Two River Times - Holiday Express

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® 2004 Two River Times LLC.
VOLUME 20 NUMBER 6 THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 13 - 20, 2009 ONE DOLLAR
The Dad Vail
Regatta Returning
To The Navesink
U.S. Army First Sergeant Reginald Richardson addressed the audience at the annual Veterans Day Ceremony in Fair Haven
on Wednesday.
DID THE
GRINCH
STEAL
‘HOLIDAY
EXPRESS?’
By John Burton
TINTON FALLS – What’s in
a name? For Tim McLoone
and members of the charitable
organization he founded,
Holiday Express, the answer to
that question is “everything.”
The organization that provides
a traveling holiday party
with live music, food, games
and gifts to organizations that
may otherwise be overlooked
during the holidays is now
entering its busiest season.
Like most charities,
Holiday Express is finding it
tough to raise the money
needed to support their work
this holiday season.
Continued on Page 4
Sandy Hook Plan Lacked
Necessary Financial Commitments
By John Burton
SANDY HOOK – The
National Park Service’s
release of the findings of an
independent review of the
financial submission for a private
developer’s plan to renovate
a series of buildings at the
historic Fort Hancock gives a
glimpse into the developer’s
plans and apparent lack of
funding commitments.
The National Park Service
(NPS) recently released the
two-page evaluation drafted by
the agreed-upon independent
arbitrator, detailing the arbitrator’s
findings from reviewing
the financial plan submitted by
Sandy Hook Partners (SHP),
the developer contracted by
NPS to renovate and restore
initially 36 structures at Fort
Hancock, a former Army base
located at the tip of Gateway
National Recreation Area at
Sandy Hook, a federal park.
Following a review of the
developer’s financial plan, NPS
officials on Aug. 11 had determined
the developer’s plan
was insufficient to undertake
the redevelopment of 33 of the
original 36 structures under
contract. Following that decision,
Sandy Hook Partners,
headed by Rumson resident
James Wassel, invoked a provision
within the lease agreement
allowing for an independent
arbitrator to review the
plan for a final determination
on its merit.
The arbitrator, Maurice
Robinson and Associates, an
El Segundo, California-based
consultant for the hospitality
industry and for dispute resolutions,
lays out in brief
terms the extent of the developer’s
search for the millions
of dollars needed to restore
the aging and deteriorating
structures at the former
military installation.
According to the letter,
submitted to the NPS on Oct.
8, Robinson had reviewed the
pertinent information submitted
by the park service, as
well as contacting some of the
proposed lending institutions,
Wassel and NPS representatives
to make his determination.
And that determination,
as reported in The Two River
Times on Oct. 16, and in
other publications that week,
was the same as the park
services: “The Lessee [Sandy
Hook Developers] has not
presented written evidence
of commercially reasonable
financial commitments from
qualified entities that would
be sufficient to successfully
undertake the proposed
Phase 1 renovation program,”
stated Robinson’s letter
The letter detailed five
lending sources that Sandy
Hook Partners had apparently
pursued to obtain the mil-
Continued on Page 6
SCOTT LONGFIELD
RUMSON – Borough officials
announced on Wednesday
that the nation’s largest
intercollegiate regatta, known
as the Dad Vail, will take place
in Rumson on Friday and
Saturday, May 7 and 8, 2010.
The annual event draws
more than 3,000 participants
from 100 colleges in the
United States and Canada,
including the Ivy Leagues.
While borough officials
have known for some time
that Rumson was under
consideration as a possible
location for the regatta,
Mayor John Ekdahl confirmed
on Wednesday that
the event is a go for
Mother’s Day weekend.
The regatta has taken
place on the Schuykill River
in Philadelphia for the past 56
years, but the organization
has been searching for another
venue for the regatta and
Rumson was one of several
sites under consideration,
Ekdahl said.
The upcoming event represents
a homecoming for the
rowing race – the very first
Dad Vail race took place on
the Navesink in 1939. It will
return to the Navesink for its
72nd season.
“We are thrilled that the
Dad Vail regatta has decided
to relocate to Rumson, “ said
Mayor John Ekdahl. “We
think this will have a tremendous
economic impact, not
only for Rumson but for all of
the surrounding two river
towns. This should give a
boost to all of the hotels and
restaurants in the area.”
The cost of the event will
be underwritten through private
and corporate donations,
officials said.
Two River Times owner
Michael Gooch has provided
an initial advance of $100,000
toward the $250,000 in financial
guarantees required by
the organization.
Continued on Page 4
Two Indicted
In Death Of
Disabled Woman
By Ryan Fennell
RED BANK – Two women
who were responsible for the
care of a developmentally disabled
woman, have been
named in a 17-count indictment
in connection with the
alleged abuse, neglect, and
starvation death of 29-year
old Tara O’Leary.
Bridget Grimes, 52, and
Debra Sloan, 55, were named
in the indictment handed
down in a Hunterdon County
court last Friday.
Grimes, O’Leary’s caseworker
assigned to her by the
State Division of Developmental
Disabilities, was
charged with six counts of
official misconduct for her
role in O’Leary’s treatment.
Sloan’s charges include
second-degree aggravated
assault, third-degree assault
of a developmentally disabled
person, and criminal restraint.
O’Leary was born with
multiple disabilities and spent
Continued on Page 6
Almanac 12
Arts & Entertainment 15-16
Business & Real Estate 25
Classified 21-24
Editorial 8
I N D E X
Family, Friends
Remember Ellie Huson
Atlantic Highlands resident
lived a lively 106 years
Horoscope 16
Obituaries 10
By Ryan Fennell
Movies 16
People 26-29
Sports 17-20
Town Journal 11
Two River Soccer 18
ATLANTIC HIGH-
LANDS – Eleanore
Mittlestead Huson of
Atlantic Highlands died on
October 24 at the age of 106.
On Friday, November 6,
friends and family gathered at
the All Saints Memorial
Church in Navesink to
remember Huson and celebrate
her life that spanned
over a century.
Huson was born on
October 14, 1903 and spent
part of her childhood in pre-
World War I London before
her family moved to
Massachusetts.
After her first husband,
William Kothe, died in a
Continued on Page 5
RYAN FENNELL
Family and friends gathered to remember Eleanore Huson, 106,
at a memorial service held at the Stone Church in Navesink last
Friday. From left is Huson’s great-great niece Maggie Redfern,
great-niece Trish Cossick, great-niece Gwen Jones, greatnephew-in-law
Jon Goodhue, and great-niece Claudia Redfern.
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4 NOVEMBER 13, 2009
Grinch
Continued from Page 1
With funds tight and donations
dropping, the news that
the retail toy store chain of
Toys “R” Us has opened
“Holiday Express” ministores
was yet another blow.
The mini-stores have no
relationship to the charity,
McLoone stressed.
Last Tuesday, he and other
members of the organization
held a press conference at
their Holiday Express warehouse
in Tinton Falls to alert
the public to that fact.
Toys “R” Us, according to a
company press statement
released on Sept. 15,
announced the company’s
plans to establish nearly 350
temporary outlets during the
holiday season. These “popup”
stores, called Toys “R” Us
Holiday Express, include
about 80 of the stores in malls
and other shopping centers
and more than 260 shops
within the company’s existing
Babies “R” Us locations.
McLoone said this development
is troubling to
the charitable organization,
Regatta
Continued from Page 1
“This is going to be like
the Henley Regatta in
England,” said Gooch, who
emigrated from Great Britain
in the 1980s.
Participants in the Dad Vail
will compete on a 2,000 meter
Olympic distance course,
from Victory Park to the
Oceanic Bridge.
The Two River Times will
be a corporate sponsor for the
regatta, Gooch said, adding
that he expects the event will
be a major economic boost for
the region.
The founder of the Dad
Vail was former Rutgers
because it may be confusing
for contributors and actually
may impact Holiday
Express’s ability to raise
the necessary money to
continue its work.
“I saw the sign and I
stopped,” said Amy Broza, a
member of Holiday Express’s
board and a volunteer with the
organization. She was referring
to the Toys “R” Us sign.
“It made me confused,” she
said. “And it worried me that it
would impact our mission.”
“It had a very visceral
impact on me,” Broza told
members of the press
Tuesday.
Holiday Express is now
entering its 17th holiday season,
providing entertainment
and holiday cheer for the
underprivileged, disabled
and ill.
Founded in 1994, the
organization, an Internal
Revenue Service-designated
not-for-profit, consists of
more than 100 musicians, and
hundreds of other volunteers,
who during the holiday season,
perform for residents of
homeless shelters, as well as
children’s hospitals and other
locations serving the elderly,
disabled and disadvantaged.
University Athletic Director
Lev Brett. Rutgers has the
oldest college rowing program
in the United States.
The regatta is named in
honor of Harry Emerson
Vail, who was known as
“Dad” in the days when he
coached the sport at the
University of Wisconsin
during the 1920s.
The first organization
meeting for the Dad Vail took
place on February 10, 1939
with seven colleges in attendance,
including Rutgers.
In the ensuing years, it grew
to become the largest
collegiate rowing regatta in
North America.
Officials for the Dad Vail
organization declined to comment
for publication.
From late November until
Christmas, Holiday Express
travels the tri-state area
delivering food, individual
gifts, live music, games,
practical and moral support
to those in need.
McLoone, the nonprofit
organization’s founder and
president, is also well known
in the area as a restaurateur
and musician.
“Our reason for calling it
‘Holiday Express’ is we’re
bringing it to the people we
serve,” he said.
Unfortunately, the name
was never trademarked. “We
couldn’t imagine that anyone
would look to use Holiday
Express,” he acknowledged.
Now, McLoone is asking
By John Burton
JOHN BURTON
COLUM MCCANN
RED BANK – Talking
about writing, and specifically
his latest work, Let The
Great World Spin author
Colum McCann said
Tuesday evening, “The gift
of literature is to live in a
body that is not your own.”
McCann gives the readers
those bodies, allowing them
to experience a certain time
the retailer to rethink its use
of the name. “We want them
to stop,” he said.
The fear, McLoone said,
is, “People would say, ‘Wow,
Holiday Express has made a
deal with Toys “R” Us, they
don’t need our money,’” and
nothing could be further
from the truth.” Or, he continued,
people may assume
that by making a purchase at
one of these stores, they are
making a contribution to his
organization.
On Sept. 18, Holiday
Express sent a letter to Toys
“R” Us corporate headquarters.
“We got no response,”
he said. Eventually, the retailer
did answer, by way of its
intellectual property counsel,
and place, through the voices
of characters like the Irish
monk, working among the
heroin addicts and hookers of
Manhattan; of Tillie, the 38-
year-old Bronx prostitute and
grandmother, as she struggles
to survive and cynically
observes the world around
her; and the mothers of sons
killed in a far-flung war.
“I feel blessed to think I
could speak for other voices,”
he said.
McCann made those comments
and other observations
about his work, literature and
the life of a literary artist,
while appearing this week at
the Two River Theater, 21
Bridge Avenue, for the latest
literary event sponsored by
NovelTeas, a company working
to bring these type of tea
salons to life.
McCann, 44, is a native of
Dublin, Ireland, who has lived
in the U.S., primarily New
York City, for roughly 19
saying it planned to continue
using the name, according to
McLoone.
“Their position is attaching
(the words) ‘Toys “R” Us’
makes it (different),”
McLoone said.
A legal battle would be
lengthy and very expensive,
requiring resources the organization
doesn’t have, he continued
“This is a classic David
and Goliath story,” he said.
McLoone still hopes to be
able to talk the matter out
with the retailer, but up until
now efforts have been fruitless.
“All we can hope for,” he
said, “is to let the public know
this is not us.”
But a representative for
Toys “R” Us defended the
The Gift Of Literature:
Author Colum McCann
years. His previous works
include the novels Zoli and
This Side of Brightness. But it
has been his Let The Great
World Spin that has attracted
considerable attention since
its publication in early June,
“I feel blessed to
think I could speak
for other voices,”
he said.
now even garnering a nomination
for this year’s prestigious
National Book Award.
The novel is set on Aug. 7,
1974, a tumultuous time for
New York and the country.
The nation that summer was
embroiled in the controversy
surrounding the Watergate
hearings, with President
retailer’s position.
If you do an Internet search
for ‘Holiday Express,’ “You’ll
see thousands of businesses,
including trucking companies
and everything else named
Holiday Express,” noted
Kathleen Waugh, a spokesperson
for Toys “R” Us.
Besides, Waugh said, “We
believe there can be no
confusion between the two.
Our pop-up locations are
called Toys “R” Us Holiday
Express. They’re not called
Holiday Express.”
“We’ve relayed that, over
several conversations, to the
Holiday Express people,” and
there would appear to be no
need for any additional conversations,
Waugh said.
Nixon at that point preparing
to resign from office, and in a
controversial war in Vietnam.
New York was plagued with
crime and in the throes of a
financial crisis. But on that
specific day, a young Frenchman
named Phillippe Petit
was able to sting a metal cable
between the two towers of the
World Trade Center, in lower
Manhattan, and proceeded to
walk back and forth between
what were then the world’s
tallest buildings.
“Like an angel dangling,”
was the way McCann, with a
lilting brogue, described
Petit’s stunt, noting, “there
were tens of thousands of
people,” who were watching
Petit.
“For me,” McCann said,
“the tightrope walker was a
devise to pull people through
the book.” And while largely
set 35 years ago, the real
Continued on Page 6