Newark Bears Set to Open 2012 Season

Community-focused Bears start season Thursday night against Worcester Tornadoes.

The Newark Bears had one final tune-up Wednesday afternoon before Opening Day and the start of their 15th season Thursday. The opponent however wasn't another team of professionals or a future opponent in the CanAm League the Bears participate in. Instead, it was the baseball team of Newark Tech High School. While it was merely an exhibition, the event was just the latest example of how the Bears are not just trying to be a winning team on the field but a part of the Newark community. "I think it's very important," said new Bears manager Ken Oberkfell about having that relationship with the city. "You want to meet as many people, as many organizations, as many businesses as you can. It promotes the team, it gets people into the ballpark. …

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Caldwell Council Approves Amendments to Budget

Public hearing on 2012 municipal budget will be held on Thursday, June 7.

The Caldwell Council approved a resolution to amend the 2012 municipal budget Tuesday night, increasing the total appropriations to $11,905,256.05 from $11,888,753.05, or $16,503. The amendments to the budget introduced on April 17 passed by a vote of 5-0, with one councilman, Tom O’Donnell, abstaining. The amount to be raised by taxes is $6,809,280, a 1.8% increase to the municipal tax levy, according to the borough's Chief Financial Officer Margaret Cherone. Cherone said the average home in Caldwell will see an increase of $50 to the municipal portion of the tax bill. The average home in Caldwell is assessed at $424,910. When factoring in school taxes and estimated county taxes, the estimated average increase to the total tax bill is $…

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R. Sherwood Hamilton, Jr.

A 1942 graduate of Grover Cleveland High School, owned country store in Vermont since 1981.

R. Sherwood Hamilton, Jr., 87, a longtime proprietor of the Middlesex Country Store, passed away at the Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin, VT on May 14, 2012. Born in Caldwell, NJ on Nov. 17, 1924, he was the son of the late Raymond Sherwood Hamilton, Sr. and Margaret (Conover) Hamilton. On August 31, 1952, he married the former Nancy Jones in Manasquan NJ. Nancy predeceased Sherwood on July 1, 1982.  Hamilton was a 1942 graduate of Grover Cleveland High School in Caldwell. He joined the U.S. Army where he served with the 10th Mountain Division. Following his discharge, Hamilton began work with H.A. Astlett and Co., Inc., a rubber import/export business. Wanting to continue his education, he attended night school at Pace University …

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Win Tickets to See "Rockapella" Saturday at NJPAC

Sign up for a Patch newsletter and enter our contest to see the <i>a cappella</i> group perform. <b>Contest ends tomorrow at 1 p.m.</b>

The quintet, Rockapella, will perform their brand of a cappella music featuring rock ‘n’ roll with mellifluous Motown harmonies at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater on Saturday, May 19, with shows at 2 and 7 p.m.  And Patch wants you to be there. So, we’re giving away three pairs of tickets for Patch readers for the 7 p.m. performance. How to Enter To enter, sign up for our newsletter by logging in on your local Patch site. For readers who already receive the Patch newsletter, you don’t need to sign up again.  Then, send an email to caldwells@patch.com with your name and phone number with the word “Rockapella” in the subject line. Deadline is Friday, May 18, at 1 p.m. For complete contest rules, click here. Winners will pick up their tickets at the…

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Get Half-Price Balloon Festival Tickets

Three-day event offers arts and crafts, food and music as well.

Patch is offering 50-percent off gate ticket prices to this weekend's 30th annual Festival of Ballooning. But you'll need to act quickly. The discounts are only available through this Sunday, May 20. The festival, held Friday-Sunday, July 27-29, at Solberg Airport in Readington, offers much, much more than ballooning. There are rides, an arts and crafts festival, yoga and Zumba demonstrations, and food—lots of it. Every evening, there will be a music concert and twice each day on Saturday and Sunday and once on Friday, more than 100 balloons will rise majestically into the sky. And Patch will offer all attendees a chance to leave all your troubles behind and take a free tethered balloon ride. Just find our table at the festival and sign up…

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Journey

3:36 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012

During my misspent youth as TV production assistant, I was with new grew doing a fluff piece about bungee jumping. The cameraman asked if the were F'ing nuts, and the bungee jumpers said it was a technical bungee jumping term.   more ›

Borough Demolishes Vacant House

Construction official issues demolition permit after empty building deemed unsafe.

A vacant house at 21 Kirkwood Place was demolished this week by the Borough of Caldwell. A borough construction official issued a demolition permit after the residential building was inspected and deemed potentially dangerous, Borough Administrator Paul Carelli said Tuesday. Carelli said the structure was "in danger of literally falling down." The vacant house at the corner of Personette Street had become an eyesore in the neighborhood with the house abandoned and in disrepair and the overgrown yard. One resident reported seeing rodents coming from the property. On Wednesday, an excavator was parked on the lot, which will be leveled after the foundation is removed. Clothing, a book and garbage were strewn around the property.  The Caldwell…

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Students Create Portraits of Sierra Leone Orphans

Portraits by West Essex Art Honor Society hand-delivered to children in Africa.

Earlier this school year, members of the West Essex High School National Art Honor Society created 35 portraits of orphaned children in Sierra Leone, a West African nation plagued by civil war from 1991 to 2002. West Essex Art Honor Society Advisor Eileen Dormer, an art teacher at West Essex High School, said this is the seventh consecutive year that the society has participated in the International Memory Portrait Project and created portraits of children who have been orphaned by war, famine, disease or disaster. The portraits were delivered personally to the children, along with a letter and photo from the student artist. For many orphans, the portrait becomes a treasured belonging, reminding them they are not forgotten. “For our …

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Essex County News

County Unveils New Senior Bus Fleet

Nineteen buses added to county's Special Transportation System to aid seniors and disabled.

Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced the addition of 19 new buses for the county’s Special Transportation System while unveiling the new arrivals at the Essex County Division of Senior Services in Verona Wednesday. Coinciding with May’s designation as Older Americans Month, buses will be added to the fleet run under the county’s Division of Senior Services, which provides free transportation to the county’s senior citizens and disabled residents. Ten buses arrived this month with an additional nine to be delivered in June. With the new buses, four of which were awarded to the county through a grant from the Federal Transit Administration, the county’s fleet will now number 46.  Several of the buses were used to replace…

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Paint Pottery for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Team Courtright's "Painting Pottery 4 CF" at The Coloring Room in Caldwell this weekend.

Make something pretty and help support a cause near and dear to a local family by attending "Painting Pottery 4 CF" on Sunday, May 20 at The Coloring Room. The Caldwell art studio will donate 25% of profits to support Team Courtright for the Great Strides Walk 2012. The walk benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Courtrights live in the Caldwells and have two sons with Cystic Fibrosis.   The event will run on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the last seating at 3 p.m. The Coloring Room is located at 287 Bloomfield Ave., in Caldwell. To reserve a spot for Sunday's event, call 973-228-1124. Reservations are needed for parties of 6 or more.

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