$5M Grant Received For Salt Marsh Restoration Project Mayor Nominated To Be Judge

By Alyssa Riccardi

BRICK – Brick Township Mayor John Ducey has confirmed that he has been nominated by Governor Phil Murphy to serve as a Superior Court judge.

“I am very excited to be nominated by the Governor for the position of Superior Court Judge. I am humbled and honored to be considered for such an important position,” Ducey told Jersey Shore Online.

Ducey was one of several listed as judicial nominees after Governor Murphy filed a notice of intention on

January 30.

If Ducey’s nomination is approved by the legislative panel, he would serve as a Superior Court judge and would be assigned to a county vicinage. At this time, it has not been confirmed whether that vicinage would be Ocean County or another location in the state.

“The Senate has to confirm the nomination for it to become an appointment. There is the Senatorial courtesy stage and then the Senate Judiciary Committee performs a background check and (Judge - See Page 21)

By Alysa Riccardi BRICK

– Brick the salt marsh in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

The township was among several municipalities that received

Nastase Left His Signature On High School Basketball

By Chris Christopher LAKEWOOD -

There were cheers, tears and numerous fond memories in the Lakewood High School gymnasium. Its floor was named the Robert J. Nastase

Court in honor of the Piners’ head boys varsity basketball coach. He died March 13, 2022, at the age of 86 of natural causes. Markers in his handwriting are on both sides of the court. He helped design the facility. An estimat - ed 100 fans, including nearly 40 of his former Lakewood and Toms River players, attended the ceremony, which took place on a recent Friday afternoon.

Jay Nastase, one of the family’s five children , (Nastase - See Page 4)

Natural Climate Solutions Grants, totaling $24.3 million. The state Department of Environmental Protection said the goal of the program is to

“restore, and enhance New Jersey’s green spaces and tree canopies in urban areas, salt marshes and forests.” In addition, the (Marsh - See Page 6)

Temple OK’d To Operate Out Of Old Funeral Home

By Judy Smestad-Nunn

BRICK - The congregation of Temple Beth

Or can breathe a sigh of relief after the Board of Adjustment approved their request to use a former funeral home as their new temple.

This was their second hearing before the Board, who rejected the earlier application by one vote in late 2022 on the basis of inadequate parking.

The congregation purchased the former Laurelton Memorial Funeral Home - located near the corner of Pier Avenue and Route 70, next to the St. Thomas Lutheran Church - after selling their former site on Van Zile Road, which was too large for the current membership to manage.

The second application included changes to the plans to address some of the concerns of the Board, including a 27year lease agreement with nearby St. Thomas Church whereby the temple could utilize the church’s 60-spot parking lot for overflow parking at the cost of $1,000 a year.

Attorney John Jackson, representing (Temple - See Page 5)

Nastase:

Continued From Page 1 and Kevin King, who starred at center on Lakewood’s 1974-75 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group III state championship team, unveiled the markers to cheers and tears.

The Nastase family posed with a plaque listing the accomplishments of the coach - a taskmaster’s taskmaster and an old schooler’s old schooler who believed that anything short of perfection from himself, his players and coaches was a failure.

Ex-Lakewood football player Steve Peacock, a Lakewood High School faculty member, emceed the event. When Nastase was in power, “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the Harlem Globetrotters’ famous theme song, was played prior to the Piners’ home games at what is now the nearby Lakewood Middle School and the current gymnasium. Lakewood performed jazzy layup drills in which several of the hands of its players soared above the 10-foot high rim as the Piners’ fans roared their approval, intimidating many an opponent. The song was played after the ceremony. A one-hour alumni social preceded the ceremony.

King spoke before Nastase, stating, “Coach Nastase meant so much to me as a player and especially when I was in college (King competed for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte). He coached me when I was a senior in college. He was an assistant coach. We talked about life in general, but he always got back to basketball.

“I thank his family for bringing me into their family. I appreciate all of you. One of the biggest supporters we had was Carol Frank-Brown (a 1974-75 team aide under the name of Carol Frank).”

One of the 1974-75 team’s managers, Nastase, at times fighting back tears, said from notes, “Thank you for coming out and celebrating this moment of my dad’s accomplishments. I could never fill his shoes, but I am wearing his sport coat. Dad coached Lakewood from 1965-78 (and Toms River High School, now known as Toms River High School South, in 1964-65). A lot of his input was used in the designing of this gymnasium. The first game here was played in 1972. Some of that team’s stars are here today. We had a capacity crowd of 1,000 (fans). The game was against Brick Township. We trailed through three quarters, but won 61-57.

“In dad’s first year here, we lost in the Group III semifinals of the state tournament. Harold Sutton (a team member) said, ‘Coach, we demand a state championship. You are not working us hard enough.’ That group had such conviction and want and drive, we became the first Ocean County team to win a state title in 1967. Dad’s games were community events. He said, ‘I will never lose a game because the other team out conditioned my team.’ If one player missed a time goal in the sprints during practice, everybody ran.

“Dad treated everyone with respect. He never cut a player from the team. You earned that uniform. I think they outran our track and field teams. His teams ran, played aggressive in your face defense and ran some more. Dad was one of the first coaches to have videos taken of his team’s practices and games. He went over everything. Thank you Larry Bushman for being our team’s cameraman.

“Dad was very enthusiastic about education. He and mom privately tutored the players. He was a life coach before it was a (popular) thing. His players listened to motivational cassette tapes on the bus. He worked with intensity. He had strong faith in Jesus Christ. He emphasized defense, dedication, discipline and desire (the mention of Nastase’s beloved Four Ds drew a cheer from the crowd). He emphasized to his players that if the Four Ds were applied they would be successful in life.

T-shirts saluting the Four Ds were sold at the event for $10 each. Lakewood athletics director Oscar Orellana was the man behind the idea. Proceeds will go to the Piners’ athletic program. (To obtain a shirt, email Orellana at oorellana@ lakewoodpiners.org)

Coach Nastase’s 1974-75 team edged East Orange 72-71 in the Group III state championship game on two free throws in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter by Kelvin Troy, Willie Troy’s brother, who starred for the Piners, Rutgers University and at the professional level in Ireland after being released by the Milwaukee Bucks of then-coach Don Nelson.

Lakewood wound up ranked first in New Jersey by the New York Daily News Jodi Nastase, one of the family’s children, wept as she said, “Dad’s players loved and respected him. This (event) is overwhelming. The most precious thing is time and all of these people came out to honor our dad. Today is special, very special. You don’t get time back and here people are here spending their time to honor us. It is just overwhelming.”

Agnes Nastase was the recipient of kisses and embraces before, during and after the ceremony. The couple was married for 61 years.

“I am pleased at the turnout,” she said. “I am pleased that so many people remembered him…The markers honoring Bob are wonderful. I have to say he certainly did work at it. He’d leave the house at seven in the morning and be home at 10 at night. His players became our family members. He yelled at his players the way he yelled at our own kids.”

The Piners often gathered at the family’s home on Toms River for dinners that lasted until the wee hours of the morning.

“The players always said, ‘Dinner at coach’s,’ “ Nastase said. “There was spaghetti. There was garlic bread. There was dessert. Man, they sure loved garlic bread. The boys stayed for as long as they needed to. Bob took some of them home. Our home was an open door.”

Cara Nastase, one of the couple’s children, said her dad was a fierce competitor.

(Nastase - See Page 5)

Nastase:

Continued From Page 4

“He just had a competitive nature and he worked hard at everything he did,” she said. “He had a very good high school coaching record. He basically taught himself how to coach. He worked at something until it was the way he wanted it.”

Perhaps best known as the Piner Palace because of its beauty, the current Lakewood gymnasium was dedicated the John “Pott” Richardson Gymnasium on Feb. 7, 2013. Richardson starred on the 1966-67 team (24-3 overall) and

Temple:

Continued From Page 1 was an assistant coach under Nastase from 1973-78. He coached the Piners from 1985-2007, producing a 401-152 record and leading Lakewood to numerous championships, including the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III title in 2002.

Temple Beth Or, said that the temple serves a big geographic area while noting that the closest Conservative Jewish Synagogues are located in Toms River and Howell.

Temple Beth Or Rabbi Robert B. Rubin testified at the hearing and said that the congregation only has about 75 memberships, 10 of which are out of state.

“There’s been a slow decline; people move away, people pass away…there’s never more than seven or eight cars (in the parking lot) at a time,” he said.

The Jewish congregation has been holding their services in the gymnasium and other meeting rooms of St. Thomas Lutheran Church for the past two years.

“Coach Nastase played the kids who had the best attitudes,” Richardson said. “His family and myself are intertwined. With no Bob Nastase, there would be no John Richardson. He taught us hard work. He taught us not to quit.”

Nastase guided the Toms River High School North Mariners to Class A

Jackson explained that houses of worship are considered to be “inherently beneficial” to a neighborhood, and that the application could only be legally denied if it poses a “substantial detriment” to its surroundings.

When the temple’s engineer Jeffrey Carr was asked if there is any substantial negative criteria, he said, “no, absolutely not, it’s the contrary. There will be a reduction in traffic since the funeral parlor generated twice as many trips, and it will get this site back in use…there are no negatives whatsoever in my opinion.”

The former funeral home, which was initially carved from St. Thomas Church property, operated for 50 years at the site and has some preexisting conditions that ride with the property, Jackson said.

Carr said that if the two houses of worship were not connected “there would be a different

South titles in 1995, 1996 and 1997 and a berth in the 1996 Shore Conference Tournament championship game in his first of two tours of duty at the school.

Nastase also aided North’s girls team, according to former North player Sandy Bisogno. The Mariners’ head coach was Ray Cervino, who died recently. The Mariners’ gymnasium was named in his honor after his death.

“Coach Nastase was so passionate about educating his players about the game,” she said. “Coach Nastase and coach Cervino worked so well together. They worked together to assemble North’s patented fast break offense, perception…there is a similar use there that is real.”

Jackson said if the church were to sell, the parking lease for the temple would go with the sale. If the parking lease ended for any other reason, the temple would have to come again before the board, he added.

During public comment, about a half dozen residents expressed concerns about an increase in traffic in the surrounding neighborhood.

Salmon Street resident Brian Scott said the neighborhood is full.

“We have Joe Canal’s, delivery trucks, a bank in our neighborhood, four ARC buildings, 18-wheelers and other cars cutting through to go to Aldi’s, and when the superdome opens…the solution is not to add more to our neighborhood,” he said.

St. Thomas Lutheran Church member Jean Rieker said the synagogue has already been in the area for two years since they’ve been operating out

Yankee. During my junior and senior years of high school, I would go to his house on Sundays. He would make pasta and we would spend hours watching old game films from when he coached in North Carolina.” of the church.

Another coaching legend, Ron Signorino suggested to then-Toms River High School athletics director Bob Hawthorne that Nastase be hired as the school’s boys coach. He guided the Indians and served as an assistant coach under Signorino.

“There is no greater boys basketball coach than Bob Nastase,” Signorino said.

“There will be no change in traffic from (the synagogue),” she said. “The traffic has been impacted by other sources.”

During his closing statement, Jackson told the Board that they are dealing with an organization that has been “a very important bedrock of our community for years. It’s very important that they have their place of worship.”

As conditions of approval, Temple Beth Or agreed that there would be no school operating on the property; there would be no outsourcing of the social area of the temple and would only be available to members of the congregation; they would make landscaping and lighting improvements; and they would install sidewalks.

The application was approved with Board member Eileen Della Volle casting the only dissenting vote.

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Marsh

: Continued From Page 1 project aids to reduce the effects of climate change.

“New Jersey will avoid the worst effects of our changing climate not only by reducing emissions of climate pollutants, but by investing in natural solutions that sequester carbon causing the extreme heat and flooding repeatedly striking our communities,” DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said.

“With over $24 million of investments in urban and community forestry, marsh restoration, and living shorelines, we will beautify neighborhoods and build greater climate resilience in the process,” LaTourette added.

Brick Township is slated to acquire $4,997,124 for the salt marsh restoration, specifically within Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge stretches throughout Ocean County down to parts of Atlantic City, with a good portion of it located in Brick Township.

According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife

Service, the Refuge protects more than 48,000 acres of southern New Jersey coastal habitats. More than 82% of Forsythe refuge is wetlands, of which 78% is salt marsh, interspersed with shallow coves and bays. Additionally, its location is one of the Atlantic Flyway’s most active flight paths, making it essential to seasonal bird migration.

A majority of Brick’s marshland is located off of Mantoloking Road by the intersection of Adamston Road, carrying on for miles to the bayfront.

The DEP states that the project will place more than 120,000 cubic yards of suitable dredged sediment into a series of 13 cells to increase tidal salt marsh elevation, protecting the marsh from drowning. About 95 acres of marsh will be protected from the sediment placement.

“Added protective measures will be used to contain placed sediment and strengthen shorelines. The elevated marsh will be planted in areas that did not previously contain vegetation to ensure recolonization of vegetation occurs to ultimately restore the health of the marsh,” officials said.

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