by Walter Elliott
NEWARK – Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura is hoping that posting a $10,000 CrimeStoppers reward here Nov. 17 will help dispel the mystery surrounding the Aug. 6 death of a lifelong Ironbound man.
Antonio “Tony” DeAlmeida, 65, was found 5 p.m. Aug. 6 lying prone by Micelli Motors auto body shop at 251 Malvern St – a half-mile east of his home office.
Authorities have not said whether DeAlmeida’s fatal injuries were from an accident or from foul play.
DeAlmeida, who was born here Dec. 26, 1954, was president of C&S Foundations, of Waretown and 51 Delancey St., the last 48 years. His funeral was arranged here by Buyus Funeral Home.
Wife Denise, son Antonio, daughters Andrea Azevedo and Noelene Mendes, brother Eugene, sisters Rosemarie Gajda and Delores DeAlmeida, four grandsons and two granddaughters are among his survivors.
A limited Funeral Mass was held here at Our Lady of Fatima Church Nov. 13, followed by a private entombment; Memorial donations may be made to the Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Research, www.lustgarden.org.
IRVINGTON – The Irvington Fire Department and some of its mutual aid neighbors are hoping that they have made their final call to 744-48 Springfield Ave. here Nov. 15.
The first responding IFD units found the two-story brick building on the northwest corner of the avenue and 22nd Street engulfed in flames at 7:35 p.m. that Monday.
The incident commander promptly blocked the Springfield and Avon avenues and 22nd Street intersection and called in a second alarm. Fire units from Newark and East Orange plus Irvington police cruisers arrived to assist. Buses on NJTransit’s No. 25 and 70 routes were among the detoured traffic.
Officials said that the fire took until 9:45 p.m. to be brought under control partially due to previous fires having compromised 744-48’s first and second floors. There were no serious firefighter injuries reported; the building was supposedly vacant at the time.
The 4A commercial building had previously caught fire some six months earlier. Although the building had long borne a to-be-demolished sign, its formerly boarded up windows were left open. Squatters reopened doors to the vacated day care center and tax preparation offices.
Property tax records for Block 137, Lot 1 has its owner living either across Springfield Avenue or on Argyle Terrace. The building remains open and unsecured as of Nov. 22.
EAST ORANGE – The ECPO Homicide and Major Crimes Task Force detectives have been looking for the person who shot a city man here Oct. 27.
East Orange Public Safety Director Domingos Saldida said that some of his officers had gone out to the 100 block of Lincoln Street in response to gunfire calls made to police headquarters 9:35 p.m. that Tuesday.
They found a man, later identified as Damier Nelson, 22, unconscious, unresponsive and lying along the block with severe gunshot injuries. Nelson was later declared there at the scene.
Witnesses told EOPD officers and county detectives that the shooter had immediately left the scene.
Nelson’s funeral arrangements have not been announced as of Nov. 24. He had been a Beech Street resident in 2016.
ORANGE – County and city law enforcers are looking for the person who fatally shot an Orange man here along Main Street Nov. 20.
Orange Public Safety Director Todd Warren said that Wisguen Marc, 25, was found with a gunshot wound to the chest around 193 Main St. 9:15 p.m. Friday. The first OPD officers had responded to reports of shots fired in that area.
Although local EMS rushed Marc to Newark’s University Hospital, he was pronounced dead there 9:53 p.m.
Main Street traffic – including NJTransit 21, 71 and 73 buses and CoachUSA’s 24 A and B buses – were detoured while the ECPO Homicide Task Force conducted a field investigation. Their canvassing yielded several shell casings.
Memorial arrangements for the former Orange High School student have not been announced as of Nov. 24. ECPO detectives remain on the case.
WEST ORANGE – All the holiday decorative lights passing motorists will see here at the Turtle Back Zoo this season will be the ones at its Northfield Avenue entrance.
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, citing rising COVID cases, had canceled the 2020 Holiday Lights Spectacular Nov. 12.
The cancellation includes the lights spectacular’s food donation drive. DiVincenzo (D-Roseland) suggests taking those donations to a local food pantry.
No Nov. 26-27 Community Coach 77 Service
Community Coach 77 will not be running on Nov. 26, Thanksgiving Day and the Nov. 27 day after. The CoachUSA-Paramus rush hour commuter service will resume Monday Nov. 30.
SOUTH ORANGE – About all that is left of David Burke’s restaurant here at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club are the ads still posted on NJ Transit’s South Orange Station as of Nov. 21.
OLTC management closed David Burke at Orange Lawn and Drifthouse after he served his last customer here Oct. 26. The club allowed Burke to make the announcement Oct. 19, ending their 19-month collaboration.
Both club members – and the general public – had enjoyed Burke’s creations like clothesline bacon, lobster dumplings and salt-aged steaks for a $10 fixed price. Gov. Phil Murphy’s then-standing executive order to limit indoor dining to 25 percent capacity, however, prompted the club’s call.
Burke at Orange Lawn opened May14, 2019 after OLTC finished a $4 million renovation of their 139-year-old clubhouse here in the Newstead section. Initial results included a boost in club membership and good restaurant reviews.
“I’m a little disappointed but not heartbroken,” said Burke at his Fort Lee restaurant. “In some ways, we’re a casualty of this pandemic. They didn’t think it’d be worth running with 25 percent capacity indoors.”
Burke and the club initially closed the restaurant when the pandemic broke out in March. It reopened June 16 for takeout orders and, for the summer, dining in an outdoor “Garden Terrace” tent.
“If we have one casualty, it’s okay,.” said Burke, referring to his 12 other restaurants in four states and Washington, D.C. OLTC has meanwhile succeeded Burke with Anthony “Tony” Villanueva as its executive chef.
MAPLEWOOD – The Maplewood Auxiliary Police, if or when it resumes its service, will do so without firearms.
The Maplewood Township Committee, in a 3-1-1 split vote Oct. 20, disarmed the MAP and kept it on indefinite suspension. That suspension may end when the COVID-19 pandemic recedes.
The all-volunteer auxiliary, who had carried firearms for training certification and in emergencies, had been suspended since July while the committee, Police Chief Jimmy DeVaul and Auxiliary Chief Joseph Yacenda discussed the group’s use and future.
While both DeVaul and Yacenda said the auxiliary trains alongside MPD officers to the same standards, Maplewood’s “Top Cop” added, “if a civilian can do this job without a gun, then certainly our reserves can do it without a gun.”
Mayor Frank McGehee plus Committeemen Victor DeLuca, and Dean Dafis, after listening to 20 public speakers, voted to disarm and to continue suspending the auxiliary.
“I’m not in favor of making a change without (a) better cause than what we’re presented with,” said dissenting Committeeman and Public Safety Committee Chairman Greg Lembrich. “We’ve a dedicated force that’s working and I don’t want to fix what’s not broken. We’re going to have lower protection and lower presence at our events.”
Committeewoman Nancy Davis, who wanted further discussion for a compromise resolution, abstained.
MONTCLAIR – The search for a Montclair High School senior, missing since Nov. 15, is being conducted – by the Woodbridge Police Department.
Janae Walker-Raab, 17, said her family, was last seen at home 2 p.m. that Monday. Her father said that she had left home without her cell phone.
The Walker-Raab family reported Janae as missing to Montclair High School, as confirmed by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jonathan Ponds Nov. 18.
Janae’s family then filed a missing person’s report with the Woodbridge police and not Montclair’s police. MPD Sgt. Terence Turner, on Nov. 18, said that they were aware of “a missing juvenile from MHS” but received the bulletin from Woodbridge.
“She and her family do not reside in Montclair,” said Turner. “The student was reported missing by her family to the law enforcement agency where the family resides – and they (WPD) are handling the investigation.”
It is not clear whether Janae Walker-Raab is a tuition student or if she and her family had recently moved to the Middlesex County township.
BLOOMFIELD – The loss of township resident Judah Ibeh-Bartley, 20, who died in a New Providence car crash Nov. 8, was swiftly and keenly felt by the William Paterson University community as well as here.
Radio Station WPSC- 88.7 FM, Wayne, aired a tribute to the sports management sophomore Nov. 9. WPU President Richard J. Helldobler issued the following tribute Nov. 10.
“Judah was a visible and active presence on campus, Friends describe him as ‘a beautiful human,’ who could light up a room with his presence. It’s clear that he touched many lives with his caring and kindness.”
Those at Bloomfield High and Middle schools remember Ibeh-Bartley as a 6-ft., 6-in., 215 lb. Bengals basketball and football player who was polite and liked cafeteria cookies.
A GoFundMe page, as of Nov. 18, has raised funds to allow the family to arrange the BHS Class of 2018 graduate and part-time FedEx worker’s funeral.
New Providence police, responding to a resident’s call of an accident with injuries, found Ibeh-Bartley and his 2012 Nissan Altima on a Union Avenue front lawn by Hilary Place 12:06 a.m. Nov. 8.
A preliminary NPPD and Union County Fatal Accident Unit investigation found that the northbound Ibeh-Bartley had just passed the NJTransit Morris & Essex Line grade crossing when he had lost control. There were no immediate M&E Gladstone Branch trains in the area.
BELLEVILLE – Locally rising COVID-19 positive cases have put the Belleville Public Schools onto an all remote learning model for the time being since Monday.
BPS Schools Superintendent Dr. Richard Tomko announced the switch in a Nov. 19 open letter to the community. The letter heralds the indefinite suspension of the district’s hybrid learning model.
“In less than one week, the township has realized 88 new positive cases of COVID-19,” said Tomko. “Our current district numbers identify approximately five percent of our hybrid in-person population of students and staff currently testing positive or having to quarantine due to being in close contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19.”
Tomko added that all BPS buildings will be closed to all staff and students for additional sanitizing. It is not clear where teachers have gone to continue their Zoom instruction.
Assemblywoman Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) was scheduled to hold a food distribution Nov. 23 from Belleville High School’s parking lot. The district’s food service and Champion Aftercare programs will continue.
NUTLEY – Belleville police officers found a 66-year-old Nutley woman, who was reported as missing, at one of their township’s eateries Nov. 11.
Patrolling BPD officers were paying a visit to the Wendy’s at 333 Franklin Ave., at about 1 p.m. Veteran’s Day when they noticed a person who matched a description of a missing person that was posted earlier that Wednesday.
Nutley police, at the request of a family member, had issued an all points bulletin earlier that morning. The relative said that the woman had left home at 3 a.m. and had not returned.
That APB was broadcasted to surrounding police departments, area hospitals and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police.
The said woman was taken to a local hospital and her name removed from the missing persons list.
