MAN HELD IN SUPERMARKET STABBING OF ESTRANGED WIFE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Tuesday, June 4, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B02

A 31-year-old West New York man was being held Monday in Hudson County Jail on charges that he stabbed and critically wounded his estranged wife several times at the ShopRite supermarket, police said.
Police Lt. Mark Cerbo said he and three other officers, responding to a report of a stabbing at the Kennedy Boulevard supermarket Sunday, arrested Rafael Llaverias as he was running through the parking lot.
“He had blood all over his pants,” Cerbo said.
Inside the store, Yohanny Llaverias of Union City was sprawled on the floor, bleeding from stab wounds all over her body. The serrated kitchen knife that police believed was used in the stabbing was lying next to her, Cerbo said. The knife was broken in half.
The 21-year-old woman was in critical condition in Jersey City Medical Center’s surgical intensive care unit, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.
Lt. Timothy Kelly said Yohanny Llaverias had restraining orders barring her husband from contacting her.
Rafael Llaverias was being held in Hudson County Jail without bail on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon, and violation of a restraining order.

Keywords: NORTH BERGEN; ASSAULT

URBAN LEAGUE HONORS STUDENTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Monday, June 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page B02

Christopher Sanders said he did not know he would receive an award at the annual Urban League Salute to African American Scholars until he arrived at the ceremonies Sunday in Hackensack.

“I looked in the program and it was like `Wow, first place! It’s inspiring,” said the Teaneck High School student.

Sanders essay on Democratic Party National Chairman Ronald Brown won him first place and a $1,000 scholarship. He said he plans to study architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark this fall.

About 300 camera-toting parents packed Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Edward Williams College auditorium to see the Urban League recognize and honor some 70 North Jersey middle and high school students.

After apologizing to the audience for the broken air conditioning that created sweltering conditions in the auditorium, FDU President Francis Mertz received applause when he announced that the school will award a four-year, $12,500 scholarship to an Urban League honoree every year, beginning in 1992.

Lenworth Gunther, president of Edmedia Associates Inc. and the day’s keynote speaker, said the students being honored were revolutionaries in a sense because they were defying stereotypes.

“This is just the first stage of what will be many honors and many recognitions, I hope,” Gunther said. “I want you brothers and sisters to understand that I am you, just a little older version. I don’t want to be expendable and I don’t want you to be expendable.”

Among the parents who attended were Edris Clarke, whose daughter Debbie Laine Clark, received an award for excellence. She will begin pre-med studies at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., this fall.

“I’m very proud of my daughter,” the elder Clarke said. “She is a very conscientious student . . . She says to me, `Mommy, I know where I’m going and I’m going to get there by God’s grace.”

Keywords: AWARD; BLACK; HACKENSACK; ORGANIZATION; STUDENT

Caption: PHOTO – COLLETTE FOURNIER / THE RECORD – Christopher Sanders of Teaneck congratulating fellow award-winner Michele M. Cherville of Paterson.

SCHUBER LEADS REGIONALIZATION TALKS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, June 2, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

In the first of what new Bergen County Executive William “Pat” Schuber said he hopes will become regular meetings of municipal leaders, representatives of 45 county communities met with him Saturday to talk about regionalization and consolidation of services.
“The county is not that big anymore,” New Milford Mayor Theresa M. King said. “It’s 70 towns, and we all have the same problems. My concern is that the county put forth programs that do not duplicate themselves, that we don’t add . . . bureaucracy and additional costs.”
Saturday’s meeting, organized by Schuber and Charles O’Dowd, chairman of the Board of Freeholders, among others, examined regionalization in areas such as health, law enforcement, recycling, and a countywide 911 system.
“Regionalization as a word does not mean the end of home rule,” Schuber told those gathered, “but instead represents an approach which will aid communities during these most difficult economic times such as [those] we are facing.”
County government, Schuber said, will take a lead role in helping the towns find ways to share services and concentrate efforts to take advantage of the economies of scale.
One area that is being scrutinized is the potential for regionalizing law enforcement. First Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Paul Brickfield announced that a commission to study how that could be done would be named in July, with meetings and hearings scheduled in August and September.
He said many communities already share dispatching duties, have mutual aid assistance programs, and work together in other ways.
When asked what would happened if a town decided to opt out of a regional arrangement, Brickfield said that would be an impediment only if the proposal was for one central police department for the whole county.
“It is unlikely at this stage that a plan would emerge seeking that all 70 towns join into one force. The trend in the short term is for neighboring towns to at least start to share services, and look at consolidation later,” Brickfield said.
Regionalization is a bitter medicine for some, however, even those like Ridgefield Park Mayor Fred J. Criscuolo, who served on the Inter-local Governmental Relations Committee of the Schuber transition team.
The concept of regionalization is a direct attack on home rule that would cause the deterioration of municipalities by the year 2000, Criscuolo said. But he said municipalities have little choice.
“Since it’s been forced on us, it is the only way to go,” Criscuolo said. “Funding is almost terminated in most areas. With various laws and mandates from the state that require even more money, I think regionalization, or as we call it, intergovernmental relationship, is the only way to go.”
O’Dowd said he realized regionalization might be difficult to achieve politically.
“There are two standards to be met when we talk about cooperation and regionalization: will the service improve and will the cost decrease,” O’Dowd said. “If we can put all the cobwebs out of our brain about home rule and local control and understand that we’ll still have that because it is our decision to make. If we meet those two standards, then we have served our people and served them well.”

Keywords: HACKENSACK; BERGEN COUNTY; EXECUTIVE; MEETING; GOVERNMENT; OFFICIAL

Notes: Bergen page

POLICE SAY MEN SOLD COCAINE IN PARKING LOT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer |Saturday, June 1, 1991

The Record (New Jersey | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A04

City police, responding to residents complaints of rampant drug dealing at their apartment building, have arrested two men they saw allegedly selling cocaine in the parking lot.
Fernando Hernandez, 29, of 28 E. Palisade Ave., Palisades Park, and Nelson Adarve, 34, of 31 W. Englewood Ave., Englewood, were being held in the Bergen County Jail Friday on $100,000 bail.
About 7:15 p.m. Thursday, detectives Edward Murray and Charles Gormley saw Hernandez, with Adarve sitting next to him, drive into the parking lot of the building at 143 Tenafly Road, honk his horn, and sell a packet to a tenant, who was not arrested, said Englewood Police Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley.
The two then drove to Sunnyside Park in Englewood, where they picked up Timothy Maloney, 26. Shortly afterward, police, who were following in an unmarked car, attempted to pull them over. They sped off, but the chase ended a short while later on Marcotte Lane in Tenafly when they crashed into a tree.
Charges against Hernandez and Adarve include possession of 65 grams of cocaine, worth about $8,000; possession of the drug within 1,000 feet of a school; possession with intent to distribute; reckless driving, and eluding police, Tinsley said.
Maloney, whose last known address was 177 Pleasant Ave., Englewood, was charged with possession of cocaine and released on his own recognizance, Tinsley said.

Keywords: ENGLEWOOD; PARKING; POLICE; SALE; DRUG

TONS CONFISCATED, 8 ARRESTED; NEW JERSEY’S BIGGEST DRUG BUST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, June 1, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A01

In what is being called New Jersey’s largest drug haul ever, undercover U.S. Customs Service agents Friday seized 4,700 pounds of cocaine, 7,000 pounds of marijuana, and $995,000 in cash, and arrested eight men connected to the shipment, officials said.
“New Jersey, unfortunately, is becoming a central transit place for heroin, cocaine, and other forms of narcotics,” said Robert van Etten, special customs agent in charge.
Friday’s arrests culminated a four-month investigation in which customs agents infiltrated a New York metropolitan area drug-smuggling organization that was supplied by the Cali drug cartel in Colombia, Van Etten said. The marijuana was to be delivered to Illinois and Indiana, he added.
The cocaine had a wholesale value of $58.2 million, and the marijuana was valued at $11.2 million wholesale, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Rabner.
Van Etten said a private transport plane brought the drugs first to Miami, then to Newark International Airport about a week ago. The drugs were transferred to a rented truck, which was seized by agents in Newark Friday.
Among those arrested were North Jersey residents Enidio Abreu, 42, of 310 Warwick Ave., Teaneck, and Julio Menendez, 29, of 1614 83rd St., North Bergen.
The eight were charged with conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana. They were being held without bail in the Union County Jail.

Keywords: DRUG; NEWARK; PROBE; SHIP; NEW JERSEY; SMUGGLING

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – BB BRUSH / THE RECORD – Workers in Newark unloading cocaine and marijuana seized Friday after a four-month investigation.

COPS PROBE HOW WOMAN IN SPAT FELL FROM WINDOW

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Thursday, May 30, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | One Star | NEWS | Page B04

Investigators are trying to determine how a 24-year-old Jersey City woman, a bystander in a spat between a man and his two girlfriends, fell out of a third-floor apartment window Wednesday and cracked her skull, police said.
“Everything indicates that she didn’t want to go out of that window,” Union City Detective Sgt. Maurice Ryan said.
Wanda Colon of 1812 Fifth St. was in critical condition in the intensive care unit at University Hospital in Newark, a hospital spokesman said.
Ryan said the dispute started when Carmen Natal of 2508 Adams Place, Union City, and Jacqueline Casco of 228 Fourth St., Jersey City, found out they had been dating the same man Michael Lugo, 23, of Queens and decided to confront him early Wednesday.
Natal, 24, telephoned Lugo and told him her husband was beating her, Ryan said, adding that Natal is not married. Ryan said that when Lugo arrived at Natal’s place, armed with a gun, he was surprised to find Casco, Colon, and two other women there, along with Natal.
The gun was a catalyst in the ensuing melee, during which Colon fell out of the window, Ryan said. Broken window panes, scratches on her wrist, and her fingernail marks on the sill, showed that Colon struggled to prevent her fall, Ryan said.
Lugo was charged with possession of a weapon and aggravated assault. He was being held in the Hudson County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Keywords: UNION CITY; ACCIDENT; PROBE

WATER USE A PROBLEM IN OAKLAND

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Monday, May 27, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

Borough officials urged residents not to sprinkle lawns or wash cars following a virtual water-use binge that brought reserves to dangerously low levels.
Although water levels had climbed to nearly 75 percent capacity by 6 p.m. Sunday, the advisory will remain in effect until further notice, said N. David Fagerland, public works director. On Saturday, reserves were about 30 percent of capacity.
Apparently, a significant number of the borough’s 4,025 water customers were watering lawns and washing cars Saturday, depleting the borough’s five tanks.
“Basically, the wells could not keep up with the demand,” Fagerland said. “The people were using the water before it gets to the tanks, before the tanks got filled.”
Public works officials and police, responding to complaints of low-water pressure from residents, went around neighborhoods with loudspeakers and bullhorns Saturday and Sunday, warning residents to resist the urge to water their lawns.

Keywords: OAKLAND; WATER; SUPPLY

YOUTH PULLED FROM RIVER DIES

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, May 26, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A09

A 13-year-old boy pulled from the Hudson River after being submerged for nearly an hour died before dawn Saturday, a Jersey City Medical Center spokeswoman said.
Frank Williams of Jersey City had been swimming with friends in the river, at the foot of Sixth Street near Grundy Park, when he slipped from sight, said city police Lt. Robert Taino.
The friends stopped Police Officer Jack Bennett about 4 p.m. Friday, and told him their friend had disappeared while swimming, Taino said. Bennett called for a rescue team, then flagged down a passing boat, and they began searching for the boy. New York harbor police assisted Jersey City officers in pulling the boy from the river.
Williams was admitted to Jersey City Medical Center in critical condition about 6 p.m. Friday. He was placed on a respirator but died during the night, the hospital spokeswoman said.

Keywords: JERSEY CITY; YOUTH; RIVER; SWIMMING; ACCIDENT; DEATH

POLICE CHIEF JOHN J. AGAR, 60

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, May 25, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS (OBIT) | Page A08

If you cut John J. Agar, township police chief for the past four years, he would bleed blue, a friend said Friday.
That’s how much of a policeman he was, said the friend, Little Ferry Police Chief Donald Fleming. Mr. Agar died about noon Thursday at Englewood Hospital. He was 60.
Diagnosed eight years ago with leukemia, Mr. Agar’s condition worsened in the past year. He died three hours before he was to receive a career achievement award from the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association.
“We worked over the course of the years on many, many cases together,” Fleming said. “Even as police chief he was very active, going on drug raids. He made sure his community was safe. He was there when you needed him. He’s going to be missed. An asset to every community around.”
Mr. Agar lived on Agar Place, where his grandfather, John, set down roots at the turn of the century. Mr. Agar was a lifelong resident of the township and served 34 years in the Police Department.
He served with the Marines during the Korean War.
Mr. Agar joined the police force in 1957 after working several years with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department.
Mr. Agar is survived by his wife, Eileen; two sons, David and Eugene; two daughters, Sharon Agar and Gail Reich; a brother, Charles, and five grandchildren.
Visiting will be Sunday and Monday from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Trinka-Faustini Funeral Home in Little Ferry. A service by the Police Chiefs Association will begin at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, followed by a Mass at 9:30 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church in Hackensack. Burial will be at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus. Donations to the Leukemia Society of America, Maplewood, would be appreciated.

Keywords: SOUTH HACKENSACK; POLICE; JOHN AGAR

TROOPERS BEING TRAINED TO DISPATCH; THEY’D REPLACE LAID-OFF CIVILIANS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 24, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

The state police on Thursday began training 29 officers in dispatching in the wake of notices sent to 123 of the agency’s 127 civilian dispatchers that they would be laid off next month.
The two-day instruction of senior troopers and sergeants at Fort Dix ensures that the agency will have trained people operating its criminal-justice information system should the layoffs go through, said Capt. Thomas Gallagher, a state police spokesman.
The dispatchers union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission, and has asked the state Department of Personnel for an affirmative-action review because the dispatchers are predominantly women and minorities, the union’s president said.
Dominick Critelli, who heads the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents the dispatchers, also questioned the wisdom of laying off dispatchers who earn between $18,000 and $25,000 a year and replacing them with officers who earn about $45,000.
Public safety would suffer because fewer troopers would be enforcing the law; at the same time, the state won’t see the expected $3.3 million savings from the layoffs, Critelli said.
“I can’t see cutting services in the area that they are cutting because there is nothing gained economically,” he said. “What you are talking about is a loss in services for basically the same dollar amounts if these people lost their jobs and go on to collect unemployment and receive some type of social assistance.”
Gallagher said public safety would not suffer because the people being trained to do the job work in the offices. They would just have to assume the additional responsibility of operating the dispatching system, he said.
The $3.3 million savings expected from laying off the dispatchers should bring to $7.2 million the amount saved by state police labor cuts this fiscal year and in next year’s budget.
Earlier this year, the state police cut $1.1 million from this year’s budget by laying off 32 inspectors from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Bureau, Gallagher said.
The savings from the dispatcher layoffs, plus $2.8 million expected from the laying off of 160 security guards in state buildings, would be applied to next year’s budget, he added.
Civilians have been working as dispatchers since the state created the position in 1970 as a way to put more troopers on the road.

Keywords: POLICE; NEW JERSEY; INFORMATION; EMPLOYMENT