September 12, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 17 Future of Labor Day fireworks display questioned by John Koster The Wyckoff Fire Department’s traditional Labor Day fireworks display drew a modest profit this year, prompting the members of the Wyckoff Township Committee to wonder how many more years the department’s annual fundraiser would be offered. “It was mildly successful this year in that the fire department did turn a small profit on it,” Wyckoff Township Committeeman and long-time firefighter Rudy Boonstra observed at last week’s township committee meeting. “The margins on it are razor thin, and it’s so close to going upside down that we’re going to have to think about it,” said Township Committeeman Doug Christie, a longtime firefighter who serves as the department’s chaplain. The problem, as the township committee members concurred, is not the quality of the professional fireworks display, which they all rate as being excellent. The issue is that a vast number of spectators have discovered that they can park their cars in the expanded Boulder Run Shopping Center’s lot and enjoy the fireworks from a reasonably close vantage point without paying for tickets. “I think that every parking space in Boulder Run was taken,” said Mayor Christopher DePhillips. “There were as many people at Boulder Run as there were at the municipal complex,” Township Committeeman Brian Scanlan agreed. “We pass the bucket (at Boulder Run), but a lot of people just throw in a dollar or a quarter,” Christie said. “One guy threw a french fry at a fireman!” The annual fireworks display is advertised, and tickets are sold by mail and at cooperating local businesses. However, this process is also being reevaluated. “We used to get 80 percent from the mails,” Christie said. “Now, it’s 20 percent. If we had had a cold night, we would have been upside down.” The township committee members noted that many people who parked at Boulder Run appeared to be from out of town, and surmised that some of the people who avoided paying for tickets might not have known that the Wyckoff Fire Department is 100 percent volunteer, and that the volunteers rely on the proceeds from the fireworks display. The Wyckoff Volunteer Fire Department is the only department in northwest Bergen County that conducts annual competitive inspections among its three companies. Outside professional and volunteer firefighters serve as judges. In addition, Wyckoff routinely assists other municipalities during fire emergencies through the mutual aid policy, and morale in the department is generally excellent. Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox has pointed out to motorists that fees with regard to crosswalk safety have increased in New Jersey and urges motorists to drive with caution. “Be a courteous driver and at the same time obey the law: Stop for pedestrians,” Chief Fox said last week. He also reminded drivers that most speed limits in Wyckoff are 25 miles per hour and that these speed limits would be enforced. Chief Fox pointed out that a recent New Jersey state statute increased the penalty for failure to stop for a pedestrian within a crosswalk from $130 to $230. This fee applies only in cases where there is no collision with the Chief heralds increased NJ crosswalk fees pedestrian. If there is a serious bodily injury to a pedestrian, the law requires a mandatory court appearance and the defendant motorist is subject to a fine on conviction of not less than $100 or more than $500, possible imprisonment of not more than 25 days, and a license suspension of up to six months. On April 1, 2010, the state required motorists to stop and remain stopped for pedestrians crossing the roads in marked crosswalks. Before that time, the law only required the driver to yield to pedestrians. Chief Fox has also urged pedestrians to avoid walking out from between parked cars or in other line of sight interference in front of moving vehicles. J. KOSTER Memorial Ceremony (continued from page 15) K. Jensen, Shari A. Kandell, Thomas Kelly, Sara Elizabeth Marley, Scott McGovern, Craig A. Silverstein, Richard Todisco, and Roy G. Wallace. All 11 names are listed in a memorial site inside Wyckoff Town Hall showing the huge prayer vigil that took place the night of the attack. “These 11 individuals lost from the township on Sept. 11, 2001 and their families are never far from home and forever in our hearts,” a statement from the Wyckoff Volunteer Fire Department said.