Highlands Man Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Child Pornography

Layne Bracht, screen shot

Layne Bracht, 32 of Highlands, pleaded guilty in federal court in Camden today to one count as possession of child pornography, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

Bracht admitted that on Oct. 28, 2013, he knowingly placed images and videos depicting child sexual abuse into shared folders that others could access via a peer-to-peer network. Special agents of the FBI executed a search warrant at his residence in Highlands on Jan. 15, 2014 and seized digital evidence that contained numerous videos and images depicting child sexual abuse, including material involving prepubescent minors and sadistic or masochistic conduct. The digital evidence seized included three files previously downloaded from Bracht by law enforcement agents working in an undercover capacity on the peer-to-peer network.

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Highlands Hero Gets RREM’d

After Closing On A RREM Grant, DCA Says A New Home For Vietnam Vet Is Not In The Cards

By Art Gallagher

Russell Card Jr removes his “family crest” from his family’s home in Highlands in preparation for demolition . Photo via facebook

A Vietnam Veteran from Highlands and his 65 year-old wife had their expectations of a new home  crushed last week when their RREM approved builder informed them that a stop work order had been placed on their project by the Department of Community Affairs, with no explanation.   The family had prepared their house for demolition, based upon promises from DCA/RREM, and now fear they will be without a home.

Russell Card, a 72 year-old Vietnam Veteran from Highlands closed on his $150,000 RREM grant on July 28.  He put up his $18,000 escrow to cover the difference between the cost of the project and the amount granted.  Card, his wife Maureen and son Russell Jr, 35, prepared their home (which was built in the 1890’s and in the family since 1933) for demolition.   They moved most of their belongings into a POD on their immaculately maintained property and moved themselves into an apartment the size of the living room in the Bay Avenue house they have lived in since 1986.  By mid-September all the utilities were disconnected at the house and it was ready for demolition before their new home would be built.  The funding for the new home was the RREM grant, a gap grant of $30,000 from Gap Funding Initiative and $17,762 that was remaining from a $55,000 grant Mrs. Card had received from her employer, CareOne, after Sandy filled their home with eight feet of water on October 29, 2012.

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Attention Highlands and Sea Bright residents: Your input matters

New Jersey Future has teamed up with a research scientist from Carnegie Mellon University to support Highlands and Sea Bright in our effort to develop a long-term resiliency plan.  One part of this support involves reaching out to and engaging with the public to talk about flooding risk and plausible solutions. To that end, they developed a short survey to understand how best to talk about these issues with community members.

Please help our community in its plan for recovery and resiliency.This 10-15 minute survey will ask about your beliefs on flooding and flooding risk. Your answers will help Highlands, Sea Bright and New Jersey Future make plans for long-term community resiliency.  In a few months, New Jersey Future will publish a summary of the answers given by the community.

Here is the link to the survey:  http://njfuture.org/risksurvey

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Municipal Judge Accused of Judicial Misconduct

Atlantic Highlands Municipal Building

Judge Peter A. Locascio, the Municipal Court Judge in Atlantic Highlands and Highlands, has been accused of Judicial Misconduct by the Disciplinary Counsel of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (ACJC). The complaint can be found here.

Locascio is accused of exhibiting “extreme and personal” hostility towards an attorney appearing before him starting in August of 2008 and extending through early 2013, for failing to rule on recusal motions by that attorney after he was ordered to do so by his Assignment Judge, of using the powers of his office to his personal benefit  and of conflicts of interest in allowing his personal attorney, a close personal friend, to appear before his court.

The attorney involved was not named in the complaint.  “It could be several people,” said one member of the Monmouth County legal community speaking off the record, “Locascio is known to be caustic and vindictive.”

A complaint by the ACJC disciplinary counsel is an indication that an investigation into the initial complaint produced enough evidence to warrant an hearing before the committee. If after the hearing the committee determines that the Judge did violate the Code of Judicial Conduct the matter is referred to the State Supreme Court for public reprimand, censure, suspension, or removal.   If the committee finds after its hearing that there is not clear and convincing evidence of Judicial Misconduct, it makes a recommendation to the Supreme Court to dismiss the complaint with or without private reprimand.

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Business groups join together to kick-off summer on the bayshore

Five Bayshore business groups and the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau joined together yesterday in Keyport to kick-off the Summer of 2014 on the Monmouth County Bayshore..Exit 117…the Gateway to the Jersey Shore.

Lt Governor Kim Guadagno, Congressman Frank Pallone, State Senator Joe Kyrillos, Keyport Mayor Harry Aumack were on hand as the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce, the Keyport Bayshore Business Copperative, the Hazlet Business Owners Association, the Atlantic Highlands Chamber of Commerce, the Highlands Business Partnership and the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau  joined together in cooperation for ceremonial ribbon cutting for the region’s summer tourist season.

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Incumbent, challenger elected to Highlands Borough Council

Incumbent, challenger elected to Highlands Borough Council (via NJ.com)

HIGHLANDS – The borough’s voters elected two council members from a field of six at-large candidates vying for seats on the Borough Council on Tuesday night. According to Monmouth County’s unofficial election results, voters reelected Council President…

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Three Monmouth Towns Have Elections Next Week, Highlands to have its first non-partisan election

Voters in Highlands, Keansburg and Long Branch will go to the polls next Tuesday (May 13) to elect members of their towns governing bodies in non-partisan elections.

Highlands has the only competitive race of the three towns with elections next week. The Sandy ravaged borough is having its first non-partisan election. Last November voters approved a referendum that moved municipal election day to May and did away with party lines.

Six candidates are running for two seats on the council.  None of the six are bracketed together or share the same slogan.

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Stronger than the storm?

New Jersey’s economy should be booming with reconstruction. It isn’t.

There should be hundreds of construction workers in Highlands, Union Beach, Sea Bright and other Sandy impacted communities every day.  They are not working and don’t look to be anytime soon.

Short changed by insurance companies/the National Flood Insurance Plan. Arduous applications for aid followed by red tape, bureaucratic incompetence and rules that halt rebuilding.  Expensive and time consuming zoning approvals to rebuild what was there before.  Pleas for help are answered with finger pointing between bureaucrats at different levels of government who are getting paid for their bullshit and going home every night.

“GO, GO, GO, REBUILD, you’ll get reimbursed,” we were told after the storm. We trusted our government. They lied.

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Highlands Restaurant Gets $50K Stronger NJ Grant

Havana Tropical Café, a Cuban Restaurant which was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, was awarded a $50,000 Stronger NJ Business Grant by the Christie Administration this week, according to a release by the NJ Economic Development Authority.

The Stronger NJ Business Grant program is funded through New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocation from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Similar to other Sandy relief grant programs, there are strict federal eligibility requirements to which the EDA and applicants must comply. To date, 374 grants have been approved totaling $18.1 million. An additional $24 million in loans have been approved by EDA through the program. This includes 11 grants in Highlands and 60 in all of Monmouth County.

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Wednesday, April 2-Sherlock’s First Adventure at Henry Hudson Regional School

The Henry Hudson Regional Junior Admiral Players Present their annual middle school play.

Beginning tonight at 7PM, SHERLOCK’S FIRST ADVENTURE will run from through Saturday, April 5th at Henry Hudson Regional School, 1 Grand Tour, Highlands.
(All performances begin at 7pm).
Tickets will be sold at the door, and are $7 general admission, and
$5 for students/seniors.
Light dessert refreshments will be available.

TONIGHT ( Wednesday) ALL tickets are just $5!!!!!

The play, by award-winning playwright Craig Sodaro, is a two-act
mystery-comedy inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character, Sherlock Holmes.  The story introduces us to a young Holmes, who,
along with his friend John Watson, unravels his first real case while still a student at a Victorian-era London boarding school.

Featuring a cast of 22, all 7th and 8th graders at Henry Hudson Middle School will present .

For more information, visit the school’s website, at www.hhrs.us or
call, 732-872-0900.

Information Brought to you by
Lynn Humphrey, Administrator/Owner
BizEturtle:Events in Monmouth
contact me at [email protected] or 732-759-0485

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