JerseySmarts.com

Yesterday I posted about how it may seem that there is finally some equal treatment for the “summer tenants” in the Monmouth University area and those of us who had to suffer through the brutality of the local police as undergraduates. Well, it looks like the story continues…

The Asbury Park Press posted a story today about how the West Long Branch police (and it would seem that every other police force in the area) are trading barbs with the partygoers about the brutality that the police used in breaking up this engagement party. This story has a “best” part and a “worst” part.

The best part is that for those of us who have been here and been through this before, we know that the “summer tenants” do nothing but cry about antisemitism, which is a ton of horseshit. That may work in other little corner and big swaths of the world, but here in our little corner – we don’t play like that. We don’t say something negative about your religion if you’re doing something arrogant or ignorant. Those aren’t religious traits so why bring up religion?

And as far as the partygoers claiming that a police officer said, “Hold back the Jews,” I don’t believe it. One, the police officer was Jewish. Two, again – whether or not the partygoers are Jewish or not doesn’t matter. And quite frankly, that’s not the story here…

Now, the “bad” part about this story is that this is all old news for those of us who had to suffer through the Monmouth University off-campus undergraduate experience. We read this story and say, “Why didn’t they cover it when we fought against local police brutality?” We wrote editorials, pressed charges, had direct meeting with local police chiefs, etc, but no one covered it. If these summer tenants think that police brutality, overuse of force, trampling of simple Constitutional rights, or being caught in a Monmouth County system that goes by the creed of “guilty until proven innocent” is something new or something unexpected – then they really don’t know anything about this area!

But there will be more about all of this in the coming days. I’m about to get really pissed off because Monmouth University is back in session as of today…and that means that the entire focus of the local police forces is about to change to how to hold back those “evil college students.”

Last night there was an altercation between some partygoers and some police officers at a party on Monmouth Road in West Long Branch. Monmouth Road is where the fraternity house was located when I lived in it for two years and had my civil rights trashed and demolished by the overzealous, fascist folks in Ocean Township…but before I digress…

Apparently there were some 300 people partying at this place on Monmouth Road and the police came into the place and headed straight for the DJ. The twist on the story?

The party was an engagement party thrown by two “summer tenant” parents for their daughter and her fiance. The DJ that was reportedly taken to the hospital was their eighteen year old son…who has two police officers standing by his bedside so that when he’s able, he can be arrested.

What happened last night that caused all of this? It’s unclear. What do I care about it for?

Because this family was doing something quite normal – having a gathering to celebrate an occasion. But the catch is that you’re not allowed to do normal things in this area – they arrest you for doing normal things in this area.

Take a read of the story yourself. I guarantee if you’re a Monmouth University alumnus, you’ll get pissed off because 1) there was no reason for the police to come down on this engagement party like they did and 2) you KNOW that they thought they had the first “college party” under their belts simply by virtue of the force that they used to quell the partygoers.

And if those two things don’t piss you off, then you’ll probably be pissed about the fact that the “summer tenants” usually buy their way out of these messes…and the local police let them so that they don’t have to deal with them and can focus their time on the college students.