CHEERS AND JEERS for MAY 2010

Rick and Lynn Vincent June Prayer Letter

Combat Fishing, Seward Alaska!

CHEER-The Brooklawn Public School District has been designated a high achieving district by NJ Commissioner of Education following a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation conducted by the New Jersey Department of Education. All NJ public school districts are monitored and evaluated by the state through a process known as The Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC). The system focuses on monitoring and evaluating school districts in five key components that, based on research, have been identified to be key factors in effective school districts.

JEER-To whoever is responsible for the upkeep of the Union Cemetery at Powell Street and the railroad. While putting flags on the Veterans graves for Memorial Day it was a sad experience for members of the local VFW Post 3620 and the American Legion Post 135 to see the neglected grave sites. Some of the headstones are completely covered with weeds. Why not nave a detail of corrections inmates clean it up, if there is no one else to do it?

JEER –How is it that the Wildwood American Legion Post 184 allows its members and visitors to smoke inside at the bar? They are a part of New Jersey aren't they? Not a good image for the American Legion to be breaking the law. The members and Commander should be ashamed of themselves. Private clubs are not exempt of this law!

JEER-To the people that are supporting the FD. Look folks there are more chiefs than Indians in that department. What do they do on their shifts? This department has out grown its duty. A volunteer FD can do the same thing with the help of one person per shift to drive the apparatus to the scene. Just sit back and watch what these people do with your tax money. ~W.H. John
JEER-To those credit card businesses who send a prescreened credit card to senior citizens. What do these companies think that senior citizens are all stupid? They charge $125 to get the card and then 59.9% on purchases. That must be a crime to charge a percentage like that.

JEER/CHEER-I have seen kudos twice for Bill Wiltsey finding the 6 year- old- girl with the fishing pole. But no mention of my husband, Joseph Hagan of Westville Grove who called the police when he saw the girl. He saw her with a fishing pole all alone and thought she would be headed to the river. ~Ruth Hagan

CHEER- to the Mayor and dedicated citizens of the Gloucester City Light Rail Committee who have been working many months to make sure our community benefits from the proposed light rail system. The committee members include: Mayor Bill James, Adam Baker, Dave Townsend, Eric Fetterolf, Frank Haas, Glenn Hastings, Jesse Torres, Joanne McKernan, Louisa Llewellyn, Joyce Calzonetti, Kelly Light-Erlink, Mickey Glassman, Patricia Williams, Paul Neafsey, Peggy Kramer, Robert Anderson, Sarah Williams, Tina LaCrosse, Will Levins and Michael Stanton.

JEER –To the North Camden Redevelopment Plan who recently tore down the state prison built in 1981 to make way for condos/apartments. Millions of the taxpayer’s money was spent to construct the prison. It makes you wonder if anyone in Trenton knows what they are doing.

CHEER-Plans were recently announced that a medical school is to be built near the Cooper Hospital in cooperation between Rowan University and the hospital.

JEER-Earlier this year the Obama administration released the first grade evaluation of the federal Head Start program. As expected, the results show that the $7 billion per year program provides little benefit to children – and great expense to taxpayers. From the report: In sum, this report finds that providing access to Head Start has benefits for both 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds in the cognitive, health, and parenting domains, and for 3-year-olds in the social-emotional domain. However, the benefits of access to Head Start at age four are largely absent by 1st grade for the program population as a whole. For 3-year-olds, there are few sustained benefits, although access to the program may lead to improved parent-child relationships through 1st grade…

JEER-To the City administration for not answering my calls and emails concerning my fear of public health issues that have been occurring behind my home for well over a month. I am not even sure if the city can help but the least they could do is return my calls and direct me in the right direction. ~Michelle Whiting

JEER-To the children who hang out at the Castle park on Johnson Blvd. You can plainly see they are older than the posted 11 and under. They curse, write all over the equipment, and have no regard for the younger children that are there to have a good time. Where are the parents of these children and where are the cops when they are needed.

JEER-To the streets department. On April 10, I noticed a dead cat on Nicholson Rd. Day after day, call after call the cat remained in the street. One day someone did pick it up and put it in the grass, where it still remains. I along with numerous others have called and reported this matter. Not to mention the fact that the following weekend was Gloucester Clean up Day, and yet the cat still remained.

CHEER-The NJ Department of Agriculture and New York Jets Tight End Ben Hartsock recently honored Cold Springs School in Gloucester City for being one of the winning schools in this year’s Eat Right, Move More contest. The Eat Right, Move More program, a partnership between the Department of Agriculture, New York Jets and American Dairy Association & Dairy Council’s Fuel Up to Play 60 campaign, encourages NJ school children to take advantage of healthy foods in their school cafeterias and become more active. The prize for the winning schools was a visit from a NY Jets player. In addition to Cold Springs, five other schools from around the state were selected as winners in the Eat Right, Move More program: Summit High School in Summit; Brookside School in Allendale; Elmwood Park Memorial High School in Elmwood Park; Old Turnpike School in Tewksbury; and the grand prize winner, Harrison High School in Harrison.

Contributors John Hindsley, W.H.John, Michelle Whiting, Ruth Hagan