The Glassboro Gaffer

@glassborogaffer.bsky.social

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A free, ad-free newsletter about the #Glassboro Metropolitan Area, written by a resident. https://glassborogaffer.substack.com/

[The author provided the following shortly after this letter was first published.] In my excitement, my rush to publish my concerns before this project’s hearing, I failed to mention the most pressing issue on many of my neighbors’ minds: the inexorable noisiness of multi-use trails. I hear much chatter about the obnoxious dirt-bikes and all-terrain vehicles which will certainly use this trail illegally, but, unfortunately, none about bicycles—which, mind you, would be allowed. Have we forgotten the bleak braying of handlebar bells, the shrill laughter of children at play, or even the marching of more than one pedestrian at a time (like an invading army standing just outside the gate own backyards), all of which once kept the entire county awake through its darkest hours, a cacophony only subdued by the proliferation and embiggening of automobiles, and replaced by the subtle hum of road traffic? With regard to marching (and even bicycles5): there is an eerie parallel to the Second Great War, which touched this county in numerable ways but I have not the time now to detail. I should hope Gloucester County’s führers would not dare such a blitzkrieg of new public services without understanding this area’s layered history to the contrary. [Correction: In a previous version of this letter, the author misnamed his dear friend as Hugh Ashton, and provided the below stricken-out note on his possible ancestry. From the author:] I am truly blessed to have my cup runneth over with companionship at my age, but this Faustian bargain comes with a price: the occasional confusion of one friend for another as I attempt to recall their various visits. There is, in fact, no Hugh Ashton of whom I know, but I seem to have mistakenly grafted that noble surname onto my true friend, Hugh Chaz. The reader may rest assured that Mr. Chaz’s large lineage and character contain multitudes much like those of the Ashtons—if not more so. [I've reached the character limit.]