Happy New Year

1-01-2012

Have a Happy & Wonderful New Year from 

Bogota Blog NJ

Year in review November-December

30-Dec-2011
  Year in review November to December
    10 & 12- Nov.-2011
The Bogota Lady Bucs Volleyball  team completed their back to back double  in State Championships with victories over Midland park for the North Group 1 title. Then beating Science Park for the State Group 1 crown.

    11-Nov.-2011
The Ralph Hall VFW post awarded it's Citizen of the Year to Mr. Carmen Detitta  for his work as " being a good neighbor" and helping out when needed.
The Young Volunteer of the Year went to Mr. Andrew Gilbert for his giving of his time to the community.

  29- Nov-2011
The Steen School was given a $5,000 check, and other honours from the State & County for winning the NY Jets " Eat Right, Move More" program. NY Jet D"Brickshaw Ferguson presented Principal Falco with the check to be used to improve & upgrade the school's kitchen. Mr. Ferguson then talk to the students, and handed out some prizes.

   3-Dec.-2011

Bogota Fire Dept. elected a new chief with Chip Grienger being named the new Fire Chief.

Engine Co. #1 was awarded the Chiefs Trophy for the year 2011.

   9-Dec.-2011

The Bogota annual Tree Lighting took place in front of Borough Hall, With the mild weather a large crowd came to watch as Santa made an appearance. This also was the first performance by the Bogota Vocaleers.

  18-Dec.-2011

The Bogota Fire Dept. had their annual " Lollipop Sunday" as Santa rode around Bogota passing out treats to local Children.

   18-Dec.-2011

More awards for Bogota sports.

The Bogota Lady Bucs Volleyball team  as Carly O'Sullivan was named player of the year for North Jersey by both the Record & Star-Ledger. With her teammates Elisa Brackett, Becky Keleman, and Julia Topor being named to the All- Bergen team.

With Elizabeth O'Brien being named to the 2nd team All-Bergen for Cross County.

   18-Dec.-2011

Bucs Basketball Coach Jay Mahoney recorded his 537th victory to take over third place in career win for Bergen County Boys Basketball with a 58-28 victory over Harrison.

 I hope you have a look back at the year 2011 through the lens of Bogota Blog NJ. This has not been a full list of the events in Bogota. Please feel free to write and add other things that were important through-out the year. I am looking forward to the coming year to see what will happen next. I wish everyone a Healthy and Happy New Year of 2012.

Thank-you

Year in review October- November

29-Dec-2011
Year in review October - November
  2-Oct.-2011
The Trinity Church held their first " Blessing of the Animals" so that families could have their pets be blessed by Pastor Olsen.

   8-Oct.-2011
The Bogota Public Library had October be a Fines for Food Month in which any fines for late material could be paid off in food to be given to a local food bank.


  13- Oct.-2011
The streets  of Bogota which decorated in pink ribbons to show support for Cancer Awareness Month to help find a cure fore Breast Cancer.

    21-Oct.-2011
The Bogota Lady Bucs Volleyball team Honoured their Senior Capt. Elise Brackett before their last regular season game. With a 2-0 victory over Midland Park the lady Bucs finished the season with a record of 24-1.

  29-Oct.-2011

The day the snow came. In a very large & powerful snow storm cover the East Coast. Bogota could not escape from it's force this time. Large sections of the Borough loss power as the heavy snow took down trees and power lines through-out the region. Not before the Football Bucs had one of their biggest wins over Harrison as the snow fell around them.

  30-Oct.-2011

The snow finally stopped and the clean-up started. Once again the Emergency Services & Public Works Dept.of Bogota stepped forward to keep the Borough safe and secure.

                                      

  31- Oct-2011

Treats after a big weather trick as most of Bogota had it's power restored , and DPW cleared enough streets so that the Halloween Trick & Treaters could go out safely to gather some candy.

  6-Nov.-2011

St. Joseph Church held a Pipe and Brass concert featuring the Palisade Park Fire Dept. Band and the Mag Seven Pipe & Drum Corp.

  8-Nov.-2011

Election Day, in some close races Mayor Patrick McHale was reelected & the Borough Council was still held on to by the Democratic candidates.

Questions

28-Dec-2011
   Bogota Blog NJ is looking for some participants in a survey on the new uniform policy in the High School. I would like the opinion of the parents of , as well as the students who, go the  Bogota Jr/Sr High School. I have a questionnaire that can be e-mailed to anyone who want to answer them. I ask that any student under the age of 18, or attending Bogota High School have their parent ,or guardian send permission to Bogota Blog NJ first.
I hope to have the results  by the end of winter break in February. No names will be used  in the results. An example is :  Parent of a Senior Girl, or A Junior Boy so I can keep it as confidential as possible. I have spoken to some Parents privately and they think it is a interesting idea. I hope I can provide a useful service to the Borough.
  Please contact me at bogotablognj@gmail.com if you like to participate.
  Thank-you
  Stephen Mazzella
  Bogota Blog NJ

Year in review August - September

28-Dec-2011
Year in review August - September
     15-August-2011
 The Bogota High School Football team returned to the practice field after the 2010 season was cut short due to too many injures to the varsity squad. With another new coach , Nick DeStefano, the Bucs started the hard work of a true rebuilding year.

    18-August-2011
 Mr Evaristo Burdiez Jr. was sworn in as the newest Bogota Councilman to replace Tara Sharp. Ms Sharp resigned for personal reasons earlier in the year.

  27- Aug-2011

 One of the more trying time for the Borough was when Hurricane Irene swept over the town. Being fortunate Bogota had no loss of any of it's citizen, and only repairable damage. Some power was loss, with all of the emergency & public works services putting in the extra hours to help the people of Bogota get through the storm. 

   7-Sept.-2011

The Borough loss another member of it's community with the sudden death of Council Joseph Noto. A longtime public servant he will be remembered by Family  and Friends.

   

  10-Sept.-2011

 The High School Bucs returned to the field of play, even if it was an overtime loss to Emerson. However it is the start of a new chapter in Bogota Football.

   11-Sept.-2011

 St.Joseph Church held a tenth Remembrance for those who were lost on that day. It was also a chance to honour the members of the Bogota Emergency Service, and all First Responders for the service to the Community.

   End of Sept.-2011

Was a time to celebrate, and  strengthen community ties with a number of actives.  The annual St. Joseph Carnival, The Hose #1 Mum Sale, and the town wide Garage sale, all showed the best of what life in a small town can be like. Also a good day for High School Sports, as both the Football team had hard fought victory over Weekhawken, and the Lady Bucs Volleyball team showed how their season will be like with a 2-0 victory against Park Ridge. 

Year in review June-July

27-Dec-2011
Year in review June-July
    11- June Bogota Day 2011

 Was a drizzly day in the Borough, but the annual festival was held as planned. A new group, the Bergen Chinese School, had a large display that brought a new feature to event when a traditional Chinese Lion danced it was around Olsen Park.

   20- June  The Rec. Dept. announces the formation of the Bogota Vocaleers. They are run from Bixby School under the Direction of Ms Melissa Swietlicki. They will perform at the Borough Hall Tree lighting, & at Bixby School.

  25- June  Class of 2011

Bogota High School held their Commencement Ceremonies for the class of 2011. This was the first for New Superintendent Dr. Pantoliano. Valedictorian Stephanie Kurdach  spoke of growing up in the Bogota School System, and remembered the times spend growing up with Family and Friends.

  7-July School Uniforms

The designs for the first school uniforms for the school year 2011-2012 for Bogota Junior & Senior High school students.

  9-July Rebuilding the Olsen park fields.

A community project involving State & Local Government, many donations from the private business sector, along with countless hours of Volunteer labor resulted in a vast improvement of the Softball / Little League fields, a new T-Ball Diamond on Olsen Park.

  17-July Mr. Victor Poralatin

Mr Victor Poralatin of Bogota would be reported missing from his home this day. Tragically his body would be found in Herrick Park Teaneck  five days later. Please remember him and his Family for their loss.

  30- July "Likes"

The Facebook page for Bogota Blog NJ gets it's 100th likes. A small note for the Borough, but a sign that the idea of a community orientated web site may be a good idea.

Class of 2012

26-Dec-2011
   The Bogota High School class 0f 2012 is having a give back day at the Smash-Burger in the Riverside Square Mall on Thursday 29-Dec. Smash-Burger will donate 20% of  of the order to the Bogota Class of 2012. The offer will be good only on the 29th from 5:00p to 9:00p the flyer below must be presented at the time of the order. Smash-Burger is located on the first floor near the main Pottery Barn of the Riverside Square Mall in Hackensack.

Copy & Print this flyer to bring to Smash-Burger for a 20% donation to the Bogota High School class of 2012

Year in review March- May

26-Dec-2011
  Here is a look back at the year 2011 through the posts of Bogota Blog NJ. This will continue throughout this week as this years comes to an end.
  The start is some guy in Bogota sat in front of his computer and wrote down that the Band Parents will hold a Pasta Dinner at the Rec Center to raise money for the High School  band. The first post of Bogota Blog NJ was on 17-March-2011
 The first posted photos came on 28-March of the pasta dinner for the Band Parents.

  

  On 13- April there was a Board of Education Meeting that was attended by more than the usual number of people. This meeting came after a decision to suspend Coach Mahoney after his actions on the sidelines of several games during the season. After there was talk of the suspensions, and other actions to be taken, Coach Mahoney offered to resign as the Boys basketball coach. Even though no decisions were made at that time, there was many people who came to support the coach. His support came from Family & friends, along with current & former players, opposing coaches, and fellow educators. 

  Since that meeting Coach Mahoney has been reappointed Head Coach of the Boys basketball team under a agreement with the School Board Superintendent that may cause his removal is there are actions that are unbecoming to the team and the School.

  28-April 

   The 2011-2012 Board of Education Budget was defeated by 2 votes 191-189 proving even in a small town election that every vote really does count.

  30- May 

   The Borough of Bogota continued it's tradition of honouring the women & men who have, and are serving this country in it's armed forces. The morning had the ceremony at the war memorial in from of Borough Hall to remember those who are no longer with us. Then the Parade in the Afternoon to celebrate the town and country we live in.