The following is a short essay on cherished past times on the shore, specifically in Ortley Beach, submitted by Island Heights resident Karen Jensen Kier.

 Ortley Beach was a magical place the summer of ’70 . . .

Six girls, a rented summer cottage three houses from the beach, a well-worn path to and from the Surf Club . . . the things those made for TV movies are all about, or it could have been a romance novel written for lazy beach reading.

I found love that summer, someone I had known, worked fleetingly with and who had stopped by Memorial Day weekend to see how the “girls” were doing on Coolidge Ave.   He brought a friend with him (who reunited with one of the other girls), and then yet another friend (who was to also find love with one of my friends).

Read the Rest of the Story Here: http://issuu.com/oceansignal/docs/20130524_ocean_signal/9

ORTLEY BEACH–Shortly after Hurricane Sandy swept through Ocean County, Cassandra Vitale, a Toms River resident, established a bucket brigade to help residents with the clean up process.  Vitale and countless volunteers have been working non-stop for over six months.

Initially stationed at the Ortley Beach First Aid Station, which was slated for demolition prior to the hurricane, she and her team were relocated to the parking lot in Ortley Plaza after the eventual demolition of the first aid building.

On Saturday, the Bucket Brigade returned home to the now empty lot at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Route 35 South.  Hecht Trailers of Toms River donated trailers to the Bucket Brigade for storage and office space.

Visit the Bucket Brigade NJ on facebook to help out: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bucket-Brigade-NJ/161250519711?fref=ts

Over 100 homes to be razed through Toms River’s PPDR program

TOMS RIVER – Mayor Tom Kelaher is pleased to announce that the Township’s demolition program will begin this Saturday. “Our residents are eager to start the rebuilding process,” Kelaher said. Hurricane Sandy damaged over 6,500 homes on the barrier island and almost 4,000 homes on the mainland. “Most of the homes had some form of flooding, but a lot of the dwellings will need to be knocked down because of structural problems,” Kelaher stated.
Toms River residents with structurally damaged homes were mailed a packet of information encouraging them to enroll in the Township’s Private Property Debris Removal Program, or PPDR. Assistant Township Planner Erika Stahl has been assisting homeowners in registering for the PPDR program, which is free to residents who have homes that have been structurally damaged. Stahl says, “Enrollment in the program must be approved by FEMA, which can take a while because there are many steps involved.”
According to Public Works Director Lou Amoruso, “We are starting our demolition program on Saturday May 17th. We will begin by taking down a structure on Seagull Lane and then move onto Beier and Nichols Avenue in Ortley Beach.”
After the first round of Ortley Beach homes are demolished, the contractor will move onto the North Beach area and also homes on the mainland.
The Township’s Demolition program will cover the cost of demolition and removal of homes, if approved beforehand. The PPDR program will also cover the removal of debris such as sand, neighbor’s dwelling or buildings, and other debris that may have floated onto another property.

By Phil Stilton
Photo by Phil Stilton

TOMS RIVER—Shortly after announcing the creation of a municipal position to help Toms River Township residents navigate through the difficult networks of red tape involved with disaster recovery, Mayor Thomas Kelaher told the Ocean Signal today that the township has hired long time resident Trevor Newman for the job.

Mr. Newman will start his job as Disaster Recovery Ombudsman on Monday, May 20^th.  Initially, he will meet with township officials and department heads to work out a plan on how the township can begin to offer assistance to those negatively impacted by Sandy who are struggling to understand FEMA guidelines, insurance policies and to help them seek out available programs they may qualify for.

Shortly after the announcement of the position was made, Mr. Newman ironically tells us that he was sitting at the Band Wagon Diner on Route 37 and was thumbing through the inaugural issue of the Ocean Signal when he read the article about the Ombudsman position.

“I saw the article and read what the mayor was saying and thought, “That’s me”, so I sent him an email and my resume and some thoughts I had.  The rest, as they say, is history,” Mr. Newman said.

Newman, 67, who has lived in Toms River for 40 years, said he worked as a front line manager for Allstate insurance in property loss for 37 years.  He is a certified adjuster for the National Flood Insurance Program.

“When Katrina took place, most of the flood qualified people were sent to Louisiana,” he said.  “What they failed to recognize there were flood damages in other places and nobody was going to those places.”

Newman was tasked by his company to devise a plan to branch out beyond Louisiana and help those affected in other states by the hurricane, handling over 1,600 claims between the end of 2005 and 2006.

He also warned that there’s no quick solution to many of the problems residents in Toms River now face.  “We have a long way to go as a town and there are an awful lot of people who don’t understand the programs and that are where the problem lies, people need to know the programs available and how to wade through the mass of documentation to get back on their feet,” he said.   “Many people have expectations that their policies can’t meet and it’s because they didn’t understand the policies that they run into those problems, which isn’t unusual.”

Part of the problem, according to Newman is the complexity of the situation between insurance companies, FEMA and other programs designed to help people.

It’s a problem Mayor Kelaher and the township are fully aware of.  “We have a lot of residents who are overwhelmed with paperwork and the process involved in fixing up your home from Sandy,” Mr. Kelaher said.  “The purpose of the ombudsman is to help residents work through the steps, and assist with insurance problems, FEMA applications and grant programs.”

Newman concurs.

“It’s a complicated program on a good day, on a bad day it’s much worse,” he added.   “My hope is that I can clarify for people what they have and where they are going and help them make the necessary applications to get them on their feet.”

Newman said one of the ways he hopes to help people is by helping them properly fill out the right paperwork and in the right order to ease some of the pains sometimes associated with the recovery process.    He said during the process you have to be aware of everything, including municipal building codes, the permit process and the application processes for various assistance programs.

“You have to follow proper procedures to be successful,” he concluded.

TOMS RIVER–On Saturday, approximately 40 cadets from the U.S. Naval Academy were treated to dinner at the Toms River Country Club by retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Paschon, of Toms River.   The cadets spent their week volunteering and helping the Bucket Brigade in Ortley Beach under the direction of Cassandra Vitale.

The cadets were thanked by Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher and Robert DiBiase, who coordinated the event for the township between the Naval Academy and the Bucket Brigade.

DOVER BEACHES NORTH– Toms River Police responded to a Silver Beach Road home here at 2 pm on Tuesday after receiving an alarm regarding a 24 foot boat that was fully engulfed in fire.

Ocean Beach, Seaside Heights and Lavallette fire departments responded and quickly extinguished the fire.

The boat located in the front yard was totally destroyed and the fire damaged the vinyl siding on the front of the two story home.    A 68 year old man Normandy Beach man was taken to Brick Hospital for burns to his hand and foot.  The man stated he was working on the boat and it caught fire when he turned the engine on.

The team, consisting of  Emily Golembiski of Little Egg Harbor, Jillian Hubbard of Toms River, Gillian Schriever of West Creek, Michael Signorelli of Toms River and Megan Tumpey of  Brick, will represent New Jersey in the 2013 North American Envirothon at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in August.

The Ocean County students competed against 33 other teams on knowledge of natural resources-related topics, including soils, forestry, aquatics, wildlife ecology and a current environmental issue. This year’s theme was “Sustainable Rangeland Management: Achieving a Balance Between Traditional Agricultural Uses with Non-Agricultural Uses on Montana Rangelands.”

“For 20 years, New Jersey high school students have had the opportunity to participate in this valuable competition and learn more about the environment, natural resources and science,” said Secretary Fisher. “We hope they take advantage of the skills they learned and consider careers in agriculture and natural resources-related fields.”

Each of the MATES team members received $1,000 scholarships from the New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts, $2,000 scholarships from Richard Stockton State College and $1,000 scholarships from Applied and Health Sciences at Kean University.

Two 5-member teams of MATES students competed in last year’s Envirothon with all but one of those students graduating. The two MATES teams placed first and second in 2012. An almost entirely new set of 10 students made up this year’s two teams.

“I am very proud of the hard work and dedication put forth by our members,” said MATES Advisor Adam Sprague.  “It was quite an accomplishment considering it was the first year competing for nine out of the 10 team members. We now turn our attention to Montana which offers an exciting variety of challenges in terms of preparation for our students.”

The second-place team in this year’s Envirothon was West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and third place was taken by High Tech High School, North Bergen.

The Envirothon is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, State Soil Conservation Committee; New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts; the 15 Soil Conservation Districts; United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; and Rutgers Cooperative Extension.

The 15 Soil Conservation Districts in New Jersey follow county boundaries and implement the New Jersey Soil and Sediment Control Act, which governs certain aspects of new development.  These semi-autonomous bodies are locally governed and play a strong role in the protection of New Jersey’s natural resources.

“As part of our annual overlay program, we will be starting work shortly on safety improvements including stormwater drainage work, new paving and reconstruction on several roads throughout Ocean County,” said Ocean County Freeholder Director John P. Kelly, Director of Law and Public Safety. “All totaled we will be repairing more than 13 miles of roadway starting in the next few weeks.”

The Board of Freeholders is scheduled to award a contract to Earle Asphalt Company, Farmingdale, in the amount of $2 million to reconstruct portions of seven roadways.

“This work will get under way in the next few weeks and while there may be some inconvenience to motorists during the work surely the completed repairs will make for better and safer traveling around OceanCounty,” said Freeholder Deputy Director James F. Lacey, who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Road Department.

The roadways to be improved under the contract are 1.05 miles of Herbertsville Road in Brick Township from the Monmouth County line to Lanes Mills Road; 1.24 miles of Farraday Avenue in Lakewood; one mile of Long Beach Boulevard from 31^st to 59^th street in Long Beach Township; almost one mile of James Street, from Main Street to Hooper Avenue in Toms River; 6/10ths of a mile of Massachusetts Avenue, from Cox Cro Road to Route 70 in Toms River; 1.12 miles of Vermont Avenue, in Toms River, from Cox Cro Road to the Lakewood border and Buckwald Drive at Ocean County College in Toms River.

In addition, the Board is scheduled to go out to bid to provide safety improvements to four additional roads with work expected to begin in July.

Those roads include 2.16 miles of Church Road in Toms River, from Hooper Avenue to North Bay Avenue; 1.39 miles of Lanes Mills Road in Lakewood and Brick Townships, from Route 88 to limits of Garden State Parkway Interchange 91; 1.11 miles of Lighthouse Drive in Ocean Township from Route 9 east to Barnegat Bay and 2.34 miles of West Bay Avenue in Barnegat Township from Pine Street to Route 72.

“We maintain more than 620 county road miles so it is imperative we have a program in place to maintain our infrastructure,” said Kelly, who serves as liaison for the Ocean County Engineering Department. “Each year we perform improvements to a number of roadways. Well maintained roads certainly are safer for our motorists and pedestrians.”

FILE PHOTO: Downtown Toms River by Erik Weber, dated March 17th, 2012. (c) Ocean Signal Media Group

The following was submitted by Ward 4 Councilman Alfonso Manforti and is published unedited per our letters policy.

While some say the only certainties in life are death and taxes, what happens after death is a matter of intense debate. What happens after you don’t pay your property taxes –that’s something else- a lien is sold at a municipal tax sale.
Historically the traditional tax sale process in NJ was slow and antiquated with very limited participation from the public while at the same time tying up township resources before and during the sale.
That was until recent changes to the tax sale law.
In yet another effort to move the township forward the governing body at the April 23, 2013 Township Council meeting unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the township tax collector to complete an application to participate in the electronic tax sale program.
In 2012 the Division of Local Government Services under N.J.S.A. 54:5-519.1, authorized electronic tax sales for the first time. The internet has helped increase sales of everything from automobiles to homes and anything in between.
With the passage of this timely and innovative resolution the township takes another positive step in the right direction for Toms River. By conducting the sale online we will reduce administrative costs and increase the efficiency of the tax sale. At the same time we will be increasing the bidding pool to include potential buyers from all over the country.
The sales are conducted by realauction.com which answers all questions concerning the online procedures and even provides online webinars to learn how to participate in the auction. The entire process from registration to bidding is done online in your favorite chair from the comfort of your home or office.
The first electronic tax sale in NJ was held in Red Bank on October 29th 2012. If that date sounds familiar it should. That was the morning Hurricane Sandy made landfall. The town had no power, no employees, and no computers yet the sale went off without problem and every lien sold, many at a premium, netting the town $600,000.