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Regionalization: Questions Need to be Answered … Atlantic

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Two Regionalization feasibility studies are under consider for residents of two or three boroughs in the Bayshore, and the second of the two studies, one requested by the tri-district board of education, is reportedly finally finished and will be released to the public at a 7 p.m. meeting at Henry Hudson Regional School on May 25.

However, it certainly doesn’t appear that the tri-district Boards of Education are making it easy to see exactly what is in this long-awaited regionalization study that was started last year and just ‘released’ this week.

First, it will not be available to the public to see or learn about or read until a special workshop meeting next Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m.

Second. That meeting will be held, not in Atlantic Highlands, the only borough opposed to the already released and well-circulated Porzio report that includes the tri-district and Sea Bright as well. Instead, the meeting on this yet to be seen report is being held at Henry Hudson Regional School in Highlands.

Third: The notice of the workshop meeting advises persons to enter through door 10. For those not familiar with Henry Hudson, how does one learn where Door 10 is?

Fourth: The meeting is NOT being held virtually. Which means not only the disabled will not be accommodated and able to learn what’s in the report, but neither will anyone who does not have transportation up to Henry Hudson at 7 p.m. on a weeknight.

Fifth: It doesn’t appear the mayors and councils of either town, let alone Sea Bright, which has an interest in seeing if there are any other ideas better than the Porzio report, are even going to get to see the report until the May 25 meeting.

Sixth: Have the board of education members seen it? And with whom have they shared it? Would an Atlantic Highlands Council member whose wife is on the board have access to it before the rest of Council? Would he (or she) share it with all of Council?

It would seem that a report first announced to be released in March, then April, and now apparently being released the end of May and a meeting already scheduled should be important enough to release as soon as it is available so people can read it, take time to understand it, perhaps compare it to the already released Porzio report to which they have had access for several months, and come to the meeting prepared to ask questions seeking even more information.

The Porzio report, which was first approved by all three borough governing bodies several years ago and then updated several months ago, includes combining education for all children K through 12 in Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright. The report yet to be seen and requested by the tri-district boards of education apparently does not include Sea Bright.

Will all of the experts from the groups who have been involved in this yet to be released study be at the May 25 meeting to answer questions? There are major issues, legal analyses, demographics, educational assessments, finances, and facilities analyses that have been reportedly studied by different experts, so each can only respond to questions on his own area of expertise. That is an awful lot to try to comprehend in a single meeting, then compare, once again, with a report that has been available to read, its experts available, and publicly released for many, many months.

Thursday, May 26, the night after the school board meeting, is the regular 7 p.m. meeting of the Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council. That should be the time when Mayor Loretta Gluckstein announces an Atlantic Highlands Regionalization Town Hall so that residents of that town can have their own town hall meeting similar to those that have already been held in Highlands and Sea Bright where residents get the entire picture and can put the question of such importance on the November ballot. Highlands is conducting another special meeting next month to enable residents to speak on the regionalization plans. (see related story)

For the 5-page Porzio Report Summary, click here.

For the full Porzio Study, click here.

 
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Borough Hall Live!

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It won’t be long before interested residents will be able to observe the construction progress of the new borough hall from the comforts of their own homes.

Borough Administrator Mike Muscillo confirmed this week that before the end of the month, the borough anticipates having Wi-Fi cameras installed on the Navesink Avenue site, with 24/7 access. The cameras will be linked to the borough’s website, making the visuals available to everyone.

Muscillo said progress is continuing on the site on time, with the sewer and water pipes already on site, and site preparation work is continuing on schedule. Grading of the former playground and residential areas has been completed, and electric and water have been run to the construction trailers on site. Electricity is anticipated to the site by next week Muscillo said.

With shovels in the ground the next step, the administrator indicated he anticipates groundbreaking to occur within a couple of weeks, and said the Mayor and Council will announce a time and date for the official groundbreaking ceremony for the $10.6 million structure.

Muscillo said he is hopeful things will progress as they have begun, and continue in a timely status. However, he could not anticipate if the work will be impacted by the reports of supply chain issues. “We’ll know that soon on material deliveries” he said.

The administrator and borough officials meet bi-weekly with the architect, contractor and construction manager, he said, as well as trading e-mails multiple times during the week. That way “we know everything that is happening at the site.”

With the construction area now completely fenced in, churchgoers at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church can no longer use the former church parking lot for parking; however, a quick survey of this past Sunday’s one mass at 9:30 am did not indicate parishioners had any problem finding spaces to park along Highland Avenue or in the parking lot on the opposite side of the church building.

The Katyn Massacre

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There is a startling memorial at Exchange Place in Jersey City which not only depicts the slaughter of thousands of Polish officers more than 80 years ago but was also itself the topic of some controversy in the 21st century.

The Memorial is highlighted in Middletown historian and author Randall Gabrielan’s book, “Jersey City, A Monumental History” as one of the monuments to see at Exchange Place. This is a well-known area of Jersey City created in the mid-1850s by extending Montgomery Street on fill in order to enable the NJ Railroad & Transportation company to build a dock and terminal facilities.

Created by Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pitynski the Katyn Memorial is a 34-foot tall bronze statue depicting a bound and gagged Polish soldier with a bayoneted rifle impaled through his back. It stands on top of a granite base that contains some soil from Katyn. The base also shows a Polish woman carrying her starving child in memorial to the Polish citizens deported to Siberia, a move that began shortly before the massacre.

The backstabbing portion of the statue was designed to recall the killings that  occurred while Poland was defending itself from the German invasion, and the attack by the Soviets at that time was like “being stabbed in the back.”  More than depicting the Russian forest, the word Katyn has become a symbol of all the betrayals the Poles suffered and to many represents Poland itself and its martyrdom at the hands of others.

The Katyn massacre, named for the Russian forest of Katyn where the atrocities took place, killed not only thousands of Polish Army officers but also intellectual leaders who had interned at Kozielsk or were imprisoned at Ostashkov and Starobielsk by the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the Soviet secret police, or NKVD, in 1940.

Since its installation at Exchange Place in 1991,  the monument has been the subject of strong divided local opinion.  Some residents view it as ugly, vulgar, and depicting too much violence and death to be in such a busy area.

Others view it as a graphic reminder of what Polish soldiers suffered, and see it as a darkly beautiful memorial.

Others feel the discomfort it brings to those who view it are the right emotions for a war memorial.

It all came to a head in 2018, when Mayor Steven Fulop said there were plans to move the monument to another location close by, as the area was being redeveloped and that particular spot was selected for a new Riverside park, forcing the removal of the statue for the new development.

However, the Polish American population immediately set up a protest and filed a lawsuit against the governing body, charging it was their memorial and they had not been included in any decision making.  Others joined the Polish American protest, simply on the grounds they did not like the redevelopment plan at all.

Within days, the Memorial controversy became an international incident. The Polish ambassador to the United States went to social media to protest the proposed removal. Politicians in Poland charged Jersey City with disrespect of Polish heroes. The Mayor accused at least one of them of being an anti-Semite, prompting more possible legal action.  The developer scheduled to renovate the area and remove the statue called it “gruesome,” causing the designer to call the developer a “schmuck.”  Some questioned why the statue was in Jersey City in the first place.

That was answered with the knowledge that Polish Americans  came to the area after the end of the war; that was a time  when there were more political refugees from Poland than any other country of Europe and more than 10,000 of them settled in New Jersey. A group of Polish veterans wanted to design a memorial to show the tragedies through which they had lived.

But there was even more to the controversy, Old-time Jersey City residents did not like all the new development, commercial and residential, that was changing their city. Newspapers carried the stories from all angles, and the Polish American community expressed disappointment and betrayal one more time.

All the publicity, negativity, anger of the city‘s old-time blue collar workers, and the Polish-American community led to the Polish President, who had already made one visit to Jersey City years before, visiting the statue and saying a new location would be okay with him if it had to be. That brought another stream of protests and cries of “betrayal.”

In the end, with several heated council meetings, petitions signed and presented and a public referendum scheduled to see what the people had to say in the ballot box, the city council backed down. After months of controversy, five days before Christmas, the Jersey City City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance that the Katyn Memorial monument would remain in perpetuity in its location in Exchange Place.

Set Your Sight on Zucchini

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When you’re planting your vegetable garden this year, and want something really good for your eyes, don’t forget to put in some zucchini!

Actually, it has two names because it’s also called courgette, which to me sounds like it comes from courage, but it’s really from the Cucurbitaceae plant family. That makes it a cousin to melons, spaghetti squash and cucumbers. And to make it more mysterious, it’s really botanically classified as a fruit, even though we generally treat it like a vegetable,

While we can take credit for zucchini originating in the Americans, it was really the Italians who first cultivated and develop it in the 1800s. But we all know, at least those of us who practice folk medicine know, it’s used to treat colds, aches, and various other health conditions, although they’re not accepted by science.

What science does accept is that zucchini is rich in many vitamins and minerals, all of which are great for the heart and very helpful in combating AMD. It contains almost half of the Vitamin A everyone should have in a day, plus more than 10 per cent of the manganese, vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, Vitamin K, along with some iron, calcium, and zinc, all great for eye health.

There’s more Vitamin A after you cook zucchini rather than raw, but not sure why; perhaps the heat brings out extra strength. On the other hand, there’s more Vitamin C in raw zucchini, but either way, it’s loaded with antioxidants and we already know how great they are for the eyes. And since most of the antioxidants are found in the skin of the plant, the yellow zucchini probably has more than the green ones.

Eggplant is another vegetable that’s got lots of lutein and zeaxathin, both antioxidants that are great for eye health. Lutein especially has a reputation for helping prevent AMD, so it’s worth a try.

Here’s a great recipe for zucchini fries if you’re into air cooking:

Zucchini Fries

1 Zucchini, cut lengthwise into strips

1/2 Cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 Cup flour

1 egg

Salt and pepper

Put flour with a pinch of salt in one bowl, whisk the egg in another with another salt pinch. Pour breadcrumbs into third bowl, add a bit of garlic salt if desired. Coat the strips in flour, egg, then breadcrumbs, spray with oil and air cook at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until crispy, flipping half way through.. Serve with garlic mayonnaise or a hot sauce. Or try it with eggplant for a different taste. Use either coating for both treats.

Eggplant and Zucchini Chips

Cut 1 large eggplant into strips,

Cut 1 zucchini into strips

Coat the veggies with

½ Cup cornstarch

2 tsp olive oil

Salt as desired

Place in air fry basket for 10 to 12 minutes until crispy, flipping half way through.

Dress Talks

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Weekly Dress Talks are continuing at the Monmouth County Library’s Eastern Branch featuring curators from the Shrewsbury Historical Society.

The Historical Society has offered the series for throughout the Spring, beginning with three programs in April, and continuing weekly in May

The talks focus on the historic and beautiful wedding gowns in the Society’s collection, some of which are now on display at the Eastern Branch, located at 1001 Route 35. Curators tell visitors some of the stories behind the dresses, as well as the restoration process each has gone through in order to be preserved and displayed in the Historical Society’s collections.

The next Dress Talk will be Tuesday May 17 at 2 p.m., followed by the last talk in May on May 25 at 7 p.m. There are three additional talks scheduled for June 9, June 16 and June 28 at various hours both during the day and in the evening.

Registration is available by calling the library at 732-683-8980.

For further information on the Historical Society, which is located in the Borough of Shrewsbury Municipal Complex at the historic Four Corners, visit their website at ShrewsburyHistoricalSocietynj.org, or write the Society at P.O. Box 333, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.

Visits to the Museum are by appointment only and can be made by calling 732-530-7974, or 732747-3635 or e-mail ShrewsburyHistoricalSociety@gmail.com

I had breast cancer for 47 days: my journey with breast cryoablation

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breast cancer

On a blistery autumn day, two days after my 79th birthday, I received a message from my radiologist that my mammogram showed a finding “that requires additional imaging studies”.

 A few weeks later on December 18th I would receive the news that I had invasive ductal carcinoma – breast cancer. But as quickly as my diagnosis came, I also received a cure. 47 days later I had cryoablation to freeze my breast cancer away.

My breast cancer diagnosis came in a round about way. After having survived the death of my husband ten years before after a wonderful 51-year marriage, the death of my oldest daughter 3 year prior, and my own serious stroke 2 years ago, I had decided that I no longer needed mammograms and hadn’t had one in four years. But I received a flyer from my local gym offering a $50 discount on a massage when you schedule a mammogram at Centra State Medical Center in New Jersey – so I thought, why not?

But I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe things happen for a reason.

After the mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy, I met with a breast surgical oncologist who referred me to Dr. Kenneth Tomkovich, an interventional radiologist, who was the Co-Primary Investigator of the ICE3 Clinical Trial looking into the cryoablation of small, low-risk breast cancers.

He explained to me the simple cryoablation procedure; my breast would be numbed with lidocaine (local anesthetic), a needle-like instrument called a cryoprobe would be inserted into the tumor and be frozen with liquid nitrogen (the liquid nitrogen stays in the cryoprobe and is injected into the body), and a small band-aid would be placed on the insertion site.

He estimated the entire procedure would take about 45 minutes and then I could go on with the rest of my day as planned.

Since I met all the trial criteria – woman over 65, invasive tumor less than 2cm in size – I was deemed to be an excellent candidate. So that’s it! I said to myself. The reason for the cancer, for all the coincidences, for the discovery. I was meant to be a part of a trial and tell the world about it.

Although it only took me seconds to decide that I’d rather have a small needle inserted under a local numbing rather going under the knife for surgical removal under general anesthesia, both doctors wanted me to ask more questions, think it over, talk to my family, sleep on the decision.

I did, and the next morning, my decision was still the same. Cryoablation would be the only way to go.

Like myself, my children were unafraid, excited I wanted to be part of a trial, and in agreement with my decision. No need to tell anyone else until the cryoablation was completed and the cancer was gone.

And then I did it – I had the cryoablation procedure. Drove myself there, had it done, and then drove myself to lunch date.

It’s been over 5 years now and I’m still cancer-free without having done radiation or chemotherapy thanks to cryoablation.

My medical team, oncologist, and radiologist followed up with me extensively over this time period – mammograms, MRI, and blood work. My oncologist recommended endocrine or hormone therapy since my breast cancer was HER2+, but that was only a simple daily pill that I took.

There are only a select number of doctors performing breast cryoablation in the US at the moment.

The company that sponsored the ICE3 trial and is manufacturing the ProSense Cryoablation System, IceCure Medical, recently was granted Breakthrough Device Designation by the FDA for T1 invasive breast cancer or women with breast cancer who are not eligible for general surgery.

Hopefully, if the FDA will give full approval for breast cryoablation more doctors will adopt the technology and make it more accessible.

Being free from cancer because of a clinical trial and knowing that I am contributing to what could be a reduction in surgeries, angst, pain, radiation, and chemo for thousands of women is a pretty wonderful feeling.

Life doesn’t get any better than that.

More Stories on my Journey with Breast Cancer HERE

Breast Cancer

It Worked for Me!

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I was 79 years old when diagnosed with Breast Cancer and was part of a trial for cryoablation … I have been cancer free for 5 years. This may not be a treatment for everyone, but it worked for me

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1046875875852078467/

https://newjersey.news12.com/cutting-edge-breast-cancer-procedure-may-save-thousands-of-women

A New Option for Breast Cancer … It Worked for Me!

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A Very Happy Birthday

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Former Atlantic Highlands Mayor Helen Marchetti is celebrating her 97trh birthday today (April 7) at Care One at King James Care Center where she has been a resident for the past month. This is a copy of a story I wrote about the former Mayor and native of the borough for the Two River Times in 1994.

 

Helen Marchetti sits in her comfortable, well-appointed front room looking out windows to the church parking lot across the street. Four little youngers are riding their bicycles around the blacktop, chasing each other, laughing, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

“Just look at that, isn’t that terrific?” she enthuses to house-guests. “I’ll tell you, this is just perfect, this is my entertainment.”

It doesn’t take much to let you know one of Helen’s priorities in life, Children.

 

She loves them.

 

All kinds, all sizes, all temperaments. “They believe, they’re happy with whatever you do for them, they’re so much fun,” she explains.

The scene switches to the Atlantic Highlands Nursing Home, where Helen is assistant administrator, a post she’s held for the last 27 years. An elderly lady is patiently waiting in the day room for an aide to help her out to the spacious yard under the trees. “Oh, here dear,” let me help you,” Helen booms in her deep voice and ready known to all who hear her.

After she assists the resident, she bends down to give her a hug, a word of encouragement and one of those infectious Marchetti smiles.

“The old folks, aren’t they wonderful?” she beams.

It doesn’t take much to let you know another of Helen’s priorities in life. Seniors. Particularly seniors who need help. She loves them. All kinds, all sizes, all temperaments. “They believe, they’re happy with whatever you do for them. They’s so much fun.”

The two scenarios pretty well size up Helen Marchetti’s joie de vivre, the folks that are most important to her.

But, lest she hurt anyone’s feelings, Helen quickly points out, “all those people in between, they’re fine, too.”

So it’s established. Helen Marchetti – former mayor, councilwoman, recreation commissioner, former planning board member, Historical Society president, Board of Education member and president, Fire Auxiliary member, former Yacht Club Auxiliary presidents, former County Board of Health member, municipal political leader…is a people person.

The record definitely shows she’s involved whenever there’s’ a need to help people. All kinds. All sizes, all temperaments.

But less you think it’s only people who hold Helen’s attention, switch the subject to her hometown Atlantic Highlands, It’s like opening a flood gate.

“There’s no place like it,” she beams, “I mean, were else can you have so much so much history, so much beauty so much conveniences, so much home. And so many wonderful people?”

There’s that word again. People. It’s Helen’s driving force.

This vibrant attractive fastidiously neat professional she goes to the beauty parlor two mornings a week and has her nails manicured once a week…have been having a love affair with the human race since her parents instilled in her a warm affection for humanity. The lesson came almost from the day she was born in the upstairs bedroom of the home where and her husband Pete, sill live.

Her dad, the late William Mount, had a milk delivery route in the borough and knew everybody in town. His family has lived in the borough longer then it has been a borough, and more generations than anyone can remember. Her mom, the late Anna Mount, was of Irish descent and also from a long time well known Atlantic Highlands family.

Helen and her brother Jack, who died in 1980. Were ‘always brought up to help everybody we could, whenever we could, never to intentionally hurt anyone, and appreciate the town where we grew up.” They were lessons Helen never forgot.

It was also the reason why she went into politics. “I didn’t like what was happening to my town, I didn’t like the direction it was taking, so I had to do something about it,” she explains casually, but with enough determination in her voice that you know she means business. So she served on the Board of Education for six years in the early 70s.

Then she got her feet wet in the political pool when former Mayor Dick Stryker named her to a vacancy on the Borough Council and served in that capacity for three years. Then, in the 80s, still not satisfied with how the town was progressing, she became the borough’s first and only woman mayor, serving until 1987.

 

A staunch Democrat, she boasts about the open-mindedness of the Mount family. The same years she was serving as this borough’s Democratic mayor, her brother Jack was serving as Toms River’s Republican mayor. “We might have had two different ways of looking at things, but we always got the job done,” she laughs.

Helen is proud of the fact that “I tried to do my best, I never intentionally hurt anyone and I always had the overall good of the town at heart” when making her decisions as mayor. Such devotion can be costly as well. Through her years on the governing body, Helen never dipped into the petty cash fund provided for all mayors to pay for tickets, transportation, and related municipal expenses, preferring to assume all the costs herself. “For what this town has given me in happiness and wonderful people, it’s a small price to pay in repayment,” she explains.

“Besides, it’s all part of the job.:

Even the couples she married during her tenure couldn’t give her any recompense for her labors. “I always refused to take anything; just the joy of marrying a couple is more than enough payment.” The former mayor even went as far as to invite couples who were planning borough hall ceremonies to be married in her historic home, or in the small but elegant garden surrounding it.

Residents of the borough and longtime friends from around the state plan on honoring Helen for her years of service to the community. A testimonial dinner will be held Oct.2 at the Shore Casino to give people an opportunity to show their own appreciation for the myriad of deeds she’s done for untold thousands of people.

Always ready for a party, Helen says she feels honored and proud her friends are insisting on the testimonial to her. But, she commiserates, “there are so many others who have done so much more, who are so much more deserving. There are people who have given so much to this town and to others.”

It’s that word again. Helen’s passion. Helen’s drive. Helen’s love.

 

People.

The Kavookjian Legacy

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With a regionalization informational session set for 7p.m tonight at the Highlands Community Center, it brought back many happy memories and stories about great people who made Henry Hudson Regional a fait accomplis in the first place.

 

Were it not for Kathleen Mendes, a former president of the Hudson Board of Ed, and her dad, Haik Kavookjian, one of the very generous and spiritually minded Armenians I’ve ever met, there might never be a Henry Hudson Regional District to be the topic of such discussion now.

 

So I got a great piece from another journalist, Kathleen and Vince Mendes’ son, Vinnie, that he said I could share, showing the side of his mom that we wouldn’t know. Like most women, Kathleen was a mother first, and how she raised her children might well be different from how hard she works to get the best for all students in the bayshore. Enjoy VInnie’s “Legacy.”

THE LEGACY CURSE

 

My grandfather, Haik Kavookjian, fled the Turks in the 1880’s and wound up on a ship bound for New York. He arrived penniless, and went to work as a photo engraver, which was tantamount to getting into computers in the 1950’s. When he died at age 102 in the 1970’s he left each of his children $25,000, each of his grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren $5,000. He also left $21,000,000 to the Armenian church. Now this was the 1970’s when $21,000,000 was real money!

 

My mother and all her brothers and sisters wanted to contest the will, and I asked her, “Mom, how much money you got? Well, the Armenian Church has $21,000,000 to hire the best Jewish lawyers in New York before they break even, and you’re going to fight that? “

Papa knew exactly what he was doing, and if my mother had gotten $5,000,000, she would have spent it within a year at Walmart!

 

What Papa gave us in our genes, not in a bank account, and the sooner we realize that the better off we’ll be.

 

Now the O/L (Old Lady, aka my mother) was a tyrannical despot, or despotic tyrant. She ruled the roost no matter what. I just said “yes, Mom” and did whatever I pleased. She was always adamant that she treated us all equally, and when she was gone, she wanted us to stick together.

 

Meanwhile she made up her will so that Haik got the marina, Paul got the house on the hill, Tom, who had squatted in the house for ten years and assumed that he owned it, took her to court and was awarded $170,000 by the jury. She said that she was going to leave me the condo in Miami, (I think on purpose because she knew I hated Miami), so I told her ”No, Mom, leave it directly to Vinnie and Mikey”.

 

Well, she died, Haik got the Marina, Paul got the house on the hill, Tom had his $170,000, and OOPS! She had sold the condo in Miami, so my kids got nothing. But as I said when Papa died, what we have is in our genes, not in a bank account. We’re insolent and arrogant and can make it anywhere in the world just on our own good looks and our lovable personalities!

Subsequently, Paul, Tom and Haik have all died and I’m still here.

 

Paul was the last to go and when he died, Vinnie wrote a poem:

 

The four toughest guys I ever knew,

Were Paul, and Tom, and Haik and you.

Try tho I might, I can’t get my brain,

Round the fact that only you remain!

 

Thanks for those genes, Mom!