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MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Inside This Week’s Edition
THE SOUTHERN OCEAN
Vol. 3 - No. 40
Business Directory...................17 Classifieds................................15 Community News.................8-10 Dear Joel..................................18 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News..............12 Government...............................6 Inside The Law .........................16 Letters to the Editor.....................5 Wolfgang.................................23 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
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Lawsuit Accuses LBI School District Of Sunshine Law Violations
By Daniel Nee LONG BEACH ISLAND – An open government advocacy group is suing the Long Beach Island Consolidated School District, saying officials violated the state’s Open Public Records Act and Open Public Meetings Act – colloquially known as the “sunshine” laws. The New Jersey Foundation for Open Government filed the suit in Ocean County Superior Court earlier this month. The portion of the suit that addresses government records is related to a request the group
Lacey School Board Appoints District’s Next Superintendent
made for minutes of closed session meetings – meetings which typically involve confidential information such as lawsuits and personnel matters. The law holds, however, that the content of the meetings should be made available when the need for privacy no longer exists. According to the suit, the district “ignored” portions of a records request made “improper redactions to the Board’s closed meeting minutes.” Additionally, the complaint accuses the board of providing their group with redacted versions of its meeting (Law - See Page 4)
BLUECLAWS RAMP UP FOR APRIL HOME-OPENER
By Chris Christopher Chris Tafrow is 35 years of age, but he feels like a child. “Every year,” the Lakewood BlueClaws’ general manager said of the season, “it feels like Christmas time.” The BlueClaws, the Philadelphia Phillies’ low Class A farm club, will play their regular-season home opener April 14 against the Greensboro (N.C.) Grasshoppers at 6:35 p.m. at FirstEnergy Park.
March 26, 2016
“I am super excited,” said Tafrow, a 1999 graduate of Toms River High School East where he competed in baseball and basketball and played the snare d r u m i n t he Raiders’ ba nd. “Just the other day, when we began setting up the park, we had a good feeling. All of our planning is starting to happen.” There will be improvements at FirstEnergy Park in the team’s (BlueClaws - See Page 13)
–Photo courtesy Lakewood BlueClaws The Lakewood BlueClaws take the field at their 2015 home opener. This year’s first home game is April 14.
–Photo by Daniel Nee Craig Wigley speaks to the Lacey school board. He will take the position of superintendent for the district this summer. By Daniel Nee as director of secondary educa“I want to thank the board for all LACEY – Craig Wigley will tion for the Hamilton Township the hard work they put into this,” serve as the next Lacey Town- school district, will start his new Board President Linda Downing ship Superintendent of Schools, position as Lacey schools chief said, praising board members officials have announced. this summer at an annual salary for putting in “hard hours and (Superintendent - See Page 4) Wigley, who currently serves of $155,000.
NJ “Vulnerable” Target For Human Trafficking
By Judy Smestad-Nunn OCEAN COUNTY – Imagine children as young as 12 years old who have to perform sex acts, against their will, in exchange for shelter, food, clothing and attention. The sexual exploitation of children is the most hidden form of child abuse in the country and it is the nation’s least recognized epidemic, said Patty Mojta, social
worker and department head of Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey, the only non-profit dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect in the state. Mojta lecture, “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in New Jersey” was held at the Toms River Library recently, focusing on domestic sex trafficking of children in the United States.
Conservative numbers show that at least 100,000 minors are currently exploited through prostitution in the U.S. each year, and some 100,000 to 300,000 of U.S. children are at risk of being sex trafficked and exploited, Mojta said. 83 percent of people trafficked in the U.S. are U.S. citizens, and all 50 states have reported cases. (Trafficking - See Page 11)