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Barnegat Man, Five More Arrested in Check Scam

A Barnegat Township man was one of six people arrested last week on charges of theft by

deception for allegedly operating a “check kiting ring” in Ocean County. County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said the term “check kiting” is a bank-ing industry label describing the activ-ity when depositing worthless checks and then withdrawing cash before the banks can verify the checks are bogus.

Coronato said the investigation began nearly two months ago when TD Bank offi cials alerted the pros-ecutor’s special investigation unit of suspicions regarding the ring’s activity. After an investigation, the

Continued on Page 40

Continued on Page 40

Honor Society Steps Up Tall

In Cancer Call

While Saturday night is normally very quiet inside Barnegat High School,

the evening of March 28 was quite different. Pulsating dance music was reverberating through the hallways, and there was the unmistakable aroma of hot, catered food.

It was all part of a “Roar for a Cure” dance-athon to benefi t the Andrew McDonough B Positive Foundation, which provides as-sistance to families struggling with childhood cancer. The foundation bears the name of a 14-year-old Delaware boy who died from leu-kemia in July 2007.

The event, which debuted last year, was sponsored by the high school’s National Honor Society.

“The idea is the same as the big event they hold at Penn State,” said ‘B POSITIVE,’ YO: Barnegat High School limbo dancers (top) see how low they can go to lift a ‘Roar for a Cure’

in Saturday’s cancer fundraiser. The night’s activities also included face painting, basketball and dodge ball.

Photographs by Jack Reynolds

A ‘Hoppening’ Event

Little Easter Egg HuntersScore Big at Beachview Farms BUNNY BLITZ: Reservations

fi lled up fast, farm manager Chris Adams said. Saturday’s egg hunt was a candy-collecting success. At Easter and always, remember: Eat local and naturally grown.

Ryan Morrill

Bids Too High; Pavilion DesignNeeds Tweaks

Two new community centers will be built in Stafford Township, offi cials promise – it’s just a

matter of fi guring out how to handle the money.

After multiple rounds of the bidding process, all the bids for the projects have come in far higher than expected, Township Administrator James Moran announced at the regular council meet-ing of March 24. It was a shock to everyone, including the architects and engineers who worked on the design and cost estimates, according to Coun-cilman Henry Mancini. So the mayor and council have resolved to reject all the bids and authorize some re-design of the Mill Creek Pavilion and renegotia-tions of the construction bids.

The town presently awaits fi nal approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the “alterna-tive site plan.” The town will use the insurance and recovery funding it receives for the destroyed Mill Creek Community Center in Beach Haven West to build a larger (4,600-square-foot), more centrally located facility on Bay Avenue in Manahawkin.

The Bay Avenue Community Cen-ter is the primary project, which will be built fi rst, as soon as FEMA gives the OK for the location, and there is no reason to think it won’t.

“We do not have the funding for both projects, based on the bids that came in,” Moran said. “It does ap-pear that we’re going to be largely reimbursed by FEMA, but we do not have the fi nal documentation on that, so we can’t move ahead.”

FEMA will not pay for the Mill Creek Pavilion project, he further explained. Last year the town bonded $2.3 million (which was thought to be enough for both projects), and now that money will be used to build only the Bay Avenue Community Center. That money will be reimbursed by the town’s insurance and FEMA, which will then fund the construction of the Mill Creek Pavilion.

“We have to build one, get reim-bursed, and then we’ll be funded to build the second,” he said.

So far, the town has recouped about $283,000 in insurance, and it has $250,000 that was donated by actor Alec Baldwin. The total fi gure from FEMA is forthcoming, but Moran is confi dent it will be considerable.

A FEMA representative “has as-

sured me they will move this through their offi ces fairly quickly,” he said.

“One million (dollars) for a 1,500-square-foot building is outra-geous, and I’m certainly not going to support that,” Mancini said of the bids for the pavilion. “We can’t spend that kind of money on a building that small.”

“Nobody’s going to recommend it,” Mayor John Spodofora replied.

During public comment, Richie Gilchrist of Virginia Drive asked what residents would do in the meantime while the town is altogether without a community center. Spodofora said Recreation Director Betti Anne McVey has a plan to house every meeting and activity elsewhere.

Gilchrist also requested to have a small group of residents contribute input into the process of tweaking the Mill Creek Pavilion design, and Spodofora said that would be fi ne.

“I feel like somebody punched me in the stomach,” Beach Haven West Civic Association President Dawn Papatheodorou said in reaction to the possibility that the pavilion might be further compromised or delayed. “I’m tired of getting pushed around and lied to and everything else,” she said.

The next association meeting is April 17 at 7 p.m. and open to the public.

— Victoria Ford victoria@thesandpaper.net