9/11 monument will show skyline, towers

Memorial to S.R. resident and other victims due in April

By jennifer dome
Staff Writer

Memorial to S.R. resident and other victims due in April

By jennifer dome

Staff Writer

A place of tranquillity and reflection will soon be built amid a bustling community.

South River’s own monument to Sept. 11 will soon be erected in Daley’s Pond Park, Prospect Street.

Sculptor and borough native Blaise Batko has completed a design for the monument, which he presented to Mayor Robert Szegeti and the Borough Council at its Dec. 9 public meeting.

The presentation was made with the blessing of the family of deceased resident Christopher Dincuff, whose mother attended the meeting.

"My son loved this town," Joan Dincuff said.

"This is a beautiful way to remember him and all the other victims of Sept. 11," she said, fighting back tears.

The monument will be constructed on the opposite side of Daley’s Pond from the gazebo.

In the middle of a circular, white-concrete sidewalk, which will be surrounded with plants, an outline of the New York City skyline will be erected in black granite. Among the solid outline of the skyline, two replicas of the twin towers will be built from a stainless steel frame.

The frame of the towers was designed to allow light to reflect through the structure, Councilman Arthur Londensky said.

On one side of the solid skyline there will be an inscription dedicated to Christopher Dincuff and other victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Batko told the Dincuff family and others at Monday’s meeting. The other side will have an inscription for the emergency service personnel and military who sacrificed their lives as a result of the terror strikes, he said.

The monument will also have benches nearby and will be lit at night from both sides, Londensky said.

Batko said the monument was designed to look the same no matter which way a person views it.

"It will look beautiful from every direction," Batko said.

The cost of the sculpture itself is $35,000, Londensky said. Additional landscaping and labor costs are expected to be defrayed by volunteers such as local contractors who have already volunteered materials and services, and local unions have also volunteered to help with construction, he said.

The sale of brick pavers to local residents, who can have their family’s name inscribed on them, may also reduce the cost of the sculpture itself, Londensky said. The brick pavers would be used for a walkway that will lead to the circular sidewalk surrounding the monument, Londensky said.

Officials hope the monument will be finished by April, according to Londensky.

"It’s great to get someone from our own borough to build the monument," Londensky added, speaking of Batko.

A model of the monument will be displayed at the South River Public Library, Appleby Avenue, for public viewing.

Christopher Dincuff, who was 31, was born in South River and was known as an active member of the community. Besides his mother, Joan, he is also survived by his father, Frank, who has a wife Eileen, of Piscataway, and his siblings Beth, Amy and Ian.

Christopher also had a fiancée, Angela Gutermuth, whom he had planned to marry in September of this year.

Dincuff worked as a commodities trader for Carr Futures, a global brokerage firm whose offices were located on the 92nd floor in the north tower of the World Trade Center. Carr Futures housed approximately 150 employees in its Manhattan office. Dincuff was among 69 employees who were missing from the firm.