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ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION

What to do and where to go in NYC

this holiday season. Sunday Best, 1E

Christmas
in New York,
for all ages!

NO TAX ACTION

26
DAYS AND
COUNTING

Thats the number of

days the Legislature
has ignored the
property tax crisis
since the Nov. 3
election. Read more
about our tax action
clock in @Issue

11.29.15

Residents resist tidal flooding, which has become

an increasing and costly threat to the Jersey Shore

Manasquan
boating accident
victims identified
Page 6A

SWALLOWED
BY THE TIDE
ANDREW FORD @ANDREWFORDNEWS

They left before the flood. Worried they might not make it, Maryann ONeill
and her husband hurried away from home by 5 a.m. for a 9 a.m. doctors appointment. The 74-year-olds had to leave before salt water blocked the road.
They live on Mallard Island, where resilient residents often make plans by the
tide, not the time. The Stafford back bay neighborhood off Route 72 is plagued
by tidal flooding. Roads become impassable. Corrosive salt water douses
forsaken cars. Mud covers everything and kills lawns. Children walk through
the water to get to the bus stop.

See FLOODING, Page 8A

Tinton Falls
suits expose
blue wall
of silence
Borough agrees to pay retired officer
$527G to settle whistleblower claim
KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP
ANDREW FORD @ANDREWFORDNEWS

TINTON FALLS - Two whistleblower lawsuits claim

to have exposed what a panel of appellate judges say is a
blue wall of police silence in the borough Police Department, including a private meeting at a garbage
dump that the court said smacks of an illegal police
cover up.
The judges recently reinstated one of the lawsuits
after a lower court dismissed it. The borough recently
settled the other lawsuit for $527,500.
The borough agreed to pay retired police Lt. Kevin
Pierson that amount to settle his whistleblower lawsuit
that claimed he was harassed and forced out of the department after he told the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office about a colleagues alleged wrongdoing, according to court papers. The borough and Police Department admitted no wrongdoing in settling the case.
In the other whistleblower case, a panel of appellate
judges reinstated a lawsuit brought by the departments union delegate, who claims he was reassigned
from the K-9 unit to a punishment post after he interceded with the Prosecutors Office on Piersons behalf.
The delegate, identified in the judges opinion only
by initials, said he reported what he believed to be an
improper internal affairs investigation by the Police
Department that focused on Pierson rather than on the
alleged wrongdoing that Pierson sought to expose, according to the appellate judges decision.

Water theft allegation

The whole matter started in 2008 with an allegation
that a police sergeant may have been stealing water
from New Jersey American Water Co., according to papers filed in both cases.
It ballooned into what the appellate judges said
smacks of perpetrating an illegal police cover up,
See CLAIM, Page 11A

ANDREW FORD/STAFF PHOTOS

Top: Stephen Roberts, 41, has lived on West Mallard Drive for 17 years. He tolerates the water in front
of his home for the water behind it. Above: Even on a sunny day, roads in the area flood.

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The reasons behind shooting

spree at Planned Parenthood clinic are sought. 1B

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VOLUME 136
NUMBER 285
SINCE 1879

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