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BEACHWOOD • ISLAND HEIGHTS • OCEAN GATE • PINE BEACH • SOUTH TOMS RIVER

FREE January 14th ~ January 27th, 2011

RIVERSIDE SIGNALthe

Last week, the Signal was contacted by George Win-terling, a current resident of Jacksonville, Florida, but former native of Pine Beach, who discovered us online and wrote us, “I have fond memo-

ries of living with my parents and grandparents in Pine Beach between 1931 and 1937. After brief stays in Plainfield, Scotch Plains, and Cranford, my parents moved to Jackson-ville, Florida in 1941. I retired

in 2009 from a 47-year career reporting the weather here. I’ve often reminisced about those simpler days at the place of my birth.”

Mr. Winterling also shared a number of photographs that

Ocean County’s First Voter-Elected Black Mayor Sworn In

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cont. on page 3

by Erik Weber

Ocean Gate Offi cials Sworn Inpage 3

Headline

Hindenburg over Pine Beach: Winterling Recalls the 1930s

PHILIPP SCHMIDT, the Riverside Signal South Toms River Mayor Joseph Champagne, the fi rst voter-elected black mayor of Ocean County, looks on as he recites the oath of offi ce during the borough’s annual reorganization meeting on Saturday, January 1st.

Kennedy Re-ups to the Dais

SOUTH TOMS RIVER– It’s not every local election that the end of a prior ad-ministration and introduc-tion of the next carries with it the ring of history in Ocean County, but that’s exactly what happened in this small bor-ough earlier this month.

Voters here elected the county’s first black mayor, Jo-seph M. Champagne, a Hai-tian-born American citizen who operates a law firm on Water Street in Toms River, in what he and his colleagues have repeatedly called the start of “a new day.”

The late Republican Berke-ley Township Committeeman Ed Tolbert, formerly of Mani-tou Park, earned the distinc-tion of first African-American mayor in the county when he was elected to the position by fellow committee members of that municipality in the early 1970s under the old commit-tee form of government.

Mr. Champagne, a Demo-

crat, defeated Republican Council President George J. Greitz, Jr. in the tight South Toms River Borough mayoral race in November to earn the title and distinction by a final vote count of 419 to 378. Mr. Greitz had served the borough alternately as councilman and mayor for much of the past 30 years. The borough’s current mayor, Michael Keene, chose not to run for re-election. Mr. Champagne’s running mates, Marvin Sykes and Donald J. Williams, also enjoyed elec-tion victories to sit on council for the next three years.

Mr. Champagne’s status as the first voter-elected black mayor of the county was con-firmed shortly after the elec-tion win by Ocean County Clerk Scott M. Colabella.

Shortly after noon on Janu-ary 1st, Mr. Champagne took his oath of office and ad-dressed borough residents, family members, and well-wishers for the first time as

cont. on page 5

By Philipp Schmidt

The LZ 129, the lead rigid German airship of the Zeppelin Company’s commercial passenger Hindenburg class, is seen above in late 1930s German advertisement. Typically referred to as just “the Hindenburg,” it was famously destroyed by fi re during an attempted landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst on May 6th, 1937.

OCEAN GATE – Earlier this month, borough residents and officials marked the end of one administration and the start of the next by reflecting upon a year that many here will not soon forget.

Beginning with such regu-lar annual events as the bor-ough Easter egg hunt to the light political rumblings that accompany nearly any local election, 2010 quickly turned sour for residents and officials here with the tragic Novem-ber death of one beloved lo-cal resident, James M. “Jim” Mooney, the Thanksgiving morning vehicular homicide of an equally beloved borough patrolman, Jason C. “Jay”

Marles, and the post-Christ-mas blizzard that challenged the emotions and patience of all by dropping 28 inches of snow on the region.

During the January 1st borough council reorgani-zation meeting, Mayor Paul Kennedy sought to maintain a balance between recognizing the tragedies and challenges of the previous months while righting the borough ship and pointing it squarely ahead to 2011.

“I don’t recall, living here 28 years, any mayor or any elected official having to deal with what we’ve had to deal with here as elected officials and residents in this town the

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PAGE 2 Jan. 14th - 27th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

BEACHWOOD – For the first time in three years, fol-lowing an upset 2007 defeat for re-election that some are now calling a “bump in the road,” long-serving Council-man Gerald W. LaCrosse took to the dais at this borough’s reorganization meeting on January 5th after being sworn in with grandchildren Amber-leigh, 8, and Jeremy, 7, at his side.

The councilman, who at-tended nearly every council meeting between January 2008 and December of last year despite not sitting on the governing body, was vis-ibly pleased to be back and thanked everybody present for the election win, which he shared with his running mate and first-time councilman, Edward A. Zakar.

“I’m looking out here this evening and I’m seeing a lot of people that I know, some that I don’t know and some that I hope to know in the future,” he said. “I see sitting up here, in the back former Mayor [Hal] Morris and my former running mate, Tom Miserin-dino. I see a lot of people that have made a great difference in this community, and I just have to say right now that I was blessed because I see my fam-ily out there, and they’re with me tonight and I’m proud and thank them.”

“I’m also impressed be-cause I had an opportunity to run with some very confident and some very, very caring people,” he continued, noting

former Councilwoman Patri-cia Moran to be among those running mates. “But this year, I had an opportunity to run with Ed Zakar, and I gotta tell you, running with Ed Za-kar and knowing that Ed Za-kar is sitting up here on this dais and is going to be doing the work for the people of the Borough of Beachwood makes me feel so good inside, it’s un-believable.”

“I can not tell you how humbled I am and apprecia-tive I am that the citizens have decided to put me back on the dais to represent their inter-ests in the Borough of Beach-wood,” said Mr. LaCrosse. “You figure over 1,700 people came out that day in Novem-ber and cast votes for me, and I don’t even know most of these people, so you have to at least look at it this way that it’s – I’m overwhelmed by it, quite hon-

BEACHWOOD

BEACHWOOD – If volun-teers are the backbone of this community, a phrase repeat-ed often by borough officials here, then Edward A. Zakar, who was elected to the role of councilman this November, is one of its most enduring, un-breakable parts.

A resident since 1980, Mr. Zakar is a member of the Beachwood Municipal Alli-ance, has been involved with Cub Scout Pack 114 since 1992, has been a Jersey Shore Girl Scouts volunteer fund-raiser since 1996, is a former coach within the Beachwood-Pine Beach Little League, a former land use board mem-ber and chairman from 1995 until last year and in 2008 was, along with his wife of 31 years, Patricia, chosen by the borough mayor and council as “Citizens of the Year.”

Mr. Zakar, who has been employed as a full-time em-ployee with Six Flags Great Adventure/Wild Safari/Hur-ricane Harbor, Jackson for 36 years with a current title of manager for Safety and Risk Management, is also an active certified level two firefighter and past trustee of the Toms River Fire Department No. 1; a past president, trustee and certified EMT-D holding life member status with the Toms River First Aid Squad; a del-egate and past chairman of the New Jersey State First Aid Council, District 15; current president, past fire coordina-tor and 34-year member of the Jackson Township Office of Emergency Management

council; a present member of the Ocean County Office of Emergency Management from appointment by the Ocean County Board of Cho-sen Freeholders; a member of various committees rep-resenting Six Flags with the New Jersey State Police; a cur-rent member and planning committee member for the New Jersey State Safety Ex-position with the New Jersey State Safety Council; a 22-year member of the New Jersey Industrial Safety Committee; a nine-year former board of director member of the New Jersey Amusement Associa-tion; an educational and plan-ning conference committee member for the International Amusement Industry Associa-tion as well as instructing at the annual conference on Oc-cupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) com-pliance; a member of the risk management committee for the Jersey Shore Boy Scout Council since 2003; and a ten-year member of the planning committee for the Toms River Fire Company No. 1 Hallow-een Parade.

Together, he and his wife have three children, now grown adults: Shawn, 28; Tracy, 25; and Lindsay, 24. The borough couple also has three grandchildren from their daughter, Tracy, and her husband, John Ely: John Rob-ert, Alyssa Anne and Katilyn Patricia.

Speaking shortly after tak-ing the oath of office to join this governing body during their January 5th reorganiza-tion meeting, Mr. Zakar was grateful for the support of his family, running mate, bor-ough volunteers, residents and

those present that evening.“My hat’s off for you

guys and you gals,” he said. “Thanks for giving me the op-portunity to not let you down.”

Speaking this week with the Riverside Signal about the challenges and goals he sees for the coming year, Mr. Zakar was confident.

Longtime Volunteer Zakar on the DaisBy Erik Weber

BeachwoodCommunity Calendar

Council MeetingThe Beachwood Borough

Council will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, January 19th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

~Snow Emergency

ReminderBeachwood Police Chief

William Cairns wants to remind residents that all vehicles must be removed from borough streets dur-ing snowstorm events to al-low for plowing and unhin-dered emergency services access. Failure to do so will result in vehicles being tick-eted and towed at the own-er’s expense under borough ordinance 7-3.7.

~Land Use Board

MeetingThe Beachwood Land Use

Board will hold its next meeting on Monday, Janu-ary 24th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

~Cat & Dog

License DeadlineThe deadline for licens-

ing cats and dogs within the borough is Monday, Janu-ary 31st. Anyone obtaining a license following this date will pay a late fee of $10 per license.

~

Do you have a Beachwood community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722, e-mail River-sideSignal@gmail.com or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

LaCrosse Back in the SaddleBy James Blackburn

ERIK J. WEBER, the Riverside Signal Councilman Edward A. Zakar shook hands with Ocean County Surrogate Jeffrey W. Moran moments after being sworn into office.

ERIK J. WEBER, the Riverside Signal Councilman Gerald W. “Jerry” LaCrosse embraced his grandchildren after being sworn into office.

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PAGE 3 Jan. 14th - 27th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

Kennedy Re-Ups to the Dais continued from front

OCEAN GATE

Ocean GateCommunity Calendar

Boro Yoga ClassYoga classes are offered on

Mondays and Wednesdays, from 8:30 am to 9:30 am and 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, in Adrian Hall on East Cape May Avenue. Cost is $7 per person per class; series pric-ing is available. For more information, call 609-276-3966 or e-mail sharynker-ins@comcast.net

~Free Karate Classes

Free karate classes are of-fered every Friday from 6 pm to 7 pm in Adrian Hall on East Cape May Avenue to all borough residents.

~CDBG Hearing

The Ocean Gate Borough Council will hold the last of two public hearings on the Community Block Develop-ment Grant on Wednesday, January 26th at 6:30 pm in borough hall on Ocean Gate Avenue.

~Council Regular

MeetingThe Ocean Gate Borough

Council will hold its next regular meeting on Wednes-day, January 26th at 7 pm in borough hall on Ocean Gate Avenue.

~Do you have an Ocean Gate

community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722, e-mail RiversideSignal@gmail.com or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

last two or three months,” he said moments after being sworn in for his second term as mayor. “It’s been tough, we got through it and I think that we all showed, not just myself but all the elected of-ficials, that we’re here – that if we can get through this, we can get through anything.”

“It can’t get any worse, I don’t think, I really don’t,” the mayor continued. “I look forward to brighter things in 2011, some more tough deci-sions that will be painful for

some, some maybe not, but with the interests of all the residents and taxpayers of Ocean Gate.”

“The other night, I prob-ably should not have said some things I did but I speak my mind up here, it all comes from my heart,” he said, re-ferring to the final tumultu-ous council meeting of 2010 that saw a walk-on resolution added to the agenda to priva-tize trash, recycling and bulk pickup in the borough. “Run-ning for re-election was hard for me, it was real hard, and I thank all of you in this room for supporting me.”

“It’s hard for me, as you can see, I have little kids – little grandkids – and it was emotional for me to take the oath of office again, prob-ably for the fourth or fifth time, second as mayor,” May-or Kennedy continued. “I’m tied up for four more years, and it takes me away from that, and it’s really hard, but I can tell you this: there were certain words in the oath of office, and I take the whole oath seriously, I always have.

I give my 110 percent here, every single day, and the only people that really, truthfully know that are my family, my friends, my wife puts up with this, what I do. It’s very, very serious for me.”

“I got thick skin, that grew on me over the years because I’m used to it now, but let me tell you, it’s not easy,” he said. “Nobody ever said it was, but I’m still learning. 12 years in this type of environment, and I’m still learning. You look at everybody to the side of me, they don’t have 12 years to-gether. We learn as a team, we do things together. There are going to be times that we don’t all agree. The famous line now is going to be, for the next year, that there are several Republicans running this town that are going to try and shove everything down their throat. Well, just a brief moment in history, several years ago, we had several Republicans up here, and it didn’t work that way.”

“I actually voted a couple times, more than a couple, probably,” the mayor contin-

OCEAN GATE - Lt. Det. Barry Wohl of the Ocean Gate Police Department wants to remind residents to secure their vehicles when parked in their driveway or street, and to not keep any personal be-longings inside at any time.

“Residents still have the

habit of leaving the doors unlocked and maybe leaving cameras and iPods inside,” he said, which are targets for break-ins.

Borough Police Chief Re-ece J. Fisher also thanked residents for moving their ve-hicles off borough roads dur-

ing the past three snow storms to allow unhindered snow re-moval, an action that he said did not go unnoticed and was appreciated.

He also wanted residents to know that during snowstorm events, they would be permit-ted to park in the duck pond

parking lot on Ocean Gate Drive, the East Bayview Av-enue parking lot, and the An-gelsea Avenue parking lot if they need additional off-street parking to facilitate unhin-dered snow plow operations.

Ocean Gate Borough Police Notices

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PAGE 4 Jan. 14th - 27th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

PINE BEACH – A new year and a new administration began here with the swear-ing in of freshman council members Barry Wieck and Andrew Keczkemethy earlier this month, marking a shift in power to an all-Republican council with a Democratic mayor.

Mr. Wieck, a life-long bor-ough resident, past borough fire company chief, and long-time Cub Scout Troop 114 volunteer leader was reflec-tive upon his new role.

Noting the numerous Troop 114 members in the audience who presented the colors to start the meeting, he said that he’d “sat on quite

a few Eagle board of reviews, and we have a couple Eagle [Scouts] right here in this audience, and when they’re asked, ‘What’s the most im-portant law in scout laws and oaths?’, 99 out of 100 said trustworthy.”

“If you lose trustworthi-ness of the people, you’ve lost everything,” the newly-mint-ed councilman continued. “We will work to keep your trust and to keep you helping us.”

Mr. Wieck added that a large part of what made Pine Beach great was the volun-teerism of its residents, which he looked forward to encour-aging more during his service on the governing body.

Mr. Keczkemethy thanked his wife and children for their support, and said he would not let borough residents down who “put their trust in me to go up here and do a good job, and an honest job.”

“Like Barry said, we will need help to get back to peo-ple volunteering their time,” the councilman said. “It won’t always be easy, but we can get it done – let’s do a good job together.”

Long-serving county free-holder, former mayor and

lifelong resident John C. Bartlett, Jr. was also on hand to witness the inauguration of the councilmen, partly as Mr. Keczkemethy is his brother-in-law.

The freeholder commend-ed the new council members for their successful cam-paigns.

“Congratulations to both of you on a very well-run campaign,” he said. “Cer-tainly many different issues lie ahead in the coming year – under the new two-percent cap it will be very difficult to operate and the public needs to be informed of that.”

This year saw Governor Chris Christie’s two-per-cent tax levy cap go into ef-fect statewide, which has left many local municipal leaders balking at how to adopt bal-anced budgets without mak-ing heavy cuts to local ser-vices.

~The next meeting of the

borough council will be a work session on Monday, Jan-uary 24th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Wieck, Keczkemethy welcomed to freshman council termsBy Erik Weber

PINE BEACH

ERIK J. WEBER, the Riverside Signal Councilman Andrew Keczkemethy is sworn in by Mayor Christopher Boyle with his wife, Nancy, by his side.

ERIK J. WEBER, the Riverside Signal Councilman Berry Wieck is sworn in by Mayor Christopher Boyle with his wife, Rosemary, by his side.

PINE BEACH – Late Wednesday morning, River-side Drive resident Ann Wur-ston contacted the Riverside Signal to thank a pair of local Samaritans who had provided aid to her and others during

the recent winter storms that blanketed the region with suc-cessive rounds of snow.

According to Ms. Wurston, Susan Raichle, who also lives on Riverside Drive, was the

resident who provided the area Quality Medical Am-bulance crew with hot soup during their extended stay in their vehicle on the waterfront roadway during the December

26th and 27th blizzard.Additionally, she said, Ms.

Raichle regularly provided aid to her by shoveling out her walkway following the three recent snowfall events.

“She’s just a kind person and a wonderful neighbor,” Ms. Wurston said. “This morning I was home and I heard someone shoveling my front path, and it was her.”

A second area resident who she felt deserved recognition was Gregory S. McDuff, of Bayville, who often plowed her driveway with one of his ubiquitous Pittsburgh Steel-ers -decorated trucks from his company, B & G Lawn Service.

“He’s a great guy,” Ms. Wurston said. “I don’t know what I would do without him.”

In closing, the Riverside Drive resident added that “it’s so wonderful to have good neighbors.”

Readers wishing to recog-nize area volunteers and good Samaritans may write a letter to the editor at Riverside Sig-nal, c/o Good Deeds, P.O. Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722.

Local Good Samaritans thanked

PAGE 5Jan. 1st - 13th, 2011 The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

enhance his account of the borough and Barnegat Bay life as a child so many years ago, at a time when history passed literally overhead. Enjoy.

My brother Richard and I have many fond memories going back to the 1930s. We lived in a large house at the

entrance to Pine Beach, NJ. It was next to the Sunoco service station that my grandfather, George Winterling, had built on the Atlantic City highway (U.S. 9). He and his son, our father, Otto Winterling, built the house where I as a 2-year-old loved to sit on the front steps or in a rocking chair on the porch. A few months later, my one-year-old brother could join me outdoors. We often played together under the oak trees on the shady lawn between the house and the busy highway. We watched the cars going by and were espe-cially fascinated looking at the chain-drives on the trucks.

About 18 miles farther south our mother’s parents, Frank and Mary Cranmer, had a farm near Manahawkin, in Mayetta. It was just off high-way U.S. 9, not far from Bar-negat Bay. When my brother and I came for a visit we re-ceived a royal welcome from the mosquito population. We often sat under a large walnut tree by the back porch and en-joyed a delicious treat as our uncle, Captain Clinton Cran-mer, and our grandfather, Frank “Dad-dad” Cranmer, opened fresh clams from the bay. We could always all eat our share of them as fast as they were shucked. We often followed our grandmother, Mary “Me-mom” Cranmer, to the hen house to collect eggs. The chicken we ate for dinner did not come from [Kentucky Fried Chicken] or the super-market. She selected one from the chicken yard and behead-ed it with an ax. Richard and I

to this day can remember the sight of seeing the headless chicken scampering across the lawn, soon to be plucked and roasted for a tasty farm-house meal.

In Pine Beach, I spent many of my summer preschool days strolling down Motor Road to the Toms River. Upon reach-ing the riverbank, I walked along the shore watching mo-tor boats cruise the waterway. I was always fascinated with the miniature waves from their wakes that rolled in and dissolved into the gravel along the riverbank. I climbed to the pier where I could see a few crabs clinging to the pilings. My grandmother, Laura Win-terling, often gave me a piece of meat on a string to suspend from the pier. After an hour or two I returned to the house with a bucketful, which she boiled for us to enjoy together.

I recall being at the river front on May 6th, 1937. From the pier I climbed the steps that led the roadway above. To the left I could see [Ad-miral] Farragut Academy, where there were the rows of lifeboats lining the lawn that I thought were used for recre-ation or training in seaman-ship. Being an inquisitive kid, I strolled past the post of-fice and crossed the railroad tracks to the woods where I enjoyed scanning the pathway for blueberries and huckleber-ries. I occasionally found a few teaberries, a rare treat!

Suddenly I became aware of a deep low-frequency hum in the distance approaching me from the north. I didn’t

George Winterling fills an automobile at his filling station, located where the Lamp Post Inn stands today, in the early 20th Century.

Pine Beach Community Calendar

Council Work Session Meeting

The Pine Beach Borough Council will hold its next work session meeting on Monday, January 24th at 7:30 pm in borough hall on Pennsylvania Avenue.

~

~Do you have a Pine Beach com-

munity meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722, e-mail RiversideSignal@gmail.com or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

ERIK J. WEBER, the Riverside Signal Local builder and Pine Beach resident Rudy Rinderer stopped to pose for a photo last week with friend and fellow borough resident Tom O’Connor in front of a new home going up across from Pine Beach Elementary on Pennsylvania Avenue.

know what it was, but hear-ing it getting louder, I start-ed running back toward the railroad tracks to see what it was that was passing over me. Before I reached the clearing all I could only see that some-thing large and silver-gray had kept me from seeing the sky through the breaks in the tree canopy above. I reached the tracks and stood in awe as I caught a fleeting glimpse of a huge dirigible shrinking into the distant south horizon.

A few hours later, as I sat at the family dinner table with my grandparents and Richard, then four years old, we suddenly heard a distant rumble that caused my grand-father to jump from the table. He had just built a water tower next to his tourist cabins be-hind his Sunoco gas station, bar and restaurant. Fearing that it had crashed to the ground, he dashed out the door, and was relieved to spot

the tower still standing.Upon seeing smoke coming

from the direction of Lakehu-rst, my father loaded us into our new ‘37 Plymouth and proceeded toward the naval air station. The main entrance was closed, so we drove to a fence on the back road where we could view the smolder-ing skeleton of the giant air-ship... it was the Hindenburg. As youngsters, my brother and I didn’t know the impact this event would have on the his-tory of aviation. This was the day that gave me my most out-standing memory of the town of my birth, Pine Beach, N.J.

~Anyone interested in sharing

their memories and stories of liv-ing within the five boroughs on the Toms River may submit them by mail to Riverside Signal, P.O. Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722, or call 732-664-1043 to make an appointment for an interview for publication.

cont. from front

PAGE 6 Jan. 14th - 27th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

mayor during the annual bor-ough reorganization meeting in borough hall.

“This town is known as a little town with a big heart,” he said. “I think I am evidence of that – being elected by these people, certainly, they have a big heart.”

The mayor thanked his wife, mother, children and mentor, local attorney Daniel

Simmons, and “so many of you who have contributed to my growth and development,” including campaign manager Carla Kearney.

“I’m so grateful, and also thankful to each and every one of you who really have said the words of encouragement that yes, you can, as President Obama says,” he continued. “This has resonated through-

out the country and obviously in South Toms River, that yes, we can overcome negative ex-pectation, we can overcome barriers, and we can rise to levels that may have not been expected by most or believed by some.”

“The beautiful thing is that the people in this town looked beyond color – they didn’t see color, they saw character,” Mayor Champagne added. “They didn’t see color, they saw a good reputation, a fam-ily man, a working man – one who is concerned about the rights of those not just in his own community, but outside of this community, because re-ally there is one community: the human community.”

“I’m just thankful to God that He has placed me in this position to be the standard bearer of this occasion and I just pray that I’m not going to be the last one, that there will be more to come in Ocean County,” Mayor Champagne added.

Among the many that packed borough hall to wit-ness Mayor Champagne’s in-auguration was Ronald W. Jones, Jr., mayor of the neigh-boring municipality, Beach-wood Borough.

“This is a great day for South Toms River – that sign says it’s a community with a big heart and it starts with people like this,” he said, re-ferring to a sign that greets motorists along Double Trou-ble Road near the border of Beachwood and South Toms River. “I’m looking forward to a great relationship and work-ing on some mutual projects – you can’t start going to the beautiful waterfront area un-less you start in South Toms River.”

The Beachwood mayor also made light of his rocky tenure serving his community for the past three years, a pe-riod which as seen numerous accusations, lawsuits and vis-ibly strained relations between himself and various members of that borough’s council and residents.

“I just have to say to Joe that now that you have this new position, you don’t have to go far because Rite-Aid has Tylenol on the top shelf,” he joked.

On South Toms River, Mayor Jones said that “it’s a great place to live, I’m really very, very proud of seeing so

many people here, and I also want to compliment our police officers [as] we have a great re-lationship in Beachwood with the fine South Toms River Po-lice Department.”

During last week’s council caucus meeting, Ms. Kearney, who also previously served as a councilwoman in the bor-ough, was selected to fill May-or Champagne’s open council position, with a term expiring on December 31st of this year.

This week, Mayor Cham-pagne outlined some of his thoughts and directives for South Toms River in 2011 via telephone.

One of the challenges for his administration, he said, would be “to move the bor-ough in a different direction from the previous administra-tions, and to employ the rules and regulations that govern the functioning of the person-nel in this town.”

The mayor said that pro-tocols would be set up to both recognize those borough em-ployees who had been per-forming their duties well and to correct others who “may have laxed because of lack of structure to supervise their work, and for them to begin to understand that having an environment that is one ac-cording to the rules and regu-lations is not only beneficial to the town but also beneficial to them as well.”

“The people of the town are putting a lot of money in the town’s coffers, and it’s only right that they get their money’s worth for what they are putting in,” he continued. “Despite the fact that we have not employed those regula-tions, there is indication that the majority of those employ-ees have done a stellar job in carrying out their functions, but I believe it will be to their benefit to know that someone is giving value to their work, to the process and to the town.”

Mayor Champagne would not specify whether he was referring to complaints aired during a September council meeting by some residents and officials over the confronta-tional attitude of an unnamed employee of the borough sew-erage authority.

“That’s along the line of what I was saying earlier – the necessity to communicate with the employees about the need to continue to do their best, not only in terms of doing the

paperwork but also in terms of relating in an even more pro-fessional manner with their civil patrons,” he said. “It is true I have heard these allega-tions to one or two employees who may have rubbed some-body the wrong way last year, but given that I just started a new administration, I want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt that they are doing the right thing but establish-ing a standard by which every-body should uphold.”

“We will establish a system where every complaint will be taken into consideration,” the mayor continued. “It will be up for review and there will be an evaluation of the employ-ees by their supervisor.”

One of Mayor Cham-pagne’s first actions this year was renaming the borough’s municipal parks committee the environmental commit-tee, with the goal of working with surrounding municipal environmental groups to im-prove the health of the Toms River and Barnegat Bay estu-ary, pursue environmentally-friendly power sources as so-lar panels, improve the energy efficiency of borough facili-ties, and establish a working relationship with his alma ma-ter, the Vermont Law School, which is known for its environ-

Champagne, continued from front

SOUTH TOMS RIVER

South Toms RiverCommunity Calendar

Council Regular Meeting

The South Toms River Borough Council will hold its next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 18th at 7 pm in borough hall on Mill Street. It was rescheduled from Monday due to the federal holiday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

~Do you have a South Toms

River community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beach-wood, N.J. 08722, e-mail Riv-ersideSignal@gmail.com or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

PHILIPP SCHMIDT, the Riverside Signal Councilman Marvin Sykes is sworn in for a term ending December 31st, 2013.

PHILIPP SCHMIDT, the Riverside Signal Councilman Donald J. Williams embraces his wife, Carol, after being sworn in to a term ending December 31st, 2013.

Photo Courtesy CARLA KEARNEY Councilwoman Carla Kearney is sworn in to the council spot vacated by Mayor Joseph Champagne when he was sworn into his new position, for a term ending December 31st, 2011.

cont. on page 8

PAGE 7Jan. 1st - 13th, 2011 The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

ISLAND HEIGHTS - The Island Heights Branch of the Ocean County Library re-cently released its schedule of events for January and Febru-ary 2011.

The library is located at 121 Central Avenue, here.

To register for library pro-grams, or for more informa-tion, please call the Island Heights Library at 732-270-6266. It is also possible to reg-ister for programs online at www.theoceancountylibrary.org.

~Adult Programs

- Totally Tea, Saturday, January 22nd, 11 am

Why was tea so important in the lives of 18th century people that fashion-conscious families posed for portraits with their tea sets? Did Great Britain lose her American Colonies over “the cup that

cheers?” Find out in this un-usual costumed presentation of tea lore, history, songs, poetry, living history display and demonstration. Space is limited to 20 people. Please register.

- Talk of the Town: Healthy Solutions for Keeping Resolu-tions, Monday, January 24th, 7 pm

- Flipping the calendar to a new year can feel liberating. You have a clean slate and a renewed set of intentions like healthy weight loss and keep-ing with a sensible exercise plan. Now comes the tricky part--taking sustainable ac-tion past January!! Let’s talk healthy solutions for 2011. Join Wendy Bright-Fallon, Health Coach of Renew Well-ness for an action packed workshop-come prepared to roll up your sleeves. Space limited to 20 people. Please register.

- Island Heights Friends of the Library meeting, Monday, January 31st, 7 pm

The Friends of the Island Heights Library are an impor-tant link between the library and the public. The group plans programs and fundrais-ers for specific library needs.

New members are always welcome.

- Talk of the Town: Book as Art – Hands on Workshop, Monday, February 7th, 7 pm

Join local resident Harry Bower for this Friends of the Library event. Traditional and contemporary book mak-ing techniques will be used to create a variety of books. All materials and supplies will be provided. Space is limited to 20 people.

Sponsored by Friends of the Island Heights Library. Reg-istration required, begins Jan 24.

- Island Heights Friends of the~

Children’s Programs- Preschool Storytime,

Wednesday, January 26th, 10:30 am.

Stop in for stories and songs specially geared for pre-

schoolers. This program is for children ages 3 ½ to 5. Please register.

- Preschool Storytime, Wednesday, February 9th, 10:30 am.

Stop in for stories and songs specially geared for pre-schoolers. This program is for children ages 3 ½ to 5. Regis-tration required, begins Janu-ary 26th.

- Valentine’s Fun, Monday, February 14th, 7 pm

Visit the library for Valen-tine’s Day stories and make a fun craft. For kindergarten and up. Space is limited to 20 children. Registration re-quired, begins January 31st.

- Preschool Storytime, Wednesday, February 23rd, 10:30 am.

Stop in for stories and songs specially geared for pre-schoolers. This program is for children ages 3 ½ to 5. Regis-tration required, begins Janu-ary 26th.

- Code in the Quilt: Cele-brating African Americans in the Civil War, Friday, Febru-ary 25th, 4 pm

Join us for an exciting Clue Based Adventure then make a traditional story quilt! Ages 6-12. Space is limited to 20 children. Registration re-quired, begins January 31st.

ISLAND HEIGHTS

Island Heights Library Posts January, February EventsBy James Blackburn

Island HeightsCommunity Calendar

Council MeetingThe Island Heights Bor-

ough Council will hold its next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 18th at 7 pm in borough hall in the Wanamaker Complex on East End and Van Sant av-enues.

~Do you have an Island

Heights community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beach-wood, N.J. 08722, e-mail Riv-ersideSignal@gmail.com or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

ISLAND HEIGHTS – Next Tuesday, Island Heights residents will have the op-portunity to vote in a special school election between 2 pm and 9 pm that will propose improvements to the district’s water system, roofing, paving, and windows.

According to a public no-tice placed by the district, ap-proximately 112,000 square feet of roofing and breezeway sections, and approximately 300 windows need to be re-placed at the middle and high school facilities at a total cost of $2,739,076. It is also pro-posed that the two schools be connected to the Berkeley Township water system, at a total cost of $420,000. Both are currently operating on a well water system.

A district wide paving proj-ect is also requested, at a total cost of $2,049,900.

The total cost of $5,208,976 is projected for the pro-posed improvements, with $4,113,346 being acquired through the issuance of bonds of the board of education. The remaining $1,095,630 would provided by a New Jersey De-partment of Education Regu-lar Operating Districts grant or also acquired through the issuance of bonds, in order to either temporarily finance the grant due to cash flow purpos-

es as necessary, or permanent-ly finance the grant amount if the grant is unavailable.

According to a “referen-dum fact sheet” provided by the school district, the pro-posed increase in school tax rate would be $.004 for Island Heights residents, or $1.28 per month/$15.35 per year. Ocean Gate residents, who are also in the Central Regional School District, would see a tax rate increase of $.0047, or $0.95 per month/$11.39 per year.

According to a notice on the Central Regional School District website, Superinten-dent Triantafillos Parlapa-nides “is inviting all mayors, councilmen, councilwomen and taxpayers to Central Re-gional School district for a tour of the facilities we are looking to repair with funds from the referendum. All tours will begin from the su-perintendent’s office, located behind the school.”

The upcoming dates for this tour are Wednesday, Jan-uary 19th at 4 pm and Friday, January 21st at 5 pm. Those interested but unable to at-tend on these dates are invited to call 732-269-1100, ext. 206.

Central Regional Referendum Next Tues

PAGE 8 Jan. 14th - 27th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

“Challenges arise every day within any governing entity,” he said. “I am confi-dent that with the experience within our council members currently in place, these chal-lenges become opportunities and resolution will be thought out and applied, always keep-ing the borough residents’ best interest in mind.”

Mr. Zakar also felt that the borough could operate smoothly underneath the gov-ernor’s two-percent tax levy cap, stating that “the borough will have to make sensible modifications to remain fis-cally sound moving forward.”

He noted that it was also important to pursue “green initiatives through grants for the borough, preserving the environment as well as tax dollars.”

The next meeting of the borough council will be held on Wednesday, January 19th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

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mental law program.

“You can not compartmen-talize the environment,” he said. “Whatever is happening in our municipality will hap-pen in the neighboring [ones], so having a comprehensive ap-proach through partnership I think is the best way to ad-dress issues pertaining to the environment that would make the lives of other better.”

When asked whether this would also involve the ongo-ing litigation over the removal of deteriorating boats from borough-owned land on Crab-be Point between the borough and Miller Yacht Sales, Inc., which operates marina adja-cent to the land on Atlantic City Boulevard, Mayor Cham-pagne declined to make any detailed comments.

“I’m very hopeful that this will be addressed in a most productive manner, but I would wait until the conclu-sion of litigation in order to make any specific comments,” he said.

In speaking about Gover-nor Chris Christie’s two per-

cent tax levy cap that began to take effect this year, Mayor Champagne sided with its lo-cal supporters, which includes Beachwood Mayor Jones, and broke from its local detrac-tors, which thus far publicly includes the majority of mem-bers of the Island Heights gov-erning body, members of the Pine Beach governing body and Ocean County Freeholder and Pine Beach resident, John Bartlett, Jr.

“I think the two percent cap is an excellent approach,” the newly-minted South Toms River mayor said. “It’s not a policy for our economic hard-ship, but it’s a start to kind of address the economical dif-ficulties that are not just in South Toms River but New Jersey in general.”

The next meeting of the South Toms River Borough Council will be held on Tues-day, January 18th at 7 pm in borough hall on Mill Street. It was rescheduled from the regular Monday evening due to the national holiday in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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ued, referring to tie-breaking votes placed when the bor-ough council had reached a split decision. “The plan amongst all of us is to move this town forward as it has been moving forward.”

Mayor Kennedy comment-ed on the current controversy regarding the privatization of garbage, recycling and bulk pickup in the borough.

“We made a tough deci-sion the other night – it’s a tough business management decision that we made here, and we all believe that it’s gonna work,” he said. “It’s the next step in something that will make this borough work, and improve the quality of life so everybody will be able to have their trash collected when they put it out that day, and come home from work and it’s gone and the can is not thrown on the lawn and it’s not rolling around – it’s empty.”

“The rest of the time the men that’ll be working here

will be able to maintain the borough,” the mayor contin-ued, noting that a number of municipal projects had fallen by the wayside in recent years due to what he said was an abundance of time spent col-lecting trash. “Now we’ll be able to maintain this building – if I had the time, I would have been in here yesterday mopping this place because it’s dirty.”

“We are here, and I know I’m here to make sure and guide the six people, the three to my left and the three to my right,” he said. “We will move forward for next year, I do want to tell everyone Hap-py New Year, and be safe.”

The next meeting of the borough council will be on Wednesday, January 26th at 7 pm in borough hall on Ocean Gate Avenue. A second hear-ing on the Community Block Development Grant will pre-cede it in the same location, beginning at 6:30 pm.

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estly, and I’ve always said that to the citizens, if you voted for me, thank you very much and I appreciate your vote of confidence, and if you didn’t, remember that I represent all the people of Beachwood, and my decisions are made in all the people of Beachwood’s best interest..”

“I really think that Beach-wood is going to regain its former place in the hearts and minds and in the whole scheme of Ocean County,” said Mr. LaCrosse. “I see some volunteers here and I want to thank them, too - volun-teers are the backbone of this community. People who have volunteered to serve on the boards - the land use board, the environmental commis-sion, the recreation commis-sion, the shade tree commis-sion – whatever it is; it’s still volunteering their time and efforts.”

“Let’s see what we can do to make Beachwood an even better place,” he continued. “That’s been my dream since

I moved here in 1976 – my family has been raised here, and this is my life, and I thank you for making me a part of yours.”

This week, the Riverside Signal caught up with Mr. La-Crosse to find out what he sees as the goals and challenges facing the governing body this year.

“First of all, we’re going to have to try and live within the governor’s two-percent cap,” he said, referring to the two-percent tax levy cap that Gov-ernor Chris Christie intro-duced last year and which went into effect for 2011. “It’s going to be some magic performed there, I’m sure – let’s face it, all the expenses around us are going up. I have a great deal of confidence in our treasurer and our chief financial officer. He did a marvelous job the last couple of years and I’m sure he’ll continue to do so.”

Mr. LaCrosse said that the growth of Beachwood from its original waterfront resort

community development to today’s much larger borough presented a number of chal-lenges to the municipal infra-structure that he said would continue to be well met by the governing body this year.

“You have to remember that Beachwood was just a little riverfront community 75 years ago, with 400 people maybe at the most, and not all of those people would live here year-round,” he said. “We have grown since I became a council member – our popula-tion has doubled and of course the services that are necessary for our community and also services imposed upon us by the state to provide to resi-dents have also increased.”

“That’s always a big thing we’re going to have to look at, and so far we’ve done a fairly good job,” the councilman added.

He highlighted the push to upgrade the borough water system, which has long been a source of complaints by

residents over the sometimes rusty color of the water supply, to be at the top of his list of infrastructure projects.

“Since I took the water sys-tem liaison position 10 or 12 years ago, there have been lots of improvements but we had to make them because the community has grown exponentially the last 10 or 15 years,” Mr. LaCrosse said,

noting that he is currently not a liaison to the public works department as he had been in the past. “We went through a tremendous growth, and a wa-ter system built to serve 3,500 people is now serving 11,000 people, and so there is an area that is going to have to be looked at continuously.”

Champagne, from page 6 Kennedy, from page 3 Zakar, from page 2

LaCrosse, from page 3