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UNICO Veterans Appreciation Breakfast
The Hillside Chapter of UNICO recently held a Veterans Appreciation Breakfast and Program at the Hillside Knights of Columbus in Hillside.
Well over 100 Veterans from all parts of the state, including the Lyons Hospital of the Veterans Administration in Lyons, attended the free breakfast and program. Donations were collected and turned over to Lyons Hospital for use for the Veterans.
Left to Right Hillside UNICO Chapter President Angelo J. Bonanno, Union County Sheriff Joe Cryan, Union County Freeholder Alexander Mirabella, Hillside Council President and Third Ward Councilman Don DeAugustine, and Adam Samiec, a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient for the Korean War, Hillside.
Sitting: World War II Veteran Mario Mauro, of Hillside, and World War II Veteran Steven Pega of Cranford.
Hillside UNICO is a chapter of UNICO National—the nation’s largest Italian American volunteer organization whose members and chapters promote Italian culture and language, offer scholarships, fight bias, and perform acts of charity in the community.
Brendan Karolchyk the son of Scott and Sharon Karolchyk of Lake Hopatcong recently completed his Eagle Scout project. As a result, the K-9 Officers of the Union County Sheriff’s Office will have a new storage shed outfitted with K-9 bite suit dryers and storage areas for other K-9 equipment.
For his Eagle Scout service project, Brendan designed the shed himself and coordinated the efforts to make it a reality. Brendan organized the effort with the Union and Morris County Sheriff’s K-9 units, contractor Charlie Bautz, County Concrete of Ledgewood, Quality Fence of Ledgewood, and the help of his father Scott and his stepmom Sharon.
Brendan is a member of Boy Scout Troop 81 of Sparta, NJ. Brendan has now reached that rank of Eagle Scout and will celebrate the achievement in a ceremony in January.
Union County Sheriff Joe Cryan congratulates Eagle Scout Brendan Karolchyk with Sheriff’s K-9 officers Det. Gialanella, Sgt. Howarth, and Officer O’Grady.
K-9 Sgt. Brian Howarth with partner Devante, Sheriff Joe Cryan, Detective Anthony Gialanella with partner Marco, Eagle Scout Brendan Karolchyk, Scott Karolchyk, Sharon Karolchyk, and K-9 Officer O’Grady with partner Reese.
Sheriff’s Officers John McGarry, Michael Heller, Tamiko Brooks, Hurley Jones standing with staff members and children in the pre-K class from the Washington Elementary School in Plainfield. The Sheriff’s Officer’s PBA Local 108 donated pumpkins to create a pumpkin patch for the kids. This the second year in a row the Sheriff’s Office has participated in this event.
Union County Freeholder Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Union County Sheriff Joe Cryan joined Community Access Unlimited (CAU) Senior Assistant Executive Director Tanya Johnson, former DYFS Director Nicholas Scalera and University of Pennsylvania student Glen Casey at the 4th Annual Union County Youth Services Networking Conference in Elizabeth.
The event was sponsored by the County of Union, CAU and a coalition of public and nonprofit youth services organizations that make up the Union County Youth Services Steering Committee and focused on improving services for youths and young adults. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)
On Wednesday October 19, 2016 members of the Union County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Elizabeth and Union Police Departments, participated in the 14th Annual National Family Violence Apprehension Detail. Union County agencies were part of approximately 220 Sheriff’s Offices and Police Departments nationwide that attempted to serve outstanding arrest warrants related to Family Violence. In Union County, Sheriff’s Officers attempted to serve 36 warrants, resulting in the physical arrest of 15 individuals for outstanding Family Violence issues and the voluntary surrender of 12 people for enforcement of child support matters. Officers additionally served 11 Temporary Restraining Orders on defendants accused of Domestic Violence in a NJ DV Civil Complaint over a twenty four hour period.
This annual nationwide effort, coordinated by the Clackamas, OR Sheriff’s Office, is held in October, which is National Domestic Violence Awareness month. The Union County Sheriff’s Office worked with the Union County Prosecutor’s Office to identify priority cases in which offenders were accused and charged with Violation of DV Restraining Orders, but never located and arrested. Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation and Family Violence Units, under the supervision of LT Carlo Caparruva and LT Cliff Meros, worked leads to establish the whereabouts of all offenders and served the warrants over a twenty-four hour period on October 19.
Sheriff Joseph Cryan stated, “This is an example of harnessing the resources of all law enforcement agencies. There are victims in our County that did not feel safe knowing that the offenders had not yet faced justice for their crimes. Our Officers worked with the Prosecutor’s Office Family Violence Unit and the Police Departments where the charges originated to help ensure that those accused of Domestic Violence are brought forth to the proper adjudication of those charges. I hope that we can help a few of those victims sleep a little more soundly this evening. While this Sweep was a single day event, this is an ongoing issue and a priority for the Union County Sheriff’s Office. My Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to help ensure the safety of victims of Domestic Violence on a daily basis.”
For more information or assistance, contact the New Jersey Statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-572-SAFE (7233). The confidential 24-hour, seven-day-a-week hotline aids domestic violence victims and others seeking information, referral services or crisis intervention.
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)
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Union County Honors Heroes
On behalf of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Chairman Bruce H. Bergen and Vice Chairman Sergio Granados presented resolutions to individuals and agencies in honor of their heroic efforts in finding and defusing pipe bombs and the arrest of a suspect believed to have been involved with the incident.
Those honored include the two men—Lee Parker and Ivan White–who found the suspicious backpack in Elizabeth containing the pipe bombs and then reported it to Elizabeth police; Harinder Bains, the Linden bar/deli owner who reported the suspect wanted in connection with the pipe bombs; and the two Linden Police officers, Angel Padilla and Peter Hammer, who apprehended the suspect in connection with the incident.
The agencies that were honored included the Union County Bomb Squad, which safely handled the pipe bombs, the Union County Police who responded to the scene where the pipe bombs were discovered and also to the scene of the apprehension in Linden, the Union County Sheriff’s Crime Scene Unit and the Sheriff’s K-9 Squad, which was responded to the scene of the pipe bombs and was used throughout the area and incident; the Linden Police department as a whole unit for their role in the apprehension; the Union County Office of Emergency Management; the Elizabeth Police and Fire Departments as a whole which responded to the pipe bomb incident and notified all other agencies.
Union County Freeholder Chairman Bruce H. Bergen, Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski, Union County Sheriff Joe Cryan, Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi and Union County Surrogate James LaCorte met with Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Commander Robert Jeans before they spoke about county services available to veterans at the VFW NJ District 5 meeting at the Kenilworth Veterans Center. The Town Hall Meeting with veterans is part of Chairman Bergen’s UC HERO initiative for continued outreach to veterans about services offered through various county agencies. For more information about Union County services for veterans visit www.ucnj.org/uc-hero/. (Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)
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Suicide Awareness Program
The Suicide Awareness Program was held which included members of the Union County Sheriff’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Union County Department of Corrections.
Speakers included Sheriff Joe Cryan, Prosecutor Grace Park, and Assistant Director of the Union County Jail George Blaskewicz.
Photo by A. Anastasatos