Ampersand
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•July 15, 2026
‘Pirate of LBI’ Atones for Crash, Traffic Backup
By now many have heard about the motor vehicle accident that closed down Long Beach Boulevard for hours on Saturday, July 4.
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•July 8, 2026
Historic Crossing of Barnegat Bay
This photo is from the Barnegat Light Yacht Club’s annual picnic on July 4th. To commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary, our three commodores arrived by rowboat dressed as the Founding Fathers.…
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•July 1, 2026
Happy 250th US Birthday – 1976 Artwork Gets Encore
It was on 1976, our country’s 200th anniversary. I was finishing up my art teaching degree. One more semester to go and I would be a licensed visual arts teacher.
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•July 1, 2026
Farewell From a Long Beach Island Native Son
It’s fitting that LBI is a barrier island, with a seashore washed by the suds and the foam, and I’ve been here so long I got to calling it home.
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•April 1, 2026
GUEST OPINION | More Whales Will Die If Vessel Speed Rule Is Revoked
Perhaps a sad yet true representative name for the 51-foot endangered fin whale that washed up in Barnegat Light recently should be “Sacrificed.” That is in fact what he was … ”sacrificed.”
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•March 25, 2026
Holy Week Reflection on Simple Acts, Deep Love
How hard it can be to let someone do something for us when we think we can do it ourselves. For instance, most of us would balk at the idea of allowing any person to wash our feet, let alone the son…
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•March 4, 2026
US on the Right Track Despite Pros and Cons
If there’s a pro for every con And an off for every on … And a right for every wrong And a short for every long … Why not pills for all our ills And some hair where it’s so bare?
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•November 27, 2025
Kindness of Strangers: How to Live, How to Give
Since I tend to ramble and my family refers to my texts as novels, I’m determined to keep this letter concise. I’d like as many people as possible to read it because it’s about kindness. And to me…
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•October 30, 2025
Making Memories Well Into the Off-Season
It’s that time of year again. Labor Day weekend is over and everyone is back to work and school. Let’s face it, no one from yonder likes to admit the summer is over and they are not coming back down…
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•October 2, 2025
Upon the Passing of a Lady – Plaudits and New Discoveries
It is with great regret we inform you of the passing of our Lady Kenmore, five-cycle washing machine to the great agitator in the sky.
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September 18, 2025
Requiem for the Mast: Gone But Never Forgotten
through calm, through gale, through endless dark.
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•August 21, 2025
Decoy Story in an Old SandPaper Gets Appreciative Second Reading
I have a tragic generic flaw, which the Gen-Z’s call “mansplaining.” All right, “huney,” make that several genetic flaws, but, hey, you have been “mankeeping” me for almost 60 years, so please! Dave…
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•July 2, 2025
Celebrating Our Big Birthday and Sentiments We Live By
I’m very excited to be celebrating America’s 250th birthday next year. With that said, I keep seeing ads with “We The People” printed on semiquincentennial merchandise. “We The People” is from the…
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•June 11, 2025
Grams’ Shore House Charms – From A to Z
A is for Awesome fun times, just you wait! B is for Boating and finding some Bait. C is for Crabbing and the biggest Clam fest! And D is for the Ducks we feed everyday.
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•April 17, 2025
Surviving February, the Cruelest Month on LBI
Whoever said April is the cruelest month (OK, it was T.S. Eliot) never spent a February on LBI.
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•March 19, 2025
Props to a Winter Clammer for Defying the Elements
Walking my dog on one of the coldest mornings of this winter, the winds and temperature bit right through my layers, making me wish I were walking in a much warmer climate. I cursed and whined about…
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•March 12, 2025
Touched By Angels While at the Beach
The two men sat, leaving enough space at the edges to grab in case they slipped from their chosen perches. Neither could move very proficiently yet, having only recently gotten the soft planes that…
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•January 15, 2025
Sad Job of ‘Undecorating’ Ushers in New Year
Every new year it’s the same. I look around at my Christmas decor and realize it has to get packed away – all the lights, tiny angels, the tree and its multiple ornaments, wreaths, greens, candles…
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•January 8, 2025
Happiness Is 1,000 Pieces of Shore Memories
I am pleasantly “puzzled” by the Christmas present one of my granddaughters gave to us.
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December 18, 2024
Ho, Ho, Hoedown Christmas Poems
The following are two of the winning poems written by LBI Grade School students in a contest held by the school each year. The theme was in keeping with the Ship Bottom Christmas Parade hoedown motif.
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•November 27, 2024
Thanksgiving 2024: A Time for Peace and Unity
Peace begins within each one of us, rooted in our faith and strengthened through prayer. In choosing peace, we create an optimistic future in a world where harmony exists, and all lives are honored.…
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•September 11, 2024
Quirky, Bedeviling Local Mysteries
Collectively, we locals, left behind in the rush to leave the Island on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2, breathed such gargantuan sighs of relief that the Island almost levitated. What brought many of us…
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•August 29, 2024
Caught Up (Literally) in Clydesdale Mania
Aug. 16 was a hot but beautiful day, and I had seen the full page ad in The SandPaper. The Budweiser Clydesdale horses were coming to LBI! I called two old friends to invite them to go see the horses…
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•March 13, 2024
Dialysis Patients in Dire Need of Transportation
I have been a renal social worker in Manahawkin for over 13 years, and transportation for our dialysis patients is the number one concern I come across on a daily basis.
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•February 15, 2024
65-Year Love Story
With Valentine’s Day, the thought came to me to write to you about our wonderful marriage and how proud I am of being married for 65 years.
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December 12, 2023
Coco’s Story: Lost in Barnegat for 28 Days
It all started at the Barnegat veterinary office. We were taking my sister, Sandy, for a checkup. As I, Coco, was getting out of the car, I got spooked and ran into the woods like the wind. No one…
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•November 30, 2023
How the Grinch Tried to Steal Holiday Snack Bar
’Twas a few weeks before the Holiday Parade and all through the town, The Borough BA was certifying letters to “take all the stuff down!”
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•November 8, 2023
Veterans Day Tribute to Uncle Bert
With Veterans Day on Nov. 11, I would like to share the story of my Uncle Bert.
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•October 4, 2023
Mimi’s House – A Cherished Memory
Recently I saw the obituary of Miriam Ruth Tyler (née Bannar), whose parents owned a home in Surf City that she inherited. Mimi, as she was called, was always a mystery to me.
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•September 3, 2023
Great Catch! The Crab Trap Tradition Lives On
Last Monday, Aug. 21, one week after his 11th birthday, my son Dylan hauled in a monster crab measuring 7¼ inches (from one end of the shell to the other) in one of our traps. The crab weighed over a…
