The SOUTHERN OCEAN Times Vol. 11 - No. 11
In This Week’s Edition
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
Pinelands Staff Ditches Lecture Halls For Outdoor Fun
September 16, 2023
Barnegat Hiring Its First IT Director
BREAKING NEWS @
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Community News Pages 7-10
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 13
Inside The Law Page 14
Classifieds Pages 15
Photo courtesy Sarah O’Neill Archery was just one of the activities that Pinelands staff participated in. By Stephanie Faughnan MEDFORD – Pinelands Reg ion al School Dist r ict staff members can now say they know firsthand what it means to get excited about the Pinelands Experience. As district administrators geared up to welcome the new academic year, they opted
for a slightly unconventional approach to the staff ’s first day back to school without students. Educators and other professionals gathered on the campus, but this time, their destination wasn’t to enter meeting rooms. Instead, staff members boarded charter buses, embarking on a journey to Camp Ockanickon
in Medford, eagerly anticipating the day’s challenges and adventures ahead. The driving force behind this unique twist was the district’s superintendent, who fondly recalled her time as a Pinelands student. Dr. Melissa McCooley remembered the impact of a (Fun - See Page 4)
New Author Shares Funny Local Stories
By Judy Smestad-Nunn POINT PLEASANT BEACH - Over the years, friends and family of Eileen Flarity-Laterza have told her to write a book about some of her experiences growing up in a rooming house owned and operated
by her Irish parents a block from the beach in Point Pleasant Beach. She got started on the project three years ago and just released her book, “Stop Me If I Told You T h is One…” that is filled with eye-wateringly funny and poignant tales about some of the
rooming house residents and much more. “(The rooming house) was kind of unusual, and it was filled mostly with drunks and drug addicts, so there were some stories that came out of that,” she said recently from a coffee shop while being interviewed for this story.
Eileen, 64, recalled a story from when she was 10 years old and one of the permanent rooming house guests, an older Irish woman named Aunt Bea, came clattering into the common living room with a tray full of hot tea and cups just as the U.S. landed a spaceship on
the moon. “Would anyone care for tea?” Aunt Bea said as she stepped in front of the TV. “All we heard was ‘One small step for man…’ there were 10 or 15 of us waiting for over an hour and we missed the whole (Author - See Page 2)
Photo courtesy Joe Jennings Joe Jennings began working as Barnegat’s first IT director on August 31. By Stephanie Faughnan BARNEGAT ˗ At its most recent Township Committee meeting, local officials unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance to establish and hire the municipality’s inaugural Information Technology Director. Joe Jennings, who served as Toms River’s Information Technology Manager for nearly fifteen years, has already assumed the position proposed in the new ordinance. Jennings began his fulltime role with Barnegat on August 31, 2023, at a starting salary of $160,000. A proposed revision to the salary ordinance lists the position from $140,000 to $200,000. Jennings has opted out of the health benefits package available to municipal employees. Township Administrator Martin Lisella revealed that this decision translates into an approximate cost savings of $30,000 for the township. While the sequence of hiring an IT Director before enacting the ordinance and updating municipal salaries might appear unconventional, Lisella shed light on the process. The township administrator said he polled each of the committee members about the offer before it was extended and received preliminary approval. Until now, Barnegat has relied on shared IT (IT - See Page 2)
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