April - May 2002 Edition

Letters To The Editor   Any Russian-Americans Who Can Help This Person? I am a young professional and currently exploring the possibilities of moving from New York to Fair Lawn. I have heard that your town has a number of Russian-speaking people- one of the factors my decision will be based upon. I would greatly appreciate if you could give me an approximate number of the Russian-speaking people residing in Fair Lawn or their percentage to the town s population. Also, are there any culturally oriented Russian schools and kindergartens in the area? Very truly yours,  David Vassiliev  (Send an e- mail to editor@fairlawnnews.com if you have a suggestion for this young man)   Media Consolidation  While there are many "outlets" and an increase in stations, the central ownership of the many outlets presents serious problems. Watch your TV and you see the same people, the same formats and the same ideas expressed no matter how many stations you surf. The variety of voices, program formats and opinions are missing. Local access may indeed become a voice of record because it must allow everyone to be heard. It can become the new town square.  Sheri Adler   Dutch House  It is great to see the Dutch House included. For many of us, it is a special part of our attachment to Fair Lawn. A nice place to get together with friends and family. Thank you,  Jeff Morris   Survey Flaws  Hi, Yeah, I saw your survey. . . I voted in the survey. . .  #1 Turvino's is in Glen Rock not Fair Lawn. . .  #2 Davia may be nice if you're on a diet, have a lot of money, want to wear a suit and really just want a snack! (it should have stayed the Fair Lawn Inn or better yet Mickey's Tavern. . .)  #3 The Dutch House may have a pool table, but I thought you wanted the best Restaurant, bagels and Pizzeria. It's not a restaurant, not a pizzeria and they don't make bagels. . . IT'S A BAR THAT SELLS FOOD!. . . oh and did you know that it's a national landmark recognized by the department of the interior. But It doesn't count. . . #4 The EMPRESS runs circles around Land & Sea, why else would the Police of Fair Lawn, Paterson, Glen Rock, Hawthorne, Prospect Park, the New Jersey State Police and even police as far away as Midland Park occasionally make it to the Empress on the overnight? Besides the fact that they have the best food at the best prices. Prices that are reasonable are important in our failing economy!  Ed   Ballot Stuffing?  Give me a break. Dutch House, and Land & Sea - among the best restaurants in Fair Lawn?  Admittedly, Fair Lawn is severely lacking in good restaurants, but what about Trackside Grill? And Peter's Whale? And Palm Terrace? And Spencers (yes, Glen Rock)? Keep up the good work. I enjoy FLN.  Gary K.   My Favorite  My vote for best restaurant is Piccola Italia. We go there repeatedly for delicious food with the freshest, finest ingredients, and always generous portions--we always take some home. Osvaldo Alvarez and his staff are the best and make us feel like family. DJ   Great Job  Just finished reading through some of the articles and I really enjoyed them. Hope I will see further editions in the future.  Suzanne Serio   Why Women Don't Run For Office  This was such an interesting and timely article since I was just appointed to the Library Board. Your interviews represented the true spectrum of why there aren't more women in politics. While it is imperative that women be an active part of their community, it is very difficult to juggle today's lifestyle activities. However, Sheri Aler has the right idea in asking busy people to get things done. And, that's where the focus for tapping political candidates should be. Women who are already involved in community activities have already demonstrated an interest in getting things done. These women know how to juggle life's daily activities while being committed to the improvement of their community. The "busy" women are the ones to talk to about getting involved in one more activity.  Lisa Swain   Thanks  Thanks for the info on the latest Fair Lawn news. It's nice to know my dentist, Dr. Doug Mahler, is a sponsor.  Betty Stierli   Full Day Kindergarten  I don't think full day kindergarten is such a great idea. Yes it is convenient for the parents, but the kids need the time to do unstructured things, to run around in the playground, to have playdates. If those things have to happen after 3 pm, their schedules will be quickly overloaded. In my (humble) opinion, kindergarten kids learn as much from their peers on the playground, as they do in school. They learn different things, but they are just as important! As far as the centralized kindergarten is concerned: that is the worst idea yet. They will have to adapt twice: first when they start kindergarten, then when they go to 1st grade. They will lose friends that are going to other schools. There will not be any older kids to provide a good example, to interact with the little ones. We do not need more age segregation, we need less of it!  Concerned Grandmother   I Love The Kitchen Elf  Jeanne is the perfect "pick-me-up" on this snowy afternoon! What a pleasure to read her column and laugh along with her.  LAS   Veterans Reunion What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing such an uplifting story . It is always nice to learn what former residents of Fair Lawn are doing and where they are living. JBarnes   A Real Touch of Class  I just received for the first time your February-March edition via email. What a wonderful idea that adds a real touch of class to our town. And, it's so reader friendly. Kudos to you for a job well done. I look forward to seeing future editions and participating in them from time to time.  Ben Wasserman   (If you're not getting notified every two months about the new edition, send an e- mail to editor@fairlawnnews.com)   Young Man Who Passed Away  I am a graduate of Fair Lawn High School's class of 1999...I am quite a distance away at college, but my family still lives in town. Fair Lawn has always been my home and will always be. On Wednesday, January 23 I received some very depressing and heart breaking news. A fellow graduate named Andrew Krotje passed away due to illness. I have been hit hard by this, being a childhood friend of his. But that is not the most upsetting part of this story. Andy was a great person, and he suffered before his saddening death. Although I hope he is happy wherever his heart is now, I do think that there should be a way of remembering him besides high school thoughts. I wish I could be closer to help everyone remember how special he really was, but i cannot. I just want everyone to remember that he was our friend, and that he should always remain in our hearts. Let's not forget Andrew Krotje... I hope there is something that can be done to help our fellow Fair Lawner's remember and cherish all the special memories we shared with our friend Andy .....Sad away from home.....  LadyAx   Broadway  Broadway has a long way to go to bring up to par with other parts of Fair Lawn. It has deteriorated to the point that it looks like it isn't even Fair Lawn. Soon, My family will be moving to Hartley Place which is a couple of blocks in from Broadway. The Glen Rock Lumber company, along with the school bus company and various small companies are located on Banta Place. From there all the trash, litter and newspapers brought by the wind fly over to Hartley Place due to the way it is set up. No one seems responsible for litter cleanup on banta place. Also, the lighting on Hartley Place is miserable. The former mayor, Joe Tedeschi, lives on Hartley Place and despite this, the street still goes neglected with lighting. Another issue is the speeding on Hartley Place. People turning off of Broadway, zoom down the side streets from all over that area. Finally, teens bopping down the street at all hours in the Broadway area, through bottles all over the ground with cigarette butts, condoms, and other garbage. This is especially true near McDonalds on Broadway. That is my opinion.  Yours truly,  Zak   Escape from the World Trade Center  I was extremely moved by Christopher F. Hardej's chilling account of his escape from One WTC on September 11. The vivid description of his slow-motion descent down 82 floors had me squirming with anticipation and fear. How sad that this horror happened. I thank God that Christopher and many others made it out and I mourn for all of those that were lost. Thank you for this touching article.  Larry Tunis (a former resident, now in CA)     The referendum about high school expansion will be held in September. We'll print letters about that important topic in our next edition.     The following four 'letters' were posted on the Fair Lawn News Discussion Forum.     Appropriate Dress  I have thought for a long time that part of a good education is teaching kids what is and isn't appropriate-that has nothing to do with their freedom to have control over their bodies etc. I think certain things such as short tops on young girls and frayed jeans have no place in school-it is a workplace and should be treated as one. A dress code can still give them leeway to express themselves within boundaries-which is what life is all about. Mellieme18   Old Dress Code  The dress code at the high school was amended in 1969 to permit more casual clothes. Before that, girls wore dresses or skirts, boys wore pants, no one wore jeans, tee shirts or sneakers. Girls wore little blue middy sets with skirts and panties for gym, too. I can remember by sister almost getting expelled by Mr. Sloan at Memorial for wearing a pair of canvas pants to school in the winter.   Yeah, those were the days.... Raymond St. Resident   Stay Away From Extremes I, too, believe we can have a dress code without the return of middies and ties. It seems to me all arguments today are in extremes. Children can come to school dressed casually within in a broad range-girls can wear pants, boys can wear tee-shirts-without allowing the anything goes. And don't blame the parents: when I was in High School (graduated 1960) I would leave the house and roll my skirt up to just above my knees because my Mom wouldn't shorten it. Our dean of girls would stand in front of the door and watch for knees -- I never got caught. Sloppy dress/sloppy minds claimed out English teacher -- I do think we should work to control the dress code, not make it onerous. I don't know if pride in dress would extend to pride in school and the litter issue. I can tell you the original reason for the no parking on Orchard was that the kids blocked driveways etc. It had nothing to do with litter. Sheri Adler   Taking Pride Taking pride in ones self should start with dressing in an appropriate manner. Most adults (and I do not say all) would not show up at their place of business with a large part of their body exposed, nor would that be an appropriate form of dress for a house of worship. We would like to think that parents and teenagers alike would know what is appropriate for school dress, but unfortunately many do not. Many parents throw the phrase around that "They like to chose their battles" when it comes to their children (many of these parents have yet to chose one), thinking that the clothing issue is small potatoes compared to others. Yes we can blame a lot of it on society, just look music videos, look at the cover of some magazines, some of this clothing leaves nothing to the imagination. So just because we see it on TV or in print should we allow our children to wear it?   The last time I went shopping for new clothes for my 6 year daughter (and I stress 6 YEAR OLD) old I left many a store buying nothing! Now if I wanted to dress her like Britanny Spears, I would have left with bags full of clothes. As a responsible parent I thought that bearing the baby fat on my 6 year olds belly a bit out of line, as was the black leather pants with leopard off the shoulder top! It took a lot of time to find what I felt was appropriate clothes for my daughter, but no one said that being a parent was easy. Turning a blind eye to what your children wear is easy, saying "well that is what they are all wearing/selling" is easy. Saying "No!", to your children can be hard, setting rules about what is appropriate dress, monitoring your teens clothing selections (and I've got one of those too, so I know) is hard and frustrating, but it is part of good parenting. J.Baratta     What Do You Think?: Send an e- mail to editor@fairlawnnews.com or post a message on the Fair Lawn News Discussion Forum.