Author: Web Site Administrator

In recognition of oral cancer awareness, the Union County Office of Health Management through the Chronic Disease Coalition of Middlesex and Union Counties has once again partnered with Krause Dental Care in Cranford to provide free oral cancer screenings.

Doctor Kurt M. Krause, D.M.D. will be conducting the free oral cancer screenings on Friday,  November 11^th from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at his office located at 118 North Avenue West, Suite 101 in Cranford. To make an appointment for your complimentary screening please call Doctor Krause at 908-272-3001. 

“Screenings are key to detecting oral cancer, and an early detection can save lives and we certainly urge our residents to see their doctors on this matter,” said Union County Freeholder Chairman Bruce Bergen. “It is important that we continue to raise awareness about all types of cancer, and I thank the partners who are involved in putting together this service.”

Oral cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 35,000 Americans this year and will cause approximately 7,500 deaths.  The good news is that it can often be found early in its development, through a simple, painless, and quick screening. With early detection, survival rates are high and the side-effects from treatment are at their lowest.

Like other health screenings, oral cancer screenings are an effective means of finding cancer at its early, highly curable stages. The Chronic Disease Coalition of Middlesex and Union Counties and Doctor Krause urge you to make oral cancer screening part of your annual health check-ups.

Doctor Krause is committed to doing his part to raise awareness of the importance of early detection of this devastating disease.  As with most cancers, early detection dramatically increases the survival rate.  For the third consecutive year, Doctor Krause and his staff are proud to be part of the first line of defense against oral cancer by encouraging yearly oral cancer screenings as well as educating patients as to the risk factors and early signs and symptoms of oral cancer.

To make an appointment for your complimentary screening please call Dr. Krause at (908) 272-3001.  For additional information, please visit Dr. Krause’s website at krausedentalcare.com.

For more information about Oral Cancer Screening, please call the Union County Office of Health Management at 908-518-5620.

Union County Freeholder Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Freeholder Alexander Mirabella joined Union County Sheriff Joe Cryan in congratulating the winners of the 6th Annual Union County Sheriff’s Pistol Competition at the Union County Sheriff’s Firearms Training Facility in Springfield.

Officer John Perez of the Roselle Police Department won 1st Place. Sgt. Helder Freire of the Roselle Police Department took 2nd Place. Detective Ken Grady of the Kenilworth Police Department took 3rd Place. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County Freeholder Linda Carter and Union County Manager Alfred Faella met with members of Union County Police PBA Local 73 at the Habitat for Humanity project on East 5th Street in Plainfield. The members of PBA Local 73 volunteer and helped build houses that will go to deserving members of the community. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders announces that the next mobile paper-shredding program for personal, confidential documents will take place at Nokia – Bell Labs (formerly Alcatel-Lucent Technologies)  located at 600 Mountain Avenue in New Providence on Saturday, October 22^nd.  This will be the final paper shredding event of the 2016 season. The document shredding event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine. 

“Properly disposing of personal documents is one way for resident to protect themselves from identity theft,” said Freeholder Chairman Bruce Bergen. “Union County’s mobile document-shredding program compliments the County’s recycling efforts and other green initiatives, while giving residents a convenient opportunity to dispose old documents and confidential files safely and securely.”

All Union County residents are eligible to use the paper-shredding service. In an effort to accommodate everyone, there is a limit of four, 10-pound bags or boxes per person. NEXCUT Shredding of Elizabeth will be shredding personal documents from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  The event will end before 1 p.m. if the shredding truck reaches capacity.

This is a garbage-free event so please bring your documents in paper bags if at all possible. Plastic bags and boxes will be returned. Please remove plastic binders and large paper clips.  Paper that is wet/damp will not be accepted. Residents should continue to recycle non-confidential papers and magazines with their municipal recycling program.

Documents are put into 96-gallon containers provided by the shredding company. The items are then dumped onto a conveyor belt and shredded on site. Participants are welcome to view the shredding process via a closed-circuit television. The shredded documents are then recycled, shipped to paper mills and used as pulp.

The mobile shredding program is paid for through New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Recycling Enhancement Act Grant Funds. For more information about future events or directions please call the Recycling Hotline at 908-654-9889 or visit us online at www.ucnj.org/recycle.

Union Police Sgt. Michael Boll of the Challenged Athletes Foundation Operation Rebound Racing Team presents certificates of appreciation to the members of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders thanking them for their support of the sports and fitness program for American military personnel, veterans and first responders with physical challenges. Union County has been a proud partner with Sgt. Boll and the organization this year as part of Chairman Bergen’s initiatives for veterans. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County Freeholder Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Vice Chairman Sergio Granados present a resolution of thanks, appreciation and congratulations to Harinder “Harry” Bains, the owner of a deli and bar in Linden, for his role in the arrest of suspected bomber Ahmad Khan Rahimi last month.

Rahimi is accused of planting bombs in Seaside Park, Elizabeth and New York City and wounding two officers in a firefight with Linden police.

Bains saw the suspect sleeping around his bar, recognized him, and called police helping put an end to manhunt.

(Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County Freeholders Angel G. Estrada, Mohamed S. Jalloh and Vernell Wright joined Union County Sheriff Joe Cryan and Union Mayor Manuel Figueiredo and the Township Committee at the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in Union. Freeholder Estrada was the keynote speaker. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Long before critics would take note of his stunning folk art, Nicaraguan artist Roberto de la Selva showed up at a small enclave in the Watchung mountains.

It was 1927 and de la Selva, an associate of the artist Diego Rivera, ended up painting murals on the walls of one of the homes with scenes that would be precursors to his later wood carvings.

This Sunday, at Masker’s Barn in the Deserted Village of Feltville, there will be a special program focusing on de la Selva’s work and the need to restore the house that contains his murals.

The panel discussion, which gets underway at 1 p.m., will include Ron Burkard, an Oklahoma resident and scholar and collector of de la Selva art; Priscilla Hayes, a Deserted Village historian; Dr. Elizabeth Seaman, whose high school class created digital restorations of the murals; and Daniel Bernier, resident caretaker of the Deserted Village and administrator of its restoration.

Although the house is closed to the public, poster-size photographs of the murals will be on display at the barn.

“While Four Centuries at the Deserted Village is a lot of fun, with the hayrides, tours, the colonial children’s games and other activities, we try to strike that balance and explore some aspect of the Village’s and area’s history,” said Union County Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski.

Past forums have included authors, historians and archeologists, who shared their research with visitors on the multiple chapters in history that have played out in the small enclave above the Blue Brook, from its colonial beginnings as farming country to a resort community.

“We never had the opportunity before to explore de la Selva’s life, which is what makes this year’s forum so unique,” Kowalski said. “And hopefully, it will help spur further efforts to save and restore his murals.”

In the late 1920s, several homes in the village were owned by Edward Grassmann, a surveyor and engineer from Elizabeth.

Grassmann arranged for de la Selva to spend his summer in House #7, where he painted about a dozen murals directly on the plaster walls throughout the first floor of the house.  The murals were covered up with wallpaper within five years, and were not uncovered until 1975.

Since that time, the vacancy of that house, lack of environmental controls, and a leaky roof led to significant deterioration of many of the murals.

The de la Selva murals have attracted the attention art scholars and were included earlier this year in an exhibition of de la Selva’s art in San Antonio, Texas. Known more as a sculptor, his murals at the Deserted Village are the only murals that he is known to have painted.

In 2013, House #7 was cited by Preservation New Jersey as one of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey.  PNJ’s listing was intended not only to show the deterioration of the murals, but also to spotlight the need for funding to assist the County in its historic preservation efforts.

For more information and directions, go to www.ucnj.org/dv

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders celebrated the eighth annual Union County—UNICO District X Columbus Day Flag raising event at the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth. The program, which was emceed by Freeholder Alexander Mirabella, featured a number of speakers from UNICO, County government, and Filomena Coccaro, the owner of Ciao Amici  Italian Language Cultural Center, who was the keynote speaker.