Medford

More than 100 residents of the Sanctuary development learned last night how to be good neighbors with rare and endangered timber rattlesnakes that will soon be coming out of winter hibernation to bask on fresh-cut lawns. The large crowd showed up last night at the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge for a two-hour educational seminar on surviving the timber rattlesnake. They heard that the snake is not aggressive and is more likely to slither away scared than to take a snipe at someone.

Steven W. McGarvey, who began his public-safety career in 1969 as a part- time janitor at a police station, was sworn in as township chief of police and director of public safety at last night's council meeting. McGarvey, a resident of Medford since 1963, became a Medford police officer in 1973 after graduating from the New Jersey State Police Municipal Basic Police Academy. Last night, he thanked his family, former Police Chief E. John Foulk, and members of the department.

A state administrative law judge will mediate a dispute between Medford officials and a developer over the town's plan to meet its affordable-housing obligation, a state agency ruled yesterday. The state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) rejected developer Timothy Prime's request that the state turn down Medford's plan, a decision that would have sent the issue to a Superior Court judge and opened up the town to lawsuits from other developers. Instead, a state administrative law judge will hear the dispute and recommend to COAH how it should be resolved.

Looking for Boardwalk, Park Place or Pacific Avenue? Not on this board game. Let a roll of the dice take you instead to Spotts Hardware, Braddock's Tavern or the Craft Farm. This is the Game of Medford, and unlike most ventures modeled on Atlantic City, it's a nonprofit venture. It operates by the same rules as Monopoly. The Medford Emergency Squad is selling the board game to raise money for its new rescue truck, which cost about $80,000, not counting equipment. Local merchants have bought squares on the board, as a donation to the squad.

A plan for state-mandated low- and moderate-income housing may soon be implemented in the township. Township Solicitor John Almeida introduced a plan last night that would require 77 units of affordable housing to be included in new developments. According to Planning Board solicitor Thomas Norman, the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing is likely to approve a 77-unit allotment for Medford. The council is an administrative agency that sets specific numbers of low- and moderate-income housing for each community.

A Maple Shade man and a Philadelphia woman have been charged with four burglaries, in Lumberton and Medford, and Burlington County law enforcement officials said they were trying to determine whether the two were involved in more residential burglaries in those towns. Investigators identified the suspects as Carl Gosizk, 32, who lives at a motel on Route 73, and Josephine Dionne, 26. Gosizk, with bail set at $45,000, was being held in the Burlington County Jail. Dionne was released on her own recognizance.

In the township manager's office overlooking Main Street in Medford, there was nothing to indicate in the last days of August that Richard Deaney was soon headed for a new job in a new city. Deaney, 47, announced his resignation in July as Medford's township manager and on Monday became the administrator of Ocean City in Cape May County. But with only three days left in Medford, plaques and memorabilia he had accumulated in his nine years in the position remained in place on the walls of his office and on his desk.

Police yesterday identified Daniel Angelotti, 23, as the victim of a fatal accident Monday evening on Route 38 in Lumberton. Angelotti, of Medford, had exited a car stopped on the shoulder of westbound Route 38 and was attempting to cross the highway when he was struck by a tractor-trailer at 5:05 p.m., authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Police said that Angelotti's fiance, Jessica Allard, was at the wheel when Angelotti rounded the rear of the parked Pontiac Vibe.

A 26-year-old Medford man was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday for making sexual contact with a Tabernacle woman who successfully fought him off. Earlier this year in Burlington County Superior Court, Robert O'Neal pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual contact and burglary in a plea agreement in which charges of aggravated sexual assault were dropped. According to a report of the incident read in court, O'Neal waited until the woman's husband left for work on Nov. 6 and surprised the woman as she came out of the shower about 8:30 a.m. The woman struggled free and ran downstairs.

When Mary Diesner was ready to start a full-time job last year, she was delighted that the Medford schools were offering extended child care. For the first time, parents could drop off their kids as early as 7 a.m - at the school they attended - and pick them up as late as 6 p.m. For Diesner, the pressure of worrying about her 9-year-old son's safety before and after school was lifted. The Extended Child Care Program, as it is called, was instituted in September 1989 under the auspices of the Medford school board.

Medford Township's continued resistance to paying for maintenance on its county branch library "raises serious questions" as to whether it wishes to stay in such countywide services as emergency dispatch, recycling, farmland preservation, and the animal shelter, Freeholder Leah Arter told the township Tuesday. "Medford shouldn't draw a moat around its borders and isolate itself from shared services that work," Arter wrote in a letter to the township council. Arter called the council's views of library maintenance costs for the Pinelands branch "simplistic" and "upside down.

Defending South Jersey group champions Camden and Medford Tech will meet in the second Jimmy V Foundation Classic boys' basketball showcase Dec. 21 at Schalick High School. Camden is the two-time defending South Jersey Group 3 champion. Medford Tech is the defending South Jersey Group 2 champ. Another big matchup in the one-day, seven-game event to raise money for cancer research will feature Rancocas Valley and Haddonfield in a clash of two of South Jersey's premier programs. Camden, Medford Tech, Rancocas Valley, and Haddonfield all project as potential top-10 teams in the South Jersey rankings at the start of next season.

Qualified zombie seeks work. OK, that's probably not the first line of Ryan Surman's resumé, even though his employment history includes a Halloween stint that the Shawnee High School junior spent working at Medford's Indian Acres Tree Farm. "I was a zombie," said Surman, 17, of Medford. Surman now hopes that the job market wakes up the dead so that he and hundreds of his classmates, who gathered Monday at Lenape High School for a regional job fair for teenagers, can land work.

After weeks of resistance, Medford has agreed to let Burlington County pay for upkeep of its Pinelands branch library this year. If accepted by the Board of Freeholders, the township's agreement would end for now a dispute over who will pay $30,000 in maintenance, utilities, and insurance at the town-owned, 6,000-square-foot building. But the township, which in January balked at maintaining the site, says it still believes the county should pay for the library's upkeep in years ahead.

Some of Nick Powell's friends figured he would move through Medford Tech on his way to bigger and better things as a basketball coach. "I had a lot of people tell me, 'That's a good starter job,' " Powell said. "They told me I wouldn't be there for long. I had different plans. " In six increasingly successful seasons, Powell has turned Medford Tech into one of the most powerful basketball programs in South Jersey. The one-time soft spot on a lot of schedules has become an annual contender for division and sectional crowns - a team known for its talent, trapping defense, and high-tempo offense.

Some of Nick Powell's friends figured he would move through Medford Tech on his way to bigger and better things as a basketball coach. "I had a lot of people tell me, 'That's a good starter job,' " Powell said. "They told me I wouldn't be there for long. I had different plans. " In six increasingly successful seasons, Powell has turned Medford Tech into one of the most powerful basketball programs in South Jersey. The one-time soft spot on a lot of schedules has become an annual contender for division and sectional crowns - a team known for its talent, trapping defense, and high-tempo offense.

Two teens are charged with aggravated assault after they allegedly knocked a third male into a campfire during an attack in Medford, Burlington County, early Sunday. Spencer Tomlin, 18, of Reids Ferry Court, Medford, and Wassim Elsaadi, 18, of Sandstone Court, Medford, were arrested and released pending an upcoming court appearance. Medford police say they were called about 4:12 a.m. to a wooded area on Jackson Road, near power lines that run nearby. There, they were met by a 21-year-old man who told them Tomlin and Elsaadi had attacked him while he was next to a campfire.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Eli Cain made a solemn vow. "We'll be back," Cain said in a hushed interview room after Medford Tech's 56-44 loss to Newark Tech on Sunday in the Group 2 state championship game. Cain and the rest of the upstart Jaguars pushed Newark Tech to the limit through the first half of the South Jersey champions' first appearance in the state finals. But Newark Tech used its experience, size and strength to pull away in the second half at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Medford Tech boys' basketball coach Nick Powell had seen enough, and apparently so did his team. They also heard enough, as well. These were cheers that Powell and his team could have done without, emanating from the opposing locker room. If there was a turning point in a Medford Tech season that continues with Sunday's state Group 2 championship matchup against Newark Tech, it came in the second-to-last regular-season game against Pemberton. Medford Tech needed that game to stay in the hunt and earn a share of the Burlington County Patriot Division with Willingboro.

Medford Tech boys' basketball coach Nick Powell had seen enough, and apparently so had his team. They also heard enough, as well. These were cheers that Powell and his team could have done without, emanating from the opposing locker room. If there was a turning point in a Medford Tech season that continues with Sunday's state Group 2 championship matchup against Newark Tech, it came in the second-to-last regular-season game against Pemberton. Medford Tech needed that game to stay in the hunt and earn a share of the Burlington County Patriot Division title with Willingboro.