The BERKELEY Times Vol. 28 - No. 25
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Food, Supply Drive Fills Truck Samaritans Answer The Call
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Government Page 8
Community News Pages 9-13
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 16
Inside The Law Page 19
─Photo by Chris Lundy Robyn Griffith of Beachwood brought a U-Haul with donations that had been filling up her house. By Chris Lundy TOMS R I V ER – Lots and lots of groceries were bought on the weekend before Thanksgiving but they didn’t all make it home.
If they were purchased at the ShopR ite on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River, some of it wound up in a huge Pepsi truck parked outside. It was part of the
WJRZ Share The Joy collection of food, toys and supplies for Fulfill, formerly the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean counties, as well as Big Brothers Big
Sisters and the Jersey Shore Animal Center. They set up a portable stage and broadcast from that location for two days. Donations
December 3, 2022
Should Access To Records Come With A Cost? By Chris Lundy BERKELEY – The Tow n s h i p C o u n c i l once again asked for a change in the state law that allows people to have township officials retrieve public documents for them. The Open Public Records Act allows people access to town information, but some say that it is being abused. Several members of the governing body and administration spoke recently about how they feel strongly that government should be transparent. However, there has been an unintended cost that is being passed on to the taxpayer. Councilman John Bacchione noted that as of October 24, public
record requests have c o s t t h e t ow n s h i p $79,876.50 during the course of 2022. “We have to answer (the requests),” he said. “It’s really something the state has to review. Berkeley Tow nsh ip doesn’t charge or profit. Why burden the taxpayers for questions they don’t even know they’re being asked?” Township Clerk Beverly Carle said that this not only costs finances for attorneys’ fees, but there is a time sink for the employees who could be doing other things. “We provide records electronically for free. If someone wants a copy of a birth certificate, they have to pay (Records - See Page 7)
Holiday Meals To Be Given, Thanks To Students
(Food - See Page 4)
Sheriff’s Officers Detail Border Crisis On Recent Assignment
─Photo by Stephanie Faughnan Ocean County Sheriff’s Officers Juan Mercado and Geoff Hyatt discussed what they learned during a training opportunity at the country’s southern border.
By Stephanie Faughnan TOMS RIVER – Two Ocean County Sheriff’s Department officers bringing a fugitive back to New Jersey participated in a unique training exercise on their way to Yuma, Arizona. “Knowing that one of the guys we were sending down speaks Span-
ish, I figured this was a chance to give them the experience of going to the border,” said Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy. “I called up some of my Sheriff’s friends down there, Sheriff (Mark) Daniels in Cochise County and Yuma County Sheriff (Leon) Wilmont who I am on the Board of
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Directors with on the National Sheriff’s Association.” Mastronardy said he felt both Sheriff’s officers Juan Mercado and Geoff Hyatt would benefit from training related to what’s happening at the border. After flying into Phoenix on a Wednesday, (Officers - See Page 5)
- Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn 3,000 of these meals will go out to those in need. By Judy Smestad-Nunn BRICK - Some 3,000 of the needy in Ocean and Monmouth Counties will have a Thanks-
giving meal with all the fixings due to the hard work of culinary arts students at the Brick center of Ocean County (Students - See Page 6)
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