• Gloucester City Fire Alarm Bell Christened In 1891

• Mount Ephraim Superintendent Joseph Rafferty Turns Down Raise; Will Contribute To Health Care

• Bellmawr Board Of Education Swears In William Murray and Eric Hoban

• Gloucester City Steering Committee Favors Walk-Up Light Rail Station

CHEER-To the fire department members that showed up at Brother of the Wolf for a cook out on April 22nd to honor them for their service to the community. A JEER to the police department who said they would come and then didn\’t show up. ~Dawn Watson

CHEER-The Haddon Heights Borough Council was able to reduce municipal taxes by .4 percent or about $30 less for a home assessed at the borough average of $295,000. The budget totals $7.39 million.

KUDOS to Gloucester City Police Sgt. Bill Wiltsey for his quick response to the six- year- old he found wandering about the City in the early morning hours one night last month.

JEER-Another month and another complaint received about Waste Management leaving empty trash cans and recycling buckets in the street. Waste Management is the company hired by the City of Gloucester City to pick up trash and recyclables. A resident writes, \”I have a pet peeve. Why do the trash men put the empty containers in the street? This bugs me to have to chase my cans all over the place otherwise they do a great job.\”

CHEER-Despite losing over $324,000 in state aid, Haddon Township Commissioners’ 2010 budget slightly lowers municipal taxes by $1 for the average home assessed at $120,000. Overall spending will be reduced by nearly $296,000 to $13.1 million.

JEER- to Gloucester City and other communities for not fixing the many pot holes that are plain to see and easily found on the majority of streets in this area. The streets are horrible to drive on.

CHEER-For the first time in nearly 20 years municipal taxes in Gloucester City will not increase thanks to the hard work of Mayor James and City Council. The 2010 budget totals $16,984,500. Mayor James said recently that state aid for the City was cut by $1.3 million.

JEER- In 2006-2007 the replenishment sand project for Surf City beaches totaled $6 million. Because of the harsh winter this year 800,000 cubic yards of sand was washed away. The leaders of the community want more federal funds to replenish the beach. Surf City beach fees are $25 season, $13 weekly, $6 daily. That money should be used to replace the sand, not our tax dollars. Incidentally New Jersey is the only state that has beach fees.

JEER-To bicyclist riding and talking on cell phones, to moms pushing a baby coach talking on a cell phone and to pedestrians not paying attention to traffic because they are busy talking on a cell phone. Add to the list people texting messages while driving a vehicle.

CHEER-The Gloucester City Rotary Club celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year. An event will be held May 15^th at Freedom Pier, King and Cumberland Streets. For more information contact Mark Ford, Rotary President, 456-8811.

JEER- The Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation is also a big donor to Planned Parenthood. Many people who donate time and money to this organization are not aware that they are unwittingly killing babies. You can find the info by digging into their own site in the FAQ. They try to play it down and kind of skirt around just how much is donated. ~John M. Waszewski Barrington

CHEER– Mayor Frank Filipek, the Bellmawr Council and Municipal Clerk Charles Sauter deserve Kudos for their work in overcoming obstacles in converting a long time dump on Creek Road into a proposed waterfront recreational facility. Recreational space is a quality of life issue and something in very short supply in South Jersey. This is a great project. When it’s complete (at least 3 years away) we should have one of the biggest recreational areas in South Jersey with miles of trails and waterfront access to the Big Timber Creek. The developer also plans retail space (they promised no strip malls) and a solar farm to gather solar power.

JEER-To the parents of young children that allow them to walk the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. Their loudness (at 2 and 3 A.M.) plus the repeated use of the \”F word\” is very disturbing. C\’mon, folks. Make them come in by 11 and let us sleep!

CHEER-For a second year in a row Westville was chosen as having the \”Best Town Spirit\” in South Jersey, based on the readership of the Courier-Post. A big round of applause to Mayor Russell Welsh and council for their effort to keep the municipal tax rate from going up this year.