CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN
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Vol. 7 – No. 7 ♦
The News Leader of the Pines
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FR EE
December 10 - December 16, 2022
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LIGHTING UP HOLIDAY SMILES
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AGE SE E P
Carns Matriarch Fined $10K for Storing Tree Trucks, Having Commercial Enterprise on Farm, Despite ‘First Offense’ Judge Sides with Prosecutor That When 81-Year-Old Woman Entered Guilty Plea, She Admitted to ‘Continuing Violations’ By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
MEDFORD—A municipal court judge presiding over a high-profile dispute, State of New Jersey v. Carolyn Carns, one brought against the matriarch of the Carns family by Medford Township (or the “state”), but only following land use complaints apparently acted upon following a public spat involving her twin sons and Medford Mayor Charles “Chuck” Watson, has levied a $5,000 fine against the 81-year-old woman for storing more than one commercial vehicle on her 30-acre tree farm on Medford-Mount Holly Road, in addition to another $5,000 fine for running a commercial enterprise on the property, for a total of $10,000, plus court costs. The sentencing was held Nov. 7, but the tape of the proceeding was only made publicly available to this newspaper on Nov. 23, after this newspaper called on the Judiciary of New Jersey to promptly release it following a delay. Since the time that the decision was handed down last month by Judge Charles Shimberg, a municipal court judge for Pemberton Township presiding over the case due to a conflict of interest involving the Medford Judge Peter Lange, Jr., Carns has reportedly appealed the decision to the Superior Court, with this newspaper told by her son, David Carns, on Dec. 6 “it’s a waiting game” for an appeal hearing to be scheduled. Carolyn Carns, in answering a pair of summonses issued by Medford Township See TRUCKS/ Page 6
Photos By Douglas D. Melegari
Santa Claus, Pemberton Township Mayor David A. Patriarca (center) and Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) President Jim Fakult gather on Dec. 2 in Pemberton Township to light up the town’s holiday light display at Reflections Park that was gifted by the utility company.
JCP&L Gives Gift of ‘Energy-efficient, Professionally Designed’ Holiday Light Display to Pemberton Featuring More Than 25,000 LED Bulbs That Will Shine Every Night This Season in Reflections Park
By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—As Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) President Jim Fakult put it to this reporter on last Friday night, Dec. 2, after having helped light up Pemberton Township’s gifted holiday light display at Reflections Park, including the lights on the municipality’s Christmas tree, “What would we be as a company if we didn’t help support and give back to our communities?” The company Fakult leads, a subsidiary
of FirstEnergy Corp, helped brighten Pemberton for the holidays in a major way last week by donating a professionally designed holiday light display to the township for this year’s annual tree lighting ceremony at Reflections Park, in downtown Browns Mills, in addition to providing refreshments, as well as audio and visual supports for the event. It was all part of the second-annual “L i g h t Up Ho l i d ay S m i l e s w i t h FirstEnergy” program, which includes offering a once-yearly “competitive”
grant for a gifted holiday light display to a “government-restricted, economically distressed and qualified opportunityzone” community that is within JCP&L’s service territory, to help make the season both “brighter and merrier.” (FirstEnergy, which comprises 10 electric distribution companies, including some in Ohio and West Virginia, awarded two similar grants through the program, one to a community in each of those states.) See LIGHT/ Page 4
INDEX
Business Directory................................... 5 Christmas Countdown............................C1 Coloring Contest.....................................C3 Local News............................................... 2
Marketplace/Job Board.................................. 7 Santa’s Photo Album.............................. S1 Worship Guide.......................................... 8
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