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Vol. 4 – No. 45 ♦
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FR EE
July 25, 2020 – July 31, 2020
Two GRC Complaints Brought by Resident Against Woodland Settled in Mediation
AT LONG LAST
Third Complaint Still Open With Town Hiring Counsel to Defend Matter to GRC, Complainant Says Papers Agreeing to Settle Matter Had Been Returned to GRC By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
Photo By Tom Valentino
Shawnee High School’s Class of 2020 gathered for a commencement ceremony on July 16.
Class of 2020 Gets Proper, Long Awaited Send Off After Threat of Cancellation Amid COVID Pandemic By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
TABERNACLE—It was pomp and circumstance at last for the Class of 2020. Over the last two weeks, area high schools, including the Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) held socially distant, and in some cases to satisfy outdoor gathering limitations, multiple commencement exercises, that were once completely called off by Democratic Governor Phil Murphy due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but eventually allowed in the wake of backlash and declarations that the graduates, robbed of other rites of passage, including senior prom and a senior class trip, “needed closure.” Normally, the area high schools hold such exercises in mid-June. ‘Senior Year Done with Love’ Jeffrey Spector, presiding over what was his last graduation ceremony as principal of Seneca High School in Tabernacle Township, retiring from the school after helping to open it 17 years ago as an assistant principal and athletic director, shared a memory of when students gathered in a Memory Garden last fall to mourn the death of Joseph E. “Joey” Bakos, a Seneca senior whose life was tragically cut short in a motor vehicle accident Sept. 29, 2019. That memory, he said, “has remained at the forefront of his mind” and he continues to go back to it “throughout this pandemic.”
“Two of our seniors, I don’t know if they are that friendly, I didn’t see them together often in school, and they weren’t in the same clubs or activities, were sitting next each other,” Spector recalled. “One of those young men became very visibly upset. The other young man never even looked at him, he just took his arm and put it around him. He held him and they just sat there in silence.” That memory, Spector said, exemplifies the Seneca experience. “While not always picture perfect, we do things with love,” the 12-year Seneca principal contended. “We love each other and we love our community. I know this because I had a front row seat over the past 17 years as a principal, assistant principal, parent and community member. That is how I hope you remember this evening—your senior year may not have been perfect, it may not have been textbook, but it was done with love.” Incoming Seneca principal Bradley Bauer, Seneca’s current athletic director and an assistant principal who served as Master of Ceremonies, noted that Spector “has been involved in every single major decision regarding Seneca High School” and is “largely responsible for the great culture we share at Seneca High School.” Seneca Senior Class President Maddison Miller cited a quote from Ralph Waldo
Emerson, a famous American essayist, lecturer, philosopher and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, “What lies behind us, and what lies before us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” “We have proven what lies in the Class of 2020 is strength and perseverance,” Miller said. “We were born into a time of uncertainty and fear. We all grew up hearing the stories from September 11, 2001. Our country worked together to form a new normal and made changes to protect the people of our nation. Almost two decades later, our country is now faced with a new challenge—COVID-19.” Miller pointed to the “new ways” teachers have connected with students remotely (as schools were shuttered for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year). “The Class of 2020 has shown extreme resilience and perseverance by adapting to these changes,” she said. “Who would have thought we would be waking up at 7 a.m. to Facetime our teachers and finish our high school classes online? But we did it!” Miller then recounted another well-known Emerson quote, “It is not where you have been, or what your future holds. It is what is inside us that will create all the difference we wish to see.” See LAST/ Page 10
WOODLAND—Two of three Government Record Council (GRC) complaints (Complaint Nos. 2019-192 and 204) brought against Woodland Township and Records Custodian Maryalice Brown (also township clerk of the municipality), which were filed last year by resident Jane Donoghue to challenge three Open Public Records Act (OPRA) denials, were settled earlier this year in mediation and subsequently dismissed, the Pine Barrens Tribune has learned. However, a third complaint, which township officials contend was also settled in mediation, is still an open case due to the complainant purportedly not signing a mediation agreement, asserted township officials during a June 23 Woodland Township Committee meeting held by telephone due to the Coronavirus pandemic. “It had been settled, and a tentative agreement was reached,” said Brown of the third complaint. “It was reached in mediation, but the final settlement agreement has not been signed by Ms. Donoghue. Despite efforts to finalize the agreement—we met in third-party mediation—the mediator has turned the matter back to GRC for disposition.” The complainant later disputed part of that claim in an interview with this newspaper. William Burns, during the June 23 meeting, was unanimously appointed as a special counsel to defend the remaining complaint at a rate of $165 per hour. Burns had been the longtime solicitor for Woodland Township, but in February, Evan Crook assumed the post. “Mr. Burns was with the same law firm that I was with, Malamut & Associates, and he decided that he wanted to move to another law firm,” said Crook when asked by this newspaper during the meeting about Burns’ whereabouts. “When that occurred, there is an ability for the client to make a decision whether they wanted to go and continue with Mr. Burns’ new law firm, or stay with the present law firm. A decision was made (by the township) to stay with Malamut & Associates, and the decision was made to go with me based on my See MEDIATION/ Page 13
INDEX Business Directory... 14
Local News................. 2
Seneca Graduation...... 8
Events........................ 7
Marketplace.............. 15
Worship Guide.......... 13
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