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Bass River Medford Medford Lakes Pemberton Pemberton Borough Shamong Southampton Tabernacle Washington Woodland
Vol. 1 - No. 28
Southeastern Burlington County’s News Leader
School Buses and Drivers Take Center Stage at Woodland Board of Education Meeting
March 11–17, 2017
Roberts Pond Repairs Begin By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
BASS RIVER—Repairs to Roberts Pond have begun after Bass River Township officials decided to have in-house maintenance crews perform the repair work. Township Engineer Dan Guzzi made the announcement at a Bass River Board of Commissioners meeting on March 7. “All the materials are assembled and staged,” Guzzi said. “Public Works is prepared to begin work this week to restore the berm. We will be (Dante Guzzi Engineering Associates) supervising. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has been notified. Somebody from the state will be there periodically, if not during the entirety of the construction.” He said that he anticipated that the repairs would be completed by the end of the week. “We’ve got a nice little window of (good) weather,” he said. “Everything is set up. We’ll know a little better once we get started.” A portion of the pond’s berm was removed by the Burlington County municipality in November in a misguided attempt to alleviate
POND>>PAGE 21
PHOTO BY TOM WALKER Woodland Township School District Superintendent of Schools Misty Weiss (left), Woodland Township Board of Education Solicitor Amy Guerin, and members of the Woodland Township Board of Education listen to concerns from parents at a Feb. 27 board meeting.
Hampton Lakes EMS Contract Tabled, Two Ambulances Sold to Squad By Douglas D. Melegari
By Adam Tait III and Douglas D. Melegari Team Coverage
WOODLAND—School buses and some of the drivers were the major topic of conversation at a Woodland Township Board of Education meeting on Feb. 27. An audience of over 30, very high for a board meeting here, heard eight residents speak. Six of them were concerned with busing problems. One resident was Ann Kennedy. She said that for the past two years, new bus routes have been drawn up, in many cases reversing old routes. She has serious safety concerns, especially over what she calls “the extremely high number of left-hand turns that have resulted from the rerouting.” Kennedy said her calls to the school have been largely ignored. She even took the issue up with the state’s Department of Transportation. Kennedy also said that other parents have told her that one driver often speeds and is rude to
Staff Writer
the children, sometimes slamming on the brakes needlessly in an effort to get them to stop talking so much. Another mother, who is wary about giving her name, fearing retaliation against her child, drives her daughter to school in the mornings, while the girl takes the bus home in the afternoon. She said that the buses are often late. She passes them on her way home, after dropping off her daughter and estimates they’re usually five to 10 minutes late most days. Other parents voiced similar concerns. But in talking with them, most refused to go on record, saying they also feared retaliation. One did say, however, without giving her name, that her daughter was once dropped off at the wrong spot. There was also another incident that has left several parents quite concerned. Some raised the incident at the board meeting while others contacted the Pine Barrens Tribune. According to Lawrence Peele, a spokesperson
for the New Jersey State Police, a hiker went missing in the woods between Sooy Place Road and Route 72 on Feb. 26. Authorities conducted a search for the missing hiker throughout the night and came up short. Photographs posted on the Burlington County K9 Search and Rescue social media page showed a gathering of New Jersey State Police, New Jersey State Park Police, and Burlington County K9 Search and Rescue crews at Piney Johns Inc. on Route 72 that night. “Long night—cannot release details, but great effort from all dept.’s,” the agency wrote. Peele said the hiker was walking along a trail when she became separated from friends who were accompanying her. He said that at 8:50 a.m. on Feb. 27, a female subject flagged down a school bus on Sooy Place Road. The subject turned out to be the missing person. “The incidents were related,” Peele said.
BUSES>>PAGE 19
SOUTHAMPTON—The Southampton Township Committee tabled a resolution during their Feb. 21 meeting which would have allowed the township to enter into a new contract with the Hampton Lakes Emergency Squad (EMS). A contract between Southampton Township and the Hampton Lakes EMS expired on Dec. 31. “We were not able to complete the negotiation of the contract prior to today,” said Township Solicitor George Morris. “We’ll table it to next month. We are very close, but the I’s aren’t dotted and the T’s aren’t crossed.” Committeeman Michael Mikulski said at a Jan. 17 meeting that he anticipated a new contract would be agreed to by Feb. 1. A resolution authorizing a memorandum of agreement between Southampton Township and the Hampton Lakes Emergency Squad (EMS) was passed unanimously on Jan. 17. The memorandum of agreement established
AMBULANCES>>PAGE 20
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