Local Editor Says Goodbye to East Windsor, Cranbury and Hightstown
Friday will be Ashley Peskoe's last day at Patch.
My first day on the job a local store was robbed at gunpoint, and Hightstown approved replacing the police chief position with a police director. Less than two weeks later Hurricane Irene struck the region, pouring several feet of water into the area.
To say I got off to a slow start is beyond an understatement – but this is exactly what I have loved at Patch. Between East Windsor, Cranbury and Hightstown, there is always something going on, and I have made a point to be in the thick of it.
After more than a year, I will be leaving Patch, as I have decided to take another reporting job. For those who want to get in touch, I can be reached at peskoe.ashley@gmail.com. My last day is Friday.
Even though Patch was my first full-time job, as many of you know, I have been reporting for years – dating back to high school spent right here in Hightstown at The Peddie School. In college I served as the youngest managing editor for Drexel University’s student newspaper, followed by internships at NBC 10 in Philadelphia with the investigators and at ABCNews.com in New York covering the royal wedding. I then wrote freelance stories for a Patch site in North Jersey before being hired to cover East Windsor Patch.
But throughout the years of covering news, there are those stories that will stick with you – and many of them were right here in town.
For crime and breaking news, there was the devastating fire on Bristol Way in East Windsor; the East Windsor recreation director was charged after police said he knew his secretary was falsifying township records to send her child to summer camp and lied about it to authorities; Hightstown police breaking up a credit card fraud scheme after a routine traffic stop; and a boy was abducted from a West Windsor apartment by his grandfather which touched off a multi-agency search, and was later found in South Carolina. The grandfather had previously published a YouTube video describing a custody battle around his grandson.
Then there was the controversial and local issues, including a solar farm dispute between a local farmer and the township in East Windsor; Hightstown replacing their police chief with a police director; Hightstown passing a taxi licensing ordinance after several months of deliberation; and East Windsor’s police chief retiring and a new one sworn into office.
And I can’t forget the new businesses and ones that have closed up shop, including Molto Bene relocating to Cranbury following Hurricane Irene; Mercer Street Charcoal Grill opening in Hightstown’s corner storefront; the International Roasting Post occupying a small shop that many thought was too small, followed by an upcoming expansion into Molto Bene’s former space. A new garden boutique opened in Cranbury, and a shop filled with South American treasures came to Hightstown.
The beloved Tiger’s Deli shut its doors after serving East Windsor for more than 46 years, and Charlie Brown’s returned after closing in 2010. Most recently, the Windsor Hights Shopping Center, which is 60 percent vacant, was sold.
And the feel-good stories, including the “Your Dog is Worth it Too” event held annually in Cranbury to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Hightstown’s K9 officer demonstrating its drug-sniffing abilities to fifth graders and the local farmers’ market video, which happened to be my first assignment at Patch.
Let’s face it, I could go on forever if I tried to include everything, but most importantly it was you – the community – that helped me bring the stories to light. I thank each of you who called me with a news tip, commented on the site or on the East Windsor Patch Facebook page, or sent me an email with information. Patch wouldn’t be what it is without you.
News tips can be sent to guest editor Rachel Gillett at rachel.gillett.patch@gmail.com.
Pam Parker
6:54 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Good luck Ashley. Your efforts made our Patch a great local news and happening source. I hope it remains so after your tenure. I know you will find much success in whatever your future holds.
Ashley Peskoe
9:25 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thank you very much Pam!
Jay L
8:04 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thanks for all the local news. Good luck in your future!
Ashley Peskoe
9:26 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
No problem Jay, I've really enjoyed it - and thanks!
JP Gibbons
9:20 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
This is one article that every reasonable person should agree with. You have been open to all sides and restored the concept that the free press in this country should report information, facts and issues and let the readers determine how they feel about the balanced issue. For or against, it is the reader's right to make an informed decission and you have kept us informed.
May you always keep to this standard and maythe readers trust your reporting as we have here.
Thanks and good luck
Ashley Peskoe
9:30 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thank you JP - hope to still see you around town
Debbie Field
9:30 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
So honored to have met you Ashley! I know you'll be great at your new job! Thanks for keeping up with us! All my best, Debbie Field
Around The Garden Boutique
Ashley Peskoe
9:31 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thanks Debbie and good luck with the boutique!
Torry Watkins
9:39 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Many thanks, Ashley, for a great job and best wishes to you for the future. Has your successor been named, one who can arbitrate for taste and truth, or will the Patch become a jungle?
Ashley Peskoe
9:41 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thank you Torry! A guest editor will be taking over until a replacement is found. Her contact information is at the bottom of my column - any news tips can be sent to her after I leave on Friday.
Andrew M. Galbraith Ryer
9:42 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thanks Ashley for all the great reporting! All the best at your new job, where they will be lucky to have you.Good luck!
Ashley Peskoe
9:43 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thank you Andrew!
Vic Monaco
11:38 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Good luck, Ashley
Ashley Peskoe
12:13 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thanks Vic!
Gospel Mission Corps
6:43 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Ashley, thanks for your work locally. Although you will be missed from the Patch, go in peace and fulfill the purposes for which you have been trained and to the people whom you are called to serve.
GospelWorkers@aol.com
Ashley Peskoe
9:23 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thank you!
Bettie Witherspoon
12:23 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
From Roosevelt, also, you will be missed; you are using your God given special talents and sense of mission in a way that brings you joy, and your readers too. Thank you and best wishes.
I have to ask, all of us who do not know want to know, where are you going and what will you be doing?
Thanks again for sharing your time and talents with us.
Ashley Peskoe
7:42 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Bettie -
Thanks for the note! I've taken a job at NJ.com.
Amy Quigley
2:34 am on Thursday, August 30, 2012
Ashley,
Your quality work and efforts in our community will be greatly missed although NJ.com is still within our locality. I, for one, know how dedicated you have been in reporting at all hours of the day and night!
All of the City Streets staff wishes you the best of luck in your new endeavor!
Cheers,
Amy and Kevin Quigley
Ashley Peskoe
11:01 am on Thursday, August 30, 2012
Thank you Amy, I appreciate it!
Dave Bell
3:33 pm on Thursday, August 30, 2012
Good luck and hope to see you still posting here once in a while.
Ashley Peskoe
9:18 pm on Thursday, August 30, 2012
Thanks Dave!
Mark
10:40 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
Ashley,
Just wanted to say Good Luck, and thank you so very much for everything you have done for me and the Hightstown Police Department, from the Toy Drive and just reporting all the special events we have run throughout the years. Hopefully we can stay in touch, you are excellent at what you do..
Sgt Mark J Niro
Ashley Peskoe
7:17 am on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Thank you Mark! Please do keep in touch
Rachel Gillett
1:44 am on Thursday, September 6, 2012
I'd like to thank Ashley for helping me get acclimated to East Windsor and its Patch.com site, and I wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.
I look forward to working with residents and officials alike in East Windsor, Cranbury, and Hightstown during my time here, and I hope to carry on Ashley's legacy by providing fair and accurate reporting to Patch's readers.
If you have any news tips for me, or just want to say hello, you can reach me at rachel.gillett.patch@gmail.com.
Ashley Peskoe
12:51 am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Hey Rachel - just saw this. Good luck with everything!