Week in Review: Memphis the Pit Bull, Sex Offender Captured, Eminent Domain Hearing Postponed

At a town hall forum about Memphis the pit bull, Jim Crosby, a Florida animal expert hired by Bloomfield Township, said the dog must be fully rehabilitated before he can be adopted.  Crosby concluded that the dog is not a candidate for euthanasia, but recommended that he undergo a carefully-monitored rehabilitation program before being placed in a carefully-screened home.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Jeff Coltenbeck, a Bloomfield animal trainer whose sought application to adopt the dog was rejected by the township, served court papers to Board of Health Director, Karen Lore.

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Robert J. Gervasi Jr., 48, of Bloomfield, a Union County middle school teacher and owner of a Parsippany youth sports academy, was arrested last week for allegedly having sexual contact with an underage teenage girl, authorities said.

Gervasi was taken into custody in Union Township on Thursday and charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree luring, one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, one count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

"This kind of foul behavior will not be tolerated," the prosecutor said in a prepared statement. "This teacher robbed a young girl of her childhood innocence.”

A court hearing in Newark to discuss whether the township of Bloomfield can take the section of the Bloomfield train station by using eminent domain was postponed on Friday.

Howard Haberman, a Bloomfield developer, is contesting the township’s decision to seize his property, which the town says has become rundown and dilapidated.

Haberman has countered he wanted to develop his portion of the train station into a retail and restaurant complex and said instead of eminent domain, the township should negotiate with him.

The case was scheduled to appear before Judge Patricia Costello yesterday but the hearing was postponed due to illness.  It has been rescheduled for Oct. 4.

More than one-third of New Jersey households, many in Essex County, “live each day one crisis away from falling into poverty" despite being employed, says a new report by the United Way.

The just-released ALICE report -- “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed” -- says 769,900 households with a household income above the Federal Poverty Level ($22,113 for a family; $11,344 for a single adult) still fall way below a basic cost-of-living threshold.

The cost of basic necessities (housing, child care, food, health care and transportation) for a family of four in Essex County in 2010 was $58,500.  The report concluded that Essex County has the largest number of households below the "ALICE threshold" who make "way less than an individual or family needs to sustain a reasonably healthy standard of living."

Monday, September 10 is the last chance to re-register Bloomfield High School students for the 2012-13 school year. 

Parents/Guardians seeking to re-register students entering grades 9-12 should fill out the attached form, also available on the district website, and bring it to the Board of Education Administration building between 4-8 pm on September 10:

155 BROAD STREET (on the corner of Belleville Avenue)

Phone: 973-680-8500

Fax: 973-680-8274

CLICK HERE FOR RE-REGISTRATION FORMS

Students who have not re-registered students by September 10 will be officially disrenrolled from school and asked to leave.