A verbal altercation between two patrons resulted in a stabbing.  The suspect then fled the scene and police were still searching for the person as of noon, Sunday.

The victim suffered a stab wound to the abdomen and was taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Seaside Heights Police Department at 732-793-1800.

Memorial’s Chris Gehrsitz pitched a complete game shutout, giving up just four hits and striking out four.  Spencer Young was 3-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Mike Petrizzo came off the bench for Jackson to hit a two run home run making the score 4-0. Ed Guippone added an RBI single in the 4th inning.

On the other side of Jackson, Jackson Liberty defeated St. Rose with a single solo home run.  Danny Serreino went the distance on the mound for the Lions striking out eight.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, James Sofield hit his first home run, sending a 2-0 fastball from Brad Currao over the fence.

Liberty will play the tough number 2 seed, RBC on the road Wednesday.

Brick Memorial lost 1-0 to Wall.  CBA blanked Brick High School 9-0.

Toms River South’s Spencer Kapp broke a 3-3 tie wide open in the fifth inning with a two run double as the Indians defeated Monmouth 6-3.    On Friday, Toms River North defeated Central 5-3.  North and South will face each other Wednesday at North.

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

Akers said that the borough expects permanent fencing, ramps and lighting to be in place by mid June, but says adequate facilities will be in place by Memorial Day weekend to accommodate visitors.

Since Prince Harry’s visit to Seaside Heights on Tuesday, Sidd & Associates has finished nearly 70% of the decking on the boardwalk’s north end.   Further south, crews were busy building beach ramps and preparing railings.

On Friday, workers at the Casino Pier were working to install electrical systems under sections boardwalk, which were temporarily finished for the Prince’s visit, but now exposed again.

See the full story in next week’s Ocean Signal.

MANTOLOKING–On May 2nd, to much media fan fare, the iconic home in the Barnegat Bay was removed.  Last week, Crowder Gulf removed the last home from the northern portion of the Barnegat Bay, which sat adjacent to the Mantoloking Bridge, with very little media fan fare.   The Ocean Signal was on scene for the removal.

Photos by Phil Stilton / Ocean Signal.

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.

FREEHOLD–A Manchester Township man is charged with the Robbery and Felony Murder of a Point Pleasant man found in the backyard of a Long Branch home, announced Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Alan Bienkowski, 54, of Pinecrest Manor, Manchester Township, is charged with first degree Felony Murder, first degree Robbery, second degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon and second degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose in connection with the April 10, 2013 death of Michael Wells, 56, of Point Pleasant.

Mr. Wells, an employee of Dutch Prime Foods on West Avenue in Long Branch, was the focus of a missing person investigation that same day. At approximately 5 a.m. a co-worker reported him missing when some of his personal effects were found at the work location but Mr. Wells was not there. Wells was later found dead from a gunshot wound after Long Branch police responded to an 8 a.m. call reporting a man lying on the ground in the backyard of a nearby Cleveland Avenue home.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes and Forensic and Technical Services Bureaus and the Long Branch Police Department revealed Mr. Wells arrived at Dutch Prime Foods for work around 4:30 a.m. on April 10, where he was confronted and robbed at gun-point by Bienkowski. During the course of the robbery Bienkowski shot and killed Mr. Wells.

If convicted of Murder, Bienkowski faces a sentence ranging from the minimum mandatory sentence of 30 years in state prison with a 30 year period of parole ineligibility to a potential maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. If convicted of Robbery, Bienkowski faces 10 to 20 years in state prison, subject to the provisions of the No Early Release Act (NERA) which requires him to serve 85 percent of any sentence imposed for the commission of that crime.

If convicted of the weapons offenses, Bienkowski faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three to five years in prison, pursuant to the Graves Act, with a maximum sentence of ten years on each charge.

Bienkowski is currently being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, on $1,450,000 bail, cash only with no ten percent cash option, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen, J.S.C.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the whereabouts of Bienkowski around the date and time of the murder to contact the two lead detectives on the case, Det. Kevin Condon of the Prosecutor’s Office and Det. Brendan Cahill of the Long Branch Police Department. Det. Condon can be reached at 1-800-533-7443. Det. Cahill can be reached at 732-222-1000.
The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, the Manchester Police Department and the Jackson Township Police Department, all contributed to the investigation culminating in the arrest of Bienkowski.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.

This case is being prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Huth, director of the Major Crimes Bureau, and Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Bogner of the Major Crimes Bureau. No attorney has yet entered an appearance on behalf of Bienkowski

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.

It is alleged that Teron Savoy was the leader of a network distributing drugs in Ocean and Monmouth Counties.  Investigators intercepted phone communications between Savoy and his wife, Yolanda Terry, in furtherance of their drug trafficking crimes.  The defendant’s attorneys attempted to exclude these communications from their trial claiming that they fell within New Jersey’s marital communication privilege which generally excludes from court communications made between spouses. The trial judge ruled the evidence admissible, however, stating that since the communications were made in furtherance of crimes, they were “not worthy of protection.”

But the trial judge’s decision was reversed on appeal. The Appellate Division ruled that the conversations were prohibited from use at trial by the marital communications privilege, and that there is no exception to that privilege in New Jersey even where the communications are in aid of a crime.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said, “I have directed the prosecuting attorneys’ of my office to petition the State Supreme Court to review the case.  The marital communications privilege suppresses relevant evidence so as to protect the tranquility of a marriage, but where evidence of crimes is withheld from a jury, there is an obvious detriment to the public. The Supreme Court should decide whether the privilege applied in this case, and if so, whether a crime or fraud exception to the privilege would better serve the public’s welfare.”

Assisting at the scene were, Whiting Vol. Fire Dept, Quality Medical transport, Whiting First Aid, MONOC Paramedics, CIU, NJ State Police, NJ DOT and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.  The crash is under investigation by Ptl. Douglas Higgins, and Ptl Thomas O’Hare of the Manchester Traffic Safety Section.

Anyone with information about the crash, please contact Manchester Twp Police, Traffic Safety Section, at 732-657-2009, X4401.