County of Union, New Jersey

Union County’s Sensory Friendly Theatre series brings the puppet adventures of ‘Monster Intelligence’ – a musical journey for the entire family – to life on stage at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway on Sunday, September 13 at 2:00 p.m.

All tickets are $8 per person and can be purchased through the Union County Performing Arts Center at ucpac.org or by calling the Box Office at 732-499-8226.

“The sensory-friendly performance series is designed to offer a relaxed and safe theatre environment for children and adults with sensory sensitivity, developmental and learning disabilities,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh. “The Freeholder Board is proud to offer a performance series that helps make art accessible to everyone.”

Bring the entire family to follow Melvin in this musical journey. Melvin the monster is growing up fast – but he’s still not old enough to get his scream license. On his birthday, he makes a special wish to get his license early – and the Division for Monster Screams grants his request, but on one condition. First he must pass a difficult test to prove he is ready.

Up in Arms puppet theatre brings Melvin’s adventures to the stage with a cast of friendly, colorful monster characters and original songs (Green Day-style rock, classical, jazz, pop, and Broadway standards) – this is a journey never to forget.

Implementing the supportive atmosphere at the performance is the organization Autism Friendly Spaces, which provides specialists to train staff and volunteers on working with children with autism and other special needs during Sensory Friendly Theatre performances, while providing comfort and help to families.

For each of the special performances in the Sensory Friendly Theatre series, the theatre environment at the Union County PAC will be adjusted to provide a sensory-friendly, comfortable and judgment-free space that is welcoming for all families. For more information on what to expect at a Sensory Friendly Theatre performance visit ucpac.org.

Save the dates – mark your calendar for upcoming Sensory-Friendly Theatre series performances sponsored by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders: Sundays – November 22, 2015, January 10, 2016, March 20, 2016, May 1, 2016 and July 31, 2016. Specific show titles will be announced soon.

For more information or to purchase tickets call the Union County Performing Arts Center, 732-499-8226 or visit ucpac.org. The UCPAC Box Office, located at 1601 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM and is also open late on Thursdays until 8:00 PM.

For information on additional Union County recreational programs for people with disabilities age five and up, call the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation at 908-527-4806 or visit ucnj.org.

Over $73,000 in total grant funding awarded for projects

Union County, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to announce the 2015 Union County Library Grant awards to 20 public libraries in Union County for children’s programming and materials. The new grant opportunity seeks to expand, create, and enhance programming offered to children by libraries within Union County.

“As a youth my library card was as good as any driver’s license. It gave me access to the world and I enjoyed spending hours there reading. In today’s world, advancement in technology has changed the way young people learn and utilize the library,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh. “Through this grant program, the Freeholder Board hopes to support our public libraries in their efforts to offer programs and services that inspire learning in the ever-changing digital age.”

Public libraries engage children in many different learning opportunities that are crucial to social and educational growth.

“Libraries help to strengthen our neighborhoods by supporting the cultural lives of our diverse communities,” noted Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski, who championed this new grant program. “Adding important value to our communities as cultural centers, libraries are a place for children to explore, interact, and imagine.”

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Administered through a Trust Fund established with non-tax dollars, the grant opportunity made available over $73,000 to support 20 Union County public libraries.

Examples of projects eligible for funding through this grant opportunity include: technology upgrades; educational programming; purchase of books, videos, and audio tapes; creation or expansion of summer and fall programming; and planning documents.

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The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation are pleased to announce dates available for licensed New Jersey bow hunters to sight-in crossbows at the Oak Ridge Archery Range, located in Oak Ridge Park, Clark, New Jersey. Crossbow sighting systems are important because they give the hunter a point of aim on any target, thus increasing the accuracy of the crossbow.

On Monday, August 24, and again on the following Monday, August 31, the Oak Ridge Archery Range will be open to crossbow sight-in participants from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.  The Union County Archery Range staff will supervise the participating archers, who must all abide by safety restrictions and limitations.

“With the start of bow season in New Jersey approaching, these sessions will help make it a successful and more importantly safer hunting season for all involved,” said Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh.  “Working with our trained Archery Range staff, hunters will have a safe environment in which to insure their equipment is at its best for the hunting season.”

In order to participate archers must adhere to the following safety restrictions:

• Must produce a valid New Jersey bow hunting license.
• Must provide a suitable crossbow target.
• Only field points permitted; no broad heads allowed.
• Sighting-in of crossbows will be permitted only in designated archery lanes, and under the supervision of archery range staff.
• All archery range safety procedures and guidelines must be followed.
• No more than three (3) crossbow archers sighting-in a one time.
• The Oak Ridge Archery Range will only be open to crossbow sight in use on the above dates and times. Crossbow use is specifically forbidden at the Oak Ridge Archery Range any other time. NO EXCEPTIONS!

For more information about the Oak Ridge Archery Range you can visit the Union County Parks and Recreation website at ucnj.org/parks.

Freeholder Sergio Granados joined President of UCC, Dr. Margaret McMenamin, Board Chair, Victor M. Richel and Instructor Conrad Mercurius in presenting certificates to 11 Metal Fabrication/CNC Machinist Training Program graduates. Also there showing support and giving words of encouragement were Mayor of the City of Elizabeth, J. Christian Bollwage, NJ Community College Consortium Executive Director, Sivaraman Anbarasan and many UCC staff members.  

 

The final Union County Summer Arts Festival concert for 2015 will take place   Wednesday evening, August 26, with the Sensational Soul Cruisers taking the stage at 7:30 p.m. The free concert series, presented by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, and sponsored by ConnectOne Bank will take place at Echo Lake Park in Mountainside.

The Sensational Soul Cruisers, featuring four vocalists, backed up by an 11-man horn group, pays tribute to classic performers from Otis Redding and the Drifters to Barry White and the Commodores. The group captures the essence of the Jersey Shore sound and its R&B roots.

Pack a picnic basket, bring lawn chairs or blankets and enjoy the music under the stars. Refreshments and snacks will also be available from vendors.

Once again, UC Get Fit Yoga in the Park, a Union County Freeholder initiative will be part of the Wednesday night pre-concert schedule, with House Yoga of Kenilworth presenting a free community class from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.  Bring a mat or beach towel and participate in healthy activities for the entire family before the music begins.

“This will be the final opportunity for music fans to come out and enjoy some great entertainment under the stars at Echo Lake Park,” said Union County Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh. “Join us in saying good bye to summer with the great sounds of the Sensational Soul Cruisers”.

For rain information you can call the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation at (908) 558-4079 after 3:30 p.m. on the day of the concert or you can visit the Union County web site: www.ucnj.org.

Union County Freeholder Chairman Mohamed S. Jalloh, Vice Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski visited the cast of Hairspray before their first performance at the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) in Rahway. The Broadway musical is presented by the Vanguard Theatre Company and is sponsored by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders through the 2015 Union County Advancing Community Theatre (UCACT) program.

The UCACT program – offered as part of the Chairman Jalloh’s Building a Community of the Arts initiatives – aims to support the creative life of Union County by sponsoring enriching community theatre experiences that promote economic and social well-being.

The next performances of Hairspray will be Friday and Saturday, August 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, August 23 at 3 p.m. at the UCPAC.

For tickets or more information, visit www.ucpac.org or call 732-499-8226.

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is reminding National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders who filed a claim as a result of Hurricane Sandy that there are four weeks remaining to request a review if they believe their claims were underpaid for any reason. FEMA set a Sept. 15, 2015 deadline for policyholders to request a review.

FEMA sent letters to approximately 142,000 NFIP policyholders who filed claims resulting from Hurricane Sandy, offering them an opportunity to have their files reviewed. To date, more than 10,000 policyholders have entered the process. Additional payments will be made to policyholders when warranted.  To be eligible for the review, policyholders must have experienced flood damage between Oct. 27, 2012 and Nov. 6, 2012 as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Policyholders can call the NFIP’s Hurricane Sandy claims center at 866-337-4262 to request a review.

Alternately, policyholders can go online to www.fema.gov/hurricane-sandy-nfip-claims to download a form requesting a review. The downloaded form may be filled out and emailed to FEMA-sandyclaimsreview@fema.dhs.gov to start the review process. 

For individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and use 711 or VRS, please call 866-337-4262 to facilitate the filing of their claim review.  For individuals using a TTY, please call 800-462-7585 to begin the review process. 

Before contacting the claims center, policyholders are asked to have the policyholder’s name, their flood insurance carrier name, policy number that was in effect at the time of the loss, and the address of the damaged property.  For security purposes, you will be asked to provide some information to verify your identity.  Policyholders will be asked a series of questions to determine whether they qualify for review. Once qualified, they will be called by an adjuster to begin the review. The timing of this call may be affected by the volume of requests for review. Most reviews can be concluded within 90 days.

Files will be assigned to an NFIP-certified adjuster who will review the claim file. Adjusters will contact policyholders to guide them through the review process. Policyholders who have already requested their review can call 866-337-4262 if they have questions or need more information.

Establishing this review is just one step in the plan to ensure that the NFIP is customer-focused and helps policyholders recover from flooding in a fair, transparent and expeditious way. The Sandy claims review process is intended to be simple for the policyholder and does not require paid legal assistance. Additionally, there are several nonprofit service providers ready to offer free advice and answer questions policyholders may have. A list of these advocacy groups can be found on the claims review website at www.fema.gov/advocacy-groups-and-services-referral-list.

If you have any questions, please contact FEMA’s Intergovernmental Affairs Division at (202) 646-3444 or at FEMA-IGA@fema.dhs.gov.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only.  FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications. 

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

On Saturday, Freeholder Linda Carter attended Plainfield’s “Hooked on Fish, Not on Drugs” fishing event.  There were a ton of children who came out to enjoy the fishing festivities. Children were instructed on bait and fishing techniques.

Union County, NJ  –  Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi reminds County residents that a new state law has changed the number of vote-by-mail ballots that an individual can transmit to voters, and the number of completed ballots that an individual can bring to the Board of Elections.

“The new law sets a limit of three on the number of ballots that one individual can transmit to voters, and bring to the Board of Elections,” said Rajoppi. “This is the first election cycle with the new three-ballot limit in place, so please keep that information in mind if you are planning to be a ballot messenger or bearer.”

Previous state law enabled one “ballot messenger” to transmit as many as 10 blank ballots to voters, and it enabled one “ballot bearer” to bring an unlimited number of completed ballots to the Board of Elections.

The new requirements are defined in bill number S-685/A-4306, signed into law by Governor Christie on Monday, August 10.

For information on vote-by-mail in Union County, and to download the free Union County Votes mobile app, visit the County Clerk online at ucnj.org/county-clerk or call 908-527-4996.

Freeholder Alexander Mirabella joined Roselle Park Mayor Carl Hokanson, Fifth Ward Councilman Richard Templeton, Second Ward Councilman Joseph Petrosky, Councilwoman At Large Charlene Komar Storey, Councilman Eugene Meola and Councilman M. Gino Elmarassy at Roselle Park’s first annual Italian Festival.