Category: Independent News

  • Authors find N.J.’s story in its cemeteries

    Area man’s graveyard expertise to be featured on NJN’s ‘Hauntings’ BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer The Van Buskirk family vault, from 1854, is located in Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside. EAST BRUNSWICK – A cemetery can tell us more than just how people lived and died. Just what tombstones and burial grounds can tell us is what…

  • From the Vault

    Actor Herb Wolke dresses in full Abraham Lincoln garb to promote a local one-man presentation, “For the People.” The photo ran in August 1985.

  • Did the punishment fit Merla’s crime?

    Officials’ opinions vary on whether 22-month sentence was enough BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer John Merla is going to jail, but nobody seems happy about it. On Oct. 23, three years after his 2005 arrest, the former Keyport mayor was sentenced to 22 months in a federal penitentiary for accepting $23,000 in bribes from…

  • Cell tower may be built on h.s. grounds

    BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN – Students of Middletown High School South may be asking, “Can you hear me now?,” after the approval of a bid to construct a cell tower on school grounds. At the Oct. 23 Board of Education meeting, approval was given to New York SMSA Limited Partnership, representing Verizon Wireless,…

  • Ghost hunter’s work is of a ‘sensitive’ nature

    TV star shares stories of paranormal experiences with Brookdale audience BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer PHOTOS BY ANDREW MILLER staff Chris Fleming, ghost hunter and co-host of the show “Dead Famous,” speaks to a room full of students at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft Thursday. MIDDLETOWN – Chris Fleming has looked for ghosts in places…

  • Lucent, taxes among top issues in Holmdel race

    The top issues in the race for two Holmdel Township Committee seats this year are the future of Lucent, balancing the budget, and taxes, taxes, taxes. Democrats Janet Berk and Michael Sockol will try to break the GOP’s majority on the committee while Repu Karen E. Bowes The top issues in the race for two…

  • Mayor, two council seats up for grabs in Matawan

    BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer Two sitting members of the local government are battling it out for the mayor’s seat, and four more candidates are vying for two seats on the Matawan Borough Council. Mary Aufseeser Democratic Mayor Mary Aufseeser has served in the position since January 2006. An employee with the Matawan branch…

  • Group seeks mentors for children of 9/11 victims

    BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN MIDDLETOWN – Tuesday’s Children, a nonprofit that provides mentors to children who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, is looking for volunteers in the Middletown area. The group says there are currently a few families in the area who are looking to provide their children with a mentor…

  • Driver faces homicide charge for Aberdeen crash

    FREEHOLD – A grand jury returned an indictment Oct. 24 charging a Belford man with second-degree vehicular homicide for a crash in Aberdeen that killed a pedestrian. The fatal crash occurred at approximately 1:50 p.m. on March 11 near the intersection of Lloyd and Nutmeg roads. A collaborative investigation conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s…