Heroin Town Hall Set For Ocean County College

TOMS RIVER, NJ — As the heroin and opiate crisis continues to vex the community and Ocean County at large, a town hall event has been created to discuss the issue.

Hometown Heroin: A Townsquare Tonight Town Hall Event, presented by 92.7 WOBM-FM and Beach Radio 1160/1310 WOBM-AM, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, March 20, at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts at Ocean County College.

“The wreckage of lives, careers, fortunes, families, and loved ones caught in Ocean County’s heroin and opiate abuse problem grows each passing day," said Tom Mongelli, news director at WOBM.

The one-hour event will give residents the opportunity to ask questions and hear from those in law enforcement and rehabilitation about what is being done to combat the problem.

The panel is scheduled to include Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato; Ocean County Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy; Steve Willis, co-founder of Hope Sheds Light; Anthony Castellano, vice president of substance abuse services for Preferred Behavioral Health; and John Brogan, a recovering heroin addict who is involved with the county's Opioid Overdose Recovery Program.

WOBM reporter Vin Ebenau is scheduled to moderate the discussion, touching on the indescribable allure of opiates, the trap of addiction for pain-management patients, rooting out dealers and cutting off supplies, advances in rehabilitation for restoring and mending lives, and the role the public can play in stemming the tide of drug dependence, according to the news release.

The event will be streamed live on www.wobm.com, www.mybeachradio.com, and www.ocean.edu, according to a news release from Ocean County College.

It also will be simulcast on WOBM's radio stations (92.7 FM and 1160/1310 AM) and on Ocean County College’s TV station Ocean TV20 (as broadcast on Comcast of Toms River and Long Beach Island, Channel 20, and on Verizon Fios in Northern Ocean County, Channel 24).

Listeners and viewers who have Twitter accounts can tweet questions to @WOBM, directly to the moderator’s podium. Attendees may ask questions directly from the floor or write questions onto file cards for possible inclusion in the proceedings. In addition, attendees who wish to speak one-on-one with one or more of the panelists may do so.

Ocean County College is on College Drive in Toms River, just off Hooper Avenue's southbound lanes. Those attending the town hall should park in Parking Lot No. 2, college officials said.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato, by Karen Wall