Category: Independent News

  • Sewerage authority issue tabled until 2004

    BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDEStaff Writer BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE Staff Writer HAZLET — They’re starting all over again. The Township Committee scrapped disbanding the Hazlet Township Sewerage Authority this year after nearly half a year of grappling with the issue of dissolving the independently run authority. The committee unanimously voted at its Dec. 16 meeting…

  • Water and sewer rate increase introduced

    BY VINCE ECHAVARIAStaff Writer BY VINCE ECHAVARIA Staff Writer KEYPORT— Mayor John Merla broke a deadlocked 3-to-3 Borough Council vote to introduce an ordinance that will raise the municipal water and sewer rates 25 percent. Councilmen Gerard Green, Brian Stalter and John Doyle all voted for the measure at the Dec. 16 council meeting, while…

  • Alleged sex offender does not appeal firing

    BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDEStaff Writer BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE Staff Writer HAZLET — After being arrested and charged with sexual assault and fired from his job as band director at Hazlet Township’s Raritan High School, Gregory Stauffer has not appealed the district’s decision to terminate him. "There have been no hints of an appeal," Superintendent…

  • Town center lawsuits being heard separately

    BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDEStaff Writer BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — On the heels of a state Superior Court judge’s order for no action to be taken surrounding the proposed town center until its myriad lawsuits are settled, one of five unsettled court complaints was heard on Dec. 15 with no decision rendered.…

  • Road department installs new drainage grates

    The Monmouth County Road Department recently completed a project to replace drainage grates to make county roads safer for bicyclists. The department replaced grates along Route 520 (Newman Springs Road) in Holmdel, Middletown and Tinton Falls. The older grates used on storm drainage inlets were made of castings with widely spaced bars running parallel to…

  • Multiple charges lodged against driver, 18, in fatality

    BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDEStaff Writer BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — The driver of the car involved in a deadly accident last month has been charged with driving while intoxicated and other motor vehicle infractions. Township resident Joseph Baccellieri, 18, was charged Dec. 16 with driving while intoxicated, operation of a motor vehicle…

  • Public comment policy rejected by board

    BOE meeting rules for public to be reviewed BY JOSH DAVIDSONStaff Writer BY JOSH DAVIDSON Staff Writer An attempt to impose new rules of order for the public during Middletown Board of Education meetings was shot down by the board. Board President Robert W. Bucco Jr. introduced a measure at the Dec. 17 board meeting…

  • $11.9M Valentin estate goes up for auction

    BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDEStaff Writer BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE Staff Writer FARRAH MAFFAI staff The luxurious Middletown estate of baseball celebrity John Valentin sits vacant on Navesink River Road. It will go up for auction in February. MIDDLETOWN — The old adage "Build it and they will come" does not apply to the grandiose Navesink…

  • Photo

    CHRIS KELLY staff The sixth annual “Holiday Light Spectacular” is an amusing display for drivers at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.