Buena Vista homes will be revaluated (The Daily Journal by staff reports,
7/31/09)
At Monday nights
Township Meeting Vital Communications Inc. Vice President George D'Angelo said
that while the tax rates will be revised, it does not mean taxes will increase.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Police say third car involved in man's death (The Daily Journal, by Joseph P.
Smith, 7/29/09)
Saturday
morning L. Paul Armato was killed after being struck by passing vehicles.
State Police are looking for a third car involved in this traffic fatality.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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BUENA VISTA: Police say man killed in roadway was hit by three cars; calling
it hit-and-run (The Daily Journal, by staff reports, 7/28/09)
Saturday morning L. Paul Armato was killed after being
struck by passing vehicles. State Police are looking for a third car
involved in this traffic fatality.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Buena Vista calls on state to get tough on ATVs (Press of Atlantic City, by
Edward Van Embden, 7/28/09)
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - Buena
Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said the township wants to put a little
more pressure on the state when it comes to dealing with all-terrain vehicles.
Township Committee voted Monday night in favor of a resolution calling for
the state to pursue tough ATV regulations.
ATV riders are creating problems in the township, Chiarello said. Whether
they are riding on protected land, private property or local roadways, he said
illegal riders are a nuisance and a liability.
Legislation has been proposed at the state level, Chiarello said, but nothing
has come from it.
"There are specific (state) Senate and Assembly bills that would require
registration and insurance for ATVs, but they've been taken off the table and
put away," Chiarello said. "Currently, there are little to no (state) rules at
all."
Chiarello said the township has had its own laws on the books since 1997, but
enforcement has been a problem. Riders generally ignore ATV restrictions, he
said, and the police - State Police patrol Buena Vista Township - are unable to
go after them.
"We tell them you have to wear a helmet, have a light on your vehicle, that
you can't drive on the highway, can't go into parks," he said. "But it's almost
meaningless when you can't get someone to write summonses."
If the state were to develop ATV regulations, it would help curb illegal
off-road riding, Chiarello believes.
While Chiarello said he is not against all ATV riders, he objects to those
who ride illegally. In Buena Vista Township, a Pinelands community, a
significant portion of the land is either protected or classified as
environmentally sensitive. ATV riders who drive there destroy it, he said.
Chiarello said there has been a call to designate land for ATV parks, which
he said, is infeasible. There are numerous environmental issues that come with
building ATV parks and not enough interest in using them, he said.
"There is a huge number of ATVs, and not enough parks
can be built to accommodate them," he said. "And there's still the idea that
people want to ride on uncharted territory. That's what they do around here."
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Fatal Buena Vista Township accident may have been a hit and run (Press of
Atlantic City, by Edward Van Embden, 7/28/09)
BUENA VISTA
TWP. - State Police say an investigation into a deadly accident on a township
road early Saturday is now being investigatied as a hit and run.
State Police said they orginally believed Leonard Armato died after being
struck by two cars while lying in the road in Buena Vista Township.
Now, police are investigating whether a third car struck Armato and failed to
stop or report the accident.
Police were called to Landis Avenue near the intersection of Llewellyn Avenue
in Buena Vista Township after two cars struck Armato in succession as his lay in
the middle of the street.
Further investigation, however, revealed damaged parts from what police
believe to be a Red Nissan Altima, probably a 1998 or 1999 model. Police say car
would have extensive front end damage and urge residents to be on the look out
for a car fitting that description.
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Car, limo hit man in deadly crash (The Daily Journal, by staff reports,
7/27/09)
Leonard Armato of
Mays Landing was killed when a car and a limousine struck him in the
intersection of Landis and Llewelyn Avenues.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Man hit twice, killed on Buena Vista roadway (Press of Atlantic City, by staff
reports, 7/26/09)
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - A 55-year-old Mays
Landing man was killed early Saturday morning after being hit by two vehicles on
Landis Avenue.
Leonard Armato was hit by a sedan and then a limousine traveling west on
Landis Avenue near Llewellyn Avenue at about 1:30 a.m., according to State
Police Sgt. Stephen Jones.
Armato was dragged underneath the limousine for a short distance, he said.
Armato was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
Jones said it is not known why Armato was in the roadway. The drivers of both
vehicles stopped after striking Armato, and they are cooperating with
authorities during the ongoing investigation, he said.
No charges have been filed, he said.
Officials with the Atlantic County Medical Examiner's Office were to perform
an autopsy on Armato on Saturday, Jones said
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BUENA VISTA: Mays Landing man dead in car-pedestrian accident (The Daily
Journal, by staff reports, 7/25/09)
Leonard Armato of Mays Landing was killed when a car and a
limousine struck him in the intersection of Landis and Llewelyn Avenues.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Fourth man charged in booby-trap incidents (The Daily Journal, by Tim Zatzariny,
Jr., 7/22/09)
James R. Melini, of Milmay was charged as a fourth resident in
placing booby traps along roadways in western Atlantic County.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Booby trap trio liked to watch sparks fly, police say (The Daily Journal, by Tim
Zatzariny Jr., 7/17/09)
Gary Frank, Jr. of Milmay, Justin
Hinrichsen, of East Vineland and Michael Hinrichsen of East Vineland have been
charged in connection with the booby traps along roadways in western Atlantic
County.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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2 arrested in road booby traps (The Daily Journal, by Tim Zatzariny, Jr. and J.
Staas Haught, 7/16/09)
Gary Frank, Jr. of Milmay, Justin
Hinrichsen, of East Vineland and Michael Hinrichsen of East Vineland have been
charged in connection with the booby traps along roadways in western Atlantic
County.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Mayors offer reward in booby-trap incidents - Contraptions could be lawn signs,
police say (The Daily Journal, by Tim Zatzariny, Jr., 7/15/09)
State Police made a plea Monday for help
in finding whoever is behind booby-trapping the roads. There is a $500
reward being offered by local officials.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Spiky booby traps wrecking vehicles (The Daily Journal, by Tim Zatzariny, Jr.,
7/14/09)
State Police made a plea Monday for help
in finding whoever is behind booby-trapping the roads. There is a $500
reward being offered by local officials.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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BUENA VISTA: Reward offered in booby-trapped road case (The Daily Journal, by
staff reports, 7/14/09)
State Police made a plea Monday for help
in finding whoever is behind booby-trapping the roads. There is a $500
reward being offered by local officials.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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4,200 RIDE TO BUENA VISTA: (The Daily Journal, by Joel Landau, 7/13/09)
The 36th annual American Cancer Society
Bike-a-thon was held on Sunday and started at the Ben Franklin Bridge and ended
at the Buena Vista Camping Park.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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BUENA: Eat Lasagna; help a family with an ill child (The Daily Journal, by staff
reports, 7/12/09)
The Dream Foundation will be sponsoring a
lasagna dinner at the Forum at St. Augustine College Prep School in Richland on
July 26. Proceeds benefit families in Delaware Valley area who are
financially overwhelmed with expenses because of the illness of a child.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Buena moving forward with wastewater plan (The Daily Journal, by Joseph P.
Smith, 7/7/09)
Buena Borough expects to get permission
from state government to spend $4.6 million on a new wastewater discharge
system. This could also benefit Buena Vista Township which has the right
to use one-third of the increase in treatment capacity.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Two bills on ATVs divide and unite (The Philadelphia Inquirer, by Wallace
McKelvey, 7/6/09)
Dennis Farmer fears he will never share the thrill of riding ATVs with his
6-year-old son.
Fred Akers worries about the survival of the Pine Barrens tree frog.
As two bills related to off-highway vehicles make their way through the state
Legislature, outdoor enthusiasts and environmentalists are once again at odds
over ATV use in New Jersey.
The fates of the bills, one that would increase regulation of all-terrain
vehicles and another that would designate three parks for their use, are
intertwined after being tied together by the Senate in March. One cannot pass
without approval of the other, leading to both cooperation and consternation
among the two groups.
"Everyone has their own ideas on how to fix this problem," said Assemblyman Reed
Gusciora (D., Mercer), who serves as primary sponsor on both bills. "Some feel
that registration and fines, the stick, is enough. Others want the parks, the
carrot, as well."
The problem, like the proposed solution, is twofold.
Riding on publicly owned land, such as state parks and refuges, is prohibited,
and few privately owned tracks cater to off-highway vehicles. Statewide, only a
handful of tracks and one park hold occasional ATV races.
"In New Jersey," Farmer said, "it feels like this sport is dying."
Farmer was the president of one of the last legal ATV trails, the New Jersey Off
Road Vehicle Park, which operated for 10 years out of Chatsworth until its lease
expired in September and was not renewed by the Pinelands Commission.
"When I was little, I used to be able to push my ATV down the drive, make a
turn, drive off into the woods, and ride all day," he said. "There's no way you
can do that today. Now you have to be able to load it on a trailer and take it
somewhere."
Dale Freitas, president of the New Jersey Off Highway Vehicle Association, said
the absence of legal tracks forced riders to take their ATVs and motorbikes onto
public land.
"The solution has always been to exclude us from using the land and hope we'll
go away," he said.
Responsible riders are taking their business to parks in Pennsylvania, Farmer
said. But if legal places to ride were available nearby, people would flock to
them instead.
"If given a choice, I think [ATV riders] would rather not be run down like
criminals," he said.
However, environmentalists such as Emile DeVito, head ecologist for the New
Jersey Conservation Foundation, point to the devastation they say ATVs have
caused.
"Entire tracts of wetlands have turned into mud pits," he said, because of
erosion caused by large tires tearing through the Pine Barrens.
The Department of Environmental Protection estimates the annual cost of
repairing trails and ecosystems disrupted by unauthorized off-highway vehicles
at $1 million.
Authorities also point to the danger such vehicles pose to their drivers and
passengers. Since 1982, there have been 75 ATV-related deaths in the state.
Eighteen of those have occurred in the last four years.
Akers, executive director of the Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association, said
ATV riders congregated in the woods and gravel pits near his house on the
weekends.
"We have to be careful when we're pulling out of the driveway that they're not
racing down the street," he said.
The parks bill, which would require the DEP to choose three locations for
off-highway-vehicle parks, was approved by the Senate during the final meeting
of the legislative session last month.
"This bill's been a long time coming," said Sen. Shirley Turner (D., Mercer),
who has sponsored the bill for four years.
Turner is optimistic the bill will pass the Assembly by November. Should that
happen, the DEP would have nine months to comb through its land holdings and
available private land to find suitable sites for ATV use.
The DEP has been searching for such a site since 2002, said John S. Watson,
deputy commissioner for natural resources. So far, no new parks have been
created.
"It's been very hard finding a location that met all the criteria we needed," he
said.
Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance,
said it might be impossible to find the sites in such a limited amount of time.
"Unfortunately, whenever a site is identified, it tends to bring out a lot of
opposition," he said. "Neighbors don't want people riding in their backyards."
In 2005, the department bought an abandoned sand mine in Monroe for $1.2 million
in hopes of finding a private operator to turn it into an ATV park.
Amid protest from nearby residents and environmentalists, the town zoning board
refused to approve the park, and the site remains unused.
Akers said the process the DEP had used for finding a site was inherently
flawed.
"The same rules that would apply to other development should be applied to ATV
parks," he said. "When it turns out that endangered species are on a site, it
messes up their plan. If they'd had site surveys to see what might be there
first, they could've avoided this."
Once industrial sites are abandoned, animals can move in quickly, leading to the
development of new ecosystems.
"I happen to know that there were barn owls and a population of at least 50 Pine
Barren tree frogs there," he said.
In 2007, the DEP changed its approach by restricting its involvement to helping
outside organizations buy land. It awarded a $338,218 Recreational Trails
Program grant to Atlantic Off-Highway Vehicle Park Inc. to establish an ATV
facility in Ocean County.
Freitas, the organization's president, has been trying to secure a gravel pit in
Little Egg Harbor Township for the last two years. It all comes down to a
zoning-board meeting July 14 that will consider a variance to allow the ATV park
to operate in an area zoned residential.
"We're under contract with the owner," he said. "It's all depending on if this
goes through."
Whether ATV enthusiasts get their parks is also dependent on the passage of the
registration bill in November.
The bill was scheduled to come up for a vote last month, DeVito said, but was
pulled at the last minute.
Chance Lykens of Insight Consulting Services, a lobbying firm hired by the Off
Highway Vehicle Association, said riders were concerned registration fees and
penalties would increase while they still had no parks to enjoy.
"It's like saying I should be allowed to break the law until people provide me
with a place to do something that's otherwise illegal," DeVito said. "It'll take
years to locate a park. We can't afford to wait."
Farmer said increasing registration fees and fines for riding in restricted
areas was not fair unless there were parks available.
"If you're illegal riding and there's a legal place to ride, I'm for whatever
fine you give them," he said. "But if you have nowhere to ride, increasing the
fines will stop some people, but a lot of these off-roaders will go out anyway."
Besides the uncertainty over having legal places to ride, ATV users object to
other aspects of the enforcement bill.
George Trapani, owner of Trapani Race Setups, said he had lost half of his
business since the Chatsworth park closed and believed the proposed requirement
that all off-highway vehicles be registered at the Department of Motor Vehicles
was pointless.
Farmer is worried his son will never have the experiences he did growing up
riding ATVs because the proposed bill prohibits children younger than 14 from
riding on publicly funded land.
That would exclude young riders from the three proposed new parks and the Egg
Harbor Police Athletic League, which offers Saturday ATV-riding classes for
children ages 6 and up.
"If my 6-year-old has to wait until he's 14, he may not be interested anymore,"
Farmer said. "Over a few generations, they'll eliminate the whole sport."
DeVito said there had been an unwritten agreement between environmental and ATV
groups that if environmentalists supported the parks bill, ATV enthusiasts would
support the enforcement bill.
"They've lied to me up and down," he said. "I'm done working with them."
Gusciora said the failure of both bills to pass last month meant he would spend
the summer bringing both sides back together.
"It's a complicated issue," he said. "We need to redouble our efforts to get all
stakeholders on the same page."
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