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| People who live on Hudson Street and on Broadway in Hackensack appealed to the City Council on Tuesday night for 25-mph speed limit signs, and a change in regulations allowing them to park their cars on the street for 2 hours. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Deirdre Sykes, the once-powerful head assignment editor at The Record, hasn't been seen in the Woodland Park newsroom for more than a month.
Her absence has generated rumors of health problems, weight-loss surgery, even death.
Others speculate Sykes is being treated for depression brought on by the ascendancy of Editor Marty Gottlieb, a demanding New York Times veteran who appears to have his hands in every story.
Today's paper
Page 1 today is of limited interest to local readers.
Two days after the murder of 12 people who worked at the Washington Navy Yard, The Record uses a headline newspapers have on a save/get key:
"Disturbing portrait
of ... shooter emerges"
How many times have we seen the same headline on a story about a gunman who "heard voices" and whose "life appeared to have suddenly unraveled" (A-1)?
How trite. The real story is the cowardice of Congress, which is failing once again to enact meaningful gun control (A-6).
Unchecked errors
Road Warrior John Cichowski follows his error-filled Sunday column with a piece on road repairs today that is packed with numbers, and he likely transcribed many of them incorrectly (A-1).
The number of error in the Road Warrior column has accelerated as Cichowski approaches the 10th anniversary this month of taking over the job from Jeff Page.
In answer to a reader's question on Sunday, Cichowski cited the wrong Web site for the Motor Vehicle Commission, according to a concerned reader:
"In his Sunday column, the Road Warrior appeared like a clueless amateur unable to provide correct information and advice about Motor Vehicle Commission office operations, the agency acronym, and Web site address in order to help people get a driver's license.
"It is unlikely the Road Warrior realizes that he made one of his all-time great gaffes by sending readers to a non-existent Web address, njmvc.com, for the most publicized Web site for the most important New Jersey government agency, the Motor Vehicle Commission, that any reader, driver or Road Warrior has to deal with.
"The absurdity of this gaffe is compounded since the Road Warrior provided this address in response to a reader's question about going to a wrong Web site address, which was actually a commercial site instead of the official MVC Web site, for renewing their license.
"The correct Web address for the MVC is www.njmvc.gov, which actually directs users to www.state.nj.us/mvc, which the Road Warrior also failed to mention.
To read the full e-mail to Gottlieb, Cichowski, Production Editor Liz Houlton and others, go to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:
Road Warrior is lost in cybersapce
Board revenge?
The Local section, now under the supervision of Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza, carries the first Hackensack municipal news since Sept. 3.
Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports the Board of Education is refusing to pay the city about $1 million for a full-time resource officer at the high school (L-1)
School board Attorney Richard Salkin is quoted as saying trustees haven't paid for the officer since the 2005-06 school year "because the district was never billed."
The attorney may be upset because members of the new City Council stripped him of a second job -- municipal prosecutor -- after they took office on July 1.
Salkin was making $76,000 a year for working two half days a week as prosecutor in Hackensack Municipal Court, according to Hackensack Scoop.
Salkin's board job pays more than $100,000 a year, that blog reported.
The board, which is dominated by allies of the disgraced Zisa family, reportedly spends more money than Ridgewood, which has some of the best public schools in New Jersey.
Why doesn't Adely try to explain that?
Living dead
There are no expanded local obituaries in Local, but nearly 4 pages of death notices today should yield a few in the near future (L-4 to L-7).
What is a photo of a $41.5 million South Beach mansion doing on the first local Business page today (L-8)?
Food for thought
The Record's Wednesday Food section is a distant memory, thanks to short-sighted Publisher Stephen A. Borg.
Sadly, the most engaging item about food in today's Better Living section is the ShopRite ad on the back page (BL-10).
Very nasty comments about the whereabouts of Deirdre. Did you ever hear of personal time off/privacy?
ReplyDeleteA newspaper editor is a public figure who denies just about everyone their right to privacy.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a mystery to people who work here. Why don't you ask somebody?
ReplyDeleteSo why don't you tell me?
ReplyDeleteAre you saying a notice was put up or a staff meeting held to discuss Deirdre Sykes' absence?
ReplyDeleteWhen people are in a professional environment, sometimes memos and staff meetings aren't necessary.
ReplyDeleteYou are calling The Record "professional"? LOL
ReplyDeleteEmployees like Deirdre who take a lot of sick days, whether it is related to her weight or the fall she had on a snow bank in the parking lot, drive up health insurance rates and those increases are passed along to other employees at The Record.
ReplyDeleteSo her absence is something that needs to be explained.
To employees or to you? I'm sorry she didn't email you, but perhaps she was waiting for you to call.
ReplyDeleteTo employees.
DeletePerhaps if you worked there you would be in the know. I'll be sure to pass along your words of concern and compassion.
DeleteThose esteemed citizens of Paterson who are always being taken to St. Joseph's Hospital all have health insurance, right? Yeah, our tax dollars which go to subsidize the "free" care they get for stab and gunshot wounds.
ReplyDeleteOr do the Bloods and Crips now offer health insurance?
Actually, I don't think you have anything to worry about Victor.
ReplyDeleteShe shouldn't be a factor in your health care premiums.
She could run marathons and still have a health concern.
However I'd be interested in reading more about that theory.
Often for retirees the concern is their pension and things that affect it.
Let us know if there is a way her health is somehow affecting that.
Everyone would find that fascinating.
Of course it affects retirees who continue to buy NJMG health coverage for their dependents. Those premiums continue to escalate -- in part because of employees who take an unusually large number of sick days.
DeleteIt's not "a theory." At some companies, employees have banded together and asked employers to offer health and wellness programs to cut down on such absences.
"She could run marathons"? You really sound like you have your head up your asshole.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha! This while thing just get funnier.
ReplyDeleteDid you mean to write "whole" or "hole," a reference to Deirdre Sykes's anatomy?
ReplyDeleteAnd does NJMG have a 'health and wellness' program which reduces employee premium contributions?? I am guessing yes.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea.
ReplyDelete