Election Time for Pohatcong...Will The Positive Vibes Continue?

Mary Van Lieu : Looking for more of those good vibrations

There is no doubt that the citizens of Pohatcong are starting to become more involved once again in
matters local and attendance at town council meetings has improved dramatically since the inauguration of James Kern III the town's new young mayor.  The upcoming Nov.8th election for town council offers a stark choice for voters between retired school administrator and former mayor, Mary Van Lieu and the town's other former mayor Stephen Babinsky and whether or not the more recent upbeat feelings will continue. Retirement seems to have recharged Van Lieu who is eager to return to public service and float some new ideas on behalf of the town's beleaguered taxpayers. Her pleasant and cheerful demeanor certainly would be a welcome change from the dour old boys aura that has hung over this council for too many years.  Her opponent, the hapless former mayor, Stephen Babinsky, has been a thorn in his own side due to his inability to control his foul temper and tongue which would almost be excusable if he had something to show for his 8 years as mayor rather than a talent for alienating most of the town's residents. In these troubled times, with many people facing severe economic hardships, voters will be looking for candidates who they feel can empathize with their concerns.  On Nov. 8th, the voters of Pohatcong  will be face a choice between two starkly different candidates.  Can good vibrations prevail?  I wouldn't bet against it.

For Ravine Road the Future Has Arrived

Ravine Road view from Greenwich Twnshp. side of the tunnel.

Back in early January of 2009 I wrote that this lightly traveled road seemed destined to wash away one day under the right stormy circumstances.  Well that storm has come and gone and this road is no longer passable

and will probably shut down forever. In another era, funds may have been available to fix things up, but in our current downward economic slope, priorities lie elsewhere.

RIP: There once was a road here.

Water, Water Everywhere....the Sequel.

Yikes!  Closed again due to flooding : Municipal Drive

Another few days of battering rain in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene has taken it's toll again around

town with flooding rampant everywhere. More days and nights of bailing water, monitoring leaks , repairing washed-out driveways and landscapes.  Didn't we just do this last week? or as Yogi would have put it: It's like deja-vu all over again.

Is The Information Age Finally Arriving in Pohatcong?

Pohatcong Residents Celebrate Impending Arrival of New Township Website

Unlike most other townships in New Jersey these days, the residents of Pohatcong have found it a frustrating experience to access basic information about their town such as when, where and what time meetings are held, minutes and agendas for same, posting of township budgets, contact numbers for town officials and so on. Invariably,  excuses were always given as to why  maintaining and updating a website was mission impossible here in Pohatcong Township.  The dismal failure over the last several years of our hapless elected town council and the town's  ill-mannered and hostile former mayor to get this task done should be kept in mind by voters this November and every November thereafter.

When the township residents elected young James Kern this past May to be our new mayor, a new impetus for delivering the town from it's dark past of information blackout, to a more normative flow of bits and bytes that we have come to expect in our digitized culture- now seems at hand. According to sources in our pipeline, it may be no more than a week or two before the town rolls out our new website.  If this is true, then the long suffering taxpayers of Pohatcong  may finally have cause  to celebrate as we (somewhat belatedly) join in the information revolution  that has been ongoing since the previous millennium

Water, Water Everywhere

1. 

Closed Until Further Notice: Stone Tunnel on Municipal Drive

While Hurricane Irene may have disappointed in living up to the promised storm of the century hype, it did nevertheless leave the town feeling quite soggy.  Unlike the recent storm in early July, which ripped through the area with high winds and brought down a lot of timber, the wind factor was relatively mild but the wet factor was where the pain was this time.

No This Is Not A River.  This Is Ravine Road.

Play Ball? Don't Forget Your Scuba Gear and Canoe.  Baseball Field in Finesville.

After You've Grown Your Own....

Freshly picked and washed . Ready for processing...

In an earlier post entitled "Growing Your Own", I wrote about the importance of providing some food security for your family in times of increasing economic turmoil and uncertainty.  Since then, things have continued to take a turn for the worse with a record number of Americans now enrolled in  government food stamp programs (aka SNAPS).  Would you want to dependent on any benefit being maintained by our bankrupt federal government?  No thanks.  Alternatively, you can begin to help yourself by grabbing a shovel, digging up that useless lawn, and planting a survival garden for your family.  Sure, it will take some practice to develop a green thumb of sorts but like with anything else perseverance should eventually yield to some sort of harvest-bountiful or not.  If it turns out to be the former, then you will need to get some practice in the various ways of preserving your abundant output.

Here on our modest homestead, we are getting some good yield this year on our cucumbers- most of which are the bush variety which are ideal for pickling.  For shorter term use, we process some of these as "refrigerator" pickles.  Not a difficult process and we seem to like the taste of these more than the ones we "can" for longer term storage in our food pantry.  Of course there are always new recipes to be tried. Bon Appetit!

...into a  new batch of  refrigerator pickles!