Category: Sentinel-NBS News

  • Manslaughter trial ends in hung jury

    State must decide by December whether to proceed with retrial BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer After six days of deliberation, a state Superior Court jury could not unanimously decide if Robert Knutsen was guilty of the aggravated manslaughter of his godson, 3-year-old Nikolas Chavez, in November 2005. Knutsen, 31, a former North Brunswick and current…

  • North Brunswick

    At stake: Four-year mayoral term and two three-year Township Council terms Francis “Mac” Womack* (D) Francis “Mac” Womack* (D) Running for: Mayor Age: 51 Residency: 20 years Occupation: Attorney Political positions: Mayor for three years; former councilman; former Democratic committeeman; former member of the Affordable Housing Committee Community involvement: Coached recreational soccer, basketball and softball…

  • Group scares up chilling stories

    Garden State Horror Writers offers support for writers of dark genre BY LARRY RAPPOPORT Correspondent What frightens you? Is it a tarantula the size of a Hummer? A psychologically deranged killer? Or perhaps dinner with the in-laws? There’s one group in New Jersey that you might say is an authority on the subject of fear.…

  • Middlesex County freeholder race

    Stephen J. “Pete” Dalina DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES Stephen J. “Pete” Dalina Age: 77 Residence: Fords, Woodbridge Occupation: Retired bar and restaurant owner Position: Freeholder since 1990; deputy director since 1994; chairman of the Department of Parks and Recreation Listed accomplishments: Increasing the county park system from 4,500 acres to 6,670 acres; dedication of the John A.…

  • District involved in two lawsuits over comp time

    BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer NORTH BRUNSWICK – The Board of Education has filed a lawsuit against former Business Administrator Marshall Sigall alleging he wrongly claimed compensatory days. Former acting Superintendent Geri Margin, meanwhile, has filed action against the board to receive payment for compensatory days she says is owed her. The board filed the…

  • Sky Plaza application delayed until next month

    NORTH BRUNSWICK – Sidetracked once because of a failure to provide the proper notice to residents in September, an application to build a strip mall on Finnegans Lane was once again postponed due to a noticing error at the Oct. 18 Zoning Board meeting. Hitesh Patel, one of the owners of Finnegans Plaza, appeared before…

  • Theater stars of yore had roots at the Jersey Shore

    ‘Stars of the New Jersey Shore’ about locals who are part of theater history BY KATHY HALL Correspondent Local historian Karen L. Schnitzspahn’s interest in theatrical history may be genetic. The daughter of a magician and his assistant discovered the appeal of the past by browsing through her grandmother’s copy of Daniel Blum’s “Great Stars…

  • Photo

    ANDREW MILLER staff Siddharth Kurella, 9, of Kendall Park, tries to bite an apple dangling from a ruler during the Greenbrook School’s 2007 Lights On Afterschool Fall A Pa Looza in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick.

  • State grants Greenstein funds to fight attack ads

    Citing freedom of speech, Common Sense America chair stands behind spots BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (DMiddlesex Mercer) was awarded $100,000 in rescue funds by the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) last week to counter radio attacks made by an independent group called Common Sense America. “It identifies them for who they…