Times
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
THE TOMS RIVER
Vol. 12 - No. 19
Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving All of Toms River Township
In Toms River Visit, Christie Sets Aside $42M To Sandy-Impacted Towns
Inside This Week’s Edition
Business Directory.............................25 Classifieds......................................... 24 Community News........................ 10-15 Dear Joel........................................... 27 Dear Pharmacist ............................... 19 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News ..................... 18 Government ....................................... 9 Inside The Law.................................. 21 Letters to the Editor............................. 8 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
September 3, 2016
Toms River Heads Back To School
–Photo courtesy Toms River Regional Superintendent David M. Healy reads to Toms River Regional’s youngest students. By Courtney McCann TOMS RIVER – Though it’s been nearly four years since Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on New Jersey’s beach communities, the towns affected, as well as the school districts, continue to struggle. As 2016-17 school year starts, Toms River Regional School District Superintendent Dave Healey is working to find creative ways to continue supporting programs, services and facilities for the 16,000 students –Photo by Tim Larsen / Gov.’s Office Gov. Chris Christie at East Dover Fire House announcing the state has set aside $42 million for towns impacted by Superstorm Sandy to use to cover the gap in FEMA funding. By Catherine Galioto East Dover Fire House August 26. River, one of the hardest hit towns among TOMS RIVER – The state is funneling Christie came to the firehouse, one of the nine counties the new funding is avail$42 million in funding to towns impacted several in Toms River that saw its apparatus able for, saw a $2 billion loss in ratables by Superstorm Sandy, through the FEMA and facilities impacted by Sandy, to make destroyed by the storm. Non-Federal Cost Share (“Match”) Pro- the announcement that local towns would A share of $42 million in Community gram, Gov. Chris Christie announced at now be eligible for this funding. Toms (Sandy - See Page 4)
Osprey Numbers Soar Amid Volunteer Efforts
By Judy Smestad-Nunn OCEAN COUNTY – The North American Osprey population has rebounded from the days when the number of nests sank to 50 in New Jersey, down from about 500 nests in 1974. The osprey population plummeted then due to DDT pesticide in the food chain and a loss of their habitat due to development along the shore. But that was 40 years ago, and after DDT was banned in 1968, and ospreys were list-
ed as endangered in 1974, their population began to recover through the efforts of biologists who relocated the eggs and chicks and installed manmade nesting platforms. Now there are an estimated 100 pairs of ospreys that nest on Barnegat Bay alone, said Ben Wurst, habitat program manager for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ. He and a small group of volunteers have been monitoring the osprey population here and maintaining the nesting platforms since 2004, when there were only 20 active
(School - See Page 5)
Quick Chek’s Continued Expansion Into Ocean County
nests and 34 surviving young ospreys on Barnegat Bay. Most of the Barnegat Bay osprey nests have been built on the man-made platforms that can be seen from boats, which biologists and volunteers first installed in the 1970s, he said. Wurst and his volunteers have installed 150 nesting platforms in the past 12 years, many on Barnegat Bay, he said. Ospreys are highly migratory and they
By Bob Vosseller and Catherine Galioto TOMS RIVER – With a push to open additional stores in the area, Quick Chek has recently demolished a vacant bank, leveled land and bought out homeowners. The convenience store chain has opened five stores to date in its current fiscal year, bringing the total number of stores to 144, and Quick Chek has three more stores planned for Ocean County. Those sites include the spot of the former Crown bank at Route 70 and Brick Boulevard in Brick, demolished about a month
(Osprey - See Page 20)
(Expansion - See Page 6)
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