SEPTEMBER 2022 FREE
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Drought takes hold in Central Jersey
Treece: looking forward to new school year
By Lisa WoLFF On Aug. 9, the Department of Environmental Protection and the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy issued a statewide drought watch. A week later, seven counties received upgraded classifications to “severe” drought conditions, with Central Jersey being hit hardest. A drought watch includes voluntary conservation measures. If conditions worsen, a declaration of a drought warning or a drought emergency with mandatory water use restrictions could become necessary. At the time of this writing, the DEP’s water supply advisory council was considering a move from a drought watch to a warning. These state advisories are becoming more frequent, as high temperatures associated with climate change encourage and intensify drought conditions. Voluntary conservation measures at the watch stage can help to avoid more serious and restrictive drought conditions later. Several Hopewell Valley organizations started far earlier, and can See DROUGHT, Page 6
By Joe EMaNski
Photographer Benoit Cortet (left) and a portrait of his son, Owen. (Photos by Benoit Cortet.)
Photographer Benoit Cortet: ‘I’m blessed. I do what I love’ By ThoMas KeLLy Benoit Cortet is a photographer, among other things. He also works in wood and marble. But his main work is photography — and humanity. The Pennington resident is originally from Dijon, France and has been here since he was a young adult.
Composing with the camera, he likes to capture his subjects in their environment, where they are most comfortable and let their guard down a little bit. His desk has plaques with sayings to remind him and reinforce his method. “Captured not Posed,” reads one. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” a saying of Leonardo DaVinci, is another.
Capturing people in their element is not as easy as it seems. They somewhat need to forget the photographer is there, on assignment, working to get a perfect image. Born into a large family of 11 siblings, Cortet started at a young age when cameras used film and were an expensive luxury. See CORTET, Page 8
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Rosetta Treece says that she probably should have known that she was destined to teach. But when the time came to choose a major in college, she instead opted to study science, with the goal of becoming a physician. “When I was younger, I was always teaching my siblings. But I started out as a science major, en route to becoming a doctor, because that’s what I thought I wanted to do. And I hated it,” she says. Today, people do call her Dr. Treece. Not because she has a degree in medicine, but rather because she has dedicated herself to the field that seemed to call to her from an early age: education. This summer, Treece started her second year as the superintendent of the Hopewell Valley School district. She succeeded long-term schools chief Tom Smith last year, having previously served as director of See TREECE, Page 10
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