Letters
American Heart Association urges support for automated external defibrillators in New Jersey health clubs

As American Heart Associ-ation volunteers, board members, physicians and concerned New Jersey citizens, we urge support and passage of New Jersey Senate Bill S-2567.

If passed, this legislation could, over time, save untold numbers of New Jersey lives by requiring all health clubs and fitness centers to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on site and staff properly trained to use an AED.

According to a study published in “Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Associ-ation,” health clubs/fitness centers are among the top 10 public places with the highest occurrence of sudden cardiac arrest (“sudden death”), which is different than a heart attack.

In March 2002, a joint scientific statement from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association urged fitness clubs throughout the country to install defibrillators (AEDs) and train staff to use them.

The American Heart Associ-ation has called sudden cardiac arrest a major unresolved public health issue. Sudden cardiac arrest, sometimes referred to as “sudden death,” is the No. 1 cause of death in this country.

The American Heart Associ-ation estimates that at least 250,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest. Few victims of cardiac arrest survive after 10 minutes. The national survival rate from cardiac arrest is approximately 8 percent.

Surviving cardiac arrest is all about “time.”

The number of Americans who exercise regularly at fitness clubs has increased steadily in recent years, as has their age.

It’s time for all New Jersey health clubs and fitness centers to be better prepared for cardiac and other medical emergencies.

The American Heart Associ-ation is aware of at least seven documented lives that have been saved in New Jersey during the past four years at health clubs and fitness centers equipped with an AED program.

However, those health clubs/fitness centers are in the minority in the Garden State. The vast majority of clubs are not prepared with defibrillator programs.

The cost to purchase a defibrillator, once $2,500 or more, has now dropped below $1,500, making AEDs affordable for nearly everyone. A commercial treadmill might cost $4,500 to $8,000.

Surely the cost of saving a life is worth the investment of an AED.

New Jersey’s PAD (public access defibrillation) legislation, signed into public law March 8, 1999, features Good Samaritan immunity, which provides immunity from liability to individuals and organizations that act in good faith while using an AED or implementing an AED program in an attempt to save a life.

Surviving sudden cardiac arrest is all about time. The goal of the American Heart Associ-ation is that for anyone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, early 911, early CPR, and early defibrillation will occur in the first five minutes before brain damage begins.

Citizens deserve proper safety and protection in their health clubs. We urge swift passage of Senate Bill S-2567. Help strengthen New Jersey’s “chain of survival” and improve the chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest.

Dr. Poonam Alaigh

president

American Heart Association

North Jersey Region

Board of Directors

Dr. Perry Weinstock

American Heart Association

South Jersey Region

Board of Directors

Republicans appear to be Marlboro’s true reformers

Aside from getting the anecdote of ultimate chutzpah wrong (the orphaned child pleads for mercy, not pity, after killing his own parents), the tone and spirit of “Reformed Democrat” leader Steven Sukel’s recent op-ed piece in the News Transcript was wrong. His smash mouth politics is a far cry from the promises of months ago; one of which was “striving for bipartisan cooperation.”

Mr. Sukel’s comments not only minimize the work of those involved in rooting out corruption and stopping overdevelopment in Marlboro, but they set an unfortunately negative tone for the upcoming Township Council race in Novem-ber.

If Mr. Sukel wants to point the “chutzpah finger” at anyone, he should point it at himself. Last year I witnessed Mr. Sukel, then a member of the Marlboro zoning board, going toe to toe with Mayor Robert Kleinberg outside of Town Hall because he claimed he was “losing clients” as a result of the mayor’s public criticism of the zoning and planning boards and his request that all board members resign.

Unbelievably, Mr. Sukel, who was so offended at Mayor Kleinberg’s comments that he felt compelled to get in the mayor’s face in public, is now publicly criticizing Mayor Kleinberg and the Kleinberg-appointed Planning Board. Fortunately for me, my law clients don’t believe everything they read. Not even from the “reformed” Mr. Sukel.

Considering that the new Planning Board got rid of consulting engineering firm Schoor DePalma and Mayor Klein-berg replaced Township Engineer Bill Schultz within months of taking office, Mr. Sukel is grasping at straws by trying to tag this administration as being part of the backslapping and cronyism of Marlboro’s past.

While it sure looks good and juicy in print, as they say in politics, “that dog ain’t gonna hunt.” Mayor Kleinberg is for real. In my opinion, he is focused on the issues of corruption and overdevelopment almost to the point of obsession. To say that Mayor Kleinberg, Joe Pernice, Patti Morelli and Jeff Cantor haven’t made a difference is just political spin. Mr. Sukel should know better.

Oh, and by the way counselor, next time you want to get in somebody’s face, try it with me.

I am a recently appointed member of the Marlboro Planning Board, although I write this as a resident of Marlboro.

David Jarashow

Marlboro

Local committeeman fails to take consistent position

You always experience a great sense of hopelessness, sorrow and bewilderment after attending a Manal-apan Township Committee meeting. It’s a constant display of committee members of one political party shouting at those of the other party about things that they didn’t do and hearing officials contradict themselves all the time.

In the end, members of one party are no better than the others — they are all the same.

During a June 8 meeting, I had the dismay of hearing one of Manalapan’s committee members, Joseph Locricchio, shouting out at the other committee members about improperly hiring a criminal lawyer to handle municipal issues.

This huge mistake cost the residents of Manalapan a whopping $65,000 in over-billing for his training overhead, according to Mr. Locricchio. We were billed for the attorney’s time so he could learn about municipal laws — not his expertise.

On the flip side, Mr. Locricchio and other committee members came to an agreement on using a general lawyer to handle the appeal of Centex Homes against Manalapan for the code violations in our homes. This also did not make much sense because this action requires a certified construction lawyer, not a general practitioner.

It’s like hiring a Chinese cuisine chef to be head chef in an Italian restaurant. So after all the discussion in this meeting, the committee members still have not learned from their mistakes and Mr. Locricchio just does not practice what he preaches.

Christine Wong

Manalapan

Resident would support The Village with park-and-ride

Over the past few months I have read some negative and positive articles that the News Transcript published regarding The Village at Manalapan. I do not recollect anyone mentioning how The Village can provide an alternative commute for Manhattan commuters via a park-and-ride.

For the past 17 years I have traveled via commuter bus on Route 9 to New York City every morning and night. Seventeen years ago a trip from Manalapan to Manhattan took about one hour on average. Now it averages about one hour and 45 minutes. For the past 10 years commuters have been promised by state agencies alternative and improved ways to relieve Route 9 traffic, either by providing a rail or commuter bus lanes that could be used during rush hours. These are just pipe dreams.

Manalapan has been called a bedroom community, with people like myself leaving town as early as 5:30 a.m. and not returning until nearly 8 p.m.

If The Village builds a park-and-ride, no longer will I have to sit in Route 9 traffic on my way to the Symmes Drive park-and-ride. We can use Route 33 directly to Manhattan.

With a park-and-ride off Route 33, I am confident I can save at least 25 minutes from both my morning and evening commute. I will finally be able to spend some quality time with my family, and even enjoy a possible dinner with them.

I can deal with the added traffic on Route 33 that some residents are complaining about. It can’t get any worse than Route 9. I can put up with the other problems a new development causes.

But what’s most important to me is my family. To some, 50 minutes a day may not seem like much, but when you see your family as little as I do, 50 minutes a day can feel like an eternity.

If The Village will provide a park-and-ride, it has my support.

Anthony F. Calabrese

Manalapan

N.J. bus service remains frustrating for local commuters

Robert Riker made some outlandish and buffoonish comments in his diatribe against the MOM passenger rail line (News Transcript, June 22). When it comes to prizes, your column takes first.

He asserts that the NJ Transit study in the mid 1990s stated that there is only a 10-minute delay with traffic. Did they study the commute of those who must travel to downtown Manhattan? If [he] ever traveled to lower Manhattan by commuter bus, many Academy buses during the height of rush hour will avoid the Holland Tunnel to avoid the congestion on the covered road or the turnpike extension and instead go to the Lincoln Tunnel. That requires traversing the streets of midtown Manhattan. Ten-minute delay?

Did they study the return commute? I doubt it, and again, anyone who needs to use the Holland Tunnel and waits for up to 45 minutes to enter the tube can second me on this. This does not even account for the summer traffic, especially on a Friday when the entrance to the Garden State Parkway from the New Jersey Turnpike is almost to the exit toll booths.

Since Mr. Riker invoked the horror of 9/11, he would have known that for over one month after Sept. 11, the Holland Tunnel was closed to New Jersey commuters.

We had to get a ferry in Liberty State Park. That is not even mentioning the bus commuters who were stranded on that day in Manhattan (all exits to Manhattan were closed, including the shutdown of the Port Authority bus terminal). Although trains were stopped for a short time, they resumed later on 9/11. Bus traffic was held up for about one month due to security issues at the tunnels.

Now let us return to the folly of the study he so cherishes.

As I recall, it promoted enhanced bus service on Route 9. Exactly what that meant was never defined because it had no meaning. How could you add service to a stalled traffic pattern? The report spoke of special entrance ramps from the left lane of Route 9 to the Parkway, (10 years, no bus-only ramps), bus drivers controlling traffic signals (10 years, nothing), bus drivers able to use shoulders (10 years, nothing).

Mr. Riker’s assertions do not merit consideration by our elected officials.

Barry Jacobson

Manalapan

Council candidate wants campaign based on the issues

When I accepted the nomination to run under the new Reformed Democratic Party I did it with the hope of starting fresh and with a new vision. I wanted to give Marlboro residents a new choice and a renewed sense of trust in their local politicians.

Our first goal was to change the face of the Democratic Party by removing the old guard Democratic political leaders. We achieved this in a short period of six months with our overwhelming and decisive victory in the (June 7) primary. I also wanted to move forward and break the barrier of political party affiliations. What is important here and what we seem to forget is that party lines in local politics should always be based upon what is best for our families, our children and the residents of this wonderful town.

Our taxes are out of control, our schools are overcrowded, our ball fields are insufficient to our current population and we have no sense of what our senior residents need to make there lives easier and more affordable. But yet we continue to point fingers at both sides of the political spectrum, Republicans and Democrats alike. We need to heal our wounds from years of abuse and neglect of our trusted officials and discuss the issues of this town as mature intelligent individuals. That is what the residents are looking for in their elected officials. This to me is our most difficult task ahead.

I look forward to a campaign based on the issues that affect this town. I want to thank the residents of Marlboro for giving me the opportunity to have my voice heard by placing me on the ballot for the council seats that are open this November.

Jeffrey Rosen

Reformed Democrat candidate

for Township Council

Marlboro

Offer of aid torpedos claim of town’s pending insolvency

If there is one person left in this town who still believes that Manalapan was ever on the verge of insolvency last year, he or she must surely have changed his or her mind last week.

It was recently reported in a local newspaper that Republican Committee-man Joseph Locricchio, coming off his secret meetings with Englishtown, stated that Manalapan is now in the position to save Englishtown from its own insolvency issues, which he says are just right around the corner.

Sound familiar? So we are now to believe that we are now fiscally strong enough to take on a merger of the two towns? Maybe a merger does have some benefits, but it sure seems to me that there is now no doubt that last year’s insolvency issue was completely bogus.

Why was this meeting sponsored by two Republicans without the knowledge of the three remaining Democrats on the Manalapan Township Committee? Isn’t this a government by committee — the entire committee? What is the real reason behind this cover-up?

Cynthia B. Maurino

Manalapan