Asbury Park Press 10/27/2013 Page : AA01

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TOMS RIVER — Almost one yearafter superstorm Sandy left part ofthe township in ruins, the annualHalloween parade was back.

In away, therewas a sense of ca-tharsisabout it all forDebNewman,43, and her family.

Her 10-year-old son, Ryan, andhis Cub Scout Pack 70 from theirhometown of Beachwood were inthe parade on a float that was sup-posed to have been unveiled lastyear.

The 1980s-themed float featuredthe Scouts as heavy metal rockstars, the “big hair float,”DebNew-man had dubbed it.

“He loves being in the parade,and of course the kids were devas-tated when it was canceled lastyear,” Newman said. “It wasn’t justthe parade, Halloween was can-celed— therewas no trick-or-treat-ing.”

She crossed her fingers as she

Halloween parade

Brian VanNortwick of Beachwood (left) and Tyler Nice of Toms River dressed as the Blues Brothers during the 75th annual Toms RiverHalloween Parade on Saturday. VINCENT DISALVIO/SPECIAL TO THE ASBURY PARK PRESS

TOMS RIVER FULLOF FEAR AND FUNYear after Sandy’s ruins, locals return for 75th annual traditionBy Erik Larsen@Erik_Larsen

See PARADE, Page AA2

SPOOKSGALOREVisit APP.comfor a video anda photo galleryfrom theparade.

SCARYScene by You:

From going over our “scary” Scene by You entries,

we were most scared by Tammy Kelly’s zombie

portrait. The next theme is “style.” Submissionswill

be accepted through Thursday at APP.com/share

SECTION AA SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2013ASBURY PARK PRESS i APP.COM

NEPTUNE — Vietnam War veter-an John Morris wore a spiritedsmile as he stood on the formerWelsh FarmDairy property off Old

Corlies Avenue.Here — with work under way

Saturdayon the township’snewVet-eran Memorial Park — veteransand those currently serving willhave a touching place to call homeandhonor their fallen servicemem-

bers, Morris said.“This project and the way it’s set

up, it’s beautiful,” said Morris, 65, a40-year township resident. “This isthe first time they’ve done this in

MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY

Making way for vet parkVolunteers spend spare time clearing debris, trees

Chris Creighton of Navesink volunteers his time on Make ADifference Day on Saturday. DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSee VET PARK, Page AA5

By Gina Columbus@ginacolumbusapp

HIGHLANDS — The most cost-effective way to protect the bor-ough from future hurricanes ornor’easters would be an 8,000-foot-long, elevated line of de-fense along its coastline, accord-ing to the Army Corps of Engi-neers.

The potential cost? A cool $55million to $60 million.

Federal officials plan to detailtheir conclusions during a publicmeeting at 8 p.m. Monday atHenry Hudson Regional HighSchool, 1Grand Tour.

Flood walls covered by eithersand or grass and elevating ex-isting bulkheads and roadwayswould compose the bulk of theproject, according to the Corps’plans. The elevation would be anaverage of 11 feet above themean sea level.

“We believe this alternativewould provide the most positivecost-benefit ratio,” said DavidGentile, the study’s projectman-ager.

The Corps considered fourother alternatives, including onein which many homes would ei-ther be elevated or publicly

HIGHLANDS PLAN

$60Moptionto shieldboroughArmy Corps eyes11-foot flood wallBy Kevin Pentón@kevinpentonAPP

SeeWALL , Page AA8

monmouth

today

Asbury Park Press 10/27/2013 Page : AA05

Copyright © 2013 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . (Updated June 7, 2005)October 27, 2013 12:45 pm / Powered by TECNAVIA

Copy Reduced to %d%% from original to fit letter pageAPP.COM Asbury Park Press Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013 i Page AA5

today

Neptune, so this is great.”As part of the annual

Make A Difference Day— the nation’s largest dayof volunteering — morethan 100 volunteers fromthe Asbury Park Press,Coastal Habitat for Hu-manity, Neptune, Dis-abled American Veteransof New Jersey Chapter 85andelsewhereclearedoutthe overgrown site witheverything from rakes toweed whackers and heftymachinery.

Saturday’s project in-volved clearing thegrounds of storm debrisand excessive brush andtrees to make way for thegroundbreaking ceremo-nyNov.11—VeteransDay—whenbuildingwillcom-mence, said Ollie Lowery,Coastal Habitat for Hu-manity constructionman-ager.

The passive park,which will honor all fourservices — Army, Navy,Air Force and Marines —will feature monuments,flags, trails, paths, flow-ers, shrubbery and a seat-ing area.

Neptune Mayor EricHoughtaling said the pro-ject symbolizes “a perma-nent place of honor forthosewho have sacrificedso much for us all.”

“Neptune Township iscommitted to try to repaythat back,” Houghtalingsaid. “We know we cannever do it in a certainway, butwhatwe can do istry to always rememberthe effort that they haveput forth for us all.”

Ocean Township resi-dent Jim Duncan, a mem-ber of DAV-NJ Chapter85, is pleased the town-ship is recognizing veter-ans.

“Just being amemorial... that’s the main thing,that’s great,” Duncan, 63,said.

Gardening and clean-up tools for Saturday’sproject were donated byDown to Earth Landscap-ing of Jackson. A schoolbus filled with refresh-ments and a barbeque forvolunteers also made itsway to the site.

“We’ve got half of itdone already, and theythought it was going totake weeks to do this,”said Maureen Mulligan,

Coastal Habitat for Hu-manity executive direc-tor.

Township Committee-man Randy Bishop saidthe site, which is in one ofthe town’s oldest sections,always has been a part ofNeptune’s history.

“And to take it fromground that had becometainted and overgrown, tohave that vision tomake ita place of honor for thosewho served our countryfrom our township, is atremendous thing,” Bish-op said.

Officials said the pro-ject will be ongoing andthey could not estimate a

completion date; many ofits features are expectedto be purchased throughfundraising.

VET PARKContinued from Page AA1

An artists rendering of thepark lies on the groundwhere cleanup work wasdone on Saturday duringMake A Difference Day. TheAsbury Park Press, CoastalHabitat for Humanity andmany other volunteersclean the grounds of theformer Welsh’s Farm Dairyon Old Corlies Avenue inpreparation for theconstruction of a veteranmemorial park. DOUG

HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Maureen Mulligan of Coastal Habitat for Humanity thanksall the volunteers for showing up to help during Make ADifference Day. DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER