Thirty members of the Teen Outreach Program at Red Bank Regional High completed a two-day Out of the Darkness track walk in the school gym Wednesday morning to promote awareness of suicide prevention as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. 

The idea for the walk came primarily from two proactive freshmen, Grace Rumph and Adam Canterbury, above, each of whom has lost a friend to suicide within the past two years.

“This is affecting our generation and there’s so much a person can do to help, but maybe they feel afraid to reach out,” said Rumph. “People need to know how important it is.” (Photos by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)

The text messages warn of a civil defense emergency and advise recipients to “take shelter,” said police Captain Darren McConnell.

The warnings were not sent via the C3 Alert system used by Red Bank and nearby towns. McConnell says the borough PD has received calls from recipients concerned about the texts.

“It looks like it was from a larger system than ours,” McConnell tells redbankgreen. “But we just wanted to get the word out.”

Little Silver police Chief Dan Shaffery says the texts warn: “Civil alert. Take shelter before 1:24 pm.”

In chatter on emergency radio channels this morning, authorities have speculated that the fake alerts may have been sent only to customers of Verizon Wireless. McConnell, though, said he uses a Verizon device and did not receive one.

Here’s the Red Bank police response:

Shortly after noon today many people received text message alerts advising of a civil defense emergency. Be advised that this was a hoax and there is no emergency at this time. Initially it appears that a database was hacked and that some cell phone subscribers received this phony alert.

The alert was not sent through this system and the Borough of Red Bank’s alerting system was not hacked. It appears that a nationwide system was hacked through a particular cell phone provider.

Again, there is no civil emergency at this time and no action is required of the public. RBPD.

Today’s Star-Ledger has double coverage of Red Bank’s crackdown on cellphone use by motorists.

One piece is the ride-along video, above, in which reporter accompanies police Sgt. Errico Vescio as he pulls over violators.

The other is an article that addresses what safety proponents say is a failure by the federal government to fund enforcement of the laws.

From the article:

Red Bank, a 1.7-square-mile town that sits on the Navesink River. started its week-long crackdown on Monday. It is home to Riverview Medical Center, the Count Basie Theater and many financial businesses, downtown shops and restaurants, all contributing to the hefty volume of cars. At a checkpoint set up on Tuesday, police issued 15 summonses in only 90 minutes, Vescio said.

Last year, Red Bank police issued 400 tickets for cell phone use without any crackdown, said Capt. Darren McConnell. As of May 31, the department had already written about 200 tickets and is on its way to surpassing last year’s tally, he said.

The announcement says the crackdown will last a week and will entail  road stops and checkpoints.

In March, 2008, an existing prohibition against use of a hand-held cellphone was boosted to a “primary” offense, meaning a driver could be pulled over and cited for that alone.

Here’s the full text of the announcement from Captain Darren McConnell, who heads the traffic safety division:

The Red Bank Police Department will be conducting a week-long crackdown on motorists utilizing cell phones while driving.

Roving patrols and checkpoints will be utilized throughout this week to identify offenders, and summonses will be issued.

The crackdown is needed as the cell phone law is largely disregarded and in a town as congested with vehicular and pedestrian traffic as Red Bank, the use of a cell phone is particularly dangerous.

A cell phone ticket will result in a fine of $130, but no points are assessed on a person’s driving record.

This week’s Where Have I Seen This commingles our weekly appetite for the visual details of our community with a fascination over the endless recycling of the English language.

‘Comingle,’ by the way, appears not to be a misspelling; according to the online version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, there’s a precendent for rendering it with a single ‘m,’ though it is far more commonly spelled ‘commingle.’

It is, however, a verb, not a noun, as suggested by the above.

Anyway, email us, please, if you know where all this mingling takes place.

Last week, we showed you what Jessica Paviluk has since identified as “the amazingly ugly cell phone tower in Rumson that is supposed to resemble a tree.” Geoff Nicholas dubbed it “the giant pipe cleaner.” Cathi Swett, alluding to its placement next to the Navesink,  said it “looks extra freaky from out on the river.”

Also writing in were Tim Lake, Michael Gilligan, Ken Ameika, Jenn Woods, Trista Clayton, Sandra Talarico, the Colmorgen Kids (minus Kathy Lou, who was away on vacation, Carl wanted us to know), Thomas Doremus, J.C. Kelly, Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl (who said it is “located behind the newly opened and beautiful Borough Hall“), Adam O’Brien, Trish DePonti, Ellen Clayton, Renee Michelle Moreau, Wade Davis, Walt Cuje and Anna Higgins.

Only one of them was wrong about the location, mistaking it for a cell tower at Shrewsbury’s municipal complex.

Expect a day of rain Tuesday and possibly Wednesday, says the National Weather Service.

Tonight: Rain.
Low around 41. East wind around 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Wednesday: Rain
likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Northeast wind around 18
mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a
tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Wednesday Night: A slight chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37. Northeast wind around 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 57. Northeast wind between 14 and 16 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 39.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 70.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.

Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 55.

Sunday Night: A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday: A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

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Under the proposal, all police, fire and first aid calls originating in the borough would go through the dispatcher’s desk at the sheriff’s office. At present, only calls dialed to 911 go through the county, which relays information to Fair Haven dispatchers, according to Mayor Mike Halfacre.

The possible change is being pitched as a cost-saving measure — one with a deadline. The sheriff’s office handles all dispatch duties for seven towns and can only take on two more. If Fair Haven wants in on the service, it will have to act soon, Undersheriff Shaun Golden, who runs the communications center, told the borough council last month.

But in a faint echo of the highly contentious last summer’s exploration of a limited merger of the police departments in Fair Haven, Little Silver an Rumson — an idea eventually shot down by all three — a police union representative has raised questions about the impact on jobs and service.

From the Press:

Jeff Jarvis, vice president of the Fair Haven Policeman’s Benevolent Association cautioned that residents now get a very personalized service from the police and said a lot of that has to do with the borough’s dispatchers.

“I’d ask that before any decision is made to eliminate them that the public be sufficiently notified about what’s happening,” Jarvis said. “We’re asking that sufficient meeting be held for the public to attend.”

Jarvis also questioned how county dispatchers would know where landmarks are that callers would refer to by how they’re known in the borough.

In response, Golden said that the communications center has lists of “alias” names and would rely on local officials to help them update that list, the Press reports.

This is from Halfacre’s blog posting following the Nov. 24 council meeting:

Currently, all 911 calls go to the County, and then are routed back to FH by county dispatchers. Our local dispatchers then communicate with the officers on the road. There are a number of towns that have “taken out the middleman” and have the county dispatchers communicate directly to the officers on the road. The technology in place at the Sheriff’s Office is amazingly advanced, and we would certainly benefit from that.

There would also be a savings to the Borough if we participated in this program. However, we are concerned with issues related to officer safety and service to our residents. This is a very preliminary exploration of this possibility, and a lot more information and study is needed. We will continue to communicate where this process takes us.

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Citing a 1940 law, phone services giant Verizon is telling New Jersey municipalities it is not liable for taxes on utility lines and other equipment because of its shrinking share of the telecom market, the Bergen Record reports today.

The company has a significant presence on Broad Street in Red Bank, where it maintains a large switching station. While the specific impact on Red Bank is unclear, towns with switching stations are among those that “could lose the most,” the Record says.

The Record says the move by Verizon could force cash-strapped towns to shift millions of dollars in tax liability to other property owners.

From the article:

The company is using a provision of a 1940 state law to argue that utility poles, wires and other landline equipment should no longer be on tax rolls. They claim traditional usage has slipped significantly as more people turn to cable and the Internet for telephone service.

So far, five towns, including Dover and Victory Gardens in Morris County, have been informed that they will not receive their 2009 equipment taxes.

Verizon officials say that 150 towns will lose the tax by 2011, and the company predicts this number will continue to increase.

Towns across the state stand to lose anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than $1 million in fees, which are known as “personal property taxes.”

Those with equipment like underground transfer stations and switching stations could lose the most. Hackensack could lose almost $500,000, and Wayne more than $300,000. Newark, which is a hub for telecommunications equipment, could see $1.9 million evaporate.

Verizon officials say the law requires the company to pay taxes on landline equipment only when it is the dominant provider in town. The company claims it is losing more than 35,000 residential telephone customers a month due to competition from other traditional providers, cable companies and Internet phone services such as Vonage.

“According to state law, once we fall below 51 percent, we are no longer required to pay taxes on personal property,” said Verizon spokesman Rich Young. “Clearly the trend is that we’re falling below threshold in more and more communities as time goes on.”

But lawmakers and local government advocates say that Verizon does not have the legal right to take its property off tax rolls. The League of Municipalities issued a formal opinion saying that if Verizon was paying taxes on its property in 1997 when the 1940 law was amended, it should still be subject to those taxes.

The 51 percent reference was only used to define a “telecommunications carrier,” not to decide what taxes should be, they say.

“Verizon is interpreting the law to their advantage, and nowhere does it say that they’re allowed to stop,” said Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula, head of the Telecommunications and Utilities committee. “The law does not say that. The law was only using that to define what a carrier is, and who should pay.”

The state attorney general is looking into whether Verizon is following the statute, according to a spokesman at the Division of Taxation.

The Red Bank facility is assessed at $4.69 million. The building was the subject of a tax appeal by Verizon earlier this year.

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OK, we plead guilty to a clunker of a headline.

But we suspect a lot of Fair Havenites may be using that catchphrase in coming days, now that the long-debated cell tower is up and running.

The fact that the slogan belongs to a company whose antenna is not yet on the pole is another matter.

T-Mobile, the first of three wireless carriers expected to install equipment on the tower, has gone live, Mayor Mike Halfacre reports on his blog.

Verizon Wireless and AT&T are expected to follow suit. But just in case, Halfacre is urging residents to

call their carriers and ask/complain about service in Fair Haven. We need to continue to encourage these companies to make an investment in this tower, as the current economy may cause them to invest or not invest, elsewhere.

The tower is located on the grounds of the Christ Church United Methodist Church between the Fair Haven Fields ballfields and nature area, and is pretty well hidden by trees. Driving along Ridge Road, passersby get only a quick glimpse of the 140-foot tower’s top peeking above the treeline.

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Less a communications black hole than a large, annoying pothole in space that almost can’t be avoided, a gap in phone service has nettled Fair Haven residents and passersby pretty much since the dawn of the cellular phone service.

But the purported fix is nearing a milestone on a 60-by-60-foot patch of land leased from the United Methodist Christ Church on Ridge Road.

Pending positive results on the hardness of a newly poured concrete base, erection of a 140-foot-tall monopole tower could be complete as soon as the end of the day Friday, says Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, in his private capacity as the borough’s consultant on the project.

He estimates that three carriers who’ve committed to the facility — T Mobile, Verizon Wireless and AT&T — could be in service by the end of September, held up only by as long as it takes for JCP&L to supply power to the site.

A fourth carrier that had been expected to be on board, Sprint, is wavering because of financial difficulties, O’Scanlon says. But he says he expects it, too, will decide to place antennae on the pole.

The pole, sited next to the Fair Haven Fields nature area, will stand about 60 feet above the tree line, says O’Scanlon. And it won’t be dressed up to look like a tree.

“Trees used to be something everyone wanted. But they never look like a tree, and people say, ‘We don’t have giant Sequoias in this part of the world,’ ” he tells redbankgreen.

This one will be galvanized steel, but it’s designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, with shorter layers of antennae and set well off Ridge Road.

O’Scanlon says at least 30 surrounding trees that might have been destroyed have instead been saved by careful design of the site and the service road that leads to it.

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