Home Care In Englishtown, NJ

On September 3rd, 1977, the Grateful Dead returned to the stage at Englishtown, NJ’s Raceway Park for the band’s first show in three months after a car accident left drummer Mickey Hart temporarily unable to play. The group was welcomed back by a record-breaking crowd numbering at least 125,000 fans, with some sources claiming as many as 175,000 were in attendance.

Originally billed as the Summer’s End Concert but known to posterity simply as “The Englishtown Show”, the historic concert featured sets by Marshall Tucker Band and New Riders of the Purple Sage and nearly didn’t happen at all due to a a state law that required a permit for any concert lasting over 18 hours and yielding over 3,000 people. Luckily, authorities allowed the show to go on, but only after they were assured that the Hells Angels would not be providing security for the Dead.

With limited parking at the venue, locals offered to let fans park on their properties, while some left their vehicles miles from the venue and walked the rest of way. Like Woodstock, which brought scores of surprisingly polite young hippies to an unsuspecting small town, The Englishtown Show wound up impressing locals like John Westlake, who worked concessions at the concert. Fans purchased an estimated 200,000 cans of soda and 15,000 pounds of hotdogs, “But they were great, stood in line, waited patiently, and no one tried to start an argument,” Westlake said.

Musical highlights of the performance included the first “Truckin'” in over two years, and the first “Terrapin Station” since the release of the of the same name. “And now ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to play a little ditty from our newest album, at your record stores currently,” Phil Lesh said introducing the tune. There were many non-musical highlights as well, including when a woman went into labor shortly after Marshall Tucker Band’s opening set. She was evacuated by helicopter and gave birth to a heady, I mean healthy baby boy.

The Englishtown Show was released on Dick’s Picks Vol. 15 in 1999. Listen via Spotify here or check out the full recording below, courtesy of the DeadLists Project.

Grateful Dead – Raceway Park – Englishtown, NJ – 9/3/77

[Audio: Matthew Vernon via DeadLists Project]

Some shoppers don’t need a mall, fancy display case or relaxing music to accompany their shopping spree – all they need is the shining sun, a few local vendors and some bins and tables they can peruse.

Now that spring has officially arrived, those shoppers are heading out to Central Jersey’s favorite flea markets, where some goods – such as antiques, artisan goods and discounted items – can be found far away from the department stores.

Ready to go off the beaten path and pick up one-of-a-kind clothes, jewelry, home décor and more? Check out these flea markets located in Central Jersey.

GO SHOPPING: Somerset Hills VNA Rummage Sale is May 4-6

READ: 5 New Jersey towns where you can to shop 'til you drop

Englishtown Auction, Englishtown

A staple in the Englishtown community for more than 80 years when it began as a meeting place for farmers to buy, trade and sell livestock, farm equipment and produce, Englishtown Auction is now an enormous flea market with antiques and collectibles, automotive supplies, clothing, electronics, hardware, beauty supplies and more.

Spend the entire day at this indoor/outdoor market open Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. year-round with more than 300 vendors and get lost exploring the countless aisles before grabbing drinks, food and listening to live music in the sunshine.

If you go: 90 Wilson Ave., Englishtown; 732-446-9644, englishtownauction.com.

Golden Nugget Antique Flea Market, Lambertville

Known as a “gold mine” for finding antiques, collectibles and art, the 50-year-old Golden Nugget Antique Flea Market brings in about 30 shops every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and also has two on-site restaurants.

Voted “best in vintage” by Hunterdon Happening for the third consecutive year in 2018, the Golden Nugget Antique Flea Market attracts bargain hunters of all ages for the “thrill of the hunt” and to check out its eclectic mix of styles.

If you go: 1850 River Road/Route 29, Lambertville; 609-397-0811, gnflea.com.

Washington Valley Fire Co. Flea Market, Warren

When you shop at the Washington Valley Fire Co. Flea Market, you know you’re supporting a good cause – proceeds from the market, which has space for more than 200 vendors, support the Washington Valley Fire Co.

Open every Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., this outdoor market also allows locals to rent tables for $20 each where they can sell used goods. Here, you can also find indoor bathrooms, food courts, live music and spring and fall shrub auctions.

If you go: 146 Washington Valley Road, Warren; 732-718-1148, wvvfc.org/flea.

READ: Westfield shopping offers a mix of the old and the new

READ: On-trend shopping advice from local experts

Avenel Flea Market, Woodbridge

As it has been since it began about 80 years ago, the Avenel Flea Market is an ideal place for locals to both buy and sell new, used and antique goods year-round on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

With more than 150 vendor spaces, the Avenel Flea Market offers a huge selection of goods and also offers free parking and admission.

If you go: 1488 Rahway Ave., Avenel section of Woodbridge; 732-221-8178, avenelfleamarket.com.

Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market, various locations

Don’t miss out on this one – the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market takes place only three times per year, with its next market, featuring vintage clothing, original artwork, antiques, silkscreened posters and handmade jewelry, popping up Saturday, Aug. 11 from noon to 7 p.m. at Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company.

With more than 200 vendors from eight states, vendor spots sell out in a matter of minutes at this popular market that has grown exponentially since it began only five years ago.

If you go: Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company, 909 Ray Ave, Croydon, Pennsylvania; trentonpunkrockfleamarket.com.

Staff Reporter Jenna Intersimone writes the weekly Central Jersey Go column, which appears Fridays in the Courier News and Home News Tribune and spotlights five weekly local destinations.

She also writes a weekly travel column and is a regular contributor to the weekly Table section. Tweet her at @JIntersimone or email her at [email protected].

The U.S. Attorney's Office charged Neal Williamsky of Marlboro and Nadia Levit of Englishtown. They are owners of medical supply companies.

MARLBORO, NJ — Marlboro and Englishtown residents who co-owned medical equipment companies were arrested this week in one of the largest health care fraud schemes ever investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office.

Seven people in New Jersey – and 24 overall – were charged in the massive Medicare fraud sweep, federal authorities announced Tuesday. The scheme involved peddling orthopedic braces to hundreds of thousands of senior citizens via foreign call centers. The probe targeted executives of telemedicine and durable medical equipment companies and doctors who wrote bogus prescriptions for unnecessary orthopedic braces, the Justice Department said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office brought charges against Neal Williamsky 59, of Marlboro and Nadia Levit, 39, of Englishtown. Williamsky and Levit co-own approximately 25 medical equipment companies and they were charged with participating in the $150 million scheme that involved kickbacks and bribes. A Toms River doctor, Joseph DeCoroso, M.D., 62, was also charged.

Under the scheme, telemarketers reached out to senior citizens with offers for "free" orthopedic braces, and those who seemed interested were patched through to an "international telemarketing network" with call centers in the Philippines and throughout Latin America. After their Medicare coverage was verified, the seniors were transferred to telemedicine companies for consultations with doctors, who then wrote prescriptions, according to federal officials.

Those prescriptions were then sold to medical equipment companies that would ship the braces to patients and bill Medicare. The medical companies got Medicare payments of $500 to $900 per brace from Medicare, and would pay kickbacks of nearly $300 per brace, officials said.

The proceeds of the fraudulent scheme were laundered through international shell corporations and were used to purchase luxury automobiles, yachts and real estate in the United States and abroad, the government said.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force began investigating the scheme last summer after multiple complaints from senior citizens began pouring into the fraud hotline. The true extent of the alleged scheme is unknown, and some cases involve gray areas of complex payment policies.

Experts say part of the problem is that Medicare is required to pay medical bills promptly, which means money often goes out before potential frauds get flagged. Investigators call that "pay and chase."

In recent years, Medicare has tried to adapt techniques used by credit card companies to head off fraud. Law enforcement coordination has grown, with strike forces of federal prosecutors and agents, along with state counterparts, specializing in health care investigations.

The Medicare beneficiaries drawn into the orthopedic braces scam didn't have to pay anything up front, but Cantrell said they have been harmed as well: A beneficiary's private information, once in the hands of fraudsters, can be resold for many illegal purposes.

Additionally, if a beneficiary whose information was misused ever does need an orthopedic brace, he or she may encounter waiting periods from Medicare. The program limits how often it pays for certain supplies and equipment.

"It can be very attractive to receive equipment," Cantrell said. "But after giving out your identifying information, it could be compromised to perpetuate additional fraud. There is no fraud without the ID number of a Medicare beneficiary."

In New Jersey, attorneys also brought charges against Creaghan Harry, 51, of Highland Beach, Fla; Lester Stockett, 51, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.; and Elliot Loewenstern, 56, of Boca Raton, Fla. The latter two were owner, CEO and VP of marketing, respectively, of purported call centers and telemedicine companies. They were charged with participating in $454 million worth of the illegal health care kickbacks and international money laundering, according to the release.

Albert Davydov, 26, of Rego Park, NY, was also charged for his alleged participation in a $35 million scheme related to kickbacks and bribes.

In addition, administrative action was taken against 130 companies that had submitted over $1.7 billion in claims and were paid over $900 million, according to the release.

The Associated Press, Karen Wall and Beth Dalbey contributed reporting.

Nadia's Family Salon was featured on "Tabatha Takes Over" on Bravo.

|Updated Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 7:00 am ET

A small, family-owned salon in Englishtown received some surprise attention this summer after appearing on an episode of “Tabatha Takes Over,” a television-show where business woman Tabatha Coffey rehabilitates a struggling business. And Coffey definitely helped Nadia’s Family Salon.

Kevin Lichen, the owner of Nadia’s, has lived in Englishtown for 12 years. He began working as a hairdresser at his father’s barber shop and then worked in a salon at the Freehold Raceway Mall, before finally opening up his own salon on Main Street in Englishtown called Head’s Up.

Lichen decided to take the risk of opening his own salon and put his life savings into the venture. He said that Englishtown was a perfect location because at the time there was no beauty salon in the Borough.

After several years, Lichen changed the salon’s location when he heard about a new strip mall being constructed on Wilson Avenue and renamed the salon after his daughter.

Soon Lichen realized that running a salon was not as easy as he thought. At the beginning of 2012, he said that he realized his business was not headed in the right direction and that he needed a third party to come in and help resolve the management and financial issues.

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“It was a wake up call,” Lichen said.

Enter Tabatha Coffey. Coffey is a successful business woman and hair designer from Australia who rocketed to fame on her reality show “Tabatha Takes Over,” which airs on the Bravo network.

As an owner of a salon, Lichen has watched “Tabatha Takes Over” for many years and with his salon in jeopardy he said he thought that Coffey would be the right person to whip the business back into shape. He contacted Coffey, and after numerous interviews with Bravo, his salon was chosen to be on the show.

The no-nonsense Coffey showed up at Nadia’s in September 2012 ready to fix the salon’s problems and immediately took the bull by the horns, according to Lichen. While they knew that they would be on the show, Lichen said that he did not know when Coffey specifically would be arriving and the first day of filming was a surprise.

Both Lichen and his employees described Coffey as “scary and intimidating” upon first meeting her, but soon realized that she was an extremely nice person that just did not put up with any excuses.

During the week of filming, Coffey was vocal about helping the staff and Lichen communicate better and work more as a team. “We basically knew what we had to do, but we, being stubborn, had to hear it from a third party,” Lichen said of himself and his staff. Coffey also helped Lichen become a better boss. He said that “she made him grow a set of balls” and take responsibility for his actions and to be consistent.

Along with the managerial help, Coffey also gave the salon a new redesign that is more contemporary and fresh.

One thing that did not need much improvement? The hair styling.

Danielle, a hair dresser at the salon and one of Lichen’s first employees, said that she was pleased that Coffey approved of the staff's hair dressing skills because “that was the most important thing.”

The Nadia’s Salon episode of “Tabatha Takes Over” aired in late June and since then business has increased, according to Lichen. Beyond that, however, nearly everything has improved. Coffey’s “take over” instilled more motivation in the staff, as well as in Lichen. He said that his debt has diminished, everyone is now getting paid on time, and the staff arrives at the salon on time.

“Her coming into the salon definitely changed a lot of our ways, thinking and stuff like that and us getting along and rebuilding relationships,” Lichen said.

As for the overall experience?

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” said Lichen. Hopefully, he won’t have to.

Englishtown, NJ

This past Sunday night we had an opportunity to have a great dinner with friends over at the brand-new location of an old favorite and go-to Italian restaurant, Nonna’s Citi Cucina. In case you were not aware, Nonna’s has finally moved into their new building right down the road from the original location. The new address is 448 US Highway 9N Englishtown NJ right next to Land Rover of Marlboro as a landmark. If you need to call ahead for any reason, the best number to reach them is 732-536-9050. You can also make reservations online using Open Table; one of our favorite tools to secure reservations on the go.

We felt extremely lucky to be included in the friends and family preview night, not only were we hungry for Italian but also eager to see how the space has been transformed. Nonna’s was originally scheduled to make the move last year however like many other projects supply chain and labor issues caused some delays according to the staff. Everyone was excited to be in the new building and it showed.

They are once again open to the public and ready to treat you to the quintessential Italian restaurant experience for the daily dining consumer. As you can see, the space is large and very well designed with cues to a slightly more modern farmhouse. The fireplace was definitely a eye catcher and commonly spoken about theme at the tables as people took their seats. The cut wood appearing to hold up the brick arches was also a nice detail.

We received a basket of warm bread and a tray of butter, olive oils and olive tapenade. Nonna’s Wine, Beer and Cocktail menu has something for everyone. We chose the Ruffino Superiore for this experience. If you dine on Wed. there are half priced bottles of Wine and Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6 is Nonna's Happy Hour Menu. $3 off wines by the glass, $2 off draft and bottles of beer, $5 off apps! Valid only at the bar, please call the restaurant for details and availability as offers can change at any time.

Our server was very attentive and explained the menu items in detail. We quickly settled on Pappardelle Bolognese, which was cooked perfectly and featured a well-balanced Bolognese sauce that was not acidic at all. In some cases Pappardelle can wind up over cooked and under sauced, this definitely was not the case at all.

If you are interested in something off the seafood offerings you will find the Salmon en Cartoccio to be a great option featuring artichokes, baby shrimp and lemon. They will cook the Salmon to your liking just let the server know, ours had a nice crisp outside and a juicy center.

For the traditionalist you may find the Chicken Parmesan to be a comforting choice, the red sauce again had a perfect ratio to the pasta and the cheese on the perfectly and lightly fried chicken. The portion size was great on all the dishes.

As much as we wanted to dive into the Desserts like the Tiramisu or the Holy Moly Cannoli which is 16oz of Cannoli overload we were unable to pace ourselves finishing the entrees completely, so like any great restaurant experience, we will be returning very soon.

The verdict is Nonna’s Citi Cucina has not skipped a beat in the transition to a newer, more spacious and better lit location. In some respects the food and experience has gotten even better as if to match the updated restaurant. We have gone to the older location a few times in the past and we were never let down. Please let us know below if you have gone to Nonna’s and what your favorite Italian food dishes are. Because you hung around to the end of this article click this link to join Nonna's E Club and Rewards Program and received $10 off. Make sure you tell your server you saw this on Newsbreak and you love to Buzz with your Cuz. If you like this article please follow us here on Newsbreak for more articles and videos.

For more details on this restaurant visit them on the web at http://nonnasnj.net