Tri-sport star at home on
the field or the mat
Soph Luke Caldwell looks to build on last year’s strong wrestling season
By RIcH FISHerHopewell Valley Central High sophomore Luke Caldwell considers wrestling the third favorite sport of the three in which he competes.
Thus, the fact he was the NJSIAA District 18 champion as a freshman last year says a little something about his athletic ability.
“He’s a great athlete and a great kid, and we love having Luke Caldwell on our team,” Bulldogs coach “Super” Mario Harpel said. “He’s a three-sport kid, kind of the old school world. He’s a tough kid, great worker, great for the team, just a solid young man.”
Caldwell’s favorite sport is lacrosse. As a freshman, he was second on the Bulldogs in goals (36) and third in assists (25) and points (61). He sees that as his future in college, and focuses
See CALDWELL, Page 12
Short film ‘Pressed,’ shot in HoVal, hits festival circuit
By Joe EMaNSKIA familiar scene to anyone who regularly watches the nightly news on television: lights flash and yellow police tape flows as a TV news reporter explains to viewers what is known about the accident or crime scene behind them — often in sordid detail.
What most TV viewers probably don’t know is the toll that this kind
Master piece
Victory in the World Correspondence
Chess Championship made Jon Edwards a grandmaster — and a world champion
By Joe EMaNSKIJon Edwards boasts a home library of more than 5,000 books. Chess books, that is.
how far would you go if they were sick?
of reporting takes on the reporters, camera operators and producers who do the work. Do they become inured to misfortune and death? Overwhelmed by it?
an award-winning short film, “Pressed,” a work of fiction that aims to offer viewers some insight into that end of the process.
Welcome to Capital Health.
“Pressed” premiered last month at the Wolf Tree Film Festival in Marshall, Michigan. The eight-minute film starring Hannah Putnam and Adam Wahlberg was shot last year at the Pennington Shopping Center, with
Scott “Silent K” Knowlton and Michelle Elise Harding know something about this side of the job. As behind-the-camera veterans of TV news, they have been a part of many such scenes. And now they have collaborated on See PRESSED, Page 9
When someone you care about is sick, you’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get the best care. And so do we.
With a collaborative structure so our doctors can craft a treatment that’s uniquely right for you. With primary care physicians who never schedule an appointment that’s less than 20 minutes. With world-renowned surgeons that are changing cancer treatment.
Because you’d go to the ends of the earth for the people you care about. And we do too.
It’s the sort of collection one might have if one aspires to attain the most elusive status in the world of chess: that of grandmaster, a title bestowed upon only the very most accomplished players. The only title grander than grandmaster is world champion — and, since finishing first in the 32nd World Correspondence Chess Championship last October, Edwards can claim that honor as well.
The Hopewell Township resident may not be as well known as the world over-the-board champion, Magnus Carlsen, but Edwards can say that he is one of very few recognized world champions in chess today.
Carlsen’s status as world
See CHESS, Page 10
Hopewell Borough, NJ
$339,900
Brinton H West 609.462.0556
MLS# NJME2018624
HVEF grants $10K to Hopewell Valley educators
Last month, the Hopewell Valley Education Foundation announce more than $10,000 in grants to support teachers and staff of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.
Hopewell Township, NJ
$995,000
Owen ‘Jones’ Toland 609.731.5953
MLS# NJME2021992
Trenton City, NJ
$409,000
Ira Lackey, Jr 609.203.2099
MLS# NJME2024962
Hopewell Township, NJ
$2,250,000
Princeton Office 609.921.1050
MLS# NJME2016216
Lawrence Township, NJ
$500,000
Donna S Matheis 609.947.2547
MLS# NJME2024922
Lawrence Township, NJ
$599,000
Grant Wagner, David M Schure 609.331.0573
MLS# NJME2012256
Hopewell Township, NJ
$2,450,000
Margaret Foley ‘Peggy’ Baldwin 609.306.2052
MLS# NJME2022652
Hopewell Township, NJ
$7,750,000
Princeton Office 609.921.1050
MLS# NJME2012886
The newest set of HVEF grant recipients includes:
Paulette DiNardo, HVRSD director of pupil services, and Christopher Turnbull, principal at Bear Tavern Elementary School, who will apply a $6,385 grant toward bringing facilitator Phil Beans to all four district elementary schools to introduce the “Phil’s Drills” interactive physical literacy and social-emotional learning program.
William Emhof, music teacher at Stony Brook Elementary School, who was awarded a $1,575 grant to add a set of choirchime instruments to the music instruction program. Choirchimes are played like handbells with a flick of the wrist, enabling all students to contribute to the making of music. They are especially valuable for differently abled stu-
dents, who may find other instruments challenging to use.
Scott Schlenker, science and special education teacher at Central High School, received a $2,100 grant to rehabilitate and maintain the high school’s garden. With initial planting and building work completed, Schlenker and a team of teachers and students will construct more planting beds, create a self-contained composting system, plant a variety of annual and perennial plants and trees, and repair and repaint the garden gazebo.
The aim is to create a learning environment for students interested in food cultivation and harvesting, and engage students who may wish to work in the garden as part of their service requirements.
“These latest grants showcase the innovation and creativity of HVRSD teachers and staff and the unique learning and engagement activities that students throughout the district will be able to enjoy,” said Sara Alyea, HVEF board president.” Web: hvef.org.
we are a newsroom of your neighbors. The Hopewell Express is for local people, by local people. As part of the community, the Gazette does more than just report the news—it connects businesses with their customers, organizations with their members and neighbors with one another. As such, our staff sets out to make our town a closer place by giving readers a reliable source to turn to when they want to know what’s going on in their neighborhood.
eDitor
Joe Emanski (Ext. 120)
ContriBUtinG CoLUmnists
David Chait, Robin Schore, Lisa Wolff AD LAYoUt AnD proDUCtion
Stacey Micallef
ACCoUnt eXeCUtiVe
Christine Storie (Ext. 115)
to ADVertise call Christine storie (609) 396-1511, ext. 115 or e-mail cstorie@communitynews.org
Community news service
9 Princess Road, Suite M Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
phone: (609) 396-1511
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11,000 copies of the Hopewell Express are mailed or bulk-distributed to the residences and businesses of Pennington, Hopewell Township and Hopewell Borough 12 times a
Whoever your heart beats for, our hearts beat for you.
Leaders in emergency and elective angioplasty.
Ever feel tightness in your chest when going up a flight of stairs, or short of breath after carrying in the groceries? These can be signs of coronary artery disease. If you think you may be at risk, you should talk to a cardiac specialist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton. At RWJBarnabas Health, we perform more elective and emergent procedures than any other health care system in New Jersey. Our heart team can clear blocked or narrowed arteries to safely restore blood flow to your heart. Schedule an appointment with one of New Jersey’s top cardiac specialists at rwjbh.org/heart
Readers sound off on proposed boutique hotel
Someone once observed that the whole Bible can be summarized in one sentence: That which is distasteful to you, do not do to your neighbor.
I am reminded of that concept after I read the January article on the commercial hotel that Philadelphia developer Margot Stern proposes to inflict on the Fiddlers Creek residential neighborhood. Hopefully this developer’s idea as to what’s good for Hopewell Township will go the way of other failed projects, such as the PennEast Pipeline and the CVS at Al’s Sunoco, similarly promoted by a developer who likewise transformed their own greed and selfishness into a claimed benefit for Hopewell.
Developer Margot Stern buys a property in an established residential area on Fiddlers Creek Road, which is an undivided two-lane roadway that is not wide enough for any shoulder, but boasts a drainage ditch on each side, with hopes to convince the zoning board to allow multiple zoning variances within that neighborhood for, among other delights, 95 parking spaces.
When someone buys a home in Hopewell Township in an area zoned for residential use, and, therefore, expects that their home will be forever surrounded by other homes, is it too much to ask of our government officials to protect that reasonable expectation?
Those who would be taken in by Stern’s public relations campaign need to ask themselves a simple question: how would you like a hotel in your neighborhood? I wouldn’t either.
Harvey Lester, Titusville
We are writing in response to: “Proposed boutique hotel would breathe new life into historic site.” The article describes a request for a zoning change to the Hollystone Manor property on Fiddler’s Creek Road. We strongly urge the Hopewell Township Zoning Board not to make an exception for “The Hopewell.”
Our family recently moved to Titusville for the community and the proximity to nature, including both Fiddler’s Creek Preserve and Bald Pate Mountain. We have settled in and enjoy hearing the owls at night, seeing deer, fox, and yes, even a bear wander our property. Our dogs love being in the midst of all the trees and trails.
The current zoning for Hollystone
Manor is residential and agricultural for a reason — to protect this beautiful natural area. A change would set a bad precedent and open the door for future development along Route 29 and Fiddler’s Creek Road. Also, further development at Hollystone Manor would now be easier.
As stated in the article, the number of parking spaces for the property will increase from 27 to 95. Thus, traffic will more than triple, bringing these “jaded urbanites” to the community. We do not think it is best for the long-term health of the community to have people “recharging their batteries” at an exclusive hotel. Visitors are welcome at all of Hopewell’s existing parks and preserves. A fancy hotel is not needed to provide these opportunities.
Members of the zoning board need to remember that a vote against a change to a commercial designation for this property will be a vote in support of the environment that we love.
Bruce Anderson and Carrie Vinch Titusville
Having read the piece published in the January issue about Margot Stern’s application to the Hopewell Township Zoning Board requesting a variance from residential to commercial to develop a boutique hotel, I want to provide the voice of the 400-plus voters and young adults who oppose the project. Stern described a project that purports to provide a significant benefit to the township, when in fact it does the opposite.
The application before the board is extremely conceptual. Most people have told me that they don’t understand how the zoning board would even need to think twice. As a close neighbor on Fiddlers Creek Road, I can state that the project presents many risks for the simple reason that Fiddlers Creek is a residential neighborhood that has no need for a hotel of any kind. The township’s 2002 master plan spells out that the Baldpate and Fiddlers Preserve region is within the Mountain Resource Conservation zone, which was designed to prevent just such commercial development.
The zoning board’s charge, as well as the environmental commission, is to protect the open space that many citizens have worked for decades to preserve.
Marie Verna, Titusville
HEALTH HEADLINES
BI-MONTHLY NEWS FROM CAPITAL HEALTH
Capital Health Regional Medical Center Nationally Recognized as a Leader for Social Responsibility, Patient Safety
Capital Health Regional Medical Center (RMC) recently earned recognition from the Lown Institute as one of the most socially responsible hospitals in America. In the Lown Hospital Index, a report by the Institute that evaluates more than 3,600 hospitals across the nation, RMC received an A grade and ranked 4th out of 61 hospitals in New Jersey based on several key metrics that measure social responsibility. Among those metrics, RMC ranked number one in New Jersey for patient safety and racial inclusivity, number three for health equity, and number five for overall inclusivity. The report also ranked RMC among the top 100 hospitals nationally for health equity, patient safety, and racial inclusivity.
“Capital Health Regional Medical Center has been a leader in providing high-quality, equitable care to the people of Trenton and surrounding areas for more than 130 years,” said Dr. Eric Schwartz, vice president of Community Health and Transformation and executive director of Capital Health’s Institute for Urban Care. “This ranking by the Lown Institute validates the hard work of our staff and reaffirms our commitment to community health in Mercer, Bucks, and Burlington counties.”
“America needs socially responsible hospitals,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. “That’s why it’s so important to lift up these high-performing hospitals as examples for others to follow.”
The Lown Institute, founded in 1973 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Bernard Lown (developer of the defibrillator and cardioverter) is an independent, nonpartisan organization that conducts research to help bridge the gap between existing public policy solutions
and improved access to care for all Americans. The Lown Hospital Index is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying unique measures such as racial inclusivity, avoidance of overuse (how well hospitals avoid unnecessary tests and procedures), and pay equity (how well hospital staff are paid compared to executives), among others. Data sources include Medicare claims, CMS patient safety data and hospital cost reports, among others.
Capital Health Regional Medical Center has a long history of serving central New Jersey and Lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The hospital includes a state designated comprehensive stroke center (part of Capital Institute for Neurosciences), the Level II Bristol Myers Squibb Trauma Center (one of only 10 designated trauma centers in New Jersey), and Mercer County’s designated Emergency Mental Health Services Center. RMC also provides inpatient and outpatient radiology services, dialysis, and numerous other medical services. To learn more, visit capitalhealth.org.
DON’T DELAY: Call 911 If You Suspect a Stroke
“When it comes to treating stroke, we always say ‘time is brain,’ which means that the sooner we can treat you, the better chance we have at a successful outcome,” said DR. DUSTIN ROCHESTIE, director of the Stroke Program at Capital Health. “At Capital Health, we have safety procedures in place to protect you from infection, while making sure you get the immediate, lifesaving stroke care that you need.”
The Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center at the Capital Institute for Neurosciences is a major referral center for the treatment of all types of neurovascular diseases, including cerebral aneurysms, strokes, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), arteriovenous fistul as (AVFs), cavernous malformations, carotid artery and vertebral artery atherosclerotic disease, intracranial stenosis as well as Moyamoya disease.
The only Joint Commission certified Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center in the region, located at Capital Health Regional Medical Center (RMC) in Trenton, continues to provide safe emergency stroke and neurovascular services 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week during the current health crisis.
“As soon as you call 911, our prehospital alert system allows our team in the hospital to prepare for your arrival, saving valuable time to treatment,” said Dr. Rochestie. “Your call could also activate our Mobile Stroke Unit, which can be co-dispatched with basic and advanced life support service to provide safe, immediate care at your location before you even arrive at the hospital.”
Controllable Risk Factors for Stroke
There are steps you can take right away to lower your risk. Get started by talking to your primary care doctor to learn about stroke screenings and how you can treat or manage controllable risk factors such as:
High blood pressure
… High cholesterol
Heart/blood vessel disease
… Cigarette smoking
Visit capitalneuro.org to learn more.
IF
YOU SUSPECT A STROKE, B - E F - A - S - T
— Balance
Is the person experiencing a sudden loss of balance?
— Eyes
Has the person lost vision in one or both eyes?
— Face Drooping
Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person’s smile uneven?
— Arm Weakness
Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
— Speech Difficulty
Physical inactivity/ obesity/poor diet
… Diabetes mellitus
Atrial fibrillation
… Sickle cell disease
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS EXPERIENCING SIGNS OF A STROKE, CALL 911.
Is speech slurred? Is the person unable to speak or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “The sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly?
— Time to call 911
If someone shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 immediately. Check the time so you’ll know when the first symptoms appeared.
AMERICAN HEART MONTH
IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE IS EXPERIENCING THE SIGNS OF A HEART ATTACK, CALL 911.
This puts you in contact with a trained dispatcher who will tell you what to do and sends an ambulance to your location. When the ambulance arrives, treatment begins in your home and the emergency department is prepared for your arrival at the hospital. Because your symptoms may get worse, driving yourself is a bad idea.
The Chest Pain Center at Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell is accredited by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care and the American College of Cardiology. This means the Center meets high standards for diagnosing and treating cardiac emergencies, such as heart attacks.
When someone is having a heart attack, time to treatment is critical. Capital Health’s pre-hospital alert system allows ambulance patients to be tested in their homes and mobilizes an interventional team at the hospital if there is evidence of a heart attack, saving time for an initial EKG test or faster bedside blood tests for troponin, a protein that enters the blood stream during a heart attack.
If you or a loved one is having a severe heart attack caused by prolonged restricted blood flow due to a clot or ruptured plaque, Capital Health’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab is ready to provide an emergency stent placement.
After you or your loved one has recovered, your last step is preventing another heart attack or heart-related illness. The Cardiac Rehabilitation Center, located at Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell, offers a team of physicians, nurses, exercise physiologists and registered dietitians who provide individually prescribed education and exercise.
All program candidates are interviewed prior to entering the Cardiac Rehabilitation program, which allows a team to develop and implement a personalized care plan. Participants include those who have experienced:
Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) within the past 12 months
Coronary artery bypass surgery
Current, stable chest pain (angina pectoris)
Heart valve repair or replacement
Angioplasty or stenting to open blocked coronary arteries
… Heart or heart-lung transplant surgery
… Stable, chronic heart failure
Talk to your doctor about participating in cardiac rehabilitation. Visit capitalhealth.org/cardiacrehab for more information.
DO MEN & WOMEN HAVE DIFFERENT SIGNS/SYMPTOMS OF HEART ATTACK?
YES
SYMPTOM MEN WOMEN
Chest Pain
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Crushing, center of chest
Pressure, tightness, ache, stomach pain, sweating
With or before pain, may occur With or before pain, common
With cold, clammy skin, may occur
Similar to men
Arm Pain Pain, numbness Similar to men
Back, Neck, Jaw Pain May occur
More common than in men
Stomach Pain May occur
Indigestion May occur
Anxiety May occur
Fatigue May occur
Dizzy/ Lightheaded May occur
Extend to abdomen or only abdomen
2x’s more likely than men
Mistaken for panic
Flu-like symptoms
More common than in men
If you or someone you know is experiencing these signs and symptoms, call 911.
KNOW THE SIGNS OF A HEART ATTACK AND WHAT TO DO IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS HAVING ONE
Capital Health – East Trenton Opens Offering Emergency Department Services and Continued Outpatient Medical Clinic Services
On December 21, Capital Health assumed responsibility for health care services previously provided by St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. That campus, which now operates an Emergency Department and some outpatient services, has been renamed Capital Health – East Trenton and no longer operates as an acute care hospital.
“Without this transition, Trenton would have lost desperately needed health care services, including emergency services, behavioral health, and cardiac surgery. This would have been
KEY INFORMATION FOR YOU TO KNOW SERVICES
… The Emergency Department remains open 24/7 in the same location. Patients needing hospital admission will be transferred appropriately for the care they need.
The Outpatient Primary Care Clinic, located next to the Emergency Department, remains open in the same location. Specialty Care Clinic Services are available at various locations. The CARES child wellness program remains open in the same location.
… The LIFE program is now called Capital Health LIFE and remains open in its Bordentown location. Assisted Living Program patients continue to receive care as they did prior to the transition.
Some primary care physicians, specialists, and surgeons who were previously with St. Francis Medical Associates have transitioned to Capital Health Medical Group practices. Visit capitalmedicalgroup.org to find your physician’s new location and phone number. If your physician did not move to Capital Health, visit capitalhealth.org to find the physician you need and complete contact information.
Cancer Center services, including infusions, are available at Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell. Visit capitalhealthcancer.org to learn more, or call 609.537.6363. For infusion appointments at Capital Health, call 609.537.7226.
Patients receiving care as part of the Infectious Disease, HIV and Lyme’s disease programs can be seen at Capital Health –Infectious Disease Specialists, located at 40 Fuld Street, Suite 305 in Trenton. Call 609.394.6338 to make an appointment.
devastating to the residents. I want to thank everyone who partnered with us to make sure key services did not leave Trenton,” said Al Maghazehe, President and CEO of Capital Health. “We are committed to continuing to provide critical medical services in the city of Trenton and working closely with members of the community, local officials, and other key stakeholders.”
Learn more about the services Capital Health offers at www.capitalhealth.org.
Sleep services are available at Capital Health – Hamilton, located at 1401 Whitehorse-Mercerville Road. Call 609.584.5150 to schedule an appointment.
… The Behavioral Health Inpatient Program is at Capital Health Regional Medical Center.
… Wound Care patients can call Capital Health’s Center for Wound Management and Hyperbaric Medicine at 609.537.7457.
… Outpatient diagnostic testing services are available at other Capital Health locations, including Capital Health Regional Medical Center. Call 609.394.6695 to schedule an appointment.
TRANSPORTATION
Shuttles from the Hamilton Avenue campus to Capital Health Regional Medical Center (RMC) leave every hour, on the hour, beginning at 6 a.m. with the last shuttle leaving at 8 p.m. for RMC. All shuttles depart from the turnaround in front of the old Main Lobby on Chambers Street at the new Capital Health – East Trenton location. Return shuttles run every half hour from 6:30 a.m., with the last departure for Capital Health – East Trenton at 8:30 p.m. This can be used by patients or visitors.
MEDICAL RECORDS
If you need a copy of your medical records for services you received at St. Francis Medical Center before December 21, 2022, call 609.394.4460 or visit Capital Health’s website for other options.
MAIN NUMBERS
Capital Health – East Trenton: 609.599.5000
Capital Health Regional Medical Center: 609.394.6000
Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell: 609.303.4000
Love in the Air and in Print
Read how regional poets, both early and contemporary, have written of romance throughout the ages, page 2.
Love Poems of the Past and Present
By Rebekah Schroeder and Dan AubreyWhen a poet’s rhymes come from romance, each line penned by a writer eager to spin a sentimental song about their feelings or commit a lover’s visage to verse, the piece can live on past its era of origin.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, so does an event honoring a trailblazing local figure whose sense of activism and homeland pride was an amorous endeavor in itself.
Frances “Fanny” Isabelle Parnell (1848–1882), an Irish poet who expressed her nationalistic pride through writing and political action, came to Bordentown, where her mother’s ancestral home was, in 1874.
Dubbed the “Patriot Poet,” Parnell later passed away at this Mercer County family estate, but her literary devotion lives on in the Bordentown Poetry Project.
In recognition of Parnell’s contributions, as well as those of five noted regional and state writers—Ellen Foos, Luray Gross, Roberta Clipper, and Todd Evans—the FP Poetry Project will host a free February presentation and limited open reading
at Bordentown’s Old City Hall on Sunday, February 5, at 2 p.m.
Dan Aubrey, a Bordentown-based writer, U.S. 1 Newspaper Editor, and arts coordinator, will host.
The initiative is organized by the Bordentown Old City Hall Restoration Committee’s “Cultural Vision” project, which was formed last year as a subcommittee of the volunteer group dedicated to rehabilitating the building at 11 Crosswicks Street.
So why not get equally lost in the words of yearning from yore? The long legacy of love poems published by the area’s earlier contributors, which evoke everlasting tenderness, are a fitting match to Bordentown’s more modern compositions.
Editor’s Note: A number of these older poems ran in a previous issue of Community News Service’s weekly Princeton metro area paper, U.S. 1, in February 2020 as “A Vintage Literary Bouquet for Valentine’s Day” by Dan Aubrey.
Annis Boudinot Stockton, also a poet and patriot, was one of the first women in her craft to be published in America. Stockon, who came from familial wealth of
SIX09
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Stop Your Pain. Start Your Life.
Dr. Ronak Patel
Dr. Ronak Patel
Dr. Ronak Patel
We are a center of excellence that delivers the most up to date care in the field of comprehensive pain management. We are committed to helping you regain your life. Our focus will be on developing individualized patient treatment plans and increasing patient functionality.
We are a center of excellence that delivers the most up to date care in the field of comprehensive pain management. We are committed to helping you regain your life. Our focus will be on developing individualized patient treatment plans and increasing patient functionality.
We are a center of excellence that delivers the most up to date care in the field of comprehensive pain management. We are committed to helping you regain your life. Our focus will be on developing individualized patient treatment plans and increasing patient functionality.
We are a center of excellence that delivers the most up to date care in the field of comprehensive pain management. We are committed to helping you regain your life. Our focus will be on developing individualized patient treatment plans and increasing patient functionality.
Stop Your Pain. Start Your Life.
Regenerative Spine and Pain
Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute Taking the Fight Against Chronic Pain to New Levels
27 different therapies available to patients, Dr. Patel offers a range of treatments, often combined to attack highly specific causes of pain. Among the most promising and innovative treatments:
Botox for migraines. Stem cell injections to regenerate tissue and organs.
Gummy Bears infused with THC. Platelet-Rich Plasma to treat conditions from sports injuries and wounds to hair loss from chemotherapy. These are just a few of the cutting-edge therapies used by Dr. Ronak Patel, the founder and medical director of Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute in Plainsboro.
Botox for migraines. Stem cell injections to regenerate tissue and organs. Gummy Bears infused with THC. Platelet-Rich Plasma to treat conditions from sports injuries and wounds to hair loss from chemotherapy. These are just a few of the cutting-edge therapies used by Dr. Ronak Patel, the founder and medical director of Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute in Plainsboro.
“Many of these treatments may come as a surprise to patients suffering from chronic pain, especially those who think that their pain — and poor quality of life — is something they have to endure,” Dr. Patel notes. A double board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, Dr. Patel focuses on treating pain in the back, neck, face, and joints as well as pain related to cancer and chemotherapy.
27 different therapies available to patients, Dr. Patel offers a range of treatments, often combined to attack highly specific causes of pain. Among the most promising and innovative treatments:
Regenerative Medicine/ Stem Cell Therapy. Regenerative medicine is a fastgrowing, highly developed treatment that helps the body heal or rebuild itself. Dr. Patel uses stem cell therapy to treat ailments, particularly low back or neck pain, caused by degenerative vertebral discs or joint pain in the shoulders, hips, or knees caused by osteoarthritis. The patient’s stem cells are removed, purified, concentrated, and injected into the injured or weakened tissue. Stem cell therapy can also speed recovery and help avoid surgery.
Cannabis Therapy. The legalization of medical marijuana has brought new treatment options. “We are very excited by the potential of cannabis-based treatments and we comply fully with New Jersey’s evolving regulations,” says Dr. Patel. He uses a local dispensary to provide treatments, which include edibles such as gummy bears and cannabis-based rubbing and vaping oils.
Cannabis Therapy. The legalization of medical marijuana has brought new treatment options. “We are very excited by the potential of cannabis-based treatments and we comply fully with New Jersey’s evolving regulations,” says Dr. Patel. He uses a local dispensary to provide treatments, which include edibles such as gummy bears and cannabis-based rubbing and vaping oils.
With so many different pain-causing illnesses, injuries, and conditions, treatments must be carefully customized to fit the needs of each individual patient. Dr. Patel partners with orthopedists, physical and occupational therapists, and chiropractors to provide a variety of approaches and treatments. With
“Many of these treatments may come as a surprise to patients suffering from chronic pain, especially those who think that their pain — and poor quality of life — is something they have to endure,” Dr. Patel notes. A double board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, Dr. Patel focuses on treating pain in the back, neck, face, and joints as well as pain related to cancer and chemotherapy.
With so many different pain-causing illnesses, injuries, and conditions, treatments must be carefully customized to fit the needs of each individual patient. Dr. Patel partners
Regenerative Medicine/ Stem Cell Therapy. Regenerative medicine is a fastgrowing, highly developed treatment that helps the body heal or rebuild itself. Dr. Patel uses stem cell therapy to treat ailments, particularly low back or neck pain, caused by degenerative vertebral discs or joint pain in the shoulders, hips, or knees caused by osteoarthritis. The patient’s stem cells are removed, purified, concentrated, and injected into the injured or weakened tissue. Stem cell therapy can also speed recovery and help avoid surgery.
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP). A favorite treatment for sports injuries, PRP uses the patient’s blood to produce a platelet-rich plasma that targets a host of chronic and acute pain conditions, including muscle strain, arthritis, tendinosis, cartilage injuries, joint inflammation, and wound care. The treatment is also used in orthopedic and plastic surgery. By synthesizing platelets and releasing proteins, PRP can aid in generating new tissue. And it has helped chemotherapy patients grow back hair faster and thicker.
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP). A favorite treatment for sports injuries, PRP uses the patient’s blood to produce a platelet-rich plasma that targets a host of chronic and acute pain conditions, including muscle strain, arthritis, tendinosis, cartilage injuries, joint inflammation, and wound care. The treatment is also used in orthopedic and plastic surgery. By synthesizing platelets and releasing proteins, PRP can aid in generating new tissue. And it has helped che-
Minimally Invasive Therapy. Dr. Patel offers a wide variety of minimally invasive therapies. These include epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, radiofrequency ablation, and spinal cord stimulation for patients suffering from chronic neck and back pain stemming from herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, or spinal stenosis. His goal is to help his patients avoid surgery and at the same time regain functionality.
Thanks to these and other game-changing treatments, pain levels can be greatly reduced or eliminated and quality of life enhanced. Says Dr. Patel, “Stop your pain. Start your life.”
Minimally Invasive Therapy. Dr. Patel offers a wide variety of minimally invasive therapies. These include epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, radiofrequency ablation, and spinal cord stimulation for patients suffering from chronic neck and back pain stemming from herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, or spinal stenosis. His goal is to help his patients avoid surgery and at the same time regain functionality.
Thanks to these and other game-changing treatments, pain levels can be greatly reduced or eliminated and quality of life enhanced. Says Dr. Patel, “Stop your pain. Start your life.”
her own, married lawyer Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The well-connected couple called a property in Princeton, Morven, their home. William Penn, Richard’s grandfather, had given him the land, and Annis decided to name the mansion after the Gaelic word for “big hill.”
Morven served as the state’s first governor’s mansion before it was historically preserved in honor of its many cultural and artistic contributions.
Annis expressed her feelings in verse as she awaited her husband’s return—first from his general travels, but especially following his imprisonment by British forces during the Revolutionary War.
Despite the two’s eventual reunion, Richard died only a few years after his release.
The Disappointment! (1756)
An Ode to Mr. Stockton
I see my kind protector come To soothe my throbbing heart to rest.
He breaks that cloud’s o’erspreading gloom
And chases midnight from my breast.
No tis not him a shadowy sprite. So like my lover met my eyes
Some angel left the fields of light Touch’d with compassion at my sighs.
No more he joins the Social band
Around my cheerful fire side
Where friendships fascinating wand
Once made his hours serenely glide. Tis not for me that voice to hearWhence sprightly wit and manly sense
Can floe to charm the brow of care And wisdom’s choicest gifts dispense.
But he shall live within my heart — His image all my Joy supply And when death hurls the fatal dart I’ll bear it with me to the sky. Yes see the blessed hour arrives
Ev’n now the peaceful clime I view When gentle love and virtue thrives And souls their lapsed powers renew.
No disappointment enters there — The tender heart no absence pain —
For love refin’d is angels’ fare — For love eternal ever reigns.
Ellen Foos is a Princeton-based poet and the founder of Ragged Sky Press, a publication that “has historically focused on mature voices, overlooked poets, and women’s perspectives” since 1992. She is also a past editor for the Princeton University Press.
Evening Out (for Blossom Dearie)
We’re out to celebrate, me and Stan, in our modest way. Sure, other day-trippers are doing the same, having a little fun too, we’ll try not to spoil the scene.
Once we lived here, drank the water, bought cheese on the Avenue. Now to catch a little romance we overpay, wedge our way in, sport last year’s couture. We may hold hands and when the piano plays lean back, adjust our chairs. If we miss the revolution or get to it late someone please hold the door.
Henry Van Dyke was a theologian who graduated from Princeton University— where he would later teach English—and the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1873 and 1877, respectively.
A Presbyterian minister by trade, Van Dyke also wrote poems and short stories. He began his career by reading his works “aloud to his congregation in New York as sermons,” according to his Britannica biography.
While these pieces share a similar theme, the first is written as a sonnet.
Love (1902)
Let me but love my love without disguise,
Nor wear a mask of fashion old or new,
Nor wait to speak till I can hear a clue,
Nor play a part to shine in others’ eyes,
Nor bow my knees to what my heart denies;
But what I am, to that let me be true, And let me worship where my love is due, And so through love and worship let me rise.
For love is but the heart’s immortal thirst
To be completely known and all forgiven, Even as sinful souls that enter Heaven:
So take me, dear, and understand my worst,
And freely pardon it, because confessed,
And let me find in loving thee, my best.
Love in a Look
Let me but feel thy look’s embrace, Transparent, pure, and warm, And I’ll not ask to touch thy face, Or fold thee with mine arm.
For in thine eyes a girl doth rise, Arrayed in candid bliss, And draws me to her with a charm More close than any kiss.
A loving-cup of golden wine, Songs of a silver brook, And fragrant breaths of eglantine, Are mingled in thy look. More fair they are than any star, Thy topaz eyes divine — And deep within their trysting-nook Thy spirit blends with mine.
Luray Gross currently resides in Bucks County, where she was named the 2002 Poet Laureate.
A graduate of Trenton State College, now the College of New Jersey, she went on to become a Geraldine R. Dodge poet and the recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Poetry Fellowship.
The Love Poem I Haven’t Written for Paul
After all this time, the love poem
I haven’t written for you had nearly given up hope, not realizing it didn’t need to be constrained or controlled, could swoon or soar if it felt like it.
Though it’s been terribly timid, lately it’s been practicing a quiet whistle, rather like the hum in the ears of a fifth-grade girl coasting her bike down
a hill that’s barely a hill, just enough slope to keep her upright
without pedaling. There’s no breeze except the breeze her moving body teaches the air as she passes through it.
This poem wants that girl to know she owns something no one else does,
Luray
wants her to feel the ache, only enough to be sure.
The poem might start singing at any moment, quietly as first, trying this word and that, a phrase or two, just something to get a rhythm going. It might be hard to hear, but if you stay still and lean in, I’m sure you’ll hear it call out your name.
Francis Hopkinson, known as Bordentown’s own Founding Father, signed the Declaration of Independence just as Richard Stockton did.
As “America’s first poet-composer,” the humorous harpsichordist worked in law and on his lyrical abilities.
When not working as a judge, Hopkinson wrote original secular songs, which the subsequent poem became, as well as satirical pieces.
Give Me Thy Heart
(1789)
Give me thy heart as I give mine, Our hands in mutual bonds will join, Propitious may our union prove, What’s life without the joys of love?
Should care knock rudely at our gate, Admittance to obtain, Cupid shall at the casement wait, And bid him call again!
Give me thy heart as I give mine Our hands in mutual bonds will join, Propitious may our union prove, What’s life without the joys of love?
Roberta Clipper’s poetry and fiction have been published nationally.
The Bordentown resident is a former professor at Rider University, where she retired from the English department in 2021 after serving as chair and instructor.
Ode on an American Email
“More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be en -
joyed, For ever panting and for ever young.”
— John Keats
Letters typed four hundred miles away spatter the white screen like the sunflower seeds he throws across the snow for hungry birds. You are a woman, clearly, he types back, who lies about her age. How could she be older than the long-haired girl who sat beside him in his Montreal Peugeot trying to stop him from behaving as her elder, the teacher she has told him she has now herself become?
Oh for the belief in a religion that bears us once again to the moments when we did not act. Then might he be a boy, his beard mere shadow on his icon of a face, his heart unbroken, and hers the one inscribed with past betrayals, propriety that would not let her love.
It might be her car then, her hand, the back of his neck, and she the one who says, “It’s time for you to go.” But he said it. And she went.
How innocent they were, discussing Keats’ unravished bride, the boy who longs for consummation,
and the luck they had to stay in love because they had no chance of falling out of it. Let us grow new memories on memories we do not know we have. Let us pray for an incarnation in which both of us are still nineteen, our hearts intact, and our hands not yet touched enough to not yet touch.
Philip Freneau, a sea captain with a proclivity for poetry and politics, was the staunchly Jeffersonian editor of the “National Gazette.” His narrative style earned him the moniker “poet of the American Revolution.”
Freneau, an alumnus of Princeton University, spent a significant amount of time at sea on trade voyages. He likely wrote this poem lamenting the waves of separation between him and his wife, Eleanor Forman.
According to “The Poems of Philip Fre-
neau,” a free eBook by Project Gutenberg, “To Cynthia” first appeared in print with two variations before the author settled on this final version.
Before opting for “Jersey,” Freneau’s initial line spoke of “Monmouth’s,” the county where he lived, and then “Morven’s vale” as a homage to the Stocktons’ famous Princeton estate.
To Cynthia (1789)
Through Jersey groves, a wandering stream
That still its wonted music keeps, Inspires no more my evening dream, Where Cynthia, in retirement, sleeps.
Sweet murmuring stream! how blest art thou
To kiss the bank where she resides, Where Nature decks the beechen bough
That trembles o’er your shallow tides.
The cypress-tree on Hermit’s height,
Where Love his soft addresses paid By Luna’s pale reflected light — No longer charms me to its shade! To me, alas! so far removed, What raptures, once, that scenery gave,
Ere wandering yet from all I loved, I sought a deeper, drearier wave. Your absent charms my thoughts employ:
I sigh to think how sweet you sung, And half adore the painted toy That near my careless heart you hung.
Now, fettered fast in icy fields, In vain we loose the sleeping sail; The frozen wave no longer yields, And useless blows the favouring gale.
Yet, still in hopes of vernal showers, And breezes, moist with morning dew, I pass the lingering, lazy hours, Reflecting on the spring — and you.
Todd Evans is a Trenton-born poet and arts event coordinator. He founded the Don Evans Players Theater Group as a tribute to his late father, Don Evans, a playwright who taught at numerous area institutions—Princeton High School, Princeton University, Rutgers University, but most notably, the College of New Jersey, where he served as the chair of the African American studies department.
Todd’s pen name, “Son of Black,” honors Don’s legacy, as well as how his father smoked Captain Black pipe tobacco.
by son of Black
(for HER lest we NEVER forget)
uplift HER, submit to HER, commit to HER, acknowledge HER, appreciate HER, love HER, pray with HER, pray for HER, trust HER, and maybe just maybe you will keep HER, in your heart and you in HER”S do this try your best, and never forget give no less for a relationship...is always a work in progress
Consider yourself a new secret admirer of these poets? Take a cue from Fanny Parnell—be bold by showing your affection the first weekend of February in Bordentown, then keep the momentum through Valentine’s Day and beyond.
Aura Dermatology
Answers for Your Hair Loss
FP Poetry Project, Sunday, February 5, 2 p.m., Old City Hall, 11 Crosswicks Street, Bordentown.
For more information, contact coworksprojects@gmail.com
Why am I Losing My Hair?! Am I alone? Hair loss (alopecia) is an extremely common problem that affects millions of people in our country. There are two broad categories of hair loss — scarring or non-scarring — with many subtypes within each category. However, the type we tend to see the most is called Androgenetic Alopecia (male or female pattern hair loss). This form of hair loss affects roughly 30 million women and 50 million men at any given time. In male pattern hair loss, by age 25, 25% of men are affected. This number increases to 50% by age 50. In female pattern hair loss, by age 30-49, 17% of women are affected. By age 50-69 this number jumps to 25% of women. What causes Androgenetic Alopecia? Usually there can be a strong genetic component to this form of alopecia from either one’s maternal or paternal side. Additionally, elevated levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) are also involved in the pathophysiology of this condition. In women, hormonal imbalances due to pregnancy, menopause, etc, can also play a contributory role. Furthermore, having conditions such as vitamin deficiencies, thyroid dysfunction, certain autoimmune diseases, and others may play a significant role in exacerbation of androgenetic alopecia.
What can I use to treat Androgenetic Alopecia?
Most commonly, a combination treatment approach under the guidance of a Board-Certified Dermatology is recommended to achieve optimal
results. As this condition is progressive, treatment will have to be for life to maintain results. Common medical treatments include nutraceutical hair vitamins (not just high doses of biotin) that address the various contributing factors to hair loss, minoxidil (which helps to stimulate hair growth), and hormonal medications like finasteride
or spironolactone. Additional procedural treatments such as Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment, low-level light therapy (LLLT), and hair transplantation have shown great results enhancing hair growth by working synergistically with medical treatments.
What’s new in treating Androgenetic Alopecia? Alma TED device is an ultrasound-based system with a proprietary Tip engineered with Impact Delivery that offers a non-invasive, pain-free, in-office treatment option to treat hair loss. Combined with the TED hair care formula, patients can expect to see improvement in hair growth, hair thickness, and hair anchoring (less shedding) while improving its shine and strength.
Hair loss is a very common issue that can have many different causes. It is important to be evaluated by your Board-Certified Dermatologist to develop a treatment plan that is right for you to help achieve optimal results. If you are looking for guidance, look no further than Aura Dermatology in Robbinsville and Somerset, NJ. Let us help you live life in your best skin.
Aura Dermatology at Robbinsville, 17 Main Street, Suite 304, Robbinsville. 609-415-DERM (3376). www.auraderm.com.
Hamilton Area YMCA
At Sawmill Summer Day Camp we have 50 acres of outdoor space, the largest pool in Mercer County, fun activities ranging from sports to crafts and STEM, special events, fun themes and new initiatives! 5 funfilled days for campers to find their spark, find their sense of wonder, find their friends and FIND THEIR ADVENTURE!
• Find Their Spark.
Y camp is a place where kids can develop skills, confidence and new friendships. While camp is a summer rite of passage for kids to play outdoors and learn to swim, they are unknowingly rewarded with personal development skills by participating in their favorite activities and by trying activities they have never tried before. In general, they will leave camp with a stronger sense of identity and a better idea of what they love, which may help them in the classroom, in their relationships and to choose a career path in the future.
• Find Their Sense of Wonder. Kids get to discover all the wonders of the outdoors while
making friends and forming memories that will last a lifetime. A recent article from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia stated: “Scheduling time to actively play outdoors sets a natural limit on the amount of time your child can spend with a device (such as TV, smartphone or video game). “It promotes active engagement with their peers and the natural environment, and helps them develop respect for the world
FindYourADVENTURE!
don’t have to worry about getting a failing grade. By limiting this kind of restriction, kids can let their creativity flow.
• Find Their Friends and Fun.
At Y day camp, your kids will make new friends and have tons of fun as they explore new adventures each day. Camp is a social center away from home and school where kids learn to work with each other and adult mentors, build relationships and manage conflict.
Children look at camp as a fun way to spend the summer in the sun and splashing in the pool, but parents understand that camp allows kids to reap many life benefits that will follow them through their lives long after the sun has set on their summer camp days.
and consideration for others around them.” Camp provides kids the perfect opportunity to discover the outdoors and get their bodies and imaginations more active.
• Find Their Adventure.
Summer is a time for kids to explore new things and expand the limits of their imagination. At Y summer day camp, every day is a new adventure! Creativity can’t be stifled at camp because campers
We have worked hard to plan an exciting summer full of theme weeks, special events and new experiences! Campers will be immersed in arts and crafts, music, science, dance, sports, swimming and so much more! Our counselors are second to none, having had extensive training to welcome your children for the summer. For more information, visit hamiltonymca.org/camp.
See ad, page 11.
Russian School of Mathematics
Award-Winning Program
Comes to Princeton
RSM-Princeton now has a new location! We are now located at 231 Clarksville Road, West Windsor!
Recently featured in NPR and the Atlantic magazine as one of the key players in the “Math Revolution,” and ranked one of the best schools in the world by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, RSM helps children of all levels build a solid math foundation and develop their criticalthinking and problem-solving skills. Sign up for a FREE math evaluation today! Website: www.russianschool. com/princeton
Summer school provides a great opportunity for students to learn and advance without the typical pressures of the academic year. RSM offers a variety of courses through its summer enrichment program — for those students looking to get a head start on the academic year, or for those looking for an additional challenge in math.
Our summer schedule is designed
for students of all levels, from Kindergarten to Algebra 2 and High School Geometry. Course offerings include:
- Math for Grades 1 - 6: These courses hone students’ analytical skills and enhance their number sense by introducing them to abstract concepts.
- Preparation for High School
Math: Our courses in Algebra and Geometry will build up prerequisite skills and front-load the key concepts
of High School Math.
- Contest Level Math: Students are introduced to non-straightforward problems- opening them to the intrigue of math in the world. Students are also prepared for various national and international math competitions.
Russian School of Mathematics, 231 Clarksville Road, West Windsor 08550. 732-708-4905. www. russianschool.com/princeton. See ad, page 10.
Summer Math
Summer Math
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Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute
Treating Pain with PRP and Stem Cell Therapy
Pain.
It gnaws at you. It drains you. It becomes the focus of your life.
Experiencing a few pain-free moments can be euphoric; it makes you realize how long you’ve been living with aches and pain. You might wonder how you can find a solution to relieve the pain and regain your freedom from discomfort.
Dr. Ronak Patel at Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute wants you to know there are two new revolutionary answers to pain relief.
Both platelet-rich therapy — otherwise known as PRP — and stem cell therapy give patients new hope by using the body’s powerful healing power to accelerate the battle against pain. Dr. Patel has seen incredible success implementing these cuttingedge treatments on hundreds of patients suffering from pain-related issues.
So if you are suffering from any of the ailments below, there’s a lifeline.
• Osteoarthritis
• Rotator cuff tear
• Back pain
• Meniscus tears
• Tennis elbow
• Disc herniations
• Tendonitis
• Neck pain
Here’s the best news: Neither PRP or stem cell therapy involves drug use with side effects or any surgical procedures.
Both PRP and stem cell treatments use the body’s own healing resources to repair diseased or damaged tissue — and the results are quite remarkable.
PRP therapy involves injecting concentrated platelets and growth factors into damaged tissue to
stimulate the faster growth of new healthy cells. Platelets are cells that prevent and stop bleeding. If a blood vessel is damaged, the body sends signals to our platelets to get on the job and start the healing. Some call platelets the body’s natural bandage.
So how does PRP therapy work? It’s basically drawing a one small vial of blood from the patient and then using a centrifuge to turn it into a potent and concentrated form of platelets. It is then injected back into the patient. Think of it as a boost of your own blood — only superpowered.
Recovery time for PRP therapy is far shorter than for surgery. Patients usually experience soreness for a week or so, but the gradual improvement soon begins. Unlike a steroid shot, which gives you immediate relief and quickly wears off, a PRP patient will see pain symptoms improve over a period of months, and up to 80 percent of patients will see relief for up to two years.
Stem cell therapy can be an even more powerful way to harness the body’s healing power. Stem cells are the building blocks for every cell in our body. These powerful cells can be harvested to produce powerful new cells to fight inflammation and disease.
For those suffering from osteoarthritis, stem cell therapy has proven very effective. That’s because the stem cells may help develop new cartilage cells and suppress inflammation. Stem cells can be harvested through a sample of body fat or bone marrow or be harvested from donated umbilical cord tissue.
And yes, you can even augment PRP therapy with stem cell therapy for an even bigger boost!
Stop wondering if you’ll have to live with your pain forever. Contact Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute today at 609-269-4451 or go to www.njpaindoc.com to book an an appointment and learn more. See ad, page 3
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SERVICES
LEGAL SERVICES Wills, Power of Attorney, Real Estate, Federal and NJ Taxes, House calls available. Bruce Cooke, Esq. 609-799-4674, 609-721-4358.
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Wanted: Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. Cards, autographs, photos, memorabilia. Highest cash prices paid! Licensed corporation, will travel. 4thelovofcards, 908-5960976. allstar115@verizon. net.
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COMMERCIAL SPACE
Space available in the Ewing Professional Park. Comfortable suite currently used by mental health professionals. Waiting room, kitchenette and restrooms in suite. Well-lighted parking lot. Available Jan 1st. For more details, email suppsoln27@ yahoo.com or call Supportive Solutions at 609-635-3751.
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Office Space For Rent: Pennington ground floor office space 32 N Main Street. Share with clinical psychologist and real estate management company. Private entrance, off street parking. 305-968-7308
Princeton Commercial
Retail Spaces for Lease: Various Locations in Town. Please Contact: Weinberg Management. WMC@ collegetown. Text 609-7311630
VACATION RENTALS
Florida Beach Rental: Fort Myers Beach 1br vacation
To book a classified ad in this section, please email your text and any other information to mdurelli@communitynews.org. Classifieds run at 75 cents per word with a $20 minimum per month. For more information, call 609-396-1511, ext. 105.
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BUSINESS FOR SALE
Salon for sale- excellent opportunity. Priced to sell. Relocating out of state. Large space, great potential. Call 609-462-0188.
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For sale double depth cemetery plot. Location Princeton memorial park, Gordon Road, Robbinsville. Call 609-259-7710.
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Knowlton and Harding as co-writers and co-directors.
Knowlton, a graduate of Hopewell Valley Central High School, lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan as a producer for CBS News. But when the script he co-wrote with Harding called for a suburban location in which to film the story, he immediately thought of his hometown.
“My family still lives down there,” Knowlton, 45, said in a recent phone interview. “My dad (David) still lives on South Main Street with my stepmom (Diane Zompa). My mom (Carol) still lives in Brandon Farms. One day when I was down there, I happened to notice that there was a vacant space in Pennington Shopping Center. I reached out to the people at the realty group and they said, ‘We’re not using the space, so as long as you leave it the way you found it, you can use it.’”
The principal roles in the film went to professional actors from New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. But for extras, including some of the first responders depicted in the film, Knowlton and Harding turned to Hopewell Valley locals.
“I went to high school with the chief of police. My dad was a volunteer firefighter in Pennington. So I knew I would have connections I needed. Being able to use those guys was so great, especially the firefighters. They didn’t care how many times I asked them to run with a ladder or do whatever. That really helped me out, being so willing to do all of it,” he said.
Knowlton describes “Pressed” as a story about a reporter who arrives at the crime scene of a double homicide and realizes she wants to be a different kind of journalist than the one she has been. “While it’s important to tell people’s stories, there’s a way to do it without monopolizing people’s emotions, without profiting off of someone’s terrible situation, which is how a lot of people think the news is,” he said.
Knowlton studied journalism at Rutgers University after graduating from Central. Although he has had a long and Emmy-winning career as a TV producer, his dream has always been to make films.
“My brother (Craig) is actually the one who went to film school,” he said. “He went to Tisch (New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts), and my experience on film sets was mostly on his stuff. I was an assistant director helping him on his projects. He encouraged me to keep it up because he liked doing it and he knew I liked doing it.”
And the “Silent K” nickname that Knowlton now uses professionally? Bestowed by Will Ferrell, believe it or not, during the time when Knowlton worked as an entertainment reporter.
“I interviewed him for the movie Elf,”
Knowlton said. “When you sit down in those junkets, the actors ask ‘What’s your name?’ And I always had to spell my name out for them. He said, “Where’s the K?’ I said, ‘It’s right at the beginning.’ And he said, ‘Wow. Your rap nickname should be Silent K.’
“Now I have Silent K Studios, the license plate on my jeep is Silent K. It just kind of stuck.”
In 2017, Knowlton was working at a news job that he describes as toxic, and in a personal relationship that he says was “not exactly a healthy one.”
So he got out of the relationship, packed up his apartment, quit his job, and drove around the country for a fourmonth solo trip to visit a national landmark in each of the lower 48 states. “A Jack Kerouac kind of sojourn,” he said.
The trip almost ended in tragedy in the Grand Canyon. One night while there he ended up stranded in the canyon without any overnight gear. “That was a rough night,” he said. “Basically yelling for help in the darkness for 45 minutes.”
Fortunately for Knowlton, there were some German tourists within earshot who climbed down to him and fixed him up with some sustenance and an all-temperature sleeping bag. “They were the nicest guys,” he said. “They literally just did the trip down to me in the dark to help me out. I wasn’t sure I would make it through the night — the temperature dropped so much. About a month later, a woman died in just about the same place I was in.”
After returning to New York, he settled into a job with CBS News that was a better fit. But the survival experience helped to remind him that the clock was ticking if he ever wanted to have a career as a filmmaker. He made a promise to himself to do more creative writing and to share
that writing with more people.
In 2020, he came down with a bad case of Covid, and had to be hospitalized. “I wasn’t on a ventilator, but it was scary moments,” he said. “After two back-toback near-death experiences, I was like, ‘You need to do this stuff if you’re ever going to do it.’”
Not a month after he recovered from Covid, he learned that one of his CBS News colleagues — Harding — was also an independent filmmaker. They met up, and Harding told him about a film she wanted to do about a TV news reporter, but she wasn’t sure how to get the story into script form. “She had the middle, she just really didn’t know the beginning and the end,” Knowlton said.
Knowlton offered to take a crack at writing a script, and 24 hours later he had something to send her. “This is Michelle’s story. She experienced these things while being a photojournalist for the news in South Carolina which is why she wanted to tell this story. I understood right away because I, too, have been in the field and seen these things happen,” he said. “Once she read the draft I did, she said, ‘You get the story. I want to make this movie, and I want to make it with you.’”
They shot the film over Easter weekend 2022. “Over the course of Friday and Saturday, a lot of shooting. Twelve hour days, but we didn’t have an opportunity to do it any other weekend,” Knowlton said. “One of the retired firefighters let us use their farm for a second crime scene. It meant a lot that the whole town, every person we talked to was like, ‘How can we help you?’ It was really a great thing.”
Once shooting was finished, it took Harding from April until Thanksgiving to make a final, eight-minute cut of the film. In the end, the pair made the movie for the relatively paltry cost of
$10,000. “When people see it, one of the first things they say is how professional it looks,” Knowlton said. “Michelle’s film school professor said, ‘I can’t believe how good this looks based on the budget.’”
They started submitting the movie to film festivals across the world once it was completed. Immediately they heard back from the Alternative Film Festival of Canada, where it won Best Drama for North America. But that festival only screened 10 films in total, meaning “Pressed” did not have its world premiere there.
Next, they found out that they had been accepted into the Cannes Shorts film festival, where they were nominated for Best Drama. But there again, there was no opportunity for a screening.
It wasn’t long before the Top Indie Film Awards checked in with four nominations and two awards, for Best Writing and Best Message. And finally came word came from Wolf Tree that the film had been accepted to screen in Michigan on Jan. 21. Knowlton was on hand for the premiere.
“I just needed that moment to break through in my psyche, that this is something I could do,” Knowlton said. “I give such kudos to Michelle, because she’s known that she wanted to do this for a while, and this is her fourth movie. But for me to get this response from the film festivals is satisfying and reaffirming. What it’s done for me is made me more vocal about the stories I want to tell.”
Since completing “Pressed,” Knowlton has written a draft of a feature-length film script, and is already in preproduction on another short film he wants to shoot first.
“Once people heard that I got nominated for Cannes Shorts and heard that we won best drama at the Alternative Film Festival, that opened a lot of doors,” he said. “People are taking it seriously that this is what I want to do.”
champion is ratified by the World Chess Federation, also known by its French acronym, FIDE. Edwards, on the other hand, is recognized as a world champion and grandmaster by the International Correspondence Chess Federation, or ICCF, the body that oversees the worldwide community of correspondence chess players. He is the 14th American to gain grandmaster status, which he reached upon winning the tournament, and the 3rd to win the world championship.
Edwards is also part of the U.S. team taking part in the ICCF’s 21st Correspondence Chess Olympiad, with the Americans locked in for a medal in the event. “I think that I’m the first Olympic champion in the history of Hopewell Valley. That’s not bad for a 69-year-old fat and bald guy,” he jokes. “I’m proud of that.”
Once played via letters, and later, telegrams and postcards, correspondence chess today is carried out mostly via email. Competitors play games out with unseen opponents over vast distances and, often, over vast periods of time. The 32nd World Correspondence Chess Championship commenced in June 2020, and did not end until Oct. 8, 2022.
Edwards played 17 matches in that
time, against competitors from Germany, Russia, Tunisia, Portugal and elsewhere. He won just two of the games, but that is not unusual today in top-level correspondence chess; no player in the tournament won more. He played to a draw in the other 15 matches, and was named champion on tiebreaker rules over the other two-game winners: Michel Lecroq of France, Sergey Adolfovich Osipov of Russia, and Horácio Neto of Portugal.
Games end in draws so often these days because for the last two decades, the ICCF has permitted players to use almost any resource available to them to determine their next move, including powerful computer chess engines capable of analyzing millions of potential moves and sequences. Really the only resource competitors may not draw on is other people.
“Correspondence chess combines not only extreme knowledge of chess, but also mastery of technology,” Edwards says. “You were not allowed to use chess engines back in the day. Then they started being allowed around 2000, 2001. At the time, they didn’t feel they had a way to police (computer consultation). They do have a way to do it today, but they don’t. You’re not allowed to consult with a human. You are allowed to use books,
computers and computer databases, and since it’s legal, it’s what happens.”
Edwards said that in winning the championship, he sometimes spent as many as 10 days deciding on a move. “It’s a very patient process. For example, in the final, I had a game that went 119
moves, against Osipov. I had a stretch with the sole objective of making him move one pawn forward one square. I succeeded, but it took 38 moves to get him to do that,” he says. “The key was that if I could get him to move it forward one more square, I had a winning plan.”
Edwards grew up on Long Island until the age of 12. He remembers getting the first of his 5,000 chess books, Reuben Fine’s Great Moments in Modern Chess, when he was laid low by mono in 4th grade. His first teacher was his uncle, Joseph Platz, himself a master and a onetime student of world champion Emanuel Lasker.
When he was 12, Edwards moved with his family to Acton, Massachusetts, outside of Boston. He went on to attend Princeton University from 1971 to 1975, earning a bachelor’s degree, before going onto Michigan State University, where he earned masters and doctorate degrees in Ethiopian Economic History. Later, he and wife Cheryl settled in Hopewell, and he served two terms on the township committee in the late 90’s–early 2000’s, including one year as mayor.
He worked for 24 years for Princeton University, first as an assistant vice president in computing and information technology, and later as coordinator of
institutional communication. He started playing correspondence chess in 1986, because he was married and had a family and that made it easier to fit it all in. He still has all of the postcards he received from fellow players announcing their moves.
After retiring in 2010, he made the commitment to himself to try to become world champion. It was not a commitment he made lightly. “Twelve years of 14-hour days,” he says. “I have not had a drop of alcohol in a decade. It would make my decision making unreliable.”
He believes that his background in computers gives him an advantage over other competitors, especially when it comes to consulting resources like ChessBase to find historical games that are similar to whatever game he is playing at the time. His huge library of chess books is another resource he can rely on.
“Using the tools that I have, I’m able to search for every single game that reaches a position that is similar to the one I have on the board,” he says. “In most instances, I’m able to find two, three, four hundred games. There’s no point in running away from the data. So, I play through all of them. After I’ve done that, I know what to do.”
At the outset of the championship finals, he decided to take an approach that was in the style of Armenian chess legend
and former world champion Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian is often described as a defense-minded player, but Edwards doesn’t like that. He describes the playing style as pythonlike — working to get his pieces into positions that could squeeze opponents into submission.
“This was an astounding challenge. The games are very, very clean. I went through the entire tournament (after it was over), and I’m not being immodest when I say that I did not make a mistake. I drew every game with black — that was part of the plan. And I settled on an approach with the white pieces that worked.”
As the 32nd edition’s champion, Edwards is entitled to take part in the 33rd or the 34th world finals. But the 33rd edition began just two days after he won the 32nd — and Edwards will not be defending his title. “I will tell you that I needed a break,” he says. “One look at my wife’s face convinced me to take a few years off.”
He can still opt to take part in the 34th edition, or enter any future championship as a candidate and earn his way to the finals. In the meantime, he looks forward to doing some of the things he has missed out on in recent times, including traveling. He and Cheryl have plans to go to Amsterdam to receive the engraved silver platter he won as world champion,
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as well as a gold medal he is due to receive as a new grandmaster. If the Olympiad is completed by then, he may pick up his Team U.S.A. medal as well.
Edwards has written 44 books on chess, including The Chess Analyst, and is also a contributor to American Chess Magazine, where he has written about chess technology. He says his publisher has asked him to write a book detailing his world championship victory, for which his working title is World Champion on the First Attempt.
He is also an teacher of chess, having worked with many people over the years, in person and online. Edwards offers private lessons for kids and adults, whether they are just getting started or have taken part in some tournaments and want to get to the next level. He also teaches chess each week as part of the programming at West Windsorbased Hub For Learning, whose motto is “evolve beyond normal abilities.”
One thing that Edwards has not done, but says he would love to cross off of his bucket list, is to serve as the chess coach of the New York Giants. Chess is
booming in popularity right now, whether because of the recent pandemic, because of the popular TV show The Queen’s Gambit, or because of the magnetic personality of world champ Carlsen, and many professional athletes have been bitten by the bug.
“It turns out (linebacker Kayvon) Thibodeaux is an avid chess player,” Edwards says. “All of the relievers on the Boston Red Sox are avid chess players. Becoming a chess coach to these guys would be a dream come true.”
Edwards may not know whether that dream will ever be realized, but one thing he does know is that from now on, he will always be known as a grandmaster and world champion.
“They can’t take the titles away,” he says. “I’m a world champion forever. And that’s pretty neat. They say that over-theboard champions tend to peak in their late 20s or early 30s, but correspondence chess players usually peak in their late 60s. So I’m just peaking now.”
To learn more about chess lessons with Jon Edwards, email hubforlearning@ gmail.com.
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HV Hockey honors veterans in 8th annual Salute to Service
By Tracy Vogler
The Hopewell Valley/Montgomery High School Varsity Ice Hockey Team played its 8th Annual Salute To Service Hockey Game on Jan. 21 to honor local service members. The team has a tradition of service projects, including this game as well as an annual Toy Drive to benefit HomeFront. Each year, the captains present a donation to local veterans group.
After last year’s game, the Hopewell Valley Montgomery 2022 captains Michael Boyer, Joseph Greenspoon and Lucas Gaissert and coach Jeff Radice were in attendance to present $1,000 each to Mark Marotta of the Hopewell Valley Veterans Association and Dmitra Bairaktaris of the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee. The money was in turn was donated to the Menlo Park Veterans Home, where a number of formerly Hopewell Valley veterans currently reside. A portion of the proceeds from this years’ game will similarly benefit local veteran’s organizations.
This year, the Bulldogs played the Roxbury Gaels before a full house at the Tsai Field House at the Lawrenceville School.
Prior to the game, on behalf of the team, Hopewell Township Mayor Michael Ruger welcomed local service members as the team’s guests at the game. Salvatore Torre, US Army, Specialist 4th Class, was spotlighted as the Honored Veteran. His active duty career began in 1963, when he was drafted in the US Army during the Vietnam era.
In October 1963, Torre was one of 45,000 troops who took part in Operation Big Lift, a training exercise that was the biggest airlift operation ever done on a possible central European battlefield. Torre has been a member of the Hopewell Valley American Legion Post 339 since 1965, and was first elected post commander in 1972. He has remained part of the Post’s leadership, and is currently the post-adjutant. In addition, he serves as the Mercer County commander finance officer for the American Legion.
In addition to Torre, the team was joined by Dmitra Bairaktaris, U.S. Army, representing the Montgomery Veterans Memorial Committee; Kenneth J. Baker, U.S. Army, representing the Hopewell Valley Veterans Association; and Peter Rayner, U.S. Navy, representing Hopewell Valley American Legion Post 339.
The team also welcomed the following veterans with personal connections to the team in person: Christopher Beyer, Thomas V. Morici, Marcos Elizondo, Gregory Camilleri, Robert Parr, Luke Benjamin Margraff, Bud Hubert, Daniela
Ciminella-Spera and Gene Porcelli.
In addition to those in attendance, the team honored veterans with connections to the team, as well as the memory of several team members grandfathers who
served our country.
The festivities began with a ceremonial puck drop by Torre for HVM captain Bobby Ruger and the Roxbury captain, Jake Calanni. Hopewell Valley Regional
School District superintendent Rosetta Treece and principal Trish Riley from Hopewell Valley Central High School were on hand to witness.
The colors were presented by members of Pennington Scout Troop 44 and Pack 44. Randy White directed singers from the Hopewell Valley Central High School’s Choral Program in performing the National Anthem.
Once the ceremonies ended, it was time for hockey. The teams battled to a 1-1 tie after one period. Brendan Riewe scored for the Bulldogs, assisted by Ethan Nau and Bobby Ruger. At the end of the period, it was time for Mites on Ice with players from Princeton Youth Hockey.
The Bulldogs led 3-2 after the second period, with goals by Evan Jacob, assisted by Liam Yeoman, and Matthew Greenspoon, assisted by Connor Batcha. It was all Roxbury in the third period. The Gaels scored four unanswered goals, in the third period, leaving the Bulldogs on the short end of the final score of 6-3.
“Hopewell Valley Montgomery Ice Hockey is proud to be able to honor our local heroes through this annual tradition. Win or lose, it’s one small way we can serve our community,” Radice said.
New report addresses new neighborhoods’ impact on schools
David Chait
We will be welcoming new neighbors to Hopewell Township over the next decade and beyond. Three projects are currently under construction: one on Scotch Road, one off Federal City Road near 295, and one near the Pennington Circle.
To to ensure that we are prepared for these new neighbors, the Hopewell Township Committee, along with our partners at the Hopewell Valley School District, funded an independent demographic study. The demographer, chosen by the school district, looked at the potential impacts on our schools, including enrollment drivers, enrollment trends, and most importantly, enrollment projections.
The results of this independent study were shared during a districtwide Zoom on Wednesday, Jan. 11. I joined the Zoom not only in my capacity as a member of the township committee, but also as a district parent, with a daughter at Bear Tavern.
At the meeting, the demographers shared lots of helpful information with residents. Specifically, they provided three sets of projections and recommended using the “medium projections” for guidance.
At a high level, it was shared at the meeting that no new schools in the
only 4.6%, or 171 students, higher than 2013-14 enrollment, the first year of data in the report, and still below 2006-2007 enrollment.
Furthermore, 40% of the coming 10 year growth comes from typical, organic factors like births, and home sales. This means that over the next 10 years, there
district superintendent Rosetta Treece shared that the district is investigating incremental changes needed to prepare such as classroom space, class size and resource utilization. And we are committed to continue working with the district towards potential solutions.
district will be required.
Historically, the schools have seen a decrease in enrollment with PK-12 enrollment decreasing by over 7% during the past 10 years. Current enrollment is more than 500 students below the district’s peak enrollment, which came during the 2006-07 school year.
Intuitively, this decrease provides physical capacity for more students to be absorbed into the district.
In looking at the recommended “medium projections,” the district would see growth of 12.6%, or 431 students, over a period of 10 years, which is through the 2032-33 school year. For context, this is
will be only 250 to 260 new students from new neighbors associated with development to meet the township’s affordable housing mandate.
The district made clear at the meeting that, based on these projections, there will be no need for any additional schools in the district, though renovations and configuration adjustments will be needed to accommodate. Bear Tavern and, to a lesser extent, Stony Brook Elementary will see proportionally larger student population increases and may require additional capacity, such as an addition on Bear Tavern.
Based upon the demographer’s report,
Additionally, with these increases in enrollment taking place over the next 10 or more years, impacts will be incremental for anyone with students already in the district. Nonetheless, all stakeholders are committed to addressing these changes in a timely manner for future students.
I would like to thank Dr. Treece, assistant superintendent Robert Colavita, Board of Education president Anita Williams Galiano, the district, the board, and the independent demographers for the report and for hosting such an informative and open meeting.
The township committee is pleased to help fund the study. We are grateful for our partners in the district, and are always committed to working together.
At a high level, it was shared at the meeting that no new schools in the district will be required.
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