Clinton visit a 2000 highlight in So. Bruns.
JERRY WOLKOWITZ PRESIDENTIAL MOMENT — President Clinton alights from a helicopter Aug. 23 at Crossroads Middle School in South Brunswick, where he spoke about his school construction funding proposal.
Township also mourns the death of sculptor George Segal
By charles w. kim
Staff Writer
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A presidential visit topped off a remarkable year for the township.
President Bill Clinton came to South Brunswick on Aug. 23 to bolster the campaign of Rep. Rush Holt (D-12), who was locked in a tight race with former U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer, and to gain support for a school construction plan.
Clinton arrived by Marine helicopter at about noon at the Crossroads Middle School on Major Road to address about 400 guests of the Board of Education.
With Holt at his side, Clinton asked for help in supporting his plan to use federal tax credits in lieu of paying interest to school construction bond holders in order to lower the burden on communities that need new facilities.
Clinton asked that some of the federal surplus be used to finance the plan.
"There is no better way to spend the money," Clinton said.
Township staff had only several days to work with Secret Service agents to prepare for Clinton.
While that visit went off without a hitch, another event proved a bit tougher that month.
Thousands of Hasidic Jews descended on the township Aug. 2 for the funeral of Grand Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, 92, of Brooklyn. N.Y., who led the Bobov Hasidic sect in that borough for about 50 years.
According to custom, the rabbi had to be buried within 24 hours of his death, giving the township only hours to prepare for the throngs of mourners heading to the Deans Rhode Hall Road cemetery.
The pilgrimage of between 7,000 and 10,000 mourners caused the township to declare a state of emergency.
"It was a miscommunication," Chief of Police Michael Paquette said at the time, explaining that New York City police did not let the township know just how many mourners were coming until they were on their way.
"They were coming from everywhere," Lt. Ron Schmalz said.
The dedication of the headstone several days later turned out to be much smoother because the township had time to prepare for the crowds that gathered.
"He was very much a father figure," Isaac Stralberg, 33, of Brooklyn said of the rabbi.
As the Hasidic community mourned the loss of their leader, the township mourned the loss of its most famous son.
World-renowned artist George Segal, known for his life-size sculptures of everyday life, lost a 10-year battle with cancer at his township home on June 9. He was 75.
Segal was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1924, and moved to South Brunswick with his family in 1940. He worked as a painter during the 1950s, but turned to sculpting in the next decade.
Considered by many as one of the century’s premier artists, Segal has works displayed in 150 museums worldwide.
In addition to numerous awards, Segal was commissioned to do three life-size pieces for the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Segal said in a 1998 interview that the idea for one of those pieces, Fireside Chat, came from his own experience.
The piece showing a man listening intently to the radio, Segal said, was straight from his own youth.
"I would come bursting in the house and my father would say, ‘Shh, Roosevelt’s talking,’ " Segal recalled.
"It is a great loss for the township," Mayor Debra Johnson said during a June Township Council meeting.
Unfortunately Segal did not live to see the creation of the South Brunswick Arts Task Force.
That task force started out over the summer as the brainchild of Johnson, who assigned the project to her summer interns, and resident Lauren Edgar.
Last month the task force held an art exhibit for internationally known artist and another township resident Ludvic Saleh at the Dow Jones complex on Route 1.
The event featured more than 30 of the Saleh’s abstract paintings, and served as the inaugural event for the task force.
Saleh is also working with South Brunswick High School students to create two murals for the main meeting room of the municipal building on Route 522.
They are expected to be completed early next year.
The task force, which will soon be a permanent commission in the township, is also working on an artists’ database to develop local talent, as well as on recognizing school district art teachers for making art available in the community.
While the community came together to celebrate its diversity through the arts, it was almost torn apart in the early part of the year by a debate over holiday displays.
At several meetings early in the year, Township Council members grappled with the issue of whether to allow displays on municipal property, generating heated and oftentimes emotional debate.
The issue arose in late 1999 when about 60 seniors signed a petition asking to allow a Christmas tree and menorah at the Senior Center.
The township initially banned such displays in 1997.
In discussing the issue, Township Attorney Bertram Busch told council members that a recent federal court case did allow a diverse display in Jersey City as long as it represented the diversity of the community.
At the end of 1999, council members only approved displaying secular symbols such as lights and snowflakes on municipal property, but promised to discuss the issue further in 2000.
As a resolution to allow a more diverse display, including some religious symbols, came in front of the body, so did opposition from several members of the South Brunswick Area Clergy Association.
Led by Rabbi David Eligberg of B’nai Tikvah and the Rev. Francis Hubbard of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, the association asked the council to ban all holiday displays on municipal property.
In the end, the council voted down the resolution and gave Township Manager Matt Watkins the authority to decide on any requests for displays.
"I hope I never see this again," Deputy Mayor Frank Gambatese said in voting down the resolution 3-2.