Editors distort positive change in Hackensack

The Record continues to use "chaos" to describe positive change in Hackensack, and ignores city news by printing endless reports on the saga of ex-Police Chief Ken Zisa.

Hackensack readers hit a rare daily double today -- a Page 1 story plus a column on the latest developments in the legal saga of former Police Chief Ken Zisa.

The headline on the news story is straightforward, but Columnist Mike Kelly claims the developments turn the city into "Chaosville" from "Zisaville" -- echoing his earlier columns on "chaos" in Hackensack.

Now, according to the headline over Kelly's column, there is a "double dose of chaos" for city police.

Kelly the hack

Kelly's second paragraph on the front page contains another poorly written sentence from the veteran columnist, who appears to get no editing help from his assignment editor or anyone else:

"That he [Judge Joseph S. Conte] signaled in various rulings over the course of the trial, which ended nearly four months ago, that he had no problems with the evidence did not seem to matter."

High school-level writing on the front page of the Woodland Park daily. What's next?

So, what does Kelly the hack mean by a "double dose of chaos"?

Zisa stands convicted of official misconduct and insurance fraud, meaning he faces five or more years in prison without parole and loss of his pension, even though Judge Conte threw out guilty verdicts on three other counts.

Positive development

And interim Police Chief Tomas Padilla -- whom Kelly labels "a controversial Zisa pal and political force in his own right" -- announced he is retiring at the end of the year (L-1).

Hackensack residents find those developments to be positive overall. 

There is no "chaos" in Hackensack or its Police Department, where rank-and-file police officers get high marks from the vast majority of residents. 

Where were the editors?

And readers have to wonder what Kelly and the paper's editors and reporters were doing to remain clueless during all of the years the Zisa brothers were a corrosive influence in the Police Department.

Since the end of the Ken Zisa trial in May, Kelly and Hackensack reporter Stephanie Akin have carefully avoided drawing attention to the huge conflict of Zisa's cousin, Joseph Zisa, serving as city attorney and recusing himself from all of the lawsuits against the former chief.

Indeed, coverage of Hackensack in Local has declined drastically under head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, and only got worse when The Record abandoned the city for Rockaway, Woodland Park and other towns.

Unearthing altered lives

The cover story in the new Signature section discusses an historic cemetery and three of the dead whose lives were "cut short" -- as pieced together by Staff Writer Jay Levin, the master of local obituaries (SIG-1). 

As good as this story is, I was disappointed Levin didn't use the Sept. 3 death of actor Michael Clarke Duncan at 54 as a launching pad for a discussion on the apparently higher health risks faced by African-American men.

Discovering soft tacos

On SIG-4, a story by Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill carries a clunky headline, likely a special effort from Editor Liz Houlton's copy desk: 

"Plate and soul of Mexico."

And the report on a downtown Paterson taqueria is missing a couple of elements: 

Does Antojitos Poblano serve any tacos for people who don't eat meat or want to avoid its mystery poultry and pork, and is the sanitation there any better than at other taco joints in Paterson and Passaic city? 

The photo package on SIG-6 demonstrates the talent of another staff photographer -- something readers have forgotten under the onslaught of minor accident and fire photos used as filler in Local (L-1).

Sykes and Sforza are really scraping the bottom of the local news barrel today.

Republicans set to attack obesity epidemic

With an obese Governor Christie in the ascendancy, an elephant seems to be an appropriate symbol for the Republican Party.

If Governor Christie is going to deliver the keynote address at next month's Republican National Convention, his selection might signal a major GOP offensive against the obesity epidemic.

Who better to serve as a poster official for the epidemic than New Jersey's own GOP bully, whose out-of-control eating is on display in every photo The Record publishes?

Today's lead story on Page 1 of the Woodland Park daily cites "well-placed Republican sources." I can cite only "unusually tasty sauces."

Another big error

The major element on A-1 today is a surprisingly straightforward Mike Kelly column on the scheduled deployment to Afghanistan of a National Guard unit at the Teaneck Armory.

Kelly's effort is ruined by Editor Liz Houlton -- the Queen of Errors -- whose news copy editors wrote an incorrect A-1 photo caption: "They were leave for Afghanistan today."

But in the fifth paragraph on the front page, Kelly clearly says the unit is going to an Army base in Tennessee for two months of training before leaving the country.

That Army base must be in Kabul, Tenn. Even the headline is misleading; the unit won't "deploy" until late September.

Zisaville 'news'

Some readers welcomed Kelly's account on Wednesday of how then-Police Chief Ken Zisa ordered Hackensack cops to shoot at computer hard drives at a firing range in 2009.

But the columnist, the Hackensack reporter and their editors to continue to ignore what's going on in the city now, especially the calls for City Attorney Joseph Zisa to resign.

Zisa, cousin of the disgraced and convicted former police chief, has recused himself from defending the city against numerous civil suits.

That led the city to hire another lawyer and spend tens of thousands of extra dollars on legal fees -- with no end in sight.

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin covered the Hackensack City Council meeting on Tuesday night and came away with nothing more than a short story on street paving (L-3).

Related articles

• Christie downsizes to spoon from shovel

  ---

• Burying the lede on Hackensack

  ---

• Hackensack is front-page news again

  ---

• Is the Zisa family still running Hackensack?

  ---

Is the Zisa family still running Hackensack?

House fire in Hackensack (Photo credit: Anthony Quintano)

From the story leading the Local news section in The Record today, you'd think a new day has dawned in Hackensack.

But the sad truth is the local-news editors appear to be disappointed that former Police Chief Ken Zisa was convicted in mid-May of official misconduct and insurance fraud.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza are doing everything they can to hide the Zisas' continued hold on a city many critics still call Zisaville.

Mayor in name only

Today's L-1 story on Hackensack's annual reorganization meeting doesn't mention the new mayor, Michael Melfi, was on the 2009 slate backed by Lynne Hurwitz, the Democratic power broker behind the decades-long reign of the Zisa family.

Hackensack reporter Stephanie Akin tells readers for the first time today that some residents called, on June 11,  for the resignation of City Attorney Joseph Zisa -- the disgraced chief's cousin.

But she doesn't ask any of the council members or city officials for reaction. 

The story refers to "City Attorney Joe Zisa" (L-2). How chummy. 

Sentencing delayed

Another story on L-3 today reports Ken Zisa won't be sentenced until Aug. 30 -- more than 3 months after his conviction, giving the Probation Department an unusually long time to write a pre-sentence report.

But The Record has never explained why the sentencing has been put off. Would an earlier hearing disrupt someone's vacation plans? 

The Woodland Park daily's gentle treatment of the Zisas is apparent to readers, such as Aubrey J. Sher, a former Teaneck schools superintendent whose letter to the editor appears on A-20 today:

"Although never a Hackensack resident," Sher wrote, "over the years I have heard about the family through friends and through many favorable articles in your own newspaper." 

Big hole in story

Also on L-1 today, a story identifies the victim of a road-rage accident as Annetta Billingy, 63, of Teaneck, but notes on L-2 "it was not immediately clear" how the 20-year-old driver "knew" her.

The accident occurred on Sunday, so it's not immediately clear how Sykes and Sforza can print a story with such a big hole and keep their jobs. 

Protecting the rich

On Page 1 today, Governor Christie vetoed a tax surcharge on millionaires for the third time, pleasing his wealthy supporters.

On the Opinion Page, Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden, says Christie "will protect the mega-rich to the detriment of middle-class taxpayers" (A-21).

He notes the GOP bully also vetoed legislation to help low-income New Jerseyans needing legal services, as well a bill helping woman obtain quality health care.

But on the opposite page, an editorial refuses to couch the debate over a tax cut in those terms (A-20). 

Amen

Also on the front page today, who knew Bergen Town Center had a chapel or the Rev. Daniel Smith, a lovable priest who ministered to shoppers for 25 years?

 

Weekly scoops daily with old news

Two of The Record's editors prepare to sniff out local stories at the morning news meeting in Woodland Park.

The front page of The Record is dominated today by a large photo of a woman few readers recognize -- the ex-girlfriend of former Hackensack Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa.

But readers won't find a word about Hackensack residents who have called for the resignation of City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa, a member of the family that has ruled Zisaville for decades.

On Friday, the weekly Hackensack Chronicle reported that at a June 11 meeting of the City Council, residents said Joseph Zisa has recused himself from handling lawsuits against the former chief -- his cousin -- forcing the city to hire attorney Denis Calo.

Squandering taxes

Gadfly Kathy Canestrino said, "We are now paying for two city attorneys -- each of you averaging about $280,000 in charges to the city."

Joseph Zisa said nothing in response to the call for his resignation, the weekly paper reported.

There was no coverage of the June 11 meeting in The Record on June 12 or 13, nor has there been any mention of the potential conflict Joseph Zisa's position represents or of calls for him to resign.

Bored, lazy editors

That's because head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Deputy Assistant Assignment Editor Dan Sforza have been enthralled with the soap opera of Ken Zisa and Kathleen Tiernan, who has been described in news reports as the convicted chief's former "live-in girlfriend."

Legitimate news of Hackensack and many other towns doesn't really interest the bored editors, who for more years than readers care to remember have been unable to inspire their staff to turn out a comprehensive local-news report.

Does Editor Marty Gottlieb really think the sentencing of Tiernan to Pre-Trial Intervention,  a probation program, for insurance fraud deserves to be on the front page or to lead today's Local section?

One question Sykes has never answered is whether Zisa ever woke up Tiernan in the middle of the night and demanded, "Baby! Hold my gun."

Kicking butt

Also on Page 1 today, the subtext of a lawsuit filed against American Dream is that the huge Meadowlands retail and entertainment project will prove far more popular than watching the Giants and Jets butt heads on the field (and slap and ream butts in the locker room).

In Sykes' Local section, Sykes found room for a large photo of a fuel spill on a highway ramp in Franklin Lakes (L-1) -- part of the comprehensive coverage of minor accidents she has demanded from her talented staff photographers.

On the same page, a production error led to a word from the sub-headline ending up under a photo -- above the caption -- and part of the caption ending up between the main headline and byline (L-1).

Friday's paper

On Friday's Page 1, Sykes and the other editors continued to nibble around the edges of the obesity epidemic The Record tries so hard to ignore.

North Jersey hospitals have been using double-wide wheelchairs; bigger, stronger beds and operating tables, and other measures "to treat the growing ranks of obese patients," Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton reports.

What about the growing ranks of obese editors who subvert coverage of obesity and wink at photos of an ever larger Governor Christie? 

Fat is good

The Woodland Park daily even has obesity cheerleaders in Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill and Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, whose obsession with dessert is well-known.

In Friday's Better Living section, Ung made room for several desserts, including a "tiny, tangy cheesecake," at Latitude 41 Lounge & Restaurant.

After looking over her lukewarm, 2-star appraisal, I could see readers leaping into their cars to sample the fare at this quirky lakeside place in West Milford, which might as well be on another planet for most Bergen County residents.

Zisa story: From hysteria to an A-1 brief

If head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes believes in reincarnation, she will come back as a Sykes Yellow Wagtail in Kazakhstan, and weigh only a few ounces.

An anticlimactic court ruling -- ordering the disgraced Hackensack police chief to immediately forfeit his office -- isn't worth more than a brief on the front page of The Record today.

This from the same editors who splashed the city's affairs all over Page 1 on more than a half-dozen occasions before and after suspended Police Chief Charles "Ken I Am The Law" Zisa was convicted on May 16.

"Havoc," "chaos," "limbo" and "upheaval" were among the words used to describe the paper's former home in a frenzy of exaggerated, the sky-is-falling coverage from assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

Zisaville intrigue

Despite thousands of words, Sykes and Sforza have ignored the grip another Zisa has on a city the family has ruled for decades.

The Record's editors have obscured the potential conflict posed by City Attorney Joseph Zisa, the ex-chief's cousin, who is defending Ken Zisa against more than 20 lawsuits (L-1). 

Even Joseph Zisa's role in those lawsuits is unclear. At first, The Record and the Hackensack Chronicle quoted him as saying it is cheaper for the city to fight the suits than to settle.

In a more recent story, The Record's Stephanie Akin said Joseph Zisa has recused himself. Who should we believe?

Another dual role

Today's story also identifies Richard Malagiere as "an attorney hired by the city" to defend convicted felon Ken Zisa against suits in federal court, noting Malagiere has received legal fees of $754,000 in the past two years. 

Why doesn't The Record tell readers Malagiere also is the attorney for the Hackensack Zoning Board?

If Zisaville news is all Hackensack readers can expect, the editors should make sure it is as accurate and complete as possible.

Tugging at the heart 

Two more stories about Tenafly appear in the paper today, but all Englewood readers get is the rededication of the public safety complex (L-3).

Readers will find a bright spot buried on L-6, one of the obituary pages, where Staff Writer Jay Levin tells the life story of John Duffy, a tugboat captain who opened a player piano store in Palisades Park.

Levin has readers chuckling moments after they cursed another inane column from Road Worrier John Cichowski, the seat-belt and pothole reporter who should be barking up the commuting-problem tree (L-1).

Jailhouse rock

The tiresome Dharun Ravi is back on the front page today.

Would anyone shed a tear if he becomes a victim of repeated jailhouse rapes at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center (A-1)?

 

Burying the lede on Hackensack

The once-powerful Zisa family commiserated at White Manna after Ken Zisa was found guilty. The hamburger joint on River Street named a special after Zisa: The B.S. Burger. The connection is clear: Pink slime in the burgers, more slime in City Hall.

The Record today again insists that Ken Zisa is "still chief" of police in Hackensack, according to a headline on Page 1.

Inside, deep on A-8, the story mentions "Zisa's continued position at the head of the Police Department ...."

But Editor Marty Gottlieb and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes are just burying the lede (newspaper jargon for a story's lead or first paragraph, which is supposed to capsulize what happened).

And what happened at an unusual Monday night meeting of the City Council was the appointment of Capt. Tomas Padilla as interim police chief -- two years after Zisa was suspended without pay and Padilla took over the department (A-8).

Out of the picture

Zisa, 58, has been a non-entity for two, long years as his case moved slowly through the criminal courts, and he was found guilty by a jury nearly a week ago.

Still, the editors, Columnist Mike Kelly and other reporters maintain the fiction that Zisa is head of the Police Deparment -- contradicting the facts -- because controversy sells papers.

They continue to manufacture controversy where none exists, and ignore the real crime in Hackensack.

Family conflicts

Zisa will forfeit his so-called position -- and his pensions -- on the day he is sentenced. But his cousin, Joseph Zisa, remains city attorney. That's the real problem for residents.

It would be natural for The Record to ask the city attorney to explain the legal process of cutting ties to Ken Zisa, but, of course, the city's lawyer is involved in a clear conflict.

Turd-filled Ravi-oli 

Many readers were disappointed by the 30-day jail term for homophobe Dharun Ravi, who maintained his superior airs through his sentencing and refused to apologize for hounding Tyler Clementi to his death (A-1).

Let's hope that after he serves his time and performs 300 hours of community service, Ravi gets deported to his native India, where privileged people like him keep millions underfoot, living in abject poverty.

A famous travel writer coined the phrase "Turd World" to describe the country after he saw an Indian man squat down and defecate on a train platform.

Avatar news

On the front of Local, the Port Authority's plan to install customer-service avatars at the three metropolitan area airports may give Gottlieb an idea on how to improve municipal coverage.

He can replace head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her cast of lazy, incompetent minions with a single assignment avatar in the Woodland Park newsroom.

Just imagine. The avatar won't overeat or fart or fill the newsroom with insane laughter, which I used to hear no matter how bad the news was that day.

Today's Local news section is so short on stories about Hackensack and other towns, every page carries police, court or accident news as filler.

 

Editors cook up Hackensack crisis

Wednesday's guilty verdicts against suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa mark the beginning of the end for his family's nepotistic rule over Hackensack, the county seat.

Is the Hackensack Police Department "in limbo," as a big, black headline on Friday's front page declared?

Does "chaos" accurately describe the most populous  community in Bergen County and the county seat?

You'd think so, if you've been reading The Record in the three days since a jury found suspended Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa guilty of official misconduct and insurance fraud.

The Woodland Park daily has been covering dissension on the police force since June 2009, when two police officers filed a federal lawsuit against Zisa, whose family has ruled Hackensack for decades.

Mordaga probe

Since then, the amount of municipal news has declined in seeming proportion to the increasing coverage of police lawsuits; a nearly three-year newsroom investigation of Michael Mordaga, who was Zisa's chief of detectives; and the investigation, arrest and, finally, conviction of the chief, who also served as a state assemblyman.

But does the truth lie in shrill news stories -- such as today's A-1 piece scolding city officials for withholding comment on Zisa --  or in the clueless columns of Mike Kelly?

No. 

If you want to know what's really going in Hackensack, read the letter to the editor from Ron Kase (A-22 on Friday):

'A great day

for Hackensack'

Regarding "Guilty verdict caps Zisa's fall from power" (Page A-1, May 17):

Former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa's conviction on several felony charges has been characterized by some as "not a happy day for Hackensack." 

That is hardly the case. Zisa's conviction firmly says that sometimes the system does work, and that those in public office who abuse their power and the community's trust will be pursued, arrested, tried, convicted and jailed.

It's time for Hackensack's residents to rejoice because the era of the political boss who was also the police chief, a dangerous situation, is over. It's a great day for Hackensack.

Ron Kase

Ramsey, May 17

The editors are so eager to create a crisis where none exists, they slapped an inaccurate sub-headline on Friday's editorial on the conviction of Zisa and his former, live-in girlfriend, Kathleen Tiernan.

"Police chief trades power for prison"

Zisa hasn't had any "power" since he was arrested two years ago and suspended without pay, and he hasn't even been sentenced.

Ignoring real crime

For the majority of city residents, the Zisa story has been notable for being just about the only Hackensack news that has piqued the interest of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her lazy, incompetent minions.

In fact, the biggest crime in Hackensack occurred when Publisher Stephen A. Borg moved printing of the daily to Rockaway, followed a couple of years later by complete abandonment of the landmark headquarters at 150 River St.

The paper was founded in Hackensack on June 5, 1895, and prospered there for more than 110 years. 

Borg censorship

Borg apparently ordered editors to ignore the economic impact on Main Street, and has kept city residents in the dark on his negotiations to sell 20 acres on River Street to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Today's lead Page 1 story on the police force breaks new ground in reporting "a coalition of school board members" fired three administrators as a protest against "Zisa and his politically connected family."

And City Attorney Joseph Zisa -- the disgraced chief's cousin -- is quoted for the first time claiming he has "recused" himself from any matters involving the suspended chief.

For months, The Record and Hackensack Chronicle have been reporting Joseph Zisa claimed it was cheaper for the city to fight than to settle the more than 20 lawsuits filed against the chief, suggesting he had an active role in those cases.

 

One story we haven't seen is whether Ken Zisa's legal troubles, certain prison term and loss of pensions will bankrupt him.

Glassy eyed readers

On Friday's Local front, readers learn everything they didn't want to know about windows, but are denied a window into the addled brain of Road Warrior John Cichowski (L-1).

In earth-shaking Hackensack news, a bee swarm closed "the 300 block of Main Street" (L-2 photo).

Sykes continues to rely on Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi -- king of the rollover and other minor accidents -- for filler photos to take up the space of stories Dan Sforza and her other useless sub-editors failed to generate.

See L-3 and L-6 in Friday's paper, and L-2 today. In fact, see almost any Local section published in the last few years.

Obesity news

On L-3 today, a story reports three overweight Bogota residents are suing the town in federal court for cutting down trees that hid their gorging from public view. 

Sykes and Governor Christie are expected file friend-of-the-court briefs.

There's one more Zisa left standing

Founders of Hackensack are turning over in their graves at The Church on the Green, across from the courthouse where a jury found suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa guilty.

The Record has published tens of thousands of words on the civil suits Hackensack police officers filed against their now-disgraced chief, Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa.

But the editors have never questioned the propriety of Zisa's cousin profiting from putting up a stubborn defense.

Now that Ken Zisa has been convicted of official misconduct and related charges, it's time for City Attorney Joseph Zisa to go, and end the family tradition of getting rich off the city.

Joseph Zisa has said it is cheaper to fight the suits than to settle. But it is unclear whether legal fees paid to his firm to defend the suspended chief are coming from general revenues or the insurance company that would pay to settle the cases.

Still, the Zisa family's rule over Hackensack, known derisively as "Zisaville," needs to come to an end.

The package of stories on Page 1 today are running under a great headline:

Guilty verdict caps

Zisa's fall from power

But the A-l column by Staff Writer Mike Kelly exposes his amateurish journalism in the first paragraph -- where he compares the spoken "guilty" verdicts to "fastballs smacking a catcher's mitt."

Give me a break. The only one who strikes out here is Kelly, whose shit-eating grin can be seen clearly in his column's thumbnail photo.


Anyway, readers haven't trusted what Kelly writes since his Sunday cover story completely ignored the role of urban gay couples in the revival of Asbury Park.

Speed addict

Also on A-1 today, the owner of Gotham Dream Cars of Englewood is quoted as saying he's received more than 100 speeding tickets and has been arrested on traffic-related charges twice.

But the story never explains how Rob Ferretti has kept his license.

I guess Ferretti's addiction to speed rubbed off on his younger brother, who lost control of a Ferrari sports car on Sunday morning, killing a motorcyclist.

Let's hope the motorcyclist's widow sues Gotham Dream Cars and bankrupts the owner. 

Suburban blur

A correction on A-2 today shows Editor Marty Gottlieb, a New Yorker, doesn't know Montvale from Woodcliff Lake.

Today's Local section -- from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions -- contains an unusual amount of police and court news in place of municipal news.

The front is dominated by not-guilty pleas from those two speeding Ferrari drivers whose inexperience led to the death of motorcyclist Stephen L. Lenge, 56, of Kinnelon.

Joseph Ferretti, 28, and Joseph Meyer, 19, are charged with vehicular homicide. An earlier story said the charge was death by auto.

Oily lessons

What's the point of running a condescending story about extra-virgin olive oils and not listing stores that carry a great selection, such as Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood?

And why are prices missing from the piece on the Better Living front? 

Related article

• Zisa's defense lawyer has link to The Record

  ---

More wasted Hackensack reporting

It's not known whether Palazzo Zisa in Palermo, Italy, has any connection to suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa and his cousin, City Attorney Joseph Zisa.

Hackensack readers probably yawned loudly when they read the headline on the front of The Record's Local section today:

Cops drop

civil claims

vs. county,

prosecutor

This is another in a seemingly endless stream of stories from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who burdens her Hackensack reporter with chronicling every burp, hiccup and fart in the complex legal cases swirling around suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa.

Sykes has been obsessed with Zisa and Michael Mordaga, the city's onetime chief of detectives, for many years, and she's thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff salaries into investigations of them.

Many lawsuits

Officers started filing suits against Zisa in June 2009. He, in turn, has filed administrative charges against them.

Today's story notes the chief was indicted on insurance fraud charges in April 2010 and on official misconduct charges in May 2010.

Since then, every motion, every delay and every legal maneuver in departmental hearings and in court has been reported in The Record -- to the exclusion of other city news -- but no one has asked residents if they are happy with their Police Department.

Apparent conflict

Nor has the Woodland Park daily explored the apparent conflict of interest involved in Zisa's cousin holding the job of city attorney and defending the suspended chief.

In December, the weekly Hackensack Chronicle listed law firms that have received the most money from the city in defense of the chief, including $535,158 paid to Zisa and Hitscherin, in which City Attorney Joseph Zisa is a partner. 

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who covers Hackensack, has a second story inside Local today -- about a third-grader who won a statewide "Power of Art" contest (L-3).

Free-mulch news

But overall, there is so little local news in Local, Sykes' pride and joy, the desperate layout editor had to run a four-paragraph story on Closter's free mulch-delivery program to residents (L-2) and a 12-inch story on a single house burglary in Mahwah (L-3).

The flaws in Local are more apparent now that Editor Marty Gottlieb seems to be having some success with remaking Page 1.

Town crier

A "bright" story at the bottom of the front page -- on Fair Lawn's town crier -- is by Staff Writer Karen Sudol, who is covering the Dharun Ravi trial in New Brunswick (see today's Local front).

It's likely she wrote this weeks ago and it's been sitting in "the can" until Gottlieb found room for it.

"Oyez, Oyez, Oyez," the town crier exclaims. "The Record's Local news operation has caught the Black Plague and staffers are falling like flies."

  

Weekly beats crap out of daily

Image via Wikipedia
Shocking legal fees prompted Hackensack residents to turn over in their graves at The Church on The Green, opposite the courts.

In the last two years, The Record's coverage of Hackensack has been spotty.


But long, detailed stories about suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa's legal troubles -- even routine court motions -- have been rammed down readers' throats. 


Now, the weekly Hackensack Chronicle has a story taxpayers really need to see: 


The city's legal bills in the past two years total more than $3.1 million, much of it for litigation involving Zisa and police officers who filed suit against him, the weekly's Dec. 16 edition reports.


The city is obligated to pay for Zisa's defense against numerous lawsuits, as well as against criminal charges.


The weekly paper also lists law firms that have received the most money, including $535,158 paid to Zisa and Hitscherin, in which City Attorney Joseph Zisa is a partner. Joseph Zisa is the chief's cousin.


Zisa on Zisa


Joseph Zisa also is quoted in the weekly as saying the city will never settle any lawsuit and claiming that policy has saved Hackensack money.


The only Hackensack news in the Woodland Park daily today is police news (L-3), and a short story reporting the high school won a $10,000 prize for its music program (L-5).


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes has argued she really doesn't have to cover Hackensack, because the weekly paper is delivered with The Record every Friday.


Today's paper


What's front-page news today? 


Interim Editor Doug Clancy leads The Record with a crime story for the fifth time this week, but it's just a routine court hearing for an ex-cop accused of murder.


Sykes' assignment desk also tries to localize the end of America's war in Iraq by having a reporter interview the relatives of soldiers who died, not those who survived and will be coming home (A-1).


Staff Writer Shawn Boburg has another expose of questionable spending at the Port Authority, but all of his digging comes far too late to affect the outrageous Hudson River toll and fare hikes (A-1).


On the front of Local, a story about Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II inexplicably makes no attempt to get comment from officials at the Japanese Embassy in New York.


Stomach turning


Petite Soo Chow, the Chinese restaurant that won 3 stars (Excellent) from reviewer Elisa Ung, has been closed by Cliffside Park health inspectors for the third time (Better Living, Page 24).


The inspectors cited "insect infestation."


In her review, Ung said the restaurant served dishes "that feature excellent ingredients and meticulous techniques."