Free Republic

As the world watched the solemn state funeral for former President Gerald Ford on television, the family and friends of Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III were especially proud of the man in charge of those ceremonies. Swan, who grew up in Wayne, was the military escort for Betty Ford at the funeral ceremonies in California and in the nation's capital, where he is the commander of the Military District of Washington. "We're proud of the way he's handling himself," Swan's father, Guy Jr., who now lives in the Cedar Crest retirement village in Pequannock, said Sunday. "He seemed to...

With tears steaming down her face, a Paterson woman who police say was kept by her boyfriend in a padlocked bedroom for the better part of two years showed up in court Tuesday and defended her alleged captor as a “loving, good man.” “I want this all to stop!” a sobbing Nancy Rodriguez told reporters in the hallway of Superior Court in Paterson, moments before her boyfriend, Michael Mendez, was led before a judge to answer charges of kidnapping, criminal restraint and drug distribution. Rodriguez disputed the state’s contention that Mendez, a reputed drug dealer and member of the Latin...

When Pompton Lakes police seized Darren Richardson’s car on a rainy September afternoon, they told him it was headed for an impound lot. When they returned it three weeks later, he says, the 2004 BMW belonged in a junk yard. The instrument cluster and leather dashboard were gone. The caramel-colored seats were torn up. The gear shift was ripped out and stray wires hung limp everywhere. Geico, Richardson’s insurance company estimated the damage at $12,636.42 — more than he paid for the car — and declared the vehicle a "total loss." According to police reports, the damage to the black...

WAYNE — Rola Awwad wants a private space for her 10-year-old son at Albert Payson Terhune Elementary School to exercise his right to Muslim prayer. The school district had offered to let him pray at recess — either outside or in a classroom while classmates are there. And that, says Awwad, is "unacceptable." mAll students are constitutionally guaranteed the right to pray during the school day as long as it doesn't interfere with learning. But Wayne is struggling with what accommodations to make if a Muslim student requests privacy for prayer. The answer in other North Jersey districts ranges from...

PATERSON - A New York sect of Amitabha Buddhists bought hundreds of eels, frogs and turtles in Chinatown to set them free in the Passaic River, hoping they would not only survive but also realize their karmic potential. Saving the animals, though, did not do anything for the karma of the state Department of Environmental Protection. DEP pfficials say the Buddhists did not have a permit and may be subject to fines up to $1,000. Releasing critters into the wild takes a permit - and because of fears of harm being done by nonnative species, New Jersey is reluctant to...

The last defense against a Soviet nuclear attack was in the back yards of North Jersey. Tucked behind Gary's Wine Marketplace on Route 23 north in Wayne are 32 acres owned by Passaic County that were once home to a missile base and now stand as a relic to the Cold War era. Through the height of the Cold War, from 1955 to 1963, 14 Nike missile batteries were nestled in suburban communities throughout the state, at the ready to fire against any Soviet bomber that might have dodged the U.S. Air Force's interceptors and headed toward New York City....

NEWARK, N.J., Jul 04, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Mohamed El Filali like some other Muslims across the nation plans to avoid large public gatherings over the holiday for fear he'll be mistaken for a terrorist by edgy law enforcement officers or suspicious citizens. "As a Muslim, especially during this specific holiday, I have a concern of being racially profiled by the police and the federal agents," said El Filali, an official with the American Muslim Union based in nearby Paterson. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, carried out by Islamic extremists, El Filali's fears are...

Today's textbooks indoctrinate our children into Islam and are backed by court rulings allowing teachers to REQUIRE our children to bow down and pray to Allah "in demonstration." As Obama's non-jihadists plot to "internally cleanse" America shouting "Allah-Akbar," many of our children have simultaneously taken the position on their hands and knees and recited, "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of Creation, The Compassionate, the Merciful, King of Judgment day! You alone we worship, and to You alone we pray for help, Guide us to the straight path." Public outrage has caused...

A 22-year-old township woman is facing an aggravated manslaughter charge in connection to the asphyxiation death of her newborn child. Keri Barry, of Alps Road, was home alone when she gave birth on Dec. 11 to a full-term baby boy. She did not seek medical attention, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. Her family realized later on that there was a problem and brought her to Chilton Memorial Hospital, in Pompton Plains. Staff there determined that she had recently given birth, Senior Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Robert Pringle said. The whereabouts of the baby was not known, at which...

N.J. immigrants getting N.C. licenses Print this article Email this Article By Taft Wireback Staff Writer Courts in northern New Jersey are having trouble with fraudulent driver's licenses turning up in the hands of illegal immigrants, but they aren't licenses issued by the Garden State. They are licenses given by North Carolina to illegal immigrants who live in New Jersey but who come to the Tar Heel State by the busload or vanload to get the document that allows them to drive, work, bank and rent housing, said Sonia Barria, the court administrator for the town of Dover, N.J. "We...

Being behind bars didn’t bar some Passaic County Jail inmates from voting this week. In what some officials are saying is a first for the county, 22 men and women in the jail’s cell blocks used absentee ballots to vote. "We’ve been encouraging any inmates who are eligible under the law to vote," said Bill Maer, spokesman for the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail. "This is one of the first times we had a concentrated program to encourage inmates to participate in the election." Nearly all of the eligible inmates who cast a ballot registered to vote...

PATERSON — The city's only Roman Catholic high school has gained a religious relic from the body of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, born in 1774. (As Principal Richard Garibell, second from right, watches, students at Paterson Catholic Regional High School check out the bone fragment of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the ancient coin collection that Angel Diaz, right, and his wife donated to the school. Below, a close-up view of the Seton relic.) The gift has special significance in its new home in the school chapel: Seton was also the woman who founded the...

A West Milford man was charged today with reckless manslaughter in the shooting death of his wife this morning. Police said Frank McDonald shot his wife Cheryl, 44, in the left side of her back with a pellet gun the family used to shoot squirrels. “The way it looks, it was just a freak accident,” police Capt. Andrew Russo said. “If you were going to kill someone, you would find something better to use.” A pellet gun is powered by compressed gas, but at pressures far below those of standard firearms. Frank McDonald called 911 at 9:59 a.m. from the...

The general will see you now. And you, and you, and you. As a matter of fact, Gen. George Washington, first commander in chief of the Continental Army and first president of these United States, may end up seeing upwards of 200 people at his birthday ball Sunday at historic New Bridge Landing in River Edge. That’s a whole lot of hands that Hawthorne’s Rodger Yaden will be clasping in his white cotton gloves. But he’s game. “I’ll shake as many hands as are offered,” says Yaden, who has been doing a full-dress impersonation of the Father of Our Country,...

Some 250 teenage boys will pile onto the carpet of the Islamic Center of Passaic County on Sunday to catch the Super Bowl on a big screen. But when the much-buzzed-about commercials come on, they won't be watching. A youth leader manning the projector slaps a piece of paper over the lens, blocking out images the center considers inappropriate, such as beers and bikinis. "The purpose is to keep them away from bad influences," said Emad Hamdeh, the youth committee director. "The beer commercials show people happy while drinking; that's not reality." During the self-imposed blackouts, the boy fans don't...

Hopes are running high that a long-pending bill to designate Paterson's Great Falls as a national park is moving toward approval in Washington."It's hugely exciting!" said Caley Gray, spokesman for Rep. William Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, who has been working to pass a designation bill since 2000. "It's been a long time coming."  The vote by the Senate today could test whether the expanded Democratic majority can overcome a Republican filibuster.  The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, is hardly a done deal.The Senate must first hold a cloture vote before it can proceed with debate of...

Gunfire rang out in a New Jersey house of worship on Sunday. Three people were shot -- one critically -- inside a Clifton church. Some 200 people reportedly were inside the St. Thomas Knanaya Church on Third Street when the gunman opened fire before noon. Police said several 911 calls came from inside the church. NorthJersey.com reported Dennis John and Silvie Perincheril, both of Hawthorne, N.J., were injured in the shooting. Perincheril is the church's Sunday school director. Witnesses say Perinsheril's niece is the third victim. A law enforcement official involved in the investigation said the shooting is thought to...

PATERSON — In the weeks and months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, few Muslim leaders were more active than Imam Muhammad Qatanani in reaching out to other religious groups and law enforcement authorities with a message of openness and understanding. His mosque, the Islamic Center of Passaic County, welcomed politicians and religious leaders, held a blood drive to aid victims of the attacks and made headlines by hosting a law enforcement recruiting drive. All of that makes it particularly frustrating now for the 44-year-old cleric as he faces possible deportation in a dispute centering on a 1993 military court...

This Wednesday, Mohamed El Filali, outreach director from the Islamic Center of Passaic County (“ICPC”), is scheduled to speak to the Retirees Plus group at Temple Sholom in Riveredge, New Jersey. His lecture is titled “The Muslim Way of Life”, and as in past lectures, he is expected to teach the Reformed Jewish audience that Islam is a religion of peace. Who is El Filali? Born in Morocco, he came to the U.S. and married a Jewish woman named Roxanne. She converted to Islam after their marriage, and the couple became devout Muslims. For a while they rented an apartment...

Residents Terrified Over Idea Of Deadly Weapon On Streets WAYNE, N.J. (CBS) ― A large police department in New Jersey is in nail biting mode. It has lost one of the deadliest weapons in its arsenal -- a fully automatic submachine gun, and has no idea where it could be. A 9 mm submachine gun of German design, the MP5 was developed in the 1960s by a group of engineers from the West German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It's used by law enforcement tactical teams across the country, as well as Army Rangers, Delta Force and Navy SEALs, among...