DUI Lawyers in Ogdensburg, NJ

By PHILLIP MOLNAR

pmolnar@njherald.com

OGDENSBURG -- There must be something in the water in Sussex County.

In addition to Sussex County athletes in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and even the Olympics, the county can add one more sport to its roster: Bodybuilding.

Eli Blahut, 22, of Ogdensburg, won the Excalibur bodybuilding competition in Culver City, Calif., in December, and the bodybuilding industry is taking note.

Blahut, who won in the welterweight class (between 154 and 165 pounds), was featured as a "rising star" in this month's Iron Man magazine and will be on the cover of Exercise for Men Only magazine in April.

Blahut started bodybuilding at Pope John XXIII High School during his freshman year in 2001 while training for his wrestling team. "I really fell in love with it," Blahut said of lifting weights.

He continued his weightlifting in college at Virginia Commonwealth University, training five days a week for an hour and a half each day.

A few weeks before graduation in December, the 5-foot, 5-inch, blond college student flew out to the Excalibur competition. After sweet-talking a few of his professors, he was able to take his final exams the week after the competition, just in time to graduate cum laude with a degree in psychology.

Blahut came out ahead of other bodybuilders from all over the world, some from as far as Japan.

After visiting a state where the governor is a former bodybuilder, Blahut thought moving there would be a good idea because it is "one of the states for the sport."

In January, Blahut, and his 26-year-old brother, Michael, bought a 1983 Volkswagen minibus in Queens, N.Y., and drove to California to see if he could make it as a professional body builder.

Michael Blahut had spent the last two years as an environmental specialist for the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands. "I was just so happy to see him," he said after being away during most of his brother's bulking up.

The two had spent their high school years apart after their parents' divorce. Eli Blahut stayed in Ogdensburg, while his brother lived with his mother in Chantilly, Va.

Reunited, Michael Blahut is now Eli's manager, and the pair is hoping to find fame and fortune in southern California. "We want to make it a permanent thing," Blahut said, about staying out west.

"It feels spectacular," Eli Blahut said, about working with his brother, although both admitted getting on each other's nerves "from time to time."

The skinny, long-haired, yoga-loving Michael could not be more different from his 190-pound brother. (Eli put on some weight, but still only has 10 percent body fat.)

"We get along pretty well," Michael Blahut said.

The pair's father is very proud.

"I'm behind them 100 percent," Michael Blahut Sr. said. "They have that confidence."

Blahut Sr., an Ogdensburg councilman, said growing up in Ogdensburg is what gave his children the courage to follow their dreams. "It gave them deep-seated roots," he said. "(Ogdensburg) will always be there for them."

Studied throughout the world, the Sterling Hill Mine and its twin mine in Franklin contain roughly 365 different minerals, according to the mine museum's latest list. More than 95 fluoresce. Some phosphoresce. Nineteen have been found nowhere else on earth, records show.

“When I started at the museum, there were probably 4,500 minerals described, and now there are more than 5,500 minerals,” said George E. Harlow, curator of the museum’s Division of Physical Sciences. “The enhanced halls will present up-to-date science, which has progressed significantly. I look forward to seeing visitors delight in remarkable gems and mineral specimens from across the globe and our own backyard.”

Roughly a 75-minute drive from the museum, the twin mines of Franklin and Ogdensburg lie amid geologic formations that started taking shape around 1.3 billion years ago, according to Earl Verbeek, a former research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. The mines contained vast deposits of zinc within folds of white marble, once a muddy and shallow seafloor.

A continental collision about 1 billion years ago buried, heated and folded the layers of mineral-rich ore and marble, Verbeek said. Later exposed by glaciation and discovered by North Jersey early iron miners, the area’s iron-, zinc- and manganese-laced ore was commercially extracted until 1986.

The slab set for display was cut in late 2017 using a $6,000 diamond-studded cable laced through guide holes and powered by a generator. Initially due for presentation in 2019 as part of the $30 million renovation, the slab will sit in the 11,000-square-foot Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals near other exhibits including:

The Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals were designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates and the museum’s Exhibition Department under the direction of Lauri Halderman. The halls include the Gems Hall, the Minerals Hall and the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery for temporary exhibitions.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

OGDENSBURG — This year marks the centennial of Ogdensburg as a separate municipality after breaking away from Sparta Township. What makes this 2.8-square mile borough remarkable is that while it was still basically a rural mining village, it boasted four churches.

A congregation of the Presbyterian Church appears to be the first religious group in the village. In the “Sparta Centennial” booklet (1886), it’s recorded that Presbyterian worship services were held in Ogdensburg since around 1825 with worship services held in the Madden Building on Main Street.

But more than one-half century would pass prior to a house of worship built in the village. A deed provided by Andrew Bickerton, author of the two-volume book “Some History and Headlines of the Upper Wallkill Valley,” reflects that John George and his wife, Elizabeth, deeded one-half acre of land to the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Ogdensburg on Oct. 1, 1879, for $1. An unusual stipulation in the deed provided that “the said church shall not be dedicated or occupied until it is finished upstairs and the basement completed and out of debt and the Trustees shall not sell any of the land in this conveyance and if the said Trustees fail to carry out any of the above obligations then the said land shall revert back to the party of the first part, his heirs and assigns.”

Work on the church commenced on Aug. 19, 1879, with the church dedication Dec. 15, 1880. Aside from volunteer labor — which was guessed to have been considerable when completed — the building cost $2,400 to construct. The Rev. Thomas Tyack served as the first pastor of the church when completed. This church remains on its original site on Kennedy Avenue.

The Methodists had their beginnings in the village as early as 1875 when regular services were held each Sunday afternoon in the Academy. The congregation organized as The Trustees of the Methodist Church of Ogdensburg on Sept. 28, 1886. The property, a 50-foot by 100-foot lot, was purchased from J.T. Titman for $162.50. Work began on building of the church on June 1 with the cornerstone laid on July 9. Dedication of the new church was held on Jan. 9, 1888. A bell was installed in the church in June 1891.

In 1942, the congregation held a series of services each evening culminating in a Dedication Service that Sunday. Unfortunately, the congregation did not last too long following that observation. In 1951, due to dwindling attendance and church membership, members of the Methodist and Presbyterian congregations opted to merge. On Oct. 15, 1956, a new congregation was constituted as a church by the Presbytery of Newton. Some years later, the Methodist Church building was purchased by Art Coppola who, as he related, accidentally acquired the century-old building at a Sheldon Good auction held at the Meadowlands Conference Center for $8,500. Coppola converted the building into a two-family dwelling.

When the Church of the Immaculate Conception was formed in Franklin in 1864, Ogdensburg residents of the Catholic persuasion attended Mass there. On May 1, 1881, St. Thomas of Aquin R.C. Church was incorporated as a mission of the Franklin church. Two building lots — a 200-foot by 200-foot lot and a 200-foot by 100-foot lot — were purchased from Thomas O’Maley for $500. The cornerstone for the 26-foot by 58-foot wood frame edifice was laid on May 4, 1881. When the church was dedicated on Nov. 5, 1885, its estimated cost was $4,000.

The original wooden structure was destroyed by fire on Jan. 27, 1912. The bell and altars were among the items saved. The cornerstone of a new church, built of stone and pressed brick, was laid on March 18 and dedicated on Aug. 11, 1912. Constructed by Thomas Farrell of Newton, the new church building cost about $10,121 to build. On Oct. 11, 1981, the congregation observed its 100th anniversary.

As for the Ogdensburg Baptist church, it was recorded in the “Sparta Centennial” that the Rev. Theodore Fuller of Deckertown began preaching at Ogdensburg as a Methodist. Three years after (1879) he became a Baptist, and was baptized with 23 of his people at Grenelle Lake, and 13 more were afterward baptized at Newton. Mr. Fuller ceased preaching at Ogdensburg June 1, 1886.

In a book by Thomas Sharp Griffiths, “A History of Baptists in New Jersey” (1904), it was written that “Ogdensburg is a long distance from Echo Lake. A church was constituted there in 1877. It suffered divers adversities that utterly impaired its growth and usefulness. In 1895, Mr. Vreeland was sent for. An extensive revival broke out. The church was reorganized. Mr. Vreeland was called to be pastor and accepted. He bought lots, built a church edifice and parsonage, and the church worships in its new home.”

By way of explanation, the Rev. Conrad Vreeland, of the Echo Lake section of West Milford Township, had founded numerous Baptist churches such as at Canistear, Echo Lake, Milton and Newfoundland, and was credited with founding nine Baptist churches in the Echo Lake Circle alone.

Bickerton provided a copy of the deed that recites that Conrad Vreeland of West Milford purchased several lots from John George including the Baptist Church lot in September 1894. The church was built and dedicated in 1895. The church lot cost $300 and included “a right to attach a 3/8-inch lead pipe to George’s water pipe in the kitchen for the use of their Baptismal Pool in the church and it is understood the water is only to be used for Baptismal purposes and when the church ceases to be a church the water right ceases and the right of water reverts back to the party of the first part and the lead pipe shall be buried at least two feet six inches through garden from church to the water main at my house.”

Local newspapers reported in November 1895 that “the new church and the dwelling adjoining are nearly done, and another building is now on course of erection just behind the church. Shortly thereafter, it was duly reported that services are held in the church every Sunday morning and evening. Incidentally, this church building was located a short distance from the Presbyterian Church.

Just when worship services ceased in this church is unknown but Bickerton says that on May 28, 1919, the church lot was transferred from the Administrators and Trustees of the Estate of Conrad Vreeland, with the consent of the New Jersey Baptist Association, to Sam Nazzaro of Newton for $1,600.

In retrospect, it speaks well of the residents of the mining community of Ogdensburg where in a span of less than 15 years four churches were built by the villagers so that they could have a place to worship in their own community. As Ogdensburg observes its 100th anniversary, perhaps it could pay tribute to those 19th-century residents who not only helped to build the municipality but its churches as well.

•••

Jennie Sweetman is the history columnist for the New Jersey Herald. She may be contacted at jenniee@warwick.net.

Andrew Bickerton may be contacted at vonbic63@yahoo.com.

NEWS

New Jersey Herald

OGDENSBURG — A mining history program on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and again on Oct. 19 emphasizes the 300-year history of mining in New Jersey and is eligible for professional development credit.

Geologist Ron Mishkin, a staff member at the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, gives a PowerPoint presentation with educational mine and mining-related photos. Following the program, attendees will have time to get a ticket for the 1 p.m. tour of the facility that includes walking through the tunnels of the zinc mine.

Mishkin formerly worked as an underground miner and geologist in zinc, copper and iron mines, and will relate some of his own experiences. He also talks about how and where ore bodies were discovered and developed, New Jersey mining towns, key inventions, evolution of mining methods and technology, differences between coal and metal mines, environmental hazards, and accident statistics. The innovative Thomas Edison mine will be described along with Edison’s mining inventions and more. Ore specimens from New Jersey and other mines will be available for examination and discussion.

To register, call 973-663-1296 or send email to utep@optonline.net. Fees are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors age 60 and up. Pay upon arrival at Sterling Hill Mining Museum, 30 Plant St. in Ogdensburg. Directions, maps and tour details are at www.SterlingHill.org under

the “Visitor Info” heading. Complimentary light refreshments will be available. Attendees should plan to arrive at 8:45 a.m.

NEWS

New Jersey Herald

OGDENSBURG — A three-decade-old tradition at Ogdensburg School District continued Friday night as the faculty went head to head with the school’s alumni on the basketball court.

The event raised $540 that will be donated to the school’s eighth grade class to help sponsor end-of-the-year trips and a formal dance, according to Earl Hornyak, a physical education teacher and coach in Ogdensburg. Hornyak also is a 1974 graduate of Ogdensburg.

“It was awesome; it was a good night,” Hornyak said. “This is a huge event for our town and for our kids.”

The annual faculty/alumni basketball game began in 1981 when John Kibildis, a 1959 Ogdensburg graduate and social studies teacher and coach, came up with the idea to have the former rec basketball players from Ogdensburg, who were in high school, come back to play the faculty, Hornyak said.

The tradition grew each year and is now a much-anticipated community event.

“The third Friday of March every year, the kids circle it on the calendars and they know to be there,” he said. “It’s exciting.”

The event also became a fundraising opportunity. The money has gone to various causes, but in recent years, it has been donated to the eighth grade class.

This year’s game drew a good turnout and the faculty won 60-47, Hornyak said.