CIRCLING BACK TO ‘CONVENIENCE’

Redevelopment

By Douglas D. M elegari

Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—A change to a redevelopment plan for the Red Lion Circle that would allow for the addition of an access road for a proposed new development where the Red Lion Diner currently stands, having the proposed street go from Route 70 to Allentown Road in some fashion (it may not be a straight throughway based on a very preliminary rendering), as well as a Southampton Township committeeman’s brief references to the street being put in for ingress and egress to what he maintained is a future Super Wawa that will be part of the project, led to a large crowd expressing concern about current and potentially future traffic inconveniences on Allentown Road during an April 18 Southampton Township Committee meeting.

Some residents, in referring to the area as a “slice of heaven” and “God’s country,”

See CIRCLING Page 5

Justification for Redevelopment

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—A property designated as a redevelopment area in Southampton Township, a parcel that has been described to the Pine Barrens Tribune as one that encompasses an area that is both behind the Vincentown Diner and a relatively-new shopping plaza that includes a Dunkin Donuts and JB Liquors, has been reportedly recently rezoned to “make all the land be part of the same zone” so that it “can encourage redevelopment” there, according to Township Committeeman Ron Heston, who is also a township Planning Board member.

The planning board’s reported April 6 decision came into focus after a couple references by the Southampton Township Committee during both March 21 and April 18 governing body meetings that a developer is interested in potentially building a warehouse on the property.

Warehouses have become a hot button issue in Burlington County and points to the north, with Southampton Township Mayor Michael Mikulski, in recognizing a large crowd at the April 18 township committee meeting concerned about various plans for redevelopment in town, addressing what he views as a need to bring “ratables” to the municipality “to help keep taxes low” through “smart development,” or what he

See ZONING/ Page 9

Carns Sibling Says He Has Decided Against Opening Farm Stand Due to Officials Making It ‘Impossible to Earn Living Off Our Land’

‘Updated’ Application Process Surfaces Amid Carns Family’s Battle with Town with Co-proprietor Suggesting Retribution; Solicitor Calls Charge ‘Unfounded’

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

MEDFORD—Brianna’s Farm Stand at the Carns Family Farm “will not be opening this year,” co-proprietor Brian Carns announced in an April 20 Facebook posting, with him giving “special thanks to the Medford Council for making it impossible to earn a living off our land!”

That pronouncement from Brian Carns represents the latest chapter in a major, ongoing controversy between the Carns family and the township.

And it quickly led to another round of outrage in the community aimed at the town fathers, with very strong comments being made online by various locals such as “the mind set of this council is not conducive for our people that our town needs,” “I will be voting against them,” “they should be run out of town,” “I’m flabbergasted at Medford,” “what a disgrace,” “how do we get the mayor out,” “how much longer until we vote this crooked council out,” “shame on them,” “what’s the purpose of a farm if you can’t have a stand to sell from – are they really that dumb,” “they sure do want to make your lives hell,” “I’m 34 years old and never voted for anything or anyone, but this silliness makes me want to – people should be able to do what they want with their land,” “I am sickened about what has happened in Medford the past few years – the powers that be apparently don’t like the residents they’re supposed to represent and serve,” “the residents of Medford need to get a handle on this fast, before you become Mount Liberal....I mean Laurel,” and “apparently this council needs to be reminded they live in the GARDEN STATE – America the land of opportunity!”

“The whole council should be ashamed of themselves,” one man added. “They are a total disgrace and are the reason people feel the way they do about politicians,” while another woman went even further, declaring, “And when they get done trying to ruin your farm and family, they’ll go after someone else.”

“These are not kind people,” she continued. “Time to vote this rotten, vindictive bunch out.”

The decision to close Brianna’s, Brian Carns later told this newspaper, boils down to the township recently adding an “extra page” to the application that one is required to return annually to receive a permit to operate a farm stand in town, as well as multiple rounds of follow-up questions that were reportedly asked of him upon making a filing.

“For the last two years that I got the permit, the paperwork was just like a construction permit,” said Brian Carns of a process that mainly required basic details and a fee payment. “I can understand just straightening it out to gear it towards farm stands, but what they do is add all of these specific questions.”

As this newspaper previously reported, the Carnses spent nearly all of last year vigorously defending the family matriarch against a pair of summonses issued to her for having allowed her twin sons’ commercial tree service to be operated at the farm, as well for allowing the storage of commercial tree trucks on the nearly 30-acre parcel, which culminated in a $10,000 fine (a penalty that has upset a lot of locals who have expressed their beliefs that it is punitive).

That defense of their mother has included multiple instances of the family publicly taking Medford officials to task for their handling of the matter.

The family has also gotten into public spats with officials, including GOP Mayor Charles “Chuck” Watson, over firewood and farm stands.

The Carnses, as controversy erupted, got into a tiff with the then local-zoning official last year over a $50 annual farm stand permit fee they claimed to have sent to the township, with the then-township zoning officer, when the Carnses went to check on the status of their permit, claiming there was no record of payment.

That particular incident ended when the twin brothers showed up to town hall, with one filming as Brian Carns handed the thenzoning officer a check for the fee (the incident followed an allegation levied by Brian’s twin brother, David, that Watson did not make timely payment for a firewood transaction).

For this year’s permitting process, Brian Carns, in claiming Brianna’s has been the township’s only remaining farm stand, said the third page of the application, which “wasn’t there last year and wasn’t there the year before” left him with the impression “they are going to jam me up” amid the feuding, representing one of the reasons he decided not to open the farm stand.

“If you are reading it up, it smells like Chuck (the mayor), Tim Prime (the township solicitor) and (Township Manager) Kathy (Burger) are behind it and all that,” Brian Carns charged. Making him particularly feel uneasy about the motives behind the extra page, he explained, are purported new requests on it for this year, asking the applicant to submit items such as “a copy of your NJ Sales Tax Certificate and proof of payment of NJ sales tax.” Brian Carns told this newspaper he is “still not sure” about needing to collect sales tax, asserting, “I can tell you farms where I buy from, including one in Salem County, which has to be like a $10 million farm – they

Mistakes in Vote-by-Mail Ballots Affect Medford, 7 Other Communities, Obliging County to Mail Out Replacements After Errors Belatedly Found GOP Leader, Citing Previous Instances, Calls Misprints ‘Unacceptable,’ But County Information Official Downplays Their Overall Significance

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

MOUNT HOLLY—Once again, mistakes appearing in printed Burlington County ballots, in this case vote-by-mail ballots sent to residents of eight municipalities, including Medford Township, have made it necessary for corrected ones to be sent out to residents of the affected communities.

Josh Zoppina, executive director of the Burlington County Republican Committee, claimed in an April 25 email to the Pine Barrens Tribune that he had first became aware that errors had been made in Primary Election ballots at 5 p.m., on the previous evening, and that the mistakes were subsequently confirmed in a call he received two hours later from Deputy County Clerk Heather Cheeseman, whom he had notified about them.

The mistake in the Medford ballot, he said, listed two council candidates as Democrats when they should have been identified as members of the Burlington County Regular Republican Organization. The ballots had already been mailed out two days before and started to be distributed when the misprints came to his attention.

Other municipalities whose ballots had to be corrected, he said, included Hainesport, Lumberton, Mansfield, New Hanover, Riverside, Westampton and Wrightstown townships. In the Riverside ballots, he noted, Senate and Assembly candidates listed were actually from an adjoining district. In all, he estimated that some 2,000 ballots had to be replaced. But while new mail-in ballots were reportedly subsequently sent out to affected voters, Zoppina maintained a letter from the clerk explaining the mistake was not included with the new ballots as it should have been, making for further possible confusion.

When asked by this newspaper about the mistakes, Burlington County Public Information Office David Levinsky acknowledged that they had been made, but downplayed their significance in the overall scheme of things.

“Errors were identified on some Primary Election ballots sent to registered voters on the permanent vote-by-mail list,” Levinsky said, noting that “none of the impacted towns have contested primary races.”

“However, in the interest of being thorough, the county is mailing corrected ballots to these voters,” the county spokesman asserted. “These ballots are clearly marked ‘corrected ballot’ to make it easy for the Burlington County Board of Elections to identify when returned.”

Levinsky added that “the corrected ballots amount to less than five percent of the more than 48,000 vote-by-mail ballots and primary election notices sent to voters before this primary election.”

Zoppina, however, took issue with that assessment of the situation, which he called “unacceptable.”

“Even if one ballot is misprinted, it disenfranchises voters, no matter if it’s a contested election or not, and causes confusion,” he declared.

See BALLOTS / Page

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Death of Motorcycle Operator During Pursuit by Pemberton Twp. Officer Being Investigated by N.J. Attorney General’s Office, as Required by Law

PEMBERTON—The office of New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin is investigating a fatal motorcycle crash that occurred during a pursuit by a member of the Pemberton Township Police Department.

The crash at issue occurred on April 20 after the officer attempted to stop the motorcycle in connection with a criminal investigation. According to a press release from the AG’s office, the motorcycle being pursued struck an unrelated civilian vehicle, resulting in the death of motorcycle operator and serious injuries to a passenger on the bike.

The identities of the motorcycle’s occupants had not yet been released by this newspaper’s deadline time. There was no reference to the occupant(s) in the car being injured.

According to the preliminary investigation, the crash occurred on County Route 687 West near the intersection of Davis Street in Pemberton shortly after 5:16 p.m. (That particular intersection is in the Borough of Pemberton, just past the township line, per Google maps.)

A 2019 law requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct an investigation of any death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity or while the deceased individual is in custody.

It also requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.

Asbestos Reportedly Discovered in Pemberton Township’s Jail Cells

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—Asbestos has been reportedly discovered in the Pemberton Township Police Department’s jail cells, according to Business Administrator and Police Director Daniel Hornickel.

“Apparently, one of the tiles got disturbed and then somebody thought it was a good idea to test it, which they should because of the age, and it turned out to be asbestos,” Hornickel reported.

Following the confirmation, Hornickel described that “airborne testing” was conducted “to make sure it didn’t spread.”

“It didn’t, fortunately,” Hornickel said. “It is just in that area of the jail cells. So, we are going to have to do the remediation on that.”

Hornickel advised council that an “emergency contract” would be awarded for the anticipated remediation work and if the price exceeds a certain threshold, the administration will come to council for approval.

As of an April 19 Pemberton Township Council meeting, Hornickel said the township’s jail cells were temporarily “inoperative” and that the township was making use of the neighboring Pemberton Borough Police Department’s jail cells.

“We are going to try to get contracts awarded pronto to get that (the township’s jail cells) remediated, and returned to service,” Hornickel said.

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Medford Lakes Police Launch ‘Active investigation’ of Incident Involving Large Firecracker Being Lit in Front of Family’s Home Probe Follows Facebook Post Claiming Explosion Was Work of Juveniles Engaged In ‘Racially Motivated Harassment’ of Resident, Children of Indian Ethnicity

prior to that one, including another reported episode involving the setting off of fireworks on the family’s porch a couple days earlier.

Medford Lakes Mayor Dr. Gary Miller, however, was far less guarded in a Medford Lakes Borough Facebook posting on the evening of April 26, just prior to this newspaper’s deadline.

“Medford Lakes recently suffered a most disturbing act of violence, perpetrated against one of our fine families,” Miller contended. “It could well be that there was an element of racial bigotry that played a part in this.”

He added that “should this report reveal that a violent crime has, indeed, been committed and that there is an element of racial motivation to it, serious consideration should be given to referring the matter to the County Prosecutor’s Office for investigation of a possible hate crime.”

“I realize that this may seem harsh given the ages of the alleged perpetrators, but this was a severe act of violent behavior; behavior that appears to have been escalating,” the mayor declared, asserting that “the seriousness of the situation calls for swift and decisive action.”

He also asked, “How many times have we seen where this type of behavior was ignored, and it escalated to tragedy?

“That must not happen here,” he asserted.

A communique issued by the MLPD on April 26, stated that “the Medford Lakes Police Department is aware of a Facebook post on one of the local community pages regarding fireworks and possibly derogatory comments being made to a borough resident on Hiawatha Trail. This is an ACTIVE investigation and does involve multiple juvenile suspects.”

The department also asked residents to “please refrain from posting any names or allegations on any social media websites” and urged anyone who may be a witness, have video evidence or any pertinent information regarding this investigation to either contact the department at (609) 654-2156 or email Detective Ryan Collins at rcollins@medfordlakepolice.org .

By Bill B onvie

Staff Writer MEDFORD LAKES—The way Andrea Neale characterizes the harassment she claims her family – meaning her, her fiancé and his three children – has experienced over the last six months or so at their home in the scenic and usually tranquil Borough of Medford Lakes might well give the impression that it was the result of bias against a particular ethnic group – in this case, individuals of Indian descent.

But the Medford Lakes Police Department (MLPD) wasn’t yet ready to go that far when its chief, Robert Dugan, was contacted by the Pine Barrens Tribune on the afternoon of April 25, a day after announcing that it had launched an investigation into the matter. The only thing Dugan could say with any degree of certainty was that a device that might have been an M-80 sztyle firecracker was lit in the street in front of the family’s home on Hiawatha Trail on the evening of April 23, and that the incident involved juveniles.

Beyond that, no concrete conclusions had been formulated so “we’re not going to call it a hate crime at this time,” he said in response to a question from this newspaper, adding, “It would be too judgmental to say that.” He also noted that he wasn’t at liberty to say whether or not there had been any incidents

The announcement of the probe followed a recent description of such alleged incidents that Neale posted on a community Facebook page, which elicited dozens of expressions of support from residents of this 1.27- squaremile enclave.

In her original Facebook posting, Neale alleged that she and her family have been “experiencing extremely violent and racially motivated harassment from young 8th grade boys in Medford Lakes culminating … with a series (of) fireworks being launched directly at our log home.” Their neighbors, she maintained, “have called MLPD several times due to their racial slurs and expletives they’ve screamed at us telling us to ‘go back to India’ leading up to this attack.”

The post was also originally accompanied by a video of the alleged incident, which she said she had subsequently taken down.

She also noted in her Facebook post that the family recognized the youngster who lit the fuse and urged other residents to “please reach out” if they are experiencing similar harassment, as “the more people providing evidence to the MLPD against these kids, the faster our community will be protected.”

While Neale is not of Indian descent, her fiancé, Victor Singh, was born to parents who immigrated here from India, she said. Singh has three children, the oldest being a son who is now in high school, and thus is not a classmate of the middle school students she alleges are involved in the harassment, and the other two being girls aged 12 and 14, one of whom attends school in another community.

In a subsequent phone interview, Neale said the couple has been unable to fathom why their family has suddenly been targeted in this manner, especially given that her fiancé “has been an active and an involved member of the Medford Lakes community for 23 years” and they have had no issues with their neighbors.

“We don’t know how or why this started, and don’t understand what caused us to become a target,” she contended.

But her anger at this and other alleged incidents is somewhat tempered by relief that none of her family members were injured and no serious property damage had occurred, she indicated. So rather than responding in a vindictive manner to the episode, she said she would like to see it turned into a “learning opportunity” for the youngster who set off the device, as well as the rest of those involved, which might also be of benefit to “the entire community.”

“He made a huge mistake that could have had tragic consequences, but it shouldn’t ruin the rest of his life,” Neale contended. Such an outcome, she noted, is now more likely than in past years due to reforms instituted by the state in 2020 under a program known as the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, which according to a directive issued by then-Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, was intended “to rehabilitate youth and help them enter adulthood less likely to break the law” by diverting them “away from formal court proceedings and towards social or familial support.”

But Neale, who said she had been asked not to go into further details due to the ongoing investigation, did note that support for the family in response to her Facebook posting has been “overwhelmingly positive” and “we are incredibly grateful.”

“Now it’s time to let the MLPD do their job” she declared.

Typical of the responses to her posting was one that contained the sentiment, “Perhaps if charges were brought against the parents and made public, less of this would be going