Hate to make light of this, but can't get past the JJ using "BIG BUTTS" in their headlines

Exactly. I'ts staffed by VOLUNTEERS. It was abandoned.

Who (besides the FBI covertly) videotapes a funeral? And who are these people gonna sue?

Cemetery official fires back: Big butts made tombstone fall

Friday, May 15, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

No, the tombstone just didn't keel over, according to an official of the Harsimus Cemetery in Jersey City.

Yesterday's Jersey Journal featured a story about a woman whose daughter said that while attending the burial of a loved one on Wednesday, her mother walked past a neighboring grave marker and it fell over, shattering the woman's right leg.

Managers of the cemetery said yesterday the tombstone was nudged.

"I was upset that it happened, but I was more upset that it wouldn't have happened if these men didn't sit on the stones," said Eileen Markenstein, president of the volunteer Board of Trustees of the Harsimus Cemetery on Newark Avenue.

Markenstein said about 125 people, including about 50 people riding motorcycles, attended the funeral for Manuel Reyes, who was stabbed to death last week in the doorway of his Jersey City home.

"Our caretaker asked these men three separate times to please not sit or lean on the tombstones," Markenstein said.

"They would get up, but five minutes later they would sit back down," she said. "They were very large men and besides being disrespectful, someone is hurt and the family runs to the paper to make us look bad."

After the funeral service, the bikers were gunning their engines as a sendoff to Reyes when Maria Figueroa, 50, of Montgomery Street, walked back to the graveside and an adjacent grave marker fell, shattering her fibia and tibia.

Figueroa underwent surgery at the Jersey City Medical Center and was released yesterday with a plate, rod and screws in her leg.

A family member of the deceased insisted yesterday that no one had been sitting on tombstones.

"I videotaped and everything, and I didn't see anyone sitting on tombstones," said Figueroa's daughter, Zamaida.

She said her mother was released from the Jersey City Medical Center yesterday and relatives had to lift her into her bed. She will be in a cast for three months, at which time doctors will determine if she can begin physical therapy, Zamaida Figueroa said.

Figueroa family members returned to the cemetery Wednesday to photograph the fallen tombstone. Zamaida Figueroa said her family has not yet hired a lawyer, but intends to.

Volunteers took over management of the cemetery in June after it was abandoned following the death of the last remaining board member.

"We are all volunteers working very hard to make this a beautiful place for Jersey City," Markenstein said.

Suspect in killing wasn't stranger was $$ motive?

Friday, May 15, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Union City man has been charged with the brutal murder of a Jersey City man who was stabbed numerous times in the doorway of his apartment during what may have been a robbery, officials said.


Esteban Gonzalez, 33, of 44th Street, was already locked up in New York on unrelated charges when a warrant for his arrest was signed yesterday, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

He is charged with the May 6 murder of Manuel Reyes Sr., 48, of Van Wagenen and Pavonia avenues, DeFazio said.

Reyes had been stabbed in his neck, shoulders, arms and torso when a relative found him face down in a pool of blood around 9:40 p.m. in his apartment doorway, DeFazio said. Police recovered a knife with a 9-inch blade that they believe is the murder weapon, DeFazio said.

Homicide investigators say Gonzalez and the victim knew each other and there was no sign of forced entry into Reyes' apartment, DeFazio said.

Gonzalez and his attacker were in the apartment some time before the violence erupted, the prosecutor said, adding that investigators believe hundreds of dollars were taken.

"He will now be brought before a court in New York City and at that point we will await his decision on whether he will come back voluntarily or demand an extradition hearing," DeFazio said.

Gonzalez was in prison from July 10, 2003 to October 24, 2004 and Feb. 23, 2005 to April 21, 2008 on convictions for burglary and drug possession with intention to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, state corrections officials said.

Gonzalez also goes by the names Roberto Cruz, Esteban Jimenez, Stephen Jimenez and Steven Jimenez, officials said. His bail on the murder charge has been set at $750,000 cash only by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan.

Anyone with information about this murder is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

Quote:

So apparently this was related to the funeral for Manuel Reyes that was at Introcaso-Angelo Funeral Home at the bottom of the hill - that funeral went way into the night on Tuesday/Wednesday morning - it was totally out of control - with bikers burning rubber tires out front and JC cops "sort of" attempting to quiet it down ...

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Here is MANUEL REYES obituary
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MANUEL REYES JERSEY CITY Manuel Reyes, 48, entered into eternal life on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Born in Jersey City, he was a lifelong resident. He was a conga player and sang in many bands including: Grand Vargas, Cookie y el conjunto sofrito, Chino y el conjunto sajaso & Chiqui y el conjunto. His Harley was his passion and he loved going out for rides. He is survived by his father, Angel Reyes. Cherished father of Manuel, Jason, Anthony and Alex Reyes. Beloved brother of Angel 'Junior' Reyes. Loving grandfather of Xavier, Noah and Maylene Reyes. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral on Wednesday, May 13, at 8:30 a.m., from The Introcaso-Angelo Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be at 9:30 a.m., at St. Bridget Church. Interment will follow at Jersey City - Harsimus Cemetery. Viewing will be held today, Tuesday, from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at the funeral home. Introcaso-Angelo Funeral Home 141 Brunswick Street Jersey City, NJ 07302 (201) 653-2494

If anyone cares to remember, this cemetery was totally overgrown and neglected for 10 years. There is no money, no owner, just people who dedicate their time helping others. THey are getting the Historic Preservation Award. DID ANY OF YOU EVEN NOTICE THE TRANSFORMATION????
Many of Jersey City's founding fathers are buried there.It is becoming a beautiful,tranquil place.
I know that this stone did not just topple over. There were
So many people ther leaning on these old stones, they toppled it.125 bikers. Give me a break. The Jersey Journal took one side of the story and ran with it.
Today the truth came out.

God bless all the volunteers that brought this space back to life.

If you would like to help just show up on Sat. Morning with work gloves.

cemetery will have to go into foreclosure after this woman sues !

Jersey City cemetery blames fallen tombstone on "large men''

by Jersey Journal
Friday May 15, 2009, 4:07 AM

An official at a Jersey City cemetery said that a tombstone that shattered the leg of a Jersey City woman didn't just fall on its own.

He blamed "large men'' at a funeral who were told several times to stop sitting on it for the accident.

A few years ago, my brother's tombstone was sinking into the ground at Harsimus Cemetary, and my family brought it to the attention of the cemetary grounds keepers. After paying a 50 dollar "fee" which was really a bribe, they secured the headstone.

I was more than willing to give the crew a gratuity before I discovered that a "fee" is expected when work goes beyond mowing the lawn or cleaning brush.

I am not surprised that leaning on a tombstone at Harsimus Cemetary will topple it.

I hope that this woman makes a full recovery.

FELLED BY TOMBTONE
Woman's leg is shattered

Thursday, May 14, 2009
By LAUREN NAPOLITANO and RON ZEITLINGER
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS

Maria Figueroa, 50, was at the Harsimus Cemetery on Newark Avenue with her family to bury Manuel Reyes, who was stabbed to death last week in the doorway of his home. Zamaida Figueroa, her daughter, said last night that Maria Figueroa was walking past a tombstone next to Reyes' burial plot when it fell on her.

"This was just horrible," Zamaida Figueroa said. "We just lost my uncle and now this happens when we are burying him. It took eight people to get the stone off my mother.

"I thought she was going to lose consciousness. I had some water so I threw it on her face so she wouldn't pass out."

Maria Figueroa was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center, where she was undergoing surgery last night on her right leg, which her daughter said was shattered.

"The doctor said her leg was all broken below the knee and that it needed to be replaced with metal and held in by pins," Zamaida Figueroa said.

Figueroa said she fears for anyone visiting loved ones at the cemetery, saying that a number of other tombstones appear ready to fall.

"My mom had been carrying my 2-year-old just minutes before," Zamaida Figueroa said. "My baby could have been crushed."

Zamaida Figueroa pointed out that the tombstone that fell couldn't be old, since the date of death listed was March 9, 1999. "I remembered it because March 9 is the day my grandfather was born," she said.

A man who answered the phone at the cemetery last night said someone leaned on the stone, causing it to fall. When asked for details, he hung up.