PRINCETON ADDRESS PROVES ATTRACTIVE TO WILDLIFE, TOO: Red foxes are not unusual in this area, according to Princeton Animal Cointrol Officer Mark Johnson. One local resident up on the Ridge has made several sightings recently.
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A township resident living on Ridge View Circle called Town Topics last week to report several fox sightings. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, reported that she had lived on the ridge since 1967 without ever having seen a fox until recently, when she made three sightings at times of the day when she thought that foxes are expected to be asleep. Thinking that these nocturnal creatures are not supposed to be out during the day, she called Town Topics and Mayor Phyllis Marchand, who put her in touch with the Township Administrator, who in turn sent Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson to investigate.
When Councilman Andrew Koontz recently responded to a monthly overview of activity within the Princeton Borough Police Department, he took exception to a series of incidents involving skateboard-related damage on the Borough's public plaza next to the Princeton Public Library.
Skateboarding shouldn't do damage to public property, he said, but, as has been the case for many years downtown, the larger question it raises is that of a recreational activity without a home, and the possibility that a skateboard park could cure headaches for towns sustaining damage to public areas, and, make life easier for boarders who are largely unwelcome in public spaces.
"The truth is, they don't have a place to go, but the plaza is occupied by all types of people and it's not good for the property if you have skateboards in there," Mr. Koontz said later in an interview.
After attending an opera with the first class of the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP) in 2001, co-founder John Webb drove some of the students back to their homes in Trenton. He was disappointed with the performance, and while he appreciated the patience of the students, he did not expect that they had enjoyed the production. He pulled into a dangerous neighborhood where one of the students lived, and as she left she said, "Thank you, that was very beautiful and I will go again."
While telling the story, Dr. Webb displayed his commitment to the mission of the program, which is that every student deserves equal access to the experiences and resources necessary for college preparation, whether it be through exposure to the arts or something as fundamental as academic enrichment. PUPP enrolls students from Princeton, Ewing, and Trenton Central High Schools in an academically intense, three-year college preparatory experience. The high-achieving students come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds where they may lack the necessary resources to prepare them to apply and be accepted into selective colleges and universities. The program is now well-established with a steady faculty and curriculum. A month into its sixth summer session, it is being led by co-coordinators Jason Klugman and Torey Wilson. PUPP will be hosting a conference in the fall for representatives of other institutions looking to create similar programs.