County Funding $7.5 Million Beach Replenishment

cost of a planned beach replenishment for the northern barrier island. Last year, the county agreed to pay half of the

Deer In Senior Communities A Nuisance

By Chris Lundy BERKELEY – Resi-

dents of the senior communities move there for the quiet and serenity. That’s what deer like about it, too. And they were there first.

For the decades since these senior communities have been carved out of the woods, deer have been around. They gather at the waterways. They munch people’s plants. They go for leisurely strolls down the streets, sometimes in small herds. Every so often a resident will ask the elected officials what can be done to keep the deer population away from the people population.

The most recent one was Barbara Goldstein, who lives in Silver Ridge Park North. She came out to a Township Council meeting.

She was worried about crashes between deer and drivers. She said the deer defecate on (Deer - See Page 4)

$7,550,000 local cost for the project. Each town would have to contribute. Berkeley, Seaside

Park, Seaside Heights, Toms River, Lavallette, Brick, Mantoloking, Bay Head, and Point Pleasant Beach make up the northern barrier island municipalities that will be receiving assistance.

“We know our local municipalities have faced financial struggles as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Beach - See Page 4)

For Local Residents, Ciba’s Scars Run Deep

By Stephanie Faughnan

TOMS RIVERMatthew Kelly made a quick stop in the pouring rain before he headed into Toms River

North High School to attend a community meeting on a proposed settlement regarding the Ciba-Geigy super- fund site.

Born and raised in Toms River, Kelly was on familiar turf as both a graduate and former teacher at the high school. Unfortunately, with some memories still haunting him, Kelly decided to momentarily pause by (Ciba - See Page 5) charges.

Beach: Continued From Page 1 and we also are well aware of the economic and environmental importance of our beaches,” Ocean County Commissioner Gary Quinn said. “After reviewing the issue further, the Board has agreed that rather than fund 50 percent of the local share for this project, it will fund 100 percent.”

The total state-wide project will cost $60 million, officials said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pay $30 million, with the remaining $30 million coming from the state and local share.

The mayors had approached Commissioner John P. Kelly, who co-chairs the Ocean County Department of Finance with Quinn, for help.

Quinn said, “we are here to work with you. We are here to help your towns. Our beaches are very important to us and we want to make sure we do all we can to get this project done.”

The beaches have been battered by late fall and winter storms and this project is the first major beach replenishment scheduled by the Army Corps of Engineers along that area since it completed repairing and strengthening beaches in the years following Superstorm Sandy, county officials said.

“The Ocean County Commissioners really stepped up for the taxpayers of Toms River and the barrier island towns by agreeing to fund the approximately $7.5 million local share of the $60 million US Army Corp of Engineers beach replenishment project that is commencing soon,” said Toms River Mayor Maurice B. “Mo” Hill. “I thank all of the Commissioners, especially Deputy Director Gary Quinn and Commissioner Jack Kelly of the Finance Committee, as well as Director Joe Vicari, Commissioners Ginny Haines and Bobbi Jo Crea, for recognizing that our beaches and dunes benefit the entire county and the state. It is an undue burden for the taxpayers of the host communities to shoulder this cost.

“Over the last several months the nine barrier island mayors have worked together as a team to lobby both the county and the state to fund this project,” he said. “I would especially like to thank Mayor Bill Curtis of Bay Head and Mayor Lance White of Mantoloking for their hard work and partnership in making this happen. Bay Head, Mantoloking and Ortley Beach in Toms River have suffered the most erosion. Our residents would have been on the hook for the majority of the $7.5 million.”

“I would like to thank the Board of Commissioners for their support and financial assistance in beach replenishment in Berkeley Township,” Berkeley Mayor Carmen Amato said.

“This takes a massive weight off of our shoulders. We deeply appreciate what you are doing,” Mantoloking Mayor E. Laurence “Lance” White said.

“This is very good news,” Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey said noting the County’s action will help the township as it moves ahead with its budgeting process.

“This helps our budget.”

Bay Head Mayor William Curtis also extended his appreciation to the Board of Commissioners and the mayors for working together. “This is good news for our Borough and all the beaches along the northern barrier island.”

Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Joseph H. Vicari remarked that all of the Commissioners were in approval to get this done.

“As liaison to tourism and business devel- opment, it’s important we all work together. Tourism is a cornerstone of our economy. In addition, beach replenishment also protects the properties of our year-round residents and businesses,” Vicari added.

While Point Pleasant Borough has no oceanfront property and is not part of the replenishment effort, borough leaders have been supportive of the project in order to assist their neighboring communities.

Ciba:

Continued From Page 1 the flagpole at the school’s entranceway. “There’s a list of students that have passed away while they were students here,” shared Kelly. “I stopped and read my cousin’s name. My uncle’s daughter died when she was 16 and a student here. My dad died of pancreatic cancer.”

Kelly said both his father and uncle worked at Ciba-Geigy back when it was Toms River Chemical. When Kelly heard about the plan for the superfund site, his first thought was he’d stay far away from it. Kelly then decided to join in the public discussion opposing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)’s proposed settlement. He wasn’t alone.

Save Barnegat Bay sponsored the public forum in response to the NJDEP’s announcement of a proposed settlement with the site’s current landowner, BASF. The state agency generally allots 30 days for comments on what are known as National Resource Damages (NRD) matters. That date was extended to sixty days after pressure from local community leaders.

Britta Forsberg, Executive Director of Save Barnegat Bay, opened the presentation with some disturbing facts. The EPA reports that sixty percent of the contaminated groundwater plume remains, with some underneath the communities of Cardinal Drive and Oak Ridge Parkway neighborhoods.

“We are concerned about potential threats to future development and contamination there,” said Forsberg. “The risk of having passive recreation on a listed EPA Superfund site is real.”

BASF plans to preserve approximately 1,000 acres of the site and implement ecological or restoration projects. The public would have access to the site for educational opportunities and passive recreation.

The current proposal does not include plans to tell the story of how a renowned pharmaceutical company earned its ill-fated designation as a superfund site.

A Brief History Lesson

J. Mark Mutter serves as the Toms River historian and is also a past mayor and township clerk. He said that when the Toms River Chemical Company came to town in 1952, Dover Township’s population was just 7,000 as compared to 100,000 people who now live in Toms River.

Many surmise the Switzerland-based company’s move from its Cincinnati operations to a rural and wooded area in the Jersey pines came with a purpose. How better than to hide what actually went on behind the dense forest.

When Mutter was the township clerk, he found a file on Toms River Chemical that contained a single sheet of paper from 1964.

“That fragile one sheet was a Dover Township resolution and agreement, granting the company a right of way to construct and maintain an outfall discharge pipeline,”

Deer:

Continued From Page 1 the lawns.

Residents can’t put up fences to keep the deer out because fences violate the homeowner association bylaws, she said.

One discussion was a larger deer-mediation structure that would span the outside of the entire development.

Township Clerk Beverly Carle noted that any large-scale construction would have to go before the Pinelands Commission anyway, which is an environmental watchdog agency.

Councilman John Bacchione said that most outdoorsmen advocate an increase of hunting to control the population, but obviously out in the woods, and not anywhere near a residential area.

Township Business Administrator John Camera said that the state can increase the bagging licenses. There are other options that would not impact homeowners, but these are state decisions. “Enhanced hunting, bottom line, would reduce the deer population.”

There’s some movement on these changes underway, and Camera said he hoped to see it come to fruition in the fall.

Police Chief Kevin Santucci attends many of the council meetings and he said that his department has been working with the state on these regulations. However, when it comes to hunting, not everyone likes that solution. Whenever he speaks to groups about the issue, he says half of them are for increasing hunting and half want nonlethal solutions.

However, when hunters use the meat then people are more willing to accept that idea, Camera said.

One suggestion was transporting the live deer elsewhere. Camera said that it’s not impossible but it’s extremely complicated.

Councilman Michael Signorile, who leads a coalition of senior communities, said this is an issue that they are very aware of and are working with state authorities told a plan. “Everybody agrees with you,” he told Goldstein.

40 Day of Prayer Celebration - Annual Chili Cook-Off

BAYVILLE – Do you make the meanest pot of chili this side of Ocean County? Start gathering your ingredients and get ready for the Living Water Annual Family Chili Cook-off on February 9 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

First, second and third place prizes will be awarded for the Best Chili! Come out for dinner and a celebration of our 40 Days of Prayer, you are invited to bring your special chili and enter our Cook-Off. No need to share your family’s secret recipe, but please bring enough chili to share.

Don’t cook? Just come and sample all the chili while you enjoy some downtime with the family. No registration, just come!

Love For Pittie Valentines Bash

BERKELEY – The Pittie Project will be hosting their Love for Pittie Valentines Bash on February 5 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Yesterday’s Restaurant.

Join for fun, food, raffles, 50/50s and more.Ticket price includes four complimentary raffle tickets, hot lunch buffet, DJ music, beer, wine and soft drinks! Reserve a table for parties of eight to 10 people. Purchases tickets at thepittie.com/events/love-for-pittievalentines-bash.

Fun & Games

Mutter said. “Extending from the plant’s headquarters at the western end of the township, through the township, under the township, under the Bay, under Ortley Beach, and out into the ocean at the eastern end of our town.”

A collective gasp went through the audience of approximately 100 people.

Mutter said he spoke with L. Manuel Hirshblond, who signed on as the Toms River clerk in 1967. After all, it certainly seemed odd that the file with the resolution had no memos or reports with it.

“He told me back then that Toms River Chemical ran Toms River,” recalled Mutter. “That’s one of the reasons why I think we’re here. I guess my friend Manny was correct.”

Not only was Toms River Chemical the largest employer, its employees were also involved in civic affairs and politics. The company did good things – like supporting the construction of what was then Community Hospital.

The legacy that passed from Toms River Chemical and onto to Ciba-Geigy overshadows the idea that either company acted in a spirit of benevolence.

A teenager in the 1970s, Mutter remembered days of swimming at the beach with friends and family. The water was often a murky gray color, and it was impossible to see your feet below on the ocean floor at low tide. The pipeline was visible several hundred feet out into the ocean.

The turning point was in 1984 when the pipeline burst under Bay Avenue and the rupture exposed the company’s operations to a wide audience worldwide.

“Years of controversy led to investigation, litigation and the end of production in 1996,” Mutter said. “In 2000, when I was the mayor, I publicly spoke about Ciba Geigy’s corporate and social responsibility to Toms River.”

Although operations at the plant had ceased, decades of illegal dumping remained. Mutter implored Ciba to donate the cleaned up property to the township for open space preservation and continue its clean up of the contaminated soil and the aquifer below.

Several members of volunteer organizations with impressive backgrounds weighed in with their knowledge, including Peter Hibbard, the president of Ocean County Citizens for Clean Water.

Hibbard said there was no environmental oversight when Toms River Chemical first came to the town. The disposal of toxic chemicals went directly into recreational waters for several years.

“We learned they were disposing of solid waste near the Manchester town line,” said Hibbard. “But nobody knew what was going in the ground.”

Previous employees of the company said the barrels of waste dumped at that location may still be there.

“Originally, the company’s liquid waste was discharged directly into the Toms River,” Hibbard continued. “Because the color of the wastewater matched the color of the sea of water in the river.”

Some suggest the whole set of circumstances amounts to big business literally getting away with murder.

BASF Enters The Picture

BASF ultimately became owners of the land and promptly filed a tax appeal, saying the property was damaged. They were awarded a $17.3 million abatement that fell on Toms River taxpayers – many who were already scarred by the disregard for clean water and soil from the company back in the woods.

By 2019, BASF decided the same “worthless” piece of property was good enough to construct the largest solar farm in New Jersey.

“BASF is receiving conservatively $500,000 a year as a result of this lease agreement,” shared Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill. “With three five year extensions, BASF will conservatively make another $20 million over the length of that lease.”

BASF will also be permitted to market an additional 250 acres of land for a profit under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement. Hill believes that the property should be deeded to Toms River and preserved as compensation for the damage done to the town.

The Proposed Settlement

The six page document comes with some statements related to the hazardous substances dumped during the manufacture of dyes, pigments, resins, epoxy additives and other possible contaminants.

Authorities feel certain the clean up isn’t nearly done and called on the DEP to ensure that history does not repeat itself.

“The town has never been invited to participate in settlement discussions,” said Hill. “This is a case of David versus Goliath; and it’s time for the DEP to side with David, not Goliath.”

Hibbard suggested that approving the superfund site for recreational purposes would be analogous to Love Canal, where taxpayers could be burdened

(Ciba - See Page 9)

In the January 21 article “More Route 9 Land Slated For Open Space In Ocean County,” the mayor was quoted as saying that the owner of the Mastapeter Funeral Home is retiring. This is incorrect; they are not retiring. We regret the error.

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Lawmakers Push Back Against Biden Administration’s Proposed Asylum Transit Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-N.J.) and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.-14), alongside Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX35), and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07), led a bicameral group of nearly 80 lawmakers urging President Joe Biden to reverse his administration’s expansion of the failed border policy known as Title 42 and to abandon the proposed asylum “transit ban” rule.” The lawmakers also encouraged the President and his administration to work with Congress to ensure they develop safe, humane, and orderly border policies that enforce our immigration laws and uphold the right to asylum under domestic and international law.

“The administration’s announced border enforcement actions circumvent [domestic and international] law by not only expanding Title 42 beyond what is required by any court but by further implementing policies to deter and penalize people exercising their legal right to seek asylum at the border,” wrote the bicameral group of lawmakers to President Biden. “…We are therefore distressed by the deeply inconsistent choice to expand restrictions on asylum seekers after your administration determined it was no longer necessary for public health. Title 42 circumvents domestic law and international law. Human rights groups have extensively documented more than 10,000 violent attacks – including kidnappings, serious assaults, and deaths

– against individuals who were expelled to or blocked in Mexico due to Title 42 since the beginning of your administration, with a disproportionate impact on Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous migrants.”

Sens. Booker and Menendez and Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Casar hosted a press conference outside the Senate steps to detail their request to President Biden.

“We are further concerned by the administration’s announcement that it will be issuing a proposed rulemaking in the coming days that would require asylum seekers to first apply for asylum in a transit country instead of allowing them to seek their legal right to asylum at our southern border. This, in effect, is a transit ban. The courts rightly rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to categorically end asylum when he similarly required asylum seekers to seek asylum in transit countries,” added the lawmakers. “Specifically, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Trump-Era Third Country Transit ban violated well-settled U.S. asylum laws that prohibit turning people away unless they have ‘firmly resettled’ in a transit country, especially not if conditions in the transit country are not safe… At the time of this ruling, countries across the Western Hemisphere were unable to meet such requirements. There does not appear to be evidence to show that country conditions in transit countries have improved since the relevant appellate decision was rendered as to justify a new Third Country

Transit bar. As the administration well knows, current conditions in Mexico – the primary transit country – cannot ensure safety for the families seeking refuge in the United States.”

“It is unconscionable that asylum seekers have no option but to sleep in the streets of El Paso, in overcrowded shelters in Juarez, or in tents in Reynosa, but new asylum restrictions against migrants will not solve this problem. We believe that your administration can and must continue to expand legal pathways for migrants and refugees into the United States – without further dismantling the right to seek asylum at our border. This right is a pillar of the post-war international order to which the United States has committed itself. We are ready to work with you to ensure that we can have a safe, humane, and orderly border that upholds the right to asylum,” concluded the lawmakers.

Joining Sens. Booker, Menendez, Luján, and Padilla in signing the letter in the Senate are Sens. Elizabeth Warren (DMA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tina Smith (D-MN), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Peter Welch (D-VT). Joining Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Casar, and Grijalva in signing the letter in the House are Reps. Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-IL-04), Juan Vargas (D-CA-52), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.-13), Nanette Barragán (D-CA44), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.-12), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Jamaal Bow- man (D-N.Y.-16), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.-At-Large), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.-07), Hank Johnson (D-GA-04), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.-09), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA-29), Judy Chu (DCA-28), Lou Correa (D-CA-46), Cori Bush (D-MO-01), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.-06), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), Barbara Lee (D-CA-12), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Frederica Wilson (D-FL-24), Adam Smith (D-WA-09), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), Shri Thanedar (D-MI-13), Jim McGovern (D-MA-02), Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), Chellie Pingree (DME-01), Dwight Evans (D-PA-03), Becca Balint (D-VT-At-Large), Grace Napolitano (D-CA-31), Mark Takano (D-CA-39), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.-06), Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03), Doris Matsui (D-CA-07), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.-03), Norma Torres (D-CA-35), Maxwell Frost (D-FL-10), Rob Menendez (D-N.J.-08), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.-10), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37), Mark Pocan (D-WI-02), Adam Schiff (D-CA-30), Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), Jill Tokuda (D-HI-02), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.-15), Linda Sanchez (D-CA-38), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), Alma Adams (D-N.C.-12), Lori Trahan (D-MA-03), Katie Porter (D-CA-47), and Summer Lee (D-PA-12).

Ciba: Continued From Page 5 with the expense of harm caused by contamination.

“This land is not pristine, and it’s contaminated,” Hibbard reiterated. “The open space plan and the environmental facility proposed would be a desirable use of land as long as it had not been

Central Regional Middle School Spelling Bee Winner

contaminated by the Superfund concerns.”

Christine Girtain, a Toms River high school science teacher and director, holds the impressive title as New Jersey’s State Teacher of the Year. She shared her thoughts on the proposal, as a lifelong resident and mother of school aged children.

Girtain recalled the year she was a sixth grader and Ciba Geigy sponsored a poster competition for kids to portray something on endangered species. Her teacher, Shelia McVeigh, suggested the kids should draw themselves since Ciba-Geigy was endangering their lives.

As far as the idea of an Environmental Center on the property, Girtain agreed with the other presenters. However, she added that if it came to be, it needed to be more than a history of the Pine Barrens.

“The kids need to know the history and the pollution that’s there,” said Girtain. “They need to know the names of the people that died from that.”

A future workforce could be trained on that land according to Girtain – with studies that address issues like clean water, sustainability and soil health. Top of the line labs could be set up to give tomorrow’s scientists the best set of tools.

─Photo courtesy Ocean Gate School

Titan Championship Wrestling Presents Courage And Power

BAYVILLE – On March 25, Titan Championship Wrestling presents a very special event. Titan Championship Wrestling presents Courage & Power, A Cerebral Palsy Awareness event. This event will be highlighted by one of our very own that has the courage and power to step on that ring and perform for the Titan Nation and Goddesses Universe, Becca Wiley

This event will be located at the Bayville EMS Squad, 660 Atlantic City Boulevard, Bayville. Doors open at 6 p.m., bell time is at 7 p.m. Advanced tickets start at $20, at the door $30. Tickets at: titan-championshipwrestling.com . Come out and enjoy a very special night of pro wrestling action.

P.O. Box 521, Lakehurst, NJ 08733 • Phone: 732-657-7344 • Fax: 732-657-7388 email: news@jerseyshoreonline.com • jerseyshoreonline.com

MANCHESTER TIMES • BERKELEY TIMES • BRICK TIMES JACKSON TIMES • HOWELL TIMES • TOMS RIVER TIMES SOUTHERN OCEAN TIMES