Restrictions on dogs eased at popular beach

• Tweet

Big Gun Comes to Hartshorne Park

Click photo for larger view. Photo by Paul Scharff Photography

The Monmouth County Park System is pleased to announce that a historic World War II naval gun from the Battleship New Jersey was transported yesterday to Battery Lewis at Hartshorne Woods Park for permanent display as part of the Battery Lewis restoration.   The gun barrel, which is 68 feet long and weighs 120 tons, is almost identical to the 16-inch guns on Battery Lewis during World War II.

Originally on the USS New Jersey and donated by the U.S. Navy to the Monmouth County Park System, the gun barrel has travelled by rail from Norfolk, Virginia to Red Bank, where it will be offloaded onto a tractor trailer for transport to Hartshorne Woods Park.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Lillian Burry Opposes Beach Replenishment in Upper Freehold and Millstone

Freeholder Director Lillian G. Burry
Photo by Vinnie Amessé © www.amessephoto.com

In a column in the current issue of the triCityNews, Freeholder Director Lillian Burry said that one of her opponents in the coming election was right when he accused Burry of not supporting “agricultural and farmland preservation in “coastal” towns.  “It’s for the same reason I don’t support beach replenishment in Upper Freehold and Millstone. There aren’t any beaches there, just as there aren’t a lot of farms in Red Bank or Long Branch or Asbury Park.”

Burry points out that there in only one parcel in the region qualified for the farmland preservation program, in Long Branch, and that the owner of the property has not applied to sell the development rights to the program which is funded by municipal, county and state dollars.

At issue is beachfront property at the north end of Asbury Park that is slated for residential development.   There is some vocal opposition to the proposed development and Democratic Freeholder candidate Joe Grillo is trying to jump on that band wagon to get traction in his fledgling campaign against Burry and Deputy Freeholder Director Gary Rich.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Open Letter to Monmouth Freeholders: You don’t need a park in Asbury

By Tommy De Seno, Asbury Park Historian, proud Blue Bishop and contributor to More Monmouth Musings

[PRELIMINARY NOTE TO FREEHOLDERS:  I KNOW YOU ARE BUSY.  IF YOU CAN’T READ ALL OF THIS ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULDN’T BUY A PARK IN ASBURY, SKIP TO REASON #6 BELOW.  BUT I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE WHOLE LETTER]

Asbury Park is everyone’s business.  Why?  The rest of the taxpayers in the State of New Jersey spend $60 million annually on the schools.   Even though the High School graduates only about 95 students, they just installed an $800,000.00 turf football field.  Go Blue Bishops.

The City turns to the State of New Jersey annually for $10-12 million to close their budget gap.

So yes –  the business of Asbury Park is everyone’s business.  We should all closely monitor their elections, but since they hold non-partisan elections in May they get ignored.  

Now I’m not here to beat up the City by the Sea, the Urban Sand, my beloved childhood home of Asbury Park.   If anyone cares to know I’ll gladly regale you with lectures on how Asbury Park got to be where it is (it isn’t just their fault) and how they should get to where they need to go.

But blog space compels me to limit my words to one issue at a time, and that issue right now has to do with the Monmouth County Parks Commission possibly purchasing a piece of land on Asbury Park’s beachfront.

Whatever you do, my dear Freeholders, don’t buy it.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

County Employee Charged With Embezzling $3,000 From Millstone Golf Course

Carol Hobbs, 34, of Jackson, was arrested and charged with third degree theft on Thursday following an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Hobbs was responsible for maintaining the cash register in the pro shop, collecting greens fees and managing the schedule of golfers to the starting point to begin their round of golf. The investigation revealed Hobbs would modify a transaction so it appeared the golfer received a refund after the golf course patron paid for a round a golf when they had not asked for or received a refund. After modifying the transaction Hobbs retained the money. An audit revealed Hobbs embezzled over $3,000 from September 2012 through December 2012, according to a statement released by Acting Prosecutor Christopher A. Gramiccioni.

Hobbs was not charged with Official Misconduct, a second degree crime if the benefit of the infraction exceeds $200, that carries up to a 10 year prison sentence upon conviction, according to attorney Matheu D. Nunn:

Under New Jersey’s Official Misconduct law, N.J.S.A. 2C:30-2, a public servant can be prosecuted for acts committed in their official capacity and, if convicted, imprisoned for up to ten years.

A public servant includes any officer or employee of government including legislators and judges as well as any person participating as a juror, advisor, consultant or otherwise, in performing a government function; it does not include a witness. The test is whether the person is performing a “government function.”

Under New Jersey Official Misconduct law the public servant’s action or omission must be coupled “with a purpose to obtain a benefit for himself or another” or a purpose to injure another or deprive another of a benefit….

…Here is the scary part–Official Misconduct is a crime of the second degree. As a result, the official faces up to 10 years in state prison if the benefit involved exceeded $200 in value. If the benefit is less than $200 in value it is a crime of the third degree and the official faces a term of imprisonment up to 5 years.

If the purpose is to injure another it will be a crime of the second degree no matter how slight the injury.

And, unlike many other “non-violent” crimes, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.5, a person convicted of Official Misconduct:

“shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment without eligibility for parole as follows: for a crime of the fourth degree, the mandatory minimum term shall be one year; for a crime of the third degree, two years; for a crime of the second degree, five years; and for a crime of the first degree, 10 years; unless the provisions of any other law provide for a higher mandatory minimum term.”

Former Brookdale Community College President Peter Burnham is serving at least two years of a five year prison sentence due to his guilty plea to Official Misconduct.

Gramiccioni declined to say why Hobbs was not charged with Official Misconduct, citing work product confidentiality.

• Tweet