Weather station should be up and running soon
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff
Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — Wintry weather has delayed the debut
of the township’s weather station, but it should be
up and running soon.
"The weather station is ready to go as soon as
the road department puts up the poles," Board of
Health member James Rosenbauer said at the Feb. 10 board
meeting.
Rosenbauer met last week with computer specialists
to have the weather station installed with the township’s
Web site.
The road department needs to install two poles, one
for the instrument cluster and one for the repeater,
Rosenbauer said.
The wireless weather station will measure wind speed,
humidity and rainfall, as well as the outside temperature,
Mayor John Mele said late last week.
A second unit in the municipal complex will monitor
blacktop temperature on the roadways, he said.
The roadway monitoring will help the Public Works Department
and Emergency Management Services to salt roads ahead
of time and take other precautions, the mayor said.
The station can also keep track of storm events and
flooding conditions in the summer, Mele said.
"We can program the software package and know
areas that are flood prone," he said.
In other business, board Chairman S. Perrine Dey said
that due to an outbreak of avian bird flu in Delaware,
it was unlikely that poultry from the Delmarva area
would be coming to New Jersey, Pennsylvania or New York.
Twelve thousand birds being raised for the live poultry
market came down with the disease and were destroyed,
Dey said.
Testing for the disease was done within a two-mile
radius of one farm, with no birds found to be positive,
but on Feb. 9, 14,000 birds at a Perdue farm five miles
away from the original site came up positive for the
disease, Dey said.
Delaware’s $2.1 billion poultry industry is "in
serious trouble," he said.
The bird flu could be spread by aerosol, contamination
from feed or tries from a feed truck, said Dey.
New Jersey law mandates that truck drivers have to
wash their tires after leaving each poultry farm, he
said.
"New Jersey is one of the first states in the
United States to get biosecurity best management practices
in place," he said.
Dey also said that horses being shipped to Illinois,
Indiana or North Dakota would now need a health certificate
from that state’s animal health department, in order
for there to be a trace back, or a record of the animals’
whereabouts.
The policy will probably be adopted in the rest of
the United States, since it is already in place for
other livestock, he said.
Mary Klink, township animal control officer, said that
Washington Township officials would like to know whether
Upper Freehold is interested in providing animal control
for the township.
Klink said she had spoken to Washington Township Police
Lt. Sandra Bainbridge, who would like a quick response.
Upper Freehold sold 588 dog licenses by the end of
January. Fees from the license sale totaled $4,845,
she said.
Dr. Robert Cohen, a veterinarian, inoculated 176 dogs
and 89 cats at the free rabies clinic at the Public
Works garage on Jan. 24.
The call tally for animal control for the towns in
Upper Freehold’s interlocal services agreement was 22
in Upper Freehold, 21 in Plumsted, 17 in Millstone,
four in North Hanover, three in New Hanover, and one
call in Allentown. There were no calls in Roosevelt,
Englishtown or Wrightstown, Klink said.Mary Klink, township
animal control officer, said that Washington Township
officials would like to know whether Upper Freehold
is interested in providing animal control for the township.
Klink said she had spoken to Washington Township Police
Lt. Sandra Bainbridge, who would like a quick response.
Upper Freehold sold 588 dog licenses by the end of
January. Fees from the license sale totaled $4,845,
she said.
Dr. Robert Cohen, a veterinarian, inoculated 176 dogs
and 89 cats at the free rabies clinic at the Public
Works garage on Jan. 24.
The call tally for animal control for the towns in
Upper Freehold’s interlocal services agreement was 22
in Upper Freehold, 21 in Plumsted, 17 in Millstone,
four in North Hanover, three in New Hanover, and one
call in Allentown. There were no calls in Roosevelt,
Englishtown or Wrightstown, Klink said.
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