Report of Armed Suicidal Man Closes Ferry Street, Disrupts Summer Nights Program

By Christina Georgiou



Numerous police vehicles and officers were called to the scene of a house
on the 1200 block of Ferry Street Thursday evening for a report of an
armed man who reportedly threatened to harm himself.

Reports of an armed man "tearing up" his house and fears that he was planning to commit suicide disrupted the city's Summer Nights program and had the entire 1200 block of Ferry Street shut down for nearly two hours this evening.

Police say they received a report shortly after 6 p.m. of a man at his residence on Ferry Street just west of Cherry Street armed with multiple firearms who threatened to harm himself. Numerous police officers, along with a car from the Northampton County Sheriff's office, an Easton EMS ambulance, and a few members of the Easton Fire Department were also called to the scene.

The man's wife exited the house safely but was worried he planned to commit suicide, authorities said.

Police said they attempted to communicate with the unidentified man, but were initially unsuccessful. Just as they called special response officers and were seen being about to deploy a robot with a camera, the man, barefoot and shirtless, peacefully surrendered.


The unidentified man surrended and was transported by
ambulance to a local hospital, as worried-looking family
members watch.

EPD officers quickly took him into custody, and, handcuffed, the man was put into a waiting ambulance.

"While we were setting up negotiations, he surrendered peacefully," EPD Captain Scott Casterline said, adding that the man did not appear to be intoxicated.

The man was transported to a local hospital for evaluation, Casterline said.

"At this point, he is not facing any criminal charges," Casterline said. He added that the unidentified resident does not appear to have a criminal record and the EPD has not had prior dealings with him nor have they been called to the address for anything similar before.

"He just had a bad day, I guess," Casterline said.

Police found firearms in the house, but they were all legally owned, police said. The exact number of weapons was not immediately available, but Casterline estimated there were between two and six involved in Thursday evening's incident.

Several neighboring residents were forced to wait behind police lines to reenter their homes during the incident. Those that were home at the time of the event were not evacuated. A number of Summer Nights program participants were delayed from leaving the scene until the conclusion because their cars were parked behind police barricade lines.

Casterline credited the neighborhood with making authorities' jobs easier, especially in the heat. Summer Nights program participants quickly cleared Centennial Park when police ordered them away for their safety, and the immediate neighbors of the man who was the center of the incident were helpful, he said.

"There was a high level of cooperation from the neighbors," he said.

And, at least some neighbors were grateful for the EPD's professionalism in handling the situation.

"I'm glad everything turned out good. I thought there was going to be a worse outcome," said Henry Rivera, who lives about a block away and said he's been a friend of the unidentified man for about eight years . "I'm glad it turned out peacefully."

He added, "A lot of people talk about the Easton Police Department, but I think they did a great job. They treated him gently. They even gave him a cigarette."

Ferry Street was reopened to traffic at about 8 p.m., and residents that had been prevented from accessing their homes were also let back in.

No one was physically injured during the event.

Veggie Van Proves to Be a Hit with Local Residents

By Christina Georgiou

The Easton "Veggie Van" arrives Tuesday evening at Centennial Park
in the city's West Ward, with an estimated 300 pounds of fresh, locally
grown produce for distribution to enthusiastic residents.
Contributed photo by Larry Malinconico.

Loaded with an estimated 300 pounds of locally grown fresh produce, the new Easton Veggie Van was scheduled to be at the city's Summer Nights program for an hour and a half Tuesday evening. Stuffed to the gills, organizers wondered if they'd brought more food than they could distribute.

Instead, more than 90 percent of the vegetables were eagerly snatched up in about 15 minutes.

Less than an hour later, Veggie Van volunteers packed up, with only four zucchini and eight leaves of collard greens remaining.

The project, one of several to get more fresh, healthy food into the hands of Easton residents, is a collaboration between the West Ward Neighborhood Partnership and Lafayette College's Technology Clinic, which has been studying ways to make healthy food more accessible in the city neighborhood where many don't have cars and struggle to make ends meet.


Lynne Holden, with the West Ward
Neighborhood Partnership, assists
with bagging collard greens, while
right, Lafayette student Tech Clinic
coordinator Allie Nagurney, stands
ready with recipes to distribute.

 The Veggie Van--a small pickup truck, actually--came laden with 80 pounds of cucumbers, 100 pounds of zucchini, 40 pounds of summer squash, buckets of collard greens and swiss chard, beets, carrots, string beans, potatoes, rutabagas, cabbages and onions, along with some herbs like basil and parsley. All the produce was grown locally, coming from the Lafayette farm project, the Easton Urban Farm, the Crayola garden, and various other community gardens around the city.

The Tech Clinic has been working on coming up with solutions to much of the West Ward being a "food desert"--defined in this case as a mostly low-income neighborhood where many residents don't have a vehicle and live more than a mile from the closest full-service grocery store--for the past two years, said Lafayette College geology professor Larry Malinconico, who serves as the group's advisor.

Students in the clinic come from a variety of backgrounds and majors, and aim to come up with solutions to local issues using an interdisciplinary approach. This year, the group decided to focus on better ways to get fresh food to those who may have difficulty getting to a grocery store  or affording it a the city's twice weekly farmers' market.


Nearly completely cleaned out of food in less than an hour,
the Veggie Van crew is ready to pack up.

While the city has a number of community gardens, these weren't solving the problem of getting fresh food to residents either, he said.

"People weren't coming to the community gardens, and (the vegetables) were getting wasted," Malinconico said.

The Tech Clinic looked at what people in other communities were doing to solve their issues, and eventually decided to try "the ice cream truck" model--that is, bringing the food to the neighborhood, he said.

Lafayette sophomore Allie Nagurney, who serves as the project's student coordinator, said the approach seems to be a success so far.

"Once it was announced, everyone wanted some," she said, adding that the truck will be visiting various locations in the West Ward weekly for the next five or six weeks.


A Veggie Van enthusiast sets off for home.

 The method of distribution will probably be tweaked for the Veggie Van's appearance next week, she added. While this week was certainly a success, and about 40 people were recipients of the truck's bounty, some received more produce than others, and some vegetables ran out before others had the chance to get them.

But Nagurney had no complaints about the food going so quickly and said the project seems to be a success so far.

"We worked really hard to make this happen," she said, adding that she hopes the Veggie Van will become a permanent fixture in the neighborhood for years to come.

"We're hoping to make this a yearly thing," she said. "We want to make it sustainable."

For now, the vegetables are free, though donations to help offset costs are welcomed.

Running the Tech Clinic costs about $8,000 annually, Malinconico estimated, noting that it's the one program Lafayette doesn't fund, and that he and students must cover the costs of the projects the program undertakes themselves.

Along with the produce, the volunteers also handed out recipes for the individual vegetables on hand, which might eventually provide one source of offset revenue for the future.

"It would be fun to get a little cookbook together by the end of the summer too," Nagurney said.

Next week, the Veggie Van will be stopping at South 10th and Pine streets, the site of one community garden in the West Ward, beginning at 5:30 p.m.


The community garden at South 10th and Pine streets will
be the site of the next Veggie Van stop, next Monday,
beginning at 5:30 p.m.



Expected to be on the truck are zucchini, cucumbers, beets, summer squash, beans, carrots, lettuce and other greens, onion, garlic, and more, Nagurney said, adding that the program will continue weekly, on Mondays, for the next five or six weeks.

Next Monday's location was deliberately chosen to further help raise awareness and hopefully help residents begin to grow their own summer crops too, Malinconico said.

"We want people to know where the community gardens are," he said.

Beyond next Monday, July 22, future Veggie Van drop-off locations are yet to be determined. Bookmark this page and check back for more dates--we'll provide updates as soon as they're announced.

Summer Nights Program Providing Food, Food Education to Many Local Residents

By Christina Georgiou

That the Summer Nights program in the West Ward's Centennial Park is fun and provides activities and a place to go for city kids in an effort to keep them off the streets and out of trouble is no secret. But the program also provides vital resources for many in the city whose income is less than sufficient to provide them with enough food to eat.

The Easton Weed and Seed Summer Nights program feeds
about 100 city children and 50 adults in need
four nights a week.

According to the lastest available statistics, food insecurity affected 34,670 people in Northampton County, and 42 percent of the county population qualifies for SNAP. Often, even with the assistance of food stamps, children and families are in danger of going hungry because they don't have enough.

The Summer Nights program, run by Easton Weed and Seed, is feeding an average of 100 children and 50 adults dinner per day, four days a week, said director Laura Accetta.

From Monday to Thursday, every week until August 24, anyone who shows up at the park between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. is fed.

The meals are light and simple, often featuring sandwiches. Water, instead of iced tea or lemonade, is being offered for drinking this year, in an effort to cut down on sugar and be healthier.

Children's meals, provided by Sodexo through the Easton Area School District's summer food service program, are balanced nutritionally in accordance with school lunch menu regulations. Yesterday, it consisted of a small sandwich wrap, a side, milk, and an apple. 

For adults, meals are provided and made by the Easton Area Community Center, and the menu varies based on what's available through the Second Harvest Food Bank and a few other local companies that donate their leftover-but-still-good items. Thursday, the adult meal included a salami bagel sandwich and a bag of chips.

And, by the end of the meal, all of the food was gone. A few leftovers from the adult meals were immediately taken when offered around, with some clearly stashing them away for later or the next day. There were no leftovers of children's meals.

"Generally, we run out of food," Accetta said.

Some of the problem is clearly due to families not having enough money or benefits to purchase all the food they need, particularly when it comes to fresh, healthy items. But better education, cooking skills, and making wise food choices can help make people's limited budgets go further, both when it comes to having enough to eat and their overall health.

Meagan Grega, a physician and one of the
founders of the Kellyn Foundation, talks
the importance of healthy eating, while
offering cooking instruction and
demonstrations.

For the third summer in a row, the Bethlehem-based Kellyn Foundation, is running their "Healthy Lifestyles" program every Thursday evening during Summer Nights.

Kellyn Founders Meagan Grega and Eric Ruth combine live food prep demonstrations, nutritional advice, and healthy living tips into an enjoyable hands-on presentation that engages both kids and their parents who attend Summer Nights.

Basic cooking skills and building confidence in the kitchen, along with introducing fresh, healthy foods participants may not be very familiar with, is a big part of the equation.

A young Summer Nights program participant gives sauteed
onions a stir.

"Sometimes you might feel like you don't know how to cook. But if you start experimenting..." Grega told the crowd of about 50 who gathered to see how to make "Summer Rice and Veggie Soup" this past Thursday evening.

Children are particularly encouraged by the team to participate in the food preparation demos, including how to measure ingredients and chopping up vegetables.

"The first thing you need are knife skills," Grega said, as one young volunteer was guided through the process by Ruth.

While some might discourage children from handling the sharp blades, Grega and Ruth emphasized safety while teaching the essential kitchen skills.

Eric Ruth, one of the Kellyn Foundation's
founders, shows a young boy how to properly
chop vegetables at during a cooking
demonstration at the Summer Nights program
Thursday evening.

"You need to be mindful and be sure you're paying attention," Grega told assembled kids.

One by one, each ingredient--all fresh and in season vegetables and herbs, were named and their healthy attributes described by Grega, who first asked the audience to guess what each was and why it was good.

As ingredients went into the pans and pots one by one, the colorful medley of mixed summer produce was shown off.

"The goal is to eat a rainbow of colors," Grega explained. "You want to eat all the different colors...because you want to have all the different types of vitamins that come with all the types of colors.

"If you do this, then you won't need a multivitamin because you'll be getting (vitamins) in your food," she added.

Tips about how to reduce preparation time, like cooking the rice for the soup while cutting up the vegetables, are also part of the enjoyable education.

To help participants be able to recreate meal items demonstrated, audience members are given $10 vouchers good for purchases at the Easton Farmers' Market, along with the recipe printed in both English and Spanish.

"Make sure you get a recipe at the end so you can make this at home," Grega tells the audience.

Those present also have the bonus of getting a taste of the spoils. That it's both good and that many are still hungry is obvious, as a premade batch of the summer soup is quickly consumed, as is the just-made batch, despite warnings that "it might still be a little crunchy."

A bowl of summer veggie and rice soup, using fresh, in
season vegetables from the Easton Farmers' Market. Those
who attend the city's Summer Nights program on Thursdays
not only get to watch and participate in a live cooking
demonstration and taste the results, but also receive market
vouchers to help them purchase the needed ingredients to
try the recipes at home.

But not only is the healthy food being consumed at Summer Nights, it's clear that audience members are taking skills home with them too. Several volunteered that they'd made a quinoa vegetable stir-fry, the last featured demo dish, at home and they'll be doing it again.

"We want to show people that you can eat healthy, delicious food on a budget," Grega, who is also a physician, said.

Grega creates the mostly vegetable-based recipes from scratch, based around what's immediately available at the Easton Farmers' Market and what's in season.

"I made this recipe up on Monday," she said. "Next week will have to do with peaches. We're figuring out exactly what we're going to do."

The Kellyn Foundation's Meagan Grega, who lives in Palmer
Township, talks about the nutritional value of purple carrots
Thursday evening in the West Ward's Centennial Park.

While the program isn't vegetarian or specifically promoting a vegetarian lifestyle, nearly all the presentations this summer will be based around fruits and vegetables. The location in the park makes proper handling of meat-based meals more of a challenge, plus having a high proportion of fruits, vegetables and grains in the diet is healthier, and most people already know how to cook meat, Grega said.

Those watching the demonstrations have been taking advantage of the farmers' market vouchers and presumably incorporating what they're learning from the "Healthy Lifestyles" program, Ruth said.

Nineteen vouchers were used at the twice-weekly market on Easton's Centre Square last week. The market is reimbursed in full by Summer Nights, who received a grant from the Walmart charity foundation to underwrite the voucher costs.

"I'm hoping to see more every week," Ruth said. "I want to see 50 families a week take advantage of the voucher program."

Kellyn's efforts at educating kids and their parents doesn't start in the kitchen though. After the demonstration, Grega and Ruth, led by several children, moved over to a corner of Centennial Park, where a small vegetable garden has been planted.

A young boy holds up a just-picked carrot. The vegetable was grown in
the small plot in Centennial Park, where Easton's Summer Nights program is
held Monday through Thursday, from 4 to 8 p.m.

While the gardening project is small and somewhat undeveloped at this point, the pair said they hope to involve some volunteers to tend it next year and produce some ingredients that can be used in their cooking demonstrations in the future.

The idea is to add one more layer of empowerment and understanding of what good, healthy food is and where it comes from, Ruth said.

"If people grow their own food, they 'get it.' If they don't, they don't," Ruth said.

Summer Nights Program Draws Hundreds at Kickoff

By Christina Georgiou

Click on any photo for a full-size view.

About 200 local residents stopped by Centennial Park in Easton's West Ward Monday evening, undeterred by scattered thunderstorms, for the first evening this year's "Summer Nights" program, annually hosted by the city's Weed and Seed program.

While the event was briefly interrupted by a thunder shower that included strong winds and  hail, the hardy crowd did not disperse, instead choosing to wait out the weather, taking shelter under the park's pavillion and canopies erected for the event.

Those attending enjoyed hot dogs, nachos, blueberries and ice pops, as well as live music by Charlie Brown's Notorious Groove.

The Cops 'n Kids Reading Room also gave out books to children, and will do so again each Monday at Summer Nights from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.


Patrolman Diego Santiago, a member of the Easton Police
Department's Problem Oriented Policing program, chats
with a young boy who brought his bike and his friends
Monday evening at Centennial Park.

Members of the Easton Police and Fire Departments also stopped by Centennial Park Monday evening, chatting with members of the community.

The Summer Nights program will run every Monday through Thursday, from 4 to 7 p.m., with the exception of July 4, through August 15.

Meals will be provided each evening to attendees by the YMCA of Easton and Phillipsburg Summer Food Program, and a variety of crafts and other fun activities are planned throughout the season.


Linda Paar and Paul Bauchspies, both of West Easton,
served up more than 400 hot dogs at the event Monday
evening.



The Summer Food Program will provide meals for residents in several locations in the city over the next couple of months, including Monday through Friday from 11 to 11:45 a.m. at Heil Pool, Monday through Thursday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Centennial Park, and on Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Weed and Seed office, 1201 Ferry St.

Summer Nights is made possible through the cooperation of a number of local nonprofit organizations and agencies, as well as by the sponsorship of local businesses and individuals.


Weed and Seed Director Laura Accetta poses for a photo
with two Summer Nights volunteers Monday evening.

More sponsors for Summer Nights are still welcome too, said Weed and Seed Director Laura Accetta.

Attendees and volunteers crowd under a popup tent during
Monday evening's brief thunderstorm, which included hail.

Those wishing to sponsor a night or to get more information, should call the Weed and Seed office at 610-438-2680, Accetta said.



It was a team effort to hold down a popup tent to keep
it from blowing away during Monday evening's brief storm.



 

 



  

A young attendee at the Summer Nights
program Monday evening checks out her
new book, provided by the Cops 'n Kids
Reading Room.



Easton Area Community Center Director Anita Mitchell
smiles while taking shelter from the rain in the EACC van,
which was used to distribute free books to Summer Nights
attendees Monday evening.



 

Stomping in puddles left behind by the brief storm Monday evening was an impromptu bit of fun a number of
children indulged in.

 

Playing basketball is a perennial activity at Centennial Park in Easton's West Ward.

 

 

Yes, that really is a unicorn on the young lady's head.



The crowd watches as, right, Charlie Brown's Notorious Groove
plays at the Summer Nights program kickoff Monday
evening. Below, others enjoy the hot tunes by dancing in
the street.



 

 

Summer Nights 2012 Kicks Off

The Easton Weed and Seed program will kick off its annual Summer Nights program today, Monday, June 18, from 4 to 7 p.m. with a free concert by Joyous at Centennial Park, South 12th and Ferry streets.

A free block party is also planned for the event, serving hot dogs, nachos, and ice cream supplied by Centre Square hot dog vendor Dave Rose, along with snacks and beverages.

Bringing a lawn chair or blanket is recommended.

The Summer Nights program will run Monday through Thursday, 4 to 7 p.m. until Thursday, August 16, with the exception of Wednesday, July 4. It is open to all Easton residents.

The Easton Area School District will provide a free meal daily for both adults and children during Summer Nights, served from 4 to 5 p.m., along with recreation and educational activities.

Also, Weed and Seed will offer a free summer lunch program, available to Easton school-aged
children, daily from 11 a.m. to noon at Heil Park, just below Heil pool, at 900 Packer St. in Easton’s Southside neighborhood, in partnership with the YMCA of Easton Phillipsburg and Vicinity.

The Summer Nights program would not be possible without the assistance donated by local businesses, community organizations and the faith community, including Legacy Ministries, the Nurture Nature Center, JWear and the Kellyn Foundation. Opportunities to sponsor an evening or volunteer are still available.

For additional information, contact Weed & Seed Coordinator Laura Accetta, at 610-438-2680 or via email.