August 1, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXXI, No. 12
HIGHLIGHTS She was 24 and overdosed. Had her friends helped her, she would likely still be alive today. Page 2-3
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
VICTORY IN IRELAND St. Columcille United Gaelic Pipe Band is first from U.S. to win All-Ireland Championship By Ryan Ribeiro ryan@theobserver.com
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Photo courtesy of the St. Columcille United Gaelic Pipe Band
Members of the Kearny-based St. Columcille United Gaelic Pipe Band celebrated winning the AllIreland Pipe Band Championship recently. They were the first non-Irish or U.K. band to ever win the prestigious competition.
HEY’RE NOT THE BEATLES. They’re not The Rolling Stones. They’re not Queen. But they are the first North American band to win the AllIreland Pipe Band Championships. That’s right, Kearny’s very own St. Columcille United Gaelic Pipe Band became the first band from outside Ireland or the U.K. to ever win the contest that takes place annually in Ireland. The All-Ireland Championships, alternating every year between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, are organized by a committee with five personnel each from the Irish Pipe Band Association and the Northern Ireland Branch of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. In the early days, the competition was confined to bands
See St. COLUMCILLE, Page 23
New Lyndhurst Supt. will work with state monitor Egan school system, has been assigned as monitor of the Lyndhurst Board of Education, which is saddled with a $3.78 million deficit. Lyndhurst school officials learned about Egan’s new duties Thursday, July 26, in Trenton from Glenn Forney, director of the Office of State Monitors for the N.J. Department of Education, according
By Ron Leir Special to The Observer LYNDHURST – A face familiar to Belleville education advocates figures to be seen a lot in Lyndhurst. Tom Egan, deployed by the state Department of Education for the past two years to oversee the cash-strapped Belleville public
to newly installed Lyndhurst Superintendent of Schools Anthony Grieco. The state Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet along with various Bergen County education officials, also attended the brief meeting. “[Egan] will be starting as soon as possible,” Grieco said.
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Beyond that, however, the superintendent said he could offer little else until he has met with the monitor. Typically, Grieco said, a monitor will undertake an audit of the district’s finances. In Lyndhurst’s case, an audit of the district’s Title I program by the state DOE’s Office
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018
THE OPIOID CRISIS IN AMERICA
How one person’s needless fear led to an unnecessary death By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
K
IM ALFIERI WILL never forget the date June 27, 2018.
Because it was that day her daughter, Allison Elizabeth Gaynor, took her last breath at the tender age of 24. Allison was, as many who knew her would tell you, a gentle soul. Her last and final tribute —
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an obituary that appeared on the very pages of this newspaper — described her as a young woman who “had the biggest heart.” She loved her family unconditionally.
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Ally Gaynor, 24, died of an overdose in late June. She didn’t need to die, though, because her friends could have helped her — but didn’t — for fear they’d be arrested or prosecuted.
She had a great affection for her cats and was known to treat them as though they were humans — as if they were children of her own. And despite all the beautiful things Ally possessed in this life, there was something else — something that can grab a hold of anyone, a hold of the best of us. She also had an affinity for opiates. And it was those hideous drugs that wound up taking her life that late-June day, just a little over a month ago. To understand all of this, let’s go back to the day she left this world — and a few days before. Alfieri says her daughter, who had struggled with the demons of addiction for a while in her short time on earth, had been clean for quite some time. But like every mother, Alfieri says she knew something was wrong with Ally — and worried she would relapse if she hadn’t already. If only her instincts had been wrong. Alfieri says that fateful day, Ally and two of her friends copped heroin. They took it. That same day, the trio stopped at a fast-food joint on Passaic Avenue in Harrison, just past the Bridge Street Bridge. At some point, Ally disappeared and went into
the ladies’ room. Five minutes went by. Then 10. Then 20. Then 30. At this point, someone in the triumvirate, apparently, realized too much time had gone by. He called 9-1-1. The other person they were with took off and left, scared. By the time EMTs got to Ally, 30+ minutes had gone by. The first responders were able to get a faint heartbeat — but the truth is, it was too late. Ally died on scene of a heroin overdose. Her friend, a man, waited too long to call 9-1-1, apparently because he was too afraid something would happen to him when police arrived. According to Alfieri, had he called 9-1-1 even so much as 10 or so minutes earlier, we wouldn’t be telling Ally’s story, because she would still be alive. What’s worse? Alfieri says this same man is someone who Ally saved just weeks earlier by administering Narcan after he had overdosed. Ally knew — but this guy didn’t — that when you’re with someone who overdoses, and do what you can to help, in most cases, you cannot be arrested, charged or prosecuted. So instead of sharing a story of triumph — how Ally’s friend saved her in return, we instead share
Continued on the next page
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018
Continued from previous page
the story of how people must know there is a Good Samaritan law on Jersey’s books. If someone you are with overdoses, and you’ve taken drugs, too — you won’t be arrested for helping. Instead, you’ll simply be doing what one person was too scared to do — help. George King is the Chief of the Kearny Police Department. He explained the law and how the Kearny Police Department — and other departments statewide — handle it. And it’s very simple. If you, or someone you’re with, is overdosing — and someone calls for help — no one will be prosecuted or arrested so long as distribution of the
OPIOID CRISIS drug is not involved. “If someone is overdosing, call the police,” King stressed. “The spirit of the law is not to prosecute anyone overdosing or anyone seeking help for someone overdosing. You will not be charged. The attorney general’s guidelines are clear. “What we want to do is make sure the person who overdoses gets help. In fact, sometimes we’ll even offer referrals for help. “This is happening way too much and people need to know helping is more important than anything else.”
Now this doesn’t mean you’ll be able, if you possess, let’s say heroin, to leave with your drugs if someone ODs. Police will confiscate any and all contraband. And, if it appears someone is a distributor, said person won’t be immune to arrest and/or prosecution. But the bottom line is — if Ally’s friends had called for help sooner, not only might she still be alive — those who were with her would not have been arrested. For King — and police everywhere — it’s still about making the call. “We can’t guarantee a life will be saved if people do make the call, but making the call is better than not making it,” King said. Not sure more truer words have been spoken.
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— George King Kearny Police Chief
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‘If someone is overdosing, call the police. The spirit of the law is not to prosecute anyone overdosing or anyone seeking help for someone overdosing. You will not be charged.’
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