Category: Independent News

  • Fire Explorers offers pathway to future fire dept. members

    For the first time in its history, the Middletown Township Fire Academy’s Fire Explorer program has a class of mostly young women eager to advance in the ranks and move forward into the fire department proper. The current class of Middletown Fire Explorers: 3rd Lt. Andrew VanWagner, 2nd Lt. Robert Swensen, 1st Lt. Ashley Bracken,…

  • Littletown Day at Oak Hill Academy,

    Cleo Grigmard works as a transportation center employee on March 10 for Littletown Day at Oak Hill Academy, when the Middletown school was transformed into a small German village with authentic music, dance and cuisine. More photos, page 25 and at gmnews.com. ERIC SUCAR staff

  • NOTESAround Town

    The Matawan Regional High School Alumni Foundation will host a banquet March 19 at the Battleground Country Club, Manalapan, to honor the conference champion football teams of 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1989, and the state champion teams of 1988 and 2009. Also honored will be Dan Vanderbilt ’56. Tickets are $45 for adults and…

  • Commission aims to cut red tape

    Municipal officials appear before Red Tape Review Commission BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer Civil service regulations and interlocal agreements were some of the concerns voiced during the second of three public hearings about simplifying state government at Brookdale Community College in the Lincroft section of Middletown on March 9. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (l-r) and…

  • Fare hikes, service cuts in store for area commuters

    NJ Transit proposes 25 percent rise in fares BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer Commuters across eastern Monmouth County may be in for higher fares and decreased service on local rail and bus lines that could take effect as soon as May 1. Matawan-Aberdeen train station Faced with a $300 million budget deficit, NJ Transit has…

  • Quest for truth continues 147 years after Slocum murder

    Historical presentation revisits murder and trial BY PATRICIA YOCZIS On the night of July 14, 1863, in the town of Mechanicsville (now West Long Branch) Abigail Bob D. Waitt (l-r), Robert G. Waitt, Joann Slocum Mazzucca and Arthur T. Green II pose for a portrait following a presentation on the murder of Abigail Slocum in…

  • Adult, youth exhibits at Middletown Arts Center

    The creativity of Middletown Township’s residents will be on view in two art shows at the Middletown Arts Center at 36 Church St. The Middletown Adult Professional Art Show will be held April 3-18. Entries will be accepted Monday, March 29, and Tuesday, March 30, from 3 to 8 p.m. The show is open to…

  • Wind, rain, cause damage in Aberdeen

    BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer Portions of Route 35 south near Cliffwood Avenue in Aberdeen Township were blocked off on Saturday and Sunday due to minor flooding as a result of the coastal storm. JACQUELINE HLAVENKA ABERDEEN— Minor flooding, beach erosion and water treatment problems were effects of the weekend rain and windstorm that hit…

  • Massive $10M pot bust spans three counties

    Police: Marijuana was being grown in Monroe, Old Bridge, Manalapan, Middletown BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer Call it a different take on “Jersey Fresh.” Authorities are crediting a Monroe Township police officer with sniffing out what turned out to be the locus of an alleged $10 million indoor marijuanagrowing operation, the largest in the…