Voices of Sanity
If you listen closely you can hear voices of reason, even here in Monmouth County amidst all the nonsense.
Down in Belmar they've established provisions for a no-smoking section on the beach complete with fines to fatten the municipal coffers. No doubt the extra summer personnel to enforce the law will shortly follow. But at least one resident asked the right questions at the April 11th public hearing.
"Where are our rights as smokers?" Diane Marquez asked. "We are paying a phenomenal amount of money to live in Belmar. Where are our freedom and choice? .... We should have the right to do what we want and go where we want because this is a public area."
Over in West Long Branch the municipal council has proposed a Gun Free School Zone ordinance in response to a newly opened gun shop. Local resident Gerald Natale, however, got it right with his comments at the April 25th council session:
"I'm outraged that the members of the council, many of whom I've supported over the years, have taken on an agenda that is anti-constitutional, anti-freedom and prejudiced against legal firearm owners, only to be politically correct to those who choose to be blind and deaf to the legal and safe use of recreational firearms."
Another resident who had been shot only two months earlier also supported the store owner and hinted that objectors didn't trust their own children, adding that they should teach their children that violence is not an answer.
Actually my favorite quote came in Greg Kelly's "Monmouth Beach Life" column in the "Atlanticville". Commenting on the upcoming municipal election he noted, "Granted, running little Monmouth Beach doesn't involve much Washingtonian political wisdom."
So true Greg. Yet time and again municipal officials attempt to apply the same type of social engineering concepts favored by their DC counterparts to local issues. And with this comes the same high taxes, bigger government and curtailment of individual freedom.
To all who raise their voices in opposition, I say thank you. And I'll voice a request: Remember in November.
Pat Bontempo
County Chair