WEDNESDAY 07.02.14WEDNEEEEESSSSSSSSDDDDDDDDAY 07 02 14

A REVOLUTIONARY MEALOur Founding Fathers ate many of the foods we eat today Table, D1

Asbury Park Press :: Monmouth Edition APP.COM $1.00

VOLUME 135

NUMBER 157

SINCE 1879

ADVICE D9

CLASSIFIED E1

COMICS D8

LOCAL A3

OBITUARIES A9

OPINION A16

SPORTS C1

TABLE D1

WEATHER C8

YOUR MONEY A14

FEDS ACCUSE T-MOBILE OF BOGUS FEES USA TODAY PAGE 1B

STATE INSPECTION

DO YOU HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE?

Officials head to Point Pleasant Beach before the

holiday weekend to check boardwalk games for

scams. TODAY, A3

UNION BEACH — Standing in the driveway outside hisCambridge Avenue home, Ryan Giblin, 30, rotates in asemicircle, pointing out nearby homes that are vacant.

There’s one next door that looks like it’s in the proc-ess of being elevated, but Giblin says it hasn’t beenworked on in months. Grass and weeds in the backyardstretch up high along a fence. There’s another at the endof his block that Borough Administrator Jennifer Wen-

son Maier said she received three complaints aboutfrom neighbors during a single morning last week. Arusted-out truck sits in the driveway, and duplicateweather-beaten notices asking for the long-gone resi-dent to call their mortgage servicer are stuck to the fad-ed blue and paint-chipped front door.

Giblin gestures to a third home a block away that healso believes to be abandoned.

“There is a ton of empty houses around here,” hesaid.

The borough sent out a phone message to the com-munity a week ago asking residents to notify municipalofficials of any unkempt, vacant properties in theirneighborhood. Wenson Maier already had a list of 50homes that Union Beach plans to ask the state to demol-ish with federal grant money, and phone calls after thatmessage brought that number up to 60. The boroughhas used volunteer labor to knock down 272 of these

Abandoned, potentially hazardous homes suffocating Union BeachBy Russ Zimmer @russzimmer

See VACANT, Page A7

LAKEWOOD — In the latest salvo over the district’s in-ternal fight over courtesy busing, the state-appointedmonitor has overruled the Board of Education a secondtime, this time voiding the board’s effort to oust itstransportation coordinator and business administrator.

Meanwhile, public and private school leaders mustreach a decision by today on whether any agreementcan be reached on changes to the township’s courtesybusing program that might enable Lakewood to busmore students, a district official said.

But the overruled terminations, as well as the newbusing deadlines, appear to be further evidence thatthe district’s ongoing battles over courtesy busing —which culminated in two townshipwide days of protest— still are unresolved.

At Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, theschool board voted not to rehire Gus Kakavas, Lake-wood’s transportation coordinator, or Thomas D’Ambo-la, the district’s business administrator, said Marc Zi-tomer, an attorney for the board. That vote, however,was overruled by Michael Azzara, the state-appointedmonitor who oversees the district.

D’Ambola is set to make $155,000 and Kakavas is setto make $120,000 during the upcoming school year, Zi-tomer said.

Several board members blamed Kakavas for Lake-

ONGOING DISPUTE IN LAKEWOOD

Board overruled

in move to oust

two officialsDuo blamed for loss of courtesy

busing kept on board by monitor

By Kevin Pentón @kevinpentonAPP

Lakewood’s state monitor brought backGus Kakavas (pictured) as the schooldistrict’s transportation coordinator afterthe Board of Education voted Thursday notto renew his contract for the 2014-15 schoolyear. FILE PHOTO

See BUSING, Page A15

NORTH BRUNSWICK — There was a moment on Tues-day when the crowd rooting on their hometown herolooked like it had taken a scissor-kick to the collectivegut.

Just a couple minutes into overtime in the WorldCup, Belgium — after two scoreless halves that showedwhy North Brunswick native and U.S. goalkeeper TimHoward is considered such a star — finally scored.

The energized crowd at North Brunswick TownshipHigh School — Howard’s alma mater — fell silent.

“I was slumped,” said Kathleen Benvenuto, 22, wear-ing a bandanna of stars and stripes. “I was scared.”

This was an improbable run for the U.S. It advancedto the round of the final 16 with a loss and a little luck,and it was not favored in the match against Belgium,which hadn’t lost in any of its cup matches.

But Howard had 16 saves and kept hope alive for anupset over Belgium.

With still no score at halftime, David Kaldas, 19, feltuneasy about the rest of the game. The U.S. team hadappeared overmatched as Belgium stayed on the at-tack.

2014 WORLD CUPBrazil

JERSEY PRIDEON DISPLAY

Despite World Cup defeat, fans rally behind N.J. native

Sara Donnellan (left), 13, and Renee Hales, 13, bothof North Brunswick, cover their eyes as Belgium goesfor a goal attempt. MARK R. SULLIVAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

By Dustin Racioppi @dracioppi

MORE PHOTOSScan the QR code or visitAPP.com/Photos to see more picturesfrom the World Cup.

See HOWARD, Page A15

U.S. goalie Tim Howard saves a shot by Belgium during the World Cup match between Belgium and the UnitedStates at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil, on Tuesday. ASSOCIATED PRESS