Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • March 3, 2010 found it and describes it well. Tangential, too, is New Jersey’s relationship to America’s resounding national tragedy – the assassination of Abraham Lincoln – and, believe it or not, Custer’s Last Stand, where two of the surviving officers met at the Jersey Shore and shared a conversation that gives partisans of the various Custer factions plenty of ammunition. I wrote the book on this one, and Mappen’s article in “New Jersey Heritage” is listed in the bibliography, because it was quite useful. Our analyses of Little Big Horn events did not overlap; they were different facets of the same Custer kaleidoscope. However, I knew enough from my own work on “Custer Survivor” to know that Mappen was accurate and extremely plausible. Some of the stories were completely unknown to me, even though I have lived in New Jersey virtually all my life. I never heard about the death of 22-year-old Captain Emilio Carranza, known as the Mexican Lindbergh. Carranza tried to fly from Roosevelt Field on Long Island to Mexico City in emulation of his hero Charles Lindbergh’s flight to Paris a few months earlier in the same type of monoplane. Nobody saw what happened, but Carranza’s wrecked aircraft and his body turned up in the Pine Barrens. He was found with a flashlight in his hand, suggesting that he was trying to read a map when his plane struck a tree and pivoted into the ground. Nobody even heard the crash. A second New Jersey plane crash by Jimmy Doolittle led this future Tokyo Raider and aeronautical inventor to invent the altimeter radio system that made “blind” landings possible. The hearse that took Captain Carranza’s casket to the train that returned his remains to Mexico was escorted by 10,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, and members of the American Legion. A Mexican folk song now depicts his death as a murder: I’m not sure by whom. Mappen assembled this long-forgotten story from old newspaper accounts. Large portions of the book focus on Trenton and Newark, but there are also some Bergen County focal points. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s attempt to vote in Tenafly – one of the opening guns in the battle for Woman’s Suffrage – is depicted with a slight euphemism: Stanton actually noted wryly that attempts to vote by educated women born in the United States were rebuffed while “Paddy, Fritz, Sambo, and Hung” were allowed to vote because they were men. It was not that simple. Fair enough where “Paddy” and “Fritz” were concerned, but many Southern states had already undermined the right of black men to vote by the time she said this, even though some had fought for their own freedom in the Civil War, and Chinese were already being excluded from immigration by an act of Congress. The people whose remote ancestors were invariably born here did not get to vote until they became citizens in 1924, four years after most states outside Wyoming finally extended the franchise to women. Struggle sometimes induces tunnel vision, and some earlier suffrage advocates had issues with Frederick Douglass when he was not convinced that upper-class women whose rich husbands did not want them to vote were comparable to slaves on plantations. One touching chapter deals with two New Jersey heroes from World War I: Joyce Kilmer, a poet who lived in Mahwah; and Hobey Baker, an athlete still honored today at Princeton, his alma mater, as a great gentleman of sports and a wartime aviator. Contrary to rumors, Mappen reports that Baker was killed six weeks after the Armistice in a single-seat plane crash due to engine failure, not in combat. None of this detracts from his patriotism, sportsmanship, or athletic image. He was the beau ideal of an epoch. Kilmer died in combat in the Argonne Forest, which lends poignancy to his poems about the casualties of the war, and about the joys of home and family he left behind. Whatever we think of any war, the men and women who serve deserve our respect and should be remembered with appreciation for their courage and their talents. An honest historian has to tell all sides, and one of the longest chapters in Mappen’s book touches on New Jersey’s reputation as the most corrupt state. According to the Corporate Crime Reporter newsletter, New Jersey is the 16th most corrupt state, which makes us less corrupt than Delaware, Pennsylvania, or New York! But we are far worse than Oregon, New Hampshire, or Nebraska, the newsletter states. If the residents could amputate New York City from New York State – and possibly Albany – I think New Jersey would have the edge on New York in corruption. On the other hand, if we could convince Hudson and Essex counties to secede, we would have the edge on Nebraska in terms of clean politics. Once you appreciate New Jersey, you may look around for ways to make life here financially viable so the state can thrive. Thumping our chests and telling people how great we are would not be a good idea in terms of last year’s corruption disclosures about job kickbacks and selling discount body parts, or a couple of local stories that took even me by surprise. Still, we are mighty interesting. As hard as it may be to convince ourselves, in a few weeks we should see the grass again and be able to drive without risking anything worse than the idiots who run red lights. One person in a silver SUV does so almost routinely, shooting through Maple Avenue on the approaches from Glen Rock to Ridgewood. It has already happened twice this week alone, and both times after the light had clearly changed. I propose a non-violent, but coercive police ambush and a maximum fine: five figures minimum. We could all use a break on our property taxes and bad drivers who speed and run red lights should be heavily fined and, where possible, deported. Having made the roads safe for people who see a red light as a mandate and not a provocation for speeding, we can then contemplate traveling when it is not absolutely mandatory. Bad as things may look – and in budgetary terms, they are worse than most people want to know – there is still a lot to be seen and enjoyed in New Jersey. People who chose to do so can help revitalize the economy every time they stop for lunch, coffee, or gasoline on road trips around the state. Starting right here in Bergen County, there is a lot to do and see, and the county as a whole has some great opportunities for day trips. But because of New Jersey’s location – smack-dab between Broadway and all those great museums in New York City and the fascinating urban museum that is Philadelphia – New Jersey sometimes gets scanted as a place that has many worthwhile attractions, and not just the Jersey Shore. A good tourist guide for these road trips is “There’s More to New Jersey Than the Sopranos” by Marc Mappen, a research historian whose style that is both readable and responsible. Mappen’s book shows there is life in New Jersey south of Newark and west of the Passaic River, and does so in a way that encourages thinking people to take a few day trips or even overnighters around the state. One of the signature pieces, co-authored with David Martin, takes on Molly Pitcher, who may have manned a cannon at the Battle of Monmouth. Mappen and Martin offer state-of-the-art research on both sides of the question, and what emerges is an enigma. There is too much evidence to dismiss Pitcher – who had several different names and may have been Anglo-Saxon, Irish, or German – but there is not enough evidence to call her story completely solid. Betsy Ross lived in Philadelphia, but she almost certainly did not make the first recognizable American flag. Mappen discusses who did: the same poet and publicist, who, among other things, figured in the story of General Benedict Arnold and Major John Andre. Like some of the stories that touch on events that happened elsewhere, the capture of Major Andre took place in lower New York State, and Andre nurtured General Arnold’s treason while Arnold was stationed in Philadelphia. But there was a New Jersey connection to this most critical event of the American Revolution, and Mappen See America first: Start with New Jersey Olney Road to remain closed (continued from page 3) “I’m pleased with the judge’s decision,” said Associate Township Attorney Andrew Fede, who argued the case in Superior Court. “It’s a clear decision based on the lack of timeliness of the lawsuit. The governing body is also pleased because they feel this was an important step they took in closing the road. I think it’s good for the town.” Council Vice President John Roth voiced his satisfaction with the decision, saying, “The fact that the court saw fit to dismiss the Olney Road appeal with prejudice, therefore barring the plaintiff from further action, speaks volumes about the merits of the case brought against the township. The fact that the plaintiff knowingly filed the appeal well beyond the required deadline certainly raises questions about motive and credibility. Intentionally missing the filing date compromised the appeal, making this appear to be some form of half-hearted, personal face-saving gesture that regrettably cost the taxpayers of Mahwah a significant legal expense. The township has larger economic priorities to contend with and it is time to move on from this costly distraction.” Olney Road was opened for use by the general public in August 2004. In November 2005, the township council adopted an ordinance that closed 20 feet of Olney Road and submitted that ordinance to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, but the NJDOT refused to grant its approval of the ordinance. The council adopted another ordinance in 2006 seeking to close Olney Road, and Cabezas filed a suit challenging the ordinance, claiming the township did not obtain NJDOT approval and that the ordinance violated his civil right to use Olney Road as a public thoroughfare. Superior Court Judge Jonathan N. Harris invalidated that ordinance in 2008 because he found the township did not present enough empirical evidence to support the closing of the road, but he dismissed with prejudice the resident’s claim that the ordinance violated his civil rights. In 2009, the council adopted a new ordinance to close the road after obtaining an engineer’s report that recommended the road be closed or widened. Cabezas then filed his second lawsuit, claiming that ordinance was no different than the previous ordinance and that it was unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious. The township filed a Motion for Summary Judgment seeking dismissal of the lawsuit. The municipality’s case stated there were no genuine issues of material fact presented, and the action was untimely and should be dismissed.