Vasquez, who had two dogs on the front seat with him, told police the animals were jumping around the truck, causing him to swerve.

 Police said Vasquez showed signs of intoxication, and he was arrested after failing field sobriety testing. He was charged with DWI after breath tests at headquarters, and released to a family member, pending a municipal court appearance.

The state’s failure to make payments into the fund, investment losses and benefit increases granted nearly a decade ago have contributed to putting the state on an unsustainable path, Janet Cranna, an actuary with Secaucus-based Buck Consultants, said at a presentation to state pension boards today.

The unfunded liability, assessed at $45.8 billion as of June 30, 2009, is the gap between the state’s investments and what it has promised to workers. The gap had been $34.4 billion a year earlier.

(Hell!  It must be $60billion by now, February 26, 2010!  Time to move out before the state implodes!)

The pension funds pay benefits for about 700,000 current and retired state and local workers, firefighters, police officers, judges and teachers. Lawmakers are working on bills that would curtail benefits for future workers and require current workers to pay for a portion of their health care benefits.

Union workers and independent analysts fault state policy for the bulk of the problem, because state lawmakers and governors of both parties for years have failed to make required contributions. Since 2004, the state has put in about $2.4 billion of the nearly $12 billion required contributions.

A proposed bill would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot asking voters to require the state to fund its pensions.

The pension fund dropped $17 billion to $66 billion over the year that ended June 30, 2009.

State Senate and Government Jokers need to be lynched, shot or set adrift!

I was sitting with my son watching TV and felt the house and ground rumble a few seconds.  I said to him, “I think that was an earthquake.”   He laughed!   A couple hours later I confirmed my theory on the internet.

What next?  Forest fires?  Meteors?  Zombies driving? – scratch that.  We alread have zombies driving like idiots throughout town!

Start digging your shelters.

Give me some green!

Sick of shoveling and sweeping!  Salting and scraping!

SPRING, where are you?!

Stay home and relax!  Stay off the roads and let the plow and salt crews do their jobs and we’ll all be back to work having coffee and fun with our co-workers!

If you’re out today, take a few pictures and upload them here for us shut-ins!  Thanks!

www.VeronaNJ.US           www.MadisonNJ.US

Morristown, NJ rental car options.

Two rental car options along Ridgedale Avenue are Enterprise and Dollar, just before Morristown Lumber and Cy Drake Locksmiths.  Stop in for your rental car while visiting Morristown or while your vehicle is in the shop.

We’ve added to our inventory of business directories by adding www.VeronaNJ.US!

However, unlike our other business directories, for profit; the Verona, NJ directory was established to serve both the community and The Children’s Institute (TCI) and its Parent Staff Organization (PSO).  TCI serves the educational and vocational needs of students with learning disabilities – ADHD, Autism, other diagnosis.

www.VeronaNJ.US sells adds and promotes fundraisers that directly support the TCI PSO.  The directory sells annual Gold Ads for $300 and Silver Ads for $75, with all proceeds going to the PSO.  In addition, the directory promotes the annual Winter Gala, Golf Outing and other annual fundraising efforts.

Finally, the directory provides affiliate product and service links and banners for the shopping needs of students’ parents, staff and supporters, providing commissions income to the PSO for each purchase.

Help support the educational and vocational needs of the students of The Children’s Institute – shop and advertise on www.VeronaNJ.US!   Thank you!

It is a shame that for many, it takes larger than life occurrences to overshadow our own needs and setbacks.  It takes monumental disaster to awaken us from our comfort and security.  The earthquake in Haiti is just that, a monumental disaster.  The death toll will be huge.  But the toll on the survivors will be even greater! 

I watch the news and look online, seeing the seach and rescue teams from France, China, America, Italy, Taiwan, Britain, Cuba  ……  all arriving at the tiny airport of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  Each nation’s team is dressed in their respective uniforms, and I can’t help but be reminded of the Olympic opening ceremonies.  Although it will be quite some time before there are any celebrations, it is comforting to see nation after nation come together in a common purpose. 

So, please be a small part or something large!  Don’t let the thought of those credit card balances, run up by holiday shopping, overshadow your desire to give and donate to the people of Haiti.  Consider it just one last Christmas or Holiday gift you needed to buy!  Contribute to any of the many disaster relief organizations today!

If I can make it easier, go to www.MadisonNJ.US and click on the word Haiti beneath the American Red Cross symbol, and please give to the Red Cross.   Thank you!

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Meanwhile, China dispatched a chartered plane loaded up with 10 tons of tents, food, medical equipment and sniffer dogs that arrived in Haiti on Thursday. Accompanying the emergency materials were a 60-member earthquake relief team that had firsthand experience in the country’s own quake disaster two years ago.

The world had sped to Beijing’s aid during its May 2008 quake, which had rumbled across a huge swath of southwestern China, leaving almost 90,000 people dead or missing.

“Most of the members are very experienced,” Liu Xiangyang, deputy chief of the National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Rescue Team, told the official Xinhua News Agency before their departure. China’s Red Cross has also offered emergency funding of $1 million to Haiti.

Meanwhile, Australia pledged an initial $9.3 million for emergency humanitarian relief and reconstruction assistance, with about half going for emergency water, food and shelter, while the remainder will be for rehabilitation efforts.

Japan will provide up to $5 million in aid, along with $330,000 worth of tents and blankets, a Foreign Ministry official said. A four-member fact-finding mission will also be sent to determine what Japan can do to help.

South Korea will give emergency humanitarian aid worth $1 million, its Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said, and is considering sending rescue teams.

The devastation is widespread, with the sheer number of dead bodies expected to pose a health and safety problem. The World Health Organization said it had sent specialists to help clear the city of corpses, and the International Red Cross was sending a plane Thursday loaded mainly with body bags.

The European Commission has approved $4.37 million while member states Spain, the Netherlands and Germany promised millions more.

Rescue teams from France and Switzerland were on their way, while Spain dispatched three planeloads of rescuers and 100 tons of tents, blankets and cooking kits.

The Israeli army sent in two planeloads of rescue staff and equipment to set up a field hospital in Haiti that can serve up to 500 people a day. The crew will include 220 rescue workers, including 40 military doctors and 24 nurses.

Israel was sending in an elite Army rescue unit of engineers and doctors.

The Red Cross federation has asked for $10 million in emergency donations to help fund its efforts in Haiti. The IFRC, which represents national Red Cross societies around the world, said it is still gauging the needs of people hit by the quake and will deploy specialists in relief coordination, water and sanitation, shelter, telecommunications and health as well as set up a field hospital.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has launched a dedicated Web site to help Haitians register and find missing loved ones.

Canada sent a military reconnaissance team to assess and planned an initial donation of $4.8 million, with more aid to flow after reports to Ottawa by military reconnaissance team.

Thursday night. The lawyer for the board and the lawyer for the property owner faced off from 12 feet away, trading polite but pointed barbs for 30 minutes before everybody decided that nothing would be decided until February at the earliest.

This particular case is especially tangled since the property owner is former mayor Donald Cresitello, who appointed most of the board members, several of whom have excused themselves from hearings on his application. “We’ve been here four times with our evidence and our witnesses,” said Cresitello’s attorney, Martin Newmark. “We’ve been ready to present our case on its merits.” The board has spent the past four months debating issues of politics and conflicts of interest. Board attorney John Inglesino said Thursday night that the delays had been necessary. Those delays, however, resulted in the case lasting more than the allowable 120 days. Inglesino blamed Cresitello. Newmark blamed the board. In any case, the 120 days will expire with no decision — in fact with no testimony at all on the question of sub-dividing the property at 186 Mills. Because the 120 days will be up, Inglesino urged the board to deny the application with the understanding that Cresitello could submit a new application and begin the process all over again. “In 30 years of being on the planning board or dealing with the planning board, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Cresitello said. “They just don’t want to hear my case.

It’s not a complicated case. It’s a very simple case, simpler than a lot of cases they hear.” Both lawyers alluded to the fact that they were stating their case for the record and all but assuming that an appeal would send the case to a higher authority, no matter what the planning board decided. The former mayor wants to split his property at 186 Mills St. into two seperate properties. He would then profit from the double-property sale if, as he’s said he would, he sells and moves out of state.