Letters
Reader agrees with attorney on park system mansion fire issue

I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I agree with the gadfly that is Larry Loigman - only on the subject of the recent fire at Thompson Park. To spend $3.7 million - taxpayers' dollars - and not protect the entire building is utterly ridiculous and deserves a complete and thorough investigation, and officials, employees or professionals need to be held accountable.

While I will be the first in line to say Monmouth County has the finest park system in the state, that pride is now diminished by the fire-ravaged building at Thompson Park.

That building could have been easily saved with the installation of a fire suppression system, simply installed in every room of the building. I find it insulting to have it said that any criticism would be "kicking people when they are down." Equally insulting was to say the criticism of county officials who "are in mourning over the fire" would be unjust.

In truth, the people who need to be consoled and who are in mourning are the Monmouth County taxpayers who spent $3.7 million on a historic building that every county resident should have been able to say would be protected from within and without, for the next 100 years, and beyond.

But some supposed and yet unnamed licensed professional(s) made recommendations that only allowed for the basement of the building to have fire suppression systems installed to safeguard the entire building. That is like having a generator in the basement of your home when the area is prone to flooding. Obviously the basement floods first.

I have watched as Monmouth County has spent tens of millions of dollars on golf courses, costs which rival the monies spent on world-renowned courses. I find no comfort in the statement that a "licensed professional" made a building code decision to install fire suppression only in the basement. I will be willing to bet the buildings at these overpriced golf courses have fire suppression systems throughout.

Selfishly, I hope steps are taken to immediately rebuild this landmark. My hope is that someday in the future my wife and I would be able to take our grandchildren - the grandchildren we hope to have around us someday - to the building where grandma and grandpa met. I can assure you that building meant a lot to the two of us and "we, too, are in mourning" having met each other in that very same, now fire-damaged building, 28 years ago.

Joseph McAleer

Aberdeen

Residents should have the right to elect their mayor In the March 8 News Transcript, Eric I. Abraham questioned the motives of the proponents of the proposed petition that would give Manalapan residents the same rights as most communities in Monmouth County, not to mention the rest of the country and most of Europe - to vote to choose their own mayor. I am one of the five petitioners and I would like to get the facts out.

Most residents didn't even realize that they didn't vote for their mayor. I was confronted by a friend last year during the elections and she asked me, "When do we vote for the mayor?"

I explained to her that we don't vote for a mayor in Manalapan. I explained that the Township Committee members appoint the mayor amongst themselves in executive session. I have come to find out that a lot of residents did not know they didn't vote for their mayor.

I question the motivation of Mr. Abraham's letter. This is the same Mr. Abraham that is a commissioner of the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority (WMUA). This is the same Mr. Abraham that was appointed to that position by Mayor Drew Shapiro even though the WMUA was investigated last year for squandering millions of dollars of surplus while raising rates 33 percent in a single year.

This is the same Mr. Abraham who cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars last year by suing Manalapan to overturn the results of the 2004 election. It is not surprising that Mr. Abraham would want to mislead the public by talking about a full-time mayor. Englishtown, Marlboro, Howell, Freehold Borough and many other surrounding towns elect their own mayor and the mayor is not full-time in any of those towns.

The ordinance attached to the petition does not provide for a full-time mayor. The statement that what Joseph Locric-chio really wants out of this process is a full-time position is simply a false statement. He already has a full-time job. As most of us know, it would be difficult to live in Manalapan on a salary of $40,000 per year. Maybe it is Mr. Abraham's self-interest that is the motivation of his letter.

In regard to recodifying the town's ordinances, the statute does not require complete recodification.

The statute only requires that the existing code be modified to be consistent with the new form of government, i.e., those provisions of the code which provide for appointments and terms and entities that are being changed by the new form of government need to be rewritten. That's hardly the entire code. The recodification is simply another scare tactic.

In that same issue of the News Transcript an article was printed on the front page about the elected officials being divided on the change of government plan.

Mayor Shapiro was quoted as saying it would cost the taxpayers "by the best estimates I'm given, upwards of $50,000." When questioned this past Wednesday night at the township meeting about how he arrived at that amount, Mayor Shapiro said he was given that amount by the township clerk.

That amount could not be substantiated by either Mr. Shapiro or the township clerk.

I would imagine that we could get these numbers from other towns such as Howell, Jackson, Old Bridge and Washington Township (Mercer County) that have recently switched to the mayor-council form of government. Mayor Shapiro also stated that the change of government was the subject of a bipartisan charter study 15 years ago.

Mr. Shapiro, Manalapan has grown immensely in the last 15 years. I'll honor that study if you'll honor my request to roll back property taxes to what they were 15 years ago.

Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth made a comparison to the corruption problems in Marlboro. In 2005 there were a number of arrests made in Monmouth County for corruption. How many of those people arrested were mayors? None? Corruption can happen at any level and in any form of government. This is just another scare tactic.

If Mrs. Roth truly was as concerned about the economy as she stated, she would not be pushing to purchase 50 acres of expensive commercial property so it can be used for affordable housing. Add that to the expense of the recreation center expansion to be approximately $15 million, the cost of building the new rescue squad and the revaluation of homes [and] Manalapan residents will have major "economic concerns."

By the way Deputy Mayor Roth, while you and Mr. Shapiro ignored the cable television committee in 2004, that same committee with the support of Mayor Bill Scherer, Deputy Mayor Locricchio and Committeeman Andrew Lucas at the urging of cable television committee Chair-man Ray Proietti and the other members, Manalapan was able to negotiate a signing bonus of $100,000. That bonus was the highest paid to any municipality.

That bonus was negotiated by attorney Stuart Moskovitz, the same attorney who saved hundreds of thousands of dollars last year for all the people of Manalapan. The people should have the right to vote for their own mayor.

Kalman "Butch" Budai

Manalapan Parents must teach their children to be good citizens As parents and our children's first teacher we have the responsibility to teach them to be good citizens and neighbors.

I have in my possession a letter that was sent home with the high school students, signed by the principal, advising them that parking was critical and the juniors will no longer be able to drive to Colts Neck High School.

Unfortunately, many juniors have decided it is perfectly OK to make this a community problem by parking on the streets that are in close proximity to the school, resulting in turning our neighborhoods into parking lots.

Should the Freehold Regional High School District take action or is this the community's responsibility to find a solution?

I do not know what the answer is, but I am confident that we can teach our children to be good citizens and better neighbors by not causing safety, crime and real estate concerns for our families.

Carol Donatelli

Colts Neck