Volume LXXIV, Number 36
Back to School Pages 12-14 Princeton’s Role in Suffrage is Explored in New Exhibit . . . . . . . . 5 Volunteers Make a Difference in Preserving Local Environment . . . 8 Princeton Municipal Building Among Voter Drop-Box Sites . . . . . 11 PU Women’s Hockey Star Connors Taking Part in Canada National Program . . . . . . . . . . 26 Hun Softball’s Venizelos Earns Scholarship Award On the Way to Colgate . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Celebrating Charlie Parker’s 100th Birthday . . . . . . . . . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .18, 19 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 21 Classified Ads . . . . . . 31 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 30 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 31 School Matters . . . . . . . 7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Full-time Career Firefighters Help to Reinforce PFD, Boost Volunteers Since hiring full-time career firefighters seven months ago, after more than 200 years as an all-volunteer squad, the Princeton Fire Department (PFD) has seen significant improvements in response times and full staffing of apparatus, and increases in active volunteers and volunteer hours. “This is a tremendous report,” said Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert in response to Fire Chief T.R. Johnson’s annual report last week to Princeton Council. “The fire department has gone through major transitions recently. It has improved response time, and volunteer numbers are increasing. Wonderful report — reflects truly amazing work.” Johnson pointed out that full-time staff, brought on board February 3, have made the PFD less reliant on assistance from other towns and have influenced the department in many ways. “Career firefighters have had an immediate impact on ensuring there is sufficient staffing supplemented by Princeton volunteer firefighters,” he said. “It has encouraged our volunteer members to take additional duty shifts at the station, which has significantly improved our response times and virtually removed our reliance on mutual aid for the primary apparatus response.” Emphasizing progress over the past year, Johnson continued, “The Princeton Fire Department has come a long way from a year ago. We are getting an apparatus on the road for every call in a timely manner, and, even with the challenges related to COVID-19, we are ensuring volunteer duty shift hours are being taken by all volunteer members. As with any department reliant on volunteers to complete our crews, we still have some gaps and are looking for ways to fill them. But our response times and crew sizes are significantly improved from a year ago.” T h e f ir e c h i ef ’s D e p ar t m e nt Assessment and Review, delivered by Johnson and Deputy Chief Devin Davis, noted a 41 percent improvement in response time since February, with an average response time of seven minutes and 15 seconds in getting the first apparatus to the scene. Volunteer hours have increased by 72 percent in the past seven months, with 28-30 active volunteer firefighters throughout the summer so far, Continued on Page 9
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Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Reopening Speeds Up, Princeton Weighs Risks The COVID-19 news, as usual, is mixed. Gyms were permitted to reopen on September 1, and indoor dining, movies, and indoor performing arts venues can open on Friday, September 4, under an executive order from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy — all at 25 percent capacity with social distancing and other restrictions. Schools are preparing to reopen either remotely, in hybrid fashion, or in-person in the coming weeks. And on Tuesday, September 1, New Jersey added two states, Alaska and Montana, to its list of COVID-19 hotspots placed on a coronavirus quarantine travel list of 33 states and territories. Princeton Public Health Officer Jeff Grosser reported yesterday, September 1, that the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) has assessed the central-west region of the state (Mercer, Hunterdon, and Somerset counties) as “low risk,” and that Princeton is among towns with the lowest rate of COVID-19 per 10,000 people in Mercer County. The current COVID-19 prevalence rate in the county as a whole is 230 percent higher than the rate in Princeton, Grosser said. “The rate of coronavirus spread is currently low in Princeton, but COVID-19 is just as contagious and dangerous as before,” wrote Princeton Mayor Liz
Lempert and the Princeton Council in their August 31 Princeton Coronavirus Update. “It is still important to practice socially distancing whenever possible, wear a mask when you cannot socially distance, and wash your hands frequently. These precautions are especially important as the state loosens restrictions.” Grosser emphasized that a safe, successful reopening of gyms and restaurants would require “a few key strategies”: proper mask wearing,
increased building ventilation, and managing a flow of customers. “The reduction of large groups in one location, increased space between patrons, and ensuring visitors wear masks will all ultimately reduce the potential for disease spread in our community,” he said. The Princeton Health Department reported only one active positive case of COVID-19 in Princeton on Tuesday, with five new cases in the past two weeks, a total of 215 positive cases, and 184 Continued on Page 9
Foxes Populate the Streets of Princeton; More Sightings Than Ever All Over Town Human activity in town may have diminished during the past six months of the pandemic, but foxes have become a common sight in Princeton. Animal Control Officer Jim Ferry has located several fox dens all across town, in the rural parts near Quaker Road and Stuart Road, and closer to downtown near Springdale Golf Course. “I have had many reports of foxes looking for food on Nassau Street, Palmer Square, and throughout the University,” said Ferry. “Foxes are territorial. No population estimate, but they are living in every part of town.”
He emphasized that healthy foxes pose virtually no danger to humans. Foxes and any other animal showing signs of rabies — inability to walk, falling over or walking in circles, making a continuous noise, biting at inanimate objects, appearing overly friendly or aggressive, experiencing seizures or other neurological issues — should be reported right away to Princeton Animal Control at (609) 924-2728. Ferry said that he had captured several foxes who were sick or injured, taking them to the Mercer County Wildlife Center for care, but no rabies have been found in Continued on Page 7
ALL’S QUIET ON THE BATTLEFIELD: Socially distanced parkgoers enjoyed the lovely weather and the shade of the trees on Sunday at Princeton Battlefield State Park on Mercer Road . (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)
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