UPDATE - Top stories of 2010

OFF THE WIRE
Source: njherald.com
2010 opened with perhaps one of the most bizarre crimes ever reported in Sussex County: the


mistaken-identity kidnapping of a Newton pet supply store owner. It ended with the hiring of a new president for Sussex County Community College after a tulmultuous year for the college and its Board of Trustees. A lot happened in between. Here are our choices, in no particular order, of the top stories of 2010.
Newton business owner kidnapped in case of mistaken identity; Missouri men charged
When Frankford resident Jeffrey Muller went missing Friday, Jan. 8, from his Newton pet supply store, J&G Discount Pet Food, on East Clinton Street, it could have resulted in a basic missing person report with a benign explanation.
But over the weekend, an astounding sequence emerged.
Police said Muller had been tased, beaten and bound by three men and driven across the country to mid-Missouri, where he escaped at a convenience store when his captors' car broke down.
The alleged captors -- Andrew Wadel, Douglas Stangeland and Lonnie Swarnes -- were arrested and eventually sent back to Sussex County to await trial. Court papers outline an outlandish and incredible backstory to Muller's harrowing ordeal.
William Barger, a man purporting to be starting a Hells Angels motorcycle club chapter in Missouri, allegedly sent his three "recruits" to snatch Muller. They thought he owed a fifth man, Roy Slates, money from a failed land deal in Utah, and expected to get a percentage of any recouped funds.
Prior to the kidnapping, the trio allegedly raided a construction company owner's home in Missouri in November 2009 in search of "Jeffrey Muller." During the failed attempt to get information, they shot three fingers off the homeowner's hand, authorities said.
Slates pleaded guilty this month under a plea deal that requires him to testify against his fellow defendants.
Authorities have said they located the real Jeffrey Muller, but did not disclose his location or other details about him out of concern for his safety.
Homicide in Hopatcong claims life of young woman
In the only homicide reported in Sussex County this year, a promising and popular 22-year-old woman was killed by multiple gunshots in her own home on Durban Avenue.
Police located the body of Alyssa Ruggieri after a
9-1-1 call from the mother of Giuseppe Tedesco, 25, who is under indictment for murder.
Tedesco returned home March 27 with a hand injury and ran out again with a family member to seek treatment. Following the trail, police tracked down Tedesco at the hospital, as well as the alleged murder weapon in his vehicle. They discovered Ruggieri's body in her home.
It is unclear how Tedesco injured his hand, but his attorney has said he will argue self-defense at trial.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14 to discuss the status of the case and to set dates for oral argument on pre-trial motions.
The pair of young borough residents were acquaintances, according to prosecutors.
Alyssa Ruggieri had graduated from The College of New Jersey and started a software solutions job shortly before her untimely death.
Power lines spark continued controversy
A proposed high-voltage power line that would pass through three National Park Service units -- the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the Delaware River and the Appalachian Trail -- has generated considerable controversy throughout parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey that would be affected by construction of the 500-kilowatt Susquehanna-Roseland power line.
As outlined by Public Service Electric and Gas, the existing lines and 85-foot support towers would double in height and triple in power. The 147-mile transmission lines span from Berwick, Pa., to Roseland in Essex County.
The project, first proposed in 2008, continued to spark opposition in 2010 as the route through the Delaware Water Gap came under scrutiny.
Reports by PSE&G that the current transmission system will overload by 2012, resulting in massive blackouts, prompted the expansion. Opposition and protest groups against the initiative have been fueled by questions of potential health risks, environmental consequences and plunges in real estate values.
Because the power lines pass through national park units, the park service developed several alternative routes including a "no action" plan as part of a federally required environmental review. Three public hearing were held in August; comments and concerns were fastidiously documented and studied; and a 28-page report summary was published in November. By fall 2011, the environmental impact statement will be drafted and available for further public comment.
The final report, in addition to a decision on whether to issue permits for project completion, will come in fall 2012.
In August, PSE&G announced that the environmental permitting process had stalled
completion of the project until 2015. "We remain committed to constructing this line and will continue to work to obtain the necessary permits to proceed," said Deann Muzikar, PSE&G spokeswoman.
School budget cuts
Sussex County school districts experienced unprecedented budget cuts in 2010 as they faced enormous state aid reductions and voter rejection. Of the 25 districts, 14 budgets were defeated in April's school elections, resulting in desperate initiatives by schools to trim spending.
The Sparta School District suffered the worst of it with a 38 percent state aid reduction and a defeated budget.
In some districts, courtesy busing was eliminated; pay-to-play sports were activated; classroom sizes grew; a multitude of extracurricular activities, elective classes and sports programs were axed; and nearly 100 teachers were given pink slips.
Students became involved, staging protests and pleading with boards of education not to cut sports and other programs. Some succeeded in raising funds to restore sports programs that were cut from the budget.
Vernon voters OK change in government
More than 70 percent of voters in the county's largest municipality voted to change their form of government for the second time in two decades.
The battle to get the question on the November ballot and the war of information from the committee of petitioners and its rivals, Vernon Organization to Educate to Save our System, lasted from late August until Election Day. Getting the question on the ballot required a ruling of a state Superior Court judge after the petition was initially rejected by the acting township clerk.
But after months of tension, name-calling and general unrest in the township, voters chose to move from a Faulkner Act council-manager form of government, in which the township manager makes most decisions for the township (after council approval), and replace it with a mayor-council form, in which an elected mayor will be the executive in the township.
The referendum had more consequences than just who Vernon residents will vote for in May -- it also removed the current council and manager. As of July 1, 2011, a new council will be in place, the manager's job will be gone (replaced by a township administrator), and the township attorney may or may not be looking for a new job.
Attorney general issues subpoenas over Vernon land purchases/
Judge takes up Township Committeeman Richard Carson's lawsuit
The year in Vernon began with the community, and the county, still rocked by allegations a select group of local Republicans intimidated and harassed Councilman Richard Carson into resigning. In July, the racketeering claims in the lawsuit were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise. The lawsuit remains a federal civil rights case, however.
But even as more allegations were made in Carson's case, a second legal drama reared its head.
In mid-February, the attorney general's office began officially investigating at least two "anomalous" township land deals. The two estates purchased by Vernon, the Herold Square and McEwan properties, had already been listed as peculiar by a forensic accounting report from July 2009. The current status of the investigation is unknown, but former Vernon Mayor Vic Marotta had the most ominous prediction: "When the lid comes off it, a lot of people are going to get in trouble," he said.
Gov. Christie caps superintendent salaries
The attack on teachers and school administrators continued in July when Gov. Chris Christie proposed a superintendent salary cap, ranging from $125,000 to $175,000, depending on the number of students in a district. All but two school superintendents in the county had contracts in place that will not be affected by the cap.
The new regulations, which recently underwent a series of three public hearings, are scheduled to take effect Feb. 7, but could still be rewritten.
Additionally, acting state Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks sent out an edict halting contract approvals to conduct a statewide study on existing contracts in late November. Agreements settled before Nov. 15 could be finalized, while all others were halted at the county superintendent's office, preventing Kittatinny Regional's superintendent, Craig Hutcheson, from obtaining his new contract.
Strada elected, Parrott ousted
Mike Strada, a police detective in Mount Olive, had pushed hard for the sheriff's job since his narrow loss to incumbent Sheriff Robert E. Untig in the 2007 Republican primary.
After spending three years of showing up at political gatherings during the off-years to prove his value to the party, he was finally elected sheriff in November with 59 percent of the vote.
The other changing of the guard came about this year with the defeat of Freeholder Jeff Parrott by two relative newcomers, Parker Space and Parrott's running mate, Richard Vohden.
Of Space's victory, Vohden said he expected his name recognition "would pull him along," and felt an anti-incumbent feeling among voters also played a part in pushing Space ahead and Parrott down.
Byram Superfund site
In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed to add an area of Byram to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site, one of the country's most hazardous waste sites, for cleanup.
Nearly 20 residential wells in Byram were found to be contaminated with tricloroethylene, a volatile organic compound used as an extraction solvent, adhesive and general anesthetic.
According to the EPA's website, exposure to the toxic substance, commonly referred to as TCE, has been linked to cancer of the kidney, liver, cervix and lymphatic system. Other health impacts include congenital heart disease among children, and deleterious effects on the immune, endocrine and nervous systems.
Tricloroethylene was first discovered in a private well in 2004; however, residents were not made aware of the issue until 2005, when neighboring homeowners found the same results and went public.
The DEP installed carbon water filtration systems in 16 of the homes to remedy the undrinkable water and added vapor removal systems in five basements.
The responsible dump site consists of several waste disposal trenches near the intersection of the Mansfield bike path and Stanhope-Sparta Road.
By March 2011, the proposal will tentatively be placed on the National Priorities List and become eligible for Superfund money and cleanup.
Thorlabs builds new headquarters in Newton
The local economy got a boost early in the year when Thorlabs, currently headquartered in Andover Township, announced it wanted to stay in the area and looked to Newton for help.
By year's end, construction was beginning on Thorlabs' new company headquarters and major manufacturing facility in an economic development zone just off Sparta Avenue in the town's east end.
In addition to moving its Andover operations to Newton, the company will also bring in employees from another New Jersey site.
While the town won't get any direct property tax benefit for a few years, there are payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreements in place, and the influx of about 300 new employees near the
downtown business district will be an economic boost to local businesses.
The first phase of construction will be for 125,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space with the possibility of more space being added at the 5.6-acre site in coming years. The facility is expected to be completed in 2012.
Already, plans have been submitted to upgrade an apartment/retail complex on adjoining property.
Sussex County budget woes
In mid-November, Sussex County officials announced the first of several stringent budget moves -- layoffs of 14 county employees -- to bring the county's overall tax increase for next year to under the new state-mandated cap of 2 percent.
What followed later were announcements that the county would cut its aid payments to Sussex County Community College and Sussex County Technical School by $500,000 each in 2011 and there would not be any increase in 2012.
That cut led the Sussex Tech school board to announce in mid-December that it would begin charging tuition to be paid by the school districts that were sending students.
The county was also looking at moving its health insurance into a statewide insurance fund to save money. The vote to make such a move is expected on Dec. 30.
The county was also in talks with its labor unions about freezing salaries for 2012. Non-union employees had already been told there would be no pay increases for the coming year.
The state cap was imposed this year on all municipal and school budgets. Gov. Chris Christie said the cap was one of his ways of stopping runaway property tax increases.
County officials had predicted early in the year that 2011 would be a bad budget year with the cap because the county was running out of surplus that had been used for many years to help offset other increases.
President fired at Sussex County Community College
The first external sign of problems brewing on the campus of Sussex County Community College came at the Board of Chosen Freeholders meeting in late March when professors and staff asked the freeholders for help.
Before the spring was over, the college president, Constance Mierendorf, was fired. By summer's end, the board chairman, Kirk Perry, had stepped down, although retaining his seat on the Board of Trustees.
Charges and countercharges between Mierendorf and the leadership of the board continued through the summer.
In late summer, former county freeholder Glen Vetrano joined the board. In early fall, two other trustees were not reappointed by the county. They were replaced by two pillars of the community, Thomas Senker, president of Newton Memorial Hospital, and retired state Appellate Court Judge Lorraine Parker.
In mid-December, the trustees decided on Paul Mazur, an assistant president of Adirondack Community College in New York, as its choice for the new college president and negotiations on an employment contract had begun.
What came out of that March freeholder meeting was the realization the working relationship between the college administration and the Board of Trustees had broken down. The vote to fire the president showed there was a split among trustees and much of the board's actions were being done out of view of the public.
Years-long negotiations between the school and its professional unions were bogged down -- although the contracts were settled in late summer -- which also helped heighten the tensions.
As the year closed, some problems, such as labor talks, were replaced with other problems, such as a cutback in aid from the county and trying to close a budget deficit, but a more open working relationship seemed to be emerging from the chaos.
A lawsuit filed by Mierendorf over her job and how she was terminated is still pending before the courts. Bear hunt nets 591 bears
The first bear hunt in New Jersey in five years yielded a harvest of 591 bears across parts of seven northern counties. The state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife issued a total of 6,680 bear hunting permits for the hunt, meaning that about 9 percent of hunters with a permit were successful in killing a bear. That number fell within the projected range of 500 to 700 bears that was set forth by the DEP. Of the bears taken, 23 had been previously tagged by the DEP as nuisance bears -- those that had attempted break-ins of property or shown other aggressive tendencies.
Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the Division of Fish and Wildlife, repeatedly praised the hunt as "successful" and "safe" and said it accomplished the department's intended goal of thinning the bear population.
Anti-bear hunt activists saw their efforts to stop the hunt squelched when their appeal of a lower court's decision to refuse to stay the hunt was rejected by the state Supreme Court. As the hunt took place, the group protested, mostly at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon, where they were limited by the court to 25 protesters at a time.
However, as they did after the 2005 hunt, activist groups filed a separate lawsuit Nov. 30 seeking to discredit the DEP's black bear management policy, which included provisions for this year's hunt. No timetable has yet been established for hearings on the lawsuit. Doris Lin, the attorney representing the activists, said her clients are hoping to prevent future bear hunts through the action.
Appeals court overturns Foglia murder conviction
Citing testimony that repeatedly impugned Paul Foglia's character, the state appellate court reversed the former Wayne man's murder conviction for killing his girlfriend's mother at her Wantage home in 2004.
Foglia, 50, had been sentenced to life in prison after a Sussex County jury found him guilty in early 2008.
Foglia had argued he killed Elizabeth Lott with a wooden tray table -- after years of animosity -- in a bout of "passion-provocation," a form of manslaughter punishable by five to 10 years in prison.
Witnesses say Foglia and Lott had a contentious relationship ever since he started dating Lott's daughter, Gina Liotta, in the early '90s. The friction came to a head Sept. 24, 2004, when Foglia left his bartending job in Franklin and visited Lott's home unannounced. Lott's body was discovered later that evening by Liotta and her two young boys.
Extensive testimony about Foglia's "prior bad acts" prompted the Appellate Division to send the case back for re-trial.
Able Energy leaves customers cold
A longtime provider of home heating oil in Sussex and Morris counties suddenly stopped many deliveries at the height of cold weather in February, causing angst and ultimately a consumer fraud lawsuit by the state attorney general.
Customers, especially those with pre-paid accounts, complained that Able Energy did not communicate well during the crisis, leaving them figuratively in the dark and literally in the cold.
Officials at the Able installation in Rockaway refused to comment on the situation during visits by the New Jersey Herald.
Dozens of customers complained to the state Division of Consumers Affairs, prompting the attorney general to file a lawsuit against Able alleging violations of the Consumer Fraud Act. The litigation is pending.
Meanwhile, a Wayne, Pa.-based petroleum company acquired Able's business operations and remaining customer lists during negotiations through the summer and fall.
Atlantis Petroleum moved into the Rockaway depot in early November and, in a sign of good will, is reaching out to customers who had money tied up with Able Energy to redeem their credited deliveries.
Champion wrestlers
Three Sussex County wrestlers became NJSIAA state wrestling tournament champions in March.
Ethan Orr and Nick Francavilla, both of High Point Regional High School, and Wallkill Valley's Ryan Callahan all brought home titles.
Callahan wanted nothing more than a state wrestling championship after losing in last year's finals. Wallkill Valley's 171-pounder got it by beating Trenton Central's Canaan Bethea, 7-3, at the NJSIAA state tournament held in Atlantic City.
Orr also won his first NJSIAA state wrestling tournament championship, besting Long Branch's Doug Cornell, 3-1, for the 152-pound crown. Francavilla won his second straight NJSIAA state wrestling tournament championship.
Francavilla needed a last-ditch effort to edge Southern's Kyle Casaletto, 3-2, in the 112-pound final. The High Point junior slipped around Casaletto with two seconds remaining, sending the packed crowd into a delirious frenzy.
*** Dave Zabriskie, a High Point graduate and top-seeded Iowa State redshirt senior, beat Oklahoma State's second-seeded Jared Rosholt, 3-2, at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Qwest Center to win the NCAA heavyweight championship in March.
"That's the best feeling in the world out there," he said. "Nothing compares."
Zabriskie became Sussex County's fourth resident to win an NCAA crown. Newton's Harry Lanzi and Matt Valenti and Hamburg's Mike Frick also won national titles.
Newton softball team passes 20-win mark
Newton reached the championship game of the Hunterdon Warren Sussex Tournament, and during that run shattered a record that had stood for 25 years.
The highest win total for one Newton softball season had been 19, accomplished by the 1985 team. But when Newton shut out North Hunterdon, 6-0, in the HWS semifinal round on May 15, the Braves not only captured a berth in the HWS title game, they notched their 20th victory of the season, becoming the first Newton softball team to reach the 20-win level.
The pitching of senior Chelsea Homa was key. She hurled 32 consecutive shutout innings, a streak that didn't end until the second inning of the HWS championship game against Hunterdon Central on May 16. Homa was the winning pitcher in 18 of the Braves' 22 overall wins, including a shutout victory against previously unbeaten Delaware Valley in the HWS quarterfinals and the shutout against North Hunterdon a round later.
Homa and senior catcher Jolyn Ferrari earned first-team Herald All-Area honors, with senior outfielder Danielle DeFeo making second team. Newton's Curt Pakutka was Coach of the Year, the Braves were Team of the Year.
After two home victories in the state tournament, Newton's season was ended on May 25 by an extra-inning home run against Indian Hills in the North 1,
Group 2 semifinals. But the Braves' 22-7 record lifted the bar incredibly high for future Newton softball teams.