October 24, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXXI, No. 24
HIGHLIGHTS Wondering about all those kids with cops in Belleville? Find out why ...
See Page 8
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
FIGHTING FLORENCE
Kearny Fire Department Deputy Chief Robert ‘Ozzy’ Osborn (top right) with Gov. Roy Cooper, R-N.C., spent two weeks with NJ Task Force 1 in North Carolina following ‘cane that levelled parts of the East Coast. In main photo, a man is seen walking through several feet of flood waters. He refused any help. See story on Pages 4-5
East Newark teachers get new contract that expires in June be back at the bargaining table again. The new agreement, ratified by the teachers’ union members Oct. 12 and approved by the borough Board of Education Oct. 15, is retroactive to July 1, 2015, and runs through
By Ron Leir Special to The Observer
A
fter a 3-year wait, East Newark Public School teachers have a new labor contract but before the current school year ends, they’ll
June 30, 2019 — the end of the current school year. Richard Corbett, superintendent/ principal of the borough school district, said the pact provides for pay increases (over and above normal step increments) averaging
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018
BRANWELL’S DREAM COMES By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
I
F YOU’VE LIVED IN Kearny — or know someone who does — over the 20 years or so, chances are you are a patient of, or (again) know someone whose foot doctor is John Branwell. The long-time podiatrist on Seeley Avenue who once
practiced inside Wel-Fit Shoes has long been regarded highly by everyone who knows him. But Branwell had a secret of sorts that he rarely shared with anyone — he was a fanatical “Wheel of Fortune,” fan and wanted to be a contestant on the show. “I started watching the show in 1984, 1985, when
I was living with my grandparents in Mississippi,” Branwell says. He was enrolled at Memphis State at the time, and rather than spend exorbitant cash on living on campus, he lived with grandma and grandpa. “And when we’d watch, I would solve puzzles with just one letter,” Branwell says. “It would drive my grandparents
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Dr. John Branwell, right, with ‘Wheel of Fortune’ host Pat Sajak.
nuts. They’d throw me out of the room because I was so good at it.” Years would pass. Decades, in fact. Branwell says he never gave serious thought to trying to get on the show. But then, in March, he was at home in Hawthorne (even though his greatest connections are in Kearny, he was referred to as “John from Hawthorne” in his promotional commercials) and decided he had waited enough. “I went to wheeloffortune. com, clicked on apply and my daughter helped me to make a short video,” he says. “To get on the show you have to send them a video to explain why you want to be on the show. So we did that, sent it and waited.” Branwell was one of only a million people who apply to get onto the show annually, he would later find out, so
the odds were instantly stacked against him. Or so one might think. But if you know John and his incredibly outgoing personality — heck, he still makes house calls — you might have thought otherwise from the get-go. A few months pass, and in June, Branwell gets an email — he’ll be trying out at the Kimpton Ink48 Hotel in Manhattan. When he arrived, Branwell says he was one of maybe 60 to 75 Wheel wannabes. They spent two hours solving puzzles as one would on the show (electronically) — and then he took a written test, also a series of puzzles to solve. When all was said and done, the organizers told him he’d be in a contestant pool for the next 18 months — and that if he were to be chosen to be a contestant,
Continued on the next page
Inside this edition ... Opinion............................................................................................6 Around Town..................................................................................9 Food & Dining Directory..............................................................10 Sports & Recreation.....................................................................11 Health & Wellness Directory.......................................................14 Real Estate....................................................................................16 Real Estate Directory...................................................................17 Obituaries......................................................................................19 Classifieds.............................................................................20-22 Business Directory......................................................................22
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018
03
TRUE ON WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Costa Rica. He and one of his incredible.” daughters will take that trip in Meanwhile, here are a few he’d get a call with two-week’s August 2019. But that $11,500 things you might not have notice. If he got the call (or total was — get this — $150 known about the show. email as it turned out) he’d short of allowing him to go on One, Sajak stands on a be responsible for his own to the Bonus Round. platform. He’s not as tall as airfare, hotels, etc. A stinking “fig” cookie in he might appear on the show. In July, he got the email. He a puzzle stymied him from The contestants also stand was chosen. No year-and-agetting there. on automatic platforms that half wait … they wanted him “But no regrets at all,” he adjust in height based on each forthwith. says. “In a half hour, I won contestant. It allows them to The taping date for the show what I won. How could I be reach down to spin the wheel that aired in late September disappointed in that? I had the comfortably and without was Aug. 23. time of my life — and achieved getting a hernia in the process. “I just couldn’t believe it,” a long-time dream. I couldn’t In all, Branwell says it was YouTube Branwell says. “I couldn’t ask for more than that.” one of the greatest experiences TOP: Branwell as he’s introduced to the TV audience. BOTTOM: believe this was happening to We asked Branwell if he was of his life, one he wouldn’t Branwell and his fellow contestants as they try to solve the first me. Why did they pick me? If nervous at all. trade for anything. puzzle of the night — LOS ANGELES RAMS. Wonder if Jim Hague a million people apply each “Not at all,” he says, even “And no, ‘Jeopardy’ is not or Joe Reese solved that one from home? year, why me?” though host Pat Sajak loused next,” Branwell says. “People Again, we say because he’s up his introduction (one keep asking me if I am going to John Branwell — and it was a where John had planned to try that next — and the answer no-brainer. advertising@theobserver.com 201-991-1600 give a big shout-out to Kearny is ‘no.’ I had one dream — and So it was off to Los Angeles and his friends and patients I accomplished it. I could not er: Client: for the Aug. 23 taping. here.) be happier.” “It was the experience of a We asked what it was like If you haven’t seen lifetime,” Branwell says. “A meeting Sajak and co-host Branwell’s episode yet, fear not chance to be on the show — to Vanna White. — it’s available on YouTube. be on TV. There’s nothing else “They were great,” he says. After going to YouTube, search like it.” “We were practicing (how to “S36 E12 Wheel of Fortune.” If you haven’t seen the show actually spin the wheel) and Even better — this version’s yet — spoiler alert: turn your Pat came out for a few minutes commercial free. We’ll embed Advertising: Hereright is the updated template with a new phototoof Jarlynnthe Hyde: eyes away now and read to chat with us. Prior the episode with this story on the rest afterward — he won taping, in the contestant room, www.theobserver.com. $11,500 in cash and prizes, Vanna came in for about 10 including an all-inclusive minutes — and she treated “We treat you like Family” trip to a magnificent resort in us like we were family. It was
Continued from previous page
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