local | Tim Hitchings

Jun 11 2014

Name the North Baseball Diamond The David J. Bachner Field

To the members of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education:

Anthony Fleres (tonyfleres@gmail.com)
Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz (RFeldmanHurwitz@gmail.com)
Louisa Ho (louisawwp@gmail.com)
Rachel Juliana (rachelpjuliana@yahoo.com)
Michele Kaish (michelekaish@gmail.com)
Richard Kaye (kayeww3@verizon.net)
Dana Krug (danakrug@comcast.net)
Scott Powell (scott.powell-wwp@live.com)
Yu “Taylor” Zhong (yu.zhong.609@gmail.com)

Thank you for listening to my letter at the 6/10 board meeting last night. I appreciate the additional time that you spent talking to me and the other individuals that came to the meeting to talk about David Bachner. It was indeed welcoming of you to speak to myself and others after the meeting. Your understanding and conversation was reassuring that you are engaged in my and the group’s request for the Bachner field.

I heard that the Administration & Facilities Committee will be taking up a task of creating a sub committee to address the request to name the North baseball diamond the David J. Bachner field. I understand that this will take some time and as much as I and others would like to see the request granted on David’s 5th Angelversary it appears more likely that an issue of this importance may not come before the board for a vote until September.

If there is anything that you require concerning this request to name the field that you think I may be able to assist with I do hope you will consider contacting me. If I can not help directly I can certainly work to reach out to the Bachner supporters for their assistance.

Thank you all for your time and commitment. I look forward to speaking to you all at the next board meeting in July.

Tim Hitchings
8 Burr Court
Plainsboro

May 29 2014

Name The West Windsor High School North Baseball Diamond The David Bachner Field

To the members of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education:

Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz (RFeldmanHurwitz@gmail.com)
Anthony Fleres (tonyfleres@gmail.com)
Louisa Ho (louisawwp@gmail.com)
Rachel Juliana (rachelpjuliana@yahoo.com)
Michele Kaish (michelekaish@gmail.com)
Richard Kaye (kayeww3@verizon.net)
Dana Krug (danakrug@comcast.net)
Scott Powell (scott.powell-wwp@live.com)
Yu “Taylor” Zhong (yu.zhong.609@gmail.com)

On August 11, 2014 David Bachner will have been deceased five years. As per your naming requirements he will meet the criteria which you imposed in October 2012 with regards to naming a facility. Please consider this e-mail a formal request to name the North High School varsity baseball diamond The David Bachner Field.

My son T.J. was in six grade when David passed in 2009. We talked about David’s funeral and the number of people that attended. My son was fortunate to be able to play Freshman and J.V. baseball at North. He proudly wore his North baseball uniform hat with it’s embroidered 16. These days as a Junior at North while he’s not on the baseball team he continues to wear his “Unhittable” t-shirt and sweat-shirt all the time. He and I visit David’s marker out by the bullpen at North every year on David’s “Angelversary”.

I never met David nor had an opportunity to watch him play. My son T.J. never met David and never had the opportunity to watch him play. We have been fortunate to be part of the baseball community and meet and talked to baseball players like P.J. Silva and Scott Feryus and others who have talked to other players that knew David. His legacy lives on because he was able to touch so many people in and outside of baseball.

I have been fortunate to meet and get to know Rhonda Bachner and Steve Bachner, David’s parents. They are of course deeply invested in continuing David’s legacy. They provide scholarships as part of their foundation, The David J. Bachner Memorial Fund. They raise money by holding a yearly North South hockey game that grows in popularly every year. They sell “Unhittable” wear at the North South baseball games every year. Their Facebook site is vibrant with friends posting pictures of “Unhittable” around the world and continuing to reminiscence and tell stories about David.

So after all this information you may ask why am I so personally invested in supporting the Bachner’s and asking you to name a baseball field after their son David? Because I love the sport and community of baseball. Because I have a son who loves baseball and if anything ever happened to him I don’t know if I would have the strength of Rhonda and Steve to continue. Because baseball doesn’t always seem to get the attention and support as much as other sports. Because from CPLL T-ball to WWP Senior Babe Ruth and both North and South High school baseball teams I have made a life time of friends in the sport of baseball. Because in the sport of North baseball there may never be another athlete with the talent and potential of David Bachner and ensuring that North field bears his name alongside his marker is a fitting tribute.

Because it’s the right thing to do. For baseball. For David.

Sincerely,

Tim Hitchings
Plainsboro

Tagged Bachner, David Bachner

Apr 30 2014

It’s Spring and Time for Baseball and the CPLL Friday Night Lights.

Spring is a time for the start of the baseball season. As an avid fan of the sport I look forward to watching my favorite teams the Yankees and the Red Sox. Yes that’s correct, I follow both teams. I grew up in Massachusetts during the years of the great Carl Yastrzemski. And my son is a die-hard Yankees fan having grown up in the days of Derek Jeter. I enjoy rooting for both teams and the game of baseball in general. T.J. really only roots only for the Yankees but I haven’t disowned him for it. One of the highlights of the start of the baseball season for me is the local Cranbury Plainsboro Little League Friday Night Lights. This year for three consecutive Fridays (May 2nd, May 9th, & May 16) the Little League baseball and softball teams play under the lights at Plainsboro Park at 7 PM. This is a great night of community and fun with the kids and their games as the center of attention. The highlight for me will be the Friday the 16th game when the Little League baseball Majors Yankees take on the Phillies. The Phillies is coached by my son’s former coaches Ray Cella and Jim Caracappa. The team is sponsored by Peter Zanghi who is well known as the person responsible for the start of Little League baseball in our area. The three of them have been generously donating their time for more years than I’ve had the pleasure of living in Plainsboro. And every year I look forward to an email from Coach Ray inviting my son T.J. who is now 17 to come to the event and help coach the team for the evening. Ray invites his former players to take over his team for the night. I know I certainly look on in delight as these giant boys who used to play for Ray and Jim tower in height over the current little league team and often over Ray and Jim. It’s a fun night for me to catch up on how Mr. ‘Z’, Ray and Jims’ current team is doing and what the players will do in district all-stars. I run into old friends like Bill and Euna Brossman and we trade stories on what our son’s are up to today and reminisce on the good ‘old’ days of Little League with Ray, Jim, and Mr. ‘Z’. Hopefully we’ll have three beautiful nights of weather in the coming Friday’s. I hope everyone in the community will stop by. Say hello if you see me. I think I’ve still got an old CPLL hat from my coaching days somewhere. I’ll be around the backstop cheering on all the boys and girls to make the play, hit the ball, and run to the next base. Springtime is baseball. Published here: http://www.wwpinfo.com/index.php/component/us1more/?Itemid=6&key=5-2-14hitchings

Jul 02 2013

signage in the plainsboro shopping plazas

Have signs at plazas gotten out of hand in Plainsboro? Below you will find a few images of signs photographed on a recent weekday. These signs aren’t up just for the day or just for the week or just for a sales period. These signs are up 24 x 7. Look how the signs have taken over the lovely bed of flowers in the plaza. Are two twenty foot vertical banners in addition to nine or ten other signs in front of a store appropriate for the look our town is trying to maintain?

I understand in these challenging times that businesses need to attract customers but are a dozen Dunkin Donuts signs really necessary? Should a business be able to erect a twenty foot vertical banner in front of their store for multiple years? Do we really need to have multiple wire signs advertising the same topic within ten feet of each other? Imagine if all the businesses in these plaza’s added their own signs…

There was a time when the only signage allowed was in a business establishment’s windows. Let’s consider returning to those days and improve the attractiveness of our plaza’s and surrounding areas.