2016-01-02 - The Southern Ocean Times

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Times

MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Inside This Week’s Edition

THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

Vol. 3 - No. 28

Business Directory....................16 Classifieds................................17 Community News.................8-11 Dear Joel..................................19 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News...............14 Government...............................6 Inside The Law ..........................13 Letters to the Editor.....................5 Wolfgang.................................19 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM

Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving Lacey, Waretown, Barnegat, Manahawkin, LBI, Tuckerton and Little Egg

Now 43, Football Pro From Lacey Helps Others In Important Transition

–Photo by Billy Zagger Keith Elias, the former Lacey High School standout and Toms River South coach, speaks to former National Football League players. Elias starred for the Lions and Princeton University and played in the NFL. By Chris Christopher Keith Elias has found his place. That place is as a counselor in the National Football League in which he prepares former players for Life After Football. “I am where I should be,” the former Lacey High School and Princeton University standout and ex-New York Giant, ex-In-

dianapolis Colt said. Elias also previously served as a coach in Toms River Regional. As a running back, Elias generated plenty of cheers at Lacey and Princeton. He powered the Lions to NJSIAA South Jersey Group III titles in 1988 and 1989. He capped his career with 2,178 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns on the ground.

Fans continued to roar their approval when Elias wore the Tigers’ uniform. All he did was set 21 school records, including rushing yards (4,208), rushing touchdowns (49) and all-purpose yards (4,739). Elias played five pro seasons, three with the Giants and two with the Colts, and saw (Football - See Page 4)

Number Of Seniors In Need Of Food Assistance Grows

By Daniel Nee OCEAN COUNTY – Officials with the county’s Office of Senior Services say they have expanded access to meal assistance for seniors as the need has grown in recent years, but caution that costs of the program are steadily rising.

“It is growing continuously,” said Freeholder Joseph Vicari. “There is no waiting list, which is extremely important to us. If we did not do it, no one else would do it.” The county provides the bulk of its meals to seniors as part of the Meals on Wheels program,

though it also operates eight congregate meal sites around the county. The county is currently predicting a record year ahead in 2016, with a forecast for 281,000 meals to be provided. About 200 seniors attend the nutrition congregate sites for a meal each day.

“We do a needs assessment that is pretty intense, and we’re hearing people say, ‘we can’t feed ourselves,’” said Vicari. “Most of these people are moderate- to high-risk seniors, and they can’t fully take care of themselves.” Ocean County will spend (Seniors - See Page 12)

January 2, 2016

Ocean County To Buy $2M In Land For Preservation, Watershed Protection

By Daniel Nee OCEAN COUNTY – The next acquisitions by the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust will be in Jackson and Little Egg Harbor townships, officials said. The Ocean County Freeholders said they had reached a deal with owners of the two plots, which make up a combined 183 acres, to purchase the land so it can be preserved. The Jackson parcel consists of 127 acres that are located adjacent to the Metedeconk National Golf Club, Freeholder Director John Bartlett said. The property abuts land that is already preserved as part of Turkey Swamp Park in the Monmouth County park system. Ocean County already owns several swaths of land to the west. The plot lies in the vicinity of Cedar Swamp Road, and will be purchased for $1,010,500. “These are the headwaters of the Metedeconk [River],” said Bartlett, adding that the site had already been approved for residential development. “This has been a high priority since we began our Natural Lands Program, since it does serve the water for the Brick MUA.” In recent years, officials at both the state and county levels have been seeking to preserve and protect inland water sources since they ultimately run to Barnegat Bay. The fact that several Ocean County municipalities served by the Brick MUA source their water from the Metedeconk makes the latest planned purchase even more important, officials said. “Hundreds of thousands of people are getting their water from there,” said Freeholder James Lacey, who also serves as executive director of the Brick MUA. Little Egg Harbor Purchase The county is also planning to purchase 56 acres in Little Egg Harbor Township, also for preservation purposes. (Land - See Page 12)


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