B-MS, township both win
To the editor and residents of Hopewell Valley:
I was proud to be a resident of Hopewell Township last week during the final negotiations between our Planning Board/Environmental Commission and officials representing Bristol-Myers Squibb (B-MS).
As many of you are aware, B-MS has been seeking a 20-year General Development Plan (GPD) which, if approved, would have potentially allowed public water and sewers into the township. This off-site infrastructure would invalidate the basis of our Master Plan, which relies on the township’s local aquifers to meet our current water supply and wastewater assimilation needs and to limit the intensity of future development. Bringing in public water and sewers would render the Master Plan’s foundation meaningless.
The process established by our founding fathers to balance the needs of the general public with those of the private sector worked profoundly well during the several meetings held between the township and B-MS. During these meetings, several residents of the township, Pennington Borough, and staff from the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association provided comments and recommendations to improve the GDP. When clarity was needed, B-MS’s professionals took the time to provide specific information to make us more comfortable with what they were proposing.
These countless hours of "give and take" negotiations concluded in a GDP that both the residents of the Hopewell Valley and B-MS could accept. Public water and sewers are no longer proposed as a future option, the development rights of the remaining open land will be incrementally transferred to the township, and monitoring will continuously be conducted to preserve the area’s water resources.
The residents of the Hopewell Valley should thank our hard-working Planning Board and Environmental Commission for the fine job they did during these grueling bargaining sessions. And, based on B-MS’s willingness to coordinate with us as it grows, we should continue to welcome B-MS as a good corporate member of our community.
Robert Kecskes
Hopewell Township
BullDog available worldwide
To the editor:
While the circulation range of our school newspaper in previous years was limited to four hallways, the student journalists of Hopewell Valley Central High School are thrilled to announce that the school newspaper, The BullDog, is now available online for worldwide viewing! We invite anyone, worldwide or perhaps more locally, to log on to the school Web site at hvchs.k12.nj.us, and click "The BullDog" on the menu on the left. This will take you to news reports, features, and opinions by student writers.
The BullDog is written by students in journalism classes and extracurricular student contributors. We also welcome contributions from community members. If you would like to comment, suggest, kvetch, or send kudos, please e-mail us at [email protected]. Anonymous contributions will not be considered for publication, and all submissions may be edited.
We would also like to express our thanks to PNC Bank for the generous contribution of a year’s class subscription to the Hopewell Valley News for our student journalists. It is our class text every Thursday, and we truly appreciate PNC’s corporate support.
We hope you enjoy The BullDog online and hope to hear from you!
Brittany Taylor, editor
Theresa Solomon, advisor
Winter clothing needed
To the editor and Valley residents:
People to People International was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Since then, hundreds of chapters have formed nationwide and worldwide to continue the nonprofit organization’s motto, "Peace through Understanding." In 2002, our chapter, the Greater Princeton Student Chapter, was formed to spread community and multicultural awareness to the youth. Since then, our chapter has successfully collected 5,000 pairs of shoes and soap for Haiti, hosted a benefit dinner that helped convert a landmine field to a cornfield in Sri Lanka, educated elementary students in the cultures of the world, hosted a video conference with a fellow chapter in Egypt, and continued correspondence with neighbor chapters.
Currently, eighth-grade students from the Timberlane Middle School, who are members of the People to People Greater Princeton Student Chapter, are working in alliance with Pakistan Airlines and the Sungi Foundation (www.sungi.org) to distribute winter clothes to the victims of the recent earthquake in Pakistan. The recent natural disaster has left thousands homeless and in desperate need of fundamental provisions such as food, clothing, etc.
In the coming weeks, we will be collecting winter clothes, new or used, but in good condition, from the community. We ask for the generosity of the community toward this cause. Donation boxes have been placed at St. James Church, Pennington Presbyterian Church and Pennington Library in Pennington and at Failte Coffeehouse and Hopewell Library in Hopewell Borough.
Your help and cooperation will be greatly appreciated. You may contact us at [email protected], or by the phone numbers listed for any one of the chapter officers. Together, we can make a difference between today’s world and tomorrow’s. Thank you so much for your kindness and consideration.
Neal Bakshi, 737-1265
Nick and Evan Angelus, 466-1302
Oliver Beacham, 818-1627
Tyler Vitullo, Alexander Petruccio,
Robert Henderson, Robert Wei
Help Lions help others
To the editor:
There are Lions loose in the Hopewell Valley!
The Hopewell Valley Lions Club has been serving this community since 1951. Each fall members have volunteered their time and have conducted a fund drive by offering for sale a variety of products during visits to many of the homes in the three Valley communities of the Valley. They sold fruit cake, chocolates, nuts, gourmet coffee and teas, plus various other items that may be of interest to folks who wish to support the Lions’ efforts.
This year a new special offering is a holiday tree ornament featuring Washington. All of the profits from these sales go directly to programs that the Lions have supported through the years. Such programs include collection and distribution of used eye glass for worldwide distribution, free loan of wheel chairs, sick room and convalescent supplies, support for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, youth sport teams, sponsorship of a very active Leo Club at Timberlane Middle School, assistance to children and youth with special needs, and more.
Internationally the Lions, the world’s largest service club, has contributed over $15 million to helping the victims of the south Asia tsunami, and are currently active in providing assistance to people victimized by the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
There are not enough Lions Club members to visit every home in the Hopewell Valley, but anyone who is interested in providing support to this fund raising effort may call one of the following Lions: David Gore, 737-3625; Larry Franz, 737 4286; Bill Kibbel, 737-2394; Larry Mansier, 737-0863; Arlene Naber, 730-0472; Carl Swanson, 466-2962.
Carl Swanson
Hopewell Township
Township officials
asked to solve problem
To the editor:
This is an open letter to members of the Hopewell Township Committee:
Thank you for taking the time on Oct. 11 to listen to our group of Blackwell Road residents describe the problems that have resulted from the Wellington Manor development built by Beazer Homes. Single-family residences were constructed on small lots within 20 feet of our property lines, and the lots for those homes have been graded in a way that ensures runoff water drains toward our properties, without any provision to divert the run-off.
This construction defect has created the following problems:
Saturated the soil to the extent that it caused a tree to uproot and fall on one of our houses, and continues to cause distress to standing structures.
Eroded topsoil, and made it difficult to perform normal landscaping. In some areas the soil is too saturated to allow mowing of lawns.
A stagnant, foul-smelling, 4-foot deep pool of water adjacent to our homes, in what was previously a field of grass.
An increase in the mosquito population, documented by the Mercer County Mosquito Control Commission. This is a major health problem for all residents in the area, including residents of the new Beazer homes.
Beazer has failed to address these problems, despite repeated appeals. A question was asked during our presentation: what lessons could be learned from mistakes made in the approval process? We’re sure there are many, but the development is already in place, and we’re living with the problems that have been created.
Beazer continues to refuse to accept responsibility. We respectfully request the committee to use whatever means it can to encourage this organization to address our concerns. We do think the township should take Beazer’s response to these problems into account when that organization makes other building applications.
Sandy and Joe Sadley
Carol Davis,
David and Hope Anderson
Hopewell Township
PTO goal exceeded
To the editor:
We would like to thank Hopewell Valley merchants, Toll Gate Grammar School families, teachers and staff for their very generous donations to the Toll Gate Grammar School PTO "Blue Jean Ball" auction held on Nov. 5. It was a fun-filled, well-attended night and your donations helped us raise over $38,000, which far surpassed our goal.
The money raised at this event is a major part of the Toll Gate PTO’s annual budget. PTO funding is crucial to providing our students and staff with additional educational opportunities and resources that might otherwise be unavailable to them. Our Toll Gate children, teachers and staff members will benefit greatly from the auction’s proceeds. Thank you again for your generosity. Your support was crucial to the success of this event.
Molly Rice, Cynthia Wiley
Toll Gate PTO
Auction Co-chairwoman
Project Democracy
To the editor:
Thank you to all the parents and students who took time last Tuesday to visit the polling locations in participation of Project Democracy. We had 934 students vote throughout Hopewell Valley. According to our students, it was indeed a close race, with 468 votes for Doug Forrester and 462 for Jon Corzine. There were also four write-ins. A special thank you to all the residents who helped our voters by staffing a voting location.
It is great to see this family tradition of voting together continue in Hopewell Valley. We are looking forward to the next election in April.
Kim Bruno
Hopewell Township
Think Bin Laden
To the editor:
For those in Congress who oppose torture under any circumstance, I caution them that when the U.S. government, at the close of the Spanish American War, decided to go back on a promise of Philippine independence, implied by Admiral Dewey and others to Emilio Aguinaldo, who lead the Philippine independence movement, Aguinaldo, began a campaign of guerrilla war for independence against us.
However, General Funston captured one of his messengers, tortured him and with the information he obtained, embarked on the daring expedition that captured Aguinaldo.
Admittedly, the war in the Philippines was marked by cruelty and torture by both sides. Nevertheless, this effectively shortened the insurrection in the Philippines, and saved the lives of many American soldiers.
Think Bin Laden!
John E. Hein
Hopewell Township

