Clifton Merchant Magazine - November 2003

…on our cover

NOVEMBER

2003

inside…

Readers Response Needed by Nov 14 . . . . . . .7 Discussing Clifton Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Can This Mountain Be Saved? . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Students at some Clifton Public Schools are packed tighter than sardines (or Cambridge Crossings units). The quality of the education will be the first casualty if this problem is not addressed and solved for the long term. Starting on page 34, we explore the community’s reaction to the major challenges facing our city’s public schools.

Dundee Island’s Density Change . . . . . . . . . .22 Athenia Steel Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 News And Municipal Updates . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Voices Of The City

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Wild About Harry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Stroke: It Happened To Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

46 On The Job With Clifton’s Columbo

November 22, 1963 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 John Cox Jr, USMC Marathoner. . . . . . . . . . .66 Veterans Day Parade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Honoring A Mustang Legend . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Getting Ready For The Holidays . . . . . . . . . .86 The former Athenia Steel Plant offers 35 acres of opportunity but with one exit/entrance on Clifton Ave., it may add to the congestion.

Why not consider another entrance?

Page 24

Clifton Merchant Magazine is published monthly at 1288 Main Ave., Downtown Clifton • 973-253-4400

Clifton’s Month of Truth: Starting on our cover and over the coming weeks, residents and our 16 elected municipal officials will be forced to deal with the future of our schools. The problem will not go away. Ten years from now we will reflect on this issue and say this is what made or broke our city. Many of us look back to 1994 when we had the chance to purchase the former Shulton property on Colfax Ave. We blew that one. And look what we got instead: 637 units of crunched upscale housing called Cambridge Crossings. What could have been a jewel in our community—an educational and recreational complex—is now an albatross and a model for overdevelopment. So what do you say: are you going to stick your head in the sand or stick out your neck and deal with the problems at hand? Based on our performance at the polls on Nov. 4, it does not look good.

Why Did You Vote No? The Clifton Trust Fund for Open Space again failed 3,724 to 3,471 (ballots counted as of Nov. 5, 10 am), a difference of 253 voters.

Revenue from the tax would have been used by Clifton to purchase and preserve open space. Areas such as Dundee Island or Latteri Park, which have both recently been targeted for use as sites for housing or schools, could have been purchased instead by the city to guarantee their preservation. From those folks near Latteri Park to my neighbors on Washington Ave., we blew it again. But the failure here is just not voter apathy.

Our City Council is also to blame. If they were as behind this issue as they purported to be, why didn’t they bring the issue to the people? Why didn’t they send written information on it in the most recent tax bills, like they did in the fight against NJ Transit on Kuller Rd? Instead, we were told to tune to Channel 77 and watch a video presentation. Why didn’t they get out in front of the issue and lead the discussion? Need an example? Look at what Michael Rice has accomplished in his 13 months as School Superintendent. He’s confronted issues head-on by appearing and discussing them at civic forums.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Opinion Editor and Publisher Tom Hawrylko

Do you think the Board of Ed’s last budget would have passed if they had simply referred citizens to watch a presentation on cable TV? Instead, Rice and Board members went out and sold their ideas and campaigned. Not for re-election, but for the future of our community. Now, that's leadership that brings results.

What many of the City Council members do is gauge popularity. They find out which direction things are going in and hurry up to get in front of the trend. That’s what happened with Latteri Park. Supposedly Clifton Unite had 750 voters against placing a school on the park. City Council members heard that and quickly voted unanimously to side with the residents.

Talk Is Cheap: So that brings me back to the month of truth. Will our 16 elected municipal leaders work together to devise a solid plan to solve the school problem? Or will we endlessly consider the options? One month is all that’s needed to come up with a plan. We’ve had good people volunteering for two years on identifying the problems and offering solutions. Our 16 elected officials have to respect that work and get out and lead.

Tomahawk Promotions 1288 Main Avenue Downtown Clifton, NJ 07011 973-253-4400 • CliftonMagazine@verizon.net

EDITOR & PUBLISHER Tom Hawrylko BUSINESS MANAGER Cheryl Hawrylko GRAPHIC DESIGNER Fabian M. Calvo STAFF WRITER Daniel Wolfe WRITERS Jack DeVries, Joe Torelli, Paula Zecca

Clifton Merchant Magazine

Letters to the Thanks for the most informative article on the Board of Adjustment. Knowing that people who are given the abilities to reach the community do so in such a caring way is certainly an asset to our city. May you be blessed with good health to continue to serve—yes serve— because you do provide a valuable service to our city.

Claire Kish, Chair, Clifton Zoning Board of Adjustment

Zoned In: Your magazine has been an ‘eye-opener’ for me. In your last issue, you highlighted members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. I have a sense that some of these appointees have served too long. Chair Claire Kish said “most applicants think they’re going to get what they want.” I wonder why they think they are going to get what they want? Is there a pattern of bowing to the developers in the past? Can we get tough, forward-thinking people on our City Council and Zoning Board to protect the interests of the citizens? I hope so, or the thinking, concerned citizens will leave.

Mary Rogers, Clifton

1288 Main Ave. Clifton 07011 Tom.Hawrylko@Verizon.Net

Editor

Clifton’s Vince Lombardi: Thanks for the great Jack DeVries article about Coach Grecco. I can recall some of Joe Grecco’s half-time pep talks, like the one he gave in the locker room at East Rutherford in 1953. The room had a dirt floor and after some rain, there was a puddle in the center. After a few choice sentences, his voice became louder and louder, capping it off with “What do they mean Wildcats? We are the Mustangs— the Fighting Mustangs” and with that, he took off his hat, threw it in the puddle and stomped on it. Luckily no one was in our path as we exited the locker room, because if they had been, God knows what would have happened! You were so right when you wrote: “Despite battling health problems over the last decade, his mind remains clear and his will strong!”

Dutch Hoogstraten, Norfolk, VA

Correction: In last month’s story on the CHS Athletic Hall Of Fame inductees, Leslie Scelza’s last name was omitted from the photo caption of the 1982 Swim Team.

Studying Dwasline Rd.: While working on a school project, I have come to realize that, in fact, there are two sides to this. For some, I can understand why they would not want to have sidewalk installations forced upon them. People bought their homes for what it was.

I do believe that people have a right to say what they feel should be done in order to protect themselves.

Options have been given to allow the residents of that area to install sidewalks at their own expense. It is unfortunate that people are now asking for change in reaction to a tragedy. Safety should be on the minds of the people at all times, not just after a horrible situation.

Stephanie Webb, Clifton

Mustang Legend: September’s edition on Joe Grecco was so much appreciated. I need to ask your readership, especially the Athenia people, if they remember the ‘hot dog nights’ at School 13 in 1946. I don’t remember who sponsored them, but I do specifically recall one Tuesday evening when they showed films of the Oyster Bowl game in Norfolk, Va. and Coach pointed out in the film the disputed call of our own Bobby Boettcher. What became of that film?

Emil Sopoliga, Oxford, Conn.

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

5

November

MUNICIPAL MEETINGS

Decisions regarding our city and its residents are made by numerous boards which meet monthly. However, there is no one phone number or web site that lists them all. To remedy that lack of info, Clifton Merchant Magazine will list meetings monthly. We have attempted to make this calendar as accurate as possible. In general, the City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of the month; the Board of Education, the second and fourth Wednesday of the month, the Board of Adjustment on the first and third Wednesday of the month and the Planning Board meets the fourth Thursday of the month.

5th

Zoning Board of Adjustment: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5809

12th

Board of Education: 7 pm at Admin Bldg, 745 Clifton Ave – 973-470-2288

12th

Cable-TV Committee: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-742-8885

17th

City Council: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5824

19th

Hazardous Materials Control Board: 3:30 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5776

19th

Zoning Board of Adjustment: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5809

20th

Planning Board: 8 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5809

20th

Traffic Safety Council: 7:30 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave. – 973-470-5854

December 2nd

City Council: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5824

December 3rd

Board of Education: 7 pm at Admin Bldg, 745 Clifton Ave – 973-470-2288

December 3rd

Zoning Board of Adjustment: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5809

December 3rd

Clifton Arts Center Advisory Board: 7 pm at Arts Center, Municipal Campus – 973-472-5499

December 3rd

Cable-TV Committee: 7 pm at City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-742-8885

December 3rd

Environmental Protection Commission: 7:30 pm at Health Dept Conference Rm, City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5754 Note: The Advisory Board of Health will not be meeting in November due to holiday scheduling. Its next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 9 at 7:30 pm at the Health Dept., City Hall, 900 Clifton Ave – 973-470-5770

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Please respond to our reader poll by Nov. 14.

Should the Clifton City Council accept developer K. Hovnanian’s proposal to build housing on old River Road in Delawanna?

______Yes

_____No

Name: _______________________________________ Address______________________________________ Phone:_______________________________________ Please mail us your responses–attach comments and other names if you are so motivated–by Nov. 14 so we can publish your opinions and forward the survey results to the City Council as it considers this matter at its next meeting.

1123

Developer K. Hovnanian and some city officials want to convert an industrial tract of old River Rd. into a residential townhouse community.

The development would straddle the Clifton-Passaic border, putting the entryway and 18 units in Clifton. If the Council votes to accept the proposal, it would replace and rezone the industrial land along the Passaic River where several businesses currently operate. Further, if the Clifton portion is approved, another 76 units will be built in the Passaic portion of the development.

Pro: The project is expected to bring an additional $100,000 in tax revenue in just one year, without a significant increase in traffic to and from the properties and, proponents say, will generate no additional children to the school system.

Con: A current commercial/industrial zone would be eliminated from Clifton, ejecting several small-sized business owners and, because of relocation costs, potentially removing them entirely from the city’s economy.

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Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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Discussing our city’s future...

Clifton Tomorrow ––––––––––––––––––––––––– Story by Daniel Wolfe ––––––––––––––––––––––––– Clifton Merchant Magazine’s publisher, Tom Hawrylko, stood before an assembly of over 40 interested Clifton citizens, including four City Council members and other prominent City employees, but mostly ordinary citizens.

They had all come to the Main Ave. Moose Lodge on Oct. 9 to discuss current issues of life in Clifton.

The meeting’s format was designed to provide a different way for citizens to interact with the city’s leaders.

Rather than having a designated ‘public comment’ time for five-minute remarks, as is done at most municipal meetings, everyone could speak for the same amount of time, and the time limit on comments was loosely enforced.

Hawrylko, opening the first of what he said would be an ongoing series of ‘Clifton Tomorrow’ community discussions, asked that all comments and opinions be productive ones, with an eye to Clifton’s future.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

It was, as planned, a structured and open community discussion.

Hawrylko proposed three topics for the night’s gathering, but only two items, school overcrowding and housing development, were addressed in the two hours set aside for the meeting.

The first item, Do we need more schools to accommodate high school and middle school students?, was introduced by Ellen Nunno Corbo, co-chair of the Community Advisory Committee that recently presented the findings of its two-year research into potential locations for new school buildings in Clifton.

Clifton resident Trish Blair spoke first after Corbo’s introduction, asking if school overcrowding was a result of too many students who were not legal residents of Clifton. This sparked a dialogue between her and Mayor James Anzaldi, in which Anzaldi and later School

Superintendent Michael Rice noted that the city removed 73 illegal students last year, although that still leaves close to 3,300 students who are legally supposed to be in the system.

“They are not a random sample,” Rice said of the 644 investigations conducted to remove those 73 students.

The schools were given reason to expect deception before they investigated anyone, but nearly 90 percent of the students investigated came out clean. “In a number of cases, it’s blood from stone,” he said.

This was how most of the meeting went. A citizen raised a concern, and a city official or employee attempted to address it. Then, it was up to the citizen to say whether the city’s answer was satisfactory.

To Blair, the response wasn’t satisfactory.

Although the city insists that illegal students are a small part of the problem, she said, the number being removed every year is still more than most class sizes.

Council member Gloria Kolodziej, echoing Rice, said that despite the number, the removal of those students would not show an immediate effect on the schools.

“You cannot free up a classroom because those students are dispersed,” she said. These investigations may remove one or two students from specific classes, but the remainder are all legal students who need a place to learn, added the Councilwoman.

“I came here from the city and I wanted suburbia, I feel more city here (in Clifton) than I did in Manhattan.”

—Steve Goldberg

And even when investigations conclude that a student should leave, the student may still appeal. “While the appeal is ongoing, which takes the whole year, we have to keep them,” Corbo interjected.

“You may not like it, but that’s the law,” Rice said.

“You err on the side of the student.”

Steve Goldberg, a Clifton resident who used to live in New York City, said the problem isn’t as simple as slicing up the numbers.

“You can’t divide the child,” he said. The problem isn’t just within the school buildings; it’s the overall crowding of Clifton. I came here from the city and I wanted suburbia,” Goldberg continued. “I feel more city here (in Clifton) than I did in Manhattan.”

Council member Frank Gaccione agreed that there was a problem with overcrowding and more needs to be done to enforce housing codes. “If you go to two-family houses, you find four doorbells,” he said.

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Over a thousand residential units are being proposed and built in Clifton, with developers promising an increase in property tax revenue for the city.

However, even though developers said these projects will not add a burden to Clifton’s roads and schools, that is still unproven and they occupy land that can be used for business and industry.

How will the city leaders create a balance between the quality of life issues so important to its residents while increasing its ratable base to pay for ever increasing schools and municipal demands?

1176

Examples discussed at Clifton Tomorrow include K. Hovnanian’s plans to build townhouses in place of an industrial tract along the Passaic River, and Town & Country’s plans to build a fivestory apartment structure on Dundee Island, located in Botany on Ackerman Ave.

Clifton resident Joe Yeamans then stood up, holding a photo of a crowded CHS hallway (known to students as ‘the mosh pit’) that was published in October’s Clifton Merchant Magazine and is seen on the facing page again: “The only place you get this kind of crowd is Route 46 and Route 3, going and coming from work,” he said.

To Yeamans, new school buildings are a necessity, whatever the cost. “(The present condition is) dangerous, it’s unhealthy, it’s morally wrong, and it’s physically wrong,” he said. “Quite frankly, this is a disgrace.” Rice addressed the issue of overcrowding by saying, “I’m uncomfortable with the ninth grade being in the high school.”

Constructing new schools would likely solve Yeaman’s concerns; the Latteri Park campus, if built, is intended to serve Clifton’s 8th and 9th grades, easing the pressure on the middle and high schools.

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Clifton resident John Filippone, drawing the topic close to its end, stood up to say, “Build the schools, or forget about it. Thre’s too much talk and not enough action.”

The next topic, Development: is housing the only way to increase ratables?, was opened with a suggestion by Hawrylko that riverside property such as old River Rd., or Dundee Island, areas targeted for a housing development, could instead be turned into restaurants.

Hawrylko’s idea would still oust the existing business-owners from their warehouses on old River Rd., but, like the Highlawn Pavilion at Eagle Rock in West Orange, the location could become a selling point.

Resident Goldberg agreed that Clifton commerce could use some new blood. “I spend my money in Montclair and I spend my money in Nutley,” he said.

Kolodziej, however, disagreed with Hawrylko’s plan. “What you’re talking about in this section of town that is not gonna fly,” she said. “How are they going to have access to the (Dundee Island) property?”

Hawrylko drew her attention instead to the other property he opened the conversation with: “Route 21, the old River Rd. You have access off Route 3.”

Blair agreed that the old River Rd. suggestion had potential, based on observations from her travels along the east coast. “(Other cities) take the combination of beautiful green trees, a little space, and put restaurants that people want to come to,” she said. In the future, it could be Montclair and Nutley people who come to spend their money here, rather than the other way around. Mayor Anzaldi said that the city’s biggest problem is not ratables, but diminishing industry.

“(The present condition is) dangerous, it’s unhealthy, it’s morally wrong, and it’s physically wrong. Quite frankly, this is a disgrace.”

—Joe Yeamans

Clifton’s public schools have 10,571 students altogether, with an estimated 3,356 in the high school alone (pictured here). Classes are already being held in the auditorium and cafeteria, and the city-wide student population is expected to increase by 200 per year. “We are the second-largest high school in the state of New Jersey,” CHS Principal William Cannici said during the Sept. 24 Board of Education meeting. “I don’t want to be number one.”

The board recently heard a proposal that suggested to solve the problem by building new schools at Latteri Park and at an office building on Brighton Rd., but these selections have met with resistance, primarily from neighbors of Latteri Park.

That’s something not unique to Clifton, said Director of Economic Development, Harry Swanson, who stood to describe how Clifton has sustained itself over the years, and why things have changed.

“Clifton was an industrial giant at one time,” he said. But industry moved overseas, leaving Clifton behind. “Then we got into manufacturing,” he said, but that too is starting to fade. So what next?

“We are picking it up slightly in warehousing and distribution,” he said. He credited the computer age with providing Clifton’s newest opportunities: where smokestack

industry eroded, technology is starting to grow.

While this may not be the new restaurant Hawrylko had in mind, it does veer from the trend towards housing development. And although the third item, improving Clifton’s shopping districts, wasn’t addressed directly, Swanson’s remarks were able to provide a context that can be used as a starting point at the next Clifton Tomorrow meeting.

A time and location has not been set for another community discussion like this one. However, that the information will be published in Clifton Merchant Magazine.

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

11

TIT LE DE ED

FO UR SE AS O NS

at Great Notch (Senior Housing) Number of Units: 810 114 in Clifton 696 in W. Paterson ian Developer: K. Hovnan te: 2008 Projected Completion Da n space.

Current quarry and gree

Facing Clifton, standing on the ridge in Garret Mountain Reservation, a view of the quarry. Beyond the ridge and to the right is Route 46 where what was once a tree-dense area is being deforested and eventually will be developed into 810 homes.

12

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Is Garret Mountain Reservation being...

Deforested & Developed?

––––––––––––––––– Story by Daniel Wolfe –––––––––––––––––

W

hat was once a solid wall of trees along Route 46 near Gensinger Volkswagen is now wood chips along the ground. Though it wasn’t part of any official park, these trees formed a barrier to Garret Mountain, an area that reaches so far back into history that it takes its name from a man, Henry Garritse, who was full-grown before our country was born.

Clifton took its name from the cliffs of Garret Mountain, but that too has disappeared after decades of quarrying. In the words of Marie Kuhnen, who leads tours for bird watchers in the 728 acres of parkland still preserved on the mountain, “Clifton has sold off its cliffs.”

Much of the cliffs and the trees of Garret Mountain may be gone, but what are we getting instead?

Peter Both

Seniors, Students, Soccer The trees cleared on Route 46 are likely a part of the Tilcon Quarry, which is being sold to K. Hovnanian, a developer that aims to replace the nearly-exhausted quarry with Four Seasons at Great Notch, an 810-unit senior housing

community that will begin construction next year. The community will straddle the border of Clifton and West Paterson, putting 114 units and a main entrance in Clifton on Valley Rd. Though the project will take four years to complete, the Valley Rd. entrance is already in

use by trucks from the quarry. Even today, with the quarry at the end of its usefulness, Clifton residents have complained of its effect on the environment. Blasting has knocked pictures from the walls of their homes, and the resulting dust regularly coats their cars and property.

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1-866-46-FETTE www.fetteford.com Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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D TI TL E D EE

O U N TA IN GARRET M IO N R E S E R V AT

on tain Reservati n u o M t e rr a G 575 acres ark Rifle Camp P 153 acres ude: Parklands Incl Castle,

d, Lambert Barbour Pon al er, Astrologic Lambert Tow eck.

D Observation Observatory,

Another view of the mountain but looking at the ridge from an office building across Route 46. For perspective, Clifton is to the right, West Paterson to the left and the beginning of Garret Mountain Reservation just beyond the deforested area.

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It was blasting that obliterated Washington Rock in the 1980s.

According to Joe Labriola, a member of Clifton’s Environmental Protection Commission, “It was used by George Washington during the Revolutionary War as a lookout point. Historically, it was very important.” At an elevation of 600 ft, it was also the mountain’s highest point.

On the other side of Route 46, in Montclair and Cedar Grove, there’s more construction.

The new Montclair State University student housing behind Six Brothers diner, occupies 30 acres with room for over 800 students plus 500 spaces for parking.

Driving on Clove Rd. is now less like weaving through a mountain and more like flying through the artificial trenches of the Death Star at the climax of Star Wars.

Neither of these projects take land away from Garret Mountain Reservation or Rifle Camp Park, the two preserved areas maintained by the Passaic County Parks Department.

However, the Parks Department itself has planned for a small soccer field to appear on the Reservation in 2004. This plan doesn’t call for the removal of any trees or even the addition of any parking spaces.

Still, when the field was announced in June, a newly-formed group called Friends of Garret Mountain took action, collecting 300 signatures from among their ranks to protest the addition.

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Even a small field would increase traffic to the Reservation. And although no one can seriously object to the public using a public park, the impact from its current level of use is already evident.

On an October hike, Peter Both, a retired Passaic County Parks Department employee, pointed out the things that draw him to the park nearly every day.

These things aren’t the century-old Lambert Castle or the variety of migratory birds that attract bird-watchers from Pennsylvania and New York.

Instead, they are seven bowling balls.

“I counted nine the other day,” he said, leaning over the stone wall that hid the unusual litter. “Maybe somebody grabbed a couple.”

This wasn’t just a stray styrofoam cup or a forgotten potato chip bag (although those items were no more dif-

Marie Kuhnen uses the mountain for bird watching.

Today a hike to Barbour Pond reveals shores covered in geese feces and silt, a long neglected boat house and a pond with long reeds growing through the shallows and choking whatever is below the surface.

—Peter Both

ficult to find); near the bowling balls was a crushed cardboard box. Someone actually used this place as a dump.

Both started coming to the reservation after retiring in September 2001. He said he comes here to pick up trash because the Reservation’s staff doesn’t get all of it.

“I was spending so much time here that my house was falling apart,” Both said of his trash-collecting hobby. “I had to sell it.”

Passaic County Parks Department Director Raymond Wright said that, contrary to what Both was able to point out as he toured the park, the workers do a good job.

“I’m very happy with the work they do,” Wright said of the four-man crew, who devote fully half of their work week just to removing trash. “They walk the length of the trails and they clean the areas that are most used.”

Within the Reservation is Barbour Pond. The state stocks the pond with trout for fishing – no other form of hunting is allowed on the Reservation. Decades ago, Barbour Pond was used for swimming and even ice skating, but now it’s much less clean.

Today, a hike to the pond reveals shores covered in geese feces and silt, a long neglected boat house and a pond with long reeds growing through the shallows and choking whatever is below the surface. “It’s pretty much filled in with debris and algae,” Labriola said.

“It’s seen better days.”

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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For The Birds On his walk, Both encountered David Calafati, another frequent visitor to the park, who was able to explain the effects of all of these projects. “This is an important spot in migration,” he said. “To disrupt this is a big mistake.”

The traffic, noise, and trash that the soccer field might attract, added to the already extensive and bizarre litter, could have a negative effect on the wildlife, they said.

“It sounds like we’re a bunch of people who walk through and enjoy bird watching, but it’s more than that,” Calafati said. “It’s also important to the animals themselves.”

“A lot of these birds are coming from Central and South America,” Both added. “They spend their winters in Central and South America and they migrate up here to breed.” Glancing downward to notice a glass bottle someone had discarded, Both said, “This could upset the whole ecosystem.”

Kuhnen, a retired Biology professor from Montclair State University, said that she didn’t always need to stray as far as the Reservation to observe the birds. “I just could take my students out behind the (campus),” she said of the area now occupied by new student housing.

According to Kuhnen, Garret Mountain is an oasis for migratory birds. “It is isolated, more or less,” she said.

When new construction projects begin, they change the look of the mountain. Birds don’t know that the protected park areas are still intact; they just see buildings where trees used to be.

“How do they (the birds) know when the break in the trees ends?” Kuhnen said. “(Builders) say, ‘we put in new trees.’ Well, they don’t put the right trees in.”

“Anything that’s available here that’s left, they’re developing, that’s why it’s important to have this chunk of land here.”

—Peter Both

According to Kuhnen, it’s the oaks and birches that birds need to support their food supply, but instead developers favor smaller trees for their aesthetic appeal.

“They’re handsome,” Kuhnen said of the newer trees, “but they don’t fit into the ecological patterns of the area.”

A representative from K. Hovnanian was unable to say what kind of trees will be used in Four Seasons at Great Notch. However, the project will take four years to complete, meaning that it could take up to four years for any trees to reappear on that property.

Past, Present and Future “I always like to call it majestic,” said Al DuBois, Clifton’s Recycling Coordinator, who used to explore the mountain when he grew up in Albion. “It was much more wilderness: nothing developed.”

“My uncle worked on Broadway (in New York). He looked out a window and could see Garret Mountain from there,” he said.

But even in his childhood, that was starting to change.

“I can remember the noise from the machines in the back,” he said of the quarrying, which, 40 years ago, did not have as visible an impact on the landscape.

“The ridge may have still been there, but in the back, that’s where it was.”

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19

“There are only so many mountains in the country,” DuBois said. “It’s not just Garret Mountain that’s being destroyed. Once they’re quarried, they’re gone.”

In the past, Clifton has taken steps toward preserving its portion of the mountain. In 1986, following the removal of Washington Rock, the city adopted a steep slope ordinance in order to regulate building on the slopes of Garret Mountain.

Oftentimes, according to Labriola, “the big trees are holding everything in place.” If trees are removed for development, the soft ground underneath could erode.

The ordinance protects the land and the trees, preserving, in part, what is left of Clifton’s cliffs.

What else can be done to preserve the area?

The 153-acre Rifle Camp Park and the 575-acre Garret Mountain Reservation are not directly connected. “It doesn’t take much to connect them,” said Labriola. He said he’d rather see the connecting land preserved than see the two parks divided.

DuBois favors a more ambitious project to recreate the ridges, which would help restore the wind patterns that aided migratory birds in their travels.

“We can preserve a portion,” he said. “We can make that ridge look picturesque again.” Landscapes can be designed, DuBois said. He’s seen hills put in place by ambitious developers, so why not do the same with cliffs? Rather than simply settle for preserving existing open space, he said, Clifton could go beyond that goal and recreate lost green areas, undoing over 40 years of man-made erosion. “Look at that area that has been destroyed and completely rebuild that,” he suggested.

“There would at least be a historical resemblance.”

20

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Lambert Castle on Valley Rd. at the Clifton-Paterson border.

But even if the two parks are not joined, and the cliffs are not rebuilt, the Friends of Garret Mountain are still willing to protect what remains.

“Anything that’s available here that’s left, they’re developing,” Both said. “That’s why it’s important to have this chunk of land here. But hey, take care of it.”

Anyone interested in being a part of Friends of Garret Mountain may call Peter Both at 973-237-0657.

For info on the Reservation, call the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders at 973-881-4412 or the Passaic County Parks Dept. at 973-881-4832.

Federal Mortgage Offers Senior Citizens A Reverse Mortgage 1319

F

or some 30 years now, Anthony A. Accavallo, shown here, has been helping make the American Dream become a reality, right here in Clifton.

As President of Federal Mortgage & Investment Corp. at 1111 Clifton Ave., Clifton, he and his firm have written millions of dollars worth of mortgages which have allowed people to purchase homes. And while that work has been fulfilling, Accavallo said he is getting his greatest satisfaction these days by helping senior citizens with reverse mortgages.

A reverse mortgage is a special kind of mortgage loan for seniors. “It is a safe, easy way to turn your home equity into tax-free cash,” he continued.

“Unlike a home equity loan, you do not have to make monthly payments.

Instead, a reverse mortgage pays you.

More importantly, you do not have to repay the loan for as long as you live in the house. It’s a great way to keep your home and get money from it at the same time.”

The name “reverse mortgage” describes exactly what the mortgage is — it is the exact opposite of a conventional mortgage. That is, with a conventional mortgage the borrower pays the lender but with a reverse mortgage, the lender pays the borrower.

In the past, a senior citizen in need of money would have to take out a loan against their house and immediately start making monthly payments again or sell their home.

How do I qualify for a Reverse Mortgage?

It’s simple. You and your co-borrower must be at least 62 years old.

You must own your home free and clear or have just a small balance on your existing mortgage. Best of all, there are no income or c redit requirements to satisfy.

How can I receive my money?

You can receive it in several ways: •Equal monthly payments as long as you live in your home •Equal monthly payments for a certain period of time •As a line of credit you can draw upon as needed, for whatever reasons •As a lump sum draw at closing •A combination of the above, to meet your requirements.

But a reverse mortgage allows seniors to borrow against the equity they already have in their home... and they never have to make a monthly payment.

Each reverse mortgage candidate is required to attend a free counseling session with a local independent housing agency approved by FHA (Federal Housing Administration).

Candidates are encouraged to bring other family members with them to help in the decision-making process.

“This process ensures that the borrower understands the program fully and aides them in determining whether or not a reverse mortgage is for them,” said Accavallo.

When must I repay the loan?

You must repay the loan if you no longer live in your home.

In the event of your death, your heirs can choose to repay the loan and keep the house or sell the house and repay the loan, What are interest rate charges & fees?

•An adjustable rate of interest is charged on reverse mortgages •Closing costs are typical for any mortgage closing and all may be financed •No out-of-pocket expenses at closing Are Reverse Mortgages safe?

•Yes, FHA and FannieMae guarantee the payments you receive •FHA and FannieMae also guarantee you will never owe more than your house is worth — no debt left on estate

Federal Mortgage & Investment Corp.

Not a Government Agency Mortgage Bankers Licensed by NJ Department of Banking & Insurance Licensed by NY & CT Department of Banking 1111 Clifton Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07013

1-800-788-1184 www.federalmtg.com Clifton Merchant • November 2003

21

I

n the first step towards protecting Botany Village’s Dundee Island against a multi-story development, the City Council unanimously voted on Oct. 7 to reduce the land’s zoned density from 40 residential units per acre to eight per acre.

The property is owned by Safas Corp., a polymer manufacturer, and is home to 100,000 square feet of industrial buildings, plus a bird sanctuary. Most of the property is still undeveloped, and the Passaic River Coalition has expressed its interest in preserving Dundee Island as wooded land. However, Town & Country, the developer responsible for Cambridge Crossings on Colfax Ave., desired the property so it could build a 390-unit apartment complex with a five-story parking garage.

The city couldn’t prohibit building on the property altogether, but the density-lowering decision was meant to discourage large multi-unit construction projects such as the one Town & Country discussed during the Council meeting.

Though several Botany Village merchants spoke in favor of the development, predicting that an increased population would help their 1565

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

businesses, Council members agreed with outspoken residents such as Ellen DeLosh, who said, “This is more development the city of Clifton doesn’t need.”

During the meeting, the property’s owner, Akbar Ghahary, told City Council that he might expand his business to the undeveloped areas of his property, or even relocate his business to another town, if they lowered the density of the land. As of Oct. 27, Ghahary was still waiting to hear from Town & Country before taking any action, according to his attorney, Frank Carlet.

However, according to Ella Filippone of the Passaic River Coalition, her group has entered into preliminary negotiations with Ghahary. “It’s very encouraging,” she said of the talks. “The property owner is very cooperative and very supportive of this.”

If negotiations continue, this project could be funded by the state’s open space initiative, as well as $700,000 set aside by the Passaic County Open Space and Recreation Committee.

However, “the clock is ticking” Filippone said: the county’s funding is set to expire in Sept. 2004.

Passaic River Cleanup: Two Plans The Dundee Dam in Garfield, located on the Passaic River near Dundee Island, could be the starting point for two new plans – one backed by the state and one backed by the federal government – that were announced as approaches to cleaning the Passaic River of pollutants that have contaminated the water for over a century.

The state’s plan, announced first, would financially penalize polluters for the damage caused to the river. New Jersey is already known for its aggressive stance against polluters. The companies targeted could initiate restoration projects, pay cash, or both.

The federal plan, called the Passaic River Restoration Initiative, has the backing of several federal bodies, including Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency. It would directly address the problem by removing contaminants and restoring habitats along and within the river. Although the federal plan has a more complete long-term vision, it is unclear whether it will be funded by taxpayers or polluters.

By Murray Blumenfeld When this goes to press and comes out on November 7th, there will be 48 days left before Christmas. Where did the year go? Time just flies. Now you should start thinking about gift giving for the holiday season.

At long last, I now have a selection of that new diamond cut I mentioned in my article a month or so ago. It’s called “The Crown of Light” and it’s the look of the old with so much more brilliance. There are 90 facets instead of the usual 58, which makes for a look never seen before.

Now to review what is most popular for the holiday season. The 3 stone ring, (past, present and future) pendant and ring remain one of the top sellers. The single diamond on a chain is still in the running. The right hand ring has just come out and is getting more popular. I am fully stocked with sterling silver jewelry in all different price ranges because I believe it will be one of the best gifts of the holiday season due to its popularity. Also remember, I am one of the only Swarovski dealers in the area with the largest selection of the figurines and jewelry. So get your holiday list out and pay us a visit.

On November 21st Morre Lyons will be celebrating our 55th year in the jewelry business. This is a very happy occasion for us and in the way of celebrating on November 21st, we will be serving some champagne and a little something to go with it. We will also be handing out free gifts, so come in and wish us well.

From here on in it’s all work and no play, but it will be our pleasure to serve you. Have a good month of November and don’t forget our 55th anniversary on November 21st. See you then. www.morrelyons.com

JEWELERS RICHFIELD SHOPPING CENTER 1354 CLIFTON AVE • CLIFTON • 973.777.4329 1295

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

23

Federal Mortgage Offers Senior Citizens A Reverse Mortgage 1319

F

or some 30 years now, Anthony A. Accavallo, shown here, has been helping make the American Dream become a reality, right here in Clifton.

As President of Federal Mortgage & Investment Corp. at 1111 Clifton Ave., Clifton, he and his firm have written millions of dollars worth of mortgages which have allowed people to purchase homes. And while that work has been fulfilling, Accavallo said he is getting his greatest satisfaction these days by helping senior citizens with reverse mortgages.

A reverse mortgage is a special kind of mortgage loan for seniors. “It is a safe, easy way to turn your home equity into tax-free cash,” he continued.

“Unlike a home equity loan, you do not have to make monthly payments.

Instead, a reverse mortgage pays you.

More importantly, you do not have to repay the loan for as long as you live in the house. It’s a great way to keep your home and get money from it at the same time.”

The name “reverse mortgage” describes exactly what the mortgage is — it is the exact opposite of a conventional mortgage. That is, with a conventional mortgage the borrower pays the lender but with a reverse mortgage, the lender pays the borrower.

In the past, a senior citizen in need of money would have to take out a loan against their house and immediately start making monthly payments again or sell their home.

How do I qualify for a Reverse Mortgage?

It’s simple. You and your co-borrower must be at least 62 years old.

You must own your home free and clear or have just a small balance on your existing mortgage. Best of all, there are no income or c redit requirements to satisfy.

How can I receive my money?

You can receive it in several ways: •Equal monthly payments as long as you live in your home •Equal monthly payments for a certain period of time •As a line of credit you can draw upon as needed, for whatever reasons •As a lump sum draw at closing •A combination of the above, to meet your requirements.

But a reverse mortgage allows seniors to borrow against the equity they already have in their home... and they never have to make a monthly payment.

Each reverse mortgage candidate is required to attend a free counseling session with a local independent housing agency approved by FHA (Federal Housing Administration).

Candidates are encouraged to bring other family members with them to help in the decision-making process.

“This process ensures that the borrower understands the program fully and aides them in determining whether or not a reverse mortgage is for them,” said Accavallo.

When must I repay the loan?

You must repay the loan if you no longer live in your home.

In the event of your death, your heirs can choose to repay the loan and keep the house or sell the house and repay the loan, What are interest rate charges & fees?

•An adjustable rate of interest is charged on reverse mortgages •Closing costs are typical for any mortgage closing and all may be financed •No out-of-pocket expenses at closing Are Reverse Mortgages safe?

•Yes, FHA and FannieMae guarantee the payments you receive •FHA and FannieMae also guarantee you will never owe more than your house is worth — no debt left on estate

Federal Mortgage & Investment Corp.

Not a Government Agency Mortgage Bankers Licensed by NJ Department of Banking & Insurance Licensed by NY & CT Department of Banking 1111 Clifton Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07013

1-800-788-1184 www.federalmtg.com Clifton Merchant • November 2003

21

I

n the first step towards protecting Botany Village’s Dundee Island against a multi-story development, the City Council unanimously voted on Oct. 7 to reduce the land’s zoned density from 40 residential units per acre to eight per acre.

The property is owned by Safas Corp., a polymer manufacturer, and is home to 100,000 square feet of industrial buildings, plus a bird sanctuary. Most of the property is still undeveloped, and the Passaic River Coalition has expressed its interest in preserving Dundee Island as wooded land. However, Town & Country, the developer responsible for Cambridge Crossings on Colfax Ave., desired the property so it could build a 390-unit apartment complex with a five-story parking garage.

The city couldn’t prohibit building on the property altogether, but the density-lowering decision was meant to discourage large multi-unit construction projects such as the one Town & Country discussed during the Council meeting.

Though several Botany Village merchants spoke in favor of the development, predicting that an increased population would help their 1565

Dundee Island

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Low Price Guarantee!

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

businesses, Council members agreed with outspoken residents such as Ellen DeLosh, who said, “This is more development the city of Clifton doesn’t need.”

During the meeting, the property’s owner, Akbar Ghahary, told City Council that he might expand his business to the undeveloped areas of his property, or even relocate his business to another town, if they lowered the density of the land. As of Oct. 27, Ghahary was still waiting to hear from Town & Country before taking any action, according to his attorney, Frank Carlet.

However, according to Ella Filippone of the Passaic River Coalition, her group has entered into preliminary negotiations with Ghahary. “It’s very encouraging,” she said of the talks. “The property owner is very cooperative and very supportive of this.”

If negotiations continue, this project could be funded by the state’s open space initiative, as well as $700,000 set aside by the Passaic County Open Space and Recreation Committee.

However, “the clock is ticking” Filippone said: the county’s funding is set to expire in Sept. 2004.

Passaic River Cleanup: Two Plans The Dundee Dam in Garfield, located on the Passaic River near Dundee Island, could be the starting point for two new plans – one backed by the state and one backed by the federal government — that were announced as approaches to cleaning the Passaic River of pollutants that have contaminated the water for over a century.

The state’s plan, announced first, would financially penalize polluters for the damage caused to the river. New Jersey is already known for its aggressive stance against polluters. The companies targeted could initiate restoration projects, pay cash, or both.

The federal plan, called the Passaic River Restoration Initiative, has the backing of several federal bodies, including Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency. It would directly address the problem by removing contaminants and restoring habitats along and within the river. Although the federal plan has a more complete long-term vision, it is unclear whether it will be funded by taxpayers or polluters.

By Murray Blumenfeld When this goes to press and comes out on November 7th, there will be 48 days left before Christmas. Where did the year go? Time just flies. Now you should start thinking about gift giving for the holiday season.

At long last, I now have a selection of that new diamond cut I mentioned in my article a month or so ago. It’s called “The Crown of Light” and it’s the look of the old with so much more brilliance. There are 90 facets instead of the usual 58, which makes for a look never seen before.

Now to review what is most popular for the holiday season. The 3 stone ring, (past, present and future) pendant and ring remain one of the top sellers. The single diamond on a chain is still in the running. The right hand ring has just come out and is getting more popular. I am fully stocked with sterling silver jewelry in all different price ranges because I believe it will be one of the best gifts of the holiday season due to its popularity. Also remember, I am one of the only Swarovski dealers in the area with the largest selection of the figurines and jewelry. So get your holiday list out and pay us a visit.

On November 21st Morre Lyons will be celebrating our 55th year in the jewelry business. This is a very happy occasion for us and in the way of celebrating on November 21st, we will be serving some champagne and a little something to go with it. We will also be handing out free gifts, so come in and wish us well.

From here on in it’s all work and no play, but it will be our pleasure to serve you. Have a good month of November and don’t forget our 55th anniversary on November 21st. See you then. www.morrelyons.com

JEWELERS RICHFIELD SHOPPING CENTER 1354 CLIFTON AVE • CLIFTON • 973.777.4329 1295

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

23

35 Acres of Opportunity on Clifton Avenue

Athenia Steel It seems so out of place for a city that is so congested and densely populated. But just off Clifton Ave., many people could easily get lost on the 35-acre parcel of former industrial land that kids call Red Dirt and oldtimers refer to as the Athenia Steel plant.

Athenia Steel Timeline

C

onstruction of 125 units of subsidized housing for senior citizens is underway on a six-acre portion of the former Athenia Steel factory site on Clifton Ave. That still leaves 29 acres available for improvement of this city-owned tract.

Among the projects being considered for the site are ball fields, open recreation space, and a stateof-the-art ice-skating rink.

And now, with the recent decision by the City Council to reject Latteri Park as a school construction site, some wonder if seven acres at the rear of the former industrial property will again be considered for a middle school site.

The Council has offered the land to the Board of Education in the past; however, the Board rejected it, saying the location is unsuitable.

But now that the Latteri Park proposal is receiving criticism from the public, Council members are once

24

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

again considering extending the offer to the Board.

A Green Acres funding grant of $600,000 was received last month from the state to construct recreation facilities on the property. But even if a decision could be made on which facilities to build, nothing will be developed until the land is declared freed of contamination.

National Standard Company of Niles, Michigan, Athenia Steel’s parent company, closed the factory in 1988 and ultimately sold the land to the city in 1999 for $5.5 million.

That money is being released incrementally as the company proceeds with ridding the property of pollutants.

The six acres upon which the senior housing is being built received a clean bill of health last year, and several more acres are expected to be approved within the next month. Controversy still remains, however, over how and

January 1907 – A small steel mill opens in Athenia to manufacture flat spring steel, clock spring steel and steel umbrella ribbing.

January 1937 – National Standard Company of Niles, Michigan purchases the company from its founders for an undisclosed price.

June 1987 – National Standard says it has received purchase offers from several parties who promise to continue operating the plant which manufactures cold-rolled strip steel and flat wire for use in saw blades and oil rings.

January 1988 – National Standard announces Athenia Steel will cease operating on the 35 acre tract at the end of February, leaving 150 people out of work.

November 1990 – The adjacent former Shulton and Athenia Steel tracts are rezoned as planned development sites, which allows the properties to be used for commercial development, as well as manufacturing. To this date, no developer has announced interest in building on the entire property.

The only entrance to the former Athenia Steel complex is actually a driveway on Clifton Ave. which offers a blind side to traffic because of the railroad trestle. Adding to the congestion is a privately owned plot of land currently for sale. When it becomes developed, it may add to the traffic congestion and cut down on visibility as seniors exit from the complex.

when the remaining property will be freed of contaminants. Now that the land is being cleansed, albeit slowly, and there is a grave need for both open space and a new school, the City Council is coming under increasing pressure to commit to a final plan.

Nearly 16 years have elapsed since the Athenia Steel tract first became available, and many are questioning why there still is no complete plan for the land.

1512

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25

Athenia Steel Question:

July 1999 – The City Council agrees to purchase the 35acre tract for $5.5 million with a $250,000 down payment and $1 million due at closing. The Council also has a conceptual plan for construction of 250 subsidized senior citizen apartments in two four-story buildings on the site.

Additionally, the plan calls for two regulation-sized baseball fields, two soccer fields, and four outdoor basketball courts. Mayor James Anzaldi says he wants to break ground within two years. As a condition of the sale, National Standard agrees to pay for an environmental cleanup of the grounds that had become contaminated from plant emissions.

December 1999 – City takes deed to the property.

January 2001 – Council votes unanimously to rezone the Athenia Steel property to allow for construction of the senior housing and recreational facilities.

January 2002 – Clifton receives a grant of $250,000 from Passaic County to pay for designs of ball fields planned for the Athenia Steel tract.

July 2002 – NJDEP approves National Standard’s cleanup of the first six acres of the Athenia Steel site. Clifton pays $1.72 million for the six acres. Former City Manager Bob Hammer says he believes a 125-unit senior citizen complex will be complete on the tract within 18 months.

Why can’t this work as an exit and entrance into the former Athenia Steel Plant? At the intersection of Fornelius and Svea Aves., this dead end offers a direct link into the 35 acre tract. Yet plans presented by the city offer only one exit and entrance, and that’s to an already congested Clifton Ave.

June 14, 2003 – Council members ceremoniously break ground for the 125 unit senior citizens complex with occupancy expected in the Fall, 2004.

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Clifton News & Municipal Updates Slow and Steady…When the draft master plan was first introduced at City Hall before July’s Planning Board meeting, there were more concerned citizens attending than there were chairs in the room.

In August, fewer citizens came but they still voiced their opinions when the meeting was open to public comment.

In September, the third special meeting, there was only Harry Swanson, Clifton’s Director of Economic Development. Over the course of the twenty-two minute meeting, four more citizens arrived, but no one spoke up.

There will be no more special meetings, but the Master Plan still hasn’t been adopted.

“I’d just as soon get it all how you like it and then have the final plan at a meeting, and we can adopt it,” said Jill Hartmann, the professional planner who presented the document at each meeting.

But the chance to adopt was again missed in October, due to Hartmann’s absence at that month’s Planning Board meeting.

It was again delayed, this time to be reviewed and possibly voted on at the Nov. 20 Planning Board meeting.

After the plan is adopted, it will be presented to the City Council, which will then use the plan as a guide in setting policy and guiding the city’s development.

…Wins the Race In a project so favored by the city that it postponed developer K. Hovnanian’s old River Rd. proposal to a later date, Togar Corporate Suites accomplished in under two weeks what other developers have spent months bargaining for. However, Togar is a different kind of developer than Clifton is used to.

Togar’s CEO, Gary Levinson, in a presentation made to the City Council on Oct. 7 meeting, asked the city to approve a 258-unit structure that would not add a single student to Clifton’s schools. The proposed structure is a corporate hotel campus, which would be a home away from home for executives.

The proposal comes just in time for the city to take advantage of the new hotel tax, a statewide trend that allows municipalities to collect tax revenue from travellers.

The structure would replace the Brogan Cadillac building on Passaic Ave. At the time of the first presentation, Levinson did not yet have an accurate survey of the property, so estimates as to number of units (258) and parking spaces (370) were based on tax documents, and subject to change.

Levinson was asked to confirm the accuracy of these numbers before the Oct. 21 City Council meeting. After Levinson presented a revised plan, he was sent to the Planning Board on Oct. 23, which gave its approval.

Brogan Cadillac on Passaic Ave. (inset) will be converted into a corporate campus offering long terms stays to travelling executives, as the photo illustrates. The Council and Planning Board approved the project within a month.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Did You Vote For This?

Hundreds of Thousands for Labor Lawyers The Mayor and Council have been working with two labor law firms since Dec. 2000 to fight Clifton PBA Local 36 proposal over a modern work schedule that will benefit everyone and costs nothing to implement. These expensive law firms have billed the city hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting the Mayor and Council’s battle. How much? Ask one of your City Council members. Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?

Hundreds of Thousands in Police Overtime By scheduling Clifton Police Officers to attend court while on-duty, the PBA projects a 45% reduction in court overtime costs—well over $100,000 per year in overtime savings— that’s just one of the benefits of the PBA’s proposal for modern deployment of manpower and resources. Isn’t our proposal worth a try? It cost nothing to implement.

Low Morale Among The Police Officers Clifton PBA Local 36 rank and file members have been working for three years without a contract. On top of that, two and half years of back pay—already agreed to by the union and the city’s labor lawyers—continues to be held back by the city? We’re often told how important we are to the quality of life of this city. But these actions betray that.

That’s Why Property Taxes Increase As the Mayor and Council’s high priced lawyer fiddle with this negotiation, your tax dollars are being burned up. And it makes no sense. Precedent in recent arbitration and Supreme Court rulings favor the PBA’s position. Additionally, our proposal is now being used in hundreds of towns and similar sized cities across New Jersey and the nation. So why do the Mayor and Council continue this fight which wastes your tax dollars?

Are They Really Fiscally Responsible?

The Mayor and Council talk a good game about being fiscally responsible with your tax dollars, but their actions are clear: they are using your money in an action that is against your best interest over an issue which we can easily settle.

Ask the Mayor and Council to stop wasting tax dollars and settle this negotiation.

PBA Local 36 asks the Mayor & Council to stop wasting tax dollars and give our proposal a one year trial.

Give Us One Year Paid for by Clifton PBA Local 36 Clifton Merchant • November 2003

29

Clifton News & Municipal Updates Barkley Ave: In a city where there is outspoken citizen pressure to halt new developments, it’s rare to find a project that neighbors support. But it happens.

On Sept. 17, Meredith Enterprises, a company headed by Mark Wallace, requested seven variances that would allow him to build seven townhouses on Barkley Ave. Most neighbors present supported the project behind the scenes, but spoke against specific aspects of the application they wanted altered, most notably the structures’ distance from the edge of the property. In the end, the board denied all seven variances.

As neighbor Agnes Stesko put it:“We kicked our own butt.” The project would have put seven townhouses on Barkley Ave. between Third St. and Main Ave. Current zoning density allows this, but Wallace still needed variances in order to build. Without the variances, he can build a pair of two-family homes, but his planner, Ken Ochab, testified that this would increase the amount of traffic generated by the property.

The application came a long way since its inception in April, 2001. Originally, Wallace wanted to build 10 two-bedroom condos, but the Zoning Board denied it.

After both cooperating with nearby neighbors, and suing to have his revised, lower-density application heard, Wallace’s efforts were not rewarded.

What will become of this Barkley Ave. property?

“For me,” said board member Steve Macko as he motioned to deny the application, “there’s too many variances... one of these is an intrusion of privacy.”

Overall, said neighbor Gregory Vilicic, “except for the distance from the property, the neighbors do favor the (townhouses).” What to do now? Vilicic followed up, voicing the neighbors’ objection to the decision at the next Board of Adjustment meeting, but that didn’t change the board’s decision.

As it stands, the matter is settled, and the less favorable two-family homes will probably be built.

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Survey Says: The Lakeview Civic Association surveyed 2,600 Lakeview residents on the state of Clifton, received 151 responses, and presented their conclusions to the City Council at the Oct. 7 meeting.

Association President Dawn Kaiser read some of the survey’s highlights during the public comment session.

The Association’s suggestions, based on its survey results, were to oppose development at Dundee Island, to have late-night inspections of alleged illegal dwellings, and to increase the number of police officers by 15 to 20 percent.

She concluded by saying that 61 percent of respondents “feel that the people at city hall are friendly and helpful.” Council members received a more complete copy of the survey after Kaiser’s remarks. Kaiser was asked to attend a Council conference the night of their Nov. 5 meeting to provide more details.

PBA/FMBA:

On Oct. 23, in response to the recent City Council decision that the firefighters should not be allowed to use exercise equipment at the fire stations, FMBA Local #21 filed a grievance with the city’s fire chief. The following week, they expected to file an unfair labor practice charge with the NJ Public Employee Relations Commission, but waited on that action at the request of City Manager Barbara Sacks, who wants to broker a deal.

FMBA Union President Nick Marchisello said the firefighters did not want to resort to legal procedures. “We’ve tried to offer solutions to resolve this,” he said. “This is a waste of money for a non-monetary situation.” Among the solutions the FMBA proposed were to have trained fitness specialists and chiropractors present to oversee the use of exercise equipment.

The Clifton PBA has won another victory in its three-year struggle to change police work schedules from three static 8-hour shifts to scattered 10-hour shifts which, the union has argued, would save the city $100,000 in overtime costs each year.

The first victory was an October state supreme court ruling for Teaneck firefighters allowing them to alter their schedules despite city objections. This set a precedent for the newest victory, which applies directly to the Clifton union’s case.

On Oct. 31, PBA delegate Mike

MacDermott was informed that the state’s Public Employees Relations Commission, a seven-member body that mediates disputes between public employees and employers, denied the city’s request to dismiss the schedule negotiations.

“PERC applied the Supreme Court’s judgment to our case,” MacDermott said.

Despite this progress, the matter remains unresolved, as the city and the PBA still await the decision of an independent arbitrator.

However, even if the arbitrator rules in favor of the union, the city could still appeal the decision.

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P&A Auto Parts plans to renovate its 802-810 Van Houten Ave. location, creating an L-shaped building while adding parking and a second level, as shown here.To do so, the owners will raze a garage on Van Houten and a home on Orono St. which will allow the new structure to conform to the commercial zoning of the 12,500 sq. ft. property.Started 19 years ago by Anthony DePasqua, P&A Auto Partshas 11 locations, including two in Clifton.The project is being opposed by Matt Grabowski, president of the Athenia Business Association, who lives next to P&A’s Van Houten Ave. property.The proposal will be reviewed by the Planning Board at its Nov. 20 meeting.

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Downtown Clifton development is underway at the former gas station (right) on Main and Grace Aves., which was razed in Oct. (below) and will eventually be replaced by a laundromat/coffee shop. Because the 15,000 square foot property fronts a county road, the final approval for the plan must come from Passaic County.When complete, the development will offer on-site parking, a coffee shop, lots of neon and a new look for a long dilapidated site.A few doors up on Main Ave., construction is complete at the new Bergen Passaic Ambulatory Surgery Center (bottom), at the corner of Main and Prescott Aves. The owner, Dr. Shams Qureshi, is awaiting final state approval before opening.

New Banks are replacing old businesses along the Main Ave. corridor. The owners of the former and highly visible Goodyear store, now boarded up across from Main Memorial Park near the intersection of Piaget Ave., are in negotiations and approaching contract with Spencer Savings Bank.At the corner of Getty and Clifton Aves., the fastest growing bank in the state,Commerce Bank,is in advanced negotiations with the owner of Starr Tire and principals of two adjacent properties. With construction to begin on a Clifton Ave. Extension site, this will be Commerce’s second location in the city.Finally, construction is nearly 60 percent complete at the new Banco Popular, being built on property owned by Corrado’s Family. Both Banco Popular and Commerce willbe open seven days a week.

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“The great melting-pot of America, the place where we are all made Americans of,

is the public school, where men of every race, and of every origin, and of every station of life send their children,

or ought to send their children, and where, being they are all infused with the

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and developed into the American man and the American woman.”

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Clifton 34

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Due to overcrowding, CHS social studies teacher Christopher Henry instructs his first three classes in a cafeteria.

C

lifton’s Public Schools are overcrowded.

You hear it from students, you hear it from parents, and you hear it from teachers and administrators.

The effects are perhaps most noticeable at the two middle schools and Clifton High School.

Pictured above, a CHS teacher’s words get lost in the vastness of a cafeteria that he must use as a classroom for close to three hours every morning. It seems the schools, which President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 called ‘the great melting-pot of America,’ have in some ways become more like a pressure cooker ready to explode.

So how to ease the pressure? While almost no one contests the need for more space, there

is controversy over how to address the problem. Some feel that there is a need for new buildings, but disagree over where they should be constructed. Others feel that the problem can be solved by removing students who aren’t legal residents of Clifton.

In the next several pages, staff writer Daniel Wolfe will take you to the two community forums held to discuss the needs of Clifton schools, and into the passenger seat with the district’s full-time residency investigator, seeking out illegal students. You will also see several of the sites considered for new schools, and hear the opinions of Clifton residents on the topic.

Schools Clifton Merchant • November 2003

35

October 18

The Stage Was Set O

n Sept. 24, Clifton’s Board of Education heard a presentation based on two years of research into how to solve the problem of the overcrowded public school system.

Since the proposal calls for the building of two new schools, it requires approval by city-wide referendum vote. The people of Clifton need to hear what’s going on.

Oct. 18 was the first step in involving the entire community in this decision. In a public meeting at Clifton High School, School Superintendent Michael Rice spoke to students, faculty, parents and other interested citizens. By Rice’s count, 175 people attended, in addition to those watching the meeting on Clifton Channel 77.

In his introduction, Rice predicted an increase of 953 students at Clifton public schools in the next five years. Of those new students, 863 are expected to appear in the city’s largest schools: the high school and the two middle schools.

Rice said he’s certain of these numbers because “these students are already in our schools,” he said, at the younger grades.

“You are not with us every day, walking through those hallways,” said Marta Leja, one of the CHS students who spoke at the forum on the need for more space.

Unlike the Sept. 24 Board of Education meeting where primarily administrators and experts spoke, this time the case was presented by any teachers, students, and parents who were willing to talk.

While they were not allowed to discuss potential solutions, attendees spoke extensively on the effects of the problem itself.

Due to space restrictions, Christopher Henry, who teaches

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social studies at CHS, must instruct his classes in the cafeteria.

According to Henry, a classroom with a 20 foot high ceiling, a couple of vending machines and people walking through the area is not a conducive learning environment.

“I can’t hear (my students), and clearly other students cannot as well,” he said. “Is it an appropriate education to teach them in a cafeteria? We need more space.”

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This sentiment—the need for more space—was echoed by everyone who spoke. However, different individuals presented different views on how overcrowding disrupts learning.

“Students leave classes five minutes early,” said Alana Cantillo, a CHS student. “(They leave) because of the crowded hallways that are physically dangerous.”

“That issue,” she added, “comes with our huge population.”

More telling than the use of cafeterias as classrooms, said students, is the environment in hallways between classes. Students said they’ve been groped, hurt, and pickpocketed in hallways so crowded that the culprit is seldom identifiable.

“If you drop something, it is gone,” said student Paul Peskasky of the crowded halls.

“Girls do get touched in the hallways,” said Marta Leja, another student.

Joe Mirabella, a student-assistance counselor at CHS, said: “There is a tone, there is an attitude, there is an edge in this building that is unhealthy.” He attributed this tone to the effects of overcrowding. “Find a solution for us—we sorely need it.”

While no one seemed to contest the need for space, some argued over its cause. Clifton resident Mark Kerns said he’s followed students home from CHS to explore his suspicion that some of them live in other municipalities, and are therefore illegal students.

Clifton schools investigate and remove illegal students every year (last year, 73 illegal students were ejected, according to Rice), but administrators said that this is not the cause of the crowding.

“It’s not a Clifton issue,” Rice said in his introduction. “Wake up. It’s the county, it’s Northern New Jersey, it’s the state.”

So what’s the solution? Although one course of action was presented in September, attendees were prohibited from suggesting or debating any possible solu-

Robert Koehler with daughter Allison, a CHS senior who talked about the crowded conditions at Clifton High School.

tions. This drew some criticism, with citizens such as Charles Gillen accusing city leaders of being “stuck in the ‘identifying the problem’ phase,” but at least one productive idea was offered.

Jean Bernstein, a member of the Board of Education, said, “Even if you can’t make it to a meeting of an evening, you can vote.” Bernstein’s statement was typical of the remarks that came near the meeting’s end: whatever solution the city decides is best still needs voter support in order for work to begin.

In 1994, the city attempted to purchase the Shulton property on Colfax Ave. in order to build a new school across from CHS. This failed when it went to referendum. A similar assembly on Oct. 28 addressed potential solutions to the problem of overcrowding. This next meeting was the second step in the city’s campaign to inform voters, a necessary endeavor if they are to avoid a repeat of 1994’s failed attempt to solve the problem.

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Clifton Voices We asked some citizens of Clifton what they thought about the issue of overcrowded schools, how to solve the problem, and how to unite the community toward a common solution. Here are some ideas and comments...

Alvin Kipnis: “I think we may be forced to take part of the property on Main Memorial to add onto Columbus (Middle School). I also feel strongly that we’re going to have to give up that park on the other side of town. Everybody’s saying ‘Not in my neighborhood,’ but we have neighborhood schools. People have been drawn into these neighborhoods because of these schools. The individuals on the Board of Education have done their homework.

Ultimately, that’s what it comes down to. We voted them into office, they’re there, they’ve done the work, and I think we’re going to have to give in to their solution . . . everyone came out with ‘What I don’t want,’ but you’ve got to come up with an alternative. You’re leaving the alternatives to the people you voted into office, but you won’t let them do the alternatives. So, we don’t have any option.”

Maritza Morales: “The stress this creates on the students and the teachers makes for a hostile environment, especially going from class to class. Latteri Park is the best solution. It is the most cost-effective because it’s owned by the school system. We need to get that idea out. I think everybody has email, and we should use it to get parents and families to meetings and get them to voice their support for one plan. We need to do something fairly quickly otherwise our community will lag behind.

38

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Shelley Gruin: “If the school is overcrowded, the teachers are not able to focus on lesson plans and students. The best solution is going to come out of the Nov. 10 meeting. The best solution is going to be to spot some land that the city can acquire and provide a more central location for all of Clifton’s students.

Latteri Park is not a central location. We should publicize this issue and make people aware of it and demonstrate the success of the schools. In order for people to be behind something, they have to know the benefits of the schools. Once the community sees what Clifton has done at its schools, people will be behind the effort and provide more support.”

Rob Harsaghy: “There’s enough land at Woodrow (Wilson Middle School) and Columbus (Middle School) to increase both. You’re going to have the same number of kids going to each school, but you’ll have more space. As far as the high school, use city hall property, or build across the street. I think people are aware of what needs to be done. If the Board and the Council can agree on what to do, I think people will buy into it.”

Bob De Liberto: “Latteri Park is the quickest, simplest and best solution. It’s free... every other option comes with a purchase price. The Council should forget about who it’s going to offend and think about who a new school will benefit—our kids. It’s not the time to be political – it’s time to solve this problem.”

Joe Bohinek: “The Howe Richardson property is the best solution. I don’t care if it’s not for sale—everything is for sale for the right price. I think they can work with the existing parkland there and not only build a school but also create more soccer fields.”

Zita Motta: “They probably need new facilities. My husband (Bob) said they should have built the schools so they can go upwards instead of outwards. They should have foreseen that. You just have to think of the general welfare of all the students.”

Joe Cupoli: “What keeps me in town is the school system. If the school system goes south, then I’m gonna head north. I think Latteri Park is the best solution because of the cost-effectiveness of it. The taxpayers are very cost-conscious. Unfortunately, if a person lives adjacent to Latteri Park, you’re not going to change their mind. You need to get people speaking out for things, not only against them.

It might not be best for the 75 houses that are next to Latteri Park, but it’s best for the city of Clifton, and our kids.”

Send us your opinions: Clifton Merchant Magazine, 1288 Main Ave., Downtown Clifton, NJ 07011 or via Tom.Hawrylko@verizon.net.

Include your name & number. Anonymous letters will not be used

Ellen DeLosh: “Overcrowding means people will not like our school system and they will be moving out of our city. Maybe it would be better to build another middle school. Make it 6th to 9th grades so the freshmen will be in with the older children. Possibly put it on that Brighton Rd. site that they’ve been talking about.

Take a poll of the community and see their views on it.

The majority should rule.”

Tom Miller: “Where are they going to find property? They had the opportunity before, with Shulton (on Colfax Ave.).

That was the ideal solution.

But Clifton High School was crowded since the day they put the key in the door.”

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

39

October 28

The Plot Thickens C

lifton is undergoing a friendly division. A new grass-roots group, Clifton Unite, told the Board of Education that they were willing to help the city find a solution to the problem of its overcrowded schools —as long as it isn’t the solution the Board seems to favor.

On Oct. 28, the Clifton citizens were invited to see an updated version of the presentation the Board heard at their Sept. 24 meeting.

The presentation suggested using most of the school-owned Latteri Park as the site for a new campus for 1,700 students in the 8th and 9th grades.

This solution was offered after two years of research by the volunteer Community Advisory Committee, a group of citizens who investigated 18 options and decided that Latteri Park is the safest and most cost-effective long-term solution available.

They also advised using the Mayer Building at 290 Brighton Rd. as a short-term solution that could handle 500 students.

“We are not politicians,” said Ellen Nunno Corbo, one of the Committee’s co-chairs. “We have not been elected by anybody. We are not hoping to get more votes for anything (other) than to build more schools. We were volunteers with a budget of zero dollars.”

Opponents of the recommendation said that parks are just as important to a child’s upbringing as school education, and Corbo didn’t disagree.

40

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

It’s free but building here won’t be easy: the Board of Education owns Latteri Park thus no purchase price is associated with building a school on the land.

“It’s nice to worry about pushing your child on a swing,” she said, “But I’m worried about things that, in my opinion, are a lot more dangerous.” Corbo said her own daughter could not travel the crowded school hallways without being pushed, shoved, and groped. At a similar forum on Oct. 18, other students confirmed that this happens.

Corbo also said that Latteri Park wasn’t an obvious solution, and it wasn’t an ideal solution, but it was the only solution available. Most of the other options explored were too expensive, too risky, or too difficult to use in a reasonable timeframe.

“We were resigned to the fact that it was the only solution we could ask Clifton taxpayers to support with a prayer of having it

pass,” she said of Latteri Park.

Clifton Unite’s Shelley Gruin said, “We don’t think the citizens will ever let it pass,” predicting a division within the community if the option goes to referendum.

Half of the approximately 200 citizens in attendance wore the Clifton Unite t-shirts and hats that were distributed at the door, as a way of silently supporting the group’s cause.

Aaron Shapiro, another member of Clifton Unite, said that his group has lawyers, accountants, and engineers among their ranks, and “we offer ourselves, willingly, our time.” He said the young group has not had two years to research solutions, which is why they could not offer many solid alternatives, but

they were willing to become a productive part of the process.

However, a few potential solutions were suggested that were not among of the 18 solutions the Committee considered.

Hudson Velise, one of the citizens who spoke at the forum, received his education in Brazil under a split-session school system, where half of the students were taught in the morning, and the rest began and ended their school day much later. “The education is good,” he said, “And there is no problem with overcrowding.”

School Superintendent Michael Rice said that split-session schools are nearly impossible under New Jersey regulations.

Even so, the school already has a Zero Period, which allows eligible students to begin and end their school day early. But an expansion of that system, Rice said, is not an option.

Velise said that if his suggestion could not solve the problem, then “(It) is better to have one kid educated than ten kids in a park without education.”

Another idea came from citizen Kevin Carroll, who suggested using the Kuller Rd. property that the state is targeting for a NJ Transit bus terminal. Clifton officials have already opposed this project, but haven’t had a solid victory against

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the state. As it stands, Clifton hasn’t yet attained a solid victory against the project, or even received return communication from the Governor’s office, said Clifton’s Mayor James Anzaldi in a later phone conversation.

However, after two and a half hours of suggestions, criticisms, and comments, Latteri Park was still the suggestion the Board of Education defended.

“We need an additional school,” said Board member John Traier.

“I’ve looked at the many alternatives and I don’t think any of the alternatives is jumping up and down at me as ‘This is the solution!’”

To the assorted properties suggested by individual speakers over the course of the meeting, Clifton’s Economic Development Director Harry Swanson, said: “There are a number of obvious tracts in the city.

The owners won’t sell.”

While the city could enter into long, difficult and expensive legal proceedings to acquire these properties, the Latteri Park property is immediately available.

Earlier in the meeting, Clifton Unite’s Gruen credited the City Council with their recent decision to oppose the use of Latteri Park for a school building. Although City Council member Stefan Tatarenko spoke at the Oct. 18 meeting as the parent of two for-

mer Clifton students, no City Council members spoke at the Oct. 28 meeting. Mayor James Anzaldi, however, was spotted in the back by Rice.

“Push come to shove,” Rice said in his closing remarks, “we need a whole lot more than simply attendance at a meeting.”

The Council and the Board will meet on Nov. 10 at 7 pm at the School Administration Building at 745 Clifton Ave. to discuss options.

Anyone wishing to learn more about Clifton Unite may visit their web site at www.CliftonUnite.com.

Those who wants to know more about the existing options, may contact an elected official: City Council members: Mayor Anzaldi: 973-470-5757 Frank Gaccione: 973-773-3788 Steven Hatala, Jr.: 973-777-5389 Gloria Kolodziej: 973-777-6600 Donald R. Kowal: 973-881-3186 Stefan Tatarenko: 973-777-4920 Edward Welsh: 973-478-4031 Board of Education members may be contacted at 973-470-2288.

Chair Marie L. Hakim Jean S. Bernstein Lizz M. Gagnon Stephen C. Kolakowsky Joseph C. Kolodziej Ken Kurnath James A. Leeshock James M. Smith John M. Traier

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November 10

Leading Together?

T

he City Council has already gone on record, voting 6-0 at its Oct. 21 meeting, siding with the views of citizens who oppose building a new school on Latteri Park, a property which the Board of Education has owned since 1950.

However, through all criticism and opposition, Clifton’s Board of Education has defended its volunteer Community Advisory Committee and their recommendation, agreeing with the committee’s reasoning that Latteri Park is one of the cheapest and easiest solutions to the problem of school overcrowding. There is no second or third choice; Latteri Park was presented as the only practical long-term solution.

Even though the Committee had two years of research and the support of school administrators and city experts, in the end, it is not the 11-member Committee’s decision. The solution will require voter approval in a city-wide referendum vote.

City Council and the Board of Education are meeting on Nov. 10 to share ideas and work toward an agreeable solution. But again, they are only 16 elected officials in a city of 36,840 registered voters.

In preparation for the Nov. 10 meeting, City Council members met with Clifton’s Economic Development Director Harry Swanson on Nov. 5 to review 15 of the properties that were already considered.

Council members have also been collecting ideas from the community in preparation for the Nov. 10 meeting. According to Mayor James Anzaldi, every suggestion will be considered.

However, there isn’t time to put the same two years of research into these new ideas as was put into the 18 ideas that were considered before the decision to recommend Latteri Park.

The Committee has even said there isn’t enough time to wait for the Latteri Park campus to be built, which is why they also recommended using a smaller property on Brighton Rd. as a short-term solution.

The Nov. 10 meeting will not decide the matter. It is a meeting of the minds for two groups that normally have separate meetings in separate buildings. However, it is a step towards unity. No referendum, no matter how well-researched, will pass without strong leadership and the support of the community.

Below, Board of Ed Commissioners from top row from left,: Jean Bernstein, Ken Kurnath, Jim Leeshock, President Marie Hakim, John Traier, Joe Kolodziej, Steve Kolakowsky, Lizz Gagnon and Jim Smith.

Call them at 973-470-2288.

The Mayor and Council: Top from left: Mayor Jim Anzaldi; Council members Don Kowal, Gloria Kolodziej, Eddie Welsh.

Bottom: Frank Gaccione, Stefan Tatarenko and Steve Hatala. Contact them through City Manager Barbara Sacks at 973-470-5263.

42

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

S T Y E RTOW N E S H O P P I N G

C E N T E R

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CVS Pharmacy 973-778-7630

Corbo Jewelers 973-777-1635

US Post Office 973-473-4946 Kim’s Nail Salon 973-471-8118

The Season’s Fine Chinese Cuisine 973-777-8073 The Chiropractic Center at Styertowne 973-777-6995 The Artisan’s Touch 973-471-0001 Bertelli’s Liquors 973-779-0199 Footnotes Bookstore & Learning Center 973-779-6122 Pet Stuff 973-778-1617

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Clifton Merchant • November 2003

43

Sites Considered

If not Latteri Park,

Where?

Dundee Island Ackerman Avenue on Passaic River • 11.7 acres • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • Remote location – poor access • Environmental cleanup issue

Brogan Cadillac 775 Passaic Avenue • Under Contract - No longer available • Future site of an extended stay corporate hotel

Mayer Textiles 290 Brighton Road • School for 500 Students • 2.5 years for completion • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • Total cost: $13.5 million dollars

44

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

These are the locations researched by the volunteer Community Advisory Committee before they made their recommendation to the Board of Education. The Committee comments include the cost, size, construction time, student capacity, location, environmental status, and tax status of these properties.

Lawson Marden Building 10 Clifton Boulevard • 5.7 acres • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • Remote industrial area • Environmental cleanup issue

Client Logic 120 Brighton Road • 3.3 acres • More expensive and difficult to refurbish than nearby Mayer property

Thompson Printing Company 60 Page Road • 2.6 acres • Dead end street • Environmental cleanup issue • High sale price

The Five Girls Property 200 Piaget Avenue • 1.5 acres – too small • Currently in use as school bus parking • Not for sale

Home Care Industries High School Addition on Richardson Property 333 Colfax Avenue 680 Van Houten Avenue • Clifton High School is already too big • In a long-term lease with property owner by educational standards • Carries same traffic access and • Would increase traffic flow at the high school, making the problem worse environmental issues as remaining Howe Richardson property

Pope John Paul II School 775 Valley Road • Almost 1000 students are educated daily by the Catholic Diocese at this school • Was formerly a functioning high school with a population of approximately 1500 students • Has plenty of parking and athletic fields • Not for sale

Parkway Iron & Metal 613 Route 46 East • 6.8 acres • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • Poor access from Route 46 East • Environmental cleanup issue • Property cost: $12 million

Howe Richardson Scale 680 Van Houten Avenue • 17 acre property with 11 acres available • Traffic access problems • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • Home Care Industries occupies six acres with a long-term lease • 6.5 years for completion • Environmental cleanup issue • Total cost to build: $70.7 million

Latteri Park Allwood Place & Hampton Road • No cost to purchase • No loss of a tax ratable • School for 1700 students • Total cost: $39.4 million • 3.75 years to completion • No eminent domain action necessary • Most cost effective solution

Athenia Steel Tract Clifton Avenue • Owned by the City of Clifton • 7 acres available at no cost • Traffic access issues • New site of senior citizen complex • Soil conditions are questionable

Globe Products 750 Bloomfield Avenue • 11.44 acres • Property not for sale • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • 6 years for completion • Total cost for school and property: $67.2 million • 90 percent rented • Environmental cleanup issue

School # 6 745 Clifton Avenue • Would serve 350 students if converted back to a school (too small) • $5 million for renovations • 2.5 years for completion • Administration offices would have to be relocated

Herald News Building 1000 Main Avenue • 1 acre – too small • Portion of building is located in Passaic • Another 4 acre industrial track is located to the rear of the property • $7-8 million

Capital Soap Complex 314 Colfax Avenue • 3 acres • Would be a loss of a tax ratable • Close to existing high school • 3.5 years for completion • Environmental cleanup issue • $25.4 million for little property and school

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

45

Story by Daniel Wolfe

The Prologue Since 6:30 in the morning, Vinnie C. has been sitting in his car with a pair of binoculars. He’s been sitting here, parked on a suburban Clifton street, binoculars in hand and badge at his side, for over an hour. Vinnie is Clifton Public School’s first and only full-time residency investigator; he’s a key player in determining which students are illegally attending Clifton schools who may live in neighboring towns.

And this October morning, it’s the the house across the street that has caught Vinnie’s attention. The schools suspect that this home has been falsely listed as one student’s home, and that no student actually lives here. It’s Vinnie’s job to determine if there is any merit to this suspicion.

Over the past hour, several neighbors have left with their kids for school, but no one has left from the house under Vinnie’s surveillance. In five more minutes, any kid living there will be late for his or her first class.

“There’s no activity here at all,” Vinnie said, somewhat amazed. “Not one light on in the house.” Usually, he said, even if it’s not a child’s true residence, lights go on when someone has to go to the bathroom or make breakfast. But here, there wasn’t even that.

Vinnie took out the printed summary of the case he was investigating. He already had a Paterson address where the child might be living. If this is the case, and the Clifton house is a decoy, then the child will likely be removed from Clifton schools, and the parents could be sued for back tuition.

Finally, Vinnie decided that enough time was spent on surveillance. It was time to get personal. Vinnie got out of the car and approached the house. As he rang the doorbell, a transformation took place. No longer the shrewd, experienced investigator, he had 46

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

now become TV’s Lt. Columbo, fumbling through papers and asking simple questions he should have already known the answer to. It was an effective strategy.

When the conversation finished and Vinnie left the property, he was smiling. He knew the hour he spent in his car was not wasted time. The parent had lied to him, claiming that the child left for school 10 minutes ago, but Vinnie knew better. Even if the parent was an hour off, Vinnie knew the truth.

The parent also said something that could help Vinnie resolve another case. It was a productive morning, and there was still time to visit one more house before the school day began.

When most of Clifton was still on its way to work, Vinnie had new information on three of the families he was investigating. One was likely a nonresident, one was definitely a Clifton resident, and one could still go either way. So began an ordinary workday for Clifton’s Columbo. Elsewhere, three other part-time investigators have been gathering information on similar cases.

At 8:30, Vinnie’s day is far from over. Although the parent he interviewed said the child had left, Vinnie will check attendance records. It’s a standard procedure, since there are other reasons a student may not have left home, such as illness or vacation. But in most cases, it’s a bad sign when a student never leaves the Clifton address being investigated, yet still shows up at school.

Later, Vinnie would meet with the school principals and vice principals who often provide him with detailed leads for new cases. Then, 12 hours after his investigations began, Vinnie would return to some of the homes at night for further interviews and surveillance.

From the 156 investigations already initiated this year, Vinnie and his colleagues have discovered 23 illegal students. In addition, seven left while still under investigation. Vinnie said the parents sometimes transfer their children out of Clifton schools as soon as they’re

It’s a bad sign when a student never leaves the Clifton address, yet still shows up at school. discovered, hoping to avoid legal action. The rest of the investigations are either still ongoing, or have determined that their subjects are legal students.

The Credits Although he is the only investigator who works fulltime, Vinnie is far from alone. His team spans all of Clifton. The $100 bounty offered for useful information on the tip line (973-473-1444) has attracted a handful of regular – and reliable – sources. But most of the callers, Vinnie noted, don’t ask for the bounty.

He also works with three part-time investigators, as well as his supervisor, Barry Mascari, and the administrators, teachers, and counselors at the schools. Vinnie meets with the administrators regularly. CHS Principal William Cannici, for example, receives information from faculty and passes it on to Vinnie and his colleagues. Although Vinnie remains invisible to the students (as an investigator, it helps not to be recognized), he is by no means distant. “I’m a phone call away,” he said, noting that he checks the tip line more often than he answers his office phone.

The Feature Presentation Vinnie and School Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice are deliberately vague about how they get information (they don’t want to give away their secrets), but they are eager to share the results.

Last year, 644 investigations were conducted. Of those, 73 students were ejected and 16 left while still under investigation. The remainder, after investigation, were found to belong in the system.

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The year before that, 633 investigations were conducted, 70 students were ejected, and 14 left on their own. “Other districts look at us and ask our advice on how we do things,” Vinnie said.

Clifton schools were the first in New Jersey to offer a bounty.

Clifton has had a full-time investigator since 2001, and the tip line receives up to 30 calls each week.

But sometimes, a case appears that sidesteps the whole process.

With a chuckle, Vinnie remembered a teenager who was inter-

What is an illegal student?

Students must have a valid Clifton address, and live at that address with their legal guardian. Students who live in other municipalities are considered illegal, as their parents don’t pay the taxes that support Clifton schools. After an illegal student is ejected, Clifton may sue the parents for owed tuition money to pay for the otherwise unfunded education.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

viewed for the Herald News’ ‘Meet Your Neighbors’ section.

“They interviewed people in the Herald News,” Vinnie said. “The boy said he was 17 years old, hometown was Paterson, and occupation was Clifton High School student.”

Of course, Vinnie needed more proof, but it wasn’t hard to find. “I rang the bell in Paterson, and they answered the door in Paterson,” he said. After that, the student was removed. Other times, the evidence may not be printed for all the world to see, but it’s still obvious.

“Sometimes,” Vinnie said, “It’s phones being disconnected. (The schools) can’t make contact with the parents. There’s returned mail.”

Decoy addresses and phone numbers reveal themselves quickly. But occasionally, these clues lead to tough decisions for school administrators.

“We think of this as a very black and white piece, but in fact, it’s not so very black and white,” Rice said.

The purpose of this system, he said, is “to root out people who aren’t Clifton people.”

The rule of thumb when investigating students is: where does the legal guardian live? If a child is living with parents in another town, it’s a clear decision. But if a child is living with a relative in Clifton, but the legal guardian is elsewhere, the system has just targeted someone who’s a Clifton taxpayer, and therefore paying tuition. “This is not easy stuff,” Rice said.

Rice has a seemingly endless list of examples where the decision is not obvious. One example deals with illegal housing, a parallel issue which many people have said contributes to the problem of illegal students.

Again, the relationship isn’t black and white.

“Our responsibility is to educate every child living in Clifton who is a resident of Clifton,” Rice said.

“Illegally housed children are most often residents of Clifton. Mom and dad live there, mom and dad are the guardians.”

An illegal dwelling is, for example, a second family living in the basement of a one-family home. It’s a city issue and a zoning issue, and while the city shares information with 2001-2002 school year 633 investigations conducted 70 students ejected 14 left being investigated 2002-2003 school year 644 investigations conducted 73 students ejected 16 left being investigated 2003-2004 year to date (July 1 through Oct. 27, 2003)

156 investigations conducted 23 students ejected 7 left being investigated

“Our responsibility is to educate every child living in Clifton who is a resident of Clifton.

Illegally housed children are most often residents of Clifton.”

School Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice

the schools, this information doesn’t always result in a student’s removal, since there is no other municipality that the student can legally turn to for his or her education.

“It’s our responsibility to educate them whether they’re in a home of twenty families or two,” Rice said. “It’s our responsibility.

This is a process that favors the kid at the expense of the district and/or the taxpayer.”

But even though some of the investigations become riddles with no clear answer, they aren’t all so challenging. “Many of the cases are clear-cut,” Rice said. “Vinnie does a great job.”

The Epilogue At ‘The Case For Space,’ a recent public meeting where citizens were invited to speak on the issue of school overcrowding, several suggested that the problem stems, at least in part, from illegal students.

One man even announced that he’s followed students home from school to see where they go, implying that this was all it took to discover an illegal student.

Vinnie said this isn’t the best approach. Kids have family situations where they may visit a relative or a divorced parent before they are able to go home. Or, even simpler, a student could just

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go to another town to visit a friend after school. More important than where a student goes after school is where the same student wakes up in the morning. “A lot of activity happens between 6:30 and 8:30 in the morning,” Vinnie said. It happens even earlier if he’s investigating a student who participates in the high school’s Zero Period, which begins at 7 am.

Even these early hours of surveillance aren’t enough.

In one recent case, a house Vinnie monitored proved to not be a family’s proper Clifton address—no one ever left

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for school. But a neighbor told him the family moved across Clifton. In the end, Vinnie checked and found a second Clifton address for that family, implying that the kids are legal students, but the investigation isn’t over yet.

“They’ve got to come in and do a change of address,” Vinnie said. “Then we’ve got to follow it up and make sure it’s the right address.”

In the past, Rice has compared the problem of illegal students to getting blood from a stone. Although each year, due to the investigators and the cooperative efforts of the entire school system and Clifton community, over 70 illegal students are removed from the system, most of the students investigated were found to belong here. And since Vinnie’s job has only existed since July, 2001, it’s still too early to tell how many more illegal students enter the system every year, even though enrollment numbers continue to rise.

The best way, Rice said, for a concerned citizen to help locate and remove illegal students is to use the tip line.

Although information comes from many sources, the support of the community is an vital part of the process.

Proud to be part of the Clifton Community!

Stop N' Shop Supermarket (973) 779-6697

First Union National Bank (973) 249-2332 Barnes & Noble (973) 779-5500

Staples (973) 594-9701

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Blockbuster (973) 594-0500

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Target (973) 330-0002 50

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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u o t b H A a d l r i r W y

By Joseph R. Torelli

T

!

he voice coming from behind the counter was unmistakable.

Anyone familiar with Clifton’s Main Ave. post office knew immediately without having to look that Harry Quagliana was once again doing what he does best—helping a customer. In a calm and soothing tone, the postal clerk was assuring a man with a heavy Eastern European accent that his mail would, indeed, be forwarded to the address he specified by the time it was required.

“Tell you what,” said Quagliana after patiently explaining the process several times, “I personally guarantee it! If it doesn’t get there when it’s supposed to, you come back here and look for me.” The man finally seemed to understand and thanked Quagliana profusely as he gave him a hearty handshake before turning to leave the building.

Customer platitudes and handshakes have been a way of life for Quagliana ever since he started greeting postal customers 17 years ago—first from behind the post office window in

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the Clifton Recreation Center building, and more recently, from the new Main Ave. facility a few blocks away.

Before becoming a window clerk in 1986, he worked a variety of other jobs in post offices in and around Clifton and Passaic. But Harry at Passaic High no matter where School in 1968. worked, he had an uncanny ability to convert customers and coworkers into lifelong friends with his quick wit, genuine likeability, and willingness to help.

When Quagliana announced his intention to retire at the end of October, Clifton Postmaster Joseph Gondolla reflected on the unique personality and style that the 1968 Passaic High School graduate brought to the job. “A lot of people will miss Harry when he retires,” said Gondolla. “He’s got a smile and a kind word for everybody, and he’s certainly not shy when it comes to helping customers. They absolutely love him.” Others were quick to agree.

“I can’t think of a single person who doesn’t like the guy,” said coworker and friend of 26 years, Bob Russnak—“especially the customers.” And Harry apparently felt the same way about them.

For years, Quagliana maintained a nowfamous, “Customer of the Day” gallery—a wall with hundreds of photos that he personally took of the people he served. “People would stop by the post office in the rec center just to see that wall and say hello to Harry,” said Russnak.

“Everybody was crazy about it. But for some stupid reason, somebody complained one day and e had to take the pictures down.”

Even with the pictures gone, people continued stopping by. Right up to the day he retired, calls of “Hey Harry!” rang out constantly from the steady stream of people passing through the post office each day. And when he wasn’t at his familiar perch behind the service counter, the hellos were replaced with cries of, “Where’s Harry?”

Things aren’t that much different for Quagliana now that he’s retired. He can usually be found surrounded by dozens of friends

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and acquaintances, whether at his long-time home in Passaic or at his vacation house in Point Pleasant.

According to his brother Patrick, a Passaic attorney, it doesn’t matter which house Harry’s in; there’s normally seven or eight cars parked in front. “People are always stopping to talk to him,” he said. “The cops even drop by to say hello and, believe me, nobody leaves without a smile.”

Now that he’s retired, several of Harry’s coworkers are concerned that he’ll miss the every-day action and the people at the post office. But Russnak isn’t among them. He quickly pointed out that, in addition to having so many friends, Quagliana maintains a very close relationship with his family. “He’ll never have to worry about being lonely, that’s for sure,” said Russnak.

“Besides,” he added with a sly grin, “Harry’s excellent at doing nothing and having a good time while doing it.”

We asked some of Harry’s friends, coworkers, and customers to share a thought or two about the longtime postal worker and Clifton icon now that he’s retired. Here’s what they had to say: Joseph Gondolla - Clifton Postmaster: Harry epitomizes what a window clerk should be. Our customers are going to miss him because he’s a guy who truly reaches out and touches them. He thinks nothing of coming out from behind the window to help

them carry parcels out to their cars - especially the senior citizens. Being a postal worker is not just a job for Harry; it’s a labor of love.

Art Sharpe – Coworker: What can I say? Everybody who’s ever met Harry knows what a character he is. But he’s also one of the most knowledgeable and customer-oriented people I’ve ever seen. He’s on a first-name basis with everyone and always has a joke or story to tell. Without question, Harry could have been an entertainer, the mayor of Passaic, or some other kind of politician – that’s how well he’s liked.

Marie Angello – Owner of American Coin & Stamp: Harry makes an ordinary task like going to the post office a pleasure. He’s such a cheerful person, and everyone who deals with him feels welcome. I’ll miss him when he retires.

Nancy Martyn – Coworker: He’s a guy with a gift for dealing with people. I’ve known Harry for 26 years and there’s no question that his niche is with the public. No matter what kind of day customers are having when they come in, they leave in a better frame of mind after dealing with Harry. You have no idea how many people ask about him when he’s not here.

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Ronnie Italiano – Owner of Clifton Music: When Harry’s not behind the window, the post office isn’t the same. I usually try to wait for him because I know I’m going to have a laugh or two before I leave.

You can have a lot of fun with the guy, but he’s also there for you if you want some advice, or just need somebody who’ll listen to your problems.

Keith Meyer – NJ Transit Bus Driver: I guess I’ve been dealing with Harry for about 15 years and I never saw him give anybody a hard time.

He not only knows the post office business, he’s a good source of information on almost any subject and he’s always willing to share. You get the feeling sometimes that people who serve you are really grinding their teeth behind the false smiles they’re forced to put on; but with Harry the smiles are genuine.

Bob Russnak – Coworker and Friend: Harry’s the same outside of work as he is on the job. He even plays tennis with the same kind of easy-going approach. One of the guys who plays with us dubbed him, “The Professor,” because of the way he sits back and hits soft spins, lobs, and drop shots while the rest of us are busting our butts trying to kill the ball. That’s how he deals with people too, always nice and calm.

I’m really lucky that he considers me his friend because, when you’re friends with Harry, it’s like having a big brother.

Maria Sharpe – Post Office Coverage Supervisor: Harry is one of the best—a true friend and a loving individual. Besides being funny and friendly, he’s as thoughtful a person as there is. I went through some tough times a few years back and I appreciated the fact that he was there to help me out. Day or night – it didn’t matter to Harry; he was there for me, and I know he’s been there for others as well.

Bill Milch, Nancy Martyn and Harry Quagliana.

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The Day I Became “Other People”

By Adeline DeVries, RN

Stroke

to devastating health problems with sound healthcare read the diagnosis on my knowledge, guidance, and empathy. Now, none of that chart, “CVA–Cerebro-Vascular mattered. I was the person who needed help and was Accident.” No, that can’t mean me, I thought. This hapafraid for my life! pens to other people. My life changed on May 9, 2002.

In my semiconscious state, I overheard a physiI was eating an early Mother’s Day dinner in a Totowa, cian say he wouldn’t give t-PA to his own mother for restaurant with my husband Jack, son David, and his the type of stroke I had. This stayed with me. In one fiancée Michelle. We enjoyed our meal and joked about of my lucid moments, I told my husband that I did my early anniversary gift from Jack—a tiny two-heart not want the drug, and he told the doctors not to charm signifying both a healthy and damaged heart. administer it. I was then admitted to Exactly one year before that day, I had the ICU. undergone open-heart surgery for a rupThen began a parade of tests and tured valve, which was repaired with a ® physicians.

Dacron ring. After eight weeks of recuI had blood cultures, an MRI, and peration, I was enjoying spectacularly an esophageal echocardiogram. The good health—but I knew I was lucky to procedure determined that pieces of be alive. vegetation covering my repaired Suddenly, I felt awful. I thought I saw mitral valve had broken off and travMichelle bobbing her head and body up eled to my brain stem, obstructing and down. I began to slur my words and three capillaries and causing the barely managed to say, “Call 911.” stroke. The specialists prescribed a What happened next was a blur. I four-week cycle of antibiotic therapy remember the ambulance ride, vomitto shrink and remove the vegetation. ing, and my other three sons arriving in the ER. I remember being angry with My Mind and Adeline DeVries myself for disrupting their busy lives.

Body Disagreed

Before the stroke, I was an assertive, self-confident woman, retired for nearly two years after a 22-year career as an occupational health nurse for a large insurance company. In my position, I counseled countless employees, helping them through tough times in dealing with such things as emotional crises

During the following weeks I spoke in complete sentences — or so I thought. But my husband said that the word, “no” was my main form of communication. I saw double images and began to wear an eye patch.

My pupils went in different directions. My body and mind were struggling against each other.

I was so angry! I knew exactly what was happening

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What a Difference a Moment Can Make

to me and couldn’t do a thing about it. My memory was sharp as ever, but I was trapped in my own body — a true living nightmare.

Vegetation Is Not Heart-Healthy The hospital was depressing. I had many visitors, but hated them seeing me in this condition. I could barely reach a chair from bed and used a wheelchair to get around. During one of the long nights I cracked a rib on my way to the bathroom. I was trying to manage with a walker that I didn’t know how to use.

After a month of antibiotic therapy and blood cultures showing no bacterial growth, I hoped for improvement around my repaired mitral valve.

But a second esophageal echocardiogram revealed the vegetation had not decreased—it had doubled.

The only course of treatment would be to surgically replace the repaired valve with a valve made from animal tissue.

With a video of my last echocardiogram in hand, I transferred to the hospital of the surgeon who performed my first open-heart surgery. He reviewed the tape and said the operation would be performed the next morning, Memorial Day, May 27, 2002.

The surgeon could not guarantee the operation’s outcome. He said I could have another stroke, become a vegetable, or not survive at all. That morning, I said good-bye to my loved ones and signed the consent form. My tears fell as they wheeled me away. But though terrified, I knew I couldn’t go on living like this.

I knew I was now in God’s hands.

In the Cardiac ICU after the surgery, I awakened and felt the endotracheal tube in my throat. I had survived despite everything. Even through the postoperative haze, I knew my mind was still sharp and had overcome the fears others had for me. My nurse was wonderful, telling me everything she did and what my status was.

I spent 18 hours there.

Depressed, Demanding, Defensive After six days in an acute care hospital, I was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for three weeks.

During my total 42-day hospitalization, I missed my 50th high school reunion, a family wedding, and a graduation. My husband elected to miss them, too.

My stay at the rehabilitation hospital wasn’t pleasant. I tried not to think of my life before the stroke, but that was impossible. I cried a lot. I refused to see my grandchildren — I wanted them to remember me as I was before this ordeal. I wanted to be like I was before.

Readers may remember Adeline DeVries, shown here in 1971 with her sons, Jack and David, as the Camp Clifton nurse.

Jack and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary and cancelled our June vacation to Aruba. Time passed, and the nightmare continued. I’d awaken about 2:30 am each night and request to be wheeled near the nurses’ station. My old life was both a comfort and a reminder of how far I’d fallen.

Mealtimes were hard. I sat at a ‘Stroke Table’ with other patients wearing bibs—I was mortified. I had ataxia and my arms were flailing about. At each meal, the space around me became a messy disaster. I subsisted on sandwiches because they were easy to eat. I also became our table’s spokesperson, knowing which patients wanted a hot meal or a sandwich and demanding it from the staff.

I wasn’t a model patient — in fact, I was a challenge for the staff. If I sensed a patronizing attitude, I took offense and let them know.

Throughout my life, I’d been known for my quiet diplomacy and peace-making skills. But the stroke had changed me into a plain-spoken, often-defensive individual, who would not let her dignity be compromised in the least.

Now I was, “the stroke victim” in Room 112, who could barely get around, but always wanted to be heard.

I was spoken to with condescension and pity. I wanted neither.

A nursing assistant named Regina talked to me as a normal person. She told me I would get better and encouraged me to keep trying. She told me that I

☛

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

57

was special to my grandchildren and they would love me anyway. She made me promise not to give up.

I went to physical, occupational, and speech therapy each day, and did whatever the therapists asked. I don’t know whether it was my cooperation, the therapy, my husband’s love, or my will to live… but I began to improve. Soon, I wasn’t seeing double, discarding my eye patch. I was walking better and tried to do without the walker. The speech therapist discharged me a month early because I spoke so well. After three weeks, I went home.

course, and I began to score higher on the daily tests.

He insisted that I resume all the familiar things I used to do before the stroke — visiting my beauty shop, shopping at the A&P, going to the movies and church, and attending parties at relatives’ homes.

A Little Respect Goes a Long Way

It’s been 15 months since my stroke. I walk without a walker, have no ataxia, I can cook, shower, dress myself, go shopping, use the computer, go up and down steps, and go out to eat. I took an antidepressant for six months, but now I take nothing. Am I better? About The Way We Were?

A recent photo of Adeline and Jack DeVries.

90%, but I’m still trying to Jack was with me every come all the way back. I still feel a little dizzy, but I’ve step of the way; arriving at the hospital each day at 8 been assured this will lessen. Each day, I improve.

AM and not leaving until visiting hours were over. He Stroke victims were once productive, decisionwas my eyes and ears, and always protective, fighting making, and contributing members of society. The for me when I couldn’t. worst thing we can do is talk down to them.

“We’re a team,” he would say. “If you get better an Constantly encourage them to try to get better and inch a day, its progress.” When I went home, he remember it could happen to you. If not for my husrefused to have the walker handy. If I needed to use the band, family, and Regina, my story could have been bathroom at night, I’d wake him and he’d take me. I quite different. And Regina was right. I see my seven began to believe what he said, that our life would again grandchildren all the time, and they love their grandbe as it was. ma as much as ever.

I can’t emphasize enough how important a good caregiver is to a patient’s recovery. Jack combined Copyright 2003. Nursing Spectrum Nurse Wire (www.nursingspectrum.com). All rights reserved. Used with permission. tough love and caring. We purchased a computer vision

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Nov.

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1963

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

An earlier version of this story first appeared in the May 2000 edition of Clifton Merchant Magazine.

November 22 will mark the 40th anniversary of one of the darkest moments in American history. At approximately 1:30 PM (EST) on that day, President John F. Kennedy was murdered by an assassin’s bullet as he toured Dallas, Texas in an open limousine. To those of us old enough to remember, the terrible reality of what had occurred shocked and overwhelmed us.

In an instant, we were transformed from a nation of people with great hope to one of utter confusion and immeasurable despair.

Many historians point to that moment as the day that we lost our innocence forever. The tragedy of the President’s death and the violent manner in which it occurred marked a defining point in our lives; one by which we, sadly, along with other calamities that have befallen the nation, measure the passing of time.

No one who was alive at the time has remained unaffected. And those, like Clifton native William Malcolm who had a significant role to play in Kennedy’s burial ceremony, were undoubtedly touched more than most.

Just three days after that tragedy, Malcolm, the commander of the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery, helped America bury its leader. In his 1967 book, “The Death of a President,” noted historian William Manchester described Malcolm’s role: “At the rim of the hill, Sgt. William Malcolm barked: “Ready!” A squad from the Old Guard executed a half-right face, whacked the ground with the butts of their M-1s, and came to port arms. Malcolm ordered “Aim!” The rifles came up together at a 45-degree angle. Then: “Fire!” The neat crack resounded across the copses and dells of Arlington as it had, for this squad, in four thousand funerals before.”

The following year, Malcolm performed similar service at the funeral of General Douglas MacArthur. Six years after that, Malcolm died in Vietnam. He is the last Clifton serviceman to lose his life in the Vietnam War. “Bill was regular Army and a good soldier,” said Clifton resident Melvin Hockwitt. “We were friends through high school. We hung out a lot and used to go hunting together.”

Hockwitt remembers his friend as a “regular guy.”

He recalled that Malcolm was an average student who wasn’t particularly bent on a military career. “I think Story continued on page 64

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he viewed the Army as a way of serving his country while providing him the opportunity to learn what he wanted to do with his life.” Hockwitt said the fact that Malcolm remained in the service until his death was an indication that he had made the right choice.

When Malcolm married Nancy Binkert of Toledo, Ohio, Hockwitt served as the best man. “She was a registered nurse and I think Bill met her in Washington, D.C.,” Hockwitt said. “We all went out to Ohio for the wedding.”

Born on Sept. 4, 1941, William Edward Malcolm lived on Bergen Avenue in Clifton and worshiped at St. Paul Church. He was the son of William and Mary Malcolm, who also had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth.

The elder Malcolm served as a staff sergeant in the Army Engineers during World War II and Korea and later worked for the Clifton Public Works Department.

Aunts and uncles included Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Stasiak and Mrs. Rose Malcolm.

After graduating Clifton High in 1960, Malcolm followed his father’s footsteps and entered the Army.

After four years of duty at Arlington National Cemetery, Malcolm was transferred to Germany, where he served for about three years. He began his tour of duty in Vietnam in September 1969.

Waiting at their home in Tennessee for his safe arrival were Malcolm’s wife and three children, who 64

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

ranged in age from 3 to 5. Back in Clifton, Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm had put aside a bottle of champagne, which would be opened only when their son returned.

Bill had written home to them recently: “Keep the champagne cold. I’ll be home in 140 days.” On May 5, 1970, while serving as the acting field first sergeant of Company C, 502nd Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, Malcolm was killed by enemy artillery fire in Thua Thein, near the DMZ. His death did not go unnoticed. Less than two months after being mortally wounded, Malcolm was awarded The Silver Star, the nation’s second highest military honor, for his bravery in battle.

While attacking an enemy bunker complex, his platoon came under intense rocket propelled grenade, automatic weapons, and small arms fire. The citation accompanying Malcolm’s medal reads in part: “Despite his wounds, he continued the assault and engaged the insurgents with grenade and rifle fire. His actions enabled his unit to rout the enemy force.

Sergeant Malcolm’s personal bravery and devotion…reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”

Four Days November 22 will mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.

The major events of that ignominious day in 1963 and the days that immediately followed are presented in the timeline below. All times are Eastern Standard.

November 22: At 1:40 pm CBS News anchorman, Walter Cronkite, interrupts the soap opera, “As The World Turns” with the words: “Bulletin…Dallas, Texas…three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade.

The first reports say the President was seriously wounded…the wounds perhaps could be fatal.”

At 2 pm President Kennedy is pronounced dead by Dr. William Kemp Clark at Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital where the President was taken immediately after being shot.

Cronkite makes the following stunning announcement to a shocked nation at 2:38 pm “From Dallas, a flash…The President died at 2 o’clock Eastern Standard Time…The President is dead.”

At 2:50 pm Dallas police capture Lee Harvey Oswald approximately six blocks from the scene of the shooting. Oswald is charged with killing a Dallas policeman just moments before and immediately becomes the prime suspect in the Kennedy shooting.

At 3:38 pm Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as the nation’s 36th President aboard Air Force One. US District Judge Sarah T. Hughes administers the oath.

November 24: Millions of NBC viewers witness nightclub-owner Jack Ruby shoot Oswald as he is led from a Dallas police station garage to a local prison. Oswald is pronounced dead shortly thereafter in the same Parkland Memorial Hospital emergency room where President Kennedy died just 48 hours before.

November 25: Clifton native, Sgt. William Malcolm, leads the military honor guard in a 21-gun salute as President Kennedy is laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Just moments before, Kennedy’s son, John Jr., was seen saluting his father’s coffin as the funeral procession passed by.

Later that evening, John Jr. celebrated his third birthday at a private White House party.

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John Cox Jr.:

Endurance

By Steve Carfagna

W

hether he was fighting for his life and country in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II, or finishing the last few steps of a 26-mile marathon at the age of 79; John Cox Jr. has always persevered using the Marine virtues taught to him more than 60 years ago.

Sitting next to his wife Dorothy in the couple’s Huemmer Terrace home, Cox reflected on the time he spent as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps who was part of the first American echelon sent overseas to the Pacific additionally talked about how the experience still continues to shape his life today.

“It’s an attitude, a way of thinking and a way of life,” said Cox who added, “Once a marine, always a marine.”

John Cox Jr. and his daughter Jessie participating in last year’s Marine Corps Marathon. At this year’s event on Oct. 26 in Arlington, VA, John ran his 17th marathon, Jessica her fourth, while sons John and James ran their 18th and 8th, respectively. Add it up and the Cox family has run 51 Marine Corps Marathons, tabbing over 1,330 miles.

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In fact, the commitment, discipline and will to live, which Cox mentioned as traits he gained from the service, not only helped him to survive WWII and in the battle where over 200,000 people died; but it has also given him a renewed sense of life that continues to impact his “never say die” mentality.

Recalling what inspired the Clifton resident since 1959 to endure the horrific battle that took 12,520 American soldiers’ lives, Cox thanked the Marine Boot camp.

“Boot camp built my character and taught me how to survive,” Cox added.

“Most of all, it teaches you how to look out for others as well because in Marine boot camp, everybody pays for one person’s mistakes.”

Interestingly, Cox continues to look out for others; especially those closest to him as he and Dorothy have been married for 51 years. They have four children and 10 grandchildren. Undoubtedly, both consider

family the most important aspect in their lives.

“Always put your family first,” added Dorothy who praised her husband and his efforts during the war. “He is an amazing man, a survivor and just a great allaround person.”

In his later years, the World War II veteran has turned his hobby of running into an obsession.

“It’s an addiction,” said Cox who has participated in 26 marathons since 1983. “Thanks to my family, who supports me completely, I now have enough jogging equipment to start a small independent running goods store.”

Recently, Cox, who runs three to four times a week throughout the local neighborhood, once again took part in the annual Marine Corps Marathon held in Washington D.C. each October.

Cox, who partakes in the annual event with his family, said the length of the marathon is 26.2 miles.

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“I picked up running as a way of knocking off a few extra pounds and now it has taken over my life,” he added. “Although I am not the greatest runner, I am dedicated and for that, I must give credit to my family for the encouragement, support and patience they have showed toward me.”

Indeed, Cox has used the values taught to him in the Marines with his jogging as well.

In fact, Cox, who turns 80 in February, participated in 17 Marine

Dorothy and John back in the 1950’s.

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Corps Marathons while his sons John and James have ran the MCM eight times. Furthermore, his daughter Jessica just took part in her fourth MCM while his other daughter Jacquelyn and son-in-law, Bob have also completed one MCM. When you count two other MCMs accomplished by his daughter-inlaw, Wendy; the Cox family has the distinction of running in 51 Marine Corps Marathons which total more than 1,300 miles.

“A marathon is a test of endurance,” said Cox who finished last year’s marathon in third place out of all runners ages 75-79 with a time of 5:48:00.

An American patriot, who joined the Marines in January of 1943 at age 18, Cox served as a plane Captain before eventually becoming a Sergeant. Cox, who stayed in Okinawa until October of 1945, said his duties entailed ensuring a pilot’s safety.

After two years of boot camps and training, Cox said he went to Okinawa on April 1, 1945. It was Easter Sunday and Cox was about to embark on a journey which he would never forget.

“I remember it like yesterday,” he said adding, “It was the first day upon our arrival in Okinawa when I experienced my first encounter with kamikazes.”

“We were off-shore and had still not yet began our operations when they hit a carrier next to us,” said Cox recalling his first days of fighting in the war. “I was scared to death and very frightened.”

On the following morning, Cox’s unit became the first echelon to go to Okinawa.

“I thought I was going to die,” he said.

Above, the Cox grandkids, back row, from left: Matthew, Aidan, Jared, Emily, Amanda, Sarah. Seated, from left: Ella, Katie, John, Dorothy (holding Margaret Anne) and Alistair.

“At the time we didn’t realize the dangers or the magnitude of what we were doing, we just wanted to help win the war,” said Cox who was awarded six different medals of honors for his efforts overseas.

The medals which Cox earned as a Marine who fought in the Pacific include: the WW II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Presidential Unit

Citation Ribbon, Honorable Service Lapel Pin, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Model and the Discharge Button.

Cox, who arrived back from the war relatively unscathed except for a broken tooth, attributed luck as the main reason for his survival.

However, luck would have little to do with the fact that Cox was involved in one of the most important battles in WWII since 1275

Okinawa’s location allowed the United States to move closer toward the Japanese mainland while also containing the Japanese from any further attacks on the U.S. Two years before entering the war in 1945, Cox’s Marine Fighting Squadron 323 were given the name “death rattlers” after three fighting pilots killed a six-foot rattlesnake and displayed its diamond-backed skin in the squadron ready room.

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From April 1945 until the Japanese surrendered later that August, Cox’s “death rattlers” shot down 124 Japanese planes in aerial combat at Okinawa.

Following WWII, Cox attended North Carolina University where he majored in mechanical engineering.

After graduating in 1949, Cox obtained a master’s degree from Newark College of Engineering, now known as New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Cox then worked as an aeronautical engineer for 37 years with Curtiss Wright Corporation in Woodridge before retiring several years ago.

Cox, who was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, claims to have lived in over 40 different places yet, chooses Clifton as his home.

“I like it here and I plan on staying here,” he said. “This is a nice community and a beautiful area where I’ve

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made many long-lasting friendships. I’ve built many memories here in Clifton,” said Cox who can be seen regularly at Foodies Cafe in Richfield Plaza, where he and his wife visit almost every morning.

Undoubtedly, the Clifton resident came a long way since surviving the Battle of Okinawa, which is known as the last battle between the U.S. and Japan. During the several months Cox spent in Okinawa a total of 200,656 people lost their lives.

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Getting in a little rest and relaxation after running the 28th annual Marine Corps Marathon, John Cox jr. met with the Liberty Belles.

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Support Our Troops Wherever They May Serve!

Come out and show your support!

Veterans Parade Sunday, November 9, 2 pm Parade starts at Main Ave. and Sylvan Ave., and continues through Downtown Clifton along Main Ave. to the Veterans War Memorial in Main Memorial Park where a ceremony will be conducted.

This is a Celebration of all Veterans who are now in Service or who have served our Nation at War or during Peace, from all Branches of the U.S. Military.

Attend or Participate!

For more information call Co-Chairmen Keith Oakley at 973-777-0264 John Biegel at 973-471-8828

SPONSORED

BY

RECYCLED PAPERBOARD INC. OF CLIFTON, 1 ACKERMAN AVE., VINCENT M. PONTE, PRESIDENT CLIFTON MERCHANT MAGAZINE/TOMAHAWK PROMOTIONS.

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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The 18 piece Silver Starlight Orchestra will play a USO-type program of big band sounds, patriotic music and boogy-woogy tunes from World War II at the Salute To Veterans Concert. Held on Nov. 13 at Clifton High School’s John F. Kennedy Auditorium, doors open at 6 pm and the show starts at 7.

Presented by Clifton’s Recreation Dept., the show’s volunteer concert coordinator is the Music Matador, Bob Obser, shown below.

Veterans from the six branches of services are encouraged to come in uniform or dress in patriotic attire to celebrate the American spirit. The evening begins with a rousing grand entrance of flags carried by service members from all military branches. Admission is free but donations of canned goods or cash contributions for Thanksgiving baskets are accepted.

Call 973-470-5958 with questions about the concert. The series is funded in part by the Passaic County Cultural & Heritage Council at Passaic County Community College through a grant from the NJ State Council on the Arts.

On Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 650 American flags will be raised along Clifton’s Avenue of Flags on the municipal campus at 900 Clifton Ave. The flags, each of which is raised in memory of a veteran, will go up at 7 am and come down at 4 pm.

Each flag measures three by five feet, and stands atop a 10-foot pole. Volunteers are always needed to help raise and lower the flags. To volunteer, call John Biegel at 973-471-8828 or Keith Oakley at 973-777-0264. Photo by Peter Bakarich.

Clifton’s Music Matador, Bob Obser

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

The Clifton Police Department distributed over 7,000 glow lights and bags to elementary-age Clifton school children for Halloween as part of its new Mary Ann Collura Memorial Children’s Halloween Safety Program. The program was named in recognition of Fairlawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura, who died in service on April 17, 2003. The program emulates a program

Officer Collura established in Fairlawn in which donations were solicited to purchase glow sticks to distribute to elementary school children to use while trick-ortreating. The program was proposed by Officers Thomas Lanzalotto and Henry Ribitzki of the Community Policing Division, and over 100 businesses contributed to its success. For info, call 973-340-5151.

Four of Clifton’s finest and bravest were among the 16 recognized at The Passaic County 200 Club’s Valor Awards Dinner on Oct. 14. Awards of Valor were given to the Clifton Police Department’s Lt. John Burke and P.O. Charles Kazmir for ably persuading an armed, suicidal subject to relinquish his weapon and give himself up on Dec. 23, 2002. Awards of Merit were given to Clifton Firefighter Kenneth Dalton for extinguishing an adult male on fire and diffusing a potentially hazardous structure fire on Nov. 26, 2002; and to the Clifton Police’s Sgt. Patrick Ciser for single-handedly apprehending two armed subjects of a gas station robbery on Jan. 28, 2002. The 200 Club honors and supports law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel and other public safety officials in Passaic County. For membership info, call 973-754-6445.

Clifton Fire Captain Gary M. Bolcar died on Oct. 9 in a motorcycle accident in his hometown of Wharton. Captain Bolcar was a Clifton firefighter for nearly 21 years. He joined the Fire Dept. in October, 1982; he was promoted to Lieutenant in March, 1996, and to Captain in May, 2002, when he assumed command of Fire Station #6 on Van Houten Ave. Captain Bolcar’s colleague and friend, Lieutenant Al DiMartino, Jr., wrote: “Gary did not know it at the time, but when he became a firefighter, he not only changed his life but mine as well.” It was Captain Bolcar who encouraged DiMartino to join the Fire Dept. A memorial fund has been established for the education of Captain Bolcar’s children, ages 5 and 7. Donations can be made to: Bolcar Children’s Education Fund. Mail checks to Clifton FMBA #21, 51 Brighton Rd., Clifton, 07012.

Hair

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Clifton Post 347’s Annual Baseball Beefsteak Dinner will be held at the Clifton Elks 1569 at 775 Clifton Ave. in Clifton on Dec. 6 at 6:30 pm. Tickets must be purchased in advance by calling 973-546-9876 between 9:30 am and noon.

Mail your news a month in advance to Clifton Merchant Magazine, 1288 Main Ave., Downtown Clifton, 07011 or via Tom.Hawrylko@verizon.net.

Nails

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Color

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Clifton Fire Captain Gary M. Bolcar

88 Market St. From left, Cheryl, Joe, Keri, Latife, Sheryl and Jill in the front.

973

365-0220 Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Thanksgiving The Joseph S. Grecco Athletic Field will be officially named in honor of the legendary former coach, seen below, of Mustang Football on Nov. 27 at 10 am at Clifton School Stadium.

Senior Albert Tirado rings the bell at the October 10 homecoming game after Clifton’s 22-6 victory over Bloomfield.

The 76th annual game against longtime rival Passaic will follow the naming ceremony, along with a field performance of “My Way” by the famous Marching Mustang Band, led by longtime Band Director Bob Morgan.

Grecco coached Mustang football for 19 years from 1945 to 1963, with a record of 127 wins to 39 losses.

Grecco was recognized as New York Daily News Coach of the Year in ‘56, ‘57, and ‘62; as UNICO National Coach of the Year in ‘59 and ‘62; and as The Record’s Coach of the Century in 2000.

Grecco was a school administrator and a city councilman in addition to being coach, but despite numerous offers, he never left Clifton to coach at the college level. He said he valued his time with his family and with Clifton too much to stray to the college teams.

At stake at this year’s game is the Optimist Cup Trophy, a prize that was claimed by Clifton last year, tying the 75year rivalry between Clifton and Passaic at 35-35-5.

The winner of the Optimist Cup Trophy gets to keep it for a full year, and right now it is already a Mustang possession, following a close 19-14 win at last year’s Thanksgiving game.

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Members of the Clifton and Passaic Optimist Clubs want you to get to know your neighbors and be a Friend of Youth. Come to the Clifton Passaic Optimist Clubs Frank Fest at 6:30 pm on Wed., Nov. 19 at the Clifton Rec Building, 1232 Main Ave., an event which good naturedly celebrates the sports rivalry between our two towns. It also serves as a warm-up to the annual Mustang-Indian Thanksgiving football game, which this year is at Clifton Schools Stadium.

In addition to sponsoring the Frank Fest, the clubs also present the Optimist Club Trophy to the winning team on Thanksgiving. MVP trophies will also be awarded to four players during the post game ceremony on the field—one for offensive MVP and one for defensive MVP on each team. The players will be selected by the opposing team’s Athletic Director.

Traditions like the Frank Fest hark back to the good old days, when the Clifton C Club and the Passaic Time Out Club used to host big dinners for the opposing players. The idea today remains the same as in the past—to get the schools and students to forge relationships and have respect for one another.

While youth are admitted free, adults admission is $10. To purchase tickets, Call Clifton Optimist Club President Joe Bionci at 973-472-1707.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Helping Your Neighbors

St. Peter’s Haven, shown here, was established in 1986 by St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Clifton Ave. to provide emergency and transitional housing for homeless families. The Haven also provides counseling and support services to help families, services leading to rehabilitation and permanent stability. The Haven has two locations in town to accommodate those families in need. In addition to the shelter, St. Peter’s runs an ongoing Community Food Pantry which provides food for hundreds of individuals and families in need.

Volunteers operate the Pantry, which also serves as a vehicle for information and referral services. Donations are received from community sources: churches, schools, service organizations, food suppliers, government agencies and generous individuals keep the Pantry in operation. Volunteers are needed on an ongoing basis. The Family Support Center seeks to make families stronger. The supportive service component empowers individuals, renews self-confidence and helps families make positive change. For more on any of the services of St. Peter’s Haven, call 973-546-3406.

Clifton Community Police host the 9th annual Winter Coat Drive. Gently used winter coats are being collected for at-risk men, women and children. Last year Clifton Police donated over 1,500 coats through Jersey Cares, the coordinating organization. The coat drive, co-chaired

by Chuck Kazimir, Ed Holster, Jr., and Ted Kazinski, will run through Dec. 31. Coats may be dropped off at the following locations: Charm Cleaners, Van Houten Ave; Clifton Savings Bank, Van Houten Ave. or Lakeview Ave; CVS, Lakeview Ave; Clifton Community Police Offices, Lakeview Ave., Van Houten Ave. and Market St. For details, call 973-340-5151.

DeLuxe Cleaners is offering discounts to anyone who donates to their food drive, which will run from Nov. 15 through Dec. 31. All donations will be contributed to local food pantries. You do not need to be a customer to contribute.

Suggested donations include cereal, rice, canned goods, peanut butter, pasta, tuna fish, oatmeal, and similarly packaged items. Call 973-546-1105 or visit them at 1280 Main Ave. for details.

An interfaith Iftar (Break the fast) dinner to mark the end of Ramadan will be presented by the New Jersey Outreach Group on Nov. 16 at 4:30 pm at Albasha Restaurant at 1076 Main St., Paterson. There will be authentic Middle Eastern cuisine in a dinner shared by Jews, Christians, Muslims and members of other faiths. Cost is $20 for adults; $15 for children. Reserve your seat now by emailing Mehdi at mehdi123@yahoo.com or by calling 973-342-0656.

Clifton Firefighters and Clifton’s IHOP will hold their 8th annual free Thanksgiving Day Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 27. The dinner is for residents who cannot afford their meal or might be spending the holiday alone. It has been held annually at the Clifton Senior Citizen Center, 900 Clifton Ave. Each year, IHOP donates the food which the firefighters and other volunteers will prepare and serve with the help of their family and friends. The dinner begins at 11:30 am and is limited to the first 150 residents who register. To make reservations, call Ann Marie Czaplicki at Fire Headquarters for more details: 973-470-5802.

Marching Mustang Band alumni and friends are invited to attend the 65th Anniversary Dinner Dance and Reunion on Nov. 29 at The Bethwood.

Dress is semi formal and there will be a cocktail hour, formal dinner and a 15 piece orchestra, undoubtedly comprised of former Marching Mustangs. For info, call 973-777-1781 or go to MustangBandAlumni.org.

Graduates of Paul VI Regional High School (19671990) host a reunion on Nov. 29 with a 9:45 am Mass at St. Philip the Apostle Church, located next to the former school. Afterwards, alumni will place a permanent memorial to rededicate the field behind the school to the late Father Thomas Suchon, the school’s beloved first director, shown here. A reception follows at noon at The Venetian. Call Jeffrey Pompeo at 973-458-9174; or via e-mail:paulvireunion@hotmail.com.

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Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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Hall of Fame Dinner ‘03 The Clifton Athletic Hall of Fame inducted nine new members and two championship teams at a ceremony and luncheon in the Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson on Oct. 12.

Here are the individuals and groups who were honored...

1982 Girls Swim Team, from left: Diane Candela DeVoe, Donna O’Leary Wallace, Adele Lazorchak Morgan, Assistant Coach Pat Bender, Pam Iracki Kennedy. Seated: Head Coach Lou Fraulo.

1946 Football Team, standing, from left: Bob Pityo, Tony Eardley, Jim Haraka, Mike Pelleck, Dominick DiPaolo.

Seated, from left: Bob Boettcher, Head Coach Joe Grecco, Ed Del Favero.

Individual Hall-Of-Famers, from left: Gerry Manning, Scott Oostdyk, Paul Fego, Betty Ann Franko-Jordan, Jacqueline Paz-Schimmel, Bob Roberts, John Viola. Not pictured: Stan Koziol, Gail Meneghin-Scarbourgh.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

We want you to do a Good Deed!

Join the Do A Good Deed Contest & you can win a computer & a $15,000 Scholarship!

Dr. Ahkami believes that many good deeds done each day are gong unrewarded. We all know that criticizing things badly does not improve them but complimenting or rewarding a job well done will actually prompt more of those good activities. This contest is open to any youth under 21 years of age.

Simply do what the title says, “Do A Good Deed” and tell us in a short essay what you did, why you chose to do it and what happened as a result.

From left, Galiya Mansurova, Margarita Morgner, Dr. Behshad Ahkami and Elaine Morillo.

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The Halloween Parade, which was on Oct. 19 along Lakeview Ave., is our city’s best family day. Thanks to the addition of HarvestFest seven years ago, Nash Park is transformed into an autumn wonderland, with inexpensive rides and games as well as story tellers and live animals. The parade, founded in 1948, stepped off from the top of Lakeview Ave., led by the Marching Mustangs. We offer these pages of photos and a recommendation for 2004: if you have kids, be sure to attend. The Rec Dept. & the many volunteers get a Blue Ribbon for this Best in Clifton event!

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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Costumed parade marchers are given numbers and separated by category to be judged. While starting on Lakeview Ave., the parade winds into Nash Park past a reviewing stand.

Living in your New “Dream Home” for the Holidays can be a reality—there is still time Don’t Delay—Call me today for details.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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Dear Angela, Your Dad and your brothers wanted me to keep your braces on for another couple of years.

I can’t imagine what they’re worried about…Just don’t smile too much…

Can Orthodontics do the same for your kids?

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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The Marching Mustang Band gets the party started as they lead the parade along Lakeview Ave. and then into Nash Park for a musical standstill before costume judging.

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973.472.2075 84

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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Remember last winter?

Remember those cold, snowy, housebound days? Prepare yourself this year and consider moving into The Fritz Reuter Lifecare Retirement Community, a not-for-profit organization, offering the highest quality of care without a high price and never extra charges for temporary and full time nursing care if and when needed.

A classic European atmosphere is visible in all of our 3 levels of care.

Independent Apartments, Residential Room Suites, and a fully staffed Skilled Nursing facility all under one roof.

Presently, 58 residents are living in the independent apartments, which are comprised of studios, one and two bedroom units. Another 86 reside in private 1 or 2-room suites in our residential section. And in the skilled nursing care level houses 43 residents. Residents are never “lost in a crowd” and receive personal care and attention.

Residents may either start out in the totally independent apartments 3161 Kennedy Boulevard North Bergen, NJ 07047

or in the residential rooms. In either option, they enjoy three meals served in our beautiful dining room, all laundry, housekeeping, and medical is provided at no extra charge.

German descent, many of our residents have Italian, Hungarian, Polish, French, Irish and British roots, which is an excellent starting point from which to build their friendships.”

Residents are absolutely delighted to learn that they can finally drop their secondary health insurance when they move from the independent apartments or start out in this level.

Fritz Reuter pays medical bills and the same is true when and if they ever require skilled nursing care.

The facility has two beauty parlors, banking facility, toning equipment, billiards and a community room, arts & crafts, chapel, greenhouse, library, shuffleboard and newly built solarium with a beautiful garden with relaxing pond.

There are not many retirement communities in the state of New Jersey that have as long a history as the Fritz Reuter Lifecare Retirement Community in North Bergen. The community was founded as a retirement home for people of German descent in 1897.

“The majority of our present residents still share that European background,” says Noreen Wendt.

“In addition to attracting people of

Making the decision to leave one’s home is a very hard one to make, however, if one decides to move into a retirement community and then finds out that in the future, they require nursing care…another move to a nursing home is devastating.

One move to Fritz Reuter is all that it will ever take and you're taken care of for your entire life.

Isn’t that what you or your loved one deserves?

For details or to schedule a tour, call Noreen Wendt at 201-867-3585 or go to www.fritzreuter.com.

(201) 867-3585 www.fritzreuter.com

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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Shop Clifton First The slogan we created a few years back is as valid as when we first coined it. Which is exactly what we’re encouraging you to do again. For this holiday season, and whenever possible, please Shop Clifton First. Because by doing so, you’re also helping support our hometown. Don’t, in other words, forget about the local, ‘little’ guys, who may have just as great deals to offer and equally unique gifts as the big highway outlets and the malls.

Christmas Tree Lighting

Dec @ pm @ Sullivan Square featuring: CHS Madrigal Singers & The Big Guy Santa (bring your camera)

Sponsored By: The Botany Village Merchants Association

For more information visit our website:

www geocities com/botanyvillage 86

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Last December’s cover featured photos of Clifton Merchants, from left, Mike Bertelli of Bertelli’s Fine Wines in Styertowne, Murray Blumenfeld of Morre Lyons Jewelers in Richfield Shopping Center, Stanley Jakubczyk of Able Hardware in Athenia and Jack and Deb Morton of Richfield Farms on Van Houten Ave. In next month’s edition, we once again will remind readers to Shop Clifton First! but we wanted to give the 2003 shopping season an early kick-start with this page.

So once again, we remind you that when we shop locally and support our Clifton Merchants, we’re really helping ourselves.

The success of stores in our business districts helps keep our community strong and taxes stable.As shoppers, it’s likely that we can’t find everything we need within our community, but before you head to the malls or some highway superstore, remember to Shop Clifton First! From Botany Village and Botany Plaza to Market St., Lakeview or Main Aves., to Styertowne, Richfield Plaza and Clifton Commons, Shop Clifton First!

The Lakeview Civic Association’s annual tree lighting is Dec. 2 at 6 pm on the corner of Lakeview and Marselis Aves. Santa Claus will arrive on a fire engine and offer candy canes to kids. There will also be hot cocoa and an opportunity to tell Santa what you want for Christmas. Families are encouraged to bring their own ornaments to decorate the tree. For info, call Dawn Kaiser at 973-478-1185.

The Downtown Clifton Economic Development Group’s tree lighting, cosponsored by the City of Clifton and the Board of Education, is Dec. 5 at 6:45 pm at Main Mall Park on the corner of 1st and Clifton Aves.

Santa Claus will arrive on a fire truck and the CHS Madrigal Singers will herald in the season.

Beyond Dec. 5, Santa will hold court under the Walgreens Clock Tower at the intersection of Main

and Clifton where he will provide free photos and gifts to all good children on Dec. 6, 13 and 20 from noon to 3 pm and on Dec. 11 and 20 from 5 to 8 pm. Call 973-253-1455.

The Hamilton House Museum, 971 Valley Rd., will host a candlelight tour on Dec. 5 from 7 to 9 pm, in which only candles and oil lamps illuminate the house as the Madrigal Singers walk through. On Dec. 7, from 2 to 4 pm, St. Nicholas will visit, dressed in traditional bishop’s regalia and kids will learn and sing old -fashioned carols. The holiday shop will be open for both events. For tickets, call Genevieve Generalli at 973-744-5707.

A Door Decorating Contest sponsored by the Rec. Dept. will soon be underway. Call 973-470-5956

by Dec. 10 to register your door.

Categories include Most Original, Most Colorful, Nature’s Greenery,

Best Old-Fashioned Christmas, Most Unusual, Best International, Best Children’s Theme, Country Christmas and, for top honors overall, Best In Town. Judging for the contest takes place during the week following the end of registration.

Come Early, Stay Late,

Shop in a Winter Wonderland!

IT’S MIDNIGHT MADNESS! at Richfield Far ms on December 3 rd 8 P M till Midnight A PRE–SEASON SALE! 20% OFF all Hardgoods, 10% OFF all Livegoods $5 OFF all Christmas Trees ($25 or more) We have everything you’ll need to celebrate the season: Christmas Trees, Stands, Ornaments, Decorations, Wreaths, Garland, Bows, Poinsettias, Grave Covers, Lights, Blow-ups, Unique Handcrafted Gifts, Decorative Pottery & Garden Accessories!

1139 VAN HOUTEN AVE., CLIFTON • 973-777-7535 • www.richfieldfarms.com Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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Angela Farina, now Angela English, was one of the student muralists who participated in the project. Her yearbook lists her in the murals club, as well as treasurer for El Circulo Español and art editor for the Yearbook. She went on to become a CHS teacher.

The Clifton Arts Center seeks muralists from a CHS student project that spanned 1952-1957 under the supervision of Mrs. Mary Gardner. The 16 murals, which depict Clifton life from the Lenni-Lenape Indians era through 1957, will be on display at the Clifton Arts Center at 900 Clifton Ave. Dec. 3-30.

The students researched Clifton history for each section they completed. As yet, all of the participants have not been identified. If you were one of the CHS students who participated, call 973-472-5499.

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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625 VAN HOUTEN AVE • CLIFTON • 973-471-4075 Monday – Friday Noon – 7:30, Saturday 11– 4, Sunday Noon – 4

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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The Clifton PBA 36 Proposal Costs Nothing To Implement In fact, we project over $100,000 in annual overtime savings...

By scheduling Clifton Police Officers to attend court while on-duty, the PBA projects a 45% reduction in court overtime costs—well over $100,000 per year in overtime savings—that’s just one of the benefits of the PBA’s proposal for modern deployment of manpower and resources.

Efficient: Our proposal results in 4,000 fewer shift changes a year. It adds no new personnel nor vehicles. The PBA has never denied there are benefits to our members under our proposal. But our plan benefits everyone—the PBA members, the city government and Clifton citizens—fairly and equally.

Productive: We asked the Mayor & Council to consider a proposal for the modern deployment of manpower and resources. Police officers who work the modern work schedule we propose have been shown to be more productive. Further, our plan puts more cops on Clifton streets at the times of day when they are most needed.

Unfair: The PBA has worked without a contract since December 2000. Ironically, when this dispute is finally settled, it will again be time to negotiate a new contract. Is that any way to manage people? Is that any way to run a city?

Negotiations? They just don’t happen anymore. The Mayor & Council just hires high priced lawyers to arbitrate, a process which drags on, feeds lawyers, beats down employee morale and costs taxpayers serious big bucks.

Cost Savings: The PBA proposal offers a modern, safe and efficient work schedule which costs nothing—absolutely nothing—to implement. It is a system which is used in over 125 New Jersey Police Departments. The failure to adopt our proposal has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being wasted in court overtime.

Ask the Mayor and Council to stop wasting tax dollars and settle this negotiation.

PBA Local 36 asks the Mayor & Council to give our proposal for modern manpower and deployment a one year trial.

Give Us One Year Paid for by Clifton PBA Local 36

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

The Clifton Association of Artists will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Dec. 7 at The Valley Regency at 1129 Valley Rd. The Association puts on yearly art events in its mission of advancing art as cultural

development in Clifton. Eugenia Gore and Roxanne Cammilleri are co-chairs. Entertainment will be provided by Karla Joelle Yeamans in ‘A Little Bit of Broadway.’ For tickets, call 973-278-2225 by Nov. 21.

CHS Freshman Karla Joelle Yeamans performs at the CAA Gala on Dec. 7.

Clifton Association of Artists members, from left, Emily Diamond, Eugenia Gore, the Rev. Ralph Boult, Maria Carparelli and Pat Johnson with a painting of the CAA art barn.

Artisans Touch sale and exhibition ‘New Works by Emerging Artists’ is Nov. 13-30 and features works of area artists and a growing collection of signed carved wood whimseys.

The display is open 11 am to 6 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and till 8 pm on Thursday. Sunday hours are noon to 4 pm. Artisans Touch is in Styertowne Shopping Center. Call 973-471-0001 for info.

HAZEL STREET PUB Please Ask For A Catering Menu

Ask About Our Daily Black Board Specials

We Will Cater Your Next Affair At Your Home Or Business

Every Wednesday is Seafood Night Clams 1/2 shell or steamed . . . .25¢ each Mussels Marinara . . . . . . . . .$3.00 dozen Shrimp Cocktail . . . . . . . . . .$3.50 dozen Fried Calamari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3.50 Scallops w/bacon . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3.95 Garlic Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1.00 Garlic Bread w/Mozzarella . . . . . . .$1.75 In house with purchase of a beverage

Enjoy Your Meal In Our Dining Room Or Call Ahead For Take–Out Orders

Bring this Ad in and

349 Hazel St., Clifton

20% OFF

your get next Lunch Bill 11am–3pm

973-772-9730 1654

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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The life of Saint Francis of Assisi will be celebrated by the Garden State Opera, a Clifton-based organization, which presents a US premiere production of Il Poverello, on Nov. 23 at 5 pm in the Woodrow Wilson Middle School Auditorium. With music and libretto (in Italian) by Francesco Santelli, this will be a fully staged opera production with orchestra. The opera has been performed in Assisi at the Basilica of San Francesco and at the Santa Maria Maggiore Church, and in Cortona at the Teatro Signorelli. This performance will be the US premiere of the work. A lyrical work, full of melodies, with spirituality and drama, the opera depicts key moments of the life of poverello di Assisi. The cast is comprised of talented opera singers of the metro area.

Tickets are $20. Call 973-472-3755.

Artistic director Francesco Santelli also asks potential underwriters and patrons to contact him to help keep this art in Clifton.

An Italian Arts Cultural Workshop for children ages 3-6 will be hosted by the Clifton Arts Center, 900 Clifton Ave., Clifton, at 4 pm on Nov. 7, 14 and 21. The fee is $10 per class. Call Roxanne Cammilleri at 973-345-8837 or via artreports@cs.com for details.

Clifton’s Dani Marco was one of six finalists in Rheingold Beer’s 2004 ‘Miss Rheingold’ pageant. Voting closed as we were going to press, but Marco, a ‘94 CHS grad, already beat 400 other applicants to become one of the finalists. The cash prize awarded to the winner was $10,000, plus free beer and media exposure. For info, visit http://www.rheingoldbeer.com/

An opera on the life of St. Francis of Assisi will be performed on Nov. 23.

Shutter My Timbers is an exhibit of photographs by members of the Clifton Camera Club which continues through Nov. 22 at the Clifton Arts Center, 900 Clifton Ave. Call 973-472-5499.

The art of Clifton students Seema Patel and Gary Feig were among the winning entries made into a color poster that was distributed to Passaic County schools, libraries, and municipalities as part of the ‘License Plate Design Contest’ hosted by the Passaic County Office of Recycling and Natural Resource Programs. The contest was open to all Passaic County school children grades one through eight.

The Clifton & Passaic Optimist Clubs’ hot dog night...

The Second Sunday Series returns with Willie Miller and his Latin Jazz Ensemble on Nov. 9 at 3 pm.

The series continues through March 14 at the Julius Forstmann Library, 195 Gregory Ave., Passaic.

For info, call 973-779-0474.

1994 CHS Grad Dani Marco is helping to bring back Rheingold Beer.

In Honor of the

Optimist Cup Football Game & the Optimist Cup Girls Volleyball Game Passaic H.S. vs Clifton H.S.

$10 Donation (kids free) Wednesday, November 19, 6:30pm Tickets: Call Joe Bionci at

973-472-1707 OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL

Friend of Youth

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

at the Clifton Recreation Department 1232 Main Ave • Downtown Clifton

C ITY

OF

C LIFTON

LEAF COLLECTION SCHEDULE

T

✁

he leaf collection schedule as listed below is designed to facilitate collection and hold complaints to a minimum.

The schedule allows homeowners to coordinate their yard cleanups with the collection of leaves in their respective neighborhoods.

CLIP & SAVE

Residents have the option of raking leaves to the curb or placing leaves in biodegradable paper bags or reusable containers.

Leaves and vegetative waste in bags or reusable containers will be collected until December 31, 2003. NOTE: KEEP BRANCHES SEPARATE! Leaves raked to the curb will be picked up in accordance with the alternating weekly schedule. The Department of Public Works has divided the City into two districts A and B, and has designed the schedule according to the recycling sections listed in the Recycling Guide.

CLIP & SAVE

✁

Example

Leaf Collection District A Recycling Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Leaf Collection District B Recycling Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 15

N o v e m b e r, 2 0 0 3 Monday

Tuesday

3

A B A B

10

17

24

A B A B

4

11

18

25

Wednesday

Thursday

5

6

A B A B

12

19

26

A B A

D e c e m b e r, 2 0 0 3

Friday

A B A B

13

20

27

Holiday Thanksgiving

Monday 7

A

1

14

B A B

8

15

21

28

22

*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SCHEDULE IS

29

A

APPROXIMATE SINCE WEATHER AND OTHER FACTORS CAN IMPACT THE PROGRAM...

Tuesday

A B A B

Thursday

Friday

3

A

4

A

10

B A

11

B A B

A

9

B A B

16

23

30

A

Wednesday 2

17

A

24

18

25

Holiday Christmas

5

12

19

26

31

If You Have Questions, Please Call Clifton’s DPW at...

973-470-2239 Please follow these guidelines...

• No branches or other foreign material are to be placed on the leaf piles.

Grass and cut-up garden waste are acceptable.

• Residents may use biodegradable paper bags or reusable containers.

NO PLASTIC BAGS • Do not park vehicle on top of leaf piles because of the potential for fire.

• Please try to keep vehicles off the street during schedule collections in your district to facilitate the leaf pick up.

✁

• Do not place garbage containers in the street.

CLIP & SAVE

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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Visit us in Athenia: 802 Van Houten Ave • 973-473-1997

We Don’t Sell Parts… …We Sell Service Machine Shop On Location No Order Too Large Or Small FREE DELIVERY

Two Stores In Clifton 973-473-1997

973-473-4999

802 Van Houten Ave • Clifton New Location

1103 Main Ave • Downtown Clifton New Location

Our Other Locations: 201.843.8040

201-845-8353

136 Essex St • Rochelle Park Open Sundays

101 Route 46 West • Saddle Brook Open Sundays

201.391.3333

973-857-2600

5 Hawthorne Ave • Park Ridge New Location

614 Pompton Ave • Cedar Grove New Location

201. 261.0411 59A E. Ridgewood Ave • Paramus New Location

973.338.9292 1278 Broad St • Bloomfield New Location

973-694-2228 1168 Hamburg Turnpike • Wayne New Location

973-423-1700 93 Goffle Rd • Hawthorne New Location 1036

Visit us in Downtown Clifton: 1103 Main Ave • 973-473-4999 94

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

Clifton Against Substance Abuse, also known as CASA, the municipal drug and alcohol alliance for Clifton, recently announced the winners of its October poster contest. But it is just one of the many programs being conducted by this volunteer organization.

In October, the Red Ribbon month of drug awareness, a new program called The Game Of Life was funded by CASA and launched at Clifton middle schools.

On Oct. 31 at Christopher Columbus Middle School, 8th graders were presented with different life situations wherein they may need help, such as drug problems, alcohol issues and pregnancy.

The program is devised so that the students can see the options before them and seek help before the situation in The Game of Life become a reality.

Woodrow Wilson students get the program on Nov. 14.

CASA, founded in 1986, is funded through the Governor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and holds similar awareness programs year-round. This year’s president is Angela Swan.

For info on CASA, call Jennifer Kidd at 973-470-5765.

Poster contest winners are: School #1: Kaila Anderson, Preethi Srikanthan, William Anderson, Jayne Rymut.

School #2: Brian Kommer, Michael Kommer, Allison Masangkay, Elizabeth Los, Alexis Scaduto, Parth Mistry.

School #3: Chris Sanchez, Muhtez Khatib, Mavish Khan, Leah O’Beirne, Amber Badia.

School #4: Waleed Khan, Emily Afonso.

School #5: Michelle Ardiff, Brian Shukaitis, Brianna Sue Troche, Joseph Ambrose, Bianca Green, Jessica McIntosh, Justin Carbajal, Eugeny Stupak.

School #8: Marissa Ale, Cara Kirschner, Maurice Marsilla, Destiny Macais, Gabrelle Cabacab, Jenna Kirchner.

School #9: Paras Mehta, Archi Shah, Jill Desai, Brendan Blum, Timothy Laux, Terrell Robinson, Kathleen Penaflorida, Ruchi Shah.

School #11: Alexandria Chidiak, Nicole Roncancio, Kristin Chidiak, Ashly Macote, James Pruiksma, Jenna Dolan.

School #12: Roberto Sanchez, Michelle Castrillon, Nadir Pearson, Natalia Gutierrez, Cassy Moffatt, Lizbeth Rodriquez, Batoul Lebban, Lorenzo Vassallo, Katherine Loera, Hector Acosta, Ariel Genao, Michael Mejia, Anthony Guzman, Raul Jaramillo, Juliana Sanchez, Andres Rivera, Alexis Navarro, Antonieta Munoz, Brandan Santiago, Shawn Lopez, Brandon Martinez, Patricia Charnexo, Rosanna Tagliabue, Stefania Dreza, Aleksandra Antolak, Christain Castano, Missiel Cedeno, Lina Jaramillo, Karolina Kozdra.

School #13: Karol Kozielec, Andrew Sevilla, Gabriela Daniele, Robert Kozielec, Kelsey Barrows.

The Odd Couple

CHS presents The Odd Couple (Female Version) by Neil Simon, directed by David Arts at the John F. Kennedy Auditorium on Nov. 12-16 at various times. Cast members include, from left: Samantha Cruz, Adrian Diaz, Anna Broniszewski, Randy Guzman, Carolyn Liberti. Front: Dena Sela and Amira AbuRomi.

School #14: William Mercardg, Brian Lora.

School #15: Mariangy Cardona, Omar Cardona, Radhika Kasabwala, Sarah Zlidan, Juan Camilo Hernandez.

School #16: Shea Harris, Samantha Wong, Ryan Giust, Anthony Riggi, Claudia Carcomo, Stephanie Warren, Nicholas Larsen.

Pioneer Academy of Science: Aybercin Ahmedi, Sevim Tanbi, Metin Feyjullah.

St. Clare School: Robert Golebieski, Zachary Golebieski.

St. Paul School: Megan Pasch, Charles Stroinski, Maria Tsimpedes.

St. Phillip School: Krishna Trivedi, Milic Andjela.

Sacred Heart School: Brandon Crespo, Renz Lagarde.

Pope John Paul II School: Madeline Tineo, Stephanie Borges.

St. Brendan’s School: Thomas R. Coldiron, Naya Dobbs.

St. Andrew’s School: Brittany Acevedo, Nerissa Delgado, Charles Herrmann, Andrew Amico, Marissa Fragapane, Michael Rosa.

The Clifton YMHA will have a December performance of ‘Annie’, featuring a real dog, a little girl who doesn’t need a wig to play the part of the redhaired orphan, and a cast composed primarily of Clifton residents. The performance will be Dec 20 at 8 pm and Dec. 21 at 3 pm. Both performances will be at the Besserman-Weiss Auditorium at the YMHA at 199 Scoles Ave. Call Jessica Moskin 973-779-2980 x122.

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

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Happy Birthday To...

Jazzlyn Caba . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/1 Robyn Jo Paci . . . . . . . . . . . .11/2 Thomas Scancarella . . . . . . .11/2 Kelly Tierney . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/3 Eric Brandhorst . . . . . . . . . . . .11/4 Lance Dearing . . . . . . . . . . .11/4 Andrew Seitz . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/4 Tanya Ressetar . . . . . . . . . . .11/5 Joe Angello . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/6 Nicole Lorraine Bonin . . . . . .11/6 Danielle Osellame . . . . . . . . .11/6 Christina Ambrose . . . . . . . . .11/7 Nicole Mokray . . . . . . . . . . . .11/7 Ray Konopinski . . . . . . . . . . .11/8 John Fostek . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/9 Brandy Stiles . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/10 Tom Szieber . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/10 Joseph Franek III . . . . . . . . .11/11 Cody You Kon . . . . . . . . . . .11/11 Laura Gasior . . . . . . . . . . . .11/12 Geraldine Ball . . . . . . . . . . .11/13 Patricia Franek . . . . . . . . . . .11/13 Robert Paci . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/13

Happy Anniversary to Joe and Sue Angello on 11/14!

Emil J. Soltis Sr. . . . . . . . . .

Gregory Chase . . . . . . . .

Kathy (Wallace) Schmidt Matthew Phillips . . . . . . . .

Stephen Andolino . . . . . .

Jonathan Andolino . . . . .

Marilyn Velez . . . . . . . . . .

Nancy Hawrylko . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

.11/14 .11/15 .11/15 .11/16 .11/17 .11/17 .11/18 .11/19

Open your heart and your home.

Joseph Tyler . . . . . . . . . . .

Joseph Guerra . . . . . . . . .

Katherine Stankiewicz . . .

Jon Whiting . . . . . . . . . . .

Andreas Dimitratos . . . . .

Katerina Dimitratos . . . . .

Margaret Egner . . . . . . . .

Eileen Fierro . . . . . . . . . . .

Crystal Lanham . . . . . . . .

Jacy Patti . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rachel Prehodka-Spindel Kathrine Sisco . . . . . . . . .

Cassandra Sisco . . . . . . .

Kristen Bridda . . . . . . . . . .

Jessi Cholewczynski . . . . .

Bethany Havriliak . . . . . . .

Sami Suaifan . . . . . . . . . .

Christopher Seitz . . . . . . .

Kaitlyn Graham . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.11/19 .11/20 .11/20 .11/21 .11/22 .11/22 .11/22 .11/25 .11/25 .11/25 .11/25 .11/25 .11/25 .11/26 .11/26 .11/26 .11/28 .11/29 .11/30

Nicole Mokray celebrates her 3rd Birthday on 11/7 Marie Sanzo celebrates her 85th birthday on 11/8.

Best wishes to you Marie!

Happy Birthday to Laura Gasior who turns 18 on 11/12.

Jerry and Pat Franek will be married 28 years on 11/3.

Happy Anniversary from Joe and Darlene.

Many children are waiting for very special foster families...

Financial Assistance & Free Training Available

Call toll-free: 1-800-837-9102 N E W

Congratulations to Murray Blumenfeld (pictured left), owner of Morré Lyons Jewelers in Richfield Plaza on the store’s 55th Anniversary on 11/21.

J E R S E Y

To qualify to be a foster parent, you must be at least 21 years old, have a steady source of income and adequate space in your home.

www.fostercare.com 96

November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

1284

Frank Lacki (pictured right) of Lacki’s Jewelers of Van Houten Ave, turned 77 on 11/2.

School 14’s Tricky Tray is Jan. 22 at the Valley Regency on Valley Rd. but you can purchase your tickets today. The package includes a four-course chicken dinner with tickets. Seating is limited. Reserve your seat by mailing a check for $35 per person (adults only), along with your name, address, and phone number to: School 14 H&SA – Tricky Tray, 99 St. Andrews Blvd., Clifton, NJ 07013.

Paramus Catholic High School’s Fall Craft Show is Nov. 23, 10 am to 5 pm and features125 artists offering a variety of items. The school is at 425 Paramus Rd., Paramus. Call 201-933-4982.

CHS Grads may purchase old yearbooks dating as far back as 1925 by contacting the Clifton Education Foundation. Prices vary based on the condition of the book.

Send your name, address, phone number and graduation year to: Clifton Education Foundation, P.O. Box 2071, Clifton, NJ 07015.

Jack Kuepfer, the long-working volunteer caretaker of Morris Canal park on Broad St. was named UNICO’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year on Oct. 10. Kuepfer put in close to 9,000 volunteer hours in the 16 years the park has existed.

“I designed it/built it/run it,” he proudly told Clifton Merchant Magazine in a July interview, speaking of his role at the park.

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LWOOD AL AY AND LEARN PL

Former WCW Hardcore Champion Crowbar will be in Athenia on Nov. 28.

The Nicholas Martini Foundation of Clifton presented a $2,500 grant in October to the Phoenix Center in Nutley, a school for the multiply disabled. Founded in 1991, the Phoenix Center has grown to a student body of 140 with a staff of 125.

TENAFLY ENAFLY PEDIATRICS EDIATRICS 1135 Broad St., Suite 208 • Clifton • 973-471-8600 Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 am – 5 pm Wednesday 8:30 am – 8:30 pm (for check-ups, too!)

Sunday 9 am – 12 noon • www.tenaflypediatrics.com

Dr. Maury Buchalter

Dr. Nancy Mallon

Dr. Robert Jawetz

Dr. David Wisotsky

1143

Professional Wrestling returns to Athenia on Nov. 28 at the St. John Kanty Parish Center with WWF champ Nikolai Volkoff vs. Mobuto of the Headshrinkers, former WCW Hardcore champ Crowbar vs.

Acropolus; Giant Sylva vs.

Demolition’s Blast; and midgets Little Tiger vs. Little Mr. T. Justin Cage will take part in a ladder match against Mr. Italy Gino Caruso and the Banditos Tag Team.

For tickets—$10 each—call the Parish Center at 973-779-4102 or Able Hardware at 973-773-4997.

Registration Now Underway!

• Nursery School • Extended Hours • Pre-K Programs • Classes for 2 1/2, 3 & 4 year olds Open 7:30am to 6pm

94 Chelsea Rd. • 973 779-4844 Marcia Hartkopp, Director

We welcome new patients in Clifton and our other locations!

Tenafly 32 Franklin St 201-569-2400

Fort Lee 301 Bridge Plaza N. 201-592-8787

Paramus 26 Park Place 201-262-1140

Oakland 3 Post Road 201-651-0404

Clifton Merchant • November 2003

97

In Bits of Clifton, an article from last month, readers were introduced to Willie Zawisha, who was homebound during World War II because he had arthritis of the spine. He published a wartime newsletter that kept his Clifton chums in touch despite scattered overseas assignments. Today, these classmates and veterans call themselves the Sag-A-Bits, and meet yearly to discuss old times.

Izzy MacDonald, daughter of Sag-A-Bits member Charles Manella, saw the article and provided pages from Zawisha’s old newsletter, which were found among Manella’s belongings after he died on Sept. 19, 2003. Here are some excerpts...

Sag-A-Bits member Joe Menegus estimated these letters were written after June 6, 1944 (D-Day). According to Menegus, Bill Tomea was never found and Gerry Agnello, who asked to join Zawisha’s group, survived the war but is no longer alive today.

Dr. David R. Moore, Chiropractor Pictured left, with Dr. Moore is Sifu Pedro C. Yee of Yee 's Hung International Kung Fu Association. Sifu Pedro has a Kung Fu School at 68 Union Avenue in Clifton. He also specializes in Chinese Medical Message. "Working with martial arts atheletes provides a unique way to observe human performance" —Dr. Moore

Tue • Thu • Sat Elmwood Park Athletic Club 690 River Dr • Elmwood Park • 201.794.0155 www.fitspine.net www.fitspine.net

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November 2003 • Clifton Merchant

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Mon • Wed • Fri Chiropractic Health Center 241 Crooks Ave • Clifton • 973.253.7005