Racefaster would like to invite you and your family to attend our inaugural Ridgewood Thanksgiving Day Run. It’s a sanctioned 4 mile race beginning and ending at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Stop by the Racefaster Store, 211 E. Ridgewood Ave, for discounted registration rates.
Please join us this Thanksgiving Day for a great new community tradition. This race is four miles through the beautiful streets of Ridgewood, NJ. Runners will be hosted in the Benjamin Franklin gym before and after the race, and you will be home in time for Thanksgiving Dinner!
OCTOBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GREG TARTAGLIA
SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — Mika Tamura was waiting to be surprised, and was she ever.
The Ridgewood High School junior knew she had put together a strong performance at last Friday’s Bergen County gymnastics championships. Still, she wanted to hear the official announcement of all-around scores from meet director Trisha Piotrowski.
“In third place, with a score of 37.225, from Ridgewood…”
Tamura set a career high. By a lot. And she wasn’t the only one.
Ramapo’s Emma Johnson (meet-record 38.7) and Samantha Marion (38.025) did the same to finish 1-2. Their school set a meet record by scoring 113.175 to top Ridgewood for the title, despite the fact that the Maroons (111.375) posted their highest total in nine years.
The top four teams — which also included Pascack Regional and Holy Angels — combined to tally 437.375 points, obliterating the previous mark for top-four aggregate (426.45) set in 2006.
Ridgewood Nj, Retired Physical Educator and Soccer Coach Jeff Yearing and RHS senior Charlotte Samuels will be receiving prestigious awards at the 50th Annual Sports Award Banquet of the YMCA of Greater Bergen County. Jeff will be awarded the Special Achievement Award for his 40-plus years of contributions to Bergen County Athletics. Charlotte will be recognized with the Walter E. Goepel Amateur Athlete for her swimming accomplishments. The Awards Banquet will be Tuesday, November 24, at The Venetian in Garfield, Reception at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. If interested in attending, contact AD Keith Cook at [email protected] or 201-670-2700 ext 20510.
OCTOBER 23, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY JIM MCCONVILLE
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — All week leading up to last Friday’s game with Paramus, the Ridgewood High School football team was reminded of a year ago, when it came into that same game unbeaten and promptly got trounced.
That was the beginning of a season-ending, five-game losing streak that left a bitter taste in the mouths of the returning players.
The message got through. Thanks to a strong effort from the defense and an advantageous offense, the Maroons defeated the Spartans, 17-7, to improve to 5-1 and pretty much secure a spot in the North 1, Group 5 state playoffs.
Entering tonight’s game with Hackensack, Ridgewood sits atop the sectional power point standings, making the game with the Comets a huge opportunity.
“This was a quality win, no doubt,” RHS head coach Chuck Johnson said of the Paramus victory, “but it is only one game. And we have to be prepared to play better if we’re going to win going forward.”
A victory over Hackensack (3-2) might be enough to secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It also would be another step in the Ridgewood redemption tour, given that the team squandered an excellent first-half performance in last season’s meeting, and a second-half letdown resulted in a 20-17 loss
OCTOBER 21, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015, 3:03 PM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood’s Open Space Committee will be undertaking a survey to help prepare an update for its Open Space Plan.
The idea behind the survey is to reach a sample of Ridgewood residents and find out how they use the village’s fields and recreational areas as well as what they would like to see in the future.
Ralph Currey, the chair of the committee, said members are in the planning stages of updating its Open Space and Recreation Plan, which was last updated in 2010. Jim Bostler, a member of the Open Space Committee, said the report would hopefully be updated by the spring of 2016.
One of the necessary elements of the plan as required by New Jersey’s Green Acres program is to perform what is known as a “needs analysis,” which is defined as an examination of the adequacy of the current open space and recreational systems to satisfy present and future needs.
Currey said past open space reports had relied on national and state guidelines for determining the amount of open and recreational space the village should have, based on a few factors such as population and size.
Toward the end of every summer, my husband sends me a list of 20 or so dishes he would like me to cook for him. It’s different every year and includes things like Frito pie, gumbo, clam chowder, taquitos, ribs.
No, we’re not going through “Mad Men” withdrawal or pining for Eisenhower’s America. This is how we observe the very modern ritual of football season. But the NFL’s greedy investment in Thursday-night games is threatening a schism in the Gridiron Church.
My husband’s dish list keeps me busy while he lounges on our couch watching the games. Some years, I don’t get to all of them, and they roll over to the following year. Some dishes become beloved and therefore frequently repeated.
On Sundays during the football season, my husband doesn’t accompany me to the many children’s birthday parties that our kids get invited to. We don’t make plans to go out. My husband isn’t responsible for errands. We don’t do any shopping. I don’t engage him in conversation about anything more complicated than “What’s the score?” and “So you want more of that?”
OCTOBER 19, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015, 10:08 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
After a lengthy public hearing on Oct. 14, the Village Council decided to move forward with the process of procuring a grant for phase one of the Schedler Park project and accept a monetary gift from the Ridgewood Baseball/Softball Association (RBSA).
The approval of the two resolutions came with the notion of exploring other possible sites for a 90-foot field while scaling down the playing field at Schedler to a 60-foot diamond, which was supported by some residents in attendance.
Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld started the hearing with an update to the grant money available to the village. Sonenfeld reported that Bergen County received a high number of requests and the village lowered its amount to $75,000.
The RBSA also decided to increase the amount offered in its gift to the village to $150,000, Sonenfeld said.
OCTOBER 16, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY JIM MCCONVILLE
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — Now comes the hard part.
Sitting at 4-1 and atop the North 1, Group 5 power point table, Ridgewood High School would seem to be primed for a postseason run. It’s a position in which the Maroons found themselves one year ago, and RHS fans all know what happened after that.
From 5-0 to 5-5, the 2014 season took a downhill slide, and it all began with a game against Paramus, which administered a 35-0 drubbing that served as the most embarrassing moment of last fall.
For the Ridgewood juniors and seniors who played in that game, they’ve had a year to digest it and understand how not to let it happen again. Their shot at redemption comes tonight, when Paramus visits RHS Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) will introduce a bill this fall that aims to penalize athletes who repeat a grade in middle school to gain athletic advantage in high school, NJ Advance Media has learned. Matthew Stanmyre, NJ.com Read more
PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHY REKUCKI
From left, Ridgewood freshman Sophia Swanson, junior Alex Absey and senior Elizabeth O’Keefe all reached the large-school finals at last weekend’s Bergen County tournament. Absey navigated the third-singles bracket to earn a place in the championship match, while Swanson and O’Keefe teamed up to do the same at first doubles.
Pair of finalists propels Ridgewood Girls Tennis to second in Bergen tournament
OCTOBER 2, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW BIRCHENOUGH
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RHS first doubles and third singles reach title matches in large-schools bracket
If just one more match went in its favor, the Ridgewood High School girls tennis team would be celebrating after earning at least a share of the Bergen County large-schools crown.
Unfortunately for the Maroons, not all the bounces went their way, but there are still plenty of positives to extract from this past weekend’s tournament, not least of which is the motivation Ridgewood now has heading into the state sectionals.
The Maroons placed finalists in two brackets, which helped drive them to a second-place finish in the large-schools division with 10 points, just behind Holy Angels’ 11.
“Of course we were pleased with the finish we had but a little disappointed that we couldn’t clinch, but credit Holy Angels for their strong play in the tournament,” Ridgewood head coach Medha Kirtane said in a phone interview earlier this week.
Elizabeth O’Keefe and Sophia Swanson, seeded third at first doubles, reached the finals where they fell to top-seeded Danielle Mandel and Anna Antonova of Fair Lawn.
Meanwhile, third-singles player Alex Absey battled her way through the bracket as a second seed, making her way to the finals before being knocked off by Indian Hills’ Ariella Shugleyt, 6-1, 6-4.
The Maroons improved on last year’s performance in the tournament, when they finished in a tie for second with eight points.
Ridgewood NJ , Ridgewood PD Patrol Officer Steven Shortway and Ridgewood High School Athletic Director Keith Cook examine damage to an athletic field at Ridgewood High School caused by vandals who burned two (2) separate large images of male genitalia into the artificial turf. No exact dollar estimate of the damage was immediately available, but reports are that it could cost several thousand dollars to repair.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, 11:13 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Questions have arisen in recent weeks over the process by which the Village Council submitted its application to Bergen County for its Open Space grant, prompting officials to respond in a public forum.
During a recent council meeting, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld dedicated a portion of her manager’s report to address questions that had been brought up both that evening and in past meetings.
The Village of Ridgewood has applied for a Bergen County Open Space matching grant that will cover preliminary work needed at the Schedler property to allow for the construction of any passive or active recreational purposes on the site, said Sonenfeld.
The grant will fund the removal of the garage and shed, the capping of a well and the removal of dead, diseased or downed trees and stumps. Bidding for this work will go out in October or November pending the approval of another resolution by the council.
During public comment, resident Frank Delvecchio asked if the village is providing any funding for the project as the open space application indicated $100,000 in capital funds will be used in order to apply.
Sonenfeld said the $100,000 amount is a gift coming from the Ridgewood Baseball Softball Association (RBSA), which would be accepted through the village’s gift ordinance and could then be deposited into a special trust fund for the park before moving it into a municipal capital fund account.
For many athletes who play on artificial turf, the tiny granules of rubber that pad the field are familiar and ubiquitous. The black specks often get trapped in folds of clothing, carried home in shoes or embedded in scrapes and under fingernails.
Crumb rubber infill — the most common material used in artificial turf fields across the country — is intended to improve safety and create a more accessible, easily maintained playing field. But after recent public concerns about possible health risks from exposure to crumb rubber, several local jurisdictions are searching for clearer answers about its potential dangers and considering alternatives.
The issue is a modern one.
Synthetic turf with an “infill” system — involving a layer of tiny granules of rubber, sand, or other material between the turf fibers and a backing layer — was introduced in the late 1990s and has since become a popular alternative to natural turf fields, according to the Synthetic Turf Council. More than 11,000 synthetic turf athletic fields are in use at schools, colleges, parks and professional stadiums across the country, the council said. In the Washington area, where public school systems started transitioning to artificial turf in the mid- to late 2000s, crumb rubber is the most common infill choice. Organic alternatives are generally more expensive.
Artificial turf has often been considered preferable to natural grass because synthetic fields are easier to maintain, more durable and can be used in a variety of weather conditions. The padded surface has also been shown to reduce the likelihood of impact injuries. Some athletes, however, including numerous professional soccer players, have complained about the way artificial turf affects the game.
The Washington Post recently had an article concerning the desperate need for wildscapes, not parks, wildscapes ,undeveloped land to preserve our ecology and life on earth.
Schedler should remain undeveloped.
Let it remain undeveloped, please God, a lodestar for other towns about the need for preserving life on earth by being good stewards of the land.
By the way, some blister bellied parent talked about baseball and other sports becoming more competitive and the need for more playing space.
Well, there have been a plethora of articles on kids’ sports in the major newspapers including our one and only NYTimes. They all agree that too much practice leads to permanent bodily injuries in young bodies that are still developing. Yes, coach , let them work hard, but not harder. You coach, don’t give a flying fuck if your young charges collapse in college sports due to their strained bodies or in high school, or even permanently inured in high school. All coaches and gym teachers teaching competitive sports should be required to work for FREE, NO Pay
. work for the good of the young kids playing, not for your reputations acquired by ruining young lives.
