The HOWELL Times
Vol. 22 - No. 13
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Purple Flags Recognize Overdose Deaths In Howell
jerseyshoreonline.com
Community News Pages 8-11
Page 15
Inside The Law Page 17
Classifieds Page 18
Photo courtesy Howell Alliance The Police Department assists the Howell Alliance each year with assembling the display at town hall. By Alyssa Riccardi HOWELL – Outside of Howell Township’s town hall, a group of purple flags have decorated the lawn to remember those who lost their life due to a drug overdose. International Overdose Awareness Day is observed globally on August 31 each year. Each purple flag planted on the lawn represents a loved one who are no longer with us due to overdose. “The commemoration aims to end overdose deaths, remember without stigma those who have died from overdoses, acknowledge the grief of
surviving family and friends, and inspire action and discussion about evidence-based overdose prevention strategies and drug policies,” the Howell Alliance states. The Howell Alliance has once again collaborated with the Prevention Coalition of Monmouth County to display their annual purple flags memorial. For the past five years, the Coalition has been running the campaign which continues to grow. The Overdose Awareness Campaign, held by the (Purple Flags - See Page 4)
Veteran Housing Coming To Jersey Shore By Chris Lundy and Stephanie Faughnan JERSEY SHORE – Two new construction projects are being built that will provide housing for at-risk veterans. A “Veterans Village” made up of 124 homes is planned to be built on Route 9 in Berkeley. It would contain 99 apartments and 24 one-story
Child Nicotine And Vaping Law Marks Milestone By Liz Ciocher HOWELL - It has been over a year since Howell Township passed an ordinance to prevent both illegal nicotine product sales and all nicotine sales to the youth of Howell Township. What originally started as an idea from concerned parents and township officials has grown into a powerful ordinance that is actively making changes to common retailers within Howell’s town lines.
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houses. There would also be 24/7 onsite support services. The developer is Tunnel To Towers Foundation, a nonprofit that supports veterans and their families. “This is the fi rst of its kind in the state of New Jersey,” Berkeley Mayor John Bacchione told The Howell Times.
However, the organization has built similar neighborhoods in other states, said Gavin Naples, vice president of Tunnel To Towers’ Homeless Vetera ns Program. Many of the housing projects are in large cities, but Berkeley is thoroughly suburban. Naples said that Bay-
ville came to their attention because of the new Veterans Administration hospital being built in Toms River. They knew they wanted to be close to that, and saw the numbers of veterans in Ocean County, so they sought land nearby. The organization acquired the proper ty
from developer Cardinale Enterprises. The land was originally zoned for highway business but was recently approved to be changed to residential by Berkeley’s Zoning Board. The neighborhood will only be open to veterans, Naples said. T he re w i l l also b e (Veteran - See Page 5)
Changing Rules According to Christa Riddle, the Howell Township Municipal Alliance coordinator, the talk of this new ordinance came in 2021 from the idea of suspending the existing ordinance that was enacted in 1974. There had been many updates and changes in the world of nicotine and tobacco use since this time, which inspired Riddle and others to provide a similar update to Howell’s laws. Ideas were discussed and shared until they eventually grew to expand further than the alliance. Eventually, the Howell Police Department and department of code enforcement joined in moving forward with the ordinance. “Our ideas started as a round table three years ago, and slowly and carefully took life through an immense amount of cross department expertise, collaboration, discussion, cross checks and revisions to get to where we are today,” Riddle said. “Every detail included in the ordinance was given serious consideration across multiple professional perspectives.” The ordinance includes summonses for the following violations: 1. Selling, distributing, or providing any tobacco, nicotine or synthetic nicotine product to a person under 21 2. Selling any form of an electronic smoking device product that indicates a characterizing flavor, regardless of the buyer’s age and regardless if the product contains nicotine or other substances (This is against the law in all parts of New Jersey) 3. Failing to maintain an electronic smoking device retailer and/or manufacturer license (Milestone - See Page 7)
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