Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Merry Christmas!
nj.com/bridgeton FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2010 50¢
6 5 6 5 2 5 1 1 0 7 1 9
■ Police Blotter. Page A-3.■ Widow speaks on M’ville man’s death. Page A-3 .
Annie’s
Mailbox . . . . . . . B-8
BEN Column. . . A-3
Classified. . . . . . B-9
Comics . . . . B-4, B-5 Community . . . . A-3 Crossword . B-6, B-7 Dr. Gott . . . . . . . B-8 Horoscope . B-7, B-8
Obituaries . . . . . A-9
Sports . . . . . . . . B-1
Television. . B-6, B-7
Viewpoint . . . . . A-4
Sunny and breezy, High 41Details, Page A-2
WEATHERINSIDE TODAYINDEX
Vol. 262, No. 125
Get local breaking news 24/7 at nj.com/cumberland
The News will not be published on Saturday, Christmas Day.
All offices at the newspaper — with the exception of the obituary department — will be closed on Fri-day in observance of the holiday.
A member of the classified department staff will be present from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to take obituary notices only.
Today’s edition includes Saturday’s comics page, as well as TV listings and several other features that would normally appear in the Saturday paper.
Publication of The News will resume on Monday, Dec. 27.
To our customers:
Christmas came a little early ...
Magazzu won’t lead freeholders
LOU MAGAZZU
Welcome home!
Staff Photo by Cindy Hepner
The City of Millville welcomed home Israel Velez III of the Army, left, and Kevin Bruce Horseman Jr. of the Navy, center, during a brief ceremony Thursday. The tradition is to give returning soldiers goodie baskets from the Millville Commissioners. Millville Mayor Tim Shannon, right, does the honors.
Millville honors hometown heroes
Staff Photo by Cindy Hepner
Kaliesha Hart wins the first drawing of gifts dur-ing the Bethel Pentecostal Church BAAU Annual Christmas Party Thursday.
Santa’s little helper
Staff Photo by Cindy Hepner
Amber Adamini purchases Christmas gifts in the Secret Santa Gift Shop at Downe Township School.
By Greg [email protected]
BRIDGETON — Christmas came two days early for 50 Bridgeton youth who had a holiday party thrown just for them.
A number of groups came together Thursday afternoon with one goal; to make today memorable just in case Christmas morning wasn’t.
The downstairs of the Bethel Pen-tecostal Church, on South Avenue here, was converted to Candy Land and decorated accordingly.
A table of toys held board games, Lego sets, Nerf guns, Barbie dolls, jewelry, toy cars and stuffed animals. That table was flanked by two oth-ers, loaded with candy of every kind.
Carmelo’s Ristorante and Pizza, located on Broad Street here, deliv-ered 12 pizzas, a hoagie platter, soda and chips.
And on top of all that, it was a half-day at school for the students.
Karen Holloway Stewart, with Tri-county Community Action Part-nership, said the donations came in from ShopRite, a church in Vineland and even McDonald’s.
The 50 youth in attendance were “high achieving students in poor cir-cumstances.” Some had parents in attendance, many did not.
The kids, ages 3 through 17, were identified by various organizations and their names were given to the Bridgeton African American Union of South Jersey (BAAU.)
The BAAU then invited the kids to this holiday party.
The organization “was started by a group of men in 1990 so we could give something back to the community,” said presi-dent Simon Hadley.
They did just that on Thursday.
This year marked the 20th that his organiza-tion had hosted a holiday-themed event for area youth.
The party kicked off with Mayor Albert Kelly singing a “12 days of Christmas” duet with Bridgeton school student Daizanea Davis.
A week ago, Kelly was in Trenton at the Governor’s office. He spent Thursday afternoon among the youth of his city.
“This is the time for sharing,” Kelly
told the basement, packed with kids, parents, organization and church members.
Each of the approximately 70 members of the BAAU donated toys for the children and $100 each. Gift cards, food or donations of any kind
(See PARTY, Page A-8)
By Jim Cook [email protected]
MILLVILLE — The Holly City welcomed home two of its heroes for the holidays this Thursday afternoon at city hall.
MMFN Kevin Bruce Horseman Jr. and Private Israel “Izzy” Velez III were the 44th and 45th local service men to receive a welcome
home celebration by the city com-mission.
Mayor Tim Shannon opened the ceremony, welcoming the soldiers home to their families.
“It’s a glorious day in the Holly City,” said Shannon. “What better special gift for the families, than to have their sons home for the holidays.”
Senator Jeff Van Drew attended
and gave a special presentation.“There aren’t words to articu-
late how proud I am of these men for putting their lives on the line,” Van Drew said. “Our heroes are not in Washington D.C. or Hol-lywood. Our heroes are right here with us.”
The senator also presented the men with special recognition cer-
(See HEROES, Page A-10)
By Jason [email protected]
BRIDGETON – Lou Magazzu will not seek re-election as freeholder director when the Cumberland County board reconvenes next year. Cumberland County Freeholder Director Lou Magazzu announced Thursday night, at the board of chosen freeholders’ last meeting of the year, he will not seek the leadership position after four years at the helm.
Magazzu stated that he will continue to serve on the freeholder board “for the bal-ance of my term.”
“When I was the new freeholder I was the agent of change,” said Magazzu at the beginning of the meeting, reading from a
preparted statement. “I successfully advo-cated for televised meetings and for moving meetings from the afternoon to the evening so residents could attend. I was the agitator who questioned everything even from mem-bers of my own party. I fought the prosecutor of my own party when he doubled the size of his staff and increased his budget fourfold. I questioned statewide and locally if part-time constitutional officers should be receiv-ing a salary in excess of $100,000 for serving the residents of Cumberland County.
“Over time, I became less an agent of change and a leader of the board. As a result of serving for 13 years I have served with 21 different freeholders, holding 78 different positions.”
Magazzu also stated his decision stems
from the growing obligations of his profes-sional life.
“Over the last seven months, I have been working as part of a team with an energy consulting business,” he said. “We have opportunities all over the region and the nation but they require my attention and also some travel. I have tried to work for two masters of the Directorship and my business but do not believe I can continue to do so in 2011.”
Magazzu alerted his colleagues of his deci-sion on Wednesday, he said.
The freeholder director, who has so far served on the board since 1998, stated he was comfortable with his decision, and that he was not pressured at all into stepping
(See MAGAZZU, Page A-10)
By Jason Laday
BRIDGETON – The Cum-berland County freeholders on Thursday fixed Surro-gate Doug Rainear’s salary at its original annual rate of $75,000, after Rainear last month requested the full salary despite a campaign promise to accept discounted pay.
The resolution negates the pay hike for Rainear passed by the board on Nov. 24.
That resolution, approved by a vote of 5-2, raised Rai-near’s annual salary from $75,000 to the state-man-dated minimum of $107,250.
Democratic Freeholder Director Magazzu and Republican Freeholder Tom Sheppard voted against the resolution.
County officials stated the resolution was required in order to receive reimburse-
ment for the raise from the state.
A public outcry resulted and, little more than a week later, Rainear announced he would continue to accept the discounted salary after all.
In his announcement, the surrogate stated a life-threatening blockage in one of his arteries — and his concern for his family future — caused him to ask for the higher salary.
Rainear was elected sur-rogate as part of the 2008 county Democratic Party platform, which included promising to work under a large pay cut.
Since entering the surro-gate’s office in 2009, Rainear has been collecting a dis-counted salary of $75,000.
His predecessor, Republi-can Art Marchand, earned $96,000 as surrogate.
The Nov. 24 resolution
Rainear’s salary fixed at $75K
(See SALARY, Page A-10)
