News Updates as of 29 September 2010

• Tropical Storm Nicole will be merging with a storm currently hitting the Carolinas and deliver up to 2 inches of rain, winds between 20-30 MPH, flash flooding, and thunderstorms to Aberdeen and vicinity on Thursday evening into Friday, according to The Weather Channel. Local weather is expected to be sunny and clear for Saturday's Matawan Day, MAPL Book Sale, and Spaghetti for the Soul events.
• The Independent has not been able to obtain detailed official statements or open public records on Matawan Chief of Police James Alston's suspension from duty or the disciplinary charges he faces. Each institution involved claims the ongoing matter must be kept under wraps due to privacy considerations related to personnel and pension issues. Ultimately a full public disclosure seems unlikely, even after the dust settles, unless of course Mr Alston allows the information to be released. A similar situation at the library left more questions than answers. Undoubtedly the borough is anxious to see things settled one way or another given Mr Alston's publicly funded salary of over $10,000/month, which continues on and on during this seemingly neverending review.
• Aberdeen Town Council minutes for July through September were posted online on Monday.
• My wife's Apple computer is showing the Board member page hyperlinks just fine, so the errors I'm finding are peculiar to my Windows Netbook viewer. Once again we can blame Bill Gates and Microsoft! ;-)
• Newly appointed Monmouth County historian Randall Gabrielan will seek grants to fund necessary maintenance, repair, and renovation to Burrowes Mansion, per The Independent. I hope he and the Matawan Historical Society will take a moment to review the value of obtaining items of local historic value available from an individual in Texas, items related to Elizabeth Spader Clark and her YMCA service during WWI. I spoke with a member of the Society in August but have yet to hear back.
• The APP Editorial Board met with the local candidates for freeholder on Tuesday, per APP. Most candidates emphasized cutting services, cutting municipal employees and their benefits, and cutting taxes. Most seemed to agree that those who weren't proactively making cuts would eventually have no choice but to begin whacking away at costs. If that is their whole agenda to improve life in Monmouth County, maybe there is no need for county legislators in the first place? They're obviously not going to spend money to keep our wayward youth detained within the county but continue to send them out to neighboring county facilities, leaving local parents and police officials to travel long distances to visit our children. The Independent article on historic preservation (above) prominently featured Monmouth Freeholder Lillian Burry referencing the warm spot she has in her heart for the Burrowes Mansion. But given her fellow Freeholders' overwhelming desire to cut and cut, just where does she think the money is going to come from to paint and trim the mansion? Her exuberance seems a bit cynical in that context.