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01.04.15

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Seniors band
together to
stir up politics
in Lakewood

PRESS
INVESTIGATION

$50 million missing

from fund leaves
children vulnerable to

LEAD POISONING

Group organizes info

sessions, voter drives
KEVIN PENTN @KEVINPENTONAPP
LAKEWOOD The growing power of senior citizen
voters in the township has given older residents a newfound voice in local politics, one that already has approved heating system upgrades in public schools
while cutting local taxes at the same time.
Members of the Senior Action Group say they are
adding their voice to the political dialogue as they advocate for their community members, many of whom
live on fixed incomes yet pay millions of dollars in property taxes while using few of the services offered by
the township and school system.
The groups goals include reducing the multimillion
dollar cost of busing public and private school students;
stopping taxpayers from paying for the collection of
trash from businesses, places of worship and private
schools; and seeking improvements to the municipalitys often chaotic and traffic-clogged roadways.
If the group manages to build a senior citizen voting
bloc, it would become a formidable power among the
township of 100,000 residents. Of the 60,500 likely voters older than 18, 12,500, or about 20 percent, are 65
years or older, according to the latest population estimates.
But SAG members say they dont want to work in a
vacuum. The group has reached out to one of the foremost powers in the township, the Vaad, to find common

See SENIORS, Page A6

Alexander Lopez
Garcia, 4, of Long
Branch has learning
disabilities that may
have been caused by
lead poisoning.

Lead, a toxic metal found everywhere, can cause

irreversible brain damage. Its the states top
environmental health threat for kids.

BOB BIELK/STAFF
PHOTOGRAPHER

But since 2004, under both Democratic and

Residents gearing
up for battle over
gas pipeline plan

Republican administrations, the state has steered

at least $53.7 million from the Lead Hazard Control
Assistance Fund to the general treasury.

DAVID P. WILLIS@DPWILLIS732

TODD B. BATES @TODDBBATESAPP

UPPER FREEHOLD Local residents hope to put pres-

sure on New Jersey Natural Gas to keep a proposed 28mile natural gas transmission line out of their neighborhoods.
New Jersey Natural Gas has not yet finalized a route
for a 30-inch high-pressure transmission pipe that
would feed the southern portion of the utilitys service
territory in Ocean and Burlington counties. Currently,
the utility pulls natural gas from a connection to an interstate pipeline in Middlesex County.
Plans call for a new transmission line from Chesterfield Township in Burlington County, to North Hanover,
Upper Freehold, Plumsted, and Joint Base McGuireDix-Lakehurst before it connects with the utilitys system in Manchester, spokesman Michael Kinney said.
A group, called Families for Responsible Pipelines,
has formed to push the utility toward choosing a route
along a Jersey Central Power & Light right-of-way and
away from residential streets. The utilitys surveyors

ON THE WEB
Scan the QR code
or visit APP.com
to see a video on
lead poisoning.

INSIDE
Local boy
suffers lead
poisioning, A8
What is lead? A9
Sandy prompts
elevated lead
testing, A9

See GAS, Page A6

The New Jersey government left

countless children exposed to lead poisoning in the last decade by diverting
more than $50 million away from a
health fund so routine state bills and salaries could be paid, an Asbury Park
Press investigation found.
Diversions were approved by Democratic and Republican governors, including Chris Christie, and the Legislature.
The state also failed to implement a
2008 rental housing inspection law
aimed at reducing lead poisoning, the
Press found.
Not spending $100 on a home inspection will cost you tens of thousands (of
dollars), if not hundreds of thousands,
for every child whos poisoned and
needs treatment, said Ruth Ann Norton,

president and CEO of the Green &

Healthy Homes Initiative, a nonprofit
based in Baltimore, Maryland, which
seeks to stamp out childhood lead poisoning.
Lead, a toxic metal everywhere in the
environment, can cause brain damage
and learning and behavioral problems. It
has been deemed the states top environmental health threat for kids. More than
5,000 New Jersey children each year are
found to have well above-average lead
contamination. Hundreds of those children live in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Thousands more mostly minority
children in impoverished city neighborhoods are at risk. The metal is in old
paint chips and dust, playground soil and
even some imported candies.
See LEAD, Page A8

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VOLUME 136
NUMBER 3
SINCE 1879

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