May 16, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXXI, No. 1
HIGHLIGHTS Belleville fire guts residential building in Valley section. Page 5
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
10 OF FINEST WELCOMED By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com
KEARNY – For Matthew Knighton, the choice of law enforcement as a career was a no-brainer. “I came from a military background – (he enlisted in the Army at age 17, served a tour in Kuwait in 2013-2014 with the HHC 2-113 Infantry unit and is now a staff sergeant with the N.J. National Guard) – so the transition will be easy: family-oriented, brotherhood,” he said. Knighton, born and raised in Newark, is one of 10 new Kearny police officers who recently completed their training at the Bergen County Police Academy and were sworn in as members of the KPD at the May 9 meeting of the municipal governing body. Knighton is the sixth AfricanAmerican to join the KPD ranks. “We had seven,” said Police Chief George King, “but we just lost one to retirement.” King noted that Knighton – who studied criminal justice at Essex Photo by Barbara B. Goldberg
Police Chief George King pins badge on newly-sworn Officer Matthew Knighton at last week’s Town Council meeting. He’s one of 10 recruits to join the KPD.
See NEW COPS, Page 24
Body pulled from Passaic River is missing postal worker Cirne By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com KEARNY — The body of a 51-yearold Lyndhurst man, a letter carrier with the Kearny Post Office who went missing mid-April, was pulled
from the Passaic River, Kearny, on May 4 and was formally identified on May 14, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said in a statement to The Observer. “The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit is confirming
that the male found in the Passaic River in Kearny on May 4, 2018, has been positively identified as Vitorino Cirne, age 51, of Lyndhurst. The cause and manner of death are pending further medical studies; however, no foul play is suspected at this time,”
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018
One mom’s ordeal with a son’s fatal overdose overdose. I am alive but I will say I will never be the same. I am forever changed. Even in We’ve heard it so many times moments of happiness, there is over the years — no mother always an underlying sadness.” should ever have to bury her Sean’s story is like so many child. others. He was a great kid. He Ever. had a happy home. He had a And yet, that was the horgreat mother and family. And rid reality for Christine Myles yet, for whatever the reason, Nash, whose son, Sean, died of a he chose to use drugs. And drug overdose on July 13, 2016. somehow, just before he died, it It was a day that has stuck seemed like Sean was reboundwith Nash since — and it’s a day ing. she will never be able to forget. He had just completed a Last week, on Thursday, May rehab program and was living 10, Nash shared her story at a in a sober-living home in Long candlelight vigil at Kearny’s Branch. Bicentennial Park near Town “He was a bike ride from the Hall, a vigil that was sponsored beach and he was working,” by Kearny Cares, the Kearny Nash told the crowd of about Prevention Coalition and the 100 who gathered under skies American Legion. It was the that later opened up and left first of its kind in Kearny, yet in its wake a massive thunderbased on recent history, it likely storm. “I had gone down to won’t be the last. visit him on June 30, two weeks Nash thanked the tri-sponsors before he passed away. He was of the vigil yet in doing so, as handsome as ever — healthy, noted that life as she once knew bright-eyed and seemingly it will never again be possible. happy. “I am living every parent’s “I was starting to believe that nightmare, and sadly, I am not maybe this time it had worked.” alone,” Nash said. “You see, Nash says Sean’s battle with I had a child die from a drug addiction lasted nearly a dec-
By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
“We treat you like Family”
were very few people outside of my family who were aware of what we were living with … my husband, Steve, has been the pillar who, at times, has to hold up crumbling pieces of my heart. “We need resources for parents and loved ones in order to get help for those who are in need and want help. I can’t tell you the number of hours I spent on the phone calling rehabs, hospitals, therapist, you name it — then signing anything that was put in front of me, taking responsibility for what wasn’t covered by insurance just to get Sean into a safe place. I did not want him to die. This has Christine Myles Nash and her son, the late Sean Myles Nee. to change. No one should have to mortgage their house to get ade. Her life, she says, was like a can maybe save lives now and their child or loved one help.” roller coaster ride — a series of in the future … that we can learn While those resources are extreme ups and downs. from this and hopefully save the still somewhat slow to come by, “It was debilitating at times,” life of another child.” it’s groups like Kearny Cares she said. “… Sean Myles Nee and the Kearny Prevention was not just an addict,” Nash It’s time to make changes Coalition that are making them said. “He was a smart, talented, Nash, like many parents and easier to come by. Still, it’s not funny, handsome, sweet, loving, relatives of addicts, says she enough, Christine’s husband, sensitive human being. He was handled her situation differently Steve, says. my son and he mattered. He than she might have today. “I am very proud of my wife will always matter to me. His “It’s time to end the shame and hope this is the beginning life had meaning. Why I am and stigma of drug addiction of positive change in ending the here is the hope that his death and mental illness,” she said. stigma of substance abuse here “More people died in New in Kearny,” Steve Nash said. Jersey from drug overdoses than If the vigil was any indicagun violence and car accidents tion, it definitely is the begincombined. ning of positive — big positive “For years, I kept what was — changes here in Kearny and going on inside my home, inside elsewhere. my home,” Nash said. “There
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Inside this edition ... Opinion....................................................................8 Food & Dining Directory.............................................12 Sports & Recreation...................................................13 Health & Wellness Directory.......................................17 Real Estate..............................................................18
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018
Teachers irate over contract, benefit ‘glitch’ By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com A group of dissatisfied Kearny public school teachers demonstrated in front of the Kearny Board of Education building on Midland Avenue, Wednesday evening, May 9. Many carried signs protesting the slow pace of contract talks and one periodically tooted a trumpet to capture the attention of passing pedestrians and motorists, some sounding their horns in a show of support. Several shopkeepers have installed window signs backing the teachers whose union – the Kearny Education Association – has gotten their members to turn out in force as silent observers at recent school board meetings. The KEA’s last contract expired June 30, 2017. Some members have taken Teachers picketed Kearny Board of Education offices last week. to social media to express
Photo by Ron Leir
their frustration over what they alleged to be a recent interruption of their health care coverage of April 1. One district source acknowledged that several members were “denied treatment” by health care providers because there was no proof of coverage – which the source characterized as a temporary “glitch.” The source said the district has told employees who’ve laid out cash to “re-submit their claims” for payment and the district will honor those claims. H. Ronald Smith, the district’s interim business administrator, attributed the interrupted coverage to the fact that, “we were a little late with our payment (to the insurance carrier).” Asked if there was a shortfall in the account, Smith said, “No, we’ve got plenty of money.”
It’s Click It or Ticket in Belleville, elsewhere Law enforcement officers from the Belleville Police Department will join with cops from around the country in cracking down on unbuckled motorists and passengers as part of the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign. Beginning May 21 and running through June 3, the annual “Click It or Ticket” national mobilization utilizes high-visibility seat belt checkpoints and saturation patrols, in combination with local and national publicity efforts, to reiterate the lifesaving value of seat belts. “Using a seat belt is the simplest way for a driver and his or her passengers to protect themselves when traveling,’ said Gary Poedubicky, acting director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “In 2016, it is estimated that more than 14,500 lives were saved nationally by the proper use of seat belts.” Poedubicky said a key fo-
cus of this year’s campaign is to promote seat belt usage by adults in all seating positions in the vehicle, both front and back seats. The front seat belt usage rate in New Jersey currently stands at 94.07%. However, adults riding in rear seats are buckling up at a significantly lower rate — only 48% in the most recent survey. “For whatever reason there seems to be a disconnect with people feeling they don’t need to buckle up when riding as a passenger in rear seats, and this is a concern,” he said. During the 2017 campaign, 350 New Jersey police agencies participated in the twoweek initiative. As a result of the effort, cops issued 17,792 seat belt citations, 6,363 speeding summonses and made 976 impaired-driving arrests. For more information, contact, Lt. Frank Pignataro at 973-450-3348.
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