Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 26

ASBURY PARKPRESS I SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010 mMnMmlMli i BUSINESS Layaway makes a comeback with frugal customers. 6 rn nTiniflrrif cAmnwccii' Forest fire kills 42 people in Israel. 4 ri pi IMAGE OF THE WEEK The new bishop of Trenton Diocese offers Holy Communion. 4 Ml Food Outlet Inspections 4 Regional Week in Review 4 TsxtAPPNEWSto 44636 (4INF0) to get breaking news SMS alerts from APP.com. a w'i Activist wants probe of Dwelt allegations Rumors of corruption in Long Branch By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER I TT5TT "7 rrr-rT Lr 11111 '1 if 4.

iff LONG BRANCH A citizen-activist who strongly opposes Mayor Adam Schneider has asked the Monmouth County prosecutor to investigate allegations made by disgraced real estate developer Solomon Dwek that he gave a $10,000 payoff to the mayor and a former councilman more than a decade ago. Diana Multare, who says she represents the group Long Branch Citizens For Good Government, wrote to prosecutor Luis A. Valentin last month with the request that he look into the allegations made by Dwek at a recent unrelated corruption trial. Multare said she wants to clear the air in a community where she says rumors of misconduct abound. But Schneider questioned her motives, acknowledging they have tangled for many years, through many administrations.

"Democratic government is corrupted when important facts about our elected officials are kept hidden or secret," Multare said. "We want this matter investigated, clarified and fully determined so that the nature of our government and its transactions can be made clear and transparent. If coastal redevelopment in Long Branch has been marred by bribery, corruption and conspiracy, the public has a right to know." "She is not interested in my reputation," said Schneider, who strongly denies he accepted money from Dwek inappropriately. "She is only interested in doing what she can to damage it" See Probe, Page AA3 STAFF PHOTO: TIM MCCARTHY Anthony Gambale along with Robert Rowe, VFW commander of Post 8885 of Toms River, look at a photo of Gene Gambale, Anthony's brother, who was shot down over Burma during World War II. Top left: Gene Gambale during WWII.

Middle: Helen and Gene Gambale. Right: Anthony Gambale during WWII. -tot- 1 4 Once lost, WWII aircraft find stirs family's hope 1 By KIRK MOORE STAFF WRITER STAFF PHOTO: KEITH J. WOODS On Veterans Day, Gambale and his friend Robert Rowe of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8885, were looking over documents that tell of the efforts to bring back the remains of the prisoners of war and the Army soldiers that first recovered them before going missing themselves. "There's a lot being done," said Rowe, the VFW post commander, who got national VFW officials to ask the Indian government for help.

"But there are a lot of obstacles. And most of the obstacles are political." The crash site lies in the hills of Tripura near Assam state on the northeastern edge of India that bordered Japanese-occupied Burma during World War II. Today, Assam has armed rebel and separatist insurgent movements that keep conflict simmering with the Indian government. wrote, local police commanders warned him the insurgency was too hot for any foreigner to risk working in the area. Kuhles went to see the Tripura police commandant, who organized an escort: 32 men heavily armed with automatic rifles, light machine guns and grenade launchers.

When he got to Long Thrai Mountain, Kuhles saw how the C-47 had smashed into a rock face and slid downhill into a jungle drainage. Remarkably, villagers in Birmani Kami recalled their own oral history of the crash. Local people arrived at the site as the wreckage was burning and recovered as many bodies as they could find. They set up a cemetery at the edge of town and marked it with a large cross made of metal salvaged from the wreckage. "The villagers told me local Christians have been conducting an annual memorial service at the cemetery every year since the crash, and continue doing so to this day," Kuhles said.

"The cemetery is neatly fenced in bamboo, and currently planted with ginger." See Battle, Page AA2 TOMS RIVER Anthony Gambale remembers his family's anguish in 1944 when his brother Gene went missing in action over Southeast Asia, and again when a prison camp survivor made his way to Brooklyn to tell them how he died. Now, Gambale and other families are trying to get relatives lost in World War II back from their second gravesite a lonely cemetery in India, where local villagers interred the American crewmen killed and other remains they found when a C-47 transport aircraft crashed in 1946 while carrying home the bodies of-Gene Gambale and others who died in Japanese prisons. "I'm just an 84-year-old guy waiting for my brother to come home," Anthony Gambale said. President Barack Obama's November visit to India, with its diplomatic and commercial successes for both nations, raised the families' hope that the Indian government finally may allow a recovery mission to the crash site. The American transport aircraft smashed into a hillside 1,350 feet above sea level near the town of Birmani Kami, as the pilots tried to detour around a storm.

Crash site found The C-47 wreckage was located in November 2009 by Clayton Kuhles, an Arizona entrepreneur whose avocation is finding World War II aircraft crash sites so the remains of the crewmen can be returned to their families. During his expedition, Kuhles Diana Sacramento, 6, of Freehold gleams with excitement at the chance to meet Santa. Santa Train embarks on its annual journey By JOSEPH SAPIA STAFF WRITER Santa Claus pulled into Freehold about noon, but his trip from the North Pole started 2V4 hours earlier. If you did not know the annual Santa Train was rumbling down the tracks Saturday, all you had to do is ask the dozens here and there on the freight line between the North Pole actually Conrail's Browns Yard in Old Bridge and Freehold. Along the approximately 20-mile route, people waved and shot still and moving pictures of the Santa Train two engines and a caboose, decorated with a big wreath, candy canes, garland and ribbons with Santa aboard.

At Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan, hunters in blaze orange moved through the fields on one side of Route 522, while railroad aficionados stationed themselves along the tracks on the other side. In Englishtown, on his fourth stop along the route, Ron Cruse jumped out of a car, discussing photo angles. "We've checked these (railroad) crossings for the last few years," said Cruse, 58, of Eatontown. "We have our program figured out. If you don't, you get caught with your pants down." "You've got to go where the trains are," said Dan Brewer, 57, of Eatontown, who was joined by his son, Robert, 17, and Cruse.

Earlier, Al Landstrom, 50, of Spotswood, was along the track in his hometown, estimating this was his 12th year following the Santa Train. "Live in the neighborhood, fan of trains, Dad worked on the New York Central," Landstrom said. A few miles down the line in Helmetta, Frances Sawicki, 68, stood not far from her house, cowbell in hand, ready to ring it as the Santa Train passed. See Train, Page AA4 Donors needed for Asbury Park toy drive J- LI Qft By MATTHEW McGRATH STAFF WRITER ASBURY PARK The city police holiday toy drive is starving for donations. As of Saturday, Sgt.

Connie Breech had received only enough cash and toy donations to help about 110 families of the 300 applications she has received from needy families throughout the city. The holiday help is given on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications are being accepted until Monday. "I don't want to tell a family that I cannot help them this year," Breech said. Breech, who is also the city school board vice presi dent, made a plea for donations Saturday during the city's annual Kwanzaa celebration at the Asbury Park Middle School.

The toys are supposed to be given out Saturday to the families who have applied, Breech said. Last year, Breech was able to help each of the 302 families who applied last year only because of a "guardian angel." The anonymous donor made a "substantial" donation of toys to the drive. Breech and school board President Gregory Hopson hope another donor might come forward this year. See Toys, Page AA2 STAFF PHOTO: BRADLEY J. PENNER Maurice Newsome of Neptune lights candles in the Kinara during Asbury Park's seventh annual Kwanza celebration at Asbury Park Middle School.

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