A New Jersey Labor Day parade at South Plainfield has been canceled on Monday morning Sept. 2 after police found devices resembling pipe-bombs at a property adjacent to the parade route.
Middlesex County police canceled the parade and fireworks after they found “explosives” in a resident’s home.
The home was not far from where the parade was to take off, NJ.com reported, citing a senior law enforcement official with the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
The South Plainfield Labor Day parade and fireworks display were canceled Monday morning due to a “security concern,” the borough announced on Facebook.
The governor, Phil Murphy, and First Lady, Tammy Murphy were scheduled to walk in the parade. The Labor Day parade is known as the biggest and oldest in New Jersey.
Police were investigating another matter involving a firework cooler at a Guns 4 Hire pop concert, at Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright, Monmouth County on Sept. 1. They tracked down the suspect, a “rogue individual” with a fancy for explosives, 55-year-old Thomas G. Kaiser, NJ.com reported.
Kaiser, reportedly, planned to ignite some of his homemade fireworks at the end of the concert. When staff would not allow him to set the venue ablaze, he left the cooler at the site which prompted an investigation by Monmouth police into Kaiser’s home and psyche.
NewYork4 reported that Kaiser had some “mental issues” and police were well acquainted with him.
After the concert, instead of taking the fireworks cooler home, Kaiser left it at the venue.
Police questioned him about what he intended to do with the homemade fireworks.
Police thereupon searched his home and found some homemade pipe bomb-like devices, NJ reported.
None of the explosive devices found were powerful enough to pose a lethal danger to a person.
A source in the governor’s office shared with the outlet, “Out of an abundance of caution, the man was arrested and the festivities for the same day canceled.” Kaiser was charged with second-degree possession of a destructive device for an unlawful purpose and one count of third-degree possession of a destructive device, My Central Jersey reported.
Labor Day: Historical Facts and Information
Labor Day, one of the national holidays in the United States, is set this year for Monday, September 2, 2019.
The Department of Labor says that the day “is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”
The first Labor Day is thought to have taken place on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. About 10,000 workers marched in a parade from City Hall to Union Square. The Central Labor Day Union organized the day.
The Library of Congress says that carpenter and labor union leader Peter J. McGuire came up with the day and proposed it to the union. They thought it was a good idea, and the period between Independence Day and Thanksgiving was chosen.
The first Monday in September was selected as the day for a holiday in 1884, as originally proposed. “The Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a ‘workingmen’s holiday’ on that date.
The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations. In 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country,” according to the department.
Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report
