The Christian festival of Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The spring festival has its roots in the Jewish Passover, which commemorates Israel’s deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and in the Christian reinterpretation of its meaning after the crucifixion of Jesus during the Passover of AD c.30 and the proclamation of his resurrection three days later.
Early Christians observed Easter on the same day as Passover (14-15 Nisan, a date governed by a lunar calendar). In the 2d century, the Christian celebration was transferred to the Sunday following the 14-15 Nisan, if that day fell on a weekday. Originally, the Christian Easter was a unitive celebration, but in the 4th century Good Friday became a separate commemoration of the death of Christ, and Easter was thereafter devoted exclusively to the resurrection.
According to the Venerable Bede, the name Easter is derived from the pagan spring festival of the Anglo- Saxon goddess Eostre, and many folk customs associated with Easter (for example, Easter eggs) are of pagan origin.
Easter Day is currently determined as the first Sunday after the full moon on or after March 21. The Eastern Orthodox churches, however, follow the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar, so their celebration usually falls several weeks later than the Western Easter. Easter is preceded by the period of preparation called Lent. Reginald H. Fuller Bibliography: Torvend, Samuel, ed., Passage to the Paschal Feast (1993); Williams, Rowan, Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel (1994).
>So this is the story, the village wants to be able to build a garage looking ad over 300 parking spaces to the down town. Interesting, the fly would like to know how exactly anyone came up with this 300 number. What was the methodology? Is there really this much of a parking shortage all the time in the village or isn’t this just going to be used by out of town NJ transit customers using the trains into the city and adding nothing to the local economy ? Why has the village not reconfigured some of the street parking to add more spaces? Yes I know this would not add 300 spaces but it might be enough to alleviate parking problems at peak times. What times of the day does the most acute parking shortage happen? Or is it really that the garage needs 300 spaces to be profitable? And what happens if it’s not? Yes the fly is well aware that from time to time the parking can be difficult but do we really need 300 more spaces all the time?
Those of you who will be perturbed at the fly’s insistence on questioning the higher powers in the village on this project should understand before hand that any reasonable person would ask any of these questions and any reasonable person would have answers and expect to give them forthrightly. So save the obstructionist cracks and engage in a productive discussion.
ABOUT SAINT PATRICKSaint Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 to be the first bishop to the Irish believers in Christ.Saint Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing christianity to Ireland. Most of what is known about him comes from his two works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish christians. Saint Patrick described himself as a “most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes who had worshipped idols and unclean things had become the people of God.”
Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been – the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. While not the first to bring christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and thousands of their subjects in the “Holy Wells” that still bear this name.
There are several accounts of Saint Patrick’s death. One says that Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D. His jawbone was preserved in a silver shrine and was often requested in times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the “evil eye.” Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at Glastonbury, England and was buried there. The Chapel of St. Patrick still exists as part of Glastonbury Abbey. Today, many Catholic places of worship all around the world are named after St. Patrick, including cathedrals in New York and Dublin city
Why Saint Patrick’s Day?
Saint Patrick’s Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Most importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick’s Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide.
So, why is it celebrated on March 17th? One theory is that that is the day that St. Patrick died. Since the holiday began in Ireland, it is believed that as the Irish spread out around the world, they took with them their history and celebrations. The biggest observance of all is, of course, in Ireland. With the exception of restaurants and pubs, almost all businesses close on March 17th. Being a religious holiday as well, many Irish attend mass, where March 17th is the traditional day for offering prayers for missionaries worldwide before the serious celebrating begins.
In American cities with a large Irish population, St. Patrick’s Day is a very big deal. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate with parades, “wearing of the green,” music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green! ( https://www.st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.asp )
photo’s by ArtChick Photo’s shot at Irish Eyes on Ridgewood Ave
> Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).
Not all places in the U.S. observe daylight time. In particular, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not use it. Indiana adopted its use beginning in 2006.
In 2006, daylight time begins on April 2 and ends on October 29.
In 2007, daylight time begins on March 11 and ends on November 4. [New law goes into effect.]
In 2008, daylight time begins on March 9 and ends on November 2.
Many other countries observe some form of “summer time”, but they do not necessarily change their clocks on the same dates as the U.S.
Daylight time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX – Standard Time.
History of Daylight Time in the U.S. Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 20 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.
During the “energy crisis” years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April. In 1986, a law was passed that shifted the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time was not subject to such changes, and remained the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates. Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
For a very readable account of the history of standard and daylight time in the U.S., see
Ian R. Bartky and Elizabeth Harrison: “Standard and Daylight-saving Time”, Scientific American, May 1979 (Vol. 240, No. 5), pp. 46-53.
The fly on the wall has learned that Laura Graham, the Village’s Deputy Clerk, will be leaving within the next 2 weeks to assume the role of Borough Clerk in Oradell. Ms. Graham’s replacement in Ridgewood has not been announced.
In addition to serving in her official capacity as Deputy Village Clerk, Ms. Graham, a Ridgewood native and long term Village resident, frequently babysat the 2 children of Mayor David T. Pfund and his wife Gina.
The fly extends best wishes and congratulations to Ms. Graham. She will be missed by many in Ridgewood
>”Composting is about creating good, healthy dirt. It is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden and yard soil. It can enrich gardens, improve the soil around trees and shrubs, and be used as a soil additive for house plants and planter boxes. Insects, earthworms, bacteria, and fungi help in transforming this material into compost. It is a way you can recycle your yard and kitchen wastes, and is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal. Yard and food wastes make up approximately 30% of the waste stream in the United States. Composting most of these waste streams would reduce the amount of municipal wastes requiring disposal by almost one fourth. ” (Healthy Families)
Environmental Benefits
Compost use can result in a variety of environmental benefits. The following are a few of the most important benefits:
Compost enriches soils Compost has the ability to help regenerate poor soils. The composting process encourages the production of beneficial micro-organisms (mainly bacteria and fungi) which in turn break down organic matter to create humus. Humus–a rich nutrient-filled material–increases the nutrient content in soils and helps soils retain moisture. Compost has also been shown to suppress plant diseases and pests, reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers, and promote higher yields of agricultural crops.
Compost helps cleanup (remediate) contaminated soil The composting process has been shown to absorb odors and treat semivolatile and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including heating fuels, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and explosives. It has also been shown to bind heavy metals and prevent them from migrating to water resources or being absorbed by plants. The compost process degrades and, in some cases, completely eliminates wood preservatives, pesticides, and both chlorinated and nonchlorinated hydrocarbons in contaminated soils.
Compost helps prevent pollution Composting organic materials that have been diverted from landfills ultimately avoids the production of methane and leachate formulation in the landfills. Compost has the ability to prevent pollutants in stormwater runoff from reaching surface water resources. Compost has also been shown to prevent erosion and silting on embankments parallel to creeks, lakes, and rivers, and prevents erosion and turf loss on roadsides, hillsides, playing fields, and golf courses.
Using compost offers economic benefits Using compost can reduce the need for water, fertilizers, and pesticides. It serves as a marketable commodity and is a low-cost alternative to standard landfill cover and artificial soil amendments. Composting also extends municipal landfill life by diverting organic materials from landfills and provides a less costly alternative to conventional methods of remediating (cleaning) contaminated soil. (Environmental Protection Agency)
>The NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude from the “lakeview dr people” regarding the consideration of athletic fields at King’s Pond Park is so predictable. We have all heard it so many times from many other selfish and ignorant people in town. Your threat and reference to concerned parents as “athletic bums” says a great deal about your character. But, it doesn’t really help to solve the issues that face us all as citizens and taxpayers in Ridgewood.
The rest of you, particularly “village group inc”, have no idea what you are talking about.
The VOR has ONLY 60% of the necessary open space per capita for recreational activities, as recommended by the state of NJ. Walk by the fields at Brookside, Vets, Stevens or Citizens Park and take a good look at the deplorable conditions. You can blame the severe shortage of field space in town. You can also blame the shortage of field space for night usage of the fields (as late as 9PM). Ridgewood DOES NOT have enough fields for our children.
The synthetic surface at maple Park is the only responsible way to address this condition, at this time. And, it didn’t even cost you a dime, unlike the grass field that it replaced.
Contrary to “village group inc’s” incoherent rambling, last week’s storm was the perfect demonstration of why the field at Maple Park is so necessary. The storm dropped 3.5” of rain in less than 48 hours, on top of the 2.5” from a storm a week earlier. In two weeks we saw 36% more than the average rainfall for the ENTIRE month of November in Ridgewood. Last week’s storm flooded the parking lot at Village Hall with 6” of water and closed athletic fields in town for days.
When the storm ended, there was less than 1” of standing water in one small area in a corner of the new surface at Maple Field. Even though the surface and its drainage system are not completed and fully functional, the water had completely disappeared within a couple of hours. Had the field been completed, it would have been ready for play, while every other field in town was under water or unplayable for several days afterwards. By the way, no workers in Parks & Recreation were laid off as a result of the savings from the synthetic surface at Maple Park. Nor has that ever been a justification for installing a synthetic field in Ridgewood.
It can be hard to admit when you are wrong. But, maybe it is all of you who need to “wake up”, as “village group inc” demands.
> Note that local time between 1:00:00 and 1:59:59 actually is repeated twice this day, first during DST time, then clocks are turned back one hour to normal time, and the hour is repeated during normal time. To avoid confusion when referring to time within this hour, it is important to tell whether it happened before of after the change back to normal time.
>School Leadership LLC, the search firm hired by the Board of Education to find a new superintendent of schools, is overseeing a number of ways the community can provide input on what to look for in candidates for the Ridgewood position. School Leadership will be conducting general community meetings at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, on November 14 and November 29 at 7:30 PM to gain ideas from the community in how to narrow their search to find the ideal candidate. At the public meetings, School Leadership will describe the process for conducting the search, and ask attendees which professional and personal characteristics they feel the new superintendent should bring to the position. School Leadership will also be meeting with district administrators (November 1); Federated Home and School Association (November 2); and the Human Resources Coordinating Council and Clergy Council (November 16). School Leadership is also conducting a web-based interactive survey that will be available on the district website (www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us) for the month of November. Participants will be asked to choose from a list the qualities they consider essential in a superintendent of schools. There will also be open-ended questions. A hot link to the survey will be posted in the next rps.eNews. Survey takers also have the option of printing the survey and mailing or faxing their opinions to School Leadership. All results from the anonymous survey will be sent directly to School Leadership offices. Information from the meetings and the survey will be synthesized into a set of search specifications that the Board will approve at its December 18, 2006, meeting. School Leadership expects that the new superintendent will be appointed at the April 23, 2007, Board meeting.
>The total student population in Ridgewood Public Schools declined by nine this school year, from 5,569 to 5,560. While the total count will not be official until October 15, schools reported the following numbers on the first day of school: Glen, 44 (+5); Hawes, 427 (+13); Orchard, 317 (+3); Ridge, 482 (-24); Somerville, 469 (-2); Travell, 414 (+17); Willard, 465 (-18); BFMS, 629 (-7); GWMS, 630 (-5); RHS, 1673 (+9). The number in parenthesis reflects the change in the student population since September 30, 2005
The Board of Education approved student participation at Ridgewood High School in the Social Norms Prevention Campaign conducted through Rowan University. Social Norms is a proactive prevention model that encourages safe habits for students by correcting common misperceptions college and high students have regarding the prevalence of at-risk behaviors among their peers. The initiative was pioneered by Dr. Wesley Perkins of Hobart & William Smith University, who found wide disparity between students’ descriptions of their alcohol consumption and their perceptions of their friends and classmates drinking habits. Because perceptions influence decision-making, the Social Norms approach discourages at-risk behavior by publicizing the true nature of student social behavior. For example, while the media coverage of student drug use and binge drinking on high school and college campuses creates the impression that at-risk behavior is more pervasive than it is, the Social Norms message attempts to correct that misconception. The idea is that if students know the truth they will feel less pressured to engage in dangerous
practices themselves. By using hard data collected in surveys, Social Norms dispel the notion that most students binge drink on a frequent basis.
Because studies at the college level have shown success in reducing alcohol intake among targeted populations, the Social Norms approach has been modified for middle schools and high schools. The purpose is again to promote healthy behaviors through conveying positive, inclusive, and empowering messages that provide information on the true nature of social behavior among their peers. Statistics are accumulated using web-based surveys. Consent forms for individual students to participate will be mailed to parents or guardians. Because of New Jersey statute (18A:36-34) concerning parental consent, only students who have signed parental consent forms will be allowed to take part in the web-based survey. The study has been designed to protect each student’s privacy. The results of the survey will be used to determine which healthy behaviors are student norms and that message will be communicated via a multi-media campaign, including the use of posters, flyers, advertisements in student newspapers, bulletin boards, and newsletters.
Ridgewood is starting to look like NYC in the 1970’s. Out of control spending, rogue employees and elected officials, failing education system and lack of maintenance in the town.
NYC cut police officers and firefighters also in a effort to cut spending. The results of that remains in the minds of those who had to travel to NYC to work during those frightening years. Crime rose 60% in just 2 years. Burned buildings were everywhere. Even today the city still hasn’t recovered from the population loss from those years. It took a good 15 years and federal help for the city to control its spending. They realized the problem lied in poor spending habits, non-working employees and outside political influences.
Im not saying Ridgewood is going be as bad as NYC was, but it could very well be a smaller version of it. Do the residents a favor, instead of cutting essential services such as Police, Fire, EMS, Sanitation and other quality of life services, look at things that we either don’t need or need to cut back on. Example: Rear yard garbage pickup. We also need to stop several projects that we CANT afford. Example: Parking Garage, Bank Ban. I would much rather have a second firehouse instead, i like my house not charred.
If you look at how the finical collapse of NYC started, you will see a smaller but similar problem that Ridgewood has today. But lets not make the same mistakes they made when stabilizing the budget.
>I usually have to hear the information form 2 independent sources, unless over time someone proves to be very reliable on a particular issue. Sorry to inform you but 90% of the posts on this blog are submitted by your friend’s, your neighbors and your coworkers. So I am not some evil genius you all suspect. Most of the time I get many emails from residents who have questions about a particular happening around town. So if it’s on the blog people are talking about it already. Let’s face it there is usually a reasonable explanation for things, but if there isn’t you can always have your wife post comments defending you.
Comments again come from your friends and neighbors and in some cases coworkers as long as they don’t get too nasty I will put them up .The foolish comments seem to get shot down pretty quickly.
As for all the Anonymous comments, lets face it through the miracle of modern technology I can pretty much figure out who you are and I hate to inform you so can a lot of other people .Your secrets are safe with me unless you want your name released and no dont email me asking who someone is your wasting your time even if they are critical of the blog.
Contrary to popular belief I don’t have an Ax to grind but I see there is a great need for local information. I don’t try to go out and make the news like many other people in the media I just put it out there and let the readers decide for themselves. Do you really think no one notices when the schools fall short or ,the Village hall floods right after a costly renovation is finished ?I would suggest that if you don’t like the way something appears don’t do it .
A blog is a process and it is far from perfect so I invite anyone in the village to submit something of interest to the blog no matter who you are. Finally and most importantly I think Ridgewood is a great town; and I want it to stay that way.
>Suggested motto for Ridgewood Public Schools Newsline – “All the BOE news that’s not embarrassing, we print.”
The September 2006 issue was compiled/edited this week and received by taxpayers today via US Mail. No mention whatsoever of either Titus’ resignation, nor any report of Ridgewood High School NCLB “Early Warning” letter appeared in the newsletter.
