Monday, November 2

With Halloween on a Sunday we figured that the number of Trick or Treaters would be greater than usual….boy were we wrong. The doorbell rang for the first time at 2:30 in the afternoon but over the next couple of hours we only had a handful of costumed characters. While it did pick up I would venture to say we had about 125 soldiers, princesses, ninjas, Buzz Lightyears, sunflowers, Cowboys & Indians and assorted bloody creatures until 9pm. That’s about half of what I expected which means there is a lot of candy left over which my wife will bring to school because it’s the last thing I need.

I am often amazed at the length of obituaries that appear in the newspaper. Some are filled with details that read more like a biography than an obituary and frankly make the person appear to be more significant than they really were. Then there are those that don’t tell nearly enough and I think that would best describe Robert LaTorre’s obit that appeared in Sunday’s Asbury Park Press. To those of us at WOBM Bob is best known for hosting a Saturday morning show on 1160 AM which highlighted local events. “Jersey Shore Weekend” allowed him to do what he liked the most…promote what is good about this area. Bob was as big a fan of Ocean County and the Jersey Shore as there was….after all he did serve as the Public Relations Director for Seaside Heights for many years. He was also a past chairman of the Toms River-Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, was a board member and advocate of the Ocean County Vocational-Technical School, a supporter of the United Way of Ocean County, a longtime instructor at Ocean County College and a passionate photographer. Despite all of that he might be best known for the daily show he hosted for several years on the old Adelphia Cable Channel 8. Like many I often disagreed with the opinionated LaTorre but I never questioned his love of country, county and family. A memorial gathering will be held on Wednesday from 6-8pm at Manchester Memorial Funeral Home.