Holiday fireworks
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 07/2/06
The following fireworks events are planned to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend:
July 2
Lavallette: Bayfront, fireworks at dusk.
Manchester: Harry Wright Lake, Whiting, fireworks at dusk.
July 3
Jackson: Johnson Park, fireworks at dusk, rain date July 5.
Lacey: Lacey Township High School, fireworks at dusk.
Lakewood: Lake Carasaljo, fireworks at dusk.
July 4
Barnegat: Municipal Dock, 7 p.m., Independence Day celebration and concert, fireworks at
dusk.
Beach Haven: Taylor Avenue, fireworks start between 9 and 9:15 p.m.
Beachwood: Municipal Beach, Fireworks on the Toms River at dusk.
Dover Township: Fireworks on the Toms River at dusk.
Island Heights: Fireworks on the Toms River at dusk.
Lakehurst: A parade will organize at 11 a.m. at the Post Office on Main Street and wind its
way through town to Lake Horicon where there will be an antique car show, food and crafts.
Fireworks will follow at Lake Horicon at dusk.
Mantoloking: The Casie and Chrissy Memorial Mile Race, along with shorter races for children,
will start at 8 a.m. A Skippers' Meeting will be held at 9 a.m. A Robert J. Morris Memorial Flag-
Raising Ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. A parade, featuring the Navesink Brass Band, will
begin at 11:30 a.m., with refreshments and children's games immediately following. A radio-
controlled boat demonstration and race will be at 1:30 p.m. Canoe races will be held at 2 p.m.
All activities begin at the Mantoloking Yacht Club.
Ocean Gate: Fourth of July Parade begins at 10 a.m. at Adrian Hall on Cape May Avenue.
Pine Beach: Fireworks on the Toms River at dusk.
Point Pleasant Beach: Jenkinson's Beach, fireworks at dusk.
Seaside Heights: Ocean beachfront, fireworks at 9 p.m.
July 5
Berkeley: Veterans Park, fireworks and concert at 6 p.m.
Ex-politician Ben Mabie, wife die
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/3/06
BY JOHN VANDIVER
STAFF WRITER
PINE BEACH — An Ocean County political legend and his wife, known together as the "First
Couple of Pine Beach" died Sunday morning at home.
Benjamin Mabie, a public servant for more than a half century, died of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound, Pine Beach Police Chief Glenn Jones confirmed. His wife, Sybil, had died about 30
minutes earlier from natural causes.
"They were together so long, and when she passed on, he just didn't want to go on any
longer," Jones said.
Mabie, 87, retired as Ocean County roads supervisor in 2004, a position he held for more than
20 years. He has also held, among other positions, that of county administrator, state
Assemblyman and mayor of Pine Beach, his home since 1946.
Throughout Ocean County, politicians and government officials mourned Mabie's passing.
"He was a go-to guy," said Dover Township Police Chief Michael G. Mastronardy. "He was able
to get things done, quickly and efficiently." Born in Livingston in 1919, Mabie and his wife
moved to Ocean County after he was discharged from the Army following World War II. A
construction trades contractor, Mabie began his public career in 1946, as the Pine Beach tax
collector. He also served as borough treasurer and as custodian of school monies.
He continued as tax collector/treasurer until 1956, when he was elected to the Borough
Council. He was elected mayor for the first of several terms in 1959.
"All I know is, I'm a small town mayor and he set the standard for all small town mayors. We
had our laughs and our fights, but no one can deny Mayor Mabie set the standard for us all,"
said current Pine Beach Mayor Russell K. Corby. "I only wish I could be as good as he was in
his time."
Hospice was at the Mabie home Sunday, helping to care for Sybil, who had been suffering
from a long illness, authorities said. About 8:30 a.m., Sybil passed away. A short time later,
police were called to the Mabie home for a report of a gunshot.
Corby spoke through tears as he recalled his years of friendship with the Mabie family.
Sybil, 85, was known for her generous spirit. She was always driving sick people to doctors
appointments, Corby said.
"She was truly his partner and a first lady," Corby said. Benjamin Mabie, a lifelong Republican,
was elected to the state Assembly in 1967 and served three two-year terms.
In an interview in 2004, Mabie recalled his proudest legislative achievement as introducing a
bill, which later became law, requiring the state's three independent authorities — the New
Jersey Turnpike, Highway and Atlantic City Expressway authorities — to go out to bid on
contracts. Previously, the authorities had simply negotiated contracts.
Robert A. Gasser, executive assistant prosecutor in Ocean County, recalled his first encounter
with Mabie. "I was a kid registering to vote in the 1950s and he scolded me for being a
Democrat. He was joking of course," Gasser said.
In 1971, the two would face off in a race for the Assembly. Gasser would lose, and years later
he would join Mabie's party.
"I became a Republican," Gasser said. When Mabie left the Assembly, he became Ocean
County Republican chairman in 1973 and served in that capacity until 1978.
In the 1960s, he was Ocean County personnel director and Ocean County treasurer. He
returned to county employment in 1978 and, in 1981, was appointed assistant county roads
supervisor. Two years later, he became the roads supervisor.
"His achievements in public life are legendary. He did everything. The list goes on and on,"
Corby said.
In 1984, Mabie was made the Ocean County administrator, and served jointly as administrator
and road supervisor for the next six years, resigning as administrator in 1990.
"I've had a good time," Mabie said in 2004. "I love to stay busy and to get things done."
Staff writer Jean Mikle contributed to this story.
John Vandiver: (609) 978-4584
or jvandiver@app.com
Former assemblyman, wife die: Sybil Mabie dies
from illness; Benjamin Mabie shoots self
Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 07/3/06
BY DON BENNETT
STAFF WRITER
PINE BEACH — This riverside town is still reeling from the loss yesterday of the closest thing
to royalty the borough has ever known, former mayor and Assemblyman Benjamin H. Mabie
and his wife Sybil.
Police say it was the death of his life mate early yesterday that prompted the veteran
Republican leader to take his pistol and end his own life.
"His wife was ill, and she passed away early in the morning, at which point he took his own
life," Sgt. John Sgro said.
Sybil Mabie, 85, died before 8 a.m. yesterday after a long illness, Police Chief Glen P. Jones
said. Shortly after, her husband took his life with his own handgun. His sons, Dean and Gary,
were home at the time.
"He was a great guy," said Jones, who responded to the house just after 8 a.m. "He served
the community well."
The two "truly were the first couple of Pine Beach," Mayor Russell K. Corby said.
Mabie touched a lot of lives through the many responsibilities he held, Corby said. From being
mayor, councilman, tax assessor and many other titles, "he did everything," he said.
Sybil Mabie was involved in the fire company and charity causes, he said. She would take
often care of people in town who were in need.
"Everyone who understands the spirit of a small town, we believe, will understand our sadness
this day," Corby said.
"Judith and I have lost two forever special and longtime friends and neighbors," Corby said in
a statement he and his wife authored.
"He was truly one of the finest people I've ever known in politics," said a stunned former
Senate President John F. Russo Sr. of Toms River, a Democrat, when he learned of the
couple's death.
"I'm dumbfounded. He was a dear friend of mine," said former Republican County Chairman
Joseph E. Buckelew of Lakewood.
"He was a doer in every job he had. He just got it done. He wouldn't rest until he got the job
done," Buckelew recalled.
He said Mabie called him twice in the last week and he knew Sybil Mabie was not well.
"He was one of a kind. A great public official and an honest guy," Buckelew said.
It was Russo who beat Mabie in 1973 when the two ran for a seat in the state Senate from
predominantly Republican Ocean County to succeed Mabie's longtime friend, Sen. John F.
Brown of Lake-wood, who was not seeking re-election.
Despite campaigning against one another, Russo said the men became close friends.
"If ever I needed something I knew I could always call on Ben and he knew he could always
count on me," Russo said.
"Sybil was a wonderful lady. She was a gem. One in a million, a tremendous person," Russo
said.
Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little said he came to know Mabie as chief of staff in the Ninth
District Legislative Office.
"He was a one-stop shop," when the lawmakers needed help or information from the county
administrator.
Little said Mabie and the late Freeholder James J. Mancini "were like brothers. I know Ben's
heart broke with Jim Mancini's death. It had a tremendous impact on him."
Mabie "had a hand in almost everything we enjoy in Ocean County for three decades," Little
said.
"I'm shocked. It makes us mindful of our own vulnerability," he said of the deaths of the
Mabies.
Mabie's public service career spanned 58 years, from the time he started in politics in 1946 as
the tax collector, treasurer and custodian of school monies in the town he loved.
Later he would be elected a councilman, then mayor, and to the state Assembly with Brown.
Together they shook the entrenched Republican leadership of the county to its roots in 1971
when Brown announced he was taking on the organization's choice to succeed William T.
Hiering in the state Senate.
Brown won the nomination, and beat Russo in the general election.
Two years later Brown decided not to seek re-election and Mabie became the GOP candidate.
Russo beat Mabie, but his stock was still so high with the GOP that he was named the party's
county chairman.
Everyone has a Mabie story — usually about his ability to get things done — and quickly.
The biggest ship in the Ocean County Navy is named for him as a symbol of his belief that no
job was too tough, or too big to tackle. It is a converted 75-foot military landing craft used to
help build offshore reefs in the ocean.
"If I told Ben I wanted Long Beach Boulevard paved from Barnegat Light to Holgate (18 miles)
by Monday he'd have a million trucks down there this afternoon," Mancini once said.
They met for dinner most Wednesday nights at restaurants to discuss politics and county
government before Mancini's death.
Mabie was a successful Realtor in his private life, running the Glen Cove Realty firm in
Berkeley Township.
In 1978 he was named to the part-time job of supervisor of construction workers for the
freeholders. He was also named the county's personnel director.
In 1984 the freeholders named him to replace James Kennedy as Ocean County administrator.
Mabie decided in August 1990 to give up that job, but he was named to head the Road
Department, which oversees and maintains the largest network of county roads in New Jersey.
He retired from that job in 2004, after 26 years of service to the county.
It was Mabie who first persuaded the county's senior freeholder, John C. Bartlett Jr. of Motor
Road, to get involved in politics in 1974 when he talked him into accepting appointment to a
seat on the Borough Council.
He also helped win the nomination for the newest freeholder, Gerry P. Little of Surf City,
campaigning for his nomination to succeed Mancini following his death.
"Our sympathies and our prayers are with the Mabie family," a saddened Little said last night.
Staff Writer Chris Lundy contributed to this article.
DEP orders halt to Pine Beach project
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/12/06
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
PINE BEACH — The state has ordered the borough to stop work on its $1.2 million Riverwalk
project because it contends the Coastal Areas Facility Review Act permit allowing the
construction expired in 2004, Borough Engineer John Mallon said.
"The question is whether we complied" with continuing to work on the Riverwalk project
without stopping for more than 365 days, and the borough's position is that the work meets
that requirement, Mallon said.
It may come down to semantics and what the state Department of Environmental Protection
defines as "work" on the project, Mallon said.
The borough has done work along the riverfront in preparation for the project, such as moving
steps, putting in railings and fences, and moving water service for showers at the Avon Road
beach to make room for the Riverwalk, Mallon said.
But borough officials say they have met the condition of the permit that says if work is done
continuously on the project, there is no expiration.
The plan is to construct a boardwalk with bulkheading along the length of Riverside Drive, and
work will progress according to the availability of funds, Mayor Russell K. Corby said.
Before completing the first block, the DEP told the borough to stop installing pilings for the
boardwalk. However, the contractor is allowed to cut pilings that already had been installed
down to a height closer to ground level, Mallon said. But no boards can be installed across
those pilings, he said.
The borough must apply for a continuation of the CAFRA permit.
The Riverwalk is part of the Vista 2000 Enhancement Program and includes an 8-foot-wide
boardwalk and new bulkheading along the Toms River and Riverside Drive.
The combination CAFRA and waterfront development permit, issued in 1999, expired in 2004.
The borough is in compliance with the waterfront development portion of the permit, but not
the Riverwalk boardwalk part, Mallon said.
The waterfront development permit was renewed in 2005 and is still valid. Work on the
bulkheading would be allowed to continue, he said.
After the stop order was issued June 28, Trenton was inundated by flooding rains that closed
state offices. Then the state budget crisis again closed state offices, and the borough could not
reapply for the permit, Mallon said.
"The lines were busy," Mallon said of his attempts to reach the state about the permit status.
The borough will appeal the stop order and said that it will have to prove to the state that
work had started and continued on the boardwalk without a lapse of longer than one year,
Mallon said.
The point of contention is that the state said work had stopped for more than one year. In
fact, it never actually started. The borough argues that preparing for the project is the same
as working on it.
The permit problem is not the borough's first snag on the project, Mallon said.
The borough also had to go back to the drawing board when its plans exceeded the budget for
the project, Mallon said. The borough had to resubmit plans with modifications in the
Riverwalk design, he said.
Residents have expressed mixed feelings about the project.
In May, residents Evelyn Sutter and Sally Kalksma, who are both avid exercise buffs, said they
supported the path along Riverside Drive because it would be safer for people than walking on
the street.
Mary Accardi of Riverside Drive said she is not a fan of the boardwalk but agrees bulkheading
is clearly needed.
Margaret F. Bonafide: (732) 557-5740 or bonafide@app.com
ASSISTANT IS PROMOTED
Freeholders name new chief planner
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/22/06
TOMS RIVER: David J. McKeon has been put in charge of the Ocean County Planning
Department by the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
McKeon, a resident of Pine Beach, has been assistant planning director for eight years. He
replaces Alan W. Avery Jr, who currently serves as the Ocean County Administrator.
Ocean County Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little noted that, with McKeon's assistance, Ocean
County has successfully preserved almost 8,000 acres of open space under the Ocean County
Natural Lands Trust Program.
Michael Amsel