Lakewood Vaad - takes revenge!

I guess the Asbury Park Press just completley destroyed BMG with the Stadium/Cederbridge fiasco, that the Lakewood Vaad "MADE" a decision. At least that's my take on the matter. Any others? Kindly comment. TTN: Mayor Meir Lichten-stein has good news and bad news for the Gannett Co., which owns the Asbury Park Press and the Ocean County Observer. The good news is that the Township Committee has voted to reinstate the Observer as an official newspaper. The bad news is that members declined to reinstate the Asbury Park Press as well. Municipal boards and agencies designate official newspapers and publish legal notices in them during the course of the year. The legal notices are a source of revenue for the newspapers. At its Jan. 1 reorganization meeting, the committee voted to designate The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Trenton-ian of Trenton in place of the Asbury Park Press and the Ocean County Observer, and to reappoint the Tri-Town News for another year as Lakewood’s official newspapers. But reinstating the Observer does not necessarily mean Lakewood residents will find notice of municipal meetings in its pages, according to Lichtenstein. “The township can designate a bunch of papers, but you’re not obligated to advertise in all four,” the mayor said. Lichtenstein said he expected to meet with representatives of the Asbury Park Press sometime in February, but would not specify what would be discussed. “I’m sure they’ll say something and we’ll say something,” he said, and added, “Some people feel that Lakewood is not being reported fairly.” Residents commented on the issue during the Jan. 19 committee meeting. “In my opinion ... the township is being vindictive by not choosing the Asbury Park Press as the township newspaper,” said Larry Simons. “If you truly want openness, [designate] the Asbury Park Press as the township paper.” Lichtenstein told Simons that not only had Lakewood’s committee found some articles published in the paper to be negative, so had the governments of other municipalities. “I don’t think this is vindictiveness,” Lichtenstein said. Noreen Gill said she hoped that in the future the town would once again advertise in the Asbury Park Press. “I have nothing against the Tri-Town News, which I love,” she said. “[But] I hope this changes.” James Waters also appealed to the committee to reinstate the Asbury Park Press as one of the township’s designated newspapers. “You may not like what they write, but ... my community sees it a lot different,” he said, referring to Lakewood’s black community. Bill Hobday said that Lakewood’s leaders did not provide the Asbury Park Press with a reason to report negative stories, the paper would not print them. Township Attorney Steven Secare said that since no daily or weekly newspaper is published in Lakewood, the next best thing was to designate a newspaper that was published in Ocean County. The Ocean County Observer is headquartered in Toms River, where the Asbury Park Press maintains a bureau. The offices of the Tri-Town News, as well as those of the Asbury Park Press, are in Monmouth County. Secare said the township should seek to reach the widest possible audience for its public notices. As a result, he recommended that the Ocean County Observer once again be designated an official paper of Lakewood. “You don’t have to designate a paper, only publish in it,” he said. “Any thought that there’s a move on to [shut out] the Asbury Park Press is [not true] since it has the same parent company as the Ocean County Observer.” Committeeman Charles Cunliffe said that in addition to publishing public notices in the town’s designated newspapers, the notices would also be placed on the Lakewood Internet Web site.