Resident Avoids Injury in Accident, Maintenance Projects Included in School Budget, Seniors Ink Letters of Intent Last Week

Resident Avoids Major Injuries Following Glenside Court Accident

An 86-year-old Glenside Court West resident in Oradell was not seriously harmed after backing his vehicle into the creek near his home. Firefighters from River Edge and Oradell were both on hand to stabilize and assist on towing the car out of the creek.

Setting aside $475,000 , the River Edge Board of Education's "Plan A" 2013-14 budget calls for a major building project to either remove contained asbestos or replace a large area of roofing at Cherry Hill School.

River Dell's "Big Tuna", Bill Parcells has finally made his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as one of seven new inductees in the Class of 2013. Parcells, who was a finalist for the third year previously missed out in 2012.

For the first time in several years, River Dell High School celebrated as eight student-athletes committed to either a Division 1 or Division 3 school during Wednesday mornings Signing Day ceremony. The 2013 commitments included Anthony Sare (Loyola, boys soccer), Kevin Barry (Sacred Heart, football), Tim Barnes (Georgetown, football) and Scott Kim (Siena, golf). Seated from left are Mary Maccabee (Tufts, volleyball), Paige Fernandez (Middlebury, track), Frankie Maier (Seton Hall, soccer) and Emily Wong (Montclair, lacrosse). 

From Rhode Island and Maryland to Arizona and Illinois and back to New Jersey, 17 Bergen Catholic Crusaders officially inked their NCAA Letters of Intent during a Wednesday morning ceremony. Commiting to compete in college were: Jack Lippin (West Point, track), Kyle Queiro (Northwestern, football), Jon Germano (Johns Hopkins, football), Parker Tobia (Columbia, football), Tucker James (Bryant, lacrosse), James Dawson (Salve Regina, football), Dan Grasso (Colgate University, football), Mike Harper (Hobart and William Smith College, football), JJ Kulcsar (Towson University, football), Chris McBride (Long Island University-Post, football), Rich Queen (University of Massachusetts-Amherst, football), Phil Rigoglioso (Bentley University, football), John Tsimis (Rutgers University, football), Brian Balico (La Salle University, tennis), Zach Cerbo (Arizon State University, baseball), Travis Nitti (Rider University, soccer), and Ryan Rose (Rutgers University, golf).

As power outages lasted up to a week or more for River Edge residents following Superstorm Sandy, the borough's Office of Emergency Management struggled to send out updates or even communicate to homeowners. The same power outages that sent residents into the darkhad the same affect on its emergency services coordinator Tom Smith.

Smith recently oulined several new goals for the office going forward to lessen the impact on residents when communications fail including posting flyers at local houses of worship, resurrecting the Civilian Emergency Response Team (CERT), and utilizing amateur radio operators (ham operators) in the borough.

A proposal to convert the former DPW yard on Grove Street into commuter parking could prove costly to River Edge as borough engineer Robert Costa presented four options to the Mayor and Council with plenty of bells and whistles.

The options, ranged from laying down gravel to macadam to environmental pavers, along with lighting, drainage, and a stairway up to Kinderkamack Road.

For close to four decades, a group of volunteers spanning the many River Dell houses of worship came together donating their time by driving senior citizens to their doctor appointments. On what would have been the groups 37th anniversary, word spread among the volunteers that Starfish would disband at the beginning of February due to a decline in volunteers.

Starfish, which combines the Jewish star and Christian fish, was organized by a steering committee of residents that are now in their 70's to offer residents a way to help their older neighbors get around town.  

NJ Transit is raising the fares at 16 of its train stations March 1, according to an advisory posted on their website.

The increase will affect only the off-peak round trip rides from the Oradell train stations. During normal hours, a single ride to Hoboken from Oradell will cost $8.25 and a single ride to Penn Station will cost $9.25. 

This weekend, River Dell High School seniors Eric Fakharzadeh and Dominic Dickson will present their original video "Leftovers: Urban Combat" on MSG Varsity Channel 14, Saturday 12pm.

The short video will be aired during MSG Varsity’s Student Director’s Cut as one of seven student directed videos.

With the first building completely framed and the second partially complete, the Oradell Habitat for Humanity project recently welcomed a group of senior webelos from River Edge Pack 229 to the Lake Avenue construction site.

In honor of Groundhog Day, the Oradell Public Library Teen Advisory Board hosted a celebration of all things Groundhog.

After growing up at the Steuben House, River Edge resident Ivan Wright proposed to his girlfriend Adrienne Levy on the "Bridge that Saved a Nation" at Historic New Bridge Landing.

River Edge students from Cherry Hill, The New Bridge Center and Roosevelt schools will have their artwork on display at the Cultural Center through Feb. 13. 

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