Monday Nite Football Fun in and near Aberdeen

Court Jester off Route 34 in Aberdeen has $2 plates of wings or tacos and (I believe they're $2.75) monster mugs of Yuengling, Coors Light, or Killians on Monday evenings after 9 pm. Also, they have a wing-eating contest during Monday Nite Football halftime. You're liable to catch me there on a Monday evening after work.



Big Ed's BBQ is just north of Aberdeen on Route 34 in Old Bridge. It has a 10% off coupon featured on its website promoting its NFL coverage all day this Sunday and after 7 pm on Monday. Be sure to click and print the coupon if you plan to go.

News Updates as of 13 November 2009

• A Matawan resident turned himself in on an outstanding Verona Municipal Court warrant and was arrested on Thursday 5 November, per North Jersey.com. Verona, NJ is in Essex County and was once part of what was called the Horseneck Tract.
  
• One of the six bottles of Lowenbrau beer that Matawan Fire Chief Leroy Smith recovered  from the wreckage of the Hindenburg back in 1937 is expected to bring up to £5000 at auction, according to the Press Association. BTW, the bottle remains unopened.
• H1N1 vaccinations are available by appointment only and for Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District students pre-K to 12th grade only on Saturday 14 November, according to a flyer at the MARSD website.
• Joseph Uglialoro, a member of both the Matawan Aberdeen Middle School (MAMS) staff and the Jersey Shore Running Club, finished the NYC Marathon in 4 hours 5 minutes, according to Headlines at the MAMS website. He also competed in the 37th Annual Jersey Shore Half Marathon at Sandy Hook back in October, according to the Cranford Patch. He's been at this awhile. He competed in the George Sheehan 5 Mile Classic back in 2001, according to Cool Running, and the New Jersey Marathon back in 2004 and 2005, according to Best Racing Systems. You're an inspiration, Mr Uglialoro.
• Matawan Regional High School's marching band finished in 18th place in Chapter X Group 2 competition at the 37th Annual Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championships held on 1 and 8 November in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
  

News Updates as of 11 November 2009

• Matawan's Giaimo twins and their mom can be seen cheering the Yankees at the 2009 World Series parade in Manhattan last Friday in an APP photograph. Click here to read the article.
• My Central Jersey.com provides a detailed report on the Spotlight Players and their upcoming performances of the musical Pajama Game. See this blog's discussion of Pajama Game from late last month.
• Kevin Cook of Matawan is one of several people helping out a friend in North Jersey whose teenage son was seriously injured in a 2006 baseball game, according to North Jersey.com. (Sorry, but North Jersey.com throws a banner ad at you when you visit their site. You can click to close it or wait ten seconds.)
  
• Gordon Felt, President of Families of Flight 93, is a key player in the push for development of a 2,200 acre park and memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the plane came down on September 11, 2001. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr Felt's brother, Edward Porter Felt, who was among the 40 who perished aboard that ill-fated flight, was a resident of Matawan.
• Anthony Sesely of Matawan competed last Saturday in both the tour type Modified and SK Modified features at the seventh North-South Shootout at Concord Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, according to Courant.com. Sesely placed tenth in Modified and 21st in SK Type, according to the published results. North South Shootout shows Sesely to have grabbed the King's Crown and qualified to compete in the Shootout by winning Sundance's King of the Crown event. Drivers from Red Bank and Oakhurst, New Jersey won vintage events at the Shootout. Sesely won over $6,000 at the Tommy Comerford Memorial at Wall Stadium a couple of weeks ago, according to South Jersey Dirt Racing. Sundance Vacations Speedway shows Sesely ranked 41st in Tour Type Modifieds and 16th in Sport Modifieds as of 16 October.
• This writer has been contributing a series of articles on the history of the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan for that church's blog. So far the topics have included: the Reverend J Henry Kaufman, who had a heart attack in the pulpit in 1873 and died the next day;  the Reverend John M Rogers, who was the local pastor from 1850 to 1867, owned a local dairy farm, and went on to serve as Chaplain at the NJ State Prison in Trenton (1878 to 1893); the Reverend Edwin I Stearns, who was pastor from 1909 to 1912; the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the time leading up to the construction of the second Mount Pleasant Church (1777 -1820); New Year's Eve after the Christmas 1955 fire; women named to church boards (1950s); and the Reverend Robert Berger (1936 - 1949).
• The Super Foodtown and Bethany Wine and Liquors are doing brisk business at Bayshore Plaza at Route 35 and Hazlet Avenue in nearby Hazlet. After shopping at Staples, I dropped around the corner to the liquor store, which moved from a much smaller location on Bethany Road and has been open in this new location for about five weeks, and was pleasantly surprised at the huge assortment of chilled beers and the nice selection of wines and liquors. I picked up a six pack of Rogue Dead Guy and a bottle of white zinfandel. I'm resigned to the market prices for microbrews -- about $12 for RDG, but the wine was comparable in price to my local store. They should give the well-stocked but messy and poorly situated Spirits Unlimited more than a run for its money. Garden Commercial Properties announced the signing of these two Hazlet shopping center leases back in April. The Hazlet Business Owners Association is talking up Bethany Liquors' new digs.
  

Palpable Lies, Contradictions, and Absurdity

Donald L Kemmerer, in his book Path to Freedom: The Struggle for Self-Government in Colonial New Jersey, 1703 - 1776 (Princeton University Press, 1940), says elections were few and far between in the 18th century. This made such occasions into "excuses for holidays to interrupt their unexciting lives" that would often as not "signal for a general and hilarious outing." Kemmerer laid out the evidence of one such outing on page 38, with the final tab reimbursed in full by the legislature in Trenton:

The candidates sometimes showed appreciation for the conscientious support of their constituents. In 1769 an innkeeper in South Amboy presented two assemblymen with a bill of over £50 for an election celebration. The itemized account listed 37 mugs of beer, 38 jills of rum, 47 bowls of punch, 141 bowls of sangarie, 37 bottles of wine, 35 bowls of toddy, dinners for 89, and 33 quarts of oats for their 168 horses.

Kemmerer then quotes New Jersey Governor Robert Hunter from earlier that same century on the sad state of affairs with New Jersey voters:

Palpable Lyes Contradictions and Absurdity backed with a large dram botle have more force upon the minds of the lower Rank of men in these parts than Self-Evident truths and their own Interest it Self.

It seems we've turned a corner. No one attempted to pay for my horse's oats this election.

News Updates as of 5 November 2009

• The Matawan Aberdeen Public Library now has its own blog! You'll want to establish an RSS feed and keep up with events at the library. They're redesigned their web page, which is accessible from their blog by clicking HOME along the top bar in blue. You'll find the online catalog on the blue bar as well. Don't forget that you can renew books online at My Account.
  
• MRHS Soccer: According to Manley's Blog, Raritan was dominant without Pat Langan, who was sick today and missed the game. Matawan had a nice flurry in the middle of the first half and had the shots at 6-2 in favor of Raritan at one point, but Raritan outshot them 20-3 the rest of the way. I can see why Matawan was a tough team this season, but Raritan is on a different level than the rest of A Central.
• MRHS Football: The Sentinel reports on the Trojans' upcoming match with Matawan this weekend: The Trojans will look to win their seventh straight game when they take on Matawan this weekend. Bishop Ahr heads into the contest averaging 37 points per game while the Matawan defense is only allowing seven per contest. Obviously, something will have to give when the two teams lock horns. "Our offensive line is going to have to take control once again," Hilliard said. "If our line can control the line of scrimmage, we can manage the clock." Matawan also enters this week's game 6-1 on the season. The Trojans will need to tighten up their defense if it plans to be 7-1 by this time next week. "We didn't tackle well the other night," Hilliard said. "Matawan is another fast team, and we'll need to do much better bringing their guys down to prevent them from breaking big plays." NJ.com expects Matawan to place high in the seeding for Central Jersey Group 2 in the Shore Conference.
• Former MAMS principal Walter Uszenski to become Spotswood school superintendent, according to MyCentralJersey.com.
  
• The Independent reported on a state grant received by Aberdeen Township to investigate a Church Street site for possible hazardous waste.
• Operation Medicine Cabinet will be held 14 November.  It is an effort to get expired and unused prescription drugs out of people's homes before they are found and abused. Note that teenagers abuse prescription drugs found around the home at an alarming rate. Disposing of drugs properly can also keep medicines out of our water table. Aberdeen Township will participate in this collection event.
  

Continue to Wonder

Despite the Republican victory in the gubernatorial race, the Democrats swept the local election here in Aberdeen, according to APP. It seems that a slight majority of Aberdeen voters are content with one-party rule and what that means for inclusion in the political process. For one thing, it means the Cliffwood Homeowners Association will just have to continue to wonder what the Council will do about COAH development of County Road. Voters have sealed the doors of town hall's backroom deliberations until the next election.

Sample Ballots - 3 November 2009 General Election

In Aberdeen, we're voting this Tuesday for:

• 1 Governor/Lieutenant Governor (State)
  
• 2 Members of the General Assembly, 13th Legislative District (State)
  
• 1 Freeholder (County)
  
• 1 Mayor (Local)
  
• 2 Councilmembers at large (full term) (Local)
  
• 1 Councilmember at large (partial term) (Local)
• 1 Public Question: Shall we fund $218 million in bonds for Green Acres projects, $146 million for farmland preservation, $24 million for Blue Acres, and $12 million for historic preservation?
  

Here are some of the local sample ballots for this week's general election in Monmouth and Middlesex counties:

• Aberdeen
• Hazlet
  
• Keyport
• Marlboro
• Matawan

Union Beach Wind Turbine Visible from Keyport and Cliffwood Beach?

The Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority (BRSA) has cleared most of its hurdles to its plan to build a wind turbine to power its 100 Oak Street sewer treatment plant in Union Beach. NJ DEP approval has been granted, according to APP. Union Beach opposes the regional facility, per an August 2009 APP article found at Wind Watch, even though it will provide income to the strapped local budget. County and state officials made no effort to thwart the turbine plan, according to an October 2009 article in the Independent.

Back in 2007, when BRSA first proposed the concept, Atlantic City was operating the first five wind turbines in New Jersey, according to the New York Times. Frank A Wells, a Union Beach resident and BRSA commissioner, came up with the current idea after seeing wind turbines in action in California. Wells discussed the potential cost savings of the plan, as well as its environmental values, in an 2007 APP article available at the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council website.

Weston Solutions conducted a wind assessment for BRSA and found the Union Beach site had the capability to power a wind turbine.

Today's article says the turbine will support the sewer plant at 100 Oak Street (marked A on the map below) but would be constructed in the Raritan Bay somewhere off the westernmost portion of Union Beach Township. This means that the turbine will likely be more visible in Cliffwood Beach and Keyport than Union Beach.


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MRHS Huskies Are Liberty Division Champs

As reported yesterday, Matawan defeated Long Branch to win the Shore Conference championship. For details, see stories at NJ.com and APP.

APP has a photo blog where you can share your photos from the game and print out copies of others' pics. I didn't see any explanation of copyright on these pics; if you discover any rules, let me know.

APP has begun to offer its professional pictures for sale online at Pictopia. They can run about $25, but if your child happens to be in one of their shots it might be worth it. You might even want to buy copies of particular photos for the high school. They don't offer an easy way to obtain rights to their pics for this blog, so I'll just point you in their direction to see them.