The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) alumnus community with the death from complications of the virus of RFH Class of ’72 graduate and community theater actor Hal Holst on April 2.
Continue reading In Memorium: Longtime Rumsonite, RFH Grad, Actor, Hal Holst, 66Tag Archives: Rumson
NJ State Police: Rumson ‘Corona Party’ Most ‘Blatant’ Flouting of Law
Of the previous week’s seven infractions of the statewide stay-at-home edict during the COVID-19 pandemic that were cited on Sunday by Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Saturday’s Rumson party was honed in on as the most flagrant of defiances.
“Well, you don’t get much more blatant than the party crowd in Rumson that resisted and insulted police officers who asked them to disperse,” NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan said in a released statement.
As social media comments ran rampant after Rumson police on Saturday night issued a statement about the party and the blatant defiance they were met with when they broke it up, announcing a zero tolerance policy moving forward, they followed that up on Sunday an announcement that the matter was under investigation and charges were pending.
Rumson Police Chief Scott Paterson is handling all inquiries and has been contacted by R-FH Retro. His comments will be included when they become available.
In the meantime, the Attorney General has announced that charges were filed in the incident against at least one person.
“John Maldjian, 54, of Rumson, was charged today by the Rumson Police with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, and two separate charges related to violating the emergency orders. All are disorderly persons offenses,” the release from the Attorney General said.
The charges are all disorderly persons offenses.
Maldjian is a musician and attorney, according to his Facebook page. Police, according to the release, were dispatched at 8:19 p.m. to respond to a large party on Blackpoint Road with a band.
“When they arrived, they discovered the homeowner, John Maldjian, together with another man, playing acoustic guitars on the front porch of the home. There were approximately 30 people, between the ages of 40 and 50, gathered on Maldjian’s front lawn and the adjoining street watching the performance. Some had lawn chairs and alcoholic beverages,” the release added.
The police cars’ flashing lights and requests to end the party were ignored. The band kept playing. Maldjian did not stop singing and playing until approached by an officer.
The crowd became unruly at this point, police said, and shouting curses at police and “Welcome to Nazi Germany.”
Charges against those unruly audience members/party attendees are “forthcoming,” the Attorney General said.
“The Governor’s executive orders are commonsense measures to keep people safe during this historic health crisis,” Attorney General Grewal said. “When people like the partiers in Rumson flout the orders and show disrespect and hostility to police officers, they not only put themselves and the others immediately involved in peril, they risk inciting others to engage in such irresponsible and dangerous behavior. Our police officers are working courageously every day to protect us all, and we will continue to charge anyone who violates the emergency orders, which literally are a matter of life and death.”
The other statewide incidents cited included: 11 non-essential businesses in Newark being open; a woman arrested in Teaneck coughing and spitting on police while in custody, saying she had the virus; a Wegmans supermarket coughing incident; a dog groomer continuing to operate; a backyard gathering in Toms River; and someone bringing five youths from a youth shelter out to play basketball.
As of Sunday, there were 2,351 positive cases of COVID-19 in Monmouth County alone. In Rumson, the positive count is up to 21. In Fair Haven the count is up to 14. In Middletown, the largest municipality in the county, over the bridge from Rumson, the township has largest number of positive cases at 217 now.
Scene Around: Isolated View & Sobering COVID-19 Stats
The sun may have finally come out today, but the picture is a dank, grim one as far as soaring COVID-19 stats go for the state and area. It’s no April Fool’s joke. Solitude is the only thing that will squash the curve, state, county and local authorities repeat with veracity daily.
Continue reading Scene Around: Isolated View & Sobering COVID-19 StatsR-FH Area Covid-19 Respite: Providers of Distanced Serenity & Rec
Many quarantined Rumson-Fair Haven area folks of a certain generation may be, about now, replaying in their minds, or even acting out a mantra from an old Seinfeld episode — “Serenity nowwwww!”
Continue reading R-FH Area Covid-19 Respite: Providers of Distanced Serenity & RecWeek’s Start: COVID-19 State, County, Local Updates & How to Help
Note: This story was updated to include stats and quotes from NJ Gov. Murphy’s Tuesday afternoon address on the COVID-19 situation …
From the state to the county and local level in New Jersey, the unrelenting “stay home” message in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic is getting more emphatic by the minute.
With New Jersey seeing a total of 18,696 as of Tuesday afternoon having tested positive for the virus, a jump overnight of 2,196 and 265 deaths (up by 69), three in their 30s, NJ Gov. Phil Murphy has continually pleaded with residents to just stay home to save lives and flatten the curve.
Citing the two young men who succumbed to COVID-19, but reaffirming that deaths from the virus tend to still hit the older and compromised community harder, Murphy stressed that the young mens’ deaths bring home the fact that “this is a reality for ALL of us.”
“I cannot be any clearer in my call,” the governor added. “Stay at home before this hits home. Please do your part to flatten this curve … We are not an average state. We are a “We can do the impossible” state. That is New Jersey. “Our job collectively is to stay at home and flatten that curve. If we do our part, we can meaningfully slow the spread and save lives … This is not about you, it’s about us. Now is the time to be selfless, not selfish … The very best thing we can do together is to stay home and to keep our distance from anyone else, even at home. “
NJ Gov. Phil Murphy, Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2020
The governor thanked everyone on the front lines, especially healthcare workers and emergency responders. He particularly pointed to the state’s “unsung heroes … home health aides, sanitation workers, retail employees, teamsters, truck drivers and transit workers. Their dedication means the world and it means that we will emerge from this stronger.”
Continue reading Week’s Start: COVID-19 State, County, Local Updates & How to HelpRFH Class of 2020: A Final Fete
Photo/RFH
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s (RFH) Class of 2020 got its last gathering hurrah in before COVID-19 descended on the community with the high school’s annual tradition of the 100 Nights Dinner.
Continue reading RFH Class of 2020: A Final FeteWeek’s Start: Area Covid-19 Update
The COVID-19 message for New Jerseyans from their governor is an emphatic, simple one — Stay home!
Continue reading Week’s Start: Area Covid-19 UpdateIn Memorium: Rumson Resident Monique Squeo-Bolsius, 53
Rumson resident Monique Squeo-Bolsius, “a vibrant and beautiful 53-year old woman,” passed away on March 18 after a two-year battle with cancer.
Continue reading In Memorium: Rumson Resident Monique Squeo-Bolsius, 53A Restricted R-FH Area St. Patrick’s Day Feast 2020
With the edict from NJ Gov. Phil Murphy in full swing officially today, St. Patrick’s Day, Rumson-Fair Haven area eateries are also in full isolated celebration mode. They’re offering delivery and curbside pick-up for St. Paddy’s Day and to ease the stress of daily life in this new normal.
Continue reading A Restricted R-FH Area St. Patrick’s Day Feast 2020Focus: Sunshine & Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parading
Everyone said it. Sunday was a great day for a parade. And so the marchers marched under sunny skies in the Eighth Annual Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Take a look at some of the sights and folks of the day … (And don’t forget to click in the lower gallery to enlarge and scroll!)
Photos/Sue Hill-Spakowski and Jenny Costello for R-FH Retro
- Prosecutor: 53-Year-Old Man Convicted of Wife’s Murder
- Prosecutor: Fatal Thursday Crash Under Investigation; Witnesses Sought
- Retro RFH Baseball Dugout Daze
- Prosecutor: Area Man Gets 30 Years for 2021 Home Invasion, Sexual Assault
- In Memoriam: Longtime Little Silver Resident, Pam Nye Llewellyn, 61
In Memorium: Rumsonite, WW II Vet, Sailor Bill Reaves, 98
Longtime Rumson resident William “Bill” Hamlin Reaves passed away at his home on March 4, loved ones by his side. He was 98.
Continue reading In Memorium: Rumsonite, WW II Vet, Sailor Bill Reaves, 98Scene Around: Rumson Dog Daze of Spring
Photo/Sue Hill-Spakowski
As everyone preps to spring forward in time, Daylight Saving, that is, it was a dog day afternoon of sunshine on the beach for many, yesterday and today.
Rumson dog Nancy (right) took a romp on the beach at Sandy Hook with Winter (left), her dog friend. In the ironic little play date pairing, the two did a little digging and imprinting and found one another’s shadow.
Nancy, the four-legged child of Rumsonite Sue Hill-Spakowski, is quite the poser. She has been seen around the towns making some keen nature observations, having tea and cavorting.
According to Nancy, spring is definitely in the air and in her step. And she’s right.
Predictions for the rest of the week and weekend, according to the National Weather Service, are that, despite a little rainfall Friday after 2 p.m. and a possibility of some snow mixing with it overnight, the outlook for the weekend is a sunny one with temperatures reaching a high of about 53 degrees on Sunday.
Forget the groundhog. Nancy knows all. Where shall we see Rumson dog Nancy next?
See something fun or interesting? Take a snapshot. Send it to us at [email protected] and we’ll include it in our Scene Around feature for the area. Send photos with proper credit only. Focus and find the good little things that count in your community.
- Prosecutor: 53-Year-Old Man Convicted of Wife’s Murder
- Prosecutor: Fatal Thursday Crash Under Investigation; Witnesses Sought
- Retro RFH Baseball Dugout Daze
- Prosecutor: Area Man Gets 30 Years for 2021 Home Invasion, Sexual Assault
- In Memoriam: Longtime Little Silver Resident, Pam Nye Llewellyn, 61
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