 Image by UW Digital Collections via Flickr |
| Editor Francis Scandale of The Record may have missed his calling. |
Editor Francis Scandale hit the Jersey trifecta with his front-page today: stupid human almost dies from cobra bite, sewerage officials are arrested on corruption charges and apartments are proposed near Superfund site.
That snake-bite story is blown way out of proportion, which is what happens when you sic four reporters on it. It's not as if cobras and other venomous snakes are getting loose every day or listed on the agendas of municipal council meetings.
The Record's Local front would have been better play for this freakish event -- unless, like Scandale, you're desperate to sell papers.
Eric Bortz -- a veterinary technician at an animal hospital in Park Ridge -- has a potential lawsuit against the unidentified dealer in Pennsylvania. The paper says the dealer assured Bortz the snake's venom gland had been removed. Ouch.
On A-13, an editorial criticizes Governor Christie for appointing the parents of private-school students to the state Board of Education -- a rare sour note from Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, one of Christie's chief apologists.
Weak local news
After that strong front page, most of the rest of the paper disappoints, especially head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local news section.
Instead of getting off his ass and identifying home owners and businesses that don't clear their sidewalks of snow -- endangering pedestrians -- Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski tells readers to complain to police or other officials.
What about the poor schmucks who can't afford cars and who you'll see walking on the Hackensack Avenue roadway across Route 4 -- day and night -- because the sidewalk hasn't been cleared since the post-Christmas blizzard, in a jurisdictional dispute? Who do they complain to?
The Road Worrier also flips off bus riders, never cruising the streets to record how many bus stops are uncleared after storms. He long ago lost NJ Transit's number.
The Road Worrier also flips off bus riders, never cruising the streets to record how many bus stops are uncleared after storms. He long ago lost NJ Transit's number.
Chick apparently hasn't seen all the potholes that have developed in the past few weeks, but when he notices them, we'll get a half-dozen or more columns from one of Sykes' chief space fillers. He'll also probably find a handful of families on a pock-marked private street, and write several columns about them, as he has done in the past.
What's a budget?
Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado leads the Local section with another long, detailed story about the suspension of a Hackensack police officer, leaving crucial background information to the last paragraph.
Since the middle of 2009, Alvarado has devoted most of her time and effort to pursuing suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa and covering lawsuits against him -- ignoring almost all other municipal news, including council meetings, budget deliberations, the tax rate and the struggling downtown.
