Sands of time yield murder conviction

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Women pay for shorter restroom lines at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

Dominating the front page of The Record today is a guilty verdict in a murder trial few readers followed as closely as Editor Francis Scandale did.

One man's freedom ended, but the other major Page 1 stories are about getting away -- high gas prices for the Memorial Day weekend and the condition of the state's famed beaches.

Kevin DeMarrais' A-1 column on the summer driving season should have appeared Friday -- the traditional start of the holiday weekend -- but I guess it was crowded out by earth-shaking news.

I'm still waiting for Your Money's Worth to tell readers they can save about 11 cents to  17 cents a gallon by using a cash-rebate credit card at service stations.

Cold-case verdict

The trial of Stephen Scharf of Morris County accomplished two things: 

It rescued a conviction from bumbling police work 19 years ago, and forced Staff Writer Kibret Markos, who covered the trial, to cut down drastically on his smoking breaks in front of the Bergen County Courthouse.

On A-4 today, Governor Christie keeps up the double-talk on greenhouse-gas emissions. He's content with the "green" credentials he gets from giving tax breaks to millionaires and wealthy business owners.

No shit, Sherlock

Who knew there is at least one venue where the lines to the men's room actually are longer than to the women's room?

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local news section updates readers on waste management today -- with breaking news on the addition of more men's rooms at the New Meadowlands Stadium (L-1).

It's too bad the story by Staff Writer John Brennan only serves to remind  readers how his work, and the local columns, don't rise much above the level of bowel movements.

Early getaway

The Woodland Park daily's assignment editors must have gotten an early start on the holiday by the looks of the huge photos on L-2 and L-3 -- apparently blown up by the layout editors to fill holes where local news would normally appear.

A full page of Memorial Day events appears today (L-5), supplementing the listing that ran Friday and another set for Sunday. A-2 carries a correction of one Friday listing.

Meat market

Better Living Editor Barbara Jaeger continues her comprehensive food coverage today with an F-1 story on how a butcher from New Jersey fared on "The Bachelorette."

Tabloid news: Pregnant teen, older lover die

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North Bergen Township Hall, which some residents call a "Sacco of Woe."

Management has long tolerated relationships between older, male editors and young, female newsroom staffers.

So it's no surprise Page 1 today is filled with a poorly reported story on the death of a 42-year-old North Bergen trucker, his 18-year-old girlfriend and their 5-month-old fetus in a highway crash.

Editor Francis Scandale had three reporters working on this sensational tale, but it remains unclear when the couple began dating. 

No one quoted in the story raises an eyebrow at their relationship, even though the man also had a son and the boy's mother stashed in an apartment.  

One-track mind

Not content with an L-3 story on Wednesday, transportation reporter Karen Rouse rehashes the debut of a new NJ Transit locomotive on A-1 today, even though it won't go into service until the end of 2012.

In one of at least three screw-ups by the news copy desk, the headline incorrectly mentions "new rail cars" instead of "new locomotives." 

Hey, Liz Houlton, "choo-choo" would fit.

Meanwhile, Rouse continues to ignore decrepit, decades-old NJ Transit buses still plying local routes.

An NJ Transit ad on A-13 compares the cost of driving and taking the train into the city from Ramsey and Park Ridge. Amid high gas prices, why isn't the Woodland Park daily presenting such money-saving ideas to readers?

The heading on an A-20 editorial about Nicholas Sacco's three public jobs incorrectly calls him "school chief." He's only an assistant superintendent.

Broken Record

An A-1 story Wednesday on "seat licenses" at the New Meadowlands Stadium is followed by yet another tedious piece on L-1 today. Only desperate head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes considers this local news.

Who is the mystery woman who appears next to the defendant in the big photo on L-1 today? The caption doesn't say.

Searching for Monsy

Recently, Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado seems to have been filling in for a vacationing police reporter, hence her involvement in today's sensational Page 1 story.

Or maybe she's one of the few staffers who speaks fluent Spanish. In any case, coverage of Hackensack has suffered. But that's no different than when she's not filling in for another reporter.