redbankgreen’s Accidental Photographer chanced upon a neatly trimmed head shot of actor Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson on television’s ‘Parks and Recreation,’ lying on a sidewalk on Pinckney Road in Red Bank Saturday. Any theories about how it got there? (Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
The likelihood of Red Bank getting a third 7-Eleven anytime soon melted like a Slurpee left on a dashboard Thursday night.
After 10 months, extensive testimony and textbook-quality legal briefs on zoning law, the borough zoning board unanimously denied an application for a 7-Eleven to replace an inactive car wash at the Shell gasoline station on Newman Springs Road at Shrewsbury Avenue.
Susan Haugenes and Chuck Lambert perform with his full band in a free concert in Little Silver Sunday evening. Dead Bank is at the Walt Street Pub Friday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Friday, August 2:
RED BANK: Fixx presents a lineup of live bands starting at 8 p.m. with Diego Allessandro & Lot 25 playing a few songs from their next album. Also on the bill: the Trouble, Frances Jones & the Saviors, Exit 117, Oblivion and headliner Negative Traction. No cover; 26 West Front Street.
MIDDLETOWN: In honor of the 36th anniversary of the Kings passing, the Middletown Arts Center presents two nights of free, hip-shaking Elvis Presley tribute performances. Bring blankets, chairs and snacks. Night one of the weekend concert, Memories of Elvis, begins at 8 p.m. 36 Church Street; parking is free.
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.
Step right up, folks, and drop your guesses about the location of this week’s Where into this here mailbox, please.
Last week’s photo, showing tables and chairs roughly carved from tree trunks, were readily recognized by patrons of…
A jazz duet played on, even after bidders left the auction, which lasted just four minutes. Below, an aerial view from the auction website. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
They can’t give this baby away, it seems.
A mansion on the Navesink River in Rumson that was once listed for sale at $10.5 million drew a high bid of just $2.6 million at auction Wednesday afternoon, prompting the seller to reject the offer and leaving real estate professionals dumbfounded.
“I don’t know if you could buy the land for that,” the auctioneer told the small cluster of potential bidders who’d gathered under a white tent for the event.
A Verve magazine production session in Fair Haven last week. Below, instruction Jennifer Chauhan, left, with Samantha Quinn. (Photos by Colby Wilson. Click to enlarge)
By COLBY WILSON
What is imagination? What is artistic expression?
It’s Verve, according to an ambitious group of local young creators led by Little Silver-based writer, editor and educator Jennifer Chauhan.
This summer, Chauhan, the founder of the JC Writing Studio in Fair Haven, is helping five teens from local schools tap into their creative energy and craft their own online publication. During a four-day open writing studio last week, Chauhan helped the founding editors transform Verve from an idea into a reality.
Activity reports, unedited, as provided by the Shrewsbury Police Department for the period of July 20 to July 26, 2013.
Report of Theft in the area of Broad Street on 7/22/13. Merchandise taken by unknown subject(s). Damages totaling $279.99. Accused Wayne Stevens, male age 31 of Red Bank was later arrested and charged by Ptl. Jessica Boyd.
Report of Theft in the area of Broad Street on 7/24/13. Victim reports merchandise taken by unknown subject(s). Damages totaling $5,000.00. Ptl. Frank Neary investigating.
Dozens of dogs and their human pals turned out on a pleasant summer evening Tuesday for the first edition of Red Bank’s Dog Days, and redbankgreen was there to catch the wags, smiles and occasional slobbers. We’ve got lots more photos after the “read more.”
The canine meet-and-greet, held on a closed-to-traffic stretch of Monmouth Street, is scheduled to repeat on the last Tuesday night of August, September and October. (Click to enlarge)
Jamian LaViola grabs some herbs from the rooftop garden over the restaurant’s kitchen. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
At Jamian LaViolas eponymous Red Bank bar and restaurant, Jamians, patrons are apt to arrive on beach cruisers or skateboards, and if they come by car, there’s a good chance there’ll be a surfboard or two strapped to the roof.
That neighborhood vibe now extends to Jamians menu, with some produce coming from as nearby as a small garden atop the Monmouth Street restaurant and LaViolas backyard garden in Navesink.
This summer LaViola is harvesting greens like romaine and frisee from the home garden and using them in the kitchen.
We just brought in some lobster, and were making a fresh lobster salad tonight,” he told redbankgreen last Friday. “Will I use some of my fresh greens for that? Yeah, absolutely because it will make it just that much better.
Red Bank rolls out the red carpet for man’s best friend Tuesday night with the first in the series of three planned ‘Dog Days‘ festivals. Monmouth Street between Broad Street and Drummond Place will be closed to traffic from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as dozens of animal-products vendors set up for an expected turnout of several hundred canines and their homo sapiens. All dogs must be on non-extendable leashes, the borough says. The event, whelped by Mayor Pasquale Menna, is scheduled to recur on the last Tuesday nights of August, September and October. (Click to enlarge)
A poster from Glenn Vogel’s collection of Red Bank memorabilia on display at the borough library. Below, Vogel inspects a bottle brought to the library by Ron Costa, who found it in the Navesink River. (Photos by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
One man’s obsession is Red Bank’s history and it’s on display at the Eisner Memorial Library through the end of the year.
Glenn Vogel discovered that history is literally underfoot in 1980 when a fellow road builder at the Fort Monmouth section of Naval Station Earle suggested they check out the woods on a lunch break.
“He was getting stuff out of the ground, and he handed me a Red Bank bottle,” said Vogel, who was living in the borough at the time. “That intrigued me very much.”
It was the beginning of Vogel’s odyssey.
Red Bank resident (and redbankgreen webmaster) Kenny Katzgrau went exploring for history under his house and, with the help of his wife, Katie, fished an old bottle from a hard-to access void in the foundation Sunday.
The house, on South Street, was the longtime home of Henry Gunther Degenring, who owned the HG Degenring soft-drink and beer bottling company at the rear of 16 West Front Street for more than 50 years and served as a borough councilman before his death, in 1958. The ad at right ran in the old Red Bank Register; Degenring’s father owned the Germania Hotel, also at 16 West Front. (Click to enlarge)
Downtown Red Bank is always a great people-watching scene, and that was the case when bargainhunters flooded the sidewalks for the 59th annual Red Bank Sidewalk Sale over the past weekend. redbankgreen took these photos on Saturday. (Click to enlarge)
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The crime reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of July 18 to July 25, 2013. This information is unedited.
Theft reported on 7-19-13 but occurred between 7-17-13 and 7-18-13 at Wallace Street residence. Victim reported that unknown person entered his apartment and stole cash. Ptl. Ashon Lovick.
Attempted Break-in occurring between 7-18-13 and 7-19-13 at Marine Park. Unknown subject(s) tried to gain entry on to boat, which was docked, opened cover and caused damaged to cabin door by prying same. Nothing stolen. Ptl. Garrett Flaco and Sgt. Michael Frazee.
Theft occurring on 7-18-13 at River St. residence. Victim reported that unknown person stole a Microsoft Tablet. Sgt. Frank Bitsko.
Keeping it low-key, a civic-minded member of the Red Bank zoning board who asked us not to identify her by name tends the traffic-island flowerbed at Monmouth Street and Bridge Avenue Sunday, planting flowers raised from seed at her home. (Photo by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
Hey, get your mind out of the gutter. “It’s a gagutz,” or cucuzza squash, says Suzie Walsh, who brought it to the Red Bank Farmer’s Market Sunday from Dewolf’s Farm in New Egypt. “You slice it and sauté it like zucchini,” she says. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
Corey Wagner, left, and Patrick Finan are taking on the uncertainty of pickup games with a new web-based scheduling tool. (Click to enlarge)
By MARY ANN BOURBEAU
Looking to form a pickup hoops or softball game, but dont have enough friends? Try Joinagame, a new social network for pickup sports based right here on the Green.
Launching today, Joinagame was built by Corey Wagner of Rumson and Patrick Finan of Fair Haven to handle all the pesky details, such as finding and reserving an available field or court.
But it also addresses a bigger hurdle: not knowing enough people who might be game for a game.
Once you leave college, you lose your sports network, said Wagner.
On September 5, 2011 at approximately 2:15 pm Patrolman Nicholas Fenezia and Patrolman Michael Reuter of the Quality of Life Unit were on patrol in the area of Hosford Avenue when they stopped a vehicle for travelling at a high rate of speed. The officers approached the vehicle at which point they detected a strong odor of burnt Marijuana coming from inside the car.
Recent activity reports, unedited, as provided by the Middletown Township Police Department.
On August 31, 2011 Detective Daniel Sullivan arrested Christopher Perez-Santalla for Theft as a result of an investigation into a theft of a Rolex watch from a residence on Kevan Place.
Perez-Santalla was processed and released pending a court date.
[Update, October 16, 2019: The charges against Nicholas Branstner described below were dismissed by the Middletown municipal court on March 19, 2012.] On August 30, 2011 at approximately 8:20 pm Patrolman Christopher Dee and Patrolman Ray Sofield of the Quality of Life Unit were on patrol in the area of Bodman Park when they observed a suspicious vehicle parked in the parking lot. The officers approached the vehicle at which point they noticed a Marijuana cigarette in plain view on the floor of the vehicle.
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
A brief standoff with a knife-wielding man on Monday ended without injury and resulted in the man’s arrest for aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Middletown police report.
The man, identified as James Wierzbicky, was holding a large knife in the backyard of a Navesink home when police arrived, said Lieutenant Detective Steve Dollinger. A number of attempts by police to get him to drop the knife were unsuccessful. After backup was called and a standoff with officers, he gave up the weapon and was arrested.
More police reports appear unedited below.
[Update: This case was ordered expunged by Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen on June 6, 2019.]
Bookkeeper Rebecca Cirillo was sentenced to five years in state prison last Friday for ripping off a Red Bank business of more than $400,000, the Monmouth County Prosecutor‘s office announced Friday.
The 34-year-old Atlantic Highlands resident was also ordered by a Superior Court judge in Freehold to reimburse the publishing and advertising firm Ansorge Unlimited to the tune of $291,000.
[Update: This case was ordered expunged by Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen on June 6, 2019.]
A former employee of Red Bank-based Ansorge Unlimited pleaded guilty Thursday to defrauding the advertising and publishing firm of $403,000, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced today.
As part of a plea bargain, Rebecca Cirillo, 34, of Atlantic Highlands, admitted embezzling the funds from the publisher of Red Bank Red Hot magazine over the course of more than two years. She also pleaded guilty filing a fraudulent tax return.
Prosecutors are asking that Cirillo get five years in prison when sentenced in January by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English.
Daniel J. O’Hern
By JOHN T. WARD
Daniel J. O’Hern, a son of Red Bank who was its mayor through a period of social unrest and later served almost two decades on the New Jersey Supreme Court, died Wednesday night at his home in Little Silver.
The Star-Ledger reports that he died of metastatic brain melanoma.
“Dan O’Hern was the quintessential gentleman who represented Red Bank so well in so many aspects,” said Mayor Pasquale Menna, who said he was inspired by O’Hern’s example to pursue public service.
Noting the racial strife of the late 1960s, when O’Hern was a borough councilman and, starting in 1969, as mayor, Menna said O’Hern “led the borough at an exceedingly difficult time, when there was great social friction.”
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 and many towns and cities braced for the kind of violence that had erupted in Newark and elsewhere, O’Hern marched down Shrewsbury Avenue with local ministers and citizens in a peaceful memorial, Menna said.
Through sit-ins and noisy council meetings, “it was always a mark of his sensitivity that he was able to keep the tensions so that they did not rise to a level of civil strife,” Menna said.
[Update: This case was ordered expunged by Judge Honora O’Brien Kilgallen on June 6, 2019.]
A bookkeeper for the firm that publishes Red Bank Red Hot magazine faces up to ten years in prison on charges of stealing $470,000 from the firm over two years, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor.
Rebecca Cirillo, 32, of Atlantic Highlands, was arrested by borough police yesterday on a complaint charging her with second degree theft by deception.