ASBURY PARK PRESS

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Law saves Joint Base planes

National defense policy bill took
KC-10 Extenders off chopping block
KALA KACHMAR @NEWSQUIP

The U.S. militarys largest and most efficient aerial

refueling aircraft more than half of which are
housed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst were
taken off the chopping block last week when President
Barack Obama signed the nations defense policy bill
into law.
Eliminating the use of the KC-10 Extenders, which
have been in use by the U.S. Air Force since 1981, would
have put the Joint Base at risk for closure, said Rep.
Tom MacArthur, R-New Jersey, who represents the
Third Congressional District where the base is located.
This is one of the linchpins of this base, MacArthur
said. And if you take away one of the linchpins, its like
taking the anchor out of a shopping mall. It kind of cuts

PETER ACKERMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur and Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry are shown information by Col. Mark
Towne as part of a tour Friday of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

See PLANES, Page 2A

FBI: SHOOTINGS WERE ACT OF TERRORISM PAGE 1B

SATURDAY 12.05.15

EXCLUSIVE

STILL WAITING
FOR ANSWERS
I just want to know what happened that night,
pleads mother of girl hit by bullet in Asbury home
High School football

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throughout the day
Saturday.

Former Wall school superintendent James

Habel during his sentencing in Judge Ronald
L. Reisners courtroom in state Superior
Court in Freehold Friday.
THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Cassie Jones, 8, leans on the bed where she sat when a bullet grazed her head on Nov. 4 in Asbury Park. Visit APP.com for a
video about the Jones family.

STEPH SOLIS @STEPHMSOLIS

ASBURY PARK - A month after a bullet grazed 8-year-old Cassie Jones forehead, her family still
avoids the bedroom where it all happened.
Its overwhelming. I cry as often as they do, said mother Cassie Jones, looking at her daughters
Cassie and her 6-year-old sister Alejandrina Acevedo as they stood next to her in their living
room Friday night. We dont go in the room. We dont stay in there.
The room is the elder Jones bedroom. It was there, on the night of Nov. 4, that young Cassie was
watching Ghostbusters on the television, when a wayward bullet tore through the house, grazing
the childs head in the crossfire.
Authorities say the bullet was fired during an exchange between 19-year-old Dante Allen and Asbury Park Officer Terrence McGhee.
Ever since, Cassie Jones and her two daughters have lived in the girls bedroom, because it is the
only place they feel safe. The three of them cram into the bottom bunk to sleep, watch movies and
See ANSWERS, Page 6A

Right now, we want out of this house. There is no really fixing it. You
cant fix the nightmares. Theyll never be comfortable again.
CASSIE JONES,

MOTHER OF GIRL HIT BY BULLET

Former Wall
schools super
goes to prison
KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

FREEHOLD The case against former Wall schools

superintendent James Habel could be summed up in
one word: greed an assistant prosecutor told a judge
Friday.
Habel, 59, paid the price for that greed Friday when
Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reisner sentenced him
to five years in prison without the possibility of parole
for lying about vacation days to get extra cash payouts.
Reisner imposed the prison term on Habel for official misconduct, ordered him to forfeit his pension and
banned him from ever again holding a public position in
New Jersey.
But Habel, as superintendent of the Wall Township
school system, once had it all, said Melanie Falco, an
assistant Monmouth County prosecutor.
He had a waterfront home in Point Pleasant worth
more than $500,000, Falco said.
See SENTENCE, Page 4A

DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Left: Cassie Jones describes the night her 8-year-old daughter (right) was grazed by the bullet.

Boss in town
Springsteens River Tour
2016 will make a stop in
Newark. STORY, 3A

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VOLUME 136
NUMBER 291
SINCE 1879