Skate park to be dedicated to Tyler J. Sellers
On Saturday, September 24 at 1 p.m., the 1st Street Skate Park that opened in Bayonne on June 21 will be dedicated to Tyler J. Sellers, who died riding his skateboard on November 2, 2015 at the age of 20 after being struck by a car in Bayonne.
Before the opening of the skate park, skaters were relegated to what was essentially a parking lot with a few ramps – a far cry from the real street features of today’s park. The Bayonne Bridge is only a few hundred feet away, enhancing the park’s “street” style. The park includes a concrete mini pipe, four-set staircase, and enough rails to keep grind-happy skaters from tearing up private property.
Former Bayonne teacher becomes North Arlington superintendent
Stephen Yurchak, former Bayonne Teacher of the Year, was a special education teacher and interim vice principal at Bayonne High School before leaving the district in 2011 to become a principal at Secondary Academy, an alternative high school and middle school within the Somerset County Educational Services Commission. He then went on to become superintendent of the North Arlington school district as of July 1 of this year.
ShopRite to host “Help Bag Hunger” Event
On Wednesday, September 21, at 11 a.m., ShopRite will host its annual “Help Bag Hunger” event, where Mayor James Davis will help bag groceries for charity. ShopRite will help collect donations to be used to fill pantries of local charities, including food banks, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, child care centers, battered women’s shelters, senior citizen programs, drug rehab centers, programs for the mentally and physically disabled, after-school programs, and other organizations that aid those in need.
Weight room dedication ceremony
Bayonne High School is holding a dedication ceremony for its new Weight Room Strength and Conditioning Facility Renovation Project at 5 p.m. in the BBOED Meeting Room at 669 Avenue A. The new facility will have the capacity to train 80-100 student athletes. The facility will feature state-of-the-art equipment geared specifically toward competitive training for high school athletes and a Hall of Fame.
Bayonne man sentenced to 22 years in prison for child porn
Erik Vanderbeck, 49, of Bayonne was sentenced to 22 years in prison on September 12 for production and distribution of child pornography, according to a release from the U.S. District Attorney. The release reported that Vanderbeck posed as both a teenage boy and a teenage girl online to solicit underage females to produce images of themselves. He met various underage girls in internet chat rooms, soliciting nude images and threatening to post them online unless they provided more, according to the U.S. District Attorney.
According to a local newspaper in Missouri, Vanderbeck was caught when he allegedly sent one of his victims, a 14-year old girl in Owensville, Missouri, a sex toy with his name and address allegedly on the package in November of 2013. According to the U.S. District Attorney, Vanderbeck was convicted of two counts of production of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.
According to the U.S. District Attorney, when searching Vanderbeck’s home on July 22, 2014, officers recovered digital child pornography stored on his computer. Several of his victims said they produced images of child sexual abuse out of fear and in response to his threats, according to the release.
In addition to the prison term, Vanderbeck was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release.
Remember Me holds raffle
Remember Me, a local nonprofit founded to spread motorcycle-safety awareness, held a raffle to raise funds to send kids to driving school through an essay contest. The winner won a $24,000 Harley-Davidson. “The event turned out wonderful,” said organizer Marie Behringer. “At the last minute they sold all the tickets for the raffles for the bikes. We were trying to get $5,000 of tickets sold; they sold them all in three days. We panicked at the last minute because we thought we wouldn’t sell all the tickets, and the family would have to make up the money.”
Readers can support Remember Me by donating at Rememberme316.org.