photos and caption by Bill Cleary

AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN-Traveling around Gloucester City on Tuesday, February 20, with my camera, I noticed some of the sidewalks surrounding the parks and playgrounds have not been cleared of snow or ice. Also I noticed part of the sidewalk that surrounds the Gloucester City Fire Department on King Street hasn\’t been touched either.

Top photo is the sidewalks surrounding the Lane and Thompson Avenue playground. The middle photo the Martins Lake playground, East Brown Street sidewalk. The last photo Ellis Street sidewalk behind the City Fire Department.

Why can\’t the Highway Department employees clear the snow/ice off of all sidewalks that are owned by the City of Gloucester? As it is now they just do a few.The sidewalk on either side of the playground on Lane and Thompson Avenue has never been cleared of snow as far as I can remember. In recent years this corner has become a designated bus stop for children going to and from City schools. In the early morning and afternoon the children and parents have to walk in the street because this sidewalk is nothing but ice. In the past the snow could be several inches deep and still the City doesn\’t maintain it.

There are other sidewalks that children use daily like on Market Street from Walnut Avenue across Rt. 130 to the City High School. Nicholson Road bridge sidewalk is also a sheet of ice/snow. This is every winter not just this year.

If someone should fall on one of these sidewalks and get injured I would imagine the City would be held libel.

I would also assume if someone is walking in the street because the sidewalk owned by the City isn\’t suitable for pedestrians to use, the City would be held accountable. Why take the chance?

A City ordinance requires properties owners to clear their sidewalks of snow/ice. The City should be required to do the same.

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?

….Wakes Up Neighborhood

Bill Bates
NEWS Correspondent

Sunday evening, February 4th, officials from Winzinger Construction Company gathered at the future Walgreen’s site at the Black Horse Pike and Kings Highway. The officials weren’t meeting to finalize plans or to pour concrete, the Winzinger crew was there to accomplish one objective; and that was to start demolishing the remaining Harwan Theatre and adjacent structures.

The demolition crew started working shortly after 10 o’clock at night in the rear of the building and continued to work towards the east side of the building. Several neighbors came out to express their unhappiness of the loud equipment that was disrupting their quiet Sunday evening. One neighbor who only lives two houses from the work site was upset because he was trying to sleep when all of the load equipment started to roar. He was surprised that he didn’t receive a letter or anything notifying him that this was going to take place during the evening. He vocally displayed that he was very upset to a police officer assigned to traffic detail and advised him that he would be contacting borough officials in the morning. The crews continued working till sometime in the early morning hours.

Crews then worked the next day to separate materials and to remove the debris that was dismantled the evening before. The demolition crew then returned again Monday evening to finish the job. The crew started shortly after 9:30 pm and by ten o’clock there was a crowd that had gathered in their vehicles sur-rounding the Harwan site. The crowd of on-lookers and past movie goers came and went for the next two hours. Several vehicles stayed to watch well into the early hours of the morning. Many of the former Harwan patrons took pic-tures and some even captured video of the buildings final run. The demolition continued throughout the night until all of the remaining structures where lev-eled.

The next day, all that remained was just a large pile or rubble. I personally went to grab several bricks from one of my former teenage hangouts. I lost count years ago of the number of inexpensive movies that I have seen at the older magnificent build-ing with many fine examples of decorative art deco on its exterior.

The theatre was built in 1929 and first opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day in 1930. The original owners, Elias and Eva Harwan decided to name it the Mount Ephraim Theatre. It remained that way for years until a young gentleman bought the building in 1968 from the grandchildren of Mr. & Mrs. Harwan. It received a facelift in the early 70’s and over the next 20 years started showing second hand films which many of the locals regularly enjoyed.

The 500 and some seat single screen theatre has seen many different venues from live theatre performances to live bands in its recent years. The theatre in its most recent years be-came very popular when it started running \”shows\” of the famous 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which it did for just a little over 10 years. The matinees were shown every Saturday night at midnight and admission was only $5.00. The place was al-ways crowded and filled with energy.

The theatre has not regularly shown films since the early 90’s. In just the past three years, the property was leased to a woman who was on a mission to renovate the historic movie house and to bring live theatre back. Unfortunately, the approximate $70,000 that she had put into the theatre wasn’t enough to save the historic site.

In 2006, plans were approved by the Mount Ephraim Zoning Board which gave the green light to the Walgreen’s corporate officials.

One can only wonder and hope that this new drug-store chain doesn’t end up like the one only a mile down the road in Audubon at the White Horse Pike and Kings Highway. Eckerd Drugs bought the former aged movie house and adjacent costume fabrication store out in 2003 to make way for a new location. This new store didn’t even make it to the one year mark before they had to close their doors. The building has been vacant ever since.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t happen to a building that will sit at the main entrance of a revitalization project that will begin this spring to give the main corridor in town a major face-lift, a facelift to the sum of $250,000.

WHEN EAST MEETS WEST !

  Commentary By Hank F. Miller Jr.
(Hank is a former resident of Gloucester City NJ who now lives in Japan)

\”A Journey Through The Island Of Kyushu!\”

In some ways the island of Kyushu is as \’foreign\’as Hokkaido. it wasin Kyushu that the first foreign ships were seen,in Kyushu that the first foreigners were allowed to live,and in Kyushu that the first foreign languages were learned, and in Kyushu that the first Christian churches were built.

Even during the two hundred and fifteen years when \’ the doors of Japan were closed to the world\’, when no Japanese people could travel abroad and no foreigner was suppose to enter the country, there were no foreigners living west of Kyushu and, through Kyushu,foreign goods were being bought into Japan–tabacco, medicineand guns.
Kyushu has long been famous for it\’s pottery–certainly avery Japanese art.
But Japanese pottery owes something to Kyushu\’s \’foreignness\’ too, since it was the tiny Kyushu village of Onta that the English potter Bernard Leach learned his art, and it was Bernard Leach, together with the Japanese potter Hamada Shoji, who helped make the rough, simple pottery of the country so popular.
Five miles from Onto lies the larger village of Koishiwara. These two villages are only 2 hours from my home,there are so very many other places of interest with in a few minutes to a hours driving distance away.
Almost all the shops in Koishiwara are pottery shops and in the narrow sloping street above the villag we can watch the potters at work. Koishiwara is well known for it\’s pots and the people of the district must be quite used to visitors.
As any visitor to this district should not expect any trouble finding such a well–known place.
But it was on the road to Kioshiwara that we got lost.
My cousin Bill Barron visiting us fron Hong Kong,where he was a professor.\” He\’s from Gloucester City also and has visited us on several occasions over the years.\”Along with Bill was my wife the kids and I.We had just visited Akizuki village earlier in the day and we figured that Koishiwara about an hours drive away after looking at the map.

The day had begun well. The weather was good and the mountains to our right were sharp and blue in the May sunshine.
By two o\’clock in the afternoon we had reached the small village of Masuda.to get to Koisiwara I knew that we have to leave the road I was on an take one of the narrower roads over the mountains, so I stopped an old man on a bicycle and we asked him which road we should take.
\’Go straight on to Hikosan,\’ he said. \’Then take the right road. You can\’t miss it.\’
Pleased that the way appeared so simple, we took our time and stopped at a small fish restaurant and had a nice lunch along with a few beer\’s.
My wife was driving so Bill and I drank my wife green tea only.
\’Where are you going?\’ asked the women in the restaurant.\’Koishiwara,\’ I said.\’You\’ve come the wrong way, then.\’I put down my glass of beer and sighed.
\’You\’ll have to go back to Soeda,\’she said.\’that\’s about four miles.Then take a bus.\’I don\’t want to take a bus,\’I said.\’ It\’s a long way,\’she warned.\’You\’ll never make it.\’ We looked at the map.It was about five miles. Can\’t we get there from Hikisan?\’I Asked.
\’Wait a minute,\’said the women,disappearing into the back room. She came out a minute later with her mother.
\’Koishiwar?\’said the mother, breathing hard, now let me see,\’you want to go to Koishiwara?\’\’That\’s right,\’ I said \’I was told I could get there from Hikosan.\’

The mother made a funny noise,half caugh,half laugh.\’You\’ve no need to go to Hikosan. Go straight for another half mile and you\’ll find a sake shop on the corner.The road that starts there goes straight to Koishiwara,but if you\’re not too sure you can ask at the sake shop.\’

I had now collected three separate and quite different Pieces of advice on how to get to Koishiwara. after arriving at the sake shop.\’Hello.\’I said then,\’Can you tell me which of these roads goes t Koishiwara?\’ \’None of them,\’said trhe owner of the sake shop.\’You\’ll have to take the train and change at Daigyoji.\’Never mind we said and left the sake shop.\’

Anyway we finally got there and mind you and it took about another 2 hours or so.\”That was the last time ever that we got lost traveling from Akizuki to Koishiwara,\’because we never went that way again.\” We always go there from home straight to Koishiwara.

A Journey Through The Island Of Kyushu! (To Be Continued:)

Warm Regards From Kitakyushu City Japan

DICIANO, ALBERT J.
On February 16, 2007, of Gloucester City, formerly of Camden. Age 81.
Beloved husband of Walleska \”Eka\” (nee Kahlan). Devoted father of Vicky Parent (Jim) and Valery Bennett (Root). Loving grandfather of Alby Parent (Lisa), Gabe Parent, Vanessa Courant (Steve), Gemma Schultes (Jeff), Giselle Kelly (Andrew), Rhonda Bennett and Shayne Bennett and great grandfather of Haylee Courant, A.J. Parent, Natalie Parent and late Ava Courant. Dear brother of Joseph DiCiano, Philip DiCiano, Annie Killmaier, Anthony DiCiano, Rose Eichenberg and the late Charles DiCiano, Domenic DiCiano and Louis DiCiano.
Mr. DiCiano served with the Amry during the Korean Conflict. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus in Turnersville, the VFW in Gloucester and the American Legion Post 72.
Relatives and friends are invited to the viewing from 7 to 9pm Tuesday eve and 9 to 10am Wednesday morning at GARDNER FUNERAL HOME, RUNNEMEDE. Funeral Service 10am Wednesday at the funeral home. Interment at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Gloucester City.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Albert\’s memory to the March of Dimes, Team Ava Angels WT240, 1030 N. Kings Highway, Suite 300, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034.
Expressions of sympathy may be e-mailed to
Condolences@
GardnerFuneralHome.com.

Dear Mr. Mayor

I am compelled to send you this e-mail after reading the article in the Gloucester City News about possible pet limit laws being established in the Borough of Bellmawr.
I am a former resident of Bellmawr, and now reside in Brooklawn. I am also a volunteer, Board Member and foster home for Furrever Friends Rescue & Volunteers, which is a registered New Jersey Non-Profit cat rescue group for South Jersey.
As such, I am currently fighting the pet limit laws in my Borough and have filed an Order to Show Cause with the Superior Court of New Jersey. Pet limit laws are unconstitutional. There have been several other states where they have been fought and overturned – specifically, Creighton v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is my personal cause to do the same in the State of New Jersey.
Please review the Animal Welfare Task Force at: http://www.state.nj.us/animalwelfaretaskforcereport.pdf.
This Task Force was commissioned by the governor, and its report stated that pet limit laws do not work.
As to your over-population of feral cat colonies, the Task Force recommends TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return). Many local rescue groups that would readily assist you with TNR. How are pet limit laws going to help with feral colonies? They will not.
They are out there due to neglectful owners who move and leave their cats behind, get bored with them and let them out of the house. This is also due to their owners’ ignorance in not spaying and neutering.
Why should these defenseless animals be trapped and put to death due to ignorance? If you were to implement TNR in your Borough, the cat colonies would eventually dwindle as they are no longer able to reproduce.
I urge you to reconsider implementing a Pet Limit Ordinance and to please read the Animal Welfare Task Report.

Jennifer Smith, Furrever Friends Rescue and Volunteers FFRV.petfinder.org

HILTON, AUGUST J. \’GUS\’
On February 13, 2007 formerly of Audubon, NJ age 77 yrs.
Survived by his sister Shirley Antonini and her husband Vito of Audubon; nephew David Antonini of Audubon, nieces Marie DeChristopher of Deptford and Joan Antonini of Haddon Heights; great nephews Joseph and Stephen DeChristopher.
Gus retired in 1991 from PSE&G after 34 years as a truck driver.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend his viewing Tuesday morning from 9AM – 10:30AM at the HENRY FUNERAL HOME, 152 W. Atlantic Ave., Audubon. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 11AM at Holy Maternity Church, 431 W. Nicholson Rd., Audubon. Interment New St. Mary\’s Cemetery, Bellmawr.

The man was immaculately dressed. Kitted out more for the Ritz than the street. But in the street he lay dressed in black tail suit, patent leather shoes, top hat and bow tie, and very dead.

\’How did he get here?\’ asked patrolman Muldoon.

\’He threw himself off the roof,\’ said a bystander.

\’Does anyone know the man?\’ said Muldoon.

\’I do,\’ said Barrie Quinn.

\’What religion is he?\’ asked the policeman. \’Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim?\’

\’None at all,\’ said Quinn. \’He\’s an atheist!\’

\’What a shame,\’ said Muldoon. \’All dressed up and nowhere to go!\’

send your jokes to [email protected]

After reading comments by other residents about the condition of our streets, I drove around town and confirmed that yes, indeed, the streets on the east side of the railroad tracks have been cleared, the same side of town where Punxsutawney Bowie and Punxsutawney JohnGorman live!

Coincidence or discrimination against lower income residents who live on the east side ? Discrimination is a violation against all Americans civil rights! Do I hear a class action lawsuit being discussed?

Residents UNITE!! This does not have to be tolerated.

signed: Time To Take Action

I too am furious over the streets and for exactly the same reasons…safety, firemen, police and so on.

My baby was sick and had 104* fever the other day. After a conversation with the doctor, they wanted her placed on fever suppositories because she wasn\’t keeping a thing down. After over an hour and a half of trying to chop up some of the ice, all the while my child is getting sick and still spiking a major fever…I was still stuck at home.

I ended up literally in tears because (1)-I could not get out to get her meds and (2)-My next step was to call an ambulance and wondered how they would ever make it down my frozen pond of a street….that\’s still not thawed!

It wasn\’t until hours later that my husband got home that I was able to get the meds and by that time it warranted a trip to the doctor because she was very lethargic.

Get on the ball Public Works Department. I\’m sick of seeing you drive around all day and do nothing! Yet, certain people have the priviledge of having their roads, driveways and sidewalks done by you? Do you think we don\’t watch?

We need more change!!

Signed,
SICK AND TIRED!

Upset with City Highway Department\’s Job Performance

At 8:00AM this morning (Friday) Monmouth Street, Johnson Blvd., and probably all other streets in Gloucester City were still covered with ice.

As we all know Monmouth Street is a main roadway for our Fire Department and Rescue/Ambulance Service.

With today\’s frequent and multimulti-day forecasting, the City\’s salt trucks should have been prepared and out on the streets Tuesday night and all day Wednesday.

I saw trucks driving around on Wednesday of this week, but no staff members were putting any salt down or removing any ice. If our present Streets Department employees are not willing to accept their responsibilities and carry out their job descriptions, they should be dismissed for insubordination.

Hire new staff members that will be thankful to have such a job and will execute their responsibilities in keeping our streets clear and safe!

Here it is Friday evening and many cars in our City are still iced in at the curb. With the sun shining again and the temperature rising, get the job done! Clear our streets . If you don\’t want to work hand in your resignation.

signed STILL ICED IN!

FIRE THEM ALL; SUB-CONTRACT THE WORK OUT

This has gone one for years, with certain people getting overtime or double time by just driving around.

Does anyone remember that one year a certain supervisor was driving around the city for MONTHS after Christmas with the same Christmas tree in the back of his pickup truck. One of the employees tied a ribbon around it and everyone just laughed how this person just drove around and did nothing for months with this Christmas tree all over town. There are also some pictures of this same supervisor doing some other things, like taking scrap metal that the city paid it\’s employee\’s to collect and this person then took it to the junk yard to gain profit from the junk.

I personally think that this person should be fired and the pension that
wasn\’t earned taken away.

Fire them ALL. Sub-contract the work out, why not, the city has more
trucks that employees take home for personal use, not lettered up, so
why not have an extra vehicle on the taxpayer.

The mayor and council should clean house, re-hire people who want to work, if Brooklawn can do it\’s own trash and recycle with so many less employees and trucks, maybe we should be sharing that idea with Brooklawn, we can even share equipment and employees. Shared
systems work, we already do it with Fire, Police why not Trash,
Highway, Parks Playgrounds, pay the employees based on task
completion, not on who they are related to.

Mr. Mayor and newly elected Council people make some real changes, people are mad, sick and tired of the way certain parts of the city are ran.

I\’m just a dumb nobody, just looking at some smart somebodies at work!
I must be stupid to think that all these smart, boss\’ and supervisors
who have been doing the same jobs for years, just take up their part of
the city budget and it makes all us dumb voters mad. All of us dumb
dumbs that don\’t see what goes on day to day, year to year.
Arms up in the air!

SIGNED PLOWS ON STRIKE?

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?

One Bad Apple Can Spoil the Whole Barrel

By Bill Cleary

UPDATE: I just been informed that charges have been filed against the suspect who committed the crime. Further details will be coming on Wednesday after I speak with the City Police Department.

PS-From the comments being received some people seem to be missing the fact that it was because of a whistle blower the public found out about this allege crime. The e-mail I received named the person who admitted to stealing the money, which I withheld until charges if any are filed. I am asking the fire association to release a statement to confirm what is fact and what is rumor. They know by now if the money is missing since an audit was conducted last week. They also know that one of the members confessed. The association is responsible for not having better control over cash money being collected back in September. Buckets of coins and cash were mishandled I was told by someone who was there. I also wonder why the $7000 wasn\’t given to the Burn Center in September? Why did this individual still have $7000 sitting in the checking account? They can address these questions right now but they refuse to talk to me. Bill Cleary

Shock and disappointment were two of the emotions I felt last Monday morning (February 12) when I received an anonymous e-mail that someone admitted to stealing monies from the 2006 Fireman’s Softball marathon. A confidential source said $7200 is missing from the account.

For those of you who are unaware, the Gloucester City Volunteer Fireman’s Association has sponsored an annual Softball Marathon in September for many years. The event is held at the Little League Field on Nicholson Road. The teams, made up of mostly volunteer and paid firemen from all-over would play softball for 48 hours straight. The players would pay an entry fee to enter the Marathon. Firemen would stand on Nicholson Road and on Johnson Blvd. with hats in their hands collecting buckets of coins and dollar bills from passing motorists.

So many people volunteered and gave their time and money to this worthy cause. The monies would be sent to the Crozier-Chester Burn Center in Upland, Pennsylvania. To their credit those involved with running the event have raised thousands of dollars for the Burn Center.

One has to wonder if it wasn’t for the \”whistle blower\” coming forward, would the public been told the money was missing from the Softball Marathon account? I wished I felt different but I doubt it.

I have been waiting for the Association to issue a public statement to explain this unsettling news. Is it too much to ask for the officers of the organization to step-up and tell us all what is true and what is rumor?

What we are seeing instead is complete silence from those in charge. Maybe they believe the bad publicity will just go away?

I asked for further explanation last week and received this response via email from an officer of one of the volunteer fire battalions.

\”Mr. Cleary, as of this time I will not have a comment on this matter until we have this all straightened out. Until then please don\’t rely on all of your sources on this matter\”.

It is apparent the Fireman’s Association has learned nothing from the previous mistake made. To be more specific I am speaking about the $10,000 being stolen by a fireman from the same account in the 1980’s. That too was hushed up until the Gloucester City News broke the story.

What saddens me most is the fact the entire Fireman’s Association receives a black eye because of one individual.

The results of a recent study about the effects of the one bad apple concept states, \”The
Negative behavior outweighs positive behavior, so a bad apple can spoil the whole barrel,\” researchers at the University of Washington said in the current issue of the journal Research in Organizational Behavior.

\”Companies and organizations need to move quickly to deal with such problems because the negativity of just one individual is pervasive and destructive and can spread quickly,\” said co-author Terence Mitchell, a professor of management and organization.

My suggestion to the officers of the Firemen’s Association is just that; deal with this problem fast. Otherwise the entire membership of the Association looks guilty because of your silence. The public is waiting for an explanation. They deserve some answers. Not next week. Not tomorrow. But today!

What is your opinion?