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Reply of the month

  I  have been using the Sout Off section in the Cape May Herald as a way to exercise my writing skill. I used to keep track of the Spout Offs I wrote, but the site has deleted them for room. I also comment to spouts, that-'s when things really get heated. I have sparred with the best/. The spout below AND the comment really got my juices flowing, I just had to share it! I responded to a comment someone made about the SPOUTOFf The original Spout Off: Please let the ice folks come to CMC ASAP! So they can get rid of working illegals and my grandsons can get a job! Oh that's right the contracts would have to pay them on the books and have workmanship comp! And there in lies the problem! The commen0 that got me thinking: Like your grandson couldn't get a job. There is work everywhere. The kids of MAGA won’t mow, paint, or do any manual labor. Just like their MAGA parents. They simply make Tik Tok digital junk. Here's my reply: Nothing to do with MAGA everything to do with ...
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End Of Year Note 2025

Greetings Family and Friends, Here's hoping everyone had a great holiday. I can't believe another year is closed as  a new one opens. Definitely been a roller coaster around here. Between travel and writing I have certainly  kept busy. Actually I'm trying something new, writing this entry on my blog and then copying it into an email!  However as tradition, I will start with the family Chris, Natalie and the kids are all doing fine. I can't believe both Zander and Quinn are in high school. Quinn's freshman year is going well, she's likes most of her classes. She joined a travelling soccer team that has taken her to places like Florida this past spring and California the first week of December. She's taking a break for the winter, but joined the girl's basketball team. I actually should say teams because the freshman and JV teams don't have enough players so she and a few of her teammates are bouncing around between the two teams.. Dad and I actually g...
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Here come the mounties!

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 Over the years the City of C ape May has hosted training events for  numerous police departments on the eastern seaboard. One of my favorite times is when mounted patrols come into town. They usually set up along Beach Avenue twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. Usually t he horses patrol the promenade onto  the beach itself.  My house is on the route from the Parkway down to the beach front and today I want paying close enough attention to the radio that I figured out they were doing a photo  shoot at  the Cape May Point Lighthouse. So I quickly grabbed my phone and snapped some pictures right from my front porch, of course I was in bare feet.  A couple of radio tidbits for  the radio enthusiasts who read the blog. All of the departments were using the Jersey Shore Region talkgroup 4 (4187) on the NJICS system . There are three other talkgroups but this is the only one I've heard acti ce since I started  listening to the system a f...
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Deals to be made

The release of the Epstein files have dominated the news since President  Trump, his AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, took office. In classic Trump fashion he dangled the nugget of releasing the  files since he first started his third run for the Oval Office. Now that he's back as President the people that backed him are wanted him to keep that promise while Trump's enemies, yes he has enemies=, are hoping whatever is in the files will bring Trump down once and for all. A few major things have happened, including two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign.  There's also the problem of  President Trump never gets the benefit of the doubt. Whether it's the Russiagate Hoax,which I will get to in a second, Ukraine phone call "scandal" or the bogus charges brought  by biased DA's Letitia James or Fanni Willis, it only works out when the weak cases crumble! By then the damage is done, Trump's die hard supporters once again  circle the wagon...
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Murrells Inlet Monitoring

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 My father wanted to get out of the Cape May winter so he purchased a house in Murrells Inlet  this past June. We have friends nearby and it's closer than Florida. So I looked the trunked system up on Radioreference.com and of course programmed the entire system by hand into my trusty Bearcat BCD-396T! After a few sessions I got the system up and running! Thankfully Horry County (I  later found out the "H" is silent) is still on a Phase I system, I am crossing my fingers it stays that way for a long while. It is quite active and I have been  getting use to the southern accents over the digital airwaves.  I also am plugging away at the aviation frequencies as well. I have the Myrtle  Beach Airport programmed in which includes the ground frequencies as the Jacksonville  and Atlanta ARTCC Center frequencies.  It's a bit tricky to gauge the range of the scanner but I figure if I  dump all of South Carolina, the southern part of North Carolina a...
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License Plate Site Returns

As I have written before  about losing hosting for various reasons, mainly because the hosting fees get jacked up and I wasn't using half the services they provided.  After much consideration I decide to move the entire site onto Blogger/Blogspot., This includes both my license plate trading list . links to other websites.  Although I'm divided on whether to put actual license blog entries on the new site or leave them here!  There might be a little cross-posting in the near future, stay tuned!!! Justin Mattes License Plates
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2025 Garden State Meet Report

   A soggy Saturday in October didn't stop 74 people (70 members, 4 guests) from attending the annual ALPCA Garden State Region meet at the Pennington Fire Company in Pennington NJ. People traveled from 13 states, including as far away as Arizona to exchange plates and renew friendships. As usual bagels and coffee were served to get everyone's day started off. Every year members bring some amazing displays, this year did not disappoint. Congratulations to Allan Attanasio for taking home the best display award for his very detailed display of the history of NJ Motor Vehicle Inspector plates & memorabilia. Best single plate went to a Pennsylvania We The People plate owned by Marco Sordi. Once again Kerry Weishaar traveled from sunny Arizona picked up the Long Distance Award Thanks to all the volunteers that help keep this meet running. We anticipate on having our fall meet next year on the 2 nd  Saturday in October. Stay tuned to Plates Magazine for details!!!! Submitte...
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