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Who was Lee of Fort Lee, Votee of Votee Park and Merritt of Camp Merritt? The Name-Dropper gives you the lowdown on some of the people whose names you see on public statues, memorial plaques, park signs, highways and even some local streets around North Jersey. Have suggestions? Email them to features@northjersey.com and put Name-Dropper in the subject field.Everybody knows that Franklin Turnpike was named for the grand old man of the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, right?You remember Ben, the heavyset guy who flew that kite in the electrical storm, who invented bifocals and the concept of the lending library....

FREEP!! the Hildebeest in Ridgewood, NJ, on Friday, July 11th at 3 PM, I suggest you get there by 2 PM   Sponsored by the Tri-State Chapter of the  Free Republic   Hillary for President Coming Soon to Bookends BookEnds Hillary Rotten Clinton the Wicked Witch of the EastMeet Hillary Rodham Clinton as she signs; "Living History" on July 11th, at 3:00 PM. 232 E. Ridgewood Ave. Tel: 201 445-0726     Hillary Rodham ClintonThursday, July 11th – 3:00 PMHILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, U.S. Senator and Former First Lady, writes about her life from childhood through the White House Years...

Activists on Friday protested the reopening of an abortion clinic here shut down in February after state health officials found "immediate and serious" health code violations. As part of their protest, the activists deployed a motor home equipped with ultrasound equipment across the street from Metropolitan Medical Associates and offered pregnant women who approached the clinic free images of their fetuses. The activists believe the images will persuade women to reconsider having an abortion. On Friday, 16-year-old Michelle Younger of Jersey City was one of them. The teen, who arrived with her mother, said she had an appointment at the...

The bird feeder in Alfred and Annette Rockefeller's back yard attracts five different species of birds. A Ramsey couple are facing up to $500 in fines for their bird feeder, above, which has drawn complaints from neighbors. The borough has an ordinance against feeding wildlife, and an official said the feeder draws other animals. It has also drawn the attention of borough officials, who issued the couple a summons for feeding wildlife after receiving complaints from neighbors. Alfred Rockefeller, 77, who is disabled and homebound, said feeding the birds is one of his few joys since he became confined to...

RIVER VALE — At the 234th commemoration on Monday of the Baylor Massacre, it was easy to see how New Jersey earned the nickname Crossroads of the Revolution. River Vale Historian Ed Moderacki wears a British infantry uniform as he helps Lincoln Schefter of Hackensack hold a musket at the site of the Baylor Massacre. The site, along the banks of the Hackensack River near Red Oak Drive, played host to a skirmish that took place in the middle of the night on Sept. 28, 1778, in which 54 soldiers from the rag-tag Continental Army were killed, captured or wounded,...

Quick action by horrified guests at a Park Ridge hotel saved a 20-month-old boy who had been thrown into a pool by a man police said was high on drugs. “These good Samaritans are heroes,” Capt. Joseph Rampolla of the Park Ridge Police Department said Monday. “They would be planning a toddler’s funeral if they did not step up.” The boy, who was unconscious and turning blue when he was pulled from the water, was recovering Monday at Hackensack University Medical Center, where he is in his mother’s custody, police said. “The child is doing well,” Rampolla said. Debbi Katcher,...

With the arrest of a second Lodi resident, the Bergen County Prosecutors Office (BCPO) says that it has resolved all the executed and planned attacks on area synagogues that took place in December and January.Nineteen-year-old Aakash Dalal was arraigned on Monday as co-conspirator in the most dangerous attacks, in which firebombs were thrown into the rabbi’s residence at Congregation Beth El in Rutherford. According to Prosecutor John Molinelli, who announced the arrest at an afternoon press conference on Friday, March 2, Dalal has been friends since middle school with Anthony M. Graziano, who was arrested in January and charged with...

Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff’s ties to the financiers of the Sept. 11 attacks may prevent his confirmation as Homeland Security Chief. According to a June 20, 2000 article in the The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey, Chertoff defended accused terrorist financier Dr. Magdy Elamir. Elamir’s HMO was sued by the State of New Jersey to recoup $16.7 million in losses. At least $5.7 million went “to unknown parties... by means of wire transfers to bank accounts where the beneficial owner of the account is unknown,” according to the article. Foreign intelligence reports given to then chairman of...

If there ever was a sign that we've had more than enough snow this winter, here it is. Bergen County, New Jersey administrators found themselves in quite a pickle this winter. With their plowing budget quickly running dry, they've come up with a juicy solution. Bergen County is just across the Hudson from New York – and despite being among the wealthiest counties in the nation, this winter has busted their budget for snow removal. Road salt comes at a hefty premium, and being only halfway through winter, they've invested in a new, and much cheaper, snow melter: pickle juice

The First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford has partnered with the Interfaith Dialog Center (IDC) of New Jersey to present a unique educational opportunity for the community to read the Qur'an in an environment designed to promote respect and mutual understanding of all faiths and cultures. Participants will read the Qur'an from cover to cover over a period of 10 weeks and are invited and encouraged to attend weekly one-hour discussions led by IDC experts on the assigned surahs (or chapters). The sessions are designed to review the week's readings, explore similarities and differences with the Bible and foster meaningful discussion....

Glen Rock High School world language teacher Alphonse Dattolo has a soft spot for underdogs. Consider the evidence: he was a devoted Phillies fan long before they shed their ignoble title as the "losingest team"; his favorite novel is "Don Quixote" - a story teeming with characters challenging the odds; and his favorite movie is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - a tale of a poor girl holding fast to her dream of getting a good education. It may be this soft spot that keeps him coming to school day after day ... after day ... for a total of...

A federal prosecutor blasted Fairview’s police chief for going to bat for a Cliffside Park man who was sentenced Monday to 51 months in prison for keeping a small arsenal of illegal firearms, including a silencer-equipped 22-caliber pistol, in his home.   Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Colone told U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway that he should not consider Chief John Pinzone’s letter in support of leniency for Giovanni DeMaio, because the chief neglected to mention he is dating the defendant’s daughter.While the judge received more than 90 letters similar to Pinzone’s, attesting to DeMaio’s kindness and charitable endeavors in...

WABC TV in New York carried a story about one of Jon Corzine's close aides ( I missed the name) being arrested. He was stopped for talking on cell phone and the police found 15 viles of drugs. Anyone know anything more. Of course this is being smothered. This is not even on WABC TV's web site hmmmmmmmmmm

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (Aug. 24) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will set foot on U.S. soil for the first time next month when he comes to address the U.N. General Assembly. Now he wants to put down stakes in the middle of American suburbia.

RIVER EDGE — A borough resident is on a mission to get saint status for a beloved Detroit priest, who he believes answered prayers to heal his son's cancer.           Ryan Blute holding photo of the Rev. Solanus Casey, whom he prayed to for a cancer cure. Kevin Blute hopes the Vatican will make the Rev. Solanus Casey the first male saint born in the U.S., and     suggested a friend's prayer group name itself after the friar. Blute's teenage son, Ryan, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2007 and has since recovered.  "I feel like I'm in gratitude to him big...

Newark's Roman Catholic archbishop is upset part of Bill Maher's movie was filmed at Bergen County parish. Maher set part of his documentary "Religulous," which mocks organized religion, in Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge. A spokesman for Archbishop John Myers said the parish priest was aware of a policy that prohibits any commercial filming in churches. But Jim Goodness said filmmakers told the Very Rev. Charles Grandstrand that Maher wanted to film his Jewish mother there because the church was such a big part of her life. Hi father was Catholic. Maher grew up in nearby River Vale....

ALPINE — The tavern’s visitors nodded in rhythm as a musician sang 19th-century songs, drinking hot cider and savoring bread and cheese.   At the Kearney House in Palisades Interstate Park in Alpine, Michael Giorgio, 6, listens to a timeless song from historian Thaddeus MacGregor. With a roaring hearth, songs and stories were grand entertainment before radio, TV and the Internet. A fire crackled in a hearth near the table, heating a kettle of water for cleaning dishes after the meal. A young woman in a dress served drinks, while the host — the floppy brim of his traditional slouch...

A Paramus middle school student was sent home Friday after he came to school dressed up as Jesus for Halloween. For a few hours, Alex Woinski was the messiah of West Brook Middle School, but like the real Jesus, Woinski was condemned, so to speak. "Sort of like a new remake of what supposedly happened," Woinski told CBS 2. Decked out in sandals, a robe, fake beard and thorns, the 13-year-old joined 500 other students at his school's Halloween celebration, and on this day, he was the chosen one - to go home. "It was offensive to some students," Woinski...

Two former managers at investment bank Bear Stearns have been arrested in New York over the collapse of the bank's hedge fund last year. Reports say Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin will face charges in connection with their management of hedge funds that collapsed in June 2007. The bank's hedge funds bet on the high-risk sub-prime mortgage market in the US before it collapsed. Authorities in Brooklyn are due to give details about the case later. FBI spokesman Jim Margolis told the BBC the men faced criminal charges of "securities fraud related to their management of two Bear Stearns hedge...

Seven ninth-graders at Pascack Valley High School have been suspended for the rest of the school year for distributing racy photos of middle school girls via cell phones and school-issued laptops. A student who saw the photos on a laptop tipped off a teacher, and the administration alerted Hillsdale police last week, district Superintendent Benedict Tantillo III said today. More than 20 girls who are now in ninth grade were in the photos, the superintendent said. Some pictures appeared to have been taken two or three years ago, and some of the subjects moved to private high school instead of...