Crystal Lake

The Township Commission voted unanimously last night to hire landscape architect Jefferey Keller to design a plan to restore the banks of four-acre Crystal Lake. The man-made lake was dredged last summer as part of an estimated $200,000 rehabilitation project that includes the restoration of the neighboring park as a recreation area. Under the agreement, Keller, who works for Habitat By Design of Lansdale, Pa., will not be paid more than $3,900 for the job. Keller will also be working on a master plan for the whole lake recreation area off West End Avenue at a later date.

Testimony continued yesterday in the case of an Audubon woman who drove into a Haddon Township lake and drowned during a torrential rainstorm six years ago. Most of the day was spent hearing testimony from Alan Cohen, an engineer and an expert on construction-site safety. "I can state with certainty that there were no acceptable safety devices at the end of the street," Cohen testified in Camden County Superior Court. Victoria Hoffman, 32, was returning to her home with her son, Gregory, on the evening of July 14 when she turned down Carlton Avenue and accidentally drove into Crystal Lake.

Elizabeth Edwards, 47, did not want to risk it. Contaminated well water had been found three miles away in the Crystal Lake section of town, and recently, she had been feeling nauseated and fatigued. So she and her husband doled out more than $300 to have the private well on their farm tested by Heratech Inc. of Cherry Hill. The results, released last week, identified levels of a cancer-causing agent that exceed New Jersey's drinking-water standard. Trichloroethylene, a colorless liquid found in paints, rug cleaners and disinfectants, was found at 3.2 parts per billion, more than three times the state maximum of 1 part per billion.

About 30 goldfish, their heads sticking out from the water, desperately tried to suck in oxygen, while several catfish fought to get to a small stream of water flowing from a pipe into Crystal Lake. A score of fish were already floating dead, while the water level kept getting lower and lower. Maggie Downham, a nearby resident, walked around the edges of what was left of the 1,000-foot long, narrow lake, catching with a net the carp and catfish that were trying to survive.

All claims were dismissed against the engineering firm Remington & Vernick yesterday in the wrongful-death suit brought by the family of a woman who drowned in Haddon Township. Judge John Fratto ruled on the motion by the firm's attorneys during a hearing before testimony resumed in Camden County Superior Court. "To me, the evidence is absolutely clear that Remington & Vernick were not the supervising engineer on the Crystal Lake job. Nor were they the inspecting engineers on the job," Fratto said.

The dredging of Crystal Lake, part of an estimated $200,000 rehabilitation project, will begin next month, said borough officials, who are trying to assure residents that neither wildlife nor property values will be harmed by the work. The project consists of three phases: dropping the water level and dredging the lake, which will start in February; building a silt basin and possibly fixing the retaining walls, and correcting a flooding problem downstream. At the same time, the township wants to develop an athletic field on a lot adjacent to the lake.

A jury in Camden County Superior Court yesterday awarded $1.8 million to the family of an Audubon woman who drowned in a Haddon Township lake in 1994. "Bill and Gregory Hoffman have been waiting for almost six years to learn who is responsible for Victoria's death," Frank Luchak, an attorney for the Hoffman family, said of her husband and son. "Now the jury has spoken. " Victoria Hoffman, 32, was returning home with her son during a torrential rainstorm after dropping off a friend at the PATCO High-Speed Line station in Westmont.

In response to heated complaints about the condition of Crystal Lake, Mayor William Park Jr. has invited residents to a special meeting Saturday to discuss cleanup plans. Two weeks ago, a group of residents accused the mayor, who lives next to Crystal Lake, of ignoring complaints for five years that the lake needed to be dredged. Park, who was on vacation at the time, said he has been responsive to residents' complaints about the lake and has been working since 1988 to get it cleaned up. The lake is to be dredged again this fall.

The state has stepped into negotiations over how to restore the township's Crystal Lake area, asking Mayor William J. Park to address the concerns of some residents who feel their questions have been ignored. The township wants to build a sports field at Crystal Lake, complete with lighting, a basketball court and a parking lot. The township already maintains a swimming pool, playground, tennis courts and street hockey facility at the site. A group of residents called the Newton Creek Task Force has raised concerns about the lighting; possible pollution of underground springs; inadequate parking, and runoff of herbicides and pesticides from the fields into the creek.

On a stormy summer night in 1994, Victoria Hoffman and her son, Gregory, 7, turned down Carlton Avenue in Haddon Township. They were returning to their home in Audubon. She never made it. "As I was standing there, a car drove by," said Mildred Dreisbach, who was looking out the window when she saw Hoffman drive down Carlton Avenue. "And I just watched it come up the street and saw it drive right into the lake, straight into the lake. " Residents rushed to help and were able to take Gregory from his mother's arms and pull him to shore.

A hallmark of the "Friday the 13th" series is that none of the movies make much sense. That's certainly true of the fancy (by franchise standards) new remake/sequel hybrid, which takes place at a vacation home next to the notorious Camp Crystal Lake. That's right: a vacation home next to Camp Crystal Lake, site of some 4,000 horrific unsolved murders. Is there a less desirable piece of real estate in America, outside of Amityville? At least the cursed homeowners who bought in the "Poltergeist" development were largely unaware they had built atop a burial ground.

A jury in Camden County Superior Court yesterday awarded $1.8 million to the family of an Audubon woman who drowned in a Haddon Township lake in 1994. "Bill and Gregory Hoffman have been waiting for almost six years to learn who is responsible for Victoria's death," Frank Luchak, an attorney for the Hoffman family, said of her husband and son. "Now the jury has spoken. " Victoria Hoffman, 32, was returning home with her son during a torrential rainstorm after dropping off a friend at the PATCO High-Speed Line station in Westmont.

All claims were dismissed against the engineering firm Remington & Vernick yesterday in the wrongful-death suit brought by the family of a woman who drowned in Haddon Township. Judge John Fratto ruled on the motion by the firm's attorneys during a hearing before testimony resumed in Camden County Superior Court. "To me, the evidence is absolutely clear that Remington & Vernick were not the supervising engineer on the Crystal Lake job. Nor were they the inspecting engineers on the job," Fratto said.

Sometimes it's at night, or when looking at pictures that hang in his home, that Gregory Hoffman thinks of his mother. "I still miss her, and I still have sad times," he told jurors yesterday in Camden County Superior Court. Hoffman, 13, testified on the seventh day of trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed on his mother's behalf. In his 15 minutes of testimony, he painted the picture of a loving and dedicated mother who helped him with his homework. He was asked no questions about the accident in which she drowned.

Testimony continued yesterday in the case of an Audubon woman who drove into a Haddon Township lake and drowned during a torrential rainstorm six years ago. Most of the day was spent hearing testimony from Alan Cohen, an engineer and an expert on construction-site safety. "I can state with certainty that there were no acceptable safety devices at the end of the street," Cohen testified in Camden County Superior Court. Victoria Hoffman, 32, was returning to her home with her son, Gregory, on the evening of July 14 when she turned down Carlton Avenue and accidentally drove into Crystal Lake.

Craig Remington remembers what he told Haddon Township Mayor Bill Park after learning that the town was considering using its own workers to dredge Crystal Lake. "I told him I thought he was crazy," Remington said. "I told him I thought it was a complex project, and they should be going out to public bid. " Remington, a principal in the engineering firm Remington & Vernick, testified for four hours yesterday in the wrongful-death lawsuit brought against the firm and Haddon Township by the family of Victoria Hoffman.

In a brief but damaging cross-examination yesterday, a top Haddon Township official said he considered himself - and not the engineering firm of Remington & Vernick - responsible for safety in 1994 at a lake where a woman drowned. Dan Aaron, superintendent of public works, also said he could not recall discussing safety at the construction site with employees of the firm. He supervised construction at the lake and testified that he was on-site almost every day during the project.

On two occasions, construction work was done without permits at the Haddon Township lake where a woman drowned, a top local official testified in a civil lawsuit yesterday. Both incidents occurred before the July 1994 drowning of Victoria Hoffman, said Dan Aaron, the superintendent of public works, in Camden County Superior Court. The first time was on Sept. 22, 1993, when town workers lowered Crystal Lake's water level without the necessary permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Aaron testified.

The engineering firm of Remington & Vernick was responsible for inspections and oversight on a construction project where a woman drowned in 1994, Haddon Township Mayor Bill Park testified yesterday. "They have always been our engineer on this job," Park said in Camden County Superior Court, where the woman's family is suing the township and the firm. Remington & Vernick attorney Alan Milstein, in an often-heated exchange with Park, sought to raise questions about what the firm's precise responsibilities for the Crystal Lake project were.

On a stormy summer night in 1994, Victoria Hoffman and her son, Gregory, 7, turned down Carlton Avenue in Haddon Township. They were returning to their home in Audubon. She never made it. "As I was standing there, a car drove by," said Mildred Dreisbach, who was looking out the window when she saw Hoffman drive down Carlton Avenue. "And I just watched it come up the street and saw it drive right into the lake, straight into the lake. " Residents rushed to help and were able to take Gregory from his mother's arms and pull him to shore.