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Turmeric Root Does the Trick

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Turmeric Spice

Turmeric Root … It’s a root in the ginger family. It’s yellow or orange in color and it leaves a yellow stain that is sometimes hard to wipe off counter tops or linens. It’s spicy and blends well with many other spices, especially black pepper..

It is also one of the healthiest spices, since it’s filled with lots of antioxidants, vitamins, iron and manganese. That means it helps fight pain and inflammation, has a great reputation for fighting arthritis pain in particular, and is even said to fight depression and improve mental ability by fighting off dementia. It works best when its consumed with some kind of fat, be it an oil or butter, as well as black pepper. That’s because it’s water soluble and piperine, an ingredient in black pepper, helps the body absorb it better.

On top of all of this turmeric is easy to find in most markets, comes in either its natural root or as a powder, though the root is so much better for you and does add a very pretty bright and happy color and flavor to whatever liquid or dish it’s in.

Turmeric

Did I say liquid? For a spice that’s a main ingredient of curries and spicy rice dishes? Yes, turmeric is great as a tea or a latte as well.

It doesn’t take much to prepare the root for any recipe. The outside peel can either be scraped off with a knife or spoon, then the inside grated, chopped or minced. Or, the outer peel, scrubbed, can be left on and the root sliced very thin.

Adding a bit of grated turmeric to any rice gives it a pretty color and a slightly spicy flavor. Simply add a half teaspoon or so of grated turmeric root to the cooking water for every cup of rice. Or try adding some to scrambled eggs, stir-fries or soups.

But a Turmeric Tea is an enjoyable, relaxing, easy way to ensure all the benefits turmeric packs with little work. While chai tea is probably the tastiest, dry it in coffee as well. You might like it! It you’re using it grated, you might want to drop it in the brew with a tea strainer. Try about a half teaspoon of grater turmeric per cup.

Turmeric Tea

2 cups water

  1. tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground or grated turmeric

Pinch of black pepper

2 teaspoons honey

Directions

In a small pot, add water, turmeric, lemon juice, and black pepper. Whisk together and heat over high heat. When the tea just starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the tea is finished simmering, turn off the heat, add the honey, stir and enjoy.

Once you’ve tasted how great turmeric is in a tea, venture out on your own for personal variations. Try adding a stick of cinnamon for stirring. Or toss in a couple of cloves with the turmeric. Make the tea using a regular flavored tea bag. Or, to keep some fat in the tea, add coconut oil.

If you live in the Bayshore of Monmouth County, you can usually get turmeric at the Highlands Gourmet Grocers on Waterwitch Avenue in Highlands. The helpful staff there will probably also have some other ideas of how you can enjoy this wonderful root spice.

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Cooking with Saints – Saint Bridgid

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Bridgid

Bridgid The popular and hardworking women of St. Veronica Church in Chantilly, Virginia, issued their book, Cooking with Saints, highlighting recipes for very month of the year honoring the feast days of particular saints for that day and month.

Saint Bridgid

February 1, the feast day of Saint Bridgid, the book is featuring. Brigid’s Oatcakes, honoring the saint from Kildare from the 5th century who could not bear to see others hungry or cold, and founded Kildare Abbey in Ireland, a center for religious learning. She also had a reputation for being able to heal the sick and injured, and is also known as Mary of the Gaels.

Here’s her recipe for Oatcakes, a chewy, healthy scone type cake or bread served best with butter and jam. It’s also known as Irish Oatcakes.

2 Cups uncooked rolled oats

1 ¼ Cup buttermilk (or sour milk)

2 ½ cups flour

1/2 Cup dried fruit , raisins, cranberries or apricots

1 t. baking soda

1 t.. cinnamon

1 t. salt

½ t. baking power

¼ t. allspice

¼ Cup softened butter

¼ Cup brown sugar

Combine oats and buttermilk, blend thoroughly and chill and hour or more.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment, set aside.

Combine flour mixture with fruit and spices, and baking powder. Cut in butter and brown sugar with blender until butter is the size of peas. Mix in oats and knead the dough until smooth. If too dry, add a couple of drops of water. Form dough into a round shape, 1” thick. Place on prepared baking sheet, and cut the round into 6 wedges, separately each slightly.

Bake for 25 minutes until a slight crust forms and a cake tester in the thickest part comes out clean. Spread with butter and enjoy.

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William Cullen Bryant’s America

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William Cullen Bryant

Long before it officially became the Borough of Highlands in 1900, Highlands was well known as the part of Middletown that drew tourists and new businesses related to tourism to the area.William Cullen Bryant

The borough was highlighted in the first of two volumes of Picturesque America when it was published in 1872. It includes a wooden engraving of the Twin Lights with passenger boats unloading visitors at a dock along the Shrewsbury River just below the historic lighthouse.

The year after publication, Picturesque America was edited by noted New York newspaper editor William Cullen Bryant who curated its 950 wood or steel engravings in the book that captured the most beautiful, unique, and tourist-sought after locations of the 19th century.

In addition to being a journalist, as well as an attorney, Bryant was a well-known poet of his era, his Thanatopsis being his most famous work, followed by “To a Waterfowl”.

Unlike Thanatopsis, which deals with concentration on death, “To a Waterfowl” is a story in poetry about the speaker’s reactions when he observed a lone waterfowl in flight at dusk and uses the bird’s journey as a metaphor for faith and divine guidance. The poem is designed to concentrate on trust in an unseen force steering both the bird and the speaker through life’s isolating passages.

The poet was 21 years of age when he wrote To a Waterfowl. At that time, he was concerned about his own future as a lawyer, and was inspired to write the poem when he saw a solitary bird flying against a sunset sky. He felt a deep sense of loneliness for himself thinking about his life as an attorney, but then recognized it was a divine power guiding the bird . He put it to verse, thinking the same could be true of himself. While Bryant saw the bird while walking near his home in Massachusetts, he could well be describing a scene in Highlands especially in the stanza

Seek’st thou the splashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,

Or where the rocking billows rise and sink

On the chaféd ocean side?

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Murder in Highlands

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Murder

Murder Ironically, a physician, a former US Representative and New Jersey Governor responsible for the Newell Act, regarded as the forerunner of the US Life Saving Service, later the US Coast Guard, was best known in Highlands during his lifetime as the anti-Irish and anti-Catholic Governor responsible for the hanging death of James Donnelly.

The Sea View Hotel was the scene of a murder in 1857. James Donnelly, a surgery student at New York University, was working summers as a bookkeeper at the Sea View Hotel in Highlands. According to Monmouth County records, a guest entrusted him with $100, which Donnelly reportedly lost in a card game with a bartender, Albert Moses, who was 18 years of age.

Donnelly reported finding Moses the next morning with a stab in the neck, but investigators at the scene reported he had named Donnelly as his attacker. Donnelly then raised suspicion among those investigating and was reported to be behaving strangely, running out of the hotel, dumping a wad of counterfeit bills, and running down to the river presumably to dispose of the weapon. He was returned to the hotel, where he also assisted in unsuccessful efforts to treat Moses.

But the Irish surgical student had had many supporters during the several trials on charges of murder. After several convictions, and successful appeals of the conviction  he was eventually sentenced to death by a Protestant judge and jury. This, and the earlier testimony by police officers, raised considerable doubt and controversy among the Irish catholic community who viewed the evidence as doubtful and charged the composition of the court as evidence of bias.

Newell, in his first year as Governor, became involved when Donnelly’s appeals ran out and he sought commutation to a life sentence. While the Court of Pardons, on which the Governor sat ex officio, voted 6 to 2 against a commutation, Newell claimed to have cast the deciding vote for execution. Donnelly was hung in front of the Monmouth County outhouse before a huge crowd, after giving a two-hour talk proclaiming his innocence. He was executed Jan 8, 1858.

Newell went on to serve in the House of Representatives and was appointed to the Life-Saving Service of New Jersey by President Abraham Lincoln. He was defeated in his bid for re-election to the House in part because of the publicity over the Donnelly affair. He ran for Governor again in 1877, but lost once again, in part because of the huge turnout against him in Jersey City because of the earlier Donnelly Affair.

Governor Newell returned to Allentown where he resumed his practice of medicine and died there in 1901. He is buried in Allentown Presbyterian Cemetery.

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Pasta-tively Amazing

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Pasta A limited number of tickets are currently available for Saturday night’s Italian Night and Gift Auction at Our Lady of Perpetual Help gym in Highlands.

Tickets are $30 which includes an Italian dinner and a tickets package with opportunities to win a variety of gifts made possible through the generosity of local businesses and residents.

Tickets for dinner only, without the ticket package, are available for $25.

The event is sponsored by the Rev. Joseph Donnelly Council of the Knights of Columbus and encourages families to attend, with the added incentive of a $15 cost for children and no cost for infants.

The dinner includes buffet style spaghetti, meatballs and sausage, eggplant rollatini, Caesar salad, cheese garlic bread, soft beverages and dessert, and guests are permitted to bring their own beverages of choice as well.

Tickets are available by calling 607-725-3010.

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Book Sale at Old First Church

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book Sale

The AAUW (American Association of University Women) Northern Monmouth County Branch will hold its annual Half Price Book sale Saturday, Januar. 31 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m..

The exert popular event is held at the Book Sale shop in Old First Church, 69 Kings Highway East on the lower level.

The Sale is one of the many cultural, entertaining and fund-raising events the Monmouth County Branch AAUW holds throughout the year. A number of helpful, reliable volunteers are at the Book Sale Shop on the lower level of the church every Saturday from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. as well as every Thursday from 10.am. to noon., except holiday weekends.

The supply of books, types, periodicals and other materials available for purchase at truly unbelievable prices includes every kind of reading material from children’s books and activities to history, biography, novels, best sellers and studies of all types as well as business books and astrology and cookbooks.

The January 31  sale event is an added opportunity to peruse the shelves, seek out old favorites and find unique gift ideas or new reading materials.

For more information on the Sale or AAUW activities, visit www.-nj-nmcb.org, or visit AAUW-NMCB on Facebook.

 

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Heard Around the School Halls

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Apply

Heard Honor Society Activity, Poetry Winners, Kindness and Community Service were all highlighted in this month’s report by Cole Harbison to the Henry Hudson Regional Board of Education at its regular meeting last week..

Harbison, a senior at Henry Hudson, includes his monthly report at every meeting, immediately following the administrator’s and business reports to the board. He compiles activities throughout the month at each of the three schools in the district, under the direction of student council advisors Dawn DeSanto and Miranda Saryian.

Harbison reported the Highlands Elementary School Student Council assembled 124 gift bags filled with toys and activities through a toy drive they organized for the benefit of ill youngsters at Jersey Shore Children’s Hospital. The Holiday Toy Drive is part of the students’ annual holiday season activities.

Another initiative at the Highlands School, Cozy Up to Kindness included the students partnering with the PTO in collecting hot cocoa, tee and coffee in support of Lunch Break a local organization that provides food, clothing housing support and essential life-skills training to individuals and families in need throughout Monmouth County and beyond. With that work completed, the students are looking forward to starting their next activity, a pop tab collection to benefit the Ronald McDonald House and will start working on that initiative in February.

Harbison also reported the district’s Preschool Program has been working on building relationships and making new friends. The pre-schools in both the Highlands and Atlantic Highlands schools and their families got together for a morning of science fun. Meeting at the Reaction Lab in Atlantic Highlands the group made slime, snow and worms, 22 families participating. The reporter said both kids and parents were very grateful and enjoyed it so much that they requested more events in the future, naming the first community outing bringing the schools together a great success.

At the scholastic level, the National Junior Honor Society and National Honor Society, in collaboration with their advisors Mrs. Kondas, Mrs. Fahmie, and Ms. DeSanto, sponsored the 6th Annual Holiday Door Decorating Contest. Classrooms throughout the school were decorated in the holiday spirit, and honor society officers selected Mrs. Larsen’s classroom as the best-decorated door of the season. Proceeds totaling $170 were donated to Lunch Break in Red Bank, a community organization chosen by the members of both Honor Societies to support this year.

Teachers Mrs. Fahmie and Ms. DeSanto commended their honor society members for their continued commitment to service and community involvement: – During the holiday season, members spread holiday cheer by donating $400 in gift cards to families within the HHRS community.

On January 9, NHS members also volunteered at the Fulfill Food Pantry in Neptune. Using their after-school time, students purchased $300 of non-perishable food and toiletry items to donate. During their visit, members worked diligently, mopping and sweeping the warehouse, as well as sorting and packing donations for individuals and families across Ocean and Monmouth Counties. The Volunteer Coordinator at Fulfill specifically recognized HHRS National Honor Society members, noting that they were the hardest-working group, students or adults, that the organization had hosted all year.

Also in January, Mrs. Merrigan and the AP Literature class presented the school community with the annual Poetry Out Loud Competition. Students and staff were welcomed to compete, perform, and judge. -This year’s contestants were Nick D’Antonio, Juliana Rangel, Derby Savas, Lily Hensel, Danny Neno, and Evelyn Knox. -Judges included: Mr. Gates, Mr. Manigrassio, Dr. Beams, Ms. Lebel and Mrs. Pharo. The program also included poetic performances by Mr. Stabile, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Bodnar; and live music by Indifference featuring HHRS students Kai Newman, Nico Kurdes and Lucca Tapia.

An original slam poem, written by students in Mrs. Merrigan’s Creative Writing class was also showcased, featuring Angela Staples, Marishka Evelich and Mrs. Merrigan. – The audience included the entire HHRS community, allowing students and faculty to unite and celebrate the arts together. –

The three top finalists in the poetry competition were Lily Hensel who placed third, Danny Neno, second, and Evelynn Knox, first. Evelynn will now compete in the Regional Competition February 11 at Ocean County College.

On the musical level, the groups at the Highlands school, the Osprey Band, Beginner Band, and HES Chorus delivered a seasonal performance that brought acclaim and applause from the student body, with Ms. Furda and her students credited with a “fantastic concert” and enthusiasm for the upcoming spring performance!

The HHRS Admiral Players announced their upcoming production of Disney’s The Descendants this March! Made popular on the Disney channel, The Descendants tells the story of the next generation of Disney characters, including Maleficent’s daughter, Mal, and Belle’s son, Ben. Will the children repeat the mistakes of their parents? Or can they unite and find strength in their togetherness? Harbison asked before announcing performances are March 13 at 7 pm and March 14 at 3 pm and 7 pm, with all tickets available at the door at the time of the performances.

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Memorial Mass – Father John R. Washington

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Memorial

The Most Reverend Pedro Bismarck Chau, DD Vicar of Hudson County will offer the noon mass and be the homilist at the annual memorial Mass, Sunday February 1, honoring the late Rev. John R. Washington, a former parishioner of St. Stephen’s, and one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save others during World War II. The local council of the Knights of Columbus, adult choir, and relatives of Father Washington join the community in remembering the sacrifices of the four chaplains.

Rev. John R. Washington

Father Washington was born in Newark July 18, 1908. As a child, he had a newspaper route to help his family financially, enjoyed singing in the church choir and by high school had his mind set on the priesthood.

He attended Seton Hall High School and graduated in 1931 from Seton Hall University with an A.B. degree. He entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington and was ordained a priest in 1935. In 1938, he was assigned to St. Stephen‘s Church in Arlington (now known as Kearny).

After Pearl Harbor, Father was named a chaplain in the Army and was assigned to the U.S.A.T. Dorchester at Boston Harbor in January 1943. It was one month later when the Dorchester was torpedoed by a German U-boat and Fr. Washington was one of the four chaplains who gave their lives for others in the icy waters of the North Atlantic near Greenland

A monument on the church grounds honors the Four Chaplains and was designed by master sculptor Timothy Schmalz. The front of the monument depicts the chaplains standing on the deck of the Dorchester, its bow rising up behind them as it slips into the frigid water of the North Atlantic. Each of the chaplains is shown in a different posture of prayer.  Eyewitness accounts of the sinking of the ship relate that the last glimpse anyone had of the Four Chaplains had them standing on the deck, arms linked, praying and singing hymns.

On the back of the monument, the sculptor has an angel holding four life jackets signifying each of the clergyman had given his own life jacket to others. The position of the angel is designed to memorialize a ship’s figurehead, which is often a carved figure on the prow of the ship.

The sculpture is cast in bronze and weighs almost two thousand pounds; with its granite base, it stands at approximately 16 feet and was dedicated by Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, Archbishop of the Military Services, USA, on February 3, 2013 – the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the Dorchester.

In November of 2016, the Archdiocese of Newark declared St. Stephen‘s the Sanctuary of the Four Chaplains and the dormer baptistry was dedicated as the Sanctuary at the annual Father Washington Mass. Throughout the year, special prayers are offered in the sanctuary on various American holidays to give thanks for those in the military who serve and protect the nation. 

There is also a Book of Prayerful Remembrance for family members of parishioners who are serving in the United States Military or other Civil Service Departments. The sanctuary is open for prayer during the week from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM and weekends after masses

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Unity Without Uniformity – 4 Chaplains

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Unity

Unity They were Catholic, Methodist, Jewish and Dutch Reformed and each worshiped God in a different way. But when it came to selfless service and putting the safety and future of others first, they stood together, practicing their faith, believing in God and choose to give their lives to help others.

Tuesday, February 3 is Four Chaplains Day, commemorating the date in 1943 when four chaplains aboard the USAT Dorchester stood together, took off their life jackets and gave them to four young servicemen to save their lives when the ship was struck by a German U-boat torpedo.

Sunday, February 1, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2179 invites all to participate in their annual ceremony honoring the four chaplains and their selflessness and valor.

A ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. at the Post Home on Veterans Lane, Port Monmouth, just off Route 36. The program is sponsored by the VFW in recognition of the Unity without Uniformity exemplified by the chaplains and memorialized by the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation.

Each of the four clergymen was a lieutenant in the US Army and was aboard the Dorchester, a luxury liner converted to a troopship during the war and serving in the North Atlantic.

Two years earlier, at the start of the war, the United States and Denmark signed an agreement pledging the U.S. to defend Greenland from invasion. The pact allowed the U.S. to build military bases in Greenland, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s pleas such an agreement was critical to defending the Western Hemisphere from Germany.

The bases built by the USA were called “BLUIE” bases, with runways in Greenland, the first of which was at Narsarsuaq and became the major U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard base in Greenland. It soon became a major stopping point for U.S. Forces flying to Great Britain during the War.

Because of the harsh weather conditions in Greenland, personnel were rotated out on a routine basis. It was when the US Army Transport Ship  Dorchester was carrying servicemen, merchant seamen and civilian worker as replacements in Greenland, that it was struck k by a torpedo from German submarine U-223. The USAT Dorchester begin to sink quickly and during the rush to abandon ship, many men left their life jackets behind. 

As the ship sank in the icy North Atlantic, the chaplains were distributing life jackets while at the same time offering calm to the frightened men, tending to the wounded and guiding disoriented men towards lifeboats. When the supply of life jackets ran out, the four clergymen took off their own and gave them to four young soldiers.

There are those already in life boats who later recalled seeing the chaplains standing together arm-in-arm on the deck of the sinking ship, praying and singing hymns as the ship went down.

Of the 902 men aboard, only 230 survived in this, one of the worst disasters of World War II.

The chaplains were Lieutenant George L. Fox, a Methodist minister. From Lewistown, Pa., Lieutenant Alexander D. Goode, a Jewish rabbi from Brooklyn,  Lieutenant Clark V. Poling, a Dutch Reformed minister from Columbus, Ohio and Lieutenant John P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest from Newark. Their sacrifice became an enduring symbol of interfaith cooperation and selfless service, expressed in the motto “Unity without Uniformity”. 

Each of the chaplains was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart one year later. Congress later authorized a special, one-time Four Chaplains’ Medal for extraordinary heroism, which was presented to their next of kin in January 1961.

A stained-glass window in the Pentagon, a monument at Sgt. Stephen’s Church in Kearney, and the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Philadelphia, which was dedicated by President Harry Truman in 1951, are some of the memorials to the chaplains who were also honored with a specially designed postage stamp.

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Abolish ICE and We Still Have Problems

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ice
An immigration activist holds up a sign calling for the abolishment of ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during rally to protest the Trump Administration's immigration policy outside the Department of Justice in Washington, U.S., June 30, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC115555BB50

Ice Haven’t seen it, not out and about much these days after my accident … but judging from the n umber of calls I’ve received, there’s a flag flying on the porch of a house at the corner of 8th and East Mount Avenues in Atlantic Highlands that some people are finding rather incendiary. On the surface, it seems to me its only purpose is to cause disagreement and unpleasantness among neighbors.

The flag apparently urges readers to “Abolish ICE”. Really? Where did that come from? And why?

This is Atlantic Highlands! It’s a great community. Great people. Wonderful things happening.

But it’s got a First Aid Squad and a fire department who are both pleading for more members. It’s got a planning board that has approved just about every variance application that’s come before it, without any concern as to the impact on water, or sewer, or electrical power. It’s got a police department that is terrific but still has to fight crime, arrest drug users, protect people in their homes and on the streets.

Why not flags calling for help on these local issues?

Atlantic Highlands is charming, no doubt about it. But residents complain because they can’t find parking places at the Yacht Harbor. Restaurateurs and other shops lose customers because some folks who would eat or shop locally go other places because they can’t find parking on the street.

Why not flags calling for help on these local issues?

The Board of Education is looking to fill a vacancy on the board of education, some parents don’t like what’s taught in the schools or how it’s taught. Regionalization with Sea Bright has been talked about for years, but nothing has been done in Atlantic Highlands, not even so much as a public vote just to get opinions on the record.

Why not flags calling for help on these local issues?

The people of this borough and the area came together to assist a foreign born relative of a resident, a man who worked here but did not even live in the borough. Generous people raised $100,000 or so to help in the fight. Why wasn’t the Abolish Ice flag flown then?

In short, what has happened in Minneapolis, Minnesota that makes it so important to fly a flag in a quiet, suburban little community on the east coast of the United States that still has a few problems of its own to resolve, a few improvements that could be made, and some action at all levels that could really do something to improve life in this little, safe, quiet piece of the world?

As a journalist all my life, this writer certainly believes, espouses and defends freedom of speech and everyone being able to express their own opinions….that’s what the United States is all about and what my friend Thomas Jefferson felt is so important..

But why start something that isn’t going to help change something one or two people might not like? Or is this an issue that is going to start in little Atlantic Highlands and be heard around the nation? Is that what the people of Atlantic Highlands really want?

Why put out a message that might be liked by some, hated by others, but certainly isn’t going to change the way life goes on in the United States … instead of taking action or doing some little thing that could make a difference right here in our own backyard?

Why take on the nation when we still have matters that need full attention in our own backyard?

Is hanging a flag on a porch in a terrific residential neighborhood worth it just to create a sense of irritation in a town that is so full of kindness, great people, but has problems of its own it hasn’t been able to conquer?

Better to put out a God Bless America flag, or simply the Stars and Stripes neither of which should offend anyone living in this country.

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