A resolution calls for using grant money to pay for a police department social worker. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An idea “spitballed” at the new Red Bank council’s first business session last month is up for adoption Thursday night: adding a “clinician” to the police department.
Here’s a quick overview of the agenda.
Volunteer firefighters heading into borough hall for Wednesday night’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters derailed the planned introduction of a borough budget they said would scuttle a negotiated funding plan for their firehouses Wednesday night.
Wayne Hartman at the start of his last stint as fire chief in 2019. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Just three years after he concluded his last term, Wayne Hartman is slated to return as chief of the Red Bank’s fire department next week.
This will be his third time heading the all-volunteer department.
Squeezing summer for every last minute of open-air fun, the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair returns with eight nights of rides, seafood, 50-50 drawings and more starting Friday.
Sunday’s Street Fair in downtown Red Bank, a fundraiser for the borough’s volunteer fire department, drew thousands of attendees to Monmouth and Broad streets.
John Grandits’ account of his neighbor’s escape from the World Trade Center is for sale at River Road Books for $1, with proceeds going to volunteer fire and first aid. Below, Drew Irving. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Red Bank resident and children’s author John Grandits could see his neighbor Louise Irving in an agitated state on her back porch, her sister’s arms wrapped around her.
Then he learned what was happening in New York City, and immediately remembered: Louise’s husband, Drew, worked at the World Trade Center.
Rumbling back into Fair Haven Friday night after missing out on 2020: the summer-ending food-and-fun extravaganza known as the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.
Here’s what you need to know if you’re going.
For the second day in a row, a wildlife officer was called out to the corner of Brown Place and South Street in Red Bank to care for a raccoon pup that had fallen from a nest about 20 feet above the ground.
Rumson Fire Company volunteers brought their ladder truck to Fair Haven to rescue a cat stuck high up in a tree on Maple Avenue Tuesday. The clingy kitty seemed thankful. (Video by Destinations Past. Click to enlarge.)
One arm still in a cast, John Mego was sworn in as first deputy fire chief in January 2010, three weeks after he was struck by a vehicle while working as a school crossing guard. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Former Red Bank Fire Chief John Mego has died, Mayor Pasquale Menna said Friday morning.
Members of the Red Bank volunteer fire department’s dive team helped a boater on the Swimming River shortly before noon Tuesday. (Photo by Carl Colmorgen. Click to enlarge)
Rick Brandt during an interview in January. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Already under suspension by the volunteer fire department for improper use of photos in his campaign, the Republican challenger for mayor in Little Silver is in another flap over photos, this time with the school district.
Rick Brandt, who’s up against incumbent Mayor Bob Neff in the GOP primary next month, has also drawn the ire of the organization that manages the town’s most historic property.
Rick Brandt on the scene of a June, 2017 condo fire in Little Silver. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Republican candidate for mayor in Little Silver is in hot water with the volunteer fire department in which he’s a member.
Rick Brandt, who’s challenging incumbent Mayor Bob Neff in the GOP primary, is under suspension by the department for improper use of imagery, redbankgreen has learned.
Mayor Pasquale Menna prepares to swear in new fire Chief Wayne Hartman, center, and deputies Scott Calabrese and Bobby Holiday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s government turned the calendar page to 2019 with a friction-free reorganization meeting Tuesday that kicked off the fourth term of Mayor Pasquale Menna and gave Democrats unfettered control of borough hall.
Here are some highlights:
A message from the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Department. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
Little Silver’s historic Parker Homestead plans to honor the borough’s volunteer fire department Sunday. LSFD memorabilia will be on display inside the historic farmhouse, which will also be showing off some recent renovations, and a fire truck will be present for kids to climb into and around. Abundant sunshine and warm temperatures are forecast. The event runs from 1 to 4 p.m. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The bird makes a break for freedom under the watch of a decoy owl. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank volunteer firefighters rescued a juvenile hawk trapped in an open-air tower Thursday morning just as the animal appeared near starvation, an amateur ornithologist said.
The bird, a Cooper’s Hawk, had apparently been up under the peaked roof of the tower at the Medieval-style Courts of Red Bank office complex for days, having somehow bypassed steel netting installed just last fall to keep out pigeons.
Students from the Markham Place and Point Road Schools in Little Silver caroled through six holiday songs – including “Little Drummer Boy,” “African Noel” and “The Spirit of Hanukah” – as the community gathered for the annual Christmas tree lighting at borough hall Sunday. A dog named Jameson was dressed for the chilly occasion, too. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
There was no shortage of pizza as kids awaited Santa, who arrived with an assist by the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Department. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
A drizzly night didn’t stop the hearty kids and adults of Fair Haven from coming out to greet Santa Claus Friday night.
Leaving his sleigh at the North Pole until Christmas Eve, jolly old St. Nick got a lift to the annual Christmas tree lighting from the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Department.
More pictures await, just around the corner…
Mayor Dina Long, center above, helped move tables to accommodate an overflow crowd Tuesday night. John Lamia, below, was sworn to fill the unexpired term of Read Murphy. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A boatload of critical issues came crashing ashore in Sea Bright Tuesday night, as officials and residents wrestled with soaring taxes, where to put a Sandy-wrecked firehouse and more.
Dozens of residents packed a bimonthly borough council with their concerns: a bulkhead ordinance that would require some property owners to raise the level of protection adjoining their homes along the Shrewsbury River; a plan to build a 150-foot tall cell tower just feet from the ocean beach behind borough hall; the timing of repairs to the seawall.
Two matters in particular drew concerted heat: a proposal to rent land for use as a temporary fire station from a former mayor in arrears on taxes, and a 10-percent increase in tax bills, reflecting a whopping 17-percent increase to cover the cost of sending borough kids to Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch.
That one, and other issues, reflected longstanding frustrations.
“Twenty-five years ago, when I first came on the council – it was a subject then,” said Councilman Jack Keeler. “It hasn’t changed.”
Two fire trucks have been relocated out of town and another sits beneath a tent since the firehouse, in the background, was condemned. Former Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Last we heard from former Sea Bright Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka Adams, she had just failed to relcaim her old job after an election race that turned in part on property taxes she owed the town.
Fast-forward to now. Kalaka-Adams may start collecting $4,500 a month in rent from the borough for a vacant lot, even though she owes the town $40,000 in overdue property taxes, according to the Asbury Park Press.
The cast of THE MUSIC MAN brings the Broadway evergreen to ‘Two River City’ for five concert-style performances this weekend. Below, Jersey music Jedi master Glen Burtnik leads an all-Shore team of guests to the Basie stage on Saturday, for a SUMMER OF LOVE salute to the sounds of the original Woodstock festival. (Above photo courtesy NJPAC)
Friday, March 14:
RED BANK: “Seventy Six Trombones.” “Marian the Librarian.” “Til There Was You.” “Ya Got Trouble” (right here in River City). If you’ve seen but one golden-age Broadway classic performed by a class of drama-club kids, a community of earnest amateurs or a summer-stock touring troupe, it was probably The Music Man, the 1957 Tony winner in which traveling con man Professor Harold Hill brings an outlandish scheme — and, in the process, a healthy dose of life, love, laughter and music — to the stodgy folk of a circa-1912 Iowa small town. What you probably haven’t seen is a Music Man brought to you by an African American cast and director — and this weekend, Two River Theater Company offers up five chances to catch a talent-packed production that’s being presented in cahoots with Newark’s NJ Performing Arts Center.
It’s a beautiful day in downtown Red Bank for the annual fire department Street Fair. (Click to enlarge)
Angelo DePonti, above and below, oversees the cooking for the Fair Haven Fire Department’s annual spaghetti dinner, scheduled for Saturday night. (Photos by Joe Fisher. Click to enlarge)
By JOE FISHER
Theres a special ingredient the Fair Haven Fire Department rolls out to ensure success at its annual spaghetti dinner fund raiser. Its not in the meat. Its not in the sauce. And its not in the bread.
It is Angelo DePonti and his way with meatballs.
I learned to make meatballs from my mother and father, said DePonti, 83, a lifelong Red Bank resident. As a kid, I used to watch them cook every Sunday. I was born to cook. I love to watch people eat my food. I havent got a recipe for my meatballs, I just know how much to put in by the smell, by the feel
DePonti, a retired Garden State Parkway maintenance worker, is a social member of the Fair Haven Fire Department. For the past 60 years, he’s also volunteered with Red Banks Union Hose Company where his son, Steve, and his two grandchildren, Steve Jr. and Matt, also serve.
In preparation for this year’s spaghetti dinner, scheduled for Saturday, DePonti was in the Fair Haven firehouse kitchen Thursday night preparing the meatballs with a crew of helpers.
