Authorities focused on a home in the Evergreen Woods condo complex.

Karon Reid, 27, of Brick Township. (Photo courtesy of Ocean County Jail) 

BRICK TOWNSHIP -- A drug bust in the Evergreen Woods condo complex turned up approximately 8 grams of cocaine and more than $600 in drug-dealing proceeds, police said.

Township resident Karon Reid, 27, was arrested and charged with various drug possession and distribution offenses, Capt. Vincent Pacitti announced in a press release.

The arrest came after an investigation into the distribution of cocaine in the area by members of the Brick Township Drug Enforcement Unit.

The investigation led them to a residence on Kitty Court, in the Evergreen Woods condo complex, Pacitti said.

He said officers with the drug enforcement unit and the township's Special Emergency Response Team searched the home around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday and found 8 grams of cocaine and $624 in cash believed to be proceeds from drug dealing.

Authorities took Reid to the Ocean County Jail in lieu of $80,000 bail.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Plenty has changed in the classroom over the last several decades.

When I was a student, a tablet was a pad of writing paper. For today's school-age individuals, however, the word "tablet" means something entirely different.

Ah, plenty has changed in the classroom over the last several decades. Okay, it's not as though a classroom would be an unrecognizable place for those of us who attended school in the '60s and '70s, but there is no denying that much has been lost to history.

I offer just a handful of examples for your consumption:

*  Internet videos have replaced film strips and movie presentations of yesteryear.

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

*  The end-of-day task of clapping the erasers has all but vanished; chalkboards have been displaced by write-erase whiteboards.

There will be a test on this on Throwback Thursday.Courtesy of Distejon 

*  An item that has completely disappeared from the 21st-century classroom is the five-line chalk holder. Barely changing in design from the 1800s to the 1980s, it held five pieces of chalk and allowed a teacher to draw parallel lines on the blackboard for teaching cursive writing.

*  The first handheld digital calculators appeared in Japan in 1970, and shortly thereafter became available at reasonably affordable prices in the United States, replacing slide rules and pencil-and-paper calculations for students.

Here's a gallery of classic photos on the subject - there won't be a pop quiz, though. Make sure captions are enabled to read all about these vintage photos.

Can't get enough? Here's a link to last year's gallery.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find The Star-Ledger on Facebook.

The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th birthday this week with free admission to many of its parks and sites around the nation.

The National Park Service is celebrating its big birthday this week with a nationwide celebration.

One hundred years ago Thursday, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating a federal bureau to oversee the nation's growing number of parks and monuments.

A century later, there are more than 400 National Parks covering 84 million acres across the country. More than 300 million people visit the sites every year, according to federal statistics.

Historians use 650+ images to tell state's history

To celebrate its 100^th birthday, the National Park Service is offering free admission and fee waivers at many of its parks from Thursday to Sunday. The New Jersey sites waiving fees this week include Thomas Edison National Historic Park in West Orange and Morristown National Historic Park, the park service said.

New Jersey is home to a dozen parks, trails and other sites that are either overseen by or considered part of the National Park Service. The New Jersey sites had more than 4.2 million visitors last year and contributed $135.8 million to the local economy, according to federal estimates.

The National Park Service sites in New Jersey are:

Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail

Part of the 2,180-mile trail passes through New Jersey. The 72-mile stretch begins at the Delaware Water Gap, continues along the Kittatinny Ridge to High Point and along the New York border. Visitor can take day hikes or walk the entire New Jersey portion.

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

The 70,000-acre park is along the Delaware River on both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania sides. Visitors can paddle on the river, fish in the trout streams or hike the ridges and valleys.

Ellis Island (Part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument)

Nearly 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island on their way to a new life in the United States. The island now serves as a museum and a monument to the immigrant experience.

Sandy Hook/ Gateway National Recreation Area

The Gateway National Recreation Area includes 27,000 acres along the ocean and bays in New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. New Jersey's portion is Sandy Hook, the popular swimming, hiking and biking park at the northern end of the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County.

Great Egg Harbor River

Designated a federal park site in 1992, the National Park Service helps oversee the 129-mile river system in the Pinelands National Reserve.

Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River

The lower part of the Delaware River became part of the National Park System in 2000.

Morristown National Historic Park

George Washington and the Continental Army spent the winter of 1779 and 1780 encamped in Morristown. The site includes a museum and library devoted to pre- and post-Revolutionary America.

New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail

The trail stretches 300 miles along the Jersey Shore and includes stops at lighthouses, historic villages and boardwalks. Designed for driving, the trail stretches from Raritan Bay in Perth Amboy, along the shore to Deepwater near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve

The Pinelands includes over a million acres of forests, wetlands and farms in seven of New Jersey's southern counties.

Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park

New Jersey's newest National Park site is the towering waterfall in one of the state's largest cities. The falls are surrounded by the remnants of mills and factories in the industrial city.

Thomas Edison National Historical Park

Thomas Edison's home and laboratory in West Orange are preserved to mark the site where one of the nation's greatest investors lived and worked.

Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail

In 1781, the George Washington and the Continental Army joined forces with General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau and the French Army joined forces and marched from Rhode Island to Virginia to fight the British. Their route was designated a National Historic Trail in 2009. The New Jersey portions pass through most of the counties in North and Central Jersey before crossing into Pennsylvania.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.

We introduce the players that put up huge numbers in 2015 that are back once again to lead the state in production and help their teams win.

Forecasters say risk of rip currents will rise as Gaston continues trek across the tropical Atlantic. Watch video

Hurricane Gaston continues to swirl in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, and although it is expected to remain far away from the Northeast, it will likely generate dangerous rip currents along the New Jersey coast as early as this weekend, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service says there is a moderate risk of dangerous rip currents forming Thursday along the central and southern Jersey Shore, but they are unrelated to Gaston. The more severe risk starts Sunday and may last until Tuesday. 

Currently, the ocean is being churned up by southwesterly winds that are expected to strengthen to 10 to 15 mph Thursday afternoon, with gusts up to 20 mph, said Lance Franck, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's regional forecast office in Mount Holly.

Tropical activity spikes in Atlantic Ocean 

"You've got the winds that are whipping up the waves a bit, and you have a swell that is sufficient to produce the rip currents," Franck said.

The rip current risk in New Jersey is expected to go down on Friday and Saturday, Franck said, but beachgoers should pay attention to the alerts that will likely be issued later in the weekend and early next week.

In a hazardous weather outlook issued Thursday, the weather service said: "There will be an increasing risk for the formation of dangerous rip currents beginning Sunday afternoon. It will probably be a moderate or even high risk for Monday and particularly Tuesday of early next week. This is in response to... building southeast swells arriving on our shores from the distant tropical cyclone Gaston."

Gaston, which formed off the northern coast of Africa earlier this week, strengthened into a hurricane early Thursday morning. Although it could weaken back to a tropical storm, the system continues to move north and west toward Bermuda, before heading north and curving out to sea, according to the latest track projected by the National Hurricane Center.

Forecasters are also keeping a close eye on a yet-to-be-named storm system that is moving over Puerto Rico on Thursday and taking possible aim at the Bahamas and Florida.

That storm -- currently known as Invest 99L because its being investigated for potential strengthening into a tropical depression or tropical storm -- is expected to bring heavy rain to Puerto Rico on Thursday and strong winds and heavy rain over parts of Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos, and the southeastern and central Bahamas during the next couple of days, the hurricane center said.

Some of the rain in those regions "could lead to flash floods and mudslides," the hurricane center said in its Thursday morning tropical advisory. "Interests in the northwestern Bahamas and Florida should monitor the progress of this disturbance since it is increasingly likely that some impacts, at a minimum heavy rains and gusty winds, will occur beginning this weekend."

Update: As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Gaston's strength weakened, so the National Hurricane Center changed its status from a hurricane back to a tropical storm. Gaston was packing sustained winds of 70 mph and was moving northwest at 17 mph.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Investigators say they found hundreds of images and video of child pornography on the computers and hard drives of Carlos Diaz Rojas, who was living illegally in the United States

Carlos Diaz Rojas(Ocean County Prosecutor's Office) 

POINT PLEASANT BEACH -- A Point Pleasant Beach man was arrested early Thursday on charges he had hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on his computer, authorities said.

Carlos Diaz Rojas, 54, was taken into custody at his Philadelphia Avenue home. Members of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office's High Tech Crime Unit and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations searched the residence, said Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato.

Investigators, including Point Pleasant Beach police, seized Rojas' computers and hard drives, which contained hundreds of videos and images of prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts, Coronato said.

Rojas was charged with third-degree possession of child pornography and was being held on $100,000 bail, the prosecutor said. He said Rojas, who has been living illegally in the United States, is also subject to an immigration detainer if he posts bail.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Alfred Faragasso, 55, of Jackson died a shortly after the July 3 crash at Route 524 at Sharon Station Road.

UPPER FREEHOLD -- A Connecticut man was issued a ticket for careless driving following a July crash in which a motorcyclist from Jackson died, the New Jersey State Police said.

The State Police previously said Alfred Faragasso, 55, of Jackson was heading east on Route 524 when his motorcycle was struck by a car at the intersection with Sharon Station Road July 3.

Faragasso died a short time later at a Trenton trauma center. 

The car's driver, Agar Kannamangala Singra Gowda, 26, of Trumbull, Ct., was driving south on Sharon Station Road. He was not injured.

Gowda was later issued a ticket for careless driving by the New Jersey State Police, the agency said Thursday.

Motorcyclist from Jackson killed in collision

The status of the traffic charge was unknown Thursday as Upper Freehold's municipal court was closed.

Southbound traffic on Sharon Station Road is controlled by a stop sign and Route 524 (New Canton - Stone Tavern Road) is a through road, without any traffic devices.

Faragasso was a quality control inspector at Valcor Engineering in Springfield and a member of the Jersey Shore Touring Society, his obituary said.

He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Janet T. Faragasso. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he lived in Old Bridge and Smithtown, N.Y. before moving to Jackson 28 years ago, the obituary said.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Like other national parks across the country, Sandy Hook is waiving entrance fees through Sunday in honor of the National Park Service's 100th anniversary

SANDY HOOK -- How does the National Park Service celebrate its centennial anniversary at Sandy Hook?

It throws a four-day bash and lets everyone in for free.

At Sandy Hook and many of the park service's other facilities across the country, visitors won't have to pay entrance fees Thursday through Sunday to commemorate the National Park Service's 100^th anniversary.

And with beautiful weather predicted through the weekend, park rangers at Sandy Hook could find themselves turning away visitors for a time. Sandy Hook, which draws 2 million visitors annually, usually fills to parking capacity before noon on holidays and on gorgeous weekends. 

N.J.'s 12 National Park sites: How many have you visited?

Officially created in 1974, Sandy Hook is one of three units (including sites in Jamaica Bay and Staten Island in New York) making up the park service's Gateway National Recreation Area.

But the park actually dates back to Colonial times when an Army fort operated on the northern tip of its 7-mile peninsula. A public beach club operated on the southern portion for decades until the New Jersey took the property by eminent domain in 1962 for a state park.

The entire peninsula became a national park in 1974 when the fort, which was known as Sandy Hook Proving Ground and later Fort Hancock, was deactivated and the state park reverted to the federal government.

Thursday is the actual centennial marking the day in 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson signed an act creating the National Park Service to protect the 35 national parks and monuments in existence at the time.

The park service now oversees more than 400 areas covering more than 84 million acres in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan and the Virgin Islands.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Everything you need to follow the 2016 football season can be find right here on NJ.com

The gridiron is heating up, and NJ.com is your place for everything you need to follow the high school football season. 

Over the last two weeks, we've been putting together plenty of previews to get you up to speed, and we will continue to do so until every team in the state kicks offs its 2016 campaign. 

Check out what we have so far and also get ready for what's still to come. 

You'll also want to like NJ.com's High School Football Facebook page and follow all of our beat writers on Twitter for updates throughout the season (you can find out accounts below). 

BIG-TICKET ITEMS STILL TO COME 
• Players to watch by position
• Conference previews
• Sectional previews
• NJ.com's preseason Top 20 

STATEWIDE ESSENTIALS 
• Essential links for the 2016 football season
• 2015's Top 20 in 2016: Who's up, who's down? 
• Back again: Returning football statewide stat leaders, 2016 
• Returning All-State Players: A quick look  
• 25 can't-misses scrimmages for 2016

MUST-READ NEWS 
• NJIC announces football conference playoff, bolsters small school identity 
• Super Conference releases official schedule for 2016  
• NJSIAA announces championship sites, 2 games added to MetLife
• Middletown South star LB-RB injured in recruiting-visit drill, out for season
• Timber Creek football program under investigation for illegal recruiting
• Transfer denied enrollment to Timber Creek, school district says 
• Superintendent posts open letter on residency probe of Timber Creek  

INTRODUCING THE BIG 6 
• Features, previews & everything you need to follow the NJSFC's "Big Six" non-public powers

BLOOPERS AT THE BIG 6
• WATCH: Don Bosco players impersonate their hard-nosed coach
• WATCH: Bergen Catholic's Crusader Crazies gear up for 2016
• WATCH: The songs of summer that have Paramus Catholic livin'
• WATCH: St. Joseph players let loose on media day

PRESEASON COVERAGE 
• Players embracing changes ahead of NJSFC's inaugural conference 
• Greater Middlesex Conference alignment and analysis for 2016
• Rutgers' Chris Ash makes strong impression on N.J. coaches at NJSFC event
• Haddonfield football looking for cohesion, continued success
• Former St. Peter's star Minkah Fitzpatrick to play a big role for Alabama in 2016 
• Former PC star Jabrill Peppers focused on defense...for now 
• After "straight disappointment of playoff loss, St. Augustine re-loading for another shot 
• WJFL's top new matchups

RECRUITING 
• Next-level ready? St. Peter's Prep boasts double-digit Division 1 football recruits
• 'All about recruiting:' Rutgers' Chris Ash skips practice to speak at NJSFC Media Day
• Is DePaul's Shelton Applewhite Rutgers' No. 1 QB target for 2018? 
• Former 4-star WR Ahmir Mitchell to transfer from Michigan following suspension 
• 3-star Rutgers commit Bryce Watts of Toms River North stars in scrimmage  
• 3-star WR Jahmin Muse has Marylan on top, talks Elizabeth coaching change
• Watch N.J.'s top FB recruit Drew Singleton on Rutgers: 'I love the new staff' 
• PC star DL Corey Bolds sets Top 9, Rutgers make the cut 

Pat Lanni may be reached at planni@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatLanniHS. Like NJ.com High School Sports on Facebook.

Lakewood police are investigating the vandalism incident at Yeshiva Ketana School

LAKEWOOD -- Lakewood police are investigating after swastikas and other anti-Semitic language were spray-painted at the playground of a Jewish school.

The graffiti was reported at 2 p.m. on Thursday at Yeshiva Ketana School on Second Street, police said. Officer Michael Ruiz found swastikas and other letters and figures painted on the jungle gym.

Pictures posted on The Lakewood Scoop also show swastikas painted on a door and "Hail Hitler" on the playground equipment.

Police said they are coordinating the graffiti removal with the building owners and the township's public works department.

The incident is still under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Michael Cavallo at 732-363-0200, ext. 5317.

Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Gov. Chris Christie said the aid will help towns in nine New Jersey counties hit by the 2012 storm.

TOMS RIVER -- As the four-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy approaches, Gov. Chris Christie announced Friday that towns in nine New Jersey counties can now receive aid from the state to reimburse money the spent in the immediate aftermath of the 2012 storm. 

Speaking at the East Dover Fire Department in Toms River, Christie announced that the Non-Federal Cost Share Program -- otherwise known as the Match Program -- will allow local and county governments to apply for grants to pay back money they spent on disaster relief just after Sandy hit.

La. lawmakers want disaster aid after opposing Sandy funds

Christie said while the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid 90 percent of the cost for the recovery efforts, the state or local governments are required to pay for the remaining 10 percent. And some of those communities, the governor said, faced costs that were close to or more than $1 million.

Those municipalities can now apply for a share of $42 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds set aside to cover the 10 percent for debris removal, emergency protection measures, and more.

"Rather than see property taxes increase in these hard-hit communities, the state is stepping in to cover these costs," Christie said at Friday's news conference.

The governor said those communities can begin applying Monday to the state Department of Community Affairs. The deadline is Oct. 18.

For example, Christie said, Toms River alone is eligible for $2 million under the program. 

The governor, who has faced criticism over the years for its handling of the recovery, including the slowness in which aid was doled out, said New Jersey has come a long way in recovering from Sandy. 

"It's really exartoidinary what our state and these communities have been able to do rebuilding in less than four years," Christie said. 

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

The Point Pleasant man was visiting his daughter in the hospital in Durham, NC

POINT PLEASANT BOROUGH- A Point Pleasant Borough man helped police in North Carolina arrest a man after one of the cops was pinned to the ground by the suspect - an act the local paper called "Jersey Justice," reports said.

Keith Mizer was in North Carolina because his 1-year-old daughter was undergoing a cord blood transplant at Duke University Hospital last week, The Asbury Park Press reported.

After leaving the hospital, Mizer saw officers chasing down a suspect and watched as the suspect pinned one officer to the ground. Mizer, a bartender at Leggett's in Manasquan and a former wrestler, intervened, pulling the suspect off the officer and holding him down until more police arrived at the scene, according to reports.

The act earned him a letter of thanks from the chief of police in Durham, reports said. 

Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman.

The fish kill is the second in a week along the New Jersey coast Watch video

LITTLE EGG HARBOR -- Some Ocean County residents woke up Saturday morning to a massive fish kill, the second large-scale fish die-off along the New Jersey coast this week.

The peanut bunker, a type of baitfish, piled up on the bay shore side and in the water of Great Bay along the Osborn Island section of Little Egg Harbor after they had been actively jumping the night before, residents said.

"It's in the bay washing up right around our boat," said Bill Koy Jr. of Mountain Lakes, who with his family was visiting his father's house on the bay. "It almost looks like an oil slick."

Cleanup of 1M dead fish completed in Keansburg

Koy said he and his family were grilling dinner on the deck Friday night and noted how unusually active the baitfish were jumping out of the water.

"It sounded like rain on the water," he said.

But when they woke up Saturday morning, they found hundreds -- if not thousands -- of dead fish along the coastline.

"It's weird and concerning that this would happen," Koy said. 

He said his father reported the kill to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Bob Considine, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the fish have washed up along several lagoons off Great Bay. He said this kill, like the one earlier in the week, was caused by low concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the water and the large number of fish there.

He did not have an estimate of how many fish died in this kill but said that they were likely chased to the area by predators.

He said DEP conservation officers and emergency response staff have interviewed residents in the area who reported unusually still water with little current recently.

From several samples taken of the fish, it does not appear that they are suffering from a disease, Considine said.

For now, the DEP is counting on the winds and tides to bring the fish back to the water, but the Ocean County Health Department is monitoring the situation, he said.

Koy said the die-off is especially distressing after he heard about the fish kill earlier this week in the waterways around Raritan Bay in Keansburg and Hazlet.

That fish kill, involving more than a million peanut bunker, was cleaned up by Friday, officials had said.

The Brigantine Surf Jam is rich in local tradition.

BRIGANTINE -- The waves were ripe for surfing Friday in this small Jersey Shore town, just in time for more than 100 local surfers to strut their stuff in the Brigantine Surf Jam.

The tournament was a day to "celebrate those who paved the way and those who are the future of the sport and the island," said organizer Tim Daley.

"We have had winners of Bells Beach, World Tour Surfers, East Coast Hall of Famers, Big Wave surfers, sponsored surfers and world travelers call Brigantine home," he added.

Surfers of all ages contended for titles in shortboard and longboard, as well as stand up paddleboards (SUP). There were also bodyboarding contests for those not yet catching waves on surfboards.

Ten-year-old Lindsay Tate competed against several adults in the Open SUP contest, and drew applause from the crowd several times as she caught waves alongside experienced riders.

"This tradition continues as a family affair watching the next crop of young up and comers taking notes of those who came before to try and make their mark in our rich surfing community," Daley said.

Daley has run the Surf Jam for the past 11 years, with help from the Brigantine CER (Community Education and Recreation), Brigantine City Beach Patrol, police, fire and public works departments, and numerous volunteers. The Brigantine Wave Riding Association ran a surfing contest for more than 20 years prior.

Results:

Bodyboarding, 10 and under -- 1st place: Colyn Williams, 2nd: Daniel Burns, 3rd: Luke Terusso

Bodyboarding, 11-13 -- 1st place: Michael Rubino, 2nd: Gabe Cordasco, 3rd: Joey Savell

Girls surfing, 10 and under (Wahines) -- 1st place: Lindsay Tate, 2nd: Laney Harris, 3rd: Ella Toboga

Boys surfing, 10 and under (Menehune) -- 1st place: Matt Hoffman, 2nd: Jaxson Hurtt, 3rd: Jimmy Downing

Boys surfing, 11-13 -- 1st place: Jake Downing, 2nd: Jack Klemm, 3rd: Sean O'Neill Junior

Girls surfing, 11-16 -- 1st place: Masey Klemm, 2nd: Lauren Tate, 3rd: Ella Harris

Junior Men's Surfing, 14-17 -- 1st place: Evan Couval, 2nd: Matt Rahm, 3rd: Andrew Winchester

Women's surfing, 17 and older -- 1st place: Kasey Jeansonne, 2nd: Rachel Nessuno, 3rd: Kristy Goff

Men's Surfing, 18 and older -- 1st place: Greg Fuller, 2nd: Mike Dougherty, 3rd: Zach Tomlinson

Junior Longboarding, 29 and under -- 1st place: Zach Tomlinson, 2nd: Pat McCarron, 3rd: Doug Brown

Senior Longboarding, 30 and older -- 1st place: Tommy Cooker, 2nd: Zack Laielli, 3rd: Dave DeMarco

Open Stand Up Paddle Board -- 1st place: Sven Peltonen, 2nd: Greg Fuller, 3rd: Zach Tomlinson

Super Heat: Champion of the 2016 Brigantine Surf Jam (all of the surfing shortboard division winners against each other, both male and female) -- Greg Fuller

Spirit of Aloha (good sportsmanship) -- Luke Eschallier

Wave of the day (highest scoring wave) -- Greg Fuller, on a big off-the-lip on a clean chest-high wave

Lori M. Nichols may be reached at lnichols@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @photoglori. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The year before Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene ravaged New Jersey with deadly force and record flooding in August 2011. Watch video

Before there was Sandy, there was Irene.

Five years ago this weekend, a powerful hurricane churned its way up the Atlantic Ocean and slammed into New Jersey, killing several people, pushing rivers over their flood-stage levels and causing billions of dollars in property damage statewide.

Irene was a monster storm, which was overshadowed by an even bigger monster just 14 months later: Superstorm Sandy.

Sandy's immense size, its rare formation -- a late-season coastal hurricane that gained energy from an upper-level trough of low pressure -- and its devastating winds, made it one of the worst Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded.

Irene, however, also remains one of the most devastating storms in New Jersey history.

Here are several factors that made Irene, which struck the state on Aug. 28, 2011, such a eventful storm. And some aspects of the storm that may have been forgotten after five years.

WAS IT A HURRICANE?

This is what Hurricane Irene looked like from space as the storm was barreling up the East Coast and getting ready to slam into New Jersey on Aug. 28, 2011. (NASA/NOAA) 

Several days before hitting New Jersey, Irene was a very powerful category 3 hurricane, packing sustained winds of 115 mph and clobbering the Bahamas.

The storm was originally classified as a low-level category 1 hurricane when it approached New Jersey and slammed into Little Egg Inlet, just north of Atlantic City. A few months later, after storm data was reviewed by the National Hurricane Center, it was determined Irene had actually been a tropical storm when it hit the Garden State. Regardless of its technical status, it turned out to be a devastating storm.

LIVES LOST

Irene was responsible for nine deaths in New Jersey, most from drowning in the raging flood waters, some people trapped inside their cars. But one victim fell off a roof while clearing debris from his gutters, and one man suffered a fatal heart attack while bailing water out of his flooded basement. (Sandy was blamed for at least 34 deaths in New Jersey.) 

RECORD RIVER FLOODING

Irene's storm surge of 3 to 5 feet along the Jersey Shore was not as severe as the record-level storm surge generated by Sandy's massive winds. The most devastating aspect of Irene was its torrential rain, which impacted New Jersey so badly because in the weeks prior to the storm, the ground was saturated by a series of heavy rain storms.

All the extra rain dumped by Irene caused serious flash-flooding and overwhelmed several rivers in northern and central counties, leading to record-breaking crests along the Millstone River in Somerset County, the Passaic, Pompton and Rockaway rivers in Morris County, and the Ramapo River in Bergen and Passaic counties. Also hitting record levels were the Assunpink Creek in Mercer County and the North Branch Rancocas Creek in Burlington County.

The Passaic River in Little Falls in Passaic County crested at 14.2 feet, which was the second highest level on record, and the Raritan River in Bound Brook in Somerset County crested at 41.9 feet, just short of the record 42.1 feet reached after Tropical Storm Floyd in September 1999, according to New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson at Rutgers University. 

To make matters worse, more rain storms hit New Jersey in the days after Irene. August 2011 turned out to be the state's wettest month ever recorded, with records dating back to 1895.

COASTAL EVACUATIONS

Aside from its devastating river flooding, Irene will be long remembered for its massive evacuation -- the scope of which was unprecedented at that time -- with more than 1 million residents and vacationers ordered to leave coastal towns from Cape May to Monmouth counties. (Few New Jerseyans will forget Gov. Chris Christie's famous directive prior to the storm: "Get the hell off the beach!") All of the Garden State Parkway's southbound lanes, south of Exit 98, were shut down to stop drivers from heading into the storm's main target zone, and Atlantic City casinos were shuttered. 

PRICE TAG ON DAMAGE

Irene caused between $4 billion and $6 billion worth of damage in New Jersey, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The range of uncertainty surrounding the damages reflect the considerable flood losses, for which many damaged or destroyed properties did not have flood insurance," a NOAA representative said. "This cost assessment also does not include the additional costs to mitigate (strengthen) infrastructure to minimize future losses."

12 of the worst storms in N.J. history

Among the notable areas of destruction were in Morris County, where a section of Route 287 over the Rockaway River in Boonton collapsed as raging flood waters ripped apart the shoulder, embankment and part of the interstate highway. On Route 23 in Morris and Passaic counties, huge chunks of concrete and asphalt were washed away, forcing a 10-mile stretch of the highway to be closed.

In Warren County, flash floods during a rain storm that hit about a week after Irene caused a big mudslide in Liberty Township in which two houses collapsed and three other homes were badly damaged. In some towns along the Raritan River in Somerset County and the Passaic River in Passaic County, hundreds of houses were partially under water after Irene struck and heavy rain storms followed.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

On the plus side, they might only pay $96 to save $62.

TRENTON -- The costs associated with the PennEast pipeline and two other projects in the works by New Jersey Natural Gas will dwarf any savings ratepayers may have been hoping to save on their utility bills, an expert's analysis shows.

Customers could save up to $62.75 per year on their heating and electric bills due to savings from the PennEast pipeline, once completed.

But, after factoring in construction fees for PennEast and two other projects -- the Southern Reliability Link and Garden State Expansion  -- the combined price tag could end up costing customers $96 to $161 more per year, according to Greg Lander, president of Skipping Stone, an energy market services firm.

"If you compare the supposed $32.63 million of annual savings to the $80 million of known costs for 20 years, you see that New Jersey Natural Gas ratepayers could be underwater $48 million per year," Lander said.

The construction costs for the projects are paid for by customers in the form of pipeline transportation fees on customers' monthly bills.

Michael Kinney, a spokesman for New Jersey Natural Gas, criticized the analysis as "misleading and without merit" because the intention of the PennEast projects is not the same as NJNG's other projects.

Kinney said that while PennEast is a money-saver for ratepayers, the Garden State Expansion and Southern Reliability Link are meant to improve the system's reliability.

"These investments, which are recovered through rates, strengthen the integrity of our delivery system and the service we provide," Kinney said. "The cost of investing in infrastructure is about ensuring the safe, reliable, resilient delivery of natural gas to our customers."

Pipeline infrastructure is inherently controversial due to the publicized risks of environmental degradation due to methane leaks, safety risks due to possible pipeline explosions and the use of eminent domain to procure land, officials say.

The PennEast pipeline and two NJNG's projects have been no different.

What makes this critique unique is that Skipping Stone is an outside firm warning a non-competing company's customers that their rates could increase -- and both companies work with or within the natural gas industry.

According to PennEast, a Drexel University and Econsult Solutions study estimates the pipeline's total construction cost will be $1.62 billion.

New Jersey Resources -- the parent company of NJNG -- is a 20-percent owner of the PennEast project. NJNG has signed up to buy 18 percent of the space through which the gas coming off the line will move, says Lander.

If the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities permits NJNG to pass its portion of PennEast's annual costs for construction onto their customers, ratepayers would be responsible for roughly $27.9 million per year in transportation fees, says Lander.

Adding an estimated $52.6 million per year for the Garden State Expansion and Southern Reliability Link projects brings the total construction costs passed onto customers to $80.6 million.

Lander says that his math shows that, regardless of intent, NJNG's customers could each be on the hook for $1,922 annually in pipeline transportation fees over the next 20 years -- and that's if the $1,306 in savings they have been promised with the building of PennEast materializes.

The 20-year cost-per-customer if those savings are not realized totals $3,228, he says.

PennEast-supplied gas is meant to save customers money on gas usage, Kinney said.

Projects like the Garden State Expansion and Southern Reliability Link are meant to bolster NJNG's resiliency and continued energy delivery during emergencies or extreme weather events, he says.

"The need for this important project has always been about providing greater resiliency and the avoidance of a major system failure," Kinney said when speaking about the Southern Reliability Link.

"It is not about gas cost savings," he said.

Greg Wright may be reached at gwright@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The bird was a juvenile and quite drab, which makes identification difficult.

Wilson's phalarope NJ Audubon Collection 

WHAT WE'VE SPOTTED

* Marbled godwit, Island Beach State Park

* Baird's sandpiper, Sandy Hook

* Wilson's phalarope, New Jersey Meadowlands

* White ibis, Forsythe (Brigantine) National Wildlife Refuge

* Black tern, Sandy Hook

The bird was a juvenile and quite drab, which makes identification difficult. Adult birds of this species usually appear as if their feathers are ruffled, as if they are scared or just having a bad hair day, but this is not obvious with a young reddish egret.

One thing that is clear -- their frenzied behavior of frantically running around with their wings up. Juvenile birds do this to a much lesser degree, but this particular bird did exhibit some of this unique behavior. There are few bird species in American that can be identified by behavior alone, but reddish egret is one of them.

I once witnessed a reddish egret running back-and-forth across a marsh just south of San Diego while leading an eco-tour. Though quite rare in Southern California, a peek through a spotting telescope confirmed the species. This egret would be easy to overlook, if not for its behavior. Reddish egrets normally range almost completely across our southern tier of states, from Florida to Southern California, as well into the Carolinas and Mexico.

In some species of herons and egrets, there is both a light and dark form. For instance, the little blue heron is dark as an adult, but completely white as a juvenile. The transitioning is quite a sight to see. The reddish egret also can be seen with two looks -- 90 percent are dark, while 10 percent are completely white. With a bird as uncommon as the reddish egret is in America, a birder likely to find one that is white is very lucky. (Whether white or dark, all reddish egrets exhibit the same behavior.) All three birds that appeared in the Garden State were dark.

This column is compiled and written by Pete Bacinski, longtime New Jersey birder and retired NJ Audubon All Things Birds program director. Questions or comments should be directed to him by emailing petebacinski@comcast.net.

MORE FROM INSIDE JERSEY MAGAZINE

Stranding center puts out call for help to feed the female Loggerhead turtle during rehabilitation Watch video

BRIGANTINE - A 140-pound sea turtle struck by a boat and left partially paralyzed was rescued Friday in Ocean County by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

The female Loggerhead turtle was discovered near an intake pipe for the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant in Lacey Township.

"A worker pushed the turtle back in the water but she kept coming back up to rest," the stranding center said in a Facebook post. " The turtle had wounds showing she'd been hit by a boat that left her with what appears to be partial paralysis of her rear flippers."

Marine Mammal Stranding Center rescuers took the turtle to its facility in Brigantine for rehabilitation. On Saturday, the center put out a call for donations of crabs to help feed the turtle during its rehabilitation.

For more information on the center or to help with the turtle's rehabilitation, visit www.mmsc.org.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Jeffrey Sobin, 57, ran the boat aground at Middle Sedge Island on Saturday night, police said

TOMS RIVER - A Somerset County man was charged with operating a boat under the influence after the boat ran aground late Saturday in Toms River, police said.

Jeffrey Sobin, 57, of Warren Township, was charged after the incident at Middle Sedge Island in Toms River, State Police Sgt. Jeff Flynn said.

There were four occupants on the boat, including the operator. They were treated for minor injuries, Flynn said. Flynn didn't have further information on the type of boat that was involved in the incident.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.

About 10,000 to 15,000 fish washed ashore in the most recent fish kill in Egg Harbor, EPA estimates.

LITTLE EGG HARBOR - The latest fish kill along New Jersey's shore washed up between 10,000 and 15,000 bunker in Ocean County this weekend, the state Department of Environmental Protection said Sunday.

That's far less than the estimated 1 million fish that died last week and took days to remove from Keansburg in Monmouth County.

Officials have attributed the deaths of the bunker fish to "really, really high" populations in the water, said DEP spokesman Larry Hajna.

The Ocean County fish kill was isolated to one lagoon in Little Egg Harbor, Hajna said.

"This is not really a significant fish kill and not like the one we saw last week," Hajna said. "That was really big."

Mass fish kills tend to be a result of predators chasing them into shallow, warmer waters where oxygen is difficult to come by. The fish get trapped, as authorities believed they did Saturday in the lagoon in the Osborn Island section of Little Egg.

Hajna was unsure if any efforts to clean up the fish were underway. In Keansburg, disposing the fish was projected to cost the borough $1,100.

If not removed, the fish would sink and slosh around in the tides until it became part of the water's ecosystem, but the homeowners in the area might not want to wait for the natural process to occur because of the smell, Hajna said.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.