All Monmouth County notaries and those interested in becoming Notary Publics have been invited to an informational seminar Sept. 27 at Hominy Hill Golf Course, Colts Neck.
Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano said the event which will be in person and from 5 to 8 p.m. will review recent changes to the New Jersey Notary Public laws, and will feature New Jersey Notary Public expert and author, Alfred E. Piombino.
Piombino will provide insight into new legislation, rules, and ethics to further help Notaries Public understand their responsibilities and duties. Online registration and a $20 fee are required to attend.
A time-honored position, Notaries Public serve an important role in the community, serving as an impartial safeguard of public official documents and acts. In this important role, Notaries Public are held to certain standards and regulations, and after new legislation, some of these expectations have recently changed.
“Since Notaries Public are sworn into office by the Clerk of the County in which they reside, the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office is proud to host this seminar to further assist our local Notaries Public in understanding their duties to the public,” said Hanlon.
Participants in the County Clerk’s “Notary Notebook” Seminar will receive information and latest updates surrounding legislation, ethics, and best practices for Notaries Public, and will be able to ask questions and gain further understanding of their responsibilities. Additionally, all attendees will receive a free copy of Mr. Piombino’s book, Notary Public Handbook: A Guide for New Jersey.
This seminar is open to the public with a $20 registration fee. Registration and payment are required in order to attend and can be made online on the Monmouth County Park System’s website, reg.monmouthcountyparks.com by entering the program code: QAC24A. Space is limited so please register today.
For questions about the seminar, please call the County Clerk’s Office at 732-431-7324, ext. 8909.
For more information about the swearing-in of Notaries Public, please visit MonmouthCountyClerk.com or call the County Clerk’s Office at 732-431-7324.
– Davi Cunha wasn’t in his new position as a police officer on the local department very long when he wanted something more to do. He knew there had been an active Police Explorer post in the borough in the past, and felt bad it had ended due to lack of funding and other aspects. At the same time, he knew he could do something about it and approached Chief Dave Rossbach with a plan.
The former Chief was interested and enthused, but preparing for his own retirement and suggested Cunha wait for the new chief so he can profit from his experience and recommendations.
It was one of the first ideas Chief Scott Reinert took on and gave permission and guidelines to start.
Cunha, a first generation American born son of Brazilian parents, was born in Perth Amboy and lived and attended school in Long Branch until he was 11 years old. The family then moved to Brazil where the new officer attended school from fourth to ninth grades before coming back to the United States.
He attended Shore Regional High School, and opened his own flooring business before graduation, but completed his education and was awarded his GED from Brookdale Community College.
His background and enthusiasm were more than enough for the Chief to authorize his going ahead with the Police Explorer Program.
The officer has made great strides since beginning the program almost immediately after Reinert became chief, inviting teens between the ages of 14 and 18 to stop in and see him and learn more about it. He invited them sign up for the program which offers benefits of training in a variety of areas, activity with other teens and professionals, and perks that include going along on patrols, uniforms for specific events and occasions, and a lot of fun.
That was evident recently when Shannon Kenny, a 16 year old junior at Henry Hudson stopped in police headquarters to meet with Cunha and find out more about the program her friends had been talking about.
The officer greeted her warmly, encouraged her to sit and relax, and after some preliminary remarks, asked her a series of questions which ranged from how she gets along with her parents (“Great!) to her plans after graduation, and why she wants to join the Police Explorers. He then gave her a packet of information, explained some of what her duties and obligations would be as a member, and explained while all posts members get the basic uniform of a blue polo shirt with insignia, and black pants, members have to earn the honor of also receiving a Class A uniform to be work when with an officer or on a training experience.
The enthusiastic teen asked when she could sign up and excitedly left the meeting to show her father all she had learned.
Cunha, who said about 20 teens have already signed on to the program, noted that some of the programs they will be receiving are classes in CPR, emergency training, fire and health safety, reactions when faced with hazardous decisions and other programs which will help the teens become more responsible, more able to help others, and more mature in their choices.
Currently meetings are held once a month, with more scheduled as the group wants them, and activities which include paint ball in addition to those ride-along with officers and other activities the teens will help plan.
The Post works in union with Highlands and Middletown Police Explorers as well, Cunha he said, broadening the teens’ experiences while at the same time enabling them to help others and become better associated with more police departments and their activities.
“This is an outstanding program for all teens,” Chief Reinert said, “and Officer Cunha is the perfect coordinator for it. He is eager, enthusiastic and has an outstanding rapport with all the residents regardless of age, since he has been on the department.”
Cunha said his work with the Police Explorers is in addition to his regular patrols and other police duties, and he eagerly plans and arranges the meetings as an opportunity to meet with youth, get them more involved with entertaining and learning experiences, and learning the benefits of helping others.
Teens wanting to become a part of this new, adventurous Police Post can contact Cunha or any police officer, or stop in at police headquarters and request an application. “Once one teen joins, we find he or she has other friends who have never hear of the program, but are now eager to seek it out as well. We welcome them all,” Cunha said.
– Carrying on a tradition started by the later Mater Dei High School teacher Thomas Murray several decades ago, a Mass of Remembrance was held at Mary Mother of God Church Saturday in recognition of all the deceased graduates of the high school dating from the first graduating class in 1965.
Monsignor Michael Walsh, former pastor of St. Mary’s, was celebrant of the mass, assisted by Deacon Marty McMahon of St. Mary’s. The organist was Diane Testa and the Cantor, Jackie Ross.
Both graduates and parents of deceased graduates participated in the mass, and refreshments were served after mass to enable those coming from a distance to reunite and spend time with former classmates and friends.
The Mass of Remembrance Committee, which has organized the program for several years, is headed by Cathy Daniels, class of ’79, Tom Dooley, Class of ’65, and Mari Campanella Kovach, class of ’78.
The Hospitality committee included Ellen Poole, class of ’72, Maria Miele Scribner, class of ’83 and Annmarie Golding McCarthy, Class of ‘80
Jim Shaw, Class of ‘76 played the bagpipes both before the start of the mass and as the clergy processed into church.
During his homily Monsignor Walsh praised the alumni for their remembrance of those who have died, and offered all prayers during the mass for those included in the Memorial Necrology as well as those who have died and may not have been included.
Ms. Kovach also extended an invitation to all who wish to provide updated information to the Mater Dei Prep Memorial Necrology to e-mail her at deckhill@comcast.net.
After the Final Blessing, the names of those listed in the school’s Memorial Necrology were read along with their graduation years. The list also included the school’s administrators who had died, including founding Principal Mother Bede Loob, OSF, and principals Father William Lynch, S.J., John V. Lonergan, Sr. Mary Hugh Brady and Frank Poleski, as well as Assistant Principal Frank Outwater. Mr. Poleski was the last principal included in the necrology, after his death in the past year.
Included among the 97 faculty members who are included in the Necrology is the originator of the mass, Thomas Murray, 25 teaching sisters, three doctors, and three priests. The Doctors include Dr. John Cahill, Dr. Frank DeRobbio, and Doc. Keiber and the priests include Monsignor John T Muthig, Father Steve Duffy, and Fr. Paul Gluth. Among the other faculty members is Susan Shelton Houghtaling, who was also a Mater Dei graduate in the Class of 1967.
The Necrology included 329 alumni who have died from the graduating classes between the 1965 to 2015.
Those reading the Necrology were Ellen Poole, ’72, Mari Campanella Kovach, ’78, Dr. Ken Dugan, ’65. Kathy Smith Logan ’66, Muriel Smith, whose daughter Kathy graduated in 1974, Jim Keating, ’76, Pat Ryan, ’82, and Tom Dooley, ’65.
Rosemary Calandrillo would be 81 years old this month if she had not been murdered some time on or near Aug. 25, 1969.
The family grieved, the town grieved, the students at Henry Hudson grieved.
What made matters even more horrific and difficult for everyone to accept, was that Rosemary Calendriello’s body has never been found. So there was no funeral, no grieving over a young body gone too soon, no burial place to visit, no place to grieve since no one even knows to this very day where she was murdered.
There is one person and one result which gave this borough and the Calandriello family at least a bit of solace in this tragic deed: Samuel Guzzi and the distinction that through his dedication, hard work, and perseverance, this was the first time that a person was found guilty of murder without a body ever being found.
The murderer, Robert Zarinsky, spent about 33 years of a life sentence in prison before he died there Nov. 28, 2008 from pulmonary problems.
But this story is not about Zarinsky, it is about the policeman, who later became Chief of Police, the dogged investigator who never gave up.
Sam Guzzi was born in Long Branch and spent all his life in Atlantic Highlands. In 1944, he joined the Army, went to Fort Dix, then Sheppard Field in Texas, then to the Philippine Islands then to Japan. He was discharged more than a year after the end of the war, having attained the rank of Sergeant.
Eight years later, in May 1954, Sam Guzzi became a police officer on the local department. Thirteen years later he was promoted to Sergeant and was assigned to the investigative force as a plainclothesman.
Sam Guzzi, far left, as a patrolman in the 1960s with Atlantic Highlands auxiliary police officers
Five years after that he was a Captain and five years later, headed the department as Chief, following in the footsteps of another outstanding Police Chief and neighbor, James Egidio.
Sam served in that position for ten years, until he retired and immediately went back to serve the public as an agent with the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office. He served another 18 years in that position before retiring in 2008. Five years later, on July 11, 2013, Sam died.
But Sam Guzzi never thought he did anything spectacular. He always thought he was just doing his job. He didn’t believe in leaving a job until it was finished. And while he always felt a sense of loss he could never return her body to her family, Investigator Sam Guzzi did bring justice and a sense of accomplishment in having Zarinsky pay at least ten years for this crime.
Sam was on duty the night of Aug. 25, 1969, when Rosemary’s mother Agnes came into police headquarters and told Det . Sgt. Guzzi that Rosemary, her 17 year old daughter, was missing. Rosemary had walked down the street from her home on Center Ave. to the deli a couple of blocks away about 6 in the evening. Unusual in such a small close knit town, for a missing daughter’s report, especially since Rosemary was a quiet girl, obedient to her parents and a great help especially since her dad was ill.
It didn’t take Sam long to investigate and come up with his starting information. By morning, some boys who knew Rosemary from the neighborhood and from school told Sgt. Guzzi they saw Rosemary in a car with a stranger, even a more rare situation for a youngster taught never to go with strangers. The boys were so surprised by what they saw they even followed the car a while, enough to be able to give a description to Sam. The investigation began and many different clues led Sam to Robert Zarinsky, a grocer in Linden, and a man with a less than perfect criminal history. He was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, since Sam also learned he reportedly had offered alcohol to two underage girls he had stopped on another street on another day.
All of this led to further investigations and further hints. Zarinsky was seen washing the trunk of his car, one that resembled the one the boys had said they had seen Rosemary in. That’s when the Police found the window and door handles on the passenger side of the front passenger side door were missing.
One of Rosemary’s hair clips was on the floor, and a piece of lingerie similar to Rosemary’s was on the back floor. There was also a hammer there, with a bloodstained hair stuck to it.
The boys identified Zarinsky as the man in the car with Rosemary.
Zarinsky was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but he beat that charge on appeal later and was released. The hair in the car was not Rosemary’s, but did belong to another teenager whose body was found in the Raritan River. She had been strangled with an electrical card.
Sam learned more, investigated further and was convinced Zarinsky was a serial killer. That strengthened his determination to find him, try him, have him pay for his crimes and prevent any further crimes. Towards that end, Sam worked day and night, following up on every tip, researching every clue, getting proof of everything he presented to the prosecutor. Once he felt convinced that even though Rosemary’s body was never found, he was positive he could convince a jury Zarinsky was the murderer.
The prosecutor disagreed and now Sam felt he had still another chore; he had to convince the prosecutor the matter should go to court.
It took five years and a new prosecutor was named, John Mullaney was the assistance prosecutor, Malcolm Carton was the first assistant, and Guzzi convinced them all.
Zarinsky went to trial. He was found guilty and convicted of Rosemary’s death on April 24, 1975, and sentenced to life behind bars. It had never happened before, a murder could be proved, the murderer convicted with no body ever found.
Even all of that was not enough. Sam Guzzi continued to follow every lead as to where Rosemary’s body may be for the next decade.
Nor did Zarinsky let up on Guzzi. He was also a suspect in the disappearance and deaths of at least half a dozen other young women. He sent a letter to the retired Guzzi in 1994 saying he would be of immeasurable value to law enforcement. A few years later, he wrote him again, when he was a suspect in a 1958 murder, this time of a Rahway police officer. And bragged he could solve at least five, probably ten homicides.
Then in 1988, after denying for years he had anything to do with Rosemary, he said he accidentally backed his car up over her and buried her in a shallow gave someplace in north Jersey. He changed that story later, and said he threw her body into the ocean. He was up for parole at the time and hoped admissions could benefit his cause. They did not.
Then there were two more girls murdered in Woodbridge, both strangled with an electrical cord. Insufficient evidence to convict on any of those murders, the prosecutor said.
There was not enough evidence to prosecute in any of the cases.
That police officer shooting? Zarinsky was acquitted of that one as well. And while in prison in 2008, Zarinsky was accused of yet another murder, this one of a 13 year girl who had been raped, beaten and strangled back in 1968. But the murderer died while awaiting trial on that charge.
Sam Guzzi worked hard for decades and kept a serial killer from killing even more young girls, police officers or anyone else.
He’s a part of New Jersey investigative history. And in Atlantic Highlands, Police Chief Samuel Guzzi is truly a legend.
– It won’t be the same Frank Sinatra at the Shore Casino who was once at the Casino in the Park in Jersey City, but DJ entertainer and signer Anthony DiDio will be at the Shore Casino tomorrow night, Saturday, September 24 to “Fly you to the Moon” and beyond with an evening of music, Sinatra and other musical entertainment.
Shore Casino Manager Jay Strebb noted the special entertainment evening at the Shore Casino will begin at 6 when doors open for the 7 p.m. entertainment evening on stage..
In addition to DiDio, the Brooklyn born singer who now lives in Howell and has wowed crowds with his renditions of Sinatra and other top entertainers, a Italian-priced light fair dinner will also be available throughout the evening.
The menu with specially priced specials, includes Spiedini Romano, Shrimp Balls, Stuffed baked clams, Eggplant Parmigiana, Chicken Parmigiana, shrimp scampi ,orecchiette with sausage and beef short ribs. Of course, Strebb said, Italian spaghetti and meatballs will also be on the menu.
Reservations are encouraged for the event and can be made by calling 732-291-4300.
Drink and food menus are both offered at special prices, and there are no entry or entertainment fees.
It was horrific enough Monday night when the Highlands Board of Education vice chair Robin Sanfratello running the board of education meeting in the absence of the chair, told the audience they could not ask any questions about school regionalization.
Ms Sanfratello said she was telling that to the dozens of folks at the meeting because the board had gotten an e-mail in August from their attorney telling them not to let the public ask any questions. That policy was enforced for last Monday night’s meeting. People tried to ask questions, and they weren’t allowed. Even a member of the Board of Education, sitting at the table, wasn’t allowed to ask a question.
But it was even worse last night at the Atlantic Highlands Council meeting when their attorney. Matthew Giacobbe, was on the agenda to give an update on regionalization. But he wasn’t there. And he didn’t give any written report.
Instead, he told the borough administrator he was too busy to come to Atlantic Highlands, though he couched it in far more courteous words than that, and Administrator Ferragina read from notes apparently from Mr. Giacobbe when asked a question. He repeated the directive, reading from those written notes, every time a resident attempted to ask anything even close to regionalization. So policy was set for both public portions of the meeting.
So here we are. Last month, the Atlantic Highlands Council, without telling Highlands about it first, authorized Giacobbe to get a mediator, the deputy Commissioner of Education, to help the two towns work out the financial agreement for regionalization.
Last night, not only would Ferragina not say whether a mediator has been retained, but Council didn’t even question why that simple a question could not be answered. Part of the new policy, it would seem, advised by Mr. Giacobbe.
Those two meetings this week, together wit the fact Dr. Beams, the superintendent of schools but not a resident of any of the three towns, does all the talking on regionalization for all three boards of education, leaves me to wonder: do all of these folks really NOT want the public to know what’s going on? Why else would all of this be so secretive? Are the questions so difficult only an attorney can answer them?
By contrast, because of yet another delay, the cannabis question was pulled before it had a public hearing in Atlantic Highlands last month. But still they let all the public talk, ask questions, and leave the meeting with the idea the ordinance will once more be back on the agenda, although changed, at some other time in the future.
Taking all of these incidents together, do you get the feeling the elected folks, the paid attorney and the superintendent, really don’t want the public to know what’s going on?
Do the boards of education know so little about their issue they’re afraid to answer any questions?
Don’t they have anything to say, or do they simply not care to provide a better education for the kids at a lower price for everybody in two or three towns?
The irony of the latest action is Attorney Giacobbe, busy as he is, is smart, capable, and in my opinion knows what he’s doing every step of the way. Not because he graduated from two colleges magna cum laude, not because he’s licensed to practice in two states and the US District of New Jersey. It’s because of an incident years ago in Middletown.
It was when Joe McCarthy was Middletown’s Chief, and Larry Loigman was a resident, a defeated candidate for township committee, and an unofficial watchdog of police and government. Loigman filed a suit against the township’s attorney for refusing to let him in to the proceedings of another police officer. The attorney refused, arguing Loigman might be a witness and therefore should be able to sit in on everything. Loigman’s attorney won that suit at the lower level, and the township appealed the decision.
That’s when Attorney Giacobbe got involved. He brought the matter all the way up the NJ Supreme Court with Mr. Giacobbe, the labor lawyer representing the township attorney arguing the lower court had erred. And the earlier decision was overturned. The grounds? The Supreme Court ruled that the municipal attorney could not be charged with any liability for his actions during the trial. That’s because, the court said, attorneys are not policymakers and therefore are immune from liability for their actions in any case.
It appears Attorney Giacobbe was the policy maker in Atlantic Highlands when he was too busy to come to a meeting and told them all not to talk about it to the residents.
There’s another possibility to all this political nonsense around letting or not letting the people who pay the bills get to vote on it. Something that goes back a few years in another town. Seems that governing body was having a project done, one that wasn’t being done very well and certainly was not desired by the town’s people. So there were signs that went up say close to the work site as well as other places in town.
The status of the school regionalization question being on any ballot in the future is still a mystery. Matthew Giacobbe, the labor attorney representing the Mayor and Council advised them not to answer any questions at last night’s council meeting. However, administrator Rob Ferragina said anyone with questions should address them in writing to him and he will forward to the attorney for his response.
Last night’s action came on the heels of Monday night’s meeting of the Highlands Board of Education when the acting chair Robin Sanfratello declined to accept any questions on the proposal to put a K-12 regionalization question on the ballot. She told the public the board had been advised in an e-mail last August not to answer any regionalization questions.
The regionalization questions involved the three boards of education in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands as well as the mayors and councils of the two towns as well as Sea Bright that does not have a board of education. Sea Bright would like to separate from the high cost of being minority members in the Oceanport and Shore Regional boards of education and join Highlands and Atlantic Highlands in a K-12 district that would use the three schools in those two towns and capable of taking in the approximately 50 Sea Bright students at their respective grade levels.
Giacobbe was on the agenda at last night’s council meeting to give a “regionalization update” but Ferragina announced the attorney had another obligation and would not be there, and so advised the no question edict. Ferragina did not submit any update report that could keep the public informed.
In other business at the meeting the governing body unanimously approved the No Knock ordinance after no one spoke at the public hearing. The ordinance will enable residents to secure signs and post them at their homes if they do not want vendors and other uninvited persons on the property.
It introduced an amendment to the salary ordinance, setting the public hearing for the Oct. 13 meeting. Janice R. Swaggerty was hired as the municipal court clerk and also serves in the same position in Highlands court, which is also held at Atlantic Highlands Borough Hall. The appointment is for three years at $80,000. Ms. Swaggerty, who had been court clerk in Little Silver began the Highlands position with municipal court yesterday and begins with Atlantic Highlands Sept. 26.
Roger Tole was hired as school crossing guard effective immediately at an annual salary of $10,200
Borough employees, police, commission members and other volunteers were all present Tuesday for the unveiling and official dedication of the new community Pollinator Garden located near the Senior Center in the Municipal Yacht Harbor.
In her welcome and opening statements, Green Team Committee chair Ellen O’Dwyer pointed out “this is a noticeable and important achievement in spreading the education on sustainable gardening and the importance of pollinators in our ecosystem. It is particularly significant in light of the fact we are a small borough and designing and accomplishing all the work involved for success involves many volunteers and a sincere interest on the part of the borough leaders. We have been highly successful in both areas,” O’Dwyer said.
The program is funded by the Sustainable Jersey Grants Program and the PSEG Foundation.
“Pollinators are not just honeybees,” O’dwyer said, “but other beneficial insects, birds, and mammals also are helped through the program.”
In addition to attracting pollinators, the plants are mostly native species, all perennials, and deer resistant. The garden will bloom from early spring in red, white, and blue phlox, through summer with a variety of colors, but also yellow and blue signifying Atlantic Highlands, O’Dwyer added.! “It will finish blooming in the late fall, as our Monarch butterflies that we have been raising through an earlier program and volunteerism, migrate south.”
The new pollinator garden has taken environmental improvements to a new level, she continued. Bigger than planned, it has expanded to replace three additional sections of grass that required mowing; with more than 150 perennial plants, shrubs, and grasses, and spanning more than 15 different species, the group has created a diverse habitat, offering not only food and nectar, but habitat as well.
In explaining how the garden will play an important role in the local ecosystem and food chain, O’Dwyer said it will require little maintenance and no mowing; nor will it interfere with pedestrian access to the Senior Center.
The new garden can also be adopted and adapted as a model throughout the borough by residents, with no regard to the size of available space in the areas they would create for a pollinator garden.
Mayor Loretta Gluckstein praised the employees and volunteers at the dedication ceremony. O’Dwyer had pointed out the borough’s Department of Public Works and Harbor crew brought machinery after grass was removed, and provided equipment for replacement of poor soil and, debris, as well as post hole diggers and pickaxes to break through difficult materials by hand since each individual plant required a mini excavation, soil improvements, fertilizer, topsoil and mulch. “By overcoming these difficulties in planting…we have essentially reclaimed the land from the very inhospitable fill upon which the area was built to something usable!,“ O’Dwyer said.
The chair praised all the organizations and personnel involved in the transformation led by the Greem Team, including the borough’s Beautification Committee, Environmental Commission, Shade Tree Commission, and Morgan Spicer, a member of the Environmental Commission and a professional artist who designed artwork for the Team.
Some individuals present at the ceremony and praised included PWS Director Jim Phillips, Harbormaster Lou Fligor, Dan Johnson and his team of half a dozen men, as well as the Atlantic Highlands Garden Club, Historical Society, Wild About Atlantic Highlands, and local residents who turned out to offer assistance wherever they could help.
Wild about Atlantic Highlands member Marilyn Scherfern explained the borough needs 100 individual gardens in order for the borough to be cited as Habitat City by the National Wildlife Federation. In spite of only working for a few months towards this goal, Scherfern said only nine more sites are needed to be recognized before the borough receives its designation. Those interested in creating a Certified Habitat can visit NEW.org/Gardens to learn more about the program.
The completion and opening of this Community Pollinator Garden enables us “to check another box as a Certified Habitat,” O’Dwyer said to the applause of the crowd gathered for the dedicating
An Autumn Harvest Party benefiting the Shrewsbury Historical Society will be hosted at the home of Phil and Rachel Carnes on Sunday, Oct. 23 beginning at 4 p.m.
Historical Society President Donald Burden told members in a recent letter that the Covid pandemic took a serious toll on the fundraising activities of the Society, pointing out that while fund raising efforts were sharply curtailed, utilities and insurance costs continue to be due at monthly as well as maintenance expenses, in spite of volunteer maintenance and attention.
The president is hopeful the Harvest Party will enable members to show their support at a social event at the gracious home of the Carnes and will go a long way towards generating funds necessary to keep the historical society operational.
New members are always welcome into the Society, Burden pointed out, and urged current members to invite their friends to join and participate in the preservation of fascinating eras of interest pertaining to Shrewsbury, its environs and the important of Shrewsbury history throughout Monmouth County and the state.
Tax deductible donations for the Oct 23 event are $50 per person and can be made through VENMO to the Shrewsbury Historical Society or by check mailed to the Society at PO Box 333, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702. All reservations must be complete by Oct. 17.
Given the Highlands School Board of Education acting chair Robyn Sanfratello’s explanation why elected board member Gina Melnyk could not vote on a regionalization question, is it now the proper time to ask whether there are other, more visible, more economy affected conflicts also involved and perceived, but apparently permitted in the regionalization question?
Gina Melnyk, an elected official on the Highlands Board of Education, was told she could not ask any questions on regionalization at Monday’s meeting of the board of education. The reason given is because her husband, Councilman Donald Melnyk is an elected official on the governing body for the town. Mrs. Melnyk was still not allowed to ask questions let alone vote, in spite of the fact her husband recused himself from all regionalization issues on the governing body.
In Atlantic Highlands, elected board member Erin Dougherty quit her position, saying she did so, so her husband, Atlantic Highlands Councilman Brian Dougherty could vote on the regionalization issue. Just because she is no longer there, is he now excused from the conflict? If he votes on regionalization and she then returns to serve as a board official after the vote, given she indicated she quit to let him vote, is that not a conflict?
Atlantic Highlands Councilman James Murphy recused himself from voting in Atlantic Highlands. His wife Mollie, a member of the school board, has not indicated whether she will vote. Yet it appears attorneys have already advised the board she cannot.
Which brings the situation to Dr. Tara Beams, the highest paid person in the tri-district that includes the three schools in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands.
She has been the primary spokesman, primary leader, primary intermediary among the school boards and the governing bodies.
It was she who ran a highly educational and well attended regionalization explanation meeting at Henry Hudson Regional School.
It is she who was praised by Atlantic Highlands for being so outstanding in knowing everything there is about regionalization.
It is she who has addressed the many questions and considerable information about $1 million coming into the two towns if Sea Bright is voted into a tri-town regional district. Sea Bright is currently a member of the Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts, with their fewer than 50 students costing their taxpayers more than $50,000 a child to be educated in districts where they only have one or two members representing them on the boards of education. It is because of their unending agreement with those districts that the cost of their students runs so high.
It is because of their union in the Oceanport school district that they had little to say when the board decided their elementary school was too antiquated and had to be demolished, leaving the borough with no schools and a mandate their children attend Oceanport schools.
Given that information, does everyone know the highest paid official in the Henry Hudson Regional District, Dr. Beams, is a resident of Oceanport?
Does everyone know Dr. Beams owns a house in Oceanport that is assessed in excess of $800,000?
Does everyone know Dr. Beams does not send her own daughter to the Oceanport school or Shore Regional, but rather a private school?
Yet Dr. Beams is leading the discussions answering the questions, and advising the three school boards in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands on how and when the regionalization question should go on the ballot for the voters of the towns that if Sea Bright were voted in, would then cost Oceanport taxpayers more money absent the million dollars Sea Bright feeds to the Board for its fewer than 50 students every year.
