Volume LXXIII, Number 33
Special Needs Spotlight Pages 20-22 Flood of 1955 is Subject of Flemington Talk . . . . . . . 5 Thomas Sweet Opens New Location . . . . . . . . 8 Looking for Toni Morrison in This Week’s Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Princeton Summer Theater Closes Season with Topdog/Underdog . . . . 14 Former PU Men’s Hockey Star Teves Looking to Make Canucks . . . . . . . 23 PHS Grad Lis Primed for Season with Georgetown Women’s Soccer . . . . . 25
Steven Gubser, PU Theoretical Physicist, Dies . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .18, 19 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 17 Classified Ads . . . . . . 30 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 28 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 4 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 30 School Matters . . . . . . 11 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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W-J Safe Streets Program Culminates With History, Athletics A week of activities sponsored by the Joint Effort Princeton Witherspoon-Jackson Safe Streets Program was more than a Witherspoon-Jackson (W-J) neighborhood celebration. “If we lift up Witherspoon-Jackson, we lift up Princeton,” said John Bailey, program coordinator. “If we lift up the community, we make it a better place to live, work, play, and to do business.” Bailey, who stressed that this was a community effort, noted that what started more than 10 years ago with a picnic and small program has evolved to include educational, arts, and historical events including, last Saturday, the dedication of Heritage Tour plaques at four historic black churches in the W-J Historic District. The walking tour to commemorate the dedication of the plaques included ceremonies at the Morning Star Church of God in Christ, established in 1941, 431 Birch Avenue; Mt. Pisgah AME Methodist Church, established in 1832, 170 Witherspoon Street; Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, established in 1840 as the First Presbyterian Church of Colour, 112 Witherspoon Street; and First Baptist Church of Princeton, established in 1885 as Bright Hope Baptist Church, 30 Green Street. At each church congregants and community members heard a brief congregation history from a church representative, and applauded the unveiling of a new Heritage Tour plaque. At Witherspoon, the Rev. Lukata A. Mjumbe said it was appropriate that the new plaque was next to one honoring Elizabeth “Betsey” Stockton, born a slave, who started a Sabbath school at Witherspoon. He also noted that activist, scholar, athlete, and singer Paul Robeson grew up at the church where his father, the Rev. William Robeson, was pastor. “The name Witherspoon Street connects us to the community,” he said. “It connects us to all who lived along this street.” Shirley Satterfield, president of the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical & Cultural Society, and a member of the Joint Effort Safe Streets Host Committee, arranged the tour and acted as a guide. Satterfield said that the churches are the first of 29 designated W-J Historic District sites to get plaques, and explained that the plaque program serves to “research, Continued on Page 11
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Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Opposition Grows to Relocation of Westminster A letter sent to the Rider University community by University President Gregory Dell’Omo on August 7 urged members of the faculty, staff, and students to join “working groups” to assist in “the historic move of Westminster Choir College to Lawrenceville.” But several members of the faculty have declined the invitation, saying the move from Westminster’s Princeton campus to Rider, projected to be completed in time for the fall 2020 semester, would mean the end of the prestigious music school, which has been located since 1932 on Walnut Lane. Westminster also encompasses the Westminster Conservatory of Music, a community music school. Two days after the letter went out, Bruce Afran, attorney for the Westminster Foundation, filed an amended complaint with the Superior Court of New Jersey’s Chancery Division. The amended document adds 13 tenured faculty members to a complaint which seeks to prevent the move. The facilities that accommodate
Westminster’s specialized conservatory training — private studios and practice rooms, specially constructed organs, and acoustically designed facilities for choral instruction and performance — do not exist at Rider’s campus, and no plans to build or replicate them have been announced, opponents of the move contend. Westminster’s Talbot Library, which houses special collections and rare editions of musical literature and sound recordings, would be relocated to the base-
ment of Rider’s Moore Library, according to the complaint. Rider, which merged with Westminster in 1991, announced at the end of 2016 that it was seeking to sell the music school to make up for a projected deficit. A Chinese company was identified last year as the buyer, but the $40 million deal was halted two months ago. Two ongoing lawsuits contend that Rider has no legal right to sell the school. The Continued on Page 7
Local Woodstock Tribute Concert Features Community-Minded Musicians
The musicians at the Woodstock 50th Anniversary Tribute Concert this Saturday have played for countless Princeton area residents who enjoy the locally-produced music at events like Saturday’s upcoming show at the Community Park North Amphitheater. But what many don’t know is that members of the Einstein Alley Musicians Collaborative (EAMC) volunteer their time
all year, supporting organizations like the Elks-run Camp Moore for youths with special needs, and at nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, the Menlo Park Veterans Memorial Home, and libraries, where music is always welcome. The August 17, 5 p.m. Woodstock tribute event, held on the weekend of the original festival, is co-sponsored by the Continued on Page 9
JERSEY FRESH: The summer season is in full swing at the Trenton Farmers Market on Spruce Street in Lawrence Township . Now under new management, it is New Jersey’s oldest continually running farmers market . Shoppers identify their favorite New Jersey produce in this week’s Town Talk on page 6 . (Photo by Erica M. Cardenas)