ASBURY PARK PRESS

APP.COM $1.50

Deal struck to avoid strike

NJ Transit, union agreement avoids traffic nightmare
MIKE DAVIS @BYMIKEDAVIS

bers for having faith in us in solidarity.

We're going home to our families, he said.
With that, the union leaders burst into applause,
cheers and fist pumps, hugging each other tight without wasting a second glance on the gawking eyes
around them.
The deal wont be official until its ratified by the
4,200 railroad workers represented by the union coalition, but it puts an immediate end to the threat of a
strike that would have turned the Garden State into one
big bottleneck.
It will be business as usual on Monday morning,
Gov. Chris Christie said at a press conference at NJ

NEWARK Exactly 29 hours and 5 minutes before a

potential strike would have shut down New Jersey
Transit, the agency struck a deal with its railroad workers union, sparing more than 100,000 commuters from a
traffic nightmare.
More than a dozen union leaders could barely keep a
straight face as SMART-TD Local 60 General Chairman
Steve Burkert read a prepared statement, surrounded
by reporters who had mobbed the lobby of the Hilton
Penn Station Newark throughout the negotiations.
You could all smile now, he said. We have reached
a tentative agreement. Thankfully for the commuters
of NJ Transit the crisis is averted. We thank our mem- See TRANSIT, Page 10A

DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN/THE RECORD OF BERGEN COUNTY VIA AP

Passengers get on a Trenton-bound NJ Transit train from

Newark Penn Station on Friday. NJ Transit and its rail workers
reached a deal Friday to avert a strike.

Like us on Facebook and join the conversation on APPs hottest stories: facebook.com/asburyparkpress

SEIDLES PLEA
DRAWS FUROR
COMMUNITY REACTS

SATURDAY 03.12.16

Jury misconduct
probed in Shore
murder trial
KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

PHOTOS BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Above: A wilted memorial marks the spot in front of Wiley Hawkins Sewall Avenue home in Asbury Park, where suspended
Neptune Police Sgt. Philip Seidle gunned down his ex-wife Tamara Wilson-Seidle in June of 2015. Below: Hawkins speaks about
the guilty plea Friday.

Shore residents question possible 30-year term;

say they are glad children were spared from trial
KALA KACHMAR @NEWSQUIP

Weathered mama and baby teddy

bears, a holy candle discolored by rain
and faded synthetic flowers are still
propped up against a tree near where
Tamara Wilson-Seidle was killed by her
ex-husband last June.
The wilted memorial is in front of WiTamara
ley Hawkins home on Sewell Avenue in
Wilson-Seidle Asbury Park.
Even though Hawkins didnt live
there when the mother of nine was shot by Philip Seidle, a Neptune police officer at the time, he knew what
happened in front of his house.
He was a police officer, Hawkins said Friday, a
day after Seidle pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in a deal that spared him a life sentence without parole. Hes supposed to take care of the community.
Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Marc
LeMieux said he will seek a 30-year prison sentence
for Seidle. If the judge goes along with the recommendation during the Aug. 18 sentencing, Seidle will be required to serve 25 years and 6 months before he can be
considered for release on parole.

See JURY, Page 9A

He was a police officer. Hes

supposed to take care of the

NANCY REAGAN
IS LAID TO REST

community.
WILEY HAWKINS,

OF ASBURY PARK

USA TODAY, 1B

See PLEA, Page 10A

Daylight Saving Time

Time again to
Spring forward
Tomorrow morning, 2 becomes the new
3, so be sure and set your clocks ahead.
ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL
MOVIES

6D
7D
5D
3A
4D

OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
WEATHER
YOUR MONEY

FREEHOLD BOROUGH - A judge plans to interview a juror and two alternate jurors about alleged jury misconduct on a panel that convicted a Long
Branch man of murder last year.
A defense attorney asked for the probe, saying an
alternate juror contacted him after the verdict last
year in the trial of Kalil Griffin, saying that one of the
panelists had organized a group to vote guilty even
before the attorneys had concluded their cases.
Superior Court Judge Richard W. English said he
will make arrangements to question the three who
were on a panel of 16 four alternate jurors and 12
jurors who heard the murder case.
Griffin, 29, was convicted Oct. 22 of the felony murder of Ronald Chisolm, 45, of Asbury Park as well as
armed robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.
He is awaiting sentencing, facing a minimum of 30

8A
11A
1C
10C
4A

VOLUME 137
NUMBER 62
SINCE 1879

"6<;<3
 










"TCVSZ
1BSL
1SFTT
EBJMZ

LLLLLLLL