Red Bank-area RED BANK: GOP TRIO TO TRY AGAIN
Republican Chairman Jonathan Maciel Penney, seen here in 2019, will run for council in the June primary. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Republican Brian Irwin, who dropped out of a council race two years ago, will seek his party’s endorsement as mayoral candidate in the June primary.
In addition, GOP Chairman Jonathan Maciel Penney will make his fourth attempt in four years for a council seat, joined for the second year in a row by Christine Stout.
RED BANK: LOCALS GATHER FOR UKRAINE
A Ukraine flag painted on the grass shone in the sun as about 150 Red Bank area residents gathered at Riverside Gardens Park Friday afternoon in support of the victims of Russia’s brutal invasion.
FAIR HAVEN: SENDOFF FOR A TWO-WAR VET
Fair Haven residents stood in respect along River Road Monday for Ray Taylor (right), an Army veteran of two wars who died January 17 at the age of 99.
RED BANK: KIDS HONOR VETERANS
After a one-year pandemic interruption, groups of school children returned to the annual Veterans Day commemoration in Red Bank Thursday.
With poems, songs and handmade ‘thank you’ cards for veterans, students from St. James School, the Red Bank Charter School and Red Bank Middle School participated in the event, held at the Veterans Monument on Monmouth Street – alongside the onetime borough hall.
Check out redbankgreen’s event photos below.
RED BANK: REFLECTIONS ON SEPTEMBER 11
Former Red Bank fire chief Wayne Hartman tolled a bell in memory of 343 New York City fireighters who who died at the World Trade Center. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On a swath of Riverside Gardens Park lawn emblazoned with a temporary memorial, Red Bank residents and others gathered Saturday morning to remember the 2,996 lives taken on American soil on September 11, 2001.
ON THE GREEN: IN MEMORY
Dozens of residents of the Greater Red Bank Green were among the 147 Monmouth County residents, and 2,996 overall, who died in the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Information about commemorations in Red Bank and Atlantic Highlands can be found here.
RED BANK: SEPTEMBER 11, 20 YEARS LATER
Red Bank-area residents will mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America with memorial events Saturday.
RED BANK: A NEIGHBOR’S 9/11 STORY
John Grandits’ account of his neighbor’s escape from the World Trade Center is for sale at River Road Books for $1, with proceeds going to volunteer fire and first aid. Below, Drew Irving. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Red Bank resident and children’s author John Grandits could see his neighbor Louise Irving in an agitated state on her back porch, her sister’s arms wrapped around her.
Then he learned what was happening in New York City, and immediately remembered: Louise’s husband, Drew, worked at the World Trade Center.
RED BANK: ONE PRIMARY CONTESTED, ONE NOT
By JOHN T. WARD
Four Red Bank Democrats square off Tuesday in a rare primary election for two spots on the November ballot for borough council.
Meantime, the borough’s Republicans have two “placeholder” candidates on the primary ballot.
RED BANK: GOP ‘PLACEHOLDERS’ ON BALLOT
Jonathan Maciel Penney speaking as a candidate at the West Side Community Group forum in 2019. (Photo by Ben Forest. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Republicans announced two “placeholder” candidates for borough council in the November election Monday.
Party Chairman Jonathan Maciel Penney said he had filed campaign papers for himself and Christine Stout.
RED BANK: VISCOMI REBUTS RACISM CHARGE
Sue Viscomi at a school board meeting in March, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Three Red Bank council members were silent Wednesday in the face of accusations that one of them had smeared a resident by accusing her of using “racist” language last month.
RED BANK: WORRY LINGERS AMONG DREAMERS
Clockwise from top left: Adriana Medina Gomez, Itzel Perez Hernandez, Yaritza Ortega, Karina España and Karla Ortega. (Photos from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As it became clearer in the weeks after the November 3 election that Joe Biden would become the 46th president of the United States, Adriana Medina Gomez‘s phone began ringing more than usual.
“Among our clients, there was a sense of, ‘OK, Biden won, now what? What can I do to get legal?'” said Medina Gomez, a legal assistant in the Red Bank office of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice organization. “Like immediately, the calls started pouring in about that.”
FAIR HAVEN: COVID-19 MEMORIAL PLANNED
Fair Haven will participate in a national memorial to lives lost in the COVID-19 pandemic by lighting up Memorial Park with luminaria Tuesday night.
With its announcement of the event Monday, the borough became the first town on the Greater Red Bank Green to join an inauguration-eve event that calls for a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC.
RED BANK: LOCALS HONOR VETERANS
Red Bank Middle School student Aisha Jones, above, and Second Deputy Fire Chief Nick Ferraro were among the participants in the borough’s annual Veterans Day commemoration Wednesday.
Like many other events since March, it was a masked-up gathering because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ON THE GREEN: VETERANS DAY OBSERVATIONS
Wednesday is Veteran’s Day, and two towns on the Greater Red Bank Green plan to hold commemoration services, though one will be virtual, and the other curtailed, to limit the spread of COVID-19. See below for details.
RED BANK: LOCALS CELEBRATE BIDEN VICTORY
For more than five hours Saturday, a small, rotating group gathered in Riverside Gardens Park for a low-key celebration of the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
There were no speeches: just virtual hugs, some tears, as well as cheers – punctuated by honking horns and occasional middle fingers from passersby on West Front Street.
Below are some some reflections on the election outcome among participants.
ON THE GREEN: IN MEMORY
Dozens of residents of the Greater Red Bank Green died in the horrific attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Let’s not forget those who died, and the families and friends left with holes in their hearts. For information about local commemorations, click here.
RED BANK: GOP PAIR QUIT COUNCIL RACE
Jonathan Maciel Penney speaking at the West Side Community Group forum last October. (Photo by Ben Forest. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Both Republican candidates for Red Bank borough council seats in November’s election have formally dropped out of the race.
As a result, incumbent Democrats Michael Ballard and Ed Zipprich appear to have a clear glide path to re-election. Read More
ON THE GREEN: REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11
Red Bank-area residents will have several opportunities Friday to participate in commemorations marking the 19th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America.
RED BANK: RALLY SLAMS POSTAL CHANGES
About 30 protesters assembled at the post office on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank at noon Friday to voice alarm over recent changes at the postal service.
RED BANK: CLANCY MULLS COUGHING ON ‘LIBS’
Michael Clancy at the Red Bank 5K in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[CORRECTION: Michael Clancy is no longer the GOP chairman in Red Bank. He did not seek re-election and was replaced July 27 by Jonathan Maciel Penney. Clancy now serves “as a placeholder on the county committee until I move out of Red Bank,” he told redbankgreen Monday evening. redbankgreen regrets the error.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Three years after he quit the Human Relations committee over a controversial text message, Red Bank Republican Chairman Michael Clancy mused about coughing on President Trump’s adversaries to “harass” them over weekend.
RED BANK: DREAMER ‘THRILLED’ BY RULING
Itzel Perez Hernandez, seen at right above last November with fellow Red Bank ‘Dreamers’ Cristian Aparicio and Deysi Avila, said she is “thrilled” by the United States Supreme Court’s decision Thursday thwarting the Trump Administration’s efforts to to rescind protections for young immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA.
RED BANK: HUNDREDS RALLY FOR JUSTICE
Protesters march down Broad Street, above, and observe a moment of silence on Newman Springs Road, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Angry but peaceful, hundreds of protesters marched through Red Bank Tuesday afternoon.
With temperatures nearing 90 degrees, a “Justice for George Floyd” march and rally at Count Basie Fields coincided with the Houston funeral of the man killed by Minneapolis police May 25.
Check out redbankgreen’s photos from the event below.
RED BANK: RACIAL JUSTICE MARCH SLATED
Hundreds marched through town to protest a racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
A “Justice for George” march and rally to protest the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis is slated to be held in Red Bank Tuesday afternoon.
According to police Chief Darren McConnell, the event is being organized by Calvary Baptist Church of Red Bank and an organization called Count the Children.