W^H^WW^:;W^':::' ••>'^rr$p.i. Serving Cranford, Garwood and Kenilworth Vol. 117, No. 3 Thursday, January 20, 2005 50 cents INSIDE By LAUREN TRAINOH the plea and ruled that the case would not THE CHRONICLE \ Must continue treatment; won^t face jail time go to trial. This is not a slam-dunk case, this is a case where the court Could have CRANFORD — Ernest Piano, the for- that she was "sufficiently attractive for the state of New Jersey. Piano was also difficulties," he said. mer guidance counselor charged with ypu to ask her out yourself" he quietly fined $500 and $30 for court costs. Additionally, Piano's guilty plea will not harassment and accused of inappropriate- agreed. While he will not serve time in jail, he be admissible in any future civil court prof ly touching a female Cranford High School "No matter how jocularly you meant it, must continue to cooperate with his cur- ceedingfl. • '•''. ••<•.•"'•:.••'.'''.."'..:•'::"•:•' student on the buttocks last year, pled you could understand how a young girl rent counselor and continue to attend Piano,- 44, was charged with one count guilty in municipal court to a reduced could take that the wrong way?" his attor- scheduled counseling sessions, providing of harassment Nov. 10, following a joint charge Tuesday. ney asked. Again, Piano answered yes. the court with proof that he has attended. investigation conducted by the Division of In pleading guilty to the amended Piano must turn in his teaching certifi- : Had Uie charge not been amended; Youth and Family Services and the charge, Piano admitted making inappro- cate to the state and permanently give up Piano cQuld have faced a $1,000 fine and a Cranford Police Department. He was priate statements in a public place* When the profession. He agreed never to seek possible jail term of 6 months; ' : Piano's attorney asked if he told a student employment again in any. school within Municipal Judge James Bell accepted (Continued on page A-2) Spidey-sense Resident •Uniting at' Cranford's Terence Griernow wears Hillside Ave. the crown as the Cougars'all-time Spiderman visited Cranford's scoring leader after passing the old Hillside Avenue^ School on toput mark of 1,454 during a game last Friday to challenge the K-8 week. See Sports, Page C-1. grade students to make the right choices in life, Includ- on ing "Be a buddy, not a bully," "Be a good person and treat everyone with respect," and "When confronted with a problem, talk to someone — parents, teachers, or family By LftUREN TRAINOR members —until someone listens!" The superhero THE CHRONICLE • \ .':'. spoke to the students In two CRANFORD — Last year, assemblies, then visited three pedestrians were killed in each of the elementary class- the township, along with 12i 267 BROAD STREET, SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY rooms to personally meet the year-old Christopher children and deliver chal- Williamson, who was riding his lenge cards. At right, Spidey bicycle at the intersection • and students strike a web- Lincoln and. South Union DEALER slinging pose. avenues when he was struck CLICK: WWW.SALERNODUANESUMMIT.com from behind by a van. 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Not responsible for typographical errors. Offers expire 1/18/05, School last year, leading neigh- The wrestling star MickFoley will Township poised to move ahead with billing borhood residents to complain make in appearance and sign auto- about dangers to young children. graphs in Kenilwofth this weekend. By GREG MARX Squad's leadership doesn't support proposal patients in that way had been Those concerns have prompt- For more information about the THE CHRONICLE ' *• • •*• M. M. I. X deemeriAOTViodn illega11 larval I iirn» thfnoe pasti^oai-, buhi itf ed Board of Education member event, turn to Prime Time, Page B-2. the township's annual expenses, set the program's cost. Grady Jom said thanks to a new admin- Mike Caulfield to take action. CRANFORD — Though the a billing program may be insti- said the figure was based on the istrative ruling township profes- Caulfield is: organizing a leadership of the volunteer First tuted in the next few months. experience of the Roselle Fire sionals now believe they are on group of activists concerned • Aid Squad is not on board with "We are doing this as an eco- Department, which recently firm ground — if Cranford pur- about the lack of adherence to the idea, the Township nomic measure to start mitigat- began billing for the service. chases another ambulance to posted speed limits. His new cit- ONLY 4 DAYS! Committee appears poised to ing the cost of EMS in Cranford," Township officials have said comply with state regulations. izens' group is called approve a third-party billing said Mayor George Jorn. patients billed would be only The new ambulance wouldn't B.R.A.K.E.S., which stands for plan for delivery of emergency The township currently those who are treated by profes- be the only cost associated with Bikers, Runners, and Kids medical services by township spends between $250,000- sional EMTs and who are trans- the move. The township would Entitled to Safety. The not-for- employees. 300,000 per year to pay profes- ported to a hospital. The town- also have to hire a company to profit organization will oncou*". When the squad nearly disin- sional emergency medical techni- ship would drop the charge for conduct the billing. Township age drivers to slow down and rec- tegrated in 2002 and the town- cians to respond to calls 65 hours residents who do not have employees have begun soliciting ognize the impact speeding has ship developed Cranford per week. Though township offi- Medicare or private insurance. prices for the service, Jorn said. on the residents of Cranford. Emergency Medical Services to cials can not at this point guar- Billing would not apply to res- Despite the costs associated "We need to promote awareS .• guarantee service during day- antee how much revenue a third- idents who are treated by the vol- with billing, Jorn said the move ness in town that each of us has time hours, township officials party billing program would gen- unteer squad, which operates is financially necessary. "Even if to follow the speed limits," he made not billing residents a pri- erate, Finance Officer Tom Grady during evenings and on week- we mitigate some of the cost, said. "Each one of us has this ority. But with turnover on the put the estimate at $250,000 ends, obligation to think about that we committee and no end in sight to annually, or nearly enough to off- •Proposals to selectively bill (Continued on page A-2) might be in a hurry to get some- place, but we also have the responsibility to take care of the people in our town and make Student's story picked for fantasy collection sure they can use: the streets as well." . :.•.•••;•,•••/•• ; ByUURENTRAINOB the contest. thing, she said — it was based on A serious runner who has "We hadn't paid any attention some writing she had done on PlusOver 200 Rower praised THE CHItONICLE taken to. the streets more fre- to it — it was a class assignment her own, then reworked for the quently since last July to train CRANFORD — Rachel and we didn't even know the contest. for a marathon, Caulfield is care- ' Certified for volunteer wort Burzon-Fink has a penchant for details of it," she said. "It was a The contest rules specified THE RIGHT WAY. THE RIGHT CAR. ful to always wear reflective Cranford resident and PSE&G employ- writing fantasy, but that doesn't long time afterwards, so I didn't that each entry into the contest clothing. Still,, he said that mean her accolades aren't real. think anyone from around here must contain traditional ele- despite taking steps to enusre ee David Rower was recently recog- won, or we would have heard by ments of a fantasy story: a vil- FACTORY OPTIONS nized by the company for his volunteer This month, the sixth-grader his own visibility, he has noticed NEW 2004 CHEVY then." lain, a victim, and a hero. But the work on behalf of The Hope at Hillside Avenue School was that many other runners, bikers, one of nine grand prize winners But she started to get the idea story, while following a tradition- and skateboarders who .share Center/New York City Relief. See the in the Scholastic Book Club's al structure, is anything but typ~ SSR story on Page AS. something was up when she was the road with him are hard to 14.151 Fantasy Writing Contest.