Area November 14, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 15 Wyckoff voters agree to permit raffles for charity by John Koster Wyckoff voters who went to the polls last week were successful in overturning the township’s ban on raffles that had been in effect for 58 years. The public question to permit raffles to raise money for charities and civic groups was adopted by a wide margin, with 3,812 Wyckoff residents voting in favor of permitting raffles and 922 opposed to the change. Wyckoff’s ban on raffles was established in 1954. Gambling, especially in church, was frowned upon by most Calvinist congregations as a bad influence on young people. Many conservative Protestants also pointed out that soldiers threw lots for the robe of Jesus at the foot of the cross, as predicted in Psalm 22, and found gambling associated with churches and charities inappropriate. The Wyckoff restriction led, among other things, to the relocation of the Lions Club Carnival from Wyckoff to Allendale, where games of chance and raffles are allowed. The question was put on the ballot after a petition established that a large number of voters supported an ordinance change. Wyckoff’s voters also elected GOP incumbent Kevin Rooney and Republican newcomer Haakon Jepsen to the Wyckoff Township Committee. Democrat Eileen Avia, who ran a solo bid for a township committee seat, fared better than the national and state Democratic candidates did in Wyckoff, but did not receive enough ballots to win a seat. “I’m glad the people of Wyckoff came out and showed me their support in this overwhelming victory,” Rooney said the day after the election. “I have maintained the pledges to the people that I made three years ago, and I thank them for recognizing that with their strong support in this election.” Rooney received 4,562 votes, and his running mate Jepsen received 4,245 votes. Avia received 3,131 according to the township clerk’s office. Brian Scanlan, now in his second term, is the township committee’s only Democrat. Rooney, who had previously served on the Wyckoff Board of Adjustment and on the Wyckoff Shade Tree Committee, is a certified arborist and a member of the Wyckoff Education Foundation. Jepsen, an expert in technology employed by an international banking corporation, and is a first alternate on the Wyckoff Board of Adjustment. Schindler receives second Emmy Award Laforet wins full term as mayor (continued from page 3) on the council for 20 years. She will be serving her seventh term on the council. She has been the council’s president three times and vice president five times. She has also been the chair of the council’s ad-hoc beautification subcommittee, a member of the council’s ad hoc ordinance/codification committee, and a member of the council’s ad hoc transportation subcommittee. In addition, she has been the council’s appointed liaison to the Northwest Bergen Community Development Commission. She is a former member of the township’s ambulance corps. During her campaign, DiGiulio said the biggest issue for the township’s elected officials next year will be taxes. She thinks the contract negotiations with the township’s unions and the budget process for 2013 will provide an opportunity to consider the restructuring of township departments and the elimination of scaled bonuses in the department of public works and police contracts. Roth has been a Mahwah resident for 19 years and is a retired marketing executive and former executive vice president managing director of Lowe Worldwide/ Interpublic Group. He served as the council’s vice president and president and liaison to the Mahwah Chamber of Commerce and he chaired the Cable TV Franchise Negotiating Committee that brought two community TV channels to the township. He is currently the council’s liaison to the Community Cable TV committee, where he founded the township’s TV Bulletin Board Channel 78/33 Cablevision/Verizon and hosts the “MCN Meets” programs on the Mahwah TV channel. Roth previously served the council as its chair of the Finance Committee and chair of the township’s water rates advisory panel. He also served on the Mahwah Board of Education for five years where he served as first and second vice president and member of the Executive Committee. He was a member of the township’s planning board from 2002 to 2003 and he was elected to the council in 2004 and reelected in 2008. Sbarra has lived in the township for 20 years and is the owner of Sport Clips in Wyckoff. He previously was the senior manager of FedEx in Fairfield and a manager in the Commerce Bank and the Wachovia Bank. He has volunteered in the township for the DARE street and roller hockey program and for the Mahwah Sports Boosters as a basketball and softball coach. He is a founding trustee of the Mahwah Ice Hockey Association, a volunteer ice hockey coach at Mahwah High School, and a fundraiser for the United Way in Fairfield. Sbarra said during his campaign that the council should act as a check and balance system within the township government. He said he wants to develop a good and honest working relationship among the mayor’s office, the township administration, and the township council. Kenneth Schindler (pictured) recently received a Technical Emmy at the awards ceremony in California. Schindler grew up in Allendale and graduated from Northern Highlands Regional High School in 1992. After graduating from University of Miami in Florida with a double major in music/engineering, he went on to University of Gainsville to complete a master’s in engineering. From there, he went to work at Dolby Digital in San Francisco. This is Schindler’s second Emmy; the first one was awarded to him in 2000 for his work on audio coding technology called “Dolby –E,” a professional encoder and decoder. This recent Emmy was awarded to him for his work on the “PRM-4200: A Professional Reference Monitor.” “This time, he was invited to the actual awards ceremony in Burbank,” said Schidnler’s mom, Nickie Lisella. “We are so excited for him. It is wonderful to receive this kind of recognition within the industry.” The statue will be kept at the Dolby headquarters in San Francisco. Schindler will receive a framed certificate that he will display in his office next to his first one. Schindler and his wife Pauline reside in Alameda, a suburb of San Francisco.