Category: Independent News

  • Holmdel may bolster pay-to-play ordinance

    BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer BY TOM CAIAZZAStaff Writer HOLMDEL — The Township Committee is considering steps to further limit the amount of campaign contributions professionals seeking municipal appointments can make. Committeeman Larry Fink sparked the discussion at Thursday’s committee meeting and recommended that the threshold of contributions to candidates in the town be reduced…

  • County grants funding for parks, open space

    Middletown, Keyport projects selected for financial support BY FRAIDY REISS Correspondent BY FRAIDY REISSCorrespondent What do a fitness trail in Colts Neck, two soccer fields in Marlboro, and the last farmland in Eatontown have in common? They were among 13 projects approved this month for grants from the 2005 Monmouth County Open Space Trust Fund.…

  • Retired stock broker now invests in helping others

    Holmdel man helps run programs that provide food and shelter to needy BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer BY CLARE MARIE CELANOStaff Writer MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Stan Rosenthal, of Holmdel, helps set up the Open Door hot lunch program at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Freehold. The volunteer donates a great deal of time to the…

  • Band in hand

    SCOTT PILLING staff Kaeleigh Spreen holds onto Tom Wilkens’ bronze medal from the 2000 Summer Olympics. Wilkens spoke to students at the school as part of Math Olympics Day on Friday.

  • Howell mayor makes bid for freeholder’s position

    Former Aberdeen councilman exits race, offers endorsement BY FRAIDY REISS Correspondent BY FRAIDY REISSCorrespondent HOWELL – Tax relief, ethics reform and preservation of open space are the three reasons Mayor Joseph M. DiBella believes he is qualified to hold county-wide office. “Those have really been the three pillars of what I’ve worked hard to accomplish…

  • Attorney denies any wrongdoing by Witmer

    BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer BY DAN NEWMANStaff Writer MIDDLETOWN — After a few days shrouded in mystery, the reasoning behind Schools Superintendent Dr. David L. Witmer’s suspension has become known. On Jan. 31, Witmer was suspended 120 days by the district without pay and benefits. According to the charges filed with the state Department…

  • Former county officials plead guilty to extortion

    BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer BY DAN NEWMANStaff Writer NEWARK — Former Monmouth County officials Richard Iadanza and Joseph McCurnin pleaded guilty to extortion charges last week stemming from their Feb. 22 arrests as part of Operation Bid Rig. Iadanza, 50, a former deputy mayor and police commissioner in Neptune and superintendent of the Monmouth…

  • Holmdel man indicted for wife’s murder

    BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer BY TOM CAIAZZAStaff Writer FREEHOLD — A grand jury handed down an indictment of murder in the first degree against a Holmdel man on Feb. 6, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. George Calleia, 43, of Tranquility Drive, has spent more than three months in the Monmouth County Correctional…

  • Ex-mayor’s board picks will not be recognized

    Committee opts to leave twp. clerk BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer BY TOM CAIAZZAStaff Writer HOLMDEL — The Township Committee defeated a resolution introduced by former Mayor Larry Fink on Feb. 2, instructing the township clerk to recognize appointments he made to the Holmdel Planning Board in January 2005. Doing so would require Maureen Doloughty,…