Category: Public Info

Union County Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter (R) and (from left) Freeholders Vernell Wright, Bette Jane Kowalski, Bruce Bergen and Mohamed Jalloh congratulated Ella Teal (C) on receiving the Chester Holmes Humanitarian Award. Teal, Executive Director of the Urban League of Union County, received the honor during the First Annual Union County Black History Month Celebration on February 15 at Union County College in Elizabeth. The Freeholder Board created the award in honor of the late, former Freeholder Chester Holmes.  (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to sponsor a special program for adults at Trailside Nature & Science Center about caring for injured wild animals. The lecture, “A Day in the Life of a Wildlife Rehabilitator,” will be offered Thursday, February 28, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. The fee for this program is $8 for Union County residents and $10 for out-of-county participants.

Members of the South Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation Center will be on hand to explain what it takes to care for injured animals. The Rehabilitation Center provides a means for caring people to give orphaned and injured wildlife a second chance to live out their natural, wild lives.

“This informative and empowering lecture will enable us to respond appropriately to the injured wild animals we find in our midst,” said Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter. “There will be an opportunity to see some of the animals currently in the care of the facility and learn how you can help you local wildlife.”

Each wildlife patient requires specialized medical treatment and dietary care. The caregivers will explain how medical treatment is provided for injured animals and share techniques on how baby animals are bottle-fed until they are able to eat and fend for themselves.

For additional information about this lecture or other programs for adults or upcoming events at Trailside, call 908-789-3670 or visit www.ucnj.org/trailside.  Trailside Nature & Science Center is located at 452 New Providence Road in Mountainside and is a service of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

-end-

For more information on any Union County press release, please contact Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director for the County of Union, or a designee listed at the top of this press release. Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org, on Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/countyofunionnj .

Do you like working with artists, teachers and students? Union County’s annual Teen Arts Festival provides an opportunity for volunteers to get involved.

The Union County Teen Arts Festival, sponsored by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders through the Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs in the Department of Parks and Community Renewal, is a two-day celebration of the arts held annually at Union County College in Cranford. The event, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26 and 27, is open to all students from public, charter, private and parochial middle and high schools in Union County.

“Nearly 3,500 students with a staff of 55 professional artists participate in performances, critiquing seminars, master classes and workshops in every discipline – visual art, music, creative writing, theater and dance,” said Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter. “Volunteers are needed to assist artists with workshops, manage performance sites and staff information stations. We appreciate the invaluable assistance of our county residents with this exciting program.”

If you are interested in any of these activities, contact the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs at 633 Pearl Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey 07202. Telephone: (908) 558-2550; NJ Relay Users call 711. Or e-mail us at: culturalinfo@ucnj.org.

– end –

For more information on any Union County press release, please contact Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director for the County of Union, or a designee listed at the top of this press release. Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org, on Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/countyofunionnj .

The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders invites youngsters young and old to go sledding in the Union County Parks System.

Sledding is one of several winter sports, along with cross-country skiing and ice skating, for which areas are set aside within the parks system – weather, snow and ice conditions permitting.

Cross-country skiing is allowed at Ash Brook Golf Course in Scotch Plains, Oak Ridge Park in Clark, and the Watchung Reservation. There is no location in the park system suitable for downhill skiing.

The “Summer Arts” concert area in Echo Lake Park in Mountainside, located off Springfield Avenue, is one of five sanctioned sites in the Union County park system for sledding. The others are Briant Park in Summit, Lenape Park in Cranford (in areas away from the waterways), Meisel Avenue Detention Basin in Springfield, and Unami Park in Garwood.

Please note that toboggans, bobsleds and other non-steerable devices are strongly discouraged at any time, for safety reasons. Children should be supervised at all times. The park supervisor may suspend sledding activities if there is not enough snow or if there are severe ice conditions.

Snowmobiles are strictly prohibited in the Union County Park System.

The Union County park system is heavily wooded. The parks sit in proximity to roadways and bodies of water that can be hazardous to sledders and snowboarders.

Galloping Hill Golf Course is not available for winter sports activities. Terrain of the course is considered too hazardous for this use. Snowboarding and sledding are also prohibited at the Ash Brook Golf Course and Oak Ridge Park.

For ice skating lovers, the County’s Skating Center at Warinanco Park is open for the season.  Check www.ucnj.org/skate for hours.

Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated and lakes in the county parks system have not frozen to sufficient thickness to allow for skating in any of the lakes and ponds in the county parks system.

The Union County Department of Parks and Community Renewal reserves the right to cancel winter sports at any park at any time if the conditions of the park are such that the safety of the public is in jeopardy.

For additional information regarding winter sports, call the Department of Parks and Community Renewal at (908) 527-4900 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Information can also be obtained by visiting our website at www.ucnj.org.

For information about indoor ice skating, call the recorded message at the Warinanco Skating Center (908) 298-7850.

Union County – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders would like to advise residents that the Union County Black History Month Kick-off Reception has been rescheduled for Friday, February 15th at 1:00 p.m. at the Union County College Kellogg Building, 40 West Jersey St in Elizabeth. The postponement comes due to the inclement weather caused by Winter Storm Nemo.

The Kick-off Reception is set to include an exciting talk about Black History by Rev. H. William Rutherford Jr., past President of the New Jersey State Conference of the NAACP, as well as a summary of other Black History Month events taking place throughout the County, and the first presentation of the Chester Holmes Humanitarian Award.

The Award, created by the Freeholder Board in honor of the late, former Freeholder Chester Holmes, will be awarded to Ella S. Teal, of the Urban League of Union County.

For additional information on attending the Union County Black History Month Kick-off Reception, contact Mary Lynn Williams at 908-527-4106.

Detailed information on Black History Month Events happening throughout Union County will be available starting Friday, February 1, on the Union County Black History Month website, www.ucnj.org/black-history.

###

For more information on any Union County press release, please contact Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director for the County of Union, or a designee listed at the top of this press release. Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org, on Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook, and on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/countyofunionnj

Union County Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter (L) and Freeholders Christopher Hudak (2nd L), Bette Jane Kowalski (3rd R) and Alexander Mirabella (R) congratulate Shannon Syciarz of Garwood on receiving the Joseph R. Lombardi Memorial Award at the Union County Baseball Association’s 77th Annual Hot Stove League Baseball Dinner on February 10 in Mountainside. She was honored for being an outstanding athlete while a field hockey player at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark and at The College of New Jersey. They are joined by State Senator Raymond Lesniak (2nd R) who received the Jerry Molloy Memorial Award for his service to Union County baseball. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

For more information on any Union County press release, please contact Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director for the County of Union, or a designee listed at the top of this press release.   Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org

On Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook

On Twitter at http://twitter.com/countyofunionnj

Union County Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter (L) and Freeholders Christopher Hudak (2nd L), Bette Jane Kowalski and Alexander Mirabella (R) present resolutions to Bill Dolan (3rd L), George Virgilio (4th L) and Jim Riccitelli (4th R) congratulating them on being inducted into the Union County Baseball Hall of Fame at the Union County Baseball Association’s 77th Annual Hot Stove League Baseball Dinner on February 10 in Mountainside. They are joined by State Senator Raymond Lesniak (2nd R) who received the Jerry Molloy Memorial Award for his service to Union County baseball. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

For more information on any Union County press release, please contact Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director for the County of Union, or a designee listed at the top of this press release.   Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org

On Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook

On Twitter at http://twitter.com/countyofunionnj

Union County Sheriff’s Officers Return Plainfield High School Teacher to New Jersey to Face Sexual Assault Charges

Union County Sheriff’s Officers Kenneth Randazza and Joann Huss escort Jennalin M. Garcia-Calle at Newark Liberty Airport after her extradition from Florida.

Garcia-Calle, a Plainfield High School teacher, is charged with second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree child abuse stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student. She fled to Florida upon learning she was under investigation.

The 28-year-old teacher was arrested in Davie, Florida by members of the U.S. Marshals Service and was held in the Broward County Jail on $200,000 bail.

Union County Sheriff’s officers traveled to Florida and returned Garcia-Calle to New Jersey before transporting her to the Plainfield Police.

(Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)

Union County Freeholders Bruce Bergen (L) and Bette Jane Kowalski (2nd L) joined Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi and Union County Sheriff Ralph Froehlich (R) in welcoming Dr. Jonathan Lurie of Rutgers University to the Union County Courthouse where he delivered a lecture on President Abraham Lincoln. Sponsored by the Union County Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, the event was entitled “Looking at Lincoln: Greatness Transformed” and included exhibits about the Civil War and a special display case focusing on Lincoln’s presidency.

The Civil War Exhibition is on display until 2015 in the rotunda of the Union County Courthouse, 2 Broad Street in historic midtown Elizabeth. The exhibit may be viewed weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The displays will change from time to time. Anyone wishing to loan historical artifacts from the Civil War era for the exhibit can contact committee member Katherine Craig at 908-282-7617. All objects will be secured, locked and acknowledged.

For more information on any Union County press release, please contact Sebastian D’Elia, Communications Director for the County of Union, or a designee listed at the top of this press release.   Please join the County of Union online at www.ucnj.org

On Facebook at www.ucnj.org/facebook

Project wins Audrey Nelson award for best practices in community development

l. to r. at Ribbon cutting for  Union County Child Advocacy Center last October: Senator Raymond Lesniak, Victor Richel of Union County College, Senator Tom Kean Jr., Union County Prosecutor Ted Romankow, Assistant Union County Prosecutor John Esmerado, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, Freeholder Daniel Sullivan, and Union County Improvement Authority Chairman Anthony Scutari

WASHINGTON D.C.—The Union County Child Advocacy Center, which moved in October to a new location to serve residents of the county who are victims of and affected by child abuse and sex crimes, has won the National Community Development Association’s Audrey Nelson award for best practices in community development.

The National Community Development Association established the Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award to recognize outstanding uses of the Community Development Block Grant Program and partnerships between local governments and nonprofit organizations to assist low- and moderate-income persons. Audrey Nelson was the first Deputy Executive Secretary of NCDA. The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders had authorized the use of $250,000 in CDBG funds for the project.

NCDA is a non-partisan national nonprofit membership organization that represents local governments which administer federally supported community, economic development and affordable housing programs. Union County Manager Alfred J. Faella currently serves as the Vice President for NCDA.

Located at 240-242 West Jersey St. in Elizabeth, the Child Advocacy Center is a satellite office of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. The structure consists of a three-story 11,000 square foot Victorian-era home; the structure itself is more than 100 years old.

Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow and Assistant Prosecutor John Esmerado have worked for more than a decade to conceptualize, plan, develop and build the new Child Advocacy Center.

The Child Advocacy Center and its multi-disciplinary team offer legal, investigative, therapeutic, medical and child protective services to children from newborns to 17 years of age, who report child maltreatment. The Prosecutor’s Office, Division of Child Protection and Permanency (formerly referred to as DYFS) jointly investigate more than 500 cases a year of child sexual abuse, physical abuse and maltreatment. The Child Advocacy Center receives approximately 2,000 visitors annually including families, police, teachers and witnesses.

“There are few things worse than child abuse,” said Romankow. “I have long been impressed by the hard work ethic and passion demonstrated by the staff with such sensitive investigations.”

In the spring of 2010, Union County entered into a Shared Services Agreement with the Union County Improvement Authority for the purposes of financing and managing the construction of the $3 million project.

“This is not just any building, this is not just a project. This is all about saving the lives of children and giving them another chance in life,” said Union County Improvement Authority Chairman Charlotte DeFilippo. “We are proud to support this effort.”

In addition, the Friends of the Child Advocacy Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, was created to help raise additional funding.

“This Freeholder Board takes pride in supporting this advocacy center that advocates for children who need it the most,” said Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter.

The center houses 26 full time staff, including investigator from the Prosecutor’s Office, Division of Child Protection and Permanency, mental health staff from Trinitas Regional Medical Center, and nursing staff from Runnells Specialized Hospital of Union County.

The center employs an advanced, efficient “wrap around” service model that brings together all existing child abuse services from multiple locations to a single location, providing professional assistance to child abuse survivors such as interviews, intake, medical examination and mental health intake evaluation and counseling, said Romankow. This wrap around service model significantly truncates investigation and treatment from  days to hours.