Category: Independent News

  • Surplus chopped in ’03 municipal budget

    Keyport municipalsurplus fund reduced by $850,000 By maura dowginStaff Writer Keyport municipal surplus fund reduced by $850,000 By maura dowgin Staff Writer The Keyport Borough Council is using about 94 percent of its budget surplus to pad its $6.4 million 2003 budget. Residents will shell out an additional 3.2 cents on the municipal tax rate…

  • Deciding the fate of a double-digit tax hike

    By josh davidsonStaff Writer Deciding the fate of a double-digit tax hike By josh davidson Staff Writer MATAWAN — While the Board of Education election is uncontested, voters from Matawan and Aberdeen will determine whether there will be a school tax hike of over 20 cents April 15. Matawan and Aberdeen school officials are hoping…

  • Six candidates seek 3 seats on Board of Ed

    By elaine van develdeStaff Writer Six candidates seek 3 seats on Board of Ed By elaine van develde Staff Writer HAZLET — The stakes in the April 15 Board of Education election polls are a $38 million budget and three seats on the board. The public will hit the polls throughout the township to decide…

  • Habitat for Humanity to build duplex in Middletown

    By elaine van develdeStaff Writer By elaine van develde Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — Home sweet affordable home is a phrase two area families will soon be saying as the township makes strides to meet its affordable housing quota. It’s all because Habitat for Humanity International has come to the township. The group "is a nonprofit,…

  • Crowd comes out in support of condominiums in Keyport

    By maura dowginStaff Writer By maura dowgin Staff Writer KEYPORT— A standing-room-only crowd came out in support of a new Borough Council ordinance allowing a condominium complex to be built near the downtown area. The March 27 meeting was held by the borough’s Unified Planning Board to get public input on the council’s ordinance. Residents…

  • Vietnam vet ‘Devil Doc’ tells his wartime story

    By maura dowginStaff Writer By maura dowgin Staff Writer VERONICA YANKOWSKI Sibley Smith introduces speaker Albert Naar, a Vietnam veteran, at the Vietnam Era Educational Center on March 29. HOLMDEL — During this time of war against Iraq, a U.S. military veteran spoke at the Vietnam Era Educational Center about his experiences in a past…

  • Belford man pleads guilty in phony distress call case

    By elaine van develdeStaff Writer By elaine van develde Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — A Belford man has pleaded guilty to placing phony distress calls to the Coast Guard over the summer, but his sentence has not yet been set. George Kenneth Hauber, 36, of Broadway in the Belford section, entered a guilty plea and admitted…

  • Attempted home invasion in Middletown’s Oak Hill

    By elaine van develdeStaff Writer By elaine van develde Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — Police are looking for a man responsible for committing a deliberate, targeted aggravated assault and attempted home invasion at a residence in the Oak Hill section. The motive is not yet clear, but the circumstances surrounding an otherwise random crime are unique,…

  • Half-pipe trial date set

    By josh davidsonStaff Writer By josh davidson Staff Writer MATAWAN — A series of complaints by the borough’s zoning officer against a Matawan resident filed almost a year ago may finally be resolved. In April 2002, Jeremiah Hourihan, of 239 Jackson St., filed a series of complaints against Robert Anfuso, 258 Main St., for building…