Ho-Ho-Kus April 18, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 7 Classmates want Deleeuw to appear on monument by Jennifer Crusco Former Ho-Ho-Kus Public School student Stuart Deleeuw may soon have his name added to the Memorial Park Monument in his former hometown. The borough council is now considering the request, so the name plate can be made and installed by Memorial Day. Ho-Ho-Kus Historian John Hanlon recently contacted the council regarding Deleeuw, who grew up in the borough and served in the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company in Vietnam. “Stuart Deleeuw’s classmates from the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School contacted me for help in securing Stuart’s name on the Memorial Park Monument,” Hanlon told the council in a recent letter. “When the town moved the memorial monuments to the current park in 2003, it conducted a vast search to obtain the names of veterans. Stuart Deleeuw’s name was missed because his parents had moved out of town before the review process.” Deleeuw’s parents lived in a home on Chestnut Place in the Race Track Development. He attended the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School, where he finished eighth grade in 1960. He later graduated from Ridgewood High School, which had a send/receive relationship with the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus at that time. Deleeuw had completed two years of college study when he felt compelled to join the U.S. Army. After completing Helicopter Training School, he became a warrant officer. By the time he received his honorable discharge in 1973, Deleeuw had already earned the Sharp Shooter’s Badge, the Aviation Bade, the Good Conduct Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm, the Vietnam Service Medal with four Bronze Stars, and the Air Medal with 43 Oak Leaf Clusters. Following his service in the U.S. Army, Deleeuw worked for various companies as chief pilot and as an aviation operations coordinator. Most recently, he was chief pilot for J. Fletcher Creamer & Sons, a local construction company. He currently resides in Pennsylvania. Memorial Park was created on East Franklin Turnpike (continued on page 17) The Ho-Ho-Kus Council recently called on the state’s legislators to ask that they address the issue of unemployment claims filed by municipal seasonal workers. The council asked that those employees who work on the school calendar year be made ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits regardless of whether they work for the municipal government or the board of education. The borough hires school crossing guards for the school year to help children cross various intersections. According to the resolution, the crossing guard job is not meant to be year-round employment, and board of education employees who work for a similar period are not eligible for unemployment benefits. The resolution states that Senate Bill 2927 and Assembly Bill 132 began to address the issue of seasonal workers’ unemployment claims. However, the council wants the state to amend those bills to include municipal seasonal employees, including crossing guards, who receive unemployment insurance when school is not in session during breaks and over the summer. Commenting on the issue, Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Admin- Borough council wants legislators to review unemployment situation istrator Don Cirulli recently stated, “The crossing guard position is a seasonal job, and people know that. It’s not proper to take unemployment benefits.” “(T)he crossing guards who are employed by the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus always file for unemployment insurance whenever there is a break from employment by the school, even if it is just for a few days,” the resolution states. The document indicates that the unemployment filings cost the borough between $20,000 and $25,000 each year, “which adds to the financial constraints forced upon the borough’s budget due to the severe economic times.” The Waldwick Council recently approved a similar resolution, which states that crossing guards who have successfully filed for unemployment benefits have exhausted Waldwick’s self-insured funding “and are now requiring the borough to provide additional funding to cover the deficit resulting from these claims.” Waldwick’s deficit is approximately $20,000. Ho-Ho-Kus Chief Financial Officer Joe Citro clarified that Ho-Ho-Kus is not self-insured. J. CRUSCO