Manalapan municipal officials and residents will gather at the corner of Nottingham and Blenheim roads in the Holiday Park development at 10 a.m. May 27 to honor Navy Seaman Kyle Mullen with a street dedication ceremony.
Nottingham Road will be dedicated in honor of Mullen, a native of Manalapan and a graduate of Manalapan High School who passed away earlier this year while he was training to become a Navy SEAL.
Municipal officials called Mullen “a true hero in every sense of the word” and thanked the Mullen family for allowing them to honor Mullen in this way.
All are welcome to attend the ceremony. Guests are asked to arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. The ceremony will begin promptly at 10 a.m. Questions may be directed to the Administration Office at 732-446-8308.
Englishtown Police Chief Peter S. Cooke Jr. is advising the community that officers from the Englishtown Police Department will join with police from around the country in cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national “Click it or Ticket” campaign.
The campaign began on May 23 and runs through June 5. The campaign uses high visibility seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols, in combination with local and national
publicity efforts, to reiterate the life-saving value of seat belts, according to a press release.
According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, in 2021 there were 701 people in the state killed in traffic crashes and 37% of the motor vehicle occupants who died in these crashes were not wearing a seat belt.
In New Jersey, a key focus of this year’s campaign is to promote seat belt usage by adults in all seating positions in the vehicle, both front and rear seats.
The front seat belt usage rate in New Jersey currently stands at 93.9%. However, adults riding in rear seats are buckling up at a significantly lower rate, only 48% according to the most recent surveys, Cooke reported in a press release.
The Manalapan Environmental Commission will hold a Native Plant Sale on June 4 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (rain or shine) at the Manalapan Recreation Center, 520 Route 522, under the Dreyer Pavilion and at the Eco Patio.
Mayor Susan Cohen said, “We are excited to offer this event in June when many residents are interested in improving their yards. Native plants provide many benefits to homeowners and the environment.”
Native plants are hardy and can withstand weather extremes because they evolved to live in this area. Native plants require less fertilizer, pesticides and watering, and are less susceptible to pests and disease, according to a press release.
Native plants are important to conservation because they promote a healthy ecosystem with biological diversity, according to the press release.
The plants that will be available for purchase have been grown locally by Steven Kristoph of Steven Kristoph Nursery. Credit cards will be accepted.
Kristoph, who is an adjunct instructor at the Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, will be at the sale to answer questions and to discuss plant selection.
The sale will feature milkweed plants that are needed by monarch butterflies to help rebuild habitat the butterflies have lost in recent years. Attendees will be able to view a demonstration butterfly garden.
“We are excited to be able to offer milkweed plants to the community again as they were so popular at our last native plant sale that we sold out of them,” said Jenine Tankoos,
chairwoman of the Manalapan Environmental Commission.
Master Gardeners will be on hand with an information booth to answer questions and assist shoppers. All are welcome to attend the plant sale.