by Walter Elliott
NEWARK – New Jersey’s largest city has witnessed the removal of both of its Christopher Columbus statues, the latter at Bloomfield Avenue and Columbus Plaza, by 7 p.m. June 26.
Witnesses said that a heavy-duty flatbed tow truck and a crane backed up before the plaza’ northeastern corner here at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Workers then quietly dismounted and, with the crane, placed it on the flatbed before driving away. A Newark police car was seen nearby on a bystander’s video.
This particular Columbus statue was erected before St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church in 1972; the plaza would be renamed in his honor in 1974. A group of local Italian American locals, including the publisher of the adjacent “Italian Tribune,” had raised funds to build the monument.
This monument became a focal point for the annual Columbus Day Parade here into the 2000s. The names of the parade’s grand marshals were engraved at its pedestal.
The Bloomfield at Columbus Plaza statue came down about 23 hours after Mayor Ras Baraka directed that the 1926 Columbus statue be removed from Washington Park downtown for storage. That dismounting was made after sundown that Thursday.
A spokesman here at the Mayor’s Public Information Office said that Baraka and the city were not involved with the Friday night Columbus statue removal. The spokesman said he did not know who performed Friday’s taking away.
At least four statues of “The Discoverer of America” remain standing in the “Local Talk” area: Belleville, Bloomfield, Orange and West Orange. West Orange Mayor Robert Parisi has called for the statue in his township be removed. Petitions are being circulated for the dismounting of Bloomfield and Orange’s statuary.
IRVINGTON – A visitation for former Irvington Fire Capt. Robert R. Roberts has been set for 4-8 p.m. July 2 at Fanwood’s Memorial Funeral Home, followed by a Funeral Mass 10 a.m. July 3 at Scotch Plains’ St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church.
Roberts, 86, died at his Scotch Plains home, surrounded by his family, June 25. No cause of death has been disclosed.
The captain devoted most of his first 46 years as an Irvington native son. Born here March 11, 1934, the Irvington High School Class of 1952 graduate enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1953 before returning here upon his 1955 honorable discharge.
Roberts joined the Irvington Fire Department in 1970, working his way up to the rank of captain. He served for 30 years, doubling as the township’s subcode official, until his 1990 retirement. Roberts turned to running and bicycling, where he competed in nine marathons – including Boston’s 100th running and the New York City Marathon.
Moving to Scotch Plains in 1976, Roberts and wife Marion Monteverdi Roberts raised sons Michael, James, Thomas and Steven plus daughter Mary-Beth. They were also grandparents to Meghan, Nicholas, Kevin, Patrick, Ryan, Connor and Sean.
Brother Edward and sister-in-law Kathy DiGiovanni are also among Roberts’ survivors. His burial is to be at East Hanover’s Gate of Heaven Cemetery.
EAST ORANGE / ORANGE – The June 25 arrests of the respective owner and manager of a Paterson-based regional school bus company may have brought back some painful memories of a 2018 series of collisions among neighbors and bus riders here.
Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore “Ted” Stephens II announced Thursday morning that they had charged A-1 Elegant Tours owner Shelim Khalique, 51, of Wayne, and manager Henry Rhodes, 56, of Paterson, on five falsification and misconduct charges.
Both Khalique and Rhodes have been charged with third-degree tampering of public records plus second-degree charges of misconduct by a corporate official, theft by deception, false representations for a government contract and conspiracy thereof.
Khalique and Rhodes, while running A-1/Eastern Star Transportation 2016-19, are accused of failing to conduct narcotic and criminal background checks of their drivers, failing to record which drivers held suspended NJMVC regular and commercial licenses and failing to maintain vehicular inspection records. The A-1 officials, who changed its name to Eastern Star July 25, are accused of having its drivers evade impending inspections by allowing them to take their buses home overnight.
A-1/Eastern Star once held up to $1 million in school bus transportation contracts with Newark Public Schools, the Essex Regional Education Services Commission, Paterson and Passaic public schools plus districts in Hudson and Union counties.
One of its drivers was arrested on DWI and endangering the welfare of a minor after he had struck several cars, two utility poles and a fire hydrant in East Orange and Orange in a 20-minute stretch Sept. 21, 2018. The crashes, which started at East Orange’s Park and North Arlington avenues and ended at Orange’s Thomas Boulevard and Dodd Street, happened while a nine-year-old child and an adult bus aide were aboard.
The aide told EOPD officers that she tried to revive the Paterson driver after he had first passed out. The child had complained of “side pain” and was treated by contracted EMS at the scene. The driver’s Newark attorney said his client was an A-1 mechanic who was asked to drive that morning – and had suffered a heart attack.
WEST ORANGE – Riders who take Coach USA’s Community Coach 77 or DeCamp Bus Line’s four active routes will have to take alternative modes on Friday, July 3.
Both private bus lines, in their respective web sites and Twitter feeds, will not be running Friday. They will be observing the Independence Day holiday Friday since the actual July 4 date falls on a Saturday this year.
The Independence Day holiday observance is the first since both private carriers resumed running limited rush hour directional service only June 8.
NJTransit riders may meanwhile need to consult that company’s website to see if its commuter rail, light rail or bus routes are running on a regular Saturday, a Sunday or a special “Holiday” schedule. Some bus routes have also begun running on a new June 27 timetable or schedule.
MONTCLAIR – What looks like Montclair Public Schools’ loss in high school principal Anthony Grosso will likely be the Cedar Grove Schools’ gain as its new district superintendent Aug. 24.
Grosso, who had been Montclair High School’s principal since October 2018, tendered his resignation here June 24 – the day after the Cedar Grove Board of Education approved his new contract in their special meeting.
Grosso’s Wednesday resignation prompted the Montclair Board of Education to schedule a virtual special meeting, via Sisco Webex, 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
It is not known whether they would appoint an interim MHS principal from one of its assistant principals or transfer a principal from another school. Thursday night’s agenda was not posted as of 3 p.m. June 25.
Grosso’s resignation ends his 20 years’ service with Montclair Public Schools. Except for a year’s outside stint as a Saddle Brook principal in 2014, he had been principal of the Watchung School, the Glenfield Middle and MHS 2015-20. Grosso started with MPS as a teacher and, later, an assistant principal 2001-13.
“The Montclair BOE congratulates Anthony Grosso on his appointment,” said Board President Latifah Jannah June 24. “He’s been a valued educator in Montclair for many years and we wish him well in his new endeavor.”
“Kr. Grosso’s an excellent principal, an excellent educational leader,” said MPS Interim Superintendent Dr. Nathan Parker, “and, I think, he’ll do an excellent job in Cedar Grove.”
BLOOMFIELD – A township man has been remanded to South Kearny’s Hudson County Correctional Facility since his June 27 arrest on charges of aggravated and sexual assault of two people at a June 23 party in Jersey City.
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said, on Saturday, that Olumuyiwa Olumodeji, 35, was arrested by her detectives at their Jersey City office just after 9 a.m. Saturday. HCPO detectives were investigating the report of a 23-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted while she and Olumodeji were at a party that Tuesday at a Manila Avenue address.
Olumodeji has been charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree sexual assault.
He has also been charged with second-degree aggravated assault – allegedly on a man who tried to restrain him from leaving that party.
