Free Republic

A 69-year-old woman who was charged with assaulting a police officer has turned around and filed a complaint against him for the incident, which stemmed from a political sign she had put up. The incident started last Wednesday when Marion Munk, a ceramics instructor at a community college, said she noticed a handmade political sign she'd left on a street corner near her house was knocked to the ground. Munk said she stopped at the corner, where Public Service Electric & Gas Co. crews were working, to find out why her sign, which was against incumbent Democrats, was down on...

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the East Brunswick High School football coach can bend a knee and bow his head while his players recite pre-game prayers this season, ending a dispute that had mushroomed into a nationally recognized test of the separation of church and state. After nearly two hours of arguments, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh sided with the coach, Marcus Borden, declaring "taking a knee" isn't praying and that the Middlesex County school district can't order him to stand still while his players perform a locker room ritual that spans decades. "Tradition plays a part, and the...

An 11-year-old East Brunswick boy who fatally shot his friend last month was surrounded by guns. In the East Brunswick townhouse where the boy lived with his father and grandmother, investigators discovered a cache of 98 firearms, nearly all unsecured, authorities said. In the bedroom he shared with his father, police found four rifles and 21 handguns, five of which were loaded. Middlesex County authorities said yesterday the boy's easy access to weapons led to the June 28 shooting death of Alexander Khoudiakov, 12. The boy's father, Michael Guerriero, 46, and grandmother, Josephine Guerriero, 72, who also lives in the...

An award-winning New Jersey high school football coach who was barred by his school district from partaking in pre-game prayers with his players has filed suit alleging that his constitutional rights have been violated. Marcus Borden's lawsuit, filed with the Middlesex County Superior Court, asks that the court prohibit the East Brunswick school district from enforcing its policy on prayer. Borden wants to be able to silently nod his head during team prayers before pre-game meals with players and to kneel on one knee with the team in the locker room before the games, actions that violate the current policy....

The township's public defender has been accused of asking for and receiving money from a defendant he was assigned to represent for free. Hanit B. Dorwani, 40, also known as H. Joseph Dorwani, was arrested Tuesday night after he appeared in East Brunswick Municipal Court on behalf of several defendants. He was charged with official misconduct and bribery in official matters and has since been released on $100,000 bail. The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said Dorwani requested and received payment from the unidentified defendant on Tuesday. The charges came about after East Brunswick police received a tip last month about...