Christie’s back home, Sandy victims are not | Di Ionno

When we first met Joseph Ready, his Sandy-wrecked home in Union Beach was jacked 20 feet in the air, uninhabitable for his family, but open to feral cats and vandals. The cats left bird carcasses on his floors and the vandals clogged the toilet. He was living in a FEMA trailer, paying $850 a month in… Read the rest of this entry »

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Highlands Man Tasered and Arrested After Eluding Cops for 12 hours After Routine Traffic Stop

Jeffrey Olander. photo via facebook

Jeffrey Olander, 51 of Highlands, fled from two traffic stops on Thrusday afternoon, eluded the Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Middletown Police Departments for 12 hours and threatened to shoot Highlands Police Officers before he was tasered and arrested in the hallway outside his apartment on the fourteenth floor of the East Pointe Condominiums shortly before 4 a.m. Friday morning, according to a statement by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramicconi.

Members of the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team (MOCERT) and the Highlands Police Department made the arrest.

This was the first time a Monmouth County law enforcement officer has deployed a Conductive Energy Device (commonly called taser) to subdue a suspect since the tool was first authorized for use in New Jersey.

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Monmouth Freeholders Cut Spending and Taxes

Monmouth County Freeholders Gary Rich, Lillian Burry, Director Tom Arnone, Deputy Director Serena DiMaso and John Curley

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders introduced a budget on Thursday that reduces County spending by $18.2 million and reduces the property tax levy on County residents and businesses by $4.5 million.  The tax decrease is the first in 21 years and maybe ever, according to County Finance Director Craig Marshall.

The budget for the next fiscal year rolls County taxes back to 2008 levels and reduces spending to less than the 2007 budget. The tax cut reverses an increase, the only one since 2007, that the County imposed in the current year.

“This is a real cut,” said Freeholder Director Tom Arnone. “There is no fiscal gimmickry or raiding of trust funds or utility balances in this budget.”

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Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, February 12-14, 2016

By Greg Kelly

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Friday, February 12

• Valentine’s Day with Megan Hilty at Count Basie Theatre (Red Bank) –MORE INFO
• Chapter Two at Center Playhouse (Freehold) –MORE INFO
• Substance of Bliss by NJ Repertory Company (Long Branch) –MORE INFO
• Bad Seed by Monmouth Players (Atlantic Highlands) – MORE INFO
• Rumors by South Street Players (Spring Lake) – MORE INFO
• NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship Exhibit (WLB) – MORE INFO
• 19th Century New Jersey Chairmaking Exhibit (Freehold) – MORE INFO
• Radio Technology Museum Open at InfoAge (Wall Twp.) – MORE INFO
• Beautiful Childhood: Permanent Collection Portraits (Freehold) – MORE INFO

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Case dismissed against squirrel rescuer

The State’s case against Maria Vaccarella was dismissed in Howell Municipal Court this morning.

Doris Lin, Esq., Vaccarella’s pro-bono defense counsel, argued that the statute that her client was charged under does not apply to rescuing abandoned baby squirrels, but rather to the possession of exotic pets and animals.  Judge James M. Newman, the Presiding Judge of Monmouth County Municipal Courts, agreed and dismissed the charges.

Vaccarella came to the aid of a squirrel that had fallen out of a tree last year and then gave birth to two infants.  Vaccarella left the babies outdoors in cage for a day and then took them in when the mother failed to return.  She named the baby squirrels George and Lola and bottle nursed them for four months after a registered wildlife rehabilitators refused to take them, she said.

Vaccarella shared photos and videos of the growing a squirrels on her facebook feed, which led to a visit from Fish and Wildlife officials who took the babies and sent her a summons that indicated a $500 fine.  During her first appearance in Freehold Township Municipal Court, the Judge told Vacarells that the fine could be $1000 and a six month jail sentence was possible.

Vaccarella rejected a plea deal with no fine and $35 in Court costs last month.

What are you doing this weekend?

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Success strikes impossibly fast for Keansburg/Middletown rockers

KEANSBURG — In terms of a band’s life cycle, Can’t Swim is an embryo. The raucous Keansburg four-piece recorded its first EP over the summer, and has yet to rock a single gig. The band released its first single — the first bit of music anyone has ever heard from them — in December. But nevertheless,… Read the rest of this entry »

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Obama signs International Megan’s Law

Congressman Chris Smith was the sponsor of the International Megan’s Law

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday signed legislation named for a Hamilton girl that’s designed to alert foreign governments when registered sex offenders travel abroad. The International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and cleared by… Read the rest of this entry »

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Victim critical following Neptune Twp. shooting

NEPTUNE TOWNSHIP — A person identified only as a male was shot and critically wounded Monday night, police said. The shooting occurred in the 1300 block of 7th Ave.around 8 p.m. The victim was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center with a single gunshot wound. An hour later and several blocks away, shell casings from… Read the rest of this entry »

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Frank J. Pallone, father of congressman, dies at age 92

WASHINGTON — Frank J. Pallone, father of U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and Long Branch council member John Pallone, died Sunday at the Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch. He was 92. The elder Pallone was a longtime Democratic committeeman in Monmouth County and active in the Long Branch Democratic Party. He also served on the… Read the rest of this entry »

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Selika Josiah Gore Joins Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Selika Josiah Gore

Selika Josiah Gore of Marlboro, NJ has been appointed the Director of Field Programs at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.  

FMCSA is the federal agency that regulates heavy duty vehicles. Its mission is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses.

Gore for the last five years was the Deputy Administrator of Operations at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission where she was responsible for customer service at all 39 MVC branch offices, the vehicle inspection and emissions program, business and motor vehicle dealer licensing, state bus inspections, capital planning.  At MVC she oversaw a staff of 1800 and managed an annual budget of $330 million.

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