Asbury Park Press APP.COM $1.00

FRIDAY 07.18.14

VOLUME 135

NUMBER 171

SINCE 1879

ADVICE JERSEY ALIVECLASSIFIED D3COMICS JERSEY ALIVELOCAL A3MOVIES JERSEY ALIVE

OBITUARIES A15OPINION A10SPORTS C1WEATHER C8YOUR MONEY A14

Wind energy advocates cheered the news Thursdaythat some 344,000 acres of sea floor off Long Beach Is-land and the southern Jersey Shore will be opened towind power development, while skeptics worried aboutthe impact on migratory birds, as well as whether theturbines would be visible from the beach.

The U.S. Department of Interior will offer leases tocompanies that want to build wind turbines alongblocks of ocean floor starting about seven miles offLong Beach Island, Atlantic City and Cape May County.

An analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy hasforecast that if that area is developed to maximum po-tential, turbine fields would generate up to 3,400 mega-watts, enough to power 1.2 million homes, said Rep.Rush Holt, D-N.J., a renewable-energy booster andranking member of the House Subcommittee on Ener-gy and Minerals.

See WIND, Page A5

Feds to allowwind farms offJersey ShoreEnergy advocates applaud, but birders, fishermen worriedBy Kirk Moore @KirkMooreAPP

YOUR MONEY

REMAININGRELEVANTOlder job seekers can’t afford to let changing

technology discourage them. Page A14

This sounds like a scene out of HBO’s “BoardwalkEmpire.” As a matter of fact, it was — albeit a fiction-alized account of the true story I’m about to share.

Just before Warren G. Harding was elected presi-dent in 1920, the then-U.S. senator from Ohio madeliving arrangements for his mistress at a house onBond Street in Asbury Park after she became preg-nant as a result of their affair.

When the relationship began, Nan Britton was 20and Harding was 52 and a married man. Two yearsinto the tryst, their daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing,was born in Asbury Park on Oct. 22, 1919. The nameon the birth certificate read Elizabeth Ann Christian,the surname of Harding’s male secretary, in an obvi-

ErikLarsen

JERSEY ROOTS

See CHILD, Page A13

Presidential love childin Asbury (in 1919)

SEA BRIGHT— When Jon Bon Jovi donated $119,000 tothe Sea Bright Fire Department in the wake of super-storm Sandy, he wanted the money to be spent on thegeneral good of the devastated town.

But nearly two years after the storm, some in SeaBright question how Bon Jovi’s generous donation —originally intended to purchase a new ambulance — in-stead was used to refurbish an old ambulance and buy asport-utility vehicle that is used almost exclusively bySea Bright’s part-time emergency management coordi-nator.

“Jon responded as a citizen,” said Mimi Box, exec-utive director of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation,which acted as an intermediary to coordinate Bon Jo-vi’s personal donation. “He wanted them to further usethe dollars for the good of the community.”

“It was the donor’s intent that it would be for anemergency management vehicle,” not personal use,Box said.

BON JOVI,SEABRIGHTAND THE SUV

Sea Bright Emergency Management Coordinator Read Murphy drives anSUV vehicle purchased for first-response use with money donated by JonBon Jovi after superstorm Sandy. THOMAS P. COSTELLO /STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

$119G gift was supposedto be used for ambulance

By Susanne Cervenka @scervenka

See SUV, Page A17

Bon Jovi tours Sea Bright with then- Councilman Read Murphy on Nov. 10, 2012. He offers to buy an ambulance after hearing the two that served Sea Bright were destroyed in the storm.

Bon Jovi’s $119,000 donationis received some time after the new

ambulance is delivered.

The borough sends two letters, on Aug. 27, 2013 and Feb. 18, 2014, asking to be reimbursed for the $119,000 it

paid for one new ambulance because a donation has been received.

Attorney general is contacted to investigate criminal activity related to misuse of donated funds. That investi-gation found no criminal wrongdoing.

Superstorm Sandy hits the Jersey Shore on Oct. 29, 2012. In Sea Bright, two

ambulances are damaged, valued at $129,000 and $159,000.

TIME LINE

On Nov. 19, 2012, the borough approves $119,000 to replace one

ambulance. A new ambulance for the fi re department is ordered and received

around Nov. 22, 2012.

The other damaged ambulanceis refurbished for $82,000. This ambulance goes to the

fi rst aid squad.

Murphy has a surplus of $37,000 from Bon Jovi’s donation and he offers to return it. Bon Jovi tells him to keep it and use it for whatever the depart-

ment needs.

The Dodge SUV is purchased for $31,000 to serve as an Offi ce of Emer-

gency Management vehicle.

USA TODAY

NO SURVIVORSMALAYSIAN JET WITH 298 ABOARD ‘BLOWN

OUT OF SKY’ OVER UKRAINE, U.S. SAYS.

PAGE 1B

ASBURY PARK’S ICONIC STONE PONY STILL ROCKIN’ AT 40 JERSEY ALIVE!