TOWN WATCH
NEWARK – Mayor Ras Baraka completed his changing of the Department of Public Safety’s leadership Nov. 12 by promoting Capt. Leonardo Carillo as the new Deputy Director of Police Operations.
Carillo, that Tuesday, was promoted to Sharonda Morris’ old job. Baraka cited the former captain’s work with the police’s Consent Decree Unit for his elevation.
The captain had helped establish the William Mobile Ashby Community Care and Training Center as part of the re-established $49 million Newark Police Training Academy. The Ashby Center and the training academy opened at 695 Bergen St. Oct. 1.
The community center and training academy replaced the former William H. Brown Academy of the Arts and Bergen Street School. The 1900-era building was demolished in 2023 after it suffered a fire in 2017. Newark Public School had cited its condition in closing the building in 2010 and folding parts of the arts academy into the new Belmont-Runyon Elementary School and Arts High School.
Morris was elevated to the city’s Chief of Police – the top uniform position in the public safety department’s police division.
Former NPD chief Emanuel Miranda, Sr., was meanwhile appointed as Public Safety Director. Miranda had to replace his chief’s dress uniform for a business suit since the post is a civilian role.
Miranda succeeded Fritz G. Frage, who, after two years as public safety director, decided to tap into his New Jersey State Police retirement plan.
IRVINGTON – A township man will most likely be having Thanksgiving dinner at Newark’s Essex County Correctional Center after his Nov. 24 arrest for allegedly shooting at Irvington police officers.
Kevin Sanders, 48, was scheduled to be arraigned at State Superior Court-Newark Nov. 25 and be formally charged with weapons possession and possession thereof for an unlawful purpose. Further charges from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and whether bail is set is pending.
Irvington police officers who arrived by 673 Chancellor Ave. and Sheridan Street that Sunday afternoon told township public safety director Tracy Bowers and ECPO detectives that they saw Sanders with a handgun in his possession.
They said that Sanders, instead of heeding their command to stop, ran away. IPD officers that Sanders fired a gunshot at them while he fled.
An all points bulletin was issued – which Newark and state police responded by dispatching some of their own patrols. (Irvington is among municipalities served by New Jersey State Police joint task forces.)
Sanders, said Bowers, was “apprehended after an extended search.” When and where he was found remain unavailable as of press time. An ECPO Crime Scene Investigation unit remained at Chancellor and Sheridan Sunday.
EAST ORANGE – If you thought that the official who, as school board president here, voted in 2018 to have a new East Orange School District building named after her state government boss was not kosher or halal, a state panel has just agreed with you.
The N.J. Department of Education’s School Ethics Commission in Trenton Nov. 21 ruled that Terry Swanson-Tucker should not have voted to name the Columbian School/George Washington Carver Institute’s $41 million replacement as the Sheila Y. Oliver Academy here in the Fifth Ward.
Swanson-Tucker, as EOSD Board of Education President, voted twice Dec. 11, 2018, for the renaming. How and why the then-eight-year board member voted twice is not immediately clear.
The board president, said the ethics commission, should not have recused herself on the renaming to begin with. Swanson-Tucker, in 2018, was also the late Oliver’s Chief of Staff in the state lieutenant governor’s office.
Having an EOSD school named after Oliver was – and is – fitting. The former EOSD board member and (narrowly) unsuccessful mayoral candidate rose to the Essex County Commissioner Board and as 34th District State Assemblywoman. The much-missed Oliver, 71, who became the first African American woman as Assembly Speaker and Lt. Governor, died Aug. 1, 2023.
Those in Oliver’s office who testified before the ethics commission and, in 2020, an Administrative Law Judge said that Swanson-Tucker’s naming of the new school after her boss was “100-percent her idea.” Oliver herself did not know of the honor until after the 2018 vote.
Some “Local Talk” readers may remember public speaker Virginia Jeffries calling out Swanson-Tucker’s conflict of interest at the city’s school board meeting after the vote. Jefferies filed a complaint with the School Ethics Board May 17, 2019.
The state panel, on Dec. 17, 2019, found probable cause in Jeffries’ complaint but referred the matter to a state Office of Administrative Law judge. The OAL judge, on Oct. 23, 2023, found Swanson-Tucker being in conflict of interest and recommended her censure. Swanson-Tucker has long left the school board.
ORANGE – The Woody Home for Services here has announced the Nov. 19, death of former city resident Toy Ellen Banks Hicks. She, her late sister Pamela Banks and their parents had lived here from the late 1940s into the late 1960s.
Hicks, 77, was born to father Elwood T. “Bansky” Banks and Alice Y. Banks in Newark Feb. 26, 1947. The family would soon move to Orange, where younger sister Pamela was born.
Toy Ellen and Pamela Banks had respectively graduated from the Orange High School classes of 1965 and 67 and moved south for collegiate education. T.E. Banks went on to graduate from Howard University; Pamela graduated from Greensboro, N.C.’s Bennett College.
T.E. Banks stayed in Washington, D.C. as a30-year plus technical writer for CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield. She married Lewis “Buddy” Hicks during that tenure.
T. E. Banks Hicks was the last of the Orange Banks’ generation here. Elwood, Alice and Pamela had all predeceased her. Pamela – who returned to New Jersey as a special education teacher for 30 years – died in North Plainfield Jan. 26, 2023 at 74 years old.
Toy Ellen’s survivors include niece Alison L. Banks-Merrick and goddaughters Patricia W. Fullilove and Sharon W. Gaddy. Woody’s has arranged for a private cremation; there were no memorial service.
WEST ORANGE – Township police detectives are investigating disruption claims by one of two contrasting protest groups who were demonstrating at a Pleasantville intersection here Nov. 13.
The West Orange Police Department’s officers, said township spokesman Joseph Fagan, did not break up the protests at the intersection of Ellis Street and Forest Avenue that Wednesday night. They are trying to verify who did according to the six pro-Palestinian groups’ statements.
Most of the 100 demonstrators were from West Orange for Humanity, American Muslims for Palestine, Anti-Zionist Minyan-N.J. Chapter, Palestinian Assembly for Palestine-Awda N.J. Chapter, Party for Socialism and Liberation N.J. and Teaneck for Palestine. A smaller pro-Israeli group counter protested.
The dueling groups converged on 270 Pleasant Valley Way – Cong. Ohr Torah – which was the site of a My Israeli Home seminar. My Israeli Home promotes the purchasing or leasing of land and/or residences existing or proposed in the West Bank. That Wednesday night’s seminar was one of eight held in the Metropolitan New York City area.
The protesters claim that My Israeli Home and similar businesses perpetuate the stealing of Palestinian-owned property, condoned by the Israeli government, since 1948. There has been an increase of reports of Israeli settlers harassing and or killing Palestinian residents and vandalism of live farms since the start of the Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli-Hamas War.
One protester told WOPD that he was assaulted by four counter-protestors, including one with pepper spray and the second with a flashlight.
ELECTION UPDATE: Outgoing Council President Rev. William “Bill” Rutherford received 789 write-in votes according to Essex County Clerk-Elections Division’s Nov. 20 certified results. A State Superior Court-Newark judge ruled that Rutherford should be off the Nov. 5 General Election ballot Sept. 11 for insufficient petition signatures.
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD – The Underhill Sports Complex, as of Jan. 1, will be open to the public 6-8 a.m. and 3-9 p.m. – but not between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. school hours on weekdays.
South Orange-Maplewood School District Superintendent Jason Bing, citing a need “to strike a balance between usage and efficiency,” announced the new hours at the two-town board of education meeting Nov. 18. Bing said that he was concerned that non-scholastic use would prematurely wear Underhill’s artificial turf field. The other reason is from the occasions which had resulted in the calling in of Maplewood police.
“Unfortunately, our students and staff continue to experience negative interactions with individuals who refuse to leave the field upon request when schools use it,” added Bing.
Underhill field and sports complex will also be open to the public 6 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends. SOMSD reserves the right to modify those hours when scholastic sports events and/or physical education classes are held.
Other uses – including public pick-up games, personal training and other private business sessions and casual public walking, jogging and running – are not to overlap. Bing was referring to the May 15, 2022 renovation of Lynn Profeta Field, grandstands and press box.
The new Underhill hours are built on the Feb. 26 – May 15 operating hours where public groups using the property must gain access permission and leave on or by 9 p.m. This revision was a result of when scholar-athlete Moussa Fofana was shot dead and a fellow Columbia High School injured there 9:40 p.m. Sunday, June 6, 2021.
ELECTION UPDATE: Montclair voters wrote in outgoing Township Committeewoman Jamaine Cripe 47 votes on Nov. 5’s General Election. Cripe lost her re-election bid in the June 4 Democratic Party primary.
BLOOMFIELD – Two township elders were sworn in – and two outgoing colleagues congratulated for their service – here in a public swearing-in at the Bloomfield Council Chamber Nov. 26.
Three of the changes – Jenny Mundell and Monica Charris-Tabares’ inauguration and Theodore “Ted” Gamble ‘s departure – had been since Nov. 5’s election results were certified.
The public, however, will be anticipating word Tuesday night on who will succeed Councilman Richard Rockwell. Rockwell – who was first appointed to succeed Essex County Commission-bound Carlos Pomares in 2018 and was elected in 2019 and 2022 – tendered his resignation Nov. 21.
Mundell is to become Bloomfield’s first woman mayor, eventually succeeding now-State Assemblyman Michael Venezia. Charris-Tabares, who previously ran for a Bloomfield Board of Education seat, succeeds At-Large Councilman and Mayor Gamble.
A majority of General Election township voters chose Mundell, who started this year as First Ward Councilwoman, and Tabares over a Republican ticket. They ran on a platform endorsed and backed by (still) Bloomfield Democratic Committee Chairman Venezia.
Venezia, who was elected as a 34th District Assemblyman, wanted Mundell appointed as mayor in January – but a majority of the Township Council voted for Gamble instead. Gamble’s mayoral days became numbered, however, when Mundell topped his vote count in the June 4 primary.
MONTCLAIR – Mourning for Montclair Public Schools administrator Jennifer Goforth, whose funeral arrangements were incomplete as of press time, has extended out to Newark, West Orange and Sumter, SC since the district announced her death here on Nov. 22.
“It is with profound sadness that we inform the Montclair community of the sudden passing of Mrs. Jennifer Goforth, or beloved STEM Director,” declared the MPS website that Friday afternoon. “Details regarding memorial arrangements and opportunities to honor her legacy will be shared when they become available.” The district made counselors available for students and staff Nov. 25.
Goforth had been Director of K-12 STEM and Testing since her July 2014 promotion. She was interpreting state math and science test results since October and had been advising teachers and department heads of testing improvements. She also had to serve as enforcer of the N.J. Department of Education’s 2017-18 implementation of the new PARCC test battery.
Goforth’s first employment with MPS was as a mathematics teacher, employing the AVID program, 2001-06. She highlighted in her LinkedIn page that the 20-year education administrator and a 15-year math teacher ‘to Grades 8-12 and in college . . . in rural, suburban and urban areas from Sumter, SC to Montclair and Newark.”
At the time of her death, Goforth was a math professor and Coordinated Algebra Support Instructor for Rutgers University’s education majors since September 2002. She was also a Newark Public Schools vice principal of curriculum and instruction 2009-2014.
The masters in art and teaching graduate from Detroit’s Marygrove College was also a West Orange High School AVID Coordinator 2006-09. She had a principal’s certification from Kean University.
GLEN RIDGE – “Discretion is the Better Part of Valor,” may well sum up the borough’s zoning board of adjustment postponing its decision on the Glen Ridge Country Club’s plan to cut 56 trees by its border with Bloomfield’s Grove Street and replace them with 45 new trees from its Nov. 14 meeting to Dec. 12.
Glen Ridge Deputy Administrator and Planning Director told a reporter Nov. 20 that GRCC wanted time to review the “borough engineer’s response” to their revised application from Nov. 14. Borough Arborist Richard Wolowicz added that he wants to see the engineer’s memo for its impact on a tree felling permit that he has not to date approved.
DeLine and Borough Administrator Michael Zichelli are named on Glen Ridge’s website as its engineering staff.
The country club had applied for permission to fell 56 trees on its property to allow for more member facilities. The amenities are to include a children’s poll and “a paved area” that would be within 13 feet of its property line – and not the borough’s prescribed 100 feet.
The country club’s Ridgewood Avenue entrance Nov. 16 was the site of 10 people from here and Sustainable Montclair protesting the tree cutting.
BELLEVILLE – Those who remember the free newspapers that circulated here 2000-04 can have the late Clark Schor, Esq. who died here Nov. 12, to thank.
Schor was a practicing attorney from the Clara Maass Medical Center Professional Building on Franklin Avenue and a Belleville Historic Commissioner when he started publishing newspapers as alternatives to the township government’s official papers. He published stories of questionable practices of Mayor Angela Perschia’s administration and of the Township Council.
The former Township Council public speaker was also campaign manager of council members who opposed respective First and Second ward council members Angelo Risoli and Thomas Fuscaldo.
Ward voters replaced Risoli and Fuscaldo by 2004 by members of incoming mayor Raymond M. Kimble’s ticket. Kimple reappointed Schor on the BHC July 1, 2014.
Clark Bennett Schoor, 79, started his practice here after being admitted to the state bar in 1974. The lifelong Bellevillite had earned his MBA from Philadelphia’s Wharton School and Juris Doctorate from Rutgers School of Law.
He and wife Arlene had settled in the Second Ward to raise daughters Jessica and Terissa. Two grandsons and three granddaughters are also among his survivors. Parents Theodore and Esther and brother Arthur Lee Schor predeceased him.
Schor’s last rites, arranged by Nutley’s S.W. Brown & Son Funeral Home, were private. Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
NUTLEY – Retired Nutley Police Sgt., Christopher Lamond, 59, who died here Nov. 16, lived law enforcement’s “To Serve and Protect” motto for most of his adult life.
Lamond, who was born here Oct. 20, 1965, successfully pursued his criminal justice associates degree from Bergen County Community College after graduating with the Nutley High School Class of 1983. He started out as an Essex County Police officer before joining “Nutley’s Finest” in 1990.
“Hulka” was a 27-year NPD and PBA Local No. 33 member before retiring as Sergeant in 2017. He continued on as a Special Police Officer for Clifton and worked security at the Meadowlands Sports & Exposition complex – but he had a life off the beat and beyond the badge.
Christopher James Lamond coached and advocated for the preservation of youth sports, culminating as President of Nutley East Little League District No. 8 before Nov. 17. He was proud of Antonia, Sofia and Christopher, Jr.’s high school and collegiate accomplishments. The avid Dallas Cowboys and New York Mets fan played his extensive music collection to his children and their friends.
Wife Donna and brother Scott are also among Lamond’s survivors. A viewing was held on Nov. 21 here at the S.W. Brown & Son Funeral Home. His Funeral Mass was held here at Holy Family Church and burial at North Arlington’s Holy Cross Cemetery.
ELECTION UPDATE: Kerry L. Walsh, Stephen Gilberti’s write-in running mate for a board of education seat, drew 51 votes in the Essex County Clerk’s Election Division certified results. Walsh, He placed second in write-ins to Mark Jacobson, who drew 91 votes.
