Woodland Park special: Stale voices recalling stale events

At the state's nicest train station in Secaucus, some of the platforms are under the roadway of the New Jersey Turnpike, above.

The Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station at Secaucus Junction opened on Dec. 15, 2003.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Thirteen years after 9/11, nothing could be more powerful and emotional than this morning's live telecast of family members reading out loud the names of the victims.

And their personal messages to the dead can bring tears to your eyes.

In our TV age, The Record and other print media seem obsolete.

That's especially the case today with yet another 9/11 column by one of the Woodland Park newsroom's stale voices, Staff Writer Mike Kelly.

Never mind that his dated, unflattering thumbnail photo -- complete with shit-eating grin -- seems inappropriate on such a solemn occasion (A-1).

But why is he using the front page to call today "the anniversary of ... the unofficial start of the nation's war on terror [italics added]"?

What would make the war on terror "official" -- when the burned-out columnist says it is?

Writes ahead

His column was written ahead of today's ceremony at what was once known as Ground Zero.

But he's memorized such hackneyed details as bagpipes and the ringing of a bell, and presents them in his first paragraph, declaring another anniversary "has come."

Kelly also contributed nothing on Tuesday with his Page 1 anniversary column on the politically inspired George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee.

Here is one of his brilliant observations:

"In most New Jersey communities, traffic jams are viewed as the vehicular equivalent of cod liver oil."

Kelly then must be the journalism equivalent of strychnine. 

Two GOP morons

A photo on A-9 today shows Mitt Romney, the last conservative Republican who ran for president and was defeated by a compassionate Democrat, and Governor Christie, the next conservative Republican heading for defeat, in the unlikely event he even gets the party's nomination.

On the same page, why does The Record's story on Christie's 12 outright or conditional vetoes of legislation only discuss two of them?

Environmentalists called his veto of a smoking ban at parks and on beaches "shameful."

"The governor sided with the tobacco lobby over protecting public health and the environment," said Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club (A-9).

I'm still waiting for The Record's story on Christie vetoing more bills than any predecessor while portraying himself as a "compromiser" -- a fiction reporters like Charles Stile continue to peddle. 

Hackensack news

Since a reform Hackensack City Council took office in July 2013, The Record has specialized in reporting largely negative news -- fueled by complaints from those who lost the election or were fired.

Today, a story on L-1 reports city Prosecutor Frank Catania Jr. has been charged in a complaint by the state Office of Attorney Ethics with "knowingly misappropriating a client's money in his private practice."

Another stale voice

In his Road Warrior column on the lane-closure scandal in Fort Lee, Staff Writer John Cichowski finally admits he has ignored commuters who ride NJ Transit buses and trains for nearly all of the 11 years he has been posing as the commuting columnist (L-1 and L-6 on Tuesday).

Indeed, he lists the subjects of his Road Warrior columns -- road safety, potholes, litter, neglected highways, confusing signs, E-ZPass "injustices" and the theft of "aluminum guardrails."

Of course, he doesn't mention he has made so many errors he is likely the only reporter who has prompted a reader to set up a Facebook page for his "bloopers."

Cichowski also mentions "The Road Warrior's 24 years at The Record," but doesn't say the original Road Warrior was Jeff Page.

He has demonstrated time and again he is no Jeff Page.

(201) magazine

I don't doubt Editor Amelia Duggan and other staffers at (201) magazine are well-meaning, but they often promise more than they can deliver.

On the cover of the September 2014 Fall Fashion Issue, Don Watros and Benedetta Casamento are listed as "fashion dynamos."

Then, Duggan's column on Page 14 says the Englewood couple "have a real passion for fashion -- the retail fashion industry that is."

Still, after that build-up, what is the explanation for why the wealthy president of Hudson's Bay Co. is wearing a rumpled, ill-fitting, off-the-rack suit in photos on Pages 8 and 73?

Surely, with Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue in his Canadian company's portfolio, Watros can afford made-to-measure or custom-made clothing.

Indeed. His position demands it. Why settle for anything less?

The suit he is wearing on Page 74 is more like it.

Does big cutback in food coverage serve advertisers?

The old headquarters of North Jersey Media Group and The Record in Hackensack is now used primarily as a parking lot for attorneys, jurors and visitors to the Bergen County Courthouse a few blocks away ($5 per car). Many courthouse visitors are finding free parking elsewhere.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Under Publisher Stephen A. Borg, food coverage in The Record has declined drastically -- only to be replaced by highly promotional stories about the restaurants and chefs that advertise heavily in The Record of Woodland Park.

Eating Out on $50, the so-called budget restaurant review written by freelancer Jeff Page, appears to be the latest casualty, ending its monthly run in Better Living without an announcement.

Less space

The fine-dining restaurant review, written by full-time Staff Writer Elisa Ung, continues to cram photos and text into half the space it once commanded in the Better Living tabloid on Fridays, and Ung is restricted to taking one guest, instead of three, to the two dinners she buys.

Even if she were inclined to, Ung has little room to discuss whether restaurants are serving wild-caught fish and naturally raised or grown food.

Organic, shmorganic

Similarly, The Record's monthly Market Basket survey of supermarket prices continues to ignore the revolution in organic food that began with the opening of Whole Foods Market more than 30 years ago.

Doesn't this serve the majority of supermarket and restaurant advertisers who fatten their bottom lines by selling or serving cheaper conventionally grown food or farmed fish filled with harmful antibiotics and preservatives?

Wasted space

Ung continues to waste space in the data box that appears with every review, listing what the restaurant is "good" or "appropriate for," instead of whether it serves naturally raised or grown food.

And on Friday, she wasted two of the 11 paragraphs in her review of Solaia in Englewood on the lousy desserts, even though the vast majority of her readers don't touch the artery clogging, cloyingly sweet stuff out of concern for their waistline and their health (BL-18). 

Ung said Solaia "would be good for relaxing dining in downtown Englewood," but "less appropriate for big, loud groups."

She must think her readers are morons who can't figure that out on their own, and wouldn't the restaurant owner encourage diners to order wine and spirits from his full bar, rather than try to keep them quiet?

Raw or cooked?

Inexplicably, Ung used "sushi-quality fish" -- a term applied to fish served raw -- to describe a pricey grilled sea bass served at Solaia for $29.

As one of his first acts as publisher, Borg signaled an end to serious food coverage when he killed The Record's weekly Food section, promising daily stories about food that the editors were unable to deliver.

It's been all downhill from there.

Today's paper 

The Record doesn't bother with a full story about the third phase of Port Authority toll hikes that kick in on Sunday -- just four paragraphs on Page 1.

Nor does it report a statement from state Assembly Deputy Speaker John S. Wisniewski.

He called the bitstate agency "dysfunctional" and one that operates with "minimal accountability" -- an indirect slam at Governor Christie, who rubber stamped the toll hikes on the George Washington Bridge and other crossings.

Wisniewski said higher tolls come at a time "of stagnant wages and negligible inflation."

The Record also doesn't mention that the heavily discounted E-ZPass off-peak toll for hybrid cars with a Green Pass is going up on Sunday to $5.50 and the carpool discount, available at all hours, increases to $5 -- both are 75 cents more than before.

High-tech traffic system

The major element on today's front page reports on a high-tech traffic management system in the Meadowlands, but doesn't explain whether it can handle the influx of cars expected when American Dream, a huge entertainment and retail complex, opens (A-1).

In Hackensack news, Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports that more than $9,000 has been raised for James Brady, the former homeless man who was penalized for his honesty (Local front).

Jerome S. Some was in robust health, son says

Some's Uniforms on Main Street in Hackensack was open for business today, two days after its 87-year-old founder and owner was struck and killed by a car as he crossed Prospect Avenue.

A display window at Some's Uniforms.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Jerome S. Some was 87, but still came into work six days a week, employees at Some's Uniforms on Main Street in Hackensack said today.

Some left his home in a high-rise at 151 Prospect Ave. and started crossing the street when he was struck and killed by a small SUV on Tuesday night.

It was dark, and there is no street lamp in front of Some's high-rise. Witnesses said the driver didn't brake before the impact.

Son Jason Some, 23, said he is glad his father "didn't suffer."

Jason Some said his father smoked as many as 15 cigars a day and could have died a slow death from lung cancer.

The Record reported today that the driver who killed the elder Some -- a 63-year-old woman who hasn't been identified --  was charged with driving while intoxicated (L-1).

Some was dressed in a dark suit to attend a meeting at Bel Posto Restaurant across the street from his high-rise, Eiffel Tower.

City officals called him a "pillar" of the community, and "Mr. Hackensack."

The Record didn't publish a death notice for Some on Wednesday or today, and hasn't listed his survivors.

Details about his life and business activities were included in news stories about his death.

No one has noted how Some was able to live a long life, only to be killed by an allegedly intoxicated driver not far from his front door.

Nor has the paper questioned the lack of crosswalks in the middle of the long blocks of Prospect Avenue, which is lined with high-rises and has the highest population density of any Hackensack neighborhood.

Readers KO'd

The Record continues to pursue the mythical "knockout punch" in its reporting on the debate between Governor Christie and Democratic challenger Barbara Buono (A-1).

Coverage today and Wednesday ignored Christie's stock answer when Buono criticized his vetoes or his mean-spirited policies.

The GOP bully said several times he is "proud" of his alleged accomplishments.

Nor did the paper report Buono's charge that Christie has balanced state budgets on the "backs of the middle class," and fabricated a reason for killing the Hudson River rail tunnels, which would have been a huge job creator.

News frenzy

The Sept. 29 road-rage incident involving a motorcycle pack and the driver of an SUV on Manhattan's West Side Highway appears to have Editor Marty Gottlieb by the balls.

That's the only explanation for the inordinate amount of coverage by the media, including the Woodland Park daily.

Today's front page is dominated by a large photo of an undercover cop, the latest suspect in the ongoing saga (A-1).

On Wednesday, the Road Warrior column explored a silly angle -- the "rules" followed by "well-organized motorcycle clubs."

Can you imagine all the local news and commuting problems that go unreported to get this garbage into the paper?

Screw-ups continue

Today's A-2 carries three more corrections -- only the latest in a series of screw-ups by Production Editor Liz Houlton and her gang of cross-eyed copy, layout and news editors.

The vast majority of errors in the paper and in the Road Warrior column are never corrected.

One example is Wednesday's Page 1 caption under photos of Buono and Christie speaking during Tuesday night's debate in Wayne.

The photos clearly show Buono speaking and gesturing, and Christie speaking, but the caption says they are shown "before" the actual debate.

Those before-the-debate photos appeared on the continuation page.

Second look

On Sunday, Road Warrior John Cichowski reviewed some of the great reporting by Jeff Page, his predecessor, but for some reason didn't tell readers that September marked the 10th anniversary of his own lame efforts.

He apologized for acting "homicidal" and being "a real fool" when a disabled person damaged his car, but did so in the third person.

Readers who want Cichowski to acknowledge all of the errors and misinformation he has been responsible for came up empty.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers to read the full text of an e-mail from a concerned reader.

Finally, editors are focusing on the uninsured

Signs provide plenty of reading along River Street in Hackensack, where The Record prospered for more than 110 years before the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group abandoned the city for the sticks, precipitating a slide in local-news coverage that persists to this day.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

On Page 1 of The Record today, Editor Marty Gottlieb drops the filter of politics to focus on the people who have been living without health insurance.

For the first time since selfish Republicans again tried to derail the Affordable Care Act, the paper carries profiles of North Jersey residents who hope to find affordable health care. 

Now, where are the stories about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by health insurance company lobbyists, and the millions of dollars in contributions flowing into the campaign accounts of Tea Party radicals and other conservative Republicans?

Lazy reporting

But lazy journalism still dominates the front page in another column citing polls that claim Democrat Cory Booker now holds only a 13-point lead over Tea Party crackpot Steve Lonegan in the U.S. Senate race.

Lonegan, you may recall, recently kept a straight face when he compared governing Newark to his years running tiny, dysfunctional Bogota. 

And what about all those polls predicting a close race between President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney last November, when, in fact, the Mormon was blown out of the water?

Politics are the refuge of scoundrels like Staff Writers Charles Stile and Herb Jackson, who don't have the stomach for covering the issues that affect voters.

Errors pile up

Staff Writer John Cichowski is another so-called journalist who refuses to do the legwork to cover the issues of most concern to commuters in his Road Warrior column.

On the Local front today, Cichowski acknowledges the column started 23 years ago this week, written by a different reporter, Jeff Page, but doesn't admit he's no Jeff Page, despite 10 years of trying.

Cichowski's laziness is well-known, including his refusal to cover mass transit or report on declining enforcement by the state police of speeding, tailgating and other reckless driving.

Morons define issues

The addled Cichowski also allows drivers to hijack the Road Warrior column, and spin exaggerated tales of problems -- from highway detours to glare to red-light cameras.

And Cichowski has committed so many errors and given so much inaccurate advice on road rules, toll discounts and other subjects that a reader in Hackensack started a Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

Local news? Nothing from Hackensack and Teaneck for yet another day.

More failures

On the Opinion front today, another failed columnist claims the health-care exchanges "flopped" after they went online last week -- even though consumers have three months to buy coverage (O-1).

Of course, it's Staff Writer Mike Kelly who flops, especially with the shit-eating grin evident in his dated column photo.

On the Better Living front today, the imbalance in food coverage is evident -- the challenges of feeding a family on assistance shares the page with Staff Writer Elisa Ung's obsession with dessert (BL-1).

Ung again goes far afield in The Corner Table column, which is supposed to be devoted to restaurant issues, by stuffing her pudgy face with a new line of scones, muffins and croissants at Starbucks.

Hotel promoter

What are readers to make of Travel Editor Jill Schensul's gushing cover story today on new hotel "amenities" (T-1)?

Here's another major travel piece without prices, suggesting Schensul was comped by the big hotel chains or she agreed to write the lavishly promotional copy to land more advertising for her pathetically thin, 4-page section.

Developers still have their hooks into Hackensack

NJ Transit's Jersey Avenue local left New York's Penn Station a few minutes after its scheduled 2:29 p.m. departure on Friday. Seats on this older rail car freed up only after the train stopped at Secaucus Junction and Newark Penn Station. The discomfort of many rail and bus rider is of little concern to The Record.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Even after a reform City Council slate is sworn in on Monday -- as reported today by The Record --Hackensack will be burdened for years to come by insider deals with developers.

A 226-unit development on Hackensack Avenue is now renting, a 222-unit building on State Street has broken ground and other developers have announced plans to replace The Record's old headquarters with hundreds of new high-rise and mid-rise apartments.

None of these developers have been asked to help ease the expected impact on Hackensack's badly crowded schools.

Ruling by veto

A heading on Page 1 today reports Governor Christie signed a "bipartisan" budget, but the full story on A-3 contradicts that with news of several vetoes the GOP bully used to get his way.

One of the vetoes killed $7 million in funding to Planned Parenthood and other women's health organizations. 

That's very "bipartisan" of Christie, just like his earlier vetoes of a hike in the minimum wage or a tax surcharge on millionaires.

Eat this

On Friday, in Eating Out on $50, freelancer Jeffrey Page managed to review a rare restaurant that uses antibiotic-free chickens, Flames Rotisseria in Ridgefield Park (Better Living, BL-24).

But when The Record reduced the number of people fed for $50 to 2 from 4, the review lost all value to readers.

If Page's cheap editor allowed him to spend $70 -- a little under $18 per person -- he could tell readers about plenty of places where they can get a decent meal for 4.

And even with only $50, he could make the money go further if he stopped wasting money on fattening, artery clogging desserts (BL-25).

Worshiping animals

Sunday's Travel section, delivered with today's paper, reflects Editor Jill Schensul's worship of animals over humans.

In her cover story, Schensul, a vegetarian and animal lover, reports on trips of a lifetime, complete with photos of some of  the four-legged and slithering creatures travelers can commune with.

I guess her way of dealing with all of the human misery in Africa is simply to ignore it.

Even though Schensul's section is down to only 4 pages on most Sundays, she continues to run vacation photos of readers in The Record on The Road feature -- a huge waste of space.

'Dangerous' Road Warrior

The Road Warrior column finally is starting to report that a lack of enforcement has resulted in growing abuse of cellphone use while driving -- not to mention speeding and numerous other traffic violations (Friday's L-1).

Red-light and speeding cameras may be the ultimate solution for the police.

The column, written by Staff Writer John Cichowski, no longer pretends to deal with commuting issue. 

It should be renamed to reflect an almost total focus on driving and reliance on reader e-mails.

In his Wednesday column, Cichowski didn't let a reader's question stump him; he simply  made up the answer, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"In his June 26 column, the Road Warrior continues to endanger his readers with his contradictory, confusing, incomplete and inaccurate accounting of crosswalk laws.

"Readers are frightened and confused by his clear lack of knowledge about the confusing and poorly written, revised crosswalk statutes, which he has championed.

"He inferred that drivers would rarely be held accountable under the revised crosswalk laws for hitting pedestrians outside of crosswalks. 

"Unfortunately, the laws clearly state that it will be assumed the driver did not exercise due care for the safety of the pedestrian in the event of a collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian within or outside of crosswalks.

"In his responses to readers' questions about the requirements of the crosswalk laws, the Road Warrior simply made up answers, which are in contradiction to the crosswalk laws, or failed to provide key relevant information about the laws."

See the full e-mail a concerned reader sent to management:

'Our Dangerous Road Warrior'


A short break

Eye on The Record will return at the end of next week. 

Did editors file missing columnist report?

The official schedule of the Hackensack Board of Education continues to list a meeting this past Monday, the first night of Passover, but the board actually met the previous Thursday. The Record didn't cover the meeting, and at least one resident went to the high school on Monday, only to be told no meeting was being held.

Staff Writer John Cichowski has written a Road Warrior column every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday since he took over the beat from the original, Jeff Page, in late 2003.

Two things soon became apparent: Cichowski is no Jeff Page, and a large number of columns by the new writer contained serious errors that were never corrected.

Today, his Wednesday column is missing, a bit strange considering that Cichowski even wrote ahead so his column would appear during vacations.

Did the editors file a missing columnist report or are they hoping Cichowski got lost somewhere between his home and the office?

Cichowski's last column was flawed, according to a concerned reader, who fired off another e-mail to management:

"In his March 24 column, the Road Warrior strikes out with his third misleading and mistaken report this year about the Yellow Dot (Medical Alert) Program legislation that Governor Christie sent back to the Legislature with a conditional veto.

"Road Warrior is still in denial and unable to comprehend the financing that the Legislature clearly planned for in this bill, and also completely misreported it in his Jan. 30 column.

"Road Warrior mistakenly reported the legislation was conditionally vetoed by Christie because there was 'no money' included in the bill, even though he conditionally vetoed it for the exact opposite reason: He didn't want New Jersey to spend state funds needed for this legislation."

Read the complete e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior is off his rocker again 


Isn't it rich?

For the third day in a row, today's front page carries lavish coverage of the $338 Powerball prize and the winner, Pedro Quezada, a Dominican who ran a bodega in Passaic city.

Minorities usually don't land on Page 1 unless they've killed somebody, and you can expect that any time now, Editor Marty Gottlieb and the rest of geniuses running the media will forget about Quezada and his impoverished neighborhood.

Fender-bender news

The big local news today is another accident, this one on Route 17 (L-1).

The big Hackensack news is an Easter egg hunt (L-6 photo), though there are full stories from Teaneck (L-2) and Englewood (L-3).

That kind of coverage is no accident, but can be traced to the sheer incompetence of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her lazy deputy, Dan Sforza, who day after day fail to find enough news to fill Local.

Today, they need an overlong wire-service obituary of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Anthony Lewis, who no doubt was a pal of Gottlieb's when they were both crusading journalists at The New York Times (L-5).   

Editors let racial skeletons out of closet

The integration of Englewood's Dwight Morrow High School continues.

Two stories in The Record today give readers a glimpse into Bergen County's racial past and raise unanswered questions about the paper's role in bringing about change.

On Page 1, the obituary of James Payne -- a black Englewood man who built a house in overwhelmingly white Teaneck in 1951 -- balances the story of racial integration with terrific crime reporting on his death, the arrest of a suspect and a possible motive.

On the Local front, the big photo of white politicians mourning former Englewood City Manager Jack Drakeford, who was African-American, speaks volumes about that city's sordid racial history (L-1).

It's a white world

Both stories raise questions about Englewood's inability to fully integrate its schools, its neighborhoods or its government, and the role the wealthy Borg publishing family played in maintaining the status quo.

Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg has lived on Englewood's East Hill for decades.

Still, public schools weren't good enough for his precious offspring, Publisher Stephen A. Borg and Vice President/ General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg.

The first paragraph of the Drakeford funeral story hails him as "a civil rights hero," but he never was allowed to hold the policy making office of mayor nor did he have much impact on the schools, which today are almost completely filled with blacks and Hispanics.

Lesbian athletes?

Are some of the female Olympic athletes lesbians?

Have the media, including The Record, ever discussed the issue or do they just run photos like the one on the front page of soccer player Carli Lloyd having her breasts squeezed by a teammate?

A-1 also carries the fifth story in seven days about the growing legal and financial problems of Assemblyman Robert Schroeder, R-Washington Township.

And the geniuses who run the Editorial Page finally get around to asking Schroeder to explain publicly how he plans to do his job in the Assembly while defending himself against criminal charges and at least 15 lawsuits (A-20). 

F.U. to commuters

As commuting in North Jersey becomes more nightmarish by the day, Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to search for the most obscure and irrelevant topics for his column (L-1).

Today's entire column discusses sun glare on Route 3. Let's see, there are 10 other highways with sun glare, so that means at least 10 more columns on the subject.

The news copy editor who wrote the caption on an L-2 photo leaves the impression the child injured while riding a bicycle was hit by a Ridgewood police car.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, couldn't find room for any Hackensack news today.

More clunky captions

In Better Living, the copy editor who wrote the captions for the food photos with today's restaurant review has "come"  and "butt" on his or her mind.

Instead of saying meats "are" expertly seasoned, the caption tells readers the meats "come" expertly seasoned.

On the salad photo next to that, the caption says the shepherd salad "comes" with greens and tomatoes.

The big photo of the restaurant clearly shows outdoor seating is literally on the Hudson River, but the caption describes a "patio abutting the river."

Elisa Ung's favorable review is of another boring Turkish restaurant, this one with high prices (BL 18-19). I saw the word "Turkish" and turned the page.

Low-quality review

Freelancer Jeff Page will put anything into his mouth for an Eating Out on $50 review (BL-20).

There's no discussion of the beef that goes into burger he ate, just his description of how it was "juicy" and full of "rich beefy flavor," presumably from animal antibiotics, growth hormones and other nasty additives.

Bon appetit.

  

Turkey gives way to stomach-turning BBQ

The Record today promotes meat that is deliberately
burned, a sure-fire way to make it even less healthy.

You'll find photos of Thanksgiving meals on A-1, A-6, A-7 and A-8; as well as L-1 and L-3, but for a real stomach turner, check out the charred meat on the cover of Better Living today.


Barbecue pit masters have perpetuated the mythical benefits of "char," and gullible food writers like Elisa Ung have swallowed their arguments whole.


Unfortunately, meat cooked at high temperatures until it burns or chars has been linked to cancer, and the Woodland Park daily has no business glorifying carcinogens in a restaurant review (Better Living centerfold).


But it's what readers have come to expect from the dessert-obsessed Ung, whose review of The Blind Boar in Norwood presumably was edited by her boss, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill.


Ung and Sherrill are blind, too, rarely bothering with the details of how the food they sample and promote is raised or grown. 


Today, Ung tells readers the barbecue restaurant uses naturally raised chicken, but the pork and beef she sampled remain mysterious.


Bones to pick


Either Ung is ignorant or helping the restaurant owner hide the real quality of the meat. She spends more than half of the review describing everything but the food, and wastes space saying the theme restaurant is "less appropriate for anyone looking for a formal dining experience."


Can't readers figure that out for themselves?


What can readers conclude from the Eating Out on $50 review of Baste in Ridgewood, a Greek-inspired chicken restaurant, where free-lancer Jeff Page went over his budget, even though he fed only himself and one other person (Page 21 in Better Living)?


Either Page overeats or the restaurant is too expensive for a budget review.

On Pages 22 and 23, the weekly inspections appear, but where are the restaurants and other food places that are fined for violations of the state sanitation code?


More dead meat


Dead meat or poultry seems to be the edition's theme -- a story on the number of deer killed on state roads appears on Page 1.


In head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, readers are served a rare treat: a Road Warrior column that begins and ends on L-1. 


The commuting columnist actually ran out of topics that have nothing to do with commuting.


Two stories from Englewood appear on L-1 and L-6, though the first duplicates a story that ran just four days ago. However, there is no Hackensack news today.

Related post

• Well-done red meat linked to aggressive prostate cancer (cnn.com)

It's a new week, but here's old news

Image via Wikipedia

The Record errs on a Korean specialty roll called kimbap.

More fed-up flood victims, more financial fallout from killing the Hudson River rail tunnels a year ago and more -- much more -- on Governor Christie's future as a presidential candidate -- it's deja vu all over again on The Record's front page today.


Readers are looking forward to a new week, but Editor Francis Scandale is giving them a whiff of all the stale news he can muster, so he can maximize his time on the golf course.


On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, the insufferable John Cichowski has a column on the last 21 year of the Road Warrior column. 


He draws on the recollections of Jeff Page, who originated the column. Unfortunately for readers, Page's brain is far larger and far more developed than the incumbent's.


Road kill


Although Cichowski has been writing obsessively about cars and drivers at the expense of mass-transit commuters, he shows readers just how little he knows about automobiles.


Today, he says about cars that "air bags, global-positioning systems, anti-lock brakes and a host of other devices have boosted their efficiency and safety." 


But those advances made cars heavier and hurt their "efficiency." Gasoline-electric hybrid systems are what really boosted miles per gallon and cut pollution.


Cichowski, who has been writing the column since late 2003, also completely omits any mention of changes in the commuter bus system in the past 21 years


Ethnic conflict


Also on L-1, Staff Writer Karen Rouse covered a Korean harvest festival at the new Overpeck Park, but got tripped up by a seaweed-rice roll call kimbap, spelling it "kimbab," and erring when she calls it "Korean-style sushi."


Kimbap often contains only rice and vegetables, though other rolls are made with meat or raw fish. Of course, Rouse's assignment editor and Liz Houlton's news copy desk are clueless when it comes to food, and provide no backup.


There is no Hackensack news or news of many other towns in Local today.


Three more pieces about Christie appear in the Opinion pages today, one written by Carl Golden, whose credibility is suspect, given he's a former aide to two past Republican governors. 


Do readers really care about the GOP bully's future? Most of us are bracing for more damage to our way of life in the last half of his first term.


Travel weary


In Travel, the real shock isn't the camera-store advertisement topping all those photos making up The Record on the Road page (T-3). 


It's on Page T-4 in the photo of a haggard Jill Schensul, the travel editor, who looks nothing like the photo of her the editors have been running with her column for a decade or more.


Her elaborate cover story on an Amazon adventure in Colombia takes up  nearly three full pages, but no prices are given, suggesting she took another free travel junket and did her best to promote this trip to death.


Publisher Stephen A. Borg must have had a bad case of indigestion when he folded the Food section several years ago, but allowed the Travel section to continue.


No end to the jokes


Christie, the Great White Hope, dropped out of the White House race last week, but the jokes kept on coming.


On HBO, comedian Bill Maher said on Friday night it had been a week of "right-wing anti-climax." He called Sarah Palin, who also said she is not interested in the presidency, the "Great White Dope."


Maher noted Christie issued a statement: "Look at me. Do I look like I'm ready to race anyone?" He said Christie is, after all, "Tony Soprano" and would have told the Tea Party to sit down and "shut up."


One of Maher's panelists said Christie "projects fun." "Fat people are jolly," he noted. Maher said Christie would have projected an America that is "fat and rude."


Another panelist said, "The Democrats were worried about Christie, because he's too big to fail."


Related articles

• 'Chocolate Face' discovers mass transit (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Readers want fresh voices for old columns (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• The worst New Jersey governor ever (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)