BERKELEY – It’s not exaggeration to say that the stories that defined 2023 for Berkeley residents were the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows.
Adriana Kuch
Sadly, Adriana’s story is the one that had the largest impact.
The 14-year-old was beat up at school by four girls who filmed the attack. They spread the video on social media. She committed suicide soon after. The tragedy made people question whether the district did enough to protect her and punish the bullies.
While many protests and vigils called for an end to bullying, it seemed like there was a lot of it going on after her death. The four girls were named online, and became targets. School officials received death threats and their home addresses were shared.
After days of being under attack by media and people from around the world, Central Regional Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides fired back with a list of problems with the Kuch family and how the district tried to help her. He apologized and resigned days later.
“I want to apologize to the Kuch family. I can’t imagine what Mr. Kuch is going through,” he said in an interview with The Berkeley Times.
The district outlined a plan to address bullying, including new policies and protections. Several administrative changes were made. Dr. Michelle CarneyRay-Yoder was chosen as the new superintendent for 2024.
Officials supported a law that, if passed, would be named “Adriana’s Law.” It would make it a crime to share images or videos of an attack on a minor.
Although the media and the public descended upon the district in the wake of the tragedy, they more or less disappeared a few months later.
New Leaders
Longtime Mayor Carmen Amato, who worked his way up from boards of education to council to leading the town, will now be the State Senator representing the town. Senator Christopher Connors didn’t run for re-election.
Council President John Bacchione, who also served on the county board that helps choose parcels to be preserved for open space, will be mayor.
Open Space
Land preserved in 2023 will remain open space forever.
Almost 27 acres of Blackbeard’s Cave will now be preserved as open space. Some of the land had previously been subdivided for the storage facility which is in construction.
Cedar Creek Campground closed and was purchased as open space, blocking what could have been 200 homes on roughly 28 acres. Town officials are thinking of ways to best utilize the property, including making the swimming pool public.
There was also 2.5 acres north of Mastapeter Funeral Home on Route 9. The Mastapeter family approached Mayor Amato and asked if the township would like to buy it, rather than selling it for far more to a developer.
There was also a property in Good Luck Point that was purchased. It had been hit by Superstorm Sandy. It joined other lots in that neighborhood that were turned back into open space because they are considered “repetitive losses.” They will always be in danger of flooding.
The county also preserved 4.99 acres located in the Mill Creek Headwaters Project Area.
This purchase encompasses a number of properties on Lakeside Boulevard, Hillside Boulevard, Wheaton Avenue, Cedar Plaza, Route 9, Van Hise Lane, Hickory Lane, Manhattan Avenue, Station Road, Halsey Avenue, Harbor Inn Road, Grant Concourse, Navesink Avenue, Louis Avenue, Veeder Lane, Beach Avenue, Dorrance Drive, Sloop Creek Road, Nobles Way, and Butler Boulevard.
More than 46 acres of land off Route 9, in the area commonly known as the WOBM pit, was preserved.
The purchases are on Route 9 and Grant Concourse, and owned by two different owners.
The location will be eventually be home to a park which could include soccer fields, Amato said. The town will apply for Green Acres funding in the 2025 grant cycle.
Most of the money used in the purchases came from the county open space tax.
Solar Farm
The township’s municipal landfill closed in 1974 but it was never properly capped. Doing so costs millions, so politicians kept kicking the can down the road.
The town partnered with CS Energy and Luminace to close the landfill, a 40-acre site behind the Public Works building on Pinewald-Keswick Road. They will cap the landfill and build a solar field over it.
By providing less expensive electricity, residents are predicted to save about $6.4 million over the 20-year life of the project, according to township figures.
Seaside Students Could Leave
Seaside Heights students may be leaving Central Regional and joining the Toms River School District – if the towns agree.
The Seaside Heights Board of Education and the Toms River Board both voted to ask the state education commissioner for permission to have a referendum. This vote would decide whether Seaside Heights kids should join Toms River.
Douglas Corbett, the interim superintendent of Central, said that Central is prepared to fight it. Central’s attorney said that Berkeley residents should be allowed to vote to keep the town.
If the Seaside Heights district closes, the Hugh J. Boyd Jr. School will close. Some residents have been upset about this, worried that they are losing a huge part of their community as well as their home rule. They have been critical of the Seaside Heights Board of Education, accusing them of colluding with the town to make the school into the new police station.
Discrimination Case
The township appealed a court decision to pay an employee $1.6 million as the result of a discrimination case.
The jury found that the plaintiff, Debra Reuter, proved she was discriminated against by the township for having a “mental disability” and that the conduct by defendants was “severe or pervasive enough to make a reasonable person who has a mental disability believe the working environment was intimidating, hostile, or abusive.” They also believed that “adverse employment actions” were taken against her as retaliation for making a complaint about the discrimination.
Berkeley Township, Mayor Carmen Amato, Business Administrator John Camera, building and grounds supervisor Ted McFadden, and former recreation director Debbi Winogracki are named in the suit.
“The town didn’t do anything wrong and we’re confident we’ll be successful,” said Christopher Dasti, who is representing the town.
Reuter said that the reason for the anxiety was antisemitic harassment. The jury didn’t believe that the alleged antisemitism was one of the factors.
New Development
A development of 56 homes will be coming to the Manitou Park section of Berkeley Township in the next few years.
Manitou is north of the town of South Toms River. It’s a small grid of homes and churches. The new development is not to be confused with the mixed use retail and residential that’s going in behind the Wawa.
Homes For All is planning a build-out of 56 homes called Autumn Ridge at Manitou.
Top Athletes
Paul Kenny was in eighth grade at Central Regional Middle School when he became one of the world’s top wrestlers.
He won the 48 kilograms title at the 2023 U17 World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
Madeline Dutton, who guided the Golden Eagles’ field hockey teams to nearly 500 wins and numerous titles, was honored by about 100 people, including nearly 40 of her former players, during a ceremony in the school’s small gymnasium. The team’s field was named the Madeline Dutton Field.
The Central Regional High School girls soccer team family had a 19-2 overall record. It tied the previous program record for wins set in 2013. There was a 14-match winning streak in which the Golden Eagles outscored opponents 50-14 en route to the best start in program history.
Lifesaving Firefighter Mourned
Brian Joseph Letrent, of Bayville, was just 34 when he died on June 21.
Bayville Fire Chief John McKay said he suffered a cardiac episode on his way home from work. He was able to pull over to the side of the Garden State Parkway and call police but he later succumbed.
He was one of the department’s top responders and had received an award for putting himself in harm’s way to save a life.
Retail At Industrial Park
Tenants in the industrial park can now allocate up to twenty percent of their floor space for retail sales. This means that businesses that are approved for permitted use in the zone can now also sell retail items, such as flooring, cabinets, plumbing supplies, and other wholesale goods.
Icons
The iconic hot dog truck der Wunder Wiener re-opened after five years. Its owner, Gerald LaCrosse, had been seriously injured when a vehicle left Route 9 and plowed into it when he was inside.
He was also reunited with Patricia Kunkle, the nurse who happened to be driving by and who he credits with saving his life that fateful morning.
The late Charles Parker Sr. was known as “Pops” when he worked security for the Manitou Park basketball program. Before that, he worked security for the Toms River School District. Going back even further, he served in World War II.
He was honored with a “coming home” ceremony for him.
Parker called 3rd Avenue home. That road will be extended and new houses built. People moving into those homes will be living on “Charles Parker, Sr. Avenue.”
The white car on the roof of Cosmo’s also made its triumphant return after being taken down for repairs.
After coming back from the Army in 1968, Joe Zaccaro dreamed of rebuilding a 1954 Fiat into a racer. His mother was afraid that he was going to die in a crash so she had his father put it on the roof where he couldn’t get to it, and the rest is history.
