Home Care In Upper Greenwood, NJ

After the destructive enemy bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, many people across the nation feared that heavy airplanes capable of flying long distances and carrying high explosives might target the United States mainland. The residents of the Suburban Trends area towns were among those very concerned citizens.

A response to the concern was the establishment of The Army Air Forces Ground Observer Corps, aided in organizing by the American Legion. Part of the hometown efforts included air raid drills that would happen unexpectedly and usually after dark and the setting up of plane spotter locations.

The plane spotter towers that I am personally aware of were on Bartholdi Avenue in Butler and at several locations in the Township of West Milford, although there surely were more throughout the area. The towers in West Milford were dismantled when they were no longer in use.

Many of the state’s 21 still active fire towers were built by the Civilian Conservation Corp.(CCC) during the Great Depression. More were erected during World War II to aid both the fire service and the Aircraft Warning system. Fire observers were assigned additional duty as enemy aircraft spotters. A tower still in forest fire service on Bearfort Mountain in West Milford is 1,331 feet high and 68 feet tall.

Girls as young as 11 or 12 took on patriotic duties as airplane spotters. Shirley Tice Mazalewski remembers as a young girl going with her father, LeRoy Tice of Newfoundland, to be part of the volunteer staff at an aircraft lookout tower overlooking Clinton Reservoir.

Lifelong Upper Greenwood Lake resident Ted Hajek shared information about a lease for a one-story, three-room bungalow on Magnolia Road. He said Anna Huhn, owner of the building, leased it to the United States Government between July 1, 1942 and June 30, 1943. The lease states that the bungalow (that happened to be located on a high mountain) was to be used exclusively for a radio station and any other purpose as deemed by the United States Government.

Hajek said the area became off limits to people living in that section. The building was taken over by the Army and became the officer’s headquarters for an anti-aircraft gun installation. The gun was in a pad next to St. Cecilia’s RC Church (now a private home).

The original Upper Greenwood Lake Clubhouse (purchased by Hajek in 1998 and remodeled as the home he lived in with his family) was turned into a mess hall for soldiers who camped out in tents on the front lawn.

Bradley (Brad) Bender, once the youngest Board of Education president in New Jersey, shared information with me from his late grandfather – Samuel (Sam)l Bunting – who was in charge of a plane spotter tower at Passaic County’s Camp Hope in the Township of West Milford. Retired, Bender is now a part-time tax assessor in a small town in Vermont.

Bunting, his wife, Ethel, and their two daughters had moved from Paterson to Camp Hope in 1939 when he took charge of the summer youth camp.

A certificate of appointment, signed by US Army Commanding Brigadier J. Camion, First Fighter Command Aircraft Warning Service, verifies that Samuel Bunting was appointed a chief observer of the Ground Observer Corps Aircraft Warning Service, First Fighter Command, US Army Air Force to act in such office in a volunteer capacity in Observation Post Chestnut 63, West Milford, NJ with all the powers and duties pertaining thereto in accordance with present and future orders of the First Flight Command witnessed in the Brigadier General’s hand with a seal of the First Fighter Command on Dec. 7, 1941. (The location address identified on the document was at Camp Hope).

The observer’s equipment included a land line telephone, binoculars, pads to write on and cards, posters and other information to help them identify. The duty at the posts was for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Observation posts were staffed around the clock in the early 1940s and the ones in Butler and West Milford that I recall were wooden towers that resembled fire-lookout tower structures. Available literature on the lookout stations, however, says they took many different forms across the nation including living rooms in people’s homes and high rise buildings.

People with sons and friends in the military often became spotters. It was seen as recognition of patriotic duty. The volunteers had armbands that identified them.

Among the familiar area family names that appear on Bunting’s register scheduling the tower observers are Aakvic, Arnold, Ashley, Baxter, Bedner, Butterfield, Buresch, Carey, Carpignano, Cartal, Cornwell, Davis, DeGroat, Doremus, DuBoise, Eggenhoffer, Finn, Gordon, Hall, Kipp, Leary, Macey, Mehling, Manetas, Meyer, Miller, Mills, Mitchell, Moeller, Morgan, Petrie, Phillips, Pieters, Pulis, Rednor, Rhinesmith, Ryan, Scales, Schmitt, Schwaeble, Shakley, Sisco, Smith, Suita, Terhune, Wang, White, Wilson, Wormuth.

Staffing the tower daily round-the-clock apparently was not easy. Frustrated, Bunting wrote a letter that was published in the West Milford Argus.

“After trying for over a year to man our observation post 24 hours a day, we find it beyond our comprehension why we can’t get better cooperation from the people of West Milford,” wrote Bunting. “To say the least, there are many idle persons in the township who believe in the old saying, ‘Let George do it.’”

Obviously strongly believing in the validity of the plane spotter effort, he went on to enlighten readers of the newspaper.

“If it weren’t for these observation posts operating from Maine to Florida we would have witnessed many a bombing and many of the dear relatives working in nearby defense plants would not be here today,” Bunting continued. “To be lax in your duty to the observation post is inviting disaster for our people because when we relax in the time when the Axis will strike. Don’t think they don’t know how to strike, especially when their saboteurs have landed right under our noses on Long Island Sound.”

Bunting went on to report that the observation posts were copied from those in England. He said if it were not for the British being alerted to notify their inceptor planes things would have been a great deal worse than the problems those in that nation witnessed.

“We understand there are about 40 licensed tavern keepers in West Milford,” Bunting continued in his published letter. “Where are they? These men could certainly give a few hours after they close their places of business in the early hours of the morning. How about some of the people from Hewitt, Moe Mountain, Stonetown, etc.? We personally think it is a shame so many give so little when they know what our boys are giving for us. Please get your name on the observation post register before something happens and you won’t need a name!”

Bunting ended his letter by announcing that Gilbert Terhune Jr. was appointed to attend the Army Aircraft School at Hotel McAlprin in New York City for a one-week course to learn recognition of various types of aircrafts. (Terhune was West Milford Board of Education clerk/administrator and later was elected to the local governing board and still later became mayor.)

He said Terhune would return to instruct other observers. Gordon Pulis was appointed Deputy Chief Observer and assistant to Bunting.

A letter written by Major J. Marshall Booker of the First Fighter Command, New York Region, on July 6, 1942 advised Bunting, who was identified as Chief Observer 289B, Camp Hope, West Milford, NJ that in connection with the new gasoline registration, it would be necessary in many cases for the observers to apply for a supplemental ration of gasoline on OPA form B-535 that could be secured at school sites at the time of registration. (Teachers had the duty of taking down information and distributing rationing tickets during the war).

Booker wrote that the form contained a space for certification of the mileage stated by the observer to be necessary for his Aircraft Warning Service duties. He said as chief observer Bunting had authorization to sign the certifications on behalf of the Aircraft Warning Services.

“It is suggested that you communicate with your local War, Price and Rationing Board and show them this letter so they may recognize your authority when applications are submitted bearing your certification,” advised the major.

All observers were entitled to basic ration books which entitled them to 240 miles per month. This was composed of 150 occupational miles and 90 miles for all other uses. Their services as observers was considered an occupation even though they were volunteers, said a First Fighter Command communication.

It said if an observer drove over 150 miles per month in the performance of his normal vocational activities and his observer services he could apply for a supplemental ration.

In August 1942, Major Charles Blackwell sent a letter to observers regarding gas rationing.

“The personal sacrifice concerning gasoline rationing is a question which deals very much with the individual’s own feelings of obligation to his country,” wrote Blackwell. “The desire of the United States Government is to conserve tires as well as gasoline. If a person has no vocation and does not require his 150 miles a month, excepting on domestic and home duties, the Government hopes and wishes that he will give some part of that mileage for the work of the air as well as home defense.”

He said he hoped that the individual with this decision would realize that war is not a matter of selection, but that a concentrated effort to accomplish a tremendous task. Likewise, the gasoline rationing boards are cognizant of their responsibility to the citizens in their community and will undoubtedly take into consideration each person’s supplementary requirements, continued Blackwell.

“I seriously question that, when properly explained to an Observer, he will quit if he is not put on extra fuel rationing by the rationing board because he does not have to use his car for other than personal reasons,” he said.

In October 1943, Aircraft Warning Service was put into reserve as advances in radar technology made it obsolete. It was deactivated on the mainland in 1944 but remained in use in Hawaii

WEST MILFORD — To Airbnb or not to Airbnb, that is the question currently facing some township homeowners.

There have been a number of short-term rental zoning violations for Airbnb hosts in recent month, as only homes registered with the town as a supervised bed and breakfast are permitted to offer the service, said Mayor Michele Dale.

A draft ordinance to establish regulations for short-term rentals on other properties is now being considered by Township Council members. However, it could be months before any rules are set.

Vincent Brancaccio of Bearfort Road said he was issued a summons this spring after he rented out his Pinecliff Lake home. He is now urging local officials to adopt regulations for providing lodging to families that want to enjoy the town and support the local economy as residents do, he said. He calls the service "beneficial."

“They’re bringing money into the town,” he said of the renters. “It’s helping the community.”

Airbnb is a web-based service that allows property owners to find short-term renters. About 30 rentals were on offer Friday through Airbnb in the town’s 80 square miles. Most are concentrated around the town’s lakes. At least one is a backyard tent.

Some Bergen County towns, including Closter, Rutherford and Woodcliff Lake, have restricted rentals to periods of 30 days or more since the advent of Airbnb. The draft ordinance developed by members of the local Planning Board over the past several months has no minimum period for short-term rentals.

Sivya Weis of Upper Greenwood Lake Road said the semi-rural community benefits from short-term rentals.

Opening private homes to visitors allows neighbors to invite extended family to visit despite the area's dearth of hotels, Weis said. It also provides places for visitors in a town that is diverting its focus to eco-tourism in the wake of development restrictions designed to protect a pristine and well-preserved watershed.

“There’s simply no place for [visitors],” said Piper Pope of Forest Lake Drive. “These short-term rentals are answering that problem.”

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One of Pope’s neighbors, Patricia Sherry, said she has been unsettled by the activity of short-term renters, however. Sherry is among a group of residents near Greenwood Lake represented by Alfred Acquaviva, a Hawthorne-based attorney who has urged the township to adopt short-term rental regulations.

The influx of transients, noise and cars brought by the rentals is devaluing nearby properties and their residents' quality of life, Sherry said.

“No one wants to buy next to a hotel,” she said.

Weis said Airbnb hosts have a vested interest in ensuring that their rentals run smoothly. The income from short-term rentals helps some homeowners pay their taxes and stay in town, she said.

“None of us want to have some sort of rowdy situation where people are destroying our home or interfering with our neighbors,” Weis said.

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Airbnb conducts background checks on renters and hosts who sign up for the service, but urges homeowners to be wary and conduct their own due diligence before confirming a rental agreement.

Councilwoman Andie Pegel said the township nonetheless needs to ensure that homeowners are being responsible with their rentals via legislation.

She mentioned the safety of swimmers at the lakeside homes as among the tangential concerns arising from short-term rentals to a transient population.

“There needs to be strict guidelines and communication,” she said.

The regulations under consideration would require that homeowners who rent their properties or part of them register annually, with an attached $300 fee.

Homeowners would be required to keep contact information on file in Town Hall, certify parking availability and do their best to ensure that renters do not disturb the neighborhood. Proof of $1 million in general liability insurance may also be required, municipal records show.

Councilman Lou Signorino said Airbnb and short-term rentals have not been a topic of discussion by the township’s Lakes Committee, which represents its lake communities. Members of the group are nonetheless interested in seeing the draft ordinance, he said.