Marlton Baseball Returns from Cal Ripken World Series with 10U Trophy; Undefeated Run Capped Off With Walk-Off Victory in Championship Game
By Anthony J. GArciA Staff Writer MARLTON—Cheers could be heard from hundreds of miles away when members of the 10U Marlton Chiefs baseball team from Evesham Township, coached by Mike Appalucci, were crowned the 2022 Cal Ripken World Series champions in Vincennes, Indiana on Aug. 13. “It was really an amazing accomplishment that this little team from Marlton held its own against teams from all across the country,” the head coach told this newspaper in a later interview. “They went through a gauntlet of teams and it is remarkable looking back. All 12 kids participated.” After being victorious at the regional tournament, the team traveled roughly 800 miles to Vincennes, Indiana to represent the Middle Atlantic region and compete against national competition from Aug. 4 to 14. The Chiefs went undefeated during the World Series before winning the championship game, 4-3, against Julington, Florida via a walk-off Catcherhit.for the Chiefs, Drew Gable, See BASEBALL/ Page 10 Photo Provided The Marlton Chiefs 10U baseball team with their coaches in the background.
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Made by District Against Instructor, Who Is Also on LEHT School Board, Finds No Cause for Criminal Charges
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS OF BASEBALL!
By Bill B onvie Staff Writer LITTLE EGG HARBOR—It was the sort of issue — usually categorized as a “personnel matter”— typically discussed in those executive sessions that allow school board members to convene in private, without letting either the public or the media in on their deliberations or even on the identities of those involved. But there was nothing either private or privileged about the controversy to which the relatively short Aug. 15 meeting of the Pinelands Regional Board of Education was largely devoted—one that the employee at the center of it, a long-time shop teacher named Howard Berry, who is also a current member of the Little Egg Harbor Township Board of Education, wanted aired in the open, as was his right, according to Superintendent Dr. Melissa McCooley. What resulted were conflicting versions of events given by McCooley and Berry involving the latter’s allegedly unauthorized use of school property — a kind of “he said, she said” dispute in which each accused the other of lying, and which also has reportedly involved an investigation by the Little Egg Harbor Township Police Department, possibly along with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, of unspecified “allegations,” although with no criminal charges resulting.
Bones of AiredVeteranBetweenContentionMcCooley,ShopTeacheratBoardSession
Police Investigation of ‘Allegations’
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By D ouGl A s D. M eleGA ri Staff Writer MEDFORD LAKES—A “leak” at Medford Lakes Borough’s wastewater treatment plant has since been “contained,” according to Borough Manager Dr. Robert Burton, but repairs are still required. Burton revealed that there is a leak at the plant in an Aug. 10 report he gave to Medford Lakes Borough Council. While it was not said when the leak was first discovered, Burton informed council this month that an emergency appropriation measure will need to be acted upon. “The situation over there is stable,” Burton maintained. “Environmental Resolutions, Inc. (ERI) [the borough’s engineering firm of choice] is working on two viable alternatives to fix the problem.”
Borough Manager Dr. Robert Burton replied that it has been municipal “policy” to “always get a new car every year,” with the borough police department’s fleet now comprising five patrol vehicles, two road vehicles and a “chief’s car.” The “original” of the latter vehicle, the borough manager noted, was purchased in 1990 and driven “until it effectively fell apart.” In 2015, he maintained, the borough then purchased a used Ford Crown Victoria (“Crown Vic”) from the Burlington County Bridge Commission for $1, and once “that fell apart,” or “27 years later” from the original purchase of a chief’s car, it was decided by the municipality to “purchase a new chief’s car.”
By D ouGl A s D. M eleGA ri Staff Writer MEDFORD LAKES—A $628,000 bond ordinance OK’d Aug. 10, as well as a recently-approved municipal budget for Medford Lakes (see separate story), will allot funding, in part, for the Medford Lakes Borough Police Department to introduce tasers to its force for the first time, as well as procure two, new police vehicles, but a former borough councilman is questioning the necessity of the planned purchases –ones that two former policemen who serve on council have thus far, in a response, vigorously defended as being a necessity. Another resident, who isn’t a regular meeting attendee here, when learning at an Aug. 10 Medford Lakes Borough Council meeting of the plan for the local police department to acquire two more vehicles for its fleet, however, gave his “observation” that the number of police cruisers that it already comprises “seems like more than we really need.” “My family wonders why a town of this size has that many police cars out there,” said resident Pete Rodgers. “This is a small town. What’s the criteria? How many miles do you put on them? How many years do you keep them? How many do you really need?” Some of the answers to Rodger’s questions came during a preceding June 8 council meeting when former borough councilman Joseph A. Aromando III, while remarking on the plan, maintained that he had recently “counted seven police cars” that were parked outside the police headquarters for the borough of 1.2 square miles, comparing his observation to the iconic, 2004 “‘You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!’” giveaway on the Oprah Winfrey Show. “We never had this many cars as long as I have been here,” said Aromando, a some 30-year borough resident of his local observations. “At best, we had three to four cars, and the chief would use one.”
Medford Lakes Boro to Purchase Tasers for Its Police Department Despite Former Councilman Calling on Officials to ‘Abandon Idea’ Policing is Changing to ‘Use Less Than Lethal Force,’ Borough Manager Says; Planned Acquisition of New Police Vehicles Draws Concerns About Fleet Size
See TASERS/ Page 8
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In fact, according to Burton, both options “should actually help the plant run even more efficiently when corrected.” The leak, he explained, was the result of a pipe that “didn’t burst, but kind of disintegrated.”
“There is an older section of the plant, but even the newer section of the plant is still 30 plus years old,” he said. “So, one of the pipes came apart. We were able to contain the problem and it has now been bypassed.”
There was no immediate word on whether any environmental remediation work is required, or if it has already been performed. Council’s next meeting is currently scheduled for Sept. 14.
Leak at Medford Lakes Wastewater Treatment Plant ‘Contained’
Photo By Douglas D. Melegari
The function of the plant, Burton maintained, “is fine.” The borough, he added, is working with ERI to get the pipe “repaired in a timely fashion.”
The wastewater treatment plant for Medford Lakes Borough.
According to Burton, the borough has established a schedule for the five patrol vehicles so that they “run 12 hours on, and 12 hours off.” That schedule, he maintained, has limited idling, which he said has been proven to extend a vehicle’s useful life, as well as reduce vehicle maintenance costs to the borough. He added that the borough maintains two “out of service patrol vehicles” as “road vehicles,” or ones for “road jobs,” because when borough officers are assigned construction/road work policing details, often the vehicles sit for extended periods, or idle. “There was a study done by Ford and Chevy, and both car manufactures came up with an equivalency for running a car at idle,” Burton explained. “One hour of idle time is equal to 33 miles.” So, if the borough was to use its patrol vehicles for construction or road project
By D ouGl A s D. M eleGA ri Staff Writer SOUTHAMPTON—A three-alarm inferno engulfed one of three sections of the Mount Holly Motorsports motorcycle and ATV dealership in Southampton Township on the morning of Aug. 17. According to Fire Chief Scott Mitchell, of the Southampton-based Vincent Fire Company, first responders received a report of an alarm system activation around 2:45 a.m. New Jersey State Police were the first to arrive on-scene, according to Mitchell, and reported that there was a fire at the exterior of the one-story commercial building. When firefighters arrived, he said, they found a smoke condition inside the building. However, because of the “construction of the building,” according to the fire chief, in which there is metal sheeting on both the inside and outside of it, the fire was burning in the big timber that is in-between it. “So, we were not able to access the actual fire,” he said of the initial hours of the blaze. An excavator was called in to take apart the section of the building (in the rear) that was on fire, Mitchell explained, but as crews were working to bring it on-site, the ceiling of the affected area of the building started to Itcollapse.ultimately did, causing the fire to then suddenly show from the outside, prompting some television news outlets that had helicopters hovering over the scene to mistakenly report that the fire had started to burn again. It actually had never been put out, according to Mitchell. “That wood sitting in there was burning very slowly, and because of the design of the building, you couldn’t squirt water to get to the actual fire without taking it apart, which is why we went that route (calling in an excavator),” Mitchell explained. “We knew we had to take it apart to get to the fire, but the fire beat us, and once it broke through, we were able to put it out very quickly.”
Inferno Consumes
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Mount Holly Motorsports is considered South Jersey’s premier motorsports destination for Kawasaki, Suzuki, GasGas, Yamaha, Zero Motorcycles, Polaris and KTM“Heyneeds.guys, we are closed until further notice!” the business located at 2044 Route 206 posted on social media the day of the inferno. “Lots going on, thanks for all the love! We will keep you updated the best we can. … Everyone is safe!” The following day, the dealership expressed its optimism online that it would be “back open in a few days.”
WASHINGTON—A motorcyclist from Mays Landing was killed in an Aug. 6 crash in Washington Township. The crash was reported at around 5:47 p.m. on Godfrey Bridge Road, according to New Jersey State Police. “A preliminary investigation indicates that a Harley Davidson motorcycle was traveling east, and a Dodge Grand Caravan was traveling west,” according to Sgt. County Route 563, the motorcycle struck the front driver side of the Dodge.”
MEDFORD LAKES—Dish Wireless is expected to soon add its equipment to a cellphone tower in Medford Lakes Borough that towers over the Medford Lakes Department of Public Works yard, in the rear of the borough’s firehouse. Borough Solicitor Doug Heinold revealed recently that Dish is expected to pay an $8,500 co-location sign-on fee, and then $3,000 a month once the lease starts. “It is a nice little revenue stream from a cell tower,” he declared. “That should be a benefit to the borough, financially.” Heinold reported to Medford Lakes Borough Council last month that the company “has a lease in hand” and maintained “it will be signed by them shortly.” Cell Tower in Medford Lakes
Police Investigate Fatal Hit-and-Run Collision in Pemberton Section of Mount Holly Motorsports in Southampton Motorcyclist Dies in Washington Twp. Crash After Striking Minivan
The dealership, Mitchell said, is essentially divided into three sections. The section consumed by the blaze was around 12,000 square-feet, according to the dealership. Mitchell described the affected space as a multi-purpose area, where new vehicle assembly and mechanical work is often conducted, and bikes are often prepped. It is also an area where an overflow of parts are often stored, the fire chief added, pointing out that it was the newest addition to the dealership, built about 10 years ago. The dealership later described the affected section as “storage warehouse space.”
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While Mitchell said that one team of firefighters was able to pull out motorcycles from the section that caught fire while the firefighting was ongoing, the dealership later described that “a large amount of new crated vehicles, new parts and accessories inventory” were still destroyed by the blaze. There were, however, very few, if any, customer vehicles stored in the warehouse, according to the dealership. The showroom and repair shop portions of the dealership were saved by firefighters, according to Mitchell. However, the main shop suffered “minor fire, smoke and water damage,” according to the dealership. There were reports that as many as 100 motorcycles and ATVs were inside the dealership when the blaze first broke out. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Mitchell said. No injuries were reported in the blaze.
While the fire might have “looked bad,” the fire chief said it was actually “very controlled” with a plan put in place to “protect the main building” once the fire would“Thereshow.was nothing we were able to do to put fire out,” Mitchell maintained. “We couldn’t get to it without pulling it (the “fire building”) apart. To the untrained eye, it looked like it had flared back up, but we knew it was burning all that time and had a plan.”
PEMBERTON—Police in Pemberton Township are investigating an alleged fatal hit-and-run, two-car collision that occurred on North Pemberton Road around midnight on Aug. 17. The collision happened in the area of Pemberton Airport, according to Police Chief Jay Watters. A preliminary investigation, he said, revealed that a 2019 Nissan Rogue traveling eastbound on North Pemberton Road collided with another vehicle that was heading westbound. The collision occurred in the eastbound lane of travel, according to Watters. The police chief said the driver of the vehicle traveling westbound was killed. The driver of the Nissan purportedly left the scene of the crash prior to the arrival of police, he However,added.afront seat passenger of the Nissan, Quaniqua Easley, 30, of the Browns Mills section of Pemberton, was taken to Cooper University Hospital, in Camden, for treatment and released later in the morning. As of press time, Watters reported that attempts to locate the “unknown” driver of the Nissan were made by aircraft and with K-9 units, but the subject was unable to be located.“Theinvestigation is ongoing,” the police chief told this newspaper. The identity of the deceased victim, as well as information about the make and model of that person’s vehicle, was being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The Goodwill Fire Company (from neighboring Pemberton Borough) assisted at the scene. Also assisting at the scene were specialized units from the New Hanover Township Police Department, Evesham Township Police Department, Mount Laurel Township Police Department and the New Jersey State Police.
“First and foremost, we would like to send out a huge heartfelt thank you to the firefighters and all first responders for working hard, saving our business and our jobs!” the dealership said in a statement. “Words cannot explain where we would be if we lost the dealership!” It was added that the firm “is in the process of clean up and inventorying our losses.”
The rider of the motorcycle, Thomas Dowling, Jr., 37, was ejected as a result of the impact and suffered fatal injuries, according to TheGoez.driver of the Dodge, a 43-year-old woman from Tuckerton, sustained minor injuries, Goez added.
According to Mitchell, with the type of insulation in the building, firefighters simply didn’t “have the ability to cut through it” within the emergency timeframe – it could only be done, he maintained, “if we had all day.” In fact, he said, it often “takes weeks, if not months to build something like that.”
Saturday, August 20, 2022 AD HOTLINE: (609) 801-2392 or SALES@PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 3
By D ouGl A s D. M eleGA ri Staff Writer MEDFORD LAKES—The Borough of Medford Lakes has reorganized, with Medford Lakes Borough Council selecting a new mayor and deputy mayor to lead the municipality through July 2023. Dr. Gary Miller, who has served on and off borough council from 1994 to 2016, and has been on it since 2017, and who also held the mayor and deputy mayor posts at various times throughout his tenure, was selected by his colleagues last month to take over the mayoral post yet again, this time from Councilman Thomas Cranston. In Medford Lakes, it is a tradition that the selection vote be kept secret, with the five councilmembers selecting who will serve as mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, via notecards, and the borough clerk then collecting those note cards, tallying up the votes and announcing the winners.
Miller, who last year revealed to this newspaper his diagnosis with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a type of bone marrow cancer that is a “precursor to leukemia,” was surprised during the reorganization ceremony by a multitude of fellow Lakers who came out to support him.
Medford Lakes Borough, he pointed out, recently entered into a shared services agreement with both Tabernacle and Woodland townships for municipal court services. It also now has a shared service with Shamong Township. While both Tabernacle and Woodland will retain their own judges and municipal prosecutors, they will utilize the administrative services of the borough’s court office, as well as the borough’s municipal court facilities.
By D ouGl A s D. M eleGA ri Staff Writer
See TAXES/ Page 9 See MAYOR/ Page 9
Photo Provided Dr. Gary Miller, while taking the oath of office for Medford Lakes mayor, pays homage to his late father, a World War II veteran.
“I didn’t expect people to come out and see this, and some of my friends are here, and I really do appreciate that – thank you,” said Miller is recognizing their attendance.
“My father was a World War II veteran who flew B17 planes and he is the main impetus behind my getting involved in this community and public service,” said Miller, who has also served as an executive chef at the Medford Village Country Club for more than three decades, according to his LinkedIn profile page. “He was mayor and freeholder (now called county commissioners in this county), and I marveled at him doing other service. Somehow it struck a chord with me, and it just stayed with me.” His father’s service to both his country and community is something that present day Miller said he has long “cherished,” in
The borough, Burton noted, will make a little money on the arrangement, while both Tabernacle and Woodland will save a little money. The borough, the borough manager acknowledged, is forced to expand its court staffing as a result of the arrangement, as well as make its municipal court administrator position a full-time post. “On the flipside” of the news about municipal court revenues, the borough, Burton noted, “did see an increase during COVID with construction fees.” He explained that property owners sought permits for various projects during the pandemic, driving the increased revenue in that area. However, “the revenue from permit fees and things like that” is not the same as other revenue streams in the sense of “not everybody pays,” the borough manager contended.
Page 4 ♦ LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM Saturday, August 20, 2022
New Mayor of Medford Lakes, While Being Sworn-in to Position, Pays Homage to His Late Father Who Had Served in World War II
At the same time that revenue to the borough has decreased, expenses have increased, Burton noted, including healthcare costs for borough employees, which the borough manager revealed has increased by about 10 percent over last year. “It was a tough budget to put together, mainly because a lot of our revenues are down,” Burton declared. “But with some changes, and in talking to department heads, we were able to get things trimmed from the budget, to get it (the tax levy increase) down to just over two cents.” A home assessed at the borough average of $288,615 will pay approximately $1,977 a year in municipal taxes, or an increase of about $60 a year, he said. “That’s $5 a month, or about 17 cents a day,” Burton declared. The borough manager, in maintaining that the tax increase is “very small,” compared
Miller broke with tradition, however, and instead of placing his hand on the Bible when it came time for him to be sworn-in to the mayoral post, placed his hand on the very American flag given to his father, a World War II veteran, upon his death, which had also draped his coffin.
MEDFORD LAKES—The municipal tax levy in Medford Lakes Borough will rise “just over” two cents, after Medford Lakes Borough Council recently adopted its 2022 municipal budget of $4,958,788.62 calling for a “slight” taxBoroughincrease. Manager Dr. Robert Burton, who referred to the increase as being slight, contended that the reason behind it is because “certain revenue items are down” and “unfortunately, we’re not in a great economy right now,” all while expenses are rising. One of the areas, he said, that has seen a significant decrease in revenue over year-toyear is the municipal court. In 2019, he pointed out, before the Coronavirus pandemic began, the borough brought in about $58,000 in “tickets, fines andButfees.”in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, that revenue dropped to around $32,000. And last year, it decreased further, to about $24,000. “So, that is a pretty big hit,” Burton declared.Theborough, he noted, is optimistic that revenue from the court “will go back up to where it needs to be.”
Taxes Rise ‘Slightly’ in Medford Lakes Boro After Revenues Decline and Employee Healthcare Costs, Among Other Expenses, Increase
While Many Locals Surprised Mayor, Who is Battling Illness, with Their Attendance at Ceremony, Reorganization Meeting Was Not Without Controversy Over Its Date
Saturday, August 20, 2022 AD HOTLINE: (609) 801-2392 or SALES@PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 5
“I actually like deer,” McHugh contended, and when Councilwoman Patricia Hansen noted she herself has observed a lot of deer on Route 70, he responded that it makes him “crazy” to see all that meat going to waste on the side of the road. In reply to a question from Hansen about the timing of bow hunting season, he called that “another beautiful part,” since, unlike firearm hunting season which only runs for about six days in December, bow hunting season starts in September and can last until the end of February for those with a special kind of permit. “So, it’s not a crowded thing,” McHugh said. “You’re not going to see a lot of (bow) hunters, it just doesn’t work that way.” When Hansen asked if there was a limit to the number that could be taken, McHugh replied that in the zone that included Evesham, “you’re allowed nine.”
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By Bill B onvie Staff Writer EVESHAM—The Evesham Township Council, meeting on Aug. 10, was asked to consider allowing the hunting of deer with bows and arrows inside the confines of two or more wooded sections of the township that are publicly owned, but not ordinarily used by hikers. The request came from Peter McHugh, Jr., a 25-year resident, and bow hunter, who suggested that it be implemented within a 117-acre tract on Evesboro-Medford Road that he claimed “gets no activity at all” and a sizeable Green Acres parcel on Tuckerton Road, as well as several smaller pieces of undeveloped land. McHugh, who identified himself as a retired police officer, maintained that while he understood how “problematic” regular hunting could be in a municipality such as Evesham, bow hunting would not be, inasmuch as those who engage in it “usually hunt from an elevated stand” with their trajectory straight down, while also getting only one shot at a time, in addition to making no noise. He also claimed that this method of hunting was the safest and most efficient way of reducing the frequency with which deer are struck by cars, which, according to his estimate, occurs once every 28 minutes in South Jersey. It would also reduce the number of deer ticks proliferating the area and the destruction of residents’ shrubbery by hungry deer. As for any liability concerns, “New Jersey Fish and Wildlife specifies that the liability is only to a hunter on public property,” he asserted. Furthermore, “you’d have to abide by the law in regard to how far you are from a building, a school, or whatever,” all of which is “spelled out in the game book,” he noted. When McHugh was asked by Councilman Eddie Freeman III whether he proposed such hunting for “sport or consumption,” McHugh replied that he would never kill an animal purely for sport, but that it’s “always about consumption,” with venison being “a very healthy meat, high in protein and low in fat.”
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And while he acknowledged “that’s a lot of deer to take and consume,” there are programs in which “you can pay for the processing and donate to a food bank.” While no action was taken on the proposal, Deputy Mayor Heather Cooper appeared amenable to the idea, maintaining that “since we’ve been in office, I’ve had three different people approach us with a similar question, so it is a concern, as well as one of our local farmers complaining about his crops being eaten by deer.” ‘I can’t tell you the number of carcasses I’ve seen,” Cooper added. “It’s more prevalent since we’re a town that has predominantly built out, so they’re looking for somewhere to Shego.” then thanked McHugh for the dialogue, the information, and for the input on the subject.
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In other business, council introduced on first reading an ordinance amending a section of the municipal code pertaining to the placement of pools and hot tubs in MD1 (Medium Density-1) zones, as well standards for swimming pool equipment such as pumps and filters, with a public hearing set for Sept. 14.
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Director of Community Development Kevin Rijs explained that the revised ordinance would reduce the required setback of such facilities from 15 to five feet, eliminating the need for residents to have to seek a variance from the Zoning Board Of Adjustment every time they wanted to install one or place pumps and filters in a more convenient spot other than the side of a Cooper,house. in her regular report, noted that a “kids special needs camp,” a pilot program the township is offering, would be conducted from Aug. 29 through Sept. 2 from 9 a.m. to noon. The camp, she said, will be available at a $120 fee to youngsters “who might not have the opportunity to attend other camps.” Hansen announced that a project initiated two years ago after a resident brought it to her attention – installing a bus shelter in front of the Kohl’s Shopping Center on Route 70, had been completed with help from township management and officials of NJ Transit. It is now providing “a place to sit, protection from the weather and a feeling of safety and security,” Hansen declared. for one insurance policy/certificate of this type. Contact us for complete details about this insurance solicitation. This specific offer is not available in CO, LA, NY; call 1-800-969-4781 or respond for similar offer. Certificate C250A (ID: C250E; PA: C250Q); Insurance Policy P150 (GA: P150GA; NY: P150NY; OK: P150OK; TN: P150TN). Rider kinds B438, B439 (GA: B439B). 6247-0121
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“It’s not true that they won’t deliver to my house— I have an account with them,” heHisasserted.initial reprimand on that issue, in which he was called out of class and told he needed union representation, was indeed what he would consider a “gotcha” moment, heHeadded.then alluded to something McCooley had not mentioned at all – that local authorities had somehow become involved in the school district’s investigation of the matter – with references to “the police when she had criminal charges against me” and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office having purportedly determined that he “didn’t get any gain here—there was no benefit at all.”
Berry also contended that the work he was doing for the district was saving it approximately $25,000, and that having his students participate would enable them to come back years from now and recount how they’d helped build it. “That’s what I’ve done for 36 years,” he maintained. “It’s so frustrating to be unappreciated.”Then,afterbeing told he had exceeded his allotted time, but allowed to conclude what he was saying anyway, Berry apologized for being overly passionate and attempted to sum up the ways he believed his actions had saved the district money, “not the other way around.”“Look, I’m on my way out,” he lamented. “I know that – it’s just a heck of a way to go. This is what frustrates people, and these great employees we have in this district, to see them always treated like this. And they are frustrated. You don’t get to see it, but I see it all the time.” While there was no immediate action taken by the board or the administration in regard to the matter, the Pine Barrens Tribune attempted to follow up on the dispute the next day, first reaching out in a phone call to McCooley, who responded to Berry’s assertions by contending that they should not have been aired publicly but rather taken
“You might think I’m a lousy teacher,” he remarked. “But I’m a pretty accomplished carpenter.”Andbeing asked to do that project, which he likened to “a guy building a boat in his basement,” was what led to his being in the shop during the summer building cabinets for his “Youdaughter.can’tbuild something that big and bring it into the commons,” explained Berry, saying he was studying the best way to accomplish that when he saw the answer might lie in a system the school had with different types of connectors that he described as “basically a plate joiner on steroids,” which “companies use so they can build stuff, ship it across the country and have it assembled.” But having had no experience with this particular equipment, he thought he first needed to practice using it—which was what he was doing while building the cabinets. The kind of wood involved, he later emphasized, is “not something you’re going to find at Home Depot or Tuckerton Lumber,” but “really specialized stuff” that sells for $200 a sheet. His desire not to make a mistake, he said, was “another reason I wanted to practice.” “You pay me to be a professional, that’s what I know, that’s what I’m doing,” he declared.Berry also disputed another of the superintendent’s claims— that his having added wood for his own use to the school’s order was improper, and that the Pennsylvania wholesaler involved, Mann & Parker, would not otherwise sell to him as an individual, but only to an institution such as a school or a company that used its products to manufacture merchandise.
TEACHER (Continued from Page 1) See TEACHER/ Page 15
The superintendent went on to explain that a district security policy limited access to school buildings outside of regular school hours to “personnel whose employment requires their presence” and that there were also liability concerns about an unauthorized individual doing work there should that person get injured using school equipment. But she said she had “made an appointment through my secretary to meet with him and his (union) representative to hear his perspective and his side of the story and take it from there,” when Berry had indicated he wanted the matter aired at an open board meeting, rather than behind closedWhendoors.itcame his turn to speak, Berry delivered an indignant rebuttal to much of what McCooley had alleged. Considerably exceeding his allotted three minutes’ time to speak, he began by introducing himself as “the employee in question tonight” and maintained that “as usual with the leadership in the district, you’re not getting the information completely right.” Berry then explained what had preceded his latest alleged violations of school policies – a request made of him to use his carpentry skills to construct a massive trophy case on the commons that was supposed to be 32 feet long, three feet wide, and almost 12 feet high. While ordering the wood for the project, he said, which came from a specialty wholesaler in Pennsylvania, he had taken the opportunity to include a separate order for some plywood of his own “because I figured I’m not getting a stipend, I’m not getting comp time, I’m not getting anything – I’m just building this for the district like I’ve done before.”
McCooley said he further accused her of calling him into a “gotcha” meeting (the one back in 2021) and “also stated he is a taxpayer in town and should be able to have the wood delivered to the school”— something “he admitted to knowing he couldn’t do,” she asserted, but which he called “a stupid mandate” with which he was not going to comply. In addition, McCooley contended, Henderson had told her that “the ‘f’ word was used multiple times when speaking about me in particular.”
According to the account the superintendent provided at the meeting, Berry, back in January of last year, was found to be using some of his shop students to load wood he had purchased for his own use into his truck, and in the process getting the benefit of a discount the supplier offered to the school, at which point he was called into a meeting along with his immediate supervisor, and after producing a receipt for the wood, was told to “please refrain from placing any orders in conjunction with school purchase orders.” The teacher, she said, had answered, “no problem,” and no formal disciplinary measure was deemed necessary at that time. A month ago, however, McCooley maintained, Principal Troy Henderson discovered in the course of a building sweep “some very nice kitchen cabinets being built in Mr. Berry’s woodshop room,” and had subsequently queried him as to why he was there during the summer months when he wasn’t on the job using the facility to build personal items, which he admitted he had no permission to do. Berry, she alleged, then became very angry and started making “defamatory” remarks about her, claiming “that I’d ruined the district because for years shop teachers were allowed to come in to work during the summer and work in their classrooms.”
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“Policing has kind of changed,” Burton said. “More (officers and police departments) want to use less than lethal force. I do not expect that we are going to tasering a lot of people … I don’t know, but I am certainly not going to tell the police department how to run things. And they feel it is something that is important for them to have.”
The bond ordinance passed 4-0 on second reading (with one member of council absent), after being unanimously introduced, 5-0. Burton noted the cost of the tasers will be spread out over five years.
Councilman Thomas Cranston, who pointed out that he served as a borough police officer when the local force only had three vehicles comprising its fleet, attested that “on many occasions” having only three vehicles “was problematic.” He described that on at least two occasions, his patrol vehicle had broken down during the nightshift and that he “had to call a tow truck,” which left “no other car on duty.” “The argument can be made that by rotating them, you are giving them a rest period, and that they last longer, which means the overall cost is lower, not higher,” said Cranston, who pointed out that when he used to work nightshifts on the local force, he was the only officer on duty as well. “It also speaks to the importance of having two officers on-duty, all the time. When I called the tow truck, you had to hope there were no other calls. I don’t think having an additional vehicle is a bad thing.”
Of the $628,000 bond approved Aug. 10, the borough has bonded $60,000 just for the acquisition of two, new police department vehicles, as well as all related materials and equipment.“Backwhen we had three cars, we had six officers,” recounted veteran Police Chief Robert Dugan. “As the department grew, the department’s car fleet grew as well. At one point, we had three cars serve five patrolmen. At one time, when a car was out of service, we had nine officers share five cars. As the department grew, the fleet had to grow. Right now, we have nine officers share five cars.”
“In speaking with the chief, that (having a taser) is the most effective way to deal with somebody who could potentially hurt someone else, or hurt themselves.”
Additionally, according to Burton, by preserving some of the older police vehicles, the borough is in a position to provide policing details for “road jobs” that generates revenue for the municipality, with Medford Lakes receiving some $72,000 in revenue last year alone with jobs that occurred both in and out of town. “You could argue that is the cost of the two cars right there,” asserted Burton, pointing out that the borough receives a 15 percent administration fee, as well as $20 an hour for a cruiser. While the borough is generating revenue by providing construction/road work details, “we don’t want to do that with the newer cars because having them sit and do nothing (or idle) is not a great idea,” the borough manager maintained. According to Burton, on Aug. 10, two borough patrol vehicles will be placed out of service, with one listed for auction, while the other “will be used for road detail.” A Chevy Tahoe, he noted, is the one likely to be sold at auction, for what he described would be an “outright premium price.” “The reason,” he said that the borough “effectively rotates the cars in and out” is that “we effectively have two police officers on patrol, 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week, for 365 days of the year” and should there only be three patrol vehicles as was the case previously, “you’d be running those into the ground, running them 24/7, 365.”
Photo By Douglas D. Melegari A line of police vehicles outside the Medford Lakes Borough Police Department.
Mirriam Webster defines a taser as a “gun that fires electrified darts to stun and immobilize a person,” while Google’s dictionary defines one as a “weapon firing barbs attached by wires to batteries, causing temporary paralysis.”
Aromando, however, in delivering a later rebuttal to Dugan, maintained that the police chief “wasn’t correct” with his figures and that the department “had a full complement of officers” when there were only three police vehicles, and “from what
“I can tell you we had an incident this year with a subject, armed with a knife, and one of our guys had to disarm that person physically,” Burton said. “That shouldn’t happen. Our officer could have been injured, hurt, maimed, and the person that had the knife also could have been seriously injured in a struggle to get the knife.
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By maintaining vehicles in the police department fleet that were put out of service for patrolling (which he pointed out happens once they rack up about 80,000 miles) but are still usable for construction/road work policing details, Burton said it has kept the cost of police vehicle maintenance at $8,500 or under “for five years now.”
Another $75,000, according to Burton, has been earmarked in the bond for acquisition of other equipment for the local police department – including some 11 tasers, with an estimated cost of around $45,000. “I think it is problematic,” Aromando declared. “You don’t need to bring more weaponry to town. We have community policing. We managed all these years to safely police our population without having to bring these weapons in, and I just think it becomes more problematic if someone gets hurt.”
I understand, we still have the same number of officers” on the force. “The point being is we survived, and functioned perfectly fine with at least three cars and a chief’s car,” Aromando maintained. “Now, we are up to 8, 9 or 10 vehicles depending on what the reality really is. I think there is certainly a line that we have to draw with what it costs the community for policing. We are starting to get up to and over it (the line). … There has got to be somewhere along line, where the line has to be drawn with how much we spend and the cost to defend the people of this town and to have safety.” The bottom-line, according to the former borough councilman, is that he thinks the number of vehicles in the borough police fleet are “in excess” and “we need to bring the car numbers down.”
When Aromando asked Fields if he ever had to use a taser on the job, the retired lieutenant replied that he didn’t, but was “in a situation” in which the display of one “de-escalated” an incident “immediately.” “Nobody wants to get shot (with electricity), apparently,” Fields quipped. But Aromando, previous to this particular exchange with Fields, told council that, “I hope you abandon this idea.” “You want to abandon tasers?” Fields retorted. “No! In this day and age, police officers have limited ways to engage people, and in our society right now – look on CNN – police have to use every tool possible. And if we withhold a taser, and they (the police) get involved in a shooting with a guy that has a knife because that (a gun) is all they have, and we didn’t give them that (the taser), then we are on the hook!” Fields maintained that borough police officers being provided tasers “is just like them having body cams and everything else,” and will attain a “level of protection for us and them.”
“I was a proponent of them when I got them for my department,” Fields explained. “They are just another tool to limit exposure and liability. They are a tool that can disarm and de-escalate – just by the fact of showing it sometimes. Some people are afraid of electricity. We are at that point now where we have to look at this. And I think we are behind the curve. We are not ahead of the curve with this at all.” Fields pointed out that other municipal police departments in Burlington County have used tasers “for years” and that it is something that Dugan approached council with “and we are all in” to provide them for borough officers. But Aromando, who has challenged the status quo in every municipal election since leaving office in 2002, emphasized he is “not in favor of spending money on tasers,” maintaining that he has “been here 30 plus years” and “never found anything” that warrants what he referred to as an escalation, pointing out that he never heard officials previously express a need for tasers. That remark prompted Burton to reveal that he is “aware of two separate situations in last 24 months where something happened.”
Deputy Mayor William Fields, who spent nearly a decade as a security police officer for the New Jersey Air National Guard, and then served the Mount Holly Police Department from 1994 to 2019, retiring from there as a lieutenant, quipped in response, “it’s not an additional weapon.” Rather, he said, “it is an additional tool for de-escalation,” or one “to save lives, actually.”
“When in a fight situation – which I have been in numerous times as a police officer, you’d like to have an extra tool to resort to before you have to resort to a firearm in a life-or-death situation,” Fields contended. “A taser is non-lethal, and that’s why we have them. I wouldn’t want to be in a town that didn’t have that option.”
Wikipedia refers to a taser, also known as a stun gun, as an “electroshock weapon,” though the site notes the temporary incapacitation of an individual with one allows them to be “handled” in a “safe manner.”
TASERS (Continued from Page 2)
“Some issues were out of our control,” the borough solicitor said. “We are doing the best we can to operate in light of what the mayor is going through.”
TAXES (Continued from Page 4) MAYOR (Continued from Page 4) Sell It in the Classifieds! To Place an Ad Call: 609-801-2392
Heinold added that he while he is “not at liberty to speak to health issues” of the councilmembers, he was “advised council simply would not be able to meet that day (July 1).” He revealed that there had been a discussion about holding reorganization prior to July 1, but it was determined that doing so “is not legally permissible.”
“None of us wants to raise taxes,” said Borough Mayor Dr. Gary Miller. “None of us relishes that and enjoys it, however there are times and circumstances that requires it. Good job in keeping it (the tax levy) as low as you possibly could.”
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The “inability of people to attend,” the former borough councilman maintained, “is not a legal answer” to his question, declaring, “it is the first time in the history of this town that we did not actually do this on the day that the law says it is required.”
“I just want to know how it is that our town thinks it is OK to not meet the legal requirement,” Aromando said. “I wish to get a straight answer as to why you all felt it was OK to postpone the meeting. I think it is wrong, and should never be done, especially when you all claim to have such admiration for this form of government.” Miller, in response, recommended that the former borough councilman “move on” to other topics, pointing out that Aromando’s three minutes allotted to make public comments was running out. Aromando called the mayor’s response “very disconcerting,” maintaining he was speaking about the topic to ensure there was a “public record” of it. The former borough councilman also chastised officials for strictly enforcing the three-minute rule on him, when they had just allowed a woman, at a preceding meeting, to speak for more than 10 minutes during public comment, maintaining he has a right to “equal protection” under the law. “Everybody better get three minutes from now on and that is it!” Aromando declared.
manage to attend and to be able to honor the requirements of the statute. I can’t understand why we are not able to.”
Burton emphasized that the remaining some $7,000 in taxes that a home assessed at the township average pays annually goes to support the county, local and regional school districts, with roughly two-thirds of that amount going towards the schools. Of the $1,977 paid to the borough, Burton maintained that “what you get for that small amount money” is police protection, fire response, EMS services, Department of Public Works services, including trash, leaf, and brush pick-up, as well as road maintenance, in addition to road improvement programs, dam maintenance and bridge work. That’s on top of the maintenance and operation of the municipality’s various buildings and administrative services, he added.“Effectively, it’s not a bad deal,” Burton maintained.Thelone resident to question various aspects of this year’s municipal budget during a public hearing on it was former borough councilman Joseph A. Aromando III. At one point he questioned why “budget workshops” weren’t held on the budget before it was presented at a council meeting, prompting Burton to reply that the meetings he held with the various department heads “were the budget workshops,” and that he then brought their recommendations to council. “The missing component is the public,” declared Aromando in response. “There is revealing that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps by getting involved in public service, locally. Another reason for “switching things up a little bit,” according to Miller, is that his daughter, Lorraine, served in the U.S. Air Force, including conducting a tour of duty in Afghanistan, while his son is currently serving in Jordan with the Air Force. “So, this is in respect, honor and homage to all of them,” he declared. “That is why I chose to do it this way.” Miller described his seeing all the people who came out to witness his being sworn-in as mayor as “very heartwarming.” “I got chills,” Miller said. Following Miller’s appointment to the mayoral post, one of his council colleagues, William Fields, was chosen to serve as the borough’s deputy mayor. The July 13 reorganization ceremony began with Cranston and Councilman Dennis P. O’Neill being sworn-in to new terms on council, after handily defeating rival Joseph A. Aromando III. Borough Clerk Mark McIntosh, in noting that “100 percent of the vote had been counted,” certified that in a May municipal election, Cranston received 38.51 percent of the vote, followed by O’Neil, who got 39.93 percent of the vote, with Aromando trailing behind them with only 20.58 percent of the vote. “Personal choice” votes amounted to a mere .99 percent of the vote, the borough clerk pointed out. The borough’s reorganization, however, has not been without controversy, with Aromando, who has run in every municipal election here since his 2002 loss of a seat on council, contending both on July 13, and at a subsequent council meeting on Aug. 10, that officials violated a state law that mandates a municipality with May municipal elections reorganize at 12 noon on July 1. “The meeting is required to be held on July 1, at 12 noon, and was permitted to be postponed and rescheduled,” pointed out Aromando to council once the meeting chambers mostly cleared of residents following the ceremony. “How can that legally be Boroughpermissible?”Solicitor Doug Heinold, in response, said that there had been a discussion “to the fact that July 1 was the Friday before Fourth of July,” and that “due to absences and some issues with the ability for people to attend,” it had been decided that reorganization could not proceed on JulyThe1. first date that everyone could get together, he noted, was July 13. “The reality is that particular statute comes from 1923, and almost no towns reorganize on the first day of reorganization, or potential reorganization, anymore. This is our regularly scheduled meeting date, and based upon availability, and given time of year, this is the decision that we made.” But Aromando shouted from his seat that his question about the “legal basis” for the decision had not yet been answered. And when it came time for another round of public comment on non-agenda items at the end of the reorganization session, Aromando declared that, “I don’t feel my question was answered in regard to the law.”
“I encourage council and administration not to engage in any back and forth on any of these questions,” Miller asserted. “You are free to say what you need to say, and we will take it under advisement, and we may not answer you, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t listening to you. We want to respect you, and listen to what you have to say, but I don’t think it is conducive to the smooth-running operation here to get into a debate.”
The former borough councilman continued to make critical statements of the local government, however, and even critically questioned some officials, to the point that Miller told him that “let me be clear about something: I will be running the meetings now” and “this is public comment, not public debate and public discussion.”
Medford Lakes is one of a handful of municipalities in the county that hold May municipal elections and reorganizes in July, versus holding such elections in November with annual reorganization in January. Aromando has repeatedly railed against council’s decision to not move municipal elections to November, going against the wishes of the voters who decided a referendum question in November 2019 to thatTheeffect.then-council, which comprised of some of the present-day members, previously pointed out that the referendum question was a non-binding one that left the final decision up to the governing body, which arrived at its decision on the basis that local elections should remain non-partisan and not otherwise be influenced by state or national politics. “Two things – one being that in my years of living here, I can’t recall one time where we didn’t honor the statutory requirement of meeting on July 1,” Aromando said. “And secondly, I looked up many of the other towns that do this, and somehow they all no documentation, only conversation in a backroom, discussing this stuff. Democracy is designed so that light shines on all activities, and ultimately, everything that goes on is publicized.”Thatprompted to the borough manager to quip, in reply, “not when it comes to meeting with my budget (department) heads.” Of the areas of the budget trimmed back, Burton said that they “wouldn’t be too impactful on the community,” maintaining officials did a “good job” with the cuts. The total amount of the some $4.9 million budget, he maintained, is “not nearly as much (money) as we asked for in the past.” The borough, to assist in financing various capital projects as outlined in the budget, has adopted a $628,000 bond ordinance. The bond, in addition to supporting planned new vehicle and taser acquisitions for the police department (see separate story), will finance $30,000 in equipment upgrades for the borough fire department, including new pagers, in addition to a some $20,000 acquisition of a property at the entrance of the municipality that has long been an eyesore with known environmental contamination issues that requires remediation. The property, at the corner of Stokes Road and Lenape Trail, with a physical address of 32 Stokes Road, is known locally as the “gateway property” because of its location in the borough, according to previous remarks by Borough Solicitor Doug Heinold. The bond will also finance up to $30,000 for acquisition of a utility body liftgate for the borough’s Department of Public Works. This year’s municipal budget also reflects a $325,000 grant for the borough’s road improvement program, with improvements planned for the Mohawk Trail “circle area.”
the situation to buying coffee at Starbucks, maintaining that “if you buy a cup of coffee every day, you are not getting one for 17 cents.” “You never want to have an increase,” Burton added. “But it is a very small increase, and we really didn’t have to cut anything from a service standpoint. People from Medford Lakes expect a certain level of service, so it is important that we provide that and will try to work within the budget that we have.”
Aromando has also spent the last couple of months challenging Councilwoman Gail Caputo’s attendance at council meetings, as well as Cranston’s attendance while serving on the Planning Board, calling on both of them to resign from their respective positions, but also maintaining they had both statutorily vacated their seats on the respective bodies by being absent so many times. Such charges have led to some tense clashes. Caputo has missed four of 12 council meetings so far this year, according to public records, while Cranston has been alleged to have missed eight of 11 planning board meetings, but Cranston was ultimately reappointed to the board Aug. 10, despite protest from Aromando, who, in part, maintained it is “really disrespectful to the people of Medford Lakes.” Both councilmembers have not yet publicly divulged the reason(s) behind their absences.
While that ultimately led to a shouting match and council adjourning the July 13 meeting on Aromando for a closed session, by the time of the subsequent Aug. 10 council meeting, the governing body had returned to somewhat engaging Aromando and answering most of his questions, including one that yet again queried the legal basis for the decision to move the reorganization meeting beyond July 1. Miller was absent from the latest borough council meeting, with Burton sharing that it was a “medical issue that prohibited him from being here” and that “it was also part of the reason the reorganization was moved.” “It was because he could not be here,” Burton revealed. “Unfortunately, it was not a situation where we could say to him, ‘You have to be here,’ given what he is going through with his treatments.”
Leading up to the World Series, Marlton Baseball continued to stick to fundamentals in order to prepare for the boost in competition at the national level. “We continued to practice hard,” Coach Appalucci said. “We tried to create our practices to be as hard as possible so that when they got to the games, they knew what to expect. That has been the biggest thing as we continue to grow with this team.” Last year, the Marlton 9U team, coached by Appalucci, was victorious at the state tournament and moved on to regional play.
Cole West, outfielder, described that, “We work really well together.” “If we are losing, we always come back … we always pick each other up,” West pointed out. He said that his coaches and teammates all share a common respect for each other and that this respect is what allowed the team to come back stronger this year, in addition to driving their ability to stay in the games this season, even when they were behind. “Our biggest strength is that we work well as a unit,” he said, explaining that the team began preparing for the season back in January with optional winter workouts that were held once a week, on PracticesSundays.beganshortly thereafter, which were followed by exhibition games and eventually tournament play against club teams. This year, Coach Appalucci asserted, “we really challenged the boys in our tournament schedule in preparation for our district run.” “When we built our schedule, I did not know what to expect … but overall, our team had 40 wins, seven losses and one tie,” he added. “They had a tremendous year. “Win or lose, we wanted our team to face good competition in order to get better.”
Local businesses and residents in Marlton made donations to help get the team to Indiana and pay for the expense of new uniforms. “You could feel the support,” he said. “My phone was blowing up with people cheering us Coachon.” Appalucci made it a point to tell his team during their last practice that hundreds of fans back home were supporting the Chiefs. “Marlton is a great baseball town; it always has been,” he said. “The support we received from Marlton and the surrounding communities was tremendous.” A parade will be held to honor the championship victory of the Chiefs; however, a date has not yet been decided, according to CoachAssistantAppalucci.Coach Chris West noted that “last year the boys were more wide-eyed, and this year, after winning districts and states, as well as qualifying for regionals last year, the boys were“Theseready.”boys – they never give in,” he declared. “They never blink. They never give up.”
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The team had roughly the same roster this year, with 11 familiar faces, and one new player. The 2022 roster consisted of Gable, Kyle Burgess, the younger Appalucci, Clayton Westerside, Kellan Graham, Brayden Ziegler, Christopher Cameron, Nick Hopp, Jacob Mcgonigle, Aiden Siitonen, Cole West and Danny Incollingo. The Chiefs were not only coached by Mike Appalucci, but also assistant coaches Brian Gable, Chris West, Jason Siitonen and Scott Graham.Throughout the year, scoring runs and hitting the ball well is what drove the spirit of the team, according to Coach Appalucci; however, strong pitching and defense is how Marlton was able to defeat the national competition during the World Series. “Team play is where our strength was,” he maintained. “We were able to do a little bit of everything well.” Marlton faced familiar competition from last year during their run, including teams from Florida, Hawaii and Alabama. “I could give you a moment during the World Series run where every kid on our team made an impact on the game that allowed us to win,” Coach Appalucci added. “That’s what made our team so special, all 12 of them had to come together to win the thing. Everybody had a moment that catapulted us to victory.”
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recounted the situation in the final game when his teammate, Michael Appalucci, was at the plate with a tie score. “There were two outs with runners on first and second base, and Mike hit a ball that hopped the fence allowing the lead runner to score, which won us the game on a walk off,” he Gablesaid.described the chemistry of the team as “like brothers,” and said that he and his teammates are all friends when they are not together on the diamond. “We came back from the result we had last year, and it was really exciting,” he said. “We worked really hard over the winter to get to this point. We had experience playing good club teams, which helped us get ready for teams from other states.” Notably, Gable and the younger Appalucci earned “All World Series Team” honors and the latter also received the “Overall Most Outstanding Player” award. The younger Appalucci added that it felt good to receive these honors, yet he was mostly happy that his team was able to work together to win the championship. “It’s shocking to know that we won the World Series against competition that was really good,” he declared. “It was good to get further than we did last year – that was my goal in the offseason.”
Coach West said that he hopes that all the hard work, sacrifice and teamwork makes the players realize they are capable of great things when they apply themselves. “They will always have this bond,” he added. “These 12 boys are forever linked. There is something special about this group. They have a special chemistry. They pull for each other and pick each other up and they know when the other person needs something.”
Official ‘Put Out His Own Money’ to Feed Help During Recent Forest Fire
JosephSmith See ADMINISTRATORS/ Page 15
WASHINGTON—An official from Washington Township is calling on the Green Bank Volunteer Ambulance Company, Lower Bank Volunteer Fire Company, Green Bank Volunteer Fire Company, Washington Township Committee and municipal emergency management coordinator to “get together” and “figure out” how local first responders will be fed in the event of another large scale emergency of the likes of the 13,500-acre forest fire that occurred here in June of this year. The incident, known as the “Mullica River Fire” after the conflagration broke out in the forest, in the vicinity of the Mullica River, as previously reported by this newspaper, spanned multiple days with the fire spreading to other nearby towns, including in another county. Apparently, as Washington Township Deputy Clerk Karen Bacon revealed on Aug. 2, the municipality “did not really have” Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in place “on what to do,” and as a
Washington Mayor Daniel James replied that he “agreed” with the deputy township clerk.“Imet with the OEM coordinator to try to figure out how to resolve this problem we are having supplying our emergency services when out on fire calls, or major events, because I don’t think they are going to become any fewer,” James declared.
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result, Washington Deputy Mayor C. Leigh Gadd, Jr., who is also Washington’s public safety director, ended up having to “put out his own money” to feed the first responders during the emergency. He was ultimately reimbursed, according to Bacon, “but it shouldn’t be like that,” she declared.“Intalking with OEM (the Office of Emergency Management), I really think we have no SOP on what to do, or on how to feed our men when they are out there fighting the fire,” she said. “I would prefer, or like to have a meeting between the fire companies, ambulance squad, OEM and township committee, and get together to figure out what to do.”
Two Top Administrators with Pemberton Township Schools to Depart for New Opportunities in Education, Including Beloved Principal at HS Deputy Clerk Calls on Washington Township Entities, Governing Body to Create SOP on How to Feed First Responders During Emergencies
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Education (NJDOE) mistakenly used Fiscal Year 2018 tax data, instead of Fiscal Year 2019 tax data, when determining school year 2020-21 aid allotment to the Pemberton district, as well as that the district qualified for a “municipal overburden” exemption. That discovery led the state to ultimately restore some $2 million in funding to the district.Both Joseph and Smith will be leaving Pemberton at the end of September, Mignella said. Their replacements have not yet been named as of press time.
“I am happy to congratulate both Mr. Joseph and Mr. Smith on these exciting new opportunities,” said Pemberton Superintendent Jeff Havers regarding the relocation of both Joseph and Smith. “While we will miss their expertise and the outstanding contributions they have made to our learning community, we are proud that their Pemberton experiences, loyalty, and talents that have served Pemberton students so well have been recognized by other educational organizations, and we wish them well in their new endeavors.”
An inquiry made by this newspaper to the Little Egg Harbor Police Department about whether it had become involved in the matter elicited the following reply from Lt. Michael Hart, a department spokesman: “Allegations were made about Mr. Berry by the district. These allegations were investigated and upon completing the investigation, no criminal charges were found to be appropriate and none were filed.”
TEACHER (Continued from Page 7) ADMINISTRATORS (Continued from Page 11) Visit: Facebook.com/pinebarrenstribune
A similar query made to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office had not been answered by this newspaper’s deadline time. As for whether Berry had an account of his own with the Mann & Parker wholesale lumber firm, a spokesman for that company, Eddie Deavers, who was contacted by phone, indicated that while the company ordinarily only sells its merchandise to companies that use it in items to be resold, or to institutions like schools, there apparently was some kind of informal arrangement made with a shop teacher who “was buying material and having his material shipped with the school’s material.” But, while that didn’t occur in his territory, he believed it had been curtailed when a question had been raised whether “it was his or the school’s” Berry could not be reached for comment on the superintendent’s remarks, but, according to a source, had been advised by his legal counsel and union representatives not to speak to the media. But Williams, who had served on the Pinelands board for a number of years before a COVID infection and subsequent lung transplant forced him to retire, told this newspaper that Berry and others had completed several projects for the school over the past 20 years. “I was shocked to learn that this was occurring, especially to another board member and long-time dedicated teacher,” he added.
Saturday, August 20, 2022 AD HOTLINE: (609) 801-2392 or SALES@ PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM BUSINESS DIRECTORY ♦ Page 15 BUSINESS & SERVICE DIRECTORYLocal N.J. Lic. #NJTC768133 TREE SERVICES 23900 •BoardofTreeExper ts ww.captainstreeser vicellc.com 6-3536 • Toll Free: (866) 375-8733 obile: (856) 883-7682 ainstreeservicellc@gmail.com urlington, Atlantic, Camden, dGloucesterCounties •Full-Service Tree TrRemoval ee Removal •Tree Trimming •Pruning •Land Clearing 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed FREE Estimates StateLicense #13VH0882 License #NJTC768356 • ww ain: (856) 796 M Email: capta Serving B and 24/7 EmergencySer vice| Same -Day M TREE SERVICES WELL SERVICES Keith Abrams Lic# 1283 TREE SERVICES Land Clearing Removals Firewood Rober tH.Griscom NJTC7FullyInsured68766 (609) 654-6602 NJ Lic. 13VH0639550 0 P.O. Box311 Medford, N.J.08055 Subscription Order Form MoneyCheck:Phone:_______________________Email:_________________________State:_________City:__________________________Address:_______________________Name:_________________________Zip____________$____________(Enclosed)Order:$______(Enclosed) Depending on your location, you will either be signed up for home delivery of the newspaper or a mail subscription. Credit Card ———— Exp.Card#:____________________________Name:_____________________________Date__/__SecurityCode_________SignUpfor 52 Weeks of the Pine Barrens Tribune at $156 Sign Up for 26 Weeks of the Pine Barrens Tribune at $78 Sign Up for 13 Weeks of the Pine Barrens Tribune at $39 Mail To: P.O.Box 2402 Vincentown, NJ 08088 up in executive session, and that “it shouldn’t have gotten to this point.” “But a lot of what he stated at the meeting was not accurate,” she alleged. When asked whether any “criminal charge” had been involved, as Berry had indicated, the superintendent responded, “That’s not true—there were no charges. An investigation took place. But I’m not going to comment on a personnel matter, as it’s still ongoing at this point.” (McCooley, it should be noted, did initiate a criminal investigation last year of former Board President Thomas “Tommy” Williams over alleged “suspicious activity” on his official board email account, as reported by this newspaper, but the police found no indication that any such activity hadSheoccurred.)alsoinsisted that, according to her research and documentation, “you cannot order from Mann & Parker lumber company unless you have a wholesale account.” “But I don’t want to go into tit for tat on this,” she McCooleyadded.did agree that Berry is “a very skilled carpenter” who had been asked by the athletic director during the spring to undertake the project he described, adding, “We appreciate all the work he’s done for this“Butschool.”hewas not permitted to have wood delivered to the school for his personal use or to be in the school making kitchen cabinets,” she said. “We have to ensure every staff member is held to the same standards and that safety measures are in place – and him being in the building when he’s not supposed to be there is a safety concern.” As for whether Berry’s career as a teacher is now over, the superintendent would only say, “that’s going to be of his own accord,” and that he had “mentioned something about his retirement.”
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