7/24/2019 Asbury Park Press front page, February 15, 2016

1/1

For almost a decade, Loren Marino and her 12-year-old Cesky Terrier, Hector, have been fixtures at theannual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in NewYork.

This week, Marino and Hector will be there again.But she expects that this one will be her last.

Marino, 42, of Manchester, is dying of cancer.The Navy veteran who once helped train dogs to de-

fend her country has decided to forgo all further med-ical treatment and enjoy the remaining months shehas left. She does not know what that length of timemay be but she wants to enjoy her life and the col-lection of Ceskys and West Highland Terriers she re-gards as her own children.

Sitting on the edge of her bed in her parents home,where she has come to live out her time, Marinospeaks with a disarming cheerfulness about life anddeath. Surrounded by family and watercolors she haspainted of her beloved Hector, she is at peace.

See DOGS, Page 8A

Loren Marino speaks about her battle withcancer Sunday in Toms River. She is takingpart in this weeks Westminster Kennel ClubDog Show.

One last show fordog handler dyingof ovarian cancerERIK LARSEN @ERIK_LARSEN

ASBURY PARK PRESS APP.COM $1.50

MONDAY 02.15.16

VOLUME137

NUMBER 39

SINCE 1879

ADVICE 3C

BUSINESS 6A

CLASSIFIED 5C

COMICS 4C

LOCAL 3A

LOTTERIES 2A

OBITUARIES 7A

OPINION 9A

SPORTS 1D

WEATHER 8D

Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/asburyparkpress

Even before the flag outsidethe Supreme Court had beenlowered, the fight to replaceScalia heated up. STORY, 1B

LAKEWOOD - The $6.2 million that residents wereasked to pay to save courtesy busing for some 10,000school children was millions more than is needed tocover the cost for the rest of the school year a factthat has angered some in the community, with one for-mer official saying the district lied to residents.

But the revelations that the actual cost is only $3.5million also means a deal is possible one where theTownship Committee would provide the school dis-trict with $2.5 million in surplus funds, $1.5 millionabove its previous commitment in order to avertthe busing crisis this year. The district would absorbthe other $1million in costs.

Its something we are considering, TownshipCommitteeman Meir Lichtenstein confirmed Sunday,saying that no deal had yet been reached.

But the proposed terms of the deal, and the actualcost of what was needed to pay for courtesy busingthis year, have raised a host of questions about whytaxpayers were asked to pay $6.2 million in the Jan. 26

referendum if the number was that much less. Manyhere believed that $6.2 million was the amount neededto cover the cost of courtesy busing through the end ofthe year not the amount needed to cover busing foran entire year.

In emails obtained by the Asbury Park Press, Mi-chael Azzara, the districts state-appointed monitor,

See BUSING, Page 8A

Was publicmisled aboutLakewoodbusing cost?SHANNON MULLEN @MULLENAPP

Forced to decide whether to rebuild or repair townhalls flooded by superstorm Sandy, Bay Head, Manto-loking and Lavallette all chose rebuilding.

But the path to opening new municipal offices and securing the money to pay for them has beenquite different in the three small towns on northernOcean Countys barrier island.

Lavallette recently opened its state-of-the art, $5million municipal building, but more than three yearsafter superstorm Sandy struck, the borough still isfighting with the Federal Emergency ManagementAgency to recoup some of the funds it spent to rebuild.

Bay Head officials hope to move into their $2.9 mil-lion modular building this summer, much later than ex-pected.

Then theres Mantoloking, where months of discus-sion and dispute about the $5 million price tag of a newborough hall led to a recent decision to abandon theplans. Committees of council members and residents

have been formed, tasked with redesigning a lower-cost municipal building.

Mantoloking has inked an interlocal service agree-ment with Lavallette to use its new municipal buildingfor court sessions. Since Sandy roared through Manto-loking, destroying or damaging nearly every propertyin town, the small borough has held court sessions onthe mainland in Brick.

3 towns, 3 pathsto Sandy recovery

PHOTOS BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The newly constructed Lavallette town hall on Feb. 1. To see a video about three towns decisions to rebuild, visit APP.com.

Top right: Pilings mark the spot of the under-construction BayHead town hall, seen Feb. 4. Middle: An empty lot marks thespot where the Mantoloking Borough Hall once stood alongDowner Avenue. Bottom: Construction department employeeCorless Royer walks through her departments office at thenewly opened Lavallette municipal building on Feb. 1.

$2.9MBAY HEAD MUNICIPAL BUILDING

$5M?MANTOLOKING BOROUGH HALL

$5MLAVALLETTE TOWN HALL

After their townhalls were destroyed

insuperstorm,officials inBay Head,

Lavallette and Mantoloking had to

decide whether to repair or rebuild

JEAN MIKLE@JEANMIKLE

The regional office has rejected our

claims, saying we were not

substantially damaged. More than two

feet of water in our building and we

werent substantially damaged?

WALTER G. LACICERO, LAVALLETTE MAYOR

See SANDY,Page8A

Spring Lake finance adviser helps pro athletes,YOUR MONEY, 6A

Financial muscle