The MANCHESTER Times Vol. 25 - No. 46
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Author Elected As Special Guest Of Manchester Elementary School
In This Week’s Edition
February 29, 2020
Traffic Light Wanted At Dangerous Intersection
Community News! Pages 12-18
−Photo by Ali Gradzki The intersection of Northampton Boulevard and Commonwealth Boulevard has been an area of concern for drivers in the area for decades.
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Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 20
Dear Pharmacist Page 21
Wolfgang Puck Page 35
−Photo by Bob Vosseller Children’s author Dan Gutman greets students at the presidential podium with a student-made backdrop of the White House inspired by the cover of one of his most popular books “The Kid Who Ran For President.” By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER – Author Dan Gutman may not be running for president but if he were in the running, he’d certainly get the support of the students, staff and parents of the Manchester
Elementary School. Gutman visited several classrooms, made presentations, enjoyed a luncheon with students and capped off his time at the school with a special (Author - See Page 4)
County’s Budget: Spending Up, Tax Rate Down By Bob Vosseller OCEAN COUNTY – For the fourth year in a row, the county’s proposed tax rate will drop. The Board of Ocean County Chosen Freeholders introduced its $450,793,747 spending plan during their latest meeting. Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari said, “We
are talking about a blueprint to operate Ocean County for the next year. The good news is we will not cut back on services and we will drop your tax rate.” The budget includes a proposed county property tax rate of 33.7 cents per $100 of an equalized value. Each of the county’s 33 municipali-
ties will experience that rate differently to allow for the tax burden to be equitably distributed. The state administers a formula to equalize its impact. The amount to be raised by taxation is $361,536,722. The total budget represents an increase of $18.8 million from last year. Freeholder Jack Kelly, the
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liaison of finances for the county oversaw the development of the budget which was prepared by the county’s financial staff and included input from each Freeholder on the board. “This is the second budget I have overseen with my colleagues and our county staff (Budget - See Page 17)
By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER – A township resident has seen enough accidents in a section of the township over the years and travels through it enough times that he’s worried. He’s calling for a traffic light. “For years now Commonwealth Boulevard and Nor thampton Boulevard have been a problem intersection and for whatever reason the county and township have ignored this issue,” resident Shawn Galbreath said on his change.org petition. Galbreath would like to see this situation change. “They obviously know it’s an issue since rumble strips, f lashing lights and flashing stop signs are already installed. It’s time something is done before someone else is seriously hurt or dies.” The resident sees only one answer: “If a traffic light was installed
most of these accidents would stop!” As of press time, Galbreath has more than 1,501 supporters of his petition. Galbreath said the intersection has presented a safety issue since the 1950s. “I went to school in Manchester and back then it was a problem. It was a problem way before 20 years ago. I moved out of the area for a while but came back five years ago. There seems to be a bad accident there just about every week. “A friend of mine suggested that I speak up so I started the petition. I think things have gotten worse over the last six months. The township has said that the county is responsible and the county won’t do anything. We pay enough in taxes and I think something can be done,” Galbreath said. (Traffic - See Page 7)
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