Mullica Hill Sun_Current Issue

Late resident’s love of chess memorialized at park

Resident Gino Giumarello’s family on hand for its debut

By JOSEPH METZ The Sun

As a way to pay tribute to a lost son of Mullica Hill, the G2 Benefit Foundation hosted a ceremony earlier this month to celebrate the debut of the new Gino Giumarello Chess Park.

The memorial at Ella Harris Park celebrates the life of Gino Giumarello II, who was killed in a car accident in 2021 and was known to have a huge passion for chess.

“It’s a unique and fantastic space,” said Deputy Mayor Julie DeLaurentis, who spoke at the ceremony. “It’s a beautiful addition to Ella Harris (Park). So many people thought, ‘What could I do?’ And a small group decided they wanted to build something for him.”

“Gino was passionate about chess, so this is a wonderful tribute to this young man,” said Mayor Louis Manzo.

Besides tables for chess play, the three-hour event featured food trucks and raffle prizes. Giumarello’s parents and siblings were there to cut the ribbon at the park.

“We were so overwhelmed

by all the love and support from our friends, family and community,” said June Miller Giumarello. “The Gino Giumarello II Chess Park inaugural ceremony was far beyond our expectations.

“I need to thank so many people for their generous donations, which I hope to get soon, but I want you to know we are so grateful for all of your contributions,” she added. “Really so shocked by the generosity of so many. The G2 Foundation will be able to do so many wonderful things to honor the memory of our son Gino.”

The foundation was formed in honor of Giumarello, who was 23 when he died and also had the nickname of G2. The nonprofit seeks to improve the community through youth projects and services, family care and senior care. It also provides scholarships and supplies donations to support school programs.

“I’ve known them (the Giumarellos) for a long time,” said DeLaurentis. “They’re just such caring and giving people, especially to the community. They’re just wonderful people.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUNE MILLER GIUMARELLO The Gino Giumarello chess park is named for a late resident who loved the game. He was killed in a 2021 car accident. A ribbon-cutting ceremony at the site was hosted by his family.

Meet local author Jim Scythes

The Mullica Hill (Library) Branch of GCLS invites you to meet Mr. Jim Scythes, the President of Gloucester Historical Society, who will discuss his newly released book “Letters to Lizzie: The Story of 16 Men in the Civil War and the Woman who connected them

all” on Wednesday May 24 at 7 p.m.

This local story is about 16 soldiers from Gloucester County and a Hurffville resident, Lizzie Brick, who they all wrote letters to during the Civil War. As an assistant professor at West Chester Univer-

CALENDAR

sity, Scythes is an expert in history and his book provides an insightful look at the lives of the soldiers and their connection to Lizzie. Admission is free. Don’t miss this chance to hear from a local author and historian. Register online

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Send information by mail to: Calendar, The Mullica Hill Sun, 130 Twinbridge Drive, Pennsauken, NJ 08110. Or by email: news@mullicahillsun.com.

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Events subject to cancellation. Be sure to check online for status updates

THURSDAY MAY 18

Joint Land Use Board Meeting at the Harrison Township Municipal Building at 7 p.m.

MONDAY MAY 22

Retro Game Night at the Mullica Hill Library from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY MAY 23

Library Equal Access Program at the Mullica Hill Library from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. iPad Intermediate Class May 9 to May 30. To Register call Stephen Felle 800-792-8322 ext 812 or e-mail sfelle@ njstatelib.org. For Transportation call GC Div. of Transportation Svs. 856-6868350

Full STEAM ahead Showcase displays the science side of Clearview High

By JOSEPH METZ

The Sun

Clearview Regional High School will showcase its accomplishments and those of students at a STEAM Showcase on Tuesday, June 6.

“The goal of the STEAM Showcase is to highlight all the innovative work our students created here at Clearview this year, as well as provide a public platform for our students to share work with the community,” said school Superintendent John Horchak III.

Anne Paoletti. “It’s a nice way to show off our hard work. It celebrates the successes of the different teams, like the robotics team.”

Volunteer students from the National Honor Society will provide assistance to visitors and some of the district’s parents will also help out.

Anyone in and or out of the Clearview community – which encompasses Mantua and Mullica Hill – can attend the free event and no registration is required.

Police announce death of injured officer

Formerly known as STEM, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. The showcase will take place in multiple locations at the school, including some classrooms and the gym, where there will be information tables. Some of the programs highlighted will be works from the robotics program and engineering and art classes.

Paoletti views the showcase – whose hours are 6 to 8:30 p.m. – as a way to show younger students what they can expect to see when they eventually attend the high school.

Everyone at the Harrison Township Police Department is deeply saddened by the loss of Deptford Township Police Department officer Robert Shisler, who succumbed from his injuries he suffered in a March 10 shooting incident.

“It’s a place to gather and

celebrate the things they (students) have done over the year,” said Clearview math teacher

“Our audience are the students, parents, teachers and more,” she noted. “We try to find a way for people to get something out of it.”

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Clearview High School’s STEAM Showcase celebrates student efforts during the school year.

The genius of Les Paul

Guitarist is subject of upcoming talk

From the 1930s into the 21st century, jazz guitarist and inventor Les Paul was an influential figure in American popular music. Not only was he a virtuosic performer, he was one of the pioneers of the solid body electric guitar as well as numerous recording techniques and playing styles that have influenced guitarists to the present day. He holds the distinction of being the only inductee in both the Inventors Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he is featured in one of the museum’s few permanent exhibits.

In the late 1940s Paul partnered with his wife Mary Ford to become one of the mid-century’s most popular performers with many best-selling recordings. In 1950, they launched a popular television show with performances highlighting Paul’s signature recording in-

novations such as close-miking and multitrack recording. This new sound was to influence and inspire succeeding generations of musicians and sound designers.

Rowan University’s Kevin Stahl will be discussing this remarkable artist’s career and contributions to American popular music on Sunday, May 21, 3 p.m, at the Harrison Township Historical Society’s Richwood Academy Cultural Center. Stahl is an award-winning film composer, video game composer, sound designer, producer, drummer and music educator. Like Paul, he uses his unique blend of technical skills to compose music and sound design, and provide computer programming support for hundreds of movies, television shows, webseries, and video games.

Mid-20th century history is the focus of “Back to the Fifties,” the current exhibition featured at Old Town Hall Museum in Mullica Hill, the period when Les Paul and Mary Ford were national celebrities. Stahl’s program will provide insights into the popular culture of that influential era. The exhibition is open Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. through June 10 and admission is free.

Stahl’s program takes place

at Richwood Academy Cultural Center, 836 Lambs Rd., Richwood, NJ. There is no admission fee; free tickets are available online at the Harrison Township Historical Society’s public Facebook page. The program will also be livestreamed and archived at Facebook for future viewing. Facebook membership is not required to access the program. Information can be found at Facebook and at Old Town Hall Museum 856-4784949.

The Harrison Township Historical Society’s arts and history programs are made possible in part by funding from the Gloucester County Cultural and Heritage Commission at Rowan College of South Jersey, in partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State and the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey Historical Commission/Department of State.

LECTURE

“Les Paul Jazz Guitarist, Inventor, Genius.” Sunday, May 21, 2023, 3 pm, at Richwood Academy Cultural Center, 836 Lambs Road, Richwood, NJ 08074. Information and free tickets available at Harrison Township Historical Society’s public Facebook page; 856-4784949.

Fields where they lay

Let’s remember the heroes lost on Memorial Day

Memorial Day later this month coincides with two national observances: National Beef Burger Day and National Hamburger Day. But it shouldn’t.

Anyone who thinks Memorial Day is about hot dogs on the grill or the first summer weekend at the Shore is missing the point. Yet that is not a surprise.

When did a day reserved for America’s war dead become about cookouts and a three-day weekend of pleasure?

That’s not easy to pin down, but for many of us, the message of Memorial Day has surely been lost. According to The Federalist website, a proclamation was issued more than 150 years ago during the Civil War by a general who called the holiday “an occasion to honor those who died in the conflict.”

“The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country …” the proclamation noted.

But it didn’t stay that way. Marine Jennie Haskamp has attended more than 75 Memorial Day services since 9/11, and once wrote this in The Washington Post, according to The Federalist: “Not enough people pause. Not enough people remember.”

The phrase Happy Memorial Day has become an oxymoron. While no one says we should mark the occasion with sadness, treating it like Labor Day, for instance, misses the point. So does confusing it with Veterans Day: Memorial Day is reserved for honoring America’s

war dead, while the November holiday honors all those who served.

According to history.com, Memorial Day was born out of necessity. After the Civil War, the country was faced with burying and honoring the more than half a million Americans who died in that conflict. So a Memorial Day observance was held on May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery, the resting place of both Union and Confederate soldiers.

But it wasn’t the first: In the late 1990s, historians learned of a Memorial Day commemoration organized by a group of slaves who were freed less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865.

New York was the first state to officially recognize Memorial Day in 1873, according to the website us.memorialday.org. It was recognized by all northern states by 1890 and by the South after World War I. Congress elevated the last Monday in May to a national holi-

day in every state in 1971.

As President Harry Truman put it, “Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.”

But if you happen to forget them on Memorial Day, here are ways to remember: Join a parade or other celebration. Tell stories of those you know who gave their lives. Visit local gravesites or memorials.

And you might want to wear a poppy. The robust plant referred to in the poem In Flanders Field miraculously grew in French fields ravaged by the first world war and went on to become a symbol of why we acknowledge Memorial Day.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

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Special to The Sun

Harrison launches new website to better serve residents

Township wanted to offer quicker access to all of its departments

The Harrison Township Committee announced the launch of the community's new website to further enhance the communication to residents. The new site, developed in partnership with CommUnity Partners, is focused on improving the over-all site content and the user experience.

“We have been working on the site for some time,” said Deputy Mayor Julie DeLaurentis. “One issue that has consistently been brought to our attention is the challenge with navigating the old site and finding the information that visitors are looking for.”

With the new site that will no longer be an issue. The primary navigation is streamlined to focus on the important content that residents and other visitors are interested in and features a well-defined drop down menu

displaying all of the content that could be accessed from each navigation. The home page also includes “quick” link icons to the top information requested like vital stats, trash/recycling pick up and more.

The site also provides an inspiring representation of the Harrison community with the “our town” page that truly reflects the shared common values, historical roots, thriving Main Street and the many events that have led to numerous awards and recognition.

“Our residents are really going to have a great sense of pride when they have a chance to browse the entire site,” said DeLaurentis. “The images really capture the essence of our town and the content provides those that may be looking to move here or start a business a true feel of what to expect in

our premiere South Jersey community.”

Additional content includes a robust listing of all youth sports, schools and places to worship, detailed calendars of events/activities, a dedicat-

ed page for each township department/board/commission, prominently featured township government meeting dates, and messages from township committee members.

“We are very proud to have

delivered a best in class website and user experience for our residents,” proclaimed DeLaurentis.

The new site is still at the same URL, https://harrisontwp. us/.

Three-plus decades on, Blues Traveler still impossible to pigeonhole

By CHUCK DARROW For The Sun

Categorization is pretty much the lifeblood of the music industry. It can be difficult for an act to market itself if it doesn’t fit neatly into a specific silo (e.g. pop, hip-hop, rock). But that has never been an issue for Blues Traveler.

The band, which performs May 20 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City as part of a tour celebrating the release of the limited-edition double-album, “Live and Acoustic 1997,” has defied definition since the release of the their self-titled 1990 debut album.

Although the Princeton-born unit has the word “Blues” in its name, its sonic blueprint has always transcended that genre. Thanks to the group’s signature hit, 1995’s “RunAround,” which spent almost a year on the Billboard magazine pop chart (making it the longest-charting single in history; it also and won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance

By a Duo or Group with vocals), the argument can be made for placing Blues Traveler in the “pop” category.

But to a large degree, the group led by vocalist/harmonica virtuoso John Popper has made its in-concert bones as a “jam band” whose performances feature extended periods of instrumental improvisation and not just succinct and consistent recreations of recorded material. And just to muddy the waters even more, the group is currently working on an album of soul and rhythm & blues songs.

So, how do the band members themselves describe what it is they’ve been doing since Ronald Reagan was president?

“It’s actually kind of funny because the first five or six years that I was in the band, we spent a lot of time

‘Sushi School’ en-rollment at Hard Rock

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to roll your own sushi, has Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City have a class for you.

On May 25, Shingo Inoue, executive chef of Asian-centric restaurant Kuro, will conduct a sushi-making seminar. The course will focus on the fundamentals of creating the Japanese staple, including selecting the fresh ingredients, preparing sushi rice and crafting the perfect roll. Inoue will also answer questions and offer tricks of the sushi-making trade.

The session will end with a meal that includes both the dishes made by class attendees and some from Kuro’s menu.

For tickets, go to www.hardrockhotelatlanticcity.com/event-calendar/sushi-school.

Milestones galore

A slew of notable gambling-den anniversaries will be celebrated between now and Independence Day:

On May 26, Resorts Casino-Hotel will mark 45 years since the day what was then Resorts International became the first legal casino outside of Nevada.

[discussing] how do we want to address this? Do we need to address it?” offered Ben Wilson, the band’s keyboardist since 1999, during a recent phone call.

“I actually think we got a little bit too self-conscious about the whole thing: Do we write singles? Are we more about the jamming? And in the end, whenever we were done [recording] the music, it was like, ‘This is the music.’

“It’s just what we do as a band. It just comes very naturally. And so the, the less we thought about it [in the studio], and the more we just let things happen and didn’t force anything—and the less self-conscious we got about things—the better the outcomes were.”

On the other hand, he continued, things need to be a little more thought-out in a concert setting.

While the instrumental passages might be conjured on the spur of the moment, where those moments occur do have at least some rhyme and reason.

“When we get on stage,” he explained, “it’s like, ‘Run-Around’ needs to be ‘Run-Around,’ but ‘But Anyway’ can be whatever it’s gonna be, because there’s all these solo sections in the middle, and what do we want to do with it?”

Ultimately, suggested Wilson, trying to define Blues Travelers’ sonic blueprint is a pointless exercise. “We’re just a band that’s been around for 35 years, and we get up there and we do our thing, whatever that is,” he said. “And as long as people keep coming, we must be doing it all right.”

Show time is 8 p.m. For tickets, go to www.ticketmaster.com.

June 25 will be the 30th anniversary of legal poker in Atlantic City (for the record, the first hand was played at the long-gone Sands Casino-Hotel). And three days later both Hard Rock and Ocean Casino-Resort will figuratively blow out five candles.

June 30 will see the 15th anniversary of the Water Club complex at Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa (which will soon be re-christened as the MGM Tower). And finally, on July 3, Borgata itself will turn 20 years old.

Resorts’ observance will feature a number of free public events over the Memorial Day weekend, from giveaways, a sand-sculpture exhibition and the casino’s traditional, summer-season-greeting balloon drop on Memorial Day Friday. Ticketed attractions include a performance by The New York BeeGees (May 26), who pay tribute to the band that defined the musical era in which the original Resorts International opened and a sneak preview of “Disco Inferno” (May 28), a new musical revue that will begin an every-Sunday residency on June 25.

For the full rundown of Resorts anniversary festivities, go to www.resortsac.com.

CREDIT: DMK PUBLICITY Blues Traveler will perform on May 20 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City.

FRI, MAY 19

JANET JACKSON

SAT, MAY 20

CHEAP TRICK

SAT, MAY 20

EMO NIGHT BROOKLYN

SAT & SUN, MAY 27 & 28

DISCO NIGHT FEVER MANIA

FRI, JUNE 2

PUSCIFER

FRI, JUNE 2

UMBERTO TOZZI

FRI, JUNE 9

CHRISTOPHER CROSS & JUSTIN HAYWARD

SAT, JUNE 10

TINA FEY & AMY POEHLER

SAT & SUN, JUNE 10 & 11

FURY

FIGHTING

SAT,

AUG