Not much of a Sunday paper

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The lead story on the front of The Record of Woodland Park today raises questions about retailers' "neutrality" in sending a study to Governor Christie, who has proposed lifting laws that keep their stores closed on Sundays. Of course, the story doesn't mention the paper's own bias in putting its editorial muscle behind the last campaign to end that restriction.

That reminds me of how Malcolm A. Borg, then publisher of North Jersey Media Group, tried to stop the expansion of a synagogue on his East Hill block in Englewood, yet his name appeared in some -- but not all -- of the stories published by the former Hackensack daily. Borg and his neighbors went so far as pooling their money to deny the adjoining property to the congregation, according to an early story. So, who is not acting neutral?

The Business section today carries a Your Money's Worth column on whether stores alter food freshness dates to boost their bottom lines, but amazingly, Staff Writer Kevin DeMarrais never confronts employees of what he identifies as an upscale Bergen County store or asks them if they had deliberately add 16 days to a soup's shelf life. Instead of naming the store, he makes "a secret visit." Hey, Kevin, what are you, a detective? You need to name the offenders.

DeMarrais is the only reporter writing about supermarkets and food shopping, and his Market Basket survey of prices for basics also appears in the Business section. These stories belong in the food pages, but it seems as if Food Editor Bill Pitcher has relegated himself to the minor role of planner, recipe editor and promotional blogger. He is writing restaurant reviews only during Elisa Ung's leave.

For many years before it was moved to Better Living, the restaurant health inspections list inexplicably ran in the Sunday local news section. Even now, for some reason, it never includes inspections of restaurants in Wyckoff and some other towns.

Oy, the staff is saddled with such lazy and incompetent editors, including Frank Scandale, Frank Burgos, Barbara Jaeger, Liz Houlton, Deirdre Sykes, Dan Sforza, Christina Joseph and others too numerous to mention.

Another crappy Local section omits Bergen County news, notably stories about Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and other towns. Road Warrior John Cichowski's column has become a black hole.

Reporter Sachi Fujimori, who came from the Herald News, is the best of the young staffers Jaeger shows a preference for, and that includes Pitcher. But Pitcher and the features copy desk appear to have been asleep while editing her story in Better Living today, because she never says how long a student-run restaurant at Bergen Community College has been operating. My question is why the paper hasn't long ago reported on this slice of the public restaurants at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (photo) in Hyde Park, N.Y.?

Better Living today also carries a story about an actor who grew up in Englewood and attended Dwight Morrow High School, presumably before that city's schools became segregated, a subject Englewood reporter Giovanna Fabiano has just about completely ignored.

An Opinion piece on the so-called millionaire's tax never says how much it has raised from wealthy families such as the Borgs since 2004. Also, the reporting on this levy has been inconsistent. Is it still in effect or did it lapse after Jon Corzine left office? The Mike Kelly column in Opinion? He's become irrelevant.