TIMES
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
THE SOUTHERN OCEAN
Vol.4 - No. 22
Inside This Week’s Edition
Business Directory ........................... 18 Classifieds ........................................ 19 Community News ......................... 8-11 Dear Joel ..........................................16 Dear Pharmacist .............................. 15 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News .................... 14 Fun Page ......................................... 20 Inside The Law ................................. 17 Letters to the Editor ............................ 6 Wolfgang ......................................... 23 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving Lacey, Waretown, Barnegat, Manahawkin, LBI, Tuckerton and Little Egg
Recognizing Veterans’ Sacrifices For Freedoms LACEY – Before the Veterans Day ceremony at Lacey’s Bicentennial Park, two Seabees met up and struck up a conversation. One was a father of young kids, the other a senior citizen in a wheelchair. They managed to fi nd each other in a small crowd of about three dozen people gathered for the event in front of the municipal building on
Tho�sands O� T�r�eys, Tens O� Tho�sands O� Families Colle�tio�s For Seaso�’s H���r�
(Sacrifices - See Page 12)
–Photos by Chris Lundy Residents gathered at Bicentennial Park in Lacey Township for a Veterans Day ceremony.
By Chris Lundy OCEAN COUNTY – A turkey on the table and gifts given by family and friends. These are the things to be thankful for, and the things that can be taken for granted. Thousands of people in Ocean County are struggling to have these traditions. Many local charities are calling on the public’s help to bridge these gaps and provide help for people. The Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties serves close to 10,000 families, said Lori Sayde, the group’s marketing and media manager. They service 300 pantries in Monmouth and Ocean counties. They are trying to raise 4,000 meals for the holidays. As of press time, they were about 1,000 turkeys short, and are looking for residents to donate the turkeys they get as incentives from grocery stores. They could also take the chicken roasters or other options for smaller families. This collection drive, holiday meal appeal, is “to make sure no family is without a turkey for the holidays,” she said. Pat Donaghue, the executive director of the (Turkeys - See Page 13)
“Best Practices” Approved For Lacey
By Chris Lundy LACEY – The Township’s administration passed the state’s “Best Practices” questionnaire, meaning that their financial matters were in good enough shape to receive the full amount of state aid promised. The Best Practices worksheet is a list of 30 Yes/No questions that every municipality in New Jersey has to complete. It is overseen by the state Department of Community Affairs. First, the state collects property taxes on property ener-
November 19, 2016
gy companies own in town. Then, the state runs each town through the Best Practices test. If a town has enough “Yes” or “Not Applicable” answers to the questions, they will receive their full complement of energy company’s tax revenue. For Lacey, this amounts to $11.1 million, Business Administrator Veronica Laureigh said. They could have lost as much as 5 percent of this amount if they failed the worksheet. Lacey passed, having more than enough answers that were either
“Yes” or “Not Applicable.” The township answered “Yes” to 22 out of 30 questions that showed what best practices they were implementing. These included such items as exploring shared services, prohibiting personal use of vehicles, having budget information online, requiring elected officials to disclose their finances, creating an action plan addressing the previous year’s audit, evaluating its bond rating, updating the employee handbook, and preventing part time employees or
elected officials from receiving health benefits. The township answered “No” to five questions. One was whether the township annually reviews any authorities in town (such as a municipal utilities authority) for efficiency and usefulness to the public, and whether such discussions and findings were made public. Another “No” was because the township does not have a policy not to compensate employees for accumulated sick time. One (Approved - See Page 12)
Local Ministries Help With Holiday Grief
T
By Lois Rogers he Christmas season seemed to arrive even earlier this year, with decorations lighting some of the area’s public squares and private landscapes the night after Halloween. These twinkling lights are meant as a joyous signal of the holidays and holy (Ministries - See Page 5)
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