Dogs and cats await adoption throughout New Jersey.

A few more summertime tips for pet owners.

Don't let your pet eat your trash.  Make no bones about it: your pet will eat discarded BBQ bones, corn cobs, and anything else you leave lying around. Clean up your trash to reduce the risk of human foods getting stuck in your pet's GI tract and causing pancreatitis.

Beware of fleas and disease.  If you're taking your pet camping, make sure they've got their flea and tick preventative meds. Topical meds don't require an office visit; pick it up before your trip.

Remember that your pet is as thirsty as you are. 85 degrees might be fine for you, but it's too hot for your pet. Keep cool water around, and steer clear of hot pavement. If it burns your hand when you touch it, it's too hot to walk your pet.

Once they hear Cliff, the two surrender, authorities say.

A driver was intoxicated when he struck a mailbox Saturday night and hid in nearby woods with his passenger until a K-9 was deployed, Washington Township, Warren County, police report.

Preston Ambrosky, 26, of Philadelphia, was driving "erratically" at 9:09 p.m. on Route 57 in the township in the vicinity of the Washington Gardens Apartments when police got the call, Lt. John Kaufmann said.

The vehicle drove off after the minor crash and Ambrosky and Ryan McCullough, 27, of Glen Gardner, soon got out and headed into nearby woods, Kaufmann said.

MORE: Fire rages at movie theater

A Washington Township, Morris County, officer arrived with K-9 Cliff at 9:21 p.m. to assist, that department reported.

Once they heard the dog, Ambrosky and McCullough thought the better of it and gave up, Kaufmann said.

McCullough was charged with disorderly conduct and a violation of a local ordinance and was freed pending a court date, Kaufmann said.

Ambrosky was charged with driving while intoxicated, refusal to take a breath test, leaving the scene of an accident, disorderly conduct, maintaining a nuisance, reckless driving, careless driving and other vehicle code violations, Kaufmann said. Ambrosky also was given a court date and released. 

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

EMTs from across the region assist.

Six clients of Abilities of Northwest Jersey were taken to Hackttstown Medical Center for observation after the bus they were in collided with another vehicle Monday morning in Washington Township, Warren County, police said.

Details of the 8:43 a.m. crash at Route 31 and Jackson Valley Road were not immediately available, township police Lt. John Kaufmann said. There is a traffic light at the intersection, he added.

Cops: Hiding men respond to K-9's arrival

Emergency medical personnel from Washington, Franklin Township, Greenwich Township, High Bridge and Hampton took the patients to the hospital, Kaufmann said.

The investigation is continuing and no one had been cited as of early Monday afternoon, Kaufmann said.

Abilities of Northwest Jersey offers "individualized employment and support services for persons with different abilities," its website says.

A manager there said she wasn't able to say how the clients were doing or what kind of bus they were riding at the time of the crash.

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

The Mansfield Township man is now facing several drug offenses, prosecutors say.

A police raid of a Mansfield Township property turned up nearly 17 pounds of marijuana and 130 grams of hash oil, the Warren County Prosecutor's Office reported Monday.

William Wydner, 26, of the 600 block of Jackson Valley Road in the township, was arrested following the raid and charged with possession with intent to distribute more than five pounds of marijuana, a second-degree crime that carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

He also faces several lesser drug offenses. 

The prosecutor's office said the raid was the result of a six-month investigation led by several law enforcement agencies.

The exact location of the raid and whether Wydner was incarcerated on the charges were not disclosed in a news release from the prosecutor's office. The office did not immediately respond to an inquiry seeking this information. 

Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

In these towns in each of New Jersey's 21 counties, property taxes gobble up the biggest amount of household income.

The Pennsylvania man had been missing about a day after his canoe capsized.

Park rangers on Monday recovered the body of a Pennsylvania boater who went missing on the Delaware River.

Jose F. Loja, 35, of East Stroudsburg, disappeared when his canoe capsized about 5 p.m. Sunday on the river in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, park officials said in a news release.

His body was found about 4 p.m. Monday on the river's Pennsylvania shore, near one of the park's swimming areas about 5.5 miles north of the water gap and Interstate 80.

Loja was pronounced dead by the Monroe County coroner. He was not wearing a life jacket, the park service news release said.

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a 70,000-acre park covering a 40-mile section of the Delaware River on the northern New Jersey-Pennsylvania border.

In response to the death, the National Park Service urged caution on the river.

"The river current is strong and swift, despite calm appearances in some areas, and the depth can change suddenly, often going from knee-deep to over your head in a single step," park Superintendent John J. Donahue said in a statement. "Wearing a life jacket at all times is one simple thing that a person can do to ensure a fun and safe day on, and in, the river."

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

Rider DeMaio, who goes by the name Rider Mountain, is being sought by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

FLEMINGTON - Rider DeMaio, who goes by the name Rider Mountain, is being sought by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

Rider DeMaio

The 22-year-old whose last known address is Asbury, was charged with possession of narcotics. An arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 21 when he failed to comply with a court order, and he has been named fugitive of the week by the prosecutor's office.

DeMaio, who is 6-feet tall and weighs 160 pounds, is also known to frequent Alpha in Warren County and Holland Township.

Those with information on his whereabouts are asked to contact Det. John Mulligan, Det. Frank Modaffare or Det. Lamont Garnes of the Joint Hunterdon County Fugitive Task Force at 908-788-1129 or your local police department.

Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-321-0010 or by going to www.crimestoppershunterdon.com, or text messaging "HCTIPS" plus your tip message to 274637 (CRIMES). Tipsters can also download the free mobile app "Tipsubmit" and select Hunterdon County to submit anonymous tips via text messaging. All tips are anonymous and kept confidential.

It was near where a teenager died in a January crash.

A teenager was flown to a hospital after a crash just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 200 block of Pequest Road in Oxford Township, authorities say.

Washington Township police Lt. John Kaufmann identified the driver as Christopher Polera, 18, of Washington. Polera was the only person in the car, Kaufmann  added.

Polera was driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse about 700 feet east of Pequest Furnace Road when he struck a tree, spun across the road, hit a guardrail and came to a stop facing traffic, according to a report from the scene.

The wreck was in the same vicinity as a Jan. 3 crash that took the life of a township teenager.

IN JANUARY: N.J. teen dies in single-vehicle wreck

Polera was taken to Oxford Textile from where he was flown on Atlantic Air One to Morristown Medical Center, according to Kaufmann and a report from the scene.

Pequest Road remained closed between Pequest Furnace Road and Oxford Road until just before midnight.

Washington Township police continue to investigate, Kaufmann said.

They were assisted by New Jersey State Police, the Oxford Rescue Squad, the Oxford Fire Department and paramedics from Hunterdon Medical Center.

Freelance photographer Rich Maxwell provided information for this report.

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

Both vehicles had heavy front-end damage and ended up off Route 519.

A number of people were taken to the hospital and at least one dog appeared to be hurt after a two-vehicle crash Wednesday morning in Warren County.

The two vehicles had heavy front-end damage and were off to the side of Route 519 in White Township in front of the Warren County library just before 9 a.m.

A gray Ford Edge SUV was on top of a stop sign at the end of Shotwell Drive. The street sign was knocked over by a black Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

Man flown to hospital after Warren Co. wreck

New Jersey State Police at the scene said five people were involved and at least some were hospitalized. One was seen being put on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

Two dogs were also tended to at the accident scene. One, which appeared to be a German shepherd, was carried away by an animal control officer with an apparent leg injury. The other, either a beagle or basset hound, did not appear to be hurt.

Route 519 was down to one lane as authorities tended to the scene. The vehicles were removed and both lanes were open as of 9:30 a.m.

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

One driver, a passenger and a dog were taken for treatment.

Two people were hospitalized with survivable injuries after a two-vehicle crash Wednesday morning outside the Warren County Library Headquarters, New Jersey State Police confirmed.

Three other people in the crash were not hurt. A dog was also taken to be treated at a local vet.

A Chevrolet Silverado pickup and a Ford Edge SUV were involved in the accident at 8:24 a.m. on Route 519 in White Township. Both ended up off the road with heavy front-end damage, the Edge on top of a stop sign and the Silverado next to a downed sign for Shotwell Drive.

The Chevy's driver, 65-year-old Dennis Smith of Belvidere, and a passenger in the Ford, 34-year-old Sabrina Rude of Hampton, N.J., were hospitalized with injuries not believed to be life-threatening, state police said.

The Ford's driver, 40-year-old Allen Rude, and two other passengers -- whose ages were not immediately available -- were OK.

Child's missing car returned -- broken

Two dogs were also tended to at the accident scene. One, which appeared to be a German shepherd, was carried away by an animal control officer with an apparent leg injury. The other, either a beagle or basset hound, did not appear to be hurt.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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

The Harmony Township legend raced cars for more than 50 years on the region's tracks.

There was a time when local race car driver Carl "Fuzzy" VanHorn was more famous than Mario Andretti.

"He was among the top drivers in the area when I was still just dreaming of becoming one," Andretti said Wednesday, two days after the Harmony Township legend, known as the Belvidere Bandit, died at 84.

"He was still racing when I was racing as well," Andretti, 77, added.

A tribute: Racer CarlVan Horn

VanHorn won more than 100 feature races during his career, which stretched from 1952 to 1994, piloting modified stock cars often numbered 71E on short tracks from Nazareth to Syracuse to Middletown, New York, and back.

He even got a start in the 1975 Puralotor 500 at Pocono Raceway. He was entered via a contest that involved fans voting, according to the Pocono Record at the time. He started 17th and finished 23rd in the NASCAR race after an engine problem knocked him out on the 110th lap.

"You always remember the winners and that's who he was," said Andretti, a Bushkill Township resident who grew up in Nazareth. "He was always at the top fighting for the win. ... I think he was hell of a race driver. He was at the top of his game. He certainly made his mark. He was very well know around our area."

RIP to Carl "Fuzzy" Van Horn, one of my childhood favorites at Nazareth Speedway. pic.twitter.com/ChjMumHBsC

-- Todd Michaels (@OpenWheelTodd) July 17, 2017

Frank Varju, 51, of Bethlehem, became a fan when he was just a kid living in Easton, as his dad, also named Frank, and young Frank's boss at the 13th Street Sunoco exposed the boy to the wild racing on the region's dirt tracks.

One day he got to visit Van Horn's garage in Harmony, an experience Varju still recalls with "shock and awe."

He saw VanHorn race in Middletown and Nazareth. There was the night in 1979 in Syracuse when Varju watched VanHorn spin out twice in a last-chance race but still roar back to almost qualify for the feature before the engine blew.

Rest in Peace Carl "Fuzzy " Van Horn. Northeast short track legend.

-- Speedway Report (@SpeedwayReport) July 17, 2017

"They would go nuts for him," Varju, getting emotional at times, said by phone from his own Lopatcong Township garage. "He put on a show. It was just unbelievable."

VanHorn inspired Varju to work on cars and become passionate about the sport.

"He was a great cornerstone of racing," Varju said. "He's an absolute hero in our area."

But Varju wouldn't really get to know the man well until years later when a friend brought "the master of going faster" into Varju's gas station at 1110 Belvedere Ave.

Varju compiled a mini-VanHorn museum at his business. And the star attraction took to coming around on Fridays after dropping off his wife, Sharon, at the chiropractor.

VanHorn would sit in a chair by the window and spend some time talking racing, Varju said. People would drive up, and seeing VanHorn, would come in and join the conversation.

But there always was a time limit. About 40 minutes, Varju said.

"Well boys, i gotta gotta go, before I lose the only job I have," he'd say as he headed out to pick up his wife.

After news of VanHorn's death hit Facebook, the phone rang nonstop for an hour and a half at Frank's Service Center, Varju said. And people have been walking in off the street just to talk about VanHorn.

"It's nothing but racing stories," Varju said.

VanHorn earned a number of honors over the years. He was inducted into four halls of fame, including in 2008 into the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame and in 2009 into the Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame. Not long ago, VanHorn received the key to Harmony, Varju added.

VanHorn was also a "driving force" in the building of the now defunct Harmony Speedway, former Express-Times racing writer Chuck Givler wrote.

VanHorn built his own cars -- including his first one after seeing one race in the early 1950s at Flemington Speedway.

He had no plan to drive it himself.

"But when his own brother, JC VanHorn, and several others passed on the offer, Van Horn figured he had to learn to drive," Givler wrote.

Andretti remarked on VanHorn's aggressiveness and determination, both keys to become a winner, the racing icon explained.

In a 2009 interview with Givler, VanHorn put it into his own words.

"I always raced tough," he said. "The car always had to pay for itself. I never gave anything back on the track. They had to take it from me."

MEMORIAL VISITATION: VanHorn, the son of the late Frank and Cora Kinney VanHorn, was born July 7, 1933, in Hope, according to his obituary. He is survived by Sharon, daughter Jane, sons David and Eric, nine grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and a great-great grandson. Memorial visitation is scheduled 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Rupell Funeral Home, 465 Memorial Parkway in Phillipsburg.

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

When confronted, he allegedly ate the drug and elbowed an officer in the face.

A 25-year-old Phillipsburg man is accused of dealing drugs in the Hackettstown High School parking lot, where police say they caught him weighing and packaging ecstasy in a car.

Confronted by a routine patrol about 6 p.m. Tuesday, Joshua Fortuna ate some of the drug and elbowed an officer in the face, Hackettstown police said in a news release. The officer suffered minor abrasions.

Fortuna was arrested and taken to Hackettstown Medical Center. He was later sent to the Warren County jail and faces a slew of charges including drug possession and distribution, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

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

James Appis allegedly pointed a gun at kids last year for being too loud outside of his window.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- A Washington Township man accused last year of pointing a gun at kids for being too loud is dead from a single gunshot after he barricaded himself in his home following an alleged armed robbery, police said.

James Appis, 45, of the Long Valley section of the township, refused to come out of his home after a robbery in the parking lot of Hastings Square complex, Washington Township police Lt. Douglas Compton said in a news release.

Officers responded to the complex at about 10 p.m. on Monday night on the report of a robbery with a handgun, and were able to track a suspect to the Wimbledon area, Compton said. 

Police identified the suspect as Appis and then set up a perimeter outside of his home. Over the course of the next 24 hours, officers tried to contact Appis multiple times to get him to leave the residence. 

"When these attempts failed, law enforcement made entry into the residence and located Mr. Appis deceased from a single gunshot wound," Compton said. "The subsequent investigation revealed numerous firearms and ammunition within the residence, which were secured by law enforcement."

No one else was injured during this standoff, he said. 

Appis was prohibited from owning weapons as a convicted felon. According to the Daily Record, he was convicted in a road rage incident in August 2010 in which he scared a Chester Township woman and caused $12,000 worth of damage to her car.

Township police said last year Appis ordered three boys to be quiet and pointed a rifle at them after one of them sneezed outside of his home.

Months before the rifle incident, Appis was also reportedly charged with stabbing an acquaintance in the neck in Hackettstown.

Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Cracks along an 8-mile stretch of Route 206 will get sealed this summer as part of a $6 million project highlighted by Gov. Chris Christie. Watch video

PEAPACK-GLADSTONE - Cracks along an 8-mile stretch of Route 206 will get sealed this summer as part of a $6 million project highlighted by Gov. Chris Christie.

The governor came to the twin boroughs on Monday as part of a tour to promote the first full year of the state's Transportation Trust Fund's investments.

"Residents are starting to see work going on in every area of the state on roads, bridges and mass transit," Christie said, who also visited a Route 202 paving project in Readington Township in Hunterdon County in May to promote how the funds are being used.

State leaders and the governor agreed on a compromise to provide $4 billion in Transportation Trust Funds toward infrastructure work over the next year after projects were stalled when the fund ran out of cash.

The deal included an increase in the state gasoline tax while eliminating the estate tax, easing state income taxes on many retirees and expanding an earned income tax credit for lower income families.

Christie just dropped a $400 million pile of money on N.J.

The 8-mile stretch of Route 206 runs from Bedminster in Somerset County to Chester Borough in Morris County. It is part of a larger effort that includes 7 miles of Route 46 from White Township to Independence Township in Warren County, and 3.3 miles of Route 208 from Fairlawn to Glen Rock in Bergen County.

These stretches of state highways serve as many as 110,000 motorists each day, according to the governor's office.

In Somerset County, there are six Transportation Trust Fund projects underway receiving $64.6 million in funding. There are 12 projects in Morris County receiving $43.8 million in funding. In total, Somerset County has 33 state- and federally-funded projects underway while Morris County has 43.

New Jersey's Cory Booker has teamed with Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate, including Elizabeth Warren, to introduce the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act.

Fans of the popular Netflix series "Orange is the New Black" have no illusions about the lives of women behind bars.

For five seasons, we've watched as inmates of the Litchfield Penitentiary, a fictional women's minimum-security prison in Connecticut, have been systematically debased, degraded and ground down at the hands of a merciless - and mercenary - system.

Sadly, this isn't make-believe for the more than 215,000 women currently serving time in federal prisons, state prisons and local jails.

Now New Jersey's Cory Booker (D-NJ) has teamed with Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), to introduce the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act.

The measure would ban administrators of federal prisons from shackling pregnant women or placing them in solitary confinement, and from denying female inmates such basic hygienic supplies as free sanitary pads and tampons.

It also addresses the reality that most incarcerated women are also mothers, many with young children at home, many of them living in poverty.

Spike in N.J. prison sex abuse prompts revamped training

Seeking to make it easier for these inmates to maintain ties with their families, Booker's bill would require that the Federal Bureau of Prisons take into consideration the location of children when deciding where to place a prisoner.

In addition, the senators are calling for longer and more frequent visiting hours, physical interactions during visits, and free phone calls home.

The damage done to innocent children whose mothers are locked up can be both deep and long-lasting.

In her 2011 book Disrupted Childhoods: Children of Women in Prison, Rutgers-Camden Professor Jane Siegel cites research indicating these youngsters showed increased signs of sadness, withdrawal, fearfulness and difficulty relating to others, as well as feelings of anger and shame.

"It is in the societal interest to support families when members of those families are incarcerated," Booker said in an interview with the Huffington Post.

"We do unnecessarily harsh things that are not necessary for public safety, but really punish women and punish their families as a whole."

The Huffington Post noted that the United States locks women in correctional institutions at a higher rate than any other country but Thailand.

Certainly, women who commit crimes should be held accountable. But they and their families should not be made victims of a systematic pattern of mistreatment and harsh policies.

The reforms written into the Booker-Warren legislation would help make conditions more tenable for the nearly 12,700 women in federal prisons - a healthy start in creating a more just and humane society.

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Going to the movies was an important part of life back in the day.

In the 1930s and '40s, the movie theater was an integral part of people's lives.

Certainly, radio was at its height of popularity, but if people wanted to see things, they went to the movies. And, it wasn't just the first-run features they saw. Theatergoers were more than entertained, they were informed.

Newsreels, which were shown prior to feature presentations, allowed people to see current events. The reality of war, tragedies such as the explosion of the Hindenburg and even medical advancements were shown on screen in theaters.

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

In these early days of the big screen, theaters were owned by motion picture companies. So, while Paramount's latest release would be showing at one theater, RKO's latest would be at another. Patrons were enticed with double features, cartoons, educational short subjects and even giveaways like table settings, silverware and glassware.

The price was right too; the average movie ticket price in the 1930s was a quarter; adjusted for inflation, that's only $4.50 today.

Here's a gallery of vintage movie theaters from around New Jersey. If your favorite isn't in this gallery ... here are the links to galleries we've done in the past - you'll almost certainly find them in there.

Vintage photos of movie theaters in NJ

Vintage photos of classic movie theaters in N.J.

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

They are getting a look before the property is returned to its owners, authorities say.

With the Bucks County District Attorney's Office considering returning to its owners the 90-acre farm in Solebury Township where Cosmo DiNardo and his cousin allegedly killed four young men, Philadelphia police were walking the property on Thursday morning, according to a published report.

Philadelphia police confirmed to philly.com that city personnel were among others visiting what remains a crime scene.

DiNardo confessed to the four killings but the New York Times, and then other news outlets, reported the 20-year-old from Bensalem Township also told city authorities that he killed a man and a woman in Philadelphia when he was 15.

REPORT: DiNardo confesses to killing 2 others

"We want to make absolutely certain that we have not missed any evidence before departing," Bucks District Attorney Matt Weintraub told the news website. Once the property is returned to DiNardo's parents, authorities would need "renewed probable cause" to reenter, Weintraub told philly.com in a prepared statement.

"A large number of law enforcement personnel, police cadets and others, including horses and dogs, are required for this comprehensive walk-through," the district attorney said of Thursday's effort.

DiNardo and his cousin Sean Michael Kratz, 20, of Philadelphia, are charged with the July 7 slayings of Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township; Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg, Montgomery County. Their burned bodies were found July 12 in a 12-foot-deep common grave elsewhere on the same property.

Dinardo is also accused of killing Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township, on July 5, and burying him on DiNardo's parents' land.

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

The crash happened just before 10 a.m. Thursday.

A Chrysler minivan sheered a utility pole and ended up on its side Thursday morning on Route 31 South in Washington Township, Warren County, but no one was badly hurt.

The crash happened just before 10 a.m. in the 300 block of the road.

The five people in the van were checked out by medical personnel but no one was transported to a hospital, according to emergency dispatches.

The part of the pole that broke off was placed on the shoulder on the opposite side of the street.

Township police were investigating and were assisted at the scene by Washington Rescue and the Franklin Township Fire Department's EMS.

The road was shut for an extended period.

Freelance photographer Rich Maxwell provided information for this report.

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

A garbage truck had to dump the load to keep from catching fire.

On a steamy summer day, firefighters doused a heap of smoldering garbage that closed a Warren County road.

A burn was clearly visible on the outside of an LMR Disposal truck parked near the burning pile dumped about noon Thursday on Anderson Road near Route 57 in Mansfield Township.

The driver, who suffered minor injuries, had to dump the load in the road to keep the truck from catching fire, township police said. LMR sent two more trucks to clean up the mess, and the road has since reopened.

Authorities have not identified the cause of the fire.

Firefighters in full gear had to dig through the waste and train their hoses on the smoky mound of refuse as the temperature approached 90 degrees at that time of day, according to the National Weather Service.

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

A new state law authorizes municipalities to adopt ordinances for emergency appropriations to cover non-recurring expenses they incur on the way toward unification.

On Jan. 2, 2014, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert took knife in hand and made the first slice in a marble sheet cake emblazoned with the words, "Happy 1 Year Birthday, Princeton. We Celebrate Moving Forward!"

The gathering marked the anniversary of the day Princeton Borough and Princeton Township merged into one entity, an almost unheard-of event in a state that has elevated home rule to a sacrament.

It took six decades and three previously unsuccessful referenda (in 1953, 1979 and 1996) to make it happen.

In his 1998 book Multiple Municipal Madness, a former speaker of the state Assembly analyzed the convoluted social and political history that allowed lawmakers to carve the tiny Garden State into 566 separate fiefdoms.

Alan J. Karcher said the map as we know it "supports the conclusion that these lines are rarely the product of chance; rather, they were drawn by politicians with very human foibles and frailties."

Bill to encourage mergers benefits from Princeton's experience

Those foibles and frailties created a system of duplication and waste, with each municipality supporting its own administration, school district, police and fire department, public works department and sanitation services - a situation many officials believe led to back-breaking property taxes.

For years, and over countless administrations, the state's lawmakers have chewed over ways to urge residents to give up their zealous passion for local control.

Now comes legislation, newly signed by Gov. Chris Christie, that offers a monetary incentive to township officials weighing the merger route.

Crafted by Assembly Democrats, including Andrew Zwicker (D-Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset), the measure authorizes municipalities to adopt ordinances for emergency appropriations to cover non-recurring expenses they incur on the way toward unification.

"Over the long term, consolidation can help streamline services and ultimately lower property taxes, but at the beginning, municipalities have to determine how to pay for the associated one-time, upfront costs," Zwicker said.

Princeton Township and Borough officials calculated the cost at about $2.4 million, which was partially offset by a $464,000 contribution from the state's Department of Community Affairs.

That April, three months into the new "marriage," Princeton officials presented their first annual budget: $3 million less than the 2012 combined budgets for the former borough and township.

It's not a given that consolidation is the magic pill we need to lower taxes. Plenty of planners and policy-makers familiar with the issue are skeptical, citing instead what many see as a larger problem: cuts in state aid to municipalities.

But it makes good fiscal sense that eliminating duplications of services and capitalizing on economies of scale are a good start at taming the tax monster.

The 28,500 residents of Princeton have good reason to think so.

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