Prosecutor: Monmouth County Man Charged in Fatal VFW Shooting

A Monmouth County man is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection with a fatal April 2016 shooting at a township Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post following a funeral repast, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Tuesday.

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Happy Retro RFH Halloween!

Happy haunting Halloween from the RFH Class of ’78!

Who are those guys and ghouls?

Thanks to George Day for these timeless photos!

Focus: Sandy, Five Years Ago

It was the year that Halloween wasn’t. It was 2012 and Superstorm Sandy had pummeled the Jersey Shore. It decimated Sea Bright and destroyed low lying parts of Rumson. Fair Haven was a bit war torn and powerless.

Beach cabanas landed like Dorothy’s house to the Witch of the East on West Park lawns. Boats were hoisted by surging water onto dock tops and back yards. Gunning Island, in the Shrewsbury River, was loaded with the moored belongings of Sea Bright and Rumson people. Trees were downed. Transformers exploded.

Sea Bright residents were homeless. The beach was in the road. Sea Bright Rising began with some good-hearted burger flipping by Woody’s owner Chris Wood and chef Onofrio Moscato. The U.S. Army National Guard was parked in the Sea Bright municipal lot. There was no electricity.

There was a curfew. At nightfall, people scurried back into their homes, if there was anything left to go home to, like moles burrowing into cold, still night. Things were awfully dark. And Halloween was cancelled. There was no treat in Sandy’s trickery, just in the kindness of those who were good neighbors.

Take a look back … (and click to enlarge).

— Elaine Van Develde

Photos/Elaine Van Develde

Retro RFH Halloween Parading

RFH ghouls, or something like that, on parade in 1977
Photo/George Day

Well, scary season is upon us. I’m not talking about politics, I’m talking about Halloween.

RFHers have been celebrating Halloween for decades. It’s a tradition.

Today was the RFH Halloween parade, which is in the halls, on the grounds and sometimes spilling elsewhere.

So, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day honors the RFH Halloween parade with a look back on one in the 1970s.

Recognize any of these guys and ghouls?

Thanks to George Day for this haunting look back at Halloween RFH style! 

Local DWI Checkpoint Set

With Halloween falling on a Tuesday this year, many parties and events are planned for the weekend; and local and state police, in cooperation with the Monmouth County DWI Task Force, will be conducting three DWI checkpoints, one of which is slated for tonight into Saturday morning in Red Bank.

The checkpoint will be set up in the Salvation Army parking lot on Newman Springs Road from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Drivers headed westbound will be directed into the lot from Newman Springs Road and will be screened for sobriety, according to Task Force coordinator and Brielle Police Chief Mike Palmer.

The other two checkpoints will be set in Belmar and Neptune.

Retro Remembrance: Rumson Jersey Girl Kit Rowett

She might have hated all this attention. Then again, maybe not. It’s a pretty sure bet that it would have at least cracked a smile on her face, perhaps followed by an eye roll and a wise crack. Sister Chris told me that during the end of her battle with cancer, Kit Rowett (White) was enjoying reconnecting with friends on Facebook and remembering good times with old friends and family.

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Saying Goodbye to Rumson Jersey Girl Kit Rowett White

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”  ~ L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

A lot of heart is what the Rumson girl everyone knew as Kit Rowett had. A lot of people loved her — some who even only knew her for a moment. I guess you could say that this impish-grinned, twinkly-eyed Wizard gave her heart to the Tin Man.

And, boy, did he cry. He smiled a lot, too. This Tin Man, embodied as  the many loved ones who had a piece of Kit’s heart, smiled a wide, collective, rust-proof smile on Saturday as a celebratory goodbye was bid to the Jersey girl loved and lost on Sept. 19 after a valiant battle with cancer.

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Retro RFH Hunt Party Starters II

RFHers get supplies to the tailgates at The Hunt in the late 1970s or early 80s
Photo/RFH reunion slideshow screenshot

So, at last retro view of The Hunt, RFHers were making their way onto the grounds of the Amory Haskell estate in the late 1970s or early 80s with lots supplies and spirit (or spirits) in tow.

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