Local history enthusiasts, budding journalists, and curious newshounds, come hear reporter Don Bennett dish the scoop on stories he has covered in his 44-year career as a reporter for 4 daily and 12 weekly newspapers on Monday, November 10, 2008 at 7:00pm in the Toms River branch of the Ocean County Library.
An award winning journalist, Bennett has written about people who governed Ocean County, crooks and crusaders, killers and cops, judges and lawyers, polluters and the polluted, civil rights and uncivil wrongs.
Mr. Bennett began his career before there was a nuclear power plant at Oyster Creek, a college in Toms River and a police department in Brick Township. Ciba-Geigy was still dumping the toxic soup from its Toms River dye works into the river, discoloring it and causing fish kills.
He recorded the toll on Barnegat Bay from early development that sliced its meadows into building lots and lagoons and disgorged septic wastes into the water, helping send the shell fishing industry into a decline from which it never recovered.
His “Monday Morning Commentary” in the Ocean County Observer, often recounting bits of history of the county was must reading for thousands of people as they began each week. Bennett was the senior member of the Editorial Board of that newspaper, the last daily exclusively devoted to the news of the county. He also worked for the Trenton Times, the Asbury Park Press, and the Ocean County Daily Times.
His work won numerous awards from the New Jersey Press Association, including a pair of Lloyd I. Burns public service awards for his Ciba-Geigy coverage and a third for his work on official corruption in Manchester Township.
Earlier this year he appeared in the Academy Award winning documentary “Freeheld” about Lt. Laurel Hester of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
His love of writing was encouraged at Toms River High School and in 2002 he was the first member of his 1959 graduating class to be inducted into the Toms River Regional School’s Hall of Fame. He continued to study writing at Stockton College in Pomona, where he earned a degree in literature and language.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from one of our county’s most insightful reporters. A question and answer period will follow his talk.
Toms River branch is located at 101 Washington Street in downtown Toms River. This free event is open to the public. For more information or to register to attend this event, please call 732-349-6200 or visit our website, www.theoceancountylibrary.org.
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