his arm felt alright, and he did the job.”

Lanausse was the team’s top district pitcher, going 2-0, while Derek Anson

notched a win and Christian Morency and Christopher Whalen threw in relief.

Bates and Nick Colella were the team’s top hitters at .667, while Lanausse and Marcello Pandolfini each hit .600. Lanausse led the team with five hits. Arjun Hsu hit .400, Anson batted. .333 and Whalen checked in at .300.

Rounding out the team were Nathan Flansburg, Anthony DeLellis, Chase Lau, James Musser, Andrew Maglowski and Chase Muni.

The tournament’s biggest hit undoubtedly came from Bates, as it completely turned things around for the Lightning.

“Dayne hit that homer, and we never looked back,” DeLellis said.

Bates agreed, saying, “It was a big push of momentum for us. After that, everyone was really fired up.”

And while Bates was not trying to hit a homer, he was hoping to hit one. It makes more sense to let him explain it.

“It was in the back of my mind, but I tried not to think about that,” he said.

“Normally if you’re swinging for the fences you wind up striking out. I just tried to keep my fundamentals and tried to hit the ball.

“My first at-bat I had a double against that kid, but I knew I could put one out of the park. It was a bigger park than we’re used to so everyone was saying no one could hit it out of there. I wanted to prove them wrong.”

He did just that, and his teammates took it from there. Despite not playing competitive ball all season, Hamilton was impressive in the way it came together.

“It just shows that everyone has been putting in the work in the off-season and really wanted to be here and that’s big for us,” Bates said. “We have a lot of players that really care enough to want to win.

“I was a little worried we might not play at all. That would have been hard since I’m used to having All-Stars every season. It would have just been more hard work in the off-season to try and stay in shape. It would have been hard.”

Indeed it would have, since the desire to work hard often lessens when there is no reward.

“That’s what the hard work is all for, to win a championship,” Bates said.

“That’s why we’re there.”

The district crown continued a legacy of success for the Little Lads, whose 10-year-old team reached the World Series last year. Unfortunately, last year’s 10s were unable to defend their district and state titles as 11s this season, as too many players had family commitments by the time it was decided there would be tournaments.

“I’m just glad we were able to get the districts in for these kids in their last year,” DeLellis said. “It meant a lot to them.”

It sure did.

“Even just having the practices you really appreciate it a lot more now,” Bates said. “You know how lucky you are to be playing.”

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Concussions: what you need to know JONATHAN RASKOW ASK THE DOCTOR

Concerned about your health?

Experts from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton are reday to answer readers’ questions. Send your questions to askthedoc@rwjbh.org.

What is a concussion? A concussion is defined as a “trauma-induced alteration in mental status that may or may not involve loss of consciousness.” This can be caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move quickly back and forth.

A concussion can also occur without a direct hit to the head, such as with whiplash. Concussion signs and symptoms can appear immediately or not be noticed until days or even weeks after the injury.

What are common symptoms of concussion? Symptoms vary by individual, and someone may have any combination of the following - confusion, headache, vision disturbances (double or blurry vision), dizziness or imbalance, nausea or vomiting, memory loss, ringing ears, difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to light, loss of smell or taste, trouble falling asleep, increase of symptoms with mental and/or physical activity after hitting one’s head.

What are some ways to reduce the risk of concussions? General tips: Wear a seatbelt when driving or riding in a vehicle, remove hazards around the home that contribute to falls, and use handrails and safety gates around stairs. Never use outdated or damaged protective equipment, avoid uneven or unpaved surfaces when cycling, and do not dive in water less than nine feet deep or in above ground swimming pools.

Sports tips: Use protective head gear and helmets appropriate to the sport, be sure your headgear is ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) approved and fits properly, and always use proper form when participating in collision/contact sports.

Management if a concussion occurs: Anyone who suspects they have a concussion, or, if you suspect someone of having a concussion, removal from the activity immediately is most important. It’s important to allot time to heal. Another concussion sustained while the brain is healing can result in long-term problems or even death in rare cases. Only a health care professional experienced with concussion management, such as an athletic trainer or physician, can tell if a concussion has occurred and assist with a safe return to play/work. Every concussion is different for each individual, thus no two plans are exactly the same and emphasis should be placed on treating each person’s/athlete’s unique set of symptoms.

Treatment/recovery: Your licensed healthcare professional will guide you.

At RWJBarnabas Health, we follow our Concussion Pillars for Recovery! In general, here’s how to address common concerns: Low level exercise to tolerance, such as a walking program (when cleared for starting activity), avoiding any increase in symptoms.

Restore vision and ocular-motor control if deficits arise.

Cervical and spinal physical therapy if it is determined that symptoms are stemming from the neck.

Seek behavioral/cognitive help from a professional when needed.

Complete health-care professional guided graduated return to activity before full clearance.

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The Lunch Bunch: Virtual Cooking for the PreK Crowd. Also Friday, Sept. 25. (609) 584-5900. Encourage adventurous eating by pairing up with your preschooler in your kitchen. Simple recipes and helpful tips on creating positive mealtimes. Virtual Class Format. Noon to 1 p.m.

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Plant Based Diets for Wellness: Beginners. (609) 584-5900. Explore how a more plant-forward feast can save money, support the environment, mind body, and soul. Virtual Class Format. Call to register. 6:30 to 7:15 p.m.

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Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners.

Culinary Nutrition in the Kitchen. (609) 584-5900. Kick off your week with the most up-to-date, evidenced-based nutrition research, recipes, and interviews with MDs, allied health professionals and chefs. Virtual Class Format. 11:15 to 12:00 p.m.

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BOB SHERMAN, JR. FIRELINE

Hamilton Township Duty Chiefs responded to 140 incidents in July.

Included were 21 fires, 13 Rescue and EMS calls, 32 hazardous conditions with no fire, four service calls, nine good intent calls, 60 false alarm or false calls and one special type incident.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 2–Mercerville Fire Company responded to 129 incidents in July.

Included in the calls were five building fires, four cooking fires, one chimney fire, one passenger vehicle fire, six other type fires, 21 Rescue and Emergency Medical Service incidents, 13 gas leaks, two power lines down, 12 hazardous conditions with no fire, four service calls, 16 good intent calls and 44 fire alarms or false calls. As of the end of July, Station 12 has responded to 735 incidents.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 3–Rusling Hose Company responded to 108 incidents in July.

Included were five building fires, three cooking fires, five other type fires, 36 Emergency Medical Service incidents, two COVID-19 response, seven motor vehicle accidents with injuries, two motor vehicle/pedestrian accidents, two motor vehicle accidents with no injuries three extrication of victim from motor vehicle accidents, eleven gas leaks, one power line down, three hazardous conditions with no fire, five service calls. three good intent calls, 16 false alarm

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 3 Truck Company 13 Lt. Joe Pushman, Driver/ Operator Mike Sanna, Sideman Jeff Peoples, Tillerman Brandon Leese and Fire Commissioner Gil Lugossy pose with Truck 13. (Photo by Bob Sherman, Jr.)

or false calls and one other type assignment. As of the end of July, Station 13 has responded to 639 incidents.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 4–Hamilton and Enterprise Fire Companies responded to 119 incidents in July. Included were five building fires, four cooking fires, nine other type fires, one COVID-19 response, 27 Emergency Medical Service incidents, seven motor vehicle accidents with injuries, one motor vehicle accident with no injuries, one motor vehicle/pedestrian accident, two extrications of victims from motor

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Hamilton Township Fire District No. 5–DeCou Fire Company responded to 37 incidents in July.

Included were one building fire, one passenger vehicle fire, two other type fires, eight Emergency Medical Service incidents, three motor vehicle accidents with injuries, one motor vehicle/ pedestrian accident, five service calls, three mutual aid cover assignments, three good intent calls, eight false alarm or false calls and one other type incident. As of the end of July, Station 15 has responded to 278 incidents.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 6–White Horse Fire Company responded to 129 incidents in July.

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nine service calls, two mutual aid cover assignments, 10 good intent calls, 29 false alarms or false calls and one other type assignment. As of the end of July, Station 16 has responded to 725 incidents.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 7–Nottingham Fire Company responded to 147 incidents during July.

Included were three building fires, six cooking fires, one passenger vehicle fire, five other type fires, 23 Emergency Medical Service incidents, five motor vehicle accidents with injuries, one search for person on land, eight gas leaks, two power lines down, six hazardous conditions with no fire, eleven service calls, two mutual aid cover assignments, 16 good intent calls and 58 false alarm or false calls. As of the end of July, Station 17 has responded to 757 incidents.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 8–Colonial Fire Company responded to 86 incidents in July.

Included were five building fires, two cooking fires, four other type fires, 19 Emergency Medical Service incidents, four motor vehicle accidents with injuries, one motor vehicle/pedestrian accident, one extrication of victim from motor vehicle accident, one lock-in, three gas leaks, one power line down, eight hazardous conditions with no fire, four service calls. two mutual aid cover assignments, four good intent calls, 24 false alarm or false calls, two fire prevention activities and one special type incident. As of the end of July, Station 18 has responded to 447 incidents.

Hamilton Township Fire District No. 9–Groveville Fire Company responded to 91 incidents in July.

They include three building fires, four cooking fires, one vehicle fire, three other type fires, 17 Emergency Medical Service incidents, five motor vehicle accidents with injuries, two motor vehicle/pedestrian accidents, one extrication of victim from motor vehicle accident, one search for person on land, one hazardous condition with no fire, one power line down, three service calls, one mutual aid cover assignment, 17 good intent calls,30 false alarm or false calls and one other type incident. As of the end of July, Station 19 has responded to 583 incidents.

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The conveyor belt of yesteryear, the thrill ride of tomorrow?

PETER DABBENE COMPLEX SIMPLICITY

Amazon.com has made headlines with its apparent interest in purchasing some or all of JCPenny’s assets on the cheap, particularly the bankrupt company’s real estate holdings.

Scores of vacant shopping malls across America offer similar opportunities, and most observers see this as a quick, inexpensive way for Amazon to amass more distribution centers for deliveries to customers.

But the idea has also been floated that Amazon might develop a pick-up option for its customers, blending a little bit of the dying mall model with the modern standard of a cuttingedge, logistical powerhouse. The idea of a warehouse a customer could call on for in-person, retail purchases brought to mind a fond shopping memory from childhood (and other than visits to Toys “R” Us, there aren’t many of those).

In the late 70s and early 80s, there were three catalogs a New York kid needed to consult before compiling a final, official Wish List for Santa: the Sears Wish Book, the JCPenny Christmas Book, and the Service Merchandise Catalog.

The Sears Wish Book, in particular, was a kid’s dream, a massive tome filled with pages of toys displayed in various scenes against elaborate backdrops. JCPenny’s catalog was a step down in size and ambition, but together these two provided the tools to reference, and cross-reference, nearly any toy in existence.

(I took a brief trip down memory lane at the site christmas.musetechnical.com, where scanned copies of these catalogs, dating back to 1940, can be browsed. Early editions of the catalogs are fascinating historical

documents; how else might a person born in the 21st century ever know of the wonders of “Jamarette” pajamas that have been “Sanforized” and feature “Nosegay” print trim? Or the two pages of Sears-approved laxatives like “Gran” and “Hinkle Pills,” along with “Jayne’s Vermifuge,” a liquid that eliminates “large round worms” in your child? The catalog describes “large round worms” as a possible cause of irritability, fidgeting, and nose-picking in children. Another possible cause?

Childhood.)

Although it did sometimes fill in a rare gap in the Sears and JCPenny toy offerings, Service Merchandise was less about making a list for Santa, and more about the experience of buying a catalog item in person. As I recall, one browsed the showroom, wrote down the item numbers desired on an order form, paid at the register, and then waited for the show to begin.

Granted, it wasn’t much of a show by today’s standards, but for a kid in the early 80s, it was the height of excitement to wait at the counter and watch as a small, airport-style conveyor belt rolled out people’s orders from some mysterious back room. A factory, a warehouse, the local branch of Santa’s workshop... who knew what they were doing back there? And could a mall converted to an Amazon warehouse/retail combo recreate that experience?

Amazon may not be looking to borrow strategies from the now-defunct Service Merchandise, but what if the idea were reversed? Instead of goods being directed to the customer by conveyor belt, customers could hop onto a conveyor belt and ride to whatever department they chose, where their selected items would be waiting for them.

Borrowing again from airport imagery (and The Jetsons), imagine moving sidewalks that weave throughout

different showroom areas, at slow, medium, or fast speeds. For those who want to get their exercise in, there are also lanes that continuously move backwards, treadmill-style, requiring you to expend some calories before you spend your dollars.

For all its flashy rides and roller coasters, The Mall of America in Minnesota hasn’t quite managed to integrate its indoor attractions into the shopping experience. It’s a problem I’ve solved in my future ideal Amazon megastore, however—customers can step off (or dive off, from the faster-moving belts) at any showroom exit, but for more fun and easier buying, each visitor has a long-range laser scanner pistol to aim and shoot at the bar codes of whatever items catch their fancy. Think quick, and hit the mark before your chance is gone— and watch for “flash sale” targets that pop up briefly before disappearing; if you’re really fast, you can earn up to 10% off your order.

The arcade aspect will appeal to competitive types, as the number of hits and misses is tallied and posted throughout the arena—I mean, store.

Don’t get twitchy with your trigger finger, though—”impulse buys” are subject to a 5% restocking fee.

Go-Karts include a required pit stop at the automotive showroom. An indoor bobsled ride ends at the winter clothing department, and converts in summer to a water slide that spits you out into a bathing suit display.

Visit the special Game Show Area, where, in a nod to the early 80s incarnation of TV’s Wheel of Fortune, you can buy a pre-loaded gift card for any amount, then watch as robotic spokesmodels and a composite hologram “host” introduce an array of overpriced items. The 30-second timer starts, and you can finally live your Game Show dream by saying out loud, “I’d like to buy the ceramic pig for

$112.” Spend down to zero, like a kid cashing in tickets at Chuck E. Cheese, with our own assortment of inexpensive stickers, pencils, erasers, and candy.

It’s not all about making money, though, and Amazon.com has never fully embraced its opportunity to raise awareness of its namesake river’s fragile ecology. Instead of simple and elegantly staged indoor showrooms, bring the rainforest to customers, a la Rainforest Cafe. But in place of the restaurant chain’s animatronic animals and fake vegetation, a joint venture with Six Flags Safari or a nearby zoo could deliver the real thing. Most malls have high ceilings (“canopies”) and fountains (“watering holes”) that could house toucans, monkeys, sloths, and other Amazonian creatures. Sign a lengthy waiver and zipline over the anaconda’s water habitat. Drop a biodegradable beanbag into the hole on the island target, and $5 will be donated to the Amazon Conservation Association.

The American Dream Mall in East Rutherford boasts an impressive shopping distraction with its indoor ski slope, but by implementing my very modest and eminently practical recommendations, Amazon (or some other company) could make the actual act of shopping fun, for me and a lot of other people who currently see it as a chore. Catalog shopping is quaint, and online shopping is convenient, but maybe it’s time for some new adjectives to enter the mix of consumer options. Bold, bizarre, exciting... maybe even a little dangerous?

If it all comes to fruition, I may find myself stringing together a certain sequence of words for the first time: “Honey, can we go shopping?”

Peter Dabbene is a Hamilton-based writer.

His website is peterdabbene.com. His books can be purchased at amazon.com.

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Siding • Sun Rooms • Custom Decks Sam Giordano

Lic#13VH02075700

609-893-3724

www.giordanosconstruction.com

VICTOR’S VICTOR’S LANDSCAPING

LANDSCAPING FALL CLEAN »» CLEAN UPS UP LAWNCARE CARE »» LAWN TREEREMOVAL REMOVAL »» TREE FENCING »» FENCING PATIOS & PATIOS »» PAVERS LAMINATE&& »» LAMINATE WOODFLOOR FLOOR WOOD

CALL CALL TODAY TODAY FOR A FREE FOR A FREE ESTIMATE ESTIMATE

609-977-3284 609-977-3284

FullyInsured Insured Fully NJ NJ LIC LIC#13VH08094300 #13VH08094300

FREE ESTIMATES 40+ years of Experience

609.298.8339

Phil Bizzari

Call Danny!

Licensed & Fully Insured NJ#I0000380927

Mackay’s

Serving Mercer County & Surrounding Areas Trimming • Removal Hedge Trimming • Stump Removal

FREE EstimatEs! 609-203-7821 Licens e & Ins d ured

Free ! ates Estim

179 Whitehorse Ave. Hamilton, NJ

Tree Service (609) 466-2294

tREE REmoval, tRimming and stump gRinding.

NJ#13VH07165700 EPA#675569650310

Victor Anleu, Project Manager

609-581-0145

tREE SERVicE

From minor plumbing repairs to complete remodels, Sewer replacement, Water Service replacement.

(Residential/Commercial)

ROOFING & SIDING GUTTER - STUCCO - PAINTING FENCING - DECKS - PATIOS KITCHENS - BATHROOMS CONCRETE - DRIVEWAYS TILE - FLOORING

Painting & Home Improvements

VASQUEZ R J

groveplumbingllc@gmail.com

K&K Construction and Solutions LLC.

CLEANING: R “SUPEP” O R D

Kitchens • Baths • Windows Doors & More

Licensed & Insured NJ # 13VH02464300

Father & Sons

INSURED

JAMES MACKAY - OWNER FREE ESTIMATES

For all your pest control needs!

“An Owner Operated Service That Takes Pride In Every Job”

Professional inspection services for Termites, Radon, and Mold.

“Eco Friendly Paints”

Residential & Commercial

6 0 9 - 5 3 News 8 - 8 0Service 45 Community nj lic# 13vh01790800 •Renovations •Remodeling •Decks •Kitchens/Baths •Drywall •Siding •Repairs •Snow Plowing

• Interior & Exterior Painting • Staining of Houses & Decks • Power Washing Hamilton/Ewing/Hopewell • Carpentry service FrEE 35 Years in Business NJ License# VHO 1644000

609-771-4189

Lawrenceville • Kirk Allen

Fair Prices • Any Condition • 10 dAy CAsh Closings

“Over 700 satisfied sellers since 1993”

CALL: 609-581-2207

DOMINIC A. PETITO

Sewer & Drain Cleaning Service Over 35 Years Experience Licensed and Insured

Call or Text (609) 712-0148 NJ HIC# 13VH08851500 PA HIC# 128020

LOOKING FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS? Visit our website communitynews.org to get updates about your community all month long 34Hamilton Post | September 2020

609.393.0606

PESTBLASTER.COM

PuzzleSolution Solution

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Estimates Fully Insured KAllenspainting@gmail.com www.allenspainting.com

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OFF Crossword - 9/20 $10 Any Service

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R E D O

P A T R A I L

E M O T E

R E T R I A A L R U C M R U N D U E D S E T

A S S K S A I X S H A T O M S E L A B A E A D E S E E M I A C N A D O

A N N A S N O R O C E A N

G O I N

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Hamilton News

COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG

T I R L Y T E E V E N

R E E K

N E E R Y V E Y

Pu

Sensational September CREAM BRICK RIDGE $975,000 $555,000

ALLENTOWN BRICK $799,900 $555,000

ROBBINSVILLE BRICK $769,900 $555,000

ROBBINSVILLE BRICK $555,000 $699,900

COLUMBUS BRICK $599,900 $555,000

JoAnn Stewart 609-529-6055

JoAnn Stewart 609-529-6055

Kathleen Goodwine 609-273-8432

Eugenia Brunone 609-306-5549

Dennis Breza 609-273-6931

4 Beds, 3.5 Bath, 5,091 sq.ft., 1.31 acres

4 Beds, 3.5 Bath, 4,594 sq.ft., 1.92 acres

4 Beds, 2.5 Bath, 3,700 sq.ft., 2.67 acres

4 Beds, 2.5 Bath, 3,504 sq.ft.

5 Beds, 3 Bath, 3,854 sq.ft.

PLUMSTED BRICK TWP $379,000 $555,000

HAMILTON BRICK $367,900 $555,000

COLUMBUS BRICK $364,500 $555,000

COLUMBUS BRICK $354,900 $555,000

ROBBINSVILLE BRICK $353,000 $555,000

Nancy Buonamassa 609-731-1874

Dale Michele Parello 609-571-6644

Margaret Panaro 609-575-0312

Dale Michele Parello 609-571-6644

Sharif M. Hatab 609-369-1267

4 Beds, 2.5 Bath,

3 Beds, 3 Bath, 2,257 sq.ft.

3 Beds, 2 Bath, 2,002 sq.ft.

2 Beds, 2 Bath, 2,084 sq.ft.

4 Beds, 2.5 Bath 2,208 sq.ft.

PuzzleJunction.com 1,920 sq.ft.

EASTBRICK WINDSOR $349,750 $555,000

WESTAMPTON BRICK $270,000 $555,000

Donna Moskowitz 732-740-2917

Kimberly Pimienta 609-556-7132

3 Beds, 1.5 Bath, 1,251 sq.ft.

3 Beds, 2.5 Bath, 2,080 sq.ft.

HAMILTON BRICK $555,000 $199,000

HAMILTON BRICK $555,000 $165,000

BURLINGTON BRICK $244,777 $555,000

Kevin Stanton The Lee Group 609-424-4282

3 Beds, 2 Bath, 2 Half Bath, 1,680 sq.ft.

EWING BRICK $158,000 $555,000

LAWRENCE BRICK $229,000 $555,000

TRENTON BRICK $555,000 $209,000

Michael Gerstnicker 609-306-3772

Iris V. Rodriguez 917-847-7971

2 Beds, 2 Bath, 1,236 sq.ft.

5 Beds, 2.5 Bath, 1,446 sq.ft.

EASTBRICK WINDSOR $134,999 $555,000

EASTBRICK WINDSOR $129,900 $555,000

Laura Hall 609-577-9924

Brian A. Smith 732-710-2535

Diane Innocenzi 609-647-0561

Donna Moskowitz 732-740-2917

Donna Moskowitz 732-740-2917

2 Beds, 2.5 Bath, 1,250 sq.ft.

2 Beds, 2 Bath, 1,100 sq.ft.

2 Beds, 2 Bath, 1,068 sq.ft.

2 Beds, 1.5 Bath, 986 sq.ft.

1 Bed, 1 Bath, 834 sq.ft.

Robbinsville Sales Office 17 Main Street, Suite 402 · Robbinsville, NJ 08691 · 609-890-3300 © BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity. Information not verified or guaranteed. If your home is currently listed with a Broker, this is not intended as a solicitation

September 2020 | Hamilton Post35

Celebrating 28 years of Real Estate Excellence

FOR FORSALE SALE

Golden Crest Corporate Center | 2275 Hwy. #33, Suite 308, Hamilton Square, NJ 08690 | MercerCountyHomesForSale.com

Let our experience be your guide.

FOR FORSALE SALE PENDING PENDING FOR SALE PENDING PENDING

UNDER CONTRACT SOLD SOLD SOLD

Tracy A. Abbate, SA SA1004 Falsetti-Spencer, SA SA 1439 Tracy A. Abbate, 1004 Debra Debra Falsetti-Spencer, 1439 ErinErin Andahazy, SA 1333 Joan C. George, SA 1437 Andahazy, SA 1333 Joan C. George, SA 1437 Nicholas Andrews, SA 1321 Joseph Giancarli, SA SA 1403 Nicholas Andrews, SA 1321 Joseph Giancarli, 1403

JudyJudy Peraino, SA SA 1445 Peraino, 1445 Anna Marie Pratico-Radice, SA SA1431 Anna Marie Pratico-Radice, 1431

1325 1325

Vanessa A. Stefanics, SA SA 1463 Vanessa A. Stefanics, 1463 Donna Thomas, SA 1324 Donna Thomas, SA 1324

Radice, SA SA 1430 Joseph Radice, 1430 F OBritani RJoseph SA L E Andrew "Drew" Tilghman, SA 1337 Radice-Calderone, SA 1429

Christine Barrett, SA SA1316 Christine Barrett, 1316 JaneJane Belger, BA 1415 Belger, BA 1415

Yolanda Gulley, SA SA 1444 Yolanda Gulley, 1444 T. Christopher Hill, BA 1318 T. Christopher Hill, BA 1318

Adam Bless, SA SA 1315 Adam Bless, 1315 Pamela Bless, BA 1314 Pamela Bless, BA 1314 Mark A. Brower, SA 1369 Mark A. Brower, SA 1369

Jennifer Jopko, SA SA 1423 Jennifer Jopko, 1423 Dennis Kestler, SA 1482 Dennis Kestler, SA 1482 William Linder, SA SA 1003 William Linder, 1003

N. Andrew "Drew" Tilghman, SA 1337 Britani N. Radice-Calderone, SA 1429 William 'Bill''Bill' Tilghman, BA BA1336 ErinErin Ragazzo, SA 1362 William Tilghman, 1336 Ragazzo, SA 1362 Joseph Tkaczuk, SA SA 1486 Frank V. Ragazzo, BA BA 1432 Anthony Joseph Tkaczuk, 1486 Frank V. Ragazzo, 1432 Anthony Brandon Rasmussen, SA 1001 Charles S. 'Chuck' Toth, BA 1354 Brandon Rasmussen, SA 1001 Charles S. 'Chuck' Toth, BA 1354

FFOORRSA SALLEE

remax.com REAL ESTATE remax.com REAL ESTATE

Jenna Brown, SA SA 1006 Joseph Lombardo, BA BA 1327 Jenna Brown, 1006 Joseph Lombardo, 1327 Carla Z. Campanella, SA 1469 Mancuso-Clews, SA SA1322 Carla Z. Campanella, SA 1469 Luisa Luisa Mancuso-Clews, 1322 Sabrina E. Chell, SA 1484 Joan Martinez, SA 1414 Sabrina E. Chell, SA 1484 Joan Martinez, SA 1414 KurtKurt Clews, SA 1005 Gina Marie Mazur, SA 1488 Clews, SA 1005 Gina Marie Mazur, SA 1488

JohnJohn Ratico, Jr., SA 1462 Ratico, Jr., SA 1462 Heather Tindall Robillard, BA 1200 Heather Tindall Robillard, BA 1200

REAL ESTATE 609-587-9300

Rafael Rodriguez, BA BA 1334 Rafael Rodriguez, 1334 Donato Santangelo, IV, SA Donato Santangelo, IV, SA 1002 1002

Sharon Sawka, SA SA Sharon Sawka, Let our experience bebe your guide.

Let our experience your guide.

1312 Walter Sawka, SA Kathy Paul, SA 1331

Desiree Daniels, SA SA 1312 Desiree Daniels, Erika De De Luca, SA SA 1400 Erika Luca, 1400

Susan A. Steber, BA BA Susan A. Steber, ©2020 RE/MAX, LLC. Each Office Independently Owned and Operated. 20_302687

SOLD SOLD

FFOORRSA SALLEE

RE/MAX Tri County Agent & Ext.# RE/MAX Tri County Agent & Ext.#

Kathy Paul, SA NeilNeil Paul, SA SA Paul,

1331 1351 1351

Walter Sawka, SA Albert C. Sodaro, SA SA Albert C. Sodaro,

1010 1010 1011 1011

REAL ESTATE Call a RE/MAX Tri County agent today.

REAL ESTATE

RE/MAX TriTri County (609) 587 -9300 RE/MAX County (609) 587 -9300 36Hamilton Post | September 2020

1363 1363

Tyler Toth, SA SA Tyler Toth, Paula Troy, SA SA Paula Troy,

1791 1791 1012 1012

BobBob Weber, SA SA 1328 Weber, 1328 Catherine R. Weber, SA SA 1456 Catherine R. Weber, 1456 Paula S. Wirth, SA 1317 Paula S. Wirth, SA 1317 Stephanie J. Young, SA SA 1442 Stephanie J. Young, 1442 Sales Associate / Broker Associate SA / BA Sales Associate / Broker Associate SA / BA

Each RE/MAX Office is independently owned & Operated.

Each RE/MAX Office is independently owned & Operated.