West Deptford Wing-Off Brings Out Saucy Competition [Video]

Jeff Jones and Rick Santiago both walk away with the title of Wing-Off champion.

It was chemicals vs. pharmaceuticals, "The Hurricane" vs. "#1 Winger" in that most Delaware Valley of competitions—the chicken-wing showdown. But in the end, Johnson Matthey's two branches ended up splitting the wishbone for wing-eating champion. Johnson Matthey Catalyst, Chemicals and Refining and Johnson Matthey Pharmaceutical Materials came together Feb. 21 for a local version of the wing bowl at RiverWinds Restaurant. The eaters raced to finish 15 wings first. In the divisionals, Jones took first at Johnson Matthey Pharmaceuticals, followed by Chris Davis and Joe Zagrocki. Losing to Bob Wheeler last year, Jones came into Thursday's Wing-Off as a divisional leader for the second year in a row.  After gobbling down 15 chicken wings in …

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Parking Island Beautification Planned for RiverWinds

West Deptford and Johnson Matthey are planning another community service project, this time to refurbish the barren parking islands at RiverWinds.

West Deptford residents who are tired of seeing dead shrubs, overgrown weeds, and a barren-looking landscape in the parking islands at the RiverWinds Community Center will be happy to hear that plans are in the works to refurbish them.  Johnson Matthey plans to spruce up the islands as one of its community projects within West Deptford this upcoming year. The proposed project would be the largest of three the company is considering in 2013. “It's a big event for the site,” Recreation Advisory Committee chairman John DiCarlo said. “We want to get everyone out there as a community to help out.” While details haven't been finalized, DiCarlo said he has spoken with township recreation foreman Matt Moore about ideas to revitalize the islands. …

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West Deptford Company Crowns Wing Eating Champ on Eve of Wing Bowl 21

With a wing competition of their own, Johnson Matthey Catalyst, Chemicals and Refining crowns new victor in Wing Bowl XII.

Wing fever is in the air as Wing Bowl 21 kicks off Friday morning. While many gather to watch the throwdown of throwdowns at the Wells Fargo Center, the employees of Johnson Matthey Catalyst, Chemicals and Refining in West Deptford have already crowned their wing eating champion. Bill Cardone finished in first place after downing 15 wings in just one minute, 45 seconds. Unlike the Wing Bowl held in Philadelphia, the employees at Johnson Matthey do not compete for the most wings eaten; rather they compete for the fastest time to gobble down 15 wings. “It’s a great spirit that exists,” says general manager Gerard Compagnoni, who has been present for every wing bowl since the annual tradition began twelve years ago. “It says a lot about our …

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Faded Field of Dreams Set to be Restored to Former Glory

Donations of both money and labor have come through, and the playground is just weeks away from being restored.

“If you build it, they will come.” Sixteen years later, as families roll out to the 20,000-square-foot playground on warm spring weekends, the words still ring true—though now, from cracked, faded and peeling paint. Once-colorful towers are weatherbeaten and worn, graffiti has been scrubbed away more than a few times, mulch has been ground down to bare dirt and concrete is covered with scabrous patches of rubberized safety crash pads. Field of Dreams has seen better days, for sure. “It’s just really not the same park,” committeewoman Denice DiCarlo said. But in a few weeks, with the help of volunteers from two township businesses, it’ll be restored to its former glory. With $60,000 or more in donations from Johnson Matthey and Solvay …

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West Deptford's Top 100 Most Valuable Properties

The township's huge industrial and commercial ratable base dominates the list.

The township-wide reassessment completed for last year ended up bringing West Deptford into the top 20 percent of New Jersey towns in terms of ratable value in 2011, according to data put together by the state Department of Community Affairs. All totaled, properties in the township were worth $2,718,739,721 after the revaluation. Since then, various appeals have dented that value by about $172 million, down to $2,546,769,500. Much of that is fueled by Sunoco’s Eagle Point complex, which went from an assessed value of $246 million—nearly 10 percent of the entire ratable base—down to $153.5 million this year. Eagle Point remains the highest-valued property in the township, even after a huge reduction in its assessment—along with it, here are…

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Bryan Littel

4:52 pm on Saturday, March 31, 2012

Actually, there are more publicly-owned properties than just what's listed here - this is only the stuff that fits in the top 100. The total's definitely more than $210 million.   more ›

Johnson Matthey Crowns 2012 Wing King

Six eaters. Fifteen wings. One champion.

It may not have sold out the Wells Fargo Center, but chemical company Johnson Matthey's fourth annual Wing-Off at RiverWinds Restaurant drew a crowd that came out to see six eaters go for glory Thursday night. Led by division champs Jeff Jones and Bob Wheeler, the field was rounded out by Bill Cardone, Dave Craddock, Jared Johnson and Sudky Abed, who raced to see who could down a plate of 15 wings the fastest. Check out our video to see who came out on top.

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Johnson Matthey Donates Truckload of Toys

The West Deptford chemical and pharmaceutical company made their donation to Gloucester County Social Services.

West Deptford PD Gets Boost from Johnson Matthey

The chemical company donated $2,500 to the police department Thursday.

West Deptford Police Chief Craig Mangano has to deal with the same reality as everyone else: ever-tightening budgets that leave room only for the day-to-day necessities, with little, if anything left over. But donations like one from chemical company Johnson Matthey, which presented the police with $2,500 at Thursday night’s township committee meeting, go a long way to helping support the department’s mission. “With equipment being so expensive, and with budgets dwindling due to the economic climate of today, it’s always good to have donations come in to the police department,” Mangano said. “It enables us to go further with doing our job safely and more efficiently, without putting more of a burden on the taxpayers.” Mangano said the …

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