Injuries were reported.

A one-vehicle crash on Route 22 East just past the Route 57 merge in Lopatcong Township slowed traffic on Tuesday morning.

A gray SUV crashed the morning of Jan. 24, 2017, on Route 22 East in Lopatcong Township. (Dave Dabour | lehighvalleylive.com contributor) 

A gray 2005 Jeep Cherokee crashed in the left lane just after 8:30 a.m., township police report. Traffic was getting by on the right shoulder, a witness said.

The driver, Samer Daher, 38, of the 1400 block of North 22nd Street in Allentown, suffered a leg injury, police said. No one else was in the vehicle.

Daher was taken for treatment to St. Luke's Hospital in Phillipsburg, police said.

The Jeep sustained significant front-end damage, police said. The investigation is continuing. Louis LaFord is the investigating officer.

Township firefighters and EMS as well as Phillipsburg police assisted at the scene.

This post was updated with information from township police.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

Get your nominations in for the winter edition of our statewide contest

UPDATE, Jan. 24, 11:15 a.m.: We've added a few new nominations to the photo gallery above. Congrats to those schools nominated, and thanks to the fans who sent pics. (And Haddonfield, you're in - you can take a break.)

If your school isn't represented in the photo gallery, what are you waiting for? If you're waiting for the rain to stop - well, it slowed down, at least. Games should be back on. It's time to take a pic and get your school nominated, the first and most essential step to having your school community participate in this contest.

The nomination period only lasts until next Monday, Jan. 30, at 11:59 p.m. There's no time to waste.

Nominating your school couldn't be easier. Just take a pic, and use the form below to submit it.

Can you feel the gym shake? Are you looking at a sea of red, white and blue, or have the bleachers become a balmy beach scene in the middle of January? Is that organized cheer still rattling in your head?

Student section at work.

Whether it's themes, cheers, chants or banners, we know there are some student sections that help the team catch fire - home or away. We want to know which N.J. school has the best student section this winter, and we're relying on those student sections - and the rest of the school community - to show us - with pictures, with testimonials and in the end, with votes.

We're launching the winter version of our best student section contest (Oakcrest won the football version this fall). It's journey that will last until the end of February, and it starts with an critical first step - a nomination.

To be a part of all that follows, your school has to get a nomination by Monday, Jan. 30. That's not a ton of time, but nominating a school is super easy.  Someone just needs to take at least one picture of the student section and use the form below to submit it.  That's it. Done deal.

Our photographers will also be around the state looking for student sections, and we'll use some of our photos to make nominations too, but don't count on us - we can't be everywhere. Make it a sure thing, and nominate your school with a pic.

Contest format:
Nominations will be open through Monday, Jan. 30. We will then split the nominations into regions and launch a one-week qualifying poll for each region. Your voting in the regional qualifying polls will determine the schools that move on to an elimination bracket, with week-long head-to-head voting matchups to determine regional finalists. We will skip the regional finals and have one big statewide final for all the would-be regional finalists.  The whole thing is targeted to wrap up Monday, Feb. 27.

Nomination and photo submission notes:
• The form below will work with your cell phone - you can nominate your school from the game!
• NJ.com staff will also make nominations with our own photography.
• Only upload photos you have shot or that you personally received permission to use. We can't use photos from other media outlets. Please don't grab and submit photos from other websites.
• Multiple nominations for a school are welcome, but we may not use every photo.
• Submitted photos will be added to the gallery after some processing time; nominations will be compiled and listed on top of this post after the weekend's play.

So start talking and sharing - rally the troops to nominate, vote and make your student section officially the best in N.J.

SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION PHOTOS

School absentee rates are significantly higher than for this same time last year.

This year's flu has joined with other winter bugs to hit school-aged children harder than last year, according to figures from the N.J. Department of Health.

The statewide school absentee rate is higher than it was last year at this time, with two-thirds of counties reporting a higher-the-normal of students out sick.

Atlantic, Salem and Warren counties are seeing a lot of empty desks, with Cumberland County posting the highest absenteeism in the state.

Nationally, five children have now died of the flu, with those deaths occurring in Southeastern and Western states. New Jersey has not registered a pediatric flu death this year.

Physicians have cautioned that this year's strain of the flu virus - H3N2 - makes people sicker than did the more recent varieties. As is expected with the flu, the most vulnerable patient groups are the very young and the very old.

Schools keep track of absentee rates, but cannot say with certainty why a child is absent - or the child's diagnosis.

"We're actually seeing various illnesses - but a lot. Illness is peaking right now," said Rhonda Curcio, school nurse at Max Leuchter Elementary School in Vineland.

"I'm seeing pneumonia - where a kid was hospitalized even - and strep throat infections. I had a kid with the croup. It seems like the GI illnesses, the noroviruses, have subsided a bit, but definitely the flu-like illnesses are being seen," she said.

Although New Jersey requires the flu vaccine for preschoolers, it does not require it for school-aged children.

One possible deterrent to vaccination was the decision by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to withdraw the nasal mist vaccine. That version, while less upsetting to children than a regular shot, was found to be not as effective. A third of children who received the flu vaccine last year received it in spray form.

Public health officials continue to urge people of all ages to get vaccinated. Anyone who is unsure where to find a site that provides flu shots can check the state's "Flu Vaccine Finder" tool on the N.J. Department of Health website.

Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

The road was shut down to one lane to allow for paramedics to assist the drivers, police said.

One person was hurt in a crash Tuesday morning along Route 57 in Franklin Township, Warren County.

It remains unclear how the 10:11 a.m. accident occurred, but it involvded a Honda Civic and a Honda Pilot.

The crash was in the vicinity of OK Auto, 2621 Route 57.

The investigating officer at the New Jersey State Police Washington station was not immediately available to provide information.

Police did say there were no other occupants in either vehicle other than the drivers. The driver of the Civic was taken to St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill with undisclosed injuries.

Route 57 was reduced to one lane alternating between east and west traffic as paramedics arrived, police said. The road was reopened 10 minutes later.

Also responding were the Franklin Township Fire Department, Greenwich Rescue Squad and paramedics from Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan Township.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

Homeless people and those at risk can get connected with housing, health and legal services, among others. Watch video

Those without a home will find lunch Wednesday at the St. Philip & St. James Church in Phillipsburg, along with flu shots, haircuts and winter coats.

And, hopefully, they will forge some connections to help them beyond the day.

Every year, Project Homeless Connect provides information on housing, social and legal services, substance abuse, medical care and employment to homeless people or those at risk of becoming so.

This year's event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the church's Mercy Hall, 430 S. Main St. in Phillipsburg, according to a news release from the county.

Valley explores mental illness in homeless

Once again, it coincides with with the annual nationwide Point in Time Count, which gathers data on homelessness and its contributing factors.

In last year's study on Jan. 26, the count found 40 homeless people in Warren County, down nine from the previous year. Statewide, 8,941 men, women and children were counted, a 12.4 percent decrease from 2015.

The statewide and county reports are available at monarchhousing.org.

More information on this year's count and Project Homeless Connect is available by calling the Warren County Department of Human Services at 908-457-6331.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

All 14 No. 1-ranked wrestlers remained at the top but several newcomers found their way into the top eight.

Leaders from the North Jersey Super Football Conference think an expansion of the playoffs would help regular-season scheduling.

The leaders behind a new proposal that would drastically change the high school football playoffs want you to answer this question.

How is this not better?

“We have what we think is a sound plan,” said Westwood athletic director Danny Vivino. “It’s not perfect, but it’s better than what we have. That’s the key word -- better.”

BELOW: Read the proposal in it's entirety

The new proposal, which was crafted by Vivino, River Dell athletic director Denis Nelson and the North Jersey Super Football Conference, is aiming to revamp the entire playoff structure in an attempt to make regular-season scheduling fairer and more equitable. 

“The whole plan was motivated by scheduling and making scheduling as equitable and fair as possible,” said Joe Piro, Nutley athletic director and President of the North Jersey Super Football Conference. “This proposal enables you to make great matchups and not be afraid to play great games or perennial powers because if you lose, you won’t make the playoffs.”

The keys of the proposal are to: 

• Create public-school playoff brackets by splitting the state into seven groups based on enrollment and two sections based on geography. That makes 14 sections with 16 qualifiers in each from a pool of 22 teams. That increases the number of public-school qualifiers from 160 to 224 and means 73 percent of the state's public schools qualify. In the current format, 52 percent qualify. 

• Keep the state's three non-public sections the same but increase the number of qualifiers in each from eight to 12. The increase would ensure automatic entry for every team in Group 3 and Group 4 while five teams would miss the cut in Group 2. 

• Maintain eight- or nine-game regular-season schedules despite adding an extra round of the playoffs. Teams can accomplish that by playing from Week 0 to Week 8 or starting Week 1 and using Thanksgiving week. 

• Keep the power-point formula used to qualify essentially the same with a slight tweak to accommodate the new seven-group format. 

"We want to be as transparent as possible," Piro said. "We don't want to hide anything. We want everybody to take a look at it and understand it. We're willing to speak in front of any organization to explain what it's all about and hopefully by the 2018 season, we would be able to institute it." 

The proposal, which was presented to league presidents last Tuesday and will be presented to the NJSIAA's Football Committee tomorrow, hopes to fix several inequalities that popped up this fall for teams like Butler and Northern Highlands. 

Butler missed the NJIC-based North 1, Group 1 playoffs at 6-2, losing to North 2, Group 1 finalists Weequahic and Shabazz by eight total points, while Northern Highland missed the cut in favor of a Fair Lawn team that it beat, 44-14. 

In this case, Fair Lawn was 7-1 at the cut against teams that finished 20-59 while Northern Highlands (4-4) lost four games to two sectional champions and two finalists during an eight-game stretch against teams that finished 55-33. 

It brings up this question. 

"With football under attack and programs potentially folding, do you want to give Fair Lawn a murder's row and let them go 1-9?" asked Vivino. "On the other side, is it fair to Northern Highlands when it was clearly one of the top eight teams in the section?" 

Whether that question can be answered or whether those types of issues exist around the state is still to be determined but critics of the proposal argue that expanding the playoffs creates more problems. 

Bud Kowal, Ewing athletic director and President of the West Jersey Football League, argues a team like Northern Highlands would have been out-matched anyway. 

“If you want to say that some teams are not getting in that deserve it, I’m going to say that more teams that don’t deserve it are already getting in anyway, and the teams that theoretically deserve to get in don’t really have a chance to win the championship," Kowal said, pointing out first-round games that would pit a No. 1 seed against a No. 16 seed.

In the case of the hypothetical section South Jersey, Group 6, top-seeded Manalapan would play a West Windsor-Plainsboro South team that was 2-6 at the cutoff. 

On the other side of the argument, Vivino said one-sided games already happen, noting that the top two seeds in each section went 37-3 in the first round with an average margin of victory of 29 points. 

Last season, there appears to be seven teams that missed the playoffs with records better than .500. If the proposal was put in place last season, 57 teams that were sub-.500 at the cutoff would have qualified. 

Kowal said that's the type of situation that led to conference expansion in the first place. 

"The West Jersey Football League got together because we had mismatched games that we couldn't do anything about," Kowal said. "Now you're going to put those type of games in the playoffs?"

Kowal, who also questioned the proposal's schedule, is a member of the NJSIAA's Football Committee that will listen to the proposal tomorrow morning.

"I'm not opposed to change, but it has to be change that's good for everyone and not just good for the elite that want to say we half a half state champion. That's the end game." 

The president promised new railroads in his inaugural address.

For decades, a passenger train in the Lehigh Valley has been a rare sight.

But a promise made during President Donald Trump's inauguration has one Warren County mayor optimistic that local passengers could regularly ride the rails again.

On Tuesday, Pohatcong Township Mayor James Kern III wrote a letter to his fellow Republican in the White House with a pitch to pique the president's interest. 

Pohatcong Township Mayor James Kern III (lehighvalleylive.com file photo) 

The letter cites part of Trump's inaugural address in which the new president said that "we will build new ... railways all across our wonderful nation" and get "people off welfare and back to work." The official White House website also states that revenues from energy production will be used to "rebuild roads, schools and public infrastructure."

Kern said the promise, along with Trump's New Jersey connections, gives him hope.

"This has been a topic for many years, but has fallen on deaf ears," Kern said of his request, which was copied to both states' governors, congressmen and other local mayors. "I hope that this letter will start a dialogue with the many stakeholders and make this finally come to fruition."

Vintage photos of rail travel in the Valley

Similar discussions have taken place in recent years. Amtrack's Autumn Express last October was the last passenger line to rumble through the Valley, using freight rails en route to Harrisburg that Amtrack said has not been used for regular passenger service since the 1960s.

Kern's full letter to Trump is below.

Dear President Trump,

First and foremost, I wish to congratulate you on taking the office of President. I was fortunate enough to attend your inauguration and I found it to be a great spectacle of the American spirit.

The reason I write to you is to support your message of improving the infrastructure of our nation and more importantly to consider our region of the country to be a part of this new growth. As you stated in your inaugural address:

"We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor."

READ: Trump's inauguration address

I agree with this portion of your speech. Our nation severely falls (behind) many Western nations for rail development and I believe your vision could help us grow in this capacity. The municipality of Pohatcong that I represent as mayor is located in Northwest New Jersey, situated on the border of Pennsylvania. This region which includes the cities of Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania and southern Warren County, New Jersey, has seen tremendous growth over the past two decades with many people commuting to east New Jersey and New York City. This has led to major traffic impact on the highway corridors connecting our region east.

It is my belief that a rail extension from New York City to the greater Lehigh Valley Area would be a major boom for workers commuting from these areas as well as thousands of jobs that would be created in developing this project.

This letter merely serves as an introduction to the conception and to start the process on discussing this project's potential. I hope to facilitate conversations moving forward on this topic and would be more than happy to meet with your staff to discuss this further.

I thank you for your time on this matter. I truly believe this will help your agenda to bring good American jobs back, create infrastructure and improve America's quality of life.

Sincerely,
James R. Kern III
Mayor

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

The grassroots women's march held in Washington, D.C., and in cities around the world, including Trenton, was a political coming of age for many.

"Today we march. Tomorrow we run for office."

The women's march on Trenton last weekend, a sister march to the larger event in Washington, D.C., was everything organizers hoped for.

Chanting, sporting pussy hats and T-shirts declaring "Love Trumps Hate," among other slogans, participants gathered, an estimated 6,000 strong, to share their profound unease over where the country is headed under a new administration.

It was peaceful and powerful, an expression of patriotism at its most distilled.

Rally-goers cheered a wide spectrum of speakers at the War Memorial - representatives of all faiths and affiliations, ethnic backgrounds and gender identifications - before tracing a path to the State House that would have felt familiar to George Washington and his troops of revolutionaries 2-and-a-half centuries ago.

The plea to thousands at N.J. women's march

In an atmosphere of camaraderie, they traded high-fives with the police officers who were directing traffic, and exchanged signs and salutations with friends and stranger alike.

But more than a feel-good outing on a mild New Jersey Saturday, the grassroots event was, for many of its participants, a political coming of age.

There was the growing realization in the crowd that democracy is not a spectator sport. That to attain the change you want, you have to work for it. Plan for it. Organize for it.

Marching is good. Running for office is better.

There was valid criticism before Saturday that the various protest events around the country - indeed, around the world - lacked focus.

And truly, the variety of concerns expressed on signs and shirts was enormous, from reproductive rights to harassment of women, from assaults on the environment to encroachment on press freedom, from the new president's lack of civility to his historic withholding of tax forms.

But rather than divide the crowd, we like to think the issues united them, underscoring the enormous job still to come.

In the days and weeks after the election, people who did not even know the names of their members in Congress have put their representatives on speed dial. Political neophytes have reached out to their local Democratic or Republican committees, expressing interest in how the process works - and how they can be a part.

Perhaps not since the Vietnam War has the political climate so energized a generation.  

The events of Nov. 8 taught us one thing: Elections have consequences. In his first few days in office, Trump has revived a ban on foreign aid to groups that offer abortion counseling, and frozen Environmental Protection Agency grants, money that goes for environmental testing, cleanups and research.

His very first action moved the government toward dismantling the Affordable Care Act, which provides health insurance for millions.

If these issues matter to you, this is a good time to haul yourself off the couch and get involved in the political process.

If not now, when?

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

From blankets and food to flu shots, Project Homeless Connect aims to help.

Connie and Robert Bayne said they almost lost their Phillipsburg home three years ago.

The couple, ages 53 and 73, had fallen behind on their mortgage after Robert's taxi business went under, but said they managed to redo their mortgage at a lower interest rate. Times are still lean, and on Wednesday they were looking for help with their utility bills.

Still, Connie said: "A lot of people here are worse off than we are."

They were among more than 100 people who came through St. Philip & St. James Church's Mercy Hall in the first hour and a half of Warren County's Project Homeless Connect, which goes until 2 p.m.

The annual event at the Phillipsburg church brings many public services together to aid those who are homeless or at risk of becoming so.

The Baynes collected a quilt from the United Presbyterian Church of Belvidere and rummaged through clothes, in addition to looking for help on their bills. Others got grocery bags of necessities from NORWESCAP, legal guidance through Legal Services of Northwest New Jersey, or flu shots and blood-pressure tests from the Public Health Nursing table.

Valley explores mental illness in homeless

There was assistance for housing, domestic violence and other social issues. Operation Chillout had run out of its 51 backpacks filled with goods within the first hour and a half, organizers said.

Project Homeless Connect each year is run in conjunction with the annual nationwide Point in Time Count, which gathers data on homelessness and its contributing factors.

In last year's study on Jan. 26, the count found 40 homeless people in Warren County, down nine from the previous year. Statewide, 8,941 men, women and children were counted, a 12.4 percent decrease from 2015. The statewide and county reports are available at monarchhousing.org.

But the needs go beyond the numbers.

"I think it's amazing that in such a small county, we have such a large number of residents that need services," said Jan McDyer, with the county's human services department. "It's amazing that we all come together on a day like this to help."

Robert Bayne said the event presents "all kinds of opportunities," especially for those afraid of being judged for their needs.

Connie summed it up in one word: "Hope."

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

Those with respiratory issues should "exercise judgment when entering the building."

Will mold force Phillipsburg's municipal offices to move?

Town leaders hope to be able to answer that question in a few weeks, when they get the results of a follow-up study, according to Mayor Stephen Ellis.

A recently completed environmental analysis found mold in the municipal building at 675 Corliss Ave. that could pose a risk to anyone with respiratory issues or other ailments, like allergies or lung disease, the mayor said in a news release Wednesday. The release advises that anyone with those conditions should "exercise judgement when entering the building."

Specifically, mold was found in the municipal court and council chambers on the second floor and in the basement, Ellis told lehighvalleylive.com. Ellis said the town addressed the court clerk's second-floor office last summer, and have moved the Phillipsburg police detectives from their basement office.

P'burg ready to pull plug on damaged site

Most of the municipal offices are on the first floor and were deemed acceptable in the original study, the mayor said.

The follow-up study is expected to come back in three weeks. Based on that, Ellis said, officials will decide if the building can be remediated or if the offices will have to be relocated.

Officials have pitched the idea of moving the offices back downtown at least twice in the last few years.

"I believe ... that that's the key to revitalizing the downtown," Council President Todd Tersigni said at a council meeting in May 2016, citing a 2014 Express-Times story in which he made a similar proposal. No formal action was taken either time, but the sentiment was largely met with agreement from councilmen present at last spring's meeting.

The offices moved from the downtown when the Lovell Building was demolished in the 1970s.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

The town's mayor isn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but the developer is pressing on.

An Allentown developer would like to move forward with plans to put a motel on a Norton Partnership property in Phillipsburg.

Joe Clark said his Lehigh Land Developers subsidiary would convert the structures already on the business park property into a Motel 6 with 54 to 58 rooms, with parking for 120 cars.

The property at 540 Marshall St., which is across the street from the defunct oil company, was zoned for a motel when Clark bought Richard Norton's mortgage on the 1.96-acre property about a block south of Memorial Parkway, he said.

But the zoning has changed in the past three years, he said.

He got the mortgage in a way he gets many properties, he said. He works with banks when mortgages are distressed, buys the debt and eventually gets the properties with the goal of improving them and making money from them, he said.

Clark is the owner of the old Crocodile Rock building in Allentown.

He said he liked the location in Phillipsburg, especially with no other motel or hotel in the town and the closest one being the Phillipsburg Inn on Route 22 nearer Interstate 78 in Greenwich Township.

He said there's a market for a motel now with plans for an aquarium to open in Easton in 2021 and the Ingersoll-Rand redevelopment in Phillipsburg underway again.

"I think I'm filling in a good need there," he said.

Piece of Morris Canal Greenway unveiled

Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen Ellis, who wasn't thrilled with a motel on that property -- he said he'd rather see a hotel at a "more strategic" location in town -- has met briefly with Clark but the planning process has yet to formally begin, he said.

Clark said he has another meeting set for Feb. 14 with town officials.

He likely will have to go through the planning and rezoning process, but if gets the OK on Feb. 14, he'll be ready with "trailers and Dumpsters" the next day to begin to gut the structures, he said.

"The buildings are in great shape," he said.

In an ad for the sale of 540 Marshall St. in Phillipsburg, developer Joe Clark suggests a Motel 6 would look like this on the property. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) 

The first step would be filing papers with the land-use board, Ellis said.

Clark said he has financing and has spoken with Motel 6. He'll work on the project with his son, Joe Jr., he said.

A lien holder has been paying the taxes on the property, town Tax Collector Sandy Callery said, but the name of that entity doesn't match Clark's various businesses, she said. She wouldn't name the lien holder.

During Richard Norton's bankruptcy, it was determined Norton personally guaranteed unsecured liabilities of $1.97 million, including $1.3 million owed to Clark. Norton hasn't paid anything toward the taxes or toward the mortgage, Clark said.

Since numerous customers of the oil company paid ahead for oil and never received it, Clark said he's prepared to bring foreclosure action if necessary. At the moment, he said, the family has signed over the property but he has yet to file the documents.

A member of the Norton family who shares an address in Maryland with Neil Norton, who is a listed principal of The Norton Partnership, didn't immediately return a phone call.

"On the surface," it looks as if the property wouldn't be an asset that can be taken by other creditors, Clark said.

"If they (the Nortons) didn't disclose other debt on their matrix (during bankruptcy), I might have to go through foreclosure" to protect his investment, he said.

He would have considered a Studio 6 long-term-stay motel, but the town didn't like the idea, so he's going with a motel, Clark said. He'd like to partner with someone with motel expertise, but he's ready to run it himself, he added.

EARLIER: Richard Norton's personal bankruptcy ends

Or, he'll sell it.

A CraigsList ad that's appeared in the last day offers the site for $2 million in its current state or $5.6 million finished.

The latest property assessment is $1,197,300, with taxes of $46,359.46, Norton Partnership records show.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

The most fun photos are the ones that just ... happened.

Posed vintage photographs are invaluable, certainly.

Who doesn't treasure the formal wedding photos that show the bride, groom and attendants donning styles of the times. Similarly, the prom picture taken by a professional photographer captures a memorable moment in one's timeline.

In truth, the prom picture also probably has a lot of people asking themselves, "What possessed me to wear that?".

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

Families take holiday photos each year that allow friends to see how children have grown. Graduation photos are lovingly mounted on mantles and walls by parents and grandparents.

Yet I think a lot of people would agree with me that the most fun photos are the ones that just ... happened.

In my family, simply saying the words "knobby knees" makes everyone think of the same photo -- this one. That's me on the left. 

I'm talking about pictures that were taken with cameras that did not allow the photographer to see what the shot would look like until the film was developed - you know, the pre-Polaroid, pre-digital days (we've all left rolls of undeveloped film in drawers for longer than we'd like to admit, haven't we?).

But it was this same inability to know what the picture looked like that resulted in some of the best candid photos. Like the ones in this gallery, all from pre-digital days, candid photos can provide a chuckle or simply a natural look into a time and place from days gone by.

Here's a gallery of such vintage candid photos from New Jersey. Enable captions to read about them, and if you'd like more, click here and here to see previous candid galleries.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

The NJSIAA football committee approved changes to its qualification system and sent a proposal to blow-up the current playoff format back for revisions

ROBBINSVILLE – The NJSIAA Football Committee approved changes to its power points system on a trial basis and sent a proposal that would revamp the playoff format back for revisions before being voted on by the general membership next December on Wednesday.

Multiple members of the football committee, speaking to NJ Advance Media on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting, said discussions about power-point amendments and the Westwood High School proposal for playoff expansion “were tense and lengthy.”

“What we need is a qualification system and a playoff format that is equitable for most of the kids playing football in New Jersey,” said Marlboro athletic director Dave Ryden, a football committee member. “You are never going to get a perfect system.

“It isn’t going to be solved in a day, a week or a month, but there are enough intelligent people in this state to come up with an equitable plan. This is about the 15 to 18-year-olds playing football in our state. It isn’t about North vs. South.”

The committee approved a power-point adjustment plan submitted by the North Jersey Super Football Conference.

Under the adopted plan, NJSFC Red and White division teams will still gain automatic entry to the playoffs. However, there were significant changes. Gone are the double power points for games featuring Red Division opponents and victories being awarded to both teams.

Here are the changes:

• In games involving United Red vs. United Red, the winner would get 32 power points and the loser 16 points. In the event of a tie, both teams get 24 points.

• In games involving United Red vs. United White: The United Red team would get “natural” power points for a victory. If United Red loses, it would get 12 points. In the event of a tie, United Red gets natural power points. United White teams would get 36 for a win, 24 for a loss and 30 points for a tie.

• In games featuring an out of division team against United Red, the out of division team would get 54 points for a win, 36 for a loss and 45 for a tie.

• In games featuring out of division teams against United White: the non-divisional team would receive 48 points for a win, 32 for a loss and 40 for a tie.

• Out of division teams that use the power point incentive (play a team from United Red or United White) and lose to a team within its section head-to-head can jump the loser even if it has a lower power-point total. If No. 8 was an incentive participant and lost to No. 6, it could jump No. 6. It would have a trickle-down effect – No. 6 would move to No. 7, No. 7 to No. 8 and the original No. 8 could be forced out of the playoffs. This rule does not impact non-incentive teams.

• Out of division teams that use the power-point incentive and have a 2-6 record or lower can be jumped in their section if teams below them have a lower power-point total.

Last season, Linden missed out on the playoffs despite having a better record than Columbia.

"There has to be some failsafes in it where teams with losing records just because they have a, let’s just say, a super conference team on their schedule, they shouldn’t be guaranteed the points simply for playing them," said Linden head coach Albert Chiola.

Sources told NJ Advance Media the power point proposal passed unanimously, although it was the only proposal under consideration. 

“It's a crock,” said one committee member. “It was either accept this proposal or go back to what we have now. At least this proposal was a little better than the one they used this year.”

“These other schools down there need to wake up because they are where we were 10 years ago,” said Montclair coach John Fiore. “So why not get these extra points and take a shot one game a year?”

“Why don’t they do it then,” said Ewing athletic director and WJFL president Bud Kowal, a committee member, in response to Fiore's quote “They are right across the street and won’t play those teams (United Red and United White), but they want people two hours away to come up and play them.”

“We’re trying to schedule one of those guys,” said St. Augustine head coach Mark Reardon. “We can’t play a full schedule of them. I don’t want to take four bus rides over two hours a year.

“We have been actively trying to add or strengthen our schedule for a long time, if that’s a team from New Jersey or Maryland or Pa. But with the WJFL, we have a set schedule and we’re fine with that.

“It’s easier for a private school to schedule another private school. First we need a public school on our schedule to agree to drop the game and we have a team who might be willing to do that. But then we need to find a game on that date and they need to find another public school, probably, on that date for a 2-year commitment and that’s really hard to do. It’s hard for a public school to find a game. It’s almost impossible.”

The proposal drafted by Westwood athletic director Danny Vivino, River Dell athletic director Denis Nelson and the North Jersey Super Football Conference, is aiming to revamp the entire playoff structure in an attempt to make regular-season scheduling fairer and more equitable.

The plan would blow-up the football format as we now know it.

RELATED: Read about the NJFSC's playoff proposal

“There were major concerns with playoff expansion and No. 1 playing No. 16,” one committee member told NJ.com. “There were also some concerns expressed by some members about starting on zero week.

“The plan will not be voted on as it was submitted. There will be revisions about what was discussed today and probably even more changes moving forward. They are going to run some mocks to see how things would have turned out.”

Once the revisions are made and approved by the football committee, it would go to a vote of the full membership in December. If passed by the membership, the new playoff format would be implemented for the 2018 football season.

Joe Zedalis may be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephzedalis. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.

Every traveler needs to establish some priorities

See which New Jersey natives are ranked in the NCAA.

They grew up in New Jersey, honing their skills on area wrestling mats.

They placed high on the podium in Boardwalk Hall or dominated in prep schools.

And now, 20 New Jersey wrestlers are ranked in the Top 20 nationally by either Intermat, Flowrestling or both this week.

SLIDESHOW: N.J.'s NCAA-ranked wrestlers

In the slideshow, we break down the 20 wrestlers with their rankings, any movement up or down this week and their records. Did Nick Suriano's first loss of his high school or college career affect his ranking? Who made the biggest jump? Check out the slideshow to find out.

Many of these wrestlers, if not all, will be competing for NCAA titles and All-American status in less than two months. Check back in a week as we update the latest additions and changes in the national rankings every Thursday leading up to the final tournament in St. Louis.

Blll Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports. Find and like the NJ.com High School Wrestling page on Facebook.

Winds could gust as high as 45 to 50 mph in South Jersey, and snow showers could coat the ground in northwestern N.J., forecasters said. Watch video

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for several counties in South Jersey and a hazardous weather alert for Sussex and Warren counties, where scattered snow showers could create slick road conditions. 

The wind advisory is effective from noon through 6 p.m. Thursday in Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, where westerly winds of 15 to 20 mph could gusts as high as 45 to 50 mph, the weather service said.

The strongest gusts are expected between 1 p.m. and sunset, the weather service said, noting that "strong winds may blow down limbs, trees and power lines," causing scattered power outages.  

In Sussex and Warren, as well as in the southern Poconos in northeastern Pennsylvania, scattered snow showers are expected Thursday night, the weather service said in a hazardous weather outlook posted at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Although only a coating of snow is expected, it could be enough to create slippery road conditions. 

During the snow showers, high-elevation areas could get wind gusts up to 45 mph, the weather service said.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Donald Trump and Chris Christie say they believe it happened somewhere, though.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, echoing President Donald Trump, has said he is sure there was voter fraud in last year's election.

However, there were no reports of any fraud -- at least in Warren County.

County elections administrator William Duffy said no complaints were filed, and that the most unusual activity during Election Day was long lines. Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke also said he was unaware of any allegations of fraud.

On Wednesday night, Christie was on his monthly call-in radio show "Ask the Governor" and was asked if he thought there had been voter fraud as Trump had claimed during the 2016 presidential contest.

"I am sure there was," Christie said, though he admitted that there was no evidence to support his claim.

Christie 'sure' of 2016 voter fraud

On Tuesday, Trump and his press secretary, Sean Spicer, both falsely claimed that 3 to 5 million unauthorized immigrants denied Trump a win of the popular vote in his 2016 showdown with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by voting illegally.

New Jersey's election system is overseen by the state Division of Elections under Lt. Gov Kim Guadagno, who told nj.com that no fraud allegations had been brought to her attention, though they are generally handled on the county level.

New Jersey's electoral votes went to Hillary Clinton, but Warren County was solid Trump territory. NJ Advance Media compiled town-by-town results of the presidential election across New Jersey, shown on the map below.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

A Silver Alert has been issued for Warren Peterson, 83, of Delaware Township, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

FLEMINGTON - A Silver Alert has been issued for a missing Delaware Township man who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Warren Peterson, 83, was last seen on Tuesday at 7 p.m., Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns, III said.

He is believed to be driving a white 2009 Ford Ranger pickup with New Jersey plates XZL-72F. He was last seen wearing a wool plaid shirt, blue jeans and brown cowboy boots, authorities said.

Peterson is 5-feet, 10-inches tall, weighs 165 pounds, and has gray hair, hazel eyes and a white beard.

Anyone who has seen or talked with Peterson or sees his vehicle is asked to call 9-1-1 immediately.

The Silver Alert was jointly announced by Kearns, Chief John Kuczynski and Delaware Township Police Chief Chris Kane.

Craig Turpin may be reached at cturpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NJeditor. Find NJ.com on Facebook.