About Town

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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS
The Atlantic Highlands Library will present a solo violin recital at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, by Joel DeWitt at the library.
DeWitt’s program will include the Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003 by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Sonata for Solo Violin, Op.115 by Sergey Prokofiev, and the Sonata for Solo violin (1944) by Bela Bartok.

Joel DeWitt

DeWitt studied with Carroll Glenn at the Eastman School and with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School. He received a fellowship with the Aspen Music Festival. He has performed as a freelance musician in New York; and as a member of Columbus Symphony, Virginia Opera Association, NJ New Philharmonic, and Metro Lyric Opera.  He has given many recitals, and performs frequently at services for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County and at Unity by the Shore in Neptune.
DeWitt is a trustee of the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council, and the violinist in the Corialis piano trio.
The program is free to the public.
For more information, please call the library at 732-291-1956.
MIDDLETOWN
Let’s Learn about Learning Disabilities, presented by Dr. Pauline Nelson will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, at the Middletown Township Public Library, 55 New Monmouth Road.
Nelson is a clinical psychologist with more than 16 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in a variety of settings on both the East and West coasts.
She will outline different kinds of learning disabilities, and their respective signs and symptoms. Nelson will also talk about how a diagnosis is made and interventions and assistance available.
The event is free but registration is required and may be made at @mtpl.org.
Funding for the library’s public programs comes from the generous support of the Middletown Township Public Library Foundation, Inc.
 
RED BANK
The 8th annual Red Kettle Classic basketball tournament will be held Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Salvation Army Community Center, 180 Newman Springs Road.
Boys and girls teams from middle schools will participate: Holy Cross, Rumson; St. James, red bank; Shrewsbury; Knollwood, Fair Haven; Red Bank Charter and Seashore Day, Long Branch.
Doors will open at 8 a.m. The first game will begin at 8:30 a.m. The final game is expected to begin at 5:30 p.m.
Admission is $5 for adults, children are $1 or a contribution of canned or packaged food.
Door prizes will be offered.
The event is sponsored by United Teletech Financial Federal Credit Union.
 
RUMSON
The English Speaking Union will be holding its annual holiday repast on Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Rumson Country Club, 163 Rumson Road.
Libations will be served at 6 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. traditional English Christmas dinner and entertainment at 8 p.m.
The organization’s scholarship winner, Evelyn Giovine, will provide a special holiday program.
The cost is $60 per person for members and $65 for nonmembers. Wine will be provided at the table, and a cash bar will be available throughout the evening.
All are welcome; the dress is black tie optional.
A silent auction with half of the proceeds being donated to local storm relief efforts will be featured.
Additional information is available by contacting ESU President Richard Biernacki at 732-787-2217 or e-mailing esupresident@comcast.net.
 
SHREWSBURY
The Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury, 352 Sycamore Ave., will be holding its annual Christmas bazaar from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The bazaar is sponsored by Presbyterian Women and proceeds will be given away to missions.
The event features homemade food, handmade crafts, gifts, toys, fresh floral arrangements, jewelry and more.
All are welcome.
 

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Monmouth County Historical Association will again participate on Friday, Dec. 7, in the annual Holiday Lantern Tours of Shrewsbury’s Historic Four Corners, a National and State designated Historic District.
The historic buildings at the corner of Broad Street and Sycamore Avenue will be open to welcome the public. Tours begin at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and are by reservation only.
The tours will include four historic properties: Monmouth County Historical Association’s Allen House, which was built circa 1710; Christ Church (1769); the Presbyterian Church (1822); and Shrewsbury Friends Meeting House (1816).
At the Allen House, which served the community as a tavern in the mid-18th century, visitors will be greeted by the tavern keeper and his family who will illustrate tavern life through dramatic first-person storytelling. Live instrumental music and singing by Heather MacDonald will be followed by cookies and cider generously donated by Foodtown in Red Bank, and general merriment.
In Christ Church, the Rev. Harry Finch, who served as rector from 1830 – 1863, along with many of his notable 18th and 19th century parishioners, will be on hand to guide visitors through the church. Christ Church’s bazaar opens on the night of Lantern Tours for visitor shopping.
Tours of the Presbyterian Church will also be offered; the second church building on that site constructed 22 years after their original church burned in 1800.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to see the Shrewsbury Friends Meeting House, learn more about the Quakers’ unique style of worship, and be treated to light refreshments.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children 12 and under. Tours leave from Christ Church at 380 Sycamore Ave.
Reservations are available by calling Renee at 732-915-5862.
 
Authors of ‘The Jersey Sting’ Talk About Their Book
 
RUMSON – Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman will talk at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 5, about the events that inspired their book, The Jersey Sting: A true story of Crooked Pols, Money-Laundering Rabbis, Black Market Kidneys, and the Informant Who Brought It All Down at Congregation B’nai Israel, 171 Ridge Road.
The talk is free and open to the public.
The authors will sign books following their talk.
The Jersey Sting details one of the largest federal sting operations in United States history, which included key figure Solomon Dwek, a failed real estate investor from Deal, as an undercover informant for the FBI.
The sting ended in the arrest of 44 people including three mayors, two legislators, five orthodox rabbis and a man who arranged black market kidney transplants.
The book, crafted from thousands of pages of documents, transcripts of federal wiretaps, court records and sworn depositions, takes the reader deep inside the case.
Margolin and Sherman are investigative reporters with long histories covering New Jersey for the Star-Ledger.
Sherman is still an investigative reporter with the paper while Margolin is now a senior reporter, covering politics and national security at the New York Post.
The event is sponsored by the Adult Education Committee at Congregation B’nai Israel.
Additional information is available by calling CBI Executive Director Henry Silberman at 732-842-1800 or e-mailing him at henry.silberman@cbirumson.org.