News-Record's Highlight – May 2012 Archive (18)

     Linda Pedigo Caviness, 66, Warrenton, VA resident and DeKalb County, TN native died May 4, 2012 at her home surrounded by her family. She was born in DeKalb County, TN on November 20, 1945 and moved with her family to the Shellsford area of Warren County, TN in 1947.

  She was the daughter of the late Wesley and Mary Elizabeth Moore Pedigo. In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her father-in-law, Cletus Caviness of Germantown, TN.

   She graduated from…

The administrative office of the South Orange-Maplewood school district sent an email May 31 on behalf of the Board of Education encouraging individuals to help develop the district goals, an annual process, through an online survey.

Read the district's call to action below:

Dear SOMSD Community:



The Board of Education invites you to participate in its annual process of developing the district goals by completing this survey at  …

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

A recently formed nonprofit organization will seek to raise large amounts of money to support Maplewood’s public-library system in ways that could include restoring Sunday hours and making building…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

A Newark man was scheduled to be released from Essex County Correctional Facility on May 25 or 26 after he was found not guilty last week of killing of a transgender lingerie model inside a Jacoby Street apartment September…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

A bill allowing South Orange-Maplewood to hold November school board elections starting next year must be amended to satisfy concerns of Gov. Chris Christie.

The governor conditionally vetoed the measure earlier this month and recommended technical changes, according to state Sen. Richard J. Codey, D-27th District. Codey, a sponsor of the measure, said the governor wants the Essex County clerk to be responsible for…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Michelle Scotti was pulling a small cart filled with plants she planned to buy at the annual Maplewood Garden Club’s plant sale May 18.

For the past 75 years, people have been coming from across New Jersey and other states to choose from the hundreds of varieties of plants at the three-day sale that always falls on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Mother’s Day.

Organizers, calling it…

    Samuel Brent Whinery, long term resident of Maplewood, N.J., passed away on May, 13, 2012. 

   Mr. Whinery was born in New York City on June 13, 1921 and moved to Maplewood, N.J. where he resided for 84 years.  Mr. Whinery was a graduate of Columbia High School, class of 1939, and attended…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Public employees in Maplewood are shaping up and working off extra weight.

Health officer Robert D. Roe said that the employee-wellness campaign is an initiative of the Township Committee and Township Administrator Joseph F.…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

With a few taps on their smartphones, patrons of Maplewood Memorial Library can find a good book or renew the one they’ve already borrowed.

All this and more became possible last week with the release of the official library app, a software application for mobile devices. Acquired through a vendor, it represents the latest move by the library staff to keep step with their tech-savvy…

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office released an update May 16 on the case of John Staten, who pleaded guilty to charges for the death of a Maplewood man.

Here is what it said:

John Staten, 32, of Orange plead guilty May 15 to aggravated manslaughter and weapons offenses for killing 27-year-old Arthur Downey III, in his Maplewood home.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Staten will be sentenced to 18 years. He is scheduled…

By Christina Hernandez, Managing Editor

Maplewood Mayor Vic De Luca has helped to broker an agreement between the Maplewood Village Alliance and Civic Association that allows a “public bulletin board” to join the new, locked kiosk near the post office on Maplewood Avenue.

In a prepared statement sent via email Friday, De Luca said the alliance and the association agreed to allow two bulletin boards downtown.

He noted that the…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

When the Trenton Police Department laid off more than 100 officers last year, Katherine Cox found herself out of a job. But she wanted to continue working as a police officer, and her persistence paid off May 7.

Hired to fill vacancies within the Maplewood Police Department, Cox and three others — Chian Weekes, Shamar Reddick and Da’Shawn Lawson — officially began their local law-enforcement careers after a…

By Christina Hernandez, Managing Editor

Maplewood resident Chris Reardon said May 7 that he isn’t “opposed to building,” but he has a concern about the proposed $2.9 million, three-story addition to Maplewood Middle School to accommodate a projected enrollment increase in 2013-2014 school year.

During the public portion of the Board of Education meeting, Reardon…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

A Maplewood man began serving a five-year prison term for killing a woman in a drunk-driving car accident in Newark last year.

Michael Hocutt was sentenced April 10, and will have to do almost all of his prison term before he becomes eligible for parole.

Hocutt, 44, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree vehicular homicide as part of a plea bargain with the Essex County Prosecutor’s…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

As a graduate student in the 1990s, Maplewood resident Rachel Pasternak found herself inspired by the life and work of the late rabbi and civil rights advocate Joachim Prinz.

Prinz, who is the subject of Pasternak’s thesis for her…

     L. E. Trent, age 93 of Cokesbury Village, Hockessin, DE died April 28, 2012 at Cokesbury Village.  Mr. Trent was an active resident of Cokesbury Village for the last 25 years.

   Mr. Trent was born in Nashville, TN.  He attended Roanoke College where he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity and graduated from the University of Kentucky.

   During WWII, he was commissioned as an Officer in the US Navy.  He served on the Battleship Nevada…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

A Newark man charged with a 2010 homicide in Maplewood has two weeks to decide whether to stand trial or accept a plea bargain calling for a lengthy prison sentence.

John T. Staten Jr. faces the prospect of life in prison if convicted at trial of killing Arthur S. Downey III. Allegedly, Staten and Downey met in a telephonic chatroom, then the two had sex in Downey’s apartment on Henry…

      Eugene L. O'Neill, 72, of Maplewood, N.J., died on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at home surrounded by his loving family.     

   Born in Sneem, County Kerry, Ireland, Mr. O'Neill came to the U.S. in 1961 and lived in Maplewood since 1967.

      A landscaper, he owned the E.&B. O'Neill Landscaping…