Saint Matthew's

It is quite ugly around New Jersey right now. This weekend’s storm left a lot of devastation throughout our region. Trees and power lines are down all over; PSE&G is saying that some residents will not get their power back until Wednesday or Thursday. United Water is telling a number of communities to boil their water before consuming – New Milford is not in that advisory area.

As one would expect after 4 inches of rain on top of major snow melt these past couple of weeks, parts of New Milford were yet again underwater as the Hackensack River overflowed its banks after the Oradell Reservoir exceeded its flood stage and it fed its overflow to the Hackensack. As residents of Columbia Street evacuated once again because of the waters, I couldn’t imagine what was going through their minds.  By the evening, the waters were receding. Everyone is happy that this weekend’s flooding was not as bad as 2007.

Power in our part of New Milford (the northern half) went out on Sunday morning around 6:30. With so many trees and power lines down, I did not expect anyone to show up for church. By the grace of God, 26 souls arrived for church in the dark. As I was preaching, I wondered what the church would be like if we had skylights.

Our volunteer fire fighters were at it all day. A couple of days before the storm, they prepared their rescue boat that I know they hoped would not be used. But it was needed.

With all the damage in New Milford, we were not as bad off as other areas. Parts of Wayne and Bound Brook are underwater this morning. Others are facing major repairs to their homes, businesses, and cars. And yes, two families in Teaneck are mourning the loss of loved ones after a tree crashed down on them as they were walking back from their synagogue.

Last evening, I drove around a bit to see the after effects of the storm and how clean up was going. Detours were prevalent, but traffic was moving. Workers from all stages of the clean up process were working hard as chainsaws roared everywhere I drove. As I drove back toward Saint Matthew’s, a PSE&G truck was working on the “troubled pole” near Main Street, the location of the transformer that always seems to blow in bad storms. You can see that the workers were diligently doing whatever they needed to do to get power up and running. By 7:40, power was back on.

By then, I was sitting in the bedroom of the house. Candles were flickering when I heard the most joyous sound — a power surge to the generator next door at the New Milford Fire Department. For 12 hours, that generator hummed. After six hours, the ceaseless whir of the generator got on my nerves. But that power surge was joy to my ears, and not just because I knew that power was restored and life in our little part of New Milford could return to some kind of normal.

I knew the generator would turn off.

Mind you, I think the snow falling this morning around our area is pretty. There is just something about lightly falling snow in the early morning hours.

Yes, it has made the morning traffic hideous. Overturned tractor trailers on 78. Icy bridges all over the region. People not remembering how to drive in the snow. Ugh. It is enough to make anyone want to go back to bed.

However, the look of the snowflakes cascading down from the clouds presents a blessed calmness to our hectic day. I’ve always liked the snow. Watching it truly is peaceful.

But…

IT IS NOVEMBER 19th. CAN’T THE SNOW WAIT A BIT? 

…liberals who were in vast support of the $450 Million bonding program have to come up with an excuse. And what have they come up with?

They didn’t create an effective marketing campaign.

Oh, I kid you not.

On Tuesday, New Jersey voters rejected a $450 Million bond act proposed by the State Legislature and Governor Jon Corzine that would be used exclusively to support stem cell research in the state. This is a monumental accomplishment because never in the history of New Jersey have the people rejected these types of ballot spending initiatives.

Since this ballot act was rejected, those who supported the ballot initiative had to come up with an excuse. They are blaming a bad marketing campaign that would have beaten back those mean, right wingers who want to see people suffer from terrible diseases.

The fact is that the so-called right wing wasn’t running on the fact that in order to study embryonic stem cells, you need lots of abortions fertilized embryos. No, they were fighting the huge cost of the bill, namely bonding $450 Million.

Anyone who knows anything about New Jersey knows that the state is basically bankrupt. We have no money.

* Our state public pension system is a disaster, a system that politicians of both parties have used as a slush fund. It so underfunded that when people actually start retiring in big numbers, New Jersey is going to be crushed under the payout costs promised by generous Governors and State Legislatures of the past.

* Ask anyone in New Jersey about property taxes, and they will rant. We have the highest property taxes in the nation. Here in Bergen County, property taxes are insane. Speaking with a retired homeowner a couple of weeks ago, she was brought to tears when she thought of her $10,000 annual tax bill.

* The State Legislature and Governor enacted a law that gave so-called “property tax relief” to homeowners last year. One homeowner here at Saint Matthew’s called it a shell game. They said that the Legislature and Governor basically robbed Peter (the state budget) to pay Paul (the homeowners), but then added spending to the budget that ultimately is going to raise taxes.

* And finally, the state budget is billions upon billions of dollars in the hole even before anyone considers “property tax relief” bills or anything else this year. The budget is being crushed under the high cost of debt. And, oh, who can forget that our transportation trust fund is broke – politicians used that money to spend more and stave off tax increases.

The fact is the people of New Jersey couldn’t accept the fact that another $450 Million would be piled on top of their already high tax bills. I would have loved for it be that people were sickened by embryonic stem cell research, but that really wasn’t the case this year.

UPDATED

Three people have now been arrested for the execution-style slaughter of four college students last Saturday.

The reason these three “people” killed these innocent students? They wanted to rob someone.

If you are following this story and don’t believe in evil, then nothing will convince you. 

The oldest suspect, Jose Carranza, is an illegal alien with a criminal record that includes sexual assault on a girl.

Mr. Carranza, who lives in Orange, had been out on $150,000 bail pending trial on two separate indictments: sexual assault on a young girl in his care over four years when she was 5 to 9; and aggravated assault stemming from a bar fight last year. He turned himself in to Mayor Booker personally Thursday, about 12 hours after a 15-year-old, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, was arrested on the same charges.

The authorities said today that Mr. Carranza, who is being held on $1 million bond, had surrendered his passport at an earlier court appearance on the other charges, and that he was subject to a “detainer” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is unclear why he had not been deported or placed in the custody of immigration officials.

Evil.

Thank goodness one of the victims is alive and helping police. Natasha Aeriel, 19, survived the slaughter.

Our prayers go out to Natasha, her family, and the families of those who died.

Congestive toll pricing is an idea that will come to fruition sometime in the near future here in the New Jersey/New York area. It is inevitable. Last week, NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg suggested an $8 “toll” for people driving in certain areas of Manhattan in an effort to reduce the amount of cars on the streets and carbon dioxide in the air that spews from car’s exhausts. He was roundly criticized, but the idea wasn’t rebuffed out of hand – only that “$8 toll” was laughed at.

In today’s Bergen Record, the question about congestive toll pricing could come to our side of the Hudson. The idea is only a concept right now. But under the plan, drivers will be charged a toll for coming into New Jersey, with higher amounts at peak times and lesser amounts at non-peak times. I know what you’re thinking. “Ever sit in traffic trying to get to the toll plaza of the GWB? Putting tolls on the Jersey bound side will cause similar back-ups, but this time coming back to the Garden State.”

Well, the idea is to make the roadway one of those “EZ Pass” high speed toll plazas where EZ Pass tag holders will be charged just like when we drive on the Turnpike. No need to go through the toll plaza, just keep at the high rate of speed (of course, below the Corzine limit of 91 MPH) and drive under the high speed toll detectors. Under this conceptual idea, those who don’t have EZ Pass will have their license plates photographed and you’ll get a bill in the mail.

Wouldn’t it be great if they used that idea for inbound section of the bridge? Get rid of those toll booths and put in the high speed EZ Pass and a section for the license plate photo section. Even if congestive pricing is never implemented on the Jersey bound side of the bridge, put the new toll collection plan into effect for the inbound section of the bridge.

Please.

I’m tired of sitting in traffic.

I know – I’ve been delinquent in writing lately. But I’ve been a little ill, a lot tired, and very busy. Hopefully, the first two on my list of excuses has eased a bit. And I mean a bit.

But this post is not about me.

This past weekend, our region was hit with the worst Nor’easter in 15 years. We had over 7 inches of rain that flooded streams and rivers…and where is that water supposed to go?

New Milford was hit with horrendous flooding, as were many communities here in Northern New Jersey. Lodi and Bound Brook got most of the news coverage – and deservedly so.

However, here in New Milford, we got hit hard, too. Hundreds of families were evacuated. If you know of the Prospect Street park near Saint Matthew’s, the water was so high, it was just below the rims on the basketball hoops, which stand upwards of 10 feet above the ground. This flood stretched straight through New Milford. The high school football field could have been used for water polo. Evacuations were done via motor boat. These were scenes that we only see on television newscasts, scenes rarely every seen in Northern New Jersey. But it was happening in our New Milford.

Our police chief said the flooding was worse than Hurricane Floyd a few years ago.

Standing at River Road, I could not believe my eyes as I looked south. Where there were once homes and a roadway, there was now just water, flowing as if there was nothing wrong. I could only think of the families whose homes were now underwater. I could only think of those families from throughout our community who were devastated.

Here at church, we were without lights for a good chunk of Monday. I don’t know when the lights came back on since I was out trying to see how people were doing. Not that I could do anything tangible.

But the people who did something should be commended. What more can we say about our police officers who worked to protect? What more can be said about our public works employees who tried everything to prepare our community for the coming rain and worked overtime to start the clean up process? And county emergency workers who jumped in to help the displaced and try to help them rebuild their lives.

However, there are volunteers in our midst who went out and spent the past couple of days serving and protecting. Our volunteer fire fighters were on calls all Sunday night, all Monday, and even this  Tuesday morning. They rescued people trapped in homes and helped others pump water out of their basements. I watched them late last night from the parsonage as they returned to the fire house here on Center Street. They looked tired.

And the first responders, also volunteers, were out all night and day as well. They helped rescue and treat the sick and the scared. They, too, looked like they could sleep for days.

It tells you something about a community where people give their free time to protect and serve. It tells you something about a community where people risk their lives to keep their community safe. And most especially, it tells you something about a community where a bunch of people act so selflessly to make sure that their neighbors are protected.

I can’t say anymore about these great men and women. While our New Milford is facing a long clean-up, we can only thank our Father in heaven for these volunteers, these police officers, and these boro workers who worked harder than hard to make this home of ours the best place to live in New Jersey.

From the LCMS press office … very interesting news, something I’ll write about later:

Fiscal conference aims to bolster national, district budgets
March 8, 2007
By Roland Lovstad

In the wake of offerings that aren’t keeping pace with costs, an LCMS Fiscal Conference, meeting Feb. 8-10 in St. Louis, focused on shoring up the district and national budgets of the Synod so they can provide the essential services that congregations have agreed to do together as a Synod.

Emerging from the conference was a resolution encouraging all LCMS congregations “to vigorously support the Synod’s mission statement” and suggesting a formula to increase giving for the general work programs of districts and the national Synod.  The conference also urged careful study of the report from the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Funding the Mission, especially its recommendation for a “Stewardship Renaissance.”

LCMS President Gerald B. Kieschnick encouraged the conference to give its counsel to the floor committee on program and finance for the July 14-19 LCMS convention.  ”I will make a commitment to you that I will honor that recommendation and will take it to the Council of Presidents [COP] for its input and, hopefully, its affirmation,” Kieschnick said.

Meeting after the fiscal conference, the COP agreed to set up regional gatherings of districts, which would collaborate to help congregations raise their unrestricted support of district ministries by 1.5 percent annually through 2010.  In turn, districts would increase their unrestricted support to the national Synod by 0.5 percent annually through 2010.

(more…)

I laughed this morning when I read this story in the Bergen Record about a church in Missouri whose mission is to get people to stop complaining. Obviously this church doesn’t have anyone from New York/New Jersey in it because complaining is a way of life here. It is an art form. To have people from New Jersey and New York to stop complaining is like telling them to stop saying “coffee” the proper way.

You know, “caw-fee”

It is just not happening.

Couldn’t help but smile at the story in this morning’s New York Times detailing the incredible town of Paramus here in Northern New Jersey. It is truly the shopping capital of Bergen County!! Take the opening lines from the article:

It is fitting that the first store drivers heading south on Route 17 see as they enter town is a Stop & Shop. After all, Paramus is one of the nation’s strongest shopping magnets, generating roughly $5 billion a year in retail sales, an amount about equal to the gross domestic product of Cambodia, Nicaragua or the sultanate of Brunei.

There are larger malls and there are fancier malls elsewhere, but few places rival the sheer concentration of stores in this otherwise unremarkable suburb 18 miles northwest of Times Square. In an already densely populated state, Paramus has more parking spots than people.

Four major malls and dozens of smaller shopping centers are packed into 10 square miles. Paramus is home to Garden State Plaza, New Jersey’s largest mall, whose two million square feet of stores attract 20 million shoppers a year. The town has 27,000 residents, and about 2,700 stores. There is a Saks Fifth Avenue and a Sears; at least two dozen chains, including Borders, Old Navy and Macy’s, have more than one outlet within Paramus’s boundaries.

It is a Faustian bargain that brings 200,000 cars a day into town during December, turning the roads into virtual parking lots, but also keeps property tax rates in Paramus relatively low — $1.55 per $100 of assessed value, compared with $3.88 in Maywood, the next town over.

And there is no sign of letup: two of the four malls are spending $100 million each to spruce themselves up, big-box stores are sprouting where strip malls and bygone department stores once sat, and traffic seems to get worse each year…

And there is one thing about shopping in Paramus that most people don’t know: stores are closed on Sundays. I thought I would never get used to the Blue Laws, but even I now have a longing for less traffic on the roadways on Sunday afternoons. I guess I am becoming a New Jerseyian more and more each day…

To read the story at the Times, click here.