Category: Suburban Opinion

  • A gift for the man who has too much — a manscaper

    Coda • GREG BEAN My friend Butchie Rawlins may have been the hairiest human being in the history of the world. For starters, he had a full head of thick, curly, black hair, but that was only the beginning of the wonder. His beard began coming in when he was 13, and it started high…

  • Voters approve extra $2.2M for high school

    Additions/renovations slated to be complete in June 2010 BY MIOCHAEL ACKER Staff Writer “We’re just glad that enough people realized the need to finish the building and that it is in the best interest of the school district and the town.” — Michael Macagnone SAYREVILLE — Borough voters last week approved the additional funds the…

  • School friends show compassion for child

    Youngster wages battle with neuroblastoma BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer The Simpkins family of Old Bridge received an early holiday gift this month. Just days into December, Kelli and Shameil Simpkins learned that a tumor that had been found in their daughter Nia, 4, was gone. The family also received $9,036 to put toward their…

  • Proposal simply means higher cost in future

    The plan to defer payments into employees’ pension systems on the local and county level and in the school system is currently in the state Senate budget committee. Proposed by Gov. Jon Corzine as a way to help avoid property-tax increases, it is a plan that will bring future headaches larger than those we now…

  • U.S. must redouble peacekeeping in Darfur

    The crisis in Darfur, Sudan, has been devastating, and civilians are suffering from the violence. Armed combatants in Darfur — including Sudanese government forces, the pro-government Janjawid militia and rebel groups — have subjected women and girls to sexual violence and other brutal assaults. According to Amnesty International, on Sept. 5 alone, five women and…

  • Carmine Piccora

    Mr. Piccora, 78, of Manchester, formerly of the Parlin section of Sayreville, died Dec. 8, 2008, in Kimball Medical Center, Lakewood. His wife, Rosemary G. Antonucci Piccora, died in 1994. Surviving are four children and their spouses, Robert and Myrna Piccora of Westchester, N.Y., Michael and Rose Piccora of Kennett Square, Pa., Lorraine and Lenny…

  • Use the $20 million to aid borough improvements, not developer

    Kudos to Greg Remaud, conservation director of NY/NJ Baykeeper, and to Robert Spiegel, executive director of Edison Wetlands, for their “Your Turn” guest column, “Sayreville Plan Is Bad for Taxpayers, Bad for Environment,” in the Dec. 4 issue of the Suburban. I can remember the “infamous stench and glowing chemical lagoons” of National Lead, Sayreville,…

  • Ruth St. John Le Van

    Mrs. Le Van, 83, of the Leisure Village section of Lakewood, died Dec. 5, 2008, at home. Before her retirement in 1985, she was employed by Equitable Life Insurance Co. in New York City, where she worked as a computer programmer for 25 years. Mrs. Le Van was predeceased by her husband, Wayne Le Van,…

  • No room for stereotyping in America … or the library

    “Raise your hand and point your finger. On the map, just let it linger. Anywhere you point your finger to, There’s someone with the same type blood as you.” — Hebrew Union College, 1950s With the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency, I am looking forward to our country putting behind many of…