the rix mix

Morris Township man hurt when bike hits deer

MORRIS TOWNSHIP -- A township resident was injured after his bicycle collided with a deer over the weekend, police said today.

At 3:40 p.m. Saturday, police responded to Old Glen Road on a report of a bicyclist down on the road, Lt. Kevin O’Shea said.

When they arrived, the found that Wylie Palmer, 39, had been riding south on the road and struck a deer that ran out in front of him. Palmer suffered minor injuries after striking the deer and flying over his handlebars onto the street.

So many deer in North Jersey you have to watch out for them if you're just walking fast.

"If there’s no fraud and there’s no chicanery and no loss to the city, why am I here having burritos today at Petersburg?"

complains ex-Newark Mayor Sharpe James, who gets out of Federal prison tomorrow. Prison burritos are a step down from cavier at parties at Whitney Houston's mansion. Silly for him to say that current Mayor Corey Booker "would rather be seen on Oprah’s couch than in City Hall" when James used to get in the way of paparazzi trying to snap photos of real celebrities he liked rubbing up against. It's been good for Newark to have a mayor who isn't a complete product of the city. Sharpe James wasn't all that different from his predecessors, black & white. His administration carried on the "It's our turn" politics of Kenneth Gibson, the mayor he replaced. James could have been a great mayor. His early years in office were hopeful, & he had some successes in large scale downtown projects like the Arts Center & laying the groundwork for The Prudential Center. The crack epidemic & rise of gang culture were out of his control, but he didn't confront those miseries creatively. By the time Booker first challenged him in 2002, James was worn out, the demographics of the city were slowly shifting, & gangs held uncontested control of huge portions of the city. What James considered Booker's liability - that he wasn't out of the 'hood - was actually Booker's strength.

Sharpe's conviction was kind of flimsy, & it seemed like a substitute for a lot of bad stuff that couldn't be proved in court, & hardly anyone cared. James is delusional if he believes he could've kept the job another term. The people of Newark wanted him out in '02 but didn't know Booker well enough to entrust city hall to him, & Booker didn't know Newark well enough. Booker still doesn't give the impression that being mayor is just the next step up the ladder of politically-connected employment on the way to collecting three pensions.