The BERKELEY Times Vol. 29 - No. 7
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Battle Of The Zones Game Continues Summer Fun
Grant Will Help Pay For Park Walkway
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Letters Page 8
Community News Pages 6, 9-13
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 16
Inside The Law Page 20
Photo by Chris Lundy
Friendly rivals met up again for the Battle of the Zones. By Chris Lundy BEACHWOOD – The year is 2023. A quiet town has been ripped apart into factions battling a never-ending war for dominance. The field: Birch & Surf Park. The combatants: The residents of the borough of Beachwood. The stakes: bragging rights for a year. For the third year in a
row, a group of volunteers have organized a softball competition. There are four teams: Zone A, B, C, and D. This is how Beachwood’s Public Works breaks up the garbage and recycling collection days. On a Beachwood chat page in 2021, a resident bid everyone good night, but only to Zone
A, because that’s the only zone that matters. This being Jersey, that line did not go without people stepping up for their own zones. This escalated into a softball game to determine which zone ruled. Years later, and that comment is still the reason that people are coming together. The air was heavy
July 29, 2023
with humidity on the day of the tournament. Dogs were welcome to sit on the sidelines. Sometimes, designated runners would go through the bases if a hitter wasn’t able to. This year also had a Home Run Derby. When it came to the Battle of the Zones, the only shots fired were in (Game - See Page 5)
By Chris Lundy BERKELEY – The creation of a walkway around Veterans Park took another step forward now that the township has received a grant from the State Department of Community Affairs for $81,000. Earlier this year, township officials applied for $125,000. The award of $81,000 was recently reported. Mayor Carmen Amato said that the township had applied for the grant for a few years but won it this year. People walk along the roadways and that’s not as safe as if they had a designated trail. He estimated that 100,000 people or more visit the park every year. “We want to get people off the road,” he said. Part of the payment will come from the grant and some of it will be from the township’s bonding ordinance, where they borrow large sums of money to do various projects. Councilman Angelo Guadagno said he was happy to hear about this coming to fruition. A few years back, he and other officials walked the park to figure out where the path would go. He said he would also like to see it have solar-powered lighting. Councilman James Byrnes said that another town built a walkway that had sections donated to the military. He suggested that there could be areas dedicated to local police officers who have passed away. (Grant - See Page 5)
Behind Every Face Is A Story In Newly Discovered Homeless Camp
Photo by Stephanie Faughnan The many faces of the newly discovered homeless encampment.
By Stephanie Faughnan TOMS RIVER – A clandestine homeless encampment has managed to defy discovery since last October, catching local authorities completely off guard. The revelation came to light during a recent weekend summer sunset patrol by diligent members of the
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Ocean County Air Support Squadron (OASS). From the vantage point of their small aircraft, volunteers took a double take as they gazed down upon the landscape below. Amidst an area nestled near high tension wires, rows of tents and people moving about revealed a
hidden world that had successfully eluded scrutiny for eight months. Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy oversees OASS, which serves as the county law enforcement agency’s air wing. Utilizing their own aircraft, skilled pilots conduct surveillance over waterways,
roads, and wooded regions. Through the submission of photographs, any unusual discoveries are diligently documented. Mastronardy credited the sharp-eyed team with discovering the hidden encampment, which had been alluded to in a social media (Homeless - See Page 4)
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