RIDGEWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A black bear reportedly roaming around Ridgewood, New Jersey, was tranquilized by authorities Saturday.
According to posts on the Ridgewood Police Department’s social media accounts, the 175-pound bear was roaming the community earlier but was removed by the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Ridgewood police tell WCBS 880 a call came in at about 8:10 a.m. about a bear in the area heading into town.
The Ridgewood blog was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger . Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .
Ridgewood NJ, – Oct. 26, 2009 – RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — The Ridgewood blog ( https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/ ) was founded in March of 2006 by James J Foytlin aka PJ Blogger .[1] Mr. Foytlin was born and raised in Ridgewood ,New Jersey and is a graduate of Ridgewood High School .[2] [3]
After many years living in New York City[4] Mr Foytlin returned to Ridgewood after a divorce and the tragic events of 9/11 . Once he settled in he noticed a lack of sufficient news coverage of local events . One day a friend from Brazil[5] showed him her home town on the internet and to Mr. Foytlin’s great surprise when he tried to reciprocate he was utterly dismayed at the absolute lake coverage of his home town. After all Ridgewood is only 18 miles from midtown Manhattan[6] the media capitol of world and there was not a single picture of Ridgewood to be found . How could this be? Ridgewood is a picturesque upper middle class village of around 25,000 located in Bergen county in northern New Jersey[7] . Founded by Dutch settlers before it became an English colony[8] . The town or village as its called is steeped in rich history and tradition .Known for a large amount of Victorian era housing , a quality school system and a family friendly atmosphere.
Though busy getting reacquainted with his home town the fact that the Village of Ridgewood was so under represented on the internet continued to disturb Mr. Foytlin. Mr. Foytlin had been writing news letters for his job in financial services since the mid 1990’s . The popular flip, off beat investment strategy news letters had become email blasts with the advent of readily accessible internet.[9] By 2004 the email blasts were converted into blog format for the One Small Voice blog (https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/ ). [10]
Around that time the Village of Ridgewood had finally completed it’s much anticipated and long delayed renovation of the Village hall which has been flooded out due to Hurricane Floyd.[11] The renovation was marred by huge cost over runs and lengthy delays. In 2005 it opened with great fan fare , was once again flooded with the very first rain . Mr. Foytlin was more shocked by the abject lack of responsibility taken by elected officials than the fact that the $9 million dollar renovation had to some extent been a failure . That was the breaking point and Mr. Foytlin had had enough so he decided to give , citizen journalism a go and created the Ridgewood blog in March of 2006. [12]
The birth of PJ Blogger .By this time Blogging its seems had become quite the rage and mainstream news anchors such as Dan Rather had questioned the validity of information from non professionals sitting around in their Pajama’s blogging.[13] Mr. Foytlin not a fan of Dan Rather or any of the mainstream media decided to blog under the name PJ Blogger as a play on words and to plant himself firmly in the camp of the new digital media.
Innovations by the Ridgewood blog to citizen journalism.
“The Fly” is a column on the Ridgewood blog the originates from the expression ,”I’d like to be a fly on the wall “ . The idea is that every citizen has both a unique perspective and experience and these two factors can be used to gather news and opinions about local issues. Originally only of handful of people in town participated but with time the Ridgewood blog can now count on 20–40 semi regular contributors. These post are both anonymous and signed and are largely opinion as well a breaking news.[14]
The Ridgewood blog brings a free market lassie fare point of view to local issues . Mr. Foytlin aka PJ Blogger has stated that for local issues there are only two kinds of people ;the ones who say spend what every you want because I will not be around to pay the bill and the second group which are more focused on the ,”be careful this is my money your spending” . The Ridgewood blog is dedicated to the interplay of there two groups.[15]
[1][12] the Ridgewood blog website https://theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/
[2] Birth Certificate born in Valley Hospital , Ridgewood 04/09/1962
[3] Ridgewood High School Class 1980
[4] 444 East 86th street ,530 East 72nd
[5] Monica Rocha
[6] Mapquest
[7] United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936.
[8] https://www.americantowns.com/nj/ridgewood/organization/vi…
[9] Fahnestock & Co. now Oppenheimer & Co.
[10] https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/
[11] https://www.ridgewoodlibrary.org/localhistory/lh_vh_pease.htm
[13] https://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110005611
[14] [15] James J Foytlin
Ridgewood NJ, According to the Ridgewood Police Department they will be conducting training at Hawes School beginning Monday 3/30/15 through Thursday 4/2/15 from 7am to 4pm each day. Expect to see police activity around the school.
This is a training exercise and thats all we know at this juncture .
Reader states Why on earth doesn’t the Village ask Valley for a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) is beyond me
Why on earth doesn’t the Village ask Valley for a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) is beyond me… all Valley does is present ridiculous expansion plans based on ordinance 3066 -which former Mayor Pfund passed to allow them to apply for exceptions to the Village Master Plan – then waste Villagers time and money, and then sue us. Then they pay their CEO $2 million a year for running a single hospital – whereas the others on that list run hosital systems – and they can’t even pay their fair share of the costs for Villages services including Police, Fire, EMT, sanitation, snow removal, road and pothole repair, etc. Some non-profit that is, they’re a bad neighbor.
I wanted to let you know that we experienced at least 6 car burglaries overnight with one car stolen. Surrounding towns have had a similar experience.
Ridgewood Police reported ,on March 16, 2015 the Ridgewood Police Department responded to six reports of car entries on Heights Road, Crest Road and Sunset Avenue. The vehicles were unlocked and unknown items were taken.
A 2009 Escalade was also reported stolen from a Sunset Avenue home. These matters are all under investigation.
The Ridgewood Police Department would like to remind residents that they should lock all car doors and never leave the keys in the vehicle. Items that may be expensive and vulnerable to theft should not be left in the vehicle. Please report any suspicious persons immediately.
Please take note of the following precautions with your vehicles:
Please do not leave your cars unlocked in your driveway.
Please do not leave any valuables in your car; if you have valuables in your car make sure they are not visible.
Please do not leave your car keys in your car, make sure they are in a safe place.
The Ridgewood Police Department is actively working on this. If you see something suspicious, please contact the Police Department. We will apprise you of any progress on this matter when available.
Be safe,
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
-PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS-
Fort Lee man among three charged in alleged burglary scheme targeting seniors
MARCH 13, 2015, 8:49 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015, 9:38 PM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Police have arrested a Fort Lee man and two others who allegedly ran a scheme targeting elderly people across several states by distracting them while their homes were burglarized, authorities said Friday in a news release.
The men were caught by a law enforcement task force after they allegedly attempted to run the scam in Ridgewood on Tuesday but came away from a Greenway Lane home without taking anything, said Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano. The men were arrested in Lyndhurst, he said.
The task force had been assembled in Somerset County after the three men allegedly stole a safe with $75,000 cash and an undisclosed amount of jewelry from a 90-year-old woman in Somerville late last year; one of the men had distracted her by saying he was with the water company and had come to check the pipes, Soriano said.
Reader says legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.
Unfortunately for you, you’ve just highlighted perhaps the best reason why Councilwoman Knudsen need never have concerned herself with any potential conflict-of-interest: Potentially eliminating the RPD’s and the RFD’s legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.
Other items relating to village hiring practices for other municipal jobs may have been up for discussion, but never the local hiring practices relating to police or firemen. (And certainly nothing on the agenda necessitated closing the session.)
This is also why it is so clearly a red herring for anyone to bring up her relationship to the test-takers. They are not even candidates for any of the positions or categories of positions being looked at by the VC for potential changes in the law relating to hiring practices!
What do we care about what relationship the test-takers have or don’t have with Councilwoman Knudsen? What’s the relevance?
Reader says Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not.
Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not. Yet you won’t stop talking about it. It has no relevance to the topic at hand. Your continued harping on it seems to show that you are trying to sow general confusion or to deflect attention from the topic immediately at hand (namely: non-police and non-firefighter municipal hiring practices in Ridgewood). Is this not the textbook definition of a red herring? If so, can we please be forgiven for ignoring it?
A municipality that flouts or ignores the law in question for 25 years MUST BE consistently failing deliberately to give priority to qualified candidates who actually live within its borders. Thus, its hiring practices are literally out of control and must be amended immediately.
Most qualified potential candidates who are also local residents are likely to be unaware of the law operating in their favor because the management of the municipality has itself forgotten about its requirements. That’s a heck of a lot of ignorance, institutional and otherwise. The likelihood of such collective ignorance and lack of management control producing many, many violations of the law in question over a twenty-five year period is objectively high.
More particularly, the municipality in question will be extremely lucky if one or more such violations did not occur within the one, two, three, six-year period (whatever it happens to be) specified by the statute of limitations (i.e., the recent past) such that the hiring decision(s) is either currently subject to being ‘undone’ as a result of a well-pled lawsuit, or will be held to have triggered liability for money damages awardable to the plaintiff behind the suit.
You are asking someone to simply name for you any and all Ridgewood residents in the past twenty-five years who were qualified and applied for a position with the village and were improperly turned down in favor of respective out-of-town applicants.
With all due respect, and at least in this forum, this is a preposterous demand. If you are curious about the potential scope of the village’s liability for current and past violations of the hiring practices law in question, you should conduct your own investigation. Pounding your fists at the insufficiency of a collection of comments on a local blog accomplishes nothing and, frankly, makes you look like a fish out of water (or worse).
OTOH, Nobody here ultimately wishes anyone ill. The issues and good governance are what count, and your time was not wasted if you would just try to broaden your perspective to include more than just the political, or the tactical.
Ridgewood police warn residents to be proactive about preventing break-ins
March 6, 2015, 1:18 PM Last updated: Friday, March 6, 2015, 1:18 PM
By CHRIS HARRIS
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — Police officials warned residents this week to be proactive about break-ins, which have been on the rise in the village.
Ridgewood’s Chief John Ward said that so far in 2015, there have been three residential burglaries in the village and two failed attempts.
Ward said 2015 was on pace to surpass the previous three years for burglaries and break-in attempts, noting there were 44 last year, 53 the year before, and 46 in 2012.
Ward told the council Wednesday his department was taking its own measures to reverse the trend, but said there are things Ridgewood residents can do to prevent their homes from being victimized.
“We are stepping up patrols, and using unmarked cars while making positive progress on leads,” Ward said, adding he’d like to see neighborhood watch programs return to the village.
“Residents and neighbors are your best defense, and that means giving up personal space and information,” Ward said.
Reader says the deafening silence on the MIke Sedon email is very telling that little breach of civility had real consequences
The deafening silence for the three of them, most notable the large-and-in-charge Mayor speaks volumes. They want the MIke Sedon email forgotten. Sorry, Sir Paul, you keep sweeping it under the rung and we will keep pulling the rug back.
Why doesn’t the mayor open the case of Mr. Sedon’s job being threatened if he did not quit his candidacy two years ago???? Hello? Paul Aronsohn? Are you listening???
Very good question . Who did write that e-mail? Not a peep from the Council majority on that one. And that little breach of civility had real consequences unlike most of what these 3 are complaining about. Also, not a peep from our Deputy Mayor or Mrs. Hauck about their beloved Valley Hospital, its most uncivil attorney and even less civil lawsuit. How do they reconcile their support of Valley while sitting on the Council as defendants? How do they sit through these silly civility hearings knowing that Valley is the biggest bully in town next to them.
N.Y. man injured in Ridgewood construction accident
FEBRUARY 20, 2015, 7:38 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015, 7:38 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — A 31-year-old man from Rockland County suffered a broken collar bone and shoulder in a construction accident Friday morning, according to a village police spokesman.
The police spokesman said the incident occurred inside a McKinley Place home, where crews were working to install drywall.
Glen Rock wig-wearing bank robber still at large, gender unknown
FEBRUARY 19, 2015, 5:42 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015, 5:42 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
GLEN ROCK — As detectives continue to pursue the wigged robber behind Wednesday’s mid-morning holdup of the Glen Rock Savings Bank, one question remains: Are police on a manhunt or a ladyhunt?
Questions concerning the gender of the stick-up suspect — who wore women’s sunglasses, a rose-colored wig, and carried a handbag to the heist — continue to go unanswered as speculation grows that the robber is in fact a sir.
Early information from officers suggested the robber was female, but police later clarified the sex of the suspect wasn’t entirely clear.
As the robber fled the bank Wednesday with more than $100,0000 in cash, he or she shed the wig and ditched the gun that was used in the crime’s commission.
Police Chief Fred Stahman commented Wednesday that the robber’s gun may have been designed to fire paintballs.
Soon after photos were released of the suspect, Facebook users commented that the robber couldn’t be a woman with that rugged jawline and seemingly receding hairline.
Ridgewood Resident Hit by Phone Scam
February 6,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood police report that on January 29, 2015 a Ridgewood resident reported getting a call from “American National Award” stating that she had won a cash award. The caller advised that she needed to wire money in order to receive her winnings. The victim complied and sent $539.00 to the caller. The matter is under investigation by the Ridgewood Detective Bureau.
Often, scammers who operate by phone don’t want to give you time to think about their pitch; they just want you to say “yes.” But some are so cunning that, even if you ask for more information, they seem happy to comply. They may direct you to a website or otherwise send information featuring “satisfied customers.” These customers, known as shills, are likely as fake as their praise for the company.
Here are a few red flags to help you spot telemarketing scams. If you hear a line that sounds like this, say “no, thank you,” hang up, and file a complaint with the FTC:
You’ve been specially selected (for this offer).
You’ll get a free bonus if you buy our product.
You’ve won one of five valuable prizes.
You’ve won big money in a foreign lottery.
This investment is low risk and provides a higher return than you can get anywhere else.
You have to make up your mind right away.
You trust me, right?
You don’t need to check our company with anyone.
We’ll just put the shipping and handling charges on your credit card. (https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-phone-scams)
IRS Warns of Pervasive Telephone Scam
IR-2013-84, Oct. 31, 2013
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today warned consumers about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country.
Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.
“This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country. We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves. Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,” says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.” Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail
Other characteristics of this scam include:
Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:
If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue – if there really is such an issue.
If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
You can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant; choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.
Taxpayers should be aware that there are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS.
The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant against phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail [email protected].
More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov.
