Council prez questions Walling's credibility
Discussion becomes heated as advocate tries to discuss park site
BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer

MONROE - The ongoing debate over whether the historic Leni Lenape Bethel Mission Settlement was located on the proposed site of the new high school turned into a confrontation at the Township Council meeting Monday.

Council President Gerald Tamburro questioned the validity of claims made by Richard Walling, a Manville resident who has long asserted that the Bethel settlement was on the proposed school site in Thompson Park, and who has nominated the site for the state and national registers of historic places.

Walling said he met with state Sen. Bob Smith (D-17) recently on the issue. He said Smith, who was on the State House Commission when it granted approval for the land diversion needed to acquire the school property, suggested that Walling meet with Mayor Richard Pucci to discuss the matter.

While Walling was beginning a statement about what was found during a phase-two archaeological survey of the site, Tamburro asked who he was representing.

"I represent three people - me, myself and I," Walling said.

Walling also broached the subject of potential alternate sites for the high school, which Tamburro also challenged.

"Frankly, we don't know if you speak authoritatively on this or not," Tamburro said.

Despite Tamburro's doubts, Walling went on to say that box turtle shells, an Indian pipe and some domestic artifacts from the settlement, which dates back to 1746, were found on the proposed school site.

"How do you know? There is no official report," Tamburro said. "Whatever you have to say is totally unofficial, and is hearsay."

Walling said an archaeologist from Richard Grubb & Associates, the firm contracted to survey the tract, had been on the site and told him what was found there. Grubb was hired after the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requested further research into the history of the proposed school site.

"There was no European settlement there. There were no aliens from Mars there. There was Bethel," Walling said. "It seems to be 'an inconvenient truth' for the officials of Monroe."

After Tamburro raised his voice and interrupted Walling to question his points, Walling said he hoped the silence of the other two council members present did not represent their agreement with Tamburro.

www.gmnews.com "My silence does not represent acquiescence," Councilman Irwin Nalitt said. "My silence only represents the fact that I hesitate to promote this painful ... delay of the process [of securing the land for the high school] any longer."

Councilman Henry Miller agreed with Nalitt, and said discussion of the matter should be held off until a final report is issued by Grubb.

Nancy Prohaska, a Monroe resident and member of Park Savers, a citizens group that participated in an unsuccessful lawsuit appealing the State House Commission's decision, expressed displeasure with Tamburro's behavior.

"Regardless of your opinion ... I find it inappropriate, the actions I've been seeing from this board," Prohaska said.

Michelle Arminio, a resident and activist in the township, agreed that Walling had the right to speak his mind at the meeting.

Tamburro pointed out that Walling, of Somerville, is not a resident of Monroe.

"This is a county and a state issue, and I think people from the public should be respected," Arminio said.

Regarding the assertions of Tamburro and Miller that the matter should not be addressed until the final report is issued, Arminio said that the township issued a press release last spring before the archeologists' phase-one report was finalized.

Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said the information in the press release was gleaned from Grubb's preliminary report.

"The actual report had not been released, and yet a statement had been made," Arminio said.

Tamburro held his position regarding the consideration of Walling's points.

"He has no credentials," Tamburro said. "He lost whatever credentials he had."

Walling pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges he stole $32,500 from the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield, of which he was president. He was ultimately sentenced to repay the nonprofit group a minimum of $2,000 per month and serve five years probation.

A former East Brunswick councilman who served on that town's planning and zoning boards, Walling also ran into legal trouble in 2004, when he was arrested based on reports filed by a 17-year-old female student in the history class he taught at the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical High School, Rues Lane. He eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment in the case, received a fine and agreed to forfeit his teaching license.

Arminio did not take heed of Tamburro's remarks.

"Do you believe that only the people on that side of the desk have authority?" Arminio asked.

Tamburro said he did not believe that, and placed the blame on Walling.

"It's when he gets out of line that he gets put into his place," Tamburro said.

Arminio held her ground.

"I don't think that's appropriate. We're not children," Arminio said. "I think this [high school situation] is a debacle that should not have been perpetrated on the community."

Voters approved $82.9 million for building a new high school in a 2003 referendum. Officials zeroed in on a 35-acre parcel in Thompson Park for the school site. The park is owned by Middlesex County. A land swap, in which the township would trade 172 acres of property for the park land, was proposed, bringing controversy with it, from groups opposed to using open space for a school.

Along with the 172 acres, the township would have to pay a supplement of $1.127 million to cover the higher value assessed on the park land.

Though the process was delayed because of litigation brought by Richard Webster, an attorney with the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, on behalf of Park Savers and other groups, there are other factors holding back the land diversion.

The process cannot move forward until it receives approval from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA). The release of restrictions from the Green Acres division of the Department of Environmental Protection is also required.

The archaeological survey became necessary when questions were raised as to whether the American Indian settlement once existed there. Grubb's phase-one work yielded results stating that the settlement was located about a half-mile north of the proposed school site, on the former Redmond Farm, adjoining the Lane family property, where an orchard and a spring once stood in the 1840s.

Despite these findings, the DEP asked for further investigation of the site to find conclusive evidence that Bethel did not exist there.

The settlement was led by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd, who converted the 200 Leni Lenape natives who lived there to the Christian faith. Consisting of a church, a school and 40 houses, Bethel dismantled in 1801 because of negative feelings toward the Lenape from white men during the Seven Years' War, according to Preservation New Jersey's Web site. The organization included Bethel on its "10 Most Endangered Sites" list in 2006.