Community Corner

The Week in Union County

Here's your roundup of the region's top stories.

From robberies to Thanksgiving volunteerism, here's what made headlines around Union County this past week.

Clark-Garwood

Suspects made off with approximately $4,500 according to American Legion Commander Bill Duffy. Clark Police Captain Alan Scherb told Patch that the department is in discussion with the Rahway Police Department, as the Rahway VFW on Campbell Street was burglarized during this same time frame. "I hate burglars, specifically," said Duffy, who was formerly the captain of the Clark Police Detective Bureau. "They're dirty drug addicts and eventually they all get caught. These guys were especially inept. They stole $4,500 from the veterans of Clark and the children of Clark. All our members are just disgusted by this."

Find out what's happening in Springfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Springfield 

Find out what's happening in Springfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Early Saturday morning, Springfield Police Officer Patrolman Brian Trotman witnessed three men robbing the 7-Eleven on Route 22.  Trotman was parked across the street from the store on Hillside Avenue around 3 a.m. Saturday when he noticed a suspicious vehicle parked on the shoulder with its hazard lights on. Through the store windows, Trotman witnessed two men rob the store while one waited in the parked vehicle. Trotman and Patrolman James Mirabile arrested the men about a quarter-mile down the road as they were heading westbound on Route 22. Click for the full story.

 

In the week before Thanksgiving, members of the Springfield community gathered in prayer and worked together to help those in need. Springfield held its annual interfaith thanksgiving service on Monday, Nov 21 at Temple Sha’arey Shalom. Religious leaders from  ,  and  took part in the service. Springfield Mayor Hugh Keffer delivered the Presidential Proclamation and members of Springfield’s First Aid Squad were honored with a special blessing.

 

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, Springfield Rotarians made their  delivery. This year was the largest one yet, with 20 families receiving full dinners donated by Springfield businesses including  market and . 

 

Cranford

The re-building of continues to progress post Hurricane Irene. The replacement of the electrical service took slightly longer due to the acquisition of all required parts and equipment. The electric has been run from the outside utility pole into the basement of the building. Wires are being connected to the new panel boxes, and PSE&G will be out shortly to complete the electric service final hook-up. It is anticipated that electric will be restored to the building by mid-December.

Millburn Mayor Sandra Haimoff will host the first meeting of the Mayors’ Council on Rahway River Watershed Flood Control on Nov. 28 at Millburn town hall. The council grew out of the regional that was held last month at Union College in Cranford. The main objective of the new mayors’ council is to work together toward mitigation of flooding in towns along the , which was made worse by Irene and highlighted by damages sustained in those towns.

 

Summit

On Nov. 20, Mayor Jordan Glatt, the and NJ Foodbank collected 264 turkeys at a Turkey drive-thru drop off. The collection, the highest of NJ Foodbank's sites is an increase from the 253 they collected the year before, and 1,900 pounds of canned items. 

The Summit Fire and Police squads have set up throughout the city.

John Liberato's squad could be on their way to another state championship.

Summit schools board of ed workshops had another . Parents, educators and students joined in to continue meetings to help shape the future of Summit schools for the next three years.

 

New Providence

Faced with the reality of, perhaps, not returning to the state championship game last week, the New Providence girls’ soccer team had to dig deep to produce a comeback victory in the Group 1 semifinals. However, once the Pioneers returned to the final on Nov. 19, they made sure they would not be denied a first-time repeat championship. Sophomore forward Casey Trezza scored to give New Providence the lead for good late in the first half. After that, it was goals by Ashley Evangelos, and Paige Carleen in the second half that sparked New Providence to a dominating 4-0 victory over Haddon Township in Saturday’s Group 1 state championship game at The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township. For the first time in program history, New Providence has won back-to-back state championships.

The New Providence Varsity Football team (8-2) fell to the Panthers of Cedar Grove (9-2) 20-14 behind a 32-yard game-winning touchdown pass from Joe Slattery to Paul Rufo with 2:54 to go in a thriller at Lieder Field on Saturday afternoon. With the ball near midfield and just under six minutes remaining in the game, the Pioneers seemed to be on their way to a second consecutive as they continued to eat away at the clock. Instead, a Ben Schumacher interception on third down set up the game winning drive just short of midfield with 5:45 to play in the game. From there, Slattery was able to get the Panthers into Pioneers’ territory before finding Rufo for the go ahead score. New Providence was able to get two more possessions before the clock hit zero, but could not drive down the field in the difficult conditions. The Pioneers concluded their season with their traditional Thanksgiving Day game at local rival Governor Livingston. 

 

Scotch Plains

Scotch Plains Police continue to investigate . No one was injured but police are still looking for suspects that stole an undetermined amount of cash from the register.

In countywide police news, Detective Brendan Sullivan of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns, Drugs and Violence Unit gave a presentation at the Scotch Plains Police Academy on the major gangs in Union County. These gangs include the Bloods, the Crips, the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, MS-13, and Pagan’s Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. Sullivan encouraged community members to know the signs of gang involvement, such as language, clothing, and tattoos. 

He also stated that suburban towns are not always sheltered from gang activity and that “just because [gangs] don’t lay their head down and rest in your town doesn’t mean they can’t drive through your town and commit a crime.”

In other news, Patch took a closer look at how , visiting the Scotch Plains Food Pantry, and by speaking to advocacy sources at Feeding America and The Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Patch also examined the Map the Meal Gap and Child Food Insecurity Studies which for the first time looked at food insecurity at the county level and by congressional district while also taking meal costs into consideration to learn more about the widespread effects of hunger. 

In Union County, 69,260 people (13.3 percent of residents) are food insecure. Shockingly, 47 percent of those who are food insecure do not qualify for federal aid. 23,600 or 18.2 percent of all children in Union County are food insecure. Of those, 38 percent are not eligible for aid. No food stamps. No free school lunches. Advocacy groups are constantly working to protect funding for food pantries and other vital programs to help all who are food insecure. 

 

Westfield

Board of Education President Julia Walker stepped down following her unexpected Nov. 1 resignation.

The Blue Devils boys cross country team set a school record for fastest team time at the Meet of Champions on Saturday, Nov. 19.

Students at Edison Intermediate School donated 10 food baskets, 37 frozen turkeys and hundreds of pounds of assorted non-perishable foods to the needy this Thanksgiving.

Westfield High School's traditional homecoming festivities were washed out due to the rainy forecast.

 

Berkeley Heights-Mountainside

Three men were arrested in a burglary Saturday on Harding Drive in Berkeley Heights.

Berkeley Heights police arrested Robinson Bermudez, 35  and David A. Pulgarin, 28, both of West New York, N.J., and Andres Jimenez, 23, of Kew Gardens, N.Y.

Further investigation by officers revealed that a residence on Harding Drive had been burglarized and that a neighbor had seen two of the suspects enter the residence.  When the neighbor rang the front doorbell, two of the suspects fled on foot from the back of the residence, with the neighbor chasing after them.

Officers responded to the area of Snyder Avenue near Lone Pine Drive after receiving a report of an individual chasing two others.  Police headquarters then received a second report from volunteer Fire Capt. James Hopkins, of an individual getting into a blue Honda on Pine Grove Rd. 

Ptl. Dan Cuocci arrived on scene and observed one individual still running east on Pine Grove Rd., and was able to take Jimenez into custody after ordering him to the ground. 

Ptl. Michael Nelson then attempted to stop the blue Honda, at which time it fled east on Pine Grove Rd., coming to a stop after driving down a residential driveway near High Oaks Drive. 

Both Bermudez and Pulgarin were then taken into custody at that location by officers.


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