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Bass River Medford Medford Lakes Pemberton Pemberton Borough Shamong Southampton Tabernacle Washington Woodland
Vol. 1 - No. 16
Southeastern Burlington County’s News Leader
December 17-23, 2016
Roberts Pond Emptied
Bass River Officials Receive Earful After Pond Is Emptied By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
Roberts Pond has been transformed into a mudflat after being drained.
A portion of Roberts Pond’s berm was removed using a backhoe.
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BASS RIVER— A neighborhood in Ocean County is distraught after a pond that flourished with fish and wildlife disappeared without warning last month at the hands of a Burlington County municipality. Morris Kurzrok, a resident of Little Egg Harbor, received a visit from his nephew who informed him that Roberts Pond, which is part of the Ballinger Creek, had been drained. “On Black Friday, at approximately 10 o’clock in the morning, my nephew Jeff Dawson came to my house and said ‘Did you see what happened to the pond?’ and I said ‘I did not.’,” Morris Kurzrok said. Dawson took Morris Kurzrok to the pond which sits at the very edge of Little Egg Harbor and is only a few feet away from Bass River. The men discovered that a berm, which held the water in place, had been compromised by machinery. “We found that someone had taken a machine, we think a backhoe, drove it up to the edge of the pond, and wantonly destroyed the berm that was there since at least 1952,” Morris Kurzrok said. “I found that a 10-acre pristine pond that had existed for well over 50 years was gone, drained, and emptied. It was a mudflat.” Morris Kurzrok, along with his neighbors spent over a week investigating the matter. They learned that the berm was removed by an employee of Bass River in Burlington County. Morris Kurzrok took his findings to the Bass River Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, Dec. 5. “Through word of mouth, it has come to our attention that the vandalism, the destruction was caused by an employee of Bass River Township.,” Morris Kurzrok said. “We further found or learned, hearsay, that this destruction was done at the direction of officials from the township.” Bass River Mayor Deborah Buzby-Cope said that up to six beaver dams in the pond have been presenting a health and safety issue for township residents in the Offshore Manor development. “It’s a safety issue and a health issue when it comes to residents of Offshore Manor where the pond goes into our leach field of our septic systems,” Buzby-Cope said. “It overflows in that area.” Buzby-Cope said that a township employee did use a backhoe to lower the pond’s water level. “An employee from the township did go out thinking he was doing the right thing and tried to open up the beaver dam,” she said. Morris Kurzrok’s brother-in-law, William Roberts, installed and repaired septic systems for over 40 years. He said that pond water and groundwater doesn’t have anything to do with
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