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Barnegat Mayor makes disturbing statements about Heritage Day

EDITOR's NOTE: This article is vital to the integrity of our town's leadership. It should not -- and will not -- leave this front page until Mayor Hartman addresses these serious issues contained in it. We will publish a complete timeline and history of what our Township Committee and Chamber of Commerce leadership did regarding their attempts to kill Heritage Day. This is something that will not go away until our leaders address it. This is our pledge to the many supporters and volunteers who made this great day possible.
Originally posted May 13 - BARNEGAT, NJ Barnegat Mayor Thomas Hartman made his position clear on why Barnegat Township did not support the 4th annual Heritage Day this year. His comments were very telling and sadly disturbing.

The April edition of the Barnegat Leader stated "Mayor Thomas Hartman noted that Heritage Day is not a township-sponsored activity, and instead proposed that the day be combined with a township-backed Community Day which is scheduled on June 10." Reading this was the first time we ever heard these comments, and they are shocking.

First, "Mayor Thomas Hartman noted that Heritage Day is not a township-sponsored activity..." Barnegat Township Recreation Department sponsored Heritage Day every year for the last 3 years for insurance reasons. Heritage Day is a shared responsibility and belongs to everyone, and commemorates the generosity of the people of our town that donated money to bring a clock to our downtown area. This is a day of town pride and for the town's mayor to say that it not a township-sponsored activity when it clearly ALWAYS HAS BEEN shows he did not understand the meaning of this event while he attended it every year. His words are a slap in the face to everyone who participated in the clock project and Heritage Day. SHAME ON HIM.

Second, Mayor Hartman "...proposed that the day be combined with a township-backed Community Day...". Mayor Hartman NEVER PROPOSED ANYTHING TO US. HE NEVER SPOKE TO US ABOUT THAT. He wouldn't even respond to an email we sent to him asking him to clarify the Township's position on Heritage Day. In the Leader article he also says "...unfortunately, the organizers of Heritage Day wanted nothing to do with that." (that being combining Community Day with Heritage Day). WE NEVER SPOKE WITH THE MAYOR OR ANYONE ELSE ABOUT THIS. We had no idea that the Mayor wanted to change Heritage Day. And for him to say that we "wanted nothing to do with that" would not be a truthful statement. How dare the mayor of our town misrepresent what the good citizens want, or say, when he doesn't even make an effort to speak with us. SHAME AGAIN.

The Mayor's comments in this article make it clear why the township tried to prevent Heritage Day from happening this year. We had a great event planned for this year. It would have been unique and exciting. Our many volunteers & participants hoped that it would have been the best event that our town has ever seen. But, the "township-backed Community Day" was scheduled one week after Heritage Day, and the mayor says in the article "We can't have both events back-to-back on successive weekends." We believe THAT is why the mayor tried to prevent us from having a successful event for the people of Barnegat. If he supported Heritage Day and what it stands for, he would insist that Community Day take place the same date it always had...and NOT in early June, and not downtown. We originally chose early June for Heritage Day because there were no other events taking place at that time downtown. Our family always enjoyed Community Day. It is a fantastic event and our police do a great job. They will always have our support, but why did our township have to hurt both of these days? SHAME AGAIN.

These disturbing comments from our mayor should have a chilling effect on anyone who volunteers in Barnegat. We should all think twice before we spend our valuable time and money in a town that thinks so little of us that it would allow its mayor to publicly mis-represent the truth and harm the reputation of its good citizens.

To be totally fair to Mayor Hartman, he could have been mistaken, or mis-quoted, or mis-represented in the press. Because of this we will provide space right here for the mayor to respond or clarify his comments. We will print any comments unedited below. We hope he takes this opportunity to apologize to us and to all the people of Barnegat.

This space reserved for Mayor Tom Hartman's comments. As of today we have not yet heard from him. Mayor Hartman did take the time, however, to continue to misrepresent the truth in a 6/9 article in The Asbury Park Press entitled "Heritage Day Out...Barnegat Backs Community Day". The mayor this time tried to carefully choose his words and did some fancy back-pedaling, but sadly continued to not be honest with the people of Barnegat. We now call for a complete investigation in this matter regarding the mayor, some Twp. Committee members, and the Chamber of Commerce regarding their close relationship and in this case possibly conspiring (for their own benefit) against town volunteers. We believe it's important to find out why Mayor Hartman (without putting it up to a vote) decided on his own to circumvent an existing Twp. Committee's vote accepting the Heritage Day clock proposal - which included Township support of this