Letters
Balance is needed to end ‘mess’ in town government

I admire any candidate who has the courage to take on the incumbents in Millstone Township and the power that is behind them.

When Frank Cotter changed his party and became a Democrat, the first thing he did was open himself up to personal attacks. They came fast and furious.

Apparently, Cotter ran an ad in the newspaper saying that he wanted to do a number of things, including end corruption, an obvious referral to the disaster in Monmouth County government. The immediate response of the Republicans who control everything in our town was to put the corruption issue on executive session for discussion.

I think they are planning to do their best to intimidate committeemen [William] Nurko and [Chet] Halka in an effort to put the kibosh on the Democrats’ attempt to create some balance and end the mess that has become our ludicrous government.

Len La Rosa

Millstone

Mayor comments on candidates’ ad campaign

As I read Bill Nurko and Frank Cotter’s ad last week, I realize that Bill Nurko is attempting to outdo his vicious 2002 campaign. In critiquing the 2002 campaign, the Examiner stated on Nov. 7, 2002:

“We have never seen a dirtier, more contentious campaign by candidates, and their handlers and sycophants, who seem to care nothing for the issues, and everything for tearing down the personal reputation of their opponents.” The Examiner went on to state: “Nowhere in many of these messages was there a decent measure of meaningful discussion concerning any important issues facing Millstone voters, only libel, innuendo, gross exaggeration, character assassination and egregious distortion.”

Apparently in a desperate attempt to outdo himself, Nurko, and now Cotter, are avoiding like the plague their record, their history and the truth and instead engaging in a campaign of “libel, innuendo, gross exaggeration, character assassination and egregious distortion.”

Given what I consider Nurko’s appalling record of what, in my opinion, shows total incompetence, and what I believe to be Cotter’s secret agenda, I guess they have only two choices: face the issues and definitely lose, or attack the reputation of good people and hope to muddy the waters enough to make everyone stay home and maybe eke out a victory, no matter how shamefully won.

I suggest you do what the Examiner recommended on Nov. 7, 2002.

“What Millstone voters really need to do is kick the entire lot out of office and start over with a clean slate of candidates who care more for the problems facing the community than they do for making vicious personal attacks on their political opponents.”

I suggest you be done with Bill Nurko and his fellow committeemen:

I regret if I have ever allowed Nurko, Cotter and their ilk to drag me down to their level. Fortunately I have never been the target of such a scathing indictment by the free press as delivered upon those campaigning for Township Committee on Nov. 7, 2002.

Finally for the record, beyond all the other misrepresentations in the Nurko/Cotter ad, it was the Democrats who voted to grant the variances; the Republicans voted against the variances. It would appear that Nurko and Cotter do not even want to allow a shade of truth to enter their vicious campaign of personal attacks. Can you really blame them? If we were in 1774, the residents of Millstone would not just vote Nurko out of office if they knew the truth, they would run him out of town tarred and feathered.

Elias Abilheira

Millstone mayor

Candidate’s wife discusses Hill House Farm issues

I’m very disappointed that the campaign has just started and personal attacks are already beginning. Frank and I moved to Millstone to fulfill a dream. We have taken a farm that was an eyesore in the community and created the rural ideal that is the core of what most of my fellow residents want in Millstone. Our farm contributes to the scenic beauty that we want to preserve in Millstone Township. In addition, we provide a service to our neighbors by taking care of horses and serving the New Jersey racing community. Oh yes, we could be considered a large landowner, but it would be a problem keeping so many horses on 2 or 3 acres.

My husband and I are both licensed mortgage bankers, which is probably the only reason we would dare to buy a farm with so much negative baggage. After all, there was a tax lien against the property and more than $800,000 in mortgages against the property, plus the dump site, which is why it sat empty for more than 15 years. Who in their right mind would think you could successfully work through so many problems? We did. We had to assume the mortgages, and we are currently — and have been since we bought the farm in August 2001 — working with the Solid Waste Division of the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection. (The farm was cleared in 1998 of any toxic waste by the DEP.)

Let me also address the tax lien which was implied in previous letters as “unpaid.” This is not the truth. The lien was paid in 1996 when it was sold for $87,831.68 by the township. (If you would like more detail, come visit our Web site www.officialhillhousefarm.com. So the alleged debt is simply another empty attack. Frank and I have worked many long hours and invested many hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild Hill House Farm, and we are not done yet.

We are not “developers,” but we have built a successful mortgage banking business which was started in 1989 and continues to grow to this day. The majority of our business comes from referrals and not through relationships with developers or builders.

My husband Frank and Bill Nurko are both men of high integrity and will work in the best interest of all our neighbors and not just a select few. Their concerns are the concerns of the Millstone residents. We all want the best for our town. Please vote for the best, Nurko and Cotter.

Betsy MacDonald Cotter

Millstone Township

Camp families respond for hurricane victims

We would like to thank our camp families who responded, so generously and quickly, to the request from the Heart Of the South Section, American Camp Association, for T-shirts to be sent to Lafayette, La., for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

We sent over 1,000 T-shirts on Sept. 12.

We know that we can always count on camp folk for help in a time of need.

Sandy, Ron, Jonathan

and Evan Leiser

Ivy League Day Camp

Manalapan

Farm values have never been higher, official says

A Sept. 1 article in the Examiner about a proposed subdivision on Burlington Path and Schoolhouse Road in Upper Freehold Township contained a quote from the landowner about the values offered by the Farmland Preservation Program not being adequate for “making a living.” In actuality, many farmers across the state have utilized farmland preservation funds to make capital improvements that improve the profitability of their farms and provide a nest egg for the future.

Farmland preservation values track the local real estate market. Offers made by the farmland preservation program are based upon two independent appraisals that incorporate the sales of recent, comparable properties to reach a value conclusion. When the local real estate market is appreciating rapidly, so are the values offered by the farmland preservation program. Recent offers made by the program exceed those made in the late 1990s by a multiple of 6 or 7.

Landowners who participate in the program are able to sell their property twice, as they continue to hold title. In addition to the immediate payment they receive for the sale of their development rights, landowners receive another payment when they decide to sell their preserved farm. The latter value is appreciating rapidly, as the demand for preserved farmland in New Jersey far exceeds the supply. The amount realized by participating landowners could well exceed the amount that would have been captured from one fee-simple sale.

Individuals who are no longer interested in owning their properties can avail themselves of the Fee Simple Farmland Preservation Program. This program pays landowners the full market value of their property. Landowners will have the comfort of knowing that property will be preserved as farmland in perpetuity.

I encourage any farmland owners to contact Monmouth County’s Farmland Preservation Program staff at (732) 431-7460 to explore their options. The availability of funds and the values offered have never been higher.

Joseph McCarthy

chairman

Monmouth County Agriculture Development Board

Freehold