Cherry Hill

The Cherry Hill school board on Tuesday night asked administrators to review the district's middle school lottery system after a group of parents criticized the process at a recent board meeting. Cherry Hill has three middle schools, one of which - Rosa International Middle School - admits students through a lottery. Students attend the other two schools, Beck and Carusi, based on where they live. The parents opposed to the lottery have children at Johnson Elementary, which sends students to both Beck and Carusi.

Members of Cherry Hill's newly formed Human Relations Committee met for the first time Monday night to discuss ways of dealing with the recent wave of racist graffiti in the township. "While we're all in agreement that actions of bigotry cannot be tolerated, we don't pretend to have an answer that will solve the problem," said Mayor Susan Bass Levin, who organized the committee. "We do know that we need to make a statement, that Cherry Hill as a community will not tolerate this type of behavior.

A decisive phase begins today in Cherry Hill's 15-year-long tussle over affordable housing, when the township proposes a specific number of units it should be responsible for providing and a plan to see that the homes are built. The township is to present the voluminous data for the proposal - complete with an inventory of each inch of vacant land in the township - this morning to Judge Anthony Gibson, who is supervising the township's compliance with state affordable housing laws.

Cherry Hill had its affordable-housing funds frozen Monday and was ordered to have a plan for spending the money approved by Superior Court. The order by Judge Robert G. Millenky followed allegations by the Fair Share Housing Center, which has been in litigation with Cherry Hill since 2001, that the township broke state rules about spending development fees intended for affordable-housing projects. "Fair Share has uncertainty" about use of the funds, "and the court finds reasonably so," Millenky said.

An informed citizenry is the best assurance for good government. A current example of the wisdom of that philosophy is the condition in which Cherry Hill, Camden County's second-largest community, finds itself. Cherry Hill is considered a mature, upscale community. It has gained fewer than 1,000 residents since the mid-1980s, and enjoys an average household income greater than the national figure. Yet its present economic circumstance, brought about by various political calculations, is quite dire.

Banks in the process of foreclosing on houses in Cherry Hill will have the township nipping at their heels when an ordinance goes into effect next month to force them to take responsibility for upkeep at vacant houses. Under the ordinance, approved unanimously by the township council Monday, houses that are vacant and not on the market must be registered with specific contact information where the township can serve violation notices. Initial registration costs $500 and goes as high as $5,000 for a third annual renewal.

Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin is expected to name a new police chief today to head the community's 125-member force. Capt. Bill Moffett, a 21-year veteran of the Cherry Hill police, is expected to be Levin's choice, according to two township officials who asked not to be identified. Moffett, a lifelong resident of Cherry Hill, would replace Chief Robert J. Tonczyczyn (pronounced ton-SES-sion), who retired this year after 32 years on the force. Levin said yesterday that she had made her decision and expected to make an announcement today, but offered no details on her choice.

Police say a group of masked teenagers carjacked a woman Thursday night in the Cherry Hill Mall parking lot. Around 10:15 p.m., a 41-year-old woman from Cherry Hill, and a 36-year-old woman from Mount Royal, were walking to their cars after having dinner at Season 52, when four young men in masks and dark clothing approached, said Detective Sgt. Joseph Vitarelli. One of suspects pointed a handgun at the women, demanding their car keys, cell phones and purses, police said.

The courtship is over. At its Tuesday night meeting, the Cherry Hill school board formally backed out of talks with the Merchantville school board on a plan to merge the two districts. In a unanimous vote, the board dissolved the committee formed in December to explore the move. Board member Cindy Trubin said the March passage of the $52.6 million bond issue to pay for district-wide school improvements in Cherry Hill, including 51 new elementary classrooms, rendered the merger unnecessary.

Philip Slipyan, 49, a Cherry Hill physician who was a staff member and teacher of obstetrics, gynecology and endocrinology at several area hospitals, died Tuesday at his home in Cherry Hill. Dr. Slipyan also was president of the Woodcrest Country Club in Cherry Hill. He was on the staff of West Jersey Hospital-Marlton, Cooper Hospital- University Medical Center in Camden, Kennedy Memorial Hospitals/Stratford Division, Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and was a consulting staff physician for the West Jersey Hospital Association.