It's in the news again. School district consolidation across New Jersey. We have a question of the day that ties back to our initial Somerset Hills days when there was only Bernards and Bedminster (pre-1920s).

1995 - County Prosecutor Bissell indicted and Later Commits Suicide.On this day in local history: An Amoco gas station on Route 202-206 opposite The Hills development in Bedminster Township figured prominently in a 33-count federal indictment of Somerset County Prosecutor Nicholas L. Bissell Jr. on Thursday, Sept. 28, 1995. Bissell purchased the gas station from his father in 1981 and failed to divest himself of it as required by law when he became county prosecutor the following year, the indictment said. He was accused of charging personal expenses to the gas station account and embezzling another $246,000. He was also accused of threatening to plant cocaine in the car of a gasoline distributor who planned to terminate Bissell’s franchise due to customer complaints about the operation. Bissell, who was convicted the next year, fled while facing a 10-year prison sentence and killed himself in a Nevada hotel room as police were breaking through the door.
Source: Bernardsville Newshttps://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=ZDk1Z2ZhN3RvM2NpanB2cGZxNzVycWVpMzhfMjAyMDA5MjggcTN2N2E0MDQzZTZia2U2cWFzNW02bXZjcG9AZw

1946 - Christine Todd Whitman Born - Grand Niece of Founder of Far Hills.- On this day in local history: September 26 Born: The great-grandniece of Grant B. Schley (Schley Mountain) is Christine Todd Whitman , former Somerset Freeholder, NJ Governor, and EPA Secretary.

Whitman was born Christine Temple Todd in New York City, the daughter of Eleanor Prentice Todd (née Schley) and businessman Webster B. Todd. Her parents were involved in Republican politics,[2] and both the Todds and the Schleys were wealthy and prominent New Jersey political families.[3] Her mother's family were among the first New Yorkers to move to what became Far Hills, New Jersey, which became a popular suburb for wealthy, moderate Republicans.[3] Her maternal grandfather, Reeve Schley, was a member of Wolf's Head Society at Yale and the vice president of Chase Bank. He was also a longtime president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. See attached photo:https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=cjh2OTFwaGpyYmNrNnVuOGRkbHY0NnVtNGNfMjAyMDA5MjYgcTN2N2E0MDQzZTZia2U2cWFzNW02bXZjcG9AZw

1940 - Police catch 15 year old Arsonist for Liberty Corner School Fire- On this day in local history: A 15-year-old boy, a ward of the state residing with Mrs. Donald Cameron of Liberty Corner in Bernards Township, was sentenced to the State Home for Boys in Jamesburg on Thursday, Sept. 26, 1940, for setting fire at the Liberty Corner School. On Sept. 22, someone had poured kerosene through a broken school window and lit it but the ensuing fire burned itself out caused little damage. The only clues left behind were a heel print on an adjacent shed roof and a milk bottle in nearby woods found by a school bus driver.

After an investigation by Bernards Township Police Chief Thomas Stewart, “it was found that the Camerons were the only consumers of that brand of milk in the community,” The News said. The boy was arrested on Sept. 23 at Bernards High School, where he was a freshman. His heel “matched the print,” the story said, “and he readily admitted attempting to burn the school and also confessed to being responsible for several other fires in the vicinity.” Source: Bernardsville Newshttps://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=aGVnMWt2ZGoybTlwM2Z1dDMyYzhhZTk5OWtfMjAyMDA5MjYgcTN2N2E0MDQzZTZia2U2cWFzNW02bXZjcG9AZw