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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Kearny Cottage Press Release Black/Women's History Months:

During February, for Black History Month and March, for Women's History Month, Kearny Cottage, 63 Catalpa Avenue, Perth Amboy, has been featuring a display of mementos of Addie M. Demby, U. S. Army Private First Class. Ms. Demby served with the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only group of black women to serve overseas during World War II. The women of the 6888th maintained troop morale during World War II by clearing the backlog of mail heading to soldiers overseas. The unit worked around the clock and completed in three months what was expected to take six months. After handling 7 million pieces of mail at the base in Birmingham, England they then went to Rouen, France for a similar job. The admission of black women to the service had been promoted by Eleanor Roosevelt. Perth Amboy collector, Andrew Dunyak, generously offered the exhibit to Kearny Cottage to be displayed and offers it to any serious group and organization to do the same.

Kearny Cottage is open Tuesday and Thursday from 2-4 p.m and the last Sunday of the month 2-4 p.m.

For information call Vilma Novak 732-675-8826

Monday, February 28, 2011

Calling All Artists By Tracy Jordan

The City of Perth Amboy has decided to move the management of the Arts Gallery from the Business Improvement District to yet-to-be-created Arts Council, made up of volunteer citizens.


The Perth Amboy Gallery for the Arts has been reassigned as a program to be managed by the Perth Amboy Recreation Department effective January 1, 2011. A public forum for input from any local artists was held at the gallery on Feb. 16. Recreation Department Director Ken Ortiz and Lis Mery Ramirez, Assistant Recreation Supervisor and Municipal Alliance Coordinator, moderated the discussion. About 40 artists and community members attended.


Stated goals of the forum were: developing an overall Art Plan for the city, designing programs, classes and exhibits, scheduling and planning of art-related events throughout the city, offering artists physical spaces to develop their talents, developing action items and ideas that can be implemented to encourage more creative expression the city and finally, building ways to achieve more economic activity in the town through the production of art. Also, this forum was the first step in collecting information to create a local artist registry.



When encouraged, participants called out different artistic needs for the city that matched many of the stated goals.



Regarding specific project ideas, audience suggestions included the following: a Rockette-style “Capitol Kick Line” at City Hall to highlight the nationally significant historical nature of our City Hall building as well as the nationally historical events that have occurred in Perth Amboy. Sounds kooky to have a thousand people kicking around the High Street circle? Well, maybe, but this annual event is extraordinarily successful in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with thousands flocking to the town and forming the kick-line, as well as shopping, eating, touring the city’s sites and day tripping to the town. Another suggestion was the longer term goal of holding an annual citywide festival similar to “Artstown” in Reno, Nevada, where the entire town is transformed into a huge arts festival for one solid week. This was suggested by a current resident who had lived in Reno for many years and experienced first hand the growth of “Artstown”. Repeatedly, artists in the room asked for space not just to work in and exhibit their artwork, but spots to “hang out” with other artists, as that is an important part of the creative process. A young multi-disciplined artist named Samantha said, “Being with other artists makes you a better artist.” The underutilization of the Raritan Bay YMCA’s new 188-seat theatre was stressed as a performance space just waiting to be brought to life.



The beach was noted as another underutilized art performance and display area. The mention of the beach triggered Ms. Ramirez to describe a fantastic event that occurred recently in Belmar: refrigerator doors were placed upright in the beach sand in a circle. Magnetized words were arranged in poems on the doors.



The massive formation stood there day and night for two days. The title of the exhibit was Poem-Henge. (See: belmar.com/arts/poem-henge/) More poetry readings, dance performances, student art exhibits, communal art exhibits where various artists all contribute one piece, rather than exhibits consisting of just one famous artist’s work and other ideas came pouring from the participants. It was an upbeat, energetic session.



One man, who creates specialized frames for poets to market their work, described an open mic night that he is starting soon at Arias Lounge. Another pair in the audience, who identified themselves as Reynaldo and Maria, introduced their new corporation, Expresiones, a company dedicated to helping artists with the “business aspects of art”, such as marketing, sales, budgeting, business plan development, and pursuing grant monies.



Maria said frequently, “The infrastructure isn’t there” while Reynaldo added, “That issue plus artists sometimes don’t grasp the entrepreneurial side of art. We will aid people with that.”



More public comments included the request for a multi-perspective approach to the development of an “arts scene” in town, the need to keep our eyes on the ball and not get “left out” of grant funding opportunities, the use of the 92nd Street Y in New York City as a good example of how limitless the use of space at a YMCA can be when geared toward the arts (see www.92y.org). More local examples of successful programs to explore that were mentioned by the audience: the Baron’s Art Center of Woodbridge, the Artist’s Guild of Woodbridge and also project “Riverwalk” by Albas Cabas in New Brunswick, where contemporary murals were created along the Raritan River. Even more ideas came for a “dance mobile”, using the next-door basketball courtyard as a stage or dance floor and holding a month-long, outdoor summertime dance series as Lincoln Center in NYC has done for years (and gets sold out every night).



The endeavor is not without its challenges. When asked, What municipal sites are available - where would all these events be specifically happening?, Mr. Ortiz replied “This (the Gallery) is the space we have a the moment.”



When another audience member asked, Will there be a director and/or curator?, Ms. Ramirez responded, “We want to see an Arts Council start and the Council will be in charge. We would eventually want the Council to become an incorporated entity and own the Gallery.”



When asked who would manage the formation of a citywide arts plan, bringing the arts to more public spaces, holding more artistic events, finding space for artists to work, hanging out and giving or take classes, operating an art gallery and finally, creating more economic activity in town from art, Ms. Ramirez said the Arts Council, with a stated time frame of May to September for plan development and October 2011 as the month for a completed, concrete plan.



Councilman Fernando Gonzalez was present and commented, “This needs leadership. I hope you two are going to lead and host more of these meetings. You both are going to hold more meetings – announce your dates.”



In conclusion, here is some background on the arts in Perth Amboy, both from the recent past and concluding with the more distant past.



The current Perth Amboy Gallery for the Arts started with a letter sent to former Mayor Joseph Vas requesting a space for Ms. Olga Bautista, previous Gallery Director, to continue creating her sculpture work. That started the gallery in its original location on Front Street. The gallery moved to Reade Street due to municipal budget cuts.



Ms. Bautista suggested the Reade Street location to Mayor Diaz, who supported the idea. With the help of the Public Works Department, the Reade Street space was renovated with Ms. Bautista’s guidance on lighting, floor color, studio space and other features. The Reade Street location had its grand opening on April 25, 2008 and operated there for approximately two years until January 1, 2011.



From November to December there was an exhibit of Perth Amboy’s native son, the world renowned Kenneth Hari. It was considererd spectacular. Ms. Bautista also helped found the annual “Festival de los Andes”, a yearly celebration of the culture and heritage of Andean indigenous people. This festival has been growing in popularity for the past five years. She also brought Perth Amboy exhibits to other locations, such as hospitals, community centers and many more sites, participated in the city’s Blueberry Festival, offered educational opportunities for youth and adults to learn music and the arts and arranged the donation of the gallery space to other local organizations for their events, classes and meetings. She said she is currently renting a studio to continue working on her sculptures in bronze, clay, marble and various mediums. She is also giving art classes to high school students and adults.



If we now turn the clock way back, you might be amazed to learn the incredible background of the arts in Perth Amboy. Perth Amboy was indeed the site of either the first or second art gallery in the United States of America. The Arts Council may consider the following facts in their fundraising and programming efforts. This colonial “gallery” was set up by the painter John Watson (1685-1768), in or shortly after 1730, and contained works by both Watson and European artists which Watson acquired on a trip back to Scotland in that year. The gallery or “picture house”, as it was called, adjoined his residence on Water Street, just south of Market. This gallery was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. By the way, the other contender for the first art gallery in the US is painter John Smibert's gallery, which he opened in Boston in 1730.



Also in Perth Amboy, the site of Eagleswood had existed. This was first set up as an experimental community (the Raritan Bay Union) in the 1850s, and quickly became an artists' colony in the 1860s. George Inness, the famous landscape painter, lived and worked here from 1864 to 1867. Louis Comfort Tiffany (yes, that Tiffany) studied painting with Inness here. His house and studio stood on the site of the carwash on Convery Boulevard near Smith Street. Sadly, it was torn down in the 1990s.



If you wish to serve on the Arts Council or be included in the Artists Registry, please contact Liz Mery Ramirez at 732-826-1690 ext. 4325.



Additional Note: An open mic started about one month ago at Troy Turkish Mediterranean Restaurant, 547 Kennedy St,Perth Amboy New Jersey, Corner of Route 35 N, two blocks past Walgreens. It is every Wednesday night with start time 8:00 p.m., sign up at 7:30. There are some very talented singers and musicians performing and the cuisine is excellent. BYOB. Troy telephone: 732 826-3326, with Open Mic Coordinator Miss Anna Lawrence, singer/guitarist, at missannalawrence@gmail.com.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

It is with a very heavy heart that I must report

the untimely demise of a gentleman and journalist. Mr. William George, Editor and Publisher of the Amboy Beacon died last night. He will be missed by many, those whom he touched daily and those who would read the labor's of his love on a weekly basis. He was passionate about life in the Amboy's and his dedication to the community was evident in his writings. I am honored to have known him and will miss him dearly.

The Beacon will continue in his absence but I ask that his readers be patient in this difficult time for all of us.

In his memmory I would ask all his readers to become more involved in their communites and to become Beacons of the Amboy's.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

HOSPITAL WITHIN A HOSPITAL’

Long-Term Acute Care Addressed By CareOne

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 9, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — It has been called “a hospital within a hospital,” but it is

more than that.

Operating on the second-floor of Raritan Bay Medical Center’s Perth Amboy

Division, New Brunswick Avenue, the CareOne LTACH (Long-Term Acute Care

Hospital) is part of Raritan Bay physically but totally-separate

administratively, right down to having its own housekeeping staff.

It also has been called “the wave of the future.”

“Our specialty is critical patients whose stay is longer than 20 days,

especially those who’ve been put on a ventilator,” CareOne Business Development

Manager Michael Fancher explained. “The average hospital stay is four days.

After a regular hospital stay of 15 days, a hospital loses money. It costs

$5,000-a-day to keep someone in an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) in New Jersey,

and as much as $8,500-a-day in New York City.”

Using economies-of-scale, a LTACH is able to bring those costs down

dramatically, although Fancher had no “average” number because each case is

so-different.

“We’re paid under a different scale under Medicare or Medicaid,” he said.

“The average stay here is 25 days, and we have 26 beds total.”

There are 160 credentialed doctors from about a half-dozen hospitals

affiliated with CareOne at Raritan Bay. “We provide an opportunity for

pulmonologists to practice pulmonology,” he said.

Each nurse at CareOne has special certification, and is not part of the

RBMC staff. The only service that CareOne contracts-with Raritan Bay is food

service.

“Every nurse carries a caseload of five acute patients, not nine as is

common in the normal hospital setting,” Fancher said. “The average subacute

caseload can be as high as 15 to 17 patients.”

The CareOne LTACH at Raritan Bay is the first one to open in the area, and

most of its patients are not from Raritan Bay, but from Robert Wood Johnson

University Hospital in New Brunswick.

A regional LTACH facility, CareOne at Raritan Bay receives between 300 and

400 referrals each year, according to CEO Michael Burns.

“We help area hospitals reduce their average Medicare length-of-stay,” he

said. “There are 400 facilities like ours across the country, and they’ve

been-around since the 1970s.

“New Jersey has seven, and we started in 2003,” Burns noted. “We’re all

still here, the original people.”

Many of the patients at CareOne were longtime smokers or have had chronic

pneumonia.

“They’ve been put on a ventilator, and our job is to wean them off of it,”

Fancher said. “Patients who have suffered a stroke, were in a car accident

or had extensive surgery are sent to us from other hospitals to do this.

“When they wake-up, especially if they’re elderly, they can’t get-off the

ventilator,” he explained. “It’s common to have a 30-day stay. We have

someone who’s been here for 100 days, and they’re starting to make-progress.”

Patients at the CareOne LTACH at Raritan Bay are on ventilators

24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, and “wean-trials” are conducted frequently. A

normal hospital has one respiratory team to handle all of its patients on

ventilators, and attempts to wean them off ventilators are infrequent.

CareOne patients range from Age 19 to 93. Some of them suffer from COPD

(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), which presents special problems of its

own.

But Fancher said the CareOne staff accepts all challenges. “We believe that

we can wean anyone off a ventilator, but some just take-longer than

others,” he said.

“Our patients belong in a hospital, not in rehab,” Fancher said. “Our

hospital is specifically-built for this.”

When they leave the CareOne LTACH at Raritan Bay, patients are discharged

to their homes, subacute hospitals or nursing homes “as far-away as Moscow.”

“Patients on ventilators have a 27-percent death-rate nationally,” Burns

noted. “It’s nine-percent here.”

Chuck Sees No Shadow: Early Spring Predicted

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 9, 2011)

STATEN ISLAND, NY — For the 30th time, Charles G. Hogg — a/k/a “Staten

Island Chuck,” — New York City’s Groundhog Ambassador Plenipotentiary, left

his hollowed-out log home at the Staten Island Zoo, Broadway, the morning of

Wednesday, Feb. 2.

In a 7:30 a.m. public appearance, Chuck — who had to be coaxed-out of his

domain by Curator Peter Laline — did not see his shadow, thereby forecasting

an early Spring.

Celebrating his good news, the furry Chuck held a news conference at the

Zoo on his Special Day.

“My success-rate beats the other groundhog celebrities paws-down,” Chuck

declared in a prepared statement. “I’ve been right 23 out of 30 times.

That’s almost a 77-percent success-rate. That amateur (referring to Punxsutawney

Phil) has been right only 39 percent of the time. You know what THAT means?

It means he’s WRONG 61 percent of the time. How he keeps his job, I’ll

never know.”

This year, both longtime prognostigator Punxsutawney Phil and “upstart”

Milltown Mel, making his third appearance, also did not see their shadows,

Chuck noted.

A groundhog seeing his shadow on Groundhog Day would be forecasting six

more weeks of Winter. Chuck is the only genuine groundhog in New York City’s

six zoological parks. Some other zoos use prairie-dogs.

Groundhogs, also called woodchucks and whistle-pigs, are active by day and

eat vegetation, such as grasses, clover and alfalfa. Chuck’s favorite foods

are corn and sweet potatoes.

For 28 years, the Zoo has celebrated Groundhog Day with a breakfast

ceremony, and this year’s celebration was no-different. Even though the Zoo does

not open until 7 a.m., guests started arriving early for the traditional

Groundhog Day breakfast of bagels, pastries, coffee and juice. There was singing,

the recitation of Native American folktales and special groundhog poetry,

and other fun doings.

Brian Laline, Editor of the Staten Island Advance and Peter’s father,

once-again served as Master of Ceremonies, donning a tuxedo and tophat for the

occasion. After John Franzreb trumpeted the horn, the prediction was made.

This year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg again let Peter Laline get the feisty

groundhog out of his home. In 2009, the Mayor grabbed Chuck and pulled him

out, getting nipped in the process.

This year, Bloomberg gingerly held Chuck aloft, after he was handed the

groundhog by his handler, and proclaimed, “There was absolutely no shadow

whatsoever.”

The Mayor was joined by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and

Congressman Michael Grimm. U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer, D-NY, who

appeared in 2007, making the event “Chuck Squared,” was unable to attend

this year.

“There is no better place to be on the morning of Groundhog Day than at the

Staten Island Zoo,” Zoo Interim Executive Director Kenneth Mitchell said.

“The excitement, the anticipation, and all the pomp-and-circumstance that

comes with the notoriety of housing the world’s most-famous groundhog makes

this day a very-special one for Staten Island and for our Zoo.”

Following the ceremony, a special breakfast was held with Chuck in his

honor. This year’s ceremony was presented by Time Warner Cable’s East

Region/NYC.

Groundhog Day began as an ancient Celtic tradition, which maintained that

animals have special powers on Feb. 2 — the midpoint date between the Winter

Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Animals’ sensitivity to changes in the

weather was an invaluable help to farmers as they prepared for the Spring

planting season. Centuries ago, farmers could not be sure if a warming trend in

mid-Winter was just a brief thaw or a sign of early Spring. Their survival

depended upon their crops, and animals’ hibernation behavior was one way to

predict weather.

Chuck’s record of predictions is most-impressive. Chuck’s Groundhog Day

forecasts were correct in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990,

1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008,

2009 and 2010, and incorrect in 1984, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2007. In

1987, Chuck vacationed in Florida out of respect for Punxsutawney Phil’s 100th

Anniversary.

For more information, call (718) 442-3101 or 442-3174.





Census Count Breaks 50,000

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 9, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — Hard work since last March by Mayor Wilda Diaz, members of

her Administration and the mostly-volunteer Complete Count Committee headed by

Office on Aging Director Dianne Roman finally has paid-off.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced last week that the City of Perth Amboy’s

population, according to the numbers gathered for Census 2010, is 50,814, or

3,511 higher than the 47,303 counted for Census 2000, earning an Urbanized

Community designation for the city.

The Urbanized Community designation means that Perth Amboy will be eligible

to compete directly with other cities of 50,000 population or more for

additional federal funding for infrastructure-repair and other programs instead

of having to apply for those grants as part of Middlesex County.

“These are difficult financial times, and this is big for the City of Perth

Amboy,” Diaz said. “Census 2010 affects the distribution of $4 trillion

over the next 10 years, and we needed to break the 50,000 (population

threshhold) to receive the funding that we deserve.”

The Mayor, who was able to achieve that breakthrough after being in-office

only two years while her predecessor, former Mayor Joseph Vas, was unable to

do so after being in-office for 10 years, called her successful effort “my

most-meaningful achievement since I’ve been in-office.”

She said the Census 2010 results “couldn’t have come at a better time,” as

cash-strapped Perth Amboy struggles with higher-than-average rates of

unemployment and housing-foreclosures.

The Urbanized Community designation puts Perth Amboy into the same league

as Woodbridge Township, with a Census 2010 count of 99,585 residents —

slightly-below the Metropolitan Area designation, which starts at 100,000

population.

Appointments Challenged

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 9, 2011)

SOUTH AMBOY — The attorney representing 2010 Independent mayoral candidate

Mary

O’Connor was scheduled to argue early this week before Superior Court Judge

Judge Phillip Paley, sitting in New Brunswick, that Mayor Fred Henry’s

recent appointments should not be made permanent in case she wins an appeal and

becomes Mayor.

Henry last month appointed Camille Tooker as Business Administrator, John

Lanza as City Law Director, Mark Rasimowicz as City Engineer, Terance O’Neill

as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and James Hoebich as Municipal Court

Judge. All but Hoebich held the same positions under former Mayor John O’Leary.

That is “not listening to at-least half the voters who called-for fresh

ideas in City Hall,” O’Connor said in a prepared statement. “Instead, he

(Henry) has reappointed the status-quo.”

Paley ruled last month that Henry was permitted to make permanent appoint

ments after deciding that the former City Council President had won as Mayor

over O’Connor, after reducing a Henry victory-margin from three to two votes

after hearing testimony.

“This election wasn’t decided by a mere two votes,” O’Connor said. “It

was decided by powers who found six ballots in a back room and who cannot

account for the whereabouts of 103 other ballots.”

She said that a “notice has been sent to Judge Paley requesting Henry’s

appointments be limited to interim status until after the appeal has been

heard.”

An appeal of Paley’s decision has been filed by Christopher Struben,

O’Connor’s attorney, who was scheduled to appear before Paley on Monday at 9:30

a.m. with Michael Baker, Henry’s attorney.

“I just want to make-sure that he (Henry) isn’t allowed to give anybody a

permanent position or invest them with any permanent rights because, if

there’s a new election and O’Connor wins, she shouldn’t have to govern with his

people,” Struben said.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

IF YOU SHOVEL IT, IS IT YOURS?

Crackdown On Parking-Space Reservations Follows Snow-Streets Enforcement

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — Everyone has seen it: a chair, a trashcan or even a

card-table placed within a shoveled-out parking-space along a street to reserve it

for the person who did the work removing snow.

Under state law, such obstructions placed along public roadways are

illegal, even-though Deputy Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz admitted last week that

local police have hesitated in the past to enforce the law without someone

filing a complaint.

The traditional method of reserving parking-spaces in snowy weather came

under scrutiny at the City Council Caucus early last week, where other issues

pertaining to snow-removal also were discussed at-length, following the

second major snowfall of the season.

Councilman Fernando Gonzalez, who lives on upscale High Street, complained

that the furniture being put-out to reserve shoveled-out parking-space along

his street “makes the neighborhood ugly.”

“Thank you,” Councilman Joel Pabon Jr. said.

“The whole area looks like a ghetto,” Pabon declared. “You look-out, and

there’s about 50 chairs, tables — even sofas.”

“I’m talking-about your prime areas — High Street, Columbus Circle, Water

Street — where there’s just single-family homes.”

“There’s a suitcase sitting in-front-of my house, but it’s not mine,”

Council President Kenneth Balut said, drawing laughter. “I make a social visit

to see my car because it’s not in-front-of my house.”

Ruiz said the Police Department’s position over the years has been one of

“live and let live,” given the fact that “there’s very-little off-street

parking” in most of the city.

“If we get a call, it’s logged-in, and we go-out and address it,” he said.

“If the neighbors deal with it among themselves, then we won’t enforce it.”

“It’s kind-of a tradition,” resident Alan Silber said during the public

portion. “If you spent an hour digging yourself out, go for groceries, and,

five minutes later, someone else parks there, it’s hard to swallow.

“So you put a chair there,” he said. “It’s a tradition. Half the

parking-spaces are gone when it snows.”

Gonzalez agreed that “we need to maintain some degree of civility,” but

added that “the problem right-now is the snow in the streets.”

City Ordinances require that all vehicles must be removed from 34

specifically-designated snow-emergency routes in order to allow snow-plows and other

removal equipment and emergency vehicles to get-through.

Along such roadways, signs are posted that state, “No Parking When Roads

Are Snow Covered.” Parking in these spaces after the blacktop is coated with

the white stuff could result in vehicles being towed.

Around 8 p.m. last Thursday, some residents learned the hard way about

snow-emergency routes as the plows — accompanied by police cars with sirens

blaring and loudspeakers demanding that the vehicles be removed or risk towing —

took to the streets,

Mayor Wilda Diaz rode in a Public Works Department truck and watched as

towtrucks began removing those cars which remained after the final warnings

were issued.

“I know that times are tough, and that people can’t afford to be towed,”

the Mayor said. “But our streets need to be cleared, and we gave them

plenty-of-time to move.”

City officials strongly-recommend parking vehicles in driveways or on

side-streets not designated as snow-emergency routes as an alternative to

impeding snow-plows and other removal equipment and emergency vehicles from

getting-through. During severe conditions, city lots will be opened, and

parking-fees will be suspended there and along smaller public streets to keep the flow

of traffic moving on major roadways.

City Ordinances also require that snow be removed from sidewalks for

business and commercial properties 24 hours after snow has ceased falling, and

that snow be removed from sidewalks for residential properties 48 hours after

snow has ceased falling.

Snow is removed from most sidewalks in the city in a timely fashion, but

there are always a few holdouts who risk severe consequences from both

summonses issued by city inspectors and insurance claims filed by passersby who can

sustain injuries from falls.

At the Council Caucus, Pabon brought-up the conditions at the BP

gasoline-station at New Brunswick and Madison Avenues.

“It’s a sheet of ice,” he declared.

“I’ve passed-by there, and it’s a very-dangerous situation,” Councilman

Kenneth Gonzalez added. “I’m amazed that it’s allowed to continue.”

“I can assure you that a summons will be issued tomorrow at-the-latest,”

Code Enforcement Director Edward Scala stated.

Scala said his Department has been limited in its ability to enforce

snow-removal because “the city is covered by two inspectors issuing summonses

instead of seven.”

Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach said that other inspectors would

be temporarily-reassigned to enforce snow-removal, including “two part-time

inspectors hired for sanitation regulations,” making “a total of six people

involved in enforcement.”

City snow-removal efforts came under-fire from several quarters, including

members of the Council itself.

Resident Gregory Pabon — no relation of the Councilman — questioned the

lack of snow-removal at “vacant buildings,” asking, “Doesn’t the bank have

an obligation to make-sure it’s shoveled?”

“If we had the staff to do it, I’d recommend that we have a list of

bank-owned properties and require them to remove their snow,” Kenneth Gonzalez s

aid.

“We could get a private entity to dig it out, and then put a lien on the

property,” Fernando Gonzalez said, “We need to get a legal opinion.”

“There’s a procedure that needs-to be followed,” Fehrenbach said. “Also,

does it take less time to issue a summons?

“It’s impossible to do what Mr. (Fernando) Gonzalez says to do without

staff,” he declared.

City Law Director Mark Blunda agreed to research the issue and report-back

to the Council.

Six Performances To Benefit Breast-Cancer Research

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

SOUTH AMBOY — Modern-day Knights do exist, as we all know. In Britain, all

manner of celebrated individuals, from scientists to politicians and

rock-stars, are routinely dubbed Knights by Her Majesty the Queen.

What may not be as-readily-known is that throughout the world, including

here in America, Knights and Dames not only exist, but they also engage in

works of charity for a variety of noble causes.

One such individual is Christopher Deibert, MOC, also known as “Don” Chr

istopher Deibert, most-notably the Director of Music Ministry at St. Mary’s

Church, Augusta Street, where he serves as organist, conducts four liturgical

choirs, a handbell choir, and the St Mary Choral Society, and Executive

Director of the renowned “Music At St. Mary’s” concert series since 2001.

On Sept. 25, 2010, Deibert was installed as a Knight in the Military Order

of the Collar of St. Agatha of Paterno. This organization, based in Italy,

has as its main U.S. focus the raising of both awareness of and funds for

breast-cancer research.

Historically, St. Agatha was persecuted and martyred for her Christian

faith and for not succumbing to the sexual advances of the Roman prefect

Quintianus. After she repeatedly refused him, she was tortured, and her breasts

were removed. The story is that St. Peter appeared to St. Agatha and cured her,

allowing for the regrowth of her breasts. She is the Patron Saint of many,

but most-notably those suffering from breast cancer.

The Military Order of the Collar of St. Agatha of Paterno (MOC) is the

premier Royal Order of the Royal House of Aragon, and serves as its

international arm of philanthropy. In the U.S., its chief endeavor is to raise funds for

breast-cancer research.

Deibert joined the ranks of the North American Chapter of this organization

(officially known as the Commandery of St. Peter Nolasco), whose members

come from as far north as Canada and as far south as Florida to participate in

charitable works.

When Deibert was installed as a Knight of Merit in the Order, he made a

quick decision that he must pro-actively promote the cause of breast-cancer

awareness, and the best way he could do that was through music. As an

accomplished organist and harpsichordist, he has performed concerts throughout New

England and the Greater New York City region, primarily at churches and

universities. So he developed a plan to perform six organ concerts in February at

six different New Jersey churches, the last in his home parish of St. Mary’s

on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 4 p.m. When asked his motivation for doing six

fairly-complex concerts, Deibert replied, “Our faith calls-upon us to give our

time, talent and treasure to corporal works of mercy. I have time and, I

believe, some talent. Using both of these, I hope to be able to generate

significant treasure via contributions, through the intercession of St. Agatha, to

continue the good works of the Order here in the U.S., and support further

breast-cancer research.

“The MOC is a fantastic charitable organization, and under its auspices, I

can do more to help raise awareness and funds for research.”

In an interesting confluence of events, the first of these concerts will

take-place on the Feast Day of St. Agatha, Saturday, Feb. 5, at St. Peter the

Apostle Church, New Brunswick. The balance of the concert dates are Sunday,

Feb. 13, at St. James the Apostle Church, Springfield; Saturday, Feb. 19,

at St.Thomas the Apostle Church, Route 18 South, Old Bridge; Sunday, Feb.

20, at Calvary Episcopal Church, Summit, and Saturday, Feb. 26, at Our Lady of

Fatima Church, Piscataway.

Deibert’s ambitious program includes organ works by Bach, Mendelssohn,

Couperin, Widor and others. Donations in any amount are gratefully-accepted, but

there is a suggested donation of $20. All proceeds are to benefit

breast-cancer research.

After the St. Mary’s concert, there will be a FREE reception and a chance

to meet the performing artist.

For more information on any one or all of these concerts, call (732)

261-8979 or 721-0179.

Public Hearing:

Liberty Pipeline

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

EDISON — The only opportunity for local residents to provide any input to

the federal agencies that can grant permits for the Liberty Natural Gas

Pipeline will be on Thursday, Feb. 10, starting with Informational Displays from

5 to 6 p.m. and a Public Forum from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the N.J. Convention &

Exposition Center, Sunfield Avenue, Raritan Center.

Regardless of anyone’s stand, this is the only time the local community w

ill have a chance to publicly-comment on the project, which calls for a

natural gas pipeline to be installed, starting offshore from Asbury Park, around

Sandy Hook, up onto land at Perth Amboy, and then along the NJ Transit

Coastal Rail Line through Woodbridge Township and Rahway to Linden.

A bus will be provided by Meg Gardner of Clean Ocean Action to transport

Perth Amboy residents to and from the hearing. Anyone who needs a ride should

call (732) 872-0111.

Ex-Vas Aide Sentenced

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — Former Board of Education member Raymond Geneske, a key

political advisor to convicted former Mayor Joseph Vas, was sentenced last week

by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Wigenton, sitting in Newark, to two years

probation and a $10,000 fine in accordance with a guilty pleas he had

entered last year before the Judge.

Geneske, 75, agreed last year to cooperate with federal and state

investigators by testifying truthfully against Vas, 54, and longtime Mayor’s Aide

Melvin Ramos, 53, in federal and state corruption trials of both men.

Geneske also was sentenced to three years probation and fined $5,000 by

Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa, sitting in New Brunswick, after pleading

guilty in June 2009 to a charge of Money-Laundering in connection with the

former Mayor’s 2006 campaign for the Democratic Congressional nomination in

the 13th Congressional District against former Assembly Speaker Albio Sires.

Under oath, Geneske told DeVesa at that time that he solicited $30,000 from

city developer Eddie Trujillo in exchange for a promise from Vas to provide

$3.5 million in Regional Contribution Agreement (RCA) low-income housing

funds.

City employees were used as “conduit-contributors” or “straw-donors” to

hide the source of the $30,000, which exceeded the legal $2,000 federal

campaign contribution limit.

The former Perth Amboy Democratic Chairman and Board of Education member

also pleaded guilty to a parallel federal charge before Wigenton. The

probationary terms will run concurrently.

Wigenton remarked that the use of “straw-donors” is “business-as-usual”

in New Jersey political campaigns.

Geneske testified against Vas and Ramos in their federal trial last

October, but there was no state trial after Vas and Ramos accepted a plea-bargain

and received state sentences concurrent with their federal prison terms.

Federal sentencing for Vas and Ramos is scheduled for Feb. 22 and 23,

respectively.

Neither Trujillo nor the “straw-donors” have been charged by either state

or federal agencies.

Site-Plan Changed

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — The City Council voted unanimously last week to

administratively-concur with changes made by Middlesex Management LLC in their site-plan

for Phase 3A of Harbortown Terrace to shift six buildings with 91 residenti

al units forward to permit public-safety vehicles to go behind them.

The Resolution was moved by Councilman William Petrick, seconded by

Councilman Kenneth Gonzalez and adopted 5-0.

Harbortown Terrace was the scene of a Dec. 19 fire that destroyed a 32-unit

building and displaced over 100 residents.

“This was the subject of a meeting with Middlesex Management last week,”

Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach told Council members during the

Caucus session two days earlier. “The Fire Chief (David Volk) asked them to

give some consideration to changes in their plan for the buildings between High

Street and the railroad tracks.

“In looking-at the plan, the Chief noticed little access to the rear

portion of the buildings and suggested that they shift the rear section forward to

create a fire-lane to give firetrucks an opportunity to get-behind it,”

Fehrenbach said. “That change would also provide police with better access to

the property.”

He noted that by the Council’s adoption of a concurring Resolution, the

change could be implemented with “no need for additional variances.”

Fehrenbach pointed out that “work is already done by the original plan,”

so “the developer would have to demolish what’s there to reconfigure it.”

“I predict that once this is built, a lot of kids will jump-over the

(retaining) wall,” Councilman Fernando Gonzalez said at that time. “You’re

encouraging the kids to take that shortcut.”

Fehrenbach emphasized that the agreement was “not something being-done

behind-closed-doors,” and that the four-foot-high wall was in the original plan.

“I’d like to thank everyone involved in the negotiation,” Petrick, a

former Volunteer Fire Chief, said.

“It was a good initiative on all their parts,” Fehrenbach said.

“That area is pretty-much covered by (railroad) tracks,” Councilman Joel

Pabon Jr. said.

An item of “Correspondence” dated Jan. 13 on the Council’s meeting-agenda

last week indicated that the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has

concluded that “the building design would have met the 1993 BOCA National

Building Code.”

Matey Charges Council ‘Conflict’

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — Local businesswoman Wilma Matey, who was on-vacation recently

when no member of the City Council voted in-favor of awarding a three-year,

$293,356 contract last week for animal-control services offered by Happy

Home Shelter Inc., which she serves as Acting Director, last week accused two

of the Councilmen who voted against it of a conflict-of-interest.

Under advice of City Law Director Mark Blunda, Councilmen William Petrick

and Kenneth Gonzalez — who moved and seconded the measure for discussion

purposes — abstained from voting on it to avoid “the appearance of a potential

conflict-of-interest.”

The Council’s three other members — Councilmen Fernando Gonzalez and Joel

Pabon and Council President Kenneth Balut — all voted “no.”

The “appearance of a potential conflict-of-interest” arose because of a

backyard barbecue held at Matey’s Water Street home.

Matey had contended that the event was a Cinco de Mayo celebration, but

resident Alan Silber countered that the party was identified as a “campaign

rally” on the website of Moving Forward Together, a campaign ticket in the May

2010 election consisting of Council candidates Petrick, Kenneth Gonzalez and

Maria Garcia.

The city’s strict “pay-to-play” regulations are now applicable to Petrick

and Gonzalez as Council members.

Last week, Matey contended that Balut and Fernando Gonzalez “have a

conflict-of-interest” and should abstain from voting on a multiplicity of issues,

including matters dealing with the Police Department, taxi-drivers and

liquor-licenses because of campaign-contributions they had received in the May

2008 election.

“You guys had pig-roasts and everything-else,” she said. “It’s not fair

that I be singled-out.”

“I don’t see any conflict whatsoever,” Blunda said.

Neither Fernando Gonzalez nor Balut went-into-detail about why they cast

negative votes, but Pabon said he voted to reject the proposal because of

“unanswered questions.”

The Happy Home proposal was submitted by Matey almost a year ago after the

Council rejected an earlier proposal by Woodbridge Township to take-over the

city’s animal-control services, as it had done for Carteret and South Amboy.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

HENRY’S APPOINTEES CONFIRMED

Council Agrees To Keep Mostly O’Leary’s Picks (Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) SOUTH AMBOY — The City Council last week voted unanimously to confirm five administrative appointments made by Mayor Fred Henry, four of them previously made by his predecessor, former Mayor John O’Leary, who decided not to seek an unprecedented seventh four-year term.

In a consent-agenda moved by Councilman Donald Applegate, seconded by Councilman Mark Noble and adopted 5-0, Henry’s appointments of Business Administrator Camille Tooker, City Law Director John Lanza, City Engineer Mark Rasimowicz, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Terance O’Neill and Municipal Court Judge James Hoebich were confirmed. All but Hoebich were O’Leary appointees who were reappointed.

Lanza’s appointments of Thomas Downs IV as Municipal Prosecutor, his brother Thomas Lanza as First Alternate Prosecutor, his son John E. Lanza as Second Alternate Prosecutor and George Otlowski Jr. as Municipal Public Defender — all reappointments — also were confirmed by the Council in the same consent-agenda.

While acknowledging that his reappointments might draw criticism, Henry — the previous Council President — defended them. “I believe that we worked-well as a team,” he said. “These people are good people.”

As for Hoebich, Henry pointed out that the New Brunswick attorney also is not new to the South Amboy scene because he “has filled-in before” as Acting Municipal Court Judge.

O’Leary had appointed Emery Toth, who serves as Municipal Court Judge in several other jurisdictions, including Perth Amboy and Woodbridge Township, to complete the term of Judge Joseph Hoffman, who died last year.

Henry said that in selecting Hoebich for the full three-year term as Judge, he had interviewed “people who applied for the position who actually worked in Municipal Court.”

Henry has not yet appointed anyone to succeed Code Enforcement Director Richard Cronin, who died just-before Christmas.

“There was someone I interviewed yesterday (Jan. 18), and I’ll see another person tomorrow (Jan. 20),” Henry said. “I want to pick someone as soon as possible for that position, which is important.”

Lanza interjected that the new Mayor has made his appointments “using an RFQ (Request For Qualifications) process,” but Henry said that for Judge, he used “just a resume system.”

Henry, Applegate and Councilmen Joseph Connors and Michael “Mickey” Gross were sworn-in privately by City Clerk Kathleen Vigilante at City Hall, N.

Broadway, on Saturday, Jan. 1, at various times, and the Jan. 5 Council Reorganization took less than 15 minutes.

Henry — who was leading Independent mayoral candidate Mary O’Connor by three votes at that point — was ordered by Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley not to make any permanent appointments at the Reorganization, pending a hearing by the Judge on whether to certify Henry or O’Connor as the winner or to order a new election, following his review of 23 contested election-ballots.

Paley upheld Henry’s election over O’Connor by two votes after disqualifying the vote of a hairdresser who maintained that she lived half-the-time in the back of her S. Broadway salon.

However, O’Connor filed an appeal of Paley’s decision to certify Henry as the winner and not order a new election.

Christopher Struben, O’Connor’s attorney, said the Judge “addressed only nine of the votes” in making his ruling and “did not even consider the whereabouts of 103 provisional ballots sent to South Amboy but never returned to the Board of Elections.”

In addition, O’Connor’s team discovered on Jan. 8 that a couple living in Matawan who had sold their Barkalow Street home 16 years ago had cast their votes in South Amboy, in what Struben called “a clear case of voter-fraud,”

but Paley would not allow that evidence to be presented, saying that it was submitted “too-late.”

Despite the appeal, the new Mayor apparently was free to make any permanent appointments he wanted, but O’Connor — who did not attend last week’s Council meeting — issued a prepared statement prior to that meeting, warning the Council of adverse consequences which could result should she be successful in her appeal.

“The City Council is putting South Amboy at-risk of litigation by making permanent appointments prior to the election-challenge being heard at the Appellate Court,” O’Connor said in the statement. “If Judge Paley’s decision is reversed, then appointments may also be subject to reversal. Only temporary appointments should be made at this time.”

JRF Continuing Haiti Relief Effort By Building School

 (Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) PERTH AMBOY — Next month, the Perth Amboy-based Jewish Renaissance Foundation (JRF) will begin building its first school in Tabarre, Haiti, through a grant awarded by the Merck Foundation.


Construction of this school will allow the group to begin meeting one of its goals: creating jobs in Haiti, through the construction firm’s use of local labor for this prefabricated school, among other projects.

One year after the destructive earthquake in Haiti, more than a million people still live in crowded tent-cities despite amazing relief efforts by Haitians and the international community and people.

Haiti already had serious problems before the earthquake. People were suffering from not having the most-basic elements, such as healthcare, education, sanitation, water and security, to cite just a few.

French-speaking Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic to its east, is recognized as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with an annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $390 per person, or less than $2 daily.

Just days after the earthquake struck Haiti, JRF and its affiliate Jewish Renaissance Medical Center (JRMC) provided medical services to people in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Tabarre and Petion-Ville, particularly to members of the Haitian National Police. Over 5,000 Haitians were treated during five trips to Haiti by the JRF and JRMC.

At that time, Dr. Alan Goldsmith, founder and President of JRMC, described conditions there as being “10-times-worse, if not 100-times-worse, than Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.”

In addition to several surgeries performed within days of the catastrophe, the JRF and JRMC medical team provided pediatric, obstetric, gynecological and eye care. Their different teams physically-carried over 1,000lbs. of medications and 2,500 pairs of eyeglasses.

The JRF and JRMC medical mission at the Police Academy was very-crucial because their medical team discovered a surprising amount of glaucoma. A plan was developed to address this issue, which will be further addressed at different police stations during this year.

JRF’s “Operation Lifeline” is working-closely with the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) to make sure that the issues of healthcare are being addressed by sending medication to fight the cholera outbreak, education, clean water and jobs by building the school, a medical center and a safe-haven for children in the city of Leogane, which was at the epicenter of the earthquake, and not duplicating any project. That city’s Mayor already has donated over 300 acres of land to erect this project.

The earthquake has affected all Haitians, even their family in the Diaspora. The JRF and JRMC are committed to help the Haitians in addressing their basic needs and long-term challenges. At this stage, it is vital to reach a level of funding in addition of generous support from all their partners.

“Operation Lifeline” is taking this opportunity to thank everyone for their ongoing interest, support and contributions and urging continued working to change and save the lives of our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Last year, a team of medical personnel led by Goldsmith, equipped with badly-needed food, water and supplies, helped to coordinate treatment efforts in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean island nation.

In addition to local area donors such as Supremo Food Markets Inc., Tropical Cheese Industries Inc. and White Rose Foods LLC, the Center worked directly with the Intergovernmental Institute for the use of Microalgae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM), an accredited observer to the United Nations Economic & Social Council with which Goldsmith is affiliated as its Goodwill Ambassador.

Anyone interested in making monetary donations can call (732) 376-6611. An account has been established, and checks should be made-out to “Jewish Renaissance Haitian Relief Fund.”

Complex Completion Coming?

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) PERTH AMBOY — Completion of the $90 million Public Safety/Municipal Court/Community Center Complex, Amboy and New Brunswick Avenues, may be coming during 2011, Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach said at the Caucus session before the City Council’s last meeting.

Fehrenbach’s remarks came during discussion of change-orders needed to bring the building into compliance for a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to be issued.

Fehrenbach estimated that “another $550,000” may be needed to bring the building, which started-out with an estimated total cost of $30 million, up-to-code.

During the Council meeting held two days later, the governing body unanimously adopted two Resolutions — both moved by Councilman William Petrick, seconded by Councilman Kenneth Gonzalez and adopted 5-0 — approving some of the needed change-orders.

The first Resolution authorized five change-orders to a contract with Woodward Construction Co., Matawan, for $18,869 for “code-compliance construction.”

The second Resolution authorized a change-order to a contract with Binsky & Snyder, Piscataway, for $13,145 for increased Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning (HVAC) work.

The Council also voted unanimously to authorize a $16,000 contract with Ramas Climate & Refrigeration Inc., Livingston, for Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning (HVAC) preventive maintenance at the Complex.

That measure, too, was moved by Petrick, seconded by Gonzalez and adopted

5-0

The bid submitted by Ramas Climate & Refrigeration was the lowest of nine bids received on Dec. 22 for the service contract, ranging as high as $199,475.

Superintendent Search Underway

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) PERTH AMBOY — “WANTED: Superintendent of Schools, state-certified, results-oriented. Strong financial, construction and curriculum background desirable. Must be community-oriented, bilingual a plus. Salary capped at $175,000.”

The search for a replacement for Superintendent John Rodecker has begin in-earnest, and the description above indicates what the Board of Education is seeking in its ideal candidate.

Board President Samuel Lebreault announced at the Board’s last meeting that the search for a new Superintendent has been turned-over to the N.J. School Boards Association, of which the Board is a member.

“They’re looking at our criteria, and we expect to engage the community and staff in our decision-making process,” Lebrault said.

“Our High School Principal search also will start soon, and we’ll use our Human Resources Department to do that,” he added. “Also for our Human Resources Director, we have seven candidates, and we should have a decision shortly.”

Perth Amboy High School Principal Rosalia Czaban and Human Resources Director William Stratton also have retired.

The Board voted unanimously at its last meeting to appoint Michael Heidelberg, a Technology teacher at the high school, as Temporary Vice Principal to replace Ronald Anderson, who was appointed previously as Temporary Principal to replace Czaban while the Principal search goes-on.

Also, McGinnis School Intervention teacher Brian Rivera and Wilentz School Bilingual teacher Edwin Nieves were unanimously appointed as Vice Principals at their respective schools at 12-month prorated salaries of $83,790 each.

All three Resolutions were moved by Obdulia “Obi” Gonzalez, seconded by Board Vice President Kenneth Puccio and adopted 9-0.

The Board voted unanimously at its last meeting of 2010 to accept Rodecker’s resignation, effective July 1, 2011, for the purpose of retirement.

There were no comments made after the vote on that measure, which was part of an addendum to the Board’s meeting-agenda.

However, Board members were lavish with their praise of Rodecker when he announced at their Nov. 18 meeting that he intended to retire after 35 years of service when his current $216,380 contract expires on June 30.

Under the state’s new “cap” on Superintendents’ salaries, a district of

10,000 students such as Perth Amboy would not be able to pay a Superintendent’s salary higher than $175,000.

Lebrault expressed concern about having so-many administrators, supervisors and long-serving teachers retire this year, many of them leaving because of proposed changes in the pension system.

“We’re losing our institutional memory,” he said.

In addition, none of the current Board members has served more than two years, including Lebrault, and many have served on the Board for a year or less.

District Seeks School-Building Autonomy

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011) PERTH AMBOY — Before the state Department of Education (DOE) took-over school-construction management for the 31 Abbott or “special needs” school districts, Perth Amboy’s district managed a massive $75 million construction program that led to quality schools at lower cost.

With the Abbott program on-hold and loosening-up of centralized control under Gov. Christopher Christie, the Board of Education voted unanimously at its last meeting to authorize an application to DOE requesting the district be “named eligibe” to manage its own school-construction projects.

The Resolution, noting that the district has “met the prescribed requirements” to make its request, was moved by Israel Varela, seconded by Board Vice President Kenneth Puccio and adopted 9-0.

“I believe the district’s track-record speaks for itself: the new Wilentz School, and renovations to two middle schools and three elementary schools,”

Superintendent of Schools John Rodecker declared. “We’ve demonstrated our ability to manage and build our own projects.

“We took a district where the average age of its schools was closing-in on 100-years-old to one of the most-modern districts in the state in terms of its schools,” he said.

Rodecker pointed out that “under the Schools Construction Corp. (SCC), we supplied the plans for the first two schools, the Richardson School and the Cruz Early Childhood Learning Center.

“The only school constructed solely by the state — the Hmieleski Early Childhood Learning Center — took a-lot-longer because there were a-lot-more delays,” he stated. “This makes sense.

“The big point now is finding the funds to allow us to do this,” he added.

During the public portion, former Board member Greg Diaz pointed out that even-though DOE is “allowing the school-system to do its own construction, we still have to go to the state for funding.”

“Even with us managing our own construction, the SDA (Schools Development

Authority) will still remain as the bank,” Rodecker agreed. “Even if we approve the hiring of our own professionals, we’re not going to get-out from under the state’s approval process.

“But if we manage our own construction projects, we WILL be more-efficient, in my opinion.” he stated.

“The Department still makes its own decisions,” Board Secretary/Business Administrator Derek Jess added.

In the past, the district was able to “bank” its surplus and set those funds aside, to be used for school-construction purposes. However, former Gov.

Jon Corzine forced all school districts to utilize most of their remaining surplus in their operating budgets by reducing their state-aid by a like amount.

“The district has only $3.7 million in excess surplus to be used for our Budget next year,” Jess reported.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

HENRY LEADS BY TWO

O’Connor Appealing Judge’s Decision

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)

SOUTH AMBOY — Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley, sitting in New Brunswick,

last week upheld the election of Democrat Fred Henry as Mayor over

Independent candidate Mary O’Connor by two votes after disqualifying the vote of a

hairdresser who maintained that she lived half-the-time in the back of her S.

Broadway salon.

An appeal of Paley’s decision to certify Henry over O’Connor as the winner

and not order a new election after his review of 23 contested

election-ballots was expected to be filed yesterday by Christopher Struben, O’Connor’s

attorney.

Struben said the Judge “addressed only nine of the votes” in making his

ruling and “did not even consider the whereabouts of 103 provisional ballots

sent to South Amboy but never returned to the Board of Elections.”

In addition, O’Connor’s team discovered on Jan. 8 that a couple living in

Matawan who had sold their Barkalow Street home 16 years ago had cast their

votes in South Amboy, in what Struben called “a clear case of voter-fraud,”

but Paley would not allow that evidence to be presented, saying that it was

submitted “too-late.”

Henry, who was leading by three votes before the Judge’s ruling, apparently

is free now to make any permanent appointments he wants, which Paley had

prohibited him from doing prior to last week’s hearing.

In compliance with the Judge’s previous order, all appointments which would

have expired and been up for consideration at the City Council

Reorganization on Jan. 5 were continued with holdovers who had been appointed by former

Mayor John O’Leary.

The only appointments made at that time were three Council members

appointed as representatives to the Planning Board and Redevelopment Agency and to

the Middlesex County Housing & Community Development Committee.

The respective Council members unanimously appointed to those positions

were Council President Joseph Connors, the Board’s former Chairman; Councilman

William Schwarick and Councilman Donald Applegate.

Paley made his latest ruling last week after reviewing a seven-page

petition by Struben, a six-page cross-petition by Michael Baker and Karl Kemm,

attorneys for Henry, and a 19-page brief by Senior Counsel Flavio Komuves of the

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey Foundation, Newark,

participating in the case as an “amicus curiae” (friend of the court),

detailing ACLU’s legal arguments concerning three voters allegedly denied their

rights by election officials.

The Middlesex County Board of Elections, represented by Deputy Attorney

General Donna Kelly, also a party to the case, did not file any documents.

Copies of all filings in the case, which are legally “public documents,”

have been obtained by the Amboy Beacon, which disclosed the names of the

voters connected to all 23 contested ballots in its Jan. 5 edition.

Paley also heard testimony early last week from some of the contested

voters and prospective voters involved in the election dispute, which arose over

the closeness of the vote for Mayor on Nov. 2 following what most observers

agreed was among the dirtiest campaigns in county history.

In addition to the usual rash of reports of campaign-signs being torn-down

or put-up without authorization, last year’s local contest saw the

resurrection on a weekly basis of a bimonthly community newspaper which was defunct

for about 10 years, now unabashedly promoting the Democratic ticket; the

anonymous distribution of one flier depicting an O’Connor supporter in a Nazi

uniform, and another flier attacking O’Connor as a “terrorist,” and the

mysterious “endorsement” of Independent Vincent Mackiel’s mayoral candidacy by a

non-existent “South Amboy Tea Party.”

The unofficial vote-tally on South Amboy’s nine voting-machines had Henry

as the winner over O’Connor by 14 votes, with two other Independent

candidates, Mackiel and John Dragotta, trailing.

On Election Night, the counting of Mail-In Ballots (MIBs), formerly-known

as “absentee-ballots,” had Henry as unofficial winner by eight votes, which

was shaved to three votes the next day after additional MIBs were found.

That left the counting of 22 provisional ballots by the Board of Elections,

which produced a one-vote margin for Henry.

O’Connor requested, paid-for, and was granted a recount, which led to the

same lead for Henry. However, O’Connor later discovered that the Board

miscounted not once, but twice, a provisional ballot which was cast for Henry by

a Sayreville resident but was supposed-to have been covered by a sticker.

That ballot’s disqualification was affirmed by the state Attorney

General’s Office, whose investigators and several FBI agents were conducting an

ongoing probe of alleged voter-fraud at the Board’s Jersey Avenue headquarters

at the time.

If certified as final at that point, a tie-vote would have triggered a

special election between Henry and O’Connor on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

There were 22 provisional ballots submitted, three of which were voided by

the Board of Elections staff after painstaking research of the registration

rolls, which should have left 19 remaining ballots to be put-through the

scanner, but only 13 of them were counted — and later, recounted — by the

Board.

The six “misplaced” provisional ballots were discovered on Nov. 23 — three

weeks after the election — at the Jersey Avenue facility by workers who

broke the seals on all of the envelopes.

At an earlier hearing, Paley ruled that the six ballots, now-resealed, be

opened and counted, and three votes each were found to have been cast for

Henry and Mackiel, leaving Henry with a three-vote lead prior to the individual

ballot-challenges heard by Paley.

Kelly maintained that everything was “done according-to procedure,” and

that there was “no indication that any unauthorized person had access to the

ballots.”

Thus, she said, there were “six valid votes that need to be counted.”

Baker agreed with Kelly that the votes were “valid,” and stated that “no

one slipped-in any ballots.”

Struben disagreed and stated, “The problem here is security of the

ballots,” Struben said, maintaining that the “chain-of-custody” was broken when the

six ballots were lost, and again when they were found and opened.

Last week, the Judge declined to accept the applications of Alexa Hess,

whose provisional ballot was rejected; Michael Berardo, whose MIB was voided,

and Eric Cheng, who was denied a provisional ballot.

Hess said that while applying for her driver’s-license, she was asked if

she wanted to register to vote, she said “yes,” and marked-off the

“register-to-vote” section. When she went to the polls, her name was not in the book,

so she filled-out a provisional ballot.

Paley ruled that Hess did not do-enough to make-sure she was actually

registered, so he declined her vote.

Berardo stated that he received his MIB, but lost the envelope, so he

e-mailed the Board on what he should do. He received an e-mail back, telling him

to mail the MIB to Jersey Avenue. Following the instructions, Berardo said

he mailed his MIB.

The Judge ruled that Berardo did not do-enough to obtain clarification on

instructions on how-to return his MIB

Cheng stated that every time he gets an MIB, it is for Sayreville, not

South Amboy. He said that he has notified the Board, but is told each time that

his home is in Sayreville. Cheng produced his tax-bill, showing that he pays

property taxes in South Amboy, not in Sayreville, his water and sewer

bills, his driver’s-license and his children’s school records, all showing that

he lives in South Amboy.

Paley ruled that Cheng did not present sufficient evidence to show that he

lives in South Amboy.

At the same time that the Judge rejected the machine vote of Carol McGloan,

he accepted the machine vote of Grace Hoffman, both of whom were found to

be Sayreville residents.

McGloan, a South Amboy business owner, testified that she lives half the

time in Sayreville and half the time in the back room of her hair salon.

Hoffman openly-acknowledged that she has, in fact, lived in the Parlin

section of Sayreville for at-least three years, but that she votes in South

Amboy because she “loves the town,” and is thinking about moving there.

Paley ruled that McGlone was “not a credible witness,” and he declined her

vote, but he accepted Hoffman’s vote.

The Judge made no rulings on the provisional votes of Bert Colon, Kenneth

Horn, Victoria Kedmenec, Jay Vignola and Darlene Gallucci, allegedly

residents of South Amboy for less than the minimum 21 days, and the MIBs of Joshua

Gonzalez, Jeremy Gonzalez, Maria Crowley and Dennis Crowley, allegedly signed

by messenger Ryan Tooker, son of Business Administrator Camille Tooker,

which Struben said should be disallowed.

Paley also took no position regarding the MIB of Taryn Congleton and the

machine votes of Gary Bouchard, Robert Point, Kevin O’Connor and Felipe

Burgos, which were disputed by Baker on alleged non-residency grounds, or the

applications of Patricia Santucci, Anthony Santucci and Marie Santucci, who

were allegedly denied provisional ballots, and John Thomas O’Leary, Mayor

O’Leary’s son, whose MIB was voided, cited by Baker as being deprived-of their

rights.

In his submission, Komuves maintained that Hess, Berardo and Cheng were

denied their rights by election officials.

School Board Authorizes Lawsuit To Recover $2.6M Loss

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — The Board of Education voted last week to authorize Board

Secretary/Business Administrator Derek Jess and Board Attorney Victor Medina to

negotiate contingency rates with the Edison-based law firm of Methfessel &

Werbel to pursue the recovery of $2,593,400 allegedly bilked from the Perth

Amboy school district over nearly six years for healthcare-related programs

that never existed.

The Resolution was moved by Mark Carvajal, seconded by Board Vice President

Kenneth Puccio and adopted 8-0. Member Israel Varela left the meeting

before the vote was taken.

The Board also voted to authorize the filing of a lawsuit against insurance

brokers Francis Gartland, 69, of Baltimore, MD; Brian Foley, 36, of Summit,

and two of Gartland’s companies, Gartland & Co. Inc. and E-Administrative

Systems Inc., who have been indicted by a State Grand Jury on charges of

participating in the alleged scheme.

That Resolution was moved by Carvajal, seconded by Kurt Rebovich Jr. and

adopted 8-0.

Board President Samuel Lebrault said that Jess and Medina will negotiate

with Methfessel & Werbel for contingency rates “a little lower” than those

presented by attorney Steven Kluxen in a closed-door executive session with

the Board to discuss the scope of the litigation.

At a Board meeting last year, Medina explained that the massive loss

occurred over such an extended period of time because of “a mastermind scheme” in

which “funds were diverted from our health-benefits account” by people

with “superior knowledge” that “was, for all intents and purposes,

undetectable” because it was “designed to avoid detection.”

Professionals working on the district’s behalf “had looked-over everything

and were sure that everything was Kosher,” Medina said at that time.

“Nobody could find what had occurred; couldn’t find what they did — that’s

how-well they covered their tracks.”

Frank Cotroneo, 59, a Bernardsville insurance broker, has admitted that he

participated in bilking the district out of those funds and has agreed to

pay restitution of $2.6 million to the Board, along with a Public Corruption

Profiteering Penalty (PCPP) of $2.9 million.

Gartland and another of his firms, Federal Hill Risk Management LLC;

Gartland’s son-in-law, Derek Johnson, 39, of Lutherville, MD, and their business

partner, Thomas Kelleher, 62, of Parksville, MD, also have been indicted by

a State Grand Jury for allegedly conspiring to steal $216,495 from the City

of Perth Amboy by collecting payments for a non-existent “wellness program”

for city employees at a cost to Perth Amboy of $15 per employee per month.

Judge Upholds Convictions

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)

NEWARK — Sentencing of former Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas and longtime

Mayor’s Aide Melvin Ramos was scheduled by U.S. District Court Judge Susan

Wigenton for February after her ruling early last week against overturning

their convictions on corruption charges and ordering a new trial.

In the Martin Luther King Building and U.S. District Courthouse, Wigenton

ruled that there was “substantial evidence” for the jury to find Vas, 55,

and Ramos, 54, guilty on Oct. 8.

Both defendants were acquitted in Counts 1 through 4 of charges of mail

fraud. They were convicted in Counts 5 and 6 on other charges of mail fraud.

Each count of mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a

fine of $250,000.

Vas was convicted in Count 7 of fraud and misapplication of funds involving

a local government receiving federal funds, which carries a maximum penalty

of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Vas also was convicted in

Count 8 of making false statements to federal agents, which carries a maximum

penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $100,000.

Ramos was convicted in Count 9 of making contributions to a federal

candidate in the names of others, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of one

year in prison and a fine of $100,000. Ramos also was convicted in Counts 10

and 11 of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of

up to $100,000.

In Count 12, Vas was convicted of making contributions to a federal

candidate in the names of others, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of one

year in prison and a fine of $100,000.

As a result of the jury’s verdict, Vas faces a maximum prison term of 56

years and fines totaling $950,000, while Ramos faces a maximum prison term of

51 years and fines totaling $800,000.

In determining the actual sentences, Wigenton will consult the advisory

U.S. Sentencing Guidelines before she sentences Vas on Tuesday, Feb. 22, and

Ramos on Wednesday, Feb. 23. The Guidelines provide appropriate

sentencing-ranges that take-into-account the severity and characteristics of the offenses,

the defendants’ criminal histories, if any, and other factors. However, the

Judge isn’t bound-by the Guidelines in determining her sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system, and defendants who are

given custodial terms must serve about 85-percent of that time.

Fire Chief: Harbortown Fire ‘Nothing Short Of Miracle’

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — “What we encountered and what we accomplished” at a

suspicious Dec. 19 fire which destroyed 32-unit Building 15 of the massive

Harbortown complex in the city’s northeastern corner was “nothing short of a

miracle,” Fire Chief David Volk declared at the City Council Caucus early last week.

The four-alarm blaze, which left 100 residents homeless, is still

under-investigation by city detectives and the Middlesex County Arson Unit to

determine what was its cause.

“There were eight injuries reported, including two police officers, and

there were no firefighters injured,” Volk said. “Quite-honestly, I thought we

were going to lose three of those buildings. It could have been

tremendously-worse.”

Witnesses said they believed that Building 15’s sprinkler-system was

inoperable, and that water-pressure was a problem for firefighters.

“To be quite-honest, I don’t know whether they (the sprinklers) went-off,”

Volk said. However, he insisted that “we had no (water-pressure) problems;

the water was there.”

Volk was joined by Code Enforcement Director Edward Scala, who has been

criticized by Harbortown residents for failing to take-action on theor

complaints about alleged deficiencies at the complex, and Deputy Police Chief

Benjamin Ruiz, who did not speak.

Absent from the meeting, without explanation, were the city’s Fire Subcode

Official and Fire Official — the people who would be most-intimately-aware

of any potential problems with Harbortown’s fire-safety standards.

However, Scala did make an important contribution to the ongoing

discussions regarding the units’ construction when he pointed-out that Harbortown is

not subject-to state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) multi-family

inspections because it was designed as “a grouping of single-family units within

a close construction-area.”

He said the walls between units are supposed-to have a “one-hour

fire-rating,” meaning that they would take an hour to burn-through.

However, residents have said that because of the way the attics are

constructed, the fire was channeled unimpeded throughout most of the structure.

Scala conceded that this might be a shortcoming, while noting that that

part of Harbortown was built “four (Uniform Construction) Codes ago,” under

less-stringent requirements than those now in-effect.

But he said “the state should certainly look-to a change in the Code to

have a sprinkler-system in the attic” in future construction, which he will

recommend.

Currently, “the roof area is not required to have a sprinkler-system,”

Scala said, adding that “the (new) Code has just been adopted, and the next

cycle is not for three or four years.”

He noted that “in-excess-of 800 units” have been constructed at

Harbortown, out of a 1,664-unit total approved by the Planning Board.

Missing ‘Snow Plan’ Slowed Response

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — Although hampered by lack of access to the city’s Snow

Emergency Plan, Public Works Department employees worked diligently to clear

Perth Amboy’s streets of snow, which they did in a “comparable or better”

manner as other municipalities.

This was how Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach assessed the city’s

response to the Dec. 26 blizzard that dumped over 20 inches of the white

stuff on Perth Amboy and surrounding areas at the City Council Caucus early

last week.

Fehrenbach told the Council that “37 employees received overtime during the

storm.”

Public Works Director Paul Wnek allegedly failed to show-up for work in a

timely manner and was dismissed by Mayor Wilda Diaz, and former General

Supervisor Eddie Perez, who was replaced recently by Acting General Supervisor

Frank Hoffman, was on-vacation. Wnek and Perez had the only copies of the

city’s Snow Emergency Plan, Fehrenbach said.

Council members agreed that a copy of the Plan should be posted at Public

Works Department Headquarters, foot of Fayette Street.

Former Union County Public Works & Engineering Director Frank Dann, who was

hired as Management Assistant on Dec. 20, “jumped-into the breach” for the

snowstorm, Fehrenbach said.

The Council voted at its regular meeting two days later to confirm the

Mayor’s appointment of Dann as Interim Public Works Director, pending the hiring

of a permanent replacement for Wnek.

Dann, who attended the Caucus, said that “every possible person was

called” to acquire a copy of the Plan before he sat-down with the Public Works

Supervisors to divide the city into sections to attack the blizzard.

After finally obtaining the Plan, it was found to be “pretty-much the way

we had devised it,” he said. “Three additional pieces of equipment were

needed for this storm.”

Councilman Joel Pabon asked why the Department was not prepared for the

blizzard. “We knew about it in-advance almost a week,” he said. “It didn’t

catch us by-surprise.”

“I don’t want to go too-far because some of this may wind-up in

closed-session,” Fehrenbach said. “Mr. Dann asked Mr. Wnek about the Department’s

readiness for the storm, and he was told, ‘The Snow Plan is in place; there’s

nothing to worry-about.’”

However, Dann said that he “found the equipment in pretty-bad condition,

pretty-old and worn, and repairs had to be made to some plows.”

As for the smaller Jan. 11 snowstorm, he told Council members, “We’re

absolutely, 100-percent ready to go,” and “there should be no glitch this time.”

“We realize there were some personnel issues the last time,” Councilman

Kenneth Gonzalez said. “What happened before is definitely not going to happen

again.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve done this sort-of-thing,” Dann stated.

“We were in-contact with the Emergency Management Coordinator this last one,

and will be again.”

Fehrenbach noted that Hoffman “went-back to prior Public Works Supervisors

and Directors for their advice.”

Council Rejects Pact For Animal-Control

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 19, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — No member of the City Council voted in-favor of awarding a

three-year, $293,356 contract last week for animal-control services offered by

Happy Home Shelter Inc., whose Acting Director, local businesswoman Wilma

Matey, was on-vacation.

Under advice of City Law Director Mark Blunda, Councilmen William Petrick

and Kenneth Gonzalez — who moved and seconded the measure for discussion

purposes — abstained from voting on it to avoid “the appearance of a potential

conflict-of-interest.”

The Council’s three other members — Councilmen Fernando Gonzalez and Joel

Pabon and Council President Kenneth Balut — all voted “no.”

The “appearance of a potential conflict-of-interest” arose because of a

backyard barbecue held at the Water Street home of Matey, which she

maintained was a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

However, resident Alan Silber countered that the party was identified as a

“campaign rally” on the website of Moving Forward Together, a campaign

ticket in the May 2010 election consisting of Council candidates Petrick, Kenneth

Gonzalez and Maria Garcia.

The city’s strict “pay-to-play” regulations are now applicable to Petrick

and Gonzalez as Council members.

Matey, who has rounded-up many enthusiastic volunteers, has been seeking to

take-over operation of the city’s Shelter from the two ACOs for almost a

year, but the Council had taken no action, withdrawing the proposed Resolution

from its meeting-agenda on multiple occasions.

At the Council Caucus held the Monday before last week’s meeting, Fernando

Gonzalez angrily-questioned its inclusion on the list of active Resolutions.

“Why is this resurfacing again?” he asked. “We said we weren’t going-to

award anything.”

“A bid has been received,” Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach

explained. “You have to take a vote as a body.”

Neither Fernando Gonzalez nor Balut went-into-detail about why they cast

negative votes, but Pabon said he voted to reject the proposal because of

“unanswered questions.”

The Happy Home proposal was submitted by Matey after the Council rejected

an earlier proposal by Woodbridge Township to take-over the city’s

animal-control services, as it had done for Carteret and South Amboy.

The Council’s action last week left the operation of the Perth Amboy Animal

Shelter, Fayette Street, in the hands of retired police officer Richard

Cielesz and his wife, Michal, both certified Animal Control Officers (ACOs),

under Police Department supervision

Sunday, January 16, 2011

S. AMBOY REORGANIZES

Officials Heed Judge’s Warning By Delaying Appointments

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Jan. 12, 2011)

SOUTH AMBOY — With former City Council President Fred Henry and

Councilmen-elect Donald Applegate, Joseph Connors and Michael “Mickey” Gross sworn-in

privately by City Clerk Kathleen Vigilante at City Hall, N. Broadway, on

Saturday, Jan. 1, at various times, last week’s Council Reorganization took

less than 15 minutes.

Applegate was sworn-in to an unexpired two-year term as First Ward

Councilman, succeeding the late Councilman Russell Stillwagon, while Connors and

Gross were sworn-in to full four-year terms as At-Large Councilmen.

At the meeting, Connors, Council Vice President under Henry, was elected as

Council President by the five-member, all-Democrat governing body, and

Second Ward Councilman Mark Noble was elected to succeed Connors as Council Vice

President, both by unanimous votes.

Connors — sporting a new beard — spoke briefly during the “Comments”

portion of the short meeting, announcing that his major goal is to “improve

communications” with the public through “town meetings” and “project-updates

to keep everybody up-to-date.”

Connors explained that the reason he decided to do this was because, as a

result of his campaigning door-to-door in 2010, he found that “the people in

this town didn’t know what was going-on.”

In addition, Connors said after the meeting that he had “pretty-big shoes

to fill” in succeeding Henry. “I hope I can do as-well as Fred,” he said.

As ordered by Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley, sitting in New Brunswick,

Henry — who was leading Independent mayoral candidate Mary O’Connor by

three votes at last count — may have been sworn-in as Mayor, but he had little

to do at last week’s Reorganization because the Judge prohibited him from

making any permanent appointments, pending a hearing scheduled for early this

week.

In compliance with Paley’s order, all appointments which would have expired

and been up for consideration last week were continued with holdovers who

had been appointed by former Mayor John O’Leary.

The only appointments listed on the slender 25-page meeting-agenda were

three Council members appointed as representatives to the Planning Board and

Redevelopment Agency and to the Middlesex County Housing & Community

Development Committee.

The respective Council members unanimously appointed to those positions, in

Resolutions moved by Noble, seconded by Councilman William Schwarick and

adopted 5-0, were Connors, the Board’s former Chairman; Schwarick and

Applegate.

The audience — normally robust at the yearly Reorganization, with

officials’ family members present to observe their relatives taking their

oaths-of-office, and appointees and their family members present to observe their

relatives’ appointments — was slimmer than the agenda, numbering only a

half-dozen.

The Council also voted unanimously to appoint the 24-member Emergency

Management Council, with Henry listed as Mayor; to re-establish eight petty-cash

funds, to designate 11 banking institutions as “official depositories” and

to fix interest-rates for delinquent tax and sewer bills.

Henry, who sat at the dais, spoke to reporters after the Reorganization

about the upcoming decision expected to be made by the Judge yesterday on

whether to certify Henry or O’Connor as the winner or order a new election

following a hearing on Monday and his review of 23 contested election-ballots.

“We’ll find-out more next (this) week, but that may not be the end of it,

as I assume she’ll have the right of appeal,” he said, referring to

O’Connor.

“This is all new to all of us,” Henry said of the post-election challenge.

“These are new areas that we’re exploring. Hopefully, it works-out for me.”

Normally, a ceremony follows the Council’s Reorganization, but not this

time.

“With all of that behind us, we’ll probably have a ceremony,” Henry said.

“No, we WILL have a ceremony.”

“I think we’ll wait until the Mayor thing is over,” Connors said.

Henry also took the opportunity to clarify a quote which appeared in the

Jan. 5 Amboy Beacon.

Henry had stated before the cross-petition’s filing that “it’s the

American way of doing things that all the votes are counted,” and “to suppress

them as she (O’Connor) wanted to do is wrong.”

The Beacon had noted the irony of such a statement, given the fact that

Henry’s attorney was challenging some presumably O’Connor votes.

Henry said that what he really-meant was that if votes “are illegal, they

shouldn’t count.”

Last week, Paley received a seven-page petition by Christopher Struben,

attorney for O’Connor; a six-page cross-petition by Michael Baker, attorney for

Henry, and a 19-page brief submitted by by Senior Counsel Flavio Komuves of

the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey Foundation, Newark,

participating in the case as an “amicus curiae” (friend of the court),

detailing its legal arguments concerning three voters allegedly denied their

rights by election officials.

The Middlesex County Board of Elections, represented by Deputy Attorney

General Donna Kelly, also a party to the case, did not file any documents.

Copies of all filings in the case, which are legally “public documents,”

have been obtained by the Amboy Beacon, which disclosed the names of the

voters connected to all 23 contested ballots in its Jan. 5 edition.

The election dispute arose over the closeness of the vote for Mayor on Nov.

2 following what most observers agreed was among the dirtiest campaigns in

county history.

In addition to the usual rash of reports of campaign-signs being torn-down

or put-up without authorization, last year’s local contest saw the

resurrection on a weekly basis of a bimonthly community newspaper which was defunct

for about 10 years, now unabashedly promoting the Democratic ticket; the

anonymous distribution of one flier depicting an O’Connor supporter in a Nazi

uniform, and another flier attacking O’Connor as a “terrorist,” and the myste

rious “endorsement” of Independent Vincent Mackiel’s mayoral candidacy by a

non-existent “South Amboy Tea Party.”

The unofficial vote-tally on South Amboy’s nine voting-machines had Henry

as the winner over O’Connor and the two other Independent candidates, Mackiel

and John Dragotta, by 14 votes.

On Election Night, the counting of Mail-In Ballots (MIBs), formerly-known

as “absentee-ballots,” had Henry as unofficial winner by eight votes, which

was shaved to three votes after additional MIBs were found.

That left the counting of 22 provisional ballots by the county Board, which

produced a margin of one vote for Henry.

O’Connor requested, paid-for and was granted a recount, which led to the

same one-vote lead for Henry. However, O’Connor later discovered that the

Board miscounted not once, but twice, a provisional ballot cast by a Sayreville

resident for Henry which was supposed-to have been covered by a sticker.

That ballot’s disqualification was affirmed by the state Attorney

General’s Office, whose investigators were — along with several FBI agents —

conducting an ongoing probe of alleged voter-fraud at the Board’s Headquarters on

Jersey Avenue at the time.

If certified as final at that point, a tied-vote would have triggered a

special election between Henry and O’Connor on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

There were 22 provisional ballots submitted, three of which were voided by

the Board’s staff after painstaking research of the registration rolls,

leaving 19 remaining ballots that should have been put-through the scanner, but

there were only 13 when they were counted — and later, recounted — by the

Board.

The six “misplaced” provisional ballots were discovered on Nov. 23 — three

weeks after the election — at the Jersey Avenue facility by workers who

broke the seals on the envelopes.

After a hearing, the Judge ruled that the six ballots, now-resealed, be

opened and counted, and three votes each were found to have been cast for Henry

and Mackiel, leaving Henry with a three-vote lead prior to the individual

ballot-challenges scheduled to be heard by Paley.