new shoe store hopes to offer a phillies’ bats remain...
TRANSCRIPT
By Lucas K. [email protected]
It’s probably the most festive of all American hol-idays, July 4th is.
However, if you’re look-ing to spend it with friends and family with all your extremities intact and not hospitalized, Dr. Michael Kirchhoff, Emergency Medicine Medical Director at Cooper University Hos-pital has some solid advice
“Don’t play with fire-works in the first place,” he urged.
Whether they’re set off by professionals in one of the many exhibitions put on by local towns or fired off illegally by fans of backyard pyrotechnics, fireworks are a dangerous business.
Forty-five percent of all fireworks-related injuries happen in the week-long period around July 4th. About 5 percent of them require admission into a hospital.
Kirchhoff simply says it’s not worth it for an untrained person to mess around with fireworks.
A holiday of oohs, ahhs and owws
(See FIREWORKS, Page A-5)
6 56525 11031 3
INDEX WEATHER Mostly sunny, highs in the lower 80s, lows in the lower 60s.
PAGE A-2
Bridge ........C-5Classified ...C-7Comics .......C-5Dear Abby .B-5
Dr. Gott ......B-5Economy ....B-2Horoscope ..C-5Nation ........C-8
Obituaries .A-7Sports ........C-1State ..........A-4Sudoku.......A-2
Television...C-6Towns .........B-4Viewpoint ..A-6Wall St. ......B-3
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACKCYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Gloucester CountyTimes
113th year: No. 152 Copyright 2010 Gloucester County Times Woodbury, N.J. http://www.nj.com/gloucester FIFTY CENTS
Christie: May bend a little
FRIDAYJuly 2,2010
TIMBER UNSHIVEREDPhillies’ bats remain quiet in loss to Pirates. SPORTS, C-1
SUNSHINE STATENew shoe store hopes to offer a Miami look and feel. BUSINESS, B-1
IMMIGRATION REFORM URGED NATIONALLY, LOCALLY. A-3, A-4, C-7 BREAKING NEWS:nj.com/south
Up ripe and early
FOURTH DIMENSION: Area goes big with holiday celebrations.
WEEKENDER
Staff photos by Lori M. Nichols
Above, Norma McKeever, of Mullica Hill, picks out a few Jersey Fresh tomatoes at Sorbello Girls Farm Market in Elk Township Thursday. Below, Erika Schnatz of Sorbello Girls bags a carton of tomatoes for a customer.
■ The Fourth of July is a time for fireworks – and fireworks injuries
The following is a list of Fourth of July events hap-pening in Gloucester Coun-ty:
GREENWICH TWP. — The township’s second annual Fourth of July event will begin with a parade from the Little League Complex to Memorial Park at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Immediately fol-lowing there will be a cel-ebration at Memorial Park, sponsored by Valero and other local businesses, fea-turing live music from Gla-cier, moonbounces and face painters for the kids and free food and water ice. There will also be contests for the most patriotic dog, bike decorating and house decorating. The gravel parking area across from the township garage is strictly for handicapped park-ing. General parking is avail-able on the grass area, but both entering and exiting will be prohibited between 12:30 and 4 p.m.
MONROE TWP. — The township will be hosting a Soap Box Derby on the Fourth of July beginning at 9 a.m. along Main Street, and will feature fireworks at the Williamstown Middle School football field at dusk.
What’s on tap for the 4th
(See FOURTH, Page A-5)
By Judy Peet
Star-Ledger Staff
They’ve become a staple of late-night TV: bombastic announcers – some of them aging B-list stars – urging people to make money by selling their unwanted gold
and jewelry.Call it a sign of the
recession or record high gold prices, but increas-ing numbers of people are cashing in their gold. They are also getting ripped off in the process, according to state officials who Thurs-
day announced they have issued more than 1,600 summonses to 49 precious metal and jewelry dealers in a statewide investigation of substandard practices.
More than 100 of those violations were for scales that were not properly bal-
anced and in every case, the customer was short-changed, Attorney General Paul Dow said.
“We found violations statewide and we’re put-ting the industry on notice that we won’t tolerate the cheating of consumers,”
Dow said.Stiffing customers on
gold and jewelry trade-ins is not limited to New Jer-sey. The Better Business Bureau and Consumer Reports both recently warned about consumers who were underpaid or
flat-out robbed by televi-sion and Internet cash-for-gold operators.
The New Jersey inves-tigation focused on land-based operations, rather than mail-in buys. It began in June after a complaint
State issues 1,600 summonses over gold sales
(See GOLD, Page A-7)
By Christina Paciolla
Gov. Chris Christie is making one final push to several New Jersey may-ors who haven’t yet signed onto the governor’s Cap 2.5 plan.
Christie sent letters to about 100 mayors of larger municipalities throughout
the state – some who are already in support of the proposed constitutional amendment to cap prop-erty tax increases at 2.5 percent.
“The governor is going to make sure his mes-sage is clear to folks and it’s brought home to them. In his words, the heat is turned up to ensure the
mayors know what the consequences of this could be,” said Kevin Roberts, spokesman for Christie’s office.
Mayors in West Dept-ford, Washington Town-ship and Monroe Township – all Democrats – received letters from the governor’s office on Thursday urging
Local mayors urged to back 2.5% cap
(See MAYORS, Page A-5)
By Josh Margolin and Claire Heininger
Statehouse Bureau
The property tax show-down between Gov. Chris Christie and Democrats who run the Legislature kicked off Thursday with a display of chaos and drama rarely seen even in the New Jersey Statehouse.
Christie, a freshman Republican intent on “turning Trenton upside down,” marched into a spe-cial session of the Legisla-ture, declaring a trimmed-down state budget passed this week was only a par-tial victory. The rest, he insisted, would come when property taxes are brought under control.
Christie, who wants the Legislature to join him in his effort to keep annual tax hikes to no more than 2.5 percent, also offered a surprise compromise. He told lawmakers he would accept a cap that is passed by law instead of a con-stitutional amendment as long as it holds roughly the
Compromise offered on tax increases
(See SESSION, Page A-7)
By Rebecca [email protected]
ELK TWP. — Just in time for the holiday, juicy, red, Jersey Fresh tomatoes are ready. And at some farm markets, like Sorbel-lo Girls in Elk Township, they’re ready early.
“The rule used to be by Fourth of July the toma-toes and corn were ready, but now they’re being pro-duced earlier,” said Debbie Sorbello Conners, manager at the market.
Many New Jersey resi-dents wait all year for the Jersey fresh varieties to be ripe, citing their superior taste and texture.
“All winter long I don’t even want a tomato,” said Mullica Hill resident and Sorbello Girls customer Sue Martin. “The store-bought ones just aren’t the same.”
Sorbello Girls had their first tomatoes of the season ready in mid-June, ahead of schedule by about two weeks, giving them and other markets with early produce a high advantage.
According to Conners, the farms with the first crops generally fare better, due to the fact that they have the ability to begin selling before the market becomes flooded with product.
With spring heat, tomatoes rise fast
(See TOMATOES, Page A-5)