Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni
Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni is asking the public to assist detectives in the investigation of a Manalapan car fire.
Manalapan police and fire departments responded to multiple ‘911’ calls at 4:11 a.m. on Monday, May 12, reporting a car fire at 8 Elisa Court. The fire was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported. The fire is currently under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Charles Alaimo from the Manalapan Township Police Department at 732-446-4300 or Detective John Leibfried from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-620-4022.
Edward McKenna, 63, of Red Bank was involved in a one car accident while traveling north in a 2012 black Mercedes-Benz sedan on the Garden State Parkway at 9:50 pm Monday night. The accident occurred at mile marker 108 in Tinton Falls. He was arrested by the New Jersey State Police and charged with Driving While Intoxicated, according the Sgt. Adam Grossman of the NJSP Public Information Office.
Grossman said that McKenna submitted to a breathalyzer test, but would not disclose the results. Another law enforcement official familiar with the case said McKenna “blew very high.”
McKenna was the mayor of Red Bank from 1991 through 2006. He is currently chairman of the New Jersey State Planning Commission.
In March of 2009 McKenna’s car struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk outside of Riverview Medical Center, according to RedBankGreen. He was cited by the Red Bank Police with failure to yield to a pedestrian. In October of 2000 he was involved in an accident at mile marker 110 on the Parkway, leaving the scene before police arrived, according to RBG. McKenna said at the time that he identified himself to the other driver and left after waiting awhile for the police. Later, the State Police visited his home where his wife told the troopers he had taken a pain killer for his shoulder and was sleeping.
McKenna was not available when we called his law office for comment. This story will be updated if he calls back.
By Tony Fiore, Former Middleotown Mayor and Current Township Committeeman
I am writing today to ask you to join me in support of three extraordinary county leaders who deserve our support on June 4th; Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Freeholder Deputy Director Serena Dimaso. As the Mayor of the largest municipality in Monmouth County, it should come as no surprise that I have had many first hand experiences working with Shaun, Tom and Serena on a number of issues and initiatives. While I can point to a number of needed improvements that they have helped to bring to Middletown, it is not my intention. Instead, I’d like to share with you my experience working with them during one of the most difficult and challenging times in our township’s history.
Superstorm Sandy’s impact on Middletown was unprecedented. Thousands lost their homes and everyone lost power for almost two weeks. When we needed to secure our devastated bayshore for safety and security, we couldn’t depend on the federal government to get us the necessary resources. However, we could depend on Sheriff Golden. Each day Sheriff Golden would hold a personal call with both myself and the Township Police administration. Through his efforts, officers from as far as Mississippi came into Middletown to help us secure our most affected areas. At his direction helicopters with night vision flew over our bayshore to prevent and catch looters and others who came in to prey on our victims. Through his leadership, we were safe. I received a call or text message from him every day asking for our needs until power was 100% restored and we were back to some semblance of normal.
The A-Team slate of candidates in the Asbury Park election has hired Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett as their attorney to challenge today’s election results.
Bennett told MMM’s Tommy DeSeno that he will be verifying what votes were not counted and why. He said he would also be looking at how many votes of the thrown out absentees may have voted provisionally and still need to be counted.
An A-Team campaign worker told DeSeno that the team believes they can pick up three of the five seats on the City Council. The didn’t win any seats in the unofficial count of machine and vote by mail (absentee) ballots.
The A-Team is comprised of former Councilman James Keady, former board of education member Redmond Palmer, Duanne Small, Nora Hyland and Daniel Harris. The top three A-Team candidates, Keady, Small and Harris, would need to pick up approximately 200 votes that have been rejected in order to over come the leads of the bottom three “unofficial” winners, Myra Campbell, Sue Henderson and John Loffredo.
Keady received 409 votes in the unofficial tally; Small 405 and Harris 388. Unofficial winners Loffredo received 640 votes, Henderson 608 and Campbell 598.
Four candidates of the 22 who ran, lost “unofficially” with more votes than the A-Team’s top three. Incumbent Kevin Sanders, a former mayor and former Republican of the Forward Asbury slate received 574 votes, Joe Woerner of the One Asbury slate received 566 votes, Talesha Crank of One Asbury received 441 votes, William Potter of the Forward Asbury slate received 431 votes, and Gregory Hopson received 428 votes.
The top “unofficial” winners, John Moor with 699 votes and Amy Quinn with 693, both of One Asbury, appear to be safe in what appears to be an inevitable recounted elected.
UPDATE 11:42 PM AsburyParkSun reports that A-Team candidate Jim Keady claims that 332 mail-in ballots have not been counted. Keady said 80 of the ballots were discarded because they were not filled in properly.
John Moor, Amy Quinn, John Loffredo, Sue Henderson and Myra Campbell are the top five vote getters of the 22 candidates for Asbury Park’s City Council, according to the Monmouth County Clerk’s website.
The results include vote by mail ballots according to Debbie who answered the phone at the Board of Elections. Debbie would not give her last name.
Moor, Quinn and Campbell ran together on the One Asbury slate. Incumbents Loffredo and Henderson ran on the Forward Asbury slate in the non-partisan election.
One hour after the polls closed in today’s municipal elections, Asbury Park has no results posted on the Monmouth County Clerk’s website.
In Jersey City, with 43% if the voting districts reporting as of 8:54 PM, Councilman Steve Fulop is on pace to defeat incumbent mayor Jerry Healy by a comfortable 54% to 37% margin.
UPDATE 9:10 pm Fulop declared victory on facebook at 9 pm. With 66% of the districts reporting, Fulop has 53% of the vote, Healy has 38%.
Congressman Frank Pallone fired the first salvo of the 2014 Democratic U.S. Senate primary with a “scathing letter” sent to Newark Mayor Cory Booker complaining that the city of Newark is not fulfilling its obligations to the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, a New Brunswick based non-profit that services patients with HIV/AIDS, according to a report in The Star Ledger.
The Star Ledger received a copy of the letter dated on Friday, May 10, before Booker received the original.
Booker’s staff dismissed the letter they haven’t seen yet, telling the Ledger that Hyacinth’s funding is working its way through the Newark bureaucracy and will be paid out this year earlier than it was last year.
By Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone
While informing the residents of Monmouth County about the happenings and goings on within the county has always been the focus for my writings, I thought it best to change my focus for this submission. Why you might ask? The reason being is that although raising awareness as to the many gains and strides that continue to occur in and around Monmouth County is of significant importance and benefit to our residents, I feel sometimes we need to take a step back and look outside of ourselves. It is extremely important for each of us to take time and perhaps reflect if even for a moment on the vast array of wonderful causes out there originated for the sole purpose to help raise awareness as it pertains to the many important issues we are faced with today. Because the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders fully understands the significance of helping to get the word out, we have taken steps by doing our part in also trying to help raise awareness.
A few of the observances made recently by The Board of Chosen Freeholders during the months of March, April and May were Autism Awareness, Alcohol Awareness, Military Awareness and Breast Cancer Awareness. The Board also recognized the tenacious energy set forth by The Red Cross and Monmouth County Fair Housing. Each of these tremendous causes was recognized by The Board of Chosen Freeholders during one of their regularly scheduled meetings. Representatives from each of the various organizations were invited to attend a meeting to accept a Certificate of Recognition for all they do to help raise awareness for each of their causes. Additionally, they were recognized for the multitude of great things they have independently been able to accomplish thus far, as well as being congratulated for their efforts in continuing to educate the public on how much work is still needed in order to maintain progress and continue to accomplish great things.
By Greg Kelly
