Two players compete for a grand prize Saturday in Monmouth Chess Club’s annual open championship. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Anyone out there who knew that Red Bank has a chess school and club raise your hand. Anybody who knew Red Bank has a USCF-rated chess school and club keep your hands up.

Anybody who knows what USCF stands for, you need not read any further, because you probably already know that 51 Monmouth Street plays home to Monmouth Chess School and Club, a place where a 40-year-old can match up against a 12-year-old and shake hands after a mind-crunching bout on the board.

Sharing space with the Community YMCA, the club has taken residence at the Y-owned brick building for more than a year, offering instruction, small tournaments and meetings to simply talk about chess, and on Saturday held its second open tournament of champions.

It happened with little fanfare and, of course, little noise beyond the clacking of chess pieces and the quick snap of a hand hitting a timer.

Players milled around or looked in on other matches while other competitors dueled on the chessboard.

While he waited to challenge somebody, Eatontown resident T.J. Casper told redbankgreen about the hobby he’s loved since his grandfather taught him to play chess at seven years old.

He travels to as many tournaments in New Jersey as he can, but said the showing in Red Bank Saturday was one he enjoyed because of the mix of age groups vying for the cash prize.

“Here, it’s a variety. You could play anybody between the ages of 12 and maybe 40,” he said.

The club’s director, Michael Koblentz, said the goal of having the school and club in Red Bank is to be able to draw that diversity. Players are rated on a USCF points system, not on their age, he said.

The grand prize didn’t even matter that much to Casper. He wanted more points to up his rating and maybe ready himself for another tournament in another place.

“There’s four rounds. Hopefully I’ll (win) two or three out of four. That wouldn’t be bad,” said Casper, 19. “This is for experience. I’m just excited about coming to play.”

The club meets from noon to 6p on Sundays, with classes offered Sunday mornings. To learn more, visit the club’s website.

A Fair Haven police officer directed traffic Monday afternoon at a light at the Fair Haven-Little Silver border. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

A malfunction at a Tinton Falls substation is believed to be the cause of yesterday’s countywide power outage, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Locally, power started being restored within 75 minutes of the outage, but many homes and businesses also went for hours more in the dark, forcing some closures and snarling traffic on the area’s main roads.

Red Bank police placed a stop sign at the north end of Broad Street Monday afternoon as a long line of cars tried to get onto Front Street.(Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

The Press reports that a “fault” at the Atlantic substation caused about 71,000 customer outages, including some in Ocean County, with the highest concentrations being in the Red Bank and Middletown area, plus a few shoreline towns.

In Fair Haven, police moved swiftly to man the borough’s major roadways to direct traffic. Power went out in the area at around 4:30p.

Greater Red Bank’s power was slowly being restored around 6p, although many homes and businesses didn’t see the lights turn back on until well into the evening. Pete Joehner, a spokesman for Jersey Central Power & Light, the region’s supplier, told APP that the staggered restoration was for “safety reasons, and to not destroy other equipment.”

Phone calls to JCP&L were not returned Monday evening.

Most bars and restaurants in Red Bank stayed open during the outage, relying on iced beers and gas flames to lure customers in. Other businesses, though, called the day early, amid street chatter that a transformer in Tinton Falls blew out.

That’s why Mark Delaney closed his shop, Exotic Birds of Red Bank, around 5:30p.

“That’s a big one,” he said. “That’s not one that’s coming back in 10 minutes.”

Next door, the owners of Frozsurt sat inside with fingers crossed that power would return within a couple hours, so they wouldn’t have to throw out and later restock their supply of frozen yogurt — a costly venture. Hearing of the possibility that a transformer had blown, co-owner Daniel Natale jokingly considered throwing a cheap yogurt buffet through the night so his product wouldn’t be wasted.

On Maple Avenue, 7-11 placed a “close” sign on its door, while not too far away, on East Front Street, a clerk at Welsh Farms manually counted out change for customers buying ice and cigarettes and wrote down each purchase on a piece of paper.

While JCP&L slowly brought power back to the area, the third night of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair went on as planned.

In the moments immediately after the outage, traffic in the area piled up and became a bit of a confounding test of roadway autonomy, as traffic lights went blank and motorists tried to negotiate the streets safely. On Broad Street in Red Bank, a multi-block stretch of northbound cars inched left and right from Broad onto Front Street, which saw its own deep line of cars span from Riverview Medical Center to Maple Avenue.

All the while, fire vehicles, unmarked police cars and ambulances blasted sirens and zoomed past the near-standstill traffic.

While some prepped and others languished in traffic, a few of the Sea Bright locals took the outage as an opportunity to soak up the sun and relax — unplugged.

When asked how long she might sit at the bar at Donovan’s Reef, Stacy Banta (above right), said, “We’re stayin’ until the beer gets warm.”

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

A veteran educator with local roots will fill Bret Schundler’s spot as head of the state education department, a post he commanded less than a year before being fired Friday.

Rochelle Hendricks, who got her start teaching in the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional School District, got the nod from Governor Chris Christie to replace Schundler, who was ousted from the administration after failing to secure federal funds for education. Schundler and his cabinet lost out on coveted Race To The Top money because of a budget error, the Star-Ledger reported.

Now Hendricks, who until Friday held the job as assistant commissioner, will lead the state education department until a new commissioner is named.

According to a report from New Jersey Newsroom, Hendricks taught at R-FH for three years. From there she went on to Princeton University, where she held several roles, then moved to the state DOE under Governor Thomas Keane.

Hendricks’s sudden advancement came on the heels of a highly visible exit for Schundler, who was shown the door by Christie for making a mistake on the application to receive about $400 million in federal education funds.

It wasn’t long ago that Schundler was on a statewide tour promoting those funds and the state’s application for them. One stop included Red Bank, where Schundler got choked up when talking about the prospect of receiving the grant and bettering state education.

During that same June visit, Schundler had reportedly been in hot water with Christie, again over the Race To The Top money. Schundler drew criticism for apparently compromising with the New Jersey Education Association on how to dish out merit pay if the state were to pull in the grant.

A video of Schundler’s reaction to his firing can be found here.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Police are still looking for the man who robbed a Fair Haven bank last week, and now they’re asking for help from the public to get him.

Details on the wig-wearing suspect, right, are lacking.

Cops say the man is black and in his mid-20s or early-30s, wore jeans, a red zip-up jacket, a hat, sunglasses and a wig. He is “at least six-feet in height” and weighs between 140 and 150 pounds, police said.

Last Friday, at around 7:45p, the man went into TD Bank, in the Acme shopping center, and passed a note, which said he had a gun, to the teller. He took off with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said. He left the bank and headed west out of the parking lot, police said. He didn’t have show a weapon at the bank, police said.

The robbery was the first in at least two decades, Mayor Mike Halfacre said. The last one he recalls was in 1982, he told redbankgreen.

Police ask that anybody who might have any info on the robbery call: Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office detective Jose Cruz at 1-800-533-7443; Fair Haven detective John Koetzner at 732-747-0241, extension 329; or F.B.I. agent Shawn Brokos at 732-741-0006.

A peek into the Red Bank council chambers, with the reflection of paperwork posted in the hallway. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Ah, summer stagnation.

The Red Bank council met Monday night, and the agenda was L-I-G-H-T light.

Here’s a recap of the evening’s non-titillation:

• Count Basie Field’s turf work is done. Mark the calendar: a ribbon cutting ceremony is set for 5p on September 4. If you haven’t been down there to see it, Councilwoman Sharon Lee says “it’s extremely beautiful and exciting.” One issue, though. Seems there was no foresight in terms of looking out for walkers/bikers/stroller pushers. After hearing two complaints about the lack of paths at the park, council members acknowledged they made a boo-boo in not integrating a clear track for the mobile population to get a good morning stretch in. Prior to the renovation, there was a track for people to go on. Not anymore.

But it’s on the council’s radar now, and it’s getting attention.

Councilwoman Juanita Lewis said, “We’re going to work on getting something comparable there for the walkers. Just be patient with us.”

• The council also is targeting grant money to get bathrooms at Basie field. Resident David Prown questioned the overall bathroom situation at borough parks, but was specifically concerned about Basie because there’s a paucity of bathroom space there. Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels said the borough’s initial plan to install bathrooms there was too costly, but being that it’s grant season, Red Bank is looking into funds for lavatories. He assured Prown, “slowly but surely we’ll piecemeal this and get it together.”

• It’ll be Women’s Equality Day on August 26 in Red Bank, a distinction Mayor Pasquale Menna is quite proud of. He’s got three women on his council — that’s 50 percent — and he likes that.

“It’s a wonderful testament to the intelligence and the vitality of Red Bank as a place to live,” he said.

• A pending film ordinance was delayed

• Don’t forget that this Friday, August 27, will be the third and final installment of the borough’s furloughs. All borough offices, save for the police department, will be on mandatory vacay to accommodate the budget.