Museum opens, memoirs unveiled
By Maxim Almenas
posted on May 13, 2008
The creation of the first Holocaust museum in a New Jersey synagogue serves as a reminder that while time heals some wounds, it also washes away memories best not forgotten.
Meir Berger, rabbi for the New Synagogue on Center Avenue, explained the long journey of the museum and how it came to fruition.
"There's a destiny to everything," Berger said.
Berger said Michale Zelensky, a Holocaust survivor, was liberated from a concentration camp in 1945. He was given the choice of traveling to the United States or Israel. But instead Zelensky chose to travel to Strasbourg, a city in France that borders Germany. There he found an 11th century synagogue destroyed by Nazi soldiers in 1941 and experienced an awakening.
"Zalensky said, ‘Hundreds were killed around me, yet I survived. I was destined for something, but I didn't know what,’" Berger said.
Zalensky made a life for himself by rebuilding the synagogue that had been deserted from during World War II. He was able to retrieve 80 percent of the items that were saved by local residents. He also met his wife, started a business, and was later honored by the French government for restoring the synagogue. [Full Story]
AMBER Alert
Printer helps prepare abduction warnings
By Allison a. McGevna
(posted on April 29, 2008)
The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office received new printers that will enable them to print and circulate photographs of missing or abducted children from the AMBER Alert Safety Center last week in a presentation at the Paramus Park Mall.
The printers were distributed at the ceremony on April 24. The event also celebrated the opening of an AMBER Alert Safety Center kiosk at the mall. Within the next 60 days, the safety centers will also open a 2,000-square-foot store in the mall, Kai D. Patterson, the president and CEO of AMBER Alerts, said.
The store and kiosks are the first of their kind and will enable parents or guardians with children under 18 to create an AMBER-ready profile for free and store the information on their cell phone. In the event of a possible abduction, parents would be able to have police instantly transmit an AMBER alert from the phone to authorities and neighbors, Patterson said. Parents and guardians will also receive a free informational CD and a program that will enable them to load and lock their phone to ensure that only they have access to their child’s information.
"It’s a lot safer than carrying the information in a wallet, which can easily be stolen and leave children vulnerable," Patterson, who is a former systems programmer for Bell Applications, said last Thursday.
A second feature of the Amber Alerts kiosks will be the Wireless AMBER Alert Program that will enable individuals that do not have children under 18 to receive free wireless AMBER Alerts of other missing children. Those individuals may also receive a $10,000 reward with the program, he said. [Full Story]
Democrat vs. Democrat
Lautenberg faces Andrews in June primary
(by Mark J. Bonamo - posted April 15, 2008)
The scene inside the Trenton Marriott hotel on March 31 was meant to be an impressive display of Democratic Party unity. Prominent Democratic politicians from around New Jersey had assembled in the state’s capital to show support for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s re-election bid in November. Gov. Jon Corzine walked down the block from the State House to back up the Garden State’s senior senator, a Cliffside Park resident. New Jersey’s Democratic Congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn), also gathered behind Lautenberg at the podium.
Except for one congressman.
U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) was noticeably absent at the rally for Lautenberg. It became apparent over the next few days that Andrews was instead rallying his own troops in order to fight a primary battle against Lautenberg in the hopes of usurping his Senate seat. However, it is also clear that if Lautenberg is about to be removed from the political stage, he will not go quietly. In the meantime, the intra-Democratic Party battle lines are being drawn all across the state as North Jersey’s Lautenberg, 84, and South Jersey’s Andrews, 50, prepare for political warfare. The June 3 Democratic U.S. Senate primary is not far away. But the struggle for the Senate seat between Lautenberg and Andrews reveals that while the state Democratic Party is capable of showing force, it can also show fissures.
Two serious candidates square off
The primary fight will be waged by two of New Jersey’s most well-known and well-financed politicians. Lautenberg was first elected to the Senate in 1983 and served until 2001. After two years on the sidelines after he chose not to run for re-election, he returned to center stage after former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli was compelled to end his re-election effort in the wake of a campaign finance scandal. Lautenberg took his place, triumphing over Republican candidate Doug Forrester in the November 2002 Senate election. Lautenberg has close to $4.3 million in his campaign war chest, as well as considerable personal financial resources stemming from his role as co-founder of ADP, the payroll management services corporation.
Andrews has been the congressman representing New Jersey’s First Congressional District since 1990. A moderate, he has $2.4 million in his own campaign coffers, as well as the support of the well-heeled and well-connected George Norcross III, a South Jersey power broker who is one of the most influential political personalities in the state. Andrews ran for governor in 1997, narrowly losing in the Democratic primary to Jim McGreevey. He later considered running for Senate in 2006, ultimately deciding to support the eventual winner, Robert Menendez. [Full Story]
CAMPAIGNING IN NEW JERSEY
