Next challenge for obese teen swimmer is to lose weight

From lead foot to foot falling asleep. Seen on Monday in the A&P shopping center on Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Charlotte Samuels of Ridgewood is a fine role model for long-distance swimmers, but her obesity is sending the wrong message to millions of teenagers.

Today's Page 1 story in The Record continues the paper's adoring coverage of the 16-year-old girl, who became the youngest person to complete the Triple Crown of swimming (A-1).

Big deal. Does this story really belong on the front page?

The Record's stories have avoided her obesity like the plague.

Good or bad?

Does her weight help or hurt her? Today's story by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, the transportation reporter, doesn't provide a clue.

Readers who manage to get to the continuation page on A-7 are told that after she swam across the English Channel, she was "in a contemplative mood, thinking about the power of girls and women, and the larger meaning of her accomplishment."

"I've heard so many stories about girls who had someone say something to them, and then they get eating disorders," Charlotte says, but Maag doesn't say whether she is referring to herself.

"But being a girl is awesome," she continues. "If you believe in yourself, then you can accomplish anything."

Like losing weight and, hopefully, influencing other teens during the obesity epidemic, Charlotte.

Christie idolatry

Governor Christie's plan to revive Atlantic City failed, as have so many of his other initiatives, but Columnist Charles Stile still won't declare the GOP bully the worst leader New Jersey has ever had (A-1).

Christie had something to say about the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal for the first time since March, and his comments are buried (A-4).

Meanwhile, New Jersey is warning investors its revenue shortfall could get worse before it gets better (A-3).

Crown Vic destroyed

Another Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor bit the dust in Hackensack on Tuesday, and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes was so glad she had a filler photo for the Local news front (L-1).

Police agencies continued to buy the Crown Victoria despite well-known defects, which were blamed for the deaths of state troopers and a Paramus officer, and suspected in the death of a Teaneck officer.

The Record never bothered to explore the reasons towns continued to buy the defective Crown Victoria-based Police Interceptor before production ended in 2011.

Also on the Local front, Joe Talamo is called a "Pascack Valley legend," but my reaction is, Joe Who?

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More too-little, too-late coverage of GWB scandal, A.C.

A third story of residential units has been added to the State Street redevelopment project in Hackensack, a building that is expected to have 222 units above a parking garage when it is completed in 2015.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The major takeouts on The Record's front page today raise a lot of unanswered questions about the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal and Atlantic City (A-1).

The so-called Analysis by Staff Writer Shawn Boburg doesn't address the chief question on readers' minds -- why is the federal grand jury investigation of the politically inspired traffic jams in Fort Lee (Sept. 9-13, 2013) taking so long?

Professor Brigid Harrison is quoted as saying the GOP bully's administration no longer controls "the narrative" (A-7).

If that's so, why does The Record persist in flattering coverage, such as the gushing stories on Governor Christie's purely political visit to Mexico last week?

Reporters love quoting Harrison, but shouldn't The Record acknowledge when it does so that she is one of its Sunday columnists? 

Maybe, it's time for the lazy newsroom editors to cast a wider net for experts.

I'm not going to bother with the The GWB Files interactive presentation at NorthJersey.com, but wonder why the nefarious motives for the lane closures weren't discovered before the November election, when Christie won a second term.

Is the photo caption on A-7 correct in saying the lane closures lasted "five days," not four?

Behind 8 ball

Is 36 years after Atlantic City's first casino opened really the right time to report on what the shore resort can learn from Las Vegas (A-1)?

Staff Writer John Brennan, a brain-damaged former sports reporter, doesn't even mention Vegas' $3.99 buffets and all the ridiculously cheap hotel rooms that lure millions to the desert.

Revel, the $2.9-billion boondoggle that just bit the dust, opened with $400-a-night rooms and the smallest casino in Atlantic City, dooming it to failure.

Sending Brennan to Las Vegas is a huge waste of money, and a waste of readers' time.

If you think his report is laughable, check out Mike Kelly's silly, shit-eating-grin perspective on Atlantic City (O-1).

Rich districts

Do school districts in wealthy towns like Tenafly and Fort Lee get more coverage in The Record (L-1 and L-3)?

Publisher Stephen A. Borg lives in Tenafly, but when is the last time the Woodland Park daily covered the Hackensack district, which spends more money per pupil than Ridgewood?

Editors get high

The Business editors couldn't find a North Jersey company that was as interesting as a Denver marijuana store (B-1).

The 4-page section supplied by The Wall Street Journal every Sunday is a testament to how hard the local business staff works to bring readers North Jersey news. 

Readers looking for a discussion of restaurant issues, such as tipping or high liquor prices, will be disappointed in The Corner Table column from Elisa Ung today (BL-1).

Traveling music

The Record's already thin Travel section is devoting less and less space to reporting on the high cost of vacations (T-1).

For years, Travel Editor Jill Schensul has reduced her workload by running a full page of readers' vacation photos on T-2.

Today, the Travel cover is filled with reader selfies (three of the five on T-1 are from Venice, Italy). More appear on T-4.

In the biggest selfie on T-1, Adam Nolte of Wyckoff doesn't look too happy. Did he pay the gondolier?

Didn't any of The Record's black and Hispanic readers send in selfies? 

Evonne Coutros

The byline of Evonne Coutros last appeared in The Record on March 3, 2014, over a story about Wyckoff, one of the towns she covered, according to NorthJersey.com.

Her byline also appeared in The Hellenic Times as far back as 1989, when she also was employed at The Record.

Coutros had a knack of landing interviews with the biggest celebrities, but The Record's editors usually assigned her to cover news from Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Ho-Ho-Kus, Franklin Lakes and other small towns.

A reader of Eye on The Record recently asked if Coutros died. I don't know.

She was 57 and lived in Closter, I believe.

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Home-delivery mix-up: Features and opinion, no news

A small but vocal group of residents nagged Hackensack officials to start twice-a-week garbage collection this year. But the city caved in before encouraging more recycling and starting a composting program to reduce the waste stream.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's plastic bag in my driveway this morning contained two Better Living sections, two Opinion sections, two TV books and some advertising.

When I called, I was told the news sections would be delivered "after 10 a.m.," but at 10:45, I decided to sit down at the computer, because I have things to do and places to go today.

Crappy burger

It's clear from Elisa Ung's Sunday column, The Corner Table, this ignorant woman hasn't read Consumer Reports in many years, and has no idea the magazine has been exploring such important food issues as harmful animal antibiotics and salmonella in poultry.

In fact, Consumers Union, the magazine's policy and advocacy arm, called on Trader Joe's "to stop selling meat and poultry raised on a steady diet of antibiotics."

Ung refers to Consumer Reports as "the magazine many of us use to buy a washing machine" (BL-1).

This is what you get with a restaurant reviewer who spends most of her time writing about celebrity chefs and the problems facing wealthy restaurant owners while ignoring customer issues.

Her column today discusses a new entry in the crappy hamburger sweepstakes in North Jersey, but doesn't compare the beef used and whether any of the patties are made from antibiotic- and hormone-free beef.  

Atlantic Shitty

On the Opinion front, burned-out Columnist Mike Kelly -- he of the inimitable shit-eating grin -- delivers a 40-year recap of Atlantic City (O-1).

The resort and its economic problems are of so little interest to the vast majority of North Jersey residents, you have to wonder why he bothered. 

The most incisive commentary on Atlantic City is not Kelly's.

Margulies delivers another hard-hitting cartoon on O-2 today.

Free travel

Travel Editor Jill Schensul reports on another free press trip today, this time to East Berlin (T-1).

I would never pay $118.60 to drive one of the world's unsafest cars, but she makes it sound so wonderful.

The Travel section was delivered with Saturday's paper.

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There is more Hackensack news than made today's paper

Lake Street in Ramsey has been closed since last Nov. 4. On Tuesday, motorists had to follow a detour of about 4 miles to reach the business district.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record today missed some really big news in Hackensack.

Quarterly property tax payments, originally due Aug. 10, don't have to be in until Sept. 4. Many residents still haven't received their bills.

And the city's Web site, hackensack.org, has a new look, declaring Hackensack is "unique and diverse," and on the "verge of a Renaissance."

The second sentence of the welcome notice says Hackensack is home to the Bergen County judiciary, county government, a "world-renowned medical center" and "nationally recognized educational institutions."

But what it doesn't mention is that the many hundreds of millions of dollars in property they own are tax exempt, shifting the burden to homeowners and businesses.

Meanwhile, Tuesday night's City Council meeting, reported in The Record's Local section today, wasn't listed on the city's Web site.

Reforming reform

According to an L-3 article today, the Hackensack City Council on Tuesday retained Thomas Scrivo as city attorney, "despite previous complaints about legal bills that topped $200,000 in six months."

In February, the council capped pay for the city attorney at $15,000 a month.

Municipal Prosecutor Frank Catania, a part timer, remains on the payroll, but he and two of his children no longer have the health benefits provided by his close friend, former acting City Manager Anthony Rottino.

A story on the Local front today reports former city spokesman Thom Ammirato, who was paid $78,000 under a 1-year contract, has resigned from his full-time job with Bergen County (L-1).

Teen swimmer

Does the 20.2-mile swim by Ridgewood teen Charlotte Samuels really deserve two straight days of front-page coverage in the Woodland Park daily (A-1)?

Staff Writer Abbott Koloff chronicles every jelly fish sting suffered by the 16-year-old, but doesn't answer a question made obvious by Page 1 photos of Samuels:

Did her tremendous weight help or hinder her?

Elisa Ung and other food writers at The Record might want to take a long, hard look at Samuels, and re-evaluate whether their obsessions with dessert, fast food, sugar, soda, butter and cream are sending the wrong message to teens and adults during the obesity epidemic.

As an example, see today's Better Living cover on artery clogging desserts made from Jersey peaches that ignores all the readers who are diabetic or are just trying to watch their weight (BL-1).

The Jersey fruit is glorious on its own or eaten with non-fat Greek yogurt and Jersey blueberries.

Or you can dust ripe peach halves with cinnamon and grill them with wild salmon.

Atlantic City blues

Atlantic City might as well be on the moon for all of the impact it has on the lives of North Jersey readers (A-1). 

When Revel opened in 2012, its casino was the smallest and its $400-a-night rooms were likely the most expensive in the shore resort.

And how many of the expensive rooms have a view of the slums shown in a photo on A-8 today? 

No wonder it is a flop. What a disgrace.

If Revel and two other casinos close, New Jersey tax collections will take a hit, and expose Governor Christie's incredible mismanagement of state finances, including his refusal to impose higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations.

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This Sunday edition is one boring page after another

The directional signals, but not the brake lights, worked on this Sphinx jitney I was stopped behind in Ridgefield on Saturday. During the workweek, the jitneys relieve rush-hour crowding aboard NJ Transit buses heading for Manhattan, one of the stories ignored by The Record's clueless Road Warrior.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front-page today reports on gambling "competition" between North Jersey and New York State, even though expanding casinos beyond Atlantic City won't happen until 2016, if then. 

The Business front reports on another war between the states, this one over jobs.

Why doesn't Editor Martin Gottlieb revive the New Jersey-New York rivalry at the Port Authority or the war over mall shoppers?

GOP agenda

A Page 1 column dredges up the stale controversy over Benghazi, and the story below that discusses a shake-up in the president's Cabinet (A-1).

Are you bored yet?

A readable story

The most readable story on A-1 is Staff Writer Bill Ervolino's takeout on a "different world" for gay teens.

Ervolino does a far better job on this subject or when he is writing about food. So why doesn't Gottlieb pull the plug on the reporter's Better Living column?

Of course, the story on gay teens is sure to fan speculation in the newsroom about Ervolino's own sexual orientation.

Confusing figures

Almost every road or transportation construction project takes forever, but surely Road Warrior John Cichowski can find something more worthy to write about (L-1).

Also on L-1, a story on the proposed Atlantic Street Park in Hackensack carries the byline of Jennifer Vazquez, a reporter for the weekly Hackensack Chronicle.

The $585,000 cost figure in the text and sub-headline on the front confuse readers, who learn on the continuation page the city is eligible for a county grant that would reduce the price tag to less than $318,000 (L-7).

The Local front story on Woodland Park's centennial is an example of the increased coverage of the Passaic County borough since The Record moved there in 2009.

Celebrity news

Better Living delivers two boring stories:

Staff Writer Elisa Ung's column on "good" extra-virgin olive oils (BL-1) is almost as tedious as her Friday review of Bareli's, a restaurant on Route 3 in Secaucus that requires customers to sit in Lincoln Tunnel traffic for the privilege of paying $55 for a 2-pound lobster.

For that hefty tariff, the restaurant doesn't even remove the meat from the shell and claws. 

The larger element on BL-1 is devoted to an endorsement of an Edgewater bagel store and Starbucks Coffee in Englewood by Daphne Oz, the spoiled daughter of multimillionaire Dr. Mehmet Oz of Cliffside Park.

Paterson mansions

Given the negative coverage of Paterson in the past decade, a Real Estate front story on the city's Eastside mansions is an eye opener (R-1).

The Opinion front is a snoozer, with a second long column on the 9/11 museum by Mike Kelly, and another in the endless string of stories and columns speculating on Governor Christie's political future (O-1).

Sinking feeling

Travel Editor Jill Schensul's cover story on "tempting cruises" ignores the hassles of using Cape Liberty in Bayonne, where departing or arriving passengers face a long, winding, slow-moving traffic jam of vehicles (T-1).

After a recent cruise to Bermuda, one passenger complained she had been waiting 90 minutes for her taxi.

The large, open area next to the ship is unusable, because it is filled with construction debris. 

Passengers are directed to a long, tented shed many hundreds of yards away, requiring them to use shuttle buses to board the ship.

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Gee whiz, you don't see that every day

Hackensack MayorJohn Labrosse is ditching the no-settlement lawsuit policy followed by the old City Council, The Record reports today. Joe Zisa Jr., who wasn't reappointed as city attorney on July 1, had claimed fighting lawsuits against cousin and then-Police Chief Ken Zisa was cheaper than settling. Joe Zisa should have been let go years ago, if for no other reason than his clear conflict of interest.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Wow. When was the last time you saw the crash photo of a huge passenger jet in the newspaper?

Well, thanks to Editor Marty Gottlieb, here it is on the front page of The Record today, with more photos on A-10.

OK. They are a hell of a lot more exciting than the ponderous stories on the rest of A-1, but readers looking for local news are prompted to ask once again: Is that all there is, Marty?

A real gamble

The byline of Staff  Writer John Brennan appears on an overlong, poorly written Page 1 story on Atlantic City's struggling casinos without a single mention of why many people never go to the shore resort:

Much higher hotel-room prices than in Las Vegas. Atlantic City's Revel bombed because of rooms priced at $400 a night.

If you need further evidence of Brennan's struggles  with English, check out the awkward phrase "money-paying customers" in his first paragraph.

Car-centric coverage

Automobile dealers are probably The Record's biggest advertisers, so it's no surprise this towering journalism enterprise rarely reports on their deceptive sales practices.

Instead, today's front page presents a who-cares story on surging automobile sales in Bergen County and New Jersey (A-1).

I scanned the story, but couldn't find an interview with a dealer or customer on Hackensack's Tin Alley, the auto row that was in the news a week ago on the 25th anniversary of the fire that killed 5 of the city's bravest.

Who's debating this?

The third main element on A-1 today presents a privacy debate only journalists are having about the nanny cam video that led to the quick arrest of a suspect known for his brutality.

The Record worships celebrity chefs and loves to promote new restaurants, but rarely thinks about the tremendous heat cooks endure in restaurant kitchens, as today's heat-wave story shows (Local front).

Head in pothole

Pothole Pundit John Cichowski unleashes more data on road repairs and related issues in today's Road Warrior column, though careful readers will likely find the usual errors (L-1).

Cichowski also manages to give Governor Christie a pass on his regressive no-tax policy to fund road and bridge repairs, and mass-transit improvements.

In his July 3 column on children who die of heat stroke in cars, Cichowski completely ignored a major cause -- children playing in unattended vehicles -- according to a concerned reader:

"He was negligent and failed  to mention that 30%, which was more than 160 deaths, were caused by kids playing in unattended cars, or any solutions for that problem.

"He failed to provide the Web site, which provides a lot more useful information from the San Francisco study that he cited.

"Perhaps, he did not want to be embarrassed or held accountable for his mistaken facts and false reasons, which contradict this study.

"Shame on John and The Record management for his dereliction of duty."

To read the full e-mail to management, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior endangers children


This is better?

An L-3 story on "improvements" at Englewood schools doesn't mention whether the school board will try to ease classroom segregation or even if trustees are concerned about the issue.

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