Current Bordentown
A ‘ruff ’ count
City officials preparing for Ocean Spray move
Baseball season winds up
State law demands a census of every Spike, Spot and Rover
By LeXie yearLy
By roB antheS A 70-year-old state law has some municipal officials in New Jersey feeling like they are chasing their tails. As it turns out, they may be. In 1941, in an attempt to stem the momentum of a growing rabies epidemic, the New Jersey Legislature decreed that municipalities had to tally every dog within their borders. Of special interest was an annual count of unlicensed animals—a dog census. As far as anyone knows, New Jersey is the only state to mandate such a census. Target the animals without licenses, and find the ones most susceptible to rabies, the thinking went. Dogs must be licensed in New Jersey, and, in order to be licensed, they must be immunized against rabies. So, around the state, animal control officers or hired workers would knock on doors trying to find dogs without licenses. They’d find them, for sure, but some municipalities found the census cost more in wages than it earned in dog license fees. It demanded time and money some officials felt could be better used elsewhere, and presented administrations with plenty of questions. Mostly, See DOG CENSUS, Page 6 N
Renaissance Faire opens portal to the past By aLiZa aLPerin-SheriFF Around the solstices and equinoxes, the fairies in the woods of Burlington County open magic portals that allow time travel. Should you stumble upon one of these portals, you will be transported to Crossford, an Elizabethan English village complete with a duke and duchess, peasants and criminals. At least that’s how the founders of the New Jersey Renaissance Faire want you to feel at their event, which will be held May 31, June 1, June 7 and June
8 at Liberty Lake Day Camp in Bordentown. The fair’s main focus is interactive theater, which means that the cast’s primary role is interacting with the patrons, giving them a feel for the time period and bringing them into the fantasy that they have gone back in time. “People are starving for that non-electronic interaction with people,” said T.J. Miller, one of the fair’s founders. “We’re not a video game, we’re not TV. The people they see performing come up and talk to them.” The New Jersey Renaissance
Faire was conceived by Miller, John Williams and Phil Leipf in 2009. All three had worked at other renaissance fairs for years before deciding to start their own. The fair has entertainers who sing, dance, tell stories, juggle, joust and shoot crossbows; six stages where cast members perform shows throughout the day; vendors selling handicrafts; food and a wine garden. “It’s like summer camp for adults,” Miller said. However, the fair is not exclusively for adults. The atmosphere See FAIRE, Page 8
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May 2014 | FREE
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At left, Nick Callahan takes a swing in a home game against Holy Cross April 17, 2014. Bordentown lost, 9-2. At right, Kyle Kafer throws a pitch. (Photos by Albert Rende.)
As Ocean Spray prepares to shut down in Bordentown and open at its newly built plant in Upper Macungie Township, Pa., Bordentown City is also preparing to address the void the bottling plant will leave after the decades spent in its Park Street location. Nearly three years after plans for relocation were first announced, the new plant was set to officially open its doors on April 29. As of press time, Ocean Spray was in the midst of commissioning the new plant, which means testing was being done on both equipment and process. However, the next several months are expected to be a time of transition, Ocean Spray spokesperson Kellyanne Dignan said, and production would still continue in Bordentown as the new facility gets into full swing. About 100 employees at the Bordentown plant were expected to relocate or had already relocated to the new facility. “As we ramp up operations in Lehigh Valley this spring, we will begin a ramp down in Bordentown,” Dignan wrote in an email. “We expect some operations and personnel to remain through the summer and have communicated to our employees and local officials that there will be phased laySee OCEAN SPRAY, Page 10
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