Belmar marks Sandy anniversary with return of last 2 displaced families

BELMAR – In February, borough officials and The Saint Vincent De Paul Society of St. Rose in Belmar announced a fundraising campaign, called “Home by Summer,” aimed at getting the borough’s last two families displaced by Hurricane Sandy back in their own homes by June. Well, June came and went – as did the entire summer… Read the rest of this entry »

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Saturday is Make a Difference Day in Middletown

Township Committee Urges Residents to Make Food Donations This Week

Middletown Township is participating in the nationwide community service day, Make A Difference Day, on Saturday October 24.

The Middletown Social Services Department is holding a food and cleaning supplies drive through Friday, October 23. Non-perishable food, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene items and paper products are needed to restock Middletown Pantry. The Middletown Pantry, which is managed by the Social Services Department and Middletown Helps Its Own, provides emergency food and household supplies to residents in need.

Donations can be dropped off at the following locations:

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Marlboro Republicans Accuse Hornik Democrats of “Fairy Tales” and “Gimmickry”

Hornik Campaign: Republicans Don’t Know How Municipal Government Works, Blames Board Of Ed, John Dwyer For Tax Increases

Graphic via PositivelyMarlboro.com, the Marlboro Republican candidates’ website

Invoking Abraham Lincoln’s ‘You can fool all of the people’ quote and Congressman Frank Pallone’s promise of affordable healthcare, the Republican “PositivelyMarlboro” team of Ira Goldberg for Mayor and Council candidates John Dwyer and Sui Allex charged that their incumbent Democrat opponents, Mayor Jonathan Hornik and Councilwoman Randi Marder have been deceiving the public regarding their record of taxing and spending.  The Republicans noted that Hornik’s own property tax assessment went down in 2015 and that Marder’s assessment is lower now than it was in 2011.

In a press release and postings on their website and on facebook on Friday, the Republicans said that Hornik and his “obedient” and rubber stamp” Township Council are employing election year budgetary gimmicks and deceitful campaign language in an attempt to convince voters that they’ve been fiscally responsible and that others—the Board of Education and the County Tax Board—are responsible for the growing tax burden.

The Republicans disputed Hornik’s recent claim that the new property tax assessment program has “effectively has eliminated the avenue to appeal a tax assessment.”

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Chamber of Commerce honors Casagrande as Legislator of the year

Caroline Casagrande
accepting the Legislator of the Year Award from Chamber President & CEO
Tom Bracken and Michel Egenton, Senior Vice President.

The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce honored Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande as Legislator of the year last night at its biannual legislative awards reception at the New Jersey Center of Excellence in Bridgewater.

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, an attorney and the assistant Republican Leader in the Assembly, is an outspoken advocate for government efficiency and for identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in government agencies. She has introduced legislation that would establish job creation among small businesses and a bill that would establish tax-free business incubators at institutions of higher education. Further, Assemblywoman Casagrande has a bill that will codify the New Jersey Business Action Center into law, guaranteeing its permanence.

Casagrande represents New Jersey’s 11th Legislative District which includes Allenhurst, Asbury Park, Colts Neck, Deal, Eatontown, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Interlaken, Loch Arbour, Long Branch, Neptune City, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls, and West Long Branch.

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Hornik Calls For Suspension Of Tax Assessment Program

Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik and Councilwoman Randi Marder at a campaign event last month. photo via facebook

Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik called for the immediate suspension of the controversial tax assessment program, Assessment Demonstration Pilot Program(ADP), in a press release issued Tuesday evening.

Responding to an “investigate report” in the Asbury Park Press that alleges cronyism, nepotism and ethics violations on the part of Monmouth County Tax Administrator Matt Clark, former Tax Commissioner Daniel Kelly and the companies that won the contracts to provide the inspections and appraisals of all Monmouth County properties that are assessed through ADP, Hornik said, “I am heartened by the recent call by the Asbury Park Press for an investigation of the Monmouth County Tax Assessment Demonstration Pilot Program,” said Mayor Hornik. “I have been a vocal critic of this program since its inception, and I expressed, in no uncertain terms, that the program did not fairly and accurately reflect market value, that it inappropriately interfered with local tax assessors and that it had a disproportionate adverse effect on residential and senior citizen property taxpayers.”

Hornik joins Freeholder John Curley in calling for ADP to be suspended and investigated.

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Smith, NJ Delegation Continue to Press for Transparency, Reform at NFIP

WASHINGTON, DC – At a Capitol Hill meeting hosted Oct. 7 by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Dean of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation, with Roy Wright, Deputy Associate Administrator for Insurance and Mitigation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a bipartisan group of NJ Members of Congress continued to press for equitable relief for… Read the rest of this entry »

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Marlboro Camp Counselor Gets PTI For Sexting Charges

Matthew Kleinstein. Photo via FelicianAthletics.com

Freehold, NJ- Robert Honecker, Esq. smiled broadly as he left Judge Ronald Lee Reisner’s courtroom at 9:10 a.m. on Friday morning, followed closely by his client Matthew Kleinstein and the Kleinstein family.

Judge Reisner was not on the bench. A reporter sat in the last row of the courtroom with a perplexed look on her face. Kleinstein, the former Marlboro Camp Counselor who pleaded guilty in August to 4th degree Cyber Harassment after sending images of his penis to four 11-13 female campers in his care the previous summer, had his sentencing hearing outside of the presence of the media.

It is a rare occurrence that Court proceedings start promptly at 9 a.m. when so scheduled.  If you’re summoned to Court at 9 a.m. and bring an attorney, chances are pretty good that you’ll be paying for an hour or two of his/her time to work on other cases from his/her phone and/or laptop computer.

Judge Reisner started his calendar promptly on Friday morning.  Maybe even early.  He dealt with the Kleinstein matter and then apparently left the bench as approximately 30 other defendants patiently waited in the courtroom for their sentencing hearings.

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Hornik Campaign Accuses Marlboro Republicans Of “Dirty Politics” For Proposing Recreation Department Reforms

There appears to be a race worth watching in Marlboro

The Democratic campaign of Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik and Council Members Randi Marder and Michael Scalea has characterized their opponents’ plan to reform the Township’s Summer Camp as “cheap gutter politics.”

In statement promoted by Hornik on facebook and released on the JerseyShoreInsider blog (a site funded by Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal and Ocean County Democratic Chairman Wyatt Earp that has nothing to do with Snooki or The Situation), Hornik campaign manager Jon Evans accused Republican candidate for Mayor Ira Goldberg and Council candidates Sui Allex and John Dwyer of exploting the “unfortunate and serious incident” that occurred as a result of Matthew Kleinstein, while working as a Marlboro Camp Counselor, sending pictures of his penis to four 11-13 year old female campers in his care.

Councilman Scalea was a member of the Township’s Recreation Committee at the time the incident occurred.

Evans’s statement goes on to claim that the reforms the Republicans proposed are already in practice in the Township of Marlboro.  Evan’s states that the Republicans have no platform for improving Marlboro’s government.  Read the full statement (that Evans inexplicably did not send directly to MMM) here:

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Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, October 9-11, 2015

By Greg Kelly

Like this?

Friday, Oct 9

• The Rainmaker by Center Players (Freehold) – MORE INFO
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at Allaire Village – MORE INFO
• Always … Patsy Cline at Algonquin Arts Theatre (Manasquan) – MORE INFO
• Bruce Springsteen: A Photographic Journey at Monmouth U (WLB) – MORE INFO
• Jersey Shore Ghost Tours (Red Bank) – MORE INFO
• Seussical the Musical at Jersey Shore Arts Center Theater (Neptune) – MORE INFO
• Camp Evans Base of Terror (Wall Twp.) – MORE INFO
• A. Casola Farms’ Famous Fall Fest (Holmdel) – MORE INFO

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Marlboro Camp Counselor Pleads Guilty To Sexting With 4 Teen Campers

Civil suit alleges that Marlboro Recreation Department failed to supervise, protect children and attempted to cover up sexting incidents

Matthew Kleinstein

Matthew Kleinstein, 20, of Marlboro Township, pleaded guilty to fourth degree Cyber Harassment on August 17, 2015 in Monmouth County Court.   Kleinstein had also been charged with 3rd degree Endangering the Welfare of a Minor after he sent pictures of his genitals to four female campers, ages 11-13, via text message and SnapChat, during his employment as a Camp Counselor with the Marlboro Department of Recreation at Marlboro High School during the summer of 2014.

Kleinstein has applied for Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI).  He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Ronald Lee Reisner on October 9th at 9 a.m, according to Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.  If accepted into the PTI program, Kleinstein will avoid serving jail time and have his criminal record expunged upon successfully completing the program.

A civil lawsuit filed by one of the victims and her guardian on September 18, 2015 alleges that Kleinstein’s father, Darrin Kleinstein, Vice Chairman of the Marlboro Recreation Advisory Committee, obstructed the investigation into his son’s actions by the Marlboro Recreation Department and the Marlboro Police Department.  The suit alleges that the elder Kleinstein contended that the allegations were false and manufactured with the intent of harassing his son.

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