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| Founders of Hackensack are turning over in their graves at The Church on the Green, across from the courthouse where a jury found suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa guilty. |
The Record has published tens of thousands of words on the civil suits Hackensack police officers filed against their now-disgraced chief, Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa.
But the editors have never questioned the propriety of Zisa's cousin profiting from putting up a stubborn defense.
Now that Ken Zisa has been convicted of official misconduct and related charges, it's time for City Attorney Joseph Zisa to go, and end the family tradition of getting rich off the city.
Joseph Zisa has said it is cheaper to fight the suits than to settle. But it is unclear whether legal fees paid to his firm to defend the suspended chief are coming from general revenues or the insurance company that would pay to settle the cases.
Still, the Zisa family's rule over Hackensack, known derisively as "Zisaville," needs to come to an end.
The package of stories on Page 1 today are running under a great headline:
Guilty verdict caps
Zisa's fall from power
But the A-l column by Staff Writer Mike Kelly exposes his amateurish journalism in the first paragraph -- where he compares the spoken "guilty" verdicts to "fastballs smacking a catcher's mitt."
Give me a break. The only one who strikes out here is Kelly, whose shit-eating grin can be seen clearly in his column's thumbnail photo.
Anyway, readers haven't trusted what Kelly writes since his Sunday cover story completely ignored the role of urban gay couples in the revival of Asbury Park.
Speed addict
Also on A-1 today, the owner of Gotham Dream Cars of Englewood is quoted as saying he's received more than 100 speeding tickets and has been arrested on traffic-related charges twice.
But the story never explains how Rob Ferretti has kept his license.
I guess Ferretti's addiction to speed rubbed off on his younger brother, who lost control of a Ferrari sports car on Sunday morning, killing a motorcyclist.
Let's hope the motorcyclist's widow sues Gotham Dream Cars and bankrupts the owner.
Suburban blur
A correction on A-2 today shows Editor Marty Gottlieb, a New Yorker, doesn't know Montvale from Woodcliff Lake.
Today's Local section -- from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions -- contains an unusual amount of police and court news in place of municipal news.
The front is dominated by not-guilty pleas from those two speeding Ferrari drivers whose inexperience led to the death of motorcyclist Stephen L. Lenge, 56, of Kinnelon.
Joseph Ferretti, 28, and Joseph Meyer, 19, are charged with vehicular homicide. An earlier story said the charge was death by auto.
Oily lessons
What's the point of running a condescending story about extra-virgin olive oils and not listing stores that carry a great selection, such as Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood?
And why are prices missing from the piece on the Better Living front?
MORE WILL FALL MR. SASSON.....ZISA WILL START TALKING TO PLEA DOWN SOME TIME. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
ReplyDeleteWell, who would he give up, so to speak?
ReplyDeleteHis brother, who was deputy police chief; his cousin, who is city attorney; his other brother, Jack, who served as mayor?
I'm not sure Ken Zisa has anything for the prosecutor except his own sorry ass.