New Jersey
Thanksgiving Tail: NJ Mom Says Anxious Dog Saved Her Son's Life
NORTH JERSEY — Ella the dog, a poodle-St. Bernard mix, is not an emotional support animal, says her owner, Beth Fitzgerald of Hoboken.
“She needs support,” Fitzgerald joked during a recent interview. She said Ella, who’s eight years old, has stomach problems and anxiety.
But this Thanksgiving, Fitzgerald, her husband, and her four adult children are thankful that Ella saved one of their lives.
Fitzgerald said that last May, she and her husband moved into an apartment in Maxwell Place in Hoboken. Three of her adult children also live in that city.
The family grew up in Montgomery, N.J., in Somerset County, but have since moved north.
In May, the family decided to travel to Boston for a ceremony for their oldest child’s graduation from graduate school.
Fitzgerald’s son Liam, 26, decided to stay behind for a day. He slept in his mom and dad’s relatively new rental in Maxwell Place that night and watched Ella, who was going to go to a sitter the next day.
But Ella started acting unusual that day.
At the same time, Liam was having headaches and didn’t feel well.
Since moving into Maxwell Place on May 1, Beth had smelled gas each day, but decided it was a slight smell and thought it disappeared when she got close to the oven. So she had dismissed it.
But when her son called and said he didn’t feel well — and Ella was acting unusual — she put it all together and knew the gas might be causing a problem.
Beth told Liam to immediately call the gas company, PSE&G, and not just the building supervisors. She also told her son to leave the apartment.
Luckily, PSE&G came and found the source of the leak. It was the oven after all. It’s since been replaced.
Fitzgerald said she’s been beating herself up a bit over leaving her son in an apartment with a gas leak. She said part of the reason she never called was that she didn’t want a big deal with fire trucks coming and the like. But she said she wanted people to learn from the incident.
“If you smell gas, don’t do what I did,” she said. “I keep thinking, what if it had been midnight [and Liam was asleep]? What if Ella didn’t act weird? Don’t hesitate. You call PSE&G immediately.”
She noted that chemicals are added to natural gas to give it an odor, so people can detect if there’s too much.
“If anything had happened to my son or my dog, I would have never been able to forgive myself,” she said.
Brian Clark, a vice president for PSE&G Gas Operations, said, “We’re so glad Beth took action and told her son to leave the house immediately and call PSE&G. She did exactly the right thing to ensure their safety, and the neighbors’ safety. If you ever smell gas, leave the area immediately.”
IF you have an emergency, you can call PSE&G at 1-800-880-PSEG (7734) or 911. You can learn more at PSEG.com/gassafety.
Meanwhile, Patch asked Ella herself for a comment on her heroic actions in May.
Ella looked away, licked her lips, then ran and hid behind her mommy.
How to protect your NJ home from wind: Video
Here’s how to windproof your home to minimize damage, and what to do if a tree falls on your property as a result of the weather
A severe thunderstorm watch looms over North Jersey on the evening of June 12 after days of extreme heat.
Nation Weather Service New York declared a severe thunderstorm watch for numerous North Jersey counties including Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Morris and Sussex among other Central Jersey and New York counties. The watch is in effect until 9 p.m., according to the NWS statement.
In an hourly forecast from The Weather Channel for Paramus, there is a 74% chance of thunderstorms at 7 p.m.
High temperatures reached past 90 degrees in many parts of North Jersey on June 11 and June 12 as a heat advisory also remains in effect until 8 p.m., said NWS New York.
“Dangerous heat is expected to continue across much of our region through today, with several record highs likely to be challenged again. High temperatures are forecast to peak into the low to mid 90s across most of the area,” the National Weather Service said Friday.
A Heat Advisory is in effect until 8 p.m. across the state except for Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties.
PHILADELPHIA – Philip McPherson II, a 37-year-old from Riverside, New Jersey, was sentenced Thursday, June 11, to 78 months in prison for his role in a 2022 plane crash in Lehigh County that killed a student pilot, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Sentencing and charges for fatal Lehigh Valley crash
What we know:
United States District Judge John M. Gallagher sentenced McPherson to 78 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine, a $4,300 special assessment, and $19,530 in restitution. Judge Gallagher also barred McPherson from working in the aviation industry.
McPherson pleaded guilty in October to involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, obstruction of an administrative proceeding, and 40 counts of serving as an airman without a certificate.
The backstory:
Court filings show that on September 28, 2022, McPherson took off from Queen City Airport in Allentown as the pilot-in-command with student pilot K.K. and crashed shortly after, resulting in K.K.’s death.
Prosecutors said McPherson acted with gross negligence, knowing he was not competent to fly as pilot-in-command. He had two prior crashes, nearly a third, and failed a reexamination for his pilot’s certificate in September 2021.
McPherson voluntarily surrendered his pilot’s certificate in October 2021 and let his Temporary Airman Certificate expire in November 2021, acknowledging his inability to meet FAA standards.
He admitted to flying with passengers without a valid FAA pilot’s certificate between October 12, 2021, and September 20, 2022.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, FAA, and Salisbury Township Police Department worked on the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Schopf and Special Assistant United States Attorney Marie Miller.
What we don’t know:
Authorities have not released further details about the circumstances leading up to the crash.
The Source: Information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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