Category: Bergen County

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Garrett Says No Deal on Iran Nukes

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August 26,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Will voters remember N.J. Rep. Scott Garrett’s gay comments next fall? In a state with a history of populating the more moderate wing of the Republican Party, U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett has always been an outlier. Jonathan D. Salant, NJ.com
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/will_voters_remember_nj_rep_scott_garretts_comments_next_fall.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Wake%20Up%20Call%20NJ#incart_river

Wyckoff NJ, Its been asked over and over by every New Jersey editorial board ,will voters remember N.J. Rep. Scott Garrett’s  supposed, anonymously sourced Speaker Bohner planted gay comments next fall?

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The answer was heard loud and clear today and in meetings like it all over the state. Garrett spoke before a packed house at the WBTP and question after question was about a Nuclear Iran, TPP, TPA, and so on but not one single question about the anonymously attributed “gay ” comments , not one. Apparently Iranians shouting death to America and being handed nuclear weapons by our government , held sway over silly Republican intramural politics .
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Last night Garrett spoke before the West Bergen Tea Party meeting in Wyckoff which looked like a who’s who in North Jersey Republican Politics including Bob Yudin of BCRO and Paul DiGaetano  .
Garrett took some heat for Republican failures to achieve any meaning for change in the disastrous direction the country is headed ,after which he reminded the crowd that he was just one person and will vote against the Iran Nuke deal , had voted against Obamacare, voted to with hold TPA from the president , and had voted against speaker Bohners leadership .
Garrett took it one step further when explained that he and 8 other house members, now grown to 50 that had started a caucus in the house which looked to push a more constitutional based agenda for the house. Garrett seemed even more frustrated than members of the audience with the current political situation and suggested the House could use the power of the purse to defund the Iran deal .

 

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3 Bergen County freeholders ask Bergen Regional Medical Center to expand drug detox unit

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AUGUST 24, 2015, 5:31 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015, 7:40 AM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Three Bergen County freeholders want the private operator of the county-owned Bergen Regional Medical Center to expand its drug detoxification unit to help deal with the epidemic of heroin addiction in the county.

But hospital officials say they have already taken the first steps toward increasing the 54 beds currently available for short-term treatment of recovering drug and alcohol addicts.

The issue comes at a time when the heroin-related deaths in Bergen County have spiked. The New Jersey Medical Examiners office reported in June that there were 42 heroin-related deaths in 2014, a 61 percent increase over 2013 and the third largest increase of any county in the state.

Freeholders Thomas Sullivan, Joan Voss and Tracy Zur sent a letter Thursday to County Executive James Tedesco asking him to “pursue a dialog” with Bergen Regional officials about expanding services.

“We are all well aware of the heroin epidemic in our midst,” the freeholders wrote. “We have attended too many funerals for people who have lost their battles to addiction.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/3-bergen-county-freeholders-ask-bergen-regional-medical-center-to-expand-drug-detox-unit-1.1397674

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In Saddle River, deer problem spurs thoughts of a hunt

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file photo by Boyd Loving

AUGUST 24, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2015, 1:20 AM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

SADDLE RIVER — Borough officials are considering allowing hunters to control the deer population, and state-certified Animal Control Officer Carol Tyler says her experiences in the field confirm that something has to be done.

There are so many deer in town, she says, that it’s led to more getting hit by cars, impaled by fences and becoming so dependent on feeding by residents that “The deer I’m pulling out of the woods are skeletons that didn’t know how to deal with winter.”

“Do we have a humane issue, do we have a deer population that we can’t control?” she continued, “Did we cause it? Yes, we did. We have to do something about it.”

Tyler spoke at a presentation last Wednesday night held by the Borough Council’s wildlife management committee and attended by Ramsey Board of Health members, an Allendale council member and residents.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/saddle-river-discussing-deer-hunt-1.1397378

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Bergen County Fire Chief’s Association calls for updates to fire code

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file photo by Boyd Loving

August 24, 2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, News 12 reported that the Bergen County Fire Chief’s Association and other fire officials are calling for an update to New Jersey’s fire code. According to Bergen County’s Fire Chief Association the State of New Jersey is Still using pre-Avolon fire ,fire codes from 2006. Look at all the build being planned in Ridgewood alone then think about all the multi family high density units being built all over Bergen County .

News 12 cited fire experts claiming that would not be enough to prevent another massive Avolon type fire like the one in Edgewater in January . The new codes would ban buildings over three stories, firewalls between every ten units and sprinklers between floors.Under current building codes the entire Avolon apartments can be rebuild from the same plans .

 

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‘No idea why he cracked’; N.Y.C. shooter’s job loss was one in string of setbacks

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AUGUST 22, 2015, 6:03 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015, 12:29 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG AND MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

One day after authorities say Fort Lee resident Kevin Downing shot a security guard and then himself inside a federal building in Manhattan, a contradictory image emerged Saturday of Downing as a man by turns warm, sad, distant and obsessed, an Army veteran whose once-bright future gradually dimmed in a series of personal setbacks.

In the late 1990s, Downing was fired after working briefly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, instigating a 16-year campaign in which he accused the agency of retaliating against him for acting as a whistle-blower. The agency has offices in the same building where the shooting occurred, leading many to believe the attackwas related to Downing’s long-simmering complaints.

The FBI, New York Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security have released little information about the investigation. All the agencies declined to comment Saturday on motives or details in the case.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/rep-pascrell-discusses-his-office-s-role-in-dealing-with-n-y-c-shooter-from-fort-lee-1.1396875

 

Kelly: Call to newsroom gave no hint at violence

AUGUST 23, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015, 12:36 AM
BY MIKE KELLY
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD

On an otherwise ordinary Wednesday morning in April, my phone rang.

Kevin Downing of Fort Lee was on the line with a cry for help and a story of hardship — a story I had no idea would take a deadly turn four months later.

Without any apparent warning, Downing, 68, walked into a federal office building in lower Manhattan on Friday, and fatally shot a security guard. Moments later, Downing turned his gun on himself.

This is every journalist’s nightmare — an out-of-the blue phone call from someone who seems entirely rational at the time, yet is harboring a deep and hidden pain that could one day explode into violence.

It is the kind of nightmare that many others face, too — from parents, coaches and teachers to cops, clergy, health care professionals and even mayors and lawmakers. In short, anyone whose job involves listening to someone with a problem.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/kelly-call-to-newsroom-gave-no-hint-at-violence-1.1396879

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300 protest outside Planned Parenthood offices in Hackensack

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AUGUST 22, 2015, 5:50 PM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2015, 5:54 PM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Approximately 300 protesters crowded the sidewalks on both sides of Main Street in Hackensack on Saturday for a two-hour anti-abortion demonstration outside the offices of Planned Parenthood, one of hundreds that were to take place around the country, including four in New Jersey

The protests were in response to undercover videos released by anti-abortion groups that advocates say show that Planned Parenthood is profiting off the sale of aborted fetuses for medical research. Planned Parenthood has denied that, saying payments they’ve received for fetal tissue merely reimburse their costs and that the statements of the Planned Parenthood officials captured on the videos were taken out of context.

Among the protestors in Hackensack on Saturday was Marjorie Cox, 71, who said she had never before demonstrated or spoken up about her anti-abortion beliefs until she watched the videos.

“I can’t believe this is happening anywhere in the world, let alone in the United States. It’s barbaric,” said Cox, of Maywood. “This is my first time to a protest. Now I’m going to get involved.”

The videos were created by the Center for Medical Progress, an organization founded in 2013 three long-time anti-abortion activists, according to a filing with the California Attorney General.

So far the group has released eight videos. The latest, released Friday, is two minutes long and has been described as a “teaser,” indicating that more videos may be released in the future. The first recording was released in July. Edited down to nine minutes, it shows a secret recording from a two-hour lunch between Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services, and two people pretending to be buyers of fetal tissue.

“What would you expect for intact tissue?” asked one of the people posing as buyers.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/300-protest-outside-planned-parenthood-offices-in-hackensack-1.1396891

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Judge grants 2 lawyers in courthouse fistfight a dismissal

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AUGUST 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Two attorneys who were arrested and charged with simple assault in April after a heated dispute turned into a fistfight at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack have persuaded a judge to dismiss the charges, a lawyer for one of the men said Thursday.

Costantino Fragale, 42, and Jeffrey Mandel, 43, were taking a deposition in a civil suit on April 29 when the dispute erupted in a fourth-floor jury deliberation room that doubles as an attorney conference room.

More than a dozen sheriff’s officers quickly responded and broke up the fight, authorities said.

“We worked it out,” Fragale’s attorney, Miles Feinstein, said Thursday.

Both parties agreed to drop their respective complaints, and Judge Louis Denise of the Central Municipal Court in Hackensack granted their request to dismiss the charges, Feinstein said.

“They are attorneys, and it is the best result for them to not have anything on their record,” he said.

Mandel was questioning Fragale’s client when “it got very heated,” Feinstein said. Mandel threw the first punch and bloodied Fragale’s face and, when his client tried to ward off further blows, sheriff’s officers came in and stopped the fight, Feinstein said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/crime-and-courts/charges-dismissed-for-attorneys-in-courthouse-brawl-1.1396122

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Midland Park critical of lead remediation by Ridgewood Water

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AUGUST 20, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY LYNN BRUGGEMANN
CORRESPONDENT |
MIDLAND PARK SUBURBAN NEWS

MIDLAND PARK — The Borough Council flooded officials of Ridgewood Water with questions about the high level of lead in water supplied to the community but was left parched by its steps to remediate the situation.

Richard Calbi, the company’s new director of operations, and its business manager David Scheibner were asked to appear at the council’s Aug. 13 meeting to explain information contained in a brochure the company sent to residents and businesses about the contamination.

The brochure states that routine monitoring in June 2012 found that some drinking water samples had lead levels above the “EPA action level” of 15 parts per billion (ppb) or 0.015 milligrams of lead per liter (mg/L).

The representatives explained that samples were taken at addresses identified as “high-risk” or known to have lead pipes.

Scheibner said results at “six homes triggered treating the whole system.”

Mayor Patrick “Bud” O’Hagan asked whether any of the “high-risk” addresses were in the borough.

The representatives said three residences, all known to have lead service lines, located on Godwin Avenue, Erie Avenue and Van Blarcom Avenue, were used in the sampling and showed lead contaminants.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/representatives-taken-to-task-over-lead-remediation-measures-1.1395022

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Saddle River to hear from state staff on lethal control of deer population

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file photo by Boyd Loving

Saddle River to hear from state staff on lethal control of deer population State wildlife-management staff will explain lethal methods of controlling the local deer population in a public presentation Wednesday evening arranged by borough officials. (Mariana Villaneuve, The Record) Read more

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Report: Former ‘American Idol’ contestant arrested in Wyckoff

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AUGUST 18, 2015, 12:32 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015, 5:40 PM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

WYCKOFF —  Former “American Idol” contestant Constantine Maroulis will face charges in court next week that he allegedly attacked his girlfriend in their township home and then violated a restraining order, according to the woman’s attorney and and an Us Weekly report.

Maroulis, a Ramapo High School graduate who grew up in Wyckoff, is accused of beating up Angelina Reed on Aug. 11 after she confronted him about an affair, her attorney, Steven J. Mandel, said in a statement. The couple, who met while performing in the musical “Rock of Ages,” have a 4-year-old daughter.

Reed called 911 and police, seeing her injuries, arrested Maroulis, Mandel said. She was granted a temporary restraining order that prohibited Maroulis from contacting her or their daughter, and barred him from their home, he said. Mandel also claimed that Maroulis has failed to pay child support for 15 months.

Maroulis, the sixth-place finalist in the fourth season of “American Idol,” broadcast in 2005, allegedly violated the restraining order with an email, which his representative told Us Weekly was sent to Reed by accident.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/report-former-american-idol-contestant-arrested-in-wyckoff-1.1394084

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Did ISIS fervor seize N.J. brothers?

ISIS_theridgewoodblog

AUGUST 16, 2015, 11:04 PM    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2015, 11:11 PM
BY JOHN SEASLY AND JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

On April 21, Nader Saadeh’s distraught mother begged her 20-year-old son, who was an ocean away, not to join the militant Islamic State.

“Do not go anywhere if u love me dont kill your mom,” Nadira Saif wrote in an email in Arabic translated by the FBI. “Dont kill my smile[.] i want be happy all the time do not leave me do not go to them!”

The email is included in one of five criminal complaints that form a detailed, emotional narrative, in which federal authorities allege that the Fort Lee High School graduate, his older brother Alaa and three acquaintances slid into an obsession with the Islamic State, its theology and its violence.

Detained for months in Jordan and arraigned in federal court in Newark last Monday, Nader Saadeh is portrayed by the FBI as a key figure in a plot that allegedly involved bomb-making attempts and aspirations to join and fight with Sunni Muslim militants of the Islamic State, or ISIS.

According to the FBI and a family friend who informed on him, Nader Saadeh was making plans to join the Islamic State, looking up plane flights and viewing Islamic State propaganda online. The case against him is based on testimony of three unidentified informers as well as video, audio and digital surveillance, and statements made by his brother, Alaa.

The brothers’ father, Khaled Saadeh, denies that his sons had any involvement with ISIS. If they had, he said, he would have turned them in himself.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/did-isis-fervor-seize-n-j-brothers-1.1393463

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Electrical fire forced the temporary evacuation of the Ethos Spa in Midland Park

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photo courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook

Electrical fire forced the temporary evacuation of the Ethos Spa in Midland Park

August 14,2014
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Midland Park NJ, An electrical fire that originated in a commercial laundry dryer forced the temporary evacuation of the Ethos Spa at 85 Godwin Avenue, Midland Park on Thursday morning, 08/13. Midland Park FD responded and determined that the fire had not extended beyond the laundry room area. No injuries were reported and following ventilation of all smoke from the area, the premises were able to be reoccupied. Midland Park PD also responded.

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Fake customer service rep trolls complainers of Target’s new gender neutral policy

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BY ANDREA ROMANO

Target started an effort to become more gender inclusive, doing so by getting rid of gender-based signs in its store’s toy sections. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy about it.

As with every progressive brand change, people have been flooding Target’s social media pages with serious and sarcastic complaints about its new policy, which was announced on Aug. 7.

In response, a Facebook troll called Ask ForHelp has been responding to these unhappy customers with hilariously snarky comments, pretending to represent Target customer service. Naturally, the account doesn’t take being made fun of with a grain of salt.

https://mashable.com/2015/08/13/target-customer-service-troll/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

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Flooding caused when Crash takes out Fire hydrant closing right shoulder of 17 south in Paramus

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photo courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook
Flooding caused when Crash takes out Fire hydrant closing right shoulder of 17 south in Paramus
August 14,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Paramus NJ, Paramus Police Department units on the scene of a motor vehicle collision in which a fire hydrant was struck on Route 17 southbound in Paramus, just south of Ridgewood Avenue, on Friday, 08/14.

The force of the collision’s impact sheared off the hydrant at its base causing a water leak that closed the right shoulder and right & center travel lanes of the highway for approximately two (2) hours beginning at 3:45 PM. Southbound traffic on Route 17 was backed up for miles as a result, and there was heavy rubbernecking northbound. The center travel lane of the highway was opened shortly after 5:30 PM.
No information about the number vehicles involved in the collision, nor the nature of any injuries, was available from police on the scene. A worker from United Water was observed at the scene attending to the leak.
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Police: Brother, sister charged in connection with theft of bag of ATM money in Mahwah

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AUGUST 12, 2015, 8:00 AM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2015, 1:07 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS AND STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

MAHWAH — Police have arrested a brother and sister in connection with a stolen bag containing $150,000 cash that had been accidentally left on a curb in Mahwah last month.

Mahwah Chief James Batelli said that Jamar Bludson, 35, was apprehended in Newark on Tuesday, around the same time his sister, 32-year-old Irvington resident Tamirah Laberth, was detained by police.

The other suspect in the bag’s theft, Alton Harvey, 42, of Hillside, was arrested a few days after the alleged crime. Harvey and Bludson were both charged with one count of theft of mislaid property, a second-degree crime.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/police-brother-sister-charged-in-connection-with-theft-of-bag-of-atm-money-in-mahwah-1.1390997