BEST OF THE BESTMeet the All-Stars of the 2nd annual APP Hockey Classic, Sports

Movie on the beachCome to Seaside Heights and bring a blanket and some snacksto watch a showing of the classic “Jaws” on the beach.

Strawberry festivalMake your holiday asweet one at theannual StrawberryFestival and LibertyExtravaganzaConcert in Red Bank.

Parades and musicShow your patriotic side at these Fourth of July parades.

CelebrateAmericaListen to the Garden StatePhilharmonic Orchestra andthe GSP Community Chorusat this annual concert.

ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION APP.COM $2.00

VOLUME 137

NUMBER 158

SINCE 1879

SUNDAY 07.03.16

beacheditionYOUR WEEKEND GUIDE DOWN THE SHORE

All this and more inside! 2A

@ISSUE 1AABUSINESS 6AACLASSIFIED 1DLOCAL 3ALOTTERIES 2A

OBITUARIES 16AOPINION 4AASPORTS 1CSUNDAY BEST 1EWEATHER 10C

Concentration camp survivorElie Wiesel, Holocaust writer,educator, dies at 87. 1B

LAKEWOOD - When the township’s Orthodox community lost confidence in the police department a decadeago, two men — one of whom now is facing a federal kidnapping charge, and both of whom faced life-insurancescam claims — helped form the Lakewood Shomrim, a neighborhood watch group.

Over the last 10 years, the Shomrim became the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch, a group of dozens of volun-teers who patrol residential neighborhoods. By all official accounts, the LCSW and the Lakewood Police De-partment have forged a solid working relationship.

A respected rabbi, active in local and county government, now guides the group. The original foundersappear to have dropped out or at least backed away two years ago, according to public records and interviews.

But friction with the LCSW has grown in recent months with residents in neighboring towns. As members ofthe majority Orthodox community buy homes in Jackson and Toms River, township officials there have put uplegal barriers and told the LCSW that their patrols are not welcomed, even if new homeowners request them.

Residents have said at public meetings and on social media that they see the LCSW as a thinly veiled advance

team to scout out homes for sale, intimate non-Ortho-dox residents into moving, or an Orthodox-only policeforce.

Lakewood police and LCSW members said thoserumors are unfounded. The LCSW aids Lakewood po-lice by helping to direct traffic, patrol residentialneighborhoods at night to deter vandals and burglars,report on suspicious activity to township police andtake calls from residents as needed, according to thegroup’s administrator, Rechy Svei. She said there areabout 70 men and women members, though that num-ber fluctuates through the year.

Along with the Chaveirim, a volunteer emergencymanagement organization, the LCSW forms the“core” of the township’s Community Emergency Re-sponse Team, or CERT, according to Police Chief Rob-ert Lawson.

Chaveirim takes its name from a Hebrew word thatroughly translates to “friends.”

Friction growingas watch turns 10 Born of controversy, Lakewood group forged bonds with residents,police, but recent rumors have neighboring towns on defensive

ANDREW FORD/STAFF PHOTOS

A Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch volunteer who declined to speak to reporters helps control traffic at a community event.

An LCSW volunteer helps control the flow of traffic. Seevideos at APP.com.

ALEX N. GECAN @GEEKSTERTWEETS

See LCSW, Page 11A

TRENTON - Fourteen hours after the Assemblypassed legislation to raise the state’s gasoline tax andcut the sales tax, Gov. Chris Christie doubled down onit.

The goal was to give “tax fairness” to New Jersey-ans with a 1-cent sales tax cut, Christie said, payingcredence to the buzzword he coined.

It would cancel out a 23-cent gasoline tax hike thatprovided more than $2 billion to the flailing Transpor-tation Trust Fund — a massive investment in thestate’s transportation infrastructure.

He ignored the writing on the wall — more thanhalf the Assembly Republican caucus voted against it— and ensured the success of his bill: “When all thediscussion is over,” Christie said, “the bill will pass.”

It flopped. The Senate’s inaction on the controversial bill to re-

new the Transportation Trust Fund is the first signthat Christie may be out of touch with the Republicanlegislators he once kept at his beck and call. Of the 16Republicans in the Senate, 10 have publicly decriedraising the gasoline tax in any form — despite the gov-

GAS TAX HIKE

Has Christie lost N.J. Republicans?MIKE DAVIS @BYMIKEDAVIS Gov. Chris Christie held a "Fairness

Formula" forum at the WallTownship library on Tuesday.

See CHRISTIE, Page 15A