by Walter Elliott
NEWARK – Newark has had a new, at least acting, chief of police in Lee Douglas since Jan. 1.
Mayor Ras Baraka had announced Dec. 30 that he had promoted Capt. Douglas from his NPD Fifth Precinct command. Douglas, who joined “Newark’s finest” in July 1996, brings his 24 years’ experience to the uniform helm.
Douglas at least temporarily succeeds Darnell Henry, who retired Sept. 30. It is not clear as of press time whether Douglas is a candidate for “permanent” chief or will be returned to command the Fifth Precinct.
City Tax Collector Resigns
It is not clear who or whom in the city’s Department of Finance has or have taken up Ernest Turner’s revenue collection duties since his Dec. 22 resignation.
One news source has said that Turner had left his $141,416 annual salary (as of 2019) while “auditors found a substantial amount of money” from his Tax Collector’s office. Those auditors have forwarded findings to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office that “some checks had been written to Turner.”
How many of the supposed checks for how much money have not been disclosed. Turner, as Tax Collector in the seven-person Finance Department, handled the collection and receipt of property and utility taxes, municipal fees and tax liens. No tax collector vacancy job announcement has been posted on the city’s website as of Jan. 5.
IRVINGTON – The Dec. 27 passing of Dr. Suresh R. Thani, 67, is being felt beyond his private practice office here and the “Local Talk” news area out to his native Barbados.
Thani, who also had offices in Livingston and West Orange near RWJBarnabas Health St. Barnabas Medical Center, had centered his work here and at RWJBH Newark Beth Israel Hospital for 38 years – or 42 if one includes his Beth Israel internship.
The OBY/GYN specialist rose through the Beth Israel ranks to become chief resident in charge of teaching. The robotics surgery pioneer helped earn him a place in “U.S. News & World Report’s” 2010 list of “Top 100 Doctors of the U.S.”
Suresh R. Thani was born July 11, 1953 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The son of Radhakishen and Janki Thani came here with a medical degree from the University of West Indies (formerly University of London), Mona, Jamaica.
The award-winning doctor particularly catered to patients who would not normally have access to OBY/GYN services. That concentration led to making trips with colleagues to Guyana and Niger.
Dr. Suresh and wife Anita passed on the virtues of putting family first, learning, hard work, meditation and positivity to son Neel and daughter Reshma (or “Reshu”). He was known to say, “Be like Nike – Just do it!” to grandchildren Paras and Celina.
The longtime Roseland resident was also survived by brothers Prakash and Hiro and sister Duru. Private arrangements were made by Caldwell’s Codey & Jones Funeral Home. Condolences may be left at www.codeyjonesfh.com.
EAST ORANGE – The East Orange Hall of Fame Committee has a Class of 2020 inductees to present – but is waiting for the COVID-19 pandemic to sufficiently subside before holding their next public induction ceremony.
That is the gist of a status letter the committee posted to the community Dec. 29. The EOHoFC held annual inductions in the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts Auditorium in the late autumn in 2017-19.
“The HoFC regrets the inability to present a 2020 class of inductees,” said the open letter. “We are encouraged by the vaccines and other therapeutics which have been recently approved. Please be assured that, as soon as circumstances will allow, the HoF will return better than ever.”
Details and updates may be found at eohalloffame.org.
ORANGE – Police officers here are looking for the two men who robbed a shopper of his groceries at gunpoint in the Valley Dec. 18.
The victim told police that Friday that he was heading home from a local Scotland Road supermarket when a “dark colored four-door vehicle” pulled up alongside him under the Forest Street railroad underpass at 7:15 p.m.
A man with a pistol and “an object resembling a bat” exited the vehicle, said the victim, and demanded his bags. The suspect took the groceries and “a backpack with the victim’s work clothes” before getting back in the car.
The getaway vehicle was last seen fleeing west on Forest Street.
WEST ORANGE – Those who want to commune with the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo’s creatures in the new year will have to wait until Feb. 1.
The zoo, citing a potential wave of post-holidays COVID-19 cases, has decided to close to the public Jan. 1-31.
“With the (county) Division of Health anticipating cases to increase in January, we’re once again acting in the best interest of the safety of our animals, staff and visitors,” stated the zoo’s Dec. 28 announcement. “Zoo memberships will be extended for a length of time reflective of zoo closure.”
The zoo had been closed before, March 13 – June 1, due to the pandemic’s spread. The county had preempted its Holiday Lights display here and elsewhere. County residents, however, may drop off their used Christmas trees for the Zoo through Jan. 11.
Residents, commuters and visitors have varying access to other parts of the South Mountain Recreation Complex. The Richard J. Codey Arena is open for hockey and skating sessions and lessons by reservation. The Arena, the Orange Reservoir Waterfront and Park and Ride parking garage are following social distancing protocol.
SOUTH ORANGE – The international arc of former Paterson Eastside High School Principal Joe Clark, 83, which ended Dec. 29, in Newberry, Fla., went through here and several other “Local Talk” towns.
Clark, best known as the controversial “tough love” principal in EHS’s halls with a bullhorn in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, was a longtime village resident. He and his late wife Gloria raised Olympian running daughters Hazel Clark and Joetta Clark Diggs and future USOC/Stanford University track and field director son Joe “J.J.” Clark, Jr. here. (It is said that Clark never missed his children’s local meets.)
Before he became the subject of the 1989 Morgan Freeman movie, “Lean On Me,” Clark, before he became Paterson’s PS 6 Grammar School and EHS principal, was Essex County Director of Camps and Playgrounds. Clark, post-ESHS, was the county’s Youth Detention Center Director 1995-2002.
Clark lost to Leroy Jones, Jr. for a 1988 Essex County Freeholders election. He used to have a nightcap in the 1980s-90s at a bar around 155 Main St., West Orange, since replaced by The Mews at Edison Lofts, on his way home.
Joe Louis Clark was born May 8, 1938 in Rochelle, Ga. before his family moved to Newark in 1944. The Central High School Class of 1956 graduate went on to attain a bachelor’s degree at William Paterson College and a master’s at Seton Hall University.
Clark enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and served as a drill instructor while first getting hired by the Paterson Board of Education as an elementary school teacher. The PBOE promoted him as EHS principal in 1982.
Clark’s stressing discipline and academic rigor in his seven years at EHS garnered a job offer from President Ronald Reagan and a “Time” magazine cover, among other accolades. He was brought back from retirement to become the Essex County Youth House Director until he resigned in 2002 over “excessive use of criminal restraints.”
Clark’s death in Newberry, where he had retired in 2005, was carried by the BBC World Service. The cause of the grandfather of three’s death, nor his funeral arrangements, have been released by the family as of Jan. 5.
MAPLEWOOD – Maplewood police and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Task Force have arrested and charged a township man for allegedly killing his 70-year-old mother here at The Top Condominium Jan. 4.
MPD Chief Jimmy DeVaul said his officers, who had responded to a call at 616 South Orange Ave. 12:56 p.m. Monday, called ECPO after they found Gwen Avrut’s body in her apartment with “injuries consistent with being murdered.” Benjamin Avrut, 35, was arrested and charged with Gwen’s homicide by 10 a.m. Tuesday.
The 10-story luxury apartment building replaced a seven-decade-old restaurant, best known as Gruning’s Ice Cream “At The Top” Parlour 1947-83, in 1991. The current condo and past eatery (which opened as a Howard Johnson’s and was later the Crest Drive-in) had most of its parking lot in South Orange.
Hit-and-Run Driver Wanted
MPD is still looking out for the vehicle that triggered a three-car chain reaction collision by the intersection of Prospect Street and Tuscan Road Dec. 22.
Chief DeVaul said a “possible white BMW X3” was running south on Prospect when it rear-ended a car stopped ahead of it at about 7 p.m. The impact sent the second car into the rear end of the third car ahead of it that was also waiting for their red light to change.
The driver of the second car, whose damage had prompted a tow truck call, had initially complained of air-bag deployed head pain but refused medical attention. An MPD officer at a Valley Street and So. Pierson Rd. construction site saw the suspected car run south on Valley and make a pair of quick left-hand turns onto Park Avenue and Hubert Place.
MONTCLAIR – Township firefighters put out two house fires 12 hours apart Dec. 23-24.
MFD units, said Deputy Chief Robert Duncan, were first called to a house at a corner of Portland Place at 11:43 p.m. that Wednesday. They found heavy fire coming from its third floor dormer- which was promptly extinguished.
Duncan added that damage was limited to the third floor (fire) and first and second floors (smoke and water). Its occupants had “self-evacuated prior to (MFD) arrival.”
“Montclair’s bravest” were called again, this time by a Mountain Terrace homeowner, 11:09 a.m. that Thursday. The first firefighters found the occupants already evacuated and heavy fire coming through the roof.
Mutual aid units from East Orange, Bloomfield came to the scene while other units from Orange, West Orange and Cedar Grove occupied MFD fire houses. One firefighter, said Duncan without elaboration, suffered a minor injury.
All units left Mountain Terrace at 2:01 p.m., after limiting heavy fire damage to the third floor and smoke and water damage to the below floors. Both blazes’ causes, as a standard procedure, are being probed by MFD and ECPO arson investigators.
BLOOMFIELD – A Funeral Mass was held in Belleville’s St. Peter’s Church Jan. 5 for retired Bloomfield Police Chief John “Jack” McNiff prior to his burial at Glendale Cemetery. McNiff, whose 40 years’ service topped out as chief 1986-2005, died Dec. 31 – three days after his 81st birthday.
McNiff was an honorably discharged U.S. Army advanced infantryman when he joined “Bloomfield’s finest” in 1965. His ability to solve some of Bloomfield’s toughest crimes, leadership and ability to help others in need earned him promotions to sergeant in 1965. lieutenant in 1970, captain in 1977 and one of the state’s youngest police chiefs in 1986.
Chief McNiff started BPD’s anti-crime and community policing units and its DARE program. McNiff got officers EMT training and brought laptop computers. The PBA Local No. 32 and county and state police chiefs associations member was also a longtime Bloomfield Civil Rights Commissioner.
The young Jack and his sisters Anne and Kathleen were born in Mahanoy City, Pa. before parents John and Magdalene moved to Newark’s Ironbound. John, Sr. died in 1948, inducing the talented boxer to abandon scholastic athletics for post-school full time work. A contemporary newspaper photo of him working at the Bloomfield Forest Hill A&P was among his jobs before joining the Army.
McNiff, Bloomfield High School Class of 1957, eventually earned an associates degree from Essex County College. He also liked to say that he earned “a Doctorate in Street Smarts from the University of North Newark and Silver Lake.”
The then-Lt. McNiff met a nurse, Karen Clark, while both were Sacred Heart Church parishioners. Their 1975 marriage produced Jack, Jr. and Michael. Young Jack was sworn in as Wayne Chief of Police May 30 (with his father attending); Michael C. McNiff is a WPD lieutenant.
Sister Kay and three grandchildren are also among McNiff’s survivors. Memorial donations may be made to St. Peter’s Church, 155 William St., Belleville, 07109.
GLEN RIDGE – Assessors from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police will be taking electronic comments from the public while visiting the borough’s police headquarters Jan. 11.
NJSACOP, said Police Chief Sheila Byron-Lagattuta, will be looking at the department’s management, operations, policy, procedures and support services as part of the accreditation renewal process.
“Verification by the team that the GRPD meets the Commission’s ‘best practice’ standards,” said Byron-Lagattuta, “is part of a voluntary process to achieve accreditation – a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence.”
The public may directly call NJSACOP about the department’s ability to comply with its standards 10-11 a.m. Monday at (201) 306-7554. The calls are limited to five minutes.
The public may directly email the Accreditation Program Director H. Delgado at hdelgado@njsacop.org or mail to NJSACOP, Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, 751 Rt. 73 North, Suite 12, Marlton, NJ 08503.
Questions on this matter may be sent to GRPD Capt. Sean Quinn (973) 748-5400 ext. 113 or spquinn@glenridgenj.org.
BELLEVILLE – Montclair’s apparent loss in opening a Lidl supermarket in the “Local Talk” area may be Belleville’s gain by mid-2021.
Lidl spokeswoman Chandler Ebeier confirmed Nov. 24 that “we’re working on a store in Belleville and expect it to open in 2021.”
Although Ebeier did not say where in Belleville Lidl will land, Ripco Real Estate representative Colby Piper said that he had been talking with Belleville Shopping Center landlord Michael Rawlins about moving into its anchor store.
That anchor store at 354-74 Main St. had been recently vacated by Bell Farm Supermarket. The 30,000-square-foot space on the center’s north end had opened as an A&P in 1964 before that grocer turned it into one of its budget-minded FoodBasics.
FoodBasics was liquidated with the rest of A&P’s holdings in 2015. A Fine Fare and Bell Farms have since come and gone.
Lidl is following the lead of close rival Aldi, which had opened a store in Bloomfield in 2016. The German-based chain was to have opened in the former Montclair Lackawanna Plaza PathMark anchor before historic preservation issues sent that proposed redevelopment into the courts.
NUTLEY / CLIFTON – A debate over whether an internal ON3 street is an internal road or a throughway to Route 3 may tear apart the Nutley-Clifton Prism Capital Partnership.
The City of Clifton filed suit in November in State Superior Court-Newark over the township erecting a barrier across Metro Boulevard in the ON3 property in October.
The barricade enforced a township ordinance that made the boulevard a “no through street” May 15. Metro Boulevard had run between Nutley’s Kingsland Street and Route 3 East on the Clifton side within the Roche Pharmaceutical headquarters site.
Nutley and Clifton formed Prism Capital Partners and ON3 in 2012 to attract tax ratables and redevelop the Roche property. It is the single largest redevelopment project in New Jersey.
Clifton is arguing that blocking Metro Boulevard separates Nutley’s 118 acres from Clifton’s 67. The barricade, furthermore, counters agreements made between Essex and Passaic counties and NJDOT.
Nutley counters that they have wanted a comprehensive traffic plan from Clifton and had presented the city’s planning board with plans for a Kingsland-Rt. 3 East “flyover” ramp. Mayor Mauro Tucci added that Clifton’s “piecemeal” redevelopment with bring 65 percent of ratables to the city – and 35 percent to Nutley.
“Where will this ramp go?” responded Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi. “Across the highway is a shopping center.”
