Feb. 4, 2015 Edition of The Observer

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February 4, 2015 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 37 Visit our

BUSINESS DIRECT on

COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD

ATMs in stores targeted

RY

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• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY

Smoky blaze shuts Skyway

By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent KEARNY – If you’re a store owner who has an ATM near the front door, you might consider moving it. In northern New Jersey since August, there have been 12 incidents -- including four in the last week -- involving smash-and-grab thefts. What gets smashed is a store’s front door, or maybe a picture window. What gets grabbed is an ATM. The whole machine. The smashing is done with a motor vehicle -- usually a Jeep or pick-up truck -- which the bandits drive (often backwards) through the glass and into the shop. Then they load the ATM into it, or another vehicle waiting outside, and make their getaway. The culprits usually strike in the pre-dawn hours. The amount of money stolen is a lot less than the amount of damage they cause to the premises. On Saturday, Jan. 24, it was Kearny’s turn. At 4:47 a.m., KPD Officer Thomas Sumowski responded to a burglar alarm at the Buy Rite Liquor Store on Harrison Ave., near the Walmart. He arrived to find the glass front doors broken and the wall heavily damaged. He also see ATMS page

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Photo by Andy Taylor

Firefighters battle blaze at South Kearny truck-repair shop on Saturday.

By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent KEARNY –

O

n Saturday afternoon, with temperatures well below freez-

ing and the wind-chill well below that, the Kearny Fire Department responded to a blaze at a South Kearny truck-repair business. With flames apparently fueled by stored tires and motor oil,

Tomko is new schools chief By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent

margin. But last Thursday, Tomko, 42, a product of Queen of Peace High School, North BELLEVILLE – Arlington, emerged from a Richard Tomko came up field of nearly 50 candidates as unlucky in the race for state the pick for Belleville’s chief senate in the 24th district in 2013. As the Democratic nomi- schools administrator. At a special meeting, the nee, he lost to GOP incumbent Belleville Board of Education Steven Oroho by about a 2-1

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voted 5-1 to appoint Tomko to the post, starting Feb. 15, giving him a 3-year-plus contract running through June 30, 2018, at $167,500 a year, with an opportunity for annual merit increases of up to 14.99% after his first year of service. The only dissenting vote came from Ralph Vellon, who

201-460-8000 LYNDHURST OFFICE 761 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, New Jersey

collapsed,” KFD Chief Steve Dyl reported. As a result, an emergency demolition of the structure was ordered, which the owners, Kephart Trucking, carried

the fire grew to four alarms and, at its height, was being battled by 75-80 firefighters from seven municipalities. During the blaze, a portion of the steel building “twisted and

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was elected to the board this past November. (Board member John Rivera did not attend the meeting but later told The Observer he was caught up in work and couldn’t get away but added that he felt that Tomko was “one of the see TOMKO page

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201-991-1300 KEARNY OFFICE

213 Kearny Ave, Kearny, New Jersey

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