BY JESSICA FASANOTHE OCEAN STAR

POINT PLEASANT — At the bor-ough’s council meeting onTuesday, March 3, MayorRobert Sabosik appointedWilliam Dikun as the town’snew Office of Emergency Man-

agement [OEM]coordinator.

Mr. Dikunwill be fillingthe position for-merly held byGary Colberg,who resignedlast month.

Mr. Colbergwas paid an an-nual salary of$3,500 for his

duties as OEM coordinator. According to Mayor Sabosik,

Mr. Dikun was offered the samesalary, but decided he wouldgive the money back to thetown. The mayor said he great-ly appreciated Mr. Dikun’s gen-erosity to the people of PointPleasant by giving back hissalary.

“The leadership of our emer-gency management is a keycomponent for the well beingof this town,” Mayor Sabosiksaid before appointing Mr.Dikun to the role.

BY JESSICA FASANOTHE OCEAN STAR

BAY HEAD — A pig was in atten-dance at the borough council meet-ing, here, on Monday night.

Due to resident Sal Santangelo’sinterest in owning a Juliana pig, onemade an appearance at the meetingso council members and fellow res-idents could use the pig as a refer-ence.

Mr. Santangelo has recently ap-pealed to the council for a possiblealteration to the current municipalcode, which states certain animalsare considered pets while others arenot. He would like the code to be al-tered to allow pigs to be owned aspets in the Borough of Bay Head.

Currently, borough code states noresident of Bay Head can “have,keep, raise or maintain any cattle,horses, swine, sheep, goats, poultry,pigeons or other animals or petswhich constitute a nuisance within

the described limits of the bor-ough.”

Mr. Santangelo said since hismother is allergic to cats and dogs,he “just wanted a pet my family canenjoy.”

At the last council meeting onFeb. 9, Councilwoman JenniferBarnes-Gambert said in light of Mr.Santangelo’s request, she would like

LAVALLETTE STUDENTS JUMP FOR HEARTSRaise thousands for American Heart Association PAGE 2

BAY HEAD � LAVALLETTE � MANTOLOKING � POINT PLEASANT � POINT PLEASANT BEACH

75 CENTSFRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015

Fire levels Beach home

A pig walks into a council meeting …

New OEMheadnamed

Man burned over 40-50percent of his body is

critical but stable

SEE FIRE PAGE 13

BY PAIGE TAYLORTHE OCEAN STAR

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The 47-year-old man injured in a fire thatleveled his Cooks Lane home,here, early Monday morning, wasin “critical but stable condition” asof yesterday, according to OceanCounty Prosecutor’s Officespokesman Al Della Fave.

The fire allegedly resulted froma gas explosion and left the resi-dent with burns over 40-50 per-cent of his body, according to theprosecutor’s office.

Mr. Della Fave said the incident

WILLIAMDIKUN

RYAN MAYER THE OCEAN STAR [ABOVE] | COURTESY OF EUGENE BABBINI [BELOW]

A fire leveled a home on Cooks Lane early Monday morning after a natural gas leak. A resident was injured inthe blaze and was in critical but stable condition yesterday, according to authorities.

SPOTLIGHT ON JULIANA PIGS

General appearanceSmall, colorfully spotted pigLean, longer than it is tall, athletic inappearance

SizeBetween 30-50 pounds13-15 inches in height

ColorBase color can be silver, white, red,rust, black or creamAlways spotted; spots usually black,can be red or white

Information courtesy of the Juliana PigAssociation & Registry

Closingargumentspresented

JAMES HABEL TRIAL

RECENT TESTIMONY HABEL TRIAL

Thursday, Feb. 26Testimony on software stricken from recordDefense calls certified public accountant

Tuesday, March 3Accountant’s testimony continuesHabel waives right to testify, defense rests

For the full storiesLog on to starnewsgroup.com

SEE PROSECUTION PAGE 20

SEE DEFENSE PAGE 21

BY JESSICA FASANOTHE OCEAN STAR

FREEHOLD — Closing arguments in thestate’s case versus former superintendentJames F. Habel — accused of bilking over$350,000 from the Wall School District —were heard, here, Wednesday.

The defense presented its argument first,followed by the prosecution [see relatedstory, below].

Mr. Habel, 58, of Florida, formerly a PointPleasant resident, was indicted in 2013 onmultiple charges, including second-degreeofficial misconduct, second-degree theft by

Defense: Give Habelbenefit of the doubt

Prosecution: Habelonly served himselfBY PAIGE TAYLORTHE OCEAN STAR

FREEHOLD — The prosecution in the caseagainst James F. Habel — the former WallTownship superintendent accused of de-frauding the school district of hundreds ofthousands of dollars — gave its closing ar-gument Wednesday afternoon.

The defense’s closing argument wasmade Wednesday morning [see related sto-ry, above].

Mr. Habel is represented by Robert Ho-necker Jr., of the Red Bank-based firmAnsell, Grimm & Aaron. Melanie Falco andJohn Loughrey are the Monmouth CountyProsecutors handling the case.

Following the end of Mr. Honecker’s clos-ing argument yesterday morning and an af-ternoon lunch break, Ms. Falco conducted aclosing argument on behalf of the state.

At the beginning and end of her argu-ment, which spanned approximately twohours, she reiterated the notion that Mr. Ha-bel stole money, destroyed documents andlied to people around him in order to bene-fit from his own agenda.

“He’s a public servant who came to serveonly one person — himself,” Ms. Falco said.

The prosecutor said the former superin-tendent nearly got away with his crimes,which were driven by his “overwhelminggreed.”

Ms. Falco discussed Mr. Habel’s employ-ment contract first, arguing that despite allthe benefits Mr. Habel enjoyed — a

JESSICA FASANO THE OCEAN STAR

A Juliana pig was present at the council meeting Monday night to actas a reference during resident Sal Santangelo’s presentation onallowing the pigs to be considered as household pets in Bay Head.

No, really. A pig walkedinto the Bay HeadCouncil meeting.

SEE PIG PAGE 4

William Dikuntakes position as

coordinator

SEE OEM PAGE 22

occurred at approximately1:40 a.m. Monday. The PointPleasant Beach Police andFire Departments were dis-patched to the structure fireat 307 rear Cooks Lane.Upon first responders’ ar-

rival, the burn victim was lo-cated outside the residence,alert and conscious.According to Mr. Della

Fave, the victim had recog-nized a gas odor in the earlyhours of the morning. Whenhe went to the bathroom toturn on the light switch, Mr.Della Fave said, the entirehouse ignited in flames.

The victim was transport-ed to Jersey Shore UniversityMedical Center, Neptune,and was subsequently trans-ferred to the Burn Center atSaint Barnabas, Livingston.New Jersey Natural Gas

responded and secured thegas meter at the Cooks Lanehome, and the fire was extin-guished by the fire depart-ment without incident Mon-day morning, according tothe prosecutor’s office.Point Pleasant Beach Fire

Chief John Pasola, who wasthe first arriving officer onthe scene, said the home wasfully engulfed in flameswhen he arrived.A number of fire depart-

ments, including Point Pleas-

ant Beach and borough,South Wall Fire-Rescue Rap-id Intervention Team, Brielleand Bay Head also respond-ed to the fire, according toChief Pasola.He said it took around 45

minutes to put the bulk ofthe fire out, and extensive“overhaul and various hotspots throughout the struc-ture” were subsequently ad-dressed.“All the fire crews did an

outstanding job based on theweather conditions,” ChiefPasola said.Mr. Della Fave confirmed

that the Ocean County Pros-ecutor’s Office Arson Unit,Ocean County Fire Marshalland Ocean County Sheriff’sDepartment Crime Scene In-vestigation also responded toconduct an investigation asto the origin and cause of theleak leading to the explosion.

New Jersey Natural Gasconducted an investigation,and found no damage to itssystems.“We did [a] pressure test

of our system, and found nodamage to our system,”spokesman Michael Kinneysaid. “Whatever the issue is,it appears to be on the cus-tomer’s side of the meter.”According to Mr. Della

Fave, the certificate of occu-pancy on the house was ex-pired, and a summons wouldlikely be issued.Point Pleasant Beach offi-

cials could not be reachedfor further comment bypress time.According to Ocean Coun-

ty tax records, the propertyis owned by Audrey Lynch.She could not be reached forcomment by press time.

OFFICIALS: BE CAREFUL

IF GAS LEAK SUSPECTEDWhen an odor of gas is de-

tected, Mr. Della Fave said,avoid touching “anythingthat can spark or cause aflame,” such as a light switch.The Ocean County Prose-

cutor’s Office natural gas canbe dangerous and volatile,and provided the followingadvice from New Jersey Nat-ural Gas regarding potentialgas leaks.Since natural gas has no

scent, a strong odorant thatsmells like rotten eggs isadded to help individuals de-tect possible leaks. Anyonewho smells natural gasshould do the following.Remove any cigarettes or

other smoking materialsfrom the area, and then ex-tinguish them.Do not use matches,

lighters or other open flamesor activate light switches,

electrical appliances, flash-lights, doorbells or evengarage door openers, as theycould create a spark.Do not use telephones

[cellular included] on thepremises where the leak issuspected. Phones can createa spark.Evacuate everyone from

the building immediately andcall New Jersey Natural Gasfrom a safe location at 800-GAS-LEAK [800-427-5325].Do not re-enter the build-

ing until New Jersey NaturalGas has declared it to be safe.New Jersey Natural Gas in-

vestigates suspected naturalgas leaks as a free service 24hours a day, seven days aweek.

Paige Taylor covers Point PleasantBeach for The Ocean Star. She can bereached at ptaylor@theoceanstar.comor 732-899-7606 Ext 14.

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 THE OCEAN STAR PAGE 13POINT PLEASANT BEACH

Explosion levels home on Cooks Lane, one person injuredFIREFROM PAGE 1

JESSICA FASANO THE OCEAN STAR

Officials surveyed the damage after a fire leveled a Cooks Lane home early Monday morning.

JESSICA FASANO THE OCEAN STAR

A fire leveled a Cooks Lane house in Point Pleasant Beach earlyMonday.

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COMPAGE 20 THE OCEAN STAR FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 POINT PLEASANT

THE OCEAN STAR

The Michael Stacy Memo-rial Scholarship Foundationis pleased to announce thatits first annual “Friday NightOut” dinner will be held May8 at The Crystal Point YachtClub on River Road in PointPleasant.The dinner and gift auc-

tion will begin at 7:30 p.m.Previously, the foundation

has held an annual golf out-ing for the past five years,but has decided to host a dif-ferent event this year to beaccessible to a broader baseof the community.This annual event benefits

a scholarship fund dedicatedin the memory of MichaelStacy, who was the crewchief of the Point PleasantHigh School CompetitionBand from 2007 until hisdeath in 2010. Mr. Stacy wasan exceptional man, kind-hearted, hardworking and al-ways willing to go the extramile for anyone.

Mr. Stacy supported hisdaughter as well as all of thestudents in the Point Pleas-ant High School CompetitionBand and performing artsprograms, and volunteeredas his son’s baseball coach.He devoted much time andeffort to the programs all inthe spirit of giving.The Michael Stacy Memo-

rial Scholarship Foundationwas created in his name as a501[c]3 charitable organiza-tion to support the studentsin the Point Pleasant Bor-ough High School Competi-tion Band program that ex-hibit the generosity of spiritthat Mr. Stacy alwaysshowed. Each year a scholarship is

awarded to an instrumental-ist and, or a color guardmember in the competitionband who is a graduatingsenior pursuing further aca-demic education. This stu-dent will be selected fordemonstrating the specialspirit and leadership quali-ties that are reminiscent ofMr. Stacy’s commitment tothe program. In the past five years, the

success of the golf outingsand dinners have enabled thefund to provide scholarshipsto many Point Pleasant Bor-ough High School graduatingseniors, as well as providesome needed equipment forthe competition band pro-gram.This dinner event is the

primary 2015 fundraiser tosupport the scholarship fund.It is anticipated that theevent will continue to pro-vide scholarships and fundsto support the students andthe program.The dinner will include

live entertainment, fundrais-ing games and a gift auction.There will be Gold Level

[$500], Silver Level [$250]and Bronze Level [$100]sponsorships available tosupport the event and pro-vide for student scholar-ships.Local sponsors of the past

five golf outings includedOceanFirst Bank, The BlueClaws, Spano’s, Forte Restau-rant, Salon Topaz, Klotze’s,Hickory Hog, The TrainRoom, Turning Point, Bone-fish Grill, Beaver Dam Hard-ware, Clean Cut Lawn Care,Shrimp Box, Target, Broad-way Bar & Grill, JerseyMike’s, Joe Leone’s, Guis-seppe’s Pizzeria, Special-T-Graphics, Jamis Upholstery,TravelSmiths and many oth-ers. The Michael Stacy Memo-

rial Scholarship Foundationappreciates the support ofbusinesses and encourageslocal residents to supportthem as much as possible tostrengthen the circle of com-munity involvement. Thefoundation also appreciatesthe generosity of numerouslocal families, corporate andindividual sponsors whohave supported the event.For reservations, sponsor-

ship levels or more informa-tion, call Meaghan Stacy at732-597-3433 or Bill Stacy at732-718-9260; or visit thefoundation’s website for areservation/sponsor form atwww.msmemorial.com.To donate a gift for the gift

auction, contact MichelleStacy at 732-773-3033 orm3n1stacy@gmail.com; orRobin Berquist at 609-937-5525 or rodocoam@aol.com.Contributions directly to

the fund can also be sent to:“Michael Stacy MemorialScholarship Foundation Inc.”c/o Marianne Grant, 358 Bri-ar Road, Point Pleasant.

Scholarship foundation tohost its first benefit dinnerDinner will be held

May 8 at Crystal PointYacht Club

district-owned car, 30 vaca-tion days per year and more— it was still not enough forthe former superintendent.She also argued the board

of education was made up ofpeople who were Mr. Ha-bel’s “friends” during histenure with the Wall Town-ship School District. Ms. Fal-co’s argument hearkenedback to the testimony of sev-eral former board members,who stated under oath theyhad voted to approve Mr.Habel’s contract withoutreading it. Those same for-mer board members also tes-tified that they had devel-oped personal friendshipswith the superintendent.Ms. Falco said Mr. Habel

had cashed out 186 moredays than he was entitled to,and did not accurately re-port personal use of his dis-trict-owned car. Further-more, she argued Mr. Habeldid not return the correctequipment to the districtwhen he was required to doso.Ms. Falco said during Mr.

Habel’s “last act as superin-tendent,” he was expected toreturn various pieces oftechnological equipment.Instead, he “tried to pull a

fast one” by submitting older

items, such as a Blackberryinstead of a Droid phone,she said. Ms. Falco arguedthat this act was a testamentto Mr. Habel’s overall char-acter.“What he did with the

equipment sums up who heis,” she said, adding that he“had to play games [and]manipulate.”In her closing argument,

Ms. Falco discussed thecharges lodged against Mr.Habel. She talked about theofficial misconduct charge,saying Mr. Habel’s cashingout of vacation days he wasnot owed falls into the cate-gory of official misconduct.She reiterated the testimo-

ny of former employees whosaid Mr. Habel did not showup for work, and told thejury she saw a pattern tothose days — they revolvedaround extending weekendsand school holidays.Ms. Falco also argued Mr.

Habel’s subordinates did notwant to challenge his author-ity, despite concerns over hisconduct.“Not only did he deceive

the school district, but helied about his whereabouts,”Ms. Falco said.Ms. Falco then argued that

Lt. Marie Reverendo of theFinancial Crimes and PublicCorruption Bureau withinthe Monmouth County Pros-ecutor’s Office “painstaking-ly” uncovered Mr. Habel’swhereabouts via EZ-Passand cell phone records. She alleged Mr. Habel

once served two days of juryduty, but took an entire weekoff from school, subsequent-ly lying to his secretary andthe board of education byclaiming he had been serv-ing on jury duty for the fullweek.That incident alone, she

argued, made Mr. Habelguilty of official misconduct.Ms. Falco also discussed

Mr. Habel’s taking of profes-sional days while phonerecords confirmed he was inFlorida.She said during the trial,

the defense argued Mr. Ha-bel could work from home,but Ms. Falco questionedwhy Mr. Habel would lieabout his whereabouts —i.e., at his home in Florida —if that were the case.Nowhere in Mr. Habel’s

contract did it state he could

work from home, Ms. Falcoargued.The prosecutor also ar-

gued Mr. Habel was a thor-ough, calculated and meticu-lous person. Ms. Falcopresented folders found inMr. Habel’s home during theinitial investigation by lawenforcement, which includ-ed various calculations andcomputations with payoutamounts detailed “to the lastpenny,” she said.During her closing argu-

ment, Ms. Falco also hashedout the other charges againstMr. Habel, such as theft bydeception and financial fa-cilitation of criminal activity.“The word honest and Dr.

Habel don’t belong on thesame planet,” Ms. Falco said.“Dr. Habel never had to

answer to anyone until rightnow,” she told the jury. “Findhim guilty of all the chargesagainst him.”

Paige Taylor covers Point PleasantBeach for The Ocean Star. She can bereached atptaylor@theoceanstar.com or 732-899-7606 Ext 14.

Prosecution sums up casePROSECUTIONFROM PAGE 1

THE OCEAN STAR

Applications are now beingaccepted for the Point Pleas-ant Garden Club’s yearly $750high school scholarship.Each year, the Garden Club

offers one Point PleasantHigh School senior the op-portunity to receive a schol-arship. The scholarship will be

awarded to a senior who isplanning to further his or hereducation in either horticul-ture, landscape design, envi-ronmental science, botany oranother related subject.Applications for the schol-

arship are now available inthe Point Pleasant HighSchool Guidance Office.Once completed, the applica-tion should be returned tothe guidance office by thedeadline date of March 30.All interested applicants

are encouraged to apply. Lastyear the club was able toaward two scholarships.

Garden Clubaccepting

applicationsCelebrate...life’s special occasions

Let the Coast Star help you spread the good news.

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Weddings • AnniversariesEngagements

RYAN MAYER THE OCEAN STAR

DR. SUESS & DALMATIANSPaige Palumbo, 8, of Point Pleasant, practiced her reading skills by reading a Dr. Suess book toMolly, a therapy dog at the Point Pleasant Borough Library.

A Prayer to theBlessed Virgin MaryO Most Beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel,fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, blessedMother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin,assist me in this, my necessity. Oh Star of theSea, help me and show herein you are myMother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queenof Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech youfrom the bottom of my heart, to succor me inthis necessity. There are none that can with-stand your power. Oh show me herein youare my Mother. Oh Mary, conceived withoutsin, pray for us who have recourse to thee(three times). Sweet Mother, I place thiscause in your hands (three times), SweetMother, I place this cause in your hands(three times). Amen.Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days, youmust publish it and it will be granted to you.P.V.