NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ - New Providence Councilman J. Brooke Hern’s attempt to include 18, 19 and 20 year olds in an underage private property alcohol ordinance was rejected at Monday night’s New Providence Borough Council meeting. Hern had been advocating including individuals who are 18 to 20 years old as opposed to having the ordinance only apply to those individuals under 18.

At the October 26th Borough Council meeting, the Council backed an ordinance that allows police officers to go onto private property if they believe that kids are hosting a drinking party. The body voted 4-2 with Hern and Councilman Vincas M. Vyzas voting against the measure. When Councilman Hern originally introduced an amendment to the ordinance providing that it apply to those under 21, none of the other council members seconded it and it died. Councilman Vzyz voted against the original measure, but he did so because he thought it was an intrusion of the police on private property.

Hern decided to raise the amendment again at Monday night’s Borough Council meeting after some council members said at the previous meeting that "half loaf is better than a full loaf" in reference to having the ordinance as is on the books rather than not having an ordinance at all.  The New Providence councilman said that the newly approved ordinance on the books in effect gives the right for 18 to 20-year-olds to drink since it does not include them. "We are condoning underage drinking for 18, 19 and 20 years olds and I don’t think that is the intent of the ordinance," said Hern.

However, the rest of the council members who were in attendance (both Councilwoman Julia MacDermott and Councilman Michael Gennaro were absent) said that the current ordinance that only includes those under 18 should be given time to succeed. "I don’t think anything has happened to change my mind," said Councilman James Cucco.  He pointed to the Borough’s Municipal Alliance, a group which did not support having the measure include 18 to 20 year olds.  

For his part, Hern pointed to the New Providence Police Department and also the State Legislature, both of which have advocated more seriously dealing with drinking amongst 18 to 20 year olds.   "I think that we should exercise the authority that the legislature has given us," said Hern.

Borough Attorney Carl Woodward agreed with the other members of the Council that the measure should be given some time to see if it is effective. Councilman Armand Galluccio pointed to the DARE program as targeting under 18-year-olds and believes that the message will get through to that age group and will extend into the older age group. "I would like to see how it goes," said Galluccio. "If we get statistics that we do have a problem, we can revisit it."

In other news, more members of the public have requested that the Borough change its leaderhead.  Several petitions with hundreds of signatures have been presented asking the borough to change its letterhead to the borough seal. John Bale, head of the New Providence Historical Society, came to the Borough Council with a petition in hand, asking the body to place the seal on the letterhead, especially since 2010 will be one of the anniversaries for the origin of the town. Mayor John Thoms said that he plans on discussing the future of the letterhead with Borough Administrator Doug Marvin.

Thoms has said in the past that the borough went with the gazebo instead of the seal on the Borough’s letterhead because it took too much time to explain the symbols on the borough seal. The seal shows a turkey, Salt Brook and also the Presbyterian Church where a balcony collapsed back in the 18th Century. Nobody was hurt in the incident at the Church and it was considered divine providence, thereby giving New Providence its name.

Finally, Mayor Thoms said that he has had some talks with the United State Postal Service about the future of a branch in the borough. Currently, a temporary branch is located in the A&P Shopping Center. He suggested that there might be a retail branch within the Village Shopping Center and the former Blockbuster store. The sorting machines would most likely be in Summit.