Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger and Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone issued the following statement:
When the State of New Jersey ordered our business community to shut down for a two-week quarantine period, we agreed that it was in the best interest to do so for the safety and well being of our residents, business owners and their employees. Now, ten weeks later, our small businesses remain shut down without any guidance from Trenton as to when they can reopen their doors, bring back employees and attempt to move forward in the wake of a significant loss of revenue.
Masked legislators, restaurateurs and supporters gathered in Sea Bright on May 29 to plead with Governor Murphy to allow them limited reopening on June 5.
Governor Phil Murphy will announce today that he will allow outdoor dining at New Jersey restaurants starting on Monday, June 15, MMM has learned.
The NJ Restaurant and Hospitality Association has pleaded with Murphy to open restaurants on June 5. Murphy’s action will cost these small businesses and their employees 10 days of business, including two traditionally busy late spring weekends.
The murder of George Floyd while in custody by a Minneapolis
police officer demands justice—and an absolute recommitment by law enforcement
and policymakers to always ensure that any person taken into custody is treated
with respect, nonviolence and professionalism.
Ray Cosgrove, owner of Bahrs Landing in Highlands, center, at Woody’s in Sea Bright for the NJRHA press conference on Friday, May 29. Photo by Art Gallagher
Revolution is delightful in the preliminary stages. – Aldous Huxley
Tom DeSeno
By Tom DeSeno
Asbury Park feels like we are dancing on a volcano.
An Asbury Parker named Felicia Simmons is running a rally on
Monday, at 5 pm, on the sidewalk in front of the Post office. At this writing, 3,000 people on the event
page are either going (1,023) or interested in going (1,947).
I justify the cause.
George Floyd suffered the only thing worse than death; he was tortured
first. Face down in the gutter, knee on his carotid artery, knowing he was
dying and begging for a life endowed by his creator especially for him, for
which no one had the right to take or make him beg. He died terrified. It didn’t last 9 minutes.
It lasted George’s forever.
Six weeks ago, an unarmed man was needlessly confronted and then killed in Georgia. Last week, a New York City woman became unhinged and reckless in the presence of a harmless man. And this week, America witnessed the murder of a helpless George Floyd. The victims, all black, were our fellow Americans. Fellow citizens who deserved “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
What is happening to us? The passage of time is supposed to make us more tolerant, more respectful, more accepting, more civil, less ignorant.
Chef David Burke speaking during the NJ Restaurant and Hospitality Assoc press conference in Sea Bright, May 29, 2020. Photo by Art Gallagher
Monmouth County has reported a total of 8,253 positive cases on COVID-19, according to an announcement by Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Sue Kiley on May 31. The NJ Department of Health reports that 597 County residents have succumbed to the virus.
A town by town breakdown of positive cases since March is as follows:
Governor Phil Murphy announced school funding cuts in the amounts of $336 million due to the pandemic related revenue shortfall, northjersey.com reports.
The Asbury Park Press reports that the whale, apparently a juvenile, was struck by a slow moving boater who did not see it until it breached. Neither the whale nor the boater appeared to be injured.
The whale, which appeared to be entangled with a gil net around its body, was last seen heading into the Sandy Hook Bay. Boaters are asked to avoid the area.
A humpback whale was spotted in the Shrewsbury River in Highlands on Friday, according to a facebook post by the NJ State Police.
New Jersey’s top law enforcement official said Friday the state “will never tolerate the types of police practices” that resulted in the death of George Floyd, the Minnesota man whose death in police custody ignited protests nationwide.
State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement he was “horrified by the footage of Mr. Floyd’s death,” and the recent arrest of the former officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck was “an important first step in the search for justice.”
The comments came the evening before a planned protest in Newark over Floyd’s death.
