Labor Day Issue

INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION
ake Hopatcong News
LABOR DAY 2020 VOL. 12 NO. 5
HOW DOES YOUR
Garden Grow?
Jefferson’s Garden Club helps keep
the township in bloom.
BATTLE AGAINST HABS
CONTINUES
RESTORING A CLASSIC
COUPLE READY FOR THE
OPEN ROAD
PROVIDING A HOME

A NEW LAKE
TRADI
DINE AL FRESCO UNDER OUR PAVILION
Reservations are required and can be made only by phone.
Visit our website for our full reservation policy and more information.
HOURS
Hover your phone’s
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Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
(closed Wednesdays)
First seating is at 12pm with last seating at 8:30pm

HOPATCONG
ITION
For generations, The Windlass has offered
seasonal dining with exceptional hospitality.
Our historic, family-friendly restaurant
offers delicious meals, outstanding service,
indoor and outdoor pavilion dining, and
great live music events, year-round.
45 Nolan’s Point Park Road
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
973-663-3190
www.thewindlass.com
@thewindlass
The Windlass

4
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
From the Editor
Over the years I have written about many members of my family, including our dog, Riley. Sadly, we
had to say goodbye to our sweet girl in mid-August.
From what we know, Riley was born on Christmas Day in 2006 in a barn on a farm in southern Illinois.
Her momma was a collie or, at least, part collie and her father was unknown. She looked like a collie/Jack
Russell mix but acted more like a Jack Russell. DNA tests told us there was not an ounce of Jack Russell
in her, that she was mostly beagle—which made sense because she barked like one—and, of course, collie.
Go figure.
She was one of the smallest in a litter of 10 who made it to a shelter when most unwanted animals in
that part of the country are disposed of in the most inhumane ways. We found a photo of her and her
siblings on the website Petfinder, posted by the woman who ran the shelter, which, it turned out, was a
kill shelter. Luckily though, Riley’s litter was heading to the Michigan area for adoption and, as far as we
know, all were adopted out.
Having fallen in love with the little one in the photo, we decided a quick trip to Illinois was in order—
and we had to go before the rescue group came to whisk the pups away. Twenty-eight hours later we were
home with our new addition. At 4.4 pounds, I did not think she would grow to be more than 20 pounds,
but she topped out at 36. For us, she was the perfect size.
Training her proved to be a bit of a challenge though, but with persistence and the help of a professional,
Riley grew into a dutiful companion.
I took her everywhere—to the homes of friends and family, to see my nieces’ and nephew’s sporting
events, to outdoor events and even on photo shoots, if one permitted.
And while we were confident that when she was off-leash she would be obedient, she did have a tendency
to wander out of the yard—always when we were doing yardwork and she was out with us. Not darting,
not running, just nose to the ground, going wherever the smells took her. Most times we’d find her down
the dirt lane at our neighbor’s yard or behind our house in the woods. Once, we found her prancing along
the side of the road coming toward the driveway as if she were just finishing up her morning walk. Thank
goodness we live on a relatively quiet street and she was smart enough to stay in the weeds and off the road.
She and I enjoyed many, many walks together and, until about a year or two ago, morning meant we
were logging 2 or 3 miles. On the weekends, we went hiking. She especially loved being in the woods
because she could walk untethered. She knew to stay on the trail, knew when I told her to turn left or turn
right, knew when she was getting too far ahead of us and always knew the way back.
She also loved to chase a frisbee. (We used a canvas frisbee, easier on the teeth and gums.) We’d find a
field where she could run the length in a flat-out sprint. I would throw the frisbee just so, about 2 or 3 feet
off the ground, and she would snatch it out of the air, never breaking stride.
And, there wasn’t a squeaky toy or stuffed animal out there that stood a chance against her. Her relentless
determination to get out all the stuffing or get to the squeaker kept her busy for a solid three to five minutes.
She was lovable, good-natured and patient, especially with kids and small dogs. But she wasn’t overly
expressive with many humans—she wasn’t a cuddler or a kisser. In
that department she was more like a cat—she dispensed affection
on her terms only. She had no problem getting up and moving to
another part of the floor if she felt you were invading her personal
space. She was, however, your best friend if you had one of her treats
or any of her favorite snacks: popcorn, blueberries, apples, bananas,
peanuts, cheese, yogurt or ice cream.
What is it about our pets that endears them so firmly to our
hearts—and then, when they leave us, breaks them into pieces?
Stay, I wish they could.
—Karen
ake Hopatcong News
BATTLE AGAINST HABS
CONTINUES
RESTORING A CLASSIC
INFORMING, SERVING AND CELEBRATING THE LAKE REGION
HOW DOES YOUR
COUPLE READY FOR THE
OPEN ROAD
PROVIDING A HOME
LABOR DAY 2020 VOL. 12 NO. 5
Garden Grow?
Jefferson’s Garden Club helps keep
the township in bloom.
ON THE COVER
Debby Zweig tends to an array of black-eyed
Susans, coneflowers and bee balm in the
garden at the Jefferson Township Museum.
-photo by Karen Fucito
KAREN FUCITO
Editor
editor@lakehopatcongnews.com
973-663-2800
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Michael Stephen Daigle
Melissa Summers
Ellen Wilkowe
COLUMNISTS
Marty Kane
Barbara Simmons
Heather Shirley
EDITING AND LAYOUT
Maria DaSilva-Gordon
Randi Cirelli
ADVERTISING SALES
Lynn Keenan
advertising@lakehopatcongnews.com
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PUBLISHER
Camp Six, Inc.
10 Nolan’s Point Park Road
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849
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Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849
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ACCESSIBLE BY boat or car
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lakehopatcongnews.com 5

Grants, Funding to Help Keep Lake Clean
Story by MICHAEL DAIGLE
If this were a horror movie, the summer of
2020 would be the point in the flick where the
beleaguered townsfolk, who have been anxiously
meeting in the dark cellar of the cranky neighbor,
agree to a plan to quell the relentless march of green
goo that has devastated their world.
For the Lake Hopatcong community, the green
goo was exactly that: a harmful algal bloom (HAB)
that covered the 2,600-acre lake in 2019 and
threatened the community’s way of life.
Last year, 65 lakes in New Jersey were affected
by HABs.
To combat a HAB, as the movie town does,
the goal is to attack the source of its power. For
cyanobacteria, the common critters, that in the
right conditions form HABs, the power source is
phosphorous, an element in the pollution that has
hampered Lake Hopatcong for decades.
In August, the state Department of Environmental
Protection awarded the lake community $206,000
in grants to combat the effect of that runoff-based
pollution.
That grant will support projects in all four lake
towns: Hopatcong, Jefferson, Mount Arlington
and Roxbury.
The state grant will be matched by more than
$44,000 in funds and services from the lake towns,
the Lake Hopatcong Commission and the Lake
Hopatcong Foundation.
The DEP also separately approved $495,000 for
the Morris County Park Commission to install
several infrastructure features at Lee’s County Park
Marina in Mount Arlington. The commission will
install curb cuts and grading improvements to
direct stormwater runoff to five bioretention basins
for reduction of phosphorous, nitrogen, total
suspended solids and other pollutants. Also, eight
stormwater inlets to the lake will be retrofitted with
manufactured treatment devices for removal of
nutrients and sediments.
In a third and separate action, the Lake
Hopatcong Commission and the Lake Hopatcong
Foundation agreed to fund an enzyme-based
treatment for Crescent Cove in Hopatcong for
$21,000, Hopatcong Mayor Michael Francis said
on August 15.
The $206,000 from the state is the second sizable
influx of cash this fiscal year aimed at finding
solutions to the lake’s pollution problem.
Last November, the state approved $500,000
(part of the state total of $13 million) for antipollution
projects around Lake Hopatcong. The
four towns, the foundation and the commission
“ We are confident that this
next round of funding will
help ensure the lake is moving
in the right direction. ”
- Jessica Murphy, president and
executive director of the
Lake Hopatcong Foundation
added funds and services that brought the total of
that funding program to $833,000.
The August 2020 grant, “allows the commission
to address four known sources of nutrient loading
to the lake through watershed-based projects in
each municipality while also studying the lake’s
internal nutrient load,” said Ron Smith, Lake
Hopatcong Commission chairman.
“The Lake Hopatcong Foundation is grateful
for this news and proud to contribute to this
worthy set of projects that will support a healthier
watershed for New Jersey’s largest lake,” said Jessica
Murphy, the foundation’s president and executive
director. “We are confident that this next round of
funding will help ensure the lake is moving in the
right direction.”
In an August press release from the commission,
administrator Colleen Lyons outlined the newly
funded projects—a mix of in-lake treatments and
off-shore installations designed to remove HABsupporting
nutrients from the lake and prevent
additional pollution from flowing into the lake.
The projects include installation of floating
wetland islands in Landing Channel in Roxbury,
shoreline stabilization through plantings at
Memorial Pond in Mount Arlington, replacement
of select filter media in stormwater treatment
devices in Jefferson and replanting of a wetland
stormwater basin in Hopatcong.
The grant will also fund a study to quantify
how internal phosphorus loading, or phosphorus
contained in lake sediment, contributes nutrients
that allow for prolonged HABs, Lyons wrote. Data
derived from this study will be used to identify
effective technologies to reduce nutrient availability
and limit the impacts of HABs on Lake Hopatcong.
The separate Hopatcong project will add an
enzyme treatment pilot program at Crescent
Cove that, with DEP approval, would be in use in
August, Francis said.
The project would be operated by EverBlue
Lakes, the company that installed an extensive
water aeration system in Crescent Cove, one of the
most weed-filled sections of Lake Hopatcong.
Francis said the technology uses naturally
occurring bacteria and operates much like a septic
system to break down the nutrients that feed
cyanobacteria and the weeds that annually plague
the lake.
“I guarantee you will be able to see your feet in 3
feet of water by the end of September,” Francis said.
HAB growth is also fueled by weather conditions,
Fred Lubnow, director of aquatic programs at
6
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020

Princeton Hydro, told the lake commission in July.
In 2019, repeated heavy rains were followed
by a stretch of hot days, which promoted HAB
development.
This year, the weather for the most part has
been cooler and drier, he said, although July was a
generally hot month.
The weather is one factor that has helped
produce a turnaround for the lake. Through mid-
August there has been only one HAB hot spot in
the lake. A HAB advisory was posted by the DEP
on August 6 for a section of Crescent Cove near
Hudson Avenue.
The other factor, Lubnow told the commission,
is that phosphorus concentrations in the lake were
lower in May compared to May of 2019.
He said that while results show there were higher
amounts of algae in the lake this year, there is less
phosphorus available to fuel their growth.
“Overall, throughout the entire lake, clarity was
better this year than it was in 2019,” Lubnow said.
There have been more weeds, though, he said.
Getting the lake clear was complicated in June
when the annual weed harvesting program was
shut down following a fatal accident involving a
harvester operator.
Lyons said the commission plans to hire a private
contractor to cut lake weeds in September.
“This would be an effort to reduce the biomass
in the lake, not aimed at improving recreation,” she
said.
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020

Lake Front Homes by Christopher J. Edwards
RE/MAX First Choice Realtors II
Chris has been boating
on Lake Hopatcong
since 1957, and has sold
more than 200 lake
front homes!
Chris in 1958 Chris in 1961 Chris in 2016
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www.MrLakeHopatcong.com
chrisedwards@chrisedwardsrealtor.com
211 Route 10 East
Succasunna, NJ 07876
Cell: Home: 973-400-9540 973-398-0964
Office: 973-598-1008
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| Jefferson
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Twp
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$350,000 | Hopatcong $710,000 Boro| Hopatcong $595,000 Boro | Jefferson Twp
2 Bedrooms,
4 Bedrooms
2.0 Bathrooms
3 Bathrooms
3 Bedrooms, 1.0 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms 3.1 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms, 3.0 Bathrooms
$700,000
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| Hopatcong
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3 Bedrooms, 4 Bedrooms 3.0 Bathrooms 2 Bathrooms 4 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 3 Bedrooms, 2.1 Bathrooms 5 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms 3.0 Bathrooms
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$625,000 | Roxbury Twp.
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3 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms 5 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms 5 Bedrooms, 4.0 Bathrooms
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Chris has been boating on Lake Hopatcong for nearly 60 years!
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lakehopatcongnews.com 9

Mike Schillizzi and his wife, Laura, on Lake Hopatcong for the maiden voyage.
Setting Sail on a
Hard-Earned Journey
Schillizzi uses a special tool to paint
white lines on the hood of the boat.
You could say it’s a labor of love, or more
like one of absolute reverence. What
started out as respect for the classic design and
style of a line of wooden boats has cultivated a
lifelong passion.
But first, there was the matter of where this
wooden boat would stay.
Mike Schillizzi, 59, always wanted a lake
home. His wife of 35 years, Laura, wanted the
shore house. Schillizzi grew up in Union, but his
father had a house in Lake Hopatcong. When
the opportunity came 21 years ago to purchase
a small home near the lake, he jumped at the
chance. Fortunately, his wife also got her dream
house.
And luckily for both of them, Schillizzi had the
carpentry skills and dedication to renovate and
rebuild the home in Jefferson Township—where
they live year-round—and the one in Ocean
Grove. Both are filled with homemade furniture.
Schillizzi said he learned just about everything
he knows about woodworking by watching
Norm Abram, from the television series “This
Old House,” whom he once met at a fundraiser.
He continued to fine-tune his technique,
because he knew that part of lake living would
be the ability to navigate a very specific type of
watercraft.
Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company was
founded in Michigan in 1874. Known today
as Chris-Craft, the company is famous for its
mahogany-hulled powerboats, which, according
10
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
to Schillizzi, were never intended to be owned
for longer than eight to 10 years. By their nature,
they required a lot of maintenance, but they
quickly became a favorite among serious boaters.
“My father had one, my uncles had them,”
Schillizzi said. “Everyone always wants their
childhood back, and there were a lot of memories
on those boats. I loved the look of the wooden
boats, and they always draw a crowd, too.”
Schillizzi would often attend boat shows
sponsored by the Lake Hopatcong chapter of
the Antique and Classic Boat Society. Members
are enthusiasts of the Chris-Craft brand and
proponents of preservation. He felt his skills in
woodworking could translate to the intricate
lines and gleam of the exquisite boats.
He brought his first Chris-Craft to his small
but specially equipped Jefferson garage in 2007.
The project was a 17-foot 1957 Sportsman, a
family model characterized by its ability to carry
more passengers. It was made for touring and
water sports. Renovating the boat was a process
of trial and error, Schillizzi said, but he finished it
in about two and a half years.
“I understood a lot of the mistakes I made in
restoring the first one,” Schillizzi said. “You want
to bring back the originality of it, to how it was
when it was brand new. I decided that this one
I’m going to do it correctly, get all the proper
gauges, the right flooring and make the finish as
flat as possible.”
Five years ago, Schillizzi found a rare 1959 20-
foot Chris-Craft Sportsman for sale on eBay for
$3,800. He had to drive to Wisconsin to pick it up,
but said it was worth every mile. This model was
rarer than his first—one of only about 130 made.
And it needed some work. “It had lots of wood
that was rotted, and I found more as I took it
apart,” he said. The previous owner had already
replaced the bottom, which was a plus, but
realized his limitations when it came to the sides.
“The sides have to be perfect, because that’s
what everybody sees,” Schillizzi said. “But I
always like a challenge. I replaced just about
every piece of wood that you see.”
The delicate renovation is labor-intensive.
Each mahogany board needed to be bent, cut
and lined up on the hull. It took two to three
days to steam each board, and once the beam was
pliable, Schillizzi had only a few minutes to get
it in place.
Each section then needed to be finished with
up to 14 coats of varnish. “You apply the varnish,
you sand the bumps out, you apply it again,”
Schillizzi said.
Gauges, wheels, brackets and other parts for
a model of which so few were made are hard
to come by and Schillizzi said he wound up
salvaging from three other boats.
“You want to keep it as original as possible.
Getting parts from other boats is the only way
to do that,” he said. Some things, though, need
to be recreated. Brand new seats and upholstery
were handcrafted by Maria Pappas, owner of
Batten the Hatches in Jefferson.
Altogether, Schillizzi said he has invested
about $11,000 in parts and wood and values
the completed boat at between $45,000 and
$50,000. He selected the artistry of Blairstown’s
Alan Johnson to do the lettering on the boat, but
he hesitated when he came to naming his newest
work.

Schillizzi and his wife thought they had settled
on “Casual Elegance” until March of this year,
when a friend asked why he hadn’t thought of
a more personal name. Two of his greatest joys
came to mind—his grandson Cody and his new
granddaughter, Brooke.
He launched the “Cody Brooke” in June and
has been tinkering with the engine ever since.
A UPS tractor trailer driver of more than 30
years, Schillizzi retired in May. And while he
said you’ll be able to find him aboard the Cody
Brooke most days, he has no plans to close up
his garage. His newest project, a Ford Model A
Roadster, will keep him on dry land at least some
of the time.
He was in the process of building a Model
A when he met his wife but sold it before it
was finished because he had nowhere to keep
it. Now that he will have more time, space and
idle hands, he decided it was time to take it on
again.
“I’m going to build it so it has the rumble
seat in the back,” Schillizzi said. “It seems like
everyone wants to ride in the rumble seat, no
one wants to drive it.”
If you are looking for Schillizzi on either the
road or water, he’ll be the one with the slightly
calloused fingers and the big smile on his face.
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Nolan’s Point Auto Service Mechanic Shop. Great
exposure, corner location, high visibility,
neighborhood mechanic shop... across the street
from Lake Hopatcong! Gas tanks have been
removed but can be reinstalled. $450,000
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Free standing building on corner of busy downtown
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lakehopatcongnews.com 11

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12
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020

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lakehopatcongnews.com 13

Jefferson Township
Schools Merge PTAs
14
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS
Photo by KAREN FUCITO
Challenging times have called for some
tough decisions in local school districts,
as both parents and educators face uncertainty
this school year. Some have chosen to make
changes to the structure of their parent/teacher
organizations, and that includes the PTAs of
the Jefferson Township Public Schools.
At their July meeting, the Jefferson
Township High School Parent Teacher Student
Association (JTHS PTSA) and the Jefferson
Township Middle School Parent Teacher
Association (JTMS PTA) voted to cancel their
charters with the New Jersey Parent Teacher
Association (NJPTA), according to the former
JTHS PTSA President, Dina Troha.
The high school and middle school PTAs
have decided to merge with the Jefferson
Township Education Foundation (JTEF),
which focuses on raising money for grants that
are used to supplement the state’s funding for
the district, according to Troha.
The newly reimagined version of the JTEF
will provide township educators with supportive
funding for technology, before- and afterschool
programs, facilities and co-curricular
programs, Troha said. “We’ll be doing the same
things we did as a parent organization. So, it
is a seamless transition for our parents, except
that we can do more because we have more
resources.”
“As a larger organization, with a bigger
volunteer base, we’ll have more innovative
ways to fundraise,” said JTEF President Harold
Ramirez. “We can provide more programs
to all the schools rather than focus on just
one.” Soliciting donations will be a more
concentrated effort. “It cuts down on local
businesses being approached more than once,”
he said.
Ramirez points out that consolidating parent/
teacher groups within the same district means
a smaller financial burden for families with
children in more than one school. “Parents can
work on one fundraiser that benefits the whole
family rather than individual ones,” he said.
Troha will serve as vice president for the high
school and Jenn Schorr, formerly the JTMS
PTA president will take on the role as vice
president for the middle school.
NJPTA Region VI Director Lisa Falco touted
the benefits of remaining a part of the state
organization. “An unaffiliated parent group is
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
comprised of families
focused exclusively on
issues at their school
and they are not part
of a larger organized
Jefferson Township high
school and middle school
parents cast their votes to
disaffiliate with the with
the NJPTA.
network,” she said. “So, they have no way to
impact decisions beyond their own schoolyard.”
Nonetheless, Troha believes parents and
educators will be able to accomplish more as
a united front. “I’m looking forward to getting
together with new people and some fresh faces
with new creative ideas so we can bring in more
money,” she said. “State budget cuts have been
horrific for our schools, and we hope that this
change will allow us to raise money in areas
that may be affected.”
The elementary schools will continue their
affiliation with the NJPTA for the time being.
The “PTA has had a strong presence in Jefferson
Township for many years,” Falco said. “NJPTA
is pleased to see the elementary schools will
maintain their PTAs and continue to provide
programs and services to their students,
families, staff and community. We are here to
support them in their efforts to help every child
reach his/her potential.”
The move to disaffiliate from the state PTA
mirrors other districts in the area. In the Mount
Arlington Public Schools district, parents are
part of a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO),
which is an association of parents and teachers
not affiliated with the NJPTA. They have been
for many years, according to the organization’s
President, Cami Venditti. She prefers the setup
of a PTO over a PTA for many reasons. “With a
PTO, there are no dues and you can make your
own bylaws,” she said. “PTAs have to follow
the bylaws of the NJPTA and are required to
pay dues.”
The PTO represents parents of two schools:
Edith M. Decker (kindergarten to second
grade) and the Mount Arlington Public School
(third to eighth grade). “Since we are on a
much smaller scale, we really come together
when it comes time to fundraise,” Venditti said.
Mount Arlington PTO sponsors two main
fundraisers a year, including a tricky tray, and
haven’t felt the need for support from the
state organization, according to Venditti. “We
do more tight-knit community things like a
holiday shop and book fair, and every year we
try one or two new things.”
In Hopatcong Borough, the Hopatcong High
School Parent Teacher Student Organization
also runs independent of the NJPTA, according
to President Stacey Egner. The HHSPTSO,
representing parents, teachers and students in
eighth through 12th grade, asks for a $5 per
family contribution to support homecoming
and other events throughout the year. “We
really get to know the students and the parents
that put time and effort in to make these events
great for the kids,” she said.
They encourage students to become involved,
not only for the service hours, but for what
they get out of it. “We encourage them to
make it more personal and have fun with it,”
Egner said. “It brings the community together
to collaborate with the students, but also allows
the kids to have their time together.”
The Hopatcong Elementary Parent Teacher
Organization (HEPTO), made up of educators
and parents of students in kindergarten through
seventh grade, is run in a similar fashion.
Roxbury High School currently does not
have an active PTO/PTA. Elsewhere in the
district, Eisenhower Middle School and
Lincoln/Roosevelt School (fifth and sixth
grade) do offer parents opportunities to be
part of PTOs. Linda Mango, president of the
Eisenhower Middle School PTO, said she has
found the PTO to be more lenient than a PTA.
“And whatever money we collect, we get to
use,” she said.
The four kindergarten through fourth-grade
schools in Roxbury continue to maintain
PTAs, however. Amber Martin, president of
the Nixon School PTA, said the state affiliation
has been a vital source of resources, especially
in planning events and adjusting their bylaws.
“NJPTA is helpful in coming up with the
verbiage and clarifying what we can and cannot
do,” she said.
NJPTA also provides free leadership training,
where new officers can learn about the position
they’ve been elected to, Martin said. “They
provide you with the capability to do the job
you were elected to do.” In exchange, schools
like Nixon send the NJPTA and National PTA
$4 of every $10 they collect from members.
Regardless of how they are brought together,
parents, teachers and students are going to have
to get creative when it comes to event planning
and fundraising, as many will have to be virtual
due to pandemic protocols.

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AARON
LOCAL
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VOICES
Living across the street from Lake Hopatcong in Jefferson, 16-year-old Aaron
Sawicki said he is “never left bored” with life at the lake, spending early
mornings wakeboarding or “pulling monster fish out of the water”
from his favorite fishing spots. When not on or near the water, Aaron
can be found hanging with his musically gifted family, whom he
describes as “unique.”
WHO MAKES UP YOUR FAMILY?
My immediate family consists of my younger sister/partner
in crime, Jocelyn; my older brother, Steven; and my parents,
Steve and Marilyn.
WHO HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCE IN LIFE AND
WHY?
My grandparents have always encouraged me in all of my
highs and lows—they would be pretty high on the list.
My grandfather gave me my first unicycle when I was
around 12.
HOW DO YOU (OR WILL YOU) EARN A LIVING?
I’m currently teaching piano at home, and I’m a pianist
and organist at Hurdtown United Methodist Church
(feel free to stop by). I am going into my senior year
of high school, and I’m taking college courses for
medicine. I aspire to go to college for something
related to anatomy.
WHAT’S THE CRAZIEST/MOST UNUSUAL JOB YOU’VE
EVER HAD?
I had my first job at a local restaurant working in the kitchen.
The people I met and some of the things that happen in such
a unique environment are indescribable. It was a great first job
in making me aware that kitchen work is not for me.
DO YOU VOLUNTEER?
I did a variety of community services as a part of my induction
into the National Honor Society. Part of my medical tech program
involves a medical internship at Chilton Medical Center,
which is the best education I can get for medicine. I’ve also
volunteered with the Manna House food pantry and
the Saffin Pond swim team.
ANY HOBBIES?
I’m the guy you see riding around Lake
Hopatcong on a unicycle. I’m also a pianist,
and I enjoy other hobbies and crafts. I also
skateboard, snow ski and swim competitively.
IS THERE ANYTHING MOST PEOPLE WOULD
BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT YOU?
A normal day for me (stuck at home during the
pandemic) is riding 10 or 11 miles by unicycle.
I’m staying pretty local and if this is something
people notice and enjoy, then even better.
I AM involved I AM unusual I AM funny
lakehopatcongnews.com 17

Retired Couple Has Sights
Set on the Open Road
Dave and
Chris take
their dogs,
Boris and
Penny, out
for a walk
near their
camper at
Mahlon
Dickerson
Reservation.
Dave and Chris
Montgomery have
christened their
camper, The Dash.
Story by ELLEN WILKOWE
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
When Dave and Chris Montgomery sold
their house in Hopatcong in 2018, they
downsized to an RV with every intention of
traversing the country.
“We didn’t want to retire in New Jersey
because of the taxes,” Dave said. “And we
wanted to travel, so we decided to bring along
an apartment.”
The couple, married 12 years, planned the
lifestyle after first trying it out. “The first year of
no winter sold us,” Dave said. “Plus being able
to stay near family for extended periods.”
Through attending RV shows, the couple
found “the one”—a 2014 37-foot Prime
Crusader camper, complete with kitchen,
bathroom, king-size bed, air conditioning, plus
enough room to accommodate their four-legged
canine travelers
Penny and Boris.
The fireplace was
just another selling point to the home on wheels.
“We bought it used and it was in really good
shape,” said Dave.
A retired IT professional (Dave) and
accountant (Chris), both in their early 60s,
the couple spent the first couple of years testdriving
their new home on what they refer to as
“practice runs,” camping out at the Jersey Shore
and in Pennsylvania. After the sale of their
home, the East Coast became their playground.
While the couple had plans for a larger, crosscountry
trip, the pandemic put those on hold—
but only temporarily.
Since June, the couple has called Mahlon
Dickerson Reservation in Jefferson their
temporary residence and also the site of their
temporary job.
The Montgomerys enjoy
an afternoon in “the
man cave” watching
NASCAR racing.
Yes, the Montgomerys are the ones who greet
fellow RV campers upon check-in and also serve
as superintendents of sorts.
“We greet the customers,” said Dave. “We also
answer any questions and review campground
etiquette for those who may not know the rules.”
After retirement, the couple started building
new resumes by manning a few campgrounds,
including one in the Pine Barrens and others in
the low country of Georgia and South Carolina.
Dave gained experience organizing campground
activities and providing maintenance to pools
and hot tubs. They landed the “gig,” as Dave
calls it, at Mahlon Dickerson in June, where
they will remain for the duration of the season,
which winds down at the end of October when
“the water is turned off,” Dave said.
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020

“In October it’s wheels down,” Dave said, the
couple’s hearts and sights set on the west. Their
first stop in Ohio to visit family.
“We’ve been up and down the eastern seaboard
but never out west,” he said. “We want to hit
BLM [Bureau of Land Management] territory
in Arizona and see Colorado.”
With Dave at the wheel, the couple plans on
averaging 350 miles per day. “He won’t let me
drive the truck,” joked Chris, of her husband’s
RAM 3500 SRW diesel truck, which is used to
pull the camper and gets about 12-13 miles per
gallon towing.
Without a permanent residence, the
Montgomerys have arranged for mail service in
South Dakota, which just so happens to be the
final destination on this trip.
Manipulating mail delivery is just one
side effect that comes with the diagnosis of
wanderlust.
“We had to store all of our collectibles and
mementos in my son’s and daughter’s garages,”
said Dave, who has four grown children from
his first marriage. “The rest of our stuff went on
Facebook Marketplace.”
The prospect of culling her wardrobe to
fit their new lifestyle did not initially sit well
with Chris, who has two grown children from
her first marriage. “But you learn how to do
without,” she said.
The minimalist lifestyle came a bit easier to
Dave. “You basically need flip-flops, shorts and
a rotating T-shirt collection,” he said.
Wardrobe shock aside, Chris was totally on
board when Dave proposed the cross-country
adventure.
(Prior to green lighting their cross-country
trip, the pair’s travel experience included
cruising, road tripping and tent camping.)
In preparing for the road ahead, she is
anticipating the long drives and a nomadic
lifestyle of “uprooting every three weeks.”
“Sometimes I miss having a neighborhood,”
she said.
Prior to the pandemic and in addition to the
test runs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the
couple ventured farther south to Myrtle Beach,
S.C., as well as Bradenton and Amelia Island in
Florida. Their favorite spot to date? Key West.
“Right after Christmas is the best time” said
Dave. “It’s still 90 degrees.”
Ideally, the couple prefers the thermometer to
hover in the 70s.
Self-professed snowbirds, they returned to
Myrtle Beach this past October and remained
there until June due to the travel bans.
“We had a private beach pretty much to
ourselves due to the pandemic,” he said.
Prior to their retirement, the couple prepared
for their trip by attending RV shows in
Hershey, Pa., connecting with camping clubs,
following YouTube “professional campers,”
and frequenting meet-and-greets, which are
coordinated online.
To date, they have required no necessary
roadside assistance or snow-related diversions,
even in a November 2018 snowstorm.
“We just dusted the snow off the roof and
kept driving south,” he said.
In their collective campsite experiences,
the Montgomerys have discovered different
amenities such as pools, hot tubs, pickle ball
courts and hiking trails, to name a few, plus
activities such as movie nights and crafts. And,
in addition to utilizing campground amenities
and participating in activities, the couple fills
their days by exploring local breweries, which
allows them to mingle with fellow adventurers.
Mahlon Dickerson, however, appeals more to
the peace-and-quiet seekers, Dave said.
“This is what I would call a 55-plus,” he said.
“There’s no pool or playground so I wouldn’t call
it kid friendly…it appeals to a certain audience.”
An Elks and Moose Club member, Dave
seeks out local lodges whenever possible. He
and Chris are taking full advantage of the
Wednesday night barbeques and Friday night
dinners offered at the Lake Hopatcong Elks
lodge in Mount Arlington, where they get a $10
dinner washed down with $3 beers.
Aside from exploring local fare, the couple
dine on-site, making good use of their ceramic
Kamado-style charcoal grill and electric multicooker.
They also came prepared with technology,
including tablets for reading and a television.
Dave points to a netted tent or “screen house”
pitched adjacent to the RV. “That’s my man cave
where I watch the Yankees.”
The screen house serves as just one way the
couple can get personal space. Plus, there’s two
isolated spaces in the rig, the front bedroom and
the rear living area, Dave said.
“Common interests and the dogs keep us
busy, and, of course maintenance,” he said.
With grandchildren and friends nearby in
Hopatcong, New York and Connecticut, the
Montgomerys have also spent the summer
visiting familiar faces before their departure.
As for further adding to his campground
resume, Dave said he is “always looking for the
next gig. You never know what might turn up.”
Being flexible and open to adventure come
with the territory of wanderlust.
“If you’re a planner, this is not for you,” Dave
said.
The one plan they do have is returning to the
East Coast upon completion of their open-road
tour.
“We’d like to get some real estate in Georgia,”
Chris said. “The price is right, and we like the
lifestyle.”
While the Montgomerys have no specific date
to return, Chris summed up the plan with a bit
of humor.
“Whatever gives out first, the RV or the body.”
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lakehopatcongnews.com 21
8/24/20 5:23 PM

Members of the Jefferson Township Garden Club in front of the township museum.
From left: Roberta Shaw, Debby Zweig, Maria Chrobock, Ursel Braun, Martha Scheri,
Jennifer Sannazzaro, Debbie Crum, Gerri Harrell, Joan DeYoung, Sheila Brown and
Barbara Furman.
22
Martha Scheri spends time
pruning a rosebush in the
garden museum.
Roberta Shaw attends to a flower box.
Jennifer Sannazzaro
picks out dead plants.
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
ROOTED IN HISTORY, CLUB
BLOSSOMS
Story by ELLEN WILKOWE
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
There are masters, novices and the just plain
horticulturally curious. Expertise aside,
green thumbs in Jefferson have been united,
drawn together by their passions for plants and a
good old-fashioned toil in the soil.
Welcome to the Jefferson Museum Garden
Club. Wait. The museum has its own garden
club?
Yes.
While the George Chamberlain House, named
to the National Register of Historic Places list,
serves as a living testament to its first family,
the garden—and the plant enthusiasts behind
them—have a history to call their own, too.
Some such as Roberta Shaw and Christine
Williams wear two hats, as both historical society
and garden club members, and others such as
Joan DeYoung joined for the experience.
“I definitely learned a lot and enjoy it,” said
DeYoung.
“We’re not like traditional garden clubs,” said
Shaw, who is a certified master gardener and head
gardener of the club. “There’s no dues and just
one annual meeting.”
There’s also another perk: No experience
necessary.
In living a stone’s throw from the museum—
two houses down from the museum to be exact—
Sheila Brown was destined to become a garden club
member. That, and she has a lifelong love of working
the land, as well as volunteering.
“Gardening is my truly favorite pastime,” she said.
“We live on 5 acres and my husband and I have
turned it into a gardener’s paradise with block and
stone walls, seating everywhere and more than 10
arbors.”
Her foray into the garden club started with a
suggestion by her neighbor who could see firsthand
Brown’s green thumb in action. Brown’s flower
gardens earned boasting rights as part of the
first garden tour in Jefferson in 2011, as did her
daughters, who provided an assist with lemonade
and cookies.
“They always helped me with the watering of
the museum flowers and decorating a room in the
museum for Christmas in the Village,” said the 10-
year garden club member.
In addition to gardening, the club has provided
Brown with a social outlet and fills her need to
volunteer.
“I have developed friendships with the garden
ladies whom I would never have met otherwise,” she
said. “We catch up with each other at the plant sales,
weeding and meals together.”
So, how did this picturesque garden abutting the

Don McKinnon from Highland
Lakes leaves the June plant sale
with an armful of items for his
vegetable garden.
A bee looking for
nectar at a bee
balm plant.
Russia Brook take root?
Rewind to the 2004 Jefferson Township
bicentennial celebration that included a showing
of the Vietnam Moving Wall. Shaw and Williams
served on the wall’s landscaping committee,
spearheaded by the former Gig’s Florist, which
provided trees and perennials for the event.
“When the wall was dismantled there was plant
material left over,” said Shaw. “The bicentennial
committee sold some of it off and we took the
perennials back to the museum.”
Determined to nurse back to health a few ailing
plants and a pear tree that called the township
Department of Public Works garage its winter
home, Shaw and Williams would eventually lay the
groundwork for what would become the museum’s
present-day garden club.
That was during the fall of 2004, not exactly
prime perennial season, but the pair figured they
would get to them in the spring.
“We examined the area and there was work to be
done,” Shaw said. “There were overgrown shrubs,
misrouted plants and an area of poison ivy.”
At that point, the women decided to put out a
call for help.
With grant money from the bicentennial
committee, they were able to hire Bill’s Scenic
Landscaping of Lake Hopatcong to begin a sectionby-section
renovation. PNJ Landscaping of Jefferson
would lend a hand as well.
“I always tell people who are looking to renovate
their garden to pick one area and work on that,”
said Shaw.
The garden, including the plants, was designed
to reflect the latter part of the 1800s. “I researched
plants of that era,” Shaw said. “The houses in
Jefferson were not as formal as others.”
So, the garden had to reflect
local flavor as well as the time
period at hand.
“The circular pathway around
the Miss Elizabeth statue
reflects what a formal Victorian garden would
have [looked like],” Shaw said, as do its plants
that include, but are not limited to: boxwoods,
purple canes, daisies, hydrangeas, holly, blackeyed
Susans, ferns and the ivy around the statue.
Herbs, used for medicinal purposes and even
as bug repellent, were also added to the garden.
“The goal was to create a kitchen garden,” she
added. “Any home would have had that at that
time.”
Plants aside, the garden continued to grow
in other areas. For example, the Miss Elizabeth
statue was added in 2007, the same year the club
created a monarch way station, complete with
milkweed and nectar plants.
Fifteen members and 16 years later, the garden
continues to bloom in response to the TLC
dispensed by its volunteers.
On a bright and sunny Sunday in June, the
club hosted its annual fundraising plant sale,
which is held the Sunday before Mother’s Day in
a non-pandemic year.
Monies raised from the annual plant sale sustain
the garden and its accompanying projects, such
as a stone wall renovation and stairway in the
area of the pear tree, which were added in 2012.
Because of the pandemic and public gathering
restrictions in place in May, the club hosted an
online sale that allowed customers to pre-order
the plants, Shaw said. In complying with social
distancing regulations, Shaw sorted them and
arranged a schedule for people to pick them up
in her driveway.
Once restrictions eased, the club held the
June plant sale at its museum gardens that drew
garden enthusiasts from near and far.
Many plants for this annual sale come from
Gerri Harrell, right,
advises customer Jilian
Vallade during the club’s
annual plant sale in June.
the home gardens of club members. Or from the
gardens of their friends.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” said Don
McKinnon of Highland Lakes. “They had
awesome plants last year.”
With extra space in his 30 square-foot garden,
McKinnon was loading up on hydrangeas,
tomatoes and forget-me-nots.
Meanwhile, Valerie and Jilian Vallade roadtripped
from Teaneck after learning about the
sale online.
Some of the selections for sale included hostas,
hardy begonias, coral bells, mayapple, tomatoes
and herbs, to name a few.
“We didn’t want to go to a large nursery,” said
Jilian, who was purchasing a creeping Jenny.
Garden club members, identified by their
tan hats, roamed about assisting customers and
offering helpful hints.
In addition to maintaining the grounds, the
garden club also serves as a sort of decorating
committee.
“We decorate the outside for the fall with
cornstalks, hay bales and pumpkins,” Shaw
said. “And for Christmas we coordinate with
the historical society to decorate the inside and
the outside for the Christmas in the Village
celebration.”
During the summer, club members put in
sweat equity, watering and weeding the garden,
according to emailed schedules.
The club will also organize work sessions such
as a spring cleanup or summer annual plantings,
also done by email, Shaw said.
To date, the garden has never succumbed
to extreme weather conditions brought on by
heatwaves or tropical storms.
The funds raised by both the online and onsite
sales were the club’s best yet, Shaw said.
“People were not getting out,” she said,
referring to the quarantine. “And many of them
were probably renovating.”
lakehopatcongnews.com 23

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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020

Some of the members of the Bom-Jazz-Tics.
Chris Stundon and
Michelle Turnage
Aydan Salayko, Jenna
Salayko, Allie Aselta and
Shannon O’Sullivan
Music in
the Park
Story and photos by KAREN FUCITO
On a hot, sunny afternoon in early
August, the Bom-Jazz-Tics, Hopatcong’s
community jazz band, and the local rock band
Black Tie Groove spent an afternoon at Maxim
Glen Park entertaining a crowd of about 125
people. Hosted by the borough’s recreation
department, attendees were also treated to free
water and ice cream.
The 25-member Bom-Jazz-Tics, under the
direction of Kurt Zimmermann, is made up of
Hopatcong High School students, alumni and
community members.
Lukasz Choi,
Krystyna Plewa
and Maya Plewa
Scott and
Kelly Wallis
Joe and Mary Franchini
Dawn Engle, Kayla Engle
and Carolina Castaneda
Denise
Bakos
and Dawn
Bocchini
The Bom-Jazz-Tics, Hopatcong’s community jazz band, plays
at the gazebo at Maxim Glen Park. At left is high school band
director Kurt Zimmermann conducting.
lakehopatcongnews.com 27

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lakehopatcongnews.com 29

Wharton Dad Saves Family from Rubble,
Community Steps in to Help
30
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
Wharton family has much to be grateful
A for—and a fresh start—thanks to the
kindness of countless strangers.
Tropical Storm Isaias blew through New Jersey
on August 4, leaving a wide swath of power
outages and destruction. When the lights came
back on a few days later in Lake Hopatcong,
something caught Tim Clancy’s attention.
“Watching the news, there was this horrific
story about this young family who barely got
out with their lives and lost everything,” said
Tim, of the Wharton family whose house was
destroyed by a falling tree. He turned to his wife,
Karen Urban, and knew they had something to
offer in a guest home at their lakefront property.
“We’ve got to help these people,” he told her.
“The cottage is ready to go. Just drop them in
there and they have a place to stay.”
With the help of Jefferson Township Mayor
Eric Wilsusen and Robin Ghebreal, community
affairs coordinator for Wharton Borough,
Clancy was able to connect with Greg Ramirez,
30, his fiancée, Maria Jaramillo, 39, and their
two children, Jayden, 10 and Mia, 7.
The family moved into the Lake Hopatcong
guest cottage on August 14.
Ramirez recalled the day of the storm.
“A half hour before [the tree fell], we were
scattered around the house,” Ramirez recounted.
“Jayden was in his room, Mia and Maria were in
the upstairs master bedroom, and I was working
in the living room.”
As the storm progressed, an overwhelming
feeling came over him, Ramirez said.
“Something just kept telling me, get everyone
close to you.” He called them downstairs, telling
them he’d feel safer if they were next to him.
“And thank God they listened,” he said.
“Five minutes before [the tree fell], Maria
decided to take a shower and went upstairs,”
Ramirez said. “Mia was sitting on the sofa, and
at the last second she moved to the floor to play
with her Barbies.” Moments later, a tree sliced
through the house, coming to rest on that sofa.
“I think that’s what saved her, the fact that she
was sitting on the floor.
“It just felt like an explosion,” Ramirez said.
“Everything was black, dust everywhere. You
couldn’t see anything, so I just felt things.” He
found Jayden first.
“My daughter was nowhere to be found,”
he said of his search through the darkness. “I
heard screaming, but I couldn’t tell if it was my
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
daughter or my son.” He lifted on his shoulder
what he thinks was the metal frame of the bed
from the room above, where Maria and Mia had
been lying just minutes before.
“In my head, I just spoke to God,” Ramirez
said. “‘Take the house, take my things. If I’m
broke after this, that’s OK, just help me find my
daughter.’”
Coincidentally, Mia recalls asking God the
same thing: “’Help me find my Daddy.’”
“Out of nowhere I just felt
her little hand grab my wrist,”
Ramirez said. “I yanked her out
with both hands and held her
so tight. She was crying, but she
hugged me back and I knew she
was OK.”
Ramirez took his children
outside to the back of the house to
stay while he went back for their
mom. That’s when his neighbor,
Christy Tischer, scooped them
into the safety of her arms.
Meanwhile, Jaramillo had just
stepped into the shower when the
whole house shook. “I didn’t realize what had
happened,” she said. “As soon as I walked out
of the bathroom I just froze.” Ramirez found
her at the top of the stairs and quickly got her
to safety.
The reunion took only minutes, but it seemed
like an eternity. “It was almost in slow motion,
everything was in steps,” according to Ramirez.
“But the mission was ‘save your family.’ It was
a very scary moment, but I knew I needed to
act fast.”
Jaramillo said the enormity of the situation
came rushing over her as they stood outside. “I
was very sad about the house, but I was glad we
were all OK,” she said.
The outcome could have been so much
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Maria Jaramillo, Jayden Ramirez, Mia Ramirez and
Greg Ramirez.
The house in
Wharton.
—Photo courtesy of
Greg Ramirez.
different, according to Jaramillo. “Everything
happened the way it needed to happen. We were
all where we needed to be, so we could walk out
alive.”
The couple, both employees of GAF in
Parsippany, had been working at home due to
the pandemic. Jaramillo broke her arm a month
prior and was on disability. Looking down at
her cast, she couldn’t help but wonder if that
injury saved her life. “I would have been in my
room working, and that room was destroyed so
I feel like this was a blessing in disguise,” she
said.
The family was able to retrieve some personal
items, but the home is a total loss. Renter’s
insurance will help and donation drives and a
GoFundMe page are lessening the blow.
275 Route 10 East Suite 33
Succasunna, NJ 07876
44 Whippany Rd. Suite 230
Morristown, NJ 07960

Clancy and Urban refused
an offer of rent for their
guesthouse. Clancy told
the family he hoped they’d
use it to help rebuild their
lives. And that’s exactly what
Ramirez plans to do. He and
Jaramillo had been working
towards owning their own
home and believes the lifechanging
event might put
them in a position to do that.
Ramirez said he couldn’t be more appreciative
for a place to call home. “When this happened,
my main concern was giving the family stability,”
something they wouldn’t have had sharing living
space with their extended family. “I love that it’s
small and we are all so close together.”
Jayden and Mia plan to attend Academy
Street School in Dover remotely from their
temporary home.
“So many people have donated clothes, toys,”
Ramirez said. “It’s been so heartwarming and
overwhelming.” They enjoy reading messages
from well-wishers across the country who have
heard their story. “There are more good people
than bad,” he said.
When asked what he missed most, Jayden
said, “my neighbors and my friends.” His
favorite gift so far has been a new backpack;
for Mia it’s school supplies. They also received
Virtual
Jayden Ramirez, Mia Ramirez, Greg Ramirez and Maria Jaramillo
take a boat ride with Karen Urban and Tim Clancy.
specially made teddy bears, Mia’s embroidered
with “boo boos” similar to the scratches she
received.
The family believes their connection with
their community is what has kept them going.
“Cherish every little single moment you have
with your friends, family,” he said. “It’s a
wonderful feeling having so much support.”
Ramirez hopes someday to thank his
community for their generosity. “We want to
have a big get-together with all of our neighbors
because they made the experience a lot less
traumatizing,” he said.
Mia won’t soon forget that day and her father’s
dash through the darkness. “He’s my hero,” she
said.
To make a donation to support the Ramirez-
Jaramillo family go to https://www.gofundme.
com/f/home-destroyed-by-the-storm.
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HISTORY
A young man stands
on a submerged
concrete dock at the
Lake Hopatcong
Yacht Club.
Water gushes out of
Lake Hopatcong into the
Musconetcong River.
—Photo courtesy of
Joe Pelino.
The Great Flood of 2000
On August 12,
2000, Lake
Hopatcong residents awoke to a rainy Saturday
morning. Though it had rained the day before,
there was no warning or forecast to prepare the
area for what that Saturday had in store.
A severe thunderstorm started around 9 that
morning and continued for almost six hours.
During that time, parts of the area surrounding
Lake Hopatcong received 14 inches of rain,
pouring down at a rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour.
The storm hovered over the municipalities
of Sparta, Jefferson and Hopatcong. Lake
Hopatcong rose at an unprecedented pace. By
early afternoon, docks were underwater and
moored boats were being pulled under if their
ropes had not been loosened. It became an
increasing challenge to keep boats from floating
on top of docks and some vessels stored in boat
houses smacked against ceiling beams. At the
Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum, water in
the basement continued to rise as the day wore
on despite two pumps operating nonstop.
There were occasional downpours over the
next two days and by the time the last rain fell
on August 14, Jefferson Township had recorded
18.6 inches of rain—40 percent of the average
yearly precipitation for the area. Incredibly, the
storm had concentrated in just a 10-mile radius
of Sparta and resulted in this area receiving
some four times the average rain for the entire
month of August. People outside the radius did
not notice anything out of the ordinary, while
residents who were away that weekend were
shocked by what they found upon returning
home or by phone calls from concerned
neighbors.
The storm became widely referred to as a
34
by MARTY KANE
Photo courtesy of the
LAKE HOPATCONG
HISTORICAL MUSEUM
ARCHIVES
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
“1,000-year event.” Approximately 2,700 homes
and businesses were flooded and about 2,600
people evacuated. Eight houses were destroyed
and roughly 100 suffered major damage. Some
100 boats were reported to have sunk in Lake
Hopatcong.
Dams on nearby Seneca Lake, Tomahawk
Lake, Furnace Pond and Edison Pond in
Sussex County were completely destroyed.
An additional 26 dams in Sussex and Morris
counties were damaged.
Three bridges were destroyed, and eight
others were damaged or closed. Parts of three
roads were washed away, 24 were damaged and
countless others were closed. Route 15 was
closed in both directions due to mudslides.
Compounding matters, the compromised dams
brought a further onslaught as bodies of water
like Seneca and Tomahawk lakes completely
emptied.
Damage was estimated at $179 million.
President Bill Clinton declared Morris and
Sussex counties a federal disaster area on August
16. Governor Christine Whitman dispatched
National Guard troops to help emergency crews
reach flooded neighborhoods.
The highest level of water previously recorded
at Lake Hopatcong was smashed by the storm.
In August 1955, rains from Hurricane Diane
caused the lake to rise some 18 inches above the
dam. Lake Hopatcong’s high-water mark during
the flood of 2000 was almost 3 feet above the
dam. Similarly, the record for the velocity of
water leaving the lake via the Musconetcong
River, set in August 1955, was 795 feet per
second. The flood of 2000 saw water rushing
down the Musconetcong River at an astounding
1,900 feet per second.
In fact, the Musconetcong River leaving Lake
Hopatcong at Hopatcong State Park was so
out of control that it flooded the area between
Lakeside Boulevard and the dam. On Bertrand
Island, the lake level was so high that water
crossed Bertrand Island Road, making the area
an island once again. MarineMax in Jefferson
had 2 feet of water in its showroom and the
building now known as the Main Lake Market
on Prospect Point was completely surrounded
by water.
How could such a weather event occur in
New Jersey?
Following the event, meteorologists explained
that cold air moving in from Canada at the
beginning of August dominated the upper
level of the atmosphere in the northeast, while
tropical air from the south arrived in the lower
level of the atmosphere. The cold and warm air
clashed right around Sparta Mountain.
Pennsylvania State University meteorologist
Fred Gadomski was quoted in the August
14, 2000 New York Times as saying “most
thunderstorms dump vast amounts of rain for
a few minutes and pass on. But this one stood
August 3, 2020
August 13, 2000
A view of Brady Road near the bridge as seen
from the parking lot of Tiny’s bar.
—Photos courtesy of Tim Roth

dead still much of the day, dumping rain on a
narrow corridor of northern New Jersey hour
after hour after hour. For the people in Sparta
and Jefferson Township that would have been a
once-in-a-lifetime rain.”
Following the storm, all recreational boats
were banned from Lake Hopatcong in an
attempt to avoid moving the high water, fearing
it would cause further damage to docks and
boathouses. In addition, an incredible amount
of large debris had been washed into the lake
and needed to be removed before boats could
operate safely. There were reports of docks,
building parts and even porta potties floating in
or just below the surface of the lake.
Many residents had to boil drinking water,
while municipalities assisted homeowners trying
to pump water from their homes and businesses.
Special trash pickups were conducted for flood
damaged items. On August 22, recreational
boats were allowed to return to the lake,
although a no-wake zone was imposed until it
returned to the normal high-water mark.
Most homeowners did not have flood
insurance to cover this damage and while there
were low-cost federal loans made available,
there was still much hardship in the area. On
September 30, members of the community
packed the auditorium of Jefferson High School
for a fundraiser featuring donated entertainment
and a silent auction to benefit the Jefferson
Township Victim’s Relief Fund.
Certain things took longer to get back to
normal. A significant amount of soil and
sediment flowed into the lake from Lake
Shawnee during the storm and much was
deposited immediately south of Brady Bridge.
Historically, the water depth under Brady
Bridge is about 7 to 9 feet, but sediment from
the storm lowered the water level to about 2 to
3 feet, resulting in a serious navigational hazard.
In 2003, the Lake Hopatcong Commission
obtained the necessary approvals and removed
the sandbar.
Twenty years later the “Great Flood of 2000”
is still well-remembered within the community.
In response to a recent question on the Lake
Hopatcong Memories Facebook page, many
people shared their own stories.
Betty Ann Culvert remembered her uncle on
Ithanell Road chaining his dock to a tree.
Georgia Schilling recalled “how everything
floated inside our boathouse; it seemed like the
inside of the Titanic!”
Edwardo Cappes reminisced: “I couldn’t find
my dock to put my boat….and ended [up]
taking it out of the water.”
Sheryl Robson McMillan remembered how,
“my late husband and I were visiting our son
who was a U.S. Marine at the time stationed in
Camp Lejeune. We couldn’t believe what we saw
when we came back.”
Toni A. Irwin recalled how “water was sheeting
down my back wall. Wood floor ruined! Then
the bridge collapsed by Chabon’s. Took a year
to fix it.”
Sandra Mele Hyder wrote: “I remember it
well. I was 9 months pregnant and due any day.
Brady Bridge was flooded, there were so many
things floating in the water. My daughter ended
up being 2 weeks late so by the time she was
born it was back to normal.”
Since then we have gone through Hurricanes
Sandy, Irene and now Isaias. However, those
living at Lake Hopatcong 20 years ago will
always remember the Great Flood of 2000.
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lakehopatcongnews.com 35

COOKING
WITH SCRATCH ©
I
’ve been thinking
about how
learning how to cook
has evolved since my
grandmother taught
my mother how to cook and my mother taught
me how to cook.
It was dutiful apprenticeship, standing to
the side, watching—and getting scolded when
you didn’t do something right. There weren’t
a lot of flowery explanations or references to
cooking science as you respectfully watched
and learned.
There certainly weren’t as many cookbooks
back then as there are now either. I recently
had the only cookbook that belonged to
my grandmother, Emma, restored at Turul
Bookbindery. “Das Hauswesen” (from 1912)
wasn’t just a cookbook; it was a reference
book for running your entire domestic life.
Emma’s mother-in-law gave it to her when
she got married because she knew that Emma
didn’t know a lot about cooking, or running a
36
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
Hey, Boomers,
This is How We Cook Now
by BARBARA SIMMONS
Photo by KAREN FUCITO
household, for that matter.
My mother, Gertrude, had lots of funny
stories about Emma’s cooking techniques. She
recalled walking into the kitchen while Emma
was boiling eggs for breakfast. Emma seemed
to be concentrating very hard and shushed
Gertrude when she tried to say good morning.
Emma was counting to 60, three times to
ensure that her husband, Hans, had a perfectly
cooked soft-boiled egg.
In the 1950s when my stepbrother, Harry,
was living with my grandparents, Emma
received a pressure cooker for Christmas.
Harry remembered coming home from work
and finding Emma sitting on the kitchen
floor, laughing herself silly. When he asked
what she was doing and why, she pointed up
in the air and told him his dinner was on the
ceiling. Evidently the pressure cooker had
exploded, and the contents went flying up in
all directions.
I learned to cook at my mother’s side. She was
quite a pro in the kitchen, almost never referring
to a cookbook and always, always managing
to get the main dish and all of the sides ready
at the same time. In college it dawned on me
SPICY GRILLED SHRIMP TACOS
Ingredients
1 pound “jumbo” (21-26 per pound) shrimp, shelled,
tails removed and cleaned
2 tablespoons peanut oil (for frying the shrimp)
Flour tortillas
Marinade and sauce
Juice of 1 whole lime (2 limes are needed for the recipe)
1 heaping tablespoon of chopped chipotles in adobo
3 large cloves garlic, sliced
2 teaspoons honey
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
White rice
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1-2 teaspoons salt
Toppings
Tomato salsa
1-15 oz. can black beans
Fresh tomato slices
Fresh cilantro
Lime wedges
Sour cream or Greek yogurt
The author’s
grandmother,
Emma
Makowski, in
the yard of the
Phi Sigma Club
on Lake Road
in Jefferson,
circa 1964.
that here is a fount of knowledge and that I
should start archiving her recipes. When I was
home on winter break or on summer vacation,
I would record everything as I watched her flit
around the kitchen.
I’d ask her questions like: “How much flour?”
and her answers were almost always this vague:
“A handful,” she would say.
Me: “How long do you cook that?”
Gertrude: “Until it’s done.”
It wasn’t easy, and she wasn’t always
cooperative. I chased her around with
measuring cups, furiously taking notes. It
wasn’t until I was on my own, feeling homesick
for the flavors of her cooking, that I started
working on recreating all of her signature
dishes. When it “smelled like Oma’s house” to
my kids or my husband, I felt I had succeeded
in my mission.
Between these two generations, my mother’s
Procedure
1 Whisk together the marinade ingredients, pour into a Ziploc bag or a tightfitting
plastic container with a lid, add the shrimp and let them marinate up to
1 hour.
2 Make the rice:
Add the rice, water and salt to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high
heat, then cover and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. Cook for
20 minutes.
3 Make the shrimp:
Heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a large frying pan. Using a slotted spoon, scoop
the shrimp from the marinade and into the pan, reserving the marinade. Fry
the shrimp hard so they get a nice char on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.
Remove to a bowl. Heat the marinade over medium heat for 5 minutes to cook
it through. Take off heat and set aside.
4 Heat the black beans.
5 Toast the tortillas:
Using tongs, fling them right on the burners over an open flame and scorch
them, “Cheech and Chong style,” until blistered all over, flipping them over
several times until lightly charred on both sides. If that seems too dangerous, go
ahead and toast the tortillas in a dry frying pan.
6 Put a tortilla on a plate and place 4 shrimp in the center. Drizzle with cooked
marinade and add a spoonful of rice and beans. Top with sliced tomatoes,
cilantro, salsa and sour cream (or Greek yogurt), squirt a bit of fresh lime juice
over everything, roll up and enjoy.

and my daughter’s, I gravitated towards
cookbooks, after earning my chops in my
mother’s kitchen. My friends who are avid
cooks (us baby boomers) would rather read
a new cookbook than a best-selling novel.
Thumbing through a favorite volume with
splattered pages and notes scribbled in the
margins can be a nostalgic walk down memory
lane. A fond recollection of a dish that was
successful or a mental jog to try something
from a different chapter is a very enjoyable way
to pass an afternoon.
Now in the age of social media I’ve started
following several different food bloggers and
have enjoyed trying an even wider variety of
recipes. It was from my millennial daughter,
Erika, that I learned how to use Pinterest.
Erika takes stock of what she has in her
refrigerator and types the key words (like
shrimp and tortillas) into the search bar and
dozens of recipes come up. I’m pretty sure she
does this on her phone.
Every generation adds something to the
cooking knowledge bank.
Erika found this month’s featured recipe for
spicy shrimp tacos on Pinterest and then related
it to me over the phone. Not having many
Mexican-themed recipes in my repertoire, I
was eager to try it. I’ve got to say, this one is
a winner and takes only about 25 minutes to
prepare.
Septic SyStemS
inStalled
and RepaiRed
pumping available
•
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and commeRcial
•
Site WoRk
•
Fill diRt
•
tRucking
BATTEN
THE
HATCHES
Custom Boat Covers & Upholstery
Located at scenic Lake Hopatcong
973-663-1910
70 State Rt. 181 • Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849
battenhatches@yahoo.com
BOAT COVERS
UPHOLSTERY
Maria Pappas, owner
Travis Amico, manager
Est. 1990
www.battenthehatches.net
973-663-2142 • 973-713-8020
CELL
lakehopatcongnews.com 37

WORDS OF
A FEATHER
Katydid
Photos by OLEG GURVITS
and KAREN FUCITO
Summer
brings
a multitude
of joys, chief among
them its unique
sounds. Children’s
joyous squeals, vibrant humming boat motors,
kayak paddles sluicing through lake water—
each conjures a smile. Nature, too, has its own
summer playlist of sounds to enjoy, from fat
bumblebees buzzing as they gather nectar to
frogs chirping after a rainstorm.
Some of my favorite sound producers
are katydids, those insects often mistakenly
thought of as crickets, that hum and strum
their love songs long into the late summer
evenings. Eponymously named for the debate
they sing—“Katy did…Katy didn’t!,”—these
bright green bugs hold their long wings
vertically folded over their backs, camouflaging
to resemble leaves. They are herbaceous, but
don’t damage crops, flowers or shrubs.
During the day they hang out motionless in
foliage, and by night they serenade by making
sounds from special adaptations on their wings.
One wing has a scraper and the other a file, so
they sort of rub together like a bow being drawn
over violin strings. The
insects produce the
sounds to attract
a mate and lay eggs
that lie dormant over
the winter. They
are attuned to the
decreasing length of
38
Sounds of
Summer
Song
sparrow
by HEATHER SHIRLEY
daylight. Growing
increasingly anxious
to reproduce as
the season wanes,
the height of their
music-making is late
summer. By October,
they are silent.
I’m homesick for the
sound—we don’t have
katydids in south Florida
where I live, and I miss
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020
that summer song. One of my closest friends
who lives on Lake Hopatcong, however, says
the sound of katydids only reminds her that
summer is drawing to a close, so she’s not crazy
about their music.
What do you think—are you a katydid fan
or foe? Do you notice their calls? I hope you do
now and that you find them pleasant.
Another summer minstrel I miss is the
song sparrow that nested under my bedroom
window every year when I lived on the lake. To
non-birders, all sparrow species look similar.
Even accomplished birders refer to them as
“LBJs,” or little brown jobs, because they’re
generally small- to medium-sized birds with
brown streaks. It requires careful attention to
nuances such as habitat, plumage patterns and
vocalizations to differentiate them.
Adding to the complexity of sparrows is the
variability that can occur within a species. Song
sparrows occur across all of North America
and vary widely across different areas of the
continent. Twenty-four subspecies and 52
forms of song sparrows have been identified by
scientists.
Around Lake Hopatcong, the song sparrow
is—you guessed it—small and streaked with
thick brown stripes. Their head is gray on the
sides and has a warm, reddish-brown stripe on
the crown. They have a white breast and a long
tail, which they pump when they fly. Correctly
identifying sparrow species based on details like
these makes them highly satisfying for obsessed
birders like me.
Song sparrows are comfortable around
human residences. They readily come to feeders
and in particular love millet seed. They nest in
shrubs and love to be near water (don’t we all?).
Song sparrows can raise one to seven broods
each summer and each clutch may include one
James J. Leffler
Real Estate Associate
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James J. Leffler
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to six eggs. Can you imagine? That means some
song sparrows could raise 40 babies in one
summer! That’s a lot to advertise and defend.
Like most male birds, to advertise his territory
and attract a mate, the song sparrow sings. He
perches at eye level on a prominent branch,
puffs out his chest, leans back and sings. And
sings…and then he sings some more.
A male who is on territory and trying to attract
a mate sings roughly every eight seconds, which
means he may sing more than 2,000 songs in a
day! Females are attracted not only to the quality
of the song, but to the learning demonstrated
by the males, who may know up to 20 different
melodies and may improvise these basic tunes
with more than 1,000 variations.
One glorious summer day, the windows of my
home were open to catch the breezes flowing
across Bertrand Island. My song sparrow was
proudly and boisterously whistling away. As
I absentmindedly put laundry away, I started
whistling his tune. Immediately, the bird sang
louder and more insistently. He perceived my
response as another bird who was trying to cut
in on his turf and was robustly telling me to
back off.
I couldn’t help it. For the rest of the summer,
I would whistle back and forth with him. We
would perform quite a nice duet for a few
minutes, but then I’d feel bad for him and
stop, so he wouldn’t waste his energy defending
against a perceived threat. I’d always let him
win—and he’d always make me smile. Nature,
including the sounds of summer, has a way of
doing that.
As winter looms (and with it another potential
lockdown), if you need to perk up, feel happy,
and fuel your memories and dreams of summer,
remember its unique sounds. I guarantee a
smile will drift onto your face.

Got leakys?
973-398-0875
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• DeCkS • HeliCal PierS anD anCHorS • Salvage
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directory
CONSTRUCTION/
EXCAVATION
Aaron Septic Service
Landing
973-663-6058
www.aaronsepticservice.com
Al Hutchins Excavating
973-663-2142
973-713-8020
Lakeside Construction
151 Sparta-Stanhope Rd.
Hopatcong
973-398-4517
Northwest Explosives
PO Box 806, Hopatcong
973-398-6900
info@northwestexplosives.com
ENTERTAINMENT/
RECREATION
Lake Hopatcong Adventure
973-663-1944
lhadventureco.com
Lake Hopatcong Cruises
Miss Lotta (Dinner Boat)
37 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd., LH
973-663-5000
lhcruises.com
Lake Hopatcong Mini Golf Club
37 Nolans Pt. Park Rd., LH
973-663-0451
lhgolfclub.com
HOME SERVICES
Accurate Pest Control
Landing
973-398-8798
accuratepestmanagement.com
Jefferson Recycling
710 Route 15 N Jefferson
973-361-1589
www.jefferson-recycling.com
Kelco Plumbing & Heating
70 Rt. 181, LH
973-663-4442
kelcoplumbing.com
The Polite Plumber
973-398-0875
thepoliteplumber.com
We Want Your Junk NJ
Pine St., LH
973-978-9798
Sheds • Pools • Boats
Estate Agents Welcome
Free On-site Estimates
WeWantYourJunkNJ.com
Wilson Services
973-383-2112
WilsonServices.com
Wood Stairs 4u
973-810-3247
www.woodstairs4u.com
LAKE SERVICES
AAA Dock & Marine
27 Prospect Point Rd., LH
973-663-4998
docksmarina@hotmail.com
Batten The Hatches
70 Rt. 181, LH
973-663-1910
facebook.com/bthboatcovers
MARINAS, BOAT
SALES & RENTALS
Beebe Marina
123 Brady Rd., LH
973-663-1192
Flash Watersports & Marina
155 Rt. 181 LH
973-663-7990
flashmarina.com
Freedom Boat Club
At Prospect Point Marina
201-479-2727
freedomboatclub.com
South Shore Marine
862-254-2514
southshoremarine180@gmail.com
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATIONS
Lake Hopatcong Foundation
973-663-2500
lakehopatcongfoundation.org
Jefferson-Sparta Rotary
973-361-2810
PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES
Barbara Anne Dillon,,O.D.,P.A.
180 Howard Blvd., Ste. 18
Mount Arlington
973-770-1380
Fox Architectural Design
546 St. Rt. 10 W
Ledgewood
973-970-9355
foxarch.com
REAL ESTATE
Patrick Bolger
Keller Williams Metropolitan
275 Rt 10 E Ste. 33
Succasunna
973-945-9979
patrickbolger@kw.com
Les Cirelli
High Mark Real Estate
26 Broadway Ste. 208A
Denville
201-841-9339
lescirelli13@yahoo.com
Kathleen Courter
RE/MAX
101 Landing Rd., Roxbury
973-420-0022 Direct
KathySellsNJHomes.com
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Robin Dora
Sotheby’s
670 Main St., Towaco
973-570-6633
prominentproperties.com
Christopher J. Edwards
RE/MAX
211 Rt. 10E, Succasunna
973-598-1008
MrLakeHopatcong.com
Karen Foley
Sotheby’s
670 Main St., Towaco
973-906-5021
prominentproperties.com
Donna Geba
Century 21
23 Main St., Sparta
973-726-0333
century21gebarealty.com
Greentree Dev. Group
468 River Styx Rd.
Hopatcong
973-810-2560
luxurylakepointe.com
Jim Leffler
RE/MAX
101 Landing Rd., Roxbury
201-919-5414
Catherine Pansini
Keller Williams Metropolitan
44 Whippany Rd., Suite 230
Morristown
862-216-7016
soldbycatherine.com
Darla Quaranta
Century21
973-229-0452
century21gebarealty.com
RESTAURANTS & BARS
Alice’s Restaurant
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd, LH
973-663-9600
alicesrestaurantnj.com
Big Fish Lounge At Alice’s
24 Nolan’s Pt. Park Rd, LH
973-663-9600
alicesrestaurantnj.com
Lola’s Waterfront Tex-Mex
300 Lakeside Ave., Hopatcong
973-264-4231
eatlolasnow.com
The Windlass Restaurant
45 Nolan’s Point Park Rd., LH
973-663-3190
thewindlass.com
SENIOR CARE
Preferred Care at Home
George & Jill Malanga/Owners
973-512-5131
PreferHome.com/nwjersey
SPECIALTY STORES
AlphaZelle
Toxin-free products
973-288-1971
alphazelle.com
Hearth & Home
1215 Rt. 46, Ledgewood
973-252-0190
hearthandhome.net
Helrick’s Custom Framing
158 W Clinton St., Dover
973-361-1559
helricks.com
Main Lake Market
234 S. NJ Ave., LH
973-663-0544
mainlakemarket.com
Nature’s Golden Miracle
CBD Products
973-288-1971
NGM-oil.com
Orange Carpet & Wood Gallery
470 Rt. 10W, Ledgewood
973-584-5300
orange-carpet.com
Turul Bookbindery
60 Rt. 15 S, Wharton
973-361-2810
thebookbindery.com
STORAGE
U-Stor-It/Woodport Storage
20 Tierney Rd./17 Rt. 181
Lake Hopatcong
973-663-4000
40
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Labor Day 2020

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Lake Hopatcong...
A fine food and family destination
Nolan’s Point Park Rd., Lake Hopatcong •

973-663-2490 • Connect with us! @livethelakenj Live the Lake NJ

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862.236.7016 (CELL)
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