Community News

Lola Gayle, STEAM Register January 28, 1986 was a tragic day in NASA history. At 73 seconds into its flight (11:39 EST, 16:39 UTC), NASA Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members as the orbiter disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. STS-51-L crew:…

JACKSON-Days after Jackson Township was hit with over two feet of snow from “Winter Storm Jonas”, Jackson Township officials are looking into the reasons why some township roads remained unplowed almost four days after the last snowflake fell.   Mayor Michael Reina said snow removal preparations and operations were running smoothly through Saturday night, but the township had to hire additional outside contractors to complete the job due to the large amount of heavy, wet snow that remained on the town’s 1,800 roads.

Reina confirmed that an emergency meeting was held on Monday afternoon by township officials to devise a plan to handle the large amounts of calls by residents who called the township to inquire about snow removal.

The township entered into new contracts with Bil-Jim Construction of Jackson and Russo Construction of Freehold to supplement the beleaguered crews of A&M Harrison of Jackson and Galloway Enterprises of New Egypt who had been working 24 hour shifts since Saturday night.

“I want to personally thank those township workers who did come out to plow after the storm and the contractors who worked together and got the job done,” he said.

Rumors circulated on social media about many DPW workers not showing for work after Saturday’s initial dig.

Reina said he could not confirm the rumor, but has ordered an audit of records from public works director Fred Rasciewicz.

Delays in the snow removal process prompted the Jackson Township School District to cancel school on Tuesday and remove the in-service day scheduled for Friday although all school grounds were cleared.

On Monday night the township’s new fleet of snow removal equipment sat dormant in the township’s new Burke garage as independent contractors continued digging the town out.  Many in town were still snowed in, many roads remained uncleared.

Chet Smilek, shop steward for Transportation Workers Union Local Branch 225 who represents the snow plow drivers employed by the township issued a statement denying that the call-out was organized by his union.

“I would like to put an end to the allegations of an ‘organized union/labor work stoppage'”, he wrote.  “At no time was the union contacted for verification or information before these fabricated allegations were made.”

Smilek did not explain why the equipment was idle and township officials were forced to hire expensive private contractors to complete the clean up in the town when it is in possession of one of the newest snow removal fleets in Ocean County.

Over the past several years, Jackson township has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace its once aging fleet of snow removal equipment.

Township Business Administrator Helene Schlegel confirmed the township is reviewing the staffing numbers.

“That information is not yet available and I will not provide any inaccurate numbers,” she said. “I can tell you that we have 25 employees (not counting mechanics) that hold CDL licenses and can operate equipment.”

“Not only is it unconscionable to think that public employees would take any organized action that would jeopardize the safety and welfare of the residents, in most cases, any organized work related action by public employees is illegal and subject to sanctions, both to the individual and the organization that would encourage such activity,” she added. “But again, I have no specific information regarding any organized action.”

Reina said despite the declared state of emergency in Jackson, workers from the union were under no legal obligation to work overtime this past weekend, but thanked those who did.  He also thanked the township’s police department and volunteers of the Jackson First Aid and volunteer fire companies for their dedication to the community during yet another natural emergency.

Reina said once the forensic audit is done, he will release the facts and only the facts of what transpired this weekend in the township.

Last Tuesday, a person being referred to as a teen in Lakewood caught the attention of the local news media after he offered a homeless man $5 to pour a cup of coffee on his head while he recorded it on his mobile phone.  A bystander and witness to the event, Carlos Mejia, intervened and made the individual apologize to the man, Ron Leggatt.
Now, both communities are rallying to the aid of Leggatt, helping him with temporary housing and raising donations for him.

Leggatt, who currently lives inside a softball field dugout at the Cedarbridge Avenue Ballfield, accepted the offer and was filmed by the teen.

Mejia posted about the incident on his personal Facebook page and the story exploded on social media.

“I was sitting in my car at Singin’ gas station, that’s between Central Avenue and Cedarbridge Avenue, when I heard this Jew offer this homeless man $5,” Mejia wrote.  “At first I thought it was as an act of kindness but I was wrong. He took two coffees he had recently just bought out of his car that were very hot and told the poor man to pour it on his head.”

Mejia said the man, Ron Leggatt complied.

“The man did as he was told. The Jew was recording this with his video camera & laughing,” Mejia said, “Then he offered some spare change if the man would pour another coffee on his head.  At that moment I got out of my car full of anger and confronted the [expletive]. He panicked and began to apologize. I felt that wasn’t enough for the damage he had caused.”

Mejia said Leggatt’s eyes and face were red from the burning coffee and he persuaded the would-be YouTube video sensation to give Leggatt and additional $20 and apologize to him.

He said Leggatt is well known in Lakewood.

“Mr. Bruce is a harmless homeless man who doesn’t even ask for money,” he wrote.  “He just walks around looking for change on the ground and as you can see would even humiliate himself for a few dollars…this needs to stop.”

On Friday, Mejia’s post was viral both inside and outside of the Lakewood community.   Most hailed him a hero for stepping in to defend the homeless man, but others threatened him, some even with legal action.  Others sent him private messages on Facebook calling him a liar to fabricate a story to paint the town’s Orthodox Jewish community in a negative light.

“I don’t know why you would post a suck thing and bring on so much hate, it’s disgusting thing to do and despicable but why not go straight to the police, instead of posting a nasty Jew hating post,” asked Jerry Biegeleisen.  “I don’t know why you are looking to spread hate got to be a big a-hole to do that.”

“How can you lie like that about Jews?” asked Effy Deutsch. “The pictures aren’t even in Singin’ and [you] understand these are grounds for a potential lawsuit for racial harassment and [you] can be detained and deported to Mexico City by ICE.”

Mejia said he is in the United States legally, which was also confirmed by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Later, Leggatt said he accepted the indecent proposal because he needed money to buy food.  He also said the coffee was cold and thought that he would be able to pour the coffee in a way that the heavy wind at the time would blow it away from his head.

“I’m not offended by it,” Leggatt said. “But I didn’t know it was on Facebook.”

The next day, Ari Boyer, of Lakewood tracked Leggatt down and apologized for the action against him by the teenager the day before.

Leggatt told Boyer he’d like a haircut and a shave, but didn’t have any money.   Boyer offered and treated Leggatt to a haircut and a shave.

“Nobody should be doing that,” Boyer said to Leggatt.     Later that day Boyer took Leggatt for his haircut and to buy new clothes at the Howell Wal-Mart.  He later offered to put Leggatt up in a hotel room during the impending snowstorm that was headed for Lakewood that night.

An edited video of the exchange was published on the Lakewood Scoop’s YouTube channel.

Later that night, Leggatt was found in his dugout home, not in a hotel by Reverend Steven Brigham, the former tent city in Lakewood.  Brigham and volunteers put Leggatt up in a hotel for the weekend.

Many on social media lashed out at Boyer for not fulfilling his offer, but Boyer explained in a post on the Lakewood Scoop.  He said he and Ron did show up to the hotel, but could not get in.

“I was with Ron at the grand motel in the afternoon and noon responded there to the bell they have at the door. Ron did not want to wait because he was hungry. I took him to D&D pizzeria and gave him money for food,” Ari Boyer said on the Lakewood Scoop.  “Since I am an observant Jew I was not able to wait and help him any longer at that point until tonight. I was in contact with an organization located in Barnegat who assured me they are on the way to find him and take him to motel. I instructed him to stay at his dugout until they arrived. I am now by the Grand Motel trying to find him and hear what really happened after that.”

Cindy Lanouette, a Tent City volunteer said, “Ron is tickled pink and so grateful for everything everyone is doing for him.”

On Saturday, Al Della Fave of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office reached out to the Shore News Network in the hope of shedding more light on the matter.    Della Fave said he has read many things on Facebook and social media that were not quite accurate about the event.

“When the incident happened, the Lakewood Police Department contacted the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and asked for assistance from our high-tech crimes unit,” Della Fave said.  The unit specializes in internet and technology related crimes.

Della Fave said Mieja’s accounting of the incident was accurate and matched both of the reports made by the Lakewood Police Department and his own department’s high tech crimes unit.

He said police watched the video from the teen’s phone.

“His [Mejia’s] story matched the video,” Della Fave said. “We appreciate him contacting us.”

Della Fave said another rumor circulating on the internet was that the action of the teen was part of some bigger social media site, but said no evidence existed.

“This was an isolated issue and not part of anything bigger,” he said. “Our investigation learned that he intended to post the video to You Tube where people post videos like that, but it is not at all, in any way related to the Lakewood community as some have said.  We did not find any evidence of that at all.”

Lakewood police officers, according to Della Fave advised the teen to delete the video from his phone to prevent it from being shared on the internet in the future.

“They did not want it to be exploited in any way,” he said.

“It was never posted to the internet,” he said. “There was no surveillance video at the gas station.  The incident happened as he [Mejia’s] reported it.”

Della Fave said his department worked closely with religious and social leaders in Lakewood’s Orthodox community, who cooperated fully with the investigation.

“They immediately blasted out a message that said it was a horrific act and that if anyone attempts to duplicate it, they will be immediately reported to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.” he added.  “They are serious about this not happening again.”

Because no charges were filed, police did not report the age of the individual who solicited Leggatt.

Two “Go Fund Me” sites have been set up to further aid Leggatt.   A Lakewood based one has raised $2,700 and a Jackson based on has raised $1,300 to date.

 

 

 

 

Say what you want about Governor Chris Christie, but he’s always been a frontlines kind of guy, especially in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy here in New Jersey.

On September 12, 2012, Ocean County New Jersey, still reeling heavily from the destruction of Superstorm Sandy one year earlier, was hit with another disaster, the burning and total destruction of the boardwalk in Seaside Park.

One year prior, Sandy destroyed much of the boardwalk in neighboring Seaside Heights, where the iconic photo of the Jet Star rollercoaster in the Atlantic Ocean was broadcast worldwide.  A few blocks south, in Seaside Park, similar destruction destroyed the Fun Town amusement pier.

As the small borough was still digging out and rebuilding, a fire cut the tourism season, which the local economy depends on, short.

Within an hour of the fire being reported to Governor Christie’s office, he was on scene to support the local community, working the front lines as he had done many times prior since Sandy wreaked havoc in our community.

I should know, I accompanied him on this as the only member of the public press given access to him that day prior to the press conference.  I took about 250 photos that day.  However, the major media outlets only wanted a handful of those photos from me for publication.

I made the entire collection available to the global media.  There were no takers, until the Daily Mirror in the United Kingdom spotted something I didn’t.    In one photo, Christie’s aide Bridget Anne Kelly was seen texting.   It turns out later, according to the Bergen Record, that I happened to have captured a moment in time where Kelly was texting one of her sidekicks in the Bridgegate scandal.   The Bergen Record matched the timestamp of the photo to documents released by the state that outlined the Bridgegate timeline.

Four months after our boardwalk burned to the ground, I started receiving phone calls, I noticed the sale of those photos on Getty Images spiked overnight.   I found it odd that they would now be interested in photos of the governor from the fire months earlier. I still didn’t quite understand until the next morning when I saw my photos of the governor and Kelly all over the morning news, on every network and in virtually every newspaper worldwide.

Finally, somebody took notice of the photos I took that day, but to me, it was for all the wrong reasons.

The press sees what they want to see.    They tell us what they want us to know.  It’s what makes us different from our peers.

They didn’t see the governor who came to the aide of the people who had already been beaten down worse than any others in the history of our state.  No, they didn’t tell that story.  They didn’t see the compassion and genuine interest the governor had that day in comforting local residents and reassuring local officials that his office was there for them.  All of them.

What they saw was a scandal involving traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, more than an hour-and-a-half and a world away from New Jersey’s ground zero.

The governor did come through with most of his promises to help Seaside Heights and Seaside Park rebuild.  In fact, the summer of 2015, just five years after Hurricane Sandy and four years after the total destruction of the boardwalk here, the Seasides had one of their best tourism years on record, thanks in part to the programs offered by Governor Chris Christie.

Some people don’t like the governor.  He’s brash. He’s up front.  Some argue, he’s a bully, but one thing nobody can take away is that when Ocean County needed him, he was here for us when we needed a governor.

Here are some photos describing the story the media did not report on regarding my photo set.