Bergen Community College will offer a week-long opportunity to explore   Native American culture, including a two-day intertribal Powwow, when it presents its Native American Celebration “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” from Monday, Sept. 20-Saturday, Sept. 25.

The Native American Traditional Intertribal Powwow, 1-7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 24 and from noon-7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 25, behind the Technology Education Center, will feature children’s story telling, the Spirit of the Mountain Drummers and Singers, flutist Frank Menuson, Native American Dancers of the Eagle and the Condor.

“This will be a traditional powwow and it will provide a change for the public to gain insight into traditional Native American culture as well as contemporary Native American culture,” said Brian Cordell of the English department at BCC as well as the chair of the College’s Native American Heritage Week Committee of faculty, staff and a student representative. Fifty-five Bergen students are Native Americans.

Discussions will be had throughout the week as follows:

Domestic American Indian Affairs: 1:40-3 p.m., Monday, Sept. 20 with Mr. Bellecourt in the Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre.

American Indian Movement: 6:20-7:35 p.m., Monday, Sept. 20 with Mr. Banks, the first Native American Chancellor in Room S-134 of the Pitkin Education Center. Mr. Banks organized the Longest Walk, a 3,800-mile trek across America in the name of eco-justice.

Contemporary American Native Movements, World Perspectives: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. with Bill Means, a member of the Lakota Tribe and the International Indian Treaty Council in the Ciccone Theatre.

Keepers of the Pass: 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. with Chief Dwaine Perry, a Ramapough Lenape tribe member currently involved in land disputes, in Pitkin, Room L-131 of the Pitkin Education Center. Also, a panel of Native Americans will discuss the issues of Native American Movements from 1:45-3 p.m.

Bruce Ellison, attorney for Leonard Peltier, will discuss the case of his client’s conviction for killing two federal agents during the government crackdown on protestors at Wounded Knee in 1973, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 23 in Pitkin Room L-131.

Falconer Jennifer Pena will be on the campus at noon, Thursday, Sept. 23 and Friday, Sept. 24, with a wildlife display of eagles and birds of prey, in the area around the gazebo.

For information about the powwow or the events, contact Professor Cordell, 201-689-7612 or Professor Win Win Kyi at 201-447-7198.

Tennis player, Christina Marietta McHale, born in Teaneck and lives in Englewood Cliffs, was at the ribbon cutting of the Bogota Racquet Club on Tuesday, Sept. 7. The Bogota Racquet Club completed renovations close to a half a million dollars and opened to the general public Tuesday, Sept. 7. The club will launch CourtSense, an established Tennis Pro Training program known for training Ms. McHale. Ms. McHale is the top ranked tennis player in the world for her age group (18 years) and has played in the 2009 and 2010 U.S. Open.

Hugh D. Johnson, who has been the focus of a dozen harassment complaints by Closter officials, was sentenced to 90 days in jail on Thursday, Sept. 2, after pleading guilty to violating his probation following his conviction on harassment charges in July and a similar conviction in Closter Municipal Court in September 2009.

Mr. Johnson was led from the Central Municipal courtroom in Hackensack by Bergen County Sheriff’s officers.

Judge Roy F. McGeady said the sentence includes three separate maximum 30-day consecutive terms on petty disorderly persons’ offenses.

In his guilty plea, Mr. Johnson admitted he made three phone calls to Closter Police Chief David Berrian for “other reasons” than seeking permission to be on borough property or to have contact with borough officials, which Judge McGeady had allowed in his July ruling.

“The second issue was that he show up at all court hearings. He didn’t show up at the Thursday, Aug. 26 probation violation hearing,” the judge said.

Mr. Johnson’s attorney said he didn’t attend the hearing because he had left for Cape Cod the Sunday before. The judge maintained that notice of the hearing was sent Thursday, Aug. 5 and wanted proof that the vacation was pre-arranged.

Mr. Johnson said that he would have needed his probation officer’s permission to travel out of state, and that he had gone to Cape May and his attorney misunderstood. When cross-examined Mr. Johnson didn’t know the hotel he had stayed at or restaurants he had eaten in. “I just didn’t believe him,” Judge McGeady said.

The Probation Services Division had suggested a psychiatric evaluation and anger management courses for Mr. Johnson. Judge McGeady ordered the evaluation, which he said would be administered if Mr. Johnson qualified for a grant for it.

Two other charges of probation violations in Emerson and Closter are pending.

Mr. Johnson’s attorney asked for a stay of the jail sentence pending an appeal of the July conviction, which was denied by the judge.

Judge McGeady will also hear testimony in the dozen complaints filed by Closter officials at a future date, he said.

Employees of the Bogota Savings Bank, attended the grand opening of their Teaneck branch located within Classic Residence, 655 Pomander Walk, on Monday, Aug. 30. Present at the ribbon cutting are (l-r): Sandra L. Sievewright, senior vice president, Bogota Savings Bank; Diane Scriveri, executive vice president, Bogota Savings Bank; Laura Braff, Lifestyle Director at Classic Residence; Joseph Coccaro, president and CEO of Bogota Savings Bank; Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin; Anne Klein, president of the Resident Council and William Broughton, township manager of Teaneck. The branch is a private center that will be open to employees and residents of the senior community.

By Robyn Nadel

TENAFLY – Pearl Seiden, president of JCC on the Palisades and Avi A. Lewinson, executive director of the JCC would like to notify its’ members and people in and around the area that WCBS 880 reported that ‘at around 8 p.m., Monday Aug. 30, a medium sized black bear was spotted wandering into a playground at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades.

“It was basically rooting around for food and we did notify the JCC not to let anybody out until the bear had wandered off,” Tenafly police Lieutenant Paul Cantwell told WCBS 880 reporter Sean Adams. “We did have several patrol cars up there in the area, keeping eye contact with it and making sure it was going to go back into our woods, which is our Nature Center / Green Acres area. No one was hurt. Wildlife officials have been notified. In the meantime, folks have been told they need to be bear aware.”

Anyone in the area is encouraged to stay vigilant. Ms. Seiden and Mr. Lewinson are both confident that everyone who comes to the JCC is safe.

Back when I was a new councilperson I found that the job has its fun times, however it can also be a time of anxiety. When I started my job on New Years day 2000, reality soon followed. The previous election day I won my seat along with my two running mates in a landslide. The backslapping and congratulations seem to never end but then came the sobering thought that this job would be a lot of work. The parties and fanfare were well behind us and a surprise was about to be revealed.

Each year the mayor appoints each councilperson to be the liaison to any number of the boards and committees in the borough. Some are easy and some require a good amount of effort and late meetings. The mayor announced that I would be police commissioner. No problem, I thought. Our Police Department runs quite smoothly so the workload should be easy. Well that first year we had a hurricane emergency and also an arrest of a school administrator, which included a televised press conference and reporters calling me night and day. When things calmed down the police chief announces his retirement and I am put in charge of interviewing candidates for the new police chief. In a small town such as Old Tappan many of the officers are guys that I grew up with and know quite well which does not make the job easier as you might think especially for the rookie councilman. I have to say it was one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life. For much of the time I was thinking, “How did I get into this predicament? There are other council people who can do this.” It was a tough decision but we hired Joe Fasulo and over the last 10 years we have all grown into our respective positions and worked well together.

Joe is now retiring after 35 years as a police officer and the task of hiring a new police chief is once again before us. Although I am a member of the police committee this time, I am not the chairman. We have interviewed some highly qualified men for the job and although we have some thoughts about who it will be, as of today it has not be revealed to the public. At our next council meeting the big announcement will be made so stay tuned. Ten years have gone by quickly on the council and these tough decisions are now just part of the job. Congratulations to Joe Fasulo on his leadership over the years. He is one of our few remaining officers that grew up here as well. I wish much luck to the next police chief. I am sure the transition will be easy and fully supported by the governing body.

The staff and volunteers at the Volunteer Center of Bergen County (l-r): Cindy Andrake, Debbie Emery, Jane He, Tess Tomasi from Teaneck, Janet Sharma from Cresskill, Melissa Leibe and Karen Torres, joined thirteen other area companies to collect healthy kid’s breakfast and lunch foods to support the “Brown Bag Buddies” initiative of Bergen and surrounding counties.

By Robyn Nadel

Hundreds of children from needy families receive hot breakfast and lunch during the school year through subsidized school meal programs.

When schools closed for summer vacation, these meals are not available, and low-income families are often unable to fill the void, many having to make the choice between paying rent or going hungry.

The Northern New Jersey Business Volunteer Council (BVC) coordinated a summer food drive with both its member companies and other interested companies, to collect “kid-friendly”, non-perishable breakfast and lunch food items.  The food collected during this initiative, entitled “Brown Bag Buddies,” was delivered to the Center for Food Action and other local food pantries during the months of June and July.

“The wages of the working poor have not kept up with housing, transportation and child care costs.  Northern New Jersey has the highest child poverty rates in the state.  Without school meals, families must turn to the food pantries to provide nutritional meals for their children,” says Tess Tomasi, BVC coordinator.

Thirteen companies took part in this year’s initiative, collecting and distributing over 3,080 pounds of food, which, along with cash donations is valued at almost  $13,000.

Since 2000, the BVC’s “Brown Bag Buddies” campaign has raised over $260,000 in food and donations to help provide breakfast and lunch for children who aren’t receiving school meals during the summer.

For information about “Brown Bag Buddies” or the other programs of the BVC, call 201-489-9454, ext. 114 or e-mail ttomasi@bergenvolunteers.org.

The Teaneck Municipal Building changed to a four day work week and new hours on Aug. 17, 2009. The change in hours was to make the Municipal Building more convenient for all Teaneck residents. In addition, by only being open four days, the thought was that Teaneck taxpayers should save money by having all of the utilities shut down for an extra day (also, environmentally friendly). The new hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8a.m.-5:15p.m. and Tuesday 8a.m.-7p.m. The Rodda Center, Police, Fire and Public Works hours and services did not change.

With the Municipal Building’s four day work week schedule change approaching its one year anniversary, comes the ability to launch a new “pilot program” with the Building Department titled “Weekly Walk-In Project Consultation”. During my tenure on Council, there is no question that the department I get the most emails and calls about from our residents is the Building Department. We have one of the most active building departments in the state and in the last few years, we have broken records for the number of permits we have issued.

Whether you are currently doing work on your property or have an idea to do a big or small project in the future and have questions on how or what you need, come to the Teaneck Building Department for “Weekly Walk-In Project Consultation”. Come in Tuesdays through  Sept. 28 from 5-7 p.m. to meet Steve Gluck, the head of the Teaneck Building Department. Mr. Gluck will be more than happy to answer all of your questions. When residents fix up their personal property, that shows they have pride in the property and ultimately their actions make the whole town look better. This Q & A with Mr. Gluck will hopefully make our residents’ building department experience and process as convenient as possible. I recognize that some of the building department rules, regulations and procedures may be confusing to some of our residents and this will create an additional convenient opportunity for our residents to come to the building department and be able to speak freely and comfortably with Mr. Gluck. Our residents will be able to get direction and guidance to better prepare them for any project they may want to do now or in the future. Mr. Gluck will be holding his Q& A office hours every Tuesday through Sept 28, 5-7pm in the Teaneck Municipal Building at the building department window.

Members of the Closter Volunteer Ambulance and Rescue Corps practice their skills at rescuing passengers from a wrecked car. Here they begin cutting away the roof of the car. The demonstration was performed at the Tenakill Middle School in Closter on Sunday, Sept. 5, during a vintage car show staged by the Lions Club. The corps members are also adapt at high angle rope rescues and saved an injured hiker on the Palisades on Saturday, Sept. 4.