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

CHILD DROWNS IN RAIN PUDDLE MOTHER FINDS HIM ATOP COVERED POOL

Byline: By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 28, 1991

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

A 2 1/2-year-old boy drowned Saturday in a puddle of rainwater atop a covered swimming pool in the back yard of his Pine Street home, police said.
Emanual Balseiro was pronounced dead at 11:35 a.m., 50 minutes after paramedics took him to Hackensack Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Police Capt. John Aletta said the drowning was an accident.
Officers Jeff Simone and Ernie Wilczewski, the first to arrive shortly after a 10:14 a.m. call to police, applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and other measures, but were unable to revive the boy, Aletta said. Paramedics took over from the officers.
Detective Sgt. Walter Krakowski said the drowning occurred as the family went about a routine that is normal for a Saturday morning in spring: children playing around the house as their parents did yard work.
Salvador Balseiro, the boy’s 63-year-old grandfather, who is visiting with his wife from Valencia, Spain, confirmed that was what happened.
With Myrna Ubides, a cousin of Lucy Balseiro, the boy’s mother, interpreting, the grandfather said: “They were all working around the house when they noticed the kid was missing. He was always around his mother. They thought the boy was upstairs with his sister.”
They started looking around the house when they didn’t find Emanual upstairs, Salvador Balseiro said. That was when the boy’s mother discovered her son.
“The next you heard was the mother screaming,” Krakowski said. “The father jumped into the pool and pulled the baby out.”
The child’s father, Ed Balseiro, and mother were with the family pastor Saturday afternoon, Ubides said. The couple have two other children, Rosio, 11, and Eduardo, 8.

Keywords: CHILD; ACCIDENT; SWIMMING; DEATH; VICTIM; HACKENSACK

BURGLARY SUSPECT MAY NOT HAVE DROWNED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, April 20, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A04

A burglary suspect thought to have drowned after he leaped off a bridge into the Passaic River after a police chase may have escaped, police said Friday.
Police have developed new information that Herbert Pitts of 43 Graham Ave., Paterson, may have been seen running down a nearby highway ramp after the jump, police Lt. Ron Natale said.
“We combed the river thoroughly Wednesday and again yesterday,” Natale said. “We didn’t find any body. We are not absolutely positive that he did go into the river. We believe he may have, but there is a chance he did escape. Right now, we’ll continue on the assumption that Pitts is somewhere out there, possibly alive.”
A suspect in custody, Tyrone Jones, 28, of Paterson identified Pitts, 32, from a photograph as a suspect involved in the chase, which led to the drowning death of Terry Wilson, 25, also of Paterson.
The incident began Wednesday afternoon at the scene of a burglary in Hackensack. With Hackensack, Lodi, and Elmwood Park police pursuing, the suspects fled in a stolen van, weaving through traffic on Routes 46, 20, and 80 before crashing in the eastbound Route 80 lanes in Elmwood Park.
The men abandoned the van and ran across the highway, and Pitts and Wilson leaped 50 feet off the bridge into the river, near Market Street. Wilson’s body was later pulled from the river. Jones, who did not jump and was caught, was being held in the Bergen County Jail Annex on $100,000 bail.
Jones, charged by Hackensack police with 11 counts of theft, five counts of burglary, and one count each of receiving stolen property and resisting arrest, cooperated with investigators, giving them information on burglaries in Carlstadt, Fair Lawn, Maywood, Wyckoff, and other Bergen County communities.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; BRIDGE; BURGLARY; RIVER; MISSING PERSON; DEATH; VICTIM

DAD SAYS MIX-UP LED TO ARREST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 3, 1991

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

A Bronx man whose 16-month-old son was found alone and crying in a van at a shopping mall last week says he did not intend to leave the infant there but police arrived before he could take the child with him.
“Right when I dropped my tools off and I came back to get my kid, the cops were already there,” Godwin Chow said Saturday at the Bergen County Jail Annex, where he was being held on $75,000 bail.
Chow, 39, said that when he saw city police Sgt. Frank Lomia and Officer John Carroll next to his van at Riverside Square mall, he panicked, and decided to wait until they left before bringing the boy into the restaurant where he was to repair equipment Wednesday night.
But police and mall security officers said the infant, David Chow, had been in the van in front of Au Bon Pain restaurant at the mall for at least two hours when Lomia and Carroll found him about 9:50 p.m.
Mall security officers, dispatched to look for the van’s owner in nearby businesses because the boy was crying, returned with Chow as Lomia and Carroll were about to smash the window to get to the child, police said.
When he took the boy out of the van, Lomia said, the child appeared to be in good health but was cold, his clothing was in poor condition, and his diaper had not been changed in some time.
Chow was charged with endangering the life of a child and disorderly conduct.
A spokeswoman for Hackensack Medical Center said Saturday that the infant, who did not require treatment, had been released Friday night to the custody of the New York City Child Welfare Administration. An attorney for the agency said he could not comment on any case it might be involved in.
Chow said he usually had a baby sitter look after his son when he went to work but did not do so Wednesday because he was going to be with the infant and did not plan on working long. In the past when he went to work at the restaurant, Chow said, he brought the boy in with him.
Ray and Raphie Gutierrez, brothers who are managers at the restaurant, said Chow often brought a baby in when he came to repair stoves.
“I really cannot tell you how many times he brought the baby to work here, but I remember I’ve seen the kid a couple of times,” Ray Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said Chow arrived at the restaurant about 9 p.m. Wednesday to repair the steamer on an oven.
“I don’t know what was going on outside,” Gutierrez said. “The only thing I know is that every five minutes he was going outside.”
Chow said he had known the child’s mother only briefly, and did not learn she was pregnant until she came to him seven months after they met while experiencing complications with her pregnancy. He said he took her to a hospital, where she gave birth, and then she abandoned the child.
Chow said he had not seen a lawyer since his arrest.
“The jail is overcrowded. Right now, I’m sleeping on a cold plastic mat. There is no pillowcase, no towel, no nothing. The only thing I have is this,” Chow said, tugging contemptuously at the collar of his jail uniform.
The officers involved in the arrest and Police Chief William C. Iurato could be reached Saturday for further comment on the case.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; NEW YORK CITY; CHILD; MOTOR VEHICLE; STORE

DAD HELD AFTER COPS FIND CHILD IN MALL LOT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, March 1, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

A 39-year-old Bronx man was charged Thursday with endangering the life of a child after two Hackensack youth officers found his 16-month-old son alone and crying in a van parked at the Riverside Square Mall.
Goodwin Chow, also charged with disorderly conduct, was being held in the Bergen County Jail on $75,000 bail.
The toddler had been in the van for at least two hours when Sgt. Frank Lomia and Police Officer John Carroll found him at about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, Hackensack Police Chief William C. Iurato said.
“When I took him out of the van, he appeared in general good health, but he was cold,” Lomia said. “His clothing was really poor, and his diapers hadn’t been changed in a while. “
The child was taken by ambulance to the Hackensack Medical Center, where he was treated before being released to the custody of the state Division of Youth and Family Services, police said.
A DYFS spokeswoman said she was prohibited by law from acknowledging any investigation that the agency might be involved in.
Lomia said the officers were on patrol when Carroll noticed the white 1973 Ford van bearing New York license plates and covered with graffiti.
“We checked it out because it looked so out of place sitting in front of the restaurant,” Lomia said. “Then, when we checked further, we found the boy. “
Raphie Gutierrez, a manager at Au Bon Pain restaurant, where Chow arrived about 8 p.m. to repair an oven, said the last time Chow came to work at the restaurant, about a month ago, he brought the boy in with him. The boy was awake and stayed with employees in the back of the restaurant, he said.
On Wednesday, Chow “was going back and forth [to the parking lot] every five minutes,” Gutierrez said. “We didn’t know why until later. “
The boy, wrapped in a grease-stained jacket and in the front passenger seat, began crying when Carroll and Lomia arrived at the van, Iurato said. Mall security officers, dispatched to look for the van’s owner in nearby businesses, arrived with Chow as the officers were about to smash in the window to get to the child, Iurato said. He said Chow became defensive and was uncooperative with the officers.
“He refused to open the van or give us the key. The key had to be forcibly taken from him,” Lomia said.
Chow told police that the boy has a mother but no other relative. Police were searching for her Thursday, Lomia said.

Keywords: NEW YORK CITY; BABY; HACKENSACK; MOTOR VEHICLE; ABUSE

5 ARRESTED IN COCAINE, GUN STING

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, February 15, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

Francisco Torres double-parked his white 1989 Porsche in front of a Hackensack house Wednesday, put a “Doctor On Call” sign on the dash, and, briefcase in hand, walked into a police narcotics sting.
The arrest of the 30-year-old Jersey City man and an accomplice culminated an investigation that yielded 2 1/2 pounds of cocaine and the arrests of three other men Tuesday night, city Police Chief William Iurato said Thursday.
Tuesday’s arrests came in “a volatile situation that was defused with no gunplay” when an officer disarmed a suspect who appeared ready to fire a machine gun, Iurato said.
Detective Sgt. Arthur Mento, who backed up narcotics officers posing as weapons and drug dealers, credited Detective Sgt. Michael Mordaga with saving his and other officers lives when he disarmed the suspect, who had trained the gun on Mento.
Police had decided to act as “middlemen” after they got wind of an operation in which people were trading guns for cash or cocaine, said Iurato, who gave the following account:
The first leg of the investigation was the purchase of the machine gun in the parking lot of a diner on Essex Street at about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Mordaga and Officer Al Guitierrez were at the open door of a truck negotiating the $2,300 asking price for the gun with Eduardo Gomez, 26, of Union City, and Jairo Gondolo, 32, of Weehawken.
The third suspect, Abel Maldonaldo, 29, of Paterson, who was standing watch, saw other undercover officers approaching and yelled, “It’s a rip. “
“They thought they were being ripped off,” Iurato said. “They didn’t realize we were police officers until after the arrest. “
Gondolo picked up the machine gun, which was at his feet in the back seat, and raised it.
Mordaga jumped into the truck, and jammed his thumb in the trigger housing of the machine gun, slightly injuring his thumb as he disarmed Gondolo.
“We were in a situation where we couldn’t shoot,” Mento said. “If Sgt. Mordaga had not done what he did, we would have been seriously hurt. “
The gun was loaded with 30 rounds of 9mm ammunition. A .45-caliber handgun was also seized.
Tuesday’s arrests led police to Torres and Domingo Acosta, 29, of Union City, who were to provide 2 1/2 pounds of cocaine at a price of $30,000, a figure less than the street value, Iurato said. Torres and Acosta agreed to reduce the price if the undercover officers would buy 5 pounds of cocaine a week.
Iurato declined to say how police connected the suspects in Tuesday’s arrests with Torres and Acosta.
Torres and Acosta, who were arrested without incident, were charged with possession of and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and possession of a semi-automatic handgun. Torres was freed on $25,000 bail and Acosta was released on $50,000 bail.
Gondolo, charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, weapons charges, and resisting arrest, was released on $50,000 bail.
Gomez was being held in the Bergen County Jail on $50,000 bail on weapons charges and a charge of resisting arrest. Maldonaldo was held on $26,000 bail on the same charges.
Police confiscated the Porsche and the 1988 Toyota truck.

Keywords: DRUG; JERSEY CITY; WEAPON; HACKENSACK; POLICE

OIL SPILL SHUTS STREET, FORCES OUT WORKERS

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Saturday, January 19, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A07

Three employees of a drug store were evacuated and a block-long section of Essex Street’s eastbound lanes were shut to traffic for about two hours Friday as the city police and fire departments investigated the cause of an oil spill and fumes at the back of the pharmacy.
Lt. Ken B. Morosco of the Fire Department said officials took the steps because of fumes from the oil-flooded basement and the parking lot behind First Fidelity Bank, Total Woman Beauty Salon, and Rite Aid Pharmacy at 443 to 455 Essex St.
A truck driver for Dowling Fuel Co. of Ridgefield Park mistakenly pumped 500 gallons of heating fuel into the basement of the Rite Aid Pharmacy on Thursday, thinking he was pumping the oil into a tank at Total Woman Beauty Salon, Morosco said.
Morosco said a sump pump in the basement of the drug store pumped some oil into the parking lot. Much of it was recovered, and the oil company was cleaning up the basement Friday, he said.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; OIL; ACCIDENT; ROAD; CLOSING

Caption: PHOTO – BOB BRUSH / THE RECORD – Workers from Dowling Fuel Co. cleaning up fuel oil behind stores on Essex Street on Saturday.

HACKENSACK SHOOTING VICTIM HELD; POLICE SAY HE RAN COCAINE RING

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 12, 1991

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

A 28-year-old city resident who was paralyzed last month in what New York police called a drug-related shootout was arrested Friday on drug and weapon charges as he came out of a hospital.
Juan Cuevas, now wheelchair-bound, had just attended a physical-therapy session at Hackensack Medical Center when police arrested him at noon, Police Chief William Iurato said.
Cuevas was charged with possession of a firearm, possession of cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia as a result of a police raid on his home last month. He was released after his wife paid 10 percent of $5,000 bail.
Iurato said police will move to seize Cuevas single-family, Colonial-style house at 385 Summit Ave. because he operated a large-scale cocaine ring there. Cuevas purchased the house for $275,000 in August, the chief said.
“At this point we don’t know how sophisticated the operation was, but the home was protected by a sophisticated surveillance and burglar-alarm system,” Iurato said.
New York City police found the bullet-riddled bodies of four men, including Cuevas, at 620 S. 147th St. in Manhattan on Dec. 16. Two of the men were dead. Cuevas, who had been shot in the chest and lungs, and the fourth man were hospitalized.
Acting on a tip from an anonymous caller on Dec. 18, the Hackensack Police Narcotics Unit arrested his wife, Elizabeth Cuevas, 23, his brother, Jose Cuevas, 24, and Anselmo Pineda, 37, at the house. During the arrest, Hackensack police found a .45-caliber handgun, scales used to weigh drugs, burglar alarms, signaling devices, and surveillance cameras in and outside the house, including one in a birdhouse.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; SHOOTING; VICTIM; DRUG; CRIME

HACKENSACK MAN FACES CHARGES IN OUTBREAK OF CITY BURGLARIES

By Michael O. Allen and Tom Topousis, Record Staff Writers | Tuesday, January 8, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

A 34-year-old city man, arrested after he allegedly broke into the Woolworth’s store on Main Street and stole a display stand full of watches, also was charged with six other burglaries in the city, police said.
Michael Griffin of 113 Sussex St. was arraigned in Hackensack City Court on Monday, charged with seven counts of burglary, one count of strong-arm robbery, and one count of theft from a person, said Police Chief William Iurato.
Griffin was arrested shortly after 5:10 a.m. Sunday when police responded to the Woolworth’s store at 149 Main St., where a burglar alarm had been triggered, Iurato said.
Detective Sgt. Edward Plunkett and Officer William Novak found the front door of the store broken and shortly afterward found Griffin hiding under some plywood in an alley south of the store, Iurato said.
“He apparently feels that in spite of the burglar alarm, he was going through anyway,” Iurato said, adding that several watches from Woolworth’s were recovered.
Under questioning by Lt. Anthony Leggieri and Detective Sgt. Fred Puglisi, Griffin confessed to six other burglaries, including twice breaking into Victor’s Jewelers at 141 Main St. and stealing several watches and jewelry, Iurato said.
Griffin also is charged with the strong-arm robbery of a man on Union Street on Dec. 3 after following the victim home from a bank. Iurato said Griffin punched and pushed the man to the ground before stealing his wallet.
On Nov. 17, Griffin allegedly stole a wallet from another pedestrian in the Union Street neighborhood, prompting a charge of theft from a person, Iurato said.
The other burglaries were at businesses along the south end of Main, Hudson, and State streets, Iurato said, adding that Griffin did not work alone.
Iurato said police believe Griffin and his accomplices were responsible for similar burglaries in Paramus, Hasbrouck Heights, and other communities in the area.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; BURGLARY

2 HELD IN ARMED ROBBERY IN HACKENSACK

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, December 30, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A04

Two men were being held in the Bergen County Jail on Saturday on $20,000 bail each after their arrest in a city apartment building following a report of an armed robbery outside a convenience store, police said.
Bryan Miller, 26, of Ridgewood and Troy Jones, 30, of Englewood, who police say were staying at 370 Park St., were charged with armed robbery, Police Chief William Iurato said in a news release.
Iurato said that at 11 p.m. Friday, Miller held a gun to three men coming out of Simon Sez, a convenience store at 281 State St., while Jones emptied the men’s pockets and took about $40 and cigarettes. Miller and Jones then ran from the scene in opposite directions, Iurato said.
One of the victims stopped a passing police car, reported the robbery, and described the men, the chief said.
An investigation led to the arrest of the men at 370 Park St., Iurato said.

Keywords: ROBBERY; HACKENSACK; BERGEN COUNTY; PRISON; STORE