One of the few places you’ll find mention today of Garfinkle Park is on a list of public boat launching sites in the Barnegat Bay watershed published by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. A word of caution: if you plan to launch a boat there it better be a small one. Highway bridges encircle the ramp and getting under them when an east wind has pushed a lot of water into the bay is next to impossible. At other times small boat owners can go “up crik,’’ and follow the main stem and Wrangle Brook branches of the river, or down the river and eventually into Barnegat Bay. Boating was …

"Ocean County is number one, in all categories. I don't say that generally, I say it statistically.'' And Jim Mancini was off and running, pointing out newly discovered, or at least newly reported, evidence he said supported his view of the primacy of the County of Ocean. Who would argue with him? Everyone within earshot liked somebody who was enthusiastic about the place they chose to live, and to make the biggest investment of their life. It made his listeners feel good about the county, themselves, and the guy they would send back to public office for more than four decades. His drum …