TheTOMS RIVER Times Vol. 16 - No. 4
In This Week’s Edition
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Inside The Law Pages 12
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Pages 18
Dear Pharmacist Pages 19
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
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HOPE Sheds Light Donates Protective Masks
May 23, 2020
Lawsuit Challenges Murphy’s Shutdown
By Chris Lundy OCEAN COUNTY – A local law firm has challenged Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Orders closing stores and shutting down gatherings such as graduations, calling the moves arbitrary and illegal. The governor’s office was asked for a comment, but a spokesperson said the governor does not comment on active litigation. The shutdown orders were done to promote social distancing, one of the only things known to slow the spread of COVID-19. Medical professionals have said these regulations are necessary in order to keep the numbers of patients at a level where hospitals can keep up with it. Now that some hospitals are reporting more coronavirus patients being released than being admitted, officials are saying that the social distancing is working. However, critics of the shutdowns have called them arbitrary, capricious, and infringing on ─Photo courtesy Hope Sheds Light their rights. Volunteers with Hope Sheds Light donated protective masks to those in need. Michael Deem, an attorney with R.C. Shea and By Bob Vosseller their face covering ini- who provided essen- Associates, filed suit against the governor in the the community. TOMS RIVER – A HOPE Sheds Light, tiative earlier this month. tial services during the Chancery Division of the Superior Court. He non-profit organization Inc. (HSL), a family fo- It features custom HOPE COVID-19 pandemic. represents high school seniors wanting to go to dedicated to help those cused Toms River-based Sheds Light face cover“The response to this graduation and business owners who are suffering with addiction issues non-profit organization ings for the community initiative was over- because they are closed down. recently launched a cloth offering education, re- to purchase. whelming,” said Pamela Other defendants are Col. Patrick J. Callahan, face covering program sources, support and For each purchase Capaci, CEO of HOPE in his official capacity as the State Director of that will also serve to hope to anyone impacted made, the non-profit do- Sheds Light. “Our initial Emergency Management and as Superintendent promote its own cause by addiction and the nated a cloth face cover- offering of cloth face of the New Jersey State Police, State Education of helping members of opioid epidemic, started ing to a frontline worker (Hope - See Page 2) Commissioner Lamont Repollet, and Assistant Education Commissioner AbdulSaleem Hasan. All non-essential businesses were shut down, but how is “non-essential” defined? Deem said that Wal-Marts are open, because they sell food. explaining that the dis- near future, he said. from lockers and return year. We all cherish But they also sell clothes, toys, and other items. trict is bound by the Additionally, the district school property such as these once-in-a-lifetime There are small business owners who sell clothes governor’s Executive hopes to have an in-per- library books. occasions, recognize and toys, but they were required to shut down. The shutdown orders, therefore, unfairly benefit Order closing schools. son graduation when “I understand that their significance, and Executive Orders like they are safe and when these procedures are wonder whether a vir- big business, the lawsuit alleges. There are stores that are closed to the public that this one were made they are allowed by law. far from what we all had tual replacement, even have ways to open safely, but are not allowed, he to slow the spread of The superintendent’s envisioned just several if temporary, can come COVID-19, because letter went on to say months ago. Believe me close to providing the said. The recent order allowing non-essential retail social distancing is one that there will be more that I share in your dis- memories and closure to offer curbside assistance is too little, too late. The lawsuit gives examples that the shutdowns of the only things that information provided appointment, both as a that our students crave were done in an “arbitrary, unreasonable, and works right now. about other end-of-year father and as a leader of and so deeply deserve,” Details about the vir- events as time goes on. this district who counts Healy said. “These un- capricious manner.” tual graduations will For example: when stu- graduation day as the precedented times have (Lawsuit - See Page 9) be disseminated in the dents can pick items up highlight of every school (Graduation - See Page 2)
Virtual Graduation To Be Held June 12
By Chris Lundy TOMS R I V ER – School administration an nounced that the three high schools will have a virtual graduation the evening of June 12, and the intermediate schools will have a virtual graduation earlier that afternoon. Superintendent David Healy announced this in a letter to parents,
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