FREEHOLD, NJ – Monmouth County business owners can be part of a teleconference call at 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 where they can find out about the various programs, support services and opportunities available to them as they recover from Super storm Sandy.
“Monmouth County’s businesses are working hard to get back in action after Sandy,” Freeholder Deputy Director Thomas A. Arnone said. “This conference call will provide business leaders with critical information and updates about resources that can and will assist them with their recovery efforts.”
The hour-long Business Rebuilding Call is being presented by the county’s division of Economic Development and will include information about the federal and state business disaster relief programs, tax assessment basics for commercial properties and more.
To access the Business Rebuilding Call on Monday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m., dial 559-726-1300; access code is # 147878.
For questions or assistance, please contact Monmouth County Division of Economic Development at 732-431-7470 or [email protected].
“Businesses and home owners who have had losses due to Super storm Sandy, must register with FEMA by Dec. 31, 2012 to be eligible for any federal assistance,” Arnone said. “This is the first step our businesses must take on this road to recovery.”
After registering with FEMA, business owners can visit the local Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) in Monmouth County for more information. The locations are:
Belmar Municipal Building, 601 Main St., Belmar, NJ 07719
Henry Hudson Trail Activity Center, 945 Hwy 36, Leonardo, NJ 07737 (Atlantic Highlands/ Middletown border)
Union Beach Municipal Building, 650 Poole Ave., Union Beach, NJ 07735
The world’s largest commercial baker, Grupo Bimbo (pronounced beem-bo) of Mexico, has an edge in acquiring Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread in the Hostess Brands liquidation, according to The Christian Science Monitor.
There are American companies looking at acquiring the Hostess properties, including Little Debbie baker McKees Foods. But Bimbo has an edge.
By producing Twinkies in Mexico, Bimbo could avoid paying the artificially high sugar prices that Hostess bore due to goverment tariffs that protect the Florida sugar industry. Bimbo also wouldn’t pay union benefits and wages, that the former Hostess employees will no longer be getting now that their employer is closing down. Bimbo could also distribute the products without the inefficient rules, like having different trucks for Twinkies and Wonder Bread, that unions insisted upon with Hostess.
Media cares about Twinkies,not about allegations against Menendez
In case you missed it while the lights were out, the right wing website, The Daily Caller reported allegations that Menendez used the private jet of a campaign contributor to fly to the Dominican Republic for a sex parties on multiple occasions, including a Easter weekend tryst where he didn’t pay his hostesses their agreed fee for a threesome. The left wing website, Gawker followed Daily Caller’s story with a report that Menendez hosts “a different attractive young lady” in his Washington, DC apartment almost every night from 11 p.m. until 3 a.m., keeping his downstairs neighbors up all night with his loud squeaking bed.
Of New Jersey media outlets, only MMM, InTheLobby and Save Jersey, have given Menendez’s bimbo/ethics violation issues any attention, even after state Senator Sam Thompson, as chairman of the Middlesex County GOP, filed an ethics complaint against Menendez. A senior statehouse reporter told MMM that New Jersey’s mainstream media is not covering the Menendez scandal because “nobody cares.” He said its a matter of priorities and that to expect more of this as fewer and fewer people report news and more and more news. The reporter said he didn’t think the lack of coverage was political.
Of course its political. Just as MMM, InTheLobby and Save Jersey paying attention to the issue is political. There is no such thing as an unbiased media. There’s only those who are honest about their biases and those who are pretending not to be biased.
Super-storm Sandy arrived with a fury leaving devastation and destruction just about every where you turned in Monmouth County. The effects of Sandy have been catastrophic and far reaching. We have all been forced to reckon with the likes of this tragic event of nature. Through no fault of our own, many residents were left frozen and powerless in more ways than one. The wrath of Sandy overwrought the county with crumbled boardwalks, shattered homes, bringing shattered hopes and dreams to many; buildings were destroyed by fallen trees and downed power lines with fires emerging caused major havoc throughout our great county and then…. all was still.
As I toured the areas in Monmouth County that were hit the hardest and who were impacted most severely, I walked around in disbelief. All of it was so surreal.
However, this is Monmouth County. A county filled with people of integrity who possess a passion for protecting and preserving what we as residents have come to know, love and appreciate from living in this wonderful county. Even before the chaos of “Sandy” began and continuing throughout the touchdown of the storm lasting right up until the writing of this article, our County Employees have worked tirelessly and feverishly day and night in a valiant team effort to spare our county and all its residents from even further devastation.
As I write this article today, it is with great pride and an enormous amount of gratitude that I say thank you to all those County Employees who in typical county fashion have risen to the occasion when faced with the challenges brought here by “Sandy”. A simple thank you extended to these impressive men and women somehow just doesn’t seem sufficient. Our Monmouth County employees deserve to be applauded and recognized for their outstanding heroic efforts seen throughout the entire chain of events occurring pre and post “Sandy”. Monmouth County employees are the true backbone of this great county. Under normal circumstances, we residents rely heavily on their abilities and when asked for their assistance, these Monmouth County employees perform their duties effectively and efficiently coupled with an eager responsive manner and always with a willing and able attitude. The handling of “Sandy” was certainly no exception!
Additionally, The Board of Chosen Freeholders would also like to thank and recognize the tremendous effort put forth by each and every one of our Mayors, Council Representatives, Administrators and all of the Emergency Services Personnel who were so instrumental in assisting our County Employees in securing the safety of Monmouth County and its residents. All of the support and man power you supplied certainly aided in accomplishing what needed to get done while making every second count.
Yes, “Sandy” was fierce, wreaked havoc and brought destruction, but along with this negative, she gave way for some very moving positive. What was left behind in the aftermath of “Sandy” was the true human spirit. People came together for the sole purpose of aiding one another. Friends, family members, neighbors and strangers could be seen helping each other all throughout the county. Volunteer forces came out in droves from every state in this great nation joined together to assist our county and local officials, police departments, fire departments and electric companies to name just a few. What an amazing display to observe; concerned random people from everywhere banding together united in one overwhelming effort and all for the sake of the common good of Monmouth County. It is an intangible that was left behind and that most will remember always.
Again, on behalf of the entire Board of Chosen Freeholders, thank you to our premier team of employees for getting us through thus far and who no doubt will continue in their diligence as we work through the next phase of restoration and recovery.
In closing, I reiterate with confidence something that’s been said many, many times before…..Monmouth County is the place you want to be! It certainly has been in the past and we, The Board of Chosen Freeholders, along with our great County Employees are committed to making sure it always will be.
Tom Arnone is Freeholder Deputy Director, Monmouth County
Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread, Devil Dogs and Ding Dongs is going out of business.
The company, which is in Chapter 11, asked a federal judge to for permission to liquidate after its labor union went on strike rather than accept the contract concessions the bankruptcy court imposed.
The company had annual sales of $2.5 billion and employed 18,500 people.
Governor Chris Christie said at a press conference this afternoon that utilities will be connected to homes at Fort Monmouth this weekend and that New Jersey residents that were displaced by Hurricane Sandy should be able to start moving into the temporary housing sometime next week.
The governor said that “some type of lottery system” being developed by the Department of Community Affairs will be employed to select residents who will move onto the fort, because the demand of tempory housing is expected to exceed the supply.
The governor went on to explain that officials are assessing the need for housing this week by interviewing people still in shelters and surveying local officials.
Christie called the press conference to announced that he met with the four leaders of the legislature, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, JR and Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, who all agreed that the states efforts to recover and rebuild from Sandy will not get bogged down in partisanship.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon told MMM that resident selection for temporary housing must comply with FEMA rules and that specifics of when, how and who will be moved into Fort Monmouth is expected to be worked out within a few days.
However, the far left wing website, Gawker, followed Daily Caller’s story with a report from “someone who was unfortunate enough to live in the unit below Menendez’s Washington, DC apartment,” who said “he would bring home a different young, attractive lady almost every night, put on a little jazz, and f**k loudly until 3 a.m.”
Donations Arrive at Salvation Army Warehouse in Trenton En Route to Shore Areas
Trenton, NJ, Nov 11 – Two packed trucks—loaded with donations for New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy— arrived in Trenton today and were unloaded by a group of volunteers, including Congressman Chris Smith (Robbinsville, NJ), whose district was pummeled by the hurricane.
“This is a wonderful act of goodwill and charity on the part of many who want to help New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy,” Smith said. “It is truly heart-felt. On behalf of the people of the Fourth Congressional District and all the hard hits areas of New Jersey, I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. LaTourette of Ohio, the Chesterbrook Elementary School, Gentle Giant Moving Company and the American Trucking Association and all those who made contributions for collecting and shipping these donations to New Jersey. I am extremely appreciative to Maj. Phil Davis of the Salvation Army and his workers who helped unload the trucks and will help make these items available to the victims of Sandy.” Smith, who represents Trenton as well as large Jersey Shore areas in Monmouth and Ocean counties, helped unload two trucks alongside the drivers, Salvation Army workers and other volunteers at the Salvation Army’s warehouse on Enterprise Avenue in Trenton.
U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette (OH-14), who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, and his wife Jennifer and their two children, helped coordinate the effort through their school, sending a total of three trucks. Cong. LaTourette’s Washington office is down the hall from Cong. Smith’s office. After viewing some of the carnage at the Jersey Shore, they decided to offer to collect goods for the victims.
The first truck arrived Wednesday night at a Monmouth County staging area in Lincroft, N.J. Drivers braved the heavy snowfall that totaled over a foot of snow in some areas of Smith’s district from the powerful Nor’easter that followed a week after Hurricane Sandy. The snow storm hampered hurricane relief efforts, including causing a power outage at the Lincroft site that left the drivers out in the cold to sleep overnight in a Lincroft parking lot. The following morning, the drivers were assisted by hard-working county employees from the parks and recreation departments to unload the donations.
The Salvation Army, which runs a relief operation in Monmouth County, sorts through donated items at its Trenton warehouse for redistribution at the Jersey Shore. Donations included bottled water, blankets, winter coats and cleaning supplies (such as new brooms, mops and cleaning chemicals) and other goods.
Just 200 feet from where the guts of their homes are piled a story high and a block wide, the residents of Highlands took a break from their clean up today and came together in Huddy Park to enjoy the gorgeous weather, good food and music and to smile, laugh, cry, and look forward to rebuilding their community.
HPB, a 501 c-3, has established a fund, Hope for Highlands to accept tax deductable contributions to support the community’s recovery from Hurricane Sandy. $6,672 was raised today at the event.
Tax deductable contributions to Hope for Highlands can be mailed to PO Box 375, Highlands, NJ 07732. For additional information about the fund, call 732-291-4713.
