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By Douglas E. Hall

It began with a tip I received: The president was coming to Cresskill on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 6, and would attend a fund raising dinner in a private home.

It took a little further digging to determine that he was scheduled to arrive at 3 p.m. and would land in the Marine 1 helicopter on a field across from the Cresskill firehouse on Madison Avenue and Third Street.  As the date of arrival approached there were press reports that President Obama would stop in at a $30,400 a plate dinner at the home of  lobbyist and public relations executive Michael Kempner in the Tammy Brook section of Cresskill.

Cozying up to Mr. Kempner to raise $1.6 million from 50 guests at Mr. Kempner’s home, President Obama presents observers who have a memory  a sharp contrast from a promise Mr. Obama made when he was running for president.  Mr. Kempner is a major lobbyist for the health care industry.  Candidate Obama said in 2008, “We Will Not Take A Dime From Washington Lobbyists Or Special Interest PACs – We’re going to change how Washington works. They will not fund my party …”

We cannot report on the president’s remarks at the Kempner home.  Not only did we not get anywhere near the Kempner home, but we could not pry any information out of the White House.  If you think a member of the press can call the White House main number and obtain any information, you are sadly mistaken, although in years past one could.

When I called the White House, I identified myself and asked for a spokes person, I was transferred to the White House comment line.  When I reached the woman who answered in that department, she asked for my comment and said she could not transfer me.

Not wanting to leave a comment, I hung up and called back and told the operator who answered, I did not want the comment line, but wanted to talk to a spokesperson.  She responded that she could only transfer me to the comment line.  I gave up and said, “Goodbye.”

On Wednesday, Oct. 6, seeing no way that we could crash the Kempner dinner, we positioned ourselves (me, a videographer and another staffer), on the field  where we believed the Obama chopper would set down.  The time was 2:30.  Two and a half hours later, with the 3 p.m. arrival having come and gone, we had been moved twice by local police.

Just before we were about to be moved again, this time down Madison Avenue with the hoi polloi by local police we quickly ingratiated ourselves with residents who had a strategically placed home.  We joined the family and our videographer got his equipment ready.  Over the next hour, police activity increased on the ground and in the air.  N.J. State Police helicopters were overhead and state police cruisers were everywhere with a few county police cars joining in.

Finally around 5 p.m. we heard the thump thump of two large helicopters arriving from the south (from Newark Airport where they had met Air force One to transfer the president and he entourage).  The two helicopters passed us to the East and then seeming to use us as a pivoting point swooped down almost to the treetops and headed for a second field on Third Street, which we could barely see.  Moments after their flight over us we were briefly engulfed in leaves prematurely shed by their close encounter with the helicopters.  All I could think was, “The Power and Might of the United States.”

After a brief wait the state police cars, which had lined up on the right shoulder of Third Street came to life in a formation that they followed up Third and east on Madison.  In the middle of the procession was an SUV Caddy limo with windows too darkened to see the occupants of the vehicle.  It made a fast moving right turn onto Madison with police cruisers front and back.  And it was over.  Thus was our coverage of President Obama.

By Douglas E. Hall

Without considering the merits of the ambitious bond issue that was out before Fort Lee voters on Tuesday, Sept. 28, I must say that the $81 million proposal was doomed before the first voters pushed the green “X” next to “No.”

It’s always disappointing to have a school bond issue go down to defeat, but in this case, a strong argument can be made that the members of the Fort Lee Board of Education are out of touch with the mood of voters.

It’s a harsh lesson which I expect a sizable number of incumbent office holders will learn in the general election this Nov. 2, which also marks with some irony, the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday celebrated by Mexicans everywhere.

What happened in Fort Lee is the same thing that has put New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino six percentage points behind the man who was supposed to have an easy trot around the bases, the Democrat in this race, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

It’s also what caused  Christine O’Donnell to win the Republican nomination to run for U.S. Senator from Delaware over a sitting Congressman who was supposed to be a shoe-in, to win the nomination, Mike  Castle.

What is lurking in the lives of many voters is that they carried fear past the curtain of the voting machine – fear of their job, fear of losing their house, and for the unemployed, fear of not finding a job, or a job equal to the one they lost.  They fear going broke or being broke.  They fear debt, from their own credit card debt to mortgage debt to the national debt, now in the trillions — $13 trillion to cite a close estimate.  The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $4.06 billion per day since September 28, 2007.

They fear a national stimulus package of $792 billion that is not working fast enough or sufficiently enough to turn the corner on this recession.

Along with growing fear is a loss of confidence.  Ever since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the public has been reeling in shock, and there has been a steady decline in confidence in our institutions, our finances and our leaders in industry and government.  Many fear that President Obama doesn’t know what he is doing, and that he is surrounded by advisors who don’t know what they are doing.

Billions were spent to bail out the banks, but since then, many banks are just sitting on their money, afraid of losing it in new loans in the uncertainty of these times.

We’d all be better off if Election Day were tomorrow.  It really can’t come soon enough.  Incumbent has become a dirty word.  If they are all going to lose in November, it would be better all around if all the wounded incumbents got out of office now.

It was fine for Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch in the 1976 film “Network” to stick his head out the window and shout, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”  But what comes next.  Who’s going to fix everything?  Who’s going to make it all better?  Make the pain go away?

Yes, the folks in Fort Lee are in a bad way with their referendum defeated.  But what do they do now?  They do not have approval to spend $99 million on improving their school system.  Do they go back to the voters and ask for $50 million? $25 million?

Raising property taxes by $81 billion over the next 30 years may seem attractive because interest rates are low now, but the property owners in Fort Lee are looking at the principal to be paid.

The problem Fort Lee school trustees  face beyond the rotten state of the economy is that they have neglected the physical plant of the school system for years as they ran through a series of superintendents.  Now, they want to play catch up, but they can’t win the hearts and minds of most voters in these economic times.

It was stirring and reassuring when President Roosevelt said in 1933, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Somehow today, those words ring hollow as we fear the bills that have to be paid as we sink deeper and deeper into debt.  Won’t take it anymore?  The freshmen members of Congress and senators who take office in January better have some fast working ideas of relief.  We are a society that expects instant relief.  Someone better have an answer.

BergenNews.com Sports with Nicole Parente 9.17.2010.  Featuring highlights of Palisades Park/Leonia vs. Cresskill football and Old Tappan vs Bergen Tech soccer

By Rich Barton
NorthJerseySports.com Staff Writer

PALISADES PARK – It’s not a distinction that a team wants to have, but Cresskill has probably been the best Group 1 team not to make the state tournament over the past two seasons. Opening Day losses in 2009 and 2008 came back to bite the Cougars both times and this year’s seniors did not want that “What if” feeling to come back into play in their final tour of varsity football.

Cresskill QB Matt Stoval was part of a potent running attack as the Cougars overwhelmed Pal Park/ Leonia, 55-26, on Friday night.

With that in mind Cresskill came storming out of the gate running the ball behind their cohesive offensive line and never looked back in spoiling the return of varsity football to the combined Palisades Park/Leonia program, which played only as a JV team last year.

Quarterback Matt Stoval and running backs Brad Young and Gino LaGalia combined for seven touchdowns as Cresskill cruised to 55-26 season-opening victory on Friday night.

“Any time you can put up (55) points on anyone, that is a good sign,” said Cresskill head coach Bob Valli. “I thought our offensive line did a nice job and our defense played reasonably well. Our special teams are not near where we need to be, but we will make adjustments and learn from the mistakes we made tonight.”

Cresskill scored midway through the first quarter on a plunge from LaGalia to take a 6-0 lead. It looked like Pal Park/Leonia had tied it on a 60-yard run from dynamic tailback Elijah St. Hillaire, but the play was called back for a holding penalty.

The Cougars got the ball back and once again ran roughshod over the Tigers until reaching the end zone. This time it was Young who scored the first of his three touchdowns on a two-yard run up the middle. Stoval plunged in from a yard out and Jordan Richter recovered a blocked punt and scampered 19 yards for another TD and a 27-0 Cresskill lead.

Pal Park needed a spark and finally got one midway through the second quarter from the speedy St. Hillaire. He took a kickoff 82 yards to the Cresskill four-yard line. Two plays later, Wilfredo Munoz ran off the right tackle for a four-yard TD run to trim the lead to 27-6. But Stoval and Young each added TD runs before the half to put the game out of reach.

Pal Park's Elijah St. Hillaire ran up 346 total yards and scored two TDs.

“Our offensive line really drove their guys back and they set the tone tonight,” said Stoval. “We had to be the aggressors and that’s how we have to come out every game. Last year we had to wait and hope for other things to happen to get into the playoffs. This year, we want to control our destiny. You do that by controlling your own destiny each week on the field and tonight we took the first step.”

Stoval finished with 127 total yards and three touchdowns for Cresskill (1-0). Young added 75 yards on the ground and three TDs, while LaGalia ran for a TD and caught another.

St. Hilliare was the lone bright spot for Palisades Park/Leonia (0-1). He was a nightmare in the kick return game with two of over 80 yards, including a 92-yard TD return in the second half. He finished with a whopping 346 total yards and two touchdowns, with big plays by him directly setting up the other two scores.

The only true threat to Cresskill running away a league title this year is a test on Thursday against New Milford. The winner will take early control of the the NJIC Division 3 A league title race and move one step closer to a state playoff berth, which has been the Cougars’ focus for a couple of years now.

“Last year was the worst and I never want to go through that again,” said Cresskill’s Brad Young. “To have it happen the way it did two years in a row really made us work that much harder to make sure it wasn’t going to happen this year. Now that we got that first win out of the way, we can relax a little bit. But not too much because New Milford is a good team and they’ll be ready. Football is all about momentum and we have it on our side right now. We have to keep it on our side and get better each and every week.”

2010 Bergen County High School Football Preview newscast with Nicole Parente