Clifton Merchant Magazine - April 2017

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Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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AS CLIFTON

GROWS, SO

DO

WE

Letter From the

EDITOR Tom Hawrylko

Thanks to our advertisers, plus great writers and designers, here’s Clifton’s Centennial gift.

I’ve lived in Clifton since 1980 so being at the helm of this magazine for Clifton’s Centennial is really a gift. I am honored to present this magazine as our hometown turns 100. I believe my team and I have put together a keepsake edition and we look forward to continuing the timeline through the 1990s and 2000s later this year.

We begin the timeline in 1980, looking back at the newly revitalized Botany Village as it is being heralded by a regional business magazine for the innovations in this historic neighborhood. Keep turning from there and you’ll see nearly 100 pages of photos, stories and notes on events from the not-so-distant past.

Read between the lines and you’ll see some significant events and decisions that changed the course of our community’s history... businesses and people and faces long gone, but who will again be remembered.

Some events we dug up make you realize that not so long ago, Clifton was still a community of farms and open fields. When you read about the incident of March 21, 1980, you’ll see what I mean.

The timeline is interspersed with short stories. Some of them stay in context, such as the Marching Mustangs tours to Europe. But by time we get to 1984 and learn about the hydro-electric plant on the Passaic River, writer Douglas John Bowen neatly brings in the great news about our newest Cliftonites, the American Bald Eagles nesting near the Dundee Dam. Doug also wrote our cover story, one that came to us thanks to reader Greg Tsoucalas, CHS ‘64. It is such a great unheralded piece of history that we ripped up our cover to tell the tale of two brave Clifton gals who biked from here to Oregon on three-speed Schwinns in 1958.

But before we get there—and to the photos and previews of the 2017 Mustang Spring Sports—I invited my favorite Clifton storyteller, Jack DeVries, to put a perspective on the 100 year milestone. As always, Jack’s poetic style sets the stage for all that follows.

I hope you enjoy this keepsake edition as much as my staff and I have enjoyed putting it together. With your support, we will be here for much more history.

16,000 Magazines are distributed to hundreds of Clifton Merchants on the first Friday of every month.

1288 Main Ave., Downtown Clifton, NJ 07011

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Visit cliftonmagazine.com for current & past issues

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Subscribe $35 / year / $60 for 2 Call 973-253-4400 Contributing Writers Jack De Vries, Joe Hawrylko, Irene Jarosewich, Ihor Andruch, Tom Szieber, Michael C. Gabriele, Douglas John Bowen

Editor & Publisher Tom Hawrylko Art Director Ken Peterson Graphic Designer Aly Ibrahim Business Manager Gabriella Marriello

I’ve b after th at Mo Person funded Emply I fi asked history around and fo took a Tullin togeth Handb Jac once r history Station story t

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Your Hometown is 100 Years Old.

Some long gone, others that had their starts here and all who made a mark on our city, from top left: William M. Scott, Anna Latteri, Jon Seda, Babe Ruth, Nina Arianda, Les Herrschaft, Carlos Polanco, Ed Looney, Hooks Brower, & Bobby Boettcher.

Big deal, huh? There will be photo ops and proclamations about our “Century City,” but then it’s back to normal. 100 years might be news at City Hall, but does it matter to the average citizen? “I’ve lived here,” you might be saying, “for three years… 15 years... 30 years… so how much of this is about me?”

Plenty. Every citizen who has made Clifton home has a seat at this birthday table. This 100-year accomplishment isn’t about politician’s speeches, it’s about us – every Cliftonite whose first apartment was in Richfield Village, every kid who watched fireworks at Clifton Stadium, and every citizen who’s ordered a ripper at Rutt’s Hut or two all-the-way at the Hot Grill.

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It’s for every resident who made their Maple Valley Cape Cod, Lakeview two-family house, or Botany apartment into a little slice of heaven. And it’s for the thousands of working people who labored at Shulton, lit the lights at Bright Star, or fitted you for a prom or wedding tux at DeLuxe.

Clifton’s birthday is also for thousands of businesses – some here, some long gone – ones where you celebrated, like the Grand Saloon or Howard Johnson’s; others that fed you, like Poppy’s or the Red Chimney; and places that dazzled you with selection, like the RoweManse Emporium in the Styertowne Shopping Center, Epstein’s on Main Ave., or the Clifton Commons stores.

Two culinary landmarks in our hometown: The Hot Grill and Rutt’s Hut. Above left, back in 2000, that’s Hot Grill owners Carmen LaMendola and Domenick Sportelli with Congressman Bill Pascrell at center.

And it’s for those that helped you say farewell to a loved one, like Morrocco’s, Bizub’s, Shook’s or the Porter clan’s Allwood Funeral Home.

It’s a birthday for all those memories and milestones, and a million more like it.

Like America, Clifton grew from humble beginnings – rising from sleepy farms into a thriving, bustling city, one filled with traffic, noise, homes, parks, and people with immense hometown pride. It grew into successful community on the yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City (if you’ve driven on Route 3 toward NYC, you understand).

Most of all, Clifton’s 100-year birthday is for people. It’s been home to performers like Jon Seda, Nina Arianda, and Frankie Randall (Sinatra’s favorite piano man); directors like Ron Maxwell; athletes like Bob Holly, Doc Paternoster, and Erin Shaughnessy Monahan; politicians like Anna Latteri, Bill Bate, and Les Herrschaft; all-around good people like Ed Looney, Hooks Brower, Mary Oakley, and Lou Poles, and rising stars like Carlos Polanco, to name a few.

“This 100-year celebration is sounding better,” you might be thinking. “And I should know more about my hometown,” you admit. Fear not, your intrepid Clifton Merchant Magazine will take you on an abbreviated tour of some high points of the last 100 years.

1917: Beginnings If you think creating a bona fide city from the old Acquackanonck Township was a Kumbaya moment, think again. It was politics, Clifton style.

On April 24, 1917, nearly 75 percent of eligible voters cast ballots – 1,276 wanting to create a city, 948 against. The dissenting voters were afraid of higher taxes caused by increased government costs. The city fathers were so concerned about someone monkeying with the vote that they hired the Burns Detective Agency to keep watch.

According to Passaic County historian Edward A. Smyk, when the “Yes” voters won, a crowd of 500 (plus 50 automobiles) gathered, blowing horns and ringing cowbells. Fireworks boomed. The crowd swelled to 1,000.

Joined by a 35-piece band, they set off to the home of Col. John H. Adamson, a leading “No” voter, serenading him for 10 minutes about their big win.

On April 26, 1917, the proper papers were filed with the state, and Clifton became an official city. By 1920, US Census reported that the city had a population of 26,470 residents.

About that name… legend says in 1867 during a meeting to name land surrounding Main Ave., Mrs. Charles D. Spencer proclaimed: “There are the cliffs, and the name shall be Clifton.”

In the book History of Passaic and Its Environs, William M. Scott writes Mrs. Spencer was standing at the corner of Union Ave. and Second St. in what is now Downtown Clifton – who knows if she could see any cliffs from there?

Her husband was involved in developing the land, so it’s possible the name “Clifton” was a clever marketing tool designed to lure out-of-town buyers.

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At the 2003 dedication of Joseph Grecco Athletic Field, from left: Ken Kurnath and Bob Pityo, Dick Moran, Tom Tiefenbacher, Boby Boettcher, Lou Poles, Joe Grecco, Bill Vander Closter, Jim Haraka, Bob Amoruso, and Tom Papa.

Speaking about the challenges of building his football team, legendary coach Joe Grecco said of the city in the 1940s: “There was no ‘Clifton,’ only a collection of neighborhoods – Botany, Athenia, Lakeview, and others. The area around Main Ave. was considered ‘Clifton.’” This sentiment was especially strong at the city’s start, as residents identified more with their individual neighborhoods than the city.

The early years At Clifton’s start, a new City Hall building on Main and Harding Ave. anchored a business district; in 1926, Clifton High School on Piaget Ave. (now the Christopher Columbus Middle School) opened, giving the city a beginning of an identity. The 1920s roared as the city’s fire and police departments grew, banks were established, and companies such as New York Sash and Door and Givaudan made Clifton home.

The biggest business in town was the Doherty Silk Mill, the largest silk mill in the world, employing 1,000 people. Opened in 1910, the four-story brick building containing 144,000 sq. ft. of floor space was the flashpoint of the famous 1913 Paterson Silk Strike. The mill, at 1500 Main Ave., gave Clifton more fame as 8 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

owner Harry Doherty would schedule exhibition games with Major League Baseball teams against his Silk Sox, witnessed by crowds of more than 10,000.

In a 1923 game against the New York Yankees, Babe Ruth – one of 16 Hall of Famers to play at the Doherty Oval behind the mill – hit a titanic home run and ended the game as Clifton fans stormed the diamond.

Children mobbed the Babe, while adults mobbed the dugout and made off with the Yankees equipment.

The Clifton baseball “riot” story was published in newspapers across the nation.

As Clifton entered the Depression, the city was home to 46,000 people. Progress continued, though more slowly than before. Clifton adopted its current city manager form of government in 1934, the US Post Office moved its main branch to the corner of Washington and Main Aves. in 1936, and the future world famous Clifton High Mustang Band was founded in 1938.

Evidence of hard times was a single wall built for a stadium standing next to the high school, part of a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project – an initiative by President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration to get Americans working again.

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Elizabeth Taylor, Dr. Angelo Paternoster, Frankie Randall, Steve Dudiak, and Walter Pruiksma.

The Depression provided inspiration for one Cliftonite. After he lost his deli and meat market, Hap Nightingale began his beefsteak business – a true Clifton original – and served his first meal in an old firehouse on W. 2nd St. The rest is culinary history.

With the advent of World War II, Clifton’s patriotism was evident. More than 5,500 brave residents served in the armed forces, with more than 100 sacrificing their lives for our country.

When the war ended, football took a hand in building the city. Grecco’s 1946 Clifton Mustangs completed an undefeated season with the team’s “home” games played in Paterson’s Hinchcliffe Stadium. The team was so good that it was asked to play in the Oyster Bowl in Virginia, against Granby High School, and lost a disputed game, 6-0.

At the pre-game banquet in Virginia, Clifton schools Commissioner Emil Gacy made a vow. “He came over to the team,” remembered All-American running back Bobby Boettcher, “and said, ‘We’re going to build you boys that stadium.” The city enlisted Arthur Rigolo, the area’s leading architect, to redesign the stadium, and held a groundbreaking ceremony on January 7, 1947.

Estimates said it would cost $210,000 to complete.

The final cost: $600,000.

Clifton grows up On October 14, 1950, with members of the 1946 team in the stands, the Mustangs opened Clifton Stadium against Dickinson High School of Jersey City. Before 10,000 fans, the Mustangs triumphed, 19-6. “We knew,” Grecco said, “that a first game should be won.”

With football uniting the city, more people began identifying as Cliftonites. Grecco’s Mustangs rolled throughout the fifties and into the early sixties, winning repeatedly in the new stadium and turning Main Ave. into a ghost town during home games.

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But football wasn’t the only force driving Clifton in the fifties. Development swelled the population to 65,000 as developer Steve Dudiak built homes on former farms, and Joseph Brunetti began his Richfield Village garden apartment complex on a 108-acre tract of land at Allwood Rd. and Clifton Ave. Schools were added to serve the growing population.

With onset of the Korean War in 1950, Clifton again showed its patriotism, with 19 native sons paying the ultimate sacrifice.

During this era, new businesses made the city home as Shulton (1947), Fette Ford (1952), and Pfizer (1958) opened. Hailed as the “first modern strip mall in America,” Styertowne welcomed customers in 1952 to its 16 stores with room for 1,600 cars. Even the New York Yankees contributed as Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra opened a 40-lane bowling alley there in 1958.

Clifton also became a presidential pathway when then candidate General Dwight D. Eisenhower drove along Main Ave in 1952. Later, presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kennedy spoke at City Hall in 1961, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon traveled through Albion that same year.

Hollywood stars made their way to Clifton. In 1964, two of the brightest, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, visited Clifton Stadium during a fundraiser. Showing typical Clifton moxie, student Bob Lions, 17, stole a kiss from Taylor and vanished into the crowd.

America came of age in the sixties, as did Clifton.

With a population of 82,000 (which would grow to 91,000 by 1967), the city’s rural past was in its rearview mirror. Routes 46 and 3 carried drivers across Clifton, as did the Garden State Parkway.

In 1962, the new Clifton High School opened on land formerly part of the US Animal Quarantine Station. A massive learning complex, the school featured three wings and room for 3,000 students.

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Henry Fette, John Samra, Michael Yury Tarlavsky, Erin Monahan, and Bill Bate.

Like many cities, Clifton became known for its intense, sometimes cutthroat, politics. In 1966, lawyer Bill Bate garnered 16,035 votes, the most ever by a council candidate. Despite his mandate and Clifton’s tradition of awarding the top finisher the mayor’s job, council members voted Joseph Vanecek as mayor.

“It wasn’t personal,” Bate said, “it was politics. I was the lone Democrat. And since the Board of Education members were appointed by the mayor rather than elected by the people, they weren’t handing me the job.”

A more positive political story was the election of Anna M. Latteri, the city’s first woman elected to council. Four years later, Latteri, known as “the Hat,” became mayor – one of only 14 female US leaders for cities with more than 30,000 people. She died in office in 1973 at age 67.

One organization that all could support was the Clifton Boys Club (established in 1947) and Clifton Girls Club (formed in 1965). The two would merge in 1986. In 1963, the Boys Club purchased 90 acres in Jefferson Township, and “Camp Clifton” was born. The camp would serve Clifton youth into the eighties.

While young musical groups rocked Clifton in the sixties and seventies, the “best damn band in the land” was the Marching Mustangs.

In 1959, the band marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., gaining national fame. In 1970, behind majorette Cindy MacVicker, the 146-strong Mustang Band marched into the World Music Festival in Kerkrade, Holland, and brought home the gold medal.

The Fighting Mustang football teams were also impressive. Now guided by Coach Bill Vander Closter, Clifton went undefeated in 1972 and 1973 (rated third nationally in 1973), winning consecutive New Jersey state championships.

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The seventies were known for protests and political scandals. The most famous local protest was the 1973 Clifton Teachers Association strike when 600 educators walked off the job – led by then teacher and future principal, William Cannici. The two-day work action shut down 16 schools.

Scandals, however, were kept quiet as Clifton became known for low taxes and being tough on crime.

To get things done, it was good to be on the right side of Clifton’s iconic “Bills” – City Manager William Holster and Superintendent of Schools William F. Shershin, in their roles since the fifties.

In the seventies and eighties, Clifton became known for its club scene. Nightclubs included Krackers, JP’s on Route 3 (now the site of a Honda dealership), and Joey’s Place. But it was Casey’s on Allwood Rd. (now Bliss Lounge) that drew the area’s largest crowds.

Other Clifton clubs included the more informal Rick’s Pub and upscale Ashley’s.

Though the sixties and seventies had its high points, the years were also painful, as Clifton lost 29 soldiers in Vietnam, part of the more than 300 citizens lost in foreign wars.

Changes and challenges Heading toward the new century, Clifton began to change – going from an overwhelmingly white population to one that would feature incredible diversity today.

In 1980, City Hall relocated into the former U.S. Animal Quarantine property near the high school. Two year later, Clifton elected its second female mayor, Gloria Kolodziej. The changes didn’t stop. By 1984, the Garret Mountain cliffs that Mrs. Spencer supposedly spied in 1867 became a memory, as a quarry reduced them to rubble. As 1990 arrived, the population dropped to 71,000 people.

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The Clifton Fighting Mustangs and over 8,000 fans showed up at Giants Stadium on Dec. 2, 2006 as the Mustangs vanquished the Eastside Ghosts 26-0 to bring home the North 1, Group 4 state championship trophy. That following June in 2007, the Lady Mustangs softball team took home the North 1, Group 4 state championship against Toms River East.

Pictured below is the cover from our Dec. 2006 magazine. Turn to page 120 to see those 2007 Lady Mustangs.

Clifton had reached a crossroad – it could become stagnant or change.

The city chose the latter, spurred by world events that would push it in that direction.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, immigrants from Eastern Europe headed to Clifton, attracted by its ample housing.

Latin Americans also came to Clifton in large numbers, as did a sizeable population of Arabic, Indian and Turkish immigrants. By 2000, the population grew to almost 79,000.

But gaining population was not the only solution. The loss of ratables had negatively impacted Clifton, as businesses like Shulton, Automatic Data Processing, Givaudan, Athenia Steel, and ITT left, reduced in size, or closed, leaving empty spaces in their wake.

Under the leadership of James Anzaldi, who would serve as mayor for the next 27 years, a motivated city council, and a collection of talented city managers, Clifton reinvented itself.

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Cambridge Crossing, a 637-unit of condos and townhomes, was built on the former 42-acre Shulton site, angering many residents who wanted less congestion, not more. The Athenia Steel property became a site for senior housing and a park, and vacant businesses along Route 3 were turned into high-traffic shopping areas, including Costco, Clifton Commons, and The Promenade Shops at Clifton.

With the rise in population, current Clifton businesses expanded, with Corrado’s a significant example. Opened in its present location in 1975, Corrado’s grew from a simple grocery catering to Italian-American clientele to a multi-product and service complex, serving Clifton’s entire diverse community.

Clifton approached the new millennium with optimism. But like other communities surrounding New York City, it also suffered through tragedy.

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 took the lives of 11 Clifton residents.

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Beefsteak was invented here in Clifton by Hap Nightingale, at left with Andy Miller of The Paddock, as well as Yankees Billy Johnson, Yogi Berra and Paterson News sportswriter Joe Gooter. At right, birthday boy Joe Nikischer and Arlene.

Two year later, motorcycle officer John Samra was killed responding to an accident – the first policeman to die in the line of duty in the city’s history.

Clifton also lost US Army Special Forces Captain Michael Tarlavsky, a 1992 CHS graduate, who died fighting in Iraq in 2004.

In the midst of this tragedy, Clifton responded with patriotism and resolve.

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The city instituted an “Avenue of Flags” in 2002, the idea being the brainchild of WWII veteran Walter Pruiksma. The first celebration (now held on Sept. 11, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, and Veterans Day) featured 200 flags, each representing a Clifton veteran.

Today’s Avenue of Flags days display more than 1,800 flags decorating the roads around City Hall.

100 years strong Clifton’s population sits at near 86,000 in 2017, making it the seventhlargest city in New Jersey. It has reinvented itself several times, changed populations, and thrived – preserving some of its history, sadly losing other parts, and adding new business and opportunities throughout.

One of the best endorsements for the city comes from Joseph Nikischer, who celebrates his 87th birthday on April 26, the same day as Clifton turns 100.

Born on an apartment kitchen table on the corner of Parker and Highland Avenues in Botany Village, he remembers riding the bus for a nickel, seeing movies for 11 cents, and spending afternoons swimming in the Dundee Canal. He recalls his boyhood Clifton having fewer cars, more taverns, and friendly people.

While Nikischer misses parts of old Clifton, he remains a fan of the city. “I like what’s happening here,” he said of his Botany neighborhood that over a decade ago became a SID or Special Improvement District. “Every neighborhood in the city should be a special improvement district,” he said, noting the benefits, such as the Friday music series presented by the Botany Historic SID. “I can’t wait until Fridays in June when everyone comes out and listens to the bands perform.”

Nikischer, who will celebrate 60 years of marriage to his wife Arlene this September, would not live anywhere else. “People are friendly with me and I’m comfortable here. This is a very historic place.”

Your Ad Support Allows This Great Story of Clifton’s History to Continue We know our readers enjoy this look back at our Hometown during Clifton's Centennial.

And with the support of our advertisers, our timeline of the Not-So-Distant past will soon pick up in the 1990s.

To advertise, please call

Tom Hawrylko

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Clifton Merchant Magazine • Volume 11 • Issue 9 • September 8, 2006

Renewal of Historic Botany Village began in the 1960s, reaching fruition in 1980. Our September 2006 magazine focused on the neighborhood and its progress as a Special Improvement District. Go to historicbotanyvillage.org for info.

NJ Business Magazine in Jan. 1980 hails Clifton’s Botany Village as “urban renewal with panache.” A thriving industrial center during the 19th century, the area adjoined the famous Botany Mills which, along with nearby Forstman Mills, made Clifton one of the American wool industry’s vital centers. When the two companies joined the trek of textile firms moving southward, the section faded.

Then Bill Walters became Clifton’s urban renewal director in 1964 and one of his first priorities was rehabilitation of the rundown shopping area.

It took four years of planning, convincing, and construction, as well as dedicated assistance from supporters, such as: Carmen Maggio of the Rowe-Manse Gift Shop; Tom Sullivan, a newspaperman with the former Paterson Morning Call, who had presented the restoration idea two years earlier; and Vincent DeRose, vice president of First National Bank of New Jersey. In 1968, Clifton’s mayor council established Botany Village.

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The result was a shopping center with some 75 stores and about 200 dwelling units. Clifton’s tax rolls were increased by $1.5 million; the city received about $35,000 a year in added taxes related to the renewal, and perhaps the same amount indirectly because of the improved value of nearby residential and business areas.

Aesthetically, the magazine stated, “Botany Village is a painstakingly restored bit of the past.

“Sherwin-Williams Company came up with a book it had published in 1887. Paint was used on doors and wainscoting, with brown, maroon, green, gray and buff most popular.

“Old street lamps were specially built from specifications supplied by the Thomas A. Edison Museum in West Orange. To make them look like old gas lamps, special dull finishes were supplied.

“An old-fashioned flagstaff, made of new style fiberglass, was erected. Brickwork in the square was laid by once-unemployed men trained by Clifton’s Public Works Department, as were railroad ties used around trees. A modern tax ratable combing wistful bit of nostalgia: Clifton’s Botany Village.”

Today, the neighborhood is a Special Improvement District known as Clifton Historic Botany District, Inc. A group of volunteers, including residents, business owners from the historic area, and the newer Botany Plaza, along with civic and political leaders, continue to revitalize and redevelop Historic Botany Village.

Jan. 7, 1980: As the city government prepares to move to the new City Hall in March, the Council ponders its sale options for the old City Hall on Main and Hadley Aves. Passaic County Community College made a substantial offer for the property and the Chamber of Commerce supports the deal believing it will attract shoppers to the area. However, Freeholder Terry LaCorte, as well as area residents, are opposed and favor use of the property for office buildings, believing the business firms will cause less vehicular traffic.

Jan. 11, 1980: The Delawanna Civic Group opposed dumping of excess clean fill removed for installation of a sewage line. The proposed dumping area is a lowlying section of School 8 on Oak Street, prone to flooding. The group demands City Manager William Holster confirm the material is free of contaminants.

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Jan. 16, 1980: Mayor Zecker and opponents of the Municipal Utilities Authority lost their bid to bar Holster’s plan to lay off 28 policemen hired in 1979.

Holster intends to use the $1.6 million freed up through the salary cuts to pay 80 former CETA (the federally funded Comprehensive Employment and Training Acts) employees added to the city payroll on Oct. 1 when CETA funds were no longer available to pay their salaries. Holster maintains the 28 patrolmen represent about 20% of the department and enlarging patrol districts will compensate for their loss.

Jan. 17, 1980: More than 200 residents are each fined $35 for the pools they own and enjoy but failed to pay the normal assessment fee, which ranges from $3 to $6. Frank Mileto, code enforcement officer, said that between the combined shortage of personnel and the various responsibilities assigned his department, the one inspector available cannot inspect each pool and send out reminders to every pool owner in the city.

Jan. 17, 1980: City Attorney Arthur Sullivan Jr., a former councilman and later city attorney for more than 12 years, who then acted as special counsel to the city, is retiring.

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Jan. 18, 1980: City Manager William Holster nixed the 911 system proposed by Councilman Gerald Friend.

Holster informed Friend that he “looked into the 911 system (which was developed in NYC to speed police and fire emergency calls) and it is not workable for our city, as far as we are concerned.”

On Jan. 20, 1980, Father Julian Varettoni at Sacred Heart R.C. Church made a special request to parishioners: “Everyone say a prayer for Ray Malavasi and the Los Angeles Rams to win the Super Bowl today.” While calling on God to intervene on NFL team’s behalf was highly unusual at a Catholic Mass, it wasn’t every day that a former parishioner and CHS 1948 grad was coaching in America’s biggest game. The Pittsburgh Steelers won, 31-19, but Herald-News sportswriter Augie Lio summed up the city’s pride best when he wrote: “Congratulations, Ray. If there has ever been one time in your extensive coaching career where your true character and guts have showed, this is it.” See a profile of Malavasi and his life and times at cliftonmagazine.com in January 2017.

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Stephen J. Lendl, who served as Clifton Fire Chief from June 20, 1965 to Jan. 1, 1981, and Chief Joseph Colca, who held the post from Nov. 12, 1980 to May 1, 1985. Police Capt. Ernest Capuano, who retired on Feb. 2, 1980, after 33 years of service.

Council members Louise Friedman and Joe Grecco.

Jan. 20, 1980: Councilman Anzaldi lashes out at “political waste by county government” and urges approval of a cap referendum to enable municipal government to avoid cutback of services and firing of 80 employees.

Jan. 23, 1980: Mayor Zecker retained an attorney to file suit to prevent the creation of the Municipal Utilities Authority proposed by City Manager William Holster. Zecker is supported by council members Gerald Friend, Joseph Grecco, Louise Friedman, and Joseph Kolodziej. “This is exactly what former Mayor John Lindsay did in New York City,” said Zecker, “bonding to pay salaries, which almost bankrupted them in the end.”

Jan. 30, 1980: Levelor Lorentzen proposal for the 8acre tract owned by NJ Bell Telephone Co. at Main Ave. and Rutherford Blvd. is again delayed. The window and blind manufacturer won the site plan approval, but attempts to begin construction have been blocked

by Eleanor Arangio, head of the Delawanna Citizens’ Association. Residents say the building will be too big for the site and that the railroad sidings for delivery and shipping processes will cause noise and danger.

Feb. 1, 1980: Allwood residents urge State Senator Joseph Hirkala to stop NJDOT’s plan to build a truck and auto rest near Knollcroft Park, south of Route 3.

They say the site attracts people who indulge in improper behavior, as well as crime and pollution.

Feb. 7, 1980: A bond issue to purchase of the old post office on Main Ave. fails. Instead, the council considers barns on the former U.S. Quarantine Station as sites for expansion of programs for seniors and recreation.

Feb. 8, 1980: Federal guidelines suggest that the Clifton Police Department force should incorporate 30% 24 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

women and 20% minorities. Holster says the guideline requirements are downgrading police hiring standards and city officials are proud of the police force and the caliber of personnel it attracts. The council members believe Clifton should be able to hire the best candidates and not be guided by requirements. Officials pointed out there are few minorities living in Clifton necessitating such hiring practices. Nonetheless, they direct Community Development Director William Walters to conduct a survey of minorities to get candidates.

Feb. 12, 1980: Clifton council members deny accusations that they collaborated to embarrass Mayor Zecker in his lawsuit against the MUA and in switching the referendum dates for a $1.5 million cap waiver.

Council members Joseph Grecco, Joseph Kolodziej, and Gerald Friend, and Louise Friedman, denied having communicated with Holster to obtain advice on their vote on either proposal and maintain they simply are listening to the people of Clifton who are concerned about the possible loss of fire and police protection if the budget is slashed. Friend said the mayor’s suggested supplemental help from residents as volunteers would be a step backward for the safety of residents.

The accusations were leveled by the mayor, along with Councilmen James Anzaldi and George Bayeux.

Feb. 13, 1980: William Becker of 50 Virginia Ave, was one of three men killed when their small plane crashed after departing from Teterboro. The crash was in a wooded area about 10 miles north of Lake Placid where the Winter Olympics were held. Becker was an associate in a CPA firm with his father Phillip, Becker and Becker, at 1115 Clifton Ave. Becker was described as a successful entrepreneur. He is survived by his wife and three young children.

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Feb. 20, 1980: Levelor Lorentzen Inc., the national window and blind manufacturing firm, drops its plan to build a factory in Clifton. Approved by the city planning board, but opposed by the Delawanna Citizens League, the factory would have employed 400 people and provided about $8 million in tax ratables.

Feb. 21, 1980: The Clifton-Passaic Regional Chamber of Commerce hosts a meeting with City Manager William Holster and Mayor Gerald Zecker. Holster presented figures to support the MUA as a way to prevent employee layoffs. Zecker, speaking for the “people of Clifton,” said other steps can be taken to prevent the layoffs without adding debt.

March 4, 1980: Claiming the city is being destroyed by a vindictive city council, a group of 29 business leaders and former officials created the Save Our City committee. The group, led by former movie executive Harold Zeltner, issued invitations to their meeting and would not allow any uninvited members of the Delawanna Citizens Group. Save Our City resolutely defended City Manager William Holster and attacked the Delawanna Citizens for causing the city to lose the Levelor factory project.

March 5, 1980: Superior Court Judge Burl Ives Humphrey warns of the financial soundness of creating the Municipal Utilities Authority. Humphrey acknowledged it was one way to raise additional money to pay city bills, but considered it a poor alternative. Judge Humphrey heard both Mayor Zecker and City Manager William Holster’s sides of the case and was expected to make a decision within a few days. Ultimately, the judge decided the MUA to be constitutional, and said “that Clifton is using “what appears to be a lawful means to what appears to be a lawful end.” Humphrey indicated any further objection to the bonding should be directed to the State Division of Local Government Services who must approve the annual budget of each New Jersey municipality.

From left, curators of the Hamilton House: Elvira Hessler, Jule Olczak, Gen Generalli, and Norma Smith.

March 4, 1980: The Van Wagoner-Hamilton House was relocated by truck from the Notch on Valley Rd. and moved a few hundred feet up the street to its present location at Surgent Park. These days, the Hamilton House is Clifton’s living history museum. Curator Norma Smith and volunteers keep the Hamilton House vibrant and relevant by offering tours to school kids, sponsoring events and other activities. For info on the activities there, call 973-744-5707.

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exceed $75,000. The equipment was recently acquired and is used for processing of airline reservations.

March 19, 1980: The home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Blatt, 53 Rowland Ave., was firebombed by two males who departed in a beige car. The Blatts said a similar incident happened in October.

March 27, 1980: Tough new school policies reduce truancy. Owen Engler, principal of Christopher Columbus Junior High School (at left), said attendance improved from 89.6 percent to 95 percent in two months.

March 21, 1980: Edgar Wilson Jr. was out riding his horse on Kuller Rd. around 10:30 pm when a car driver, who claimed not to have seen the horse and rider, hit them near Hazel St. Wilson was knocked from the horse and was treated for injuries. The horse was severely injured and a veterinarian euthanized him. The animal was buried beside the road by DPW employees.

April 2, 1980: City Manager William Holster’s wife of 42 years, the former Phoebe May Jones, dies at age 66 after a lengthy illness. Mrs. Holster had taught Honors English classes at CHS for 22 years.

March 25, 1980: A blaze at 1330 Main Ave. badly damaged valuable computer and other equipment belonging to Cosmos Travel, Litvin Realty, David Krugman Insurance, Scheidemann Insurance, and Love, Wesner and Cooney Insurance. Deputy Fire Chief Walter DeGroot said the fire took only 20 minutes to contain but because of the equipment destroyed the loss may

April 9, 1980: A bandit escaped with $5,000 from the Main Ave. First National Bank of New Jersey. Det. John Fetko said the bandit patiently waited his turn then handed the teller a note demanding money. The teller complied, and sounded the alarm as the bandit fled. No weapon was used though the bandit kept his hand in his pocket and implied he had a weapon.

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By Michael C. Gabriele

The Mustang Marching Band visited many far-flung destinations within the continental United States and beyond during the 1980s. At every stop, students, led by former band director Robert D. Morgan (CHS 1966), demonstrated fine musicianship, showmanship, and the “four Ds” (Drive, Desire, Discipline, and Dedication).

In 1980, the band received an invitation to perform at the prestigious Harrogate International Youth Music Festival, held in the Yorkshire region of England.

Students, chaperones, and teachers traveled from March 31 to April 12, arriving at Gatwick Airport on April 1.

Arrangements had been made for students to stay with local families during their visit. In addition to the Mustang Band, the Harrogate festival attracted nearly 1,000 high school musicians (bands, choirs, and orchestras) from Sweden, Finland, West Germany, Belgium, Argentina, and throughout the United Kingdom.

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Kathy Grimshaw, Clifton reference librarian today, was a senior member of the band in 1980 and kept a detailed diary of the Harrogate excursion.

Grimshaw, above left with her trumpet and other band mates, recited the band’s performance itinerary: concerts at Harrogate’s Royal Hall on April 2 and April 4; a parade down the city’s Parliament Street on April 3; a concert at Bramham Park in West Yorkshire on April 5; a return engagement to Royal Hall on April 6; a concert at Castle Howard, a grand “stately home” in North Yorkshire, on April 7; and a lavish farewell performance, again at Grand Hall, a show that included all of the international student musicians, on April 8.

The balance of the trip involved tourist destinations for the Clifton musicians on their way back to London, one of which was Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

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Kathy Grimshaw’s scrapbook from the Mustang Band’s trip to the Harrogate music festival included newspaper clips dated April 9, 1980, which featured Drum Majorette Cathy Castiglione and a shot of the band marching in a parade.

Drum Majorette Cathy Castiglione, wielding her mace, led the band through its paces at the Harrogate festival. Grimshaw recalled the band drew raves not only for its musical performances, but also for its trademark highstepping, precision, Big-10 style formation marching.

“None of the other marching bands did that,” she said.

As for her favorite sights and experiences, Grimshaw recalled with a chuckle that “we visited so many magnificent castles that they became a blur!” The visit to Harrogate did have some heartstring significance for Grimshaw, as her paternal grandparents, along with several aunts and uncles, were born and lived in the Yorkshire region.

An obituary for George Charles Strand, a longtime Clifton resident who died earlier this year, stated that one of Strand’s “most fondly remembered accomplishments” was serving as the band’s trip chairman for the

Harrogate International Youth Festival. A Korean War Army vet, Strand coached Clifton Little League baseball teams, and worked at his family’s Montclair tavern.

In 1981, the Marching Mustangs were in Montreal.

Two years later they trekked to the Shrewsbury Summer Youth Music Festival in Wales, UK. The band traveled to Washington, DC to perform on Jan. 21, 1985, for the second inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, and headed westward in April 1986 for performances at festivals and events in San Francisco, Honolulu, and Los Angeles.

A 1966 graduate of CHS, Morgan, interviewed recently, recalled how these trips served as positive, educational experiences for the students.

“You could see it in the looks on their faces,” he said.

“It made a big impression on them. When we traveled to England, it was like they were reliving history.”

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32 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

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To commemorate the move of City Hall to its present location at the corner of Van Houten and Clifton Aves., a postcard was published with photos of the three structures which served the city. Clifton’s Township Committee meetings and tax collections took place at the Clifton Hotel (Main and Madison Aves.) in the early 1900s. In 1917, on Main and Harding Aves., a building was constructed to house the Fire and Police Departments and City Hall. An annex was added in 1940.

April 28, 1980: Police Lieutenant Richard Hornby retires after 33 years with Clifton law enforcement.

May 19, 1980: Hamilton Van Wagoner organizers submitted a proposal to the NJ Historical Association for a grant to pay for eight overnight sessions for 48 girls to study housekeeping procedures from the past. It sounded innocent enough but here is the response they received: “... the grant reviewers could not allocate state funds for a project that could easily be labeled sexist stereotyping in violation of Title 9, since it would provides a funded experience for just girls.”

States Animal Quarantine Station, for a bargain price of $526,000. Questions remain as to what type of business will occupy the former Main Ave. structure and the impact it will have on the businesses in what was then known as the Main Mall of Clifton.

Aug. 13, 1980: Duralite Lawn Furniture, which operated in the old Forstmann Mills in Botany Village, which were ultimately demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for K-Mart, Pathmark, and other stores across Randolph Ave., closes and 250 jobs are lost

Dec. 7, 1980: Christmas was celebrated with a Dutch touch at the Hamilton House – a 19th century restored farmhouse that is now a city museum. The small stone house, built and lived in by Dutch settlers, had its room decorated with natural, simple things, such as garlands of evergreens and holly, candles, and paper ornaments.

A Christmas tree had been strung with walnuts, popcorn, and cranberries. In keeping with Dutch Christmas customs, a pair of wooden shoes stood near the door of the house filled with carrots and hay for St. Nick’s horse. Upstairs in the attic, a special display of antique toys had been set up.

Sept. 14, 1980: The new City Hall at Clifton and Van Houten Aves. is officially dedicated, moving hundreds of employees from Downtown Clifton. The city purchased 26 acres of land, home of the former United

Dec. 8, 1980: Former Beatle John Lennon is assassinated when assailant Mark Chapman approached him for his autograph, then fatally shot Lennon outside of his New York City apartment, the Dakota.

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Angelo Bertelli, in 1985 with his Heisman Trophy. Mike Bertelli in May, 1980, with Pope John Paul II; below, in a more recent photo by Barrie Samuels, Mike goes nose-to-nose with one of his works displayed at the Clifton Arts Center.

Bertelli’s Commerce, Art & History How many folks do you know who have met the Pope and have a father who won the Heisman Trophy? If you know Mike Bertelli, you know one of them.

Bertelli grew up between Urma Rd. and Pershing Ave., but moved to Allendale after he married. Still, “for the next 40 years, I came down to Clifton every day” to work as a wine connoisseur at Bertelli’s Liquors, his father’s business in Styertowne Shopping Center. His father, Angelo Bertelli is the 1943 Heisman Trophy winner from his years at Notre Dame.

Son Mike literally has carved his own claim to fame, producing sculptures in wood, marble, stone, bronze, and ceramic. Bertelli sculptures grace numerous Clifton locations, including: the “Bronze Eagle” in front of City Hall; “King George” in Jubilee Park; “Passin’ By” on the Clifton High School campus; “The Sage” at the corner of Main Ave. and Delawanna Ave.; and “3 Snubbies” in front of the Clifton Arts Center.

While busy earning living and raising a family, “I took a turn at sculpture at age 27,” said Bertelli. Though largely self-taught, he did receive some formal training “in an art school in Ridgewood.”

Among the first to recognize Bertelli’s skill was US Federal Judge Vincent Commisa of Newark, who in 1977 commissioned Bertelli for the artist’s first work, a copy of Michaelangelo's “Third Pieta” – the marble statue on display in Florence of Mary holding Christ after he had been crucified.

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Clifton’s John Cascioli, a member of the Alcoholic Beverage Council of America (ABCA), saw Bertelli’s “Third Pieta” copy, and convinced ABCA to hire Bertelli to sculpt a bust of Pope John Paul II for one of ABCA’s favorite charities - Boys Town of Italy.

The bust was donated to Boys Town of Italy in 1980.

While presenting his copy of the masterwork in Rome, Bertelli personally met Pope John Paul II. Said Bertelli, “The few minutes I was with him was an emotional thrill, second only to seeing Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.”

When the Clifton Arts Center and Sculpture Park, spearheaded by the late Dr. Jerry Raphael, debuted in 2000, Bertelli wanted to contribute. He contacted Dr.

Raphael, “who was an avid art fan, and an expert on glass, a collector of it.” But Bertelli’s offer to build a sculpture “in situ – on site – right there” at the sculpture park didn’t fly at first.

“Dr. Raphael told me, ‘We’re not going to fool around [with this for now]; let’s go to the high school.’ Dr. Raphael knew the principal, and got approval, so for a year or two, I went to the high school every day after work” to create “Passin’ By.” Bertelli praised Raphael and the city for founding the sculpture park in the City Hall complex. “City Hall is a fabulous place because it gets so much traffic,” Bertelli observed. “There are not too many sculpture parks that get that kind of traffic flow.”

Eventually Bertelli’s work found its way into the sculpture park, and he also was offered a slot on the Clifton Arts Center Board of Trustees “because I knew about sculpture, and they needed someone to watch over the park. I love it; I get to keep my foot in there. I maintain the sculpture park, working with Director Roxanne Cammilleri,” he said. “It’s a gem, though there’s so much we could do that we haven’t yet. We have ideas to raise awareness.”

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Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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Call me at 973-779-1900 (office) 973-801-9497(cell) tsanchez@weichertrealtors.net Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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Feb. 2, 1981: Councilman Joseph Kolodziej, 47, dies from cancer at his Athenia home. Elected to the council in 1978, Kolodziej (at left) was known for his attention to detail, his deliberate approach to issues, as a champion of rent control, and advocacy for a strict adherence to the master plan.

At the next council meeting, Councilman George Bayeux nominates Kolodziej’s widow Gloria to serve out her husband’s term.

With her husband’s death, Kolodziej also took over running the business he had started in 1979 – Conveyors by North American on Huron Ave. – all this while raising four children.

Gloria Kolodziej ran for election in 1982 and became mayor as the top vote-getter that year and was re-elected as mayor in 1986 – the first person to serve back-to-back terms – and remained on the council until retiring in 2010. She died on Dec. 9, 2016 at age 77.

Her legacy includes the Steep Slope Ordinance to preserve Garret Mountain, efforts toward the formation of the Clifton Arts Center, named after her in 2010, the construction of the Main Memorial Library on Piaget Ave., and expansion of the Boys & Girls Club. She swore in her son, Joseph Kolodziej Jr., to a seat on the Council on July 1, 2010.

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Clifton Arts Center, pictured with summer camp students and Director Jeff Labriola, was once one of the many barns of the former US Animal Quarantine Station on Clifton Ave. Established in 1884, the site on which City Hall is now located, served as the nation’s largest animal quarantine station. Animals entering the United States were held in Clifton and stayed on the grounds for inspection.

The station’s primary function was to safeguard domestic livestock and poultry by proper quarantining all imported domesticated and wild animals. On Aug. 7, 1981, the site was entered into the New Jersey Register of Historic Places.

Jan. 29, 1981: Animal warden Bill Gibson and health officer Stuart Palfreyman use .22 caliber rifles with lowpowered cartridge in the “Great Pigeon War.” Pigeons have become a health hazard in at least 15 locations.

Some citizens applaud, while others are upset. Under state law, the city is obligated to remove the fowl.

March 30, 1981: John Hinckley attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. Hinckley wounded Reagan with a bullet that ricocheted and hit him in the chest. Also wounded were Police Officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and Press Secretary James Brady.

Feb. 23, 1981: Arson is the cause of a fire that destroys the Looking Glass Restaurant, also known as Frank Alberta’s Restaurant. Flames were spotted by a passerby but by the time firefighters arrive, smoke is pouring from the windows of the three-story building, located in the middle of Route 46 near the Paterson border. It takes firefighters 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control.

April 14, 1981: Judge Thomas Rumana reverses his decision of a year ago barring construction of the townhouse complex on the eastern slope of Garret Mountain. This began the process for the Steep Slope Ordinance. His reversal is based on a Supreme Court ruling that under terms of the state’s Municipal Land Use Act, hardship alone constitutes sufficient grounds for granting a building variance. Montclair Heights residents oppose the Hamilton Crest project, whose principals are former Councilman Thomas Cupo, a local developer, and the Becker family.

March 11, 1981: Fire destroys the auditorium of Sacred Heart RC School, located near Ackerman and Clifton Aves. in Botany, causing a loss of $200,000. Area churches and schools offer facilities and equipment in support.

Sacred Heart opened in 1953 and closed in 2010.

March 28, 1981: A fire at New York Sash and Door Company, on Rosalie Ave. and currently the site of Athenia Mason Supply, guts a partially open 100-yardlong shed filled with expensive lumber. The damage is estimated to be about $500,000.

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May 12, 1981: A judge orders Alex Bidnik, the publisher of the weekly paper Independent Prospector, to pay a Clifton woman $5,001 for libeling her in a February edition of his publication. The articles, part of a gossip column, attacked the woman’s opposition to the building of the new City Hall on Clifton Ave.

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Sept. 2, 1981: City Manager William Holster is under unprecedented scrutiny as the council investigates what is commonly known as the Weasel Brook storm-sewer project. The inquiries came after six months of delays regarding the project. Completed in 1980, it began as a $1.3 million renovation but includes cost overruns of $460,000.

Holster, who has been on sick leave for eight months, is expected to loom large in the investigation because he is also city engineer and had control over contract revisions, which produced the bulk of the extra costs. Building inspector Frank Mileto is named acting city manager.

Dec. 2, 1981: The first edition of Dateline Clifton (below) is published with Tom Hawrylko (editor and publisher of Clifton Merchant Magazine) as founding editor.

Dec. 17, 1981: Athenia Steel, one of Clifton’s oldest industrial plants, closes for four weeks in what company officials said is a move dictated by a slumping economy.

The shutdown will idle 167 unionized workers and 30 managers. Employees seemed concerned, but generally hopeful that improved market conditions would prevent more permanent cutbacks.

Sept. 15, 1981: A display of 331 historic postcards worth $1,000 is stolen from the Main Memorial Library. The thieves were apparently only interested in the postcards, which depicted scenes from Clifton, Passaic, and Paterson’s past. No other items were taken.

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On April 26, 1982, Clifton’s 65th year of incorporation is marked with a dinner at the Robin Hood Inn on Valley Rd. (now Valley Regency) with a menu featuring Richfield Fruit Cup, Allwood Mushroom Salad with Montclair Heights Dressing, Clifton Turkey, Albion Stringbeans, Botany Parsley Potatoes, Acquackanonk Cranberry Sauce, Rosemawr Stuffing, Dutch Hill Carrots, Robin Hood Birthday Cake, and Athenia Wine and Soda. The journal, pictured above right, was designed by Dorothy Baldanza and featured a story by historian Bill Wurst, which recalled “those heady days leading up to the decisive poll taken on April 24, 1917: was Acquackanonk to become an incorporated city called Clifton?”

Jan. 4, 1982: Mustang track team expands footprint as CHS announces the formation of an indoor track team headed by Coach Nick Capuano.

Jan. 13, 1982: Robert Norsavage, Jr. intends to start Clifton’s first radio station, saying he believes the city needs a radio station of its own as it would be beneficial to residents and provide entertainment. The music selection would be comprised of top 40s and requests, and also offer a discussion forum.

Jan. 27, 1982: Police work and community involvement through Crime Watch organizations are credited with 5.7 percent drop in crime rate for 1981, according to Police Chief Edward Kredatus. Burglaries show the most impressive decrease.

Feb. 2, 1982: City Manager Holster’s failure to submit a doctor’s explanation of his medical problem is holding up the next phase of the Weasel Brook investigation.

The unprecedented probe into contract overruns has recessed until city council Sam Monchak and the council prepare a set of written questions to be answered by Holster. Monchak has heard nothing from Holster’s attorney or his physician. The list of questions were not to be sent until a detailed doctor’s note had been received by the council. Meanwhile, Holster left for South Carolina for an unspecified length of time.

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March 3, 1982: Joseph Lynn is appointed acting city manager after the resignation of Frank Mileto. City Manager William Holster continues on an extended sick leave while Mileto stays on as Clifton’s chief building inspector.

March 31, 1982: Botany Village A&P closes and leaves the area without an anchor store, also leaving area businesses missing the pedestrian traffic the supermarket attracted. Community Development Director William Walters said Botany, an urban renewal project, was designed to have a major anchor and that he was working with A&P to find a new tenant to take over the space.

May 1, 1982: Gloria Kolodziej is elected the second female mayor in Clifton history.

May 5, 1982: Clifton ’82 members Thomas Cupo of Cupo Realty, attorney Frank Carlet, former city Republican party leader Joe Calise, president of the Hamilton Society Henry DeVos, president of the Clifton Foodtown John Weiss, and retired factory worker Harry Kyse look to elect seven council members who are “progressive and positive for the city.” Some think they have their own agenda, including putting people who will represent their business interests in the City Council. For instance, Cupo owns the Hamilton Tract on Valley Rd., but denies that the next council will make decisions regarding development of the land.

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May 26, 1982: City Manager William Holster retires after 40 years due to ongoing ill health. Holster was controversial – Clifton’s champion to some, a man wielding too much power to others. Holster’s major accomplishments include maintaining a stable tax rate, balancing industrial and residential interests, and drawing qualified professionals as city employees. Holster served as city manager from 1957 to 1982 and was a dynamic leader who, according to newspaper accounts, was “revered almost as a legend.” He enjoyed widespread support from the City Council during most of his 25 years in office and was well known in county and state political circles. He was the longest-serving city manager and the last one to have tenure in the position.

July 28, 1982: Clifton Southern claims the District 2 Little League Championship.

Oct. 13, 1982: CHS students prepare for the future with an “Introduction to Computers” class.

Nov. 3, 1982: Athenia Reformed Church on Clifton Ave. celebrates 100th anniversary.

Dec. 1, 1982: Rosemawr residents are ecstatic, at least temporarily, that the Planning Board rejected a proposal to build 39-single family homes on surplus land in King Solomon Memorial Park cemetery.

On Oct. 1, 1982, City Manager Bill Holster, Lorraine Kroll, Terry Hannon, and Clifton Journal Editor & Publisher George Kroll shared a moment at Holster’s retirement dinner, which was attended by 900.

Dec. 8, 1982: A state bill sponsored by Assemblyman Terry LaCorte and aimed at Clifton is defeated. The bill stipulates that a city council candidate who receives the most election votes – in a city using a city manager form of government and a population of at least 65,000 – would become mayor. Clifton is the only New Jersey city that meets those qualifications. The bill is stopped

by Senator Frank X. Graves Jr., who contends it would defeat the essence of the municipal election process.

Jan. 5, 1983: Clifton Dateline and Clifton News Journal merge. While Dateline was founded just a year prior, the Clifton News Journal, owned by George Kroll, has roots dating to 1930. Since July 2016, Clifton Journal has been owned by Gannett, publishers of USA Today.

on Clift

On Feb. 3, 1982, Clifton’s “V” Channel Magazine (now Channel 77) goes live, with coverage of municipal meetings, community affairs, movie reviews, and rock groups. Broadcasting from City Hall, Main Library, and CHS, the goalswas to improve community access to local government. Above, Rich Stroligo and Matt Nichols in 1983 at CHS.

46 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

OUR HEART’S IN IT...

WE CARE

Jan. 18, 1983: A red, white and blue bumper sticker, which reads, “Clifton, Our Heart’s In It... We Care,” was unveiled Monday by its designer, a Montclair State College student. “It’s a bit wordy, but I decided to go with it anyhow,” said Tom Hawrylko, 25, who spent $350 of his own money to have the stickers printed.

The slogan incorporates the “We Care” phrase devised some time ago by city Community Development director Bill Walters for the Focus volunteer program and the city’s recycling program. Hawrylko, who lives on Aycrigg Ave. in Passaic, is a member of the Clifton Kiwanis Club and will soon be taking a post with the Clifton Chamber of Commerce.

...

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Rowe - Manse Emporium

By Douglas John Bowen For 46 years, Rowe-Manse Emporium graced – and for some of that time, simply dominated – Styertowne Shopping Center, attracting shoppers from throughout the Northeast, before folding its tent in 2003.

Rowe-Manse was the brainchild of Carmen Maggio, who passed away in 2010. Maggio had help with publicizing his masterpiece, including graphic design work and other related assistance from fourth-generation Clifton native Arthur DeRose, who said Maggio was a marketing genius.

“He created the Cabbage Patch dolls craze, even creating a buy-and-sell exchange for the dolls,” DeRose said. “He created a market where it didn’t exist.” And not just for those dolls. “He did the same thing with Beanie Babies. With Pet Rocks. Edible underwear for Valentine’s Day. Body paint.

He knew exactly what people were after.”

DeRose’s job was to get the word out, and he did, through newspaper ads, a billboard on Route 3, and bourbon-barrel furniture narrations within the store itself. “I had my own studio at my home in Clifton. I started with him in the early 60s, and stayed until he closed the store. Every ad that ever went out of there was mine,” DeRose said.

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Rowe Manse “We would run an ad in the New York papers; he was a great advertiser,” DeRose said. New Jersey newspapers were also included in the mix, of course. “When I did an ad for him, I’d create five, six, or seven different versions; all the newspapers had different column widths,” he pointed out.

Maggio had a reputation for being difficult to work with on some things, but DeRose encountered few such problems. “We began to have a shorthand. He would call for an ad idea; we’d make some approaches and it would take on a life of its own. The idea was his; the application was ours,” DeRose said.

“I don’t think the guy ever changed two words of copy,” DeRose recalled. “I never would have survived as long if we didn’t have rapport.”

The combination was strictly work-related. Maggio and DeRose didn’t get together for social occasions.

“He was on a country club track. It wasn’t my thing,” DeRose offered.

Keeping pace with rapid growth Maggio “was a World War II vet and came from very humble beginnings,” DeRose said. But Maggio excelled after the war at a LiggettRexall drug store on Broadway in New York. “Liggett’s moved him to Styertowne,” where he excelled again, DeRose said.

Maggio became friends with Heisman Trophy winner Angelo Bertelli, owner of Bertelli’s Liquor Store in Styertowne, and with his friend’s encouragement opened the Rowe-Manse Country Store in 1957, selling Hallmark cards and Russell Stover candy – “that was his mainstay,” DeRose noted.

Enter DeRose himself. “We did these murals for the walls, and the paint was barely dry when he outgrew that store.” Rowe-Manse moved to “where Dollar Store is now; Rowe-Manse Country Store was down below, while the Emporium, selling cards and candy was above,” DeRose recalled.

Maggio was “fascinated by the Victorian look.” The expansion (one of two in the store’s lifetime) was

Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

49

Rowe Manse a success. “Two years later, the store was routinely saturated with people; we had to hire crowd control,” DeRose stated.

The second expansion took Rowe-Manse to where Levy Bros. Department Store had been (today it is the Modell’s Sporting Goods building). “It had tons of room, all kinds of space,” DeRose said. “Then Maggio went to DisneyWorld and was awed by the showmanship of it all,”and returned to Clifton inspired.

“I actually designed the front of that store,“ DeRose said. “Maggio got a grant of some kind to open that store, and with first half of the loan, he created the front of store, beautifully designed.” The presentation included striped awnings and rooftop pennants that became a highly recognized Styertowne signature. To top it off, Maggio brought in screen legend Bette Davis to snip the ribbon of his new, 50,000-square-foot space.

The expanded store “was a wild success,” said DeRose – but not without problems. “The second part of that loan should have stocked the store with merchandise,” he said, but that portion was withheld for reasons not explicitly stated by the lender. Rowe-Manse flirted with bankruptcy, until “Hallmark Cards stepped in and loaned him $700,000,” DeRose said. Hallmark kept tabs

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on its money, but “Maggio worked himself out of his hole in two years time.”

Tough and tender Maggio “had a very tough reputation; he didn’t like to pay his bills” on someone else’s schedule, DeRose said, speaking from personal experience. “My wife would do our books, and it sometimes got very stressful.

Sometimes payment owed to us was … delayed.”

But Maggio had a gentle side. “He was infinitely kind to anybody that was older, in the store and out. He made sure any leftover bread was delivered to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and that’s just one of many charitable gestures. I don’t think he got publicity for it, either; it’s just what he did,” DeRose said.

Rowe-Manse’s run finally ended in 2003, following a bankruptcy filing and mounting competition from discounters. When the store closed, DeRose decided that it was also time for him to retire.

“This was a way to do artwork and make a living. I did what I loved,” DeRose said. “I kind of miss doing the work. On the other hand, you don’t miss the deadline and the crunch of doing 15 ads before Christmas. I did have a wonderful life at it.”

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Feb. 9, 1983: Gene Boyle’s, the landmark dining establishment at Allwood Rd. and Passaic Ave. (next to Brogan Cadillac), is to be demolished with the assistance of a WW II Sherman tank. Admittedly with an eye toward attracting attention to the 75,000-square-foot office building they will put up on the site, Cali Associates and Dubnoff & Blanda, joint developers, hired the Sherman tank to knock down the old restaurant in what they estimated would be 30 minutes.

Announcements of the event noted that tanks seldom do such work, given their rarity even in the garages of wrecking companies. The weather did not cooperate. The tank could not get traction due to ice and snow, so ordinary bulldozers were called in and took an hour and a half to clear the site. The office building, a white fivestory structure with strips of dark-tinted glass, will be given the name Plaza 777. It will feature a central atrium lobby and a passive solar heating system, and will rent for about $19 a square foot. The architect is Lou Brandt and Kuybrida of Clifton. Gene Boyle’s, at 777 Passaic Ave., was built in 1947 and remained a favorite place for politicians and hoi polloi until July 1981.

Feb. 16, 1983: The Blizzard of ’83 keeps DPW employees plowing our 255 miles of roads around the clock.

April 6, 1983: Joseph Lynn is named city manager by a four-to-one vote, with Mayor Kolodziej dissenting.

The CHS Class of 1983 dedicates its yearbook to Aaron Halpern, to mark his 20th anniversary as principal. He went on to serve five more graduating classes and worked for the school system a total of 43 years. The Aaron Halpern Wall of Fame at the entrance of the school was dedicated in June 2000.

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May 11, 1983: Lester Herrschaft is re-elected by his peers for a fourth term as Board of Education president.

Appointed by former Mayor Joseph Vanecek, he has served since 1970.

June 15, 1983: Cresthill Ave. residents oppose King Solomon Memorial Park’s plan to subdivide a six-acre tract on Dwasline Rd. for 40 single-family homes. The cemetery says the land is surplus and claims it has enough space for burial plots for the next 70 years. The planning board denied the plan on the grounds that it did not provide enough access for emergency vehicles.

June 15, 1983: The Givaudan plant on Delawanna Ave – a division of Hoffman LaRoche – is one of 10 state spots named as being a potential dioxin trouble spot. The dioxin levels at Givaudan – the first found at an operating plant in New Jersey – were comparable to those found earlier this month at the site of the former Chemical Insecticide Corp. in Edison. However, the levels were much lower than the up to 50,000 ppb found recently at the defunct Diamond Alkali Co. plant in Newark. Gov. Thomas Kean orders the affected plant areas shut down and secured for cleanup.

June 29, 1983: Clifton presents a check for $4,500, to the Statue of Liberty Restoration fund, the first community in the country to join the national campaign.

Dec. 14, 1983: The North Jersey Planning Association reports Clifton is not in compliance with the 1975 Mt. Laurel decision of the NJ State Supreme Court. The decision mandates that 300,000 new, middle and lower income housing units must be provided between now and 2000 throughout the state and that the city has few options but to comply with the mandate.

Jan. 25, 1984: After eight years of litigation and a number of alleged violations, Jo-Cal Associates receives approval to construct a 36-unit garden apartment complex on Valley Rd. Residents opposed the project saying it was incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood, a single family residential zone.

Jan. 25, 1984: Royal Silk Ltd., a Clifton firm founded five years ago, is named by Inc. Magazine as the fastest growing company in New Jersey. Royal Silk registers a phenomenal 3,405 percent sales increase over a fiveyear period.

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Ray Luchko, left, with friends Passaic County Superior Court Judges Nicholas J. Mandak and Pete Ciolino.

June 7, 1984: Hundreds attend a Friendship Dinner entitled The Human Spirit Soars, honoring Raymond Luchko, a real estate and insurance broker. Luchko had one arm; however, “Those of us who know him, never, to even the slightest degree, associate him with the word handicapped,” one journalist wrote. Although he was never elected to public office or appointed to a municipal board, Luchko served on a variety of civic and social organizations. In 1980, Luchko was the Clifton Jaycees Man of the Year. The Consolidated Civic Association named him Clifton Citizen of the Year in 1982, citing “Luchko as an ever-present friend.”

Feb. 8, 1984: To accommodate more NYC-bound commuters, the 120-space parking lots, located on the eastbound and westbound lanes of Allwood Rd., will be enlarged to handle up to 246 vehicles.

March 21, 1984: Ground is broken for the Allwood Brighton Center, near the Allwood Circle, a $9 million development of Kidde Inc., which includes two 52,000 sq. ft. office buildings and renovation of a 59,000 sq. ft. office building located on the 18-acre site at Brighton Rd. and Bloomfield Ave. April 4, 1984: Some say it is the city’s most pronounced geographical landmark, while others just take it for granted. But after about 40 years of quarrying, some Clifton residents decide that the 600-foot basalt cliff on Valley Rd. will not be taken for granted anymore. Over the years, the Little Ferry Asphalt Corporation has removed much of the dark volcanic rock so only a sheer cliff remains. The quarry plans to remove the cliff which divides Clifton and West Paterson, but residents have banded together to voice their opposition.

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Dec. 5, 1984: After several months of delays, a Philadelphia-based company, American Hydro Power, receives Planning Board approval to build a hydroelectric plant on the banks of the Passaic River at the Dundee Canal. To lessen plant noise, the company will locate its 11 turbines underground.

Time was when Clifton’s Dundee Island was targeted for housing humans, offering upfront views of the Passaic River for occupants of up to 540 condominiums.

But Dundee Island – an island in name only – soon may host occupants of an altogether different feather: bald eagles. Joe Labriola, a Clifton environmental commissioner, has noted bald eagles are now nesting upstream in Paterson, “quite an example of environmental protection progress.”

The photo above show bald eagles surveying riverfront turf this past winter near the Hot Grill.

Protected by the National Emblem Act of 1940, the bald eagle population in the lower 48 declined precipitously through the 1970s, largely attributed to chemical contamination, which among other things made for thinshelled eggs. Eggs often were crushed when parent-birds 56 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

sat atop them to incubate them.

Habitat destruction also was a contributing factor, particularly after World War II. New Jersey, which had only one nesting pair of bald eagles in 1970, recorded 174 such couples in 2015, including some adapting to relatively urban and suburban locations. Clifton’s Dundee Island may be their next neighborhood.

Dam good neighbor Dundee Island – in real terms a peninsula, not an island – sits just downstream from its namesake dam, which spans the Passaic River between Garfield and Clifton. The Dundee Dam began operations in 1861 to direct water from the Passaic into a canal designed to improve boat traffic. The dam produced modest amounts of hydroelectric power to assist local manufacturers.

The 20-foot-high dam, which stretches 450 feet, also acts as a barrier to keep significant amounts of toxic materials found downstream in tidal waters from moving farther upstream. That aids relatively healthy plant and animal life in the relatively fresh water of the upper Passaic, which can offer a potential food supply for raptors such as bald eagles.

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At left, bald eagles across from the Hot Grill give new meaning to two all the way! Our 2003 cover and a view of the Dundee in flood stage in 2003.

Though prone to opposing dam construction or repair due to concerns over environmental disruption, many environmentalists in this case welcome the Dundee Dam’s potential role in safeguarding any eagles’ waterborne food supply, should Dundee Island become home.

In addition, plans to reactivate the dam’s turbines, still in place, for modest hydroelectric power generation have been considered off and on in recent years, though the economic viability of such resumption remains unclear.

Though within the tidal zone, and thus exposed to those toxic elements, Dundee Island itself, in its current near-natural state, also helps filter out pollutants and provides habitat for land-based wildlife – including potential prey for bald eagles.

Conflicting plans for future use Identified as potential open space in the 2001 Master Plan, Dundee Island Preserve’s 1.4 acres was part of a 4.25-acre package acquired by the city for $1.6 million in 2006, using state and county grants. The site already has been host to unusual avian visitors, including at least one Snowy Owl, appearing at the southern edge of the

bird’s winter range. Other birds that more readily call the site home include cormorants, American egrets, night herons, various ducks, and the almost ubiquitous Canadian geese.

Clifton leases the rest of Dundee Island, totaling about 13 acres including the Preserve, for $1 a year from the NJ DOT. Dundee Island was also home to Safas Corp., which produced polymer materials and occupied 100,000 feet of industrial space during the 1990s. Town & Country of Woodcliff Lake in 2003 proposed building hundreds of one- and-two-bedroom condos on the site. But the developer abandoned the plan following community outcry and zoning changes. The purchase and leasing of the site soon followed.

Unfortunately, a nor’easter in April 2007 triggered severe flooding, resulting in significant damage to the wildlife sanctuary before it was set to open to the public.

The floods uprooted several trees, washed away parts of a walking trail, and left considerable debris.

Clifton High School’s Key Club has conducted an annual shoreline cleanup of Dundee Preserve for seven years, in an effort to combat litter generated from upstream sources, as well as from within Clifton itself.

On April 22, participate in the Dundee Island Preserve Passaic River Cleanup. For info, call John Biegel or Anthony Marrone in the Clifton Health Dept. at 973470-5760. It’s one way to celebrate Clifton’s 100th anniversary – and the arrival of some new feathered citizens that certainly will add to Clifton’s diversity.

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From Bright Star batteries and flashlights to household products such as Old Spice and Brylcreen, during the 1980s, there was still much manufacturing in Clifton.

June 13, 1984: Clifton wants the NJDOT to sell a 10-acre Route 3 parcel for development of condominiums. The proposal is opposed by Knoll Croft residents. The proposal is rejected when DOT informs Clifton that the land will be needed for highway purposes.

June 18, 1984: Mayor Kolodziej proclaims “Shulton Week” during the 50th anniversary of Shulton, Inc. Employing about 1,000, on Route 46 and Colfax Ave., (on what is now the 670-unit townhouse community Cambridge Crossings), Shulton is the city’s third-largest employer and manufactures Old Spice men’s toiletries, Brylcreem hair cream, and Pine-Sol cleaning products.

June 20, 1984: Globe Products opens its new facility at 750 Bloomfield Ave. Globe manufacturers pie fillings, jams, jellies, pickled fruits and vegetables and sells its products through food service distributors and bakery supply houses. Founded in 1938, it has been in Clifton since 1958 when it relocated from NYC to 55 Webro Rd.

July 18, 1984: Bright Star Industry celebrates its 75th anniversary. The firm, at 600 Getty Ave., has been in Clifton for 50 years and is one of the most reputable names in the flashlight and battery industry.

Oct. 14, 1984: St. Paul’s Parish at Second and Union Aves. celebrates its 70th anniversary. Parishioners also sponsor a school on Main and Washington Aves.

Nov. 7, 1984: A final blast eliminates a cliff that withstood 190 million years of wind, rain, snow, and ice.

Maple Valley residents watch as the mountain succumbs to the cold steel of a determined earth-mover. K. Hovnanian developed an 810-unit housing project for seniors, expected to be completed in 2008.

Nov. 31, 1984: Gov. Thomas Kean is at Woodrow Wilson received praise and a standing ovation. He pledged the Broadway Viaduct would be repaired, said he would try to avoid raising taxes, but would not confirm if he would run for another term.

Jan. 23, 1985: City Manager Joseph Lynn will not bend to pressure from Mayor Kolodziej to resign. Instead, Lynn is pitched for battle. A petition has circulated as a way of showing that the “people” object to a planned ousting of the city manager. City Hall employees said they will show their support for Lynn by appearing at the next council meeting when Kolodziej’s proposal to remove Lynn is posted. The measure is rejected 4-3 with the support of Council members Grecco, Zecker, Friend, and Friedman.

Joe Lynn, his wife Patti, City Employee’s Union President Sarah Lombardo, and Fire Chief Joseph Colca at a dinner held in Lynn’s honor on Jan. 27, 1984, soon after he was named City Manager.

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Feb. 1985: Properly planned, derringdo can pay off. It did for Royal Silk Ltd. Inc. in 1985, when the Cliftonbased company tapped then-controversial Miss America Vanessa Williams to model in two of its catalogues.

The clothes Williams modeled became best sellers, with one blouse in the Feb. 1985 catalogue, described as a classic silk “T,” becoming Royal Silk’s bestseller.

Williams appeared again in the October and November catalogues, notwithstanding the scandal at the time involving sexually explicit photographs appearing in Penthouse magazine.

“It didn’t bother us,” Gerry Pike, Royal Silk’s VP at the time, said to media. Pike said her “intelligent” green eyes “cement[ed]” a reader’s attention to the page, and that she gave a “sense of character to the garment.”

Royal Silk, now based in Princeton, began operations in 1978 from its base at 45 East Madison Ave., in a business plaza near Lexington Ave. The business mission was (and is) to make highquality silk clothing and accessories for men and women “available to all.”

Using Williams as a model also generated media buzz, which won Royal Silk mentions in various publications. Williams went on to a successful TV and movie career, notwithstanding her loss of the Miss America 1984 crown. She even served as head judge in the 2016 Miss America pageant.

No doubt her stint with Royal Silk—and this thin thread of a connection to Clifton—was a key steppingstone to her fame.

The 1985-86 CHS Lady Mustangs. Front from left: Robyn Greenwald, Janet Domino, Christa Breen, Michelle Patzan and Roseann Santulli. Standing: Coach Al Carline, Michele Miller, Ellen Oostdyk, Ann Marie Merrandino, Mary Wiesnewski, Rita Reddington, Erin Shaughnessy, Kelly Fusco, Assistant Coach Tony Orlando.

Jan. 23, 1985: Former Clifton Library Director Salvatore Stingo was placed on three years probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Stingo pleaded guilty to official misconduct resulting from his theft of $64 in library fines. The Passaic County Judge also imposed a $500 fine which had a maximum potential of $7,500.

Feb. 13, 1985: Teachers Mona Gero of Clifton and Judith Werling of Passaic are two of the three winners in a $2.3 million jackpot from the New Jersey Lottery’s Pick 6 Lotto. Each third-share is worth $769,449.

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Feb. 20, 1985: Hoffman-La Roche lays off 1,000 employees, part of a $50 million cost-cutting measure, “eliminating jobs not critical to the business any more.”

April 10, 1985: The Clifton Civic Coalition, an umbrella organization representing 10 citizen groups from around the city, requested a breakdown of the top 30 municipal salaried positions. Their study stated that the city is paying “many employees far in excess of what the private sector would pay.”

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Oct. 18, 1985: After 27 years with Clifton Main Memorial Library, Lillian Conway, far left, the library’s Media Center director, retires. From left, Ed Looney, brothers Jack and Greg Kasich, and current owner of Henry’s Deli Ketan Patel.

April 17, 1985: School Board President Wayne Demikoff wants to cut back on overtime pay to school custodians. The overage, approximately $210,000 was incurred in concert with the board of recreation and school associations in 1984. The recreation department brought in a man to monitor activities and clean up afterward even if a staff janitor was on duty.

May 5, 1985: Citing a need to disseminate equal and accurate information to elected officials, the public, and media, City Manager Lynn appointed Capt. Robert Kelly to the newly created post of Public RelationsPress Officer in the Clifton Police Dept. Kelly, an 18year veteran of the city’s police force, currently serves as commander of the department’s Investigation Unit.

July 10, 1985: Clifton Fire Lt. James Lyons receives a heroism award for the rescue of a trapped victim at the Bay State Milling fire of Nov. 18, 1984.

July 10, 1985: Evaluation of the Clifton Schools by the NJ Dept. of Education reveals Clifton, one of the largest systems in the state, is also one of the best and receives the maximum five-year certification.

Aug. 28, 1985: CHS Freshman Vinny Magliarditti catches a record 10-foot Sailfish, which took one hour to reel in, while on his first deep sea fishing outing during vacation with his parents in Acapulco. The old record had been 9 feet 8 inches.

Aug. 28, 1985: After 23 years, Henry’s Liquor and Deli at 1224 Van Houten Ave. will change owners.

Originally owned by Henry Hugo until his passing in 1973, Ed Looney took over the store and made it a landmark. Brothers Jack and Greg Kasich eventually purchased Henry’s and retained the family run atmosphere by staffing the deli with family and friends. Now owned by Ketan Patel and his family, a Jan. 17, 2014 two-alarm fire nearly destroyed the deli. After extensive renovations, it reopened in September of that year.

Sept. 11, 1985: Clifton Schools reorganize to accommodate declining enrollment and fill space at CHS. Sixth grade students are moved to either of the city’s two middle schools and ninth graders now attend CHS. Oct. 6, 1985: 25 Japanese educators visit Clifton Schools in a tour arranged by the US Department of Education, which selected Clifton as an ideal system representing the best the nation has to offer.

Oct. 18, 1985: After 27 years with the Memorial Library, Lillian Conway retires and leaves a legacy of leading the city’s library into the video world and pioneering the library’s V-channel cable telecast programming.

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Boys Club Director Al Abruscato with Girls Club Director Dolores Colucci (second from right) who became the Director of the Boys & Girls Club in 1986. Bottom right, B&G Club Director Bob Foster today.

Oct. 30, 1985: An explosion at Hoffman-La Roche causes five injuries, two of them critical. The explosion took place in the early morning in an ether drum in the plant. There are more than 1,000 employees at the plant that stretches from Nutley to Clifton and manufactures a variety of pharmaceuticals. A full evacuation of employees was not necessary, according to company officials.

No cost estimate had been made of the flash fire damage.

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Nov. 6, 1985: William Shershin, Superintendent of Schools (left), is on terminal leave and will retire in December 1986. At that time, he will be paid for 18 vacation days and 170 sick days accrued during his 30plus years of service.

Assistant Superintendent William Liess (left center) will take over as interim Superintendent.

Nov. 20, 1985: The Clifton Boys Club and Clifton Girls Club will combine, effective January 1, 1986, and will operate out of the Boys Club facility on Clifton Ave. with the new moniker: Boys & Girls Club of Clifton, Inc.

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By Tara Fueshko The 1980s saw the founding of St. Peter’s Haven, a transitional homeless shelter for families and the city’s food bank. In 1981, the rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Rev. Jorge Gutierrez, stated to a reporter: “Somewhere I’m sure there’s a group whose needs are not being met… maybe the church can begin to meet those needs.”

The original idea for St. Peter’s Haven came from Clifton resident Donald Fischer. Fischer was the organist, treasurer, and vestry member of St. Peter’s a landmark on Clifton Ave. He had read an article about a homeless couple living on the banks of the Passaic River and brought it to the attention of the Vestry, who at the time were debating whether to tear down the original Church rectory for parking.

He asked the members how they could vote to tear down a perfectly good building when there were homeless people in need of shelter. With the help of a matching grant from Hoffman-La Roche, they approved the founding of St. Peter’s Haven in 1985 and opened its first shelter for homeless families on Oct 30, 1986.

Rev. Jorge Gutierrez, Rev. Hank Dwyer, and Donald Fischer.

Since that date, the services of the Haven have Then Ella Brooks, a St. Peter’s parishioner, gave a grown considerably as it offers a full complement of supsubstantial donation to purchase a two-family home now port services from its two locations: the original singlecalled Ella’s House to help further St. Peter’s Haven’s family house next to the church, and a two-family mission. The Food Pantry expanded again to incorporate dwelling on Burgess Place purchased in 2002. fresh food and, through drives and an annual fundraising That includes employment and educational programs, event, St. Peter’s Haven distributes backpacks and emergency needs advocacy, pre-service placement, school supplies for the school year, Thanksgiving dinner ongoing counseling, and transportation assistance, in fixings, holiday gifts, and winter coats. addition to the emergency shelter and food it supplies.

On Oct. 30, 2016, St. Peter’s Haven celebrated its St. Peter’s Haven’s priorities include accepting fami30th anniversary and its continued efforts to fight homelies of any configuration, and to keep families intact, so lessness and hunger. St. Peter’s Haven operates in part that they can maintain the normal rhythm of life. through the generosity of others.

In the 1990s, the Rev. Bonnie Perry took up where the Donations by residents and businesses help keep its Rev. Gutierrez left off, by challenging local political outreach in service. So next time you shop, consider purleaders on the statistics of homelessness in Clifton. From chasing a bag of groceries and bringing it to St. Peter’s. then on, St. Peter’s Haven continued to expand in order Donations of checks are also welcomed. to meet the needs of those struggling. A food pantry, To volunteer, to discuss other ways to help, or for which had existed to help those in the Haven, expanded more info, call 973-546-3406. to help those not seeking shelter.

66 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

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April 20, 1986: Clifton purchases a piece of the historical Morris Canal from the NJ Highway Authority and the Public Service Electric & Gas at a cost of $1. The 400yard section of land along Broad Street, just north of Allwood Road, is being converted under the direction of Commissioner Jack W. Kuepfer (right) into the “Morris Canal Historical Park and Nature Preserve.” The Morris Canal was a link between the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the Hudson River from 1831 to 1924.

Jan. 1, 1986: Congressman Robert A. Roe learns the House of Representatives passed the $10 billion fiveyear Superfund Bill, of which Roe was the primary author. The Superfund is the toughest environmental measure passed and is a giant step in efforts to clean up the nation’s toxic waste dump sites.

Jan. 26, 1986: VFW Allwood Memorial Post 6487 presented two 19-inch color television sets to residents of the VA Medical Center in East Orange.

Jan. 28, 1986: With seven NASA crew members, including high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off and explodes 74 seconds later.

It is the worst disaster in the US space program.

Feb. 13, 1986: Clifton Chapter 269, Order of Western Star, merges into Peace Chapter 98, Order of Eastern Star.

Feb. 16, 1986: The coveted B’nai B’rith award was presented to Mayor Kolodziej by the Men’s Club of the Clifton Jewish Center.

May 3, 1986 City Council Election Results Gloria Kolodziej . . . .11,725 James Anzaldi . . . . . . 9,247 Les Herrshaft . . . . . . . 8,452 Lorraine Bremer . . . . 7,795 Richard Stockinger . . 7,500 Gerald Friend . . . . . . . .7,090 Joseph Grecco . . . . . . 6,567

Gerald Zecker . . . . . . . 6,259 Peter Eagler . . . . . . . . .6,064 Louise Friedman . . . . . 5,768 Thomas Grido . . . . . . . .5,679 Robert Holster . . . . . . 5,344 Ray Grabowski . . . . . . 4,874 Matt Ward . . . . . . . . . . .4,710 Phil Binaso . . . . . . . . . 3,535 Victor Kattak . . . . . . . .3,393 Gary Masie . . . . . . . . . 3,054 Steve Stein . . . . . . . . . .1,686

Feb. 26, 1986: The 1983 ban prohibiting the sale and consumption of fish and shellfish from the tidal Passaic River continues to be enforced as the NJDEP concluded the contamination had permeated multi-levels of the river’s food chain and sediments and poses significant health risks to people.

May 3, 1986: A field of 18 candidates for seven spots on the City Council would astonish many. For Clifton, though, the 18 “Councilmanic” candidates who entered the race by the March 21 filing deadline comprise a relatively small field compared to past elections that featured more than 50 contenders. With 17,683 votes cast, the candidates (with winners in green) are listed above.

March 23, 1986: More than 1,000 residents waited in line at City Hall to receive a free showerhead low-flow water restrictor. Provided by the NJ Dept. of Energy, the showerheads reduce water flow from five gallons per minute to two and can save a family of four $200 a year. No income eligibility restrictions were imposed by the state, which had 1,160 nozzles to distribute.

June 11, 1986: Bill Gates, of Gates Flag and Banner Company in Clifton, said Brogan Cadillac’s American Flag is the largest east of the Mississippi. It measures 60 feet by 30 feet, covers 1,800 square feet, weighs 100 pounds, and requires six men to get it aloft. A representative of the dealership says, “We think the flag helps to remind people of the strength of American cars.”

April 13, 1986: The Clifton Civic Association urged the hiring of additional building inspectors. Citing an anticipated growth in construction, the Athenia Citizens Association introduced the motion. The group suggested an increase in the fee schedule to cover the overhead incurred by additional inspectors.

June 12, 1986: New York Giant Leonard Marshall joined Mayor Gloria Kolodziej and the owners of Industrial Stationary on Main Ave., brothers Len and Jay Grossman, to cut the ribbon at the firm’s newly renovated and expanded store which sells office supplies to area businesses from Downtown Clifton.

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June 25, 1986: The pond at Main Memorial Park on Park Slope becomes a source of concern for health officials. Following the May 29 death of Rosie, a dog that became fatally ill after drinking from the pond, an intensive cleanup program begins at the site near Main Ave. June 25, 1986: Rising insurance costs nearly caused the Fourth of July fireworks demonstration to fizzle out. A Pennsylvania company in charge for more than 30 years, but needed to secure insurance before the event. Adult admission was raised to defray the cost.

July 9, 1986: Four drivers were stranded in hip-deep water under a railway trestle on Rt. 46 near CCMS. Clifton Engine 1 arrives with a rowboat and ferries the soggy motorists to drier ground.

July 16, 1986: The Planning Board proposes 28 revisions to the Master Plan and a call for significant changes in how Clifton will use its land.

July 23, 1986: Residents near the Pearl Brook in Montclair Heights will get flood relief with the construction of a 14-foot concrete channel following the existing course of the natural brook bed.

On June 25, 1986: Clifton mailman Joe DeLiberto retires after 30 years with the US Post Office. For 25 years and 10 months, he made his rounds along his route in the Richfield Village section. He calls the neighbors along his 10-mile daily stroll “family.” At right on Nov. 12, 1986: Poller Dental Group, on Clifton and Third Aves., celebrates its grand opening with Dr. Richard Poller, DMD.

September 1, 1986: NJ government buildings are off limits to smokers. Violators are subject to a $25 fine.

Aug. 11, 1986: Ninety-one residents from the Third St. and Union Ave. section signed a petition to have a blinking traffic light installed at the intersection.

Sept. 21, 1986: The Men’s Club of the Boys Club celebrates 25 years. Begun by concerned dads, they called themselves The Father’s Club and the volunteers continue to helps with tasks at the Clifton Ave. facility.

Aug. 16, 1986: Clifton Police Department unveils a 24hour fitness center for police use at City Hall, proposed

by Det. Guy Petix. The council signs a 25-year lease on the unused barn for $1 per year.

Oct. 5, 1986: The Lakeview neighborhood receives a $100,000 grant from the NJHUD to make improvements on 20 homes found to be substandard.

Aug. 19, 1986: Joey’s Place on Van Houten Ave. draws raves from its patrons but complaints from neighbors about noise, bottles on their lawns, and obscenities used by exiting patrons. Club owner Anthony Barcellona promises to placate his disgruntled neighbors.

Oct. 15, 1986: Clifton documents 72 sites where graffiti is evident. Efforts to deter graffiti include warning signs that promise fines, tough sentences, and an ordinance prohibiting those under age 18 from buying spray paint.

Oct. 26, 1986: A&P opens in the Bradlees Shopping Center on Main Ave., in the Delawanna section.

Aug. 20, 1986: Clifton represents the state in the MidAtlantic Girls Softball Tournament in Stanton, Del. Fourteen girls from Eastern and Northern Division Major Girls softball earn the honor with a 6-0 record in the NJ Senior League Girls Softball Tournament. The state title is the first for a Clifton team.

Nov. 16, 1986: The council hires a revaluation firm to re-appraise 22,000 city properties. The decision took several months of deliberation as to whether the city should select revaluation or reassessment as its method of conducting the county-ordered reappraisal.

Aug. 27, 1986: George Bucsko of Friar Lane took second prize in the NJ Great Tomato Weigh-in Contest with a super stake tomato at 3.9 pounds.

Nov. 26, 1986: Clifton is cited at the NJ League of Municipalities convention for community development and its marketing to attract business and industry.

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Passaic County Employers: 973-340-3400 • Ext. 7223 Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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On Jan. 14, 1987, Alex Ortiz became the first and, for the following decade remained, the only female Clifton Police Officer. Now retired (seen here in 2004), she already served in the US Air Force before enrolling at the Bergen County Police Academy at age 27.

“There were very few people with military service in the academy,” she said. This, in addition to her age, actually gave her an advantage in an environment where being a woman was still considered a hindrance. She was assigned to be the leader of her platoon.

But when she joined the Clifton Police Department, along with 11 male police academy graduates, “I don’t think anybody knew what to expect.”

And it was rough, she said. People had assumptions about her, and she felt that she was always under the magnifying glass. Whether she wanted to or not, she had something to prove. “It’s never easy being first,” she said. “It’s never easy being the different one. It’s never easy trying to change the way people think.”

Her early days were spent patrolling the streets of Botany Village at night. “The trick to surviving anything is to find something good about it,” she said in a 2004 interview. “Where else could you get paid to chat and go where you wanted?”

Soon, she discovered her true secret to survival: “You listen.” She said that thinking back on it now, that’s what originally motivated her to become a cop. She added: “I thought there were too few (officers) that listened, and too many that yelled.”

By listening to people, she came to understand what brought her into this part of their lives. “You walk into pieces of people’s lives, sometimes at the worst times,” she said. By listening to the people and families she met, she aspired to do more than just write tickets. She wanted to make a difference.

“I’m a student of life,” Ortiz said. “I study people. I find it interesting to watch how people function.”

At work, she had to build a family for herself. “I never had any family in law enforcement,” Ortiz said. “I had nobody to watch over me.”

But things changed since 1987, and friendships formed. “There is a brotherhood,” she said, “and it’s probably one of the things that I feel most strongly about.

One of the coolest things about this job is that the people, the guys I work with, are my family too.”

Dec. 24, 1986: A display of 15 flags at Clifton and Central Aves. to support CASA’s anti-drug campaign, was cited by construction officer W. Leonard Levine for failing to secure permits and inspections for 15 flagpoles. The fines were ultimately repealed.

1987: Clifton’s Clean Communities program initiated.

Jan. 1, 1987: City Engineer James Yellen resigns. His is the latest in a series of resignations and retirements from key non-tenured personnel in the administration of City Manager Joseph Lynn. And that’s not all: the council would soon propose a resolution for the removal of Lynn. But in April, after a year of conflict with the council, Lynn would resign.

March 8, 1987: The Library Board plans to construct a new facility adjacent to the existing library (left) on Piaget Ave. The cost is about $3.1 million and would be done in lieu of renovation and expansion of the existing facility, which would cost $3.5 million.

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In spring 1987, two Division I Top 25 college soccer teams squared off when LoyolaMaryland visited FDU-Madison. The game featured eight Clifton grads, all of whom played for the Mustang 1983 Passaic County championship squad. From left: Danny O’Donnell (CHS’85/FDU ’89), Steven O’Donnell (CHS ’86/FDU ’90), Robbie Kraznowski (CHS ’86/FDU ’90), Stan Lembryk (CHS ’87/Loyola ’91), Joe Koziol (CHS’85/Loyola ’89), Bill Wilson (CHS’85/Loyola ’89), Rich Babicz (CHS ’87/Loyola ’91) and Stan Koziol (CHS ‘83/Loyola ’87).

“We (Loyola) beat ‘em,” Lembryk recalled.

“Stan Koziol was a senior that year, so it was the only time all eight of us were on the same field as collegians. A lot of family and friends were there. I’ll always remember that day as one of my soccer highlights.”

April 7, 1987: Morris Canal Park, which replicates a small length of the historic Morris Canal, is dedicated on Broad St. Credit Walter Wadas, who began the project when he found a tiny section of the canal near his home in May 1981. His claim was dismissed as that of an overzealous amateur. He persisted and proved that the narrow ridge and adjacent ditch running next to the GS Parkway was the old towpath and canal bed.

May 15, 1987: A carnival in Nash Park leaves residents complaining about parking congestion, damage to the field, youths urinating in resident’s foliage, and the mistreatment of a mutated two-headed cow.

May 13, 1987: Mayor Kolodziej cuts the ribbon for Little Expressions, a children’s clothing store next to Epstein’s, while Councilman Anzaldi performed the honors at Four Star Dry Cleaners at 261 Clifton Ave.

June 17, 1987: About 500 residents, some politicians, and City Hall workers attend a beefsteak at the Boys & Girls Club honoring outgoing City Manager Joseph Lynn, who remains a city employee. Lynn thanks supporters and urges all to maintain the city manager form of government.

May 20, 1987: Clifton battles with the NJDOT regarding demolition of residential property for the expansion of Route 21 near Lakeview and Botany.

On the same day, 200 supporters attended a Passaic County Democratic fundraiser at the Fairfield Sheraton to launch the campaign of 34th District Assembly candidates William Kattak and Gloria Kolodziej.

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July 26, 1987: Two employees of the Giammetta Rigging and Millright Co. of Allwood Rd. were pinned underneath a grain power sifter weighing 3,500 pounds at Bay State Milling Company on Getty Ave. One worker was pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

Aug. 16, 1987: The Senior League Eastern Division Girls Softball Team wins the NJ State Championship and are welcomed home by a police escort and a celebration at Lakeview Park.

Sept. 1, 1987: Petrokem Industries on Clifton Blvd. was found dumping hazardous chemicals into a storm sewer line of the Weasel Brook, and charged with polluting waterways and illegally storing calcium hydrochlorite.

Sept. 6, 1987: Clifton celebrates its 70th anniversary with a Labor Day picnic, the first in three years.

Oct. 1, 1987: Three hundred jobs are saved when city officials persuade the Magyar Corp. to keep its subsidiary Howe Richardson Scale Corp. in Athenia.

Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987: The largest stock market drop in history occurred when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508.32 points, losing 22.6% of its total value. The market regains 102 points on Tuesday as buyers rush to pick stocks at bargain prices.

The father-and-son team of orthodontists Barry and Jerry Raphael have corrected the smiles of a jawdropping number of Cliftonites. This photo commemorated when Jerry retired from dentistry in 1988, focusing his time on creating the Clifton Sculpture Park. Former Marching Mustang Barry continues the practice at 1425 Broad St. at the Raphael Center for Integrative Orthodontics.

Nov. 9, 1987: Roger Kemp, former manager of Placentia, Calif., is named Clifton City Manager.

Nov. 18, 1987: Owners of South Orange Express, a trucking firm at 208 Colfax Ave., pleaded guilty to charges related to the nationwide Beech-Nut fake baby food conspiracy. South Orange Express received shipments of apple syrup from a New York company and re-stenciled them as apple concentrate.

US Congressman Robert Roe, Mayor Gloria Kolodziej, and Wayne Mayor Lou Mersecolla. The 1987 race for the State Assembly’s 34th District seat featured a battle of Clifton mayors: Republican Gerald Zecker (right), who served from 1978 to 1982, and the current two-term mayor, Democrat Kolodziej, who had booted Zecker from his city post with her big 1982 election victory. A grudge between the two went deep. Zecker supported embattled City Manager Joseph Lynn, a frequent Kolodziej target. Kolodziej’s supporters said she needed a 3,000-vote win in Clifton to beat Zecker. On Nov. 3, 1987, she got her win—but by only 370 votes. Zecker trounced his old political foe by a 21,638 to 18,903 margin. Zecker served in the Assembly until 2001.

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In 1988, Ukrainians throughout the world celebrated the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, the 1,000th anniversary of a Christian heritage whose roots date back to 988 with the baptism of the people of Kievan Rus’ on the banks of the Dnipro River by Prince Volodymyr the Great. The photo above was taken at a celebration at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church on President St., and included Paterson Bishop Rodimer and Archbishop Stephen Sulyk of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Ukrainians in the free world not only asked the public to celebrate this jubilee, they also enlightened people and governments about the continued religious persecution of believers in what was then still was the Soviet Ukraine.

Dec. 2, 1987: The Carvel Ice Cream store on Van Houten Ave. celebrates its grand opening.

Dec. 9, 1987: A dense, hydrochloric acid cloud, which escapes from Continental Chemical Company on Clifton Blvd., sickens workers and residents with irritating symptoms of watery eyes and scratchy throats.

Jan. 10, 1988: Continental Chemical has had eight leaks over the past 13 months. Before steps by the city are taken, the firm voluntarily removes its entire stock of sulfur trioxides, about 42,000 gallons, from its Clifton Blvd. location. The removal took two days, with Schools 15 and 13 shut down as a safety measure.

Jan. 20, 1988: Satanic symbols are painted on rocks at a site in Clifton by those involved in cult activity. Teen cult activity in Clifton has been documented and has gone underground since surfacing in public schools.

Feb. 3, 1988: Murray and Hilda Karpen close their family deli after more than 60 years in business. Karpen’s was started in Passaic by Murray’s parents in 1925. It would move to Passaic Park before coming to its final 78 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

home on Bloomfield Ave. in Clifton. The Karpens say they will not miss working 13-hour days, 7 days a week, but they will miss their customers.

Feb. 9, 1988: An oil tank is removed from the grounds of Christopher Columbus MS after a 4,000 gallon oil spill. Racie’s Pond at Main Memorial Park also requires treatment and the annual Youth Week fishing contest, held in April, is cancelled.

Feb. 14, 1988: The library receives four antique prints of Charles Dickens characters by the World Dickens Fellowship in memory of Nella Hoving, a Clifton resident and Fellowship Board member.

March 1, 1988: Athenia Steel at 714 Clifton Ave. shuts down. Athenia Steel has been operating at the same 35acre site since 1907; at its peak it employed about 300 people. Owner National-Standard began to demolish buildings and undertook an extensive environmental remediation program under the direction of the NJDEP. The firms expects to complete its site remediation program in 1990 at an estimated cost of $3 million.

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March 14, 1988: Curbside recycling debuts.

April 20, 1988: Route 20 is changed to Route 19.

May 1, 1988: John T. McCoy is inducted into the NJ Aviation Hall of Fame as an aviation portrait artist.

McCoy flew in World War II and was in the reserves until age 60, retiring as a full colonel.

May 11, 1988: The Clifton Women’s Club celebrates its 50th anniversary with a luncheon attended by 65 members. The club contributes to organizations like the Red Cross and the March of Dimes, and has offered nursing scholarships to CHS students since 1960.

May 22, 1988: CHS Principal Aaron Halpern retires after 43 years in Clifton schools, 25 years as principal.

Robert P. Mooney is named the new principal.

May 24, 1988: A Lear jet crashes into Garret Mountain and all four passengers are killed. Among them are pilot John Roumanes and his wife Laurie of Van Riper Ave. who just celebrated their first wedding anniversary.

May 25, 1988: Ground is broken for a new field house at Clifton Stadium estimated to cost $600,000.

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June 3, 1988: About 80 first graders of School 12 on Clifton Ave. planted a tree and bed of marigolds in the memory of 6-year-old John Boyko, who died as a result of a fire in his Van Riper Ave. home.

June 22, 1988: The “Great Pigeon War II” continues as the Allwood Civic Association said pigeons pose a health hazard and create slippery road conditions with droppings on roads and walkways beneath bridges.

Aug. 3, 1988: After four years of deliberations, the city opens its long-awaited dog pound in barn C-4 behind City Hall, on the grounds of the municipal campus.

Aug. 21, 1988: City Manager Kemp delivers guidelines to department heads and outlines a statement of purpose and a code of professional standards to be followed by employees. Kemp said “it formalizes in writing a lot of things we should be doing and maybe we aren’t.”

Aug. 24, 1988: A national news magazine lists CliftonPaterson as the ninth most segregated metropolitan area in the US. The magazine notes that the ranking is based on racial separation in neighborhoods compared with the racial composition for the metropolitan area as a whole.

Sept. 6, 1988: More than 1,500 people attend the Labor Day Picnic at Main Memorial Park, around Racy’s Pond.

Sept. 21, 1988: Police Chief Kredatus appeals a decision by the state requiring him to retire.

Kredatus, 65, has served for 40 years and has been the chief for nine.

Oct. 9, 1988: After 18 months of meetings, the Planning Board rejects the application of Crest Management to build 81 condos on the slopes of Garret Mountain.

Sept. 30, 1988: BASF celebrates its 25th anniversary at 1255 Broad St. and breaks ground on a new $6 million Graphic Systems Center for Applied Printing Technology, to be completed in June 1989. BASF employs about 550 at its divisional headquarters.

On Aug. 7, 1988, Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller threw out the first pitch at Nash Park as the Clifton Phillies defeated the Saddle Brook Colonials in a Met League Game, 9-6. From left: Clifton Phillies GM Bob Potts, who was also a longtime employee of Clifton Recreation, Phillies pitcher Joe Johnson, and manager Flip DiCosmo with Bob Feller.

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Oct. 5, 1988: Denman & Davis Steel Co. marks its 100th year in business, 31 of those at Hazel and Broad Sts.

$3-5 million. The FBI said employees of the armored car company, Coin Depot Corp. concocted the scheme.

Oct. 9, 1988: Continental Chemical Company is again the cause of a noxious cloud. Police advise residents to close windows and evacuate Weasel Brook Park before learning the fumes are non-toxic.

Jan. 1, 1989: Grace Church, a landmark at 45 Hazel St., celebrates centennial.

Nov., 1988: Residents vote by a 3-2 margin to change from a Board of Education with trustees appointed by the mayor to one which allows voters to elect board members. The first election will be in April, 1989.

Only three of the nine members will be up for election.

Nov. 30, 1988: The US Department of Justice brought charges against Juozas Kungys, a Clifton resident, alleging he had participated with Nazi occupying forces in the mass execution of more than 2,000 Jewish civilians in Kedainai, Lithuania, on August 28, 1941. The court found for Kungys, stating that Soviet-supplied evidence could not be trusted or verified.

Dec. 22, 1988: Two armed men hijack an armored car making its first delivery of the day at First Fidelity Bank, 66 Mt. Prospect, and escape with an estimated

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Feb. 4, 1989: 350 people attend the Polish University Club of New Jersey Outstanding Citizen Award Ball, with Mayor Kolodziej as the recipient.

Feb. 5, 1989: Krystyna and John Bladek open Krystyna Travel, Tours and Services, Inc. at 521 Van Houten Ave. Krystyna Travel offers international and domestic travel, U.S. bus tours, and parcel service to Poland. About 150 friends, guests, and clients attend.

Feb. 17, 1989: Joseph Lynn retires after 20 years of service. His dual positions as director of purchasing and personnel have been reorganized with the duties being split between two employees. He also served as City Manager from 1982-1987.

Feb. 22, 1989: A group of Egyptian Army generals visit Tele-Measurements on Allwood Rd. to purchase $1.5 million worth of video equipment for a 2,500 seat teleconference center in Cairo.

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The first Board of Education race for three seats attracted 29 candidates. At left are the top three vote getters who joined with appointed board members. Seated, from left, Dr. R. Perkowski, President Wayne Demikoff, Vice President Henry DeVos. Standing: Frank Pecci, Dr. J. Zabchin, Steve Kolakowsky, Gloria Manning, and Kenneth Kurnath. Missing is Dr. M. Reilly-Petrone.

Vote tally of the April 4, 1989 School Board election with results of all candidates: Frank A. Pecci . . . . . . . .2,169 Kenneth Kurnath . . . . . .1,861 Margaret Reilly-Petrone .1,394 Peter Collesano . . . . . . .1,221 Ann B. Tritak . . . . . . . . . .967 Dolores M. Mullen . . . . . .904 Marie L. Hakim . . . . . . . . .903 Joel W. Rosenberg . . . . . . .857 Joseph T. Latiano . . . . . . .814 Michael Gula . . . . . . . . . . .711 Alan F. Savitt . . . . . . . . . .690 Eugene Rabinowitz . . . . . .640 Brian Sieper . . . . . . . . . . .637 Abbot A. Bernstein . . . . . .597 Florence Nibbling . . . . . .577 Jeanne DeLeeuw . . . . . . . .544 Beverly Caccavale . . . . . .532 J. Robert Priolo . . . . . . . . .509 Richard J. Less Jr. . . . . . . .477 Michael Paitchell . . . . . . .477 Norman A. Tahan . . . . . . .460 George DelMonte . . . . . . .457 Richard Garibell . . . . . . . .432 Robert Austin . . . . . . . . . .396 Leonard J. Cerisano . . . . .276 Jennifer Boyko . . . . . . . . .271 Ronald Burgess . . . . . . . . .211 Steven E. Kishel . . . . . . . .195 Lisa M. Bimonte . . . . . . . . .85 Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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May 20, 1989: St. Andrew the Apostle Church, Mt. Prospect Ave., celebrates 50th anniversary.

June 1, 1989: Clifton’s V Channel’s 10th anniversary.

June 25, 1989: Police investigate a rash of animal sacrifices in city parks and cemeteries. The mutilated remains include chickens, rabbits, lamb, and dogs. The symbols left behind are indicative of the ‘Santeria’ religious cult, a Caribbean mix of Christianity and voodoo.

July 5, 1989: A little known historic dam in Delawanna on Yantacaw Pond, near Oak St. off River Rd., was washed away in downpours. Many old-time residents refer to the watering hole as Mill Pond and remember it as a favorite place to fish, swim, and ice skate.

July 12, 1989: Assemblyman Zecker’s bill to put a stop to road construction during rush hour, except for emergencies, passes the NJ General Assembly.

July 19, 1989: The nation’s oldest and largest manufacturer of firefighter’s helmets offered a tour of its Clifton facility. Cairns and Brother Inc., at 60 Webro Rd., was established in 1836 and created the first leather firefighter’s helmets according to William McCutcheon, vice president and great-great-great-great grandson of one of the company’s founders.

July 26, 1989: Clifton’s 14-and-under girls’ fast pitch softball team returned victorious from the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament in Pendleton, NY. Aug. 16, 1989: Tipped off by Bergen County authorities, city police arrest an alleged cocaine dealer after raiding his Hazel St. business and recovering $180,000 worth of narcotics, paraphernalia, and six firearms.

July 27, 1989: Rosemawr residents filed more than 50 complaints regarding a sudden increase in aircraft noise. FAA reports say the problem is not from Newark Airport, but from Teterboro Airport. Residents believe the source is three large jet engines used on the Hoffman-La Roche grounds. La Roche initially denied knowledge or possession of any such engines however, upon further investigation, confirmed having three gas turbine engines that are equivalent to 737 jet engines in their co-generation plant. The NJDEP twice sent investigators to the La Roche Parson Rd. vicinity but inspectors detected no noise.

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Sept. 17, 1989: Frank LoGioco, a 27-year veteran of the force, is named Chief of Police. The position became available after a NJ Supreme Court decision mandated the retirement of all police and fire chiefs over the age of 65, which affected Chief Edward Kredatus. LoGioco did not officially become chief until March 9, 1990, a post he held until May 31, 2002.

Oct. 8, 1989: One of the city’s two ambulances was put out of commission after it crashed, avoiding a vehicle, while responding to a call. The city will utilize a backup 1983 ambulance until the 1988 model can be repaired or replaced. The cost should run about $80,000 but it is insured.

Nov. 5, 1989: Groundbreaking takes place for the Main Memorial Library. The city bonded $3.5 million for the $4.2 million project; the state of New Jersey contributed another $200,000 and the remaining $500,000 was raised through private donations.

Nov. 8, 1989: 117 members of the Dutch Hill Residents Assoc. signed a petition opposing the Islamic Center of Passaic County Inc.’s plan for a mosque. The Association acknowledged the group’s right to worship while highlighting four points of contention. A traffic study will be performed before any decision is made.

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Imagine a wall of buttons with over 100,000 items. That’s what shoppers would find in J. Brody Specialities, which was on Main Ave., near the intersection of Harding. Owned by Clifton residents Sarah and Jack Brody, customers would come from all over the tristate area to find a missing button, match a piece of thread or find anything else they would need to sew.

“Years ago there were lots of sewing shops,” lamented Sarah Brady as the shop would close on Dec, 10, 1991, after three centuries, “but in today’s world, this is a rare business.”

Back in 1989, Sarah and Jack Brody with their daughter-in-law Sharon (she is married to their son Stewart) with sons Matthew and Benjamin.

Nov. 9, 1989: The East German government opens borders to the West and allows thousands of citizens to pass freely through the Berlin Wall for the first time since its creation in 1961. Elderly citizens, who never thought the day would come, wept as they walk through. Jubilant youngsters celebrate their freedom by climbing the much-despised dividing structure, some striking the Communist barrier with hammers and axes. By the end of 1990, the entire wall, which had stretched 26.5 miles (43 km), is removed.

Nov. 15, 1989: An effort between the City of Clifton, the NJDOT, and NJ At the dedication of Eddie Mayo field on Clifton Ave. on July 22, 1989, from Transit provides NYC-bound comleft: Council members Lorraine Bremmer and Dick Stockinger with Ed Mayo, Mayor Gloria Kolodziej, and Councilman Jim Anzaldi. muters with a new 120 space parking lot near the Athenia train station.

Eddie Mayo made Clifton proud, especially in 1945. Playing second base Nov. 29, 1989: The city received its for the Detroit Tigers, the 1927 CHS graduate and former peanut vendor for final Christmas tree donation thanks the Doherty Silk Sox led the Tigers to the American League pennant, hitting to the Steco company as large fir trees .285 with 10 homers and 54 RBIs. For his great play, Mayo was chosen by are planted on city hall grounds. as The Sporting News’ AL Most Valuable Player. Despite a career interruptPreviously the city would cut donated ed by WWII, Mayo spent nine seasons in the majors with the Tigers, Boston trees until the Christmas Spirit Braves, Philadelphia A’s, and New York Giants, hitting a lifetime .252. Born Committee decided to plant a perma- Edward Joseph Mayoski in Holyoke, MA, he grew up in Clifton and was the son of Polish immigrants who changed their name to Mayo. nent environmentally correct fir.

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By Douglas John Bowen Half a century ago or so, bicycles were considered a mode mostly for children. Or for only the most intrepid of souls. Count Claridel “Pudge” Kinney (now Delaney) and Ann Louise Ward (now Jenkins) among the latter.

On June 28, 1958, Pudge and Annie, both CHS 1952, used Pudge’s home at 195 E. 5th Street, corner of Vernon Ave., as their launch point for a 4,000-mile journey by bicycle across the US, successfully crossing the continent in three months upon their arrival in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 28.

Trip time: 92 days, exactly as the two estimated. “We planned it that way,” Delaney said in an interview last month. “If we got ahead of ourselves, we’d stop and work – or relax.”

Pudge and Annie looking back in 1958 and, above, today.

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Planning piece by piece The trip was just another adventure for the two close friends, both of whom had performed in the Mustang Marching Band as “the first two female tuba players,” Delaney said. “But Annie got so good, she [became] All-State.”

Both women attended Panzer College of Physical Education and Hygiene, “before it was merged with Montclair State” College (now University), she added. Graduating in 1956, both launched initial careers as phys ed teachers – Pudge in a town in central New York, Ann closer to home in East Rutherford.

But after two years, the travel bug bit both, and the summer of 1958 seemed as good a time as any to explore the country.

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With the mayor of Portland upon arrival on Sept. 28, 1958, and a rest stop along the path.

At the time, Delaney – still known as “Pudge” today, as she has been by family and friends since infancy – cited cost as the dominant factor for the modal choice of a bicycle, telling local media “we’d like to live on the [West] coast and see what it’s like. And this is one of the cheapest ways of getting there.”

Pudge last month divulged additional motivators for the twosome – they wanted to experience life as ski bums, even though neither yet skied at the time. And while both owned automobiles, neither car was considered sound enough for any cross-country journey.

“We asked one company, Vespa,” about donating motor scooters; “it said no,” she said. But the Schwinn Bicycle Co. agreed to donate two of its products – modest performance models by 21st century standards but built to take a beating. Meanwhile, Pudge wrote to 10 cities informing them of their plans, including Pendleton, Ore., which sent a brochure of Timberline Lodge, on the

slopes of Mt. Hood, and invited the pair to work there should they complete their journey successfully.

Encouraged by that response, Pudge and Ann struck a deal with American Youth Hostels to promote the group’s facilities while crossing the country.

Clifton Mayor Stanley Zwier presented the two with a letter to the mayor of Portland, Ore., Terry Shrunk, for bicycle delivery. With well wishes from Pudge’s father, Del Bart Kinney, and Ann’s younger brother, the two set off on June 28.

Tougher than anticipated Both Pudge and Ann had fancied themselves in good physical condition, since both were PE instructors. But upon completing the first 59 miles on Day One in roughly 11 hours, “We were totally exhausted,” Pudge said.

The two discussed giving up altogether. “But they gave us these bicycles; we have to go. And we

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couldn’t go back; that would be friends and family but by total humiliating. So in a way it was strangers. easier to go to Portland than go “In Corning, N.Y., we were first back home,” Pudge said. stopped by a local news photograThe two spent their first night pher for pictures,” Pudge related. at a hostel in Stokes St. Forest in “Then we were hailed by a local northwestern Jersey – the only radio station worker, who interhostel they used during their viewed us. Then we stopped as a entire trip, sponsorship notwithcourtesy at the police station,” and standing. In part, that was subsequently, courtesy of the local because Pudge and Ann were Lions Club, “we’re spending the counting on numerous friends night at the best hotel in town.” and relatives, mostly east of the Mississippi River, as resting spots A range of close encounters for much of their trip.

The two found such kindness “We tried to hit friends and relthroughout their journey. “Mostly, Pudge, at left, and Annie with atives all the way up to Holland, people were really good. We were Grandma Kinney in Kalamazoo.

Mich.,” said Pudge, including a fed, allowed to do laundry; we stop at Pudge’s grandmother in Kalamazoo. That put the received police escorts here and there,” Pudge observed. two on a path through the northern states, including Not every event was a happy one. “One time, this crossing the newly opened Mackinac Bridge, which contrucker came by and scared the daylights out of us,” nected Michigan’s two separate peninsulas.

Pudge said. “I ended up in a gully, still on my bike. Annie Pudge still has postcards she sent her parents from managed to keep her bike on the road, swearing throughmany of her stops along the way. As word spread of their out the encounter. That was the closest call we had.” journey, Pudge and Ann were often aided not just by In Wisconsin, one adversary was more hostile – and

88 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

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Above, CHS ‘52 senior portraits of Claridel Kinney, Ann Ward, and CHS ‘53 Jerry Delaney. At right, from the 1952 yearbook class athletes Pudge Kinney and Billy DeGraaf.

more daunting. “We were in a state park, and the mosquitoes were so bad we retreated to the town we had just pedaled through, and spent the night at a hotel there,” she said.

In North Dakota, “we’re talking to talk to a bunch of guys, ranchers. ‘Want to work on a ranch?’ we were asked, and we said yes – we were intrigued. So we headed for Buffalo, N.D., and the Macky Brothers Ranch. We expected to be ‘riding the range’ the next day,” Pudge said.

After a night sharing a very uncomfortable bed – “We had to hang onto the sides of the bed to stay on our own side, it was so soft” – Pudge and Ann woke up and “ended up doing the sister’s housework,” Pudge recalled.

“We stayed in the house two days as chambermaids; we were so disappointed.”

Near journey’s end, “We spent at least a week, or more, at the pear cannery in Hood River, Ore. That was the first time we saw Mt. Hood. When first we saw it, we thought it was a cloud.”

Journey’s end, and after Per plan, Pudge and Ann arrived in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 28, 1958, delivering the letter from Clifton Mayor Zwier, and receiving the Key to the City from Portland Mayor Terry Shrunk. Schwinn representatives also were on hand in Portland, informing the intrepid duo that bikes, previously considered on loan, were theirs to keep. Keep they did.

“After that, some ex-Jerseyans took us to the [Timberline] Lodge, and we got jobs waiting tables in the dining room. Neither of us had waited on tables in our lives,” Pudge said. Ann took the first shot at it – after being pushed by Pudge out the kitchen doors.

Pudge said neither she nor Ann thought of their accomplishment as radical or trailblazing. “We never gave it a thought, and we never had a problem” across gender or generational lines, she said. “We had heard that only one other pair of cyclists, men, had preceded us; I don’t know if that’s accurate or not. “But we were 23 years old. We were just out on a lark. We just wanted to get to Timberline and learn how to ski.”

Returning home to Clifton, “We came back broke; I just took the first job I could find,” Pudge recalled. The two weren’t done, however, subsequently visiting, working, and skiing in both Chile and then Switzerland, before “Annie joined the Army, while I taught in Molalla, Ore. Jerry [Delaney, CHS 1953] came out from Jersey and proposed, and we got married” in 1964, Pudge said.

“I married a kid I used to play ball against at Nash Park!” Pudge laughed. Ann also married shortly afterward, in 1965, to Earl Jenkins.

Both returned to the West Coast to live, and “through a series of moves we ended up living up about 25 minutes away from each other,” Pudge said. “We both have two children – she has three grandchildren, I have two.”

Ann retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, then acquired her doctorate in Physical Therapy. Today she lives with her daughter’s family on Orcus Island, Wash., near the Canadian border. Pudge is “happily living on my minifarm with two dogs, three cats, and 11 chickens” in Oregon. Also still present, though long since retired: her old, vintage Schwinn bicycle, testament to an adventuresome spirit decades ahead of her time.

Pudge’s advice for today’s youth, on bicycles or otherwise, on adventurous travel plans: “Get it out of your system when you’re young, before you get married.”

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Through April 11, 2017 Association of Artists Exhibit Location: Clifton Arts Center, City Hall Complex April 15 – May 15, 2017 Woman’s Club of Allwood Celebrates Clifton Centennial Location: Allwood Library April 18, 2017 Ernest J. Sheidemann reading a selection of poetry by his father Location: Clifton Main Memorial Library, Friends of the Library April 26, 2017 Clifton’s 100th Birthday Opening of the Time Capsule Location: Clifton City Hall May 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 2017 Theater League of Clifton presents a Rodgers and Hammerstein Musical Review: Some Enchanted Evening Location: 199 Scoles Ave.

May 13, 2017 Masquerade Cocktail Party Location: Athenia Veterans Post May 21, 2017 Centennial Parade Location: Streets of Clifton June 3, 2017 Clifton Garden Club Trip to Laurelwood Arboretum, Wayne July & August 2017 Summer Concert Series Location: Woodrow Wilson MS July 20, 2017 Clifton Night at the Jackals Location: Yogi Berra Stadium

September 23, 2017 Bus/Ferry Trip to Ellis Island & Liberty Island Location: NYC/NJ September 30, 2017 Clifton Scavenger Hunt Location: Various Clifton Locations October 25, 2017 US Marine Band Performance Location: CHS Auditorium October 21, 2017 Trip to 9/11 Memorial & Museum Location: NYC Info: cliftonnj.org or on FB “Celebrate Clifton’s 100th”

August 9, 2017 West Point Band Location: Clifton August 15, 2017 Clifton Night Subway Series Yankees vs. Mets Location: Yankee Stadium

The Theater League of Clifton presents an evening of song and piano with “Some Enchanted Evening, the Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein,” at the Aprea Theater.

Cast includes Scott Canion, Peggy Valenti, Dorothy Dobkowsky and Jalmari Vanamo.

Info at theaterleagueofclifton.com.

90 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

Cliftonites past and present prepare for the May 21 event.

Cliftonite Keith Oakley is one enthusiastic city resident hard at work coordinating the Clifton Centennial Day Parade, set to kick off at 2 pm on May 21 – just as he had oversight of the city’s comparable 75th anniversary effort, 25 years ago.

“I was actually involved in the 50th, as well,” he quipped. “I marched with the Christopher Columbus Junior High School band – obviously, I was younger then.”

Oakley has help, of course. “Ellis Berger is handling all the bands; Norma Smith is handling the marchers. Other people are helping here and there as they can,” he said.

Oakley, in an interview occurring “just after meeting about [parade planning] with Mayor Anzaldi,” said the parade route will follow “the same route we did for the 75th anniversary event.” The parade will kick off at 2 pm on Colfax Ave. near the intersection with Clifton Ave, make a right at the Elks Club, move down Clifton Ave. to Main Ave., make a left onto Main, and proceed to Park Slope near Main and Memorial Park. It will make a left at that point, ending at the reviewing stand in the park.

“In the park, we’ll have some food trucks and other amenities,” Oakley said. “We certainly hope people will show up for the parade itself, but if they don’t want to, or perhaps can’t, they’re welcome to attend the ceremony,” which, he promised, will be relatively brief.

Preparing for the big parade, from left: Bong Bunagan, Celia Bunagan, Kim Oeffler, Chairperson of Floats Keith Oakley, Chairperson of Walkers Norma Smith, and Chairperson of Bands Ellis Berger.

Proud to be Part of Clifton’s History &

Clifton’s Future!

Councilman Bill Gibson, Robin & Family Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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Jim Scangella (at right) will be Parade Grand Marshal as he “will be 100 [years old] in May, just around the time of the parade,” Oakley said – personification of Clifton’s centennial. That said, Oakley added, “We’re looking for anybody else who was born in 1917” and either is, or once was, a Clifton resident, to be similarly honored during the day.

Scangella will be part of a human stream that includes 11 bands and “25 floats from all different organizations. And we’re having an original Italian gondola, too,” Oakley pointed out. Also included: the ID Robotics Club of Clifton High School, known as the Mechanical Mustangs. “And at the end of the parade, Santa Claus will make an off-season appearance,” Oakley said.

Though the parade route can’t cover the whole city, representatives of various neighborhoods will join the parade at predetermined points, emphasizing Clifton’s strength as a city of neighborhoods.

To that end, one former Clifton resident, currently assisting from her current home in Florida, “ is designat-

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ing points along the route as ‘streets of the neighborhood,” Oakley explained. The recommended congregation areas “may not be in one’s exact neighborhood, but they will be symbolic. We’re not going to be in Allwood or Athenia, but we want everybody, every neighborhood, to be recognized and represented.”

For Oakley, it’s a labor of love that honors at least four generations of his family’s Clifton heritage, extending beyond Clifton’s 100 years, back to when the city was part of Acquackanonk Township. Oakley’s parents helped found the Boys Club of Clifton (now Boys & Girls Club). “My mother was the secretary for more than 30 years; my father was one of the charter members,” he noted.

Oakley is encouraged by the response he’s received from former Clifton residents now living elsewhere throughout the US; many plan to be ‘home’ May 21.

There’s still time to get involved. Call Oakley at 201774-6666; Bands Chair Ellis Berger at 973-951-8585 or Walkers Chair Norma Smith at 973-330-1693.

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KINDNESS IN CLIFTON Kindness in Clifton continues unbounded Have a heart! Students at School 1 on Park Slope manifest a physical representation of The Great Kindness Challenge symbolic of spreading good will throughout their school, the city, and the world at large.

Kindness is catching, and has no time limit. Fran Warren and Kim Oeffler, co-chairs of Clifton’s Random Act of Kindness Committee, continue to make that clarion call as the city nears its 100th birthday, and the two offer plenty of proof that kindness is contagious.

Warren and Oeffler have helped guide school participation in The Great Kindness Challenge (http://thegreatkindnesschallenge.com) for three years. The purpose of the challenge is to lift school culture by focusing on positive actions.

January 23-27 was the official Week of Kindness, prompting Warren and Oeffler to collect and compile anecdotes and input from students and teachers at various grammar, middle, and high school locations throughout the city. That process was a team effort. “Kim and I wish to thank Theresa Valeri, Jean Meade, Mr. Rich Tardalo, Superintendent of Schools, and Joanne Gursky for their support of the ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ school project,” Warren said.

But the effort to tally up acts of kindness didn’t end once the week was done, Warren added, simply because

the acts of kindness didn’t cease. “Just when we thought we were finished, I looked up School 15 online and found they had performed 4,400 acts of kindness in February,” she said. “I called the school and found that indeed they had performed that number. The school secretary (whom I discovered was a high school classmate of mine) told me she had received numerous cards and small thank-you gifts. The web site for School 15 has several photos of bulletin boards “spreading kindness like confetti.”

Warren also offered “a thank you to all the schools that participated in the kindness project.”

From philosophical to practical Sifting through scores of examples (and reading every one), Warren and Oeffler found plenty of everyday actions that, while lacking sensationalism, demonstrated a widespread intent to make life better for others in small ways (and often documented under the rough subcategory “Caught in the act of kindness”).

Oeffler noted that some Clifton High School students, Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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KINDNESS IN CLIFTON

At School 12 on Clifton Ave., students crafted a Kindness Chain documenting 94 Acts of Kindness, which was mounted on display near the principal’s office. Among the acts listed: Writing get-well cards to fellow students, sending a thankyou card (signed by multiple students) to the school nurse, and offering comfort to fellow students who were sad – and/or snack deprived!

in particular, “mused, and gave us their thoughts, which sums up this project.”

Oeffler paraphrased some of those thoughts, often offered by more than one student: “Be kind, and helpful to people, you can make them feel better”; “Believe in yourself, and be kind to friends and family”; “Compliment someone”; “When someone is sad, give them a hug”; “Always be yourself, not anyone else”; and “Give a friend a hug when they are sad, or need support.”

As for more concrete efforts, students at School 12 constructed an 18 1/2-inch Kindness Chain with 94 Acts Of Kindness, displayed near the Principal’s office.

Students at School 1 crafted red hearts in solidarity.

Other examples, according to Warren and Oeffler, included (but certainly were not limited to!): From School 1: “My little cousin ... had trouble understanding his homework, so I helped him.”

From School 2: “I donated supplies to the homeless.”

From School 3: “I donated 20 inches of my hair for someone with cancer.”

From School 4: “I helped my mom do the laundry when she was tired.”

94 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

From School 5: “Someone showed me kindness, when they lent me a sharpener.”

From School 6: “Somebody gave me watermelon Jolly Ranchers.”

From School 12: “My hands were full, and a little boy ran to open the door.”

From School 13: “I helped someone get her mat because she needed a third hand.”

From School 14: “One time, I saw that my neighbor needed help with raking leaves, so I helped him by doing it for him.”

From School 16: “I sat with a lonely person when she was sitting alone at lunch.”

From School 17: “They helped me when someone was bullying me, and I was very happy about that!”

From Christopher Columbus School: “Someone bought me lunch when I forgot my money. I am very grateful.”

From Woodrow Wilson School: “I helped a student in a wheelchair get around the school.”

From CHS: “I found a phone, and returned it to the person.”

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Clifton History

Mayors of the City of Clifton

George R. Connors 1921–1924

Here is a complete list of all the Clifton Mayors.

Of the list—which continues on the next page— two of them did not complete full terms.

In 1945, William Dewey, Sr. was elected Passaic County Sheriff and resigned his office in order to fill that county seat. Councilman Michael Shershin served out the term.

Anna M. Latteri, the first woman to be chosen by her peers as Mayor of Clifton, died in 1973, while still in office. Councilman Israel Friend was selected to complete her term.

Under the existing system of government, adopted in 1934, the City Council consists of seven members who are elected every four years on an at-large basis, in non-partisan elections.

The Mayor is one of those seven and is not directly elected by the citizens. Council members, at their first organizational meeting then select a Mayor from within their own ranks. The next municipal election is in May, 2020. The Mayor has no separate policy-making power but presides over meetings and makes appointments to the Planning Board and various commissions.

S. Grant Thorburn 1925–1927

William P. Jordan 1927–1931

Crine Kievit 1932–1934

Wilson S. Brower 1934–1938

Godfrey M. Meyer 1938–1942

William Dewey, Sr. 1942–1945

Michael Shershin 1945–1946

Clarence Finkle, Sr. 1917–1918

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George J. Schmidt 1918–1920

Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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The Mayor is not directly elected by the

Clifton History

Walter F. Nutt 1946–1950

Fred G. Devito 1950–1954

John W. Surgent 1954–1958

Stanley Zwier 1958–1962

Ira Schoem 1962–1966

Joseph J. Vanacek 1966–1970

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Clifton History

voters but by his or her Council peers.

Anna M. Latteri 1970–1973

Israel Friend 1973–1974

Frank Sylvester 1974–1978

Gerald Zecker 1978–1982

Gloria Kolodziej 1982–1990

James Anzaldi Current

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Be sure to visit Clifton’s Avenue of Flags this Memorial Day, May 29, from 6am-7pm.

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CHS

Baseball April 1 @ Lakeland

Kneeling left to right: Mike Algieri, Mike Mclaughlin, Jason Rivera, Dan Mclaughlin, Edwin Barba, Ivan Martinez. Standing left to right: Anthony Delgado, Trevor Rokosny, Janthony Hernandez, Michael Lesler, Yafred Benjamin, Adrian Cruz, Jose Gomez, Jack Garruto, Darwin Matos, Miguel Delossantos, Christian Adamez, Wesley Reyes, Kage Lord.

4pm

April 5 @ PCTI

4pm

April 7 St. Joseph’s Regional

Joe Rivera knows his team was a mediocre 10-13 last season. But he saw enough last year and this preseason to lead him to believe that this spring could be a special one. The senior-laden group is stocked with talent and experience, and has one focus in 2017: winning as many titles as possible.

“We are confident because everybody has returned,” Rivera said. “Our guys are all experienced, and honestly, the team chemistry is a major strength. There is no ‘me, me, me.’ They want to win. The guys on the bench root for the guys on the field.

“Our goal is to win the league, win the county, and win the state sectional. We talk about it all the time. We can do something special that hasn’t been done here in 20 years,” said Rivera.

100 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

4pm

April 8 North Bergen

10am

April 10 Bergen Tech

11am

April 12 @ Bergen Tech

10am

April 13 @ Passaic Valley

Mustang Sports by Tom Szieber

11pm

April 3 PCTI

April 17 @ John F. Kennedy

4pm 4pm

April 19 John F. Kennedy

4:15pm

April 21 Fair Lawn

4:15pm

April 22 Montclair April 24 Eastside April 26 @ Eastside

11am 4:30pm 4pm

April 28 @ Wayne Valley

4pm

May 1 @ Passaic

4pm

May 5 @ Bergen Catholic

4pm

May 9 @ Becton

4pm

May 10 Wayne Hills May 12 West Milford

4pm 4:15pm

May 15 Teaneck

4pm

May 19 @ Kearny

4pm

MUSTANG SPORTS Baseball Yes, high expectations abound, but it is easy to see why. Senior catcher Miguel De Los Santos leads the way, as a fourth-year varsity player that throws at 1.9 seconds to second base. At 6-2, 180, he is a gap-to-gap hitter that has already accepted an offer to play next year for Division II Post University (Del.) “Teams won’t want to even try to steal on us,” Rivera said. “And Miguel works so hard just on catching. He will be my No. 4 hitter, as well.”

The infield will feature the likes of first baseman Christian Adamez, second baseman Ivan Martinez, shortstop Mike Lesler, and third baseman Dan McLaughlin – all seniors.

In the outfield, the Mustangs are led by senior center fielder Jack Garruto, who will also lead off at the top of the order. Fast and aggressive, Garruto led the team in hitting last year. Senior Darwin Matos is a top-flight fielder that will play in left, while Trevor Rekosny (a Seton Hall Prep transfer) will occupy the territory in right.

Senior Kage Lord is an all-around talent that can pitch, play the outfield, and play third, while senior Mike McLaughlin can play any outfield slot. Senior outfielder Janthony Hernandez will contribute, as well,

as will senior designated hitters Edwin Barba (also a third baseman), Wesley Reyes, and Yafred Benjamin.

On the mound, senior right-hander Jason Rivera is considered the ace of the Mustangs’ pitching staff. A starter as a sophomore, he has already committed to play for New Jersey City University next year. He legitimately throws seven pitches for strikes, with his best being his changeup.

“He doesn’t overpower you, but he gets strikes and gets people out,” said his head coach. “He doesn’t walk anybody. He has complete control of every pitch he has, and nobody will steal on him.”

Matos (a lefty) and Garruto (a righty) will be second and third in the pitching rotation. Lord (LHP), junior Jose Gomez (RHP), junior Anthony Delgado (RHP), and senior Adrian Cruz (RHP) will all contribute on the mound, as well.

“I think we are solid everywhere,” said Rivera, waxing enthusiastically about the team’s overall depth. “I am excited that the people off our bench are close in talent to the guys starting for us. I have so much confidence that my relievers and backups can come in and do a great job. Obviously, I am very optimistic about this season.”

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MUSTANG SPORTS Softball

CHS

Left front kneeling: Devyn Pitak, Gianna Casillas, Madison Vellis, Kayla Vance, Lauren Brown. Second row from left: Amaya Pelletier, Amy Sproviero, Grace Shukaitis, Erika Shyroky, Lexi Camp, Kristen Rosado. Rear from left: Olivia Hirst, Celine Bennion, Isabel Ayala, Rebecca Friedman, Christie Louer.

Softball April 1 Passaic

11am

April 3 @ PCTI

4pm

April 5 @ Bergen Tech

Ish Falcon has a major problem on his hands. Of course, it is a problem many softball coaches would love to have. Each and every game, Falcon will have the task of deciding between three seasoned, talented pitchers, all of whom have the ability to dominate a game and lead the Mustangs to victory.

The Mustangs, coming off a 13-12 playoff season that saw them advance to the Passaic County semifinals last year, come into 2017 with senior Kayla Vance, junior Lauren Brown, and senior Madison Vellis back in the pitcher’s circle, giving Falcon confidence that no matter who is pitching, the team will have a shot at winning.

“This is the third year that I have had Kayla and Lauren, and the second year I’ve had Madison,” Falcon said “They know how to pitch and not just throw.

They’ve all gotten stronger, and I am lucky to have three very good pitchers.

The most difficult part is figuring out whom to go with, because I have confidence in all three. It’s a nice problem to have.”

Vance, who doubles as Clifton’s starting third baseman, is a well-rounded player that sports a lot of power in her delivery, as well as strong hitting and a good arm.

Brown, who starts at first when out of the circle, has multiple effective pitch102 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

4pm

April 7 Eastside

4:15pm

April 8 Passaic Valley

2:30pm

April 11 @IHA

4pm

April 12 @ John F. Kennedy

4pm

April 13 @ Kearny

11am

April 15 Tourn @Wayne Valley

12pm

April 17 Fair Lawn

4:15pm

April 19 @ Passaic

4pm

April 21 PCTI

4pm

April 22 Tourn @Main Memorial

3pm

April 24 Bergen Tech

4:30pm

April 28 @ Eastside

4pm

May 1 @ Lakeland

4:15pm

May 3 JFK

4:15pm

May 5 DePaul

4pm

May 8 @ Wayne Hills

4pm

May 12 @ Sperling Park

4pm

May 15 @ Passaic Valley

4pm

May 16 @ Sperling Park

4pm

es, and is an efficient hitter, as well. Vellis is another power thrower with a lot of movement on her pitches.

Sharing duties with Brown at first will be junior Celine Bennion, who has made a smooth transition from third. Senior Kristen Rosado will split time with Vance at third base, bringing a good glove and a strong, accurate arm. Freshman Grace Shukaitis and senior Christie Louer are both strong fielders that will see time at second, while sophomore Gianna Casillas will start at shortstop for the second straight year.

Junior Isabel Sanchez will be behind the plate, sharing duties with senior Erika Shyroky. Sanchez hit over .400 last year, and is a well-rounded player. Shyroky is a strong defensive catcher.

In the outfield, Clifton boasts a talented group that includes talented defensive player Lexi Camp. A junior, Camp will likely hold the five or six spot in the batting order. Senior centerfielder Devyn Pitak is an experienced ball hawk, while junior right fielder Amy Sproviero is consistent at the plate and in the field.

Juniors Rebecca Friedman and Olivia Hirst are both possible designated players (DPs).

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MUSTANG SPORTS Track

Back row: Tyra Douglas, Catherine Davey, Stephanie Arroyo, Zakiyah Balbonet, Randy Jimenez.

Front row: Stephanie Peppers, Matt McMahon, Kevser Boy, Sure Aygun, Baldwin Gonzalez.

The story is the same seemingly every year for Clifton spring track. The girls and the boys teams, both strong programs, are deep in both young talent and veteran experience, and are ready to pursue championships at just about every level.

And here we are again, with both halves of the roster doing exactly that in 2017.

The Clifton girls come into the spring on the heels of a 2016 season that saw them go undefeated (5-0) in dual meets, win a share of the Big North Liberty Division title with Passaic County Tech, and win the Passaic County Relays for the second straight year. This time around, they are looking to match and exceed those achievements.

“We have a strong senior class and strong junior class,” said Head Girls Coach Mike Rogers. “At this point, we look like we have a number of talented freshmen and sophomores, as well.

“We look built to compete now, and hopefully if we can keep it together, then for the next couple of years,” Rogers added.

In distance events, senior Meghan Jozefczyk (1600m, 3200m) will lead the way. Clifton’s most decorated distance athlete, she has multiple AllPassaic County honors under her belt for spring track, winter track, and 104 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

CHS

Track April Bergen Tech

4pm

April 8 @Passaic Valley

10am

April 10 @PCTI

9am

April 13 Passaic

4pm

April 15 @ Ramsey

9am

April 18 Eastside

4pm

April 28 @ Wayne Valley

3:30pm

Apr 29 @Randolph

9am

May 1 Big North Frosh Meet

TBA

May 3 Big North Championship

TBA

May 9 @ Wayne Hills

4pm

May 10 @ Wayne Hills

4pm

May 20 @ Hackensack

9am

May 26 @ Randolph

3:30pm

May 27 @ Randolph

10am

MUSTANG SPORTS Track

Back row: Jordan Van Zyl, Giovanni Mendez, Khaled Soliman, Mollie Slanina, David Ambrose.

Front row: Meghan Jozefczyk, Anisah Khandakar, Melanie Ibarra, Jade Stepeney.

cross country over the past several years. Senior Mollie Slanina competes in the same events, and is fresh off a breakthrough indoor season during which she made it to the individual Group IV championship. Senior Anisah Khandakar (800m, 1600m) should be on track for an outstanding spring if healthy.

Junior Alenys Morales is Clifton’s top hurdler, jumper, and sprinter, and holds the Clifton program record in high hurdles (15.5 seconds), which she set last year.

Senior Catherine Davey (shot put and discus) was the indoor shot put Passaic County champ this winter, and hopes to build on that success outside.

Senior Tyra Douglas, sophomore Brianna Morrison, and sophomore Antoinette Muir all figure to be key pieces of the girls lineup, as well.

The boys looked primed for a big season in their own right behind legendary Head Coach John Pontes.

Like the girls, they are balanced and have talent in all

areas of their lineup.

They are deep in the throwing circuit, with juniors Luis Zorrilla and Sonny Ruiz both capable of picking up points in the shot put, discus, or javelin. Both are technically sound, coachable athletes who Pontes calls “super workers.”

Meanwhile, junior Kevin Heredia (400m, 800m, 1600m) is one of the best half-milers in the state, and was second in the county in cross-country during the fall. Over the winter, Heredia took fourth in the 800m in the indoor Meet of Champions. He also broke the Clifton indoor school record in the 800m with a mark of 1:56.

Senior Carlos Polanco will once again be a major contributor in the 400m, 800m, and 1600m, while junior Max Dubac will compete in the 400m hurdles, the 800m, and 400m.

The Mustangs also boast depth in the pole vault, in juniors Jordan Laceste and Takashi Yuasa.

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MUSTANG SPORTS Boys Lacrosse

Top left: Andrew Chao, Nick Diaz, Jan Roque, Fadiol Bushka, Jacob Sanchez, Kevin Buttel, James Murdoch, Hazem Atallah, Alex Carmona. Bottom: Zachary Davila, Jake Cupoli, Tyler Gibson, Christopher Rapuano, Jacob Peralta, Dean Manomat.

The Clifton boys lacrosse team finished last season with a state playoff berth and a run that saw them advance all the way to the Passaic County semifinals.

But this year, they want more. They are hungry for a county title, and believe they have the talent to not only accomplish that, but also a run in the state tourney that is less brief than their last few.

“Clifton kids are tough, scrappy, and I think our guys will rise to the occasion this year,” said Head Coach George Cowan. “We really want to focus on winning a county title. We were the first team in the county to have lacrosse team, and it is a matter of pride. I think a lot of the kids understand it.”

The Mustangs will be led by senior Kevin Buttel, a midfielder who earned first team All-Passaic County honors last year. Buttel can do a little bit of everything, including play with a long stick or set up the offense. He can score when necessary, but is a skilled distributor, as well.

“Everything he says is positive,” Cowan said of Buttel. “He is the glue that holds it all together. He can put the ball in the cage, but his assists will really be what stands out this year.”

Joining Buttel in the midfield will be junior Jared Jankowski, a man down specialist who has come a long way during the offseason.

106 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

CHS Boys

Lacrosse Mar 31 Bergen Tech April 4 @DePaul April 6 @West Milford April 8 @Fair Lawn April 11 PCTI April 13 Lakeland April 15 @Waldwick April 18@ Wayne Valley April 20 Wayne Hills April 22 Paramus

4:30pm TBD 5:30pm TBD 10 am 4:15 pm 10am 6:30pm 4pm 10am

April 25 @Tenafly

4pm

April 27 Vernon

6 pm

April 29 Passaic Valley May 5 @Pascack Hills May 9 @River Dell May 11 Gov. Livingston

10am 4:15pm 5pm 4:15pm

Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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Mostly a defensive player last year, he is destined to have a more complete role in 2017. Freshman Eddie Maldonado will handle faceoffs, as one of Clifton’s faster players. Senior James Murdoch, junior Matt DePasque and Joseph Walker will also rotate in.

Offensively, senior Tyler Gibson will lead the charge. Gibson picked up a hat trick in just about every

108 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

game he played last year, and is a strong lefty that was a second team All-Passaic County honoree.

Junior Eric Sandberg is another player that will be looked upon to score, and has the quick hands and feet that make him tough to defend.

The same can be said of freshman Jack Louer, who has impressed the Clifton coaching staff in the preseason.

Clifton’s defense will consist of the senior corps of Jake Cupoli, Dean Manomat, and Zachary Davila, along with longstick midfielders senior Jacob Peralta and sophomore Steven Pedraza.

According to Cowan, the defensive group’s cohesiveness is its biggest strength.

“You are looking at three guys who are not only teammates but friends,” Cowan pointed out. “They understand what the other is doing at all times.”

Senior Chris Rapuano will guard the cage. At 6-foot-3 with good reaction time, Rapuano is difficult to put the ball past. He is also another major reason why the Mustangs believe this can be the year they reach the next level.

“Everything is always a work in progress, but these guys are exciting,” said Cowan.

“You don’t know what you’re really going to get until you’re out on the field. I think we will be a contender,” Cowan said.

MUSTANG SPORTS Girls Lacrosse

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Front row: Shana Gadaire, Jillian Urban, Madison Surgent, Jailyn Brown, Ivana Vasquez, Amanda Stetz. Middle row: Angy Calixto, Molly Herner, Andrea Guillen, Amanda Richards, Maggie Szewzyk, Nicole Ozga. Back row: Tiffany Veloso, Guiliana Richards, Amani Brinson, Krystal Vera-Tudela.

Clifton girls lacrosse doesn’t have some of the established names it had last year, but the Mustangs have a balanced and talented group that not only looks poised for a successful spring this season, but for the next few, as well.

Stocked with young talent and just enough veteran presence, they showed in back-to-back season-opening wins that they are ready to have a breakthrough year.

“I have my whole lineup back [from last season],” said Head Coach Amanda Gryszkin. “Instead of focusing on the basics, we have been able to move on to more advanced stuff that we couldn’t do last year because everyone was so new and so young. These girls want to win games.”

In a 16-2 opening day win over Hoboken and a 14-9 triumph over Paramus Catholic, the Mustangs showed that they can be dangerous on offense with a lineup of nearly all juniors.

On the attack will be the likes of Madison Surgent, who boasts good stick handling skills and the ability to switch lefty or righty. Surgent scored three goals in the win over Hoboken.

Her classmate, Amanda Stetz, comes into 2017 with some varsity experience from last year, and has demonstrated significant improvement in

CHS Girls

Lacrosse Mar 29 Hoboken April 1 Paramus Catholic

4:30pm 10am

April 4 Fair Lawn

4:15pm

April 5 @Pascack Hills

4:30pm

April 7 Eastern Christian April 10 Wayne Valley April 12 @West Milford April 15 Bergen Tech April 17 Westwood April 20 Passaic Valley April 22 @Hoboken April 24 @PCTI April 26 @DePaul

4 pm 4pm 4:15pm 10:15am 4:15pm 6pm 10:30am 4:30pm TBD

April 28 N.Valley/Old Tappan

TBD

May 8 @Wayne Hills

6pm

May 11 Dwight Englewood

6pm

May 13 N. Valley/Demarest

TBD

Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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the preseason. The same can be said of junior Jailyn Brown, who is a coachable talent with a desire to consistently improve.

“Amanda does the little things right, and used her JV experience getting better,” said Gryszkin. “She understands the game better. Jailyn does, too. She plays behind the goal, and she isn’t necessarily our go-to girl [from a scoring perspective] offensively, but does the things we need back there.”

Junior Molly Herner, senior Amanda Richards, and junior Krystal Vera-Tudela will be keys to the offense, as well.

In the midfield, the Mustangs will rely heavily on Guiliana Richards, a sophomore that started last year.

Quick and athletic, Richards is effective on both offense and defense.

Sophomore Amani Brinson is another speedster, while junior Angy Calixto is effective at screen setting and coming up with ground balls.

110 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

On defense, Clifton boasts a unified and skilled corps of players in junior Jillian Urban, sophomore Ivana Vasquez, sophomore Shana Gadaire, sophomore Tiffany Deloso, and junior Maggie Szewzyk.

The defense will work to keep the ball away from the cage, though the Mustangs have an exciting young talent guarding the goal, as well, in freshman Nicole Ozga.

The group has been impressive in both the preseason and its early season wins, and Gryszkin feels they are only scratching the surface.

Still, she has preached that the team needs to remain disciplined, and focus on improving on their early success, while avoiding complacency.

“This group, they are understanding each other and each other’s tendencies,” said Gryszkin. “Still, even though we have won some games, I told our girls that we need to stay focused. When we beat teams we haven’t beaten before, then we can talk.”

m

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MUSTANG SPORTS Boys Volleyball

CHS Boys

Volleyball April 1 @ Passaic April 3 PCTI

Top from left: Daniel Loukachouk, Keyur Champaneri, Michael Guzman, Jerome Aiello, Alexander Budhi. Bottom: Jacob Padula, Cole Wojdyla, Brian Krawiec, Jinjay Shah. Varsity not pictured: Karam Hallak, Joseph Lauritano.

Despite hefty graduation losses and a change at head coach, there is plenty to be excited about in the Clifton boys volleyball program. The Mustangs are coming off a 2016 season that saw them qualify for the state playoffs, and are implementing a new, high-octane offensive system that should be fun to watch once fully installed.

“Having coached at the club level and in college, I am going to make sure that we can distribute the ball to anybody quickly,” said new Head Coach Dan Crespo, a 1993 Clifton High School grad.

“At the high school level, a lot of times teams set high and a single person will go hit it. We are going to do things a little differently, and I have no worries that this team can run it. We just need to get that right chemistry.

Ideally, I want to be able to have three or four lineups.”

In any lineup, the Mustangs will feature junior outside hitter Michael Guzman, who can play any position and provides stable leadership on a squad that, again, saw significant departures.

Senior libero Jerome Aiello is another returnee that should see a great deal of floor time, and could develop a great offensive role throughout the year as he becomes more secure with hit hitting.

112 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

10am 4pm

April 5 Bergen Tech

4:30pm

April 6 Jefferson Twsp

4:15pm

April 7 @Eastside Paterson

4pm

April 8 @Passaic Valley

TBD

April 10 Don Bosco

4pm

April 11 @North Bergen April 12 JFK April 15 @West Milford April 17 @Fair Lawn

10am 4pm 10am 4:15pm

April 18 McNair Academy

4pm

April 19 Passaic

4pm

April 20 @PCTI

4pm

April 22 @Hackensack

8am

April 24 @Bergen Tech

4pm

April 25 @Bergen Catholic

4pm

April 27 @St. Peter’s Prep

4:30pm

April 28 Eastside

4:30pm

May 1 Lakeland

4:15pm

May 3 @JFK

4pm

May 5 @Belleville

4pm

May 8 Wayne Hills

4pm

May 12 @Wayne Valley

4pm

May 15 Passaic Valley

4pm

Senior setter Cole Wojdyla will play a big role, as well, as he is a strong distributor and solid defensive player.

Among the other members of the Clifton roster that should see significant time are opposite hitters Alexander Budhi and Karam Hallak. Budhi, a senior, is an exceptional jumper, while Hallak is both strong and athletic.

Sophomore middle hitter Joseph Lauritano is explosive and possesses the ability to move effectively laterally. Junior outside Jacob Padula can serve, score, and pass with precision.

Altogether, the Mustangs should have the pieces necessary to be competitive as they learn Crespo’s style. It will be a project, to be sure, but the new head coach has been impressed with his team’s enthusiasm ability to pick things up quickly.

“They are good at jumping, swinging as hard as they can,” said Crespo. “From a skill-based standpoint, we are building a bit from scratch. They are coming along, though. It requires patience. It is going to come down to how comfortable they feel. But they ask good questions and they learn every day.”

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113

MUSTANG SPORTS Tennis

Clifton boys tennis endured a rough 2016 season, but it was not due to lack of talent so much as lack of experience. The young Mustangs admittedly struggled last spring, but Head Coach Andrea Bobby is optimistic that they will make significant strides thanks to a roster packed with returning players and visible improvement from the top to the bottom of the lineup.

“Everyone has a little more experience, and that is important,” Bobby said.

“We play in a competitive division, but if we can win some and keep other competitive, I think that would be a great accomplishment.”

To do so, they will need more points in the high singles spots, starting with likely first singles player Heath Patel.

Patel, a junior, occupied that slot in the lineup as a sophomore, and was effective, but often dealt with the task of playing far more experienced upperclassmen. A year older now, Patel is stronger and more mature, and could surprise some opponents. “Last year Heath was hard on himself,” said Bobby. “He is back with a renewed enthusiasm, and he has played all winter. He has a more consistent serve, and he is excited.”

Senior Patrick Bury and junior Kishan Mehta seem poised to snag the other two singles slots, and each brings their own strengths to the table. Bury is tall and a strong hitter. Mehta plays with a motor, and has an infectious love for the game that Bobby said is present every day. The three have been about even during the preseason, giving the Mustangs options and balance.

The doubles contingent will be spearheaded by sophomore Omar Abufasha, a second-year player that is an enthusiastic and able partner for any teammate.

Freshman Leigh Wang is a similarly versatile teammate who has substantial private tennis experience, while sophomore Jonathan Martinez has improved substantially since his ninth grade campaign. The lineup is rounded out by seniors Jay Desai and first-year player Travis Rixha.

114 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

Left front: Co-manager Tiffany Cheng, Omar Abufasha, Capt.

Patrick Bury, Damien Dudzik, Co-manager Payal Rana. Back row: Diego Ordonez, Heath Patel, Leigh Wang, Jay Desai, Travis Rixha, Jonathan Martinez, Kishan Mehta.

CHS

Tennis April 3 @ Passaic

4pm

April 5 @ PCTI

4pm

April 7 @ Clifton

4pm

April 10 @ Clifton

10am

April 11 @ Eastside

4pm

April 13 @ Lincoln Park JC

4pm

April 17 @ Clifton

4pm

April 19 @ Fair Lawn

4pm

April 21 @ Clifton

4pm

April 24 @ JFK April 25 @ Wayne Valley

4pm 8:30am

April 25 @ Clifton

4pm

April 26 @ Clifton

4pm

April 28 @ Bergen Tech

4pm

May 1 @ Clifton

4pm

May 2 @ Bergen Catholic

4pm

May 3 @ West Milford

4pm

May 5 @ Don Bosco Prep

4pm

May 8 @ Wayne Valley

4pm

PCTI filmmakers from Clifton Izaius Diaz, Christian Prelich, Megan Mitchell, Sadie Bevando, Emily Morillo, Eileen Sosa.

Consider it Lucky 13 for the Passaic County Film Festival, “a juried exhibition of student and independent filmmakers’ work” now in its 13th year.

The festival is April 22, beginning at 10 am, at the Fabian 8 Theater in Paterson.

Admission is free and viewers will see numerous 10-minute shorts from filmmakers who live, work, or attend school in Passaic County.

At the festival, the top team of filmmakers will receive the Costello, the grand prize named in honor of Paterson native and comic legend Lou Costello.

Awards also go to first, second, and third place winners in five categories: 1. General short film; 2. Public Service announcements; 3: Documentary; 4. Music video; and 5.: University/Independent short film.

Special recognition for “Rising Stars” filmmakers also will be given, courtesy of the North Jersey Federal Credit Union. As well, this year Unique Photo of Fairfield generously donated a $500 gift card to a Passaic County high school to acquire film/video/audio equipment, and the high school awarded the film equip-

ment will be announced at the festival.

All entries must be the sole creative and technical effort of the individual(s) submitting the work. Films must be produced, directed, edited, and produced by high school students, university students, or independent filmmakers. Entries must be no more than 10 minutes in length.

Entries were accepted only from individuals who are enrolled in an educational institution in Passaic County, who live in Passaic County, or who work in Passaic County. Films were judged by a panel of professionals earlier this year.

The Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the members of the Passaic County Film Commission, and the Passaic County Community College Foundation sponsor the film festival and the Passaic County Film Education Grant, with support from Unique Photo.

In addition, this program is made possible in part by a grant administered by the Passaic County Cultural & Heritage Council from funds granted by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

More info at passaiccountynj.org/film.

Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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CHS Senior Darwin Matos earns superlatives for his well-balanced attitude, whether he’s in the classroom or on the baseball diamond.

Or, apparently, anywhere else, such as when he’s assisting as an office worker from the North Wing VP, where he’s regarded as “incredibly polite, helpful, and kind.”

“On school grounds or at a [Pennsylvania] tech school, Darwin conducts himself with dignity and respect,” noted CHS Power Mechanics Teacher Richard Alberghini, lauding the CHS March Student of the Month.

Matos has mastered such social skills despite – or perhaps because of – having to make do with the limited familial guidance he has available. “I live with my sister who just turned 20 and my dad. I only see him on the weekends due to his busy job,” Matos said.

From a distance, his mom can only help so much. “I came to the U.S when I was 10 years old,” he said. It was very hard coming here not knowing any English. I basically had to figure things out on my own because my mother lives in the Dominican Republic and I didn’t really have anyone that could help me. When people come to this country and you don’t know the language, students tend to make fun of you instead of helping you. That is something I went through.”

What motivates him to excel?

“My grandfather, who passed away,” he replied. “He bought me my first baseball glove and intro116 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

duced me to the sport. Also my mother, who helps me reach my goals even though she is not close to me” geographically.

CHS teaching staff also has helped during his nearly four years in high school. “One of my favorite subjects is history,” Matos said. I like learning about the past and the history around us. My favorite teacher, Mr. [John] O’Reilly, was also very good to me.

“Surprisingly, this year, both of my math classes are my favorites mainly because I have very good teachers (Mrs. [Miriam] Silverstein, Mr. [Robert] Orr, and Ms. [Janice] Burke),” Matos added.

Busy with baseball Matos has taken to the sport his grandfather introduced him to like a duck takes to water, though water, for a while, also was part of his CHS after-school equation.

“I used to do swimming,” Matos said, “and I’ve been playing baseball since I was 6 years old. I pitch and play the outfield for CHS. I like the New York Yankees, but I love to watch Clayton Kershaw,” the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher.

Matos has been on the CHS varsity baseball team all four years. His inspiration when he’s on the field?

“My baseball pitching coach, who, like me, comes from the Dominican Republic. He made it to the Major Leagues” Matos said.

No surprise, then, that making it to “The Show” is one option for Matos, though completing college is

Darwin Matos

not to be dismissed. “There are a few schools currently showing interest in me,” Matos reported: “Bloomfield College, St. Peters University, and Philadelphia University.”

Though ready to move on past high school, Matos said he’s made the most of his CHS “career,” and urged other students to do the same.

Asked how he’d counsel those younger CHS students following him, he offered, “I would personally tell them that it is a very fun school and, as long as you do what you’re supposed to, you will experience the best four years in high school. There are many activities students can participate in.”

For those who, like Matos himself, had to struggle upon arriving in a new land with a different language, the message is: Work to adapt, and believe in oneself.

“People will always try to bring you down,” he observed. “Don’t listen to any of the nonsense, and try to learn the language as fast as you can or you will have a more difficult time.”

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Bryan Cammerino (CHS 2016) can feel the music.

On March 5 he helped share that feeling with Adam Levine and 13,000 fans.

Cammerino, a criminal justice major at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), joined Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine on stage at Blue Cross Arena. For the song Payphone Cammerino was on stage looking like a rock star, dancing, moving and groovin’ as he sang in American Sign Language.

Considered the fourth most-used language in the United States, Cammerino’s moves like Jagger went viral on RIT’s Facebook. Next Rochester newscastspicked it up and interviewed him. A YouTube video is available at #bryancammerino.

How did he get there? “My mom has a friend who knows somebody in the music industry who was able to forward a video of me signing a Maroon 5 song,” Cammerino said. “They decided they would let me go on stage and sign a song next to them. I didn’t get paid, but it was definitely worth it.”

It’s not the first time Cammerino was caught singing in sign; many Clifton residents have seen him signing the National Anthem around town during his years at CHS. “It was an amazing to bring both the hearing and deaf communities together by signing and expressing the emotion behind the song,” Cammerino said.

Have Clifton Merchant Mailed.

$35/YEAR SUBSCRIPTION 12 Editions Mailed via First Class to your home.

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Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

117

EVENTS

If you get your kicks in Clifton Parks, you can help the city win $20,000 for park improvements. Participate briskly in a “Meet Me At the Park” campaign, nominating any of our 39 parks in the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) contest. By visiting NRPA.org/BeInspired, you can nominate Clifton daily.

At the end of April, the city with the most nominations will receive the grant. In addition, everyone who hits the site will be entered in a drawing for a tablet outfitted for the outdoors. Participants can send selfies in their favorite park and send them in using the hashtags #MeetMeAtThePark, #Parkies, and #BeInspired.

118 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

Clifton Rec Director Debbie J. Oliver said the city plans on using any grant money it’s awarded to improve walking paths in Clifton’s 39 parks, in order to encourage a more walkable community.

According to Clifton Recreation’s Kyle Zwiazek, “Clifton’s newest park is the Athenia Steel Recreation Complex. The oldest park is a bit more of a difficult one to figure out. Some records show Main Memorial Park as one of the oldest parks in Clifton.

Unfortunately, we do not have the full records on all of the parks available at this moment in time.”

But be it new or old, a park system can certainly benefit from a $20,000 grant. For more information about the campaign (and, don’t forget, to nominate Clifton!), visit NRPA.org/BeInspired before the campaign ends on April 30. Any questions, call 973-470-5958.

The Clifton Recreation Department hosts the Bunny Bash on April 8, rain or shine, from 9:30am - 11:30am at Nash Park on Lexington Ave. across from the Hot Grill.

There will be an egg-cellent selection of free activities and fun for children ages 3-12 following breakfast with Mr. Bunny from 7:30am - 9:30am at the Hot Grill. There will not be a traditional Egg Hunt at this event.

Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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REUNIONS

The CHS Softball Booster Club dinner in Feb. honored the 1997 and 2007 state championship teams. The 2007 squad is above, front from left: Jill Leonard, Ashley Jacobus, Melissa Barbera, Samantha Litchfield, and Monica Barhorst. Back row, from left: Kim Ferrara, Deanna Giordano, Amanda Caparso, Kim Lope, Nicole Wisse, Allison Di Angelo, Emma Gretina, and Lindsey Moore. Missing were: Jessica Perez, Cheryl Porter, Jessica Elliott, and Nicole Santosuosso. The July 2007 cover celebrating the team is seen at left. Below are members of the 1997 team: Kim Anzaldi, Melissa Butler, Cara Boseski, Lisa Roberto, Jamie Anzaldi, and Tamara Tinajero. Our July magazine will catch up with members of both teams as we look back in 10-year increments (2007, 1997, 1987, 1977, 1967, 1957 and 1947) and ask Where Are These Mustangs Now? Connected with the classes listed? Send an email to tomhawrylko@optonline.net and let us know about reunions, where people are, and other info.

120 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

EVENTS St. Philip the Apostle Knights of Columbus Council 11671 beefsteak is April 29 at 7pm in St. Philip's school auditorium, 797 Valley Rd. Tickets are $35 and includes dinner and beverages. Chicken option is available. Call Rich Donkersloot for tickets: 973-650-3327.

CHS Class of 1982 35th reunion is on June 17, 6pm, at Jenkinson’s in Pt. Pleasant. Cost is $75 and includes BBQ, beer and wine. Send payment to Kim Zagorski, 1651 Springfield Ave., New Providence NJ 07974 or via paypal.me/clifton82.

Passaic High School Class of 1967 50th reunion is in the works. Many alumni have been found, but organizers are still searching for the missing. Alumni attending will be traveling from all over the United States and even Thailand. It’s on July 8 at The Bethwood, in Totowa. On Friday, July 7, there will be a meet and great. Location to be announced. On Saturday morning a tour of Passaic High School will take place for all those old Indians. For more info, call Stuart Brody at 973-340-1137 or Elise Lainoff at 201-280-6217.

Passaic County 200 Club’s Annual Valor & Meritorious Acts Award Dinner, honoring the county’s Police, Fire, and EMS community, will be held May 1, 4:30pm at The Brownstone in Paterson. In addition to the “Honoring the Heroic” awards program, the Club will present five $2,500 scholarships to family members of those serving in public safety within Passaic County. Reservations are $60; tickets will not be mailed, but will be held in the purchaser’s name. Make checks to the Passaic County 200 Club; club tax ID is #22-3342763. Mail to the Club at 3 Garret Mountain Plaza, Suite 400, Woodland Park, NJ 07424. Info: call Lauren Rinaldi at 201-450-1271 or via PC200CLUB@aol.com.

The Ladies Auxiliary’s 10th Annual Tricky Tray is set for May 12, with all proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Club of Clifton. Businesses or individuals looking to provide gifts for giveaways, provide merchandise, or wishing to help in any way, can send tax-deductible donations to the Boys & Girls Club, 822 Clifton Ave., Clifton, NJ 07013, Attn: Ladies Auxiliary. For info or any questions, call 973-773-2697 x 143.

which means Tomahawk Jr. is trained and nationally certified in restorative water drying methods by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, also known as IICRC. Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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EVENTS

The Friends of the Clifton Library is sponsoring a talk April 18, 7pm, by Ernest J. Scheidemann. He will read a selection of writings by his late father, Clifton Poet Laureate Ernest T. Scheidemann, Jr. The son is the fourth generation of family overseeing The Scheidemann Agency, founded in 1916 by James Hilton and his sonin-law Ernest T. Scheidemann Sr., and still operating from its unique red building at 1297 Main Ave. The reading is at the Main Memorial Library, 292 Piaget Ave. Refreshments follow as does a book signing.

The Centennial Committee is planning events that include an opening of a time capsule on April 26. See page 90 for a line up. Passports for each event, as well as souvenirs, are sold at the City Clerk’s office.

Ernest J. Scheidemann and his late father, the Clifton Poet Laureate. At left, Investors Bank awarded a $5,000 grant to Friends of the Clifton Public Library. Pictured from left: Candice Brown, director of Clifton Public Library; Vivian Semeraro, president of the Friends and Ebru KuscanAguirre of Investors Bank. The grant will be used for a Discovery Table at the renovated Allwood branch.

I Am A Part Of Clifton’s History T-shirts are also for sale and proceeds will support the CHS History Club’s project for centennial time capsules in each school.

Email advisor and Centennial Committee member John Lesler at jlesler@cliftonschools.net for more info.

Friends of the Shelter Bake Sale is April 15, 10am to 2pm, at the Clifton Senior Center, Dog Pound Rd. A variety of baked goods for humans and pets will be for sale.

Also, The Friends Spring Holiday Tree is up through May 7. A $5 puts an egg on the tree with your animal’s name on it. Info at cliftonanimalshelter.com.

Tables of 10 $300 until June 30. Then increases to $350.

5th Annual New

Beer & Wine Garden Sponsors & Vendors Reserve Space Now!

Tickets: $40 Save Now with Advance Purchase Table of 10 - $300 Call John DeGraaf 973-773-0966 x111 info@bgcclifton.org 122 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

Oct. 2, 2017 6:30 to 9 pm

EVENTS Parents Of Autistic Children (POAC) held its Black and White Gala Feb. 25, honoring Amanda Marakovitz as its Volunteer of the Year. Marakovitz (CHS 2013), currently a senior at Monmouth University, is studying Early Childhood Education. She expects to graduate in December with a degree in Early Childhood Education and English, with endorsements in P-3 and Teacher of Students with Disabilities. On May 21, POAC’s Walk for a Difference is at CHS Stadium. Her team, Amanda’s Dream Team, will be participating for the group’s 10-year anniversary. To register visit poacwalk.org or call 732-785-1099. POAC is a provider of autism education and training in the New Jersey, training police officers, firefighters, and first responders every year on how to keep children with autism safe.

Amanda Marakovitz with Gary Weitzen of POAC.

Clifton PRAISE meets on April 24 at 7 pm at the Clifton Main Library.

The workshop “How to Manage an IEP Meeting,” is presented by Renay Zamloot, Education Advocate.

PRAISE is a non-adversarial, nonprofit parent support group for parents/families with special needs children. All are welcome to attend. April is World Autism Month and donations are gratefully accepted. To donate, visit autismspeaks.org.

Info at cliftonpraise@gmail.com.

CML/CJAL is offering baseball for special needs children ages 5-13.

Sign up at clifton.website.siplay.com and select Bambino Buddy Ball. Call 973-925-4677 for details. The city’s Opening Day Parade and Picture Day for all players takes place April 22, 9:30am. For more info, contact cliftonbaseball1@gmail.com.

Clifton Recreation Department will hold its 18th annual volunteer recognition social on May 22, at 6:30pm to honor its “2016 people that made it happen.” Admission is free for registered volunteers and award winners; guests are $10 per adult, $6 per child.

Call 973-470-5956 for details.

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COMMERCE Montclair State University honored Judith Schumacher-Tilton with the Mary Mochary and Michael Kasser Award for Philanthropic Leadership at its Annual Scholarship Dinner on March 4.

Schumacher-Tilton, at right, is the president of Schumacher Chevrolet Auto Group, New Jersey’s largest volume Chevy dealer with locations in Clifton, Little Falls and Denville.

Schumacher-Tilton was nominated for TIME Dealer of the Year in 2012, becoming New Jersey’s first-ever female to compete for the award and was one of four national finalists to be featured in TIME Magazine.

Most recently she was named one of the “Best 50 Women in Business” by NJBIZ and a “New York Woman of Influence” by the New York Business Journal and BizWomen.com.

Schumacher-Tilton serves on the Montclair State University Foundation Board and established the Give the Kids Hope Foundation, Inc. (with her son Stephen Tilton, Jr.) in 2012, which supports educational and

recreational opportunities for underprivileged children in New Jersey. She has received numerous awards for her community service work, with her family receiving the 2013 New Jersey Business Family of the Year Award from New Jersey Monthly Magazine.

St. Joseph’s It’s All About the Kids Children’s Health Issues Workshops continues through the month of April at William Paterson University, 1600 Valley Road, Wayne.

April 11 features a panel where attendees can “Ask the Doctors!”; this seminar, offered for the sixth year, is one of the most popular workshop presentations offered. On April 25, “Children and Diabetes” (type 2) will be on the agenda. The series wraps up May 2 with “Children and Gender Identity.”

All sessions occur from 4pm-5:30pm.

Registration for each session is required online in advance. For registration assistance, contact Jessica Snell at 973-720-3709, or visit wpunj.edu/cpe.

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VOLUNTEERS

City Green, a five-acre farm at 171 Grove St., begins another season and invites all to kick-off its weekly Wednesday Weeders Volunteer Program on April 19. Sessions are from 9 am to noon or 5 pm to dusk. Wednesday Weeders, like these folks from Samsung, lend a hand or two and help out in the garden and on the farm. To volunteer or to find out more about the programs at City Green, email info@city-green.org, call 973-869-4086, or go to citygreenonline.org.

St. Joseph’s Healthcare System is celebrating its 150th anniversary of serving Passaic County and has set a of registering 150 new organ donors to the state registry.

Organ, eye, and tissue donation needs outweight the supply. Every day new people are added to the national organ transplant waiting list that is now about 120,000 people whose lives depend on an organ transplant.

On a weekly basis, more than 150 of them will die because not enough organs are available, according to statistics provided by the medical center.

The effort will contribute to the national goal and to earn national recognition from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for conducting activities that promote enrollment in state organ donor registries.

The campaign, which has helped to register nearly 400,000 people to state registries, aims to add more donor designations by the end of May. Fiond out more, go to RegisterMe.org/SJHS. Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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VOLUNTEERS

Clifton declared March DeMolay Month and on March 4, these seven young men from the Clifton Order of DeMolay pitched in at Stephen Dudiak Park to show their thanks. Judging from the looks on their faces, they had a good time. DeMolay is a non-profit organization for young men ages 12 to 21, teaching leadership and social skills. DeMolay is 98 years old with chapters worldwide; the Clifton DeMolay chapter has been in existance for 91 years.

On March 5, chapter members held a pancake breakfast at Clifton Masonic Lodge on Van Houten Ave., honoring Harambe, a gorilla on the endangered species list that was killed after a young boy fell into Harambe’s enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. Bananas were present in numerous food dishes made available.

The event raised more than $500, which was donated to the National Wildlife Federation. For more info about Clifton DeMolay, write to cliftondemolay@gmail.com.

Many consider community colleges to be the new frontier in higher education and Passaic County Community College fits that bill. Fourteen students from the PCCC STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program were selected for an all-expense paid technical conference at a NASA facility this spring, The 14 students and five others were among 500 community college students nationwide selected to participate in the 2017 NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program. Prospective students, especially high school seniors, are invited to Discover STEM Day, April 7, 8:30 am on the Main Campus in Paterson. For more info, go to pccc.edu.

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Birthdays & Celebrations - April 2017

The Hawrylko brothers; Tom Jr. is 30 on April 16 and Joe turns 32 on April 27. Their pal Bob Marley (above) turned 13 on April 4. Happy 38th Anniversary to John & Donna Hawrylko on April 28.

Happy Birthday to...

Send dates & names... tomhawrylko@optonline.net Karen Goldey.....................

Timothy Hayes ....................

Stephanie L. Magaster.........

Hetal Patel..........................

Karen Schwartz ..................

Raymond DeDios ................

Carl DiGisi .........................

Eric Homsany .....................

JoEllen Kenney-Illenye ..........

Kevin John Lord ..................

Carmela Meglio .................

Greg Alexander..................

Joey Scotto .........................

Bo Franko ..........................

Sabrina Greco....................

Wafa Othman ....................

Mark Peterson ....................

Bob Tanis ...........................

Joe Franek..........................

Sharon J. Koribanics ...........

Jessica Mondelli..................

Luke Kulesa ........................

Donna Mangone ................

Patricia Colman ..................

4/1 4/1 4/1 4/1 4/1 4/3 4/3 4/3 4/3 4/3 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/5 4/5 4/5 4/5 4/5 4/6 4/6 4/6 4/7 4/7 4/8

128 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

Sheryll Franko ....................

Jackie Henderson................

Jeff Murcko.........................

Emma Gretina ....................

Kathy Krisinski ....................

4/8 4/8 4/8 4/9 4/9

Brian Firstmeyer ................

Leila Gasior......................

Felipe Rivera ....................

Erin Smith.........................

Debbie Tucker ..................

4/11 4/11 4/11 4/11 4/11

Stefan and Isabella Andruch (front center) celebrated their blessed sacrament of confirmation at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church on April 1. Pictured from left: Father Andriy Dudkevych, Kristy (who celebrates her 41st birthday on April 14) with her husband Ihor Andruch, and Sister Eliane Ilnitski.

Happy 11th Birthday to Damian Calvo on April 13.

Alice Shanley Babinski ...... 4/12 Josh Ontell ....................... 4/13 William Parks III................ 4/13 Alexander John Mosciszko . 4/14 Lisa Kulesa ....................... 4/15 Adam Pienciak ................. 4/15 Kurt Irizarry ...................... 4/16 Robert Monzo .................. 4/16 Linda Humphrey ............... 4/17 Joseph P. Koribanics.......... 4/17 Peter Fierro....................... 4/18 Jason Dubnoff................... 4/19 Jennifer O’Sullivan ............ 4/19 Bryan Rodriguez............... 4/19 John Anderson.................. 4/20 Jeff Camp......................... 4/20 Greg Nysk ....................... 4/21 Alicia Rose Aste................ 4/22 Lori Hart........................... 4/22 Alyssa Tucker.................... 4/22 Bobby Ventimiglia............. 4/22 Danny Gorun ................... 4/23 John Pogorelec, Jr. ............ 4/23 Marc Scancarella ............. 4/23 Katie Michelotti................. 4/25 Brianna A. Pastore ............ 4/25 Klondike Tresca ................ 4/25 Buddy Czyzewski ............. 4/26 Stephanie Magaster .......... 4/26 Jillian Mangone ................ 4/26 Annie Pogorelec ............... 4/26 Elise Termyna.................... 4/26 Mike Grimaldi .................. 4/27 Michael Press ................... 4/27 Peter Chudolij................... 4/28 April Graham ................... 4/28 Stephen Camp, Jr.............. 4/29 Paul Colman..................... 4/29 Heather Halasz................. 4/29 Christine Klein .................. 4/29 Cliftonmagazine.com • April 2017

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Clifton Merchant Magazine does love the 1990s! We will continue our timeline with photos and stories so help us by sending good quality photos in color or black and white, as well as captions and stories which you may find important, interesting or entertaining. Please mail items, along with your name and phone number, to tomhawrylko@optonline.net.

130 April 2017 • Cliftonmagazine.com

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