June 6, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXXI, No. 4
PRIMARY2018 Harrison election results will be available this week at www.theobserver.com and on The Observer’s Facebook page.
FUN AT THE FAIR
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Photos by Laura Comppen
The third annual Lyndhurst Spring Street Festival took place this past weekend and did not disappoint. Rides for the kids, a variety of tasty food choices, live music, and a beer garden were a treat for the senses. The event was sponsored by BCB Community Bank, Inserra Supermarkets, Frank’s GMC and The Observer, and was coordinated by Cliffhanger Productions. LEFT: a youngster gets his face painted. RIGHT: Kids enjoy the teacup ride at the festival.
Kearny prof pleads guilty to fraud By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com NEW YORK CITY — Mamdouh Abdel-Sayed, a tenured lecturer at the City University of New York’s Medgar Evers College and a resident of Kearny, has pled guilty in Manhattan federal court to wire
fraud related to his selling sham Medgar Evers College certificates that purported to represent the completion of health care courses at the college, Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Thursday, May 31. Abdel-Sayed made his plea last
week before U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick. “As he admitted in court, Mamdouh Abdel-Sayed abused his position on the CUNY faculty to enrich himself by creating and selling fake health care program certificates. In so doing, Abdel-Sayed put public health at risk,” Berman said. “I
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commend our partners at the New York State Inspector General and the Department of Education Office of Inspector General for their continued commitment to rooting out corruption at federally funded New York schools.” See FRAUD, Page 18
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2018
BEST FRIENDS, WWI VETS By Karen Zautyk kzautyk@theobserver.com BELLEVILLE — At 9 a.m. on Memorial Day, the bells of St. Peter’s Church on William Street rang out with the sounds of “God Bless America,” the patriotic music echoing through the neighborhood — and across the small cemetery that borders the church. Later, in that cemetery, there would be a special prayer service led by St. Peter’s pastor, the Rev. Ivan Sciberras, honoring all the veterans who are buried there — including two who were receiving overdue memorials. Literal memorials: new gravestones to mark their final resting place. Last year, we wrote about the rededication of a marble plaque embedded in the cemetery wall listing the 13 St. Peter’s parishioners who were casualties of World
War I. After nearly a century since its placement, it had become virtually unreadable — until the Belleville Historical Society stepped in and completely refurbished it in 2017. It now glows in the sunlight and is bordered by brilliant red, white and blue bunting. According to Michael Perrone, Belleville Historical Society president, 700 Belleville men served in the Great War, and 21 of those died. Reportedly, most of the casualties were buried on the Western Front, where they had fallen — but Perrone was aware of two who had been interred at St. Peter’s: Edward Joseph Crowell and Michael Augustine Flynn, whose stories are inextricably entwined. Crowell and Flynn (son of Police Chief Michael Flynn) grew up together as best friends. Both enlisted in the Army when the U.S. entered the war in 1917, but they were in different
regiments. However, reportedly they met at least twice in Europe. During one chance encounter, they were photographed with a third soldier — John Grant of Boston, who served with Flynn. As the story goes, sometime afterward, the second meeting occurred as Flynn’s unit was being moved to the front, and Crowell, who had been wounded, was being taken back to base camp. Both decorated combat veterans, they survived the war, but Flynn died Dec. 7, 1918 — less than a month after the Armistice was declared on Nov. 11. He was 21. Crowell, age 26, died Aug. 4, 1919. And it was that month that the two friends finally came home — together. In a full, combined military funeral, their flagPhoto by Michael Perrone draped coffins, on horseBelleville Historical Society members Arlene Schoor and Mary Higgins and drawn caissons, were carried Belleville Board of Education Trustee Tom Grolimond at the graves of First
Continued on the next page
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World War Privates Michael Flynn and Edward Crowell at St Peter’s Church cemetery, Belleville.
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GET NEW GRAVESTONES Continued from previous page
in a cortege along Washington Avenue as thousands looked on. The destination was St. Peter’s, where they were buried side-by-side in their family plots. Anyone wishing recently to pay personal respects to them, though, might have had a difficult time finding the graves. Perrone told us that the century had taken its toll: Flynn’s military headstone had become illegible, and Crowell›s had broken apart. Thus was TOP: Crowell born the historical society’s BELOW: Flynn project — led by Perrone and Belleville Historical Commission Chairman Tom advertising@theobserver.com 201-991-1600 Grolimond — to give them new er: Client: markers. The white marble stones, bearing the two veterans’ names, ages and dates of death, were beautifully engraved by expert craftsman Val Hadshinow of North Arlington and placed in the graveyard in TOP PHOTO: Observer File Photo; Headshots courtesy of Anthony Buccino Advertising: Here is the updated template with a new photo of Jarlynn Hyde: time for Memorial Day. Flynn and Crowell’s joint funeral in 1919 as the procession makes its way along Washington Avenue, Now, may lifelong friends Belleville. Edward Joseph Crowell and Michael Augustine Flynn rest forever in peace — together.
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