The early morning fire on Friday destroyed the family's home.

Police, fire and rescue units responded to a fire early Friday morning at a single home on Old Farm Road, according to police. A mother, her two teenage children and a family dog who were home at the time escaped safely, but the fire left the house uninhabitable, according to the release.

"As a result of the investigation, it appears that the fire originated in the attic area where contractors had been working," Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III said in the release. "Investigators determined that the fire was not suspicious and will be turning the investigation over to the homeowner's insurance company to make the official determination as to the cause of the fire."

Earlier this week, a fire in Delaware Township and one in Readington Township were investigated, but neither were deemed suspicious.

Fire Companies that responded included Oldwick, Fairmount, Whitehouse Station, East Whitehouse, Califon, Annandale, Lebanon Borough, Quakertown, High Bridge, Pottersville and North Branch. Rescue squads form Tewksbury and Whitehouse also responded, Kearns says.

The crash, which was reported at 12:47 p.m., remains under investigation. View PHOTOS.

Two people were injured this afternoon when a High Bridge police cruiser and another vehicle collided on Route 513, borough police said.

Patrolman Jonathon Danberry was the driver of the police cruiser; he was unharmed, police Chief Brett Bartman said. The driver of the other vehicle and a juvenile passenger, both of whom were not identified, suffered "non life threatening" injuries and were taken to Hunterdon Medical Center after the wreck, the chief said.

The crash, which was reported at 12:47 p.m., remains under investigation, Bartman said.

It occurred on a stretch of Route 513, also known as West Main Street, near Gronsky's Milk House eatery.

Clinton Township and Lebanon Borough police assisted.

The $49 million spending plan calls for a tuition hike from $102 per credit to $117 per credit, a 14.7 percent increase.

Raritan Valley Community College students would pay almost 15 percent more in tuition starting this fall under a budget trustees adopted Tuesday.

The $49 million spending plan calls for a tuition hike from $102 per credit to $117 per credit, a 14.7 percent increase. For a full-time student, the increase would be $450 per year, according to a news release from college trustees.

The 2012-13 budget now goes to the Board of School Estimate for final approval.

“The college, just like the students we serve and the taxpayers who support our institution, is facing serious fiscal challenges that require us to reduce operating expenses and find innovative, cost-effective ways to provide services,” college President Casey Crabill said in a statement.

Crabill said the college “conducted an exhaustive review of all our operating expenses to find savings” before it settled on a tuition hike.

The budget reflects difficult financial challenges that have forced the school to consider job cuts, borrow from its savings and reduce spending. Years of record enrollment increases have leveled off, employee benefits costs are on the rise, and government aid is falling, trustees said.

Trustees said the college had faced a $3 million shortfall.

Administrative changes would eliminate the equivalent of 12 jobs, although no layoffs are planned, trustees said. Spokeswoman Janet Thompson said the college is balancing retirements and vacancies and restructuring administrative duties.

The college also borrowed about $100,000 from its reserves, which is down to $1.36 million. That amount is "lower than we would like," Thompson said, and the board plans to try to replenish reserves over the next five years.

The $49 million in spending is a slight increase over this year’s $48.8 million, but it’s  a $1.1 million cut from 2010-11 spending.

After a 36 percent increase in student enrollment from 2005 to 2010, enrollment dropped 1.3 percent in 2011, Thompson said. The budget presumes level enrollment for 2012-13.

The budget also takes into account a $708,000, or 5.3 percent, drop in funding from Hunterdon and Somerset counties, as well as level funding from the state. The governments haven’t yet said how much they’ll provide, Thompson said, but are “facing their own fiscal difficulties and simply cannot afford this year to give us the same level of support.”

The college hiked tuition $3 a credit last year.

***

TUITION

Raritan Valley Community College plans to charge an extra $15 per credit starting in the fall. The tuition rates are as follows:

• Hunterdon and Somerset county residents: $117 per credit
• Out-of-county and out-of-state residents: $127 per credit
• Early College Program: $150 for first course, base tuition for additional courses
• Online and N.J. Virtual Community College: $153 per credit; no fees
• N.J. National Guard and Reserves: Free tuition up to 16 credits; fees apply
• Volunteer first responders: Free tuition up to $600 per year and $2,400 lifetime; fees apply
• 9/11 victims’ families: Free tuition for victims' children and spouse; fees apply

Negotiations for a new three-year deal stalled when union leaders asked for a 10-year salary schedule that would guarantee raises based on tenure.

View full sizeHunterdon County Democrat File PhotoThe Hunterdon County jail.

The last contract for Hunterdon County's 30 guards expired Jan. 1, 2009, and the guards since then have worked with no raises under terms of a previous contract.

Negotiations for a new three-year deal stalled when union leaders with Fraternal Order of Police Local 29 asked for a 10-year salary schedule that would guarantee raises based on tenure.

Hunterdon County guards are the only ones in the state who aren’t paid on a salary schedule, and the union says that has caused rapid turnover as guards leave for better pay.

“Of course morale is low, at an all-time low, and we have a high turnover rate,” union President Thomas Dodd said, adding that about a third of the guards leave for other jobs each year. “Officers who have been there for quite some time without any type of raise will leave and go to a department that pays better. … The old saying is that it's hard to find good help.”

Hunterdon County Freeholders countered with an offer that would pay guards percentage raises each year. The freeholders say in filings to a New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission arbitrator that a salary schedule would force them to give raises even after the contract ends.

View full sizeRob Walton

Freeholder Director Rob Walton said the county won’t agree to any contract with a salary schedule because the salary schedule creates “double raises,” one for an employee’s extra year of experience annually and one because the amount paid for each step increases annually.

“The county has worked very hard over many years to remove steps out of contracts with all of our unions,” Walton said. “To see them move to steps is frankly unacceptable … We value the service of our guards, but having that step guide is too high a price to pay.”

An arbitrator in 2010 sided with the guards, and the county appealed the decision to the Public Employment Relations Commission, which also sided with the union.

The arbitrator also found Hunterdon County guards have the lowest average pay of any guards in the state. Hunterdon's average salary, $37,900 at the end of the last contract, is lower than Warren County's starting salary, $39,884, according to the arbitration filings.

Dodd says the low average pay is due to guards routinely leaving and being replaced with new guards, who receive starting pay of $31,000.

The turnover has also created staffing problems, Dodd said, with three or four guards usually responsible for 110 to 120 prisoners during overnight shifts.

Attorneys for the guards and freeholders argued in New Jersey Superior Appellate Court earlier this month, and Dodd said a ruling is expected in April or May.

Another appeal would take the case to the state’s Supreme Court, and Walton said the county will “exhaust every avenue … to ensure not having the step schedule returned to the contract.”

Thursday will mark five years since the 52-year-old Bush was fatally shot by friendly fire while pursuing bank robbers in Readington Township.

View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | SUE BEYERKaren Bush and Joe Douress pose in this 2008 photo with a photo of Barry Bush, the FBI special agent killed in 2007 during a bank robbery. There is a family photo on the mantel and just under that is a flag that flew at the site were Bush was killed.

The Barry Lee Bush that Joseph Douress remembers isn’t the FBI agent who investigated gangs in Newark and the U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya.

Douress remembers a friend who would sit on a floor and stuff envelopes with invitations for a charity golf tournament, a neighbor who would plop himself on Douress’ couch to watch sports and have a few beers, a golfer perpetually frustrated by an incurable slice.

“Understand,” said Douress, who lives across the street from Bush’s widow, Karen, in Forks Township, “you’d never know Barry was in some cases the lead investigator in some of the biggest cases in this country’s history. … He was very well respected as an FBI agent. But around the neighborhood, he was Barry Bush.”

Thursday will mark five years since the 52-year-old Bush was fatally shot by friendly fire while pursuing bank robbers in Readington Township. Authorities say a fellow agent mistakenly shot Bush in confusion as agents descended on the robbers.

Questions remain about the death, including whether the fatal shot was an accidental discharge or if a fellow law enforcement officer fired intentionally but at the wrong person. Also unknown is who fired the fatal shot, and where Bush was hit and how many times.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said Thursday an internal investigation is complete, but he wasn’t sure the bureau would make it public.

Another FBI spokesman has said previously the unnamed agent who fired the fatal shot was within the bureau’s guidelines for firing his weapon. That spokesman has said the agent was transferred from the FBI’s New Jersey headquarters in Trenton to another FBI office.

Attempts to reach Bush’s widow, Karen, for comment last week were not successful.

View full sizeCourtesy of the FBIThe FBI released this file photo in 2007 of FBI Special Agent Barry Lee Bush.

Bush was on a team of agents investigating a string of bank robberies in 2007 in central New Jersey. The team learned that a trio of robbers armed with assault rifles and a handgun was on its way to a PNC bank on Route 22 in Readington Township.

The agents rushed two of the suspects outside the bank at 11:30 a.m. April 5, 2007. The robbers never fired, but Bush became the 51st FBI agent killed in the line of duty in the bureau’s 99-year history.

The 19-year FBI veteran, believed to be one of two agents ever killed by friendly fire, was within two years of retirement when he was killed.

Bush helped Douress, the neighbor, host an annual charity golf tournament in the memory of Douress' nephew, who died in 1991 of leukemia. The tournament has raised more than $300,000, and since 2008 has also provided scholarships in Bush's name for students pursuing careers in law enforcement.

The tournament is May 26 this year.

Douress said he doesn’t need to know more details of how Bush died, and that he holds no bitterness over the freak and murky circumstances of his death.

“At the end of the day, Barry was killed in the line of duty,” Douress said of Bush, whose name now adorns the FBI’s New Jersey Headquarters and is engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. “He has been recognized and memorialized for his bravery and his courage — and ultimately his sacrifice to his country.”

***

THE ROBBERS

Four bank robbers the FBI pursued in 2007 before agent Barry Bush was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow agent in Readington Township were never charged in the death of the 52-year-old Forks Township man. But all were sentenced to prison in 2009 in connection with the four robberies.

• Ringleader Francisco Herrera-Genao, 22 at the time of Bush's death, was sentenced to 117 years in prison. Federal prosecutors said he fired an automatic handgun at three robberies, injuring one teller when bullet fragments flew into her eyes.
• Wilfredo Berrios, 28 at the time of the death, was sentenced to 85 years in prison.
• Michael Cruz, 21 at the time, was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
• Efrain Lynn, also 21 at the time, was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was not present at the Readington Township robbery but contributed to earlier robberies.

He allegedly slid on a wet roadway into oncoming traffic on Route 513. View PHOTOS.

Lambertville police charge three people with drunken driving and weapons offenses.

Clinton Township

• A Schuylkill County, Pa., man left a township gas station Wednesday with the nozzle still connected to his car, according to police.

  Express-Times File Photo

  Charon Williams, 32, of Tamaqua, Pa., attempted to leave a Hess Station on Route 31 North with the gas nozzle still inside his 2007 Volvo sedan, ripping the nozzle out of the pump, reports say.

  Williams provided the gas attendant with his driver's license, but fled when he learned police would be responding.

  He was issued summonses for careless driving, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash and failure to report a motor vehicle crash.

• When an Allentown man crashed into a parked car on March 24, he left without contacting anyone, according to Clinton Township police.
  
  John Newhard, 74, backed into a 2009 Subaru wagon in the Stewarts Root Beer parking lot on Route 22 East, police say.
  
  Newhard left the lot without contacting police or the owner of the vehicle. He was issued summonses on charges of careless driving, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash and failure to report a motor vehicle crash. No injuries were reported.

• Police issued a Flemington man summonses Friday after he struck a parked car in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot, according to reports.
  
  Antonio Albuan, 67, backed into a 2005 Honda Accord in the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot on Center Street, then drove away without contacting police or the vehicle's owner, police say.
  
  Raritan Township police located Albuan and contacted Clinton Township police.
  
  Albaun was issued summonses on charges of careless driving, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash and failure to report a motor vehicle crash.

• Two High Bridge men were arrested last Tuesday after police discovered a container of Ketamine during a motor vehicle stop, according to reports.
  
  Police said they stopped Krishan Clemente, 30, on Route 31 North near Route 513, for failing to maintain his lane. Clemente's passenger, Brian Lytwyn, 29, appeared to be "nodding out," police say, and both men had white powder beneath their noses. Police found a small, glass container of Ketamine in Clemente's possession, according to reports.
  
  Clemente faces charges of drug possession, being under influence of drugs, driving while in possession of drugs and failure to maintain a lane. Lytwyn is charged with being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance. Both were released on their own recognizance.
  
  After developing probable cause, police seized $666 from Clemente, believing the money to be the proceeds of criminal activity.
  

Lambertville

• A motor vehicle stop Wednesday led to the arrest of three people on drunken driving, weapons and other charges, according to Lambertville police.
  
  Donald Kalina Jr., 24, of Doylestown, Pa., was stopped after failing to keep right on State Highway 29 , police say. He was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated, in addition to careless driving, failure to keep right and failure to maintain right charges.
  
  Police also discovered that one of Kalina's passengers, Nicholas Patterson, 24, of Lambertville, was in possession of a BB pistol. Allision L. Groman, 24, of Doylestown, was also found to have a knife tucked into her waistband. Both face weapon possession charges.
  
  The three were released pending a court appearance.

Clinton

• Two juveniles face criminal mischief charges after damaging light fixtures on March 10 at Alton Place condominiums, according to Clinton police.
  
  The Clinton youths, ages 10 and 11, smashed the lighting fixtures with a hammer and tampered with surveillance cameras on the property.
  
  Sgt. Cory Kubinak investigated the incident and identified the two male juveniles, who were referred to the Juvenile Unit of the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office on charges of criminal mischief.

A bench warrant for his arrest was issued in August 2006.

A Readington Township man wanted on criminal sexual contact and lewdness charges was stopped before boarding a flight to Mexico this morning, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III.

Authorities apprehended Rogelio Jimenez Ruiz, 28, at Newark Liberty Airport. He was charged in May 2006 in Readington Township.

"Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office detectives working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Jimenez Ruiz at Newark Liberty Airport this morning as he attempted to board a flight to Mexico," Kearns said in a news release.

A bench warrant for Ruiz's arrest was issued after he failed to appear in court in August 2006. His whereabouts were unknown until today, according to Det. Ed DeFilippis, public information officer for the prosecutor's office.

Ruiz was taken to Hunterdon County jail pending a court appearance.

The investigation was conducted by the Joint Hunterdon County Fugitive Task Force, which is made up of detectives from the prosecutor's office and the sheriff's office, and "has the mission of working together and sharing resources to track and apprehend fugitives from justice," according to the news release.

Police found him lying on the ground near Main Street.

After running into a light pole, an intoxicated Manville man was arrested on drug possession charges.

High Bridge Borough police found Drew Lapotasky, 39, lying on the ground near Main Street, suffering from a head injury sustained from running into a nearby light pole, according to reports.

Police say Lapotasky was intoxicated and carrying heroin. He was transported to Hunterdon County Medical Center for treatment.

He was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and held in Hunterdon County jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.

Also, Bucks County woman faces two counts of aggravated assault after allegedly leaving a March 9 crash.

Courtesy Photo

A Hunterdon County grand jury indicted the following defendants Thursday, according to a release from Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III:

• Donna Norkevich, 52, faces two counts of aggravated assault and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
  
  The charges stem from a two-vehicle crash March 9 on Route 523 in Delaware Township. Norkevich allegedly crossed the center line into oncoming traffic and struck a vehicle, causing serious injury to the two occupants of the other vehicle.
  
  According to reports, Norkevich's blood-alcohol content exceeded the legal limit at the time of the crash.

• Boris Shulga, 37, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of robbing and attacking a man in Frenchtown.
  
  On Oct. 23, Shulga allegedly punched Martin W. Arnold as he was leaving a friend's apartment in the Commons Apartment Complex, taking Arnold's money and running away.
  
  Searches revealed Shulga was in possession of a switchblade and an expandable baton, according to reports. He faces robbery, theft, obstruction and weapon possession charges.

• James D. Collins, 38, of Whitehouse Station, faces distribution and possession of child pornography charges.
  
  The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office Special Victim's Unit arrested Collins in August, while he resided in Readington Township.

• Aneesah A. Brooks, 29, of Newark, was indicted on three counts of forgery, one count of theft by deception and one count of conspiracy to commit theft.
  
  Brooks allegedly wrote and presented several fraudulent checks to a TD Bank in Clinton in June 2010.

Lebanon Township police report two motor vehicle crashes on Route 31.

• A Hopewell, N.J., man was arrested Saturday on charges of cocaine and weapons possession, according to Raritan Township police.
  
  Police stopped Morgan T. Harris, 24, for failing to observe a traffic signal at Voorhees Corner and Barley Sheaf roads and because his license plate light was out, according to reports.
  
  Harris was subsequently charged with drug possession, possession of paraphernalia and possession of a switchblade, police say. He was also issued a summons for maintenance of lamps. Police said they learned Harris had an active warrant out of Lawrence Township, N.J., Municipal Court. He was released after posting $89 bail.

• Police charged a Raritan Township man with drunken driving and other motor vehicle charges.
  
  David G. Plichta, 24, was speeding Saturday when he was stopped on Twin Pointe Road, after police found that his registration was expired, according to reports.
  
  Plichta was charged with speeding, reckless driving, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving while intoxicated.

• A township man faces drug possession charges stemming from an arrest Sunday on Samuel Drive.
  
  Jonathan R. King, 22, was walking briskly on Samuel Drive when he was stopped by police patroling the area, according to reports. Police say recent burglaries have required police presence in the neighborhood.
  
  King was charged with possessing less than 50 grams of marijuana and was released on his own recognizance.

• A traffic stop Sunday on Church Street led to the arrest of a Branchburg Township man on drug possession charges.
  
  Police say Ryan L. Hill, 20, made an improper turn on Church Street, and was found to be in possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana and rolling papers.
  
  Hill was issued summonses for making an improper turn and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a vehicle. He was released on his own recognizance.
  
  A 17-year-old passenger from Flemington was also charged with being under the influence of marijuana. He was released to his mother after processing.

• A High Bridge man was issued a careless driving summons following a crash Thursday on Route 31.
  
  Andrew J. Silvent, 27, was heading south on Route 31 in Lebanon Township and tried to turn left onto Cregar Street, according to Lebanon Township police. As his 2008 Honda VTX motorcycle entered the northbound lane, Silvent was struck by a 2012 Honda Accord, driven by a 17-year-old Glen Gardner resident.
  
  Silvent was treated for minor injuries and issued a summons for careless driving. In addition to township police, Lebanon Township Fire Department, township Emergency Medical Services and Department of Human Services Police responded.

• Lebanon Township police report a second crash early this week on Route 31.
  
  Henry Hersheller Jr., 53, of Branchburg Township, N.J., was issued a summons for careless driving after crashing into the back of a car on Route 31 on Sunday, police say.
  
  Hersheller was driving south in a 2002 Volkswagen Golf, when he failed to slow in time and struck the rear of a 2002 Volkswagen Golf, driven by a 17-year-old Belvidere boy, according to reports.
  
  No injuries were reported.

He was found behind the wheel of his car on Wooley Drive.

After police discovered him sleeping in his car, a Clinton Township man was charged with drunken driving.

Clinton Township police found Vincent Plakotoris, 21, asleep behind the wheel at about 4 a.m., when responding to a suspicious vehicle report on Wooley Drive.

Plakotoris was issued a summons for drunken driving and released, according to police.

Police also report:

• A Clinton woman was arrested Tuesday in Clinton Township on charges of receiving stolen property and being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance.
  
  Hunterdon Democrat Photo
  
  Township police say they stopped Kristi Wertz, 30, for failing to maintain her lane on Halstead Street near Route 31. Police say Wertz had visibly fresh needle injection marks on her arm and appeared to be under the influence of illegal drugs.
  
  After a search, police discovered numerous packaged cell phone chargers and remote controls, according to reports. Police say they determined the items were stolen and arrested Wertz, who is also charged with careless driving. She was release without bail on her own recognizance.

• A Clinton Township woman struck and destroyed a utility pole Monday, according to police.
  
  Kristen Sodano, 22, was driving south on Route 641 when her vehicle left the road hit a pole, severing the structure at its base, police said. She suffered minor injuries. Police say no summonses were issued.

The memorial for Bush, a 19-year FBI veteran from Forks Township who died in 2007, was held in Readington Township. See PHOTOS.

"Barry liked to keep his finger on the pulse of his street," Douress said. "Over the past five years, that pulse has changed. We're still a tight-knit group, but it's just not the same."

"I like having these constant reminders of Barry," Douress said. "He was like a member of our extended family."

"It means a lot to us to have his friends and co-workers come out to remember him," Thrasher said. "We always miss Barry; we love him."

"We think about him every day," Dave Bush said. "It doesn't get easier."

"Barry was about loyalty: loyalty to his family, to his squad, to the people he lived to protect every day," Sylva said.

The arrest springs from a two-month long investigation. See PHOTOS from a previous story where the officer was profiled for winning a powerlifting competition.

View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | BRUCE WINTERClinton Township patrolman Chris Weaver, seen here in 2009, was suspended following possession of steroid charges.

"We are coordinating with the Clinton Township Police Department Internal Affairs personnel and continuing our investigation into this matter," Kearns says in the release. "It is a sad and difficult task when we investigate law enforcement officers, but it is for the greater good."

The 2009 New Jersey USA Powerlifting Federation champion is suspended pending the review of the complaint by the police department's internal affairs personnel. See PHOTOS.

"We are coordinating with the Clinton Township Police Department Internal Affairs personnel and continuing our investigation into this matter," Kearns said in the statement. "It is a sad and difficult task when we investigate law enforcement officers, but it is for the greater good."

"It’s unfortunate on a personal and professional level for him and for him and the organization," Cimei said of allegations against Weaver. "I’m glad it was addressed and taken care of and that the prosecutor’s office is investigating."

Clinton Township police Lt. Ryan Melsky, the department spokesman, would say only, "The only comment from the police department is our involvement in this matter ended several months ago. It's not our investigation. All comments really should come from the prosecutor's office."

"It proves that with some hard work ... you can accomplish things without drug use," Weaver told the newspaper in 2009.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office says the fire was an accident.

View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | Kathryn BrenzelAuthorities have deemed the Holland Township fire that killed Virginia Moll, 81, an accident.

The kitchen fire that ultimately claimed the life of a Holland Township woman  started when she attempted to light a candle, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III announced today.

Virginia Moll, 81, died at 8:27 a.m. in St. Barnabas Hospital following a fire Thursday in her residence in the 100 block of Rummel Road, Kearns said.

The fire, reported at 9 p.m., was deemed an accident, caused when Moll tried lighting a candle and her clothing caught fire. There was a power outage in the area at the time, according to Kearns. 

"Hunterdon County Arson Task Force investigated the fire and determined that the fire was accidental," Kearns said in a news release. "Our sincerest condolences go out to the Moll family."

Holland Township police Patrolman Michael Bent and neighbors, Christina Dalla Palu and James Lauck are credited with containing the fire with extinguishers, the release says.

An across-the-street neighbor saw Moll throw something engulfed in flames out the door.

Discovering that she'd lost power, Christina Dalla Palu stepped outside Thursday night to see if anyone else on Rommel Road was having the same problem. What she saw was her neighbor across the street throwing something out the side door of her home.

And whatever it was, it was on fire.

Dalla Palu and her boyfriend, Jim Lauck, ran to their neighbor's aid. They found Virginia Moll, 81, at the screen door, her nightgown scorched and her body badly burned.

Express-Times Photo | Kathryn BrenzelAuthorities have deemed the Holland Township fire that killed Virginia Moll, 81, an accident.

Dalla Palu said Friday that Moll showed some reluctance about going outside because of her appearance.

Moll, of Holland Township, ultimately succumbed to her injuries about 8:30 a.m. Friday at St. Barnabas Hospital, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III.

Dalla Palu wrapped a sweatshirt around Moll and sat her down on a patio chair at the side of the house. Lauck called for help and tried to extinguish the fire.

Inside the white, cape-cod style home in the 100 block of Rommel Road, the flames were contained to the kitchen, Kearns said, thanks to the efforts of the neighbors and a Holland Township police officer. The fire, which was reported about 9 p.m. Thursday, started when Moll tried to light a candle.

Her clothes caught fire in the process, Kearns said in a news release.

Neighbors say Moll lived with her 53-year-old son, Jon, who wasn't home at the time of the fire. Don Springmann, who lives with his wife, Marge, two houses down from Lauck, said Moll has been his neighbor for "eons," previously sharing the home with her late husband, Joseph.

Springmann said he and his wife have lived in Holland Township for 20 years. Moll was an acquaintance.   

"I'm truly sorry to hear that she passed away," he said.

The Springmanns returned home from a church service Thursday night to find emergency vehicles lining the road. A floodlight illuminated the front of Moll's home, creating an eerie brightness on the quiet rural road.

      "Over there, it was like daylight," Don Springmann said.

He said the ambulances, police and fire officials lined the street late into the night. When he checked at midnight, the block was still a flurry of emergency lights.

     "I thought, 'My god, they're still over there,'" he said.

Michael Panicaro, who lives next door to Moll, said he called his wife, Laura, at work to alert her that the road had been overtaken by emergency vehicles.

"This being a rural area, the whole road was blocked," Michael Panicaro said.

The Panicaros said they interacted with Moll occasionally, but that she and her son largely kept to themselves. Dalla Palu also said she didn't know Moll well, and it was only by chance that she and Lauck spotted the woman discard the fiery item.

"If we were a second ahead of ourselves, it would have been a different story," Dalla Palu said. "We wouldn't have seen what she threw outside."

The work, which will close the bridge, was delayed to accommodate business owners.

Repairs to a walking bridge that connects Bulls Island Recreation Area to Pennsylvania have been delayed at the request of merchants who wanted the bridge to stay open for their busy season.

View full sizePhoto courtesy Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge CommissionThe Lumberville-Raven Rock pedestrian bridge connects the Lumberville section of Solebury Township, Pa., with the Raven Rock section of Delaware Township, N.J.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission is spending $2.3 million to rehabilitate the Lumberville-Raven Rock walking bridge. The bridge spans the Delaware River from the Bulls Island state park in Delaware Township to the Lumberville section of Solebury Township in Bucks County.

The work, which will close the bridge, was slated for the end of summer and early fall. It's now scheduled for the onset of warm weather in 2013 and is scheduled to finish before the recreation and tourism season on which Lumberville business owners rely.

Commission Executive Director Frank G. McCartney said business owners asked for the delay.

"We decided to postpone this project to mitigate potential economic impacts," McCartney said in a news release. "Our goal is to be a good partner with local communities along the river."

Delaying the work also saved $400,000, according to the commission.

The rehabilitation includes repairs to the bridge deck, its approaching sidewalks and steel frame, as well as upgrades to lights, signs and fences, according to the commission. The bridge, built in 1947, also will be cleaned and painted.

The commission repaired the bridge's piers in 2011.

The rehabilitation is part of $66 million in infrastructure improvements that the commission approved this year. The work is ultimately funded by tolls paid at the commission's seven toll bridges.

***

• $1.78 million for a final design to rehab the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge.

• $1 million to improve a maintenance garage at the Delaware Water Gap (Interstate 80) Toll Bridge.
• $9.3 million to repave and improve 700 feet of Water Street in Belvidere; 2.25 miles of Interstate 78 in Williams Township; and parts of Route 202 and the Route 29 overpass near the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge.
• $13 million in community transportation grants.
• $8 million to improve piers and abutments.
  
• $1 million for new E-Z Pass Technology.
  

The original is set in the ninth year of the Trojan War when a soldier, Ajax, goes mad on the battlefield. This production takes place at the end of the Iraq war.

View full sizePhoto courtesy of Raritan Valley Community CollegeAjax (Kyle Blocker) finds the dead Achilles (Zachary Huber), as Athena (Caroline Cartselos) urges him on in Raritan Valley Community College's original adaptation of Sophocles' 'Ajax.'

Wars and their weapons may be linked to different eras, but the emotional effect on soldiers who fight in them seem to be timeless.

It was with that thought in mind that Mark Bloom, adjunct assistant professor at Raritan Valley Community College along with the school's Visual and Performing Arts Department, decided to stage Sophocles' Greek tragedy "Ajax" with a modern twist.

The original play is set in the ninth year of the Trojan War when a soldier, Ajax, goes mad on the battlefield. This production takes place at the end of the Iraq war.

"The Trojan War lasted almost as long as the Iraq War," Bloom said. "10 years on the field of combat."

The play examines the theater of war, and the story is interspersed with a series of soldiers' choruses spoken by veterans of recent conflicts. Bloom said he’s worked on the project about a year, interacting with veterans through YouTube and blogs.

And the play resonates with them.

"It's what they say,” Bloom said of the production. "It's the truth to them."

An exhibition of the Combat Paper Project will be on display in the theater lobby throughout the show’s run. Organized by the New Jersey Printmaking Council in Branchburg, the veteran-led project transforms combat fatigues into paper and art.

The transformed paper may have photos that were taken overseas, silk screen pictures or pen or ink drawings.

David Keefe, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq for six years, serves as director of the Combat Paper Project. He was inspired by fellow Iraq War veterans to bring the project to New Jersey.

Drew Cameron, an Iraq war veteran from Vermont, started the project in 2007 when he "ripped up his uniform" and made it into paper, according to Keefe. Cameron transformed it into a work of art as a way of expressing his experiences overseas, he said.

In 2008, Cameron and another veteran turned the project into a traveling workshop, stopping around the country for a week at a time.

"It became a healing process for veterans," Keefe said.

As they cut up their uniforms to make the paper pulp, it helped veterans deconstruct what they experienced overseas and assimilate themselves back into their communities and their families, Keefe said. The project helps veterans who had been stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locales, "feel like they are blending in," he said.

"They like to keep a level of anonymity," Keefe said.

***

IF YOU GO

Raritan Valley Community College presents "Ajax" 8 p.m. April 24-27 in Welpe Theatre. Tickets are $12, and admission is free to U.S. veterans.

Call 908-725-3420 for tickets and more information.

For more information on The New Jersey Printmaking Council's Combat Paper Project visit printnj.org or call 908-725-2110.

The 20-year-old West Ward man was carrying less than 50 grams of marijuana, New Jersey State Police report.

Express-Times File PhotoKhayri Williams