Shit in driveway wasn't from dog walkers: The Record was delivered to us by mistake

READERS GET THE SHAFT: A report on the shutting down of nuclear reactors across the United States started on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park on Sunday and covered 5 full newspaper pages. Included were the bios of the 5 reporters for Gannett publications who worked on it. Loud yawns could be heard across northern New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The dog owners in my Fairmount neighborhood don't always do a good job of cleaning up after their pets, as  we can see from the occasional turd in the grass in front of our house.

On Sunday, however, the biggest turd I've ever seen was left in our driveway: 

The Record of Woodland Park, folded inside a plastic bag, was delivered to us in error.

I stopped subscribing to The Record more than a year ago (or was it two), but see the daily paper occasionally at the hospital where I volunteer.

So, I looked at the first Sunday paper I've seen in a long time with a critical eye, confirming once again how former Publisher Stephen Borg and Gannett have brought this once-great local newspaper to its knees.

The front page was wrapped in an ad for hearing aids, a desperate bid for revenue that was started by Borg years before the family unloaded North Jersey Media Group on Gannett in July 2016.

State budget news?

A week before Governor Murphy is supposed to sign the state budget, a battle over renewal of the millionaires tax continues to rage in the state Legislature, but there were no news stories about it in the Sunday paper.

As far as I know, The Record has never explored the millionaires tax as an issue, only as a showdown between the state's most powerful Democrats

The rest of the first section is filled only with international and national news -- a colossal waste of space in a local daily newspaper.

Readers go nuclear

In a desperate bid to grab readers attention, the nuclear power plant opus included a story on Page 12A under the headline:

"This could

affect your

wallet and

your health" 

As with most readers, I would imagine, my eyelids grew heavy.

The lead reporter on the nuclear plant piece was Thomas C. Gambito, a former Record reporter now with the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.

Debra Vial, Gambito's wife, was an assignment editor at The Record.

Now, she is the communications director in Paramus for Suez North America, the water company that levies hundreds of thousands of dollars in public fire protection fees on Hackensack and many others towns and cities.

Vial and other Suez employees have ignored repeated requests from this blogger, who also worked at The Record as a reporter and copy editor, for the fees paid by other municipalities.

Local news?

Sunday's 8-page Local section included 3 pages of obituaries or paid death notices, and a full-page ad.

The lead story on 1L was about gay cops (the headlines included the words "in New Jersey").

But there was not a single story from the 86 towns in Bergen and Passaic counties about municipal government, spending or policies.

Other sections

On the Better Living cover, staffer Rebecca King appeared to rewrite two news releases rating Newark Liberty International Airport as "the worst in America," but claiming the air hub is "best for foodies."

No prices were given, lest readers experience the same sticker shock of travelers who don't bring their own food, and have to buy some of the most overpriced fare in the world.

Better Living also included a USA Today travel article warning Americans going to Mexico to "proceed with caution."

Opinion

Remember the New Jersey budget battle?

In the Opinion section, Governor Murphy appeared as a guest columnist, noting the millionaires tax was passed five times by Democratic Legislatures in the eight years before he took office [and vetoed by then-Governor Christie].

The Record also has endorsed renewal of the millionaires tax. Murphy's column appeared under this headline:

"Why state budget must

put middle class first"

I'm sure almost no one read the piece on the front of Opinion on Sunday by burned-out Columnist Mike Kelly on failed legal pot laws in New Jersey and New York.

Kelly's been boring readers to tears for decades.

The rest of the paper, including Sports, went immediately into the recycling bin.

Read: Tombstones for great local journalism

STRAIGHT TO RECYCLING: Many of the sections of The Record on Sunday were suitable only for the recycling bin.