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By Tammy Duffy
In January 2015, Duffy's Cultural Couture wrote a column, Is There Crime or Not? as a direct result of a press release sent out by the Hamilton township leadership. (link to Duffy's original article is below
http://www.tammyduffy.com/ARTFASHION/index.blog?start=1422147900&topic_id=1130212
This week again, as a direct result of a demonstration in front of the municipal building, focused on crime, the same press release was sent out again. This press release touted," Hamilton has the lowest crime since 1977."
(see link : http://www.hamiltonnj.com/featured/?FeedID=1178)
The Hamilton Township Police department also recently released a report (http://hamiltonnj.com/filestorage/228428/228430/229525/252291/Police_Division_2014_Annual_Report.pdf). In their report, The Hamilton Township Police department demonstrated the following:
Total Summonses: 2014 --- 8110 and in 2013 --- 7369
Total ARRESTS: In 2014: 3393 arrests
Total ARRESTS In 2013: 3355 arrests
CONFIRMED SHOOTING INCIDENTS: In 2014: 8 shootings and in 2013: there were 12 shootings.
However, the statistics are not adding up to the lowest since 1977 as the Mayor is stating nor what is demonstrated on the recent crime reports from the state. The old saying, "Garbage in = Garbage out" seems to be the strategy utilized by the Hamilton township leadership when developing their crime reports. The FBI and NJ State Police Data only goes back to 1989. We seriously doubt the township of Hamilton has their data from 1977-1989. We have been to their records department, its a disaster.
In 2014, the report states there were only 9 robberies in 2014 in Hamilton. Just nine? Down from the double digits demonstrated since 1989.
See All the data since 1989 below for Hamilton Township.
Hamilton Township Crime Data: Source Nj State Police Reports | |||||||||
Year | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
Crime index total | 3019 | 2801 | 2916 | 2794 | 2678 | 2411 | 2605 | 2445 | 2147 |
Violent crime | 130 | 137 | 135 | 132 | 115 | 151 | 165 | 147 | 157 |
Non Violent Crime | 2889 | 2664 | 2781 | 2662 | 2563 | 2260 | 2460 | 2298 | 1990 |
Murder | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
RAPE | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 9 |
Robbery | 67 | 80 | 80 | 77 | 64 | 68 | 75 | 67 | 70 |
Aggravated Assault | 57 | 52 | 52 | 49 | 45 | 60 | 72 | 66 | 70 |
Hamilton Township Crime Data: Source Nj State Police Reports | |||||||||
Year | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
Crime index total | 2151 | 2080 | 2373 | 2624 | 2260 | 1882 | 1904 | 1876 | 125 |
Violent crime | 139 | 150 | 161 | 169 | 158 | 118 | 162 | 172 | 17 |
Non Violent Crime | 2012 | 1930 | 2212 | 2455 | 2102 | 1764 | 1742 | 1704 | 108 |
Murder | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
RAPE | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 3 |
Robbery | 65 | 93 | 89 | 99 | 89 | 77 | 83 | 93 | 6 |
Aggravated Assault | 71 | 54 | 68 | 62 | 61 | 37 | 72 | 68 | 8 |
Hamilton Township Crime Data: Source Nj State Police Reports | |||||||||
Year | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Crime index total | 1925 | 2083 | 1922 | 2076 | 2015 | 2189 | 2073 | 1039 | 868 |
Violent crime | 198 | 177 | 208 | 189 | 186 | 199 | 190 | 90 | 91 |
Non Violent Crime | 1737 | 1906 | 1714 | 1886 | 1829 | 1998 | 1883 | 949 | 777 |
Murder | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
RAPE | 8 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 9 |
Robbery | 103 | 93 | 107 | 101 | 82 | 100 | 78 | 9 | 35 |
Aggravated Assault | 87 | 74 | 91 | 83 | 95 | 81 | 103 | 28 | 47 |
In 2013, there were 0 rapes in Hamilton. In 2014, there were 4 and in 2015, year to date, there have been 9. This is not representative of a decrease in rape in the township. Does rape not matter or count as a crime by the township leadership?
In 2013, there were 78 robberies in Hamilton. In 2014, there were 9 according to the report submitted by township officials, and in 2015, there have been 35 thus far. Again, not representative of a decrease in robberies in the township. Do robberies not matter or count as a crime by the township leadership?
In 2013, there were 102 aggravated assaults. In 2014, there were 28 according to the report submitted by township officials. In 2015, there have been 47 thus far. Again, not a representation of a decrease in aggravated assault. Does aggravated assault not matter or count as a crime by the township leadership?
Effective law enforcement requires accurate crime statistics in order to identify the extent, type, and location of criminal activity. Criminal Justice administrators and planners have long recognized the Uniform Crime Reporting Program as the vehicle to accomplish this objective. The success of the Uniform Crime Reporting System cannot be realized without the cooperation extended by each of the 542 law enforcement agencies of the State, the New Jersey Chiefs of Police Association, and the County Prosecutors Association. It is in the interest of more effective law enforcement to the eight million residents of New Jersey that accurate data be submitted. Falsifying a report, especially in conjunction with an election year, is just criminal.
Source for data in article: http://www.njsp.org/info/stats.html
Graffiti artist turned multimedia artist
Trevor Wheatley has a way of turning language on its head. His recent public pieces—gigantic typography installations that poke fun at popular culture—have earned him a devoted Instagram following, attention from bigtime design magazines, corporate partnerships with brands like Stussy, and high-profile commissions (including a super-secret piece for the first Wayhome festival outside of Toronto, Ontario). It proves the young multimedia artist is making work that speaks to people—both literally and figuratively.
As a young kid, Wheatley gravitated toward graffiti. Though it was mainly because of how accessible it was, the hobby got him into art school, where his focus shifted to studio work. According to Wheatley, he fits the typical cliché of graff-kid-turned-studio-artist. But unlike some of his peers, he still embraces his graffiti roots: “A lot of graffiti writers who now make studio work don’t acknowledge their past. They think that narrative is something that will bring them down,” he told us. Now, he spends most of his time in an industrial building in downtown Toronto that he shares with his collaborator Cosmo Dean, working on public commissions and contemporary work for galleries. “It’s a 3,000-square-foot dungeon, and I love it.”
His public installations started with a commercial edge: “The idea was to critique the place of advertising in the public sphere and construct a hypothetical space where commercial symbols might be neutralized as corporate signifiers.” To Wheatley, the ultimate neutralizing factor is nature, something he learned while travelling in Cuba. “The projects we shot there were all about branding and how its power can be stripped or inverted by creating non-commissioned ads.” By taking commercial logos far away from their typical habitat (i.e. urban spaces), he encouraged viewers to reflect on their relationship with the text. For example, a gigantic Nike logo made of wood scraps, suspended in a barren countryside elicits a completely different emotion than the swoosh on a city billboard. “Cities have a lot of visual noise—my work in visually competitive spaces wouldn’t create the same interruption that it does in nature,” he notes. Ironically, it was after seeing this work that brands like Stussy started commissioning Wheatley to create his own interpretations of their logos.
His recent personal projects—sculptures that read things like SQUAD, BLESS, DIME and FRESH—are a cheeky ode to pop culture and our Urban Dictionary era. In addition to being visually stunning and intricate, there’s still a sense of playful contrast: “The pieces juxtapose the urban with the natural through a physical realization of slang, trend and the re-contextualization of popular language. I generally have some sense of how the piece will react to the location.” For instance, carving FRESH out of ice on a beach was an obvious way to access various levels of meaning. Others, like BLESS suspended over waterfall or SQUAD hanging among fall leaves, were left to the observer to ponder. Interestingly, how the installations decompose is almost of equal importance to Wheatley. “It’s been fascinating to see how the materials age and degrade and become part of the landscape over time.” Wheatley is quick to note that he only leaves behind materials that won’t harm the environment—he’s had an intense respect for nature ever since spending childhood summers at a camp near Sudbury.
Working in the wilderness gives Wheatley a way to control the viewer’s interpretation, but his shoots also rely on nature’s unpredictability. Even with months of planning, his team (which usually consists of Dean and a few other collaborators) is always prepared to welcome the unexpected—like inquisitive horses in the countryside or a torrential downpour. “Weather never dictates the date of a shoot,” he explains. In fact, bad weather can actually make for an even more interesting outcome. When his team shot SNITCH, they were hoping for a calm winter day, but instead got a gusty blizzard. Wheatley ended up wading knee-deep in a stream and almost freezing to death. “The photos came out icy and violent but better than we could ever have hoped.” It’s a testament to his adventurous spirit, and willingness to get a little dirty (or cold and wet), for his work.
Despite a strong Instagram presence, Wheatley is cautious about social media—especially the pressure to cater to your fans. “I know what kind of work will be received well on social media, so I try not to let that affect what I do too much.” It’s not surprising then, that he and his partner Cosmo Dean are planning to venture in a completely different direction for an upcoming show this fall—“it won’t be text-based,” he reveals. But blazing new trails comes naturally to the artist, and his fearless attitude keeps fans excited for whatever’s coming next: “As Cosmo and I like to say whenever we agree on an idea: ‘let’s get it.’”
Walking to the Sky is a public sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky. The original was installed at Rockefeller Center in the fall of 2004 before being moved to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas in 2005. A copy is installed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Another copy is installed in front of the Kiturami Homsys Co. building in Hwagok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
The seven-ton work depicts a little girl, a businesswoman, a young man, and several others scaling a soaring 100-foot-tall stainless steel pole. Three people are looking upward from the base of the pole, which points to the east at a 75-degree angle.
The piece was inspired by a story that Borofsky's father used to tell him when he was a child about a friendly giant who lived in the sky. In each tale, father and son would travel up to the sky to talk to the giant about what needed to be done for everyone back on earth. The artist says the sculpture is "a celebration of the human potential for discovering who we are and where we need to go."
Carnegie Mellon installed "Walking to the Sky" in May 2006 on its campus in front of Warner Hall just off Forbes Avenue. The sculpture was a 'gift' from CMU Trustee Jill Gansman Kraus (A'74) and her husband, Peter Kraus, of New York City. The sculpture generated controversy among the student body for its appearance, the choice of location, and the lack of campus involvement in selecting and siting the piece. The campus newspaper described it as "an eyesore" and "a huge phallus" while others have expressed displeasure at its location as one of the first things seen of the campus from Forbes Avenue. Due to apparent structural instability, the sculpture had to be replaced with a more structurally stable version in October 2009.
“Our coasters rank among the best in the world, so what better place to celebrate roller coasters than at the world’s largest theme park,” said Park President John Fitzgerald.
From extreme, record-breaking heights and speeds to high tech and hybrid, Great Adventure’s coaster collection is also one of the most diverse on the planet, Fitzgerald said. The park’s roller coasters are continually recognized by reputable travel, news and amusement industry publications. Several of the most recent accolades include:
· El Toro
o No. 1 wooden coaster in the world by Theme Park Insider 2015
o Top 10 Best Roller Coasters by USA Today and 10 Best 2015
o No. 1 Best Wooden Coaster by Mitch Hawker’s Internet Poll 2012 - 2014
o No. 2 Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Award for Best Wooden Coaster in the World 2014
· El Diablo named Best Roller Coaster 2015 by Philadelphia Magazine
· Kingda Ka
o No. 2 Best Thrill Ride by NJ.com 2015
o Top 7 Theme Park Wonders of the World by Orbitz 2015
o Tallest Roller Coaster in the World 2005-2015
· Nitro
o No. 1 Best Thrill Ride by NJ.com 2015
o No. 5 Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Award for Best Steel Coaster in the World 2014
· BIZARRO, GREEN LANTERN and Runaway Train named Top 10 Best Thrill Rides by NJ.com 2015
In celebration of National Coaster Day, Six Flags Great Adventure will host a fiesta in Plaza del Carnaval, a Mexican-themed section that features the intense, hybrid wooden coaster El Toro and the looping thrills of the new El Diablo. Special activities also include coaster trivia and prizes, a live DJ and Latin dance lessons outside the new Macho Nacho cantina which will offer special deals for its grand opening.
Fans can vote for Kingda Ka as “Boldest Coaster” and enter to win a VIP trip atwww.sixflags.com/BoldestSweeps
2nd ANNUAL FULL MOON RIDE
Nighttime bike ride set for Sunday, August 29, at Mercer Meadows
What: FULL MOON BIKE RIDE
When: Saturday, August 29. Check in and ride at 9 p.m.
Where: Start and end at the parking lot at Rosedale Lake in Mercer Meadows, Hopewell
Charge: The only “charge” is to have fun, although donations are welcome to support LHT activities
(Hopewell, N.J.) – After the sun sets on Saturday, August 29, a full moon will provide illumination as bicyclists ride along Rosedale Lake, through meadows and under the tree canopy in wooded sections of Mercer Meadows in Hopewell Township. They will be participating in the second annual Super Moon Bike Ride at Mercer Meadows, sponsored by the Lawrence Hopewell Trail and Mercer County Park Commission.
Go to this link below to Register for this FREE event
http://lhtrail.org/2015/08/lawrence-hopewell-trail-mercer-county-parks-commission-to-host-2nd-annual-full-moon-ride/
This was the statement made by a parent at a grief support meeting. His voice was calm and steady as he explains what sounds so terrible coming from the mouth of a parent, but everyone listening to him in a small multi-purpose room at a high school in Bristol Township.
This parent loved his daughter, just as the other parents in the room loved their daughters and their sons. But his child was gone long before she died. He is not glad for the death of the little gymnast who flipped fearlessly across a balance beam, he’s glad the 34-year-old drug addict she became isn’t struggling anymore. He’s glad that, because she’s dead, he doesn’t have to spend any more days fearing she’ll die.
He’s telling his story to members of GRASP — Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing — a twice monthly meeting of grieving family in the Pro-Act offices on Veterans Highway.
It's time you spoke to you kids about heroin, don't ignore this epidemic.
New Doors for the Princeton Art Museum
The Museum’s front lawn has been home to a number of compelling works of art, from Pablo Picasso’s Head of a Woman to Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Big Figures to such short-term installations as Doug Aitken’s migration (empire) and, most recently, two remarkable sculptures by Alexander Calder. Now the lawn is poised to receive a new commission designed especially for the site by Doug and Mike Starn. Working from their studio in Beacon, New York, the Starns—twin brothers who are among the most powerful sculptors working today—have designed a monumental glass and steel sculpture in response to Princeton’s arboretum-like campus. Featuring eighteen-foot-tall panels of extraordinary color made in a new glass-dyeing technique pioneered in Germany, the work is scheduled for an early summer installation. Watch the Museum’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed for progress.
This important new commission will join Princeton’s landmark collection of public art and has been made possible by the exceptional generosity of Shelly Belfer Malkin, Class of 1986, and Anthony E. Malkin, and by the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Fund.