Bid for Monmouth jail food services spurs dispute    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Asbury Park Press
The lucrative business of providing meals for prisoners has led to a food fight between Monmouth County officials and a vendor whose contract bid for the service was rejected -- despite the bid being $450,000 ...... Full story...

Jail food contract prompts suit    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
The lucrative business of providing meals for prisoners has led to a food fight between Monmouth County officials and a vendor whose bid for the contract was rejected - even though it was $450,000 lower than the winning $3...... Full story...

Freehold council faces challenges in '09    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
FREEHOLD — Borough Council members said they anticipate challenges and changes for the town in 2009 but retained a sense of optimism as they organized for the new year Sunday.Democratic Councilmen Michael DiBenedetto...... Full story...

Fire investigation closes Long Branch avenue    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
LONG BRANCH — Second Avenue between West End Avenue and Passey Gardens was closed to through traffic Sunday while officials investigated a fire that gutted a restaurant Saturday afternoon.Lt. Robert Wiener said the two...... Full story...

Photo exhibit at Brookdale museum    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
MIDDLETOWN: The exhibit "Dorn's Photography Collection: Then and Now" is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily through Sunday at the Monmouth Museum, on the Brookdale Community College campus, 765 Newman Springs Road.This...... Full story...

Colts Neck panel names ex-mayor rec director    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
COLTS NECK — The Township Committee hired outgoing Mayor Thomas E. Hennessy Jr. as full-time recreation director at its organization meeting Sunday.Several residents objected to the controversial 5-0 vote, telling the...... Full story...

Atlantic Highlands first aid and safety squad alters command structure    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS — The First Aid and Safety Squad has a chief for the first time in its nearly 80-year history.Richard Huff was installed in the new top position when the all-volunteer EMS and rescue squad organized...... Full story...

Middletown mayor, deputy trade titles during organization    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
MIDDLETOWN — Republicans Gerard Scharfenberger and Pamela Brightbill switched their positions and leather chairs during the township's organization meeting on Sunday.Brightbill, who served as Middletown's deputy...... Full story...

Fire at substation cuts power to 3,000    Posted on 2009-01-05
Source: Ashbury Park Press
MATAWAN — A fire outside of a Jersey Central Power & Light substation Sunday knocked out power to 3,000 of its customers, spokeswoman Maria Sessa said.Residents here and in Hazlet, Aberdeen and Old Bridge were affected...... Full story...

Symbol of the courts in New Jersey? The almighty buck    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Asbury Park Press Online
New Jersey has made someone's Top 10 again, and again it's not something of which we can be proud.... Full story...

Murder total lowest since 1989    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
For Monmouth County law enforcement, 2009 began on a high note, with authorities hoping to sustain the lowest homicide rate in almost two decades.Monmouth County had five murders in 2008 - and arrests have been made in four...... Full story...

Girls' ice-skating promotion is anything but rinky-dink    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
WALL — Lauren Lechner and Faryn Pearl have been ice skating for most of their lives, so when it came time for to organize a community service project in pursuit of a Girl Scout Gold Award, it was a natural fit to turn...... Full story...

GOP takes control in Sea Bright, flexes muscle: GOP takes control in Sea Bright    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
SEA BRIGHT — Republicans C. Read Murphy and James A. LoBiondo III were sworn in to three-year terms on the Borough Council Saturday morning, giving Republicans control of the governing body.William J. Keeler was elected...... Full story...

New Hazlet mayor sets road, recreation project priorities    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
HAZLET — The new mayor plans to continue and expand upon a program of road and recreation improvements in 2009, he said during the township's organization meeting Saturday.Kevin Lavan, a Democrat, was selected unanimously...... Full story...

Search ends for person reported in surf    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
ASBURY PARK — Fire and police officials ended their search at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for a person said by a passerby to have seemingly disappeared in the ocean off First Avenue on Friday.Divers regrouped shortly after 8...... Full story...

Fire destroys Long Branch restaurant    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
LONG BRANCH — A fire Saturday afternoon destroyed a West End restaurant and left three firefighters with minor injuries.Firefighter Timothy Phillips was treated at Monmouth Medical Center for facial burns and released...... Full story...

Middletown to unveil plan for Port Belford upgrades    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
MIDDLETOWN — Fishing operations would expand, and a new marine research center and full-service inn would open under a township proposal to revitalize the Port of Belford.The plan, to be presented Tuesday at 7 p.m. at...... Full story...

Colts Neck's master of recreation retires    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
COLTS NECK — Harold J. Nolan Jr. didn't expect to spend nearly three decades ensuring township residents were offered an unusual array of recreational activities and sprawling parks to play in.Nolan, a 61-year-old...... Full story...

POLICE BRIEFS    Posted on 2009-01-04
Source: Ashbury Park Press
Surf searched for missing personASBURY PARK: Police and fire divers suspended a search operation at 7:30 p.m. Friday for a person believed to have disappeared in the ocean off First Avenue about two hours earlier.Garrett Giberson...... Full story...

Middletown man charged in doughnut shop heists    Posted on 2009-01-03
Source: Asbury Park Press Online
Police arrested a township man who they say robbed two Dunkin' Donuts shops in the township last week.... Full story...

Indictments: Four conducted \"open-air\" heroin sales    Posted on 2009-01-03
Source: Ashbury Park Press
FREEHOLD — A Monmouth County grand jury has handed up two indictments charging four reputed associates of the Bloods street gang with various offenses related to heroin distribution.One indictment, handed up Monday, charges...... Full story...

Car crash puts four teens in hospital    Posted on 2009-01-03
Source: Ashbury Park Press
COLTS NECK — A single-car accident along a lightly traveled road known for drag-racing near the township high school sent four teenagers to the hospital Friday with serious back, neck and head injuries, police said.The...... Full story...

Dealership vacates; car buyers in lurch    Posted on 2009-01-03
Source: Ashbury Park Press
MIDDLETOWN — What can you do with a newly purchased used car that doesn't have license plates, registration and certificate of ownership?You can park it in your driveway and let it sit there, according to one Middletown...... Full story...

Police say man tried to run over two residents    Posted on 2009-01-03
Source: Ashbury Park Press
NEPTUNE CITY — Police arrested a Neptune man who they say left a trail of tire tracks in the snow when he tried to run over two Neptune City residents with his car, authorities said.Around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Detective...... Full story...

Photographers compete; nature wins    Posted on 2009-01-03
Source: Ashbury Park Press
The photographs, more than 325 of them, arrived espousing nature's beauty.Photos of a pollen-covered bee landing on a flower, an osprey with fish in talons landing at its nest, landscapes, outdoorsy people, butterfly,...... Full story...