Where is the thunder?

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The Record of Woodland Park gives Columnist Mike Kelly the bottom of  the front page today to speak for the ailing 9/11 rescue workers, and what does he do? Where is thunder, where is the outrage?

You won't get any from Kelly, a columnist who has been stuck in a reporter's mindset for far too long. As he does here, all Kelly can manage is pushing words around to set a mood, waste a lot of paragraphs on he said-she said and utter such banalities as:

"This is not just a story about health care, but a story about politics -- and whether our federal government can find enough money to help them."

"Our" federal government?  Where has Kelly been? The rescue workers, who are dying off one by one, have been royally screwed by government, just like the American soldiers sickened by Agent Orange in Vietnam, wounded Iraqi war veterans and New Orleans residents routed by Hurricane Katrina. This story is about a failure of government, but mouse Kelly can manage only squeaks. (And doesn't anyone but me think the photo that runs with his so-called column is unflattering, with a leer worthy of a child molester?)

On Page A-4, Staff Writer John Brennan reprises his role as P.R. man for Jayson Williams, who faces a DWI charge after crashing his SUV in Manhattan. Brennan again omits the especially relevant detail that Williams killed a limousine driver in 2002 after a night of drinking.

On the front of the Local section, Road Warrior John Cichowski squanders another column on answering stupid questions from drivers. When I still worked on the news copy desk of The Record, Cichowski appeared to be one of the hardest workers, often staying late into the night. Yet his column is a disappointment so often, you have to wonder whether he has totally lost his commuting and mass-transit focus.

As usual, you won't find any news of Hackensack or Teaneck in the Local section today, but Englewood reporter Giovanna Fabiano actually covers a story -- the swearing in of a new mayor. However, the headline and story don't report how this event preserves the status quo: a rich, powerful, white male attorney hands power to another rich, powerful, white male attorney -- this one with real political connections -- whose priority is easing the city's high tax rate.  

Mayor Frank Huttle expresses no concern about the segregated elementary and middle schools, or some of the highly diverse community's other major problems. It all comes down to money. How noble.

In Business, veteran reporter Joan Verdon shills for a new hamburger chain, omitting any mention that the meat used is really nothing special -- conventionally raised with antibiotics, growth hormones and other additives.