TheTOMS RIVER Times Vol. 17 - No. 15
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Seaport Society Makes Waves At Huddy Park
Toms River Site Picked For VA Clinic
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Community News Pages 9-12
Inside The Law Page 12
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 16
Dear Joel Page 20
─Photo by Sydney Kennedy The Reflection, adorned in flags, sits serenely in the Toms River. By Sydney Kennedy British currency quid. entry into Toms Riv- chairs Johnston and TOMS RIVER – PiThe plank that the er community events, George Corbeels, like rates paraded through humiliated pirate was which have only just many local event orHuddy Park last week- ushered off of was not resumed at an almost ganizers, have been end to walk a fellow a permanent fixture pre-pandemic pace this missing the joys of their seafarer off the plank on Luker Bridge, but a summer. summer tradition since and into the Toms Riv- hallmark of the Toms “This is our forty-fifth 2019. Now, they will er. Though not before River Seaport Society’s year,” Scott Johnston look to the summer they merrily auctioned Summer Festival. said. “And actually, I of 2022 to celebrate off his personal effects The festival was the guess, forty-fourth,” 45 years of summer for small sums of the Seaport Society’s re- he amended. Event co(Seaport - See Page 4)
Will Marijuana Legalization Prompt K9 Retirements?
By Alyssa Riccardi OCEAN COUNTY – Recently, New Jersey has joined the list of several other states who have legalized marijuana. But how will this decision effect K9 units and drug sniffing dogs? Back in November, New Jersey residents
voted on the Mar iju a n a L egal i z at ion A mend ment, with about 67 percent of residents voting ‘yes’ to legalize adult use of marijuana. In other states like Vi r g i n i a a n d Ne w Mex ico who have legalized the d r ug, many police depart-
ments made the stark decision to retire their narcotics dogs early. Here in Ocean County, the Sheriff’s Office had prepared for the decision since the begi n ni ng of 2020, before the amendment was even approved. “It’s safe to say that we k n e w t h i s w a s
coming. So, we trained (the dogs) not to imprint on marijuana,” Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy said. Depar t ments li ke Ocean County train several dogs for multiple different uses. Along with narcotics dogs, you have bomb
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detection dogs, tracking dogs, patrol dogs and more. James Reilly, a ret i red se rgea nt who ser ved for 31 years at the Toms River Police Department and is now an Investigator at the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, has (K9 - See Page 5)
By Chris Lundy TOMS RIVER – The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued an award to a Toms River plan to build a new “Community Based Outpatient Clinic” off of Hooper Avenue. The current facility, the James J. Howard clinic on Route 70 in Brick, has long been considered too small for the amount of people who use it. Parking and traffic also make it difficult to access. The new building would be 68,000 square feet and have 480 parking spaces. The exact location would be between Seacourt Pavilion Shopping Center and the Esplanade Office Park on Hooper Avenue, behind the currently vacant Capital One bank. This is called the Hooper-Caudina Redevelopment Area. Caudina is the road that comes out from Seacourt and meets a traffic light across from the big Presbyterian church. Other plans for that property will include apartments and retail. The township has also been trying to get the post office moved from downtown Toms River to this location. The same site was previously selected by the VA in 2019, but the prospective developer at that time declined the lease in early 2020. This caused the VA to restart the site selection process. In less than three weeks, the Township managed to finalize a redeveloper designation with FD Stonewater, township officials said. The plan was submitted by FD Stonewater of Arlington, VA, which describes itself as a “boutique real estate brokerage, investment, development and asset management firm with national capabilities.” “This is a big win for the veterans of Ocean County and surrounding counties because they will no longer need to find transportation to East Orange for many of their needs,” Mayor Maurice Hill said. “In addition, the Ocean County’s new Social Services Building will be constructed right next to the new VA clinic site and will include the Ocean County Veterans Service Bureau, which provides ‘one stop shop’ convenience for many of the needs of the men and women (Clinic - See Page 2)
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