Drawbacks Of Dover Twp. Name Change

                                 By Joseph A. Lypowy

Recently there has been another movement to change the name of Dover Twp. to Toms River Township, and up until recently I was undecided as to whether I would support the name change or not. After reading former mayor Mark Mutter's Sept. 21 letter, "Changing Dover Townships name is a bad idea", I have decided that the name should stay as is. Mark's thoughtful letter pointed out many drawbacks of a name change that the public might not have considered.
   In addition to Mark Mutter's insights, I began to analyze the cause of the name confusion and I believe the main cause is the US Post Office. The Post Office took on the mailing address of the village and not Dover Twp. This identity crisis goes beyond Dover Townships boundaries with Pine Lake Park and sections of Berkeley Twp. and Manchester having a mailing address of Toms River. The Post Office should be renamed Dover Twp. Post Office and the 08757 Berkley Twp./Manchester/Pine Lake Park zip code regions should use their own names. The second cause of the problem is organizations using the wrong name such as the Board of Education and the Chamber of Commerce. They should be called Dover Twp. Board of Education / School System and Dover Twp. Chamber of Commerce. By having some of the towns major institutions calling it the wrong name, then other businesses would assume the name also.
   Ask yourself, why is Toms River North High School called what it is when it is in North Dover? Why is the East Dover Elementary School properly named, yet the high school is called Toms River East? Yes folks, there should be a name change, but it's not the Township which has had the same name since the early 1700's but the institutions which have taken on the wrong name.
   The Dover Township Committee should draft a resolution asking the Post Office, Board of Education and Chamber of Commerce to start using the proper township name and then the so called confusion should be cleared up. Residents can get a jump start by writing their mailing address as Dover Twp., NJ as well as Pine Lake Park using their own name too.

Joseph A. Lypowy
Dover Township