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ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION

WEDNESDAY 05.20.15
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Coming Friday:
Your Summer Guide to the Jersey Shore

Five
Shore
signs of
summer

Autistic
plunge
case trial
imminent

Economy

KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

MANASQUAN One of two men accused of
coaxing an autistic Howell man to jump off a
jetty here in February has been separated
from the U.S. Air Force, allowing the municipal court case against the pair to move forward.
Municipal Judge Paul J. Capotorto said
Tuesday the trial of Christopher Tilton and
Nicholas Formica on charges brought against
them by the mother of Parker Drake is likely
to be scheduled for July or early August.
A previous trial date in April had been adjourned at the request of Tiltons attorney, Alton D. Kenney, after Kenney informed the
court that Tilton had joined the Air Force and
was in basic training.
Kenney, after a brief conference in court
on Tuesday, said Tilton, 19, of Howell was separated from the military after questions were
posed to the Air Force about him by the

As tourism season heats

up, what to watch out for
to signal a successful year
MICHAEL L. DIAMOND @MDIAMONDAPP

Admit it.
In the back of your mind on a bitter
March day, you wondered if maybe this
was the year when summer wouldnt arrive, when you would be stuck wearing
your heavy winter coat, mittens and ski
cap for days and months and years on end.
But time is funny. Winter seems long
ago. And now here come the tourists, over
the roads and water and rails to the Jersey
Shore, with beach chairs, sunscreen and
children in tow.
Its a magical thing. I dont know how to
explain, Dana Lancellotti, Ocean Countys
director of business development and
tourism, said Tuesday on the boardwalk in
Asbury Park, where elected leaders and
tourism officials gathered to kick off the
season. People who have been here
through their childhood, growing up in the
summers here will always keep this place
close to their heart.
The summer tourism season kicks off
this Memorial Day weekend, and, if the
past few centuries are an indication, visitors will be drawn to the Shore to take a
break from their whirlwind daily lives.
Theyll fill hotels, restaurants, ice
cream shops and beaches, giving Monmouth and Ocean counties a windfall. Last
year, they generated $6.6 billion, a 3.7 percent improvement from 2013, when the
Shore was still stumbling back from superstorm Sandy.
Will the Shore surpass last year?
Here are five things to watch:

Gas prices

See TRIAL, Page 4A

Road Construction

PETER ACKERMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Hazlet Police Cmdr. Mike Duncan (left) before the

Law Enforcement Memorial Service Tuesday.

Fallen Ocean Co.

officer honored

1. The economy
Consumers are in better shape than last
summer, economists said.
New Jerseys unemployment rate of 6.5
percent has remained steady since last
summer, but other indicators point up. The
U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent

Sandy Recovery

KEN SERRANO @KENSERRANOAPP

The light on Dawn Stevens front porch has

burned steadily since January. She has left it
lit since she lost her husband, John Scott Stevens.
In my mind hes just out late, she said,
Or hes in class or hes still working a job.
She finds comfort in the glow of the light,
as did he.
Thats what we always did for each other
when one of us was working a weird shift,
she said.
On Jan. 8, Stevens was working undercover as a detective for the Ocean County Prosecutors Office. The 2004 Honda Civic he was
driving smashed into a tree in Lacey.
As a dispatcher for the Lacey Township Police Department, Dawn handled the 911call of

See SHORE, Page 6A

Weather

See HONORED, Page 4A

WHO ARE THE 170 CHARGED IN WACO MOTORCYCLE GANG SHOOTOUT? PAGE 1B

Timberwolves
win top draft pick
New home of Karl-Anthony Towns,
the presumptive No. 1 pick? 1C

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