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First Austin Muckenfuss Memorial Game held in Washington Twp. (PHOTOS)

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The fundraiser supports a scholarship program created in Austin's name following his death last year.

WASHINGTON TWP. -- In the year since their youngest son was killed after being hit by a car, Rich Muckenfuss and his wife Kim Brody-Muckenfuss have heard so many stories about Austin's generosity from classmates, teachers and coaches.

It was clear Thursday night that his giving spirit continues to live on.

A large crowd was on hand for the first Austin Muckenfuss Memorial Game, held on Tom Brown Field at Washington Township High School. The game featured the Minutemen's JV team against the freshmen, with the JV claiming a 36-8 victory.

Donations were accepted at the gate, and other items such as sweatshirts and bracelets were sold. All proceeds went to the Austin Muckenfuss Scholarship Fund, which his parents started last year in his name.

For Rich Muckenfuss, the kindness of everyone in attendance was a reminder of how his son lived his life.

"That was Austin," he said. "His life was made up of helping other people. He always looked out for everyone else before himself. We hope it was because of the way we brought him up, but a lot of it was just his personality. This is our opportunity to carry his legacy on."

The family came up with the idea of a scholarship fund shortly after Austin's death last November. A friend had started a GoFundMe page to help with the funeral expenses, and when they found out, they thought of a better way to use the money raised.

"Kim and I decided it would be best if we paid that forward and put the money into a scholarship fund," Muckenfuss said. "Austin had a reading disability and he really struggled for his entire scholastic (career). We wanted to design a program that would help students that were graduating high school that overcame (something similar)."

"It didn't matter if they were going to a four-year college or getting their associate's degree or going to school for a trade," added Brody-Muckenfuss. "A lot of scholarships are for four-year colleges, and we wanted this to be for whoever wanted to further their education in anything."

The scholarship is open to boys and girls at Washington Township High School, and six students were recipients last year. The family also wants to help provide tutoring for kids with similar learning disabilities as Austin, especially since they know firsthand the high costs involved.

"If we can help people who have hardships and need tutoring for their kids, we would love to do that," Brody-Muckenfuss said.

The idea of turning the annual game between the JV and freshmen into a fundraiser came from Rob Neuber, who coached Austin on the freshman team last year. Neuber had a tight bond with Austin and has become close with his parents.

"We had a great turnout," Neuber said. "I hope everybody dug a little deeper and we made some money for the scholarship fund."

Both of Austin's parents served as honorary captains for Thursday's game and were escorted out to midfield before the game, and two of Austin's older brothers were also in attendance. A female student sang the song "Hallelujah," a favorite of Brody-Muckenfuss.

Ronnie Bush, a freshman running back for the Minutemen and a close friend of Austin's, was one of the players who joined his parents on the field. Bush had given up football in recent years before taking up the sport again this fall. 

"I just wanted to come out in memory of Austin," Bush said. "I wanted to play the game for him. I enjoyed the season a lot.

"He would've liked this (memorial game). He definitely would've felt honored."

Muckenfuss and his wife recalled that their athletic son loved football the most out of all the sports he played, and even taught the family's dogs how to play in the backyard. 

Most of all, though, he enjoyed helping people who needed it, even with simple gestures.

"I was his father and I was with him all the time, but I never even realized how much he did," Muckenfuss said. "I couldn't be prouder for everything that has come out. Kids have told stories of him waiting for them at their lockers and walking with them because other kids were making fun of them. Or kids were getting made fun of on the bus and he would get up and sit with them. Or just being on the football field and being an encouragement to the rest of the team. ... That was just his way. I can't say enough about the kid. I miss him every day."

Brody-Muckenfuss said they are planning a flag football fundraiser for April and are also hoping to do a casino night next fall. The hope is to continue to make the scholarship fund bigger and bigger, and Thursday was a clear indication they have the support of their community.

"I felt like it was homecoming night," she said. "I got a little scared at the beginning because it looked a little scant, and then all of a sudden there were all of these people. It was great. People were very, very generous. It's going to great causes and the more we get, the more people we can help."

"As a parent, you don't ever want your child to be forgotten," her husband added. "To have his legacy go to this level is just unbelievable. It speaks volumes for the type of kid he was and it speaks volumes for the township too. To be in a township like this that has gathered around us and supported us is really something. I can't say enough about this community."


Football playoffs: Results and links, Saturday, Nov. 19 - sectional semifinals

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Full results from the last day of state semifinals.

ESSENTIALS
Friday's results and links
All brackets | Full semifinal schedule
• 23 sections: Semis previews | Home pages
• Final verdict: Wayne Hills back in playoffs 
Mega coverage guide: All you need

SECTIONAL FINALS SCHEDULE SET

FEATURED GAMES

No. 6 St. Peter’s Prep 28, No. 7 Bergen Catholic 7
Marauders: From Ireland to MetLife
Lewis leaves Oradell with emotions intact
•  Photo gallery

Look back at live updates
Box Score

Manasquan 31, Roselle 27
Complete coverage
204 for Morgan as Squan stymies Roselle
•  Photo gallery
Look back at live updates
Box Score

No. 1 St. Joseph (Mont.) 45, No. 8 St. John Vianney 20
Superior St. rolls into final
Look back at live updates
Box Score

No. 12 Westfield 21, Union 7
Westfield wins 23rd straight
•  Photo gallery
Look back at live updates
Box Score

Piscataway 42, Old Bridge 3
Chiefs get revenge along with final berth
•  Photo gallery
Look back at live updates
Box Score


• PLAYOFFS: Mega-coverage guide


Paulsboro 49, Pennsville 28
Raiders finish strong
•  Photo gallery
Look back at live updates
Box Score

Salem 42, Woodbury 0
Rams roll as Taylor approaches record
•  Photo gallery
Look back at live updates
Box Score

No. 20 Madison 34, Hanover Park 33
Complete coverage
Dodgers take heated semi vs rival
•  2 Videos: Teams exchange words, shoves
Look back at live updates
Box Score

Mater Dei 26, St. Joseph (Hamm.) 0
Seraphs reach first final since 1999
Look back at live updates
Box score

Old Tappan 34, No. 15 Sparta 30
Complete coverage
Peaking Knights oust No. 15
Sparta's stellar season falls short
•  Video: OT seals win with late stop
•  Video: OT coach fires up Knights
Look back at live updates
Box Score

Bernards 34, Lincoln 26
Mountaineers take to air to stun Lincoln
Box Score

Cedar Creek 27, Willingboro 26
Game recap
•  Photo gallery
Box Score

COMPLETE WEEKEND SCHEDULE/SCOREBOARD

Non-Public - Group 4

Non-Public - Group 3

Non-Public - Group 2

North Jersey, Section 1 - Group 5

North Jersey, Section 1 - Group 4

North Jersey, Section 1 - Group 3

North Jersey, Section 1 - Group 2

North Jersey, Section 1 - Group 1

North Jersey, Section 2 - Group 5

North Jersey, Section 2 - Group 4

North Jersey, Section 2 - Group 3

North Jersey, Section 2 - Group 2

North Jersey, Section 2 - Group 1

Central Jersey - Group 5

Central Jersey - Group 4

Central Jersey - Group 3

Central Jersey - Group 2

Central Jersey - Group 1

South Jersey - Group 5

South Jersey - Group 4

South Jersey - Group 3

South Jersey - Group 2

South Jersey - Group 1

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

House catches fire from resident burning trash, fire chief says

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Firefighters closed down a portion of Taylor Avenue, near the Bridgeton Pike intersection.

MANTUA TWP. -- A trash fire that got out of control led to firefighters being called to a township residence, according to authorities.

Mantua Township Fire Department were dispatched Saturday at 10:18 a.m. to a home on Taylor Avenue, near the Bridgeton Pike intersection, said Chief Brian Hauss. The homeowner was burning trash in his backyard when the fire spread to his house.

Firefighters brought the fire under control by 10:35 a.m. Authorities closed down a portion of Taylor Avenue during the response.

Fire rips through Camden County townhouse

Firefighters contained a majority of the fire outside the residence but there was minor damage to the house. There were no injuries caused by the fire, Hauss said.

Woodbury Fire Department and Pitman Fire Department assisted at the scene.

Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Pitman Grove sign removed after car crashes into it

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The car crash occurred Saturday at 1 a.m.

PITMAN -- The welcome sign to the Pitman Grove neighborhood was removed Saturday after a driver crashed their car into it in the early morning.

The crash occurred around 1 a.m. Saturday in the area of Pitman Avenue and Broadway, according to Pitman Fire Company #1. The fire department shared photos of the car crashed into the sign on its official Facebook page.

The 2015 BMW was speeding westbound on Pitman Avenue when it lost control and became airborne once it hit the railroad crossing at Simpson Avenue, said Police Chief Dan McAteer. The car continued moving until it struck the curb on Broadway -- knocking over a traffic signal, a garden bed and the Pitman Grove sign.

Pitman car crash 2.jpgA early-morning car crash damaged the Pitman Grove sign in Pitman on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. (Submitted photo) 

There were five occupants inside the car. Gloucester County EMS transported two people -- the driver and front passenger -- from the crash to a local hospital. The car also took out the traffic light at the intersection but it has since been repaired.

All five occupants were juveniles, the chief said. They were released into the custody of their parents. The driver was issued several traffic summonses and criminal charges are pending investigation.

According to Mayor Russell C. Johnson III, the borough intends on replacing the sign through insurance money.

The borough of Pitman developed around the Pitman Grove neighborhood, which dates back to 1871 as a summer camp and meeting place for Methodists.

Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Paulsboro finishes this time, puts away Pennsville to reach South Jersey Group 1 final

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The Red Raiders pulled away for a 49-28 victory.

The Red Raiders pulled away for a 49-28 victory.

Too soon to push Cory Booker in 2020 agenda; Wasting your vote a Mickey Mouse act | Feedback

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Gerald Keer asks if the South Jersey Times has already made the presumption that Donald Trump will be a one-term president.

To the Editor:

It was a wonderful morning on Nov. 14 until I picked up my copy of the South Jersey Times. In neighboring Philadelphia and New York, and other cities across the country, people unhappy with the presidential election result were protesting in the streets. 

The protests and how the demonstrators are refusing to attempt working together should have been the top article. But the Times attempted to begin another revolution with the front-page article "Is a 2020 presidential run in sight for (U.S. Sen. Cory) Booker?"

The past year was filled with media attempts to select a winner regardless of what the voters felt. Now, on the front page was the opening salvo of an attempt to present us with a one-term senator from New Jersey as our next president. 

Of course, this might go over well in our state, which heavily marches to the beat of the Democratic Party drummer. But the article reminded me of the scene in 2004, when a well-rehearsed, freshman senator made the Democrats' convention keynote speech, and rode his fame to the presidency in 2008. The bad taste of Barack Obama's policies created the candidacy of a political outsider who swept to victory this month over the pre-selected former secretary of state.

Can we wait for a reasonable period of peace to find out if the United States reacts negatively to Donald Trump's plans to correct the wrongs of Obama? Or does the Times feel wronged because its endorsed candidate, Hillary Clinton, was voted down? 

After all, at least three counties in South Jersey gave a plurality of votes to Trump. Give us a break for a short while. We want to see how Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence do.

Gerald Keer

Turnersville

Wasting your vote a Mickey Mouse act

To the Editor:

I read the Nov. 15 article "Seeking 'someone normal' for president ..." about how hundreds of voters in just one small New Jersey county, Salem, wrote in the names of cartoon characters, celebrities and deceased people for president. 

People seem to write in fictional characters in the belief that their vote does not matter. However, elections can be close and votes can make a difference. The people that did this need to take a large step back from themselves and realize that their decision to write in Mickey Mouse or Abraham Lincoln can have consequences. 

Although those who cast wasted write-in votes may not have aligned themselves with a particular major-party candidate, there is the option of third-party candidates. There were nine presidential candidates to choose from on New Jersey ballots. 

Choosing a candidate with somewhat of a chance is much less wasteful than  writing in a cartoon character or deceased official. I think such actions are selfish and insulting to democracy. 

There are countries where citizens are stuck with a dictator and get no opportunity to vote. Start taking advantage of the benefits that our democracy provides. Exercise your rights. Vote for a legitimate, live person. 

People have died fighting for our right to vote. I hope everyone keeps this in mind the next time they head to the polls. 

Alexa Fagan 

Swedesboro 

Sweeney should make N.J. governor bid

To the Editor:

With the news that state Senate President Stephen Sweeney won't seek the Democrats' gubernatorial nomination in 2017, I can't help but be disappointed. 

I don't know the details or circumstances of why he chose not to enter the race, but I can say that he would have been a viable asset as governor not just to South Jersey, but to the entire state. 

A true advocate for the middle class, Sweeney, D-Gloucester,  has fought to cap property tax increases, create more educational opportunities, raise New Jersey's minimum wage, and to enact job-creating policies. These are just a few highlights of his political career. 

Going forward, I wish the senator nothing but the best in his plans for re-election to his 3rd District state Senate seat in 2017. If he has a future opportunity to make a run at the governor's seat, I hope he considers running, because we need more people like him fighting for the middle class.

Ben Bono

Deptford Township

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com  

Small town with a big secret | Bob Shryock column

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'Little Pentagon' — a controversial and costly lynchpin

I grew up at 705 E. Main St. in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, located just one block from the high school I attended in the 1950s (I never rode a school bus), and positioned on the opposite side of the street from the town's small hospital where I was born.

Bob Shryock 

This area  was approximately seven miles from a busy U.S. Army communications post, Fort Ritchie, that was nestled into the side of the mountain a few miles from the entrance to the "Little Pentagon," a controversial and costly lynchpin to Washington, D.C. that the government began building during World War II and was in the process of being completed during the Korean War.

It was a quasi secretive undertaking, designed to stretch from the top of the mountain all the way to D.C. In event of enemy attack, we learned sensitive government business would be transacted in the hollowed out tunnel stretching some 40 miles. Investigative reporting would uncover how the "Little Pentagon" would enhance national security in a crisis. Soon, through newspaper and magazine accounts, the "secret" was no longer just that.

I can still view the opening to the tunnel when I drive home over the Sunshine Trail, and the half century-plus mystery of the "Little Pentagon" still resonates.

I was a pre-teen when the wail of two ambulances penetrated the late-afternoon calm. They tore past 705 E. Main at a frightening speed en route to the hospital just a few hundred yards from my home. Two friends were with me. Displaying our sinister nature, we peered through the window of the emergency room and saw, to our utter horror, the bloodied torsos of two men.

We were chased away by hospital personnel, understandably, but returned when, in subsequent days, the sad ritual repeated itself.

"I heard you were at the hospital again," Dad scolded during our dinner conversation. "Bob, stay away from there, please."

I promised I would. "But Dad, what's going on?"

"Bob, there has been a rash of fatal injuries to men working on the mountain. The work is very dangerous."

"The mountain?"

"It's called the 'Little Pentagon.'"

He tried explaining what that meant. A journalist, Dad was privy to what was happening on the mountain, but was pledged to keep what he knew out of print.

One late November day, just before Thanksgiving, Dad and I were returning from a trip to Gettysburg, past the tunnel opening, when we encountered two young men in military attire hitchhiking toward town.

We gave them a ride -- you could safely pick up a hitchhiker in those days -- and struck up a conversation which eventually centered on the "Little Pentagon." Rocky professed knowledge and continued his conversation with Dad. He and his friend were stationed at Fort Ritchie, and came to our home for Thanksgiving dinner on invitation from my parents.

"One friend of mine died while helping build it," Rocky said. He became teary-eyed and changed the subject.

The ambulances kept coming. Sadly, some  of the men in them were taking their last ride.

Bob Shryock may be reached at bshryock@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

From the archives: Who were the Atlantic City serial killer's victims?

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Before drugs took hold of their lives, the four sex workers slain by a suspected serial killer in Atlantic City were mothers and daughters with hopes and dreams

Editor's note: This story about the victims of the Atlantic City serial killer ran in The Star-Ledger on Dec. 1, 2006. It was reported and written by Mark Mueller, Brian Donohue, Tom Feeney and Mary Jo Patterson.

Like so many in Atlantic City, they came from someplace else.  

Kim Raffo, 35, arrived four years ago from Florida, where she once had a family of her own and an upstanding life. Molly Dilts, 20, hailed from western Pennsylvania and had been in Atlantic City for only a few weeks.  

Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, grew up in Delaware, a high-school dropout in search of direction. She landed in the casino town within the year but had soured on street life. She wanted out.  

Barbara Breidor, 42, was the closest one to a local among the four, having settled near Atlantic City from eastern Pennsylvania almost two decades ago. Family members called her the smartest of her siblings and a sure "Jeopardy!" winner if only she had tried.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, the four women found slain last week in neighboring Egg Harbor Township -- their bodies dumped face-down in a watery ditch -- had more in common than might be expected.  

All were mothers. All came from homes riven by divorce or by the death of a loved one. And all had fallen into heavy drug use.  

More than anything, family members and friends of the victims said, it was drugs, particularly crack cocaine, that bled their lives of promise. They lost jobs. They often lost touch with the people who cared most about them.   

On the streets of Atlantic City, they found themselves broke. With nothing to sell, they sold themselves. All but Dilts had arrests for prostitution in the city, and local streetwalkers said she, too, had resorted to turning tricks for cash.

Perhaps the least street-savvy of the four, Dilts was the first to die, her body placed in the ditch as long as six weeks ago, authorities said.  Breidor was killed next. An autopsy found she had been in the water between two weeks and a month. Because of decomposition, a cause of death for Dilts and Breidor could not be determined.

Roberts died up to a week before the bodies were discovered. She had been asphyxiated, perhaps by strangulation, perhaps by another means. Raffo, the first discovered, was the last killed. She had been strangled.  

All four women, barefoot but otherwise fully clothed, had been placed about 320 feet apart in the water, their bodies positioned with their heads to the east, toward Atlantic City.

Some three dozen investigators from the FBI, the State Police and the Atlantic City and Egg Harbor police departments are working the case full time. No arrests have been made.

As authorities work to determine whether the women were victims of a serial killer, a portrait of their lives -- and their descent into addiction and prostitution -- has begun to take shape.

A rapid descent

Kim Raffo almost made it, almost broke the cycle of teen pregnancy, divorce and substance abuse that marked her family's history.

She had two children, a solid marriage and a breezy Florida home with a swing set out back and a giant flowering cactus rising from a Bermuda grass front lawn.

"She worked like a dog to get that house in shape," said Ray Carlisle, 79, Raffo's former neighbor in Pembroke Pines, Fla. "For a long time, she was just like anybody else. Then, wham!"

RAFFO 12 MUNSONKim Raffo, center, poses with her sister, Marie Santos, right, and her aunt, Bunny Didyk, in an undated photo. Raffia was 35 when she was killed by a suspected serial killer in Atlantic City. (Courtesy Marie Santos) 

In 2001, Raffo began a drug-fueled extramarital affair that friends and family say sparked the spiral that took her to the streets and seedy hotels of Atlantic City.

Raffo's story begins in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, where her father, Robert, recalled meeting her mother, Joan Daniels, in the drug heyday of the early 1970s.

Kim was born in 1971, when her mother was 17. Her parents married and had a second daughter, Marie, six years later. Marie Santos said her father's drinking and drug use "terrorized our entire lives."

Robert Raffo admits battling addiction throughout the girls' childhood. But he says his ex-wife stole from him and "tore this family apart" with her own drinking, a charge Daniels denies.

The couple split in 1988. Daniels moved to Florida with Marie. Kim Raffo and her boyfriend, Hugh Auslander, followed them south and started fresh a year later.

They married and had two children, a girl in 1992 and a boy in 1994, family members said. The couple bought the four-bedroom home in Pembroke Pines, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, in 1996.

While Auslander worked as a carpenter, Raffo minded the kids and her sister's two children. It was a life centered on Girl Scouts, carpools and PTA meetings.

Arts and crafts and backyard birthday parties were a constant. For her daughter's seventh birthday, Raffo hired an animal trainer who wowed the neighborhood kids with snakes, lizards and an orphaned lion cub, her sister recalled.

"From the time they moved in to the time they left, there was no better neighbor," said Ernesto Rodriguez, who lived next door.

Kim Raffo, meanwhile, emerged as the family pillar.

When Marie, then 15, learned she was pregnant, she ran straight to her big sister for advice, she said.

By the late 1990s, Raffo had gotten her parents -- along with their new fiances -- to sit down peacefully for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners she cooked. When her mother's new husband died of cancer, Robert Raffo recalled, Kim Raffo carried her distraught mother up the stairs to her apartment.

"I don't know if she just tired of being the one everyone always relied on," her sister said. "I don't know if she just got fed up with being supermom or the superwoman of the family. We don't know. I wish I could have my final words with her."

Everyone -- friends, family, neighbors -- agree something snapped in 2001.

Kim enrolled in a culinary arts course at the Sheridan Technical Center in Hollywood, Fla., where she met Kenneth Bilecki, described by his own mother, Lana, as a chronic drug addict. Raffo and Bilecki began an affair.

When Auslander found out, he attacked Bilecki with a baseball bat while Bilecki was sitting in his car at a red light, Lana Bilecki said.

"He nearly killed Kenny," she recalled.

Raffo's family blames Bilecki for introducing her to crack cocaine. Lana Bilecki concedes her son was a terrible influence on Raffo. But she added, "It takes two to tango."

Kenneth Bilecki could not be reached for comment. His mother said he is jailed on drug charges.

Raffo and her husband separated. Auslander sold the house and moved with the couple's children to Ocean City in New Jersey. Desperate to be near her children, Raffo moved with Bilecki to Atlantic City.

After another fight between Auslander and Bilecki, family members said, authorities intervened and placed the children in foster care, where they remain today.

Auslander moved back to Florida after only a few months in New Jersey, family members said.

In Atlantic City, friends said Kim Raffo occasionally held steady waitressing jobs, including a stint at Mama Motts, a popular Italian restaurant between the casinos and the Boardwalk.

But her drug habit worsened. On the streets of Atlantic City, she became well-known. To fellow prostitutes. To police. To drug dealers.

"She was sick, and she needed help," said Steven Cicero, a friend who sometimes allowed Raffo to stay at his Atlantic City apartment. "It might have been a person who killed her, but it was the drugs that brought her to this."

Back in Florida, Raffo's mother and sister shudder at news accounts depicting Raffo as a strung-out streetwalker.

"That's not who she was," said Marie, digging through a cardboard box of photos.

Inside the box, there are pictures of Raffo cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Raffo pushing giggling nieces on the backyard swings. Raffo beaming a wide, toothy smile.

"This is who she really is," her sister said, clutching a handful of photos, her eyes welling with tears. "Can't you see?"

'Somebody's daughter'

Tracy Roberts called home from the Atlantic City Medical Center on Nov. 8 and asked her mom to come get her. She'd been working as a prostitute to feed her appetite for crack cocaine. A john had beaten her up, she told her mom, and she wanted to come home to Delaware.

Joyce Roberts made the 90-minute drive from her home in Bear, Del., to rescue her daughter.

She was five minutes too late.

Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, a Delaware native, is one of four sex workers targeted by a suspected serial killer in Atlantic City in 2006. She was one of four women slain in the span of a month. The killings remain unsolved. 

Roberts had decided not to wait around for her getaway car. Before her mom arrived, she checked herself out of the hospital and returned to the streets in the company of two unidentified men, the mother said.

Her body was found less than two weeks later.

"We are good people who had a daughter who had a disease," Joyce Roberts said during an interview this week at her home in Bear. "She had a drug addiction. It was cocaine. She wasn't just a prostitute in Atlantic City. This was somebody's daughter."

Roberts grew up in Bear, a flat, sprawling, unincorporated section of New Castle County not far from the college town of Newark, Del.

"She was just a skinny little thing with blond hair," said Don Salyer, a retired railroad worker who lived across Cassandra Road from the Roberts family.

Joyce Roberts, who is now divorced, said her daughter was a good kid who loved to ride her bike, roller-skate and hang out with her friends.

"Everyone loved her, and she loved all of her friends," the mother said. "She was very much into being with her friends. All of her life. Even in high school, she did volleyball, but it was just to be with her friends."

The first signs of trouble for Tracy Roberts appeared when she was 14. She began experimenting with drinking, drugs and boys, her mother said.

At 16, she dropped out of Christiana High School. She eventually found a job in telemarketing for a mortgage brokerage. She began dating a co-worker, Brian Rossello.

Five years ago, when Roberts was 18, she and Rossello had a baby girl, Joyce Roberts said.

Rossello, who lives in South Jersey, has had primary custody of his daughter since she was 5 months old. He declined to discuss his relationship with Roberts.

After the baby was born, Roberts enrolled at a trade school, the Harrison Career Institute, and was trained as a medical assistant. She found work at a doctor's office in Bear. With help from the Delaware Housing Authority, she bought a town home in a development called Pine Woods for $105,000 in January 2002. Rossello and the baby moved in with her.

"It was one of the happiest times of her life," her mother said. "She really loved her job. She had her own home, the baby. But the doctor she worked for moved after about 10 or 11 months, and she lost the job."

Unemployed, Roberts could not keep up her mortgage payments. Homeownership turned out to be more of a nightmare than a dream. She and Rossello split. Records show the bank began foreclosure proceedings on the house 11 months after she moved in.

"There were always cars pulling up and people going in and out," said John Skilton, who had sold his townhouse to Roberts. "She kept the place in pretty bad shape. When I talked to the neighbors, they told me they weren't very happy having her there."

Roberts began using cocaine heavily during that time, her mother said.

Over the past few years, Roberts lived mostly away from Delaware, in Philadelphia and more recently in Atlantic City. She talked to her mother regularly but visited sporadically.

Judith Finoci, a former neighbor from Cassandra Drive, said she saw the three generations of Roberts women -- Joyce, Tracy and the little girl -- in church one Sunday about two years ago.

"I was always happy to see her," Joyce Roberts said. "But when we talked, she would always say she didn't want to talk about Atlantic City: 'It's better that way, Mom.'"

Roberts had been a regular presence on the streets in Atlantic City for less than a year, according to several other prostitutes.

Those women recalled her as quiet, pretty and even generous. Zandra Kiesel, 32, remembered Roberts sharing crack cocaine with her as the two women sat on the front steps of a Pacific Avenue church a few months ago.

"Ain't a damn son of a bitch who does that," Kiesel said. "I thought she had a good heart."

Life on the streets in Atlantic City changed Roberts, her acquaintances said. She began to look haggard as her addiction deepened. The girl who once lived for her friends began to keep mostly to herself.

The other women would sometimes eat together during the day and share stories about their "dates" from the previous night, while Roberts was alone, hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt, eyes to the sidewalk, a hood tight over her head.

"She was very isolated," said Denise Hill, 43, who has worked as a prostitute for 12 years. "She seemed lonely."

The four bodies were found in the ditch 12 days after Joyce Roberts made her drive over the Delaware Memorial Bridge and across the Atlantic City Expressway to bring her daughter home.

Roberts said she braced for the worst possible news as soon as she heard one of the women was about 5-foot-9 and had a butterfly tattoo on the small of her back.

"Her whole family loved her," Joyce Roberts said as she wept and touched her fingers to a gold cross hanging from a chain around her neck. "Whatever happened, we loved her."

Falling apart in slow motion

One little pill.

It was a prescription painkiller, Stanley Frizzell remembers, meant to ease his girlfriend's menstrual cramps. Barbara Breidor told him she had taken it from his stash when he arrived home from work that day in 1988.

Frizzell said he warned Breidor, then a cocktail waitress at the Tropicana Casino and Resort, that the pills were addictive. He was in a position to know. Frizzell had been hooked on painkillers himself since undergoing back surgery some time earlier.

Breidor soon took another. And another. Before long, Frizzell said, she was addicted, too. When doctors cut off Frizzell's supply, the pair turned to heroin, he said.

The Atlantic City prostitute killings 10 years laterBarbara Breidor, 42, of Ventnor, was one of four women slain by a suspected serial killer in 2006. (Courtesy Breeder family) 

Over the next 18 years, Breidor's life fell apart as if in slow motion. Five years ago, she agreed to give up custody of the daughter she had with Frizzell. A year later, she was working as a prostitute on the streets of Atlantic City.

For Breidor's family, her death was a terrible end for a woman who once seemed certain of success.

"My sister didn't deserve to die the way she died and then to be thrown like a piece of trash in a muddy ditch," said Francine Lentes, one of two sisters living in Oviedo, Fla., near Orlando. "I hope they get the SOB that did this."

That Breidor had even fallen so far remains a shock to the sisters, who grew up together in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

Breidor's father was a school counselor who "came home with a briefcase in his hand every day," Lentes said. Their mother was a homemaker. A half-brother, their mother's son from a previous marriage, lived with them.

All four siblings attended Catholic schools. Lentes remembers growing jealous of Breidor, the oldest sister, who was adored by younger kids in the family's neighborhood. They'd flock to Breidor and beg her to pick them up.

She remained popular through high school, known for her quick wit and broad smile. Even into adulthood, her sisters said, she had an affinity for kids.

She seemed to know a little bit about everything, too, and could awe her sisters with her speedy responses to questions of all kinds when "Jeopardy!" was on TV.

It was in Breidor's last year of high school when she lost her father, who died of aortic valve disease, Lentes said. Later, in 2000, the sisters' half-brother died. Lentes wouldn't discuss him.

After high school, Breidor attended community college in Pennsylvania for two years before briefly studying at Penn State, Lentes said. Over one summer, she traveled to Europe.

By the late 1980s, Breidor decided to move to New Jersey. She already knew the southern stretch of the Jersey Shore. The sisters had spent summer vacations with their grandmother, who owned a duplex in Margate. They had other cousins who lived in the area.

It was there, while working as a cocktail waitress at the Tropicana, that Breidor met Frizzell. Soon they were living together in Atlantic City.

"When I met her, she was an angel," Frizzell said. "She was bright and funny."

At the same time, Breidor went to work for her mother, also named Barbara, who launched the Sante Fe Trading Co., a small chain of stores selling Native American art and clothing. One of the shops stood on the Boardwalk. Breidor was quickly managing the firm.

By now, she was regularly using drugs, Frizzell said, but she was still functional, still quick-witted. She hadn't yet lost her smile.

It was after her mother sold the business, retiring to Florida in the late 1990s, that Breidor plunged deeper into heroin. Her sisters don't believe Breidor held a steady job again.

"There's a reason heroin has ruined a lot of lives," Frizzell said. "That drug was treacherous."

Breidor gave birth to the couple's daughter in 1997, but it was clear even to Breidor and Frizzell that their escalating drug habit made them unable to raise a child. Four years after she was born, the girl went to live with Breidor's sister, Valerie Antsey, also of Oviedo.

There were still occasional visits and phone calls between mother and daughter, but Lentes and Antsey eventually cut them back, fearing the contact would traumatize the girl. Breidor would break into sobs at the end of a phone conversation or cling desperately to her daughter when it was time to say goodbye, Lentes said.

About 3 1/2 years ago, Breidor agreed to turn over custody of the girl. Antsey formally adopted her niece just weeks ago, the sisters said.

"It was hard for my sister to do that, but she knew she was doing the right thing for her daughter," Lentes said.

Breidor and Frizzell remained together until 2002, when Frizzell was arrested on burglary and drug possession charges. He served more than a year in prison. It was while at Southern State Correctional Facility in Delmont that Frizzell first heard from friends that Breidor was using crack cocaine and working as a prostitute in Atlantic City, he said.

The news stunned him.

"She used to look at prostitutes like she couldn't believe they were doing it," said Frizzell, who is now off drugs and living in Mays Landing with a new wife.

Last year, Breidor was twice arrested for soliciting a police officer in Atlantic City. More recently, she had been staying off and on with a man in neighboring Ventnor.

A cousin in Margate, worried she hadn't heard from Breidor in some time, reported her missing to Atlantic City police late last month. Lentes said she's frustrated police didn't do more to find her sister. She hopes, too, investigators catch the killer, though she says an arrest will bring only so much comfort.

"Even if they catch him, it's not going to bring her back," Lentes said. "This is a life full of pain."

On the wrong path

Molly Jean Dilts disappeared from her boyfriend's house in Black Lick, Pa., in mid-October.

The boyfriend, Jeremy Clawson, said he gave her $10 before leaving for work that day and told her to wash the dishes while he was gone.

When he returned, Molly, a chubby 20-year-old high school dropout, was gone.

The Atlantic City prostitute killings 10 years laterMolly Dilts, 20, struggled off and on with drug addiction. She last called her family on Oct. 7, 2006. Within two weeks, she was dead. (Courtesy Dilts family) 

She'd lived in Black Lick, a faded coal-mining town of 1,438 some 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, all her life. But no one was terribly surprised at her sudden departure.

Dilts was a sweet girl but had problems, friends said. There was a baby son she wasn't raising, an outstanding warrant on an arrest for drug possession, and no income. Still, no one expected her to turn up dead six weeks later in a ditch outside Atlantic City.

No one was prepared to hear she had become a prostitute, either.

"I don't know how she got there. She talked about Philadelphia more. She had friends there. She wanted me to go with her, but I said 'No, I'm a working man,'" said Clawson, 27, a natural gas driller whom Molly considered the father of her 18-month-old son.

Clawson says he's not convinced of his paternity.

"She kind of, I don't know, she flirted on a lot of people. She would go out and talk to anybody. But I can't see her being a prostitute," he said. "She might have gotten into crack. She had done that before."

Black Lick Township once housed a booming coal mine and a busy downtown, but a post office and gas station are about all that remain of its commercial and manufacturing past. The town is located in a hilly landscape whose main feature is the coal-fired Homer City Generating Station, which belches clouds of white-gray steam visible for miles.

Black Lick is the kind of small town where "everybody knows everybody," said Sylvia Kosalko, who works in the post office.

So most people in Black Lick knew -- or knew of -- Dilts, and those who knew her say her problems started after her mother died about five years ago, when Dilts was around 15.

"What girl doesn't want her mom around?" asked Shari Shirley, a greeter at a Wal-Mart in nearby Blairsville who knows the Dilts family.

But Dilts lost more than her mom, Shirley said. Dilts' aunt died the same week, in some kind of accident. Then Dilts' stepbrother was found dead of a gunshot wound.

Family friends said Dilts' father Verner, a gas driller, took in her baby soon after the boy's birth and is raising the child with the help of relatives.

"I want everyone to know Molly was a good woman and a good mother," he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review earlier this week.

At Blairsville High School, Molly Dilts was remembered as a special-education student with a spotty attendance record who dropped out in her junior year. She was considered a tomboy and a loner.

After her mother's death she became a heavy drinker and smoker, her cousin Elizabeth Dilts, 22, said.

"She was just kind of awkward. She was just kind of weird," said Amanda Lightbody, 24, a former high school acquaintance. "I never heard her talk to anybody."

Ab Dettore, a physical education teacher at the high school, remembered seeing Dilts walking the streets alone during school hours.

"Molly was just one of the students you just knew wasn't gonna be a good ending," Dettore said.

The birth of her son did not seem to help Dilts get her life together. The baby had been conceived when Jeremy Clawson was home in Black Lick while on leave from the Army, according to Clawson. He said he was back on duty when the infant was born.

Later in 2005, a Pennsylvania state trooper investigating a report of an assault at a McDonald's in White Township, Pa., arrested Dilts for driving her car into a male friend after an altercation. She was hit with a slew of charges, including aggravated assault and public intoxication, but agreed to enter a rehabilitation program.

By the start of this year, Dilts and a boyfriend were living at a cheap hotel in Blairsville, above Chubby's II Restaurant and Sports Bar. The Indiana County Community Action Program, a local welfare agency helping the couple, put up $375 for one month's rent, hotel owner Dwight Creen said.

"They didn't cause me any problems," Creen said. Both worked at a local Pizza Hut.

After two weeks, though, the couple disappeared.

"They left the keys hanging on the wall," Creen said. He took the books and photos they left behind and threw them in the trash.

This March there was trouble again: Dilts was arrested in a motel room in Homer, Pa., with three others, for possession of drug paraphernalia. This time, Dilts did not appear for her arraignment. An arrest warrant was issued in July.

By this time, Clawson had left the service and was back in Black Lick. Dilts, who had written him letters while he was away, pursued him, he said. They set up housekeeping in August.

"She was in love with me," he said. "I wasn't really in love with her, but I needed a girlfriend. I needed to settle down. I was trying to get something to click between us."

Clawson said he encouraged Dilts to get involved in her son's life. He told her he was willing to live with her and the boy as a family, and she seemed interested, he said.

"I guess," said Clawson, who already has a new girlfriend, "she had a change of heart."

Mark Mueller may be reached at mmueller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkJMueller. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

 

First look at Trump's 'great again' America disturbing | Opinion

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Donald Trump's support from so-called "alt-right" and Ku Klux Klan organizations has ushered in a wave of intolerance that seemingly is acceptable to the general electorate.

Whether America is going to be great again with Donald Trump's election is debatable, but I can say definitively that some troubling actions and attitudes have resurfaced. 

The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan will hold a victory parade for Trump next month. A student at the University of Oklahoma has been suspended and two others are under investigation, all suspected of sending post-election pictures of lynch mobs, racist slurs and threatening messages to black University of Pennsylvania students. Some of these messages referenced the president-elect. 

Also since the election, a Muslim teacher in a Georgia high school was told via an anonymous note that she should hang herself with her headscarf, and a Michigan police officer was suspended, and later resigned, after driving his pickup truck -- with a large Confederate flag in the bed -- through a lawful anti-Trump rally. At Council Rock North High School in suburban Philadelphia, swastikas and anti-gay slurs were found along with "I Love Trump" messages. 

While all of this was going on, "The Donald" set the tone for his administration by tapping Steve Bannon as chief strategist to the president.

Bannon has frequently been described as racist, sexist, homophobic and Islamaphobic. The extensive record of web sites that he operated confirms that he willingly hosted writers with these beliefs. 

Trump's support from the so-called "alt-right," Klan organizations and other fringe groups has ushered in a wave of intolerance and racism that seemingly is acceptable to the general electorate. 

First, Trump articulated racist, sexist and religiously intolerant statements  over and over again prior to being elected. I cringed whenever I heard his  ignorant references to "the blacks," and when he said "look at my African American over here." This was a dehumanizing perspective that no reasonable person can deny. But a shocking number of voters, mostly white ones, rationalized, or ignored this behavior even though they were embarrassed by it. 

These voters would not publicly voice their support of Trump due to his intolerance. But when they enjoyed the privacy and anonymity of the voting booth, they rewarded him. Credible accusations of sexual assault did not matter, "textbook racism" as described by House Speaker Paul Ryan did not matter, nor did Trump's boastful commentary about what his wealth permitted him to do to women. It is reasonable to inquire why a majority of the white male and female electorate, which picked Trump, were willing to ignore such severe character flaws.

First, I believe they have a false sense of security that Trump's ideas and ideals will have no negative impact on their lives. They believe he will not target them. They must fail to understand the Trump family belief that those below them on the socio-economic scale are nothing more than consumers upon which to build wealth. Immediately after a "60 Minutes" interview with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, she put the self-designed jewelry she wore in the piece up for sale on the Internet -- and sales took off. Incredible.

Second, it appears that many in the white majority are sending a strong message to those of color, feminists and Muslims (many who are U S. citizens) that their human rights and equality are of no concern. The idea being enforced is that in the year 2016, racist and misogynistic comments do not disqualify someone from election to the nation's highest office, as long that someone is a white male. It will be interesting to see if those who faulted President Barack Obama for fostering poor race relations will hold Trump to the same standard.

I already know the answer, and so do you.

Milton W. Hinton Jr. is director of equal opportunity for the Gloucester County government. He is past president of the Gloucester County Branch NAACP. His column states his personal views, not those of any organization or agency. Email: mwhjr678@gmail.com.

Home-field disadvantage for N.J. home-schooled kids? | Editorial

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The latest controversy over high-school sports eligibility involves inconsistent policies for home-schooled kids.

Not long ago, a shadowy group calling itself S.T.O.P. (Stop Taking Our Players) called out high school football coaches at Timber Creek High School for allegedly raiding players from competing nearby teams.

No less than the Camden County Prosecutor's Office -- which had no business investigating these non-criminal allegations -- cleared the coaches. The matter is ongoing and now in the hands of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, where it should have been all along.

Now there's a new controversy about player eligibility involving a player who lives in the proper district, but is not enrolled at the host high school -- or any school. Can a home-schooled student play on the varsity team?

The school board at the sprawling Lenape Regional district in Burlington County just reaffirmed a ban on home-schooled players. The parents of Adam Cunard, a home-schooled 14-year-old from Tabernacle (which is within the boundary for Lenape's Seneca High School) had questioned the ban.

Adam's parents' gripe that he was allowed to play in the Seneca-based under-14 football league, which doesn't bar home-schoolers. But now that Adam is of ninth-grader age, the board says, he can't take part at the competitive, varsity level.

The board isn't trying to ruin a good grid prospect's future. It has sound reasoning for the ban. There's no way to know if Adam or any home-schooled player meets academic and disciplinary requirements for enrolled students to join, or stay on, the team. Can Mom verify that he's a "nice kid"? That's not exactly reliable.

The board's rule is defensible. The problem is that it's not consistent among schools that Seneca might face on the field or the court. (While football gets all the attention, the same rules apply to all varsity sports.)

Nearby, according to the Burlington County Times, a home-schooled student IS allowed to play sports at Rancocas Valley Regional High School. How is that, pardon the expression, an even playing field?

This issue is not going away. The Pandora's Box it opens extends to kids at small Christian or Jewish day schools that don't have their own teams. What about the field hockey whiz who'd rather play on a higher-ranked district high school team than the one at the Catholic school that she attends? 

For years, a few state legislators have tried to enact a guarantee that home-schooled students are eligible to try out for their public school district teams. One current proposal from Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris) directs this policy for NJSIAA-governed sports.

The measures haven't gone far in the Legislature. One reason: The home-schooling community itself is split. Some fear that a law could open their kids' schooling to more state Department of Education oversight. Its regulations are why many of these parents yanked the kids from public school in the first place.

It's a dilemma, but the sports eligibility question deserves a more uniform answer. A good start would be to hash out the pros and cons of a bill like Webber's in committee hearings. No need to call in the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, though.

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

The NJ.com Football Top 20: Shakeups on the cusp of the finals

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With upsets and top teams rising, there's plenty of movement in the weeks NJ.com Top 20 rankings.

Digital justice is imperfect justice | Opinion

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The most glaring problem with parole algorithms is that they are snapshots frozen in time that cannot account for what changed during years in prison.

I've been encouraged lately by the fact that elected leaders have been taking a serious approach to bail reform -- something that impacts the lives of many.

Without reform, millions of people will continue to sit in jail cells for lesser offenses because they couldn't come up with a few hundred dollars in bail money to let them continue with their lives as their case was being adjudicated. 

The result has been devastated families and hugely unnecessary costs to taxpayers at large. People lose their jobs, belongings, apartments and even their children. The punishment for not making bail is way out of proportion to the offense. 

In terms of the larger community, allowing people's lives to unravel for want of a few bucks on the front end tends to get awfully expensive on the back end. In addition to spending for incarceration, there are lost productivity and dozens of other costs we might not consider at first glance.

So, movement on bail reform was long overdue. But there's something else lurking in our data-driven, algorithm-loving world that takes inequality and bias, and quietly makes them part of society's DNA.  

Most people have no idea what "LSI-R" stands for, and that's probably a good thing. It's short for "Level of Service Inventory-Revised." To most of us it means nothing, but for those hoping for parole and a chance to restart their lives, it's everything.

LSI-R is an algorithm developed by a Canadian company, Multi-Health Systems, that is used to measure the risk that a criminal, if released, might commit future crimes or otherwise pose a risk to society.

When someone enters prison to start their sentence, they fill out an LSI-R form. This is a two-page "true/false" checklist matching a numerical rating that is supposed to predict the risk of re-offending based on the person's criminal;  substance-abuse and financial history; level of education; personality and attitude. Other variables include family/marital status, crime levels in the person's home community, and friends or family with a criminal history. 

While some states use LSI-R or something similar for both sentencing and parole, in New Jersey it's used as part of the parole-hearing process. So what could be wrong with something as data-driven and scientific as an algorithm?

The most glaring problem is that it's a snapshot frozen in time, and it captures only what was true when an individual started the term of incarceration. It cannot account properly for what is true after years served of a sentence.

Years in prison change a person. While some people change for the worse, many others earn diplomas or degrees, gain skills through training, become drug-free and are quite different from when they entered prison. Does the algorithm capture any of these variables?

Having a job lined up, moving to a good ZIP code, demonstrating family stability, and engaging in hobbies to occupy your time are all good things when eyeing parole. It's also not a stretch to think that an algorithm that gives undue weight to these "variables" will disproportionately penalize low-income and urban folks who may never have had these attributes in the best of times.

Maybe we need a new algorithm with new variables. Lacking that, maybe a parole algorithm needs to give greater weight to the rehabilitative work done by the inmate while incarcerated.

That's not unreasonable when you consider that most of the folks who write algorithms are high-income and male, with an average age between 25 and 40. Even with the best of intentions, the algorithms they write reflect their biases about family stability, circles of friends, ZIP Codes and attitudes.

If the goal in addition to punishment is actually to rehabilitate inmates and lower recidivism, we need more serious programs geared toward such rehabilitation. Successful use of such mechanisms also should be reflected in algorithms that help determine release dates. The inmate needs to know that doing the hard work of rehabilitation will actually matter when it comes time for a parole hearing. 

Because algorithms are usually proprietary, they can't be challenged by picking them apart. Yet, they render judgements based on assumptions that quietly get baked into the cake. Something needs to change. Otherwise, all we've got is a stacked deck that seems perfectly legitimate because it feels "scientific."

Albert B. Kelly is mayor of Bridgeton. Contact him by phone at 856-455-3230 Ext. 200.

Woman charged in burglary sought for skipping court

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She allegedly broke into the same restaurant twice, authorities said.

WOODBURY -- Authorities are looking for a West Deptford woman who failed to appear in court on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.

Sarah M. Tucker.jpgSarah M. Tucker (Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office)
 

Sarah M. Tucker, 25, of Crown Point Road, is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 140 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair.

Tucker was charged in connection with two burglaries at the same South Broad Street restaurant in Woodbury on Sept. 7 and 8. Money was stolen from a cash register, authorities said. She was also charged with possession of a burglary tool and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Anyone who knows Tucker's whereabouts should not attempt to apprehend her. Instead, contact Gloucester County prosecutors at 856-384-5605, or Sgt. Ron Koller at 609-929-6348, or Detective John Petroski at 856-498-6238. The tip line is tips@co.gloucester.nj.us.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.

4 hospitalized after wind-driven fire ravages 3 homes

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The fire spread to two neighboring properties, one a vacant house for sale and the other a family home that was recently renovated.

WOODBURY -- Four residents were hospitalized with unspecified injuries after fire swept through three homes early Monday morning.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. 

Just after 7 a.m., fire companies from Woodbury, Deptford and Woodbury Heights were finishing up hours of work on Mehorter Boulevard.

A burned out frame was all that remained of 729 Mehorter, where the fire originated before spreading to properties on both sides. The house was a church-run group home, county officials indicated, though city officials were not able to confirm that information or indicate who operated the facility.

All of the injured residents lived in the home where the fire began, fire officials confirmed.

A loud pop was all neighbors reported hearing before they looked outside to see fire coming from the home and "lighting up the sky" around 3:40 a.m.

High winds blew embers and fire to neighboring properties and brought down power lines. The live wires posed an additional hazard as firefighters battled the blaze.

"It posed a real problem," said Woodbury Fire Chief Randall Gartner. "We had the wind working against us, a large fire and live wires all over."

The home collapsed 15 minutes after firefighters arrived on the scene, leaving two cars in the driveway damaged as well.

Seven residents were originally taken to Inspira Medical Center Woodbury and three were discharged after being seen at the emergency room. Three more patients were taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pennsylvania, where they were listed in critical condition, according to county officials. A fourth was listed in critical but stable condition at Cooper University Hospital.

A firefighter from Deptford Fire Department was treated for a shoulder injury.

As of late Monday morning, power had been restored to homes along Mehorter Boulevard, apart from the three involved. Residents in the surrounding homes had also been permitted to return, according to city administrator Mike Theokas.

A vacant house, listed for sale, to the left of the original fire sat with charred holes in the roof and outer walls where fire had eaten away at it. Firefighters worked for an hour to put out that blaze. 

To the right of 729 Mehorter, a family home on Driscoll Avenue also caught fire. The newly renovated house was fairly damaged, but Gartner believes it's salvageable. That fire was placed under control within a half hour of arrival. 

A Red Cross official confirmed the agency is assisting two families displaced by the fire with temporary housing, as well as food and clothing.

Gartner criticized what he said was a slow response from Public Service Electric & Gas to shut off electricity to the downed wires, saying that firefighters had to wait about an hour before utility crews arrived.

Units responding to the scene included fire departments from Woodbury, Woodbury Heights, West Deptford, Deptford, Mantua, National Park and Gibbstown, as well as Woodbury Police Department, Deptford EMS, Gloucester County EMS and Inspira Medical MICU.

Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

School's service project will reach children globally

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St. Michael the Archangel spreads joy to children in South America

CLAYTON -- St. Michael the Archangel Regional School (SMRS) collected over 230 Boxes of Joy donated from families and faculty members of the school. The families filled the boxes that were provided by Cross Catholic Outreach with small toys, books, candy, and much more for children in need in Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Dominican Republic.

The Year of Mercy is coming to a close, and St. Michael the Archangel Regional School wanted to participate in a service project that reaches children globally. Most charitable donations to these parts of the world focus primarily on basic necessities such as water, food, and shelter, not allowing the children to experience gift at Christmas. The Box of Joy campaign allows these children of need to open at least one gift on Christmas morning.

Steve Bostian, program director of the Box of Joy, visited St, Michael the Archangel Regional School. He was in awe of the amount of boxes collected by the school. This is the second year for the campaign, the first being a roll out year. They only targeted the east coast collecting 11,000 boxes. This year they decided to go national with the program, and it has been quite successful. Their goal was to collect 47,000 boxes. They expect to have well over 50,000 boxes this year.

Joe Williams, a fourth grade teacher and Box of Joy coordinator for SMRS, incorporated the Box of Joy program with a school wide service project with help from the SMRS National Junior Honor Society. Not only is St. Michael School collecting the Boxes of Joy, they are also a drop off location for anyone in the area that is participating privately or as a group. "We have received calls from schools in Delaware and Yardley, Pennsylvania. They dropped off almost 100 more boxes!" said Joe Williams, "our students used this project to truly appreciate God's gifts in our own lives and be able to share our love with others around the world."

For information, call 856-881-0067 or visit www.smrsonline.com.

This item submitted by Sheri Klein for St. Michael the Archangel Regional School.


Tickets on sale for annual senior services Holiday Feast

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Tickets available at Division of Senior Services and nutrition sites

WEST DEPTFORD -- Freeholder Director Robert M. Damminger and Freeholder Jim Jefferson announced that tickets for the Gloucester County Division of Senior Services Holiday Feast are now on sale.

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The annual Holiday Feast for Gloucester County senior citizens will be held on Dec. 6, Dec. 7, Dec. 13 and Dec. 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Auletto Caterers, Almonesson.

Tickets Are $3 per person and available at the Division of Senior Services, 115 Budd Blvd., West Deptford, and at the six nutrition sites listed below:  

  • Mantua Community Center - 111 Mercer Ave., Mantua
  • Glassboro Senior Center - 152 S. Delsea Drive, Glassboro
  • Thorofare Fire Hall - 1 Firehouse Road, Thorofare
  • Pfeiffer Community Center - 301 blue Bell St., Williamstown
  • Franklin Community Center - 1584 Coles Mill Road, Franklinville
  • Second Baptist Church - 1534 Pine St., Paulsboro

 Buffet lunch is served at noon only; no one will be served after 1 p.m.Doors open at 10:30 a.m. with music for dancing, entertainment and prizes. For additional information, call 856-686-8327 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

This item submitted by Debra Sellitto for County of Gloucester.

West Jersey Depot Museum holds Holiday Open House

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Featuring a working model train display, memorabilia and holiday decorations

GLASSBORO -- The Glassboro Historical Society will be hosting three holiday open houses during the month of December, featuring working model train displays, train station memorabilia and festive holiday decorations on Fridays, Dec. 9, 16 and 23 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Historic West Jersey Depot Museum and Welcome Center located at 354 Oakwood Ave. in the Chestnut Ridge section of Glassboro.

Professional "Pictures with Santa" photos will be available for purchase by Teresart Photography.

Visit the West Jersey Train Depot and make new holiday memories for your family. Free parking is available in the station lot and on Oakwood Avenue. All permit parking restrictions on Oakwood Avenue will be lifted during events at the station.

For more information contact Daniele Spence at 609-381-5990 or Rich Drobil at 856-298-0298.

This item submitted by Daniele Spence for Glassboro Historical Society.

 

25 great storylines from the 2016 boys soccer state tournament

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Teams and players that made a mark in this year's tourney.

Glassboro hockey standout signs for East Stroudsburg

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Jordyn Wigglesworth signs letter of intent to accept athletic scholarship

GLASSBORO -- Glassboro High School senior Jordyn Wigglesworth signed a letter of intent on Nov. 15 to accept an athletic scholarship and play field hockey for East Stroudsburg University.

"I'm thankful to have all of my coaches by my side and for the training they provided me throughout the years," she remarked.

Jordyn, a captain for the GHS Field Hockey Team, played varsity hockey for all four years at Glassboro High. She was named to All State, 2nd Team for her junior year and All SJ Conference for her sophomore and junior years.

The Field Hockey Club of South Jersey honored Jordyn as an Unsung Hero. This year she will also enter her fourth year on the GHS Varsity Track and Field Team. At GHS, Jordyn participates in the Friends of Rachel and Renaissance Clubs.

This item submitted by Jody Rettig for Glassboro School District.

WTHS Powder Puff Game set for Nov. 22

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The junior class girls will play against the senior class girls

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - The 2016 Washington Township High School Powder Puff Game will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. under the lights at the school's Tom Brown Field. Spectator gates will open at 5:15 p.m. The spirited tradition that pits approximately 215 junior class girls against 200 senior class girls in a competitive game of flag football proves annually to be quite the spectacle, attracting hundreds of competitors and spectators alike.

In the ultimate role reversal, approximately 125 juniors and 100 senior-class boys embrace their role of cheerleaders, dressing the part and performing cheers and routines throughout the event. 

WTHS teachers John Basile, Rich Zambino, Deanna Ettore, Natalie Taylor, Simone Wong, Jamie Oliver, Mike Blaylock, Shannon Molloy, Alex McBride and Tanya Dargusch will serve as coaches of the senior class team.

The junior-class squad will be coached by Alicia Boncardo, Jenn Reilly, Kaitlyn Filipiak, Mike Wong, Jeff Rearick, Jim Hallinan and Matt Groark.

The event raises funds for the school's Project Graduation, an all-night, drug-and alcohol-free celebration that offers a safe alternative for graduates on graduation night.

Admission to the Powder Puff game is $3.

This item submitted by Matthew Pesyna for Washington Township School District.

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