Democrats will see a new kind of ballot in the primary June 4, and should be aware of the change before either filling out their absentee ballot or voting at the polls.
Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon advised Democratic voters that the ballot will appear in a new format as a result of a federal court order indicating the new Democratic ballots are now in “block” ballot design.
In this new design, candidates for each individual office are listed in random order in separate ballot boxes as opposed to being “bracketed”, where candidates for different offices were grouped together in a column and appear as a “ticket.”
This change does not apply to the Republican Primary Election, as it was not affected by the court order, the county clerk said..
“It is always recommended for all voters to review their sample ballot prior to voting to become familiar with the ballot as well as the names of the candidates,” Hanlon said. “ This allows for a smoother process at the polls.”
Sample ballots for all 53 Monmouth County municipalities will be sent to voters according to New Jersey law and will also be available online at MonmouthCountyVotes.com and on the County Clerk’s free Monmouth County Votes mobile app.
For questions about the Primary Election, contact the County Clerk’s Elections Office at 732-431-7790.
The Office of the Monmouth County Clerk is comprised of five divisions handling property recordings, elections, archives, passports and records management. The County Clerk’s Office also provides resident, veteran and Gold Star Family identification cards to county residents, administers oaths to notaries and public officials and performs wedding ceremonies.
The Monmouth County Clerk is a constitutional and administrative officer elected to a five-year term by the voters of Monmouth County. Christine Giordano Hanlon, Esq. was elected Monmouth County Clerk in November 2015 and was re-elected to a second term in November 2020.
Classic Boat Rides, the locally owned fleet of watercraft, will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony and Open House aboard the Mariner docked at the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Harbor on Sunday, May 26, between noon and 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend and no reservations are necessary. Light refreshments will be served.
Mayor Lori Hohenleitner will be part of the ceremony cutting the ribbon for the Mariner, the second of the Classic Boat Rides fleet docked at the Harbor, at noon. Following the ceremony, the public is invited to board the craft, the addition to the fleet of Capt. Dan and Vicky Schade’s fleet, to tour the boat, enjoy refreshments and see the offerings for reservations or arrangements for private parties for groups up to 50 persons.
The Mariner, the mid-size vessel in the Classic Boat Rides fleet, has been docked at “Headboat Row,” adjacent to Sissy’s Restaurant, and the fleet of fishing charter boats, since the beginning of the year. The boat is available for rental for private parties for weddings, parties, anniversaries, rehearsals, office outings and other private activities as well as Burial at Sea services for families seeking that solace following the death of a loved one.
The boat was built in 1991 in Florida and is formerly the Eco lab for the University of Connecticut. In reconditioning the former classrooms for a pleasure craft, the Schades preserved the blackboards that were on the boat as well as the stories of the importance of the craft as a research vessel.
The New Mariner is equipped with a full-service bar for adult beverages and soft drinks, as well as an open air second deck. The boat offers a soft and stable ride and a comfortable cruising platform for private events or celebrations. It has a clean restroom and a generator for shore power underway, along with a booming stereo with IPOD capability.
Capt. Dan’s other craft at the Harbor, the Navesink Queen, offers an open-air top deck with a full canopy roof and heated cabin main deck. With both decks open, she can carry 150 persons.
Navesink Queen
For further information on Classic Boat Rides, visit classicboatrides.com or call 732-337-9292.
The program, which is offered at no cost either in person or online,will be presented by Dr. Richard Veit, Interim Provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs for Monmouth University as well as the university’s Professor of Anthropology.
Richard Veit, Ph.D.
Students from Monmouth University spent several months last year exploring the history of the twin Lights with a focus on the original lighthouse built in the 1820s. Excavations during the annual archaeological filed school revealed the remains of one of the original lighthouses and provided new evidence about the structural problems that led to its demise. Archeology
Dr. Veit was the director of the excavation and will speak on the work and the findings at the site. The professor is also the author of several books and numerous articles in various publications on New Jersey history and archaeology. Archeology
No registration is necessary to attend the program at the library on Tindall rd., Middletown. To register for the ZOOM presentation, visit MiddletownNJhistory.org
Interested persons can also join the Society online and be part of the Society’s initiatives, which include the monthly series of well-known speakers on a variety of subjects about Middletown and New Jersey history. Persons can also volunteer for the Society, working in social media content creation, fundraising, grant writing, and coordinating with the county and states’ 250th birthday initiative as well as researching and writing applications for historic registers. Archeology
The Historical Society also has an exhibit at the new Town Hall on the first floor, which includes numerous photos and a painting of Kings Highway which depicts landmarks and events from earlier eras. Archeology
Cheers to Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon for not only believing the people have the right to know, and the right to decide but also for providing them with lots of opportunities to learn so they can vote with knowledge. Cheers
More than a hundred residents turned out at Henry Hudson to hear the Army Corps of Engineers’ latest report on how they plan to stop flooding in a borough that has grown up with it through centuries. Cheers
The mayor had asked them to come back one more time, inasmuch as they haven’t been here with their plans in years. And she remembered that she and the rest of council promised way back then it would be up to the people to decide whether they want to completely change the look and feel of their hometown in the name of winning the battle over flooding. She’s the only member of that council still in office, but she is keeping the promise of all of them. Cheers
The experts were honest in their responses to the people’s questions last week, showing plans on the screen and answering every question they could. They admitted when they did not know things, like what would the wall do to taxes or insurance, or if property owners don’t like what happens to their own particular property. Cheers
But they were thorough in showing the flood wall, where it goes, properties it impacts, what it looks like. And all their plans are on the borough websiteso be sure to check them out. There are a couple more council meetings still on tap before borough council decides the precise wording for the question on the ballot in November. Check out the entire plan on the website and be sure to vote in November. Cheers
In addition to all the benefits of this public hearing last week, was the extra unexpected bonus .
That is now so many more people know the frustration of the few who regularly attend board of education meetings at Henry Hudson. The acoustics are terrible in the gym and the school board doesn’t appear to give a hoot about whether the people who attend meetings can hear every word.
Regular attendees have been complaining for months they can’t hear board members make reports or answer questions; it’s only recently they have added a couple of microphones to make it a little easier, certainly very little help for anyone with impaired hearing ability.
At the Army Corps hearing there was a lot of moving things around and jiggling mics before the engineers got the system up to at least a decent level of hearing.
Even then, however, check out the recording of the meeting; it isn’t that great either, what with background noise and distance from microphones.
There is a major fault to complain about shared with the governing body and the board of education, however.
That is, whether in the multi million dollar borough hall or at a meeting as important as a town wide flood wall, or a school that is one of the highest points of land in the town and where more money is spent than in the rest of the borough itself, no meetings are virtual.
So if folks can’t make it to a meeting, they simply are out of luck if they want to have their say, want to ask questions or want to express opinions. And that’s no way to run an expensive school system or a borough.
It’s a shame the borough spent millions of dollars on a building that can hold fewer people at a meeting than live on a single block in town. Virtual meetings would solve that problem inexpensively. But absent that easy fix, it would seem to make more sense to use that other building on the highway that can accommodate a crowd….the Elementary School. Or rent the vacant school at Our Lady of Perpetual Help which has had well over a hundred present at their events, and where the acoustics even let you hear what’s going on.
Both are at least within an easier walking distance for the vast majority of residents than Henry Hudson.
The Highlands Business Partnership’s 23rd Annual Seaport Craft Show will begin at 10.am. Sunday, May 26, continuing until 5 p.m.
Admission and parking are free and the show takes place in Huddy Park at Waterwitch and Bay avenues.
“We are excited to welcome old favorites as well as a lot of brand-new vendors at this year’s Seaport Craft Show. We are so proud of having such a wide variety of handmade crafts created by some of New Jersey’s most talented crafters and artisans,” said Diane McIlwaine, the HBP Program Manager.
Among the available merchandise will be handcrafted jewelry, nautical-themed items made from shells, sea glass and driftwood, hand-painted wooden furniture, lawn and garden items, soaps, natural body care products, baby and children’s items, honey, photography and much more.
The Seaport Craft show will feature more than 60 crafters and artisans and a performance by local favorite, Dave McCarthy in the gazebo from noon to 4 p.m.
Personnel at the Highlands Business Partnership booth will hold a gift auction with hand crafted items donated from each craft vendor. After the show, visitors are invited to stay for dinner at one of the borough’s many great restaurants.
The Highlands Business Partnership is a non-profit commercial alliance dedicated to fostering economic growth in Highlands. Generous Sponsors of the programs include Monmouth County Tourism, Montecalvo/Bayshore Family of Companies, Bahrs Landing, Farmacie by the French Market, Dovetail Vintage Rentals, Valley Bank, Feed & Seed, Hufnagel Tree Experts, In the Garden, Off the Hook, Proving Ground, Seafarer, Sandbox at Seastreak, Bridge Marina and WRAT, 95.9.
For more information on the Seaport Craft Show visit www.highlandsnj.com or call 732-291-4713
“This is your town, this is my town, this is our town, you have the say,” Mayor Carolyn Broullon said Tuesday night, opening a special meeting so residents could learn the most updated information plans from the Army Corps of Engineersto build a Flood wall in the Borough.
Broullon promised the question will be on the ballot in November so voters in Highlands can determine whether they want it, but wanted to ensure they had the most updated information from the Corps of Engineers.
More than 100 residents turned out to hear and see the most updated plans. The meeting was held in the Henry Hudson Regional School gym in order to accommodate as many interested people as possible; the new Borough Hall’s largest room can only accommodate 60 people in its largest room.
Bethany McClanahan, an engineer with the Corps for more than a decade, led the discussion and presentation of the visual renderings of the latest plans for the flood wall, which would include land acquisition, construction that would obliterate views and cost millions of dollars, the largest amount paid through state and federal funds, and approximately $13 million by local taxes over a period of several years.
The full updated plans and drawings are available on the Highlands Borough site.
Broullon gave a brief synopsis of the project from when it was first considered in 1990, noting “it’s been 34 years in the making to this point” and added it has been seven years since the Army Corps was in the borough at a meeting such as this one to explain its most updated proposals. She urged residents to give input and become aware of the plans and engaged in them so they can be a part of the decision.
Following the meeting, which will be the last time the Army Corps makes a formal presentation on the project, the mayor said the Council will discuss what was brought up by residents, review the plans, draw up a resolution and approve it by July 31 in order to have the resolution put on the November ballot for a vote.
Engineers at the meeting indicated that should residents turn down the project it is unlikely the federal or state governments would ever approve millions of dollars for a similar project anytime in the future. Should the project be approved by voters, the estimated construction costs would be $84 million from the federal government, and $45 million from non-federal sources, including the state and borough taxpayers.
That is in addition to the pre-construction, engineering and design costs which the federal government is funding at $2.4 million.
Construction would include a detention pond, diversion culverts, raised ground surfaces, flood-wall, floodgate and a pump station for interior drainage, all approved four years ago by the Corps. The flood closure gate would be the first portion of the overall project to be built and it is anticipated the plans and specifications for that portion would be completed by fall of next year.
The project runs approximately 8,000 linear feet along the coast, tying in with high ground in the borough.
Several residents who asked questions and made comments during the two-hour meeting received applause from an audience comprised predominantly of residents who live below the hill and would be most affected by the project.
‘Tommy’ a resident of Gravelly Point, one of the first to speak received applause twice during his highly emotional discussions with the engineers, telling them that concrete, the proposed material to build the wall “is one of the most polluting substances in the world,” adding….”so right there, there’s a problem.”
Tommy after speaking his piece
But the resident was more incensed at the destruction that any activity of this nature would cause sea life. “we’re a sand tidal town’ he said, ticking off the numerous varieties of sea life who make the river their home. While not refusing him his right to continue talking, the Mayor called on the resident to calm down and acknowledged council is aware of everything he is saying. He continued his objections but reminded the visitors that “we’ve gone through a lot before” and “You can’t mess with Mother Nature,” she’ll find a way to go where she wants. We’ve been through a lot, we got through, it makes us stronger.”
In other discussions, engineers told another speaker there is no Plan B should this plan not be effective, the borough would be responsible for replenishing sand from any erosion,
All beaches would have access with stairs over the wall, the floodgates would be primarily open similar to Port Monmouth, and 80 per cent of the property involved is privately owned.
Residents spoke of their reasons for buying homes in Highlands, to be close to the water and have a view and cited the fact residents have spent money and time reconstructing homes at a higher level after Hurricane. They suggested the flood wall be built in the river or at Sandy Hook, neither of which is feasible, they learned, and residents would have to finance their own attorneys following declaration of taking if they do not agree with the negotiated funds. Corps Corps Corps Corps
The restoration of a Cadet Program with the First Aid Squad was announced by Councilman James Murphy at last week’s meeting of the governing body, in giving his monthly report on the local volunteer unit.
Murphy made the announcement for Squad Chief Lance Hubeny and noted that the unit had been popular in years past when both this unit and one in Keyport were “known as the best along the Bayshore.” The councilman pointed out that many of the previous cadet members went on to become successful EMTs and finding success in other medical professions after their experience in the borough.
Murphy, with the enthusiasm of Hubeny, noted boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 18 are invited to become cadet members, and added one of the benefits in addition to getting first aid experience from professionals in the field is their ability to ride on emergency calls. “These young members are the future of our squad,” Murphy said, “as well as the life blood of our community,” in urging teenagers to join.
Murphy also announced that the squad is continuing to accept bid cards, auction items or items for baskets for the annual PBA Ball which will be held May 25 at the Shore Casino. The First Aid Squad is this year’s recipient of the proceeds from the ball the department holds annually to assist worthy and hard-working organizations in the borough.
Murphy also announced Chief Hubeny’s report that five volunteers have now graduated from the Northern Monmouth EMT School and congratulated Brian Boms, Susa Doran, Amanda Stolte, Brandon DeSourz and Katie Lushekski for their dedication.
In order to be certified, each of the five had to complete 240 hours of class under a grueling schedule that included three-hour night classes twice a week in addition to full Saturdays and “hundreds of hours of study time outside the classroom.”
The May 4 graduation ceremony marked the first time in the history of the 95-year-old history of the borough squad, the councilman pointed out, that five members graduated from the EMT school together.
Murphy noted that the squad’s newly purchased used ambulance, acquired with funds the squad raised itself, has been titled, lettered, cleaned and fully stocked and went into service earlier this month, responding to six calls on its first day of service.
The vehicle, and the second one the squad owns can now respond to mutual aid calls in addition to better serving this community. The squad is making initial preparations to purchase a new vehicle, with the anticipated time for delivery more than two years distant. The squad’s Zodiac boat is also in the water, ready to respond to calls in the Marina to the breakwater.
The squad answered 30 calls during April for a total of 117 calls so far this year, averaging almost one call a day.
Residents desiring membership information in the squad or cadet program or interested in providing donations for the PBA fundraiser can call Chief Hubeny at 732-291-8118 or write info@ahfirstaid.org.
For anyone who admires and appreciates the wisdom, intelligence and pride in the nation he helped found, a visit to Jefferson’s Rock in Harpers Ferry West Virginia is well worth the steep hike to get to it, the piece of the Appalachian Trial you can cover at the same time, and the beauty of the place Thomas Jefferson got on that rock to view…the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers several hundred feet below.
Now under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, which doesn’t seem to care much about it, the rock is actually a mass of shale rock on top of other very large masses of shale, one on top of each other.
When Thomas Jefferson was in town in 1783, long before he was President and when he was a mere 40 years old, the slab he stepped on for a better view of the surroundings was on a very narrow natural foundation. The slab was so narrow he could sway the rock back and forth with a slight push.
Weather and curiosity seekers cutting chunks from where Jefferson stood made it even thinner, so it became even more dangerous to be on or near it. Sometime in the late 1850s, the Army armory superintendent in Harpers Ferry ordered four stone pillars to be placed underneath the corners of the slab to keep it from moving, saying Jefferson Rock was “endangering the lives and properties of the villagers below.”.
Today, the slab is still there, the pillars under it are still there, and most likely daring young people still scale it to stand where Mr. Jefferson stood. However, falling off it means a swift fall straight down between treetops and hard rock before actually hitting any ground.
But it’s magnificent to see, if only to contemplate Jefferson’s admiration of natural beauty.
Jefferson Rock is along West Virginia’s portion of the Appalachian trail, a short distance further down the mountain from Harper Cemetery, the family burial grounds of the founder of this small town better known for the insurrection against the nation led by John Brown, a key reason for the onset of the Civil War.
The town is also at the precise spot where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet and flow together in what Jefferson described as “perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes of Nature.”
But that wasn’t enough for this lover of nature to say. He had to describe the Blue Ridge on the mountains and the beauty of the rivers below more precisely to be sure everyone appreciated it.
So he continued: “You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea.”
Still not enough to describe what he saw. The man who went on to become the third President wanted to let you know what it felt like for him to see this: He continued “The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flowafterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base.”
The man has a way with words. He went on to write about the piles of rock, the marks of disruptions from riverbeds and how the result is so different from the forces of nature that caused it all. “It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous… , a small catch of smooth blue horizon, … inviting views, “from the riot and tumult roaring around….to the calm below.” This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”
Jefferson’s words, later written in the Notes on the State of Virginia (of which West Virginia was a part at the time) were published in 1785.
Access to Jefferson’s Rock is either down Washington St to Church street and up a trail and a few rocks to get to it, or from the Lower Town below St. Peter’s Catholic Church, up a steep flight of steps near the Civil War Museum to the steps by St. Peters and past the ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church to the same rocks just below Jefferson’s rock.
Either way, it’s worth the walk.
While at that height, it’s only a short little hill to the family cemetery with stones dating back to the Revolution and still burials today. Many of the graves are tended, with fresh flowers or American flags, others are illegible. All the grounds are kept clean and benches invite prayer time and meditation.
A second stop to once again admire everything Jefferson described, a jaunt down all those rocky steps and a visit to the National Park Service historic sites before dinner and another walk up to the Upper Town and the Harper Valley Guest House.
Prayers on the Porch, the informal group of local residents gathering once a month, will meet in the Grotto Garden of St. Agnes Church at 6 p.m. this evening.
The Garden is located adjacent to the church office on Center Avenue,
Started by former Mayor Loretta Gluckstein several years ago, Prayers on the Porch is a monthly informal gathering of residents from churches of all faiths from the surrounding area who meet for a half hour of sharing friendship,, informal prayers and conversation for a half hour .
