RED BANK: MORE SPARKS OVER SENIOR CENTER

The Senior Center offers a rare vantage for Red Bankers to view the Navesink and Swimming rivers, speakers said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Red Bank’s elected officials got an earful from the public about the borough’s disabled Senior Center Wednesday night.

But even as the all-Democratic council unanimously approved a new lease on interim space, sparks continued to fly between its members over the center’s near-term future.

January 14, 2021 - 5:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: DEMS ERUPT OVER SENIOR CENTER

The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years following a pipe leak. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Tension among Red Bank Democrats over the future of the borough’s Senior Center erupted in public over the weekend.

Joined by Mayor Pasquale Menna, four of the council’s six Democrats lit into the other two, one of whom is the party chairman, as having “placed their own popularity over what’s best for our residents and taxpayers.”

January 11, 2021 - 9:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SENIOR CENTER STILL ON ICE

The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj

Red Bank’s Senior Center is not for sale, Mayor Pasquale Menna insists.

But two years after extensive damage caused by a burst pipe, multiple questions surround the still-closed Shrewsbury Avenue facility. Among them: will it reopen anytime soon, and will it stay where it is?

January 8, 2021 - 1:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: HOUSING UPGRADES PROMISED

The Evergreen Terrace senior apartments and the nearby Montgomery Terrace units would get a more reliable source of funding for repairs, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Residents of Red Bank’s two publicly subsidized housing complexes will see improvements to their communities under planned funding changes, an official assured them last week.

January 20, 2020 - 10:30 am | Comments ()

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.

January 24, 2018 - 10:00 am | Comments ()

FROM RBR TO SENIORS, A SPECIAL SHOW

Left to right: Shrewsbury Homesteader program chairperson Jerry Viracola and Homesteader president Carolyn Alt are pictured with RBR drama majors Maximum Portman, Erin McEvoy, Dixie O’Connell, Davis Bush, Luke Pearlberg, Lily Pena, Gianna Brockriede, Tamia Waddy, Alanah Ramos, Molly Pair, Anthony Campana, and RBR drama teacher Reuben Jackson.

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

On January 12, an entourage of drama majors from the Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Red Bank Regional High School showcased their talents during the monthly meeting of the Shrewsbury Homesteaders.
The members of the senior citizens’ organization were treated to a program of original songs, poetry readings and dramatic soliloquies from the works of William Shakespeare. Several cast members from RBR’s recent production of The Crucible recreated a scene from that classic drama by Arthur Miller.

February 13, 2017 - 5:01 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SENIORS GET DOWN AND DIRTY

Despite wilting heat and humidity, a group of seniors tended the newly installed raised-bed garden purchased by Councilwoman Cindy Burnham for the borough Red Bank Senior Citizens Center Thursday morning.

At right, 98-year-old Edith Blake checks the aroma on a sage leaf from the planter, where seniors have also planted tomatoes, taragon and basil. The planter is set up beside a picnic table so seniors can garden while seated, said Burnham. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

July 15, 2016 - 5:52 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: RECKLESS RE-LO FOR SENIOR ‘CAFE’

The Art Xpress program (above) and regular yoga sessions (below) are among the activities for seniors presented by The Wesleyan Cafe. The public is invited to learn more on June 29, when the resource hub moves into its new base of operations at Red Bank’s historic Reckless Estate.

Press release from United Methodist Communities at The Wesleyan

According to a statistic reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, some 11.3 million Americans — almost 30 percent of them aged 65 and older — live alone. Now more than ever, the nation’s graying population needs opportunities for essential social interaction, physical exercise, meeting new friends, and lifelong learning.

Last spring, United Methodist Communities at The Wesleyan, a senior housing community located at 9 Wall Street in Red Bank, opened The Wesleyan Café, a resource hub for the area’s older adults. To meet its increasing popularity and to further increase access, The Wesleyan Café will relocate to the Reckless Estate at 164 Broad Street (the historic Red Bank Woman’s Club building) in the heart of downtown Red Bank. The public is invited to the opening on Wednesday, June 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

June 24, 2016 - 5:00 am | Comments ()

COUNTY CREATES SPECIAL-NEEDS DATABASE

Sea Bright is among the towns that have already established voluntary registries for residents with special needs. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Press release Wednesday by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office:

A comprehensive and voluntary program dedicated to serving citizens with special needs was launched today.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni was joined by Sheriff Shaun Golden and the Monmouth County Chiefs of Police to introduce the Monmouth County Special Needs Registry.

April 20, 2016 - 5:30 pm | Comments ()

RBR TEENS SERENADE SHREWSBURY SENIORS

In January, the Shrewsbury Homesteaders invited students from Red Bank Regional’s VPA to serenade them at their monthly meeting. Pictured are (back row, left to right) Jalen Willis, Ricci Bigelow, piano teacher Camille Thompson, Pieter Lootsma, Joe Ferguson, Griffin Perry, and (front row, left to right): Shrewsbury Homesteader President Carolyn Alt, Victoria White, Jenna Smith, Danielle Wolf, Homesteaders Program Chairperson Jerry Viracola.

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

Every month, the senior citizen group known as the Shrewsbury Homesteaders meets at the borough’s historic Presbyterian Church to conduct their business. Sometimes they mix a little pleasure with business — and following a speech by Shrewsbury Mayor Don Burden at their most recent meeting in January, the Homesteaders were treated to the instrumental talents and beautiful voices of Red Bank Regional High School and its Visual and Performing Arts Academy.

The classically trained piano and voice major students performed a variety of their repertoire for the Homesteaders. Griffin Perry performed “The Tempest” by Beethoven; Peter Lootsma played “Sonata N. 14 in C Minor” by Mozart, while Joseph Ferguson offered “Prelude and Fugue N. 17 in Aᵇ Major” by J.S. Bach (all three students are from Little Silver). Pianist Jalen Willis of Neptune City showcased the Jazz genre with “Joes’ Fun Mood Blues” by Joe Utterback.

February 2, 2016 - 5:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: MEET THE NEW DEPARTMENT HEADS

Cliff Keen, above, is the new director of public utilities, and Charlie Hoffmann, below, runs parks and rec. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Recent months have brought some new faces to Red Bank government.

In particular, three departments that residents have regular interaction with, and occasional strong opinions about, are under new leadership: parks and recreation; planning and zoning; and public utilities.

Here’s a quick intro to the new directors.

January 12, 2016 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: NEW ‘REASON’ FOR OLD FRIENDS

Ken Stunkel, left, and Two River Theater founder Bob Rechnitz are first-time, eighty-something playwrights getting the big-time treatment. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By TOM CHESEK

When the 2015-2016 season resumes at the Two River Theater in Red Bank this weekend, it will find the celebrated company once again departing from familiar Broadway-tested properties like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Seven Guitars to the latest in an ongoing slate of world premiere dramas by relatively “new” playwrights.

This time out, the play is called Lives of Reason, and the rookie playwrights are a couple of eighty-something colleagues named Bob Rechnitz and Ken Stunkel.

January 8, 2016 - 10:50 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: IT GROWS ON TREES, AT ATRIUM

Bill Wheatley (left), a resident of The Atrium at Navesink Harbor who’s known as one of Santa’s favorite helpers, displays a Santa-sized haul of hats and mittens with Amber Graves (right) of the Riverside Avenue senior community. Inspired by Candace Christianson’s story The Mitten Tree, Bill and fellow resident Barbara Withers coordinated a Mitten Drive that has so far collected over 50 hats and pairs of mittens for Red Bank Primary School kids. As Atrium communications specialist Mary Kelly reports, “Bill spreads the joy of the holidays throughout the year. Bringing cheer, he shares his musical talents on the harmonica performing at holiday parties, birthdays and happy hours. Pitch perfect, he’s a hit with our residents and just a treat to be around.”

December 18, 2015 - 5:01 am | Comments ()

RUMSON KIDS, SENIORS MIX AND MASK

Costume contest winner Carolyn Ott (center) meets Forrestdale School sixth-graders Sally Wingertzahn (left) and Brennan Stabler (right) during the Rumson Senior Citizen’s Club Halloween Luncheon, held at the First Presbyterian Church on October 26. The event is one of many student/senior activities offered throughout the school year by the club, information on which (including other activities like a holiday Toys For Tots drive and bus trips) is available by contacting the church.

October 29, 2015 - 5:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: OPEN ARMS FOR LOCAL SENIORS

Registered Yoga teacher Theresa Conlon progresses flawlessly through her routine in the gazebo at Wesleyan Arms in Red Bank.

Press release from Wesleyan Arms

On Wednesday, June 24, the Red Bank-based senior housing community Wesleyan Arms hosted the grand opening of The Arms Café, a new senior resource hub to the area’s growing population of older adults.

A partnership between Wesleyan Arms and Home Helpers Home Care of Monmouth County with the Visiting Nurse Association of Central New Jersey, the Cafe is dedicated to a mission of providing opportunities for essential social interaction, physical exercise and continuing learning to people aged 65 and older who live alone.

Located at 9 Wall Street in Red Bank and part of the United Methodist Homes of New Jersey (UMHNJ), the Cafe welcomes older adults in the area to participate each week in a casual setting with a “drop-in center” feel. Open every Wednesday between 10 am and 2 pm, the facility is staffed with a resource coordinator who can offer information about elder care resources to individuals and their families.

Examples of the varied calendar activities include: chair yoga or Zumba, art, technology, reading and book club discussions, meeting new friends, walking groups, finding information, enjoying the company of others, and more. While The Arms Café has some structure, seniors may do as much or as little as they prefer. All resource information and most classes are free. Occasionally, a special offering requires a fee.

June 30, 2015 - 6:00 am | Comments ()

SHREWSBURY: ON TOP OF THE WORLD AT 102

Centenarian Carlotta Niles with the balloon she rode in France on her 102nd birthday, above, and back at home in Shrewsbury, below. (Photos by Betsy Ford and John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two years ago, reflecting on her first 100 years of life, Shrewsbury’s Carlotta Niles told redbankgreen that she was pretty much through with foreign travel and hot-air ballooning.

But on May 27, Niles celebrated her 102nd birthday in a gondola high above France’s Loire Valley.

“I was physically able, so I thought, ‘Oh, I’d better go,'” she said Wednesday, as she flipped through a collection of photos from the adventure. “It’s scads of fun.”

June 18, 2015 - 9:45 am | Comments ()

RBR STUDENTS ‘BRING IT’ TO SENIOR AUDIENCE

Pictured (left to right in back row), during their visit to Care One at King James, are Bring It Volunteer Student Traveling Performance Company members Pieter Lootsma, Little Silver; Bobbie Davis, Shrewsbury; Jillian Lamanno, Little Silver; Chase Hintelmann, Little Silver; Jose Rojas, Red Bank; (front row) Danielle Wolf, Shrewsbury; Alex Sosa, Millstone; Kiera Lee, Bradley Beach; Kathryn Flynn, Little Silver; Ashley Houck, Red Bank; Katelyn Johnson, Little Silver, and Tess Hintelmann, Little Silver.

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

Chase Hintlemann had just begun his freshman year at Red Bank Regional High School as a Visual & Performing Arts (VPA) drama major, when he was also “moonlighting” on the famous stage of the Count Basie Theatre, in a Phoenix Productions staging of Damn Yankees. It was during the “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Missouri” musical number on the show’s opening night, when he suddenly felt his knee give out.

The resulting injury kept this energetic athlete and performer homebound for a time and frustratingly bored. (“I had to sit in a knee bending machine for four hours a day”) — and it was during that period of extended convalescence that he began to think about starting a student volunteer traveling performance company, to bring entertainment to those who were similarly unable to leave their residences. As a VPA student, he knew a huge variety of gifted performers, all of them with talent to share — and a desire to Bring It.

February 23, 2015 - 6:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SPINNING YARNS OF OUTREACH

The Atrium Yarn Spinners include chairperson Wendy Gansberg, Dorothy Grossman, Theresa Maresca, Elizabeth Mautner, Carmen Rice, Louise Vetter and Barbara Withers.

Press release from The Atrium at Navesink Harbor

Residents of The Atrium at Navesink Harbor, a Springpoint Senior Living community, continue to expand their outreach to the community of Red Bank, most recently with a nearby adoption agency.

Knitting enthusiasts at The Atrium are designing baby items and donating them to the nearby Family Options Adoption Agency and Counseling Center in Red Bank. The loving hands are weaving multi-hued baby caps, blankets, quilts and soft toys for the local agency.

September 30, 2014 - 6:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: A BAREFOOT BOY LOOKS BACK

Charles ‘Bud’ White of Little Silver gets his first look at the Barefoot Bulletin in decades. Below, page one of the August, 1945 edition, dated five days before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The entire set of bulletins is now archived online. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Seventy years ago, just about halfway through what was then proving an epic war fought on multiple fronts around the globe, a bunch of “the boys overseas” began getting mail from a Red Bank woman named Margaret Rullman.

They all knew her, or knew of her: she was the wife of a prominent surgeon in town. And she knew all of 29 of them, or their families. Each of her recipients was an original member or connected to the Barefoot Yacht Club, an informal gang of river rats who had been sailing, skating and hanging out on the Navesink River for the past decade, since they were pre-teens.

Rullman – aided by Katherine Lippincott, mother of one of the boys, and Louise Sayre, whose daughter Barbara was the group’s only female – called her monthly missives the “Bare Foot Bulletin” in their honor, later shortening the first two words into one. The initial edition went out in September, 1943, and began with a parody of Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees:”

I think that I shall never see

An outfit like the BFC [Bare Foot Club]

A group that did in summer wear

A nest of seaweed in its hair…

Then Rullman got right down to the business at hand, which was letting the boys elsewhere know what was going on at home while also keeping them current on what their companions around the globe were doing in the war effort – information gleaned from their own letters sent stateside.

Over the next 29 months, including six editions after the war’s end, Rullman delivered the homefront news in snappy, affectionate, ‘you remember this guy’ prose that belied the awful carnage and heartbreak of war.

Charles ‘Bud’ White, now 90 years old and living in Little Silver, was one of the Barefooters, on Navy Patrol Craft Escort 856 in the South Pacific, far from his home on Red Bank’s Elm Place, when the letters started arriving.

November 11, 2013 - 5:56 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: BULLET FIRED INTO APARTMENT

A Red Bank man was arrested earlier this week after a loaded gun he was handling discharged, sending a bullet into a vacant apartment at the Atrium senior housing complex, police said.

Ross Marcovitz, 28, was ordered held on $100,000 bail at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution on charges of illegal discharge of a weapon within borough limits and other crimes, said police Captain Darren McConnell.

According to McConnell, Marcovitz, of Riverview Towers on Riverside Avenue, was in his fifth-floor residence “handling a gun – recklessly handling a gun,” when it went off.

October 12, 2013 - 1:38 pm | Comments ()

NEW LOOK, NEW FEATURES, RIGHT HERE…

Welcome to redbankgreen 3.0.

The newest version of this seven-year-old authentically local news and information site comes with changes both cosmetic – as you’ve probably already noticed – and substantive.

The cosmetic is self-evident. The substance is hinted at above: PieHole and All Good are the names of new pages that we hope will satisfy particular needs in your life. And there’s some new fun stuff, too.

September 1, 2013 - 9:38 pm | Comments ()

SHREWSBURY: CENTURY TWO, iPAD IN HAND

Centenarian Carlotta Niles at her Shrewsbury home. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

By WIL FULTON

Born to a silent-film star, Carlotta Niles of Shrewsbury has no plans of slowing down.

Or so it’s tempting to say. From daily drives in her Mercedes convertible to traveling around the world, to learning new languages and mastering bridge with help from her trusty iPad, its safe to say Niles is still living her life to the fullest.

Except for the hot-air ballooning. At 100 years old, she finds she’s had to cut back on that.

August 1, 2013 - 8:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK LIBRARY: A LESSON IN LIFESAVING

Felix and and Samantha and Arauz, above left, of Tinton Falls, and Carla Decker of Monmouth Beach practice their techniques for infant CPR at the Red Bank Public Library Monday night. At left, instructor George Cummings demonstrates the proper technique for infant Heimlich maneuver. “This isn’t burping,” he said. “Hit ’em like you know ’em.”

The next CPR class, which is free, is scheduled for September 9. More nformation about upcoming courses is on the Red Bank Public Library website. (Photos by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)

July 9, 2013 - 6:21 am | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: MAINSTAY HELPS CLUB REBUILD

Chubby Marks at the rebuilt Edgewater Cabana Club, above, and working in a construction trailer at the club this winter, below. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

By WIL FULTON

Standing beside a freshly installed, jumbo-sized kiddie pool at the newly renovated Edgewater Cabana Club in Sea Bright on a sun-drenched June afternoon, Chubby Marks can barely go a second without being greeted by passersby.

With a seasoned politician’s flair, the 83-year-old beach club manager shakes hands, coos to small children and remembers everyones name without exception.

Samuel Chubby Marks has been general manager of Edgewater Cabana Club formerly Waters Edge for 18 years, and the lively, personable 83-year-old Sea Bright mainstay said that he has no plans of slowing down anytime soon after playing a pivotal role in the reopening of the club, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this weekend to celebrate its first full week of operation.

June 18, 2013 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

FAKE NEPHEW ADMITS RED BANK SENIOR SCAM

A Matawan man admitted he posed as the nephew of a terminally ill Red Bank woman to steal nearly $1 million and her home from her, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni announced Friday.

James J. Demitro, 43, also known as Anthony Tatalia admitted his crimes Thursday before Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, acknowledging that he pretended to be the nephew of an 87-year-old woman with dementia and terminal cancer when he stole just under
$1 million and the family home she lived in since 1925 a home built by her father and grandfather, Gramiccioni said in a press release.

April 12, 2013 - 5:17 pm | Comments ()

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