Community Building

Joey Danielsen decided to spend part of his 10th birthday by continuing a tradition his father started before he was born. He shaved his head for cancer research. Danielsen, the son of state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17), participated in the annual fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. At the conclusion of the fundraising period, gatherings are held in which participants’ …

“Making” was the theme March 10 as the township library hosted Franklin’s contribution to the statewide Makers Day event. Makers Day is a “statewide event that celebrates and promotes maker culture, as well as the values associated with making, tinkering and STEM-based learning,” according to the event’s schedule. Makers Day events were held at both the main library in the …

BRIDGEWATER – A former township teacher and two township residents were among those honored March 3 at the Somerset County Democratic Committee’s Black Caucus’s 3rd annual Scholarship Luncheon. Niya Darby, a 2017 Franklin High School graduate and current freshman at North Carolina A&T, was one of two $500 scholarship winners. Township resident Mabel Arinzeh – who with her husband Julius …

The township community is invited to attend a Community Safety Symposium set for 7 p.m. March 21 at Franklin Middle School, 415 Francis St. Coordinating the symposium, which will be held in the school’s cafeteria, are Board of Education president Nancy LaCorte and township Mayor Philip Kramer. Also participating will be representatives of the township Police Department, Township Council members …

Members of the Somerset County Democratic Black Caucus were encouraged Feb. 10 to “stomp like an elephant” to “change the world.” That was the exhortation given by Akil Kokayi Khalfani, the keynote speaker in the caucus’s Black History Month celebration at the Senior/Community Center on DeMott Lane. The program was held in honor of the late Donald Payne Sr., the …

More than 500 people – including a contingent from the township – gathered at a Metuchen church Jan. 28 for a rally in support of the two Indonesian men arrested last week by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One of the men, Gunawan Liem, 54, lives with his family in Franklin Park. Representing the township were Mayor Phil Kramer …

The proposed gazebo for the municipal complex on DeMott Lane is 70 percent funded, organizers told the Township Council on Jan. 23. Fundraisers have collected $35,000 of the $50,000 target, the council was told. The three township residents spearheading the project – Bill Grippo, John Felix and Michael Steinbrück – appeared before the council to give a status update. The …

It’s a sign of the times that an event honoring the late civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would of necessity include thinly veiled references to the current president of the United States. That was the case Jan. 15 during the 21st annual Franklin Township Community Breakfast honoring King. Pres. Donald Trump’s latest incendiary comments – in which …

Some people move into a new town and are happy to fade into the background and live their lives in relative anonymity. Others choose to become a little more involved, joining a civic organization or two, but nothing that will raise their public profile too much. Then there are the immersers, the folks who run full-throttle into their new town’s …

Nearly a dozen members of a local women’s group brought some Christmas Eve cheer to residents at the Willow Creek Rehab & Care Center on Easton Avenue, even though the women don’t celebrate Christmas. The visitors were from the Somerset-Highland Park chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, a national organization comprised of Jewish and Muslim women. The group visited …