Prompted by our post this morning, Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Monmouth) is looking into the DYFS case of the Jackson family. Angelini’s office called this afternoon seeking contact information for the Jackson’s, which MMM tracked down.
Angelini serves on the Assembly Human Services Committee which overseas DYFS.
While I have not heard the DYFS side of this story, the more I hear of the Jacksons’ story the more disturbing this becomes. Major and Mrs. Jackson have been separated from their children, and their children separated from each other, since April of last year without the benefit of due process, if what I am hearing is accurate.
The Jackson’s took one of their children to an emergency room last April. The child was dehydrated and had elevated sodium levels. DYFS says the child was poisoned and removed all five of the Jackson’s children from their custody the following day. The Jackson’s doctors say the elevated sodium level is medically normal for the condition the child was suffering from.
At an administrative hearing yesterday, DYFS objected to the Jacksons’ doctors tesitfying. The hearing has been adjourned until February.
That’s what I’ve heard so far. MMM will stay on top of this story. We are pleased that Angelini is looking into it.
It’s 5:00pm. You’ve had a long day at work. You’re tired of looking at a computer screen. You’re done with answering silly questions. And for God’s sake, you’re sick of all this snow. What is there to do now?
Get happy, of course!
Even nondrinkers like myself can enjoy Happy Hour, especially when it includes a hip atmosphere, friendly bartenders and so-good-it-should-be-illegal cuisine. Visit Taste at 10 Bridge Ave. in Red Bank for all of the above.
Upon entering Taste for the first time, I was impressed by the rustic meets sexy ambiance – wood floors and brick walls combined with dim lighting and swank décor. I took a seat at the well-stocked bar and checked out news and sports broadcasts on Taste’s five flat screen televisions. While waiting for my friend to arrive, I noticed the intimate lounge area and started dreaming of the VIP parties I’ll hold there when I’m famous. Don’t worry; you’re invited!
My friend Nicole arrived, and we chatted with the lovely female bartenders while sipping on vodka cranberry and good ol’ H2O. Nicole and I had peeked Taste’s menu online earlier (and literally started salivating, mind you), but we still had trouble choosing and appreciated the bartenders’ dinner recommendations. Two signs of a great café: Stellar menu and trustworthy staff. Also two signs that you’ll be back again!
Nicole and I started with two plates of bruschetta. The delicate crostinis almost looked too pretty to eat, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying every bite! The Wild Mushrooms brushetta featured a hearty blend of shitaki, oyster and crimini mushrooms with garlic, thyme, brie cheese and pomegranate balsamic glaze. The Mexicana brought some spice to my palate with black bean spread, cheddar and pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, corn, red onion, jalapenos and cilantro. Olé!
For our main courses, I selected the Mushroom and Goat Cheese press (what can I say, I love mushrooms and cheese!) and Nicole chose the TMP taster. My press was overflowing with wild mushrooms dressed in white truffle oil and balsamic. The earthy taste was enhanced by the tang of fresh goat cheese. I snuck some of Nicole’s slider-style dinner, which included three mini tomato, mozzarella and pesto, hence TMP, sandwiches.
No meal that good is complete without a decadent dessert, so we ditched calorie counting and ordered the Dark Chocolate Brownie “Flight” which is, in fact, three brownies, each complimented by a delectable topping – peanut butter, toasted coconut and walnut crumbles. To die for!
As vegetarians, Nicole and I tend to have trouble dining out. It was very refreshing to find that Taste catered to our needs in all three courses. We both had a more than happy experience at Happy Hour. Workday stress faded away as we enjoyed delightful drinks, delicious food and excellent company. The best part? We can do it again any day of the week! Stop by Taste Happy Hour, and see for yourself what our fuss is about!
Taste Happy Hour is 4:00-7:00pm. Upcoming events include a Lingerie Show, Super Bowl Party and Beach Party. Visit redbanktaste.com for more information.
State offices openings are delayed two hours this morning due to the snow overnight. Officials are cautioning motorists to drive carefully.
During the fallout of the blizzard two weeks ago, some pundits suggested that the Christie administration’s response to the storm would be Governor Christie’s Katrina, i.e. the blizzard would derail Christie’s popularity the way Hurricane Katrina derailed President George W. Bush”s popularity. It didn’t.
Today’s storm would be a big deal if we hadn’t had three feet of snow a couple of weeks ago.
This storm, and the last one too are more likely to be remembered as Christie’s Wilma; i.e., it won’t there won’t be any long term political fallout.
I’m going out to plow the driveway now before Mr. Neighbor gets up.
Posted: January 12th, 2011 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Uncategorized | Tags:Snow job | Comments Off on Will today’s storm be Christie’s Wilma?
Don’t blame Sarah Palin or the Tea Parties. Blame Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
By Art Gallagher
If the news reports are accurate, the heinous acts of 22 year old Jared Loughner in Arizona were not political. They were sick acts of a very mentally ill young man.
The most sane commentary I have read or heard about the tragdey in Tucson was on facebook.
“The tragic failure of responsible people — parents, teachers, police and others who encountered this troubled young man all through his pre-teen and teen years to intervene effectively is the real cause of the tragedy in Tucson. His symptoms were clear and compelling, yet little or nothing that we know of was done.
Having worked with troubled young people, I know there are hundreds, if not thousands more like him. The army could turn him down, but that didn’t stop him from buying a fearsome assault weapon. No wonder our jail population has risen 725% since 1958, while our total population has only risen 79% in that time. Far too many of us just don’t care — until it is too late.
The brightest light in Tucson is 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who gave her life while showing the rest of us how to live. Born on 9/11, she had recently recently received her first Holy Communion, and was eager to learn what we all need to learn to restore America’s greatness. There were other heroes here, but she was the brightest light of all. Let us never forget her.”
Scott Sipprelle said:
“It is desperately irresponsible to claim that Gabby Giffords was a victim of violent political speech. This committed and thoughtful public servant was gunned down by a deranged person, one who rambled nonsense about the government taking away “grammar” and of having a colorful bird on his shoulder. Let’s channel our energy to find out where all of this mental illness is coming from.
I am struck by the haunting similarities to the young, white, confused, disillusioned Columbine killers, who used almost exactly the same words about living in a dream-like state. Seems to me that mental illness, especially among the young and relatively privileged, has gotten much worse.
This guy didn’t have the mental stability to be adhering to any political dogma…far left, right, or anything in between.”
True to their “never waste a good crisis” philosophy, the left stream media and their allies in the Democratic leadership are blaming the tragedy on “vitriolic political rhetoric” from the right and from the Tea Party movement. That is why various Tea Party leaders are wisely issuing statements, just as they did when the leftist were waging their PR campaign that attempted to paint the Tea Parties as racists.
The Tea Parties aren’t racists and they aren’t violent. They are previously apathetic average Americans who have woken up, garnerd their political power and started to reverse the progressive/socialist/free spending agenda that has taken over our various governments.
The left would rather that previously apathetic average Americans go back to sleep. They won’t.
Congressman James Clyburn spent 10 minutes on FoxNews Sunday this morning blaming the Arizona tradegy on speech he would rather silence. Democratic Pima Arizona County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is trying to become a national figure by blaming the shooting on bigotry, vitriol and Sarah Palin.
Both Clyburn and Dupnik are egomaniacal morons.
We’ve come to expect this bs from Clyburn, the third highest ranking Democrat in congress. Strangely, Clyburn also used his FoxNews commentary about the Gabrielle Gifford’s shooting to call for members of congress to be exempt from the TSA’s federal fondling program.
Dupnik should get off TV blaming political rhetoric for the murders and attempted murders that happened on his watch. The media talking heads should not be letting Dupnik get away with this crap. If he wants to go on TV, the so called journalists should ask him why a U.S. Congresswoman and a Federal Judge were appearing in public without even one police officer present, especially if there is so much anger and bigotry in his county as he claims. Let him explain that to the parents and brother of Christina Green.
The truth is blaming Dupnik, Palin or anyone else other than Loughner won’t make any difference. It won’t raise the dead or heal the wounded.
We should all heed Howard’s words and not look the other way when we encounter an obviously troubled person of any age. We should heed Sipprelle’s words and focus on the health and well being of young people instead of trying to score political points and silence those we don’t agree with.
Avoiding the hassle and hoping for the best is negligence. Not wanting to get involved is endangerment.
Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Tom Arnone and GOP Council candidate Bob Ferrante campaign in Manasquan on Sunday
By Art Gallagher
Voters will go to the polls in Manansquan on Tuesday to choose a member of the borough’s council. The November 2 election resulted in a tie, after a recount, between Republican Robert Ferrante and Democrat Owen McCarthy.
If Ferrante is the winner on Tuesday, Republicans will lead the borough council with a 4-2 majority. Should McCarthy win, the council will be divided 3-3, with Democratic Mayor George Dempsey breaking the tie.
Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholder Tom Arnone braved the elements today to hit the campaign trail with Ferrante. Golden said, “We need to swing Manasquan into the Republican column. The voters deserve a fiscally conservative councilman like Bobby Ferrante.”
While I appreciate everyone is heartbroken over the death and injury of innocent human beings, I feel myself wondering why all the Tea Parties are making public statements “denouncing” and “condemning” the actions of some lunatic.
Are we giving in to the demands of the left that we take responsibility for any deranged white person that commits a crime? What other group other than Conservatives, does the left insist denounce and comdemn for crimes committed?
My heart goes out to ALL that were killed and injured, and their families. Especially, the child who is truly innocent. The dignitaries put themselves in danger as public officials every day.
I will not, however, defend or apologize for the actions of any extremist group or individual as a Tea Party American. I am an American citizen who happens to be part of a movement that condemns the taking of our liberties and freedom. How can you let the left dictate that you make statements in regard to this tragedy and cowardly, horrible act? I cannot speak on behalf of the whole Tea Party Group that I represent, but speaking on behalf of myself, I am not going to defend, condemn, denounce or anything else regarding this action.
Obviously, as a human being I am horrified by the events, but to feel that I have to publicly defend the Tea Party for this….not happening.
Township road crews continue to battle one of the most severe snow storms in recent memory with a goal of reaching all township roads by midnight on Tuesday, said Mayor Gerard P. Scharfenberger.
Road crews have been working fervently around the clock since 10:00 am on Sunday, December 26th. Township crews, consisting of 40 plows and 6 front end loaders, supplemented by an additional 25 plows and 4 front-end loaders belonging to private contractors, are working to clear more than 300 miles of township road, Scharfenberger said.
Mayor Scharfenberger issued a local state of emergency for Middletown Township while township crews work to make local roads as safe for travel as possible.
“The sheer volume of the snow generated by this storm is far greater than we’ve seen in many years so plowing is taking longer than usual. Anyone who does not absolutely need to be on the road should remain at home as long as possible. The fewer cars on the road, the faster plow operators can complete their work,” Scharfenberger said.
“We appreciate everyone’s continued patience and cooperation while crews work to complete the plowing. We will get to every street as quickly as possible,” Scharfenberger added.
Road crews generally prioritize main and arterial roads ahead of local, residential streets and cul-de-sacs. However, top priority must be given to clearing any necessary roads for first aid and fire emergencies during storms. As a result, plow operators must continually be diverted to respond to emergency calls, explained Public Works Director Ted Maloney.
There have been more than 270 fire and first aid emergency incidents in the last 36 hours and over 1,200 emergency calls. Normal volume for this time period is about 80 incidents, said Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante.
Due to a tremendous call volume today, some calls to Town Hall are not going through. Calls simply asking when your street will be plowed are difficult to answer due to the magnitude of the situation, but again our goal is to reach all streets at least once by midnight. Callers are reminded to limit 9-1-1 calls to true medical and health emergencies, Mercantante said
Wait until your street is completely plowed before clearing driveways and sidewalks if possible. Facing the street, shovel snow from left to right since the plows will also pass from left to right. Any accumulation that protrudes into the road can be plowed back to the curb without pushing it back into your driveway, Maloney said.
Residents are also reminded that township ordinances prohibit shoveling or blowing snow into the street. The snow will only be pushed back into your driveway and onto sidewalks when the plows return, Maloney said.
This storm and the accompanying road conditions are by far the worst I’ve ever witnessed. Roads throughout the bayshore, even the State Highways that have been plowed repeatedly are barely passable, if passable at all.
Today was one of those days not to take your plans too seriously, even if you thought you were prepared.
I was prepared, so I thought.
Yesterday morning I went to my office to get my little pickup truck, hook up the plow and headed home to watch the Jets lose and the Giants get embarrassed.
Once it was clear there was no coming back for the Giants I went out and plowed the driveway and drove back to the office to clear the lot. My truck and plow are small and this was going to be a big storm. Best to get ahead of it. In the hour it took to get home from the office, crawling behind the DOT contractors clearing Route 36, the driveway was covered again. I plowed it again and called it a night.
This morning started out as expected. Looking out the window I could see the winds were still very strong. The white caps on the bay were more ferocious than I’d ever seen before. None of the streets in downtown Highlands appeared to be cleared. A few brave souls were trying to dig out their cars to get to work. Today was going to be a long day, but there was no rush at 6:30am. Today was going to be a clean up day, not a business day. There was time to tweak Paul Mulshine and the ideologues.
It was about time to clean off the truck and clear the driveway.
I live atop the bluff in Highlands and share the driveway with my neighbor. As is usually the case after a snow storm, Mrs. Neighbor is the first out and shoveling. She shovels where she knows I am going to plow in a half hour or so. I stopped questioning why last winter; it is just what she does. Her teenage boys join her after a little while. Then I come out, warm and clean up my truck and plow. When I’m about done plowing Mr. Neighbor comes out, takes a survey and if need be cleans up what is left with his 30 year old 14 horsepower rear wheel drive Toro tractor and plow. That’s the routine.
So far so good. I leave the house and greet the boys. I shout down the driveway to Mrs. Neighbor to take it easy as I’ll be down the hill with the plow momentarily. The truck is warming up, I’m scraping the ice and snow off the windows when the unexpected happens
.
Mr. Neighbor, like a gladiator entering the arena, exists his garage straddling his 14 horses and heads down the path his wife and boys had cleared. He rides the tractor right past me without so much as a glance, as his intense glare was on the task ahead. He gets to the end of the clear path, enters the snow and promptly stops. He is stuck. It would have been funny, if I was not on the wrong side of the tractor with a plow that would have easily cleared the driveway had he waited five minutes.
There was no moving the 14 horses. The tractor would not go back up the hill.While trying to push the tractor up the hill, the chains on the tires were ripping into the driveway we got repaved a year or so ago.The best bet was to dig a clearing for the tractor off to the right so that I could get by with the plow and clear the driveway for everyone, just as I would have done already had Mr. Neighbor only waited five minutes.
My little truck with plow, left. Mr. Neighbor's stuck tiny tractor, center. The Neighbor family clearing a spot for the stuck tractor, background.
Finally we get the tractor out of the way and I cleared the lower driveway. Now the tricky part. I always go back up the driveway in reverse with the plow. Otherwise I would be plowing snow uphill into my house and into Mr. and Mrs. Neighbor’s house. Its tricky because I need to get some speed going to get up the hill without getting stuck in ice and without damaging any of the cars parked in the snow or either house. Today it was trickier because I had to navigate around the tractor, which Mr. Neighbor was still sitting on for some reason. I over compensated for Mr. Neighbor and slid off the driveway. My truck was half on the driveway and half on a drop off to my front lawn. Mr. Neighbor smiled for the first time this morning.
My little stuck truck, left. Mr. Neighbor's tiny stuck tractor, right. Plowed lower driveway, background.
I called a tow truck operator who I had run against for borough council twice (note to Gene and Ed if you’re reading, it often works to be civil with people who you disagree with) who showed up with in an hour and had me back on four wheels within 10 minutes of arriving. I looked up the driveway. The Neighbors had managed to move one of their vehicles caddy corner into the place where I had hoped to get to so that I could clear the upper driveway. Over two hours had already passed and I’d only done half of what I’d planned. If only Mr. Neighbor had waited five minutes. Time for me to take care of my office lot and the friends who I promised I would help out.
The roads were horrible. I was able to clear, partly, one friends lot. None of the roads to Sea Scape Manor were passable. Even if they were, I might be able to get down their driveway and not get out. I had to cross the Azzolina Bridge before I could turn around to get back into Highlands. Sea Bright looked like a ghost town, except for the abandoned vehicles at the base of the bridge. A Volvo with its lights on and a National Park Service truck, complete with plow, both of which appeared to be parked.
Abandoned vehicles at the base of the Azzolina Bridge
I finally made it to my office in Belford around 2PM. Route 36 had been plowed repeatedly all night and was not clear.
Route 36, Leonardo section of Middletown around 2PM
I couldn’t access my lot in Belford. The snow that the DOT contractors had plowed was taller than I am. Maybe we’ll be closed tomorrow too.
None of the side streets off of Route 36 appeared to be plowed. While navigating one of those streets trying to get to a friend’s business to see if he was still using his front loader a teenage boy about 15 or 16 jumped into the middle of the street to flag me down and beg that I clear his driveway so that his father could get his car out to go to work at the post office. I got stuck in that driveway but managed to clear it out well enough for Dad to get to work. Then Granddad, who appeared to be in his 80’s asked that I clear his van out and move the snow away from the backdoor of the house that he usually uses. I told him that I couldn’t do it until junior left for work, which would require just a bit of shoveling. I asked for $20 for what I had done so far and told him I’d be back. I got the $20 and didn’t go back.
My friend had a front loader. His lot was clear and the snow piled high. But I had no idea where my friend and his front loader were. Both were gone and his phone didn’t answer. Another friend answered his cell and said he would clear the driveways to my lot. He said he’d call me when he goes to my place. I haven’t heard from him yet.
Heading back to Highlands, the roads were still horrible.
Route 36 at about 4pm. Highlands on the left, Middletown on the right.
Ralph St, Highlands at about 4PM
Finally I got home. Neighbor’s 14 horses was still stuck where we left it hours ago, but there were no cars caddy corner at the top of the driveway. I successfully navigated around the tractor and up the driveway. Down I come with the first swipe at the upper driveway. I pushed the snow into the pile I started earlier and backed up. Something’s wrong. The plow won’t go up. I check the wires. It’s connected and I can hear it engaging, but no movement.
The good news was I was home. Back up the hill in reverse, dragging the plow. Safely around the tractor and into my spot.
By Art Gallagher
Taste Happy Hour is 4:00-7:00pm. Upcoming events include a Lingerie Show, Super Bowl Party and Beach Party. Visit 
