MORRIS COUNTY — Kyle was recently rescued from a local, municipal shelter where he was found as a stray. We are so excited to be able to help this happy boy find his forever home!
Kyle is very friendly and can always be found smiling. He is a real nugget of joy! He often stands on his hind legs and does a little dance when he wants your attention (or a taste of your dinner!)!
Kyle is dog-friendly with dogs who will give him space and can live with children 16+. His preferred home would be a quiet one without a lot of chaos. What can we say, Kyle loves his peace and quiet! He would also prefer a home without frequent visitors or one where his owners are experienced with fear issues. This little guy is afraid of strangers but loves his foster family. He will need a home that understands and can work through this with him.
Kyle loves toys and playing. He also really enjoys curling up in his foster mom’s laps for pets. He’s a great mix of fun and snuggly!
If you’re looking for a dog to make you grin ear-to-ear, apply to adopt Kyle today!
If you are interested in adopting, please fill out an application by clicking here.
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EAST HANOVER — Chabad of Southeast Morris County will hold its annual menorah lighting ceremony at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, December 23, the second night of Hanukkah in front of East Hanover Town Hall located at 411 Ridgedale Avenue.
Refreshments following the lighting will be served inside Town Hall.
The Madison Menorah Lighting on will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 22, the first night of Hanukkah at the menorah located across the street from the Hartley Dodge Memorial building on Kings Road at the Madison Train Station.
The Florham Park Menorah Lighting will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, December 23 at the menorah located in front of the gazebo at 111 Ridgedale Avenue
The menorah lightings are a project of Chabad of Southeast Morris County; a Jewish outreach, educational and social service organization located at 42 Park Avenue, Madison. For more information click here or call (973) 377-0707.
BOONTON — Town of Boonton Clerk is accepting Parking Permit Applications.
Universal permits cost $195.00 (Valid in any parking space on any street regulated by a long-term parking meter or coin slot box in any town toll parking lot or on any public street designated as a long-term parking meter zone.)
Bring the application along with payment to the Clerk’s Office at Town Hall, 100 Washington Street, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Payment may be made by cash or check. Checks must be made out to the Town of Boonton.
All permits allow for parking in long-term meters only. A “long-term parking meter” shall mean a metered parking space in which it is legal to park for three hours or more.
For more information call (973) 402-9410 ext. 624.
Members of Hanover Park Regional High School District, New York Jets and United Way of Northern New Jersey. Maria Carrell, Superintendent of Schools, Christopher Kelly, Whippany Park High School Principal, Juliana Campesi, Samantha Davidson, Michael Kiel, Emma Zachary, Daniela Riverso, United Way of Northern New Jersey, Jonotthan Harrison, New York Jets, Julia Kierney, Noah Kaplan, Erik L., Dominic Roselli, Cadence Sabatino, Brent Kaiser, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director, Whippany Park High School, Theresa Leamy, Sr. V.P. Resource Development , United Way of Northern New Jersey
HANOVER TOWNSHIP — As part of the celebration of the NFL’s 100th season, Huddle for 100 looks to inspire 1 million people to volunteer 100 minutes of their time to make meaningful contributions to their communities — with the goal being 100 million minutes volunteered by Super Bowl LIV.
Juliana Campesi introduces the New York Jets Walter Payton Man of the Year, Jonotthan Harrison
Ten Whippany Park students stepped up to meet the challenge by committing to the United Way Varsity Letter program. On Tuesday, December 17, those ten students were recognized by the New York Jets. Senior Juliana Campesi who accrued the most volunteer hours with 218 hours since September 1, announced Jonotthan Harrison as the New York Jets Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
Emma Zachary is selected to win two tickets to the Super Bowl. She is pictured with Jonotthan Harrison
The Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, considered one of the NFL’s most prestigious honors, acknowledges a player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field. During the event, the New York Jets honored the students for their volunteer efforts by randomly selecting junior Emma Zachary; surprising her with a trip for two to Super Bowl LIV in Miami, Florida.
The Varsity Letter and Huddle for 100 challenge took place earlier this year at Hanover Park High School where the New York Jets awarded a Hanover Park student with a trip for two to the Super Bowl.
MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp and Acting Chief of Investigations Chris Kimker announce that on December 12, a Morris County jury found Richard Perry, 48, of Oak Ridge, guilty of two counts of second degree sexual assault and one count of third degree endangering the welfare of a child.
The Honorable David H. Ironson, J.S.C., presided over the trial. A sentencing date has been scheduled for January 17, 2020.
Perry was subsequently remanded to the Morris County Correctional Facility pending sentencing. At sentencing, he faces a minimum of five years New Jersey State Prison in which he will have to serve 85% of that sentence before being eligible for parole. Perry will also be subject to registration pursuant to Megan’s Law and Parole supervision for life
The crimes occurred on October 2, 2016 when Mr. Perry had touched the niece of his fiancé on the breasts and vagina during a sleepover at his home. The then 11-year-old victim disclosed to her aunt immediately that Mr. Perry touched her and the aunt in turn contacted the police.
Prosecutor Knapp would like to thank the Jefferson Township Police Department and the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit for their involvement in this investigation and prosecution. Prosecutor Knapp would specifically like to thank and recognize the prosecution team of Assistant Prosecutor Reema Sethi Kareer, Assistant Prosecutor Jessica Sparano, Detective Michael Bost, Detective Melissa Enslen, and Victim Advocate Amanda Holloway of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office for their efforts in this case.
MORRIS COUNTY — On December 13, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office provided a training seminar for all Morris County school superintendents at Pequannock High School. The approximately two-hour training focused on bias crimes and incidents, and recognizing gang issues and violence in our communities and especially our schools.
Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp and Interim Executive County Superintendent Dr. Angelica L. Allen-McMillan gave opening remarks to the superintendents. Speakers for the event included Morris County Sheriff’s Office Detective Corporal Edwin Santana, Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Samantha DeNegri, and Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Supervisor Patrick LaGuerre. Detective Corporal Santana is a founder of the Gang Intelligence Unit at the Morris County Correctional Facility, a national lecturer on gangs, and the New Jersey Chapter President of the East Coast Gang Investigators Association. All three presenters have extensive experience working either in units covering gangs or bias crimes, and their expertise provided the superintendents with extremely beneficial knowledge in recognizing these issues in their school systems. With this information, the superintendents can create or update district-wide policies to ensure that their school district is as safe as possible.
Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp stated, “It is critically important that our schools are free of bias and gang violence. The training provided gave key information to school superintendents to recognize indicators of both before problems arise.”
Kyle Kepler taking the oath of office on December 12 during the Florham Park Township Council meeting. His parents Steve and Jill Kepler look on
FLORHAM PARK — The Florham Park Police Department welcomed its newest member to the force, Patrol Officer Kyle Kepler, during the Borough Council meeting on Thursday, December 12.
Kepler’s status as a patrol officer was made official when the Florham Park Borough Council unanimously passed a resolution of approval.Kepler is a graduate of the Morris County Police and Fire Academy. He will begin his duties in January. Kepler grew up in Warren and currently resides in Mount Arlington.
His mom Jill Kepler makes it official by placing Kyle’s badge
Commissioner Deborah Smith, Chair of the Commissioners’ Budget Committee
MORRIS COUNTY — Freeholder Deborah Smith will be named Freeholder Director at the Morris County Freeholders Reorganization meeting to be held on Friday, January 3, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Morris County Administration and Records Building.
Joining Smith will be Freeholder Stephen H. Shaw as Deputy Director.
Other members of the Freeholder Board consists of Doug Cabana, John Krickus, Thomas J. Mastrangelo andKathryn A. DeFillippo. Freeholder Heather Darling will step down and be sworn in for a five-year term as Morris County Surrogate. Darling, a Republican from Roxbury Township who has sat on the board since 2018, won the surrogate race, defeating Democrat Michael Thompson in the Tuesday, November 5 general election.
Darling leaves behind a term that expires on December 31, 2020. As a result, the seat must be filled by a Republican county convention, to be held at a date yet to be announced but must be held within 35 days after she is sworn in to her new position.
So far, former Morris County Freeholder John Cesaro of Parsippany, is first to announce his desire to fill Darling’s seat. Cesaro, a Parsippany attorney, sat on the freeholder board from 2012 to 2018. His bid to represent the 26th Legislative District in the Assembly failed in the June 2017 primary. His bid to return to the freeholder board in 2018 also ended in that primary.
Darling, a 43-year Morris County resident, was in her second year on the freeholder board but ran for surrogate because veteran surrogate John Pecorino was to retire after 25 years of service. She is principal of the Darling Law Firm, LLC, which she founded, and is president of her father’s real estate business.
NEW JERSEY — Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a state grand jury has indicted nine men in an investigation that targeted a large-scale cocaine distribution ring in Cumberland County. During the investigation, the Division of Criminal Justice dismantled a drug mill in Vineland, where they seized heroin and fentanyl, as well as assault rifles and illegal large capacity magazines.
The indictment handed up today is the result of an eight-month investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau that led to arrests of a dozen defendants in late 2017. The Division of Criminal Justice was assisted by the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office. Three other defendants pleaded guilty to first-degree distribution of cocaine prior to the indictment.
Terrel Goodwin
The Division of Criminal Justice obtained an indictment charging Terrel Goodwin, 30, of Vineland, with first-degree promoting organized street crime.
Goodwin, who allegedly was a major supplier of cocaine, is also charged with first-degree distribution of cocaine, along with George Smith, 58, of Bridgeton.
Goodwin, Smith, and six other men are charged with second-degree conspiracy.
Those six other men allegedly acted as “runners” for Goodwin, distributing cocaine to street-level dealers.
The ninth indicted defendant, Alexander Torres, 33, of Vineland, was arrested when detectives of the DCJ Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau executed a search warrant during the investigation at his basement apartment on North Myrtle Street, where they seized six guns, including two illegal assault rifles, and four illegal large capacity magazines.
Alexander Torres
They also seized nearly 100 grams of heroin mixed with fentanyl, nearly a kilogram of powder dibutylone (“bath salts”), over 900 dibutylone pills, and drug milling equipment, including grinders, blenders, mixing bowls, respirator masks, scales and a pill press.
Torres is charged with first-degree maintaining a narcotics production facility, as well as drug and weapons offenses, including possession of a weapon as a convicted felon, possession of firearms during commission of a drug crime, and possession of assault rifles and large-capacity magazines.
“The drugs and guns seized in this investigation speak to the danger this criminal ring posed to residents in the communities where they operated,” said Attorney General Grewal. “By dismantling this network and filing first-degree charges against the lead defendants, we took important steps to promote safety and security in South Jersey.”
“By conducting proactive investigations that target large-scale distributors of narcotics and that cut deeper into the supply network, we maximize our impact on drug dealing and the violence that so often accompanies it,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice. “I commend the detectives and attorneys in our Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau who conducted this operation, which led to first- and second-degree charges against a dozen alleged drug dealers.”
Three other cocaine suppliers who allegedly supplied or received cocaine from Goodwin were arrested during the investigation and pleaded guilty previously to first-degree distribution of cocaine. Each of the following men is awaiting sentencing and faces a recommended sentence of ten years in state prison:
Moses Arellano, 23, of Vineland
Christian Padilla, 28, of Glassboro
Oscar Gonzalez, 36, of Vineland
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Rastelli was assigned to the investigation for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Erik Daab and Bureau Chief Lauren Scarpa Yfantis. Deputy Bureau Chief Daab presented the case to the state grand jury. Lead detectives for the DCJ Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau were Detective Jeffrey Lorman and Detective Todd Watkins, as well as the entire Organized Crime South Unit, under the supervision of Detective Sgt. Peppi Pichette, Deputy Chief of Detectives Christopher Donohue, and Chief of Detectives Weldon Powell. Attorney General Grewal thanked the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police Intelligence Section for their valuable assistance.
The following is a full list of the defendants charged in the indictment returned today:
Terrell Goodwin, 30, of Vineland
George Smith, 58, of Bridgeton
Alexander Torres, 33, of Vineland
Stephen Fortune, 30, of Bridgeton
Joshua Rivera, 21, of Bridgeton
Wesley Bowleg, 46, of Bridgeton
Eric White, 31, Vineland
Kyle Mills, 33, of Bridgetown
Joseph Flores, 26, of Vineland
First-degree charges carry a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000, while second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $150,000. The sentence for promoting organized street crime must be served consecutively to the sentence for any underlying offense. First-degree distribution of cocaine carries an enhanced fine of up to $500,000. Possession of a weapon as a convicted felon carries a minimum term of parole ineligibility of five years. The third-degree drug charges carry a sentence of three to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $35,000, while fourth-degree charges carry a sentence of up to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Brown in Mercer County, who assigned the case to Cumberland County, where the defendants will appear in court at a later date for arraignment.
Editor’s Note: An arrest, indictment or signing of a criminal complaint is merely an accusation. Despite this accusation, the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until he or she has been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
MORRIS COUNTY — Businessman/Lawyer and Republican State Committeeman Larry Casha announced his candidacy for the 11th Congressional District seat for the 2020 election.
The following is a statement by Casha:
“The America we know, the America whose base principles of economic freedom, free speech, due process for all Americans including President Trump and a Congress that works together for the people is under attack. Never in the history of our country has a mainstream political party such as the Democratic Party openly accepted socialism, a concept that would end the America that permitted our grandparents, parents and ourselves to pursue our American dreams. Never before has a Congress ignored the Constitution by ignoring due process in these clandestine impeachment proceedings. We should all be afraid of their secret, behind doors proceedings to indict. Today it is the President, tomorrow it may be one of us.
The people of the New Jersey 11th Congressional District deserve someone who will represent them addressing the issues that are germane to Morris, Essex, Passaic and Sussex Counties like deducting all of our real estate and local taxes from our income taxes and not someone whose sole purpose in Congress is to promote the national agenda of Speaker Pelosi’s Democratic Party. Someone who will fight for the principles that made this country the most prosperous the world has ever known so that future generations have the same chance to pursue their dreams as their ancestors. Someone who will stand up to the Democrats and call them out for socialism and ignoring the Constitution. Someone who will work with the administration, which has created unparalleled prosperity among all socio-economic levels of our society, with an eye towards an increasingly successful future, so that progress can continue.
It is for these and many other unaddressed issues which are crucial to the people of the New Jersey 11th Congressional District that I announce my candidacy for the United States Congress.”
Larry Casha Bio Larry is the founding member of Casha and Casha, LLC in 1980 and Casha Realty, LLC 1999. At the law firm, he specializes in transactional matters such as real estate, wills, trusts, estate planning and business matters. Casha Realty is a real estate holding company wherein he manages commercial real estate.
Larry received a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree with a double major in Marketing and Management. He graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctor Degree from University of New Hampshire School of Law. He is admitted to the bars of the States of New Jersey and New York, as well as the Federal Courts for the Districts of New Jersey, the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the United States Supreme Court.
He is the former Kinnelon Council President and currently serves as the Republican State Committeeman from Morris County. He served on the staffs of Assemblyman Alex DeCroce and Senator Robert Martin. He was the New Jersey Surrogate Speaker Director for the Presidential Campaign of George W. Bush and Morris County Coordinator for John McCain’s Presidential and Christine Todd Whitman’s Gubernatorial Campaigns as well as numerous other roles in, Presidential, U.S. Senate and Gubernatorial Campaigns.
Larry was Governor Whitman’s appointee to the Board of Trustees for the County College of Morris and has or continues to volunteer legal services and/or be on the Boards of the Chamber of Commerce, the Montville First Aid Squad and Fire Departments, Drug Awareness Council and the Housing Partnership.
In 2006, Larry was inducted into the Montville Township High School Hall of Fame. Larry is also a frequent legal and political contributor on radio talk show stations.
Larry and his wife Debra of 41 years are lifelong residents of the 11th Congressional District. Currently residents of Kinnelon, they were both educated in the District’s public-school systems and attended Montclair State University for their undergraduate degrees.
MORRIS COUNTY — Kyle was recently rescued from a local, municipal shelter where he was found as a stray. We are so excited to be able to help this happy boy find his forever home!
