The HOWELL Times
Vol. 17 - No. 40
In This Week’s Edition
Community News! Pages 9, 12-13
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Dear Pharmacist Page 15
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Blood Donor Center Reopens In Howell
─Photo By Bob Vosseller (Above) Staff of New Jersey Blood Services, a division of New York Blood Center gather for a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the front of the Howell Donor Center at 4068 Route 9 South. (Right) Baby Charlotte Scalese received numerous blood transfusions during her treatment. Her mother Laura was present for the opening of the new blood center. By Bob Vosseller HOWELL − Giving blood will be a whole lot easier now that a facility that can fill that desperate need for residents of Ocean and Monmouth coun-
ties has reopened. A r ibbon- cut t i ng ceremony was held on Feb. 20 opening the donor center which the area has been without for two years. Blood donors, patients
─Photo courtesy Laura Scalese who h ave r e c eive d life-saving blood and others from the central Jersey community came together for the ceremony at the Howell Donor Center. The event was held
from noon to 2 p.m. at the facility located at 4068 Route 9 South in the township. After Central Jersey, a nonprof it organization shut down on (Donor - See Page 6)
Schools Awarded Grants For Going Green
By Bob Vosseller HOW ELL − T he township school dist r ict received good news recently that it will receive two Sust ai nable Jer sey for Schools Project grants of $10,000 each. Howell Tow nship Middle School South will receive the grant for its Feeding Howell’s Minds and Bodies
program. The school will build an outdoor classroom with a g reen house to sup por t its sustainable ga rden i ng prog ra m that educates students and feeds the community. Students will grow seedlings for the “Plant A Row for the Hungry” program and the town’s community garden.
The second g rant will go to the Howell Memorial Elementary School for its Better Your S.E.L.F. program. Memorial School’s Social Emotional Learning and Fitness Program involves students creating a “Wellness Way” - a hallway in the school that focuses on social-emotional learning and fitness.
Well ness Way w ill i nclude a Well ness Lounge, a Greenhouse Therapy Room, and a Sensory Fitness Hallway designed to help students with special social, emotional, and physical needs and available for use by all staff and students. The awards were announced on Feb. 12 by Sustainable Jersey
for Schools based in Ewing. Forty-two New Jersey public schools and districts were selected to receive the grants funded by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). Superintendent Joseph Isola said, “I am extremely proud of all our schools for their part in the (Awards - See Page 11)
February 29, 2020
Council Members Debate Supporting 2nd Amendment
By Bob Vosseller HOWELL – The governing body passed a resolution supporting the rights of gun owners during its last council meeting. Councilman Thomas Russo had proposed the resolution during a Feb. 4 council meeting but said he pulled it as he wanted to revise the wording of it. “It’s a resolution supporting the second amendment in town. I felt we should add more to protect gun owners in Howell Township. I wanted to do more research on it,” Russo said during that council meeting. The resolution would not have any authority to change current, township, state or federal regulations. “Howell has done a pretty decent job in protecting gun owners,” Russo said. He added that Governor Phil Murphy’s stance on legislation that restricts gun ownership which was what prompted him to draft a resolution on the issue. In response to a resident’s opposition to the need for the resolution and describing the potential of Howell having a gun fight like “the OK Corral,” Mayor Theresa Berger said, “I don’t think Howell will become the OK Corral. When legal guns are handled legally there is no issue. “We’re not going to change the 2nd Amendment. That’s not us so I think we’re just wasting our time,” Councilman John Bonevich said during the Feb. 4 meeting. During the Feb. 18 council meeting Russo’s resolution supporting the 2nd Amendment was approved in a three to two vote. “New Jersey’s increasingly strict gun laws have a direct impact on Howell residents, and I think it is important now more than ever that Howell knows that members of their local government will advocate for and defend their 2nd Amendment rights,” Russo said. “We as town council members don’t have the power to directly change State or Federal law, but change often times starts from the ground up. I feel it is our duty as elected representatives of the people of Howell to let our lawmakers know through this common (Council - See Page 10)
STAY CONNECTED www.facebook.com/jshoreonline