Volume LXXVIII, Number 29
Tenth Annual Cone Composition Institute Concert . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PU Mathematician, Institute Physicist Awarded Wolf Prizes. . . 7 Arts Council’s ART OF Series Continues . . . . . 8 Princeton Summer Theater Succeeds With The Last Five Years . . 15 PU Summer Chamber Concerts Presents Ensemble . . . . . . . . . 16 Taking Unlikely Path from Serbia to PU Women’s Water Polo, Sekulic Makes U.S. Squad for Paris 2024 Olympics . . . . . 22 Making Instant Impact for Puerto Rico Men’s Hoops, PDS Grad Reed Headed to Paris 2024 Olympics . . .25
Freud and Freudian Slips Are Featured in This Week’s Book Review . . 14 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 19 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 20 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 30 Green And Healthy. . . . . 2 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 12, 13 Midsummer Arts . . . . . . 3 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 30 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Bucchere to Retire As Chief of Police, Tash to Replace Him
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Wednesday, July 17, 2024
ICE Activity in Princeton Provokes Strong Responses The presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Princeton last Wednesday, July 10, including the arrest of one resident, has caused high levels of concern among residents and government officials at the local and state levels. Whether it was a “targeted operation,” as designated by ICE officials, or a “raid,” as described by many locals, agents in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Newark division arrived early on the morning of July 10 in unmarked cars. “I am horrified to learn of the ICE raids carried out in Princeton today, by agents who did not identify themselves, drove into communities, and stopped Hispanic/ Latinx residents seemingly at random to interrogate them and demand documentation,” said U.S. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman in a July 10 statement. “This kind of conduct has absolutely no place in our community or our country.” Watson Coleman followed up in a July 16 letter to ICE, requesting information on a number of issues concerning the July 10 Princeton operation. “In addition to the conduct of the agents themselves, I have serious questions as to the process that preceded this operation, and the transparency of the federal agencies involved,” she wrote.
The Newark ICE office stated that ERO came to Princeton “to arrest two unlawfully present noncitizens.” They detained the first, a 29-year-old Guatemalan national who had been charged earlier this year with aggravated assault and robbery in Princeton, and he remains in ICE custody. The second subject for arrest, a 27-year-old Guatemalan national, who had been arrested for assault by automobile and convicted of DUI in Lawrence Township in 2023, was identified by ERO
agents, but was able to escape because of interference by people trying to stop the arrest, according to ERO reports. The Princeton mayor and Council responded rapidly on July 10, stating, “This morning’s ICE activities in Princeton have left our community deeply troubled. As the mayor and Council of Princeton, we believe that such federal actions, conducted without prior explanation, starkly contradict our core values of respect and dignity for all.”
Jonathan Bucchere, Princeton’s police chief for the past two years, will retire at the end of this month. Subject to approval by the mayor and Council — likely at the July 22 Council meeting — his replacement will be current Captain Christopher Tash, who, like Bucchere is a longtime member of the Princeton Police Department (PPD). “I’ve worked my entire career with Continued on Page 10 Chris Tash, and I absolutely know he is going to do a spectacular job as chief,” said Bucchere. “It gives me great joy that he is going to take over and continue to do special things for this town, his way.” As a newly appointed World Literacy libraries in Malawi and Botswana, resultFoundation youth ambassador for 2024, ing in more than 2,500 books delivered Bucchere, 48, has been with the PPD Princeton High School junior Claire Tang and $2,000 raised. for nearly 25 years. He was born in Princwill be continuing her work to combat illiteton and grew up here and in Hightstown. In partnership with her classmate eracy and increase education and aware- Emma Liu, Tang is working on another He was hired by the former Princeton ness about the importance of reading and book drive this summer with AYLUS and Borough in 1999. His work on the police writing. force includes patrol officer, field trainALP to support a secondary school library ing officer, the community policing unit, “Reading has always been one of my in Lesotho. biggest hobbies, so I’ve experienced the and the Detective Bureau, where he was As a youth ambassador in the year positive impact literacy can have on qual- ahead, she plans to continue her work promoted to sergeant. After consolidaity of life,” Tang wrote in an email. Last with ALP and AYLUS while branching out tion of the former borough and township, year she worked with the African Library into additional literacy challenges locally he worked in the Safe Neighborhood Project (ALP) and the Alliance of Youth and globally. Bureau. Leaders in the United States (AYLUS) to “It was there I made a lot of my con“On a more local scale, I hope to start organize two book drives that supported Continued on Page 9 tacts in the community,” he said. “I was then promoted out of there to lieutenant, captain, and then chief. I was lucky in the sense that I made chief after 23 years. That was to my benefit. I was chief a little shy of two years, and I felt during that period that I was able to accomplish a lot.” At the top of Bucchere’s list of achievements while serving as chief is recruitment selection. “We hired nine officers, and in my opinion they are a diverse group that represents the demographics of the town,” he said. “That’s not easy to accomplish.” Bucchere is proud of the establishment of the Citizens’ Police Academy, which completed its second program this past spring. “I think it’s going to be a staple for the department for years to come,” he said. “I’m also excited that we reinstated the awards ceremony where we celebrate our officers and the great Set inthat onesince of Princeton's most prestigious work they do. We hadn’t done neighborhoods, within a short walk to town, the consolidation.” University and other cultural venues, this classic Federalist home embodies the community's He is also pleased thathistory the town no of sophistication. A grand, inviting hallway with a fireplace opens to the spacious longer contracts out for privatized disliving and dining rooms suitable for the most elegant entertaining. patch services. “The contract we had Built in a period of skilled craftsmanship, these well-proportioned rooms AMONG THE BLUEBERRIES: Blueberry picking was one of the many activities at Terhune Orchards’ annual with IXP (Corp.) expired have in December, high ceilings, deep moldings and other Blueberry Bash last weekend. Attendees share their favorite way to enjoy blueberries in this week’s Town Talk details. First floor rooms flow and we hired and trained asought teamafter of new seamlessly into one another and onto6. a large on Page (Photo by Sarah Teo)
PHS Junior Claire Tang Branches Out As World Literacy Youth Ambassador
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