Times
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Inside This Week’s Edition
THE MANCHESTER
Vol. 21 - No. 40
Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving Lakehurst, Whiting and all of Manchester
20-Plus Years Of Manchester History, From A Council Seat
–Photos courtesy Sam Fusaro and Manchester Times (Top) Manchester’s town council. (Right) Samuel Fusaro’s first campaign flyer. By Jennifer Peacock MANCHESTER – He didn’t take the advice to leave town if he didn’t like how things were run. Instead, Sam Fusaro campaigned for and won a council seat, and today has the unique voice to speak to 20-plus years on government happenings from the inside. Newly appointed Council Vice President Samuel Fusaro has begun his 21st year on township council—not served contiguously, as he resigned in 2006 for personal reasons and came back to fill a seat in 2011—and is the longest-serving current member of council. But back in 1985 when he and his family moved to Manchester from Monmouth County, getting involved in local politics was perhaps the furthest thing from his mind. “One of the first things we did after moving in was to get subscriptions for The Ocean County Observer and The Manchester Advanced News,” Fusaro said. “We wanted to learn as much as we could about our
new community. However, it seemed the more we learned, the more concerned we became. Consequently, I started attending all township, planning board and freeholder meetings around 1988.” What he saw at the township meetings appalled him. “Township officials treated the public with absolutely no respect, ignoring their questions or often yelling at them,” he said. Township clerk Sabina Skibo, who herself was slandered by a sitting mayor at one point Fusaro said, agreed. “And he’s absolutely right, when he’s talking about respect, it’s respect for the residents, respect for the people that we work for. We work for the residents, that’s what we’re here for. We didn’t have that before,” Skibo said. Resident Ren Salvaggio started attending meetings in the mid-80s as well. “I started hearing different things about the government, so I decided to go to a couple (Council - See Page 4)
Business Directory ..................24 Classifieds................................25 Community News...............10-15 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News...............18 Fun Page..................................26 Health.................................18-19 Inside The Law ..........................21 Letters to the Editor......................8 Wolfgang.................................31 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
January 23, 2016
Mayor Outlines Goals For Year Ahead
By Jennifer Peacock The Manchester Times caught up with Lakehurst Mayor Harry Robbins to ask him about his goals this term as mayor and what’s in store for the year ahead. What makes Lakehurst great? Robbins: That’s an easy one, it’s the residents. Being a small town gives me the advantage of knowing the residents. I know many by name, not just by a face. The residents of Lakehurst look out for one another. I remember one time when my son was about 10 years old. He crossed the highway to go play with some friends; I received two phone calls telling me he was on the other side of the highway. I see a lot of Lakehurst kids grow up, get married, and then buy a house here in Lakehurst because they want to raise their family here. That tells me a lot. Lakehurst is a Pine Barren village with a great lake (Lake Horicon) where a number of events are held, from the farmers market to our 4th of July celebration. We have a downtown with restaurants and specialty shops that seems to be getting better each year. How long have you been in office? What have you learned and what would you do different now? I was first sworn in as a councilman in (Year Ahead - See Page 6)
GOP To Decide Vacant Freeholder Spot
By Catherine Galioto OCEAN COUNTY – County Republicans will meet January 26 to decide who will fill the shoes of Jim Lacey, the Ocean County Freeholder who resigned recently. The vacancy meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the TR Hotel on Route 37, where the Ocean County Republican organization will
meet as a county committee for candidates to Lacey’s seat. Lacey, who resigned December 31, had served as a freeholder since 1993. His term was to end January 2017. Freeholder Director John Bartlett announced Lacey’s resignation December 31 from the five-member, all-Republican board
of chosen freeholders. Lacey, who was also serving on the Brick Municipal Utilities Authority as its executive director, earned an annual base salary of $192,280 from the MUA. However, the MUA is advertising the position. Lacey’s appointment as executive director was to expire this year.
The county Republican convention would also likely nominate a replacement for Freeholder Jack Kelly, who was nominated by Gov. Chris Christie to the state Parole Board. If his appointment is confirmed by the state Senate, Kelly would be required to resign as a freeholder as well. (Freeholder - See Page 6)