SHINE at Parvin's; Community policing; Upstairs at Ashley?; BEN Column, July 25, update 4

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Phone: 856-451-1000, ext. 556

Cellphone: 856-237-6645

FAX: 856-455-3098

U.S. Army: RA13815980

The column that says Bridgeton Library will have a coin drop at ShopRite on Saturday, Aug. 9, and one at Walmart on Saturday, Aug. 16, but they're looking for Benjamins, not coins, and if you give $5 or more, you get a button to wear that says you support the library.

Good evening!

Sunday into Monday doesn't look good if you're looking for sunshine.

The SHINE program didn't come up once at the Millville Community meeting at St. John's Bosco Church.

And that program really supports Center City youth, but has little support from other area churches.

And we don't know why.

Can we start by masking Delsea Gardens a gated community with everybody coming in being checked?

Or do Delsea Gardens people shoot their neighbors?

We don't think so.

Millville Mayor Mike Santiago announced a great plan at the community meeting Thursday night.

Each hot spot is assigned to a specific officer.

It's his area to keep safe by going there in his car, and, eventually, getting out and talking to people.

It's the old community policing policy started by the state police, but shelved because of a shortage of officers.

We received this email at 5:33 Thursday afternoon.

"It's that time of the week.

"Nino's crack pizza time!

"Place your order at the Metro Desk: $2 per slice, no $20s.

"Order going out at 6:05 p.m.


Metro desk?

That's the Star-Ledger.

Delivering all the way to Salem?

The Millville community meeting had pizza.

If we could have announced that, it might have drawn in more citizens.

Eighty-five-year-old Joe Gargon complained that the Third Ward had a community group that met regularly and had a Crime Watch and it kept peace in the area.

"Whatever happened to that?'' he got up and asked at the meeting, and then talked for 10 minutes explaining how great it was.

He didn't miss any details.

Somebody else jumps on the bandwagon:

"88-year old Cloris Leachman may be 'older,' but she's not dead. 

"In fact, she just received an honorary doctorate from her old school, Northwestern University, last month.''

—  Old, but not dead

Can somebody blow the whistle for piling on?

Remember the photos we showed you of the stuffed chair and mattress behind the Laurel Street stores that show on Cohansey Street?

They're not there anymore.

Good job!

Can we get 99 diners comfortably into the Ashley-McCormick Center?

That's 13 round tables of 8, with five seats left over for the projectionist, owner Hank Murad, Save The Library's Alan Maier, board chairman Debbi Boykin-Greenberg and Cloris Leachman.

Rather than stuff everybody together in rows of tables, we should eat upstairs, beautifully finished off by Murad.

It's not that many steps for elegance.

IMG_5885 (3).jpgSHINE kids at Parvin State Park. 

SHINE's two weeks of summer camp out of First United Methodist Church in Millville were a big hit as evidenced by the photos sent to us by Mister Keith, an important cog in the wheel.

He sent us photos of a day at Parvin Stare Park, made possible by the generosity of the congregation when the SHINE bank account was down to $7.68 in January.

Whether the rest of the city knows this is happening for underprivileged, at-risk Center City youth, we're not sure.

But this is action.

Mayor Mike Santiago told the crowd Thursday night, he knows how trashy the city can be.

"My wife is a runner,'' he said, "and she lets me know every time she comes back from a run.''

MY KIND OF TOWN: Where you can't do better than a mayor who works at the sheriff's department after a career on the streets of Millville, so he doesn't have to ask the police department what is happening because he has lived it.