Hamilton Post
JANUARY 2023
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
The Delaware: a national success story
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Family’s tradition honors departed heroes
By SUe FeRRaRa
In 2020, while we navigated the pandemic, a 50-year-old nonprofit called American Rivers named the Delaware River its River of the Year for “momentous progress for water quality, river restoration and community revitalization.” With the announcement, Bob Irvin, president and CEO of American Rivers, called the Delaware River “a national success story” thanks to “the hard work of many local advocates who understand that a healthy Delaware River is vital to the health of millions of people.” According to American Rivers, more than 17 million people get their drinking water from the Delaware River basin, including New York City and Philadelphia. The Delaware river begins in Hancock, New York, and flows through five states on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Adding to that continued success, in 2020, the Bordentown Township Committee agreed to acquire 72 acres of land along the Delaware, paying a developer $4.6 See RiVER, Page 16
2023 HAMILTON TOWNSHIP
By THomas KeLLy
Nottingham High School grad Robert Wiggs (in cap) works with young football players at Playmaker Athletics on Spruce Street in Ewing.
Wiggs finds his passion with Playmaker Athletics By RiCH FisHeR
What do iconic high school wide receivers do after their playing days are over? Well, the ones who appreciate what football did for them make a conscientious choice to give back to the game and the area where they grew up. Consider Robert Wiggs one of those guys.
The 29-year-old graduated in 2011 as Nottingham’s all-time leader in pass receptions and passing yards and was also Mercer County’s career receptions leader (although the county record has since been broken). He was one of the area’s most electrifying players and was also a track & field standout. Wiggs took both talents to Wesley College and had some impres-
sive moments with the nowdefunct Division III powerhouse program that was bought out by the University of Delaware. Wiggs now works full time for the New Jersey State Police, but coaching younger players has gotten into his system in a big way. He now runs Playmaker Athletics in Ewing, which provides footballspecific training and 7-on-7 AAU See WiGGS, Page 14
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Jack Bell has deep Hamilton roots. A Hamilton High West graduate and one-time Hamilton Councilman, he has also been a varsity soccer coach at all three Hamilton public high schools. He has athletic accolades and enough varsity letters to cover three jackets. He is well known in his hometown. What people may not know is that every December for the last 18 years, he has been doing some quieter, heartwarming work. He lays wreaths on the bronze and granite markers of veterans interred at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Provinceline Road in Wrightstown, for the holidays. Advent and Christmas wreaths can be made of evergreens to represent everlasting life and can symbolize a higher being with the circular shape having no beginning and no end. Wreaths date back to ancient Greece and Rome and may have symbolSee WREATHS, Page 18
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