Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • November 7, 2012 Wyckoff Repairs at Zabriskie House now in progress by John Koster The oldest house in Wyckoff is now undergoing some much-needed repairs. Late last month, work had already begun on the porch of the venerable Zabriskie House. Wyckoff Township Committeeman Rudy Boonstra credited Jim and Judy Abma and Bill Bushman, trustees of the Zabriskie House, with reaching out to find volunteers to conduct necessary repairs at the house. Kuiken Brothers of Midland Park donated the lumber for the construction and Bob Milanese of Barrister Construction sent the carpenters to work on the restoration of the porch. “I’d like to express my admiration to Jim and Judy Abma and Bill Bushman for reaching out to the people who were generous enough to donate materials and labor to maintain the Zabriskie House,” Boonstra said last week. The Zabriskie House is located just north of the intersection of Wyckoff Avenue and Franklin Avenue and was constructed around 1730 on the site of an older house. The existing house is believed to be the oldest in Wyckoff, and was bequeathed to the township by Grace Quakenbush Zabriskie in 1964. She had personally selected four trustees to administer the Zabriskie House. The Zabriskie House is a separate entity from the Wyckoff Historical Society, but three of the Zabriskie House trustees also serve on the board of the Wyckoff Historical Society. The Zabriskie House is sometimes opened for tours, and hosted a successful Civil War program in the late spring with exhibits of memorabilia related to Wyckoff Ongoing restoration of the front porch of the Zabriskie House. families. During the Civil War commemoration, the poor condition of the porch was noted by members of the Wyckoff Township Committee, and they and the trustees cooperated to find donors to make it possible to repair the oldest standing house in Wyckoff without using tax dollars. The Township of Wyckoff has received the Automobile Association of America’s Outstanding Achievement for Community Traffic Safety. The township’s administration and members of the Wyckoff Township Committee took satisfaction in the achievements of Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox and his police force. The Wyckoff Police Department regularly wins awards for traffic safety from both the AAA and the Joint Insurance Fund. Some of the pedestrian safety programs in Wyckoff include safety talks with school-aged children and senior citizens, demonstrations by bicycle patrol officers at the schools, child safety seat inspections by certified police officers, periodic reviews of automobile crash data to establish the causes of accidents and to recommend changes, assistance to school officials to maintain crossing safety, Township wins pedestrian safety award and regular communication to the public with the township newsletter. Police officers in Wyckoff monitor intersections to view possible obstructions and other hazards. The police also conduct speed and traffic surveys both with counting devices and the trailer message board that clocks vehicles and tells them what their actual speeds are. The police also work with AAA officials to sponsor regular visits from Otto the Auto and AAA Safety Town to reach even the youngest children in school with basic safety concepts. “Wyckoff truly believes in the Three E’s philosophy in traffic safety: Education, Enforcement, and Engineering,” Chief Fox said last week. “The police department continues to look for new ways to improve safety with the township using these three principals.” J. KOSTER