Opinion

With Thanksgiving just over a week away, we at The Observer take this time to encourage all of our readers to consider donations to local food pantries.

This year has been one for the history books and in many cases, not for the better. And the harsh reality is that there are more families this year who are in dire situations of food insufficiency.

One only needs to look at the line that wraps around Laurel Avenue in Kearny from in front of the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington each Friday to know more and more families are relying on the generosity of others just to get by.

Whether it’s the Kearny Food Pantry Network, other church-based pantries, the outreach program led by Phil Stafford, or anywhere else, we have learned, in the most difficult of ways, that most of the food programs locally are in need of help — just a week away from the holiday.

These social justice agencies work so hard to put food on the tables of those who might otherwise go without.

And so if you’re in the position to donate, please do so so that all sustenance programs may do what they do best — helping others.

It is at times like these that we realize just how generous our local communities are.

So let’ s all do our part to make this Thanksgiving one we can all remember for a long time to come, despite all else going on in the world.

To the Editor:

I found a recent newspaper article ‘’Our Governor and His Wife Pay a Ton in Property Taxes’’ totally misleading and feel a comparison is in order. First, the governor’s 6.3-acre, $9.9 million mansion sits on prime real estate on the Navesink River. My home sits on a 32 by 75 foot lot, east of Schuyler Avenue, in North Arlington. The governor pays approximately $209,000 in taxes on his property.

I pay over $8,000 on my property. The governor’s property consists of approximately 270,000 square feet. Mine, 2,400 square feet.

If the governor was required to pay $8,000 in taxes for every 2,400 square feet of his property, his tax bill would be approximately $900,000. Though the governor ran on reducing property taxes, that hasn’t happened. It seems at a closer look, we are the ones paying a ton of property taxes. Armand Rose North Arlington

Hi Kevin. I recently read The Observer’s proposal (for keeping year-round Daylight Saving Time) and disagree completely. You talk about the supposed benefit of a longer, day but fail to address the completely dark morning kids would catch buses in. And the difficulty of people waking up at a reasonable time due to dark mornings.

Along with — let’s just leave at least one thing in our life alone and go to Standard Time permanently. It’s called that for a reason. If you agree with manipulating time itself, then I’m sure next on the list is to rename days of the week so people who have a problem with Monday through Friday can be made happy to have only weekend names only.

Point being, stop manipulating everything! Hold something sacred for once and that should start with time itself.

And lastly, the power companies who pushed this idea about DST lowering our utility bills is a blatant lie. Check out information from State of Indiana to prove it.

Thank you.

Editor’s note: The Observer does not endorse changing the names of the days of the week.

In Memoriam Mary A. Tortoreti 1942-2016

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8The Observer | www.theobserver.com Wednesday, November 18, 2020 KPD: City of Orange didn’t even want this scoffl aw

By Capt. Tim Wagner Kearny Police Department

On Nov. 10 at 12:36 p.m., KPD received a call that a woman was refusing to pay her bar tab at Jimmy’s Bar & Grill on Midland Avenue. Officer Pedro Pina responded with backup. He was told by the bartender and several patrons that Jennifer F. Williamson, 35, of Newark, who was seated at the bar, was causing a disturbance and refusing to pay her $31 tab.

Williamson allegedly began repeating, “I paid my bill,” but then changed her tune and screamed, “I ain’t paying for sh--.” Officers tried to calm her to no avail. Williamson reportedly began walking around the bar, shouting obscenities and picking up items that belonged to other customers: a jacket, a backpack and a paper bag, as examples.

By this time, the officers had seen enough and tried to arrest Williamson for her disorderly conduct. This did not go well. Williamson allegedly flailed her arms wildly and once handcuffed, repeatedly threw her weight to the ground. When officers put her into a police car, Williamson reportedly began bicycle kicking at the officers. Once the car door was closed, she screamed and repeatedly tried to kick out a window.

Placed directly into a holding cell at the police station, Williamson was said to have thrown herself to the floor before kicking and banging her fists on the cell door. The officers then had to extract Williamson from the cell for her own protection, since she would not stop banging herself on the metal door. While cuffing her again to extract her, Williamson flailed her arms and scratched one of the officers, causing a laceration to his finger.

Once she calmed down, Williamson was booked on a summons with disorderly conduct, obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on police. She was also found to have had nine outstanding arrest warrants issued by the City of Orange carrying a total bail of $2,900.

Not surprisingly, Orange didn’t want her and released Williamson on her own recognizance.

On Nov. 3 at 9:15 p.m., Shop-Rite reported that a shoplifter was trying to flee the store. Officers Nicole Williams and Derek Hemphill were dispatched and found Corey D. White, 36, of Harrison, in a verbal dispute in the parking lot with the store manager. The manager alleged White had not paid for all of the groceries he carried out of the store and was now refusing to show his receipt.

When police arrived, White acquiesced and showed his receipt. The tally showed he had $75.98 worth of groceries for which he allegedly had not paid. White was then arrested and charged with shoplifting. He was later released with a summons.

On Nov. 5 at 10:29 a.m., a citizen reported a man was unresponsive inside a black Jeep on the 600 block of Forest Street. Officer John Donovan investigated and found the parked Jeep with two legs hanging out of its driver’s door. Inside, Officer Donovan saw William Hicks, 47, of Kearny, lying asleep across the center console.

Hicks was roused and apparently had no idea who owned the vehicle inside which he had taken his slumber. Hicks was arrested. A search incident to his arrest yielded a used hypodermic syringe and two wax folds of heroin stamped “12:30.”

After refusing treatment by EMS, Hicks was charged with burglary and possession of heroin, drug paraphernalia and a hypodermic syringe.

He was then given a berth at the Hudson County Jail in South Kearny.

On Nov. 7 at 10:53 a.m., 911 got a call reporting a dispute at a bodega at 345 Kearny Ave. Officer Anthony Nunez and several other officers responded. The store proprietor, a 37-year-old woman, reported Theodore C. Hadam, 52, of Kearny, had entered the store asking to purchase a pack of cigarettes. When told the price of the cigarettes, Hadam reportedly became “enraged” and repeatedly said, “What are you talking

See KPD, Page 16

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