1 ZO N E FR MID W Y A LA CK N N O K D F LI N PA F LA R K K ES �� � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � �� � �� ISSN 2161-8208 ISSN 2161-8194 www.villadom.com Copyright 2014 �� � � � � � � �� �� � � � � � � � � ��� ��� �� � � � � �� �� � � � � �� � � � � ��� � �� � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � �� � � � �� � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � �� �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Vol. 27 No. 17 SERVING THE HUB OF NORTH-WEST BERGEN May 7, 2014 40¢ ☺ What’s News- Midland Park Leaders named School board reorganizes with Maryalice Thomas as president, James Canellas as VP. FLOW Area Resignations tendered 3 Three regional school district trustees resign abruptly without official comment. Wyckoff Taking action 5 Community service project brings honey bees to Larkin House to educate public. FLOW Area Selection announced Beverly Mackay named new superintendent of Ramapo Indian Hills School District. Living legacy 7 In honor of Arbor Day, a tree planting was recently held on the grounds of the John Fell House on Franklin Turnpike in Allendale. Pictured are Mike Limatola, Patty Finn, and Bruce Rohsler. The tree was donated by Rohsler’s Allendale Nursery. “The ������������������������������ Best Deal In Town” your residential 64 on Franklin Avenue Tpke. 190 ������������������ Waldwick, Ridgewood, loan. mortgage NJ NJ ����������������� For information contact: ������������ • • CUSTOM DRAPERIES CUSTOM DRAPERIES • • UPHOLSTERY UPHOLSTERY • • SHUTTERS SHUTTERS 201-444-7100 ��������������� www.asbnowmortgage.com Offices in Bergen, Morris & NML#737325 Passaic Counties Gua ra 201-327-4900 201-327-4900 ces P ri ed Lowes nte We Will t Beat Any 3-6-13 Karen/Janine 12-1-10 Karen/Janine Advertised Price! AtlanicStewardshipFrPg AtlanicStewardshipFrPg 20 20 E. E. Main St., Ramsey NJ Main St., Ramsey NJ Is Your Insurance Premium Increasing? Call Allen & Allen Representing over 10 companies 201-546-7018 201.891.8790 www.Insurance4NewJersey.com Fairway Estate of Hawthorne • Wood Floor Refinishing • Area Rugs/Remnants • In Home & Area Rug Cleaning 1030 Goffle Rd. @ Rt. 208 973.427.7900 www.buyabbey.com Landscaping • Expert Property Maintenance • Lawn Care with Less Pesticides! Call Today! 201-447-3910 HALLIGAN ELECTRIC CO., LLC AUTHORIZED DEALER www.halliganelectricco.com Installation • Maintenance 201-447-3780 LIC. 14609A What’s Inside Classified.......25 Restaurant.....23 Opinion.........18 Crossword.....24 Obituaries......20 Entertainment..22 3-19-14 ester/janine FairwayEstateFrPg(3-19-14) • Service AbbeyCarpetFrPg(7-17-13) Airport Worldwide Locally & Janine • Nights on the Town Free Estimates Fully Insured 201-444-0315 • Sporting Events • Sedans, SUV’s, Limos, Vans, Buses 81 Franklin Tpke., Mahwah, NJ 201-529-1452 P.O. Box 96, Midland Park, NJ 07432-0096 Total Window & Wall Fashions 6 Kim/Janine HalliganElecFrontPage(2-26-14) rev2 Page 2 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Villadom Happenings School board seeks to fill vacancies The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School Board of Education is seeking two Wyckoff residents and one Oakland resident to fill the unexpired terms of members who recently resigned. The appointees will serve through the end of 2014. The two Wyckoff seats were left vacant with the resig- nations of Dr. Lynn Budd and Isabelle Lanini. The resigna- tion of Elizabeth Piece left an Oakland position open. Any interested community member may submit a letter of interest and any other pertinent information to Frank C. Ceurvels, Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District Board of Education, 131 Yawpo Avenue, Oakland, New Jersey 07436, by May 15. Letters of interest will be reviewed by the board of edu- cation and candidates will be interviewed May 20. The legal requirements for the position include U.S. citizenship and a minimum of one year of residency in the school district; no interest in, any contract with, or claim against, the board; and the ability to read and write. Can- didates may not hold any other elected office and must be registered to vote in the district. The board must fill the vacancies within 65 days from April 23. Mayor and council honor SRV Lions The Upper Saddle River Mayor and Council recently honored the Saddle River Valley Lions Club on its achievement of reaching the $2 million mark in terms in monies raised by the club and then donated to charity. In a presentation made at at a recent meeting, Mayor Joanne Minichetti presented the club with an official proclamation of recognition approved by the members of the full USR Council. In reading the proclamation to the public, the mayor noted the many notewor- thy accomplishments and activities of the SRV Lions Club and thanked the members of the club for helping to build a greater sense of community among the residents of Upper Saddle River. Pictured displaying the proclamation and a ‘check’ representing the $2 million raised are Lion David Verducci, Lion Justin Moore, Lion Chris Reichert, Lion Gene Leporiere, Lions President Jerry Michota, and USR Mayor Joanne Minichetti. (NOTE: This photo should have appeared on Page 1 last week. Villadom TIMES regrets the error and any inconvenience it may have caused.) Young artists sought for scholarship exhibit The Ridgewood Art Institute invites young artists in Ridgewood and the surrounding communities to enter the 55th Annual Young People’s Scholarship Exhibition. Receiving will be held Saturday, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 12 East Glen Avenue in Ridgewood. A reception will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on June 1, the opening day of the exhibit. Artworks will remain on dis- play through June 15. Scholarships will be awarded for free instruction at the Ridgewood Art Institute in traditional painting and draw- ing. Cash prizes, merchandise awards, certificates of merit, and honorable mentions will also be awarded. Recipients of a Ridgewood Art Institute scholarship will be ineligible for another scholarship for the next three years. Students from 7-17 may enter one original two-dimen- sional work in any medium. Any size is acceptable. Student members of the Ridgewood Art Institute may enter up to two original works. All pictures must be framed, wired, and ready to hang. In addition to filling out an entry form on receiving day, the following information must be printed on the back of the artwork: Name, age, address, phone number, school and ECF will be participating in a Food Drive at the A&P in Midland Park on May 24 from 1-4 p.m. Stop by and visit us! We will also have a booth at Wyckoff Day, Saturday, June 7 from 11-5 p.m. Come and learn more about all the good work we do. We would love to meet you. Summer is a slow time for us. Schools close and many people are away on vacation – but our families continue to struggle. Please consider having your camp, swim team, or other group, host a fundraiser for us during these lean months. Meet Jenny: Jenny is a 15-year old girl who was experi- encing excruciating pain in what felt like her lower abdo- men. This avid soccer player does not like to complain, so when her teammates saw her hunched over in practice, they knew something must be very wrong. When Jenny went to the doctor, she was told that nothing appeared to be wrong. She went to the doctor again, and was told she might have a hernia. A month later, the pain had grown unbear- able and her mother rushed her to the hospital emergency room, where doctors found Jenny had a rare form of ovar- ian cancer. An ovary was removed and treatment is ongoing for Jenny. She often feels depressed because of her hair loss and her inability to participate in soccer. She hopes to be able to return to her normal life by the summer. Jenny’s mother was working three jobs to make ends meet. Because of Jenny’s daily medical appointments, she now is only able to maintain a small late evening position cleaning offices. This family would be beyond grateful for the simple things we often take for granted. Please con- sider donating a gift card to the grocery store, Target or Walmart, or one for Red Mango, a treat Jenny loves. Movie theater tickets would be a great diversion. A gift card to Sports Authority could let her buy new cleats for when she is able to return to the soccer field. Red Bulls game tickets would be fun for her, and so would tickets to Jenkinson’s Aquarium or some rides on the boardwalk. Finally, since the family borrows a car from a relative, a gift card to pur- chase gas would make a family outing possible. Let us know if you are interested in helping Jenny and her family through this time of multiple challenges. ECF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a variety of specialized services at no charge to any New Jersey family caring for a child with cancer. We provide direct in-home care to families who need financial or emotional support to help them get through the chal- lenges of a major illness. Our primary focus is providing families with professional counseling, material goods (such as household items, toys, and monthly grocery deliveries), and emergency financial assistance. These individually tai- lored services are critical in helping families get through the crisis of pediatric cancer. ECF does not receive any government funding. We rely on donations from the community, and gratefully accept financial support, in-kind donations, and volunteer time. Call (201) 612-8118 or e-mail Laura at laura@emmanuelcancer. org to see how you can help. We currently need volunteers who can deliver groceries to families in Bergen and Essex counties. Spanish-speak- ing drivers are in particularly high demand. Volunteers of every age are welcome to help by hosting a fundraiser, collecting food or gift cards, or volunteering at our food pantry. The Northern Regional Center is located at 174 Pat- erson Avenue, Midland Park, NJ 07432. Please call us at (201) 612-8118 before you stop by. Because storage space is limited, please do not leave items at the center without checking with us first. For more information, visit www. emmanuelcancer.org or “like” on Facebook: Emmanuel- CancerFoundation. As always, thank you for helping the children and their families! grade, and the title of the work. Visit http://www.ridgewo- odartinstitute.org/art-exhibits.html for a full prospectus. For more information call (201) 652-9615 or visit ridge- woodartinstitute.org. Franklin Avenue detour announced Motorists traveling on Franklin Avenue in Wyckoff should anticipate delays and plan for extra travel time this (continued on page 26) May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Midland Park Thomas to head board The two Midland Park Board of Edu- cation trustees who received the highest number of votes in last month’s school elec- tion have been elected to head the board for the 2014-15 school year. Dr. Maryalice Thomas was elected pres- ident, and James Canellas was elected vice- president during last week’s reorganization meeting. “I am honored to have been elected and look forward to serving the board and the people of Midland Park,” Dr. Thomas said after the meeting. A life-long Midland Park resident and (continued on page 27) Doctor Maryalice Thomas Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 FLOW Area Three regional school trustees resign abruptly by Frank J. McMahon Three more trustees of the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education have resigned from the board, and one new trustee has been appointed. The resignations of Wyckoff trustees Lynn Budd and Isabelle Lanini and Oakland trustee Elizabeth Pierce were all submitted on April 23 and accepted by the board at its April 28 public meeting, the same night the board appointed Lisa Sciancalepore as a new Franklin Lakes trustee. Scian- calepore replaces Debbie Strauss, who resigned Feb. 24 without explanation. Budd, Lanini, and Pierce did not respond to requests for an explanation for their resignations and no explanation was given by BOE President Thomas Bunting or Interim Superintendent Ernest Palestis. After the resolutions accepting the resignations were formally approved by the board, however, Bunting com- mented, “We do want to thank the board members who have left us for their service.” Palestis echoed his comment, saying he knows how dif- ficult it is to be a board member and he also wanted to thank them for their service. Sources familiar with the operation of the school district have indicated that the resignations appear to be a result of a dispute between the members of the school board about the search for a new superintendent. Following the board’s executive session and during the public meeting of the board on Feb. 24, the night Strauss resigned, the board approved a $15,900 superintendent search agreement with R-Pat Solutions, LLC, apparently at the urging of the board members who have now resigned. The school district had previously conducted its own superintendent search after the district’s previous super- intendent, Lauren Schoen, resigned and left the district in May 2013. During that public meeting, a motion was made by Lanini and seconded by Budd to extend the contract with Palestis for an additional year until Aug. 26, 2015. That motion surprised several of the other board members, and Palestis, and it led to a heated discussion between the board members, some of whom were upset that a person- nel matter was being discussed in public. The motion was subsequently tabled. The board will now advertise for, and interview, candi- dates from Wyckoff and Oakland to fill the open positions on the school board. Bunting said candidates for those trustee positions will be interviewed at the board’s May 20 public meeting. Meanwhile, Sciancalepore was sworn in and will serve as a trustee until the board’s reorganization meeting fol- lowing the 2014 annual board of education election in November. Sciancalepore has been a resident of the borough for 22 years. Her husband is a Ramapo High School alumnus, her son graduated from Indian Hills High School in 2012, and her daughter will be graduating from Ramapo High School in June. The new trustee has a 2012 master’s degree in public (continued on page 26) Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Wyckoff Girl Scout Troop 24 keeps township ‘buzzing’ by John Koster Wyckoff Girl Scout Troop 24 -- seven girls in the fifth grade at Sicomac School -- kept the bees buzzing as they installed a honeybee hive at the township-owned Larkin House with the help of experienced beekeeper Richard Schluger. Lauren Achter, Megan Allen, Ava Com- petiello, Claire Nadler, Emily Riotto, Tara Sproha, and Sofia Wuensch first became aware of the problem of Colony Collapse Disorder at a science class at the Sicomac Elementary School and decided to try to bring the problem to the attention of the Wyckoff Township Committee, and then to pitch in on their own. Their project was completed as the community service ele- ment of their Girl Scout Bronze Award requirements. The girls appeared before the Wyckoff Township Committee and received unani- mous approvals and considerable praise for the project. “They really did an exceptional job con- ceiving the idea for the beehive, raising the funds necessary to build it, and having the idea become a reality,” said Wyckoff Town- ship Committeeman Brian Scanlan, who is also an avid environmental advocate. “I have a beehive in my own back yard and I think it’s a great way to deal with Colony Collapse Disorder.” To raise funds for the project, the Girl Scouts made rubber bracelets with their slogan -- “Keep the Bees Buzzing” -- and attached their mission statement to each bracelet. “Bee the best you can bee, by saving the bees. Seven Little Bronze Bees saving colonies. Thank you for supporting the Larkin House Honeybee Hive.” The girls sold the bracelets at the Boul- der Run Shopping Center, located just a few (continued on page 18) Wyckoff Girl Scout Troop 24 and local officials at the dedication. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 FLOW Area Mackay selected as new superintendent of RIH by Frank J. McMahon Beverly Mackay, the current director of curriculum and articulation at the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School Dis- trict, has been named the district’s new superintendent. Mackay’s selection was announced at the board’s April 28 public meeting by Board President Thomas Bunting, who said Mackay had emerged as the top can- didate for the position. The school board will formally appoint Mackay once her appointment is approved by the Bergen County Superintendent and a contract is negotiated and agreed upon. Once formally appointed, she will replace Interim Superintendent Ernest Palestis, whose contract with the school district will expire on Aug. 26. Mackay thanked the board of educa- tion for selecting her and said, “It is such an honor and a privilege to be standing before you as your new superintendent.” She praised the teaching staff of the school district and said they are the reason the superintendent’s job is so rewarding. “Without the teaching staff, this job would not be anything worthwhile,” Mackay said. She added that her objective as super- intendent is to provide district leadership that is sensitive to the values, beliefs, and needs of the high schools and community, utilizing her strong work ethic, interper- sonal skills, and professional knowledge, to challenge the district’s schools to rise to new heights. Mackay holds a master of education, administration, and supervision, which she received from Rutgers University in New Brunswick in 2000. She also holds master of education, adult education, and professional development from Rutgers University, which she received in 1983. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982. She is certified as a school administra- tor, principal, supervisor, a K-8 elemen- tary school teacher, and a K-12 physical (continued on page 19) Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Homework help may force parents to refresh skills Your fifth grader brings home math homework and asks for your assistance. The class is up to multiplying fractions, and it’s been years since you’ve done this type of work. Never mind numerators and denominators, the most you know about fractions at this point is how a pizza is cut into eight slices. What are you going to do when your child is a teenager bringing home even more difficult homework? Although they are routinely the first people students ask for homework help, many parents confess they are flummoxed by algebra equations and cannot tell a prepo- sition from a participle. Whether they earned straight As when they were students or not, lack of practice means parents may no longer recall the lessons of their youth. In a 2010 Encyclopedia Britannica survey, researchers tested 500 British parents who had children under the age of 16 at the time. The parents took a quiz based on lessons studied for General Certificate of Secondary Education exams. The survey found that mothers struggled, answer- ing 12.3 percent of questions correctly, while fathers (27.8 percent) did not fare much better. Many North American parents also struggle to help their students with homework. Immigrant parents have the most difficulty, likely due to language barriers. Parents who understand the homework may confuse their children by assisting them in a manner that is inconsistent with the way the students are now being taught. So what is a parent to do? Some school districts are aware of the problem and pro- vide solutions. Jill I., a parent in New York, says that her son’s school sends home a parental instruction book that explains the basics behind subject matter and illustrates how to explain it to children. Other parents are left floun- dering to figure out the best way to be of assistance to their kids. These are some of the steps they can take. Contact the teacher and find out if you can purchase or borrow a copy of the teacher’s edition of the textbook. This way you can keep abreast of the lessons and instruct in the same way that the lessons are being taught in school. If a book is not available, find out if instructional materials can be assembled to assist you in mastering the concepts. Log online to search for the subject matter and refresh your memory. Many teachers or experts volunteer infor- mation online to help educate students (and parents) about math, science, reading, and other subjects. Parents look- ing to double-check their math and science work can use a website like Wolfram Alpha, which is a computational knowledge engine. Hire a tutor if you find you are doing more harm than good when assisting with homework. If lack of personal knowledge about the homework or simple frustration over your child’s inability to grasp the lessons is making home- work time unbearable and ending in a shouting match, consider the use of a tutor. Students a few years older than your child might be able to help with homework because it is fresh in their minds. Plus, your child may feel less pres- sure when learning from a peer or older sibling. The “MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: The Homework Experience,” a 2007 survey which polled teachers, students and parents, found that almost every- one believed in the value of homework. Homework was viewed as an essential part of student learning. Because it is an integral part of a child’s learning experience, it behooves parents to find ways to assist with homework questions, no matter the method. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 9 More parents connecting with social media There is a power outage, and your child’s school is dismissing students early, requir- ing you to arrive quickly for pickup. Your kid will not be left waiting for you because you got this information immediately after a quick log-in to the social media site you use to connect with other parents. Some other parents may be delayed in receiving this important information because they rely on phone alerts. Social media has changed the way people communicate. Whether through tweets or status updates, information shared through social media avenues is often instantaneous and can reach a large number of people, which is why many parents have turned to social media to learn about events at school. According to a study by Nielsen McK- insey Company, parents are more likely than adults without children to play games, engage in creative pursuits, and look for entertainment on Facebook, blogs, and other social sites. The data collected from 2,000 adults (both parents and nonparents) who frequently use social media found 88 percent of users rely on social networking sites for communicating with family and friends. The next most popular activity is connecting with new friends, followed by accessing product reviews and online enter- tainment. Reports show that adults devote a quarter of their time spent online to social media sites. Parents, in particular, are find- ing new ways to put these sites to use. Social media is helping parents in a vari- ety of ways, even enabling them to keep an eye on their children when they go online. According to a survey from Laptop maga- zine, 55 percent of parents are using social media to watch their kids’ online activi- ties. Of that 55 percent, one-fifth indicated they only use social media to monitor their child’s online activity. However, social media has other handy purposes. Many parents use it as they would a bulletin board -- posting all types of information. Some parents use social media to stay abreast of school happenings, asking questions about when fundraiser money is due or if anyone got the spelling words for the week. Others find it is a good way to meet parents or speak with the par- ents of their child’s classmates. Some moms and dads use it to set up parents’ nights out, advertise things for sale, or ask for recom- mendations about contractors. Parents also use social media to invite people to special events, including birthday parties. Others can see who was invited and decide if they’re going to come, too. More parents are turning to social media sites for advice and information, to stay in touch, or simply to share a good laugh. Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 11 Midland Park Board renews Dr. Cirasella’s contract for five years Midland Park Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marie Cirasella was reappointed to a five year term during last week’s board of education meeting. Her new contract will run from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019. “We are very excited to have Dr. Cirasella continuing as the chief school administrator,” said newly-elected Board of Education President Maryalice Thomas. “We are confi- dent that she will continue to work on the goals of student achievement at all grade levels, compliance with the new aspects of the TEACHNJ Act and working with the board to serve the needs of the children, staff, and community.” “It is gratifying to have been reappointed the district’s superintendent of schools for the next five years. Together with a committed and skilled board of education, dedicated faculty and staff, and amazing school families and students, we have accomplished a great deal the past four years. The next five years will signal a recommitment to collaboration and teamwork as we continue our efforts to provide the best public education to the children of Midland Park.” com- mented Dr. Cirasella. “I’d also like to acknowledge with thanks the leadership of outgoing BOE President William Sullivan and Vice Pres- ident Sandra Criscenzo, and congratulate our new officers, Board President Dr. Maryalice Thomas and Vice President James Canellas and incumbent trustee Peter Triolo on their reelection. As always, I’m grateful to everyone in our com- munity for voting in the recent school budget election and look forward to working each day to build on the progress we have made thus far,” she added. According to the contract, Dr. Cirasella’s base salary will be $147,500, the maximum permitted by state cap reg- ulations. This is down from her current salary of $177,735, but the contract provides that should the cap law change, the board may renegotiate the salary for the remaining years of the contract. In addition, the contract provides that the superintendent may also be awarded annual non-pen- sionable merit bonuses on the basis of her achievement of specific merit criteria. This would include progress toward achieving up to three quantitative and two qualitative merit criteria established in accordance with the district goals. The merit bonuses may not exceed 3.33 percent of annual salary for each quantitative merit criterion achieved and 2.5 percent of annual salary for each qualitative merit criterion. The bonuses shall not be cumulative. The contract provides for 24 vacation days per year, five of which may be used the following year or forfeited; 15 sick days plus 50 banked days, four personal days and 13 holidays. Dr. Cirasella first came to the K-12 school district in July, 2010 from the Bloomfield School System in Essex County, where she held the position of assistant superinten- dent. She replaced Dr. William Heebink, who retired due to health reasons. Dr. Cirasella has a B.S. in communications and journal- ism from William Paterson University, master’s degrees in curriculum and instruction and in education administration from Caldwell College, and her Ed.D. in educational leader- ship management and policy from Seton Hall University. Doctor Marie Cirasella Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Midland Park Part time DPW jobs combined; full timer hired The Borough of Midland Park is restructuring its DPW staff to provide more flexibility within the work force. The department has four full-time employees in addition to Superintendent Rudy Gnehm. At its last meeting, the borough council promoted Kyle Omelianuk from a part-time seasonal worker to full time, effective this month. His salary will be $30,500. Gnehm explained that the new position will combine two current part-time jobs, recycling and field mainte- nance, into one. Dave Lancaster, who has maintained the fields for more than 40 years, retired last month; and Michael Dunagan, who handled the recycling component as a permanent part timer, resigned to devote full time to his landscape business. Omelianuk will maintain the baseball infields; open, close and monitor the recycling center and be on duty Wednesday nights and Saturdays, the busy periods there. He will also be a flexible DPW employee who can be assigned as needed, and also have an assigned snow plowing route. “It’s a plan, and we are willing to see if it works out,” said Mayor Patrick “Bud” O’Hagan. “Most of Rudy’s plans do work out for us. We have a good superintendent, and we are following his leadership.” Consortium will help save on fire truck purchase In other business, the council agreed to an interlocal purchasing agreement with the Houston-Galveston Area Council Cooperative Purchasing (H-GACBuy) system , a regional planning commission of the State of Texas in order to reduce the costs of a new fire truck. Borough Administrator Addie Hanna said that by pur- chasing the truck through the consortium, the borough would save an initial $15,000 when placing the order for the truck, and another $20,000 when the final payment is made. The borough expects to purchase a new ladder truck next year to replace its 1990 apparatus. State law requires vehicles be replaced as they reach their 25-year life expectancy. Cubs seek members Midland Park Cub Scout Pack 157 will host a May 9 event for boys and their families. The program will be held at 6 p.m. in the DePhillips Center on Dairy Street. Pizza will be served. Open to boys ages seven to 10, Cub Scouting combines outdoor activities, sports, academics, and more in an enjoy- able and exciting program that helps families teach ideals such as good citizenship, community giving, and respect. Pack 157 activities include participation in a physical fitness challenge, the town’s Memorial Day Parade, New Jersey Jackal Camping Night, and the Pinewood Derby. Boy Scouts of America includes more than one million volunteers working together for the sole purpose of helping nearly three million youths succeed in life. For more information, contact James Wheaton at jameswheaton@optonline.net. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 13 Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Obesity during pregnancy a growing problem Changes to the body are expected during pregnancy, and weight gain is one of the changes most often associated with preg- nancy. However, excessive weight gain during pregnancy can cause complications for a woman and her baby. The American Congress of Obstetri- cians and Gynecologists reports that more than 50 percent of pregnant women are overweight or obese. Many women begin pregnancy intending to eat healthy through- out their pregnancy. But those good inten- tions can get pushed aside when morning sickness makes it hard to stomach certain foods. In addition, craving certain foods for no apparent reason can make it hard to stay on course. Other women may already be over- weight at the onset of pregnancy and con- tinue to gain weight. Women who have not lost pregnancy weight from a previous child may begin their subsequent pregnancy at a disadvantage. Contrary to popular belief, a woman does not need to double her calorie consump- tion to provide nutrition for her baby. Nor should she gain too much weight. Accord- ing to BabyCenter and the Institute of Med- icine, the amount of weight a woman should gain during her pregnancy depends on her starting weight and her body mass index, or BMI, which measures the relationship between height and weight. If a woman’s pre-pregnancy BMI is in the healthy range, she should gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy. Underweight women should gain between 28 and 40 pounds. Those who are overweight or obese should gain between 11 and 20 pounds. However, the amount of women gaining 40 pounds or more during pregnancy has increased by 29 percent over the last 30 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Many of these women did not begin their pregnancies with a healthy BMI. Gaining too much weight during preg- nancy puts a woman and her fetus at risk for complications. Extra pounds can increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, early-stage heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other issues. Preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and postpartum weight retention are other considerations. In terms of the fetus, cesarean delivery, stillbirth, prema- turity, congenital anomalies, and childhood obesity are common among babies born to overweight mothers. What’s more, obese women may not be able to elect for anesthe- siology, like an epidural or spinal anesthesia, during delivery because obscured physical landmarks and excessive layers of fat can make administration risky. It is also more difficult for doctors to conduct ultrasounds on obese or overweight women, making it challenging to track the baby’s well-being. Nutritionists warn that good eating habits during pregnancy should begin as early as the first trimester. Too often, pregnant women do not realize they have a problem until they have already gained weight. Compounding the issue is that many OB/GYN doctors do not readily discuss appropriate weight gain with preg- nant patients. Weight gain may be an after- thought to blood tests, genetic testing, and lifestyle options that doctors mention early on in the pregnancy. Many women feel that pregnancy is a chance to eat without regard to diet and a time to enjoy foods that may normally be off-limits. However, this could be a recipe for excessive weight gain. Doctors offer these recommendations for keeping healthy during pregnancy: Only consume an extra 300 calories per day and not until the second and third tri- mesters. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Stock the refrigerator with healthy, fast snacks. Track calorie intake to make yourself more accountable. Lose weight before you become preg- nant again. Talk to a nutritionist if you need help managing meals. Make breastfeeding part of your post- partum plan. Breastfeeding burns around 500 calories per day. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 15 May is Mental Health Month: Pathways to Wellness Pathways to Wellness is this year’s theme for May is Mental Health Month, and calls attention to strategies and approaches that help all Americans achieve wellness and good mental and overall health. “Wellness is essential to living a full and productive life,” said Cathy Pilone, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, mental health services vice president and administrator at Chris- tian Health Care Center in Wyckoff. “And mental health is an essential component of overall health and well-being. The fact is our overall well-being is tied to the balance that exists between our emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental health.” Everyone is at risk of stress given the demands and chal- lenges at work and at home, but there are steps that main- tain well-being to help everyone achieve wellness. These include a balanced diet, regular exercise, enough sleep, a sense of self-worth, development of coping skills, and con- nections to family, friends, and the community. “Just as we check our blood pressure and get cancer screenings, it’s a good idea to take stock of our emotional well-being,” said Pilone. “One recent study said everyone should get their mental health checked as often as they get a physical, and many doctors routinely screen for mental health, which typically include a series of questions about lifestyle, eating and drinking habits, and mental wellness. While conditions like depression are common, they are extremely treatable. Roughly one in five Americans has a mental-health condition.” May is Mental Health Month was started 64 years ago to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of mental wellness for everyone. CHCC embraces the concept of May is Mental Health Month, but as a health care facility providing a broad range of mental health services, and founded as the first psychiatric hospi- tal in New Jersey, CHCC is committed to raising awareness about the importance of mental health issues and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health issues. CHCC provides a broad continuum of high-qual- ity, compassionate care, offering superior mental-health, elder-care, residential living, and rehabilitation services. As a non-profit organization, CHCC delivers care to the community based on the Christian principles on which CHCC was founded more than a century ago. Visit Chris- tianHealthCare.org for more information. Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 17 Take steps to avoid common workout mistakes Those already a few months into their New Year’s resolution to get fit may find that all the effort at the gym is not paying off as they had expected. Although exercise results vary, certain behaviors could impact just how much weight a person can lose and how efficient their workouts may be. For those who want to increase the measur- able results of their workouts, try to avoid these common mistakes. Not giving it enough time. Many people want to see immediate results when they begin a new exercise regimen. While such instant gratification is possible, it is foolish to expect to wake up and look in the mirror after a week and see a complete body transformation. Many health experts say a safe weight loss goal is one to two pounds each week. For each pound of fat to burn, you need to shed 3,500 calories weekly. Do this by exercis- ing and reducing caloric intake. Do not give up prematurely. After a few months clothes may fit better and there will be a visible change in muscle tone and overall fitness. Sticking with the same routine. Routines can make it easier to manage everyday life. For exam- ple, waking up and going to bed at the same time each day helps many people maintain the energy they need to live life to the fullest. However, rou- tine is not always a friend with regard to exercise. Following the same exercise routine over and over can lead to the body becoming acclimated to that routine. As a result, the body does not have to work as hard to do the workout. Altering rou- tine means keeping the body on its toes. This will help burn more calories and even prevent workout boredom. Skipping strength training. Cardiovascular activities like running on the treadmill can cer- tainly burn calories, but cardiovascular exercise alone is not enough to achieve optimal health. Strength training helps build lean muscle and strengthen bones, so it is important to engage in cardiovascular and strength training exercises. Maintaining a moderate pace. Much like doing the same exercises over and over, sticking to the same pace will lull the body into complacency. Vary the pace of the workout so it includes intense, moderate, and slow movements. Higher-intensity parts of the workout will get the heart pumping and burn calories. Making unnatural body movements. Move- ments that mimic the body’s natural movements will be more effective at toning muscles. These movements include bending, stepping, jump- ing, and running. Unnatural movements may not be practical, and they may increase the risk of injury. Working out alone. Those who work out alone do not have the benefit of friendly competition as a source of motivation. A partner can provide camaraderie and encouragement. Ignoring possible injury. No one is immune to injury, which can result from lifting weights that are too heavy or using improper form. Do not make things worse by ignoring an injury. The body needs time to recover from injury, and ignoring an injury can lead to additional problems that will only extend that recovery time. Page 18 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Is this our new future? Honore de Balzac was a cynic, not a skeptic. Consider- ing current events, he was probably right twice. Balzac (1799 to 1851) was a skeptic because he had reservations about human goodness. The least common denominator of Balzac’s literary characters is that most of them will do absolutely anything for money, and that the comparative handful of people who are more good than bad are routinely betrayed and exploited by the baddies, who are generally more greedy than spontaneously evil. In recent months, we were jolted by a public official who carried off fistfuls of quarters from parking meters to the reported tune of $480,000. Since he agreed to make restitu- tion to stay out of the slammer, he probably did not need the money. Balzac material! More recently, we had an employee of an institution that benefits the public steal $40,000, apparently over a period of a year or more, and not due to any obvious personal financial crisis. The money, it appears, was simply there in front of her. It was not her money, but it was, after all, money. This is pure Balzac. Rumor has it that the three people who deleted a total of $60,000 from accounts in a bank where they worked and sluiced the money into their own accounts have made restitution and will not be going behind bars if they never do it again. I approve. I knew and liked all three of them, and was stunned by what happened. No blood was spilled, nobody lost the house -- at least I hope not -- and jail time would not have been appropriate. But they should not have done what they did. This was more Balzac, though less extreme than the stories about what the French call “inheri- tance powder” --arsenic -- or total impoverishment. Corny as it sounds, embezzlers only hurt themselves. It was not a homicide case, but it was a Balzac case. Another case: A man who appeared to be sincere in his affection for kids and his love of amateur athletics report- edly swindled a substantial amount of money from the trea- sury of the teams’ coffers where he was treasurer. When the word broke, some people who knew him felt sorry for him, or at least for his family. He certainly did less harm than the kid in the same school district who was arrested twice for selling heroin, but this was not the right thing to do. Balzac’s admirer, rival, and friend, Victor Hugo, is still holding the stage with the latest production of “Les Mis- erables.” Hugo’s hero, Jean Valjean, is sentenced to hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread and spends the rest of his life getting back on track by helping people. Hugo was a Romantic and a believing Catholic, though his practice of Catholicism was somewhat challenged at times in his long, robust life. Balzac said that he was not a Catholic but he believed in God and angels and he described himself as a Swedenbor- gian, a member of a sect that believed in interaction with the Next World through visions and spirit travel. Balzac originated a quote later paraphrased by Ernest Renan: If the common run of humanity ever lost faith in eternal reward for goodness and eternal punishment for evil, noth- ing would be able to save humanity from complete moral degradation. Hugo and Balzac both believed in religious values, which they saw as important to a just society. Just after Balzac died, and while Hugo was still flourishing, first Marx and then Darwin tried to cure humanity of its fear of the afterlife. Marx, perhaps without knowing it, blasphe- mously proclaimed himself a secular Messiah. People who knew him said so at the time. Darwin decided that feeding and breeding had produced humanity and that all religious beliefs were pointless. Rudolf Virchow in Prussia and Louis Pasteur in France, both research scientists rather than theoretical naturalists like Darwin, shot his theory full of holes. Darwin never explained the origin of life, and his continuators still try and fail. The last PBS show I saw about two years ago got as far as Stephen Bastian in the 1920s and Stanley Miller and Harold Urey did in the 1950s: dead end at amino acids that are manifestly not alive and cannot reproduce. PBS hailed this latest repetition as a breakthrough. It was not. In 1854, Rudolf Virchow, even before Pasteur’s demon- strations in 1863 inspired by Darwin’s “Original of Spe- cies” in 1858, said bluntly that all cells come from other cells. There was no evidence that life could be created by sterile matter. Virchow did not believe in “pure” races and said Nean- derthals were rough-looking humans, not ape-men or the missing link. Perhaps embarrassingly, the Neanderthals, as Virchow predicted, were partial ancestors of modern people. DNA has since proved Virchow was right and it was Virchow and Pasteur, rather than Darwin, who reformed public health and led to antiseptic surgery and the cure of many contagious diseases. Darwin’s theory was amply racist in human terms and caught on like wildfire until the Holocaust showed how tragically dangerous it was to lump human beings together based purely on ancestry and justify the destruction of those who supposedly failed to fit in. Nobody today, I think, sees Marxism as genetic. There are few fans of Darwin in Israel, and far fewer than one might think in France, Germany, or Poland, which were Ground Zero for the impact Darwin’s work had on politics. The eclipse of Darwinism is one of the best-kept secrets in the Anglo-Saxon world as is another phenomenon: people who die and see themselves from the outside before they are brought back by electric shock or spontaneous revival. A Dutch researcher named Pim van Loven counted 135,000 reported cases of the near death experience at the turn of the 21 st century and an online registry turns up several cases on the average day. Published authors on the topic have included a neurosurgeon and a cardiologist. Some survivors describe seeing deceased relatives. Others describe an afterlife right out of Revelation. When suppos- edly “dead,” many people described conversations among the medical staff and even some of the blunders that almost prevented their own resuscitation. One woman described seeing a black shoe on the hospital ledge when she was “outside.” An intrepid nurse found the shoe. The eclipse of Darwinism has left us back in the world of Hugo and Balzac: Observed facts no longer give aid and comfort to outright denial, but rather suggest that some sort of belief system is intellectually mandatory. The world, however, is slow to catch on. The Warren Commission, faced with a possible war with the Soviet Union if the Soviets murdered John Kennedy, bluntly told us that one lone nut with a junk rifle assassinated the presi- dent. A dozen years later, as the threat of war had receded, the House Select Committee on the Kennedy Assassina- tion reported that, based on a better analysis, two sepa- rate gunmen had fired. That was in 1975 and while “two gunmen” clearly indicates a conspiracy, the official posi- tion generally is one man. Six-page banner headlines warned of a war with Japan in 1941 starting seven days before the Pearl Harbor attack. Few people have been encouraged to look at these news- papers. Peral Harbor survivors are always quoted talking about how surprised they were -- except that most of the survivors I myself have interviewed said that they believed they had been set up, and were still seething how they almost got killed and some of their buddies died without a chance to fight back. I recently got back in touch with my cousin Hank, who spent two years fighting in the Pacific, and he said the consensus was fairly general among his shipmates that the White House knew about the forthcom- ing “sneak attack” in advance and never warned the fleet. Quotes such as these, like the second gunmanin Dallas and the biochemical mistakes in Darwin, are dropped down the Memory Hole because many editors were trained by editors who were themselves trained by editors who were taught to write for people with a Fifth Grade education, no knowl- edge of history beyond Flag Day oratory, and no disure to have to think. Writing for a newspapetr like this one, where the typical reader is very likely to be a professional or a college graduate with one or more degrees, is an enviable experience to any journalist. Reading beyond the newsprint: Balzac is back. So is the problem that Balzac discussed most prominently in his work -- the awful things people will do for money even when they really do not need they money but simple want to have it. Victor Hugo’s more celebrated message was that sending someone to prison for stealing a loaf of bread and then stimatizing him for life is cruel and unusual. Point well taken. Crimes where no blood is spilled can morally be covered by restitution rather than incarceration. But Balzac’s point is also important. Witness at a safe distance the chaos in some societies were dishonesty is so endemic that nobody trusts anybody outside the immediate family -- if there. If we cannot trust the people around us not to steal money set aside for the general good, or set aside for personal savings and safety, how can we operate a just and honest society? Letters to the Editor May is Eyeglass Recycling Month Dear Editor: For over 90 years, Lions Clubs across the United States have dedicated themselves to the preservation of sight and the prevention of blindness. As part of this initiative, May is Eyeglass Recycling Month. The Midland Park Lions Club collects used eyeglasses in two locations: at the Mid- land Park Library at 250 Godwin Avenue and in a Lions Eyeglass Box located in front of Le Chein at 26 Central Avenue. Residents are urged to deposit any used or unwanted eye- glasses at either of these two locations. The Midland Park Lions will collect these used eyeglasses and will arrange Girl Scout Troop (continued from page 6) blocks from the Larkin House, and received generous sup- port. The girls painted and personalized the hive boxes. They also put out a brochure that explains the problem: “Imagine you lived in a big building with many people and then, out of the blue, everyone disappeared. Well that is what is hap- pening to the honeybees. Honeybees are endangered due to the Colony Collapse Disorder. This is when a large group of honeybees disappear from the colony. The reason is still unconfirmed. “Honey bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in crop value each year! Honey bees are responsible transportation to the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center in Trenton. Any type of eyewear, from regular glasses to bifocals, trifocals, sunglasses, progressive lenses, and tinted lenses are accepted and will be cleaned, repaired, and put to good use by someone who will now be able to see clearly -- prob- ably for the first time in his or her life. Please do not throw away used eyeglasses; deposit them in a Lions Club’s eye- glass recycling box so others can see. John L. “Jack” Romano, President Midland Park Lions Club Midland Park for 80 percent of the fruit, seed, and vegetable crops that you eat. You think that with all that work they would get tired, but the honey bee never sleeps! “Albert Einstein was quoted as saying: ‘If the bee disap- pears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years to live.’” Schluger, the beekeeper who volunteered to help out, intends to use the hives at the Larkin House to explain the importance of bees in crop and flower pollination. The girls thanked the Jan Fence Company for donating and installing the fencing and Schluger for his experienced advice with the bees and the installation of the hives. “I think this was a great idea,” said Rudy Boonstra, a member of the Wyckoff Township Committee. Everybody knows how important bees are to the environment and it’s good for the town and good for the Girl scouts to get involved -- I think it’s fantastic.” May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 19 New superintendent (continued from page 7) education and health education teacher. Mackay has also received recogni- tion for many of her activities. She was inducted into the Ramapo High School Athletic Hall of Fame in March 2008, and was recognized for being the applica- tion author for the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award won by Eisenhower Middle School in Wyckoff in 2003 and the New Jersey Star School Award won by the Eisenhower in May of 1999. She belongs to several professional organizations, including the Bergen County Curriculum Consortium, the Association for Supervision and Curricu- lum Development, the New Jersey Prin- cipals and Supervisors Association, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Mackay has been the director of cur- riculum and articulation since July 2008 and her responsibilities included the over- sight of all curriculum, analysis of high school test scores, articulation with the K-8 sending districts, and implementa- tion of a strong teacher evaluation model. Her duties also included test coordination, grant writing and reporting, the oversight of the QSAC monitoring of the district, professional development for teachers, and new teacher mentoring. Mackay held the position of interim superintendent from May 2013, when the previous superintendent left the district, to August 2013, when Palestis began serving as interim superintendent. In that post, her responsibilities included com- plete oversight, leadership, and manage- ment of the district including personnel, facilities, educational programs, budget, and community relations. From July 2005 to June 2008, she held the position of district director of stu- dent personnel, where her responsibili- ties included the master schedule for two high schools; supervision of all guidance programs and services; implementation of the Naviance online college applica- tion resource; and service on the curricu- lum council, the Municipal Alliances, the Board Policy Committee, and the Board Education Committee. She was also the chair of the district’s I&RS (intervention and referral service). Mackay was assistant principal at Indian Hills High School from July 2003 to June 2005 where her responsibilities included observation and evaluation of teaching staff, student discipline, staff and student scheduling, I&RS, and day- to-day building management and plan- ning. From September 1994 to June 2003, she was assistant principal, athletic direc- tor, team leader, and health educator for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students at the Eisenhower Middle School in Wyckoff. Page 20 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Obituaries rial Scholarship Fund at the Ursuline School, 1354 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10804-2192. Shirley E. Croucher Dr. Armand F. Leone of Franklin Lakes, formerly of Glen Rock, died April 28. He was 90. He was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. He graduated Saint Peter’s University and New York Medical College. He trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and was a radiologist at Paterson General and Wayne General Hospital until his retirement in 2004. He was a parishioner of Saint Gerard’s R.C. Church in Paterson. He is survived by his children Mark, Peter, and Armand; seven grandchildren; and his sib- ling Alberino Leone. He was predeceased by his wife Dr. Rita Girolamo Leone. Arrangements were made by Vander Plaat-Vermeulen Memorial Home in Franklin Lakes. Shirley E. Croucher, nee Tanis, of Wyckoff, formerly of Midland Park, died April 24. She was 88. She and her hus- band owned Croucher Florist in Midland Park. She was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Wyckoff, the Order of the Eastern Star, Jeptha Chapter #134 of Ramsey, the Wyckoff Branch of the Valley Hospital Auxiliary, and the Wyckoff Woman’s Club. She had been a volunteer at the Valley Hospital and served on the boards of directors of the Midland Park Library and the Spring Meadow Homeown- ers’ Association. She worked as a hostess at Steve’s Wor- tendyke Inn in Midland Park, Cervino’s Restaurant, and the Wyckoff Inn Restaurant in Wyckoff. She is survived by her children Barbara Fernicola of Ramsey and Dr. Steven E. Croucher of Wayne, five grandchildren, and one great- grandson. She was predeceased by her husband Eugene J. T. Croucher. Arrangements were made by Vander Plaat Funeral Home in Wyckoff. Memorial donations may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675. Helen DiSanto Helen DiSanto of Franklin Lakes died April 29. She was 93. She is survived by her siblings Marian Scarano of Franklin Lakes and Charles DiSanto of Sarasota, New York and many nieces and nephews. Arrangements were made by C.C. VanEmburgh Funeral Home in Ridgewood. Elma Goecker Dr. Armand F. Leone Margaret McGuigan Margaret McGuigan, nee Clancy, of Hackettstown, formerly of Franklin Lakes, died April 23. She was 93. She was a homemaker and member of the Franklin Lakes Woman’s Club and the Franklin Lakes Ambulance Corps. She was also a member of the Red Hats, Soroptimists, and the Columbietts of Hackettstown. She is survived by her children Coreen Falciglia Jr. of Franklin Lakes, Ronald McGuigan of Maryland, Dennis McGuigan of Toms River, and Brian McGuigan of Arizona. She is also survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Arrange- ments were made by Vander Plaat-Vermeulen Memorial Home in Franklin Lakes. Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater NJ Chapter, 400 Morris Avenue, Suite 251, Denville, NJ 07834. Adolph W. ‘Sonny’ Santorine Elma Goecker of Midland Park died April 23. She was 102. She was a member of the College Club of Ridgewood. She is survived by her children Frances Spaulding of Man- chester and Sarah Leonard of East Stroudsburg, Pennsyl- vania, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband Theodore Frederick Goecker. Arrangements were made by C.C. Van Emburgh in Ridgewood. Memorial donations may be made to Saint Elizabeth’s Church, 169 Fairmount Road, Ridgewood NJ 07450. A memorial service will be held for Adolph “Sonny” Santorine on Sunday, May 18 at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church located at 55 George Street (off Hillside Avenue) in Allendale. Santorine, the first athletic director of Midland Park High School, died at 89 on Nov. 24, 2013. In 2010, he was inducted into the Midland Park High School Hall of Fame. He is survived by his wife Helen and their children Dolph of Wheeling, West Virginia; Joseph of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; and Virginia Glazer of Vero Beach. Marie Theresa Kasarda of Wyckoff, formerly of Oak- land and Manchester, died April 25. She was 86. She was a 1946 graduate of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral High School in New York City. Before retiring, she worked for the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education in Oakland. She was a parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Midland Park and a former member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oak- land. She is survived by her children Maryann Vecchiotti of Vernon and Steven Kasarda of White Plains, New York and her brother Ferdinand Ilacqua of Massachusetts. She was predeceased by her husband Charles Stephen Kasarda and her brother Frank Ilacqua. Arrangements were made by Vander Plaat Funeral Home in Wyckoff. Memorial dona- tions may be made to the Christine MacMenamin Memo- Amelia “Millie” Zvaleuskas of Wyckoff, formerly of North Bergen, died April 29. She was 86. Before retiring in 1990, she was a light bulb inspector at Duro Test Cor- poration in Clifton. She was a communicant of Our Lady of Queen of Peace Church in Maywood. She is survived by her children Monica Michel, Joseph Zvaleuskas, and Elena Zacharia. She is also survived by three grandchildren and her sisters Camille Porcaro and Antoinette Podesta. She was predeceased by her husband John J. Zvaleuskas and her siblings Theodore, Josephine, and Gabriel. Arrangements were made by Vander Plaat Funeral Home in Wyckoff. Memorial donations may be made to the Holy Name Medi- cal Center, Multiple Sclerosis Center, 718 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. Marie Theresa Kasarda Amelia ‘Millie’ Zvaleuskas Franklin Lakes Scribe Temple to present ‘Green Fields’ Temple Emmanuel, located at 558 High Mountain Road in Franklin Likes, will present a free showing of “Green Fields,” a 1937 black-and-white production in Yiddish with English subtitles, on Sunday, May 18 at 2 p.m. The movie is the story of a young scholar yearning for the outdoors and country life. Reservations are not required. Light refresh- ments will be served. Visit www.tenjfl.org or call (201) 560-0200 for details. Learn about the raw food lifestyle Raw food consultant Karen Ranzi will discuss how to eat healthy by eating raw on Tuesday, May 13 at the Frank- lin Lakes Public Library. During her 7 p.m. presentation, Ranzi will prepare a vegetable drink for her audience to sample. Ranzi is the author of the book “Creating Healthy Chil- dren through Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods” and appears on “The Living Healthy Show.” All are welcome. For more information, call (201) 891- 2224. The library is located at 470 DeKorte Drive. Computer classes available The Franklin Lakes Public Library at 470 DeKorte Drive hosts classes for residents who are interested in learning more about how to use a computer. Registration is required. Residents may register by calling the library at (201) 891- 2224, extension 106. Non-resident patrons will be put on a waiting list and contacted if space is available. Classes are held at 11 a.m. Participants will learn to make posters and flyers using Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word on Wednesday, May 14 at 11 a.m. Gmail 101 will be held May 20. This class includes infor- mation about how to set up an account; compose, format, and respond to e-mails; and organize messages. Basic com- puter skills are required. On May 22, learn about the world’s largest search engine at Google It! This class provides hands-on lessons in searching for websites, pictures, videos, and more. Board of education to meet The Franklin Lakes Board of Education will meet at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13. The public is invited to this meet- ing, which will take place in the music room at the Franklin Lakes Middle School at 755 Franklin Avenue. Annual cleanup announced The annual Franklin Lakes Cleanup and Beautifica- tion Day will be held on Saturday, May 17. Volunteers will meet from 9 a.m. to noon at the Franklin Lakes Nature Pre- serve. Participants are also invited to attend a demonstration of Xeriscaping, a simple and easy gardening plan that reduces the need for water, and may sow wildflower seeds at the entrance to the nature preserve. The day’s activities will include visiting with Robby the Recycling Raccoon and face painting. Bags, gloves, and picks will be provided and a light breakfast will be available courtesy of the Franklin Lakes PBA. Students and Scouts may earn up to three community service credits for participating. The cleanup is being coordinated by the Franklin Lakes Environmental Commission. For more information, con- tact Carole Holden at cwholden@verizon.net. Holistic nutritionist to speak Holistic nutritionist Dr. Dani Segal will discuss the heal- ing properties of chocolate and the benefits of cocoa with the Franklin Lakes Branch of the Valley Hospital Auxiliary on Monday, May 19. The program will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the ambulance corps building on Bender Court. Dr. Segal and her husband have owned Healthy Thymes Market in Vernon for 23 years. She holds two master’s degrees in nutrition, including one with a concentration in homeopathy. In 2012, she earned a Ph.D. in holistic nutri- tion with a concentration in sports nutrition. She will pro- vide samples and a recipe for her Little Healthy Kisses. Community members are invited. For membership information, contact June Linz at junel1369@live.com or (201) 396-9711. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 21 Wyckoff Shade Tree Commissioners recognized by John Koster Wyckoff Township Committeemen Rudy Boonstra, Haakon Jepsen, and Brian Scanlan welcomed residents and volunteers to the Larkin House for the annual Arbor Day observation and the planting of a tree in commemoration of Wyckoff’s commitment to restoring the trees knocked down by storms in recent years. “I think this is our fifth year as a Tree City and our ongoing project is to replace and restore the trees lost in recent years,” said Boonstra, the principal speaker at the April 26 event. Boonstra thanked the members of the Wyckoff Shade Tree Commission in particular for their contributions to the process. They include Wyckoff Department of Public Works Superintendent Scott Fisher, Mark Borst of Borst Landscaping, Bill Butler of Landscape Dynamix, Glenn Sietsma of Sietsma Landscaping, Dan Kindergan of Kin- dergan Landscaping, and Jeff Schultz and Brian Brisby of Stone House Nursery who donated rose bushes and three river birch trees. Mike Hartman of Kindergan Landscaping provided the labor and planting for an island area at the Larkin House, and planted a redbud tree in the parking lot island. The Wyckoff Department of Public Works performed the spreading of mulch and the general cleanup for the event. The Larkin House, donated to Wyckoff by the will of Pictured at the annual Arbor Day Ceremony at Larkin House Park during the welcome by Wyckoff Township Committeeman Rudy Boonstra are: Mike Hartman of Kindergan Landscaping; Wyckoff Township Committeeman Haakon Jepsen, Environ- mental Commissioner Janice Reynen, Shade Tree Commission Chair Mark Borst, Boonstra, and Wyckoff Township Commit- teeman Brian D. Scanlan. Helen Larkin, is used for large public gatherings of Wyckoff seniors and other groups and is sometimes open at reason- able fees to hobbyists and other groups which benefit the public and the community life of Wyckoff. Wyckoff Wanderings Seniors plan events, seek members The Wyckoff Seniors group meets at 11:15 a.m. on Tues- days at the Larkin House, 380 Godwin Avenue in Wyckoff. The group has planned several special events. The group will host a Mother’s Day lunch on May 13. On May 27, the seniors will travel to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. On June 17, the club will visit Magnanini Farm and Winery in Wallkill, New York for a lunch and tasting. Wyckoff residents who are age 55 and older may call Lorraine at (201) 891-2344 for information about club mem- bership. Non-members who are interested in being added to the list of upcoming social events may contact Gloria at (201) 891-5672. Library seeks votes for makerspace grant The Wyckoff Public Library is asking patrons to cast a Facebook vote in its bid for a $25,000 State Farm Neigh- borhood Assistance grant. The grant will fund to create a makerspace for the library. Through the efforts of 16-year-old Wyckoff student, Nicolette Donato, the library has made the first cut in the program’s award process. Only 40 causes will receive a grant. Donato was informed that her project had been accepted into the final selection phase. Makerspace is an Internet learning environment geared toward do-it-yourself projects. It serves as a gathering point to share tools, projects, experience, and expertise. Anyone with a Facebook page may vote by visiting htts://aps.facebook.com/sf_neighbor_assist/ or by logging on to the Wyckoff Library’s website at wyckofflibrary.org to access the link. Each Facebook account holder may vote up to 10 times per day and all 10 votes may be submitted consecutively. Voting will end May 17. Goffle Road detour announced Motorists traveling on Goffle Road should anticipate delays and plan for extra travel time weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning May 12. Passaic County and the Bor- ough of Hawthorne will be installing a traffic signal at the intersection of Braen Avenue and Goffle Road, and the construction will take approximately 90 working days. “Once again, volunteers have stepped up and have made a generous donation, not just in planting material, but also in donated labor,” said former Mayor Kevin Rooney, a licensed arborist. “We are all grateful for their efforts.” Page 22 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 ‘The Other Woman’ is predictable, uninspired story Carly (Cameron Diaz) and Kate (Leslie Mann) form a bond when they discover the same man has deceived them in ‘The Other Woman.’ by Dennis Seuling “The Other Woman” borrows its theme from William Congreve: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” The movie stars Cameron Diaz, looking breathtaking as usual, as Carly Whitten, a lawyer car- rying on a carefree relationship with hand- some Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Her life is happy until she makes the shock- ing discovery that Mark is married. Sus- pecting the affair, his wife, Kate (Leslie Mann), confronts Carly at her place of busi- ness, creating a scene. Rather than scratch each other’s eyes out, the two women begin to talk about the situation. After all, they both have been deceived by and share a tremendous amount of anger toward Mark. The women form an unlikely bond. Carly becomes a friend/therapist to Kate, dispensing advice as she sees in Kate elements that she has been repressing in herself. However, Kate keeps disrupting Carly’s life, once visiting Carly’s apartment uninvited with her pony- sized Great Dane in tow. This mildly amusing picture telegraphs its entire plot well before the scenes are played. There are some laughs, but not nearly enough to make for a successful comedy. Most of the credit for what humor there is goes to Mann, who has a flair for making Kate hilariously annoying. Think of Jim Carrey in “The Cable Guy.” Kate sticks to Carly like an unwanted piece of chewing gum on her shoe, whining, crying, getting plastered, creating scenes, and gen- erally making a spectacle of herself. She does all of this with the comic elegance of Charlie Chaplin. A scene in which Carly and a driver attempt to get a drunken Kate into a car pro- vides a welcome couple of minutes of pure slapstick, as Kate can’t seem to navigate the door and winds up practically on top of the car. Mann also manages to keep a proper balance so viewers do not completely lose empathy for Kate. Mann works very hard to be funny and is easily the best thing in the film. Diaz’s character is not especially funny. She is sharper and more devious than Kate, and ultimately plans vengeance on Mark, which involves yet another woman, the voluptuous Amber (Kate Upton). Once the three women join forces, it is hard not to think of the far better “First Wives Club,” a movie with a similar theme that was executed far more proficiently. “The Other Woman” is the bargain basement version. Coster-Waldau is more of a comic prop than a textured character. His Mark is a philandering, selfish rogue who wants what he wants on his terms and believes he can get away with anything, from infidelity to embezzlement. Naturally, the audience roots for the women. Since their vengeance takes the form of schoolgirl pranks, they never give viewers a chance to really cheer for them. Only one payback has a satisfying payoff. Director Nick Cassavetes (“The Note- book”) is burdened with a lackluster script by Melissa Stack, but he works hard, com- bining physical comedy and cinematic techniques to inject some comic pizzazz. He can’t work miracles, though, and there frequently seems to be an eternity between laughs. Cassavetes and the cast try, but succeed only in creating a mundane romp with a one-joke premise stretched like taffy to fill nearly two hours. “The Other Woman” is rated PG-13 for strong language and recre- ational drinking. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 23 Spielberg’s ‘Amistad’ is gripping tale of inhumanity by Dennis Seuling “Amistad” (Paramount) is Steven Spiel- berg’s cinematic account of the French ship Amistad and a mutiny incited by the slaves it was transporting. When the ship reaches America after weeks of shaky navigation, the slaves responsible for the mutiny, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), are put on trial for murder. They are defended by a young lawyer named Baldwin (Matthew McCo- naughey). Former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) joins the effort to free the slaves and encourage abolition as tensions brew nationwide with the Civil War looming. Scenes aboard the ship are harrow- ing, comparable in intensity to those of Spielberg’s Holocaust feature, “Schindler’s List.” In “Amistad,” the director brings to the screen a little-known footnote in the history of slavery in America. The story- telling technique is fairly routine. View- ers see the plot unfold through the eyes of the idealistic Baldwin, who a century later might have been the lead character in a John Grisham courtroom novel. The film is filled with courtroom histrionics from Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) and Senator John C. Calhoun (Arliss Howard). These talky passages are reminiscent of Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” The most gripping part of the film is its depiction of the “Middle Passage,” the slave ship’s journey across the Atlantic to convey its human cargo from Africa to North Djimon Hounsou stars as Cinque in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Amistad.’ America. These scenes are raw, grim, and difficult to watch. Their realism contrasts markedly with the theatricality of the rest of the picture. Hounsou is the real star of the film. His expressive face and sensitive portrayal con- nect the viewer to the plight of the anony- mous Africans who had the misfortune to be on that ship. The film is an engrossing companion piece to the recent “12 Years a Slave” since together they provide an overview of a sad aspect of this country’s history. The only bonus on this new-to-Blu-ray release is a making-of featurette. “The Bridges of Madison County” (Warner Home Video) is adapted from Robert James Waller’s popular novel about a chance meeting that leads unexpectedly to romance. Clint Eastwood plays National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid on assignment taking pictures of covered bridges in Iowa. He wanders onto the farm of Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep), a woman whose family is away. Francesca is an Italian who married an American soldier, relocated to the United States, and raised a family without ever really feeling fulfilled or realizing she wasn’t. Kincaid changes that. The movie avoids the novel’s florid style and Eastwood in a romantic role is an inter- esting change of pace, if not an entirely successful. It is hard to accept the fire that is supposedly ignited between the two. There always seems to be a polite distance between them despite their transition from caution to abandon. Bonus features on the Blu-ray release include audio commentary, the music video “Doe Eyes,” and a behind- the-scenes making-of short. “Mr. Jones” (Anchor Bay) borrows the “found footage” structure of recent horror films. Scott (Jon Foster) and Penny (Sarah Jones) have just moved to a remote cabin to escape the pressures of the world and focus on their art. They soon discover they are not really alone. A reclusive artist known only as Mr. Jones (Mark Steger) lives nearby. He does not like being disturbed and comes out only at night, when he drags his odd, sinister-looking sculptures deep into the woods. Fascinated, the couple decides to learn more about their mysterious neighbor. When their curiosity leads them too close for Mr. Jones’ comfort, they are drawn into a nightmare world of mayhem, madness, and terror. This is the kind of movie where the characters make all the wrong decisions, leading them down a clichéd path of horror. It is hard to sympathize with dopey people. After seeing the weird interior of Mr. Jones’ house and witnessing his bizarre behavior, Scott still leaves Penny alone and goes to (continued on Crossword page) Page 24 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 DVD releases (continued from Restaurant page) Manhattan. Duh! The movie has some good suspense in its first third, but goes downhill quickly after that. Direc- tor Kevin Mueller is fascinated with film technique and showboats his knowledge of it, which becomes annoy- ing. Less attention to stylistic flourish and more on solid scripting might have resulted in a more thoughtful pic- ture. There are no extras on the Blu-ray release. “Death Occurred Last Night” (Raro Video) is a dark Italian murder mystery. Donatella (Gillian Bray), the 25- year-old mentally handicapped daughter of a lonely wid- ower (Raf Vallone), is kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery, sending her distressed father and a jaded police detective (Frank Wolff) on the hunt for clues in Milan’s unsavory underworld. Director Duccio Tessari stages plenty of action as he focuses on the characters and their collective desire for justice and revenge. The film is suspenseful, with numerous colorful char- acters and red herrings along the way. Performances are uniformly first-rate. Location photography nicely estab- lishes a gritty milieu, and cinematographer Lamberto Caimi helps sustain the atmosphere with film noir-style shadows broken up by pools of light. Bonuses on the Blu- ray release include an optional introduction to the film, a booklet containing a critical essay, and a biography and filmography of Duccio Tessari. Capitalizing on the May 16 release of the new “Godzilla” feature and the 60 th Anniversary of the scaly creature’s film debut, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released four double-feature Blu-rays containing eight Godzilla films made between 1991 and 2004. This lucrative franchise from Japan’s Toho Studio proves that you can’t keep a popular fire-breather down for long. Among the films is “Godzilla v. Ghidorah.” When a mysterious UFO is seen flying over Tokyo, tension mounts until the craft’s occupants reveal themselves to be friendly aliens from the 23rd century who have come to warn mankind that Godzilla will soon awaken and wreak havoc unless he is destroyed. To complicate mat- ters, Ghidorah, a flying, three-headed monster, is also bearing down on the city, and the aliens are not as benef- icent as originally thought. “Godzilla: Final Wars” (2004) is the costliest movie in the collection. Earth has been relatively peaceful since Godzilla was successfully buried deep in the ice beneath the South Pole. When he is properly thawed, he recommences his personal war on the people of Earth. Once again, aliens figure prominently, as they propose to establish a United Universe to replace the United Nations. The remaining titles are “Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.,” “Godzilla v. Destoroyah,” “Godzilla v. Megaguirus,” “Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth,” “Godzilla v. SpaceGodzilla,” and “Godzilla v. Mechagodzilla II.” May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 25 ��������������������������� SERVICE MART HELP WANTED REAL ESTATE SALES FRANKLIN LAKES Get your license in 2.5 weeks. Start earning money with the busy & bustling Franklin Lakes Weichert Office offering the best training & support in the industry. Call Tamar Joffe, Manager at 201-891-6900 WEICHERT, REALTORS Beauty Salon - Shampoo Asst. Busy shop, Waldwick area. 201-747-1496 Pet SItters Needed To be considered please fill out an employment form on our employment page www.coddledcreatures.net GREEN THUMB ACCOUNTING Accounting, bookkeeping, payroll. Exp’d, reasonably priced. Call 201-873-7263 BOOKKEEPING QB/Quicken/AP/AR / PR Personal/Business Call Lucille 201-803-5439 CLEANING SERVICE Affordable Low Rates. Apt $50.00, House $75.00 Insured/refs.201-385-2271 ����������������� Springtime Cleaning! Louisa Cleaning Lady ������������������������������� ������������������������ ������������������������������ ��������������������� ������������������� �������������������� ��������� ������������������������� ������������������������ �������������������������� ��������������������������������������� �������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������ ���������������������������������������� ����������������������������������� ������������������� SITUATION WANTED ���������� Wmn with car seeks job as nanny. Exp. & refs. PT/FT, Mon-Fri. Lv out. 347-244-0213 CHHA seeks job to care for the elderly/sick. Grt refs. Own trans. 973-979-6875 ������������������������� ������� � �������� ������������ � Full Cleaning Service Euro Women Will Clean House-Office-Apt Excl Job Reasonble Price. Call Zhanna 201 588-5555 NJ 212 645-5555 NYC Print Coupon for 10% Off On ZhannasCleaning.com DRIVEWAYS HOME IMPROVEMENT ���������������������������� ���������������������� Bergen County Home Improvement s .Small repairs to remodel. Will beat any prices. 201-264-2103 Sebastian Construction ������������������������������ ������������������� ��������������������� ������������������� ������������ ������������� ������������������ Sealcoating by Bill Klein Hand applied, Commercial Grade Sealer Crack Filling/Pot Holes Repaired Free Estimates/Fully Insured 201-665-1221 Find a Special Handyman or a Handyman’s Special in the Classified ELECTRICAL All-Phases Electrical LLC No Problems, Just Solutions NJ Lic # 15529 Full Service Electricians Insured, Bonded, Free Quotes 201-888-8656 All-PhasesElectrical.com DUAL ELECTRIC LLC All electrical work Lic # 17002. 201-739-5671 GIFT BASKETS CLEAN OUTS HOUSECLEANING Professional cleaning at reasonable. prices. Call Arleta 973-614-0117/201-425-8450 Polish cleaning lady will make your house beautiful & shine. 973-546-8170 Agnes will clean home $80 Apt $55. Office $60. 10 yrs exp good refs. 845-309-4448 LANDSCAPING & LAWNCARE CHRIS � ����������������� ��������������� ������������ ����������������������������� ���������������� � ���� �� ������� � ���������� L AWN M AINTENANCE M ULCH I NSTALLATION T REE & S TUMP R EMOVAL A LL T YPES OF C ONSTRUCTION 201-444-1672 RUBBISH REMOVAL www.abclandscapes.com Complete House Clean Outs We Will Clean: Attics • Basements • Garages Demolition Work: Pools • Shed • Deck Removal We Will Haul Everything Away ELK Home Services Complete Lawn Care 973-423-3045 Fully Insured • Free Estimates 201-803-0787 PLEASE REMEMBER US WHEN YOU REMEMBER THEM. EMANUEL CANCER FOUNDATION For The Children and Their Families Providing emotional and spiritual support, profes- sional counseling and financial and material assistance to New Jersey children with cancer and their families. Your donations are tax deductible Knolls Landscaping LLC Weekly Lawn Maintenance Spring Clean Ups 201-891-2868 KnollsLandscapingNJ.com DECKS Building decks since 1984 Wood - C omposite - PVC New Repair Refinish BERGEN BACKYARD LLC 201-819-4562 Decks Design Build Repair www.Home-Dr.com Free est. Kevin 201-248-8477 Decks Powerwashed & Stained/Sealed. 201-961-2634 Midland Pk Planning on dining out? Check our restaurant guide for the finest dining DRAPERIES Custom Draperies by Cindy 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE PO Box 212 - Dept. H Midland Park, NJ 07432 or drop by our office FREE ESTIMATES • PROFESSIONALLY INSTALLED 174 Paterson Avenue Midland Park, NJ 07432 DRIVER SERVICE 201-612-8118 The Friendly Chauffeur Airports, Drs, DWI, etc. Call Ed 201-447-1426 Window Treatments, Bedding, etc. your fabric or mine 201-445-7812 All Work Guaranteed GUTTER CLEANING AFFORDABLE CLEANING/REPAIRS ������� ���������� ��������������� ��������������� ������������ HANDYMAN Bill’s Handyman Service Water damage repair Wall board repair. Painting interior/exterior. Deck repair/ maint. No job too small . Lic. & ins. 201-447-6962 GIO’S HANDYMAN Repair/Maintenance/Install Painting int./ext. Wood floors & laminate. No Job Too Small. Fully Insured 201-264-2124 Martin Handyman Service Quality job. Good price Call 845-659-1216 ���������������������� Quality & Integrity Since 1979 Complete Maintenance Clean Ups, Drainage, Shrub & Tree Pruning, Mulch, Seasonal Color, New Plantings 201-848-9147 Justin’s Landscaping Cleanups*Lawn maintenance Plantings*mulch*trimming 201-848-9220 Free est. Your Lawn is our business Lawn Maint., Landscaping, M ulc hing, Pr uning, Low Voltage Lighting, Drainage, PowerWashing, Sod, Seed Lawns. Free estimates 973-207-0863 JAMES LANDSCAPING INC. ����������������� ������������������������������� ������������������������������� �������������������������������� � �� �� �� �� ������ �� � �� � �� �� � MITO’S LANDSCAPING & LAWNCARE NJ Wildflowers LLC Landscape Design, Clean ups, native plants, stone work, rain gardens, tree svc, 201- 306-4375.NJWildflowers.com Weekly Lawn Maintenance Cleanups / Pavers / Plantings Design / Drainage / Sprinklers Dan Hook Property Maintenance *Spring/Fall clean ups *Weekly maint.*Mulching *Plantings *Powerwashing. *Seasoned Firewood Call Dan for a free est. 201-954-3164 It Pay$$$ To Advertise in The Villadom Times Your Hometown Newspaper 201-857-8700 FULL SERVICE LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR Bobcat & Backhoe Service 10% OFF CONSTRUCTION LABOR (MAX $500) New customers only with this ad. Free Estimates • Fully Insured C. Ising Landscaping, Inc. Spring Clean Ups Complete Lawn Maintenance Plantings, Mulching & Topsoil Free Estimates • Fully Insured 201-825-3326 ���������������� ������������������� ��������� ��������������� ����������� ������������ Academy Arborcare Tree & Shrub Care * Trim/ Pruning * Install./Fertilize Lawn aeration * Diagnose/ treat all trees & shrubs. NJ cert. pesticide control. Free est.*Fully Insured*40 yrs exp. 201-397-0767 MASONRY PLUMBING/ HEATING ����������������� Larry Rogers Plumbing For all your plumbing and heating needs. 201-847- 1737. NJ Lic. # 6980 ����������������������� ������������������������� ��������������������� ������������������ �������������������������� ������������������������� ��������������������������� ������������ ������������������� ������ ������������������ ��������������������������� ������������� ������������ ������������ MUSIC INSTRUCTION Doctoral Degree in Music Private lessons in Piano, All Styles of Guitar, Upright and Electric Bass Trumpet and French Horn 201-612-0041 steve@ridgewoodmusic.com Classifieds Work!! Place yours in The Villadom Times PAINTING & PAPERHANGING PERFECTION PLUS Professional Painting & Paperhanging Interior & Exterior Finest Quality Reas. Rates (201) 447-8836 Est. 1983 perfectionpluspainting.com Powerwashing Driveway Sealing Free est. 973-207-0863 PSYCHIC/MEDIUM CINDY MUNI Psychic/Medium Would You Like to Contact a Lost Loved One? Do You Have Questions About Business Decisions or Relationships? Are You Wondering About Your Spiritual Mission or What Your Future Holds? Call 201-707-5236 ROOFING BIG and TALL Roofing & Siding. Commerical/Resi- dential. Fair pricing. Refer- ences available. Visit www. broadberr yroof ing.com 973-881-9100 RUBBISH REMOVAL Complete clean-outs Basements/garages Shed & pool removal Free est. SAME DAY SERVICE 201-447-5887 CMH Painting Interior/Exterior. Clean & Reliable. Free Quotes Call Chris 973-349-4826 Tell our Advertisers you saw their ad in The Villadom Times Paint Troopers Int./Ext Repairs&home improvements. Insured. HHK 201-280-9198 Painting - Spring Special Complete home makeover Special base price, Limited space. Call now! 201-818-0742 JF Painting. Int./Ext. Wallppr remove, pwr wash. Neat & Rel. Qual Wrk. Refs. Reas. 973-478-0447 GARDEN ROTO TILLING Min. $30 for up to 20’ x 30’ clean garden Call 201-485-7405 Harry & Sons Painting Power washing, Interior Personable, Reasonable 30 yrs exp. 201-327-0231 LAWN SPRINKLERS Galapagos Painting. Int/Ext. PW*Tape*Spackle*Int.Decor Neat*20yrs exp.201-995-7472 LAWN SPRINKLERS PARTY SERVER 201-857-8700 POWERWASHING BRUSHWORKS PAINTING int/ ext. Serving Bergen Cty for 25yrs. Allendale 201-264-2103 www.Brushworksnj.com RECESSION BUSTER Lowest Pricing. Hedge&shrub trimming. Mulch * Topsoil* seed*plantings. No grass cut Call Scott 201-966-5420 Spring Start Up New Installation Service • Winterization G.R. Goris Plumbing & Heating, LLC. NJ Plumbing Lic 12147 201-995-1380 Family trade since 1927 Mahwah area & surrounding towns. Exp’d personal server for small parties in your home. References available. Call Kim 201-681-6950. TREE SERVICE � ���� �� ������� � ��� �� ������ � ������ ��������� ����� ������� ������������ � Academy Arborcare Tree & Stump Removal. Shrub Trimming & Pruning Tree & shrub installation. Tree Spraying/Pesticide control. Root Feeding. Free est. Fully Insured 40 yrs exp. 201-397-0767 TUTORING Math Tutor - 20 yrs exp. All levels - College Prof. Call 201-925-9303 WINDOW CLEANING AFFORDABLE-Insured Est. 40 years 201-385-2271 continued on next page Page 26 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 CLASSIFIED RELIGIOUS R E A L E S T AT E RENTAL AGENT NJ Rental Queen No fee to landlord-FREE! I Qualify All Tenants 201-790-5544. Call Allison OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT Ridgewood-rear of train sta- tion, 200-500 sq ft. Afford- able price. 201-445-3133 Prayer to the Blessed Virgin O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked. Through Christ our Lord. St. Joseph of Cuper- tino, Pray for us. Amen. ts Thank You St. Jude HOUSE WANTED Ridgewood family looking to purchase 3-4 bedroom home in HoHoKus, Saddle River, Oakland. No brokers please. cell#201-390-4161 We Buy Houses. Foreclo- sures * Distress property * All situations. 201-444-8945 RELIGIOUS Prayer to St. Clare RELIGIOUS St. Joseph of Cupertino cont. from preceding page Ask St. Clare for 3 favors, 1 business, 2 impossible. Say 9 Hail Marys for 9 days with lighted candles. Pray whether you believe or not. Publish the 9th day. “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised, adored & glori- fied today & every day.” Request will be granted no matter how impossible it seems. Publication must be promised. Thank you for answering my prayer. mr May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be adored, glori- fied, loved and preserved throughout the world now and forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us St. Jude, worker of miracles, pray for us. St. Jude, help of the hopeless, pray for us. Say this prayer nine times a day by the ninth day, your prayer will be answered. Publi- cation must be promised. Thank you St. Jude. as Prayer to St. Jude Oh, Holy St. Jude, apostle and martyr. Great in virtue and rich in miracles; near kinsman of Jesus Christ; faithful intercessor of all who invoke your special patronage in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance. Help me in my present urgent petition. In return I promise to make your name known and cause you to be invoked. St. Jude, pray for us all who invoke your aid. Amen. Say three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glorias. Publication must be promised. This novena has never been known to fail. This novena must be said for 9 consecutive days. My prayers were answered. Thank you, St. Jude. as CLASSIFIED Up to 3 lines .............................. $12.00 $13.50 Each additional line ................... $2.50 Name _______________________________________ Address _____________________________________ City/State/Zip _________________________________ Phone _______________________________________ (25 Characters per line including spaces and punctuation) Carefully check your advertisiment the day it appears since we can not be responsible for errors of any kind in subsequent editions of the same ad. Corrections and changes, however, will be gladly made. MAIL TO: CLASSIFIEDS-VILLADOM TIMES P.O. Box 96, Midland Park, NJ 07432 Be sure to enclose your check or money order. ORDER FORM AND PAYMENT MUST BE RECEIVED BY THURSDAY 12 NOON FOR AD HELP, CALL 201-652-0744 (Never known to fail) Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splen- dor of heaven, Mother of the Son of God. Immacu- late Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me, herein you are my mother. Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth! I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in this necessity There are none that can withstand your power. Oh, show me herein, you are my mother. Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (3x). Holy Mother, I place this cause in your hands (3x). Holy Spirit, you who solve all problems, light all roads so that I can attain my goals. You who gave me the divine gift to forgive and forget all evil against me and that in all instances in my life you are with me, I want in this short prayer to thank you for all things as you confirm once again that I never want to be separated from you in eternal glory. Thank you for your mercy toward me and mine. The person must say this prayer 3 consecu- tive days. After 3 days, the request will be granted. This prayer must be published after the favor is granted. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Thank you for answering my prayers. kv Prayer to the Blessed Virgin (Never known to fail) Oh, most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, fruitful vine, splen- dor of heaven, Mother of the Son of God. Immacu- late Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me, herein you are my mother. Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth! I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in this necessity There are none that can withstand your power. Oh, show me herein, you are my mother. Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (3x). Holy Mother, I place this cause in your hands (3x). Holy Spirit, you who solve all problems, light all roads so that I can attain my goals. You who gave me the divine gift to forgive and forget all evil against me and that in all instances in my life you are with me, I want in this short prayer to thank you for all things as you confirm once again that I never want to be separated from you in eternal glory. Thank you for your mercy toward me and mine. The person must say this prayer 3 consecu- tive days. After 3 days, the request will be granted. This prayer must be published after the favor is granted. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Thank you for answering my prayers. tsJ ANNOUNCEMENTS All Things Basementy! Basement Systems Inc. Call us for all of your basement needs! Waterproofing? Fin- ishing? Structual Repairs? Humidity and Mold Control FREE ESTIMATES! Call 1- 866-589-0174 DirectTV-2 Year Savings Event! Over 140 chan- nels only $29.99 a month. Only DirecTV gives you 2 YEARS of savings and a FREE Genie upgrade! Call 1-800-352-7157 BUILDING MATERIALS METAL ROOFING-REAL ROOF FOR YOUR HOUSE, GARAGE, BARN; ROOF, CELING, SIDING. TOP QUALITY/CLOSEOUT. LOW PRICES, FAST DELIVERY, FREE Literature, www.abmar- tin.net 1-800-373-3703 A.B. Martin Roofing Supply FOR SALE SAFE STEP TUBS. Enjoy safety, comfort and thera- peutic relief from the best walk-in tubs made in the USA. Call 1-888-734-4527 for FREE information and SENIOR DISCOUNTS! DISH TV Retailer. Start- ing at $19.99/month (for 12 mos.) & High Speed Inter- net starting at $14.95/month (where available). SAVE! Ask About SAME DAY Installation! CALL Now! 1- 800-281-4970 The path to your dream jobs begins with a college degree. Education Quarters offers a free college matching service. CALL 1-800-375-6219 LOTS & ACREAGE CATSKILL MTN TIMBER- LAND! 60 acres - $89,900. Quality timber, great hunting, secluded setting, adjoins State Land! Less than 3 hrs NYC! Town rd, survey, EZ terms! Call 866-495-8733 FARM SACRIFICE! 5 acres - $19,900. Great views, quiet country road, gorgeous hilltop setting! So. Tier, NY. G’teed buildable! 5 tracts avail UNDER $20,000! Terms! Hurry! 888-738-6994. Newyork- landandlakes.com MEDICAL/HEALTH Canada Drug Center is your choice for safe and affordable medications. Our licensed Canadian mail order pharmacy will provide you with savings of up to 90 percent on all your medica- tion needs. Call today 1- 800-254-4073, for $10.00 off your first prescription and free shipping WANTED TO BUY CASH for sealed, unexpired DIABETES TEST STRIPS/ STOP SMOKING PROD- UCTS! Free Shipping, Top$, 24 hr Payments! Call 1-855-578-7477, espanol 888-440-4001 or visit www. TestStripSearch.com today. Villadom Happenings HOW IS BUSINESS? Need DirecTV-Over 140 channels only $29.99 a month. Call more customers? Adver- tise to over 4 million homes Now! Triple from $636.00 (continued savings! page 2) and in Savings, Free upgrade week. Genie Bergen 2013 County Sun- be milling businesses throughout the will and resurfacing the Mid-Atlantic Region to & NFL street ticket free!! Start Avenue to the for Franklin price Lakes border. from Wyckoff sav- one with online day Construction 1-800-352-7157 weekdays print from advertising. to Visit will take place 7 a.m. 4:30 and ing today! p.m. Updates are available at www.wyckoff-nj.com. www. macnetonline.com Commuters who access transportation located ANNOUNCEMENTS public 800-450-7227 within the work zone EDUCATION to contact their bus are encouraged Medical to for Seniors- company Alerts determine MEDICAL OFFICE ASSIS- alternate pickup locations. 24/7 monitoring. FREE Equipment. FREE TANTS NEEDED NOW! Ship- Adoptathon ping. Nationwide Pet Become a Medical set Office Service at NO $29.95/Month. CALL Assistant host CTI! a CAR EXPE- Woof Gang Bakery Medi- will NEEDED! Adoptathon on Sat- Pet DONATIONS Online cal Guardian Today RIENCE 877- urday, May 10 from Training gets to 3 you p.m. ready! YOUR Almost 11 a.m. job DONATE Dogs from CAR- 827-1331 Diploma/GED adoption. & FREE Home Rescue will be HS available for FAST Computer TOWING 24 From 1 to 2 p.m., needed. 1-888-528-7110 be - Tax Deduc- to Stacey Semela Response on hand will hr. ATTENTION DIABETICS UNITED BREAST answer Medicare. Get and FREE questions a discuss dog tion training. A basket fund- with raiser and meter and specials will be CANCER FOUNDATION in-store diabetic featured. talking Free Mammo- Woof Gang NO ADMINISTRATIVE Providing & 57 West Allendale at testing supplies at Bakery is located ASSIS- Breast Cancer Info COST, grams Get plus delivery! (201) 866-945-1156 Avenue FREE Allendale. Phone NEEDED! 236-9663. in home TANTS trained Best of all, this meter elimi- now at CTI! NO nates painful finger EXPERIENCE NEEDED! pricking! Voter registration deadline job nears Call 866-955-7746 Online training gets you The last day to ready! HS Diploma/GED the & June 3 primary register to vote in election is & Tuesday, Computer 13. needed. registration applications May Voter 1-888- LOTS ACREAGE 627-1610 are available at local municipal BUSINESS TO and at the POLE clerk’s offices and DEAL of WEEK. 10 Office OF the THE Superintendent of BUSINESS at One Bergen ture, we Elections acres-$24,900 Room $318/ in Hackensack. or 380, County Plaza, ADVERTISING WORKS w w month! Bordors State Land, T O G E T H E R - - O N L I N E woods, views, So. Tier AND continues NY! Twn ‘Our Aging build- rd, G’teed Parents’ series PRINT. Give us a call market able! Call 888-738-6994 or Center, to Van Dyk your business to the Christian Health LOTS Care Health Care, over 4 newyorklandandlakes.com & ACREAGE million households Wyckoff Family YMCA, and the for Wyckoff Board in of publica- Health just one price LENDER ORDERED like this will present “Our FARM 60 Parents: tions SALE! Health as well as Aging: Aging Mental and our ABANDONED 5 acres - $29,900 May acres - $79,900 Beautiful - POND online Just Forgetful or Dementia?” on Tuesday, classified 20. sites. Visit The pro- acres trout will be held awesome 7 STREAM w w $39,900 Wyckoff Family stream, 10 from to 9 p.m. w.mac netonline.c om gram at hilltop the valley 691 quality Gorgeous So. Tier call YMCA, views, Wyckoff hard- View, in fields, State 800-450-7227 for Avenue and details. Wyckoff. more wood timber, great setting! hunting! Register market Land! http://www.wyckoffymca.org/news- online at price! Lender terms! 888- Below room/special-events/ or 738-6994 Call (888) 738-6994 call Cindy at (201) 891-7000, AUTOS WANTED extension 304. The newyorklandandlakes.com held on June 12. next newyorklandandlakes.com program will be CARS/TRUCKS WANTED! PayMAX pays EVENTS Free hearing workshop set the MAX! One call gets you a TOP Total Hearing Care, located DOLLAR Godwin Any Avenue, at 600 offer! year/ Have an Event to promote? Suite 7 to in market to towns & invites make/model. 1-888-PAY- Midland Park, the community to a free Want kits hearing outside of your POLE own BARNS MAX-5 Attendees will receive 16. cities workshop on May 15 and Garage (1-888-729-6295) a hometown? We screening pole and barns, demonstration of the latest free hearing can and help a we manufac- your hearing organization ture, reach presented by you Total Hearing Care’s aid technology we ship direct, save. w w w.apmbuil dings.c o m over million readers certified 1 staff members. To make LOTS reservation, call the a & ACREAGE for only Park office 888-261-2488 $100. Visit at www. Midland (973) 939-0028. midatlanticevents.net for more details or call 800- RBARI 450-7227 & ACREAGE LOTS LENDER ORDERED SALE! acres sets 5 sale - $19,900. Certified organic farmland! Views, The Ramapo-Bergen Animal fields, woods! will sponsor Refuge, Inc. Just off Ny ABUTS STATE LAND State a 10 huge acres-$29,900 Copper Tree Mall, 350 Thruway! Terms! sale at the Ramapo Valley So. Call NOW! (888) 905-8847 Road (Route 202) in views, Tier hilltop farm, Oakland, on Friday, May 9 from 9 a.m. upstateNYland.com to fields, p.m. woods! Saturday, May 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The 9 and EZ terms! Call 888-738-6994 sale will feature a wide range of beautiful gifts, seasonal BUSINESS CARD AD NewYorkLandandLakes.com and household items (some animal-related, 500,000 not). All SPECIAL! most Homes proceeds directly benefit the animals only of $500. You To choose RBARI. learn for MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS- more about CLARINET, VIO- shelter, visit area of coverage in free this no-kill the www.rbari.org. FLUTE, community papers...we do LIN, Trumpet, Trombone, the rest. Call 800-450-7227 Amplifier, Fender Guitar or visit macnetonline.com $70. ea. Many others at sim- ilar savings. 516-377-7907 READERS & MUSIC LOV- Top Cash for your junk ERS. 100 Greatest Nov- car. Running or not. Dent els (audio books) repairs. 201-951-1810 (continued from page ONLY 5) $99.00 (plus administration s h.) from Includes Rutgers University, a BA in politi- Player & cal MP3 science 50 from Accessories. the University of Colorado, and teaching BONUS: Classical Music certification for Back Guar- K-12 social studies from William MISCELLANOUS Works & Money K-8 and Paterson Call University. 1-877- antee. Today! GET County Freeholder She is 407-9404. deputy clerk for the Bergen HIGH-SPEED INTER- NET $19.99 Board. Previously, she was president Starting the & at get Woodside a a of month. Bundle up to Avenue School Parent Teacher Association Gift and Card! member a Order Wanted all motorcycles pre $100 Visa of 1980.Running or boards Japa- the Parent Teacher Student Orga- the executive not. of Now 800-614-9150 nese, nization at British, American, School and the Association of Indian Hills High European. Top cash paid, free Parents Teachers and Students at HOME IMPROVEMENT Ramapo High School. pick up, call 315-569-8094 The regional school board is made up Empire nine Today® to of members, Call including four from Wyckoff, three from a FREE in-home and Oakland, schedule two from Franklin Lakes, based estimate ratio Carpeting popu- on the on of the & Flooring. lation of each town to the total population Call of Today! district. the 1-800- They are elected by the voters in 955-2716. their towns, but represent Regional trustees the school district as a whole. SCHOOLS The current Wyckoff trustees HOMES FOR SALE are BOE President Bun- ting and Kenneth SCHOOL DIPLOMA Porro. The current Oakland trustees HILLTOP FARMHOUSE HIGH are Jane Castor and Sadie 6-8 Quinlan. acres - current Franklin 6 FROM HOME. weeks. The $99,900. Great Lakes trustees are John Butto Get and country getaway! 5 BR, ACCREDITED. a Sciancalepore. 2BA, decks, In laws cot- Diploma. Get a Job! No tage! Views, ideal set- Computer Needed. Free ting! 866-495-8733. Brochure. 1-800-264-8330. NewYorkLandandLakes.com Benjamin Franklin HS May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 27 Park Windmill Class of 2015 sets Garage Sale The Midland Park High School Class of 2015 will hold a Garage Sale on May 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the high school at 250 Prospect Street. The sale will have something for everyone, including clothing, housewares, and toys. Proceeds will benefit Class of 2015 activities. Mark Calabrese to perform The Midland Park Softball Program will present the Magic of Mark Calabrese on May 16. This family-friendly show will be held at 7 p.m. in the gym at Midland Park High School. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased in advance at the DePhillips Center on Dairy Street. Tickets will also be available at the door. The school is located at 250 Prospect Street. Film Club forming The Midland Park Memorial Library will host a Film Club that will meet on the second Thursday of the month beginning May 8 at 7:30 p.m. The group will discuss docu- mentaries. The selection for May is “Man on Wire.” Copies of the DVD are available at the library. Club members will watch the film at home and watch a clip and discuss the movie during the meeting. Snacks will be provided. The library is located at 250 Godwin Avenue. Soccer group holds meeting, registration The Midland Park Soccer Association will meet May 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Midland Park Library, 250 Godwin Avenue in Midland Park. Fami- lies of children who are participating in the in-town and travel leagues of the MPSA are encouraged to attend. The agenda will include a discussion on equipment upgrades, travel uniforms, registration, and the fall season. For more information, contact Carl Krag at (201) 612-9811 or Paul Olson at tpolson@optonline.net. Registration for fall soccer will continue through May 31. The fee for the program’s in-town clinic for children in kindergarten and first grade is $65. The fee for children in grades two through nine is $75. Participation in the association’s travel league costs $90. The fee for children playing in both leagues is $100. Family fees are capped at $225. Registration at www.midlandparksoccer.com. Regis- trations received after May 31 will be assessed a $20 fee with the exception of the in-town clinic division. For more registration information, contact midlandparksoccer@gmail.com or Jennifer Triolo at (201) 444-6835. Auxiliary poppy symbolizes sacrifice Members of the American Legion Auxiliary of Midland Park will be offering poppies to the public throughout the month of May. The legion’s memorial poppies are a symbol of the price of war and the sacrifice of millions who served our country. Memorial poppy contributions benefit the rehabilitation and assistance for veterans and their families. During World War I, poppies grew wild on the battle- fields of Flanders and became a symbol of all the dough- boys had endured. The red bloom became a sign of hope for those who lived. For those who sacrificed their lives, the flower is a perpetual memorial. Midland Park Cleanup Day set for May 10 Volunteers are sought to assist in the Borough of Mid- land Park Cleanup Day on May 10. Individuals and com- munity groups are welcome. Contact Joe McElwain at jmmcelwain@verizon.net to sign up for this event. Thomas heads board (continued from page 3) a graduate of Midland Park High School Class of 1979, Dr. Thomas is starting her sixth year on the board. She has chaired the board’s Policy and Personnel committees and has served on the Curriculum and Public Relations com- mittees. She also served as the school board’s liaison to the Special Education Parents’ Advisory Committee, the Midland Park Performing Arts Parents, and the Midland Park Public Education Foundation. A former chairman of the Midland Park Municipal Alliance Committee, she is a member of the Midland Park High School PTA, the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, the New Jersey Association for Student Assistance Professionals, and the American Counseling Association. Dr. Thomas, who holds a doctorate from Seton Hall University, has been a student assistance counselor with the Randolph Township Schools in Morris County for 24 years, and also serves as the Anti Bullying Coordinator. She and her husband Tom Hagerty have three children: Pat- rick, MPHS 2013; Tim, MPHS 2016, and Maggie, MPHS 2017. Canellas has been a board member since 2008, follow- ing his active involvement in the school district’s 2007 Stra- tegic Planning process as a member of the Environment Sub-Committee. As a board member, he has served on the Finance, Buildings and Grounds, Technology, Policy, Legislative and Public Relations committees and was the board’s liaison to the Elementary PTA, Education Founda- tion, and Performing Arts Parents. A 10-year resident, Canellas is a Certified Public Accountant and is vice president of finance and operations for Home Box Office Sports. He and his wife, Deidre, have three children: Matthew, a seventh grader at Midland Park Junior/Senior High School; Christopher, a fourth grader at Highland School; and Amanda, who will begin nursery school in the fall. They attend the Church of the Nativity, where he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Page 28 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 Design a laundry room that is functional and inviting When purchasing a home, buyers often focus on the kitchen and the number of bedrooms, while largely ignoring other areas, including the laundry room. Often, the washer and dryer are relegated to a dark corner of the basement or garage, and hom- eowners simply accept their laundry lot. More and more manufacturers now produce washers and dryers that are both functional and aesthetically appealing. As a result, homeowners and renters need not feel they have to hide laundry rooms like they did in the past. Having the laun- dry nearby the family action -- and paying attention to laundry room design -- can make the work of keeping clothes tidy that much easier. Many designers would agree that you need not sacrifice style for function in a laundry room. As with any other area of the house, impart design elements into the room and make it a room in which you want to spend time. First and foremost, select appliances that offer the features you need and want. Also, find appliances that fit the space you have. Front-loading appliances have become the latest must-have, but some units may be too big for your space. Those with a limited area for laundry can invest in a stackable set, in which the washer and dryer are com- bined into one vertical unit. For those who want to add a pop of color, select among the variety of colored washers and dryers that are turning up in store showrooms. Buyers are no longer limited to white, black, and beige. Consider cabinetry in the laundry space. Cabinets and drawers are not just for the kitchen. They can hide cleaning products, detergent, dryer sheets, and much more. Fill drawers with stain-removal sticks and items to mend clothes that may be missing a button or have a small hole that needs tending. A laundry area also can be much more than just a place to wash and fold clothes. Many people like to turn this spot into a multipurpose zone. By including some shelving and a refrigerator in the laundry room, you can create a food-storage pantry. A large countertop normally used to fold clothes can also double as a gift-wrapping station. Think about merging a laundry room with a craft room where sewing or scrapbooking can take place. Remember to leave room for the soiled clothing. Raising hamper bins off of the floor to be suspended from a rod above the washer frees up valuable floor space. Oth- erwise, keep the hamper behind a curtain or tucked into a cabinet to ensure the laun- dry room always looks neat. Add color and artwork to the laundry space. Try an eye-opening color, such as apple green or bright yellow to add a sunny disposition to the room. It’s not necessary to spend a fortune on a laundry room re-do. Consider shopping in salvage stores or antique shops for custom pieces to add character to the space. You can probably find cabinetry or shelving for a fraction of the cost of new items, and these older items may add more character to the space. Save space by installing a counter just above the dryer so there will be a place to fold and stack clothing. The bulk of dirty clothes will be gen- erated in the bedrooms and bathroom of the house. But who wants to carry clothes down to a laundry area on a lower level? See if you can tuck a laundry room into an upstairs closet or nook to make doing laundry more practical. As an alternative, consider installing a laundry chute. Although a laundry room is often an afterthought, taking time to organize and plan the space can make it both functional and inviting. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 29 How to create a rainwater harvesting system Rainwater collection is a way to conserve water that can be adopted by both private homeowners and businesses. Harvesting water during peak times of precipitation ensures water will be on hand during periods of drought or when water restrictions are implemented. Making use of rainwa- ter reduces reliance on underground wells and municipal water systems. Harvesting rainwater also can help prevent flooding and soil erosion. The average homeowner can collect thousands of gallons of rainwater each year. To learn just how much water can be harvested, and how many natural resources can be pro- duced from that rain, visit www.save-the-rain.com, where men and women can calculate their rain collection poten- tial by geographic location and average rainfall. Afterward, homeowners may be inclined to establish their own rainwa- ter harvesting systems. Here is how to get started. Determine your roofing material. Potable water can be harvested from homes with sheet metal or slate roofing. Clay or adobe tiles also may be acceptable. Asphalt, wood shingles, and tar roofs may leach toxic chemicals into the water, making it unsafe for drinking. This rainwater may only be collected to use for irrigation methods or washing cars and outdoor items. Check gutter materials. Some gutters are made with lead soldering components. A commercial lead swab test can help determine if there is lead present in gutters. At a later time, you can choose to replace the gutters if you desire a potable supply of water. Invest in a collection tank or barrel. A number of manu- facturers sell prefabricated rain collection systems complete with collection barrels. Otherwise, use your own barrel or tank to house the collected water. Ensure it is large enough to handle the volume of water collected. Purchase and install leaf guards. If the home is sur- rounded by many trees, leaf and tree debris probably accu- mulate in the gutters and downspouts. Leaf guards will help keep the gutters clear and increase water flow through the water collection system. Create a water collection area. A portion of the gutter system should be removed so it connects to the collection barrel or tank. As the rain falls, it will run down the roof and into the gutters before it streams into the downspouts. The downspout connected to the tank will deposit the water directly inside. Filters can be installed to help block the flow of debris. Outfit the tank for overflow and water use. A spigot and hose connection makes it easy to use the collected water for outdoor purposes. Many rainwater collection systems are designed with an overflow safeguard that will prevent the water from backing up through the system. It will divert the rainwater back out of the downspout when the barrel or tank is full. A rainwater collection system harnesses a natural source of water to be used for gardens and other outdoor purposes. This water does not contain chlorine or other additives, making it relatively clean and safe to use. Homeowners should check to see if a permit is necessary to install a rain- water collection system and then begin gathering water for various uses. Page 30 THE VILLADOM TIMES I & III • May 7, 2014 What to expect when it’s time to remove a tree Trees serve many purposes in a landscape, such as providing shade and habitat for birds and other animals and serving as natural blinds between two homes. Trees are beautiful elements of a natural landscape, adding aesthetic appeal to a property or even an entire commu- nity. But there are times when a tree must be removed, an action that, in many instances, requires the services of a professional tree service. A tree with roots invading the foundation of a home or infringing on a patio or walkway can become a safety hazard. Other trees may cast shade where a pool is planned or cause disagreements between neighbors when the tree straddles a property line. In these instances, a reputable service can provide needed advice. Homeowners will need to do a bit of planning and research to remove trees safely and securely. It is best to contact a variety of different tree removal services and compare their offerings and prices. The cost of a tree removal will vary depending on various factors, including the height of the tree, its width, the number of branches it has, its location on a property, and the proximity of that location to potential hazards like power lines. Tree removal may range from a few hundred dol- lars to several thousand. When a tree is being removed, most of the branches will be removed to make the tree more manageable. Trees are rarely chopped at the base and allowed to fall, as there simply is not enough room to safely take this approach. Sections of the tree will be cut, roped off, and slowly lowered. A climber will scale the tree or use a cherry picker to reach the top of the tree to facilitate the process. The pieces of the tree will be loaded into a wood-chip- per for grinding before they are hauled away. Larger, heavier portions of the stumps may need to be moved later on with machinery. Hauling trees off the property may cost extra, so it is important that homeowners read the contract thoroughly before signing on the dotted line. Additional costs may be factored into the bill. These can include stump and root grinding. Trees will be cut down to the stump. To prevent eyesores or tripping haz- ards, some homeowners opt to have the stumps ground down into sawdust. This will not remove all of the roots, but will take care of most of the above-ground portion of the remaining stump. It is usually up to the homeowner to discard the sawdust or use it as a mulching material. Expect the ground around the former tree to be soft, and there may be a depression depending on how much stump grinding took place. Some people prefer to wait a season for the ground to recover before planting some- thing new. It may take a while for grass to sprout where a tree was once located, and there may be bare spots when grass starts to grow. Tree removal can be an expensive venture but can become necessary for different reasons. Be sure that tree-removal services are fully insured before signing a contract. May 7, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 31 Mistakes to avoid when designing a landscape When designing their landscapes, homeowners may envision grandiose gardens and lush lawns that are the envy of the neighborhood. However, such designs can be difficult to maintain, and homeowners often find they are not worth the time or money. Avoiding such costly mistakes allows homeowners to fully enjoy their lawns. The following are a few landscap- ing mistakes homeowners may want to avoid so they can spend more time enjoying their landscapes and less time working around the yard. Planting the wrong trees and shrubs: When planting new trees and shrubs, choose varieties that will not overwhelm the property by growing too large. Such trees and shrubs can mask other elements of a landscape, and they can take a substantial amount of effort to maintain. Avoid spending too much time pruning trees and shrubs by opting for those that only grow to a particular size. Choosing non-native plants: It’s best to choose plants that are native to a particular region. Native plants have already adapted to the local climate, meaning they can withstand the worst weather that climate has to offer without hom- eowners having to put in much effort. For example, if you live in an area where drought is common, avoid planting trees, shrubs, flowers, or grass that need ample amounts of water. Instead, opt for those varieties that can survive without significant amounts of water. Exotic plants might add aesthetic appeal to a property, but that appeal is often short-lived or costly to maintain when a plant is not in its native climate. Too much lawn: While a large and lush lawn appeals to many homeowners, a yard that is all grass can be difficult and expensive to maintain. Lawns without trees are suscep- tible to damage from the hot summer sun, and homeowners often respond to that threat by overwatering their lawns. Overwatering not only weakens root systems, but it also leads to higher water bills. Homeowners can downsize their lawns by planting more trees around the property, adding a garden in the backyard or even adding landscape features to their property. Planting without a plan: When planting new trees around a property, some homeowners plant without first consid- ering the ideal locations for new trees. This can prove an expensive mistake. Planting too close to the house may eventually threaten the home’s foundation, as roots grow deeper and deeper into the ground. Planting too close to a home also may prove a security threat down the road, when the tree has grown to full height. Such trees may threaten the home during a storm, so consult a landscaping profes- sional when planting new trees so the trees are located in a place that does not threaten the value of the home or the safety of its residents. Page 32 THE VILLADOM TIMES I & III • May 7, 2014