Community News
Jackson Township's Meet the Mayor returns in January
Meet the Mayor Sessions are returning on Monday, January 30th at 7pm. These sessions take place in the Main Meeting Room at the Municipal Building located at 95 West Veterans Highway and are open to the Public. These gatherings allow the Mayor to hear what the residents are thinking and strengthens the connection between the residents and the Township officials/ employees. Mark your calendars…. these meetings take place on the last Monday of each month unless other stated.
Mayor Reina looks forward to seeing / meeting each of you.
What's happening at vacant storefronts in Brick Plaza
https://www.facebook.com/BrickTwpNJGovernment/videos/10158009369670046/
Shortly after filing for bankruptcy in the spring of 2016, Sports Authority closed its Brick Township location which has remained vacant since. Months before, in 2015, the plaza also lost A&P supermarket after the chain was sold to Acme.
While no new tenants have signed on as of yet for the Sports Authority site, the A&P store DSW shoes and an Ulta makeup store occupy portions of the old supermarket site. Brick Mayor John Ducey said the owners of the plaza were not interested in replacing A&P with a new supermarket, instead intend to break up the space into smaller retail outlets.
As for Sports Authority, Ducey said no new tenants have been announced, but the owners intend to split the Sports Authority space into as many as three separate rentable units. Ducey said the decline of large box stores was an influence in that decision.
Mayor Ducey announced these items during his last Facebook live event. He will be hosting another live town meeting on Wednesday at 6pm on the Brick Township Facebook page.
New program offers drug addicts help and rehabilitation before life choices lead to arrest; death
by Al DellaFave, OCPO
TOMS RIVER-Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato, Brick Police Chief James Riccio and Manchester Police Chief Lisa Parker today announced the first of its kind law enforcement addiction help program in New Jersey. The “Heroin Addiction Response Program” (HARP) will allow substance abusers to turn themselves and their product in at either of the above participating police headquarters, to go to addiction services providers for treatment evaluation without any threat of charges or jail.
This week, Brick and Manchester PDs will begin this innovative initiative by partnering with Preferred Behavioral Health in Lakewood and Integrity House in Toms River to pilot the HARP program. Initially, the two departments and their health providers will make the life changing option available two days a week. Those fighting addiction, regardless of their residency, can go to Manchester Police Department on Wednesday or Brick Police Department on Thursday to seek immediate critical help in fighting drug addiction.
The program is the latest initiative on the heels of Narcan and the Recovery Coach Program to offer substantial diversion help in order to reduce the impact of heroin and opiate abuse in our community, while encouraging those who suffer from addiction to seek help and experience recovery. Prosecutor Coronato stated, “It is my mandate that Ocean County Law Enforcement treat all those suffering from addiction with compassion, care, and concern while providing resources to assist in their recovery. This is another valuable partnership with Health Providers that is a substantial addition to support our three prong approach in combatting the opiate epidemic thru – Education/prevention, Enforcement and Treatment.
The premise of the program is simple – any person who voluntarily enters the two participating agencies and requests help with addiction to heroin or opiates or any substance shall be immediately screened for potential participation in HARP. Although HARP is primarily designed to apply to persons who present themselves at the station, an officer who encounters a person outside the police station believing they would benefit from HARP has the discretion, based upon their training and experience, to the bring an individual to the police station if the person consents to the voluntary screening process. The officer/shift supervisor, upon completion of the HARP screening process shall provide transportation for the participant to the designated provider as soon as reasonably possible.
Prosecutor Coronato concluded by saying, “It’s the generous commitment of Behavioral Health and Integrity House, along with Brick and Manchester PD’s pro-active community outreach that makes this all possible. It is the hope of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office to ellicit other local law enforcement/health provider partnerships in the next several months to expand the program across Ocean County”.
Attacks on Eric Trump Charity Only Hurting Sick Children
WASHINGTON, January 8, 2016 – President Elect Donald Trump and his guilty-by-association family have been under intense scrutiny by the left and the mainstream media. Trump’s charitable foundation was under the magnifying glass when GuideStar, a nonprofit information center, recently released a 2015 tax filing from the foundation showing that the New York-based nonprofit checked “yes”…
Short Wave Radio Poles at Good Luck Point Coming Down After 80 Years
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP — It’s a curious spectacle well known to fishermen, boaters and sightseers along Barnegat Bay for more than 80 years but soon it will be just a memory. A field of hundreds of wooden poles that stood jutting out of more than 200 acres of marshland know as Good Luck Point off Berkeley Township…
An Amazing Shot of the Hindenburg Flying over Downtown Toms River?
We’re not sure of the origin of the photo, but it’s too great not to share. Published to the Facebook group, “You know you’re from Toms River if…“, the “purportedly” photo shows the Hindenburg flying over Downtown Toms River. On May 6, 1937, just minutes before it arrived in Lakehurst it met its demise as we all know.
But, is this even an picture of the Hindenburg? Chances are…no. It appears to be a Macon class airship operated by the U.S. Navy which operated from the base.
First, it doesn’t look like the Hindenburg and there the German airship’s trademark swastikas are missing, instead, the tail fins have the United States vertical red white and blue stripes. Second, there were two airships in service at the time, the Macon and the Akron. I cannot be 100% verified which one this was. Both looked nearly identical and both
The Akron (ZRS-4) launched on August 8, 1931 and crashed off the coast of New Jersey on April 4, 1933. The Macon (ZRS-5) launched on March 11, 1933 and crashed on February 12, 1935.
While the photo is an amazing shot of downtown Toms River, it’s definitely not the Hindenburg, but we wanted to share it anyway.
The photo gives a clear show of Main Street, possibly from the First National Bank building, facing north towards Washington Street.
Dem. Council Prez to Elderly Female Trump Voter: We don't want to know who you voted for
BRICK-Greenbriar senior community resident Anne Coll came to the December 20th Brick Township council meeting with season’s greetings, but wanted to let the township know she was upset about how the township conducts their public meetings.
Coll said she was upset over how the council often loads the consent agenda with important and sometimes critical financial and business decisions. Under the law, consent agendas are usually used for approval of routine and mundane items that can be packaged into a single agenda item vote for convenience.
Typically towns use consent agendas to approve proclamations, approval of minutes, tax refunds, grant approvals and other housekeeping type items.
Towns in Ocean County typically draft resolutions for large ticket items such as expensive half-million dollar liquor license sales.
The all Democrat board in Brick routinely pushes controversial and big budget items into their consent agenda, including $1.7 million in budget transfers in November and December of 2016 in order to pass the items in one vote, without a public comment period for each resolution or item being voted on.
Coll said she has had enough of how the all Democrat council operates.
“You see before you, an elderly, white woman who is extremely angry,” Mrs. Coll told the council. “That’s not why I did vote for Trump…”
Coll was quickly interrupted by Brick Township Council President Paul Mummolo.
“No, no…this is a consent agenda…We don’t want to know who you voted for, just please get to your question,” Mummolo said to Coll.
“I’m not going to settle for the use of the consent agenda for every item that should be discussed without having to be pulled,” Coll said to the council. “I’m going to start taking the appropriate action and notifying the appropriate people that you don’t follow the laws and orders of the state.”
After asking the council who pays for employee health benefits, Mummolo asked Coll if that was her only question and that he would answer all questions at once. After Coll objected, advising him that her elderly state of mind cannot operate like that,Mummolo said, “Well, it’s going to work that way anyway.”
“Oh, it is?” she asked. “That’s very nice.”
Coll told Mummolo that he has no right to limit her time, referring to the council’s buzzer that goes off during public comment portions of the meeting, notifying residents their speaking time has expired.
“So, please ask your questions,” he added.
After a brief dialog, Coll’s timer expired.
“Are you done?” Mummolo asked?
“You don’t have the right to time me,” she responded.
“I do have a right to time you,” Mummolo said. “You can sit down and get right back up.”
Coll debated with township attorney Kevin Starkey over the definition of public comments, claiming her statements were not comments, but a request for information she felt should have been provided the town during the council discussion of the consent agenda.
She threatened to make a formal complaint.
“And it won’t be with the township. That’s a ridiculous notion that the township will police itself,” she added.
Cabin built out of Brick Airport Logs Recognized by Historic Preservation Commission
Christine Schiess, chairwoman of the Brick Township Historic Preservation Commission presented the 2016 Historic Preservation award at the December 20th township council meeting.
Each year, the commission honors a structure in the township that has remained true to its original construction. The award was presented to Glen Campbell owners of a Kingfisher Cove log cabin.
Campbell calls his home ‘Serendipity’. The home was built in 1942 out of logs that were cleared from the construction of the Ocean County Airport (sometimes called the Osbornville airport) which was once located in Osbornville. An addition was built on the home in 1947, also using airport logs. Many log cabins in the area were built from logs of trees cut down for the airfield, but according to Schiess, most have been remodeled or demolished.
Vicari named Freeholder Director; Kelly, Haines sworn in
TOMS RIVER-On Wednesday, Joe Vicari became the 2017 Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders Director while Jack Kelly and Virginia Haines were sworn in again after winning their November election.
“I have said it many times, Ocean County is the premiere County,” said Haines who was sworn into her first three-year term on the Board. “We have the best county park system, library system, educational opportunities at Ocean County College and the list goes on and on.
Vicari noted there is a number of priorities for 2017 that will be addressed include providing the best programs possible for the county’s growing senior population, lobbying for important transportation projects and improvements and promoting more business development and tourism for Ocean County.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Board to provide quality services and programs to our residents, in keeping the County affordable and to make certain Ocean County continues to be the great place it is to live, work, visit, raise a family and retire,” Vicari said.
Gerry Little was named Deputy Director of the 5 member board.
