Editor's Pick Top Story
The latest stories from The Press of Atlantic City, in case you missed them.
1
Atlantic County asks state to consider taking over Meadowview as veterans nursing home
- Michelle Brunetti Post
NORTHFIELD — Atlantic County has been struggling to hire enough staff for its Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center since the COVID-19 pandemic and has been losing money running one of the state’s last county-run homes for many years.
So the administration is asking the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to consider taking over the facility, County Executive Dennis Levinson said Monday.
The state operates three long-term care nursing homes — in Vineland, Paramus and Menlo Park — that are inspected and licensed annually by the New Jersey Department Health and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the state website.
“We have close to 200 beds, and 100 are being used,” Levinson said. “Rather than selling it outright, we thought it would be a good idea if the VA took over.”
Levinson said he gets calls all the time from county residents trying to get into the veterans home in Vineland, but there is a two- to three-year wait to get in there.
“For a resident to come into our facility (and have the VA pay for care), the VA says they have to be 70% disabled,” Levinson said. “So they can’t get into Vineland, and they don’t meet the requirements for our nursing home. ... It’s heartbreaking to turn them away.”
Meadowview has a 30-bed veterans wing.
State veterans’ homes can serve any veteran, he said, regardless of whether they are disabled.
In an Aug. 9 letter to the state, Levinson said the county has been approached by companies interested in buying Meadowview but would rather see it run as a dedicated veterans facility.
The county would require the state to agree to keep the existing staff before any transfer, Levinson said, at least at their current salaries and benefits.
“I didn’t serve, but I have the greatest respect for those that did,” Levinson said. “I also know we have an obligation to those that served, especially to those that came back not all in one piece.”
If it became a VA home it would no longer be just for residents of Atlantic County, Levinson said.
When he first became county executive in 1999, there were 23 nursing homes in New Jersey run by 21 counties, Levinson said. But they were losing money for years.
“Today there are three run by counties,” he said, including Meadowview.
In January, Cape May County leased its Crest Haven Nursing & Rehabilitation Center to Allaire Health Services rather than continue to run it as a county facility.
The county entered a 10-year agreement in November with Allaire to transition leadership and management of the 180-bed facility, after losing money on it for years.
Under the agreement, Allaire will continue to operate the facility as a nursing home and will retain all active Crest Haven staff.
Cape May County counsel Jeffery Lindsay has said the agreement would give Allaire a brief rent-free period, and after that, the company would pay $1.4 million a year on the lease, with a built-in annual increase of 2%.
Meadowview has been losing money for years, Levinson said, but COVID made it worse because it became so difficult to keep and attract staff.
Meadowview is located next to the county’s dental clinic and the county Health Department, Levinson said. It also is next to the site of a proposed Diocese of Camden senior housing complex off Dolphin Avenue in Northfield.
“We will make the offer and see what the (state) decides,” he said.
Terms would be discussed, he said, but the county is “in the mood for being generous.”
County Administrator Jerry DelRosso discussed Meadowview’s future with the commissioners at their Aug. 6 meeting and said the county is taking other steps to try to improve finances at the facility.
The county hired a company to come in and study its operations and make recommendations. As a result, it is working to improve its billing practices to increase reimbursem*nts, he said.
It also has hired staff to help smooth the transition of new patients from area hospitals.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, is also researching getting agreements to admit veterans from a wider geographic area, DelRosso said. Currently, Meadowview’s agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs only allows admissions from the Delaware service area, and Van Drew is looking into getting admissions from the Philadelphia and North Jersey regions, he said.
Should a deal go through with the state, those non-veteran residents now at Meadowview would be able to stay, DelRosso said. Only after they voluntarily moved out or died would their beds be restricted to veterans.
2
Injured, abandoned dog may be in Hamilton Township woods after being hit by car
- John O'Connor
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — A small schnauzer-mix dog that animal control has been attempting to find for more than a week may be hiding in the woods near Weymouth Road after being hit by a car, a local animal rescue said Monday.
A volunteer from Funny Farm Rescue saw the dog and attempted to help it, but the dog ran into the woods despite being injured, according to a Facebook post.
"We took Tucker out, who makes friends with anyone, including dogs, in a matter of seconds and we went into the exact spot in the woods where he was last seen. After 1 hour, we had no luck," the rescue said in the post.
Two men tried to leave the dog at Funny Farm two weeks ago, but the organization couldn't accept it, Shore Animal Control owner Linda Gentille said last week.
Gentille has said the dog was then abandoned in a wooded area and was seen wandering in Buena Vista Township. She said it was the latest incident in a trend of dog abandonment after a wave of adoptions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anyone who sees the dog can call or text Funny Farm owner Laurie Zaleski at 609-742-9410.
3
4 Atlantic City teens accused of stealing vehicle, attempting to break into others
- John O'Connor
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP— Four Atlantic City teens were arrested Sunday morning after they allegedly stole a vehicle in the resort and attempted to burglarize several vehicles in Absecon, police said.
A 12-year-old boy, a 14-year-old boy and two 13-year-old-boys were charged with theft and other offenses. All four were released to their guardians pending court, police said in a news release.
Absecon police received a report that multiple people were attempting to break into vehicles at 1:45 a.m. and determined the suspects were traveling in a Dodge Journey toward Galloway.
Officers attempted to pull over the Journey near Route 30 and Eighth Avenue, but the suspects fled after initially stopping, police said.
Police found the vehicle in the 300 block of Arbutus Avenue and learned it was stolen from Atlantic City. The suspects had left the scene, and officers used surveillance and a K-9 in an attempt to find them, police said.
The suspects were found to be hiding in various locations in the area and were taken into custody after several hours of searching, police said.
4
Little Egg Harbor man sentenced in 2023 robbery
- John O'Connor
A Little Egg Harbor Township man was sentenced Fridayto 10 years in prison for his role in a 2023 robbery, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.
Marc Manfredonia, 33, pleaded guilty June 17 to a Sept. 9, 2023, robbery that left a 36-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds.
Investigators said the victim had visited Manfredonia and a co-defendant, Christopher Miller, 36, of Paterson, both of whom he knew, at an East Hudson Drive home. A short time later, Miller and Manfredonia forced the victim out of the residence and demanded money from him.
Miller brandished a gun and told the victim he would shoot him if he didn't transfer money through a mobile cash app. The victim sent two transactions to Miller and Manfredonia through the app, but the pair demanded more money. The victim refused, and a fight ensued, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Miller fired four gunshots during the fight, striking the victim in the leg, groin and ear, the Prosecutor's Office said. Manfredonia and Miller continued to assault the victim before going back inside the home. The victim ran to a nearby home and called police.
The charges against Miller for attempted murder, robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon are pending, the Prosecutor's Office said.
5
Three Egg Harbor City men charged in 2016 Hamilton Mall murder
- John O'Connor
Three Egg Harbor City men were charged with murder Wednesday after they allegedly shot and killed another man in the Hamilton Mall parking lot on Black Friday in 2016, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Steven Martinez, 30, Timothy Davis, 27, and Malik Boone, 30, were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses in the shooting death of Demond Cottman, 21, of Atlantic City.
Martinez and Davis are currently incarcerated while Boone remains at large, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Hamilton Township police responded to the mall at 1:15 a.m. Nov. 25, 2016, and found two people suffering from gunshot wounds.
Cottman was pronounced dead at the scene, and his brother Shadi Cottman, 26, of Clayton, Gloucester County, was wounded in the leg, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Cottman was the son of Demond Tally, an Atlantic City youth football coach who was shot and killed near his home in February 2019.
6
In response to increasing attempts at book bans, Moorestown library becomes 'book sanctuary'
- Melanie BurneyThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Tucked in an area just off the main entrance, a colorful display gives a new identity to the Moorestown Public Library: a book sanctuary.
The Burlington County library added that designation last month to make a statement about its values and opposition to growing book bans and challenges. It is believed to be the first South Jersey library to take such action.
“This is a town that reads a lot and really values their library and their right to read,” said library director Joan Serpico. “This is our way of saying, ‘We’ve got your back.’”
Moorestown joins about three dozen book sanctuaries statewide, mostly in North Jersey where the movement began last year with the Hoboken Public Library. Since Moorestown made the move, the Pennsauken Free Library also became a book sanctuary, and a vote is expected later this month by Mount Laurel’s trustee board designating its public library a sanctuary.
In recent years, there have been growing efforts to restrict books in public libraries and schools by those contending restrictions are necessary to protect children from reading some materials without parental guidance. They have frequently targeted books about race, racism, gender, or sexuality. But a 2022 poll by free-speech group PEN America found that 70% of parents oppose book bans.
Utah this month ordered schools to remove 13 books from classrooms and libraries because they have content considered p*rnographic or indecent under a new state law. Individual books must be removed statewide if a total of three public school districts, or two districts and five additional charter schools, have chosen to remove them.
In 2023, there were 1,247 demands to censor library books and resources nationwide, up 63% from the year before, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Serpico said there have not been any recent book challenges in Moorestown, a community of about 21,000. The library decided to become a sanctuary to declare it a safe space and protect books from challenges, especially from outside groups, she said.
The sanctuary display includes a variety of frequently challenged or banned books for patrons to check out. They include J.D. Salinger’s “A Catcher in the Rye,” Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank.
“We’re very proud that our library has chosen to do this,” said Mayor Nicole Gillespie. “It is a gem in our town.”
The library’s board of trustees voted 8-0 to endorse the sanctuary resolution, said Joan Bernstein, the trustee who made the motion. The resolution, in part, opposes censorship and promotes “free and respectful expression of differing viewpoints.”
“It just is concerning to me that there are people who think they know what everyone else should read,” said Bernstein, a retired librarian. “Who are they to dictate what other people should read? That’s the thing I find most insulting.”
Ever since Hoboken became a sanctuary last year, director Jennie Pu has been on a mission to get the state’s nearly 300 public libraries to join the campaign.
“It’s really a statement that we don’t ban books,” said Pu, a former school librarian. “We are a place where we will protect the First Amendment. It is an unprecedented attack on our civil liberties.”
Pu, cochair of New Library Association’s public policy committee, is also pushing a measure pending in the state Legislature that would require policies on the curation of library materials in public school libraries, as well as establish a procedure regarding requests for removal. The Freedom to Read Act would also protect library and school staff who have come under attack during book challenges.
Serpico noted that Moorestown patrons who object to a book can make their concerns known by filing a reconsideration form to have the material removed or moved to a different section. The library will then decide on the request, she said.
The requester must be a cardholder — a change in previous policy that allowed outsiders to make objections, Serpico said. The library has about 7,000 active patrons, she said.
“It’s the community’s library,” Serpico said. “People still have the right to express concern.”
Lauren Stolzer, a Moorestown elementary school technology teacher, was surprised to learn about the sanctuary designation and said she was “all for it.”
“I love how there is a space that is needed to grow and learn,” said Stolzer. “Books are how we experience things outside of where we live.”
Pennsauken Library director Tanya Finney Estrada said the sanctuary resolution cleared her trustee board without debate. The library has not had any serious book challenges, she said. A campaign to promote awareness for the sanctuary will be held in September during Banned Books Week.
“Book banning has become an increasing issue,” said Finney Estrada. “We really have to pay attention.”
7
Shucked, slurped, recycled: How the oyster you just ate might help the next generation of oysters
- Jason NarkThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Into buckets they go, night after night, the Cape May Salts, the Blue Points, and the Wellfleets — thousands of oysters shucked, slurped, and hauled out to the trash cans behind Dock's Oyster House.
Before 2020, the Atlantic City seafood institution simply tossed oyster shells in the garbage along with the napkins, co*cktail straws, and shrimp tails, then off to the dump it all went.
On a recent summer afternoon at the 127-year-old restaurant, executive chef Stephan Johnson hauled a five-gallon bucket of oyster shells out back and dumped them into a bright green recycling can bearing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection logo. The leftover oyster shells weren't going to be buried in a landfill or turned into concrete but sent back to the waterways, where they will help future generations of oysters thrive.
Oysters take two to three years to reach maturity, but spend their first two weeks as free-swimming, unprotected larvae, looking for old shells to attach themselves to and eventually build into reefs. Taking oysters out of the water without replacing the shells depletes waterways of their habitats, and can negatively affect the health of an oyster population.
"I like to say that the oysters have been good to us," Johnson said, "so we're good to the oyster."
The shell recycling program began in 2019, after Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City reached out to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection about recycling shells. "They were humble beginnings," Scott Stueber, an NJDEP fisheries biologist, said at an Atlantic County research station on an early July afternoon. "We started by literally loading and off-loading shells at the back of pickup trucks."
Today, the NJDEP has 11 restaurant partners, including Dock's and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa — and a larger vehicle that does weekly pickups of dozens of recycling cans from restaurants and casinos in Atlantic County. So far this year, the agency has collected 100 tons of shells from restaurants.
Many regions across the United States have laid claim to being the "oyster capital of the world," including Washington and Florida. Historically, towns such as Port Norris and Bivalve, along the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County, have also competed for the title. The Mullica River and Great Bay oyster population is one of the last self-sustaining oyster populations on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, Stueber said.
On a weekday afternoon in early July, restaurant workers, along with NJDEP officials, biologists, and fishermen, came to the Nacote Creek Research Station in Port Republic to watch the final stage of the shell recycling program play out — putting the shells back into the water to form oyster beds.
"None of this would be possible without all of you," Stueber said.
Down by the creek, a barge sat piled about eight feet high with thousands of oyster shells, waiting to be towed out into the brackish Mullica River, near the mouth of the Great Bay. The shells, once collected, sit for six months, a curing process meant to rid them of potential diseases that can be harmful to native oyster populations.
Deborah Pellegrino, Borgata's executive director chef, was one of the restaurant workers who took the boat ride out to watch the shell recycling on the river. She said about four of the casino's 16 restaurants serve oysters and last year, its first in the program, donated more than 18 tons of shells. "I'm proud we're able to participate and it's exciting to see it in action out here," Pellegrino said. "To see the oysters going back to their oyster beds, we're not just saying it, we're doing it."
Once in position over oyster bed areas, water cannons sprayed the shells and they tumbled over the side, covering the bottom of the bay with the hard base the larvae need to grow. "It's basically a two-acre plot and they'll go back and forth until they cover it," said Les Frie, an NJDEP biologist.
The burgeoning oyster industry in New Jersey needs so much shell to grow oysters that NJDEP still has to supplement the shells it is getting from restaurants by buying some in bulk, Stueber said. (Clam and oyster shells are readily available as a common landscaping product in coastal communities all over the country.) The shell recycling program is expanding south, too, hoping to connect with the slew of seafood restaurants in Cape May County such as the Lobster House, one of America's busiest restaurants. "We're hoping to get an additional 15 restaurant partners over the next three years so if you're interested, reach out to us," he said.
Back at Dock's Oyster House, patrons began lining up outside the restaurant 30 minutes before it opened on a Friday. Raw bar chef Sopy Aguilar, the restaurant's best shucker, said prying open the shell takes practice. "Practice and a good knife," he said.
Oysters were stacked high in icy boxes back in the kitchen, waiting for Aguilar. Johnson said they'd probably all be gone by night's end, then out into the recycling cans.
"We serve raw. We serve roasted. We serve fried. You name it," Johnson said. "Now we recycle oysters, too."
8
Lower Township police officer's killer set for release
- Bill Barlow
LOWER TOWNSHIP — Chung Ho will turn 80 on Thursday in Eastern Jersey State Penitentiary in Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, 30 years after he fatally shot Lower Township Police Officer David C. Douglass.
But he will not be behind bars much longer.
The New Jersey State Parole Board has approved his release, set for Sept. 23.
The family and friends of Douglass spoke against his release.
“I guess life in prison doesn’t mean life in New Jersey,” said Edward Donohue on Friday. He is the former police chief of Lower Township. In 1994, when he was a detective, he worked with Douglass. They had children the same age, and he worked on the case after Douglass was killed in the line of duty.
Douglass did not get to see his children grow up. He would now have grandchildren he never had a chance to meet, Donohue said. He does not want Ho to walk free, ever.
“I get that he’s an old man now and maybe he’s served his time,” Donohue said. “Now he gets to spend time with his family. He never gave David Douglass that option.”
One of Douglass’ sons, David Douglass Jr., is now an officer with the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office. He could not immediately be contacted Friday. In the spring, he said he and his mother, Douglass’ widow, Debbie Douglass, planned to address the parole hearing in March, arguing against Ho’s release.
Donohue said the family received a two-paragraph form letter stating that Douglass’ killer would be released.
“It closed by saying if you have any questions or concerns feel to call them. Are you kidding me?” Donohue said.
He said the family, and the law enforcement community, have many questions about the case.
There was no response to a request for comment sent to the parole board Friday.
This was the first time Ho has been eligible for parole. Ho, whose family name has also appeared as Hop in coverage of his arrest and trial, was born in China. News reports from the trial state that his father had been beaten to death by communists before he fled to the United States.
In February 1994, Douglass responded to a report of a burglary. Reports from Ho’s trial indicate he had worked in a local restaurant and had burglarized the house and started the fire in an act of revenge.
Douglass pursued Ho on foot, and Ho turned and shot him with a .38 caliber handgun, according to reports at the time and a memorial on the Lower Township police webpage.
Douglass fired back one round, hitting Ho in the hand. Injured, Douglass made it back to his patrol car and called for help, but it arrived too late to save him.
Lower police kicked off an intensive investigation, with the help of the FBI and other agencies, including New York City police. In April of that year, police arrested Ho in New York, where he lived at the time.
Douglass Jr. has been working on a documentary about his father’s slaying and the investigation that followed.
A trailer for “The Man Behind Badge 134” was posted to YouTube earlier this year by No Luck Productions. It includes archival news coverage and recent interviews with Douglass Sr.’s friends and colleagues in the Police Department, including the chaos of having a house fire at the same time that an officer had been shot.
In the spring, Douglass Jr. described the process of making the film as physically and emotionally draining, traveling to multiple states and exploring the painful details of his father’s death.
9
Wildwood's Al Brannen remembered for humor, love of historical society, keeping officials ‘on our toes’
- John Russo
WILDWOOD — When Al Brannen would see children walk into the Wildwood Historical Society museum on Pacific Avenue, he’d guide them toward a giant bell that sat in the corner of one of the rooms.
Brannen would reach down and ring the bell, which had once hung in the belfry of the First United Methodist Church that later became the Quo Vadis Lounge. The kids would instantly light up.
On Sunday, the first thing society President Taylor Henry did was ring that same bell three times to signal it was time to remember their friend Al.
Brannen, a fixture in Wildwood for more than 60 years, from showing up at city commissioners’ meetings to driving his classic cars all around the city, died July 25 after a sudden illness. He was 81.
The historical society held a celebration of life for Brannen. From open to close, it was filled with humor — one of Brannen’s pastimes was a good dad joke, his children wrote in his obituary — as well as stories that showed how much he loved Wildwood. About 75 people crammed into the museum to laugh, cry and share stories of the things they loved about Brannen.
“This was fabulous. He would have loved it,” said Al’s wife of 58 years, Diane Brannen. “Last year, Al was 80, and I had a big birthday party for him because people would come like this to his funeral and say great things and he wouldn’t hear them. So I said let’s do it while he was here, and he loved it! And he would have loved this because he deserves it. He was a humanitarian.”
in addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Thomas and Andrew, daughters-in-law Diane and Dian, and seven grandchildren: Lucas, Lila, Patrick, Samantha, Alexandra, Amanda and Mallory.
Nothing brought him more pleasure than spending time with his family, especially a good road trip. His favorite pastime was to pack everyone into the family car. One year, he took all seven grandkids by himself to Walt Disney World in Florida.
For someone who was punctual, he loved spontaneity, said his youngest son, Andrew.
Alexander Brannen was born April 18, 1943, in Philadelphia but lived in Wildwood for 60 years.
Brannen served in the U.S. Coast Guard, served as a Wildwood city commissioner from 2009 to 2011, and along with Diane, owned and operated several motels in the city. He was a member of the Wildwood Historical Society and served as its president on and off dating to the late 1970s. His last term ended in 2019, when Henry took over.
“Even when he wasn’t commissioner or president of the historical society, he was still present at both things, at City (Commission) meetings, here as a board member,” Henry said. “He was very driven in what he wanted to accomplish.”
Brannen was known for his classic car collection, an interest he shared with Henry. The two would often wind up at the same classic auto shows — she owned an El Camino, and he loved to show off his 1934 Ford Cabriolet.
Brannen also had a military Jeep collection, society Treasurer Rob Ascough said. And it was an incident that happened this past Memorial Day that had the whole town talking.
“He was driving around the town with one of his Jeeps, and someone called the police about someone driving around town with an Army Jeep with artillery on the top of it,” Ascough said. “Police pulled him over somewhere on Pacific Avenue. He explained what he was doing, that the machine gun was fake. And they said, ‘Just please stop driving your Jeep around town.’”
But what Brannen loved the most after his family was Wildwood, and it showed in the countless hours he spent at the historical society. It was in his DNA, his family said.
Brannen pretty much saved the society, Henry said. The society used to be in a small room at City Hall.
“Around 1990, the collection had grown so much that he found this building that had been boarded up for a couple years,” Henry said.
In one half of the building was a stereo store, and the other was a funeral home. It was foreclosed, and no one wanted anything to do with the building, said society member Catina Blineberry. The city wound up buying the building, and Brannen suggested moving the museum here.
“When Al took over the building, the embalming stuff was still in the back, and nobody wanted to touch it. And Al had to get rid of it all by himself,” Blineberry said.
Those hands-on projects were Brannen’s specialty, even when he retired from the society in 2019, Ascough said. Brannen would refurbish a bar from a closed-down pub and call it “a light project.” About a week before he died, Brannen asked Ascough if he’d help him with a task that required moving old Boardwalk planks from one area behind the building to another.
“It wasn’t difficult to mask my enthusiasm for the work because it was a warm sunny day, so why wouldn’t I want to forgo pizza on the Boardwalk so I could instead get dirty and sweaty moving old pieces of Boardwalk around,” Ascough said. “However, it gave me and Al an hour to talk about whatever was on our minds, and that was always a good thing. And on that day, it ended up being an even better thing because it was the last memory we created together.”
That love for Wildwood also found its way to City Hall, where Brannen made his presence known.
Every spring, Brannen let it be known that the iconic beach balls around Wildwood, especially in front of its marquee along the Boardwalk, needed a fresh coat of paint. That was just one of many issues he’d bring to the commissioners simply because he loved this city so much.
On Sunday, Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and Commissioner Krista McConnell sat behind the table at the front of the room, as if it were a commissioners’ meeting, and a few members of Sunday’s celebration voiced their concerns about free parking and other city issues as a way to honor Brannen.
“It’s certainly not going to be the same,” Troiano said. “Damn, I’m going to miss that complaining. But it was a good complaining because it kept us on our toes, and it made the city better. We’re all better people for having known Al.”
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Atlantic County asks state to consider taking over Meadowview as veterans nursing home
- Michelle Brunetti Post
NORTHFIELD — Atlantic County has been struggling to hire enough staff for its Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center since the COVID-19 pandemic and has been losing money running one of the state’s last county-run homes for many years.
So the administration is asking the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to consider taking over the facility, County Executive Dennis Levinson said Monday.
The state operates three long-term care nursing homes — in Vineland, Paramus and Menlo Park — that are inspected and licensed annually by the New Jersey Department Health and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the state website.
“We have close to 200 beds, and 100 are being used,” Levinson said. “Rather than selling it outright, we thought it would be a good idea if the VA took over.”
Levinson said he gets calls all the time from county residents trying to get into the veterans home in Vineland, but there is a two- to three-year wait to get in there.
“For a resident to come into our facility (and have the VA pay for care), the VA says they have to be 70% disabled,” Levinson said. “So they can’t get into Vineland, and they don’t meet the requirements for our nursing home. ... It’s heartbreaking to turn them away.”
Meadowview has a 30-bed veterans wing.
State veterans’ homes can serve any veteran, he said, regardless of whether they are disabled.
In an Aug. 9 letter to the state, Levinson said the county has been approached by companies interested in buying Meadowview but would rather see it run as a dedicated veterans facility.
The county would require the state to agree to keep the existing staff before any transfer, Levinson said, at least at their current salaries and benefits.
“I didn’t serve, but I have the greatest respect for those that did,” Levinson said. “I also know we have an obligation to those that served, especially to those that came back not all in one piece.”
If it became a VA home it would no longer be just for residents of Atlantic County, Levinson said.
When he first became county executive in 1999, there were 23 nursing homes in New Jersey run by 21 counties, Levinson said. But they were losing money for years.
“Today there are three run by counties,” he said, including Meadowview.
In January, Cape May County leased its Crest Haven Nursing & Rehabilitation Center to Allaire Health Services rather than continue to run it as a county facility.
The county entered a 10-year agreement in November with Allaire to transition leadership and management of the 180-bed facility, after losing money on it for years.
Under the agreement, Allaire will continue to operate the facility as a nursing home and will retain all active Crest Haven staff.
Cape May County counsel Jeffery Lindsay has said the agreement would give Allaire a brief rent-free period, and after that, the company would pay $1.4 million a year on the lease, with a built-in annual increase of 2%.
Meadowview has been losing money for years, Levinson said, but COVID made it worse because it became so difficult to keep and attract staff.
Meadowview is located next to the county’s dental clinic and the county Health Department, Levinson said. It also is next to the site of a proposed Diocese of Camden senior housing complex off Dolphin Avenue in Northfield.
“We will make the offer and see what the (state) decides,” he said.
Terms would be discussed, he said, but the county is “in the mood for being generous.”
County Administrator Jerry DelRosso discussed Meadowview’s future with the commissioners at their Aug. 6 meeting and said the county is taking other steps to try to improve finances at the facility.
The county hired a company to come in and study its operations and make recommendations. As a result, it is working to improve its billing practices to increase reimbursem*nts, he said.
It also has hired staff to help smooth the transition of new patients from area hospitals.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, is also researching getting agreements to admit veterans from a wider geographic area, DelRosso said. Currently, Meadowview’s agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs only allows admissions from the Delaware service area, and Van Drew is looking into getting admissions from the Philadelphia and North Jersey regions, he said.
Should a deal go through with the state, those non-veteran residents now at Meadowview would be able to stay, DelRosso said. Only after they voluntarily moved out or died would their beds be restricted to veterans.
Injured, abandoned dog may be in Hamilton Township woods after being hit by car
- John O'Connor
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — A small schnauzer-mix dog that animal control has been attempting to find for more than a week may be hiding in the woods near Weymouth Road after being hit by a car, a local animal rescue said Monday.
A volunteer from Funny Farm Rescue saw the dog and attempted to help it, but the dog ran into the woods despite being injured, according to a Facebook post.
"We took Tucker out, who makes friends with anyone, including dogs, in a matter of seconds and we went into the exact spot in the woods where he was last seen. After 1 hour, we had no luck," the rescue said in the post.
Two men tried to leave the dog at Funny Farm two weeks ago, but the organization couldn't accept it, Shore Animal Control owner Linda Gentille said last week.
Gentille has said the dog was then abandoned in a wooded area and was seen wandering in Buena Vista Township. She said it was the latest incident in a trend of dog abandonment after a wave of adoptions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anyone who sees the dog can call or text Funny Farm owner Laurie Zaleski at 609-742-9410.
4 Atlantic City teens accused of stealing vehicle, attempting to break into others
- John O'Connor
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP— Four Atlantic City teens were arrested Sunday morning after they allegedly stole a vehicle in the resort and attempted to burglarize several vehicles in Absecon, police said.
A 12-year-old boy, a 14-year-old boy and two 13-year-old-boys were charged with theft and other offenses. All four were released to their guardians pending court, police said in a news release.
Absecon police received a report that multiple people were attempting to break into vehicles at 1:45 a.m. and determined the suspects were traveling in a Dodge Journey toward Galloway.
Officers attempted to pull over the Journey near Route 30 and Eighth Avenue, but the suspects fled after initially stopping, police said.
Police found the vehicle in the 300 block of Arbutus Avenue and learned it was stolen from Atlantic City. The suspects had left the scene, and officers used surveillance and a K-9 in an attempt to find them, police said.
The suspects were found to be hiding in various locations in the area and were taken into custody after several hours of searching, police said.
Little Egg Harbor man sentenced in 2023 robbery
- John O'Connor
A Little Egg Harbor Township man was sentenced Fridayto 10 years in prison for his role in a 2023 robbery, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.
Marc Manfredonia, 33, pleaded guilty June 17 to a Sept. 9, 2023, robbery that left a 36-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds.
Investigators said the victim had visited Manfredonia and a co-defendant, Christopher Miller, 36, of Paterson, both of whom he knew, at an East Hudson Drive home. A short time later, Miller and Manfredonia forced the victim out of the residence and demanded money from him.
Miller brandished a gun and told the victim he would shoot him if he didn't transfer money through a mobile cash app. The victim sent two transactions to Miller and Manfredonia through the app, but the pair demanded more money. The victim refused, and a fight ensued, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Miller fired four gunshots during the fight, striking the victim in the leg, groin and ear, the Prosecutor's Office said. Manfredonia and Miller continued to assault the victim before going back inside the home. The victim ran to a nearby home and called police.
The charges against Miller for attempted murder, robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon are pending, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Three Egg Harbor City men charged in 2016 Hamilton Mall murder
- John O'Connor
Three Egg Harbor City men were charged with murder Wednesday after they allegedly shot and killed another man in the Hamilton Mall parking lot on Black Friday in 2016, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.
Steven Martinez, 30, Timothy Davis, 27, and Malik Boone, 30, were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses in the shooting death of Demond Cottman, 21, of Atlantic City.
Martinez and Davis are currently incarcerated while Boone remains at large, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Hamilton Township police responded to the mall at 1:15 a.m. Nov. 25, 2016, and found two people suffering from gunshot wounds.
Cottman was pronounced dead at the scene, and his brother Shadi Cottman, 26, of Clayton, Gloucester County, was wounded in the leg, the Prosecutor's Office said.
Cottman was the son of Demond Tally, an Atlantic City youth football coach who was shot and killed near his home in February 2019.
In response to increasing attempts at book bans, Moorestown library becomes 'book sanctuary'
- Melanie BurneyThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Tucked in an area just off the main entrance, a colorful display gives a new identity to the Moorestown Public Library: a book sanctuary.
The Burlington County library added that designation last month to make a statement about its values and opposition to growing book bans and challenges. It is believed to be the first South Jersey library to take such action.
“This is a town that reads a lot and really values their library and their right to read,” said library director Joan Serpico. “This is our way of saying, ‘We’ve got your back.’”
Moorestown joins about three dozen book sanctuaries statewide, mostly in North Jersey where the movement began last year with the Hoboken Public Library. Since Moorestown made the move, the Pennsauken Free Library also became a book sanctuary, and a vote is expected later this month by Mount Laurel’s trustee board designating its public library a sanctuary.
In recent years, there have been growing efforts to restrict books in public libraries and schools by those contending restrictions are necessary to protect children from reading some materials without parental guidance. They have frequently targeted books about race, racism, gender, or sexuality. But a 2022 poll by free-speech group PEN America found that 70% of parents oppose book bans.
Utah this month ordered schools to remove 13 books from classrooms and libraries because they have content considered p*rnographic or indecent under a new state law. Individual books must be removed statewide if a total of three public school districts, or two districts and five additional charter schools, have chosen to remove them.
In 2023, there were 1,247 demands to censor library books and resources nationwide, up 63% from the year before, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Serpico said there have not been any recent book challenges in Moorestown, a community of about 21,000. The library decided to become a sanctuary to declare it a safe space and protect books from challenges, especially from outside groups, she said.
The sanctuary display includes a variety of frequently challenged or banned books for patrons to check out. They include J.D. Salinger’s “A Catcher in the Rye,” Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank.
“We’re very proud that our library has chosen to do this,” said Mayor Nicole Gillespie. “It is a gem in our town.”
The library’s board of trustees voted 8-0 to endorse the sanctuary resolution, said Joan Bernstein, the trustee who made the motion. The resolution, in part, opposes censorship and promotes “free and respectful expression of differing viewpoints.”
“It just is concerning to me that there are people who think they know what everyone else should read,” said Bernstein, a retired librarian. “Who are they to dictate what other people should read? That’s the thing I find most insulting.”
Ever since Hoboken became a sanctuary last year, director Jennie Pu has been on a mission to get the state’s nearly 300 public libraries to join the campaign.
“It’s really a statement that we don’t ban books,” said Pu, a former school librarian. “We are a place where we will protect the First Amendment. It is an unprecedented attack on our civil liberties.”
Pu, cochair of New Library Association’s public policy committee, is also pushing a measure pending in the state Legislature that would require policies on the curation of library materials in public school libraries, as well as establish a procedure regarding requests for removal. The Freedom to Read Act would also protect library and school staff who have come under attack during book challenges.
Serpico noted that Moorestown patrons who object to a book can make their concerns known by filing a reconsideration form to have the material removed or moved to a different section. The library will then decide on the request, she said.
The requester must be a cardholder — a change in previous policy that allowed outsiders to make objections, Serpico said. The library has about 7,000 active patrons, she said.
“It’s the community’s library,” Serpico said. “People still have the right to express concern.”
Lauren Stolzer, a Moorestown elementary school technology teacher, was surprised to learn about the sanctuary designation and said she was “all for it.”
“I love how there is a space that is needed to grow and learn,” said Stolzer. “Books are how we experience things outside of where we live.”
Pennsauken Library director Tanya Finney Estrada said the sanctuary resolution cleared her trustee board without debate. The library has not had any serious book challenges, she said. A campaign to promote awareness for the sanctuary will be held in September during Banned Books Week.
“Book banning has become an increasing issue,” said Finney Estrada. “We really have to pay attention.”
Shucked, slurped, recycled: How the oyster you just ate might help the next generation of oysters
- Jason NarkThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Into buckets they go, night after night, the Cape May Salts, the Blue Points, and the Wellfleets — thousands of oysters shucked, slurped, and hauled out to the trash cans behind Dock's Oyster House.
Before 2020, the Atlantic City seafood institution simply tossed oyster shells in the garbage along with the napkins, co*cktail straws, and shrimp tails, then off to the dump it all went.
On a recent summer afternoon at the 127-year-old restaurant, executive chef Stephan Johnson hauled a five-gallon bucket of oyster shells out back and dumped them into a bright green recycling can bearing the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection logo. The leftover oyster shells weren't going to be buried in a landfill or turned into concrete but sent back to the waterways, where they will help future generations of oysters thrive.
Oysters take two to three years to reach maturity, but spend their first two weeks as free-swimming, unprotected larvae, looking for old shells to attach themselves to and eventually build into reefs. Taking oysters out of the water without replacing the shells depletes waterways of their habitats, and can negatively affect the health of an oyster population.
"I like to say that the oysters have been good to us," Johnson said, "so we're good to the oyster."
The shell recycling program began in 2019, after Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City reached out to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection about recycling shells. "They were humble beginnings," Scott Stueber, an NJDEP fisheries biologist, said at an Atlantic County research station on an early July afternoon. "We started by literally loading and off-loading shells at the back of pickup trucks."
Today, the NJDEP has 11 restaurant partners, including Dock's and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa — and a larger vehicle that does weekly pickups of dozens of recycling cans from restaurants and casinos in Atlantic County. So far this year, the agency has collected 100 tons of shells from restaurants.
Many regions across the United States have laid claim to being the "oyster capital of the world," including Washington and Florida. Historically, towns such as Port Norris and Bivalve, along the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County, have also competed for the title. The Mullica River and Great Bay oyster population is one of the last self-sustaining oyster populations on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, Stueber said.
On a weekday afternoon in early July, restaurant workers, along with NJDEP officials, biologists, and fishermen, came to the Nacote Creek Research Station in Port Republic to watch the final stage of the shell recycling program play out — putting the shells back into the water to form oyster beds.
"None of this would be possible without all of you," Stueber said.
Down by the creek, a barge sat piled about eight feet high with thousands of oyster shells, waiting to be towed out into the brackish Mullica River, near the mouth of the Great Bay. The shells, once collected, sit for six months, a curing process meant to rid them of potential diseases that can be harmful to native oyster populations.
Deborah Pellegrino, Borgata's executive director chef, was one of the restaurant workers who took the boat ride out to watch the shell recycling on the river. She said about four of the casino's 16 restaurants serve oysters and last year, its first in the program, donated more than 18 tons of shells. "I'm proud we're able to participate and it's exciting to see it in action out here," Pellegrino said. "To see the oysters going back to their oyster beds, we're not just saying it, we're doing it."
Once in position over oyster bed areas, water cannons sprayed the shells and they tumbled over the side, covering the bottom of the bay with the hard base the larvae need to grow. "It's basically a two-acre plot and they'll go back and forth until they cover it," said Les Frie, an NJDEP biologist.
The burgeoning oyster industry in New Jersey needs so much shell to grow oysters that NJDEP still has to supplement the shells it is getting from restaurants by buying some in bulk, Stueber said. (Clam and oyster shells are readily available as a common landscaping product in coastal communities all over the country.) The shell recycling program is expanding south, too, hoping to connect with the slew of seafood restaurants in Cape May County such as the Lobster House, one of America's busiest restaurants. "We're hoping to get an additional 15 restaurant partners over the next three years so if you're interested, reach out to us," he said.
Back at Dock's Oyster House, patrons began lining up outside the restaurant 30 minutes before it opened on a Friday. Raw bar chef Sopy Aguilar, the restaurant's best shucker, said prying open the shell takes practice. "Practice and a good knife," he said.
Oysters were stacked high in icy boxes back in the kitchen, waiting for Aguilar. Johnson said they'd probably all be gone by night's end, then out into the recycling cans.
"We serve raw. We serve roasted. We serve fried. You name it," Johnson said. "Now we recycle oysters, too."
Lower Township police officer's killer set for release
- Bill Barlow
LOWER TOWNSHIP — Chung Ho will turn 80 on Thursday in Eastern Jersey State Penitentiary in Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, 30 years after he fatally shot Lower Township Police Officer David C. Douglass.
But he will not be behind bars much longer.
The New Jersey State Parole Board has approved his release, set for Sept. 23.
The family and friends of Douglass spoke against his release.
“I guess life in prison doesn’t mean life in New Jersey,” said Edward Donohue on Friday. He is the former police chief of Lower Township. In 1994, when he was a detective, he worked with Douglass. They had children the same age, and he worked on the case after Douglass was killed in the line of duty.
Douglass did not get to see his children grow up. He would now have grandchildren he never had a chance to meet, Donohue said. He does not want Ho to walk free, ever.
“I get that he’s an old man now and maybe he’s served his time,” Donohue said. “Now he gets to spend time with his family. He never gave David Douglass that option.”
One of Douglass’ sons, David Douglass Jr., is now an officer with the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office. He could not immediately be contacted Friday. In the spring, he said he and his mother, Douglass’ widow, Debbie Douglass, planned to address the parole hearing in March, arguing against Ho’s release.
Donohue said the family received a two-paragraph form letter stating that Douglass’ killer would be released.
“It closed by saying if you have any questions or concerns feel to call them. Are you kidding me?” Donohue said.
He said the family, and the law enforcement community, have many questions about the case.
There was no response to a request for comment sent to the parole board Friday.
This was the first time Ho has been eligible for parole. Ho, whose family name has also appeared as Hop in coverage of his arrest and trial, was born in China. News reports from the trial state that his father had been beaten to death by communists before he fled to the United States.
In February 1994, Douglass responded to a report of a burglary. Reports from Ho’s trial indicate he had worked in a local restaurant and had burglarized the house and started the fire in an act of revenge.
Douglass pursued Ho on foot, and Ho turned and shot him with a .38 caliber handgun, according to reports at the time and a memorial on the Lower Township police webpage.
Douglass fired back one round, hitting Ho in the hand. Injured, Douglass made it back to his patrol car and called for help, but it arrived too late to save him.
Lower police kicked off an intensive investigation, with the help of the FBI and other agencies, including New York City police. In April of that year, police arrested Ho in New York, where he lived at the time.
Douglass Jr. has been working on a documentary about his father’s slaying and the investigation that followed.
A trailer for “The Man Behind Badge 134” was posted to YouTube earlier this year by No Luck Productions. It includes archival news coverage and recent interviews with Douglass Sr.’s friends and colleagues in the Police Department, including the chaos of having a house fire at the same time that an officer had been shot.
In the spring, Douglass Jr. described the process of making the film as physically and emotionally draining, traveling to multiple states and exploring the painful details of his father’s death.
Wildwood's Al Brannen remembered for humor, love of historical society, keeping officials ‘on our toes’
- John Russo
WILDWOOD — When Al Brannen would see children walk into the Wildwood Historical Society museum on Pacific Avenue, he’d guide them toward a giant bell that sat in the corner of one of the rooms.
Brannen would reach down and ring the bell, which had once hung in the belfry of the First United Methodist Church that later became the Quo Vadis Lounge. The kids would instantly light up.
On Sunday, the first thing society President Taylor Henry did was ring that same bell three times to signal it was time to remember their friend Al.
Brannen, a fixture in Wildwood for more than 60 years, from showing up at city commissioners’ meetings to driving his classic cars all around the city, died July 25 after a sudden illness. He was 81.
The historical society held a celebration of life for Brannen. From open to close, it was filled with humor — one of Brannen’s pastimes was a good dad joke, his children wrote in his obituary — as well as stories that showed how much he loved Wildwood. About 75 people crammed into the museum to laugh, cry and share stories of the things they loved about Brannen.
“This was fabulous. He would have loved it,” said Al’s wife of 58 years, Diane Brannen. “Last year, Al was 80, and I had a big birthday party for him because people would come like this to his funeral and say great things and he wouldn’t hear them. So I said let’s do it while he was here, and he loved it! And he would have loved this because he deserves it. He was a humanitarian.”
in addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Thomas and Andrew, daughters-in-law Diane and Dian, and seven grandchildren: Lucas, Lila, Patrick, Samantha, Alexandra, Amanda and Mallory.
Nothing brought him more pleasure than spending time with his family, especially a good road trip. His favorite pastime was to pack everyone into the family car. One year, he took all seven grandkids by himself to Walt Disney World in Florida.
For someone who was punctual, he loved spontaneity, said his youngest son, Andrew.
Alexander Brannen was born April 18, 1943, in Philadelphia but lived in Wildwood for 60 years.
Brannen served in the U.S. Coast Guard, served as a Wildwood city commissioner from 2009 to 2011, and along with Diane, owned and operated several motels in the city. He was a member of the Wildwood Historical Society and served as its president on and off dating to the late 1970s. His last term ended in 2019, when Henry took over.
“Even when he wasn’t commissioner or president of the historical society, he was still present at both things, at City (Commission) meetings, here as a board member,” Henry said. “He was very driven in what he wanted to accomplish.”
Brannen was known for his classic car collection, an interest he shared with Henry. The two would often wind up at the same classic auto shows — she owned an El Camino, and he loved to show off his 1934 Ford Cabriolet.
Brannen also had a military Jeep collection, society Treasurer Rob Ascough said. And it was an incident that happened this past Memorial Day that had the whole town talking.
“He was driving around the town with one of his Jeeps, and someone called the police about someone driving around town with an Army Jeep with artillery on the top of it,” Ascough said. “Police pulled him over somewhere on Pacific Avenue. He explained what he was doing, that the machine gun was fake. And they said, ‘Just please stop driving your Jeep around town.’”
But what Brannen loved the most after his family was Wildwood, and it showed in the countless hours he spent at the historical society. It was in his DNA, his family said.
Brannen pretty much saved the society, Henry said. The society used to be in a small room at City Hall.
“Around 1990, the collection had grown so much that he found this building that had been boarded up for a couple years,” Henry said.
In one half of the building was a stereo store, and the other was a funeral home. It was foreclosed, and no one wanted anything to do with the building, said society member Catina Blineberry. The city wound up buying the building, and Brannen suggested moving the museum here.
“When Al took over the building, the embalming stuff was still in the back, and nobody wanted to touch it. And Al had to get rid of it all by himself,” Blineberry said.
Those hands-on projects were Brannen’s specialty, even when he retired from the society in 2019, Ascough said. Brannen would refurbish a bar from a closed-down pub and call it “a light project.” About a week before he died, Brannen asked Ascough if he’d help him with a task that required moving old Boardwalk planks from one area behind the building to another.
“It wasn’t difficult to mask my enthusiasm for the work because it was a warm sunny day, so why wouldn’t I want to forgo pizza on the Boardwalk so I could instead get dirty and sweaty moving old pieces of Boardwalk around,” Ascough said. “However, it gave me and Al an hour to talk about whatever was on our minds, and that was always a good thing. And on that day, it ended up being an even better thing because it was the last memory we created together.”
That love for Wildwood also found its way to City Hall, where Brannen made his presence known.
Every spring, Brannen let it be known that the iconic beach balls around Wildwood, especially in front of its marquee along the Boardwalk, needed a fresh coat of paint. That was just one of many issues he’d bring to the commissioners simply because he loved this city so much.
On Sunday, Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and Commissioner Krista McConnell sat behind the table at the front of the room, as if it were a commissioners’ meeting, and a few members of Sunday’s celebration voiced their concerns about free parking and other city issues as a way to honor Brannen.
“It’s certainly not going to be the same,” Troiano said. “Damn, I’m going to miss that complaining. But it was a good complaining because it kept us on our toes, and it made the city better. We’re all better people for having known Al.”
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