March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
To The Editor:
Tinton Falls and over 25 towns throughout Monmouth County have officially recognized March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.
Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera read a proclamation dedicating March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and was joined by The Arc of Monmouth Executive Director Mary Scott and residents and staff representing the various group homes in Tinton Falls.
The Mayor’s mother Joan Skudera is a member of the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities Human Rights Committee. The Mayor’s brother David Skudera lives in a group home in Tinton Falls and takes part in The Arc’s Work Opportunity Center Program.
The Arc of Monmouth, headquartered in Tinton Falls, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and serves more than 1,400 individuals at 20 locations throughout Monmouth County. Over the last 60 years, The Arc and its network of more than 700 chapters across the country have made tremendous progress in promoting and protecting the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). It is due greatly to the advocacy efforts of The Arc that President Ronald Reagan officially declared March to be Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in 1987.
In this pivotal election year, The Arc of Monmouth is joining national efforts to raise awareness about disability related policy on the campaign trail. In 2008, only 46 percent of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) who were eligible to vote actually did so. Together, chapters of The Arc nationwide are working on the “We’ve Got The Power!” campaign, which aims to improve voting rates of in the I/DD community for 2012 and educate candidates about the issues that matter most to the I/DD community.
The Arc of Monmouth’s annual Tinton Falls 5K Race and Walk will be held at Liberty Park II on Saturday, May 5. To get involved, visit www.arcofmonmouth.org/walk, or call (732) 493-1919.
The Arc of Monmouth website (www.arcofmonmouth.org) features various resources, as well as a directory of services offered for individuals with I/DD, including health care, education, employment, recreation and individual and family supports.
Arc of Monmouth
Tinton Falls
Incongruous
To The Editor:
I would like to applaud Rep. Frank Pallone for his brilliant grasp of the concept of elasticity of supply and demand. His comments on the inevitable reduction of patronage at Sandy Hook due to the proposed price increases for entry is remarkable, as he is the same person who supports tax increases on Americans who have the ability to earn in excess of $200,000 and with a straight face says it will have no negative impact on consumption and therefore growth in the U.S.A.Incongruous.
Peter Dixon
Wellington, Fl.
Help Victims of Domestic Violence
To The Editor:
180 Turning Lives Around is seeking community volunteers to train as advocates to support victims of domestic violence.
New volunteers from the community will be providing direct service to victims of domestic violence at the various police headquarters in Monmouth County and will be provided with 40-hours of Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT) training. 180’s volunteer victim advocates are highly-trained to empower victims to make informed-decisions about their own lives. Bi-lingual capability is helpful. Prior knowledge of domestic violence is not required.
All applicants must be:
- Age 18 or older.
- Complete an application and interview process, and submit to fingerprinting and background checks.
- Have valid NJ Driver’s license and have access to reliable transportation.
- Be willing to volunteer on an on-call basis and attend a monthly supervisory meeting.
- Successfully complete the mandatory 40-hour DVRT training program.
To obtain and application or for more information, please contact Sue Levine, Coordinator, Victim Support Program, at susanl@180nj.org or 732 264-4360, Ext. 4271.
Training will take place from April 10 to May 9 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the courtoom of Hazlet Police Headquarters, 255 Middle Road, Hazlet.
180 Turning Lives Around
Hazlet
County Surplus?
To The Editor:
On March 8, at the public portion of the Monmouth County Freeholder meeting, I asked the freeholders if they have six million plus in surplus. ‘Yes,’ was their response. To the question will they use that amount to give the taxpayers a 2 percent decrease in the tax levy to be voted on at 7 p.m. in the municipal building in Middletown on March 22, their answer was no.
A large presence of county residents at the Middletown meeting might prompt them to have a change of heart.
Ray Kalainikas
Manalapan
He’s No Clooney
To The Editor:
Fox News correspondent Bernie Goldberg does not look like George Clooney or sound like Radio Host John B. Wells, but at least he’s humorless and unoriginal. He crapped out of the “bigs” (now known as “lamestream media”) and now spends a lot of time as a guest on the Bill O’Reilly Show, as a victim who lambasts those who call themselves victims, or to inject the trusted Fox practice of diverting attention from the main issue by saying that Liberals are hypocrites.
Bernie’s most recent assignment was apparently to shift focus from the facts of a case involving a neighborhood watch guy illegally carrying a gun, and not following police instructions, who kills a 17 -year- old person. Goldberg asked how come the media doesn’t cover the recent “drive by” shooting which took the life of an infant inside his home?
Ok..fine. But how can we take BG seriously? He writes a book called “One Big Slobbering Love affair” about the networks’ supposed extra attention paid to Obama, not paid to McCain. I would not be surprised if this wondrous tome was not inspired by his chiding of an African-American correspondent reporting, in a very emotional way, the victory of Barack Obama. How unprofessional! What a shill!
Wonder if O’Reilly will soon introduce the Bernie bobble-head for Premium members only?
Phil Silverman
Laguna Woods, CA
Phil Silverman is a former two river resident
It’s Spring Cleaning Time For The Beach
To The Editor:
Clean Ocean Action (COA) invites citizens and organizations to participate in the 27th Annual Spring Beach Sweeps on Saturday, April 21 at over 70 sites along the Jersey Shore. The Beach Sweeps begin at 9am and end at 12:30 pm, rain or shine.
The Beach Sweeps offer citizens the opportunity to give back to their local marine environment, as well as become citizen scientists for the day.
The Beach Sweeps is much more than picking up trash, it’s about collecting data to help reduce sources of pollution. Volunteers are instructed to record the quantity and types of debris found. The information collected at the Sweeps is analyzed and published into annual reports. These reports helps identify pollution problems, aid legislators in enacting laws to protect our marine environment, and inform local and international efforts to combat marine pollution. COA will release the 2011 Annual Beach Sweep report mid-April, just in time for the spring Beach Sweeps. All reports are available on-line at www.CleanOceanAction.org.
The data is essential to help motivate action to reduce sources of litter. It also proves that New Jersey cares about its shores and wants to make them clean.
COA encourages participation from volunteers of all ages individually or from businesses, families, and organizations. Groups of 10 or more are requested to pre-register by calling 732-872-0111, or using the online sign-up form on COA’s website. Pre-registration for individuals or groups of less than 10 is not required. Volunteers should bring gloves, dress for the weather, apply sunscreen, and wear closed-toed, hard-soled shoes. Click here for a complete list of sites.
Beach Captains greet volunteers at each site, distribute cleanup materials, and give instructions throughout the event. For a list of sites, the group sign-up form, and other tips, visit www.cleanoceanaction.org and follow the links for “Beach Sweeps.”
A number of businesses partner with COA to sponsor the Beach Sweeps. The Statewide Sponsors for the 2012 Beach Sweeps are Atlantic City Electric, Aveda, Bank of America, Comcast, Montecalvo Material Recovery Facility, Wakefern Shoprite, Surfer’s Environmental Alliance, and Verizon. Monmouth County sponsors include: Becton Dickinson, Brook 35 & West, The Grove, Mercedes Benz, and United Teletech Financial. Individual site sponsors include: Adventure Aquarium for Ocean City – 57th Street, Bloomberg for Belmar – 1st Ave, Brookdale Community College for Sandy Hook, Enterprise Rent-A-Car for Sandy Hook, Jenkinson’s Aquarium for Point Pleasant Beach, Monmouth County Realtors Association for Asbury Park, New Jersey Natural Gas for Belmar – 16th Ave, Paul V. Fernicola & Associates for Allenhurst/Loch Arbour, Surfrider Foundation, Jersey Shore Chapter for Asbury Park. In-kind support is provided by Wakefern ShopRite.
And Consider Taking your Beach Sweeping to the Next Level!
Collect donations for your volunteer efforts and raise funds for COA’s ocean protection work. Raise $100 and receive Clean Ocean Action’s popular ChicoBag made from recycled plastic bottles. Raise $200 and receive an organic cotton 2012 Beach Sweeps tee shirt. Teams can join the effort at http://www.crowdrise.com/BeachSweeps.
Collecting donations from friends and family seems like a great way to raise awareness and get people more excited about the event and helping our environment,” commented Bay Head Beach Captain Shelley Kirk regarding COA’s new fundraising initiative.
COA’s Beach Sweeps first started in 1985 at Sandy Hook with 75 volunteers. Since then, over 90,000 citizens, the small and the tall, removed over 4.5 million pieces of trash.
Cindy Zipf
Executive Director
Clean Ocean Action
Highlands
CORRECTION
The page 3 story titled Middletown Budget Calls for Smallest Increase in Years” appearing in the March 23 issue of The Two River Times indicated that the tax increase of 1.1 cent per $100 of assessed property value for the proposed 2012 municipal budget would mean a $42.87 a month increase to the tax bill for the average Middletown home assessed at $380,000. That is incorrect. According to Nicola Trasente, the Middletown chief financial officer, that would be the increase for the year.
