Scout’s Eagle Project Beautifies Nicoletta Park

COURT HOUSE — Roofs and fas­ci­a at Car­ol Nicoletta Memorial Park on Shell Bay Avenue were show­ing their age when Troop 65 Boy Scout John Mihal, 16, sought an Eagle Scout pro­ject.
The need was ap­par­ent, so the pro­spec­tive Eagle Scout be­gan to form a plan. Soon, Mihal was en­list­ing sup­port from fel­low scouts, par­ents and local busi­nes­ses.
As with any Eagle Scout pro­ject, plan­ning is es­sen­tial, as is the quest for dona­tions, then ral­ly­ing the troops to add mus­cle to bring the de­sign into re­ali­ty.
Mihal said the la­bor for the reroofing of the ga­ze­bos and re­plac­ing the fas­ci­a took a­bout five days, with many fel­low scouts join­ing in the work.
Un­der heav­y gray clouds, al­though rain stayed away Aug. 11, Middle Township Com­mit­tee­man Mi­chael Clark stood a­long­side Mihal as they snip­ped a blue rib­bon to of­fi­cial­ly open the re­newed park. Join­ing the line­up at the brief cer­e­mo­ny were his par­ents, Dan and Mar­cy Mihal, his sis­ter, Kate and Scout­mas­ter Mark Iacono.
Look­ing on proud­ly was his grand­father John Hann, who drove from Bri­gan­tine to re­cord the oc­ca­sion for pos­ter­i­ty.
Mihal ex­tend­ed grat­i­tude to all who helped or do­nat­ed to the pro­ject. They were: Uni­ver­sal Sup­ply, The Home Depot, LaTerra Stone, Bob Noel, State Farm Insurance, Tri County Sup­ply, Rio Grande Lowe’s, Kindle Auto Plaza, 84 Lum­ber, Steph­a­nie R. Camp­bell, Ice Cream Station, Rio Grande Walmart, Court House Piz­za, Rio Grande Shop Rite, Rio Grande Av­a­lon Cof­fee and Acme.
The wa­ter­front park is a favorite place for crab­bers, fish­er­men, and those seek­ing to look across Jenkin’s Sound to Stone Harbor and the sun­rise or moon­rise. It is named in mem­o­ry of Car­ol Nicoletta, Middle Township’s longtime zon­ing of­fi­cer.