Elderly Pleasantville man wanted in Hamilton, EHT thefts

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP _ Hamilton and Egg Harbor Township police are looking for an elderly Pleasantville man who is wanted in connection with a pair of May 15 thefts.

Howard Gray, 65, allegedly stole money and other items from Canal’s Liquor Store, 4212 Black Horse Pike in HamiltonTownship and from a nearby Wawa in EggHarborTownship, police said. Both incidents occurred May 15.

EGG HARBOR CITY – A former student’s desire to give back to her home town is helping students at the Charles L. Spragg School learn how to read better and improve their chances for success in life.

“The first four grades are the most important for vocabulary development,” said Amy Hadley, an associate professor of speech pathology and audiology at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. “What they lose during those four years they can never really make up.”

Children will struggle during their middle and high school years, “if they don’t have the fundamentals by the time they are expected to be able to read complex sentence structures,” she said. From left are Amy Hadley, 51, of Galloway, an associate professor of speech pathology and audiology at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey; and graduate students Paula Levick, 29, of Cedarville; Kelly Maslanik, 40, of Pittsgrove and Kristopher Cleary, 25, of Mays Landing.

Pastor Susan Ohl of the St. John’s United Church of Christ in Egg Harbor City is a classically trained singer. R.J. Liberatore Jr. photo.

EGG HARBOR CITY – When St. John’s United Church of Christ Pastor Susan Ohl delivers her weekly heavenly message on Sunday mornings, she does so with what some would call a heavenly voice.

Ohl, who has served the 110-member congregation for the past 2½ years, is a trained classical vocalist who performed across the area before receiving the call to preach.

“I have always said my greatest love in life is music and God,” said Ohl, 57, who is originally from Philadelphia. “Even as a teenager, I used to say that.”

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP – The man who died in an early Sunday morning apartment fire was remembered by a neighbor as a quiet person who kept to himself.

“He came over and said, ‘Hello’ when we moved in back in November,” said Lucy Hauben of Unit 1106 of the Sandpiper Condominiums, 5303 Harding Highway.

EGG HARBOR CITY – Two men died as a result of a 2:30 a.m. car crash on Philadelphia Avenue Thursday, May 17 in Egg Harbor City, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said.

Kevin Jepson, 21, of Lower Bank, died when the Chevrolet Impala he was driving crashed into a heavily wooded area, police said.  His passenger, Christopher Keating, 23, of EggHarborCity was airlifted to the trauma center at the AtlantiCareRegionalMedicalCenter in Atlantic City where he died 12 hours later.