Wacko Trump labeled a racist by everyone but news media

Hackensack officials have agreed to store artifacts and other items from the New Jersey Naval Museum until the USS Ling is relocated. Now, the museum's artifacts are displayed on North Jersey Media Group property at the old River Street headquarters of The Record, where the World War II sub is tied up.

The gangway to the submarine, and other artifacts. The museum is closed and tours of the sub are suspended. The Ling is stuck in the mud of the Hackensack River.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump's tirades against Mexicans and Muslims made it clear the billionaire was just another white racist.

Yet, the news media likes to say Trump represents millions of "angry white men."

Of course, we know his supporters are racists who blame their problems on hard-working immigrants instead of the greedy corporations who have sent millions of their jobs overseas. 

Why have the news media -- including The Record of Woodland Park -- generally avoided calling him a racist even as Hispanic cooks in Manhattan's best restaurants are spitting in his food? 

'Novice' or racist?

On Wednesday's front page, the first paragraph of an Associated Press story identified Trump as a "political novice," and that was echoed Thursday night on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley. 

A Record editorial on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee ran down in great detail his insults to Mexicans, and his pledges to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and ban all Muslims from entering the country ("GOP at the abyss" on Thursday's A-12).

Editor or hack?

But Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin never calls Trump what everyone else knows he is -- a racist and white supremacist.

Even in his opinion column on A-13 today, Doblin refuses to label Trump a racist for his Cinco de Mayo posts on Twitter and Facebook.

A news story today reports the Latino Victory Fund released a statement that said:

"Donald Trump is doubling down on his racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Latino and anti-Mexican rhetoric."

But hacks at The Associated Press made sure to undercut the validity of that statement by describing the Latino fund as "a left-leaning political group" (A-4).

Donald Trump with big sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. She was nominated as a federal district judge in Newark by President Reagen in 1983, and appointed to the appeals court in 1999 by President Clinton.

Media made Trump

Much of Trump's support is rooted in the slavish media reporting every one of his hateful words in a presidential campaign we grew tired of months ago.

The editors of The Record only seem interested in stirring up controversy, not exploring issues and reporting on what would be good for New Jersey and the nation.

In covering Governor Christie since he took office in early 2010, editors and columnists have focused relentlessly on politics -- instead of issues and policies.

So, it's no surprise The Record remains the only major New Jersey daily that hasn't called on Christie to resign after he dropped out of the race and threw his support to Trump.

Today's paper

On the last workday of one of the dreariest weeks in memory, Editor Deirdre Sykes finally produces a Page 1 weather story (A-1).

And why is "vaping" dominating the front page instead of an environmental story on New York City imposing a 5-cent charge for using a disposable plastic grocery bag -- a fee that New Jersey certainly could use (A-3)?

Senior citizens

On the Local front today, Staff Writer Colleen Diskin has a rare report on senior citizens who aren't institutionalized (L-1).

Sykes and other newsroom staffers have been treating seniors like shit for decades -- stories on autism have been far more numerous than those on Alzheimer's disease.

Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to ignore the challenges facing older drivers like himself -- even as "pedal confusion" leads them to plow into pedestrians and storefronts, often with fatal consequences.

And the food editors promote mystery meat and artery clogging desserts as if they expect their older readers to live forever.

Hackensack news?

Staff Writer John Seasly covered Tuesday night's meeting of the Hackensack City Council, but wrote only one story -- yet another report on who is leading the Police Department.

Seasly didn't mention the council approved a resolution to store artifacts from the New Jersey Naval Museum until the USS Ling is relocated from North Jersey Media Group property at the old headquarters of The Record in Hackensack.

The Record hasn't reported whether the newspaper's owners, the Borg family, will pay for the relocation of the World War II submarine, which is stuck in the mud of the Hackensack River.

The Borgs, NJMG and The Record abandoned Hackensack in 2009 after prospering there for more than 110 years -- dealing a death blow to many Main Street merchants.

Now, with the blessing of the City Council, the Borgs plan to sell their 19.7 acres aong River Street to an apartment developer, and laugh all the way to the bank.

Lead in fountains

Saddle Brook is the latest district to turn off school drinking fountains where "unacceptably high levels of lead" were found (L-6).

Hackensack residents haven't seen a similar story reporting on lead levels in drinking fountains used by their children in what is the biggest school district in Bergen County. 

Mystery BBQ

Staff Writer Elisa Ung raves about a glazed doughnut stuffed with barbecued beef, bacon and cheese, but doesn't tell readers whether the meat is the cheap, low-quality stuff of unknown origin usually found in Korean restaurants.

Her 3-star Informal Dining review of Kimchi Smoke BBQ Shack in Bergenfield is long on mindless promotion and short on the information readers need to stay healthy (BL-16). 

Questions swirling around police-involved fatal accident

On Euclid Avenue in Hackensack on Thursday afternoon, some of the drivers detoured by a fatal-accident investigation on Summit Avenue frantically sought an escape route, even though none existed, above and below.

A few desperate drivers ignored the Do Not Enter sign on one-way Euclid Avenue South to reach Summit Avenue, and retrace their route.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Who was the poor guy -- a senior citizen from Hackensack -- who died after his old Mazda sedan was "struck" on Summit Avenue by a police cruiser responding to an emergency on Thursday afternoon?

If another accident involving a motorcyclist on the Maywood-Hacensack border had ended, should the responding Hackensack officer have been driving at a high rate of speed to get there?

You won't find the answers -- or even the questions --in a Page 1 story on the front page of The Record or on NorthJersey.com this morning (A-1).

In fact, the 67-year-old driver who died hasn't been identified, and the reports don't say whether he stopped at a stop sign on Ross Avenue, which meets Summit at an angle that forces drivers to look over their left shoulder to see oncoming traffic.

The officer involved also hasn't been identified.

Details missing

The Record had three reporters working on the story, but so many details are missing, as is typical of a newsroom run by Editor Deirdre Sykes and Production Editor Liz Houlton, two lifers known for their laziness and incompetence.

Among details not reported in The Record are that:

The driver suffered cardiac arrest after the police cruiser T-boned a "silver sedan that suddenly pulled into its path in the 500 block of Summit Avenue near Ross Avenue, responders told Daily Voice" (Hackensack.DailyVoice.com).

See: Did driver pull in front of speeding cruiser?

Another view

A reader of NJ.com commented:

"I guess another cover-up is in the works for that fatal police accident up the block. [Driver] probably didn't see -- that's a bad spot -- but the cop was over-driving -- he did not have visual on suspect -- and the accident he was heading toward had already occurred in Maywood."

Driver retraining?

Treating an older driver as so much road kill is typical of The Record, as readers can see in today's reporting on Thursday's fatal involving a Hackensack police cruiser.

The Woodland Park daily generally ignores the challenges facing older drivers, and in fact, rarely reports on any senior who isn't institutionalized.

Road Warrior John Cichowski, himself a senior, has spent no time in the past decade telling readers whether re-training is available for drivers in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Today, Cichowski devotes an entire column to whether there are enough parking spaces at NJ Transit rail stations (L-1).

If there aren't enough rush-hour seats on the trains and buses, commuters need more parking spaces like a hole in the head.

Dementia up?

Today, the front page reports the autism rate is up 12% in New Jersey, a story of no interest to the vast majority of readers, who are older (A-1).

When is the last time you saw a story on Page 1 about the increasing rate of dementia or Alzheimer's disease?

Good luck, Wilsons

I hope a chef and his father succeed with their gastropub in North Haledon, called Prohibition at the Rathskeller.

Most readers are watching their cholesterol, and will totally avoid a menu filled with cheese curds, fried food, short ribs-laced macaroni and cheese, and a three-dessert sampler (BL-14).

The place gets 2.5 stars out of 4 (Good to Excellent) from Elisa Ung, the restaurant reviewer who can't hide her unhealthy obsession with meat and artery clogging desserts.

The five dishes shown in photos on the Better Living cover and inside are so many heart attacks on a plate.

Governor Veto kills 24 bills, runs N.J. farther into ground

This Daily News front page from Jan. 9, 2014, is proving prophetic as Governor Christie's poll numbers sink, and he desperately vetoes bills on voter access, gun laws and other measures that don't play well in conservative states with early primaries. Even as Christie's presidential ambitions go down in flames, The Record's coverage has been unfailingly upbeat.

Editor's note: Today's post has been expanded to include commentary on more of today's edition, as well as the lead story on Monday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie won his second term with the lowest turnout ever in a gubernatorial election in New Jersey, so making it easier for people to vote threatens him and every other conservative.

But The Record's coverage of his veto of the Democracy Act and 28 other bills awaiting his signature couldn't be more upbeat (A-1).

Christie clears
Assembly bills
from his plate

Today's lead headline on Page 1 is surprisingly bland, containing a bunch of meaningless numbers instead of telling readers the governor vetoed early voting or a tightening of gun laws.

Editor Martin Gottlieb also continues to politicize every measure passed by the state Legislature by reporting them in terms of Democrats against Republicans.

Gottlieb and his lazy local assignment editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, never bother to interview residents on how they feel about the bills that were vetoed.

The latest vetoes probably bring Christie's total close to 450 since he took office in early 2010 after bamboozling voters with a promise to lower local property taxes.

Readers shouldn't hold their breath for Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin to call for Christie's resignation, as Ellen Stein of Closter does in a letter to the editor today (A-8).

Underwhelming

Road Warrior John Cichowski engages in fear mongering today with a column on the lack of "safety reforms" in a bill "to fix the nation's road and rail system[s]" (A-1).

Readers have to plow through several long paragraphs jammed with numbers before getting to the top concern, lowering the legal age "for driving big rigs across state lines" to 19.5 from 21.

Cichowski has got to be kidding. 

He knows the challenges facing older drivers like himself are a far bigger problem in every town and city in New Jersey, and the rest of the nation, and likely kill more people.

He's just too lazy to report on any of the programs available to seniors to hone their skills behind the wheel.

Alzheimer's disease

Dementia is the general term for a decline in mental ability, such as memory loss, severe enough to interfere with daily life, and Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia.

So, the lead paragraph of another Page 1 story is incorrect in reporting on a new law governing "group homes for patients with Alzheimer's and dementia" (A-1).

Catsgiving

The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday always dramatizes the continuing hunger problem in North Jersey, so why are Sykes and Sforza wasting so much of the Local front on hungry feral cats in the Meadowlands (L-1)?

Municipal news goes missing today.

Monday's paper

Herb Jackson's front-page column on Christie's refusal to fix the state's broken Transportation Trust Fund was a rare critical look at how the GOP bully has sold his soul to the devil, in this case the radical Americans for Tax Reform (Monday's A-1).

"It's easy to understand why Christie is offering solutions in New Hampshire to Washington's problems and saying little about Trenton's problems," Jackson says.

"... He signed a pledge from Americans for Tax Reform after he became a presidential candidate, saying that he would not raise taxes." 

So, that means the simple logic of drivers paying higher gas taxes to fix the wear and tear on the roads they use is sacrificed to Christie's conservative principals.

Christie ignores Silk City slaughter, editors fail old drivers

On a day like today -- when The Record doesn't call for the impeachment of Governor Christie for sending state troopers to Baltimore, while continuing to ignore the gun violence in Paterson -- the only good that can come of the newspaper is to recycle it.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Riots in Baltimore and the slaughter of innocent teens in Paterson are front-page news in The Record again today, with the stories played side by side.

But clueless Editor Martin Gottlieb fails to connect the dots and put Governor Christie on the spot for sending New Jersey troopers to the Maryland city and once again screwing Paterson.

On A-6, Staff Writer Melissa Hayes' story on state troopers helping to restore order in Baltimore notes they have been sent to Camden in the past.

But Hayes and an editorial on A-10 today don't put Christie on the spot for failing to send state police to help Paterson's dysfunctional Police Department.

Under the direction of Police Director Jerry Speziale, they seem unable or unwilling to stop the drive-by shootings of innocent young people, three of whom have died in the past 10 months.

The text of Hayes' story is partially covered by an advertisement, in another production screw-up courtesy of six-figure Editor Liz Houlton, who is laughing all the way to the bank (A-6).

No taxes

In the name of "no new taxes," the GOP bully cut state aid to Paterson, Newark and other poor cities in late 2011, resulting in the layoffs of many hundreds of police officers.

Silk City's force still hasn't recovered, despite new hires, and basketball star Armoni Sexton, 15, is the latest victim of Christie's mean-spirited policies. 

It's time to impeach Christie for this and all of his other transgressions.

Raise gas tax

We should also get rid of Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, and other members of the state Legislature who refuse to enact a gas-tax hike to fix our roads and bridges, and then override Christie's veto (A-1).

This is just more of the editors exploiting politics and ignoring what is good for state residents.

No one has been able to shake the irrefutable logic that drivers are the ones who should pay -- through higher taxes on fuel -- for fixing the roads and bridges they use.

Dissing elderly

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza -- and Road Warrior John Cichowski -- continue to treat older drivers who crash their cars as so much chopped liver.

In desperation, Sykes and Sforza again ordered layout editors to blow up as big as possible two gee-whiz photos of mishaps blamed on older drivers to fill huge holes in their local-news report today (L-1 and L-3).

As usual, the 85-year-old driver who probably got sick and crashed into a truck on South Summit Avenue in Hackensack, killing himself, isn't identified (L-1).

Was he a grandfather or father? No one in the Woodland Park newsroom cares, because his only value to the laziest of lazy editors is as a space filler.

Pedal error

Nor do they care why a confused driver ignored barriers and drove his Mercedes-Benz into a large hole in Westwood, becoming the laughing stock of first responders visible in the photo (L-3).

Cliffview Pilot.com reported the Mahwah man, 67, was issued summonses for careless driving and driving on a closed road.

Even more egregious, the Road Warrior column has ignored the challenges faced by older drivers in the decade or more The Record has published photo after photo of the mayhem caused when they mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal. 

Readers are desperate for anything that would cut down on the endless stream of court, police, fire and accident news the incompetent local editors so desperately need to fill their pages today and every day.

Until now, the GOP bully has ignored or hurt N.J. Mexicans

Underground utility lines are being installed along three blocks of Salem Street in Hackensack, between River and State streets, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today and Sunday previewed Governor Christie's trip to Mexico, but there is only a passing reference to the tens of thousands of Mexican-Americans who live in the city of Passaic.

What has the GOP bully done for the working- and middle-class Poblano families who live in Passaic besides ignoring them and cutting aid to their schools and poor city?

Passaic, with a population of 70,000, is often called another Puebla, the Mexican city and state Christie is scheduled to visit, according to the Page 1 story today on the governor's purely political trip.

With dozens of restaurants, bakeries and manufacturers, the city has been a center of Mexican culture and food for many years, as noted in a 2003 Food section cover story in The Record, "Mexican Revolution in Passaic."

Voices of Mexico

The Consulate General of Mexico in New York said more than 40% of Mexicans in the tri-state area are from Puebla, and the majority of them settled in Passaic, VoicesofNY.org reported in January.

Yet, Christie didn't even visit Passaic city during his successful reelection campaign last year.

Melissa Hayes' story today appears two days after a Charles Stile column on Christie's South of the Border visit, and there was at least one other preview of the trip.

Broken Record

Doesn't The Record have anything else to say about the worst governor in New Jersey history than to promote his presidential ambitions?

Legal fees to defend Christie and his aides in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal now top $9 million, WNYC-FM reported today, with $7 million billed by the governor's legal team.

Surely, state officials will try to negotiate a smaller amount or even ask a judge if the fees are reasonable.

Why isn't The Record chasing that story?

Local news

Christie's Mexico visit was trumped this morning by the sensational murder of Karen Piotti, 63, of Ho-Ho-Kus, allegedly by her son, Nicholas, 24 (A-1).

On the Local front, a photo and caption makes light of an elderly woman who drove an Audi sedan into a pool in Wyckoff.

The photo over line is really imaginative: 

CAR IN THE POOL IN WYCKOFF

The "grandmother" and her passenger survived, but the photo only reminds readers of how The Record has ignored the challenges facing older drivers, and apparently has never reported on re-training courses that might be available to them.

You'd never know Editor Martin Gottlieb is 66 from the lack of reporting on how many seniors mistake the accelerator for the brake pedal and end up in a pool, crash into a building or hit a pedestrian, often with fatal consequences.

Suckers! You voted for an absentee governor

This eyesore at 177 Euclid Ave. in Hackensack looks much the same as it did when I moved into the neighborhood in August 2007, except the furniture piled on the front porch was removed a few years ago. Ignoring complaints to the city's Building Department and visits by city inspectors, this homeowner doesn't appear interested in finishing the renovation project.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

On Tuesday, The Record named seven states Governor Christie plans to visit in the coming year as chairman of the Republican Goobers Association (Tuesday's A-2).

Today, in a Page 1 story, the Woodland Park daily expanded Christie's campaign itinerary to 36 states where fellow Republicans will be involved in gubernatorial races (A-1).

The Record sent Staff Writer Melissa Hayes to Scottsdale, Ariz., to continue her work of building Christie's image into a viable presidential candidate in 2016 -- despite his abysmal record in New Jersey on the economy (L-7), mass transit, tolls, property taxes and other issues.

Guadano to rule

When our absentee governor is on the road, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadano, a non-entity who gives a bad name to women, will be the acting governor, Hayes reports today.

As head of the goobers group, Christie will command an enormous slush fund of campaign money from corporations and other anonymous donors -- all of it intended to do the evil work of the 1% against the rest of us.

Today, The Record said the association raised nearly $24 million in the first six months of the year, nearly $1.6 million from New Jersey.

Racist blacklash

On Monday, Christie attacked President Obama and claimed the Affordable Care Act is "a failure," The Record reported on Tuesday's A-2.

But the GOP bully forgot to mention that he and fellow conservatives in more than 30 other states are doing their best to subvert the enrollment effort -- as part of the racist backlash by congressional Republicans.

Second best for N.J.

Christie gladly accepted millions of federal dollars to expand health care to the poor in New Jersey.

At the same time, he refused to set up a state health-care exchange, forcing residents to use the problem-plagued federal Web site, reducing choice and limiting competition among insurers.

So North Jersey residents get to see glowing TV ads about New York State's health-care exchange and affordable policies, but remain in the dark about buying insurance in the Garden State.

Baseball prick

Christie's ascendancy to head of the GOP goobers is the lead story on Page 1 today, where Editor Marty Gottlieb wastes a great deal of space on Alex Rodriguez, the drugged baseball player who does a good imitation of a walking erection.

'Pedal error'?

In the seven days since Ruta Fiorino, 49, an employee of Trader Joe's, was hit by a car outside the Westwood store on Nov. 13, The Record appears unable to find out how the accident happened (L-1).

Today's story on fundraising for the severely injured woman reports the car driven by Maryann Lewis, 75, of New Milford "apparently accelerated and lurched forward." 

A common problem among older drivers is "pedal error," mistaking the gas pedal for the brake pedal.

What about programs to help seniors improve their driving skills and cut down on similar accidents? 

The Record apparently doesn't know or doesn't care.

Dissing seniors

Even Staff Writer John Cichowski hasn't tackled the question for the Road Warrior column, which  has spent the last decade examining driving, drivers and the MVC is such minute detail.

Typical of The Record's coverage of the elderly, who aren't confined to nursing homes or mental institutions, is the rare mention of Alzheimer's disease in a photo caption on L-1 today.

When food is garbage

The Better Living cover today confirms that 50 years of cooking shows and other nonsense about food on television have been little more than fluff (BL-1).

Not a single Food Network show has focused attention on factory farms and the unnatural lengths processors, restaurant owners and chefs go to fatten their profits at the expense of the consumer.

Do readers have all the time in the world?

A week after a fatal crash, The Record presents the full story.

The Sunday edition of The Record is perfect -- if you have nothing better to to do than read long, winding stories in excruciating detail.

It took the editors nearly a full week to determine the relationship of a passenger to the driver in a road-rage accident on the Garden State Parkway last Sunday.

And you'll need almost that much time to digest the front-page story, which goes on and on under the big, black headline: 

LIVES COLLIDE

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes or her deputy, Dan Sforza, assigned Staff Writer Shawn Boburg to churn out the pathos, forcing him to neglect his Port Authority beat.

At the bottom of Page 1, readers learn about a major rock slide on the Palisades that occurred on May 12 -- nearly 2 months ago -- then have to plow through a geology lesson.

The lead A-1 story on flood insurance affects about 800 homeowners. Now, that's relevant news for the hundreds of thousands of readers.

Go shopping

Publisher Stephen A. Borg and the Advertising Department thought so much of Editor Marty Gottlieb's front page, it wrapped a Can Can Sale ad from ShopRite around part of A-1.

How many readers threw the paper aside and raced to their nearest ShopRite to take advantage of the first day of the sale?

One man was heard shouting, "It's time to stock up on Adirondack Seltzer!"  

Road worrier

Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to neglect his commuting column to bore readers with the hard-luck story of a 63-year-old Hackensack widow who never received her registration renewal in the mail (L-1).

OK. We're appalled. But what does this have to do with inadequate bus and train service, massive rush-hour traffic jams and exorbitant tolls? 

If you're looking for Hackensack news today, Cichowski's column is as close as you'll get.

Loving young people

Most of Sykes' Local front is dominated by another glowing story about a young person with autism. 

Where are the upbeat stories about old people who accomplish great things despite age and infirmity? Now, we read about them only after they die.

Another story on L-1 quotes Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen without noting he is the Democratic candidate in the 5th Congressional District race.

Hating old people

On Friday, the Road Warrior column revisited the issue of older drivers and blind spots -- again without mentioning many new cars come with blind-spot warning systems (L-1).

Cichowski seems to have contempt for older drivers, referring to "arthritic groaning and neck cracking,"  and suggesting a driver who can't glance out "the passenger side window from time to time" consider taking a cab or a bus.

When is the last time he did his job by riding a local bus and reporting on the quality of service?

Weighty stories balance sports blather

Image via Wikipedia
The Church on The Green in Hackensack.

Editor Martin Gottlieb delivers a localized news story on the economy and a weighty analysis on the expansion of profit-driven health-care companies to balance more Super Bowl drivel on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park today.


But there is just too much coverage of Sunday's game throughout the paper, including an inane photo in Local of two men who plan to drive a gas-guzzling SUV to Indianapolis (L-7). 


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes found room for that in a section that is devoid of any news from Hackensack or many other towns.


Sykes still hasn't reported the death on Friday of Jean Zisa, matriarch of the family that has virtually controlled Hackensack for decades, nor has the editor ever assigned a story to explain why some residents refer to the city as "Zisaville." 


Other possibilities include Zisaship, Zisarough, Zisacity and Zisasack.


Bowled over


The lead A-1 story on hiring makes it clear GOP front-runner Mitt Romney probably is headed for a second defeat in his bid to become president. 


On A-6, one of the Super Bowl stories quotes more than a dozen Giants fans from New Jersey -- in Indianapolis or at Newark Liberty International Airport.


But during the rest of the year, the editors rarely interview North Jersey residents about such issues as Governor Christie, high property taxes or whether they think their towns are well-run.


Hard-to-read news


The analysis on the regional expansion of Hackensack University Medical Center and other for-profit companies is probably much too long to interest more than a handful of readers.


On the front of Local, Sykes turns the death of another elderly driver into a photo-op, accompanied by a story that doesn't even say whether the poor schmuck (John Perconti, 68, of Hasbrouck Heights) was wearing a seat belt or why the car's air bag didn't save him.


Three reporters worked on the story, but the possibility of a heart attack, stroke or other medical emergency isn't even raised. Did an assignment editor just spell-check the file and send it on to Editor Liz Houlton's robotic news copy editors for a headline?


Sykes' assignment desk and John Cichowski, the Road Warrior columnist, have virtually ignored the challenges facing older drivers and have never reported on where they can get help to improve their driving skills.

Relentless focus on the young

Image via Wikipedia
Multimillionaire Dr. Mehmet Oz of Cliffside Park using his fingers to indicate the size of a typical senior citizen's brain when it comes to exercising and living a healthy lifestyle.

 

Is it really front-page news that a bill proposes to add more hours of practice for teen drivers with learner's permits?


As interim Editor Doug Clancy surely knows, inexperienced drivers are more dangerous than the inexperienced reporters in The Record's Better Living section. But isn't the goal safer roads for everyone?


Now, readers can expect a half-dozen columns from the Road Warrior, giving parents a platform to bitch and moan about this proposal, as they did about the red license-plate decals for teens under 18.


F.U. to seniors


The teen-driving story on Page 1 today only highlights how little attention head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes pays to older drivers, another accident-prone group.


She loves the photo ops they provide as they plow into storefronts, other cars or pedestrians -- often with fatal consequences -- but she doesn't bother publishing a guide to programs that could help them become better drivers.


You'd think Egypt was part of North Jersey by the frequency of photos from there that land on the front page (A-1).


Staff Writer Kibret Markos reports a $2.1 million award to the estate of a Ramapough Indian who was fatally shot by a park ranger in 2006, but ignores the potential one-third payout to the family's lawyer (A-1).


I could not find the age of the victim, Emil Mann, in the story. 


And Markos apparently missed a bigger jury award Monday in state Superior Court in Hackensack -- $10 million to the family of a visiting 13-year-old Korean boy who drowned in Ridgewood's municipal pool (NorthJersey.com).


Christie payback


The third and final part of the series on the developmentally disabled highlights Governor Christie's plan to shift work from unionized state employees to low-paid workers in the private sector -- likely at the behest of his many corporate donors (A-1).


The big news from Hackensack in Sykes' Local section today is the carbon-dioxide poisoning of a family of three from a faulty furnace flue (L-1).


Senior handouts


Below that, a story reports seniors lined up for free smoothies and cups of fruit during a visit by that horse's ass, Dr. Mehmet Oz, to the Northwest Bergen Senior Activities Center in Midland Park (L-1).


The story reinforces the paper's theme that most seniors need to be spoon-fed a message of "healthy aging" -- just as Sykes' assignment desk insists on being spoon-fed press releases.

Related posts

• Editors ensure seniors stay invisible (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Older people make front-page news (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• More hard-luck seniors on parade (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

Did I miss the part on property taxes?

Image via Wikipedia

Did you know Governor Christie made 88 campaign promises, as reported today all over the front page of The Record of Woodland Park? Only 12 of them -- about one-seventh -- are addressed in a story on how well he has kept those pledges, but I don't see anything about his promise to cut property taxes. He did promise to cut that levy, didn't he?


This is one thin Sunday paper. After I shuffled through the sections and recycled those of little or no interest to me, I was left with the main news section and Local, a total of 18 pages. Travel was a throwaway. The Business front featured perks for workers at small companies in New Jersey, without betraying how poorly employees are treated at North Jersey Media Group, owner of The Record and Herald News, and many weekly newspapers.

Under the leadership of Publisher Stephen A. Borg and big sister Jennifer A. Borg, who is NJMG vice president and general counsel, the popular Food section has been folded, dozens of veteran workers have been shown the door, salaries and severance have been cut, newsroom productivity has plummeted, retirees have faced benefit cuts and highly profitable commercial printing has been jettisoned (leading to the layoff of 55 press workers).

Local has no news from Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood or a bunch of other towns, but there is a roundup leading the section on residents' anxiety over property tax hikes this year and next. Gee, how come there was no refer from the A-1 Christie story, the one that omits any mention of his promise to cut those taxes? 


At least the roundup story finally tells me and other Hackensack readers we will be paying "around 7 percent" more in property taxes, double the projected hike in Englewood. Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado, who is assigned to Hackensack, hasn't written a word about the city budget or tax hike, under orders from head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes, whose grand plan for local news is not to cover it.


Also on L-1, Road Warrior John Cichowski apparently comes out against vision and road tests for older drivers, based on statistics showing drivers over 65 rank last among those killed in crashes from 2004 to 2008. Ah, but where are the statistics on how many people older drivers kill? 

Did he leave them out, because they would have weakened his argument? On the continuation page, there is a photo and story about an 89-year-old driver who plowed into a vacant storefront while trying to parallel park.


You can find a far more reasoned approach to the issue on Cliffview Pilot.com, where former Breaking News Editor Jerry DeMarco urges testing of drivers 65 and over:


Test elderly drivers before someone is killed

(Photo: Hackensack River as seen from Teaneck.)