Is Waldwick chief still sending cops on suicide mission?

An aerial photo from PIX11 TV news after a tractor-trailer smashed into the unmarked car of Waldwick Police Officer Christopher Goodell, who was parked at the side of Route 17 south on July 17, 2014, operating radar to catch speeders. He was killed instantly, authorities said.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With speed cameras readily available, posting a police officer at the side of a highway to catch speeding tractor-trailers and other vehicles is nothing less than a suicide mission.

But that's exactly what Waldwick Police Chief Mark Messner did, leading to the death of Police Officer Christopher Goodell, who was little more than a sitting duck at 1:30 a.m. on July 17, 2014.

Now, a Bergen County grand has declined to indict truck driver Ryon Cumberbatch on a vehicular homicide charge, The Record reports on Page 1 today in a story that leaves many questions unanswered.

Was driver asleep?

The story by Staff Writer Allison Pries and Jim Norman says it isn't clear whether Cumberbatch was speeding, but there is nothing on whether he fell asleep at the wheel (A-1 and A-8).

Prosecutor John Molinelli is quoted as saying at the time of the crash "Cumberbatch drove directly into the police car without stopping or attempting to stop."

Still, no one knows whether the grand jurors decided they couldn't find the truck driver acted recklessly in causing the death of Goodell, as they would have to do to hand up a vehicular homicide indictment.

The story also errs in comparing an indictment to "a finding that there is enough evidence of probable guilt to go to trial" (A-8).

Many grand juries are said to be rubber stamps of prosecutors, and one judge noted grand jurors will, if asked, "indict a ham sandwich."

More holes 

Today's story also is silent on the inevitable lawsuit Goodell's family can file, seeking damages from the driver and truck's owner, J.B. Hunt Transportation Services.

Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski, who wrote several columns about Goodell's death and people who own homes on the edge of the highway, must have been fast asleep when news of the grand jury's decision broke on Tuesday. 

Stile on Christie

In the last line of his Page 1 column today, Staff Writer Charles Stile says Governor Christie "is perhaps the most desperate" of the candidates seeking the GOP presidential nomination (A-10).

Of course, few readers will get that far after glancing at another front-page headline and Stile column that seems little more than an apology for Christie's racially inspired scree against President Obama, Syrian refugees and black victims of police shootings (A-1).

Daibes and Borgs

Another Page 1 story today -- on a proposed deal between the state Department of Environmental Protection and multimillionaire Fred Daibes -- is the second major story about the developer and restaurant owner since Saturday.

The proposal is called lenient and a slap on the wrist, with Daibes required to pay only a third of a drastically lower cash penalty (A-1).

Daibes dropped out last year as developer of 19.7 acres along River Street in Hackensack owned by North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

Local news

Christie isn't the only one who is desperate.

Local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza really scrambled to fill today's thin section, with two major Paterson stories on the front (L-1).

Police, court and non-fatal accident news can be found throughout the section.

There is some relief in the obituary of Alice Ramsey Burns, 105, "the product of an early Hackensack family prominent in the realms of politics and motoring," but that story is buried on L-6.

Healthy recipes

Congratulations to Food Editor Esther Davidowitz for publishing a few healthy recipes among the usual mindless promotion of fatty pork and artery clogging desserts (BL-1, BL-2 and BL-3).

Three of the recipes, all free of butter and cream, are from freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson, who has been known to use those artery clogging ingredients with abandon.

Editors reward Jon Stewart for keeping his hands off press

This sign might give you hope, if you have a medical emergency while driving on Route 4 east in Paramus, but the urgent-care center itself isn't close to opening, below. Why would Paramus officials approve the sign weeks before the building is ready?

On Friday, you could still see the original entrance and exterior paint of the shuttered Dos Cubanos, a Cuban restaurant, which is being renovated for the CITYMD urgent-care center, part of a Manhattan-based chain. When the center finally opens, how many patients will be rushing over after an artery clogging meal at the fried-chicken restaurant next door?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You'll have to read between the lines of Virginia Rohan's front page tribute to Jon Stewart to realize his greatest failure is never lampooning newspapers -- large ones like The New York Times and small ones like The Record.

Martin Gottlieb, editor of The Record, is a veteran of The Times, and both newspapers have revealed deep flaws -- from scandals over fabricated quotes to lazy, irresponsible local editors who wink at official misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance.

Stewart, the stand-up comedian and actor, never even bothered looking across the Hudson at the state of print journalism in his native New Jersey.

No. For "The Daily Show" targets, all you have to do in look at the continuation page, which is peppered with familiar TV news acronyms: CNN, MSNBC and CNBC, as well as the infamously slanted Fox News (A-8).

A-1 photos

Poor Virginia Rohan, The Record's veteran TV writer, who gave us the Stewart appraisal. 

Isn't Production Editor Liz Houlton discriminating against her by running a contemporary thumbnail photo of Rohan (A-1) while using dated photos of Columnists Mike Kelly (O-1) and John Cichowski (L-1)?

Talking about front-page photos, check out the racy image of Emilee Carton, manager of the Lilly Pulitzer store in Hackensack, whose cleavage-baring low neckline is upstaging the racehorse behind her (A-1).

On the Web site of the store in The Shops at Riverside, Lilly Pulitzer is billed as "the unofficial uniform of the affluent at play."

That's appropriate considering the wealthy Borg family own the Woodland Park daily and (201) magazine, considered by some to be the bible of Bergen County's moneyed elite.

Stretching the definition of transportation, the editors assigned NJ Transit reporter Christopher Maag to cover the race at Monmouth Park, and he tries mightily to polish all of those horse turds (A-1, A-8). 

Zisa and Molinelli

Also on Page 1 today, the rare byline of Staff Writer Jean Rimbach appears over an "Analysis" prompted by an appeals court vacating the convictions and prison sentence hanging over the head of former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa. 

Rimbach claims that and other setbacks constitute "a bad run" for Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli (A-1).

Of course, you won't find any mention of Joseph S. Conte, the Zisa trial judge, who was harshly criticized by the appeals court.

"The judge [Conte] did not forcefully tell the jury that the prosecutor's remarks ... were improper, and he did not unequivocally tell them that the improper information must be disregarded," the ruling stated.

And The Record has never examined Conte's record on the bench -- and how many times he's been reversed by higher courts -- before he retired and joined a Hackensack law firm.

Local news?

There isn't much to read today in the local-news section, ostensibly edited by Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, unless you're a dog owner (L-1).

Nothing is changing with New Jersey's full-service gas stations, so why is the Road Warrior wasting our time with a long column on self-serve pumps (L-1)? 

Finally, an opinion

Mike Kelly finally manages to offer an opinion about something, the cancelled Hudson River tunnels project (O-1).

"This year, we have seen in graphic detail what happens when elected officials do not take care of important pieces of our transportation infrastructure" (O-1).

How's that for hard-hitting local journalism from the columnist with the shit-eating grin thumbnail photo?

Oh, by the way, "Hudson River tunnel," which appears in his first paragraph, is incorrect. Two tunnels were under construction.

On O-2, the Margulies cartoon about Governor Christie is a stretch.

But Opinion columnist Brigid Harrison, a professor, places the blame squarely on Christie for why a poll found our satisfaction with life in the Garden State hit a 35-year low.

Lions or humans?

On Friday's A-1 and A-4, The Record inadvertently published a condemnation of the media for their propensity to ignore human misery.

"It's so cruel," a woman in Harare, Zimbabwe, told The Associated Press, referring to the slaying of Cecil, a protected lion.

"But I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe -- we have water shortages, no electricity, no jobs -- yet people are making noise about a lion?"

You'd hear the same complaint from residents of Paterson, who live in fear of a drive-by shooting taking the life of another innocent victim, but who are saddled with a police director who has failed to attack the city's gun problem.

Yet, instead of questioning why Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale shouldn't be replaced, The Record spends more time reporting on his lawsuit against the Port Authority, where he once worked, and his problems clearing security at airports.

New Orleans

It's sad to see that Travel Editor Jill Schensul waited nearly 10 years after the devastation of Katrina to declare that New Orleans "is back" and "better than ever" (T-1 today and last Sunday).

That's the danger when journalists go on press trips arranged by hotel owners, chambers of commerce and mayors.

She could have visited New Orleans in 2010, and written about the renewal up to that point, helping to steer tourists to one of America's most distinctive cities.

I saw much of what she described this month on a visit in the summer of 2009, including jazz clubs along Frenchmen Street, restoration of the St. Charles Streetcar line and a French Quarter that was as vibrant as ever.

A sidelined Christie would be no loss to N.J. or the U.S.

A NY Waterway ferry returning to its Weehawken terminal from Manhattan with only a few passengers during rush hour on April 1.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front-page story today on the mounting cost of protecting Governor Christie when he travels out of state cites no active threats (A-1).

So, why did taxpayers spend $1.2 million to protect the GOP bully last year, and from whom?

Is Christie afraid a resident still living in a tent after losing his home to Superstorm Sandy is plotting to take him out?

Or, is he looking over his shoulder for state employees angry over his refusal to fully fund their pension system?

Given his eating habits, it's more likely the would-be president will be sidelined by salmonella, and it would be no great loss for New Jersey or the nation.

Ferriero jury

The timing of today's lead story on attorney Joseph Ferriero, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli and a doctor who "was allowed to sidestep prosecution" on groping charges is unusual.

This week, a federal jury in Newark will resume deliberations on corruption charges against Ferriero, once the powerful head of the Bergen County Democratic Party.

The story by Jean Rimbach reports Ferriero received almost $500,000 -- far more than previously thought -- to help the case of Teaneck dermatologist Gangaram Ragi (A-1).

Could Ferriero's defense attorney seek a mistrial, citing the Page 1 story?

Local news?

Does Road Warrior John Cichowski really expect shoppers to use the train to get to the Walmart opening soon in Teterboro and then schlep their packages home on mass transit (L-1)?

This from the columnist who spends 99% of his time promoting driving.

In recent years, the huge number of errors in Cichowski's columns testify to the near total absence of editing and fact-checking on The Record's copy desk.

In 2008, copy desk co-supervisor Nancy Cherry left the paper, creating a void in the enforcement of high standards of accuracy and headline writing that was never filled.

Under six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy and news desks, the decline has only accelerated.

Raw deal

Restaurant critic Elisa Ung's column on omakase, a chef's selection of raw fish, omits respected Japanese restaurants in Fort Lee and Edgewater (BL-1).

Is it possible that only one hotel meets the high standards of Travel Editor Jill Schensul ("Hotel peeves" on T-1).

Or is her cover story today an elaborate advertisement for Hotel Le Marais in New Orleans, the only one mentioned by name (T-3)?

I also found it strange that Schensul isn't peeved by the high cost of hotel rooms. Not one price appears in the article.

Errors, hype and deeply flawed reporting

Trucks, buses and cars crawling down the helix, top, on the way to the entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken on Friday morning -- in a scene repeated every weekday. The return trip on Friday afternoon was even slower through packed Manhattan streets.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The Record today and Friday delivered a major error in a story about Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, an hysterical headline declaring "a commuting disaster" in Fort Lee and flawed reporting on the disastrous Jersey shore fire.

On Friday's A-5, the first paragraph of the Molinelli story reported "the conviction of a mayor from a prominent family on misconduct charges."

But the reference is to the 2012 conviction on misconduct and insurance-fraud charges of former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa -- who never served as mayor.

No correction appears today.

Another 'disaster'

Commuting by car, bus or train from North Jersey to Manhattan has been a disaster for the better part of a decade, but Road Warrior John Cichowski has had his swelled head up his ass for much of that time.

On Friday's L-1, he declared "a commuting disaster" over the closure of two Fort Lee tollbooths on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge.

What's the big deal? The vast majority of drivers -- who wisely use the truck-free lower level -- weren't affected.

Of course, Cichowski managed to please some of the morons who read his column by printing their names and failing to question why they don't use mass transit. 

The real 'disaster' in the Woodland Park newsroom.

Toll discounts?

Today on L-1, the Road Warrior declares an end to the so-called GWB crisis, but blasts rising tolls, squandering another opportunity to tell readers about discounts.

Today's A-1 report faulting the Port Authority for fast-tracking toll hikes also could have used a box listing E-ZPass discounts for drivers of hybrid cars and anyone with two passengers.

From what I've seen, only a minority of hybrid-car owners know they can get a Port Authority Green Pass -- a special, green E-ZPass -- that gives them off-peak toll discounts at the Hudson River crossings, and on the parkway and turnpike.

Green Pass customers are charged only a $4.75 toll at the bridge or tunnels during off-peak hours.  

Any driver with two passengers who has registered for the Port Authority Carpool Discount Plan (1-888-288-6865) pays only $4.25 at the Hudson River crossings at all hours.

Shore inferno

Today and Friday, Page 1 coverage of the fire that destroyed businesses in Seaside Park and Seaside Heights on Thursday seems incomplete when compared to TV and radio news reports.

Both stories report "the fire apparently started in a Kohr's frozen custard stand," but an employee interviewed by Channel 2 News in New York said she saw smoke coming up through the boardwalk.

New Jersey Public Radio (WNYC-FM) noted the severe limitations of local fire departments in fighting the fire, because no agency has a tracked vehicle capable of attacking the inferno from the beach side.

Many readers just assume the fire was set deliberately to collect insurance.

Governor Christie, who is pinning his bid for a second term largely on Sandy recovery, rushed to the scene and declared on Friday's Page 1:

"I feel like I want to throw up."

Isn't that the way he felt every  time he scarfed down another gargantuan meal before he had weight-loss surgery this year?

Happy birthday!

Local obituary writer Jay Levin continues to explore his fascination with centenarians in a front-page story about Sister Mary Victor Waters, a Tenafly nun who turned 109 today (A-1).

She is referred to as "Sister Victor." Gee whiz.

Levin has neglected one aspect of his beat: Explaining why so many black men die in their 50s.


Say what?

Here are more examples of sloppy editing from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Production Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy desk.

The Friday Road Warrior column claims the Port Authority "cut the number of tollbooths from three to one on the big span," but the accompanying photo appears to show four or five open toll lanes.

A huge photo on A-6 today shows a helmeted firefighter looking down at a scorched boardwalk in Seaside Heights, but the caption says he is "scouring the remains of the boardwak businesses."

Is that scouring as in cleaning or did the caption writer mean scouring for clues?

An L-1 story declares that two truck trailers -- "each sporting 128 tires" -- crawled from Wyckoff to a PSE&G substation in Waldwick.

Readers can only assume all of those tires were mounted on wheels.

17 reasons prosecutor is clamming up

The family of Rickey McFadden, a suspect who was shot dead by police, is planning to sue, alleging racial indifference, police brutality and multiple civil rights violations.

As he did with the fatal police shooting of Malik Williams of Garfield in December 2011, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli is releasing few details on the death of Rickey Mcfadden, a mentally ill Leonia man who allegedly robbed a CVS where he had been a frequent customer.

Today, The Record leads Page 1 with the family's claim police officers fired at McFadden, who was black,  a total of 17 times on Nov. 25.

The police officers haven't been identified, and one reason may be because the editors are too lazy or too intimidated to request a meeting with Molinelli and the police chiefs of Leonia and Palisades Park.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes or her deputy, Dan Sforza, have trained their reporters to communicate with police on stories such as this via e-mail or telephone, and to print the most ridiculous statements from the overpaid chiefs. 

"Releasing the name now would only subject the officers to unnecessary attention during what is a very difficult and stressful time for them," Leonia Police Chief Jay Ziegler said in an e-mail on Wednesday, according to The Record.

If it's stressful for the officers, imagine what McFadden's family is going through.

Today's story is based completely on allegations in a notice of the family's intent to sue filed by attorney Rosemary Arnold, who says she based her claims on statements from three witnesses.

Of course, it's clear The Record made no attempt to find any of those witnesses, but was content to wait for official press releases.

Belated toll news

The Johnny-come-lately who writes the Road Warrior column is finally telling readers who own hybrid cars, including the Chevy Volt, they can get a Green E-ZPass -- which has been available for years --  that gives them big discounts at the Hudson River crossings (L-1).

But Staff Writer John Cichowski remains mum on the car-pool discount, which is available to all drivers at any time of the day or night as long as they register their E-ZPass and use a Cash/E-Z Pass lane so the toll attendant can check to see if there are 3 people in the vehicle.

As with so many columns in the past, today's piece is based solely on e-mails from readers.

Despite all the questions Cichowski gets about the pricing of gasoline and cash/credit card policies, the reporter has yet to tell his readers about credit cards that give drivers 1 to 4 cents back on every dollar they spend on gasoline.  

I use an American Express card that gives me 14 cents back on a $3.50 gallon of regular. 

Clarification

In a post on Tuesday, I cited comments from Anonymous readers, including this one:

"I guess math isn't the reporters/editors strong suit and the reason they decided to become journalists instead of mathematicians."

Then, I got this:

"I made the comment about math not being a journalist's strong suit which was meant to be facetious. Any newspaper of record should employ one knowledgeable in different disciplines to get the facts correct in the editing process, or at least in the Internet age to look it up."  

Amen. 

Editors commit more crimes against readers

Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack (joseph a)

There are four interesting, newsworthy stories on the front page of The Record today, but the editors of the Local news section continue to rely too heavily on crime stories.

Local is dominated by a not-guilty plea from the suspect in the arson murder of a widow, and the testimony of a suspended police officer who is charged with altering "his license plates."

License-plate alteration? Is that big local news, even if a cop is charged with doing it?

Corrupt editing

Meanwhile, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza downplay two stories about Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, who vetoed an attempt to water down the county's pay-to-play ordinance.

That important story is buried on L-3 -- a crime against Bergen readers, who lived for too many years under disappointing Democratic county administrations.

Time to go

If Sykes and Sforza aren't deciding the best "play" of stories, The Record can save tons of money by kicking their lazy, incompetent asses off of Garret Mountain.

If they decided to bury this anti-corruption story, the Borgs should certainly kick them out. 

Editorial treats


Look at the L-1 story on Daniel Rochat, suspect in the murder of Barbara Vernieri, whom he had known for decades -- a follow-up on his arrest (Page 1 on Friday).

As usual, Bergen Prosecutor John Molinelli is giving out information on the investigation and Rochat bit by bit, and Sykes and Sforza are acting like lap dogs yapping for treats.

He gets mail

On the front of Friday's Local section, most of the Road Warrior column is based on e-mails from readers -- another sign Staff Writer John Cichowski ran out of ideas long ago (L-1).

Commuting by car, bus and train is a daily ordeal in the metropolitan area, but Cichowski devotes his thrice-weekly column to issues that have nothing to with the daily trek to and from work.

Oh, on the continuation page, Cichowski does mention how some commuters can take their bicycles aboard trains (L-10).

But he fails to note that all of the new local buses operated by NJ Transit (they're painted white) have front-mounted bike racks.

That omission is typical of Cichowski's incomplete, often inaccurate columns.

(See previous post, "Reader blasts Road Warrior errors.")  

Uneducated news play

With five pages of Friday's Local section devoted to higher education, there is little local news.

Sykes and Sforza buried a preview of Donovan's veto all the way back on L-10.

At the top of that page, a story on an NJ Transit bus driver who was charged with vehicular homicide -- allegedly killing one of her passengers -- doesn't even include the number of her local bus line.

Was it the No. 780 bus, which runs from Englewood through Hackensack to the city of Passaic, where the 49-year-old man was killed? Let the guessing game begin.

Welcome profile

Also buried in Friday's Local section is Staff Writer Denisa R. Superville's wonderful profile of Teaneck institution Lou Schwartz, 100 (L-11).

Usually, thanks to Sykes and Sforza, we only read about people like Schwartz after they're dead.

Stranding readers

If I was stranded in Mahwah and starving, I wouldn't eat at the mediocre Zaytoon, the subject of a full-blown restaurant review on Friday (Better Living, BL-20-21).

Why does Staff Writer Elisa Ung bother to write about places like this? Couldn't she do capsules under the heading: "Certainly not worth the detour"?

She got paid for eating there, and The Record picked up the check, but that's no reason to waste our time.

More prejudicial reporting on man's death

Governor Christie announces his decision to forgo candidacy in the Republican primary race for president in front of a portrait of former Governor Tom Kean at a news conference at the Statehouse on October 4, 2011.

 

The Record's editors continue to interpret and exaggerate the prosecutor's report in the police shooting of a Garfield man, seemingly trying to justify the killing.

On Page 1 today, Editor Marty Gottlieb presents Prosecutor John Molinelli's "most extensive comments to date" on the death of African-American Malik Williams, 19, who was shot five times last Dec. 10.

Of course, Molinelli never explains why his office and a grand jury took more than 6 months to issue their findings, which cleared the two police officers involved.

Nor do head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, explain why the Woodland Park daily failed to do any independent reporting in the days and weeks after the police shooting, despite numerous community protests.

Today's story amounts to an endorsement of long-delayed probe. The headline:

Shooting case was balancing act for prosecutor

Don't you feel for the guy? Hey, he had "to protect the integrity of the judicial process," according to the first paragraph.

That's the prosecutor's way of saying he was  protecting the asses of the police officers and his foot-dragging investigators.

Unanswered questions

In more than 6 months of reporting, The Record has never questioned the police version of the confrontation or asked whether the suspect's fingerprints were found on the tools he allegedly held in his hands.

On June 28, in reporting the grand jury's action, Sykes and Sforza published a major error on Page 1, claiming in a sub-headline and in the first paragraph that Williams was "charging" the police officers with a hammer and a saw before they shot him. 

If Williams was indeed "charging" the officers, that suggests he was "running" towards them, making his actions more threatening.

But the word "charging" never appeared in the prosecutor's report. Instead, he said, the suspect "advanced towards" the officers, who shot him when he was 7 feet to 8 feet away from them.

On June 29, a follow-up on Sykes' Local front dropped the word "charging," but no correction appeared on A-2 or anywhere else.

Today, the editors resuscitate the word "charging" to describe Williams' actions before he was shot to death (A-6).

The real Christie

On Friday, four letters to the editor criticize Governor Christie's big mouth, as well as his policies (A-18).

Contrast them to the glowing terms The Record has used in numerous columns, editorials and Opinion pieces published since he took office in January 2010.

"I can't understand why anyone from the state of New Jersey wants to be represented by a boor and a bully," wrote Jane Muhlstock of Hackensack.

"Perhaps they are casting for a 'Jersey Shore' sequel," said James Pepe, also from Hackesnack, suggesting what Christie can do, if he loses the 2013 election.

Related articles

• Christie to reporter: 'Are you stupid?'

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• Paper, prosecutor diss dead man's family

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• Editors wilt under Marty's demands

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• Dunkin' cops surrender to house burglars

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On the prosecutor's recusal

Image via Wikipedia

Here is another posting on the Ken Zisa story from Hackensacknow.org, this one from itsme:

"Personally, I believe the [Prosecutor John]  Molinelli stand is just for show.  I believe both he and [Tom] Padilla are cronies of Chief Zisa and should step away from the situation totally.  This matter needs to be handled by the State Attorney General's office and maybe they can arrive at the truth.  While coverage of the Record has not always been accurate on issues involving Hackensack, the County Seat is so politically swayed it is hard to believe anything they print dealing with governing issues.  I must, however, give them kudos on its coverage of school plays and municipal activities.

"With regard to the comments of Just Watching and HHS72, I grew up in Hackensack and agree with the history given. 

"This issue is bigger than Democrats or Republicans but an issue about people who forgot what good government means."

(Photo: Church on The Green, Hackensack.)