Point Pleasant Beach Bars Allowed Stay Open To 2 AM

Michael Halfacre, the Director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the State Department of Law and Public Safety has issued a stay to Point Pleasant Beach’s Ordinance establishing a midnight closing time for bars in the borough.  The bars can stay open till 2 am pending a hearing and final ruling.

Halfacre ordered that a hearing on the matter be conducted by an Administrative Law Judge.  Halfacre will make a final determination, as provided by law, of the hours of operation of Point Pleasant Beach bars after review the Administrative Law Judge’s findings.   The hearing date is yet to be set.

In his order granting the stay, Halfacre noted that the 2 am closing time maintains the status quo, that should the bars prevail in their appeal that they would be unable to recover the lost business that would have resulted from a midnight closing time while the case was pending, and that the borough has several methods available to preserve the public safety until the final resolution of the appeal.

Jenkinson’s Pavilion Inc, Ocean Dunes, Inc, and Martell’s Tiki Bar, Inc are the companies that filed the appeal with ABC.

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OEM, freeholders declare ‘state of emergency’

All Monmouth County residents to follow mandatory water restrictions

Photo credit: Tony Fiore

TINTON FALLS, NJ – The Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management, in consultation with the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, declared a countywide state of emergency following a water main break at the Swimming River Reservoir Friday afternoon. All county residents have been directed to follow water restrictions.

Eighteen towns serviced by New Jersey American Water Co. have been directly affected. Three large water mains broke Friday afternoon, causing a reduction or total loss of water pressure or supply.

All county residents are directed to discontinue nonessential outdoor water use and limit indoor use. New Jersey American Water Company customers are urged to follow a “boil-water advisory.”

“All of Monmouth County is in a state of emergency because New Jersey American Water Co. may have to feed off other utilities throughout the weekend,” Freeholder Director John P. Curley said. “We need to pull together during this critical time and help one another by conserving water.”

“The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office is working closely with local law enforcement agencies to ensure that an outdoor water ban will be strictly enforced,” Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden said. “These restrictions are not just for New Jersey American Water customers, but for everyone in Monmouth County. Cooperation is necessary in order to maintain public safety.”

The mandatory restrictions for all Monmouth County residents include the following:

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Tropical Storm Irene said to be cause of bridge damage at NJAWC water treatment plant

New Jersey American Water Company and Monmouth County OEM are distributing water at three locations

New Jersey American Water and the Monmouth County OEM have established three water distribution locations where customers may go to receive bottled water. Those locations are:

Middletown High School North
63 Tindall Road, Middletown Township

Middletown High School South
900 Nut Swamp Road Middletown

Oceanport Fire House
Mertyl Ave and Monmouth Ave, Oceanport

The bottled water will be distributed until 11PM or until they run out.

UPDATE 8PM: MMM reader Tom Stokes just called in to report that 1 gallon of water per household is being distrubted at Middletown High School North, regardless of the size of the household. Proof of residency is required to get bottled water.

UPDATE 9:20: Tom Stokes reports the there is no more bottled water to be distributed at Middletown North. NJAWC is waiting for more bottled water to be delivered.  They will be at North throughout the night and all day tomorrow, according to Stokes.

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Click on the map for a full view of the area affected by the NJAWC water shutdown.

The bridge that collasped this afternoon as part of the “major infrastructure failure” at New Jersey American Water Company’s Swimming River water treatment plant sustained damage during Tropical Storm Irene last August.

Nearby residents are claiming that repairs were not done after Irene and that the bridge was bound to collapse.

Former Tinton Falls GOP Chairman Michael Laffey, an attorney who practices in Holmdel said, “NO work has been done to repair the bridge in the last year. This mess was completely avoidable and someone should be held accountable.”

Richard Barnes, NJAWC’s External Affairs Manager, told MMM that he had no information on the cause of the infrastructure failure.  “Right now we’re concentrating on restoring service to our customers.  We’ll have more information at a later time.”   Peter Eschbach, Director of Communications and External Affairs for NJAWC told a MMM reader who prefers not to be named that “small repairs to the wood” were performed on the bridge after Irene.

Middletown Mayor Tony Fiore told MMM that “this doesn’t look like a quick fix,” after he inspected the site of the infrastructure failure this afternoon.  “Irene appears to be the gift that keeps on giving.  We don’t know for sure that the storm caused today’s incident, but we remember pointing out the damage to NJAWC last summer and don’t recall repairs being made since.”

The Asbury Park Press pay site is reporting that there is another water main break in Neptune that has left 1600 residences without water.

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New Jersey American Water Monmouth County Customers Under Boil Water Advisory; Company Bans Outdoor Water Use

New Jersey American Water is urging its customers in Monmouth County to discontinue all nonessential water use and outdoor water use after three water mains collapsed at the company’s Swimming River Water Treatment Plant in Tinton Falls.

New Jersey American Water has also issued a precautionary boil water advisory for customers in Monmouth County.

Please note that this is a standard procedure whenever water pressure is lost as a precaution. New Jersey American Water will provide information as to when the advisory is lifted.  

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requires that the company issue the following advisory:

New Jersey American Water has determined that a potential or actual threat to the quality of water being provided to you currently exists. Therefore until further notice, bring tap water to a rolling boil for one minute and allow to cool before using for consumption; drinking, ice cubes, washing vegetables and fruit, and for brushing teeth. Please continue to boil your water until you are notified that the water quality is acceptable.

New Jersey American Water also recommends the following steps:
• Throw away uncooked food or beverages or ice cubes if made with tap water during the day of the advisory;
• Keep boiled water in the refrigerator for drinking;
• Rinse hand-washed dishes for a minute in diluted bleach (one tablespoon of household bleach per gallon of tap water) or clean your dishes in a dishwasher using the hot wash cycle and dry cycle.  
• Do not swallow water while you are showering or bathing;
• Provide pets with boiled water after cooling;
• Do not use home filtering devices in place of boiling or using bottled water; most home water filters will not provide adequate protection from microorganisms;
• Use only boiled water to treat minor injuries.

Please be advised that the company is doing all it can to ensure your water is of the highest quality. New Jersey American Water will notify customers immediately when the advisory is lifted.

New Jersey American Water is working on temporary measures to restore normal operations at its Swimming River Water Treatment Plant. The plant delivers 36 million gallons of water each day to 55,000 customer accounts.

For updates, customers can visit www.newjerseyamwater.com or www.facebook.com/newjerseyamericanwater.

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Governor Christie Delivers Third Balanced Budget Without Raising Taxes, Protects Key Priorities for New Jerseyans

Amends Budget to Restrict Spending to Lower Levels than FY2008 and FY2009 Budgets, Provides Sound $600 Million Surplus

Press Release

Trenton, NJ – For the third year in a row, Governor Chris Christie today signed into law a constitutionally balanced budget that delivers on key priorities for the people of New Jersey without raising taxes. The Governor’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget as enacted spends $31.7 billion, which is lower than the Governor’s originally proposed budget as delivered in February 2012 and lower than the budget passed by the Legislature. This year’s budget continues the return to fiscal discipline and controlled spending, while focusing on funding critical priorities that speak to the needs of all New Jerseyans. The Fiscal Year 2013 Budget is smaller than both fiscal years 2008 and 2009, while still increasing aid to schools to the highest level of state spending on K-12 education in the state’s history.   

Governor Christie said, “The budget the Legislature sent me violated two core priorities of this Administration – it denied tax relief to our hard working, middle-class families while proposing an $800 million tax increase and rejected fiscal responsibility by including millions in new spending that threatened to undo the hard won progress of the last two years. I am unwilling to surrender the gains we have made to establish fiscal responsibility in the state budget by raising taxes on our people at a time when they need and deserve tax relief. The budget I am signing today reverses irresponsible funding decisions, establishes funding levels based on realistic and responsible revenue assumptions, and increases our surplus to a healthy level that paves the way for continued economic growth.”

“The revised budget I signed today would continue to fuel the New Jersey Comeback if it included immediate tax cuts for New Jerseyans. After two hard years of shared sacrifice we’re no longer on the brink of fiscal catastrophe. Because of the tough and difficult choices we’ve made, this year’s budget allows us to make an unprecedented commitment to education, make one of the largest pension payments in our state’s history and fund critical programs that protect our most vulnerable,” said Governor Christie.

Governor Christie put Corzine Democrats on their heels by vetoing $361 million in unnecessary or unsupported spending that threatened to reverse the renewed fiscal health, economic growth and investment of the last two years. In addition to piling on new spending in the budget, Corzine Democrats tried to circumvent the tough choices required to meet a balanced budget by passing additional spending bills outside of the process. As Governor Christie has repeatedly said, spending needs to be accounted for as part of a comprehensive budget plan.   

“This spending as usual is just more of the same mentality that plagued the eight years before I became Governor when there was reckless spending and a cycle of raising taxes and fees every 25 days. We cannot go back to the old way of doing things which got us into a fiscal mess in the first place. Corzine Democrats need to realize that they cannot add millions of dollars in spending outside of the budget when every homeowner, student or family faced with financial choices is spending within their budget,” said Governor Christie.

As a result of Governor Christie’s actions, the budget signed into law today maintains a sound, responsible surplus of over $600 million – more than double the Fiscal Year 2013 projected ending fund balance from the Governor’s originally proposed budget and exceeds the levels in the budget as passed by the Legislature. This sound surplus and the fact that the Administration aggressively manages government throughout the year is a signal that the state’s fiscal health is on strong footing.

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Bridge collapse, water main break, reduces water for 55,000 Monmouth residents

Photo credit: Holmdel-Hazlet Patch

A “major infrastructure failure” at the Swimming River Water Treatment Plant in the Lincroft section of Middletown has shut the water off for 3,000 Holmdel residences and closed Brookdale Community College until further notice.

Holmdel-Hazlet Patch was the first to report the story, scooping the Asbury Park Press pay site by an hour.

A statement from New Jersey American Water Company that was emailed by the Borough of Tinton Falls to its residents and forwarded to MMM by a reader states that the failure includes the loss of two transmission mains leaving the plant and well as the raw water main coming into the plant.  New Jersey American Water customers in Monmouth County may be experiencing low water pressure or no pressure at this time.

Photo credit: lostcreekquarnberg blog

Residents of Middletown, Holmdel, Aberdeen, Highlands, Seabright, Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, Oceanport, Shrewsbury Township and Borough, Tinton Falls and Long Branch are requested to limit all non-essential water use while NJAW works to restore service.

Save water, shower with friends.

UPDATE  4:32

Middletown Township sent out an automated phone call at 4:30 to residents and businesses announcing that all outdoor water usage is restricted.

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Chief Justice Roberts’ Foley

A National Review Online Editorial

In today’s deeply disappointing decision on Obamacare, a majority of the Supreme Court actually got the Constitution mostly right. The Commerce Clause — the part of the Constitution that grants Congress the authority to regulate commerce among the states — does not authorize the federal government to force Americans to buy health insurance. The Court, in a 5–4 decision, refused to join all the august legal experts who insisted that of course it granted that authorization, that only yahoos and Republican partisans could possibly doubt it. It then pretended that this requirement is constitutional anyway, because it is merely an application of the taxing authority. Rarely has the maxim that the power to tax is the power to destroy been so apt, a portion of liberty being the direct object in this case.

What the Court has done is not so much to declare the mandate constitutional as to declare that it is not a mandate at all, any more than the mortgage-interest deduction in the tax code is a mandate to buy a house. Congress would almost surely have been within its constitutional powers to tax the uninsured more than the insured. Very few people doubt that it could, for example, create a tax credit for the purchase of insurance, which would have precisely that effect. But Obamacare, as written, does more than that. The law repeatedly speaks in terms of a “requirement” to buy insurance, it says that individuals “shall” buy it, and it levies a “penalty” on those who refuse. As the conservative dissent points out, these are the hallmarks of a “regulatory penalty, not a tax.”

The law as written also cuts off all federal Medicaid funds for states that decline to expand the program in the ways the lawmakers sought. A majority of the Court, including two of the liberals, found this cut-off unconstitutionally coercive on the states. The Court’s solution was not to invalidate the law or the Medicaid expansion, but to rule that only the extra federal funds devoted to the expansion could be cut off. As the dissenters rightly point out, this solution rewrites the law — and arbitrarily, since Congress could have avoided the constitutional problem in many other ways.

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Legal Attire Outside The U.S. Supreme Court But Not On The Asbury Park Boardwalk

Photo Credit: Andy LoCascio, SCOTUSblog.com

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Christie: SCOTUS confirmed what we knew all along–ObamaCare is a tax

Governor Chris Christie issued the following statement about the Supreme Court’s decision on ObamaCare:

“I’ve been clear from the very beginning that I do not believe a one-size-fits-all health care program works for the entire country and that each governor should have the ability to make decisions about what works best for their state. Today’s Supreme Court decision is disappointing and I still believe this is the wrong approach for the people of New Jersey who should be able to make their own judgments about health care. Most importantly, the Supreme Court is confirming what we knew all along about this law – it is a tax on middle class Americans.”

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Supreme Court: ObamaCare Individual Mandate Is Constitutional As Tax

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal wing of the Court in the 5-4 decision. Or was it a 6-3 decision?

Bush appointed Roberts.  Therefore, ObamaCare is Bush’s fault.

It will take time for legal scholars to figure out what the decision really means. 

Now we’ll have an election about it.

Bad news for the country.  Good news for the Romney campaign.

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