In wealthy Ridgewood, size doesn't matter

Utility poles on or near Prospect and Euclid avenues in Hackensack snapped like matchsticks during Superstorm Sandy last October, above and below, knocking out power for days. We'd love to have the stronger, 65-foot poles Ridgewood residents find so offensive, according to a Page 1 story in The Record today.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

To the disappointment of all Ridgewood women, village officials and some residents have declared size doesn't matter.

The centerpiece on Page 1 of The Record today reports residents and officials have little more to worry about than the aesthetics of their leafy streets.

They've asked PSE&G to stop installing 65-foot utility poles -- about twice the height of a normal pole -- that are "built to withstand powerful storms," the Woodland Park daily reports.

Japan and women

Two other stories today trace the well-known mistreatment of women by the Japanese (A-1 and L-3).

A front-page story reports a lawsuit alleging gender and race bias at Panasonic Corp. of North America in Secaucus filed by three African-American women who are executives at the electronics giant.

In Local, a story and photo show a Bergen County memorial for the so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II (L-3).

The lead paragraph states that one of the victims, Ok-seon Yi, "placed flowers" at the memorial in Hackensack.

But the caption of the photo says Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan is "showing" the memorial to Yi, when, in fact, Donovan is helping the frail, 86-year-old Korean woman walk up to the plaque with flowers.

That's sloppy, but typical of the paper's clueless copy editors.

Heat-wave coverage

On the front of Local, a landscaper who looks to be in his 60s is shown outside in Tuesday's blistering sun -- without a hat.

The Record continues to ignore people forced to work in un-cooled auto-body shops and restaurant kitchens in favor of morons like landscaper Antonio Cubias, who doesn't have a clue on how to cope with the heat.

Pig in a poke

Staff Writer Bill Ervolino spends  hundreds of words extolling the virtues of Italian meats from Salumeria Biellesse in Hackensack (BL-1).

But he never explains why the coppas, pancettas and the other supposedly artisanal meats can't be made uncured and free of such harmful preservatives as nitrates and nitrites.