Category: Independent News

  • Open records advocate: Keyport moves too slow

    BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer BY KAREN E. BOWESStaff Writer “To my knowledge, the prosecutor is not taking any action at all against Keyport. It’s not a criminal violation.” – Robert Bergen Mayor KEYPORT – An open records advocate has filed a complaint with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, saying the borough takes too…

  • Winter doldrums?

    PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Middletown’s C.J. Shekian, 6, digs a hole at the Sea Bright beach on Saturday, when the temperature reached nearly 70 degrees. Middletown’s Jim Kane does a little surf fishing in Sea Bright on a day when the temperature reached about 70 degrees. Holmdel’s Erin, 5, and Ryan Gilfillan, 7, play…

  • Judge orders O’Grady to begin sentence Jan. 22

    Ray O’Grady NEWARK – Former Middletown Committeeman Raymond O’Grady lost his appeal on Friday and is now scheduled to begin his 43-month jail sentence Jan. 22. O’Grady was convicted in June on five corruption-related charges as part of the FBI’s Operation Bid Rig investigation. The one-time director of the Monmouth County Central Motor Pool was…

  • Twp. hires lobbyists to help with flood projects

    MIDDLETOWN – The Township Committee adopted a resolution Sunday approving a contract with a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm to help secure federal funding for stalled flood control projects in Port Monmouth and Leonardo. The design phase of the Port Monmouth control project is complete. In 2002, the township was told by the Army Corps of…

  • McMorrow begins term on county freeholders

    Retired educator is the first Democrat to hold seat in decades BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer BY DAN NEWMANStaff Writer PHOTO COURTESY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY Freeholder Barbara J. McMorrow swears the oath of office as her husband, Patrick, holds the Bible. The oath was administered by retired state Superior Court Judge John D’Amico Jr. Before…

  • From the Vault

    She may have been too young to talk, but 11-month-old Amy Applegate had something to say about her hometown pride. Applegate was the youngest person to appear in the Matawan Tricentennial parade on Sept. 21, 1986.

  • Bergen, DiNardo will perform civil unions

    Other Bayshore mayors say they BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer BY KAREN E. BOWESStaff Writer The mayors of at least two Bayshore towns plan to perform civil union ceremonies for homosexual couples. Mayors Robert Bergen of Keyport and James DiNardo of Hazlet will both be performing the civil ceremonies, they said, starting as early…

  • Photo

    SCOTT PILLING staff Bobby Ward, 3, examines his reflection in the distortion mirror at Thompson Park, Middletown.

  • The Independent’s top 10 stories of 2006

    Raymond O’Grady 1. O’Greedy One by one, the targets of the FBI’s Monmouth County corruption investigations cashed in their chips for lighter sentences this year, but Raymond O’Grady was the first to gamble on a trial. The former Middletown mayor and Monmouth County Central Motor Pool director’s June trial offered the public a fascinating, and…