Howell has tough 2-1 loss in Public A final. Stories, Page
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Asbury Park Press APP.COM $1.00
TUESDAY 03.10.15
When anonymous Twitter posters stated they wanted to sexu-
ally attack the teenage daughter of former Phillies pitcher
Curt Schilling, Schilling fought back by naming the authors,
one of whom was suspended from Brookdale Community
College. But outside of shaming writers and threatening
suit, legal experts say, the Web gives such wide latitude to
those who post that
even direct threats of violence seldom lead to criminal
charges.
What we worry about is when peoplesFirst Amendment rights are
impacted in thesense that they are going to be clearlycharged or
sued for defamation, said HanniFakhoury, senior staff attorney for
the Elec-tronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rightsorganization.
The First Amendment pro-tects certain knuckle-headed speech.
Schilling used social media to lash out atthe authors, stating
on his blog, There arerepercussions to your actions in the
realworld. The former Phillies, Red Sox and Di-amondbacks pitcher
then named the allegedauthors, which led to Brookdale student
IS FREE SPEECH
TOO FREE ONLINE?Why threatening posts even ones that suggest
acts of violence are rarely prosecuted
GANNETT PHOTOSHOP ILLUSTRATION
What we worry about is when
peoples ... rights are impacted
in the sense that they are going
to be clearly charged or sued for
defamation. The First
Amendment protects certain
knuckle-headed speech.
HANNI FAKHOURY,ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
STEPH SOLIS @STEPHMSOLIS
See ONLINE, Page A4
Improve Wi-Fi performance
Simple tips to speed things up.
Tech Tuesday, A6
STAFFORD The Township Council, behind closeddoors today, will
discuss the controversial police probethat targeted a critic of
Mayor John Spodofora.
A number of us have questions, said Councilwom-an Lori Wyrsch of
the police inquiry, which was initiat-ed at Spodoforas behest. Were
just learning about itourselves.
The issue stems from a fictitious Facebook page thatlampooned
the mayor for having lied about his militaryservice in Vietnam. The
page has since been takendown.
Spodofora, who has apologized for making mislead-ing statements
about his war record, asked the town-ship Police Department to
determine if the Facebookpage constituted identity theft.
The ensuing investigation, which lasted more thanthree months,
ultimately involved the Police Depart-ment, the Ocean County
Prosecutors Office, a grand ju-
THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Stafford Mayor John Spodofora is interviewed in his town
halloffice last week about his use of police to investigate a
personwho had created a parody Facebook account in his name.
Council hasquestionson probe ofmayors foeSHANNON MULLEN
@MULLENAPP
See PROBE, Page A5
TRENTON New Jerseys depleted fund for prevent-ing child lead
poisoning would get a $10 million infusionunder a bill approved by
a state Senate panel Monday.
The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Commit-tee voted 4-0-1,
with one abstention, to pass the measure(S-1279). It now heads to
the Senate Budget and Appro-priations Committee for
consideration.
Mondays vote follows an Asbury Park Press investi-gation on lead
poisoning that found the state divertedmore than $50 million
earmarked for the Lead Haz-
Bill putting $10Minto N.J. lead fundgets panels OKTODD B. BATES
@TODDBBATESAPP
See LEAD, Page A4
PROTESTS AND APOLOGY FOLLOW WISCONSIN POLICE SHOOTING PAGE
1B
LOCAL
Truck
driver
in court
Man whose dog
died after river
plunge will
represent
himself. A3
ADVICE D5
CLASSIFIED D6
COMICS D4
HEALTHY LIVING D1
LOCAL A3
OBITUARIES A8
OPINION A11
SPORTS C1
TECH TUESDAY A6
WEATHER C8
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 59
SINCE1879
Middletown North claims
Public B state crown
