NEWARK – If you are going to most private establishments beyond making a quick delivery, pick up or order placing here, make sure that you have your mask on – and have your CDC vaccination card ready for display between now and at least Feb. 1.
Mayor Ras Baraka issued Executive Order MEO-21-0010, effective Jan. 10, requiring entrants to show proof of vaccination. It may be a CDC card or a photo of the said card on one’s cell phone. Establishments affected by this order must post signs at their entrances.
Baraka cited a “more than 36 percent” three-day test positivity rate to add this order to the masking requirement in public spaces and on transportation. This requirement, subject to a Feb. 1 effectiveness review, is required for customers five years old and older.
Food establishments that have seating – including bars, nightclubs, food courts, breweries, movie theaters, bowling alleys, banquet halls, concert and sporting venues – head the affected list. It is also “masks-on” except when actually eating and drinking.
Indoor exercise and recreational facilities – including dance and yoga studios and group fitness classes – conference centers, auditoriums, and shared work facilities are also mask-and-card zones.
The following exempted from card entry include houses of worship, grocery stores, pharmacies and other medical establishments, hardware stores and other retail places where people “tend to be in motion,” private meeting spaces, warming centers and shelters for domestic violence victims and the homeless and election polling stations.
People who have are “entitled by law to have a reasonable accommodation due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief” are exempted from showing proof of vaccination.
IRVINGTON – Fatal gunfire on township streets closed 2021 and opened 2022.
Irvington police officers told ECPO Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force Unit detectives that they were responding to a 6:58 p.m. Jan. 3 report of “a man with gunshot wounds” along the 100 block of Cleremont Avenue.
They arrived to find a man – later identified as Kevin L. Williams, 34, of Newark – lying there. Williams was declared dead at the scene 7:24 p.m.
Township officers and county detectives were also called to the 400 block of Stuyvesant Avenue 3:15 p.m. Dec. 27. They found Khaleel Powel, 21, whose last known address was in Orange – who died at the scene 3:35 p.m.
Funeral arrangements for Powell and Williams have not been announced as of Jan. 11. Both cases are under investigation.
EAST ORANGE – Two of four Essex County Sheriff’s Offices injured during a stolen car collision here on Jan. 4 have been most likely released from local hospitals by now. A fourth officer, who had overnight surgery on an ankle, and a fifth, who suffered a broken toe, may remain hospitalized.
Sherriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Lynch said one patrol noticed a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee at Bloomfield Avenue and Ampere Parkway 7 p.m. that Tuesday. The Jeep matched the description of one that was involved in an Irvington carjacking at 6 p.m.
The patrol officers said they tried to pull over the SUV along Ampere Parkway, but its driver rammed them instead causing minor injuries. A second patrol car picked up the pursuit until it lost control while rounding a corner at North 15th Street and Eaton Place. That crash caused toe and ankle injuries.
The stolen Jeep was later found abandoned along Irvington’s Tichnor Terrace.
Man Dead in Westcott Street Fire
Relatives of Anthony Roman, 73, said they were told by the ECPO Jan. 9 that he had died in the early Jan. 8 house fire here at 38 Westcott St. EOFD personnel told county detectives that they discovered him after putting out the fire in the 2.5-story 1910 wood-frame house.
Firefighters from the Dodd Street Station first responded to the Franklin section blaze after Midnight that Saturday. Two more alarms were pulled, bringing all EOFD hands and an Orange fire unit to the scene before it was brought under control an hour later. Bloomfield personnel covered all four city fire stations.
ORANGE – Three city police officers arrested two men – on the East Orange side of the border Dec. 23 – in connection with an armed robbery along Pierson Street earlier that Wednesday.
Public Safety Director Todd Warren and Police Chief Vincent Vitiello said that Det. Edward Hall and Detective Sgt. Jashan Carter spotted a black 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee – and its two occupants – parked by 90 Washington St., East Orange. The vehicle matched the description of an SUV given by the victim of a beating and robbery, including the surrender of a bank card and PIN, at Pierson.
Sgt. Renee Wilson and Offs. Mathew Bader, David Cadet, Eric Geronimo, Justin Henriquez and Stevens Rojas responded to Carter and Hall’s call for backup by surrounding the Jeep. They promptly detained Ali Dupree, 35, of Belleville while the other occupant fled southeast on Washington.
Off. Cadet pursued and apprehended the runner, Armani Tyndale, 26, of Brooklyn. Tyndale, while running, threw away a fully loaded Taurus PT 145 .45 caliber handgun from his waistband. Tyndale was arrested on a count each of weapons possession and eluding police.
Dupree is being held in Newark’s Essex County Correctional Facility on two counts of robbery by force or inflicting bodily injury and a count each of theft by unlawful taking, simple assault, aggravated assault. criminal restraint and knowingly receiving stolen property. A third suspect, seen at the Wells Fargo branch ATM at 679 Park Ave., remains at large.
City Buildings Closed Until Jan. 18
Mayor Dwayne D. Warren, citing increases in positive COVID cases, has extended restricted pubic access to City Hall, the Pohill Law and Justice Complex, Fire Headquarters, the Brook Alley Public Works Facility and the Orange Public Library until Jan. 18 “safety permitting.” Front doors to City Hall, the law building and OPL will be open to make payments, pick up reading materials and “other limited business.”
WEST ORANGE – The new West Orange Board of Education, which reorganized itself in a virtual meeting Jan. 6, changed hands in the midst of a roller-coaster week.
Jennifer Tunnicliffe and Gary Rothstein were selected as respective president and vice president minutes after newcomers Brian Rock and Eric Stevenson were sworn onto the panel.
One of the first tasks the Tunnicliffe-presiding board may decide is how to choose an interim and ultimate successor to Superintendent Dr. J. Scott Cascone, who sent his intention to resign Jan. 5. Cascone, who will sign off April 5, cited the several hours daily commute between here and his home for his leaving.
Cascone has been working from home since his Jan. 4 announcement after he said that he and a family member had contracted COVID. The home-bound superintendent used the last of the district’s three planned emergency snow days 7 p.m. Jan. 6, ahead of the Jan. 7 snowstorm that blanketed the “Local Talk” area with an average of five inches of snow.
The West Orange Public Schools community, except for the district’s buildings and grounds crew, may have likely used the day off for relief. The district had been holding half-day morning classes since Jan. 4 due to COVID-“multiple” positive cases and related staff shortages.
Students, depending on the school, may have been attending in-person or remote full-day classes Jan. 10-14. Cascone, who kept West Orange High School remote, left virtual or personal instruction to other school principals’ discretion.
All extracurricular activities remain suspended or canceled until Jan. 18 – when the COVID numbers and staff shortages hopefully ebb.
SOUTH ORANGE – A majority of South Orange-Maplewood School District Board of Education Members, after three split votes, retained villager Johnson as its Board President at the SOMSD Administration Building Jan. 5.
Joshua, a first-term board member in his third and last year, was retained via Zoom that Wednesday night. Maplewoodian Susan Bergin was similarly voted in as First Vice President.
Kaitlin M. Wittleder, of Maplewood, minutes after being sworn in with fellow newcomers Qawi Telesford and Arun Vadlamani from an administration classroom, was selected Second Vice President.
Bergin nominated Joshua for president while Johanna Wright nominated Elissa Malespina. Bergin was returned on a 6-2-1 vote. Erin Siders nominated Bergin and Wright Malespina. Bergin was voted First Vice President, 7-2, with Malespina and Wright dissenting.
Vadlamani nominated Wittleder and Wright Malespina. for Second Vice President. Wittler was voted in, 7-2.
MAPLEWOOD – The Seth Boyden Demonstration School’s lunchroom and a nearby street intersection, have not been the same since the death of longtime aide and crossing guard Arlene Allen Knight.
Knight, 57, died here Dec. 5. Her Funeral Mass was held here at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, where she was a parishioner, Dec. 20.
Knight, who was born in Rahway Aug. 5, 1964, came here by way of East Orange and White Bear Lake, Minn.
Parents Franklin and Elizabeth Allen soon moved Arlene and her 10 siblings to East Orange. The Clifford Scott High School Class of 1982 graduate earned her early childhood development degree from Century College.
Allen married Gregory Knight Sr. in 1987. They raised Gregory, Jr., Chanel, Briel and Claress.
Son-in-law Moussa Ouedraogo, grandson Matthew-Sahid Ouedrango, sisters Carol Bey, Elizabeth Tait and Robin Horsley, brothers Franklin Allen, Ronald Allen, David Allen and Earl Allen are also among her survivors. Her parents and brothers Nathaniel, Joseph and Osiris predeceased her.
Knight’s remains were interred in East Hanover’s Heavenly Rest Memorial Park.
BLOOMFIELD – Elected officials here and in Montclair more than did a double-take when the New Jersey Turnpike Authority closed the McDonald’s dining part of the Garden State Parkway’s Brookdale South/Connie Chung Service Plaza on Jan. 3.
What drew Mayor Michael Venezia, Councilman Rich Rockwell and Montclair Councilor Peter Yacobellis’ ire is the NJTA’s allowing Iris Buyer to bring in Chick-fil-A, among other dining options, once the 1955-built restaurant is replaced.
Venezia, Rockwell and Yacobellis object to locating Chick-fil-A on the company and its executives’ history of “opposing same-sex marriage and supporting anti-LGBTQ legislators and organizations.” They are urging the NJTA and Iris Buyer to replace the company with another restauranteur.
A spokesman for the Atlanta-based company said, in 2019, that it had stopped donating to 80 organizations when it shifted its charitable focus to those concerning education, homelessness, hunger and “Black-led non-profits or those serving the Black community.” It had donated $1.8 million to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army in 2018.
Those looking for food and drink here at 1339 Broad St. will meanwhile make do with “McDonald’s Grand-and-Go” or a convenience store until Spring. Food service – currently including Burger King and Chick-fil-A – will resume when the new building opens.
The NJTA entered an operational contract Oct. 26 with Iris Buyer and construction contract with Curb-in Cape for here and the Vauxhall/Whitney Houston Service Plaza in Union for $4.5 million. The McDonald’s contract expired Jan. 1.
Other Brookdale South/Chung services at GSP Milepost 153.3 – including restrooms, Sunoco fuel, electric charging stations and the commuter parking kiosk – remain.
MONTCLAIR – Montclair Cobras youth football and cheerleading founder Howard Finney, 91, whose frequent phrase was, “Just get it done,” got his life mission done here Dec. 30.
Finney, who first fielded 16 Cobras players in 1969, had coached and mentored thousands of footballers and cheerleaders for 41 years. Some of his age 7-12 teams played for Montclair High School, like Dale Berra – the son of MLB Yankee legend Yogi Berra. Some, like New York Giants Super Bowl XLII star David Tyree, reached the NFL.
Howard Finney III, who was born Sept. 11, 1930, in Utica N.Y, started out following stockbroker father Howard, Jr.’s footsteps. They both went to Andover, Mass.’ Phillips Academy and graduated from Harvard. Finney the son, who ran for councilman here in 1969, had a brokerage at Manhattan’s 200 Liberty St.
Finney III, however, developed a passion for football, playing for the Phillips Big Blues and the Harvard Crimson. He became Harvard’s first junior varsity player to receive its 1952 William Paine LaCroix Memorial Award for sportsmanship.
He spent his Harvard summers as a U.S. Marine in Quantico, Va. He adapted the USMC’s “adapt and overcome” approach to coaching and mentoring the Cobras.
Finney’s obituary could have been written in 2001 if he had not taken Sept. 11 off to celebrate his birthday. 300 Liberty was damaged by debris from the World Trade Center’s fallen South Tower.
Family and friends intend to have Finney’s memorial service “done” in May.
GLEN RIDGE – The Glen Ridge Public Schools Board of Education’s 2022 edition, as of 7 p.m. Jan. 5, features a slightly new lineup and familiar leadership.
Incumbents Anthony Bonnett and David Campbell plus newcomer Kristin O/Neil were sworn onto the board. The full board, during their virtual meeting, also returned Campbell as the panel’s second vice president.
The reconfigured board also re-selected Elisabeth Ginzburg as its president and Michael de Leeuw as its first vice president.
The new board was assembled during the district’s Jan. 3-14 modified class schedule. All five schools are on an 8:20-a.m. to 12:30 or 1 p.m. extended in-person half-days.
There are no lunch or recess periods although students in the Central, Forest and Linden schools are getting a snack break. GRHS’ “Block 9” extra help and student activities are virtual.
GRPS Superintendent Dirk Phillips cited “the recent surge in COVID cases,” for enacting the temporary schedule.
BELLEVILLE – Some of the Belleville Township Council’s in-person audience balked over one of a developer’s proposed sites for a new senior citizens apartment building at the former’s Dec. 14 meeting.
A representative from Vessel Technologies held a walk-on presentation that Tuesday night about sites for senior citizens housing for Belleville residents. Vessel is looking to build up to 100 such units within the township – with a “required” PILOT.
One of the sites floated is 406 Joralemon St. – with or without the old Newark Reservoir lot to its east. 406 Joralemon is better known as the Belleville Recreation Center or Rec House. The two-story wood-frame structure is what Township Manager Anthony Iacono called being “in a state of disrepair.”
Mayor Michael Melham had pursued purchasing the Newark Reservoir lot for at least a passive recreation park. He and Newark Water and Sewer Director Kareem Adeem, after the city began giving free water filters to Belleville Jan. 21, 2020, examined a site plan drawing for “Newark Reservoir Park.” Remington and Vernick received a 2018 contract to conduct a study on the lot.
Former councilman Vincent Frantantoni, in the public speaking segment, complained about the idea of sacrificing recreational needs for senior citizen needs.
Melham, while saying he was “not in favor” of replacing the Rec House for senior apartments, added, “Let’s focus on the council wanting to bring more senior housing to Belleville instead of, ‘They’re taking things from the children.’ “
NUTLEY – A student-launched petition may be well on its way for a Jan. 31 presentation before the Nutley Board of Education.
The petition, launched on Change.org late Jan. 4, is urging the board to temporarily switch to all-remote learning for a two-week period. Its preamble cites that some students have gone into COVID isolation without access to in-person learning.
NPS has started the 2022 calendar year with all-in-person learning. Superintendent Julie Glazier, on Jan. 11, said that she and her administrators are monitoring Coronavirus infection rates and staff shortages daily.
The district took a literal snow day Jan. 7. The petition, as of Jan. 11, is 84.3 percent towards its 1,000 signature goal.
