By Elaine Van Develde
It’s as good as it gets for anyone in the area and beyond — that classic lobster pizza at Val’s Tavern in Rumson.
The pie, as they call it, is pretty simple, yet has been a deluxe gourmet sort of pizza treat for many for decades.
It’s a thin-crust pizza flush with all the normal pizza stuff, but great quality, like the good sauce and cheese. Add to that some Brazilian lobster and, if you so choose, some hot sauce.
By Elaine Van Develde
He lived his dream.
And for now former Fair Haven Police Chief Darryl Breckenridge, retirement doesn’t mean he’s awakening to any harsh reality — just vivid gratitude.
While he’s been officially off the job since Oct. 1, the chief’s surreal 38-year career culminated in a lucid award-strewn farewell retirement dinner last Thursday.
Roughly 200 state, county and local dignitaries, police and chiefs from several nearby towns, family and friends gathered at Raven and the Peach in Breckenridge’s hometown Fair Haven to celebrate his accomplishments, honor him with certificates and awards — even the key to Fair Haven — party with him and just plain thank him for his service.
“I just love this man!” a teary eyed Eileen O’Neill, widow of former Chief Bobby O’Neill said as she hugged and held the face of the man she knew as the kid her husband took on ride-alongs and mentored .
There were other mentors, too … former chiefs Ricky Towler, Lou DeVito. Then there was, of course, the chief who started it all for a 5-year-old Breckenridge when he stopped at his house to offer his mom a job as a crossing guard — Carl Jakubecy.
Then there was his mom, Dorothy — the woman Breckenridge credits with giving him the “character” to succeed and realize his dream.
“To have a dream at five years old and to actually see that dream come to fruition … Just being a patrolman and being fortunate enough to rise through the ranks of chief of police in the town where I wanted to do so is truly amazing … It’s more amazing when you go back and look at at our country in the 1960s … there was so much turmoil in the world, so much unrest within our country, there were riots on the street and hatred … there was so much uncertainty …”
Breckenridge’s children, Tyler, D.J. and Whitney, stood before their dad, certain of his success and their pride in him. “There aren’t enough words to describe how proud we are of our dad,” Whitney said.
The sentiment was echoed by D.J., who is now Fair Haven’s Recreation director.
He talked about the respect and pride his father, passing down that “character” his grandmother taught, was grateful, not only for the success, but also for the community in which he was raised. That community, Fair Haven, has always been family to him as well, D.J., a little choked up, said.
“I know that it’s very important for him to have all these Fair Haven residents here in addition to everyone else,” he said. “Because Fair Haven, for my dad, was always family and it always will be …”
Yes. Protecting and serving his hometown family was Darryl Breckenridge’s dream. He’s still living it in its second act. Although now, as he told the crowd, “I can let my hair down … Well, I can let down what hair I have.
“For me to have a dream of that magnitude and to be able to realize it … It’s really amazing. It happened because we are in this country. We have the best country in the world. God bless America. God bless you all.”
Congrats, Darryl, from your Fair Haven family!
Don’t forget to click on the lower right icon of the slideshow to enlarge. We had a few photo tech issues. So, in addition to the somewhat compromised quality of some of the photos, we also apologize for the fact that somehow the entire police department ended up looking like something out of a Halloween movie — all white eyes. Who knew? Officers of the Corn? Sorry!
Yes, soccer season has kicked in.
When Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect shared a photo of the boys’ team from back in the late 1970s, RFH grads challenged all to remember who the first girl was to play on the boys team (since there was no girls team then).
We found her and a photo of the team that year, which was 1975-76. Remember? It was Chris Bowden, RFH Class of 1976. They were playing, of course, in 1975.
So, the Retro Pic of the Day honors that first girl to kick in some girl power on the RFH Boys Soccer team a few decades ago.
Do you remember in which year RFH formed its first girls’ soccer team? We think it was the 1980s. How about 1983? Remember who the captains of that team were?
What started out as a hit-and-run accident in Middletown on Sunday ended in the arrest of two area people on weapons and cocaine possession charges as well as the unlawful taking of a vehicle.
The incident unfolded as police responded to a motor vehicle crash on Route 36 shortly after 8 a.m. to find that one vehicle had fled from the scene, according to a press release from Middletown police.
After locating the vehicle and launching an investigation, officers Bernie Chenoweth and Robert McNair arrested the driver and passenger, the release said.
The driver, Stevie A. Rocha-Hughes, 30, of Portland Avenue in Highlands was charged with: taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, unlawful possession of a handgun and various motor vehicle charges related to the incident, police said.
Her bail was set $ 5,000 with no 10 percent allowed. She was transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution.
The passenger, Clifton J. Hughes, 38, of Portland Avenue in Highlands, was charged with possession of cocaine, police said.
His bail was set at $2,500 with no 10 percent option. He was also committed to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution.
A six-month investigation culminated in a major heroin bust at a Middletown home, dubbed by Police Chief Craig Webber “a very successful operation.”
On Oct. 16 the Middletown Police Department executed a search warrant at a Rutledge Drive residence. The search warrant was the result of a six-month investigation led by detectives Keith Hirschbein and Daniel Sullivan into the illegal sale of heroin from the home.
As a result of the warrant, police arrested:
Roughy 100 Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) students recently participated in a forum dubbed Interactive College Admissions Committee Workshop.
The Oct. 8 presentation offered an insider’s view into the college admission process.
Continue reading An RFH Look at the College Admissions Process
By Elaine Van Develde (photos and story)
The namesake of Church Street in Fair Haven will soon be gone.
The steeple of the longstanding Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion at the corner of the aptly coined Church Street and River Road is still standing, but most of the house of worship has been demolished.
As part of a Planning Board-approved subdivision plan, the demolition of the six-year-shuttered church on a .54-acre parcel, the last renovation of which was deemed a “do-it-yourself project by a very adventurous (group of) builder(s)” in the late 1960s by Rumson builder Kolarsick attorney Brooks Von Arx, began on Tuesday.
As of 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, only the front quarter of the church remained.
Von Arx had said that razing the church was warranted to make way for the unanimously board-approved three-home subdivision because the structure was found to be in disrepair and lacked the architectural integrity or historic background to warrant preservation.
Along with the church, a two-story dwelling and former nursery school on the site were demolished.
The with no historic or architectural integrity to warrant preservation, will now be razed, as will a former nursery school, sanctuary and two-story rectory dwelling that sit on the site.
A church has sat at the location since the late 1800s, thus the namesake street.
For more information on the issue, click here.
Rumson dad and RFH alumni Doug Borden got an unexpected treat today while starting his morning at Sea Bright beach — with a porpoise, one could say, or, more likely, a dolphin.
Sun shining and weather still mild enough for a beach stroll, he got to Sea Bright at about 8:45 a.m., just in time to catch a school of bottle-nosed dolphins swimming their way south in the ocean.
“I would say dolphin, I just say porpoise so no one confuses them with the Mahi Mahi dolphin which is a fish,” Borden said.
He videotaped it. Take a gander.
Thanks for sharing your morning moment by the sea with us, Doug!
— Video and screenshot photo by Doug Borden
No, the scene just never gets old for many. It’s that scene, or one or a few of many, from one perspective or another, soaked up from the banks of Navesink River by the Fair Haven Dock.
The sun was shining brightly on Monday. Warmth enveloped — both temperature and tone.
Here’s another view. Enjoy!
— Elaine Van Develde
The following recent criminal incidents were reported by Red Bank police:
• A theft was reported to have occurred sometime between Sept. 24 and 25 at the Red Bank Laundry Center, 54 North Bridge Ave. The victim reported that he washed a blanket and upon his return to pick it up it was missing.
Patrolman Shane Dengel took the report.
Continue reading Police Report Robbery, Criminal Mischief & Theft
By Elaine Van Develde
There’s nothing like the wrap — of anything, really.
It represents a feeling of accomplishment — in a way. In show business, “Its a wrap!” brings on a sigh of relief and some celebration. In other circles, such as food forums, it prompts some speculation and, yes, satiation.
When you have an option of choosing a wrap to eat, for instance, it often represents several ingredients you like wrapped up in some sort of flour tortilla or variation thereof, a/k/a wrap.
A lot of area eateries offer a wrap version of a favorite luncheon-meat-and-cheese- or salad-stuffed something or other.
Then there are those who like to eat it raw — the wrap and its contents. For them there is such a thing as a collard leaf-stuffed vegan variety. And they have it at Seed to Sprout in Fair Haven.
As Lucille Ball said in her Vitameatavegaman commercial on I Love Lucy, “It’s tasty, too!”
So, as the first in Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect’s I’ll Just Pick weekly series, the pick of the week is the raw cashew collard wrap from Seed to Sprout — and from a non-vegan who really relishes a big fat meaty sub for some lunch solace on a bad day.
This wrap, enveloping the taste buds with a creamy, crunchy vegan catch-all, features a mash of organic raw cashews topped with alfalfa sprouts, shredded carrots, tomato and mixed with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and filtered water. Then there’s a nutritional yeast additive.
And, of course, the whole thing is wrapped up in a collard leaf. Call it a foodie Collard Patch doll.
Call it that, because even if you’re not a vegan, you may want to adopt this lunch lifestyle change.
It’s a cashew hummus sort of splendor all wrapped up and ready to healthily munch. Really.
Seed to Sprout opened a few months ago in July in the Acme Market shopping plaza, off River Road (officially 560 River Road, though), in Fair Haven.
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School graduates Cara Pescatore and Alex Mazzucca own and operate the eatery, which is a second location to the original in Avon.
The menu is replete with all sorts of all-day organic vegan breakfast dishes: granola and yogurt parfait, sprout breakfast bowl and avocado breakfast sandwich.
Under the raw header, there’s also a sunflower burrito wrapped in collard and raw pizza.
There are also lots of grilled sandwich goodies, that are not quite what they sound like, such as the bacon cheddar melt, which features coconut bacon and not your average cheddar. The grilled avocado sandwich, RFHers tell us is a favorite, too, not to mention the seed salads and rice bowls.
There are also soups.
Check out the menu by clicking on the photo above or check out the website by clicking here.
Seed to Sprout is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Dinner is served at the Avon location on Thursday nights.
They were ready.
With the uncertain path of Hurricane Joaquin looming at the end of last week, the powers that be in Sea Bright, having been through the Sandy battle, prepared.
A makeshift wall of dunes was built along the shoreline of Sea Bright Public Beach and beyond to stave off stormy ocean water. And while Joaquin veered further east and out to sea, remnants of a nor’easter pelted the sands of the Sea Bright beaches and, as is common with any significant rainfall in the area, roads flooded.
Then the sun came out. And as temperatures hit the 70s today, dunes still intact, small-scale reminiscent of Mount Sandy, local summer lingerers headed to the beach.
Here’s what the scene was there. Beaching it tomorrow while the sun is out and temperatures permit?
(Be sure to click on the lower right icon to enlarge.)
— Elaine Van Develde
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