Middletown Police Chief Robert Oches. Photo courtesy of Middletown Patch
Middletown Police Chief Robert Oches is getting $249,338 for unused sick and vacation time accumulated over his 40 year career upon his retirement at the end of this month. The payout is at Oches current pay scale, despite the fact that the time accumulated over a 40 year period.
The Township Committee approved the payment, reluctantly because it is required by State Law, at Monday night’s meeting.
Committeeman Tony Fiore said that most Oches’ unused time was accumulated prior to 1996 when the Township Committee passed a 150 day cap on retirement awards.
Richard Tremblay Jr. Joseph Gonsalves is charged with his death.
Joseph Gonsalves, 20, of Howell Township faces charges of Vehicular Homicide, Driving While Intoxicated, Underage Driving While Intoxicated, Reckless Driving, Speeding and Failure to Maintain Lane, according to an announcement by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Gonsalves surrendered to the police yesterday and is in custody at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution on $75,000 bail with no cash option as set by Judge Angela White Dalton.
On April 16, shortly after 10 p.m., Ronald Tremblay Jr, 21, also of Howell, was a passenger in the back seat of a car that Gonsalves was driving east on Alexander Ave when the vehicle left the road and struck several trees before coming to rest. Tremblay had head trauma and was found non-responsive in the backseat and died later that night at Kimball Medical Center in Lakewood, according to published reports of the accident. Another passenger, Brandon Roselli, 21 of Manalapan, suffered minor injuries, as did Tremblay.
Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson administering the Oath of Office to Freeholder Gary Rich, January 2012.
New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced yesterday that Judge Lisa P. Thornton will replace Judge Lawrence M. Lawson as the Assignment Judge of the Monmouth County Vicinage, effective September 1, 2014.
Lawson, who has served on the bench since 1987 and as Assignment Judge since 1993, is retiring three years before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Thornton will be the first female African-American Assignment Judge in the history of the New Jersey Court. She served as Rabner’s Chief of Staff when he was New Jersey’s Attorney General under Governor Jon Corzine.
A resident of Neptune, Thornton was appointed to the Court by Corzine in 2008. She earned her law degree from Rutgers-Newark in 1992 while she was employed by Prudential Financial. She was the Municipal Court Judge of Neptune Township from January of 1999 through December 2001. In 2002 Thornton was named special deputy commissioner of the Department of Banking and Insurance where she served until joining Corzine’s office as senior associate counsel in January of 2006 where she served until joining Rabner in the Attorney General’s Office in September of 2006.
Governor Chris Christie is scheduled to be in Keansburg on Monday morning, 10:30am, to make an announcement and give updates on the Homeowners’ Elevation Program.
The event is scheduled to take place at a private residence at 57 Beaconlight Ave.
Dr. Dale Whilden, President of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Assoc, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Sen Jennifer Beck, Gov Chris Christie, Congressman Chris Smith and Neptune Mayor Dr. Michael Brantley cut the ribbon of Ocean Grove’s rebuilt boardwalk
After being twice denied funding from FEMA before finally getting $2.4 million on their second appeal, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association re-opened their boardwalk to the public today with a ceremonial ribbon cutting lead by Governor Chris Christie, Congressman Chris Smith, Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Neptune Township Mayor Dr. Michael Brantley and Dr. Dale C. Whilden, President of the OGCMA.
“Today is truly a great day for Ocean Grove, Neptune Township, Monmouth County, and the Jersey Shore, and a critical step forward in our recovery from Sandy,” said Smith.”This boardwalk is an integral part of Ocean Grove the neighboring Jersey Shore community, a fact we reinforced during our efforts to reverse FEMA’s original decision at the local level—and yet another at the regional level—to deny critical funding.”
After 25 years of service over a 28 year period, C. Read Murphy has stepped down from the Sea Bright Borough Council.
Murphy has been contemplating leaving the council for some time. He informed the Sea Bright Republican Committee he would not seek another term during their candidate selection process last spring, and then had a last minute change of heart and filed to run in the primary.
John Lamia, the candidate selected by the committee to replace Murphy before his change of heart, was the top vote getter, with 63 votes, in the primary. Murphy and his fellow incumbent, James LoBiondo, tied and there was one write-in vote, which created a vacancy for the second GOP nomination for council. Murphy also had a write-in vote in the Democratic primary.
For the last several months, Murphy has wanted the borough to hire him as the beach manager, a job he has been performing as a volunteer. Had he been hired, he would have resigned. Murphy said the job is still up in the air, but that he resigned for personal reasons and not due to his pending job application.
Rickey Patat, of Great Kills, spotted the whale last week as he sailed his boat in Raritan Bay and caught it on video.
“I find them almost every time I go out on my boat,” he said. “I always alert the Coast Guard and report the status and condition of the whale to the best of my ability.”
The Advance quoted Mendy Garron of NOAA’s Mammal Response Program in Gloucester, Mass as saying that whales have been spotted in both the Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays.
Trenton- Alcohol Beverage Control Director Michael Halfacre announced charges against two Jersey Shore area drinking establishments today.
Forked River House of Lacey Township is charged with serving alcohol to actually or apparently intoxicated individuals on six occasions between August of 2012 and March of 2013. In each occasion, the patrons were arrested for driving while intoxicated after leaving the establishment. Their blood alcohol concentration ranged from .15% to .21%. In New Jersey, a person is guilty of drunk driving if their blood alcohol concentration is .08% or greater.
Porta, the Asbury Park pizza restaurant is charged with serving alcohol to two underage women during the summer of 2012. Undercover investigators arrested two 20 year old women for underage drinking on June 9, 2012. A month later investigators arrested a third 20 woman for underage drinking at Porta.
The Borough of Union Beach announced that the Independence Day Fireworks celebration on the beachfront, originally scheduled for tonight, July 3, has been postponed until Saturday night, July 5th, due to expected inclement weather.
Calling a bill that would have reduced permitted ammunition magazine sized from 15 rounds to 10 “reform in name only,” Governor Chris Christie conditionally vetoed A2006 this afternoon.
In his conditional veto message, Christie said the bill follows the well worn path of empty rhetoric, political self-promotion and polarizing intolerance in the face of violent crimes committed with guns:
“Difficult choices are brushed aside
in favor of empty rhetoric. Uncomfortable topics are left
unexplored, while easy soundbites and videoclips are packaged
for consumption. Appropriate empathy for victims, and their
suffering survivors, blurs with politics and elected officials’
self-promotion to create a polarizing intolerance. We ignore
the hard for the expedient, the controversial for the safely
familiar, and the costly for those cheaply recycled answers that
never really address the root causes.”
Christie sent the legislation back to the General Assembly as a bill that he says addresses violence by fixing critical short comings and crack in the mental healthcare system.
Trenton- Alcohol Beverage Control Director Michael Halfacre announced charges against two Jersey Shore area drinking establishments today.
