A concerned resident from Ocean Township

It's great for NOPE to see concerned citizens chiming in from outside the core Colts Neck-Tinton Falls contingent. Indeed, we would love to better penetrate towns like Middletown, Ocean and a host of towns from the Freehold Regional School District and beyond.

Madleine G. Ruocco, of Ocean Township, had her letter to the Asbury Park Press editor published in yesterday's APP, objecting to the Department of Navy plan to open the Laurelwood homes at Weapons Station Earle to civilian renters by next year.

The premise is simple: that the plan is ludicrous, and that the mission is already shorthanded in terms of security personnel. The DoD Inspector General's study of Earle's outsource security contract with the Myers Security company (of North Carolina) - published earlier this year - proved this, so NOPE's concerns about security at a base expected to host 300 civilian renter families (replete with unimpeded access) next year is not trumped up or irrational.

Separately, here is the APP's write-up on A-4159, the O'Scanlon-Casagrande bill that would require a state study of the civilian housing plan at Earle, as blogged in detail below.