The BERKELEY Times Vol. 30 - No. 30
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
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Students Get Items They Need From “Confidence Closet”
BREAKING NEWS @
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Government Page 7
Community News Pages 8-13
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 14
Inside The Law Page 12
(Clockwise from top left) Clothes of various sizes are available for students in the Confidence Closet. Guidance Counselor Anastasia Kakos explains how kids access the Confidence Closet. Personal care items are popular with kids.
Photos by Chris Lundy
By Chris Lundy BERKELEY – The term “Confidence Closet” has two meanings, really. Students can pick up free items that they need confidentially. Also, these items give them confidence through the day. The Confidence Closet recently opened at Berkeley Township Elementary School, stocked with clothes, coats, shoes, personal care items, snacks, and more. Guidance Counselor Anastasia Kakos explained that she always
had supplies in her office for any kid who needed something, whether it was a toothbrush or feminine hygiene products. The nurse’s office also had a stock of items that students could ask for privately. When a room next to her office became available, Kakos requested it to answer the need on a larger level. She won a grant from the Ocean County Youth Services Commission to stock it with more items and a larger variety. As the popularity of the program has cut
into the stock of items, she’s applying for a second grant to replenish and expand. The goal of the grant is to reduce absenteeism. If kids’ basic needs are met, they will come in more often and they will be able to dedicate their thinking to the lessons at hand rather than worrying about what they don’t have. The tr uth is that a signif icant number of kids come to school without basic necessities. Some are very good at hiding it, ashamed that they need things. When they step into the closet, they feel welcomed. Students are able to pick out clothes, shoes, (Confidence Closet - See Page 4)
January 18, 2025
Council Seeks State Reimbursement By Chris Lundy BERKELEY – At a recent meeting, the Township Council discussed the tax money that the state prevents being collected from disabled veterans. The mayor and council have continually supported veterans and veteran causes. They also support the law that makes it so that 100% disabled veterans don’t pay property taxes. What they don’t support is that the state doesn’t reimburse them for this. “The state has to step up,” Mayor John Bacchione said. Officials have long argued that the law, while good on the whole, shorts towns like Berkeley because there are large retirement developments full of veterans. In 2020, Berkeley quantified the amount of property taxes that they forgive because of this law. They had 279 properties that were exempt from taxation due to them being owned by a 100 percent disabled veteran that year. If you add the property values of all of these homes together, it amounts to $54,825,500. Multiplying this by the tax rate at the time, 2.167, it totaled $1,188,068.59. (Council - See Page 4)
EMS Delay: “When Are They Coming To Help Me?”
Photo courtesy John Ponticello Philip Ponticello died almost ten years ago – his brother blames a delay in emergency response time.
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By Stephanie Faughnan OCEAN COUNTY - Philip Ponticello’s final moments haunt his brother John to this day. On August 15, 2015, Philip clutched his chest, gray-faced, gasping for air. “His dying words were, ‘When are they coming to help me?’” John recalls the memory of his brother’s anguish still vivid nearly a decade later. Philip, 64, had never been seriously ill in his entire life, making his sudden distress all the more alarming. On that fateful morning, he stumbled into the living room of their Pine Ridge at Crestwood home in Whiting, clutching his
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chest like a man fighting for every breath. John acted quickly, administering nitroglycerin tablets of his own and calling 911. But the system failed them. The first 911 call was dropped. As he placed the second call, John barely got out a plea for help when the phone went dead again. It wasn’t until the third call that the voice on the other end promised to send someone. By the time the ambulance arrived - 38 excruciating minutes later - family members had already arrived from as far as Bayville, and Philip lay unresponsive. (EMS Delay - See Page 4)
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