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The primal sense
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Scene of the crime
Silvia Street celebration
N.J. State Police Museum offers a look at the history of the law enforcement agency
Author calls for readers to listen up in his new book BY DAN AUBreY
Gary C. Woodward wants you to hear him out — really. The author of newly printed “The Sonic Imperative: Sound in the Age of Screens,” argues in his 320-page tome that despite the proliferation of visuals in our culture — hence the screens in the title — hearing is the primal sense. And while the recently retired communications professor from the Ewing-based College of New Jersey goes to great lengths to retune one’s thinking to the sounds around us, he also offers a caution: Without giving hearing the respect it needs, individuals are in for a literal ear-bashing. That point was exemplified at a recent meeting at a public café where our choice was sit inside and listen to songs from the 1980s played at high volume or sit outside and listen to the traffic. We picked the latter and got a bonus of two customers’ dogs barking at each other. “I just retired last year,” he says over the din. He provides an account when teaching a philosophy of communications course where “my film students would say they were visual thinkers” uninterested in See WOODWARD, Page 12
BY DAN AUBreY
Ewing Township, state and Mercer County officials officially open the Silvia Street extension at a ribbon cutting on July 20, 2021. Pictured are Mercer County Commissioner Lucy Walter (left), Ewing Council President David Schroth, County Executive Brian Hughes, Mayor Bert Steinmann, Assemblywoman Verlina Jackson Reynolds, state Senator Shirley Turner and Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli. For more Around Town news, turn to Page 3. (Photo by pixelsbytoddc. mypixieset.com)
2020 Census: Most area towns see moderate population growth BY BiLL SANserViNO
Many towns within Mercer County saw varying levels of population growth over the last 10 years, according to information released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau. Ewing Township was among those towns that saw moderate growth between 2010 and 2020. Meanwhile, there were
two towns that didn’t grow at all—Lawrence Township and Hopewell Borough. Both towns, in fact, saw small decreases in population—an oddity for this area of Central New Jersey, which had experienced break-neck growth since the mid-1980s. The statistics come from the 2020 Census Redistricting Data Summary File, and they provide the first look at
detailed information about where people were living as of April 1, 2020. Numbers are available for the nation, states and communities down to the block level. The report also contains information on Hispanic origin, race, age 18 and over, housing occupancy and group quarters. Overall, the report shows See CENSUS, Page 8
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A log house, a crime scene, and a bundle of evidence are all part of one of state’s most New Jersey-centric museums: The New Jersey State Police Museum and Learning Center. Located at New Jersey State Police Headquarters in West Trenton and now in the process of reopening Mondays through Fridays, the museum occupies two attached buildings, an 8,000-square-foot exhibition space built in 1992 and the 4,000-square-foot log cabin that served as the original NJSP headquarters. A car stop at the police guard station and brief drive into the state police compound are just a warm up for a few hours viewing New Jersey’s not-so-secret life of crime. After parking near the cabin and taking the path around it to a courtyard with a statue dedicated to NJSP troopers, head into the McGillin Architecture Incorporateddesigned center and make your first stop. See MUSEUM, Page 6
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