BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Calling million dollar beachfront homeowners “selfish” who do not want to obstruct their ocean views, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie instructed his staff to collect the names of those residents who are unwilling to sign a dune easement so he may use what he characterizes as “gentle persuasion” to convince them otherwise.

“I’m not going to put up with people who think their view of the ocean is more important than the health and safety of their neighbors”, said a boiling Christie to thunderous applause.

Another day, another town hall in this election year for Governor Christie who this time made an appearance in Middlesex County for his 104th town hall event.

More than 500 people packed the Our Lady of Mount Virgin school gymnasium Tuesday as Christie took center court to Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care of Our Own.”

It is still unclear as to whether the Boss himself has agreed to allow the Christie administration to use his music. Nonetheless, Springsteen can be heard at each town hall.

Acknowledging state Attorney General Jeffery S. Chiesa’s mother in the audience, a long-time teacher, Christie kicked off the conversation about crime and gun control and reflected about last year’s horrific Newtown school shooting.

“It’s not about gun control. It’s about violence control.” stated Christie.

The governor went on to tell the crowd that there is a stigma against mental illness in this society and suggested if the mother had gotten help for her son responsible for the massacre, perhaps the shooting spree never would have occurred.

“That young man needed treatment before he took that gun onto others.” said Christie.

The governor proposes to put first time non violent drug offenders into treatment rather than filling the state’s already overpopulated prison system.

“Let’s get nonviolent offenders out of jail cells and fill them with violent sociopaths.”  said the governor.

Two months after forming a violence task force, Christie renewed the call for bail reform and scolded Democrats for failing to act on his proposal to give judges the authority to detain people with repeated criminal histories before they go to trial.

“It seems to make common sense to me, yet the Legislature won’t do it,” added Christie. “And this is just flat-out wrong and it’s making us a less safe state.”

The change requires a constitutional amendment, which must be approved by voters.

A month after the shooting in Connecticut, Attorney General Chiesa launched a task force named NJ Safe which had three months to study and make recommendations in five areas such as gun control, drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, violence in society and school safety and security.

Then Christie turned to the issue of Hurricane Sandy and recovery efforts saying the people of New Jersey should not be treated any differently than people from other states, including down south.

Currently, the state is ranked dead last when it comes to return on federal recovery monies, said Christie, “I’m not going to let our citizens be treated as second class citizens.”

Christie said it is going to cost at least $3 billion to rebuild the Jersey Shore and build dunes up and down the coast.  Areas he said where there were dunes already in place appeared to have created a protective barrier from the storm that battered the shoreline and devastated homes.

Three words, Recover, Rebuild and Restore, were illuminated high above the governor on the gym wall as he took questions from the audience. One such question came from a woman who asked what he would do for returning soldiers who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

The governor said since the suicide rate among returning soldiers in New Jersey is much too high, the state Department of Human Services and Division of Mental Health has set up crisis centers across the Garden State and said there is also a 24 hour, seven day a week hotline with trained volunteers as well as veterans to help assist their fellow soldiers in their time of need.