By Nicholas J. Veliky
October 12, 2007

What ever happened to freedom of speech? One of our basic freedoms is taking it on the chin these days as residents who take to the podium to speak at public meetings, find themselves the focus of ridicule and reprimand from the elected officials who find themselves the focus of questions from the public. As an elected official you need to be willing to explain your positions and actions when it comes to acting in the office to which you were elected. The recent rash of public reprimands from elected officials will do no more than to increase the cloud of doubt that spurned the original questioning and decrease the public's desire to speak their mind in a public forum. While some elected officials call for respect, let them remember that respect is something that is earned and if you give respect very often it will be given in return.

With all the talk about only the best for our kids, it's hard to believe that our Board of Education was not even aware that they had a toilet in a locker room located in a middle school in their school system that had no sink. How did this happen? Isn't this a basic health code violation? If this went undetected, how many other deficiencies are there in our school system? With all the focus being placed on building a new school, its no wonder stuff like this gets overlooked. I might suggest a system wide inspection of the school facilities by the local board of health. Let's have them look for the basics first, making sure there is toilet paper in the bathrooms along with paper towels and hand soap, as long as the bath rooms have sinks. And while we're at it, let's make sure all the bathroom stalls have doors. Sounds pretty civilized, not too much to ask for, or is it. . . Would you believe that the same Board of Education that has multiple explanations of what really happened to the $800,000 or was it $850,000 (the amount seems to have changed between meetings) budgeted for the auditorium renovation, could actually deprive second grade students in School 2 of social studies books? Yes you read correctly, there is a social studies class in Clifton where the teacher has to copy the pages of the text book and distribute the copies to the children. Parents of students in the class have decided to take matters into their own hands and have contacted the book publisher and are purchasing the books at their own expense for $35 each. Explain to me how any of this is in the best interest of our kids? . . . Someone . . . Anyone . . . Please!!

The suggestion of a psychological evaluation before anyone can run for office, now that's something worth considering!

That didn't go very well. It seems the move to kick off a campaign to change Clifton's form of government has not been very well accepted. Folks on both sides of the aisle, yes, even though Clifton is a non partisan city, we do have Republicans, Democrats, and lots of Independents, were perplexed and some perturbed at the thought of out of towners marching in and trying to take over. A little finesse and perhaps things could have gone better, but for now it will be even more of an uphill battle.

Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale is one heck of a campaigner. He doesn't take anything for granted. Even though the Sheriff is running unopposed, he is campaigning as hard as if he were in a heated race. He has spent countless hours meeting voters throughout the county. The Sheriff recently met with a group of close friends of Clifton Council Candidate George Silva at Silva's home. There is yet another special opportunity to meet Sheriff Speziale through the efforts of Polonia Meat Market and Councilman Peter Eagler who are proud to introduce the Sheriff on Saturday October 20, from 10AM to 1PM at Polonia Meat Market located at 785 Van Houten Avenue. Your hosts Teddy and Stanley Kwolek promise a great day with the Sheriff complete with good food and refreshments. Music will be provided by DJ Joe. Just in case, a rain date is October 27th.

With the November special City Council election just a few weeks away, the lawn sign portion of the competition has begun and is in full force. Joseph Chidiac is clearly out in front; however Joe has an interesting strategy, his sign locations all hold from one to five signs clustered across the property. George Silva is a close second with no more than two signs per location followed by Beverly Carey in third place and building fast, and Councilman Matt Ward in fourth place. While signs are an outward sign of the candidate's campaign, it's where they stand on the issues that really counts. Remember, campaign signs don't vote, people do. Be sure to pay attention to the issues and try to attend the candidate's forum on October 30, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Clifton City Hall Council Chambers. The candidate's forum is sponsored by the Delawanna, Dutch Hill, Lakeview and Rosemawr Civic Associations and will be monitored by the League of Women Voters - Watch for the Clifton Insider Candidates Forum in our October 26 issue

House of Fire Christian Church will take another shot at getting approval to build a church on a residential size lot located on Grove Street in Clifton. The Paterson based religious group's original application to build a church was previously denied and only after appeal did a superior court ruling remand the application back to the Clifton Zoning Board of Adjustment. The application is scheduled to be heard October 17th at 7:00 p.m.