Buena Vista Township

News Clips 2004

5K run to honor Wilcox's memory 7/24/04

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Police to give away child safety car seats 7/30/04

BUENA VISTA -- State police will provide free child restraint seats for those who can't afford them and replace worn seats during a public awareness program Saturday at the Newtonville Fire Department.

Sgt. Cisco Torres, who took over as commander of the Buena Vista barracks last week, has personal experience relating to the importance of child safety seats.

"Ten years ago, my wife and I and our 11-month-old son were rear-ended in Reading, Pa.," Torres said. "We were both belted in and our son was in a rear child restraint seat. None of us were hurt, although there was substantial damage to our car."

When Torres was working at the Red Lion barracks in Burlington County, he saw an 18-month-old boy suffer a fractured skull when his mother hit the brakes abruptly.

"She didn't hit anything," he said. "For whatever reason she stopped suddenly, but she failed to lock the seat belt properly and the child seat went forward, causing the boy to hit his head on the dash."

On Saturday, Torres will join a traffic officer and two troopers who are certified child seat technicians at the fire hall to provide child safety seat demonstrations and inspections.

"In more than half of the accidents where children are injured, studies have shown that the safety seats are not properly installed," Mayor Chuck Chiarello said. "I hope township residents and others who are traveling by the Newtonville Fire Department will stop by and take advantage of this educational program designed to save lives and reduce injury."

Fines of as much as $100 can be imposed for failure to use a child safety seat. Children 18 months or younger must be in a rear-facing restraint seat. Children younger than 5 years old must be in approved safety seats.

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Concerned Cranberry Run seniors discuss key issues with Van Drew 7/28/04

BUENA VISTA -- From soaring cable rates to high-cost prescription drugs to the hardships of living in mobile homes, Cranberry Run's senior citizens voiced their primary concerns Tuesday to their local assemblyman.

Holding a town meeting with residents at the sprawling age-restricted mobile home complex's community center on Tuckahoe Road, Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew centered the discussion largely on three central issues -- cable, telemarketing and prescription drugs -- that he's targeted for legislative reform.

But the conversation eventually touched on a wide variety of subjects, sometimes leading to squabbles.

"I feel like I'm back in the Legislature," joked Van Drew, D-1, when voices were raised.

For the most part, however, serious debate ensued.

Arguing for prescription drug reform, Van Drew said a bill he's co-sponsoring would create a voluntary rebate program to help the state -- which spends about $1 billion annually on prescription drugs -- negotiate better prices with drug companies. Ultimately, the savings could expand existing state-funded prescription programs to include a greater number of eligible seniors and lower- to middle-class people currently without coverage.

The cost of prescription drugs are "too damn high," said Diana Roman, 71, recounting how she resorted to asking her doctor for medication because her prescription drug limit was maxed out.

Elsewhere, someone asked about getting less expensive drugs from Canada.

Frank Massari, 72, a Korean War veteran, wondered if South Jersey Healthcare's Newcomb Hospital in Vineland -- which is set to close Aug. 8 when the new Regional Medical Center opens -- would become a much-needed veterans hospital for the region.

Van Drew responded that the state's legislators were working on it.

Ed Ziegler lamented that Cranberry Run residents like himself, who live in manufactured homes, aren't entitled to home improvement loans for the needy.

And when Don Gatens, 75, asked where the integrity of elected officials is, he got some insight into what it's like to be a legislator -- a job Van Drew describes as his most difficult, one that's slow-moving and involves battling lobbyists.

"If you want to do something that has meaning, that's going to make real change, you have to get pushed around," Van Drew said.

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It will take a village - and more - to raise Richland's profile 7/21/04

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - This farming community changed a section of the township's name to a rum drink this spring, but that was just for fun and a little bit of money.

Now, the township has its sights set on creating a downtown destination - dubbed Richland Village - out of a short stretch of Route 40, a handful of businesses and some little-used train tracks.

Armed with a handful of grants, including $200,000 from the state Department of Transportation, the township will begin adding sidewalks, parking and a park to the Richland section along Route 40.

The work will begin in September, and the new sidewalks and landscaping should be done later this year, Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.

"We want to recapture some of that and make it a memorable spot on the highway," Chiarello said. "Something people will slow down and stop to see."

Improving the appearance of the corridor is just one step in a long project, Chiarello said.

The township wants to lure new businesses by convincing state lawmakers to designate the township and neighboring Buena Borough as an Urban Enterprise Zone.

Officials are also lobbying for Cape May Seashore Lines, a commuter train that operates in Cape May County, to extend its rail service to Richland station.

"This area has a rich train history," said Melissa Hauck, a project manager for Peter P. Karabashian and Associates.

Hauck's firm is providing consulting services to the township. She sees potential in expanding the market by creating links to other tourism opportunities, including the region's wineries.

But will the tourists come? Moe Saleh is counting on it.

Saleh is the owner of Giacomo's Country Inn, a small, Route 40 restaurant in Richland.

Locals make up the lion's share of Saleh's business, but it is on weekends - when business grows to 200 dinners a night - that Saleh sees potential in the tourism market.

"The township has a good vision for this area," said Saleh, who watched last week as officials unveiled a series of artist renderings.

Saleh said officials have been savvy about marketing the area - in the spring, the town changed Richland's name to Mojito, a marketing gimmick that earned the town $7,500 in money from Bacardi Rum and international attention.

Chiarello said transformation of Richland into "Richland Village" would be a gradual one; $340,000 in funding has helped the township get started, but more money is being sought.

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Proposed middle school hits snag 7/21/04

BUENA VISTA -- The Buena Regional School District is appealing a condition proposed by the Pinelands regulators that would bar it from getting a construction permit for its proposed new middle school until a decades-old dispute with a local sewerage provider is resolved.

The district's appeal to an administrative law judge means a referendum date slated for September may now be "out of reach," Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said. The date has been postponed tentatively until December.

Buena Regional initiated its appeal July 8, the day before the Pinelands Commission was preparing to authorize a conditioned approval for construction of the middle school that would stand next to the district's high school.

Before any construction permit can be issued, the Pinelands said, the Buena Borough Municipal Utilities Authority must stop discharging effluent into Deep Run Stream or reach an agreement to that effect.

The MUA has been violating Pinelands regulations for roughly a decade, since the Pinelands Commission approved upgrades to the authority's Plymouth Road plant in exchange for its pledge to stop using the stream. Pinelands regulations prohibit the discharge, arguing it alters the chemistry of Pinelands streams and disrupts the surrounding ecology.

Owing to the MUA's non-compliance, the Pinelands Commission won't allow the new middle school to tie into municipal sewer lines. To do so would add an additional 15,000 gallons of effluent per day that would have to be handled by the plant, which already is out of compliance, Pinelands spokesman Francis Rapa said.

But the school district views the MUA's failure to comply as an issue unrelated to its own plans to build a 92,000-square-foot middle school.

"I'm optimistic that eventually this situation will be resolved, and sooner rather than later," DeGiacomo said. "I believe the MUA is cooperating with the Pinelands, but on the other hand I don't believe we have control over what the MUA does and the two are not necessarily connected."

The district learned of the Pinelands Commissions pending decision and filed its appeal in anticipation. The commission then tabled the resolution in light of the appeal.

The MUA, meanwhile, has filed its own appeal designed to halt a Pinelands staff recommendation calling for a sewer ban on "most new hookups," said MUA Chairman John Brunini, adding he is miffed by the ban's vague wording.

Further, the MUA contends it has been waiting for the last six weeks to receive a revised memorandum of agreement from Pinelands officials that would set conditions for getting out of the stream.

The MUA rejected two earlier drafts because the penalties were too stringent, Brunini said.

Meanwhile, the MUA is still in negotiations with the owner of a 60-acre property in Buena Borough where the treated effluent could be discharged.

School district attorney Michael Capizola said the normal appeal process can take six months to a year.

The district is requesting an expedited hearing in light of the pending referendum date and rising construction costs, he said. It also wants to ensure the integrity of state funding approved for the project.

"It's unfair to the school to be held hostage because the school district has spent a lot of money and time working on the project for four years and we have funding that's tentatively approved and the referendum in September, but this puts the whole thing on hold," Capizola said.

He forecasts the appeal could be heard in a couple months.

"I hope that's not too optimistic," he says.

Even if an administrative law judge rules in the district's favor, the Pinelands Commission remains the final arbiter in the matter and could decide not to accept the ruling.

Nonetheless, DeGiacomo said, a favorable administrative law ruling would "be helpful."

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Officials to create tourist destination out of Richland 7/21/04

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - This farming community changed a section of the township's name to a rum drink this spring, but that was just for fun and a little bit of money.

Now the township has its sights set on creating a downtown destination - dubbed Richland Village - out of a short stretch of Route 40, a handful of businesses and some little-used train tracks.

Armed with a handful of grants, including $200,000 from the state Department of Transportation, the township will begin adding sidewalks, parking and a park to the Richland section along Route 40.

The work will begin in September, and the new sidewalks and landscaping should be done later this year, said Mayor Chuck Chiarello.

"We want to recapture some of that and make it a memorable spot on the highway," Chiarello said. "Something people will slow down and stop to see."

Improving the appearance of the corridor is just one step in a long project, Chiarello said.

The township wants to lure new businesses by convincing state lawmakers to designate the township and neighboring Buena Borough as an Urban Enterprise Zone.

Officials are also lobbying for Cape May Seashore Lines, a commuter train that operates in Cape May County, to extend its rail service to Richland station.

"This area has a rich train history," said Melissa Hauck, a project manager for Peter P. Karabashian and Associates.

Hauck's firm is providing consulting services to the township. She sees potential in expanding the market by creating links to other tourism opportunities, including the region's wineries.

But will the tourists come? Moe Saleh is counting on it.

Saleh is the owner of Giacomo's Country Inn, a small, Route 40 restaurant in Richland.

Locals make up the lion's share of Saleh's business, but it is on weekends - when business grows to 200 dinners a night-that Saleh sees potential in the tourism market.

"The township has a good vision for this area," said Saleh, who watched last week as officials unveiled a series of artist renderings.

Saleh said officials have been savvy about marketing the area. In the spring, the town changed Richland's name to Mojito, a marketing gimmick that earned the town $7,500 in money from Bacardi Rum and international attention.

Chiarello said transformation of Richland into "Richland Village would be a gradual one. While $340,000 in funding has helped the township get started, more money is being sought.

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Pinelands panel delays Buena Regional school 7/13/04

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Where The Sidewalk Ends: Road, rec projects ready for high gear 7/13/04

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Welcome To Richland Village: Township hopes Route 40 plan boosts economy 7/13/04

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UEZ Status Could Be The Fix Buenas Need: Area Likely to prosper from reduced sales tax 7/12/04

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Vet lights to shine in Buena Stadium relics to illuminate night games 7/8/04

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A day early, but still the Fourth ~ Nearly 5,000 revelers show up for holiday celebration 7/5/04

BUENA VISTA -- If hot dogs and hamburgers are any way to measure success, then the township's 16th annual Independence Day celebration was surely a hit.

The 1,000 hot dogs and hamburgers that were ordered for Saturday's event were gone within the celebration's first three hours.

In keeping with tradition, the township celebrated the nation's birthday a day early. The party kicked off at 3 p.m. at Michael Debbi Park with the arrival of the annual Fire Truck Parade, and lasted until dusk with a litany of activities to keep everyone happy.

"There's so much for the kids to do here," said Ami Coia of Buena, who brought her 1 1/2-year-old son, Henry, to compete in the Baby and Carriage Parade. Henry's "Little Boy Blue" theme won him the award for most most original.

The park was jam-packed with activities including Civil War re-enactments, a hula hoop contest, a car show, a pie contest, sand art, a sock hop and live music from DJ John Reed of 96.9 FM.

The celebration culminated with a 27-minute fireworks display at dusk from Centex Co. in Vineland.

Organizers estimate about 5,000 people -- or roughly the equivalent of two-thirds of Buena Vista's population -- came out to the park.

"There are only about 7,500 people who live here," said Special Events Chairwoman Dolores Comparri. "But we do a lot for our township, and this is our biggest event."

Brittney Brown of Millville came to the celebration to take advantage of the sizable turnout. The 13-year-old drag racer was seeking a sponsor for an upcoming competition.

"We've been coming here for years on our own," said Brittney's mother, Carrie Smith. "But this year we decided to set up a tent and look for a sponsor."

The Millville resident needs a faster engine for the Super-Pro Series and knew the Independence Day celebration would be a good place to look for support because it always draws a large crowd.

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Buena Vista concert series all about variety this year 7/5/04

BUENA VISTA-- Traditionally a venue for big band tunes, the summer concert series at Michael Debbi Park is expanding its musical selection this year to include the classic sounds of the 1960s and '70s.

The township is striving to diversify the music offered in its 5-year-old concert series so that it appeals to a wider audience. So for the first time, it will feature music from the post-big band era.

"We're trying to make it more exciting, add a little more of an age variation to it," Mayor Chuck Chiarello explained. "We're trying something really different this year."

It's a way, he said, to "liven things up a little bit."

Those who attend the outdoor summer concerts, which kick off Wednesday at the park, can enjoy a range of performances that offer jazz, swing bands and even a full-stage production of the history of the Beatles.

With the new talent debuting this year, the series has expanded to eight concerts -- up from seven last year. The additional show comes despite a $3,000 cut in state funding.

Buena Vista received only about $2,000 to fund the concerts, which this year totaled about $6,500.

The township's Special Events Committee was asked to compensate for the $4,500 shortfall. Most of the committee's money comes from fund-raisers.

The evening concerts are on Wednesdays starting this week through Aug. 18. An additional show is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 28.

The lineup:

·  July 7 -- Joe Luisi's One Man Band.

·  July 14 -- The Big Band.

·  July 21 -- The Gene Boney Band.

·  July 28 -- The 4 J's Band.

·  Aug. 4 -- Beatlemania Again, a look back at the Beatles.

·  Aug. 11 -- City Rhythm Orchestra of Philadelphia offers a blend of jazz, rock blues and R&B.

·  Aug. 18 -- Midiri Brothers Sextet plays swing and jazz.

·  Aug. 28 -- Local musician Frank Comparri III plays acoustic guitar.

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'Litter Summit' may help stop the trashing 7/3/04

If you live in Vineland, Millville, Buena or, frankly, anywhere in our area, you've seen the trash people toss along the side of the road.

One day not so long ago, I was stopped at a red light downtown on Landis Avenue. The driver waiting in front of me opened his door, set down a big McDonald's bag in the middle of the road -- the trash from his and his passengers' Big Macs stuffed inside -- closed the door and drove merrily on his way down Landis Avenue.

There seem to be thousands of people just like him, pitching unwanted trash out their car windows and making our town look like Litter Central. Drive down the eastern end of Landis Avenue and you'd think a trash truck lost its load. The Industrial Park? Oak Road? The ramps on and off Route 55? People use driveways, lawns, and parking lots as their own personal disposal bins.

Because this trashing by a few is an eyesore -- and that's putting it mildly -- The Daily Journal has decided to spearhead some community action to get things cleaned up and halt this litterbug free-for-all. It won't be an easy undertaking.

We asked our Community Advisory Board for help and ideas, and now we're asking you.

After this project was announced in Wednesday's paper, Dennis DeMatte, Jr., recycling coordinator for the Cumberland County Improvement Authority, was the first to call in to volunteer to take part. We'll be helping him with a "Litter Summit," gathering together residents, law enforcement officials, recycling folks -- anyone who can help bring together a plan to halt the trashing of our communities. We'll be calling on Mayors Barse, Quinn, Chiarello and Baruffi to join with us in this effort.

To get started, every week we'll publish a photo of trash along one of our roadways. If we're lucky, our photographers might occasionally be in the right place at the right time and capture someone actually dumping trash out a car window. Enforcement of existing litter laws will go a long way toward making everyone sit up and take notice that littering is serious business.

If you'd like to help, we're ready to hear from you. We'd like suggestions on where we can photograph litter near your house or business, and we'd appreciate hearing any thoughts you have to help make this campaign a success.

Nancy Monaghan is editor and publisher of The Daily Journal.

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Buena Vista Township
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