8/17/2019 Asbury Park Press front page Sunday, May 15 2016

1/1

ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION APP.COM $2.00

05.15.16

VOLUME137

NUMBER 116

SINCE 1879

@ISSUE 1AA

BUSINESS 622

CLASSIFIED 1D

LOCAL 3A

LOTTERIES 2A

OBITUARIES 16A

OPINION 4AA

SPORTS 1C

SUNDAY BEST 1E

WEATHER 12C

Rapper Macklemore askedto raise awareness of pre-

scription drug abuse. 1B

In a state where heroin addiction claims two lives aday, it would have been easy to overlook the death ofaccomplished local musician Justin P. Thouret. The 31-year-old drummer and tech school student overdosed inhis home in Matawan on New Year’s Eve.

As they fought through their tears — his mother,Marianne, found Justin’s body in his bedroom with theneedle still in his arm — the parents decided they had tofight addiction in one of the few ways they knew how.

They took their private pain and made it public.“Justin lost his battle to anxiety and substance abuse

and succumbed to an accidental overdose,” his obituaryin the Jan. 4 edition of the Asbury Park Press read.

Writing those words took determination.The funeral home director sent the obituary back

three times to the family, asking if it needed to be cor-rected, Claude Thouret Jr., Justin’s father, said. He andMarianne felt the funeral home’s response was not somuch a rejection but a way of giving the grieving fam-ily opportunities to reconsider.

“We wanted to make a difference in the world by

CHILDREN OF HEROIN

TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Marianne and Claude Thouret Jr. of Matawan speak abouttheir son, Justin Thouret, who died Dec. 31.

Shore parentstake up battleagainst heroinTheir son died from an overdose;

then they wrote an honest obituary

DO YOU NEED HELP ORKNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES?

The Mental Health Association in New Jersey’s NJ Connect forRecovery provides a safe, free, confidential, nonjudgmentalplace where New Jersey residents may call for support. Thehotline operates live, weekdays only, noon to 8 p.m. (Messages

left during off hours will be returned the next business day.)The toll-free number is 855-652-3737 (TTY: 877-294-4356) andthe website address is www .njconnectforrecovery.org.

For more immediate help, the federal Substance Abuse andMental Health Services Administration runs a 24/7, 365-day-a-year hotline that can put callers in touch with local services.The toll-free number is 800-662-HELP (4357) (800-487-4889TDD). The web site address for finding local help ishttps://findtreatment.samhsa.gov.

Visit us online at APP.com

for videos and to read the

complete “Children of Heroin” series.

KEN SERRANO  @KENSERRANOAPP

SeeHEROIN, Page 8A

NEWARK - Clutching a small American flag, Gloria Elsy Gomez waved it highin the air, reveling in the first few seconds of her new citizenship.

Today, she was officially American — and, more importantly, a member of theelectorate.

“That’s why I became a citizen,” Gomez, who was born in Colombia and lives inElizabeth, said during her naturalization ceremony. “I’m interested in voting sothat Donald Trump doesn’t become president.”

Trump’s rise as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, coupled with hisharsh rhetoric against Mexicans, the undocumented and Muslim refugees, has em-boldened many immigrants in the Garden State to naturalize for the right to vote,activists say.

“They know they want to take a stand against Donald Trump,” said Rita Dentino,

director of Casa Freehold, an immigrant advocacy group. “That’s universal.”Naturalization applications in New Jersey in the last six months of 2015 in-creased by 13 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data

CITIZENSHIP 

INCREASING

PHOTOS BY TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Gloria Gomez of Elizabeth, who immigrated from Colombia, becomes a citizen of the United States during anaturalization ceremony at the Peter Rodino Federal Building in Newark on M ay 12.

Donald Trump’s rise as GOP presidentialnominee spurs N.J. immigrants to naturalize

13%Increase in appli-cations for U.S.citizenship for thelast six months of2015, compared tothe same time in2014 in New Jersey

19,829Total number of

applications fornaturalizationfrom July throughDecember 2015

14%Increase in thenumber of citi-zenship applica-tions across theUnited States forthe same timeperiod

KAREN YI @KAREN_YI

MOREONLINE

Be sure to visit usat APP.com toview videos andphoto galleriesfrom this story.Plus, ‘like’’ us onFacebook andoffer your opinionat facebook.com/asburyparkpress.

Photo left: Mazher Misbah (right) of Paterson, who immigrated from Bangladesh, becomes aU.S. citizen during the May 12 naturalization ceremony. Photo right: Marina Perez, 72, ofUnion City, from the Dominican Republic, became a citizen, too.

See NATURALIZE, Page8A

And they’re off at Monmouth ParkExcitement builds even if track’s future

remains uncertain. SPORTS, 1C

NEW XSCAPE THEATER IN HOWELL OPENS. BUSINESS, 6AA