Making History
Black History Month is an opportunity for people of all cultures and ethnicities to learn more about and to celebrate the contributions that the children of Africa have made to human civilization.
It’s a chance to become enlightened about people like Mark Dean, an IBM Fellow who holds patents for inventing the first personal computer in 1981. Or Garrett Morgan, who in 1914 received patents for the Safety Hood and Smoke Protector, which later became known as the gas mask. Many people comprehend the importance of this particular invention, including lawmakers who were trapped inside the United States Capitol building on January 6.
The old Ruby Tuesday restaurant building, which sat empty for years, was torn down at the Willingboro Town Center in recent months to prepare for a new resident: A Chase Bank.
The building next door is also empty. Half of it once housed a Starbucks, then a Hardee’s Restaurant, but now just looks lonely in the Town Center, a mixed-used development which includes a satellite campus of Rowan College at Burlington County, retail stores, restaurants, the library and multiple other businesses.
Willingboro, like some other South Jersey towns, can’t seem to get sit-down restaurant chains as opposed to fast-food chains to put roots down.
Vineland patrol car decked out to promote designated drivers
Updated Feb 22, 2021;
Posted Feb 22, 2021
The Vineland Police Department has partnered with the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers to decorate a new Ford Explorer patrol vehicle to promote sober driving.Vineland Police Department
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The Vineland Police Department has partnered with a regional drunk driving prevention organization to unveil a new HERO Patrol Car to promote the use of safe and sober designated drivers.
The department’s new Ford Explorer will be a “rolling billboard” for the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers, named in memory of Navy Ensign John Elliott of Egg Harbor Township, who was killed in a collision with a drunken driver near Woodstown in July 2000.
“The concept is it’s an all-inclusive’ park, where not only people with disabilities but children that don’t have any disabilities could all join together,” said city Solicitor Richard Tonetta. “For example, it might have a swing set that would hook up to a wheelchair.
“It’s really a really cool thing,” Tonetta said recently. “Now, we’re taking it a little bit further. We are including not only for children, but for adults. Because you can have someone that’s developmentally disabled, they have the body of a 25-year-old but the mind of a younger child. And so, there was really nothing for any of those people to enjoy.”
Another Jake’s Place playground for special needs people is coming to New Jersey. The new one is planned for Vineland.
Jake’s Place playgrounds are named in honor of Jacob Myles Cummings-Nasto who died at 2 years old from a rare heart condition, a condition that prevented him from using typical playgrounds. The first one opened in Cherry Hill in 2011 and there is also one in Delran. New Jersey even passed Jake’s Law which offers incentives to counties and municipalities to build more inclusive playgrounds.
On the group’s website, their mission is described as:
To provide all-inclusive play opportunities for children and adults with special needs through advocacy, awareness building, programming, building playgrounds, and sharing our expertise with likeminded individuals and organizations. We are dedicated to bringing all-inclusive play to New Jersey.