TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – Essex County Prosecutor’s Office detectives have been looking for the shooter and/or driver who killed a teenager and left another young man critically injured here in the South Ward on Jan. 3.
Responding Newark Police Division officers told the ECPO Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force that they were responding to a gunfire report from the 100 block of Ridgewood Avenue at 9:57 p.m. that Wednesday.
Witnesses told NPD that a dozen of them were standing streetside when a car came along – and someone opened fire. A 17-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man were hit while the vehicle sped away.
Police officers promptly called an ambulance for the 23-year-old man. He was admitted to Newark’s University Hospital in critical condition.
Officers meanwhile found Quran McClean, 17, within a building; he had fled there after being struck. Funeral arrangements for McClean, who was pronounced dead at the scene, have not been publicly announced as of presstime.
IRVINGTON – A township man’s past may be a factor in his pending May 8 sentencing in U.S. Federal Court-Camden.
Taurean Gordon, 40, said U.S. Attorney-New Jersey District Philip Sellinger Jan. 5, had pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Stephanos Bibas to possessing narcotics and weapons “in Essex County” on Feb. 11, 2021. Sellinger said that Gordon had confessed to possessing quantities of cocaine, fentanyl and heroin with the intent to distribute.
Gordon, said the attorney, had also pleaded guilty to a count of possessing a .22 caliber revolver that held five bullets – and possession thereof as a prior convicted felon. Being a felon in possession of a firearm alone has him facing up to a 10-year federal prison sentence. There is up to a $250,000 maximum fine for the above count plus a count of possession thereof while drug trafficking.
Gordon, on the narcotics charges alone, is facing up to 20 years’ federal prison time and $1 million maximum fine.
Sellinger, in his Jan. 5 announcement, did not say what was Gordon’s prior conviction nor the circumstances of the 2021 possession and trafficking incident.
EAST ORANGE – Authorities’ search for the Dec. 23 fatal shooting of a city man just across the Newark border continues after his Dec. 30 funeral ceremonies.
A Janazah prayer was held for Kareem Abdul Jarmon Guilford, Jr. Dec. 30 at Newark’s Islamic Burial Service. Guilford’s burial was made later that Saturday at Union’s Hollywood Cemetery.
An anti-gun violence memorial website had the ShopRite employee as a student here at the National Career Institute and as the father of three.
Guilford was found by Newark police fatally wounded at the intersection of Mountainview and Grand Avenues in the Vailsburg section 6:15 p.m. Dec. 23. He was pronounced dead there at 6:34 p.m.
Boston Market “Drive-Thru” Only
“Local Talk” noticed that the Boston Market restaurant at 471 Central Ave. has been open for drive-through orders only since the start of the year-end holidays. It is unclear whether no in-person dining is a condition while the franchise owner and its landlord settle a back rent dispute in State Superior Court-Newark.
An eviction notice had been posted on the restaurant’s door after briefly reopening. 471 Central, like most of the Boston Markets in New Jersey, were closed by the N.J. Department of Labor Hours and Wage Compliance Office for 53 days until “Boston Chicken” had paid its 317 employees and the state $2.554 million in back wages and penalties. City code inspectors had meanwhile cited the place for infrastructural violations.
ORANGE – Ashes of former city councilman and longtime Little Italy resident Fred Riviello were laid to rest at East Hanover’s Gate of Heaven Mausoleum Dec. 27. “Uncle Fred,” 73, had died in West Orange Dec. 20.
Fred James Riviello, Jr., was born on Dec. 9, 1950 to parents Fred Riviello, Sr. and Fidela DeVizio-Riviello. He was a career case worker for the Essex County Welfare Board in Newark before retiring.
Uncle Fred had long called Little Italy’s Jackson Street in Orange’s West Ward home. He was a member of the Orange Civic League and the local Sons of Italy chapter prior to his election as West Ward Councilman.
Riviello was listed on his obituary and the Jan. 2 City Council proclamation as a member of “the Bloomfield Elks.” He may have joined the Orange Elks before it had merged with the then Newark-Bloomfield Elks Lodge. The Bloomfield-based club has since been renamed “The Greater Essex Elks.”
Riviello is survived in part by “loving godchildren, cousins and dear friends.” Memorial donations may be made to the NJ Foundation for the Blind, 230 Diamond Spring Rd., Suite 100, Denville, NJ 07834.
WEST ORANGE – About 200 people converged on the Municipal Building front lawn – in lieu of a scheduled, then canceled Jan. 5 Palestinian flag raising – that same Friday night.
The 200, as witnessed by newly-installed Council President Rev. William “Bill” Rutherford and Councilwoman Asmeret Ghebremichael held what the organizers called a celebration of Palestinian culture. They erected a Palestinian flag away from the municipal flagpole and brought ethnic food and music for feasting and dancing.
Mayor Susan McCartney had scheduled an official flag raising for Jan. 5 but canceled it Jan. 2 “in the best overall interest of the community.” Rutherford was among council members who subsequently criticized the cancellation.
McCartney had held an Israeli flag raising here Oct. 7 in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Southern Israel. The conservative Israeli government then launched an aerial bombardment and ground sweep of Gaza, resulting in what a Hamas-medical officer said was at least 22,000 killed Gazans as of press time.
Many township residents – about six percent Palestinian and nine percent Israeli or Jewish by 2020 US Census data – have been grappling with the invasions. A march and rally in support of Palestine, organized by several West Orange High School students, was eventually held at nearby Verona Park Nov. 22.
Rutherford thanks members of the township’s police and public works for assisting Jan. 5’s organizers. He also thanked Jewish residents who dissuaded individuals from holding a counter-protest.
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – Columbia High School science teacher Amy Biasucci intends to bring a lobster, found in a boys room toilet Dec. 21, back to class here around Jan. 15 to turn its tragedy into a teachable moment.
A South Orange-Maplewood School District spokesman said that CHS custodians found the crustacean in the toilet early that Thursday. They and then-CHS Principal Frank Sanchez rushed the lobster to Biasucci’s Advanced Placement Biology and Environmental Science classroom for a rescue attempt.
Biasucci promptly put the lobster in a water tank with added salt – but it was already too late. The sea creature died in her, Sanchez, the custodians and students’ presence. The supermarket-sized body has since been preserved in the teacher’s home freezer.
“We had a gilled, saltwater organism that, while it was in the toilet bowl, was in water that caused its cells to misshapen,” said the 25-year CHS teacher. “That was mean, not funny. If we have more respect for living beings in general, we might actually save ourselves.”
“I want to thank Ms. Biasucci for the valuable lessons she has taught us – respecting life and everyone in our community of schools,” said SOMSD Acting Superintendent Dr. Kevin F. Gilbert. “It’s my hope that anyone who engages in in act like this will remember these lessons and decide to do something to make our community better.”
Sanchez, in one of his last statements, said, “thanks to Ms. Biasucci for reminding us that there’s no such thing as a victimless prank, even if the victim’s not a person.” Gilbert, who has not elaborated as of press time, had put him on administrative leave Jan. 2. and promoted Assistant Superintendent – Curriculum and Instruction Ann Bodnar as acting super. The fatal lobster prank is not seen as contributing to Sanchez’s suspension.
BLOOMFIELD / GLEN RIDGE – Last rites for five-term Bloomfield councilman and 36-year Glen Ridge resident Joseph Gregory Wojak IV were a Dec. 26 visitation at the O’Boyle Funeral Home and a Dec. 27 Funeral Mass at St. Valentine’s Church and burial at Mt. Olivet Cemetery – all in Bloomfield.
Wojak, 86, an accountant by profession, died at his Bloomfield home Dec. 21. He and his late wife Barbara had also had summer homes in Pt. Pleasant and Cape Canaveral, Fla. Born Sept. 11, 1937 in Old Forge, Pa., Wojak first came here to attain an accounting BA from Upsala College. His five-decade career included being Howard Savings Bank CFO, owned and operated JGW Associates and taught accounting at Seton Hall University and Caldwell College.
Wojak and the former Barbara E. Rykowski married in August 1961 and became a founding family of St. Valentine’s Parish. Joseph became a president and trustee of the Glen Ridge Country Club while Barbara was on the club’s traveling tennis team. (B. Wojak was also substitute teacher for Bloomfield High and South Junior High schools.)
The husband was Bloomfield Zoning Board Chairman and the wife Essex County Republican Party Organization Chairwoman when they were approached about the former being appointed onto the Township Council to fill an unexpired term around 1964. He accepted the at-large position and was elected four times, mostly during the Mayor Walter G. Davis Administration.
J. Wojak, post council, and B. Wojak moved to a Stonehouse Road house in Glen Ridge in 1986. The move allowed children Marc and Jacquelyn to graduate from Glen Ridge High School, although the property crossed the borough-township border. (The state allowed “West Bloomfield” to become independent Glen Ridge in 1895.)
J. Wojak and several other Stonehouse residents, however, sued the Borough and its BOE in 2018. They said that they were not told of Glen Ridge moving its school age residents to Bloomfield Public Schools without due process or prior notification.
Partner Diane Horowitz, son David Horowitz, daughter Dr. Deborah Horowitz and 10 grandchildren are also among Wojak’s survivors. His beloved Barbara died April 20, 2013; he and she had the same last rites. J. Wojak presented “The Life & Times of Mayor Walter Davis” at a 2015 Bloomfield Historical Society/WMBA-TV meeting.
MONTCLAIR – Bergen County authorities said that a Montclair couple had a fatal exchange between them in Ramsey New Year’s Eve, leading them to who they said was the shooting suspect back here.
Ramsey police told Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office detectives that they were responding to a shooting call from 101 Williams St. 7:25 p.m. that Sunday. They found Crystal M. Peterson, 41, of Montclair, dead from a gunshot to her head outside of the Konica-Minolta Building.
The subsequent BCPO investigation followed a trail to the apartment where Peterson and Luis A. Suarez, 41, had been living in Montclair. A search found a .9 mm handgun in Suarez’s car. Suarez had meanwhile surrendered at Montclair Police Headquarters.
A funeral service for Peterson was held at Parsippany’s Liquid Church, where she was a member, Jan. 9. Born June 19, 1982 in Newark, the licensed cosmetologist and mother of three taught her profession at Essex County’s Donald M. Payne, Sr. School of Technology.
Children Knya Peterson and Luis and Leilani Suarez, mother Bianca Villalta Cardenas and siblings Joe Moran, Hayder, Nancy, William and David Carnago are among her survivors. Memorial donations may be made to Access Family Services, asfnj.org, to support victims of domestic violence.
Suarez has been spending the new year in Hackensack’s Bergen County Jail. The chef is being held on first-degree murder and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
BELLEVILLE – An end of an era will take place July 1 when Marie Strumolo-Burke, after 20 years, will turn her First Ward Township Council seat over to her successor at its July 1 reorganization meeting.
Burke, in a Dec. 31 open letter, said that “Silver Lake needs a new voice on the Council that can represent today’s First Ward. I will not be running for re-election next May.”
A majority of registered First Ward voters have helped Burke repel challengers fielded by Mayor Michael Melham’s “A Better Belleville” ticket.
The now-outgoing councilwoman added that she “would be thrilled to endorse and support Tracey Juanita Williams if she chooses to run. She is nothing short of a brilliant, motivated young professional who wants the very best for all who call Belleville home.”
Williams is a current Belleville Board of Education Trustee, having been elected in 2021. The five-year Hillside Prevention Intervention Referral Specialist’s trustee term is to expire on Dec. 31 should she pursue running for Silver Lake-First Ward council office this May.
NUTLEY – A township man who has been out awaiting a 2019 Lodi vehicular homicide trial, has been back in Bergen County custody since Dec. 19 on child sexual abuse charges.
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said, on Dec. 20, that Donald Kumar Davis, 33, was arrested in Paramus the day before. He has since been held in the Bergen County Jail on two second-degree counts each of aggravated sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.
Musell said that Washington Township police approached his Special Victims Unit Dec. 13 about the sexual abuse of a juvenile. A subsequent investigation had tied Davis to two incidents of a child in Washington and a third, of another child, in Wyckoff.
Davis had been accused of the June 29, 2019 vehicular homicide of an elderly couple along Lodi’s Harrison Avenue. He is accused of slamming his 2015 Dodge Charger against the 2005 Toyota Corolla of Muhamet and Bukurie Oparaku, which was leaving its driveway.
Former Albanian police chief Muhamet, 68, and Walmart manager Bukurie, 64, were pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center.
The Presswire news service meanwhile released Davis’ Dec. 20 launching of “Kumar Davis Fitness,” as a freelance training coach.
