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I sincerely apologize beforehand for the use of both our times to address Brian P. Keane, a 54 year old man who goes under the screen names flipityflop, healthscares, Citizen X – among others. In fact, if you have never heard of Brian P. Keane, you can go right ahead and skip this posting. If not, consider this a Public Service Announcement.

Some quick background on Brian P. Keane: This is a guy who claims to have been in so many places and met so many people in his life but has nothing to show for it – think Forrest Gump without the personality, or the intelligence. That should give you a basis as to what you are in store for. So, like I said, feel free to skip this one if you do not know him.

Brian P. Keane is such a sad case and usually that in and of itself is no cause to take notice but within this past week Brian Keane has made it his mission to garner the attention of his fellow residents — my attention in particular. Well, he has gotten it for the next few minutes but probably not the way he wanted it. After this post, I will move on to other, real and pertinent, issues and never discuss him again. He is the equivalent of that piece of garbage on the road that needs to be picked up and thrown away.

Now keep in mind this all happened within the the span of one week.

Fireman’s Wetdown (July 17, 2010)

The Fireman’s Wetdown was a community event held to support the firemen and to have a general good time as a community activity. This was the time that Brian Keane decided to verbally accost the sitting third ward councilwoman while she was enjoying the day with her infant son. In an event meant for others, he decided to take to task the councilwoman on her legal right to breastfeed in public. To bad for Brian that the councilwoman not only stood her ground but respectfully put him in his place by asking him to defend his position with mature points. He started telling her what he felt were inappropriate times to do what she has every right as a woman to do. When she asked him when would be a good time to do it, he began to stutter and continue with not addressing her question. After hemming and hawing and the councilwoman not relenting in her respectful discourse, he ended up with “well, I just don’t like it” and walked away – and he appears to have forgotten to call her by the name he has repeatedly referred to her as – Breastzilla. Weird.

It was then that, to my shame, I decided to show Brian what such an act felt like. I guess I misread him ’cause he did not like that one bit.

Michael Crook (July 21, 2010)

After being called on his latest insult to a poster online, Brian P. Keane makes the following post about Michael Crook:

Michael Crook To Move To Roselle Park – Let’s welcome him.

Now, this is the depths Brian P. Keane’s pathetic nature will go. For those not familiar with Michael Crook and his relevance to Roselle Park, I apologize in advance for the explanation and the accompanying couple of seconds you will never be able to get back. In 2009, a Roselle Park student died in a car accident. Soon after, when friends and family were grieving their loss, Michael Crook made public statements that ridiculed and demeaned a community’s loss. That is what Brian Keane resorted to – bringing up some pretty hurtful sentiments because he was being ignored due to his posts not being answered.

September 11th (July 21, 2010)
Now the worst of it. Brian Keane had a laundry list of lies posted about him on a forum and he immediately tried to hold onto an old one he had used – that a close relative of his had died during the September 11th attacks, Richard A. Keane who lived in Morristown and worked from a cable company. Well, as usual, this was a lie. Unfortunately, Brian Keane used a real family’s loss to make himself feel better about himself. The man’s name was Richard M. Keane and that man lived in Connecticut and has family and friends who still miss and love him. The fact that Brian would use such tragedy as a badge of attention and entitlement is deplorable yet typical. This led to Brian to post the following two (2) posts to me. (Click each one to enlarge.)

Union County Prosecutor’s Office (July 22, 2010)

So call me a fool for actually showing up to 32 Rahway Avenue at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 22, 2010. And, what a surprise, Brian P. Keane was a no-show. Then when called on it on the very forum he made the threat/request on, he continues by claiming he contacted the Union County Prosecutor’s Office by phone and then the Roselle Park Police. Seeing this would be his pattern I contacted both before publicly asking him about his missed appointment. Neither of them had received any information from Brian Keane.

Voting Registration (July 23, 2010)

And now the last lie. Brian P. Keane is registered to vote in Roselle Park, NJ although he does not own property in town, pays none of his own property taxes, and (as the following screen captures demonstrate) repeatedly claims to live an South Jersey. Add to this that in his constant complaining about his life he made a post on his own message board that states that even his license states he lives in South Jersey.

Now either he lied to the Jury manager about that, or he is lying when he votes in Roselle Park.

Hopefully he is challenged at the next election and presented with his statements because for a guy who does nothing in town, owns no property, pays no property tax of his own, and does not, by his own admission, live in town, he should not be voting in it.

So why, you might ask. Why take one more minute than necessary on such a liar? Well, there are those who simply suggest that Brian P. Keane should be ignored; but there are two (2) problems with that. First, they are excusing irresponsible behavior. By not correcting his continuously erroneous behavior, they enable him to continue. He makes public statements which those unfamiliar with him or the subject might take to be truth (some recent examples are that Joe Accardi voted for PILOT when, in fact, he was against the AvalonBay agreement and was not even on council when it was voted on or that the proposed cell tower in Roselle Park is 200 feet tall) and thereby cause lies to be spread.

He plays the victim when he gets a taste of what he gives. He claims free speech but he actively requests that posts be deleted when they show him for who he is. He claims to have the right to say what he wants but when someone does the same to him he makes empty threats to contact the police, the FCC, the government, his lawyers. He requests posts be deleted that show him in a bad light but when a moderator decides to delete his posts, he yells censorship. He tries to put people on the spot but when it is done to him he cries foul.

In other words, Brian P. Keane refuses to take any responsibility for his actions – it is always someone else’s fault.

Well, that is about it. This will remain as a point of reference for anyone wondering if they can trust what Brian P. Keane says. To date, he has offered no explanation or apology for his shameful actions. The best part of all this is that Brian P. Keane will waste energy on me long after I will have forgotten this post and him but, we will leave Brian with one parting piece of advice.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program . . .

Although there has been no public statement, Councilwoman Chen-Hoerning has decided not to run for a second term. The woman who came from nowhere to win the seat held by Robert Rubilla seems to be leaving the scene with official silence. Bring issues to the forefront in a town which, to put it nicely, is averse to change was a breath of fresh air and new direction. Everything from asking basic questions at meetings that most others had but, for fear of looking silly, did not publicly ask to taking a quiet, yet important stand, on women’s rights, Mrs. Chen-Hoerning made people talk about things they did not want to talk about.

And now, just when things were being questioned in the interest of progress, that voice of progress is leaving. Hopefully others will take the example given to stand up for what one believes in and offer up their voice.

No matter what side you are with regard to Governor Christie’s actions to cut aid to schools and the vote on the school budget coming up later this month, it is something to see people, in this case teenagers, taking a stand and having their voice heard. There are those who state that the ‘kids’ no nothing about what they are protesting and are being manipulated but, in the end, do any of us know fully about everything about this issue? Not really. Most of us just care how we think it affects us. The same can be said for the students but the difference is they took a public stand today.

To those who claim they missed a day’s education might be missing the point of the education those students gave to us – a lesson in the first amendment from some students to the rest of us.

To All Concerned,

With respect to Ordinance 2294 regarding curfew for juveniles my concerns are with the enforcement of it. Personally, my son, although 18 years old, does not have a driver’s license nor any other form of state issued identification that he carries with him at all times. To my knowledge, there is no law that requires people to carry government issued identification with them at all times. He has private personal identification but that is for emergency purposes.

My questions are as follow:

1. How will a police officer determine if someone is, in fact, a juvenile if there is no clear verification of age. Suppose someone who is 18 looks younger and has no ID but is hanging out after midnight? Would they be taken to their home? Would they be taken to the police station? Would they be arrested? Would unnecessary questioning occur?
2. If someone is under 18 and is out after the curfew but for good cause (as mentioned in the ordinance), how would that be determined? An example, after the musical in March there is a wrap up party; last year that party was held at the Casano Community Center. If that party went on after midnight and a minor, for whatever reason, needed to walk home, how would an officer determine that there was, in fact, good cause for that minor to be out after hours? What would stop someone else who did not attend that party from stating such a reason?

These are just two examples that should be clarified before passing this ordinance. I fully understand that my son would, most likely, not experience harassment due to the fact that he is known to Roselle Park police officers as an upstanding citizen. The concern comes in when it is not my son or it is not this council or this current police force. What happens five or ten years down the line and what happens if it is another upstanding citizen who is not known to the police? Will this ordinance be misconstrued and cause more of a problem than a solution?

The intent of the law, to have a tool that can be used by the police to curtail incidents of robbery or other crimes, is well-meaning but the purpose of writing such intent as law is to remove any ambiguity and make any such intent have a specific interpretation.

This ordinance does not have sufficient enough clarification to remove any possible misinterpretation or misuse of authority.

05:00

Yesterday, Roselle Park’s council amended its by-laws to limit the time that members from the public have to speak during the public portion of a Mayor & Council meeting.

Not that big of a problem.

There are those who disagree with the time limit as an infringement on free speech. That could be argued but first, some history.

The municipality’s latest by-laws never explicitly gave a time frame for the public to speak, it did hold it to the discretion (not whim) of the chair. Common practice for the past few years was 10 minutes with an additional five (5) added if council interacted with the speaker, for a total of 15 minutes.

This was a very respectful practice by sitting mayor Joseph DeIorio who allowed the time limit to fluctuate and would occasionally allow the person’s time to exceed the 15 minute mark. This was most noticed in the summer of 2009 when residents from our neighboring town of Roselle came to Roselle Park Mayor & Council meetings to address an issue of shared services. In Roselle people are allowed three (3) minutes with an extension of time at the discretion of the Chair and they have to stand. In Roselle Park not only was the time allowed to exceed for some speakers but they got to sit and relax.

Now, there were times when the time went over limit but recently, especially at the end of 2009 when the mayor was not present and another council member was the Chair, the time was being cut short. This can be noted when one resident in particular, Glenn Marczewski, went to speak before council. On more than one occasion, while Mr. Marczewski was speaking, the Borough Clerk, Mrs. Doreen Cali, not the Chair announced the 10 minute mark, followed by the Chair, once being Michael Yakubov and the other being Larry Dinardo, told the speaker his time was up.

It is not know if the speaker was the one directing the Borough Clerk but the impression was that the Borough Clerk, not the Chair, was in charge. Regardless of whether it was planned by the Chair at the time or not, the Chair ended up looking like a puppet.

The time limit was a measure put in place to give everyone notice of the time allotted to the public. And wouldn’t you know it, the very first person from the public, who happened to be Glenn Marczewski, got their time limit taken from them. The mayor stopped Mr. Marczewski at the 4:40 mark, telling him his time was up.

Having the rules is good. Applying them seemed to have started off on the wrong foot.

And then comes councilwoman Larissa Chen-Hoerning to the rescue. A simple gift was given to council and the public – a timer. It took the measurement of time out of the hands of either the public or the Chair, of the Borough Clerk for that matter, and made it so everyone can see.

Hopefully an apology could be made to Mr. Marczewski for the unfair removal of his time.

To be fair, Mr. Marczewski was not the most amenable person at times to speak before council. His disgust in the time limit came out abrasive to council, but, that is his right. Simply because council did not like what Mr. Marczewski had to say means they can prevent him from using up the rights established by council to say it.  Free speech is not meant to protect the speech you agree with, it’s meant to protect that speech you hate.

Congrats to councilwoman Chen-Hoerning for her clear headed, yet effective manner, in which she helped protect the first amendment rights of residents.

To start things off, here are the original post by Michael Peterson which is on www.nj.com/forums/rosellepark and my response to him which was removed (by request from someone other than me).

Michael Peterson (10729 Gross distortion by Saul by jerryp, 12/27/09)

I would like to know just where Saul got his information that I (Michael Peterson) publicly stated that I could support PILOT. Saul knows better. I spoke against it at Concerned Citizens meetings and in Council meetings and at the public meetings on the issue. Joe Accardi also opposed it but was willing to accept 15% while I opposed it in all circumstances. In going door to door while campaigning, I spoke against PILOT and of my opposition to the council’s vote and I separated myself from my fellow Democrats on the issue and also pleaded with them to vote against it. Joe Accardi and I discussed it and pretty much agreed with each other. No one, either privately or publicly, has heard me utter a single word in support of PILOT. I am still outraged by the concept. Of course, Saul knows this full well. I sit quietly while I read his pontifications and personal attacks against anyone who disagrees with him. Since Saul is so well informed, I can only assume that his distortion (that is the politest word I can use here) had some personal agenda as the driving force behind it. Is there anyone out there that you actually respect, Saul?

My Response

The information as to how you would vote on PILOT I got directly from YOU.

We were talking after a meeting at the Sullivan property and I specifically asked you how you think mayor & council would vote. You stated, and I quote, “Well, you know, there’s no use fighting it. It’s a fait accompli.”

That direct statement and seeing as you stopped coming to CCRP meetings it would be safe to presume that you felt fighting it was useless – the very same excuse given by those on council.

I later then asked you after the debate when you tried to talk about someone else’s actions and your disapproval of their actions. One of the questions I asked you outright was how would you have voted on PILOT. You said nothing.

There are those I respect. People who speak up against people in their very own party who are out-and-out homophobic, bigoted, and racist.

You do not do that.

You simply sit there quietly and let them spew their vomit and you hide behind the “Well, that’s their right” cowardly crap that denigrates you and others.

So, please before you get on that high horse to try to show how wrong in their actions someone else is, perhaps you should look at yourself and see how condescending, hypocritical, and cowardly you are.

This is the second time Mr. Peterson has engaged me on a local forum to take to task criticism I made of him. Instead of being a force for true leadership in Democratic beliefs in Roselle Park, Mr. Peterson feels that it is all right to let homophobic attacks and useless finger-pointing spew from those in Roselle Park’s Democratic Committee but it is not all right for someone to point out his statements and hypocrisy.

I just wish someone in either party in Roselle Park showed the leadership and vision that residents need and want.

During the Roselle Park Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, Board member Alex Balaban spoke on the Holocaust Curriculum and Cultural Enrichment Curriculum that the Roselle Park school district has been pursuing for over a decade. Born out of a state mandate, its goal is to educate students on various acts of genocide around the world throughout history including the the Holocaust (the Shoah), the Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor), the Rwandan Genocide, the Darfur Conflict, the Armenian Genocide, as well as other genocides. Mr. Balaban went on to state that the lessons learned from awareness of genocides would hopefully prevent future occurrences from happening in the future.

In terms of cultural diversity, Mr. Balaban acknowledged that Roselle Park has a culturally diverse population and thanked the teachers and educators for being on the forefront of bringing such lessons and diversity to students.

Board member Ken Iachio then followed up on Mr. Balaban’s comments.

This is where it all goes wrong.

Mr. Iachio asked if the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were being kept in the forefront of the curriculum since first graders were not even born when the attacks happened eight (8) years ago. He wanted to know if the school district teaches that as well. He asked this question while a huge 3′ x 5′ September 11th Remembrance flag hung right behind the dais where he was sitting.

Before I continue, let me state clearly that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were horrific, inexcusable, and devastating. Innocent people were murdered. Families were devastated. It changed our nation forever. That tragedy should never be marginalized.

With that stated, mentioning the attacks of September 11, 2001 as something that should be in the forefront of a Holocaust & Genocide Awareness curriculum is not only offensive. It is disrespectful.

The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by a terrorist group in one day. Genocide is the systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of an entire national, racial, religious, or ethnic group by an army or government. People have been murdered and lived with the fear of death, rape, dismemberment, separation, slavery,  and the stripping of basic human rights for weeks, months, and years on end because of genocide. Mr. Iachio’s statement shows the lack of understanding he has with regard to what genocide is.

Now for cultural enrichment.

Mr. Iachio continued to speak about current events and included the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, where he declared that “even though that hasn’t been declared a terrorist act, you can draw your own conclusions for that.”

Although there have not been, as of yet, any ties to funding or direction from Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group, what Mr. Iachio implied was that the massacre at Fort Hood was a terrorist act. It was not. Nidal Hasan is a spree killer. Plain and simple. He is not different than Dylan Kliebold, Charles Whitman, or numerous others who use murder as a lashing out against others.

Mr. Iachio seems to equate that massacre to terrorism due to one simple fact . . . that Nidal Hasan declared himself a Muslim; ergo, according to Mr. Iachio, simply being Muslim and a murderer equals terrorist.

Just to make certain that this is not an isolated incident regarding Mr. Iachio’s religious ignorance and insensitivity, earlier this year Mr. Iachio, while on the dais, stated that on his way back home from South Carolina after Christmas, he saw a public school with the Nativity out front, adding that there is still hope in this country.

In closing, a video is presented below which shows the need for curricula that educates about various cultures and genocide. To be forewarned, the video is graphic but perhaps it could help Mr. Iachio understand his ignorance . . . that along with an apology and his enrollment in some school district cultural enrichment courses.

Another election cycle in Roselle Park comes to an end . . . and hopefully an era will as well.

During the election, campaign promises were made by all the candidates: curb spending, lower taxes, revitalize downtown. But one in particular was made by the Chair of the Roselle Park Democratic Committee, Greg Kinloch. He said if  ‘he’ lost the election, meaning his candidates Michael Peterson and David Jacobs lost their respective elections, he would put his house up for sale and move out of Roselle Park.

He lost.

After seeing four (4) years  that had Democratic campaigns resort to tinges of racism, homophobia,and finger-pointing with no solutions nor suggestions, the best Greg Kinloch could do is make council an even split with with (3) Democratic councilmembers and three (3) Republican councilmemebrs. A major reason that occurred was that two (2) Democratic candidates were running the same year as our President Barack Obama.

Now that there was an opportunity for Greg to show Roselle Park what Democrats had to offer, he squandered any momentum by alienating his own people (what a shock!) and caring more about playing politics instead of participating in the issues that really mattered to all residents.

In discussing issues with him once I flat out asked him how he planned to help all residents of Roselle Park — By volunteering? By encouraging interest of young people or new residents? By attending budget meetings? By attending any meetings?

His response to me was his plan was to help 13,000 by getting four (4) votes. In other words his entire plan for the betterment of Roselle Park was getting Democratic candidates elected so they would have a majority when voting.

That might work on the national level or even the state level but for Roselle Park, that is the most out-of-touch approach one could take.

November 3, 2009 was the result of that failed attitude. His two contenders, one of which was endorsed by a local paper, the Local Source, lost by a two-to-one margin over the Republican candidates.

Now the time has come to Greg Kinloch to say goodbye, step down, move if he wish, and leave Roselle Park and particularly Roselle Park Democrats to try and give direction to the meanderings of a Party head that had nothing more to show other than “We are not Them”.

He is not me, nor a lot of other people who want to show that Democrats have something to offer other than finger-pointing.

It is time for Greg Kinloch to say goodbye and time for the RP Democrats to step up and re-establish a relationship with Roselle Park.