JULY 22, 2015, 9:28 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015, 9:46 PM
BY ALLISON PRIES
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
PARAMUS — The Borough Council should abandon an ordinance to raise the tobacco buying age to 21, Paramus’ attorney recommended during a council work session Wednesday night.
Attorney Paul Kaufman told the council that the ordinance it introduced June 9 could make the borough vulnerable to costly litigation because of concerns over preemption by the state law and enforceability.
The way the law is written, Kaufman said, it’s silent on whether the tobacco buying age would be preempted by the state law, which puts the purchasing age at 19.
Related: Paramus to discuss tobacco-buying age
“I don’t think the taxpayers here should have to pay $100,000 in legal expenses to find out the answer,” he said.
Kaufman also said that it “breeds disrespect for the law to enact an ordinance that’s not enforced.”
Instead, Kaufman suggested the council pass a resolution urging the state to amend the statute.
“I get the point that when you enact an ordinance like this that you’re sending a message to the state Legislature,” Kaufman said. “I think there’s another way … to get that point across.”
The resolution could be brought to the state by hometown Assemblyman, and former Councilman, Joe Lagana. Also, the Paramus clerk could share the resolution with the Bergen County Municipal Clerks’ Association of New Jersey to spread the word, Kaufman suggested.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE REUVENI FAMILY
Gabrielle Reuveni
Surprise plea in jogger’s death; admission of guilt brings tears of relief to Paramus family
JULY 10, 2015, 12:54 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2015, 12:30 PM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF AND CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Gabrielle Reuveni’s parents had waited almost three years for this moment: an admission by the man who killed their daughter that he was under the influence of painkillers when his pickup swerved off a Pennsylvania road, striking a young woman who aspired to a future of helping others.
Philip Cise, 51, stood in the chambers of a Pennsylvania judge on Friday, even as potential jurors were assembled in the courtroom for jury selection to hear the case against him, pleading guilty to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, the most serious charge that he faced.
Reuveni, 20, Paramus High School’s 2010 valedictorian and a member of her university track team, had been running along a road near her family’s vacation home in the Poconos on July 14, 2012, when, witnesses say, Cise, a Morris County man with a long history of mental illness and minor criminal offenses, swerved for no apparent reason. Authorities said he told them he had taken painkillers obtained from a friend
Major Crash on Rout 17 South takes out Utility Pole
July 07,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, The male driver of a 4-door Toyota Corolla was transported by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center’s main campus following a rollover crash on Route 17 southbound near Route 4 at approximately 10:00 AM on this Friday morning,
The crash severed a utility pole, knocking out phone and electric service to a nearby Porcelanosa tile showroom. The right shoulder and two (2) travel lanes of Route 17 southbound were closed due to the incident. The Corolla was removed by a flatbed tow truck. Paramus PD, EMS and FD Companies 2 & 4 responded to the incident. NJDOT crews assisted in blocking traffic lanes. PSE&G crews arrived at approximately 10:45 AM to attend to the utility pole issues.
JUNE 17, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Authorities on Tuesday accused a Paramus man of participating in a scheme to embezzle $2.6 million from a large international insurance company and using the proceeds to buy a multimillion-dollar house and two luxury cars.
The U.S. attorney for Manhattan charged James J. Shea, 49, of Paramus and Eugene Fallon, 51, of Nanuet, N.Y., with wire fraud, arresting Shea on Tuesday morning. Fallon remained at large late in the day.
Authorities said Shea, an executive at the company, which was not named but was described as “the North American subsidiary of an international insurance company,” forged the signature of his supervisor to “authorize numerous payments to bogus consulting companies that Fallon controlled.”
Fallon then returned two-thirds of the money – about $1.8 million – to Shea, the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Bloomberg News identified the insurance company as Australia-based QBE Insurance Group Ltd., and it quoted a spokeswoman as saying the company is cooperating with prosecutors.
JUNE 12, 2015, 8:28 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015, 8:44 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Bergen County Executive James Tedesco on Friday named 15 members to a task force that will study the future of Bergen Regional Medical Center.
Tedesco wants the panel to come up with recommendations on what should be done when the current 19-year lease with the private company running the county-owned hospital expires on March 1, 2017.
Club awarded its fourth USGA championship, first since 1990 U.S. Senior Open
Paramus NJ, The Ridgewood Country Club home of the Barclay’s , has been selected by the United States Golf Association (USGA) as the host site for the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. The fourth USGA championship to be held at Ridgewood is scheduled for July 18-23, 2016.
“We are thrilled to announce Ridgewood Country Club as the host site of the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior and sincerely appreciate the club’s generosity in opening its long-celebrated facilities to this generation of female players,” said Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “This historic club will surely provide an excellent stage for the world’s most talented teenage female golfers and an extraordinary experience for all.”
Located less than 30 miles northwest of New York City, Ridgewood’s three 9-hole courses – East, Center and West – were designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened for play in 1929. The course routing for the Girls’ Junior will incorporate holes from all three nines.
“Ridgewood’s members enthusiastically support the USGA’s ambitious efforts to grow the game, especially for girls, and it is our honor to work together to provide the best championship experience possible,” said Bruce Bitzer, President of Ridgewood Country Club. “As proven throughout our storied history, Ridgewood is a place that identifies great champions, and we could not be more excited to host players who represent the future of women’s golf at the 68th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.”
Ridgewood’s most recent USGA championship was the 1990 U.S. Senior Open, in which Lee Trevino prevailed by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus on the Center and West courses. The club also hosted the 1974 U.S. Amateur, won by Jerry Pate, 2 and 1, over John P. Grace, and the 1957 U.S. Senior Amateur, won by J. Clark Espie, 4 and 3, over Frederick J. Wright.
Other notable events held at Ridgewood include the PGA Tour’s The Barclays in 2014, 2010 and 2008, won by Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar and Vijay Singh, respectively; the 2001 Senior PGA Championship, won by Tom Watson; the 1981 LPGA Coca-Cola Classic, won by Kathy Whitworth, a World Golf Hall of Fame member who won a record 88 LPGA events; and the 1935 Ryder Cup Matches, in which the USA defeated Great Britain, 9-3.
The 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior will be the 60th USGA championship conducted in New Jersey. The Garden State will also host the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster and the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield.
The U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship was first conducted in 1949 and is open to female amateurs who have not turned 18 on or before the final day of that year’s championship and have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 18.4.
Notable champions include three-time winner Hollis Stacy, Mickey Wright, Nancy Lopez, Amy Alcott, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Pat Hurst, I.K. Kim, Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson. Princess Mary Superal won the 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior on the Meadow Course at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz. The 2015 championship will be conducted July 20-25 at Tulsa (Okla.) Country Club.
About the USGA
The USGA conducts the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open, as well as 10 national amateur championships, two state team championships and international matches, attracting players and fans from more than 160 countries. Together with The R&A, the USGA governs the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, equipment standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USGA’s reach is global with a working jurisdiction in the United States, its territories and Mexico, serving more than 25 million golfers and actively engaging 150 golf associations.
The USGA is one of the world’s foremost authorities on research, development and support of sustainable golf course management practices. It serves as a primary steward for the game’s history and invests in the development of the game through the delivery of its services and its ongoing “For the Good of the Game” grants program. Additionally, the USGA’s Course Rating and Handicap systems are used on six continents in more than 50 countries.
For more information about the USGA, visit https://www.usga.org.
MAY 31, 2015, 2:25 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015, 2:25 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Two men and an accomplice stole two late-model Mercedes-Benz automobiles, apparently left unlocked and with the keys in them by the valet at the Ridgewood Country Club lot in Paramus on Saturday night, according to Borough Police Deputy Chief Robert Guidetti.
Department detectives were investigating the theft of a 2015 S55 four-door black Mercedes and a 2014 S550 white Mercedes sedan, which took place around 7:30 p.m. at the Midland Avenue club, Guidetti said.
Both vehicles had been parked by the club’s valet service, the deputy chief said.
A black car then drove into the club’s lot and two men got out, with each one jumping into one of the Mercedes vehicles, Guidetti said. The suspects then drove off in the two cars, and their accomplice took off in the black car.
“It’s not a carjacking,” Guidetti said. “The cars were parked at the valet … and these guys entered the cars. … They were able to start both cars and drove away.”
The two stolen cars had apparently been left unlocked with the keys in them, the deputy chief said.
“For vehicle theft tips, I will tell you, never leave your keys in a vehicle and always leave your car locked,” Guidetti said.
Paramus issued an alert for the vehicles to surrounding towns, but they had not been found, the deputy chief said.
MAY 5, 2015, 9:45 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015, 10:28 PM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Westfield Garden State Plaza confirmed Tuesday that it has signed five new luxury fashion brands as tenants, solidifying the Paramus mall’s profile as a center for high-end fashion.
Versace, Ferragamo, Longchamp, Burberry and Hugo Boss, with their Fifth Avenue pedigrees, will open this fall in a space created by the relocation of Victoria’s Secret and other stores. The deals will give the Plaza the only Versace store in New Jersey, and will help it match offerings at its two rivals for upscale mall shoppers — The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack and The Mall at Short Hills. Riverside has Hugo Boss, Burberry and Ferragamo shops, and Short Hills has Burberry and Longchamp stores.
The announcement by the Plaza comes as two of North Jersey’s other major malls deal with concerns about empty space and weigh decisions that could determine their long-term survival. The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack has more than 100,000 square feet of space that was vacated by Saks Fifth Avenue. Paramus Park has been talking for years about a movie theater wing, though work has yet to begin.
In addition to online retailing, which threatens the mall industry nationwide, North Jersey malls face the future opening of the American Dream shopping and entertainment complex in the Meadowlands.
The Plaza has been on a campaign to attract more upscale retailers ever since its leasing coups in the 1990s, when it landed North Jersey’s first Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus stores. In recent years, the mall has added Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. The new tenants will be located near those high-end neighbors, on the lower level.
North Jersey is fertile territory for affluent shoppers. The median household income in Bergen County is $83,974, ranking it 42nd among the nation’s 3,143 counties, according to the latest data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Last year the Plaza opened a fashion wing that included stores by designers Tory Burch and Vince Camuto, as well as a Microsoft store. Pirch, a high-end appliance showroom, opened in a corner of that wing in March.
The mall has added more than 40 retailers over the past year.
JUNE 2, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2014, 1:21 AM BY MARY DIDUCH STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
PARAMUS — The Borough Council unanimously approved a municipal budget that calls for an average tax decrease of $105 this year.
The $57.1 million spending plan also shows the borough will have a $9 million surplus this year, achieved largely through “fiscal discipline” and the borough reducing its debt by more than $10 million over the past four years, said Mayor Richard LaBarbiera. He said recently that the borough has increased its number of shared services agreements to 20 over the past few years, bringing in additional revenue.
“In my opinion, that is a herculean accomplishment in today’s economic times,” LaBarbiera said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The borough also has been working to manage the massive amount of commercial tax appeals that have been filed over the years, mainly from the borough’s many malls and businesses along Route 17, said Frank DiMaria, the borough’s auditor.
At the council meeting, DiMaria credited the borough’s team of professionals — the finance department and committee, tax assessor and attorneys — with working to put a plan in place to manage the commercial appeals. The professionals also have been working to keep assessments as close to 100 percent of properties’ true market value as possible to reduce the appeals’ impacts, he said.
“They’ve done a tremendous job over the years of stabilizing the impact of appeals along Route 17 when we took a tremendous hit,” DiMaria said.
And as for the $2 million that will be returned to taxpayers this year in the form of tax relief, more than half of that has already been recaptured by the borough, DiMaria noted.
This year’s budget calls for more spending on capital improvements and long-needed equipment — such as the purchase of an additional fire engine — and raising employee salaries by 1.5 percent on average across the various bargaining units in the borough, LaBarbiera said. There was a hiring and raise freeze about four years ago, but last year the borough began increasing salaries again, he said.
