Category: Independent Opinion

  • Guest Column Gerard P. Scharfenberger Obliteration of 123 pristine acres won’t benefit anyone

    Guest Column Gerard P. Scharfenberger Obliteration of 123 pristine acres won’t benefit anyone This is in response to local businessman Mario Schito Jr.’s letter in support of the proposed town center mall. Mr. Schito understandably views the project from an economic standpoint as a potential boon to his business. However, the short-term financial benefit to…

  • School funding formula must go, group says

    School funding formula must go, group says (Open letter to Gov. James E. McGreevey) Congratulations on your election to the office of governor. We are writing this letter on behalf of the Organization of Parent Taxpayers. Back in October, we sent you petitions regarding the plight of the middle class in regard to the inequities…

  • Obituaries

    Greater Media Newspapers prints obituaries as a free community service, at no charge to the families of the deceased or to the funeral homes that provide the information. ANGELINA LIM, 45, of Holmdel died April 2 at Bayshore Community Hospital, Holmdel. She was born in Quezon City, The Philippines. She was a homemaker. She is…

  • Make an informed decision

    Voters will have important decisions to make when they go to the polls next week. In Middletown and Holmdel there are large numbers of school board candidates to choose from. Although the fields are much smaller, Aberdeen and Hazlet voters also have choices to make. Voters in all of our local towns will also have…

  • Superintendent makes plea to support Middletown school budget

    On April 16 voters in the vast majority of New Jersey communities will determine the fate of local and regional school district budgets. Approval of school budgets is usually granted in most communities (sometimes as high as 80 percent), although this year’s freeze on state school aid may negatively impact budget approvals. Even so, voters…

  • Guest Column Raymond C. Cosgrove Foundation explains its support of Hook proposal

    Guest Column Raymond C. Cosgrove Foundation explains its support of Hook proposal The Sandy Hook Foundation has closely followed and strongly supports the National Park Service (NPS) plan for rehabilitation and adaptive use of Fort Hancock through a public/private partnership. The Sandy Hook Foundation is a group of local residents that have formed a nonprofit…

  • Passage of school budget will stop shortchanging of students

    Middletown has gone through a particularly horrific time, first with the tragedy of the trade center affecting so many of us personally and then with a devastating teachers’ strike. We have an opportunity on April 16 to try to heal some wounds by voting to support our children whom we have been shortchanging for too…

  • Become informed; vote for the children

    Become informed; vote for the children Over the years, I have watched with sadness and dismay as Middletown voters have failed to pass the school budget. I have heard repeatedly about mismanagement, fiscal irresponsibility, and the general incompetence of the school board. These hackneyed and hollow criticisms have provided the average taxpayer with a seemingly…

  • Focus on Holmdel mayor, not committee members

    The outrageous indignation expressed in the recent letter by Emily Uglesich (Independent, March 27) is a prime example of "spin." Attention is refocused away from Mayor Art Davey and his arrest, and the villains have become amazingly some of the other members of the Holmdel Township Committee — Serena DiMaso and Terence Wall — people…