Acupuncture in Chatham Borough, NJ

Chatham football player Tommy Douglas is the Chatham Wealth Management Athlete of the WeekPhoto Credit: TAP Chatham

Chatham tight end Tommy Douglas with the ball after a catchPhoto Credit: Glenn Clark

Tommy Douglas (5) and Michael MacAniff after a Chatham touchdown in overtime vs. Warren HillsPhoto Credit: Glenn Clark

Tommy Douglas gets up for the pass from Will Allen in the state playoff win vs. Wayne ValleyPhoto Credit: Glenn Clark

Chatham football player Tommy Douglas is the Chatham Wealth Management Athlete of the WeekPhoto Credit: TAP Chatham

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By Ed Barmakian

Published November 7, 2024 at 10:16 AM

CHATHAM, NJ – Tommy Douglas admits he was getting bullied a little bit on the football field as a 15-year-old sophomore linebacker for Chatham last season, butting helmets with the likes of Mount Olive's Aidan Lynch, now playing at Virginia Tech.

“That was my welcome to the varsity moment,” Douglas said. “I was running into offensive linemen who were 260. I weighed 180 and was getting bullied out there. I knew I needed to have an advantage coming into this season. We had great summer training to get in shape; I never had done anything like that before. We ran as a team almost every day, did change-of-direction drills, and lifted three or four times a week.”

Douglas went from 6-3, 180 to a much stronger 6-4, 210, and it's made a difference in his game, where he's now the one administering the hits, not taking them.

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“I got a lot of reps last year on the varsity field and it's paying off," he said. "I love being a part of any position, but linebacker is really fun. You get to deliver the blow and be the hammer. ”

That's the role Douglas played last Friday night when he collected nine tackles, including a hit that forced a fumble (see below) that he recovered in the third quarter of Chatham's 24-7 win vs. Wayne Valley.

Douglas played a key role when the Cougars shut out Wayne Valley in the second half and held the Indians to 33 yards rushing for the game, an average of just two yards per carry. The win broke a nine-year postseason win drought for Chatham.

Tommy Douglas is the Chatham Wealth Management Athlete of the Week.

“Tommy is a great kid who has a really high football IQ; he understands the game and he's also a leader even though he's only a junior,” Chatham head coach Evan Picariello said. "He has really good leadership qualities. Even though he was a sophomore last year, he was taking to the technique we were teaching him and showing it on the field.

“He was a little overmatched physically but he still played very well in spots, especially on defense where we used him. This year, he's a two-way player for us and he's a stud. He's one of our best linebackers, we utilize him as a blocking tight end and a receiving threat. You throw a jump ball to a 6-4 kid, you're in good shape.”

So far, Douglas has nine catches from the tight end position, but when Chatham lines him up wide, it draws extra attention from the opposing defense, and rightly so.

“Tommy is a terrific athlete,” Todd Pivnick, Chatham's offensive coordinator, said. “He has a lot of potential and as the year has gone on, he's grown more and more into his body. Every game he just gets better and better.”

In its seven wins this season, Chatham (7-2) has held opponents to seven points or fewer in six of them. Douglas has been highly active in the defensive scheme that has improved the Cougars' defense against the run.

“In our defensive structure right now, he's an outside linebacker, but he's very versatile, he could be a defensive end, he could be a stand-up outside linebacker or he could be an inside linebacker,” Picariello said. “There are three positions he fits the mold for defensively.”

Against Wayne Valley, Chatham held a 14-7 lead at the halftime break and that's when Douglas and his teammates decided that there would be no more points scored against them.

“We said, ‘if they don’t score, they can't win,” Douglas said. “They had 8 plays in the third quarter. There wasn't really a lot of pressure on us. We just needed to get the job done. We didn't feel like underdogs.”

In addition to his defense, which helps Chatham get the ball in the hands of senior quarterback Will Allen and the offense, a more subtle contribution is his blocking at tight end.

“He's forced a lot of turnovers and made a lot of tackles, which keeps the defense off the field and gets us on the field,” Allen said. “Blocking, he's opened up a lot of holes for me, Al (McWilliams) and Caden (Gabriele).”

Douglas has been playing football in Chatham since he was in sixth grade and it was pretty much a given that he'd be playing the sport as the son of Jets GM Joe Douglas. His father was an offensive tackle at the University of Richmond, where he played 45 consecutive games for the Spiders.

“He wanted me to be an offensive lineman,” the 16-year-old said. “I have a lot of passion for the sport. There is a lot of stress in the family during the football season.”

Douglas, who also plays baseball at CHS, won't turn 17 until late April. A year ago, his birthday fell on the day of the NFL draft.

Editor's note: The Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Chatham Wealth Management in recognition of the commitment a Chatham athlete has made to their sport, their school and their community. For over twenty years, Chatham Wealth Management has been committed to putting our clients first by crafting customized investment solutions. Call us at 973-635-4275 or email us at [email protected] to discuss how we can help meet your financial goals. To learn more about our products and team, visit us at www.chathamwealth.com.

To the Editor:

If I ever find myself a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and in a position in which I must use my “phone a friend” lifeline, Mark Lois, running for re-election to the Chatham Township Committee, would undoubtedly be on my list of friends to call.

It turns out Mark Lois and I graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the same class. Mark Lois was a perfect fit for RPI. Intelligent, creative, and a little bit nerdy.

Even though Mark and I both graduated from RPI the same year, I didn’t meet Mark until I joined the Colony Pool Club Advisory Committee. From our very first conversation about Colony, it was evident to me how much Mark cared about the pool. In true RPI fashion, Mark dedicated hours to analyzing pool data and summarizing the results in beautifully constructed reports that provided valuable insight to our Advisory Committee.

In the upcoming year, decisions are going to be made by the Township Committee that could forever alter the beautiful, natural setting of Colony Pool Club. Currently, Mark Lois is the only Township Committee Member that is also a member of Colony. Mark worked alongside our pool committee this summer to make sure of a better outcome for pool construction: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/sections/government/articles/survey-results-are-in-for-colony-pool-wall-repair-design-66-1-of-respondents-prefer-the-curved-design-that-exists-now. If Mark Lois is not re-elected, I’m truly concerned about what the future of our pool may look like.

Not only is Mark committed to ensuring the Colony Pool Club is maintained and operated in a manner that best suits its membership, Mark, an engineer, has the aptitude to fully comprehend and contribute to conversations about topics that really matter to our small town – such as road maintenance, stormwater management, facility maintenance, etc. In public meetings, it is evident that Mark reads the reports, asks important questions, and works to make sure projects are done right and our tax dollars are wisely spent.

I used the adjective nerdy to describe Mark. This is a compliment to the vast knowledge my “phone a friend” has and that Colony Pool Club, and our Township, cannot afford to be without. Join me in re-electing Mark Lois this Tuesday.

Erin Burgo

Chatham Township

Slide presented by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to show similar size of Energy Transmission linesPhoto Credit: NJ Board Of Public Utilities

A few operational projects NJBPU presented to represent similar projects of the planned Transmission linePhoto Credit: New Jersey Board of Public Utilities

Onshoring Transmission lines from Offshore Wind TurbinesPhoto Credit: NJ Board Of Public Utilities

Slide presented by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to show similar size of Energy Transmission linesPhoto Credit: NJ Board Of Public Utilities

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By Jim Lonergan

Published October 17, 2024 at 10:45 PM

WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ – After months of requests from the mayors of Sea Girt, Manasquan, Wall Township, and Howell, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) held a meeting to address resident concerns about the planned offshore wind project. Since May 2024, these towns have been pushing for this meeting. The BPU spent 1.25 hours presenting their case, followed by a period where residents could voice their support or concerns about the 6,400 MW transmission line planned to run through local neighborhoods. However, the meeting did not include a Q&A session.

Three points most seemed to agree on:

Beyond that, there was little agreement between the BPU, town residents, and the governing bodies attending the event regarding the facts.

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There were 2 core challenges related to the transmission line:

To address this pressing issue of the towns, Nick Baldanko, an engineer from Levitan Associates (LAI), the consulting firm hired by BPU, attempted to calm the residents' fear by asking “are there similar projects to this?” and he responded “yes, there are lots of similar projects that have been around for a long time with slight differences.” He also stated, “these lines are typically in densely populated areas.”

This statement from the BPU echoed a letter that was sent by Sophie Dolashewich, Acting Director of Government Affairs, BPU, on July 11th to Sea Girt Mayor Fetzer in response to the Mayors earlier letter asking the BPU “are there health and safety concerns having a 6,400MW transmission line running through densely populated neighborhoods?” to which the BPU responded, “there are no health and safety concerns expected. This project is like most other electrical infrastructure projects and must adhere to the appropriate health and safety standards of the industry and State."

Yet, on a number of separate conference calls Sea Girt and the Manasquan governing body members had with members of the BPU in June, when asked if there were similar projects of this scope and whether there has been testing on projects of this scale, the BPU staff answered “no and no, but it's not a problem. ”

During the BPU meeting, Baldanko spent time taking the audience through what he deemed “similar, yet slightly different projects.” He went on to review a number of projects, which have been summarized on the grid below:

OSW= Offshore wind, Standard = electric lines transferring from standard energy

At the end of the BPU presentation, Sea Girt resident Glenn Hughes directly challenged Baldenco's statement of “similar projects” and went through in-depth starting with the Neptune line “it does not go through a single residential neighborhood, it is 1/10th the MW power of this proposed line and contrary to what was stated. Let's be honest with ourselves here guys. Nothing like this has ever been done before. So much power has never been so close to so many homes anywhere, ever on the planet. There is not a single human being in this room tonight that can say with any level of certainty that this is going to be safe or unsafe for that matter. And that's just a risk nobody in NJ nor living in America should have to live with that risk."

Sea Girt resident and energy expert Catherine Luthin, who attended the meeting, and who has advised public utilities and corporations, has been regulatory advisor to global energy associations, and served as a member of Mayor Bloomberg's NYC Energy Policy Task Force, after the meeting said, “statements made in the July 11th BPU letter and at the meeting that this type of infrastructure is common. To be clear, nothing about this proposed project is common. It is completely unique, which is why comprehensive studies of the impact are warranted. The BPU examples provided were absolutely not similar in scope. Nothing like the Pre-built Infrastructure (PBI) project actually exists in the world and nothing like it has ever been built in residential neighborhoods.”

Manasquan resident Madeline McCarthy spoke to the transmission line, "there is no science that says it is safe. All the existing transmission projects presented tonight pale in magnitude to what's planned to go into Manasquan. Studies show nuclear energy is safest. We would like a study so that we will be safe."

2. The governing bodies and residents of the towns have raised concerns about the unknown impact and risks of building the transmission line on the environment and existing infrastructure.

Baldanko stated that the transmission lines "will generally be buried 3 to 5 feet below the surface, with some areas requiring depths of up to 15 feet." This contradicts the July 11, 2024, letter from BPU's Dolashewich to Sea Girt Mayor Don Fetzer, which said the lines would be buried at depths of "3.5 to 8 feet." Mayor Fetzer added, "There are no detailed maps of the underground utilities. While we have some knowledge of what's underground, our information on the depth and width of our own and other utilities is limited. We've made it clear that the lines must be buried deep enough to avoid interfering with utilities, as any disruption would lead to added costs and delays for the town."

The core issue is that the BPU and the towns lack any detailed underground maps showing the exact location and depth of existing town utility lines. This uncertainty extends to project bidders, which could significantly impact the cost, timeline, and scope of the project. Mayor Fetzer explained, "The BPU's standard response to these largely unknown and significant unanswered questions has been “that will be a discussion to have with the developers.”

Additional Concerns:

Editor's Note: Due to the length of the meeting (4 hours), we at TAPinto Gold Coast will run a 4-part mini-series over the next 2 weeks to address core topics covered: 1) Scope & Safety of the transmission project vs similar operating projects 2. Safety concerns of the 6,400 MW running through an active EPA Superfund site 3. $50 million Federal Grant intent 4. Disclosure and Transparency of the Project by the BPU