A verbal altercation between two patrons resulted in a stabbing.  The suspect then fled the scene and police were still searching for the person as of noon, Sunday.

The victim suffered a stab wound to the abdomen and was taken to Jersey Shore Medical Center.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Seaside Heights Police Department at 732-793-1800.

Akers said that the borough expects permanent fencing, ramps and lighting to be in place by mid June, but says adequate facilities will be in place by Memorial Day weekend to accommodate visitors.

Since Prince Harry’s visit to Seaside Heights on Tuesday, Sidd & Associates has finished nearly 70% of the decking on the boardwalk’s north end.   Further south, crews were busy building beach ramps and preparing railings.

On Friday, workers at the Casino Pier were working to install electrical systems under sections boardwalk, which were temporarily finished for the Prince’s visit, but now exposed again.

See the full story in next week’s Ocean Signal.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS–Just in time for Memorial Day, the borough council has approved the hiring of five new full-time police officers.   The five men had all served previously as special police officers to the borough during the summer season and were also employed during the borough’s recovery after Hurricane Sandy.

Lawrence Mayberry, Michael McCurdy, Christopher Linnell, Erik Hershey and Justin Heffernan were all sworn in by borough attorney, Jean Cipriani.

“We got five really good cops, I’m very proud of them.” said Police Chief Thomas Boyd. “These are the types of guys who go out and help people.  They’re the types of guys who go up in the tree and get the cat, not the guys that shoot the cat out of the tree.”

Boyd said each of the officers have proven themselves worthy of becoming full-time police officers through their actions since Hurricane Sandy.  “We’ve been through a lot, we’ve been beaten up, so this is finally some good news,” Boyd said.

Chief Boyd thanked Mayor William Akers and the borough council for allowing him to hire the new officers and for the community support for that decision, “With they allowed me to do, to hire these five good kids, you have no idea what it means to me…and to see the community come together again, it’s great, these men deserve this, they’ve worked for it.” the chief added.   Akers said that since Hurricane Sandy, the five had

Former Seaside Heights Mayor P. Kenneth Hershey, held the bible during the swearing in of his son, Erik.

“I’m so glad to be here tonight,” Mayor Hershey said afterwards as he broke down in tears of joy.   “I’m so happy for my son tonight.”

“I just to thank the mayor and council for giving me this opportunity,” said Officer McCurdy.

Councilman Richard Thompkins said the five new officers had performed well as special officers for the borough.  “They held themselves in such high regards, we never looked at them as class II officers, we always felt as if they were full-time officers,” Mr. Thompkins said.

“I’m so happy we’ve finally been able to appoint these men,” said Councilwoman Agnes Polhemus, “It’s been a long time coming, but they were certainly worth the wait.”

On Tuesday, the Jet Star Roller Coaster, the iconic image of Hurricane Sandy in Ocean County, was removed from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.   The entire process took nearly 24 hours, but you can now watch it in just over one minute.

See more pictures from the demolition and Prince Harry’s visit from Ocean County’s ONLY Authentically Local news source, The Ocean Signal & Ocean County Police Blotter:  https://www.facebook.com/OCPoliceBlotter?fref=ts

SEASIDE HEIGHTS – The first phase of debris removal from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean here was completed today with the demolition and extraction of the Jet Star rollercoaster, which became an iconic symbol the morning after Hurricane Sandy devastated the shore last October 29th.

Weeks Marine of Cranford, Union County completed its work at noon today, approximately 23 hours after it began removal efforts alongside the Casino Pier, where the coaster originally sat.

Toby Wolf, spokesperson for the pier amusement firm, stated the next step would be an oceanographic survey of what else remained of several other rides and attractions in the water, including the Stillwalk Manor, a well-known “dark ride” mock-haunted house which was completely topped from the end of the pier during the storm.

Photo by Pat Day, NYOnAir.Com.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS–While the global media networks swarmed the oceanfront boardwalk in anticipation of the arrival of England’s Prince Harry and to give the world its first look at the removal of the Jet Star roller coaster from the Atlantic Ocean, just a few blocks away, progress of another kind was being made.

Crews from Albert Marine have been working hard to finish construction of Seaside Heights’ other boardwalk, the often forgotten bay side boardwalk, which is also an important part of the town’s summer tourism draw.

Mayor Bill Akers said “People don’t realize that the boardwalk on the bay side is also important, it’s our link to the Barnegat Bay.”

The boardwalk hosts a playground, fishing and crabbing pier, jetski and watercraft rentals, boat rentals and a launch point for private boats.

Work is expected to be fully complete by June 1st in time for the Jersey Gems RV Camping Rally starting June 4th.

DOVER BEACHES NORTH– Toms River Police responded to a Silver Beach Road home here at 2 pm on Tuesday after receiving an alarm regarding a 24 foot boat that was fully engulfed in fire.

Ocean Beach, Seaside Heights and Lavallette fire departments responded and quickly extinguished the fire.

The boat located in the front yard was totally destroyed and the fire damaged the vinyl siding on the front of the two story home.    A 68 year old man Normandy Beach man was taken to Brick Hospital for burns to his hand and foot.  The man stated he was working on the boat and it caught fire when he turned the engine on.

The team, consisting of  Emily Golembiski of Little Egg Harbor, Jillian Hubbard of Toms River, Gillian Schriever of West Creek, Michael Signorelli of Toms River and Megan Tumpey of  Brick, will represent New Jersey in the 2013 North American Envirothon at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in August.

The Ocean County students competed against 33 other teams on knowledge of natural resources-related topics, including soils, forestry, aquatics, wildlife ecology and a current environmental issue. This year’s theme was “Sustainable Rangeland Management: Achieving a Balance Between Traditional Agricultural Uses with Non-Agricultural Uses on Montana Rangelands.”

“For 20 years, New Jersey high school students have had the opportunity to participate in this valuable competition and learn more about the environment, natural resources and science,” said Secretary Fisher. “We hope they take advantage of the skills they learned and consider careers in agriculture and natural resources-related fields.”

Each of the MATES team members received $1,000 scholarships from the New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts, $2,000 scholarships from Richard Stockton State College and $1,000 scholarships from Applied and Health Sciences at Kean University.

Two 5-member teams of MATES students competed in last year’s Envirothon with all but one of those students graduating. The two MATES teams placed first and second in 2012. An almost entirely new set of 10 students made up this year’s two teams.

“I am very proud of the hard work and dedication put forth by our members,” said MATES Advisor Adam Sprague.  “It was quite an accomplishment considering it was the first year competing for nine out of the 10 team members. We now turn our attention to Montana which offers an exciting variety of challenges in terms of preparation for our students.”

The second-place team in this year’s Envirothon was West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and third place was taken by High Tech High School, North Bergen.

The Envirothon is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, State Soil Conservation Committee; New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts; the 15 Soil Conservation Districts; United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; and Rutgers Cooperative Extension.

The 15 Soil Conservation Districts in New Jersey follow county boundaries and implement the New Jersey Soil and Sediment Control Act, which governs certain aspects of new development.  These semi-autonomous bodies are locally governed and play a strong role in the protection of New Jersey’s natural resources.

This edition of the watershed-wide trash and debris cleanup has taken on special meaning as it is the first blitz to be held since Superstorm Sandy pounded the Barnegat Bay region at the end of October. Some events will entail removal of Sandy-related debris and dune restoration in addition to typical litter and debris cleanups

Volunteers are coming from all over the state and the 37 municipalities in the 660-square-mile watershed, which encompasses 33 municipalities in Ocean County and four in Monmouth County. The bay is suffering from degraded water quality caused by many factors, including excessive algae growth caused by nutrients from fertilizers and other sources.

The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to around dusk. It will be held rain or shine.

The following is Commissioner Martin’s itinerary:

*     8:30 a.m. Opening remarks, Surf City Municipal Boat Ramp, on Barnegat Bay at the end of Division Avenue. Attending will be students from the MATES Academy at Ocean County College, the Southern Regional Middle School and Ethel Jacobson Elementary School, local residents.

*     9:30 a.m. Cleanup of marshland impacted by Sandy debris adjacent to the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, 120 Long Beach Boulevard, Loveladies.

*     10:45 a.m. Planting grass and shrubs on dunes impacted by Sandy, 36th Street and the oceanfront, Brant Beach.

More than 11,300 volunteers have participated since the first Barnegat Blitz in May 2011, collecting thousands of bags of trash and filling dozens of dumpsters and dump trucks with a wide assortment of trash and debris.

The DEP is the core organizer of the Barnegat Bay Blitz, providing staff captains who work with the local community to identify cleanup locations and coordinate local volunteers. Captains are also in charge of event-day logistics.

Reporters are welcome to contact staff captains to coordinate local cleanup stories. Team captain contact numbers and other information about the Barnegat Bay Blitz can be found at:

http://www.nj.gov/dep/barnegatbay/bbblitz.htm

For additional help, contact the DEP’s press office. For assistance the day of the event, contact the Press Office or the Press Officers at the numbers listed on this advisory.

For information on the Governor’s Barnegat Bay Comprehensive Restoration Plan, visit: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/barnegatbay/