The house fire has been deemed accidental but is still under investigation.

A fire left a two-story Tewksbury Township home uninhabitable Friday, according to township fire marshal Tom Anderson.

The fire burned the northwest corner of the house on the first block of Sutton Road, at approximately 11:30 p.m., according to Tewksbury Township police. The cause of the fire is officially undetermined, but Anderson said it was "definitely accidental."

An unattended, propane barbecue grill located on the back deck of the house appears to be the source of the incident, according to Detective Edmund J. DeFilippis, spokesman for the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

The residents of the home, a man, his wife and their five children, along with their pets, escaped unharmed, Anderson said. He could not release their names at this time.

No injuries have been reported, but the fire has displaced the family, Anderson said. Smoke and heat damage to the first floor is extensive, he said, and the second floor suffered smoke damage.

Fairmount, Califon, Oldwick, Lebanon fire departments responded and put out the fire, according to reports.

Using dry leaves as kindling, the fire consumed a wooded area on the first block of Sandy Ridge Road, and was contained in about 20 minutes, police say.

A downed telephone wire ignited a two-acre fire in Delaware Township this morning, according to Delaware Township police.

Using dry leaves as kindling, the fire consumed a wooded area on the first block of Sandy Ridge Road, and was contained in about 20 minutes, said responding patrolman Elliot Gray.

About 50 volunteers from Sergeantsville Fire Company, Kingwood, West Amwell, Amwell Valley and Raritan Township responded, he said. Flames came within 100 yards of a barn before volunteers stopped the fire in its tracks, Gray said.

"The reason it was contained so quickly was because of the good, quick response of volunteers," he said.

Police arrested a Bucks County man Saturday on drunken driving and drug possession charges.

Two out-of-state men were arrested Wednesday after a consensual search turned up cocaine, opium, bath salts and various pills, according to Clinton Township police.

Hunterdon County Democrat Photo

Jordan Weaver, 20, of Eldersburg, Md., and Justin Muller, 20, of Little Neck, N.Y., were found with 17 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of opium, bath salts, a Suboxone pill, Adderall and an unknown pill, reports say.

Police stopped the men on Route 22 West near Blossom Hill Road for failing to maintain their lane. Weaver, the driver, was not the registered owner of the vehicle and failed to produce a driver's license, according to police.

Both men were charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute and being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance. Weaver was issued motor vehicle summonses for driving while intoxicated, operating a motor vehicle while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance, failure to maintain lane, failure to produce a driver's license and unclear plates.

Both men were released on their own recognizance.

• A Bucks County man was arrested Saturday on drunken driving and drug possession charges, according to police.
  
  Police discovered William Stanley, 20, of Levittown, Pa., in the driver's seat of 1989 Chevrolet Camaro, in the parking lot of McDonald's on Center Street. After asking Stanley to step from the vehicle, police noticed a bag of marijuana in plain sight, reports say.
  
  Stanley initially told police his name was "James Isaac Stanley," but shortly afterward admitted his real name. During a consensual search, police found a second bag of marijuana as well as an open can of beer, according to police.
  
  He faces charges of possession of under 50 grams of marijuana, hindering apprehension, underage consumption of alcohol, driving while intoxicated and driving without a license.

Lebanon

• A Califon woman was issued a summons for failure to yield following a three-vehicle crash on Thursday.
  
  While entering County Route 513 from County Route 512, Deborah Hecksteden was struck by Timothy Morris, of Hopatcong, according to Lebanon Township police. Hecksteden was then pushed into a vehicle driven by Stephen Day, of Hackettstown.
  
  Police say Hecksteden's and Morris' vehicles suffered extensive damage, but no injuries were reported.
  
  Hecksteden was issued a summons for failure to yield.

Heroin, cocaine and other narcotics were found in Wierzbicki's system, according to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

The Kingwood Township man who killed his parents and then himself last month was under the influence of several illegal substances, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III said today.

Toxicology reports found "substantial positive results for heroin, cocaine and a host of other prescription ... and illegal narcotic drugs," in Gabriel Wierzbicki's system, according to a statement from Kearns' office.

Courtesy of FacebookGabriel Wierzbicki

Authorities discovered the 26-year-old, and his parents, Andrew Wierzbicki, 62, and Wanda Wierzbicki, 56, dead in their 471 Barbertown-Point Breeze Road home March 10.  Police later determined that Wierzbicki shot his parents, then turned the gun on himself.

In the statement, Kearns said that the 26-year-old's substance abuse may have contributed to the tragedy.

"Gabriel Wierzbicki was a troubled person with a severe drug problem and no apparent means of income. Detectives found an extensive amount of heroin and drug paraphernalia in his possession," Kearns said. "Detectives also learned that Gabriel Wierzbicki cashed one of his parents' payroll checks leading investigators to conclude that illegal drugs were purchased with those funds ...

"Substance abuse destroys families. In this extreme case, illegal drugs may have been a contributing factor in the murder of two innocent people and a troubled young man taking his own life," Kearns said.

Gabriel Wierzbicki was an only child.

Wanda Wierzbicki volunteered at the gift shop and was a hospice volunteer for Hunterdon Medical Center and also was a preschool and nursery school teacher at the Somerville, N.J., YMCA.

Andrew Wierzbicki was a retired carpenter and still active in his union, Carpenters Local 455.

The investigation is nearly complete, but the prosecutor's office asks anyone with information to call investigators in the office at 908-788-1129 or New Jersey State Police at Kingwood at 908-996-2864. All calls are kept confidential.

The Flemington Fair Speedway Rolling Museum makes its public debut at the Riegel Ridge Community Center.

Well before the Flemington Speedway closed in 2000, John “Goop” Mondelli was enamored with the one-time dirt track’s history.

“I grew up going to Flemington as a kid,” Mondelli said. “As I grew up, I raced a little and then kind of got into the nostalgia.”

His collection of memorabilia, amassed from private collectors and donations, includes old signs, photos, tickets, pit passes and more. Mondelli added to his collection when the track closed, purchasing items at auction and even rummaging through the trash.

“Some I salvaged out of the garbage, you know ...” Mondelli said. “I wish I got more.”

View full sizeCourtesy PhotoThe Flemington Speedway Rolling Museum will make its debut Sunday at Riegel Ridge Community Center. John Mondelli, left, and Lance Ruban, right, spearheaded efforts to organize the mobile museum.

The Flemington Fair Speedway Rolling Museum, a mobile slice of the track’s rich local history, makes its public debut Sunday at the Riegel Ridge Community Center in Holland Township.

Mondelli, co-founder of the Flemington Speedway Historical Society, kept his collection in storage, while he figured out how best to display the memorabilia.

Long-time friend Lance Ruban suggested Mondelli use his enclosed, 160-square-foot racing trailer and make a traveling Flemington racing museum.

“It’s just something we always wanted to do,” Ruban said. “Goop’s been talking about it for three years.”

Ruban and Mondelli’s friendship started with trips to the speedway, with Ruban eventually helping Mondelli tinker with and fix his race cars before Ruban bought his own car to race.

“We’ve been together as long as I can remember,” Ruban said. “That’s what we did on Saturday night. It’s just a shame that the times caught up with it. Everyone was mad when the track closed in 2000.”

As word gets out about the museum, it’s become easier to locate memorabilia.

A woman who owned a bank of grandstand seats was preparing to move and could not take the seats with her. Modelli said the owner was “horrified that she had to get rid of it,” but wanted the seats to go to a good home, so she offered them at a “very reasonable price.”

Mondelli had also targeted the speedway’s old pace truck, but he lost track of it until someone, who had planned on restoring it, offered to sell it to him. While the trailer is too heavy for the pace truck to tow, Mondelli said he’s still able to use it.

“It’s on the road,” he said. “I drive it.”

The rolling museum, which will rotate its displays, is appearing as part of the Speed and Sports Car Show, which benefits Holland Township School District’s Source for Excellence in Educational Development Foundation.

Foundation Vice President Sandy Bate said she wanted to add something unique to the car show. That’s when she heard about the two childhood friends who used to travel to the speedway, just like Bate did, every Saturday night.

A daughter and sister of race car drivers, Bate considers herself to be from the racing community. Her father, John Menzak Jr., 69, raced at Flemington in the 1970s in his Z-50 stock car, and her brother, John Menzak III, started racing at Flemington in 1987 in the rookie division.

She said she "thought it would be interesting to have an event which would show children what racing was all about in Hunterdon County, as well as bring back memories for the older generations."

***

IF YOU GO

The Flemington Fair Speedway Rolling Museum will be on display 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Riegel Ridge Community Center, 910 Milford Warren Glen Road, Holland Township.

The rain date is April 29.

Admission is $3, or $2 with a donation for veterans and other residents at The Homestead House in Frenchtown.

Visit hollandseed.org for more information about the Holland Township School District’s Source for Excellence in Educational Development Foundation, which the show supports.

A $26.6 million spending plan approved by the Readington Township School Board marks the third time in four years the school board is seeking less tax money. It also calls for a third consecutive year of reduced spending.

View full sizeExpress-Times File PhotoThe Readington Township School Board plans to eliminate four teaching positions due to declining enrollment at its elementary schools.

Readington Township voters are being asked to approve a school budget that reduces tax collections by 3 percent, the third time in four years that the school board is seeking less money from taxpayers.

A $26.6 million spending plan approved by the Readington Township School District and school board also calls for a third consecutive year of reduced spending.

The school board plans to eliminate four teaching positions due to declining enrollment at its elementary schools. Officials, meanwhile, plan to add three language teaching positions: two Spanish teachers at the elementary level and a Mandarin Chinese teacher at the middle school level.

“We really spent a lot of time looking at where we could gain efficiencies without cutting programs, without really decreasing the quality of what we offer to our students,” Superintendent Barbara Sargent said. “I believe this budget reflects that.”

Readington voters will see a budget question on ballots during Tuesday’s school board elections.

The Readington school district is the only district in Hunterdon County and among a minority in New Jersey that will pose the budget question.

A vast majority of New Jersey school districts moved elections to November under a new state law. Those holding November elections no longer must have their budgets approved by voters unless the budget calls for more than 2 percent in new tax collections.

Readington Township School Board President Joanne Sekella has said the board didn’t want to take the choice away from voters and that it wanted to “keep the pressure on” itself to develop palatable budgets.

The budget calls for a 1.03 percent tax increase, about an extra penny on every $1,000 of taxable property value. But falling property values mean the district will actually collect 3 percent less in tax revenue. The district by law could have proposed a budget with a 2 percent increase in tax collections.

“We’re just hopeful the community will see we tried to put together a very responsible budget,” Sargent said.

She noted that taxpayers who did not lose property value are likely to pay slightly higher taxes next school year, while most will pay less.

The district includes Readington Middle School, Holland Brook School, Whitehouse School and Three Bridges School. The district expects to have 1,892 students enrolled for 2012-13, which is 57 fewer students than this school year.

***

CHOICE OF BOARD MEMBERS

In addition to voting on a budget, Readington Township voters on Tuesday will also choose two new school board members.

Two candidates are running for three open seats. They are Vincent Panico, who ran and lost last year, and incumbent Eric Zwerling.

Incumbents Janet Cole and Joanne Sekella, the board president, are not seeking re-election.

It features artifacts, documents and demonstrations that give insight to Hunterdon County's life during the Revolutionary War.

View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | TONY STRANGEJack Sherrerd, a volunteer and guide at The Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton, views part of the museum's Revolutionary War exhibit, which is on display through September.

Hunterdon County has a story to tell about the Revolutionary War.

“It’s a story about a community divided — your neighbors were patriots and you were a loyalist,” said Elizabeth Cole, curator of collections at the Red Mill Museum Village. “It was kind of like an early Civil War.”

Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton is hosting “A Community Divided” exhibit through September. It features artifacts, documents, and demonstrations that offer insight to Hunterdon County life during the Revolutionary War and the divisions the war created between pacifists, loyalists and patriots.

Rather than landmark areas of major battles, the Red Mill Museum wants to show what life was like during the war. Cole said there were many more skirmishes in Hunterdon County during the Revolutionary War than major military battles.

“I was driving down (Route) 31, and I saw the place where the Flemington Raid happened," Cole said. "It’s so interesting to get to learn about the history of this town.”

Besides cannonballs and muskets, the museum is showing a David Reynolds counterfeit coin. Cole explained that during the war, Reynolds minted counterfeit coins in the Reynolds Tavern.

“The story goes that the British tried to catch him several times,” Cole said, “but it wasn’t until they put burlap sacks on their horses’ hooves that were they able to catch him in the act.”

The museum has also organized demonstrations on the third Saturday of each month during the exhibit. Topics include war-era clothing, what the soldiers cooked and ate, boats used when George Washington crossed the Delaware River, and how maps were made during the war.

“Today we are using our GPS, iPhones, or Google Maps,” said Katie Caljean, a Red Mill curator. “It is interesting to see how people had to know the lay of the land back then.”

The exhibit was inspired by the museum’s lecture series, also on the theme of “A Community Divided.” The last lecture, “The Cow Chase: Anthony Wayne and the Attack on the Bull’s Ferry Blockhouse,” is May 1. The lecture by author Todd Braisted will tell the story of 70 loyalists that fended off Pennsylvania Patriots in July of 1780.

“A lot of these stories have been here for years,” Cole said. “But now a new generation is learning them.”

***

IF YOU GO

The "A Community Divided" Revolutionary War exhibit is on display through September at Red Mill Museum Village, 56 Main St. in Clinton. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday.

Visitors are welcomed to the exhibit, but reservations are required for programs and lectures. To register or for more information, email programs@theredmill.org or call 908-735-4101 ext. 102.

The Hunterdon County Division of Public Health says deer ticks that carry Lyme disease are likely to become active a month early this year.

View full sizeCourtesy of Hunterdon County Health DepartmentA deer tick is shown in its nymphal stage.

Unseasonably warm weather has health officials warning of Lyme disease earlier than usual.

The Hunterdon County Division of Public Health says deer ticks that carry Lyme disease are likely to become active a month earlier this year. The warm weather also means more people are outside earlier, increasing the chances a tick will grab onto them.

Division Manager Tadgh Rainey says tick and Lyme disease season is likely to peak in May this year instead of June.

"This year is shaping up to be quite different," Rainey said in a statement. "We're urging everyone to step up their personal prevention efforts earlier. Check for ticks and remove them promptly."

Normally, March averages 42.5 degrees across the country, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This year, the average was 51.1, closer to April temperatures.

NOAA also reported the first three months of 2012 were the hottest first three months of any year on record, and since last April it's been the hottest 12-month stretch on record.

"It just takes a few days of temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for deer ticks to become active," Rainey said in the statement. "At this point of the year, these ticks are in their adult stage, so luckily, they are easier to spot on the body. But they are also very hungry and looking for their first blood meal of the season."

The health division says a tick that has Lyme disease is likely to pass it to a human if it attaches for more than 36 hours. The division is urging people to check themselves for ticks after outdoor activity, especially activity in woodsy or overgrown areas.

Authorities apprehended the suspect, 19-year-old Mubarek Y. Muhammed, of Elizabeth, N.J., early this morning, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office announced.

Muhammed slowed and moved to the right lane before accelerating away from the officer, Soriano said. The officer pursued with lights and sirens activated as Muhammed "was driving recklessly in excess of 125 mph," Soriano said in a statement.

Muhammed ran with officers in pursuit and was arrested "a short time later" by New Jersey State Police, Soriano said. He was found to be in possession of a bag of marijuana.

He previously pleaded guilty to six counts of theft by deception.

One of the New York men who scammed senior citizens with a fake chimney-repair business in Warren, Hunterdon and Morris counties has been sentenced to four years in New Jersey State Prison.

Photo courtesy of Pohatcong Township policeMichael Carofano, left, 39, and Charles J. Emmerich, 27, both of Bay Shore, N.Y., were sentenced on theft by deception charges for their roles in a chimney-repair scam.

Michael Carofano, 39, of Bay Shore, previously pleaded guilty to six counts of theft by deception, stemming from the tri-county chimney repair scam that preyed on unsuspecting elderly victims from 2009 to 2010, according to a news release today from Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns.

Carofano's co-defendant, Charles J. Emmerich, 27, also of Bay Shore, was sentenced in July to probation with time served, according to First Assistant Prosecutor James J. Janci. Emmerich had pleaded guilty two counts of theft of deception, from an incident in Alpha and one in High Bridge, according to Janci.

Under the fake company, Tri-State Chimney, Carofano solicited money from residents of Alpha, Washington and Hackettstown in Warren County; Tewksbury Township in Hunterdon County; and Long Valley in Morris County.

The cases were consolidated in Hunterdon County, but it was when the two men were arrested in March 2010 in Pohatcong Township that their scheme first began to unravel, Janci said.

"It was really that Warren County arrest that started the whole ball rolling," he said.

Carofano admitted to taking money from two residents in Alpha for mandatory cleanings and chimney liner replacements which he never completed, stealing more than $2,000 from each. He orchestrated similar exchanges in Hackettstown, Washington and Long Valley.

After "cleaning" an elderly couple's chimney in Tewksbury Township in 2009, Carofano claimed additional repairs were needed, Janci said. The couple became suspicious and refused. When Carofano left the home, the couple discovered a check and credit card missing from a purse by the door.

Express-Times File PhotoThe van used in the chimney scams.

Carofano employed and repeated certain tricks when appearing at victims' homes, Janci said.

He'd climb up to the chimney to look around, creating a sense of urgency by bringing down broken tiles he'd taken up to the roof or a dead animal as evidence of potential carbon monoxide poisoning.

When Carofano charged for a new insert, he either never completed the work or the work was useless, Janci said. In cases of the latter, he'd shove an insert into the chimney without connecting it to the furnace. He also offered a "senior discount" to lure many of his victims into letting him work in their homes.

For the crimes in Warren and Morris counties, Carofano pleaded guilty to five counts of theft by deception, all third-degree offenses, and disorderly person offense for the Tewksbury Township incident.

Kearns urged senior citizens to contract with reputable home repair service workers and to be wary of any offers that seem "too good to be true".

"Our senior citizens are one of the most vulnerable populations in our society," Kearns said. "It is our duty and obligation to ensure their protection. It is my hope that this conviction reminds all who interact and serve our seniors to treat them with the utmost respect."

She forged signatures in order to authorize checks in her name, police say.

A Metuchen woman working for a Lebanon-based construction company forged $491,000 in checks from her employer's payroll accounts, according to New Jersey State Police in Perryville.

Rosalie Vinci, 51, allegedly forged signatures to authorize checks from Construction Specialties, a commercial building corporation that has an office in Lebanon. Vinci used her position in the payroll department to fraudulently acquire the checks over the last five years, police said.

The company's CFO discovered and reported the fraudulent checks on April 11.

Hunterdon County freeholders scrapped a related plan that would have reduced the county's open space tax by a third, a change residents said they didn't want.

Despite public opposition, Hunterdon County freeholders decided Tuesday to a use a portion of the county's open space fund to cover salaries and debt.

“The public considers open space funding a public trust,” said Brad Campbell, of Lambertville, former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. “… It’s not the time to breach that trust.”

Seventy-six percent of voters in 2008 approved continuing the county’s then 10-year-old open space tax of 3 cents on every $100 of taxable property value. The tax raises money for the county to buy development rights, farmland and historic properties.

Critics of the freeholders’ plan worried that less money for farmland preservation would lead to a tax burden later. They said more development would mean new residents to serve, and ultimately higher taxes.

Supporters of the open space tax noted that now is a bad time to reduce money available to buy land because the economic recession has made land more affordable.

Walton said fewer residents are applying to sell their development rights and that sparing interest on previous land purchases is likely to create a long-term savings. He said the county pays roughly $500,000 per year on debt related to land purchased before the open space tax was enacted in 1998.

Freeholder Ron Sworen cast the only dissenting vote Tuesday, saying debt on one of the properties, a county-owned golf course, would eventually be paid by golfers. He also said it might be illegal to divert the open space money because the ballot question that created the tax said the tax would be used for future purchases.

The freeholders voted unanimously not to reduce the open space tax to 2 cents on every $100 of taxable property value.

Voters by 2-to-1 in 1998 first approved the open space tax.

Fishermen in Franklin Township find a box containing drugs, police report.

Lebanon Township

• A Mansfield Township man faces driving while intoxicated and weapon possession charges after Lebanon Township police responded April 6 to a single-car motor vehicle crash, police said.
  
  Theodore Beam, 55, struck a parked vehicle along the northbound shoulder of Musconetcong River Road, causing his 2001 Green Dodge Ram to roll over, according to a news release from police.
  
  Express-Times File Photo
  
  The Lebanon Township Fire Department extracted Beam and he was transported to Hunterdon Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries, police said.
  
  Police also retrieved an unloaded 12-gauge shotgun from the overturned vehicle, police say.
  
  Beam was charged with careless driving, driving while intoxicated and unlawful possession of a weapon, police said.

Franklin Township

• A box containing a large amount of marijuana and suspected cocaine and hallucinogenic mushrooms was discovered last week by two fishermen, Franklin Township police said.
  
  The two men approached police April 7 on Hamden Road carrying a metal box containing the drugs they found in the South Branch of the Raritan River, police said.
  
  Police request that anyone with information contact Detective Timothy Snyder at 908-782-9594.

• Residents of a home on Locust Grove Road reported April 10 that a mailbox was damaged overnight, according to reports.
  
  Police are asking anyone with information call Kevin Bollaro at 908-782-9594.
  

Clinton Township

• Two Clinton Township residents were arrested Sunday on simple assault charges after police noticed evidence the couple brawled, police say.
  
  Clinton Township police responded to a report of domestic violence at 12:45 p.m., according to reports. A 42-year-old woman told police there no longer was a problem, but the responding officer observed her 30-year-old fiancé had scratches under his eye and arm. The woman also showed signs of an altercation, with injuries to her elbow and torso, according to reports.
  
  Both were charged with simple assault and released on their own recognizance. The two decided against applying for temporary restraining orders.

Those who lived and worked in the 1800s and early 1900s at the site of the 200-year-old mill Red Mill did dangerous jobs.

The Red Mill Museum Village in ClintonView full size

A Somerset County man was killed in June when one of the trees fell on his tent as he slept.

View full sizeExpress-Times File Photo | TIM WYNKOOPThe New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is clearing and re-planting trees at the Bull's Island Recreation Area in Delaware and Kingwood townships.

The sycamore trees at the upper campground of the Bull’s Island Recreation Area are dangerous and prone to fall, department spokesman Larry Ragonese said last week. He said the DEP will plant a different type of tree with roots that are more suitable for the park terrain.

William Arias, 46, of Bound Brook, N.J., was killed in June 2011 when one of the trees fell on his tent as he slept. The DEP discovered the trees looked healthy but had rotted roots due to silt from flooding.

The DEP has already closed the 5-acre upper campground indefinitely in response to the death. The park’s other 75 acres are off-limits for camping until the DEP finishes checking trees there.

“We’ve heard people say, ‘Some of these trees are 100 years old. How can you cut them down?’” Ragonese said, acknowledging complaints. “Unfortunately … we couldn’t allow them to stay there. If someone got hurt again, we wouldn’t know how to explain that.”

The trees are to be cleared before the end of the year, so the upper campground can reopen next year, Ragonese said. The rest of the park is open for passive recreation, but people can’t stay overnight.

The tree clearing drew criticism from West Amwell Township environmental activist Bill Wolfe, a former DEP employee who called the plan “a hairbrained scheme to wipe out supposedly killer trees.” He accused the DEP of hiding the plan to avoid public scrutiny.

When the upper campground was closed in March, the New Jersey Sierra Club claimed that the DEP was letting state parks falter in a push to privatize them.

Ragonese dismissed Wolfe as a disgruntled former employee and called the Sierra Club criticism “ridiculous.”

The DEP hasn’t decided what type of new tree to plant, but Ragonese said it will be a native species smaller than sycamores.

Arias died June 28, 2011, after a sycamore weighing several thousand pounds snapped at the roots. His wife, Elcetia, had multiple broken bones and was freed from beneath the tree. Their 12-year-old daughter, 10-year-old son and a 9-year-old nephew were uninjured.

The park is on the border of Delaware and Kingwood Townships on the banks of the Delaware River, which had three major floods from 2004 to 2006.

***

NEW PARK?

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is considering buying land near Bull’s Island Recreation Area for people to camp, spokesman Larry Ragonese said.

The state park was made off-limits to campers after a tree fell and killed a man in June.

“We know there are people who love to camp there so we’re looking for other areas to relocate them,” Ragonese said last week, adding that the DEP is scouting nearby land.

Officials are seeking more input on the park's future as they develop a final management plan.

Horseshoe Bend Park offers a mix of fenced pastures, woodlands, creek beds and walking trails.

And members of the community have suggested the sprawling 106-acre park could include a community garden, municipal office space, a wildlife preserve, equestrian trails, mountain biking and bow hunting.

View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | JOHN SIEVERSKingwood Township officials are seeking public input on the future of the 106-acre Horseshoe Bend Park.

“It’s a beautiful place to hang out,” said Richard Dodds, a member of the township’s Open Space Advisory Commission.

Dodds hosted a public forum last week designed to get ideas for the park’s future and a plan to manage it.

The township bought the park, adjacent to more than 300 acres of state-owned land, in July 2011. Since then, Dodds and volunteers have mapped and marked out a system of trails, which have been difficult to maintain due largely to the freak October snowstorm that brought down trees and limbs.

Horseshoe Bend also includes a 7-acre, fenced, leash-free dog park.

“It’s probably the heaviest used part of the park right now,” Dodds said, adding it has drawn Pennsylvania residents.

Dodd’s presentation before a sparse audience of township residents was the first of nine steps to develop the park.  The township will hear more public input before the township’s Parks and Recreation Commission reviews the plan.

Township resident Todd Bernhard said he was pleased to see open space committee members and volunteers work on the plan.

“That you can still get lost in the park is awesome,” he said.

One issue Dodds addressed was that there are no formal trails on the adjacent state-owned land and no signs that indicate you’ve crossed onto township-owned property.

“We’d like to see the state and the township have some agreement,” he said.

Hunting is an issue because Dodds said state lands are open to different types of hunting. He said there has been much discussion about permitting only bow hunting on township land.

“This is a place that needs to be hunted to control the deer population,” Dodds said.

Dodds said he’s pursuing a $25,000 grant to improve the park’s trail system, and said a local teacher will ask students for park ideas.

“This does good things for Kingwood. The conversation doesn’t end here,” he said.

I’d rather have a lot of ideas as opposed to no ideas,” Dodds added.

***

PARK PURCHASE

Kingwood Township bought Horseshoe Bend Park in 2011 for about $3.2 million.

Funding included:

• $2 million from the state of New Jersey
• $694,791 from the New Jersey Green Acres Fund
• $444,079 from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation
  
• $61,129 from Kingwood Township open space taxes

To offer suggestions for the park, call Kingwood Township at 908-996-4276 or email info@kingwoodtownship.com.

See PHOTOS from the derby.

About 150 people turned out at DeMott Pond in Clinton this morning for the annual Pete Pender Memorial Fishing Derby.

The event, organized by the Clinton Sunrise Rotary Club, was open to kids ages 4 to 16, and the pond was stocked with trout for the event.

Check out photos of the participants.

So far, a watch has not been announced for the Lehigh Valley or Warren County.

A flood watch has been announced for Sunday in Hunterdon County, as well as a handful of counties in New Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J.

So far, a watch has not been announced for the Lehigh Valley or Warren County.

In New Jersey, the watch covers Mercer, Middlesex, Morris and Somerset counties. In Pennsylvania, the watch is for Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

The weather service is estimating 2 to 3.5 inches of rainfall.

See a list of winners in the SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference and Family, Career and Community Leaders Association competitions.

View full sizePhoto courtesy of Hunterdon County PolytechCosmetology student Sandro Cabete, left, won a gold medal in the 2012 New Jersey SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference competition. Teacher Carol Ayers, right, was named adviser of the year.

Two Hunterdon County Polytech Career Academy cosmetology students will compete June 23-27 at the SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City, Mo.

They recently won gold medals at the SkillsUSA state competition, where 22 North Hunterdon, Hunterdon Central Regional, Delaware Valley Regional and Voorhees high school students and graduates won medals.

Cosmetology teacher Carol Ayers was named advisor of the year at the state competition.

Meanwhile, 13 Polytech Early Childhood Education and Teacher Academy students won gold medals the Family, Career and Community Leaders Association state competition in Cherry Hill, N.J. Eleven of them will compete nationally in Orlando, Fla., this summer.   

View full sizePhoto courtesy of Hunterdon County PolytechCosmetology student David Thomas was among 35 Hunterdon County Polytech students who won awards in the 2012 New Jersey SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference and Family, Career and Community Leaders Association competitions.

The state medal winners are:

SkillsUSA

North Hunterdon High School

• Mikaela Banko, graphics T-shirt design, silver
• Jessica Polenz, cosmetology, gold

Voorhees High School

• Brandon Frech, 3D animation, bronze
• Krystina Galvez, 3D animation, bronze
• Jessica Wade, cosmetology, silver
• Kody Hockenbury, building trades team works, bronze

Hunterdon Central Regional High School

• Jose Hernandez, advertising design, silver
• Rania Fahmy, cosmetology team skills, gold
• Jordan Masini, cosmetology team skills, gold
• Hunter Tregoning, cosmetology team skills, gold
• Kelly Norris, cosmetology aesthetics, silver
• Joe Subilia, auto technology, bronze
• Kyle Ozimek, building trades team works, bronze
• Kyle Verity, auto maintenance, bronze
• Brandon Morris, collision repair, bronze

Delaware Valley Regional High School

• Corey Merchant, building trades team works, bronze

Graduates

• Kyle Lucchesi, advertising design, bronze
• Sandro Cabete, cosmetology aesthetics, gold
• David Thomas, cosmetology advanced, gold
• Timothy Stryker, building trades team works, bronze
• Derek Creager, auto technology, bronze
• David Snyder, culinary, bronze
  

Township officials say they are open with records and this particular case was out of their control. George Burdick said he is trying to prove smaller municipalities cannot circumvent the law.

Screenshot of Franklin Township's website

A Hunterdon County man has spent more than two years attempting to get public records from his township and, chances are, the battle won't be over anytime soon.

Township officials say they are open with records, but this particular case was out of their control. Burdick said he is trying to prove smaller municipalities cannot circumvent the law.

Burdick's quest began in late 2009 in an effort to gather information on the Wahba investigation, which he criticized as using "false evidence" and "clear bias" in a letter to the Hunterdon County Democrat at the time.

After receiving records through the Open Public Records Act from the attorneys involved, he zeroed in on private investigators N. Susalis & Associates, Inc. Burdick received one Susalis invoice, but was told by township Clerk Ursula Stryker the township did not have the other two.

After contending for months that a previous legal ruling required the township find the records even though officials did not have them, the township agreed. Yet, what Burdick received wasn't much help.

"Basically, everything on the page was redacted," he said.

Burdick in 2010 filed a denial of access complaint with the state Government Records Council, which ruled in March the letters should be sent to them unredacted so state officials could determine if the invoices should remain blacked out.

The township's law firm, Courter, Kobert and Cohen, responded last week they did not have records and could not get them.

"The purpose of my letter is to advise that the township is not in possession of unredacted copies of those records," attorney Katrina Campbell wrote in an April 12 letter to the GRC.

According to the letter, former township attorney John O' Reilly would not give the township the invoices because of pending litigation, and Susalis said it could not provide the paperwork because that decision is up to their client, O'Reilly.

Township officials, meanwhile, are unsure what former attorney Valerie Kimson did with the originals.

Instead, Campbell "respectfully" requested the council not penalize the township. She also asked the Government Records Council to subpoena O'Reilly. Luckily for the township, O'Reilly finally turned over the records Wednesday.

"It caused a lot of grief for the town," Campbell said by phone Friday.

Deputy Mayor Bruce Polkowitz said the council understands the public's right to records but "can't give something to somebody we don't have."

"We are extremely open with records," he said.

Catherine Starghill, the executive director of the GRC, said they will review the unredacted letters in May.

Burdick said he would not be surprised, based on his numerous public records requests, if it took another six months to get the roughly six pieces of paper he has tried so hard to get.

"It's not the paper, because there's probably nothing on it," he said of the invoices, "but it's the principle."