Columnist protects cops who allowed murder in crosswalk

In this photo from NJ.com, investigators use a sheet to block a view of the mangled body of Leyla Kahn on Aug. 7, 2014, after she was struck in a Leonia crosswalk and dragged for 71 feet as horrified onlookers tried to alert the driver of the minibus that ran her down.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Leave it to one of The Record's most confused and error-prone reporters to compare the "illicit" lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to traffic jams on Fort Lee Road in neighboring Leonia.

Even more shameful is Staff Writer John Cichowski ignoring the August 2014 death of Leyla Kahn, 60, who was struck in a crosswalk at Fort Lee Road and Broad Avenue in Leonia, and dragged to her death by a minibus driver who failed to yield to her (L-1).

On the day the restaurant owner died, Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe deflected responsibility from his department by complaining about an "inordinate amount of traffic" in his town from the turnpike and bridge, and appealed to the state for help.

Rowe even told NJ.com his borough was too broke to keep a crossing guard stationed at its busiest intersection year-round, and was so understaffed putting an officer there was out of the question.

Instead of exposing Rowe, The Record allows him to continue complaining about that bridge traffic, as readers can see from the criminal Road Warrior column today.

Not related to GWB

Of course, despite what the police chief said, Kahn's death was totally unrelated to the traffic that seeks a short cut via Leonia's Fort Lee Road when the bridge is jammed.

She died at the hands of a driver who had received summonses for nine motor vehicle violations and whose driver's license was suspended five times since 1992, The Record reported on Sept. 22, 2015.

That's when former minibus driver Esperanza Jaramillo of Tenafly pleaded guilty in Leonia Municipal Court to failure to yield to a pedestrian who had the right of way and driving a vehicle with badly worn tires.

She was fined $328.

The prosecutor basically allowed her to get away with murder, and decided not to pursue a third charge of careless driving.

The judge thought the punishment was too light and also imposed a 180-day license suspension on Jaramillo, who worked for Rainbow Transportation and was taking special-needs students to a day camp in Tenafly, when she struck and killed Kahn.

The dead woman's husband filed a negligence lawsuit against Jaramillo; Rainbow Transportation of Bergenfield; and the owners of the company, Julia and Robert Carozza.

Takes credit

Cichowski even takes credit for a "Road Warrior exclusive" on Sept. 13, 2013, that, he claims, prompted the Port Authority's executive director to halt a bogus traffic study, and reopen the closed bridge access lanes in Fort Lee.

He names five readers for tipping him to the lane closures, when, in fact, then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg wrote in an email to subscribers one of his friends called from the GWB traffic jam he was trapped in to see if the paper knew what was going on.

Borg then contacted Cichowski.

Impeach Christie

Columnist Brigid Callahan Harrison is asking the state Legislature to consider charges of impeachment against Governor Christie.

She says Christie should be impeached, if prosecutors show he lied about the September 2013 GWB gridlock on Jan. 9, 2014, when he claimed he "had no knowledge and involvement in this issue, in its planning and its execution."

Harrison wrote the column for The Star-Ledger on Thursday.

In her column for The Record last Sunday, Harrison discussed Christie's "policy of rewarding ... friends and punishing ... enemies."

Fort Lee's mayor, Mark Sokolich, wasn't the only Democrat who suffered after refusing to endorse Christie for reelection in November 2013.

Two others she lists are Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

And when Democrats endorsed the GOP thug, there were abundant rewards.

The columnist reports Christie funneled $6 million in federal funds for Superstorm Sandy recovery to build a long-desired senior citizens housing project in Belleville -- two weeks after the Democratic mayor endorsed the governor -- "even though there was no significant damage" to the town.

In Harrison, the Port Authority agreed to spend $256 million for a new PATH station at Christie's behest.

"A mere week" after construction plans were filed with the town, the "then-mayor and eight Democratic council members endorsed Christie."

Christie ignores Silk City slaughter, editors fail old drivers

On a day like today -- when The Record doesn't call for the impeachment of Governor Christie for sending state troopers to Baltimore, while continuing to ignore the gun violence in Paterson -- the only good that can come of the newspaper is to recycle it.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Riots in Baltimore and the slaughter of innocent teens in Paterson are front-page news in The Record again today, with the stories played side by side.

But clueless Editor Martin Gottlieb fails to connect the dots and put Governor Christie on the spot for sending New Jersey troopers to the Maryland city and once again screwing Paterson.

On A-6, Staff Writer Melissa Hayes' story on state troopers helping to restore order in Baltimore notes they have been sent to Camden in the past.

But Hayes and an editorial on A-10 today don't put Christie on the spot for failing to send state police to help Paterson's dysfunctional Police Department.

Under the direction of Police Director Jerry Speziale, they seem unable or unwilling to stop the drive-by shootings of innocent young people, three of whom have died in the past 10 months.

The text of Hayes' story is partially covered by an advertisement, in another production screw-up courtesy of six-figure Editor Liz Houlton, who is laughing all the way to the bank (A-6).

No taxes

In the name of "no new taxes," the GOP bully cut state aid to Paterson, Newark and other poor cities in late 2011, resulting in the layoffs of many hundreds of police officers.

Silk City's force still hasn't recovered, despite new hires, and basketball star Armoni Sexton, 15, is the latest victim of Christie's mean-spirited policies. 

It's time to impeach Christie for this and all of his other transgressions.

Raise gas tax

We should also get rid of Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, and other members of the state Legislature who refuse to enact a gas-tax hike to fix our roads and bridges, and then override Christie's veto (A-1).

This is just more of the editors exploiting politics and ignoring what is good for state residents.

No one has been able to shake the irrefutable logic that drivers are the ones who should pay -- through higher taxes on fuel -- for fixing the roads and bridges they use.

Dissing elderly

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza -- and Road Warrior John Cichowski -- continue to treat older drivers who crash their cars as so much chopped liver.

In desperation, Sykes and Sforza again ordered layout editors to blow up as big as possible two gee-whiz photos of mishaps blamed on older drivers to fill huge holes in their local-news report today (L-1 and L-3).

As usual, the 85-year-old driver who probably got sick and crashed into a truck on South Summit Avenue in Hackensack, killing himself, isn't identified (L-1).

Was he a grandfather or father? No one in the Woodland Park newsroom cares, because his only value to the laziest of lazy editors is as a space filler.

Pedal error

Nor do they care why a confused driver ignored barriers and drove his Mercedes-Benz into a large hole in Westwood, becoming the laughing stock of first responders visible in the photo (L-3).

Cliffview Pilot.com reported the Mahwah man, 67, was issued summonses for careless driving and driving on a closed road.

Even more egregious, the Road Warrior column has ignored the challenges faced by older drivers in the decade or more The Record has published photo after photo of the mayhem caused when they mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal. 

Readers are desperate for anything that would cut down on the endless stream of court, police, fire and accident news the incompetent local editors so desperately need to fill their pages today and every day.