Incompetent reporter embarrasses paper again

When I came out of the gym in Paramus this morning, I saw a woman reading a newspaper in her Honda Pilot with handicap plates, the engine running, above. A couple of minutes later, the lavishly tattooed woman got out of her car and walked into the gym, below. She was at least 50 pounds overweight, but walked normally and I could see nothing else wrong with her. 

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Are any of the drivers who run afoul of the late-night, no-cash-toll rule on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee even from New Jersey?

Indeed, why do any of these morons -- who refuse to get E-ZPass and don't enjoy the toll discounts that come with the electronic payment system -- deserve coverage in The Record, let alone on Page 1 today?

This is not the first time Sedan Swami John Cichowski has written a Road Warrior column about these confused insomniacs since the Port Authority stopped staffing the lower-level booths nearly 10 years ago.

What are they doing on the roads after 11 p.m., casing North Jersey neighborhoods? Bergen County isn't exactly known for its night life.

Broken record

Cichowski desperately needs to write and rewrite the same stale news,  because he has completely undermined the mission of the column to deal with commuting problems and the region's traffic paralysis.

Just look at how he rambles in his first paragraph, which is an embarrassment to the paper and his supervising editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

The veteran reporter throws "adrenaline rush you got from Fourth of July fireworks" and "a midnight ride to the bridge named for the father of our country" into the same paragraph with "high-wire act that rarely fails to raise the blood pressure of drivers who don't use E-ZPass."

There is no other way to say: Cichowski has lost it.

The Port Authority could solve the problem easily by putting the words "MAIL-IN TOLL" over the lane for drivers without E-ZPass, and Cichowski could then retire to an assisted-living facility.

More confusion

Can anyone understand from reading the first few, long paragraphs on Page 1 today just what the state Supreme Court ruled in the case of residents with oceanfront properties and the sand dunes the federal government wants to build?

The headline doesn't help: "Court overturns award in dune case"

What "award"? Where are the copy editors and Production Editor Liz Houlton? Asleep?

Contrast the lead paragraph of the news story with the clearly written first paragraph of an editorial on the ruling (A-8).

Word confusion?

Sykes and Sforza continue to rely on more accident-photo filler as they scramble to find legitimate news for the Local section.

Both photo captions (L-1 and L-2) use "rolled over" or "overturned," but in both cases the vehicles are shown on their side.

The big local news today is a tree falling and slicing into a Westwood house (L-1). Gee-whiz.

Hackensack news

Also on the Local front, Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports the new City Council has hired an insurance brokerage firm headed by Gary Taffet, a former McGreevey aide with a troubled past, including insider-trading allegations (L-1).

Reliance Insurance Group replaces a firm that used broker Jack Zisa, a former mayor and member of the ruling family that brought Hackensack to its knees.