The Gazette of Really Small News

Beachgoers hoping to spend the first day of the Memorial Day Weekend having fun in the sun and sand lined up before 9 a.m. to buy Asbury Park beach badges at one of the city's badge-sales locations on the boardwalk.

The Memorial Day Weekend kicked off this morning with strong sunlight and the promise of temperatures in the 80s before a cold front moves in with heavy rain and a chance of thunderstorms this evening. By 11 a.m., the temperature in Ocean Grove was 84, according to the National Weather Service.

One day before the Memorial Day Weekend, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is coming down to the wire on the North-End Boardwalk installation, which was expected to be completed by Memorial Day. Will the work crews finish before the arrival of the holiday crowds ? Watch this space.

The sun rising over the Asbury Park boardwalk end of Wesley Lake suggests today's National Weather Service forecast of sunny skies and a high of 81.

1979: All 271 people aboard an American Airlines flight die when the plane crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. 1985: Around 10,000 people die when a cyclone strikes Bangladesh. 2002:   All 225 people aboard a China Airlines flight die when the plane breaks up over the Taiwan Strait.

Hollywood might have the red carpet, but Ocean Grove's is blue, and it's been rolled out at the Main Avenue beach in time for the Memorial Day Weekend. Beachgoers will need to keep an eye on the sky: forecasts call for scattered thunderstorms late Saturday through Monday, Memorial Day.

Dunes Restaurant, on Ocean Grove's north-end boardwalk, sits in shadow as the sun rises over the ocean Thursday, May 24.

1792: More than 14,000 people in Japan die when Mount Unzen erupts. 2003: More than 2,200 people die in an earthquake in northern Algeria.

Sunrise off the North Beach, Ocean Grove, May 21.

This dramatic breaker was one of many from surf stirred up by a storm system which for most of the week harried the eastern seaboard with heavy rains and unseasonably cool temperatures. The mercury was expected to reach a high of 78 today, but had hit 81 a little after 1 p.m..

685: Northumbrians lose the Battle of Dun Nechtain in what is now Scotland to the Pictish king Bridei III. 1802: France returns reinstates slavery in its colonies after abolishing it during the French Revolution. 1983: Nineteen people die in a car bombing in Pretoria, South Africa. 2013:  In Oklahoma, 24 people die when an EF5 tornado strikes Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City.

Workers have less than one week to finish installing Ocean Grove's North End boardwalk before the Memorial Day Weekend. This was the scene Sunday, May 20. Officials reportedly had expected the project to be completed in time for the holiday crowds.  

With less than one week to Memorial Day Weekend, Ocean Grove has begun bringing its lifeguard stands out of storage and placing them on the beach.

1896: In Moscow, 1,389 people die in a mass panic during festivities celebrating the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. 1927: At a school in Bath, Michigan, 47 seven people, mostly children, die in the explosion of bombs planted by a disgruntled employee. 1980: Fifty-seven people die in the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington.

Asbury Park residents and businesses with a sense of civic duty or a taste for crime-fighting may now register their private surveillance cameras with the city police department. Registration is voluntary. "As officers respond to reports of criminal activity within the community, they may be able to use the information or footage captured on these surveillance cameras to assist in the apprehension and prosecution of the criminals involved," Deputy Police Chief David Kelso said in a statement. According to the statement, information provided will not be shared. Owners of registered cameras will be contacted only if there is an incident within range of their camera system. Also, law enforcement officers first need to request to see the footage before having access to the camera. Private surveillance cameras can be registered on the city's website  .

 

New Jersey American Water customers could see an increase of $10 per month for services starting in June, when the utility raises rates while awaiting state approval for the rate request filed in September of last year. Rates for the same services had decreased in April. The company in a statement called the higher rates "provisional" and attributed the increases to $868 million worth of infrastructure upgrades throughout the state. Average increases for residential customers will run around 12.3 percent per month, not including surcharges, New Jersey American Water said in a statement available here. According to the statement, residential customers using 6,000 gallons of potable water per month will pay around $5.90 per month more. Their wastewater bill will go up around $4.12 per month. The higher rates are expected to generate around $75 million in additional annual revenue, the company said. New Jersey American Water, based in Voorhees, said it submitted a re...

People who brought Fido to the Ocean Grove beachfront during the off-season might want to re-think their routine. Local laws forbid dogs from the beach and boardwalk now until Oct. 1. Meanwhile, bicycles are allowed on the boardwalk only between the hours of 3 a.m and10 a.m. 

1610: Henry IV of France is assassinated. 1988: Twenty-seven people die when a wrong-way drunk driver collides with a converted school bus on a highway in Carrollton, Kentucky. 2015: American singer-songwriter B.B. King dies.

Earth-moving equipment was seen leveling the sand on Ocean Grove's North End beach on Monday, May 14. The Memorial Day Weekend begins Friday, May 25.

The rectangular mounds seen earlier in the month on the Ocean Grove side of the Asbury Park steam plant have been made into a little garden. 

Ocean Grove could see time-limited parking for four months starting Tuesday, May 15. The Neptune Township Committee plans to introduce at its May 14 meeting an ordinance that would limit parking time on Main Avenue between Central and New York avenues to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., May 15 through Sept. 15. It was not known how the parking would be enforced. Main Avenue is at the north end of Ocean Grove, the township's square-mile historic district. North-end residents have in the past asked officials to restrict parking to residents only. They alleged an influx of visitors park cars in Ocean Grove free of charge in order to visit adjacent Asbury Park, which has metered parking on the streets as well as municipal pay-parking lots. The committee will discuss the proposed ordinance during a workshop meeting slated to start at 6 p.m. in the municipal building, 25 Neptune Blvd. The ordinance will be introduced and read during the regular meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m.

An osprey preens on its perch atop the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove.

As of May 11, two weeks before Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start of summer, four contiguous shops in Ocean Grove's business district remained unoccupied. It was not immediately known if businesses would move in before the influx of summer visitors.

2008: More than 69,000 people are said to have died in an earthquake in Sichuan, China. 2015: Eight people die in a train derailment in Philadelphia. 2015: In Nepal, 218 people die in an earthquake centered in the Himalayas.

A squirrel looks more like a kangaroo than a small fluffy rodent as it stretches across branches high above an Ocean Grove sidewalk.

1310: Fifty-four Knights Templar are burned at the stake for heresy. 1833: More than 200 people die when the brig Lady of the Lake hits an iceberg and sinks off the coast of Newfoundland. 1985: In Bradford City, England, 56 people die in a fire at a football stadium.

Ground fog wafts around Ocean Grove's North End pavilions and boardwalk project at sunrise May 11.

1849: More than two dozen people die when a riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in New York City. The cause of the mayhem: a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready. 1933:  Books throughout Germany are in mass burnings hosted by the Nazi party. 2018: Proof of Wikipedia's unreliability as a source of fact is discovered in this entry: Napoleon was not declared emperor of France until May, 1804. He was crowned in December of that year. At the time of the siege of the bridge at Lodi, he was an army general.

Unlike yesterday morning, when heavy fog reduced the buildings to blurry blobs, the carousel and steam plant on the Asbury Park boardwalk were visible through the early morning mist on May 10.

A faint, hazy sun starts to burn off dense fog that kept the coast under drizzly wraps early in the morning of May 10.

Despite a historically low national unemployment rate of 3.9 percent in April, nearly half of Americans feel the economic upturn has helped them not at all (29 percent) or not much (24 percent), according to the latest Monmouth University poll. "We continually see national economic indicators hitting new marks, such as last week's news of the lowest unemployment rate in 18 years. And yet very few Americans feel like they are reaping the benefits," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch. A majority of 57 percent respondents say wealthy families have benefited "a lot" from President Donald Trump's economic policies, while 14 percent say middle-class families have  benefited "a lot." A majority of respondents, 53 percent, say the poor have not benefited at all. "Americans have a wide variety of financial anxieties that keep them awake at night, but the common thread is th...

With new people coming to town for the start of the beach season, we thought it was a good time to resurrect a wee promo video introduced last autumn. Enjoy!

If you're a small-business owner frustrated or even stymied by state rules and regulations,  State Senator Vin Gopal wants to hear from you. Gopal, a Democrat representing the 11th District, has started the Report Red Tape initiative, which allows entrepreneurs to report "red tape" problems and issues they're running into while managing or starting their small businesses. Gopal is owner and operator of Direct Development LLC and Community Magazine , and said by way of social media that he understands the challenges small-business owners face while starting or managing their businesses. "I will work to help you find solutions and better support our small business community," he said, addressing entrepreneurs in a post on his Facebook page. "Once you submit your concerns, we will investigate ways the State can help, work with State departments on your behalf, or see if the problem needs a legislative solution," Gopal says on the Report Red Tape...

Late-morning sunlight disperses F=fog on Wesley Lake and Ocean Grove's Founders Park (right).

Early morning fog nearly obliterates sight of the steam plant on Wesley Lake at the south end of the Asbury Park boardwalk.

1877: More than 2,500 people die in an earthquake centered off the coast of Peru. 1977: Thirty-three people die  when fire destroys the Hotel Polen in Amsterdam. 1980: Thirty-five people die when a freighter hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. The victims are in six cars and a bus passing over the bridge. 1987: In Warsaw, Poland, 183 people die when a LOT airliner crashes on takeoff. 1992: In Nova Scotia, Canada, 26 workers die in a methane explosion at the Westray Mine.

Perhaps inspired by current news of volcanic eruptions in Hawaii, someone erected this faux-gusher in Ocean Grove. Note the nylon-streamer lava flows. 

Dune grass grows in front of dunes on the Ocean Grove beach. Fencing and signs keep people off the dunes. It was not immediately known if the dunes would be extended to include the new grass. 

1842: In Paris, up to 200 people are said to die in a train derailment and subsequent fire. 1873: English economist John Stuart Mill dies. 1880: French author Gustave Flaubert dies. 1902: On the island of Martinique,in the Caribbean, an estimated  30,000 people die in the eruption of Mount Pelee. 1903: French Painter Paul Gauguin dies.

Tents around the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove are taking shape, thanks to workers with the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. Occupants are expected to start moving into the tents around Memorial Day Weekend, which starts Friday, May 26--fewer than three weeks away. 

Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan will hold auditions for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum on Monday and Tuesday, May 14 and 15, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the theater, 173 Main Street. Call backs will be Wednesday, May 16, also from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The production will run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 19. Auditioners should bring a recent head shot, dress in comfortable clothes and shoes, and prepare 16 bars of a Broadway musical selection, preferably comedic. Bring sheet music. An accompanist will be provided. Sides also will provided. Auditioners should be ready to read for various roles. For more information, visit the production's  auditions page  online at the theater's website.

The still waters of Wesley Lake capture the Asbury Park Carousel and Casino at dawn on May 7.

From the "I-have-no-idea" department: three mounds on the Ocean Grove side of the iconic steam plant on the Asbury Park boardwalk, seen at dawn Monday, May 7. Stay tuned.

Sunrise at Ocean Grove's North End beach, May 7.

1840: More then 300 people die in a tornado in Natchez, Mississippi. 1915: During World War I, 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, die when a German submarine sinks the RMS Lusitania . 1930: Around 3,000 die when an earthquake strikes portions of Turkey and Iran.

Ocean Grove's annual Spring Fling is underway. The event sponsored by the Ocean Grove Chamber of Commerce features more than 200 merchants and continues until 4 this afternoon along Main Avenue and north along Pilgrim Pathway to the park near the Great Auditorium.

1886: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, seven people die when militia open fire on labor demonstrators. 1925: In Tennessee, public school teacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution, in violation of the state's Butler Act.

NJ Transit will cancel seven weekday North Jersey Coast Line trains starting June 4 while a positive train control (PTC) system is installed in all the line's engines and cab cars. In PTC, data control train movements such as slowing down and braking when objects or other trains are detected on the tracks. Executive director Kevin Corbett said NJ Transit understands how schedule changes can affect riders. "We are doing everything in our power to install this important safety technology as quickly as possible," he said in a statement posted on NJ Transit's website. It was not known for how long the cancellations will be in effect, though NJ Transit has said  the changes are temporary. Corbett in his statement asked for customers' patience, adding, "the end result is a safer railroad for everyone." The cancelled trains are Train 2300, the 4:49 a.m. from Bay Head to Hoboken; Train 2602, the 6:05 a.m. from Long Branch to Hoboken; Train 2312, the 2:...

In a sure bet for recreational boaters, the Royal Flush will return to local waters for the 2018 boating season. The Royal Flush sewage pump-out boat, that is. The vessel, part of a joint program by the Monmouth County Health Department (MCHD) and the NJ/NYBaykeeper Organization, pumps sewage from recreational boats to prevent the discharge of raw sewage into Monmouth County waterways, the MCHD said in a statement. Baykeeper provides the Royal Flush captains, while the MCHD administers the program and keeps the boat in operating condition, the health department said. The service is available to all recreational boaters. Last season, the Royal Flush serviced 826 boats, removing 28,260 gallons of raw sewage, according to the MCHD.

1886: Eight people die when a bomb is thrown into the Haymarket labor demonstration in Chicago. Police subsequently open fire on the demonstrators. 1970: Four students die when National Guard fire into an anti-Vietnam War demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio.

Dawn at Wesley Lake, Asbury Park, May 4. National Weather Service radar showed a block of rain to the southwest.

1481: Around 30,000 people die in an earthquake on the island of Rhodes. 1808: Spanish rebels who rose up against Napoleon's occupation of Spain are executed. Spanish artist Francisco Goya will record the executions in his painting The Third of May 1808 . 1999: Forty-five people die when an F5 tornado devastates part of Oklahoma City.

Spring finally came to the Ocean Grove side of Wesley Lake on  May 3. 

Senior citizens can cut a break for season badges at local beaches, but not all municipalities use the same senior-citizen starting age. Most adhere to the traditional 65; two accept 62. Reduced season badges for the age 65-and-older crowd are at Bradley Beach ($30), Manasquan ($25), Ocean Grove ($45), and Spring Lake ($75). Seniors between 62 and 65 can buy reduced-rate season badges at Asbury Park ($20) and Belmar ($15). Valid and current identification is required everywhere.

Local beaches will admit children below teen-age free of charge this season. Kids 11 and under will have free access to beaches in Avon, Manasquan, Ocean Grove, and Spring Lake. Children 12 and under will be admitted without charge in Asbury Park and Bradley Beach. Meanwhile, daily adult badge fees vary:  Asbury Park: $5, Monday through Friday; $7, weekends and holiday Bradley Beach: $9 Manasquan: $9  Ocean Grove: $8  Spring Lake: $10 

Ocean Grove beachgoers have until May 13 to purchase season badges at the "early bird" rate of $75. The regular season rate of $80 will begin May 14. Season badges are available before May 25 at Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association offices, 54 Pitman Ave., Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Season badges may also be purchased by mail using the order form on the Ocean Grove website, www.oceangrove.org. For more information, call 732-735-0035 until May 25. From May 26 to Sept. 3, call 732-988-5533.

Neptune Township is accepting applications for an assistant engineer in the Land Use department. The position is full-time, with an annual salary of $55,500. The assistant engineer will answer to the director of engineering and planning. Requirements include a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from an accredited college or university; courses in construction management are a plus. Candidates should have working knowledge of general engineering methods, including hydrology, grading, drainage, design construction, preparation of design documents, and specifications; experience with Word, Excel, HydroCAD, and AutoCAD. Application deadline is 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 8. Mail applications with resumes to Stephanie Oppegaard, Human Resources Director, Neptune Township, 25 Neptune Blvd., Neptune 07753. Applications with resume may also be emailed to soppegaard@neptunetownship.org.

A red flag warning is in effect until 10 tonight. The combination of low moisture, low humidity and winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour can contribute to the spread of fire, the National Weather Service (NWS) said when issuing the warning. "Any fires that develop may quickly get out of control  and become difficult to maintain," the NWS said. The warning is for the entire state as well as eastern Pennsylvania, according to  the NWS.

Sunrise on May 2, Wesley Lake, Asbury Park.

1536: Anne Boleyn, wife if Henry VIII, is arrested and imprisoned on charges that include adultery and witchcraft. After a brief trial, she will be declared guilty, and then executed on May 19. 1972: Ninety-two workers die in a fire at the Sunshine Mine, near Wallace, Idaho. 2008: More than 138,000 people die when Cyclone Nargis strikes Burma.

Work to replace the Ocean Grove's North End boardwalk continued May 1. The $1 million-project is expected to be finished in time for Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start of the summer season.

A snail loiters on a yard-waste bin, maybe reluctant to go all the way out of its mobile home. Today is supposed to warm up, going from a low of 44F at 6:30 a.m.to an afternoon high of 75F, according to the National Weather Service.

1169: The Norman invasion of Ireland begins at Bannow Bay in Leinster. 1866: Three-day-long race riots begin in Memphis, Tennessee. By the time they end, 46 blacks and two whites will have died. News of the riots reportedly  helped states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which ended slavery in the United States. 1900: More than 200 workers die in a mining accident in Scofield, Utah 1929: An estimated 3,800 people die in an earthquake in Iran and Turkmenistan.