Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • June 27, 2012 Glen Rock Borough seeks host families for Onomachi students by John Koster The Japanese middle school students and chaperones from Onomachi, Japan will be arriving in Glen Rock on July 25, and more host families are still needed to accommodate the visitors on this annual tour of Glen Rock and the New York Metropolitan area. Based on a tentative schedule, the students from Onomachi, a country town in central Honshu, will arrive at the Glen Rock Municipal Annex on Wednesday, July 25 about 6 p.m. for the reception and the meeting with host families. On July 26, the students will tour borough facilities in Glen Rock, and swim at the Glen Rock Municipal Pool, which has been popular with prior visitors from Onomachi. On July 27, the students will take a sight-seeing trip that will include the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations, shopping in Times Square, and a Broadway musical. The adults with the tour often pass up some of the traditional tourist venues to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Saturday and Sunday are free days with the host families and a reception at the Glen Rock Municipal Pool. The The Glen Rock Public Library, located at 315 Rock Road in Glen Rock, will offer a wide range of reading programs for teenagers and younger children this summer. Sponsored by the Friends of the Glen Rock Library, the programs will run through Aug. 16. The Dream Big program, for youngsters from preschool through the grade three, will focused in part on the summerlong scavenger hunt. Details are available at the Glen Rock Library Children’s Room. “Legos at the Library” will take place at both 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on June 26. This program is for children who will be entering kindergarten through grade three. The library will provide the snap-together toys for some creative building fun. The “Stuffed Animal Sleepover” will take place on Monday, July 2, or Tuesday, July 31, starting at 7:30 p.m. Children will enjoy stories with stuffed animals. The stuffed animals -- but not the children -- will then sleep over at the library. (continued on page 18) Public library offers busy summer Local youngsters had their faces painted when they registered for the Glen Rock Library’s summer programs. Japanese students will spend the following week at Camp Hilltop in Hancock, New York, and will return to Japan from Camp Hilltop. First organized by Kristin Stewart -- now Kristin Stewart O’Brien -- the Onomachi tours originated based on the wish of the mayor of Onomachi to foster peaceful understanding between the United States and Japan. Some Glen Rock families who have hosted students from Onomachi have later visited the Japanese families and stayed at their homes, and some have formed lasting friendships with the youngsters and the adult visitors. Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren, an active supporter of the program, and Planning Board Secretary Nancy Spiller, also a supporter, convened a special session of Onomachi friends and council and administration members to send Onomachi an electronic “greeting card” at the time of the 2011 tsunami and nuclear contamination. These disasters did not involve Onomachi directly, but sent many refugees from the contaminated area to take shelter in the local schools or with local families. The Onomachi officials urged Glen Rock residents not to worry about Onomachi residents, and urged them to send care packages to the refugees. Those who wish to become hosts may contact Kristin Stewart O’Brien at kssjapan@msn.com or Nancy Spiller at (201) 670-3956. In other business, the reconstruction on the Glen Rock Recycling Area has begun and will continue through July and into August. The contract for this project was awarded to Trino Associates in the amount of $713,000. Glen Rock Borough Administrator Lenora Benjamin said the plans call for increased parking, rest rooms for the people who use the nearby sports fields, and an office for the recycling workers. The bins will stay approximately where they are at the present time, but access should be rendered more convenient, she said.