Herald 6.10.09.Indd
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Herald NEWS DI GESTS Routine Patrol Saved Life WEST WILDWOOD — Acting Deputy Police Chief Walter Belles received a Merit ALWAYS Award after his quick actions and investiga- AVAILABLE tion of an alarm saved the life of a resident. ONLINE Belles was on routine patrol May 1 when he responded to a smoke alarm in the area Index...See Page A3 of 700 West Glenwood Avenue. Belles alerted the West Wildwood Volunteer Fire Department and found the source of the alarm was in response to a natural gas leak. (Page A16 Please) PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY THE SEAWAVE CORP. Vol. 45 No. 23 Copyright 2009 Seawave Corp. All rights reserved. June 10, 2009 1508 Route 47, Rio Grande NJ 08242-1402 On Deck Second Captain Smokin’ Joe Reports Crash Frazier opens his place in Bally’s this weekend. Like Lady Mary By JACK FICHTER See the rest of CAPE MAY— Twenty days after the fi shing the story inside vessel Lady Mary sank 65 miles offshore, a simi- on page B1. lar accident involving a scallop boat and a large container ship occurred in the same area. Attorney Stevenson Lee Weeks Jr., represent- ing the family of the Lady Mary’s deceased ONLINE owner and Royal Smith Sr., told the Herald Al Campbell Megan Kelly in dark sweatshirt, a senior at Middle Township High School, displays clay he has not dismissed the theory that the Lady ACTIVITY hot dog she crafted and displayed at the school’s second annual art show June 5 with her Mary was struck by a large container ship. Past 7 Days sister Katelyn Kelly, left, and Aubrey Hunter, front left, and Allison Hunter. The event While the Coast Guard has inspected a www.CapeMayCountyHerald.com was held in the PAC lobby. See more photos in slideshow at: www.capemaycountyherald. large, Liberian registered container ship, the com. Look under Community and Schools. Cap Beatrice, which was within one mile of MOST POPULAR ARTICLES: the Lady Mary at the time off the accident, a Jury: Higbee Not Guilty press release indicated a diver found no ap- Posted: Wed, 06/03/2009 - 1:33 parent damage to that ship. The Coast Guard 31735 reads, 144 Comments Trooper Higbee Not Guilty also interviewed crewmembers of the Cap UPDATED: School District Business Beatrice. Administrator Suspended By LAUREN SUIT and AL CAMPBELL by a court stenographer. Then, just before 5 Weeks said the Cap Beatrice was inspected Posted: Mon, 06/08/2009 - 1:41pm p.m. the jury sent word that it had reached a 50 days after the Lady Mary sinking. In the 4341 reads, 21 Comments COURT HOUSE — Twelve jurors found N.J. verdict. meantime, the freighter had sailed to Australia State Trooper Robert Higbee not guilty of two The sighs of relief were audible from those and back. MOST WATCHED VIDEOS: counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of who had come to the courtroom to support A dive team, made up of volunteers, made Middle Twp Ambulance Corps Honors Jacqueline and Christina Becker. Higbee, including several state troopers a second dive to the wreck of the Lady Mary. Returning Service Members The verdict answers the question and members of his family. They took a number of photos that show dam- Posted: Sun, 06/07/2009 - 9:48pm, 217 Views that has been discussed heavily both Higbee left the courtroom the evening age to the fi shing boat in detail. around this county and the nation: The of June 8 without the weight of the trial Weeks said the damage to the Lady Mary was Flying Around the Lighthouse, Concrete Ship accident that took the life of the Upper on his shoulders, but the aftermath of comparable to damage to the scallop boat, Dic- Sun, 06/07/2009 - 11:05am, 195 Views Township sisters certainly was tragic, the Sept. 27 crash never far from his tator, which was struck by a commercial vessel but was it a crime? thoughts. in the same area, the Elephant Trunk, about 20 MOST ACTIVE SPOUT OFF THREADS: The answer from a jury of his peers On Sept. 27, 2006, just after 10 days after the Lady Mary accident. Is Higbee Guilty or Not Guilty????? was a unanimous, no. HIGBEE p.m., Higbee’s patrol car crashed into “The damage was very similar,” said Weeks. 3258 Views, 130 replies The jury of seven men and fi ve women spent a minivan that Christina, 19, and Jacqueline, “I have not written that off. I don’t know if the LOWER TWSP Bids out Grass Cutting most of the day listening as Higbee’s courtroom 17, Becker were driving in. The sisters were Coast Guard has.” Service and who gets it? testimony, given June 1, was read back to them (Page A6 Please) He said because damage was not found on 988 views, 25 replies the Cap Beatrice doesn’t mean there wasn’t Wildwood Clerk Deems Recall Void; collision. Photos of the damage to the Dictator and the ‘Check for 21’ photos of the damage to the Lady Mary are very Organizers Will Challenge Decision similar, he said. On April 14, the Dictator, a 85-foot scallop Begins 17th Year By LAUREN SUIT Wood said he learned from the Board of fi shing vessel home ported in Southwest Har- Elections that the actual number of registered bor, Mass. sustained an “enormous amount of By LESLIE TRULUCK WILDWOOD — City Clerk Chris Wood on voters in Wildwood at the time of the 2007 damage” after an encounter with a 965-foot June 3 declared as void the petition to recall general election was 2,788. Twenty-fi ve per- container vessel 47 miles off the coast of Cape CREST HAVEN — Yet another sign that Mayor Ernie Troiano and Commissioner Wil- cent of that fi gure would be 697 signatures. summer is here is the county’s annual kickoff liam Davenport. Regardless of a lower or higher number of (Page A2 Please) to the “We Check 21” initiative. The Wildwood Recall Committee turned in signatures needed, the names on the petition In its 17th year, the county Board of Chosen petitions on May 19 to the city clerk. Since were deemed invalid for a variety of reasons, Plot to Kill Cops Freeholders promoted its “We Check for 21” that time, the clerk’s offi ce had to verify sig- including: campaign by offering two informative training natures. • More than one signature by the same per- Thwarted in Rio sessions for workers in the licensed beverage As a result, Wood said the petitions, which son, with 23 multiple signatures for Davenport industry at the County Administrative Build- contained 792 signatures to remove Troiano and 26 for Troiano. By JOE HART ing June 4. and 790 for Davenport were found void “for • The box asking signers if they had read Liquor licensees and their employees asked a number of reasons.” To be found suffi cient, the petition was not checked: 16 in the case COURT HOUSE — A commercial fi sherman questions and had a frank discussion about the petitions would have had to contain 697 of Davenport and 18 for Troiano. from Ohio, with local ties, was planning to kill how to protect themselves from liability and signatures of registered voters, not 615 as fi rst • The signatures did not match voter regis- two Middle Township police offi cers, according (Page A4 Please) believed. tration certifi cates: 40 for Davenport and 48 to the county Prosecutor’s Offi ce. for Troiano Elvin Copson, 41, of Toledo, Ohio, was ar- • Petitions circulated by nonresidents also rested without incident at 4 p.m. on June 4 Middle Welcomes Home Six Soldiers were disqualifi ed. in the 3000 block of Route 9 in Rio Grande. By H.B. SCHEELER JR. 7 and also welcomed hom fi ve other county • Some 30 to 40 people per petition He was charged with two counts each of at- residents who recently returned from a tour (Page A4 Please) tempted murder and conspiracy and remanded COURT HOUSE — Middle Township Ambu- of duty in Iraq. to county jail in lieu of $1 million bail. lance Corps honored one of its members June Area rescue squads and fi re departments Top Gun F-18 Flyer Police said Copson was raised in this county with the Middle Township Police Department and subsequently moved to Ohio. and The Rolling Thunder Motorcycle organiza- Visits Air Museum According to a release from Prosecutor Rob- tion escorted the veterans on their return home ert Taylor and Middle Township Police Chief through the county prior to stopping at Middle By JACK FICHTER Joseph Evangelista, the arrest culminated a Township Ambulance Corps headquarters on two-month “murder for hire” investigation by South Main Street. ERMA — With a thunderous roar, a Navy detectives from both agencies’ Major Crime Spc. Abraham Ruiz, Spc. Tiffany Tomlin, F-18 Hornet jet landed at the county airport Units. Spc. Theodore Bohn, Pvt. 1st Class Richard June 3 for a visit to the Naval Air Station Capt. Eugene Taylor, of the Prosecutor’s Geronimo, Spc. Osmond Garrison and Spc. Wildwood Museum. Offi ce, told the Herald that Copson allegedly Craig Morrison, of the 253rd Transportation Cmdr. Samuel Paparo piloted the jet and of- conspired to murder Middle Township police Company based in Court House, were greeted fered a lecture on Naval air operations at the offi cers, Patrolmen Steven Novsak and Mat- Harry B. Scheeler Jr. by family, friends and community supporters. museum. His visit was extended 12 hours by thew Martino, to prevent them from testifying N.J. National Guardsman Spc.