MHS Student Killed in Crash Looking Back at 2003
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Volume117 Number 1 THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2004 75 Cents Looking back at 2003 MHS student killed in crash ship’s Starbucks coffee shop, By Harry Trumbore who was driving westbound on of The Item Springfield Avenue. A Millburn High School According to the Union Town- senior was one of three young ship Police Department, the car men killed in a high-speed car was traveling at an extremely crash early Monday at the east- high rate of speed when, at 12:55 ern end of Millburn Avenue in a.m., the driver lost control as he Union Township. was apparently trying to turn Aleksandr Stelmakh, 17, was a right onto Millburn Avenue. passenger in a borrowed Honda The vehicle careened off the Accord being driven by Carteret side of a vacant brick building, resident Joel Jean-Louis, 21, a then slammed sideways into the former employee of the town- foundation of a multi-family res- idence nearby, police said. Stelmakh and another passen- ger, Lucsonn Mercius, 23, of Irv- ington, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. Jean-Louis died at University Hospital in Newark. The car belonged to township resident Elizabeth Sherman, Item file photo whose daughter, also a student at POOL TAKES ON NEW LOOK—Renovations to the munici- additional shade trees and umbrellas, bushes and grassy Millburn High School, loaned pal pool completed this summer include a new bath house areas. Rainy weather and construction delays pushed the the automobile to the driver, ac- and an office and first aid building, as well as a gazebo and pool’s opening back to July 4th weekend. cording to reports. There were no witnesses to the Building projects abound crash itself, said Sgt. Peter By Patricia Harris The Courtyard, behind the Quance of the Union Police De- and Harry Trumbore partment traffic bureau, but the of The Item Millburn Courtyard office build- ing on the northwest corner of car was spotted two and a half Business Administrator Timo- Millburn Avenue and Main blocks before it reached the thy P. Gordon described this year Street, underwent a complete deadly intersection. as a year of bricks and mortar, facelift, with the removal of “Witnesses estimated a high and that was certainly true as a cement walls of an inoperative rate of speed,” Quance said. An number of building projects were fountain, buckled brick pavers Aleksandr Stelmakh Continued on Page B9 completed or moved into various and debris-producing trees. In phases of construction. their place, a new soothing, wa- Work began on township terscape environment has been roads and bridges, with major created in the space that connects traffic backups a regular occur- parking lots east of Town Hall rence, and even summer was de- with the main downtown area. layed as officials raced to com- A concrete path stamped in a plete work at the municipal pool. stone pattern leads from Main The need for better communi- Street into the courtyard, which cation in 2002 was acknowl- features a dry basin lined with edged at various levels of local, stones. Three bubbling fountains county and state governments. will circulate water in the basin, After the narrow passage of and low shrubs and surface light- the school budget, the Board of ing will enhance the effect. Education responded to public The project—expected to criticism of increasing costs and come in at less than $200,000— salaries by opening up new chan- has been a joint effort of the nels for public involvement in township and the Millburn-Short the budget process and long Hills Chamber of Commerce, range facilities planning. In funded in part by the township 2002, the board also began hold- and in part by local property ing occasional meetings in owners and merchants. neighborhood schools. Plans for a makeover of the Township residents joined Millburn Free Public Library with neighbors in Maplewood to also moved ahead, with members defeat a proposal to build a cell of the library’s board or trustees Staff photo/Jim Connelly tower, and despite the township’s working with the architectural ACCIDENT AFTERMATH—On Tuesday afternoon, police tape pre-secession sentiments, a new firm of CR Studio in New York surrounds the site of a high speed accident that took the lives Essex County executive proved City to develop designs. That of three area residents, including a Millburn High School stu- willing to discuss the need for phase was to be completed by Item file photo dent, early Monday morning. The car hit the vacant building county government with town- the end of the year, and once SNOW IN JULY—At a secession and tax relief rally in July, on the left, then crashed into the basement of the three-story ship officials. plans are reviewed and costs more than 100 residents turned out in response to a state multi-family dwelling, center. In short, people were talking, have been estimated, construc- lawmaker who said it would snow in July before Millburn sometimes heatedly, to each tion documents can be drawn up would be allowed to secede from Essex County. State As- other in 2002. Here are some of and bids solicited. semblymen Jon Bramnick, in scarf and cap, and Eric the topics they were talking The project, scheduled to Munoz had snow shovels ready as it “snowed” from a spe- New face joining about. Continued on Page B9 cial effects machine. governing body The Committee will also set its By Patricia Harris meeting schedule for the remain- of The Item der of the year. When the Township Commit- Haimoff, an active participant tee conducts its first meeting of in the county’s Republican Party the new year next Tuesday, the for more than 20 years and a first new face in five years will township resident since she was appear on the five-member gov- 17, said this week she is looking erning body. forward to joining the Commit- Sandra H. Haimoff will take tee. an oath of office as a Committee “It’s something I’ve wanted to member, joining Thomas C. Mc- do for a long time and I want to Dermott, Salvatore J. Bate, Mary do it right,” Haimoff said. She McNett and Linda Z. Seelbach. noted Mayor McDermott has in- Haimoff replaces Elaine Becker, vited her into two conference who retired last month after 12 sessions of the Committee, years of service on the Commit- where she has been able to get tee. the feel for issues before the Also at its first session, the leaders. Committee will take care of reor- She expressed confidence she ganization business, appointing will enjoy working with the by majority a Committee chair- other members of the Commit- man and vice chairman, who tee. “Hopefully, I’ll fit right in hold the title of mayor and and we’ll all work well together.” Item file photo deputy mayor, respectively. Mc- One of her goals is to foster TEMPORARY BRIDGE GOES IN—Two-way traffic on Vaux halted due to problems with the footings. The road closure, Dermott has served as mayor for communication between the Hall Road finally flowed over the East Branch of the Rahway along with construction on the bridge on Ridgewood Road the past three years, and Bate has Township Committee and resi- River on Oct. 30, after engineers installed a temporary made for difficult driving in the township in 2002. Work on served as deputy mayor for that dents, and to that end, she will bridge where construction of a permanent one had been the Vaux Hall Road bridge is set to resume in the spring. same time period. Continued on Page B9 Please recycle. At least 15% recycled paper. Inside : Men in black patrol mall. See Page A2. 2003 in sports. See Page B1. Classified B6-B8 Education A9,A10 Movies A8 Public Notices B9 Social A7 For home delivery, Editorial A4 Entertainment A8 Obituaries A6 Religious news A6 Sports B1-B5 phone (973) 233-5005 Page A2 THE ITEM of Millburn and Short Hills Thursday, January 1, 2004 Spring Street crash sends woman to hospital Meninblackpatrol By Harry Trumbore Mall at Short Hills of The Item A woman was hospitalized performing regular tasks By Harry Trumbore around the township. Friday after the second serious of The Item motor vehicle accident in one Besides the ESU team, there month at the same downtown in- Heavily armed and highly are officers from the Essex tersection. visible members of the town- County Sheriff’s office pa- Judi Saladino, 58, of Murray ship police force have begun trolling the mall, according to Hill was driving east on Millburn patrolling The Mall at Short Brown. A bomb dog and bomb Avenue at 1:56 p.m., police said, Hills as part of the raising of the removal technician are also on when she hit a car driven by Lor- nation’s terror alert status to duty during mall hours, he said. raine Ashley, 78, of Maplewood, “orange,” the second highest Although valet parking is still who was driving south on Spring risk of terrorism. offered at the mall, several of Street. The officers are part of the the department stores have can- The force of the crash drove department’s elite Emergency celed their concierge services Saladino’s vehicle over the curb, Services Unit (ESU), according where shoppers can drop off hitting a fire box and coming to to Lt. Robert Brown, who heads packages. rest against the brick steps of a the unit. Brown said this week “If you have a package, building. the men should not be consid- you’re going to be carrying it,” Saladino was administered ered a traditional SWAT team.