RWJ, Somerset Medical Center sign merger: This week in Central Jersey history, Oct. 9-15

Brad Wadlow, MyCentralJersey.com
·5 min read

More than 20 members of the Black Home & School Organization picketed the New Brunswick Board of Education office on the morning of Monday, Oct. 15, 1973, calling for the board to give up its effort for a regional school district.

The pickets carried signs asking the board to "Stop Regionalization" and "Let North Brunswick Go." However, attendance at the high school was better than normal on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 1973, after the boycott.

Members of the New Brunswick Black Home & School Organization picket city board of education offices on Monday, Oct. 15, 1973, to press for an end to the city’s quest for a regional school district.
Members of the New Brunswick Black Home & School Organization picket city board of education offices on Monday, Oct. 15, 1973, to press for an end to the city’s quest for a regional school district.

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

Oct. 9, 2018: Robert Grillo, 39, of Bloomfield, was convicted of the strangulation death on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, of Yolanda Vega, 35, of Rahway.

Oct. 9: Former Major League Baseball player Lenny Dykstra was indicted by a Union County grand jury on two drug charges and a charge related to allegedly threatening an Uber driver during a May 2018 incident in Linden.

Oct. 11: It was reported Tyrone Harrison, 49, of Somerset, a New Brunswick High School vice principal, was killed on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, when he was struck by a car involved in a drag race while walking along Stelton Road in Piscataway.

Oct. 12: The Eagles performed at Prudential Center in Newark.

Oct. 12: The Woodbridge High School football team beat J.F. Kennedy, 27-21.

Oct. 13: Gov. Phil Murphy was facing questions about his hiring practices after a pair of former campaign workers who joined his administration had recently left amid scandal, and a third was suspended for using raw language on social media, it was reported.

It was reported on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, that pari-mutuel betting would be available that month at the Far Hills Race Meeting for the first time.
It was reported on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, that pari-mutuel betting would be available that month at the Far Hills Race Meeting for the first time.

Oct. 14: It was reported pari-mutuel betting would be allowed on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, on the seven races in the 98th running of the Far Hills Race Meeting at Moorland Farm in Far Hills.

10 years ago

Oct. 9, 2013: State Police divers recovered a body believed to be that of a missing boater at Farrington Lake in North Brunswick. The man's identity was not released.

Officials from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Somerset Medical Center at the merger signing ceremony.
Officials from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Somerset Medical Center at the merger signing ceremony.

Oct. 10: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and Somerset Medical Center in Somerville had signed a merger agreement, which was expected to be finalized the following year, it was reported.

Oct. 11: About two dozen residents of an apartment building at New Brunswick Avenue and Ogden Street were left temporarily homeless after a fire heavily damaged the structure.

Oct. 11: Two weeks before same-sex marriages were to begin in New Jersey, the state Supreme Court said it would hear the enabling landmark lawsuit in progress against the state and decide whether to delay the marriages from taking place.

Oct. 14: In NJSIAA girls tennis, Metuchen High School beat New Egypt, 5-0, advancing to the Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, state finals at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.

Oct. 15: Alice Cooper: Raise the Dead Tour was presented at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.

1998

Oct. 9, 1998: Walmart officials apologized for an incident in which 40 people, some as young as 2, were injured trying to get balloons that had been filled with prize coupons and dropped from the ceiling in a promotion in Brick.

Oct. 10: The unbeaten Immaculata High School football team (4-0) handed Roselle its first loss of the season, 28-0.

Oct. 12: It was reported underage drinking was being blamed for an accident the previous week that left Jason Greco, 20, a Rutgers University student from Riverton, clinically dead on Sunday, Oct. 11, 1998.

Firefighters discuss the plane that crashed on Monday, Oct. 12, 1998, at a field near Sky Manor Airport in Alexandria Township. Authorities believed the pilot might have been unfamiliar with the airport.
Firefighters discuss the plane that crashed on Monday, Oct. 12, 1998, at a field near Sky Manor Airport in Alexandria Township. Authorities believed the pilot might have been unfamiliar with the airport.

Oct. 12: Four people were hurt when their single-engine, rented plane ripped through a row of trees and crashed at Sky Manor Airport in Alexandria.

Oct. 14: The state Labor Department said for the fourth consecutive month, New Jersey's jobless rate remained at 4.8 in September 1998.

Oct. 15: Ruth Ruth and Blink would perform at The Saint in Asbury Park on Saturday, Oct. 17, 1998, it was reported.

1973

Oct. 11, 1973: Elizabethtown Gas Co. was awarded a 2.94 percent rate increase by the state Board of Public Utilities Commissioners, the company's first increase in 25 years. The $1.3 million rate increase would raise average monthly residential bills by 32 cents in Union, Middlesex and Hunterdon counties and by 28 cents in Morris County.

Oct. 12: Janice Heck of East Brunswick, a 19-year-old bride of three months, returned unharmed to her home after three days, which began with her being abducted at knifepoint and ended in a Roanoke, Va., motel.

Marty Piccoli of St. Peter’s High of New Brunswick finds his path blocked by the Spartans of Immaculata High of Somerville. The Spartans won, 30-15.
Marty Piccoli of St. Peter’s High of New Brunswick finds his path blocked by the Spartans of Immaculata High of Somerville. The Spartans won, 30-15.

Oct. 12: In high school football, the Spartans of Immaculata High School in Somerville beat St. Peter's High of New Brunswick, 30-15.

Oct. 13: It was reported Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brendan T. Byrne had raised almost three times as much money to finance his campaign than Charles W. Sandman Jr., his Republican rival.

Oct. 15: A jazz concert, featuring Charlie McPherson, Jimmy Owens, Major Holley, Walter Perkins and Mickey Tucker, would be held at the Plainfield Public Library on Sunday, Oct. 21, 1973, it was reported.

1923

Oct. 10, 1923: Alex Astlund, 13, was killed, and five others injured, when a bus carrying 18 school children from the South River High School to their homes crashed into a truck in Old Bridge, with the bus turning over on its side.

Oct. 11: Johnny Kameskoski, of South River, who had been playing a game of policeman with five of his friends, was killed in front of his home by a Ford touring car.

A scene from “Three Wise Fools.”
A scene from “Three Wise Fools.”

Oct. 11-13: The movie, "Three Wise Fools," starring William Haines and Eleanor Boardman, was presented at Reade's Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.

Oct. 12: Clarence E. Reed died at Somerset Hospital in Somerville, where he had been brought after being accidentally struck on the head with a midiron while playing golf.

Oct. 13: An airplane flying over Sayreville dropped suddenly, then fluttered and came gracefully down to Fisher's field in lower Sayreville. The pilot brought the plane down without damage of any kind.

Oct. 14: In the Somerset County baseball championship series opener at Calco Oval in Bound Brook, the Somerville Baseball Club team defeated Ball-Kirch of North Plainfield, 6-3.

Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ history for the week of Oct. 9-15