Week of March 3
Thanks for supporting Becca’s special night
To the editor:
The Allentown High School Lady Redbirds basketball team would like to thank several individuals and organizations who helped raise more than $9,500 when we honored Becca Wishbow at our Jan. 23 home game vs. Lawrence.
We appreciated the support of the AHS administration staff, including Athletic Director Brian Irwin and VP Connie Embley; the work of the AHS Student Council, including Becca’s best friend, Kim Kepich; the efforts of Bruce Novozinsky and the Golf Parent Association, including the Becca wristbands, giant get-well card and numerous door prizes; the generous contributions from the players, parents and coaches of the Warriors Travel Basketball Association; Brad Winfree for donating and setting up the powerful sound system for the evening; Evan Maltz and the 3 Guys Coffee Co. for serving premium coffee in the lobby the entire night; the generous contribution from the West Windsor-Plainsboro- North girls basketball program, headed up by Coach Bob Boyce; the anonymous contributions of hundreds of Allentown, Upper Freehold and Millstone residents and the Lawrence basketball players and parents, along with all the other fans who came out for Becca’s standing-room-only special night.
The Wishbow family is very grateful for everyone’s generosity. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Becca as she wins her battle against leukemia.
Linda Weise
AHS Girls Basketball Coach
School site change worth ‘rushing’ for
To the editor:
Robert Cheff thinks our community is "rushing" to finally get the long-overdue middle school project moving after more than 26 months of overcrowding our students since the last referendum. That’s not really much of a surprise, since he claimed proudly during his second bid to rejoin the school board that his "number one achievement" was his support for the Ellisdale referendum.
As I’m sure must be true of others, it must be difficult for Mr. Cheff to watch his achievement so completely stalled.
Still, that’s no excuse for his poor attempt to deflect blame for the need to raise "millions more" to "move the school" from "a site already approved by the taxpayers." It has been well-documented by the board’s experts that the shortfall is actually the direct result of more than two years of delays and cost escalations, which were caused by a totally unsuitable site selection.
The need for additional bonding and voter approval cannot be blamed in any way, shape or form by the necessary move to Breza.
To be credible, what Mr. Cheff should have said about additional costs and voter approval is that they cannot be avoided on any potential school site.
The main cost difference on Breza is that we are now securing a second future school site, so that we do not need to suffer through a repeat of these wasted years all over again.
In my view, that’s something worth "rushing" for.
Micah Rasmussen
Allentown
Fire commission didn’t sell, justify budget
To the editor:
Once again, Millstone Township voters turned down the fire district budget. The budget meant a property tax increase of $51. This should be compared with the $41 increase in county property taxes forced down the throats of Monmouth county residents by the bloated county budget put together by the freeholders, on which we had no opportunity to vote.
I must admit that I am conflicted on the fire district budget. I obtained a copy of the budget and reviewed it, but I found it difficult to determine whether or not the budget was justified. In my view that is because government budgets must follow formats defined by state laws that are purposely designed to make budget formats confusing to voters. I also attended the budget hearing held by the Fire District Commission. This hearing was probably the biggest reason the budget was defeated. The commission did not sell and justify the budget. The presentation given by the commission’s lawyer was based on the argument that Millstone’s budget was no worse than the budgets of surrounding townships like Howell. I did not find this encouraging. Answers to questions asked by the audience, including the two that I asked, were totally unacceptable. They were not convincing and provided no justification for the budget. I found this very disappointing.
The fire commission needs some new contemporary blood. The current commission leadership does not serve the firefighters well. Many people that I spoke to judged the budget by asking the question, "How many fires does the district respond to in a year?" If not many, then the budget is too big. This question is not applicable in my view. Most of us have life insurance. How many times will we die? Most of us have homeowners insurance. How many times in a year do we expect to be robbed or our house burn down? These insurance premiums are costly. I view the fire district budget and its effect on property taxes as insurance.
As I said earlier, I don’t know whether the budget that was turned down is justified. I did not get a convincing argument. But the budget evaluation should be based on applicable questions. In closing, let me add that I am ashamed to admit that I did not vote this time around. I planned to, but got caught up in Saturday activities and when I remembered around 8 p.m., I was too lazy to go back out again to vote, which unfortunately is indicative of the low voter turnout, another sorry state of affairs. As it turned out, my vote would not have made a difference one way or another.
Gregory M. Cinque
Millstone
Caitano offers good ideas for board
To the editor:
We are writing this letter in support of Ken Caitano, candidate for the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education. Ken has shared some very good ideas with us as they relate to: quality education, a common-sense approach to education and strategies to control property taxes
Ken’s thoughts can be viewed at http://www.kencaitano.com. We believe that Ken will be a great addition to the board. We know that Ken will work with the board and bring ideas to the table to support short-term and long-term educational planning. In turn, education quality and costs can be optimized. We encourage you to learn more about Ken’s thoughts, and are confident that you will want to support him with your vote on April 17.
Doug and Kathy Cary
Rob and Pam Campbell
Upper Freehold
‘Stop the madness’ in Upper Freehold
To the editor:
It is unconscionable that the issue of constructing a new middle school in Upper Freehold has been thrust into a zoning debate around a particular piece of property Breza Road. The rush to abandon the existing location of the new middle school in favor of a new one is a disservice to the taxpayers of this community.
The finger-pointing and political intrigue would be bad enough. Throw in the recently released state school district test results and this issue takes on a more troubling overtone.
If our elected officials are not careful they will be responsible for precipitating a devaluation of our township’s home values. Our township has grown a significant number of higher-valued housing developments over the past few years. These home values stand to lose ground to the extent that the school district continues to suffer and test results fail to increase. Now with no other choices, we are being asked to take more risk, provide more dollars and place more trust in a process that has failed to yield any returns. Frustration does not truly address this issue.
Leaders need to start to lead and respecting the decisions made by the voters would be a good place to start. Political finger-pointing and interest-group agendas are hurting our community, eroding our educational system and casting our town in the worst possible light. Our kids and community are suffering and it is time to stop the madness.
John A. Mele
Cream Ridge

