South Toms River - Numerous demands for health code and bad check scofflaw Karen Paden To step down from her South Toms River Council seat echoed through the chamber at the latest meeting of the governing body.

In an editorial, the Ocean County Observer said "because Paden's debts to the borough remained unpaid weeks after she was sworn into office, we believe she does not belong on the governing body, much less on the Finance Committee."

The Observer noted Paden's failure "to pay what she owes the borough has led authorities to declare her house unfit for human habitation."

The Observer also noted Mayor George Greitz "rewarded Paden with an appointment to the borough's finance committee in a move that defies logic."

Best Attended STR Council Meeting After The Buckets Appeared Because Paden Refused To Pay Her Sewer Bill Despite $140,000 Income

At the best attended South Toms River council meeting in years, many citizens showed up three weeks ago 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. Some of the same friends and neighbors attended last night's meeting.

Ms. Kearney Says STR Is A "Hideout
For Elected Officials With Little Or No Integrity"

"Former Democratic councilwoman Carla Kearney, who was narrowly defeated by Paden in last November's local election after Paden failed to disclose her sewer bill problems and a nasty habit of passing bad checks, told the meeting the town has become a "hideout for elected officials with little or no integrity." Paden did not respond to  the allegation.

Did Paden Live In STR During The Election Campaign?

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 tissue-thin margin in November.

$1292.42 In Bad Check Charges? Manitou Park Is In Berkeley
And What About Her $11,000 In Delinquent Taxes?

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 Observer did not mention Paden's potential residency problem, although the law states very clearly that if Paden was not a resident when she was running for office, she would have to forfeit her council seat whether or not the council and the mayor asked for her resignation.

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

The Padens Have Jobs Costing Taxpayers $140,000 A Year

Paden is still employed as a $90,000 a year taxpayer-funded Ocean County jail guard Sergeant, and her husband, Melvin Paden, is a $50,000 postal employee who is also compensated with taxpayers' funds.

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 Kearney Says Paden Should Resign

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

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

Paden Continues To Flaunt The Law 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, the same jail where she lectures the other inmates on the desirability of obeying the laws "that were adopted for the protection of us all.".

Fines Imposed: Paden Ignores Them

The Observer reported recently that the county Board of Health wrote a letter to the court in South Toms River "asking that an $800 fine be imposed", and that "additional fines were to be imposed for each additional day the health code violation exists."

There is no record that Paden is paying the fines - or that anybody from the appropriate county agencies is following up on Paden's assault on the sensibilities and olfactory nerves of the taxpayers she was supposedly elected to serve..