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Vol. 8 – No. 4

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The News Leader of the Pines

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December 16, 2023 - January 5, 2024

ORDERED OUT OF THE WATER

Animal Recommendations Included in Re-examination of Shamong Master Plan Won’t Be Carried Forward

ENTE

R

Decision Follows Fierce Backlash Over Suggestions for Rooster Ban, Chicken Limit, Minimum Acreage Requirements for Certain Animals

PG. C2

The Lawyer for The LeisureTowne Board of Trustees Warns Owners of Properties That Include Docks on the Hampton Lakes Side of Old Forge Lake in Southampton to Remove Such Structures Immediately—as Well as to Stay Off the Lake Entirely

Christm Worshi as Guide p SE E PA

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

SHAMONG—According to Shamong Township Mayor Michael Di Croce, the Shamong Township Committee has “decided not to take any action on chicken or animal matters” as recommended by the township Planning Board through an annual reexamination of the township Master Plan.

The governing body’s decision to not act at this time on the recommendations fo l l ow e d e n o r m o u s b l ow b a c k t h e tow nsh ip re c eive d du r i ng a Sept. 5 governing body meeting, the first one that

G E W1

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

A view of several docks on Hampton Lakes properties fronting Old Forge Lake that an attorney for LeisureTowne has told their owners to remove as well as to keep off the lake themselves lest they be charged with trespassing. account, life has not exactly been kind In addition to the hard times that

By Bill Bonvie these days to Southampton Township have befallen the mortgage business, Staff Writer resident Eric Graf.

SOU T H A M P TON — By h i s ow n See WATER/ Page 7

See ANIMAL/ Page 11

INDEX

Business Directory...................................16 Christmas Countdown/Coloring Contest.... C1 Christmas Worship Guide....................... W1 Event Calendar.........................................10

Holiday Guide..................................................S1 Local News.................................................2 Marketplace..................................................... 15 Worship Guide..........................................14

PRINT ISSN | 2834-3611 ONLINE ISSN | 2834-362X CONTACT US: P.O. Box 2402, Vincentown, NJ 08088 | 609-801-2392

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

Demo Service Obtained to Raze What Is Left of Abandoned Gun Club and Rectify ‘Asbestos Positive’ Site in Woodland Township for $49K

Resident Alleges Feral Cat Scratched Her Horse, Causing Nearly $2K in Vet Bills; Code Enforcement Officer Shows for Executive Session Involving ‘Property Issue’

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

WOODLAND —All J’s Demolition Service has been retained by Woodland Township to demolish what is left of the nowvacant and mostly collapsed Spartan Gun Club at 11 Baptist Road, after the structure mostly fell in on itself recently.

All J’s Demolition was one of three bidders for the project, which includes asbestos remediation – the reason a private contractor is a necessity for the cleanup, having provided the township with a cost of $49,780 to complete the task.

The Woodland Township Committee gave the go-ahead to All J’s Demolition to perform the work during its Nov. 29 regular session.

As previously reported by this newspaper, Tow nsh ip Ad m i n istrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown said there is no owner of record on file with the township for the parcel, and officials decided that because of the unsafe conditions at the site, the municipality needed to remediate the situation.

Officials here have not yet discussed what they plan to do with the property once it is completely cleaned up.

All J’s Demolition, as was pointed out by Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff, performed similar work in 2021 on a house at 4007 County Route 563. The governing body had plans to sell the property after the demolition in hopes of recouping at least some of the funds, but it never found a willing buyer, with that parcel having some restrictions preventing one from building

another home on it.

The abandoned gun club on Baptist Road has been cited by some residents living on Baptist and Old Tuckerton roads as one that is the source of a feral cat issue in the area.

During the Nov. 29 session, Resident Terry Sheerin, of Old Tuckerton Road, pointed to a Feb. 22 commitment that a contracted animal control firm “would not leave until it is done.”

(Brown said in February 2022 that the animal control officer was empathetic to the situation and that his company “will stay the course until every cat is caught,” with Sheerin at the time alleging there were 18 to 20 more feral cats that needed to be captured. Brown also maintained at the time that the firm is going out every day, checking traps, and taking cats to the shelter, though the shelter was not happy about it.)

Despite initial praise given by Sheerin at the time for the firm’s efforts, Sheerin alleged at the latest governing body session that things have since changed, and that the firm has “not been back” since late March 2023, and in the meantime, she has “deposited 11 kittens up at the shelter, myself,” and took another four to a facility in Red Bank.

“I am not doing this!” Sheerin declared.

“And the most important thing is one of these cats scratched my horse, and I had $1,896 worth of damage I paid to a veterinarian.

A report came back that it (the injury the horse sustained) was a cat scratch.”

See RAZE/ Page 14

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

Lender’s Purported Inability to Issue Loan to Woodland Resident for Modular Home Results in Designation of New Public ‘Road’

While Dirt ‘Road’ Always Existed, Officials Say, And Gave Access to Property, Township Records Identified Accessway as Simply Non-Existent Paper Street

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

WOODLAND—There is a new “officiallyrecognized” public road in Woodland Township, but it is not the result of any of the typical reasons for such a designation to be made, including for any new subdivision having been put in or a new opening that has been cut through land or forest.

Rather, the designation was done on Nov. 29 to address a rather unusual set of circumstances, purportedly enabling Resident Jeff Wills to obtain a loan for a modular home he has purchased to replace one that had been existing on his property, but was recently demolished.

According to Township Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown, a lender would not give Wills a loan because his property was “not on a real ‘road,’” or at least one that is on an official township road map.

Rather, while Wills and others had accessed the home that was there via a dirt road known as “David Hill Road,” all this time it was considered simply a paper street, or what the dictionary defines as a “street or road that appears on maps but has not been built.”

“Once upon a time, in the early 1900s – and I am being serious about this – these were all supposed to be developed lots,” said Brown in pointing to an area of the township tax map and showing Township Solicitor William Burns a various number of paper streets for there. “These were all the initial streets, on initial plans for development. We

have several of these.”

But what is known as David Hill Road has actually been used as a driveway of sorts for the Wills, and before that, another homeowner, for more than 100 years, according to Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff, whose parents had lived nearby, causing him to know of some of the history of the area.

“I already sent a letter to the lender, saying it was a paper street on our tax map, and that he has access to it, and it is a public right-ofaway, and that wasn’t good enough,” Brown reported. “They want a public road he is allowed to use.”

David Hill Road, according to Brown, is about 400 feet in length, with officials reporting that it is wide enough for emergency vehicles to traverse it. At one point on Nov. 29, DeGroff called it a “fine road” that “has no ‘whoop-de-doos’ on it.”

But in light of the lender not being able to process a loan, an attorney for Wills, according to Brown, called her and “asked what we could do,” with the lender having purportedly said that if the township was willing to sign an “access agreement” memorializing that Wills “could use that paper street as his driveway,” it might enable the loan to be approved.

Burns, however, advised the governing body against entering into any access agreement upon learning from Brown that the owner of the adjoining property is the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF).

See ROAD/ Page 10

After More Crashes at ‘Very Dangerous’ Intersection on Route 72, Woodland Officials Trying to Convince NJDOT of Traffic Light Need Fire/EMS Chief Says He Was Told by Agency Statistics ‘Don’t Warrant It,’ But Town Clerk Says State Will Look at Mapping, Reports and Issue Report

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

WOODLAND—A “very dangerous” intersection was again the site of a couple more accidents this past month, but Woodland Township officials report that they are having to do some convincing to get the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to agree to put a traffic light there.

Route 72 and Savoy Boulevard, the scene of numerous accidents since this newspaper began providing coverage of Woodland Township back in 2016, was the location of a “couple this month” alone, though all of them were non-fatal ones, confirmed Fire and EMS Chief Shawn Viscardi during a Nov. 29 session of the Woodland Township Committee.

Viscardi claimed that he “reached out to the NJDOT,” but that it “will not put a traffic light there.”

“They say the statistics don’t warrant it,” Viscardi told resident Jane Donoghue, who inquired about what is being done to address the dangerous intersection and whether adding a traffic light was a possibility.

Since 2016, a few of the accidents at and in the vicinity of the intersection have even been fatal, according to past New Jersey State Police reports. During past township committee sessions, DeGroff has advised residents that the intersection’s safety has been raised with the state police.

After Viscardi recounted his recent conversation with the NJDOT, Township

Clerk Maryalice Brown provided a further “update,” maintaining she and Township Engineer Tom Leisse recently met with the NJDOT “regarding various issues,” and when the intersection was raised, they were told the agency would be “looking at their mapping, their speed reports and fatality reports.”

“They are going to provide a report to Mr. Leisse about it,” Brown said.

Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff, however, for two months in a row, has characterized the intersection as “very dangerous” during township committee sessions.

“It is a very dangerous situation – trying to go across there is very dangerous,” said the mayor, with nearby elevated ground, including to support an overpass for train tracks, apparently obstructing the view, all while traffic is moving at a posted speed limit of 55 mph, which is high-end for a state highway.

Savoy Bou leva rd t r a n sit ion s i nto Woodmansie Road, where there is an active gravel pit that results in heavy dump truck traffic. Leisse, on Nov. 29, reported that his office is “collecting traffic counts” in preparation of applying for funding from the NJDOT’s Local Freight Impact Grant Fund. A portion of Woodmansie Road was paved this year with grant funding, and the township hopes to “have all of Woodmansie repaved,” with the possibility that it may take diving the project into two more sections to get to that point. Previous applicants of the fund, Leisse noted, have See CRASHES/ Page 17

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Timing of Washington Township Deputy Mayor Seybold’s Passing Dictates That County Committee Picks Successor, Solicitor Explains Attorney for Municipality, Resident Hopes Input of Committeemen Will Be Valued in Selection Process; Meeting Carries on With Discussions on Signs

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

WASHINGTON—After the community laid to rest Washington Township Deputy Mayor Paul Seybold this past weekend, following his “so sad and unexpected passing” in the early afternoon hours of Dec. 3, almost one month after having b e en ele cte d to a th i rd ter m on the Washington Township Committee that was expected to commence in January, a question put to officials during the first governing body meeting since his death is what will happen to fill the vacancy that has been left behind.

“I have been here for 26 or 27 years, and I don’t remember this ever happening,” said resident Terry Schmidt, in asking the question. “I figure with a small committee (Washington has a three-person governing body), it is a critical vacancy to fill.”

Tow nsh ip Sol ic itor Tom Cole m a n responded that there is a “specific state statute” that addresses the “critical time” between when someone is elected and January, when that individual is due to be sworn into a seat.

“It clearly says the local party county committee, of whichever party of which the de c eas e d is a memb er picks the person,” Coleman said. “That person will serve in the position for the year, but has to run again in November for a two-year term, or for the remainder of Paul’s term.”

Seybold was a Republican who had won a three-year term on Election Day. The Washington Township Committee is an all-Republican body, with Mayor Daniel James and Committeeman C. Leigh Gadd, Jr., currently serving terms.

“I wou ld hop e, i n t h i s clos e -k n it c om mu n it y where ever ybody k nows everybody, perhaps Dan’s and Leigh’s i nput wou ld b e va lu able,” Cole man declared.

Schmidt too indicated her hope that the local party county committee would value the opinions of James and Gadd, particularly given their “combined time they have in the township.”

“It would be valuable,” she asserted.

Coleman pointed out that had the tragic passing of Seybold occurred in February or March of next year, the township committee, under state statute, would have been able to make the decision, choosing from three names that would have been offered.

“But because Paul passed when he did, the county committee makes the decision

for the year,” Coleman explained.

While a tragedy like the one that just occurred in Washington is a rarity for the town, the township solicitor noted, that on a statewide basis, “unfortunately, from time-to-time, this does happen.”

As one person close to Seybold shared with this reporter following his death, he would have wanted the December meeting to carry on, and so it did.

The first business announcement from officials is that Old Church Road has now been repaved, with James declaring that, “They did a much better job than the last crew did.”

In an apparent follow-up to a November committee meeting discussion about a “very, very blind” curve by LB’s Lunchbox/ Belhaven Lake Camp Resort on County Route 542, and a belief that a sign for the eatery as well as shrubbery is “directly in the line of sight,” James, in pointing to the township sign ordinance, asked the local code enforcement official in attendance at the session, “Can you inspect that sign down there, by the campground, and see if it is compliance and make sure it is not blocking the line of sight?”

“I don’t know how long it has been there, or if it is in compliance, or if they were given a sign permit,” James said.

Township Engineer Kevin Dixon, who had noted a “couple of significant traffic deficiencies” in his observations of the area of the bend, reminded the governing body that there are “two aspects of this, the property owner and county,” with him having also concluded “sight is limited com ing around the bend” in general and that “advance warning signage is appropriate in this situation.”

James responded that the sign at issue is “only 10 feet from the roadway,” however, causing Dixon to acknowledge that is “100 percent true.” The question that remains, James indicated, however, is whether the sign at issue is simply an old sign that has been there for quite some time and was merely repainted, or if it is new.

D u r i ng publ ic c om me nt , re side nt Horace Somes brought up the county’s tidal flooding signage beacons, which w e r e p r e v i o u s l y r e p o r t e d t o h av e malfunctioned, flashing at low tide when there was no danger of coastal floodwaters overtaking the roads.

“I don’t know whether they are ready for the cold, flu and flooding season, or See SUCCESSOR/ Page 17

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 5

Indian Mills Fire Company Asks for Increased Township Contribution and That Municipality Cover Purchase of Command Vehicle for Chief

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

SHAMONG—The Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company is asking the Shamong Township Committee for additional support amid rising costs, including a $15,000 increase in an annual contribution as well as taking on the payment for a new command vehicle.

According to Treasurer John Lyons, during the last fiscal calendar year, “the fire company spent nearly 50 percent of its emergency capital reserves, broken down in several major necessary repairs and regulatory purchases.”

Some $66,000 of the reserve funds went towards the purchase of new air tanks for firefighters, which was in addition to $132,000 in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding that was used towards the purchase, Lyons said.

Another $40,000 of the fire company’s reserve, Lyons explained, funded new turnout gear, with the fire company having “reached or exceeded” a 10-year limit on its existing gear as mandated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

The Indian Mills Fire Company is also anticipating the arrival of a new fire engine sometime in either late 2024 or early 2025, according to Lyons, but in the process of waiting, there was an “unexpected $100,000 downpayment” with only a $50,000 downpayment having been anticipated, Lyons continued.

“The $50,000 that went toward the fire engine was originally intended to be used toward replacement of a car command vehicle,” Lyons told the governing body during a special Nov. 14 Shamong committee session.

A command vehicle, Lyons explained, allows the local fire chief to arrive on scene quickly without having to first go to the fire station and board a fire truck. The chief, upon arrival at a scene, can evaluate the situation to call in the appropriate number of resources.

The existing command vehicle in use, Lyons maintained, is a 2008 Ford Expedition and it “has substantial undercarriage rust” where one can “see right through it.”

The agency brought it to Hainesport Enterprises for evaluation and the suggestion was to “weld plates onto it,” the treasurer claimed, but “not identified” was a “repair path forward.”

Lyons estimated a new command vehicle could cost upwards of $80,000, after a local Ford dealership provided a $50,000 estimate for a new vehicle. He said that is because any command vehicle, upon purchase, would also need to be retrofitted with “equipment, lettering, lighting, radio installations, etc.”

And it is not just the initial on-scene use that makes a new command vehicle a

priority, he said, but also that a command vehicle is “one of the first to respond to other areas off-road.”

“Rust and other concerns with the suspension are becoming a concern,” he said of taking the vehicle in areas of wilderness without pavement.

The fire company, he noted, is also anticipating replacement of various hoses and nozzles “due to NFPA life expectancy requirements.”

Fire Company President Charles Burgin maintained that the NFPA has been floating the possibility of requiring firefighters to have two sets of turnout gear at all times, which, if implemented, would add additional cost burdens.

Gear worn to an active fire, he explained, would have to “go through a sanitization cycle,” one that would be required for health considerations resulting from the possible effects of smoke.

“If you go into a fire, and have any kind of smoke, the gear comes off, you put it in a bag, it gets scrubbed down,” Burgin explained. “While out of service, you need a second set.”

While the proposed rule “is not here yet,” Burgin maintained it is “coming down the pipeline” and “very close.”

At the same time, the fire company has landed several new members, and is also purchasing gear for them.

Burgin put the average cost at $10,000 to equip each firefighter – noting that is only for one set of gear.

Additionally, it was noted, when the new fire engine arrives, the agency will need the ability to “outfit it with the correct equipment.”

While the fire company is “aggressively” seeking grants and fundraising, according to both Lyons and Burgin, donations are down from 17 percent to around 13 percent, and while there have been some small grant awards, the agency is passed up for most grants due to the population size and number of calls compared to larger towns and cities.

After all of this was explained, Lyons also asked for the township committee to increase the municipality’s annual allotment from $60,000 to $75,000 to “soften the gap.”

Lyons, in making the request, pointed to some history, contending that the township’s contribution to the fire company was $45,000 from 1996 to 2023, and it was only this year “we had a much-needed increase” that took us to $60,000.

While the fire company tries its best to “scrutinize all spending,” it is faced with “rising costs, an aging building and equipment.”

Lyons noted the fire company’s reserve account has taken quite a hit since 2020, See CHIEF/ Page 14

Page 6 ♦

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Vandals Reportedly Targeting Stoney Creek Athletic Fields in Shamong, While Dingletown Complex Patrons Are Leaving Behind Trash, Dog Poop

IMAA, Stoney Creek Development Representatives Request Permanent Lighting for Stoney Creek Fields; Trash Can and Emptying Service Suggested for Dingletown

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

SHAMONG —Vandals pur por tedly repeatedly targeting the Stoney Creek Athletic Fields in Shamong Township has resulted in the Indian Mills Athletic Association (IMAA) and representatives of the Stoney Creek development asking for approval to implement some changes in lighting and security from Shamong Township.

Additionally, representatives of the IMAA report that several individuals are not cleaning up after themselves and their pets at the Dingletown Sports Complex, which reportedly has a carry-in and carryout policy. This too has led to requested changes by the township.

John Ronaldson, of Stoney Creek, reported to the Shamong Township Committee, during its Nov. 14 session, that “people are tearing up the fields with trucks.”

Matt Davis, treasurer of the IMAA, who noted he lives closest to the fields and has access to existing security cameras in the area, observed that whoever is responsible for the damage is never seen coming in from an Atsion Road entrance, and therefore, it is suspected that they are entering from one on Grassy Lake Road.

In describing “major damage” to the fields, he reported that one could “see truck tracks that came directly off Grassy Lake Road.” He also maintained there were indications that dirt bikes have also been used in some of the incidents.

“You see dirt bikes come off Grassy Lake

Road, and go into the woods,” he said.

“Trucks there are doing doughnuts in the parking lot.”

Ronaldson also described that the IMAA has generator lights positioned throughout some of the fields, but that “kids are breaking lenses” of those lights.

The proposed solution of both Ronaldson and Davis is the addition of permanent lighting on taller poles, which they are seeking permission from the township committee to have installed. The described “advantages” of having such lighting include being able to mount them on 40-to-60-foot poles which would be further out of reach from potential vandals, and they could “piggyback them with security cameras and motion lights.”

“One of the values of the lighting, is that the IMAA is more than willing to add cameras to those poles so you can see, and they are expandable so you can do that,” Davis contended. “One additional benefit is the generator lights out there are currently owned by Seneca United, and we would be able to move those lights elsewhere in the complex and get more use out of them as we only have them on one field right now.”

Ronaldson said power is already available at a shed and an “electrical person will have something put together for the lights, similar to what is at the Dingletown field.”

Members of the township committee put an emphasis on getting the word out about the ongoing vandalism and seeing if local See VANDALS/ Page 11

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Medford Township Police Department Cited at Award Ceremony for ‘Quite Remarkable’ Achievement of Earning 4th Accreditation

Local Force Now Said to Be in Top 7 Percent of State Law-Enforcement Agencies; Township Council Again Defers Action on Proposal to Restrict Short-Term Rentals B y B ill B onvie Staff Writer

MEDFORD—The Medford Township Police Department was cited as having joined “a very exclusive group of lawenforcement agencies” by the head of the accreditation program for the New Jersey State Association of Chief of Police (NJSACOP) during an award ceremony honoring the department and its chief, Arthur Waterman, staged at the Dec. 5 meeting of Medford Township Council.

Program Director Harry Delgado told the council members that the department now ranks among the top seven percent of police forces in the state in terms of providing “quality, professional and ethical” policing standards by virtue of having successfully attained its official accreditation for the fourth year in a row.

A m o ng e l ig i b l e l aw- e n fo r c e m e nt agencies, Delgado noted, only 54 percent in the state have managed to make the grade once. That statistic drops to 32 percent and 19 percent, respectively, when applied to departments that have done it two and three times. However, “less than seven percent” have met all the criteria to get them to where the Medford department currently stands, he said.

“That is quite remarkable, to have a commitment for such a long time to follow the best practices, not only on a state, but a national level,” he contended.

Achieving it, Delgado said, has meant the department’s consistently having to meet

no fewer than 112 standards calling for a clear statement of professional objectives.

“In thei r c as e, they have actu al ly exceeded accepted practices in the field of law enforcement,” he declared. “Under Chief Waterman, the Medford Township Police Department has demonstrated a high level of competence, leadership and professionalism.”

He added that it was the opinion of the assessment team that the department “e x e m p l i fi e s a l l t h e t e n e t s o f l aw enforcement accreditation on a state and national level.” His remarks led to enthusiastic applause from those present as he pre sente d an award plaque to Waterman and two other ranking officers.

In another recognition ceremony at the star t of the meeting, the council issued a proclamation honor ing new Eagle Scout Andrew Fricke, of Troop 26, whose qualifying project was having desig ned and built towers to provide a home for nesting chimney swifts in Doctor James Still Park. These birds, which are protected by law, typically nest in chimneys for short periods of time, but many of them have been rendered homeless by the practice of capping the tops of chimneys.

Fr icke, it was noted, “was able to mitigate the problem in the Medford Village neighborhood by building some of the towers” in the nearby park, and in the process, directing several youth and See POLICE/ Page 11

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 7

Evesham Council Told Speed-Mitigation Sign on Raymond Ave. Was Still in Wrong Place; Whether That Was Subsequently Resolved Is Uncertain

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

EVESHAM—Whether or not the problem that Raymond Avenue resident Christopher Brooks has repeatedly brought to the attention of the Evesham Township Council—the removal of a flashing 25-mph sign from near the front of his home that he claimed put his son, who suffers from Down Syndrome, in imminent danger of being struck by a speeding car when he is playing outside the house—has been resolved wasn’t exactly clear following the council’s last meeting on Dec. 6.

At the township council meeting of Nov. 21, Brooks claimed to have been informed that the township had finally found a solution to the problem that had been the subject of considerable discussion at a council meeting in October when Police Chief Walt MiIler spent considerable time trying to explain the problems involved in doing something that went against what is known as “the standard” in the placement of such signs.

But at the latest session, Brooks got up to report to the council that “we missed the mark by almost half a mile” and to say that he “can’t for the life of me understand why I’m here again,” and to say he would “like to see” the federal law that restricts where such a sign can be placed, because he didn’t think there is such a law.

Pointing out that he had been “fighting for three years to get the speed limit reduced on Raymond Avenue to make it safer for (his son) to go outside and play,” Brooks then maintained that “it is completely unfathomable to me” that he had to keep coming back to get a speed-mitigation measure replaced.

“Because we know what happens—people see the flashing sign and they slow down, and when the sign stops flashing or they are past the sign, they speed up,” Brooks maintained.

As an example, he said that he had passed the sign that evening which was half-a-mile from his house, then saw “somebody coming up behind me passing me on the left at 51 miles an hour in a 25-mph zone.”

This time, Brooks also brought with him his son C. J., who he said had been unable to communicate that he had been injured at school the previous day.

“I am just asking for sympathy and a little bit of common sense from the township council, and from township officials to please give us the speed-mitigation sign where it was before it was moved back in January,” which he claimed would give his son a “fighting chance if he wandered near the road.”

In response, Township Engineer Tim Staszewski asserted that “unfortunately, there seems to be some type of miscommunication between myself, the police department and

the Department of Public Works,” who he said would “work to get a meeting set up “to correct that location.”

C o u n c i l wo m a n H e a t h e r C o o p e r subsequently commented that one of the hardest things an elected official has to do is trust that “operations go exactly as planned, but we need to get it right” and told Brooks she hoped “you don’t have to come back next month with the same concern.”

In the days following the meeting, the Pine Barrens Tribune attempted to ascertain what progress, if any, had been made on the issue.

Clark responded to a query on the subject in an email that read, “yes, the township engineer and DPW employees were out at the site the next morning (after the Dec. 6 council meeting) to ensure that the driver feedback sign was moved to the specific location that the engineer had specified at the previous meeting (Nov. 21) using the standards he had identified that allowed for the sign to be moved.”

Whether that resolution is what Brooks was hoping to get, however, wasn’t completely clear from that response, and the newspaper was unable to contact him directly to find out.

In other business, Clark reported to the council that the community website now had a dedicated page of its own for vital records/registrar information on things like marriage licenses, vital statistics and birth and death certificate records, which was separated from the municipal clerk’s office page, following a similar separation of the construction office page from the community development page.

“Both redesigns were undertaken at the request of staff members working in those specific departments and with their input, the pages are now easier for members of the public to utilize,” he noted.

On a related subject, Acting Township Manager Lavon Phillips reported that currently the township was working on a brand-new events-focused website, featuring “new forms and a better end-user experience for people associated with events.”

In the monthly police update, Lt. Brian Rosenberg, filling in for Miller, reported that the Evesham police department was in the process of working with Virtua Hospital to open a police substation at the hospital’s Marlton campus in order to “connect residents with police services.”

At the start of the meeting, the council presented a special certificate of achievement to 10-year-old Ria Blunt, who Mayor Jacklyn “Jackie” Veasy said she believed to be “the youngest person in Evesham and Burlington County to receive college credits.”

Blunt, who received three credits in algebra when she was just nine, said her father had “started us off at a very young age” in advanced learning.

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A view of Hampton Lakes resident Eric Graf’s dock that he has been ordered to remove by an attorney for the LeisureTowne Association.

WATER

(Continued from Page 1) which he has worked in for years, at 53 a combination of physical ailments that include a congenital back problem, vertigo, high blood pressure, and weight loss due to recent problems eating solid food, along with the aftermath of injuries he has suffered in a head-on collision and two other auto accidents – none of which were his fault, he maintains – have taken a collective toll on his sense of well-being.

There is one thing, however, that he says has always managed to restore his sense of relaxation and enjoyment of life – the pleasure he derives from canoeing, kayaking or fishing on the manmade lake that abuts the property he purchased in 2005 in the Hampton Lakes section of the township, along with a dock that came with it, which he subsequently had renovated.

But the salvation he gets from such activities, Graf told the Pine Barrens Tribune in a series of emails and phone interviews this month, has now been threatened by an unexpected piece of unwelcome news from the lawyer for the homeowners association of the LeisureTowne retirement community, which borders the opposite side of the lake and actually owns it, along with several other bodies of water in the vicinity.

“I am advised that you have built a dock on LeisureTown’s Old Forge Lake, and this is to demand that you remove it immediately,” began the certified letter he

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received earlier this month from attorney Gregg Shivers of the Cherry Hill law firm of Hill Wallack LLC. “If you refuse to do so, LeisureTowne will have it removed as it is on their property.

“I am not sure what representations were made to you when you purchased your home, but your property only extends to the lake edge and you have no legal right to build on or float a dock on the lake, which is solely owned by LeisureTowne,” it continued. “Although the Association would like to be able to share it with you, insurance considerations require that the lake be kept private.”

And that was not the only demand contained in the letter, which was dated Dec. 7 and, as this newspaper subsequently learned, was also sent to at least two other owners of Old Forge lakefront lots with docks on their property.

What followed was even more draconian.

“LeisureTowne will be posting signs restricting use of the lake to LeisureTowne residents, but this letter is to put you on notice that, effective immediately, you may not enter the lake for any reason and if you or anyone from your property does so, it will be as a trespasser,” the letter said.

Having bolded those words for emphasis, Shivers then attempted to soften the letter’s strident tone a bit by offering a friendlysounding explanation.

“I a m p e r s o n a l l y s o r r y fo r t h i s development,” he maintained, asking See WATER/ Page 8

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

The view of Old Forge Lake from a Hampton Lakes play area, with the homes in the distance in LeisureTowne.

WATER

(Continued from Page 7) the recipient to “please believe that the Board and I have explored every other option.” He went on to elucidate how “insurance companies are raising prem iums and li m iting coverage for community associations like crazy, and, unfortunately, LeisureTowne is the latest victim of this trend.”

The attorney concluded by acknowledging that he was sure Graf was not “happy with this development” and had questions and objections that he would like to voice and invited the recipient to call him directly or email him to discuss the matter, or alternately to set up an appointment to meet him at his Cherry Hill office.

“Obviously, you have the right to consult with an attorney, and I invite them to call or email me as well,” he concluded.

But the restrictions set forth in the letter, Graf pointed out to this newspaper,

didn’t just impact his quality of life, but the value of his property as well – a point he emphasized in responding to Shivers’ letter with a “one-time offer.”

Noti ng that he had refi nanc ed h is lakefront house at the beginning of the year, and it had appraised for $346,000, he said that LeisureTowne could either “buy my house now for $346,000” or based on what he had been informed by an attorney, he would sue the community for the difference between that and what he is now able to get for it “due to the lake and invalid deed issues.”

In an email reply to Graf shared with this newspaper, Shivers told him, “If you are represented by an attorney, I cannot speak with you. Please have your attorney give me a call. Your email raises legal issues, which I would certainly like to discuss with them.”

Actually, the legal issues involving Old Forge Lake are long and convoluted ones, going back two or three decades, and including a settlement under which the L eisu reTow ne As so c iat ion took

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responsibility for maintaining the Old Forge dam after its spillway partially failed in 2009. But according to Graf, he and other Hampton Lakes residents who own property bordering it were under the impression that the entire matter of their rights to its use had all been resolved a number of years ago in a supposed settlement brokered by then-Southampton Mayor James F. Young, Sr., who assured them that provisions along those lines would be acknowledged in revised deeds.

But when contacted by this newspaper, You ng, who is sti l l a Southa mpton com m itteeman, said he had no recollection of any such meetings, which Graf said had taken place in the nearby Hampton Lakes firehouse.

“I don’t recall, to be honest with you, and I have a very good memory,” declared Young, who contended that he wouldn’t even have had the authority to say anything of that nature.

But You ng a lso i nd ic at e d that he couldn’t understand why the rights of

Pine Grove Plaza

residents living beside the lake should even be an issue.

“As far as I know, if you lived on the lake, I don’t know why you couldn’t use the lake,” Young declared. “If you’re buying the property right next to the lake and have a boat, why couldn’t you go out on the lake?

Wouldn’t your homeowner’s insurance cover you?”

In fact, Graf told this newspaper he actually complied with a prior request that he up his home insurance coverage to $1 million dollars to cover any liability issues involving the lake, as well as paying a $350 charge to Shivers’ office a few years ago for the assurance that he would have ownership rights to all the land currently bordering the lake that lies within the confines of his property, which may have been subject to weather-related shifting.

Also paying that $350 fee were Christine and Joseph Olson, who own a neighboring lakefront tract, one they purchased in 2012 See WATER/ Page 10

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

Last-Minute Holiday Shopping Tips

Though devotees of early holiday shopping do not hesitate to point out how convenient it can be to get all their gifts long before the arrival of Chanukah and Christmas, scores of shoppers still wait until the last minute to begin checking names off their lists. It might be beneficial to shop early, but it’s easy to procrastinate.

Last-minute holiday shopping might not be as enjoyable a custom as family dinners or office parties, but scrambling to find the right gift in the waning days of the holiday season is a familiar situation for millions of shoppers. Shoppers who find themselves with some last-minute shopping on their to-do list can utilize

these tips to make the frantic search for the right gift go smoothly.

• Work with Store Personnel. If a shopping list is lengthy but the time before the holiday arrives is dwindling, speak directly with store personnel, who may offer suggestions but can also help shoppers find what they need. In-person shoppers can speak with a store clerk immediately upon entering a store, while online shoppers can utilize chat functions on retailers’ websites for help finding something that’s in stock and deliverable before the big day.

• Expect Competition. Though online shopping would seemingly make last-

minute shoppers relics of a bygone era, that was not really the case in 2022.

A survey of more than 1,000 shoppers conducted by the retail industry publisher Best Black Friday found that just about 16 percent of consumers estimated they would finish their shopping during the week of Christmas. Last-minute shoppers who want to avoid crowds should consider shopping during off-peak hours, such as on weekday mornings and afternoons when most people are working.

• Don’t Forget Food. If it’s truly impossible to find something late in the season and a gift card feels too impersonal, give the gift of food. Adult recipients also can be gifted a bottle of wine or another spirit that can be enjoyed during a holiday meal. Shoppers skilled in the kitchen can whip up a homemade treat, while those without such talents can give a storebought delicacy or even a subscription to a monthly food club or service.

• Shop Local. Last-minute shoppers may be flocking to malls and busy downtown shopping districts as they hurry to get gifts for friends and family members with different interests. Shopping at small, local businesses can help last-minute shoppers avoid such crowds. And with less on their shelves and smaller storage rooms, small business owners and their staff also tend to know their inventories inside and out. That can ensure a shopping trip is not spent wandering numerous aisles in search of the right gift.

Last-minute shopping may look different than it used to, but scores of shoppers still wait to buy gifts for their loved ones. A handful of strategies can simplify last-minute shopping.

• Bag It, Don’t Wrap It. Shoppers who wait until the very last minute likely won’t have time to wrap all the gifts they pick up for loved ones. Gift bags conceal gifts just as well as wrapping paper, but it takes a fraction of the time to place a gift in a bag as it does to wrap it in paper. Quality gifts bags also are reusable, which can appeal to anyone looking to create less waste this holiday season.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

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The Origins and Symbolism of Christmas Gift-Wrapping

♦ Page S3

Because the Best Gifts Bring Comfort and Protection.

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The practice of gift wrapping holds fascinating origins and deep symbolism.

Victorians believed that beautifully wrapping gifts was a testament to the care and thought put into the present, expressing love and good wishes.

The History of Gift Wrapping The custom of gift wrapping can be traced back several centuries. In ancient China, monetary gifts were wrapped in paper envelopes. In eighth-century Japan, a tradition called tsutsumi emerged, where gifts were wrapped in an ornate cloth to symbolize respect and appreciation for the recipient.

Symbolically, gift wrapping fosters a sense of surprise and wonder as recipients eagerly unwrap their presents, anticipating what’s hiding inside. More­ over, wrapping gifts signifies the importance of presentation and emphasizes the value of the recipient and the thoughtfulness behind the gesture.

Modern Christmas gift wrapping has its roots in 19th-century Victorian England. At that time, it was fashionable to wrap gifts in decorative paper and tie them with ribbons. The

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

5 Random Acts of Kindness for a Meaningful Christmas

Christmas is a season of love, joy and giving. What better way to embrace its spirit than by spreading kindness to others?

Here are five random acts of kindness to make this holiday season truly meaningful.

1. Gift of Warmth: As the winter chill sets in, consider donating blankets, coats or warm clothing to local shelters or organizations supporting people in need.

errands, decorate their homes or simply spend quality time with them.

4. Secret Santa for a Cause: Organize a Secret Santa gift exchange among friends or colleagues, but with a twist. Instead of gifts, each participant donates to a charity.

2. Surprise Treats: Prepare a batch of homemade cookies or treats and share them with your neighbours, co-workers or even strangers you encounter during your day.

5. Spread Positivity: Write heartfelt letters or cards expressing gratitude and love to individuals who have made a difference in your life. Whether it’s a mentor, friend or family member, your words of appreciation will brighten their day and strengthen the bond you share.

3. Help the Elderly: Reach out to senior citizens in your community who may be spending Christmas alone. Offer to run

By performing these random acts of kindness, you can create cherished memories and inspire others to do the same.

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Christmas Worship Guide ♦ Page W1

December 16, 2023

Christmas Worship Guide

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Christmas Worship Guide

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

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Christmas Worship Guide ♦ Page W3

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Christmas Worship Guide

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

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♦ Page S5

Simple Tricks to Disentangle

Holiday Lights

The joyous holiday season is enhanced by the beautiful and festive decorations that adorn homes and businesses during this special time of year. Twinkling lights are part of the holiday decorating equation. However, tangled lights in storage bins and boxes can sap anyone’s holiday spirit.

Christmas lights can turn into a tangled mess no matter how hard people work to avoid such an outcome. Christmas lights get tangled partly because of their design. There is a metal wire inside the cord to help with the packaging of the lights, which gives the cord a natural curve. Furthermore, most light cords are made from twisted or braided wires that have spaces throughout. The lights themselves can get snagged in these pockets between the wires.

Although it can be frustrating to deal with tangled lights that look like balls of yarn in a knitting basket, there are ways to disentangle them with relative ease — and then pack them in a way that can reduce further tangles.

Begin by plugging all lights into the outlet to see if they work. If most of the bulbs are burnt out or the lights do not go on at all, discard the strand. There’s no point untangling lights only to learn they don’t work.

Start slowly, beginning on the plug end, when untangling the lights. Keep the strand you’re working on separate from the other lights so they do not inadvertently become entangled. Tackle this job in a space with a lot of room. Lay the lights out on a large

table or sit on the floor to do the untangling.

Utilize a pen or pencil to fish out more stubborn snags. This can help you loosen any knots and make it easier to pull snags through.

Lay the untangled strands out in a safe area away from your working space as you work through each strand.

One of the ways to avoid the hassle of tangled lights is to remember to store the lights in ways that will reduce their propensity for tangling in the first place.

• Rather than wrap lights around your hand or arm to condense the strand, use something else. A piece of cardboard, a hanger and some PVC tubing can keep lights from becoming tangled.

• Store lights in a zip-top bag to keep them from tangling with other strands stored together.

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EVENT CALENDAR

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JANUARY

Events and special promotions happening locally this month!

Saturday, December 16, 2023 To promote your February event on this page contact Jayne Cabrilla at 609-801-2392 or email news@pinebarrenstribune.com

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WATER

(Continued from Page 8) that also came with a dock, and who were recipients of the identical letter, which Christine Olson described in a return call to this newspaper as a “complete shock,” but to which they hadn’t yet responded.

“We purchased this house because it sat on the lake and we could use our kayaks and our canoes,” she said. “And now we are being told that we are considered trespassers if we enter the lake.”

Even before receiving the letter, she said, the couple was upset with the idea of LeisureTowne’s “owning the lake” and their being pressured to go along with their neighbors into paying extra money for assurance that their property extended to the water’s edge when their original deed claimed it did.

ROAD

(Continued from Page 4) “You can’t give him an easement because you have to do it to the adjoining property owners, who aren’t going to let him travel it,” Burns declared.

However, the solicitor recognized that “the township has to do something, because if he is going to live there, he needs to have legal access to his house.”

“Why not just make it a ‘road?’” asked Burns of the governing body, maintaining it would be the “fastest way” to rectify the issue at hand, with DeGroff describing urgency because Wills’ “house is coming in.”

As Burns put it, the choices are: • “Do nothing, and it isn’t going to work;

But at the meeting at LeisureTowne, that they were asked to attend some three or four years ago, (she couldn’t recall the exact date), she said, Shivers had informed the residents that the information on their deeds was “incorrect” and that they needed to go through with the process of having their property resurveyed and having revised deeds issued to them so they could be sure that all the land “which we had already owned” did in fact belong to them.

“We went along with the process because all of our neighbors were also doing this,” she maintained. “It seemed like if we didn’t do it, there would be a hassle, and at that time they didn’t tell us they would be restricting use of the lake.”

Not that there wasn’t an inkling of such a thing happening, however. At the meeting where it was proposed that lakefront property owners pay the fee for correcting their supposedly erroneous

deeds, Christine Olson recalled that the tone had become “kind of nasty” when Shivers suggested that “we could prevent you from using the lake if we wanted to or if LeisureTowne wanted to.”

“The whole thing is just infuriating,” she asserted, especially given that losing the use of the lake for recreational purposes will also impact the marketability of the couple’s home.

In retrospect, she added, “we probably should have had a lawyer.”

“But it all seemed pretty straightforward what they were saying,” Christine Olson maintained. “We were all led to believe that if we complied, there would be no further issues.”

G r a f, w h e n i nt e r v i e w e d b y t h i s newspaper, said he was “trying to be flexible” and “would have no problem losing my dock,” which he “can live without as long as I can have access to the lake.”

But losing a large part of the value of his home, he asserted, was another matter entirely – the fact that “no one wants to buy a lakefront property where you can’t use the lake.”

“I really feel swindled,” he added. “When I bought my house, it was waterfront. I had rights to the lake. And now I see I am going to take a big loss.”

But the repercussions may go even further than the effect on individual property owners, the Pine Barrens Tribune discovered in attempting to learn more about the issue from local officials.

In a De c. 12 phone c onversation, Tow n s h ip Ad m i n i s t r at or K at h l e e n Hoffman said the township, which owns a public park and beach located on the lake, would now have to close those facilities “due to the private ownership” of the lake itself by LeisureTowne (although she denied

• Talk to the adjoining property owners, have them sell it and transfer it to Wills, but Conservation is not going to give them access, at least historically they wouldn’t, and it is going to take too much time if the house is on the way;

The discussion of David Hill Road occurred during the Woodland Township Committee’s Nov. 29 workshop session, with action taken during the regular session that immediately followed.

The governing body adopted a resolution, initially handwr itten by Bur ns, with the township attorney reading it aloud, including the stipulations that David Hill Road “has been used as an egress to the public since the early 1900s, has and continues to be used as a road, was developed and has been used as a road and thoroughfare by the public for well over 50 years, and while never identified as a ‘road,’ it is hereby recognized as a township road.”

Other stipulations adopted via the resolution included that David Hill Road “should be listed as a township road on all

relevant documents” and that the “fire/EMS chief is authorized to make all necessary phone calls and notifications to the county to change the address of the property for 911 and emergency response purposes.”

The resolution concluded that the “public shall have the same access, as all township rights-of-way in the Township of Woodland,” with the resolution and DeGrof f de s c r ibi ng that it sits just northwest of County Route 532.

As of Dec. 9, the road does not yet appear on Google Maps.

“It goes nowhere,” said DeGroff of the newly-recognized road by Apple Pie Hill.

“It dead ends at his property. There is an old, old trail back there that probably comes out by the dump.”

• Or the only thing you can do is go out and dedicate the road.”

After hearing DeGroff describe that Wills’ mother lived in the home off David Hill Road before passing last year, as well as about the nature of its current existence, Burns recognized, “This ‘road’ has been open forever; it is just not on a road map.”

“I think the only thing we can do, is dedicate it, and put it on a road map as a road,” Burns counseled the governing body, with one official quipping, “Put up a road sign and be done with it!”

See WATER/ Page 13

Saturday, December 16, 2023

ANIMAL

(Continued from Page 1) had followed a story published by the Pine Barrens Tribune that detailed what the recommendations entailed.

Some of the proposed provisions that had proved to be most controversial included, “at least a quarter-acre lot size would be required to keep chickens”, “no more than 12 female chickens would be allowed on any residential lot”, “roosters and cockerels would be prohibited”, “fences would not be able to exceed 6 feet in height”, “no person shall house, keep or maintain swine on any lot less than 5 acres”, “all buildings used for the keeping of pigs would have to be provided with a concrete or other nonabsorbent floor built above the surface of the surrounding ground with a concrete or other non-absorbent sidewall on all enclosed portions extending 36 inches above the floor and so joined with the floor as to furnish a cove or curved surface for easy cleaning” and “all feeding (of swine) would have to be done upon a concrete floor or floor of non-absorbent character.”

Another that also required a minimum lot size of five acres for “all other agricultural animals,” including “beef cattle, dairy animals, alpacas, sheep, goats, etc.,” also generated controversy.

“The governing body decision, after the feedback, is we are not proceeding with any of the animal provisions, at the end of the recommendations (for updating the Master Plan), at this time,” announced Township Solicitor Doug Heinold during a subsequent Oct. 3 township committee session. “We may have further discussion about that. We are going to have a discussion about proceeding with the other items and recommendations, and are essentially tabling that (the animal recommendations) for now. If and when we decide to revisit that discussion, we are going to blast information out, so people can come out.”

By a Nov. 14 Shamong committee meeting, Heinold announced that an ordinance had been created to adopt the recommendations of the Planning Board for incorporation into the Master Plan, but that there are “no animal amendments in this ordinance.”

“This (ordinance) would not include ch ickens a nd pigs,” e mpha si z e d Di Croce, with Heinold maintaining that the recommendations to be implemented cover commercial and recreational vehicles, fences and walls, wireless communication facilities, and changes to the Agricultural Production Area based on Pinelands Commission regulations that had been passed.

Ac c ord i ng to Joa n n e Rob e r t s on, deputy clerk of Shamong, the ordinance i m p l e m e nt i ng t h e Pl a n n i ng B o a r d recommendations in the other areas has been tabled and carried to a close-out

AD HOTLINE: (609) 801-2392 or ADS@PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM meeting scheduled for Dec. 20.

Serving as major sticking points for the recommended animal regulations was the minimum lot size that would have been prescribed for certain animals, as well as a cap that would have been implemented on the number of certain types of animals one could have.

“I raise show horses and have been all over the country and world with both, and it doesn’t matter how much ground you have, it matters how you take care of an animal!” declared resident Shawn Inman. “It is not in quantity; it is in quality.”

When Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato maintained that the “concern” of the Planning Board “was how they are being cared for,” Inman shot back that, “I don’t think they have an educated view.”

In pointing to the recommended limit of 12 chickens for each residential lot, resident Heather McGarvey, asked, “Do I have to tell my kids we have to kill the extra two chickens?”

“Where did ‘12’ come from?” she further asked.

Sue McGovern, a 38-year resident currently living on 3.2 acres, said she simply “can’t get to 5 acres” and already has sheep and horses.

Jeff Myers, a lifelong resident of Shamong for the past 41 years, was in a similar boat, describing that he owns “just-shy of 3 acres” and had made a promise to his daughter, who rides horses and has come to enjoy them, of “putting a horse on the property.”

“This cuts me out,” he asserted of the recommendations. “I don’t want to break my promise to my kid. This is why we live here, to have the freedom to do these things.

It is not affecting my neighbor by putting a small horse in and barn.”

Jeannine Chambers, a local farm owner of more than two decades, declared, “It is very upsetting for me to watch people, who can’t afford a farm, to not to be able to come into Shamong on an acre, and be able to build a house, a barn and have two horses.”

“That is their dream!” she maintained.

“They can’t afford 50 acres, but can afford an acre. There is no reason why they can’t have it if they take care of it.”

Kristina Lamb, a 48-year resident, described that she is “thinking of winding down” by getting rescue goats and possibly a pony and what has been recommended “makes it so I can’t do that.”

After resident Pam Brown pointed out that chickens eat 80 to 300 ticks per hour, local Nantikan Becker proclaimed, “roosters are not only beneficial for ticks, but they are also beneficial for chickens.”

“Because we have foxes, as we live in the woods,” she continued. “The only thing keeping my chickens alive are my roosters.

Everything has a role! A rooster is not a useless animal! A horse is not a useless See ANIMAL/ Page 13

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VANDALS

(Continued from Page 6) parents can have a talk with their kids. It was also suggested that the New Jersey State Police become involved.

One concern raised about the permanent lighting would be the potential for light pollution, but local Gene Lera responded that the existing “generators are loud.”

“It would be nice to get rid of those, and they also are diesel,” he maintained.

Lera also inquired about blocking off access to the fields from Grassy Lake Road.

Township Administrator and Clerk Sue Onorato explained that the entrance from Grassy Lake Road is an emergency exit for the Stoney Creek development, but officials pondered whether an emergency gate with a padlock could be erected, with a key given to area first responders.

Committeeman Chris Zehnder, who introduced the request from the IMAA for permanent lighting, noted the generator lights are somewhere between 15 to 20 years old. In addition to the security aspect, Ronaldson, in pointing out “we are volunteers here,” described a lot of time being spent on the lights as “every week something is going on,” including in addition to broken bulbs, “no gas or the radiator is leaking.”

“We are looking for some way to improve that,” he added.

Renee Collins, an esteemed, longtime business teacher at Seneca High School, the sending high school for Shamong, and also the secretary for the IMAA, raised ongoing “trash problems” at the Dingletown complex. Currently, she said, even in the offseason, it is the IMAA “cleaning up trash.”

She described that it is “almost becoming a pretty big burden on the IMAA, cleaning up the trash on the fields,” and maintained, “It should not fall on us to clean up trash.”

POLICE

(Continued from Page 6) adult volunteers to take part in the project.

“Welcome to the brotherhood of Troop 26 Eagles,” Mayor Charles “Chuck Watson told Fricke after recalling how he had been one of the troop’s original Eagle Scouts.

In other business, the council once again deferred action on a proposed ordinance to restrict short-term rentals of homes, a practice that has drawn complaints from neighbors about the rowdy behavior of temporary occupants of such residences.

“We h ave s om e n ew i n for m at ion we want to look at,” Watson reported, saying he hoped it would help the council to “come up w ith an ordinance that really suits everyone” and protects some property rights as well as the neighbors of the homes involved.

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 11 Mayor Michael Di Croc e i n itial ly responded that cleaning up the trash could be a project for kids looking to perform community service, with Onorato agreeing with that being a possible solution. Onorato also pointed out that the IMAA was receiving “considerably more” dollars than any other local organization towards Clean Communities cleanup initiatives.

“Years ago, kids had to clean up after themselves,” added Onorato in suggesting who she believed might be the source of some of the problems. “I think now kids are just dropped off and are getting rides.”

But according to Collins, it is not just empty bottles or discarded food that members are having to clean up, but “bags of dog poop.” She described an occasion where she even became nauseated in having to discard the feces herself to the point she was both “gagging” and “throwing up.”

Her suggestion was for the township “to set up trash cans,” and in making it, asked if it would be possible for Public Works to empty them once a week.

“There are four of us and we can’t keep up with the trash at Dingletown,” Collins reported. “I know, in other towns, they have Public Works come and empty the trash cans, especially in the off season. We are not in season anymore, and people are literally throwing trash next to the snack stand, and there are piles of dog poop in bags. I don’t think that should fall on us to clean up, and I am not saying it should fall on Public Works either. If you set up a trash can, maybe it would help.”

When Collins was asked who was leaving behind such trash, she responded users of the community fields, pointing out it is available for use for those walking their dogs and playing pickleball.

“Let’s see if we can put our heads together and come up with some ideas,” Di Croce concluded.

“So, we are going to look into that a little bit more and reconsider that after the first of the year,” he said.

A nother measu re that the cou nc i l i nd ic ate d it wou ld g ive fu r ther consideration, although it was adopted as part of the consent agenda, was a resolution authorizing the tax collector to delay imposing the new utility late charges pursuant to fee ordinance 2023-16.

Concern about the charges was raised

by Cou nc i l man Fran k Cz ekay, who said he thought assessing homeowners 10 percent each month the charge went unpaid reaches “a point where you cross the line from being an incentive to pay to being confiscatory” after a certain period of time.

“I don’t have a problem with 10 percent,” Czekay maintained. “I am just saying, See POLICE/ Page 15

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

Saturday, December 16, 2023

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Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

A Hampton Lakes playground that Southampton Township Administrator Kathleen D. Hoffman told a reporter will have to be closed as a result of the LeisureTowne Association no longer allowing lake access.

WATER

(Continued from Page 10) there is also a public dock involved, the existence of which was mentioned in phone interviews with other residents). When queried further, she replied, “You’d have to talk to their attorney.”

Shivers, however, when asked via email whether those recreational facilities (along with the alleged boat launch at the site) would indeed have to be closed to comply with the new restrictions, sent back a response that read: “The Old Forge Lake is and always has been wholly owned

by LeisureTowne or its predecessors in interest and no other property owner has or ever had a deed giving them the right to use the lake. It is a private lake for the

ANIMAL

(Continued from Page 11) animal! Alpacas are not useless animals.

And you don’t need five acres – horses don’t need five acres!”

St e pha n ie Ma cgonag le c a l le d t he proposed “limit of 12 hens” one that is “actually a safety concern at this point” as she “lives deep in the woods” and knows there are cases of tickborne illnesses that have been reported throughout the U.S. In pointing to the “no roosters allowed” provision the Planning Board recommended, she envisioned the “look on her 5-year-old child’s face” in the event of a “heartbreaking” attack by a racoon, fox, or coyote.

“They are not there for enjoyment,” she said of roosters. “They are there to defend a flock. They are there for the flock’s defense.”

She adde d that “ever y th i ng” recom mended to the governing body appeared “broad stroke” with Shamong “not a one size fits all town.”

“That is not reflected at all,” she said of the recommendations from the Planning Board. “It tells me they don’t know our town, so that is shocking.”

Others agreed with that point of view, some even maintaining the board members are “obviously not from Shamong,” causing Committeeman Chris Zehnder to point out

exclusive use of LeisureTowne residents and their guests.”

The attorney also did not attempt to address a second question regarding whether former Mayor Young had chaired any meetings in which owners of property abutting the lake were assured that they would be allowed to continue to use it, as Graf has claimed occurred following LeisureTowne’s assuming responsibility for the dam. Nor did her reply to some earlier queries he was emailed, answers to which he told this newspaper in an initial phone conversation would need to be approved by the LeisureTowne board at a Dec. 12 meeting.

W hether the LeisureTowne board’s lawyer will next be sending out warning letters about using the lake to the Hampton Lakes property owners who do not have

docks and thus had not yet received any such correspondence remained an unanswered question.

As far as Christine Olson is concerned, however, “it seems that every time there is a new person in charge of the (LeisureTowne Homeowners) Association, there is a new issue” that arises. Only in this situation, she doesn’t just place blame on the retirement community for the present state of affairs.

“I’m sure that when LeisureTowne agreed to repair the dam, no one was thinking longterm how it would impact the residents of Hampton Lakes, including the township,” she contended.

Unlike the residents of the 55-and-over community, she pointed out, the much smaller group of property owners of Hampton Lakes don’t have an organized association, and as a result, she feels that “the township has left

that “most of those people lived in Shamong for 10 to 15 years.”

Resident Joan Lyons told the governing body, in a somewhat sarcastic fashion, “You can’t have a rooster because, oh my God, they make a lot of noise.”

“Guess what?” she continued. “You should all go back to the city where you can listen to buses, trains and planes! Cmon, this is ridiculous!”

The proposed rooster prohibition even drew rebuke from a couple youngsters who came up to the dais, with one, in pointing out, “I have been with my chickens ever since they were hatched,” asking, “How would I protect our chickens – would I have to hire a bodyguard or something?”

Lyons, in also pointing to the proposed requirement of putting pigs on cement, asked the governing body, “Would you put horses on cement?”

“No, of course not!” she quipped. “So, why would you put pigs on cement? Maybe, their feet would hurt after eight, 10, or 24 hours. Do you know if this would be a problem for them?”

Becker, who claimed to work for a veterinarian and also pointed to the flooring recommendation for pigs, declared, “If you have pigs on cement 24/7, it is inhumane.”

“What you guys are suggesting right now is meaning I have to get rid of all my animals!” she further declared. “With what you guys

are suggesting right now, I would have to tell my four kids that they can’t have their pets anymore, and they are not going to know how to take care of them anymore. For me, as a mother, that means I failed. I moved to Shamong six years ago because of your values, and support of agriculture. I feel like what you are proposing is taking all of that away!”

McGarvey called Shamong “a farming community,” and explained that after having lived in Marlton, “she moved out here because of the type of community it is with farmers and more property rights.”

Tim McGarvey, also of Shamong, in expressing he was both “disappointed and shocked” to see such recommendations coming from a Shamong board, contended “this town is all about agriculture.”

“Medford used to be that small farming town, and they weren’t regulating everything back in the day,” he observed. “I don’t want Shamong to become Medford. A lot of city people are living in Medford now. I don’t want Shamong to go down that road.

Marlton used to be a farm town, too, and you see what Marlton is now. Once you give this little bit, all that green you see is going to go away to concrete!”

A couple others told stories of how before moving to Shamong, they called around to different townships to see what kinds of regulations were in place for animals, and that when they called Shamong, they were

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 13 us holding the bag to sort this out.”

Also placing the onus, to some extent, on the municipality was Thomas Haluszczak, a LeisureTowne resident, writer and longtime attorney who, having once served on the retirement community’s board of trustees as a consultant on legal issues, was asked by this newspaper if he wanted to weigh in on the latest one.

“Since Hampton Lakes is a section of Southampton Township, where the hell is the mayor?” Haluszczak asked. “We have a township committee, we have an issue that affects residents of a section of town, so Mike (Mayor Michael Mikulski) should add this to his list of hot topics, right next to the electrical box that still has not been moved (from where it was installed in LeisureTowne).”

(Mikulski, it should be noted, did not return calls from this newspaper regarding this matter.)

A situation like this, he asserted, “falls within the ambit of an intercommunity dispute, and the two attorneys (for both LeisureTowne and the committee) should be involved in a meditation format.

“Because when these houses were sold, they were sold with docks and they got certificates of occupancy, so that ropes the township in,” Haluszczak declared.

As for what Shivers indicated was the reason behind the new restrictions – that the association’s hand was forced by pressure from its insurer – Haluszczak, who has spent decades doing insurance work, thought it might be a credible explanation, since “the insurance companies these days are insisting on coverages I’ve never seen before, so is it possible? Yes.” But by the same token, he contended that the strictures outlined in Shivers’ letter would be essentially unenforceable, especially given that the lake at issue can be accessed by an individual who “portages” their canoe across Route 70, launches it on the creek there, and then simply paddles out to the lake.

“People from Hampton Lakes fish on these lakes all the time,” Haluszczak pointed out. “Saying ‘you can’t have a dock,’ I get it.” But telling someone they can’t get a rowboat or canoe and go on a little Lewis and Clark journey with their kids and look at the waterfowl, frankly, I don’t see where that is workable. And I don’t see where it is being a neighbor.

“I don’t understand why we’re opening this up, because it is a Pandora’s box.” told there were none, which solidified their decision to move there.

When the governing body was asked point blank in September, “Is everybody going to be voting on it?,” Zehnder initially was somewhat non-committal, but when asked again, responded, “Do you think we are going to support something everybody objects to?”

As more than 20 people came forward to protest the recom mendations, Committeeman Neil Wilkinson, in claiming to own 10 acres where he keeps both alpacas and goats, maintained he raised concerns at an August Planning Board session in which the recommendations were finalized, and that it would have been “nice to have some support during that meeting.”

Meanwh i le, Zeh nder stressed that the “report is a recommendation” and “nobody is here to hurt you,” explaining that the Planning Board developed its recommendations by relying on Rutgers University, the Department of Agriculture and “surrounding municipalities like Tabernacle” so that it is “not making us stick out like a sore thumb.”

Inman however, shot back, that he saw it as a move to “change our values” and that he would run himself for a position on the board, declaring, “Thousands of people in town want to keep it (Shamong) the same.”

See ANIMAL/ Page 15

Page 14 ♦

RAZE

WORSHIP GUIDE

(Continued from Page 2) It was at this moment that Brown revealed that Requests for Proposals (RFPs) had been sought by the township for animal control services, and that they were due back in time for the Nov. 29 session, but that the municipality “did not receive one submission.”

“We received zero,” Brown contended.

“For the current one (firm), I have even physically sent it to him (the bid package), and he did not respond.”

The municipality’s website, as of Dec. 9, lists Academy Animal Control as its current animal control provider.

Sheerin, on Nov. 29, inquired about the possibility of Woodland returning to having its own animal control officer, maintaining that back in the day when the township had its own person, it took just a phone call for there to be a resolution. Brown responded that a person hired for the role needs to be certified.

Township Solicitor William Burns also asked if the governing body would “consider training a resident” for the position.

DeGroff asked Sheerin if she would want to do the job, but Sheerin described that she is working already.

“If it works out,” said DeGroff, in responding to a second question from Sheerin about whether the township would purchase a truck for any in-house animal control officer.

Sheerin also questioned the performance of Code Enforcement Officer Tom Boyd

CHIEF

(Continued from Page 5) and is right now at around $225,000 to $250,000, down from $400,000 in 2020. The fire company keeps another $100,000 in its operating account balance.

n dfordUMC

WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM during the Nov. 29 session, maintaining that when she asks for the code enforcer’s records, “I don’t get them and everything is, ‘There are no responsive records.’”

She expressed concern it could very well be a sign that he is “not doing his job.”

In pointing to Boyd having responsibilities in other area towns including Tabernacle, Southampton and Pemberton Borough, Sheerin expressed her belief that it is “impossible” for him to be able to carry out all of his responsibilities with having such a workload.

She urged the governing body to put out a RFP for the position of code enforcement in Woodland.

“Please find someone,” she asked of the governing body. “I think we deserve better, and when you drive through town, we have some issues.”

In the past, some residents have asked for Boyd to be present at governing body meetings, but DeGroff has said he did not want them to turn into a grilling of the official, and for residents to go through the administration/clerk with questions.

Resident Jane Donoghue, during the Nov. 29 regular session, inquired as to the status of a previously discussed five-and-ahalf pages worth of alleged violations that Boyd reportedly made note of recently in the Lebanon Lakes section of the township, wh ich had broug ht about a leng thy committee debate about how far Boyd should go in pursuing violations of property maintenance laws, with the consensus of the governing body that he should only pursue

properties that are unkept.

DeGrof f answered that the list of alleged violations was “pretty much” still pending, with Burns emphasizing that what Boyd gathered was merely “notes” and a “draft document” and that “though I still think there are property issues in that neighborhood,” he “doesn’t believe there are any violations.” Brown confirmed there have been “no violations issued at this time,” and that officials are “just moving forward” from its prior discussion over what lengths code enforcement should go in ensuring compliance with the law.

Sheer in, at one point on Nov. 29, questioned whether Boyd even knows how to find his way to Woodland, but unbeknownst to her, Boyd was actually at a preceding workshop session, held an hour before the 7 p.m. regular meeting.

Boyd, however, left before the start of the regular session, contending he had an emergency to tend to at his home.

The code enforcement official did not speak during the public portion of the workshop session, but appeared to be there for a matter of “potential litigation,” which was the reason given for the governing body convening for a time behind closed doors, in addition to “contract negotiations.”

“There was a lively discussion in executive session about a property issue in town,” said Burns during the regular meeting that followed the conclusion of the closed session.

“I will follow up with the property owner, with respect to the discussion held in executive

session and required attorney client privilege.

“I do not recommend this committee take any action with respect to this property right now, pending my letter to them. I will also address the escrow issues we discussed.”

There were some clues, however, as to what the topic might have involved behind closed doors. On the committee conference table, where the governing body had convened its workshop session, was a storage box labeled, “Estlow Subdivision.” Then, right before convening the closed session, one official remarked there was a belief the “Estlows were invited” to attend, but in recognizing that they did not appear to be in the building, there might be a need of “getting back to her with an answer.”

At least one member of that family, Margaret Estlow, has been trying for some time now to have lots in downtown Chatsworth developed, previously said to be some of the last developable land in Woodland.

An “off-market” online listing located by this newspaper advertises what is dubbed, “Estlow Estates,” calling it a “very rare opportunity in the Pine Barrens” and detailing a “16-acre parcel in the Village of Chatsworth that features 12 buildable lots in an approved subdivision with improvements,” claiming that “all lots are at least an acre and all approvals for this unimproved land are in place with plot plans, septic and well layouts, proposed home placements, underground utilities, among other docs.”

“As costs continue to rise, we need you to help us,” Lyons told the township committee.

“Without help, we will see a faster depletion of capital reserves, and have to put off purchases that might become expensive later.”

Burg i n poi nted to a com mon misconception that “taxes” cover the fire company’s operating costs and equipment

expenses, “but it takes a lot more to run the fire company,” with the fire company its own entity and having its own operating budget, with only some of the expenses covered through a “donation to us.”

“Safety is paramount,” said Lyons of obtaining the necessary equipment and making sure it is in appropriate condition.

The Shamong committee, while asking some questions about the various expenses and needs, was non-committal on whether it might provide an additional contribution to the agency.

“Thanks for coming in,” Committeeman Chris Zehnder said. “We are trying to look ahead, and cycle things a little smarter.”

Worship Guide

First Baptist Church

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St. Andrew’s Church 121 High St., Mt. Holly MASS: 5 PM Sat. 10 AM Sun. Morning Prayer (M-F) 9 AM on Facebook Office: (M-Th, 8 AM-Noon) 609-267-0225 E-Mail: STANDREWSCHURCHMH@gmail.com Website: WWW.STANDREWSCHURCH-MH.ORG

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Grace Episcopal Church 43 Elizabeth St, Pemberton, NJ 08068 9 a.m. Sunday Service (609) 894-8001

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MARKETPLACE

♦ Page 15

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ANIMAL

(Continued from Page 13) Onorato replied that the Planning Board intended to “keep the flavor of Shamong as is” and is “more concerned with small lots in a planned subdivision.”

“Is an acre lot something to put a horse in?” she asked, with members of the audience attesting that it is sufficient.

“I have been here over 50 years,” said Deputy Mayor Martin Mozitis in response to the backlash. “I had animals from when I was a little kid – pigeons, geese, ducks, rabbits, and every animal you can imagine.

I have a lot of cows, right now, 40 of them. I have goats at my house and chickens.”

A month after Zehnder recognized, “We are getting community input that says no freaking way,” came the announcement from Di Croce (who was absent from the fiery meeting) that he had been “brought up to speed” and that the animal recommendations were being tabled. The following month came a more absolute assurance they would not be moving forward.

“The rural farming community is what draws people to this area,” said local Marla Burns. “… Kids here are learning responsibility, maturity and empathy … all kinds of skills they aren’t learning in neighboring towns. … And they have responsibilities to take care of and are not out there causing problems (tending to animals).”

As resident Josh Inman put it after visiting nearly all 50 states, “Shamong is where I decided to call home” and “we are different here.”

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POLICE

(Continued from Page 11) ‘Should there be an overall cap, up to a maximum of 50 percent or 100 percent?’”

Municipal Clerk Dawn Bielec, however, noted that before that, “at some point the services would be shut off” (although that is prohibited by the state during cold-weather months), and that if the bill

remained unpaid, it would result in a lien being put on the property at the end of the year.

When Czekay asked her how many people are actually late in paying their utility bills, Bielec responded, “Quite a few,” and asserted that the township a ct u a l ly los e s money i n p ost age by having to notify those who are delinquent in their payments.

The Township of Tabernacle is seeking qualified proposals for professional services to be rendered beginning the date of the 2024 Reorganization meeting through December 31, 2024 for the following positions: • Animal Control • Architect • Environmental Consultant • Site Plan Engineer • Township Attorney • Township Auditor • Township Bond Counsel • Township Engineer • Township Planner • Township Prosecutor • Township Public Defender • Township Risk Manager • Special Counsel • Conflict Township Attorney • Conflict Township Engineer • Infrastructure Consultant Where to obtain minimum qualifications and proposal forms, submission deadline, and form of submission are indicated below.

Where to obtain RFQ/RFP: mbrown@ townshipoftabernacle-nj.gov OR Website: www. townshipoftabrnacle-nj.gov Municipal Clerk, 163 Carranza Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088 Submission Deadline: January 3, 2024 10:00 am Submission Location: Municipal Clerk, 163 Carranza Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088 Form of Submission: All submissions shall be provided: • Electronically via email, including rates in Excel Spreadsheet, to mbrown@ townshipoftabernacle-nj.gov; and • Two (2) paper copies, submitted in sealed envelope with “Submission of Qualifications/ Proposal for (Name of Position)” marked on the outside, addressed to Municipal Clerk, 163 Carranza Rd., Tabernacle, NJ 08088 All proposals are being solicited through a fair and open process in accordance with Tabernacle Township Ordinance 2005-17.

Maryalice Brown, RMC Township Clerk/Administrator Pub. Date December 16, 2023 Ptr. Fee: $12.50

LEGAL NOTICES REORGANIZATION MEETING of the Township of Tabernacle County of Burlington, State of NJ NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Tabernacle Township Committee will hold the Township’s Reorganization meeting on January 5, 2024 at 3:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the Tabernacle Fire House, 76 Hawkin Rd, Tabernacle, NJ. The agenda will include the reorganization of the Township for 2024. Action will be taken.

This is an open public meeting in accordance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-6. Anyone from the public wishing to speak will be permitted to during public participation. The agenda will be posted on the township webpage.

Maryalice Brown, RMC Township Clerk/Administrator Pub. Date December 16, 2023 Ptr. Fee: $4.25

Solicitor Timothy Prime joined in the discussion by calling the prospect of a tax sale “the greatest incentive for anyone to pay” their overdue utility bill and pointing out that the resolution “authorizes delay” in the ordinance taking effect, allowing some time to rethink its provisions.

“If the council feels there should be a cap, we can put a cap in there,” the solicitor noted.

Page 16 ♦

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BUSINESS DIRECTORY ♦ Page 17

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CRASHES

(Continued from Page 4) “gotten a lot of money.”

During the Nov. 29 session, it was also announced that Woodland was just awarded $152,320 from the NJDOT, through its 2023 Municipal Aid Program, to conduct Phase II of road improvements planned for the Lebanon Lakes community.

Once the repaving work in Lebanon Lakes is completed, DeGroff told the engineer he would like to “get started on Jones Mill Road.”

Several pieces of apparatus that the township has come to rely upon have

required or will require repairs, as detailed in reports to the governing body.

According to Brown, the township’s backhoe has had a hydraulic leak, as well as a cylinder leak.

The municipal dump had to be temporarily closed last month “because of an issue with one of the dumpsters,” and after that one was replaced, an issue developed with the second one and is now “going out for repairs.”

Brown contended the dumpsters belong to a private contractor, and in response, resident Terry Sheerin declared “those dumpsters are really pathetic” and “those dumpsters already have holes in them, in the bottom.”

“The sides of it are all rusted out,” Sheerin

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added. “They need to do better!”

DeGroff responded that the township is “discussing options.”

Viscardi reported that one ambulance is “going out for repair,” while in another, a load system has been installed (what essentially amounts to an electronic patient lift), “but we are trying to find out where the power cot is” from the vendor.

In regard to the township’s fire trucks, “for 2911, the white engine is going out and an extensive amount of repairs need to be done – it is our oldest engine,” Viscardi noted, while “for 2912, the red engine, it needs a new exhaust system.”

“For now, it is a little loud,” he said.

Mt. Laurel 856-234-3453

Pemberton 609-893-9329

SUCCESSOR (Continued from Page 5)

not,” Somes quipped.

James said that David Simpson, township emergency management coordinator, “was on top of it.” Gadd, also the township’s public safety director, responded that the signs “do not appear to be malfunctioning” a ny long e r, but “wh et h e r t h ey a r e functioning, I don’t know.”

However, Barbara Cavileer, chief of the Green Bank Volunteer Ambulance Company, stood up to report that “the tallest unit at the landing has a plastic bag over it – it is not even operational.”

Page 18 ♦

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Saturday, December 16, 2023

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