Reader: D.C. columnist doesn't know his ass from his elbow

Amid April's gloomy weather, there are sure signs of spring in Hackensack, including colorful blossoms, above, and lawn signs for the April 19 school election, below.

Nine candidates are vying for three seats on the Hackensack Board of Education, which is controlled by the same political machine that ruled the city for decades before a reform slate was elected to the City Council in May 2013. Those reformers are backing Lawrence E. Eisen, Lancelot Powell and Victor E. Sasson in the school election. Residents also have a chance to vote "yes" or "no" on a $104 million budget approved by the board.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A reader of The Record who works in Hackensack had the same reaction I did to today's front-page column from Herb Jackson.

Jackson, the paper's so-called Washington correspondent, claims that if Donald Trump is the Republican Party's presidential nominee in November, he could beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in New Jersey (A-1).

I got this email:

"Victor -- Did you read Herb Jackson's column or piece today about how he thinks that Trump could be competitive in New Jersey?

"Where is this guy coming from?

"He clearly does not know his ass from his elbow about New Jersey. 

"Trump will get destroyed here. 

"In fact, I do not know if in a race with Clinton he would even get a majority of the Republic legislators to vote for him.  

"Jackson knows nothing -- he does not mention the following:

 1.  New Jersey has a sizable Latino vote -- Trump will get crushed there.

2. The black vote is over 10% -- he will get destroyed there.

3.  There is a significant ... Muslim population -- he will get killed there.

4.  He will get killed among suburban women, many of whom are Republicans in Bergen, Morris, Somerset, Union and Monmouth counties.

5.  He will get crushed among single women, many of whom live in Hoboken and the Philly suburbs. In fact, where will he get his votes from?

"Maybe Sussex and Warren counties and perhaps Cape May, but that is about it.

"Any fool can see this."

But not Jackson, so you have to wonder why his drivel about racist Trump is on Page 1.

Columnist taps into racist, anti-Obama rhetoric on economy

Heavy winds on Saturday night brought down a tree, damaging at least three cars parked on American Legion Drive, near Prospect Avenue, in Hackensack, a neighborhood of high-rises and garden apartments.

This afternoon, a police officer told a young couple the tree won't be removed and they won't have access to their damaged car (the silver-colored one in the middle) until PSE&G removes live wires. American Legion Drive was closed for the same reason.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Republican Party appears to be pulling the strings of Staff Writer Mike Kelly, whose Page 1 column in The Record today demonizes President Obama and knocks his record on the economy.

Kelly focuses on "more than 100 people who had recently lost middle-management jobs at New Jersey corporations" who attended "a lecture on how to use social media" (A-1).

Kelly doesn't even mention Obama, the nation's first black president, whose every action has been opposed by the Republican majority in Congress in the greatest display of racial animosity since the end of slavery.

Trump's racism

But the columnist claims deep "social, political and financial tremors" are responsible for "the anti-immigration and protectionist rhetoric of Donald Trump," the Republican front-runner in this year's presidential campaign.

Of course, Trump, Governor Christie and the other GOP clowns clearly have been campaigning against Obama, and distorting the remarkable job he did in bringing the nation back from the recession.

War on middle class

Kelly also doesn't mention Christie or the GOP bully's war on the middle class in New Jersey.

He talks about "wage stagnation," but not Christie's veto of a hike in the minimum wage, or corporations like North Jersey Media Group, owner of The Record, eliminating raises for even the most productive workers.

He talks about "careers upended through downsizing," though not what happened to his newsroom colleagues -- including the food editor and director of photography -- who were shown the door after decades of employment at The Record.

Bad headlines

Today's headline on the Kelly column -- "Is this the end of the American Dream?" -- is especially bad because "American Dream" also is the name of the huge retail-entertainment complex under construction in the Meadowlands.

The words "American Dream" appear in large, bold type above the fold, certain to confuse readers who don't immediately start reading the photo caption or column.

On Friday's front page, a sub-headline struggled to describe the car of a Hackensack man who died the day before in the hospital after a collision with a police cruiser speeding to an emergency:

"Hackensack cruiser
hits unrelated car,
killing the driver"

I didn't know cars could be "related" to each other like humans.

See: Police cruiser pushed victim's car 40 feet

Local news?

North Jersey has so many commuting problems it's a wonder Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to find so many ways to avoid writing about them.

Today, he fills an entire column with horror stories on "roadside trash," employing his trademark exaggeration and hype in an attempt to engage readers or at least prevent them from falling asleep (L-1).

Today's Local front also carries a story on Henry and Mary Shoiket, 97 and 100, respectively -- a rare instance of reporting on seniors who aren't institutionalized or have just died (L-1).

The couple are described as longtime activists, "who have been fixtures at the weekly protests outside the Teaneck Armory for years."

Major error

On the Opinion front today, a caption incorrectly describes the large photo above the fold, and gives a wrong date for the official opening of the new World Trade Center.

The photo shows the interior of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub -- not the "main level of the new World Trade Center."

The date given, March 3, is the official opening date of the transit hub, not the office building.

Also on the O-1 today is a second Kelly column, this one on Atlantic City, that begins, "Once upon another time ...."

Like a fairy tale, this one puts readers to sleep almost immediately.

Hackensack officer's cruiser pushed victim's sedan 40 feet

On Friday, these were two of the skid marks evident near Summit and Ross avenues in Hackensack. They were left by a police cruiser just before it slammed into the driver's side of a small sedan, fatally injuring the driver, 67-year-old John Parham of Hackensack, a security guard who lived a few blocks away.

Markings left by investigators indicate that after the collision, the police cruiser pushed the sedan more than 40 feet into the driveway of 599 Summit Ave., above. A woman who lives across the street told The Record the police car had its emergency lights flashing, but she did not hear any siren before the crash.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The acting Bergen County prosecutor and Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga aren't saying who was at fault in the collision on Thursday that fatally injured a man a few blocks from his home.

John Parham, 67, was turning left from Ross Avenue onto Summit Avenue when his small sedan was T-boned by a marked Dodge Charger being driven by Hackensack Police Officer Stephen Ochman, according to The Record.

The collision left the cruiser with "serious front-end damage" and Parham's sedan was severely damaged on the driver's side, the Woodland Park daily reports (A-1 and A-6).

That suggests the police car was traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash.

But Gurbir S. Grewal, the acting prosecutor, wouldn't say how fast the cruiser was being driven, who was at fault and whether the officer was operating his siren before the collision.

Mordaga referred questions on state guidelines for police pursuits to Grewal.

Investigators' marks

On Friday, Eye on The Record took photos of chalk marks left by investigators at the point of the collision, and where the two vehicles ended up in front of 599 Summit Ave.

Short skid marks were left by the police car's tires, indicating the officer didn't brake until just before the collision.

Media reports on Thursday quoted "responders" as saying Parham, the driver of the sedan, suddenly pulled into the path of the police car, which was responding to an emergency on the Maywood-Hackensack border.

The marks also suggest that after the collision, the cruiser pushed the small sedan more than 40 feet before both vehicles came to rest in or near the driveway of a house at 599 Summit.

Parham, who lived at 230 Ross Ave., was African-American. He was employed as a security guard at Lord & Taylor, the department store in Paramus.

He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he died of his injuries, Grewal said in a press release.

Shattered car parts, glass and other debris in front of 599 Summit Ave. in Hackensack were still evident more than 24 hours after the crash, above and below.

"RR" "LR" and "RF" indicate the final positions of the wheels and tires on the Dodge Charger Pursuit police cruiser after the collision.

The car driven on Thursday afternoon by John Parham of Hackensack ended up in the driveway and on the sidewalk in front of 599 Summit Ave. with heavy damage to the driver's side. 

The police cruiser involved in the crash can be seen between the telephone pole and the silver-colored truck.

Questions swirling around police-involved fatal accident

On Euclid Avenue in Hackensack on Thursday afternoon, some of the drivers detoured by a fatal-accident investigation on Summit Avenue frantically sought an escape route, even though none existed, above and below.

A few desperate drivers ignored the Do Not Enter sign on one-way Euclid Avenue South to reach Summit Avenue, and retrace their route.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Who was the poor guy -- a senior citizen from Hackensack -- who died after his old Mazda sedan was "struck" on Summit Avenue by a police cruiser responding to an emergency on Thursday afternoon?

If another accident involving a motorcyclist on the Maywood-Hacensack border had ended, should the responding Hackensack officer have been driving at a high rate of speed to get there?

You won't find the answers -- or even the questions --in a Page 1 story on the front page of The Record or on NorthJersey.com this morning (A-1).

In fact, the 67-year-old driver who died hasn't been identified, and the reports don't say whether he stopped at a stop sign on Ross Avenue, which meets Summit at an angle that forces drivers to look over their left shoulder to see oncoming traffic.

The officer involved also hasn't been identified.

Details missing

The Record had three reporters working on the story, but so many details are missing, as is typical of a newsroom run by Editor Deirdre Sykes and Production Editor Liz Houlton, two lifers known for their laziness and incompetence.

Among details not reported in The Record are that:

The driver suffered cardiac arrest after the police cruiser T-boned a "silver sedan that suddenly pulled into its path in the 500 block of Summit Avenue near Ross Avenue, responders told Daily Voice" (Hackensack.DailyVoice.com).

See: Did driver pull in front of speeding cruiser?

Another view

A reader of NJ.com commented:

"I guess another cover-up is in the works for that fatal police accident up the block. [Driver] probably didn't see -- that's a bad spot -- but the cop was over-driving -- he did not have visual on suspect -- and the accident he was heading toward had already occurred in Maywood."

Driver retraining?

Treating an older driver as so much road kill is typical of The Record, as readers can see in today's reporting on Thursday's fatal involving a Hackensack police cruiser.

The Woodland Park daily generally ignores the challenges facing older drivers, and in fact, rarely reports on any senior who isn't institutionalized.

Road Warrior John Cichowski, himself a senior, has spent no time in the past decade telling readers whether re-training is available for drivers in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Today, Cichowski devotes an entire column to whether there are enough parking spaces at NJ Transit rail stations (L-1).

If there aren't enough rush-hour seats on the trains and buses, commuters need more parking spaces like a hole in the head.

Dementia up?

Today, the front page reports the autism rate is up 12% in New Jersey, a story of no interest to the vast majority of readers, who are older (A-1).

When is the last time you saw a story on Page 1 about the increasing rate of dementia or Alzheimer's disease?

Good luck, Wilsons

I hope a chef and his father succeed with their gastropub in North Haledon, called Prohibition at the Rathskeller.

Most readers are watching their cholesterol, and will totally avoid a menu filled with cheese curds, fried food, short ribs-laced macaroni and cheese, and a three-dessert sampler (BL-14).

The place gets 2.5 stars out of 4 (Good to Excellent) from Elisa Ung, the restaurant reviewer who can't hide her unhealthy obsession with meat and artery clogging desserts.

The five dishes shown in photos on the Better Living cover and inside are so many heart attacks on a plate.