Speak Out!

By Bill Connell. I am angry and annoyed that I have to write this letter.  I hope my speaking voice does not leak out in the process.  Don’t Miss Out! No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of information presented by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. Period. We are the only truly independent media serving the …

At the Sept. 22 Township Council meeting, Mayor Phil Kramer told residents where the Township stands on the more than two dozen Flock Safety license plate readers mounted on poles around Franklin. “We deeply care about this issue,” he said. “We are looking at all information before there are any decisions. We have received a lot of information, and we …

By Bill Connell. The Township just approved, rounding up, $9 million for Catalpa Park.  Roughly half of that money is for two legitimate cricket pitches, not like our other flat pieces of land or baseball fields repurposed. That means each pitch is $2 million or so.   Don’t Miss Out! No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of …

By Bill Connell. As a citizen member of the Open Space committee, it is truly interesting the breadth of topics with which we are presented and are asked to give an opinion on.  My favorite was discussing salamanders.  Their presence is an indicator of the health of water.  I had not thought about salamanders since I was a feral child wandering Sealy’s Brook …

By Bill Connell. I have gone down this road before in this space but I feel I need to repeat myself.  Don’t Miss Out! No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of information presented by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. Period. We are the only truly independent media serving the Eight Villages. But we can only …

The 27 Flock Safety automatic license plate readers now mounted on poles around Franklin Township were bought with good intentions. A $339,000 state technology grant was available. A four-year contract was signed in October 2025. The Township Council did what more than 6,000 communities across the country have done, and accepted a public safety tool that appeared to cost taxpayers …

By Bill Connell. This missive is a going to be a little more spiritual than usual. It’s the start of the school year and there are many young parents freaking out sending their kids to school for the first time or to a new building.  You want your kids to have a positive experience, but I don’t think many of you …

By Michele C. Petersen. As our Township Council decides whether, and to what extent, Franklin will use Flock Safety technology, residents should look beyond what the system promises today and ask what it could become tomorrow. Flock’s license plate readers do not record only suspected criminals. They record every vehicle that passes, creating searchable records of when and where those …

By Richard F Rodgers, Chair of the the JFK Club Elections Committee, and the JFK Club Executive Committee: Deana Luchs, Arnold Schmidt, Linda Powell, Vanessa Davenport, Ron Murph, Bernadette Maher, Michele Rollino, Kiki Anastosokos, Isaiah Thompson, Teresa Ford, and Ron Jordan. We strongly support Shanel Robinson in the Democratic Primary for the U.S. Congress seat representing the 12 Congressional District. …

By Mayor Phil Kramer. I would like to thank John Felix, Bill Grippo, and Pat Heimall for their thoughtful comments regarding the Franklin Township Gazebo. I especially appreciate the constructive tone of their letters and their continued passion for a project that means so much to our community. In a time when public discussion too often descends into blame and …