John McCain's Military Service

Fred Kanter of Mountain Lakes wrote in our daily newspaper the fact that Senator John McCain served in the military does not necessarily qualify him to be President, and I agree. It is what he did not do that qualifies him to be President. While a P.O.W. and the son of a U.S. Navy admiral he had the opportunity to go home. He refused, because the Vietnamese would not include his fellow prisoners. That qualifies him to be President.

Letter to the Monterey, MA Volunteer Fire Dept.

Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
July 3, 2008


Monterey Fire Department
P.O. Box 99
411 Main Road
Monterey, MA 01245

Dear Chief Ray Tryon,

Recently, I was vacationing with my family at Lake Garfield when I took sick at three in the morning. My wife called 9-11, and in a very short time, Captain Mark Makuc and a group of Monterey firefighters were at my side assisting me.

The people of Monterey are very fortunate to have citizens who get out of bed at 3:00 AM to help a stranger. I appreciate that they did that for me.

I am enclosing a check for $200 to add to the Department’s training and/or equipment fund, or to just have a beer on me.


Yours truly,



Joseph J. Hehir

The New Jersey mess and Mr. Roberts

Monday, May 5, 2008

Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., a legislative leader in one of the most corrupt and fiscally irresponsible states in the United States, thinks “The creation of a statewide set of efficiency and accountability standards...” for local school boards is a great idea.
I think Mr. Roberts should get his own house in order before he tackles accountability standards for school boards, which is a local matter. Mr. Roberts and his cronies are the ones who made a mess of things in New Jersey; now he is trying to change the subject by turning the spotlight on local school boards.

The 2006-2007 Budget

Dear Doctor Kazmark,

The 2006-2007 budget was discussed at the Board of Education Meeting on March 27, 2006. At that meeting you advised, in response to Mr. Dieckamp’s question about the tuition charged to Boonton Township students, “that the costs at the high school will go up no more than 3% and the increase being charged to Boonton Township is 3%.” However, the per pupil costs for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years are $16,672 and $18,221 respectively. That is a 9% year to year increase. Can you explain this discrepancy?
The advertised per pupil cost calculations for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years are $16,672 and $18,221 respectively. The difference is $1,549. If you divide that amount by the 2005-2006 per pupil cost, the result is 9%.
I do not think that such a large discrepancy (3% versus 9%) can be explained away by increases in the Lake Drive budget. Lake Drive students are 5.5% of the total student population.

Respectfully submitted,
Joseph J. Hehir
Mountain Lakes, NJ

The Mountain Lakes Board of Education Meeting

Four taxpayers and I attended the Mountain Lakes Board of Education meeting on March 24, to listen to the 2008-2009 budget presentation. Some would say when only five taxpayers out of 1,400 families attend a budget meeting that there is a small amount of apathy around. In defense of this seemingly lack of interest, let me explain some of the circumstances leading up to it. The meeting was scheduled long in advance for March 24th. Without much notice, the superintendent decided that there would be no school that day, turning Easter weekend into a four-day vacation, and Mountain Lakes into a ghost town. The budget meeting at 7:30 PM was scheduled for when families were returning from their long weekend, so not too many showed up. In addition, those who did come could not review the budget beforehand because the superintendent’s office was closed that day also. Further, the meeting was at the same time the Borough Council was presenting the 2008 municipal budget.
Was this foul up by design or just a coincidence?