the republican eye _ ear

----Garwood’s t.r.e.e.--- the roaming eye & ear A Quarterly Observance complements of the Garwood Republican Club Issue: 2 Date: Jan/March, First Quarter, 2005 Phone # 908-654-1392 Email: araceengineering@aol.com Yearly subscription $10 Page 1 MISSION STATEMENT/ CAVEAT: The purpose of this quarterly newsletter is to generally inform you on happenings at the local and county levels by reporting on meetings such as municipal council, school board, freeholder, planning. We will try our best to keep it objective and accurate, but as a republican newsletter some slant may infiltrate- both good and adverse. At times we may put forward conjecture, innuendo and rumors, since we consider this pertinent town information of which everyone should be aware. Don’t hesitate to call, email or talk to us if you want to be part of this. Contact information is listed above. The opinions expressed will not necessarily be that of the Garwood Republican Club. (To subscribe send $10 to 325 willow ave.) Vol: 2 Editor: Bruce Paterson The Municipal Council: * www.garwood.org At the January Council Swear-in the Mayor’s State of the Boro address: The mayor stressed that family is an important aspect of Garwood and consists of friends and relatives and those who love us. He said the fighting troops are in our prayers. He thanked the employees and the volunteers of the boro in keeping our town operating at superior levels. He noted the GFD’s building expansion program was successful. GFD purchased equipment from a FEMA grant and bought a new Rescue pumper truck. There were 157 incidents that the GFD has been called out on. He noted the voluntary leaf program and the more efficient bulk pick-up, both using the boro’s garbage trucks. Also the boro has in-house maintenance on our vehicles. All this reduced our overtime costs by 1/3, a 200-hour decrease. This year the DPW is purchasing a new backhoe, and will attend to snow, leaf and sanitary maintenance programs. They are replacing the mason dump truck and a 4x4 pickup. In the municipal court, they have improved case flow maintenance to provide timely justice. The police department has been able to decrease overtime. The boro now prints the tax bills in-house for quicker delivery. They are interfacing with the county computers for quicker access to deed processing. The eng’g dept. is addressing the storm water mandates as required by “tier A” towns. Mayor’s Saturday will continue. Two interesting items the Mayor mentioned at the swear-in were: The boro may purchase St. Anne’s Deron school to be used as our community center. Also, on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month the boro clerk’s office will be open late until 6pm for any ordinary boro business such as permits, licenses, etc. One sad but interesting note at the January council swear in: In attendance were 3 dignitaries: Assemblymen Bramnick and Munoz and state Senator Kean. However, the mayor did not acknowledge them to the public when he was speaking. (I hope it was only that he forgot and not that he snubbed them politically since they are republicans and he is democrat.) An ordinance was discussed about possible mandated leaf bagging for next year. State storm water dictum requires that autumn leaves cannot remain in the street gutters for more than 7 days. One vocal resident from Myrtle street said she would not bag the leaves. She also said the trees are on town property so they should take care of their own leaves. The mayor smiled. Stay tuned. This may cause concern for those that have professional landscapers do their leaves. Roads to be paved next year are: Myrtle and Spruce between Center and east. Parts of Pine, Hazel and East. The last streets named may have their width decreased to allow for sidewalks, but this may affect the snowplow as it proceeds along the changing curb line. * * * * ----Garwood’s t.r.e.e.--- the roaming eye & ear A Quarterly Observance complements of the Garwood Republican Club Issue: 2 Date: Jan/March, First Quarter, 2005 Phone # 908-654-1392 Email: araceengineering@aol.com Yearly subscription $10 Page 2 Vol: 2 Editor: Bruce Paterson The Municipal council: -continued* * * * A resolution has been passed to award the purchase of a new fire truck to Pierce Manufacturing for $422,700. Delivery will be in 9 months. It has all the bells and whistles to suit the needs of the boro according to the mayor. Sidewalk repair package. The autumn bids came in over budget-$69,000 vs. $40,000 in budget. There was a single bidder. Therefore, the town is going out to re-bid in the late winter for spring, where they expect more bidders with competitive bids. The council is in discussion with the management of Walgreen’s parking lot to possibly free up some parking spots for train and commuter parking. Mayors Saturday: October: approximately 8 people showed up separately discuss town affairs. Pat Q and Bruce P as candidates for freeholder showed up to ask what we may do for the town if elected. The mayor was visibly agitated and rather defensive. He can calm down now since we both lost the FH election. November: Approximately 3 people showed. Maybe because of thanksgiving preparation conflict. December: This mayors Saturday was sponsored and catered by The Corner Deli. Approximately 9 people showed up to breakfast on eggs, coffee, bacon, French toast and pastries; and also to chat on any subject with the mayor. The mayor stated this was a nice idea. And thanks to Amar from The Corner Deli who donated the breakfast. The Planning/Zoning Board: * Possibly the largest but least known town-wide issue is the direction of future residential building in Garwood. The council passed caps on square footage of houses per zone, but some residents and a planning board member are finding that it is crimping larger development in Garwood. At a recent planning board meeting, three people said that this cap would not allow the right people in Garwood; and pressed for increasing the cap from 2200 SF to 2800. My perplexity is who buys the 2200 versus the 2800 and who are the right people. As another resident stated this is a social issue. The board is revisiting the cap numbers, but sorely needs input from the residents who are interested in either preserving or evolving our “character of the neighborhood.” My opinion is that 2200 sf cap should stand for the smaller lots, a sliding size for larger lots. New houses being built on 5000 SF lots here and elsewhere can and do fit well within the 2200 SF cap. One possible resolution/ compromise would be a sliding scale for building size based on ranges of lot size by 1000-foot increments. I plan to write a letter to them on this. I had previously discussed this with the mayor. Rich Polidore, who was the recent planning board chairman, is leaving the board starting 2005. For personal reasons, he was quoted. 317 Hemlock subdivision: A minor subdivision was granted. The owners are planning to sell it to a developer for another house to be built. * * The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 3 Planning/ Zoning: -continued* 435 Hazel ave zoning variance: Our planning board engineer, Victor Vinegra, says he took a large risk and bought this property, which is 15,000 square feet for his own development for a single family house. (it is pie shaped, borders on Westfield and with 100 foot frontage) He saves it from any developer’s use, who would probably build 2 houses on that property. He proposes to remove the roof from the existing ranch house and add a second story with Dutch colonial architecture. The house would be 2800-3300 sq ft approx. He apologized for being the first applicant for “busting the 2200 SF maximum ordinance”. However, to me, if Mr. Vinegra were retaining all that open space then the total SF to total property SF ratio is commendable. As stated in a previous newsletter, the ordinance is only to “control” development by forcing applicants to address the expansiveness in front of the planning board, not squelch it. One sticking point the neighbors had was the request for a third garage. This appeared to be the main point of contention between all parties. However, in a subsequent board meeting, his concept was approved as submitted. The 290 Hemlock Subdivision: Dateline October-in the end, it appears that the town failed the residents of that area. In abundance, they turned out to the planning board and the town council to fight for what appeared to be simple logic. The property could not be subdivided because it had a deed restriction due solely that, back in 1949, an original smaller property merged with a piece of town property to create the lot to house “a single family dwelling”. This restriction was set so that it could not be subdivided and thus stated “a house”. Was the applicant’s lawyer that compelling? The previous owner knew of the deed restriction and sold the house with the cost basis of a single house on a single property. The developer then tried to corrupt the system and guess what-he did, and with the help of the town council and planning board. What the heck went wrong? I wasn’t there since I was campaigning but in researching, it appears the applicant’s lawyer did his homework and was able to convince the board the deed restriction was actually obsolete. There was shuffling going on between four lots in that area and because of that, the restriction did not strictly apply to that property as it is laid out present day. I still have a tough time buying that but I wasn’t there in 1949. * The School Board: * * Franklin School demolition will take place around the middle of January. For those that attended that school in their youth and are sentimental, we tried to get some sort of farewell party together but the school said there is no money in the budget. You can watch by the sidelines when it happens. Construction schedule: Lincoln school renovation was done at October’s end. The children were relocated from Franklin to Lincoln during the first week in November during the teacher convention. Bids were let out for asbestos removal in Franklin school prior to its demolition. Bids came in at $45,000 under the $100,000 budget. But recently a change order added $18,000 for unforeseen items. The cost and explanation for it seemed reasonable. 1st School board member steps down: As previously reported Tina Ariemma had left the board. 2 Applicants were publicly interviewed in October and Ms. Tracy Schadewald has been chosen to fill the vacancy. As a side note when the board was in private session, Tracy and I, sitting in the public, got in a disagreement. So this must prove that she is appropriate to serve on the board. 2nd School board member will be stepping down. Vic DeFillippo, who previously had served 1 term and was just elected in April to a second, has now been elected to town council in the November election. Along with Tracy Schadewald, who had replaced Tina Ariemma in October, this makes 2 additional spots up for reelection along with the 3 regular spots. That makes it a total of 5 open positions. (3-3 year terms and 2-1 year terms) The last time 5 spots opened were in 1992. Local residents around Lincoln school are peeved. Bright security lights, pad on west side, noisy A/C unit. B&G committee will address this. The security lights will have a deflector added so as not to shine on the neighbor’s property. The A/C unit noise may cost about $50,000 to fix. The pad on the school property will house a monstrosity of a metal shed, which the neighbors said would be an eyesore. The board said there is not much they can do about it but will re-visit. * * * The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 4 School board: -continued* * * Here’s some buzz sentences tossed out by the school district regarding our children’s education: “This year we are taking a constructivist approach to education”. “The district is using a constructivist pedagogical philosophy”. Are these different or the same? My head hurts. Due to Comcast providing an internal channel in the new school, the administration may be able to produce a “morning show”, hopefully starring the children and young adults. The GBOE and the council had an initial interface meeting that went well. It was informal, but a good start. They discussed senate bill 1701 about the budget cap and possible joint purchasing to save money. Around Town: * The Senior/ Youth Community Center: No progress to date. A resident during a council meeting brought up the idea to have volunteers build it, but the mayor nixed that due to liability problems and that the underground, utility and foundation portion is complex. However, I expanded on that: I told the council since they have $5-600,000 in the fund they should see how far that goes in getting the footings and utility service installed. If that monies can cover everything underground, some of the aboveground shell and even any special liability insurance for volunteers, then the volunteers can take it from there. In addition, the Garwood Chamber of Commerce is donating $1500 in proceeds it made from the street fair to the community center fund. Local celebrity: (to a degree)- Young Ryan Tombs made the Cranford Chronicle twice in the same edition. Once with the “walk your child to school day”, where he was escorted by State Police Chief Santiago and then again when he had his picture taken with our local Olympic athlete hopeful David Durante. Third bathroom at the little league field house is being designed for handicap access. Monies will come from a grant. The handicap bathroom will be unisex. Dateline mid-November: For two days the word of God was banned from Garwood. This made the star ledger and radio and seemed to be a bit overblown and ridiculous except when you put it in context. A poem written by a Garwood fifth grader on the topic of Thanksgiving had the word of God in it. When it was showcased on the school hallway wall, God, the word disappeared. After a short fracas within the district ranks and involving a legal opinion, the poem was restored along with the word of God. It was determined that the reference was historical and not religious. This is just another chink in the morality of civilization. There are factions that take the separation of church and state very literally; to the point of wanting the word of God removed from the Pledge of allegiance and from the back of our paper money. Garwood may now be a player in this sad game. Town is discussing re-identifying Oak Street and Maple Street, which is on both sides of town and separated by the railroad tracks, a North Oak and South Oak, North Maple and South Maple. Merchant News: News Plus on Center Street changed hands. Balim and Minnie who owned the business have sold it to Gus and Mariana. They hail from El Salvador. They are redoing the inventory in their own style. Stop in, say hello, and buy a greeting card, gift, soda, paper, foodstuff or sundries. Pathmark may be closing it doors. Date unknown. The stock price action reflects possible financial problems. Rand Business Products on South avenue moved to Cranford. They were located in the smallest commercial building in town. Property could be ripe for development. 99cent Store closed. I heard that the rent was exorbitant; and that’s a lot of 99 cent items to sell! We’re not in Kansas anymore! And, we are no more a quaint little town. In the last two years we have had a mafia bust, big cocaine bust with a cache of handguns, a sexual deviant with underage girls, myriad bumper car accidents, pedestrian injuries and a shotgun harassing neighbor…whew! * * * * * * The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 5 Around Town: -continued-(part of unabridged version) * * Big to-do down at our Post Office: There appears to be some sort of resistance occurring toward the present postmaster. In December, the postal workers staged a sick out. Now there are petition forms in certain stores that the public can fill out if one would like to get a new postmaster. Chris McCarrick of New St. will be receiving his Eagle Scout award by early spring. His final merit badge is imminent and after final paperwork certification, he will receive it. Congratulations, Chris! General Info/ Rumor: * Mattress factory building and land may be taken over by Shop rite for more parking. At least the light on Chestnut street will ease the pedestrian crossing heavily trafficked North ave. We don’t want a calamity like Lord and Taylor in Westfield where a senior citizen was killed crossing North ave from her car in the parking lot across the street. The Garwood Celebrations Committee donated the 2 -25 foot flagpoles at Kennedy plaza. Tree Obituaries: RIP Final tally on tree removal from the school construction-23 (oh, the humanity-or “treenity’) The Comcast contract: Boro council negotiated many additional amenities with Comcast such as $13k donation to the school, $14k donation to the boro, $1k each to the GFAS and GPD, internet for the library, an internal channel and all materials for basic cable TV for Lincoln school. Unknown if all these costs translate into a higher monthly Comcast bill. What do you think? Flu Vaccination at Kings: The kings sponsored program allowed for 500 doses. However, approximately 700-800 people showed up. 8 senior citizens needed attention standing on the long line. There was no unruly senior rioting, by some did not receive the vaccine. The parish may sell Deron School located across from St Anne’s. See the mayor’s address. Nighttime floodlights at the little league field are under initial consideration. This would create the possibility for additional revenue from night games. However, neighborhood noise and light pollution may have to be addressed. The cost to relocate the 2 telephone poles at Kennedy plaza is $5000 each. The boro negotiated the price with PSE&G down to $2500 each, a savings to the residents of 50%, VFW roof: Their post roof was leaking profusely and it needed to be done immediately. However, bids initially came in at $15,000, which the VFW did not have. The local Piscatelli brothers came to their rescue and did the work for only $12,000 and they even said to pay them later. Garwood is a “small town, big heart” and with the people to prove it. Boro Hall copy fees: have been increased to $1 for first page and 75 cents subsequent page. The boro received $25,500 from the county earmarked as the “kid’s recreation trust grant”, which will be used to upgrade Hartman park and the little league fields. This sounds nice except that when you analyze this, all this is just our own tax dollars being returned to us from the county after they pay their cronies on the county dole the salaries and benefits to administer it. Tell me this ain’t a scam! Also, it partially explains why Garwood may have been forced to go for extraordinary tax relief from the state last year. We must keep our tax dollars in our town and not send it up to the wasteful county. Once leaves are collected they are taken to Summit by our trucks. They are dropped off at the Houdaille quarry that is now owned by the county. As long as we bring them, the county does not charge us for disposal. From county bills list august 11, 2004: Garwood Boro sewer system evaluation survey: 4,026.66 Garwood Boro of; contract 04-ALL-103: 3,942.00. This was grant money coming into Garwood from the county. * * * * * * * * * * * * The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 6 Spotlight on: The ladies auxiliary VFW Bay Leaf Post 6807. I had the occasion to sit down at Kitty Madara’s house to discuss the Ladies Auxilliary chapter of the VFW. Kitty is the president of the “Bay Leaf Post #6807” located on 221 South Avenue. This is part of the national VFW organization and there is also a state chapter overseeing all the NJ locals. Other officers in the VFW post are Commander Bob Springsted, Chaplain George Kondresewick and quartermaster Bud Clevenger. There are two entities of the VFW, the auxiliary and the Post itself. Iasked Kitty why did they call it “Bay Leaf”, however, she apologized that the inspiration may be lost over the time. She said it possibly symbolizes “For you, we die” in deference to their loyal service in combat at any cost. The VFW post has 56 members. Their admission standards are based on an honorable discharge and one must have received overseas combat pay. The difference from the American Legion Posts is those members are not required to have received overseas combat pay. The ladies auxiliary has 52 members. Some Garwood members are as far away as Florida. Our VFW was chartered in April of 1946, with the Ladies Auxiliary soon after in June. To be a member of the Ladies auxiliary one must be a wife, widow, mother, foster or stepmother, daughter, granddaughter, or sister of someone who is eligible for the VFW post. Regarding the mothers in the auxiliary, there are 2 “Gold Star” mothers to whom the VFW pays honor. To be a “gold Star” mother one must have had a child who was killed in combat, an unfortunate event to receive the designation. The 2 gold star mothers presently are Phylis Begassi, who resides in Illinois and Margaret Steets who is still living in Garwood, although Mrs. Steets doesn’t belong to our VFW. But the Ladies Auxiliary always presents both of them with flowers on Mothers Day and Veteran’s day. The ladies auxiliary is very active in Garwood’s community. They put together programs such as the Veterans Day program for the seniors, where they bring cake to the meeting. The commander and chaplain are also in attendance. They also have an essay contest for the 6th grade, on the subject of patriotism. The winner gets a $50 bond. The VFW also participates in a June graduation award for the outstanding 8th grade student based on grades. He or she receives a $50 bond for that award. The VFW and auxiliary co-sponsor a Garwood Baseball team. In previous years they have held Loyalty day on May 1st. On Veteran’s day they have a ceremony outside the VFW post where they raise and salute the American flag. In the larger picture, they also help others outside our town. The Post has received Certificates of Award for working at Lyons Hospital, donations to: the VFW home for children in Michigan, for “health and happiness” to the national VFW organization and to the USO. The national home for children is comprised of 50 cottages each sponsored by a state. There the children or grandchildren of veterans can be educated from grammar school thru college. They are presently donating to MACK and Operation Uplink. These are programs where the soldiers overseas receive telephone calling cards, blank postcards, writing paper and utensils. Just recently the Ladies Auxiliary received a post card from a sargenat overseas, who thanked them for their support of these programs. The postcard came from the Mack care packages that the ladies donated to. In addition, there is “Fan Mail for the troops” program they volunteer for consisting of letters the ladies write. Their first mailing was in July and the subsequent mailing was Christmas cards in December. The VFW post operates on donations only. (Keep that in mind.) Their revenues come from people’s donations, dues, hall rental and the Buddy Poppy drive in May. However, all proceeds from the Poppy drive are earmarked only for unfortunate vets and their families. Presently, they are soliciting donations for the new roof they had installed. Piscitelli Bros had lent the VFW $12,000 up front for the work, it was at imminent failure, and now they have to pay them back. One fundraiser, is the upcoming bus ride to AC on Sunday, 2/13. Call 789-0670 for reservations and details The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 7 Spotlight: -continuedI asked how Kitty got involved with the VFW. Her husband Irv, who sadly passed away last year, was in the US Air Force during WW 2. He was the tail gunner on a B-29 bomber in the Pacific arena. Irv’s plane was actually in the selected pool of planes as to who was going to drop “the bomb” on Hiroshima, but it was the Enola Gay, not his plane that was picked. Kitty and Irv met after WW 2 and got married soon after. As a wife, she joined the ladies auxiliary. Thanks, Kitty it was insightful to understand the VFW’s sacrifice and patriotism. She always signs off with: “Support our troops, fly your flag, vote in every election!” Some Upcoming Local Public Events: (also watch town bulletin board) Any particulars needed, just call phone number listed in that section. * From the The Seniors: Walter Maszczak 789-1067, Paulette Drogan-seniors town director 789-0738 The Town: See boro hall for calendar. Mondays are usually line dancing at 4pm, KOC. Tuesdays is bowling at 1pm. Wednesday is exercise class at 9am, St Annes. Craft classes, Sheriff’s dept identity card program and consumer awareness program given on certain days. The senior club: 3/15 is a show trip to Tides in Haledon to see “Wearin’ o’ the Green”. 4/12 is a trip to Doolans in Spring Lake to see Banjo and Ragtime Review. PTA: Terry Mehr website: 233-5947 Lions Club: Walter Maszczak, events coordinator 789-1067 Upcoming in June are the Lions scholarship awards to the children. $300 each to a HS boy and girl. In grammar school are awards of $100 bond each to a boy, a girl and a science wiz. St Paul’s Church: Ken Hess 654-0482 1/28 Spaghetti dinner at St Paul’s. 5:30-7:30. $8adlt/$7senior/$6 child. I was last one and tasty! (EFG) Education Foundation of Garwood, Bill Nierstedt 654-8586 Start of a tradition! On 4/28, the EFG is having a 4 hour cocktails and finger food banquet at the Westwood to host their first annual “Teacher’s Appreciation Night”. Watch for press release by months end. Cost is $35sgl/ $60cpl, and also is a fundraiser for them. Logo contest winner will be announced also. Teacher’s Grant application deadline is January end. Remind your child to remind their teacher! February, watch for a town wide EFG fundraiser letter sent to each house. From the Girl Scouts: Tina at 654-6936 2/25 Sweetheart dance for the girl scout and her special Dad or friend. Knights of Columbus: Hall phone number-789-9809/ 789-2563 2/5 Blood drive at club from 9am to 4pm 2/26 Comedy night is planned. Watch local newspapers for details. VFW: Kitty Madara 789-1105 2/13 Bus trip to Resorts Casino in Atlantic City. Call 789-0670 for details. From the Town, Library, Celebrations, Recreation Committees: 789-1710 Around 3/19, the town will hold its annual Easter egg hunt. Watch for press release. * * * * * * * * The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 8 Local Events: -continued* From Lincoln School: January 20th- school concert 8th grade play upcoming in February: “Footloose”. Garwood’s 2003 Centennial Wrap up: (no action) Report on the Union County Freeholders: The following commentary actually disgusts me because the county never acknowledged the 2003 death of a 16-year-old boy in their custody at the juvenile detention center. In fact as of the December 16, 2004 Freeholder meeting, Freeholder chairman Estrada said, “the board is not cause and effect of Eddie Sinclair’s death.” However, I can safely say he is lying, because the NJ Division of Child Advocate did an investigation and found otherwise. The findings were released in November and the Star Ledger later excerpted it. But the county found that the county can lie all they want because with their own 10 man exorbitant and wasteful press department, the spin and laundering always makes them look “top notch”. I have read the report. To sum up: The county consistently for many years leading up to this death violated standards set for juvenile detention centers, such as, splits, lockdowns and isolation which are forbidden and create depression in children placed in the juvy center. (These are the same county people in charge now as back then!) Eddie Sinclair was subjected to this practice and in the initial 13 hours of detention he had committed suicide. Granted it was his own action and he wasn’t a saint or a complete sinner (he stole a bike, and smoked pot while on probation), but the county was negligent and complicit in creating the conditions leading up to his suicide. The county assured NJ that the actions of splits, lockdowns and isolation were ended prior to 2003, but the county obviously lied and continued this right through the time of his death. It was only after his death, that a fire was lit under the county and they changed practices. At the end of 2003 suddenly they allocated money to buy land in Linden to build a new detention center. In addition, the county had in place a procedure of questions, where the detainee is asked if he is suicidal. Eddie said “no”, but is that an acceptable enough practice? 1 month prior Eddie had told his probation officer he had thoughts of suicide. Subsequently he was examined by a hospital. So there were accessible records on file. Two years prior to this, a previous detainee had pulled a sprinkler head cover away from its recess in the ceiling, exposing the sprinkler. A Corrections officer noted in writing that it should be fixed. 2 years the county did not fix this aberration. It was this exposed sprinkler head that Eddie was able to tie the sheet to hang himself. A quote from the report says it all: “The county’s persistent violation of applicable laws and Juvenile Justice Commission and Attorney General Directives over several years, which suggests a fundamental disregard of basic human rights, led directly to the conditions that allowed E.S. to commit suicide on May 10, 2003.” In addition to the failure or ignorance of Human rights practice noted above, in 2002, the county assured the Juvenile Justice Commission that a new Juvenile detention center was being funded and will be constructed in 2003. (this half hearted attempt had been going on for many years by them, but something always came up) The county administration dropped those plans. Instead, the county administration decided that a new $2 million granite atrium for their administration building, a new Police forensics lab and a new engineering building took precedence over severe and deplorable, overcrowded conditions, including rat infestation at the detention center. May 10, 2003 Eddie committed suicide within 13 hours of being put in custody of the county system. PROLOGUE: After the death, the county did not even acknowledge it. In the freeholder agendas handed out to the public, they do note by resolution various people’s passing. Eddie was never mentioned. I stood at the Freeholder meeting podium after a “Justice for Eddie Sinclair” rally attended by the parents and relatives. I noted that in 2004, FH chair Scanlon declared, “2003 is the The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 9 Report on the Freeholders: -continuedYear of the Family”. They Subsequently destroyed a family with their irresponsibility. Then freeholder Mary Ruotolo took me to task and said I should be ashamed of myself for using his death as an issue. This is the ignorance and stupidity of that freeholder board. Ask yourself if this is an issue and that they should have done something to ameliorate the practices and conditions leading up to that death. They had years to do this. They are like children who won’t take responsibility when something goes wrong, instead, insulting the messenger and denying reality. As I stated before on December 16, 2004, FH chairman Estrada still denied their responsibility even after the report was published. (It must be because they are not 100% culpable. They can consider themselves clean?) ADDITIONAL PROLOGUE: The freeholders did buy a bank building10 years ago to renovate into a Juvenile detention center, but instead back in 1998 they decided to convert it into offices for more of their county workers. They dedicated this building to Mary Ruotolo’s husband, who died in office as county prosecutor. Mary stepped down as freeholder last year and is now Head Press Liaison to the PNC arts center on the parkway. She makes $90,000/ year with the state. Her only work experience is as a schoolteacher, which does not make her acceptable. Did anyone say patronage? Did anyone say they are all guilty in this horrible matter? The sad part is the Freeholders were able to convince Eddie Sinclair’s mother not to file suit, that it was her son’s fault. She believed them up until the November, 2004 NJ study came out blaming the county. She is now consulting a lawyer. Interesting Political items: * Election wrap up: Garwood had a huge turnout of 70% of the voters. As usual, the republicans at the state and federal level received the majority of Garwood votes. At the county level, the republicans also won Garwood but the county subsequently still is democrat based on Elizabeth and Plainfield’s huge democrat voting block. One interesting item is: this editor, Bruce Paterson, ran against a democrat freeholder named Wohlrab, who in October, 1 month before election, was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend and sending her to the hospital. Then 1 week before election he said he would resign after the election. The Garwood vote count: for that portion: Paterson-850, Wohlrab-750. In analyzing why this accused woman beater and subsequent open seat still got that many votes in Garwood, I come up with 3 scenarios. 1) The voters were not aware of this. However, there were mailings from the GOP to all women in the county and also doorstep drops. In addition the papers covered this. 2) An accused woman beater and/ or blank seat is better than a republican. That I find silly and heard no notion of that. 3) The democrat machine is active even in Garwood and convinced the Garwood democrat voters to remain true to their dem party no matter how notorious it has become in 2004. This last concerns me that there are people pushing the idea that a political party should come before the concerns of the residents of the county. But I am seeing signs of this. Only the voters know? I do appreciate your vote! Local election wrap up: This year after 7 years of an all-democrat controlled town council, Garwood voted in Vic DeFillippo, a republican. Vic received the second highest vote count. Charles Lombardo, the senior statesman and dem incumbent received the highest vote count. With 4 people running the vote spread was only about 40 or 4%. Lombardo received 914 (high) and Sytko received 876 (low). This is different than other years where the vote count was a lot lower and the spread a lot larger-15%. The issues the republicans campaigned on and many voters listened to? The alldemocrat council has dragged its feet on many things, and that there are tentacles of machine politics creeping into Garwood. Ethics has become questionable also. With all those years in power, one party rule starts to become complacent and starts to do unethical things, or beds with the wrong people. That’s when the winds of change start to happen, but you must have the people aware of what’s going on, too. One final item-The last time the republicans had some seats on council they subsequently lost both of them in one year. IS there anything to learn from that? * The Roaming eye & ear- vol 2 issue 2 , first quarter 2005 Page 10 Interesting Political items:-continued* From the Star Ledger 1/2/05 centerfold-Wow did you see the expose of corrupt people in New Jersey? Even the Star Ledger, who is somewhat complicit to the dems in power in the state, could not ignore what went on and even designated it “New Jersey’s Year of Corruption and Scandal”. Those that made it in the Ledger’s “Corruption and Scandal” were elected, non-elected officials and fundraisers and range from indictments, convictions, and fines. (I will list the affiliated political party and the name): Republicans: James Treffinger, Ronald Corn, Gerry Gormley Democrats: John D’ Agostino, Kenneth Saunders, Peter Harvey, Daniel Wilson, Harry Parkin, David D’Amiano, Zachary Turner, JCA Assoc, Lesly Devereaux, Earl Haugebrook, Robert Jazenewski, William Breaker, Charles Kushner, William Watley, Miladys Gomez, James McGreevey, James Lambert, Sr., Anthony Russo, Jean Anderson, Anthony Impreveduto, Sara Bost, William Kruczak. (and this was just MAJOR news items, a lot of minor stuff like Union County Freeholder Wohlrab was not addressed.) Why is this list so lopsided???? I have continually stated that the false democrats and their political bosses have hijacked the democrat line. The good democrats cannot get in power because they have to swear allegiance to serving the party and the bosses first before the people. There is huge self-serving going on with the false democrats in power all at the cost of our tax dollars. In my opinion it even reaches into Garwood as I’ve previously noted. WE NEED REFORM, but not just elect republicans into office. The people must be assured that the politicians are putting the concerns of the residents FIRST. If it smells fishy then it should not be done! However, it is clear that the republicans, by the weight of evidence, maintain a clean act and indeed could be the first step toward reforming and cleaning up the state, county and local governments of New Jersey. Disenfranchised democrats, independents and republicans do have a choice. Musings on The Difference between Democrats and Republicans: (part of unabridged version) In deference to the holiday spirit I will forgo this column and wish all a good new year! (New Department under construction) Councilman’s Corner: Starting the April, 2nd qtr newsletter, Vic DeFillippo, the newly elected sole republican on the council, will discuss various items from an inside (and possibly dissenting) view.