Now open: Jersey City’s Pershing Field ice skating rink
JERSEY CITY – The Ice Skating Rink at Pershing Field opened for the winter season on Saturday, Nov. 5.
Each week the rink will be open Wednesdays through Sundays. On Wednesdays and Thursdays there will be one two-and-a-half hour session each day. There will be two skating sessions each Friday from 3:30 to 5:45 p.m., and 6 -7:45 p.m. There will be three sessions on Saturdays from 2:30 to 4:15 p.m.; 4:30 to 6:15 p.m., and 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. Sundays will have two skate sessions from 12:15 to 2 p.m. and 2:15 to 4:45 p.m.
Adult Jersey City residents pay $3 per session, while teens and children (under the age of 18) who are residents pay $2 per session. Senior residents pay one dollar a session. Proof of residency is required to receive these discounted rates.
Higher admission fees apply to residents of other towns.
The rink also has different styles of ice skates available for rental.
Figure skates cost $3 to rent, per session, for adults and children. Hockey skates are $4, per session, for both adults and children. Seniors pay one dollar for all skate rentals.
The entrance to the rink at Pershing Field can be found on Summit Avenue between Manhattan and Central avenues.
The ice rink season will end March 18, 2012.
For more information about ice rink hours, call (201) 547-6886.
College should not have paid for prez’s Poland trip, attorney says
HUDSON COUNTY — An inquiry by the county’s attorney has determined that a trip taken to Poland by several prominent Hudson County officials was a personal trip and expenses for Hudson County Community College President Glen Gabert should not have been reimbursed by the college.
The inquiry was prompted by the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders last month when they learned that all the employees – except for Gabert — who took the week long trip to Poland had paid their own way.
“Hotel and ground transportation in Poland, however, was paid by the hosts for the trip,” the report said. “The trip consisted of sightseeing and visiting museums, palaces, and other tourist attractions.”
The report said that everyone who took the trip except Gabert had viewed the trip as personal and used vacation time for the trip.
The trip to Poland took place from Aug. 8 to 15 after two county executives in Poland invited Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise after meeting him in trips to Germany in 2007 and 2009. Bill Gaughan, DeGise’s chief of staff, attended the trip to Poland on DeGise’s behalf. Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith was also invited, but declined the invitation.
While Bill LaRosa, director of Cultural Affairs and Tourism for Hudson County, in a Sept. 7 memo said the purpose of the trip was to develop contacts that might benefit local governments, business, and artists, the report said, “It is clear that all the county employees who participated in the trip to Poland … undertook this activity with a clear understanding that it was a personal trip or a vacation.”
Gabert, however, did not use vacation time and had some of his expenses during the trip reimbursed by the college.
In its recommendations, the report said Gabert should retroactively and voluntarily apply vacation time to his Poland trip, and that the college’s travel policy should be amended to include the college president – which would help avoid situations like this in the future.
AMCC will provide local disposal sites for dangerous prescription drugs
The American Medicine Chest Challenge (AMCC) will hold a public health initiative event to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse in Hudson County on Sat., Nov. 12.
The New Jersey event is being coordinated by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, Sheriffs’ Association of New Jersey, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to AMCC Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the PDFNJ, Angelo M. Valente, “the goal of this community based public health initiative is to inform New Jersey families of the need to dispose of their unused, unwanted, and expired medicine because these excess medicines can be a danger lurking in the family home.”
Residents in any county of New Jersey who want to dispose of their unused, unwanted, and expired medicine should visit www.americanmedicinechest.com to find their local collection site.