Readers scream, Who the F cares?

The Record's former headquarters in Hackensack. The newsroom was on the 4th floor in the taller structure on the right, affording a view of an elevated section of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Manhattan skyline. On 9/11, news copy editors putting out an "extra" would glance up and see a column of black smoke rising from the ruins of the World Trade Center's twin towers.

Bewildered readers rubbed the sleep out of their eyes as they stared in disbelief at Editor Marty Gottlieb's choices for Page 1 of The Record today:

Politics, more politics, an athletic competition, and the feeding habits of crabs and fish in the polluted Hackensack River.

Who the F cares?

Governor Christie's heavily censored report on state revenue didn't raise an eyebrow in the Woodland Park newsroom, and the matter-of-fact story landed on the State News Page (A-3).

Where is the news for readers saddled with inefficient home-rule government, high property taxes, high unemployment and an overburdened mass-transit and road system? 

Get me rewrite 

Staff Writer John Cichowski's Road Warrior column on older pedestrians (L-1) reminds me of the time I saw him walking slowly and unsteadily through the corridors of Bergen Community College in Paramus.

Young students raced by Cichowski, who looked befuddled and lost. Later, he delivered an animated talk full of traffic statistics to a class of seniors enrolled in the Institute of Learning in Retirement.

Critical condition

Hackensack readers looking for news of their city or what will happen to the 20 River Street acres owned by North Jersey Media Group come up empty again -- thanks to head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.

Instead, there is a seemingly misplaced story on Wall Street's rating of Hackensack University Medical Center (L-3).

On L-2, the latest chapter of utility pole news comes in the form of a photo.

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I'll have the wahoo every time

Image via Wikipedia

In Friday's restaurant review, Elisa Ung of The Record says the owner knows what will sell to his "primarily senior citizen clientele ... fish selections like swordfish and grouper, not something like wahoo."

Wahoo? I had never heard of it and had never seen it listed on a North Jersey menu, so I did some Internet research. I learned it is an "eco-sustainable alternative to swordfish," which is a fish so high in mercury that young women and children are warned not to consume it. I'm a senior and would order wahoo every time to avoid  mercury and certainly would patronize a restaurant that served it over one that served swordfish. Learn more about wahoo at this Web site:

www.tobagowild.com

Returning to the restaurant's name, Ung reports it is named for the owner's daughter, Davia, and son John wanted "no part of the name." Imagine if he did. It could be called Davohn, Daviohn, Javia, Javian, Johnia, Jia, Davia-John or John-Davia. See post, "The Record of Woodland Park, 10/30/2009."

http://doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com/