Jersey Shore Shell Art Travels Worldwide

By Alyssa Riccardi JERSEY SHORE –

What started out as a part-time hobby collecting shells at the beach has grown into a worldwide phenomenon of colorful, decorated shells.

“I’ve always liked to do beach walks and pick up anything in - teresting on the beach. At one point I had so many shells my husband asked me what I was going to do with all of them,” Carrissa Caramico Chapkowski said. “I decided to paint them and give them away. It definitely gave me an excuse to do more beach walks.”

Carrissa started painting shells four years ago and decided to share her ideas by creating a Facebook page called “Jersey Shore Shells.”

Carrissa said she first had the idea after coming across a similar group in Florida.

“I vacation in Florida once a year and I thought it would be nice to paint shells not just one week out of the year, but for the entire year. I thought ‘I can do that too,’” she said. “I had talked to the people who had created a similar Facebook page from Florida and I asked if I could copy some of their ideas they were doing and they were totally ok with it. After speaking with them, I decided to go forward and make the Facebook page.”

Carrissa has lived in the Ocean County area for most of her life, however when she recently moved to South

(Shells - See Page 7)

Eagle Scout:

Continued From Page 1 also noticed that two walkways on the Steve Kitay trail were old and needed replacing.”

Baliatico approached the Jackson Pathfinders with his Eagle Scout proposal and his plan was approved on the spot.

McCall said, “I was impressed with Bobby’s proposal the second I saw it. Bobby knew what he wanted to do. He came well prepared and made an excellent presentation. His proposal even had renderings of the bridge and walkways he was proposing.”

Oridinance:

Continued From Page 1 ordinance was that they simply adopted existing standards and, in their case, it was the 2018 international property maintenance code,” the mayor added.

Mayor Bowen said in contrast to what the township’s ordinance stated the Mount Laurel ordinance “simply said why don’t we just use an existing standard that we can all agree on? And a third thing I noticed and Committeeman Grilletto mentioned it that their inspections authorized their construction official or designee and officials from the county board of health so I think there might be a better way to do this.”

“I think we might be able to get to where we want to go in a more manageable way. Both versions of the ordinance we looked

“I knew immediately that the Pathfinders would benefit greatly from his proposal,” McCall added. Over the course of several hours, Baliatico, his father Vince and mom Danielle as well as his sisters Diana and Sophia, and a handful of others removed the old crossings and installed the new versions.

McCall noted that this was no small feat as the bridge itself is over 10 feet in length and weighs several hundred pounds.

“The engineering behind both the construction of the bridge and the transportation of the bridge to the site location was at - the one we had started with and the one we voted to approve for second reading - doesn’t include a mechanism for a certificate of continued occupancy,” the mayor added.

He noted the Mount Laurel ordinance did include such a mechanism to activate this.

“Ours says you should get one but it doesn’t really say how or when.”

Deputy Mayor Marinari said he had also spoken to some property owners as well.

“There are a lot of questions out there as to what we are doing and trying to do and my response is that we are trying to improve the overall operation of all businesses but at this point I would like to table this and look at it with more depth.”

Township Attorney Jean Cipriani said that were the ordinance tabled without a new date it would die. “It certainly seems like we my biggest hurdle,” the scout remarked. “My dad and I tossed around several different ideas about how to get the bridge the half mile it needed to go to the site.”

“In the end, we settled on several braces and large tires. The trail has several bridges, boardwalks and trees to crossover. My wheel design, and some manpower provided by my team, allowed us to navigate those obstacles with relative ease,” he added.

“Visitors to both the Silver Stream and Steve Kitay trails will now have a safer means to cross the Metedeconk River thanks to Bobby and on behalf of the Jack- could put together something more workable as it doesn’t seem that the Committee is ready to go forward with this ordinance in this form. We can look another look at it in a more simplified version.”

Grilletto wanted to put a date on it. “We can table it for a month or two months but make a decision on it. I would have to look into it. This came up from the Construction Department and I also have a problem with the application where they go to construction status, mercantile application, I think it is a misnomer.”

“It is a coding and compliance form (not a mercantile application) and that is what it should be called. To me it is a misnomer and I am always leery of too much government.”

Marinari suggested that it be revisited during the Committee’s November meeting. “We would be able to move it then.” son Pathfinders. We are beyond grateful to this Scout for his vision, commitment to help, and expert craftsmanship. Our trails are even better now, thanks to him,” McCall said.

McCall added, “we just created a new addition to our existing Purple Heart Trail earlier this month. We are currently awaiting location signs for the trail. Once those have been designed and are put on the trail, I will send you an update. We are really excited about this new addition.”. To learn more about the Jackson Pathfinders, and the trails in Jackson Township, visit jacksonpathfinders.org

“If we table it until the November meeting it would die at that meeting and a revised version would be introduced,” Cipriani said.

“I am all for simplicity. I am all for the Mount Laurel one,” Committeeman Hammerstone said. “We’ll have to change it a little bit.”

Cipriani pointed out that the 2018 international property maintenance code “was an extremely detailed document, so once you review it you can say ‘not this section’.”

“So customize it,” the mayor interjected.

“Exactly,” the attorney responded. “It needs to be customized. If you adopt it wholesale, you’ll adopt a bunch of things that don’t apply and some you don’t want.”

The Committee voted in favor of tabling the ordinance until their November 2 meeting. Committeeman Cuozzo had left the meeting prior to the ordinance vote.