Support for local veterans grows as a garden in U.F.
Town to develop veterans' memorial committee
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD - As local military service men and women continue to fight on the front lines, they remain in the forefront of community members' minds.

At the Feb. 28 Township Committee meeting, veteran Bruce Novozinsky of Allentown presented plans to create a veterans' memorial garden in the township and to provide more assistance for community members with loved ones serving in the armed forces.

Novozinsky said community members formed The Committee to Honor Those Who Serve in October. The group chartered itself to recognize those who are serving or have served in the Global War on Terrorism, he said.

"On Feb. 4, 2008, our official functions came to a close when we presented the community with the plaque of remembrance," Novozinsky said of the committee. "The rewarding lesson I learned on February 4, as honored veterans of all wars sat on the stage at Allentown High School, is the humility and tears of each man from wars long waged when they realized that were not forgotten."

Mayor Steve Alexander discussed the possibility of forming a new committee for Upper Freehold veterans, and Novozinky said he wholeheartedly agrees that the township should.

Novozinsky said The Committee To Honor Those Who Serve should be renamed The Upper Freehold Township Committee To Honor Those Who Have Served (UFTCHS) and should apply for nonprofit status.

Alexander said the committee would recognize township men and women serving in the military as well as veterans.

The mayor also said he wants to make sure the families of those residents who are serving are aware of all the government programs and assistance available to them. Novozinsky said the new committee

could set up hot lines for those eligible for assistance.

Alexander, Novozinsky and formerMayorWilliamMiscoski will help form the new committee.

"We will draw up the criteria and qualifications to be a member, approach those being considered and create a charter for that committee," Novozinsky said.

Novozinsky also asked the governing body to set aside a parcel of land for a memorial garden. He proposed the committee designate an area of township land adjacent to the Cream Ridge Golf Course as the garden site.

Committeeman Stanley Moslowski Jr. agreed with Novozinsky, but said the township should also consider the former Fiscor property, adjacent to the municipal building, for the garden site.

The memorial garden, which would be publicly funded, would measure approximately 78 feet by 54 feet. The garden would be constructed by volunteers but maintained by the township, according to Novozinsky.

"A memorial plaque will be erected, but no names of any committee member, political or on the UFTCHS, will be inscribed," Novozinsky said.

Novozinsky described the garden as a simple, public place of reflection enclosed by natural borders of trees and bushes. He said the site should have a memorial stone, a fountain, benches and memorial plaques commemorating each Congressauthorized war, police action and conflict that America has engaged in.

Novozinsky said Allentown resident Ron Dunster would contribute medallions he created to depict every United States war.

Novozinsky added, "I will petition the Pentagon that once erected, the garden be a place where American flags can be ceremoniously discarded honorably."