February 15, 2017 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXIX, No. 36 Visit our
BUSINESS DIRECT RY on
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
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• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Christie: ‘Stop and think first’ By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent NUTLEY – Gov. Chris Christie came to Nutley’s Washington Elementary School last week to help put the spotlight on drug abuse prevention. “We have people all across the state who are dying from drugs,” Christie told a group of sixth-graders who’d just gotten a lesson on drugs from Nutley PD Officer Steven Rogers and Det. Sgt. Michael Padilla. That lesson was based on a curriculum provided by a New Jersey nonprofit, L.E.A.D. (Law Enforcement Against Drugs), which has, so far, received $375,000 in state funding to spread its message across schools in nine of the state’s 21 counties. Amplifying on the lesson, the governor said if kids can “stop and think first” and “make the right decisions” about avoiding the pitfalls of abusing drugs, they can help stop the state’s slide into a tragedy of epidemic proportions, he said. Photo courtesy Governor’s Office
see GOVERNOR page
Gov. Chris Christie seeks to enlist Nutley school children in the fight against opioids.
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Council selects tri-lingual Santana for Second Ward opening By Kevin Canessa Jr. Observer Correspondent KEARNY – Davis Ave. resident Peter Santana, 33, was appointed Second Ward Councilman at a special council meeting Monday, Feb. 6, taking the seat once occupied by the late Council-
man Jonathan Giordano, who died suddenly last month. The vote was unanimous at 8-0. Before the vote was taken, however, the council heard from three people who had expressed interest in the seat: Santana, Jennifer Long, the first woman ever to command
Kearny’s VFW post and former Councilwoman Laura CifelliPettigrew. Santana was first to speak. From the get-go, it was clear Santana was Mayor Alberto G. Santos’ choice – and the biggest reason why? Santana is tri-lingual, fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Many
Second-Ward residents do not speak English – and having a tri-lingual representative would make life much easier when residents have concerns to voice. Santana is employed by the Harrison School District as a director of technology. He received his bachelor’s degree
at a university in Brazil and he got his master’s degree from St. Peter’s University, Jersey City. When Councilman Albino Cardoso asked Santana (by phone) whether he’d be able to devote sufficient time to his work in Kearny, see SANTANA page
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