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500 Pounds of Pasta Mysteriously Dumped in the Woods of a New Jersey Town
NBC News ^ | 5/5 | David K. Li

Posted on 05/05/2023 2:23:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Old Bridge Mayor Owen Henry wasn't pleased with the scene but said he'll gladly pick up discarded spaghetti instead of a dumped tire or mattress.

Pasta al fresco was served in a New Jersey town last week, much to the chagrin of city workers-turned-busboys who had to clear mounds of macaroni dumped in the woods.

A public works crew picked up 500 pounds of noodles discarded into a wooded area of Old Bridge, on the banks of the Iresick Brook, Mayor Owen Henry told NBC News on Friday.

“No sauce, no gravy, no cheese, it was was just piles of macaroni" and spaghetti, Henry said.

It's believed the pasta was dry and uncooked at the time it was dumped but then turned al dente when rain fell on central New Jersey last week.

About two inches of rain had fallen on the region on April 22-23 and the pasta was picked up on April 28.

Keith Rost, 33, recently moved into the neighborhood and was out for a walk and smoke last week when he came upon the piles of pasta.

Word in the neighborhood, Rost said, is that the dry pasta was dumped by a man as he cleaned out the Hillyard Road home of his late parents, who apparently believed in having a fully stocked pantry.

"I was like, 'What was all of this?!'" Rost said Friday. "I just started reading the alphabet (pasta) to spell my name. I didn't know what to think."

Disney's gay fans worry about Florida policies even as many consider the park a safe haven While Mayor Owen laughed about the incident, he took a serious moment to ask locals not to dump their unwanted goods in the woods.

"Old Bridge is very rural so we do have people who go out and illegally dump so much material in isolated areas, so we're constantly going out there and cleaning up," Henry said.

"I mean it's unfortunate because we can take so much of this stuff in at our recycling centers. There's no reason to dump a mattress in the woods, no reason to throw a refrigerator away. We'll come to get it from your house. Electronics, rugs, padding, concrete, metal, it makes no sense to throw it into the woods."

Even though the pasta dumper could be cited, Henry said police will not actively pursue the case.

"It was illegal dumping but it wasn't anything hazardous. I mean it's pasta — flour, water and eggs?" Henry said. "We're not focused on that. There are bigger, pressing issues the detective bureau needs to be involved in. It's not on the front burner."

And the mayor pointed out this serving of illegal dumping isn't the worst he's seen.

"I'l take pasta any day over tires," he said. "I'll take pasta any day over a mattress."


TOPICS: Food; Humor; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: donate2freerepublic; pasta
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Forget it Jake, it's Jersey

Leave the pasta, take the sauce.

1 posted on 05/05/2023 2:23:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Chris Christie called out for dinner.

2 posted on 05/05/2023 2:26:56 PM PDT by Songcraft
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To: nickcarraway
It's Biodegradable so no biggie.

(But don't tell the lefties that the breakdown process will generate CO2, NH4 and H2O, or their pantyhose will get twisted.)

3 posted on 05/05/2023 2:30:37 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: nickcarraway

Not for me. I don’t like al dente.


4 posted on 05/05/2023 2:31:08 PM PDT by Bounced2X (Boomer - I survived childhood with no bike helmet.)
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To: nickcarraway

Call a farmer. They can feed to their hogs, cows, or chickens


5 posted on 05/05/2023 2:33:05 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: nickcarraway

Declare a mukbang on the interwebs. It’ll be gone in no time.


6 posted on 05/05/2023 2:34:18 PM PDT by Noumenon (You're not voting your way out of this. KTF)
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To: nickcarraway

Are there no squirrels there? Couldnt kick it in the creek for passing suckers and mudbugs?

I understand that he wanted to avoid attracting nuisance wildlife but arent Italians mostly further north this time of year?


7 posted on 05/05/2023 2:36:54 PM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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To: gnarledmaw

Ahahahahahaha!


8 posted on 05/05/2023 2:44:14 PM PDT by skr (Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. - Proverbs 14:34)
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To: nickcarraway

I thought it might be Whoopie or Behar


9 posted on 05/05/2023 2:47:59 PM PDT by Equine1952
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To: nickcarraway
If you never saw this BBC Spaghetti Harvest documentary, it’s very insightful…

BBC Spaghetti Harvest in Ticino
10 posted on 05/05/2023 2:48:08 PM PDT by MaskedMan (The )
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To: MaskedMan

Hosed up my link in the post: https://youtu.be/tVo_wkxH9dU


11 posted on 05/05/2023 2:49:10 PM PDT by MaskedMan (The )
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To: nickcarraway

All they had to do is bring in a couple of fenced pigs


12 posted on 05/05/2023 2:50:01 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Genocide is here. Leftist extremists are spearhheading the Genocide against conservatives. )
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To: nickcarraway

If they hadn’t been stingy with the sauce, animals would have eaten it.

Should have set up some trail cams to see what showed up.


13 posted on 05/05/2023 2:50:23 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: shotgun

Yes this is what should have been done.


14 posted on 05/05/2023 2:58:31 PM PDT by rdl6989 ( )
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To: Rennes Templar; V_TWIN
Word in the neighborhood, Rost said, is that the dry pasta was dumped by a man as he cleaned out the Hillyard Road home of his late parents, who apparently believed in having a fully stocked pantry.

500 lbs. worth, so probably not a lot of elbow room.

15 posted on 05/05/2023 3:00:27 PM PDT by Ezekiel (🆘️ "Come fly with US". Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with Mars ♂️, aka every man)
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To: nickcarraway

Shove in your meat.


16 posted on 05/05/2023 3:03:41 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: DannyTN

Possums will eat noodles.


17 posted on 05/05/2023 3:07:52 PM PDT by csvset (tolerance becomes a crime when attached to evil)
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To: nickcarraway

Are they sure there’s not a body under all that pasta?


18 posted on 05/05/2023 3:20:18 PM PDT by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne )
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To: nickcarraway

Was it Town Edgewater N. J. ?


19 posted on 05/05/2023 3:24:43 PM PDT by starsandstrips
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To: nickcarraway

my guess is that if you even if you didn’t clean it up that within a year you would never know it was there.


20 posted on 05/05/2023 3:25:43 PM PDT by Revel
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