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Oxford, New Jersey 07863-0527
Telephone: 908.453.2147
Facsimile: 908.453.2164
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The Long Hill Observer
"Sunshine is the best disinfectant" Justice Louis D. Brandeis
"Only through education may one better his mind. Only through action may one better his lot."
Howard A. Kupferman, Citizen
William Alexander
"Lord Stirling"
1726 - 1783
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Married Sarah Livingston (Livingston, NJ) March 1, 1748. Colonel of the Battalion of East New Jersey in October, 1775. He distinguished himself by the capture of a British armed transport, for which Congress, in March 1776, appointed him Brigadier General. At the Battle of Long Island in August 1776 his Brigade attacked a greatly superior force, and was cut to pieces, and he himself was taken prisoner. He was soon exchanged and then promoted to a Major General. When Lee marched to Philadelphia, Lord Stirling was left in command of New York. At Trenton he received the surrender of a Hessian regiment. In June 1777, at Matouchin, now called Metuchin, he awaited an attack, contrary to Washington's orders; his position was turned and his division defeated, losing two guns and 150 men. At the Battle of Brandywine and Germantown he acted with bravery and discretion. Then at the Battle of Monmouth he displayed tactical judgment in posting his batteries and repelled with heavy loss an attempt to turn his flank. In 1779, when in command in New Jersey, he surprised a British force at Paulus' Hook. In 1781, he commanded at Albany. He died of gout, five days after the preliminaries of peace were agreed upon. Lord Stirling was one of the founders of Columbia College, called King's College before the revolution and became its first governor. He is buried at Trinity Church in New York City in the family vault with his father. |
Agenda For April 28 School Board Meeting
Public Meeting Minutes from the last board meeting, April 14, 2008 have not been made public even though the law states that they must be made public 48 hours prior to the next meeting.
Good Reflection, Good Word, Good Deed
Long Hill Observer Endorses Murry Sabrin for Senate
Here is an interview of Dr. Murray Sabrin done by PolitickerNJ. He goes over the issues that are important for him as well as his opinion on the race and his competitors.
Sabrin at the Woodbridge Republican Club
Murray Sabrin addresses Union County Republicans
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EDITORIALS
Officials should know laws about open government
Friday, April 25, 2008
Shining a light
Most elected officials in New Jersey cringe when John Paff shows up at public meetings. He's been hop-scotching across the state pointing out the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which municipalities and school boards fail the public when it comes to open government.
Paff, the chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, has targeted more than 90 municipalities. Last year, he successfully sued a Middlesex County school board that wasn't providing enough detail on closed-door meetings.
Recently he's been corresponding with officials in Washington, urging the borough to provide more specific reasons for discussions out of public earshot. He says one-word explanations such as "litigation" and "personnel" simply aren't enough. And he's right.
He's also raised concerns about a contract award notice that didn't provide a dollar amount for the borough's public defender contract.
The borough's attorney, Richard Cushing, has yet to issue an official response. But Councilman Andrew Turner told The Express-Times that Paff raises valid concerns and that any oversights aren't deliberate attempts at public deception but "a bad practice that's been continued."
Bad habits can and must be broken, especially when government transparency and public confidence in our elected officials are at stake.
The climate is improving, thanks to watchdogs such as Paff and their ability to cite relatively strong state open records laws to make their cases.
Since Paff's prodding last year in neighboring Washington Township, for instance, its township committee not only provides detailed public explanations of closed-door meetings but also tapes and keeps full minutes of those sessions.
Still, the news media and open government advocates shouldn't have to fight this battle one community, one school board, at a time. Our elected leaders should understand the laws -- and follow them.
Don’t Get SLAPPed
April 1, 2008
By Walter M. Luers, Esq.
As citizen oversight of government grows, public agencies are resisting the oversight. One of the ways public agencies resist oversight is by threatening to sue members of the public who exercise their rights. These types of lawsuits are called "SLAPP" lawsuits – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Click here for full article.
Primer for the Open Public Records Act
By Walter M. Luers, Esq.
March 19, 2008 - Citizen oversight of government is essential. To perform adequate oversight of New Jersey public agencies, which include public schools, municipal, county, and much of State government, citizens must have information. In New Jersey, one of the tools citizens can use to acquire information is the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”). Under OPRA, citizens have the right to inspect or request copies of “public records,” which are broadly defined as “any paper, written or printed book, document, drawing, map, plan, photograph, microfilm, data processed or image processed document, information stored or maintained electronically or by sound-recording . . . that has been made, maintained or kept on file . . . by any officer, commission, agency or authority of the State or of any political subdivision thereof . . . or that has been received in the course of his or its official business[.]” Several categories of public records and information are exempt from disclosure, such as most personnel records, documents protected by the attorney-client privilege, or consultative, advisory or deliberative material. Click here for full article.
News
April 11, 2008 – Long Hill Township – School Board Secretary and Business Administrator John Esposito and the Long Hill Township School Board have reversed their decision and released a draft copy of the March 24 minutes to the public meeting prior to the next board meeting. Private session minutes were not requested, however they will be in the future.
On March 26, 2008, Howard A. Kupferman of Gillette requested that Esposito scan and email to him the public and private meeting minutes of the March 24, 2008 school board meeting. Kupferman sent Esposito the citation of a recent Morris County Judge’s ruling requiring that Mountain Lakes provide meeting minutes 48 hours prior to the next meeting. In his email, Kupferman stated “According to Morris County's Judge Bozonelis, in Kanter v Mountain Lakes (Kanter), a municipal agency must make public its meeting minutes 48 hours in advance of the next meeting of that municipal agency."
Kupferman received an email from Esposito on April 2, 2008 denying him those minutes. In his email, Esposito stated “The minutes of the March 24th meeting have not been created yet, nor have they been approved by the Board of Education. This material is considered advisory, consultative and deliberative in that the minutes are draft documents that contain my opinion and viewpoint until the Board has reviewed, revised and approved them. I anticipate this occurring at the meeting of April 14, 2008.”
News
Judge kills Vineland's master plan, says public not included enough
by South Jersey News Online
Thursday March 20, 2008, 4:43 PM
By JASON LADAY
jladay@sjnewsco.com
BRIDGETON, N.J. -- A state Superior Court judge on Thursday ruled in
favor of a lawsuit seeking to invalidate Vineland's master plan, stating
the public had been kept too far out of the process.
The lawsuit, filed in late 2006 by Lakewood-based developer Rudy's
Airport LLC, accused the city of violating municipal land-use law by
allowing an ad hoc committee formed by the mayor's office to circumvent
the role of the planning board in re-examining and drafting the master
plan.
Rudy's Airport also alleged the city violated the Open Public Meetings
Act when it did not release public notices advertising 16 closed ad hoc
committee meetings over the course of 17 months.
The committee had been made up of four members of the planning board,
one zoning board member and Mayor Perry Barse.
Judge Michael Brooke Fisher said while he could overlook the "unusual"
makeup of the ad hoc committee, he could not turn a blind eye to the
lack of public notices sent out informing residents of the meetings.
"Looking over the minutes of these meetings, it demonstrates a
commendable amount of hard work went into this process; the advisory
committee went into quite a bit of detail and I think that is
commendable," said Fisher. "However, it also demonstrates 16 private
meetings that took place in the very involved process of preparing the
master plan. Over a 17-month period, 16 meetings were conducted with no
notices being sent out.
"There had to be a notice."
Frank DiDomenico, solicitor for both the city planning and zoning
boards, had argued since the committee had been created to fill an
advisory role, its meetings were exempt from the Open Public Meeting
Act.
Rudy's Airport LLC owns a landing strip off Weymouth Road and wanted
to build homes on that property.
Kanter Lawsuit Prompts Action on Records by Borough
The Citizen (www.denvillecitizen.com)
March 12, 2008
By AUDREY DAVIE EDITOR
MOUNTAIN LAKES - Borough officials may have agreed to make some changes
in their system for producing minutes as a result of a court action by
resident Fred Kanter, but Superior Court Assignment Judge Theodore
Bozonelis ruled Kanter is-not entitled to compensation for the cost of
his actions,
"Do I find there was a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA)?
No," Bozonelis, said in ruling on Kanter's lawsuit in Morristown on
Friday March 7.
Kanter contended many executive meeting minutes had not been released,
going back a couple of years, and that some that had been released were
redacted to the point of being meaningless.
Noting both sides had informed him prior to the hearing that a
corrective plan had been worked out regarding the preparation and
availability of executive session minutes, Bozonelis said, "I do agree
this was as a result of citizen action, but that's what members of the
public should be doing."
Bozonelis said a borough plan to expedite review and release of minutes
from meetings closed to the public, commonly referred to as executive
sessions, was acceptable.
"Their only non-compliance was executive session minutes and, on their
own, they took action before this hearing so the issue is in essence
moot before me," he said.
He also said he did not find it necessary for his court to oversee that
process, as requested by Kanter,
Kanter contended in his filing he overheard a closed session discussion
discussing him when it was supposed to be about Prosecutor Brian Mason.
He contended council members were violating executive
session rules.
"It was a personnel discussion and there was a secondary reference to
Mr. Kanter because (Mason) was prosecuting cases involving Mr. Kanter.
In terms of that being some sinister attempt to hide something, I don't
think that was the case," he said.
However, the judge said borough officials must specifically say prior to
going in to closed session why they are going in to closed session, He
said they can't just say litigation or personnel, but must enumerate
what litigation or personnel.
In another minutes issue, Kanter had argued regular meeting minutes need
to be available to the public prior to the next public meeting so
members of the public can be informed and prepared for that meeting.
Robert Oostdyk, appearing on behalf of the borough, argued regular
meeting minutes had been produced two days prior to the next meeting
about 80 percent of the time and that It was to be expected in a small
town with limited staff that at times this could be a problem if the
clerk was on vacation or ill.
He also suggested it would be difficult to have someone else do the
minutes since the clerk is the person who is at the meetings and knows
how they are done and keeps continuity.
Bozonelis disagreed.
"Let's assume the court agrees with you that you're a small municipality
and there is no bad faith here. Wouldn't it make more sense to avoid it
in the future? You can't rely on one person to always be available."
The judge said, "You have to have a plan if the clerk is not available,"
be said, "I'll leave it to the town to come up with that plan. Going
forward, there has to be a plan so minutes shall be produced promptly
and that means exactly that."
Bozonelis also upheld the borough's decision to limit individual members
of the public to five minutes to speak during the public portion of the
meeting, a rule which Kanter protested was unreasonable, particularly
when only one or two people appear at a public meeting.
The judge concluded by noting, that under statute, there was no
provision for him to award costs to Kanter associated with his bringing
of an action against the borough and Kanter's related argument he had
warned borough officials for years about complying with the law and that
he had been arrested at meetings for doing his
duty as a citizen.
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."
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Polytechnic - NYU Merger Assured; State Must Now Act
On Thursday, March 6, 2008 Poly’s Board of Trustees voted to approve
the Definitive Agreement to merge with
Merging of the Minds: first group of Poly students takes classes at NYU
NYU/Polytechnic Students
Executive MBA Program
55 Broad St, NYC
MG 7193 Ethical Dimensions of Modern Management
Professor H. Abraham Kupferman
All managers frequently face ethical challenges. Success often depends on how well managers handle decisions that challenge their own set of values. Ethical dimensions of modern management also increase as competition becomes increasingly global and technology-intensive. This course identifies major ethical issues facing managers today particularly with regard to technology, innovation and global decision making. The course also provides an opportunity for students to develop effective approaches for dealing with major ethical challenges. Finally, the course gives students a chance to reflect on the efficacy and strength of their own personal set of values.
Click here for the syllabus and course readings.
You might also read:
1. "Aristotle's Ethics"
2. "The Prince" by Nicolo Machiavelli
3.
Business Ethics,
by Michael Boylan
4.
Conscience and Corporate
Culture, by
Kenneth Goodpaster
Governor of New Jersey 1776–1790
Buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
"The Enemy have lately tempted me to consider myself in a point of light in which I should never have had the vanity to consider myself but for their most gracious opinion of me, that is as a Man of Consequence. I hope they will never succeed in killing me, as I should by that means most certainly lose the honor of being hanged in Company with some of you more illustrious Rebels."
Reverend James Caldwell at the Battle of Springfield
"Give'em Watts Boys"
On June 23, 1780, the climactic battle of the final invasion of New Jersey was fought. Approximately 6,000 Crown forces under the command of General Knyphausen attacked from Staten Island, New York, via Elizabethtown, attempting to seize the Hobart Gap in the nearby Watchung Mountains. His goal was to get to Morristown, where General Washington had supplies and artillery.
Approximately 2,000 American Continental and local Militia forces defended the area in the Rahway River vicinity. For more than 40 minutes, Colonel Angell and his men fought the advancing British infantry, cavalry and several field pieces, which were five times their number, to a standstill. Slowly, the British pushed the Militia back.
During the heat of the battle, as the Colonial and Militia forces were nearly out of ammunition and outnumbered, Reverend James Caldwell of the First Presbyterian Church, passed out Watts Hymnals for use as artillery wadding. His cry, “Give ‘em Watts, Boys!” has lived on and became the famous motto of that battle.
As the British retreated, they resorted to burning and looting the town. Only four houses remained standing after the Battle of Springfield. The British goal of reaching Morristown was once again thwarted and the Battle of Springfield, also known as “The Forgotten Victory,” marked the last invasion of the British into New Jersey.
Chaim (Hyam) Solomon, the Carribean Jews and the American Revolution
Walter M.
Luers
Law Offices of Walter M. Luers, LLC
165 First Avenue
Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716
732-872-8088
732-872-8044 (facsimile)
201-892-4316 (cell)
wluers@hotmail.com
Click here for the actual numbers from the DOE website.
Click her for a "simplified" explanation of the funding formula.
Click here for the LHT Mayor's "State of the Township Address", January 2, 2008
Click Here for LHT Community Calendar
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The Trial of
John Peter Zenger
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One of the most important events in American journalism history occurred in New York in 1735. This, of course, was the libel trail of John Peter Zenger, printer of the New York Weekly Journal. John Peter Zenger arrived in New York from Germany in 1710 and served an apprenticeship to William Bradford, printer of the New York Gazette. In 1733 New York Colonial Governor William Cosby stirred up a great controversy by prosecuting the interim Governor, Rip Van Dam, and removing Chief Justice Lewis Morris from the courts. After Governor Cosby adopted arbitrary measures against these men, and opposition group arose to fight him politically. These wealthy and powerful men established an opposition newspaper, the New York Weekly Journal, and hired John Peter Zenger as the printer and editor. The Weekly Journal printed numerous articles critical of Governor Cosby until Cosby could take it no longer. In November, 1734, Cosby had Zenger arrested and put in jail incommunicado for ten months. On August 4, 1735, Zenger was brought to trial and charged with seditious libel. He was defended by Philadelphia lawyer, Andrew Hamilton. The prosecution argued that the sole fact of publication was sufficient to convict and excluded the truth from the evidence. Hamilton admitted that Zenger published the offending stories, but denied that it was libel unless it was false. Hamilton made an eloquent appeal to the jury to judge both the law and the facts; as a result was acquitted. This finding of not guilty established truth as a defense against libel and was a landmark victory for freedom of the press. It also set a precedent against judicial tyranny in libel suits. It has long been held that the first report of Zenger's victory in court came in his own newspaper, the New York Weekly Journal of August 18, 1735. The front page of that date contains the abbreviated story of his trial and in column two states "The jury returned in Ten Minutes, and found me Not Guilty" However, a review of the Journal file from 1735 reveals that the issue of August 18 was not the earliest report of Zenger's being freed. Although the New York Weekly Journal of August 11, 1735 had nothing on the trial itself, there is a printer's note at the end of the last column on page 4. It read, "The Printer, now having got his liberty again, designs God willing to Finish and Publish the Charter of the City of New York next week." So read your newspapers carefully as they sometimes whisper things to you if you take the time to read and listen. |