Asbury Park Press APP.COM $1.00

FRIDAY 02.20.15

VOLUME 136

NUMBER 44

SINCE 1879

ADVICE JERSEY ALIVE

CLASSIFIED D6

COMICS JERSEY ALIVE

LOCAL A3

MOVIES JERSEY ALIVE

OBITUARIES A11

OPINION A14

SPORTS C1

WEATHER C9

YOUR MONEY A10

THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A crew from EZ Docks works in freezing temperatures in the Navesink River at the Oceanic Marina in Rumson Thursday.

CHILL OUT,THAW NEARS

Frigid temperatures, biting cold wind and ice don't stop the EZ

Docks crew working in the Navesink River at the Oceanic Marina in

Rumson. For a video, scan the QR code or visit APP.com.

INSIDE: Weather disrupts ferry commutes. STORY, A6

TRENTON — Disagreement over a cellphonesparked the physical confrontation between Mon-mouth County Jail officers and Amit Bornstein,who later died in custody, a corrections officer tes-tified Thursday.

Bornstein, 22, became upset when officerswouldn’t let him hold his cellphone and use it to callhis father, corrections officer Tracey Tift testifiedThursday, during the second day of a federal civillawsuit filed over the inmate’s death four yearsago.

“He wanted to actually make the phone callswith his cellphone, and we couldn’t let that hap-pen,” Tift said, referring to what Monmouth Coun-ty attorneys described a day earlier as jail policyand state law forbidding prisoners from using cell-

Inmate testifies:‘They beat apuddle of bloodout of that boy’SUSANNE CERVENKA @SCERVENKA

See TRIAL, Page A13

TOMS RIVER — Beachfront homeowners innorthern Ocean County likely will face anotherhurricane season without the protection of a feder-al beach replenishment project, which has beendelayed once again by legal challenges.

The massive project to build 22-foot dunes andexpand beaches from Manasquan to Barnegat in-lets had been expected to start in late March orApril. But Steve Rochette, a spokesman for theArmy Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia district,said the corps still has not solicited bids, the firststep in awarding a contract for the work.

“We are awaiting however they proceed withthe legal issues,” Rochette said.

In October, state Department of EnvironmentalProtection Commissioner Bob Martin stood on thebeach in Brick and said that the state would obtainall easements — the legal documents beachfronthomeowners must sign to give access to their

Holdoutsholding upOcean Co.dune work Legal challenges delaying

storm protection projectsJEAN MIKLE @JEANMIKLE

ORTLEY BEACH VOTERS AND TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION

Temporary dunes in Toms River’s Ortley Beach section.

See PROJECTS, Page A4

A move by the federal government to toughen theway it grades nursing homes has brought the number oftop-rated facilities in Monmouth and Ocean countiesdown to 22 from 28.

The number of lowest-rated facilities among the 67in the two counties rose from six to 10.

Since introduced in 2008, the scoring system used bythe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to as-sess the care of patients in nursing homes that receivefederal dollars under Medicare and Medicaid has comeunder fire from advocates for inaccuracies and confus-ing ratings. Much of the information collected forCMS’s Nursing Home Compare website has been self-

reported by nursing homes and unaudited by the feder-al government.

The new scoring rules are an attempt to improve theaccuracy of the hotel-style star ratings. Five stars arethe highest rating a facility can receive. A one-star rat-ing is the lowest.

Underperforming nursing homes can be fined,placed under close monitoring or penalized in otherways.

NURSING HOME COMPARE

Tougher scoring cuts number of 5-starnursing homes in Monmouth, OceanKEN SERRANO @KENSERRANOAPP

See RATINGS, Page A4

ON THE WEBVisit APP.com at noon today to search the new nursinghome ratings.

TOUGHER STANDARDS FELT ACROSS U.S. PAGE 1B

0 6 35 22 6O O O O O

National Weather

Service forecast

lows for Holmdel

Friday

2/20

Saturday

2/21

Sunday

2/22

Monday

2/23

Tuesday

2/24

MISSING MIDDLETOWN MAN FOUND IN FLORIDA STORY, A3

Ex-Yankee farmhand

shares the secret that

derailed his career

Diamond in the rough

SPORTS, C1