Why do editors continue to shaft older drivers?

The 14 acres of woodland that once served as Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's playground, behind a columned white mansion on Summit Avenue, are one of the few instances where Hackensack residents defeated a development proposal. In this case,  68 town houses were to be built on the land.

I am sick and tired of reading The Record's endless reporting on teen deaths in automobile accidents -- as in today's Page 1 column -- while the challenges faced by older drivers are virtually ignored.

Seniors get behind the wheel, mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal and kill themselves or someone else -- then become a photo op for head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who uses accident photos as filler in the Local news section (see L-3).

You'd think Editor Marty Gottlieb, who is in his mid-60s, or veteran reporter John Cichowski would care about this issue, and report on the challenges facing older drivers and the help available to them. 

Today's Road Warrior column cites a number of reason for fewer deaths among 16- to 20-year-old drivers, including red decals on license plates.

Of course, Cichowski doesn't tell readers how many hysterical parents he allowed to vent in his column in opposition to the decals when they were first proposed, just as he has done for lead-footed drivers trying to kill another life-saving measure, red-light cameras.

If past Road Warrior columns are any guide, the statistics cited in today's piece are probably reported incorrectly by Cichowski, but don't look for corrections on Wednesday.

Donovan v. Democrats

I am sure I wasn't the only lifelong Democrat repelled by the greed of Bergen County's Democratic Party who voted for county Executive Kathleen Donovan, a Republican.

Now, Donovan, who has been hospitalized for a month, has vowed to veto a pay-to-play ordinance -- proposed by majority Democrats -- that would allow special interests to contribute up to $20,000 a year to county political parties (A-1).

Dissing Hackensack

Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, turn out another lame Local section today, with no Hackensack news.

A story on plunging gas prices (Business, L-7) includes photos from Vermont, suggesting that all of the gas stations near the Woodland Park newsroom have gone out of business.

The photo with the 15 Minute Chef, supplied by The Washington Post, makes Cumin-Cilantro Chicken Patties look like vomit (BL-2).

Where's the banner headline?

Image by dougtone via Flickr

Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan should stick to her guns.

LOL

Did you read that preposterous statement from Governor Christie about public employee unions "trying to break the middle class"? Who does he think he's kidding -- besides Editor Francis Scandale?

Public employees are the middle class. Why is this nonsense only a brief on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park, and not under a banner headline to show what a fool Christie is?

"In New Jersey, we're not trying to break the unions; in New Jersey, the unions are trying to break the middle class," Christie said on a morning television show, where he was promoting his budget proposal to cut public employee benefits in return for higher property tax rebates (A-3).

The governor -- apparently with a straight face and unchallenged by his interviewers -- is trying to pit one segment of the middle class against another, so neither group notices how he kowtows to rich and powerful people like himself.

In another piece of fiction, he claimed "the main driver of property taxes in New Jersey are [public] employee costs," when he and every other public official knows those taxes are high because of the ruinously expensive home-rule system, including $200,000-a-year salaries for police chiefs.

Another ass slapper

Scandale felt a big part of A-1 today should be devoted, not to the governor's ridiculous statements, but to a large photo of an overpaid athlete who plays in New York. 

The editor who loves to put sports stories on the front page apparently is happy paying property taxes of about $18,000 a year on his Glen Rock home.

How else to explain the upbeat story leading A-1, emphasizing Christie's proposal for a tiny 1% increase in education aid? So Hackensack, which lost about $5 million in aid, would be getting chump change in 2012 -- $852,000 more.

Make college accountable

I disagree with the A-12 editorial opposing Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan's desire for veto power over decisions at Bergen Community College. 

She can start by getting college officials to come up with a calendar that has the same breaks as public schools. 

This week, public schools are closed for vacation, but the college is oblivious and holding classes, making family activities difficult, if not impossible.