Several protesters were arrested and a police officer was injured during a melee in Asbury Park Monday at the end of a protest prompted by the police killing of George Floyd a week ago in Minnesota.
The protest had been peaceful for four hours after the 5 p.m. start, with officers from multiple departments at times kneeling with the demonstrators in support.
Tensions arose when police, at around 9:30 p.m., began attempting to disperse the remaining 200 or so protesters, in keeping with an 8 p.m. curfew announced earlier in the day by Asbury Park officials.Several protesters were arrested an a po… Read the rest of this entry »
Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso and Senator Declan O’Scanlon standing with restaurateurs in Sea Bright, May 29, 2020. Photo by Art Gallagher
Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso have blasted Governor Phil Murphy’s slow reopening of the New Jersey restaurant industry, calling the governor’s rules a “slow death” for the small businesses.
Asbury Park Mayor John Moor and Emergency Management Coordinator Garrett Giberson, Jr have proclaimed a State of Emergency in the City and imposed a curfew from 8 pm tonight until 5 am tomorrow morning, in the hopes of preventing the looting and rioting that has occurred elsewhere in the country following peaceful protests of the murder of George Floyd.
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.
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.
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.
Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone wants New Jersey’s economy to reopen safely and he wants County officials, rather than the Murphy Administration, to regulate the reopening of restaurants and retail stores and to provide the safety guidance required.
Joy that Governor Phil Murphy declared that New Jersey high schools could hold graduation ceremonies turned to anger for many high school students, their families and the elected officials who represent them this week, when they realized how impractical, cumbersome and expensive Murphy’s rules would make the ceremonies. Murphy effectively announced that graduations could take place and then issued guidelines that prevent them from happening.
