Page 2 • Wednesday, November 22, 2017 • The Hammonton Gazette
TAB L E O F CO N T E N TS
The Hammonton Gazette
OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
OUR TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
FAITH FOCUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
CIVIC NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
HAMMONTON’S HISTORY . . . . . . 45
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT . . . . . . 57
HAMMONTON
FAMILY EYECARE
WHAT’S HOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
MIND GAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
HOROSCOPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
REAL ESTATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
SCORECARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Complete Eye Care For All Ages
www.hammontonfamilyeyecare.com
80 S. White Horse Pike • Hammonton • Tel: (609) 567-7479
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Daria Belbusti
Daria (née Diamantini) Belbusti, 92, of Hammonton, died friday, No-
vember 17, 2017, at atlantiCare Medical Center in Galloway twp.
Daria was born in Senigallia, italy, and moved to Hammonton in 1964.
She worked as a seamstress for Wm.B. Kessler Clothing Company and
as a line worker for White Hall Labs. She enjoyed cooking for her family,
going to the casino with her friends, her yearly trips back to her beloved
Senigallia and her winters in florida.
Daria was predeceased by her husband, francesco Belbusti; her par-
ents, Vittorio and Bianca Diamantini, and her sister, Diana Campus. She
is survived by her daughter, Bruna Kokalas and her husband, George of
Hammonton; brother, Dino Diamantini of Senigallia, italy; grandchild, thomas Kokalas
and his wife, Marci; great-grandchildren, Lila and Vivien; her nephew, Giancarlo Campus,
and niece, Paola Diamantini both of italy.
family and friends are invited to attend her church visitation on Saturday, November 25,
2017, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary of Mount
Carmel Parish-St Joseph Church, third and french Streets, in Hammonton.
Donations may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s research Hospital, 262 Danny thomas
Place, Memphis, tN 38105-1942.
arrangements made by the Marinella funeral Home.
Ann Jean Picarella
ann Jean Picarella, 68, died peacefully in her home surrounded by
family on Saturday, November 18, 2017.
She was born on february 17, 1949, in Philadelphia, Pa., to ernest and
Pauline (Servocky) Smith. after marrying and having four children, she
went to nursing school and started her career as a geriatric nurse caring
for the elderly for more than 30 years. in 2000, she was awarded “em-
ployee of the Year” at Greenbriar Nursing Center. those who knew ann
were acutely aware of how important family was to her. and family was
not bound by blood or marriage. if she welcomed you into her home, she
welcomed you into her family. ann will always be remembered for host-
ing Sunday dinners, organizing family barbeques and taking her family on vacation down
the shore. ann adored the nature around her and enjoyed spending time gardening and sitting
on her porch to admire the scenery. ann’s appreciation for the beauty of life is a result of
her faith and service to Jehovah God. as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, ann pleasured in shar-
ing scripture with family and friends as well as the community. ann will also be remembered
by her congregation for helping her friends in any way she could.
ann was predeceased by her parents, ernest and Pauline Smith, and her loving husband,
frank Picarella. ann is survived by her four children, Kim (ed) Hagaman, anthony ross,
Diana (Chris) eskridge and Kelly (Mark) turner; her five grandchildren, amanda Heraux,
ryan Costello, Carmelo Licata, Justin Hagaman and Vincent ross.
the family wishes to extend a special gratitude to the staff of atlantiCare Palliative Care,
Hospice, and the hospital at Mainland for providing the comfort and care to ann in her last
days. all of her last wishes were respected and honored.
Visitation will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on friday, November 24 at Marinella fu-
neral Home, 102 N. third St., Hammonton, followed by a memorial talk officiated by Mike
DiBattista. interment immediately following.
in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Watchtower Bible and tract Society of
NY. arrangements made by the Marinella funeral Home.
Final 2017 election results
by Gina Rullo
G azette S taff W riter
HaMMONtON—the election
results from November 7 have
been finalized by the county ac-
cording to the county clerk and the
clerk’s website.
Hammonton first
Mayor
Stephen DiDonato won with 2,263
votes defeating republican chal-
lenger Councilman Michael Pullia
who received 2,034 votes.
in the council races, republican
Councilman Joseph Giralo was the
top votegetter with 2,241, followed
by Hammonton first Councilman
thomas Gribbin with 2,210 and
Hammonton first candidate
Brooke Sacco with 2,076. former
councilman and republican candi-
date rock Colasurdo followed with
2,013, then republican candidate
franco Catania with 1,963 and fi-
nally Hammonton first candidate
richard alverio with 1,820. Gi-
ralo, Gribbin and Sacco will begin
their terms in January.
Newcomer Kelli fallon was tops
for the school board with 2,141,
followed by board president Sam
Mento iii with 2,054, then ray
Scipione with 1,848; erica Polito
with 1,784; and isaias arroyo had
699.
fallon, Mento and Scipione also
begin their terms in January.
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THG/Stephen Pistone. To purchase photos in The Gazette, call (609) 704-1940.
Attendees hit the dance floor while Gypsy Train played during the Hammonton Education Foundation’s Dream
Night at Kathedral. Saturday, November 18, 9:02 p.m.
Hammonton lake water testing results
LAKE, from Page 1
fessional Center, the center por-
tion of the beach at Hammonton
Lake Park, the right portion of the
beach at Hammonton Lake Park,
the lake shore near the Canoe
Club and water from fowler
Creek.
ein tested for levels of fecal
Coliform, Oxygen, Nitrates and
total Suspended Solids, as well as
the pH and water temperature of
each location and averaged the
values, yielding the following re-
sults:
• Fecal Coliform (counts per
100 milliliters): 123.29 at beach
center, 111.62 at beach right,
110.67 at Canoe Club, 62.52 at
Sail Lake, 300.78 at fowler
Creek.
• Oxygen (grams per milli-
liter): 8.55 at beach center, 8.40
at beach right, 8.21 at Canoe
Club, 7.75 at Sail Lake, 5.66 at
fowler Creek
• Total Suspended Solids (mil-
ligrams per milliliter): 1.78 at
beach center, 2.93 at beach right,
4.67 at Canoe Club, 2.70 at Sail
Lake, 4.22 at fowler Creek
• pH: 6.80 at beach center, 6.81
at beach right, 6.73 at Canoe
Club, 6.95 at Sail Lake, 6.31 at
fowler Creek
• Water Temperature (degrees
Celsius): 24.69 at beach center,
23.88 at right beach, 25.09 at
Canoe Club, 25.68 at Sail Lake,
20.25 at fowler Creek
• Nitrates (milligrams per
liter): .245 at beach center, .270
at right beach, .242 at Canoe
Club, .204 at Sail Lake, 1.218 at
fowler Creek
ein’s testing marked the fourth
year of results for lake water test-
ing, which committee chairman
Daniel Bachalis said is creating a
tangible sample of data that will
help the town address future is-
sues pertaining to lake water qual-
ity.
“it seems like we’re on the
same track we’ve been on, which
is good. We’re not getting any-
thing weird like … We’re devel-
oping a really serious body of data
here that will hopefully help us
make some decisions very, very
soon about the lake,” Bachalis
said.
ein’s key findings included the
fact that levels of fecal coliform
were significantly higher on aver-
age at fowler Creek than the other
locations, water temperature was
significantly lower on average at
fowler Creek than the other loca-
tions and total suspended solids
were significantly higher on aver-
age at fowler Creek and the
Canoe Club than the other loca-
tions. Bachalis addressed the sig-
nificantly higher levels at fowler
Creek and speculated that there is
an issue upstream that is contam-
inating fowler Creek before it
drains into the lake.
“the fact that beach right and
beach center are nearly a third of
the count in fowler Creek says to
me that something is coming into
fowler Creek further upstream
and then dispersing once it gets
into the lake,” Bachalis said.
Committee member Paul Gal-
letta said significant rainfall can
cause levels of fecal coliform to
spike due to runoff from storm
drains. Galletta also said he would
like to see the testing continue
each year so the committee can
continue to build a baseline that
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can be used to address the state of
the lake and the other areas that
affect it.
“What i like about doing this
every year is it takes the health of
the lake to see if anything has
gone haywire or gotten worse.
this is good information, but you
a have baseline and you can track
it every year to see what the health
of the storm drains, sewer system,
the whole bit,” Galletta said.
Hammonton resident William
Snoke attended the meeting, and
upon hearing the results of the re-
port, asked the committee why it
has been so long since the lake
was swimmable.
“Why has it taken so long to get
the lake up and running? ... Not
saying anybody was dragging
their feet, but that’s a long time.
What has been going on in the
meantime? What hasn’t been
going on in the meantime? Be-
cause i like to go down there and
just relax because work can be
stressful at times, so i go down
there and i remember what it used
to be,” Snoke said.
Several members of the com-
mittee responded to Snoke’s con-
cerns and said there is a multitude
of factors that have led to the
lake’s degradation and prolonged
swimming inactivity, including
the fact that the lake is slow-mov-
ing and does not quickly flush out
water that flows into it, which can
cause potential contaminants to
stagnate.
“it is a very slow lake; it doesn’t
turn over very much. So, you get
water coming into it, it takes a
week or more to completely flush
that old water out and get new
water in,” Bachalis said.
Galletta said he joined the
committee in 2006 and in years’
past, the committee was author-
ized by town council to attempt
to manually improve the quality
of the lake, but it was deemed
that there was enough demand
from the community to justify
spending the money required to
improving lake water quality
enough for people to swim in it.
“We just didn’t see the benefit
of the town dollars spent for the
people that would actually use
See QUALITY, Page 3