Focus: Rumson Respite; Sunny Summer Daze

Well, if a sunny Friday morning on the Shrewsbury River is any indication of what’s to come over this Fourth of July weekend, it’s all about celebrating some sunny days along with the birth of our nation.

From the Sea Bright side, overlooking the West Park section of Rumson and Gunning Island this morning, skies were blue and clear as the NJ State Marine Police patrolled the Shrewsbury and boaters boated.

According to the National Weather Service, the only exception to the good weekend weather case may be Saturday, as forecasters forecast some heavy rain and a bit of stormy weather. But, as for the rest of the holiday time, all’s sunny.

Happy Independence Day weekend, all! Enjoy and stay safe!

— Elaine Van Develde

Prosecutor: Fugitive Area Cop Nabbed in North Carolina

A former Asbury Park police officer, who has been listed as a fugitive from justice since he failed to appear for his criminal trial last week, is in federal custody after being captured without incident this morning in North Carolina, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Wednesday.

Continue reading Prosecutor: Fugitive Area Cop Nabbed in North Carolina

Scene Around: A Knollwood Grad Gathering

Well, the rain didn’t hold out for Fair Haven’s Knollwood School Class of 2017, but, by the looks of things, it didn’t dampen the graduates’ spirits Monday night.

The graduation is and always has been indoors. But, a gaggle of guys and girls from the class gathered after the ceremony for a traditional photo down at Fair Haven Dock and a few others at the ol’ homesteads of grads, captured by mom Jenny Costello.

She said it was raining on the dock, but the grads persevered all in the name of that classic milestone snapshot … and a few more.

Take a look … and if you have any photos you’d like us to add to our gallery, please send them to us at [email protected].

Congrats to the Knollwood Class of 2017! 

Prosecutor: Monmouth Man Gets 16 Years for Shooting Death

A Monmouth County man was sentenced Monday to 16 years in a New Jersey state prison for a December 2015 shooting death, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

Continue reading Prosecutor: Monmouth Man Gets 16 Years for Shooting Death

Scene Around: Rowing the Boat Ashore at Sunset

It’s sunset at the riverfront in Fair Haven. A sea of anchored sailboats cast a shadow on the Navesink River at low tide. The sound of the river lapping onto the shore is rhythmic, soothing. The site of a solitary row ashore is a sign that it’s time to take it all in and exhale a content sigh that this is home.

See for yourself …

— Elaine Van Develde

A Retro Ode to R-FH Area Dads

We say it every year, and it bears repeating …

Yesterday was Father’s Day.

And, we at Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect are of the mind that the day is really about much more than flipping a burger and patting a good ol’ dad on the back.

It’s bigger than that. It goes way beyond your own dad’s back yard and a grilling or two.

Growing up in a small-town niche like the Rumson-Fair Haven area carries with it that family tie feeling. Some of us were fortunate enough to have great dads. Some not.

But, what we all somehow did and still do have is a strong kinship to the dads of our towns. Even if we just recall a look, a bellowing chide or a chuckle over some stupid kid thing we did, we remember the dads with whom we grew up.

Now, many of those kids are dads, too, and living where their dads raised them. Perhaps, or likely, finding themselves bellowing the same chidings, trying to impart the same wisdom.

So many of these men were volunteers we saw all over town, characters whose nuances or sayings we remember, or that one poor patient guy who ended up being the poor soul to pick us up when we were stupid enough to get caught hurling eggs and toilet paper on Mischief Night — or something equally as dumb.

Yes, we do and should memorialize our own dads. Believe me, I, for one, am still looking for that money tree my dad told me was in the back yard and that gal named Dumb Dori whom he said I emulated when lacking “street smarts” to a pathetic degree.

Yet, I also vividly remember the calm, “I’m going to kill those idiots” smile on my friend Stephanie’s dad when he picked us up at the police station after following through on a really dumb dare. Then there was the “To tell you the truth, my friend, I don’t know” quote that consistently came out of Daryl’s dad’s mouth as he shook his head in wonderment over our mangled teen logic.

There were those dads for all of us — each leaving his own patriarchal imprint in our juvenile minds. For them we are grateful — for raising us here, for coming together to protect and nurture us and for offering a communal scolding or 100, for loving all their village’s children.

They were part of this community’s foundation — everyone’s founding fathers.

Our Retro Pic (or video) of the Day honors the area’s dads of those days for those reasons and so many more.

We don’t have nearly enough photos to encapsulate all the love and all of the dads, but this is a sufficient sampling to get the message across.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads in the community who have been there for us and given us lessons and words to live by!

— Photos/courtesy of Rumson, Fair Haven family members via Facebook

Focus: RFH Class of 2017 Graduation … Before the Walk

Before the Pomp and Circumstance, those backstage moments with graduates are like that cumulative, final high five among friends — the smiles, the tears, the jokes, the barbs … up to that walk to the diploma and the goodbye to high school.

Continue reading Focus: RFH Class of 2017 Graduation … Before the Walk