TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – City and county investigators have been looking for two people and the “dark colored Audi” they got away in from West Side High School after shooting two students at dismissal time here on March 26.
Members of the high school told detectives that dismissal here at 603 South Orange Ave. went like most other Tuesday afternoons until “a gunman fired eight to 12 shots at a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy at the t-intersection with South 12th Street at about 2:45 p.m.
NPS security promptly called for backup and Newark Police Division officers promptly responded. Some NPD officers blocked the avenue between South 11th and South 16th streets – detouring NJTransit Route 31 buses and other traffic – for their field investigation. Other officers chased the alleged gunman on foot and saw the Audi flee.
Some other officers called for University Hospital ambulances for the two teenage boys. The 17-year-old was admitted in critical but stable condition. The 15-year-old is listed in serious but stable condition. Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage said that a third student was injured while people fled the scene.
Students and staff remaining within WSHS were kept in their classrooms for 20 minutes. Traffic continued to be diverted during the rush hour. At least one New York City television news helicopter provided live coverage.
A four-to-eight member delegation from the STOPNOW Patrol, modeled after the Guardian Angels, volunteered March 27 to assist school, security and city police in patrolling the school’s perimeter.
The KIPP Rise Academy, at the former Catholic school on 21 Ashland St., held their students until that day’s 3:45 p.m. dismissal time.
IRVINGTON – The FBI-Newark Field Office, on March 19, reissued a wanted poster for the man still wanted in a May 12, 2017 fatal shooting here.
The State of New Jersey and ECPO have charged Dennis M. Cunningham June 15, 2017 in absentia with murder, robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession thereof by a convicted felon. The US Federal Court-New Jersey District added an unlawful flight from prosecution charge and a federal arrest warrant on Cunningham Sept. 17, 2017 after he was determined to have eluded law enforcement.
Cunningham, now 64, is accused of accosting, robbing and fatally shooting Dino Bermudez here May 12, 2017 while the latter was sitting on his front porch. He had later died from the gunshot wounds.
The suspect is described as a 6-ft., 2-in, African American man weighing between 200 to 220 lbs. His eyes are brown and his hair black – if he has not shaved himself bald. He has a tattoo on his left arm and a scar on his left forearm.
Cunningham may also go by the names Dennis Brown, Dennie Cunningham, Muhammad Cunningham, Dennis Muhammad or Dennis M. Thomas. He has relatives in Atlanta and connections to Irvington, Newark and Easton, Pa.
Cunningham is considered to be armed and dangerous. Anyone spotting him or knowing his whereabouts is to call 911 or the FBI.
EAST ORANGE – Details of East Orange police officers returning fire on and injuring a suspect here March 23 are missing some details as of press time – except that the injured person has been treated and subsequently charged with aggravated assault and related weapons charges. The N.J. Office of the Attorney General is also investigating the exchange.
ECPO Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly said on March 27 that EOPD officers had conducted a motor vehicle stop within their city at about 5:22 p.m. that Saturday. Officers then ordered the vehicle’s occupants out – when one of them started to flee the scene.
Police officers told county detectives that they began chasing that man until he turned around, pulled out a handgun and fired at them. One officer fired back, striking the suspect.
Local EMS medics, who were promptly called, rushed the suspect to a local hospital to treat his injury. He was later charged with aggravated assault of a police officer and unlawful possession of a weapon.
The ECPO, following N.J. Attorney General guidelines, has turned over the gunfire exchange part of the incident to state detectives – as whenever a law enforcement officer discharges a firearm.
The suspect’s identity as of press time has not been disclosed. The traffic stop location and the outcome of the stopped vehicle’s other occupants have not been stated.
ORANGE – The City of Orange’s 3 p.m. March 28 commitment to follow Superior Court-Newark Judge Robert Gardner’s order to redraw the candidates’ placement on the May 14 election ballot became “Must See TV” on YouTube.
Municipal Clerk Joyce Lanier, with an assistant from her office at her side, redrew the three mayoral candidates ballot placement and placement for the three at-large council candidates in a 15 minute, 56 second video clip. The drawing, like the initial March 22 drawing, was held in City Hall’s Council Chamber.
Lanier painstakingly had the six candidates or their representatives and other observers inspect the card sheet with the candidates’ names, evenly tore along the sheet’s perforations and folded the candidates’ cards.
Before inserting the three mayoral candidates’ cards and making three turns before the assistant picks one, Lanier asked, at every step, if anyone wanted to inspect the cards, the drum and if anyone had any questions.
The three mayoral candidates – Quantavia L. Hilbert, April Gaunt-Butler and Dwayne D. Warren – had their name cards picked in order and placed on an oversized ballot on an easel. There were several people taking still photos or moving pictures with smartphones, professional cameras or a video camera – for a reason.
Judge Gardner, on March 26, enjoined any public official from banning photography or recording in any public area of City Hall. He also determined that Lanier had “improperly and unlawfully” conducted the draw.
Gardner received a complaint from Hilbert’s attorneys on two counts. The first was that Assistant City Attorney Aaron Mizrahi had taken a cell phone out from one of Hilbert’s attorneys and stood in front of the drum during Lanier’s first draw. Mizrahi claimed that there was an executive order barring the recording of city business – an order that was found to be non-existent.
Hilbert’s legal council also claimed that “the slip of paper containing Warren’s name appears to have been cut at an angle on the top left corner, which would give it a physically distinguishing characteristic noticeable at the touch of the deputy city clerk’s hand.” (The said deputy clerk March 22, was replaced by another clerk’s office staff member for the March 28 drawing.)
WEST ORANGE – It is unlikely that high schooler Khameryn Oliver will be able to attend the April 13 funeral for her parents Rhakeem Oliver and Shavonn Stewart-Oliver.
Khameryn, 17, has been in an induced coma since being admitted to the Jersey City Medical Center after a five-car collision on Kearny’s stretch of the Newark-Jersey City Turnpike 7 a.m. March 16. Her parents were taking her to a volleyball tournament as part of the Paramus Catholic High School team. She is also a member of the PCHS track team.
Father Rhakeem was declared dead at the crash scene. Mother Shavonn, an assistant principal of Passaic School 6, died in a local hospital about a week later.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Regional Fatal Accident Unit and the Kearny Police Department Traffic Unit are investigating the March 16 crash.
Jamaal Stewart, Shavonn’s brother, has established a GoFundMe.com page to help with the funeral and Khameryn’s medical expenses.
SOUTH ORANGE – Peter Shapiro, who rode the crest of a reform wave into becoming Essex County’s first County Executive, had died here at home March 29. Wife Bryna Linett said Shapiro, 71, had respiratory failure after a long bout with lung disease.
A majority of participating registered county voters selected the off-line Democrats United in Essex Shapiro as its executive in 1978 over a Democratic Committee. The reform-minded Shapiro was re-elected in 1982 but went on to an unsuccessful 1985 gubernatorial campaign against Republican Thomas H. Kean, Sr. and lost a third executive term bid in 1986 to Democrat-turned-Republican Nicholas Amato.
A majority of voters had approved a charter change in 1977 which replaced a strong board of freeholders and county supervisor format with a freeholder-strong executive model. Shapiro, 26 in 1977-78, was in his second them as the youngest General Assemblyman, representing South Orange, Irvington and Newark’s West Ward.
Born in Newark April 18, 1952, Shapiro was among the Columbia High School Class of 1969. He was first known as the organizer of an anti-Vietnam War protest that the school suspended him over – and was reinstated after the ACLU-NJ interceded.
Shapiro returned to New Jersey with a degree in economics and history from Harvard and managing editorship in the “Harvard Crimson” – and a job as Gov. Brendan Byrne’s DOT Commissioner. He left NJDOT to run for assemblyman six months later.
The reform-minded Shapiro, while county executive, decentralized county services from Newark to other towns. and promoted shared services with municipalities. Out of office, Shapiro worked for Citibank and the New York-based Swap Financial Group. He was also a member of Caldwell’s Green Brook Country Club.
Son Samuel and sisters Nancy and Margaret Shapiro are also among his survivors. Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Home, of Livingston, who is handling Shapiro’s arrangements, has not announced a public memorial as of press time.
MAPLEWOOD – South Orange-Maplewood Board of School Estimate has decided to spin off the controversial Ritzer Field renovation project March 18 in the hope of passing the now-$26 million bond issue to fund other school property projects.
The two-town board, after two previous meeting attempts, had found themselves in a 3-3 tie vote, which killed the original $29 million bond issue package The South Orange – Maplewood Board of Education had meanwhile unanimously approved the Ritzer project, 9-0.
The BSE, made up of educators and elders from both towns, now wants the BOE to approve the now $25 million bond issue authorization at the latter’s upcoming public meeting. The bond issue is part of the previously approved $157 million Long Range Facilities Plan.
BSE had done what SOMSD Board Administrator Eric Burnside said was impossible: separate the $4 million Ritzer Field project. Such a cut, said Burnside, would add three months of project reapplication to the NJ Department of Education and keep the board from meeting USDOE Title IX requirements.
The Ritzer project, to Columbia High School’s north here, would have had their artificial turf field doubled from one to two. The question reignited the artificial versus grass field pros and cons debate.
The bond issue had been needed, with or without Ritzer, due to inflation and supply chain issues affecting the LRFP.
BLOOMFIELD – A township man went from approaching a teenage girl on a local street to being held in Newark’s Essex County Correctional Facility on criminal contact and endangerment charges the same day, March 28.
Kenny Gastone, 54, is being held on charges of criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child through sexual contact. He is being held without bail.
The victim told Bloomfield Police Special Victims Unit officers that she was walking home that Thursday when Gastone approached her.
She said that Gastone had exposed himself, “touched himself inappropriately and asked her a lewd question” before he left the scene.
Bloomfield Police Chief George Ricci said his officers promptly responded, identified and apprehended Gastone.
MONTCLAIR – An SUV driver from Paterson, who surrendered himself to Montclair Police Headquarters March 14, is to return here at Montclair Municipal Court May 21 over a Feb. 29 traffic dispute and assault on an Upper Montclair street.
Steven Ruiz-Santana, 23, turned himself in in response to his being charged with second degree aggravated assault of a 53-year-old man who accused him of illegally passing a stopped school bus at Norwood Avenue near Norman Road.
The victim and other witnesses said that Ruiz-Santana was driving a white Dodge Durango south on Norwood after a northbound school bus had stopped to drop off Nishuane School students that Thursday afternoon. He was accused of disregarding the bus’ deployed stop sign and stop lights and drove past.
The victim said he saw and was able to stop Ruiz-Santana’s Dodge. Ruiz-Santana got out of his Durango and an argument ensued. Witnesses said he had felled the victim with a closed fist to his face.
Police and Montclair EMS arrived at 4 p.m. to find the victim still on the ground and Ruiz-Santana a couple of blocks later; he had fled the scene but stopped to call police a block later. EMS took the victim to Paterson’s St. Joseph’s Medical Center for treatment.
The ECPO has since taken over prosecution. Ruiz-Santana said that he has since retained an attorney.
GLEN RIDGE – Members of the Montclair State University community came to Hackensack University Meridian Mountainside Medical Center’s auditorium here March 23 to pay tribute to student Ashton Myles Clatterbuck. Clatterbuck, 22, was a transgendered journalism and political science junior hoi had committed suicide early on Feb. 27.
Clatterbuck had expressed sorrow in Nex Benedict’s Feb. 8 suicide after the nonbinary teen being assaulted in an Owosso, Okla. high school girls room. He was also writing an op-ed piece on gender discrimination for his hometown Lancaster, Pa. newspaper – but never finished. He was the fourth transgendered Lancaster County youth to commit suicide in a 16 month period.
Clatterbuck was the first transgender person to enroll into his local Mennonite high school in Lancaster. Friends at the auditorium March 23 said that he had a passion for social justice.
The tribute kicked off OutMontclair’s Trans Day of Visibility at the auditorium. Panel discussions, moderated by trans activists, and workshops were held for 6.5 hours. Live music and food vendors were also on hand.
“We have an obligation to stand up,” said guest speaker State Attorney General Matthew Platkin, of Montclair. “Either you believe in equality or you don’t. We stand up for this community every time, at every opportunity, because we believe, I believe, in equality.”
Ashton’s family held a memorial in Lancaster March 16. A GoFundMe.com page was set up by mother Melinda as his memorial fund.
BELLEVILLE – Relatives and friends of Teresita Saavedra Cenit are preparing her funeral arrangements in the wake of her being fatally struck along Union Avenue here March 22.
The ECPO and Belleville Police Chief said that Cenit, 78, was crossing on the avenue’s 100 block when she was hit at 8:53 a.m. that Friday. She was rushed to RWJBarnabas Health Clara Maass Medical Center – where she died 90 minutes later.
The driver stayed at the scene and was interviewed by detectives. He has not been charged as of press time. Traffic, including buses on the NJTransit 74U route, were locally detoured during the crash scene investigation.
Cenit – who was born Jan. 2, 1946, Manilia, RP – into a family of eight children. She was a restorative technician at the Paramus Veterans Memorial Home for 25 years before retiring.
The Meals on Wheels and Bible Church International volunteer is survived by children Prometheus, Clytemnestra and Agamemnon; siblings Antonio, Julian, Jr., Danilo, Virgilio, Macaria, Ramon and Veronica; eight grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
Cenit’s services are set for 11 a.m. April 13 at the Bible Church International, 791 Rt. 10, Randolph.
NUTLEY – It is not only the Nutley Board of Education looking over the shoulders of its hired financial auditors lately. Eyes from Nutley’s Commissioners, the Essex County Superintendent of Schools and the N.J. Department of Education are also anticipating the auditors’ findings later this season.
Board President Salvatore Ferraro, at its March 25 meeting, said that the audit is continuing, and further information will be available at the proper time. Ferraro added that he was aware of rumors circulating about the township of Nutley Public Schools’ finances the last month.
Schools Superintendent Kent Bania said that the scheduled NPS springtime activities, from concerts to the Nutley High School graduation, will continue with either no interruptions or a minimal amount.
When a resident asked about finances at the Spring Garden and Washington elementary schools, Ferraro said that these matters included personnel issues which neither he nor the board would comment about. Another resident, who asked if the rumored financial problems include repairing the fire-damaged Lincoln School auditorium, Ferro said that the district had received money from their insurance carrier and that repairs are to be made over the summer.
The latest independent annual audit, through June 30, 2023, stated that NPS spent $11.4 million more than it took in. Its capital reserve fund swooned from $1.66 million to $21,258 and its maintenance reserve budget was down to $40. NJDOE sent a warning notice to NPS that the latter has a potential budget deficit heading towards June 30, 2024.
