Medical freak doesn't tell readers heart disease is No. 1 killer

UNEVEN KEEL: At low tide this morning, the USS Ling was stuck in the mud of the Hackensack River and listing. The New Jersey Naval Museum is closed and not conducting tours of the World War II submarine, which is tied up to North Jersey Media Group property at The Record's old headquarters in Hackensack. According to rumors, Publisher Stephen A. Borg and NJMG Vice President/General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg can't agree on the company's role in saving the sub.

The Borgs, owners of NJMG, are planing to sell land along River Street in Hackesack to an apartment developer, including parking lots. It isn't known whether the family also will sell Borg Park, where the sub and museum are, and land where a diner now operates.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You'd never know heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States from medical coverage in The Record.

The Sunday edition's Page 1 takeout on a medical freak who is awaiting a second heart transplant in 20 years certainly doesn't hammer home that message.

Frank Bordino, 70, is atypical, and has little in common with the hundreds of North Jersey residents who get new heart valves or have as many as five coronary bypasses every month.

Despite the tens of thousands of words devoted to him, readers are no closer to understanding the genetic, dietary and other factors that cause heart attacks.

That's a colossal waste of space.

And there isn't much else to engage readers today.

Boring politics

The front page offers two boring pieces on New Jersey and national politics, including another story on a presidential campaign we're sick of reading about (A-1).

Staff Writer Christopher Maag is no longer assigned to cover NJ Transit, judging by his Page 1 stories today and Saturday on "portable churches," and New Jersey's high suicide rate, respectively.

Still, Maag's suicide story is incomplete, failing to explore whether the hike in suicides is tied to Governor Christie's continuing war on the middle class.

Local news?

Today's local-news section leads with a story from Hackensack, where Prospect Avenue high-rise residents have declared victory over a plan for a medical-waste disposal plant near them (L-1).

Those Hackensack residents are mostly seniors, and today, Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to ignore the challenges facing them and other older drivers (L-1).

They are probably wondering what Cichowski's coverage of the driving test for teens has to do his column's commuting mission or anything else relevant to their lives.

June candidates

Today, the editors list candidates in the June 7 primaries for county and municipal offices (L-3).

Let's hope that unlike a similar listing of April school board candidates, we'll be seeing stories on the issues involved before we have to vote.

New Yorkers?

On the Opinion front, Mike Kelly offers another boring column on the battle for the hearts and minds of New Yorkers in last week's Democratic presidential primary (O-1).

Hey, Mike, you're working for a major New Jersey paper. Why are you covering New York?

Bergen County readers aren't interested in New Yorkers or even the Atlantic City residents you also wrote about recently.

They want you to explore local issues, including colossal voter apathy, and the attempted political comeback of the Zisa family in Hackensack.