Tai Chi will be made easy at the Atlantic Highlands Branch of the Monmouth County Library on Monday, November 6 at 10 a.m.
Local expert Catherine Irons of Shore Tai Chi Easy will present the program designed to deal with wellness and stress management.
The precise origin of Tai Chi is unknown, yet scholars have found through ancient writings the practice was prevalent in China thousands of years ago and has been used to explore the essence of life and increase vitality, longevity, and inner peace.
Advocates of Tai Chi believe it is a primary force which creates and sustains life and have dubbed it the grandmother of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Western science has become inspired by this through research that’s it therapeutic in numerous ways.
Tai Chi Easy, which is trademarked, is a carefully developed method and approach to Tai Chi that makes it easy, beneficial and fun from the start. Rather than learning more than 100 traditional movements Tai Chi Easy can be done in two movements or three, or in a Chair.
No reservations or requirements are required to join the November 6 class.
Officials from the Monmouth County Vocational Technical School District are expected to be at a meeting November 9 to give an update on the progress of rehabilitation of the two buildings the District leases for MAST from the National Park Service on Sandy Hook.
Dr. Charles Ford, Superintendent of the Monmouth County Vocational Technical school district, and Kelly Brazelton, business administrator for the school district which includes MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology represent one of the leasees requested to attend the regularly scheduled meeting to give updates.
The meeting of the Fort Hancock 21st Century Federal Advisory Committee is via ZOOM and runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Local residents have questioned rumors that while one of the two buildings, Building 56, leased several years ago by the district is currently in use, contractors are still working on the building. Building 56 and Building 23, a former barracks, were both leased by the county school district to provide accommodations for indoor drills and bathroom facilities for MAST students, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology at Sandy Hook. MAST leases 11 other buildings from the National Park Service on Sandy Hook and negotiated another lease for the two buildings several years ago to provide better and more complete accommodations for the NJROTC program.
Most concerning, according to local residents, is Building 23, the larger of the two leased buildings, which the school district has left lying dormant for several years since the first work on it ceased two years ago. At that time, school spokesmen said building contracts could not be out for bid due to nesting ospreys at the highest point of the building. Due to environmental regulations, endangered species cannot be disturbed. However, since the birds nested, migrated and left, yet no contracts have still been sought to repair and renovate the building. Earlier this year, it was reported more than once that bids would be sought for the construction by specific dates; however, that never happened.
Building 23 was leased by Monmouth County to provide office space, classrooms, drill space and bathrooms for students in the NJROTC program, at MAST. Every student at MAST is in the NJROTC program and must pass the Naval Science program in order to earn a MAST diploma.
The school is one of the five vocational technical schools for Monmouth County, all of which consistently rank among the top ten schools in the state for academic excellence. MAST also consistently garners national and multi-state district awards and commendations for its outstanding NJROTC program and the number of students who gain numerous scholarships both to ROTC college programs as well as all of the five federal military academies.
To a journalist who has sought information on the building, it appears that should Dr. Ford and Brazelton attend the meeting to give updates, there is a possibility they will not be able to be complete their report and provide the information the Advisory Commission is requesting as part of its routine update on activities at the national recreation area.
An OPRA request for information on updates of construction of Buildings 23 and 56 was filed and received by both the school district and the Monmouth County Commissioners Oct. 13. Brazelton responded to the request Oct. 18 indicating additional time would be necessary to fill the citizen’s request past the OPRA required Oct. 24 date.
The reason the information could not be forwarded within the allotted mandated time, she said in the letter, was due to the scope of the request and the need to review and potentially redact any documents allowed under OPRA regulations. The administrator added she anticipated the records may be made available by Nov. 14.
In response to the OPRA request sent to the Monmouth County Commissioners, Monmouth County attorney Michael Fitzgerald responded with a telephone call also indicating further time would be needed in order to provide the information.
The information requested by the journalist appears to be some of the information the Federal Advisory Committee would want at its meeting Nov. 9 since it concerns one of its leased programs.
That OPRA request whose response had to be extended included requests for information on the original estimate and date for rehabilitation for both buildings, the total cost of Building 56 rehabilitation, the smaller of the two buildings, the cost for digging out and filling in the cellar in building 56, the building now being used to house and store an approximate $1milion in federal uniforms and supplies, the number of change orders which have been issued for Building 56, the former barracks, and minutes of the meeting when that building rehabilitation was halted due to the osprey nest.
The request also included information on the number of executive session meetings that have been held concerning the buildings, as well as a copy of certificates of approval, contracts and leases concerning the buildings originally scheduled to house the award winning NJROTC program.
Because of the scope of business to be covered at the meeting, public comment will only be permitted between 11:30 and noon, and each speaker will be limited to three minutes. Callers must advise Ms Yun in advance if they want to comment and callers will then be taken on a first come basis. The Park Service will accept written comments forwarded to the Park Service and use them to remain informed for future outreach efforts. Those comments can be submitted at Gateway_Feedback@NPS.gov.
As the nation prepares to observe and celebrate the 248th birthday of the founding of the United States Marine Corps on November 10, New Jersey can honor many Marines who attributed their entry into the military through the state of New Jersey.
But there are two noted Marines whose Medals of Honor were earned at the same battle in the Civil War, while serving on separate ships.
Among the 50 soldiers, sailors and four Marines receiving the Medal of Honor at Fort Fisher, North Carolina near the end of the Civil War were Corporal Andrew Tomlin and Private John Shivers.
They remain the first two Marines who enlisted in the Marine Corps from New Jersey to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was first presented during the Civil War.
The Battle of Fort Fisher was fought three weeks after the first Union attempt to take this strategic site in North Carolina ended in failure, its commanding officer relieved of duty because of the poorly executed plan.
The flotilla sailing to fight the second battle was delayed due to a powerful storm off Cape Hatteras. However, one week later, 8,000 men were in the landing force that went ashore and began two more days of intense bombardment. Four hundred Marines accompanied the 1,600 sailors who went ashore and served under the command of Captain Lucien L. Dawson.
While Marines participated in major land battles at numerous sites throughout the Civil War, their main contribution was aboard ships blockading squadrons and inland river flotillas.
The three-day battle launched Jan. 13, 1865, was a massive victory for the Union, weakening the Confederacy by cutting off their supplies. The battle was also the heaviest naval armed battle in history to that time and was the largest amphibious attack during the Civil War, combining both land and naval forces. It remained the largest amphibious attack in American history until the D-Day attack in World War II nearly a century later.
With nearly 10,000 Union soldiers and 58 naval ships involved, there were 54 Medals of Honor attributed for heroism during this single conflict. Six of those Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines. The victory at Fort Fisher enabled the Union to capture Wilmington, the final major Confederate port, limiting Confederate access to supplies. The Confederacy surrendered 90 days after losing at Wilmington, North Carolina.
Andrew J. Tomlin was a corporal in the Marine Corps serving on the USS Wabash during the Fort Fisher assault. On Jan. 15, 1865, he was one of 200 Marines gathered to hold a line of entrenchments in the rear of the fort. He refused to retreat in the face of the enemy attack and remained in his position throughout the night until relief troops arrived. Cpl. Tomlin advanced through active fire to assist a wounded soldier struck by enemy fire. Cpl. Tomlin was the only Marine of four military personnel aboard the Wabash who earned the Medal of Honor
Born in Goshen in Cape May County, Tomlin survived the battle and later advanced to the rank of sergeant before being relieved from the Corps and returning to civilian life. He died Nov. 1, 1905, and is buried at Goshen Methodist Cemetery in Goshen. His Medal of Honor is at the National Museum of the US Marine Corps at Quantico, Va,
CITATION
As corporal of the guard on board the U.S.S. Wabash during the assault on Fort Fisher, 15 January 1865. As one of 200 marines assembled to hold a line of entrenchments in the rear of the fort which the enemy threatened to attack in force following a retreat in panic by more than two-thirds of the assaulting ground forces, Cpl. Tomlin took position in line and remained until morning when relief troops arrived from the fort. When one of his comrades was struck down by enemy fire, he unhesitatingly advanced under a withering fire of musketry into an open plain close to the fort and assisted the wounded man to a place of safety.
Pvt. John Shivers
Born in Canada in 1830 and enlisting in the Marine Corps from somewhere in New Jersey, Pvt. Shivers was serving aboard the USS Minnesota during the Battle of Fort Fisher.
The Medal of Honor Museum does not have any record of where or when Pvt. Shiver completed his tour of duty with the Marine Corps or where he died. Nor is there a record of where his Medal of Honor, which he received before his death, is today.
The ship on which he served, the USS Minnesota, was a wooden steam frigate launched ten years earlier, decommissioned after tours in east Asia, and recommissioned to serve as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the Civil War. She was later stricken, beached and burned to recover her metal fittings and to clear her name for the newly ordered battleship, the USS Minnesota (BB22)
Pvt. Shivers was among the 240 men from the Minnesota in the landing force, that covered, by a barrage from their own ship, participated in the successful assault that closed Wilmington. Pvt. Shivers was one of three Marines who earned the Medal as part of the landing party which assaulted the fort.
CITATION On board the U.S.S. Minnesota, in the assault on Fort Fisher, 15 January 1865. Landing on the beach with the assaulting party from his ship, Pvt. Shivers advanced to the top of the sandhill and partly through the breach in the palisades despite enemy fire which killed or wounded many officers and men. When more than two-thirds of the men became seized with panic and retreated on the run, he remained with the party until dark when it came safely away, bringing its wounded, its arms, and its colors.
Other Recipients of the Medal of Honor attributed to New Jersey HERE
Clean Ocean Action is calling for a halt to any further approvals and authorizations of offshore windmills, in light of the forthcoming Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on offshore wind in the Northeast and the investigation into the unprecedented whale deaths in the New Jersey region.
The Long Branch based organization also called for the halt until robust and critical baseline studies as well as a pilot project to determine true ecological impacts are completed.
Their statement came after Orsted’s cancellation of the Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects off the New Jersey Coast, seeing it as the latest and most dramatic evidence the offshore wind industry is in turmoil.
The announcement by the world’s leading offshore wind developer affirms Clean Ocean Action’s concerns that ocean industrialization is moving at a reckless pace, fueled by federal and state government fast-tracking.
“This is all too much and too fast given the entire industry’s large scale technological failures, supply chain issues, and major financial challenges, despite government bailouts,” COA leaders said. “It is long overdue for developers and federal and state governments to take a time-out, pause the reckless exploitation and industrialization of the ocean, and implement good governance, transparency, science, due diligence, and a pilot project. “
The Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce (EMACC) has issued an invitation to a Merry & Magnificent Holiday Networking Event scheduled as the conclusion of the year-long 95th anniversary celebration.
The event is set for Tuesday, December 5 at Salt Creek Grille from 5pm to- 8pm. And includes a festive cocktail party to include a premium open bar, hors d’oeuvre, pasta, salad and carving stations.
EMACC is giving away two special door prizes at the event. Prizes are a package of two tickets plus round trip limo accommodations courtesy of Arrow Limo to EMACC’s Annual Spinnaker Awards and a second gift of a $50 Visa Gift Card for the two lucky attendees.
“EMACC is extremely proud to have served our local businesses and communities for the last 95 years,” said Jennifer Eckhoff, Executive Director of EMACC. “The year-long celebration will draw to a close at the Merry & Magnificent Annual Holiday event hosted in the beautiful Salt Creek Grille. It is a great opportunity for businesses to connect with each other and celebrate the season and we invite community members from our area to join us for an evening of holiday cheer and networking.”
In the spirit of the season, Eckhoff asked all to join the Chamber to support non-profit EMACC Member Pinwheel Place – New Jersey’s only Relief Nursery.
Pinwheel Place provides free emergency child care for children ages newborn to 6 years based on the needs of the family. Respite care is also available. EMACC is collecting diapers of any size and/or gift cards to donate to Pinwheel Place. All donations are greatly appreciated.
Tickets to the Merry & Magnificent Annual Holiday Event are $95 for EMACC members and $105 for non-members. Register by November 30 for early advanced registration pricing. Prices will increase by $10 a ticket on December 1.
For ticket purchase or to inquire about becoming an event sponsor please visit the website at EMACC.org, m call (732) 741-0055 or send an email at info@emacc.org for event or membership information.
The Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce is a membership-based organization that serves businesses of all sizes in the eastern Monmouth County area. The chamber provides a variety of services and resources to its members, including networking opportunities, business referrals, and education on topics such as human resource management, marketing, and cybersecurity. The chamber also advocates for the interests of businesses at the local, state, and federal levels.
EMACC began in 1928 when 12 businessmen banded together to form the “Red Bank Chamber of Commerce” to serve the business interests of downtown Red Bank. Over the next 28 years, the organization’s membership grew beyond the borders of Red Bank and was renamed the Greater Red Bank Chamber of Commerce and then the Red Bank Area Chamber of Commerce. In 1995, the name and service area were changed to the “Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce” to better reflect the organization’s growing membership and the rapidly expanding business interests in the neighboring communities. Th Chamber now serves Eatontown, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Middletown, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Red Bank, Rumson, Sea Bright, Shrewsbury and Tinton Falls.
The meeting will be held in the cafetorium of Henry Hudson Regional School and has been advertised on social media and released to newspapers.
The transitional Board of Education, comprised of three members each from each of the three Boards of Education, Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson, will act on a resolution to appoint a board secretary as their first order of business, an action before swearing in the board members.
Election of officers will follow, with the public then permitted to speak on items on the agenda.
While there will also be action on a resolution to approve the organization agenda items and approval of a submission of an application for a LEAP implementation grant, there is no listing of the organization agenda items under consideration listed.
The public will have a second opportunity to comment at the end of the meeting before adjournment
If you haven’t the time to read the responses to all the questions Mark Fisher put to the candidates for office in Atlantic Highlands, at least take a look at how each ranks the importance of the areas in which the questions were posed. While one candidate did not answer any of the questions, preferring to say she wants to listen to the people……hasn’t she be listening up until now?????…….and two others give reasons why the ranking isn’t accurately telling the full story, it’s interesting to see where the question of regionalization with Sea Bright stands.
In spite of the fact school regionalization has been THE topic most read and talked about for the past year, in spite of a special election that cost taxpayers money and many now are saying they didn’t even know exactly what it included, Councilwoman Lori Hohenleitner ranks it way down as her eighth priority if elected Mayor. That, in spite of the fact she lists better communication as her first priority!
Councilman Jon Crowley, seeking another term as councilman, also doesn’t think the regionalization question is of much importance to the council. He rates it #10 in priority. Alyson Forbes simply doesn’t give any opinion because she apparently is waiting until she is elected before she listens to the people.
On the other hand, James Murphy, also seeking the mayoral post, thinks regionalization is the most important issue after improving taxes. That, even though he doesn’t sit in on all those executive sessions discussing it, nor take any action on it since his wife is President of the board of education.
Nor does it look like he will be involved if elected Mayor, since his wife just filed to fill the next, last and shortest term on the Atlantic Highlands Board of Education, which will be wiped out by June at the latest. But the mayoral candidate still thinks that for the people of Atlantic Highlands, regionalization with Sea Bright should be one of the top priorities of the new administration. So it sounds like if elected, he will urge the new council to listen to the people who have been talking about it all these many months.
Ellen O’Dwyer also thinks regionalizing education with Sea Bright should be up there in interest and attention, ranking it a Number Two priority. And former teacher in the very system they’re regionalizing, Coach Whitehead, thinks it’s one of his top four priorities, ranking it after better communications, cannabis and tax stability.
It’s a simple question. If residents overwhelmingly voted for regionalization after months of talking, and either thought it included Sea Bright when they voted, or see it as the first step in including Sea Bright in another election soon, wouldn’t that make it a matter of importance to the folks running the town?
If the arguments are, and have proven to be, that bringing Sea Bright into a regionalization system for K-12 education would save bundles of money for taxpayers, wouldn’t that make it a matter of priority for the people who set the tax rates for the residents?
Everybody says the already approved regionalization is “the first step.” Wouldn’t you think a governing body interested in promoting the ideas and programs that are important to their residents would make it a priority?
Does it make you wonder whether some folks running for office are afraid of taking a second step? Or is it that they simply do not want to?
The first regular meeting of the Mayor and Council in the new Borough Hall on Navesink Avenue will be Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p..m. with a lot on the agenda.
The new meeting place, which will eliminate the meetings at the Wilson Community Center, was advertised both in the newspapers and online as well as posted in Borough Hall so residents now know to go up the hill rather than to Waterwitch to attend a meeting.
As in the past, there will be no ZOOM proceedings for the public meetings.
Ptl. Ryan Schoellner will be sworn in as Police Sergeant and Stanley Wojdylak IV will be named a patrolman at the meeting, and both will take their oaths of office immediately after.
Steve Winters will also be appointed Construction Official and former Councilwoman Rebecca Wells will be named to the Housing Authority.
Council will act on a resolution to authorize the consolidation issue of bonds totaling $8,036,736 into a single issue rather than the six bond ordinances currently adopted. It will also introduce an ordinance to include privately owned salt storage facilities in outdoor storage areas and set a public hearing for the next meeting. A public hearing on amending the Snug Harbor design in the FEMA project will be held on Wednesday.
Mayor and Council will also issue a proclamation remembering Holodomor, the Great Ukrainian Famine man-made in 1932 as part of the Soviet famine of the 1930s. That famine killed millions of Ukrainians as the Soviet Union destroyed major grain-producing areas in a deliberate move designed by Josef Stalin. The action is identified by many as an attempt at genocide and the elimination of Ukrainian independence. The Ukraine was one of the largest grain producing states in the Soviet Union and millions of Ukrainians died as a result of the year long Holodomor.
Regionalization & Executive Session … Why the Secrets?
There hasn’t been any official study done, but if there were, it’s almost a sure thing that the Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council holds more executive sessions without taking any action afterwards than pretty much any other governing body in Monmouth County.
It makes taxpayers wonder what exactly their reasons are for are keeping their thoughts, their ideas, and their reasoning on so many things in secret and not sharing them with the public.
Take regionalization, for instance. It is the subject that has drawn the most interest from residents of this town, Highlands and Sea Bright in ages. Sea Bright and Highlands elected officials share all their thoughts and reasons with the taxpayers.
Not so in Atlantic Highlands. They even tell the people they’re going into executive session to discuss, they’re going to come out and NOT take any action, and furthermore, according to the borough administrator, they can’t even talk about what they discussed, because, of course, it was done in executive session which means it must be kept secret from the public until they decide it’s okay for the public to know.
The borough’s attorney is sharp, pleasant, quick thinking and definitely an asset for this particular council. But she clearly says she is not up on all the information on regionalization. She knows, just as every taxpayer who is footing the $165 an hour bill for yet another attorney knows, the borough hired Matt Giacobbe, SPECIFICALLLY to handle all matters concerning regionalization.
Yet at last Thursday’s council meeting, a meeting at which the borough administrator had previously said he would see if Mr. Giacobbe could give the public an update on regionalization, the administrator said Mr. Giacobbe was not present because council decided they did not need him.
That might well be so.
But why would the borough attorney, who admits she isn’t up on everything on the subject, be the attorney council called into the executive session to give an opinion on regionalization and specifically NOT be the one the borough is paying as a SPECIAL attorney for all things regionalization?
The questions being considered for opinions during the executive session Thursday, the public was told, would include the non-specialist attorney’s recommendations on whether an update of the feasibility study Sea Bright and Highlands have agreed to pay for, is even necessary. And if it is, the discussion continues, does Atlantic Highlands, who kicked in for its share of the original study in the first place, want to help pay for the update? The borough attorney said they need to get information from the Department of Community Affairs as to whether the added information is really necessary. Does that take an executive session to discuss? Can’t the attorney, now that two of them are being paid to work on this, simply call the DCA and ask the question?
Might the reason for discussing it privately be so the taxpayers won’t know which council members, if not all, want to simply put all the load on the other two towns without any contributions of their own? Or might it be because some, or all, council members don’t really want Sea Bright in the mix at all but don’t want to let the taxpayers know about it?
The administrator said, and no council member or attorney disagreed, not taking any action at this meeting, and putting it off until next month, won’t cause any delay in any regionalization plans. Yet he also admitted, and again, without any denial from any council member, that they had no idea, because nobody told them, when a vote on Sea Bright’s inclusion could be held.
Well, if you don’t know the earliest date an election could be called by the already in existence new board of education, and if you apparently do not have enough interest to ask any further about an election or date for it, how do you know delaying your own action or lack thereof, doesn’t delay things?
In answering the public at Thursday’s meeting, residents could not even find out who among council asked for a legal discussion at all and if the borough would be involved regardless of whether they are obligated.
The answer to that question this time came from a councilwoman. It cannot be discussed publicly.
There is only one person, not an employee, elected official or other resident, who researches, questions, organizes, and always remembers just about everything about how Atlantic Highlands is run.
Mark Fisher.
You see him at every meeting, calm, cool and collected. You see his pad often another looseleaf crammed with information. You hear him at the public portion of every meeting when he hasn’t heard the answers to things he thinks are important to the town.
And every year, before election, he draws up a list of questions and presents them to each of the candidates, asking them to respond; he gives them the date to respond just to be sure he doesn’t lose anyone and everyone has the chance to have his say.
To their credit, everyone of the candidates, the two for Mayor and four for council, responded to Mark’s questions. They did not all answer every question but gave reaspons why they did not respond to some. All but one gave their priorities on what’s important.
Seeing all the individual responses to the exact same questions together gives a reader more insight into what’s important to each of those vying to run the borough for the next three or four years.
Attached are Mark’s questions and each candidate’s responses.
Do yourself, the borough and the future of the borough a favor and read them all before making your decision on who will be best to sit at the table in Borough Hall come January 1, 2024..
