Carusoville
Press of Atlantic City 5 Mar 1990
"It's going to take more than vandals and the state bureaucracy to force Jane Gardner and Earl Hawk to move from the concrete block building that has been their home in the Pinelands for 25 years. The couple and a neighbor are the three remaining residents of Caruso Village, once a cluster of 10 homes, a hunting cabin and garage complex located in the Pinelands near the Bamber Lake section.
The state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, which had purchased the area from the Caruso family, ordered most of the remaining village residents to move at the end of October. But like their neighbor, the couple holds a long-term lease on their tin-roofed home, and the feisty pair have refused to move. They are not bothered that vandals recently set fire to two of the abandoned homes nearby. They also don't worry that anyone will harass them in their lonely enclave.
Four people, including two juveniles, have been arrested and charged with setting the fires.
"They don't bother us out here. We're usually home. They leave us alone," said Hawk, who will turn 80 in July.
It's not like the couple is cut off in the wilderness. They make frequent trips into town, have a telephone and are periodically visited by friends. Police patrol the area frequently and the mailman comes by every day.
"I used to live in Pleasant Plains (a section of Toms River), but it got so crowded and noisy I had to move," said Hawk. "Out here it's quiet. I plan on being here to the end."
"I've lived here since before the houses up the road were built. When they tear them down it won't make any difference to me," added Gardner, as she sat clipping coupons at the couple's kitchen table.
Caruso Village was erected by the Caruso family in the 1960s, a cluster of homes around a cranberry bog. In 1985 the state paid the family $600,000 for 103 acres.
Family members complained the amount wasn't enough, but decided to sell because of state and municipal resistance to additional building in the area.
When the abandoned homes will be torn down is still an undecided question, according to Ray Porutski, superintendent of the state Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area.
"We have some things going on to try to speed up the process," Porutski said. "We'd like to demolish them as quickly as possible, because of the arsons and some complaints from the local police and fire departments."
Conservation officers from the wildlife area try to patrol Caruso Village as often as possible. But there are only five officers to cover the area's 20,000 acres, Porutski said.
"It's posted as a no-trespassing area," Porutski said of the village. "But people drive out there to party. There's a lake there, so that draws them."
The state plans to raze the unoccupied houses and replant the area to return it to its natural state, the superintendent said.
Police Chief Thomas Darmody said he will be happy when the abandoned homes are torn down and carted away.
"They've become a nuisance. We've already had the two fires out there. Runaways and fugitives could live out there. It's also a place the kids like to go and party," he said. "It does create a hazard. It's a nuisance we don't need."
"It's going to take more than vandals and the state bureaucracy to force Jane Gardner and Earl Hawk to move from the concrete block building that has been their home in the Pinelands for 25 years. The couple and a neighbor are the three remaining residents of Caruso Village, once a cluster of 10 homes, a hunting cabin and garage complex located in the Pinelands near the Bamber Lake section.
The state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, which had purchased the area from the Caruso family, ordered most of the remaining village residents to move at the end of October. But like their neighbor, the couple holds a long-term lease on their tin-roofed home, and the feisty pair have refused to move. They are not bothered that vandals recently set fire to two of the abandoned homes nearby. They also don't worry that anyone will harass them in their lonely enclave.
Four people, including two juveniles, have been arrested and charged with setting the fires.
"They don't bother us out here. We're usually home. They leave us alone," said Hawk, who will turn 80 in July.
It's not like the couple is cut off in the wilderness. They make frequent trips into town, have a telephone and are periodically visited by friends. Police patrol the area frequently and the mailman comes by every day.
"I used to live in Pleasant Plains (a section of Toms River), but it got so crowded and noisy I had to move," said Hawk. "Out here it's quiet. I plan on being here to the end."
"I've lived here since before the houses up the road were built. When they tear them down it won't make any difference to me," added Gardner, as she sat clipping coupons at the couple's kitchen table.
Caruso Village was erected by the Caruso family in the 1960s, a cluster of homes around a cranberry bog. In 1985 the state paid the family $600,000 for 103 acres.
Family members complained the amount wasn't enough, but decided to sell because of state and municipal resistance to additional building in the area.
When the abandoned homes will be torn down is still an undecided question, according to Ray Porutski, superintendent of the state Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area.
"We have some things going on to try to speed up the process," Porutski said. "We'd like to demolish them as quickly as possible, because of the arsons and some complaints from the local police and fire departments."
Conservation officers from the wildlife area try to patrol Caruso Village as often as possible. But there are only five officers to cover the area's 20,000 acres, Porutski said.
"It's posted as a no-trespassing area," Porutski said of the village. "But people drive out there to party. There's a lake there, so that draws them."
The state plans to raze the unoccupied houses and replant the area to return it to its natural state, the superintendent said.
Police Chief Thomas Darmody said he will be happy when the abandoned homes are torn down and carted away.
"They've become a nuisance. We've already had the two fires out there. Runaways and fugitives could live out there. It's also a place the kids like to go and party," he said. "It does create a hazard. It's a nuisance we don't need."
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