Children carried three bouquets of flowers — one for the five police officers slain in Dallas last week, one for victims of senseless violence, and one for “peace in our hearts and our country,” in the words of Mayor Pasquale Menna — at a vigil in Red Bank Sunday night.
About 40 residents, local clergy and a contingent of borough police officers participated in the brief ceremony, held at the Veterans Memorial on Monmouth Street at Drummond Place.
Additional photos are below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)More →
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna is calling on area residents to participate in a silent vigil Sunday evening for the five law enforcement officers slain in Dallas Thursday “and for civilian victims of violence in our country,” he said in an alert distributed Saturday.
Participants are asked to gather at 7 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial, at the corner of Monmouth Street and Drummond Place. Three wreaths will be on display, Menna said: one for the officers killed, one for victims of senseless violence, and one for “peace in our hearts and our country.”
Attendees may leave flowers at the site. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
As participants present lit a candle from a single flame at a vigil in Red Bank Thursday night, Pastor Terrence K. Porter of Pilgrim Baptist Church urged each of them to think of a single victim of Sunday’s Orlando nightclub attack, America’s bloodiest-ever mass shooting.
“The candle you light is a reflection of that image in your mind,” he said.
The memorial service, held at Johnny Jazz Park on Drs. Parker Boulevard, was the second such service in town in two nights, and was organized by the West Side Ministerial Alliance and other other religious groups. Additional photos are below.(Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Dozens of Red Bank area residents gathered for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims the nightclub attack that took place in Orlando, Florida early Sunday morning, in which 49 were killed and 53 wounded in America’s bloodiest-ever mass shooting.
Several speakers, including Rabbi Marc Kline, of the Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, called for tighter gun laws. “We need to do more than mourn and grieve,” he told the gathering, held outside Red Bank’s borough hall on Monmouth Street. A later reference to a Senate filibuster then underway for gun-law reform drew strong applause.
Additional photos may be seen below.
A second vigil, organized by the West Side Ministerial Alliance and other other religious groups, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today at Johnny Jazz Park, corner of Drs. Parker Boulevard and Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank. For further information, call 732-747-2343.(Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
As they did in response to the murders of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina last year, Red Bank residents and others will gather again this week to mourn.
Mayor Pasquale Menna has called for a community-wide candlelight vigil “in remembrance of the victims in the senseless nightclub attack” that took place in Orlando, Florida early Sunday morning, in which 49 were killed and 53 wounded in America’s bloodiest-ever mass shooting.
In the aftermath of a violent assault on the Planned Parenthood health center in Colorado Springs that left three people shot dead and nine wounded last month, local faith leaders and elected officials plan to gather in support of the organization outside its health facility on Newman Springs Road in Shrewsbury on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
In keeping with similar events being held nationwide this week, supporters “are calling for an end to the violent rhetoric that fuels this toxic environment” of anti-Planned Parenthood extremism, said area spokeswoman Casey Olesko. (Archive photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
In 2010, KaBoom became three-day event, increasings costs that were not matched by donations from viewers and sponsors. But it sure was fun. Here’s a replay of that year’s spectacle.
It’s kind of a red-meat question, one that seems to come up at every backyard barbecue on the Greater Green this time of year: Is Red Bank better off without its longtime fireworks show?
By tradition, the borough’s Independence Day fireworks were held on July 3. The show, branded KaBoom in its last years, was billed as the fourth-largest Independence Day fireworks celebration in America in terms of the number and size of shells lofted into the sky above the Navesink River.
Several hundred participants gathered on Red Bank’s West Side Wednesday night for a vigil in response to the murders of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina last week.
Beginning with a march from Pilgrim Baptist Church to Ralph ‘Johnny Jazz’ Park, participants sang and heard calls for an end to violence from a handful of local church leaders. And in the final moments, they shared the flame of a “unity candle.”
Click “read more” below for full photo coverage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
In response to the murders of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina last week, Red Bank’s Pilgrim Baptist Church is organizing an anti-hate, anti-violence march and candlelight vigil Tuesday night.
The march will begin at 8 p.m. at the church, at 172 Shrewsbury Avenue, and head to Ralph ‘Johnny Jazz’ Park at the corner of Drs. James Parker Boulevard for the vigil. In the event of rain, the vigil will be held in the church sanctuary. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The settlement of charges calls for the West Front Street bar to meet a list of conditions involving security. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank nightclub Fixx, the scene of two sprawling street melees earlier this year, will close for 20 days next month under a deal approved by the borough council Wednesday night.
When it reopens, on or after January 21, the West Front Street bar will have to beef up security, report monthly to the police chief and hand over a list of the names of banned or ejected patrons, among other measures, Mayor Pasquale Menna said shortly before the council unanimously approved the deal.
“This demonstrates the seriousness, the severity and, pardon the pun, the sobriety with which the council is looking at this,” Menna said.
Fixx faces a possible 40-day suspension for two recent brawls. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s governing body is scheduled to decide next month whether to suspend the liquor license of the nightclub Fixx for up to 40 days for two recent closing-time melees, Mayor Pasquale Menna announced Wednesday night.
In addition, the borough was planning to notify the West Front Street bar’s owners on Thursday that they owe the town $33,000 for a tardy response to a fire code violation earlier this year, Administrator Stanley Sickels told redbankgreen.
Because the council will act as the equivalent of a jury at a hearing on alleged violations of state Alcohol and Beverage Control laws relating to brawls on September 22 and October 6, Menna and borough Attorney Dan O’Hern advised council members not to comment on the case.
But that didn’t stop neighbor Tony Busch Sr. from teeing up the bar, which has been the scene of two wide-ranging brawls in the past month. The most recent, early Sunday morning, required 25 cops from towns as far away as Keyport and Long Branch, as well as eight Red Bank cops, to quell.
“What’s going on here is tantamount to a terrorist attack,” said Busch, one of five homeowners living above the Work Out World gym next door to Fixx. “This is getting worse by the day. And it’s very tough for the town, because we’re not set up for a terrorist attack.”
A YouTube upload of a fight in Red Bank Sunday. It appears to be outside the 7-11, in which case police arrested four people for disorderly conduct. Below, police made a strong show of force, bring in an armored vehicle from the Monmouth County fleet. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Red Bank police made one fewer arrest during the KaBoom Fireworks Sunday than last year, showing, statistically at least, that the festival organizers’ push to bring the popular fireworks show back to a family focused event missed the mark.
However, police say they noticed a difference in the mood this year, and said there are a couple factors to consider when looking at the numbers.
Two unidentified young men were part of a melee that broke out at Broad and Front streets moments before the fireworks show. (Click to enlarge)
A number of fights erupted during the celebration of the 51st annual Red Bank fireworks show Saturday night.
Police said they had arrested an estimated ten persons by 11p Saturday, mostly on disorderly behavior charges related to alcohol consumption.
No arrests were believed to have been made, however, in connection with a brawl involving eight or ten teenage males at the town’s busiest intersection Broad Street at the juncture of East and West Front streets just minutes before the fireworks show began.
Part of the crowd overtook the parking lot of the 7-11 at Maple Avenue and West Front Street at last year’s KaBoom show. (Click to enlarge)
In the wake of rowdiness following last year’s KaBoom Fireworks on the Navesink show, Red Bank and New Jersey Transit police are finalizing details for securing the borough train station for this year’s edition of the event, officials say.
Many of the 20 arrests made at last year’s show occurred after the event in the train station vicinity, where pushing and shoving flared up as revelers attempting to leave town by rail encountered a long boarding lines, officials say.
Police Chief Steve McCarthy tells redbankgreen that the train station will “absolutely” be an area of special attention, with more cops under the command of both the borough and NJT’s police department assigned to cover it.
In addition, the rail utility is putting on extra trains to address demand, and selling $6 day passes to speed boardings after the fireworks, says NJT spokesman Dan Stessel.
Children carried three bouquets of flowers — one for the five police officers slain in Dallas last week, one for victims of senseless violence, and one for “peace in our hearts and our country,” in the words of Mayor Pasquale Menna — at a vigil in Red Bank Sunday night.
