Reading the daily police blotter

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Hackensack in the 1890s, around the time The Bergen Evening Record was founded in River City.

Page 1 of The Record today carries an update of the fiery plane crash that killed five, but I've already lost interest in what caused the accident on Tuesday. 


And I see nothing about the hubris or machismo that drove Jeffrey F. Buckalew, a 45-year-old investment banker from Manhattan, to fly his own plane and sacrifice the lives of his wife, children, a family dog and a colleague, himself the father of three.


In fact, today's story conflicts with a witness quoted in Wednesday's scatter-shot account that a wing broke off and the plane "went down like a rock" -- words that formed the basis of the banger headline on that day's front page.


Now, the consensus of witnesses is that the plane "spiraled out of control" and exploded when it hit Route 287.


The plane truth


Buckalew's multimillion dollar turbo-prop apparently was brought down by ice build-up. The plane was based at Teterboro, meaning long-suffering Hackensack homeowners will have one less noisy aircraft to worry about.


Readers looking at Pages A-4 and A-5 today can be forgiven if they think they have a copy of The Star-Ledger, which contributed four stories on those pages.


The photo on A-7 -- two female sailors kissing -- gives new meaning to the old salt's boast of having "a woman in every port."


On A-19, a wire-service story reports North Korean madman Kim Jong Il died in bed -- not while working -- but doesn't say whether a young woman was involved.


Crimes against readers


The front of head Assigment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section looks like a police blotter come to life -- every story involves police or court news or an indictment.


Seven more police or court stories appear on L-2 and L-3, and more police news is on L-5 and L-6.


Too bad they don't lock up Sykes and interim Editor Douglas Clancy and throw away the key for crimes against readers looking for local news in the Woodland Park daily.

See previous post, 

Ex-editor says he's landed on his feet

Editors are losing North Jersey focus

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Assignment editors at The Record couldn't find directions to Fort Lee, above, and Palisades Park to get Korean-American reaction to the death of Kim Jong Il of North Korea.

Kim Jong Il, the madman who ruled North Korea, died a few days ago, but editors of The Record have done nothing to localize the story by interviewing some of thousands of Korean-Americans who have changed the face of North Jersey.


Instead, they ran wire-service boilerplate on Page 1 today and Monday -- basically duplicating all the mindless TV news coverage readers had to sit through.


The only story about Korean-Americans in the paper today is the sentencing of  a swindler from Palisades Park by the name of Chul-Hoe Choi (L-3).


The Kim Jong Il story ruins an otherwise strong North Jersey front page today, led by a classic pay-to-play expose from Staff Writer Jeff Pillets involving a Bergen County insurance agent, Joseph Bigica.


Of course, after umpteen similar stories over the years, why isn't The Record exposing the corrupt campaign-finance system locally and nationally and calling for the reforms that would forever put an end to play-to-play and special-interest legislation? 


Our own dictator


Instead of wasting precious A-1 space on Kim Jong Il, interim Editor Douglas Clancy should have played up the story he relegated to A-3, reporting the state's "first significant increase in revenue collections in three years." 


Will North Jersey see an end to Governor Christie's mean-spirited cuts in school aid and property tax relief -- part of his orchestrated campaign against the middle-class way of life in New Jersey?


That's a hell of a lot more important to North Jersey residents than "U.S. in the dark on North Korea moves," as today's A-1 headline states. There are four sidebars to the Kim story on A-9.


One of those sidebars is about "restaurateur and freelance diplomat Bobby Egan," owner of Cubby's barbecue restaurant on River Street in Hackensack, where he serves some of the worst food in North Jersey.


The only other Hackensack news residents will find in today's paper is a photo and caption on L-3 about a holiday lunch for seniors, served for the past 18 years by the Trobiano family.


For that, we can thank Clancy and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.


Little local news


How much local news is there in today's Local section, Sykes' pride and joy?


There is so little local news Sykes ran a photo of a minivan fire on her section front (L-1), even though no one was injured.


There is so little local news Sykes ran two photos of murder defendant Jenny Tran on the witness stand, when one would have been enough  (L-1 and L-6).


There is so little local news that a large part of the funeral Mass story on murder victim John Amendola is devoted to the man accused of killing him, former Police Officer Scott Smith (L-1 and L-6).


Most of the filler about Smith seems to have been taken verbatim from earlier news stories.


And buried in the back of Local is the obituary of Teaneck businesswoman and child star Susan Aviner, whose life is of far more interest to North Jersey readers than Kim Jong Il's (L-7).


Will the editors of the Woodland Park daily please remove their heads from their assholes.


Say cheese


For a real waste of space, see the Better Living cover story comparing fresh food to frozen and canned (F-1).


On F-3, a story listing cheese retailers omits Costco Wholesale, which stocks more than 50 cheeses at unbeatable prices.