Mt Olive Life March 2024

BY CHERYL CONWAY STAFF WRITER

I believe in justice; I want to explore the universe; I want to fly; I want to do something no one else has ever done; I believe girls can do anything; I want to change the world; I am going to make history”- History.com

Observed annually every March in the United States since 1987, Women’s History Month celebrates women’s contributions to history, culture and society. While women have been doing amazing things since the beginning of time, their contributions over the years are oftentimes overlooked.

International Women’s Day traces back to March 1911 when many countries around the world began celebrating the holiday with initiatives, demonstrations and customs. Since 1975, the United Nations has sponsored International Women’s Day.

Every year, the National Women’s History Alliance focuses on a different theme to recognize Women’s History Month. The theme for 2024 celebrates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.”

“Mt. Olive Life” is celebrating the women who live

in its borders. Like the women throughout the world, Mt. Olive women come in all shapes and sizes when it comes to their accomplishments and contributions both locally and afar. There really are so many local women to spotlight, much too many to fit on these pages. Some turned down the opportunity as they chose to stay in the shadows and not brag, but this clearly is far from the case. This is a platform to share all that the women have accomplished, both big and small, and that really is what March Women’s History is all about.

Dr. Jennifer Argenziano, 43, of Flanders since 2008, also works in town as a dentist. She purchased her own office in 2021 when she was seven months pregnant with her eldest son, Gavin, who is now 11.A mother of two, she and her husband have a second son, Ethan, 9.

“Aside from being a wife and a mother, my greatest accomplishment has been providing comprehensive dental care to the families and residents of Mt. Olive,” says Argenziano.

“And maybe also purchasing and building out an office space five years ago as my own general contractor.”

Looking toward her future goals, Argenziano plans “to continue to grow my patient centered practice along with raising civic minded children.”

When she is not working, Argenziano takes time out as a room mom for her boys’ class-

Dr. Jennifer Argenziano and family rooms and hospitality chair for their Cub Scout troop; and some “me time” with pilates and reading.

“I believe the busier you are the more you can accomplish,” says Argenziano. “I rarely turn down an opportunity to volunteer or be a sponsor in the community. I want my boys to learn service to their community by example.”

A life-long resident of Flanders, Aimee Ashley Myers, 47, is co-owner and retail and social media manager for Ashley Farms in Flanders. She didn’t have to search far and wide when she was contemplating what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“I grew up on the farm, started working when I was 13 and became manager right out of college,” shares Myers. “I have been partners with my dad and brother for many years now.”

A mother of two teenage boys, Myers is involved with

the Flanders PTA, serving as president for two years and volunteering at her boys’ schools. She is also “very involved” in some local agriculture boards.

She says her greatest accomplishments so far, “other than raising my family in the town that I love dearly,” has been “continuing the legacy my grandparents started on our family farm 75 years ago. There is nothing I am more proud of than my family and our business. The fact that we are now a fourth-generation business and that my kids also help out here and are able to grow up on a farm is all I could ask for.”

She plans “to continue to advocate for our children, help out where I can, and remind people of the importance of agriculture to our town, state, country and world.”

Outside of her work, Myers shares “I love to read, I love my dogs, we are a big Disney fam-

Mayor Embraces Diversity with New Initiative

MOUNT OLIVE - An initiative is underway to promote awareness of the diverse cultures and holidays celebrated within the Mt. Olive community.

Established by Mt. Olive Twp. Mayor Joe Nicastro, the cultural awareness initiative aims to provide a mutual understanding and appreciation of all the cultures in town. A committee was being formed in February by local volunteers to collaborate and share ideas

on how to cultivate the mayor’s program.

Some of the key highlights will be diverse programming, interactive workshops and celebrating holidays in Mt. Olive.

“I’ve always been fascinated by various cultures and their customs, relishing the opportunity to delve into the significance behind diverse traditions,” explains Nicastro. “In Mt. Olive, our community has evolved into a rich tapestry of

backgrounds, cultures, traditions, and beliefs. My aim is to introduce these facets to all residents, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation.

“I firmly believe that embracing diversity isn’t just morally imperative but also pivotal for our community’s strength,” he adds. “By acknowledging and celebrating our differences, we pave the way for a more inclusive and cohesive society, one that values the unique con-

Employee Recognition

tributions of each individual.”

Nicastro was seeking volunteers from diverse backgrounds to collaborate in documenting the holidays they celebrate and their underlying meanings.

“We’re eager to explore the traditions and special foods associated with these celebrations,” he says. “I believe it could foster community cohesion and appreciation for the

PLEASE

Mt. Olive Women Celebrated During Women’s History Month

ily and otherwise, I just like to spend time with my family.”

She offers some advice to her peers: “Just take the leap, be willing to help and learn. Make connections with other women, we have so much to learn from each other.”

As a mother of six, Michele Hildebrant, 57 of Hackettstown had a full plate, but when her husband died, she had to step up to the plate and do that much more!

A local resident for the past 31 years, Hildebrant is the owner of RH Farms in Hackettstown.

“Up until 2012, I was busy raising my six children; unfor-

tunately, my husband passed away and I became a business owner!” she says. “I had to learn everything there was about owning a business and running a vegetable farm. Boy, there was a lot to learn.

“My children were still relatively young, but they assured me they wanted to keep working the farm,” she continues. “We faced lots of obstacles from money woes to not knowing how to farm. But through our faith in God and hard work, we are still here today!”

She has four daughters and two sons, and three of them

Budd Lake Restoration Approval

BY CHERYL CONWAY STAFF WRITER

MOUNT OLIVE - Budd Lake may be still frozen but monies to improve the watershed and protecting the local lake are in full defrost after recent state approval.

The Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Watershed Protection and Restoration, Bureau of Watershed Management Division completed its review of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Plan for Budd Lake on Dec. 6, 2023.

Mt. Olive Twp. Business Administrator Andrew Tatarenko shared the news of the DEP’s approval at the last Mt. Olive Twp. Council meeting held Feb. 6.

“I want to thank Raritan Headwaters and Rutgers for their lead on this project along with all the professionals and volunteers who participated in the numerous meetings, calls and site visits,” says Tatarenko. “The township is committed to protecting the watershed and protecting Budd Lake.”

The plan prepared by the Raritan Headwaters Association “compiles a comprehen-

sive watershed characterization and watershed restoration and protection plan with emphasis on stormwater management to address water quality for Budd Lake.

Tatarenko says “there are no immediate timelines for the projects to be completed as significant funding is required.”

During the meeting, Tatarenko shares there are $10 million worth of projects in the future horizon to improve Budd Lakr.

“The township has already applied for over $500k through the Federal Community Funding Project to start to improve the storm drain inlets along municipal roadways and stormwater Manufactured Treatment Devices (MTD) along Route 46 which is considered green infrastructure,” he says.

“In addition, as part of our Budd Lake Redevelopment project, green infrastructure will be installed within the parking lot areas to help reduce the amount of pollutants entering the lake,” he adds. I hope to hear back about the grant this year.”

Aimee Ashley Myers Michele Hildebrant

PLEASE SEE WOMEN’S HISTORY, PAGE 8

On February 6, a presentation to recognize some of our town employees for their years of service. In the photo, from left to right: Andrew Tatarenko (Business Administrator), Brian Braikovich (25 years), Ron Criscuolo (5 years), Dillon Nagy (5 years), and Colin Berg (10 years) along with Mayor Nicastro. Unfortunately, Michele Doucette (10 years) and Scott Price (25 years) were unable to attend the event.

tistry would be impossible with out dental x-rays. This article hopefully will provide the reader with lots of interesting tidbits regarding this technology.

Most dental offices now utilize digital xrays, although traditionally developed xrays still exist. While both methods still require exposure to ionizing

equation helps to put any amount of dental radiation into perspective. Once a year most patients will get four “bitewing” checkup films at their dentist. If these films are not digital, that is about 0.038mSv (mSv stands for millisevert: a measurement of radiation). If they are digital, that number drops to about 0.02mSv. Compare that to 3.0mSv, which is the amount of natural radiation a person in the U.S. is exposed to annually, or 0.04mSv, which is the amount of radiation you are exposed to on a cross-country 7-hour flight in the U.S. In other words, the

amount of dental radiation you are exposed to in a dental office is very minimal.

There are some patients who still refuse dental xrays due to concerns about radiation exposure. This is their right. However, just understand your dentist will be unable to detect issues such as cavities between teeth or infections around the roots. The ability to detect periodontal (gum) disease is also compromised. Certain cancers or bone diseases are also detected on films: this opportunity will be missed. Refusal of dental x-rays is not a smart move in your overall health. Dentists also follow a rule called ALARA: this stands for As Low As Reasonable Achievable.” This means we make efforts to limit your exposure to radiation that does not have a direct benefit to you. We do this by considering if the xray would even have a benefit to you, the amount of time regarding the exposure, the distance of that exposure, and shielding (lead aprons around your chest and thyroid).

Regarding lead shields, there are new opinions from radiologists and medical physicists the need for shields doesn’t exist

anymore. Between the use of digital xrays with 80% to 90% less radiation, and decreased scatter of the radiation beams from collimation, protective lead aprons simply aren’t necessary. Time will tell where this topic goes.

Some offices utilize CBCT, which stands for Cone Beam Computerized Tomography: this is an in-office CT scanner.

A CT scanner is a type of x-ray machine. I wouldn’t be able to function without this machine due to the amount of dental implant and regenerative procedures we perform. This unit provides us with a 3-D image of a person’s jaws. We are able to evaluate if there is enough

AREA - Senator Parker Space, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, and Assemblyman Michael Inganamort (all R-Sussex, Morris, Warren) today voiced their strong opposition to Senate Bill 2421 and Assembly Bill 3446.

The new legislation gives an “affirmative defense to a prosecution” for distributing obscene material to minors if the person distributing the obscene material is a teacher, teaching staff member, school librarian, or staff member of a public library performing their job duties.

“This bill is nothing more than big government mandating an ideological agenda into our schools,” said Space, who is both a parent and grandparent, served for over 10 years in the Assembly before his election to the Senate last year. “We should respect parents and local school officials enough for them to decide what is appropriate when deciding what educational materials should be available to

students. Period.” The bill includes eight new mandates that strip School Boards of their decision-making power in favor of the State government.

“First and foremost, this legislation is an affront to parents and taxpayers by usurping more control away from local education and giving it to faceless bureaucrats in Trenton,” said Fantasia, a professional educator and mother of three adult children. “Provisions in the bill silence the public into submission and handcuff local school boards by the special legal protection afforded certain educators and librarians if they decide to keep obscene material on bookshelves.”

Since the shutdowns of our public schools due to the pandemic, concerned parents have been advocating for more transparency and more oversight in what educational materials are being disseminated to their chil-

Mayor Embraces...

mittee to meet at the municipal building during evening hours.

dren. This has sparked statewide outrage at the severe inappropriateness of some of the curriculum and material being used in our schools and libraries.

“There is no place for obscene, sexually-explicit material in classrooms, no matter who is distributing it,” said Inganamort, a father of three. “Let’s also remember that most teachers and librarians don’t want to be put in this position in the first place. We’ll strongly oppose this legislation to protect our kids, first and foremost, and to defend the integrity of the teaching profession, too.”

S2421 and A3446 have been referred to the respective Education Committees in the Senate and General Assembly. Although no further legislative action has been taken to date, the legislators expressed their vigilance in keeping on top of this issue to fight for the interests of parents and their community.

bone to accept dental implants, and we can import this data with surface scans of a person’s teeth to design computer-generated guides for highly accurate implant placement. Again, not all offices have CBCT scanners and they don’t necessarily need them: our hands would be tied without it.

Dental x-rays: an important tool to any dental office, and an important tool for the benefit of our patient’s care. Need to know more? Please inquire! About the author: Dr. Ira Goldberg is a distinguished dentist within the community. He has been providing both general dentistry & implant dentistry services for 28 years. He

is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, and a Scholar of the Dawson Academy of Comprehensive Dentistry. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Implantology / Implant Dentistry, a Diplomate of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. He performs all phases of implant dentistry at his office in Succasunna, NJ. He lectures to dentists in the field of implantology. For a free consultation, including a free 3-D scan (if necessary), please call his office at 973328-1225 or visit his website at www.MorrisCountyDentist. com

For the committee, Nicastro is seeking individuals from different nationalities of varying ages who can share insights about their respective beliefs and holidays.

He anticipates hosting two to four workshops for the com-

“The aim is for volunteers to document the history, significance, customs, traditions, and cuisine of the holidays they observe,” explains Nicastro.

“The venues are yet to be decided, but envisioning events such as “Holidays of the World” in our parks,

showcasing the various cultural celebrations,” he says. As far as cost for these programs, Nicastro says “there’s currently no designated budget for this initiative.” For further details about this initiative, or to join the committee, reach out to Lisa Brett, mayor’s assistant, at lbrett@ mtolivetwp.org.

Dr. Goldberg is a leading expert on dental implants. He is a

of the American Board of Oral Implantology/Implant Dentistry, which is a degree held by only 1% of dentists worldwide. Whether you require a single implant or complex full-mouth rehabilitation, a free consultation with Dr. Goldberg should be considered.

General & Cosmetic Dentistry

Dr. Goldberg treats entire families, from toddlers to seniors. Services include cleanings, check-ups, fillings, Invisalign, dentures, cosmetics, and more! He and his staff enjoy the long-term relationships they build with their patients.

By Michael Lalama, DC

While a

simple question such as “what is chiropractic?” should yield a consistent answer, the fact is, as a profession, chiropractic is commonly interpreted at the practitioner level. That is to say that every practicing chiropractor can have a different answer to this question. If practitioners can have different definitions of chiropractic, where does that leave those who are outside of or are unfamiliar with chiropractic? And if chiropractors themselves can’t even agree on what chiropractic is, then how can they educate others on chiropractic?

First, it is important to show that there is a widely accepted definition of chiropractic outlined by The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) which defines chiropractic as “a health care profession that focuses on disorders of the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system, and the effects of these disorders on general health.” This is a great start, especially in presenting the goal and approach of chiropractic; however, this definition does not include the terms “adjustment” and/or “subluxation.”

That is most likely why there is no divisiveness around the ACAs definition, because these two terms tend to mean different things to different providers.

In a general sense, the purpose of a chiropractic adjustment is to correct a subluxation.

A subluxation in chiropractic has historically referred to a “bone-out-of-place,” most commonly found in the spine, that negatively influences the function of the nervous system. In this example, an adjustment puts the bone back into its correct place or re-aligns the spine, but most importantly improves the function of the nervous system. However, the term subluxation has been debated since its conception. More recently, multiple models of subluxation have evolved from this traditional “bone-out-of-place” thinking to align more with joint dysfunction and/or lack of proper motion.

Whatever way individual chiropractors define subluxation, the common factor is its disruption of the neuromusculoskeletal system. Neuromusculoskeletal changes are evident in conditions like lumbosacral radiculopathy – otherwise known as sciatica – where patients can experience dull/achy or burning pain, numbness and tingling traveling into the buttock and/ or leg, and in extreme cases, it can cause loss of sensation and muscle weakness/dysfunction. It is mostly associated with a disc herniation, in which part of the intervertebral disc located between the bones of the spine

What is Chiropractic?

protrudes further than normal and puts pressure on a nerve where it exits the spine. However, similar symptoms can occur without a disc herniation and can be caused by lack of proper motion in the bones of the spine.

Restoring proper motion in the region through a chiropractic adjustment can help to relieve the pressure on the nerve and alleviate symptoms. This has been demonstrated for years by clinicians as well as research studies aimed at assessing the effectiveness of chiropractic. While the chiropractic adjustment does not improve symptoms for every patient, similar to any other type of medical intervention, chiropractic care seems to provide relief for musculoskeletal conditions involving the spine and extremities for many patients. Since we have outlined how the chiropractic adjustment can reduce nerve interference in conditions such as sciatica, is it possible that other nerve interference exists that effects different parts of the body?

Most of the neuromusculoskeletal complaints effectively treated by chiropractors effect the somatic nervous system –this is the part that we have conscious control over, like moving our arms and legs. When dysfunction of the somatic nervous system is present, many find improvement following chiropractic care (e.g., reduced pain,

Greenbaum’s Leadership Spotlighted in Mt. Olive

BY CHERYL CONWAY STAFF WRITER

MOUNT OLIVE - Former Mt. Olive Twp. Mayor Rob Greenbaum was lauded at the last Mt. Olive Twp. Council meeting for his dedication and civil leadership for the past dozen years.

Township officials shared his proclamation and awarded him with a plaque at the January 23 council meeting. Greenbaum served as mayor from November 2011 through December 2023 when he was elected consecutively to three four year terms.

Newly elected Mayor Joe Nicastro read his proclamation at the meeting and thanked him for his leadership.

Nicastro called Greenbaum his best friend and “a good mentor for me from the beginning. I hope I can follow in your steps and do just as well as you.”

Mt. Olive Twp. Business Administrator Andrew Tatarenko thanked him for all of the hard work he had done over the years and for the opportunity of working for him for the past six plus years.

“I learned a lot under your leadership,” said Tatarenko.

According to the proclamation, Greenbaum was born in New City, New York, and attended the State University of

New York at Oneonta for his undergraduate degree and Cardoza Law School for his law degree.

He moved to Mt. Olive Twp. in 1997 with his former wife, Beth, and they raised three children Sydney, Jackie and Halle. He was elected president of the Flanders Crossing Homeowners Association in 1998; councilman of the Mt. Olive Twp. Council in 2001, and again in 2005 and 2009, during that ten-year period serving on the Planning Board, Environmental Commission and as council president for numerous successive appointments.

He was first elected as Mt. Olive Twp. mayor in November 2011 and again in 2015 and 2019. During his tenure, Greenbaum has made major contributions for the benefit of local residents including, infrastructure, communication, and creating a sense of community.

While serving 22 years as an elected official, Greenbaum had to deal with difficult community issues, the Paramus bus crash, the October 2011 Halloween Nor’easter, Superstorm Sandy, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has also shown his ded-

ication to the businesses in Mt. Olive by traveling to sister city Carpegna, Italy, to strengthen relations with Fratelli Beretta, a Mt. Olive Township based business, as well participating in numerous grand openings.

“Through it all, Robert has been there for the community, has shed many tears regarding the loss and hardships Mt. Olive Twp. has suffered, as well as celebrated the many achievements and milestones such as the 150th Anniversary of Mt. Olive Township, creating a renowned recreational facility at Turkey Brook Park, being fiscally responsible and making Mt. Olive Township a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

PLEASE SEE GREENBAUM, PAGE 5

reduced numbness/tingling, improved function, etc.). However, this is not the only division of our nervous system. The autonomic nervous system, which is not under our conscious control, is the part that controls our organs and other processes, such as digestion. Since all of your nerves that control both divisions of the nervous system exit through your spine, there is a possibility that the autonomic nervous system can also be

positively influenced by a chiropractic adjustment. It is important to note that while many case studies have shown improvement in non-musculoskeletal complaints after a chiropractic adjustment, it has not been demonstrated in large population studies. This ultimately means that it is hard to determine, for certain, if the chiropractic adjustment directly influenced these symptoms. It is possible that improving the

function of the musculoskeletal system through chiropractic care can lead to other positive changes. Most of the time, if you can get relief from your pain and improve function, you will have a better quality of life! It is always important to consult a licensed healthcare professional to see which treatment options are right for you. To learn more, visit FunctionalChiropracticNJ.com.

Harnessing the Power of Your Biological Clock

port lung function and emotional well-being during this time.

walk can support bladder function and energy levels.

corresponding to a different organ system and its associated energy meridian. Living in sync with this natural schedule is believed to promote optimal health and well-being. Here’s a breakdown of the TCM biological clock and its benefits:

11 pm - 1 am (Gallbladder)

This is the time for the body to detoxify and repair tissues. Going to bed before 11 pm allows the body to fully engage in these crucial processes, supporting overall health and vitality.

1 am- 3 am (Liver)

The liver is active during this time, aiding in blood purification and the processing of emotions. Waking up during this period may indicate unresolved emotional issues or an overactive liver, suggesting the need for emotional and dietary adjustments.

3 am - 5 am (Lungs)

The lungs are associated with grief and sadness. Deep breathing exercises or meditation before bed can help sup-

5 am - 7 am (Large Intestine)

This is the time for the body to eliminate waste. Drinking water and eating fiber-rich foods can help support this process and promote regular bowel movements.

7am - 9 am (Stomach)

Breakfast is important during this time to nourish the body and support digestion. Eating a healthy breakfast can help set the tone for the day and prevent energy dips later on.

9 am - 11 am (Spleen/Pancreas)

The spleen and pancreas are active during this time, aiding in digestion and energy production. Eating a light, nutritious meal and engaging in gentle exercise can support these organs’ functions.

11 am - 1 pm (Heart)

The heart is at its peak during this time, making it ideal for engaging in activities that nourish the heart, such as spending time with loved ones or engaging in calming activities like meditation.

1 pm - 3 pm (Small Intestine)

The small intestine is active in the afternoon, aiding in the absorption of nutrients. Eating a balanced lunch and avoiding heavy meals can support optimal digestion during this time.

3 pm - 5 pm (Bladder)

This is the time for the body to eliminate waste and toxins. Drinking plenty of water and taking short breaks to stretch or

Greenbaum’s...

FROM PAGE 4

“Robert has helped more residents with personal issues than can be recounted,” it continues. Greenbaum has previously been recognized and received awards from the State of New Jersey, the New Jersey League of Municipalities, the Twp. of Mt. Olive, the athletic programs and civic organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey and

Morris County Municipal Action to Curb Hunger.

“Robert is being recognized for his tireless efforts, outstanding vision, and dedication to Mt. Olive Township.”

Greenbaum, who currently lives in Mt. Olive with his longtime girlfriend Kelly Hyde, was honored for the spotlight.

“I do appreciate the recognition,” said Greenbaum at the council meeting. “It’s been a

5 pm - 7 pm (Kidneys)

The kidneys are active in the early evening, supporting hydration and hormone balance. Drinking herbal teas or warm water can help support kidney function during this time.

7 pm - 9 pm (Pericardium)

The pericardium, or heart protector, is active in the evening, supporting emotional balance and relaxation. Engaging in calming activities and winding down before bed can support pericardium function.

9 pm - 11 pm (Triple Burner)

The triple burner, which regulates metabolism and temperature, is active before bedtime. Engaging in relaxing activities and avoiding stimulating substances can support restful sleep during this time. Living in sync with the TCM biological clock involves aligning daily activities, such as eating, sleeping, and exercise, with the natural rhythms of the body. This can promote better digestion, improved sleep, balanced emotions, and overall vitality. While it may not always be possible to adhere strictly to this schedule, being mindful of these natural rhythms and making small adjustments can help support optimal health and well-being. In addition, if there is an imbalance disrupting this natural rhythm, Acupuncture can help! For more information, call Mount Olive Acupunctute and Wellness 973-527-7978.

great honor to serve this township for 22 years plus, and to live here and watch all of us work together to create a sense of community, recreational facilities that are second to none and work for the betterment of all of our residents.

“I look forward to great success of this administration and governing body in years to come,” he concluded.

Celebrating Women’s History Month: A Tribute to Women’s Contributions Throughout the Ages

is a time to honor and celebrate the countless achievements and contributions of women throughout history. This annual observance, which takes place in March, serves as a reminder of the remarkable women who have shaped our world and inspired future generations. The origins of Women’s History Month can be traced back to the early 20th century when International Women’s

Day was first observed in 1909. Inspired by labor movements and activism, this day aimed to highlight the social, economic, and political achievements of women. Over the years, the observance of International Women’s Day spread globally, gaining momentum and recognition.

In the United States, the push for a designated month to honor women’s history gained traction in the 1970s during the height of the feminist move-

ment. In 1978, a school district in Sonoma, California, organized a week-long celebration of women’s contributions, which soon spread to other communities across the country. Encouraged by this grassroots movement, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8th as National Women’s History Week in 1980.

The momentum continued to build, and in 1987, Congress

Vision Source Celebrates a Decade of Eyecare in Mt. Olive

BY CHERYL CONWAY STAFF WRITER

lege of Optometry.

Established in March 2013, Vision Source of Mt. Olive spent the past year ringing in its 10th anniversary. With advancement in technology, the practice offers the best in terms of care and treatment of the eye.

“We believe LIFE IS ALL ABOUT YOUR VISION and we stand behind this,” says Dr. Michael Siegel of Budd Lake.

“We cannot believe that we just celebrated our 10-year anniversary here in Mt. Olive,” he adds. “It has been extremely gratifying to be able to care for not only our patients, but many are friends, family, neighbors and people we have come to know and their families. We know we have made a difference in our patients lives by giving them the ability to see the best they can and give them the best eye care possible.”

Vision Source of Mt. Olive sees patients from infants to geriatrics. It offers comprehensive eye examinations, contact lens fittings and new fits including specialty contacts. It also provides medical eye care ranging from pink eye, foreign body in the eye, red eyes to cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

“Most patients don’t know that a routine eye examination is necessary for eye health

yearly,” says Dr. Siegel. “Just like a yearly dental check-up or PCP physical – a yearly eye exam helps make sure vision is good and eye health is normal. Many systemic conditions can be seen in the eyes even if there are no vision changes.”

In 2022, Dr. Siegel opened a Dry Eye Clinic at his practice featuring the Lumenis Optilight IPL – the only IPL that is FDA approved for dry eye. This device uses light therapy to improve the signs of dry eye disease due to Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. He also now offers the Optiplus – a heat treatment using FDA approved dual-frequency RF technology to improve dry eye symptoms and provide aesthetic effects to the face and eyelids.

“These two devices not only will help those with dry eye disease, but also tighten collagen and remove lines and wrinkles around the face and eyelid margins,” he shares.

Vision Source of Mt. Olive also displays an optical boutique on its premises offering more than 500 frames to choose from including many of the top designer lines like Coach, Michael Kors, Ray-Ban, Tory Burch, Line Art, OVVO, Emporio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Vogue, Kate Spade, Swarovski, Vera Bradley and many more!

Voted “Best Kids Doc” by NJ Family Magazine for the past 10 years, Dr. Siegel’s professional experience traces back to 1991, the same year he received his Doctor of Optometry degree from SUNY Col-

He originally had his eyes set on a different medical path as he graduated James Madison University in 1987 with a degree in Biology/Pre-Med.

“I had planned on becoming a pediatrician or go into OB/ GYN, however, I realized that most of my work in my biology classes all centered around color deficiency which I have,” he explains. “So, I started looking into what an eye doctor does and it was obvious that was the path to choose.”

Dr. Siegel previously had a partnership practice in Ledgewood for almost nine years.

“A change was necessary as the practice was growing, however, my partner wanted to continue to decrease his hours,” explains Dr. Siegel. “It became obvious that the partnership was failing, and I decided to open up a brand-new practice in my home town so we could give patients the care they deserved.”

Opening up his own practice in the town in which he lives worked out perfectly.

He and his wife Jan. moved to Mt. Olive in 1997, where they raised their two children.

“Most of our patients reside in Mt. Olive and the surrounding towns including Hackettstown, Netcong/Hopatcong and even many from Roxbury and Randolph,” he says. “Many patients continue to come to the new office here in Budd Lake.”

He senses that his great staff has really been the heart of his

PLEASE SEE VISION SOURCE, PAGE 7

passed a resolution designating March as Women’s History Month. Since then, Women’s History Month has been a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements of women in all fields, including politics, science, literature, art, and beyond.

Throughout history, women have made significant strides in the face of adversity and discrimination. From trailblazers like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who fought tirelessly for women’s suffrage, to Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus sparked the Civil Rights Movement, women have been at the forefront of social change.

In science and technology, women have also left an indelible mark. Figures like Marie

Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, shattered glass ceilings and paved the way for future generations of women in STEM fields.

Literature and the arts have also been enriched by the contributions of women. From the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou to the novels of Jane Austen and Toni Morrison, women writers have captivated audiences and challenged societal norms with their words.

In recent decades, Women’s History Month has expanded to recognize the achievements of women from diverse backgrounds, including women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities. This inclusive approach reflects the

intersectional nature of feminism and acknowledges the unique challenges faced by different groups of women.

Today, Women’s History Month is celebrated with events and activities that highlight the achievements of women past and present. From panel discussions and lectures to art exhibitions and film screenings, there are countless opportunities to learn about and honor the contributions of women in all aspects of society.

As we commemorate Women’s History Month, let us not only celebrate the achievements of the past but also recommit ourselves to the ongoing fight for gender equality. By honoring the past and uplifting the voices of women today, we can create a more equitable and just future for all.

Sharon Caruso is Once Again the Number 1 Agent for Closed Transactions for Mt Olive in 2023!

Sharon has also won numerous awards throughout the industry including Chairman’s Award for RE/MAX and in 2023 being awarded the highest level for the New Jersey Association of Realtors Circle of Excellence; the Platinum Level. Caruso has also been noted as NJ Magazie’s 5 star award and continues to strive for excellence, year after year.

Sharon and her husband, Mark, makes it a point to stay very involved with the community and lending a hand to numerous organizations. Giving of their time and efforts ranks very high on their list. Whether through their children’s orga-

Vision Source...

FROM PAGE 6

successful practice.

“We have a fantastic, caring and energetic staff that really is an extension of myself,” he says proudly. “They are great and go out of their way to help our patients and give the best care possible. Courtney and Nola are our opticians, and they will make sure every frame you find will be perfect for your prescription and your face! Tihany and Lauren are the best para-optometric technicians, and their caring demeanor will make you have an enjoyable experience. Tina, Juliet, Julia

and Stephanie handle all of our reception and billing/insurance and will make sure your plans cover the most they can do.” With his work and home life all in the same great town, Mt. Olive is his place to be. “Mt. Olive is a great place to raise a family and the people here are incredible,” says Dr. Siegel. “We have wonderful businesses in town, especially all the bagel places and many other restaurants and places to shop! We are grateful that we have been able to support the recreation department with the Pirate and Fairy Festivals as

nizations that need assistance, they make it a point to give back to the community that they are all involved with. She has volunteered and participated with St. Jude’s Church, Northern Elite Gymnastics, Theater Dance, Mount Olive cheerleading, Mount Olive PTA, the Mount Olive food pantry, Mount Olive Baseball, Mount Olive FOP supporter, supporter of the Budd Lake Fire Department, Mount Olive Recreation and works with the Morris County Foster Parent program in their home.

Born and raised in Garfield, NJ, Sharon and her husband have been residents of Mount

Olive for over 34 years where they raised their family. Prior to her successful career, Sharon was a court stenographer for 20 years in the Bergen County Courthouse where her business degree served her well.

Sharon’s daughter, Patricia, works alongside of her Mom as part of the Sharon Caruso Team. Patricia is also a resident of Mount Olive, along with her husband, Chris, and their two children.

“Sharon works hard day after day and her attention to detail is imperative to her success. Her sense of humor and willingness to help is admired by clients, the community and her peers in

well as many other town endeavors. We collect old eyeglasses and bring them to the Lion’s Club so they can use them for the needy.”

Located at 135 U.S. 46, unit E, in Budd Lake, Vision Source

of Mt. Olive is open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Monday; 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday; 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, and 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. two Saturdays per month.

the market. She will stop what she is doing to help anyone who needs it:, says Janen Ardia Broker of RE/MAX Heritage Properties. “And no matter what the day brings her, she is full of laughter and encouragement to everyone she meets”.

Caruso also has several professional designations including the Accredited Buyers’ Representative (ABR), the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE), Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource (SFR) and Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES).

When asked what she enjoys most about her career and success Caruso states, “I love what

I do, the people I meet and I most enjoy being a part of their lives on such an important decision, whether buying or selling. I am grateful that so many have entrusted me with their real estate endeavors and I am very appreciative for the referrals that they send to me. I am very blessed to work in an industry that I enjoy so much”. Sharon Caruso can be reached at RE/MAX Heritage Properties at 973-598-1700 or via her cell at 973-945-8142, Patti’s cell 908-227-2247 or via email at sharoncaruso@optonline.net

For more information, visit www.VisionSourceMtOlive. com or email info@visionsourcemtolive.com

“We generally work on appointment only, however, call

us first and we might be able to see you the same day,” he concludes. “We do see our emergency medical eye care office visits the same day.”

Friends of the Mount Olive Public Library Recognized

Patricia Fastert – Co-Vice President, Camille Barrett – Secretary, and Geri Lorito – Treasurer). A second plaque thanking the Friends for their generous gift towards the renovation of the Quiet Study Room was also presented and will be displayed outside of the study room.

when I say ‘we really love our friends!’ After almost folding during the Covid shutdown, the FRIENDS of MOPL remerged stronger than before helping to raise more than $10,000 in 2023 alone! They are a great group, and we just wanted to officially acknowledge and thank them. ”

In 2023, The Friends of the M.O. Library generously provided funding in the amount of $10,166 which supported our adult and children’s summer reading programs, the museum passes for the community’s use, Holiday programs, as well as new window treatments for the Quiet Study Room. These monies were generated from their book sales throughout the year, membership dues, donations, and various fund-raising events.

From Mauro Magarelli, Director of the Mt. Olive Library, “I speak for myself, the library staff and the Board of Trustees

Thank you for all of your hard work – it is greatly appreciated by the library and community!

MOUNT OLIVE - On Wednesday, February 7, the Mount Olive Public Library formally recognized the hard work, support, and dedication of the Friends of the Mount Olive Public Library with a plaque that will be displayed in the vestibule of the library. The plaque also states the officers for 2022-2023 (Sheila Stewart – President, Janis Nilsen – Co-Vice President,

From left to right: Marion Fleischner - Board Secretary, Drew Van Dam - Board Vice President, Mauro MagarelliLibrary Director, Sheila Stewart - Friends President, Janis Nilsen - Friends Co-Vice President, Pat Fastert - Friends Co-Vice President, Camille Barrett - Friends Secretary, Geri Lorito - Friends Treasurer, Dr. Sumit BangiaSuperintendent of Schools, Carole Posner - Friends Member, Carol Biunno - Friends Member , and Gail Dicicco - Friends Member .

are

“Raising six great kids” has been her greatest accomplishment. “I want to be clear about this! They have done more to keep this farm going than I ever could! With out them there would be no farm. I’m in constant awe of them!”

As far as future goals, she plans to keep running RH FARMS.

“We recently started doing wedding florals and we are starting to grow more and more flowers,” she says. “We want to help our community in any way we can. They have supported us through thick and thin. We have the best community around!”

When she is not working, Hildebrant enjoys “gardening, antiques and of course having fun with my grandchildren.”

Her advice to other women is to “Find what you love to do. Stick with it. You’ll have good days and bad days. But when you look back the good will always outweigh the bad. Don’t be afraid of change. It’s good. Pray and have faith; you’re gonna make it!”

Councilwoman Mary Lalama, 62, of Budd Lake likes to mix things up and the more hats she wears, the more this woman accomplishes!

As a resident of Mt. Olive for the past 20 years, she spent 18 years in Flanders and now the last two in Budd Lake. She raised three children, two step-children and currently babysits for her three grandchildren.

Lalama co-owns with her husband, Mayor Joe Nicastro, not just one business but two businesses: My Life Publications, as a graphic artist, which publishes the Mt. Olive Life newspaper; and Hackettstown Bagels.

When she is not working, Lalama has been volunteering for years.

“When we first moved to Mt. Olive, I volunteered at my son’s schools as class parent, and later on when he was in

high school I was an officer in the PTA for three years; I also helped with the MO Marching Band.”

She then took it upon herself to start two initiatives to help the community.

“I started a toy drive about 10 years ago which has now evolved into the “Sponsor A Child/Family Program for the Holidays.” I work in conjunction with the middle school guidance office and many residents in town getting gifts to children in Mt. Olive thus making their holidays special.”

Seven years ago, “I started and still do a free Thanksgiving dinner for residents who are less fortunate and those that will be alone on the holiday. This past year we delivered (with the help of many volunteers including the Flanders Fire & EMS squads) about 178 meals on Wednesday night and served about 45 meals on Thanksgiving.” This is her first term elected to serve on the Mt. Olive Council “where I can do more outreach programs. In the future I would like to implement other programs to help our residents.”

One idea of Lalama’s is to form a Senior Citizen Connection Group.

“I come across so many seniors that live in town who are alone and have no one to talk to,” she describes. “They just want to talk to someone. I want to be able to have someone check in on them” and take time to talk and listen to them. “We can learn so much from our seniors.”

Lalama takes time for herself by spending time with her children, grandchildren and unwinding in Cape May.

She follows her own advice:

“Family is most important, but there is always time to be kind and give back even if it’s just a few hours or one day a year.”

Jen Aquino, 52, of Hackettstown for the past 17 years, busies herself as a mom of her middle school-aged daughter, a volunteer and outside administrator for the Morris School District observing and evaluat-

ing teachers. For the past three years, she has been elected to serve on the Mt. Olive Board of Education and is a former member of the Recreation Advisory Committee.

“I’m proud to serve on the Mt. Olive Board of Education and enjoy working on personnel and curriculum/technology committees,” she says.

Some of her key accomplishments while serving on the BOE include: Building strong relationships with parents, community members, and local organizations that foster a supportive educational environment and collaboration that benefit students; also, implementing initiatives that lead to improved academic outcomes, increased graduation rates and higher levels of student success.

“My future goal is to ensure we don’t get complacent as a top-notch school district,” says Aquino. “There is always room for improvement. It’s important to bring together people from different points of view to be effective in this district. The best districts pull together a tapestry of points of view to build a strong, inclusive district even if we don’t always agree.”

As busy as she has been as a volunteer and through her work, Aquino puts her role as a mom at the top.

“My greatest accomplishments while living in Mt. Olive is having and raising my daughter,” says Aquino.

Outside of being a mom, Aquino says her interests are all things related to education. As a previous teacher and principal, she likes reading about educational trends and issues.

“My husband and I enjoy dining out,” she adds. “I love spending time with friends and am active in my church. I am also a huge fan of the three Fs: food, football (a lifelong Jets fan) and Formula One.”

She offers some advice to other women:

“Educate Yourself: Continuously seek knowledge and skills related to your interests,” she says. “Take courses, attend

Councilwoman Mary Lalama Jen Aquino

workshops, and read relevant books and articles to stay informed and empowered.

“Take Initiative: Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you—seek them out,” she adds.

“Whether it’s asking for a promotion at work, starting a community project, or volunteering for a cause, be proactive in pursuing your goals.

“Prioritize Self-Care: Taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental well-being is essential for long-term success and fulfillment,” she continues. “Make time for activities that recharge you, such as exercise, hobbies and spending time with loved ones. Be sure to keep up with well checks. YOU come first.

“Lead by Example: Be a role model for other women by demonstrating courage, integrity and compassion in your actions,” she says. “Inspire and empower others to pursue their goals and make a difference in the world.

“Celebrate Your Achievements: Acknowledge and celebrate your successes, no matter how small,” she concludes. “Recognize the progress you’ve made and the impact you’ve had and use it as motivation to continue striving for excellence.”

Kathy Murphy, 75, has lived in Budd Lake since 1986 with her husband Ken, and raised a son and daughter.

In the early years, she was a substitute teacher in the Mt. Olive School District, became a member of the Environmental Commission in 1989 and later became a grant coordinator for the town.

“My many projects included

identifying and pursuing properties for acquisition as open space, as well as projects such as sidewalks, lake dredging, lake issues, FEMA funds, fire and rescue building improvements, fire education trailer, etc. From owning several hundred acres – lake area and pocket parks- we increased open space to several thousand acres. I coordinated with the state and county and helped them acquire land as well, at no cost to the township.”

Murphy is currently the chair of the Environmental Commission, vice-chair of the Open Space Committee, vice president of the Mt. Olive Twp. Historical Society, chair of the Morris County Heritage Commission and serves on other special committees.

As a member of the Historical Society, Murphy was able to broaden her understanding of historic preservation and worked with others to acquire and preserve the old Baptist Church.

“We also were able to convince the town and county to preserve the Seward House,” adds Murphy. “Along with Thea Dunkle, we continue to coordinate with administration on historic projects. These experiences led to my appointment to the Morris County Heritage Commission. We retain and archive historic documents and records for the county, place historic markers, re-grant funds to local history groups and work to promote historic preservation and awareness.”

Her work introduced her to many people in town and together they achieved great

things.

“My years working at the township included collaborating with many other employees on various projects,” says Murphy. “They were always professional and committed to doing a good job for the community. People come and go, but the town has always benefitted from the hard work of local residents. It’s their community too. Our consultants and outside professionals at the county and state were always helpful as well. I loved my job.

“Being involved in the community had been very rewarding,” continues Murphy. “I have made valued friendships, improved my awareness and knowledge on many issues, developed business skills, and contributed to the improvement of my community. Although I have been retired for 11 years, I appreciate the continued support and communication with town officials on many projects.

Turkey Brook Park and the Seward House, Baptist Church preservation, and many open space projects that have protected our lake, water and woods are my most satisfying experiences.”

Her advice for women is to get involved. “I urge others to also be involved in the community,” she says. “Make friends, develop skills and make a difference.”

Delphine Venitucci, 43, has lived in Budd Lake for the past five years with her husband and their three kids aged 15, 12 and 10.

Adapting to the United States after moving from France has been her greatest challenge

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Kathy Murphy

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and accomplishment so far.

“Our family arrived in Mt. Olive in 2018,” shares Venitucci. “We are French, and although my husband had been travelling a lot to the U.S. for work, I had never been there before we moved here. So obviously, getting the family settled in our new country was a huge challenge, especially seeing that our children did not speak English at all when we arrived.

I am particularly grateful for the amazing school system which helped them adjust, and I am very happy that they are now fully bilingual.”

Settling in and learning the English language and culture has not stopped her from starting her own company.

“I created a brand of fashion accessories for wheelchairs, I-WHEEL,” she explains. “I sell globally, and I am currently fine-tuning an innovative product which will be patented.”

One of her goals is “to get more involved in the economic development of Mt. Olive.

I recently met the Economic Development Committee who has been very helpful and welcoming. I am going to meet the Chamber of Commerce in March. As my background is in Marketing and Business Strategy, I would love to help other entrepreneurs on their journey. We have international companies here in Mt. Olive, and it is important to realize we don’t have to be in the city to create a thriving global business.”

She has also found her place as a volunteer. With her daughter involved in the JROTC pro-

gram at Mt. Olive High School, Venitucci is volunteering with the JROTC Booster Club.

With all that she has going on, Venitucci finds time for the sweet things in her life.

“I love cooking, baking and reading,” she shares. “I’ve played the piano since I was 5 years old, I learned how to read music scores before I learned how to read books. I love singing, and I am a trained mezzo-soprano opera singer.”

She offers advice to other women: “Some of us tend to self-censor, or limit ourselves, because of the impostor syndrome. But women are wonderful at organizing, leading projects and being efficient, because they often juggle multiple roles and tasks in their life. If you have an idea, go for it!

“If you don’t feel comfortable starting something yourself, find an accountability buddy,” she suggests. “If you prefer to be on your own, find an inspiring figure. I look up to several female role models.”

Denise Del Vescovo, a resident of Flanders for the past 20 years, has juggled being a mom of four sons aged 14 to 22, working and volunteering.

She’s had many roles in town from being on the booster club for high school basketball and serving as a room mom for numerous years.

“My greatest accomplishment has been starting my own travel business after being in the corporate world for over 20 years,” says Del Vescovo.

She has been able to switch gears and take chances.

“I believe that the best advice

is to never be scared to make a change at any age- especially if it’s moving towards something that you’re passionate about,” says Del Vescovo. “The determination and passion to create something positive that you want to share with the world is the best drive for success. I love owning my small business and traveling the world.”

As a mother, she says “My biggest advice would be to not beat yourself up. You are always your own worst critic.”

She’s enjoyed being a “sports mom” and even has future plans to come up with unique fundraising ideas for youth sports.

“Bringing up four sons, I have seen how they have learned valuable skills such as leadership, responsibility, teamwork, and self-confidence through their participation in soccer and basketball,” says Del Vescoco. “Watching their games- whether it be bright and early on a Saturday morning, or a tournament spanning multiple summer days, brings me so much joy and fulfillment.”

Councilwoman Colleen Labow, 67, of Budd Lake since 1979, raised two sons with her husband, has volunteered, worked and is still serving as a civic leader on council.

When her eldest son, Jeremy started Sandshore Elementary School in 1986, “I volunteered as homeroom mom, helped with the parties, went on class trips.

Jeremy moved up to Mt. Olive Middle School and I continued to help when and where I could with the PTA. High School was a lot of fun too on the Parents Club, working at the football

concession stand on Friday nights, making hotdogs and soft pretzels.”

She also helped raise money with Tricky Trays and served as a Den Mother for the Cub Scouts Pack 62.

She repeated the drill when her younger son Curtis attended Sandshore in 1995, serving again as homeroom mom, Cub Scout Den mother, PTA at the middle school and Parent’s Club at MOHS.

“In 1999, I was an advocate for victims of domestic violence, by far the most important volunteer position I have served,” says Labow. “In 2001 I decided to run for council for the first time, didn’t win but ran again in 2003, won and started my first 4-year term in 2004, ran and won in 2007, again in 2011, again in 2015 then again in 2023 making this one my sixth term being the first woman in Mt. Olive Twp. to serve six terms.”

As a councilwoman, Labow has served as the council liaison to many committees and boards and this year is on the environmental and lake committees.

Her greatest accomplishment has been: “Helping our residents when and where I can. At this point, I do believe that our residents for the most part know they can come to me with questions, suggestions, and I will do whatever I can to help them.”

Her goal is to “Continue to help when and where I am needed and enjoy all of the wonderful parks, trails, we have in our town,” and of course enjoy spending time with her fami-

ly, grandson Tyler and granddaughter Alexis. Labow offers her advice to other women: “Choose something you really enjoy. If it is government, learn all that you can.”

Congratulations to all Mt. Olive women and all that she achieves.

Outside of raising her two sons, Cecilia Thea Dunkle, 69, of Budd Lake, is best known as the town’s historian.

“I was one of four founding members of the Mt. Olive Township Historical Society which was founded in October 1997,” she shares. She was president for many years and was officially appointed township historian. “I have worked on many projects and done extensive research for them; always willing to share Mt. Olive’s rich history.”

Dunkle’s accomplishments run deep, with most of them researching the history of Flanders and Budd Lake, especially its veterans. Dunkle wrote a booklet on the Mt. Olive Veterans that died during war time; cleaned up the veterans’ monument area when it was on Route 46; was involved in a re-dedication of the monument for 2000; added 18 civil war veterans on the monument that died during active duty; was involved in moving the Veterans Monument to Turkey Brook Park; and served on the All-Veterans Memorial Committee. She also worked with the Planning Board on naming street names for the Mt. Olive Fallen Veterans and continues to work with township employees to add additional veterans’ street names.

When it comes to research, Dunkle is quite thorough. She researched the Seward Mansion and family and in 2003 was instrumental in securing that the structure remains standing by presenting the history and genealogy of the Seward family. She also researched the Mt Olive Baptist Church and Village which greatly assisted with the renovations for the Mt Olive Baptist Church.

Through her work, Dunkle was involved with the restoration of the Stark Cemetery and documented many of the local cemeteries, receiving two grants from the Morris County Heritage Commission. That project is ongoing as new burials continue.

She’s written the mayor’s wall collections in town hall by writing a bio on each mayor and placed four Heritage Commission Markers in historical areas and moving the Flanders Marker to its current place.

Dunkle has given many presentations such as the Anniversary of the Chamber of Commerce, Farrow and Wolfes families, Mt. Olive Village, Camp Goodland and others. Her projects and contributions are endless. She educates people how to work on their family genealogy, cleans the headstones in the Baptist Cemetery and designed and sold two historical blankets showing townships’ historical sites.

As for her future goals, Dunkle plans to continue her work as a Mt. Olive historian and stay involved with its historical society, continue her research and development of the preservation of the Seward Mansion and Baptist Church, continue documenting the cemeteries and cleaning the headstones as well as researching older homes and structures in Mt. Olive.

Her other interests include needlepoint, cake decorating, travel, dancing, antique shops, garage sales and spending time with friends and family.

She offers some advice: “Do or find what makes you happy and makes you feel fulfilled,” says Dunkle. “Always strive to do your best. Be open to different interests and trying different things. Always be open to making new friendships.”

Memoirist, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (1928-2014) sums it up the best- “My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

Delphine Venitucci Denise Del Vescovo Councilwoman Colleen Labow Cecilia Thea Dunkle

Mount Olive High School Girls’ Basketball Team Holds Successful Free-Throw-A-Thon

BY STEVE SEARS STAFF WRITER

MOUNT OLIVE - On January 17, the Mount Olive High School Marauders girls’ basketball team raised over $4,000 with their second annual FreeThrow-A-Thon.

Ian Redmond, first-year head coach of the Marauders, said, “It is a great fundraiser because it allows for a fun practice, practicing our free throws, and raising money for the program.”

In total, $4,477 was raised among the 18-player team, with four players raising over $300 each. Each player and coach received pledges from family, friends, and teachers.

Last year’s first ever FreeThrow-A-Thon raised over $5,000.

Redmond explained the process. “Everyone shot 100 free throws to raise money for our banquet, senior scholarships, and a donation. Our program philosophy is to create an en-

vironment that encourages the development of hard-working, responsible, and empathic athletes that will positively impact their communities. We raised money for the Carol W. and Julius A. Rippel Breast Center at Morristown Medical Center on our Pink Out Game, but we wanted to do more for this local hospital. We donated 10% donation of our basketball donations to the same organization.” $540 dollars was donated to the Carol W. and Julius A. Rippel Breast Center at Morristown Medical Center. The team will be having its banquet at the Grove located at the Randolph Diner, and tickets were initially $41 dollars per family member, but through the successful Free-Throw-A-Thon, ticket prices have been reduced to $20 per person. “Also, we give senior scholarships to every senior in the program,” Redmond said.

MOUNT OLIVE - The Latte

Music event held on Friday,

February 9, 2024 was a wonderful showcase of talent where students performed musically, instrumentally, through poetry

The 2023 – 24 Mount Olive Marauders girls’ basketball team raised $4,477 during their second annual Free-Throw-A-Thon

“Players earn $100 for each year of playing, so they can receive a $400 scholarship. The booster club also paid for our holiday party which was held on December 21, and they paid for the Pink Out Shirts that players wore on our Pink Out

Game on January 11.”

As a thank you, the coaching staff organized a surprise ice cream party following the Free-Throw-A-Thon.

The Marauders have had a tough season record-wise, but Redmond said, “We have

played a lot of good teams, and we have faced a lot of challenges. We will continue to work on the team, so a winning record will come in time. Developing a culture and a work ethic is challenging as well. This season we took strides in reaching

Latte Music - Teen Coffee House

and song. The event was a collaborative effort supported by MOMAC and the recreation department, highlighting the importance of community involvement and support for the arts.

The performers showcased their diverse talents and creativity, captivating the audience with their musical ability and expressive performances. The event provided a platform for

Mount Olive Library Happenings...

Chess for All

Every Tuesday from 5-7 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

This is a teen run drop-in program open to all ages. Those 12 and under need to have an adult present.

Crafter’s Cafe!

Wednesdays at 1:30 pm

February 14 – March 6

(4 sessions)

Mt Olive Public Library

Join us and be part of our new program Crafter’s Cafe! We will work together as a team to craft joint art projects. Everyone’s ideas and skills will contribute to our shared creations! Don’t miss out on the chance to craft, connect, and contribute!

Plus, let’s enjoy complimentary coffee and tea during our crafting sessions at Crafter’s Cafe!

Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Gilmore Girls Trivia

Tuesday, March 5 at 6 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

Think you know everything about Gilmore Girls? Come to the library to find out with our trivia night! If you are competing as a team, please register each team member individually. Each team can have up to four players.

Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Irish Harp Concert

Wednesday, March 6 at 11 am

Mt Olive Public Library

Come enjoy the wonderful sounds of the Celtic harp again with Faye Fishman! She’ll play Irish tunes and have some fun facts about St. Patrick’s Day and talk about Ireland and the harp.

Snow date is Friday, March 8 at 11 am.

Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Bingo

Monday, March 11 at 1 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

Enjoy bingo? Come to bingo at the library and compete to win advanced reader copies of interesting books! Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Morning Book Club

The Humans: A Novel by Matt Haig

Tuesday, March 12 @ 11 am

Mt Olive Public Library

join Librarian Cynthia Washburn for a meeting of the library’s Morning Book Club to discuss The Humans: A Novel by Matt Haig.

Copies of the book may be picked up at the Reference Desk.

Hatha Yoga

Wed., March 13 at 10:30 am

Mt Olive Public Library

Come enjoy hatha yoga with Danielle! Hatha yoga is practiced at a slower pace with a focus on the breath, meditation, controlled movements, stretch-

students to share their passion for the music and poetry creating a vibrant and engaging atmosphere for all attendees. Through events like LATTE Music students build confi-

ing, and relaxation. Registrants will need to bring their own water and yoga mats. Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Bunco

Two Sessions:

Monday, March 18 at 6 pm

Wednesday, March 27 at 12 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

Interested in learning how to play Bunco? Come to our new Bunco program and have some fun! You must register for each session individually. Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Mystery Book Club

Newcomer by Keigo Higashino

Wed., March 20 @ 6:30 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

Join Librarian Katy for a meeting of the library’s Mystery

our goal, and we will continue to do so. In my opinion, if my players can walk away as better individuals who look to help others, we are doing well. It should be the largest takeaway for high school sports.”

dence, creativity and showcase their talents. The support of organizations like MOMAC and the recreational department with sponsors form local businesses is invaluable in provid-

Book Group to discuss Newcomer by Keigo Higashino.

Copies of the book may be picked up at the Reference Desk.

The Akashic Records

Tuesday, March 26 at 6 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

The Akashic Records are your own universal library. All human events, thoughts, words, recorded in time (past, present and future) can be accessed here. Exploring our Akashic records helps us gain a better understanding of who we are, our relationships, and what we are here to do. Find more info and register at www.mopl.org.

Afternoon Book Club

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous

ing opportunities for students to pursue their interests. The event was a success, bringing all ages together. Special thanks to Stella G and Roast at Dawn for their support.

Obsession by Michael Finkel

Wed., March 27 @ 1:30 pm

Mt Olive Public Library join Librarian Cynthia Washburn for a meeting of the library’s Afternoon Book Club to discuss The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel.

Copies of the book may be picked up at the Reference Desk.

The Stitchers

Thursday, March 28 at 2 pm

Mt Olive Public Library

Do you like to knit or crochet? Come bring your project and share it with others! All skill levels are welcome. Beginning knitting classes provided upon request.

Eli DiPaolo

Emmy Rosch Maria Beard Jack Scarsi. Joseph Donovan

Mountaintop Church Presents Holiday Musical Dramas

BY STEVE SEARS STAFF WRITER

Generation

for children, youth, and young adults at Hackettstown’s Mountaintop Church, speaks passionately about the response received for the church’s recent Christmas production, “Immanuel.”

Vagle said, “This past Christmas, our sanctuary was packed with guests, and we had over 1,000 views online from our performances. We love Mount Olive and Hackettstown, and we strive to be a blessing to our community. This show was for them; everyone was welcome.”

And all will be again welcome to the soon to be presented Easter drama, “Victorious,” which is a direct continuation of the “Immanuel” story.

Vagle explained that, historically, every year Mountaintop Church hosted what it called an Easter drive-through during the holy day weekend. “Anyone from our community could

BY HENRY M. HOLDEN STAFF WRITER

AREA - The remains of a large vessel were discovered recently, at the bottom of Lake Hopatcong, in Landing, during the 5-year drawdown of the lake water.

The discovery was made on November 4, 2023, in Landing Channel according to Hopatcong Foundation, chairman, Marty Kane, also the local historian.

“Every time we do a drawdown, something surprising pops up,” said Kane. “For example, a walkway to Liffty Island, and the long-forgotten dock at Nolan’s point. These are things that people normally don’t pay attention to but every five years you get a break, and something shows up temporarily.”

Kane wonders why have these remains sat for over 100 years, and nobody has discovered them until now?

‘For the last three or four drawdowns, it has been covered in muck.

We provided a treatment to that section of the lake, which is basically a clay like substance that sinks to the bottom. It made the vessel much more visible than it would have been for many years.

“We spoke to many longtime residents, and they said they knew it had been there all along. It’s hard to say because we didn’t really have ground imaging radar to help us. The team was ready with the equipment, but they needed the lake to freeze first and then they could use their equipment but before they had a chance the lake rose 4-feet in about threeweeks.

“We weren’t able to find

drive through our parking lot and view our volunteers acting out different scenes of the ministry of Jesus, leading to His death on the cross and resurrection out of the tomb. However, we had a string of bad luck with weather, so in 2022, we decided to move it inside and make it more of a production with acting, dancing, singing and special effects. Since then, every Easter and Christmas has gotten bigger and better.”

Prior to this past Christmas, the productions were just biblical scenes portrayed on stage. This time around, dramatic twists were added. “Immanuel” consisted of a grandmother recently diagnosed with cancer, and she taught her granddaughter the story of Christmas, and how Jesus showed up during the world’s darkest time.

Vagle added, “The grandmother narrated the story while our actors portrayed the story of Mary and Joseph, culminat-

ing with the birth of Jesus in a manger. In between scenes, our band and choir performed live Christmas songs.”

As for the upcoming “Victorious,” drama, Vagle said, “The grandmother’s cancer has seriously progressed, and she is desperate to tell her granddaughter the story of Easter, practically from her death bed. No matter what happens, Jesus is victorious! It will be quite the dramatic story!”

“Victorious” will first be presented on Good Friday, 3/29/24, at 7:00 p.m. On Easter Sunday, 3/31/24, Mountaintop Church will have two more showings, one in English at 10:00 a.m. (immediately following, there will be a weather-permitting Easter Egg Hunt for families with children who attend) and then in Spanish at 1:00 p.m. Attendance is free.

Vagle said, “The initial planning for both Christmas and Easter started back in Au-

gust. We do the entire production both in English and Spanish, with a total cast and crew of about 50 volunteers, so there are a lot of logistics to consider. We have already begun rehearsals for Easter and will be meeting every Thursday night until the big day.”

Over the years, the congregation of Mountaintop Church has loved all the performances, and the main goal always is to portray the love of God to the community.

“No matter who you are, where you’ve come from, or what you’ve done,” Vagle said,

Shipwrecked in New Jersey

any artifacts around it because it was too muddy, and we don’t have the appropriate permits from the state. We’ll have to look at it in five years and perhaps build something around it so that we can get a better archaeological look. So, it’s on the shelf for another five years before we can do anything.”

He was curious as to why the boat remains were never notice before, despite routine drawdowns of the lake, something done about every five years primarily to enable dock repairs. Kane noted the lake level has been lowered by as much as 12-feet in the past.

“It is located just off the shoreline at 22 Kingsland Road, but you will not see anything now,” Kane said. “This is an area where the old White Line steamboats were moored and then abandoned when they stopped running (circa 1907).

Judging from the large size of this wreck, it is most likely the remains of one of those vessels.

“My guess is one of these steamboats sank, and they let the hull remain on the bottom when they conducted the clean-up in the winter of 19091910,” Kane said. “Here it is, over 116 years later.”

One theory relates to the 2020 use, in Landing Channel, of Phoslock, a clay-based product that sinks to the lake bottom and locks phosphorus in as a way of curtailing algal blooms.

“An unexpected result seems to be that, by consolidating the sediment … it locked down the bottom allowing the boat hull to protrude,” Kane theorized.

Steamboats cruised the lake from the 1880s until about 1910. “During their heyday, there were about a dozen steamboats in use,” Kane said.

In the early 1880’s the Lackawanna Railroad built a Passenger Station at Drakesville (modern day Ledgewood). Horse drawn carriages would then take people up the bumpy road to the lake.

By 1886 the Landing/Lake Hopatcong Railway Station on the Lackawanna Line was built. Steamboats would wait on the Morris Canal in Landing for the passengers to disembark from the train.

In 1886, the “Lake Hopatcong Steamboat Company”, commonly known as the Black Line, was founded. The company provided service from the “new” Landing railroad station to all areas of the Lake by means of a ‘feeder canal’ that traveled from the Lake at the area of the State Park and connected to the Canal around the current Landing Shopping Center. (The Canal ran parallel to the RR tracks in this area) From there the boats used the Canal to come right up to the Rail station platform, where passengers simply crossed the platform to board the boat sitting in the Canal. (the south end of the Lake was extremely shallow at that time with only rowboats able to pass). The trip back to the Lake took them through the Canal Lock, where the boat was raised to the Lake’s higher level.

In the 1890’s, this era saw the blossoming of Lake Hopatcong as the summer resort of choice by both the wealthy and the newly middle-class. The

wealthy would rent large furnished houses, on the water’s edge. The middle-class would often set up large canvas tents on wooden platforms and dwell in these for a week or more. All would enjoy the cool “mountain air” afforded by the advertised “1,200-foot elevation of the Lake” (an exaggeration of its’ actual 926-foot elevation), a welcome summertime relief from the sweltering cities. Many would come up for the weekend and stay in one of the hotels or rooming houses that sprang up around the Lake. Most everyone traveled to the lake via train, The roads were poor to non-existent, and besides, the steamboats were part of the attraction of the lake!

Kane said his suspicion about the boat’s identity is based largely on a July 2, 1910, item in a publication called The Lake Hopatcong Breeze.

PLEASE SEE SHIPWRECKED, PAGE 13

“you are so loved by God and by us at Mountaintop Church. We always have a seat for you!”

Mountaintop Church is located at 6 Naughright Road in Hackettstown. For more information, visit www.mtopag.org.

Mountaintop Church Pastor, Pastor Matt Jones, lauds the “Immanuel” drama and its participants

Recent photo of steamboat remains . Courtesy Marty Kane Lake Hopatcong Foundation

Job Fair Held at the Senior Center

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between the state and the municipality. The essential services provided by Morris County government are prescribed by law, including maintaining Superior Court facilities, providing courthouse security, operating elections and maintaining 287 miles of public roads and bridges. However, Morris County also provides a variety of programs and services ranging from historic preservation, maintaining the state’s largest county parks system and sustaining public safety operations to providing humans services programs designed to aid our most vulnerable citizens.

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Shipwrecked...

FROM PAGE 12

The author noted that the “dilapidated steamers of the old White Line, which had been drawn up on shore at Landing for several years, were removed”

“My guess is one of these steamboats sank, and they let

the hull remain on the bottom when they conducted the clean-up in the winter of 19091910,” Kane said.

“It is unlikely that any real study of this site can be conducted until spring, but the museum will contact a few experts to see if it might be pos-

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sible to use any ground penetrating radar or metal detection devices,” said Kane.

Every time we do a drawdown, something pops up such as a boardwalk to the Liffty Island, which you always see every five years and got a lot of attention. before that it was the dock at Nolan’s point, these are things that people normally don’t pay attention to but every five years you get a break and something shows up why have these remains sat there for over 100 years and nobody has discovered them until now?

For the last three or four drawdowns, it has been covered in muck.

Lake Hopatcong provided a treatment today at lake to that section of the lake, which is basically a clay like substance that coach the bottom of it, and it made the steamboat much more visible than it would have been for many years.

“We may have to wait another five years to look at it again. “During their heyday, there were about a dozen steamboats in use,” Kane said.

“The steamboats boats were eventually replaced by vehicles, but steamboat service was very active from the 1880s until about 1910 when travel to steamboat was the only way to get around” Kane said.

Paulette Chatman Always Best Care and Mayor Joe Nicastro.

Mayor Joe Nicastro, Boaz DeMedonsa, Chief Engineer, Anthony Clarke Vice President of Operattions, Crystal Malec Master Planner and Alexis Sayegh Human Resource Manager.

Mayor Nicastro , Heidi Peer Director of Persnnel and Amanda Weber Parente Principal Personnel Technician.

BY DANA JACKSON

Q:I remember when singer Usher used to be on the soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Has he done any acting since? -- S.L.

A:Born Usher Raymond IV, superstar Usher was born in Dallas and sang in the church choir that was directed by his mother. The family later moved to Atlanta and then Los Angeles, where Usher released his first album in 1994 at the age of 16 and also hit it big with his second album, “My Way,” in 1997. He flexed his talents even more by branching out into acting -- first in the sitcom “The Parent ‘Hood” on The WB network, then in recurring roles on “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “Moesha.”

More recently, he’s just played himself in several TV shows like “Dave” and The Lonely Island movie “Popstar.” However, being selected to

BY DEMI TAVERAS

“Ferrari” (R) -- From director Michael Mann (“Collateral”), this biopic follows Enzo Ferrari, owner of the car manufacturer Ferrari, during the summer of 1957 as the racing division of his company prepares for the Mille Miglia race.

Portrayed by Adam Driver (“House of Gucci”), Enzo is in a state of chaos due to his company facing extreme financial losses and his deteriorating relationship with his wife, Laura (Penelope Cruz). On top of this, kept hidden away from his wife in the countryside of Modena, Italy, is Enzo’s son, Piero, with mistress Lina (Shailene

ENTERTAINMENT Celebrity Extra

headline the Super Bowl halftime show is a high honor for any recording artist, so I doubt he has any regrets about not having a hit acting career. He also just released his ninth album, “Coming Home,” so perhaps he’ll be adding his ninth Grammy to his mantle during the next award season.

***

Q: When is “Young Sheldon” coming back with new episodes? Is it true that this will be the final season? -- A.M.

A:By the time you’re reading this, you might have noticed that “Young Sheldon” returned to CBS with all new episodes on Feb. 15. Delayed by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, the seventh and final season will only consist of 14 episodes, with its hour-long series finale airing on May 16. It was inevitable that the show would end, since the title char-

Woodley), who longs to be a true family. But even with the pressure rising from all aspects of his life, Enzo is determined to keep his company out of hot water and pull off the win at the Mille Miglia. Out now to rent. (Amazon Prime Video)

“The Greatest Night in Pop” (PG-13) -- This documentary film casts a spotlight on a magical evening in 1985 when some of the most famous musicians in the world at the time were brought together to record a memorable pop anthem called “We Are the World.” With incredible insider footage of the

acter was getting closer to the age of his future self in “The Big Bang Theory,” the hit sitcom that preceded “Young Sheldon.”

However, there is a bit of good news on the horizon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS is “reteaming with exec producers Chuck Lorre, Steve Holland and Steve Molaro to develop a spinoff of their prequel series ‘Young Sheldon.’” Although nothing official has been announced, word is that the new show will focus on Sheldon’s brother, Georgie (Montana Jordan), and his fiancee, Mandy (Emily Osment). It will debut as early as the 2024-25 television season. Hopefully, Iain Armitage will pop in occasionally as Sheldon.

***

Q: Is it true that Jon Bon Jovi lost his voice? Will he still

be able to sing? -- I.S.

A:Singer Jon Bon Jovi is recovering from surgery to mend a vocal cord injury, but his career is far from over. According to Entertainment Weekly, the lead singer of the popular rock band Bon Jovi had undergone surgery 19 months ago with a specialist in Philadelphia who used a plastic implant to fix an atrophied vocal cord.

While promoting “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story,” an upcoming docuseries on Hulu about him and his bandmates, Bon Jovi said that their new record has been completed and that he recently performed live for the first time since his surgery. He’s also about to become Millie Bobby Brown’s (“Stranger Things”) father-in-law, as his son, Jake, proposed to the actress last year. Send me your questions at

Couch Theater

night, viewers feel like flies on the wall watching legends like Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper and Bob Dylan attempt to find their footing amid an elite group of their peers. The footage is interspersed with new interviews featuring some of the musicians as they recount the long hours they put in that night and how beautifully the song came together in the end. Out now!

(Netflix)

“Tracker” (TV-14) -- Justin Hartley (“This Is Us”) leads this new CBS action-drama series based on the novel “The Never Game” by Jeffery

NewCelebrityExtra@gmail.

com, or write me at KFWS, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando,

FL 32803.

(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.

-- cue the burliest name you can think of -- Colter Shaw, a “lone-wolf survivalist” with excellent tracking skills. Colter travels around the country to help citizens and law enforcement solve the mind-boggling mysteries and tragedies that have affected their town. In the first episode, Colter heads to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to dig deeper into the disappearance of a 14-year-old boy. Hartley also serves as an executive producer for the series, so here’s hoping this network show will be gripping enough to pull in viewers and get picked up for another

season. The first two episodes are out now, with subsequent episodes premiering every Sunday. (Paramount+)

“Constellation” (TV-MA) -- This psychological-thriller series centers on Jo (Noomi Rapace), an astronaut who barely survives a mission gone wrong in space. Upon returning to Earth, Jo starts to notice some eerie differences in her life back home, like a piano suddenly placed in her living room even though she doesn’t

play. She also experiences intense hallucinations, and as time goes on, her relationship with her daughter becomes estranged. Despite getting therapy and speaking with other astronauts about her situation, Jo inches closer to the brink of madness and is left to wonder if this terrifying phenomenon will ever cease. The first two episodes premiere on Feb. 21.

(Apple TV+)

(c) 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.

Irish soda Bread Makes the Perfect St. Patrick’s Day Appetizer

AREA - Irish cuisine may not be as widely recognizable or familiar across North America as Chinese, Italian or Mexican fare. But that doesn’t mean Irish food lacks fans and flavor. As the world prepares to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on or around March 17, individuals who want to include some popular Irish fare in their festivities won’t want to exclude this recipe for “Irish Soda Bread” from AllRecipes.com.

Irish Soda Bread

Yields 11⁄2 loaf (20 servings)

4 cups all-purpose flour

1⁄2 cup margarine, softened

4 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1⁄4 cup butter, melted

1⁄4 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

Mix flour, softened margarine, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in

1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead

slightly. Form dough into a round and place on the prepared baking sheet.

Combine melted butter with 1⁄4 cup buttermilk in a small bowl; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an ‘X’ into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Check for doneness after 30 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

Spring Anticipation

by Ms Skip Friggle (Budd Lake)

Do you ever dream

Sleeping blooms, Of what waits for you Above the cold earth?

The rays of warmth

Not just from the sun

But from expectant hearts; Who anticipate your return To beautify our world.

Do you ever feel our hope Sleeping blooms, As Winter turns to Spring?

© 2/7/2024

Musician Usher. Photo Credit: Depositphotos

Justin Hartley stars in “Tracker.” Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS Deaver. Hartley plays

Mary Edwards Walker the Only Female Medal of Honor Winner

BY HENRY M. HOLDEN STAFF WRITER

AREA - Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) challenged the practices of her day. Born and raised on a farm in Oswego, New York, Walker became one of a handful of female physicians in the country.

Despite the mockery and destain from her contemporaries she continued to break customs and wore men’s clothing rather than corsets and large petticoats and dresses. She believed they were unhygienic and caused health issues. Walker lectured and campaigned for woman’s suffrage, and for prohibition, and against tobacco, and alcohol.

From the outset of the Civil War, Walker volunteered her services as a physician. Despite opposition from army commanders and field surgeons, Walker served as a surgeon at Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, and other bloody theaters of the war. She attended to the wounded soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict. At the time, women physicians were considered unfit for military service.

Captured by Confederates

near Chattanooga in 1864, she served four months in a Southern prison near Richmond where she nursed wounded prisoners of war. Walker was a skilled surgeon, and graduated in 1855, from Syracuse Medical College. She was an abolitionist, prohibitionist. and prisoner of war. She was captured and arrested as a spy for the Union Forces by Confederate troops after crossing enemy lines to help a Confederate doctor perform an amputation on a civilian. She remained a prisoner of war for four months until August 12 when she was released in a prisoner exchange. . She frequently crossed battle lines to treat civilians, and this led to her capture by Confederate troops in 1864. She was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1865 by President Andrew Johnson.

Before her capture, Walker wrote to the department of war, and requested to act as a spy in the conflict; she was rejected, but later was employed as a civilian surgeon by the army of the Cumberland, becoming the first female surgeon

to work for the US Army surgeon general.

Walker’s Medal of Honor was withdrawn following a 1917 review of Army Medal of Honor awards. In their review it recommended that the medal be restricted to enlisted personnel.

There is no higher accolade awarded in the United States Armed Forces than the Medal of Honor.

In 1917, Congress passed an Act detailing the requirements for qualification for the Medal. The Medal of Honor recipient must be enlisted personnel. And involved in actual combat with an enemy. This review resulted in over 900 names being deleted from the Medal of Honor roll.. Dr. Mary Edwards was one of those names.

In 1977 President Jimmy Carter, reinstated Dr. Walker’s Medal of Honor; Walker was only one of six people who had their medals restored.

Although married, there is no evidence that she had children. She divorced her husband on the grounds of his infidelity.

After the war, Dr. Walker became a writer, lecturer,

with Saint Clare’s Kidney Stones Are No Gems

By Mark J. Bonamo

Kidney stones can be one of the most uniquely and acutely painful health issues people can experience. Dr. Gregg Zimmerman, Medical Director of Robotic Surgery and Urologic Oncologist at Saint Clare’s Health, has spent years demystifying kidney stones and advising on methods to best treat them.

“Kidney stones are very common, and anyone who’s had a stone knows how painful they can be. They can also be dangerous. If they’re not treated in an appropriate amount of time, someone can become infected and even septic,” Dr. Zimmerman said. “But they are very treatable, and can even be preventable.”

A common misconception is that kidney stones and gallstones are one and the same.

According to Dr. Zimmerman, a major difference is that while the pain associated with gallstones ebb and flow, kidney stones pain can be unrelenting.

“Typically, kidney stone pain starts in your back and then radiates around to your abdomen and groin. You can get blood in your urine, which is very upsetting to patients,” Dr. Zimmerman said. “As the kidney stone travels down the ureter and gets closer to the bladder, you can experience urinary symptoms that include increased urinary urgency and frequency.”

There are many different types of kidney stones. The most common stones are known as calcium oxalate stones, which account for approximately 70 to 80 percent of all stones and are easily seen on X-rays. Other types of stones include uric acid stones, cystine stones, and struvite stones, which are caused by recurrent urinary tract infections Dr. Zimmerman noted that while kidney stones can affect anyone, they are more likely to affect men, with 11 percent of men experiencing a stone in

their lifetime, as compared to 6 percent of women.

“If you’ve had a kidney stone, there’s a 50 percent chance you will develop another kidney stone in your lifetime,” Dr. Zimmerman stated. “There are a number of factors can cause kidney stones, such as dehydration, anatomical abnormalities that cause poor drainage from kidney, inflammatory bowel disease, as well as any problem that causes high calcium, oxalate or uric acid levels in the urine. Gout, gastric surgery, and vitamin deficiencies can also contribute to stone formation.”

Some obvious symptoms that are considered in the diagnostic process include pain, fever, nausea/vomiting, blood in the urine, and urinary symptoms. A thorough patient medical history, as well as precise testing, can also be critical when making a diagnosis.

“A careful medical history is important if you have the

and advocated in support of women’s rights. At the time, it was illegal for women to wear men’s clothing. She was arrested many times for wearing men’s clothes, but never stopped insisting on her right to wear the clothing she felt was appropriate.

Dr. Walker tried to vote in 1871 but was turned away. She became a leading member of the early suffrage movement, arguing that women already had a constitutional right to vote. Dr. Walker never stopped pushing for women’s rights.

In the exact words of the Congressional Resolution on 12 July 1862 “the award is for gallantry, and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing force or while serving with a friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict … It is awarded to only American military personnel for incredible acts of valor and selfishness..

In a presidential review of

suspicion that a stone may be present. At that point, we typically will conduct lab tests, looking for an elevated white blood cell count that points to inflammation or infection, altered kidney function or signs of UTI,” Dr. Zimmerman explained. “If we think a kidney stone is likely, we’ll order imaging studies, such as a CAT scan of the abdomen and pelvis, which can tell if a stone is present, along with its position and size.”

Treatment for kidney stones can include giving the stone a chance to pass naturally. However, if the stone is larger, other options come into consideration.

“When it comes to stone management, we always try treat in a minimally invasive manner without incisions. In some cases, we use a small scope to look up the ureter, find the stone, break it up with a laser, and gently remove the pieces,” Dr. Zimmerman explains. “We also utilize extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, where sound waves are used to break the stones into tiny fragments. A less common procedure called percutaneous nephrolithotomy, is typically reserved for very large stones that fill the kidney.”

A healthy degree of pre-

the Medal of Honor In 197, after reviewing her record of valor, President Jimmy Carter said that although a civilian at the time of her valor she was restored to the Medal of Honor Roll in 1977.

After a long illness, Walker died at home on February 21, 1919, at the age of eightysix. She was buried at Rural

ventive medicine and self-care can help reduce the risk of developing kidney stones.

“Drinking more water, particularly with lemon in it, is an easy and safe way to keep kidney stones at bay. Lemons contains citrate that can naturally prevent stones from forming,” Dr. Zimmerman shares. “Less salt and animal protein in your diet also help with stone prevention and are beneficial for overall health. If you have recurrent stones, we can order a 24-hour urine analysis. This test tells us about potential abnormalities in your diet and metabolism that contribute to the creation of kidney stones. With this information, physicians can make personalized dietary recommendations, prescribe helpful medication, and supplements.”

The sudden onset of severe kidney stone pain makes it even more important that Saint Clare’s Health is around the corner geographically, as well as ahead of the curve technologically.

“Kidney stones can be very, very painful. The waiting times at a local hospital, such as Saint Clare’s Health are often shorter than at other larger hospitals. This means we can diagnose you quicker and treat you faster,” Dr. Zimmerman

Cemetery in Oswego, New York, in a plain funeral, with an American flag draped over her casket, and wearing a black suit instead of a dress. Her death, in 1919, came one year before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote.

said. “At Saint Clare’s Health, we’re always looking to find the latest and greatest in terms of technology. We have the latest scopes. We have the latest lasers. And we’re always looking for what’s going to help patients get better quicker.”

“In the meantime, fight kidney stones by staying hydrated. When you go out to dinner or lunch, ask server for a tall glass of water, put lemon in it, and drink it down,” Dr. Zimmerman added. “I also advise people to put a bottle of water on their nightstand and when they wake up in the morning, take two big swigs that get you hydrated early in the day. You’ll thank me later.”

For more information visit SaintClares.com.

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker dressed in men’s clothing, and wearing her Medal of Honor. (Photo Public Domain)

Dr. Gregg Zimmerman Medical Director of Robotic Surgery and Urologic Oncologist

RESTAURANT GUIDE

Easter Bread is a Tradition in Many Homes

Families share many Easter traditions. Easter in a home with people who trace their ancestry to Italy will likely feature “Pane di Pasqua,” which translates to “Easter Bread.”

Easter Bread is a ring of sweet bread that can be adorned with candy sprinkles. Some people nestle colorful hardboiled eggs within the twisted dough as well. Traditionally, Pane di Pasqua is made on Good Friday to help break the Lenten fast for Easter. The following recipe for “Pane di Pasqua” from “Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Italian’s Recipes Celebrating Food & Family” (Powerhouse Books) by Daniel Paterna makes enough dough to share the bread with friends and family.

Pane di Pasqua

Yields 7 to 8 loaves

Dough

5 packages of dry yeast (111⁄4 teaspoons proof yeast in a

St. Patrick’s Day is a time to pay homage to Ireland’s patron saint and celebrate Irish culture and cuisine. Even though corned beef and cabbage is ubiquitous on this holiday, that meal really isn’t the most authentic Irish cuisine. There are plenty of other foods to dress the St. Patrick’s table if a person wants to dabble in Irish cooking.

4-cup container)

5 pounds unbleached all-purpose flour (approximately 17 cups)

1 additional pound flour for adding to dough if needed, cleaning hands, and dusting boards and pans 31⁄2 cups sugar Pinch of salt

1 pound salted butter, softened, plus a bit more for coating rising dough 24 medium to large eggs, beaten 2tablespoons anisette extract

Decorating 6 ounces rainbow-colored nonpareil

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons water Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a 16-quart pot. Add the butter and mix by hand, squeezing and merging butter with the flour mixture. Add proofed yeast to the flour mixture; continue mixing ingredients. Slowly stir in all the beaten

eggs and anisette using a fork. Continue to mix until ingredients are combined and loose until dough begins to form.

Knead the dough with floured hands for approximately 45 minutes, or until it becomes smooth and elastic. Add flour to the dough if needed, or to scrape the dough off your hands and the bottom of the pot.

Once the dough is fully kneaded, leave it in the pot, lightly spread some butter over the top to keep it moist, and cover with a cloth. Leave at room temperature to rise for 8 hours or overnight. The dough is ready when it rises about 5 times its size.

When the dough has fully risen, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface, and form it into a ball. Cut the dough into 7 or 8 smaller dough balls using a sharp knife. Then cut each ball in half. Roll each half into strands approximately 16-inch-

es long. To form a loaf, lay the strands side by side and cross them over at one end, offset by 3 inches.

Continue crossing one strand over the other while working the braid into a circle. The tie off can be challenging. Join the circle by tucking one end under the other, pinch the dough firmly together to seal, maintaining the twist and thickness of the loaf. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Butter and flour one 9-inch baking pan for each loaf. Place the braided loaves in individual pans and set aside, covered in a warm, draft-free place to rise for another hour until the dough rises about 30 percent more.

At this point, preheat the oven to 250 F.

When the dough has risen, place the pans into the oven for about 10 minutes, then raise the temperature to 325 F. Bake until the bread is a dark gold-

en brown and makes a hollow sound when lightly tapped on the bottom.

Prepare the egg wash for decorating. In a small bowl, beat the 3 egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of water and set aside. When the breads are ful-

Potatoes Are the Star of This Irish Dish

Many cultures have a variation on the potato pancake, and the Irish are no different. Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake. Individuals who want to include boxty in their celebrations can try this recipe, courtesy of Chef Pádraic Óg Gallagher of Gallagher’s Boxty House in Dublin.

Irish Boxty

Makes about 10 300 grams (approx. 101⁄2 ounces) raw potatoes, peeled 300 grams (approx. 101⁄2 ounces) cooked potatoes, mashed

300 grams (approx. 101⁄2 ounces) flour 10 grams (approx. 21⁄2 teaspoons) salt 850 ml (approx. 31⁄2 cups)

3. Pour batter into pan. Bake 55 to

minutes or until cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Loosen cake from sides of pan; carefully invert onto a stackable cooking rack, keeping pan over cake. Cool completely.

4. Place cake on serving platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or prepare glaze, if desired.

milk

1. Grate the raw potatoes into a muslin cloth and squeeze as much liquid as possible into a bowl. Let liquid stand for 20 minutes.

2. Gently pour off the liquid and keep the starch that settled in the bottom of the bowl.

3. Add grated potatoes to mashed potatoes and flour. Add starch and salt to mix.

4. Slowly add 3⁄4 of the milk to form a batter of pouring consistency. Depending on the potato, you may not need to use all the milk. If the batter is too heavy, add more milk.

5. Leave batter resting for 30 minutes.

6. Drop a ladle full onto an oiled nonstick pan over medium heat

2.

For glaze: Combine 11⁄2 cups powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thick frosting. Spread glaze over top of cake.

ly baked, remove them from the oven and pan using oven mitts, then decorate immediately. Brush the egg wash onto the hot surface of each loaf and sprinkle with the colored confetti. Set the loaves to cool the racks. Slice a wedge and spread with butter.

and cook on the first side for 2 minutes (this depends on how heavy the batter is and how much you use). Check color (it should be a nice golden color) on the bottom. Adjust heat if

necessary.

7. Turn and cook on the other side for 2 to 3 minutes more.

8. Boxty pancakes are best left overnight in a fridge and reheated in a pan in good butter.

When

A Show-Stopping Strawberry Snack

date or just a picnic in the park with friends. They are easy to transport from place to place and don’t leave a huge mess behind to clean up afterwards.

It’s also simple to just melt, whisk, dip and repeat. The red, ripe berries are bursting with color and the chocolate is glazed right across the top for the perfect bite.

something delightful, rich and a show-stopping snack.

Find more snack recipes at Culinary.net

If you made this recipe at home, use #MyCulinaryConnection on your favorite social network to share your work.

Chocolate Coated

Strawberry Treats

Servings: 5

are fun to dip and even more enjoyable to devour.

This snack can also be perfect for date night, a romantic

The best part is you can be creative and dip these strawberries into a number of your favorite ingredients you already have in your pantry at home. This includes, sprinkles, small candies, white chocolate drizzle and different kinds of nuts. The possibilities are endless.

Next time you can’t get chocolate off your mind, enjoy

1 1/4 baking chocolate chips 1/2 baking peanut butter chips 3 tablespoons coconut oil, divided 1 pound fresh strawberries shredded coconut crushed almonds

In saucepan, add baking chocolate chips and two tablespoons of coconut oil. Melt on low to medium heat and whisk

until smooth.

In a small bowl, add baking peanut butter chips and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Whisk together until smooth.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Dip all strawberries into melted chocolate. Then, dip 1/3 in coconut, 1/3 in almonds and 1/3 just chocolate and lay on tray.

Drizzle the melted peanut butter over the plain chocolate strawberries.

Put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until strawberry treats are chilled.

(Culinary.net)

Savor a New Way to Seafood

Adding salmon to your weekly menu can take dinnertime from drab to delicious. Combining it with bright, fresh veggies heightens the savory experience even more for a burst of seafood flavor.

Loaded with salmon and shrimp, this Salmon and Shrimp Coconut Curry is a perfect option for putting together a quick yet delicious meal.

Fast becoming a leading source of seafood worldwide, aquaculture is similar to typical agriculture but with fish, shellfish and seaweeds. Farmed seafood can be raised and harvested in either fresh or seawater, where natural conditions are recreated.

However, not all seafood you find in the grocery aisles is the same. Despite industry advances, aquaculture still faces challenges with fraud, mislabeling and questionable conditions. That’s why it’s important to look for responsible seafood products that are labeled by a trusted certification process.

For example, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council is a non-profit certification program that has created and enforced the world’s strictest and

highest standards for seafood farming since 2010. Today, it is transforming the seafood industry with a new level of certification for farmed seafood. This “new way to seafood” includes: Seafood that can be traced all the way from the farm to the store, ensuring the seafood you buy is what it claims to be The strictest combination of requirements to protect the environment, workers and communities on the farms where seafood is raised Improving farmed seafood quality and safety Visit NewWaytoSeafood. com to find more information about the certification process.

Salmon and Shrimp

Coconut Curry

Recipe courtesy of MOWI on behalf of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council

Servings: 2 2 pieces of MOWI Pure portions salmon 1 cup wild rice

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 clove garlic, sliced 1/4 cup red onion, diced 1 cup pumpkin or butternut squash, diced

1 tablespoon lemongrass, finely chopped 1 1/2 tablespoons red curry

paste 1/2 cup coconut milk

1 tablespoon fish sauce 1/4 cup tomatoes

4 shrimp

1 lime, quartered 2-3 cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cut salmon into 1/2-inch cubes. Cook rice according to package instructions.

In large skillet, heat coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and pumpkin or squash; saute 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Mix in lemongrass and curry paste. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant.

Add coconut milk, fish sauce and tomatoes; mix thoroughly. Add shrimp and salmon; cook until done. Serve with rice and lime quarters. Sprinkle with cilantro. (Family Features)

NJ Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame Enters 52nd Year as One of State’s Most Enriching Places

BY JEFF GARRETT STAFF WRITER

AREA - If flying peaks your curiosity and you have an interest for all things air with a slice of history, a stroll on the campus of the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum in New Jersey many be just the tonic as warmer weather approaches. Located at 400 Fred Wehran Drive in Teterboro, the Museum showcases helicopters and airplanes along with displaying the career highlights and attributes of some of New Jersey

and the country’s greatest contributors to Aviation since flying began.

One interactive exhibit is apart of the institutions “Fundamentals of Flight” interactive aerodynamics exhibit allowing guests to do more than just view historical aircraft. Another exhibit offered showcases the rocket which propelled the famous X-15 to previously unheard of, record-breaking speeds and heights, as Ameri-

ca’s first hovercraft.

Inside the museum, smaller almost model airplanes are displayed along with key parts and figures from planes from different military eras. Space equipment is also on display as well as important artifacts, pictures and photographs and a library which has well over 3.800 volumes with video.

There’s something there for pilots on an interactive level no less. The hall of fame and mu-

seum showcases an FAA-approved Gleim Virtual Cockpit BATD Flight Simulator where pilots in-training can log hours for their Private Pilot Certificate and stay current on the latest pilot innovations.

Now in its 52nd year, having opened in 1972, over 200 inductees have a spot in the Hall of Fame in Teterboro.

These include pioneers of Aviation such as Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman

Communities Rally Around Stephanie Sorrentino

BY STEVE SEARS STAFF WRITER

MOUNT OLIVE - When former Hackettstown resident and Hackettstown High School student, Stephanie (Cucinella) Sorrentino, was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer on May 11, 2023, the universe neglected to consider that you do not mess with a tiger.

A Hackettstown Tiger, that is – and their friends.

Mount Olive-Hopatcong-Hackettstown head hockey coach, Ryan Tatarka, and Sorrentino have been friends since they were five years old, and when he knew his lifelong friend and classmate needed help, he sprang into action, as did others.

Tatarka said, “We’ve stayed in touch throughout the years. I knew that she was a teacher in Millburn. I heard about her diagnosis through the grapevine and social media over the summer after she had gotten married. I thought immediately we should do something as a program. We have the platform to be able to do the right thing here.”

Sorrentino, 30, had already benefitted by goodness courtesy of a special volleyball game between Hackettstown High School and Millburn high School on October 6, 2023, so Tatarka contacted the Millburn High School athletic director about an open date in the MOHOHA hockey schedule and asked if the school’s team would be interested in a January 27 benefit game at Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange. All were on board.

Sorrentino, her husband

Sorrentino

John, and many family members attended the late January contest. She said, “When the game started, we had a little pregame ceremony again, and it was just awesome to be able to share our story to all the fans that came out for both teams, some of which were my old students, and some of my current colleagues were there.”

And Sorrentino the evening of the 27th was happy to report that, after a recent procedure, a pathology report had declared her cancer free. She said, “It has just been nice to see the outpouring of love. It was really nice to be able to share that I was cancer free with the two communities that came together to help out.”

And there is a PSA, an important message, that Sorrentino wants to get out. She said, “We did catch this early. Life gets so busy, and day to

Blood vs. Plasma

AREA - Donating blood is a selfless act. Each year, blood donors collectively save the lives of millions of people across the globe. The American Red Cross reports that blood levels continue to be low, and hospital need often outpaces the rate at which many blood donation organizations can replenish their supplies, That reality results in emergency shortages. When people think about blood donations, they frequently envision whole blood donations. But it is possible to only donate plasma as well. And donors typically can donate plasma with greater frequency than they can donate blood. Whole blood donations include all four blood components: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. By contrast, plasma donation involves collecting only the plasma component of blood and returning the other three components to the donor, says Plasma Hero. The American Red Cross indicates plasma helps maintain blood pressure and volume; supplies critical proteins for blood clotting and immunity; carries electrolytes to muscles; and helps to maintain a proper pH balance in the body to support cell function. Plasma is around 90 percent water and is utilized in therapies to replace missing, deficient or malfunctioning proteins in people with life-threatening

diseases, including primary immunodeficiency and hemophilia. It also can be given to trauma and burn victims. It is an essential component, and a donation of plasma only takes a few minutes longer than donating whole blood. Unlike type O blood, which is a universal blood donation type, with plasma, type AB is universal.

day you are not really thinking about stuff like this. But prioritizing your health and making sure that you do get to the doctor and are doing selfchecks and things like that are important.”

Donations can still be sent to a Venmo account titled

“Steph Donation,” and cash or checks payable to the MOHS Booster Club to PO Box 648 Flanders NJ 07836. Also, donations can be mailed to the Hackettstown, Hopatcong, and Mount Olive High Schools, “Attn: hockey team.”

to fly over the Atlantic Ocean using a Teterboro-built Fokker Trimotor. Another inductees is Charles Lindbergh who made a successful transatlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, an aircraft powered with a motor tuned at Teterboro.

The Mission of the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey is, “to provide an enriching experience to all visitors about New Jersey’s role in achieving innovative air accomplishments.”

The Museum offers membership at Solo, Companion and Crew Membership levels while having a Corporate Membership level as well. The Museum is a constant source of curiosity and wonderment for children too and is open from 10:30am until 4pm, Wednesdays through Saturdays.

For more information on the Museum and HOF, logon to www.njahof.org , email info@ njhof.org or call 201-288-6344.

Stephanie and John

(credit: Mordy Photo)

BY HENRY M. HOLDEN STAFF WRITER

AREA - There is a small town, Troy, Ohio, that celebrates an occasion that put it on the world map of the grocery trade.

On June 26, 1974, when the first item marked with the Universal Product Code (U PC) was scanned at the checkout of Troy’s Marsh Supermarket.

It was a ceremonial occasion and involved a little bit of setup. The night before, Marsh employees had moved in to put barcodes on hundreds of items in the store: while the National Cash Register installed their scanners and computers.

The first “shopper” was Clyde Dawson, who was head of research and development for Marsh Supermarket. Legend has it that Dawson dipped into his shopping basket and pulled out a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

Celebrating

50 Years

The Universal Barcode

Dawson explained later that this was not a lucky dip. “I had chosen it because nobody had been sure that a bar code could be printed on something as small as a pack of chewing gum.” Finally, there was a solution to the problem of slow checkout lines and inventory control. But it would take years for its successful implementation.

On October 20, 1949, Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver filed their patent application for the «Classifying Apparatus and Method,” describing their invention as “article classification...through the medium of identifying patterns.” The first patent for a barcode type product (US Patent #2,612,994) was issued to the inventors on October 7, 1952. The invention was based

on Morse code.

It was Morse code that gave Woodland the idea. Woodland had learned Morse code when he was in the Boy Scouts. As he was sitting in a beach chair and pondering the checkout dilemma, Morse came into his head:

“I remember I was thinking about dots and dashes when I poked my four fingers into the sand and, for whatever reason—I didn’t know—I pulled my hand toward me and I had four lines. I said ‘Golly! Now I have four lines and they could be wide lines and narrow lines, instead of dots and dashes. Then, only seconds later, I took my four fingers—they were still in the sand—and I swept them round into a circle.” However, it took twenty years before this invention became commercially successful.

more quickly. The delays and the regular stocktaking were costing him profits. The dean shrugged him off, but a junior postgraduate, Bernard Silver, overheard the conversation and was interested. He mentioned it to Woodland, who had graduated from Drexel in 1947. Woodland decided to take on the challenge.

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An early use of one type of barcode in an industrial context was sponsored by the Association of American Railroads in the late 1960s. Developed by General Telephone and Electronics (GTE). It was called KarTrak ACI (Automatic Car Identification). This program involved placing colored stripes in various combinations. to the sides of railroad rolling stock. Two plates were used per car, one on each side, with the arrangement of the colored stripes with encoded information such as ownership, type of equipment, and identification number. The plates were read by a trackside scanner located at the entrance to a classification yard, while the car was moving past. The project was abandoned after about ten years because the system proved unreliable after long-term use.

Barcodes finally became commercially successful when they were used to automate

supermarket checkout systems, a task for which they have become almost universal. The Uniform Grocery Product Code Council had chosen, in 1973, a barcode design developed by George Laurer. Laurer’s barcode, with vertical bars, printed better than the circular barcode developed by Woodland and Silver. Their use has spread to many other tasks that are generically referred to as automatic identification and data capture (AIDC).

In June 1974, the Marsh supermarket in Troy used a scanner made by Photographic Sciences Corporation to scan the Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode on a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum. Woodland said it sounded like a fairy tale: “I had gotten the inspiration for what became the barcode while sitting on Miami Beach. What I was after was a code of some kind that could be printed on groceries and scanned so that supermarket checkout queues could move more quickly, and stocktaking would be simplified.”

That such a technology was needed was not Woodland’s idea: it came from an anxious supermarket manager who had asked a dean at Drexel Institute of Technology, in Philadelphia, to come up with a way of getting shoppers through his store

In 1948, Silver joined together with fellow graduate student Joseph Woodland to work on a solution.

Woodland’s first idea was to use ultraviolet light sensitive ink. The team built a working prototype but decided that the system was too unstable and expensive. They went back to the drawing board. With the barcode it was soon realized that there would have to be some sort of industry standard.

So confident was Woodland that he would come up with a solution to the supermarket dilemma left graduate school in the winter of 1948 to live in an apartment owned by his grandfather in Miami Beach. He had cashed in some stocks to tide him over. It was in January 1949 that Woodland had his ah ha, moment. Though the brilliance of its simplicity and its far-reaching consequences for modern existence were not recognized until many years later.

Back in Philadelphia,

Woodland and Silver decided to see if they could get a working system going with the technology at hand. Although the patent illustrates the basic concept, there is only limited anecdotal evidence about what Woodland and Silver built.

A crude prototype in Woodland’s own home used a powerful 500-watt incandescent bulb. An oscilloscope was used to “read” the code; the whole thing was too big. Allegedly, it worked, up to a point. But an objective evaluation judged it would take 20 years.

Bar codes became commercially successful when the scanning technology came up to speed, and were used to automate supermarket checkout systems, a task for which they have become almost universal. The Uniform Grocery Product Code Council had chosen, in 1973, the bar code design developed by George Laurer. Laurer’s barcode, with vertical bars, printed better than the circular barcode developed by Woodland and Silver. Their use has spread to many other tasks that are generically referred to as automatic identification and data capture (AIDC).

Today the barcode business is booming throughout industries and by 2023, virtually all products sold contain bar codes.

Harriet Quimby – First Licensed Female Aviator in U.S.

BY HENRY M. HOLDEN STAFF WRITER

AREA - Quimby was the first woman licensed as a pilot in the United States (1911); first woman to pilot (solo) an airplane (1912) across the English Channel, and the first woman to make a night flight (1911).

Harriet Quimby was born in Coldwater, Michigan, 0n May 11, 1875., She moved with her family to California in 1887.

In 1903, Harriet Quimby moved to New York to work for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, a popular newspaper. There, she was the drama critic, writing reviews of plays and the new medium, moving pictures. She also served as a photojournalist, and one of the first women to use a camera to support her journalism. She traveled to Europe, Mexico, Cuba, and Egypt for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. She also wrote articles, advising women on their careers, and on household tips.

Harriet Quimby epitomized the independent woman of her day, living on her own, working at a career, and driving her own automobile.

In October 1910, Quimby went to the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament on Long Island, to write a story. She befriended Matilde Moisant and her brother, John Moisant. Along with his brother, Alfred, John ran a flying school. Quimby was bitten by the flying bug. She began her flying lessons. Harriet dressed in disguise as a man, to hide her identity and become the first licensed female pilot thus gaining a one up on

the almost exclusive fraternity of male journalists. The press discovered Quimby’s lessons and began following her progress.

On August 1, 1911, Harriet Quimby passed her pilot’s test and was awarded license #37 from Aero Club of America, part of the International Aeronautic Federation. Quimby was the second woman in the world to be licensed; the Baroness de la Roche had been awarded a license in France.

“Once I had my license,” said Quimby, “I’ve realized that I could share aviation with my readers. I wrote in the first person because my readers could feel closer to the events in the cockpit. I called some of my adventures “How A Woman Learns to Fly” and ‘The Dangers of Flying,” and “How to Avoid Them.”

After earning her pilot’s license, Harriet Quimby began touring as an exhibition pilot in the United States and Mexico.

At that time, women used adapted versions of men’s clothing.

While wide hats were in fashion, they were not practical in an open cockpit airplane. For most American women emerging from the Victorian era, pants were unacceptable and immodest. Some women attempted to compensate with trousers with buttons on the inside that converted the garment into a skirt. Most women found this uncomfortable, awkward, and sometimes dangerous. Eventually a flying outfit emerged that was accept-

able. “It may seem remarkable,” Quimby said “When I begin to fly I could not find a regular aviator’s outfit for me in New York.

“Finally, my tailor helped me design a style that was extraordinary for the era, one piece outfit with full knickers reaching below the knee and high-top black kid boots.

The outfit had matched gauntlet style driving gloves and a long leather coat for cold weather flying.

In late 1911, Harriet Quimby decided to become the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Another woman Miss Trehawke-Davis flew across as a passenger.

The record for the first woman pilot remained for Quimby to achieve, but feared someone would beat her to it. So, she sailed secretly in March 1912, for England. She borrowed a 70-hp Bleriot monoplane from Louis Bleriot, who was the first person to fly across the Channel in 1909.

On Sunday, April 14, Quimby was ready. She had never flown a 70-hp plane and wondered about its control. She was used to flying a 30-hp plane. The weather is perfect: She could see Calais, 22 miles across channel and everyone urged her to take off immediately and take advantage of the weather.

However, it was Sunday. She refused to fly on a Sunday for any reason. The following day there was heavy rain, and her ground crew sat all day in a cramped room waiting for the weather to clear.

Rabbi Mark Biller To Spotlight Rav KookIn Series Called ‘Living A Soulful Life’

AREA - Rabbi Mark Biller will delve into the thought and philosophy of Rav Kook, a towering figure in Jewish life, in a three-part series, via Zoom, called “Living a Soulful Life.”

The series, which is free and open to the public, will take place on Thursdays, March 14 (“Midnight Writer”), March 21 (“Everything Is Sacred”), and March 28 (“Every Moment Counts”), all at 1 p.m.

Our Jewish World is cochaired by Ilene Dorf Manahan and Melanie Levitan, both of Morristown.

Rav Kook was Chief Rabbi of Israel during the British Mandate years (in the first part of the 20th century). He is considered the father of religious Zionism, and is a mystic, whose beautiful and profound writings still inspire.

“A realist who dealt with the politicians of the early State of Israel, Rav Kook saw a positive life force in all creatures and beings,” Rabbi Biller notes. “His goal was to foster positive understanding between Jews of all religious levels of practice, to teach a deep appreciation of nature and our place in it, and to bring conscious awareness for all to every moment.”

Rav Kook awakened every midnight to add entries to his personal diary. He reflected

on life and wrote free-flowing prose about his spiritual beliefs—writings that were meant to remain private. Many years after his passing, the diaries were translated and published, so now we can gain direct access to his deepest unedited thoughts.

The series presenter observes, “For Rav Kook, Torah study is a doorway to finding the sacred in everything, and the goal of a religious life is to feel and find a sense of unity with all life. No matter how fraught the world seems, for Rav Kook each moment can hold the potential for connection and goodness.”

Rabbi Biller brings a wide perspective to his teaching and patience for all the questions we may have. He specializes in the art of storytelling, and counseling Jews of all ritual levels looking to find meaning in both modern life and rich Jewish traditions. The spiritual leader of synagogues in his native Canada, as well as in Alabama, Arkansas, New York and New Jersey, the rabbi received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Preregistration is required for the series. To register, email iadpr@aol.com. One registration will cover all three sessions.

Blood vs. Plasma

AREA - Donating blood is a selfless act. Each year, blood donors collectively save the lives of millions of people across the globe. The American Red Cross reports that blood levels continue to be low, and hospital need often outpaces the rate at which many blood donation organizations can replenish their supplies, That reality results in emergency shortages. When people think about blood donations, they frequently envision whole blood donations. But it is possible to only donate plasma as well. And donors typically can

donate plasma with greater frequency than they can donate blood. Whole blood donations include all four blood components: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. By contrast, plasma donation involves collecting only the plasma component of blood and returning the other three components to the donor, says Plasma Hero. The American Red Cross indicates plasma helps maintain blood pressure and volume; supplies critical proteins for blood clotting and immunity; carries electrolytes to muscles; and helps to main-

tain a proper pH balance in the body to support cell function. Plasma is around 90 percent water and is utilized in therapies to replace missing, deficient or malfunctioning proteins in people with life-threatening diseases, including primary immunodeficiency and hemophilia. It also can be given to trauma and burn victims. It is an essential component, and a donation of plasma only takes a few minutes longer than donating whole blood. Unlike type O blood, which is a universal blood donation type, with plasma, type AB is universal.

On April 16, 1912, the weather had cleared of the rain but there was a substantial fog along her planned route.

Quimby decided to go for it. Her route was approximately the same route that Bleriot has flown -- but in reverse. She took off from Dover at dawn. The fog-overcast skies forced her to rely solely on a compass which one of her pilot-friends had just showed her how to use for a bearing. About an hour later, she landed in France near Calais, 30-miles from her planned landing spot. In doing so she, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel.

But fame did not catch up to her accomplishment. The Steamship Titanic had hit an iceberg on April 16, and had sunk with over 1,000 lives lost.

When the press “noticed” her accomplishment they were not pleased. Because the Titanic sank the newspaper coverage of Harriet Quimby›s record-setting flight received little acclamation in the United States and Britain. Any coverage was sparse and buried deep within the papers.

The editorial page of the New York Times on April 18, 1912, took a narrow view. The editorial was no doubt influenced by the paper’s lack of support for women’s suffrage movement that was in bloom in spring of 1912.

A reporter said, “Just a few months ago the same flight was one of the most daring and everywhere a remarkable accomplishment by man. Since then, the passage has been repeated by men, and now with them there is no glory. The flight is hardly anything more than proof of ordinary, professional competency.”

The Times continued, and

in a condescending warning, said “The Feminists should be somewhat cautious about exalting Miss Quimby’s exploit. They should not call it a great achievement lest by doing so they invite the dreadful and humiliating qualification ‘great for a woman.”

The smell of the sour grapes still lingered by the time Harriet arrived back in New York on May 12. She received no hero’s welcome and there was no ticker tape parade. It was a matter of timing. Only a week earlier 15,000 women and 619 brave men marched in support of women’s suffrage. The male leaders of the city had not yet recovered from this demonstration of feminine assertiveness. They weren’t ready to admit that there were female eagles, let alone honor them.

Harriet was not a woman who would like some anonymous editors to have the last word. “I wish I could express my views and ideas,” said Quimby. “It’s not a fad, I did not want to be the first American woman to fly just to make myself conspicuous. I just want to be the first, that’s all, and I am honestly delighted that I have written so much about other people, you can imagine how much I enjoy sitting back and reading about myself for once. I think that is excusable in me.”

Harriet Quimby returned to exhibition flying. On July 1, 1912, she had agreed to fly at the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet. She took off, with William Willard, organizer of the event, as a passenger, and circled the Boston Lighthouse. Suddenly, in view of hundreds of spectators, the twoseat plane, flying at 1,500 feet, lurched. Willard fell out and plunged to his death in the mudflats below. Moments later, the plane nosed down and

Harriet Quimby also fell from the plane and was killed.

The editor added a preface to Miss Quimby’s now posthumous article, “In her tragic death, there is a note of pathos in the enthusiasm, energy, and prophecy for women in her article.

The New York Times, also commented on her tragic death. This Quimby woman is now the fifth woman in the world to die in an airplane accident. They were students and with the loss of Quimby it is five too many. The sport is not one for which women are physically qualified. As a rule, they lack the strength, and presence of mind, and the courage of aviators.

More than 110 years later, time has vindicated Harriet Quimby. Her spirits, at the time were angered by the negative and condescending editorials. If she were here today, she would smile, and rejoice, and say, “see, I told you so.”

Looking back, it is obvious that the cause of the accident and fatalities was due to Willard suddenly shifting his weight, disturbing the center of gravity and, Willard and Quimby failed to wear their seat belts.

All though Harriet Quimby’s career as a pilot lasted only 11 months, she was nevertheless a heroine and role model for generations to follow -- even inspiring Amelia Earhart.

As a late but somewhat redeeming gesture, on April 27, 1991, the U.S. Post Office issued a 50-cent air mail stamp in her honor. At the time, Harriet Quimby was a third female aviator to be honored on a postage stamp; Amelia Earhart (1963), and Blanch Scott (1980) and were the other two.

Harriet Quimby is buried at Kensico Cemetery, in Valhalla, New York.

Quimby’s tailor helped her design a style that was extraordinary for the era, one piece outfit with full knickers reaching below the knee and high-top black kid boots. (photo credit: public domain).

the Mesh

Patch Between 2018 and the present? Was the patch removed due to complications, you may be entitled to compensation. Attorney Charles Johnson 1-800-535-5727, Email: bdehkes@charleshjohnsonlaw.com

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