Category: Independent News

  • Local pioneer reflects on her 80-year journey

    Well-traveled Anne Smith was first single woman in N.J. to adopt a child BY LINDA DeNICOLA Staff Writer BY LINDA DeNICOLAStaff Writer Anne Smith (l) talks with friends Maggie Snyder and Elsie Schmidt. Service, travel, close friendships and family characterize the life of Middletown resident Anne Smith, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday. Her life…

  • The key to a teen’s heart is a $5 bill

    Although my children have been known to make me crazy, I kind of like having them around. Suffice it to say, I’d never stoop to a level where I’d offer them cash compensation to leave the house. I’m like a referee at a boxing match — they give me a purpose. Yet every time my…

  • Water main break closes Lloyd Rd. School

    BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG Staff Writer BY MICHELLE ROSENBERGStaff Writer ABERDEEN — A water main break in the early-morning hours Thursday left roughly 25 homes without water and forced the Lloyd Road School to close for the day. New Jersey American Water crews began working around 5 a.m. and were able to restore service by mid-morning,…

  • Villager asks, ‘Will you be their grandmother?’

    Charity founded by marketing guru aims to help Ugandan children BY GLORIA STRAVELLI Staff Writer BY GLORIA STRAVELLIStaff Writer Sylvia’s Children Inc. seeks to raise funds to help house and educate children from the village of Masaka, many of whom are orphans who have lost their parents to AIDS. Into her 25th year as a…

  • Lawsuit seeks to force NPS to cancel fort lease

    Save Sandy Hook charges terms altered to favor developer BY GLORIA STRAVELLI Staff Writer BY GLORIA STRAVELLIStaff Writer A grassroots group has taken its fight to preserve Sandy Hook as a natural refuge for all citizens to the federal courts. In a suit filed earlier this month, Save Sandy Hook (SSH) is seeking to stop…

  • Save Sandy Hook re-elects officers, board

    Save Sandy Hook, the organization opposing private/commercial development on Fort Hancock, recently held its second annual meeting and re-elected a slate of officers and trustees. Judith Stanley Coleman, of Middletown, was re-elected chairwoman and Ben Forest, of Red Bank, was re-elected vice chairman James M. Coleman Jr., of Middletown, was re-elected as recording secretary and…

  • Aberdeen couple begins court battle

    Residents challenge state laws on gay marriage BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG Staff Writer BY MICHELLE ROSENBERGStaff Writer CHRIS KELLY staff Karen (l) and Marcye (r) Nicholson-McFadden sit with their children, Maya, 22 months, and Kasey, 5, at their family table. The couple is one of seven in New Jersey fighting to have same-sex marriages legalized in…

  • Roses are edible, violets are, too, at store

    Incredibly Edible Delites arranges and delivers bouquets of fruit flowers BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG Staff Writer BY MICHELLE ROSENBERGStaff Writer FARRAH MAFFAI staff Co-owner Josephine Pianoforte arranges the Floral Fruit Bouquet at Incredibly Edible Delites in Matawan. MATAWAN — Sisters-in-law Josephine and Carmela Pianoforte’s new store puts a tasty twist on sending a bouquet of flowers.…

  • 3 towns ordered to revalue properties

    Aberdeen, Holmdel and Middletown must undergo process BY MARK ROSMAN Staff Writer BY MARK ROSMANStaff Writer Municipal officials in Aberdeen, Holmdel and Middletown have been ordered by the Monmouth County Board of Taxation to conduct complete revaluations of their communities. County Tax Administrator Matthew S. Clark said the tax board issued its order on Dec.…