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Omicron wave washes over Mercer
Calcagno honored Senior center renamed to recognize service of retiring councilman EDiTeD BY BiLL SANserViNO
The Robbinsville Township Senior Center, which opened in 1991, was renamed the Vincent J. Calcagno Senior Center last month in honor of the retiring NJLM Hall of Fame Councilman. Calcagno, who has served the former Washington Township and later the Township of Robbinsville with distinction since 1994, presided over his final council meeting on Dec. 16. He officially retired from public service on Dec. 31, when his term ended. On hand for the dedication were fellow members of council, Mayor Dave Fried, Business Administrator Joy Tozzi, Rep. Chris Smith, Calcagno’s wife, Ellie, and more than two dozen township staff members, “I’m speechless,” said Calcagno, a longtime resident of Robbinsville and the longesttenured member of Council. “This is way beyond anything I ever expected or could even fathom. It’s such an honor I can’t even begin to tell you.” Calcagno also was presented with a key to the city, a proclamation from Mayor Fried and a resolution read into the record by Council President Mike Cipriano at the Dec. 16 council meeting. See AROUND TOWN, Page 3
Highly contagious variant results in record number of cases in January BY BiLL SANserViNO
Members of the F3 Princeton fitness group, including Robbinsville resident Harjot Pannu (seated, fourth from right), assemble for a photo.
Group focuses on men’s physical and mental health BY ANGeL OrTiZ
In 2011, a movement began in Charlotte, North Carolina where men could meet up and gather for free scheduled outdoor workouts. In the process, fellowships and friendships were formed as the men were able to not only improve their physical health, but their mental health as well by sharing their struggles with each other. This men’s fitness program became known as F3,
which stands for the three Fs of the program’s name: Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. F3 began spreading from North Carolina, with many chapters being created throughout the United States. The local chapter—F3 Princeton—is looking to attract more men from Mercer County and beyond to join up with them on the group’s overall mission to “plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community
leadership.” The roots for the local chapter were planted when Curtis Hoberman of West Windsor learned about F3 several years ago and thought it sounded like a fantastic program. There was one problem though—there were no F3 groups in New Jersey. Hoberman had decided to check out the nearest F3 workout (which turned out to be in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) after seeing an artiSee F3, Page 10
One of the biggest challenges yet in the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in January with the emergence of the Omicron variant of the virus. Omicron, which quickly displaced Delta as the dominant strain, was much more contagious than previous variants of COVID-19. While Omicron has been found in studies to cause less severe symptoms than previous strains—especially to those who have been vaccinated—it infected significantly more people. The variant also evades immunity from vaccinations and past infections. “The numbers we’re seeing today blow anything we have seen since the start of the pandemic out of the water,” said Gov. Phil Murphy during his first briefing on the pandemic of 2022 on Jan. 3. Later in the month, the governor said that an “Omicron tsunami” was washing over the state, referring to the massive numbers of people testing positive for COVID-19. See OMICRON, Page 9
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