Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 17

PLUS Police Brief 2 REFLECO moudm season Shore residents wrap up the holidays with more shopping while looking forward to a new year. LOCAL NEWS2 ORGANIZING FOR THE YEAR AHEAD Monmouth and Ocean counties municipal bodies will meet to swear in new members, make Xintments and set their iule for the year during their upcoming organization meetings. LOCAL NEWS2 GOT A NEWS TIP? Contact Metro Editor John Schoonejongen (732)643-4295 jschooneapp.com in! ASBURY PARK PRESS I MONDAY, JAN. 1,2007 Celebrations in Seaside Heights and Manasquan offer 1 1 Schaifenberger may be mayor Town committee to vote Jan. 7 I -1 I 1 'I JM iJ 4z fob I By ALISON HERGET KEYPORT BUREAU MIDDLETOWN The Township Committee is expected to select Gerard P.

Scharfenberger as the next mayor at its Jan. 7 organization meeting. The township issued a statement last week saying Scharfenberger, 48, who joined the committee in January 2005, will likely be chosen to serve as mayor this year. He was deputy mayor in 2006. The Republican-controlled committee also is expected to select Pamela L.

Brightbill, 44, to serve as deputy mayor, the statement said. Patrick Short will become the first Democrat on the township's governing body in more than 15 years when he is Visit our Web site, www.ipp.com and click on this story in the Monmouth section for a link to: the agenda for the Mlddletown Townihlp Committee organization meeting The performer Yeal entertains youngsters during First (STAFF PHOTOS: MARV FRANK) Night at the Carousel Family Entertainment Center in First Njgjrts Igijfei ip te Scharfenberger sworn in on Jan. 7. He replaces Rosemarie D. Peters, who ended her 18-year tenure on the committee by not seeking re-election.

Instead, she successfully ran for Monmouth County Surrogate in the November election. The committee rotates the mayor and deputy mayor positions annually among its five members. See Mayor, Page B2 MEETING SET IF YOU GO a The Middletown Township Committee will hold its annual organization meeting 11 a.m. Jan. 7.

a The meeting will be held at town hall, 1 Kings Highway. had veered off the road and into the trees, he said. It was unclear whether the driver who was the sole occupant of the car was already dead when the officer found him. Investigators did not release the deceased's name Sunday because they had not yet notified his next of kin, Harper said. The cause of the accident remained under investigation.

Police could not immediately provide information about Friday's the colorful Seaside Heights. being judged in a variety of categories. Pam Holzapfel, who dressed her 1-year-old boxer, Marigold, as a bumblebee, said they were angling for best costume and not for which owner most resembled their dog. "I hope we don't win that one," said Holzapfel, 49, of Neptune. While Holzapfel was sure that Marigold loves walking around with antennas sticking out of her head, Laura Wolpert acknowledged that her 12-year-old basset hound, Ginny, doesn't think too highly of walking around with yellow buns strapped to her sides.

"She thinks it's a little ridiculous, but she puts up with it," said Wolpert, 37, of Manasquan, as Ginny, also known as "Hot Dog," wandered around behind the Algonquin Theatre. Other than the best costume and the dog-and- See First Night, Page B2 Ocean County College newspaper, about the case this fall. Morales wrote a story that appeared in the student newspaper Oct. 19, which revisited the case noting that it still was unsolved after 23 years. A subsequent story that appeared in the Dec.

15 edition of the Viking News included information that Warren's resume from 1968 noted that he was a development and engineering consultant for a company that did work for the government. Dorick said that although Warren disappeared under suspicious circumstances, he- does See Warren, PaljlB2 X1 'V Police investigate fatal accidents in Berkeley By FRAIDY REISS TOMS RIVER BUREAU BERKELEY Investigators on Sunday were looking into two fatal accidents that occurred late Friday and early Saturday on Route 530, officials said. Saturday morning's accident was called in just before 9 a.m. by a passing motorist who spotted a car in the woods near the Robert J. Miller Air Park, said Capt.

Jeff Harper, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. A sheriffs officer responded and found a car Twine Ian and Emma Kellegher, both 4 and of Neptune, pamper Rascal, who is dressed up for the pet contest at First Night in Manasquan. By LAUREN 0. K1DD and KEVIN PENTON STAFF WRITERS Nicholas Doubt did his best to sit still and hold a smile Sunday. By 1 p.m., the 5-yearold from Brick already had a green snake painted on his face and was posing for a caricature of his head on Batman's body, both courtesy of the sixth annual First Night celebration in Seaside Heights.

The alcohol-free event to celebrate New Year's Eve was part of First Night Ocean County and sponsored by the Lakewood BlueClaws. A similar event also was held in Manasquan. Nicholas sat in a chair in the Coin Castle arcade as Greg Johnson, 20, of Toms River drew a cartoon rendition of him. Johnson said he would sketch at least 100 caricatures by the end of the day. "New Year's seems like everything is for adults," said Richie Doubt as he John E.

Warren. bodies. None turned out to be Warren. Mastronardy said the unsolved case was featured on the Unsolved Mysteries television series hosted by Robert Stack but didn't generate any new information. Case remains open of retired professor's suspicious disappearance Elwood Blues ie dressed up as Santa for the First Night celebration in Manasquan.

watched his son try to sneak a peak at the artwork he said he would frame when they got home. Kids need to enjoy New Year's Eve, too, Doubt said. "It's fun," he said. In Manasquan, dozens of dogs helped kick off the borough's First Night festivities, parading through the center of town before Lt. Michael Dorick, a supervisor in the detective bureau of the Toms River Police Department, said that four or five years ago he took another look at the case when he became supervisor.

"I began to look at it again on a part-time basis. I don't really have a cold case squad," he said. "I did some Internet searches and tried to see if anything showed up on the computer. "I also tried to reinter-view some of the family members, but they wouldn't cooperate," Dorick said. Dorick said "out of th blue" he was contacted by Alberto D.

Morales, editor of the Viking News, the John E. Warren never returned WHAT HAPPENED Another look at a story that made headlines in the past. 't-si 1 If you ham a story you'd like to see updated, please contact Metro Editor John Schoonejongen at (732) 643-4235 or at r)sehooneappMmx home in 1983 an extensive search of the area. A Sheriffs Department bloodhound, following what was believed to be Warren's scent, led searchers to a college pond off Hooper Avenue, then proceeded along the edge of the woods and roadway, until she lost the scent about a mile from the college, according to a Press story on Aug. 5, 1984.

A missing person bulletin was broadcast across the country, and township police Detective Charles Hayes subsequently made several trips out of the area to check reports of (findings of unidentified By BONNIE DELANEY TOMS RIVER BUREAU It was warm and sunny the morning of Aug. 7, 1983, when newly-retired Ocean County College associate-engineering professor John E. Warren left his Squire Village home in Toms River for his daily walk on a dirt path leading to the nearby college. He was at the top of his basement stairs when he told his wife, who was doing laundry, that he'd be back in an hour, recalled his wife of 47 years, Estelle, in an interview that appeared in the Press a year after he went for the walk and faila to re turn home. "I remember going out there with Li Bahr and doing a search through the Toms River Police Chief Michael G.

Mastronardy about going with his then-superior officer to investigate. Lt. Fred Bahr had led the Investigation for police. Within hours after his wife reported her 69-year-old husband missing, township police, the Ocean County Sheriffs Department, Army National Guard helicopters and a State Police helicopter that used an infrared heat detector conducted.