Holiday Spirit 2009

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Resident Honored For His Volunteer Work

By Judy Smestad-Nunn - February 6, 2010
If you do the math, Terry F. Bearce spent 30 full-time weeks last year volunteering for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Auxiliary Division. He also commutes daily to Somerset County to work at a full-time job in a computer support position.

The Brick resident was named U.S. Coast Guard’s Auxiliary Division 16’s Auxiliarist of the Year recently at their annual Change of Watch installation meeting at the Lakewood Country Club.
Bearce was 21 years old when he joined the Coast Guard in 1969. Stationed in Norfolk, VA, one of his duties was to take members of the National Weather Service on hurricane patrols.

“We were on a 311-foot ship, and we went right into the eye of a hurricane once,” Bearce recalled from his Cherry Quay home. “In the eye, the sun was out, it was just like a normal day, except the water was rough.”

During his 10 years in the Coast Guard, Bearce was next assigned to a ship at Governors Island in New York City.

“We took members of the UN out to do fisheries patrols on the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and Greenland, enforcing international fisheries laws,” he said.

“I grew up in Missouri, and I joined the Coast Guard because my father was in the Coast Guard during World War II. When I got out of boot camp, I was sent to the East Coast and I fell in love with the ocean,” he said.

Bearce explained that the Auxiliary Coast Guard is a 33,000-member volunteer organization that is part of the U.S. Coast Guard.

“About 60 percent of the members are located on the East Coast, but we also patrol other bodies of water, like lakes and rivers, across the country,” he said. “Most of what we do is boating safety, but we can do anything the regular Coast Guard does, except for law enforcement.”

Doug Smith, who is the newly installed division commander for this year, recommended Bearce for the award.

“The award was long overdue. It can’t be given out to elected officers, and Terry has been an elected officer over the years so he could not be nominated,” he explained. “Basically, he is the go-to person for anything to do with the auxiliary. He has held several positions, and manages the Web site, publications, and is a computer guru…I call Terry on almost any problem. People marvel that he holds the various positions and still has a demanding full-time job.”

About 13 districts divide the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and NJ is in the 5th district, which runs from Shrewsbury to North Carolina.

“The (5th district) is so big that it is broken down into two regions: the 5th District Northern and the 5th District Southern. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware are in the northern region,” Bearce said.
He explained that the districts are further divided into flotillas (there are seven in this division), which is the basis of the auxiliary.

“We have 27 members in Brick, with five facilities (boats), which we supply ourselves, and they must meet Coast Guard and marine police safety requirements,” he said.
Some of the equipment required on the facilities is life jackets, flares, towing lines, radios and extra fenders.

“We are self-funded. We’re not allowed to have fundraisers, so the only way we make money is through our public education classes, and that money must be used for training purposes,” Bearce explained.
The Auxiliary Coast Guard will hold five one-day classes this spring for the public to earn the NJ State Boating Certificate. The cost is $50, and the classes will be held at the Brick Civic Center.
In addition to his teaching duties, many of Bearce’s 1,200 volunteer hours were spent patrolling Barnegat Bay from May through October, from Shrewsbury to the Toms River Bridge last year.
“We patrol the river for the Windward Beach fireworks. The police are there, but they step back and we manage the boats, keeping them out of restricted areas,” Bearce said.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary has had boats on site during the annual power boat races off Point Pleasant Beach, keeping the public away from the race course, but that race has been moved to Atlantic City this year, he said.

The Manasquan Inlet Coast Guard Station only has four boats, so the 25 private boats used by members for patrolling is vital to public safety, Bearce said. The boat owners live mostly between Brielle and Toms River, he added.

For information on NJ State Boating Certificate classes, call 732 899-0368, or visit //a0531605.uscgaux.info.

Residents Tell Congressman About Health Care, Social Security Woes

By Chris Lundy - January 30, 2010
It wasn’t changes in health care and other issues that brought questions during a town hall meeting with a congressman last weekend, it was the lack of changes.

A group of more than 100 residents of nearby towns, a majority of them seniors, attended the town hall-style meeting at the Berkeley Municipal Building Saturday held by Rep. John Adler (D-3rd).
Brick Township is represented by Congressman Chris Smith (R-4th).

Those who spoke to Adler described trying to survive when their health bills go up and their Social Security doesn’t.

Celia Frederick, Berkeley, said she fell between the cracks of the health care system after she turned 60. She went through several options, including finding a full-time job just for the benefits. She pays $42 a month now.

“It’s insult to injury,” she said.

Ed Dickerson, Ocean Gate, questioned how the head of a pharmaceutical company can get a $1 billion buyout “while people are struggling with their co-pays.”

Councilwoman Judy Noonan said that she has heard doctors tell patients to get treatments now because there won’t be Medicare payments around later.

Toms River resident Bob Shehata said he had to drop his health insurance when he couldn’t afford it any longer. Then when a bill comes around to reform health care, it becomes a political issue rather than a people issue.

“The Republicans fight the Democrats, the Democrats fight the Republicans. And we’re the ones who suffer,” he said.

Adler said he voted no on the health reform bill because there was no cost savings.
“We need health care reform, but it has to make sense,” he said, describing the bill as 2,000 pages with nothing in it.

One real change that is needed is a restraint on lawsuits to keep doctors’ liability insurance in check, he said.

Social Security, and the lack of an increase in the cost of living adjustment, was another issue.
Nick Sasso, Toms River, asked why someone can’t stop the government from “raping” the Social Security fund, and why no one has paid any money back into it.

Adler said that the government should be cutting back on spending the way most families have, but it’s not. He also said that there needs to be alternatives to dipping into social security.

He said he introduced a bill earlier in the week that would provide $250 to people living on social security, Veterans Disability Benefits and other federal retirement programs. It’s not enough, he admitted, but it’s a small step.

Michael Adler of Bayville, who is unrelated to the congressman, said the recent 10 percent unemployment figure is faulty because it doesn’t count “the people who have given up and the people who have used up their unemployment.”

Despite the emotional topics, the crowd was very polite airing their grievances. Many of the questions had an air of helplessness about them.

Carol Milin, for instance, noted how overwhelming the process of trying to get a law passed is. “You go to vote on a bill, and then they add 350 pages on it.”

Adler, who at one point referred to the Senate as “dysfunctional,” said that bills should be smaller so the average person can read them.

After the meeting, Joseph R. Rullo, who is running against Adler this year, said, “John is an old friend. And I respect him.” However, members of Congress should get the same health care that veterans and seniors have, he said.

Red Light Cameras Are Now Operating

By Eric San Juan - January 23, 2010
As this story was going to press, officials in Brick Township were ready to debut operations of red light cameras at select Brick intersections.

On Thursday, officials were expected to unveil the cameras already installed at Brick Boulevard and Chambers Bridge Road and officially start putting them to use. The cameras are already installed. Now it’s just a matter of flipping a switch and collecting fines.

American Traffic Solutions Inc. (ATS) will be managing fine collection. ATS already does so for dozens of other communities, managing over 1,100 cameras across the country. The company takes a percentage of every fine collected.

The system itself will be funded through fines, too, meaning there will be no extra tax burden to fund its operation.

Plans call for another camera at Route 70 and Chambers Bridge Road.

The system is simple: Run a red light at those intersections and receive a ticket in the mail.

The township has been ready to go with the state’s pilot program for some time now – it has been under discussion since at least 2008, and approval was granted by the state last year – but delays in the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) being ready for fine collection held up the project.

The cameras are being installed as part of a pilot program being put together by the state and federal governments. Brick is one of the municipalities in the state approved to take part in the program.

Under the program, the cameras must be installed at adjacent intersections. Those intersections must be approved by the state.

A previous plan called for cameras at Route 70 and Cedar Bridge, but changes to the traffic flow there prompted officials to move the location to Chambers Bridge and Brick Blvd. The second location at Route 70 and Chambers Bridge is adjacent to both.

The targeted intersections average about 150 accidents a year.

The red light cameras do not come without controversy. In some communities, they are experiencing a backlash, critics arguing they do little for safety but a lot for revenue generation. Some 15 states now ban some or all automatic ticketing systems.

However, the systems continue to become more commonplace. More than 20 New Jersey towns are taking part in the state’s test program.

Soldiers Move Historic Battle Tank Across Brick

Submitted By
Sgt. Wayne Woolley - January 16, 2009

BRICK - What happens when you take an M-60 tank, pack the gears with ice and add 13 years of rust to the treads? You a create a long, cold day for a half dozen New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers who recently drew the assignment of moving the 50-ton relic across Brick Township.

The mission for the troops from the Bordentown field maintenance shop was simple enough, move the tank from the now shuttered Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5698 in Brick to its new home at VFW Post 8867. It was the kind of task they perform at least a half dozen times a year with ease.

Nothing, however, came easy on January 5. When the soldiers arrived just after 8 a.m., it was 22 degrees. They linked the tank to the powerful winch on their Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HMMTT) and began to try to coax the tank off the two rotting pieces of wood where it has sat since it was donated to the VFW in 1996.

When Staff Sgt. Dennis Arnhold flipped a switch to start the winch, the air was filled with the sound of groaning metal. But the tank didn’t budge. Nor did it move when the troops changed tactics by having the HMMTT pull the tank. Pulling from the other direction didn’t help either.

“I’ve never seen one stuck like this,” Sgt. 1st Class James Walker said, shaking his head. Finally, the answer came to Walker. “Ice,” he said. “The axle is full of ice. We’ve got to melt it.”

A few minutes of work with a blowtorch and water began pouring out of one of the wheel sprockets. By 12:30 p.m., the tank was ready to be pulled from its resting place and loaded onto a flatbed truck.
Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Russo, the officer in charge of the move, looked satisfied. “This is the toughest (tank move) I’ve seen,” he said. “We got it done.”

Chris Ross, the senior vice commander of Post 8867, said he was grateful the soldiers never gave up. A small welcoming party had been gathering at his post on the other side of town in anticipation of the tank’s arrival.

Ross said his post was honored to receive the tank. His post grew to about 800 members when Post 5698 closed three years ago due to declining membership. Most of the remaining members moved to Post 8867. Now the tank was following. The move represented more than five months of coordination between the VFW and the National Guard.

“This tank will stand in front of our post in honor of every veteran and every sacrifice they’ve made,” said Ross, a Marine Corps veteran of the first Persian Gulf War.