The monthly Prayers on the Porch get together started last year by several local residents will be at 6:30 Tuesday evening, July 12, at 17 Harborview.
The informal session of local residents meeting on a neighbor’s front porch or front yard for half an hour simply to pray was started by Mayor Loretta Gluckstein and several other residents who are members of a variety of religious sects or none at all in the area.
The informal sessions generally attract more than two dozen residents, and offer the opportunity have others pray for each personal intention and gives each of those present the opportunity to offer prayers for friends, neighbors or strangers.
Everyone in the public is always invited to attend, and encouraged to bring another friend.
The Atlantic Highlands Sailing Education Program, AHSEP is well underway at its new location at Popamora Point, Highlands, and Program Director Sarah Milne is enthusiastic about the high standards of sailing knowledge young sailors are getting in the program.
The Program includes two week sessions where students between the ages of 8 and 15 are separated by experience into three different divisions.
The Novice program is open to youths as an introduction to sailing, where students learn the basics of sailing, including safety, boat nomenclature and the various intricacies of rigging, sailing knots, capsize recovery, and teamwork. The program is geared to that teen who has never sailed or only has limited experience or participated in one class previously.
The Intermediate class focuses on sailing skill improvement and is open to teens between 8 and 17. During these classes, both on land and in Sandy Hook Bay, students learn more advanced sailing skills, more skilled teamwork and crew responsibilities, and enhanced boat performance as well as an introduction to racing. This class is open to students who have completed several other AHSEP courses in the past and are comfortable sailing solo and competitively.
The Advanced class is for graduates of the intermediate program and continues to enhance their skills in both racing and boat handling. It includes on-the-water coaching and instills more confidence in sailors ready to face heavier wind conditions.
AHSEP even offers a Parent or Guardian orientation class to ensure parents know the intricacies of the program and the benefits for students to enroll. All classes included both Chalk Talk, sessions on land, as well as as sailing in the bay.
Now in the first of the three separate weeks of sessions, applications are still being taken for the remaining season.
Milne herself is a graduate of the program and enjoyed it so much and gave her so much confidence that she is back as the instructor and Program director. The attractive vivacious young woman just earned her degree in accounting from Providence College in Rhode Island and in the fall will begin her financial career at Ernst & Young. But for the summer, she is concentrating on the sailing program at Popamora Point.
The program is sponsored by the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club and Club members Sue and Wayne Tidswell and Christopher Stone are co-chairmen of the non-profit organization that runs it. Mary Guerrera is in charge of the program and offers the orientation and information on all aspects.
The program is taught by US Sailing certified instructors using US Sailing’s proven techniques. Students do not need to own a boat, as they are provided in the program in cooperation with the age and skill of the students, with three classes of boats generally used, including Optimist, single sailing small boats for novice class, 420, two person boats which are used in high school racing, and Laser which are one person boats with a weight minimum because of wind conditions and balance, as well as Sunfish.
Persons wishing to know more about the program or to donate to the 501c (3) organization, can contact AHSEP at PO Box 43 Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716, or make donations through PayPal or check.
Further information on the program is available at www.ahsep.org
The Public hearing on the cannabis ordinance is still on schedule for Thursday night at the Mayor and Council meeting, after the Planning Board ruled the other night it is in keeping with the Master Plan.
The governing body had to submit the proposed ordinance 9-2022 to the planning board for its review to see if it is in conformance with the borough’s master plan.
Although planning board members agreed by unanimous vote it is not inconsistent with the Master Plan, several questions were raised among themselves and by several residents who spoke during the public portion. Planners made no recommendations to the governing body at this time, but all indicated they wanted to have more conversation over some aspects of the proposed ordinance.
Councilman Brian Dougherty, the governing body’s liaison to the board, gave a brief history of the state law allowing six types of cannabis businesses as well as the borough’s actions in respond to the new law. Dougherty also noted that approximately 75 per cent of borough voters approved some type of cannabis business within the borough and the new proposed ordinance is the result of meetings and discussions based on the new law and local opinion.
Councilwoman Lori Hohenleitner, who also worked on the proposed code, was present at the meeting to provide any response to the planners and to thank them for their efforts in reviewing the proposed code and the locations in which any businesses would be situated. One of the issues raised during the planning board meeting is the portion of the ordinance on darkened storefronts for any proposed cannabis business. Resident Mark Fisher said he disagreed with that proposal, because it is unfair to any new cannabis business and indicating his belief that “it should be treated like any other business.” Fisher also questioned why the proposed code includes definitions of types of cannabis business which would not be permitted in the borough.
Both retired Henry Hudson teacher Vinnie Whitehead and the Rev. Jarlath Quinn, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help-St. Agnes parish, spoke against allowing cannabis businesses at all. Whitehead defined it as an entry drug and cited future problems for young adults who begin using it too young indicating it causes lack of motivation and other problems. He also cited the dangers of promoting cannabis use in various forms which are appealing to younger people.
Fr. Quinn questioned whether leaders considering cannabis businesses in the borough and citing the amount of revenue which would be gained from it have taken into consideration the added costs it would also generate, both in additional law enforcement and traffic. He questioned whether such business would have an impact on property values and the location of businesses in various areas of the borough. “It cannot be a good attraction for the town,” the pastor said.
Zack Brown, agreeing with concern for children, said that given the restrictions of the new law he feels confident that there would not sufficient protection and adherence to the strict regulations since businesses would be in fear of having their licenses revoked. He also noted he has not heard any objections or issues raised over the presence of a brewery in close proximity to the elementary school.
Thomas Broadbent noted new businesses will be required to have security guards, and questioned the presences of weapons particularly in areas around the elementary school.
Planners agreed to take all comments into consideration and both the council members present at the meeting and board members agreed to further discussion of the proposed ordinance after its public hearing Thursday night.
That petition filed by the Oceanport Board of Education last month seeking to prevent Sea Bright, Highlands and Atlantic Highlands voters from deciding whether they want to form a school regionalization district argues the resolutions approved by elected officials of the boroughs and boards of education are all invalid.
Only the Oceanport Board of Education has the right to seek such action, the petition charges.
“It appears that this is a very transparent attempt to delay the issue as long as possible to prevent the voters from their right make their own choice on the ballot in November,” was the immediate reaction of Kerri Wright, a principal in the Porzio law firm that has been representing the boroughs in their efforts to provide quality education for its students at an economic savings for its taxpayers.
VeniVidiScripto filed a Freedom of Information request with the borough of Highlands to secure the petition filed by Oceanport against that borough, Sea Bright, Atlantic Highlands and the Henry Hudson Regional, Highlands and Atlantic Highlands school boards.
In response to the OPRA request, the borough released the complete 133 page petition filed by Isabel Machado, board attorney for Oceanport school board, and signed by Mark A Patterson, President of the Oceanport Board.
Although the petition indicates Machado filed the petition on behalf of the entire school board, minutes of the board’s last meeting June 22 do not indicate any action was taken at that meeting or any vote taken by the board on the question of having its attorney file a petition. It appears that the filed petition was e-mailed to Patterson as Chairman of the Board, but not to any of the board members.
The next scheduled Oceanport board meeting is the July 27.
The purpose of Oceanport Board’s executive session at the June meeting, while specifying in the regular meeting minutes three possible reasons for their sessions, they do not identify specifically why the executive session is called. Nor do they appear to approve minutes of their past executive sessions.
Referring to the 133 page petition by the Oceanport board, Wright indicated she believes any action like that would be considered “highly premature.”
With many steps that must be completed before the question is on the ballot, including getting the approval of the question by the Commissioner, Wright said “We feel confident the voters of the three towns will have the opportunity to vote in each town on this all important issue.” She added that the Porzio firm will be filing a response to the Oceanport petition shortly.
“At this point,” Wright pointed out, “Oceanport appears to simply be challenging the fact each of the towns and boards passed resolutions with their intention to do something. There is nothing before the Commissioner of Education.”
While each of the six official elected boards has passed resolutions asking the Commission to enable them to put the question on the November ballot to create a K-12 regional school district including Sea Bright, Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, the actual petition including the request to put the specific question on the ballot has not yet been forwarded to the Commissioner.
As planned and reported representatives of each of the three communities have been in meetings and discussions which are continuing this week to ensure all agree on the specific wording that will appear on the ballot. Town officials have also noted the Aug. 15 deadline for having a question put on the November ballot and all have indicated confidence they will meet that deadline.
In the 133 pages filed with the Commissioner, Oceanport argues that only a board of education, not a borough, can enter into a resolution to form or enlarge a school district and have the question put on the ballot.
It further argues that the resolutions adopted by the elected governing bodies of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands are also invalid for two reasons: Sea Bright is included in their regionalization proposal and Sea Bright cannot act since it does not have a board of education, and also because laws the petition cites from several years ago do not authorize a regionalization question on a November ballot but rather only on special election ballots in specific months, November not included.
The law enacted this past January, S3488, was designed to enable communities like Sea Bright to take action if they so choose.
It further argues the school boards in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands also passed invalid resolutions since the Sea Bright governing body has no right to pass a resolution calling for the withdrawal of its resident students from Oceanport and Shore Regional schools.
The Shore Regional Board of Education, which is comprised of representatives from Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport and West Long Branch, has not taken any action nor entered into any communications with the neighboring towns on the question at all since its action five years ago in not allowing a vote in Sea Bright to change the method of funding education.
Temperatures in Monmouth County were in the high 90s the second week of July in 1876, when local residents were still celebrating the 100th birthday of the nation the week before. By July 21, the weather was down in the 80s, probably because of heavy rain the night before.
Newpaper reports wrote of the severe thunder showers, as one reporter put it, “the hardest thunder in six years.” Markets reported blackberries were selling for 8 to 10 cents a box in New York, and 13 to 15 cents a box in Newark. The yacht Mohawk capsized in New York Bay and three persons were drowned.
But at the Twin Lights in Highlands, where lighthouse keepers kept their logs carefully and precisely, recording the weather three times a day, once at each shift, the report on July 21, 1876, also included the notation: “A.B.Johnson, chief clerk of Lighthouse board, in Washington DC, visited this station and made an inspection through both towers and found them to be in good order except the damper chimney in the north tower.”
Succinct in their logs, the keeper gave no more information, nor what was wrong with the damper chimney or if it was rectified.
Even when the lighthouse is on land, and other keepers are living in the same building, a lighthouse keeper’s life was lonely and at most times humdrum and mundane.
It is difficult to tell whether the Atlantic Highlands Planning Board wants to try to keep everything secret to entice interest and make me and others want to delve more into the actions they take, or whether they simply do not want residents and taxpayers to know everything they do at their public meetings.
You remember the planning board member who said publicly with no objections from anyone else … that people in one part of town shouldn’t have to know what somebody someplace else in town is doing with his property.
You remember this is the board that says if you’re interested you should come to a meeting in person, not have the opportunity to participate virtually … 21 century style.
You know this is the official body that doesn’t take advantage of that $17,000 plus expenditure for audio/visual equipment the governing body spent buying … although not yet using completely and perfectly, so that even those residents who can’t make meetings, for personal disability or other reasons, can still participate in the governance of their community.
Well, now the planners have printed their agenda for Thursday’s meeting which begins after the workshop meeting that starts at 7. The public can only talk during the workshop meeting, though, but if they are present for the regular meeting … they can listen.
The agenda explains that “Consistency Review, Ordinance 09-2022” is on the agenda.
Clear enough.
Honest enough.
Seems like a routine item on a routine agenda.
Until you research Ordinance 09-2022… or remember it was the ordinance that was introduced last month by the Mayor and Council and is set for a public hearing at their meeting next week.
Wouldn’t you think if the planners really wanted the folks to know what’s going on they would have mentioned what’s in 09-2022?
Wouldn’t you think more people would turn out for a meeting, 21st century style and in person, if it simply said: review and discussion on the question of CANNABIS BUSINESSES in Atlantic Highlands?
Because that 12 page ordinance is what it’s all about on Thursday’s planning board agenda.
It’s that kind of stuff that makes me think they really don’t want folks to know what they do with the power they have.
That’s on top of items not included on the agenda, like the one about whether they’ll have some kind of hybrid meetings ….
They talked about it in June, but took no action.
So now it’s July, and wouldn’t you think they would talk about it this month?
It is not on the agenda. Does that mean it’s pushed off again?
Back to cannabis, since by its very nature will have a major impact on the borough, its real estate, its schools, its businesses, its taxpayers. And all of that is now in the hands of the planning board, whether you know it or not.
Besides the law which now enables towns to consider six different kinds of businesses for cannabis, there’s another one that calls for the requirement the Land-Use Board, in the case of this borough, that’s the Planning Board, has to compare whether cannabis business can match up with the borough’s Master Plan.
So the planners have to read the proposed ordinance, discuss it, and decide, by vote, whether the allowances and restrictions of what the governing body is proposing fit in with the Master Plan or if they don’t.
If they do, the the public hearing scheduled for next week’s council meeting is a go… But if the planners make any changes, any at all, to what the borough is proposing, then they have to tell the governing body that, and poof, next week’s public hearing is off. So is the proposed ordinance.
The governing body then has to write their proposal all over again with the planning board changes, then have an introduction and public hearing on THAT proposed ordinance.
That isn’t the end of the planning board involvement with Cannabis business. The poor applicants who are looking to open up one of the kinds of cannabis business that would be permitted in town still have to go before this board with their own individual application since they will need a variance for the business and these are the folks who grant them.
Wouldn’t you think the agenda would say more than “Consistency Review, Ordinance 09-2022”???
Like it or not, Planning Board, it’s my guess there will be more than a few folks at your Thursday evening meeting.
Oh yeah… they have to be present. You don’t do virtual meetings that lets them be hear, see, and even be recognize to talk with that new expensive borough equipment.
This is an editorial I wrote for The Courier after the Fourth of July, 1976 and it mentions so many names that are still known as the patriotic, fun loving, dedicated families and friends that are still part of Atlantic Highlands today.
Op Sail and the Fourth of July anniversary celebration of America here have come and gone for Monmouth County but the memories linger on.
And some of the happiest memories carried to hometowns in Chile and Spain, in Argentine and Poland, in Portugal and Denmark and Norway are directly because of the warmth and friendship of the people in Atlantic Highlands.
That community celebrated the Fourth of July as it should be celebrated.
Locally, they continued their plans for a festive parade and family day of food, entertainment, games and prizes while internationally they prepared their homes and typical American dishes for the guests members of the Bicentennial Commission had invited to dinner.
Both of these events brought crowds of people to the Bayshore town, and while the county and state failed to feel the impact of untold thousands of visitors, the community did get more than its share. And handled it all admirably, thanks to a well thought out and implemented plan spearheaded by police Capt. Sam Guzzi and Sg. Ken Gover, under the watchful eye of Chief Jim Egidio.
While cars poured into Atlantic Highlands headed both for the harbor and terrific vantage points along Ocean Blvd, a diligent and ever pleasant police force kept traffic moving smoothly, kept tempers cooled and cooperated with the public with dedication and zeal and courtesy.
A happy and busy Bicentennial Committee, people like the Wallaces, Wheatons, McCullums and the Ruddys and many more like them, organized their homes and dinner plans so as not to miss out on any of the excitement of the town while still providing home cooked meals for the cadets.
Dedicated people like John Fox, head of the harbor commission, harbormaster Lou Papa and employees at the harbor went about the job of keeping things running as smooth as greased wheels while still having the time to smile, welcome every visitor and enjoy themselves.
Sunday night’s fireworks were spectacular.
The parade on Monday was beautiful, a colorful array of floats and people proud of their heritage, proud of the celebration and proud of their community. The family fun time was excitement, smiles, gossip and good food, just like family days are supposed to be.
The town as a whole, and the Bicentennial Commission in particular, deserve a great round of applause for a job well done. There’s got to be great satisfaction in knowing your neighbors at home are pleased and delighted. And the new friends you met from the tall ships carried back with them, besides the apple and pecan pies, the platters of Virgnia baked ham and turkey..the buckets from the Clam Hut dinners they won’t forget, hearts full of love, admiration and respect for the American people because of the lasting impression you gave.
Uncle Sam, Tall Man, otherwise known as Michael St. Amour of Highlands, was at Care One at King James Care Center on the Fourth of July greeting all the residents like Aide who appreciate the frequent visitor’s many outfits costumes, and musical renditions on the kazoo!.
Mr. St Amour is also a generous giver of his blood platelets, having donated close to 1,000 different donations to two different organizations. He will be back at Care One later in July for their annual Christmas in July celebration.
Visitors to the Twin Lights during the afternoon of July 4 gathered together and with historian Nick Wood recited the Pledge of Allegiance as it was first said at the historic site for the first time April 25, 1893.
The ceremony was part of the Fourth of July celebrations at the site, where visitors can climb both towers or have a private tour of the museum and the grounds and outbuildings as well as make their own tours and visits to all the sites on the grounds.
Dressed in the official lighthouse keeper’s uniform of the earlier part of the 20th century, Historian Nick Wood gave a brief history of the importance of the flag at the Twin Lights, and how it was raised on a 135-foot tall “national flagpole” for a review of US Naval vessels as well as visiting ships invited by President Grover Cleveland during east coast ceremonies that coincided with the Chicago World’s Fair.
The site was selected so that immigrants coming to America in the 1890s would see the stars and stripes of the 44 start flag as their first view on the country as they entered from across the Atlantic Ocean.
Wood traced the history of the pledge, the several changes that were made from the first “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” To the present. The latest change was in 1955 when the Knights of Columbus petitioned for “under God” to be included as a reminder during the Cold War that in the United States there is freedom of religion.
“The Bernie Sweeney Fund allows us as a PBA to pick up where he left off and continue his legacy,” said Officer Travis Morgan, in explaining the basis for establishing the fund initiated in memory of the late owner of The Shore Casino in the Municipal Yacht Harbor.
PBA Local 242 had announced at its 33rd annual ball May 27 that it had established the Bernie Sweeney Foundation under which funds are set aside to be used for those in need within the community.
Morgan, president of the PBA, said the money could be used to aid families who suffer a catastrophic event such as a fire in their home, or other serious problems. The fund could also be used to help community organizations in need he said.
Funds raised from the ball were the primary foundation for the fund. The PBA traditionally publishes an extensive program booklet in connection with the Ball, and local businesses, service organizations, church groups, political parties, county officials families, and numerous others advertise in the booklet, making those contributions a part of the basis of the new Fund to help others.
Funds are being managed by the PBA, who will also be the selectors for the benefactors through the years. Morgan said future events are also anticipated in order to help the fund grow and keep the Foundation alive to help any in need in the community.
“Bernie Sweeney was a great man and a pillar of this community,” the police officer explained, adding, ”he supported our PBA for over 30 years. In addition to that he also supported the Atlantic Highlands Fire Department and Atlantic Highlands First Aid among many other local organizations.”
For these reasons, Morgan said, “when Bernie passed away the PBA wanted to honor him. We decided the best way to honor him was to continue to support the community as he did.” And so the Foundation was started.
Anyone wishing to donate to the Foundation can contact any member of the PBA. Checks can be made the AHPBA Civic Association, with the “Bernie Sweeney Fund” in the memo.
