[meteorite-list] Meteorite's Hit on New Jersey Home Jolts Family

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:25:52 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200701101825.KAA00687_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2007/0110/Front_Page/009.html

Meteorite's hit on home jolts township family

Oh, it came out of the sky, landed just a little south of Moline. Jody
fell out of his tractor, couldn't believe what he seen. Laid on the
ground and shook, fearin' for his life. Then he ran all the way to town
screamin' it came out of the sky. "It Came Out of the Sky" Creedence
Clearwater Revival

BY KATHY BARATTA
News Transcript (Farmingdale, New Jersey)
January 10, 2007

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - You get a rock thrown through a window in your home
and your first assumption might be that someone, somewhere, for some
reason, has a problem with you or someone in your household.

However, when you get a rock whose extraterrestrial, supersonic soar
across the galaxy takes a detour into your roof, a passing thought might
be it was "Starman" or "ET" who was somehow offended.

Even if the truth is out there, you still need someone to help you find
it and the police are the first place you start, if for no other reason
than they can take it from here, so-to-speak.

And so it happened that a township family called police on Jan. 3 to
report that a rock had slammed through the roof of their Kentucky Way
home and through an upstairs bathroom ceiling, at which point it smashed
tile on a final trajectory that culminated with it ending up embedded in
the bathroom's Sheetrock wall.

Police did not identify the family by name or their address in the
development off Route 537 just east of Freehold Borough.

The trail that began with police taking possession of the object
eventually led to a determination by the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) that it could not have come from any known aircraft and, more
importantly, that the object was not radioactive.

Authorities then called in a team of specialists from Rutgers University
to determine just what that mysterious rock was. By the end of last week
the Rutgers experts delivered their answer: the rock was a meteorite,
which is defined as a meteor that reaches the surface of the Earth
without being completely vaporized.

According to Freehold Township police Lt. Robert Brightman, the new
year's meteor madness started when the elderly mother of a Kentucky Way
homeowner heard a loud noise that appeared to come from upstairs in the
home at about 4:30 p.m. Jan. 2.

Brightman said the woman's son returned home at about 9 p.m. at which
time he found the rock and the damage it had caused in the bathroom.

He said the man called police at 9 a.m. Jan. 3 to report the incident.
The responding officers found the object to be a rock that measured
about 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches. It was later determined to weigh 377
grams (about 13 ounces).

According to Brightman, the rock was found to be denser or of a heavier
weight than a normal rock of its size.

Brightman said police called Monmouth County Office of Emergency
Management Coordinator Harry Conover, who used a Geiger counter to check
the object for radiation.

Brightman said Conover was joined in his examination of the object by
members of the county Health Department. Everyone concluded that the
object was not radioactive and that it did not pose a discernible health
threat.

After the FAA weighed in and discounted an aircraft as the object's
source, the team of experts from Rutgers was called in and the final
determination was reached Jan. 5.

Brightman said the meteorite, which was named Freehold Township, will
not remain permanently in the possession of the police, although it was
unclear as to who would take final possession.

Whether or not the visitor from space ends up for sale on eBay is yet to
be seen, but it's a safe bet that if it does, it will be a unique find.
Objects like the meteorite Freehold Township are rare. They don't just
fall out of the sky - every day that is.
Received on Wed 10 Jan 2007 01:25:52 PM PST