8/12/2019 Asbury Park Press front page Friday, June 13 2014

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TINTON FALLS With her keen eye, Isabella is atrained soldier, zeroing in on her targets as theyswarm above the garbage at the Monmouth Coun-ty Reclamation Center.

At just over $450,000 a year or an average of$45,000 each Isabella and her fellow wingedpredators cost Monmouth County more than someof its human employees. But, hey, no one ever saidmercenaries come cheap.

Monmouth County officials say its a price theyhave to pay to keep those seagulls, which used toflock to the landfill by the thousands, at bay.

Its critical, said Freeholder Serena DiMaso,the liaison to the countys solid-waste department.

The mere presence of the 10 peregrine and hy-brid falcons is enough to drive away the gulls,which feast on garbage and create a public healthconcern with their excrement.

The alternative, county officials say, is violat-ing the facilitys permit with the state Departmentof Environmental Protection, bringing potentialfines of $4,500 to $50,000 for each incident.

Monmouth County has been using falcons atthe landfill since December 2011, said RichardThrockmorton, the reclamation facility superin-tendent. And they initially got there almost bychance.

Gulls had been a huge nuisance at the landfillfor some time, at the worst swarming the facilityin a colony of more than 5,000. By its permit, thefacility can have no more than 100.

Theyd get so thick sometimes that the opera-tors couldnt see each other on the landfill,Throckmorton said.

Isabella, a hybrid gyr-saker falcon on guard duty atthe Monmouth County Reclamation Center in TintonFalls. The $450,000 falcon program is designed todrive away flocks of gulls. BOB KARP/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ON PATROL FOR $450GFalcons keepmarauding seagullsaway from landfill

By Susanne Cervenka @scervenka

SeeFALCONS, Page A12

WATCH VIDEOScan the QR code to see how the falcon

program works, and visit APP.com for agallery of falcon photos.

Asbury Park Press APP.COM $1.00

FRIDAY 06.13.14

VOLUME135

NUMBER 141

SINCE 1879

ADVICE JERSEY ALIVECLASSIFIED D3COMICS JERSEY ALIVELOCAL A3MOVIES JERSEY ALIVE

OBITUARIES A15OPINION A18SPORTS C1WEATHER C6YOUR MONEY A14

COMING SUNDAY

VETERANS RETURNING HOME

In the first part of a weeklong series, we take

a look at PTSD and the emotional toll two wars

have taken on our military service members.

Thomas Altruda is autistic, suffers frequent sei-zures, is mildly retarded, has survived kidney cancerand has tuberous sclerosis, a genetic disease thatcauses lesions to grow in many parts of the body.

Like more than 400 of New Jerseys severely dis-abled adults, the 38-year-old Altruda has been living outof state for the past nine years, at the Brookwood Com-munity in Brookshire, Texas a group home that notonly treats Altruda, but also provides him with a homeand people who he loves, his parents say.

But now New Jerseys Division of DevelopmentalDisabilities has notified Paul and Elisabeth Altruda ofManalapan that Thomas must return to New Jersey, andthey fear that there is no place in the state that can pro-vide their son with the level of care that he needs.

They are now uprooting people who have their dif-

SeeDISABLED, Page A10

Parents protestplan to uproot

disabled adultsWould return those who havelived out of state for decadesBy Jean Mikle @jeanmikle

The state has notified the parents ofThomas Altruda, who is severelydisabled and has lived in a grouphome in Texas for nine years, that hemust return to New Jersey.

The Holmdel doctor who claimed he was druggedand ripped off at a New York City strip club wasnt theonly person who ever claimed to be a victim of a strip-club scam.

A representative of Dr. Zyad K. Younan pointed toarrests this week of four strippers, who are accused ofspiking the drinks of wealthy men and then running upbig tabs while their victims were too wasted to stopthem, as proof that he was taken advantage of back inApril.

While police say situations vary from club to club,and while some businesses are legitimate, authorities

know scams happen at clubs and warn patrons to bealert.

These girls are super-duper fraud experts. Weveseen people put their credit cards down on the counterto get drinks and the girls read the number on the card

and shop online, said Keyport police Detective Shan-non Torres.

No one should ever bring a credit card into one ofthose places, Torres said.Pickpocketing, thefts, bank card fraud and drugs

slipped into drinks are among the top scams at clubs,Torres said.

A 60-year-old man was scammed when a 22-year-oldwoman befriended him in a Monmouth County club, shesaid.

He thought this girl was in love with him, Torresrecalled.

Holmdel doctor was not the only one scammed at strip clubsBy Stephanie Loder @Loder1

SeeSCAMMED, Page A11

I witnessed a girl throw a shoe at

the manager. ... And that was asober girl, too.

DEE,ex-exotic dancer, about the shenanigans that go on in strip clubs

TEEN SMOKING HITS RECORD LOW AS YOUTHS CHOOSE HEALTH PAGE 1B

2014 WORLD CUP CUP KICKS OFFHost Brazil beats Croatia 3-1 in opening game of World Cup. C1

STONE PONY SUMMER STAGE SCHEDULEInside Jersey Alive!

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