1. new jersey
EssEx County
EX page 11 | TuEsday, July 12, 2011 | NJ.COM
State appeals court: Police can use cell signals to find suspects. Page 17
Believing lots of theater, no results as dems fight cuts
a dad’s lies, Christie’s line-item vetoes give them the three votes needed to — was state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R- this morning, and possibly at another
admitting to $30.6B budget stand
cancel the line-item vetoes he made to
their $30.6 billion budget.
Monmouth), who sided with Demo-
crats to restore $7.5 million for family
session.
The cuts Democrats failed to restore
a mistake
“You think at times people would be planning clinics. ranged from $50,000 for a mental
By Matt Friedman able to vote their consciences,” said “On this issue, I have been consistent health council to a half-million dol-
STATEhouSE buREAu Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D- over the last two years in supporting lars for the Wynona M. Lipman Child
I
t was a feel-good column, if In a day high on emotion but short Gloucester), who accused Republican it,” she said. “That said, today’s theater Advocacy Center for abused children
ever there was one. on results, Senate Democrats yes- lawmakers of merely doing Christie’s was pretty appalling.” to $19 million in General Assistance
A Jersey kid is wounded terday tried to undo 15 of Gov. Chris bidding. “I bench press. I lift weights a The override still failed, by a vote of funds. They also tried to change the
slightly in Afghanistan, and a Christie’s budget cuts to social welfare lot. This wasn’t like lifting 400 pounds. 25-14; the other 14 votes were defeated governor’s language, which further re-
local American Legion throws programs, one by one. It was an easy lift.” 24-15. Democrats needed at least 27 stricts eligibility for Medicaid and that
a fundraising bash for his dad They failed 15 times. The only Republican to vote against votes, or two-thirds of the Senate, to he projects will save $300 million.
to visit him in the hospital in In a tense, three-hour session, the her colleagues — indeed, the only override each of Christie’s vetoes. Republicans bristled at accusations
Germany. Democrats were unable to persuade member of her party to vote against But with 24 overrides still in Demo- that they were carrying water for
But Army Pfc. Joseph Republicans to defy the governor and a Christie veto since he took office crats’ sights, they plan to try again sEE Senate, PagE 14
Carollo was never shot. He
was never hospitalized. He re-
mains — crazy as it sounds —
safe and sound in Afghanistan.
His father made up the story,
tracking
detail by detail, for reasons he
can’t explain.
And I bought it.
“I’ve been running this beach for 20 years
and I’ve always said to myself,
stun gun’s
“All I can say is I’m very,
very sorry. I’m going through ‘Someday I’m gonna have to do this.’” path to
seat on jet
a nervous breakdown, and Andy Rogers, 38, who saved swimmers while on his nightly run
I’ve been going through it for
some time,” Jerry Carollo said
yesterday. “I’m going to check
myself into a psychiatric hospi- FBI probing latest
tal so I can get better.”
I’m sorry, too. You come to
security breach
this newspaper expecting to By steve strunsky
read true stories. I failed to STAR-LEDGER STAFF
check out Carollo’s tale be- The Striker 1800kv looks
yond his word and I believed like an ordinary cell phone,
what the guys at the Legion yet carries a punch meant to
believed. A call to Fort Drum, incapacitate.
How the small stun gun got
on board a JetBlue flight to
Mark Newark Sunday night is now
Di ionno the focus of a FBI investiga-
nj.com/diionno tion, while raising questions
concerning the security of the
nation’s airports — just a day
after a 53-year-old Alpine man
was arrested at John F. Ken-
nedy International Airport for
allegedly having two stun guns
the home base of Carollo’s in a checked bag.
10th Mountain Division, would In the Newark incident, the
have revealed the young man device was found by an air-
was never medevaced out of line cleaning crew member in
Afghanistan. a seatback compartment on
End of story, beginning of JetBlue Flight 1179, just after
another. 10 p.m. Sunday, following the
Because Sunday’s story, plane’s arrival from Boston’s
while based on a lie, was about Logan Airport, according to a
a father’s love for his son and a police incident report.
community’s embrace for one “We don’t think this was
of its own. Those things are part of an attack,” said Bryan
still true. Patti SaPone/the Star-Ledger Travers, a spokesman for the
And today’s story is about Andy Rogers of Neptune has been a lifeguard in Belmar for 20 years. He was off-duty and running along the FBI’s Newark office. “Some-
those things, and empathy and shoreline last month when he saw two people struggling in a rip current and rushed to save them. body probably brought some-
forgiveness. thing onto the plane that they
Jerry Carollo did something weren’t supposed to have and
crazy, and admits he buckled
under the anguish of having a
son in the war.
When a lifeguard answers the call they probably inadvertently
left it behind.”
A central question for in-
“I miss my boy,” Carollo said
yesterday. “I think about him he anticipated for 20 years vestigators is whether the
device made it through a
all the time, and I worry about metal detector at an airport
B
him. You hear all the time security checkpoint. Typically,
By Julia terruso / STAR-LEDGER STAFF
about these suicide bombers With no flotation device, Luckily for Rogers, a man stun guns are made largely of
and these soldiers getting elmar lifeguard Andy backup guards or second on a Jet Ski came by and took plastic, although components
their limbs blown off. I know thoughts, Rogers ditched his Pierez from his hands, leaving include metal conducting rods
my son is in that environment. Rogers always knew the sunglasses and raced into the him free to swim in alone. that, when touched to a per-
I live with it every minute.” day would come when his sea, where Elizabeth residents “I’ve been running this son’s body, transmit an intense
How that manifested itself in Stephanie Crespo, 28, and Vic- beach for 20 years and I’ve al- electrical current that causes
lies will be for some doctor to after-hours jog along the tor Pierez, 27, were struggling ways said to myself, ‘Someday a temporary loss of muscle
figure out. beach would turn into the desperate in a rip current. Following Rog- I’m gonna have to do this,’ ” control.
But I won’t be first to throw ers’ instructions, Crespo man- Rogers said in a recent inter- Stun guns are not permitted
a stone — even though Carollo rescue of a drowning swimmer. aged to grab onto a jetty. view, recalling the events of as carry-on items for civilians.
put a dent in my credibility — That day came last month. But Pierez was slipping June 9. However, law enforcement
because I have no kid in the under. What he didn’t know until he officers can carry them with
war, and don’t live with that
Rogers was running along the “I kept the guy afloat, but got back to shore was a third proper notification, according
dread. bradley beach shoreline in the early without a device I was a little person, 15-year-old Naisere to a federal security official
Jim Caffrey, who has known evening when he noticed the familiar worried about how to get us Nelson of Neptune, had been who asked not to be identified
Carollo for 10 years and orga- both back in,” Rogers, 38, in the rip current and was now because they were not autho-
nized the American Legion commotion of a crowd gathered on said. He knew he was in peril missing. Nelson drowned and rized to discuss the matter
fundraiser, isn’t throwing the beach. Rushing toward it, he saw a because victims can pull their his body was found a few days publicly. The official said fed-
stones, either. rescuers down or use them as later. eral air marshals do not carry
“He duped us all, but I’m man and a woman struggling in a rip a ladder in a frantic effort to Although he had just saved stun guns.
concerned for him,” Caffrey current. stay afloat. sEE GuarD, PagE 16 Logan and Newark are
said. “He’s my friend. I want both 9/11 airports. Two of the
sEE Di ionno, PagE 16 sEE Stun, PagE 17
ColD CAsEs blood-spattered car occasionally have to deal with mem-
bers of organized crime and have the-
orized in the past that his killing was
said Sue Wunderle, 66, who still lives in
Westfield.
Two months after his death, Wun-
filE no. 2 of 6: could offer clues a mob hit.
All Sue Wunderle knows is that she
derle’s leased car was located in a
Manhattan park-and-lock garage near
to mob-style hit
The mysTerious murder of
roberT Wunderle last saw her husband on the morning of the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.
Nov. 15. On his way out the door, he left According to garage records, the car
her a note saying he would be staying at stamped in at 12:12 a.m. on Nov. 16.
aBout By Bob Considine from Westfield, was found in a drainage the LaGuardia Marriott Hotel in Queens, Investigators had turned their atten-
this series STAR-LEDGER STAFF ditch near Rockaway. He had been shot N.Y., for a two-day meeting. Authori- tion to that 31⁄2-hour span, but came
The star- There has not been a suspect or a once in the head and once in the heart, ties learned after his body was found up with no leads. However, they also
ledger known motive in the mysterious murder execution-style, according to authorities. that Wunderle never had any scheduled found that the interior of Wunderle’s
follows up on of a high-profile supermarket executive He was found still wearing his business meetings at the hotel and had not re- car was splattered with blood and the
some of the more than 21 years ago. suit and raincoat. served a room there. fingerprints of either a person or per-
state’s more Yet there has always been some opti- Wunderle was the vice president of The last person to see Wunderle sons. For years, authorities attempted
noteworthy mism that the unsolved murder of Rob- economics at Supermarkets General alive was a co-worker, who saw him to link the prints to someone, but came
unsolved ert Wunderle would one day see closure, Corp. in Woodbridge, now known as leave his Woodbridge office at about up empty.
murders in a based on clues at the scene. Pathmark Stores. His duties included 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 15. Two minutes later, Anyone who may have information
six-part “I’m still hopeful,” said Sue Wunderle, the handling of government, commu- according to phone records, he placed is asked to call the prosecutor’s office
series, his widow. “Maybe not to the high level nity, media and trade relations and a call to one of his sons on his mobile at (973) 285-6200 or the Morris County
appearing that I was when it first happened, but he participated in labor negotiations phone. Sheriff’s Office Crime Stopper Program
periodically. you have to stay hopeful.” with unions that served New Jersey’s “You come up with some of your own at (973) COP-CALL.
It was Nov. 16, 1989, when Wunderle, supermarket industry. In his work, theories or ideas on what might have Bob Considine: (973) 392-7890 or
a 45-year-old husband and father of two authorities said Wunderle would happened, but you just don’t know,” bconsidine@starledger.com