Last weekend, the swimming area at the A. Paul King Lake Beach, at Manahawkin Lake Park, opened for the season.
In the middle of last summer, the Stafford Township park lifted the swimming ban for the first time in years. Mary Jane Mehorter, Ocean County Superintendent of Recreation, said this year, the lake opened for swimming at the start of the summer season.
“There were some water quality issues before,” she said. “It's tested all the time by the health department. The beach, back then, due to water quality, was closed more than it was open. And now, we are getting wonderful results of clean water.”
Stafford Township recreation director, Betti Anne McVey, said that last year, they helped Ocean County open the beach, and supplied some lifeguards. This year, she said, Ocean County is fully overseeing the use of the swimming area.
McVey said that swimming area is steadily increasing in popularity.
“Last year, as the season went on, definitely the numbers grew and grew, as people realized it would be available, and it would be staffed,” she said.
Swimming is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week, for the remainder of the summer.
Two months ago: Egg Harbor Township bridge work should start in summer
Plans for the reconstruction of an Egg Harbor Township bridge destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene last August have gone to the state Department of Transportation for approval, officials say.
County Executive Dennis Levinson said engineers have had to make a few minor changes to the new bridge over English Creek on Somers Point-Mays Landing Road before the project can go out to bid. The current timetable puts completion more than a year out, he said.
Levinson said he doesn’t know what the cost will of the bridge will be, since the revised plans haven’t yet gone out to bid. Engineers had previously said the replacement project would cost about $3.7 million.
“It is a problem with the EH-21,” Levinson said. “It is an expensive proposition, for sure, but we’re working as diligently as we can on it.”
One month ago: Atlantic City swears in 26 Class II officers; training starts Monday
A group of police officers will graduate from Special Law Enforcement Officer II program on June 29 and are expected to start patrol July 4.
The officers entered the program at the Cape May County Police Academy back in late-April.
The position is paid hourly rather than salaried. Officers will not receive taxpayer-funded benefits or pension payments.
Seasonal Class IIs can work as many as 48 hours a week. The city plans to limit the officers to 20 hours per week during the summer so that they can be used year-round.
Staff writer Wallace McKelvey contributed to this report.
Contact David Simpson:
609-272-7204
