It’s not often a TV show leads me to writing a column, but after seeing the…
Category: Columns
Columns, mostly written by the Observer staff. Occasionally, we run guest columns, too, which will appear here.
Our community is great because of the likes of Mark Wiggins
Some years, it’s brutally cold. Sometimes, it’s downright wet. But the 2025 St. Patrick’s Day Parade…
Taking a look back at The Observer of 1974 with its former editor
By David Lieberfarb Former Editor of The Observer Thanksgiving 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of a tumultuous…
It’s time for our annual New Year wish list and predictions
How is it 2025? I can’t be the only one who has said this more than…
As we reach Christmas, here’s hoping for better days
It has been, to say the very least, a trying December, in this neck of the…
The election of 2025 in Kearny could be like something not seen here in decades
With the election of 2024 over, it is already time to turn to the next one…
COMMENT — Waging a ‘write-in’ candidacy after losing a primary the epitome of arrogance
You likely won’t know this since this was yet another little stunt being played out of…
COMMENTARY — Once again, that little council stunt last week backfires, just like always
Every January, a calendar of Kearny Town Council meetings gets published. And, as has been tradition…
OPINION — Wife of Kearny firefighter says it’s time to make things right for Juan Barroso
I feel the need to write about the situation with Juan Barroso. It is important to…
Remembering Jim Hague, nearly one year after he left this world too soon
There have been so many times over the last year when I’d pick up my phone…
Loss of Christine ‘CJ’ Jablonski is painful, but she leaves an incredible legacy
If ever you were a fan of the great TV show, “The West Wing” — and…
Taking a look at a few things going on in the region …
The Kearny Town Council met last week, on Feb. 20, and the meeting was yet again…
Was there anything, really, to be thankful for this Thanksgiving? Well …
Every year around Thanksgiving, without fail, inevitably, I pause and think about the year gone by…
COMMENTARY: Ficeto (finally) takes seat as DPW (and police) chairman
Things sure do have a funny way of working out for the better. Four months after…
Thank you, Anthony Monteiro, for your remarkable service to East Newark
We’ve all heard it before. East Newark is small. Blink while you’re driving through it and…
COMMENTARY — IN MEMORIAM: Remembering Barbara Cifelli-Sherry, the Commish, councilwoman, mom, friend
I first met Barbara Cifelli-Sherry, who died today aged 80, in 1997. That was the first…
COMMENTARY — Santos leaves legacy that will be hard to surpass
In 1998, the campaign I was working with said it needed a candidate to run against…
COMMENTARY — Hague, Azzarto and their own ‘Field of Dreams’
The “Field of Dreams.” It was 1989. I was a high school freshman when it came…
What if instead of kids being butchered in Uvalde, it was politicians? Would THAT even matter?
Close your eyes for me and do a little fantasy meditation for a moment. In the…
COMMENTARY — Archdiocese & NJ Reentry Corp. hit grand slam with new addiction program
Last week, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Newark and James E. McGreevey, New Jersey’s…
COMMENTARY — Sometimes, the most heroic moments happen when no one’s looking
If there’s one thing certain about cops, it’s that they go about their business, each and…
Brilliant thinking of 3 Kearny cops leads to arrest of alleged murderer
Imagine this. It’s dark. It’s late at night. You’re a cop. And there appears to be…
The Hudson Reporter’s demise is nothing to celebrate. It’s maddening
Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, was the day The Hudson Reporter newspapers died. What was once a…
COMMENTARY — A year ago, Pronti’s words rang strong. They still do to this very day …
The tragic loss of Baby Giovanna remained on my mind for days on end after it…
Such sweet sorrow saying ‘farewell’ to McCurrie and Cardoso
I first met Albino Cardoso around 1998 when I took a shot at running for office. We lived…
Marking World Aids Day – December 1
World AIDS day always reminds me of my past, because I have seen far too many…
COMMENTARY — Remembering how sports united a region & nation
One swing of Mike Piazza's bat on Sept. 21, 2001, helped so many feel that the…
COMMENTARY — Suicide … never the answer, no matter how bad it might get
Man depression sucks. When I first realized I was too often too sad, it was 1989,…
REFLECTION — Sept. 11, 2001: The one day in my life I expected to die
Editor’s note: This reflection was originally written Sept. 11, 2011, for the 10th anniversary of the…
Mets blow chance — again — to show the world they’re New York’s best team
Those of us who are old enough to remember 1978 (I was 4) recall when the…