Town Watch
NEWARK – The suspect who shot and wounded two Newark police officers at 25 Van Velsor Place Nov. 1 has pleaded not guilty Nov. 9 on an addition charge of unlawful weapons possession via closed circuit television
Kendall Howard, 30, of East Orange had pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, eluding and weapons possession before N.J. Superior Judge Michael J. Ravin from his Essex County Correctional Center Zoom portal Nov. 3. An NPD SWAT team had arrested Howard from 25 Van Velsor 11 a.m. Nov. 2 – 22 hours after shooting Offs. Jabril Paul and Johnny Aquino.
Paul, who was shot in his left leg, was released from Newark’s University Hospital to police applause. Aquino, whose neck was grazed by a bullet that had then lodged in his shoulder, was released Nov. 4.
Paul and Aquino said they came to 25 Van Velsor on a 911 call of Howard’s presence there – and found him in the address’ rear parking lot. They first told the book-reading Howard not to move and, after the latter’s repeated failures to obey, ordered him to lie down on the ground. He, instead, started walking away – which was when the officers “physically intervened.”
One of the officers’ body camera recordings has Howard taking a gun from his right pants pocket, pointing it at Aquino’s face and firing a round. Other local surveillance camera footage showed a civilian dragging Aquino to safety while Howard escaped.
Arriving NPD officers drove Paul and Aquino to University Hospital. They and units from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, the State Police and two federal agencies shut down the Weequahic neighborhood while searching for Howard.
Howard was found in 25 Van Velsor Nov. 2 thanks to a tip to NPD by his mother. The SWAT team had carried him out a side door into a police car. He remains held without bail in Newark’s Essex County Correctional Facility.
IRVINGTON – Both a Nov. 5 investigation of a Hillside man’s fatal shooting here and his funeral arrangements are ongoing as of press time.
Township police told Public Safety Director Tracy Bowers and acting county prosecutor Stephens that they were responding to a 911 call from Smalley Terrace and Oak Avenue of a man lying on the ground there at 3:26 a.m. Saturday.
IPD officers and local EMS medics arrived there to find Aziz Ibn Rasheed Bell, 22, lying with a gunshot wound. Bell was pronounced dead at 3:49 a.m.
3 Threats to School in 72 Hours
Township and county authorities are looking for the person or two people who called three bomb threats to an Irvington Public School in three days Nov. 1-3.
Bowers, Stephens and Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said that an anonymous caller phoned in the threats to the Union Avenue Middle School main office around Noon that Tuesday and 1:30 p.m. that Wednesday. The same or a different caller may have called in a third that Thursday afternoon.
Students and staff were evacuated by IPS security and Irvington police in an orderly manner each time. The county sheriff’s bomb unit gave the “all clear” and return to class signals after not finding any suspicious packages on the property.
EAST ORANGE – ECPO’s Crime Scene Investigations Bureau is probing the circumstances of a fatal collision of a motor vehicle and an elderly city resident here Nov. 5.
EOPD officers told Police Chief Phyllis Bindi and their county colleagues that they were responding to a 6:30 p.m. Nov. 5 report of a pedestrian being struck by a vehicle at Central and South Arlington avenues. They found a man – later identified as Earnest Green, 93 – and the motorist at the scene.
Local medics rushed Green to University Hospital, where he was declared dead at 12:31 a.m. Sunday. Traffic, including buses on CoachUSA’s No. 24 routes, were detoured during the investigation. Green’s funeral arrangements have not been announced as of press time.
Stabbing Victim Memorialized
“Local Talk” has learned that the man who was fatally stabbed in the Heritage House Apartments here Sept. 21 was given last rites in his native North Carolina.
The remains of Joshua Trashawn Mewborn, 33, were buried at Craven County’s Hickman Family Cemetery, after a funeral at New Bern’s St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Oct. 7. The New Bern native leaves behind parents Henry Wright III and Tammy Mewborn, son Jason Jones, daughter Jasmin Jones, sister Kennetta Mewborn and grandparents Male Mewborn, Theresa C. Jones, Thomas and Christine Mewborn, among others.
Mewborn was found in a ninth floor stairwell with multiple stab wounds from an argument with a neighbor Sept. 21. The investigation continues.
ORANGE / WEST ORANGE – Both Orange and West Orange can claim Peter J. Longo, who turned 100 years old Nov. 2, as more than one of their own. Longo is also among the dwindling ranks of The United States World War Two “Greatest Generation.”
Patty Bolles, Peter’s daughter, told “Local Talk” that her father was born in Orange Nov. 2, 1922. Peter’s father, wanting to give his children a trade, enrolled him into the Essex County Vo-Tech High School on Newark’s Sussex Avenue in the late 1930s.
Peter was living with the family in Orange’s Nassau Street and worked as an electrician in the Edison Industries battery factory when Uncle Sam called in 1945. He was sent off to Europe and North Africa as a tank crewman as part of the 766th Tank Battalion’s Company C and was given an Army citation.
Staff Sgt. Longo, after his 25-month tour of duty and honorable discharge, met and married defense plant worker Elizabeth “Betty” Raycheck in 1946. The couple moved to 483 Cary St. in the Orange Valley to raise daughters Patty and Diane and son Peter M. Longo. Elizabeth, 92, died Dec. 30, 2017.
Longo’s postwar pursuits included co-founding the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra and fishing as far out as Alaska.
Peter Longo was guest of honor by his family and West Orange’s VFW Post 376 at Orange’s Bella Italia Ristorante Nov. 2, 2022. He brought some of his uniforms and memorabilia with him to the celebration.
SOUTH ORANGE – Users of municipal recycling services here and in Maplewood will be changing their curbside deposit times and habits once their two new contractors start collecting and marketing here on Jan. 1.
The respective Village Trustees and Township Committee, as of Nov. 2, have awarded the curbside collection contract to F. Basso, Jr. Rubbish Removal, of Irvington, and the materials marketing contract to Bayshore Recycling Co., of Keasbey. The awarding of Basso and Bayshore ended two years of temporary recycling contracting while both municipalities rethought the process.
The major coming change is that residents will be alternating weekly fiber and “commingled” recycling. Fiber – paper and cardboard – will be picked up one week; plastic/glass/metal picked up together the next week. The thinking is that separating fiber from the rest of the recycling curbs paper contamination and boosts the value of all materials.
Basso and Bayshore will detail what materials will be accepted and not accepted will be spelled out by the year-end holidays.
South Orange’s pickup schedule stays the same but Maplewood’s will change. The village keeps its Thursday West side and Friday east side schedule. Maplewood pickups, however, will be by to-be-announced zones Monday-Wednesday.
MAPLEWOOD – Neema Roshania Patel, whose journalistic light was kindled while a member of Columbia High School’s “The Columbian” student newspaper, has died in a Washington, DC hospital Oct. 24.
Patel, 35, a “Washington Post” digital editor who had founded several publications in the 2010s, had died from gastric cancer. She started “The Lily” for millennial women in 2017, the “Anxiety Chronicles” on mental health and, in 2019, “The Jessicas” 30-year study of women born in 1989.
Patel herself was born as Neema Prabhu Roshania here Sept. 28, 1987. Her immigrant parents from India worked for Metallix recycling as an electrical engineer and an accounts manager. The CHS Class of 2005 graduate had worked on “The Columbian” before enrolling into Rutgers – New Brunswick.
The RU Class of 2009 graduate and “Daily Targum” correspondent used her economics and journalism degrees to intern at NJBIZ business journal and the CNBC financial news network. Patel was first in Washington as a researcher and writer for the “Kiplinger Report” and, in 2013-16, was the community news editor for Philadelphia’s WHYY public radio station.
“Diverse sourcing makes us more trustworthy arbiters of the news,” Patel once wrote. “If we don’t include a diverse range of voices, we’re narrowing those lanes and not reflecting the world we should be covering.”
Roshania married Akshar Patel, of Kensington, Md., in 2014. They have a 3-year-old son, Abhiraj. They were members of Beltsville, Md.’s BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.
Parents Prabhu and Mira Roshania, of Winterville, NC, sister Reshma Roshania are also among her survivors. Her memorial service was not publically announced.
BLOOMFIELD – An estimated 234 men, women, children and animals took a walk in Town Centre Oct 22 for a township youth and for a cause. The March to Protect Trans Youth honored the late Damien Lopez and to advocate for transgendered and nonbinary children.
The marchers – escorted by the Bloomfield Police Department and nine local motorcycle club riders – took an hour to take a round trip from the Mayor John Crecco Plaza north to Bloomfield High School, south on The Green’s east side and east on Franklin Avenue to Municipal Plaza and back via Broad Street.
They reassembled at the plaza to hear several municipal officials, Bloomfield Public Library Director Holly Belli and representatives from several local LBGTQ+ organizations. Jamie Vicaro, the mother of the late Lopez, closed the rally with her remarks on her and her son’s journey.
“You couldn’t have told me that I’d be saying goodbye to my child 12 years after giving birth,” said Vicaro. “They misgendered him. We need to validate our children for who they are.”
Vicaro said that her Damien knew that he was “transgender from an early age.” His internal struggle and questionable professional treatment in his last two year led to his March 5, 2021 suicide at home. Vicaro has since raised funds for the march and Damien’s headstone.
A second Damien Lopez – of Newark and Garden State Equality – also spoke. The Newark Lopez talked about marching for a fellow transgender male with the same name – and to keep walking forward and not backward.
The North 13th Street County Vocational High School Class of 2015 graduate and SkillsUSA advisor has authored a children’s book and has graduated from Montclair State University’s Nutrition and Food Sciences program.
MONTCLAIR – “Save Principal Maria Francisco,” is the rallying cry 20 Renaissance at Rand Middle School parents and students made before the Montclair Board of Education at the latter’s Nov. 2 meeting.
Francisco was appointed Renaissance principal in the wake of Interim Principal Major Jennings’ summer 2021 departure. Both Jennings and Francisco were principals while previous principal Joseph Putrino had been put on administrative leave the last two years. Putrino was on leave after he presented a video at a staff meeting that some members found offensive.
An arbitrator, on Oct. 18, had ruled that Putrino should be reinstated as principal since Montclair Public Schools was inconsistent “and therefore unjust” in comparison to a similar administrative personnel matter. MPS is meanwhile faced with appealing the arbitrator’s decision to State Superior Court-Newark Law Division or modify or vacate that ruling.
Township Man Shot Along Street
Neither a township man’s last rites nor authorities’ announcing his killer here since Oct. 28, have been announced.
Responding MPD officers told Police Chief Todd Comforti and county prosecutor Stephens that they had responded to reports of gunfire from along the 100 block of Lincoln Street at 2:30 a.m. that Friday.
Officers said they found a man – later identified as Leroy Peters, 23 – suffering from “multiple gunshot wounds.” Peters was rushed to University Hospital – where he was declared dead at 3:25 a.m. The investigation continues.
BELLEVILLE – Some of Newark’s residents and officers were set to return their affection for township native and NPD Off. Ricardo Jorge Barbosa with a Nov. 9 visitation and a Nov. 10 Funeral Mass at the former’s respective Alvarez Funeral Home and the Basilica Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
Belleville police officers said they had found Barbosa, 29, at his Bell Street home here at 11:30 p.m. Oct. 28 “with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” Officers and arriving medics applied CPR on him but was declared dead a short time later.
Barbosa, a Belleville High School Class of 2011 graduate, joined “Newark’s Finest” July 5, 2016 after graduating from the Passaic County Police Academy. He was assigned to the Third Precinct as a Community and School Resource Officer. The Portuguese-speaking Barbosa endeared himself to The Ironbound community in part for starting a chess club for that neighborhood’s Boys and Girls Club, working with at-risk youth and feeding the homeless.
The Newark native was born in Columbus Hospital May 14, 1993 and lived in the North Newark area until parents Altemir and Maria moved themselves, him and sisters Thais Helena Barbosa Dolcine and Jessica Barbosa to Belleville in 2004. Ricardo attended the St. Francis Xavier School and played in its Little League.
The 2006 Shotokan Karate Black Belt Holder also held a psychology degree from Wayne’s William Paterson University. One of his papers was published in the American Psychology Association Journal.
Widow Shelby Ley Diaz-Barbosa, who married Ricardo Oct. 30, 2020, and grandmother Themis Marques are also among his survivors.
Memorial donations may be made to the Newark Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club of the Ironbound, 11 Providence St., 07105. A GoFundMe.com was also established to pay for his funeral expenses.
NUTLEY – Nutleyites gave their final tributes to their own “Uncle Sam” – Sabino “Sam” Battaglia – at a Nov. 7 visitation here at the S.W. Brown and Son Funeral Home and a Nov. 8 Funeral Mass at St. Mary Church.
The Third Half Club, supporter of Nutley High School athletics, announced the passing of their sitting president, 77, Nov. 2, that he had died Oct. 31. His 15 years as club president spans 50 years’ community service to Nutley.
Battaglia was elected to the Nutley Board of Commissioners and selected as its Public Affairs Director 1996-2000. He was elected to the Nutley Board of Education 1984-96 and was its president 1992-96. The Nutley Recreation football coach and UNICO member was also a trustee emeritus of Leesburg, Fla.’s Beacon College 1997-2022.
Battaglia was born in Newark Aug. 5, 1945 but his parents moved their family to Nutley. The Holy Family School attendee became a scholar-athlete at Nutley High School 1960-64. His playing on the Maroon Raider football team led to a four-year athletic scholarship with the University of Maryland.
The UoM Terrapin graduated in 1968 with a degree in business administration and marketing. He used that degree in the energy industry for 45 years with Royal Dutch Shell, Coastal and Dominion.
The 2017 NHS Hall of Fame inductee and longtime First Cerebral Palsy of NJ trustee is survived by wife Kathleen, daughter Kristen, son Joseph and grandsons Aiden and Cade, among others. Brothers Alfred and Joseph predeceased him. Internment is to be at Montclair’s Immaculate Conception Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the First Cerebral Palsy of NJ, 7 Sandford Ave., Belleville, 07109-1221/www.cerebralpalsycenter.org/help-support/donate.
