Firefighters found the blaze strongest at the northwest corner of the house, as seen from a neighboring backyard, above, and from Hudson Avenue, below. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two Red Bank families escaped safely as a predawn fire tore through a Hudson Avenue house Thursday.

One half of the structure, at 46-48 Hudson, was fully involved in flames when firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after 3 a.m., said fire Chief Josh Sanders.

Police patrol units, which were already there, reported that the occupants had escaped safely, he said.

Volunteer firefighters train water on the northwest corner, as seen from Clay Street. (Click to enlarge)

Four adults, two children and three dogs were in the house at the time of the fire, said one of the occupants, Ryan Howard, who was asleep in a second-floor bedroom wen the fire broke out.

“I heard the kids next door screaming as they were running out of the house,” said Howard, who lived in the southern half of the two-story structure, at number 48. “Then I saw orange light.”

Ryan said he, his wife and their two dogs were easily able to exit. The couple next door, their two boys and a dog also exited safely, he said.

Firefighters described the blaze as one of the fastest-moving they’d seen in years, though they managed to largely confine it to the northern half the structure at number 46. Northwesterly winds pushed heavy smoke to the ground for blocks around.

The mid-block house is owned by Ray Rapcavage, who also owns several other rental properties on the street.

By JOHN T. WARD

Mark Lockwood spent the night on his boat at the Shrewsbury River Yacht Club in Fair Haven Friday, and woke to the sight of a Navesink River gone brown. The worst kind of brown, he thought.

Though it didn’t smell, it appeared to be human waste, he said.

“It was disgusting,” he told a Fair Haven police officer who’d come to the club to investigate Saturday evening. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been on this river all my life.”

Ben Hamilton, whose home abuts the club property, said he had never seen anything like it, either.

But whatever they saw, it wasn’t from the town’s sanitary sewer, said an official with the regional sewerage authority that serves the borough. And it may have been pollen.

“We can guarantee that the Two Rivers Water Reclamation Authority pipe isn’t leaking,” TRWRA commissioner and yacht club member Bill Baarck told redbankgreen Saturday night, referring to a waste pipe that runs just beneath the Navesink River shore from Gillespie Avenue east to the yacht club, where it meets a pumping station.

“But we can’t guarantee that tides and winds haven’t brought in pollutants from elsewhere, over which we have no control,” he said.

Though he said he had not seen the brown tide himself, other recent reports of human waste — one on the Metedeconk River, and one at a location he could not immediately recall —  turned out to be vast collections of dead pollen on the water, Baarck said.

An authority inspector investigated the Navesink report and found no sign of leakage along the beach, either from the buried pipeline or the several manhole-topped access holes along its length, he said.

The entire stretch of pipe, which is about 40 years old, is scheduled to be replaced soon, with heavy construction equipment slated for delivery to the beach via the yacht club’s ramp as early as Monday. Baarck said the work is preventative.

Mayor Ben Lucarelli tells redbankgreen that a recent video inspection of the pipe found river water infiltrating the system at the foot of Gillespie Avenue, but that no sewage was getting into the river.

“It’s in weak condition,” Baarck said, and was one reason the authority sought and obtained state Department of Environmental Protection permits to replace the piping with a new system.

The new pipes will be laid next the existing pipes and, when completed, a cut-over from old system will be scheduled for the middle of the night to prevent any waste from getting into the river, he said.

Lockwood and Hamilton said the brown stuff appeared to have come from the west, based on Saturday’s winds. Baarck said that while the authority ruled out the Fair Haven system as its source, he could not rule out the possibility that it had come from the Red Bank system.

Lockwood and other club members said they sometimes see post-storm waste from the Middletown side of the river, where mansions along Navesink River Road are not hooked into a sewer and rely instead on septic tanks. But Saturday’s brown blob was far larger, they told redbankgreen.

The first involved a stop of a vehicle on Shrewsbury Drive near Osprey Lane for speeding at about 10:20 p.m, said Chief Richard Tobias.

Lieutenant Scott Paterson and Patrolman Anthony Ciambrone approached the vehicle and saw, in plain view, open containers of alcohol, Tobias said.

The driver, 18-year-old Michael Alonzo, of Crabapple Lane in Rumson, was arrested and charged with underage
driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, and possessing an open container in a motor vehicle. He was also charged with providing alcohol to underage persons.

Four of Alonzo’s five passengers were also charged with possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages in a car: Sachi and Luke Bahra, both 18, of Washington Avenue, Rumson; Michael Nociolo, 18, Forrest Avenue, Fair Haven; and Brian Truex, 18, Forman Street, Fair Haven.

A 17-year-old juvenile was released to the custody of a parent, Tobias said.

In the second incident, Ciambrone was on patrol at about 11 p.m. Sunday when he saw a motorcyclist fall off his bike as he headed east on Rumson Road near Ward Avenue, Tobias said.

Rudolph Kastner of Paradise Trailer Park, Highlands, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit breath samples, driving while revoked, driving without a license, and reckless driving. In addition, he was arrested on multiple warrants out of the Borough of Highlands, Tobias said.

Kastner was transported to Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, for injuries sustained during the accident.

Court dates in both incidents were scheduled for May 23.

By JOHN T. WARD

A bridge-replacement project in Little Silver that’s expected to take up to nine months could jam up a pair of intersections more than a mile away starting in July.

That, in turn, may also reinvigorate a dormant debate over whether those intersections are long overdue for traffic signals, Mayor Bob Neff tells redbankgreen.

The detour involves the installation of a temporary light at Branch Avenue and White Road, above, and another at Branch and Rumson Road. (Click to enlarge)

The replacement of a small, timber bridge on Seven Bridges Road just north of the Little Silver Point Road intersection is scheduled to begin shortly after the July 4 holiday, officials said. A concrete span with 12-foot lanes, three-foot shoulders and a six-foot pedestrian walkway on the westerly side will be installed in the $2.7 million project.

The work, originally scheduled to begin in 2008, has been repeatedly delayed.

Neff said that as part of the traffic-control portion of the project, the county will install temporary traffic lights at two locations on Branch Avenue: at the intersection of White Road, and at the intersection of Rumson Road, just yards away. That’s to accommodate an expected increase in volume caused by the closure of Seven Bridges at its northern (Rumson Road) and southern (Silverwhite Avenue) ends, as well as at the eastern ends of Kings Road and Point Road.

Residents whose homes can only be accessed via Seven Bridges will be permitted to bypass closure signs, but the bridge will remained closed to all but pedestrian and bike traffic for most of the duration.

But the installation of the lights prompts the question: why not make them permanent?

That turns out to be a live wire line of inquiry, said Neff. Hearings on the bridge “before my time on the council” some six years ago stirred up passions pro and con, he said.

The borough “held huge hearings, well-attended enough that one had to be moved to the Markham Place School,” he said.

And then, as he expects today, “you had people who want no traffic lights, people who had wanted traffic lights for years before this project came up, and people in the middle. The conclusion was the best way to do it was to go with temporary lights.”

Now, he said, “this discussion has started again: should we make these lights permanent?”

One one side are commuters who lament the difficulty of making left turns off Rumson and White roads, backing up vehicles on each at rush hours. On the other are those who see the lights as unnecessary and likely to adversely impact property values near the intersections.

The temporary lights should be a good test of whether the signals should become permanent, Neff said.

“Perhaps the use of the temporary lights will give us some idea of whether they might be workable,” he said, though the detour may be seem as exaggerating the extent of the problem, he notes.

In any event, the question of permanent signals “is a county issue, because it’s a county road,” he said of Branch.

Officials from the Monmouth County Engineer’s office could not be reached for comment.

Little Silver has asked the county to install the temporary lights during late-night hours to prevent further traffic congestion and to minimize the number of police officers required to direct traffic, Neff said.

Thomas Crockett, 41, of Middletown was heading north on Branch Avenue at about 5:55 p.m. when his Chrysler Aspen veered across the center line and into a pole on the southbound side, near Fox Hill Drive, police allege.

Crockett, who was alone in the vehicle, left the scene on foot, Shaffery said. Five minutes later, a resident of nearby Salem Lane reported a man who seemed out of place talking on a cellphone outside her home. A Fair Haven police officer who had joined in a search for the missing SUV driver picked up Crockett, he said.

Police also heard from a witness who said the SUV had been traveling erratically shortly before the crash, Shaffery said.

Crockett was charged with drunken driving, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident, reckless driving, abandonment of a motor vehicle and failure to maintain a lane. He was released without bail.

Officers Robert Chenoweth and Amanda Arnold investigated.

Crockett was treated and released for injuries at Riverview Medical Center, Shaffery said.

The accident briefly knocked out power to nearby homes and businesses, as well as the borough police station, he said.

• On April 22, 2012 Patrolman Adam Colfer responded to a report of a collision at the intersection of Edward Avenue and Main Street in the Belford section of Middletown where a vehicle had struck a fire hydrant and then left the scene. Officer Colfer recovered pieces of the vehicle at the scene that assisted him in identifying the vehicle. Officer Colfer conducted a follow up investigation and located the vehicle at a residence on Church Street.

Officer Colfer continued his investigation which resulted in the arrest of Richard Weber, age 41, from Church Street for Possession of Cocaine, Possession with the Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Possession with the Intent to Distribute Cocaine with 500 Feet of a Public Park and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Officer Colfer also arrested John Young, age 25, from Brainard Avenue in Port Monmouth, NJ, for Obstructing the Administration of Law.

Young was released pending a court date and Weber was being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold, NJ, on $50,000.00 bail set by Judge Richard Thompson. Officer Colfer also recovered $2,463.00 in currency from Weber which was seized for possible forfeiture.

• Ryan Liepa, age 23, from Polly Way in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 22, 2012 by Police Officer Lisa Vreeland for Driving While Intoxicated. He was released pending a court date.

• Steven Nalbach, age 51, from Hamilton Avenue in Leonardo, NJ, arrested on April 22, 2012 by Corporal Gerald Weimer for Disorderly Conduct and Interference with Transportation. He was released pending a court date.

• Violetta Borovaya, age 21, from Congress Lane in South River, NJ, arrested on April 21, 2012 by Corporal Patricia Colangelo for Driving While Intoxicated. She was released pending a court date.

• George Gallagher, age 31, from Holly Street in Keansburg, NJ, arrested on April 21, 2012 by Patrolman Ian May on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Lyndhurst Municipal Court. He was released after posting $200.00 bail.

• Justin Pepchinski, age 33, from Bonafede Place in Keansburg, NJ, arrested on April 21, 2012 by Patrolman Michael Pintilie for Providing False Information to a Police Officer and on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Aberdeen Municipal Court. He was held on $637.00 bail.

• Davis Shelbrick, age 20, from Neptune Place in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 20, 2012 by Patrolman Donald Coates on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Tinton Falls Municipal Court. He was released after posting $114.00 bail.

• Donna Wile, age 58, from Haven Street in Port Monmouth, NJ, arrested on April 20, 2012 by Patrolman Charles Higgins for Driving While Intoxicated. He was released pending a court date.

• Daniel Wahler, age 53, from Locust Terrace in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 20, 2012 by Patrolman Adam Vendetti on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Middletown Municipal Court. He was released after posting $1,000.00 bail.

• Justin Reynolds, age 26, from Chaucer Drive in Hackettstown, NJ, arrested on April 20, 2012 by Detective Adam Finck for Theft. He was released on $10,000.00 bail with a 10% option set by Judge Richard Thompson.

• Stephen Allison, age 21, from Orange Avenue in Browns Mills, NJ, arrested on April 21, 2012 by Patrolman Richard Fulham on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Pemberton Municipal Court. He was released on $525.00 bail.

• Emily Reid, age 18, from Sycamore Avenue in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 21, 2012 by Patrolman John Mele for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was released pending a court date.

• Nicole Fedi-Lane, age 27, from Ironwood Court in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 21, 2012 by Patrolman John Mele for Driving While Intoxicated. She was released pending a court date.

• Demond Hill, age 34, from Belza Road in Keansburg, NJ, arrested on April 22, 2012 by Patrolman Richard Fulham for Driving While Intoxicated and Refusal to Submit to Breath Tests. He was released pending a court date.

• Joseph McCabe, age 26, from Blanchard Avenue in Binghaton, NY, arrested on April 23, 2012 by Patrolman Keith Hirschbein and Patrolman Brian McGrogan of the Quality of Life Unit for Possession of MDMA, Possession of under 50 Grams of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold, NJ, on $10,000.00 bail set by Judge Richard Thompson.

• Andrew Mullins, age 25, from Bray Avenue in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 23, 2012 by Patrolman Brian McGrogan and Patrolman Keith Hirschbein of the Quality of Life Unit for Possession of MDMA, Possession of under 50 Grams of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold, NJ, on $10,000.00 bail set by Judge Richard Thompson.

• Michael Totaro, age 21, from Salisbury Avenue in Middletown, NJ, arrested on April 23, 2012 by Patrolman Keith Hirschbein and Patrolman Brian McGrogan of the Quality of Life Unit for Possession of MDMA, Possession of under 50 Grams of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. He was being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold, NJ, on $10,000.00 bail set by Judge Richard Thompson.

• Arron Card, age 34, from Garfield Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, arrested on April 23, 2012 by Patrolman Albert Scott on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Newark Municipal Court. He was released after posting $500.00 bail.

• Anthony Longo, age 19, Warren Street in Rumson, NJ, arrested on April 24, 2012 by Patrolman Greg Buhowski on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Little Silver Municipal Court. He was released after posting $200.00 bail.

By JOHN T. WARD

An explosive scandal alleging that New Jersey State Police led a high-speed caravan of luxury cars down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City last month took a twist Monday with the revelation of another such excursion in 2010.

That one, according to a report Monday by the Star-Ledger,  involved a caravan of hot cars headed to a Ferrari car show in downtown Red Bank.

From NJ.com, the website of the Star-Ledger:

State officials have reacted with dismay to allegations that the New Jersey State Police led a high-speed caravan of sports carsto Atlantic City last month without regard for the safety of other drivers.

But it apparently it wasn’t the first time it has happened.

The State Police escorted another caravan of luxury sports cars down the Garden State Parkway in 2010 at speeds reportedly up to 120 mph, and it was all captured by two young men who happened upon the procession and then posted a harrowing video to YouTube.

“Get the camera out. They’re being escorted by the New Jersey State Police!” one of the men, whose identities are unknown, said as they encountered the caravan. “We’re being escorted by State Police. Oh my god. Timing is perfect … The State Police are cruising!”

The caravan, captured in five videos posted to the website June 28, 2010, was led by marked State Police cruiser #193 with its emergency lights flashing. Many of the cars in the caravan can be heard revving their engines and seen bursting forward at high speeds in and out and heavy traffic.

A spokesman for the State Police, Lt. Stephen Jones, did not immediately return a call and e-mail seeking comment on the escort and whether or not it was authorized.

The video ends with the videographer’s car running a red light past at State Police escort at exit 109 onto Newman Springs Road in Lincroft.

On Sunday, the Sledger reported that the State Police

are investigating complaints that two troopers escorted a caravan of luxury sports cars at speeds in excess of 100 mph down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City last month. The occupants included former Giants running back and sports car enthusiast Brandon Jacobs, according to a source with knowledge of the trip.

In the complaints, obtained by The Star-Ledger, witnesses said that in the early afternoon March 30, they saw two State Police patrol cars with their emergency lights flashing driving in front of and behind the southbound caravan, which included dozens of Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other vehicles, all with their license plates covered with tape.

One witness, Wayne Gantt, dubbed the escort “Death Race 2012.”