TheTOMS RIVER Times Vol. 23 - No. 21
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Hope Sheds Light Walk Returns For 8th Annual Event
$12M In County Sandy Loans Forgiven
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Community News Pages 10-15
Dear Pharmacist Page 19
Classifieds Page 25
Inside The Law Page 26
─Photo By Bob Vosseller Sporting their bright yellow shirts, several hundred participants of this year’s Hope Sheds Light Walk take to the Seaside Heights boardwalk. By Bob Vosseller walk on the Seaside members and friends a raff le and banners SEASIDE HEIGHTS Heights boardwalk is i m p a c t e d b y s u b - feat u r i ng the faces – After a year’s ab- a fundraising effort to stance use disorder, and names of those sence, walkers don- benefit HOPE Sheds and included several who have passed and ning bright, uplifting Lig ht , a n o n - p r of- speakers who shared had st r uggled w it h yellow shirts returned it agency that helps their story of addic- addiction. to the borough board- those with addiction t ion a nd r ega i n i ng Last year’s fundraiswalk for the 8th An- a nd also aid s t hei r their hope to live. er went virtual due to nual Celebration of families. A Tr e e of HOPE the COVID-19 panHope Walk. The walk showcased was also present along demic but this year’s (Hope - See Page 4) The annual two-mile resources for family with various vendors,
Women’s March Rallies for Reproductive Rights By Stephanie Faughnan TOMS RIVER – Nearly 200 people flooded Huddy Park as part of the nationwide Women’s March to stand up for abortion access. The mixed crowd of men, women, and children lined the curb
of the park’s entrance on East Water Street while numerous passing motorists blared their horns in support. Lynda Fote, president of the Ocean County Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), addressed the gathering and stated
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that she takes the attack on women’s reproductive rights quite personally. She graduated from high school in 1964 and college in 1968. “I spent my adolescence and my young adulthood when birth control was not easily
available, particularly if you were young, si ngle, and broke,” shared Fote. “W hat Roe v. Wade said to us was even if you never contemplate having an abortion, you have the right to control your own body.” Fote said the court
ruling gave women of her generation a new lease on life in showing them respect and providing them with options. However, Fote emphasized that recent changes to abortion laws in Texas and Mississippi suggest the
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By Chris Lundy TOMS RIVER – It’s been nine years but municipalities that still owe the federal government money after Superstorm Sandy will have their loans forgiven. This amounts to more than $25 million in New Jersey alone. In Ocean County, there are $12 million outstanding in these Community Disaster Loans. The bill forgiving these amounts was championed by Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-6th), Congressman Andy Kim (D-3rd), and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th). It was signed into law as part of the government operations bill by President Joe Biden. Some towns have already started repaying these loans but there was still a lot left over. The only way towns would have been able to pay it back would be to raise taxes. Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill explained how it worked at a press conference. He said that the town lost $4 billion in ratables. That means that there was $4 billion in houses and other buildings that were destroyed. When this happens, the rest of the property owners in town have to fill the tax hole. Additionally, Toms River was all-hands-ondeck immediately after the disaster. There was overtime for first responders like police, and there were additional costs for the public works department. They were clearing debris and carting away whole rooms of furniture and paying for tipping fees at the county dump. According to federal records, the town bor rowed $5 million and still owed $2,994,642.22. The town had started to pay back its loans, Hill said. Their accounting firm, Holman, Frenia & Allison attempted to appeal the loans, hoping not to pay them back, but they were unsuccessful. The town reached out to Congressman Kim who was able to put it into a bill to get it passed. “We knew how hard families were struggling from Sandy,” Kim said. “The last thing we want to do is raise taxes,” especially during a pandemic. He noted that there is a lot of bickering on Capitol Hill, but this bill shows how bipartisan (Loans - See Page 6)
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