Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • December 11, 2013 Area Waldwick to use Allendale’s lightning detection system Waldwick will piggyback onto Allen- dale’s lightning detection system at a savings to both municipalities and the Waldwick Board of Education. Waldwick Borough Administrator Gary Kratz said last week that Allendale had agreed to allow the use of its existing base station to activate the warning sig- nals at each of the six Waldwick locations identified as in need of the coverage: the Waldwick High/middle school campus, Traphagen and Sicomac schools, two at Borough Park (by the fields and by the playgrounds) and one at Veterans Park. “It’s a win win, and it’ll cost us less than Gary had anticipated,” said Mayor Thomas Giordano. Allendale would recoup half of its capital investment for the base sta- tion, $9,000 to be shared equally by the Waldwick borough and board of educa- tion. There would be no other payments and no recurring costs, since the unit is solar powered. Kratz said the idea to approach a neighboring town came about when he and John Griffin, the board’s business administrator, met with a representative from Strike Guard, the company that provides the detection system. “Would another town be able to acti- vate our system as they activate our own, we wondered?” Kratz said. Ho-Ho-Kus was also considered, but Allendale’s topography was determined to be more desirable, he said. Kratz said the second part of the equa- tion is the installation of the receivers at each of the six locations. He said this cost is estimated to be about $20,000, with the borough and the board each commit- ted to paying for the installations on their fields. He said he anticipates the units will be operational in late spring or early summer. At a mayor and council meeting in October at which the joint project between the town and the board was announced, Board of Education Presi- dent Dawn Monaco said the board would develop procedures to be followed once the warning system is operational. School and recreational coaches who use the fields would have to be trained as to when to start getting off the field and where to take the children if an emer- gency arises. She said the district would probably follow a system similar to that used now for concussion procedures, whereby coaches have to sign off that they are familiar with the rules and will follow them. Lightning detection systems, which can be mounted on schools or other buildings, continuously monitor the atmosphere’s electrostatic energy and evaluate the potential for lightning within a certain radius, providing the necessary alerts with horn blasts followed by flash- ing strobe lights. Once the system determines that the hazardous condition is past, an all-clear signal is sounded and the lights stop flashing. While impending electrical storms can be easy to detect, warning alarms go off even in instances where no signs of a storm are detected on the field. Project Medicine Drop The Waldwick Police Department has joined the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs in an effort to halt the diversion and abuse of prescription drugs. A new mailbox-style drop box has been installed in the lobby of the Waldwick Public Safety Complex. Residents are encouraged to anonymously deposit unused or expired household medications into the Proj- ect Medicine Drop Box, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This opportunity pre- vents unused medications from falling into the hands of those who might abuse them. The drop box accepts household medication only. Pills, capsules, patches, and pet medications are the only items accepted. Syringes and liquids cannot be accepted.