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ASBURY PARK PRESS

CLINTON ANNOUNCES PRESIDENTIAL RUN PAGE 1B

ASBURY PARK MUSIC IN FILM FESTIVAL

MONDAY 04.13.15

DEBUT FEST
A SUCCESS

Settlement
with Exxon:
Good deal or
dirty one?
Details on N.J. proposal
merely fuel the debate
MICHAEL SYMONS @MICHAELSYMONS_
TRENTON Details made public last week about New
Jerseys $225 million settlement of an environmental
damages lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. stoked,
rather than quieted, debate about its worthiness.
Comments on the agreement, which will undoubtedly total in the thousands, are being accepted through
June 5 by the Department of Environmental Protection,
which then is considered likely to affirm the agreement
and send it to a Superior Court judge for approval.
Christie defended the deal at his Old Bridge town
hall last Tuesday: In the end, I have absolutely no second thoughts about it.
Heres a look at the debate:
POINT: Its the largest settlement ever.
The $225 million would be the second-largest natural-resource damages settlement against a single corporate defendant ever in the United States, behind only
the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The Christie administration says that New Jerseys next 20 largest NRD settlements averaged $11 million and that its ExxonMobil
agreement is nearly as large as all of the other settle-

TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Robert Trujillo (second from left), producer of the documentary Jaco, accepts a surfboard from (left to right) Press Publisher
Tom Donovan, festival Executive Director Matthew Hockenjos and Asbury Park Music Foundation President Tom Gilmour.

Events have venues buzzing; 2016 return is in works

CHRIS JORDAN @CHRISFHJORDAN

rganizers of the inaugural Asbury Park Music in Film Festival promised something dif-

ferent over its three days, Friday, April 10 to Sunday, April 12, and that certainly came to
pass. e Especially at the citys Stone Pony on Saturday. It hosted a Funk That Bass

all-star jam that featured a wide array of talent so wide that at one point Neptune City chanteuse Nicole Atkins sang lead on a torrid cover of Led Zeppelins Immigrant Song while Robert
Trujillo of Metallica ninja-walked across the stage as he played the songs thundering bass lane. e
Atkins even delivered the famous Robert Plant howls. This stuff doesnt happen every day.

See EXXON, Page 4A

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., speaks at a

news conference March 6 in Newark.
Menendez was indicted this month on
bribery and corruption charges but is keeping
his Senate seat.

Menendez pivots
from bribery case
to bill on Iran deal
NICOLE GAUDIANO @NGAUDIANO
WASHINGTON Embattled Sen. Robert Menendez

will have a diminished role when he returns to the Senate next week. But he probably wont speak with a diminished voice.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote
Tuesday on a bill Menendez co-authored that would give
Congress the option of rejecting any nuclear deal that
might be reached with Iran. President Barack Obama
has threatened to veto the measure.
The New Jersey Democrat, known for bucking the
Obama administration on Iran and other issues, has lost
some influence over steering the bill through committee after temporarily stepping down from his post as the
panels top Democrat to battle federal bribery charges,
See MENENDEZ, Page 4A

TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Music photographer and filmmaker Danny Clinch of Toms

River hosts a Q&A session on Sunday at the Paramount
Theatre during the Asbury Park Music In Film Festival.

See FESTIVAL, Page 6A

Push-up goal aids ill Manalapan boy

JERRY CARINO CARINOS CORNER pact to people who dont know the disease.
MANALAPAN The movement to help

James Jamesy Raffone started with

a single, simple act.
A push-up.
In telling his daughters about the
rare disease afflicting their little
brother, Jim Raffone got down on the
floor and pushed himself up.
Your brother may never have the
ability to do this, he told Mariana and Julia. They
understood almost immediately, and I thought to
myself, This is a great way to express the full im-

Could the Casino Pier

carousel stay in Seaside
Heights? Upcoming
hearing brings hope.

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Trujillo, who showed his Jaco: A Documentary

Film about late bassist Jaco Pastorius earlier in the
evening, called the Funk That Bass show a dream
come true.
We had a somewhat similar type of thing in San
Francisco (in 2006), and I thought that could never be
recreated but it would be incredible if something like
that could happen on the East Coast, and it happened
last night, Trujillo said Sunday at the fests awards ceremony.
Bernie Worrell of Parliament Funkadelic, Bernard
Fowler of Chic and the Rolling Stones, Corey Glover of
Living Colour, Stax legend William Bell, T.M. Stevens of
James Brown and the Pretenders, and many more took
the stage on Saturday, in a show produced by city scene
maker Tim Donnolly. Glover was so impressed by Worrell, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, on
keys that he walked over and took a cellphone pic of him
mid-solo.
In addition to the concerts, more than 50 films about,
or with the theme of, music were screened in town over
the fests three days. Local boy done good Danny Clinch
of Toms River screened several short films at the Paramount Theatre on Sunday, including Devils and Dust,

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VOLUME 136
NUMBER 88

The disease is Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and

its a monster. This genetic condition results in a progressive loss of strength due to the absence of the
critical muscle-building protein dystrophin. Eventually the weakness leads to paralysis and fatal heart
and lung problems. Life expectancy is in the 20s.
Jamesy Raffone just turned 6, and he looks the
part of a healthy, happy boy. But his stamina is degenerating.
Enter the push-up. Inspired by his daughters reaction to his demonstration, Jim Raffone started posting
See PUSH-UPS, Page 7A

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