Columns
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•May 1, 2019
Cinco de Mayo Reappropriated, Spring Surf Roundup, and Wildwood-Sized Beaches
In 1866, Napoleon III started to draw down his troops in what has become known as the Second French Intervention in Mexico.
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•April 24, 2019
Will Women’s Suffrage Finally Pass?
As April 1919 was drawing to a close, Burlington County’s Alice Paul, the leader of the National Woman’s Party, watched helplessly as hopes for the passage of a constitutional amendment allowing all…
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•April 24, 2019
Speak Softly When Predicting a Slow Hurricane Season; Mississippian Asian Carp to Be Deported Back to China
HEAR YE, HEAR YE: This year’s hurricane season will be slower than usual, fewer ‘canes and such. But I can’t be shouting that to the rooftops. Hurricanes have amazing hearing. If they get wind that…
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•April 17, 2019
Amelia a Standout Among Shipwrecks
Over the past several weeks I have been following a series of interviews given by William A. Crane, a former Manahawkin coroner and Ocean County clerk, about local shipwrecks. In 1884 he told about…
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•April 17, 2019
If Wind Turbine Noise Causes Cancer, Imagine What You’ll Get from Reusable Bags and Solar Panels; Plus a Banger of a Swell
This week, I stand behind my country with a type of wonder I’ve never had before. Because it says a lot about our people that we are simply still standing. Or maybe that’s just the euphoria of having…
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•April 17, 2019
Tall Trees Set to Take a Fall; Snakeheads Snake Into Jersey
TALL TREE CONUNDRUM: I find myself forced into a state of noncommittalness over the battle to prevent the clearing of Depression Era white pine trees impinging on the vista of officials manning the…
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•April 10, 2019
Deadly Two Weeks Off LBI
In 1885 at the dedication of the section of the Manahawkin Baptist Church’s cemetery set aside for unidentified victims of shipwrecks, William A. Crane, the former town coroner, gave an interview…
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•April 9, 2019
Route 72 Is Dangerous Failure as Fireline; Tinted Windowers Sidestep Distraction Citations
HELLFIRE TO PAY: Every wildfire tells a story. The recent Spring Ridge Wildfire was particularly telling in a firefighting vein. It disturbingly proved Route 72 is not the firefighting aid it had…
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•April 3, 2019
Is It Spring We Yearn for or Actually the Season Beyond?
Overall I like to surround myself with positive people. I prefer those who see the glass as half full of lemonade.
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•April 3, 2019
Deadly Time Off the LBI Coast
As you drive down Long Beach Boulevard on LBI in early spring you see signs of suburbia coming to life. It’s hard to imagine this place as ever being described as deserted or isolated and remote, but…
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•April 3, 2019
Weekend Wildfire Quite a Sight; Doing Mt. Everest for Earth Day
That was a mighty wild wildfire over the weekend. It was named the Spring Hills Fire of 2019, based on its apparent point of origin, the Spring Hill Pygmy Pines Plain. It now comes down to…
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•March 27, 2019
Lost at Sea, Found on LBI
In January 1884, the British barkentine Elmina grounded off LBI, and despite the efforts of several life-saving crews, all hands were lost in the icy surf. Several New York newspapers carried stories…
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•March 26, 2019
Neo-Traditional Medicine Reaches Gooniness; Hikers, Know If Property Truly Private
I’m having a re-rant on behalf of totoaba fish and poor little vaquita dolphin, both of which live exclusively down Gulf of California way.
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•March 20, 2019
Fake News Blames ‘Heartless’ Locals
In 1884, the barkentine Elmina had grounded on the bar off LBI in a violent storm, with the loss of all those on board. While the failure of the local life-saving crews to save anyone was explained…
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•March 20, 2019
Winter Waves Either Great or Terrible – We Can’t Decide
Not sure if you’ve heard this, but this has been the worst winter for waves.
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•March 20, 2019
Barnegat Inlet Might Take a Lead From the River Thames; Distasteful Diver Is Semi-Swallowed by a ‘Big Fish’ Whale
Let’s talk the River Thames for a minute. Yes, the one in London. How many River Thames are there … only one, right? Anyway, I think you’ll be excessively surprised where this is going.
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•March 13, 2019
Struggling to Save the Elmina
During a gale in January 1884, a life and death drama was playing out on the LBI beach. The barkentine Elmina, from Salscombe, England, had grounded on the bar just offshore. Keeper James Sprague and…
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•March 13, 2019
Weirdest Boat Fishing Trip of All Time; Biggest Bass Don’t Make the Best Bass
It’s well known that many boat fishing trips are not made purely to wet lines. Anything can go down out there, including some mighty homicidal happenings. Take, for instance, the whacking of Big…
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•March 6, 2019
The Plastic Bag ‘Nightmare,’ a Return to North Swells, $50 Till 50 and the Holgate Assessment
Quite a week we had in America. I just want to start out by saying that I am not related to Michael Cohen. He is of the “H” Cohens. I am not.
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•March 6, 2019
The Fate of the Elmina
Some shipwrecks are simple tragedies affecting only the lives of those involved; others, like the Titanic, lead to sweeping government actions to improve safety. LBI has had two wrecks that led to…
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•March 6, 2019
Lady Liberty and Barney Duke It Out, Vying for Geico and Coca-Cola Ads
LIBERTY ISLAND OR LBI?: Which is New Jersey’s biggest state park attraction? That very question has led to some heated tourism-based debate. Many/most will say it comes down to Old Barney versus Lady…
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•February 27, 2019
Schooner Surprize Meets Its Fate
One of the great LBI mysteries is how Ship Bottom got its name. According to shipbottom.org, “The captain of a schooner heading south was navigating through a thick fog when he heard cries from the…
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•February 27, 2019
Saving at the Pumps for Summer Vacations; Wind Farms About to Sprout Off the Coast
FILL-UP TIME: Gas prices have sorta tanked this winter. For most lead-footed Americans, it means we can keep driving our big-ass trucks and SUVs with impunity. “Fill it up with impunity, please.”
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•February 20, 2019
Antlered Squirrels Come Under Fire During Family Day; Wooden Jetty/Wall/Groin Complex Ready to Pound Sand
Not long ago, I was asked to hype the state’s first sanctioned squirrel hunt, held last weekend at the Inskip Antler Hunting Club, Winslow Township. I balked. Firstly, I had trouble figuring out how…
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•February 20, 2019
Suffragists Fight Onward
As February 1919 was drawing to a close, the hopes of New Jersey’s Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party to amend the Constitution to permit all American women to vote in the 1920 presidential…
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•February 20, 2019
The ’80s Revival Is Over, Much Welcome Average Wave and Weather Conditions, and a Hill to Hit
It seems the ’80s revival is finally over.
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•February 13, 2019
Welcome Home for the President
On Feb. 10, 1919, the amendment designed to give all American women the vote failed in the Democratic-controlled Senate, for the second time by only one vote. New Jersey’s Alice Paul, head of the…
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•February 13, 2019
Tide Turned on Killer Cats; 750 MPH ‘Hyperlooping’ to the Shore?
How about the Colorado man, out for a leisurely run in mountain country, being put upon by a young and rambunctious cougar? This wasn’t just a cougarly love-tap, or merely a territoriality message.…
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•February 6, 2019
Local Eateries Could Use Bodies, Heat and Body Heat; Plus a Winter Roller Coaster of Conditions
I’m curious if anyone else has seen the conundrum that many of our local businesses face in these frosty months.
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•February 6, 2019
Women’s Suffrage Fails Again
For almost 50 years, American women had been trying to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting them the right to vote; in February 1919, it appeared that one of its biggest hurdles, the…
