Come join Bike&Walk Montclair this Sunday the 26th for the Tour des Fleurs, a moderately-paced leisurely bike ride between two of Montclair’s most attractive gardens. The Tour des Fleurs will start at 10:30 am at the Avis Campbell Gardens on South Fullerton Avenue (behind the United Way building next to the library), and will by led by a certified bike safety instructor approximately 3.5 miles to the historic Presby Memorial Iris Gardens.

Photo: John Munson

Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson delivered the Commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. Merkerson has received three NAACP Image Awards for her 16-year role as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the hit television series Law & Order. She won both Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her work in the 2005 HBO film Lackawanna Blues.

Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson delivered the Commencement address and received
an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

In her remarks, Cole said, “the story of today’s Commencement is the realization of the extraordinary growth of Montclair State University over recent years. Today’s 4,320 baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degree recipients represent a 100 percent increase over the 15 years of my presidency. In and of itself, the size and consistency of this increase is a remarkable achievement for the University and for its superb faculty, but its real importance is in the graduates themselves, well-prepared to exercise leadership, creativity and innovation in the sciences, health professions, business, government, public service, the arts and education. These graduates are our endowment gift to the state and the nation.”

Dukakis, best known for Academy Award-winning role as Rose Castorini in Moonstruck (Montclair held a parade in her honor after the win) and as well as her performances in Steel Magnolias, Mr. Holland’s Opus and Mighty Aphrodite, lived in Montclair for 30 years and founded the Whole Theater Company, with actor-husband Louis Zorich. The company for nearly 20 years until 1990.

The Greek-American actress, born in Lowell, MA, received the 2,498th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.

Dukakis returned to Montclair last year for the Montclair Film Festival and spoke following a screening of her film Cloudburst. In 2011, she also founded Hero Theatre, which presents classical plays and new plays inspired by classics.

Photo: Peter Zorich

From Bloomfield Life

Mayor McCarthy after winning a close race in 2010 for a fourth term.

McCarthy said that he will remain a Bloomfield resident and has no plans to run for another public office. However, he said that, if he did run again, he would win.

McCarthy was re-elected in 2010 for a fourth terms, after a close race against Republican opponent John Lazar.

If chowin’ down on bugs ain’t your thing, trust me, rosemary infused lemonade will be. (How is that for a random segue?) I was first introduced to rosemary-lemonade at the Montclair Historical Society’s herb sale. My first thought was, “Holy cremoly, this is good!” My second thought was, “This is sooo darned good it doesn’t need a thing–before 11:59 a.m. After that, of course, it needs liquor.”

Here is the the trick to making rosemary-lemonade: you need both lemonade and rosemary. If that proves to be too difficult for you, crack open a Zima and call it a day. Seriously, use any kind of lemonade from fresh squeezed to frozen from concentrate, throw a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in to the mix and let sit for a day or two. If you only have an hour, pull the rosemary needles from the  stems and add them to the lemonade. Then shake it, baby, shake it. When it looks slightly green you are ready for action. You can also add a few chunks of peeled fresh ginger, which is delicious with bourbon.

Here are  a few ways to mix up your first taste of summer:

• One part good bourbon
• Three parts rosemary-lemonade

OR:

• One part vodka
• One part Lillet
• Three parts rosemary-lemonade

Pour ingredients over ice and garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary or lemon.

The lemonade is also wonderful when mixed with a sparkling white wine such as cava.

Now what to call each of these cocktails? For anyone who uses ‘cicada’ for part of their name, points will be deducted…or Barista Jenn Schiffer may shut down the whole site.

She really, really, really wants you to vote for Barbara Buono.

The forum, featuring Gill, Mark Alexander and Vernon Pullins, Jr., the three candidates running for the 34th district N.J. Senate seat, drew a packed house. Gill asked the audience to vote for Barbara Buono several times during the evening, mentioning the gubernatorial candidate running against Gov. Chris Christie in response to questions asked by moderators. Gill also said she was the only one of the three candidates supporting Buono.

@senatorgill “I can’t do it alone, we need to elect Barbara Buono for governor.”

— baristanet (@baristanet) May 24, 2013

Gill outlined key priorities as better access to health, better gun control and early voting. “With our rights under attack we need a strong voice in Trenton. I am prepared to continue to be that voice and fight for the people of my district every day. Voters sent me to Trenton to fight for them and to fight for the good of my state and I can assure you I will not roll over or fold.”

Alexander, who said he would make property taxes, education, gun control and minimum wage priorities, said “every day as state senator I will push against Chris Christie.”

Pullins, who entered the race in April, challenged Gill a number of times. When Gill referenced meeting with the victims of Newtown in her response to gun control, Pullins said “My condolences to the Newtown families, but I’m in the trenches as the head guidance counselor in city of Newark and I know firsthand about gun shot victims, some of our students have been gunshot victims. This is a crisis and it’s not being treated at the legislative level. I would certainly look to strengthen our gun laws.”

When asked about the issue of rising poverty among New Jersey’s children, and what action could be taken, Gill referenced Gov. Chris Christie’s powerful line item veto and how the programs put in the budget to aid children in poverty are taken out of the budget by Christie, adding “so once again, we need a change in the governor and then we can move these things forward.”

Pullins responded, in regards to poverty, “it’s certainly not something that all of sudden has happened with a Republican governor. We’ve had Democratic governors and this problem perpetuates itself. We need to elect Democrats who will stand up.”

Alexander said of poverty and children, “Our minimum wage is the lowest in the country. There are things worth fighting for. It’s a hard fight to increase the minimum wage and that requires Democrats building bridges to employers and expanding the earned income tax credit that Chris Christie cut. We need to demand those kinds of results in Trenton.”

Gill rebutted “when Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation that I supported to increase the minimum wage, we fought to put it on the ballot. And so Mr. Alexander says there’s no result. Well, he can vote for an increase in minimum wage with the rest of us in November and that minimum wage also includes a cost of living increase. We fought for it and with your help, we’ll get it.”

Alexander received applause when he followed Gill’s remark, saying “the job of the senator is to get the results. So what we just heard form Senator Gill is that we have to do her job for her. If we send people to Trenton to get the job done, not to pass something along to a referendum. Being a senator requires hard choices, but our job as a senator is to actually receive results.

On education, when asked how she differs from the other candidates on policy, Gill said only “I don’t support vouchers and I’m not open to the discussion of supporting vouchers.”

Alexander responded to the same question. “I started this whole question thinking about my four children who are in the Montclair public schools right now. What we are facing now is the need to make sure all our children get the best education possible. So what I’m going to do is, I’m going to fight every day to get the best education for our kids. I’ll be very clear. I do not support vouchers. I support doing everything we can to help our children. We have children in failing schools in Orange and East Orange. We have underfunded schools in Clifton. We have a racial achievement gap in Montclair. And in Montclair, we just got our state funding and it went up not by a single dollar. So how I differ is — I will make sure we get the funding to this district that we deserve. Senator Gill has not delivered.”

Pullins said he disagreed with the other candidates and said he is the only one of the three who has been the leader of an educational institution and who has a record of voting for students first, working with unions to negotiate contracts that are not penalizing them, and looking at how we can implement changes to ensure better academic performance.

Alexander reiterated a commitment to education by saying he would fight for full funding for Montclair and for all the school districts. Of the schools in the district, Alexander mentioned unique challenges of Clifton and East Orange, adding “there is not a one size fits all approach. So every day I will fight for every town and I will do that by being present at the town council meetings and BOE meetings, to make sure I know what it is that is needed for these towns and these schools.”

Gill said of funds for Montclair, “if the school funding formula was fully funded, then the needs would be balanced. And that is why we have to fight Governor Christie and the Republicans. We send fully funded legislation and every year the governor vetoes it. So you know how we get a fully funded formula? We need a new governor. We need to vote for Barbara Buono.”

Im a policy guy, I love meetings MT @baristanet: @markcalexander says he will go to council & BOE meetings (that’s a lot of meetings) #LD34

— Mark Alexander (@MarkCAlexander) May 23, 2013

All three candidates expressed a commitment to marriage equality. Gill said she sponsored both marriage equality bills. Alexander, who called it the “most pressing civil rights issue we are confronting,” said it takes leadership to get it done.

“Christie vetoed marriage equality and shame on him,” said Alexander, “but there was a lack of leadership to get this done and we can’t tolerate that. It was failure of leadership in Trenton of both Democrats and Republicans. Democrats had a chance to get it done before Christie and they failed.”

If you missed the forum, it will air in its entirety on Channel 34 (we will update as soon as info becomes available).

This morning, The Star Ledger endorsed Alexander.

Zoppi was found dead in July 2009 in the home she shared with Lunney and Lunney’s family in July 2009.  Zoppi was found face down, with blood and vomit spilling out of her mouth and a necktie wrapped tightly against her throat.

“This case was all about the money,” said Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Simonetti. “Tina Lunney is a heartless killer who crushed her frail mother’s ribs and brutally strangled her with her husband’s necktie. Why? To pay off the tremendous debt she, and she alone, created.’’

Lunney had tried to make the death look like a suicide, leaving behind a note that read, “Tell the kids I love them. You don’t need me anymore.”

After killing her mother, said prosecutors, Lunney used her mother’s credit card to pay off debts and to pay for a previously planned vacation with friends to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She then fled to Atlantic City.

At trial it was revealed that she had also spent her husband’s $37,000 inheritance and had a 3-year extramarital affair with a Fairfield police officer.

Lunney gave police a statement admitting she strangled her mother. She also confessed to the crime in a five suicide notes found in her pocketbook when she was arrested.

At trial, the defense attorney, Albert Kapin, argued Lunney did not commit the murder and that she confessed to the crime because she suffered from a mental illness brought on by stress.

“Her circuits were overloaded. The stresses began to add up. The guilt of the affair began to add up. She was susceptible to the powers of suggestion,” he said.

The jury deliberated for a day and a half following a three-week trial at the Superior Court in Newark. Sentencing is scheduled for July 26.

Part of the Art Factory, the 20,000 sq ft space will be open to the public during the Paterson ArtWalk starting at 11am with the official opening from 7pm-9pm. The artists featured in the inaugural exhibition can be seen here.

Like the Newark gallery, Nexxt will promote compelling 3D, sculptural, and new media visual arts, showcasing artists who explore visual language implicitly in a way that is concise, authentic and vital. The gallery is part of the new burgeoning creative community in Paterson.

On Wednesday, in Cedar Grove, a Bentley and two Mercedes were stolen from Tiffany Court, just over the Montclair border. All three vehicles had the keys in them; one was taken from the driveway and two were taken from an open garage. According to Cedar Grove police, the Montclair Police Department later reported that they received a report of three cars traveling fast near Harrison Ave.

From the Cedar Grove Police report:

The actors were operating a 2010 Audi A4, NJ/K63CMJ, which was reported stolen out of West Orange on 5/20/13. The actors arrived at approximately 06:36 hours this morning and walked up the driveway and into the open garage. The actors then left at 06:42 with the Mercedes GL450 which was parked in the driveway and the Audi. The actors then returned at approximately 07:30 and took the Mercedes S550, NJ/B62BJU, the Bentley Flying Spur, NJ/PMI1-4, and left in the stolen Audi. The owner watched the vehicles leaving at 07:30 and delayed calling, he believed that they were being picked up for service. All three vehicles were entered NCIC and there is surveillance video available. Following the SPEN Broadcast Montclair PD reported that they received a report of three vehicles operating at a high rate of speed in the area of Harrison Avenue.

Stolen vehicle info:
1) 2006 Silver 4D Bentley Flying Spur – NJ/PMI1-4 – NIC/V856000458
2) 2012 White 4D Mercedes GL450 – NJ/V31BMY – NIC/V676006882
3) 2012 Red 4D Mercedes S550 – NJ/B62BJU – NIC/V745987333

For additional information contact Det. Tower at (973) 239-4100.

So I was hopeful when I read that earlier this month a state assembly panel advanced a bill that would allow neighborhoods to petition the Department of Transportation for lower speed limits on some residential streets.

Under the bill, community associations or a majority of residents in a neighborhood could request speed limits as low as 15 – 20mph. If approved by the state transportation commissioner, the new restrictions would have to be posted on signs notifying drivers of the change.

But, as it turns out, the bill would only apply to neighborhoods where a majority of streets do not have sidewalks. This, unfortunately, does not include North Mountain. It does include a lot of streets in rural areas in other parts of the state, areas for which the bill was apparently intended.

My street has speed bumps and many signs informing drivers of the speed limit but they do nothing to stop those who still want to drive fast. So even if all neighborhoods were able to lower their streets’ speed limits, would it help? If the speeding drivers faced a stiff penalty, I bet it would.

But no such luck there either. According to nj.com, a provision of the bill that would have doubled speeding fines on streets with the reduced limits was deleted on amendment.