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TABLE

You can alwaysgo downtown

ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION APP.COM $1.00

WEDNESDAY 10.14.15

VOLUME 136

NUMBER 246

SINCE 1879

ADVICE 5DCLASSIFIED 1ECOMICS 4DLOCAL 3AOBITUARIES 15A

OPINION 18ASPORTS 1CTABLE 1DWEATHER 8CYOUR MONEY 14A

Fourth in a weeklong series

This summer, a single word on Jim Jablonski’s ther-mostat told more about Trenton’s property tax reformgridlock than a thousand political speeches.

That word was “off.”Jablonski set his air conditioner to off because he

could no longer afford to cool his home and pay his$9,438 in annual property taxes at the same time.

The choice was not pleasant. The persistent heat seta new state record, yet the 62-year-old Millstone Town-ship resident didn’t flick on the AC even when the tem-peratures cracked 90 more than a dozen times.

The retired Exxon refinery chemical plant electri-cian said he has to stretch a fixed income to cover hisproperty taxes. He thinks the levy would be about a

Spending inTrenton stillspiraling outof control Proposed bills wouldadd $2.8B in three yearsBOB JORDAN @BOBJORDANAPPMICHAEL SYMONS @MICHAELSYMONS_

See TAXES, Page 4A

He says he’s used to hearing classmates in the hall-ways whisper hurtful things about the way he dressesand looks. His peers at his Monmouth County highschool think he’s a girl who likes to wear boys’ clothes.

But the student, 16, is actually transgender: The gen-der he was assigned at birth does not completely matchhis gender identity. On most days he identifies as maleeven though he was born female.

So when he wears a brace to mask the female shapeof his body and dons loose jeans, hoodies and T-shirts,

Can policies protectN.J.’s transgenderstudents at school? KAREN YI @KAREN_YI

See GENDER, Page 13A

EXCLUSIVE BEING TRANSGENDER IN SCHOOL

LAS VEGAS Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Ber-nie Sanders clashed on U.S. involvement in the MiddleEast, gun control and economic policy as they openedthe first Democratic debate Tuesday, outlining compet-ing visions for a party seeking to keep the White Housefor a third straight term.

Clinton was an aggressor from the start, an unex-pected shift for a candidate who has barely mentionedher Democratic rivals since launching her campaignsix months ago. Until now, Clinton and Sanders — whohas emerged as her toughest competition — have cir-cled each other cautiously and avoided personal at-tacks.

After Sanders, a self-described democratic social-ist, derided “a casino capitalist process by which so fewhave so much,” Clinton said it would be a “big mistake”for the U.S. to turn its back on the system that built theAmerican middle class. Asked whether she thoughtSanders, who has a mixed record on gun control legisla-tion, had been tough enough on the issue, she said sim-ply,” No, I do not.”

Sanders defended his gun control record, and calledfor better mental health services, stricter backgroundchecks and closing a loophole that exempts gun showsfrom background checks

The two also tangled over foreign policy, an issuewhere Clinton is often more hawkish than others in theDemocratic Party. The former secretary of state reit-erated her call for more robust U.S. action to stop theSyrian civil war and defended her judgment on interna-tional issues, despite having voted for the 2002 invasionof Iraq.

Sanders called the Iraq war “the worst foreign pol-icy blunder in the history of our country” and said hewould not support sending American combat troopsback to the Middle East to fight terrorism.

DEMS CLASH ONGUNS, ECONOMY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential candidates from left, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Hillary RodhamClinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee take the debate stage Tuesday.

Clinton, Sanders tangle as frontrunnersas O’Malley, Webb, Chafee join debate

JULIE PACE AND LISA LERER ASSOCIATED PRESS

Clinton said it

would be a “big

mistake” for the

U.S. to turn its

back on the

system that built

the American

middle class.

See DEBATE, Page 13A

Sanders derided

“a casino

capitalist process

by which so few

have so much.”

DEMOCRATS DEBATE AMID PARTY SHIFT PAGE 1B