The Oceanport Borough Council accepted a letter of retirement from Patricia L. Varca, borough clerk, at the Oct. 7 council meeting. Varca will retire April 1 after 30 years of service to the borough.
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The Exchange Club of Long Branch is scheduled to hold its annual Halloween Mardi Gras Festival and Costume Contest in conjunction with West End Village on Oct. 31, starting at noon at West End Park on the corner of West End and Brighton avenues.
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Family and Children’s Services at 191 Bath Ave. in Long Branch will host an open house Oct. 20 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. For more information, call (732) 222-9111.
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The Congregation Brothers of Israel will hold its annual rummage sale on Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 250 Park Ave., Elberon section of Long Branch. The sale will include clothing, furniture, books and jewelry; prices will be cut in half after 4 p.m.
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The Jersey Shore Running Club will hold its 11th annual Trick or Trot 4-mile race and fitness walk on Oct. 24 at Seven Presidents Park on Ocean Boulevard in Long Branch.
Registration starts at 9:30 a.m., the kids’ walk will begin at 10:30 a.m. and the 4-mile race/walk begins at 11 a.m.
The entry fee is $18 for adults and $10 for children through Oct. 18, and $20 and $12 after that date.
For more information, call Ellen at (732) 918-2600, ext. 204.
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The Friends of the Library will host an author event at the Elberon Branch library on Lincoln Avenue on Nov. 13 from 2 to 4 p.m.
William B. Gould IV, author of “Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor,” is scheduled to speak. For more information call (732) 222-3900.
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The Long Branch Public Library on Broadway and the Elberon Branch library on Lincoln Avenue will be collecting nonperishable food items through Nov. 5.
All library fines on overdue library material will be dismissed in lieu of a donation.
For more information call (732) 222-3900.
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The Elberon Branch Library on Lincoln Avenue will serve as one of the sites for the Long Branch Arts Council’s first Poetry Festival on Oct. 16 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Registration is required. For more information, call (732) 229-3166, ext. 102.
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The Long Branch Public Library, on Broadway, as part of the Sight Night program sponsored by the Lions Club International and LensCrafters, will be collecting used eyeglasses, which will be cleaned, repaired and delivered to people in developing countries who cannot afford glasses. Prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and nonprescription sun-
glasses may be dropped off during October.
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The legislative bill A-3198, which would add $400,000 to the Ocean Township open space fund, was approved in the General Assembly on Oct. 7.
The bill appropriates $16,181,750 from the Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund to provide grants or loans to assist local governments in central New Jersey to acquire or develop lands for recreation and conservation purposes.
The bill will be considered in the New Jersey State Senate before final passage.
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The Long Branch Coalition of Condominium Associations held its first annual meeting on Oct. 4 at the Ocean Plaza Condominiums on Ocean Avenue.
The coalition, made up of 34 Long Branch associations, decided to focus on the following issues during the coming year: property tax formula for condominium owners, boardwalk revitalization, Ocean Boulevard traffic pattern change, and beach access at Avery Avenue.
George Patterson, a broker with the E&K Insurance agency, discussed the possibility of awarding dividends to associations insuring their properties with the agency.
The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Harbor Mansion; all Long Branch associations are welcome to join.
Months of hearings before the Zoning Board of Adjustment on Monmouth University’s application for approvals for a 196-bed dormitory and associated development appear to be drawing to a conclusion. At the board’s meeting on the project last week, James Siciliano, the lawyer for objectors Joseph and Pam Hughes, said he only had one more witness to present on their behalf, a planner, whose testimony should take about an hour. The board will again hear the application at its next regular meeting Oct. 28.
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The Northern Monmouth County Branch of the American Association of University Women will present “Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Monologue” featuring actress Michele LaRue on Monday, Nov. 1, the eve of this year’s elections on Nov. 2. The performance will take place at 8 p.m. at the Eatontown Community Center, 58 Broad St., Eatontown. The program is being offered through the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the N.J. Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Those fond of gourmet popcorn can pick some up through the Monmouth Beach Cub Scouts Pack 1 annual Gourmet Popcorn Fund-raiser. This is the one and only major fund-raiser for the pack, and 100 percent of the proceeds go toward the Cub Scout program in Monmouth Beach and Long Branch. The popcorn will be delivered just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The popcorn can be purchased directly from the Monmouth Beach Cub Scouts Pack 1 on Oct. 16 and 17 at the Church of the Precious Blood in Monmouth Beach after Mass, and on Oct. 23 and 30 at Ursula Plaza in Long Branch. To place an order by phone, call Ray Smith, Cub Master, at (732) 747-1000.

