N.J. Bears Smarter Than Government Leaders

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WEST MILFORD / NEW JERSEY BEARS SMARTER THAN GOVERNMENT LEADERS

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Black Bear Blog

One town in New Jersey has been trying to do something about nuisance bears for so long, I’m not sure they can remember when the process started. West Milford was supposed to purchase bear-proof garbage cans with money from a grant issued by the DEP. It’s been an embarrassment to the town and to the DEP because they can’t get it done.

I Think Bears In New Jersey May Be Smarter Than Government Leaders

~ By Tom Remington

New Jersery’s commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, called off the 2006 bear hunt. One of the reasons Lisa Jackson gave in cancelling the hunt was because she didn’t think the newly approved Bear Management Plan included enough non-lethal ways of dealing with bear problems and complaints from residents. Of course a simple bear hunt would have reduced numbers, reduced complaints, provided for a healthier bear population and wouldn’t have cost the state anything as the cost would be absorbed through hunter license and permit fees. But that’s not the New Jersey way!

At least one town in New Jersey has been trying to do something about nuisance bears for so long, I’m not sure they can remember when the process started. West Milford was supposed to purchase bear-proof garbage cans with money from a grant issued by the DEP. It’s been an embarrassment to the town and to the DEP because they can’t get it done.

This was all part of a plan to see if bear-proof garbage cans would reduce the number of complaints from residents. The plan was to purchase 3,075 cans and distribute them to 1,525 homes in selected areas most affected by bears. When the proposal was announced, the garbage haulers wanted to renegotiate their contract with the town because of increased labor costs of having to unscrew the lids of all the garbage cans before emptying them. (Of course it wouldn’t be all of them because we know that many people won’t bother to take the time to screw the lids on anyway. Heck, they won’t buckle a seat belt, why would they take the time to screw on a lid to a stinking old garbage can?)

Then the town council couldn’t make up its mind whether to buy a cheaper version of the screw-of lids or a more expensive kind of spring-loaded lid. Finally, the bids went out but within a couple of months they had to rebid the process all over again because they failed to provide detailed information necessary for contractors to make accurate bids.

Believe it or not, it does get worse. The company that won the bid, Compliant Solutions, secured a contract to manufacture 3,075 screw-off lid garbage cans for a price of $176,000. Yes, folks that’s $57.24 a can ... and oh, by the way, you expected handles to come for that price?

Compliant Solutions said they would be happy to drill the holes and put handles on the cans but that would be another negotiated price.

“That’s four holes per handle, and four handles per can,” Township Manager Richard Kunze said Thursday. “That’s a lot of holes.”

Representatives of the winning bidder, Compliant Solutions of Elmwood Park, were at the council meeting to demonstrate the rubberized critter cans with the screw-off lids. The company offered to drill the holes, but said it would have to pass the labor costs on to the township.

But the town couldn’t just pay Compliant to put the handles on because it might create some real legal messes when complaints from the losing bidders began pouring in.

Now the town still doesn’t have bear-proof cans. I wonder if the New Jersey Supreme Court would have ruled differently about the bear hunt if they had known that the same DEP that stopped the bear hunt was the same DEP that couldn’t get a town to “find more non-lethal ways” of dealing with bears.

Just think how simple and cost effective one simple little 5-day bear hunt could have been. No problem!

Tom Remington

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Passaic City Fire Department Chief Retires

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PASSAIC CITY / FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

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Zayatz said he felt his biggest contribution to the Fire Department during his tenure was that he wrote its standard operating procedures and that he acquired the Urban Area Security Initiative foam tanker.

During his extensive career, he has fought numerous blazes, including the infamous Eighth Street blaze on Labor Day in 1985 that wiped out 20 acres of thriving businesses and multifamily homes.

Passaic Fire Chief Announces Retirement

December 1, 2006

New Jersey - Passaic Fire Chief Timothy Nicholas Zayatz on Wednesday announced that he plans to retire early next year after 33 years of service. "I decided to hand it over to someone else," said the 57-year- old Passaic native, who is now a Vernon resident. Zayatz said he will officially retire in February. He was sworn in as chief in April 2005, and was one of the three deputy chiefs who had rotated the position after former Chief Ronald Freeman went on sick leave last year.

Zayatz said he felt his biggest contribution to the Fire Department during his tenure was that he wrote its standard operating procedures and that he acquired the Urban Area Security Initiative foam tanker.

Zayatz's salary is $122,812. During his extensive career, he has fought numerous blazes, including the infamous Eighth Street blaze on Labor Day in 1985 that wiped out 20 acres of thriving businesses and multifamily homes.

A year earlier he fought a high-rise fire at the Carlton Towers on Aycrigg Avenue that resulted in the mass evacuation of tenants.

Zayatz said that he would continue to teach at the fire academy.

Keith Furlong, a spokesman for Mayor Sammy Rivera, said the mayor will soon be meeting with the fire director to go over a list of candidates to succeed Zayatz.

Written by The Record

Courtesy of © 2006, YellowBrix, Inc.

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Paterson Leads N.J.'s Gang Violence

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PASSAIC COUNTY - PATERSON / GROWING GANG VIOLENCE STANDS AT FRONT AND CENTER

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Although gang violence is recognized as a statewide issue, Passaic County, specifically the city of Paterson,stands at the front and center.

Gang violence has been prevalent in the state since the early 1980s.

Currently, there are an estimated 31,000 gangs in the nation, claiming 850,000 members, including more than 17,000 in New Jersey as of 2003.

Lawmakers Aim To Arrest Growth In Gang Violence

~ BY MICHAEL RISPOLI
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON -- As gang violence in the state grows, state lawmakers are seeking to pass laws helping stem the problem before it spreads further.

The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee heard testimony Monday for the third time this year from anti-gang and prevention groups on pending proposals, which include gang education seminars for school administrators, students and teachers and increasing penalties in gang-related crimes such as recruitment of minors and community gun possession.

Duane Dyson, chairman of the nonprofit Violence Prevention Institute, said reviews of gang violence programs from the last 10 years found they did not produce the results they were looking for and that the problem is spreading.

"The state of New Jersey cannot afford to allow youth violence to run rampant," said Dyson. "This is not just an urban problem. This is a New Jersey problem."

Although gang violence is recognized as a statewide issue, Passaic County, specifically the city of Paterson, was front and center at the hearing.

Members of the Passaic County Sheriff's Department and the Paterson police department gave a graphic, startling presentation on gang violence in the county. Pictures of gang related deaths and testimony from gang members drove home the reality of the situation.

"It was unnerving. It makes you realize what is really going on," said Sen. John Girgenti, D-Passaic, chairman of the committee.

Dalton Price, detective for the Paterson police gang unit, stressed the direness of the situation.

"This is not something that is just on television. This is not a joke. This is for real. We don't want to believe it, we wish it didn't exist, but it does exist," Price said.

Gang violence has been prevalent in the state since the early 1980s, when West Coast gangs spread to New York and New Jersey. Currently, there are an estimated 31,000 gangs in the nation, claiming 850,000 members, including more than 17,000 in New Jersey as of 2003.

The average age range for gang members is between 12 and 24 years old, with members beginning as early as 7 years old. Ninety-five percent of those in gangs are high school dropouts.

Javier Castellanos, detective of the Passaic County Sheriff Department and head of the Passaic County Gang Intelligence Unit, has given seminars on gang education and prevention but said more needs to be done.

"We have to come up with something on the state level where we can educate all these kids and reach them before the gang members do," said Castellanos.

Three bills moved onto the full Senate for consideration, but action on two was delayed.

Members of the committee fundamentally supported all of the bills but expressed reservations on specifics, such as how school administrators would be educated on the subject and how to uniformly apply gang education across the state. The appropriateness of some of the gang prevention material to be shown to elementary school children was also a concern for some lawmakers.

Michael Rispoli: mrispol@gannett.com

Copyright © 2006 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.

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Bear Hunt Debate Stirs Local Passions

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WEST MILFORD / BEAR HUNT DEBATE STIRS LOCAL PASSIONS

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DailyRecord.com

"There's a lot more bears out there once you stop the hunt, and the incidents escalate."

"It's inevitable that sometime down the road we're going to have a tragedy," said Bucco. "Once something happens, everybody's going to say 'Why didn't you do something about it?'"

Bear Hunt Debate Stirs Local Passions

Activists praise Corzine, but others warn bruin numbers are on the rise

~ BY TEHANI SCHNEIDER
DAILY RECORD

Local activists who have vehemently opposed lethal methods to control the state's black bear population commended Gov. Jon Corzine's decision that all but canceled this year's bear hunt, while others warned that a hunt is needed to curb the increasing bruin numbers.

Corzine's request to seek non-lethal alternatives in lieu of the hunt was praised by Lynda Smith, director of the West Milford-based Bear Education and Resource Group.

"The non-lethal alternatives really do work but haven't been given a chance in New Jersey,"said Smith, who cited Colorado, California and Canada as areas where the alternatives have been implemented successfully.

But state Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Boonton, said he doesn't agree non-lethal measures are the answer.

"We've tried education ... but that doesn't seem to work. There's a lot more bears out there once you stop the hunt, and the incidents escalate,"said Bucco, who signed a joint statement, along with state Sen. Robert Littell and Littell's daughter, Assemblywoman Alison McHose, both R-Franklin.

The statement, issued to the governor's office Monday, said the state Supreme Court had approved the bear management policy from the New Jersey Fish and Game Council. Canceling the hunt, the legislators wrote, was a matter of public safety for the people of northwestern New Jersey.

"It's inevitable that sometime down the road we're going to have a tragedy," said Bucco. "Once something happens, everybody's going to say 'Why didn't you do something about it?'"

Elaine Makatura, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the total number of bear sightings, reported damage by bears and nuisance bear complaints have decreased statewide by 18.9 percent since the beginning of the year, following last December's hunt.

"I believe that there is no one reason the complaints have gone down, but a number of reasons, with the possibility of the hunt being one of them,"Makatura said.

Other possible reasons include weather, drought and availability of food sources for the bears in their natural habitat, she said.

However, Bucco said he believes the decreasing number of bear complaints is a direct consequence of the hunt, a theory that Sparta resident Marilyn Schwartz agreed with.

Schwartz, who is pro-hunt but not a hunter, said she believes the hunt is necessary.

"Black bears are probably the most docile of all bears, but also the most unpredictable,"said Schwartz, adding she sees a female bruin amble through her yard every so often.

"We leave her alone. She's nonchalant. She doesn't cause any trouble. She doesn't really bother anybody," Schwartz said. "Most black bears are non-aggressive. The problem is when they stop fearing humans."

That problem is exactly what concerns Bucco.

"We've had reports of bears on the back porches of homes, breaking in to look for food and peering into windows," Bucco said. "It's pretty scary."

In Montville, more than a dozen bear sightings were reported to police in the past month in both the Montville and Towaco sections of the township, said township police Capt. Ed Rosellini.

But most residents have grown accustomed to seeing the animals, as the number of reports in the township have increased over the past decade, he said.

"Most of the people in the area are aware of them now,"said Rosellini, who added the bruin reports tend to be more frequent in October.

"It's that time of year and they're trying to bulk up before they go into hibernation," he said.

Montville resident Gladys Nemirow believes the reports are exaggerated.

"Every person who sees one bear coming through the neighborhood picks up the telephone and calls the police," said Nemirow. "One bear, and one bear alone will travel quite a distance."

Nemirow, who wrote letters of thanks to both Corzine and DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson on their anti-bear hunt stance, said she thinks police should tell residents not to call unless a bear is picking through their garbage or acting aggressively.

"Unless they're seeking out food or protecting their cubs, they are no threat to people,"she said.

Smith, whose group advocates training police and animal control agencies in bear control tactics, said she also believes a mandatory averse conditioning program should be set for all municipalities statewide.

"Right now it's pretty much up to each municipality to decide how involved they're going to get in bear control,"she said. "There should be a statewide mandate to prove they're actively implementing this program."

Tehani Schneider can be reached at (973) 428-6631 or tschneider@gannett.com.

Copyright ©2006 dailyrecord.com All rights reserved.

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