Pine Barrens Tribune March 11, 2023 - March 17, 2023

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

SHAMONG—It’s what New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) Administrator and Chief Greg McLaughlin refers to as the “wildland-urban interface” – an area that an estimated half of New Jersey’s residents, he claims, live “within reach of” and are thus potentially exposed to the danger of an out-of-control wildfire in a state that, despite having the country’s greatest population density, is still approximately 40 percent forest land.

That increasingly precarious proximity, according to Assistant Commissioner for

PREVENTING FIRE WITH FIRE

Medford Township Mourns

State Parks, Forests and Historic Sites John Cecil, is part of what motivates the service to set itself an annual goal of at least 25,000 acres of “prescribed burns” involving the preventive burning of potential fuels for dangerous conflagrations, such as those it has found itself having to battle on several occasions during the past year (including a 13,500 acre fire that scorched Wharton State Forest woodlands on both sides of the Mullica River last June).

Not that it always achieves that objective, Cecil acknowledges, having only managed to cover about 17,000 acres of woodlands for each of the two preceding years. But

the latest indicator of how proficient it has become in its ability to respond to such events occurred just this past week when, with the help of local and area firefighters, it was able to get a 100 percent containment handle on a 418-acre blaze in the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area of Little Egg Harbor Township in southern Ocean County within just a few hours on the exceptionally blustery afternoon of March 7. And one of its standard tactics in such situations is the lighting of backfires – a similar fuel-deprivation technique used around a designated perimeter.

See FIRE Page 6

Police

Sgt. William

Webb, 22-Year Veteran of Force Who ‘Lived to Serve Others’

Well-Loved Officer Also Held Rank of Deputy Fire Chief and Volunteered as a Coach for Shawnee Baseball Team

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

MEDFORD—If ever a municipality could be described as being “in mourning” for one of its own, that was Medford Township this past week following the unanticipated death of a beloved public servant, Medford Police Sgt. William A. Webb III, on March 1.

And apparently, the feeling of grief over the sudden loss of the 46-year-old veteran officer, volunteer firefighter and coach extended well beyond the township’s borders, judging from the tributes paid to Webb by those who had worked with him in other venues and the hundreds of police, firefighters and friends who came to pay him their respects.

Webb, a Medford Lakes resident, was described to the Pine Barrens Tribune by Medford Township Police Chief Arthur Waterman, whose department he had been a member of for the past 22 years, as being “a consummate professional who was committed to serving others” as well as “an outgoing, kind and gracious person who was really willing to help anybody, whether on or off duty.”

“I can tell you right now that this is a tremendous loss to both the Medford Police Department and to the community,” Waterman declared.

The versatile nature of Webb’s lawenforcement career was reflected in his

See MOURNS/ Page 5

With More and More People Migrating to New Jersey’s ‘Wildland-Urban Interface,’ the State Forest Fire Service Further Demonstrates How It Uses Prescribed Burns to Protect Them from Wildfires, Sharing Info with West Coast Counterparts as Well

Photo By Bill Bonvie

New Jersey Forest Fire Service officials ignite a prescribed burn in a seven-acre grassy field on the edge of Wharton State Forest.

Township with Attorney Known to be Ally of Local Democrats Retaining Position Republican Law Firm, in Agreement, Added to Town’s Special Counsel Pool

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—A “compromise” has been reached, as one Pemberton Township source put it, ending the solicitor showdown that played out during the first three Pemberton Township Council meetings of the new year, which was set in motion by a change in guard in administration and two Republicans joining Pemberton Township Council with Democrats losing absolute control on Jan. 1.

Democratic Council President Donovan Gardner, in alluding to the apparent compromise, pointed attendees at a Feb. 15 council session to a provision in Resolution 87-2023, titled, “Resolution Appointing a Township Solicitor and Supplementing the Special Counsel Pool For CY2023,” in which it is stated that “the mayor has requested that the township council provide advice and consent to his appointments of Andrew Bayer, Esquire, of Pashman, Stein, Walder, Hayden, as township solicitor for CY2023 and Jerry Dasti, Esquire, of the law firm Dasti, Murphy, McGuckin, Ulaky, Koutsouris & Connors, as special legal counsel for CY2023.”

The resolution was unanimously added to the agenda, and subsequently passed by a 5-0 vote, bringing an end to a nearly twomonths-long standoff.

Tompkins, a Republican seated Jan. 1 as township mayor after defeating 16-year Democratic mayor David Patriarca last November, as this newspaper previously reported, requested Jan. 3, during the first governing body meeting of the new year, that council consent to an appointment of the law firm Dasti, Murphy, McGuckin, Ulaky, Koutsouris & Connors as township solicitor, with that law firm known to have Republican ties, with Connors a 9th District GOP state senator.

However, Tompkins initial request was defeated by a 3-2 vote along party lines, with the Democratic council members casting the dissenting votes, and the measure only drawing the support of Councilmen Dan Dewey and Joshua Ward. Afterwards, Gardner had invited Bayer, a longtime ally of the Democratic administration and council, to come up to the dais to “assist council” on “legal advice” and with “legal opinions,” maintaining Bayer is “here as a holdover until it gets resolved.”

Tompkins, in response, had protested that under the Faulkner Act, he has the “authority to appoint all professional services” and maintained there is “no ‘holdover,’” but rather “I then have the authority to temporarily appoint somebody until you do approve who I appoint.”

The new mayor threatened to take legal action and doubled down on that threat in a later interview with this newspaper, maintaining “one reason” he disagreed with appointing Bayer is that there has been “a lot of times our solicitor interjected himself into the meeting as if he was a councilman, or councilperson, and not acting as the township solicitor giving legal advice” and that “I didn’t care for that too much.” He denied it was political in nature.

During subsequent council sessions, a tense and awkward scene played out with Bayer seated at the council dais, while Dasti was seated at the administration desk.

Gardner refused to recognize Dasti as a legitimate appointment, at one point declaring when he attempted to provide legal advice, “This meeting – I don’t believe you are part of it” and, “You are not part of this meeting, sir, I don’t even know who you are.”

Meanwhile, when Dasti began further challenging his seat at the table, Bayer

quipped, “Jerry, this is not a ‘public’ discussion,” as if to imply that Dasti was merely a member of the public and not a recognized professional appointment. Bayer, meanwhile, was allowed to give legal advice, uninterrupted.

Tompkins tried again during a Feb. 3 session to have Dasti appointed, but attendees walked into council chambers finding an agenda listing two separate resolutions for the appointment of township solicitor, one that would have appointed Bayer and another that would have appointed Dasti.

After being questioned by the public about the reasons behind conflicting resolutions, Gardner acknowledged the one that would have appointed Bayer was listed on the agenda at his behest, but that he was going to have it “pulled,” contending “what’s the sense of it” given a recognized “disagreement” between the council and mayor.

But before it was pulled, council voted again along party lines, 3-2, denying Tompkins’ second request.

Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel could not provide answers to this newspaper’s later questions about whether taxpayers would have to foot the bill for two solicitors attending council meetings.

The “fighting and bickering” by officials outraged some attendees, including longtime meeting regulars, who urged them to bring an end to it.

And so, they did at a council meeting on Feb. 15, the first after this newspaper’s published front page story about the ongoing standoff.

“In Resolution 87-2023, the mayor agreed to Mr. Bayer’s appointment to serve as township solicitor for CY2023, while council, in turn, agreed to approve Mr. Dasti for litigation matters and other legal work, as assigned,” said Hornickel of the agreement reached in a later statement emailed to this newspaper. “For the remainder of the year, Mr. Bayer will continue to attend council meetings, while Mr. Dasti will only be asked to attend if the assigned matter requires conferring with the council.”

Approval Given for Tabernacle Twp. to Enter into ‘Contract of Sale’ with Russo’s for Two Lots Having ‘Public Purpose’, Totaling 20 Acres Municipality Intends to Build Municipal Complex on Property Valued at $941K, Anticipated to be Sold for $825K with Development of ‘Floor Plans’ in Progress

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—The go-ahead has been given for Tabernacle Township to move further forward towards purchasing 144 Carranza Road, property that the municipality has been considering for many months now for the site of a future municipal complex in the wake of a multitude of issues with the existing town hall and Public Works facility at 163 Carranza Road, or a site that is just down the street.

That permission was given through a unanimous late evening Feb. 27 vote that followed a more than hour-long Tabernacle Township Committee executive session, with Township Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown and Mayor Samuel “Sammy” Moore now given authorization to “execute a purchase agreement” between the township and Russo’s Fruit and Vegetable Farm, Inc.”

“This document does not convey ownership of the property, but rather enters into a contract with the property owner, who has agreed to sell the property to the township for the amount of $825,000,” explained Township Solicitor William Burns of the implications of the committee action taken following its closed session. “And if the committee so agrees, the township will agree to buy that property contingent and subject to all local, county, state and federal governmental approvals for identified future use and development of the property, meaning that if this property, for some reason, cannot be used for the construction of Tabernacle’s municipal complex, and the township cannot receive approvals, the township shall have the absolute right to cancel

Preliminary Report on Oakshade Road Intersection Traffic Study Forthcoming, Engineer Says, But Does Not Suggest Signal Needed Residents Previously Described ‘Significant Accidents’ at Intersection Every 3 Months in Comments Following Fatal Crash There on New Year’s Eve That Killed Atco Woman

the contract.”

One major objection to any possible sale and construction at 144 Carranza Road expressed by members of the public at recent township committee meetings, including former township officials, is that initial plans reportedly would have had the prospective municipal complex built on a “flag lot,” or one significant frontage that has almost no visibility from the road. However, according to a resolution added to the Feb. 27 meeting agenda and read aloud by both Brown and Burns, which provides the township clerk and Moore with the authorization to execute the purchase agreement, the township is now “desirous to acquire” two lots “known as 144 Carranza Road,” with one some 19 acres, and the other about an acre in size.

“There was some talk before about the condition of the lot,” Burns said. “Once again, this is for the entire property, known as 144 Carranza Road. It does not contemplate a subdivision. It is not for a flag lot any longer. It is again for the entire property, and entire 20 plus acres, including a farm stand.”

The some one-acre lot, according to the resolution, also contains a single-family dwelling, with Burns pointing out on Feb. 27 that the property is currently “subject to a residential lease.” According to the township solicitor, at the time of any “conveyance” of the property to the township, “notice will be sent to that tenant.”

The agreement to be executed, it was pointed out during the latest township committee meeting, “contemplates a closing date of

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—Tabernacle Township’s engineer has promised the release of a “preliminary report” on a traffic study that was recently performed at the intersection of Oakshade Road and Medford Lakes –Tabernacle Road (also known as County Route 532), one which residents have described as “very dangerous” and was the site of a recent fatal collision.

According to Township Engineer Tom Leisse, its release will occur during a scheduled March 13 workshop meeting of the Tabernacle Township Committee.

In previewing the forthcoming release, Leisse revealed that “at this point, the findings do not suggest a traffic signal is warranted at that intersection.”

“And the recommendations are already being done by the township, those being the illuminated stop signs, rumble strips, and in addition to that, doing regular, routine maintenance to keep the site triangles clear along the right of way,” Leisse maintained.

The purchase of a flashing stop-sign for the intersection was authorized by the township committee during its Jan. 3, 2023,

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

A flashing stop sign recently installed at the intersection of Oakshade Road and Medford Lakes – Tabernacle Road.

‘Serious Problem Exists’ with Trash Blowing Off Trucks and Trailers on Way to Woodland Dump, Says Resident Calling for Tarp Decree Mayor Responds There Would Be ‘No Way’ Requirement Could Be Enforced While Deputy Mayor Acknowledges Seeing an ‘Inordinate Amount of Trash’

By D ouglas D. M elegari

Staff Writer

WOODLAND—A resident of a Woodland Township neighborhood that is along a main access route for the municipal transfer station is calling for action be taken by the Woodland Township Committee after purportedly observing trash being blown off of trailers and pickups “overloaded with trash” while they are in route to the dump, leading to what has been described as a “serious” litter problem in the community.

“Their trash and debris is all over these roads and it is not fair to expect residents to clean up their mess,” wrote resident Deborah “Debbie” Grove to the governing body of the situation on Panama Road, which ultimately turns into White Horse Road, where the township transfer station is located. “No one ever stops to pick up anything that has blown out of their trailers or pickups on their return trip. White Horse Road is now once again covered with trash and a serious problem exists.”

Woodland provides no trash hauling services to its township residents. Previously, a referendum that would have allowed for trash collection in the township was turned down by a majority of township voters.

After describing to the township committee in the email the “seriousness of the trash” situation, Grove recounted a purported conversation she had with the township’s public works assistant, David D’Gaetano, who mans the transfer station, contending he “recommended” the governing body “require a tarp across trailers and open pickup trucks to help correct this situation” and also put out “some form of communication” to residents to “recommend they comply.”

Additionally, she maintained, D’Gaetano recommended “a sign at the transfer station about the need for tarps.”

“It sounds like a good idea,” declared Grove of the purported recommendations.

However, after Grove’s letter was read aloud during the Feb. 22 township committee meeting, Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff replied, “There is no way we are

Departing Indian Mills Fire Chief Honored for ‘Unconditional Service’ in Firefighting Spanning 48 Years, Including Spending 20 Years as Chief

ever going to enforce any kind of tarps being placed on the vehicles.”

“I would hope that residents would realize that if their trucks are overfilled, and their trailers are overfilled, they would put a tarp over them to secure it,” DeGroff added.

“If someone sees someone losing trash or whatever, get their tag number, give it to us and we will gladly follow up on it.”

The mayor further maintained he “would hope the residents of this town would care enough that if they did see trash fly out, that they would pick it up.”

Committeewoman Donna Mull noted that she was recently driving behind a vehicle in route to the transfer station and observed that a “bag flew out of their truck.”

“I don’t think they realized it, and when I got to the dump, I just let them know about it and they went back and got it,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Mark Herndon, in also responding to the email, asserted that he “agrees” with the mayor that it would be “hard to enforce” any sort of tarp mandate.

“People really should have enough pride in where they live, and if they see something blow out of their truck or car, or whatever, they should stop and pick it up,” Herndon declared. “And I do recognize that there is, on those (trash) days, an inordinate amount of trash stuck along the road and stickers and everything. All we can do is do our due diligence. I don’t think a tarp would be enforceable, so we will have to keep trying.”

DeGroff said that he believes the “majority of residents” are “fine,” but that “every now and then” some residents “put way too much trash on their vehicles” and that “it just blows off and they just don’t care.”

“The problem is getting worse then ever and cannot wait until Clean Community Day in April,” wrote Grove to the township committee, however. “It makes me laugh to say Woodland is a ‘Clean Community’ – it absolutely is not. I do my part, personally, with Clean Community Day and calling the county when their roads are littered, but this is really too much and needs the assistance of the township committee.”

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

SHAMONG—After serving over four decades as a volunteer firefighter, and nearly 20 years as chief of the Shamong Townshipbased Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company, in addition to his day job as a construction superintendent, John Smith is dialing it back some.

Smith has officially handed over the reins of the Indian Mills Fire Company to Mike Bader, according to a recent pronouncement from Indian Mills President Charles Burgin.

As Burgin explaining during a recent Shamong Township Committee workshop session, the fire company’s bylaws allow a fire chief to serve in the post for up to five terms, with Smith “probably having served in that role for 20 years or so.”

And when the governing body heard about the departure of the well-respected and dedicated, veteran chief, it became cause for there to be a ceremony to recognize Smith and all his many achievements over the past 48 years.

The departing chief was honored during a Feb. 7 township committee meeting, with

Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce bestowing him with a proclamation for “48-plus years of unconditional service to the residents of Shamong as a volunteer firefighter, chief, first and second assistant chief, captain, lieutenant and member of New Jersey State Forest Fire Service.”

Smith moved from Tabernacle Township to Shamong in 1976, where he raised two sons. He began serving as a fireman in 1974.

“You will hear me talk a lot about devotion,” Smith told this newspaper following the tribute. “But the real heroes are my wife and family. Yes, you are doing the actual firefighting and firefighting training, but it was rough sometimes for them. In my book, the real heroes will always be my wife and family to let me do what I did.”

Smith rose through the ranks from lieutenant to first assistant chief over the next 16 years.

Then Smith “continued serving Shamong” as township fire chief for the next 20 years.

Smith, during most of his firefighting career, also worked for Roland Aristone, a construction company that was based in Medford. He worked for the company for 42 years and served as a construction superintendent for the firm, and “built big buildings,” including some that are wellknown to locals, Shawnee High School in Medford, Cherokee High School in Marlton and St. Joan of Arc in Marlton.

Even though Smith first joined the Indian Mills Fire Company when he had still lived in Tabernacle, according to Smith, where he lived was considered back then “part of Indian Mills” and was next to the old “Indian Mills School.”

“It has really been a good trip,” he declared. “I made a lot of friends and helped a lot of people. And a lot of people helped me through the years.”

His advice to those considering a similar career path or for those following in his footsteps, he said, is “that it’s a long road, but that you just have to bear with it” and “it is a career with a lot of ups and downs, but the ups outnumber the downs.”

“I’ll still be involved,” he declared, with Smith still running out to some calls and serving as one of the fire company’s trustees.

Photo Provided Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company’s departing chief, John Smith (left), is honored with a proclamation for “48-plus years of unconditional service to the residents of Shamong as a volunteer firefighter.”

Photo Provided

Members of the Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company and other area first responders join in sending off John Smith to semi-retirement after serving nearly a quarter-century as township fire chief.

MOURNS

(Continued from Page 1)

(SRO), a member of the Bicycle Patrol, a field training officer, and a member of the

Traffic Safety Division, in which he worked as both a “crash reconstructionist” and a motorcycle operator.

“He served with distinction in our agency, and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Waterman added.

Tributes to Webb also were emailed to this newspaper by two officials of the Medford Township Department of Fire and EMS, where he served for a dozen years, eight of them as deputy chief of Taunton Fire Company Station 252, a volunteer position, and was a decorated officer.

One was from Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Dovi, Jr., who characterized Webb as “a leader and a mentor in our department” and “a firefighter through and through,” as well as “a mentor and a hero to the youth of this town,” recalling how his youngest son “always looked up to Bill,” who inspired him to want to be a police officer.

“Deputy Chief Webb will always be remembered as a consummate professional in the fire service, a loving husband, son, brother, and uncle to his family,” maintained Dovi, adding, “Rest easy Bill and thank you for making us better.”

The second fire official to offer fond memories of Webb, Deputy Chief Paul Guelich, also described him as having lived his whole life in service to others, “whether it was in a police uniform, or on a fire call

in his favorite fire department hoodie, or on his motorcycle for the Police Unity Tour, or coaching on the baseball field or just at a friend’s house helping a buddy.”

Guelich recalled that Webb “ran an excellent fire scene” using “good strategy, command presence, and quick decision making.”

“But this quickness under fire was measured and balanced; he would never put his guys at unnecessary risk,” Guelich further recounted.

The deputy chief added that he felt “blessed and honored to be one of the lucky ones to have had the opportunity to learn from him and for him to be a part of our organization.”

“I, along with all of the members, are forever grateful for this,” Guelich declared. “He made all of us—as firefighters and as individuals— better.”

Another eulogy to Webb was posted online by Police Chief Daniel J. McAteer of the Pitman Borough (Gloucester County) Police Department, who said that “the news of his passing has left us inconsolable.”

“Because Bill spent so much time working for us as a Class II officer and a dispatcher, we now consider him a member of our family,” wrote McAteer, calling him a “perfect example of what it means to be an outstanding friend and coworker in every respect” and who “lived his life with a selfless

enthusiasm for helping other people and serving other people.”

“During this difficult time, we want his family, friends, and coworkers to know that all of our love, thoughts, and prayers are with them,” McAteer added.

The Pitman Borough chief noted “we have all developed personally” as a direct result of having had the opportunity to work together with Webb and have him as a friend and fellow officer.

In addition to his police and volunteer fire duties, Webb spent time coaching Shawnee Baseball, which posted a picture of him on its Twitter page with a message referring to him as “a role model for our players” who always wanted them to respect the game and play it “the right way,” and whose coaching staff wrote on his tribute page that they will “be missing your smile, wisdom and goodnatured spirit out on the Shawnee fields.”

Webb, according to his obituary, who was fondly known by the nickname “Webbie,” was also a previous member of the Washington Township Fire Department, Evesham Fire Rescue, Waterford Fire Department, and most recently the Medford Lakes Fire Department along with Medford Fire & EMS.

Survivors include his wife, Mandy, his mother and stepfather, Bill and Eileen Adamonis, and his brother, Cory (Chelsea). He is predeceased by his sister, Michelle.

Photo Provided

The late Sgt. William A. Webb of the Medford Township Police Department.

FIRE

But while the “demonstration burn” that various media were invited to attend by the NJFSS on March 1 might have sounded a lot like the one it conducted a year ago in a wooded area of Little Egg Harbor (which was also covered by the Pine Barrens Tribune), there were some notable new aspects of the exercise this time.

For one thing, the latest area the service chose to target for the occasion wasn’t wooded, but was rather a seven-acre field of wild grass on the edge of Wharton State Forest in Shamong Township, located smack in the midst of what Tom Gerber, NJFFS section forest firewarden, calls a “historic wildfire corridor,” where in the past, several severe conflagrations have occurred (including a 10,000-acre 1964 blaze that literally “burned through the sand,” as he put it).

Only the locales in which those fires occurred have since grown a lot closer to some of the places where people currently reside, as both Gerber and DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette made clear in addressing the assembled print and broadcast reporters.

“Ten thousand homes are very close to where we now stand here,” noted Gerber, with many in a development known as Wharton Acres where those seeking the natural beauty and tranquility of a rural retreat have chosen to settle. And that, he noted, is in addition to the quads and motorcycles that often traverse

the area’s wooded back roads and can serve as ignition sources.

“In this part of the community, you’ve got a pretty narrow interface between the forest and the beginning of residential areas,” observed LaTourette. “And so, one of our driving forces is ensuring that we are protecting people from wildfire risks” – an objective largely accomplished through the use of “strategic prescribed burning that will reduce the amount of fuel on the forest floor.”

Another factor in this changing equation, LaTourette pointed out, is the role of climate change, New Jersey actually being “ground zero” for some of its worst impacts.

And those impacts, he emphasized, include “an increasing risk of wildfire” that many people might not associate with the state when compared to places like California and other parts of the American West.

“We actually have an incredibly high forest fire risk, especially in the southern part of the state,” the commissioner added.

And that’s in addition to a secondary effect of climate change – the fact that the traditional start date of the state’s fire season has been creeping from mid-March back into February, according to Gerber.

It is such collective considerations that have made officials of the NJFFS and the state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), its parent agency, especially hypervigilant about planning and implementing pre-emptive measures like prescribed burns – although in this case the choice of a grassy field was dictated, as so often happens, by weather conditions, which

had already caused the demonstration to have to be postponed for a week. (On March 1, the surrounding forest was still damp from recent rains, whereas grass typically takes only an hour to dry out, making it known to firefighters a “one-hour fuel,” whereas the woods more typically contain 10- and even 100-hour fuels.)

Another new dimension to this year’s prescribed burn event was the presence of two quite literal ‘visiting firemen’ representing a forest fire team from the West Coast –Gary Wright, a fire prevention officer with California’s Tahoe National Forest and Mike Walsh, a lead firefighter with Tahoe Helitack, an operation that uses helicopters to ferry firefighting crews to the often inaccessible scenes of forest fires there.

Both were part of an innovative new exchange program in which New Jersey, McLaughlin claimed, is “the first state to participate with the U.S. Forest Service.” The pair, according to the NJFFS, were in New Jersey on a two-week assignment to learn the prescribed burning techniques and tactics used by firefighters here as applied to “a variety of fuel types, including the New Jersey pine plains which are comparable to the volatility of chaparral fuels in California.” (The service also noted that it “looks forward to continuing to participate in professional exchanges with agencies throughout the country.”)

As NJFFS Assistant Division Firewarden Rob Gill pointed out, this new exchange program is one that allows the Tahoe-based firefighters to bring some “New Jersey knowledge“ back to their units in California while lending Garden State firefighters the benefit of their own experiences in staving off conflagrations in that state, which has had more than its share of highly destructive and deadly forest fires in recent years. And while they were here, according to the NJFFS, Wright and Walsh got the opportunity to join their New Jersey counterparts in containing the Stafford Forge fire.

“This is an opportunity for us to come out and see a little bit different terrain, different fuel types, see how this program works and the kind of burning they do here and to get some more experiences,” Wright told the assembled fire officials and journalists. “That collaboration and exchanging of resources is beneficial to all agencies,” he added, noting that he’d seen “New Jersey fire resources all over the country.”

“We learn from them, they learn from us,” was how Wright later summed up the exchange program in a brief interview with this reporter.

When asked whether he thought the exceptional amount of snow that has recently fallen in the mountains of both the northern and southern parts of California might serve to alleviate the drought conditions that have set the stage for those catastrophic fires, Wright replied that “several winters” of heavy snowfall might be needed to do that. Due to having different layers of fuels, he maintained,

“it takes several years for the fire danger in California to come down.”

“But the hope is, it will be better this year as a result,” he added. “It’s a little bit less predictable than it used to be.”

Judging from the comments made by officials of the firefighting service, it appears that the same might be said for New Jersey, most of which by contrast has had a virtually snow-free winter. But that, Gill maintained, when asked the question in reverse, might actually bode well for the coming fire season in one regard – by affecting the compactness of the fuels.

“You didn’t have any snowpack to push everything down,” he pointed out. “So, it’s beneficial for prescribed burning in that more of those fuels are consumed in controlled burns. It makes for a cleaner forest floor.”

But on the other hand, he contended, the lack of snow “can create better conditions for wildfires.”

More immediate elements that make these wilderness flare-ups so unpredictable include sudden shifts in wind direction and intensity – things that can cause a blaze to jump a river, a bog, an interstate or other limited-access thoroughfares such as the Garden State Parkway.

Keeping all these variables constantly in mind, LaTourette emphasized how critical the prescribed burning program has become — “first and foremost to protect life, safety, and property,” but also for the purpose of “preserving our existing stock of carbon, the natural environment where that exists, the habitat, the animals, the rare plant species” that make up that forest-covered two-fifths of the state.

Or as Cecil put it, “This is incredibly important work for both public safety and the health of the forest,” which the clearing of excess vegetation helps to open up and make “more suitable for wildlife, creating areas for snakes to bask in the sun, for birds to nest.” But timing, he indicated, is also a critical component of such preventive measures.

“We’re doing it at a time of year when some of those migrant animals haven’t yet returned,” he pointed out.

But what is also essential, the NJFFS officials emphasized, is promoting public awareness, both of the dangers of wildfires, an estimated 99 percent of which are created by human activity, whether accidental or deliberate, and of what the service is doing to prevent them.

That, Gill observed, has become an increasingly significant consideration given “the continual migration from more urban areas where people haven’t grown up with fire” and haven’t experienced wildfires in their environment.

“That’s why we try to go over and above with messaging,” he said— which explains why the media are invited to help spread the message about what the service is doing to protect the state’s forests and those residing in that vulnerable ”wildland-urban interface.”

(Continued from Page 1)

Photo By Bill Bonvie Gary Wright, a visiting fire prevention officer with California’s Tahoe National Forest, addresses journalists and members of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service at the prescribed burn demonstration.

Pinelands Regional Introducing Programs Designed to Offer Students Support Resources, Remedial Help, Apprenticeship and ROTC Options New Developments Include High-Tech Scanners Providing Various Types of Counseling

By Bill B onvie

Staff Writer

LITTLE EGG HARBOR—Two new initiatives designed to provide Pinelands Regional students with cellphone-accessible support and guidance resources and remedial academic help, as well as a couple of ‘coming attractions’ aimed at helping them prepare for future vocational occupations or careers in the military were described by Superintendent Dr. Melissa McCooley during a relatively brief meeting of the Pinelands Regional Board of Education on Feb. 27.

For one thing, McCooley announced that a substantial number of QR (quick response) code scanners have now been put up in classrooms and corridors of both the high school and junior high for students seeking help with mental health concerns, drug and alcohol counseling or other types of support.

Approximately 100 such scanners have been placed at strategic locations around both schools, Principal Troy Henderson subsequently told the Pine Barrens Tribune

The scanners, created by Program Director and Family Therapist Karen Kenney and her team with the help of School-Based Youth Services, a state grantfunded program, are making an “array of services” available to students simply by scanning the particular codes connected to those resources, McCooley noted.

Next to the QR code is a message about the purpose of the scanner, which reads: “Do you need to relieve stress? Do you need to focus and recharge?” It then list a series of resources that can be accessed via the scanner, such as talk or text hotlines, yoga, meditation, stress relief and focused breathing, advising students to “scan any time for resources” and to “reach out to your guidance counselor for more,” with the names of various counselors listed on the side. At the bottom is the logo “Here2help.”

Once a student has used the QR function, he or she is then offered a number of options, ranging from videos on ways to relieve stress to crisis hotlines for various situations.

The scanner program is one that the superintendent described as “something quick and easy and up with the current technology” in a district whose students only a couple years ago had to endure a number of hardships.

Another recent innovation, the Bridge Program, which was described by McCooley as “a way for students who are falling behind during the first two marking periods to make sure that their year is still successful,” is now being attended by some 50 of 62 high-school students who were invited to participate, she

noted in congratulating the team responsible for developing it.

The program grew out of the policy that requires students taking full-year courses to pass one of the first two marking periods and one of the last two in order to gain credit for the course, according to a synopsis emailed to this newspaper by Pinelands Regional High Assistant Principal Kelli Green.

It describes the Bridge Program as a “rigorous academic program,” providing current students who failed both marking periods “an opportunity to make up some or all required graduation credits” by having them stay after school two or four days per week for six weeks “to revisit the learning standards in art, physical education, English language arts, math, or social studies.” Participants, it notes, are given a “second lunch” and transportation home on the 4 p.m. bus.

Teachers in the Bridge Program, according to the description, use “the project-based learning model to engage students differently than with a typical school lesson.” This involves such projects as “developing presidential campaigns for historical and literary figures, designing health and nutrition plans, and creating small cities,” with “guest speakers and local experts invited to help students discover practical solutions to real world questions.”

At the conclusion of the program, all students will present their projects to a scoring panel, with successful ones enjoying improved grades that meet the criteria for the second marking period and also being “responsible for passing courses for the remainder of the school year.”

In addition, Pinelands students thinking about joining the military or wishing to acquire on-the-job training for life after graduation are now being given an opportunity to sign up for two elective programs that the administration is planning to make available in September, McCooley reported.

Those in the first category will now be able to take part in Southern Regional High School’s ROTC program, the cost of which Pinelands is now arranging to share, and which will be open to high-school students in any grade. Students who opt to participate will spend the last periods of the day at the Southern Regional campus in Manahawkin, McCooley said.

“We’re super-excited about that,” she added.

Also scheduled to begin during the 2023-24 school year, she reported, will be an apprenticeship program for seniors who

See RESOURCES/ Page 8

CONTRACT

(Continued from Page 3)

September 2023,” but Burns noted that date is “contingent to receiving any and all Pinelands Commission approvals, and other approvals by other governmental entities.”

“The parties have agreed upon a purchase price of $825,000 for the properties, exclusive of the closing costs,” Brown declared. “… This property has been identified as being needed for a public purpose.”

However, Burns pointed out there is “no consideration that is required from the township to the property owner to enter into this agreement,” or “meaning at this time, no money is exchanging hands.”

Brown, in reading the resolution aloud, revealed that the “appraised value” of the some 19-acre lot “located on the easterly side of Carranza Road” is $670,000, “which does not include the approximately one-acre lot and single-family dwelling.”

The “assessed value” of the one-acre lot and single-family dwelling, she continued, is $271,900.

“The total approximate value of the property (144 Carranza Road in totality), inclusive of the appraised value of the land and assessed value of the single-family dwelling and one-acre curtilage, is $941,900,” Brown said.

Burns, also the township’s Public Information Officer, following the township committee meeting, when asked why the agreed to purchase price is less than the appraised value for the parcels, responded, “Maryalice Brown did a good job negotiating and Mr. Russo was kind enough to agree to sell it the township for that price.”

Burns, during the Feb. 27 session, called the purchase agreement a “contract for sale” or what is also known as a “real estate or purchase agreement for sale of real estate,” maintaining “those words are being used interchangeably.”

Brown, in reading the resolution aloud, pointed out that as far as the “price, transfer of title and remittance of purchase price,” the township committee will consider a later ordinance “authorizing the purchase and execution of any and all conveyances documents, including a deed.”

The ordinance (which would allow for a public hearing) would be introduced, she noted, “once all government approvals have been received and all contingencies have been satisfied.”

The Pine Barrens Tribune previously reported extensively on the existing Tabernacle Town Hall having been found by a retained structural engineer to experience “significant deterioration” to the point that he, in coordination with the township construction official, Tom Boyd, ordered the building to be vacated by early 2022, condemning the facility for use.

For about the past year now, township services have been primarily conducted out of temporary construction trailers.

During a town hall-style Tabernacle committee meeting held in late December, officials explained that it was too costprohibitive and virtually impossible to restore the existing Tabernacle Town Hall as a municipal building use, contending there are state requirements that have to be met in order to restore full occupancy, including installing a larger septic system and fire sprinkler system, in addition to an elevator for access to the second floor. And even if those things were able to be constructed, the township would be unable to use its second-floor committee chambers given “load” concerns, it was stated.

Officials discussed their intentions for a new municipal complex (which would include a new Public Works facility), but said it would be several more months before they would have any kind of concept plan to be able to present to the public. Previously, Committeewoman Kim Brown asked for a concept plan to be presented by February.

However, one has yet to be presented.

During the Feb. 27 session, Deputy Mayor Mark Hartman read a memo aloud, said to be written by Moore earlier in the day, in which it was stated that the “Building Subcommittee” met Feb. 9 and both Maryalice Brown and Boyd explained during the subcommittee meeting that they had met with Architect Scott England to review “departmental needs as well as statemandated requirements for municipal offices.”

“Storage, civic organization needs, community center needs, as well as a regional court system were also discussed,” the memo continued. “From those discussions, Mr. England created a preliminary floor plan.”

A second meeting was apparently held just prior to the Feb. 27 township committee meeting, the memo indicates, in which Boyd and Maryalice Brown were said to have “reviewed those preliminary floor plans” with both Moore and Hartman. It was maintained in the mayor’s memo that the two committeemen were “pleased with the progress.”

“Courtroom space and security within the building, as well as environmental requirements in the Public Works garage were discussed,” the memo continued. “Mr. Boyd directed Mr. England on the suggested changes and a new draft floor plan will be submitted.

“Ms. Maryalice Brown explained that she would like to reach out to civic organizations to hear suggestions/comments on anticipated space for them. Both committeemen thought that (was) a good idea and Mr. Hartman requested to be a part of those discussions.”

Following the reading of the memo into the record, Brown denied a report that “floor plans” had been already released to civic organizations.

“Mr. Hartman and I have met with a couple organizations,” said Brown in denying the report. “No floor plans have been released. They were just very basic discussions on what are your needs, what are your thoughts, what is your wish lists – if you could, but no floor plans have been released to any public.”

TRAFFIC

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reorganization meeting, the first since a violent three-car collision at the intersection on New Year’s Eve day killed an Atco (Waterford Township) woman. It was also during that meeting that the traffic study was authorized.

This newspaper observed that the flashing stop sign has since been installed on the southern side of Oakshade Road, at the currently two-way stop intersection. The sign, appearing to be powered by a solar panel, begins to light up as vehicles approach the stop sign. LED lighting along the sign post lights up first, followed by the perimeter of the stop sign.

There was some concern about the noise that could be generated by the rumble strips, according to previous remarks of Township Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown, but she mentioned that quotes for them were being pursued by the municipal Public Works Department.

This newspaper did not yet find any rumble strips placed ahead or at the intersection during its March 8 site visit.

However, what this newspaper did observe during its March 8 site visit was a pickup truck approaching the intersection from the eastbound lane of Medford Lakes-Tabernacle Road, which made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the intersection.

The driver of the pickup found himself having difficulty completing the maneuver as other vehicles quickly approached the intersection from behind, in front, and Oakshade Road.

Additionally, a backhoe and traffic flagger crews traversing the shoulder of the county roadway in the area seemed to be making for even more difficulty with the flow of traffic, as well as an Amazon truck making deliveries in the area.

RESOURCES

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would like to develop vocational skills by going out and working in the community, an opportunity that will be in addition to the career training already offered by the district through the JAG (Jobs for America)

Within just five minutes of observing the traffic here at around 2:45 p.m., this newspaper not only observed the backhoe and illegal U-turn at the intersection, but also observed a number of large commercial vehicles, including some with trailers, navigating the intersection, as well as a tractor trailer and school bus.

A resident living near the intersection described in January a tragic accident occurring at the intersection was all too “predictable,” with dangerous conditions there “going on for too long.” He maintained that the day of the fatal crash, motorists were traveling at a high rate of speed in the area.

Another man, in calling the intersection “very dangerous,” maintained that in his only two years of living on the corner, not only has a car overturned in his front yard, but that “every three months, or every quarter” there is a “significant accident” at the intersection.

Mayor Samuel “Sammy” Moore responded to the residents at the time “we definitely know it has been a hazard and that there have been several accidents” at the intersection, but that “we can’t necessarily, as a committee, do the traffic analysis, because we are not the professionals.”

A flashing stop sign was described at the time to be a “good start” while officials awaited the traffic study’s conclusion for “more permanent measures,” with some of those suggested at the time including a flashing traffic light or even a permanent traffic light.

Residents, in online forums, have also demanded the intersection be made a fourway stop intersection.

Officials came under fire for not acting sooner in the wake of the Dec. 31, 2022, tragedy after it was found that back on Jan. 24, 2022, almost a full year before the deadly crash, a resident had requested the “township’s assistance” in getting a “blinking stop sign” posted at the intersection “as there had been a number of accidents with vehicles landing in his front yard.”

program.

Students now in their junior year can sign up for that program, which will also begin in September, through the end of the current term, the superintendent told this newspaper, describing it as an opportunity for them to train to become plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, or any other occupation in which they might wish to gain practical experience while still in school.

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

A school bus approaches a “very dangerous” intersection in Tabernacle Township, while a backhoe in the area interrupts the flow of traffic there.

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