Free Republic

Eric Garner is buried in Rosedale Cemetery, a sweeping expanse of land in Linden, New Jersey, located just across the river from Manhattan. His funeral was in July, after a white police officer choked him to death on Staten Island. Known around town as a peaceable soul, Garner had been accused of selling untaxed cigarettes. He had six children and a wife, but he did not have a weapon. He lived to the age of 43, and his last words were “I can’t breathe.” Despite a wealth of video evidence and a coroner’s report that labeled the incident a homicide,...

People have been crossing the Goethals Bridge between Staten Island and New Jersey for decades, so they definitely noticed when a new guide sign went up and something didn’t look quite right. A green, diagrammatic guide sign that recently went up on the New Jersey-bound lanes of the Staten Island Expressway had a misspelling on it. The white letterings had two letters swapped places and they read “Geothals Bridge.” …

The man who fatally shot two people at a White Settlement Church on Sunday before being killed by church security has been identified as a 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen, a River Oaks man with a criminal record, according to two law enforcement sources. Kinnunen is believed to have been wearing a disguise, including a fake beard, when he stood up, pulled a shotgun from his clothing and opened fire inside the church, killing 64-year-old Anton Wallace, a church deacon from Fort Worth, and 67-year-old Richard White, of River Oaks.

New York Giants player Kam Moore cold-cocked a paramour and stepped on her neck so hard it left bruises during a love-triangle brawl outside his home on Thursday that led to his arrest and suspension, according to the team and law-enforcement authorities. “New York Giants safety Kamrin Moore was arrested over the weekend in Linden, New Jersey, for an alleged domestic violence-related incident. Moore has been suspended by the team pending further investigation,” the Giants tweeted Monday. The victim, identified in a criminal complaint as “H.P.,” had been seeing the grid-ironer since January and decided to drop by his New...

Gregg and Rusk county reps on a regional transportation board aren’t happy with the lack of progress, reporting and marketing for Toll 49 on which traffic and revenues have slowed.Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority directors hope a new on-ramp that opened Tuesday plus the addition of 6 more miles that open Nov. 1 — two months ahead of schedule — can resurrect sluggish toll revenue.Board member Dave Spurrier raised questions, however, about why more hasn’t been done to attract new drivers, especially from Interstate 20.“I’d just like to see an aggressive marketing plan,” Spurrier, who represents Gregg County, said soon...

Controversy erupted over Christmas week when the Washington Post tweeted out an opinion article by Raphael Lataster they had published in 2014. It claims to show that the existence of Jesus as a historical figure is likely no more than a myth. Critics questioned the timing of the tweet as a slap in the face to Christians preparing to celebrate one of their holiest days.Possibly more importantly, many seized on the reaction to the 2014 publication. Historians, including a professor who had taught Lataster in a class about the historical Jesus, demolished the claims. Its ideas were described as...

Police and other emergency services in New Jersey are responding to reports of an active shooter on Elizabeth Avenue in Linden in Union County, according to initial reports. There are reports of injuries. The incident happened at around 10:45 a.m. ET on Monday when police were called for reports that someone was shooting at cars passing by in the 500 block of East Elizabeth Avenue, which is near the Linden train station. Officers rushed to the scene and it is believed a suspect is in custody, according to initial reports. There are reports of injuries, including as many as two...

The mother of Fritz Moncion, the Linden, NJ high school football player who took the helmet of an opponent and hit him with it, spoke out on her son’s behalf and said the vicious hit, which caused ten stitches, was without intention and he is “very, very sorry” and is calling his punishment of being suspended from school, kicked off the team and potential criminal charges too severe. “He’s a great kid. He really didn’t intentionally do this. He’s very hurt. He’s crying… To keep him off the team, I don’t think that is the answer,” MyCentralJersey.com reports Moncion’s said....

While the superintendent of Linden Community Schools is calling it an “honest mistake”, many others are wondering what the veteran teacher could have been thinking when she allowed students in her fifth grade class to try O’Doul’s beer. While O’Doul’s is advertised an a non-alcoholic beer, the beverage actually contains less than half of a percent (.5%) alcohol. “That was definitely a bad mistake,’ said Linden resident Susie Lamb. …

A highly-anticipated hockey video game that features realistic fighting scenarios and black eyes is a useful tool to teach children that brawls are part of the game and in some cases can help you win, says a former NHL captain. Retired Vancouver Canucks player Trevor Linden, well-loved in the city and not known for getting into frequent dust-ups, endorsed "NHL 10" Monday prior to its next-day launch across North America. "Fighting in hockey is not something you necessarily want to promote, but at the same time, you want to make children understand that it is part of the game and...

Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka, an ex-Democrat who turned independent and won control of the city two years ago, called upon residents today to support GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain. Standing in front of City Hall, Gerbounka and four members of the City Council urged residents in this Democratic stronghold to cross party lines and support McCain, who will be visiting New Jersey tomorrow. Gerbounka's move marked the first time since former Elizabeth Mayor Tom Dunn went for Ronald Reagan that a mayor of a major Union County city turned on his party. "This election is not about Democrats or...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- A Jamaican man collapsed and died on a nonstop flight from Guyana to New York on Tuesday, airline officials said. Rupert Cameron, 33, was pronounced dead when North American Airlines Flight 92 from Georgetown arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport just before 2 p.m. EDT, said Jenny DeBarros, a spokeswoman for the Queens-based airline. Cameron had complained of feeling unwell and repeatedly asked for water. Several passengers, including a Guyanese doctor, administered CPR when he stopped breathing, DeBarros said. It was unclear when an autopsy would be performed. Authorities detained a Jamaican friend traveling with Cameron....

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (Reuters) -- An Iranian scholar who was abducted in Guyana last month in a case that baffled local police has been found dead with gunshot wounds to the head, police said on Wednesday. The body of Mohammad Hassan Ebrahimi, director of Guyana's International Islamic College for Advanced Studies, was discovered by local people late on Tuesday 45 miles (70 km) south of the capital, Georgetown. Ebrahimi, a well-known member of Guyana's Muslim community, was seized by two gunmen on April 2 in Georgetown as he left the college compound. Police spokesman John Sauers said the partly decomposed body...