Ridgewood EMTs training to fight rise in overdose deaths
JULY 18, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2014, 12:31 AM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER
Officials in New Jersey have reported a significant recent rise in deaths caused by overdoses on prescription painkillers and heroin.
Thanks to new state legislation, members of Ridgewood Emergency Services (EMS) are now better prepared to deal with any opiod overdoses they may encounter.
On Tuesday night, Dr. Marc Dreier, The Valley Hospital’s medical director of Emergency Services, trained Ridgewood EMS members in the new state-sanctioned administration of the drug naloxone, a temporary antidote for opioid overdoses.
“This is definitely a positive development,” Dreier said, “but prevention is the solution.”
According to EMS Chief Brian Pullman, Ridgewood deals with few overdoses on opioids, more commonly dealing with overdoses on other drugs. In his other position as a Ridgewood police sergeant, Pullman has encountered at least one heroin overdose that was “beyond the point of help.”
“We haven’t seen it as an ‘epidemic’ in Ridgewood, but we have seen cases,” he said.
Pullman and about 40 other emergency responders attended the one-hour training, which Dreier gave at 8 p.m. at the Douglas Place headquarters of Ridgewood EMS. Responders from other municipalities, including Mahwah and Waldwick, joined Ridgewood EMS members.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/training-to-fight-rise-in-overdose-deaths-1.1053679#sthash.SmrheQl9.dpuf
JULY 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2014, 1:21 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — A member of the Planning Board spoke out this week against a proposed master plan amendment that would permit multifamily, high-density housing complexes downtown — calling for a moratorium on development in the village.
But she received mixed reviews from other board members, who were divided about the process or feared the village would face litigation.
“I don’t believe what is happening here is really in the best interest of the village as a whole,” said Michele Peters, after nearly three hours of testimony Tuesday night on three proposed developments.
Those developments — the Enclave, a 52-unit project on East Ridgewood Avenue; The Dayton, a 106-unit apartment building for South Broad Street; and the 52-unit Chestnut Village on Chestnut Street — are currently prohibited under the village code. And the amendment has been under consideration for nearly two years.
Peters urged the others members to “take time to stop, so we can talk about this.”
She added that she thinks the board is “dealing with a fire as it comes to us” and questioned the entire process that members are embroiled in.
Peters was also critical of the ordinance that enabled the developers’ requests for a master plan amendment, saying the village was “putting the cart before the horse.”
Urging more of an exchange with the public throughout the hearing process, Peters said, “These are major issues having to do with the way our community is planned and it should be freely discussed.”
Big jump in number of millennials living with parents reported
More Americans than ever live in multigenerational households, and the number of millennials who live with their parents is rising sharply, according to a study released Thursday.
A record 57 million Americans, or 18.1% of the population, lived in multigenerational arrangements in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s more than double the 28 million people who lived in such households in 1980, the center said.
A multigenerational family is defined as one with two or more generations of adults living together.
Moving in with parents becomes more common for the middle-aged Walter Hamilton
The sluggish job market and other factors have propelled the rise in millennials living in their childhood bedrooms.
About 23.6% of people age 25 to 34 live with their parents, grandparents or both, according to Pew. That’s up from 18.7% in 2007, just prior to the global financial crisis, and from 11% in 1980.
For the first time, a larger share of young people live in multigenerational arrangements than of Americans 85 and older.
Australia Scrapping Pollution Levy Marks First U-Turn on Climate
By Jason Scott and Mike Anderson Jul 17, 2014 1:03 PM ET
Coal is stockpiled in preparation for loading onto ships for export at the Newcastle… Read More
Australia’s decision to repeal its levy limiting fossil-fuel pollution makes it the first nation to turn back from a market approach to fighting global warming.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government won final approval from Parliament yesterday to scrap a levy about 300 companies paid for their carbon dioxide emissions. The move leaves Australia, the largest polluter per capita among industrial nations, without a system for reducing greenhouse gases as it prepares to host a meeting of the Group of 20 nations.
“Australia is bereft of a credible climate policy just as the international community focuses on deeper reduction targets,” said John Connor, chief executive officer of The Climate Institute, a Sydney-based environmental group. He called the move an “historic act of irresponsibility and recklessness.”
Reader says who has time to look? We’re too busy making money and driving our kids to soccer practice
All but a few old-timers and insiders know what really goes on inside the Village Hall. For most people, Ridgewood is a place you live while your kids go through school, after which you sell up and move out. It’s quite a transient community. An affluent town. Lovely houses. We wave at our neighbors and have cocktails and BBQs. We are a pretty sophisticated bunch, mostly wrapped up in the lives of our kids and the long, stressful hours we put in at some big corporation. We have this natural impression that all our fellow Ridgewoodians are the same. Sophisticated.
That nice looking Village Hall is not staffed and managed by people like you. Just because Ridgewood has that Norman Rockwell image, does not mean it’s run by Norman Rockwell types. These people know all too well that the typical Ridgewood resident is blasting through life full speed and living a very comfortable life, to pay attention to the nepotism, insider perks and the feasting at the trough of what these residents pay in the form of taxes, fees, and yes, parking meter coins.
Hey, who has time to look? We’re too busy making money and driving our kids to soccer practice.
JULY 17, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2014, 1:21 AM BY CHRIS HARRIS STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — A member of the Planning Board spoke out this week against a proposed master plan amendment that would permit multifamily, high-density housing complexes downtown — calling for a moratorium on development in the village.
But she received mixed reviews from other board members, who were divided about the process or feared the village would face litigation.
“I don’t believe what is happening here is really in the best interest of the village as a whole,” said Michele Peters, after nearly three hours of testimony Tuesday night on three proposed developments.
Those developments — the Enclave, a 52-unit project on East Ridgewood Avenue; The Dayton, a 106-unit apartment building for South Broad Street; and the 52-unit Chestnut Village on Chestnut Street — are currently prohibited under the village code. And the amendment has been under consideration for nearly two years.
Peters urged the others members to “take time to stop, so we can talk about this.”
She added that she thinks the board is “dealing with a fire as it comes to us” and questioned the entire process that members are embroiled in.
Peters was also critical of the ordinance that enabled the developers’ requests for a master plan amendment, saying the village was “putting the cart before the horse.”
Urging more of an exchange with the public throughout the hearing process, Peters said, “These are major issues having to do with the way our community is planned and it should be freely discussed.”
Joseph Stalin estimated over 20 million people were murdered under his Socialist Rule
Millennials Don’t Know What “Socialism” Means
Emily Ekins|Jul. 16, 2014 9:14 am
Young people don’t know what socialism is.
Recent polls have suggested that millennials are far more positive to socialism than older cohorts. For instance, the Pew Research Center found that 43 percent of 18-29 year olds had a positive reaction to the word socialism, compared to 33 percent of 30-49 year olds, 23 percent of 50-64 year olds, and 14% of 65+. The older you get the more you hate socialism.
But do young people even know what socialism means?
Perhaps not. A new Reason-Rupe report on millennials finds that young people are more favorable to the word “socialism” than a government-managed economy, even though the latter is lessinterventionist. Millennials don’t like government intervention in the economy when you spell it out precisely, rather than use vague terms like “socialism.”
In fact, a 2010 CBS/New York Times survey found that when Americans were asked to use their own words to define the word “socialism” millennials were the least able to do so. According to the survey, only 16 percent of millennials could define socialism as government ownership, or some variation thereof. In contrast, 30 percent of Americans over 30 could do the same (and 57% of tea partiers, incidentally).
Millennials simply don’t know that socialism means the government owning everybody’s businesses. They don’t understand that socialism means the government owns the banks, the car companies, Uber, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, etc. They don’t even want the government taking a managerial role over the economy, let alone nationalizing private enterprise.
In fact, millennial support for a government-managed economy (32%) mirrors national favorabilitytoward the word socialism (31%). Millennial preferences may not be so different from older generations once terms are defined.
Millennials’ preferred economic system becomes more pronounced when it is described precisely. Fully 64 percent favor a free market economy over an economy managed by the government (32%), whereas 52 percent favor capitalism over socialism (42%). Language about capitalism and socialism is vague, and using these terms assumes knowledge millennials may not have acquired.
Do you have someone in mind that is a Bergen Legend? Bergen 350 is looking for nominees for a Legend Award to be honored at the Bergen 350 Gala, so submit names of those living and deceased!
https://bergen350.com/about-the-legends-award/
Bergen 350 Legends Award
We too often think of history as being made in distant times and far away places rather than on our own doorstep. Yet here we stand, not only on soil repeatedly hallowed as a battleground of the American Revolution, but on a rich plain of progress where America begins again for each successive generation in their search for excellence. Over the past three and a half centuries, Bergen County has transformed from a frontier wilderness to one of America’s premier suburban counties, hosting seventy municipalities, each with its own homestyle flavor. Both past and present, individuals of singular accomplishment and events of great moment enrich our history.
On the 350th anniversary of New Jersey’s founding, we hope to honor the stories of extraordinary individuals, living or departed, who leave a positive legacy for our posterity to admire and emulate. To represent the true historical depth of our community, our selection of Bergen Legends purposes to officially recognize and perpetuate the names of those who have displayed outstanding ability, meritorious service and superior performance in their various fields of endeavor. Nominees must be exemplary individuals of good character and demonstrated ability who have forged successful careers, enriching the life of our community through their talent, energy and substance. While the names of some may already be etched in the annals of time, others may be unsung heroes, who gain prominence or deserve recognition for excellence in business professions or public affairs, in the arts and sciences, or in entertainment and athletics. The only qualification for consideration is that Bergen County be closely identified with their record of achievement and as their primary field of action.
We therefore encourage the nomination of any person who through his or her life’s work has demonstrated a significant and lasting contribution to the great heritage, improved quality of life and good character of Bergen County. The first class of honorees will be named at our Bergen 350 Gala on October 15, 2014.
Forum to focus on ideas for Ridgewood business district
JULY 15, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2014, 12:38 AM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER
Two major master plan amendment applications, from The Valley Hospital and developers seeking to build multifamily housing developments in Ridgewood’s Central Business District (CBD), have dominated Planning Board meetings over the last year.
And this state of affairs has forced the board and residents to become “reactive” to these applications, rather than “proactive” in developing their own vision for the CBD’s future, according to Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli.
“[Residents] are locked into a reactive mode, like the Planning Board itself,” Pucciarelli said. “Protest signs about ‘Save our Village’ do not really set the tone for a positive image of what it is we want. It suggests more of what we don’t want.”
To learn what villagers would like to see happen in the CBD, Pucciarelli is holding an informal public meeting starting at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23 in Village Hall.
“No agenda. Limited structure. Let’s just have a chance to come to the open mic and exchange ideas,” Pucciarelli said. “I’m hoping it brings out people who are genuinely interested in promoting ideas in a positive way. I don’t want to see it turn into a demonstration against a particular application or group of applicants that are out there.”
Pucciarelli previously sat on both the planning and zoning boards for about 24 years. He was the council’s Planning Board liaison until last Tuesday’s reorganization meeting.
He said his new position off the Planning Board has left him free to engage in a more open discussion about the CBD.
Dear Liberals, Stop Freaking Out About the Supreme Court ,Freedom isn’t so dangerous.
A. Barton Hinkle | July 14, 2014
Reaction to Supreme Court decisions generally falls into two camps: (a) The court wisely followed the Constitution, legal precedent, first principles, logic, and sensible jurisprudence, or (b) WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!
Reaction B was on full view after the Hobby Lobby decision, in which the Supreme Court held that some companies could cite religious objections to avoid complying with a federal contraception mandate. The New Yorker offered a typically measured and thoughtful response: “When the Taliban Meets Hobby Lobby,” which was based on the extremely realistic premise that the Taliban would move to the U.S., set up a closely held corporation, and then file suit to avoid having to pay insurance coverage for polio vaccinations.
The essay drew a lot of amused response. “What if the Taliban wanted to exercise its right to free speech?!?!?!?!” mocked one reader on Twitter. “Sure, the 4th Amendment SOUNDS nice,” wrote another. “But what if a cop pulled over Osama bin Laden driving down I-95?!”
Still, you can’t blame people who lose an argument for getting upset. Unfortunately, they also tend to exaggerate. And to complain not only that the reasoning was wrong but that the decision will produce consequences so horrible we’d all be better off letting an asteroid the size of Texas smack into planet Earth and kill everything but the roaches.
That was the reaction in many quarters after two Supreme Court rulings in favor of gun rights. After the high court struck down a District of Columbia handgun ban, Mayor Adrian Fenty predicted that “introducing more handguns into the District will mean more handgun violence.” Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin agreed: “There is no question that this decision from the Supreme Court makes it harder for all mayors to keep their city safe,” she warned. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley called the ruling “very frightening.” The New York Times insisted that the Court had “all but ensured that even more Americans will die senselessly.”
Two years later, the Supreme Court extended its District of Columbia v. Heller ruling in McDonald v. Chicago. Reaction? Lather, rinse, and repeat.
Yet none of those predictions turned out to be accurate. After the rulings, the national homicide rate kept falling, and as did violent crime overall, and large cities especially enjoyed some of the largest declines. But wait—weren’t 14 people killed by gunfire in Chicago last weekend alone? Sadly, yes. (Pertinent point: Two of them were gunned down by police officers.) But that headline overshadowed the fact that, overall, Chicago’s homicide total has been trending down—and last year reached a low it hadn’t seen in half a century.
A similar pattern played out after the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, which said the government could not prohibit the election-season distribution of a movie about Hillary Clinton just because it was produced by a corporation. Reaction from the left was hotter than thermite plasma.
The Court had given corporations the power to “overwhelm elections,” fumed the New York Times corporation. A commentator from another corporation (MSNBC) declared the case the worst ruling since Dred Scott, which upheld slavery. President Obama saidCitizens United “strikes at democracy itself.” Others called the ruling a “constitutional Frankenstein moment,” a “corporate takeover,” “radical,” “absurd” and “terrifying.” Some progressives launched a campaign to rewrite the First Amendment. Really.
How did the predicted hostile takeover of democracy by corporate America turn out? In the aftermath of the 2012 elections, the Times reported: “American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove, spent $104 million in the general election, but none of its candidates won. The United States Chamber of Commerce spent $24 million backing Republicans in 15 Senate races; only two of them won. Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul, spent $53 million on nine Republican candidates, eight of whom lost.” It was, as the paper noted, “A Landslide Loss for Big Money.”
John Fund / Hans von Spakovsky / @HvonSpakovsky / July 13, 2014
Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative.
If Eric Holder were a baseball player, he’d have been benched long ago — if not kicked off the team. His batting average before the Supreme Court is abysmal, losing again and again in his efforts to undermine the Constitution.
This term featured four big strike downs.
First was Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, in which the Supremes tossed out ObamaCare’s contraceptive abortion mandate and upheld the First Amendment rights of several family-owned businesses to make their living in conformance with their religious beliefs.
Although the government was not party to another case, Harris v. Quinn, the Justice Department filed an amicus brief on the side of Illinois and the SEIU, arguing that unwilling home health-care workers could be forced into unions (and made to pay compulsory dues) simply because their services are paid for through Medicaid.
Fortunately, the Court ruled against Illinois’s heavy-handed attempt to help bolster its political allies, public sector unions.
On June 26, in National Labor Relations Board v. Canning, all nine Justices ruled that President Obama’s “recess” appointments to the NLRB violated the Constitution.
Not only did Obama’s own judicial appointees vote against him (including his former solicitor general), but the majority opinion was written by Stephen Breyer, a liberal stalwart of the Court.
The Administration also lost United State v. Wurie, in which the Holder Justice Department claimed that the police and federal authorities did not need a search warrant to seize all of the information stored in the cellphone of someone who had been arrested.
Once again, the administration lost all nine justices.
The basic invasion of privacy and violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful searches and seizures represented by the administration’s position is in line with its frightening view of governmental power over its citizens.
Canning and Wurie are only the latest losses of the administration in which all nine Supreme Court justices ruled against the government.
In fact, there have been 20 such cases during this administration — and even more if you include cases in which the administration filed an amicus brief, such as in McCullen v. Coakley, the free-speech case that was handed down the same day as the recess appointments case.
The Obama administration filed an amicus brief in that case supporting the Massachusetts law in question and helped argue the case before the Supreme Court.
But all nine justices found the Massachusetts law, which created a 35-foot “buffer” zone around abortion clinics, violated the First Amendment by restricting speech in public areas “that have historically been open to the public for speech activities.”
It is no surprise that the administration supported a law that restricted the voice of pro-life supporters.
That is in accord with its general attack on the political speech and activities of disfavored conservative advocacy organizations through the IRS and other government agencies. The positions taken by this administration in the other 9-to-0 cases are just as overbroad.
In 2012’s Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, DOJ displayed an open hostility to religious freedom by claiming that the federal government had the right, as the Supreme Court termed it, to “interfere” in a church’s employment decisions on the hiring and firing of its ministers and religious teachers.
The Supreme Court was clearly astounded at the arguments being made by the Justice Department and unanimously rejected it.
In Sackett v. EPA, the administration tried to prevent a family from defending itself in court and contesting a punitive order from EPA bureaucrats imposing a fine of $75,000 a day for trying to develop a lot in a residential neighborhood which the EPA considered a wetland. The administration lost.
In US v. Jones, just like in the Riley/Wurie cases, the administration claimed that law enforcement could attach a GPS device to your car without a warrant or even any suspicion of criminal activity.
The Court unanimously rejected this position and, in a concurring opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the administration was trying to invade “privacy interests long afforded, and undoubtedly entitled to, Fourth Amendment protection.”
Typically, the Justice Department does very well before the Supreme Court. Holder has made that a losing record.
That’s because, as legal scholar Ilya Shapiro says, the administration has “relied on outlandish legal theories that pushed a constitutional interpretation of extreme federal power.”
Holder and Obama have argued that we as Americans don’t have the right to free speech, the right to privacy, the right to due process or the freedom of religion.
Thankfully, the Supreme Court has become the last defense for those who still believe in those rights.
Project Graduation : Readers says the greater problem is the Draconian overreaction of the school
This idiotic attempt to sanitize life is never going to work and it is ultimately counterproductive.
Besides the problem is currently being managed and handled effectively – the “Gang of Eight” were caught and dealt with. “Eight graduates at Ridgewood High School’s Project Graduation celebration at Benjamin Franklin Middle School (BF) on June 25 were removed from the all-night party and found in possession or under the influence of alcohol, according to a police report.”
What happens when this newest “plan” doesn’t work? Strip searches? Colostomy bags and no bathroom breaks? Enough already.
Our fearless leader, Fishbein, stated what the REAL problem is: “unfortunately kids are resourceful “ …and the one thing we DON’T want is resourceful kids.
The problem is, a small minority of kids go to great lengths to get drunk at this event. It’s almost a challenge to them to outwit what they see as a bunch of fuddy-duddies trying to find their liquor. If you want to talk real lawsuit liability, not the empty threat kind, then watch a bunch of Ridgewood parents sue the Village and the School for not preventing a drinking-related incident that even remotely harmed their precious child.
However, the greater problem is the Draconian overreaction of the school. Who are they to hold my children hostage and not allow them to go home after graduation? Am I not allowed to celebrate with my own children after graduation before sending them to the party? What if there is a small post-graduation family event? Does the school think it has the power to retain my child because they were unable to control a handful of students the prior year? Which, btw, they DID effectively deal with those 25 students. Extending this “guilt by association” logic, maybe the school should ban the siblings of these 25 students from attending Project Graduation when they graduate – you good with that?
Dear Mr. Deputy Mayor:What then is your vision for the CBD?
While you raise some good points I think it’s time for you and the Council to get specific. I understand that you are under pressure from two or more corporations that have a special interest in getting their projects approved. Each of these projects is now well documented and each one requests a Master Plan amendment, or in other words, is much too large to be approved with simple variances. What is your stance on each of these projects? Do you believe that as they are proposed they are good for our Village?
It is also public knowledge that you have met with these interests with your two running mates but without the rest of the Council and without providing notice to the public. You were even the guest of one company at a fundraiser for Governor Christie. Do you care now to share what was said at those meetings? Is what was discussed at those meetings part of your current plan?
I agree that it is time for the Village to take control of the agenda to improve the CBD. I am anxious to hear your vision and to know where you stand on the current projects before the Village.
(Editor’s note: A forum on the CBD will be held from 7:30-9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23 in the Village Hall courtroom. A follow-up session will be announced at the July 23 forum).
William Binney testifies before a German inquiry into surveillance. Photograph: Getty Images
The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control
At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US, says whistleblower William Binney – that’s a ‘totalitarian mentality’
William Binney is one of the highest-level whistleblowers to ever emerge from the NSA. He was a leading code-breaker against the Soviet Union during the Cold War but resigned soon after September 11, disgusted by Washington’s move towards mass surveillance.
On 5 July he spoke at a conference in London organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and revealed the extent of the surveillance programs unleashed by the Bush and Obama administrations.
“At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US”, Binney said. “This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores.”
The NSA will soon be able to collect 966 exabytes a year, the total of internet traffic annually. Former Google head Eric Schmidt once arguedthat the entire amount of knowledge from the beginning of humankind until 2003 amount to only five exabytes.
Binney, who featured in a 2012 short film by Oscar-nominated US film-maker Laura Poitras, described a future where surveillance is ubiquitous and government intrusion unlimited.
Registration is open for the YWCA Bergen County’s section 2 session of summer swim lessons. Classes run from July 21 through August 16, 2013, and offer American Red Cross swim instruction for ages 6 months to adult. YWCA members can register at www.ywcabergencounty.org, by phone, or in person. Summer classes include Junior Swim Clinic for ages 8 to 16, which teaches advanced swimmers the butterfly stroke, swimming starts, turns, and many other competitive skills. The Synchro Stars Swim Clinic provides the opportunity for swimmers to learn synchronized swimming skills such as sculling, underwater skills, and figures. After completing the Synchro 1 perquisite, Synchro 2 students continue to strengthen their skills, learn routines, and even qualify to enter a competition with the YWCA Synchro Stars. Private swim lessons are also available with one-on-one instruction for ages 4 to adult. The YWCA offers dozens of other fitness, wellness, and enrichment programs for kids, teens, adults, and seniors. Drop-in child care is available at the 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood facility. Visit www.ywcabergencounty.org for details or call 201-444-5600 for a free brochure.
