Superintendent Appointed, Fort Lee Connection in Mahwah Murder-Suicide

An 82-year-old Mahwah man called his daughter Friday morning to tell her he had just killed her mother and was going to turn the gun on himself, authorities said Friday. When police arrived at the couple's home in Mahwah, they found 79-year-old Barbara Ellis, a former, longtime Fort Lee school nurse, with a gunshot wound to the head and her husband, Harry Ellis, lying facedown in the grass outside, with what police believed was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The three-year appointment, which was not a unanimous decision on the part of the school board, was pending county approval, while the Fort Lee Board of Education also voted Tuesday to appoint Dr. Sharon Amato Assistant Superintendent of Schools through June 2013.

A resolution that would have provided the insurance for the 2012-2013 school year failed at the BOE’s meeting Tuesday, when two board members abstained and one voted against it. The district's business administrator subsequently got it extended through July and hopes the board will approve it at their next meeting.

A 45-year-old Spring Lake man was killed last Sunday in a 225-fall from the cliffs along the Hudson River at the Rockefeller Lookout on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs, according to police. It was the second death resulting from a fall from the cliffs in June.

The underground fire likely “put itself out,” but it was the cause of at least some power outages in the area and carbon monoxide in at least one building, fire officials said, as they waited for PSE&G to arrive late Tuesday morning. A spokesperson for utility company later said crews found no evidence of an explosion and no smoke.

State and federal authorities spread out across northern New Jersey this week during two days of sweeps that resulted in the arrest of 93 people, including former Fort Lee resident Young-Kyu Park, involved in a counterfeit document ring, according to state police.

Brothers Peter and Mark Macaluso, both graduates who still live in “the birthplace of the motion picture industry,” recently completed a “concept trailer” that they intend to pitch to television networks, attempting to make the transition from producing romantic comedies to focusing on TV dramas.

The held its Spring 2012 Annual General Membership Luncheon at Fort Lee’s Thursday, announcing its 2012 Persons of the Year, presenting the annual Beautification Awards and installing its 2012 Board of Directors.

Students from watercolor classes offered at the surprised the community with the caliber of their artwork at a public reception Wednesday. The reception and exhibit featured works by senior citizens under the guidance of instructor and Fort Lee resident Florence Katz.

The Week in Review appears every Sunday on Fort Lee Patch.

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