Welcome to Freehold Township Republican Club

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN CLUB LEADERSHIP FOR ‘2015’ – 

President: Josh Elkes

1st Vice President: Corey Folta

2nd Vice President: Jeanette Coburn

Recording Secretary: Phyllis Jones

Corresponding Secretary: John Bazzurro

Treasurer: Sherry Gaffey

Directors:  Mike Schiff and Debbie Aurilla

March 23^rd, 2015 – Corey Folta, the Clubs’ First Vice President facilitated the meeting soliciting members ideas to encourage more future attendance. Along with a variety of ideas enhancing awareness of the club, expanding current announcements in newspapers, mailings and other broadcast opportunities, special events were offered for consideration. Mayor Thomas Cook discussed a number of current township issues and focused on the effects of recent snow storms. He spoke of efforts repairing township roadway “pot holes” being hampered by the difficulty in obtaining asphalt resulting from the competitive demand by other municipalities. He spoke of residents’ calls often needed to be informed that some of the area they’re calling about are state and county roads which our Township is prohibited to address. However, while those are being pursued with the respective agencies, they are asked to contact appropriate agencies as well. Committeewomen Barbara McMorrow announced the “The Affordable Care Act is it working in New Jersey?” event being held at Monmouth University and the Evening Honoring County Clerk Clair French’s retirement after 35 years of public service on Tuesday, April 28^th.

March 26th, 2015 – Monmouth University – West Long Branch.

This timely and relevant subject was addressed by a very impressive and noted panel.

Hon. James J. Florio, former Governor of New Jersey;

Mr., John Lloyd, President  & CEO of Meridian Health Care System;

Mr. Wardell Sanders, President of New Jersey Association of Health Plans;

Dr. Frank Vozos, President  & CEO of Monmouth Medical Center.

Dr. Kathryn Fleming, Specialist Professor of Nursing Administration and Dr. Stephen Chapman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, co-moderators.

This free to the public event took place Wednesday, March 25^th at 4:30 pm at the University’s Varsity Club, Multipurpose Activity Center, and was sponsored by the Monmouth University Polling Institute, Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing & Health Studies and the Political Club.

You can read Michael L. Diamond, of the Asbury Park Press, offering his account: LINK TO ARTICLE

HERE IS A BIT OF HISTORY I BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW… Hours after Pearl Harbour was bombed on December 7, 1941, the Secret Service found themselves in a bind. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was to give his Day of Infamy speech to Congress on Tuesday, and although the trip from the White House to Capitol Hill was short, agents weren’t sure how to transport him safely. At the time, Federal Law prohibited buying any cars that cost more than $750, so they would have to get clearance from Congress to do that, and nobody had time for that. One of the Secret Service members, however, discovered that the US Treasury had seized the bulletproof car that mobster Al Capone owned when he was sent to jail in 1931. They cleaned it, made sure it was running perfectly and had it ready for the President the next day.

Provided by...Romeo Cascaes – Freehold Officialdom; Former Freehold Township Republican Municipal Chair, and Former Freehold Township Mayor  

Al Capone’s 1928 Cadillac V-8 “Al Capone” Town Sedan became the President’s Limo December 1941

Mechanics are said to have cleaned and checked each feature of the Caddy well into the night of December 7th, to make sure that it would run properly the next day for the Commander in Chief. And run properly it did. It had been painted black and green to look identical to Chicago ‘s police cars at the time. To top it off, the gangster’s 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan had 3,000 pounds of armour and inch-thick bulletproof windows. It also had a specially installed siren and flashing lights hidden behind the grille, along with a police scanner radio.

 JUST CALL ME AL, IT’S AL ALL THE TIME! BUDDY CAN YOU SPARE A DIME (OR A CAR IN THIS CASE)

March, 2015 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony.

If you “Senator Jennifer Beck’s 9^th Annual Concert at the Stone Pony”, on March 19th, you’ll just have to brood and go next year. The music by Bob Burger & Friends was great. Speaking of friends, Jennifer has many. They showed up for a good time, and were not disappointed. A little food and drink, plenty of conversation, no politics, and a wonderful experience at the historic place that Bruce Springsteen often considers his musical home.

See you there next year!

Governor Christie highlighted his budget and reform initiatives in addition to answering questions from members of the audience at a Town Hall meeting in the hometown of Bruce Springsteen, the governor’s musical hero.

Governor Chris Christie came to Freehold this week, March 17, 2015, to meet citizens for his 131st town hall meeting at the National Guard Armory. As often the case, his comments receive much media attention from the likes of CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Newark Star Ledger, and the Associated Press, to name a few. While their attention was on his key issue of the budget plan, not so from our local Asbury Park Press. They seemed to lead with, although important, a Spelling Bee contest and their leaning against the PARCC testing.

As reported, the Governor’s comments focused on his proposed budget plan concentrating on issues such as the need to reduce health care costs, to fund the state’s pension liabilities resulting from past administrations from both parties. Christie contended that his predecessors, including Governors Christine Todd Whitman and James Florio, hadn’t paid their fair share in the pension plan.

“I’m like the guy who showed up for dinner at dessert and then everybody went to go to the bathroom and never came back, and I got the check,” Christie told the audience. “That’s fine. That’s the job I ran for and it’s the job I’ve been elected to twice and I’m not complaining about it. But you need to know the facts.”

He also expressed that his proposed changes to the budget would help to reverse the state’s repeated credit downgrades. “I believe if we were able to fix this problem that our bond rating would go up significantly.”

A highlight of the event was during the question and answer period, in his neatly pressed Troop 33 khaki scout uniform, 12 year old Zachary Seemar of Brick Township, reading from a carefully typed script provided by his mother Kathleen, asked if the governor was “aware of how difficult Brick’s permit review process is for families like ours trying to rebuild,” and “if there is anyone at the state level we can go to for assistance?” Providing a pen for Zachary to write down his address and phone number, Christie promising to have someone from his office get in touch on Wednesday.

Indicating the he was “aware of how long the permitting process is taking in a lot of places,” Christie said, “We want to get you back as quickly as possible.” “First off, we’re happy to help. But each town wants to control their own zoning, and make their own decisions,” he said, adding that municipalities “get a bit touchy when the state gets too involved in that” but that the “extraordinary circumstances” of Sandy allowed the state to “have influence” on some of the permitting processes.

Mr. Christie’s 131st Town Hall in the hometown of Bruce Springsteen, the governor’s musical hero, is the initial meeting that he will continue to hold weekly in New Jersey, until the fiscal year closes out at the end of June.

Note the Strand Theater on the left.

It burned to the ground in 1962, just before I moved down here.

The County parking lot is now located where the theater stood.

…Romeo Cascaes – Freehold Officialdom; Former Freehold Township Republican Municipal Chair, and Former Freehold Township Mayor  

February 23rd – Joseph M. Ettore, Monmouth County Engineer spoke to a very well attended meeting of about 50 individuals braving extremely cold weather. Mr. Ettore, a graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and a Freehold Township resident, with the assistance of Vince Bardone, Principal Engineer of the Traffic Safety Unit, kept the group enthralled for over an hour regarding the depth, complexity and responsibility of the Department of Public Works and Engineering.

Within its Engineering & Traffic Safety units, they are responsible: for 980 bridges and culverts; 1000 lane miles of roads; 250 traffic signals; the Bayshore Ferry Terminal; and approximately 2 million square feet of public buildings.

Mr. Ettore began his visual presentation by giving a prospective of Monmouth County ranking 6th in total land area and 5th in population within New Jersey’s 21 counties, and Freehold Township being 4th in total area and 5th in population within the counties 53 municipalities. As he emphasized, “Freehold Township is one of the larger townships in Monmouth County, and Monmouth Country is one of the larger counties in New Jersey”.

He described numerous construction and maintenance projects focused within Freehold Township. Recent year’s projects included: constructing new and improving existing buildings such as: new court rooms within the Hall of Records Building to ease the case backlog made available by moving the Country Prosecutors office into its newly constructed facility on Route 33; building the Sheriff’s Department communications facility which includes a 9-1-1 operation answering calls for 46 local jurisdictions and 1 military facility within Monmouth County; and the Child Advocacy Center project supported by the Prosecutors office and a not-for-profit agency, to name a few.

Recent and near future road projects included: improving safety and traffic along the length of Route 537, from Route 33 to Jackson Township; and straightening Halls Mill Road to cross Elton-Adelphia (Route 524) into Edinburgh Drive to improve traffic flow as an alternative to Route 9. Much discussion focused on last year’s tragic fatal crossover traffic accidents on Kozloski Road. Meetings with various professionals were conducted, and although it was viewed that “a textbook case of a properly designed interchange” and statistically driver speed was within acceptable range, and although “there was no glaring deficiency in design” or “cause”, “something had to be done quickly”. Immediate remedies were put in place with rumble strips and heightened awareness to drivers to reduce speed and use caution by signs and law enforcement presence as a safety measure to reduce potential accidents. There will still be ongoing research for other potential remedies such as narrowing roadway l “Engineering, Education and Enforcement” in preventing future catastrophes.

Mr. Ettore continued his presentation with describing ongoing road maintenance and preservation, lane stripping, and road resurfacing with constant attention to traffic safety and ease of flow, always staying up-to-date and considering cost effectiveness.

His presentation was very well received and was lauded by many in the group continuing to ask questions and willing to stay longer.

For the cake:

½ cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature)
¾ cup milk
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
* In a small bowl, beat eggs and milk together and mix with the creamed butter and sugar
* In another bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder, then add it to the butter mixture
* Stir in the vanilla
* Pour batter into a greased 9X13 pan

For the topping:

½ cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of Bisquick mix
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
Confectioners sugar to dust on top of cake after it’s been cooled

* Cut the butter into the sugar, cinnamon and biscuit mix
* Sprinkle topping over batter in pan

Bake at 350 degrees for the 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center of cake.