By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent KEARNY – American Legion Post 99 on Belgrove Drive was the setting Friday evening for a ceremony honoring Kearny’s Finest of the Finest and Brav- est of the Bravest for 2014. Police Officer of the Year is Sgt. Paul Bershefski. Firefighter of the Year is Jason McCabe. As special as the awards are, they are made more so by the fact that the recipi- ents are chosen not by the brass (as nice as that might be) but by their peers. Each department has a committee composed of the rank-and- file who consider their col- leagues’ overall performance and achievements during the preceding 12 months. By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent BELLEVILLE – The township is retreating on one prospective real estate development front while pon- dering a 180-degree flip by the would-be builder on another. By a 7-0 vote last Tues- day, March 24, the Belleville governing body rejected an ambitious redevelopment plan that pitched several thousands of housing units in towers ex- tending up to 50 stories at the old Jacobs property at 630-632 Washington Ave. and stretch- ing down to Main St. on the old Kidde property. In doing so, the Township Council turned aside a Plan- ning Board recommendation made in December to approve the plan. In a pre-meeting public caucus, attorney Anthony J. Frese, representing O&R Ur- ban Renewal Co. LLC, and its principal Joe Orlando, asked the council to consider allow- ing his client to shift gears on development plans for the old School 1 property on Stephens St., by installing a Quick Chek retail store/gas pumps. Frese said that O&R “has run into serious issues de- veloping this property as a KEARNY – Real grass seems to be headed out with the dinosaurs these days for Kearny’s mu- nicipal playing fields. The town is applying for $743,000 in Hudson County Community Block Grant funds to put toward the acquisition and installation of synthetic turf at Veterans’ Field on Bel- grove Drive near Bergen Ave. Veterans’ Field accommo- dates one Little League base- ball field and a combination football/softball field. Mayor Alberto Santos and the Town Council held a public hearing on the CDBG application at the March 16 council meeting and no one from the public had any com- ments on it. This is the second municipal recreation complex that the town is aiming to resurface, the other being the Gunnell Oval facility off Schuyler Ave., although the motivation for that project is keyed to an environmental cleanup of the site. When all is said and done, the proposed Oval improve- ments, according to the town’s engineering experts, could run upwards of $16 million. The fixup would include rais- ing the elevation of the land, putting in a pump station and drainage system and a retain- see TURFING page 27 April 1, 2015 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 45 Turf is the way to go ‘Dream’ plan nixed by council Semiao & Associates www.Century21Semiao.com 201-991-1300 KEARNY OFFICE 213 Kearny Ave, Kearny, New Jersey [email protected]CENTURY 21 HAS GONE MOBILE! Get CENTURY 21 Real Estate Mobile App. Visit http://87778.mobi/c21 201-460-8000 LYNDHURST OFFICE 761 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, New Jersey [email protected]SCAN HERE! COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY CENTURY 21 HAS GONE MOBILE! see RECONSIDERpage 18 Photo by Karen Zautyk Pictured at American Legion ceremony are (from l.): Kearny Police Chief John Dowie, Police Officer of the Year Sgt. Paul Bershefski, Firefighter of the Year Jason McCabe and Kearny Fire Chief Steve Dyl. Acclaimed by their peers BUSINESS Visit our on Page 27 see HONORS page 10
Transcript
By Karen ZautykObserver Correspondent KEARNY –
American Legion Post 99 on Belgrove Drive was the setting Friday evening for a
ceremony honoring Kearny’s Finest of the Finest and Brav-est of the Bravest for 2014.
Police Officer of the Year is Sgt. Paul Bershefski.
Firefighter of the Year is Jason McCabe.
As special as the awards are, they are made more so by the fact that the recipi-ents are chosen not by the brass (as nice as that might be) but by their peers. Each department has a committee
composed of the rank-and-file who consider their col-leagues’ overall performance and achievements during the preceding 12 months.
By Ron LeirObserver Correspondent
BELLEVILLE –The township is retreating
on one prospective real estate development front while pon-dering a 180-degree flip by the would-be builder on another.
By a 7-0 vote last Tues-
day, March 24, the Belleville governing body rejected an ambitious redevelopment plan that pitched several thousands of housing units in towers ex-tending up to 50 stories at the old Jacobs property at 630-632 Washington Ave. and stretch-ing down to Main St. on the old Kidde property.
In doing so, the Township Council turned aside a Plan-ning Board recommendation made in December to approve the plan.
In a pre-meeting public caucus, attorney Anthony J. Frese, representing O&R Ur-ban Renewal Co. LLC, and its principal Joe Orlando, asked
the council to consider allow-ing his client to shift gears on development plans for the old School 1 property on Stephens St., by installing a Quick Chek retail store/gas pumps.
Frese said that O&R “has run into serious issues de-veloping this property as a
KEARNY –Real grass seems to be
headed out with the dinosaurs these days for Kearny’s mu-nicipal playing fields.
The town is applying for $743,000 in Hudson County Community Block Grant funds to put toward the acquisition and installation of synthetic turf at Veterans’ Field on Bel-grove Drive near Bergen Ave.
Veterans’ Field accommo-dates one Little League base-ball field and a combination football/softball field.
Mayor Alberto Santos and the Town Council held a public hearing on the CDBG application at the March 16 council meeting and no one from the public had any com-ments on it.
This is the second municipal recreation complex that the town is aiming to resurface, the other being the Gunnell Oval facility off Schuyler Ave., although the motivation for that project is keyed to an environmental cleanup of the site.
When all is said and done, the proposed Oval improve-ments, according to the town’s engineering experts, could run upwards of $16 million. The fixup would include rais-ing the elevation of the land, putting in a pump station and drainage system and a retain-
see TURFING page 27
April 1, 2015 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 45
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Photo by Karen Zautyk
Pictured at American Legion ceremony are (from l.): Kearny Police Chief John Dowie, Police Offi cer of the Year Sgt. Paul Bershefski, Firefi ghter of the Year Jason McCabe and Kearny Fire Chief Steve Dyl.
These days, Kearny is paying attention to its public safety personnel
rosters.Just a few weeks after hir-
ing six new cops, the Kearny governing body voted last week to authorize promo-tions in both the Police and Fire Departments.
The Town Council named four fire captains and two police captains to fill slots vacated via retirements but in both cases, they are viewed by department heads as only temporary reprieves as the wave of departures by veteran employees contin-ues.
Nonetheless, an SRO crowd of relatives and fellow bluecoats and firefighters and well-wishers jammed the Town Hall assembly cham-bers to celebrate the occa-sion.
Mayor Alberto Santos characterized the elevations in rank as “overdue” and lauded the recipients of the new ranks as “deserving of the honors they’re receiv-ing.”
Those honorees are: Police Capts. Anthony Sylvester and Timothy Wagner; and Fire Capts. David Russell, William Solano, Andrew O’Donnell and Arthur Bloomer.
All go on the town pay-roll, as of April 1. The police captains will earn an annual base pay of $141,519 and the fire captains will take home $103,637 a year in base pay.
Police Chief John Dowie recalled that when he was elevated to captain, he was assigned to “train the new guys” after they had com-
pleted Academy training. “They were my little team,” he added. Guys like Sylvester and Wagner.
“Six made rank, three received Cop of the Year awards, two made detectives – not a bad batting average for my team,” Dowie said.
Dowie called Sylvester, a 20-year veteran, “the Come-back Kid,” who, he noted, “a year ago, was down on his feet [due to a serious health issue] – the New England Pa-triots’ comeback in the Super Bowl paled in comparison.”
That issue aside, however,
Dowie said that Sylvester has never been one to shirk from his police duties; in fact, he always wanted to go where the action was, even as a su-perior officer, gladly taking on “a lot of night tours.”
“He never asked out of work – he always helped out,” the chief said.
And even while serving as a desk lieutenant, Dowie said, Sylvester may have been “stuck inside answer-ing the phone,” but he still functioned as an able field commander under pressure, like the night a call came in
to HQ at 10 p.m. that a man had kidnapped a mother’s two babies and headed out of town.
Organizing the moving pieces “all fell to Tony” that night, Dowie recalled, and by 5 a.m., the suspect – and the infants – were traced through a cellular phone to North Bergen.
Dowie also credited Sylvester with overcoming enormous odds by organ-izing a motorcade to rescue motorists stranded in South Kearny by Superstorm Sandy.
Wagner, who joined the force in 2001, has developed into what Dowie charac-terized as “an outstanding street cop and investigator,” having also served in tactical services and as an EMT.
Wagner applied those investigative skills to help track the accused killer of a Kearny Ave. jeweler through the DNA taken from a bur-glar’s tools that matched the murder suspect, Dowie said. And he has been com-mended for the work he has done while assigned to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Squad.
“Timmy’s the kind of guy who seeks out any type of training, sometimes on his own dime, and currently he’s going for certification as an arson investigator,” Dowie said.
He’s also in training for the Police Unity Tour, a four-day bicycle trek in May designed as a fundraiser to heighten awareness of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.
Wagner is now assigned to the department’s Internal Affairs unit.
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see CAPTAINS page 11
Stepping up in the ranks
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New captains in Police and Fire Departments receive congratulations from loved ones and colleagues.
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 03
By Ron LeirObserver Correspondent
KEARNY –
The Kearny Public Library, struggling to maintain its services in
the face of diminished financ-es and staffing, is calling on the town for help.
Library Board President Barbara Pollock appealed to
the mayor and Town Council Tuesday to help take up the slack since the state Depart-ment of Community Affairs eliminated all of the library’s $17,000 in state aid.
Municipal libraries are required to meet certain staff-ing levels tied to the popula-tions they serve. Kearny was obliged to staff four full-time librarians for its population of nearly 40,000 but currently has only two.
“It’s upsetting to us that we’re not meeting those state standards,” Pollock said.
One librarian was among several civilian town em-ployees laid off in 2011 and another retired. Neither has been replaced. And a full-time administrative clerk is retiring shortly.
“We can only claim half the amount of [full- and part-time] employees we had in 2000,” Pollock said.
As for the part-timers, of whom several are still in col-lege or newly graduated, “As soon as they get a better job, they leave so there’s no re-sponsibility for the long-term,” Pollock said.
And, because there is insuf-
ficient staff, she added, “we don’t have enough hours.”
In late 2012, the library cut back two evening hours on two weekdays at the Main Library and sliced a full day (Friday) at its branch facility.
“There’s only one night [Wednesday] during the week we’re open until 8 p.m.,” Pol-lock said. “This isn’t good for people working.”
Despite these disadvantages, she said, the library has man-aged to acquire computers and new reading tables and lamps for its patrons.
Additionally, she said, large-ly through the efforts of li-brary director Josh Humphrey, it has expanded its mission as a “community” library by offering programs for adults and children and by complet-ing its outdoor reading garden that will be used for musical, theatrical and poetry events.
Given these successful ef-forts, Pollock concluded, “Let’s not have the state tell us we’re not worth funding.”
Mayor Alberto Santos sought to assure Pollock that, “it’s not just the library” where budget restraints have been applied.
Actually, the municipal budget introduced by the council March 16 increases dedicated local tax funding for the library, from $1,074,000 last year to $1,130,529 for this year.
That adjustment should allow room for some attempt by the town to address the library’s personnel quandary and, indeed, Santos said the council plans to adopt an ordi-
nance that would increase pay rates for entry-level positions to $10 per hour in hopes that will entice employees to stay longer.
As for adding full-time librarian slots, Santos said he has directed town CFO Shuaib Firozvi to meet with Hum-phrey to discuss “whether we should advertise, for example, for two library assistants or
a librarian or however we set about restoring some of the director’s staff.”
If there was determined to be a need for a “bilingual librarian,” for instance, “that’s not a [job] title we now have and I don’t know what the [job] market would dictate for such a position,” the mayor added.
Humphrey, who outlined his
personnel needs to the mayor and council during a closed caucus held after Tuesday night’s meeting, declined to discuss details with The Observer but noted that since he became director in April 2010, “we’ve lost four full-time employees and a couple of part-timers. It just comes to
see LIBRARY page 20
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201504
NUTLEY –
The Nutley Jaycees will present their 2015 Distin-guished Service Awards
at the 44th annual community awards banquet Thursday, April 9, at the Valley Regency, 1149 Valley Road, Clifton.
The event starts with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m., fol-lowed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 and can be
reserved by calling Dr. Steven Clarke at 973-235-1515.
This year’s honorees are: Steven Picciano Jr.,Outstanding Young Man of the Year; Michael Nisivoccia, Public Health & Public Safety awardee; John J. Maiello, Educator of the Year; Michele Fleitell, Civic Affairs awardee; and Mayor Alphonse Petracco, Businessman of the Year.
Picciano Jr. is being feted for his role as a leader in the Holy Family Knights of Columbus and devoting many hours of service to the less fortunate. He founded and coordinated the annual Chef’s Night at Holy Family Church and runs a Bingo Night that raises mon-ey for special needs youth in Nutley. He has also organized trips to food kitchens in New-
ark and run blood drives in Nutley. Picciano Jr. is director of business and development for the Church of St. Cath-erine of Siena & Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York.
Nisivoccia is a recently retired Nutley fire lieutenant who has served as the local FMBA president for the past 18 years. In 2001, he led the Nutley Fire Department’s Boot Drive that raised $5,000 for the New York City firefight-ers who perished in the 9/11 attack. He and colleagues served at Liberty State Park, decontaminating members of the public who fled New York after the attack. For two decades, Nisivoccia served as head coach/manager of the Nutley National/East Lit-tle League and started Little League trips to Cooperstown. In 2009, the team he coached
was rated among the top four nationally. He also coached the Nutley Junior Raiders and was head coach and president of the league. And he sup-ported the Nutley High School theater program by selling auditorium seat sponsors dur-ing the renovations.
Maiello is band director for Nutley High School. His teaching responsibilities include concert and march-ing bands and multiple jazz ensembles. He’s completing his 24th year as a teacher. This past fall, the Nutley
see JAYCEES page 22
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 05
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By Ron LeirObserver Correspondent
Former Kearny schools chief Ron Bolandi has a new administrative
school post, this time as interim superintendent of schools for the Montclair public schools.
Bolandi, who was appointed by vote of the Montclair Board of Education March 16, will begin his new job on April 1 and his term will end June 30, 2016. He’s replacing Penny MacCormack, who has resigned to take an education job in New York.
Superintendent’s pay in Montclair is $177,500 but Bolandi said his salary will be prorated, based on 260 days of service, so it will be about $680 per day.
For Bolandi, who served in Kearny from July 1, 2011, to Jan. 4, 2013, it will mark his first time in 22 years as a chief
school administrator that he will be working for an ap-pointive school board whose members are appointed by the mayor and whose budget is struck by the Board of School Estimate.
He foresees no problems adjusting to the system.
What he will be facing, however, is a local mael-strom over the recently administered first round of the state-mandated PARCC (Partnership for the Assess-ment of Readiness for College & Careers) to grades 3 to 11.
The Montclair Times re-cently reported that possibly as many as 1,000 parents – in a district with close to 7,000 students – refused to allow their children to take the PARCC because of various concerns they have about the test. The district, according to the newspaper, has refused to share the number of opt-outs.
“They’re going through a
lot of controversy and I’m going to do my best to calm things down,” Bolandi said. “My main objective is to bring all the different groups to-gether and stop the arguing.” He also pledged to release the opt-out figures.
Still, when asked if he sup-ported the use of PARCC, Bolandi didn’t try to hide his suspicion of the new test-ing vehicle. (Many Kearny parents reportedly kept their kids from taking the test al-though the district has yet to release the figures.)
“It’s hard to jump on board,” said Bolandi, “when you don’t know what it’s go-ing to do to adjust instruction as an assessment tool.”
And compounding the un-certainty, he said, is the fact that, “The state [Department of Education] did a really bad job of presenting the PARCC to parents and educators. There’s been a lot of confu-
sion around it. And if I as an educator have problems un-derstanding it, I can’t blame parents [for having their kids opt out].”
Bolandi added that with all the emphasis placed by local districts preparing for the PARCC, regular classroom instruction took a back seat to the test. “If you’re going
to take this much time, you’d better have a Cadillac sys-tem,” he said.
Before landing the Montclair post, Bolandi spent the past two years as interim superintendent in the Bed-minster public school system.
Asked if he wished he were back in Kearny, Bolandi said: “I do miss Kearny. I don’t miss the politics but I miss the people. There were a lot of good teachers, administra-tors and staff. And the kids were great but they were cheated by the crazy politics of the town. I always felt good about what I did there.”
He said he still maintains contact with some Kearny educators “and it seems like they’re doing a good job under [Superintendent] Patte [Blood],” who was director of secondary school instruction under Bolandi.
“I always want them to do well,” he said.
Now he’s running Montclair schools
Observer file photo
Ron Bolandi
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201506060606
twitter.com/theobservernjFollow us on Facebook &Don’t forget to check www.theobserver.com for news that didn’t make it into this week’s paper
thoughts&viewsThe contents of letters do not reflect the opinion of The Observer staff. Letters must be kept to a maximum of 250 words. Any letters that exceed the maximum will be edited, at the discretion of the publisher, who reserves the right at any time to reject or edit the letters for space. Letters must include the writer’s name, address, and telephone number for verification purposes. The deadline for letters is Thursday at 5 p.m. Any letters that arrive after deadline will not be considered for the upcoming publication. Letters can be sent by e-mail to [email protected] or mailed to 39 Seeley Ave., Kearny, N.J. 07032. Anonymous letters will not be published under any circumstances.
It’s down to the Final Four. No, not NCAA teams. (Since I don’t follow bas-
ketball, I have no idea who’s still playing, if anyone.) I am talking about the Final Four in the NJDHTS tournament.
That acronym stands for the N.J. Division of Highway Traffic Safety. (Does Jersey have a Division of Local Streets Traffic Safety? It damn well should. Somebody talk to Christie, if he’s not wandering around somewhere in the Midwest.)
Anyway, the Final Four in the NJDHTS “March Driving Madness” tournament are: Texting & Driving, Yielding, Move Over Law and Headlight Use.
Speeding, Tailgating, Directional Use and Left Lane Travel have already bitten the blacktop. No surprise there. Jersey folk consider speeding, tailgating and left-lane travel to be constitutionally protected rights. As for misuse/nonuse of directional signals, many have no idea
such equipment exists.Before you become more
confused, I shall explain.Recently, we received a
NJDHTS press release about “March Driving Madness,” which is “an online poll that is asking the state’s drivers which bad driving habits need to be fixed on the Garden State’s roads.”
My answer was, “All of them,” but that was not an option.
The tournament idea apparently was spawned in February after the division posted queries on Facebook
and Twitter regarding N.J. drivers’ flaws.
Hundreds responded, with 28 different complaints.
From these, eight (cited above) were chosen for a tourney. More than 1,000 votes were tallied, resulting in the four finalists.
“The bad habits with the most votes will be the focus of public service announcements that the division plans to run on New Jersey’s radio airwaves in the coming months,” the release noted.
Personally, I think the Final Four are wise picks.
Headlights: Just as some drivers don’t know their car has directional signals, many obviously are unaware of low beams.
Yielding requires courtesy, and yo! this is Jersey. (BTW, on the Manhattan side of the Lincoln Tunnel, a N.J.-bound multi-lane approach route now carries signs saying “TAKE TURNS.” I fear for drivers who may be unfamiliar with colloquial English. Think about it.)
Re: texting and driving: I wonder how many voters in the poll sent their online
responses while behind the wheel.
As for the Move Over Law, I always move over whenever any type of emergency vehicle approaches with lights flashing and siren wailing. If I am on a local street, I move over and stop until the vehicle passes by, which, it being an emergency vehicle, takes about 6 seconds. Even so, invariably the driver behind me starts honking in fury.
Someday, I know I will become the victim of road rage. I can only hope that the vehicle for which I have moved over is a police car so its occupant can arrest the motorist who has shot me.
For more about the “March Driving Madness” tournament (they may be down to the Terrible Two by now), visit the division’s web page, its Facebook page (New Jersey DHTS) or tweet @NJTraffic-Safety.
The champion will be announced April 6.
– Karen Zautyk
Drive the lane you’re in & don’t foul up
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Police intervention prevent-ed a suspected drug-induced fatality, Nutley Police Chief Thomas Strumolo said.
A Nutley PD press release said that police responded to a 911 medical call for help on Sunday, March 15, at 11:15 a.m., and, upon arrival, they found a 48-year-old Hillside Ave. man unconscious.
The release said that Officer Ted Duran determined “a pos-sible overdose of prescribed medications and administered Naloxone (also known as Narcon), the intranasal spray which the NPD equipped of-ficers with this year.”
The release said the victim was taken to an area hospital for further treatment. His identify was not provided.
Strumolo commended Durand for his quick action and noted that this incident marked the first such use of Narcan by Nutley PD. He said that police in several commu-nities, similarly equipped with the spray, have saved numer-ous lives with it.
Mayor/Police Director Alphonse Petracco said that Narcon has great value, adding that now first responders – along with medics and doctors – can offer overdose victims a higher chance at survival.
• • •Between March 21 and 27,
the NPD responded to 28 medical calls, 15 motor vehi-cle accidents, 15 disputes, 16 suspicious incidents and the following:
March 21The manager of a Harrison
St. business reported an at-tempted fraud by a Latino who reportedly tried to buy Visa gift cards by using several dif-ferent credit cards for which he could not produce ID. The customer then fled, leaving a credit card and a wallet with the identification of its owner who later told police that the wallet had been stolen earlier that day from a gym in Clifton. Detectives are following up.
March 22Police responded to a Park
Ave. location on a report of a low-hanging fire escape ladder. The victim told police they were walking east on Park when they hit their head on the ladder. Police managed to push the ladder up and secure it.
• • •A Centre St. resident re-
ported they had received a call from their neighbor that their apartment door was damaged and forced open. Police asked the resident to check if any-thing was missing. Detectives are investigating.
March 24Anibal Nieves, 34, of New-
ark, was stopped after he was reportedly driving erratically on a local street. Nieves was arrested on a DUI charge and taken to HQ where officers learned he had an active war-rant from Newark. Before he
was released to Newark PD, Nieves was issued additional summonses also charging him with refusal to take an Alcotest, careless driving and improper passing a double yellow line.
March 25A Hillside Ave. resident
reported receiving a voicemail from someone claiming to be an IRS representative giving them final notice before being penalized monetarily for un-paid taxes. Police were unable to contact the caller.
• • •The owner of a vehicle
parked on Clement St. report-ed that someone entered their vehicle and removed a plastic jar containing change.
March 26Police responded to a
Washington Ave. location on
a report that a man wearing a tan Seahawks jacket and blue jeans was seen walking out of a neighbor’s driveway. Police arrested Edward Pancaro, 45, of Newark, after learning he was wanted on an active warrant from Clifton. Pancaro was turned over to Clifton PD.
• • •Police were dispatched to
a Washington Ave. business after a caller reported seeing two men in a white Ford van at the property. Police pulled over the van and, in question-ing the pair, discovered that the driver, Danny Earp, 54, of Newark, was wanted on three warrants from Newark, one from Belleville and one from Parsippany. Earp was also given summonses for failure to exhibit a license and driv-ing while suspended/revoked. He was turned over to Bel-
leville PD.• • •
Police conducted a motor vehicle check on Centre St. and arrested the driver, Geral-dine Oquendo, 26, of Clifton, on charges of suspended license, expired registra-tion and active warrant from Elizabeth. She was released after posting bail pending court dates.
March 27Police performed a traffic
stop on River Road of a vehi-cle that came up as having an expired N.J. registration. Aldo Duran, 51, of Newark, was ticketed for driving without a license and expired registra-tion. Police said he had two active warrants from North Bergen. He was released after posting bail pending court appearances.
– Ron Leir
Cops use Narcon to save life: NPD
/theobservernj
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201508
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A 16-year-old Kearny youth who was where he should not have been could have ended up with a trespassing charge. Instead, he ended up with that and several others, including possession of drugs with intent to distribute. Lesson:
When police say, “Stop!,” stop.
KPD Chief John Dowie said the youth, who is barred from being anywhere in or around Kearny High School, was spot-ted on the school property at 12:30 p.m. last Wednesday, March 25, by Officer Jack Grimm. When the officer ap-proached, the kid ran, ignoring orders to halt, Dowie said.
He fled south on Devon St., west on Garfield Ave., across Kearny Ave. and down Afton St., with Grimm chasing him on foot the entire way, until the officer lost sight of him at Afton and Windsor Sts.
However, police knew that
he lived on Windsor.Sgt. John Taylor and Officer
Adriano Marques went to the address, got permission to enter the building and found the door to the teen’s apartment open. Which conveniently permitted the scent of marijuana to waft into the hallway, police said. Inside, in plain view, was a large clear plastic bag, which was reportedly found to contain 23 smaller bags full of suspected weed.
Police left the building, but Marques kept his eyes open, observed the suspect walking in the area and took him into custody.
The teen was charged with defiant trespass, resisting arrest, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and possession with intent to distribute. He was released to a guardian pending a court appearance.
• • •Other recent reports from
the Kearny police blotter included the following:
March 21 Officer Kevin Arnesman
was on patrol near Davis Ave. and King St. at 5:30 p.m. when his random license-plate reader “pinged” on a passing 2002 Honda Civic, noting that its registered owner had a suspended license. The driver/owner, Carissa Savage, 33, of North Arlington, was charged with the offense.
March 23At 5 p.m., units were
advised that the occupants of a 1992 Toyota had just fled a shoplifting at Kmart. Sgt. Peter Gleason, with Officer Phil Finch as backup, located and stopped the car at S. Midland and Passaic Aves.
Meanwhile, Officer Malinda
Esposito went to the store and viewed security videos of the suspects, including a female who allegedly had stolen a phone charger. Police said the driver, Daniella Miranda, 19, of Kearny, was ID’d as the thief and was charged with shoplift-ing.
Gleason recognized the passenger, Jalen Diaz, 18, of Kearny, from prior interaction and confirmed that he had an outstanding contempt-of-court, no-bail warrant from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, police said. He was taken into custody and the HCSO was notified.
• • •Vice detectives at Chestnut
and Hoyt Sts., at 5:10 p.m., saw a man standing between two parked cars, inspecting a small plastic bag. As they approached, he tossed it to the curb, but it was recovered. Victor Colon, 20, of Kearny, was charged with possession of marijuana and drug para-phernalia.
March 25 Shortly before midnight,
headquarters received a complaint that a Ford pickup was wandering the Walmart lot, its occupants begging for money.
Officers John Travelino and Christian Medina, arriving in separate patrol cars, boxed it in.
Police said the driver, Danny Eli, 29, of Queens, N.Y., was found to have a suspended license and three warrants: a $2,500 criminal complaint out of Woodbridge and $100-bail MV violations from Newark and Cranford. He was arrested and also charged with driving while suspended, driving an uninsured vehicle and failure to have a car seat for an infant. (Police said there was a baby lying across the laps of two women in the back seat.)
The truck was impounded and towed. One of the women and the baby were escorted into the store so she could make arrangements to be picked up.
The other apparently ac-companied Eli to HQ.
KPD blotter: You can run but . . .
see KPD page 22
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 09
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“Since 1965, service has been the key to our success.”
KEARNY –A receptionist who embez-
zled nearly half-a-million dollars from a medical office in Kearny and used fraudulent credit cards to obtain more than $200,000 in goods and services was sentenced last week to 34 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Gwendolyn Muller, 53, formerly of Kearny, had pleaded guilty in Newark federal court in October to one count each of embezzlement, credit card fraud and tax evasion. At the
time, authorities said she faced up to 25 years -- 10 each on the fraud and embezzlement counts, five for tax evasion.
The 34-month term was handed down March 24 by U.S. District Judge William J. Martini, who also ordered Muller to pay restitution of $556,000.
She will face three years of supervised release following incarceration.
While employed at the medical practice from 2007 through 2011, authorities re-ported, Muller used her posi-tion to take, cash and conceal
more than $446,000 in checks paid by insurance companies for services to patients.
Court documents noted that, as the receptionist, she handled the mail and had unsupervised access to the office computer system, which she used to conceal the embezzlement.
During the same period,
Muller also fraudulently obtained 10 credit cards in the name of a principal of the practice and used these to charge approximately $218,000 in personal goods and services.
Fishman’s office said Muller also admitted to filing a false tax return to evade taxes on the illegally obtained income.
Authorities did not disclose Muller’s post-Kearny place of residence.
Fishman›s office also told The Observer that, since it was not part of the public record, they could not reveal the name of the medical office where she had worked.
– Karen Zautyk
34-month sentence for embezzler
Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura is advising motorists that officers from his department will conduct Distracted Driver Enforce-ment Operations in Nutley, Belleville, Bloomfield and all of Essex County’s 19 other municipalities from April 1 through April 21.
“The number of persons killed or maimed as the direct result of distracted driving is truly staggering,” Fontoura said. “Inattentive driving persists despite educational, awareness and enforcement efforts by public safety per-sonnel. We are hopeful that this initiative will serve as a wake-up call to all drivers.”
The most recent statistics reveal that 3,328 people were killed and more than 421,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted
driver in 2012, the sheriff reported.
“In New Jersey, we’re making inroads,” he noted. “In 2013, there were 48 fewer deaths that the 590 in 2012. We peaked in 2011 with 627 deaths.”
“Unfortunately, many drivers continue to text and drive and use their cell phones while their vehicle is in motion,” the sheriff said. “If you’re in this business long enough, you’ll see it all. We see people eating their breakfast, reading their newspaper, applying make-up and watching videos while driving. It’s insane and unsafe.”
The county’s monthlong enforcement initiative is being funded by the National High-way Transportation Safety Administration.
Don’t get distractedwhile you’re driving
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201510
Last week’s program was only the first of several com-munity ceremonies that will spotlight the duo.
As Fire Chief Steve Dyl told the audience in the Legion hall, for both police and firefight-ers, “It’s all about rising to the challenge.”
In McCabe’s case, the chal-lenge included a particularly hazardous rescue of a man trapped in a Schuyler Ave. fire in February 2014. He and two other firefighters entered the burning home searching for the victim who they had been told was somewhere in the base-ment. That basement turned out to be a hazard in itself -- with narrow hallways, low ceilings and doorways less than 6-feet high.
The firefighters used a thermal-imaging camera to find the man, who was trapped in a bedroom. McCabe was the one who located him. Then they had to get the victim out, through the same cramped
space. “Help couldn’t get to them, and they were running out of air,” Dyl recalled. But, against the odds, they suc-ceeded in the rescue. “We very well could have had three Fire-fighters of the Year,” the chief noted. But the Meritorious Acts Review Board chose McCabe.
And it’s safe to say, the other two don’t begrudge it at all. Heroes are like that.
McCabe, who joined the KFD in February 1999, is assigned to Engine 1 on Davis Ave., the department’s primary mutual aid company. He has previ-ously been cited for performing life-saving CPR and for water rescues in the Passaic River. Recently, he completed train-ing for the KPD’s Swift Water Rescue Team.
He has also volunteered his time on humanitarian aid missions, to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as tornado victims in Missouri. And, Dyl noted, “he spent countless hours at the Jersey Shore after Sandy,” helping people rebuild their homes. He
also built playgrounds as part of the Sandy Ground project, launched to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.
“He reminds me of the Ener-gizer Bunny,” Dyl said.
Prior to becoming a fireman (following in the footsteps of his father, Joseph, who had been a battalion chief in Jersey City), McCabe served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1991 to ‘95, with deployments to Somalia, Okinawa, Korea and the Mediterranean.
He and his wife, Kristin, have three children: daughters Tyler, 17, and Lindsay, 13, and son Eric, 8.
In an interview prior to the awards ceremony, Dyl had cited McCabe’s “character and work ethic.” The chief told us, “He gives you 110%. When you’re going into a difficult situation, he’s the guy you want to have with you.”
Police Chief John Dowie expressed similar sentiments at the awards event, noting that the police officers and firefight-
ers who receive the honor are the ones “who go above and beyond, time and again.”
Police Officer of the Year Sgt. Paul (“Bear”) Bershefski joined the KPD in 2005, served in the trouble-shooting patrol division and was promoted to sergeant in May 2012. He is a member of the Tactical Services Unit and a certified firearms instructor.
Over the years, Dowie noted, he has received awards for par-ticipation in narcotics arrests and in 2009 was recognized by the Valor Committee after, while off-duty, he saved the life of a man who had been choking to death.
He also has received the Meritorious Service Award, two Certificates of Merit and two Unit Citations.
Like McCabe, Bershefski was recognized for his overall job performance in 2014, but he also had a particularly notable incident on his record. And it occurred at the very start of the year, on New Year’s Day 2014.
At 7 a.m., a “known gang member from Newark,” armed with a .45, invaded a Tappan St. residence, terrorized, assaulted and robbed the family and then fled in their Lexis, after taking the keys. He lost control of the car on Devon St., abandoned it and started running.
It was Bershefski who spot-ted the suspect and attempted to detain him at Central and Passaic Aves., at the border of Kearny and East Newark. But the thug kept running, heading across the Clay St. Bridge. with the officer in foot pursuit.
Bershefski closed the dis-tance and ordered him to freeze. At which point, the man
apparently drew the gun from his waistband -- and threw it into the Passaic. (All this could have ended much differently.)
He continued running, with Bershefski following him to an abandoned lot on the Newark side of the river. Police sur-rounded the site and the sus-pect was located and taken into custody. Also located on the property was ammo for a .45.
Bershefski’s handling of the situation was “just one of his many meritorious acts,” Dowie noted.
As for community service, the sergeant was an original organizer of Kearny’s Police Unity Tour Bicycle Team. He still rides in the yearly event, which now attracts nearly 2,000 officers from across the U.S. Participants cycle to the Police Memorial in Washing-ton, D.C., to raise money for the families of officers killed in the line of duty. They now collect more than $1 million annually.
Bershefski and his wife, Heather, have two sons: Patrick, 9, and Brendan, 5. His father, Paul, is a retired N.J. State Po-lice lieutenant, and his mother, Patricia, is a retired Harrison/Kearny schoolteacher.
Bershefski grew up in Harrison, attended Queen of Peace High School, and majored in sociology and criminology at Montclair State University. In 2004, after graduating from the Essex County Police Academy, he joined the Harrison PD. But he transferred to Kearny early the following year.
“I stole him from Harrison,” Dowie said. “He’s the best thing I’ve ever stolen.”
Please be advised that the Lyndhurst Board of Education will have a Budget Hearing on Monday, April 27, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at the Memorial Campus, 319 New York Avenue, Lyndhurst, NJ.
THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO ATTEND THIS SESSION UNDER CHAPTER 231, LAWS OF 1975, P.L. 1960, C173.
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 11
On the Fire Department side, Fire Chief Steven Dyl commended Russell, who was hired in early 1999, as “the type of guy who always does what you ask and then some.”
As part of the Rapid Inter-vention Crew, Russell and his crewmates responded to a Harrison fire that erupted dur-ing the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in March 2013 and helped rescue five members of the Jersey City Fire Department who were assisting at the fire scene. And, in 2007, Russell
received a commendation for giving CPR to a fire victim.
Solano, a member of the de-partment since 2000, is anoth-er firefighter “always willing to help,” Dyl said. Currently assigned to Fire HQ , Solano is a member of the Swift Water Rescue Team. He was awarded a citation for his work during Super Storm Sandy in 2012.
O’Donnell, who joined the department in 1999, was named 2013 Firefighter of the Year in recognition of his work in helping rescue two individuals trapped at a Devon St. fire. He was also cited for
his work during Super Storm Sandy. And he received an exceptional duty citation in connection with dousing an early morning Laurel Ave. house fire. He has also served as a contract negotiator for the local FMBA.
Bloomer, a KFD member since 1988, “comes from a true firefighter family,” Dyl said. Bloomer’s grandfather, Knowl-ton Pierce, became Kearny’s first career fire chief in 1921 and Bloomer’s two sons An-drew and Sean and daughter Danielle are members of the Brick Fire Department.
Bloomer helped set up the KFD’s ambulance program, is a certified SCBA (Self-Con-tained Breathing Apparatus) repair technician, has helped design three KFD rigs and serves with the KFD’s Techni-cal Rescue Team.
On his off-time, Bloomer is an instructor with the Fire Department Institute Corps in Indianapolis and is a member of the N.J. Task Force 1, which performs urban search and rescue service. He served at the WTC site after the 9/11 attack.
Dyl said that all of the new
captains will be facing “a pretty serious challenge” in the upcoming months because, “by July 1, we’re going to have a combined 345 years of [fire-fighter] experience walk out the door.”
Between February and July, 13 members of the KFD will have retired, leaving the de-partment three short of the 25 captains recommended under the department’s Table of Organization, Dyl said. By July 1, the department will be down to 78 members – far short of the 102 called for by the T.O., he said.
James C. Welsh retired Supervising Judge of Compensation,
has joined Brady, Brady & Reilly of Kearny as head of the Workers
Compensation Department. Judge Welsh has more than forty-
three years of experience in handling workers’ compensation cases
with the last twenty-two as a Judge of Workers’ Compensation in
Essex and Hudson counties. At retirement he was the Supervising
RETIRED SUPERVISING JUDGE OF THEWORKER’S COMPENSATION COURT TO THE FIRM
CAPTAINS from 02
Rocker Larry Kirwan will bring his exploration of “the father of American music” Stephen Foster and 1850s New York to the Bergen Com-munity College Ender Hall Laboratory Theatre, Paramus, in April.
Kirwan, who founded Irish rock band Black 47, will play two shows Thursday, April
16, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. In “Stephen Foster in the Five Points,” Kirwan will recall the composer’s music and experi-ences in lower Manhattan.
Tickets are $35 for the general public, $20 for senior citizens and $10 for students. To purchase tickets, visit tickets.bergen.edu or call 201-447-7428.
Foster tribute upcoming
Larry Kirwan
Sincerely Yours
Sincerely Yours
862 Kearny Ave.•Kearny, NJ
201-997-2214
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201512
see AROUND TOWN page 26
around townBellevilleThe Woman’s Club of Bel-
leville meets the second Mon-day of each month at 7 p.m. at its clubhouse, 51 Rossmore Place. Prospective members are welcome. For more infor-mation, contact Terry Landon at 973-751-6529.
Belleville Elks Lodge 1123, 254 Washington Ave., holds a blood drive Saturday, April 11, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donors must be age 17 or older, be in good health and weigh at least 120 pounds. All donors must eat a light meal before donating blood, bring a signed form of identification and know their social security number.
BloomfieldAdult crafters of all ages
are welcome to join a craft program at Bloomfield Public Library, 90 Broad St., April 8, 6 to 7:30 pm., to make denim pouches. Bring an old pair of jeans (2 legs would yield six to eight pouches), thread, needles, scissors, buttons, etc. Registration is required. To register, call the Reference Desk at 973-566-6200, ext. 602.
HarrisonHoly Cross Church sponsors
the following trips: • The group takes a non-
stop United Airlines flight from Newark Airport Wednes-day, April 29, at 7:15 a.m., to Las Vegas, and returns Thurs-day, May 5, at 6:15 a.m. The group will stay at Harrah’s Ho-tel and Casino. The $771 per-person cost covers air, hotel and taxes. A $250 per-person deposit is required to guar-antee reservations. Call Gina at European Travel, 973-484-4023, or Joan at 973-481-2434.
• The group takes a bus trip to the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City Sunday, April 12. The bus leaves from Holy Cross School at 10 a.m. Refreshments will be served in the school base-ment starting 9:15 a.m. Cost is $30 with a $30 rebate (ID re-quired). For reservations, call Joan at 973-481-2434 or Maria at 973-481-1799 (Leave name, phone number and number attending).
KearnyGrace Lutheran Church, 223
Ridge Road, invites the com-munity to attend Holy Week
services and meet the new pastor, the Rev. Glenn L. Bois-clair. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services begin at 6 p.m. Easter Sunday service is at 9 a.m.
Kearny Lions Club hosts a brotherhood luncheon Wednesday, April 22, at noon, at the Salvation Army, 443 Chestnut St. For more infor-mation, call Joann at 201-998-3018.
Kearny Public Library, 318 Kearny Ave., screens: “The Sound of Music” (G / 174 minutes) Tuesday, April 7, at 1 p.m.; “Into the Woods” (PG / 125 minutes) Friday, April 10, at 1 p.m.; and “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” (PG / 81 minutes), Saturday, April 11, at 11 a.m. All films will be shown on the library’s lower level. Donuts and light refreshments will be served. Admission is free. For more information on any library programs, call 201-998-2666 or visit www.kearnylibrary.org.
LyndhurstThe Humane Society of Ber-
gen County, 221-223 Stuyvesant Ave., has a supply of dog food, both canned and dry, available to anyone who, due to unem-ployment, disability or any other financial difficulty, can-not afford to feed their dog. Just stop by or call 201-896-9300 for more information. Hours: Monday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lyndhurst Health Depart-ment conducts a free eye screening, including a check for glaucoma, for Lyndhurst residents ages 18 and over, Wednesday, April 15, at 1 p.m.
For an appointment, call 201-804-2500.
Kingsland Lyndhurst AARP Chapter 4866 sponsors its annual entertainment night, Tricky Tray and raffles Thurs-day, April 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. The show features music of the ‘50s and ‘60s. No alco-hol is permitted. Admission is $20. For tickets and more information, call Jo Oleske at 201-438-2118 or Kay Roberts at 201-438-3611.
Lyndhurst Boy Scout Troop 86 has launched its co-ed Venture Crew for all boys and
girls, aged 14-20. The Crew is youth-led, but relies on knowl-edgeable, experienced and trained adult men and women volunteers for sound guidance and advice. Meetings are held at 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at the United Presbyterian Church of Lynd-hurst, 511 Ridge Road (en-trance off Page Ave.), across from St. Michael’s Church. Among the outdoor activities are: horseback riding, camping and BBQs. Interested youth and parents are invited to call Crew President Joe Shinnick at 201 275-2884 or email him at [email protected]. For more information, visit beascout.scouting.org.
The N.J. Meadowlands Com-mission holds its First-Sunday-of-the-Month nature walk, with the Bergen County Audu-bon Society, Sunday, April 5, 10 a.m. to noon, in DeKorte Park, starting outside the Meadow-lands Environment Center. Participants are asked to sign a standard liability release that is good for NJMC/BCAS events throughout the year. To register, email Don Torino of the BCAS at [email protected] or call him at 201-230-4983.
Lyndhurst Public Library Children’s Room, 355 Valley Brook Ave., hosts the follow-ing events:
• Grades pre-k to 2 are invited for a walk-in storytime Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. No registration is required.
• Children ages 3 to 10 can learn about caring for our planet with Muscle Man Mike's "Going Green" (Re-duce, Reuse, Recycle) Show Wednesday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. Registration is required. To register, call 201-804-2478.
Lyndhurst Knights of Columbus host “A Taste of Poland” Saturday, April 18, at 2 p.m., at the Senior Center, 250 Cleveland Ave. Tickets are $15. For tickets, call Steve Cortes at 201-657-0800 or Nick Garafalo at 201-893-2849.
Lyndhurst Girl Scouts, Lynd-hurst Girls Association and the Township will honor Lib-bie Lindsay for her 88 years of service and leadership in the Lyndhurst Girl Scouts Satur-day, April 25, at 11 a.m. (rain or shine), at the Girl Scout meet-
ing house, 238 Livingston Ave. For more information, email [email protected].
Ladies Auxiliary of the Masonic Club hosts its annual Tricky Tray on Sunday, April 12, at the Masonic Club, 316 Riverside Ave. Doors open at noon. Calling starts at 1 p.m. Admission is $5. For more information, call Kathy at 201-997-1997.
North ArlingtonNorth Arlington Seniors,
Inc. (Tuesday Club) spon-sor a trip to Sands Casino in Pennsylvania April 9. The group leaves from Borough Hall at 9 a.m. Non-members are welcome. Call Rose Florio at 201-991-2423.
North Arlington Public Library, 210 Ridge Road, has passes for the Museum of the City of New York. Each pass allows two adults and four children access to this muse-um. Requirements to borrow: $50 cash deposit and an adult library card in good stand-ing. http://www.mcny.org/
The library also offers passes to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. One pass allows up to six people admission to the museum. Requirements to borrow: $50 cash deposit and an adult library card in good standing. http://www.intrepid-museum.org.
To check availability, visit or call the library at 201-955-5640.
The North Arlington Volun-teer Emergency Squad hosts its annual Easter Egg Hunt Saturday, April 4, at noon, at North Arlington Middle School on Beech St.
The event includes games, prizes, and photo opportuni-ties with the Easter Bunny, so don’t forget your cameras!
If it rains, the event will be held in the gym.
North Arlington Public Library, 210 Ridge Road. an-nounces the following pro-grams:
• Story Time, open to ages 2 to 5, takes place every Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. April 15 Story Time will be held at Barnes and Noble in Clifton.
• The sixth annual George Miller Art Show is set for Thursday, April 2, at 6 p.m.
• The Lego Club for grades 1 and up meets Tuesday, April 7,
at 6:30 p.m. • Spring Story Time and
Craft for ages 4 to 6 takes place Thursday, April 9, at 2 p.m.
• YA Movie Day, open to grades 6 and up, is set for Friday, April 10, at noon.
• Music and Movement, open to ages 2 to 4, is sched-uled for Tuesday, April 14, at 11:45 a.m.
• Flat Stanley program with the West Hudson Art and Theater Company for grades K to 5 is set for Tuesday, April 14, at 4:30 p.m.
NutleyThe Women’s Initiative of
Nutley presents the Art Exhib-it of Women’s History Month at the Nutley Public Library, 93 Booth Drive, throughout March and April.
The exhibit spotlights the oil, watercolor, pastel, pencil and photography of local art-ists Susan Farr, Jackie Hanlon, Margot Parker, Teresa Ruffo, Edith Sirmons and Dianne Louise Wilson. All have won awards in local, regional and national competitions.
Nutley Public Library, 93 Booth Drive, announces:
• Children of all ages and their caregivers are invited to put on their pajamas and meet in the children’s room for P.J. Story Time on Mondays, April 6, 20 and 27 at 7 p.m. Registra-tion is not required.
• Patrons are invited to play bridge at the library every Tuesday at 1 p.m. No registra-tion is required.
• Lego Club for Kids, open to ages 7 and up, meets on Thursday, April 9, at 3:30 p.m. Registration is required.
• Two-Year-Old Story Time, open only to Nut-ley children ages 24 to 35 months, is set for Friday, April 10, at 9:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Registration is required.
• The next installment of the First Friday Films series continues with a screening of “And So It Goes” (PG-13), starring Michael Douglas, Friday, April 10, at 2 p.m.
• Author Anthony Buccino will sign and discuss his new book, “Nutley Notables: The Men and Women Who Made a
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 13
By Jim HagueObserver Sports Writer
The Kearny High School baseball team won 13 games last spring, but
head coach Frank Bifulco knows that the Kardinals will be vastly improved over a year ago.
“I think we can build on what we did last year,” said Bifulco, who enters his fourth year as head coach. “Hopefully, we can continue to rise. We’re not tak-ing any steps back. We have a team that can contend and the kids believe that as well. We can’t hide anymore. Things are a little different now than what we’re used to. The expecta-tions are higher.”
The Kardinals welcome back junior left-hander Corey Saw-yer, who made a huge splash
last season. Sawyer won four games and posted a 1.27 earned run average, but three of the wins were memorable, because he fired a perfect game and two no-hitters.
“It was nice that he threw three no-hitters last year, but that means nothing now,” Bi-fulco said. “He has work to do and needs to continue. I think he’s become more of a com-plete pitcher. He’s made major strides in the offseason. He’s worked on all of his pitches and he’s ready to control the game.”
Senior Josue Rodriguez is also back. The right-handed Rodriguez won three games last year.
“He knows he hasn’t pitched his ‘A’ game yet,” Bifulco said. “He came in last year as our ace and has the ability to be
our ace. With those two guys, Corey and Josue, we feel we match up with anyone else in the county. We expect to win when they pitch. Josue pitches to his strength and leads by example.”
Junior Connor McClelland is the team’s next best starter. The right-handed McClelland is a talented hurler with a lot of potential.
“We’re looking for him to step up and take some of the slack off Corey and Josue,” Bifulco said. “He’s going to be a good pitcher.”
So will sophomore righty Ryan Tully, who has all the talent in the world, both on the mound and at the plate.
Senior lefty Louis Sando-menico and senior righty
sports&recreationSPORTS
VIEW
After spending last spring away from coach-ing softball for the first time in more than 20 years, Carmine Ronga knew one thing. He was bored silly.
“I was sitting around the house and doing nothing,” said Ronga, who was the head soft-ball coach at Hoboken High School for a quar-ter century. “I was going out of my mind.”
Ronga said that he re-ligiously reads the local papers and saw adver-tisements for schools looking for a softball coach.
“I applied for some of them and I got a lot of reactions from them,” said Ronga, who won his share of HCIAA Seglio Division championships and Hoboken’s first-ever NJSIAA state sectional championship back in 2007. “Out of all the schools that contacted me, Harrison was the most intriguing.”
Ronga admitted that he didn’t know much about Harrison.
“I was unaware of the school’s facilities,” Ronga said. “When I first came out to the school, I didn’t realize it was brand new. I just fell
in love with the place on first sight. I felt so com-fortable here, so that’s why I took the job.”
So despite the fact that the Blue Tide won all of five games last year, Ronga was ready for the next chapter in his coaching life.
“I knew it was go-ing to be a challenge,” Ronga said. “But I was looking for a place that would interest me, a place that would get my juices flowing again. It was a great fit. The school wants to have a competitive softball program. Kim (McDonough-Huaranga, the school’s athletic director) is enthusiastic about wanting to have a good softball program. I was taken aback by the facility. It’s the best kept secret in Hudson County. It’s conducive to bringing the best stu-dent/athletes out to play softball.”
Added Ronga, “It’s going to be a work in progress, but I feel that there’s a lot of promise here.”
One of the things that Ronga requested was to start a softball program
Harrison softball turns to veteran coach Ronga as leader
The Kearny baseball team will only go as far as their pitching will carry them. From l. are Connor McClelland, Josue Rodri-guez, Corey Sawyer, head coach Frank Bifulco, Louis Sandomenico and Ryan Tully.
Kardinals loom as one of Hudson County’s diamond dandies
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201514
Adam French round out the extremely deep pitching staff.
“I like the depth we have,” Bifulco said. “The younger ones are going to come. We know we have guys who can throw and can be successful.”
The team’s catcher is senior Aaron Gonzalez, who spent last year as the backup to former Kardinal standout T.J. Witt.
The first base duties will be shared by senior Johnathon Silva and junior Joseph Este-ves. Both have shown promise during the limited preseason workouts and scrimmages.
French will spend most of his time at second base.
Junior Joseph Baez, the leading scorer on the Kearny basketball team this winter, is the baseball team’s shortstop.
“He’s a very good baseball player,” Bifulco said. “He just needs to stay focused and needs to stay composed all the time. If he can understand that, we’re going to be a much better team.”
Rodriguez will play third base when he’s not pitching. He batted .372 last year.
Senior Mike Hyde is the starting left fielder. Hyde bat-
ted better than .330 last year, but more importantly he had a .615 on base percentage.
“When he gets on base, a lot of good things can happen for us,” Bifulco said. “He’s our leadoff hitter or No. 2 hitter. He’s become a nice leader for us. The rest of the team natu-rally gravitates to him.”
Sawyer will play centerfield when he’s not on the mound. When Sawyer is pitching, junior John O’Neill mans centerfield.
McClelland plays right field. He batted .325 as a sophomore last year.
Junior Benedict Cowan, Jr. is the Kardinals’ resident jack-of-all-trades, seeing time in the outfield and as a designated hitter.
“I’m looking for him to do a nice job with his role,” Bifulco said.
The Kardinals also have Alex Molina playing a utility role and Zak Mostafa as the team’s back-up catcher and another utility bench player.
The aforementioned Tully will serve a key role, not only as a pitcher, but as a second baseman and shortstop as well.
“He can play any position well,” Bifulco said. “I think
good teams need to have good bench players. I think we have guys off our bench who can help us.”
The Kardinals are slated to open the 2015 season against Memorial Wednesday at 4 p.m. They also face St. Anthony Friday and square off against neighboring rival Harrison Saturday afternoon. It pits former teammates and close friends Bifulco and Jairo Mendez against each other. Mendez is the head coach at Harrison.
“Anything I miss, Jairo lets me know,” Bifulco said.
The Kardinals have a ton of potential.
“The expectations are high,” Bifulco said. “I ex-pect us to make a deep run in the county tournament. I know we can do better in the states. They know what’s ex-pected of them. They know they have promise. We have a good lineup, good pitching. We also have a tough sched-ule, so we have to see what happens.”
Count on the Kardinals to be more of a regular com-petitive force in the Hudson County Interscholastic Ath-letic League and the NJSIAA state playoffs.
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Commissioner Steven Rog-ers and Commissioner Joseph Scarpelli are proud to an-nounce the newest collabora-tion among the Nutley Health Department, Greenutley and the Nutley AmVets to lay the groundwork for a new Nutley Community Garden.
Joni Mitchell would be proud: Instead of paving para-dise, this initiative intends to return paradise to the parking lot. Plans are underway to in-stall 12 above-ground planting beds on property owned by the Nutley AmVets, located at Park Avenue and Walnut Street. Residents will have the opportunity to plant their own plot with the stipulation to “Grow a Row”, in which one row of produce will be grown and donated to the American Red Cross Nutley Food Pantry and/or the Vincent Method-
ist Care Kitchen. Plots are not just available to individuals: Nutley organizations such as scout troops, civic organiza-tions, or any other group interested in gardening, are welcome and encouraged to apply.
The Nutley Community Garden will be promoted as a bike/walk destination and will include a storage shed and bike rack to accommo-date gardeners.
Residents and/or organiza-tions interested in obtain-ing a plot or seeking more information on this project should contact the Health Department at 973-284-4976. Plots will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
The garden is funded by a grant from the Partners for Health Foundation.
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 15VIEW from 13
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in the middle school. That has been taken care of, with former Harrison basketball and softball standout Kim Nicosia Morillo taking over those reins.
“I wanted to be able to change the culture a little with making softball a good alterna-tive for the girls,” Ronga said. “The turnout was fantastic. We had 57 girls try out for the high school teams and another 30 or so were there for the middle school. That’s a tremendous turnout for a school this size. So the interest is definitely there. Hopefully, we can keep the interest there.”
Ronga has already thoroughly enjoyed his time with the girls of Harrison.
“It’s really brought me back to life,” Ronga said. “The kids are like sponges. They want to learn. They hustle for eve-rything. They all have great attitudes. It makes it a pleasure to go to practice every day. They’re so enthusiastic. They bought into our strategy and philosophy. It’s really a great bunch of kids.”
Ronga said that he has inher-ited six players back from last
year’s team that struggled.“But they have come in with
a new attitude,” Ronga said. “Maybe it’s because there’s a new coach and it’s a new team. I don’t know.”
Ronga has yet to decide on a No. 1 pitcher just yet. He’s still looking at senior Fayth Hart-kopf and sophomore Alexia Garrison.
“It’s pretty even right now between the two of them,” Ronga said. “Right now, I’ll split them. It all comes down to who throws more strikes. That one will get the nod.”
The catcher is senior Gina Miranda, who has the perfect makeup to be a backstop. She’s energetic and alive behind the dish.
“She’s also a very good ath-lete,” Ronga said.
Senior Kayla Ortiz is the team’s first baseman and she has a distinction.
“We call her ‘The Gen-eral,’ because she’s the one in charge,” Ronga said. “She’s defi-nitely the team leader. I can see her someday becoming a coach. That’s how much she’s into it. She really helps me out.”
Senior Renee Clifford is the team’s second baseman, moving over from shortstop where she
played last year.Sophomore Betzaida Gutier-
rez is a newcomer, a transfer from South America who has really grabbed Ronga’s heart and attention.
“She’s probably our best ath-lete,” Ronga said. “She’s super fast.”
Freshman Jailyn Montilla is the third baseman. She’s one of three Montilla sisters on the Harrison softball roster this season.
Junior Destiny Martinez is the leading candidate to start in left field, although Garrison might get the nod if she’s not
pitching.Senior Kayla Montilla is the
Blue Tide’s centerfielder. She’s the second of the three sisters and maybe the most talented.
“I think she can be our best all-around player,” Ronga said. “She has a lot of speed. She’s our leadoff hitter, so she has to get on base. She has a great personality and she’s a pleasure to coach.”
The third sister is right fielder Abigail Montilla, who is a junior. You know the old say-ing, “Three is better than one.” Well, it fits for Ronga and the Blue Tide.
The Blue Tide has a host of players to call from on the bench, namely senior infielder Arianna Estremera, junior infielder Caitlin Bond and freshman first baseman Chelsea Ramos.
Ronga is particularly pleased with freshman Kierrah Lucas, the niece of former Jets quar-terback and current TV analyst Ray Lucas.
“She’s just a very good athlete,” Ronga said of Lucas, who will also be developed as a pitcher.
The Blue Tide was sched-uled to open their season and the Ronga era against Paterson Charter Wednesday. They then had games with McNair Aca-demic on Saturday and Queen of Peace Monday.
Ronga wanted to give credit to his assistant coaches Danielle Labriola, the former head coach at Ridgefield, Jose Ponjoan and Howard Thompson. He was also happy to find Nicole Smith already teaching at Harrison. Smith was a former standout pitcher during her high school days at North Bergen and beat Ronga’s Hoboken team twice.
“We have good kids and a good staff,” Ronga said. “We’re ready.”
Photo by Jim Hague
The Harrison softball program is ready to begin a new chapter with new head coach Carmine Ronga, who was the head coach at Hoboken for more than two decades. From l. are Kayla Ortiz, Renee Clifford, Ronga, Gina Miranda, Kayla Montilla and Fayth Hartkopf.
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201516
By Jim HagueObserver Sports Writer
As he begins his eighth season as the head baseball coach at North
Arlington High School, Paul Marcantuono knows one thing. This year’s team has to be better than last year’s.
A year ago, the Vikings won all of three games. That’s not a lot to be excited about.
“We had a lot of sophomores on the team and only one sen-ior,” Marcantuono said. “We kind of knew what we had and that we were going to take some lumps.”
But the calendar year has turned – and frankly, so have the hopes of the Vikings.
“Looking forward, we have
the talent to make that losing stop,” Marcantuono said. “We have all of our pitchers return-ing.”
The pitchers worked hard in the offseason, receiving pri-vate lessons from the people at Wladyka Baseball, including former New York Mets farm-hand Jim Wladyka.
“They put in the time dur-ing the winter,” Marcantuono said. “It’s good to know that we have a pitching staff that we can work with for the next couple of years.”
Leading the way is junior left-hander Brian Costello, who ended up having the lowest earned run average on the team and pitched for the Vikings in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I
playoffs.“He’s gotten stronger and
put on more muscle,” Marcan-tuono said of Costello. “He looks good.”
Junior righty Joel Silva also returns from last year. Silva, who is also a solid outfielder, has worked with new assistant coach Bruce Daddis on be-coming more of a pitcher and less of a pure thrower.
“They’ve really spent a lot of time together,” Marcantuono said of Silva and Daddis. “It’s been an easy transition. The pitchers had to refine their skills and learned how to pitch.”
Both Costello and Silva were clients at Wladyka.
“They’ve gotten better, but they already had the talent,”
Marcantuono said.Junior right-hander Timmy
Ford, the basketball standout, and sophomore righty Charles Kearney complete the starting staff.
“Those four are the ones who will carry us pitching-wise,” Marcantuono said.
The Vikings have three catchers that they can use in junior Stephen Carey, junior Chris Giaquinto and sopho-more Angel Santos.
“Stephen has worked very hard to get better,” Marcantuo-no said. “He has improved a lot. Angel is a versatile player who can play all over. Chris is one of our better hitters. We have to find a spot for him in
continued next page
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Vikings look to improve with solid pitching staff
Photo by Jim Hague
The North Arlington baseball team will be improved, thanks to its pitching staff. From l. are Joel Silva, Timmy Ford, head coach Paul Marcantuono, Brian Costello and Charles Kearney.
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 17
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our lineup.”Costello plays first
base when he’s not pitching.
The second baseman is senior Anthony Ro-tondo, the lone senior on the team.
“I don’t think he made a single error at second base last year,” Marcan-tuono said. “I like his glove, but I also like the leadership he provides. He’s the captain. I love his knowledge of the game. He’s probably the smartest baseball mind I’ve ever coached.”
That last comment says a lot, because Marcantuono has had his share of very bright ballplayers.
The shortstop is junior Ismanuel Mora, who is one of the best fielding shortstops around.
“He showed some flashes of brilliance last year, stepping into the varsity role as a sopho-more,” Marcantuono said. “I have no doubt about the shortstop position for us for the
next couple of years. He loves the game. Mora also worked hard in the offseason.”
The third baseman is Kearney, who is the team’s No. 5 hitter.
“He has a little bit of power,” Marcantuono said. “He’s also one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever seen. I’ve never heard him utter a bad word.”
Ford is the team’s centerfielder.
“He has a strong arm out there,” Marcantuono said. “If a ball is hit to him, he’s going to catch it. He’s our No. 2 hitter and he puts the bat on the ball.”
Junior left fielder Elias Aguilar returns to the Viking roster after miss-ing all of last year with a broken hand. Junior right fielder Will Pimentel is what Marcantuono la-beled “a very coachable kid who is serviceable,” Marcantuono said.
Santos and Giaquinto are players who can also help in the outfield.
Sophomore John Policano is a reliable and serviceable player who can come off the bench.
There are other things to be excited about the Vikings, despite the vet-eran roster.
The Vikings will play their home games at the newly restored Rip Collins Field and its new FieldTurf facility.
“It definitely helps,” Marcantuono said. “We had the luxury of hav-ing the turf. Others are calling us to see if they can get on the field. If it rains all day, we can still get on the turf and ready to go.”
The Vikings were set to open their season at Rip Collins Wednesday against Lincoln. They were off to face Univer-sity Charter in Jersey City Thursday.
No question, the Vi-kings will be improved.
“We’re going to be bet-ter,” Marcantuono said. “We’re way better than we were last year.”
They have to be.
James C. DeAngelo, principal of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, has announced that the fol-lowing local residents attained honor roll sta-tus for the second mark-ing period of 2014-2015.
Belleville: Alex Don-aleski and Jacob Yanicak earned Second Honors. Andrew Notare and Mi-chael Mangual earned Honorable Mention.
Bloomfield: Daniel Okoh, Ian Harnett and Paolo Samin earned First Honors. Hon-orable Mention was attained by Kenneth Creer, Matthew Issac and Stephen Perez.
Harrison: Tyler Martino earned Second
Honors.Kearny: Zachary Uh-
ler earned First Honors. Lyndhurst: Tyler
Hansen and Zachary Moeller earned First Honors. Rishi Kumaran, Victor Chirichella and Luke Giunta earned Sec-ond Honors. Honorable Mention was attained by Augustus Burkhardt.
North Arling-ton: Robert Wisowaty earned First Hon-ors. Brady Marinho, and Matthew Rodrigues earned Second Hon-ors. Honorable Mention was attained by Alphon-so Palacios and Robert Dungan.
Nutley: Sean John-son, Michael Fogle, Luke
Bukowiec, Alexander De Martino, Marc Coz-zarelli, Dennis Kirby Jr. and Brian Savage earned First Honors. Nicholas Cozzarelli, Benjamin Halligan, Anthony Sabia, Francis Geltrude, Marco Califano and Dante Dias earned Sec-ond Honors. Honorable Mention was attained by Kyle Bowes, Sawyer Swanson, Jonathan Ahn and John Halligan.
First Honors is award-ed to students with an average of A or higher (4.0); Second Honors, an average at or above the midpoint between A and B+ (3.7); Honorable Mention, an average of B+ or higher (3.5).
Prep rolls out honorsfor area students
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201518
60-unit apartment complex.” A Quick Chek, on the other hand, would be “clean and simple” and would offer a chance for “hiring 40 peo-ple” to work there in shifts around the clock.
But several council mem-bers had reservations about the plan: Kevin Kennedy wondered if the township would run into legal prob-lems with a rival bidder who had proposed a retail use for the site; Marie Strumolo Burke and Dr. John Notari worried about safety issues that a 24/7 operation might generate; and Steven Rovell had concerns about adding to existing traffic conges-tion on the approach to the Rutgers St. bridge.
Mayor Ray Kimble ended the discussion by saying, “The next step is to discuss this among ourselves and our attorney.”
During the regular public meeting, the council dealt with the Northeast Area Redevelopment Plan by passing a resolution that found that, “… the proposed
density, building height and intensity of development proposed development Op-tion 3 [which called for at least one 50-story high-rise and others ranging from 10 to 20 floors] is out of scale with the existing and planned land use charac-ter of Washington Ave. and its surrounding neighbor-hoods.”
And it further determined that, “… there is no evidence in the near future, beyond development occurring along the Hudson River in Hudson County or Bergen County, that development
[as proposed under Option 3] would ever find a feasible market in Belleville.
“That said, it makes no planning sense to approve a redevelopment plan for an unrealistic development of this scale and invite unfore-seeable legal or zoning chal-lenges.”
At the same time, the council unanimously voted down a resolution that would have send the North-east Redevelopment team’s application back to the Plan-ning Board “for further fact finding and deliberation and possible revisions.”
Rovell told The Observer: “We’re not into the type of extreme density being pro-posed by the developer. As I understand it, [one member of the team] already has prior approvals to put up a 135-unit apartment building on a portion of the site but nothing has been built.”
Going along with such a huge project “is a lot to ask for in a bedroom-type community like Belleville,” Rovelle said. “Why would you change the look and feel of the community? It’s not that I’m against develop-ment but I’m a proponent of reasonable and rational
development.” The council decision was
warmly greeted by residents Vincent Frantantoni and Jeff Mattingly.
“I’ve finally got a reason to thank the council for doing the right thing,” Frantantoni said, “because this project is so out of scale with Bel-leville. In our entire town, we have 11,800 housing units. This developer wants to come and add between 4,500 and 6,000 units and this town cannot handle this.”
Mattingly chose to take hope from the council’s action, “if it was meant as sending a signal to the de-veloper to come back with a smaller project.”
Otherwise, he said, grant-ing the team carte blanche would amount to nothing less than “a land grab to take over a [contaminated] prop-erty 10 years in the process of being cleaned.”
Putting a 50-story high-rise “only 100 feet away from a utility electric tower is not a place for a residential development,” he added.
What the development team will do next remains to be seen.
RECONSIdER from 01
GRAND OPENING SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015 10am
Come join us for our Grand Opening celebration. Free gift & samples. Bring this ad in for 10% off your purchase of $25 or more on opening day!
O&R attorney Anthony J. Frese (l.) and Quick Check’s John Carafello try to make a case for replacing proposed housing with a commercial use at the now vacant School 1 site (shown at l.).
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 19
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201520
a point where that has to be addressed.”
“It seems like a lot of libraries have lost peo-ple through attrition,” Humphrey said. “You can see that trend.”
Pat Tumulty, execu-tive director of the New Jersey Library Associa-tion, noted that, “Since 2005, property values across the state have gone down by 13% and that has a direct impact on local funding for libraries.
“In 2009, the average per-capita state fund-ing for libraries in New Jersey was $67 and as of 2013 [the year for which the most recent figures
are available], it’s at $57,” she said. “What we’re seeing now is the sixth straight year of cuts in this program and local libraries are find-ing it more difficult to meet the state’s stand-ards.”
Reduced hours in Kearny notwithstand-ing, patrons’ use of the library has continued unabated, with library records showing a rise of about 3,000 in total circulation volume to more than 83,000 between 2013 and 2014, Humphrey said.
Probably the single most popular items, Humphrey said, are “graphic novels” for juveniles (meaning
comic books). “Picture books go out like crazy,” he said. “The companies that put out e-books haven’t yet found a way to replicate them.”
Of the 83,164 books and tapes in circula-tion, more than half – 46,695 – are juvenile books, records reveal.
More than 1,500 resi-dents – adults and kids – took out new library cards and about 21,000 adults and youths came in to use the li-brary’s computers last year, records show.
“For now,” Hum-phrey said, “we can tread water. I would hate to see us cut our hours more than we have already.”
201- 991-1300 Ext. 410Cell: 201-679-3785Each office is independently owned and operated
East Newark - Don't miss this well maintained 2 Family Home in desirable section! Located near the border of Har-rison, this great two family home features all Large Rooms! Plenty of closets! Hardwood Floors Throughout! Separate
Gas, Electric and Hot Water Heaters! Full High and Dry Basement! Close to schools, shopping and just steps away to
ALL transportation! $299,900
Kearny - Don't miss this well maintained 3 Family Home in the desirable Arlington Section of Ke-
arny! All Separate Utilities! New Timberline Roof, New Siding! All Newer Windows! Newer Updated
Electric! Close to shopping, schools and ALL Transportation! A Must See Home! $399,500
North Arlington - Don't miss this beautiful fully expanded Cape Style home! This well maintained home can be used as a 5 bedroom home or 4 bedroom with extra living room! Perfect for use for extended family needing a home with an in-law suite! 2 Full and 1 half baths! Hardwood Floors! 200 Amp Electric Service! Two gas heating systems with 3 zone control! One Car Attached Garage! Large Manicured 50' x 107' Lot with
great back yard for entertaining with a large deck! $389,900
Belleville, 3 Family Home. Hardwood floors! New Roof! New Windows! New
Driveway! Large 50' x 100 Lot! LongDrive-way and One Car Garage! $329,000
Lyndhurst - Don't miss this Great 2 family home! Large 43' by 140' lot overlooking Riverside Park! Hardwood Floors Throughout! Central A/C! Finished ground floor Family Room with 1/2 bath. Gas hot water baseboard
heating system. Triple Wide Driveway! Over sized 2 Car Garage! A Must See Home! $449,900
Kearny - Location! Location! Location! Ranch Style home in desirable Arlington section of Kearny! Large 50' by 100' lot. 3 Bedrooms! 2 Full Baths! Finished Basement! One Car Garage! Close to all shopping, schools and ALL Transporta-
tion. $259,500
Kearny - Retail Storefront or Office Space for rent on Kearny Avenue in Heart of Town! Newly Carpeted
and Painted! Approximately 350sq foot. Built in Wall A/C. 1/2 Bath. Great area! Lots of foot traffic! Heat and water included. Some Basement Storage
available. $850.00
Hardyston - Great Ranch Style Home in Sussex County! Can be used as 3 or 4 Bedrooms! Living Room with White Brick Fireplace! 2 Full and 1 Half Bath! Large Updated Kitchen with New Cabinets and Stainless Steel appliances! Central A/C! 2 Zone Baseboard hot water Heating
System Full Heated Basement with Family Room! 200 Amp Electric Ser-vice! Heated over-sized 2 Car Garage with Workshop! Large Half Acre Lot! Great Back Yard with Shed with electric and running water! Close
to Shopping, Schools, Mountain Creek, Crystal Resort and MUCH MORE!Asking only $259,900
North Arlington - Beautiful 2 Family Duplex Style Home! 5 Bedrooms! Updated Kitchens with Granite Counters! 3 full
baths! Finished Basement with Family Room and Full Bath! Beautiful Hardwood Floors! Finished Attic! All Separate
Utilities! Gas Hot Air Heating Systems. Unique Large Property with 2 Separate One Car Detached Garages and 2 Long
Driveways! Asking $449,000
UNDER CONTRACT
NEW LISTING!
North Arlington - LAND! LAND! LAND! Level, Buildable Residential Lot in Heart of North
Arlington. Measures 39' x 71.5'. Includes large 3 car garage with property. $149,900
Harrison - A Builders Dream! Six (6) connecting lots in desirable section of Harrison! 3 side by side lots
with Harrison Avenue frontage, each measuring approximately 25' wide by 88' deep, and 3 lots on Jersey Street directly behind, measuring approxi-
mately 25' wide by 49' deep. Asking $459,900
Kearny- One family home is very desirable section of Kearny. Large 50' by 100' Lot with 2 Car Detached Garage and Long Driveway. New Timberline Roof! Hardwood Floors! Needs
some TLC! $250.000
NEW LISTING!
WOW - This is a delightful three bedroom Kearny Colo-nial. Hardwood floors, high ceilings and old world charmand character throughout. Great location plus a 50x115lot and two car garage. Call today $319,900.
UNIQUE OFFERING - Kearny 2 family on a59x100 lot. 2 bedrooms, modern kitchen and bath ineach apartment. ASKING $359,000
NOW IS THE TIME - This Hamilton Street 2 family con-tains three bedrooms on the first floor and 2 bedrooms inthe second floor apartment. The basement is finished andthe price is fantastic. ASKING $359,000.
CLASSIC KEARNY COLONIAL- This three bedroom lovelyManor home is in excellent condition and contains lovely hard-wood floors, chestnut trim and stained glass windows. It also hassliders to a huge deck off the kitchen and of course a drive andgarage. Will not last at Just $329,900
NORTH ARLINGTON - Newly remodeled with granite inthe kitchen, jacuzzi tub, 3 bedrooms and a finished base-ment with second full bath. Inground pool and off streetparking. All for only $289,000.
H O U S E O F T H E W E E K
MUST SEE- Do not buy until you experience this huge,beautiful, unique 100% remodeled Kearny 2 family on arare 62.5X100 lot. 6 bedrooms,4 baths. Extra large kitchen,lovely finishes throughout. Central Air,4 finished floors.ASKING $629,000.
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 21THINK YOU CAN’T REFINANCE BECAUSE VALUES ARE DOWN? THINK AGAIN!!!
STARTING MARCH 2012, HARP 2.0, a new program presented by the Federal Government, allows homeowners to refinance regardless of the equity they currently have in their house (even if you are upside down!)Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have adopted changes to Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and you may be eligible to take advantage of these changes.If your mortgage is either owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you may be eligible to refinance your mortgage under the enhanced and expanded provisions of HARP.You can determine if your mortgage is owned by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac by checking the following websites:For Fannie Mae: www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup For Freddie Mac: www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage
NORTH ARLINGTON • NJ 07031
To advertise in this directory CALL 201-991-1600
Real EstateDIRECTORY
The Bixler Group LLC
The Bixler GroupReal Estate & Insurance Since 1891
Manor Section – Completely Remodelled Home w/ 3 Bed-rooms, 2.5 Baths, Eat Kitchen, Living Rm, Dining Rm &Sun Rm. Finished Basement. Central Air & Forced Hot Air.Large Property w/ 1 Car Garage. Asking $349,000
KEARNY
Handyman Special – Colonial w/ 2 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath,Living Rm, Dining Rm, Kitchen & Computer Rm. Walk-UpFinished Attic. Unfinished Basement. 2 Car Garage. Asking$183,500
KEARNY
3 Family - Recently Renovated Home. 1st Floor w/ 1 Bed-room. 2nd & 3rd Floors Have 3 Bedrooms. 1 Car Garage.Short Walk to PATH Trains. Asking $489,000
HARRISON
Large Home Built in 1980s. Both Apartments w/2 Bedrooms, Dining Rm, Living Rm, Eat in Kitchen & Bath. Finished Basementw/Rec Rm, Laundry Rm & Full Bath. Driveway & 2 Car Garage.Asking $399,000
BELLEVILLE
Central Park Condos – Beautifully Renovated 2nd Floor Condow/1 Bedroom, Living Rm, New Modern Eat in Kitchen & Bath.Low Maintenance Fees Include Heat, Hot Water & 1 ParkingSpace. Asking $169,000
HARRISON
Heather Glen Condo – Condo w/1 Bedroom, Living Rmw/Balcony, Full Bath & Eat in Kitchen. 1 Car Garage w/ Additional Parking Space. Asking $113,900
KEARNY
2 Family – 1st Floor w/ 2 Bedrooms, Modern Eat in Kitchen,Tiled Bath, Living RM, Dining Rm. 2nd Floor w/3 Bedrooms,Modern Eat in Kitchen, Living Rm, Dining Rm, Tiled Bath. Pri-vate Driveway. Asking $394,900
KEARNY
2 Family – Arlington Section – Both apartments w/2 Bedrooms, Living Rm, Modern Eat in Kitchen & Tiled Bath.Finished Attic w/2 rooms & Full Bath. Separate Utilities. Asking $274,900
KEARNY
2 Family – Both Apartments w/ 3 Bedrooms, Living Rm,Eat in Kitchen & Bath. Large Walk Up Attic to UnfinishedRoom. Asking $309,000
KEARNY
2 Family – Both Apartments have 3 Bedrooms, Living Rm,Kitchen & Bath. Finished Attic w/ 2 Rooms. All SeparateUtilities. Asking $319,900
KEARNY
1 Family – Belgrove Drive Colonial w/3 Bedrooms, Living/Dining RmCombo, Eat in Kitchen, Family Rm & 4 Bedrooms. Finished Attic &Basement. Driveway w/1 Car Garage. Asking $424,000
KEARNY
UNDER CONTRACT
SOLD
1 Family - Colonial w/ 3 Bedrooms, 1.5 Baths, Living Rm,Dining Area, Family Rm & Kitchen. Semi-Finished Base-ment. Asking $148,900
BELLEVILLE
Beautiful Colonial w/ 3 Bedrooms, 1 Bath, Living Rm w/Fireplace,Dining Rm, Eat in Kitchen w/Stainless Steel Appliances. CentralAir/Forced Hot Air. 1 Car Garage. Asking $378,900
LYNDHURST
NEW LISTING
NEW LISTING
UNDER CONTRACT IN 14 DAYS!
1 Family – Manor Section – Lovely Renovated Home w/ 3 Bed-rooms, 2.5 New Baths, Living Rm w/Wood Burning Fireplace, DiningRm & New Eat in Kitchen w/Granite Countertops & Stainless SteelAppliances. Central Air. 1 Car Garage. Asking $414,000
KEARNY
EXCLUSIVE!
NEW LISTING
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 201522
Raider Marching Band was crowned USSBA Northern States Cham-pions for best music, percussion and effect honors and was grand champion at the 2015 Gator Bowl, Tourna-ment of Champions, which brought $10,000 in prize money to the high school. In 2009, the Nutley High music pro-gram was honored with a gala at Carnegie Hall and in 2008, the NHS Wind Ensemble gave a world premiere performance of Frank Ticheli’s “Angels in the Architecture” in the Sydney Opera House in Australia. The Wind Ensemble has won first place awards at festivals in Toronto (2005), Ana-heim (2006), New York City (2007) and Jackson (2009). Maiello, selected as Teacher of the Year in 2009, performs as a trumpeter with the Ridgewood Concert Band and New Sussex Symphony.
Fleitell is a former two-term member of the Nutley Board of
Education who served as guidance director and supervisor in the local district until her retirement in 2008. She is past president of the Radcliffe School PTA. She is a board member of the Nutley Family Service Bureau and is a past president of the NFS Women’s Auxiliary and chaired the Char-ity Ball. She is a founder and president of Nutley Thriving Survivors, a support program for women who live or work in Nutley who have battled breast cancer. The group organizes an annual walk/brunch, provide food for those undergoing treatment and companionship to women in need.
Petracco is the owner of Petracco and Sons, a local deli and catering facility. Petracco started in business many years ago when he began leas-ing and running the meat department at Foodrama on Washington Ave. Eventually, he opened his own business on Union Ave., eventually outgrowing that space
and relocating to the site of the former Radcliffe Deli on Bloomfield Ave. For many years, Petracco has donated to a variety of causes and has sup-plied food and beverages to local senior citizens and athletic programs and community or-ganizations. Petracco has coached baseball, bas-ketball and other youth sports and sponsored Little League teams. He has helped provide residents with trans-portation to doctors’ offices and has donated food and supplies to the needy. In 2010, Petracco was elected mayor and serves as director of pub-lic safety.
This year’s honorees were selected by a panel consisting of chairman former Township Com-missioner Walter Smith, Dr. Clarke, businessman John Brown, Schools Superintendent Russell Lazovick, community volunteer Anne Lynne Eisenfelder, former NJ Hometown and Nutley Sun editor Phil White and former Assembly-man Fred Scalera.
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March 26Officers Ben Wuelf-
ing and Tom Pontrella were dispatched to a 2:45 a.m. accident between a Honda CRV and a Jaguar on Rt. 7 near Fish House Road in South Kearny. As Wuelfing was interview-ing the Honda driver, he reportedly detected the odor of alcohol. After field sobriety tests and an Alcotest, Pauline Ksepko, 21, of Bayonne, was charged with DWI, reck-less driving, and driving against the flow of traffic. Police said the driver of the Jaguar -- a 27-year-old West Orange woman -- declined medical at-tention. Both cars were towed from the scene.
• • •Anthony Joana, 40, of
Kearny, was arrested at 9 a.m. at a Belgrove Drive residence by Officers Steven Hroncich and John Fabula and Sgt. Paul Bershefski pursuant to a $1,000 Kearny contempt-of-court warrant stem-
ming from a July incident in which he allegedly made threats against KPD officers.
• • •At 3:30 p.m., Officer
Pat Becker responded to the report of a Walmart shoplifter fleeing in a gold-colored car on Harrison Ave. toward Rt. 280. Becker and Sgt. John Taylor stopped a gold 2002 Chevy operated by Charles Robinson, 51, of East Orange, who was ar-rested after he was found to have a suspended license and a $4,000 Roselle Park warrant (for driving while suspended), police said. His passen-ger, Eric Jackson, 49, of Newark, was charged with shoplifting after Walmart security ID’d him, police said. He allegedly had tried to take two speakers.
• • •At 4:05 p.m., Officer
Brian Wisely saw a 1999 Mitsubishi travelling erratically and at a high rate of speed from East Newark into Kearny. He followed it to Johnston
Ave. and Maple St., where the driver parked in a prohibited zone and both occupants exited the vehicle. During questioning, passenger Anthony Parker, 24, of Bloomfield, appeared to be “very nervous,” police said. Sgt. Scott Traynor and two vice detectives went to the scene and separated driver and pas-senger, who reportedly gave conflicting stories.
Police said Parker then admitted to having a hypodermic needle and heroin.
A search reportedly produced the needle, a glassine fold of heroin and three vials of cocaine. (Editor’s note: For once, a fold of heroin did not bear a “brand” name; it must have been generic.) Parker was charged with possession of all the pro-hibited items.
The driver, a 24-year-old Kearny male, was issued summonses for careless driving and the parking violation.
– Karen Zautyk
KPD from 08
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 23
see OBITS page 27
obituaries To submit an obituary:fax: 201-991-8941
Mario Teixeira, IV, Manager, NJ Lic. #3757 Mario Teixeira, Jr. Director, NJ Lic. #2542 • Monique Teixeira, Director, NJ Lic. #4048
Newly renovated family owned and operated funeral home with multiple locations.Fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. Handicapped Accessible.
138 DAVIS AVE. • KEARNY, NJ 07032(201) 991-2265 www.buyusfuneralhome.com
Wilfred Armitage & Wiggins Funeral Home
596 Belgrove Dr. • Kearny, NJ 07032(201) 991-0657
WILFRED ARMITAGE & WIGGINSFUNERAL HOME
Mark G. Wiggins, Manager N.J. Lic. #3916John W. Armitage, Director N.J. Lic#2642
You will feel as if friends of family have taken over when you entrust funeral arrangements to the Wilfred Armitage Funeral Home. The family-owned firm has been in business for 75 years, serving genera-tions in West Hudson and South Bergen. Its beautiful facilities, in a setting reminiscent of a colonial mansion, reflect the graciousness and tact of its understanding personnel.
Prayer to St. JudeMost holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friendof Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you univer-sally as the patron of difficulty and of desperate cases,of things almost despaired of Pray for me, I am sohelpless and alone. Make use, I implore you, of thatparticular privilege given to you to bring visible andspeedy help where help was almost despaired of.Come to my assistance in this great need that I mayreceive the consolation and help of heaven in all mynecessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly-(make your request here)-and that I may bless Godwith you and all the elect throughout all eternity. I promise you, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindfulof this great favor, and I will never cease to honor youas my special and powerful patron and do all in mypower to encourage devotion to you. Amen.
H.A.B.
In Loving Memory of
Elaine HoptonMarch 28, 2005
Though your smile is gone foreverAnd your hand
we can not touchWe still have many
memories of the onewe loved so much
Love,The Family
In Loving Memory of
John HoptonApril 1, 2013
Your presence we missYour memory we treasure
You are loved beyond wordsAnd missed beyond measure
Love,
The Family
George Dock George Dock, 92, died on
March 24 at St. Luke’s Hospice in Bethlehem, Pa.
Arrangements were by the Thiele-Reid Family Funeral Home, 585 Belgrove Drive. A funeral Mass was offered at St. Stephen’s Church, Kearny, followed by interment in Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington. Condolences and memories may be shared at www.thiele-reid.com.
Mr. Dock was born in Pais-ley, Scotland. He immigrated to this country in 1952 and lived in Kearny ever since.
George was a bricklayer for the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craft-workers’ Local 4 for many years.
He was a founding member of the Kearny Celtic Support-ers Association of Kearny in 1963 and served as its first president. George was also a proud member of the Kearny Irish American Club of Kearny and served as secretary. In 1974, the Celtic Supporters made the Irish American Club their permanent home. Mr. Dock worked alongside his wife Margaret as they owned and operated the Kearny Health Food Center from 1969 to 2001. In 1972 he donated six months of his time as a brick layer to help build Elks Camp Moore in Haskell, a camp for handicapped children and veterans.
Mr. Dock is survived by his daughter Sharon McKeown and his grandson Edmund McKeown.
He was predeceased by his wife Margaret (Gaffney) Dock in February 2010.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to St. Stephen’s Church, Kearny.
George F. Dreker George F. Dreker, 88, died
on March 23 in the New Jersey Firemen’s Home in Boonton.
Arrangements were by the Thiele-Reid Family Funeral Home, 585 Belgrove Drive, Kearny. A funeral Mass was offered at St. Cecilia Church, Kearny, followed by inter-ment in Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington. Condolences and memories may be shared at www.thiele-reid.com.
George was born in Kearny and was a lifelong resident.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 until 1947 and was a firefighter for the town of Kearny for 31 years, retiring Dec. 26, 1992.
He was member of the N.J. State Firemen’s Association, the Kearny Firemen’s Relief Association, the Hudson County Firemen’s Home Association, the N.J. State Exempt Firemen’s Association, the Hudson County League of Exempt Firemen, the Kearny Firemen’s Exempt Association and the Kearny FMBA Local 18.
St. Cecilia Church in Kearny was a huge part of George’s life where he was a member of the Holy Name Society, an usher and a bingo volunteer. The church named him its “Man of the Year” in 1998.
George is survived by his daughter Dorothy Schmieder (Richard); four grandchildren, Theresa Grassey, Roseanne Farrell, Richard J. Schmieder Jr. and Katherine McCabe; and nine great-grandchildren.
He will be missed by his cousins Cecilia Horn and Sis-ter M. James; and his nephew Thomas Dreker.
George was predeceased by his wife Dorothy R. (Forbes) Dreker; his daughter Dolores Fargano; and three brothers Frederick, James and Bernard Dreker.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the New Jersey Firemen’s Home, 565 Lathrop Ave., Boonton, N.J. 07005 or at www.njfh.org.
John Munro John Munro, of Kearny, died
March 27. He was 88.
Arrangements were by the Armitage Wiggins Funeral Home, 596 Belgrove Drive, Kearny. A funeral service was held at the funeral home fol-lowed by a private cremation. www.armitagewiggins.com
John was a devoted husband and father. Married to the late Georgina (nee Shivers) he was the father of Pauline (Thom-as) Austin, John (Denise) Munro, Gerald (Gina) Munro, Gary (Tammy) Munro and the late Andrew Munro. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
John was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Feb. 14, 1927. He and his family moved to Kearny in 1963. He was a longtime member of The Scots Ameri-can Club and an avid soccer fan who always supported the hometown Kearny High School Soccer, Scots American and Thistle teams. John served in the British Army Royal En-gineers during World War II. He worked for Imperial Photo Graphics in Belleville for 30 years, retiring in 1993. Many would remember John tire-
lessly taking his daily walks up and down Kearny Ave. and warmly joke about him being the “Scottish Mayor of Kearny” until his illness.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to The Scots Club for roof repair.
Edward Patrick O’NeillEdward Patrick O’Neill died
quietly on March 23, during a loving caress from his wife Mary with his brother Marty holding his hand. Ed was born in Newark and raised his fam-ily in Kearny. Arrangements were by the Armitage Wiggins Funeral Home, 596 Belgrove Drive, Kearny. A funeral Mass was held at St. Stephen’s Church, followed by burial in Holy Cross Cemetery. www.armitagewiggins.com
Ed was a Navy veteran who served on the USS Soley DD 707. After the Navy, he joined the Newark Police Depart-ment where he was a motor-cycle officer. When he retired after 27 years, he drove a truck
harrison 4th fl apt.2 BR, Large EIK,sunny LR, DR, wood &ceramic flooring.Ceiling fan in allrooms. Partiallyfurnished. HT/HWincluded. $1200/monthWalk to alltransportation &shops. References &security depositrequired. Call or text(732) 822-9177.
harrison 1st fl. 3BR, 1 Bath, L/R, D/R,Kitchen. Walkingdistance to PATH.Utilities not included.No pets.$1,400/month. 1 ½months security.Available April 1st. (973) 715-5495.
kearny 3 rooms,HT/HW included.Elevated building.Laundry facility onpremises.$950/monthCall Sofia after 3pm201-998-3516 or see super after 3pm654 Elm St. AptBasement 1.
n.arlinGTon 2nd fl.2 BR, LR, kitchen,newly renovated.Central HT & A/Cutilities separate. Nopets. No smoking.Contact Angela byphone or text 862-371-9418
harrison 5 rooms.2nd floor, 2 bedrooms,Smoke-freeenvironment. No pets.Off street parking &many extras. 1-1/2 months security.Available 4/1. Call(973) 418-8500.
LYNDHURST
lyndhursT 1bedroom includes AC& All appliances,Laundry facility,parking. $995/monthplus utilities. No pets.Smoke Free Building.Close to NYCtransportation. (201) 970-3210
kearny Rooseveltschool district, 2 BRLR, DR with galleykitchen & bathroom.Avl. June 1st. HT &HW supplied. 1 ½months security. Nopets. New carpet &tile floor.$1,250/month. Call201-998-8138.
kearny Large 1 BRapt. Loft style.Featuring open floorplan, high ceiling, largewindows, H/W floorthroughout, Newceramic tile in bath.New kitchen, Ceilingfans in each room.$1200/month +security & utilities. Nopets. (201) 991-6942.
belleville Section8 Only. GreylockParkway. Large 1 BR.Available Now. Call 973-202-8580.
NEWARK
newark1 BR $950/mo.Vailsburg / Near
Seton Hall. HT/HWincluded. Safe/Secure. Brick
Historic Bldg. ExtraLarge BR. Newly
Renovated. Kitchen,Bath, H/W Floors,
Refrigerator, CeilingFans. 1 month
security. Section 8 ok.No fees. No pets. Avl.Now (973) 216-9470.
harrison Large 4BR apt. on 3rd fl.Central air & Ht. Newlyrenovated. Walkingdistance to path &schools. $1,500/month+ utilities. 1 ½ monthssecurity. (973) 943-7663.
harrison 5 Rooms,2 BR’s LR, DR, EIK,2nd fl. Stove &refrigerator. C/A &Heat. Walk to Path.Avl. Now. UtilitiesSeparate. No LaundryHook-UP. No Pets. NoSmoking. 1 ½ monthssecurity. $1400/month.Call 973-482-2628.Leave Message.
APArTmenTsfor renT
Condofor renT
cliFTonAllwood Mews, 2
Bdrm, LR, DR Garage,Deck, Washer/Dryer
$2,400/month.o’haraagency(201)997‐6300.
KEARNY Peaceful &quiet large brightroom, private sink &refrigerator. Cleanbedding weekly, closeto stores &transportation, plentyof street parking.positively no smoking.Gentlemen preferred.Single occupancy.Good credit needed. 4week securityrequired. $140/week.(973) 830-7498.
furnished roomfor renT
harrison Newlyrenovated, 3BR, 1Bath. Close to Path.$1,600/month. 1month security.Laundry in basement.Avl. Now. Call after5pm 201-933-1458.
harrison 2nd floorapt. Close to Path. Payyour own utilities.$1,050 a month. Call201-240-5198.
harrison GroundFloor. 1 BR. Bath, LR& Kitchen. $930/month+ utilities. 1 ó monthsecurity. 1 year lease.No smoking. No petsin building premises.Street parking. Nolaundry. AvailableImmediately. 973-481-5760Between 6-7pm.
harrison 1st fl, 2BR, LR, DR/ EIK. Allremodeled. Refrigincluded. No smoking,no pets. $1,450month/heat included.Available now. Call ortext Rosa 201-207-9158
HARRISON• Affordable ModernOffice/Artist Space• Prime Location• Close to PATHTrains & Major
Highways• 400-8,000 SQ.FT.
• Business Relocationand Start-up Stimulus/
Incentive Plan.(973) 223-5501
Dispatcher: Localtrucking Company inKearny, NJ is lookingfor an experienced
dispatcher to beresponsible for the
scheduling andmanagement of truckdriver’s daily loads.
Long haul and regionalLTL operations
experience required.Salary negotiable with
experience. (201) 997-9250
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van driver Pathways to Independence,Inc. in Kearny, NJ is seeking a candidate to
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Memorable Impact on Our Home Town, Nutley, New Jersey,” Saturday, April 11, at 2 p.m. Be on the lookout for some Nutley notables in at-tendance!
• Tuesday Night Graphic Novel Club meets April 14 at 7 p.m. to discuss “Batman: The Killing Joke.” Copies of
each book are available at the library. Register online at nutleypubliclibrary.org/graph-icnovelclub or by phone at 973-667-0405, ext. 2604.
• A Butterfly Tea, open to ages 3 to 12, is set for Wednes-day, April 15, at 2 p.m. Regis-tration is required online at http://nutleypubliclibrary.org/youthservices/.
• Children ages 12 and
younger are invited to paint a butterfly flower Thursday, April 16, at 11 a.m. Registration is required.
• The Butterfly Guy will visit on Tuesday, April 14, at 1:30 p.m. This program is open to all ages. No registration is required.
For more information or to register for programs, call the library at 973-667-0405.
www.theobserver.comThe Observer is not responsible for typographical
errors. Credit for errors will not be granted after the next week’s publication. No changes or refunds.Deadline for classifi eds is Monday by 4:00 PM.
KEARNY –The Kearny Board of Educa-
tion is refinancing nearly $16 million in old school bonds in hopes of trimming some of its debt payments over the re-maining life of the bonds.
The board authorized the ac-tion on March 16.
Michael DeVita, the board’s secretary/business administra-tor, said that Moody’s Investors Service has given the bonds an A1 rating, which, he said, should assure a competitive interest rate on the refinancing.
DeVita said the board origi-nally floated two bond issues, one in 2005 for $3,650,000 for repairs to elementary school facades and another in 2007 for $12,725,000 for the high school façade.
“We pay off a portion of the debt on those bonds each year and we always check the mar-ket rates to see if it’s feasible to refinance,” DeVita said. “In past years, the savings pro-jected were not enough to go forward with that.”
But this year, the forecast was brighter, he said.
“Now, our experts – bond counsel Andrea Kahn of Mc-Manimon, Scotland & Bau-mann, financial adviser Diana
Geist of NW Financial and auditor Gary Vinci – estimate that through refinancing, we will realize a 5% net savings over the remaining life of the bonds through June 2026,” DeVita said.
That savings, he said, has been projected at about $350,000 on the $8,498,125 of debt still outstanding on the bonds.
Meanwhile, DeVita said the district hopes to bid out a con-tract for installing new sound-proofed windows for Kearny High School and finish that work by this summer.
Mark Bruscino, the district’s school plant operations direc-tor, said that 60% of those windows are already avail-able, having been previously fabricated by a sub-contractor for Brockwell & Carrington, the former vendor who was entrusted with the high school improvement job until the firm was “terminated for conveni-ence.” The remaining 40% still have to be ordered and manu-factured, he said.
By summer’s end, DeVita said, the district should be ready to seek bids for the improvements on the high school’s North Building, which
will involve steel supports for a modified atrium, new class-rooms and a cafetorium.
Plans now call for comple-tion of the high school project by between 2017 and 2018, ac-cording to DeVita.
Whether the district will end up with enough money from the roughly $40 million budget allocated by a combination of funding from the Federal Aviation Administration, Port Authority of N.Y. & N.J. and state Department of Education to finish the job remains to be seen.
A forensics audit by D’Arcangelo & Co. of Pough-keepsie, N.Y., previously com-missioned by the school board at the urging of former Schools Supt. Frank Ferraro was de-signed to inform the board how much had been spent on the project.
The district has said that it has received only a preliminary report which it has refused to share with The Observer, which filed an OPRA request for the document, on the grounds that because it is still incomplete, it is not a public record.
– Ron Leir
District OKs refinancing plan;movement seen on KHS job
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 27
for Shop-Rite and then he worked as a driver for Clayton Container.
He is survived by his loving wife of 47 years, Mary Agnew, formerly of Bathgate, Scotland; his beloved children, Edward G. and Jane C. O’Neill; and his cherished sib-lings, MaryAnn Acceturo, Lenore Ceraso, James F., Martin A., and Thomas O. O’Neill. He is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and all of their families.
He had a special close-ness to all of his in-laws. He had many friends, too numerous to mention, but held a special bond with his lifelong buddies Jerry Daily, Harold Hanson, and Walter Blevins. Ed and his family also want to acknowledge all of his wonderful neighbors on Beech St. in Kearny and he wishes to extend a special thank you to Dr. Edward Killilea and the staff at St. Michael’s.
Ed was a member of the FOP, Teamsters Locals 27 and 641, and the Belleville VFW. In lieu of flowers, kindly consider a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Bonnie Patterson Bonnie Patterson (nee
Hahn), entered into eternal rest on Monday, March 16. She was 65.
Born on May 11, 1949, Bonnie was a lifelong resident of East Newark and Harrison, before moving to Piedmont, Mo., in 1997. She passed away at Clark’s Mountain Nurs-ing Center, Piedmont, Mo.
Predeceased by her husband, Ronald V. Pat-terson Sr., she is survived by her son, Ronald V. Patterson Jr., her brother, Jake Hahn, her half-sister, Karen Kowalski Kelly, and her grandson, Victor Leroy Patterson. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was also prede-ceased by her parents, Jacob and Betty Hahn; her daughter, Bonnie V. Pat-terson; and her siblings, Donald Hahn and Colleen Hahn Kelly.
Private funeral services were under the direction of the Mulligan Funeral Home, 331 Cleveland Ave., Harrison. A graveside service was held at Ar-lington Cemetery, Kearny. For information or to send condolences to the family, please visit www.mulliganfh.com.
Grace Sherwen Grace Sherwen (nee
Broderick) died at home on March 23. She was 97.
Born in Hoboken, she lived most of her life in Kearny.
Arrangements were by Armitage and Wig-gins Funeral Home, 596 Belgrove Drive, Kearny. A funeral Mass was held at St. Stephen’s Church and burial followed in Arling-ton Cemetery in Kearny. www.armitagewiggins.com.
Grace was very in-volved with St. Stephen’s Church. She was the cook at the parish school, she was a member of the Rosary Society and The Seniors. She regularly vol-unteered at the church. Grace also loved to bowl and was an avid reader.
Wife of the late John D. Sherwen and sister of the late Julia LaForgia and Margaret Maher, she is survived by her children, Patricia and J. Douglas Sherwen Jr. (Laurie), along with many loving nieces and nephews and their families.
In lieu of flowers, kind-ly consider a donation to St. Stephen’s Church, specifically for the resto-ration of the stained glass windows.
ing wall as a buffer for E. Midland Ave. home-owners. The town is seeking outside funding sources to pay for it all.
Meanwhile, Santos said that the town is fo-cusing on Veterans’ Field as a desperately needed temporary replacement for the several fields at the Oval that are cur-rently off-line.
Santos said that play-ing area is used by both adults and more than 250 youngsters ages 18 and younger.
“There’s a high de-mand on our fields and installing synthetic turf will allow for increased usage,” Santos said.
Fourth Ward Coun-cilman Michael Landy, who chairs the Rec-reation Committee, said that with the Oval off limits, “The hope is to
minimize the impact on our [municipal] sports programs,” but he said that would be tough to achieve, given that Veter-ans’ Field hosts football and fall baseball from August through Thanks-giving and girls’ softball and Little League during spring and summer.
Assuming the town gets the CDBG money and goes ahead with bidding out the turf job, “one option we’re looking at is to do the baseball area at one time and leave the other end of the field open and schedule the other part of the field for another time.
“But we’re wary of shutting down Little League because we’d only have one field avail-able [East field at the Oval],” he said.
“If we could do the work from, say, July, to when the winter starts,
that’s all well and good, because we’d have two fields. The third option is we wait and do the Oval first. We should decide in the next month or two.”
Still, even if the town succeeds in getting the CDBG cash, it will need a lot more dough to do the work, Santos said, since the total project cost has been estimated at $1,786,000.
And the outlook for snagging the CDBG funding isn’t good, the mayor conceded. He said the expectation is that, given the full-court pressure by Republican legislators to button down federal spending, “the expectation is that Congress will reduce the pot of federal dollars available. We don’t know if [the CDBG allocation to counties] will be fully funded.”
