Thursday, April 18, 2013
The Boston Marathon bombing is only the latest event that can rock kids' sense of security.
On the day of the Newtown, Ct. school shootings, my younger son arrived home from Ridge High School to find the television tuned to a news channel and me passing along the news that there had been a shooting in Connecticut, not far from where his grandparents and my brother live. Without intending, I burst into tears when I got to the part I had to say that so many children had been shot and killed. Of course, he was sympathetic. He also inquired about the safety of my neice, who attends school nearby. But then he urged me not to dwell on such news so I wouldn't get overly depressed. Therein lies some of the uncertainty of talking to children about local, national (or international) tragedies that are being blared all over the news. Some …
Monday, March 25, 2013
We look at places that take the longest to navigate.
Somerset County is a very busy place—between all the major highways that converge there to the many side roads, there always a lot of cars out at all times. So we want to know what you think are the busiest intersections throughout Bridgewater, Basking Ridge (such as mornings by Ridge High School), Green Brook, Warren, Watchung, Hillsborough, Bernardsville, Bedminster and beyond. Where do you usually get stuck in traffic? Take our poll and let us know in the comments where are the most difficult roads to navigate.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Let us know what roads you would never cross on foot.
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) recenty determined that Route 22 is the most dangerous road in Somerset County for pedestrians based on the number of deaths over a three-year span—but that's not the only place to watch out. A total of four pedestrian deaths were reported on Route 22 between 2009 and 2011, in addition to others on Weston Canal Road and Route 619. And these figures, of course, don't include motor vehicle fatalities—that have nothing to do with pedestrians—including the death of a Bound Brook resident on Route 22 in Bridgewater Thursday. But there are other roads throughout Somerset County while, not as dangerous, still pose some kind of threat when trying to cross. So we want to know what roads you consider too …
Monday, February 25, 2013
Resident suggest citizens contact Somerset Hills school board and Bernardsville Council members regarding proposal.
- OPINION
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Monday, February 25
Editor's note: The following letter was submitted with comments by a resident of Old Colony Road in Bernardsville regarding plans to construct additional field space on a lower field below the existing turf field at Bernards High School. The Bernardsville Council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on Monday night. The meeting's agenda includes a closed-session discussion on contract negotiations regarding a use agreement for the proposed Chestnut Field behind the Bernardsville Middle School, a separate proposal. To the editor, Did you know that within the next week or two, upon final permitting, a controversial cut and fill operation will begin at Bernards High School? The plan, made public and approved all within just the past three weeks by …
40.72183
-74.56716
Bernards High School
25 Olcott Ave, Bernardsville, NJ
/articles/bernardsville-resident-raises-concerns-about-tree-cutting
2276752
/locations/8890237
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
What's your call when you're not sure whether to believe your child is really too sick for school? Are 'r & r' days ever justified?
There already are rumblings in this house about whether it's necessary to go to school both Thursday and Friday when the usual weeklong February vacation is cut short this week. It's assumed that some students at Ridge High School will be gone for ski vacations or other trips preplanned before those two days were put back on the school calendar to make up for time lost to Sandy. Needless to say, my sympathy runs from zero to almost zero on this subject. I note that it wouldn't kill my student to get a little reinforcement in his classes even if teachers must re-cover some of the same information when the lucky vacationers return next week. But I'm also listening with a jaundiced ear (if there is such a thing) to a slowly incubating sniffle…
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Somerset Hills board is considering plans that could cut down hundreds of trees near Bernards High School in Bernardsville.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, February 19
To the Editor: Before the board of education Feb. 20, is a project that offers the chance to set an example to our town, our state and most importantly our children, of proper land use management of the 82.968-acre watershed area. This geographic area consists of 11 sub-drainage areas, studies of which have indicated is a critical tributary to Penn’s Brook flowing to the Passaic River Watershed. In fact, the headwaters start on the Bernards High School property, Block 64, Lot 1. As we move forward, are we prepared to inform aspiring student scientists and curious developing minds alike, that you, this board of education, decided to cut down hundreds, perhaps over 1,000 trees, that represent a prime example of northern New Jersey wooded …
Sunday, December 30, 2012
U.S. needs a genuine third party to deal with this and other issues.
Looking back from this point, the last year seems to have been filled with misery and grief: the Newtown mass shooting that killed 20 children, Superstorm Sandy and the devastation she brought, the Aurora theater shooting. Locally, there have teen suicides that touched several communities. Longtime businesses have shut their doors or announced their closings. Many in red Northwest Jersey probably viewed the re-election of President Barack Obama as bad news, as well. So perhaps it is appropriate that the nation spends the last hours of 2012 teetering on the edge of the so-called "fiscal cliff." Part of what led us to the cliff was well-intentioned: A bill designed to reduce the federal deficit. The other main problem was beneficial to …
Monday, December 17, 2012
Seventeen submissions of cute, personable and even admirable pooches from Basking Ridge.
Basking Ridge readers submitted photos of 17 personable-looking canines to our Top Dog contest. All of the dogs submitted were cute, we admit, and some were well-dressed — such as Quinton, number 9, in his sweater, who collected 24 votes. No. 18, Bella, was a rescue dog who grew to thrive in her new home, and captured the hearts of nine voters. So did the adorable Brady Bichon, no. 14. But the winner was no. 15, Tina, dressed in her Halloween costume as a pirate. After she lost an eye, the Pine family became Tina's "seeing eye family." Congratulatons to the photogenic Tina and our thanks to all the contestants and their humans who submitted their photos Next, the Basking Ridge victor will vie with nine other local winners for the grand …
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Is murder of 26 people, most of them children, enough to make Washington take notice?
Bullet-proof glass in every window. Armed guards monitoring X-ray machines at the sole entrance. Snipers on the rooftop keeping watch over the playground. Is this the future of elementary schools in New Jersey and the nation? It’s hard to imagine everything school officials would have to do to make children completely safe, after the horrific slaughter Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. There is one thing that this nation must do: Congress must pass and the president must sign laws putting much greater controls on guns, preferably to include an Australia-style firearms buy back. Information about the senseless murder of 20 first-graders and six staff members at the school is still incomplete, with new details seeming …
Sunday, December 2, 2012
NJ needs to adopt rules to ensure everyone can vote more easily if another disaster hits.
All the ballots have finally been counted in New Jersey. Once they are certified by the state canvassers on Friday, New Jersey can finally close the book on this difficult election. Or can it? The constitutional litigation clinic of Rutgers Newark Law School is poking into the votes, asking for information about the processing of special balloting New Jersey Secretary of State Kim Guadagno ordered to help those displaced by Superstorm Sandy. Remember, thousands were homeless, either literally because their houses were destroyed or left uninhabitable, or by choice because they had left cold, dark buildings to stay with family or friends or at a hotel. Even some polling places were without power and so had to be moved. Guadagno ordered the …
LC
10:38 pm on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
My kids are older now, but were in middle school and high school (first year - she was only 14) for 9/11. Both kids had friends who lost their dads and there was a short period of time that my older child worried for the safety of her dad, who often did business at the WTC. We talked a lot. At the time there was much less social media, so it was easier to control what they saw and heard. I feel … more ›