North Edition
Y
SAFETY IN CYBERSPACE
Closter • Demarest • Harrington Park • Haworth • Northvale • Norwood • Old Tappan • Rockleigh
Free Dinner
Y Enter toWin a
for 2 at
FBI agent gives tips, warnings on Internet crime
Y
Y
HAWORTH
After more than four months in jail and two months of waiting since his release on bail Christmas Eve, journalist and human-rights activist Omoyele Sowore, a Haworth resident, is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 11 in Nigeria on charges of organizing a pro-democracy rally, treason and money-laundering. Since his arrest Aug. 3 by Nigerian authorities, Sowore, founder of an online news site, Sahara Reporters, has remained imprisoned or restricted from travel by bail conditions. His imprisonment and detainment has raised calls for his release from worldwide human-rights organizations, international pressfreedom coalitions, New Jersey legislators and congressional representatives. “Our children and I miss Yele dearly and continue to pray for his safe return home to New Jersey. Despite his release after 143 days of illegal imprisonment and isolation, he remains effectively detained with his movement restricted to Abuja, a city in Nigeria where we do not have any family,” said Opeyemi Sowore, his wife, on Jan. 29. Opeyemi said while the trial is scheduled to commence Feb. 11, her husbandʼs lawyer “has still not received statements of the prosecu-
See SOWORE page 54
Photo by Hillary Viders
SOWORE ON BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
OLD TAPPAN
HEARINGS CONTINUING ON 229-UNIT MIXED-USE PROPOSAL BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
SEE PAGE 3 FOR DETAILS*
TRIAL IN NIGERIA FEB. 11
FEBRUARY 3, 2020
FBI Cyber and Counterintelligence Branch in Newark Assistant Special Agent in Charge Christopher Stangl. BY HILLARY VIDERS SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
NORTHERN VALLEY—How do you protect yourself and your privacy online in an era when cybercrimes are commonplace and becoming more dangerous and sophisticated?
In a recent interview, Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Christopher Stangl, the leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigationʼs Cyber and Counterintelligence Branch in Newark, discussed techniques to stay safe in cyberspace. Continued on page 31
Kramer: Old Tappan faces ‘full force’ of change
willing to innovate could see rich rewards. Speaking to “churn and dynamism” in OLD TAPPAN—Approximately two dozen downtown Westwood against the backmembers of the valley business community drop of an ongoing master plan review, turned out to the annual Breakfast with the Arroyo said, “Some see the glass as half Greater Pascack Valley Mayors on Jan. 29 at empty when in fact itʼs quite full.” Westwoodʼs Iron Horse Restaurant. Old Tappan Mayor John M. Kramer In turns at the microphone many of the said developments coming together in his Kramer mayors voiced concern that significant conborough over the next few years showed struction in the area is being driven by affordable “the wheels have started to come off” following housing mandates, with local residents bearing the years of otherwise thoughtful growth. brunt of infrastructure costs and traffic. Continued on page 18 The leaders, notably host Mayor Ray Arroyo, also spoke to trends that showed the area remains an attractive place to do business, and that towns BY JOHN SNYDER OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
A SCORE FOR STEM
A $5,000 grant will help boost the Senior Capstone science program at Northern Valley Old Tappan.
SEE PAGE 14
A third Planning Board hearing Jan. 8 on a proposal to build a 229-unit mixed-use development at 200 Old Tappan Road—including 40 affordable units—raised concerns on two unresolved and likely contentious issues: whether sprinklers will be required throughout the entire development and whether street widths should be 28 feet wide versus 24 feet proposed by the applicant. The next hearing will be 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12 at Borough Hall. Testimony from applicant engineer Patricia Ruskan and a traffic engineer is likely if time permits. Hearings generally conclude at 10:30 p.m. While the applicant agreed to provide sprinklers in the mixed-use retail complex, including affordable units, and the 110-luxury rental apartments, said planners, whether sprinklers will be required in the 99 townhomes was uncertain. The townhomes include 79 market-rate units and 20 affordable units. Currently proposed for townhomes are firewalls that help prevent possible spread of fire between adjoining units, said 200 OTR LLC, the applicant, also identified as Hornrock Properties, Park Ridge. street-width Moreover, requirements were debated but left open-ended by planners, pending further research into state guide-
See OLD TAPPAN page 64
B ck in time...
A beautiful image from a 1930 wedding evokes 200 years of black history in Closter.
SEE PAGE 4