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GOV: WEED TAX IS IMPURE

In Manahawkin, Christie says making pot fully legal sends wrong message
ERIK LARSEN @ERIK_LARSEN
STAFFORD Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday
that society should never allow marijuana to be legalized for recreational use and called any tax revenue
that would come from government-regulated cannabis
blood money.
This should not be permitted in our society; it sends
the wrong message, Christie said. Every bit of objective data tells us that its a gateway drug to other drugs.
And it is not an excuse in our society to say that alcohol
is legal so why not make marijuana legal. Well why

not make heroin legal? Why not make cocaine legal?

You know, their argument is a slippery slope.
Christie was addressing elected officials, law enforcement officials and substance abuse treatment
professionals at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a local
branch of Daytop, an outpatient drug-abuse rehabilitation facility that opened in a former Wawa convenience
store on the corner of Route 9 and Hilliard Boulevard in
the Manahawkin section on Wednesday morning.
This is the first Daytop rehab center in the Shore

As long as Im
governor ... there
wont be legalized
marijuana in this
state.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE

See POT, Page 6A

EX-TALIBAN PRISONER BERGDAHL CHARGED WITH DESERTION PAGE 1B

PRESS EXCLUSIVE

THURSDAY 03.26.15

ALMOST DEAD
FROM A DARE

Monmouth
to privatize,
sell nursing
facilities
BOB BIELK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Parker Drake, 19, a special-needs student from Howell, was bribed by two men into jumping into the ocean off the inlet jetty in
Manasquan. The ocean temperature was 30 degrees. Parker almost drowned. The men considered it a joke and videotaped it.

SUSANNE CERVENKA @SCERVENKA

FREEHOLD Monmouth County will move ahead to
sell its two nursing homes despite impassioned pleas
from residents and employees asking them to save the
facilities.
The Board of Chosen Freeholders listened for more
than two hours Tuesday night as workers and residents
spoke of the family nature and high-quality care at the
John L. Montgomery and Geraldine L. Thompson care
centers. Employees spoke of financial sacrifices
many went years without receiving a pay raise.
None of the arguments could overcome the poor financial outlook for the facilities combined deficits
running about $6.7 million annually and totaling about
$47 million since 2007.
That swayed four of the five freeholders in favor of a
vote to privatize the facilities, a move that would keep
the nursing homes open under the ownership and operation of the highest bidder.
Monmouth County would be the latest county in New
Jersey to privatize its nursing homes. Since 2012, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Sussex and Union counties sold their nursing homes because of fiscal constraints. Warren County is in the process of selling its
nursing home.
Freeholder Lillian Burry was the lone opposition
vote, saying the county had not done enough to find
ways to keep the centers under public control.
Is this the best we can do? Here in Monmouth County, we cant do better than privatizing? she said, echoing some of the speakers earlier in the night.
Employees began leaving the meeting even before
the vote was cast, after Freeholder John Curley made a

Pair encouraged
autistic man, 19, to
jump into icy ocean
KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

the incident and scenes from

arker Drake thought he was going

to drown.
Battered by waves off Manasquan, in frigid water over his
head, the 19-year-old autistic, diabetic Howell man struggled to make it back
to shore while two other young men
laughingly taped him with a cellphone as
he fought to stay alive.
The men, Drake said, had egged him into
accepting a dare on Feb. 25: Plunge into the
icy waters of the Atlantic and stay there for
a minute, in exchange for $20 and two
packs of cigarettes.
Drake took the dare, but it almost cost
him his life. The pair took him onto a jetty
and told him to jump. Once in the icy water,
his insulin pump froze. Drake said hes still
not sure how he made it back to shore.
I didnt realize how cold or deep the water was going to be, but by the time I
jumped in, I just went down, Drake said
recently, recalling the ordeal. It was deep
enough I couldnt stand, and I had to be in
there like five minutes.
There were waves going over my head

the video of it at

See DARE, Page 8A

A Snapchat video showing Nicholas Formica on

the jetty in Manasquan where he is accused of
coaxing Parker Drake to jump off the jetty.

See Parker

See HOMES, Page 6A

The nursing homes have poor financial

outlooks, with combined deficits
running about $6.7 million annually.

Drake recount

www.app.com

Toms River kids

who opt out of
PARCC forced to
sit idle. Home & School, 4A
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VOLUME 136
NUMBER 73

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