Americ ^ High schoc rv tie the life and s in Serving Summits Springfield and Mountmimside Luther Kinj. *> 3 i c- Vi i|!iip Officers to participate in upcoming Police Unity iililliiiiii By Paul Creulich A brief but important northerly TempSe teens Staff Writer detour is planned so that officers may SPRINGFIELD — Four Spring- pay their respects at Ground Zero in to present concert field police officers will be hitting the New York City and at the Lincoln Temple Sinai Teens will present road on wheels m May as part of an Highway Bridge, where two Jersey "Sermon in Song: Jewish Broad- annual police pilgrimage to Washing- City officers lost their lives this past way Composers" on Friday at 6:30 ton, D.C. known as the Police Unity Christmas. p.m at Temple Sinai, 208 Summit Tour. All New Jersey officers will gather Ave., Summit. Officers from all over the country in Florham Park on May 9 to kick off For more information, call 908- will pedal their way to the National the journey. This town is an appropri- 273-4921 or visit Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ate starting point because the officer templesinainj.org. in Washington, D.C, the only national who started this event, Pat Montuore, memorial built and maintained by pri- was from Florham Park. Montuore Computer classes vate funding. The memorial includes a and 17 other officers made the first available next week marble wall engraved with the names ride to the memorial 10 years ago. The Mountainside Recreation of more than 17,000 of the nation's law Since then, the numbers have swelled Department will sponsor two new enforcement officers who were killed and now thousands of officers from computer classes next week. in the line of duty, dating back to 1792. around the country participate. "Shopping" on the Internet" will Among those names is Springfield The Board of Unity Tour chooses teach how to safely purchase mer- Police Officer Joseph R. Roessner, which officers participate each year chandise from a computer, credit who gave his life in the performance of and, in recent years, more officers card privacy, and popular shopping his duties on March i 3, 1962. have been turned away on account of Web sites. The class will take place The members of the Springfield the sheer numbers of cyclists converg- Monday from 10 to 11 a.m. The Police Department involved this year ing on the nation's capitol. registration fee is $10. are officers James Mirabile, Joseph Mickles says he expects the Police "Google It" will teach how to Cieri, Stephen Studlack and Sgt. Unity Tour will continue to grow with use the popular search engine, Richard Mickles. Cieri and Mickles each year. Google, as well as how to search have been on the tour in the past. He stated, "It became a challenge for all kinds of information online. In order to participate, each officer and a way to make people aware of The class will take place Wednes- must raise $1,500 in donations to how many officers give their lives day from 10 to 11 a.m. The regis- cover expenses. The surplus will be each year." Springfield Police Sgt. Richard Mickles is flanked by officers Joseph Cieri and Stephen tration fee is $10. donated to the memorial. A total of 153 officers died last Studlack at the conclusion of last year's Police Unity Tour in Washington, DC. The men are ,' All classes will be in the Learn- This ambitious journey takes three year in the line of duty. Eighteen of the at the Jefferson Memorial, with the Washington Monument in the background. ing Center at Borough Hall. days and covers almost 300 miles. It families of those officers will be pres- allows members of the police force to ent at the memorial, where the names 1 Space is limited. To register, nation's Emerald Society Pipe Bands; among officers is discouraged. While case of an emergency and EMS crews meet and bond with other officers, of the fallen officers will be read stop by the Recreation Office, a wreath laying ceremony, and a can- there have been minor injuries over are always present. honor their fallen comrades, spread aloud. The schedule of events includes 1385 Route 22 east. dlelight vigil. the years, there has never been any In addition to the total of 400 offi- awareness and donate money to the seminars by C.O.P.S., Concerns of The tour is not intended to be serious mishaps. All hospitals along cers from New Jersey who will'be For more information, call 908- memorial. Police Survivors; a march by our 232-0015. viewed as a race and competition the route are mapped out in advance in See TOWNSHIP'S, Page 2 Learn to do it yourself SAGE Eldercare will have a Tea for two! Board of School Estimate meets new workshop called "Handy Skills" for men and women of all By Joan M. Devlin of Schools Carolyn Deacon and Busi- Deacon surprised everyone by stat- ages who want to learn basic skills Staff Writer ness Administrator Paul Griggs. ing she was hoping to bring in the for home fix-it projects. SUMMIT — With an early start The mayor began, "Tonight is the school budget below last year's, rather Greg Skuiaton, a local profes- tlys year; the Summit Board of School first in a series of meetings about the than increasing it. She said she fell sional, contractor, will -conduct, Estimate b'egan the'first 'of its meet- school budget and it is really an out- strongly about this due to the increase workshops: on Wednesday and Feb. ings i'uesday night. "tV~develop the line of the budget only. There will be in city taxes and the many communi- 15 from 1 to4 p.m. school budget for the coming year. other meetings. It must be adopted by cations she has had about the taxes. Men and women are invited to There were not many attendees March 28." "We asked all the administrators to attend one or both of the free class- from the general public, but board He said, this way, plenty of time is hold the budget figures to the 2005 es to be held at SAGE Eldercare, members who were not on the dais allowed for the public's input. figures and we are now in the process 290 Broad St.V Summit, were in the audience. Olsen said, "Our goal is to contin- of meeting with them again and wiil Pre-registration is suggested. Mayor Jordan Glatt presided over ue to make our school system the try to keep the priorities in place." Call Suzanne Lyon at 908-598- the meeting, which included Ellen finest." He then went over a long list Then they discussed how every- 5514:;: Dickson and Andrew Lark from the of focus areas, which included student thing is growing, especially student Common Council and Board of Edu- achievements, safe environment, enrollment. Deacon noted that an cation President Harry Olsen. Also improved communications and contin- increase of between 55 to 60 students Library to present representing the Board of Education uing work on the new primary centers children's programs were Karen Chaplin, Superintendent development. See BQE, Page 2 The Mountainside Public Library, Constitution Plaza, will present two winter reading pro- grams for children. Stories arid nursery rhymes will be; Ihared during "Toddler Time" w|tii 2-year-olds and their adult ca||givers;: on Wednesdays, from ||| to II a.m. This session will through Feb. 22. preschool Storytime" is sched- uled lor;J3- and 4-year-olds on Thursdays; from 2 to 2:30 p.m. This Pboto By Barbara Kokkalis program will run through March 9. Three-year-old Victoria Delia shares a cup of 'tea' with Registration and proof of age her doll, Kit, at the Girls and Dolls Tea Party at Sand- are required. meier School on Saturday. To register or for more informa- tion, call 908-233-0115. Homeiarsd security lomSense' raises series kicks off Five years ago, domestic pre- money for playground paredness, especially at the county level, referred to floods and power By Paul Greulich crowd to raise money for the Edward outages. Today, when freeholders Staff Writer V. Walton Playground Fund. Cranford Police Chief Eric Mason, left, and Summit Police Chief Robert Lucid, right, con- talk about domestic preparedness, SPRINGFIELD — The unsung Brief monologues set the scene for gratulate Lt. Robert Week on his receipt of an Academic Award for Excellence after his they're also talking about home- battles of motherhood sprang to parodies of popular songs, their lyrics completion of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police West Point Command land security, and how well local comic, sometimes poignant, life on the re-worked to chronicle the various and Leadership Program. police departments are equipped to stage at Jonathan Dayton High School stages of motherhood, from pregnancy handle a terrorist attack. on Jan. 26 as the musical comedy to late childhood. Today, The Observer kicks off "MomScnse" entertained a lively See PLAYGROUND, Page 2 a series on homeland security at Officer honored for achievement the county level. See story Page By Joan M. Devlin am especially gratified by Lt. Week's receiving this award. 17. Staff Writer He is the first officer in Union County to win this aware! Turin, here she comes! SUMMIT — After serving 17 years with the Summit during the 10 years this program has been offered. We arc Police Department, Lt. Robert Week, now commander of all extremely proud of this accomplishment." Local girl to intern with NBC for Olympics the Traffic and Special Services Bureau, recently received The program is a result of the collaboration of the asso- By Paul Greulich junior at Syracuse University, where an award that was a bit unexpected.