1. new jersey
EssEx County
EX page 11 | WEdnEsday, July 27, 2011 | NJ.COM
Convicted killer: ‘If I was out on the street, I would do it over and over again.’ Page 23
MS patient can’t claim personal use for pot Scouting
Appeals panel upholds conviction of the Somerset County facility, an offense for which he could testify only that he told police he used malls for
marks, not
man, John Ray Wilson, and prob- have received a 20-year sentence. A the drug to counteract the effects of his
ruling in ’08 drug arrest ably ends his appeal in a case watched jury acquitted him of that charge, but disease.
closely by advocates of the drug’s legal- he was convicted of manufacturing In yesterday’s ruling, the appellate
and possessing the drug. panel said Reed had ruled correctly.
kid models
By MaryAnn Spoto ization for medicinal purposes.
StateHOUSe BUreaU “The law came a couple years too late At his trial, Wilson wanted Superior Writing for the court, Judge Ronald
A multiple sclerosis patient facing a for John Wilson,” his lawyer, James Court Judge Robert Reed to allow him Graves said someone accused of man-
five-year prison sentence for growing
marijuana plants in his backyard can-
Wronko, said. “He was in a situation
where he had no health insurance
to tell jurors that he grew the plants for
his personal use to relieve the symp-
ufacturing a drug cannot claim “per-
sonal use.”
Suit: Photo studio
not claim he cultivated them for his and no other way to obtain medical toms of multiple sclerosis, including In his appeal, Wilson — who for nine scammed parents
personal use, an appellate court panel treatment.” spasticity and stiffness, and not to sell years has suffered from the debilitat-
ruled yesterday. Wilson, 38, was arrested in 2008 af- them. He also wanted Reed to allow an ing disease affecting the brain and spi- By Kevin G. Demarrais
The ruling, which comes a week af- ter he was caught growing 17 plants expert to testify about the medicinal nal chord — also claimed the sentence tHe reCOrd
ter Gov. Chris Christie approved the behind his rental home in Franklin benefits of the herb. was too harsh. But the argument was Its agents patrolled New
establishment of medical marijuana Township. He was charged with main- Reed did not allow the expert tes- rejected by the appellate panel, which Jersey shopping centers and
dispensaries in the state, upholds the taining or operating a drug-production timony, however, letting Wilson sEE Pot, PaGE 14 theme parks, convincing par-
ents their children might have
a future as models or in show
business.
But according to a suit filed in
Superior Court in New Bruns-
wick, Industry Model and Tal-
ent Studios LLC of Edgewater
and a successor company were
more interested in getting par-
ents to sign up for expensive
photo shoots and management
contracts.
The four-count complaint
filed by the state Division of
Consumer Affairs alleges
1 Getting the spider to leave its web without
damaging it requires gentle coaxing. 2 The silver paint Emil “Rocky” Fiore sprays onto
the web highlights its intricate pattern. 3 Once the web is transferred to a pane of glass,
a coat of varnish makes it shine.
IMTS, East Brunswick-based
Interface 1 LLC, and their
owner, Roman Vintfeld, used
deceptive practices “to entice
consumers” to sign binding
contracts and failed to provide
the promised services.
The state acted after receiv-
ing more than 200 consumer
complaints, including one
from Claudia Cordoba, a single
mother from Rockaway, who
said she was pressured into
spending $1,000 for a photo
shoot that would launch her
son’s modeling career.
Her tale is almost identical
to those of many consumers.
Two years ago, while shop-
ping at the Rockaway Town-
square mall with her 13-year-
old son, Kevin, Cordoba was
approached by an Industry
Model and Talent Studios
agent who said her son was “a
great candidate” for a model-
ing career.
That led to a meeting at com-
pany headquarters in Edgewa-
ter, where “I sat down with the
rep, and he told me how they
could take pictures of Kevin,
send them out, and he would
probably get contacted to mod-
el for magazines,” she said.
photos by andre malok/the star-ledger
“The guy was pressuring me,
4 after Fiore paints the back of the glass black to give it contrast, he will have a work of art created by nature. He is not swayed by criticism that the work he has
done for 35 years ruins a spider’s home. “I’m preserving what they do,” he says. “I am their ambassador to humans.”
so I didn’t take a good look at
the wording” in the contract,
Capturing wild art
she said.
Five days later, after paying
sEE Models, PaGE 14
For Newark
Museum, a
Webmaster scours the woods for the material of his craft $1M lifeline
By Peggy McGlone
I
By Julia Terruso / Star-Ledger Staff Star-Leger Staff
in Alpine for 35 years and turns nature’s art
video: Watch Fiore create art while
t’s a muggy morning and communing with nature in a video by
into his own strangely captivating craft. The New Jersey State Coun-
Fiore mounts the webs, of varying sizes, on cil on the Arts was forced to
emil “rocky” fiore is hik- Andre Malok, only at nj.com/videos.
glass and sells them in stores around the play the role of King Solomon
ing deep and high into the United States. He estimates he has 15,000 yesterday, making across-the-
“She’s about halfway done,” Fiore says, webs in circulation, which makes him the board cuts to the majority of its
woods, surveying nature’s reaching for his glasses to take a closer most prolific craftsman of his kind, though traditional grantees so it could
nooks for hanging treasures. look. Now the glistening web comes into fo- a handful of similar artists exist across the award money to help save a
Suddenly he stops and points cus. “What a beauty.” country. new applicant, the Newark
Fiore carefully leans into the web and ex- “The web is a thing of beauty. It’s all about Museum.
to what, at first, appears to be hales onto the black spider in the center of what they do, but there is an art or sophis- One of the state’s cultural
nothing. the orb until she flees, seeking refuge on a ticated craft to what I do,” the 59-year-old gems, the museum was given
neighboring silky strand. Dumont resident says. He first got the idea $1 million to help stave off the
But strewn between a jagged “The trick is to get her to leave in a fluid from a craft book he owned when he was 10 crisis created when it lost the
tree branch and a dew-dampened motion so she doesn’t destroy the work of and living in Englewood. $2 million it usually receives
art she’s made,” Fiore explains. Armed with a plastic box filled with glass from the Legislature.
boulder, a silvery spider web is Fiore is a webmaster. He’s been seeking plates, a bottle of varnish and silver spray The announcement came at
taking shape. out spider webs in Palisades Interstate Park sEE sPider, PaGE 14 the council’s annual meeting
in Trenton, where it distrib-
uted almost $16 million in state
and federal funds: $13.9 million
in 196 competitive matching
grants and $1.8 million in 28
Survey aids effort to house Newark’s most vulnerable homeless co-sponsored projects.
Although its grants budget
was about equal to last year’s,
By David Giambusso people began last month. When the plan to end weeklong survey, 18 percent qualified the council imposed 3.5 per-
and Alexi Friedman Yesterday, officials said Newark 50 will homelessness was an- as “tri-morbid,” or in need of medi- cent to 5 percent cuts to most
they have been able to use $3.3 million nounced last July, few de-
Star-Ledger Staff
cal attention, mental health services orchestras, performing arts
The numbers were daunting, the provide housing for one in federal tails were offered. and substance abuse counseling, said centers, theater companies
task formidable. woman. Advocates called for the group leader Tonya Bryan. Others and dance troupes in order to
One year ago, Newark and Essex “On Monday night, she vouchers to “increased leveraging” of met different criteria such as age, and support the Newark Museum
County leaders unveiled an ambitious slept in Penn Station,” May- provide housing public funds, greater phil- length of time on the street, she said. with the third largest grant
plan to get the county’s nearly 4,000 or Cory Booker told a group anthropic support and re- After composing a list of those most awarded.
homeless residents off the streets in 10 of volunteers and housing advocates at investment of cost savings. Newark 50 at-risk, Newark 50 will use $3.3 million Arts officials said the grant
years. The first step in the plan, called a City Hall news conference. “Tonight, is the first group to begin implement- in vouchers from the U.S. Department is critical to the survival of the
the Newark 50 Project, was to target she will sleep in her bed for the first ing those goals. of Housing and Urban Development museum, which is nationally
the 50 most vulnerable of Newark’s time in months.” In late June, volunteers began fan- to provide housing. The program will recognized for its diverse col-
homeless — those most likely to die on Newark 50 is part of a national effort ning out to talk to Newark’s homeless also integrate medical care, mental lections of art and science as
the streets — and put them in housing called the 100,000 Homes campaign, and identify who among them was health services and drug and alcohol well as the excellence of its
by the end of 2012. which seeks to house the country’s most in need. counseling to stabilize individuals and educational programs.
The process of finding those 50 most vulnerable individuals by 2013. Of 116 people who took part in the sEE HoMeless, PaGE 23 sEE Funds, PaGE 14