Mold plagues back-to-school: This week in Central Jersey history, Sept. 11-17

Mold contamination had been found in dozens of schools across New Jersey, postponing openings and closing some for weeks, it was reported on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.

The mold created by weather conditions that carried over into September were caught and cleaned in some cases before the first days of school. However, North Brunswick Township High School and Jonas Salk Middle School in Old Bridge had lost school days because of the issue.

Here's a look at events that happened in Central Jersey from five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years ago this week.

Five years ago

Sept. 11, 2018: At the Montgomery school board meeting, district business administrator Annette Wells said a school bus driver who got lost on the first day of school with a load of kindergarten students was dismissed.

Sept. 12: It was reported 19 people from four counties were arrested and about $100,000 of heroin was seized as mills in Plainfield and Elizabeth were dismantled after a joint investigation by the Union County Prosecutor's Office Narcotics Strike Force and the FBI Newark Hybrid Task Force.

Sept. 14-16: The Central Jersey Jazz Festival, which organizers said was an unprecedented collaborative partnership of three county seats, was held in downtown Flemington, New Brunswick and Somerville.

Sept. 15: Curtis Sliwa and four other Guardian Angels toured Manville in their signature red jackets and matching berets in an effort to educate residents on how to counter crime in their neighborhoods.

Sept. 15: In college football, Kansas beat Rutgers, 55-14, in Lawrence, Kansas.

10 years ago

Sept. 13, 2013: Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Timyan Cabbell, 34, was sentenced to 20 years on a charge of aggravated manslaughter, while co-defendant John Calhoun, 33, received a 12-year sentence for manslaughter in connection with the death of 17-year-old Paul Lecaros of Piscataway.

Sept. 14: Eric LeGrand, the first player in 144 seasons of Rutgers football to have his jersey number retired, had his No. 52 retired during a ceremony at halftime of Rutgers' game with Eastern Michigan at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway.

Sept. 14: The Local and Legend Music Festival, featuring The Bernie Worrell Orchestra with Steve Kimock, was held at Vasa Park in Mount Olive Township.

Sept. 15: It was reported that even though more than one-third of New Jersey residents gave Gov. Chris Christie a D or F grade in dealing with property taxes, Christie's approval ratings were nonetheless healthy with the gubernatorial election just more than 50 days away, according to a Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll.

Sept. 16: No injuries were reported when a woman working in the administrative offices of Fulton Bank in Somerville opened an envelope containing a white, powdery substance.

Sept. 17: In boys soccer, a pair of second half goals lifted Monroe to a 3-1 win over Red Division rival St. Joseph.

1998

Sept. 11, 1998: Firefighters from six municipalities took turns dousing and ripping apart the roof of Bishop Ahr High School in Edison to extinguish an elusive, slow-burning fire in a second-floor storage room.

Sept. 11: David Serio of Edison pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter for causing the death of his 3-month-old son, Kyle, by shaking him when he was crying, in 1996.

Sept. 11: In the high school football season opener between Hillsborough and Old Bridge, Hillsborough won, 38-7.

Sept. 12: An armed robber forced his way into a New Brunswick apartment on Thursday, Sept. 10, 1998, tying up four people and forcing another to attempt a withdrawal at an automated teller machine at the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick, it was reported.

Sept. 17: It was reported Joe Fresco of the U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service said there had been a marked increase in identity theft not only in New Jersey, but across the country.

Sept. 17: Anthrax would perform on Friday, Sept. 18, 1998, at Birch Hill Night Club in Old Bridge, it was reported.

1973

Sept. 11, 1973: John Russell, 32, of Woodbridge, and his passenger, Robert Kowalski, 48, of South Amboy, escaped serious injury when twin-engine Comanche crashed during an attempted landing at Kupper Airport in Hillsborough.

Sept. 12: East Brunswick speed jockey Wally Dallenbach, a seven-year championship car campaigner in Indianapolis-type racing machines, was named New Jersey Athlete of the Year at the New Jersey State Fair.

Sept. 13: The Hunterdon County Performing Arts Center in Clinton announced the fall season would open on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 1973, with a production of Lucille Fletcher's "Night Watch."

Sept. 14: Rutgers University asked the state for about $12 million more than it asked the previous year to meet its annual budget. The university's board of governors approved a budget request of $167,071,632, and asked the state for 53.2 percent of that, or $88,922,176. The total budget was also up about $12 million, an increase of 7.8 percent.

Sept. 17: It was reported Audrey F. Clough of New Brunswick became the first woman graduate of the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Institute. She was also the first woman to ever achieve professional status in being appointed to an executive-level position within the 63-year-old youth organization.

1923

Sept. 13, 1923: Three of the largest stills captured in New Jersey by federal prohibition agents since the advent of the Eighteenth Amendment were unearthed in a series of raids in Woodbridge by a squadron of dry agents operating under the personal supervision of the prohibition director.

Sept. 13-15: The movie, "Brass," a screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Charles G. Norris, was presented at Reade's' Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

Sept. 16: The Ball-Kirch baseball team was defeated by Cranford, 3-2.

Sept. 16: Thomas Reilly, 38, a Raritan Township constable, was seriously injured when an automobile in which he was a passenger crashed into a telegraph pole, throwing him through the windshield, nearly severing his neck.

Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: This week in NJ history, Sept. 11-17