Whether it’s the signs on the door as you enter, or the smiles on the faces of residents you see, there is a lot of celebration at theCare One at King James Care Center now that masks are no longer required for visitors but remain an option for all who choose.
“It has been three years year and one month that we have all been required to wear masks,” said Care One administrator Jimmie King,” and because of the outstanding care and concerns of our staff and the practices we have had in place throughout this pandemic, we welcome the new state, federal and Care One regulations that enable us to have masks be optional now.”
In order to be able to offer the mask option, King said the Care Center had to be free of Covid positive for at least 14 days. “We have done that, and now we can see smiling faces all around,” the administrator continued, as he shared smiles with some residents in the main entry room. “Our residents are as happy as everyone else, just to see the smiling faces of their friends and relatives who come in to visit,” King continued.
Residents also can share signs of relief and relaxation, he said, since they no longer need to wear masks at the variety of activities either in the main dining room or in the day rooms where they are in proximity with other residents.
“We will continued to be as careful as we have always been, we will continue to monitor for any Covid,” King said, “and right now it’s just so wonderful to be able to see the bright smiles and happy faces.”
Reiterating what the Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council has said several times, most recently at their last meeting, the attorney for the school boards of education, Jonathan Busch, told the Highlands Council last night that the boards he represents are also eager to go forward with the tri-town school regionalization question on the ballot in November.
With an update on regionalization on the agenda for tonight’s (April 13) meeting of the Atlantic Highlands Borough Council, it is anticipated that Busch will also report the latest news to the residents of that borough, namely, the challenge filed by Oceanport and Shore Regional districts has been dismissed by the state Commissioner of Education, leaving no obstacle in presenting the question to the public.
Vito Gagliardi and Kerry Wright of the Porzio firm which has been representing Highlands and Sea Bright on the regionalization question since it began, both told the Highlands council they sees no reason why the mediation scheduled between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands for April 20 cannot be resolved in a single session. Even should further discussions be necessary, he said, having the Commissioner approve the distribution of funds the boroughs would receive with the influx of millions of dollars from Sea Bright approved by August, would still leave sufficient time to have the question put to the voters in all three municipalities at the November election. At the very latest, Gagliardi said there would still be additional opportunities for a special election in January, February and March of 2024.
Mayor Carolyn Broullon, as she had in the past, called a special information session last night (Wednesday) to keep the residents informed on latest activity on the regionalization question that has been an issue for discussion in all three boroughs for nearly five years.
Both Gagliardi and Kerry Wright from the Porzio firm were present at the meeting to explain everything that has transpired and what residents can look forward to before voters get the opportunity to express their views on whether Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright should form a preK-12 regional school district.
Since all three towns agreed on that in the past, the only issue is the determination of how the influx of money from Sea Bright would be distributed between the other two boroughs. Mayor Broullon had objected to the means of re-distributing the new income never being reviewed or re-assessed at a time in the future, noting that changes in student population and assessed valuation are always subject to change so figures should also be reviewed and modified to compensate for the other changes. It is that question of how this will be addressed which is the subject of the mediation between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands at the April 20 mediation.
Porzio told the audience of approximately 20 residents representing all three towns, that rather than the law including a review and change of allocations at specified times, it does provide ways to limit disparities between the two towns that can be built into the questions. That would ensure the towns always receive the same benefits as they agree on in the mediation.
Gagliardi made it clear the actions by Oceanport and Shore Regional to challenge Sea Bright’s right to form a regional district with other towns have never held up progress in bringing the matter to the voting public and explained that the Commissioner herself had dismissed that argument after the Porzio firm filed a motion for dismissal. He reviewed the history of state actions in creating regionalization for economic and higher academic in accomplishing that purpose. He cited both the failures of past laws and the benefits of the newest law that encourages school regionalization specifically preventing any towns from attempting to disallow another town from disengaging from a current bad situation to enter one that would provide more educational and economic benefits.
The influx of millions of dollars from Sea Bright is an unusual situation, he pointed out, since Sea Bright was forced into its students attending the other two schools without ever having a vote in the process and they are eager to proceed with enabling their residents to finally have a vote on school tuition and academics.
Sea Bright Councilman Erwin Bieber, who has represented that borough’s governing body throughout the process, thanked Broullon for having the information session and assured her and the Council that “Sea Bright is elated” over the prospect of regionalization. He said, “we’re excited,” even recognizing it will be years before Sea Bright receives any tax relief with regionalization, but noting that in the long run, and with the cost sharing, “it is a long journey for us, but we’re excited.”
In response to Atlantic Highlands resident Mark Fisher, Porzio explained having the question of regionalization of just Highlands and Atlantic highlands on the ballot would be “moot” since the question was added by the school boards of education only if Sea Bright was encumbered by the litigation from Oceanport and Shore Regional. Since that has been dismissed, and since Highlands and Atlantic Highlands have already indicated their desire to regionalize with Sea Bright without that encumbrance, there is no longer a need for that question to be on the ballot.
Busch despite repeating the boards eagerly look towards the three-town regionalization, said the 45 days for Oceanport and Shore Regional to appeal the Commissioner of Education’s decision on the best way to educate the children in all three towns has not yet been completed; so, the question has not been completely addressed. Gagliardi countered, in response to another question from a Highlands resident, that the purpose of the new law is to facilitate a situation in which Sea Bright is currently. Its purpose is clear to encourage regionalization, he explained, so it would be highly unlikely any appeal would result in any change from what the Commissioner has indicated.
Atlantic Highlands Board of Education President Alison Jacobs said the boards need time to complete “lots of work” before Sea Bright can be included, despite Gagliardi reminding her that to regionalize the two boroughs now and Sea Bright perhaps at some later date would cost more money and delay the money saving issues for a longer time.
Lewis Locke was attached to the First New Jersey Cavalry which was one of the regiments from New Jersey that fought in the Civil War. It was a Union army regiment organized at Trenton under the authority of the US Department of War on Aug. 4, 1861, by William Halstead, a former congressman. Congressman Halstead also served as first Colonel of the regiment.
The Cavalry mustered out at Cloud’s Hills, Virginia, on July 24, 1865. During its service it lost 12 Officers and 116 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and another four Officers and 185 enlisted men by disease; for a total of 317 lost to death or disease.
It also had more than its share of heroes, with no fewer than twelve men from the Unit receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. Among these was Lewis Locke, also known as Louis Tacy.
Locke was born in Clintonville, in Essex County, and apparently the family moved to Jersey City at some point before he entered service.
It was on April 5, 1865, at Paine’s Crossroads in Virginia when Pvt. Locke’s regiment was heading to Sailor’s Creek near Farmville, Virginia, part of the Appomattox Campaign. It was to be the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded General Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac under Lt. General Ulysses Grant.
The Confederate Army suffered a crushing defeat at Petersburg and were hoping to get supplies at Lynchburg when they met up with a strong Union force and the New Jersey Cavalry. Two small bridges over Saylor’s Creek delayed the Confederates on their escape route when they were met by the New Jersey regiment.
The inscription on Locke’s Medal of Honor says simply “Capture of a Confederate Flag.” He was one of a dozen men who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at the battle. Of that number Jersey City is credited with the enlisting location of no fewer than eight of the Cavalry members who participated at this battle and the following day at Saylor’s Creek.
Private Lewis Locke received his Medal of Honor on May 3, 1865. He died Jan. 4, 1920 in South Hadley Falls, MA, and is buried as Louis Tacy at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Northampton, Mass.
The regiment is honored with a monument at Gettysburg National Cemetery. The 102nd Cavalry Regiment, part of the NJ Army National Guard, was originally designated the 1st New Jersey Cavalry Regiment and was composed of troops from across the state when it was established in 1913. Informally it was considered to be a successor of the original First NJ Cavalry; however, since there was an almost 50-year lapse in regimental structure, it is not formally the successor of the Civil War unit.
‘We need to step on the accelerator now,” said Atlantic Highlands resident Ellen O’Dwyer, “with that nuisance and expensive complaint filed against Sea Bright gone, now it is just the funding formula that must be settled. Then finally, it is the people in the three towns who will make the final decision on school regionalization.”
O’Dwyer, a Republican candidate for borough council in her hometown, has a reputation for research, study, and action, in that order. As early as last January, she had addressed the tri-district Boards of Education when there was some discussion of withdrawing the resolution supporting a three-town educational idea.
O’Dwyer believes that the K-12 regionalization with Sea Bright has been delayed too long, and action and compromise are now essential in order to let the people vote in November. The candidate also believes the questions should be on the general election day rather than a separate, more costly special election day a few weeks before.
“With the ‘encumbrance’ lifted, she said, “the funding formula question to finance education should be much easier to finalize with the inclusion of Sea Bright.” Otherwise, without adding Sea Bright, the borough that will bring millions of dollars to the educational system in all three boroughs over the years, “we are all only talking pennies.”
Mediation on the cost sharing portion of the impact on the three towns regionalizing K-12 among attorneys, borough council members and borough administrators is set for later this month, to determine how the funds that including Sea Bright will bring to the other two towns will be split is the only question that needs to be resolved. The boroughs had reached a partial agreement before Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts filed a complaint with the state Commissioner of Education against Sea Bright for leaving their two school districts. Now that that complaint has been dismissed by the state Commissioner, the two boroughs in the current tri-district can get back to deciding cost sharing. Highlands had objected to the cost sharing agreement being “in perpetuity” rather than reviewed at specific times throughout the future.
“Nobody should be signing an agreement in perpetuity,” O’Dwyer said. “Rather, the towns should agree to build in a periodic review and refresh to keep the formula fair and equitable for all parties.” She pointed out that “inputs to the formula change or evolve,” citing the differences that enrolment and equalized valuation allocations make over the years in determining what percentage each municipality should include. She suggested a review every five years at the minimum, with updates and adjustments made to continue the cost sharing on a fair basis for all involved.
With the mediation set for April 20, O’Dwyer said there is still plenty of time for the towns to “come to the table so pre-discussions. “That way they will all be better prepared to sit down with the mediator, with their statistics in hand and their understanding of everything that is involved clearer.”
“The municipalities each must do its part to wrap up this final piece to the proposal to the Commissioner of Education so that we can move to a referendum in November,” O’Dwyer, a research analysist by profession continued, “It is important that the voters give their blessing to proceed on a long-awaited regionalization that will benefit our students with a better education and community-based school experience.”
On the question of school regionalization, O’Dwyer also speaks from personal experience. “I grew up in, and raised my family in a community where we created a regionalized high school and can empathize with the “process” she said, referring to Colts Neck. “But I cannot understand why we keep stalling and, in some cases, moving backwards. Colts Neck is one of the six schools in the Freehold Township secondary school regional district serving students in grades 9 through 12.
There does not seem to be any doubt about it. The days of newspapers, those black and white printed pages young boys tossed on your lawn either from their bikes or from the bags slung over their shoulders are gone.
The days of a newspaper tabloid like The Courier which was eagerly sought out every Thursday in Northern Monmouth County, or a seven day news giant like the Newark News are simply memories, the words of reporters and opinions of editors captured only on line today for the search.
But the Newark News, more properly the Newark Evening News, was one of New Jersey’s leading newspapers and had a fascinating history of its own. Throughout its lifetime, it had a reputation for adhering to the fundamental principles of clean journalism.
The Newark Evening News first appeared in 1883, an independent six day paper that was free from all political and corporate control, aiming simply to give an accurate presentation of the news, a bit of public comment and education and entertainment for all. It was so successful at all it set out to do that it expanded to become seven day a week newspaper within a short time. In 1945, the publishing company also acquired a radio station in Brooklyn, then established WNJR, on a 17-acre piece of land in Union, serving all of New Jersey.
The newspaper, the Sunday edition, the radio station, the success…all the result of the hard work and innovation of the Scudder family.
It was Wallace McIlvaine Scudder the son of Supreme Court Justice Edward W. Scudder who started the paper when he was 30 years old, joining with two other businessmen, Lawrence Mott, 27 and the old man of the group, Henry Abbott Steel, who was 32. Mr. Scudder was a graduate of Lehigh University where he earned a degree in engineering and was an attorney in Newark. Mott did not stay with the News long; seeing its success at first in the northern sections of the state, he left to start his own paper once again in Trenton. Mr. Steel stayed with the Newark News for 20 years, serving as editor. It was Mr. Scudder who served as publisher and circulation manager, and ultimately the sole owner.
When Wallace Scudder died two years before the paper was half a century old, his son Edward W. Scudder, a Princeton graduate took over, and it was in 1949 that his sons, Edward Jr. and Richard, carried on the family business, Edward as president of the News and radio station, Richard as publisher of the seven day a week paper.
Throughout its long life, the Newark News earned and maintained its reputation as the paper of record for the state. It was an institution, people would say, that could give page one space to the story of a lost puppy dog and its tearful five-year-old owner as well as the latest news from the nation’s capital. It was a leader in sports coverage as well as local and national news, included a page of comics that had kids sprawling on living room floors to read about Blondie or the Katzenjammer Kids, or Rex Morgan, MD. It sent its reporters to cover the wars in Europe during World War II and in Vietnam. Its reporters were first on the scene where Dutch Schultz was murdered in front of a tavern in Newark and when the Hindenburg exploded and crashed before landing at Lakehurst.
The paper was created in 1873. It died on Aug. 31, 1972, the victim of unionization.
The Scudder family sold the paper to Media General in 1970 who almost immediately then sold the Sunday edition to the Star Ledger. With the competition of another large newspaper, circulation fell, advertising dropped, and the News was in trouble. Nor was the newsroom happy about it, or their wages, or the way they were being treated by their new owners. It seemed only natural that the newsroom would look to unionizing. That meant a strike, so in May of 1971, the newsroom staff walked out. They didn’t get back to work until the strike was settled, 11 months later. And the News could resume publication.
By then, it was too late. Those experienced staffers found jobs elsewhere, readers got used to the new papers they opted to read during the strike, advertisers did not want to go back and take a chance on a great newspaper that had fumbled and fallen.
Two years short of its centennial anniversary, the Gray Lady of Market Street, as the News was lovingly known, died.
Today, the newspaper of record is alive and well and living on microfilm in the New Jersey information Center of the Newark Public Library. Its newspaper stories, its coverage of everyday events, the simple and superlative, are now a piece of history, and recognized as one of the most vital historical resources in the entire state.
The NMH’s award winning program is being offered during there separate one week programs, and includes five mornings a week from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Classes will be July 24 through 28, Aug 31 through Aug. 4 and Aug. 7 through Aug. 11 at a cost of $300 each week or $275 for children and grandchildren of members of the NMHA.
All the canoeing programs will feature wooden canoes and boating on the Navesink and Swimming Rivers. Each student will be supplied with the canoe, paddles, safety vest, and commemorative tee shirt.
Historian and author Jack Grodeska will open the Atlantic Highlands Historical Society’s Speaker Series on April 19 at the Strauss Mansion with his history of the Mandalay, the steamship ferry that traveled between New York and the borough in the early 1900s.
Grodeska will address the guests at the Strauss Mansion Museum at 7:30 p.m. and tell the story of the fog filled night when tragedy struck in Raritan Bay and the Mandalay sunk. This is one of the several steamships as well as passenger trains that brought visitors from North Jersey and New York to spend summers or parts of summers in the resort town on Sandy Hook Bay.
Doors to the fabled Strauss museum open for another season on Sunday, April 16, when docents will be present to introduce guests to the former summer ‘cottage” of the 19th century. The museum will be open from noon to 4 p.m.
This event is free to the public, but donations are always accepted. Guests are requested to bring a non-perishable food product or baby item to donate to the Atlantic Highlands Food Pantry.
Steven Schwankert will be the second in the Speaker Series, presenting a discussion on Simon Lake on Wednesday, May 17, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to the Speaker Series, the Strauss Museum will be featured the weekend of May 6 and 7 in the annual Monmouth County Weekend in Old Monmouth, an annual event featuring self-led tours of numerous historic sites throughout Monmouth County. This event is presented by the Monmouth County Historical Commission.
On Friday, May 19, the annual Music at the Mansion program will feature singer and guitarist Nancy Scharff, who will present a variety of music ranging from Broadway and popular tunes to classical music in an outdoor performance on the museum grounds, weather permitting. That event is available with a $20 entry fee and begins at 7:30 p.m.
Built in 1893 by wealthy New York merchant Adolph Strauss, the Strauss Mansion is a 21-room Victorian era estate on the Atlantic Highlands hillside. It offers views of New York, the harbor and Sandy Hook for its third floor Tower Room.
Following opening day, the museum is open for self-guided tours every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.. Exhibits include Victorian artifacts, a special room on the Lenni Lenape, the earliest settlers in the area, collections of local history items and a newspaper archives and library. Entry is at no charge, however, a suggested $5 donation is requested and appreciated.
Certainly happy to see Emilio’s got approval to serve dinner after dark at his little but charming restaurant on Center Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, but wonder why one planning board member had such a problem with it and could not approve it.
It’s the same board member who said Center Avenue is “a dangerous street, and the residents must maintain their sidewalks. Really? Has he even ever been on Center Avenue, know the wonderful people who live there, seen the smile on the faces of everyone who enjoys huge breakfasts and great lunches at Emilio’s? Does he know the people on Center Avenue love their neighborhood and do maintain it; they would not have moved there otherwise, or raised their families there for generations. Many remember Zoe’s and did not have any problem when that was opened in the evenings.
The planning board member spoke on how great First Avenue is for restaurants, saying it was “designed for nighttime dining.” Guess he has forgotten how many restaurants there are on First Avenue, albeit every one of them spectacular, who do not have to provide their own parking; they can simply tell folks to park in the municipal lots Shouldn’t Emilio’s be able to do the same? It’s as close to the boro lots as some of the First Avenue restaurants. He also has the approval of St. Agnes to use their parking lot, a two-minute walk down that “dangerous” Center Avenue to the restaurant.
At the same meeting, the terrific restaurant on the corner of First and Center had absolutely no problem in getting approval to close in that lovely open deck on the second floor to allow for more diners in the winter months. They didn’t even ask him how that would impact parking in municipally owned lots or on First Avenue.
And since it was such a busy night with an unusual number of applications being heard, the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club’s idea to put outdoor dining on top of the Galleon Room of the Shore Casino was presented, but had to be continued until the May 4 meeting. It’s an innovative idea the architect/club member is proposing, but it sounds like there will be a lot of questions about its impact not only at the harbor, the Casino, but on the homes on Ocean Blvd. as well. Wonder if parking problems will be addressed there, too.
The Chairman certainly runs a great meeting and members ask a lot of questions showing they’ve done their homework and are familiar with what they’re addressing when they come into the meeting. They’re even polite and cordial to residents in attendance.
After 55 years of honoring the men who designed and built what was termed a spectacular place where residents “will enjoy sites many others might never see,” Care One at King James will officially become Care One at Middletown in a lavish ceremony both honoring the past and celebrating the future of care centers.
Care One at Middletown administrator Jimmie King has invited all local residents to attend the ribbon cutting ceremonies for the facility as well as a tour of the campus on Thursday, April 27, between 2 and 5 p.m.
The event will also include a welcome by Daniel Straus, owner of the facility, a tour of the campus, refreshments, memento gifts, and an opportunity to meet the staff.
“We’re delighted that in the anniversary month of when King James first opened in 1968, we have the opportunity to show the public that it is just as progressive and friendly as it was when it was first built by local businessmen who were innovative in recognizing the need for a state of the art facility,” King said.
The ribbon cutting for the outdoor ceremony in the center courtyard and garden will be later in the afternoon, after guests have enjoyed tours, meeting staff and refreshments, the administrator continued.
King pointed out the staff,, who together represent more than 500 years of dedication to Care One, also include generations of the same families working there. These include at least two sets of mothers and daughters, a mother and son, and two sisters currently on staff; King pointed out that through the years there have always been relatives and friends of staff and residents who have worked at Care One.
“We will always honor Jim Snyder and King Westerland, the King and James of the original name,” King said, “and now recognize it is time to honor the great township of Middletown as well. We are fortunate to be located between two communities that certainly love our facility, but since we are officially in Middletown, and our fire, police, and first aid departments respond from there so wonderfully whenever in need, it is time to celebrate the township as well. It will also help people from around Monmouth County identify where the facility ls located.”
King also announced that Snyder and Westerlind will continue to be honored in the newly named King James Dining Room, the focal point for all major activities and the evening dining room for residents. “They will never be forgotten,” he said, “nor will their foresight in creating such a facility in 1968.”
Should there be inclement weather, the celebration will be held in the King James Dining Room.
Care One at Middletown is located on the 1 acre tract on Route 36 where the $2 million facility was opened April 10, 1968, as a 125 bed residential center with a professional staff of 65 and offering both occupational and physical therapy in addition to long term care. Herman J. “Duke” Black was the first administrator and Barbara Rast the first Director of Nursing, with Louise Suydam the firsts business manager.
Notice was sent to the boroughs of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright that the state Commissioner of Education has denied the complaint against Sea Bright filed by Oceanport and Shore Regional High School.
Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon was the first to make the news known to her residents, telling the residents of that borough she had ‘great news’ and read from the letter from the Acting Commissioner of Education at last night’s council meeting.
The Commissioner’s decision means Sea Bright is no longer “encumbered” in its quest to join a new tri-town K-12 regional school with the Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson Regional. The complaint which was denied by the Commissioner was also filed against the boards of education of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson.
This means when mediation takes place later this month to determine cost sharing between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands with the inclusion of the millions of dollars Sea Bright anticipates bringing into the new regional district, Atlantic Highlands and Highlands will now be able to mediate a single route with the inclusion of Sea Bright, rather than parallel paths, the second one excluding Sea Bright.
Atlantic Highlands Borough Council has indicated in the past it would move forward to include Sea Bright once that borough was unencumbered. The Commissioner’s decision now makes that possible. In dismissing the action from the two districts in which Sea Bright now sends its children for education, the Commissioner has indicated the borough has the right to exit from the Oceanport and Shore Regional districts and seek entry into a newly formed school district. The focus of the mediation now will be to finalize the funding formulas for the future with Sea Bright students in the district.
The Mayors and Councils, their financial consultants and administrators will meet to resolve that issue and the question of a tri-town regionalization can then be placed on the ballot to let the residents of all three towns express their opinions and make the final decision.
In her final decision on the matter, the Commissioner gave a brief history explaining that currently Sea Bright students go to Oceanport and Shore Regional in the absence of schools in their own borough, and the governing body wishes to leave those districts and join the boards of education of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands, and Henry Hudson Regional in a new all-purpose K-12 regional school district comprised of those three towns.
The borough passed a resolution authorizing special counsel to file a petition with the Commissioner seeking that approval and putting the question before the voters as a referendum. Highlands and Atlantic Highlands did likewise
In their petitions, the boards of education of Oceanport and Shore Regional asked the Commissioner to find the resolutions invalid, saying the borough does not have the authority to withdraw by resolution from their districts or to pursue a referendum on the creation or enlargement of a regional school district. Those districts also indicated the November election date referenced in the resolutions is not authorized by statute.
