Lock him up, throw away the key

Image via Wikipedia

The New Jersey blue-plate special. It's often seen on cars that are driven conservatively.

 Editor's note: This post was published prematurely, then taken down to complete it.

Trains and buses into Manhattan are standing-room-only during rush hours, the local bus system is on its last legs and traffic congestion is choking the region. So what does commuting columnist John Cichowski write about on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park today? How the state hopes to raise extra money through the sale of special license plates.


If this Desk Warrior actually went to Leesburg state prison to interview two inmates who make New Jersey plates with NASCAR and sports-team logos, it apparently was one of the few times he left the office on a story in recent years. 

Chick, as he's known around the office, mostly writes about the problems of hundreds of drivers who send him e-mails that keep him  riveted to his office chair, while head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes pats him affectionately on the head. 


His column today is another crime against readers. Someone should lock him up and throw away the key.

What about local elections?

The big element on A-1 today is a wire-service story forecasting the outcome of today's midterm congressional elections. But is their any word in the paper about crucial local elections, including the Bergen County executive and sheriff's races? Editor Francis Scandale is so bored with them.

What on earth is education reporter Leslie Brody doing writing about burglaries in Tenafly, where Publisher Stephen A. Borg lives in a $3.65 million, 8,500-square-foot McMansion? Police report six break-ins and four attempted burglaries in roughly two months likely are related. 

I guess the burglars got uncomfortably close to Borg's Churchill Road home or he recalled the brazen heist of hundreds of thousands of dollars in antique jewelry from his father's East Hill mansion in Englewood. Have you ever seen a story leading the Local section on burglaries in Hackensack, Teaneck or any other town?

More police news

Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado breaks her nine-day silence by writing two stories about the Police Department, just about the only city agency she has covered in the past two years. In Teaneck, an Orthodox congregation has come to the rescue of an historic tree on Cedar Lane. Mazel tov. 


There is no Englewood news nor anything on the issues-driven municipal races in Ridgewood and other communities.




Buried on L-3 is a story on Governor Christie's effort to slash and cap the pay of the hundreds of pampered school superintendents in New Jersey. Why isn't this on A-1? Oh, then there would be no room for Chick's drivel.

Sleight of hand

But there's more. Check out the story on the L-8 business page on how The Record has outperformed competing dailies, including The Star-Ledger and the New York papers, with the smallest circulation decline of them all for the six months ended Sept. 30 over the year-earlier period. 


What the story doesn't say is that The Record's circulation figures include the Herald News (total of 137,269 daily and 171,348 Sunday). Borg always manages to leave that out.


Borg is quoted as saying The Record has been able to "maintain its circulation because of its continued dedication to the editorial product." This from the marketing whiz who gave us "The Trusted Local Source" as the paper's motto, replacing, "Friend of The People It Serves."


"Every day, we evaluate the product looking for ways to make it better," Borg said. 

Can't you hear the howls of laughter from readers, who see less and less local, education and food coverage, not more?


Finally, bad headlines continue to confuse. "Day jobs in the way of vote to limit raises" -- the A-1 lead today -- successfully avoids the right word, "conflicts," as in: "Conflicts in the way of vote to limit raises."


On L-1, the headline says, "5 laid-off officers hired to city force after retirements." Hired to? Shouldn't it be "hired by"?