by Walter Elliott
NEWARK – A Nov. 10 Vatican report on how its leadership had handled sexual abuse reports of former Newark Archbishop and Washington, D.C. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has since had the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops talking amongst themselves and Pope Francis vowing to eradicate such abuse.
“Lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, sloth, envy, pride – the report pretty much covers all of them (seven deadly sins),” said Tyler, Texas Joseph E. Strickland Bishop before the USCCB livestream presided over by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez. Monday. “We, as pastors, really need to acknowledge that we’re all sinners but there’s still a tendency in the world and in the church to turn a blind eye to many of these sins.”
The 449-page report, which was received by Francis and made public Nov. 10, chronicled the train of sexual misconduct incidents over the decades of former New York priest, Metuchen Bishop, Newark Archbishop and Cardinal of Washington, D.C. McCarrick. The internal investigation, without making recommendations, also recounted how attempts to bring those incidents up to the bishop and papal levels were muted or thwarted until Francis eventually defrocked McCarrick post-trial last year.
The report, for example, recounted how three now-deceased bishops submitted their report of McCarrick’s abuse to Pope John Paul II. The bishops, however, watered down their language. John Paul believed then-Archbishop McCarrick’s word that no abuse was going on – and named him Cardinal of Washington, D.C.
“I renew my closeness to victims of any abuse,” said Francis at the end of his Nov. 10 public audience at The Vatican, “and commitment of the church to eradicate this evil.”
“The Archdiocese hopes that the report will provide insights that’ll help us to further strengthen our programs aimed to protect our faithful,” said Newark Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, who posted the report as an rcan.com link Nov. 10. “The report provides a significant and powerful step in advancing accountability and transparency regarding sexual abuse.”
Strickland added that McCarrick, 90 and in failing health, had recently left a Kansas friary for whereabouts unknown.
IRVINGTON – Investigators from the Irvington Fire Department and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Arson Squad have traced the Nov. 10 house fire near Civic Square to a hot comb left on a second floor bed.
The two-alarm fire here at 1233 Clinton Ave/2 Drakes Lane. that Tuesday afternoon injured four people, displaced six adults and brought mutual aid from five neighboring departments.
Mayor Anthony “Tony” Vauss said the first units from Civic Square arrived at the corner of Clinton and Drakes to find heavy smoke coming out from the three story wood frame house’s front at 4:05 p.m. Smoke and flames, however, soon spread to the building’s third floor. and through its roof.
The avenue around the building was quickly blocked off, due in part for having Irvington High School nearby. (No classes were being held there then.) A second alarm summoned units from East Orange, Newark, Maplewood, Orange and West Orange.
Although the blaze was brought under control within 60 minutes, rush hour Clinton Avenue traffic, including buses on NJTransit’s No. 37, 94 and 107 routes, were diverted between Orange Street and Stuyvesant Avenue.
Vauss said one resident was treated by local EMS for smoke inhalation at the scene and released. While one of the three injured firefighters was also treated and released on-site, the other two were taken to Livingston’s RWJBarnabas Health Medical Center: None of the four injured suffered life-threatening injuries.
1233 Clinton/2 Drakes was a commercial/residential mixed use building that was used by Reid Financial Services and Friendly Driving School. The corner was last in the news when it was named in honor of Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Cullen Jones in 2013.
EAST ORANGE – The city’s Department of Health and Human Services, here at 143 New St., needed only to go around the block to find one of East Orange’s latest COVID-19 “hot spots” — 44 City Hall Plaza.
That is the address of East Orange City Hall, where the Coronavirus has spread to employees in four of its departments – despite the building being closed to the in-person public since March.
City Hall employees affected are from Code Enforcement, Information Technology and Telecommunications, Policy, Planning and Development and the Public Safety Department’s Fire Division.
“As per guidance from the CDC and NJ Health and Human Services, the individuals have been advised to self-quarantine” said East Orange Health Director Monique Griffith Nov. 10. “The (East Orange) DHHS is closely monitoring all documented COVID-19 exposures and infections within City Hall as well as the city at large. The Department is also tasked with managing contact tracing efforts when an individual is reported to have direct contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.”
EOSD Stays “Remote”
through Jan. 19
The rise of a Coronavirus “second wave” and the impending year-end holiday season of travel and family gatherings have prompted the East Orange School District to postpone a switch to virtual/in-person hybrid learning until at least Jan. 19.
Superintendent of Schools AbdulSaleem Hasan announced the postponement of EOSD “Student Re-Entry Plan Phase II” Nov. 4, after meeting with the East Orange Pandemic Response Team. That team includes Mayor Theodore “Ted” Green, city health director Griffith, Health Officer Victory Kuteyi and members of the district’s Board of Education.
“This decision was based on the advisory concerning holiday travel (and the) influenza season coupled with the upswing of COVID-19 cases in New Jersey, more specifically (in) Essex County,” said Hasan. “Though this’ a difficult decision to make, it’s necessary to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.”
ORANGE – The family of a former Orange Public Schools assistant principal and Hackensack University Medical Center have settled a malpractice lawsuit for $5.5 million as of Nov. 10.
Roseland attorney Davis Mazie, who represents the fiancée and daughter of the late Dr. Derrick Nelson, said that Tuesday that he and HUMC have agreed to the settlement in exchange for dropping the 15-month-old suit.
Sharonda Baker and Mazie – of Mazie, Slater Katz & Freeman – are also dropping their suit against named HUMC co-respondents John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack Anesthesiology Associates and anesthesiologist Dr. Jerry M. Barrata, of Hackensack.
Nelson, 44, who was assistant principal here at the Rosa M. Parks Community and Park Avenue Elementary schools 2009-11, had died in HUMC April 8, 2019 of hypoxic brain injury.
That injury came from Nelson’s Feb. 19 bone marrow transplant donation surgery. Baker and Mazie asserted that HUMC and its co-respondents had failed to take into account the then-Westfield High School principal’s sleep apnea and weight before taking him under.
Nelson – who was born Jan. 29, 1975 and was living in Plainfield Feb. 19, 2019 – came to OPS after being a Plainfield schoolteacher. The SHU doctorate in education administration and 20-year U.S. Army reservist then moved onto Westfield Public Schools.
WEST ORANGE – A majority of registered Arizona voters, as of Nov. 3, have given township favorite son Mark Kelly a new title: U.S. Senator-Elect.
Kelly (D-Tuscon, Ariz.) received 1,715,816 votes with 99 percent of Grand Canyon State districts reporting in the special election Nov. 4. He received 51.2 percent of the vote against incumbent Sen. Martha McSally (R-Sun City West, Ariz.) who drew 1,637,454 or 48.8 percent.
Kelly’s election is seen as an upset in the election to eventually succeed the late Sen. John McCain. McSally, who conceded to Kelly Nov. 13, was appointed to the Senate, after McCain’s death, in January 2019.
Kelly, who was born with twin brother Scott in Orange’s St. Mary’s Hospital Feb. 21, 1964, had mentioned his West Orange upbringing to a pair of police officer parents in his campaign ads. He had moved to Tucson after marrying future Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2007.
It was Giffords’ near-fatal Jan. 6, 2011 shooting that eventually prompted M. Kelly’s retirement from NASA and, in 2019, to launch his senatorial campaign. Giffords, while making a nearly-full recovery, resigned from Congress in 2012.
Mark and Scott Kelly share previous titles, including as Mountain High School graduates and as retired U.S. Navy pilots and NASA astronauts.
Kelly is to formally start his six-year term, alongside fellow Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, on Capitol Hill Jan. 8.
SOUTH ORANGE – Rising COVID cases have prompted Seton Hall University President Dr. Joseph E. Nyre Nov. 12 to switch all three campuses to all-remote learning 13 days ahead of schedule.
SHU’s main campus here, its law school in Newark and its medical school in Nutley-Clifton are operating with limited services for the time being. Food services, for example, have gone to “grab and go” mode since Nov. 14.
Residence halls will remain open until the start of its Thanksgiving break Nov. 23. Students are being “strongly” urged to get tested by SHU Health Services before heading home.
Some “Christmas at The Hall” events, like Nov. 19’s Dove toy wrapping and “Elf” movie screening, have been cancelled. Some others, like Dec. 12’s “Pancakes with Santa and The Pirate,” are still on.
“All three campuses will pivot to all-remote teaching and learning,” said Nyre Nov. 12. “On Tuesday (Nov. 10), the University saw its highest daily case count of the semester – recording 13 new student and three employee cases of the virus for a total of 48 in the last two weeks.”
SHU, on Nov. 13, detected 22 more cases through “symptomatic testing and contact tracing protocols.” Three of the cases were reported off-campus according to SHU.edu’s dashboard and the “Setonian” Friday, and the other 19 among its residential halls. There have been 100 cases reported since Labor Day, including 90 since Nov. 3.
Nyre had intended to start shifting from the current “HyFlex” model to all-remote learning Nov. 25. Students would have been staying home and going all-on-line for the rest of the semester Nov. 30.
“We fully support this decision by Seton Hall,” said Village President Sheena Collum. “They told us they would be taking this step. They explained that, with all recent trends on campus, the county and state, it’d be best to go to their all-remote learning plan.”
MAPLEWOOD / BELLEVILLE – Wawa customers who have been hard pressed to find stores open for their hoagie and coffee fixes since Nov. 6 may be relieved to know that the Maplewood and Belleville outlets are to fully reopen the week of Nov. 19-24.
Although the two “Local Talk” Wawas have been open since 2016 and Aug. 26, they are among several stores in New Jersey and the Delaware Valley that its headquarters had closed for sanitizing either as a precaution or because one of its staff had tested positive for COVID-19.
“Local Talk” visited the Belleville Wawa at 11 So. Franklin Ave. 8 a.m. Nov. 16 to find its filling station open but its food store closed. One front door sign stated that the store would fully reopen Noon Nov. 19.
A second sign explained that the store had closed since Nov. 6 after one of its employees had tested positive the day before. The employee, who last worked there Nov. 4, has been quarantined. That employee’s contacts, with Belleville Health Department assistance, were being traced, tested, and if found positive, quarantined.
The Maplewood Wawa, at 1515 Springfield Ave. 9 a.m. Nov. 15, had a sign stating that the store would partially open Nov. 19 and fully “open for sandwiches and coffee service Nov. 24.”
“Local Talk” first noticed the entire store closed and taped off 9 a.m. Nov. 11. Half of the fuel station islands had reopened as of Nov. 13; all were reopened Sunday.
“The Wawa closed on their own volition,” said Maplewood Health Officer Candice Davenport to “Local Talk” Nov. 17. “They told the township that one of their associates had tested positive. The Health Division have been answering businesses’ questions. We trace contacts and test those employees who also live in the township.”
MONTCLAIR – The township’s detective bureau reached out to Newark Penn Station Nov. 9 to extradite a man suspected of beating a 17-year-old girl unconscious during an Oct. 19 home burglary.
Montclair police officers and detectives first got a call from the girl, who called them from a neighbor’s place after 4 p.m. Oct. 19. She said she had regained consciousness, freed herself and left her Hillside Avenue apartment closet via a bathroom window.
The girl said a stranger had confronted her while she was alone at 3:26 p.m. The man, who had entered through an unlocked window, demanded money. When she said she had not any, he beat her about the face and head until she lost consciousness.
When the victim came to, she noticed that he had tied her up with bedsheets. Police found that the man had taken electronics and jewelry before leaving. The girl was taken to local hospital for non life-threatening injuries.
The victim’s description led MPD detectives to Penn Station Nov. 9, where New Jersey Transit Police, working on a statewide alert. said they had Anthony L. Harper, 30, of Newark in custody. Harper, after being taken to MPD headquarters for identification, was remanded to Newark’s Essex County Correctional Center Nov. 12.
Harper is being held on nine counts, including: burglary, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, kidnapping and robbery.
BLOOMFIELD – Mayor Michael Venezia and the Township Council may be considering, as early as their Dec. 7 conference meeting, a planning board recommendation that may change the look of 84-90 Broad St.
All nine Planning Board members present at their Nov. 10 virtual meeting recommended planning expert Paul Phillips report on The Bloomfield Recreation Center at 84 Broad St. and the Bloomfield Public Library complex at 90 Broad St.
Phillips recommended that the three buildings on the combined 2.03 acre lot be labeled “a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment.” The township-hired expert, in his 30-page report, had found that the 1957 rec building and the conjoined 1927 and 1966 library buildings need a lot of work.
The said three buildings have collectively suffered from water infiltration, lack of ADA compliance, outdated HVAC and electrical systems, floor tiles that may contain asbestos and a poorly-kept rear parking lot. Phillips concluded that the three buildings are in conditions “detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare of the community.”
The non-condemnation AINOR, if adopted by the council, may lead to replacing all three structures. While no plans have been filed with the planning board, a unified library-recreation center may include senior citizen housing and a parking garage.
Whatever is built at 84-90 Broad will be facing the Bloomfield Green Historic District.
NUTLEY – The Nutley High School Maroon Raiders varsity football squad, thanks to the positive COVID-19 test of “an individual associated with the team,” had to cancel its Nov. 14 game against Montclair and Nov. 20’s visit to Oradell’s River Dell Golden Hawks Nov. 13.
Nutley Schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy Glazer and Athletic Director Joseph Piro found themselves calling Montclair counterparts Dr. Jonathan Ponds and Rob Chesney Noon Friday that they canceled their football game about 24 hours before the scheduled kickoff. Similar calls were made to Oradell.
“Unfortunately, the contact was found to be broad and far-reaching due to the nature of the sport,” said Glazer in a community open letter. “Because of the close contacts with the positive case, we’ve no choice but to cancel games with Montclair and River Dell. These games cannot be rescheduled.”
Saturday’s match against the 3-4 Montclair Mounties, while a conference game, will not affect Nutley’s bid to the playoffs. The 5-0 Raiders have clinched the sectional first place seed after their Nov. 6 26-14 of the Columbia Cougars.
Nov. 20’s match against 6-1 Oradell was a non-conference game. Montclair was able to schedule a non-league game with 2-2 Belleville Saturday – where they beat the Buccaneers 48-20.
The NHS Maroon Raiders are scheduled to end their regular season against visiting Belleville Nov. 27. They and those associated with the team are meanwhile having their contacts traced, taking COVID tests and, if found positive or exposed, quarantined.
