The BRICK Times Vol. 25 - No. 13
In This Week’s Edition
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Government Page 7
Community News Page 8-11
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 14
Inside The Law Page 24
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Nonprofit Helps Wounded Warrior Build New Home By Bob Vosseller JERSEY SHORE – She was raised in Jackson, has lived for three decades in Point Pleasant and by the end of the year Army Major Dolly Harris will be moving into her fully customized home in Howell thanks to Homes For Our Troops (HFOT). “I never thought I’d be a candidate for this,” Harris said. She remarked that HFOT volunteers were like “a family that you can count on and they don’t forget you.” Harris said she loved her Point Pleasant home but that due to her disabilities it was becoming increasingly difficult to live there. Her current non-adapted home has narrow doorways creating daily challenges with moving from room to room. The new home in Howell has an accessible shower, open floor plan, and a kitchen with pulldown shelving. She enlisted in the New Jersey Army National Guard in 1988. “In 2005 I was exposed to environmental toxins,” she said. This happened during her combat deployment in Iraq when she was serving with the 42nd Division as a logistics officer. She was exposed to burn pits and damaged vehicles. “This resulted with mobility and balance issues and ultimately a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis,” she added. Since her diagnosis in 2006, her condition has significantly declined. She is unable to move her legs, and damage to her spinal cord continues to progressively limit mobility in her arms. Harris noted that she joined the military after graduating from college “and I would go to work and I would go home and then I’d be, now what? It
Photo by Bob Vosseller New Jersey Army National Guard Major Dolly Harris will soon be moving into her fully customized home thanks to Homes For Our Troops (HFOT). wasn’t fulfilling.” Then she met a friend who used to be in the Air Force who was “the first female veteran that I met. Then I was in the post office (Nonprofit - See Page 4)
Are There Rats In Town Hall? By Bob Vosseller BRICK – Usually when someone says there are rats in town hall it is meant as an insult aimed at those serving in public office but recently that question has come up in a more literal sense. Mayor Lisa Crate and Business Administrator Joanne Bergin both told The Brick Times that despite commentary to the contrary by township employees, there is no rat infestation within Town Hall located at 401 Chambers Bridge Road. Bergin didn’t rule out that a mouse might have found its way into the building that was built
in the 1970s. Three employees who spoke anonymously with The Brick Times, saying they feared losing their jobs if they went public, made it clear that someone witnessed more than one rat in the building. They each shared incidents of poor conditions at Town Hall such as leaks in the ceiling, poor AC/heating and several captured rodents in municipal offices located in the lower floor of the township municipal complex. The first informant said they discovered items (Town Hall - See Page 16)
August 2, 2025
Recycling: What’s Old Is New Again By Judy Smestad-Nunn BRICK - Recycling rules vary in New Jersey, with acceptable materials and collection procedures differing by county and even by municipality. Brick follows guidelines set by Ocean County, which operates the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Ocean County, located at the Northern Recycling Center on New Hampshire Avenue in Lakewood. This is where recyclable materials collected from county residents are processed before being sent to end markets. The county also has a Southern Recycling Center in Stafford Township, which mostly functions as a transfer station. Steven Krakovsky now wears two hats at the Department of Public Works (DPW): not only is he the Department Supervisor, but since completing a series of courses at Rutgers recently, he is also the New Jersey Certified Recycling Professional (CRP), replacing longtime Recycling Coordinator Trish Totaro, who retired earlier this year. “You have to be certified to fill out the tonnage report at the end of the year, and the report is all of our recycling - not just what the town picks up, but all of our commercial, all of the haulers that come into town and take recycling out - they report their tonnage (Recycling - See Page 5)
VA Clinic Closer To Being Named After Local Hero
By Chris Lundy TOMS RIVER – A bill to name the Toms River Veterans Administration clinic after Lt. Leonard G. “Bud” Lomell has passed the House of Representatives. It now has to pass the Senate. Lomell, who had been drafted into the United States Army in 1942, served as an Army Ranger during World War II. Tom Brokaw dedicated a chapter to Lomell in his book “The Greatest Generation.” Steven M. Gillon wrote an entire book about his life before and after the war, called “Len Lomell: D-Day Hero.” Congressman Chris Smith (R-2nd) sponsored the bill, and described Lomell as “one of the bravest and most highly decorated combat soldiers of World War II.” (VA Clinic - See Page 5)
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