At the base of the symbol of pride for Barnegat, there are 60 bricks paid for by donors to our town clock. These bricks are symbols of pride, love for one's family, or in many cases -- memorials for loved ones.

Some time during the township & Chamber of Commerce sponsored Community Day or shortly thereafter, it appears that someone used a chisel to try to pry out the brick of one of the families involved in bringing our town clock and Heritage Day to reality. The damage was minor but the intent was very clear, and we as members of our community will not stand for it.

The blame for this disgrace to everyone in Barnegat lies squarely on the shoulders of our Township leaders who sat by silently and allowed town volunteers to be maligned and lied about in the press and in public forums...which we fully believe led to this happening.

The coward who did this -- who would take a hammer to a brick with a family's name on it, with the phrase "Love, Loyalty, Friendship" can't be totally to blame for this act of pure stupidity. Maybe they believed the lies that came from our Mayor and printed in our local paper. Maybe when the other township committee members and the leader of the Chamber of Commerce sat by silently and didn't correct these lies -- maybe then this coward thought they had some reason to attack this family's name -- this family's race -- and this family's town pride. You see, these people that stood by silently are just as guilty as the person who held the hammer in their hand. The reason we say this is that we tried to correct the record. You'll see it all over this web site. We wrote a letter that was sent to every newspaper, to each committee person, our township Administrator, and can be found right here on this web site. We asked them to denounce the statements and misinformation made by our mayor. And we never received the common courtesy of a reply from any one of them.

We did not want to bring attention to this act of hate; we thought about it for some time, who could we turn to? We contacted Committeeman Melchiondo and told him what happened, and that we hold him personally responsible for sitting by silently as this happened. That was over a month ago and we have not heard from Committeeman Melchiondo, or any member of the Committee, or the head of the Chamber of Commerce, or even the man who misrepresented us to the public -- Mayor Hartman.

So we feel that we must address this now to prevent any future attacks on volunteers. The Township Committee and Chamber will celebrate Pirate's Day and we hope that no future attacks take place as they celebrate their ideas of town pride, heritage, culture, patriotism, or whatever it is they stand for.

I ask you why was this brick attacked? Mr. Melchiondo thinks it could be because we state the truth on this web site. Why would someone be so full of hate and do this... because of what they read on this site. Is this someone against having a playground for their kids to play in? Or are they against safe roads or sidewalks? Maybe they are against volunteers, or they don't like having a youth center downtown. Or maybe, just maybe, they did not like that we put on a day of town pride every year that we paid for and didn't charge anyone in town one cent to participate in. We personally attack no one on this web site and tell only the truth, while giving everyone an opportunity to state their views.

Well, I'll tell you my name is Michael Harrington and it was my family brick that was vandalized. This happened because I had the nerve to stand up for myself, my family, and my fellow Heritage Day volunteers. I would not stand by and let any one lie about what we have committed ourselves to for the past five years. I will continue to do so.

What does Commiteewoman Blumenthal think about this? I know she offers rewards for the apprehension of vandals when they carve their names into township property. What if she could have prevented this act of hatred to my family brick by having the courage to simply say that our public officials should tell the truth and not lie about our volunteers. If the mayor or any of the Township Committee doesn't want to support Heritage Day anymore thats OK, that's their peragative. Be up front about it...give it an up-or-down vote in front of the town. Be democratic about it. If they want to kill the spirit of town pride that we have seen on the faces of our neighbors and our children, that's their decision. We will move on to bigger issues. But for them and others in our community to sit by and say nothing is the DISGRACE TO BARNEGAT. Dante said "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in the time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality". I hope others will have the courage to speak out, because if we can't do the right thing over small issues like this, God help us when we are faced with things that are much more important.