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Secaucus Reporter NINE WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS SERVING HUDSON COUNTY • STORIES UPDATED CONTINUOUSLY AT WWW.HUDSONREPORTER.COM • A PUBLICATION OF THE HUDSON REPORTER
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 13 • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2012
2014 Super Bowl stay at local hotel: $619/night and up
Love and acceptance for Lucas Local mom launches volunteer program to aid autistic son
Photo courtesy of Ken Durden / Shutterstock.com
Some have a few rooms left; local residents’ apartments available
By Adriana Rambay Fernández Reporter staff writer
or the New York-New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee the clock is winding down, literally – their website has a ticker that counts down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the 2014 Super Bowl, which is slated to take place nearby in the Meadowlands and be the biggest Super Bowl celebration in history. Last week, the clock said there were 472 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, and 20 seconds and counting left until the big game day.
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see
BOWL
page 5
Rent someone’s apt. in Weehawken, UC or JC – with stipulations With the possibility that hotels will be booked solid during the Super Bowl 2014, some local residents are offering up their apartments, or rooms in their apartments, through web sites like AirBnB.com. A search of that site for the period of Jan. 20, 2014 to Feb. 4, 2014 revealed a number of listings in the area. One Weehawken dweller lists a private room with NYC skyline views for $59 a night. A Jersey City resident offers to share a sunny two-bedroom apartment for $170 a night, but the individual must like cats, because the host has one named Tyson. One listing in Union City for $60 a night has photos of a room that simulates a hotel setting with a sleigh bed, duvet covers, fluffed pillows, and even a bottle of champagne on a silver tray. The host includes in the description that after a day in the city the, “private luxurious room with a queen size bed…will welcome you with open arms,” and that the visitor can “take a bath or soak in marble soaking tub with a shower head that makes you feel like your bathing in the rain.” The host goes on to describe the kitchen as out of a scene from a James Bond movie. -AF
inside www.hudsonreporter.com
VOLUNTEER OUTING – Volunteers in the Son-Rise program that helps Secaucus 4-year-old resident Lucas Darrow during an outing on April 2 – World Autism Awareness Day.
By Adriana Rambay Fernández Reporter staff writer
our-year-old Secaucus resident Lucas Darrow sits on the floor of his special playroom arranging cups of different primary colors on a rubbery mat surface in front of him. The walls are rather bare, shelves are up high, and a small desk rests against the wall by a window. A few toys and flash cards are scattered on the floor by two white-erase boards. He counts the cups as he begins to stack them into two piles. “What color is it?” asks volunteer Leeann Weiner as she holds up a red cup. “Red?” “Red,” said Lucas. “Very good!” said Weiner.
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To what many observers may seem like a normal play session between an adult and a child on a rainy Sunday morning is actually a special two-hour session arranged by Lucas’ mom Janet Tavarez, who launched the Son-Rise program last year to help her son recover from autism. Lucas was diagnosed with severe Autism Spectrum Disorder and Sensory Processing Dysfunction at 20 months. Autism is one of a series of developmental problems often associated with difficulty in social interaction, language, and behavior. “Some people refer to autism as a brain disorder, a behavior disorder, or a social disorder…It is a whole body disorder,”
see AUTISM page 8
Festive dancing, food, and fun Diwali festival of lights celebration grows in its third year By Adriana Rambay Fernández Reporter staff writer
nita Ajmera served Rasmalai, a sweet Bengali dessert of cottage cheese balls in milk, to a steady stream of visitors at the Madhuram Sweets table. Meanwhile, Dimple Thaker from Paramus perused a number of colorful sarees at the next table OK Fashions. A few steps away, 6month-old Secaucus resident Zaisha Shah grabbed at a red lollipop. And in front of the stage, a large crowd of people performed a traditional Indian stick dance. Many people gathered in Buchmuller Park in Secaucus for a day filled with food, dancing, prizes, and celebration on Oct. 14 for Diwali Mela or Festival of Lights, an event organized by the Indian Caucus of Secaucus. In its third year, the six-hour event that began at 12 p.m. has grown in popularity and drew a steady stream of visitors throughout the day.
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see DIWALI page 7
STICK DANCE – Pairs tapped sticks for a traditional Indian dance.
Business Directory
p. 16
Education
p. 10
Open House Directory
p. 20
Classified
p. 17
Letters
p. 23
Sports
p. 14
Death Notices
p. 6