Dead time at The Record

I flew through today's thin edition of  The Record of Woodland Park, which is filled with stories I saw on the TV news last night. Most of the front page is devoted to a story under the headline, "Dead time on campus," that was probably in a can for several weeks and hauled out by desperate, incompetent editors with no real news to offer.

As my dear, departed news copy desk colleague, Michael Thaler, used to say frequently, "You can't polish a turd."

The Local section leads with council reorganizations, including the swearing in of an official in Rutherford who looks like he is in his 20s and won by one vote. Good luck, residents. Inside, we learn a politically connected lawyer, Frank Huttle, will be sworn in as mayor of Englewood, replacing Michael Wildes, a relentless self-promoter. Good luck to you, too, Englewood residents. Will Huttle use his office to help integrate the city's elementary and middle schools?

News of Hackensack, Teaneck, Ridgewood and a host of other towns? Try a weekly.

Writing and editing of the newspaper continues to deteriorate. From Staff Writer Marlene Naanes, a busy police reporter, we have: "At least 10 drunken driving arrests marred North Jersey roads ...." That is really the wrong word.