The
SOUTHERN OCEAN Times Vol. 7 - No. 38
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Chef’s Night Out Celebrates Food And OCVTS Students
In This Week’s Edition
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Community News! Pages 9-11
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Pages 16
Inside The Law Page 19
−Photo by Alyssa Riccardi Ocean County Vocational Technical School students take part in the 24th Annual Chef’s Night Out event held at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena in Toms River. By Alyssa Riccardi TOMS RIVER – With yummy sweets and the smell of delicious foods around every corner, t h i s ye a r’s a n nu a l Chef’s Night Out was a tasty treat for everyone. The event was once again hosted by the Ocean County Foun-
Tight Races For GOP Endorsement
By Chris Lundy OCEAN COUNTY – Two close campaigns were run to get the county Republican’s endorsement in the Senate and 3rd District House race. The importance of winning party line approval means that a candidate will be below Donald Trump on the ballot, and likely to rack up automatic votes with Trump supporters. People who choose the entire party line will vote for them even if they don’t know who they are. (Race - See Page 6)
dation for Vocational Technical Education. The fundraiser has been supporting OCVTS students for 24 years. Inside the RWJBarnabas Health Arena in Toms River, the event held over 60 different types of food vendors.
Attendees were able to sip on drinks and taste samples of foods and desserts from local
businesses. The main stations were featuring the OCVTS culinary (OCVTS - See Page 14)
County, Schools Prepare For Coronavirus
By Chris Lundy OCEAN COUNTY – The advice is pretty consistent across the board from officials: use good hygiene and educate yourself. While this might be good advice in any situation, right now it’s what health and
education officials are saying in order to keep people safe and keep children from getting sick from the coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19. At the time this article was written, there were no cases of the disease in Ocean County. New
Jersey had 11 known cases. The governor declared a State of Emergency – a legal decision which is needed to receive federal funding. It also gives greater power to the Office of Emergency Management. “The Ocean County (County - See Page 14)
March 14, 2020
Police Warn: Catching A Predator Is Dangerous
By Chris Lundy TOMS RIVER – An alleged child predator is behind bars and no one got hurt. That’s two wins, as far as Rashawn Bass is concerned. Police are warning him not to confront child predators again after he did so twice on camera. “At the end of the day, I prevented someone from getting hurt,” Bass said. Phillip Stone, 33, of Lacey had allegedly been communicating over a dating app with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl. When he went to meet her in public, the girl turned out to be Bass, recording the encounter for a video about online sexual predators. After police saw the video, they charged Stone with luring and attempted sexual assault. He is considered innocent until proven guilty. Bass, who goes by the stage name Minnow, said he’s been doing this for about four months. The reactions from people have been a mixed bag. Most people give him positive feedback but some people say he’s being stupid for putting himself in danger. “At first, I was just curious about how many (predators) were in my area,” he said. He said he’s found at least 35 people all over the country who might be predators. When he does find them, he usually sends the information to the U.S. Marshall’s Office. However, since this one was local, he decided to try to meet him. “I never set out to do this face to face. Something just told me to drive there and see why Phillip thinks this is okay,” he said. “I want to see if I can understand their thought process. I want to see how they got from A to Z. How do they rationalize?” In the video, Bass notes that he’s interviewing Stone for a psychological study. He’s not a student; it’s more of a curiosity. He was taken aback by Stone’s honesty. Stone said that his mother passed away last year, and ever since then “I’ve done nothing but eat, do drugs, and be a philanderer.” Stone admitted, he has some tendencies that are very wrong. Bass said he chose a populated place just in case things became dangerous. In this case, it was a restaurant. “My safety is important but I value my family’s (Predator - See Page 4)