More space is wasted on the musing of columnists

A man with a cane and a bag of groceries stopping to pray on West 165th Street in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, despite temperatures in the 20s and a biting wind.

On Broadway and West 168th Street in Manhattan is a Columbia University medical building named for patron Russ Berrie, the toy company mogul who lived in Englewood, where his name also appears on a wing of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Newspaper readers rarely pay attention to bylines, but the lead story on Page 1 of The Record today speaks volumes about one veteran staffer who has struggled with column writing in the past decade.

Mike Kelly banged out a hard-hitting news story on how Christie administration officials courted Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for more than two years, then retaliated when the Democrat wouldn't endorse the GOP bully for a new term last year (A-1).

The payback took the form of George Washington Bridge local access lane closures that caused gridlock in the borough in early September, triggering the Bridgegate investigation that threatens Christie's viability as governor and presidential hopeful.

Kelly's news story is not only a scoop -- the first time Sokolich has directly linked the traffic jams to his refusal to cross party lines and endorse Christie. 

It is well-written and well-organized -- everything Kelly's columns are not, especially the one he did recently based on an interview with Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, another Democrat who has exposed the Christie administration's dirty tricks.

More wasted space

Readers usually are not well-served by The Record's columnists, as today's and Friday's front-page nonsense from sports writer Bob Klapisch shows.

Klapisch's dated column photo is the least of it. 

On Friday, he spent the first six paragraphs of his tribute to Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner on an anecdote dating to 1983 that was lost on most readers.

Today, Klapisch appoints himself a legal and public relations expert in commenting on Alex Rodriguez withdrawing his lawsuits (A-1).

More road kill

The Record's accident photos, which have been used as filler by the inept local assignment desk, are the equivalent of drive-by shootings.

The photo of an overturned car on L-1 today is typical: 

Was the driver killed or injured? Were there any passengers in the car? Did the vehicle burst into flames? Did speed cause the accident? Readers don't have a clue.

Attorney's fees

A news story on a tentative $100 million settlement of suits against contraceptive maker Merck & Co. quotes an attorney as saying he doesn't how much money each plaintiff would get (L-1).

But the story fails to say plaintiffs' attorneys are expected to be awarded roughly one-third of the $100 million to cover their inflated fees and expenses.

Early Alzheimer's

The addled Road Warrior, Staff Writer John Cichowski, continues to demonstrate how much space is wasted on his columns, according to a concerned reader:

"In his Tuesday column, the Road Warrior marveled at how light traffic was on Super Bowl day, even though it had been widely predicted by TV and Internet news reports well in advance of the game. 

"[And] the Road Warrior failed to apologize for his atrocious, mistake-filled and irresponsible Super Bowl Sunday column that predicted endless traffic jams."

For the full e-mail to management and the editors, see Road Warrior Bloopers on Facebook:

Wishing for a Meadowlands miracle

I'd like to take a baseball bat and ...

Image by wallyg via Flickr

I guess it will take the fat end of a baseball bat shoved up Editor Frank Scandale's you-know-what before the "Castrato" stops wasting readers' time by covering Page 1 of  The Record of Woodland Park with the exploits of overpaid baseball players, such as today's big color photo of pumped-up Yankee Alex Rodriguez. 


Given the state's fiscal mess, outrageous property taxes, a broken home-rule system and numerous other concerns, you'd think there is plenty of other news worthy of A-1. But Scandale, who was castrated by Publisher Stephen A. Borg's almost total revamp of news and feature coverage, continues to lord over the front page and give priority to the interests of a minority of his North Jersey readers.


Many of the other stories in today's paper raised questions that were never answered, on A-1 or elsewhere. For example, why is no wealthy New Jersey resident among those answering Warren Buffett's call to pledge half their wealth to charity? Why didn't the Borgs respond?


I wanted to know a lot more about what looks like the meaningless death of a 21-year Glen Rock woman, who witnesses said walked head-on into a moving NJ Transit train with her head down, and why the Ramsey station didn't have better safety measures. The L-1 story says the woman raised money for a suicide-prevention group, but doesn't explore the possibility she committed suicide.


Of course, if the train fatality was played on A-1, as it deserves to be instead of baseball, then head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes wouldn't have anything to put on the front of her pathetic Local section, which has had only one Englewood story since July 15.


Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado follows Wednesday's confusing story on school board re-votes with a deadly dull piece today on legal maneuvering in the disciplinary hearing of a police lieutenant, yet writes almost an entire column to say the hearing may be postponed. She has yet to write about the city budget, tax hike or new mayor. Teaneck reporter Joseph Ax has another story about that endangered giant oak tree.


Reporters love press tours, such as the one the Port Authority gave Wednesday to publicize a 75-year-old aviation warning beacon atop a tower of the George Washington Bridge (the L-2 story doesn't say which tower). The clueless assignment desk sent Tom Davis and a photographer out, but has never nagged the transportation reporter to ride on and write about the decrepit NJ Transit buses that creak and moan along local routes.

Can you make any sense of the A-16 editorial that seems to be calling for reform of the home-rule system of municipal government? There is so much in here about raw sewage, maybe the editorial is just more timid bullshit from Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin. 


A second letter to the editor says the entrance to the new Overpeck Park is hard to find, and, like the first, the paper simply prints Paramus resident Richard Conroy's complaint today, but fails to indicate how to get there (try Challenger Boulevard in Ridgefield Park.)

On the front of Better Living, that long piece about the best lobster roll in New York City would have been more useful to readers if Food Editor Bill Pitcher or one of Feature Director Barbara Jaeger's young staffers weighed in on  North Jersey options. Hint: CIA-trained Chef Christine Nunn offers two lobster rolls, with slaw and fries, for $30 at Picnic, the Restaurant, in Fair Lawn.