More legal poop for Bergen readers

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Bergen County is red with anger over
 how little local news appears in The Record.

Interim Editor Doug Clancy appears to set a new record today for court or process stories on Page 1 -- and only one of them is of any real interest to Bergen County readers.

If you live in the Pascack Valley, the legal battle over the reopening of the hospital in Westwood could be relevant, but the court hearings on those nine thugs from the Wayne Hills High School football team or bear hunting miss the target completely.


And the fourth A-1 piece is on questionable spending at the Passaic Valley Sewage Commissioners, an odd name for an agency that serves a portion of Bergen.


Going west


The front page clearly shows a greater emphasis on Passaic County news since The Record and North Jersey Media Group completely abandoned Hackenack a couple of years ago.


The fifth element out front today is a photo from Los Angeles, where a tree crushed a van. What's so unusual about that? "It was like being in a hurricane," a man is quoted as saying in the caption. Wow. 


Pooper scooper


As if there isn't enough legal poop on Page 1, you'll find more poop in the Road Warrior column on the front of Local -- the pride and joy of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes -- this time on those solar panels mounted on telephone poles.


Why this is fodder for the commuting columnist is known only to John Cichowski and his assignment editor, but you can be sure he didn't actually have to leave the office to do any reporting.


The only Hackensack news in the section today concerns a single gas station that allegedly misrepresented octane ratings (L-3), and a home invasion and robbery (L-7).


Eater beware


On the Better Living front on Thursday, a Totowa restaurant owner is quoted as saying he uses "the freshest, high-quality ingredients" and that his "veal is top-notch."


Joyce Venezia Suss, who wrote the Starters column, doesn't say whether Enrico Caruso means that the calves that were carved into veal are raised humanely --without antibiotics and growth hormones (F-1).


'Poop on a sled'


Dessert-obsessed Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung was so impressed with an Oreo-topped cheesecake at the Ivy Inn in Hasbrouck Heights she put it on the cover of Better Living today. 


And in her lukewarm, 2-star review she recommends only one food dish, fried shrimp (centerfold).


Readers who are watching their weight or cholesterol will take one look at that cheesecake slice and dismiss it as "poop on a sled." 


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