T
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Vol. 22 - No. 28
Inside This Week’s Edition
THE MANCHESTER
MES
Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving Lakehurst, Whiting and all of Manchester
–Photos by Jennifer Peacock and Patrick Burry From left to right, Incumbents James Ken Pate and Jacki Bermudez, and Challenger Patrick Barry, are vying for two school board seats. neth “Ken” Pate and Jackie Bermudez will try to retain their respective seats, while newcomer Patrick Barry will try to unseat one of them.
The candidates each responded to questions from the Manchester Times, and they appear in alphabetical order: (BOE Seats - See Page 18)
Relief Center Suddenly Closes
By Judy Smestad-Nunn OCEAN COUNTY – The Visitation Relief Center, founded in February 2013 to help victims of Superstorm Sandy, closed its doors suddenly this month without notice. In its early days, the center – which is affiliated with the near-
by Visitation Roman Catholic Church on Mantoloking Road in Brick -- provided services toward recovery, rebuilding and helping with everyday needs for storm victims. In 2015, the VRC expanded its assistance to the low-income and homeless from Ocean and
Monmouth Counties. Representatives of the VRC had no comment on its closure, but at the October 18 council meeting, Brick Mayor John G. Ducey said the center was closed by a construction official from the Trenton Diocese. There were rumors that the
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October 29, 2016
Manchester Shares Mixed PARCC Results
THREE VIE FOR TWO BOE SEATS
By Jennifer Peacock MANCHESTER – Three candidates are running for two seats in this board of education race. Incumbents James Ken-
Business Directory .............30-31 Classifieds................................29 Community News...............11-17 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News...............22 Fun Page..................................32 Health.................................22-23 Inside The Law ..........................26 Letters to the Editor....................9 Wolfgang.................................39
town closed it, Ducey said, but it was the diocese who closed it after its Director of Property and Construction Scott Pirozzi found out the center did not have a Certificate of Occupancy, that there were a number of violations dating back to 2013, and (Relief Center - See Page 5)
–Photo by Jennifer Peacock Director of Curriculum Diane Pedroza gave the presentation at the October 19 board of education meeting, where she broke down the numbers for the administration, board and audience. By Jennifer Peacock MANCHESTER – The results are mixed. While elementary school students consistently performed as well as or better than their peers across New Jersey and those taking the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), middle and high school students often lagged their peers taking the test throughout the state and country. Director of Curriculum Diane Pedroza (PARCC - See Page 18)
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By Judy Smestad-Nunn and Catherine Galioto OCEAN COUNTY – October 29 marks the fourth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which was the eighteenth named storm and the 10th hurricane of the 2012 hurricane season. The post-tropical cyclone Sandy moved from the Caribbean to the U.S. eastern seaboard, making landfall near Brigantine, NJ around 7:30 p.m, according to the National Weather Service. Sandy produced a record storm surge along the entire New Jersey coast – partly due to the timing of landfall near the time of high tide – which damaged or destroyed an estimated 650,000 houses and left approximately 8.5 million people without power. New Jersey had billions of dollars in infrastructure damage afterward, with rebuilding clearly continuing
in many areas to this day. At the county level, the pre-Sandy ratables were $103.895 billion. In 2013 they were down to $94.859 billion due to the impact of the superstorm. In 2016, the ratables in Ocean County are $96.430 billion, still below the pre-Sandy number. For inland towns such as Manchester, the main damage was due to fallen trees or power lines creating property damage, and the widespread power outages that impacted the area. Still the storm surge created flooding concerns for upstream areas as well. But coastal waterfront properties saw the worst damage, and many residents are still not back home. One of them is Good Luck Point in Berkeley, where several boarded-up homes are missing siding, or parts (Anniversary - See Page 10)
4 YEARS
LATER
–Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn Immediately after Sandy, boats littered Drum Point Road.