You could tell from the applause, the crowd and the standing ovation for Diane Berg that she’ a well-known and well-loved borough employee at the Atlantic Highlands Borough Hall.
Berg was honored by Mayor Gluckstein and the Council as the Employee of the Month at Thursday’s meeting of the Mayor and Council,
The Utility Collector for the borough is also a beloved and busy homebody as well, as was evidenced by her husband, children grandchildren, and all the family turning out for the brief ceremony at the Council meeting.
An employee for the borough since 2019, Ms. Berg had previously been employed at Valley Bank for 23 years. Mayor Gluckstein described her as “the first woman you see” when you come into Borough Hall and praised her for her diligence, personality, cooperation, and knowledge of her position and the borough.
The bergs live in Keansburg and Mrs. Berg is retiring from her position with the borough in April.
This week’s full moon, the last full moon of winter, is known as the Worm Moon, not a very pretty name considering the reason it is called that.
As the last full moon of the winter season, this full moon in tradition, legend and lore signifies the ground is warming up and that means robins are returning from their winter migration south. The robins know that softened turf means plenty of worms for their diet and they’re eager to be back in the North for the warmer months.
That is the reason the Farmer’s Almanac for decades and other sources have always given for the Worm Moon name. However, more research has turned up that in the 1760, Capt. Jonathan Carver visited the Dakota and other Native American tribes and wrote that the name Worm refers to a beetle larva that begins to emerge from bark thawing on tree and other winter hideouts.
Each of the full moons has more than one name affixed to it, but the Worm Moon seems to have more than its share.
Since it generally appears within the 40 days before Easter, it is also called the Lenten Moon. It is called the Sap or Sugar Moon since it’s at the time of year to tap maple trees for their syrup. It is also known as the Crow Moon because of the crows who caw loudly and clearly signifying an end to winter.
It is known to some tribes as the Crest Moon because the snow that melts during the day turns to ice and creates a crest on the snow as it freezes. Some tribes call it the Sore Eyes Moon because of the glare of the blinding sun during the day reflecting off melting snow.
Whether name you prefer, it’s a brilliant bright light in the sky for the next few days before it begins to wane.
April’s full Moon rises on April 5 and is known as the Pink Moon, since it is the time of year when flowers begin to grow and the earth is colored with pink and other calming hues. It reaches its peak just after 12:30 a.m. the night of April 5, and it is bests seen from an open area as it rises just above the horizon. That’s when it will be at its largest and may also look like it has a golden color. Because of its proximity to Easter, it is also known as the Paschal moon, and this year it is the first full Moon of the spring season. Easter is always the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon.
As a follow up, no decision was made by the Land Use Board in Highlands last evening concerning the Sea Grass application.
The matter is continued until the next Land Use meeting on Thursday, April 13 at 7 p.m. at which time residents will be given the opportunity to ask questions and give testimony.
Have not yet had the opportunity to get the Highlands’ Mayor’s point of view on this, but I was stunned to hear last night at the Atlantic Highlands council meeting that at this stage of the game, and I am beginning to believe it’s all one big game for some people, Atlantic Highlands is going to hire an expert who knows about regionalization finances.
Heck, the attorney they hired, Matt Giacobbe, has been telling them and the public for months he doesn’t know finances. Wasn’t that a clue to anyone, including himself, that he should not be handling this question of how much money Atlantic Highlands can save by regionalizing the schools with Sea Bright? What has he been doing all these months he’s been too busy to come to meetings, only appearing via phone or Zoom in that executive meeting with the governing body last month.
He was gracious enough last night however, to attend a public meeting via ZOOM, and answer questions to the best of his ability. He also spoke on the issue of hiring an expert to delve into the finances. Was it because he is uncomfortable with the figures? Wait… after months, only now he is uncomfortable?
If the Richard Beneke of Riverdale, NJ is the expert he retained, presumably with borough approval though I haven’t seen that action at a council meeting yet, and if he is the expert on educational matters as Mr. Giacobbe said last night, he doesn’t include any of that in his resume. That the firm Mr. Beneke heads are financial analysts and have been hired in many different municipalities across the state and beyond for redevelopment and other issues is doubtlessly impressive. But his resume of impressive work loads don’t include any schools, any regionalizations, or anything that even shows he is familiar with this area, although there was one personal job in Middletown and the railroad station in Aberdeen.
Mike Harmon asked some terrific questions, as he did at the last council meeting, armed with facts, statistics and about six inches of paperwork. But it was shocking once again that all the information both he and Erwin Bieber, another financial expert and a Sea Bright councilman who gave reams of information at earlier meetings and held discussions immediately following the last council meeting with Harmon, wasn’t even shared. Council members listened attentively to Harmon last month, it seemed, but apparently did not think about it once the meeting was over. They’re hiring a financial analyst, but they had one, perhaps two, in their midst, for nothing, and they didn’t even share that information with the attorney they also hired. After that was brought to their attention last night, whoopee, they’re sharing all Harmon’s hard work and figures.
Are all the elected officials in Atlantic Highlands falling under the spell of educators who don’t even want to think about Sea Bright joining in? Are they specifically stalling with this issue which has been around for years, just so the school boards can put it up for a vote and forget about Sea Bright? Heck few board members even bother coming to council meetings to learn about the money. But they haven’t shown any advantages in education of not joining with Sea Bright. Nor have they shown any advantages in education if they just regionalize the three schools that share so much as it is.
Speaking about finances … If the delays, the expert hirings and the meetings continue, pretty soon the cost of experts coming in to look at it all will cost far more than what Highlands and Atlantic Highlands would save just by joining their three schools into a district.
And by that time, Sea Bright is liable to say, “hey, you made it clear you don’t believe we can save you money…we’re outta here.”
Charging progress by the borough on the school regionalization issues has been “a massive failure” and telling the attorney “someone needs to have the figures,” former Mayor Mike Harmon assailed the lack of accuracy, cohesiveness, and lack of public records on student population numbers during last night’s meeting of the Borough Council.
Council’s special attorney for the regionalization issue, Matthew Giacobbe, appeared via ZOOM at the meeting, answering questions, admitting lack of knowledge, and giving no assurance the mediation session on March 30 will resolve the cost sharing and/or savings between Atlantic Highlands and Highlands.
The labor attorney, who several times both at this meeting and in the past has indicated he is not a financial attorney but rather specializes in labor, did say with the approval of the borough he has retained a financial expert to review the figures. Giacobbe said he is “not comfortable with the reports” to determine the financial aspects of regionalizing the three schools in the two boroughs as well as the three schools plus the borough of Sea Bright being a part of the regionalization.
Giacobbe also said the three boards of education in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands are pursuing their plans to put the question of regionalization on the ballot between the two boroughs as well as Sea Bright or any other borough if they want to and are able to join sometime in the future.
Harmon, a financial professional, challenged the attorney on a number of issues, specifically on the precise numbers for students in each of the schools. While Giacobbe quoted state records, he said, that showed a total of 731.5 students in the three schools as of October for the 21-22 school year, Harmon cited statistics provided that showed a different figure and quoted references that indicate Giacobbe’s figures were an estimate, “not exact.”
“I don’t know how they came up with the numbers,” Harmon told Giacobbe and the council, “someone needs to have the figures.”
Earlier, in response to another question as to whether the two boroughs were all working on the same figures, Giacobbe gave a long response of the differences between the Kean and Porzio reports done by the school boards and the boroughs, but admitted he does not yet know what figures the mediation will address, hence the reason for retaining a financial expect, Robert Beneke. Harmon expressed shock that two weeks before a planned mediation the attorney nor the councils have the figures to be discussed.
Sea Bright has not been invited to the mediation which will be attended by the attorneys for Atlantic and Highlands, each borough’s mayor and council president and, administrators. He reiterated it would be “premature” to have Sea Bright at the mediation, since that borough is being challenged by both Oceanport and Shore Regional schools. Sea Bright students would be leaving those schools to join the new regional district. The attorney did not indicate if he is aware Sea Bright has adopted a resolution they would underwrite the cost of any legal challenges they face because of the regionalization without either Highlands or Atlantic obligated to pay any portion of it.
The labor attorney did not address the question of how much money Sea Bright would bring into the new regional district, or how the mediator can address the question of Sea Bright’s inclusion without having them participate and present their figures on funds their inclusion would bring into the district. Apparently not under discussion during mediation is why bringing a third borough into the district with fewer than 60 students yet sharing the cost of the overall school budget would not mean considerably lower school taxes for both Highlands and Atlantic Highlands since three municipalities, rather than the present two, would be sharing in the educational costs for all pre-K through 12 students.
Giacobbe declined to opine, after saying he does not expect the March 30 mediation to resolve the matter without further sessions later, or whether the two boroughs’ positions on finance would be resolved in time for a vote in November. The boroughs could have a vote he said, however, the school boards have already indicated they are placing the question on the ballot and if it is approved, because of mediation, the “methodology “ for finances would be in place. He expressed his belief the Sea Bright issues would not be resolved “for several years.”
On the agenda is consideration of a conditional use for Sea Grass, a cannabis retail store planned for what is currently Chilango’s at the corner of Seadrift and Bay Avenues.
Not certain, but it appears it will be a long, involved and highly questioned land use board meeting in Highlands beginning at 7 p. m. Thursday, March 9 at the Community Center.
Conflict??
The truth is, however, the item on the agenda for Sea Grass NJ LLC to be considered for a cannabis Retailer license on property currently owned by Councilman Leo Cervantes should not even be considered.
That’s because, back in October, 2022, less than half a year ago, Councilman Leo Cervantes was one of the five council members who voted that they, including Mr. Cervantes, “supports the safe and appropriate siting of an adult use cannabis dispensary within the Central Business District for Sea Grass NJ LLC.”
So then, all of a sudden, according to the video Councilman Cervantes made and circulated, a short time after the resolution was adopted unanimously, including Councilman Cervantes’ affirmative vote, two men he did not know came in to Chilangos and said they wanted to buy his property specifically to put a cannabis dispensary.
Now it appears that very same license applicant who got approval for the safe and appropriate siting of a dispensary is seeking permission to buy Councilman Cervantes property and place it there?
Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture? Does anybody else see a conflict of interest?
Questions
If that isn’t enough, the agenda packet includes at least eight comprehensive exhibits presented by the applicant and they in themselves draw a number of questions.
Hopefully, attendees at the meeting can ask:
Has anyone investigated to see whether a council-member can sell his own property for a cannabis retail business after he approved a cannabis license procedure for the borough?
Has anyone asked why the address of the property owner, who also happens to be a borough councilman is listed as Asbury Park, NJ? For that matter, has anyone asked why the councilman’s street address in Asbury Park is redacted?
Does anyone know that Chilango’s is on Bay Avenue, a county road, and is including parking across the street, also on Bay Avenue, property he also owns, as parking availability for the proposed cannabis business?
Does anyone know that since this involves pedestrians crossing a county road, not only is a crossing lane directed to be identified, but handicapped access for wheelchairs must be cut through the curbing, and warning signals must be mounted and lit?
Do you know whether the present Chilango’s has private collection for trash as a business, and are there similar and more stringent plans for better collections?
Does anyone know whether the Borough, since it is only permitted one retail license by state regulation, can make a recommendation for which it prefers?
Does anyone know whether voters can call for a special election to decide that?
Is the Chilango’s application as thorough and complete as the one already approved?
Does anyone know how the new Skate Park will be impacted by a cannabis license in Waterwitch?
Does anyone know whether Huddy Park is within the restricted area for a license at that location?
Ask THE Question
Hopefully, the Land Use Board will not waste everyone’s time, the cost of attorneys and experts, and will first ask its attorney at the onset of the hearing, for a ruling on whether it is a conflict of interest for a councilman to vote to approve a cannabis license for the town, then less than six months later, have an application by that very same name seek approval to put it on his property.
Motorists who parked their cards Sunday morning in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parking lot were surprised to find letters under their windshields when they left the 9:30 mass, urging all to attend the Thursday (March 9) meeting of the Highlands Land Use Board to oppose the planned Pot shop at what is now Chilango’s at the corner of Bay Ave and Seadrift Ave.
While VeniVidiScripto certainly not only respects but certainly admires everyone’s right to speech, we do wonder…..where the heck have you been?
This blog has been reporting on the Pot ordinance, requests, and approval of Pot retail licenses since last year. While VeniVidiScripto can be, and is, critical of the governing body when they are wrong, this is not one of those times. While they may not have been as public as they could be, they are certainly not in any violation of any Sunshine Law. Nor is the Land Use Board.
Thursday night’s meeting at the Community Center at 7 p.m. has been advertised, is the regular meeting of the Land Use Board, and in fact, when the last approval was granted to ANOTHER Pot hopeful last month, the hearing on this one was on the agenda and put off because of lack of time.
So while I admire everyone going to the meeting, and go you must, since the meetings are not offered on ZOOM and nor are accommodations offered for the disabled or impaired…..it has been properly advertised, it seems.
To those who placed the notices under windshields, it appears to be a case of NIMBY….Not In My Back Yard! You weren’t there to object when the idea of cannabis business in Highlands was approved. You weren’t there when another Pot license was approved. Where were you when the Cannabis Commission said it would act on one license for the borough? Those issues weren’t in your back yard. Now you plaster flyers on cars because this one apparently IS IN YOUR BACK YARD! So now you want everyone who went to Mass Sunday morning to come out and fight for YOUR BACK YARD.
This is how the town and other towns got to where they are in the first place. Were you there when the council decided the new borough hall had to go up on the hill on the corner of that same church property where you stuck your notices under car windshields?
Were you there when they said the building would cost $10 million and are only now finding it’s going to be a heck of a lot more?
Where were you there when not enough people filed for election to the board of education to fill all the seats?
Were you there when they introduced the new classes in the schools? Or cut back on class time at Henry Hudson?
Were you there when the borough sold that piece on land between two restaurants and blocked off access to the Shrewsbury River?
Were you there when the borough just subdivided another piece of borough property ostensibly to clear a title for one person’s land sold but certainly with other plans in mind?
Were you there when not only Highlands, but the two neighboring towns were seeking input on the question of regionalizing education with Sea Bright and getting more educational opportunity and money for the borough?
Do you vote in every election?
But you want US there because you don’t want Pot in YOUR BACK YARD.
You’re probably correct not all Highlands business is easy to find and follow. Even searching minutes of meetings is a challenge, since minutes from 2017 are a heck of a lot easier to find than minutes from 2020. Or even the agenda for upcoming meetings. But they are there. Let the governing body you don’t like how that’s handled either. They won’t change unless they know you want them to.
VeniVidiScripto probably will not attend Thursday’s meeting…not because of lack of interest but rather because the borough does not provide ZOOM, an easy, inexpensive and available remedy that would meet the needs of my disability. But I will listen to the recording. I will communicate with the land use secretary, a wise, hardworking employee who always makes herself available and always answers questions. And VeniVidiScripto will have a story as soon as possible after the meeting.
Good luck to you and your cause Thursday night. Learn more about what it’s all about first. Go to the Borough of Highlands page, scroll to Land Use Board, click on Agenda with Packet, and read the pages long application complete with drawings and recommendations. For this license. Know that the Chief of Police, as well as both the mayor and a councilwoman are all on the Land Use Board. Then attend the meeting and be heard during the public portion. They really do listen. While you are at it, better check the state Cannabis Commission now and then as well. They’re about to approve at least one cannabis retail license for the borough.
And win or lose, let it be a lesson to you to get more involved in your town even when it doesn’t look like it infringes on your back yard.. The entire town is your back yard.
Three graduates of MAST and their Ocean County friend all received their flight suits signifying completion of one stage in their journey to becoming Naval Aviators at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida.
From left, Ensign Eric DeWaters of Keansburg, Ensign Jack Kile of Tinton Falls, Marine 2nd Lt. Joey Casamassima of Millstone and Ensign Angus Yeoman of Bayville will now go on to further training for their specialty as Naval Aviators, DeWaters as a Naval flight officer, Yeoman, Kile and Casamassima as pilots.
Yeoman is the son of Chris and Commander. Tracie Smith Yeoman USN (ret) who were present for the presentation. Commander Smith- Yeoman is chief Naval Instructor at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology at Sandy Hook which the other three attended throughout high school. DeWaters, Kile and Yeoman are all graduates of the University of South Carolina, and Casamassima a graduate of Norte Dame.
Sergeant Nelson Vogel Brittin was not content sighting in one war for his country. When he came out of World War II unharmed, the Audubon, New Jersey native stayed overseas, probably in Italy where he had served with the US Army and studied at the University of Florence.
When he came back to his hometown a few months later, he re-enlisted in the Army and was sent to Japan with post-war occupation forces. From there he was stationed in Korea to teach English to youngsters there.
Korea
That is where he was in 1950 when the Korean war broke out, and Brittin was in the midst of it. He was part of the 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry of the 24th Infantry Division and was injured in battle twice, once in December 1950 and a second time in February of the following year. Two months after that, he was killed in Yonggon-Ni in north-central South Korea.
Born Oct. 21, 1920, one of four sons and four daughters of Wesley and Anna Brittin, Nelson was drafted four years after his 1938 graduation from Audubon High School, served in Italy and was discharged in 1946 after the second world war ended.
Reflections
M/Sgt. Charles Willeford, USAF, who attended mandatory Troop Information classes at the Clifford Theater in Korkura, Japan when Brittin was assigned there as an instructor, described him as the kind of soldier who did not make a deep impression at first. But when he spoke in the lecture hall, Willeford said, “you didn’t remember what he said, but remembered rather the way he said them. And that he said it all very well.”
He described the soldier as about five feet, seven inches tall, and weighing “about 130 pounds with a rock in each hand.” But he continued, in a military newspaper article he wrote, “his movements were quick and he had the wiry toughness of the well-trained infantryman who is kept in shape in spite of himself.
He wore G.I. glasses, and what little hair he had left was cropped to less than an inch. His right arm was much longer than his left. When he walked, springing along on the balls of his feet, he leaned forward, his arms swinging hardly at all.”
While Brittin was lecturing during that information hour, Willeford said in response to another soldier asking who Brittin was, “I don’t know him, but nobody sneaks out of the lectures at the break anymore.” Not because he was such a great speaker, he said, but because “He doesn’t allow it, and if you’re caught, you’ve had it.”
The airman met up with Brittin after that, and worked with him when he was station manager for WLKR, the Armed Forces Radio Station covering the island of Kyushu, and the 24th Division Armed Forces Radio was under the supervision of the I & E Section, where Brittin was chief clerk. Once orders changed, the two never met up again.
On March 7, 1951, Brittin was with Company I in Yonggong-Ni in north-central South Korea. Now a sergeant first class, he volunteered to lead his squad up a hill. There wasn’t much cover to protect them from intense enemy fire, so Brittin asked his squad mates to cover him while he moved forward and tossed a grenade at the nearest enemy position.
Sgt. Brittin’s body was returned to the United States in November 1951. His Medal of Honor was presented to his parents by Defense Secretary Robert Lovett on Jan. 16, 1952, during a Pentagon ceremony. Nine other fallen soldiers also received the nation’s highest honor that day.
Citation
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company I, 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, in action against enemy aggressor forces at Yonggong-in, Korea on 7 March 1951.
Volunteering to lead his squad up a hill, with meager cover against murderous fire from the enemy, Sergeant First Class BRITTIN ordered his squad to give him support and, in the face of withering fire and bursting shells, he tossed a grenade at the nearest enemy position. On returning to his squad, he was knocked down and wounded by an enemy grenade. Refusing medical attention, he replenished his supply of grenades and returned, hurling grenades into hostile positions and shooting the enemy as they fled.
When his weapon jammed, he leaped without hesitation into a foxhole and killed the occupants with his bayonet and the butt of his rifle. He continued to wipe out foxholes and, noting that his squad had been pinned down, he rushed to the rear of a machinegun position, threw a grenade into the nest, and ran around to its front, where he killed all three occupants with his rifle. Less than 100 yards up the hill, his squad again came under vicious fire from another camouflaged, sandbagged, machinegun nest well-flanked by supporting riflemen. Sergeant First Class BRITTIN again charged this new position in an aggressive endeavor to silence this remaining obstacle and ran direct into a burst of automatic fire which killed him instantly. In his sustained and driving action, he had killed 20 enemy soldiers and destroyed four automatic weapons.
The conspicuous courage, consummate valor, and noble self-sacrifice displayed by Sergeant First Class BRITTIN enabled his inspired company to attain its objective and reflect the highest glory on himself and the heroic traditions of the military service.
Additional Honors
This recipient of Congressional Medal also received the Combat Infantryman Badge with Star (denoting 2nd award) . the Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with 1 Campaign star, United Nations Korea Medal and the Korean War Service Medal.
Sgt. Brittin, is buried in Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey.
In addition to the monument at Audubon High School honoring the three Congressional Medal of Honor residents of the borough, Sgt. Brittin is also honored by the Audubon VFW Post, and the Army Reserve Center in Camden both named in his honor. The Navy‘s sealift ship, the USNS Brittin, which has been in service since 2002, was named for him as well.
“Our challenge for the future is to make this school all it can be.” …“These two towns realize that if they can cooperate much can be realized”
These were the words of Atlantic Highlands Mayor Russell Morgan Nov.6, 1962 when more than 1,000 local residents turned out at Henry Hudson Regional School for an Open House, tour and dedication of the new 7-12 Henry Hudson Regional School in Highlands.
Highlands Mayor Cornelius J. Guiney, Jr. also spoke at the dedication, praising the school’s first superintendent Harold C. Schaible and reminding the public that “success will depend on the superintendent.”
The keys to the new school were turned over to Board of Education President Samuel Brown by Paul Loser, a representative of the building’s architect, Micklewright and Mountford. County Superintendent of Schools Earl Garrison was also on hand to remind the board that “good instructions, proper supplies and adequate facilities” are the boroughs’ obligations to enable children to concentrate on doing a good job in learning.
The Rev. James Thompson of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and Pastor William Rauscher of the Woodbury Christian Episcopal Church both offered prayers and thanksgiving for the new school. Rauscher is a native of Highlands and came back from southern New Jersey to participate in the dedication.
The Henry Hudson Regional School band offered music for the afternoon, and a team of local parents and interested residents helped carry out duties to have the event run smoothly. These included Joseh Patterson and Robert Waters, overseeing guest parking, Mrs. Leo Horan and Mrs. Margaret Teeters overseeing the cafeteria, and Mrs. Everett Curry, Mrs. Alexander Bahrs and Mrs. Robert Earle serving as hostesses. The Highlands Bakery donated 12 dozen cookies for the refreshments which also included, in addition to 1,000 cups of coffee, fruit juice for the children
