AP : Judge blocks Murphy ’ s handgun carry law
Page 4 • Wednesday , June 21 , 2023 • The Hammonton Gazette
Lions Club celebrating the 25th anniversary of Leo Park
LEO , from Page 1
The park was dedicated on June 28 , 1998 at the Red , White and Blueberry Festival , which was then held downtown on the grounds of the former Hammonton Middle School ( now St . Joseph Academy ), right across from the park .
Orsi recalled that the park was originally a tennis court that turned into a basketball court for kids in town to play . Kids from out of town came to play and bullied Hammonton ’ s kids to play , which led to the police chief at the time , Frank Ingemi , to lock up the courts and ban anyone from playing there . This led to Donio ’ s idea being presented to Orsi .
“ We then went to town council and they gave us the approval and we started . Now , a lot of volunteer work was put into this park mainly due to Gabe ’ s influence with a lot of major contractors in town . I know it was Gabe , myself , Sal Velardi and another couple of guys , we took the fence down and gave it to the rec department ,” Orsi said .
Orsi was very encouraging to Donio when he became a member of the Lions Club . Donio credited Orsi for being the advocate of getting the club involved with the project , which was then an idea as Orsi presented it to them . Eventually , it was taken on by the Lions Club and Donio said that the project seemed like a lot of work for a civic organization to take on as it ’ s a project normally taken on by the municipality . Donio was adamant that people will come and help and used the example of stone soup that he told at a Lions Club meeting .
“ He [ Orsi ] had already known the story of stone soup because I had told it at a meeting I think in
‘ 96 . The story is where everybody helps out and gets together and get the project done in spite of themselves . That ’ s what makes that story great and that ’ s exactly what happened ,” Donio said .
Not only has the story of stone soup been told at a Lions Club meeting but a version of the story was published on the November 19 , 1997 edition of The Gazette . In Donio ’ s own words , it ’ s a story of a town that doesn ’ t trust and won ’ t help each other and a person is telling the town that he ’ s making stone soup in the center square of town , where all it is is boiling water on a fire with a stone in it .
“ What he does is he sells it , he says ‘ oh , it tastes great , really good but it could just use some carrots ’ and then somebody goes and gets carrots , somebody goes and gets cabbage and before you know it , you have a feast and everybody eats . The idea is it ’ s a little bit of a story of a guy who might be perceived today as a little bit of a con artist but the guy was hungry , he was a salesman and he sold the people by saying ‘ hey , work together and we ’ ll get it done ’ but he didn ’ t tell them that , they just started doing it ,” Donio said .
The story of stone soup was a way for the town to show that they were stronger together rather than separated and that they could do anything that they put their minds to . Donio noted that the town was in a bad spot as a large pharmaceutical company left and the town lost 1,000 well-paying jobs and the residents bought into the Leo Club Park project as they wanted something positive to happen .
“ When they bought in as a team , they went to work so fast that it was amazing to watch that
AP : Judge blocks Murphy ’ s handgun carry law
by Gabe Donio
GAZETTE STAFF WRITER
TRENTON — A federal judge on May 16 blocked part of New Jersey ’ s new handgun carry law that barred weapons from being carried in so-called sensitive places and halted a new insurance mandate the law sought to institute , the Associated Press ( AP ) reported .
“ Second Amendment rights groups that filed suit against the law hailed the opinion as a victory , while the spokespeople for the Democrat-controlled Legislature ’ s leaders and Democratic Gov . Phil Murphy stood by the law ,” the AP reported .
According to the AP , State Attorney General Matt Platkin filed an appeal to the order by chief U . S . District Judge Renee Marie Bumb .
“ The court order blocks state officials from enforcing the law , which barred lawful carry of firearms in certain places . Among the places covered by the judge ’ s order are : within 100 feet ( 30 meters ) of certain public gatherings , zoos , bars and restaurants and certain entertainment facilities . The judge ’ s order on Tuesday [ May 16 ] did not specify that it was ending prohibitions in places such as schools , universities or child care facilities ,” the AP reported .
According to the AP , Bumb ’ s order also blocked an insurance mandate for firearms carriers that was scheduled to take effect in July . The AP report quoted from her opinion : “ What the Second Amendment prohibits the States from doing , and what the State of New Jersey has done here is to ‘ prevent law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms ,’” Bumb wrote , quoting the Supreme Court ’ s 2022 decision on handgun carry permits . “ That is plainly unconstitutional .” The AP quoted from Bumb ’ s opinion .
The order blocks only part of the law ,
State appeals decision
which Murphy signed last year days before Christmas , and the judge wrote that she found most of the law ’ s permitting requirements to be consistent with the Second Amendment , the AP reported .
“ This Nation has historically disarmed dangerous individuals or individuals who could endanger the public with a firearm . With some exceptions , Chapter 131 ’ s firearm permitting scheme generally adheres to that historical tradition and aims to keep firearms out of the hands of those who could harm the public ,” Bumb wrote .
According to a release issued in response to Bumb ’ s order posted on the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs , “ Today , the judge in ANJRPC ’ s lawsuit to overturn the carry-killer law imposed a preliminary injunction continuing and expanding its prior restraining order blocking key aspects of New Jersey ’ s defiant “ carrykiller ” law . The decision also for the first time now blocks the liability insurance mandate which was supposed to take effect starting in July .”
The AP reported that Murphy ’ s spokesperson , Tyler Jones , called the decision “ misguided and erroneous .”
“ This poorly reasoned decision sends exactly the wrong message as our nation confronts another devastating wave of mass shootings that have taken the lives of many across our country , including children ,” Jones wrote in an email , the AP reported .
Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel discussed the permit process with The Gazette .
“ Obviously with the carry permit coming about , it has increased the workload for the firearms portion of our investigations . Right now , people make an appointment to drop off their application . If they drop off a complete application , then we begin the investigation for the permit to carry , with everything from fingerprints check , mental health check , domestic violence check , all
hey just decided that we ’ re going to do it and we were told that it was going to cost us , from an engineering standpoint to build it , something like $ 95,000 , and we did it for around $ 3,500 because everybody donated their work ,” Donio said .
There were many others who contributed in their own way with the project . Robert Capoferri volunteered to grade the ground and lay the asphalt , Orsi helped eliminate the basketball courts , Tommy Mature did the concrete work to create the walkways , Louis Pinto , who passed away on April , did the irrigation work for the park , Brian Howell worked on the sidewalks and benches and former town councilman Andrew Berenato Jr . removed the fencing of the old courts .
Brian Howell ’ s involvement came after the fact when he noticed that there was no connecting pathway between Veterans Park and Leo Club Park . He reached out to Donio and they both agreed to pay for a connecting piece of concrete for the sidewalk , then they reached out to Tommy Mature , who then agreed to do it for a reasonable price , to which both Howell and Donio split the cost .
Orsi noted that the park has benches that are in his honor as well as one in memory of Velardi and have discussed putting two more benches there this year . Orsi ’ s daughter , Lori , will be the president of the Lions Club and is making the Leo Club the president ’ s project .
Howell ’ s first exposure to the basketball courts was when he was in elementary school , where his gym classes would go to the courts when the weather was warm . With his favorite sport
See CARRY , Page 18
being basketball , Howell spent a lot of time at the courts in the mid- 1960s and mid-1970s with various people from all different places and skill levels .
“ It was rarely ever a bad experience , it was typically a great athletic and social experience at the same time . I could recall that there was a gas station where 7- Eleven is now and after you were done playing , there was a ten-cent soda machine and get a soda and then many times , you come back and play more . It was a great recreation area during that era that I ’ m recalling ,” Howell said .
Mature wanted to help as much as he could for the town and in doing so , his company , Mature Concrete , donated his workers to volunteer on the project as they helped lay a walkway between Leo Club Park and Veterans Park . With his wife , Nickie , by his side as they reflect on that time period , Nickie noted that Tommy is proud to be a part of the many volunteers who offered to help build the park . The park still holds a lot of significance to Tommy as he ’ s proud of the work that was done to make the park look beautiful .
“ It gives him great pleasure today to know that that park exists and how beautiful it is and how well they keep it up . He ’ s just so proud to have been a part of it ,” Nickie said .
The Matures hope that the park remains beautiful as it is today and that a few certain people close to the Matures appreciate the park .
“ We hope that it remains as beautiful as it is today and that people can enjoy it . Maybe our grandchildren someday will go pass there and say ‘ oh my pop-pop did that work .’ We look at it and it ’ s still beautiful , just like the rest of our town ,” Nickie said .
While Howell misses the park being utilized for athletics , he emphasized that the park area is the prettiest part of town and that both parks enhance the status of a peaceful and quiet spot in town . He felt that the building of the park was a transitioning of the town ’ s misfortunes during that time period to what it is today . The old courts that Howell played in as a kid was looked at as a place of negativity from the town ’ s perspective , which he didn ’ t agree then and now with the conclusion , but it showed that the town was willing to put in their time and money into something positive .
“ The prior administrations decided they needed to fence off the basketball courts and it became somewhat of an eyesore so Leo Park coming in relative to what the courts had become was a good thing . People in town were still willing to donate their time , money and energy to beautify the town so it was like a precursor to what was becoming down the pike in five or ten years ,” Howell said .
Orsi has discussed some renovation projects being done to the park , planting different flowers and shrubs . A time capsule was buried in Leo Park on January 2 , 2020 under the Lions Club sign but never put a marker over the top of it so that is another upcoming project . It still means a lot to Orsi as he drives by it often and see a lot of people enjoying themselves there .
“ We see a lot of people sitting there having lunch , we see children out in the summertime playing while the parents are sitting on the benches . It ’ s been a wonderful thing , I know Hammonton appreciates beautiful things that volunteers do and I
See PARK , Page 12