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Asbury Park Press

TUESDAY 01.06.15

HIGH-TECH BARGAINS

FROM YOUR
LOCAL DOLLAR
STORE
Tech Tuesday, A5

EATING REAL FOOD PAGE D1

HAS CHRISTIE ABANDONED N.J.?

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FL

Christie itinerary
Today, Florida, attending
Gov. Rick Scotts second inaugural (NOTE this changes if
Christie attends Mario Cuomo
funeral same day, no word
on that yet)
Jan. 8, Massachusetts, swearing-in incoming Gov. Charlie
Baker
Jan. 11, Wisconsin, attending
Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay
Packers NFL playoff game.
Jan. 12, Ohio, swearing-in for
Gov. John Kasich
And in coming weeks, Christie is attending swearing-in
ceremonies for Govs. Bruce
Rauner in Illinois, Nikki Haley
in South Carolina, Terry Branstad in Iowa, and Larry Hogan in Maryland.
Christie is also booked as a
speaker Jan. 24 at the Iowa
Freedom Summit organized
by conservative power broker
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

A busy 2014
BOB JORDAN
Christies out-of-state trips
last year included campaigning for Republicans, fundraisers, speeches and more. In
the last three months of 2014:
Oct. 1-3: California, Arizona,
Colorado, Iowa
Oct. 6: Connecticut, New
York
Oct. 8-10: Florida, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New
Hampshire
Oct. 13-14: Minnesota, Kansas, Maine, Connecticut,
Massachusetts
Oct. 16-17: Florida, Georgia,
Illinois
Oct. 20-21: Kansas, Colorado,
Maryland, Illinois, Michigan,
Washington, D.C.
Oct. 25-Nov. 3: 20 states
Nov. 17: Washington
Nov. 18-21: Florida
Dec. 4-5: Canada

@BOBJORDANAPP

Gov. Chris Christie (right)

celebrates with Dallas
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
(left) after the team's win
Sunday. TWITTER SCREEN
GRAB

TRENTON Plunging approval ratings in New Jersey

have not been enough incentive to keep Gov. Chris Christie
home, even as the state faces a myriad of fiscal challenges
and its job market remains almost lifeless.
Poll after poll shows increasing numbers of New Jerseyans drawing the conclusion that Christie has become obsessed with his national standing.
And now this: a new distraction for Christie, with his beloved Dallas Cowboys on a playoff run.
All of it has reinforced opinions that Christie is putting
New Jersey in his rear-view mirror with a potential presidential campaign upcoming, said Monmouth University
pollster Patrick Murray.
Christie is in Florida today on a political trip and will
swing into Massachusetts, South Carolina, Ohio, Maryland,
Iowa and Illinois in the coming weeks.
Murray said people doubt Christie contemplates ways to
fix his home states public pension system crisis or how to
fund highway and infrastructure repairs while on trips to
political events and football games.
There are questions as to whether hes dedicated to New
Jersey issues and whether his head is in the game, Murray
said. The perception is that hes just trying to paper over

See CHRISTIE, Page A4

AVALANCHE KILLS TWO U.S. SKIERS PAGE 1B

State still seeks

dune easements

Black man saved

by KKK member

N.J. hopes Bay Head owners sign on

Dragged him to safety in Vietnam

JEAN MIKLE
@JEANMIKLE

ANDREW FORD @ANDREWFORDNEWS

"6<;<3
 

Bullets ripped through John Browns hands, chest

and left knee as he lay prone in a village near Bo Tuc,
Vietnam, in 1967. By the grace of God, he didnt get hit
in the head. But he was bleeding heavily, fingers shot
off, half of one hand blown away. Suddenly, another
member of his team rushed over to him. Brown is a
black man. He said his team member was a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Regardless, Brown said, the man dragged him
away as machine gun bullets hit the ground on either
side of them.
From his
tidy living room in his home in Lakewood,

Brown, now 68, looked back on his life. He said he

wouldnt be there if the man hadnt saved him. Brown
can only recall his first name: Rayford.
Brown was born in Littleton, North Carolina, the
youngest of eight children of sharecroppers.
In 1950, his parents moved to Lakewood looking for
a better life. His mother told him stories from her

See RACE, Page A8

TRENTON State officials still hope to convince Bay

Head homeowners to sign easements that would allow

the Army Corps of Engineers to widen beaches and
build 22-foot dunes in front of their properties, but they
say they will seize the land if necessary so the project
can go forward.
Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said state officials,
along with the Army corps, plan to meet with Bay Head
property owners this week in an attempt to get them to
sign the easements legal documents that allow acSee EASEMENTS, Page A8

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL
MOVIES

THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Established dunes are shown along the Bay Head coastline

north of Osborne Avenue in this November 2014 file photo.

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OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
TECH TUESDAY
WEATHER

A6
A9
C1
A5
C8

VOLUME 136
NUMBER 5

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