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The Arc of Union County Marks 50 Years Of Helping the Disabled and Their Families By SUSAN M. DYCKMAN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

The roots of The Arc of Union County go back 50 years, to a small group of families who, determined to keep their sons and daughters with mental retardation at home, set out to build a support network for their children and themselves.

That group was designated as the Union County Unit of the New Jersey Group for Retarded Children in 1949 and, within one year, had established its first training center in Roselle.

Out of those meetings, around coffee tables and countless fundraising bake sales, evolved The Arc of today.

The organization celebrated its 50th anniversary with special events throughout 1999, including a country western dance, public health fair, picnic, staff versus radio station softball game, annual golf outing and Candlelight Ball.

“The Arc is touching more lives than its founders ever imagined,” said Executive Director Frank X. Caragher.

A notforprofit organization, The Arc of Union County serves 700 individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. With a $13.5 million budget, 350 employees and numerous volunteers, it provides residential services, transportation, educational, child care and clinical services and family support through 18 group homes, three work centers, two child development daycare centers, a summer camp and an adult medical daycare facility.

“Arc went from the coffee table to the boardroom table,” Mr. Caragher said of families’ efforts to formalize their alliance in the early days of the organization.

As thinking shifted away from the recommended institutional placement of individuals with mental retardation, parents became powerful advocates for their children’s right to be educated in the public school system. Families created recreational activities and dropin care programs.

“They networked support and op portunities for education,” explained

Mr. Caragher, “allowing a generation with disabilities to become more prepared to live in the community.”

As that generation grew into adulthood, The Arc launched its first group home, “First Step,” on the grounds of Runnells Hospital in the mid1960s.

The home offered individuals their first taste of independent living while it gave parents some personal freedom.

As the independent living program expanded, The Arc faced challenges presented by a public that was, at times, reluctant to welcome group home residents into their neighborhoods. The organization succeeded in addressing neighbors’ concerns with factual information about mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

Eager to serve a new generation, The Arc opened the Murray Hill Child

Development Center in the 1970s to meet the needs of infants with developmental delays.

One of the highlights of The Arc’s anniversary year was the September opening of the Bright Beginning Child Development Center in Cranford, an inclusive daycare center for children ages three months to five years.

What makes the program unique to Union County is its commitment to bring together nondisabled children with youngsters with developmental disabilities in an environment where the children learn to understand and appreciate each other’s varying abilities.

“It’s an integrated childcare opportunity,” explained Mr. Caragher. “It’s inclusive, where a child with disabilities and a child without disabilities are on equal playing fields.”

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS… The Arc of Union County’s Residential Auxiliary, a volunteer group with the goal of assuring safe and comfortable home environments for individuals with developmental disabilities, recently held a “Holiday Homes” tour as part of special events celebrating the group’s 50 th anniversary year. Lydia Pagliniwan, left, of Scotch Plains, a member of the Arc’s Board of Directors, enjoyed the tour with residents of the Arc’s Fanwood home. Residents, from left, are: Ann Marie Kelly, Joey Hazucka and Lisa Provence.

When the program opened, the center enrolled 10 children. Enrollment had climbed to 30 by this month, and Mr. Caragher expects that number to jump by another 10 by March.

“We’ll probably stop at 40,” he said, “to make sure the resources cover those 40 children as well as we anticipated them covering the first 10. As more child care is inclusive, the next generation of adults (with disabilities) will find less obstacles to their inclusion in the community.”

The year’s special events concluded with a December 11 “Holiday Homes” tour sponsored by The Arc’s Residential Auxiliary. This volunteer group is dedicated to assuring a safe and comfortable home environment for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Two threehour tours provided an opportunity to visit group homes and their residents in Plainfield, Fanwood, Scotch Plains, Clark and Roselle.

Other highlights of The Arc’s anniversary year were its receipt of The Arc of New Jersey’s 1999 Communicator’s Award for the local chapter’s 50th anniversary video, which, in showcasing the people, programs and services of The Arc, unveiled what Arc insiders call “the best kept secret in Union County.”

In addition, Mr. Caragher was awarded the Community Health Law Project’s prestigious Ann Klein Advocate Award in recognition of “his strong and enduring leadership to the disability community.”

Looking ahead, The Arc’s Annual Candlelight Ball will take place on Saturday, April 29, 2000, at L’Affaire in Mountainside. The program will honor Assemblyman Richard H. Bagger (R22nd) of Westfield, along with ScheringPlough and Martin and Roberta Makow for their efforts on behalf of individuals with disabilities.

“We look forward to our next 50 years with a single goal of continuing to be the organization of choice for people with developmental disabilities and their families,” said Mr. Caragher.

Arts, Senior Programs Among 2000 Priorities Of Freeholder Sullivan

By PAUL J. PEYTON

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

ELIZABETH – The arts, economic development, an emphasis on senior citizen programs and continuation of a stable Union County government tax rate are among the priorities of incoming Freeholder Chairman Daniel P. Sullivan of Elizabeth as the county enters the 21st century.

In a phone interview with The Westfield Leader and The Times of Scotch Plains and Fanwood, Mr. Sullivan said he intends to have “a great emphasis on some programs for the senior population.”

Mr. Sullivan also wants to continue the Freeholder Scholarship Program which was initiated this year by Freeholder Chairman Nicholas P. Scutari.

The program is open to county residents who attend Union County College full time and are maintaining a “B” or 3.0 average and have a family income of $75,000 or less.

Also, the incoming chairman said he expected the board to fund a “scaled down” Access 2000 grant program. That initiative was begun in 1998 when Mr. Sullivan chaired the board.

This program is designed to place computers in all classrooms in the county by providing matching funds to local school districts.

Mr. Sullivan said he wants to increase funding to the H. E. A. R. T. (History, Education and Arts Reaching Thousands) Grant program. Last year the board funded the program to the tune of $150,000. Mr. Sullivan said he intends to recommend funding of $200,000 in the board’s 2000 budget.

“We just get a tremendous response on that program,” Mr. Sullivan explained.

He said, based on preliminary budget reports, he expects the board will keep the county tax levy flat “at a minimum.” The county tax levy has

been reduced the last three years under the Democratic majority.

“I think we are in the best shape we have been in the last 10 years,” Mr. Sullivan noted, when asked about the economic condition of the county at this time.

Other priorities for the board in 2000 also include a joint venture with the City of Plainfield to construct an office building in the county’s third largest municipality behind Elizabeth and Union Township.

Also, an ad hoc committee, formed this year by Freeholder Scutari, is expected to deliver a report to the board by March 1 regarding a proposal for an open space and recreation fund to be supported through a special tax. Such a proposal is likely to go before voters as a referendum on the November election ballot.

The board has asked the committee to look at the prospect of creating such a fund in the county to support the county’s $46 million upgrade of the county’s parks and recreational facilities.

Scotch Plains voters passed a similar tax at the municipal level in November to support construction of ball fields on a 25acre section of the county’s 600acre Ashbrook Reservation. The tax, two cents per $100 assessed valuation, equates to an average of $23 per year per household, according to township officials.

Mr. Sullivan also said he intends to look at funding for road projects and downtown grants for municipalities, both of which received an emphasis in last year’s budget.

On another issue, Mr. Sullivan said the county may consider demolishing the Union County Police Headquarters building on North Avenue, as opposed to revamping and expanding the existing structure. The original proposal to revamp and expand the existing building was $15 million. He said building a new facility may actually prove to be less expensive. The facility will house expanded police facilities, the county’s forensic laboratory and a shelter for county vehicles.

Mr. Sullivan said a final decision in this regard, though, has not been made by the county.

“It is one of the top priorities (for the board),” Mr. Sullivan stated.

Mr. Sullivan will take over as chairman this Sunday, January 2. His Vice Chairman will be Freeholder Alexander Mirabella of Roselle Park.

The best way to predict the future... is to invent it.

County’s Growing Economy Topic for ‘Freeholders Forum’

ELIZABETH — Union County’s growing economy and its many quality of life improvements in the past year are the focus of the latest “Freeholders Forum” television show presented by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

The show will air on TV36 in Westfield, TV35 in Fanwood and Mountainside and TV34 in Scotch Plains through Sunday, January 16. Viewers should check cable listings for times and dates of the broadcasts.

Freeholder Chairman Nicholas P. Scutari and Vice Chairman Daniel P. Sullivan highlight the freeholder board’s role in promoting new jobs and business investment as well as new and improved parks and educational opportunities.

Local Police Report Attempted Abductions Of SchoolAge Children in Area Towns By DEBORAH MADISON

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

SCOTCH PLAINS —Three separate incidences of attempted child abduction have been reported between late November and early December in the towns of Westfield and Summit, according to police in those communities.

Letters were sent home to parents of school age children in both districts, warning of the incidents and advising parents to take extra precautions to protect their children.

Scotch PlainsFanwood Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Carol B. Choye also issued a recent letter on December 22, warning parents of these incidents in neighboring towns.

According to Sergeant Paul Kelley, head of Summit’s Juvenile Unit, on November 20, a blond man in his 20’s, in a rusty red sedan, tried to lure a 14yearold girl into his car by offering her money after asking for directions.

The incident occurred on a Saturday afternoon as the girl walked home from a friend’s house, the sergeant said. She ran to a friend’s yard and the man drove off.

The second incident occurred on the following Monday when a man driving a rusty red sedan, near the Kent Place School, drove up along side two girls who were running behind their track team and told them to get into his car.

The girls ran to join the rest of their track team and the man drove off. In this incident, the man was described as being older and of a different description than in the first incident.

The Westfield incident took place on December 6 near the Franklin Elementary School.

According to Westfield Chief of Police, Anthony J. Scutti, a man in his late 40’s, with white hair and a white mustache, driving a fourdoor white car, offered to give a Franklin School boy a ride home. The man told the boy that his mother had sent him because it was raining. The boy ignored the man and walked home.

Chief Scutti reported that these types of attempted abductions have occurred in Westfield before, but to his knowledge, have never involved any physical contact or successful attempts at abduction in which a child was actually forced into a car.

Whenever any type of attempted abduction occurs, the procedure has been for the police to inform the schools and for the schools to warn the parents, Chief Scutti explained.

The police also increase their patrols in those areas for a period of time, according to the Chief.

Chief Scutti stated that the children in these incidents did the right thing by running to a friend’s house and ignoring the stranger.

He also emphasized that when this type of incident occurs, it would be helpful to the police if the child could remember a description of the car or get a license plate number. However, he also stated that no child should put themselves at increased risk to get a license plate number.

The warning letter issued by Dr. Choye’s office also reported that the Township of Clark was one of the locations of an attempted abduction.

However, according to Sergeant Rob ert Sarneki in charge of Clark’s Youth

Aid Bureau, the inclusion of Clark was erroneous.

“The incident in Clark involved two older girls from the middle school being approached by a man in his 20’s, on foot, who asked the girls their names,” Sergeant Sarneki stated.

“This is not similar to any of the attempted abductions, nor would this qualify as an attempted abduction,” according to Sergeant Sarneki.

Richard Rodbart, Deputy First Assistant to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, said that his office does not have any direct involvement in these types of cases, unless specifically requested by local police departments.

The Prosecutor’s Office would assist the local police, only if requested, with

various aspects of an investigation, such as increased surveillance, coordination of local police departments or use of their crime lab for fingerprinting, according to Mr. Rodbart.

The Union County Prosecutor’s Office also circulates public information regarding specific crimes on their Web site, which they maintain in conjunction with Crime Stoppers International, Mr. Rodbart added.

School officials in local towns are advising parents to talk to their children about stranger awareness and to remind them to never approach a strange car.

Dr. Choye’s letter to parents also advised that children should walk to and from school in a group or with a buddy. They should also report to an adult if a stranger attempts to approach them.