64°F overcast clouds

RBR SPOTLIGHTS HEROIN EPIDEMIC

rbr drug forum 022014 rb drug forum 022014 2Recovering drug addict Dave Dolan, right, spoke of his rapid descent from model student to heroin user during a forum on teen substance abuse that attracted dozens of parents and kids to Red Bank Regional Thursday night. Now a graduate student at Monmouth University, Dolan was part of a panel of health professionals, parents of addicts and ex-users assembled to discuss the warning signs and responses to drug use.

“We’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem,” said Charlie Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office, which regards an increase in heroin deaths in the Shore region over the past two years an epidemic.   (Click to enlarge)

SHREWSBURY: VEAL PLANT ‘GOOD NEIGHBOR’

catelli 012814The Catelli Brothers slaughterhouse on Broad Street.

By JOHN T. WARD

HOT-TOPIC_01The shutdown of the Catelli Brothers veal slaughterhouse over allegations of animal abuse “shocked” Shrewsbury officials, Mayor Donald Burden said Tuesday.

The suspension of operations ordered Friday by the United States Department of Agriculture followed a complaint and undercover video purporting to show “egregious inhumane handling of calves in violation of federal law,” according to the Humane Society of the US, which prompted the action.

“It’s operated there for years, and we’ve never had any complaints from neighbors or to the police department,” Burden told redbankgreen.

More →

COMPANY ‘COOPERATING’ IN PROBE OF ANIMAL ABUSE AT SHREWSBURY SLAUGHTERHOUSE

Warning: graphic video, which the Humane Society cites as evidence of cruelty at the Broad Street abattoir.

By JOHN T. WARD

The Catelli Brothers veal slaughterhouse in Shrewsbury has been shut down by federal regulators pending an investigation into allegations of animal abuse, the Humane Society of the United States said Monday.

The shutdown, effective Friday, followed a complaint, accompanied by undercover video, submitted by the society to the United States Department of Agriculture alleging “egregious inhumane handling of calves in violation of federal law,” the society said in a press release.

More →

TINTON FALLS MAN CHARGED WITH DOG ABUSE


A Tinton Falls man is facing eight charges of animal cruelty for allegedly wrapping the muzzles of two dogs with duct tape and punching a puppy in the head, law enforcement authorities said Friday morning.

Joseph A. Valentino, 41, of Cherry Street, is alleged to have abused three dogs from September, 2012 through February 2, 2013…

“…when he wrapped the muzzle of Stitches, a one-year-old Bullmastiff, with duct tape and trimmed the nails on the dog’s paws using a power tool despite the animal being fearful of the nail trimming; choking Stitches to the point of the dog’s tongue turning blue and abusing the animal to the point it defecated on itself,”

according to a press release issued by Victor “Buddy” Amato, Chief Humane Law Enforcement Officer at the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

More →

WOMAN ADMITS DRAGGING DOG WITH CAR

hot-topic rightA woman who was charged with dragging a leashed dog with a car because she didn’t want the animal to soil the car’s interior in August has pleaded guilty, the Asbury Park Press reports.

Citing Victor “Buddy” Amato, chief law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as its source, the newspaper says that Stephanie L. Sciscione, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty in Middletown Municipal Court this morning, “admitting she dragged the terrier mix named Marlin by its leash down Locust Avenue, in the Navesink section of the township at about 5 p.m. on Aug. 25 after she located the dog that had run away earlier in the day.”

More →

REPORT: POLICE ABUSE VICTIM GOT $290,000

hot-topic rightA Middletown man who was roughed-up by a former Red Bank policeman following the KaBoom Fireworks show in 2006 has pocketed a $290,000 settlement check from the town’s insurance carrier.

That’s according to a report on the New Jersey Civil Settlements blog run by an arm of the Libertarian Party.

More →

LITTLE SILVER COP ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT

LSPD The alleged assault on a borough man occurred at the borough police station, the Press reports.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

A Little Silver police officer was arrested Thursday afternoon for allegedly hitting a handcuffed defendant and trying to get a witness lie about it, the Asbury Park Press reported today.

County authorities arrested Steven Solari, 36, and charged him with two counts of official misconduct, one count of aggravated assault, tampering with a witness, obstruction of justice and hindering apprehension, according to the Press.

More →