to 0 o O 1>J o a- —i t2J o M r- h- -J O ~j * Oh- u * OG Serving Westfield, Scotch Plains and Fanwood * 18, No. 11 * xi i'£i UJ Friday, March 14, 2003 50 cents H M - h- Vestfield rejects townhouse project By KEVIN B.H0WELL The applicant. Prospect Gardens ther testimony because the rest of the case Goski, and the construction of ten 2\t- TMK KKf •ORIM'KKKS L.L.C., rested its case at the previous was contingent on the board allowing story townhouse structures arranged in a meeting, requesting a vote on the use vari- townhouses in the zone. quad The units would have been restrict- WESTFIELD — The Board of ed to resident.-; age f>f» and older. Adjustment Monday unanimously reject- The applicant's only witness, planning ed an upplication to build a 10-unit town- "Putting Prospect Gardens in the middle of our neighborhood is like consultant Dennis Hudncsko. argued in house complex in a single- and two-family February that if the board granted the use home zone on Prospect Street and Nelson putting a wedding cake in the middle of a row of cupcakes. The icing variance, the other l.'l variances would be Place. may be the same, but it's still different." nullified because they do not pertain to The board's decision came after resi- - Eileen Kennedy-Moore townhouse structures Hudacsko also dents of those streets, united under the argued the development was inherently banner "Westfielders Opposed to Over- beneficial because it would provide senior Development," expressed opposition to the ance it sought. The applicant argued that The proposal called for the demolition citizen housing close the downtown busi- project, saying it would impair quality of if the board were unwilling to grant the of three two-family homes, all owned by life in the neighborhood. use variance, there would no need for fur- Prospect Hardens L.L.C. owner Kenneth <Continued on page A-2) Champions SCOlch Plains-Fanwood High Finally, Police School wrestler Stephen Mineo won th? Region 3 119-pound champi- onship Saturday in Union, one of a robot three Raiders matsmen to win a on guard Region title. See the story on Page C-1. that cares against Caring Coach delivers positive terror message to kids By NKK PAMORE dy KEVIN ». HOWPJ. .STAKK WK1TKH.H TIIKHKCOKD I'HKSS For decades, local police SCOTCH PLAINS — If ele- departments have focused their mentary school children in the energies and resources on local Scotch Plains-Fnnwood school issues: drunk driving, auto theft district seemed a little overen- and domestic violence, to name a thusiaHtic coming home from few. But with war in Iraq loom- school lust week, a robot called ing and the continuing struggle the Caring Coach is the likely against Al-Qaedn, ensuring pub- culprit. lic safety hat* meant joining the The Caring Coach, a remote- international ant i- terrorism controlled animntronic robot, is effort full force. part of an N..J. FamilyOire pro- "A whole new realm of con- gram to teach students about cern opened up (after Kept. ID," Former New York Giant Lee Rouson personal and social well-being. said Cranlurd Police Chief Harry visited Westfield's Edison The conch visited all five public Wilde said. Intermediate School to deliver an elementary schools and St. While Union County obvious- Inspirational message. See story on Bartholomew's School during the ly has no targets a.s spectacular PagoB-1. district's Purple Week, an annu- as the World Trade Center, police al drug and alcohol abuse aware- say the area still must be con- ness campaign. cerned. Toward the end of the school Among possible threats in the day Mnrch f>, the Cnring Coach area, Wilde said, is the proximity paid n visit to Evergreen School. of oil refineries, such as the More than 300 students sat anx- Bayway plant in Linden. "We're iously as the blue-ami-gray robot in close proximity to refineries rode into the room playing music and Bayway and live in the and giving students hi-fives. shadow of where the World The Caring Conch's main Trade Center used to be. We message was that each student have to lie reasonable in raising has a million-dollar machine. our level of awareness," he said. "The million-dollar machine And though local officials is the body," Caring Coach stud. have long been concerned about "Everyone is u million-dollar the Sun Oil Co. pipeline that machine. You can do anything if runs beneath the area, Wilde you keep your million-dollar said, the threat of terrorism only machine clean." heightens that concern. The line The robot used audience par- is used to transport jet fuel, ticipation to get the lesson on gasoline and dieael fuel. health across. It stressed that In Kenilworth, said Chief while everyone's body is a mil- William Dowd, one site of con- lion-dollar machine, each person cern is the global headquarters gets only one. The students Matthew Blanck, a second-grader at Evergreen School in Scotch Plaint, got a rid* from the Caring (Continued on page A-2) Coach when the robot paid a visit to the school March S. (Continued on page A-2) Sctnts iro itlftn Westfield council takes lead Thirteen Westtield Girl Scouts recently earned the Gold Award, the highest In Scouting For information on student parking problem mot their accomplishments, see JVKEW.HOWEU. THE RECORD-PRESS High school parking becoming WESTFIELD — Frustrated by its inability to strike a deal with the Board of Education about a problem in Scotch Plains parking outside the high school, the Town Council took separate •vKEVMLHOWrELL measures recently to improve the THE RECORD-PRESS situation. SCOTCH PLAINS — Though the problem of parking around The council is moving forward Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School hasn't created as much bad with restrictions that would pre- blood in the township as it has in Westfield, residents of Cedar Mraiiy vent students and staff from Street and Carol and Monica places say they are fed up with the parking on certain streets Monday is tfw last day (or voters to hazardous conditions caused by cars parked on their streets. around the school, and planning "I The problem) has been growing over a number of years," said register (or the April 15 school to put funding in place for a new board elections. Dan Catullo, a resident of Carol Place. "It just got to a peak where lot near the school. we can't take it anymore. It's because of the growth." At the council's conference Like Westfield High, Scotch Plains-Fanwood High has seen meeting Tuesday, Councilman enrollment increases and is undergoing a construction project, Rafael Betancourt, chairman of which now occupies 60 parking spaces. The spaces will be regained the Traffic, Parking and when the project is complete, according to Kathleen Meyer, com- Transportation Committee, pre- munity relations coordinator for the school district. sented his committee's recom- Catullo said the three small streets, located behind the school mendation to restrict parking on (Continued on page A-2) Commentary A-4 Edgar Road and Lynwood Place. Residents from those streets Community Life B-1 were in attendance at a usually Castellano, who cited difficulty to park in front of their homes empty conference session. with fire trucks getting through during those hours. Sports C-1 The committee recommended the circular street. Residents of Edgar Road came NICOLE DIMEUA/STAFf PHOTOGRAPHER parking be prohibited on both The restrictions would prohib- to the council at the beginning of Prime Time B-3 sides of Edgar Road and it parking on "outside" portions of the year complaining about prob- Learning his history Lynwood Place from 6 a.m.-2 the circle from 8 a.m. to' 2 p.m. lems with students parking on rObituaries B-2 Mendy Block, 4, holds a Queen Esther puppet as he and other p.m. on school days. The commit- school days and place full-time their street. Residents were also children learn the story of Purlm at the Union County Torah tee also recommended similar restrictions on the inside of the concerned about loitering, litter- Center In Westfteld. For another photo from the story and Real Estate C-2 restrictions on Stoneleigh Park circle. In both cases, street resi- ing and drug use in the area; crafts hour, see Page A-6. at the request of Fire Chief John dents can obtain parking permits •Police Log A-8 (Continued on page A-2) March 14, 200; A-2 Record Press — Police on guard against terror Westfield council takes lead (Continued from page A-l) ing part in specialized training you to know. It's the most infor- of pharmaceutical company programs. mation I've seen the govern- Schering-Plough. The borough Cranford officers have ment share." on student parking problem stepped up patrols at the plant attended schools in Of course, all these efforts property it did not own- following Sept. 11, and police Washington, D.C., Wilde said, come with a cost. Most of the (Continued from page A-l> In response, the council has decided to ded- met with corporate officials as and have been in contact with costs thus far, police said, have drug-related arrests were made on one of the icate $120,000 of its capital budget so thai it recently as Friday to discuss former Township Commissioner been for overtime pay. streets last month. might take on the project itself this year. emergency and disaster plans. Tom Denny, who is now working But police are also trying to While the council identified Edgar Koad "We thought we could have a partnership In Wostfield, Sgt.