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Asbury Park Press

TUESDAY 03.10.15

Middletown North claims

Public B state crown
Howell has tough 2-1 loss in Public A final. Stories, Page C1

IS FREE SPEECH
TOO FREE ONLINE?
THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Stafford Mayor John Spodofora is interviewed in his town hall

office last week about his use of police to investigate a person
who had created a parody Facebook account in his name.

Why threatening posts even ones that suggest

acts of violence are rarely prosecuted

Council has
questions
on probe of
mayors foe
SHANNON MULLEN @MULLENAPP
STAFFORD The Township Council, behind closed
doors today, will discuss the controversial police probe
that targeted a critic of Mayor John Spodofora.
A number of us have questions, said Councilwoman Lori Wyrsch of the police inquiry, which was initiated at Spodoforas behest. Were just learning about it
ourselves.
The issue stems from a fictitious Facebook page that
lampooned the mayor for having lied about his military
service in Vietnam. The page has since been taken
down.
Spodofora, who has apologized for making misleading statements about his war record, asked the township Police Department to determine if the Facebook
page constituted identity theft.
The ensuing investigation, which lasted more than
three months, ultimately involved the Police Department, the Ocean County Prosecutors Office, a grand ju-

GANNETT PHOTOSHOP ILLUSTRATION

STEPH SOLIS @STEPHMSOLIS

hen anonymous Twitter posters stated they wanted to sexu-

See PROBE, Page A5

Bill putting $10M

into N.J. lead fund
gets panels OK

ally attack the teenage daughter of former Phillies pitcher

Curt Schilling, Schilling fought back by naming the authors,
one of whom was suspended from Brookdale Community
College. But outside of shaming writers and threatening

suit, legal experts say, the Web gives such wide latitude to those who post that
even direct threats of violence seldom lead to criminal charges.

What we worry about is when peoples

First Amendment rights are impacted in the
sense that they are going to be clearly
charged or sued for defamation, said Hanni
Fakhoury, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights
organization. The First Amendment protects certain knuckle-headed speech.
Schilling used social media to lash out at
the authors, stating on his blog, There are
repercussions to your actions in the real
world. The former Phillies, Red Sox and Diamondbacks pitcher then named the alleged
authors, which led to Brookdale student

TODD B. BATES @TODDBBATESAPP

TRENTON New Jerseys depleted fund for preventing child lead poisoning would get a $10 million infusion
under a bill approved by a state Senate panel Monday.
The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee voted 4-0-1, with one abstention, to pass the measure
(S-1279). It now heads to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for consideration.
Mondays vote follows an Asbury Park Press investigation on lead poisoning that found the state diverted
more than $50 million earmarked for the Lead Haz-

What we worry about is when

peoples ... rights are impacted
in the sense that they are going
to be clearly charged or sued for
defamation. The First
Amendment protects certain
knuckle-headed speech.
HANNI FAKHOURY,

See ONLINE, Page A4

ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

See LEAD, Page A4

PROTESTS AND APOLOGY FOLLOW WISCONSIN POLICE SHOOTING PAGE 1B

LOCAL

Truck
driver
in court

Improve Wi-Fi
performance
Simple tips to speed things up.
Tech Tuesday, A6

Man whose dog

died after river
plunge will
represent
himself. A3

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
HEALTHY LIVING
LOCAL
OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
TECH TUESDAY
WEATHER

D5
D6
D4
D1
A3
A8
A11
C1
A6
C8

VOLUME 136, NUMBER 59

SINCE1879

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