Community Building

The 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Arlington, Va. and Shanksville, Pa. – and the six Franklin residents who lost their lives that day – was commemorated in two separate ceremonies. Among the 2,977 people killed in the attacks were township natives John Collins, Stephen Joseph, Ganesh K. Ladkat, Vanesha O. Richards, Jeffrey Robinson …

A virtual panel discussion entitled “Understanding Franklin’s Racist Past, and How We Get to a Racially Just Future” is set for 7 p.m. September 13. The discussion is sponsored by the JFK Club, the township’s Democratic Club. The event will feature four speakers: Brian Armstong, author of the book, “Franklin Park Tragedy – History of Racism in Franklin.”The Rev. Sonya …

Township residents whose homes were damaged during Tropical Storm Ida are getting a helping hand from the township. Beginning September 7, residents may take their storm-damaged material to the township Convenience Center, School Avenue and Berry Street, from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at no charge. This is for storm-damaged items only, and only for township residents. Proof of residency …

Re-enactor Algernon Ward will be among those participating in the anniversary celebration. (Photo: Millstone Valley Preservation Coalition.) Submitted by the Millstone Valley Preservation Coalition. The Millstone Valley Preservation Coalition (MVPC) is teaming up with Franklin Township on August 28 to commemorate the 700-mile victory march of American and French troops along the Millstone River 240 years ago. Thousands of troops …

Parents and children gathered at the township Gazebo August 26 for the annual backpack giveaway. Township students and their parents gathered August 26 at the township’s Gazebo for what is becoming an annual tradition: the distribution of backpacks filled with school supplies. The effort was undertaken by Franklin Township Police Department’s Community Relations Bureau and PBA Local 154, the Community …

Prizes were awarded at various holes during the golf outing. More than 70 duffers hit the links at the Bunker Hill Golf Club August 16 to raise money for the district’s teachers. The event was the inaugural golf outing hosted by the Franklin Township Warrior Educational Foundation, a 2-year-old non-profit formed by “a group of parents, former educators, representatives of …

Baseball great Dwight “Doc” Gooden shows kids in the Simuel Whitfield Simmons Organization program how to throw a curve ball. About two dozen kids from Franklin and the surrounding area – most of them baseball fans – got a treat on August 7: a face-to-face meeting with baseball great Dwight “Doc” Gooden. Gooden, who at one time called Piscataway his …

FMS – SGS Campus vice principal Daryn Plummer was the graduation’s keynote speaker. More than two dozen township middle and high school students received graduation certificates July 30 from the Franklin Youth Initiative’s Boy’s Council program. The ceremony was named in honor of Bruce Medley, who ran the program until his death earlier this year. Begin in 2007, the program …

Samantha Hanlon was this year’s FTPD Youth Week Class Leader. A week of drilling, marching and learning police procedures came to an end on July 23 with the graduation of 24 Police Youth Cadets at the Board of Education administration building. During the week, the middle and high schoolers experienced simulated drunk driving, learned about the police K-9 Corps and …

Three of the eight winners of the FTPD’s College-Bound Sweepstakes. Eight Franklin students will depart for college this Fall with a goody basket courtesy of the Franklin Police Department. The baskets were filled with products donated by Amazon Inc., and were raffled off in a drawing held earlier this summer. Included in the baskets were a variety of items, such …