Category: Independent News

  • Lunch Break looks to ‘spark a movement’

    Significant contributions create new ways to connect to community BY KRISTEN DALTON Staff Writer Lunch Break Pantry Supervisor Peg Rizzo (center) helps Howard Leipzig, of Dogs on the Farm, unload pet food donated to the Red Bank soup kitchen and food pantry through a drive sponsored by the Middletown doggie day care facility. PHOTOS BY…

  • Brightbill lauded for service to community

    Deputy mayor ends tenure on Twp. Committee BYMIKE DAVIS Staff Writer Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill (background) watches students weigh produce grown in the Tonya Keller Community Center community garden this summer. MIDDLETOWN — Six years after she was the new committeewoman, Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill presided over her final meeting of the Township Committee on…

  • Pt. Monmouth beach replenishment funded

    Pallone secures $2.94M in federal budget; project to begin in September BYMIKE DAVIS Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — With the aftermath of Hurricane Irene still evident along the coastline, Port Monmouth residents can expect some preventive relief in the future. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th District) announced on Dec. 15 that funding for beach replenishment in Port…

  • Photo

    The Manhattan Dolls sing Christmas songs In the style of the Andrew sisters, while Sophia Allocca, of New York, relaxes on a chair and Sean Clark, of Middletown, stands mesmerized, during a 1940s Holiday Celebration at History House at Fort Hancock in Sandy Hook on Dec. 18. SCOTT FRIEDMAN

  • Protest blocks Holmdel’s plan for Lucent site

    Alcatel-Lucent: Plan is dysfunctional; Bell Labs bldg. is an artifact BYMIKE DAVIS Staff Writer Just a few hours before the Holmdel Township Committee was scheduled to vote on the adoption of a redevelopment plan for the 472-acre Alcatel-Lucent property, the technology giant put the township on notice via a legal protest. “There is no urgency…

  • Help-Portrait: What a photo is worth

    Local photographers pool resources for Asbury Park portrait shoot BY KRISTEN DALTON Staff Writer Thirty-six photographers and 34 volunteers offered their time, talent and equipment for the annual Help-Portrait event held in Asbury Park on Dec. 10 when 750 people in 256 portrait sittings had their photographs taken. PHOTOS BY KRISTEN DALTON Not even a…

  • Hazlet park to get new trails

    Open space grant will blaze trails at Natco Lake Park BYMIKE DAVIS Staff Writer HAZLET — Township officials are expecting to begin turning Natco Lake into a fully functioning park within the next year. The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders awarded the township a $200,000 Open Space Grant on Dec. 9, which the township…

  • With voices raised

    Students from the Matawan High School Vocal Ensemble sing holiday favorites at the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan on Dec. 18. SCOTT FRIEDMAN

  • Residents concerned about autonomy of library board

    Twp. Committee votes to add two trustees to Mid’town Public Library BYMIKE DAVIS Staff Writer Members of the public expressed their hope that the past doesn’t have a future at the Middletown Township Public Library (MTPL). At its Dec. 19 meeting, the Middletown Township Committee unanimously voted to add two new trustees to the library…