RALLY AT THE RESERVOIR
Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake VOLUME 24 ISSUE 16
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S BEST H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
JULY 6, 2020
WOODCLIFF LAKE
IN MEMORY OF A PAL
The Township of Washington Knights of Columbus support the Vito Trause Memorial Fund. SEE PAGE 12
PASCACK VALLEY
POLLING IN
For the first time, primary voting will be almost entirely by mail
A PANDEMIC
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
Registered Republicans and Democrats in Pascack Valley towns are participating in their first-ever primary election day in New Jersey history using almost exclusively mail-in ballots on Tuesday, July 7. While most voters have likely already mailed in their vote-bymail primary ballots, last-minute See PRIMARY on page 104
Speakers address racial inequality, high school mascots
The sight of sign-carrying protesters is becoming common on the streets of the Pascack Valley. Last weekend the Woodcliff Lake Reservoir was the backdrop of the Racial Equity Rally, as the borough joined the likes of Hillsdale, Westwood, and Park Ridge, where demonstrations and marches in the name of racial equality and the Black Lives Matter movement were held earlier in June. The event came as America grapples with nationwide unrest in the wake of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, and our own Pascack Valley is embroiled in a debate over the racial overtones of high school mascots. However, says event co-organizer Olivia Bulzomi, a 2016 graduate of Pascack Hills High School, “I organized this event long before the Board of Education held the hearing on the mascot removal, and have planned it hoping to address systemic racism, the Black Lives Matter movement, the killing of George Floyd and other instances of police brutality, and the steps that can be taken to achieve racial Crowd members listen to speeches at the Woodcliff Lake train station during the Racial Equity Rally on July 27. equity in the Pascack Valley The demonstration was organized by current and former Pascack Valley Regional High School District students. Regional High School District and community.” According to Pascack Hillsʼ 27, saw a large crowd of protesters of systemic racism, police brutaliBulzomi was part of a group student newspaper the Trailblazer, gather at the Woodcliff Lake Bor- ty, and social justice. Among the featured guests of organizers that included three “The equity team, created this year ough Hall and march on Pascack fellow Pascack Hills alumni— at Hills initially to respond to a Road and Woodcliff Avenue, was Bergen County Sheriff Rishi Gummakonda, Jonathan school climate survey, now across the reservoir to the train sta- Anthony Cureton, president of the Levin, and Grace Johnson, all from includes 20 students from both tion. Police closed the causeway to Bergen County chapter of the NAACP. Cureton addressed the traffic to facilitate the march. the class of 2016—rising senior Hills and Valley.” Outside the train station, a strained relationship between Ellie Schaumberger, and the The Racial Equity Rally, held District Equity Team. on the morning of Saturday, June series of speakers addressed issues See RALLY page 27 PHOTO BY DANIELLE O’BRIEN
MADE TO BRAID
B ck in time...
Tradition will meet technology as Valley Chabad teens take this year’s Challah Bake virtual. SEE PAGE 13
A summer retreat welcomed city women at a time when Woodcliff Lake was still ‘the country.’
SEE PAGE 4