More disappointment

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I know only a skeleton staff worked on Christmas Day at The Record of Woodland Park, so it shouldn't be a surprise that today's paper is so dreadful.

True, there is breaking national news at the top of Page 1, but most of the rest of the page is devoted to a hotel with a suite for children with autism, one in a long, occasional series of stories in recent years about the disability. Have you seen equivalent, front page coverage in The Record of Alzheimer's disease or whether there are programs to help older drivers, whose fatal accident photos appear regularly in the paper?

There is yet another story about the Monmouth County dad who just brought his 9-year-old son back from Brazil, but nothing but a stale quote  from the judge about the Hasbrouck Heights father whose 9-year-old daughter remains in Spain.

Notice how many stories in the A-section and Local section are written by Star-Ledger reporters, who turn out some of the longest, most boring filler pieces I have ever seen, including the endless tale on A-4 about a worker inside the Lincoln Tunnel. This cooperative news gathering agreement really screws Record readers.

In the 16-page Local section, exactly five stories are written by Record staffers.

Omission of the week: Veteran reporter Scott Fallon, in a Friday story about where to recycle your computer, TV and other electronics, omits mention of  Hackensack's program to accept them, as well as batteries, bulbs and other items once taken only by county agencies. The city's program is more than a year old.

For the second day yesterday, no former or current staffer -- or anyone else -- has come to the defense of the former Hackensack daily's news, sports or feature coverage. Again, you can comment anonymously by simply clicking on "comments" at the end of this post.