The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL
PAGE 2
Feb. 4 - Feb. 10, 2011
SOUTH TOMS RIVER Champagne on Haiti: Devastation and Life
By Erik Weber
SOUTH TOMS RIVER – It has been less than a month since this borough’s mayor, Joseph M. Champagne, took office as the first voter-elected black mayor of Ocean County, and a little over a year since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck his native country of Haiti, claiming the life of his sister, a 19-year-old student preparing for life. Marking this first anniversary amidst celebrations over his political accomplishment, Mayor Champagne sat down with the Signal in his new office at 144 Mill Street, here, to reflect upon his life, his journey to America, the devastation that now plagues his homeland and the unifying bond he sees between the two nations. You are a native of Haiti. What brought you to America, and how did you see yourself looking back upon your home country? I came in this country indefinitely when I was only 19. I used to come before as a youngster, every summer, vacations since I was 13, and at 19 years old, there was at that time [the] overthrowing of [Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a Haitian politician who served as Haiti’s first democratically elected president until a military coup in September 1991 took over the government and began a three-year rampage of torture, murders and rape that rocked the country and its people]. Aristide was exiled, there was a lot of political turmoil and unrest and
violence that I witnessed firsthand, and because of that, we were forced to leave Haiti not because of poverty where we were concerned because, thank God, we were not rich but we could enjoy our lives there. Haiti to some extent is a paradise to those who do have the means and the substance, but we were forced to leave for
our own security, to come to the United States indefinitely. My presence in the United States perhaps was different from a lot of people in the sense that I had a sense of mission. My mission was to amass as much knowledge as possible, to acquire as much knowledge and wisdom and understanding as possible to benefit
ERIK J. WEBER, the Riverside Signal South Toms River Mayor Joseph M. Champagne reveals the new borough seal earlier this month.
myself, my family, my community and certainly humanity at large because of what I saw in Haiti: poverty and the misuse of power. I wanted to become the antithesis of that, how to use the government for the benefit of people as opposed to the detriment of people, and so I always find myself in leadership positions, even at an early age when I came in high school. I ended up being the salutatorian [Mr. Champagne graduated in 1993]. Really, I was the valedictorian, but they knocked me down because I had only been in the high school for two years and I was supposed to be there for four years. Where did you live when you first came here? I lived in Brooklyn. Because of my grades, I was able to receive a full academic scholarship to study at Columbia University, and right there I created a new organization for the students to address the dropout rate on that campus [Mr. Champagne graduated in 1998]. From that point I went to Vermont Law School, and there I created a human rights organization [the Student Leadership Collective for Human Rights], which eventually became an umbrella organization over all the other student organizations. These student leaders would participate in our yearly summit to give a state of the union address and what’s happening in their respective community, be it Jewish, be it cont. on page 16
South Toms River Community Calendar Recreation Commission Meeting
The South Toms River Recreation Committee will hold its next meeting on Thursday, February 3rd at 7 pm in the Recreation Center on Drake Lane. ~
Storyteller’s Workshop
The South Toms River Recreation Commission will host a Storyteller’s Workshop on Saturday, February 5th at 7 pm in the Recreation Center on Drake Lane. Children up to 10 years old and their parents are welcome to come and listen to an interactive, narrative story. Cost is $3, children may wear their pajamas and snacks will be available. ~
Municipal Alliance Meeting
The South Toms River Municipal Alliance will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, February 9th at 7 pm in borough hall on Mill Street. ~
Council Caucus Meeting
The South Toms River Borough Council will hold its next caucus meeting on Monday, February 14th at 7 pm in borough hall on Mill Street. ~
Land Use Board Meeting
The South Toms River Land Use Board will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, February 15th at 7 pm in borough hall on Mill Street. ~ Do you have a South Toms River community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722, e-mail RiversideSignal@gmail.com or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!