From my understanding it was a NON event and the intruder laughed his ass off when he saw his 'manhood'!
The $200 was a payment to keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone what he saw!

But gee, the next time I take a crap I'll first check all the windows and doors!

Robbed while in shower, he tells cops

Thursday, June 21, 2007
BERNETTE PEARSON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

With shades of the classic Alfred Hitchcock film "Psycho," a Jersey City man found that even one's own shower is no safe haven from crime.

The man was brazenly attacked at knifepoint and robbed yesterday while taking his morning shower at about 5:45 a.m., according to police.

The victim, a resident of Clinton Avenue, was in the shower when a man came into his bathroom and pulled him out, a police report said. The victim told police the man held a knife to his neck and demanded money, the report said.

After telling the attacker where his money was located - in a night stand - the attacker took $200 and a silver Timex watch, according to the report.

Apparently the attacker had come in through the kitchen window, which was open at the time, the report said.

The victim told police the screen in that window was ripped.

TEACH'S FILM CHOICE GETS THUMBS DOWN
Put on leave after parents question appropriateness

Thursday, June 21, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City public school teacher has been placed on leave after parents complained that an award-winning documentary she showed her third-graders was too violent and contained some nudity, school officials said yesterday.

"It became a problem because some parents called questioning the appropriateness of showing it to third grade students," said Gerard Crisonino, a spokesman for the school district.

The teacher, whose name was not released, works at School 15. The film she showed the students was "Lost Boys of Sudan," which tells the story of two boys who survive the civil war in Sudan and come to America.

Jersey City Schools Superintendent Charles Epps Jr. "was concerned and he ordered a full investigation and put her on administrate leave," Crisonino said.

Crisonino did not say specifically what material parents objected to in the film, which is not rated.

The school district notified the state Division of Youth and Family Services, which sent investigators who interviewed five students from the class in which the documentary was shown.

The teacher, who has been with the district about three years and is not tenured, showed the documentary to students last week and was put on leave shortly afterward when two parents complained. She will be on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

Crisonino said the teacher thought the documentary was of educational value - an assertion he said he agreed with - but the question, he said, is whether it is appropriate for 8-year-olds. On the film's Web site, the filmmaker provides study guides for middle school, high school and college students, but makes no mention of elementary school classrooms.

The movie was released in 2003 and won an Independent Spirit Award, was named Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival and was awarded the Heartland Film Festival Crystal Heart Award

The film focuses on the struggles of the boys to adjust to life in America.

"The Lost Boys of Sudan" was broadcast nationally on the PBS series POV in the fall of 2004. A 2004 Washington Post review of the film warns that it "contains one or two instances of crude language."

At dismissal time yesterday at the Stegman Street school, none of the parents questioned while picking up their children had heard of the incident. One staff member said she had, but said, "We aren't allowed to talk about it."

DYFS has not yet told the district the result of its investigation. The school district plans to have someone in human resources view the documentary to rule on its appropriateness for third-graders.

Guidance counselors were present when the five students were interviewed by DYFS and their parents were notified, Crisonino said.

==========================================

Film has 'nothing to offend,' says critic

Thursday, June 21, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The documentary "Lost Boys of Sudan" begins in a war-torn part of Africa and focuses on two boys, Peter and Santino, as they come to America, according to a review that appeared in the Star-Ledger.

They have seen their villages burned, their parents killed, their sisters captured and "used up." Some of them have been alone and in and out of refugee camps for a decade when they are given refugee status and are resettled in America.

"Don't act like those people who wear the baggy jeans, who do all the bad things in America," one countryman warns them, according to the review. But the adults also know that only by sending this generation away can it survive, prosper and return.

The cameras follow the pair as they try to adjust to life in Kansas and Texas, two of some 4,000 "lost boys" resettled in America, the review says.

They become trapped in low-paying jobs and struggle to pay rent, send money home and continue their education; the culture seems strange to them and they are amazed, for instance, that men don't hold hands.

The Star-Ledger review calls the film "a powerful experience, both for the specific hardships of these boys and for the universality of their experience."

The Star-Ledger review ends by saying: "The film contains nothing to offend."

Read it & weep flippers...



The true cost of owning a home - Your mortgage payments are only a fraction of what you'll pay out after you become a homeowner. The total? For this writer, $43,555 in four years, not counting house payments.

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Yes, it was a great night and worth the hours of committment from everyone who came out or contacted Thomas DeGise and/or Commissioners.

Perhaps as one person said tonite both the County and the City can get on the same page to acquire the Embankment property either by purchase or eminent domain (which was specified several times tonight that Hudson County could support)once we hopefully have a ruling in our favor from the Surface Transportation Board, re: whether Conrail improperly sold the site without de-accessing the spur removal.

A big hug and shoutout for Maureen Crowley (Founder) who together with Jennifer Meyer (President) of the Embankment Preservation Coalition was instrumental in co-ordinating the turnout and making sure each of us addressed different issues as to why the subdivisions of the illegally-acquired property should be denied, particularly since the Hudson County Planning Board had supported the 6th Street Embankment formally in their Open Space Plan.

It was really a wonderful night for Green Space and the interests of the people over development. Going into the meeting it was thought there was little to no chance that they would deny the developer's request for sub division of the Embankment blocks. In the end it was nealy 100% against (one abstained).

It started with the developer's lawyer stating plans to demo all blocks and build 2 family houses. He brought visuals of the proposed units.

There were about 25 people who spoke against the proposed subdivsions of 4 embankment blocks. People talked about a wide range of topics including ownership issues, open space, flooding, light rail, East Coast Greenway, historic preservation and disruption to the area if the 2,500 pound each stones were removed. It was one citizen after another opposing the sub division. It got to the point where one person said that she felt bad for the developer's lawyers because they must be asking themselves "why are we suggesting this when there are so many compelling reasons to not develop it"

In the end, they brought forth a motion to "deny the sub division".....(motions are normally to allow something and then people could vote for/against). All but one voted in favor of the motion to deny. The reason most gave was because the Embankment is mentioned 3 times in the County Open Space plan (including being #3 on the acquistion list) and they had all voted in favor of that plan.

Thanks to everyone that came out. It really made a difference and thanks to the Embankment Preservation Group for organizing the response.

This one's for all you over-leveraged, over-speculated, overly smug imbeciles - It's a blood bath

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It?s Official: The Crash of the U.S. Economy has begun

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You could always contact the Shore Club sales office

I'm sure they'd only want to make another 50% profit on the flip!

Here's an interesting trend in property taxes for NJ - Haddon Heights tax hikes spark ire

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Wonder when Hudson County is gonna get around to a reval?

Yeah I would like to know where it is too.

I hope it isn't as crazy as Staten Islands'

==========================

Hey Virgin Mobile, You talkin' to me? Wireless phone ads target Island stereotypes

Staten Island Advance June 10, 2007

Snarky or savvy? You decide.

"I'm not offended by it," said Brianna, as she stood in a bus shelter on Richmond Terrace in St. George, gazing at a new Virgin Mobile USA ad that the phone company designed especially to appeal to Staten Islanders.

"But not everybody is Italian," said Brianna, who declined to give her last name. "I'm not."

It's all part of a new Virgin Mobile advertising campaign targeted to "celebrate individuality," said company spokeswoman Jayne Wallace.

She said the "community-centric" ads -- that on Staten Island note the borough's passion for pasta and reliance on ferry and bridge travel -- are meant to appeal to customers and non-customers alike.

"These are things that the communities are known for," said Ms. Wallace of the 15 "teaser" ads on the Island with a "you rule" theme, created as part of a larger advertising campaign by Virgin Mobile USA that trumpets putting "customers in control of their wireless service."

The ads here read:

"Staten Island, you rule. The name says it all. You are truly an island, physically and mentally. Thank you for your front yards, detached garages and SUVs. Thank you for the ferry -- the best cheap date ever. Thank you for being our down-to-earth, suburban, predominantly Italian-American cousins. To show our gratitude, we've got something for you. No, not baked ziti -- cell phone plans without annual contracts, so you're not locked in. And with no annual contract, you're free to move between our other plans. Like you would on a bridge or ferry."

Ms. Wallace said there are 350 such ads on billboards and wallscapes, bus shelters and phone kiosks throughout the five boroughs and northern New Jersey. Up since mid-May, the ads here kick off a nationwide campaign that will begin in July and may include localized pitches to customers in other states.

She said the ads were created by the North Carolina-based advertising firm of McKinney. But she said New Yorkers at the firm and at Virgin Mobile helped craft the message to Islanders.

The ads appear in Arlington, Bay Terrace, Bloomfield, Castleton Corners, Concord, Greenridge, New Dorp, Rosebank and St. George.

Ads around the city are pitched to bike messengers, bodega owners, hot dog vendors and theater-goers.

Ms. Wallace said the company has received some positive -- and not so positive -- response, primarily from bloggers in Brooklyn. All to the good, she said, as a way of "engaging" customers and potential customers.

Ms. Wallace said Virgin Mobile USA has more than 4.6 million customers, but was unable to provide the number locally.

--- Contributed by Judy L. Randall

=====================

Also see

http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=47722640

http://gothamist.com/2007/06/11/you_rule_while.php

http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2007/06/lies-well-disguised-37.html

anyone know where the JC one is and what it says? I think that they are kind of funny (and I think the fact that people are getting all worked up about it and talking about it says a lot too)

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How can all the neighbourhoods rule at the same time? Of course, for some of them, no reasonable "you rule" ... reason can be made up, but it's a nice try from the copywriters to have their job done, eventually for free.

For a Salute to Neighborhoods, Some Heartfelt Bronx Cheers

By DAN LEVIN - New York Times
Published: June 17, 2007

KAREN SILVERMAN, an East Village jeweler, was walking her Chihuahua down East Houston Street the other day when a red sign on a phone booth caught her eye. “Lower East Side, You Rule,” it declared. Below, the small print thanked the “bohemian” neighborhood for its artsy roots and for “keeping it real, even in the shadow of your new, overpriced condos,” before advertising pay-as-you-go cellphone plans from Virgin Mobile.

Ms. Silverman was not amused.

“Wow, that makes me feel dirty — what a way to whore out my neighborhood,” she said before marching off in disgust toward Katz’s Deli.

Across the five boroughs (and Jersey City), passers-by are being told “you rule” on more than 350 bus stops, phone kiosks, billboards and building walls. And though city residents are accustomed to being bombarded by advertising, some of them are saying that a marketing campaign that irreverently needles New York’s neighborhoods and subcultures to lure customers goes too far.

The ads are already triggering a spirited debate on local blogs like Curbed, Brownstoner and Bed-Stuy Blog, which have crackled with accusations of corporate exploitation and racial insensitivity. For example, some critics condemn the “Bed-Stuy, You Rule” ad for highlighting the neighborhood’s rough reputation and its residents’ fears of gentrification, all in a quest to sell phones. Or, as the ad puts it: “Do or Die is more than a moniker. It speaks to the fact that you don’t take crap from anyone. Especially newcomers who want to change Bed-Stuy into some sort of yuppie strip mall.”

Executives at Virgin Mobile USA responded to calls for the ad’s removal by offering to replace it with text submitted by residents themselves. No text deemed suitable has yet been submitted, but generally the executives say they are happy that people are paying attention to their ads.

“We’re either equal-opportunity celebrators or equal-opportunity offenders,” said Howard Handler, the company’s chief marketing officer. “The reality is that we’re stirring up a dialogue and people are talking about our services.”

The company has stumbled into other turf trouble. Initially, an ad on the Upper West Side that mocked the Upper East Side — saying, in part, “It’s not cool to be tied down and uptight. If you want to live like that, move to Greenwich, or at least across the park” — was installed on the wrong side of Central Park. It was removed later the same day, but not before the fumble was reported and ridiculed on some Web sites.

Still, for some New Yorkers the ads are comical. John Reardon, an information technology consultant who lives in Murray Hill, chuckled when he came across a phone booth ad extolling the virtues of his neighborhood.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘Murray Hill’ and ‘Rule’ used in the same sentence before,” he said. “The copywriters certainly deserve some credit for this. It’s not that easy to go from bashing Sutton Place to selling prepaid phone service in less than 50 words.”

Curbed 1 - You Rule -- Click Here

Curbed 2 -- You Rule -- Click here

I don't know if it was the same incident, but I heard of a similar incident happening around Bright. But, they caught one of the assailants.

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I think that we definitely need CCTV and additional patrols. There was an incident in Hamilton Park of a man walking a dog and getting mugged by a gun-weilding assailant.

Is it just the hot weather or are things getting scary here?

NJCU to Hold Evening Information Session at Waterfront Location in Jersey City on June 26, 2007


The New Jersey City University Department of Business Administration will conduct an information session about the graduate degree and certificate programs offered at the University?s new off-campus site on the Jersey City waterfront on Tuesday, June 26.

The session will be held on-site, 5:00 ? 7:00 p.m., at Harborside Financial Center 4A, 286 Washington Street, second floor, in Jersey City. Registration is requested.

Faculty from the NJCU Department of Business Administration as well as representatives from the University?s Offices of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid will participate.

The application fee will be waived for those who apply for admission to NJCU at the session.

NJCU?s waterfront location features two classrooms, a seminar room, a computer lab/trading room, a faculty office, and a reception area.

The Harborside Financial Center is situated in a new commercial building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Christopher Columbus Drive, just steps away from the Light Rail, Exchange Place PATH station, buses, and ferries. A parking garage located in the building offers special rates to NJCU students.

To register for the information session or for further information call Bette Goldstein, assistant to the NJCU dean of professional studies, at (201)200-3321 or e-mail her at bgoldstein@njcu.edu.

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I am not sure -- since it is the last line in the first article posted here -- I bet it was an accident of the part of the poster -- likely they picked up the line by accident while they were clipping and pasting the article.

I wonder if it would make sense to extend the light rail to Staten Island as well as Newark airport.

MTA chief sees new hope for bus service to N.J.
Plan is possible by July for runs to the light rail over Bayonne Bridge

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
By MAURA YATES
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Jersey City-bound commuters are one step closer to realizing their dream for MTA buses to run from Staten Island across the Bayonne Bridge to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Lee Sander said yesterday that he hopes to hammer out a joint service agreement with New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority over the next four to eight weeks, in anticipation of a mid-July announcement of an implementation plan.

Sander had previously said the MTA would not provide service unless and until the current operator, TransportAzumah, ceased running buses on the route.

But in light of a spate of recent complaints about the private carrier, Sander acknowledged there is a need for service now. "It's clear there are shortcomings," he said.

Contrary to earlier reports that the service would be contracted out if the MTA agreed to provide it, Sander said the route could be covered by New York City Transit buses.

"This is a step in the right direction," said Sen. Charles Schumer, who was among many vocal advocates calling for the service. He urged the MTA to act quickly to make the service a reality.

"The present situation does not work," said Borough President James Molinaro, adding he'll "wait and see" what happens in July.

Rep. Vito Fossella called it "a welcome step," and "hopefully a sign of an aggressive approach to satisfy Staten Island's needs."

The Bayonne bus link is one of the initiatives of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Transportation Task Force. The idea, first floated at least seven years ago, has been unanimously supported by the borough's elected officials, including City Councilman Michael McMahon (D-North Shore) and the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce.

Sander's announcement came during a wide-ranging discussion with the Advance's editorial board yesterday during which he called Staten Island "a priority" under his tenure.

With a handful of visits to the borough already under his belt, he reiterated his commitment to addressing Staten Island's unique transportation infrastructure and needs.

"The MTA has done a fair amount in Staten Island," Sander said, highlighting gains in local and express bus service and investments in the Staten Island Railway. But, he conceded, "it is not enough, and I think we need to do more."

Among the initiatives under way is a comprehensive study of express bus service, which is expected to be complete next summer. The study will look at demand on each route, and will include recommendations for service adjustments. The express study will be followed by a similar study of local bus service, and the analysis will form the agency's strategy for tackling the next 25 years of service plans, Sander said.

Based on the results, a fourth bus depot could be in the works, on the heels of the third Charleston depot, expected to open in 2009.

"If we see a need for a fourth depot, at least we'll be a little ahead of the curve," Sander said.

Meanwhile, Sander said progress has been made on alleviating traffic tie-ups during the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge construction project, but he said there are no plans to remove the 5 mph barrier arms at the toll plaza. Doing so would cost as much as $150 million in lost revenue over five years, due to toll cheats, he said.

Sander also said the agency is working on addressing complaints about dirty buses and broken air conditioners, seats and lights.

Staten Island is also next in line to test out a new Automatic Vehicle Locator System, which will aid in bus dispatching and scheduling and provide more information for customers, by offering passengers waiting at bus stops the time the bus will arrive.

Maura Yates covers transportation news for the Advance. She may be reached at myates@siadvance.com.

Architects Golf Club gets added bling

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

They draped their 6,900-yard golf course like a quilt over the hills of Warren County, with each hole built in the spirit of one of the great course architects of the past two centuries.

Yet, in an age when golf is shrinking in popularity, it wasn't enough for Larry and Dennis Turco. To make Architects Golf Club in Lopatcong work, the developers needed something more -- the grandest clubhouse for miles around.

Three million dollars later, they have a 16,000-square foot palace with mahogany-wood lockers, an endless terrace, a private members lounge, a bridal suite, a home theater room and a cozy conference area wired to accommodate the most high-tech corporate event.

"The Tiger Woods effect is over, and golf is in the decline," said Rob Clark, the director of golf at Architects. "Hopefully this clubhouse gives people the wow factor."

For public and private course owners everywhere, the industry is evolving into an arms race that could change the golfing experience for hundreds of thousands of people in New Jersey. But this has little to do with fairways and greens. Instead, the focus is on plush furniture, personal valets who deliver drinks to players right out of the shower, and high-end restaurants that look more like urban bistros than club dining rooms.

Even publicly owned courses are getting into the act. Mountain View in West Trenton yesterday opened its $3.5 million clubhouse complete with banquet facilities that can host corporate outings and family affairs. Neshanic Valley in Branchburg opened a similar 12,000-square-foot, $3.9 million facility last year.

"There are quite a few renovations going on, and in some cases they don't just do the clubhouse; they renovate the whole place," said Judy Thompson, a researcher with the National Golf Foundation, the industry's information clearinghouse.

For golf courses, the stakes have never been higher, as the game struggles to attract new players. More U.S. courses closed (146) than opened (120) last year, the first time that has happened in six decades, according to the foundation.

Golfers played about 500 million rounds in the U.S. last year. That was up from 2005 in part because of a warm fall but still down from 518 million in 2000.

Increasingly, one solution is to turn the picturesque settings of many golf courses into places that can attract corporate outings and weddings -- but to do that you need a snazzy clubhouse. Nowhere is the clubhouse arms race more evident than at Jersey City's Liberty National Golf Club, the state's most expensive course with an invitation-only, $500,000 initiation fee.

The club, built on New York Harbor by Reebok founder Paul Fireman, broke ground late last year on a 60,000-square-foot glass and steel clubhouse that bears little resemblance to older Victorian clubhouses.

"Our goal was to take the traditional game and combine it with the future," said Aurelian Anghelusiu, the club's managing director. "We wanted to feature glass in every area and design the building to provide maximum views of the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge."

Joel Brenner, project director for construction of the clubhouse, said a series of fountains and pools will create a grand entrance to the three-story building, where ceilings will rise 27 feet in places. There will be a day bar and a night bar, a day grill and a night restaurant.

Locker rooms will include whirlpools, steam rooms and saunas, and the ugliest part of the clubhouse -- the storage area for the carts and other equipment -- is being built underground.

Liberty National plans to complete the clubhouse next spring, a year before the PGA Tour holds the Barclays Classic tournament at the $120 million course.

But it's not just new courses that are making changes.

New Jersey National Golf Club in Basking Ridge opened in 1997, and with its rolling greens and hilly fairways, it gave golfers as stiff a challenge as they could find nearly anywhere in the state. And yet, by 2004 the club had just 180 members. Charging nonmembers about $100 for a weekend round, the club faced stiff competition from other high-end, destination courses, such as Beaver Brook in Annandale and Ballyowen in Hamburg.

So in 2004 the club's owners, New York-based Empire Golf, scrapped its business plan. Empire relaunched New Jersey National as a private club and proceeded to gut the locker rooms, replacing Formica cabinets and industrial carpeting with dark-wood lockers with gold nameplates, granite countertops and tumbled marble on all the walls and floors.

"All this stuff is hugely expensive," said Ed Scott, the club's general manager. "But we have some pretty discriminating members."

On the top level the club restaurant, the Red Oak Grille, which is open to the public, looks like a Soho bistro, and has an expanded terrace area with a wooden ceiling that can be enclosed in colder weather.

Today the club has 363 members and is evaluating how many more it can let in.

Thirty miles west of New Jersey National is Architects, and the Turcos are seeing signs their investment is paying off. The club is largely booked for the season for corporate outings, with groups large and small, from the Kenilworth Police Department to Morgan Stanley, Merck and Dun & Bradstreet filling the calendar.

Architects got into the wedding business on Memorial Day weekend, playing host to the first of at least 12 this year. Susan Jensen, whose family has owned the farm across the road from Architects for five generations, had the honor of being the club's first bride. She and her 55 guests enjoyed cocktails on the patio and an intimate dinner in the ballroom.

"To be able to get married in my parents backyard and walk across the street to Architects really made this the perfect wedding," Jensen said. "Their attention to detail and service there was just amazing."

So far, the clubhouse has been good for the course's main business, too. From 2001, when Architects opened, until this spring, the club had attracted about 65 members. Since opening the clubhouse in April, 30 more have signed up for memberships that start at $4,900 a year.

"If you want to sell the memberships, you need the facility," Larry Turco said. "That way you're selling something more than a golf membership. You're selling a lifestyle."


Matthew Futterman may be reached at mfutterman@starledger.com.

Couple grooms homebuyers, for city's good

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Jarrett Renshaw

CHRISTOPHER Garlin and Regina Mincey met roughly 25 years ago aboard the local bus on Ocean Avenue in the Bergen-Lafayette section of Jersey City.

While still attending St. Peter's and Snyder high schools, respectively, they were both on their way to after-school jobs, an early sign of their motivation.

Today, they are married and, after successful careers in the real estate and community development industry, they started their own business called RCG Companies.

The Montclair-based company provides mortgage lending, develops affordable housing and serves as a real estate consultant on construction projects. And they do all this without forgetting where they came from.

Growing up in Jersey City, they saw a working-class community where weekly paychecks were sufficient to juggle mortgage payments, family costs and a few thrills along the way.

But a generation later, much has changed. Many middle-class jobs have left the city, replaced by high-end positions in the financial and service sectors. The shift has sent real estate prices soaring beyond many city residents' financial means.

"We both remember when Jersey City was a strong, working-class community with good bones and good housing stock filled with people who took care of their homes," Garlin told me last week as we walked in his old neighborhood.

Garlin and Mincey operate by one motto: Owning your own home is the single best way to building wealth. In order to help people get there, the pair are devoted to building affordable housing in urban communities, a business model that can be successful if everybody buys in.

"Cities and states need to help subsidize these projects to make them financially feasible, but there is a large pool of money out there, and it works," Garlin said. "We cannot have communities where people can't afford to live and work in the same place."

On the mortgage lending part of their business, they try to demystify the process while providing some common sense wisdom.

"There's times we spend hours with people who want to take out a mortgage, but we have to tell them they are not ready," Mincey said. "We tell them to pay down their bills, get their credit together and wait a year."

Financial security is not only important to the individual, it's important to the community as well.

"If people don't get a strong footing, based on solid, proven advice, then they can't take care of their homes, and you have the blight that ruins neighborhoods, and we can prevent that," Garlin said.

It's a breath of fresh air to see a company that is as concerned about holding true to core values of decency as it is about making a profit.

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Who the heck is Edley?

Drug test for sheriff's officer after car tied to crime

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Hudson County sheriff's officer has been ordered to take a drug test after police arrested a man in her car who they say had drugs and a gun, officials said yesterday.

"We had probable cause to give her a urine test and we have filed departmental charges against her for conduct unbecoming an officer," Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy said yesterday, referring to Officer Jennifer Ocasio.

Cassidy said the drug test results are expected in a couple of weeks and if they come back positive, Ocasio will be dismissed. If the test comes back negative, she will still face the departmental charges, Cassidy said.

The sheriff said Ocasio gave inconsistent statements after Travis Lee Bruce, 24, of Rahway, was arrested in her car at a gas station on Beacon Avenue at Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City on June 10.

Plainclothes officers were at the station when they saw Bruce rolling a marijuana cigarette in the driver's seat of Ocasio's car, reports said. The cops took Bruce out of the car and inside found a bag containing smaller bags of marijuana, reports said.

Bruce was taken into custody and the officers then learned the car belonged to Ocasio, reports said. While one of the cops was driving the car to the police station he found a loaded .38 caliber handgun under the driver's seat, reports said.

Ocasio was issued a ticket for allowing an unlicensed driver to use her car, reports said. Cassidy said it was not Ocasio's gun, and said he did not know the relationship between Bruce and Ocasio. Ocasio remains on duty.

How would one find out about foreclosures?

Sort of a shame that Healy can't be impeached. Now I see why Cunningham was despised by the Democratic machine.

Well said JPhurst. The PAD needs to be preserved, its one of the only areas of JC that has some charecter, unlike the ghost town of a waterfront.

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Doesn't Martin Scorsese teach there?

I recommend the Baby Eisenstein Film School.

Anyone have any experience with them? I know there are several day care threads around, but I can't find much/anything about BE in particular. Thanks in advance! Oh, and I'm looking into it for infant care (5-6 month old).

One other point. Even if people did not believe the buildings had historic significance or were not attractive (which clearly is not the case when they are properly restored), that would not give Toll Brothers the right to build sky high towers. The plan required new construction to fit within the district's guidelines. Waldo Lofts is an example of how new construction can fit in reasonably well.

Only in Jersey City do developers think they can demand 30 to 50 story towers as of right. Because they know that there are elements in this government that will fold to such demands.