TOWN WATCH
EAST ORANGE – City and state fire officials are searching for the cause of a predawn July 9 fire that damaged two Teen Streets houses and displaced 16 people among three families.
The first EOFD units responded to a fire call from 182 and 184 Hollywood Ave. at 4:48 a.m. Monday. Firefighters simultaneously battled the blaze and evacuated the occupants.
The incident commander meanwhile pulled two more alarms, one for all city firefighters’ hands and the other for mutual aid. Units from Irvington, Orange, West Orange, South Essex (South Orange-Maplewood), Bloomfield, Montclair, Belleville, Millburn, Livingston, Cedar Grove, Caldwell and North Caldwell went to the scene and/or covered EOFD’s headquarters and fire houses.
Although the fire was brought under control by 7:14 a.m., hot spots remained until 10:40 a.m. Two firefighters, whose department was not listed, were taken to Newark’s University Hospital for treatment of injuries.
The city’s OEM, CERT and the local American Red Cross chapter were also present to find temporary housing for the 16 displaced people.
182 and 184 Hollywood are a pair of three-story wood frame Dutch Colonial houses built in 1930. They were last respectively bought in 2021 and 22.
NEWARK – The man suspected of shooting another Newark man dead on Garden Spires property July 2 was questioned at the scene and arrested some 24 hours later.
That Sunday morning’s quiet was shattered when gunfire broke out by 11:40 a.m., prompting some residents within the twin-20-story apartment towers at 175 First St. to call Newark police.
Officers and an EMT crew responded to find a man lying by the complex’s main entrance guard booth “unconscious, unresponsive and with multiple gunshot wounds.” A medic declared Tanton R. Venable, 47, dead there at 11:55 a.m. Witnesses told police that a man came up to Venable, shot him at point blank range and fled.
Officers cordoned off Garden Spires’ main entrance and parking lot and began searching for witnesses and evidence. Several of the 544-units’ residents said that their buildings were locked down for midday.
Detectives soon found a loaded gun on the property and began questioning a man. The person being questioned – Fuquan A. Johnson, Jr., 32, would be arrested.
Johnson is being held in the Essex County Correctional Facility on first-degree murder and third-degree receiving stolen property. He received second-degree counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession thereof for an unlawful purpose and possession thereof by a prohibited person.
IRVINGTON – The theft of an SUV, with a child inside, from a residential driveway may have taken a moment to do July 5 but the victim was found safe within minutes and the two suspects arrested by that Wednesday’s end.
Both the boy’s family and Irvington Township officials said, on July 7, that the car theft and kidnapping could have just as easily gone worse. The boy is nonverbal on the autism range.
That Wednesday morning for the boy and his parents started ordinarily enough. The father started the Mercedes SUV, seated and belted his son and noticed that contracted recyclers had already emptied the family’s container. The father was bringing the container to the backyard from the curb when criminals struck.
A blue Hyundai four-door sedan pulled up across Elmwood Street and a male passenger got out. He sprinted into the car while donning a face mask, hopped into the driver’s seat and sped out towards Sanford Avenue. The blue Hyundai and its driver followed.
The father yelled at the mother to call 911, grabbed the second car’s keys and left to pursue the two cars. Two Irvington Police officers, who were on nearby patrol, began looking as well.
Within a minute, the two officers found and followed the Mercedes until its felonious driver abandoned it at Laurel Avenue and Grant Place three blocks northeast. The thief rejoined the Hyundai and fled.
The two officers found the boy, safe and unharmed, inside. They soon brought him back to his parents. Newark police officers spotted and stopped the Hyundai in their city and arrested the suspects. The two 16-year-old Newark boys were charged with endangering the welfare of a child, receiving stolen property plus related counts in Newark Family Court.
ORANGE – A memorial service for 63-year resident and automotive instructor Walter R. Elliott has been set for Noon July 28 at East Orange’s Bethel New Life Community Outreach at Grace UAME, 450 North Maple Ave., East Orange. Elliott, 90, died at an East Orange hospice June 12.
Walter Radcliffe Elliott, who was born in Atlanta April 19, 1933, was raised in the 1930s-50s in Maplewood with eldest brother Charles and middle brother William. “Walt,” who was a Columbia High School hurdles runner, graduated with the Class of 1952 before taking courses at Rutgers and serving in the U.S. Army in Heidelberg, W. Germany 1953-56.
Walter R. Elliott returned to the Maplewood-Orange area after he and Ann Brown had married Feb. 18, 1958. They had met while both were at Flint, Mich.; he while studying automobile dealership management at General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) and she was a public school Spanish and art teacher.
Walt and Ann settled in Orange to raise their only son, Walter F. Both were Cleveland Street School PTA members and marched for the building of the new Orange High School in 1968. Walt meanwhile advanced from mechanic to mechanics dispatcher at Newark’s Potemkin Chevrolet and Plaza Ford and West Orange’s Washington Ford.
Walt attained a teaching certificate from the now-Kean University in 1969 and taught at Newark and Union’s Lincoln Technical Institute for 10 years and five days before the teachers were locked out. He was assistant manager at Clifton’s Gensinger Volkswagen and Rahway’s Bell Porsche-Audi before returning to teaching at Elizabeth High School.
Elliott was auto shop instructor for special needs students at EHS’s Aboff House until all of his students were mainstreamed in 2000, ending a 30-year career where he had taught thousands of students. He was a volunteer official at Pine Brook Speedway and the American Micro Stock Racing Association. He also held memberships with the Montclair Universalist Unitarian Church, the UAW, AFT, Elizabeth Education Association and West Orange Elks Lodge No. 1590.
Walter R. was the last of the Elliott Brothers; William (CHS Class of 1948) and Charles (Class of 1946) having predeceased him by March 10, 2014. Wife Ann died May 3, 2021. Daughter-in-law Naomi and Tompkins County N.Y. nephew Charles “Chaz” and niece Carol are also among his survivors.
Memorial donations may go to Indycar Ministry, PO Box 24297, Speedway, IN 46224. Condolences may go to ggwoodyfuneralhome.com and/or 56-62 Halleck St., No. 301, Newark, NJ 07104.
WEST ORANGE – The West Orange Planning Board is to start an anticipated string of public hearings July 19 on plans to remodel West Orange Plaza here at 235 Prospect Ave.
Applicant JLL, of Houston, Texas, wants to more than bring Target into its anchor store. It is asking the board permission to modify two smaller buildings and build a new third structure.
The single story, 11-store building along the plaza’s north side, currently holding Mavis Tire Center, would be split into two buildings. The northside building would hold six stores.
The proposed four-store building near the northeastern corner would hold a couple of restaurants as a basis for an outdoor foot court. There would be amenities for drive-through windows.
A new third building would be placed on a concrete pad on the parking lot near Prospect Street. The single story structure could be for another restaurant or a bank.
Target would be West Orange Plaza’s fourth anchor store. The bilevel shopping center on the former Horn golf driving range had opened in 1862 with E.J. Korvettes until it went bankrupt in 1980. Caldor moved in until a 1995 Chapter 11 bankruptcy closed it.
Kmart took over until it was a victim of the chain’s 2020 cycle of closures. It was a temporary Essex County COVID-19 testing and vaccination center 2020-21.
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – The South Essex Fire Department were among those who helped riders walk from their stalled NJTransit Morris & Essex Line Arrow III cars to Maplewood Station twice in three days here July 5-7.
“A full assignment” of SOFD units plus a truck each from the South Orange Rescue Squad and NJTransit Police Emergency Service Unit converged on the M&E Jefferson Avenue overpass after 9 a.m. July 5.
They found a pair of Arrow III Multiple Unit sets – one on the eastbound local track and one on the center express track – stalled 100 feet east of Maplewood Station. A problem with dislodged overhead catenary power wires had been dislodged.
Crews from SOFD Rescue 1 and NJTPD ESU helped remove 36 passengers from one train and 350 from the other. Squad 32, Engine 82 and Ladder 81 helped guide the riders back to the station Units from Irvington and Union fire departments covered the two towns’ fire headquarters and houses.
NJTransit deployed buses from the nearby Hilton Garage to take the 386 riders east to their destinations – and more between Dover and Newark Broad Street until the power lines and service were restored before the afternoon rush hour. There were up to 30 minute residual delays on subsequent trains.
SOFD, SORS and NJPD may have well said, “Here we go again” to themselves while on a similar call after 2 p.m. July 7. Only 36 Arrow III MU riders needed to be walked back and take specially assigned NJT buses.
NJT Rail Operations maintenance of way crews finished restringing the wires into P.M. drive towns. Substitute buses were used between Summit and Newark Broad Street until then. there were more 30 minute residual delays into Friday night.
BLOOMFIELD / GLEN RIDGE – Two of the fife stores along 580-86 Bloomfield Ave. may take longer to reopen in the wake of a fire here during July 3’s morning rush hour. The Bloomfield firefighter, who was taken to Glen Ridge’s University Meridian Mountainside Hospital for heat exhaustion, may have been long since released.
Bloomfield Fire Chief Louis Venezia said that his headquarters shift received a call of smoke coming from the third story roof of 582 Bloomfield Ave. 8:30 a.m. that Monday. The first arriving crews confirmed the smoke above Crown Fried Chicken; they and Bloomfield Police Officers promptly closed Bloomfield Avenue between Ward and Liberty streets and Conger Street and Municipal Plaza.
The BFD incident commander then pulled more alarms while firefighters extended ladders and hoses on to the roof and into the second floor office above the food store. 580-86 Bloomfield Ave., also called Reliant Corporate Plaza, is a 1920s building that includes offices on its upper floors.
Mutual aid units from East Orange, Nutley and Clifton joined all BFD hands at the scene. West Orange units covered Bloomfield’s fire stations. NJTransit buses on its 11, 27, 28, Go28, 29., 34, 72, 92, 94 and 709 routes were among the detoured traffic.
Firefighters contained the fire damage to Crown Fried Chicken within 90 minutes. PSE&G’s energy cutoff, at BFD request, caused the Carvel Ice Cream shop’s food stock to melt. The last unit was given the all-clear by Noon.
Carvel and Crown Fried Chicken, as of July 7, remained closed.
Towne Center Five Points Building injures firefighter, snarls traffic, brings EO, Org, other FD as mutual aid.
MONTCLAIR – Pioneering television meteorologist and science reporter Dr. Frank Field, who was a resident here during most of his 50-year career, died in his Boca Raton summer home July 2.
Dr. Field, 100, was hired by an NBC-TV executive as a nightly weather forecaster in 1958 because he had formal meteorology education. Although Field’s doctorate was in optometry, he was “weatherman” for WRCA/WNBC to 1984, WCBS-TV until 1995, WNYW Fox 5 in 1997 and had retired from WWOR Channel 9 in 2004.
Field used his formal Brooklyn College and Brown University education to produce and host a range of health and science shows. He helped publicize the Heimlich maneuver and, in 1984, aired the first live kidney transplant. He gained national celebrity when Johnny Carson had him as a regular guest before Carson and “The Tonight Show” moved to Burbank, Calif. in 1972.
Frank and Joan Kaplan Field meanwhile moved to 95 Upper Mountain Ave. to raise son Storm and daughters Allison and Pamela. Frank and Storm, the latter on WABC 1976-91, vied for TV ratings. Allison was also a WCBS meteorologist before following Pamela into the legal profession.
Frank and Joan used their retirement years to spend more seasons in Boca Raton. They sold 95 Upper Mountain proper to Allison and moved into its carriage house. Frank, whether here or in Florida, produced and marketed fire prevention videos until recently.
Franklyn Field, who was born in Queens March 30, 1923, first learned meteorology while stationed in Europe in World War Two as an U.S. Army Air Force First Lt. His beloved Joan, however died in December 2022.
Seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren are also among Field’s survivors. No public memorial services were announced as of press time.
BELLEVILLE – Township elders, when it comes to allowing police to pursue illegal All Terrain Vehicles and dirt bike riders, may find asking their state colleagues for the rules relaxation is one thing – and another thing for state officials to grant that request.
The Township Council, led by Mayor Michael Melham, approved Resolution 177-2023 June 27 that asked Attorney General Matthew Platkin to relax his 2020 police pursuit restriction order.
The one-page resolution states that there has been a sharp increase in these illegal riders who are “causing a public nuisance and causing multiple traffic safety and life-threatening issues. while antagonizing (the) police.” They are asking Platkin to further relax his 2020 directive on pursuits like he had for “extremely rare cases.”
Council members, post-approval, have sent copies of the resolution to Platkin, Gov. Phil Murphy, the State Legislature leadership and their 29th Legislative District representatives “for review and consideration.” They also included a recent video of the said illegal riders traversing Washington Avenue.
The illegal vehicle riders, sometimes called “The 12 O’clock Boys” for their wheelie stunts and from the 2011 Baltimore documentary, tend to travel in freelance groups. Their vehicles are more often than not unlicensed and unregistered and only some of the riders wear helmets.
Newark and Orange have recently passed legislation to restrict 12 O’clock Boys’ activity. Both municipalities have banned fueling stations from serving them and storage units to openly hose them. Orange’s legislation had extended the banned vehicles to electric surfboards and scooters.
While it is not known whether Platkin had received Belleville’s resolution by July 6 but, going by his response that Thursday to the June 22 injurious high speed chase in Newark by four young men, is not inclined to a further relaxation.
NUTLEY – Anthony di Petra’s remains, after a 78-year absence, came home for one last day here July 11.
The procession which carried Di Petta from the S. W. Brown & Son Funeral Home to his 11 a.m. Funeral Mass at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church took a detour to pause before Nutley’s World War Two Memorial and before his family’s Columbia Avenue home at 11:45 a.m. and Noon. Di Petta’s name has long been among the 80 Nutleyites on the 1948 monument who paid the ultimate price and were so commemorated.
Di Petta was 24 when he and his Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber pilot and a third crew man took off from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise Sept. 10, 1944. The U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnance man and his colleagues were assigned to take out Imperial Japanese targets in the Palau Islands’ Malakal Naval District.
Enemy fire, however, shot down the Avenger off Malakal, about 800 miles southwest of Gaum. The War Department, after a post-war search of the crash area, told parents Sisto and Filomena Di Petta here July 16, 1949 that their son’s body was declared unrecoverable.
Di Petta’s case was reopened in May 2019 after investigators, working on the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s behalf, found human and aircraft remains in a Malakal bay. DNA testing and dental records verified the remains as Di Petta’s in 2022.
Anthony Di Petta was born June 3, 1920 in Ihe Italian di Campobasso provincial town of Colle d’Anchise, was still an infant when his family moved here in 1921. “Nutley Sons” author and historian Anthony Buccino said there is scarcely any more information about Di Petta.
Di Petta’s last journey began with a flight from Honolulu to New York’s LaGuardia Airport July 7. His remains, post Mass, were buried Tuesday afternoon with full military honors at Wrightstown’s Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Township Commissioner John Kelly III had asked residents to pause while the procession moved through Nutley.
