An Allenhurst end-of-summer party held for decades will not happen this year.
Allenhurst Police Chief Robert Richter is declining to sign a social affairs permit for the gathering, which is organized by former long-time resident Frank Fischer, with the assistance of the Allenhurst fire department.
“The permit will not be signed off on,” Allenhurst police captain Michael Schneider said of the party scheduled for Sept. 1 at the Allenhurst beach club. “That party will not be happening.
“The chief included a list of requirements that need to be adhered to to sign off on the permit,” Schneider said. “The person throwing the party did not want to comply with all the guidelines and the party is not going to happen.”
Reached later, Richter added that “We don’t mind having the event, as long as it doesn’t get out-of-hand. Every year it gets bigger.” He said the requirements to sign the permit, addressing liability and security concerns, were developed in collaboration with the board of commissioners.
The party dates back to the early 1980s, and was started by Fischer. For years, Fischer held the event at his home. The gathering was moved to the Allenhurst beach club several years ago, with the Allenhurst fire department now handling all alcohol sales and other concessions.
The alcohol sales and concessions required the social affairs permit. Any monies left over from the event were donated to the fire department, borough clerk Lori Osborne previously told the Sun. She said that Fischer paid all the costs for the event.
Pending an agreement to satisfy the borough’s concerns, the board of commissioners did sign off on the permit at their last meeting. However, the chief’s signature is also required. Allenhurst officials and Fischer said at the meeting they would try to reach agreement on the borough’s concerns to allow the final sign-off by Richter, but those discussions were unsuccessful.
Fischer, now an Ocean Township resident, said that he respects the commissioners and the chief, but that the requirements imposed were “way too onerous to go forward in their totality, and they were shifting all responsibility to me in case something went wrong.”
The party in recent years had been the “Allenhurst Beach Club party hosted by Frank Fischer,” and Fischer said he considers it a borough event that he helps organize and fund.
“It’s a shame,” said Fischer. “I feel sorry for the children and teenagers. The party was a way for them to socialize and dance.”
In the end, though, the problematic conduct of some attending the increasingly large party was its downfall.
“Last year was the first year where there were significant issues that erupted,” Deputy Mayor Chris McLoughlin said at the last commissioners’ meeting. “We’re trying to figure out the best way to contain it or keep it from escalating.”
There were “repeated” complaints about underage drinking last year, as well as an altercation between a borough resident and a beach club non-member who didn’t live in town, Mayor David McLaughlin said at the same meeting.
The altercation led to an arrest for assault and harassment, Schneider of the Allenhurst police department said in a previous interview. The man was intoxicated and allegedly shouted an anti-Semitic epithet at a resident after he left the party on his bicycle, Schneider said.
