A few items to cover on what should be another glorious March day here in the shore area:

While I realize many of us (and rightfully so) are turned off with this presidential primary it is fascinating and one which will go down in history. Super Tuesday II was a good one for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and a very bad one for Marco Rubio.

On the Republican side Trump, despite all of the attacks against him scored big wins in the Michigan and Mississippi primaries and the Hawaii caucuses while Ted Cruz claimed the Idaho primary. Meanwhile Rubio continues to lose support and his GOP hopes are fading by the day. Sanders scored the shocker of the night with a close win over Hillary Clinton in Michigan although Clinton’s resounding win in Mississippi actually resulted in her picking up more delegates for the day. What Sanders did do was raise the possibility that he could come out on top next week in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri which would shake things up a bit.

With a little less fanfare there were votes cast yesterday in the Island Heights, Eaglewood and Matawan-Aberdeen Regional school districts and the results were very positive. All three districts held referendums for needed repairs, improvements and additions that could not be covered in the regular budgets and reversing recent trends voters approved all three.

School districts are facing real dilemmas as the state-mandated maximum 2% budget increase each year does not allow for badly-needed projects and the only recourse is referendums. Voters have been rejecting them for the simple reason they’ve had enough when it comes to what they pay in taxes. It was refreshing to see wins for the three districts Tuesday.

One of the places I miss most of all in this area is Stewart’s Root Beer which greeted those driving over the Route 37 bridge to Pelican Island and then Seaside Heights and Park for as long as I could remember. The landmark food venue was knocked down and replaced by a 7-Eleven in 2015 and every time I drive by I think about those frosted mugs of root beer and chili dogs.

I mention this because Carol Anne Kartikas the longtime owner and matriarch of the Stewart’s crew died last week at the age of 74. Her life will be celebrated Thursday at 11am at St. Joseph’s Church and the next time I have a root beer I will raise it in her honor.

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