The Middletown chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is planning a grave marker dedications to honor heroes of the American Revolution and buried at the Old Brick Reformed Church graveyard in Marlboro.
The public is invited to attend the solemn ceremony at 10 a.m. Sept. 9, and learn more about the four persons buried in the site including the Rev. Benjamin Dubois, who was born in 1739 and died in 1827. Others buried with the minister are Pvt. Oukey Lefferson and Pvt. Peter Van Dorn, both soldiers during the Revolution, along with Garret Van Der Veer., All three were born between 1731 and 1755, served in the Revolution and died in the early 19th century.
The DAR Chapter has as one of its missions restoring, preserving, and honoring the burial places of Revolutionary War figures in Monmouth County, and has done several other grave sites in the County before completing its work at the Marlboro site.
The Old Brick Reformed Church is located at 490 Newman Springs Rd., Marlboro, and funding for the DAR work on the graves came in part from a New Jersey historical Commission operating support grant. The grant funds are administered by the Monmouth County Historical Commission.
What is it with someone who thinks defacing property is fun and macho rather than stupid, immature and the act of losers?
After all the time, money, planning, and thought went into completing that terrific new skate park in Highlands, some loser or losers forced it to be closed down during the first full weekend after its grand opening simply by being stupid and self-centered.
The neon sign by that great Highlands Festival this weekend told the story to the thousands who attended about just how thoughtless and childish some losers are. It noted that the skate park had to be closed because somebody painted the ramp sometime during the night!
Really? How immature can one get? Why ever would anyone go to the trouble of carrying paint, climbing a fence, going out at night just to wreak havoc in a place where so many others are having good clean fun? because they’re losers
What is it that makes losers think it’s cool or adventurous to do such a thing? Poor upbringing? No appreciation for things given them? Stupidity? Attention getting? Boredom? Maybe out too late?
Whatever, it didn’t phase the Mayor. She calmly, cooling, and firmly said yeah it happened, she wasn’t happy about it, but “We’ll clean it up and reopen the park.”
So happy everyone else was so mature during the Festival. The thousands who came to enjoy what looked to be the biggest one yet had a fabulous time, lots of things to see, hear, eat, drink, and buy, to say nothing of learn. They were all ages, all manner of dress, all attracted to different booths or events, and all happy and enjoying fabulous weather and great music.
The Business Partnership has all the permits and everything else necessary to make the annual event go off without a hitch in an area that included the streets and Huddy Park in the immediate festival area. The exits were clearly marked with signage telling visitors the limits so as not to disturb others in the residential area. The VFW was also approved for the same type of permit that allowed for licensed activities on their entire footprint with volunteer personnel at the exit reminding folks just how far they could go with cup in hand. There were no untoward incidents, and as the chief reported, “from what I saw everyone seemed to be having a good time.”
Nice to see the large police presence anyway, and those police explorers are certainly a professional looking group of young men and women.
A memorial celebration will be held at the VFW Post home 6902 honoring relatives Barbara and Richie White on Sept. 1 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Family members from Florida, Pennsylvania and California will join Highlands relatives and friends to honor Barbara, who died Feb. 10 and her brother-in-law Richie White, who died Jan. 26. Both were lifelong residents and contributors to the Highlands scene as well as Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.
Family members will give their own memories and thoughts about their relatives and will also invite those in attendance who want to share their thoughts to speak.
The family also is hosting beverages and luncheon for all who attend.
For further information contact tjw1069@yahoo.com and accept the family’s invitation to share memories of Highlands and the White family.
So happy to see how many people loved the Twin Lights Historical Society’s booth at the Highlands Clam Festival this past weekend, but also exciting was learning more about Shuck it Don’t Chuck it! from the American Littoral Society’s booth.
Besides all the fun, games, food and drinks, as well as great camaraderie that was going on Friday night and all day Saturday, visitors had so many chances to learn more about some of the great programs and places that make Highlands and its surroundings so terrific.
The American Littoral Society, which makes its home in one of the former Officers Row houses on Sandy hook’s Fort Hancock, has this Shell Recycling program every restaurateur who sells seafood should be on board with. They even had plastic cans at the Festival so all those folks buying clams and oysters at the Festival could participate in the program.
Basically, the Society is recycling clam and oyster shells.
Their first step is in educating restaurateurs and the public about the important of doing what they’re doing, basically urging them all to save the empty shells once the delicacies have been enjoyed.
Then the Shell Recycling coordinator, along with volunteers go around to the participating locations and community drop-off sites and collect all the shells. They take them back to Sandy Hook where they’re deposited in that huge pile of shells they’ve created and leave them sit there for six months or more, occasionally turning and rotating them to let the sun and accompanying insects clean off the shells organically.
Once they’re cleaned by the sun, insects and nature, the shells go back into the ocean where they are used to build reefs, restore shorelines, and conserve other wildlife. They also plant oyster seeds and let the process start all over again.
The Society also participates in sustainable aquaculture,, where they form partnerships with oyster farmers who use sustainable practices on their farms to improve the environment by farming their oysters. Learn more about the program and how you can participate in shell recycling, check out the Society’s site at littoralsociety.org.
Our coastal waters need all the help they can get if we want to continue the beauty of the area and the availability of great seafood. Call recycled shells ammunition if you want, but recycling them does fight against rising ocean levels, local pollution, and even that climate change folks talk about. Shuck it Don’t Chuck it!
Remember their slogan: Shuck it Don’t Chuck it! There’s a drop-off site at 9 Ave of Two Rivers in Rumson…look for the yellow trash cans! You’ll enjoy your clams and oysters even more if you know saving the leftovers helps nature!
Faced with the continuing weekend backup of traffic along Route 36 for beachgoers heading to Sandy Hook, Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon called a joint meeting among federal and local officials to come up with a resolution for frustrated motorists waiting I long lines, and patient Highlands residents and the police department dealing with the impact on their everyday living.
Police Chief Robert Burton was among those gathered together with the Mayor on a ZOOM call with Congressman Frank Pallone’s office as well as officials of Gateway National Recreation Are, Council President Joann Olszewski and borough administrator Michael Muscillo.
“It was a very good discussion about the impact of traffic on the borough and how we can work together to try to solve some of the problems,” the chief said, declining to be specific on what plans are being made and how the problem is going to be addressed on a regular basis.
Burton also said the mayor has been in frequent communication with Sandy Hook over the years trying to work out the best solution for what is traditionally a summer weekend problem for Highlands residents and Police Department since the Recreation Area began charging parking fees several years ago.
Although Burton indicated this weekend’s traffic appeared to be about the same as any summer weekend, his briefing on Saturday indicated tie-ups were only halfway from the bridge to Miller St., considerably shorter than tie-ups the weekend before when tie-ups extended throughout Highlands, Middletown and into Atlantic Highlands along Route 36.
The chief said this past Sunday shortly before 11 a.m. traffic was backed up past Valley Street but was moving slowly. Police officers this weekend did not have to put up blockades on several roads as in the past to keep borough streets free and clear for moving traffic.
There were many memorable moments at the ribbon cutting for the new skate parkin Highlands, but none more poignant than Joe and Tara White experienced.
The borough natives were there with smiles and excitement, taking front row seats in the crowd waiting for the Mayor and Councilman Don Melnyk to cut the band and officially let the dozens of kids present clamor up the stairs and into the fenced in area of the park amid shouts of happiness and excitement.
Tara was sitting quietly, a skateboard at her feet. She and Joe have been active along with family in so many parts of the town; they both cite relatives who have served on the police department, as borough workers, one a State Police officer on marine police duty, so many ways they and their family have been involved in town.
But it was more than love of town that made them want to sit in the hot 6 p.m. sun, a skateboard at Tara’s feet, anxious for everything to begin.
Their son, Peter, a troubled young man in his 20s, with an admitted drug problem and other issues, loved seeing that skate park come to life. Tara laughed remembering how he was as a kid, wanting to jump over everything, bounce around as much as possible, take dares and be physical in all his fun activities. Now she laughs about the time she saw him going up to the top of the Burger King sign to jump for the thrill of it, something she didn’t think was so funny at the time. This Skate Park would mean so much to him, she murmured.
But Peter wasn’t there. Peter died June 5, and did not get to see the dedication of a park he would have loved.
For Tara and Joe, it was important that Peter be a part of this new modern and challenging skate park.
That’s why she was there with his skateboard.
“Pete’s going to get to ride in this skate park,” she said, explaining softly, “I’m just going to go in there, put the board at the highest place, smile, and say, “Let it roll, Pete.” And Peter White would be among the first to enjoy Highlands’ newest recreation area for its youth.
It is all really necessary? It it’s an existing garage
Continuation of the application for the Kalian four story complex planned for E Garfield and First Avenues was put off by the applicant a few hours before the other night’s planning board meeting. But it was interesting to sit in on the meeting for the one application that was heard anyway. It was concerning and old, small, 1 car garage.
It was enough to make VeniVidiScripto wonder if there shouldn’t be some changes in the planning board regulations to make life at least a little easier for the poor guy who just wants to improve his property.
This is not to disparage the members of the planning Board. John McGoldrick is an outstanding chairman, each of the members is well-informed, very interested in each phase of their job, diligent in their research and smart enough that they ask many questions.
Heck, even the planning board attorney gets praised at these meetings…and for good reason. He too is great at the job. The borough engineer shows his knowledge, studies, has awareness of every application at every single meeting and is truly an asset to both applicant and borough alike. They don’t come any better than Doug Rohmeyer.
Nor do they come any better than Nancy Tran, the planning board secretary. Highlands has known how great she is for a long time, what with her handling everything as borough clerk over there. Plus some.
This week in Atlantic Highlands, she and her staff went out of their way long past work hours or obligations to try to let the public know as early as possible that the application everyone would be showing up for, the apartment complex, was put on hold.
But the poor applicant who simply wants to build a two-car garage in the back of his property has apparently been trying to get that done for a few years now. Ironically, the garage seems to bring considerable improvements to the properties along route 36, so why make it so difficult?
It was an old garage, fits one car, was built who knows when. It was close to the line of the adjacent property owner. All he wants to do, and was finally given full approval to do, was tear down the building, build a new and bigger garage on his own property, and build it further away from the adjacent line to his neighbor. Result: Further from the property line, new building, better esthetics. Should be easy.
But it apparently wasn’t. He applied last year, it seems, and his neighbor objected. Both had attorneys. So the attorneys meet to see if the dispute could be settled amicably. And it was. But some of the things the applicant agreed to seem a bit silly and overkill in their request. As part of the private agreement, the applicant for the garage agreed, at his neighbor’s insistence, it seems, that none of the trucks or anything else necessary for the construction will dare to stretch an iota over her land. Heck, its construction. Even if it some trash or a truck ventured over, it’s only temporary. But he agreed.
That isn’t all. But the applicant also agreed that as much as possible he would keep all the necessary vehicles, equipment or whatever OUT OF SIGHT of the adjacent property owner during the construction phase! These houses are on Route 36….hasn’t anyone seen a truck before? How does their garbage ever get picked up? How are deliveries made by UPS?
At the meeting, with the applicant, his attorney AND an expert present, he gave all the right testimony, though he was rather amusing at times. When asked about whether the new building will have gutters, he said the old one did not and it was there 100 years. “Where did the water go then?” he asked. But yes, there are gutters.
There were questions on shielding the construction views, the trees around the property, how impervious is the soil, a dry well, heck he had already agreed he had a dry well.
VeniVidiScripto is happy this very astute planning board wants to keep things looking the very best for Atlantic Highlands. Even if it does put a terrible expense and a lot of trouble on the shoulders of the poor guy who just wants a bigger garage because cars have gotten bigger over the years as well … maybe he even has more than one, who knows.
But seeing what a citizen had to go through for one garage in the back of his property on a state highway makes you wonder.
Should we even be thinking about a building that needs what looks like right now as a minimum of 44 excuses not to follow the law.
Granting that approval leads to more people moving into town, more views being obstructed, more motorists trying to find parking, at least two popular businesses closing and the owner who does not live in town doing it all apparently so he can make a lot of money. That’s without even thinking of all that First Avenue traffic especially when Sea Streak is coming or going.
Can’t wait to see if the Police Department, one more great department in this borough, has anything to say about the safety of coming in out of that residential area with a less than perfect view of oncoming traffic.
The planners and their experts will continue to ask a lot of questions of the bigger and far more impactful new building. But in the end, anyone wanna take any bets?
Regardless of anything else, in the end, do you think that building will get to be erected right smack next to its sister building? That building, too also got permission to be excused from a number of things the Master Planners thought was so important to preserve the appearance of the town.
How’s Atlantic Highlands looking to you these days? It’s up to you, the resident, the taxpayer, the parent worried for the safety of their children, the pedestrian, the guy who enjoys a beer at the little family-type bar that’s closing, or buys a lottery ticket at the popular deli, to keep letting the planner know you like the town the way it is. Some changes, OK, some improvements, perhaps they’re needed. But is this the answer to those things? And will it make the town or its people better?
The next meeting is September 7th at 7PM. Who will get lucky that day?
A bird’s eye view of the Shrewsbury river at the turn of the 20th century. One of many photos of earlier times in and around Sandlass Beach that are part of the collection of Susan Sandlass Gardiner, a member of the Twin Lights Historical Society. There is more about Henry Sandlass and the beach club at the start of the Sandy Hook Peninsula at the Twin Lights Museum in Highlands.
Kathleen Sweeny, owner of the Shore Casino with the AH Strong Team
The GOP candidates for Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council seats in November officially kicked off their campaign Tuesday night with a festive gathering of more than 50 residents of all ages enjoying cocktails, music and camaraderie at The Wine Room on First Ave.
Councilman James Murphy, seeking office as Mayor, together with council candidates Ellen O’Dwyer and Vincent Whitehead laid out their ideas for the next three years if elected in November, replacing Mayor Loretta Gluckstein, who is not seeking another term, and Democrats Jon Crowley and Lori Hohenleitner.
The candidates also have the support and congratulations of State Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblyman Gerry Sharfenberger, both of whom praised the GOP choices at the evening event.
Murphy, in introducing his running mates, acknowledged he feels “this is the very best team” for the borough with their accent on working together and listening to the people in making their choices and decisions on municipal matters.
O’Dwyer pointed out the candidates are “an action team,” more than a talking team, and after listening to the people, will work together to accomplish programs, activities and
government responsive to the residents. O’Dwyer also spoke on the importance of maintaining the natural beauty of the borough which includes both hills and beaches and has been an official Tree City for many years.
Whitehead said the GOP candidates work with a lot of TLC….transparency, love for the community, and care for each other as residents. Whitehead, who is seeking election for the first time after teaching for 44 years at Henry Hudson Regional School, said the TLC approach always worked to the benefit of the students when he was coaching at the high school, and as a proven method for decades there, he knows TLC will be highly effective in the community.
This week’s event was the first gathering to introduce the team that feels it can work together effectively to keep the small town feeling and natural beauty that so many people have moved here to enjoy while at the same time taking the necessary steps to make it happen efficiently and effectively.
The candidates are also visiting neighbors in their homes and invite anyone with questions to contact them for in depth discussions on their plans and vision for, as Sen. O’Scanlon said, “the storybook family” atmosphere of a small community.
The Planning Board hearing on the Kalian Consgruction Company application has been cancelledfor tonight at 7 p.m.
B22-12: Zlata-Clancy, will be heard at the 7 p.m. planning board meeting tonight. Only the Kalian application has been postponed.
The Planning Board confirmed that the applicant has requested and been granted a postponement of tonight’s continuation of the hearing for the application for the proposed First Avenue apartment complex at E. Garfield and First Avenues.
The next hearing on the application is scheduled for the next planning board meeting on Sept. 7.at 7 p.m.
Continue to check the borough’s ahnj.com page for any updates on the application date.
