8/10/2019 Asbury Park Press front page, Sunday, January 4, 2015

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The New Jersey government leftcountless children exposed to lead poi-soning in the last decade by divertingmore than $50 million away from ahealth fund so routine state bills and sal-aries could be paid, an Asbury ParkPress investigation found.

Diversions were approved by Demo-cratic and Republican governors, in-cluding Chris Christie, and the Legisla-

ture.The state also failed to implement a

2008 rental housing inspection lawaimed at reducing lead poisoning, thePress found.

Not spending $100 on a home inspec-tion “will cost you tens of thousands (ofdollars), if not hundreds of thousands,for every child who’s poisoned” andneeds treatment, said Ruth Ann Norton,

president and CEO of the Green &Healthy Homes Initiative, a nonprofitbased in Baltimore, Maryland, whichseeks to stamp out childhood lead poison-ing.

Lead, a toxic metaleverywhere in theenvironment, can cause brain damageand learning and behavioral problems. Ithas been deemed the state’s top environ-mental health threat for kids. More than5,000 New Jersey children each year arefound to have well above-average lead

contamination. Hundreds of those chil-dren live in Monmouth and Ocean coun-ties.

Thousands more — mostly minoritychildren in impoverished city neighbor-hoods — are at risk. The metal is in oldpaint chips and dust, playground soil andeven some imported candies.

PRESS

INVESTIGATION $50 million missingfrom fund leaveschildren vulnerable to

LEAD POISONING

BOB BIELK/STAFF

PHOTOGRAPHER

Alexander LopezGarcia, 4, of LongBranch has learningdisabilities that mayhave been caused bylead poisoning.

Lead,a toxic metal found everywhere, can cause

irreversible brain damage. It’s the state’s top

environmental health threat for kids.

But since 2004, under both Democratic and

Republican administrations, the state has steeredat least $53.7 million from the Lead Hazard Control

Assistance Fund to the general treasury.

TODD B. BATES @TODDBBATESAPP

See LEAD, PageA8

ON THE WEBScan the QR codeor visit APP.comto see a video onlead poisoning.

INSIDELocal boysuffers leadpoisioning, A8What is lead? A9Sandy promptselevated leadtesting, A9

Asbury Park Press :: Monmouth Edition APP.COM $2.00

   

 

01.04.15

VOLUME 136

NUMBER 3

SINCE 1879

@ISSUE AA1

BUSINESS AA6

CLASSIFIED D1

LOCAL A3

LOTTERIES A2

OBITUARIES A18

OPINION AA4

SPORTS C1

SUNDAY BEST E1

WEATHER C12

SAVOR SUNDAY NIGHTS WITH

UPSCALE TAKE-OUT

& ‘BOTTLE’ SERVICESunday Best

ECONOMIC REFORMS CHANGING CUBAN LIVES, DREAMS PAGE 1B

LAKEWOOD — The growing power of senior citizenvoters in the township has given older residents a new-found voice in local politics, one that already has ap-proved heating system upgrades in public schoolswhile cutting local taxes at the same time.

Members of the Senior Action Group say they areadding their voice to the political dialogue as they ad-vocate for their community members, many of whomlive on fixed incomes yet pay millions of dollars in prop-erty taxes while using few of the services offered bythe township and school system.

The group’s goals include reducing the multimilliondollar cost of busing public and private school students;stopping taxpayers from paying for the collection oftrash from businesses, places of worship and private

schools; and seeking improvements to the municipal-ity’s often chaotic and traffic-clogged roadways.

If the group manages to build a senior citizen votingbloc, it would become a formidable power among thetownship of 100,000 residents. Of the 60,500 likely vot-ers older than 18, 12,500, or about 20 percent, are 65years or older, according to the latest population esti-mates.

But SAG members say they don’t want to work in avacuum. The group has reached out to one of the fore-most powers in the township, the Vaad, to find common

Seniors bandtogether tostir up politicsin LakewoodGroup organizes info

sessions, voter drivesKEVIN PENTÓN @KEVINPENTONAPP

SeeSENIORS, Page A6

UPPER FREEHOLD—Local residents hope to put pres-sure on New Jersey Natural Gas to keep a proposed 28-mile natural gas transmission line out of their neighbor-hoods.

New Jersey Natural Gashas not yet finalized a routefor a 30-inch high-pressure transmission pipe thatwould feed the southern portion of the utility’s serviceterritory in Ocean and Burlington counties. Currently,the utility pulls natural gas from a connection to an in-terstate pipeline in Middlesex County.

Plans call for a new transmission line from Chester-

field Township in Burlington County, to North Hanover,Upper Freehold, Plumsted, and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst before it connects with the utility’s sys-tem in Manchester, spokesman Michael Kinney said.

A group, called Families for Responsible Pipelines,has formed to push the utility toward choosing a routealong a Jersey Central Power & Light right-of-way andaway from residential streets. The utility’s surveyors

Residents gearing

up for battle overgas pipeline planDAVID P. WILLIS@DPWILLIS732

See GAS, Page A6

ONLY ON NEWSSTANDS: UP TO

$1,576

M E G A C O U P O N S A V I N G S ! I N S I D E

HOW DID CHRISTIE

SCORE ON OUR

REPORT CARD? @ISSUE