Borough politics took center stage in 2002

This is the second in a series of four articles looking at events from 2002 as reported in the Windsor-Hights Herald.

By: Mark Moffa
   The following dates reflect the issue in which the story was published.

April 5

   
The East Windsor Education Association endorsed Suzann Fallon, Susan Lloyd and Alice Weisman for the school board elections.

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   Hightstown Borough Council approved two new parking regulations — one limiting parking in certain areas to a two-hour limit and another establishing permit-only parking spots.

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   Hightstown High School’s jazz band, led by Ronald Heller, won several prizes at state high school jazz festivals.

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   The high school began to prepare for an April 2003 review from the Middle States Association; a self-study was to be conducted and surveys were being prepared.

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April 12

   
Mayor Amy Aughenbaugh and Council President Mike Vanderbeck were slated to run in the Democratic mayoral primary; no Republicans were scheduled to run.

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   As part of a spell of criminal activity plaguing the Windsor Castle Apartments, a 15-year-old girl was attacked and sexually violated while doing laundry.

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   Clara Martino was featured. Every month, 10 times a month, she weaves blankets for Better Beginnings Day Care Center in Hightstown.

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April 19

   
Voters elected Suzann Fallon, Susan Lloyd and Alice Weisman to the East Windsor Regional Board of Education.

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   More than 60 people attended a Twin Rivers Homeowners Association meeting to question a proposed tort immunity clause that would prevent residents and guests of the community from suing for slip-and-fall accidents on common grounds.

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   More than 50 people were left homeless when a fire gutted eight apartments in Twin Rivers.

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   Federal authorities arrested four New York men believed to be involved in a string of often-violent local bank robberies, including the 2001 robbery of Hightstown’s Sun National Bank.

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April 26

   
East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov instructed the township’s Public Works Department to remove state Department of Transportation signs set up to direct vehicles around construction Hightstown’s revitalized downtown. Hightstown Mayor Aughenbaugh was "incensed" at the act of "vandalism." Mayor Mironov said she never was informed that signed would be set up.

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   The Committee for a Better Twin Rivers and the Twin Rivers Homeowners Association began mediation in regards to a lawsuit filed by the CBTR. The CBTR alleges the homeowners association unreasonably restricts Twin Rivers residents from participating in community affairs and restricts access to financial information and property that should be public.

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   The Peddie School hosted a conference with students from 15 public and private schools in the area to learn the extent of the homeless problem in the state.

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   Hightstown High senior Haley Reimbold was to be honored by the American Red Cross with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Exemplary Youth Volunteer Service.

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May 3

   
State Department of Transportation officials said East Windsor officials were justified in their concerns regarding the placement of detour signs for Hightstown’s construction project.

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   Bruce Ettman and Ricardo Perez were selected president and vice president of the school board.

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   Hightstown resident Hedda Edelbaum published her memoirs, "Pisces With Yeast Rising: A Memoir of Passionate Journeys."

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   Township officials held a ground-breaking ceremony for the new senior center on Lanning Boulevard Extension.

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May 10

   
Local residents Eugene Sarafin and John Kisella showed off their rainwater collection systems.

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   The Township Council adopted the 2002 municipal budget, which called for no increase in municipal taxes, which remained at 37 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

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May 17

   
The Peddie School closed a long-awaited deal to buy the Old Hights Theater on South Main Street.

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   The school board unanimously approved construction plans for additions and renovations on five of its schools and a virtually brand new facility to replace the Ethel McKnight School.

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   The Twin Rivers Homeowners Association changed its proposed tort immunity clause, removing the provision that would have restricted guests of residents from suing the trust.

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   Christopher Michael Lennon, 24, was indicted on charges of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of terroristic threats and weapons charges four months after allegedly stabbing his estranged wife on Exeter Road in East Windsor.

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May 24

   
A borough resident filed a grievance with the state Department of Community Affairs against Mayor Aughenbaugh for allegedly breaching ethics laws by voting as a member of the Planning Board on issues connected with Weichert Realtors, the company that holds the mayor’s real estate license.

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   Members of the Princeton Alliance Church prepared for a journey to Tijuana to build homes for the poor.

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   Julio Martin Reyes-Vega, 36, of Monroe allegedly stabbed a 30-year-old East Windsor man in the parking lot of ShopRite on Route 130 North after Mr. Reyes-Vega’s car collided with shopping carts with which the victim — a store employee — was working.

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   School district officials unveiled a new magnet school approach for English as a second language and bilingual students in the elementary levels.

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May 31

   
Highstown High announced it would use a new program for sex education — the New Jersey Teen Prevention Education Program.

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   Joseph Vuzzo, former Twin Rivers Community Trust administrator and former president of the Hightstown-East Windsor Chamber of Commerce, died at 67 after a battle with cancer.

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June 7

   
Mayor Amy Aughenbaugh defeated Council President Mike Vanderbeck in the Democratic mayoral primary. Former Councilman Bob Patten received write in votes for the GOP (there were no Republican candidates on the primary ballot), but there was a question as to whether he got enough votes to put his name on the November ballot.

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   The Junior Friday Club of Hightstown celebrated its 35th anniversary.

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   The Borough Council voted to ban Jake-braking in Hightstown.

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   The Township Council approved a plan to align the intersection of Hankins and Conover roads at Route 130.

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June 14

   
Mercer County’s election’s board declared that former Hightstown Councilman Bob Patten did receive enough votes to appear on the ballot.

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   Melvin H. Kreps Middle School sixth-graders in E=MC¯ won first place in a New Jersey Bar Foundation competition.

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   The township announced road work on the Dutch Neck Road and Route 130 intersection would begin.

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June 21

   
Paige Giaquinto, 9, of Edison Drive was struck by a minivan on Twin Rivers Drive in front of the Ethel McKnight School. She suffered a head injury and had been upgraded from critical to stable condition.

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   Having rejected the earlier magnet school approach for its basic skills program, the East Windsor Regional Board of Education accepted proposals from elementary school principals.

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   Grant Avenue residents in Hightstown complained to Borough Council about an increased number of speedy drivers on the road due to the borough’s downtown revitalization project.

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June 28

   
The Hightstown Planning Board unanimously sided against the school district’s proposals to expand the Grace N. Rodgers and Walter C. Black schools and Hightstown High School, saying the proposals would "strap the borough."

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   Hightstown High School’s Class of 2002 graduated at the Sovereign Bank Arena.

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   The Borough Council was considering a water rate increase of about 19 percent.