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Error in headline -candidate, not councilman

Hackensack judge to review complaint on city councilman stealing opponents campaign signs

SATURDAY APRIL 13, 2013, 5:12 PM
BY  HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
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HACKENSACK – A city judge will review a complaint Monday that was filed against a council candidate accused of stealing his opponents’ campaign signs.

City police say surveillance videotape shows Kenneth Martin removing four signs that had been located outside the Hackensack Market, at 120 Passaic St. Martin, a retired Hackensack police detective, is running on the Coalition for Open Government line.

On the video, he is spotted removing the signs for the Citizens for Change team and placing them in his trunk. Council candidate Leo Battaglia filed a complaint Friday accusing Martin of theft of movable property, said Hackensack Police Director Michael Mordaga.

“There are video cameras on the building,” Mordaga said. “The video does confirm that Mr. Martin removed those signs from private property.”

Martin declined to comment on the matter Saturday when reached by phone. He said Battaglia was using the allegation “to distract residents from what I’m trying to do in the city.”

Battaglia said the theft showed a lack of integrity. “We don’t touch any of his signs,” he said. “This is stealing. He should be an example for the community.”

Hackensack Market manager Bhavesh Patel said the individuals who put up the signs asked his permission, but that Martin didn’t ask his permission to remove them. He said it was possible that another manager spoke to Martin, but he was not sure.

Councilman John Labrosse, who is running for reelection with Citizens for Change, said his team was concerned because a few dozen signs have gone missing. “You work hard to get them out there and put them up and all of a sudden they’re gone,” he said.

I was really hoping you would not go there. Do you even realize how far you just put your foot in your mouth? You can explain it away anyway you want. On it's face your comment about summer school students is offensive.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Fire_destroys_Hackensack_home_two_injured.html?scpromo=1

Fire destroys Hackensack home; two injured
Sunday March 17, 2013, 10:59 AM
BY  DENISA R. SUPERVILLE
STAFF WRITER
The Record

HACKENSACK — An early Sunday morning fire destroyed a Park Street home, severely damaged another and sent two people to the hospital with injuries, authorities said.


Firefighters on the scene of the fire on Park Street in Hackensack Sunday.
TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Firefighters on the scene of the fire on Park Street in Hackesack Sunday.

A 28-year-old firefighter from Engine Company 2 hurt his back after slipping and falling on icy ground, and a woman who was being evacuated from a nearby house suffered an asthma attack after inhaling smoke, said Justin Derevyanik, spokesman for the Hackensack Fire Department.

Both were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center. Their conditions were unknown on Sunday morning.

Authorities believe the blaze started in a first-floor bedroom at 433 Park Street and spread to 435 Park Street, Derevyanik said.

Firefighters, alerted to the fire at 4:56 a.m., arrived to find thick smoke billowing out of the 2½-story wood frame house and the flames already leaping to the second home, also a 2½ story wood house, he said.

The homeowners, asleep in the house’s second floor when the fire started, roused the second-floor tenants, and they all escaped, Derevyanik said.

Firefighters fought the three-alarm blaze for about an hour and a half, a task made difficult by windy and icy conditions, Derevyanik said.

About 55 Hackensack firefighters, along with companies from neighboring Teaneck, Bogota and Ridgefield Park responded, he said.

The house where the fire started is expected to be demolished later on Sunday, he said. The charred roof and attic had collapsed onto to the top floor.

The second house also sustained heavy damage to the top floor. The siding melted from the heat, Derevyanik said.

The house didn’t have working a smoke detector, Derevyanik said. The city fire department has a program that provides free smoke detectors to residents who cannot afford them, he said.

Four families — a total of 11 people — were displaced. They were at the Hackensack Civic Center on Sunday morning, receiving assistance from the American Red Cross, he said.

Email: superville@northjersey.com

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