TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – The Newark Department of Public Safety is asking for the public’s help in finding the person who walked into a Roseville grocery store, committed an armed robbery and drove away late March 25.
Newark Police Division officers, responding to a robbery-in-progress report, arrived at 548 Orange St. just before 10 p.m. that Saturday.
The Sidi Supermarket employee said that a male had entered the store, displayed a weapon and demanded cash. a “dark colored vehicle.” The employee was not physically harmed.
The mini-market was last robbed when a man wearing a Halloween mask and a gun walked in at 8:20 p.m. Jan. 13, 2020 and ran out with $150 cash. NPD arrested Michael Brodie, 29, of Irvington, Feb. 18 and charged him with armed robbery.
The March 25 stickup was held while the neighboring Cooper’s Deli was still open; that liquor and sandwich store usually closes at 10:30 p.m. Both places are a block east of a bus stop, serving NJTransit 5, 21, 71 and 73 riders in front of a corner bar. The East Orange border is within another block west.
IRVINGTON – The owner of a Hyundai Tucson and his or her insurance carrier may have reclaimed possession of what is left of the SUV from a Paramus police impound lot after three youths had stolen it from here and used it to wreck it, a Lexus SUV and a Paramus police car late March 22.
Paramus Police Officers Slavko Bajovic and Michael Mordage, said Paramus Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberger, were responding to an auto theft in progress. They came upon the SUV – with two males appearing to enter another parked car in a driveway. The startled duo retreated into the Hyundai – and fled with their driver.
The Hyundai driver, realizing he was entering a dead end, spun the Tucson and smashed past Bajovic’s cruiser. The officer, with the assistance of his colleagues, was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center for treatment of “moderate injuries.”
The Tucson continued west on Fairview Avenue and south on Century Road; Fair Lawn and Bergen County Sheriff’s officers joined the pursuit. It ran a stop light at the Paramus Road intersection and T-boned a crossing Lexus SUV. The trio bailed out, leaving the Lexus’ occupants – two women 56 and 22 -years old – behind with moderate injuries.
Chief Ehrenberger said PPD Officers Mordaga, Michael Cleray and Nicholas Tanelli respectively apprehended the 17-year-old driver and his 16 and 15 year-old occupants — all from Newark. The Driver is being held in Teterboro’s Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center on aggravated assault of a police officer, resisting arrest, eluding, and possession of stolen property, among other charges.
The 16 and 15 year-olds were eventually taken by PPD to their Newark parents for custody after being charged on juvenile counts of stolen property. The Lexus occupants, after treatment by Paramus EMS, were also taken to HUMC.
Circumstances on how one to all three youths had stolen the Hyundai in Irvington earlier on March 22 were not immediately known.
EAST ORANGE – A March 30 Supreme Court of New Jersey ruling is providing a Watching man, who had been serving time since Sept. 7, 2017 over the May 1, 2015 murder of a city school teacher here, a new trial.
New Jersey’s high court justices, that Thursday, had ruled that Andre L. Higgs’ defense attorneys should have had access to EOPD Det. Kemon Lee’s Internal Affairs office records They added that Higgs’ lawyers should have been given the opportunity to cross-examine EOPD Det. Kemon Lee about any previous firearm discharges while on duty.
Superior Court-Newark Judge Ronald D. Wigler, they added, should not have allowed EOPD Kevin Green to opine that Higgs had a gun “in his waistband” when police dash cam footage showed Higgs openly holding the firearm.
Higgs, now 52, had shot ex-girlfriend Latrena May, 27, in front of her residence at 164 Tremont Ave. in the presence of Det. Lee, May 1, 2015. Lee shot back and wounded Higgs, who retreated into the apartment building for a standoff. May was a six-year teacher at the Pride Academy Charter School.
Wigler, on Sept. 7, 2017, had sentenced Higgs to life in prison plus an additional 10 years for being a felon possessing a weapon. (Higgs had five prior felony convictions.) Higgs had testified that the gun used was May’s, that it went off during a struggle and that Det. Lee “shot first.”
Wigler had the petit jury separately deliberate on the murder charge June 21, 2017 and on the weapons charges June 23. They found Higgs guilty, after 30 minutes’ overall deliberation, on all charges except for endangering the welfare of a minor. (May’s daughter was inside the apartment.)
“The ECPO and the family of victim Latrena May are disappointed by today’s decision,” said a prosecutor’s office spokesman. “However, we respect the State Supreme Court’s ruling. That being said, there’s overwhelming proof of Higgs’ guilt of purposeful and knowing murder as well as other offenses. We look forward to bringing Mr. Higgs to justice.”
ORANGE – “A River Runs Through It” could have been the category some Metcalf Park neighbors asked during the city’s Feb. 21 scoping presentation for the municipal property.
DPW Director Marty Mayes had unveiled a $1 million renovation for 717-23 Valley St. The presented plans include improvements to the municipal pool (the Colgate Park Pool is also under renovation), a resurfaced tennis court and an all-new dog park.
Those residents, including The Friends of Metcalf Park, who attended the meeting had asked about how the projects’ costs will be estimated and what grants would be applied for the work. At least one attendee asked what improvements may be made to the East Branch of the Rahway River, which runs from West Orange’s Eagle Rock Reservation to its confluence with the river’s main branch in Cranford.
The suggestions included clearing the river’s WPA-era culvert of debris and planting native flora for erosion control.
“We’ve talked about doing something with that area but it’s a big deal,” responded Mayes. “It’s going to take a lot more money than we’re requesting and a lot more time to develop it.”
Interest in improving the Rahway River East Branch resumed since The Alpert Group uncovered the waterway as part of its Harvard Printing apartment development. The Essex County Division of Roads and Bridges had recently replaced the Mitchell Street Bridge that spans the culvert.
The East Branch, which forms the Orange-West Orange border before flowing south through South Orange and Maplewood, had received some flood control work in the late 1990s. Climate change, including Hurricane Ida’s Sept. 1-2, 2021 flooding of the Maplewood Memorial Library’s basement among other basements and roads in Millburn, brought renewed concerns. The Friends of Metcalf Park meanwhile holds a monthly park cleanup.
WEST ORANGE – A crowdfund drive continues for the family of Michael Brian Sheridan after his March 18 death and March 29 Funeral Mass.
Relatives and friends of Sheridan, 44, launched the GoFundMe.com page just after he had died of a sudden cardiac complication here. The proceeds will assist wife Samantha Repp Sheridan and daughters Charley, 9, and Finley, 4.
Sheridan – according to the March 28-April 1 obituary which ran here, in Manchester and Scranton, Pa. – was described as a musician-teacher-athlete. The Gregory section resident has performed classical and jazz on his Latin guitar in area clubs, weddings and other special events.
The private instructor had put his wife and daughters first. The Gregory section resident would take them on surfing and kayaking trips.
Mother Lizabeth, brother David, sister Amibeth, aunt Cathy Sheridan, uncle Kenneth and three cousins – all who are in the Manchester or Scranton area – are among his survivors. Father Gerald predeceased him.
Sheridan’s Funeral Mass was held in his native Scranton’s St. Patrick’s Church, followed by cremation at Cathedral Cemetery.
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – Some of the Columbia High School student body walked out of their 9:30 a.m. third period classes March 31 to support the 14th annual Day of Transgender Visibility.
The walkout, organized by CHS’s Spectrum and Students for Justice clubs, joined other TODV events Friday and/or Saturday held in Montclair and at least five other New Jersey municipalities.
Out Montclair, for example, started its inaugural observance with an April 1 trans flag raising at the Union Congregational Church. They advocacy group brought in musicians, a comedian, food trucks, workshops and panel discussions.
This is an incomplete roster, despite events being held from Asbury Park to Trenton. There may have been other schools and houses of worship who have held their own observances.
The day, started by a Michigan activist in 2009, is held every March 31 to promote the visibility of transgender, transsexual, nonbinary or nonconforming people and their supporters. It is part of the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which also promotes the above peoples’ achievements and brings up equality issues in the larger community.
CHS’s TODV student walkout had the support of Maplewood Mayor Dean Dafis. Dafis, himself an out gay man, was referring to anti-transgender legislation circulating or enacted in 47 state legislatures.
“Since our trans students are in particular under attack right now across the country – in the classroom, in the restrooms, our libraries, in healthcare,” said Dafis March 30, “we’re standing with them and joining them to raise awareness and in their support of visibility.”
BLOOMFIELD – The remains of Bloomfield High School student Carol Ann Fitzgerald may be returning here 51 years after she was last seen alive here.
The skeletal remains and clothing of Fitzgerald in Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office possession, said the agency Jan. 3, had been identified as hers by an out-of-state DNA processing lab. The testing was done with a comparison sample donated by Fitzgerald’s younger sister, who now lives in East Stroudsburg, Pa.
Fitzgerald was last seen alive leaving her family’s home on Easter Sunday – April 3, 1972. Her remains were found by volunteers who were clearing the former Central of New Jersey Railroad Shore Branch right-of-way in Atlantic Highlands in 1988. (NJDOT leased the branch property to Monmouth County, who turned it into the Bay Shore Trail in 2006.)
How Fitzgerald’s remains ended up in Atlantic Highlands remains a mystery. That part of the investigation remains open. It also remains unknown, as of press time, whether her last resting place will be in Bloomfield, East Stroudsburg or another place where her relatives descendants live.
Anyone who has information of Fitzgerald leaving Bloomfield, arriving at Atlantic Highlands or at a location in between, are to contact the MCPO’s detective bureau in Freehold.
MONTCLAIR – Rey Redington, 78, who died in Monroe March 19, would not let MS keep him from owning and operating a business here or from becoming a chamber of commerce and Republican club president, start a newspaper or run for Congress.
Rowley Wilhelm Philips Redington who was born in New York City in 1944, was a retired Exxon executive when he, his wife Rebecca and their children Megan and Travis moved from Bethel, Conn. to Montclair in 1975.
Rey was one of the first people who turned his Bloomfield Avenue gasoline station’s garage area into a convenience store. He was among the first to learn to use a desktop computer in the early 1980s and taught other local business people. He was then diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, which, over time, put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Redington became chairman of the Montclair Chamber of Commerce and the Montclair Republican Party club. He was among the 13 nonpartisan candidates on three slates for all seven Township Council seats in 1980 – the first year after Montclair switched from a commission form of government.
Statewide, Redington (R-Montclair) challenged incumbent Joseph Minish (D-West Orange) for the then-11th Congressional District seat in 1982. He lost to Minish, 65 to 35 percent.
Readington gradually changed from being a Reagan Republican to a Blue Wave NJ Democrat. He rolled on to various protest marches and rallies on racial justice, voting rights, equal marriage and Women’s rights. He started “MonroeNow” in 2017 when he and Rebecca discovered that the town did not have a newspaper of its own.
Three grandchildren, a brother and four sisters are also among his survivors. A celebration of his life is being planned for September. Memorial donations may be made to Mental Health Association of Northern N.J.: www.mhainspire.org.
BELLEVILLE – No sooner than township elders had approved the Recreation Department’s first-ever fee schedule March 14 when they found themselves fielding a problem presented by one of its main clients.
Mayor Michael Melham and Town Manager Anthony Iacono, as of press time, are negotiating with Belleville Soccer Association President Charlie Hood over continuing the fees and use of Belleville Municipal Stadium so that the latter can start its 46th season.
Hood was among several public speakers at that Tuesday night’s meeting to appeal BSA’s predicament. He presented hardcopy and online petitions, the latter receiving over 1,500 signatures, for the Recreation Department to continue waiving stadium use fees.
It appears that the rec department’s new fee schedule includes weekly use of the stadium behind the high school. Hood said that the department, after 45 years, intends to bill the BSA $600 to $1,200 a week during its 10 week season.
The prospective charges, said Hood, amounts to $25,000. With the department proposing the fees three weeks before BSA’s season kickoff, the club does not have the funds to pay.
Melham, on March 14, said that he had “an open dialogue” with Hood about the matter and asked Iacono to talk with the BSA leader.
NUTLEY – Violante’s Meat Market reopening here, after nearly 45 years in Bloomfield, is a matter of when rather than if.
The Violante family, formerly of 126 Bloomfield Ave., Bloomfield, bought the Vitello’s Bakery and Cake Shop at 105 Franklin Ave. over the winter. The Vitiello family had retired and put the two-story bakery on Franklin and Harrison Street’s southwest corner late last year.
Those who wanted the catering and Italian delicacies Violante’s was known for had hoped that they would reopen in time for Easter. There are no signs announcing a “Grand Re-Opening” date posted on site or online as of press time.
Violante’s loyalists had been waiting for 18 months since an Oct. 10, 2021 fire damaged their street level Bloomfield headquarters and routed tenants from the four second floor apartments above. It took firefighters from Bloomfield, Nutley, Orange, West Orange and Montclair 30 minutes to bring the rear kitchen blaze under control.
The second-generation Violante’s, ironically, were closed to the public Oct. 10-12 so that they could meet Columbus Day orders. They were able to do so, thanks for having two pre-existing mobile trailer kitchens parked in the back lot.
The Violantes, who had moved from their East Orange Ampere store at Hoffman Boulevard and North Grove Street in 1979, will have pent up neighborhood demand when they finally open here.
108 Franklin’s storefront across the street, which had been Garruto’s Pork Store and Pasta Shop for 80 years, had been vacant since 2020. 126 Bloomfield Ave.’s restoration was recently completed by G. Baulo Home Improvement, of Nutley and its space offered by Childers/Sotheby’s, of Toms River.
