South Toms River - Karen Paden sent word that she would not be attending her first regular council meeting of her term of office as a South Toms River Councilwoman.

"I have to work", she said, but there wasn't a single person in the room who believed that Paden had suddenly been called to duty at her "job" as a $90,000 a year taxpayer-funded Ocean County jail guard Sergeant.

Best Attended STR Council Meeting

At the best attended South Toms River council meeting in years, many citizens showed up to demand Paden's resignation in the wake of the health menace she caused by filling buckets with human excrement inside and outside her house on South Main Street after failing for three years to pay her sewer bill.

Unfit For Human Habitation?

The South Toms River sewer authority shut her sewer service down several months ago and condemned the house as unfit for human habitation.

Paden reportedly told officials she was living in Manitou Park at a relative's house when she was campaigning for a seat on the South Toms River Council, a seat that she won by a narrow margin in November.

$1292.42 In Bad Check Charges? Manitou Park Is In Berkeley

The only trouble, aside from the raw scheissen health menace in five gallon buckets and around her house on South Main Street, and $1292.42 in bad check charges pending for two years against her, and her past history of $11,000 in property tax delinquencies, was the fact that Manitou Park is in Berkeley Township, and you have to live in South Toms River to run for office here.

"The council knew about these problems when they ran her for office through the Republican Club", said one resident.

"She jeopardized the life of me and my children: she had human excrement in buckets inside and outside the house", noted a South Main Street resident who lives near Paden's condemned house.

Big Red Condemnation Signs

Another resident noted the board of health had put up "big red condemnation signs on the house, but Karen Paden keeps ripping them down."

Former Councilwoman Carla Kearney said Paden has "disgraced the community and made her oath of office into a bad joke."

Former Councilwoman Kearney Says Paden Should Resign

"When Karen Paden doesn't pay, our sewer fees and our taxes are higher as a result", Ms. Kearney said.

"She needs to be held accountable", Ms. Kearney told Mayor George Greitz and the members of the council who, unlike Paden, actually showed up for the meeting. "Paden should resign", Ms. Kearney said.

Paden Crime Wave Continues As Health Signs Are Ripped Down

The Padens have ripped the red condemnation signs down as quickly as health officials put them up, but Councilwoman Paden, a Republican with "connections", has not been charged with obstruction of the health laws, although willful removal of the signs is a criminal act, subject to heavy fines and punishment in the same jail she works in.

Is Marshall In Conflict Again?

Former Councilman Stephen Marshall, himself a South Main Street resident, was one of few residents at the meeting who appeared to be supporting Paden.

Marshall, a South Toms River sewer commissioner, may have some explaining to do himself, since he knew about Paden's delinquent sewer bill for years, and was aware this was not the first time the Padens were delinquent in paying sewer bills despite a combined income of more than $140,000 on the public payroll.

What Did He Know And When Did He Know It?

Marshall, formerly a Democrat, formerly a member of the American Independent Party, now a Republican, obviously knew about the sewer shut-off and the health menace, but did nothing to warn his South Main Street neighbors, or blow the whistle on Paden, despite a clear obligation to do so.

Article prepared for publication 1/21/04 by OCP staff writers. More on this issue and its associated cover-ups in the fullness of time.

To Check Out The Original 1/04/04 OCP Paden coverage, CLICK HERE