By JOHN T. WARD

Three months after opening, Soul Kitchen, the pay-what-you-can-or-work-it-off restaurant on Red Bank’s West Side, is  progresssing toward its goal of feeding the haves and have-nots in equal numbers, new manager Ryan Timmons tells redbankgreen.

About 30 percent of the restaurant’s patrons pay with vouchers earned through volunteer work at Soul Kitchen or a growing roster of other non-profits, Timmons said. The goal is a 50-50 mix among diners, and “the voucher-to-payment ratio is going up,” he said.

Meanwhile, paying customers are being generous when settling up bills via the discreet donation envelopes that servers present to them at the end of their three-course dinners, he said. The suggested donation is $10, but “very few” customers leave just that amount, he said, and instead pay more to help subsidize meals for others.

Timmons is heading into his second weekend running the restaurant, having been hired away from his on-again, off-again gig as Andrew Gennusa’s right hand at Zebu Forno last week.

He was brought on board at Soul Kitchen, he said, to free executive chef Zeet Peabody to focus on the food, public outreach, and the sponsor JBJ Soul Foundation‘s goal of replicating the model elsewhere.

“We’re trying to structure this so we can put more of these restaurants in places where they’re needed,” he said.

Soul Kitchen is the brainchild of pop rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea Bongiovi.

The restaurant staff, with two outreach employees, is beginning to solidify relationships with other organizations where volunteers would earn vouchers. Already on board are the nearby soup kitchen, Lunch Break, St. Anthony of Padua RC Church and a homeless shelter at Fort Monmouth, and Soul Kitchen hopes to soon begin working with Habitat for Humanity and local arts groups.

Timmons, 32, of Fair Haven, has been working in the food service industry since he was 16, when he began busing tables and washing dishes.

As much as he enjoyed working at Zebu, he said, the offer from Soul Kitchen was something he could not turn down.

“This is why a lot of us get into this business – to see the smiling faces,” he said. “Nobody who comes here complains. They’re here for the right reasons.”

Some of the customers, he said, have not eaten in a restaurant with linen tablecloths in years, if ever.

In one of his first days on the job, he said three women who work as housekeepers volunteered to dust the restaurant, including a high wall of shelves. That night, he said, the women came in with their families and paid for their meals with the vouchers they’d earned.

At the end of the night, he said, “you leave here feeling great.”

Soul Kitchen is open Thursday through Saturday, featuring community-style seatings at 5, 6 and 7 p.m. Sunday hours are 12 to 3 p.m. Alcohol is not permitted.

Meanwhile, Robert H. Reimann, 54, of Atlantic Highlands, remains hospitalized at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Npetune, where he was flown by helicopter after being trapped in his car for an hour following the 6 p.m. collision on Navesink River Road, the Press reports.

From the Press:

Moussa Bass, 37, of Royal Oaks Drive in Toms River, was charged Thursday with driving while under the influence of alcohol, assault by auto and causing serious bodily injury while driving with a suspended license. He being held at Monmouth County Jail, Freehold Township, on $75,000 bail set by state Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Scully, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.

Bass also was being held on a no-bail detainer by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Three vehicles crashed near the Navesink Country Club on Navesink River Road in the vicinity of Patterson Lane at 6:01 p.m. Tuesday, injuring three people and trapping Robert H. Reimann, 54, of Atlantic Highlands, in the wreckage for nearly an hour, according to police. All three drivers were alone in their vehicles.

Federal immigration officials say Red Bank retailer Sunny Sharma remains in their custody and will be deported, but they’re mum on why — and so is his fiancé, who now appears to be running his Leighton Avenue grocery.

Sharma was arrested at his store as a fugitive last Thursday afternoon and  “will be removed from the country,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Harold Ort tells redbankgreen.

Agency privacy rules prohibit the disclosure of any additional information regarding Sharma’s whereabouts or the particulars of his case, Ort says. “Fugitive” can mean several things, including ignoring an immigration court order or illegal re-entry into the U.S., Ort says.

Sharma, who lived in Middletown, is a native of India.

Sharma’s business, Best Deli & Food Market, was open its usual hours on Monday, leaving some neighbors wondering what the scene Thursday was about, when Sharma was reportedly taken out of his store in handcuffs.

A woman inside the store who identified herself as Sharma’s fiance declined to comment and dissuaded a pair of men outside the store from commenting further to redbankgreen.

Before she did, though, the men, who didn’t want to be identified, said they felt Sharma had been a law enforcement target ever since he was stripped of his license to sell alcohol in 2007. Despite knowing Sharma, neither said they knew exactly what he was arrested for, but weren’t surprised.

“They’ve been (messing) with him ever since that,” one of the men who knows Sharma said. “What’s messed up is they were just on him, and all the other liquor stores around here have the same problem.”

A neighbor caddy-corner to Best, Wendy Hollander, said when she saw about four cruisers parked out front of the store, she assumed there had been a robbery attempt.

Since Sharma re-purposed his store, the area has quieted down and there hasn’t been as much congestion with illegally parked cars, she said.

Sunny Sharma, a onetime Red Bank liquor retailer who was stripped of his license for selling booze to minors, has been arrested on an alleged immigration violation, redbankgreen has learned.

Red Bank police confirmed that Sharma was taken into custody at his Leighton Avenue grocery store Thursday afternoon on a warrant by officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Police had no additional information. A spokesman for ICE could not immediately be reached for comment on the reason for the arrest and Sharma’s status.

A witness tells redbankgreen that Sharma was led out of his store in handcuffs.

A native of India and Middletown resident, Sharma became a lightning rod for complaints from neighbors of his store, then known as Best Liquors, over allegations of noise, litter, and prostitution occurring in its vicinity.

After a series of municipal court cases over charges that Sharma and at least one of his employees had repeatedly sold alcohol to or untaxed cigarettes to minors, the Red Bank council stripped Sharma of his license to operate a package-goods business in June, 2007.

The move was upheld on appeal by the the state Alcoholic Beverage Control division, and Sharma converted his shop to a grocery and convenience store called Best Deli & Food Mart.

Here’s the full text of a news release from Lieutenant Joe Capriotti:

The Middletown Township Police Department has arrested a Middlesex County man who was employing juveniles in a burglary ring that operated in Monmouth County, Union County and Somerset County.

Middletown Twp. Detective Gerald Weimer, Detective Michael Kenney and Holmdel Detective Sergeant James Smythe have been investigating a string of residential burglaries in Middletown, Holmdel and Marlboro occurring over the past year. A break in the case came recently when forensic evidence recovered at one of the burglaries identified a fifteen (15) year old juvenile from Elizabeth as a suspect. Further investigation determined a 29 year old man with numerous aliases, (Joeys Sebastian Cruz, Jorge Luna, Joeys Sebastian Cruz Morales, Manuel Gomez, Jorge Armondo Vadladares Luna), also from Elizabeth, was soliciting juveniles to accompany him to homes throughout central and northern New Jersey to commit burglaries.

DSG. Smythe, Det. Weimer and Det. Kenney arrested Cruz on January 19, 2010 in Elizabeth with the assistance of Elizabeth Police Detective James Ponto. A search of Cruz’s residence revealed proceeds that have been identified from home burglaries in Middletown, Holmdel. Marlboro and Green Brook, N.J. Other items recovered, including jewelry, TV components and electronics have yet to be identified. The investigation is continuing with additional charges expected as more information is gathered.

The 15 year old from Elizabeth has been charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy to commit burglary and additional juveniles are expected to be charged. Cruz has been charged with burglary, theft, conspiracy to commit burglary and theft and hindering apprehension by giving false names to law enforcement officers.

Cruz is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in lieu of $100,000 bail on the local charges. Additionally it is believed Cruz, who is a native of Honduras, is in the United States illegally under the name of Jorge Luna and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency has issued a no bail immigration detainer pending their investigation.

The suspects include alleged members of violent gangs such as MS-13, Sureno 13, Gran Familia Mexicana and the Bloods, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement.

The names of only four suspects were released, but that information was not accompanied by the locations of their arrests or residence, nor were town-by-town numbers of suspects released.

ICE spokesman Harold Ort told the Sledger that most of the arrests took place in Asbury Park, Long Branch, Red Bank, Bound Brook and Union City, the paper reported.

From the Sledger:

Of those arrested, 33 are believed to be in the country illegally and face deportation, Ort said. Also, he said, 15 were arrested on state charges, including aggravated assault and theft of property, and three will be prosecuted at the federal level.

Most of the suspects are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines, Ort said.

He identified only four alleged gang members: Javier Castro, 24, of MS-13; Moises Cabrera, 19, with the Trinitario gang; Israel Nocelotl, 20; and Mario Onorio, 22, with the Los Pitufos gang. Their hometowns were not provided.

Another suspect, Christian Garro-Chavez, 25, was arrested in connection with the sexual abuse of a child in Costa Rica, Ort said. He said Garro-Chavez is not a suspected gang member.

One firearm, along with numerous items of gang paraphernalia, including T-shirts, bandannas and flags with gang symbols painted on them, was seized in the roundup, which ended on Saturday.

The sweep was part of ICE’s Operation Community Shield campaign, which in cooperation with state and local authorities, targets violent gangs. Since its inception in February 2005, more than 12,968 gang members have been arrested, Ort said.

The campaign initially focused on MS-13 members, a transnational street gang with roots in Central America, according to the agency’s Web site.

In May, the program expanded to target all transnational gangs, but the agency’s raids have been criticized for targeting illegal immigrants and not being tailored narrowly enough toward gang members.

In a press release, Ort said all suspects were targeted for their “membership, participation, or association with violent street gangs.”

In November, ICE agents arrested 33 people in Butler and Bloomingdale, including 12 people the agency said were gang members from Mexico.

Multiple agencies participated in the recent roundups, Ort said, including the Somerset and Hudson County Prosecutor’s Offices, as well as police departments in Bound Brook, Red Bank, Long Branch and West New York.

Eight to 10 social services organizations are expected to be present at a four-hour health fair scheduled for Saturday, August 9 on Red Bank’s West Side.

The Red Bank Family Support Center is organizing the open-air event in the parking lot of the Siena Grille at Shrewsbury Avenue and Herbert Street. The lot is opposite the RBFSC’s new offices at 140 Shrewsbury Avenue, and the occasion is a way to mark the grand opening, says Dr. Ana Monique Oesterheld, the center’s director.

She tells redbankgreen that the event is a “bare-bones” affair structured so that clients can walk through and see what services the borough and county have to officer in the way of healthcare and family and child-welfare programs.

Organizers are working on bringing a health-screen van and a dentist to the event, but Oesterheld cautions that that these have yet to be confirmed.

Food and and music will be provided, and there’s no rain date for the event, which is free. It runs from 10a to 2p. Agencies wishing to participate should contact the center at 732-747-5790 or

The Red Bank Family Support Center is a locally funded organization that works within schools by providing case management and social work resources; and with local agencies and organizations to help strengthen family support systems, assist families in crisis and provide referrals to available services. Its parent and fiscal agent is the Regional Perinatal Consortium of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

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Mexican nationals began lining up before 10p Tuesday in a bid to be among the first to get passports and consular IDs from the ‘Mexican Consulate on Wheels‘ program being offered today through Sunday at the Red Bank Charter School.

By 5:30a today, more than 200 people were waiting for the 9a opening of doors, many having slept in lawn chairs and on the asphalt under jackets and blankets.

Misael Lopez, left, came ready for a drop in temperature; two women slept in an alley behind the school; and Jesus Venegas was awake and eager to be among the first to be served. (Click photos to enlarge)

The line snaked from a door on the west side of the building through an alleyway and along the perimeter of the school’s playground.

Misael Lopez of Ocean Township said he arrived with some relatives at about midnight in pursuit of a passport. If not for the visit by consulate officials, he said, he’d have to go to New York for the document. “It’s, like, twice as much time” as he expects to spend at the school, he said.

A charter school official tells redbankgreen that the school is providing the space as it does to many other requesting groups, and that the organizers are responsible for cleanup and other costs.

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Thirteen consulate employees will be on hand from Wednesday through Sunday to process requests for Mexican passports and consular ID cards, says Diana Litwin, a volunteer who’s helping organize what’s billed as ‘the Mexican Consulate on Wheels.’

The documents, says Litwin, in no way change the holder’s citizenship status. Rather, they provide Mexican nationals with basic identification for use in everything from banking to healthcare, and enable holders to obtain federal taxpayer ID numbers from the IRS so they can pay taxes.

“They’re already here, so tax them,” says Litwin. “When they work in restaurants and they have tax ID numbers, their bosses can put them on the payroll and hey can begin paying taxes.”

The event, one in a series being conducted in Monmouth and Ocean counties, is sponsored by Nosotros, a Spanish language newspaper published in Freehold, which is paying hotel and other costs for the visiting officials.

Meridian Health, owner of Riverview Medical Center, has contributed funds to offset expenses, Litwin says, and some 45 volunteers, many of them signed up through the United Methodist Church of Red Bank, will be on hand to help.

The consular visit is necessary, Litwin said, because it can often take eight months for a Mexican immigrant to get an appointment at the nearest consulates, in New York and Philadelphia. And many immigrants cannot afford the cost of going into the city, she said.

The event has been heavily advertised in Nosotros, and is expected to draw 1,500 to 2,000 applicants over the course of the five days. Going by recent visits by the consulate employees to Asbury Park and Lakewood, some applicants will arrive in the evening and wait overnight to ensure they’re seen, Litwin said.

The consular employees will be available from 9a to 3p each day, and expect to process about 350 requests per day. To obtain documents, applicants must present a valid birth certificate.

Because of limited space, the event will not be able to provide consultation on how to obtain taxpayer IDs, pay taxes and other responsibilities. Those services will be available, however, when the consulate on wheels moves to Long Branch starting July 22, Litwin said.

Employees of Bank of America will be on hand to set up bank accounts for clients once they have their paperwork, Litwin said.

Here are a press release describing the program and a letter sent to residents of Chestnut and Oakland streets:

• Download press_release.doc

• Download letter.doc

http://ads.redbankgreen.com/2008/06/man-arrested-fo.html Lakehurst police arrested a Red Bank man on charges that he is an undocumented alien, today’s Asbury Park Press reports.

The arrest of Alfredo Hernandez-Perez, 18, followed a minor motor vehicle collision on Saturday afternoon, the newspaper says.

During an investigation, Officer Matthew Kline found Hernandez-Perez in possession of multiple summonses issued by Red Bank Municipal Court. Initially, Hernandez-Perez provided Kline with a false name, Heinzman said, but the summonses and a fraudulent Social Security card provided police with the driver’s correct name.

Hernandez-Perez was taken to the Ocean County Jail and charged with possessing a fraudulent document and hindering apprehension. He was issued motor vehicle summonses on charges of careless driving and operating a motor vehicle without a license.

The article says Hernandez-Perez is “being held on a no-bail detainer issued by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Sgt. Ronald Heinzman said.” He’s also facing $1,000 bail in connection with the motor vehicle charges.

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