The Mount Holly news., 1919-04-29
Cnnrt Prnneedinno

1 Inc Apfll term OF the Burllngt,
county courts opened on Tuesday, wi
Justice Kalisch presiding The graz
jury for the December term, which b
been considering the question of Il
condition of the roads of the count
concluded their work on the day DIT
ceding the opening of this term and
was necessary to report to Justice Ia
isch. This was done and the folIowin
was handed in:
To the Honorable Samuel Kaliseh,
Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State of New Jersey.
We, the Grand Jury of the Decen
Der term, desire to submit to YOU
Honor the following report on the sub
ject of roads in the county, to whic
the attention of tile Grand Jury wa
called by you ar the beginning of tn
present term.
After an examination of numerous
witnesses and other matters relating Il
I the roads in the county, we found
number of them to be in a deplorabl
condition. This condition has beer
caused mainly by three things
~ the great additional amour
of heavy traffic, due to the loca
| tion of Camp Dix within tn,
boundaries of this county, (2) the greai
difficulty, and, in some cases, the i'm
possibility of securing materials with
which to make the necessary repairs
when required, (3) the great scarcity O.
labor, due to the large number of mer
engaged in the war and in work neces
sary and incidental thereto.
While undoubtedly more work
should have been done on the roads
during the last year than was done
yet we cannot find anybody criminal
Iy negligent.
With the County Supervisor, the
road committee of the Board of Free
holders and the local freeholder, all
having the same jurisdiction in certain
matters relating to the repair and care
OF roads, confusion often arises. This
confusion could be entirely eliminated
by change in the rules of the Board
of Chosen Freeholders.
The failure of the Board of Chosen
F'reeholders to provide new bridge at
Chesterfield to replace the one former
ly existing there was also investigated
The failure to rebuild this bridge is a
great inconvenience to the people liv-
ing in that neighborhood and to the
general public.
The condition of the road from
Browns Mills to Lakehurst was also
Investigated. This road in its present
condition is unsafe and unfit for travel.
The road was built by Pemberton
township, with state aid, with the un
derstanding that the State was to take
charge of, resurface and widen this
road, but, as yet, it has failed to do
this. We approve of the action of the
Board of Chosen Freeholders in not ac-
cepting this road in its present con-
dition.
We, the Grand Jury, respectfully
recommends:
That the Grand Jury, which will be
constituted at the April term of this
Court, be requested to keep the matter
before it, and, if matters are not inn
proved, that such action be taken as
it may deem best
That immediate action be taken bv
the Board Of Chosen Freeholders of
this county to provide new bridge at
Chesterfield.
We further recommend that i'm
mediate steps be taken by the Board
of Chosen Freeholders to have the con-
dition of the road from Browns Mills
to the Ocean comfy line improved by
the proper parties who are chargeable
with the care of it.
We recommend that the Board of
Chosen Freeholders amend its rules so
that the resident freeholder does not
h a 0xro oh Of Nf
when the County Supervisor is in
charge.
We further recommend that no fur
ther repairs be made without the use
of oil or tar as binder to hold the
stone in place, and no more resurfac-
ing be done without the use of a top
coating of oil and chips. instead of or
dinary water bound macadam.
The County Jail has also been visit
ed and inspected and the following
resolution was adopted:
Resolved, That this Grand Jury
recommend that quarters be provided,
whether within the present Jail or in
an addition or annex to be provided,
for the confinement of girls and wo-
men prisoners who ought not to he as
sociated with other hardened criminals
who may be carriers of contagious dis.
eases.
Respectfully submitted,
John H. Hutchinson,
Foreman.
Justice Kalisch read the. report and
then made some remarks to the pres
ent grand jury. He said that it was
quite reasonable to expect that some
definite attention be paid to the dis
graceful condition of the county's
roads. He did not doubt that the ex-
cuses of shortage of material and labor
have been partially, at least, removed.
The grand jury was advised to keep
this matter before it and see that
is done to remedy what is a
serious condition. The Justice referred
to the Chesterfield bridge
saying that 106 residents
of that township had petitioned the
court to have something done to save
them from making detour that had
been forced upon them by the absence
of the bridge. Over a year had elapsed
since the old bridge was wrecked and
the people were getting tired of the
delay in affording them relief. Litiga-
ton had been going on during that
period because the Board of Freeholders
wanted to build one sort of bridge
and an injunction had been secured
preventing such structure being
erected. 1t was high time, in the
opinion of the court, that this matter
was settled and unless the Freeholders
took definite steps in this and other
matters they would be subject to in
dictment.
Thomas c. Shreve, of Pemberton
township, was appointed foreman OF
the grand jury
Richard b. Eckman presented his
resignation as clerk of the grand jury
and Clifford r. Powell was appointed
to fill the position.
Judge Wells held the usual session OF
court on Thursday but he did not have
much business before him. One boy
was brought in on complaint of the
truant officer of Mount Holly and he
was given some good advice by the
court. The boy promised to go tC
school and on that promise he was al
lowed to depart with instructions to re
port to the court on the 22d of May.
William A. Slaughter applied for {
writ of habeas corpus to release JOSEPH
Murphy from the county Jail. Th,
prisoner was sent to the prison by
Mayor Garrison under the disorderly