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RETURNING
HOME
COMING SUNDAY
I
t was on a Monday when the Sandy Hook Lighthouse first lit up the night sky to guide
merchant ships around the Sandy Hook peninsula into New York Harbor. The 103-foot
stone tower, the fifth lighthouse built in America and one of 11 in the 13 original British
colonies, survived an attack in the American Revolution and lasted centuries more to become
the oldest standing operating lighthouse in the United States.
After guiding thousands of ships to safe harbor, the
Sandy Hook Lighthouse will be honored with a big birth-
day celebration today to mark the 250th anniversary of
that Monday night in the 18th century when the beacon
was first lighted.
The celebration, which is free to the public, will run
from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will include lighthouse tours,
musket and cannon demonstrations, Revolutionary War
re-enactments, musket drills, Colonial-era childrens
games, flat-bottom boat demonstrations and talks about
the history of Colonial lighthouses by U.S. Lighthouse
Society President Wayne Wheeler.
The lighthouses actual anniversary was Wednesday.
Its original whale oil lamps first were lit on June 11, 1764,
said John Harlan Warren, a spokesman for the Sandy
Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, which
is operated by the National Park Service.
This is the true, 250th anniversary of the lighting of
the lighthouse, Warren said Wednesday, while bringing
news reporters on a tour of the iconic structure.
SANDY HOOK LIGHTHOUSE
BLAZING FOR
250 YEARS
John Harlan Warren, National Park Service external affairs officer, leads the way 95 steps to the top of the
iconic Sandy Hook Lighthouse at Gateway National Recreation Area. MARY FRANK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The lighthouse was built through the efforts of New
York merchants frustrated with the loss of valuable
cargo in shipwrecks. MARY FRANK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Free festivities today to mark beacons first lighting in 1764
By Kathleen Hopkins @Khopkinsapp
Scan the QR code or visit APP.comfor
a gallery of photos.
See BEACON, Page A7
Asbury Park Press APP.COM $1.00
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SATURDAY 06.14.14
VOLUME 135
NUMBER 142
SINCE 1879
ADVICE D5
CLASSIFIED D6
COMICS D4
LOCAL A3
MOVIES D3
OBITUARIES A8
OPINION A11
SPORTS C1
WEATHER C10
YOUR MONEY A4
The return to America of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was much on the minds of veterans
gathered at the American Legions New Jersey state convention in Wildwood, with
opinions divided on both Bergdahl himself and the Obama administrations deci-
sion to swap high-level Taliban prisoners to get him back. Page A7
VETS SOUND OFF ON
BERGDAHL RETURN
By Kirk Moore @KirkMooreAPP
President Obama says he wont send combat troops into Iraq. 1B
Dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses, the
Rev. Willie Thorpe waited for his turn to come around
on the microphone Wednesday evening. His band was
in a rehearsal studio off Route 9 in Howell.
When the time came, the 74-year-old folded up his
four-piece walking cane, stood up and in a raspy voice
delivered the lyrics to his bands version of the gospel
song Get back, Satan.
That song came about when I was going through
some family issues. The Devil was speaking to me. He
was telling me Give up the gospel because God aint
doing anything for you, Thorpe, of Freehold, said. I
immediately got up and said Get back, Satan.
Blind for most of his adult life, his weight now
stripped down after a fight with a new affliction can-
cer he has been waiting two years to sing again.
When you hear their music, the lyrics tell you how
to ward off your negativity and build a relationship with
God. God is in control and he has already worked some
things out already, said Warren Hall, a minister at De-
liverance Temple Church.
Thorpe, who is a well-respected prison minister, will
When the Rev. Willie Thorpe
performs today with his gospel
group, the Holy Echoes, it will be the
first since he began undergoing
cancer treatment two years ago.
TOM SPADER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Prison minister
to join his
band again
I do things people dont
think a blind man can do
By Dan Radel @DanielRadelAPP
See MINISTER, Page A7
WORLD CUP
DUTCH DELIGHT
Netherlands rolls past world champion Spain in a
5-1 shocker, with Dutch strikers Robert Van Persie
and Arjen Robben each scoring twice and
defender Stefan de Vrij scoring his first
international goal. Sports, C1