The BRICK Times
Vol. 20 - No. 13
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
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No Swan Song For “Aggressive” Waterfowl
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Inside The Law Page 12
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 14
Dear Pharmacist Page 15
─Photo courtesy Laura Paglia A swan and his family has been visiting local lagoons, but some say the father is aggressive. By Judy Smestad-Nunn BRICK - Reports of an aggressive swan living in a Brick lagoon reached the desk of State Director of the USDA Wildlife Service Aaron Guikema. The agency works in conjunction with the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife, who are responsible for setting rules and regulations for swans, which is a
protected species in the state. A number of complaints from residents living in the Baywood Shores community on the barrier island said that a male swan, who is part of a family that includes four cygnets, was chasing people on the land and in boats on the water. Guikema said the agency’s policy is to
send a wildlife technician out in a kayak or a boat to observe the swan’s behavior. “That’s what we did on August 3,” he said in a recent phone interview. “The wildlife technician saw a total of five swans, and none were acting aggressively, so in that situation we made no attempt to capture the bird.” The wildlife tech-
nician might go out again if there are more complaints, he added. If the technician had observed an aggressive swan, the agency would capture it and “unfortunately, euthanize it,” he said. The swan might have been protecting his young, or sometimes so-called aggressive behavior is lear ned (Swan - See Page 9)
Officials: We’re Still Learning About COVID
By Chris Lundy OCEAN COUNTY – In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the big question was “Is it here?” People looked up the numbers in the state, in the county, even in their own towns. Slowly, each town started to have some positive cases of COVID-19.
This made people need even more information. Who had it? Where in town was it? Some members of the public even wanted to know what streets the people lived on. Now that it is here, people study the numbers differently. They see the large totals. T hey wonder when
we might get past this. They wonder if it’ll ever go down. They wonder if the whole thing is blown out of proportion. The truth is that the numbers have always been a guideline rather than something set in stone. Da n iel Rege nye, Ocean County’s Public
Health Coordinator, explained the numbers. The case counts show how many tests came back positive. It doesn’t show if someone got better. It doesn’t show if someone moved. There have also been issues where people’s zip codes don’t correspond to where they actually live. For ex-
ample, there are people in Berkeley’s senior communities that have Tom s R ive r p ost a l codes. Anecdotally, many people have a story of someone who had the symptoms but never got tested. Or, they got tested and got a false negative. So, they are (COVID - See Page 8)
August 15, 2020
Tips Offered On How To Protect Your Neighborhood
By Judy Smestad-Nunn BRICK - The township police department has had to cancel some community events this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but a Community Watch meeting went on as scheduled since it was recently held outdoors at Cherry Quay Beach. Some 20 residents of the waterfront community came out to hear Officers Brendan Barnes and Sean Flynn teach the group how to make their community safer. “We’re not here because your neighborhood is having problems,” said Officer Barnes. “We want to gather information that’s passed on from [community watch members] to our patrol units. A simple call can help to establish probable cause.” In the past, neighborhood watch groups throughout the U.S. would have citizens patrol on foot and in cars, but that has become outdated and “extremely dangerous,” said Officer Barnes. Now, cell phones and home security systems are a big help to law enforcement, he said. “We tell people, if the hair on the back of your neck stands up, if something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not right,” said Officer Barnes. “Take account of your surroundings - everyone has an intuition.” For example, if there are multiple unknown cars circling in the neighborhood, try to take photos of the license plates or of the drivers, then email or text the photos to the police department. “It seems miniscule, but it can be something great,” he said. “We pass the information on to our patrols and get a lot of arrests.” If you wish to remain anonymous, simply hit *67 before dialing a phone number, which blocks your name to the person you are dialing, said Officer Barnes. Cell phones can also help with speeding cars, he said. Take a photo of the license plate and contact the Traffic Safety Unit. Repeat offenders will get a letter and even a summons, he said. The biggest problem in Brick right now occurs when cars are left unlocked, said Officer (Protect - See Page 11)
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