Local News

Following Weekend Reports That Wolfdogs Were on the Prowl Again in Southampton, a Family Has Reportedly Given Up Custody of Some

Evesham Given ‘Healthy Town Award’ for Second Year in a Row, Largely Due to Programs Included in Mayor’s Wellness Campaign

By Douglas D. Melegari

Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—One of the co-owners of a pack of “wolfdogs” in Southampton Township that reportedly were on the prowl again this past weekend causing a ruckus (after having gotten loose several previous times from a residence in the 500 block of New Road), even allegedly at one point “trapping” those wanting to patronize a nearby dog grooming business, contended to this newspaper on Aug. 3, when reached for comment on this follow-up story, that he was “instructed not to talk” to the newspaper, including by the police.

But Alex Shugars, whose background, according to his Facebook profile, includes serving as a laborer and union driver, and also serving our country as a U.S. Marine, actually had quite a bit to say about the entire ordeal in a somewhat heated, online exchange with several people, which started over the prior escapes, and came just prior to the weekend reports.

At least some of the dogs at issue, according to Southampton Township Administrator and Clerk Kathleen D. Hoffman, are now in someone else’s custody.

But that wasn’t reportedly the case this past Saturday morning, July 30, when the owner of Briand’s Garden Center on Route 206 in Southampton posted on social media her sighting of a “at least one” of the wolfdogs while walking to her car around 6:30 a.m., maintaining that the animal also “scared the sh** out of my son.”

“Here we go again!” said a Southampton resident of nearby Ridge Road in response to the report, who had posted an allegation a few days earlier that a neighbor’s pet had actually been harmed by one of the wolfdogs. “Another day of worrying about our pets and livestock.”

Another man who lives in the area followedup on that posting, claiming that the Saturday sighting “might as well explain” what “dug into my chicken coop last night and why my dogs are going crazy.”

“I saw them on Route 70 this morning around 8:15 a.m.,” another person posted. “I saw two of them stopping traffic and three state police following. They finally ran to the woods onto someone’s property.”

There was also a report that one wolfdog was seen lurking around the Hampton Lakes community in Southampton.

While multiple attempts to obtain basic details on this entire matter from the New Jersey State Police Public Information Office were unsuccessful as of press time, and there was also some question about whether the latest sightings were indeed that of the same wolfdogs which were reportedly ordered last week to be kept indoors, a picture was posted by the owner of Shampoodles Grooming by Elizabeth showing what appeared to be at least two wolfdogs lurking around in the front of her Southampton-based premises on the morning of July 30.

“Absolutely ridiculous these dogs are out again, trapping clients in their car, not able to come in with their small dogs,” wrote the owner of the Route 206 grooming business, which is not too far away from the garden center, who had a previous purported visit from the wolfdogs. “What can we do?”

One of the animals was depicted in the latest picture that she posted seemingly gazing at a car parked in front of the premises.

Michael Hodanish, owner of Howling Woods Farm, an educational facility located in Jackson Township that provides learning See WOLFDOGS/ Page 7

New Opportunity for Businesses, Individuals to Sponsor Police Trading Cards Described by Chief as Way of ‘Bridging Gap’ Between Kids, Law Enforcement

By Bill Bonvie

Staff Writer

EVESHAM—In its approach to issues such as public health and police-community relations, Evesham Township seems to be carving out a niche as a sort of model municipality to which others might look as a source of ideas and inspiration, as exemplified by developments announced at the July 13 meeting of its township Council.

For one thing, there was the “Healthy Town Award” conferred on the township at the session for the second year in a row by the New Jersey Healthcare Quality Institute, making it one of only eight communities in the state to be accorded that gold-standard distinction, which is based on a set of criteria that cover physical, mental and spiritual health, all of which are included in an ongoing “wellness campaign” spearheaded by Mayor Jaclyn “Jackie” Veasy.

For another, there was Police Chief Walt Miller’s report on the latest version of a timehonored childhood tradition currently being launched by the township – the collecting of trading cards. Only these particular cards, rather than lionizing athletes from organized sports franchises, features profiles of each and every member of the township police department, including the fourlegged ones in its K-9 division, as well as those filling such jobs as records clerk and crime analyst, and even the 13 clergy in the Police Chaplain Program – with merchants and citizens invited to serve as sponsors and the first kids to collect all 125 cards being rewarded with new bikes.

Emphasized in the Healthy Town Award presentation was the township’s focus not only on creating new programs for residents whose activities have been constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also on making the existing ones more accessible to them, as well as safer.

Just what this has meant in practical terms became evident from the chart displayed by the mayor, which showed “programs in 2020” (the first year in which the township received the honor) as having included outdoor recreational activities at local parks (including Black Run Preserve), playgrounds and athletic fields such as summer camp and yoga in the park, golf and driving range practice and an MRC sports unity program for people with disabilities, as well as a farmers market, community cleanup, children’s bike rodeos and the planting of wildflower patches.

When asked why 2020’s activities had been featured during the presentation, given that the latest award was for 2021, Evesham Public Information Director Zane Clark told the Pine Barrens Tribune that the chart was originally displayed during a New Jersey League of Municipalities conference last November and that many of the programs it featured had carried over into the past year. One of the things that made it particularly significant, however (although this wasn’t mentioned during the award ceremony) was that the township was also sponsoring such outdoor recreational activities during the first year of the pandemic, when parks, nature trails and other outdoor havens were closed to the public for a prolonged period See WELLNESS/ Page 8