News Updates as of 4 September 2009

• The Independent refers to the Matawan Aberdeen Public Library savings nest egg that Matawan Borough absconded with to reduce local taxes as "surplus" funds. You're not so independent, Independent. What stories could you cover if the borough got cross with you over your coverage? If you live for press releases and interviews with public affairs officers, I guess you're in a pickle. I hope residents enjoy their government newsletter and the penny they've saved in taxes on the back of the library and its long-term building plans. Note that the APP clearly explained that the tax savings still resulted in a tax increase, something the Independent meticulously avoided by referring to net savings over the previously proposed budget, never mentioning the fact that taxes will go up anyway. I hope the Independent gets a kickback from their favorable coverage.
  
• A Matawan youngster got to meet the Yankees at the new stadium as a reward for his mother's success with a recent school fundraiser on Staten Island, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.
• Governor Corzine visited Cheesequake State Park in late August to announce the Asian longhorn beetle awareness program, according to New Jersey Newsroom. Note: NJNewsroom says Corzine was in Matawan, which isn't so. Cheesequake SP's mailing address is in Matawan, but the park is in Middlesex County.
• Matawan's John Somers has been playing the Big Band sound with his Dream Orchestra since 1995, according to MyCentralJersey.com. Somers has been following in Guy Lombardo's footsteps since the 1964 World's Fair.
• While nepotism and insider arrangements are rampant in local government in this state, there is such a thing as going overboard in the fight against these problems. Certain members of the Matawan Borough Council and now the regional school board have been overzealous in their attempts to prohibit and even legislate against the legitimate activities of their colleagues and their colleagues' families by injecting these activities with a verbal contagion called "the appearance of impropriety." No rules need to be established or modified. No names need be called. No suggestions of foul play are required. Current ethics rules are more than adequate to protect the public interest and are typically adhered to. Council and board members need only avoid inappropriate use of their authority on issues that affect them and their interests personally, and they must abstain from voting when it is appropriate to do so. Local citizens ought to become more active in their government in order to keep a watchful eye on our rather large government and school budgets. Our representatives are getting punchy with the burden of doing it all by themselves.
• YMCA Children's Achievement Center in Matawan and its Green Market were featured in APP. Click here for a virtual tour of the center.
• The How to Dance Blog may hold out some promise, but for now it's a diamond in the rough. Its home page is not only experiencing technical difficulties; it doesn't identify the business pushing the site. What's up? Its articles that mention Matawan mostly refer to a 25 Morristown Road location, which may be that dance academy over by CVS near GSP Exit 120? Why should I have to do research to figure that out? There is a page with a title talking about children's music lessons in Matawan, including an embedded video, but there is nothing on the page or video about Matawan that I could discern. A few fixes are in order.
• The status of Matawan Regional High School football as the season begins is revealed in the Independent. Or is it? Are these Coach Martucci's comments, as suggested by the opening paragraph, or does the Independent have its own voice regarding high school sports? Why should we think it has true sports writers? What do I really know if the school's football coach is feeding the reporter all the so-called insights I've just read? A slippery slope, Independent.
• Hillsborough Police Blotter reported on a 46-year-old Matawan driver charged with DWI after he couldn't maintain his lane. (The link to this article requires a large payment, so I won't be providing the URL.)
• H. S. Telecom of Matawan joined PRG Group of Piscataway to provide technical support to Avaya systems and platforms, per NJ Biz.
• Matawan Mad Dogs fell victim to the South Rockland Blue Storm on the latter's way to the 13U travel baseball championship, which ran 7-9 August 2009 at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, according to LoHud.com 
• Goalie Bob Dailey and sweeper Eric Frye, both of Matawan, return this season to Brookdale soccer, per APP.
• Handsome Harry is a three-year-old pacer owned in part by Harry Doyle of Matawan. The horse won this year's New York State Fair Stakes at Tioga Downs on 14 August 2009 and is a viable candidate to win the New York Sire Stakes Night of Champions, set for 26 September 2009 at Vernon Downs, according to readMedia.
  
• A Matawan family delivered their eldest child to Fordham University for orientation, per a school article about the arrival of the 2013 class for orientation.Her brothers are eyeing her room back home, while mom is wondering when it will hit her that she's leaving her daughter behind. (We just did the same. It hits you when the stuff is all unpacked, you've eaten dinner and it is time to kiss the kid goodbye and head home.)
  
• Jo compares sites and smells in her Hudson, NY neighborhood to her old Matawan home in an article she posted Friday evening at her Sea to Sea blog.
• The Cliffwood School and a new outdoor game laid out on its playground are mentioned in the Independent.
• Jersey Shore Pop Warner - Week 1 Matawan vs Colts Neck played at various levels this week. It was a series of blowouts. Midgets and Pee Wees crushed Colts Neck and the Jr Pee Wees crushed Matawan. Those kinds of lopsided scores say something about the league and its rules. It can't be good for the little folks to lose or win by so much.