Letters
Freehold Township should not be in the leaf collection business

Here we are in mid-December and the Freehold Township road department is battling two different problems, snow removal and leaf collection. Snow removal is certainly a job of a local government and I commend Freehold Township for always doing an outstanding job in that role.

Leaf collection, however, is always a disaster and absolutely not the role of local government or my tax dollars.

Every year local residents violate the township ordinance by putting the leaves on the street and doing so weeks in advance of collection. The township does nothing to enforce that law. The leaves block streets, create havoc with traffic and clog all the storm drains leaving icy conditions on the roads.

In addition, putting all these leaves on the street is a violation of storm water management. The recent flier sent to residents this past week outlines all the regulations of proper storm water management.

Prohibited are pet waste, any litter, and most important, chemicals used by homeowners who use a lawn care service. Even traces of any chemicals should never be allowed into our sewers.

But what does Freehold Township do? They tell the residents what not to do and when those ordinances are violated, the road department rides to the rescue.

Imagine Freehold Cartage picking up your trash after you dumped it into the street. At the very least leaves should be bagged and then put to the curb.

Let’s leave leaf collection to the homeowners and the landscapers they hire.

Freehold Township spends over $1 million per year on this non-necessity of government. What next? Sending over someone to cut our grass? What type of government writes laws that they then allow themselves to violate?

As for local residents that feel this is somehow a right of theirs, then I would suggest to them that they subsidize someone cutting my lawn.

This is one of those problems that perplex our elected officials. They enact a plan residents love, which allows them to add to their political patronage voting block. Then as taxes rise, they threaten to abandon other programs unless we capitulate to higher taxes.

My solution is privatize leaf collection or the township should charge residents that use this service, only if bagged and placed at the curb. That would be fair, safe, ecologically sound and a proper use of public tax dollars.

Joseph Mercurio

Freehold Township

Resident was instrumental in Republicans’ successes

On Nov. 28, Manalapan and Mon-mouth County lost Fred Storz, a true friend, contributor and valued volunteer in the community. Although Fred was born and raised in Marlboro, he eventually moved and called Manalapan his hometown.

Fred was just one of those rare people who tirelessly gave back to his community. He was well known and respected by many area professionals and politicians, and statewide, as a winning campaign manager who kept somewhat to himself and didn’t bask in glory for his accomplishments.

The Manalapan Republican Club membership remembers Fred as a lively, opinionated man who was extremely knowledgeable about his cooking and boating “hobbies.” If you knew Fred, you knew he always strived to be the best at whatever he tackled.

Politically, there wasn’t a Republican election campaign or function that Fred didn’t have a hand in planning or attending in Monmouth County for many, many years. He enjoyed being a fixture on annual November election nights as results were called in and tallied. You could see his enthusiasm as he sat at the table in the corner waiting for one of his candidates to be declared a winner.

Over his lifetime, whether as the vice chairman of the Monmouth County Planning Board, a commissioner for the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority or as a Manalapan recreation member, one could find Fred working on a project for the betterment of Monmouth County.

Due to his political associations and campaign management, Fred’s membership and input on the Manalapan recreation board helped transform the Manalapan Recreation Center into one of the finest in this state.

As vice chairman of the Monmouth County Planning Board, Fred had the knowledge and innovative suggestions that shaped some of the Monmouth County we know today.

For more than 20 years, Fred, as an active member of the Manalapan Repub-lican Club, spent zillions of hours on successful campaigns of former mayors Buddy Rosenberg, Howard Bachman, Noreen Hanlon, Dick Frenkiel, James Gray and Jack McKenna to name a few. He truly had a love for government and because of his unique way of connecting with people, we are very proud that Fred brought so many successful wins for township and county Republicans to fruition.

Fred took pride in his contributions to waste water management during his 15 years on the WMUA. As a commissioner, his knowledge far surpassed that of other members and prior commissioners and Fred usually took the lead in introducing new, pioneering policies that kept rates low for every resident of Manalapan and Marlboro.

He loved to talk and talk about the WMUA reed beds, but nobody could listen as long as he could talk. Fred understood that, but he good-naturedly continued to talk as long as anyone was still around.

Fred was also an avid gourmet cook. If you asked his friends, they would all agree that any one of his meals could be featured on the cover of Gourmet magazine.

You could often find him in his high tech kitchen (that he remodeled himself) cooking amazing sauces for hours and throwing 15-course dinner parties for his friends and family. He was always asking someone for their “great” recipe because nothing brought Fred more happiness than his passion for cooking for his family and friends.

Although Fred was a somewhat private person at times, Monmouth County is better off today because Fred Storz once lived in this community.

The membership of

the Manalapan

Republican Club

Manalapan

Residents should keep an eye on mayor’s appointments

In 2006, the political control of Marl-boro, like the political control of our nation, will be in the sole hands of the Republican Party. We have seen how such absolute Republican power has been wielded by President Bush, on issues ranging form the misguided war in Iraq to the nomination of cronies and conservative ideologues to the highest judicial positions.

The immediate question is whether Marlboro Republican Mayor Robert Kleinberg will continue to emulate his fellow Republican, George Bush, in such blatant cronyism. If past is prologue, the people of Marlboro should be concerned, because Mayor Kleinberg historically has rewarded his cronies with questionable plum appointments.

For instance, a resident sued the township on behalf of the mayor in 2003, and was subsequently rewarded by the mayor with a seat on the Planning Board.

To cite another example, Mayor Klein-berg rewarded Matt Scannapieco’s Plan-ning Board attorney for past campaign contributions by retaining him in that position, even after the Republican Spal-liero scandals became public knowledge. Other Republican cronies were appointed to zoning board positions, various committees and panels.

This year, the first crucial appointment is that of municipal judge. Marlboro currently has two qualified nonpartisan municipal judges up for reappointment. We should all closely monitor Mayor Kleinberg to see if, as rumored, he instead appoints as municipal judge yet another crony, such as an individual who served his campaign, in much the same capacity as Karl Rove serves President Bush.

We must also watch to see if the Monmouth County Republicans and Mr. Kleinberg attempt to disguise their Bush-like quid-pro-quo cronyism by rewarding an unqualified Marlboro Republican insider with a judicial appointment in another Monmouth County municipality.

An appointment of any crony who has little or no municipal criminal legal experience would demonstrate that Repub-lican government in Marlboro is no different than Republican government in Washington.

David Strickler

Marlboro