Columns
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•February 14, 2018
Did Film Really Incite Mutiny?
In 1916, Robert Goldstein had begun work on a film titled “The Spirit of ’76,” about America’s struggle for independence. During the winter of 1918, he sat in jail awaiting trial under the Espionage…
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•February 14, 2018
Five Ways the New Tax Law May Impact You
The most sweeping tax reform legislation in decades was enacted into law at the end of 2017. If you pay federal income taxes, you are likely to see an impact this year. As you plan your 2018 tax…
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•February 7, 2018
Flying Dead Have It In for Maryland Hunter; Bag Ban Days Will Soon Be Upon Our Heads
I have to start off with a not-totally-funny, concussion-protocolesque news story from down Chesapeake Bay way, where Robert Meilhammer was recently goose hunting Maryland’s Eastern Shore – up until…
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•February 7, 2018
Did Historical Film Encourage Mutiny?
New Jersey socialist Frederick Krafft was sentenced to five years in prison for trying to cause a mutiny in the U.S. armed forces by saying, “I can’t see how the government can compel troops to…
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•January 31, 2018
Free Speech or Espionage Act Violation?
In September 1917, a drama was playing out in a Trenton courtroom that would have a major influence on how political dissent would be treated in the United States. Frederick Krafft, a 58-year-old…
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•January 24, 2018
NJ Man Charged Under Espionage Act
Throughout the spring of 1917 Robert Goldstein had been battling with Chicago censors for permission to show his movie “The Spirit of ’76.” Many of them felt it would offend the British, who were now…
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•January 24, 2018
The Sky’s the Limit When Drones Hit the Beaches; Our New Governor Is Worth His Weight in Gold
I need to launch into this section with all props turning – droning all the way to Australia, a place I’ve never been but often visit vicariously in here.
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•January 17, 2018
Putting a Muzzle on ‘Spirit of ’76’
Today freedom of speech again seems to be under attack. Most people feel it is a protected right, but a close look at our history can make you worry. One hundred years ago a man by the name of Robert…
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•January 10, 2018
Time to Get Your Score
You survived the bitter cold blast of winter and now are looking forward to an early spring. Here the future holds stories about local men entering the trenches of France and New Jersey suffering its…
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•December 20, 2017
No Wikipedia Allowed!
This is the time of year when The SandPaper goes dark for two weeks, but before the long winter’s nap there is the annual brainteaser meant to keep you awake until January and the paper’s return.…
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•December 13, 2017
Tuckerton Trees Gladden New York City
There are times when the facts of a real event can read like a low-budget Hollywood tearjerker; that’s the way the 1917 Christmas story begins. As the big day neared, Americans were being told to…
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•November 29, 2017
Celebrating Thanksgiving in Wartime
Holidays in peacetime can sometimes be taken for granted as we become wrapped up in ourselves, but in wartime things are different. The celebrations of 1917 would be the first time since the Civil…
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•November 22, 2017
Was Hunger Strike a Victory?
After months of picketing the White House by Alice Paul of the National Woman’s Party and her supporters, who were attempting to convince President Woodrow Wilson to support the constitutional…
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•November 15, 2017
Consistent Swell, Inconsistent Winds and a Governor We Will Never Forget
So, the elections are over and it seems this Murphy character will be our new governor. His opponent, Kim Guadango, could have been the next great leader of the free world, but unfortunately for her…
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•November 8, 2017
Are Prisoners Telling the Truth?
During mid-November 1917, newspapers across the country began carrying stories of the government’s mistreatment of suffragist Alice Paul and her supporters. The women had received sentences of up to…
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•November 7, 2017
LBI Locals Go All Peter, Paul and Mary; Tale Behind Surf City’s Big-Ass Bass
WHERE HAVE ALL THE LOCALS GONE?: It’s hard to imagine Long Beach Island someday filling a chapter in a book called, “Ghost Towns of the Jersey Shore.” But, in a weird way, we’re moving toward it – by…
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•November 1, 2017
Jailed Suffragists Continue Resistance
Word that Moorestown Quaker Alice Paul was on a hunger strike trying to receive treatment as a “political prisoner” at the District of Columbia jail seemed to energize both her supporters and…
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•October 31, 2017
When Tilapia and Crabs Are Stoned, It’s Marijuana and Prozac to Blame
As column doorbusters this week, I’m offering reports of Lebanese tilapia being fed Middle East cannabis oil, followed by Portlandia crabs so cranked up on the antidepressant Prozac that they choose…
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•October 25, 2017
Horrors in Virginia Workhouse
As October 1917 was coming to an end, a true American horror story was playing out. Alice Paul, a Moorestown, N.J., Quaker and president of the National Woman’s Party, along with a number of her…
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•October 18, 2017
Force Feeding Inflicted on Prisoners
As October 1917 was coming to an end, many Ocean County men were at Camp Dix preparing to become part of the great army being sent to France to “make the world safe for democracy.” At the same time a…
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•October 11, 2017
Defiant Picketers Hold Their Course
In October 1917, two New Jersey titans were about to square off in a face-to-face battle of wills that would change the course of American history.
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•October 4, 2017
Actions Against Suffragettes Escalate
In 1917, as a wartime president, Woodrow Wilson was arguably the most powerful man to ever sit in the Oval Office. He commanded a million-man army. His Congress had rubberstamped a national draft…
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•October 3, 2017
When Local Wildlife Becomes Bloody Pain in the Neck; Classic Readies Special Launch
I gotta begin with an LBI, highly freakafied story that’ll stand your neck hairs a bit on end. It’s also one of those things that’ll stick with you far into the night, if not forever. Just don’t let…
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•September 27, 2017
Suffrage Fight Continues in Washington
As the summer of 1917 was ending, President Woodrow Wilson faced a nemesis in the form of Alice Paul, a 32-year-old Quaker woman from Moorestown, N.J. The issue that divided them was giving the vote…
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•September 26, 2017
Sound of Unsilence Penetrates Astoundingly; Craft Beer With Killer Kick
We had a new moon last week, meaning it was the darkest night of the month, at least astronomically speaking.
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•September 20, 2017
Camp Dix Battles Liquor, Prostitution
While the declaration of war on Germany in April 1917 forewarned of battles to be fought in far-off France, there would be some skirmishes closer to home over controlling men’s hearts, minds and…
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•September 13, 2017
Draftees Get Down to Business
In September 1917, the 20,000 New Jersey civilians drafted into President Wilson’s national Army began reporting to Camp Dix. On the fifth, the Official Bulletin published by the United States…
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•September 6, 2017
Draftees Report to Camp Dix
By September 1917, for many Americans the idea that the United States was at war was finally becoming a reality. Since the declaration of war in April, life for most had changed, and the conflict was…
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•August 30, 2017
Ocean County Men Under Scrutiny
In August 1917, two Ocean County men were being carefully watched – one secretly by U.S. government agents, Frederick Ostendorff, the other by the nation’s press, Kingdom Gould.
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•August 23, 2017
Long Period Waves: Low Expectations and Big Goofy Grins
Surfers obsess over models. Now, I’m not talking about the swimsuit models who are standard in surf marketing. Although back before the internet- before an 11-year-old could pull up any kind of smut…
