Day: May 4, 2007

Angels for Olivia

A special web site has been set up for Olivia Pierman, of Gloucester City, New Jersey who is suffering from a condition called Arnold Chiari Malformation. it is a touching story about an eight old suffering with a terrible condition. Read on.

Welcome to Angels for Olivia. This site has been created in the hopes of assisting a special young girl, Olivia Pierman, just 8 years old, from Gloucester City, New Jersey get the help she desperately needs to treat a condition that has taken control of her life. Olivia collapses without warning, over and over, throughout the day. We hope you will spend some time getting to know her and her story. We hope more than anything that you will find it in your heart to help us get her to the doctors in New York that can give her back her young, carefree life.

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Enjoy Your Children, Mistakes and All

From Active.com Team Sports

This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read on our message boards and wanted to share it with as many people as possible. A good reminder to keep a reasonable perspective, especially regarding your child’s mistakes both in sports and in general:

There is something in our nature that makes us strive for perfection, some more than others. Our children are our creations, and we want them to be perfect. But remember, there was only one perfect child and he had perfect parents.

We also want to protect them. We want them to not suffer the hurts and pains we felt growing up – the strikeouts, the errors, the dropped passes, the missed steps in the dance recital, the transposing of the i and e in the spelling bee.

Plus, too often, we think that the mistakes they make are somewhat a reflection on our inability to parent. So we only see the good, or if something is so egregious, we look automatically to find an excuse for what happen (a bad hop, a bad call, the floor was slippery, the teacher is too tough, etc.). In that way, we believe it\’s not our parenting skills that are questioned but just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Recognizing that we 1) don\’t have perfect children, 2) their mistakes don\’t reflect negatively on our ability to parent, and 3) a mistake is an opportunity to grow and learn will heighten our ability to look at our child\’s accomplishments in unbiased eyes.

I just recently spent two weeks at a famous children\’s hospital with a two-week old granddaughter on a respirator for most of that time. Thankfully, I was able to spend her first Easter with her last month as a healthy, striving 3 1/2 month old child. But next to us in the waiting room, for two weeks before and at least two weeks after, were the parents of a 15 year-old girl basketball player. On a Thursday, she started coughing. On Friday, she ran fever and Mom called the doctor. On Monday, she was in a coma with staph pneumonia. About six weeks later, without ever regaining consciousness, they were planning her funeral. Don\’t you know they would love to see her miss one more free throw or get called for walking?

Parents, enjoy your children, mistakes and all.

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Concerned Parent Says It is Taking Too Long to Make Playground Repairs

photos by A Concerned Parent

Mr. Cleary-I am a concerned parent who was quite upset that the city chose to tear down the park instead of repairing what was broken. My children were quite concerned with how long it was going to take the city to make the necessary repairs. We waited about 3 weeks for the caution tape to be removed from the park.

Imagine our chagrin when we entered the park to find it in worse condition than before the city started to work on it. I\’m sending some pictures of what we have seen everyday for the last two weeks when we go to check on the park. Eventually someone\’s child is going to get hurt on the nails or broken wood.

In reading your column, I have found that you seem to be unfazed about taking the city to task for their incompetencies. Incidentally the repairs began, according to ClearysNotebook on or about March 12. (See photo of flag at lions rest stop).

Thank you in advance for your attention to the safety of our children.

A Concerned Parent

 

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Six Running for Mount Ephraim Commission Seats; Election Tuesday, May 8

Incumbents

Mayor Michael Reader, Commissioner Suzanne Gaglianone , newcomer Chuck Mihalik

Challengers–

Joseph Wolk, Andrew Gilmore, Bruce Greenwald

By LISA GRZYBOSKI
Courier Post Staff

MOUNT EPHRAIM

Work crews were installing decorative street lights along Kings Highway in the borough\’s small business district on Tuesday.

Soon, they\’ll return to put in new sidewalks, curbing, a town clock and a gazebo.

The three candidates running on the Working Together for Progress slate in the May 8 borough election consider the streetscape improvements to be a sign of positive change in the borough and a promise of more to come.

\”We want to continue rebuilding things that haven\’t been touched in 20 years,\” said Mayor Michael Reader, who\’s campaigning for re-election and heads the ticket that includes incumbent Commissioner Suzanne Gaglianone and political newcomer Chuck Mihalik.

The group wants to revamp the borough\’s antiquated sewer system and the commercial corridor along its stretch of the Black Horse Pike.

But Teamwork Improving Mount Ephraim, the opposing three-man slate led by former Mayor Joseph Wolk, believes local elected officials must first focus on budget basics before starting ambitious projects.

He and running mates Andrew Gilmore and Bruce Greenwald, both political neophytes, note the current commission is late in introducing the borough\’s 2007 budget and hasn\’t applied for state extraordinary aid — money given by the state in excess of normal state aid because of extraordinary circumstances — since taking office in 2003. It\’s also had three different chief financial officers within the past year, which Wolk described as \”alarming.\”

\”We want to have stable taxes, implement proper budget practices and file timely for state aid,\” said Wolk, who held borough office from 1987 to 2003, when he lost his re-election bid for a fifth consecutive term. \”I think there is some instability now.\”

Candidates on the competing tickets are vying for three open seats on the borough\’s three-member commission, which governs the approximately 4,500-person community wedged between Gloucester City and Haddon Heights. The borough\’s government is nonpartisan.

The elected positions are low-paying — $3,750 per year for mayor and $3,500 annually for the two commissioners. The three commissioners vote among themselves for who will serve as mayor.

story continues

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