Sometimes people just need something to fight about

By Art Gallagher

While municipalities and school boards throughout New Jersey are struggling with budget cuts and layoffs of teachers, police and other public workers, over in Rumson they’re fighting over whether the spring crew program will be administered by the Rumson Recreation Department or by Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, according to a post this morning at RedBankGreen.

People who participate in crew are very passionate about it.

Growing up in Bergenfield, we didn’t have a crew team.  Not one run by the Recreation Department or by the High School.  The nearest river was the Hackensack.  I guess it didn’t occur to anyone to row there.

At Georgetown I had some friends on the crew team.  My roommate would get up before dawn and run, so he told me, like really run hard, down to the Potomac where the team would row for a couple of hours and then run up and down the stairs from the Exorcist movie for a while.  I knew it was time to get up for my first class when I smelled him come back into our room and heard his groaning.

My girlfriend’s roommate was a coxswain.  She was less than five feet tall and weighed less than 100 lbs.  She got up before dawn too, did the running thing, and then sat on the back of the boat yelling at all of the guys through a bullhorn who did what she said.  She loved it. 

They all seemed very passionate about it. I didn’t get it, but I was happy for them.  But I digress.

Why would smart adults be having a turf war over the crew team?  That’s tougher for me to get my head around than trying to understand what my friends were so passionate about 35 years ago.

I don’t know the ins and outs of the issues is this controversy.  The RBG article indicates it has something to do with which government entity owns the equipment. Doesn’t it all belong to the taxpayers?  Ahh, but which taxpayers, Rumson’s or Fair Haven’s?  Muncipal or School Board?

I suppose this is an opportunity to teach the kids a lesson in politics and red tape.  Maybe they already mastered commitment, teamwork and the other character building lessons of scholastic athletics.

I never heard of an award winning Recreation Department sports team.  I never heard of a kid earning a college scholarship based upon his or her performance on a Recreation Department team.  But like I said, I’m not an expert on crew.  Maybe somone from Princeton or the Philadephia Main Line could clear it up for me.

In the meantime, I bet that if the powers that be in Rumson and Fair Haven focused on what is best for the kids that the politics and red tape could be solved quickly.  Wouldn’t that be a great lesson.

Posted: December 15th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Education, Fair Haven, Property Taxes, Rumson | Tags: Crew, Rumson, Rumson-Fair Haven | 1 Comment »

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