FAIR HAVEN: RACCOON FOUND TO BE RABID
By JOHN T. WARD
A raccoon that tussled with a dog in Fair Haven last month had rabies, redbankgreen has learned.
MIDDLETOWN: GEORGE BOWDEN DIES
George Bowden, right, with Historic Preservation Commission members Charles Nickerson and Michaela Ferrigine in 2016. Below, Bowden spearheaded the borough’s centennial celebration and parade in 2009.(Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
George Bowden, once dubbed “the Energizer bunny” of historic preservation in Red Bank, died at home in Middletown Sunday. He was 92 years old.
Galvanized into action in 2001, after the borough allowed the demolition of an old house on West Front Street, Bowden became a champion for old and neglected structures in town.
Not least of those was the T. Thomas Fortune House, which was resurrected from near-oblivion earlier this year, more than a decade after Bowden and others launched a campaign to save it.
SANDY HOOK: PLOVERS PROLIFERATE
Music-lovers may have had to sacrifice their summer beach concerts at Sandy Hook this year to safeguard piping plovers, but the interruption helped ensure “another successful breeding season” for the endangered birds, park officials said Monday.
SANDY HOOK: BIRDS DISPLACE CONCERTS
First came a ban on booze. Now, the entire series of summer beach concerts at Sandy Hook has been cancelled to protect the piping plovers. And no, that’s not the name of a band. Read More
RED BANK: NICE PLACE YOU GOT HERE…
Affecting the air of a thuggish gang, a group of vultures loitered outside Les Gertrude apartments on Broad Street in Red Bank Thursday morning. One enjoyed a sidewalk breakfast of fresh kill.
Any ornithologists out there who can identify these gray-headed birds? (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
SHREWSBURY: AILING OWL GETTING CARE
A young owl found cowering against a storefront in the Grove at Shrewsbury was headed to an animal hospital for treatment Friday morning.
MIDDLETOWN: GLADYS BOWDEN DIES
Gladys Bowden, a longtime Red Bank resident and volunteer injured in a December 15 fire at her home in Middletown, died early Saturday.
MIDDLETOWN: FUNDRAISER FOR BOWDENS
Family and friends have raised more than $12,000 to help two former Red Bank volunteers injured by a fire in their Middletown home earlier this month.
George Bowden, 91, and his wife, Gladys Bowden, 88, were both injured when their condo in the Shadow Lake Village complex in the River Plaza section of the township was heavily damaged by an electrical fire on December 15.
RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN WITHDRAWN
A rendering of the apartment house proposed for 316 Shrewsbury Avenue. Below, the existing house during the fire in July. (Drawing by Michael Monroe; photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to replace a fire-damaged single-family home in Red Bank with a three-family apartment house was withdrawn amid neighborhood opposition Thursday night.
RED BANK: K9 VEST, MAYOR’S BALL, PINS
Eko, one of two canine members of the Red Bank police force, has a new ballistic vest, courtesy of the Elks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank mayor and council were in an appreciative mood last Wednesday, spotlighting good works by three charitable organizations.
And the town now has an official lapel pin. Read on for details.
RED BANK: PUPPY MILL LAW WITHDRAWN
The owner of Bark Avenue Puppies on West Front Street had threatened to sue the borough if it enacted the proposed ban on dogs supplied by breeders. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After seven months of controversy, Red Bank’s proposed ban on the sale of “puppy mill” pets was withdrawn over a failure to win council backing Wednesday night.
RED BANK: DOG AND CAT INJURED IN FIRE
First Aiders tending to dog in the front yard of 316 Shrewsbury Avenue. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fire in the basement of a Red Bank home left a dog and a cat injured Wednesday evening.
RED BANK: WHAT NEXT FOR ONE-EYED ROBIN?
For the past week, Lisa Keele of Red Bank and her family have cared for a fledgling robin they found lying in the road outside their Branch Avenue home. Named ‘Sam,’ the bird cannot fly and was born without a right eye.
RED BANK: RATS INFEST NEIGHBORHOOD
Rats were easily evident in the yard of a McLaren Street home Thursday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials promised quick action Wednesday night after East Side homeowners said their neighborhood has been infested by rats.
Worthley Street residents Jeff and Allison Welker, joined by a handful of neighbors, told the borough council that they cannot allow their children or pets into their backyard because of a recurring “fireworks display” of the rodents.
RED BANK: ‘DOG DAYS’ ROMPS IN PARK
Whelped on Monmouth Street five years ago, Red Bank’s Dog Days of Summer returned for the first of two 2018 installments with a romp in Marine Park Monday night.
RED BANK: PUPPY MILL BILL RETURNS… MAYBE
Amanda Hager of Bark Avenue Puppies with one of the shop’s French bulldogs in 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A month after it was tabled to allow for a possible compromise, a controversial proposal to regulate puppy sales may return to the Red Bank council Wednesday night.
RED BANK: PARKING, TAXES & MORE
A consultant was hired to conduct a long-awaited parking study following the failure last year of plans to redevelop the White Street lot, above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
At last Wednesday’s meeting of the Red Bank council, these things happened:
RED BANK: ‘PUPPY MILL’ BILL TABLED
Bark Avenue owner Gary Hager listens as Vyolet Jean Savage speaks in favor of a puppy mill ordinance in January. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council averted, for now, a showdown over a controversial proposed ordinance that would ban the retail sale of puppies and kittens unless they come from animal shelters and rescue organizations.
At its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night, the council postponed a vote on the measure until June 27 to allow for a possible “compromise,” Councilwoman Kathy Horgan told redbankgreen.
RED BANK: PUPPY LAW MAY END UP IN COURT
Toy poodle pups at Bark Avenue Puppies in February, 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s only puppy retailer threatened to sue the borough Wednesday night if the council passes an anti-puppy-mill law that he said will put him out of business.
“I must ask how much of our taxpayer money are you willing to spend on this unconstitutional ordinance?” Bark Avenue Puppies owner Gary Hager asked the council at its semimonthly meeting. “I’m willing to spend a lot, because I have right on my side.”
RED BANK: OUTDOOR DINING WEATHER
Takeout sushi for breakfast? From his Red Bank office Wednesday morning, lawyer Sean Byrnes spied this osprey eating a fish atop a utility pole behind the Woman’s Club on Broad Street, a good half mile away from the nearest body of water.
Humans might also find themselves in the mood for some outdoor dining Thursday, when temperatures are expected to peak in the low 60s under partly sunny skies, according to the National Weather Service. (Photos by Sean Byrnes. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: ‘PUPPY MILL’ LAW ON AGENDA
A proposed ordinance that Red Bank’s only puppy store claims will kill its business is up for adoption by the borough council Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: MENNA TUGS REINS ON HORSES
Prince, from Dream Horse Carriage Rides, pulls a carriage through downtown Red Bank in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mayor Pasquale Menna thinks having horses pull tourist carriages through downtown Red Bank during the Christmas holiday season is “inhumane.”
He said so at Wednesday night’s semimonthly council meeting, when he formally appointed an Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and asked that it look into ending the annual rides.
What does the owner of the horses think?
“Oh, not this idiocy again,” said Tania Lawson, owner of Dream Horse Carriage Rides in Jackson Township.
FAIR HAVEN: HAWK ATTACK ON DOG REPORTED
A Fair Haven family’s dog was injured this week when she was attacked by a bird, believed to be a red-tailed hawk, according to a report Thursday by News12 New Jersey.
SHREWSBURY: SLAUGHTERHOUSE LEVELED
Demolition has gotten underway at the longtime site of a slaughterhouse on Broad Street (Route 35) in Shrewsbury.
What’s going on here? Click ‘read more’ to find out.
ON THE GREEN: LIGHT SNOW IN FORECAST
With plenty of grass to eat and poop on, hundreds of Canada geese appeared unruffled by ‘feels like’ temperatures in the teens as they chilled out at Red Bank Regional High in Little Silver Sunday afternoon.
Down jackets are in order on the Greater Red Bank Green as a new week gets underway with more biting cold and a bit of snow in the forecast, according to the National Weather Service. Details below.