News Updates as of 21 June 2009

• Cliffwood Fire House's new fire truck was scheduled for its ritual wetdown by neighboring fire houses on Saturday 20 June 2009 from 1 pm to 4 pm.
• The Aberdeen Zoning Board is scheduled to meet at One Aberdeen Square on Wednesday 24 June 2009 at 7:30 pm. (see agenda) Two variances are sought by local residents in new business before the board. One involves a Northland Lane couple, who built an enclosed porch without prior approval and are now looking to keep same. The construction was a tad off and requires a variance. The other involves an Independence Drive man, who wants to squeeze a shed onto his property at significant odds with the local code.
  
• The Matawan Aberdeen School Board is scheduled to meet at One Crest Way on 25 June 2009 at 8 pm. A note on the MARSD calendar says the meeting is in lieu of the regularly scheduled meeting on 29 June.
• Those interested in the arts can plan to see Michaelangelo's first painting, which is on special exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until 7 September. The Torment of Saint Anthony went on display on the second floor of the European Paintings Gallery on 16 June and will be shipped back to its owners after Labor Day.
• Chowhound reports on Kawa Sushi on Main Street in Matawan.
• Two Cliffwood Beach men have been indicted on attempted murder charges, according to the Bayshore Courier, which cites the Asbury Park Press.
• After a torrent of complaints, Monmouth County officials have backed off their plans to run the MOM line through Red Bank, according to MyCentralJersey, and are instead looking once again at a route that heads west to the Northeast Corridor Line. There is also a proposal afoot to get the Hudson Trail out of the hands of the railroad once and for all. I approve on both counts. On the flip side, the development plans for the area around Aberdeen-Matawan's train station are stuck in idle, as are such plans almost everywhere along NJ train lines. See a recent NY Times article about Transit Villages, which gives you some color on the general topic but no specifics on the local development plans.
• Matawan native Steve Conte of the band New York Dolls is mentioned in this article. See him performing in this You Tube video.
  
• A Matawan resident is moving to Delaware to escape high property taxes. Yes, Nancy, you told me so. Taxes are outrageous and something has to give. Why don't we start with regionalizing school districts?
  
• The local director of a major Indian technology firm has entered his business software design in the company's annual Innovista business innovations competition, according to BusinessWeek.
  
• The Independent followed up on the new volleyball court, but their story provides few details beyond the press notice already on the township website. The article discusses a downgrade and delays to scheduled repairs on the roller hockey rink in the same park by the shore. Reading between the lines, it seems that the township, faced with a budget crunch, has reduced the value of the rink repair project to such an extent that too few contractors are willing to bid on the job and the repairs are therefore delayed.
• A Matawan couple biking through nearby Middletown were cited at the end of an Asbury Park Press article about tree climbing.