Keyport Neighbors
 
Re: 2/4/08 Council Meeting
 
The next regular meeting of the Keyport Borough Council (KBC) will be held on Monday 2/4/08 starting at 7:00PM. The change in the meeting date to this Monday is to accommodate the Primary Elections on Tuesday 2/5/08. The agenda for this 2/4/08 KBC meeting  lists the following seven Ordinances for introduction:
Ordinance - Towing
Ordinance - Registration with the Police Department
Ordinance - Identification Cards Required, Term, Fees
Ordinance - Amending Pool Filing Ordinance to be handled by the Collector of Water and Sewer
Ordinance - Time Limited Parking
Ordinance - Amended Liquor License Fee and Permitted Number of Club Licenses
Ordinance - Pay-to-Play Redevelopment
Residents will be able to obtain free copies of these proposed  Ordinances from the Borough Clerk after 2/7/08.  These Ordinances will also be published in the 2/7/08 edition of the Courier. A Public Hearing on all these Ordinances will be held during the 2/19/08 KBC meeting.
 
Re: More from Ex-Mayor John Merla on his "Raw Deal"

The 1/31/08 edition of the Courier has a three page article featuring Ex-Mayor Merla' and titled "Ex-Mayor Makes Case to Town". This article is characterized as a message to the town from John Merla as he prepared to leave for Federal prison. In the article John does find the time to apologize to the people of Keyport.  But then John restates his case that he was unfairly targeted, possibly due to his growing role in the Monmouth County Republican Party. . According to the article, John Merla again characterizes his arrest as a "Raw Deal", stating that he could have proven his innocence on seven of the eight charges, and notes the "unfair" persistence of the federal investigators who pushed the demolition bribe on him. John Merla sites finances and the "gamble" (long term prison sentence if you lose) as the reason for his plea bargain. In the last two paragraphs of the article, John Merla states that he wants us to think of him as a role model for those who are just entering politics. .

The authors comments and/or insights are in Italics. Any and all comments are appreciated.

Regards

Michael Lane

 print