Pay-to-Participate, Tax Caps and Champs — Week in Review

Hopatcong Patch is officially a week old! Feel free to send us gifts, food, anything. We'll take it.

In the meantime, check out a rundown of what happened this week in Hopatcong. We'll do this every Sunday, so check back each week to get your fill of what happened.

Sunday

This was the day before we launched, and we had the site prepped with lots of Hopatcong news. Check out: Bobby Smith's trying to get to the Olympics, the town council's not-so-pleasant thoughts on the schools charging for facility usage and a feature story on three H-town firefighters with a combined 150 years on the job.

Monday

Hmm. What happened here? Oh, yeah. We were born! Check out Hopatcong Patch editor Brendan Kuty's welcome video. And feel free to laugh at him. He knows he looks goofy. Also, we heard from local government and school officials about their thoughts on Gov. Chris Christie's proposed 2-percent tax cap. Finally, we posted a and photo gallery about Sunday's senior picnic at the Civic Center.

Tuesday

We reported first that Hopatcong High School athletes would most likely have to pay to participate in 2011. (Tell us what you think about that. We want to know.) Then it was off to Hopatcong Warriors football equipment distribution and signups day at Nariticong Field. After that, we let Hopatcong Superintendent Charles Maranzano tell us that he doesn't like Christie's proposed superintendent salary cap. To close the day, we heard Hopatcong High School Athletic Director Tom Vara tell us all about the high school's new softball field.

Wednesday

At 5 am., we posted the game story from Tuesday's Modick Park Men's Basketball League semifinals. Next, our contributor Eric Fischer gave us the lowdown on the high school wrestling team's workouts at the Summer Duels. The day's third story focused on the borough's reaction to neighbor Mount Olive cutting 'D' grades from its curriculum. (Spoiler alert: Nobody wanted to see that happen here.) And as a kicker, we hit you with news that . Thanks to Robert Berczuk for writing that one.

Thursday

This was an interesting day, with us reporting from Thursday's Environmental Commission meeting that the commission got a . Then we warned you that one of the town's beaches had closed because of multiple failed water tests…and, later, we posted a story about how it would . Later, there was our feature on Troop 341's seven girls to take home Girl Scouts silver awards. The day finished with the EC expressing concerns that developers were ignoring town ordinances.

Friday

Kicked off this morning with a game story about White beating Black in the Modick Park Men's Basketball League championship. (We don't want to talk about it.) At noon, we previewed the town's 10-11-year-old softball team's trip to the sectionals. After that, it was to Modick Park for a video with Byram Bay Christian Church Pastor Ken Adams about the "Crazy Days of Summer." And you went to sleep with an open houses rundown as our main feature.

Saturday

Told you about the Coast Guard's coming to Johnny's Marina on Sunday morning to perform free inspections. Then Hopatcong Patch editor Brendan Kuty debuted his weekly column, "Kuty's Korner," talking about his first week on the job.